Amplified Part One is now available for free. You can read it here.
This story first appeared in the 7 Sins: a Two of Crones Invitational Anthology.
Each contributor selected one of the Seven Deadly Sins to write about. It should surprise exactly no on that I chose Lust. You can find the anthology here.
Vesper
I locked the door behind Elijah. My entire body tingled, but deep inside, an icy void consumed my soul. Absence. Like a part of me had vanished when he left.
I touched my lips. I’d never been kissed like that in my life. My pulse kicked up. I steadied myself by grabbing the back of the couch.
Had I imagined feeling his emotions?
No, it was real.
What happened between us had been more than empathy. I hadn’t just known what he was feeling, I’d felt it like they were my own emotions.
I couldn’t think about that now. I got dressed then grabbed every reference book I owned and started cross-referencing. Summoning magic. Failed containment wards. Multiple victims. Dionysian symbols.
Hours later, I found it buried in an old textbook on ancient mystery cults.
Maenads.
Female followers of Dionysus who drove people into frenzied ecstasy. The ancient Greeks had feared these women who could incite entire villages to madness. Victims died in euphoria, their bodies unable to handle the sensory overload.
The accounts were vague on specifics like how they killed and what powers they actually possessed. But the symptoms lined up. The blissed-out expressions. The reek of sex at every scene. The way each victim seemed to welcome death.
Someone had summoned a maenad. Had to be one of the victims. The question was who and why it had turned them on.
My phone chimed with a text from Elijah.
Vics 2 and 3 had summoning experience. Found records.
My throat tightened. We’d landed on the same connection. I fired off a reply.
Meet me at The Bean now. I know what we’re hunting.
His response was immediate.
On my way.
Vesper
I arrived early and regretted it immediately. Tourists had overrun Millennium Park. They were all loud shirts, screaming kids, and bad manners.
I found a bench near The Bean and focused on my breathing rather than thinking about what happened between me and Elijah. My hands trembled. Withdrawal. From him.
At last, I spotted him across the park. He looked as wrecked as I felt. The thing between us jerked me to my feet.
I forced myself to stop five feet away.
The city moved around us. People were everywhere, their reflections caught in the stainless steel mirrored sheen of The Bean. Joggers, dog walkers, tourists. Nearby, someone was doing their best to destroy a song on an out-of-tune guitar.
“I talked to my contact,” I said, pulling out my phone. “All the vics practiced summoning magic. At least one specialized in Dionysian rites and rituals.”
Elijah ran a hand through his hair. “What feeds on lust and ecstasy until people die?”
“My working theory is a maenad.” I showed him my notes. “Female followers of Dionysus who drove people into frenzies of ecstasy. Crowds could descend into madness in their presence, and the overload of sensation killed them.”
Elijah’s face turned grim. “They’re extinct.”
“Maybe someone brought one back.” I pocketed my phone. “Sources are vague on how their powers work, but clear that their victims died in ecstasy.”
He stood in front of me now, and his body heat caressed my skin. “How do we stop her?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t find ‘How to Kill a Maenad for Morons’ in my research.”
He almost smiled.
I closed my eyes. “Goddess above, this is hell.”
“Look at me.”
I did. Big mistake.
The world tilted. His emotions crashed into mine, mirroring my own. Fear, lust, and desperate determination. And something that chilled me to the bone. Recognition. Like he’d been searching for me his whole life and finally found me.
“We have to find her,” I said, hating how my voice trembled.
Vesper
The next day we met at Navy Pier. The crisp lake breeze made me wish I’d worn something heavier than a denim jacket. It had the added benefit of ruffling Elijah’s perfect hair. I smiled around my coffee cup and tried to focus on his words instead of how gorgeous he was.
“We need to end this before we can’t stop ourselves,” he said. “Where would she go next?”
We volleyed locations until settling on Wicker Park.
“There’s a bar celebrating an anniversary this week,” I said. “Perfect hunting ground.”
He frowned. “We should scout the area.”
“You go. I’ll—”
“No. We stay together.”
“That’s asking for disaster.”
“The pull is worse when we’re apart. What if one of us goes feral and hunts the other down? This way, we can monitor each other. Maybe stay sane.”
I hated that he was right.
“Let’s go,” I said, spinning on my heel.
We took the L to Wicker Park, sitting on opposite ends of the train. Even with the distance and a handful of passengers between us, the magnetic pull threatened to force me closer. My skin had that too-tight feeling again. I drummed my fingers on my thigh.
He came closer after two stops, sitting a few seats away. “Stop fidgeting.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re acting like a junkie fiending for a fix.”
Annoyance welled up inside me as I stilled. “How’s your research going?” I asked to take my mind off his body so close to mine.
“Slow.” He looked at me and the connection snapped taut between us. “Every source I check mentions maenads in the past tense because we believed them to be extinct. Nothing about how to summon one.”
“People summon dangerous things all the time.” I stared out the window as the cityscape passed by in a blur. “Revenge, protection, power. Pretty much the same reasons they mess with any kind of magic they don’t understand.”
The train lurched around a curve. I grabbed the seatback for balance. My hand landed centimeters from his. Neither of us moved.
“Vesper,” he whispered.
“Don’t,” I said, hating the pleading tone in my voice.
“We should talk about—”
“No.” I kept my eyes on the window, staring at our reflections. “It didn’t mean anything.”
Frustration tightened his jaw. “Not true.”
“I know,” I said with a sigh. “But we have bigger problems. Let’s solve the murders and save our asses. If we do it right,” I gestured between us, “this should stop being an issue.”
“And if it doesn’t? What about us?”
“There is no us. It’s the curse.”
He laughed, dry and bitter. “Keep telling yourself that, Vesper.”
The train screeched to a halt. I bolted for the doors before I could do something stupid like admit he was right.
Elijah
I followed Vesper off the train, but let her keep space between us. It lasted all of five minutes, then step by step, the thing between us pulled us closer until we walked side by side.
Each accidental touch sent shocks rollicking through us every time our eyes met. We stopped apologizing for it in the first hour.
Vesper scrolled on her phone as we walked through the city. “The first victim specialized in Dionysian rites. Maybe he summoned the maenad deliberately.”
“And she killed him for it.” I kept my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching for her. “But why turn on your summoner?”
“Perhaps he attempted to control her, and she retaliated?”
She tried to cross the street, but a car blew through the red light. I yanked her back, touching her for all of two seconds.
Shocks like lightning strikes burned up my arms.
Our emotions slammed together. Frustration and fear and desire so deep my knees threatened to give out. The grimace on her face told me she suffered them too. My desperate ache for her. Hers for me. Our evaporating self-control that frayed by the second.
I let go and stepped back.
She waited until the road cleared then hurried across the street. I followed like a lost puppy. We kept moving. The pull got worse.
An hour later, she stopped. “We should grab lunch or something.”
“Not in the mood,” I snarled. The only thing I hungered for was her.
She leaned against a wall. “We need to do something.”
I closed the gap between us. “How long do you think we can keep this up?”
She looked up at me. “No idea.”
“I’m barely holding on.”
“Same.”
The city bustled around us. Traffic, people walking and talking, the distant wail of sirens.
“What if we—”
“Yes,” I said.
“I didn’t finish.” Amusement danced in her tired eyes.
“Don’t care. Let’s go.”
“You don’t know what I was going to say.”
“The fuck I don’t.” I brushed her lips with my fingertips. The contact zipped through us. “You were going to say we could give in. Stop fighting it. Get it out of our systems before we end up dead like the others.”
“No I wasn’t.”
I tilted my head.
“Okay, fine. That’s what I was going to say, but it’s a terrible idea.”
“Probably.”
“It could kill us. Like the others.”
“We might die tonight anyway.”
She leaned into me. “I hate that you’re right.”
“No, you don’t.” I angled her face up. She opened her eyes. “Tell me to stop, and I will. We’ll keep trying to maintain control.”
“Can we though?”
“Doubtful.” I traced her bottom lip with my thumb. She sucked in a breath that echoed in my lungs. “But I’ll try if it’s what you want.”
“I want you.”
The sound she made went straight to my cock. “My place is two blocks away.”
“Too far. There’s an alley over there.”
I pressed my forehead to hers. “I’m being a gentleman and asking to take you to my bed.”
Resolve flashed on her face as she grabbed my hand. “Two blocks. We can make it.”
We made it one.
Vesper
We gave up walking and darted into an alcove between buildings. Not quite private, but dark, and we were beyond caring.
He pushed me up against the brick wall and kissed me like his life depended on it. Maybe it did. His tongue invaded my mouth. Demanding. Possessive.
I gave as good as I got.
“We shouldn’t,” I whispered against his mouth.
He shut me up with another kiss. “Can’t wait.” He slid his hands under my shirt. Heat sizzled on my skin at his touch. “Need you now.”
“Someone could see.” I don’t know why I argued. I didn’t care. Let them watch.
He pulled back far enough to meet my eyes. “Tell me to stop.”
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
It was all the permission he needed.
He yanked my shirt and bra up. The crisp air hit my skin. With the heat between us, I barely felt the chill.
He found my breast with his mouth and sucked hard enough to make me gasp. Liquid heat pooled between my thighs as I arched into him, digging my nails into his shoulders.
“More,” I demanded.
“Greedy,” he said, but his hands were already in my jeans.
I fumbled for his belt. Our hands tangled, clumsy and desperate. My jeans and shoes ended up in a heap as I yanked his pants down. There was nothing gentle about it.
He lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around him. The brick wall scraped my back as his cock pressed against me, hard and hot. His emotions flared inside me, telling me he wanted this. Wanted me.
“Last chance,” he rasped.
“Shut up and fuck me.”
He pushed into me with one hard thrust and my vision blurred.
Pressure. Heat. Friction. He filled me completely, stretching me. Pleasure tinged with pain. Perfect. So damn perfect.
But that wasn’t what destroyed me.
Our emotions merged. I felt what I did to him. The way I gloved his cock, hot and slick and tight. Pleasure ricocheted through his body and echoed in mine. Relief. Desperate need. Certainty that this was going to save us or kill us and he didn’t care which.
“Vesper,” he groaned. “I can feel you everywhere.”
“I know.” I couldn’t catch my breath. “Don’t stop.”
He didn’t.
We moved together. Hard, fast, and frenzied. Each thrust drove me higher. The brick cut up my back with every movement, but I didn’t care. Nothing mattered except this. Him. Us.
He slid his hand between us and found my clit. I bit his shoulder to keep from screaming.
“That’s it, Vesper,” he growled. “Come for me. Let me feel what I do to you.”
The command in his voice, the way his thumb worked my nub as he fucked me... it was too much.
An orgasm slammed into me like a freight train. Wave after wave of pleasure so intense I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, could only feel.
And because our emotions had merged, my pleasure crashed into him. His rocketed into me. Amplifying. Echoing. Building until I didn’t know where I ended and he began.
He came with a strangled groan, face buried in my neck, and I felt his release like it was happening to me. The way his cock pulsed inside me. The pleasure tearing through him. All of it mine. Ours.
We stayed joined as the aftershocks rolled through us, both gasping for air.
“Still not dead,” I said minutes later, my head pressed against his shoulder.
He laughed, breathless and surprised. “Nope. Not dead yet.”
“That’s… unexpected.”
He lowered me to my feet. My legs shook, and he steadied me, then picked up my jeans and handed them over.
I pulled them on. My back stung as the air found its way into the new holes in my shirt, courtesy of the brick wall. I waited for the guilt or shame to hit. Or the fear. The understanding that we’d just sealed our fate.
It didn’t come.
I looked at him as he zipped his jeans. “Do you feel different?”
He hesitated. “Steadier. More controlled. You?”
“Same.” We stared at each other. “The victims died because their lust consumed them. Why didn’t ours destroy us?”
“We have more than that.” He cupped my face. “We have trust. We chose this.”
His belief fell over me, warm and solid.
“Maybe that’s why we’re still alive,” I said.
He brushed his thumb over my cheekbone. “Or we got lucky, and we’ll die next time.”
My phone chimed with an incoming text.
I grabbed the device. “My contact at CPD.” I scanned the message. “Another body. Wrigleyville. Found about an hour ago.”
“Shit.”
My sentiments exactly.
Elijah
Victim number six lay in an alley behind a sports bar that catered to both humans and supes. Male. Vampire. He looked to have been in his early thirties when he’d been turned. Same torn throat and splayed ribcage. Same expression of rapture. But there was something different this time.
“Look at his hands,” I said.
Vesper knelt beside me and studied them. He died with his fists clenched, nails digging into his palms.
“He resisted.” She sounded as surprised as I felt.
“Yeah,” I said, examining his wounds. “And these injuries are more extensive than the other vics.”
“He tried to fight,” she said, disbelief strong in her voice.
“And still died,” I said as we rose.
“Because he was alone?” She pulled out her phone and started scrolling. “Every victim was alone or with a stranger. No genuine connections.”
“Unlike us,” I said. Was that why we were still alive?
She looked at me. “What if our emotions merging isn’t a symptom? What if it’s a defense?”
Her device buzzed with an incoming text. She read the message and her expression shifted. “All vics confirmed as single.”
“Our merged feelings strengthened us instead of forcing us to consume one another,” I said. “We survived because we’re fighting together.”
She looked at me with grim determination. “We end this tonight.”
Vesper
We went to his apartment first so he could grab what he needed. At my place, we took turns showering. After we changed into clothing that wouldn’t be out of place at a celebration but could also conceal our weapons we stood in the living room.
“My power feels different,” he said as we got ready.
“How?” I asked, strapping a blade to my thigh.
“Stronger, but darker too. Like it’s melding with something else.” He extended a hand. A bright ball of energy bloomed. It flickered with shadows.
“That’s unexpected,” I murmured.
“For a nephilim who’s fucking a witch and cursed by a maenad? Maybe not.”
I touched his power. Sparks zinged my fingertips. “Does it hurt?”
He closed his fist, snuffing it out. “No, but it’s... altered. Do you sense any difference in your magic?”
“It feels warmer, brighter.” I met his eyes. “We’re changing each other.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
I didn’t think so, but rather than saying it, I shrugged. “Ask me after tonight.”
We finished getting ready in silence. I expected it to be awkward in the aftermath of sex and the looming threat of what was to come, but it wasn’t. We moved around one another like we’d been doing it for years instead of days.
At nine PM, Elijah looked at me. “You scared?”
“A little,” I said, checking my knives one last time. “You?”
“Yeah.” He crossed the room and cupped my face in his hands. “But I’m glad I’m not doing this alone. That we’re in this together.”
Our emotions mingled. Fear, determination, and something deeper we didn’t want to acknowledge.
“We stick together, no matter what,” he said. “No heroics. We both walk out of there or neither of us does.”
He kissed me. Slow, deliberate. Nothing like the urgent, desperate need from earlier.
I smiled as we broke apart. “Let’s go kill a maenad.”
Part Three coming soon!
Thanks for reading! If you’re enjoying Vesper’s story, please consider upgrading to support my writing, get early access, and receive other cool perks.
If you enjoyed today’s post but aren’t ready to commit to a subscription, you can drop a tip here. No strings, just your support for this story and the author who created it. 🖤
📜 Want more short fiction? Click here.
🐺 Looking for The Hollow Gods? Click here.
Sarah C. Brody writes fantasy romance where the love stories will wreck you and the heroines are old enough to know better but reckless enough to do it anyway. Her stories are spicy, dark, and twisty—the kind where emotional damage and physical heat go hand in hand.
I am obsessed with these two. Can't wait to read part 3!
Whew! 🥵🥵 Confession... When I read that the first Amplified release was Part 1, I assumed (wrongly) there were only 2 parts. I got to the end today and was like, "waaaaait! I wasn't ready for this!" 😂 😂 And now the wait begins for the next part. 🫠🤣🤣 I am 💯 invested in this story! Fantastic writing!