"Um...," she said, "I was just saying..."
She mumbled on for another five minutes, not taking her eyes off me. In the end, mostly out of simple pity, I just made myself invisible; she looked around in fear for a bit longer but managed to get herself back together.
"Welcome to Advanced Flesh Crafting," she said, starting again, "this is where you learn all about advanced medical Magic, and the principles under which it is employed."
She talked for about half an hour, outlining a course that was as much anatomy and physiology as it was Magic, covering the basics of Magical diagnosis and treatment. Even her brief introduction was enough to show me just how brutish and energy-intensive my use of Flesh Magic had been.
The Professor, for all her initial panic, managed to take a topic I was already interested in and make it truly fascinating. Her module would teach the basics (well, advanced basics) of gross repairs and excisions, basic cures and treatments. A true healer would need to dedicate at least five years to courses just like hers, something which I seriously considered. I had the time.
She spoke like an artist in love with her medium, describing a skill based on knowledge, technique and focus; I could imagine Michelangelo speaking that way about marble, or Mozart of music. I felt it would be a privilege to learn from her, she sounded like she really knew her stuff. If I could learn even a fraction of what she was offering, I could vastly improve my ability to heal myself and others, something which was, unfortunately, essential in my life.
For the rest of the hour she directed us to several texts on physiology and gave us a primer on infection as it related to Magical cures. It was very interesting stuff, at least to me. I could already see how I'd been doing things the hard way.
Finally the class wrapped up and the others filed out. I dropped my Illusion and walked towards Hadleigh.
She swallowed hard, her eyes darting and afraid.
"Are you quite alright, Professor?" I asked as nicely as I could.
"Um... yes... yes, Mister Graves, of course. What can I do for you?" she asked, her voice trembled a little.
"Have I done something, Ma'am? You'll forgive me, but you seem more startled than my appearance usually accounts for."
"No, no, of course not... I'm just... you're...," she began but then subsided into embarrassed silence.
"You shouldn't believe everything you hear. I'm really not that bad."
"Oh, yes, I'm sure!" she said unconvincingly.
"You're even now wondering if you can outrun me to the door, aren't you?"
The ghost of a smile crossed her features.
"Window," she replied in a whisper, still looking down.
"Look, if I'm making you uncomfortable, I'll drop the class," I said; her head darted up, a mortified look on her face, "Nobody should feel uncomfortable in their workplace. I just... I liked the outline, and it looked interesting."
"That's not necessary, Mister Graves! I should know better than to judge a man on hearsay. I was just a little startled... I wasn't expecting someone so..."
Silence again.
"You weren't expecting the monster to look like one?" I offered affably.
"Something like that," she said, and then clapped her hands over her mouth.
"It's alright, I'm getting used to it. I'll see you next time, then?"
She nodded and I walked out, making sure to give her plenty of space.
I sighed when I was out of earshot.
God, day one and I already hated that place...
And now, as if that wasn't enough for one day, it was time to present myself for the rectal exam that was Jocelyn.
I met her outside the Magic School and she smiled shyly, tucking a stray lock of her hair behind her ear as she watched me. There was no fear in her eyes, no wariness, which I appreciated. But then she knew me for the coward I really was.
"Hi," she said, coming over to kiss my cheek.
I tried not to wince, we weren't there yet.
"Hi," I replied.
"Want to grab a coffee?"
No, I want to go find someplace dark and scream...
"Sure," I said instead.
She took my hand and led me off.
"I heard about your first class, I'm sorry."
Word travelled way too fast in that hell-hole...
"It's nothing new, I'm sorry to say-"
"Hey!" said a loud, deep voice from behind us, "Stay away from my girlfriend, freak!"
"Damn it Gerald! I've told you before; I am not your girlfriend!" Jocelyn said, and then to me, "I went out with him once as a favour to his sister, and now he's obsessed."
He was tall, dark haired and slim. He wore a designer jacket, jeans and t-shirt along with heavy walking boots. Handsome guy, too, classically so, with an aquiline nose, high cheekbones, good chin, the whole nine. The good looks were somewhat ruined by the look of jealous hatred plastered on his face.
And then he saw my eyes and his look of hate became one of disgust.
Then he laughed. It was a very loud, very obnoxious sound that grated dangerously against my temper. It went on for far too long, and, just like that, I was quite thoroughly done. At the end of my bloody rope. I was so sick and tired of it, all of it!
"Sorry, don't know why I was worried!" he said as he looked me over, "What a mess!"
Oh, you want to see a mess?!
I raised my hand...
Time stopped.
I blinked. Hard.
Then she was there, appearing out of nowhere right in front of me. Rose; one of my Liaisons, the Angel. She was a tall, lovely woman with dark copper hair that shimmered in the September sun, her bright blue eyes were shining and narrowed, staring straight at me. She wore a white dress down to mid calf, her hands and feet bare.
"Think very carefully on what you choose to do now, Mathew Graves," she said, her eyes narrowing further, into a glare.
Chapter 6
I lowered my hand with a sigh.
"Sorry," I said. It was the only thing I could think to say.
"Oh, it's not really your fault, Mathew," she said, walking forward so that she was standing close to me. She touched my cheek gently, her eyes locking with mine, "Well, it is in a way, in as much as your choices led here... let's say it's not entirely your fault."
"Hey!" said another familiar voice from off to the side, "That is cheating!"
I turned to see Gabrielle, my Liaison from the other side of the fence; she was as tall as Rose, with black hair and scarlet eyes, milk-white skin and a spectacular figure. If Rose was beauty, then Gabrielle was sensuality; the perfect contrasts to one another. The Demon wore black, everything tight, leaving her arms and midriff bare. It was like her very being chipped at a crack in my defences, drawing me to her, to temptation and darkness.
"Hardly," Rose replied, "it's a conversation."
"No, it's cheating. He was about to do something very naughty, and now you've ruined it!" the Demon said with a pout (a very interesting pout...).
"Hi Gabby, how's the family?" I asked, interrupting them before they could start shouting (or blasting things).
"Call me that infernal nickname one more time and I'll come upon you while you're sleeping and post what I do on the internet where your mother can see it!"
I smiled at that little outburst. She was a very peculiar Demon. And she'd gotten worse since she and I'd had our little... moment.
"Bearing in mind the sources of your names, surely your full name would be the infernal one, whereas the one I'm giving is really more accurately described as Magical?" I said in a very even tone that made Rose giggle.
Suddenly the Demon was hard up against me, her eyes inches from mine. I met her gaze, unafraid. There were rules.
"It's unwise to taunt a Demon, Graves," she said. Her breath was warm on my lips, smelling faintly of copper. Her perfume was heady, the scent thick in my nostrils.
"Really? Seems fun to me."
She growled a little, low in her throat. I saw horns appear
on her head, four of them, curling and ridged, as her concentration slipped and her glamour vanished. Her true skin colour was dark red, a match for her eyes. Her tail was wrapped firmly around my waist, her arms on my shirt as she opened her mouth to reveal sharp canines.
"I could kill you right here," she whispered, moving her head around to nip my neck with her teeth, just enough to let me feel the points, not enough to break the skin.
"Is she always this aggressive?" I asked Rose, while trying to concentrate on something less interesting.
"Generally she's more subtle, but you seem to be able to get a rise out of her, somehow," the Angel replied, shaking her head.
"Annoying people is rather my thing. And I wasn't going to hurt that idiot."
"What were you going to do, then?" Rose asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"I don't really want to tell you," I replied, "it was a little naughty."
Simultaneous soiling and vomiting; a favourite trick of mine for people who'd really annoyed me, but hadn't done enough to justify a Magical neutering or some sort of immolation.
Gabrielle snorted, and seeing as how she'd just started nosing at my neck, her breath caused all sorts of misfires in my nineteen year old brain...
She'd wrapped her arms around my neck, and I found myself returning the embrace. I found her attentions simultaneously relaxing and exciting, which wasn't doing anything good for my blood pressure. I shook my head to clear the confusion, but it didn't work very well. Pureblood Succubae were meant to be 'confusing', I didn't really stand a chance.
"Can't you do something about this? It's breaking my brain," I asked Rose, who rolled her eyes.
"She can't help you, Magician. Besides, she likes to watch," Gabrielle whispered into my ear.
"What's that, now?" I asked.
"Nothing!" Rose protested, glaring at the Demon, who chuckled naughtily and sent more goose bumps up my neck.
"Oh, I think he likes it," the Demon whispered, moving gently up against me.
I shook my head again, counting in prime numbers, which seemed to clear out some of the cobwebs. I set my Will against whatever she was doing... only to find that there was nothing there to fight. There was no Demonic Magic, she wasn't beguiling me with tricks; this was simple attraction and lots of it.
I can't really be blamed for that, she was meant to be the most physically attractive woman you'd ever see.
Bit of a blow to the old ego, though. I'd thought I was made of more reasonable, mature stuff than that, but it turned out that I was just as much a victim of a pretty face and a saucy smile as every other man my age (I know, you're shocked).
Rose sidled up and took one of my hands from Gabrielle's back, moving it up so we stood palm to palm, fingers interlocked. I think she was trying to help, but she triggered a sort of confusing melange of the natural affection I felt for her and the rampant attraction I felt for the Demon.
Gabrielle laughed a little.
"Doesn't work. There's a teeny piece of me in you now. Even your pretty friend can't save you from that," she whispered.
"Gabby, that's not nice," I complained.
"Really? Are you sure? Because I think you like it. I think you like it a lot..."
"You know the rules! He may have let you in, but you may not exploit it! He's the balance, you idiot. Break him this way and you might break us all!"
Gabrielle rolled her eyes, but she gave my backside a final grope (making me jump) and stepped away.
"There, happy?"
"No! You take that part of you out of him, and you take it out now!"
"No can do. He chose it of his own free will... and all because of an act of compassion, isn't that beautiful? An act born from the inspiration of an Angel has brought a good man closer to the Devil-"
"Just you say that again!" Rose snarled.
You see what I mean about those two? I was fairly certain that they loved each other quite a bit, but in the manner of siblings who also couldn't stand each other for more than ten minutes at a stretch. I sighed and shaped a bit of Shadow into a chair to sit on while they had their domestic moment. They seemed to have forgotten that I was even there, which was a shame. I'd rather been enjoying the cuddle.
"Yes, just think of it!" Gabrielle continued, "A piece of Hell's finest seducer, lodged deep within the First Shadow, darkness incarnate, influencing him, making him darker still, pushing him further and further towards evil and the Black, and it's all because of you!"
"So that's your plan?" Rose hissed, her form suddenly bright with solid light.
For heaven's sake, anyone could see that she was just winding the Angel up. I was about to say so (and avoid the collateral damage) when another voice spoke up, and made the situation ten times more complicated.
"Well, I think that's all I needed to hear," said the voice, making me jump.
"Damn it, now what?" I said with a sigh as Neil walked around my seat and glared at his daughter.
"Father?" Gabrielle said, sudden fear in her eyes and stance.
"You've been very bad, Gabrielle," he said coldly, cruelly, in fact "Apologies for this, Mathew, family matter."
I nodded, thinking hard, standing so as to be ready for trouble.
This was... odd. He rather gave the impression that his relationship with his daughter was far more cordial than this. But then... Devil.
"I only took an opportunity," Gabrielle protested.
"You dare speak to me of opportunity? The souls of the Archons are not for you to amuse yourself with!" he said, energy seemed to flicker around his form, "They are off limits, you know that!"
Rose moved up to stand with Gabrielle.
"And you," Neil said to Rose, "you were supposed to be the best of your limited breed. I'm tempted to send you back to the Host in pieces! You instigated this whole mess!"
"Father please don't send me home!" Gabrielle begged, now on her knees, "I don't want to go, please!"
"You have nothing to bargain with, child," Neil said, "and I think it's time you were away."
He raised his hands and fire flickered on a patch of ground, until a black opening in the universe appeared, surrounded by white hot flames. There was nothing but darkness on the other side.
Gabrielle retreated, backing all the way up to me, wrapping her arms around my legs and weeping pitifully while Rose put herself between us and Neil.
"This isn't your business, child!" Neil snapped at Rose.
His form burst into flames, a match for the ones on the ground. His eyes were bright with white energy, wings of fire sprouted from his back, spreading out a dozen feet.
Rose braced herself, backing away, clearly terrified. I sniffed, looking at Neil, and then down at Gabrielle, who was still snivelling away. I caught her looking up at me, and our eyes met. I raised an eyebrow.
"This isn't even slightly fooling you, is it?" she asked.
"Nope, sorry," I said, "Points for effort, though."
"Shit," she said, standing up before leaning against my side, "Sorry Daddy."
Neil sighed, but the fires went out, the light in his eyes vanished, and he grinned as the 'Portal' vanished.
"What's happening?" Rose asked, a very worried look on her face.
"Neil's playing silly buggers. Unfortunately he forgot that the Devil's in the details," I said completely deadpan.
Gabrielle stifled a laugh and buried her head in my shoulder.
"Oh, very droll," Neil said, rolling his eyes, "What gave us away?"
"Gabby doesn't snivel. And as much as I may dislike your methods, you love your daughter too much to frighten her. And that wasn't a Portal."
Rose had come to stand by us. Neil grinned.
"Clever boy," he said, "I do so like it when they're clever. Very annoying, though."
"I presume that the idea was for me to barter for her freedom? At great cost, no doubt?"
"Can't blame me for trying."
"Sure I can," I said coldly, his smile went even wider.
"That sou
nds rather... definitive," he said, "almost threatening, in fact. Are you sure that's wise?"
"Can you open a portal to the Shadow Realm, Neil?" I asked evenly.
His eyes went wide, "You little bastard," he said angrily.
"Thought not. Do anything like this again, and I'll feed you to the Leviathans. Even you'll have trouble fighting them on their own ground."
"They don't call me Lightbringer for nothing, Boy," he snarled.
"Nor do they call me a monster for no good reason. I'm guessing your energy isn't infinite, even less so in there. And it just occurred to me that you're only arguing with me right now because that's exactly what you want," I said, realising my own stupidity.
What the hell was wrong with me? I was threatening the cosmic being in charge of eternal punishment! Well, I knew what was wrong with me, there was a hole in my soul putting me into a perpetual bad mood and making me spoil for a fight, but this was just ridiculous...
"Oh, do be a sport, Graves!" Neil said, "I put effort into these plans, you know!"
"How much effort? It seemed like this one needed a second pass."
"Well, you're really more of a side-project. I'm currently working this delightful little deal down in Rome. You should read about it in six months or so. Oh, it's going to be fun! I came because my girl was making good progress, and I like to support her. She'd have had you, too, if you weren't quite so on the ball..."
I sighed heavily, but he was gone before I had a chance to hit back with a snappy rejoinder.
"Stop that, I'm not happy with you," I said as Gabrielle started nuzzling again.
"Neither am I!" Rose said as she came forwards.
"Oh, relax, it's not like it came to anything," the Demon said.
"And if it had?" Rose asked icily.
"Then my week would have been much more fun!"
Rose slapped her. Hard.
Heart's Darkness Page 9
