12
Willow
Iaccepted the discount as adequate recompense as the final outcome was what I had been aiming for, more or less. Ghost was a shell of himself, the thirst, hunger, fever, and darkness all preying on his mind enough to make him hallucinate. I didn’t appreciate having to drop him off at the grooming parlor to get cleaned up, though. The one saving grace of that experience was that he’d fallen so deep under my spell, he was completely checked out. This meant he could be moved about like a doll, making the groomer’s job that much easier. I had them leave his beard stubble to a barely-there scruff just long enough to scratch deliciously as we kissed. I was under no illusion that would happen any time soon, though. There were better odds of him sucking me off, to be honest. I shivered with delight at the phantom caress against my thighs as I imagined this. Yes, this was the first thing I’d aim for. I’d decided. He was going to be my concubine and my assassin. It would help keep matters neat.
While I waited to pick him back up from the groomer, I took a bubble to the bank. Ash had not only duly produced a shopping list of needs but had a tentative order ready with an Aesir weapons merchant. All I had to do was give it my seal and arrange for payment and the whole lot would arrive within hours. What we couldn’t get on such short notice from the merchant, Ash was arranging to buy locally. There was one item on the list that raised my eyebrows, though, a kami-spun silk set of pajamas with a matching robe. Imbued with the magic of the gods, weapons that were thrust through the fabric would be unable to harm me. The cost of just that alone was equal to what I could make selling a single haul of fairy dust. Speaking of which, after spending as much as I have, I really needed to broker another deal. I made a mental note to shimmer a message to Alpha Wilcox. If memory served me right, the time for their bi-annual interpack run was coming up, and his pack was due to host. There was usually a massive party after and I’m sure they would need plenty of dust.
My business at the bank complete, I bubbled back to the groomer. They were just blowing his hair dry. His scrubbed skin shone, glitter from a will o’ the whisp shining almost bashfully from his now completely void of hair body. It drew even more attention to his dark locks atop his head and that sexy stubble, making me want to sink my teeth into him to see if he tasted as good as he looked. I bet he would, given his natural scent. His flaccid cock was now shown to full advantage, too, begging to be toyed with. That wasn’t why he’d been shaved, though. This was yet another example being made to him, showing him that I had full control. It was a lesson I’d let him find out for himself after I got him home and put to bed, allowing him to sleep off the rest of my magic’s influence. It was a real shame he’d be out of it so unable to enjoy his first bubble ride.
I paid the groomer and led him out using the new leash fastened to the harness the groomer sold me, along with a pair of soft-soled slippers and a loincloth. The harness was made of braided silk rope which went around his throat, crisscrossing his chest and back. The leash attached to the back, where one tug would hold him back and snap release would allow me to let him free. I’m sure he’ll hate it, but it’s a necessary tool to show that he’s currently in training. Trained pets and servants are allowed to walk on their own, and if they do something that breaks the rules, they face the full consequences. He was too new at this to let that happen to him. He’d break a rule within the first five minutes and never know it until he was sentenced for it on the spot. The harness and lead also make it easy for me to get him to trail along with me in the current state he’s in, with no risk of someone luring him away. The rules are quite clear; any master foolish enough to allow their servant or pet to be pied away loses the said property.
We made it to the corner where the bubble station was without too much trouble. He was stumbling around less and his eyes had stopped watering. He sounded less stuffed up, too, as he breathed. He still shivered a bit and when I ran a hand along his back, I realized he still felt warmer than he should. He needed to be fed a tonic to finish purging whatever ailed him. I was sure I have some in my medicine chest and if not, I could have one delivered easy enough. We stepped into the next empty bubble, him now cognizant enough to hesitate before plunging through its membrane. As we began to float, he looked about dreamily.
“Is like Willy Wonka,” he said, wonder coloring his tone. I shudder at that. Wonka was infamous across the realms. A changeling who grew up, he re-crossed back to the Veil via a fairy ring, before returning to the human world after kidnapping a tribe of Coca Locas from the Kat Kit region of the realm of Shugah. If that wasn’t bad enough, he paid a Sandman to drop a twisted version of events into a human’s dreams. That human wrote a children’s story that became a classic that they’ve immortalized in film. With Wonka as a hero, no less! Madness!
Still, he went about it all while following the rules, so it was a permitted Mayhem. It cost the Sidhe Court a lot of bother politically, though, as he had been one of their theirs. Queen Nougat and King Mint of Shugah did not relent, and the two realms remained at an impasse to this day despite Wonka’s daughter, Charlotte, having repatriated the Cocoa Locas who wished to return.
Ghost said nothing else until we landed. Then he gave a small giggle, which made my mouth twitch as it was so out of character for him. He looked at me with a goofy smile. “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”
Uh oh. That glitter obviously was laced with a small amount of fairy dust. My human was flying higher than the bubble we just landed in. I gave his leash a gentle tug.
“Come on, let’s get home.” We had to cross the no flying zone around my building and it was getting late.
“The bricks aren’t yellow!” he pouted.
Nope, and they weren’t bricks, either. It was past time to get him into bed.
