Forbidden Magic: The Complete Collection

by Anya Merchant

  “Victor? Is that you?”

  He’d been walking for a couple of minutes when he heard someone call his name. Victor turned around slowly and saw a man walking toward him.

  “Uh… Hello?” Victor examined the man’s face as he drew closer, noticing something familiar in his expression.

  No, not in his expression. Just his eyes.

  “Jesus Christ…” The man shook his head. “No way.”

  Victor raised an eyebrow. The man was a couple of inches shorter than him, dressed in jeans and a windbreaker that also looked too thin for the weather, and was looking him up and down as though he were a ghost.

  “Do I know you?” asked Victor.

  “Yeah, you do,” said the man. “Or I guess I should say, you did. It’s me, Damien.”

  It took a second for the name to register, but when it did, Victor felt his mouth drop open for the second time that night. He took a step back, and then a step forward.

  “Holy fuck.”

  CHAPTER 4

  “Damien…” Victor shook his head, still reeling. “What are you doing here?”

  Damien smiled at him.

  “I could ask you the same thing,” he said. “I pretty much thought you’d died, the way you just up and disappeared back when we were kids.”

  Damien had been Victor’s closest friend, and essentially Victor’s only friend, back when he and his father still lived in Undercliff City. From ages five to nine, the two of them had been nearly inseparable. They’d been best friends through it all, facing off against the challenges of childhood, grade school, and sidewalk bullies.

  “It was my dad,” said Victor. “Something to do with his company. We couldn’t stay in Undercliff City.”

  Damien looked at him curiously for a minute and then nodded.

  “You still have that X-Men comic I lent you?” He asked, smiling.

  Victor grinned at him.

  “Maybe. Depends on whether or not you ever found my baseball glove in your backyard.”

  “I did, but my dog chewed it up.”

  “Tony?”

  “No, Spencer, one of his puppies. He was a bit of a malcontent.”

  Victor took a deep breath and then let it out. He blinked slowly, leaning his head down in to the side in a nod of acknowledgement.

  “It’s good to see you again,” said Victor. “Really good.”

  “What are you doing back here, anyway?” asked Damien. “Not that I mind.”

  “I… got a new job in the area,” said Victor. “I’m here on my own. My dad…”

  He trailed off. Damien met his eye for a second, and it was clear that at least a bit of their childhood rapport had carried over into adulthood.

  “Are you here to stay?” he asked.

  Victor nodded.

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  A strong gust of wind blew, sending snowflakes scattering through the air between them.

  “Look, I’ve got to take off.” Damien reached into his pocket, pulled out a business card, and it to Victor. “Call me. Or shoot me a text. My mom would be ecstatic if we could get you over for lunch or dinner sometime soon.”

  “Yeah, I’d like that.”

  Damien nodded to him, and then with the same brevity he’d had even as a kid, turned and jogged off down the road. Victor took a look at the card his friend had given him.

  “Vacuum salesman?” he muttered. “Really, Damien?”

  The rest of the walk home went by in a haze of memories. It had been a long time since Victor had thought about Damien. The two of them had been so close, and then cut off from each other so quickly, that the memories almost felt like they belonged to someone else.

  I guess I have a lot of memories like that.

  After ten minutes, he was back in his neighborhood, which was in the southwestern part of the city, near the cliffs. He walked past Sammy’s Place, the local bar where he occasionally spent uneventful evenings, and then turned the corner.

  Further down the street was the small, single story bachelor pad that he and Kronenberg shared as roommates. It an old building, recently renovated, but with plenty of creaky floorboards and an old fireplace for heat. The porch was a third of the size of the house itself, with a comfortable hammock hanging between edge of the doorframe and a support beam on one side that he was sure had been there before Kronenberg ever moved in.

  Victor climbed up the steps, pulled out his key, and unlocked the door. He pushed it open a crack and heard more voices on the other side than he’d been expecting.

  “Hello?” He raised an eyebrow as he scanned the room. Kronenberg was controlling his drone body, and two female guests sat on the couch, drinking wine.

  “Perfect timing, buddy!” Kronenberg was perched on the coffee table, and with a whirl, his four aluminum rimmed copter blades lifted him into the air and toward Victor.

  Kronenberg managed to make experiencing the world through robotics seem practical, almost pleasant, even. The main model of drone body he used looked a bit like a cross between a futuristic flying car and a robotic spider. It was about the size of a microwave, and had two cameras on the front in place of eyes, a dome light on top that he could use for a multitude of purposes, and fairly impressive range of movement.

  “Hey, Kronenberg,” said Victor. “What’s going… on?”

  He turned to the two women in the room. One of them was Julie, Kronenberg’s friend and hired caretaker. She made sure that his body, his human body, was fed, bathed, carefully readjusted, and altogether looked after on a day-to-day basis.

  The other was Piper, an employee of Monteiro working under Lucy that mostly served as the thirteeth floor’s resident nurse. In many ways, she played a similar role in Victor’s life as Julie did to Kronenberg, though the similarities ended when it came to their methods.

  I forgot she was coming over tonight.

  Victor smiled at her, and Piper flicked a few strands of indigo dyed hair out of her face and smiled back. She was a tall woman, almost as tall as Victor, and her long, luscious legs immediately drew his attention.

  Piper was wearing a blue turtleneck that matched the color of her hair, and a pair of black leggings that clung tightly to her thighs. Victor walked over to where she sat on the couch slowly, not letting the eye contact between the two of them break.

  “Hey,” he said. “I didn’t realize tonight was on the schedule.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “James got a little peeved at me when I told him that I had to make a house call.”

  James… Her husband.

  Piper was there to take care of them. The care that Victor needed, as an aura binder, involved living a healthy lifestyle on every level. Piper made grocery lists for him and devised sleep schedules, which Victor sometimes followed. But there was also something else she did for him, something that was a little more illicit, and a lot more enjoyable.

  “I… should probably get going.” Julie smiled at Victor, Piper, and Kronenberg and stood up from the couch. “I have to get home, too.”

  “Oh, come on!” said Kronenberg. “Don’t mind them! It’s no big deal!”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kronenberg.” Julie blew him a kiss and made for the door.

  Victor thought about taking the open seat on the couch, but Piper stood up before he could. She reached her hand out and placed it into his with a smile.

  “Shall we?” she asked.

  Victor nodded.

  “We shall.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Am I a bad person for enjoying this as much as I do?

  The libido of an aura binder was something that had to be carefully managed. Victor’s nano auras were sensitive to even slight changes in his emotional moods. According to Lucy, if all of his needs were not properly met, his control over his abilities would turn volatile.

  “No offense, Victor, but you need to learn the rules regarding cock blocking.” Kronenberg shook his entire drone body in a disapproving movement. “I was close, tonight.”


  Victor chuckled.

  “Sorry about that, buddy,” he said. “Really, I am.”

  He led Piper into the back of the house and through the door to his room. The downside about living in a tiny, old-fashioned building was how close and intimate the space was designed to be. All it consisted of was a single common area with the TV and couch on one side and a mini kitchen on the other, along with the bathroom and two bedrooms.

  Victor’s room was still barebones, just a single queen size bed, a closet, and a desk that he never used. He sat down on the edge of the bed and waited while Piper made her way over to him.

  “You look excited,” she said softly. “I’m starting to think that you’ve come around to the idea of your special, secret checkups.”

  “Maybe so.” Victor smiled mischievously at her and watched as she slowly pulled her turtleneck up and over her head, her medium sized breasts bouncing inside of her bra as they broke loose.

  “I’m just a doctor.” Piper leaned over him, letting her breasts rub across his face as she worked her fingers on the zipper of his jeans. “And I’m just doing what needs to be done.”

  Victor winked at her. His cock strained against the confines of his boxers even as Piper stripped his jeans off with quick, business-like movements. He was a lot hornier than he’d realized, and lust began to burn inside of him like a well-fed flame.

  It’s been a while. A couple of days, at least.

  If he really wanted to, Victor could have used his scarlet aura to have more fun than a single man could ever really need. Flaring the emotions of attractive women was a temptation that he mostly didn’t allow himself to indulge in.

  With that said, occasionally it was necessary, as it had been several times during the last life or death incident he’d been involved in. Victor still thought about those encounters and occasionally even dreamt about them, and what it would be like to take it even further. If he wanted to, he could set himself up as the head of a modern day harem, with dozens of women at the ready to fulfill his every need.

  And I know exactly what kind of path that would lead me down. I’ll never let myself end up like that.

  “You okay?” Piper had taken off her leggings and was standing in front of him in nothing but her underwear. Victor nodded, pulled off his sweatshirt and the t-shirt underneath it, and then pawed at her waist with frisky movements.

  “Easy there, young man,” cooed Pipe. “I forgot just how… enthusiastic teenagers can be when it comes to this kind of thing.”

  “Why don’t I give you a reminder?” Victor kissed the spot right above Piper’s breasts, and then her neck.

  Piper giggled and let her fingers caress his erection through his boxers. Her touch sent warm pleasure flooding through Victor, and his heart began to beat hard with anticipation.

  “This is just a platonic thing, Victor,” she said. “I’m just here to do my job, give you a healthy release, and collect my sample.”

  “Of course.” Victor kissed her on the neck and leaned back on the bed, pulling her on top of him.

  “I’ve told James about this and while he’s not thrilled about it, he’s accepted it,” she said softly. “It’s part of my job. It’s work.”

  Victor nodded. He didn’t like thinking about Piper’s husband, but at the same time, if it wasn’t an issue for her, then it wasn’t his place to make it into one. He slipped a hand down the back of Piper’s panties and cupped one of her buttocks, grinding his hard cock up between her thighs. Piper shivered and then pushed him back on the bed.

  “Nice try,” she said, smiling at him like a teacher giving a polite reprimand.

  “One of these days, the panties will come off, Piper.” Victor smiled back at her and watched as she pulled his boxers down and freed his cock.

  “You could make me take them off if you wanted to.” She pursed her lips and slowly began running her fingers across his naked, sensitive member. Victor let out a sigh of pleasure and stared down at her lovely face, framed on the sides by her long blue hair.

  “I could, but I won’t,” said Victor. “It’s no different than using force to get what I want.”

  “Sometimes…” Piper brought her lips to the side of Victor’s cock and gave it a soft, mind-blowingly pleasurable kiss. “I wonder what it would be like. For you to use your power to set me off, for you to make me so horny that I couldn’t resist.”

  Victor started to reply, but Piper gave his cock a long, slow lick, from the base to the tip. She let her lips slip over the head of it as her mouth reached the top and Victor forgot what he’d been going to say.

  It’s like a game to her. She enjoys it.

  In truth, Victor had known that Piper was a sensual, sexually empowered woman from the moment he’d first met her. He had no doubt that she would push it even further, push it all the way to the very limit, push him until he lost control and decided to turn her into his actual personal slut instead of letting her continue to play pretend.

  Piper bobbed her head up and down, slowly at first, and then with faster, more forceful movements. Victor leaned his head back on his hands and watched her. She was good at it, and he had to wonder if her husband back home had ever seen her give a performance like this.

  She noticed his eyes on her and pulled back, giggling. Piper shifted position, bringing her bra clad breasts down over his member. They were just large enough to, in combination with the bra’s restrictive fabric, fit neatly on either side of his cock.

  Victor felt his erection sliding up between them. Piper leaned her head forward and licked the tip before bobbing up and down a few more times. It wasn’t quite as pleasurable as her mouth had been, but it was good, in a different kind of way.

  “I should probably get the vial out,” whispered Piper. She pulled back, keeping one hand wrapped around his cock as though it was the shifter of a car.

  “We could always skip it for today,” said Victor, reaching forward and putting his hand on the back of her head. “Take our time, play around a little more…and see where things lead.”

  He slipped his hand down to her panties again, this time letting his fingers caress the outer lips of her pussy. Piper closed her eyes for a second, enjoying the sensation. She shook her head, snapping out of it and moving back to sucking his cock, now with her collection vial in one hand.

  When Piper wanted to get someone off, she could do it with ease. Victor wondered if Lucy had known about her ability when she’d hired her. Her lips created a perfect sucking seal around his cock, and her warm, wet mouth felt like heaven itself.

  “Oh…” He felt his hips bucking up to meet each of her downward sucking movements. “Fuck!”

  Victor reached his hand out to pull her head down as he began to cum. Piper was faster than him, though, and dedicated to her job. She pulled back and angled the tip of his cock toward the vial in a single swift movement. Only a single spurt missed, splattering across her hand and breasts. She smiled at him, her eyes locked on his erection as his seed blasted out into the vial.

  “Nice try,” she said. “You are a very spirited boy, Victor.”

  “One of these days you’re going to find out just how spirited.”

  CHAPTER 6

  The first thing Victor did when he woke up the next morning was shiver. The fireplace in the living area heated the entire house, and he had a bad habit of forgetting to put more firewood in before bed.

  It took an effort of will for him to get out of bed. He scrambled around his cold room to find a t-shirt and jeans, along with a black sweatshirt that Kronenberg had given him out of his old wardrobe.

  For once, he needed to be somewhere on time, and for once, he’d woken up with plenty of time to spare. Victor slipped some bread into the toaster and sat next to the kitchen counter. Kronenberg hovered into the room some time later.

  “Never figured you for a morning person.” Kronenberg’s drone body drunkenly wavered from side to side, as though it was being piloted by someone half asleep.

  �
��I’m not,” said Victor. “Just managed to snag a solid night of shut-eye.”

  Kronenberg’s drone slowly bobbed up and down in a nod of ascension that carried far more incredulity than a robot has any right to be expressing, or so Victor thought. His toast popped up, and he pulled out both slices and began buttering them with eager slides of the knife.

  “You ready to get moving?” asked Kronenberg.

  “Sure. Do you, uh, need anything, first?” Victor nodded toward the room where Kronenberg’s disabled human body was resting.

  “Nah, Julie will stop by later and give me my morning grub. Come on, let’s move.”

  Getting out the front door took another force of will, the icy cold wind that rushed in as soon as it was cracked open acting as a reprimand for some miscellaneous wrongdoing. It was still rather dark outside, and most of the snow that had fallen the night before lined the sidewalks and lawns of the neighborhood.

  “Can you feel cold in that body?” asked Victor, as they started walking.

  “I don’t know…” Kronenberg twisted one of his spider legs up and prodded Victor with the surprisingly sharp point. “Can you feel pain in yours?”

  Victor grinned at him and felt a sudden nostalgia for the way he and Damien used to mess with each other.

  I can’t believe he’s back. Actually… I guess I’m the one who’s back.

  “We didn’t get a chance to talk about how last night went,” said Kronenberg. “Lucy filled me in on the details of that grotesque murder. She also said you and Kiara met.”

  “A little heads up about her would have been nice.” Victor shook his head and frowned. “She’s crazy.”

  “Not once you get to know her,” said Kronenberg. “At least not by teenage girl standards.”

  “She’s crazy,” Victor repeated. “And I’m surprised that Lucy lets her help out at all.”