Hi all! Annabelle here, and I'm back with some island magic!
New reader? You're gonna be confused. This is a spinoff of HFHM that takes place during Book Three, so there's kind of a lot going on.
Returning reader? Welcome back! To recap, Dana and Lily have arrived in Hawaii, ready to track down the Dragon Seed, which is in the hands of the mysterious Tristan Edge.
I hope you have fun with this next chapter and that it can bring you a little joy this month. Thanks for all the kind words and ratings, it's definitely helped keep me going this winter. Future release dates are in my bio, so go check it out and plan accordingly ☺️
Without further ado, welcome to
The Party
Cyrus closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose, allowing the natural humidity of the island to flood through his sinuses. Memories of trips to Greece, South Africa, and even parts of the Philippines while hunting a rogue naga flitted behind his eyes, but he tuned them out. There was something about the scent of salt in the air that relaxed him, made him feel at ease. Maybe someday, if he lived long enough, he would retire off the coast and take up fishing. Or maybe even stand up paddleboarding. Whatever it was he decided on, it would be infinitely easier than tracking down and hunting cryptids.
He had stopped at the bottom of the boarding stairs, his hand on the rail. Behind him, he heard Amida clear his throat.
"I don't mean to rush you, Master Cyrus, but this box is getting heavy."
"My apologies." Cyrus moved to the side and watched Amida step off the stairs carrying a wooden crate. They had taken a private plane from Montana in the early hours, which also meant that they had brought some additional cargo that was due to arrive anyway. Inside the crate were replacement parts for a device meant to block sonar, which allowed the local mermaid colony to avoid detection by the navy.
Amida handed the crate over to a member of the Order wearing an aloha shirt and strings of wooden beads around his neck.
"I have a change of clothes for you," said the local, then set the crate in the passenger seat of an unmarked van parked on the tarmac. He opened the rear door and pulled out some plastic tubs. "You will fit in better in these, and it won't be so hot."
Tasia took her box and opened it, then let out a snort. "I can't remember the last time I wore so little," she declared.
"Then maybe you need to take more vacations," Cyrus told her, then picked up the tub with his name on it.
They had already tracked down Tristan Edge through the use of their psychic, and were planning to infiltrate a party he was throwing tonight at an estate he had rented for a porn shoot. It bothered him a bit that they were going in blind, but this was hardly the most dangerous mission he had been on.
That, and despite their difficulties with the succubus, Amida and Tasia were the best of their generation. They wouldn't be doing it alone either, and he waited for the rest of his team to receive their gear. Local support would be ready for them if they needed it, but the Hawaiian team's specialty was largely rooted in keeping the locals from harassing the cryptids who lived in the area.
He had a strong feeling that he would need the fighters he had brought. Tasia had stripped her clothes off already next to Amida, who was now also naked. Both of them put on clothes that made them look like tourists, though Tasia still carried a regal air about her. She was in a one-piece suit with cloth shorts, and she strapped her collapsed sword to her leg. The blade shimmered and disappeared under the simple glamour, and Amida slid his ten-inch wand into the pocket of his trunks, which were only a few inches deep at most.
They may look like beach bums in the making now, but the magical gear was top notch.
"Master, are you going to change?" asked someone behind him.
Cyrus smirked and stripped off his clothes. When his shirt came off, he heard everyone else go silent for a moment, most likely at the scars along his back. He pushed back the memory of a biting spider swarm and slid into a pair of cargo shorts with comfortable sandals beneath. He put on an aloha shirt of his own, then went through the pockets of his jacket to get everything he needed.
It was with a small amount of sadness that he watched them pack away his jacket. He couldn't remember the last time he had been without it, and it felt like it was somehow the last time he would ever see it.
"Hmmph." He snorted away the thought, then looked at the others. "Are we ready?"
Tasia undid her ponytail so that her hair tumbled free around her shoulders. She ran her fingers through it and then pulled a pair of sunglasses from the small beach bag she was carrying and slipped them over her face.
"Let's go carve ourselves a dragon," she stated, then moved toward a group of SUVs that had been parked behind the van. She got into the driver's seat and rolled down the window, and Amida got in the passenger seat. Cyrus joined a pair of young women in the back, and opened up his laptop.
"Class is officially back in session," he announced, certain that this hunt would go far better than the last. The succubus had caught everybody off guard, and had reminded him that he needed to be thinking ahead. He stuck his hand in his pocket and gripped the metal cross tucked within.
And if that succubus showed up again, he would be ready for her.
🏝️🏝️🏝️
The beach was crowded with people that smelled to Dana like hundreds of sizzling burgers on a grill. Even the scent of sunscreen failed to overpower the odor of ballpark franks that wafted off of a pair of coeds who were busy sunning their backs with their bikini tops undone.
"There's so much exposed flesh out here," remarked Lily. "I can't tell you how much arousal I can sense, it's like ambrosia."
"Aren't you hot in those boots?" asked Dana. Lily was in a barely-there bikini, but still wore her thick leather boots. Other beach goers were reflected in the shiny black leather of her boots, and more than a few people stared at her. "Why not take them off, get some sand between your toes?"
"Maybe I like standing out." She cocked her hip toward an older man with curly white hairs on his chest and a large belly. He was staring at her while eating a massive ice cream cone. She pulled up on one of her straps, causing the back of her bikini to disappear between her buttcheeks, then bent forward a little.
The man dropped his cone onto the hot sand and swore to himself before picking it up and taking it to the trash.
"You're gonna give someone a heart attack," Dana told her.
