"Oh, Solomon is going to be mad as hell," she said with a laugh.
"How did you know what was happening?" I asked her. She'd shown up at just the right time.
"I almost missed it," she said, a flash of fear crossing her features, "I'd been following Orion, that's the Warlock, by the way, and I'd seen him talking to people around here, building his little army; that's where I've been these last few days. A friend of mine let slip that he was up to something in Stonebridge, and that I should stay away."
"Naturally you did the opposite," I said fondly.
She smiled, "I was about to come tell you when I saw him come this way, and who should I see but you, heading into the Witches' House; very clever, by the way."
"Look, I've got enough tellings-off to deal with on that score without you giving me a hard time, too!" Cassandra was never going to let me forget about this...
"Oh I haven't even begun on this topic, we will be revisiting it," she said, her eyes narrowing in a very familiar way. Did all Demigods glare like that?
"Where was I? Oh, right. I saw them attack, and I was about to intervene by kicking Orion in the soft places when I saw the Witch come up to stab you, and you know the rest."
"You saved my life," I said, "Thank you."
She rolled her eyes and gently punched my shoulder, "Don't be so stupid next time! I mean, really, who trusts Witches?!"
"One bad egg..."
"They were all in on it, Mathew. They were ready to ambush you! Did any of them look doubtful? Confused?"
I harrumphed, but couldn't argue with her.
"That's right. Now, you gather the wood, I'll get the petrol. We'll burn us some Witches!"
I gave her a look. She held her scary eyes for maybe a second before she burst out laughing.
"Fine, no burning, but can I stab them a little?"
"No."
"Shoot them? I promise only flesh wounds?"
"Still no."
She pouted, rather adorably, actually.
"Can I at least kick the Warlock in the balls?"
"Have at it... Gah! I thought you were joking!"
"I never joke about testicular football."
Oh, that looked like it hurt, or would have, if Orion were conscious.
I shook my head and pulled out my phone.
"What did you do this time?" Hopkins asked after picking up the phone, without even giving me the chance to speak!
I rolled my eyes; Maggie smirked, but kept her eye on the slumbering idiots.
"Remember I mentioned Witches?" I began.
Her sigh could have sand-blasted my floors clean.
Long story short, I stayed long enough for a couple of Hopkins' highly trained leg-breakers to arrive, and then I left as quickly as I could. Hopkins said she'd take care of it, but that I'd have to make a statement. Thankfully, that was all someone else's problem.
I did pause on my way out to take back my box of rare materials... as well as a few other things, as I was in the area.
The Phoenix Bane would look lovely in my garden, for example.
As would the Dragon's Eye, the Bellatrix Claw and the Lucian Fuge. It was only fair. New policy; try to kill me, I take your stuff.
Maggie decided to come back to Blackhold with me, her hand in mine for the whole journey back.
"Thank you," I said to her as we approached the front doors.
"You're welcome. But you're one of mine, now, I couldn't do anything else."
I smiled at my friend and invited her in. She smiled, and I opened the door...
To reveal an unbearably smug looking Cassandra standing in the front hall with her arms crossed and an unholy smirk on her face.
"Goddess, I've never seen a human being shrink that fast!" Maggie said as I cringed away from the look, which only got worse as my Warden realised that I understood what was about to happen.
I tried to distract her with Maggie, but all that meant was, that when the hammer finally fell, there were two sets of hands wielding it.
And you'd think that would be the end of it, wouldn't you?
No.
First Killian came. He turned up to have a good go at me for nearly letting both Witches and Duellists get the drop on me. He found that all quite hilarious, especially on top of my getting knocked out by a Pureborn, which led me neatly to Palmyra, who showed up ten minutes later and spent the next thirty laughing her adorable arse off at my expense.
Having been informed of this, Kron wasn't far behind and ensured that I received a good talking to for being an idiot several times over, and all this after she made Killian repeat his version of how I was knocked out (including the lisp, which was mortifying).
Finally, Hopkins arrived, after having sorted out the mess I'd made with the SCA, the University and Jones' superior, the county's Coven Mother, who was not happy at what her protégé had been up to. She, at least, would not be a further problem (or so I thought...).
The rest of the Coven was largely given a pass, on my recommendation; they hadn't been responsible for the actions of their Mistress. The Duellists had been suspended, briefly, but I was willing to let it lie at that (they were just dumb kids, and they hadn't actually managed to do anything except wreck a gate). Orion and Greta (the Werebear) had been arrested and sent to an SCA Processing Station somewhere in Stonebridge, I didn't much care, as long as they couldn't bother me. I hoped they ended up at the Farm with all the other monsters.
Suffice to say, after having to deal with that much bureaucracy while the rest of us were enjoying an impromptu dinner, she was not in a good mood when she finally dropped into a spare seat at the table.
That didn't stop her from getting in the swing of things, though. I introduced her to Maggie, who was rather a hit with my fellow Archons. Killian looked half-entranced by her, in fact. She seemed to fit in with my extended family like a glove. She and Cassandra had immediately bonded through their mutual appreciation of my continuing idiocy.
Eventually, she slipped away, but not before hugging me, and promising to come back soon.
She told me she was going looking for Solomon, to make sure that he couldn't get up to any more mischief, and I begged her not to confront him alone. She promised that she wouldn't, but I couldn't say that I really believed her.
She was a Demigod, though, she'd be alright.
It was actually quite a wonderful night. Even Kron was laughing towards the end, relaxed in ways I'd never seen before. Relaxed Kron was scary, though. Even her laugh was terrifying.
Chapter 21
With the Warlock and the Werebear neutralised, I felt quite light and even relaxed over the next few days. I felt so relaxed, so optimistic, that I made a big mistake.
Things had been proceeding very well with Jocelyn, to the point where we were starting to get very close again. I felt that it wouldn't be fair to her for the relationship proceed to any more intimate places without her knowing who I really was, and what she was getting into.
So I decided to invite her to dinner...
At Blackhold.
Yes, I know that was a mistake now. At the time, it seemed like a perfectly natural thing to do.
Now, you'd think that the biggest danger to my budding relationship would be Tethys, wouldn't you? After all, she liked redheads almost as much as I did (see Kandi), and she was well known for taking a perverse delight in playing with me.
But no, Tethys wouldn't do that to me, not in any direct sort of way. Say what you like about my Succubus, she was utterly faithful to me, and wouldn't even chance hurting me that way, particularly not with Jocelyn, who, let's face it, sort of had form.
Nope, tonight's problem was all me.
I collected her from outside her halls of residence at just gone nine, and we took a cab to Blackhold, with her being rather amorous the whole way, and in such a manner that the cabbie was becoming distracted and irritated. She was dressed very nicely, in a dark green dress, a matching bow in her hair.
I was still smiling as we walked up the drive
, but we were barely half way to the front door, when Jocelyn froze, nearly tripping me.
"Matty," she croaked, "This is Blackhold!"
Oh... damn. How the hell didn't I think this one through? Of course Jocelyn would know what the place was, she'd been brought up in this world (and only a few streets over), there's no way she couldn't have known...
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
"Um..." was the best I could come up with as my carefully laid plans started unravelling.
And here was the real problem. Jocelyn was clever; very clever. She figured it out very quickly. And then she went really pale.
"No!" she said, backing away from me, "No, Matty! Please tell me it's not true!"
She started crying.
"Jocelyn..." I started.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she hissed, "Why'd you let me fall for you?!"
"Jocelyn, please, just give me a minute to explain, I was going to tell you everything. Tonight, in fact."
"I can't, Matty, I just can't! Do you know what you've done? What you've exposed me to?!"
"What? Exposed? I don't understand."
"Of course you don't! You get women to fall for you, and then you leave them in heaps!" she said, turning on her heel, "Don't call me, don't text, I never want to see you again!"
"Please, Jocelyn, just let me explain!" I said, now thoroughly upset and confused. Why the hell was she reacting like this? It wasn't that bad, surely?
I tried to go after her, and she simply slapped me, hard enough that I felt tears in my eyes, and saw sparks. And then she was gone before I could catch up again.
I stood there for a long time, in the dark and the cold, staring at the gate she'd walked through on her way out of my life.
Cassandra appeared at my side after a while.
"I was... at the door," she said, taking my hand.
"I take it you heard most of that?" I said sadly.
"Hard not to; sorry," she said squeezing my fingers.
"That fell apart so fast!"
She put an arm around my shoulders.
"You want my opinion?" she asked.
"Always."
"You know I'm an Empath?"
I nodded.
"Well, she was terrified. Down to the bone, utterly and completely, pee-herself terrified."
I frowned, "Of me?"
"Empath, not Telepath. All I know is that something scared her so badly that she nearly threw up on you just now."
"She covered it well," I said, massaging my stinging cheek.
"She seems like she's good at that, if nothing else."
I nodded slowly.
"And-" Cassandra started, but she stopped.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing."
"Cassie..."
"You love her... again?"
I nodded.
"Then don't ask me to tell you. Just let it lie."
"Seriously? You expect me not to ask after you dangle something like that?"
She smiled, but it was sad.
"I didn't sense love from her."
I didn't get it.
"Huh?"
She scowled, "Don't make me repeat it."
"What... what did you feel?" I asked softly.
"Satisfaction... avarice... maybe a little... distaste; before she figured out who you were, and then just the terror."
"Distaste?!"
"Emotions aren't fixed Matty, she could have been thinking about the shrubbery."
"You don't believe that, or you wouldn't have mentioned it!"
She turned away from me.
"I told you to let it lie."
"Knowing I wouldn't!"
"Shut up, Graves."
I sighed and she took my hand again.
"Sorry," she said.
"So am I."
I wasn't going to leave it at that, no way in hell. Empathy was not an exact branch of Magic, not by a long shot. Cassandra could be wrong.
She had to be wrong. I knew Jocelyn. I'd looked in her eyes, I'd seen the love there.
Hadn't I?
Cassandra tried to feed me, but I'd lost my appetite. The meal didn't go to waste, though. She ate the whole thing by herself while I was up in my room feeling sorry for myself. That was where Tethys found me.
Cassandra had filled her in.
"All part of my plan," she whispered after dropping into bed with me.
I chuckled, though a bit darkly, "Weren't you just telling me to get a girlfriend?"
"No, I told you to go have sex, different thing entirely," she said, pinching my nose.
"You are a terrible influence."
She snorted and kissed my cheek affectionately.
"And yet, here you stay," she said with that smile I like so much on her face.
"Nowhere else I'd rather be," I said, closing my eyes.
"Me either, Love," she whispered, almost too quiet for me to hear.
Three days of texts and increasingly desperate phone messages to Jocelyn got me nowhere. She didn't reply, and she didn't go to class, it was like she'd dropped off the face of the Earth which left me feeling crappy enough, but then Mary got involved.
"What did you do to her?" she asked, barging into my room while I was busy brooding, "She hasn't answered any of my texts in two days!"
"What makes you think it was my fault?!"
I mean, it was, but she didn't have to assume that!
"You're the boy, it's always your fault!"
I sighed and slumped against the wall.
"Something did happen, didn't it?" she asked, kneeling next to me.
I nodded.
"Is she... is she coming back?"
"I'm trying, but... it doesn't look like it."
"What did you do?" this time it was less of an accusation.
"I tried to be honest with her."
She recoiled, "You cheated on her?!"
"What? No! Where did you get that?!"
"Sorry, when a boy says he's 'going to be honest', that's normally the thing."
"What sorts of boys have you been dealing with?"
"The bad ones, apparently."
I snorted and she leant against me.
"What were you going to tell her?"
"Nothing important."
"Of course not. Girls generally run screaming from 'not important'."
"You don't know she was screaming. Or running."
"Spill it."
For the life of me, I don't know why I did, but I told her. Maybe it was just to see if Jocelyn's reaction was the norm.
If anything, Mary looked confused.
"So... you're royalty?" she asked.
"No, not as such, just... in a position of authority, if you like."
"And this is different to what you were before?"
"It's a matter of perception. As I am, I'm just a Shadowborn Sorcerer, an outcast to Magical Society, a potential danger. As First Shadow, I have sovereign immunity just about everywhere, carte blanche to deal with any threat as I see fit and allies that could make what happened to Hiroshima look like a gentle suntan. I am horrifying as the former and terrifying as the latter."
"But she wasn't scared of you until she found out that you were her head of state. Doesn't that worry you?"
"Why would it worry me?"
"Well, think about it, why would she be happy with Mathew, the Shadow-wotsit, and yet afraid of Mathew, the authority figure? Attached to government, protected by scary people?"
I frowned. I hadn't thought of it that way. Neither had Cassandra, for that matter.
"You don't think..."
"I don't know," she replied, "All I know is that if I loved someone, then having them tell me who they were wouldn't send me running from them unless what they told me was an active threat to me."
"That's a very dark thought, Mary."
She shrugged, "I can be dark."
"You're currently wearing a Bambi t-shirt."
She covered it up with her hands, smiling at me.
"An
d you... you don't feel any different?" I asked.
"No, why would I? This Magician stuff isn't that important to me, and it's not like you're a different person today than you were yesterday."
I smiled and hugged her, which made her laugh.
"You are such a baby!" she said, tickling my ribs, "You really thought I'd do a Jocelyn, didn't you?!"
"Maybe a little."
"Idiot. For assuming the worst of me, there will have to be compensation."
"Here we go..."
"Naturally, it must start with ice cream, that's a given, and none of the cheap stuff, either. Next we will meander into a movie night, and I'll pick what's on..."
That was just the start. She described things that would make any man with normal interests cringe, but it just made me like her more. She really didn't care about my Magic, not a bit. She only liked me.
There are just some people that you meet... you click with them in a way that makes you feel like they've always been a part of your life. Mary was one of those people for me, and I knew that she would precious to me for the rest of my life.
Our conversation didn't stop me trying to get back in touch with Jocelyn, though. I so wanted to see her. But without any luck, I just had to get on with learning, and hope that I'd get my chance. At least, on the learning side of things, I was able to start making a little progress...
"No, no, no, focus on the energy, you twit!" Hopkins said as my latest attempt to create a Portal failed dismally.
I said a little progress.
"You know, name-calling is just not an effective teaching method."
"Poor baby," she said with an evil smile.
I should state, in her defence, that there wasn't an impatient bone in her body. This was just Hopkins being Hopkins. I knew she was kidding, and would gladly sit with me until the sun went out if she thought it would help.
And she had been helping.
I was now able to sense Space Magic, which wasn't easy, because it wasn't really there. The idea was immensely complicated, and an accurate explanation required an understanding of Quantum Physics, so we'll just skate past that.
Simply put, Space Magic was all tied up with Vacuum energy, which sort of linked all points in the universe. By manipulating this energy, a Magician could call a Portal or alter the placement of objects, play games with gravity or even create micro-singularities. It was possible to cast a Portal spell without being able to work completely with the element, but Hopkins was teaching me properly, so that I'd understand how it all worked.
Heart's Darkness Page 27
