Forbidden Magic: The Complete Collection

by Anya Merchant

  “It’s okay,” said Ella. “Please, just listen to me.”

  “You’re dead,” said Victor. “Ella… I saw you die. I know I did, and I know you aren’t really here.”

  Surprisingly, his words seemed to hurt her. She frowned and blinked several times in quick succession, turning her gaze away from him.

  “I know…” Her voice was soft and shaky. “I know that, Victor. I’m not Ella, not the Ella that you remember from your childhood.”

  “Eternity…” Victor gritted his teeth. “You didn’t die in the fire, did you?”

  He felt his hand instinctively begin to bind his scarlet aura. Ella looked up at him, her pretty face marred by sadness and regret.

  “When you went into Eternity’s facility, an imprint was left on your nanites,” she said. “That imprint… is me.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  “Eternity created a version of Ella, a specter of who she was, out of your memories, mixed with your hopes and dreams of the future, and its own recordings and data of women like her.” She turned her head to the side, a few strands of her autumn hair falling forward from her shoulder.

  “I destroyed Eternity,” snarled Victor. “There is no reason for you to be here anymore.”

  “That’s true,” said Ella. “But I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

  Kiara stirred slightly in the chair she slept in, and Victor tensed up.

  “You’re the only one who can see me,” she said. “I exist in your nanites.”

  She placed a hand on his chest, and just like the holograms in the simulation room, Victor felt it as though it was actually there.

  “You’re the only one who can feel me,” she whispered. “And interact with me.”

  “I don’t want you in my head,” said Victor. “Just… go away.”

  And with that, she was gone. The space that Ella had occupied was thin air. Victor looked around for a moment and then let out a sigh of relief.

  Footsteps came from down the hall. Piper walked into the room, wearing her white doctor’s coat, and with her blue hair pulled back into a ponytail. She smiled when she saw that Victor was awake.

  “Looks like I’m just in time,” she said. “How are you holding up?”

  Victor opened his mouth to answer and then froze.

  How do I know it’s really Piper? If Eternity is in my head, can I trust my senses?

  “It is,” whispered Ella’s voice. And you can.”

  She reappeared next to Piper, completely imperceptible to anyone other Victor. She smiled mischievously at him as Piper leaned in to feel Victor’s forehead, putting her fingers up behind the blue haired woman’s head like bunny ears. Victor frowned. It was exactly the type of thing the real Ella would have done.

  “I’m going to take your vitals,” said Piper. “Just hold tight here, I’ll be right back.”

  She disappeared into the hall, and Ella walked over to the side of his bed. She stood there and said nothing.

  “What is it that you want?” asked Victor. “I don’t think it’s an accident that you’re in my head, and frankly, I don’t trust you.”

  “You don’t have to speak so loud,” said Ella. “Just whisper, or even move your lips. Otherwise, people are going to start looking at you weird.

  Victor scowled, but made the switch, subvocalizing the words instead of speaking.

  “Explain to me why the fuck you’re here,” he mouthed. “Or-“

  “Or what?” Ella laughed, the same condescending mockery of a laugh that the real Ella had used on him regularly, always managing to endear and enrage in equal proportions. “What will you do to me? What can you do to me, Victor?”

  “If you keep pushing me, you’ll find out!”

  “No, I won’t,” said Ella, the sadness returning to her voice. “You can’t do anything. We’re in this together.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Do you think I want this? I remember my body, Victor. I remember my parents. I remember the life that I had, or at least parts of it.”

  “If what you tell me is true, then none of it those memories are real,” said Victor.

  “Apparently, it doesn’t have to be real for me to remember it,” said Ella. “Or to miss it.”

  He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. When he opened them again, Ella was stark naked. Her arms hung loosely at her sides, and she watched his reaction carefully.

  “What are you doing?” asked Victor.

  “Is this what you want?” Ella smiled sadly at him, the expression contrasting against the appeal of her perfect, nubile naked body. “You don’t even have to answer that. I know it is.”

  Piper walked back into the room, and Victor grimaced. He ran a hand through his hair and put every ounce of his willpower into holding it together.

  “I don’t want any of this,” he mouthed. “Please, just… go.”

  “Victor? Are you okay?” Piper frowned as she pulled a chair over to his hospital bed and sat down.

  “Fine!” said Victor. “I’m fine!”

  Ella walked over to his bed, standing opposite the oblivious Piper, and leaned so that her beautiful breasts, each dotted with a perfect perky pink nipple, in front of his face. She had a sensual, determined look on her face.

  “Have you been feeling anything unusual, Victor?” asked Piper. “Your heart rate is a little elevated.”

  “No,” he said. “Totally fine! I don’t think you need to run any… tests.”

  He flinched as Ella slipped underneath his sheet. He was the only one who could see her moving, appearing to shift the blanket, and repositioning herself for what came next. Victor only had on a thin hospital gown, and his body began to respond automatically as Ella slid her fingers across his cock.

  “Lucy told me about what happened,” said Piper. “You’re starting to get good at this whole, being a hero thing.”

  “I guess so!” Victor tried to keep his voice steady. His cock went from being relaxed to a state of rock hardness under Ella’s ethereal touch. Her fingers were just as soft and hot as they’d always been, if not even more so.

  “You deserve a break.” Piper smiled at him. “If anyone around here does, at least, it’s you.”

  She took a look at the monitor next to his bed for a couple of seconds. Victor tried to keep his body still as Ella slowly stroked him off under the covers. It felt amazing, better than a handjob had any right to, and part of him hated her for it.

  “Let me know if you need anything else,” said Piper. “I’ll be in my office. Just send Kiara to come find me.”

  Piper walked out of the room, and Victor waited for all of a second before trying to swat Ella’s hand from his crotch. She blocked his swing with her free arm and then poked her beautiful face out through the top edge of the sheets.

  “You don’t understand anything,” she whispered. “The love that you had for me… and the love that you remember me expressing for you, it’s all a part of who I am, part of whatever I am.”

  Victor tried to glare at her, but couldn’t will it into happening. He sighed, leaned his head back, and blinked.

  This feels incredible. Maybe… I’ll just enjoy it for a few more seconds.

  Ella’s hands were magic. Victor didn’t know if it was because of what he’d once felt for the real Ella, or from the direct link she had to the pleasure centers of his brain, but it was unreal. His chest heaved up and down in a way that it hadn’t since, well, since he’d had his first sexual experiences with the original Ella.

  And then Kiara let out a yawn and opened her eyes.

  “Victor…” Kiara blinked, and then groggily forced herself up. “Oh my god!”

  She rushed over to him and pulled his upper body into a hug. Victor glanced down at his crotch, where Ella continued to move with ghostly, insanely pleasurable movements under the sheets. He shook his head slightly. Ella gave Kiara a curious look and then flashed him a devilish smile.

  “Are you okay?” asked K
iara, running her hand across his chest. “I was so worried.”

  “I’m fine,” said Victor. “Better than fine, actually.”

  He stifled a groan and bit his lower lip. Something wet and unbelievably pleasurable slid up his cock, from the base of the shaft to the tip.

  That’s Ella’s tongue. Ella’s amazing, incredible tongue.

  “I’m sorry.” Kiara locked eyes with him, and Victor could see the telltale signs of puffy redness. “I should have listened.”

  “I… forgive you,” said Victor. It was becoming hard for him to speak, to even think. Ella’s lips were kissing his cock softly, slowly working their way up to the aching, tender head of his erection.

  “Lucy filled me in on everything,” said Kiara. “If I’d heard you when you tried to tell me earlier, none of this would have happened.”

  “No biggie,” said Victor. “I know how hard it is when it’s someone you care about. It’s so hard.”

  Kiara took his hand into hers, just as her sister had, and squeezed it. Victor felt Ella’s mouth close around the top third of his cock as she slowly began to suck. He wanted to cum. Every fiber of his being wanted to cum. The sensation was scarily intense.

  “It was hard,” said Kiara. “There were… a lot of emotions kicking around in my system. Both from Bruce, and from you.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Victor. “It must have been quite the rollercoaster.”

  “It’s over now, that’s all that matters.” Kiara smiled, and for a brief moment, Victor thought she was going to kiss him. “Lucy says that she wants to take a firmer hand with us, as soon as you heal up.”

  “She… she mentioned that,” said Victor. Ella was bobbing up and down now, faster and faster.

  “Whatever it is, we’ll do it together,” said Kiara. “Victor. I care about you. I don’t know what I’d do if-“

  Something hard pinched Victor on the leg, and he flinched upward, cutting Kiara off and ruining the moment. She raised a curious eyebrow at him. Ella briefly poked her head out from the sheets and frowned at him.

  “Anyway,” said Kiara. “I’ll be in touch. Let me know if you need anything. Anything at all, Victor.”

  He opened his mouth to say his goodbye, but Ella began sucking again, and the pleasure hit him in a body wracking wave. He closed his eyes and played it off as though he was trying to go back to resting. Ella sucked his cock with more skill than any woman should have.

  All the porn I’ve watched, and all the times I’ve imagined women doing dirty, nasty things. It’s all a part of her, now.

  Ella slid her head down until every inch of Victor’s cock was engulfed in the warm, sensual confines of his mouth. She sucked and twirled her tongue at the same time, and Victor lost it.

  He let out a long sigh as his cock began to explode. The cum splattered against the formerly clean bedsheets, reminding him of the truth. Ella wasn’t really there, not even as a ghost. Eternity was there, manifested as her. It wasn’t real, and it never would be.

  “I know you fucked her, Victor,” said Ella. “I’m not jealous. But that doesn’t mean I won’t ever be.”

  Victor smiled.

  “The first thing I’m doing when I get out of your hospital bed is finding your off switch.”

  Ella slid up from where she was, positioning her naked body on top of his, letting her perfect breasts push against his chest, and her glossy auburn hair drape across the sheets.

  “We’ll see about that.”

  BOOK FOUR

  THE LABYRINTH

  CHAPTER 1

  “Well? I’m waiting?”

  A light, early spring wind ruffled the fabric of Victor’s unzipped sweatshirt. He glanced up at the sun, which was halfway underneath the top edge of the cliffs behind him. Kiara was sitting next to the crash mat they’d borrowed from a nearby high school, watching him impatiently.

  “It’s getting dark, Kiara,” said Victor. “Let’s give it up.”

  “You’re not scared, are you, Victor?” She stood to her feet in a single graceful movement, arching her back and stretching her arms as though releasing something from within her body.

  “That’s not the word I’d use.” Victor felt himself smiling as he looked at her.

  Kiara had on a baggy windbreaker and black leggings, each having contrasting effects on the interesting curves of her body. She took a few slow steps over to him, the wind catching strands of her loose blonde hair and scattering the flock.

  It’s grown out over the past month. I’ve never seen her with it this long before.

  “I mean, it’s fine,” said Kiara. “I totally get it. No need to explain.”

  Victor took a step toward her.

  “Look, we’ve been here for almost four hours.” He shook his head slightly. “And honestly, I don’t feel like scaling up there again.”

  “You’re just mad that I’m better at this than you are.”

  Victor rolled his eyes.

  “I wouldn’t necessarily say that.” He waved his hand dismissively in her direction. “You’ve been doing it for longer, sure.”

  Kiara looked as though she had the perfect comeback, but seemed to pull away from it at the last second.

  “Fair enough,” she said. “But can you give it one more go? Please? For me?”

  A portion of Victor’s annoyance evaporated. It was hard to stay mad at Kiara for any length of time. And she was right. He needed to, he wanted to, and yet…

  “Alright,” he said, after a couple of seconds. “It can’t hurt, I guess.”

  “Let’s hope not,” said Kiara. “If you fall correctly, it should be fine.”

  She winked at him as he set his hands and feet into the handholds they’d been using to make it up to the lowest ledge of the cliffs. Victor had been up the route enough times to remember each movement, and it took him less than ten seconds to ascend to the top of the eleven-foot rim.

  Alright. Just like going off the diving board. No problem.

  “Go ahead,” said Kiara. “I’m spotting for you. Don’t overthink it.”

  Victor turned so that he was facing the rock wall, and then edged backward until the heels of his feet were hanging precariously over thin air. He blinked, took a deep breath, and then let himself fall back, ignoring the panic that raced from the core of his chest to the edge of his inner ear equilibrium.

  He tucked his chin in slightly and kept his body outstretched. They’d both learned early on that too much angular momentum led to painful landings, and Victor’s neck already had an irritable kink in it.

  Diamond aura! Diamond aura!

  Victor put all of his energy and focused will into pushing out behind him, down at the ground. He pictured his body reversing its drop, moving up through the air. He gritted his teeth and tensed his abs, flicked his fingers through foolish movements that looked a bit like the stereotypical depictions of casting a spell, and hummed softly under his breath.

  Nothing happened, at least not beyond a light tension around the area of his belt. The ground hit him as much as he hit it. All of the air was forced out of Victor’s lungs, and a bruise on his head from a previous attempt felt as though it was threatening to split open, like the skin of a soft fruit.

  Kiara’s head appeared directly in front of his, except upside down, and only a few inches away.

  “Hey,” she said, her lips smiling from her perspective and frowning from his. “That wasn’t bad.”

  Victor let out a chuckle. He wanted to reach up and pull her even closer down, to push his lips against hers, even upside-down as she was.

  “That’s easy for you to say,” he said. “At least you slow your fall enough to land gracefully.”

  “It’s going to take time, sure, but this is the big one.” Kiara leaned back onto her knees and looked up at the sky, which now had a half full moon in it. “Binding the diamond aura, with enough energy and skill, would change everything. We’d be birds.”

  Victor sat up and looked at her. Her eyes held dreams within
them, the same look of someone deep in a mind’s eye fantasy. It was something he’d done himself many times over, ever since acquiring the abilities of an aura binder.

  The nanites surging through Victor and Kiara’s bloodstreams allowed them to perform superhuman feats with the same practiced control of a sprinter working his legs up to top speed. Victor had faced down against the types of enemies that would have given him nightmares as a child or regular adult, and survived through mastering his abilities, though not with anything that could be called ease.

  “Yeah, it would,” said Victor. “But I doubt it’s going to happen tonight.”

  Victor had been an aura binder for months, as opposed to years, like Kiara. Even so, his development had been abnormal, to the point where he’d be labeled a natural or a prodigy if not for the fact that the technology was still in its early infancy.

  He could use the scarlet aura to manipulate flames and emotions, and the azure aura for the opposite in both respective instances. He could use the onyx aura to read minds, to control people, and as a side effect, potentially drive himself insane. And the last of the four, the diamond aura, allowed him to…

  ...Well, the jury’s still out. To do not all that much, at this point and time.

  “It won’t ever happen if we don’t make it happen,” said Kiara. She sat down on the crash mat next to him and leaned back slightly, watching Victor. He felt the tension hanging in the air a bit more acutely. It was always there, between him and her, but sometimes it was more distracting than others.

  “I think you know what will happen if you do what you’re thinking about doing.”

  Ella’s voice sounded out before her immaterial body coalesced into form. She sat on the other side of Victor, also next to him on the crash mat. He glanced over his shoulder at her and breathed in through his nose, annoyed and wishing that he could speak his mind.

  Victor was the only one who could see Ella, or Eternity, as she’d once been known. A powerful rogue AI with worldwide ambition, she’d piggybacked onto his nanites after her servers had been destroyed in a nano aura induced fire.

  Ella was only an imprint of Eternity, and lacked most of the features that a person might consider innate to a super intelligent AI. What she did have, however, were all of Victor’s memories of the original Ella, the teenage girl he’d known and loved and grown up with, along with her feisty personality and often times prickly disposition.