CHAPTER#45

"Am I different though?" Mike stroked Naia's head, guiding her back to his cock. "The soul exchange, my new danger sense. There's no way I should be able to keep up with all of you sexually, but here we are."

"Indeed." Naia's hands were glowing, a blue aura that spread across Mike's lower body. "That would be the nymph magic. Able to please at a moment's notice."

"Then I am different." Mike said.

"You are the same person you have always been. You've just been given certain... gifts." Her hands moving faster, Mike's stomach tensed up and he felt an orgasm build in his gut. He pushed it back, but the sensation persisted, building up like static between them. Naia's eyes were suddenly uncertain, her gaze fixated on the head of his cock.

"What's wrong?" Mike asked, but Naia sucked him into her mouth, using the back of her throat to fellate him. Mike groaned, and Naia bobbed her head up and down even faster. He tightened his stomach, breathing deeply to hold back. The light radiated down his legs, creeping up toward his head. The bathroom lights flickered, the floor by the tub creaking as the pressure in the room built.

"Naia!" Mike's whole body tensed up, but he fought back. Tiny spheres of water hovered up between them, sparkling with an inner light of their own. Naia pulled her head off the shaft of his penis, the room flooding with light as sparks flew between them, dancing across the surface of the water. Mike's legs kicked out, splashing the bathroom with water. Naia looked up at the flickering lights as they crawled across the ceiling, migrating out to the rest of the house.

"What was that?" Mike asked.

"I don't know." Naia frowned. "That isn't my magic."

"Wait." Mike sat up in the tub. "What do you mean it isn't yours?"

"I think I summed it up." Naia shrugged, her breasts rippling pleasantly in the water. "No idea. I was using a spell to assess your overall health, and that magic began to resonate with mine. It's very wild, very old magic. It reminds me of my fountain when I was freshly created." Naia's eyes focused somewhere on the past. "I don't know if it's from the Mandragora, or something else."

"Is it dangerous?" Mike asked.

"Not at all." Naia raised a finger. Several of the sparks fell from the ceiling, dancing circles around her hand. "It seems familiar somehow, and-" One of the sparks touched Naia's finger, and her whole body went rigid. "Oh. Oh!"

"What is it?"

Naia grinned. "Mike, did something happen between you and Cecilia?"

"A few times, but you know about that." Mike shivered, the water suddenly cold. "Am I okay?"

"Yeah, you're okay." Naia splashed him. The water was suddenly warm again. "Cecilia has left a mark of her own on you. When you get a chance, you should ask her about it."

"I'll add it to the list of things I'll try not to forget." Mike stood, water running off his back. "I guess I'd better start my morning. Any last minute advice?"

Naia nodded. "Yeah. Don't fuck up."

"Thanks." Mike tried to splash her back, but Naia had already disappeared beneath the water. He got out of the tub, throwing on a white shirt and his pants from yesterday. Pulling up on his jeans, something slipped out of the pocket, clattering on the floor.

"Oh." Mike picked up the crystalline necklace, inspecting it for the first time. It was a pretty blue color, and it felt cool to the touch. He flicked off the lights in the bathroom and cupped his hands together. Peeking through a gap in his fingers, he confirmed that the stone was, in fact, glowing with an inner light of its own.

That figured. The witch Sarah had been wearing a magical necklace. But what did it do? He briefly debated putting it on to see what would happen, and was immediately assailed by an image of Tink smacking him on the back of the head. Granted, she would need to be standing on something, but the image was enough. He slipped it into his pocket, reminding himself to ask Naia about it later.

In the kitchen, he heated up a couple of Eggos, loading them up with butter, peanut butter, and then syrup. He wasn't very hungry, his nerves on edge, but he knew that he would need the energy for what was coming next. Swallowing his breakfast in ungodly large bites, he casually tossed his plate in the sink, then walked over to the door just past the kitchen.

The door to the basement. Taking a deep breath, he walked down the long steps, wondering briefly just how far down they went. The basement itself wasn't large, and the walls were all poured concrete. By the freezer, he knelt down and found the piece of chalk that Tink had left here. Drawing a door on the wall, he knocked on it, using the pattern that Tink had taught him.

His stomach dropped when nothing happened. Just as he got ready to knock again, the chalk lines glowed brightly and the door appeared before him. He pulled it open, staring at the strange treasures lining both sides of the wall. The Vault was supposed to be a storage place for the most dangerous of items in the house, but it looked more like an antique store that had gone to shit. An old music box, a conch shell with dried blood on it, and even an Elvis bobble head. He paused at this last one, leaning in for a closer look. As soon as he was near it, he saw the faint wobble of the over-sized head, and immediately backed away.

Careful not to touch anything, he crossed to the back of the room. Sitting inside of a glass display case was a creepy looking porcelain doll. The doll regarded him with cold, lifeless eyes.