Queen of Ruin(Book three of the Immortals Series)
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR THE VISION

As she breathed against his chest, Tessa's hot breath sent vibrations through his skin, making Rafik look up from the page he was on to glance down over her. Smiling to himself at the prize that Fate had bestowed on him, Rafik pushed his head back into the sand-littered blanket and returned to Odysseus' adventure while he let her sleep the day away.

While she strolled down the unfamiliar path through a dense forest in her dream, Tessa looked around at the trees and crossed her arms as she tried to figure out where she was. Coming to a clean, rocky stream, she heard the faint cries of a baby and Rafik singing their song.

She delicately hopped across the smooth stones then stood before a gate with giant ancient statues to each side.

An older warlock with long black hair and green robes nodded his head to her. "Welcome to the North Woods, Your Majesty. Your family is waiting for you."

When she passed through the giant stone guards that kept watch over the city, she found herself surrounded by wooded cliffs and waterfalls and found her parents waiting by a cobblestone path. Her mother kissed her cheek and held out her hand. "They are waiting by the docks."

As she came to the boardwalk over the hill, she saw Rafik standing by the sea holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket. When he sensed Tessa near, he turned around and smiled. "We are here when you are ready, Rohi."

She put her hand on her chest as she inched across the old rough boards, and her heart pounded beneath her fingers as it called out to them. When she stood before Rafik, he placed the baby in her arms.

While he waited by the path with her parents, Tessa stood by the sea and rocked the little bundle in her embrace as she hummed their tune. The smell of the salty air had nothing on the sweet, soft scent of Rafik on the newborn's curly, black hair as she lifted her to her nose and took a deep breath of her baby.

Bringing the sweet girl up to her shoulder, she bounced her as she patted her bottom and slowly paced the dock when the baby began to stir. Glancing down at her angelic buttery bronze cheeks, Tessa rubbed the tip of her nose into the fat, round curve of them.

The warmth of her little Firebreather against her skin made the dreaming witch stretch out in Rafik's arm like an old, lazy dog laying by the fireplace, making him shift away from her and put down the book he was reading. As the little, perfect brown-eyed daydream began to yawn a noisy baby breath, Tessa's eyes snapped open.

When the cawing of a bird woke her from her afternoon nap, she rolled out of his arm and turned over, then rested her cheek against his chest. "You won't believe the dream I was having. We had a baby with the softest, fattest cheeks I've ever seen. She was beautiful."

He smiled and slid his fingertips against her back as he continued reading. "Of course she is. You are her mother."

She hummed to herself with the drunken smile only the warm air and smell of the beach can bring as the premonition drifted away on the Mediterranean breeze out into the space where dreams and wishes live.

"Do we really have to go back?" Tessa looked up from Rafik's chest. The warm sun hugged her skin as his godly face reflected back to him in her sunglasses. "I'm not sure I can face another cold, damn rainy day in England."

He rubbed his hand back and forth across her hot, sun-kissed skin and sighed as he put his other arm behind his head. "We have obligations to tend to, my love. Delia was kind enough to give us this holiday to have a proper honeymoon. We can come back next weekend and every other one after that if you wish."

As she squished the sand between her toes, she swayed against her hand with the breeze and hummed their tune to him as she treasured the last fleeting moments of their holiday.

"Would you like to go in the waters once more, Rohi?" He pushed himself up on his elbow and motioned with his head towards the blue sea.

"Hell yes!" She placed a kiss on his chest, pushed herself up to her feet, and then gave Rafik her hand. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head as they walked in the hot sand.

Skipping into the waters with her proper witch cackle, she splashed at him as he tried to dodge it. They laughed like two children as he chased her down the water's edge and snatched her up in his arms. He dragged her along with him as he inched out into the sea. "You can't lose me; you take me with you wherever you go."

When they got hip-deep in the warm water, he pulled her on his lap, and she wrapped her legs around him as he dipped down and hovered there. They'd already showed the fish and any beachgoer with a voyeuristic streak an outstanding performance a few times over the last week, and this time would be no different.

Since they came back together again, there was scarcely a private moment that they didn't replace themselves intimately wrapped up together.

While the seawater enfolded her body, Tessa moved her bathing suit aside and slid down on Rafik's waiting cock. As he held her in place, she rocked her hips back and forth as the water splashed around them, and they gazed into each other's faces.

This beach and this sea were theirs, and she would always hate the dismal cold now. She never wanted to be anywhere else but on the hot beach with her mate between her tanned legs.

With her face against his neck, she moaned out against it as the mind-numbing pressure built inside. When the heat of his cum hit her walls, she shut her eyes tight as he grabbed her ass cheeks in his hands and thrust into her with a force that made her gasp.

Rafik hugged Tessa close and rubbed his hands up and down her back while the sea waters rocked them. "I will never forget this, Tessa. Even when I am dust, I will speak this day on the wind with me. I won't ever let the universe forget us." Kissing up the hot skin on his neck, she landed on his ear and nuzzled against his face. "I love you, baby."

As he rubbed his fingers in her hair, he kissed her cheek. "I love you too, Rohi."

Walking back to the house hand in hand, she glanced back at the water and sighed, knowing that by tonight she would be shut up in some drafty old castle again, counting the hours until they came back.

She planned to use every unfair argument in her arsenal to convince him that they should make Greece their forever home.

"How was the water?" Haldir glanced up from the table as Rafik closed the glass doors behind them.

Shaking out the sand from her hair, she raised her brows at Rafik. "Perfect. Orgasmic, even. Wasn't it, baby?"

"I agree.” His sun-tanned cheeks flushed pink at the secret they shared as he kissed her forehead and nodded to their room. "We should get back soon." Walking to Haldir, he held out his hand. "I shall see you again soon, Father." Laughing out in his raspy way, Haldir shook his hand and slapped his back. "See you soon, my boy."

As Rafik walked into the bedroom to warm the shower, Haldir wrapped his arm around Tessa's back. "He's a good kid. Alright, now, I left keys for all the properties in the drawer by the front door. If you need to drop out for whatever reason, just go. I'll figure it out when I come back."

"Jesus, Haldir, don't put ideas in her head." Teddy flopped down on the couch beside them and crossed his feet on the coffee table.

Grabbing the pillow from the couch, Haldir threw it at him. "Would you fucking listen for a second? If some shit goes down, whatever it is, just take the keys and go. Don't spend more than a week or two in one place. I'll replace you when I get back. There's money enough in all of the properties to last you until then. Don't worry about your shit, just bounce."

Tessa reached up on her tiptoes and kissed Haldir's cheek. "Don't worry yourself about us. We'll be fine. You be careful." Messing up his curly hair, Haldir rubbed Teddy's head. "Don't burn the place down while I'm gone. Love you guys."

When Haldir disappeared into his mist, Tessa leaned over the back of the couch and wrapped her arms around Teddy's neck. "I'm going to catch a shower; then we're taking off too. You sure you don't want to come along?" Shaking his head, he rubbed her arm. "No, Sugar. I'll be alright here. You are coming back next weekend, though, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir, we'll be here Friday afternoon ready to party." She kissed his cheek as she squeezed him. "I love you."

While she walked away, he called out to her. "I love you too."

After Tessa made the bed and Rafik shook his hand, Teddy crossed his arms and stood by as the rest of his family disappeared into nothing. Alone for the first time since he was a child, his heart became heavy, and he rubbed the choking feeling in his neck away.

Grabbing a couple of beers from the bar, he sat on the balcony and spent the evening witnessing the sunset on the horizon behind the water.

Without his sister and Haldir to keep his mind occupied, he quickly went to dark places.

As the warm, moist air circled him, it swept him back to the hot Savannah evening when he strolled beside Tessa to the Idrissi's mansion. Thinking back over the night his parents died, he walked through the steps his father made him memorize in case of emergencies. "First, grab your fucking bags."

The force of some other presence pulled his eyes back inside the house. He licked his lips and squinted his eyes as his father's voice reverberated in his ears. Like an invisible hand on his back was nudging him, he pushed himself up and strode back inside.

His bare feet slapped against the marble until he stopped at the table by the door. He opened the drawer and rifled around until he found the purple, velvet drawstring bag of keys.

As he walked back to his bedroom, he tossed the bag up in the air as a nagging feeling started in his gut. "I hear you, but why?"

Taking his bag of holding from his bottom drawer, he tossed the keys inside and shook his head as he thought. "Something's not right. What are you trying to tell me, Daddy?"

His palms were clammy and ached while his heart beat in his ears as he awaited whatever dark presence trying to make its way into his world. With the sense of impending doom thick in the air around him, he got dressed and finished off another bottle of beer as he tried to clear his mind.

Setting his empty bottle on the table beside his waiting bag, he sank back into the chair as the short prickly hairs started to rise on his arms. It was a warning sign that his father had, the haphazard beast inside tickling him to wake him up to the danger weaving itself into fruition.

Like a gunshot going off in his head, he got sucked into the black abyss with Tessa. Many sets of hands were pulling her, and she tried desperately to back herself away from the cliff. As he rushed to grab her back from the edge, she slipped from his fingers and dove headfirst into the darkness below. "Teddy, help me!"

The Greek villa fell around him like snowflakes as his eyes snapped open and melted into a pool of black. "I'm coming!"