Private Tales Nine Lives

[Isaac]

His lips pressed against her fiercely, passionately, as if the very touch could overwhelm every sense and semblance.

The room seemed to shrink and grow at the same time. The candles seemed to flicker and shrink. The world itself seemed to pull in on itself, as though nothing was beyond this room, as though nothing at all existed save for that kiss.

Then his lips left hers.

Then his fingers finally lifted from her throat.

Hovering only an inch away, and allowing her the exalting, exhilarating rush of air.

 

[LaylaMoreno]

Layla's heart was racing as she was finally able to breath. Finally able to gasp for a breathe as Isaac finally let her go. Every single inch of her body was on fire and she wasn't sure if it was from the lack of oxygen or that kiss. That mind blowing kiss.

"Fuck..." was all she so eloquently breathed out.

Part of her wanted to slap him for choking her so long but the bigger part of her wanted him to kiss her again.

 

[Isaac]

Isaac smiled down at Layla, still leaning over her. That odd warping of the world seemed to have stopped, the candles flickering ordinarily, the dim light casting over the two of them. A flicker ran over the warlock's blue eyes, a shadow.

His fingers slowly slipped away from Layla's throat, knuckles curling inward and then softly dragging over her cheek.

The touch was a shocking contrast to the tightness that had hung around her throat, that dominant and forceful press. He caressed her cheek gently, smiling all the while. "Best we get some rest, no?"

Isaac mused quietly, his voice soft.

 

[LaylaMoreno]

"Do you want me to murder you?" Layla growled out. There may have been a slight sardonic tone in that growl. Slight because she would murder him if he didn't touch her again. Kiss her again.

Her eyes held his. Everything in her body was rigid now as she glared at him.

Her heart was still pounding. She could feel it in her ears. She swallowed hard and reached out a hard to touch his face ever so gently. "Because I will if you do not kiss me again..."

 

[Isaac]

Isaac clicked his teeth. "That's quite a threat."

In all fairness, he did not doubt she would try, not in the least.

He had seen how dangerous she could be first hand, remembered it well. Had even watched as she trained over the last few weeks while waiting. Isaac was not foolish enough to think she couldn't put a blade through his heart.

"But." His fingers softly caressed again. "What's the fun in giving, when I can watch you take."

The Warlock mused, then added. "Or try."

 

[LaylaMoreno]

Layla narrowed her eyes further. He was challenging her. She never backed down from a challenge. Ever.

As Isaac's gentle caresses continued, Layla brought her own hand up to the back of his neck. She pulled her hand to her, pulling him with it.

Their lips met again.

This kiss was less mind blowing than the last with whatever Isaac had down to it. This one was gentler but still firm.

 

[Isaac]

Everything was a game.

Something to play for. Something to earn. Something to win. Life was short, the worth of a soul less than an experience to grasp after.

Those were lessons that Isaac had learned long ago, that he had taken to heart even before leaving Elbion. He would not deny them now. He would not push them aside or consider them as anything less than what they were then.

As soon as Layla pulled him into a kiss his hand flickered.

He grasped after her throat, pushing her back onto the bed and pinning her down, his weight atop hers as he breathed against her lips. "You'll have to do better than that."

Isaad whispered.

"Maybe it's best we wait." He told her. "Until you can find your will."

 

[LaylaMoreno]

Layla growled at him. He was stronger than her and had magic that she couldn't even imagine. She could shift but that wasn't fun in this instant. She didn't want to get out of his hold and now his hard body laid atop her.

If this was a real fight, she would throw a knee up to find the spot that brought most men to their knees. She was not cruel though...well she was but not to Isaac.

Layla moved her left leg like she was going to wrap it around his waist. She let it wrap around his right leg instead. Everything happened in an instant. She snapped her left leg in to stop him from being able to use both legs for balance at the same she pushed his left should and her entire right side.

She flipped him and while he still choked her, she was laying on him. Her heart still beating faster and her breath faltering.

 

[Isaac]

Within the span of a breath Isaac found himself quite literally flipped around. He splayed out on the bed beneath her, one hand still resting on her collar, the other half sprawling on the bed besides him. Legs dangled from the bed.

As she lorded above him the Warlock offered an amused smile.

"Some might call you greedy." Isaac said, his thumb and middle finger softly rubbing together in consideration. "Has no one ever told you patience is a virtue?"

Even as he spoke his head leaned up, lips brushing against hers. "Waiting might be more rewarding."

The words came as his fingers floated up the side of her neck, dragging into and through her hair in a gentle grasp.

 

[LaylaMoreno]

"I have the patience of a saint, Isaac." His hand wound in her hair as she brought her lips to his collarbone.

"I have played a very long game before..." Her lips moved to the side of his neck.

"I made a mark fall in love with me..." The client wanted his heart to break before Layla ripped it out like he had done to her. Layla charged an exorbitant fee for that one. It was beautiful. Her best work. The look on his face when she finally killed him. Priceless.

Her lips were at his ear now. She nipped softly at the lobe before speaking again. "Then I watched him choke on his own blood as he realized he had been played..."

All the while, her hands had traveled under his shirt and had begun to slide up slowly.

Layla was many things. Assassin and shapeshifter had only ever been two of them. Orphan, grifter, assassin, shapeshifter, whore, gambler, alcoholic, pirate...two things she had no control over...the rest allowed her to make money and live or forget what she had to do to make that money and live.

 

[Isaac]

"Well." Isaac said with a soft sight as Layla began to strip him of his clothes.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd had this much fun. The last time he'd felt any semblance of challenge, press backward. It was almost a relief in a strange sort of way, a wave of something new that he couldn't help but revel in.

His index and thumb rubbed together gently, as if threatening a snap...and then his fingers curled into a fist. "That is very impressive."

The Warlock admitted, his lips reaching up once again to brush over hers.

His fingers suddenly tightened around her throat, grasping, holding her in place against himself.

"But what are you going to do for me?" He demanded, his teeth softly sinking into Layla's lower lip.

 

[LaylaMoreno]

Layla couldn't move. Isaac had trapped her again even with her on top of him. The asshole was enjoying this too much. She was too, though. She couldn't lie. It was always nice to have a little fight.

Isaac gently bit her lower lip and she let out a soft sigh. What was she going to do for the incredibly sexy, frustrating Warlock?

She may hold some of the best cards but it was clearly his deck. His game. She was a player in it.

Once she was released from his teeth, she spoke again. "Well no one has hired me to kill you or seduce you so I suppose that leaves the decision in your hands, Isaac. I can bring out the knives if that is what you'd like." She rolled her hips against him with a smirk, "or we could just lay here with you choking me all night. You seem to like that..."

 

[Isaac]

No man would was immune to the rise that Layla brought out of him as her hips rolled, lips thinning for just a brief moment as he let out a shuddering breath. "Well."

The Warlock whispered.

His voice was a rasp. The deal he had made stole a bit of his humanity, but he was still a man. Still more than a mortal and less than a statue. His touch upon her skin didn't face, his heart thundered in his chest as he considered her words.

"You make a very..." He pulled her into another kiss, the hand at her throat dragging her against himself. "Convincing argument."

Isaac said, his other hand finally coming up from the bed, dragging over her skin, slipping against her form. "I do have to admit."

 

[LaylaMoreno]

The rasp of his voice and the beating of his heart made her smile wickedly into their kiss. His other hand explored her exposed skin so softly that it cause her to shudder as tingles ran through her.

"So...what do you want Isaac?"

 

[Isaac]

His hand slowly dragged over her body.

Fingers trickled over her spine, drawing slow circles as they traveled lower and lower. His eyes met hers with an intense stare. There was a depth to them, a desire, a need, but for far more than any man had the right to search for.

"I..." His voice rang out, soft, yet cutting.

The Warlock smiled, his lips breaking into a wide grin. "I want everything."

A world. Power. Her.

Nothing less.

 

[LaylaMoreno]

~~~~
​

After a very thorough cleaning in a summoned hot spring and a snap to fix the room, the very sore shapeshifter laid against Isaac's side with her head on his shoulder. She drew circles on his chest as he breathed steadily. Teekle had finally reappeared and was curled up at the foot of the bed. She couldn't blame him for his disappearing act. No one needed to see the things she and Isaac had gotten into.

"When do we leave for Neus, Isaac?" She asked as she stopped drawing with her finger and lifted her head to place a soft kiss on his jaw. Layla was exhausted and she had no idea what time it was even.

 

[Isaac]

Time was something he never had enough of. There weren’t enough hours in a day, not enough room for him to do as he wanted.

It was one of the most confounding things that faced many mages. Whether they be sorcerer or warlock, no one had figured it out. Time stood eternal, there was no changing it, no warping it to your whim. Nothing that one could do.

”When the storm passes.” He told her.

They had already wasted near a month to find the next piece, and now he was more eager than ever to get going. Distractions were good…fun, but his desires still loomed far beyond his grasp.

Something that he could barely stomach. ”We’ll have to ask the old man for the fastest route.”

Isaac mused.

 

[LaylaMoreno]

Layla yawned and closed her eyes. Part of her was hoping the storm would last a little longer because she was going to be sore as fuck come light. The shapeshifter sat up and gave Isaac one more kiss before she laid back down. She turned onto her side with her back towards Isaac and snuggled down under the soft blankets. She was along for the ride here. She did not have a timeline but she still needed rest. She didn't the ability to snap whatever she needed into existence. No...she wasn't jealous of Isaac's powers...

She fell asleep pretty quickly and her dreams revolved around the strangeness of her new life. It was not enough to live it...she also needed to dream about it.

 

[Isaac]

The storm, as it turned out, continued for a whole other day. Much to Isaac's supreme annoyance.

It was time that did not go entirely wasted however, for Isaac spent the day practically grilling the old man about Neus. He dug and gathered every tidbit of information he possibly could. By the time the storm cleared Isaac was practically an expert on Neus.

Before he had only gathered knowledge in books, now he had a first hand account. Even if the old man hadn't exactly painted the city in a good light.

It turned out that Neus itself was a central city, located in the middle of Seven Great Fortresses that where each independently controlled by the families of the Duma. A fact which Isaac had not known before, but found interesting. The families constantly fought one another, not unlike the Great Houses of Vel Anir.

Though the relations were apparently a bit more...incestuous than it was with the Anirians. Though just what that meant Isaac hadn't inquired further.

With their newfound knowledge, and some proper winter clothes, Layla and Isaac now found themselves on the road North. Apparently it would take them another day to reach Neus itself, and as they walked Isaac scribbled in a small notebook.

 

[LaylaMoreno]

Isaac may have been annoyed with the storm taking another day to clear but Layla was thankful that she could just relax for a day before they were walking again. Isaac had spent the day asking the old man questions and Layla had spent the day listening and making mental notes of important things.

The next morning they thanked the old man for his hospitality and set out towards Neus. Layla alternated between a snow leopard and her human form during their traveling. It was usually when she got bored with Isaac's silent scribbling that she would shift and go running ahead before bounding back towards him and Teekle again.

"So what do you think we are looking for this time?" She asked at one point when Isaac had taken a break from his walk writing.

 

[Isaac]

It took a while for Isaac to answer Layla, his scribbling continuing for so long that one might have assumed he didn't even see that she had returned. Though it was not something she wouldn't be used to by now. Isaac tended to get focused on a task, and then be entirely consumed by it.

Only after a solid minute did he finally reply. "I don't know."

He admitted, something he hated doing. There were few things in this world that Isaac didn't understand. Whether by his own research or the knowledge imparted to him through Teekle. Little mystery existed for the Warlock.

Save for what was kept from him of course.

"The pieces are hidden from me." He told her. "I can sense...vaguely where they are, but not what."

The notebook snapped shut. "From the old man's stories, it will likely be somewhere in Domipriv.

Also known as Neus' central fortress.

 

[LaylaMoreno]

Layla let out a soft mmmmm as she listened to Isaac explain. She had started to understand some of his magic but, really, it was beyond her. She didn't even know why he was looking for these pieces and she had never cared to ask. She had decided to join him and help him so that is what she did. She didn't worry about the details. She just worried about him, them, and whatever he needed her to do.

"We will find it," she said with a confidence that she was not sure she actually had. They had found the last piece. They could do this.

Layla was also more than a little excited to be going to Neus. It was a place that she had never been to before and she hoped they had some time for fun and exploring. She did have her doubts though. This was serious Isaac on the trail of this missing piece.

 

[Isaac]

Isaac didn't argue, but instead stuffed the notebook back into his pack.

He had no doubt in his mind that they would find exactly what he was looking for, but just how many corpses would be left in their wake was yet to be debated. A shrug rolled over his shoulders, as he adjusted his pack as they continued to walk.

True to the old man's word, it was nearly dusk by the time they reached the first outer Fortress of Neus. It was a massive stone Keep, three towers standing tall over a small town encircled by a wall of Onyx. "That belongs to the Volkov family."

Isaac said with a frown.

"From here it will be another day to reach Neus itself." He said with a glance to Layla. "We'll find a tavern."

The Warlock declared, deciding it was better than sleeping in the wilds.

 

[LaylaMoreno]

Layla had listened to the old man's descriptions of the city but they did not do it justice. This was only the first outer fortress and they still had more to go through. It was absolutely insane and she was absolutely excited for the possibilities.

"Yes, please. I need something warm and some food," she said in agreement on finding a tavern. She may be a shapeshifter who could get comfortable anywhere but she would always choose a bed over the ground. Always.

 

[Isaac]

Isaac lead them down the road and towards the great fortress.

It was a stark thing, among the snowy mountains, it's great onyx walls setting it apart from everything else. Nearly another hour passed before the three of them managed to reach the gates. Two men in heavy black armor stood in front of it, each holding a halberd twice the length of their body.

No travelers were on the road ahead of them, yet as Isaac and Layla approached neither of the men move to stop them. Isaac flickered a look towards their armor, frowning briefly, but they moved through the gate without commotion.

Beyond the walls they found a bustling city. Women and men flowing back and forth. Some carrying baskets, others driving carts. The Great Fortress lay ahead of them still, but a town spread out all around them. Eventually they made their way to a tavern, finding an Inn named 'The Twin Moons'.

"This will do." Isaac mused as he pushed open the door, holding it open for Layla.