Chapter 195

Russo’s POV

Randy nodded slowly in agreement, though I could see on his face he still found the whole situation utterly distasteful. I fully agreed but Lisa did have a minor point. Helen wasn't hanging from chains or something in the Huntsman's basement, And he wasn't making her watch him pluck the wings off pixies.

Helen might be a captive, and he might be using her, but the fallout could be dealt with later. And the focus right now really did need to be on bringing the Huntsman down.

I turned to Lisa. “You have the ink boiling. What else do we need to get done? Let's make sure that everything is ready to go. Absolutely nothing should get in our way of making this ritual happen.”

She nodded. “We have the ink ready. We have the herbs we need. Those will get burned or sprinkled during the ritual, at least the ones that weren't used in the ink. But we need one other thing to make this happen. We need a sacrifice.”

“Please tell me you mean like a goat,” Randy said.

She let out a hard laugh, just once which didn't contain any humor. “Not what I mean at all. And I don't mean some virgin sacrifice or something morbid like that, either. You've heard the saying blood, sweat, and tears being put into something?”

“Yes.” Randy and I both nodded our heads.

“Well for magic, that's usually literal, but for this rite it's more than just those. I'll need blood, sweat, tears, and . . .” She blushed and turned away. “Semen. The elements in the sacrifice need to represent life, death, work, and sadness.”

She cleared her throat. “There's actually one other ingredient which needs to represent joy. Think of the pentagram we’re using like a five-pointed compass for life. But I've got the joy taken care of.”

“Well, the blood would be death,” Randy mused. “The sweat would be work. The tears would be sadness. So, I guess the semen would represent life?” Randy asked it as a question.0

Lisa nodded her head.

“So, then what's joy?” I asked her.

“Joy is liquid sunshine.”

“How do you make that?” Randy asked, scratching his head.

“It's not something you make. It's something you collect. Usually liquid sunshine is condensed in pure water in a pool on sunny days, and then it's further amplified by running raw magic through it in a non-conductive glass vial. Luckily for you guys, it's also used in some of the potions that I like to make so I already had a vial of it.”

This made me pause. I cocked my head, looking at her. “When did you leave to go get anything from your old house? You were never gone long enough for that.”

She gave me a mysterious grin. “I didn't leave and go back to my own house, if that's what you want to know. And I'm sorry. The answer is one more of my little secrets that you're just going to have to wonder about. But trust me. I’ve got the liquid sunshine. Joy is taking care of.”

She focused on Randy. “Each of the other ingredients needs to come from a different person.” She handed him a vial of transparent glass. “I need you to get Justin's tears. You can thank the Huntsman for breaking his heart because those are the perfect sort of sadness for the concoction I need as an offering.”

She handed him a second vial. This time it was made out of a black glass. “This one is for sweat. Make sure you get it off the warriors when they're working hard training and getting ready for the night of the ritual. The sweat of impending battle will definitely be strong enough for what I need.”

She held out her hand. “Give me your wrist.”

“What for?” Randy asked suspiciously.

“I'm going to take your blood before you leave.”

“Why do I have to give the blood?”

“Pouting isn’t a good look on you, Randy,” I pointed out. “Just give her your wrist.”

“I'm not suicidal. I don't want her to slit my wrists.”

She grabbed Randy's hand and held up a pin, pricking the inside of his wrist. She then squeeze several drops into a third vial, this one in red glass.

“I don't need that much, just a little bit of blood for the offering.”

“Well why did it have to be me?”

“Because you're here and you’re handy. And each of the four elements needs to come from four different bodies. And I need Russo’s,” she patted my shoulder, “semen.”

This time both of us blushed. “I'm giving that d-donation?” I stuttered.

“You're giving that donation,” she confirmed. “It needs to be from someone who's desperate to create life.”

My jaw fell open. “I am not! I’ve never even thought about kids. How could I be desperate to create life?”

“Because from your seed comes more fae. Of course, you’re desperate to create life. If you could use your sperm to rebuild your entire race, would you?”

“Well, I don't know about an entire race,” I said. “But if I thought donating that stuff would help bring the fae back from extinction, then yeah I guess I would.”

She nodded her head. “Which means that your essence is perfect for what I need.”

“And when were you going to tell me this?” I demanded. “I had no idea.”

She blushed and turned away from me, looking intently at the floor. “I hadn't quite figured out how to ask. It's not really a topic one just brings up over lunch, you know?”

I chuckled. “Well, you might be right about that. Regardless, I'm happy to make a donation.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Most men are.”

“Anyhow,” Randy said uncomfortably, “that would be my cue to leave. I don't need to hang around and watch that donation happen.”

He held up the other two vials. “I'll go gather the rest of this stuff. It's a lot less disgusting.”

He turned and gave Lisa a wicked grin. “You think you can handle getting the last ingredient on your own?”

She definitely caught his double meaning because she turned bright red instantly. “I don't necessarily have to handle it,” she said. “He can do that in his own.”

I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I wouldn't mind help.”

“Oh! My pot. I’d better make sure nothing is burning.” Lisa hurried out of the living room leaving Randy and I alone.

Randy headed for the door, drawing a deep breath in through his nose and letting it out slowly through his mouth. “All I can say is you have fun donating that last ingredient. I hope that works out well for you. And, uh, yeah. I'm out of here.”

He turned without another word and left in a hurry. Not that I blamed him.

When he left, Lisa poked her head back in from the kitchen. “So . . . the donation?” she said very slowly. “H-how would you like to go about giving that?”

A snarky response flew from my lips before I could stop it. “I'd like to put the donation directly inside you.”

I clapped both my hands over my mouth, my eyes going wide. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

She stared straight at me. “We'll get there eventually. I just agreed to marry you, so obviously I'm not opposed to having sex with you, but unfortunately putting this particular donation inside my body would contaminate it in a way that we couldn't use it in the ritual. The donation has got to go straight in a jar.”

I took several steps toward her, slipping my hand around her waist. “Would it contaminate the donation if we got me ready to donate inside you?”

“Are you asking if you can have sex with me, and then pull out and finish in a jar?” She shook her head. “I never thought that would be a sentence I would ever have to say out loud.”

This drew laughter from me. “Yes, I guess that's exactly what I'm saying.”

She shook her head. “Men. Can't live with them, can't live without them. No. Anything substances from me that make it into that vial would contaminate the offering, so you can't do it that way.”

I guess I must have looked pathetic because she pressed her lips together, tapping her chin. “On the other hand, we might be able to pull some fun out of this.”

She disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a couple leaves of aloe. “I could use this as a lubricant. It won't contaminate the sample, and I could help you give the sample.”

In answer, I gave her a deep kiss, fanning my fingers across her back, up underneath her loose hair. I loved this woman so much. Adversity definitely made a potent aphrodesiac because never in a million years would I have thought my heart could be captured by somebody else in less than two weeks.