Moonlight Chronicles
Chapter 5
“First the shot, then you rub the Nightmold,
then bite the moss…”
Trixxie followed her own instructions, drowning first a shot of whiskey, rubbing a bump of Nightmold on her gums, then following it up by biting into a lump of sour moss and sucking the vinegar from it. Her face wrinkled, then she spat out the moss and coughed.
“Oh
fuck! Fuck, that’s good, you’ve got to try it.”
“You’re the expert, dear,” Lord Duffy replied, then followed suit without hesitation. The concoction burned the entire way down, and by the end he was coughing out the moss.
“Oh wow – oh
wow, okay. Is the room supposed to spin? Is this an earthquake?”
“Not yet, my lord,” Trixxie purred, pressing her lips to his ear. Her bare skin pressed against him, warm and soft, amplified by the narcotics currently seeping into Duffy’s system. Their lips met and a quiet moment passed as they tasted one another with wanton abandon. Duffy broke the kiss first with a low chuckle.
“Trixxie, Trixxie, Trixxie my dear, you have to
wait, calm down just a moment. I’m no machine.”
“Could have fooled me,” Trixxie muttered, nibbling at his ear. Duffy let her work her way down his neck, to his collarbone, to his chest, lower…then he twisted and pulled her into an embrace before she could go further.
“Trixxie, indulge me, please. I promise you I’m not going anywhere, and NOCOF is paying for the night.”
His lips pressed into her sweet-smelling hair, planting kisses one after another as she giggled and snuggled in closer. The cave-spider silk bedsheets tangled around them as they enjoyed the amplified sensation that Nightmold afforded them. Even the simple breeze of the air-circulation that was pumped into every room in the Haven’s mines was enough to tickle the sensitive nerve endings.
“Mmmmm…I think I could keep you here forever,” Trixxie murmured, nuzzling against Duffy’s sparse chest hair. “Tell NOCOF to fuck off and just lock you up, all to myself.”
“I have thought about it,” Duffy admitted, his fingers idly tracing patterns into Trixxie’s amber-colored skin. “I’ve certainly paid off my inoculation, even if they do ‘claim’ not to own me.”
“Then stay.” Trixxie propped her chin on Duffy’s chest, her dilated pupils staring into Duffy’s. “Tell them to go to hell. Tell them you’re not going back out there and fucking
rail me until they stop paying your bill.”
“Until they stop paying my bill? Ouch, Trix, I thought we had something real.” Duffy grinned and cocked an eyebrow.
“Well…I
could be persuaded to make an exception. For the noble, gorgeous, grand Holy Hunter ‘Lord Duffy’. A discount. Anywhere from five to one hundred percent.”
“Five percent…” Duffy whistled. “…the
savings!”
Trixxie laughed and nipped at his collarbone. “I’m
serious! Tell them you’re done and you’re not going back out there. They can’t
make you.”
“Baby, they don’t
make me nothing.” Duffy sighed, “it’s…it’s how Hunters deal with It.”
“What is It?” Trixxie shifted so her chin wasn’t digging into Duffy’s chest any more. She could hear his heartbeat through his chest now. Strong, steady, and elevated from the drugs. “You keep talking about It but you never explain what It is.”
“It’s…” Duffy trailed off.
‘It’ was hard to explain to non-Hunters. Every Hunter he’d ever met had intrinsically understood It. They’d all gotten It. ‘It’ was simply understood, so they never needed to define It. The doctors had been
very interested in It, but after a considerable amount of questioning and deemed It irrelevant.
“It is just…being a Hunter. Being Moon Touched. On your second life. Being no different than every other asshole on the street, yet expected to save the god damn world. Being perfectly, utterly expendable. Having everything – and I do mean
everything - owed to someone else. Remembering nothing in a world that’s already gone. It’s…It. I dunno. It is hard to explain. If you were Touched then you’d get It. And if I’m being perfectly honest, being Touched sucks a lot.”
“Should I stop touching you, then?”
“That is not what I said,” Duffy squeezed Trixxie tighter, who giggled in response.
“Well, even if I don’t get the mysterious ‘It’, I still think you should quit.” Trixxie shuffled beneath the bedsheets until she was straddling Duffy. Her face buried itself into his neck, and her mouth was inches from his ear.
“Quit. Visit me every single day until you run out of money, then rob a bank and visit me some more.”
“I dunno, NOCOF has been quite kind to foot my bill. Bank robbery seems very much like plan ‘B’, don’t you think?”
“NOCOF has been kind because they haven’t figured out you’ve been charging my room to their tab,” Trixxie countered, pushing herself upright until she was seated across Duffy’s hips. Duffy grinned in response and his hands gently ran up her thighs.
“Well, if you’re so keen to have me as an exclusive patron, maybe you should just marry me. It’d make things so much simpler.”
Trixxie laughed and traced her fingers down his chest. “You don’t seem like the type, my lord.”
“I’m serious. I’ll marry the crap out of you.”
“You. Wouldn’t. Dare.” Trixxie narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. Duffy, in response, twisted just far enough to reach off the side of the bed to where his trousers laid in a crumpled heap on the floor. He hooked a finger around the waistband, hauled it close, then fished in the pockets before pulling out a single silver ring.
“Like hell I wouldn’t. Marry me.”
Trixxie froze in place, eyes locked on the ring Lord Duffy had just pulled out. It took a moment for her brain to process what, exactly, was happening – no doubt due in part to the Nightmold in her system.
“You’re not serious.”
“I am.”
Duffy pulled himself upright and stuffed a few pillows behind his back. The silver ring had been polished quite nicely, and the low light in the room gleamed off the metallic surface in an almost magical fashion.
“I want you to marry me, Trix.”
“This isn’t funny, Duffy.”
“I’m not joking.”
In a flash, Trixxie rolled off his hips and scooted herself to the edge of the bed. She planted her feet against the floor and breathed slowly, as if the air might help sober her up sooner.
“You did
not seriously just propose. To me.”
“I did.”
Duffy pulled his legs up until he was sitting cross-legged behind Trixxie, the ring clasped between both hands in his lap. The ruby cave-spider silk sheets provided a lovely back-drop for the silver ring, and part of Duffy wondered if he should have invested in a ring box to contain it. Red was a nice romantic color, right?
“I want to marry you, Trix. Not because I want a family discount. But because, in my limited, miserable second life, you have made me happier than literally anyone I have ever met.”
Duffy shuffled his way to the edge of the bed until he was sitting next to Trixxie. She resolutely turned to face away from him. Her arms crossed over her chest, and he could tell she was trembling.
“I don’t mean just sex. You get me. When we talk, it’s…the way you talk to me, the way you give as good as you get, your humor, your personality, your confidence, the way you
try really
try to get me. I fucking love you, Trix.”
“Stop.”
“I do! I love you. When I’m out there, all I think about is getting back here. To you. Not because of what you’re paid to do, but because of who you are. And if you don’t feel the same way, if you think of me as just another client, then you better tell me right fucking now, Trix. Look me in the eye and tell me I’m no different than every other Joe who comes through. And if you need time to sober up before you tell me that, then take all the time you need. But tell me, Trix.”
Trixxie still hadn’t turned to look at him. He could hear her breathing – quickly, shakily. He could smell the salt of tears on her cheeks even if he couldn’t see them. Trixxie took a long, long moment, but eventually replied.
“Every time you go out, I am so sure. So
certain you’re not going to come back. And I tell myself that you
are no different. You’re just another client, even if you are fun. Even if my heart leaps every time you buy me for the night. Because if I let myself get my hopes up, even for a second, you’re going to die out there. And I
know I can’t stop you from going out, no matter what I say.”
Trixxie turned to look at Duffy. Tears cut shiny tracks of light down her cheeks, ruining her mascara. Her pale skin was almost ghostly in the low light, but her eyes were dark pools of gleaming intensity.
“If you’re serious about this, I need you to tell me
right fucking now that you’ll come back. Each and every time, you’ll come back. Because I can’t do this if you vanish into the wasteland, Duffy. I can’t. Tell me. Promise me.”
“Trixxie.” Duffy gently took her hand with his. He gingerly slipped the ring over her finger, then looked her in the eyes. His hand brushed her cheek, but he matched her intensity ounce for ounce.
“I promise you. I will come back. Each and every time, I will come back. Even if it kills me, Trix. I’ll come back. For you.”
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Topic: Ventures By Moonlight | A Semi-Cooperative Dark Fantasy | Always Recruiting (Read 37498 times)