by J G Jerome
Magnus says, “Hide your eyes.” We turn away from him as he utters something in a guttural, unfamiliar language. As soon as he finishes a bright light reflects off the walls of the salon, and I feel high heat as Xralnazny screams.
“Okay. All done.” I turn around and see ash floating in the center of the spherical ‘circle.’ A pinpoint of darkness arrives in the center and all the ash disappears, followed immediately by the pinpoint of darkness.
He releases the circle and walks over to shake my hand. “It’s good to see you again, William. Thank you for calling me. I don’t recall you having more than the slightest touch of the death and life magic. That was not typical necromancy.”
“No, Chief...er, Magnus. It’s not. I stumbled on how to create pure energy, and converted most of the energy in my well to that. It’s easy enough to pull one energy or the other from it if needed.”
He looks at me from head to toe. “You are hiding your power. Smart. You are starting down a path that will draw the wrong kind of attention if you’re not careful.”
I nod. “I know.”
Magnus says, “I have two things that I can tell you that may help you over time. First, that energy you are using is the energy of souls. If you can manipulate it as you have, you are well on your way to not being just a necromancer, but a true magus - a magician. The second thing is that new magi are rare. I don’t think there has been one since Grigori Rasputin. As you can imagine, the status quo doesn’t look kindly on magi. The Catholic Church had Rasputin killed by assassins masquerading as Bolsheviks. Most of us learn to avoid the limelight and live quietly. I recommend this to you, William.”
I nod. “I had been told that during my experience learning necromancy. I still have a lot left to learn.”
Magus says, “Learning will always serve you well. Once you are reasonably competent as a necromancer, I recommend looking into thaumaturgy. I don’t think there are any practitioners still around, but I have some books you can study from. I think the last one died in a mine collapse in 1908. Witchery is another lost art - knowledge of healing and harming properties of natural materials. I have a couple of references on that, too. Modern sorcery is very limited, but it’s not a bad start. I have an advanced reference on that I can loan you, too. I will send them all here, care of the mistress of the house. Faith magic will come or it won’t.” He gets a distant look then gives me a rather stern gaze. “I need to go. There are ripples from this event that I must attend to. You may need to do some of that yourself, so keep an eye open.” Magus extends his hand and smiles at me. “Until we meet again, William.”
I pull him into a hug. “Thank you for your help, Jonas. Bye, old friend.” He pats my back and spins on his heel before hurrying out the door.
I look down at Audrey and smile. I’m about to kiss her when Steven runs in. “William, come with me. Now.”
41
Saving Viktorija
I release his daughter and pull my pistol as I follow him running down the corridor through the dining room, through the kitchen to a small delivery area. Jack is holding his pistol on a single elf who is holding his hands out like he’s hugging a bear. I see Viktoria lying in a pool of blood behind him. She is struggling for breath. I open my other sight and see her life energy is dwindling quickly. The elf between her and me is generating a field of energy from his open hands. I fire a huge bolt of soul energy at it, but the field absorbs it. The elf looks mildly surprised, but his expression quickly turns to smug satisfaction as his energy field holds. That expression changes rapidly to fear as I fire off three more bigger bolts of energy. While he concentrates on holding his field I lob a basketball-size ball of entropy around the side to circle around behind him. Then I pull it inside his head. He drops the shield, allowing me to pull out his soul and suck the energy from it as I run to Viktorija.
I kneel beside her as I ask. “What happened to her?” I see five more elves sneaking toward us. I reach out and pull out their souls and suck them dry. Their souls fight me like Yoren’s and Reddy’s, but I’m not messing around. I pull HARD, and out they pop.
Jack says, “One of them threw a knife. It nicked her throat. It’s a small cut but, it looks like arterial spray.”
I roll Viktorija over, and her blood sprays into my face. I put a finger on the tiny cut and drive growth energy into the wound. It closes slowly but completely. I look around and find Manuel. “Manuel, she lost a lot of blood. We need to get fluids into her and blood if you have it.”
Manuel answers, “We don’t have any blood on hand, but Tori is AB positive. She can take anything. It’s risky, but we can do a vein-to-vein transfer.”
“How certain are you about her blood type?” I ask.
“Very. We test everyone. I’ll check her card to confirm. If not, we’ll have to call an ambulance.
“Okay. Go find out.” I tell him, “Get whatever equipment we need. I’ll give her a pint to get her started.”
Manuel responds, “Right away, Lord.” He bows and runs off.
Viktorija opens her eyes a bit. “Will. You came for me.”
I bend down and kiss her full lips. “Hello, beautiful. Welcome back. I have to tell you that trying to die to get away from me won’t work. I’ll just keep bringing you back.”
She moans, “I would walk through hell itself to be with you and my mistress.” She swallows slowly. “I love you, William.”
I shush her with another kiss to her lips. “I love you too, sweetheart. Just rest. We’re going to give you a transfusion to replace lost blood.”
Bernadette runs up and kneels in the blood to hold Viktorija’s head in her lap. “You stay with me, Precious. Don’t make me endure without you.”
“No, mistress.” She swallows. “I love you, Bernadette.” She swallows again. “I will not ever leave you.” Bernadette uses my tactic to quiet her.
Manuel runs in with a red first aid bag. I strip off my jacket and shirt. Manuel wraps a band around my bicep before he cleans my elbow and pushes the needle into my vein. The life-giving fluid drains out of my arm slowly. He flushes the line with saline to remove any air from the line and clamps it off. Audrey brings a chair, and Manuel has me sit in it to create the gravity flow needed for the vein-to-vein transfusion while he swabs Viktorija’s elbow and inserts the needle for the feed. Once he’s satisfied, he releases the clamp and my blood starts running into her. Clarice shows up with two bottles of water. She gives one to Bernadette, who cracks it open and feeds it slowly to Viktorija. Clarice opens the other one herself before handing it to me.
Manuel pulls his phone and sets an alarm. The alarm rings fifteen minutes later, and Manuel unhooks me, and puts a pressure bandage on the puncture wound.
Audrey pulls me out of the chair and takes my place. She says, “Hook me up, Manuel.”
Manuel follows the same procedure again. At that point, Manuel unhooks Audrey and connects a bag of saline to the line, hanging the bag over my head. I scoop up Viktorija, and Bernadette leads me to her suite. Audrey follows with an MP5 at the ready.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Bernadette’s suite. I remember it’s another flight up from the floor the ladies and I have been staying on. Bernadette’s suite takes up most of the left-hand side of the corridor with small rooms for patrons on either side of her suite with six more across the hall. Audrey and I used to stay in them when we first started putting on shows here.
There is just enough room for a king-sized bed and two nightstands, an occasional chair, and a bench at the foot of the bed. Each has a small 3-piece bathroom that might be smaller than mine at the Doric Apartments. They are built for short liaisons. A couple also have hardware for bondage and suspension installed, too. They are all close enough to Bernadette’s suite that she can feed indirectly from them.
I carry Viktorija up the first flight of stairs. She opens her eyes to watch me as I mount the second flight. Bernadette opens both of the double doors into her suite, and I carry Viktorija straight back
to the shower. I try to sit her on the vanity counter, but she slides off to stand in front of me.
Viktorija wraps her arms around my neck and surveys my face. “You have red freckles, William.”
“I’ve been baptised in your blood, beloved. The thought of losing you was crushing. I might have killed a few elves in anger.” She pulls my face down to hers and kisses me hungrily.
Clarice interrupts our interlude by arriving with a stand to hold the IV bag. She unhooks it from my neck and hangs it properly. Then she pulls a scissor from her pocket and starts cutting Viktoria’s top from the hem to the armpit and through the bottom of the sleeve.
Clarice says to Viktorija, “Tori, honey. I cut it close to the seam, so you can repair it.”
Viktorija smiles at her. “Thanks, honey. It won’t be any good for fancy dress, but I can use it for workouts. You’re very thoughtful.”
Clarice tells me, “Marissa caught me as I came up the stairs. She’s worried. Go check on your ladies while I get Tori clean.”
“I will. Thank you, Clarice.” I kiss Viktorija again, and brush my lips against Clarice’s cheek. She leans into the kiss and then gets to work.
Audrey steps in to steady Viktorija as I step back. She looks at me. “I’ll stay and help Tori, Master.”
“Sounds good, Kitten. I’ll get the MP5 back to Luis,” I tell her. “You still have your pistol.”
She grabs the weapon and shrugs out of the strap. “I do.” She hands the machine pistol to me. “I liked this. We should get some.”
“We’ll see.” I assure her. I give her a kiss and turn to find a naked Bernadette walking into the spacious bathroom.
She smiles at me. “Not now, William. I have to hold Precious up in the shower.” She walks up and wraps her arms around my neck and presses her full breasts into me. We share what passes for a chaste kiss in Bernadette’s world - open mouths and just a quick caress of the tongue. “Later, William Darling.”
I chuckle as I release the Venus in my arms and walk out the suite. “Yes, Love.”
I hurry down the stairs. Marissa sees me from her post at the door of our suite and visibly relaxes. Then she sees the blood on my face.
“What happened, William?” She asks.
“One of the elves cut Viktorija’s throat. I barely managed to save her. Audrey is helping Bernadette and Clarice get her cleaned up. How is everyone here?”
Marissa says, “The family is all safe. That little elf of yours fought for us, but she was hurt pretty badly as a result.” She leads me to the suite. I see the door to the suite is broken.
Marissa calls out, “All clear. William and I are coming in.”
I hear “Clear to enter” from inside.
Rebecca and Carla are sitting with pistols aimed at the door.
Josie has a handful of nails in her left and a single one in her right.
The pistols disappear quickly, and Rebecca turns back to Ilara’en, who is laying flat on the bed.
I see three imps with open jars of PB pulling bits of flesh off a nearly skeletal dead elf on the floor. I’m assuming they are Argo, Hermes, and Xerxes. They look very happy.
Josie waves a finger at my face. “What happened to you, Will?”
I relate how everything went with Audrey summoning Xralnazny, me binding him up, Magus killing him, Viktorija’s throat injury, the elven mage, sucking all the souls from the elves, healing Viktorija, the transfusions, carrying her upstairs.
Rebecca asks, “So Magnus did show up?”
“Yes,” I confirm. “It turns out he is someone I knew. I knew him as Chief Sergeant Hadad of the Israeili Defense Forces. What happened to Ilara’en?”
Carla says, “I called Argos and sent him back to ensure everyone brought friends. I just started to call him back when someone started beating on the door.”
Josie says, “The door rattled once then splintered around the lock. Fortunately, we had a chair propped up under the lock. That kept the door from flying open. An elf started to squeeze through the gap.”
Marissa says, “Ilara’en pulled this tiny little knife out of her apron and attacked him.
If the critters leave his face, you’ll see the damage she did.”
Rebecca adds, “He managed to get far enough in to hit her, and she flew across the room to hit the foot of bed. It was a fluke based on where the footboard hit her body. The impact broke her back.”
Marissa says, “Josie peppered his body and head with those nails. They worked pretty well.”
Josie grimaces, “Yeah, it might have been enough if he hadn’t been wearing one of those damned collars. Fortunately, Carla got Argos and company back at that point. She released them, and they pretty much ate him alive.”
Carla looks quite distraught. “Rebecca and Josie tended to Ilara’en, Marissa removed the collar from the elf when he died and Argos and his critters went looking for more elves. Hermes and squad arrived next. I sent them downstairs followed immediately by Xerxes and his squad.”
Xerxes mutters, “Some silly humans killed some. We could have taken care of that.”
I tell them, “Sorry, guys. I took six of them. I had to get to Viktorija quickly.”
Hermes growls, “We was sneaking up on them from behind when they just fell to the ground. Still yummy, though!”
Argos chirps, “I took my team to follow their queen. She ran into her castle. We assaulted it, but we lost three immediately to magic. I need to take my soldiers an elf and peanut butter when I return.”
I ask, “Where was their castle?”
Argos points to Carla. “The Captain has the intel, General.”
Carla smiles at being ‘the Captain.’ She explains, “They are in a high-rise in downtown. Esplanade Place at 24th Street and Camelback. It’s supposed to be full of luxury condos.
I thought maybe we should wait for a week and then send the critters in to recon.”
“I like that idea,” I tell her. “If I understood correctly, this is not normal behavior for elves.”
Carla says, “It is if they are colonizing.”
“Holy shit,” I exclaim. “Billions of people. Ilara’en said ‘this world should tremble.’ She was serious.”
Carla adds, “They probably have an open portal somewhere in the building or a technomancer that can create one on demand.”
“Lovely,” I shake my head.
Carla murmurs, “It feels both weird and normal to know that.”
I try to reassure her, “I’m glad you do know that, Carla.”
Carla shrugs. She says, “Audrey probably knows that too.”
I nod. “Maybe, but you each learned a different curriculum from different teachers. We can compare notes when she joins us.”
Ilara’en moans, “Lord?”
I hurry to bed and take up her hand.
The poor broken elf tells me, “I tried to stop him, Lord.”
I pat her hand. “I know, Ilara’en. Thank you. I’m very proud of you.”
Rebecca reports, “Based on how her body bent, I think the impact completely severed her spinal column and crushed bones around it. The impact snapped the four-inch crossbar on the footboard.”
“What can you see with your craft, Rebecca?”
She grimaces, “She has a major injury. I suspect internal bleeding.”
I reply, “My sight shows major entropy energy.”
Rebecca sobs, “WIll, I don’t know what to do. All of my knowledge is for humans and animals from our planet.”
I ask, “Ilara’en, can you go to one of our hospitals?”
She shakes her head gently. “No. Our physiology is nearly identical to visual inspection, but chemically we are different. The healer at House Valeran said many of the compounds your doctors give are poisonous to us.”
I muse, “I guess I can’t just take you over there to have the healer fix you up.”
Ilara’en says, “She would if you could get to her. You would have to get past the human guards, get to her suite
on the 13th floor, and get past the guards Valya has on the healer and her apprentices. Then we would have to get out again.”
I ponder for a moment. “Rebecca, please call Aunt Judith. Ask her for Julius’ contact information.”
Rebecca asks, “What are you thinking?”
“I’ll call Lafayette and ask if Lonnie knows of a healer from his people that would come help a fellow explorer,” I tell her.
Josie says, “Lafayette will want something. What are you prepared to offer him?”
I shake my head, “I’ll raise Charlene for him.”
Josie says, “He already has Charlene, but you could offer me to him.”
I’m certain the heat in my expression could light fires. “Never,” I whisper.
Josie flashes me a big smile. “Right answer, William.”
The door swings open slowly and a bunch of imps waddle into the room with distended stomachs, moans of discomfort, and happy grins on their faces. It appears there are twelve left. A couple of them are dragging relatively unscathed elf corpses with them.
They execute sloppy salutes to Carla, and then to their ‘squad leaders.’ They look at me with big grins. One of the ones up front has a piece of meat stuck in his teeth.
“Permission to return home, Squad Leader,” they groan.
Our three primary imps stand at attention and salute. Each says, “Dismissed.”
Groups of imps disappear as their squad leaders dismiss them. They are all gone.
Our three critters run out the door.
Marissa says, “Audrey has connections. Didn’t she contact an elf for her master work?”
I look at her for a minute. “That’s the best idea yet, Marissa. We’ll go with that one. Lafayette is the fallback position.”
I lean over Ilara’en, “We’ll get you fixed up soon, Ilara’en. I’ll pump you full of growth energy until we can get a healer here.”
