“Cum for me,” he whispered.
That was all I needed to finish. He unloaded inside me, and I let out everywhere. Our stomachs, the mat, possibly a few spurts on my face. Or maybe it was sweat or possibly drool. I didn’t know. I lay with Milo collapsed on top of me, unable and unwilling to move. All I wanted was to bask in the post-coital glow and the comfort of Milo’s body pressed to mine.
Overthe next few days, I took Milo’s suggestion to heart. I needed to prioritize my work on searching for the Celestial Coven, to give Gladiatrix a lead she could use to finally put an end to this organization. And I also needed to check on my students. I couldn’t ignore them if I wanted. My telepathy wouldn’t allow such things.
So, while I went about my day at Cerberus, working on paperwork and channeling magic for my manifestations to harness from a distance, I looped my telepathy around the city and followed closely to my students during their internships.
Currently, I found myself drawn to Yaritza as I’d gone far too long ignoring her pain. Unintentionally or not, I’d never noticed the deeply etched depression she masked.
Yaritza, Jamius, and Melanie followed close behind Enchanter Ortiz, who’d gone with simple patrol work since, like many guilds, cases had been slow as of late. Ortiz wore a leather jacket, no shirt, and ripped jeans with more holes than fabric. Supposedly, this stylistic wardrobe had to do with his primal branch burning hot at all times—even in the bitter chill of autumn weather. Personally, I figured he liked to add to his bad boy heartthrob image.
Name: Santos Ortiz
Branch: Primal (Fire)
Unlike Melanie, Ortiz could create and control flames. Additionally, his fire burned white and black, each possessing unique qualities. I’d wager they were more on the arcane degree than the primal, but his license claimed they were purely primal.
“It’s always important to remain vigilant and public.” Ortiz kept them on the main streets, casting small black flames on the alley streets, to lure in wisps and small fiends for him to banish.
Only, he didn’t banish them. Instead, he allowed the fiends to feed upon his flames, absorbing the magic and swelling in size. Once they’d devoured the nearby magic, they consumed the lingering wisps, growing more in the process.
“Oh, I got it.” Yaritza took a step forward, but Ortiz blocked her path.
“Wait for it.”
And in a matter of seconds, the fiend sniffed the barren street and lunged into busy traffic searching for a new bounty. Cars swerved, but thanks to well-timed telekinesis, Ortiz prevented a collision.
“The most important part of our job.”
“Protecting people,” Yaritza said.
Ortiz scoffed. “Hardly.”
The fiend drew the attention of others, and soon they’d blocked off the entire road. Traffic came to a halt, and people squirmed uncomfortably in their cars as the fiends searched for magic to consume.
“In order for the public to be grateful to guilds, they have to see us in action.” Enchanter Ortiz lunged ahead, abandoninghis interns and demonstrating his public prowess. In a few swift blows, he hurled white flames at the fiends, lacing banishment into his deadlier white fire, while levitating with an extra boost from his black flames.
The fire was all for show. Completely unnecessary for casting against such small threats, but Ortiz wanted the public to clamor, to stare in awe, to see his majestic strength. And they did. People rolled down their windows to cheer him on, to applaud his valiant efforts. All completely oblivious to the fact he’d orchestrated this little inconvenience before resolving it.
I tsked, nearly drawn back to my mind on the other side of the city. I wished Enchanter Ortiz’s behavior was an outlier of uncommon practices. Sadly, too many enchanters relied on these strategies to gain public notoriety.
“You see,” Ortiz said, returning to his interns. “It’s that small inconvenience that reminds people why they need guild involvement.”
“But you could’ve stopped the fiends on the streets,” Jamius said. “We could’ve filmed it. Shown everyone how important—”
“Banishment posts rarely go viral,” Ortiz interrupted. “No. Citizens need to see firsthand how much we help them. They need to feel the threat looming near them. These reminders are good for everyone.”
“How so?” Jamius raised a brow, skeptical but curious.
“If we help them without their knowledge, they just see us as overpaid slackers,” Ortiz explained. “So, I do my part by allowing the threats to lurk a little closer than some would prefer. It’s a healthy reminder that if they want to stay safe, they’ll always vote pro guild and do their part to pay the way to keep our salaries competitive.”
I rolled my eyes. Ortiz’s obnoxious ideology on guild philosophy would definitely worm its way into my students’ heads. Hopefully, they’d see through his shallow behavior given time.
“Normally, we wouldn’t spend our days patrolling the same streets on repeat,” Ortiz said. “But cases are always slower closer to the holidays. No one wants to waste money on demonic energy or warlocks when they have to budget for flights home, presents, decorations, and everything else. It’ll pick up after Christmas.”
Yaritza, Jamius, and Melanie grumbled, trying to imagine how boring it’d be following Ortiz on street patrols for the next few months with no real work.
“Could we maybe search another neighborhood?” Yaritza asked.
