Cassandra- Magic's Hope

by D. R. Rosier

  Dina smiled back and forth at us, “That would be great. I don’t know about a career yet, I have a year to go, but I’m sure I could find something here when the time came. I’d probably stay at the school when I have classes, but jumping the El and spending weekends there… That sounds really good to me.”

  I smiled both happy and relieved, so did Tammy and I could see the excitement build up in their eyes at the idea. We’d have to look soon if Tammy was going in a month, even being able to afford to pay in cash that didn’t leave much time for a house closing.

  “Rori can visit too I’m sure, when things slow down over there.”

  I was purposely vague about where there was. We were in public, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if the government wasn’t keeping an eye on me.

  Tammy tilted her head, “Maybe we should come with you later and meet him?”

  Dina looked a bit nervous at that idea, but nodded in agreement. I was pretty sure it was more nerves about meeting a dragon clan on another world than simply being nervous about meeting Rori.

  I was amazed how happy I felt at the idea. It was just a week ago I was thinking I didn’t want to be tied down, but now… I couldn’t imagine a better fate than sharing my life with these two amazing ladies, and Rori.

  “How does dinnertime sound?”

  They both shrugged in careless agreement, and I let Rori know I was bringing them with me later with a quick mental message.

  Tammy asked, “So what are we doing with the rest of our day?”

  “Relax on the beach?” I asked.

  I knew I needed to check out the enchantments on my clan protection wards, and see what I could improve. I also wanted to test some new magics out, as it had been a while since I had the time.

  But I was having too much fun so I put it off. It would keep. I had responsibilities now, which meant on the other side that I needed to take the time to have some fun where I could. I was twenty three and barring the unforeseen, had a very long life ahead of me. There would be plenty of time to do everything and I didn’t have to rush.

  Realistically, I was already far ahead on the curve. Still, I felt a little guilty about it regardless, even though I knew I shouldn’t.

  They agreed and I led them into the bathroom, and then opened a portal to the small private island my family often used. We came out on the beach and I closed my eyes and looked up at the sun. It was nice, the cool breeze and the warmth of the sun combining to relax me.

  I opened my eyes and pulled a beach blanket to me by force of will. The enchantment I placed on it so I could decide its location no matter where I was seemed to work perfectly. I spread it out on the ground and looked over at Dina and Tammy who both looked confused.

  Tammy cleared her throat, “Shouldn’t we have gotten our bikinis first?”

  I giggled and looked around, “There isn’t anyone around for miles over the ocean.”

  They seemed to get the idea when I started to strip off my clothes.

  “Besides,” I added with a smirk, “Tan lines are evil.”

  Dina snorted and they both joined me in the buff. We lay out in the sun for a while, and also swam in the sun warmed waters of the tropical island. I hardly even felt guilty about it anymore, the truism work hard, play hard came to mind. Life was about balance, and as long as I kept that firmly in mind I didn’t think my new responsibilities would feel quite so overwhelming anymore.

  That insight mostly came from Rori I think, he was in the back of my mind, and I couldn’t wait to introduce him to Tammy and Dina. It would be soon enough, and I wondered if they would care for him as much as I did, or if… they wouldn’t. I did remind him, just in case it came up, that Dina wasn’t as… strong as Tammy and I was. Humans were much more fragile than demons and angels. He tended to be a bit rough in bed and would have to dial that back a bit in her case.

  That reminded me of something. I went ahead and added the magic equalizing enchantments to their bracelets so they wouldn’t be harmed by simply going there later.

  Chapter 21

  I had to go ahead to dragon world alone, and then open a world gate back home for Tammy and Dina to use. I never used gates to go there, but I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of deciding they were coming with me. Just in case…

  The blocking enchantments my sister set up would have stopped me from making a gate to dragon world, but I could incorporate a stabilizing enchantment from the dragon world side, so that’s what I did. I set up the gate about twenty yards from the cliff. I wanted to share the amazing view with them. Rori was already out here as well, he of course knew exactly when I was coming and where I had arrived.

  We gave them a moment to take it all in. The view of the valley, the surrounding mountains, the clan buildings, and the circling dragons overhead were a lot to take in. They seemed a little nervous when they looked at Rori, but I was hoping that would pass quickly.

  Rori smiled, “Don’t worry, the whole clan has orders you are to be treated as inviolate guests, and protected while you are here.”

  Dina returned his smile, “Thank you. It’s beautiful here.”

  He bowed his head slightly, “Your welcome, but the orders weren’t mine. I simply passed on the sovereign’s wishes.”

  I blushed at the look they both gave me, as they once again looked around and seemed to realize that I was in charge here, that everyone and everything was mine to command. They looked a little too awed for my comfort, but luckily that didn’t seem to take long to wear off. We spent a little more time there before moving toward the keep. I used my magic to take us all over the wall, and added my lovers to the wards so they would be recognized and remain unharmed.

  We still had time before dinner, so I gave them the expected tour, and then they helped me unpack all the stuff I’d sent earlier this morning from our shopping trip. Rori was patient when they started to warm up to him and asked him questions about the daily life of a dragon.

  Tammy summed it up, “So you make sure your safe by patrolling and training to fight, that you have food and shelter, and then what do you do for fun when that’s all taken care of?”

  He shrugged, “We like to swim, lay out in the sun, fly for the pleasure of it… and we pair off for other things.”

  Dina asked curiously, “You mean fuck by that last thing right?”

  He grinned, “Yes. And although we don’t normally talk about it, we love to count our hoard.”

  Tammy raised an eyebrow, “So you train to fight, is it often that the clans come to blows?”

  He shook his head, “Yes and no. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes clans will fight over mining rights, or some other resource. We have to guard our food source as well. Mates are also a reason we could be raided.”

  Dina tilted her head, “So a woman dragon isn’t equal here? Merely property to be stolen?”

  She’d sounded more curious than angry about it, but Rori firmly disagreed.

  “No, the women are equal fighters and workers. It’s… more of a game than a true battle when mates are on the line. Otherwise the women would fight to the death and they would never mate. In true battle there are no prisoners. Think of it like a human mock battle, but it’s more than that too, like a mock battle and foreplay rolled up into one.”

  Tammy giggled and blushed, “Sounds like fun.”

  He nodded and his lips twitched, “It can be. I think dinner is ready.”

  We made our way out of the sovereign’s bedroom and over to the dining room that was still a part of my suite. We sat around a table as we were served a dinner comprised of mostly meat but all cooked and spiced in different ways for variety.

  Tammy and Dina were a lot more relaxed, and Rori was being quite charming, he was obviously interested. As the nerves went down, the flirting started. I didn’t get the feeling we were all jumping into bed together tonight, but I was starting to think it would happen, sooner or later. I wasn’t worried so much about the timing at all, we had time, I was just gla
d this was going well. At the very least, everyone was getting on well and I had no complaints.

  We talked for a while after dinner, but the evening went by fast, then it started to get late and it was time to get Tammy and Dina home. They both had class early on Friday. I was conflicted on who I wanted to go home with, but Rori picked up on my conundrum and solved the issue.

  “Take them home and stay there tonight. I will see you in the morning when they have class.”

  I didn’t argue, so instead of taking them home, I took them to mine and we stepped out of the portal into my apartment.

  “So what did you think of him?”

  Tammy smiled slyly, “He’s hot, and really polite, but I got the impression it’s a thin veneer, I bet he’s a wild man in bed.”

  Dina said cheerfully, “Maybe we’ll find out…”

  I snickered and nodded in agreement.

  “Are you two staying?”

  Tammy looked torn and looked toward my bedroom almost longingly.

  “I really want to cuddle up between you two, but I also need to be there for my sisters.”

  I nodded and forced myself not to wheedle. She was the president of the local chapter, it was a responsibility we had to respect.

  I smiled softly, “It’s okay, you’ll be all mine in a month though.”

  Dina shook her head, “Nope, you have to share her with me, and I suspect Rori as well.”

  I winked at Dina, “That’s what I meant.”

  Tammy rolled her eyes playfully, “So I’ll be your little angel slave?”

  I nodded sagely, “Absolutely,” I turned to Dina, “should we let her wear any clothes?”

  Dina shook her head in mock dismay at the idea, “Nope, although we could let her wear slutty lingerie… if she’s a good girl I mean.”

  Tammy snorted and shook her head but had a large smile on her face. Strangely enough, I could feel through my succubus magic that the joking had turned us all on. Clearly we did want an angel slave, and Tammy wanted to be one. Maybe we could role play that sometime…

  Dina and I kissed Tammy goodnight thoroughly enough to almost change her mind, but she went back to the sorority and we got into bed. I believed I was starting to get used to my new schedule. I hadn’t fed in a couple of days because I hadn’t needed to. And while it was still strange, I found I didn’t really mind.

  Dina asked softly, “How do you handle it?”

  I caressed her side and kissed her softly before answering.

  “Handle what?”

  Dina asked, “A clan, the responsibility, trying to bring peace to whole worlds. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, and I just have my college GPA to worry about. If I were you I’d be too paralyzed to do anything.”

  I replied, “You of course. And Rori. Tammy, and my family too.”

  She just looked at me.

  “Really. The people I love. Having that much responsibility is too much, so I just do it for them. Plus, you also ground me, all of you I mean, keep me seeing what’s important. I do have moments of stress where I feel like it’s all too much, but then we went shopping and I felt better about it.”

  She kissed me softly, and with my empathy I felt drowned in love in that moment. I returned it, melting into her body, giving her all that I was in that moment.

  Dina was in a tender mood, and since I was a succubus, and very much in love with her right now, so was I. We loved each other gently, with only our bodies, taking each other to an explosive completion after a slow and indulgent half hour build up. Then I spooned into her back and closed my eyes for sleep.

  Chapter 22

  I woke up to Rori’s alarming emotions and checked his recent memory.

  The patrols to the east, west, and south were all engaged by separate clans. Four died out of their number, the rest were racing back to the clan while sending warning ahead. Rori seemed… panicked which scared the shit out of me.

  I rolled out of bed and decided I was in the courtyard. I realized I was still naked but shrugged it off, it didn’t seem all that important right now.

  “Rori, what’s going on?”

  I knew I could find the information in his memories, but I didn’t have time to pick through all the dross for the gold.

  He replied tightly, “Four clans are attacking. Fucking cowards.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He sighed, “This is about the peace you’re demanding. The four clans must oppose you but are too afraid to face you in a challenge. This has to be an attempt to kill you during a raid. But it’s bullshit, four clans raiding one at the same time? No… It’s planned cowardice. We’re a large clan, so they only outnumber us three to one, but that’s still enough to turn this place into rubble and kill us all.”

  I embraced my magic to give me some time to think. I went over all our preparations and the war plans and contingencies we had ready. He was right, nothing covered this. Over three hundred dragons? I could probably kill them, if they stood still and didn’t fight back. Taking them one by one wasn’t a possibility. No, I needed to do something like the storm on magic world, but not something that would destroy all the surrounding land.

  Right, how hard could that be? I giggled a little hysterically, drawing a sharp look from Rori. I don’t think he was paying attention to my thoughts at all, too mired in his own right now.

  Rori said, “I’m sorry, I don’t think…”

  Hmm, what if I reverse it? Fire up instead of down. Then any misses or extra would just fly up and out into space.

  “Call everyone into the courtyard,” I ordered.

  Rori shook his head, “That will just make it worse.”

  I frowned and set my jaw, “Now, I don’t have time to explain it to you,” I said in a deadly quiet voice.

  In just seconds eighty dragons flew down from the sky and landed in the courtyard.

  “Now what?” he asked.

  “How much of a lead do the scouts have?”

  He pinched his face, “Half a mile.”

  Good enough I supposed. I ordered, “Have them land in the courtyard too.”

  He shook his head for a second and I felt him look in my mind. His eyes widened a little when he saw my plan but he did what I ordered. I don’t think he meant to question me, he was just trying to help, but there was just no time for a discussion, and no normal plan was going to work.

  I was kind of shocked at my plan as well, I wasn’t even angry about it. Just a sort of… frustrated sadness that it was necessary. They were attacking me, intended to kill me and this entire clan so they could go on and kill as many humans on magic world as it took to enslave them once again. I could feel the nervousness of the dragons around me. This went against their nature, stay in the courtyard instead of meeting the fight head on.

  But they were doing it, and I couldn’t help but come to the conclusion they trusted me to protect them, that despite my mad idea to make some of them farmers, I already had their respect and loyalty. My mother won the demon world with challenges, and I had expected something similar.

  But I was wrong. This world would be won with battle.

  The scouts finally arrived and landed. I waited a few seconds as the dots on the horizon slowly turned into birds, then larger and larger until I could see all the different colors of their scales. There were so many of them, coming from all directions.

  I released my magic into the sky, forming a dome more or less, and then I directed my will at it, believing something into existence. It was complicated, and I had to do it right, because once it was formed there would be no changing it.

  A light haze seemed to form into a dome around us, and then it thickened into a glowing dome of electro-magnetic energy that was partially translucent. Ropes of lightning started to roll over and around the shield formed above us, coruscating around us in random patterns.

  But it was more than just a simple shield, and not all of it was a new idea. It had intent, and rules to follow. As soon as the dragons came within a quarter
mile of that new protection it released bright balls of lighting, shooting unerringly toward the approaching dragons. They fell from the sky by the score, the few that tried to run immediately escaped, I had no need to kill them all, simply stop the attack. But it was less than ten dragons that escaped the deadly barrage.

  Dragons weren’t known for retreating.

  Some few of them got close enough to release their breath weapons before being struck from the sky. Lightning, fire, ice were all harmlessly absorbed. Then it was over, and there was dead silence in the courtyard. I expected to feel fear and horror, but dragons were so different. All I felt was awe, loyalty, and pride that I was their sovereign.

  Somehow that made it both better and worse.

  I turned toward Rori and I wanted to fall into his arms and weep. I had no choice, I wasn’t about to let them kill me, or my clan. The weight of it was heavy but I needed to look strong, at least until I got to privacy, then I could fall apart.

  “Assemble four groups of twenty, go to those clan’s lands and collect all their hoards. Then turn all their buildings to rubble.”

  I checked Rori’s mind for information about sharing hoard loot in a clan raid.

  “Put half in my vault, split the rest.”

  He replied, “Yes sovereign. We may need to expand the vaults, especially yours.”

  I nodded and then I walked inside with my head held high until I reached our quarters. Only then did I let the mask go, I crawled into the bed and rolled into a ball and wept for what I had done. I had no choice, I did what I had to, but that doesn’t mean it felt right.

  When the tears stopped I got up and slipped into my warm oversized tub and got cleaned up. I dried off and slipped on a pair of Capri pants and a loose shirt. I put on some sandals, and then… I just waited there. Once Rori had things organized I knew he’d be in and we’d have breakfast.

  I needed to focus on something outside of the death so I pulled out my phone and started to look through the real estate listings for houses in and around Chicago. I didn’t think we needed our own rooms, we’d probably all sleep in the same one, but then there were times we all needed a private place. Plus a couple of guest rooms for visiting family. Stainless steel kitchen, and something with at least three full baths.