One Thousand Wishes, One Thousand Stars (The Complex Book 0) Read online

  Te’krick’it, the manager, was standing with his webby hands on his hips just off to the side. A vodnik, the man could assume a mostly human shape, though he couldn’t quite get rid of his amphibian nature, as seen by the webbed fingers and pale green skin. He lived in the Aqua dome and needed the water environment. He was also a little bit on the shifty side, but not enough to make him a criminal. At least, not outright.

  The Climintra were hauling the ayakashi to their feet, and were completely unimpressed by their show of dominance. Instead, the lieutenant motioned for his men to haul the unruly Metas out the front door of the club.

  “Te’krick’it Boblbefen, do you wish to press charges against these Metas?”

  “No, I don’t even know what’s going—”

  “Then we will take them down the station, document this situation, and release them. Do you wish to ban them from this establishment for a predetermined amount of time?”

  Tekri looked at me, and I nodded. I knew he wanted this place to be friendly and welcoming—it was good business. “Yes, fine. Um. A month?” Hin and I nodded. “A month. And they owe me a cleaning for that tank! They probably screwed up the water conditioner—”

  “The water is fine.”

  I looked to my right where the voice had come from. Ellestra was standing there, smiling, dry as bone as though she’d been in the water just a few moments before. I grinned at her, and she returned the smile.

  “Fine. Just a month then.” He turned and looked at me, and Hin, and the security guards who were just now starting to show up. “Someone had better tell me why the hell there is djinn magic all over my club!”

  “I had to use it?” I offered.

  Tekri growled at me. Or, at least gave me the vodnik version of a growl, which was more an aggressive croak. He pointed at Hin and motioned him to the back of the club. On the way he signaled for the DJ to start playing music again and slammed the door, as he and the bartender disappeared.

  One of the human males walked over to us and stuck out his hand. “Thank you, man. Djinn. Meta. I mean—”

  “You’re welcome. Don’t worry about the title. I know what you mean. Go have a good time with your friends.”

  “Thanks. Seriously. What were they?”

  Ellestra answered for me. “Ayakashi. They aren’t all bad. Just like the rest of us, we’re not all bad.”

  “I didn’t think you were.” The Human ran back up the stairs to join his friends, all of whom were waving and smiling at us. I waved back.

  Ellestra slipped her arm in mind and pulled me away from the adoring fans. “Come on. Before the fame goes to your head.”

  I smiled at her. The beautiful naiad had black hair that always looked like it was caught in a gentle current, soft and flowing behind her. Her eyes were brown and she seemed to like my attention.

  “You were in the tank?”

  “I cleaned it up for Tekri. He’s a nut about the cleanliness of the aquarium and I can help. So I do.” She glanced around as we walked to the back of the building that held the club. “Do you think anyone else saw me in there?”

  “I don’t think so. There wasn’t much heavy magic in here tonight. Just me and I could feel a vague hint of a sorcerer. Maybe. Don’t know if they were paying attention. Thanks, by the way. As much as I love water, I hate the breathing underwater thing.”

  “No problem. Sorry I was running late.”

  I gulped. Shit, we had planned to meet up there. I’d completely forgotten. Still, she didn’t pick up on my goof, and we found a dark booth in the back of the club, away from the thumping beat of the music. But the vibe of the club was off now, and it was bothering me. I wasn’t going to be able to stay here all night, and especially not in this booth. I looked at the pretty naiad sitting next to me, pressed against my side.

  “Would you like to go back to my place?”

  A giant grin spread across her face. “You know I would. I was hoping you’d ask.”

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  As we headed out the door, I thought I caught sight of Trilland. He was pressing a pretty young Human against the wall and grinding into her as she giggled inanely at him. But why would he ever be somewhere like UniAqua? He was the leader of a religious sect and he had the gorgeous angel all to himself. There was no need for Humans for him.

  I had to have been imagining it.

  And by the time we got to the door of my apartment, Elle had banished all thoughts from my head. Her hand was firmly planted on my ass, giving me a squeeze every once in a while. There was no question what she wanted as we rode the shuttle up the dormitory dome. She confirmed that with another hearty squeeze on my backside as we stepped off on my floor.

  “Get the door open, fast, Pili. Fast.”

  This was us. This was our relationship. I wouldn’t call her my girlfriend, and she wouldn’t call me her boyfriend, but we spent a lot of time together. And we liked it.

  As soon as the door was closed behind us, I pressed her against it and magicked off her clothes to the chair.

  “Damn it, djinn, that’s hot.”

  Elle clawed at my clothes, but I did the same for mine— they were gone in a moment. We stood naked, and I pressed her into the door, ravaging and plundering her mouth in a brutal, demanding kiss. Her tongue slid over mine, petting and caressing, and seeking my mouth as well.

  She wrapped her hand around my hard cock and stroked, but not gently and not teasingly. Elle was after this tonight, and it felt good. I palmed one of her breasts, crushing it, pinching the erect nipple hard.

  Pulling back just a bit, she was panting. “Just fuck me, Pili. Nothing sweet.”

  I grabbed her by the waist and spun her around, facing the wall next to the door. “You just want my cock tonight?”

  “Yes,”

  Grabbing her hips I pulled them toward me while holding her against the wall. We were close to the table I needed and I pulled it over. Kicking her leg up, I put her heel on the table and opened her pussy for me.

  “You’re ready for me,” I cooed, running my hand over her soaking wet sex.

  “Yes, yes. Pili, come on. Hard. Don’t be nice.”

  I pressed her forward again, leaning across her back with my arm and pushing her into the wall, jutting her sweet ass out even further. I fisted myself, pumped myself twice and lined up with her opening, and speared deep inside her. We both chorused a groan as I started thrusting into her from behind.

  It was a lovely behind, too. I slapped it hard, and Elle let out a yelp that slid down into a lustful moan. She was beyond wet tonight and my erection slid in and out of her core without any trouble. I slipped a hand up her side and found one of the breasts that was being crushed against the wall, and pinched the nipple.

  “God, shit, yes!”

  Her yelps were full of enthusiasm and that just drove me harder. But as wonderful as her tit was in my hand, I wanted her to come around me and that meant teasing her clit. Surrendering her the plump breast, my hand dropped to her swollen pearl. One advantage of fucking a naiad was, except for the hair on their heads, they were hairless. Including the delicious pussy had consumed my dick, and the waiting clit that my fingers now stroked.

  She was shaking and when I gave her sex a quick slap, she came hard. Her walls contracted and milked my thrusting cock—but I wasn’t there yet. This sweet little naiad would keep coming until I stopped stimulating her. My multi-orgasmic little delight.

  Pulling her back around to face me, I wrapped her legs around my waist and pushed her back into the wall. Now, it was easy for my to drag my erection over her extremely tender clit, dragging her toward another orgasm. I dropped my head to her breast and pulled the nippled in, between my teeth.

  I bit and she screamed, coming again barely on the end of the last climax. This creature was so damned responsive. My thumb found her dark entrance and I ran the pad of my finger over it, teasing and tormenting her.

  “Holy hell, Pili!”

  My own cum was rising a
nd I wanted to make her come one last time before I did. My hips pounded into her, finding the deepest part of her willing pussy. She was panting and twitching, and I knew she was about to come again. I popped the tip of my thumb through the ring of her ass, and slammed hard. She screamed, both her pussy and ass contracting around me. It was the last thing I needed and my cum raced up my shaft, releasing deep inside of her.

  “You look a little distressed, djinn. What’s shaking?”

  Ellestra could always tell my moods. I could always see her in both of her forms: human and water specter. She was powerful as a water spirit, but completely vulnerable in her most human form.

  “I saw someone today I didn’t think had come with us here. It threw me off—and then I caught them again.”

  Laughing, she put a hand on my arm. “You have got to stop getting offended by the three of them always finding each other. You knew that’s what was going to happen when they agreed to a mating, and they are new to the whole thing. Poor Aura needs her sex at least once a day.”

  “Poor Aura, getting it from two guys.”

  “Oh, you would have given it to her as well if she wasn’t falling in love with the two of them. It’s not easy being a sexual creature who wasn’t good at being sexual. You know that.”

  I harrumphed. “You’re right. I hate it when you’re right.”

  She wiggled her ass against my finally-sated cock. “You got yours anyway.”

  “Yes, I did. Several times.”

  “So, who did you see?”

  I ran my hand over her arm. “Someone’s daughter.”

  “Oh. The angel’s?”

  I nodded, and cleared my throat. “Yes.”

  Ellestra rolled over and laid her head on the pillow. “P’iliktus. You know damn well I'm not jealous. This, what goes on between us works for us, here and now. We had lives before this, and there's nothing wrong with that. Someday this will be over and we'll move on. But right now, this is the closest we're going to get to mates. So. If you want talk about your angel, I'll listen.”

  I leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “May the gods and guiding stars always see fit to keep us in each other's lives.”

  She winked. “Just wish for it.”

  “Very cute.”

  She flicked my nipple with no sexual intent. “So? Tell me.”

  My sigh conveyed just about all of my emotions. “Her daughter and husband came into the bar today for lunch. I don't think Min was here—but I'm not sure she'd stay behind. But Brami and the asshole were there. I had to have Marin take their orders. I'm not sure he knows who I am, but I wasn't taking the chance.”

  “Why? Why don't you want him to know?”

  “Elle, I'm in love with his wife. The mother of his child. He isn't a stable person. Would you want to know the man who caught your angel wife from her fall was nearby?”

  Her eyebrow rose. “Are you sure he knows the truth?”

  I shook my head. “I'm not even sure he knows I exist. I don't want to take the chance.”

  “You still love her?”

  “I don't think I will ever stop.”

  Goddamn, that was a painful admission. But Arahambramina hadn't chosen me. She'd chose Trilland, and I had to leave that behind me.

  The nimble naiad in front of me helped.

  I leaned into her and took her again, making her scream my name a dozen more times before we fell asleep.

  Chapter Three

  “So, the Captain asked me to go check this cult out tonight—” Marin stopped and stared at me as I walked into the corridor. He snorted. “Well, someone had a good night.”

  “Fuck you. I showered.” I sniffed my hand anyway.

  Marin tapped his temple. “You are just radiating all kinds of sex.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Great. Which means you two will be ducking into the office. Please, use the office?”

  “Eh, I already tapped that.” John grinned at me.

  “So what were you saying about the Captain?”

  “Just Climintra business.”

  Raising an eyebrow, I folded my arms. “Meaning, butt out?”

  “Nah, I just don't know if you're interested in this stuff. It's boring. Cults and religions and—”

  My voice sliced through his words. “I have my university cert in Religious Studies.”

  Both John and Marin stared at me, astonished. I looked between them, and sighed. “What? Djinn can't go to university?”

  John cleared his throat. “No… I just didn't think you'd have a degree in Religious Studies.”

  “Because everyone expect a vampire to have an advanced degree in Culinary Arts and a cert in Behavioral Health?” I had laughed so hard when he'd told me he had a degree in food. Vampires didn't even need to eat, and here he was a master chef. “I also have a degree in Biology and Emergency Management.”

  Marin laughed. “I guess you get bored when you live so long.”

  “Absolutely,” John and I chorused.

  “Noted.” Marin laughed. “Well, if you're really interested, the Climintra has their eye on this cult. They aren't fond of the idea that this group is rising so fast in popularity among the Humans and some Metas. In a closed system like we have here on Lorn, the idea of a cult rising to power is bad.”

  I took over the explanation. “The rise of a singular belief system can lead to the regression of morals, and the chance that social systems promoting equality will collapse and be unrecoverable without the complete dismantling of the entire society than has succumbed to the singular thought process. In addition to the loss of social diversity, those who do not completely give over to the common belief may be ostracized, jailed, or even killed as an example of the penalty of going against the current of the beliefs.”

  Marin raised an eyebrow. “Right. Religious Studies…”

  “Includes lots of anthropology and the structures of social systems.”

  John jerked his thumb at me. “He's going with us.”

  I was momentarily surprised—but then remembered that both he and Marin were now full agents of the Climintra. After they had busted a sex trade ring, the Climintra were interested in what the two of them could do together. Their mate had turned it down, and instead took up the offer of schooling. She’d always wanted to be a chemical engineer, and she had the brains for it.

  They gave me all the information I needed for the meeting that night, and we went about our day. Marin had patrol somewhere, and John was in the back with the chef working up new dishes. Even though I had teased the vampire about his culinary degree, I knew that he really enjoyed cooking and sampling food. He didn’t need food, but he could eat a bit, and he made sure that it tasted good.

  One of the things that made this bar so popular was our changing menu. We tried to keep it fresh and rotated new ideas about once a week. There were some daily specials as well.

  Another thing was the under table brews we had. There were several hobby breweries around the Complex and we offered those on the Down Low menu. It had to be ask for, and we needed to know who had told the customer about it. It wasn’t illegal per se, but we wanted to keep it quiet since there were a lot of people who would have come in for that and ruined the reputation of the bar.

  The cult meeting that night was in one of the deep levels, under the city. It was one of the old debarking areas from when everyone had first arrived in these hellish domes. I had traveled separately from John, so no one knew that we were somehow connected, other than friends.

  I was old enough to have enemies. They didn’t need to know that John was my Lampmaster.

  The room had been transformed into an amphitheater, and there were drapings on the walls in back. There was an ornate curtain behind the mobile podium. I studied the symbol there, trying to make heads or tails of it. I had never seen it before, and I had kept up with my studies and the new religions and cults that had come and gone.

  I wasn’t nearly as old as John, but I remembered pulling away from Vaimm as a child.
I grew up on the ship, one of thousands upon thousands of children who did, and the vanguard of thousands more who never knew our home world. I distracted myself once I understood what that meant.

  With all the various and varied Metas on the ship, there were always religions rising and falling. But once we met the Humans, it got even more interesting. They had beliefs that canonized some of the Metas as saints and gods. They had always been fascinated by the angels, the djinn, and the shifters. They didn’t much care about trolls or nymphs, and were downright frightened of liches and wraiths.

  Rightfully so. It made me wonder if there was any chance our people had visited there and planted the idea of us years and centuries before.

  Their religions were complicated with ritual and dishonest faith. There was fraud among even the most honest and most simple of beliefs. Most Metas followed a religion for a while and then left for their own personal spirituality, leaving behind nothing more than a text and an empty hall with symbols.

  Humans did not. They clung to things for centuries. I was utterly fascinated by the different beliefs that had risen, fallen, been forgotten, and those which had managed to persist. I was intrigued by their idea of heaven—it was so pretty and wholesome. Almost boring. People with flowery ideas, clouds. Harps. Golden haired, chubby, infant angels. White pure innocence. No fighting, no fucking. Where was the joy in that?

  If there was a heaven, I wanted my heaven to have sex and drinking and no guilt. A tropical beach. A mountain for me to climb. A forest for me to hike through.

  And no lamp. No chains. No commands, no master, no restrictions.

  That was heaven.

  The symbol in front of me was none of the things I knew from my world or from the Humans’ religions. It looked like a stylized pen—a feather plume that some folk enjoyed writing with. Mostly useless now since nearly all their technology was voice controlled.

  Aside from it being pretty in gold and silver, there was no making heads or tails of it. It was just… a feather. Maybe.

  John seated himself across the room from me, and Marin was somewhere in the middle. I could see why the Climintra wanted them to work this together. They were good together, and they were even better at pretending they were Human. I sat quietly, taking in the feel of the room.