Forbidden Magic: The Complete Collection

by Anya Merchant

  Victor smiled.

  CHAPTER 12

  Amanda did come back, though she took long enough out in the storm to make Victor start to wonder. She was soaked to the bone, and made a noise that reminded him a bit of a wet, annoyed cat as soon as she was in through the door.

  “It’s pouring out there!” She scowled, and then scanned the cabin. “No chance the owner of this place kept any clothes around, is there?”

  Victor shook his head.

  “Unfortunately not,” he said. “But if you sit near the fire, it shouldn’t…”

  He trailed off, staring at Amanda as she began to strip out of her police uniform. She had a black bra and matching panties underneath. She was muscular in a feminine kind of way, and it made the curves of her breasts and butt stand out all that much more.

  “What?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Have you never seen a half-naked woman before?”

  Victor chuckled.

  “No,” he said. “That’s not it.”

  Amanda set her clothes out in front of the stove and sat behind them. She looked over at Victor, who was still eating. It almost seemed to him like she was watching or waiting for something.

  “What?” he finally asked.

  “I’ve heard other rumors about you,” she said. “Particularly, ones about the way that you can manipulate emotions.”

  Victor felt a smirk spread across his face.

  “Is that what you’re wondering about?” he asked. “Are you afraid that I’m seducing you with my mind magic?”

  He wiggled his fingers jokingly and Amanda glared at him.

  “It’s something that’s crossed my mind,” she said, crossing her arms. “I wouldn’t hold it against you if you tried.”

  “What would be the point?” he asked.

  Amanda’s mouth dropped open slightly.

  “The point?” Her glare hardened, and she waved a hand over her body. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  Victor held his hands out toward the stove, warming them and paying the half-naked police captain less attention than she probably warranted.

  “I’m tired,” he said. “I told you that already. I’m tired, and I need time to think.”

  Amanda didn’t say anything back to him for a couple of seconds. Her hair was wet, slowly dripping across her shoulders and back.

  “We only found six bodies,” she said, after a long interlude of silence.

  “…What?” Victor looked at her, his attention piqued.

  “For the murders that you’ve been charged with,” said Amanda.

  “You said seven, before.”

  She shook her head.

  “The last woman is still missing, according to Blue Horizon,” said Amanda. “They were all working on the same project, which the company declined to give us any details about. We originally suspected that you’d taken her with you, disposed of her body somewhere else. But now…”

  She could still be out there. And her story could exonerate me.

  Victor grinned.

  “You know just what to say to make a guy happy, don’t you?”

  It was hard to tell, but it looked like Amanda was holding back a smile of her own.

  There wasn’t much else to do that night other than to hang out, swap stories, and relax. Victor found what appeared to be a small moonshine distillery in the back of the building. He brought it out, and the two of them peered into it, more out of curiosity than anything.

  “You should try some,” he said to Amanda. She rolled her eyes at him.

  “Seriously?” She brought her nose down to the open container and sniffed. “It doesn’t smell right.”

  Victor watched her for a few seconds, and then reached down to pick the container up. Amanda swatted his hand away.

  “You are out of your mind,” she said. “You’ll go blind if you drink that.”

  Victor frowned at her, and then noticed a small bottle of whiskey on the shelf behind the still. He picked it up and jiggled it loosely in his hand.

  “But this, on the other hand.” He smiled at her. “Is it true what they say about cops and shots?”

  They sat in front of the wood stove, taking shots straight from the bottle and passing it back and forth. Amanda joked with him much like any of his friends would have. It helped Victor keep his mind off what was waiting for him the next day, but also raised a few questions.

  “Why aren’t you more suspicious of me?” he asked, accepting the bottle as Amanda handed it to him.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You were the one in charge of the operation to bring me in up until a few hours ago,” he said. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

  “Who says that I’ve had a change of heart?” Her expression hardened suddenly. “I still believe in the law, Victor. When we get back to Undercliff City tomorrow, I’m going to tell my superiors everything I can to help them bring you down.”

  Victor shook his head slowly.

  “That doesn’t explain why you’re so friendly to me right now.”

  Amanda looked away from him, and Victor handed the bottle back over.

  “You aren’t a bad person,” she said, after a few seconds. “I want to believe you, Victor. I think that your heart is in the right place. Either that or you’re an incredible liar.”

  “It could be both,” he said.

  “I don’t think it is. There isn’t any conflict of interest in being friendly with you. I’ll let the justice system handle the situation once we get back into the city. Until then, as long as you don’t try to run away, I essentially have you in custody.”

  That made Victor laugh, one of the first genuine ones he’d had since the whole mess had begun.

  “Really?” He smiled at her. “You have me in custody?”

  Amanda flicked him on the shoulder with her finger and took a swig from the bottle.

  CHAPTER 13

  Victor elected to sleep on the floor, letting Amanda have the futon bed. He was tired, but knew without even trying that it would be next to impossible for him to get any sleep.

  His thoughts were a mess. It was as though they’d finally caught up with him, the fears and hopes of the day that’s been biding their time finally let loose.

  A soft hand touched down on his shoulder after what could have been a few minutes, or a few hours. Victor opened his eyes to see Amanda standing over him, her silhouette still half naked and appealing.

  “The bed is big enough for both of us,” she whispered. Victor shook his head.

  “Thanks, but no thanks,” he said.

  Amanda stared at him.

  “You haven’t used any of your emotional magic on me,” she said. “Have you?”

  Victor chuckled.

  “You’d know if I had, or, well, I guess you might actually not,” he said. “But no.”

  She almost looked disappointed. Victor had seen that look before. There was something about the scarlet aura, in particular, that intrigued people, even if they knew how easily it could be used for abuse.

  “Come on,” said Amanda. “You’re not sleeping on the floor.”

  Victor sighed and followed her to the bed. He took off all of his clothes except for his boxers, watching for Amanda’s reaction. She didn’t say anything. He climbed under the bed’s sheets and the thicker woolen blanket on top of them. It was warm, and Amanda’s body was soft as it brushed against his.

  She turned away from him and pushed her butt out. Victor felt the softness of it against his crotch and almost immediately had an erection. Amanda reached her hand back and groped at it, as though trying to determine what it was. After a moment, she snapped around to face him.

  “You’re… hard,” she said.

  “What’d expect was going to happen?”

  Amanda didn’t say anything. Victor slid in a little closer, letting his cock touch her again. He kissed her, mostly just to see what would happen. Amanda kissed him back.

  What would I have done if she hadn’t? Would I have used the s
carlet aura on her?

  He kissed her again, and again, and the two of them stripped each other of what little undergarments they had on. Victor pulled her panties off her a little more roughly than he probably should have, but Amanda reacted to it like it was the best thing he could have done.

  They rolled together across the bed, groping at each other and aligning their bodies. The head of Victor’s cock pushed into Amanda’s pussy. She was shockingly tight, though it made sense. A woman didn’t rise to the rank of captain by being the department’s fuck toy.

  “Oh, wow,” whispered Amanda, almost as though she didn’t believe what was happening. Victor bit back a snarky comment and instead took hold of her thighs, holding them like handles as he jammed his cock in deeper.

  He had a thought about the bed, and what the owner would come back to the next time he decided to go hunting. It made him smile.

  Amanda’s breasts were soft, each a solid handful and then some. Victor groped at them, kissed them, and slowly slid in and out.

  He fucked her more aggressively than he needed to. He thought of the way she’d led the manhunt after him, and the sharp back and forth banter they’d shared during the standoffs. It felt good, really good, but also…

  This isn’t right.

  He was fucking her faster now, thrusting in and out of her in the sexual rhythm that only evolves when at least one person is truly interested in getting off. Amanda had one hand on his chest, and the other hung over the side of the bed, near where she’d left her uniform.

  Victor paused in mid stroke, and reached down toward whatever her hand was over. Amanda immediately flinched back.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  Victor ignored her and grabbed her uniform. She moved to pull it away from him, but not quickly enough. Two small, cylindrical packages fell out onto the wood floor. It was hard to tell what they were in dim light of the cabin.

  “What… the hell?” Victor reached down, fighting off Amanda’s slaps to pick one of them up. “What were you planning on doing with this?”

  He opened one of them, pulling the wrapper off as though taking an unhealthy snack out of its casing. It was a long test tube, of a type that he’d seen before. Piper had used them to collect sperm samples from him back when he’d first arrived in Undercliff City.

  “Are you kidding me?” Victor angrily opened the other one. It was an empty hypodermic needle. He put his hand to his forehead, keeping his gaze locked onto Amanda. She didn’t say anything.

  “This was all a set up,” he said. “How is that possible?”

  Amanda held her silence, so Victor made an attempt at putting the pieces together on his own.

  “Well,” he said. “You obviously don’t work for Annette. You wouldn’t need samples of me if you did.”

  He thought about the research lab, and the way the police had moved against it.

  “You knew where I was hiding,” he said. “And you decided to take a chance. That’s why you were standing there, looking away from me. They offered you up as a hostage.”

  Amanda’s body language seemed to shrug even though her shoulders were stock still.

  “Come on,” said Victor. “Don’t leave me hanging. Did the FBI put you up to this, or the CIA? Some other government agency?”

  “Does it matter which one?” she finally admitted. “And yes, you’re right. The government’s seen what you can do, and is now playing catch up.”

  Victor took a deep breath. Surprisingly, he wasn’t angry.

  “That’s why you never tried to run,” he said. “And your uniform, when you took it off earlier…”

  He smiled, and almost chuckled. Amanda seized on the moment, closing the distance between them again.

  “Victor,” she said. “Will you let me take the samples?”

  She closed her fingers around his cock and began to softly stroke. It felt really, really good. Amanda shifted in the bed so that her mouth was only a few inches away and let out a slow, hot breath against the tip of his member.

  “This is insane,” he said.

  “You could help people,” said Amanda. “You, more than anyone, must know how much evil there is in the world. Real evil. Technology that’s had the safety taken off.”

  Victor didn’t say anything. Her hands were still moving across his cock, and even though it hurt for him to admit it, he really wanted her to keep going.

  “Make them drop the charges against me,” he said.

  “There’s only so much I can do,” said Amanda. “But I promise that I’ll try.”

  She began stroking him faster, her soft hand moving up and down his hard shaft as though she was trying to polish steel.

  “You have to do more than that,” he said.

  Amanda responded by giving his cock a slow, sensual lick.

  “I’ll do everything I can,” she said. “That seventh woman… if you can find her, I could help you more easily.”

  “I will,” said Victor. Amanda met his eye for a second, and then focused on sucking, licking, and pleasuring him. He groaned and almost collapsed back into the bed.

  Amanda sucked faster, and faster, up to the point where he couldn’t hold out any longer. He leaned his head back and began to cum. She moved quickly, pulling out the test tube and collecting his sperm into it, and taking a good share of the runoff on her face.

  “Oh wow,” she said. “You certainly pack a big punch.”

  Victor chuckled.

  CHAPTER 14

  No sooner than he’d finished pulling his clothes on was Victor headed for the door. Amanda sat up sharply in the bed when he saw him put his hand on the knob.

  “You’re leaving me here?” she asked, angrily.

  “It stopped raining, and yes.” Victor waved his hand through the air flippantly. “Don’t try and act as though you didn’t have another way to get out of here. It’s better for the both of us this way.”

  The police captain didn’t say anything, and he walked outside, shutting the door behind him. Almost immediately, Ella materialized, her face expressing much of the same worry that currently plagued Victor.

  “She’s playing you,” said Ella. “She isn’t going to be able to do anything, even if she was honest about wanting to.”

  Victor started walking down the dirt path. The rain had turned it to mud, and his feet sank into it a few inches with each step.

  “I have to keep going, Ella,” he said. “Maybe… there might be a way.”

  “What about the men who were in the car?” she asked. “The ones that attacked you. It was self-defense, sure, but they’re dead, Victor.”

  He nodded slowly.

  “I know that.”

  Maybe she’s right…

  Ella walked over to him and cupped his cheeks in her hand.

  “I’m not saying to give up,” she said. “I just want you to keep in mind that you have choices. You can live anywhere. Hell, you could find a poor South American village to settle down in, and they’d probably revere you as a living god.”

  He smiled.

  “Thanks, Ella.”

  He was in the air a few minutes later, flying back toward Undercliff City. It was late, but not as late as he’d thought, probably only around ten or eleven at night. The air was cold and full of moisture left over from the storm. Victor’s teeth rattled as he flew, like the engine of an old airplane.

  As soon as the city came back into view, he found a place to land, settling for the top of an old industrial building in the outskirts. Victor searched his awareness, finding his nano connection and opening it in an attempt to get in touch with Kronenberg.

  “Kronenberg? Can you hear me? Hello?”

  There was a muffled noise, followed by an annoyed groan.

  “I was just getting to…” Kronenberg seemed to snap to attention as he realized who he was talking to. “Victor? My god, we thought the police killed you!”

  “Nope,” he said. “Still alive. And I need info.”

  “You need to t
alk to Lucy,” said Kronenberg. “This manhunt, after what happened to Kiara, is too much for her. She’s-“

  “Kronenberg,” said Victor. “I’m looking for someone.”

  He pulled out the scrap of paper that Amanda had given him, after she’d finished getting her sample.

  “Sheila Marth,” he said. “Can you track her down for me?”

  “I guess I could… find out where she lives?” Kronenberg sounded uncharacteristically unsure.

  “Do it as fast as humanly possible,” he said. “She probably won’t be at her house, or anywhere predictable.”

  “Who is she?”

  “One of the people that I supposedly killed,” said Victor.

  Kronenberg assured him that he’d do everything that he could, and Victor disconnected. Ella was standing on the roof with him, her auburn hair blowing softly in the wind. He searched his awareness again, this time opening the connection to Lucy. It took a minute for her to answer.

  “Victor…” Her voice sounded tired and strung out. “Are you… okay?”

  “About as okay as I can be, under the circumstances,” he said. “Listen, Lucy…”

  He paused.

  What am I supposed to tell her? Is it time for me to say goodbye? I can’t lie to her about my odds.

  “I know,” said Lucy. “It’s not going to be easy this time, is it?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” Lucy paused, her soft breathing taking the place of her voice for a span. “I’ll keep looking after Kiara, Victor. I know how much she matters to you.”

  Lucy’s voice was starting to crack as she spoke the last few syllables. Victor had to force out the next words that he spoke.

  “I’m not going to let them kill me, or lock me up,” he said. “And if I have to disappear, I’ll make sure you know that I’m alright.”

  “Victor, I…” Lucy trailed off again, emotion budding in her throat. “Take care of yourself.”

  “You too,” he said.

  He disconnected. Ella was watching him, looking about as upset as he felt.

  “Are you going to say goodbye to me, next?” she asked. The question sounded a bit less like a joke than she’d meant it to.