by Harry Nix
“Oh what is this nonsense?” Juno whispered.
Alex planted a kiss on her skin and continued rubbing her, her panties quickly becoming wet.
It wasn't the most comfortable of positions to have greater access but Alex was able to push up her skirt and then he pulled her panties to the side. He gently kissed Juno and then placed his mouth over her, the little witch letting out a moan.
“Please just focus on driving,” Alex said and then licked her again.
“We crash, it's your fault,” Juno said. Alex managed to maneuver so he could continue licking her and slide his fingers into her wetness. His head and hand occasionally got bumped as Juno hit the gas or brakes but the slight movements seem to help. Alex kept swirling his tongue and listened to Juno gasping. Eventually it must've become too much for the little witch to bear because she abruptly pulled over to the side of the road, slamming the brakes so hard that Alex suddenly went flying off the front seat.
“Don't stop,” she said, turning sideways, spreading her legs on the front seat and laying back against the door with their eyes closed. Alex dived right back in again, pushing up her skirt and pulling her panties to the side. He started licking in circles, as he worked his fingers within her.
As usual, his connection to the magic that surrounded them strengthened. Juno was far more powerful than he was at making that connection. The magic felt like an ocean with tides and currents.
Alex saw deep red glints of magic popping into existence around them. As Juno had explained, there was one source magic, but you could color it, change it by what you drew it through – sex, nature, death and others.
Alex kept licking and then realized with surprise that the deep red glints of magic were drifting towards him, as though his body was pulling them. One of the sparks landed on the back of his hand and was absorbed. It was a little distracting but Juno sighs soon brought him back to task. They were like music to his ears and his inner wolf was howling.
It wasn't long before Juno's thighs started to shake. She began moving her hips, trying to get closer and away, simultaneously. The magic around them was swelling now, hundreds of red sparks, appearing from nowhere and flying towards Alex. As each hit his skin it was like a tiny burst of heat. It seemed harmless so he ignored it.
From his angle between her legs he saw Juno open her eyes and look at the flowing red sparks that were bursting like fireworks around her.
“Oh, c’mon,” she murmured, closing her eyes and biting her lip. It wasn't long before the little witch tipped over the edge, her legs jerking as she moaned. She entwined her fingers in Alex’ hair. Alex kept licking until Juno clamped her legs shut on his head and then eventually pushed him away.
“No it's too much,” she gasped. Alex pulled away from her and then sat up, discovering they'd parked on the side of some random road in suburbia in the shade of a large tree. The street was thankfully empty, with no traffic, although the nearest house had a golden retriever standing in the front yard at the gate with a ball of its mouth, watching the car. It began wagging its tail when it saw Alex, before running off with its ball.
“Wait, this isn't Bailey's,” Alex said, reaching across to poke Juno in the stomach.
She fended away his hand. “We weren’t gonna make it to Bailey's, not with what you were doing Mr. Wolf,” Juno said. She sat up and straightened out her clothing. Her face was still flushed and her hair slightly messy. Anyone seeing her would have no doubt as to what she’d been doing.
“Can you pass me my water?” she asked.
Alex reached into the backseat and grabbed Juno's water bottle. She gulped down half of it in one go before finally sitting back in the front seat and letting out a relaxed sigh.
“That’s certainly one way to say hello,” she said to herself. Then she turned Alex and suddenly smacked him in the chest before poking him.
“And you again with the handkerchiefs out of the butt! What is the deal with absorbing all that sex magic? Who taught you that?”
Alex spread his hands. “Were they the red sparks? I mean, yeah, they landed on me with but I didn’t do anything for that.”
“Oh were they the red sparks?” Juno said, mimicking him. She smacked him again in the arm but this time Alex grabbed her hand and pulled her close to give her a kiss. When they broke apart her cheeks were flushed again. She pushed herself away and put on her seatbelt.
“None of that for now please. We’re on a schedule here, so keep it for later,” Juno said. She took another gulp of her water and a few deep breaths until she calmed down before passing the bottle to Alex who finished it off.
Although they were in a suburban street and the golden retriever had returned Alex wanted nothing more than to jump his mate, to tear her panties off and go crazy in the front seat of Boris in the middle of the day.
“Cast Know Thyself again Houdini and tell me if you have some sex magic now,” Juno said.
Alex did as she instructed and immediately saw a new bar had appeared under his mana. The top bar was blue and fully charged. Under it was another bar, deep red and half full. As Alex watched sex magic appeared next to it.
“There's a bar about half full and it says sex magic. Does that mean I can use it?”
Juno didn't answer but then threw her hands up again to the sky. She looked up at Boris’ roof.
“Oh, great and powerful JP, tell me what am I to do with this turbulent werewolf. He is doing magic he should have no idea how to do. This is probably why they want to kill him right? I await your wisdom,” she said before lowering her hands.
“Did you just seriously pray to a goddess or something?” Alex asked.
“Sorta, but listen, you've just skipped like ten years worth of magic training and stored up some magic drawn through sex. You can use it to supercharge spells and do incredible things. Some spells only work with a certain type of mana. For now, just hold onto it. I'll see if I can figure out something to teach you that’s safe to use.”
Juno started Boris up and pulled away from the curb. The golden retriever watched them go.
“I didn’t know you were religious,” Alex said, poking Juno again.
She swatted his hand away. “When it comes to an extremely frustrating werewolf mage I am.”
“I've never heard of JP before. Is that some kind of witch-only goddess?”
Juno snorted. “Pfft, no. It's Joe Pesci. As the great George Carlin said, he’s a guy who can get things done.”
Alex laughed and then leaned back in his seat, returning to his ever-evolving spellcasting screen and the new bar of mana that he’d just acquired.
Even though Juno had been making a joke about mages wanting to kill him for his magic abilities perhaps there was some truth to it. He had no frame of reference, of course, but it seemed his abilities so far exceeded any other mage or witch, according to Juno. He was definitely learning at an accelerated rate.
Although Alex had to admit his spells weren’t that powerful or impressive still. Flame Shield was the only one that came even close to being a useful offensive spell.
But perhaps Corvus and the necromancers didn't want to kill him for what he was, but rather what he might become, Alex thought.
4
“Is this pawnshop owned by Bailey? It looks pretty much the same as the other one. Look, even the sign is missing the G, so it says We Buy Old,” Alex said, standing next to Boris as Juno retied her hair.
“That's because it is the same one. I don't know exactly what Bailey’s species is but it's a kind of a frog race. One of the things they do is build a nest that has multiple magic exits that all lead to different places. Thus you end up with this a single pawnshop with multiple locations around Baxter and in other cities.” she said.
“So you’re seriously saying I can walk in this door, see Bailey, and then walk back out the same door and be somewhere else in the city? Isn’t that basically teleportation?”
Juno shook her head and then pulled a hairpin out of her mouth, whic
h she quickly used to pin back a wild lock of blonde hair that had escaped.
“No, you can't do it. Not unless Bailey wants you to, at least. You start a fight with him, he runs out. You can follow him and who knows where you go. Sometimes the frogs set up a few exits that lead over cliffs, into volcanoes, just to take out their enemies.”
She finished straightening her clothes.
“How do I look?” she said, doing a twirl in front of Alex. He stepped forward and grabbed her, pulling the little witch close against his body.
“Like a delicious meal,” he whispered and then nipped her earlobe. Juno quickly shoved him away and took two steps back before pointing a finger at him.
“You're going to stop that right now. I need to go in and negotiate with this frog and I don't want to be doing that with flushed cheeks and no panties which, thanks to you, I have to do because the ones I had are soaked.”
Alex's gaze trailed down to her tartan skirt.
“No panties huh,” he said.
Juno crossed her arms and stamped her foot. “Wolves,” she said in frustration, but then gave him a smile. “Get your game face on,” she said.
Alex followed her across the road, unable to take his eyes off her cute little bubble butt or the way her tartan skirt barely hid it.
They went in through Bailey's front door, the same corroded bell feebly clinking as the door hit it. The main corridor in was still stacked with bits of useless junk although Alex saw that Bailey must've updated some of it since last time he'd been here. There was now a child's tricycle with a bent wheel, some chipped vases and a framed etching of a dog that was for some reason enclosed in a lamp.
Juno spread her arms out as they entered into the main area.
“Bailey my good frog we’re here to do business,” she said, calling out across the shop.
Just like last time, Bailey was huddled behind the counter still looking like the unfortunate cross breeding result of a man and a rat. He made a garumphing noise in his throat. Last time he’d been polishing glasses. Now he was polishing a small collection of teaspoons.
He didn't bother answering Juno but just waved his hand at the assorted cabinets and displays throughout the store.
Alex followed Juno directly to the collection of the cheapest rings in the shop. Unfortunately, their funds were running very low and so the plan was to buy a bunch of cheap rings, preferably shield/protection rings. Alex could easily edit to make them far stronger so Juno could resell to bring in some cash.
As Juno went through the display of rings Alex wandered over to a locked cabinet that was filled with wands, clothing and pieces of armor that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a medieval knight.
The last time Alex had been at Bailey's he hadn't known how to cast Analyze and so had no idea what anything was, or what spells they held. Now he cast Analyze on a chain mesh glove, curious what it was for.
A small screen appeared above it:
Glove of Strength
Increases user’s strength by ten percent for ten minutes. One use per day.
“Hey Bailey, how much is the glove of strength?” Alex called out.
“Twelve thousand,” Bailey said without looking up.
Alex looked back at the glove not sure if Bailey was just screwing with him. It couldn’t be worth twelve thousand just to be ten percent stronger for ten minutes once a day surely?
Alex quickly skimmed through the rest of the cabinet. There was a jeweled tiara which only brought up ???? when he analyzed it.
“What is this tiara and how much does it cost?” he asked Bailey.
“Fifty thousand, protection from magic spells, good for fifteen minutes a day,” Bailey said. He spat on one of the teaspoons and rubbed it with his dirty rag. Just like last time Alex had seen him there seemed to be a slight delay between his movements and his face, Alex becoming more convinced that there was an illusion overlapping his true form that wasn't quite keeping up with the frog beneath it.
Juno came to his side with six rings, all of which were protection and ranged between one and four charges and two new shifter charms to replace the exhausted ones.
“Magical spell protection rings and artifacts are ridiculously expensive and usually one use, which is why most mages just go down the route of building resistance to spells by getting the absolute hell beaten out of them magically on a regular basis. If we’re going to take on you know who it would still be advisable that we get ourselves a couple of rings. Oh, you know who isn’t Voldemort by the way. I mean those mages. The C-word ones. But not that c-word,” she said in a low tone so Bailey couldn't hear.
“No secret plotting in my store,” Bailey grumbled.
“Although I guess you could call them c-words,” Juno mused.
Alex went with Juno over to the counter and then stood there as she and Bailey argued back and forth, bartering for the rings until finally Juno got him down to the amount of cash she was actually carrying and paid Bailey for them.
Suddenly curious about what exactly he was, Alex held out his hand.
“I'm Alex Lowe by the way. Nice to meet you. I don't think we've been properly introduced,” he said.
Bailey glanced out of his hand and then reluctantly shook it. Although in front of him Alex could see essentially a grumpy old man, the sensations from his hand told a different story. It felt like he was touching crocodile skin, and he definitely felt talons. The scent in Bailey's wasn't great at the best of times, a sort of wet and damp and as Alex touched his hand it grew far stronger as though he was now down the bottom of a deep well left to wet and mold in the darkness for fifty years.
“So any werewolf news you have for me?” Alex asked.
“Aren’t you a werewolf? Shouldn't you be telling me the werewolf news?” Bailey said.
“As Juno said last time, I'm new in town. You seem to have your finger on the pulse of what's happening. Hear anything interesting lately?”
Alex felt for a moment he was almost playing a videogame where he had to pump shopkeepers and tavern owners for information that led to the next quest. They had no more money, but if this were a game, at this point he’d be sliding gold coins across to the reluctant shopkeeper to spill the beans.
Bailey glanced at him once more as though assessing whether Alex was making fun of him, but then shrugged before returning to polishing his spoons.
“I hear a lot of werewolves went missing quite recently. At least eighty that they know of, and still more unaccounted. Like someone was mad enough to cast some incredibly powerful blood magic.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he looked up at Alex, who was trying to keep a straight face and not reveal his shock. It had only been a week ago that they’d fought the blood golem that had made its way to April's home, along with eight weredogs.
“I did hear about that,” Alex said. “Apparently someone made a blood golem,” he said, watching Bailey in return. Alex saw out of the corner of his eye the Juno had crossed her arms and was studying Bailey intently, having caught on to what Alex was doing.
Bailey for his part seemed unperturbed, focusing on his spoons again.
“Bad business all that blood. Bound to get the werewolves riled up,” he said. There was a moment of silence, Alex watching Bailey, impulsive thoughts jolting around his head. Despite knowing Juno and Nia, a witch and werewolf respectively, and now April, whatever you called a half-nymph, half-earth elemental, Alex still felt disconnected from the magical society that clearly surrounded them.
In Bailey it felt like he had a connection. That information could flow to him and perhaps go the other way too. Not really knowing whether this would be a bad idea, he decided to let his impulsive thoughts out into the light.
“They sent the blood golem after me Bailey. It was Corvus using mercenaries, attempting to kill me,” he said.
Juno's eyes went wide before she composed herself. Bailey dropped one of his spoons in shock before picking it up again and rubbing at it, although it was cle
an.
“That's certainly a wild story Alex. Did you say Lowe was your surname?”
“That's right. Alex Lowe, werewolf mage.”
With that he cast flame shield, stepping back slightly from the counter so he didn't accidentally burn anything. In the gloom of the store, the flames seemed far brighter than when he was outside.
Bailey scrambled to get away from Alex, tipping his stool and crashing to the ground. By the time he stood up, Alex had canceled the spell and the flames vanished. He saw Bailey's gaze immediately look to his hands but Alex wasn't wearing any rings or other charms.
“You wearing some magical piece of jewelry I can't see? The underpants of flame shield or something?” Bailey said, his voice a harsh croak. He’d moved back against a rear door and held it slightly ajar. Alex heard croaking frogs and the sounds of nighttime insects and when he moved closer he saw it was night on the other side of the door.
“I can strip naked if you want. I’m a mage and a werewolf. Apparently the only one people tell me, and for some reason Corvus tried to kill me with a blood golem. Perhaps that's information you could trade to others and then you could tell me what they said,” Alex said. He stepped forward to see if he could get a closer look at what was on the other side of the door.
Bailey saw what he was doing and closed the door, seeming to relax a little.
“What do I get in return for such information?” Bailey asked.
Alex picked up one of the protection rings they’d just bought.
“I've been able to edit the spells on some of the rings to make them far more powerful. What you get is you bring information and I’ll edit ten protection rings for you, free of charge. You can then sell them for a lot more. What you're going to give me are names and addresses and any other piece of information that can help track down the mages or vampires or other magical beings who are attempting to kill me. Does that sound like a good deal?” Alex said. He held out his hand again and stepped closer to the counter.
