Werewolf Mage Box Set 1

by Harry Nix

  “I just put it on there. What do you mean?” Alex asked. Even as he said it, he suddenly realized what she was saying. The only offensive spells he had seen had been on wands.

  Was it unusual to put an offensive spell on a ring? Juno and Ruby hadn't said anything about it but, then again, they'd been arguing about the percentage and then Alex had accidentally knocked Ruby out with a sleep spell.

  “You really are different aren’t you? The smallest fireball spell anyone ever saw still needs a wand to hold it, and here you are sticking it on a ring, a cheap ring too. I’ll give you two thousand dollars for this one.”

  Two thousand! Alex couldn't believe it.

  “Why are you willing to pay so much?” he asked.

  “I know an old mage I can sell this to for four thousand dollars. I’ll take the rest you have too but it might have to be on commission because I don’t have that kinda cash around the shop.”

  Alex’s mind was suddenly spinning. Two thousand for a fireball ring? He’d made five of them this morning. He only had two with him now, but all five meant he could make ten thousand dollars?

  “I made five of those rings today. Would you actually buy all five for ten thousand dollars?” he asked.

  “Are you serious?” Roma asked. She seemed to have forgotten her earlier shock when she had jumped away from Alex after he touched the back of her hand. In fact, she'd picked up the wooden object she had been carving and was now pointing it at him like some kind of weapon.

  “Yeah, I am. I need money, so do you want to buy them? In fact, if you have any empty rings around right now, I can make some and you can buy them off me,” Alex said.

  “Go sit in that red chair over there, it’s a relaxation one and then I’ll be right back,” Roma said. She rushed past Alex without another word and out the front door, leaving him alone in the store.

  Alex gathered up the rings off the counter and put them back in his pocket before starting to wander around. He occasionally cast Analyze on the various bits of furniture but all it brought up were question marks. He charged up Analyze to see if he could crack open some of the question marks and read the spells inside but they were resistant and Alex didn't want to use up all of his mana just to find out the spell had something to do with making you more relaxed and comfortable.

  He soon found himself over by the red chair. It was made of leather and dark mahogany. Figuring that Roma hadn't tried to trick him, Alex sat down in the chair and immediately felt a soothing wave of relaxation come over him. Idly he opened up his spell, screen, casting Know Thyself. He saw there were no less than twelve spells working on him at that very moment. As he sat back in the chair he felt his muscles relaxing, a gentle heat flowing through them. He wondered which spell was doing that and then a second question appeared. Would he suddenly develop resistance to it? Would his body recognize a relaxation spell and resist it on basic principle?

  Alex was wary of falling asleep or into some kind of magical stupor, but it seemed the chair was pretty much a magical version of a massage chair. His body relaxed, and he felt himself calm and warm as he sat there. With the physical relaxation came mental relaxation as well. He realized he’d been working himself up to finding out wherever this bar was, going in, and getting a hold of the card that had his name and face on it. He also realized he hadn’t asked Roma how she'd seen one of these cards. Had she has been hanging out in the bar or did she know someone? It wasn't long before Roma returned and stopped in front in front of the chair.

  “I have five empty rings here. I’ll give you a thousand for each one you can enchant now,” she said.

  “Sounds good,” Alex said and then yawned before pulling himself out the chair. He followed her over to the counter where she put down the five rings that she'd apparently just purchased. Now that he was moving, the relaxation slowly faded and Alex realized he might have been duped. After all why say yes immediately to a thousand dollars a ring when she’d just offered him two thousand for one?

  “Wait, I want fifteen hundred dollars per ring,” Alex said.

  Roma shook her head. “I normally wouldn't say this, but I only have five thousand cash on hand, so if I give you fifteen hundred a ring, I can only buy three. How about this? You make me five, I'll give you five thousand and then when you come back, we’ll make a better deal.”

  Alex looked at the five rings that Roma had purchased. They seemed higher quality than the ones Ruby had bought, and he wondered if that made a difference at all. He was tempted to say yes, partially for the lure of five thousand, which would solve a lot of problems in one stroke but also he was hesitant as he had no idea really what such a ring would be worth. It dawned on him that if he was the sole manufacturer of a fireball ring, perhaps it was worth far more than Roma wanted to pay him. Maybe that was why Ruby had been arguing so hard for a percentage.

  Alex stood there for a moment, the idea of money churning around in his head before he remembered the whole hearts and minds thing. Hearts and minds meant making connections, forming relationships, building trust. Why not start here?

  “Okay, I'll do it. A thousand a ring,” Alex said.

  “What do you need? I have another room, out back,” Roma said.

  “Yeah, let’s go out back in case someone comes in,” Alex said. Roma gathered up the rings and then waved at Alex to follow her.

  Much like Bailey’s she had a door behind the counter. Alex followed her out there, down a short corridor that opened into what appeared to be part woodworking shop and living space. Along two walls were various lathes, benches, saws, hammers and partially completed projects. The other two corners of the room were her kitchen and bedroom. There was also a sofa and television. The bed was a four-poster and draped with fine fabrics. There are also houseplants over that side, spilling out of their pots. Standing over in the corner beside the refrigerator was the marble statue of a grinning man, completely naked.

  “Nice statue,” Alex said.

  “Thanks, I made him myself,” Roma said, heading to one of the workbenches.

  It was only as he'd followed Roma to the backroom that he realized behind her gigantic leather apron she was actually wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Seeing the way she walked, he mentally downgraded her age. She couldn’t be thirty. As he was doing this, he suddenly wondered what the hell he was thinking. He had three mates and that was definitely enough. So what was he doing checking out this random woodworking shopkeeper?

  But the sway of those hips…

  Roma dropped the rings on one of the tables and then turned around. She must've caught some expression on Alex's face because she suddenly looked him up and down, clearly appraising him. It only lasted for a moment though, before she clapped her hands to her hair, smoothing it down again, and practically bolted to the other side of the room near the small kitchen.

  “I’ll make you a coffee while you work,” she shouted out. Alex wasn't quite sure what was going on. The best he could see, putting two and two together, was that she didn't like to be touched and perhaps looking at her like he wanted to touch was a no go, too.

  Alex turned towards the rings, ignoring the bed, and also the wolf inside him. It was saying ridiculous things like go over to where she was, kiss her, take her to the bed, and make her yours. It took a few moments for him to get his mind back on what he was doing, but he took deep breaths, and then, one by one, enchanted the rings, using the remainder of the sex magic to power them up. It was far faster this time, incredibly so. By the time Roma returned with a cup of coffee, he was done and shaking his head in disbelief at the speed of it.

  “Here you go,” Roma said, putting the coffee on the bench and taking two giant steps backward, holding her own in front of her like a shield.

  “I'm all done. Thanks,” Alex said. Despite the fact she didn't seem dangerous, he cast Purify on the cup of coffee anyway, but nothing happened. He took a sip of the coffee, which was rich and delicious.

  “You know there are some poisons purify doesn't
work on, right? Like, I feed you a drink that has one kind of thing in it and give you a biscuit that’s got something else in it and they combine in your stomach and make the poison and then you die,” Roma said. Alex noticed she was munching on a biscuit and saw that she had placed one on the table too.

  “I know this might be forward, but are you a witch?” Alex asked.

  Roma shook her head. “I'm just a woodworker and now you’re done talking are you going to enchant those rings?”

  “I already did. They’re all done. Five rings, so five thousand dollars,” Alex said with a grin.

  “No way,” Roma said. The lure of the rings and the surprise must've made her forget herself as she walked past Alex and picked them up, casting Analyze on each one. Then she put one on her finger and summoned up a fireball. Alex wasn't quite sure if she was going to throw it or not and was a little surprised when she walked over to the kitchen sink and dropped it in before turning on the faucet, letting it fizzle out.

  “Go out the front. I’ll be there in a moment,” Roma said, a strange look on her face. Alex took his coffee with him and left the biscuit behind. He felt like he'd tempted fate enough today and if he was going to a bar later, he might need all the luck he could get. It wasn't long before Roma came back out to the main room with a handful of cash. She set it on the counter and then stepped back, making a space between them again.

  “It's all there. If you come back tomorrow, I'll have more to make another deal,” she said. Alex took the money and quickly shuffled through it, counting out five thousand.

  “How much is that relaxation chair over there by the way?” he asked.

  “Nine thousand dollars.”

  “Nine thousand! Incredible. Although, it was relaxing,” Alex said, shaking his head.

  “Yeah, five thousand dollars isn't going to be able to get you anything in here,” Roma said. Alex put the money in his wallet and then put it back in his bag. He finished his coffee, so he put the cup on the counter, noticing that Roma had taken a step back as he moved forward to do so. He took a step away from the counter and saw she moved closer, as though she was trying to keep a permanent fixed distance between them.

  “So, tell me where this bar is,” he said

  16

  The bar was dark and dodgy. As Roma had said, it was only a few streets away. Alex was half expecting it to be full of supernatural creatures—orcs and elves sitting at tables like The Lord of the Rings but it was mostly full of normal-looking people. He did see a few mages wearing robes sitting at the back. As he walked in, he was thinking it was going to be like an old western where the piano player would stop, and everyone would gasp and look at the door. But those in the bar just ignored him.

  Alex slipped one of the hundreds into his pocket, not wanting to show his cash and went up to the bartender. He was a short, pudgy guy somewhere in his fifties with a bald head that was gleaming in what little light there was.

  Although it was early in the day, most of the tables in the place were occupied. Everyone appeared to be nursing their drinks, so the bar area was currently empty. The bartender was doing a crossword and didn't look up when Alex sat.

  “A beer and I'd also like the card with my face on it,” Alex said, cutting straight to the chase. The bartender glanced up at him and then back down at his crossword. As he moved, Alex caught the slightest blur, like he had when watching Bailey, who’d been using some kind of illusion to cover his true features. Sure enough, a moment later, the bartender made a grunting noise sounding like an old frog clearing his throat.

  “I need a four-letter word for suicidal,” the old man said.

  “I'm not really good at crosswords,” Alex said and placed a hundred on the bar.

  “I'm thinking Alex, yes, that's it. I need another four-letter word for are you bloody serious?” The man shoved the hundred back towards Alex and then pointed the door. “Get out of here before someone takes your head off,” he said.

  Alex quickly glanced around the bar. It didn’t look like anyone was bothering to even look at him. He turned back to the bartender.

  “What’s your name?”

  “It's Zig and you want to get out of here while you can still walk,” he said.

  “Nice to meet you Zig, my name is Alex Lowe.”

  Zig glanced down the bar towards the back of the room, where the mages were sitting. They seemed absorbed in their drinks from what Alex could see.

  “I know who you are, and I want you to leave,” Zig said in a quiet voice.

  “How about instead of that you give me my beer, and you give me my card,” Alex said. He let a little bit of a growl into his voice.

  Zig looked down the bar again, back at Alex, and snatched the hundred, quickly filling a glass of beer, and then returning with his change.

  “The card costs two thousand because I can't exactly claim a commission on it from you killing yourself, can I?” Zig said.

  Alex choked on his beer but managed to recover.

  “Two thousand dollars for a card! Are you out of your mind? Why does it cost that much?”

  “Yeah, I heard you’re new. Because, there’s a contract on it, magically enforced. I give the card out, the person does the job. They collect the money and are obligated to pay me my fee, otherwise their balls will drop off, or their dick evaporates, or a number of other horrible things happen to them. Normally I give the cards out cheap, sometimes free. But if you want your card, it's gonna cost two thousand dollars,” Zig said.

  Alex still had almost five thousand but there was no way he was about to hand two thousand of it over. Acting on instinct, Alex reached over the bar and grabbed Zig's wrist, feeling reptilian skin. Zig jerked back, pulling his arm free, taking a step to the door that was hidden in shadow behind him.

  “None of that,” Zig warned.

  “Do you know Bailey?” Alex asked, sipping his beer.

  “I did. I also know how he met you, and now he's dead.”

  “That's true, I think Corvus did it, which is why I went to the Corvus outpost and killed every mage there except one,” Alex said.

  “I heard wind of that too,” Zig said. Although he was still near his escape door, he seemed to have relaxed, crossing his arms, and leaning back against the wall.

  “Good. Then you might also have heard that I killed Jasper, head of the Greenacre pack, and took his territory. You might have also heard that I destroyed a blood golem and have killed countless weredogs sent against me. Finally, you may have also heard that one of the spells I created was flame shield where whoosh, I burst into flames all over my body, perfect for hugging someone who doesn't want to help me,” Alex said. He kept the growl out of his voice this time, speaking in a level tone and occasionally sipping his beer. At the mention of the flames, Zig stepped closer to his exit, his hand resting on the doorknob.

  “I’ll give you the card for a thousand dollars, then you get out.”

  “How about you give it to me for five hundred and you tell me anything else you heard about me?” Alex said.

  Zig looked back down at the mages again and Alex followed his gaze. They were still talking amongst themselves, but once or twice they glanced down to Alex was.

  “Better talk fast Zig,” Alex said.

  “Okay, fine. Gimme the money,” Zig said. Alex quickly reached into his bag and, trying to conceal it as best he could, counted out five hundred, which he slipped across the bar to Zig. He was sure now, of course, that Zig was the same kind of frog species that Bailey had been. The way the illusion slightly blurred as he moved gave it away. Zig inched forward and grabbed the cash before leaping back to his exit, his hand on the doorknob.

  “Okay, so all I heard is that Corvus, Xavo, and Ignis are now after you, plus everyone else dragged out of the woodwork by the bounty,” Zig said.

  “Where is this card?”

  Zig turned away from Alex, rummaging in a box that was on the shelf behind him. He was obviously extremely nervous because he kept looking back at
Alex, as though expecting him to leap over the counter at any moment. Eventually he pulled out a playing card which he dropped on the counter.

  “Put it away, look at later,” Zig urged. Alex was tempted to defy him, to keep playing this bravado role, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a few more glances in his direction so he slipped the card into his bag.

  “Any information about why these three enclaves are after me?” Alex asked.

  “The Corvus thing. Mutual protection agreements, you know. You take on one, you take on all of them,” Zig said.

  “What, like NATO?”

  “Yes, exactly, like NATO, except with magic spells and crazy powers and enough mages to wipe you off the face of the realm,” Zig said.

  Although Alex was in human form, his senses were turned up to maximum. From the corner of his eye could see three mages openly staring at him now, talking to each other, and a woman at another table was looking hard too, fiddling with something in her lap. Alex had finished his beer by now and although with his heightened werewolf metabolism, it required a lot of alcohol to get drunk, just the one beer had taken the edge off, making him feel a bit looser, a bit more reckless.

  After all, he had gone for a walk and suddenly made five thousand and learned there was a bounty out on him. Plus, he had the name of another enclave that was after him, which meant another target; more mages he could take on; an outpost he could find. If they wanted to pull this mutual protection garbage he’d just go to the next enclave outpost, rip some arms off, and then see how the next group felt.

  “Please leave my bar,” Zig urged in a whisper. He was pressed up so closely against the door that he’d almost faded into it.

  Alex turned to face the three mages who had come from the back of the room. All three were wearing dark red robes. At first glance, they appeared to be related, all blond-haired and blue-eyed, about the same age as Alex. He swiveled on his stool towards them and shifted into his hybrid form, the charm taking his clothes, the bag, and the money too. The stool creaked under his weight.