Stronger Together chapter 206 (Patreon)

Raven pretty much passed out after we were done and I picked her up  and carried her down the hall to where Cinder and Barb were sleeping.  The bed was pretty soaked and I didn't feel like changing the damn  sheets so we just dropped into bed with our girlfriends and curled up  together. After a nice restful sleep I woke up earlier than any of the  others and climbed out of bed, kissing them each on the forehead and  leaving a note that I was going out to explore around the castle.

I  padded to the bathroom Benjamin in my original room, stopping to leave a  note for Louise to change the sheets, and then climbed into the shower.  The shower was every bit as gorgeous outside as in. With dark brown  tiles along the walls and a slightly ridged floor to provide traction.  Across from the shower head was a small marble bench you could sit on  and still be in the spray if you aimed the head up. I turned the hot  water on full blast and sat back and just let the burning liquid pound  out all my stress and tension.

Great sex followed by a  nice long relaxing shower was exactly what I needed, and I stopped to  turn the knob outside the shower for the steam and flipped the shining  metal grate at the top of the opaque door closed to keep the heat in and  just lounged in the cloud of heated moisture. I inhaled deeply, my  powerful lungs immune to the heat of the steam and released the breath,  reveling in the joy of complete relaxation.

After fifteen  minutes of that followed by another ten of vigorous scrubbing with some  very nice loofas and some top of the line bathing products I didn't  recognize I felt completely rejuvenated. I toweled off with the softest  towel I'd ever felt and headed out to grab some clothes before I made my  way down to breakfast. The dining room was easy enough to find, it was  the biggest room, and pretty well lit, and when I got there I couldn't  help but grin. I could see the room had been prepared for me in advance,  and I was loving it.

The huge intricately carved wooden  table was piled with food. Platters and plates of fruit and meat and  eggs. I saw blintzes and crepes and pancakes and danishes and muffins.  Country fried steak and hash browns and a dozen other foods, though all  already partially demolished by the ravenous blonde brawler sitting  alone at the table, taking on a mountain of breakfast like she was  climbing Kilimanjaro. She saw me come in and grinned, showing teeth with  food stuck between them, but never stopped gorging herself.

Not  to be outdone I grabbed a plate and piled it with a few things, some  scrambled eggs with cheese, a country friend steak, a delicious pile of  cheese and fruit danishes and a blueberry muffin, before I sat down next  to Yang and started my own war on breakfast. The food was amazing of  course, and I had no clue where they got fresh baked danishes, but I  assumed it was in the nearby village. Speaking of which, I turned to  Yang swallowing before I spoke. "Hey, I was going to go out exploring,  want to join?"

Yang didn't  bother swallowing first, just responding with a muffled "Sure." and an  enthusiastic nod, though in her defense she kept her mouth shut enough  that no food flew out. I just chuckled and went back to eating, and with  no talking we both finished our food in maybe ten or fifteen minutes.  Then we got up and headed outside. I turned to Yang "So I think I have  like eleven cars here. You want to drive or walk?" I hadn't checked the  garage, but Mina had mentioned one and I had a fucking plane, no way my  garage wasn't tricked out.

Yang  just chuckled with a shrug. "Let's just walk. We're exploring anyway  and it's not like we're getting tired anytime soon is it big man." That  was a valid point so I gave a return shrug of my own and we headed out  in a random direction. She smirked at me. "So heard you give it to Rae  last night. You were putting it to her good from the sound of it. It  alway's blows my mind how dirty and loud she is. This was only my second  time hearing it, I can't imagine how Andi must have taken it." I'd been  expecting her to tease me about it, but honestly I didn't care about  the noise, I kind of thought it was hot.

I  just grinned at her. "Why? You jealous? But yeah you know she likes to  cut loose in bed. I think she was trying to mark her territory a bit.  With Mina and Louise and all the other girls I think even our super calm  Raven is feeling a bit of possessiveness." We turned down an old trail  and kept walking, away from the castle, though we always kept it  directly to our back so we could find our way home if needed. The forest  was gorgeous, tall and green and dark in a way younger forests never  get.

Yang  smiled slightly at the jealousy remark but her expression became  wistful. "This place is pretty. Reminds me a bit of Forever Fall. Same  kind of stillness and depth if that makes sense. That's where I first  met my team. At least as a team. I ran into them the night before but  Blake and I really became partners in a place like this." Her tone was  sad, but not heartbroken. Over the last year Yang had bonded with us and  started to heal. She still had trouble talking about Ruby, but she  could bring up Blake or Weiss without breaking down. She was sad but she  wished them well.

I  stepped up next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. "Sorry  Yang, I know it's tough. We're always here for you if you need us." She  gave me a sad smile but didn't say anything and we just kept walking.  The moss beneath our shoes was soft enough to feel like carpet and the  ground was thick and loamy, buckling with every step. I could smell the  thick scent of tree sap and growing things and if I focused hard I could  make out the faint patter of tiny animals climbing through the trees  around us.

We  walked like that for hours, just quietly enjoying nature. My phone was  one of our godsteel scroll phones and the things used a magic carrier  signal that meant you always had bars, so I wasn't too worried about  being unreachable. I just enjoyed my time with Yang. We didn't get  nearly enough time together these days, I'd gotten so wrapped up in my  relationship I'd let our friendship slide and I regretted that. Yang was  with the kids so much I barely saw her, and we just talked her and I as  we walked, about anything and everything.

Finally  after a few hours we came to a beautiful crystal clear lake. The sun  shimmered on the water and birds played in the shallow. It was idyllic  as hell. Yang was overjoyed and ran to the edge of the lake staring out  at all the animals and the cool water with a huge grin before she turned  to me. "Hey Cam let's go swimming!" I raised an eyebrow then waved an  arm at her. Having a metal limb is not great for flotation. I could swim  of course but it was exhausting and almost no fun at all. Yang just  rolled her eyes, stuck out her tongue and stripped off her shirt and  shorts, showing off a lilac bra and panty set.

I  just laughed at her. "You can go if you want but I don't want to spend  the day underwater trying to pry my heavy ass out of mud at the bottom  of the lake. I can hold my breath a long time but its just not worth the  trouble." Yang rolled her eyes and shook her ass at me teasingly before  diving into the water. She came up grinning, her beloved long hair  soaking wet. Then she put her hand behind her back and unclipped her  bra, slipping it out of the water, whirling it once above her head and  tossing it onto the beach. Then she dove under into the depths of the  lake.

I  rolled my eyes a bit. Yang was one of those people Raven and I had  discussed me sleeping with before. Rae assured me she had a crush, and  she was gorgeous, but I also knew Yang flirted with people she felt safe  with. I wasn't going to try anything after she'd been through so much.  If she wanted to get involved with us I had permission from the girls  but it would be at her pace. I was smiling casually and headed down to  the beach when I stopped in my tracks. I stared at the water. Hard. This  was a lake.

I  suddenly remembered something Barb had said on the plane about a local  lake being some kind of gateway to a demon school. I stopped to ponder. I  weighed the possibility of this being the exact lake that had been  mentioned against my almost freakish tendency to get into horrifying  situations. Then I started cursing. I raced to the edge of the water,  shouting for Yang, who surfaced with a puzzled frown. "Yang! Get out!  This lake is too close to the castle, Barb told me a story about some  weird demon lake near us I totally spaced on it until just now. You have  to get out!" I didn't know if anything was actually wrong with the lake  of course, but I wasn't risking it.

All  playfulness and teasing was gone from Yang's face. She looked around  suspiciously, eyes flashing red and hair turning to white gold flames,  which unfortunately clashed with the water making steam. She didn't see  anything and started paddling for the shore. My eyes however were locked  on the center of the lake, where the water was bubbling and churning.  Seemingly immediately after Yang's hair caught alight the center of the  lake began to slowly spin. The water picked up speed as Yang activated  her Aura to swim back but somehow the distance to the shore seemed to  stretch.

The  lake water picked up speed, the vortex sinking deeper and the walls of  water around it becoming more and more steep. At the bottom, blazing  with a flickering light, was another vortex, this one of fire. Scarlet  flames that I knew would smell like brimstone. I cursed loudly and  stripped off my shirt, grabbing Yang's clothes as I went by so she  wouldn't be so vulnerable on the swim back, then I dove into the lake,  swimming hard to get to her. The water sucked down at me, dragging me  under, not just my own weight but the vortex itself but still I swam. I  had to get to Yang.

She  was panicking, clearly freaking out over this madness, and I cursed  myself for mentioning it to her. Yang's powers came from soulfire like  mine. Her hair lit with soulfire through her Aura every time she used  her semblance now. This was a demon portal, and hellfire and soulfire  did not get along. I swam against the current and my own weight, and  only my unnatural strength made it possible. I channeled a force Aura to  exert more strength, and considered a wind aspect but I was worried if I  phased through the water I'd fall right to the bottom.

Finally  I reached her, pulling her against me and shoving her clothes at her.  Then I turned and started to swim towards the shore. Or I would have. If  the fucking shore didn't appear miles away now. The space seemed to  stretch before us and as I swam the whirlpool expanded, getting deeper  and steeper as it widened. Finally the wall of water grabbed us and  started to whirl us in a circle. I tried to fight free but we were flung  out into the empty space over the flickering hellfire pool I wrapped a  shield around us, pulling Yang tightly against me and turned so my back  would hit first, and we fell screaming into a portal to hell.