‘Stefan’s birthday,’ Catherine replied.
Ceri glanced at Lily, who was looking a little pleading. ‘I guess we could have a glass.’
Catherine grinned and waved for them to sit on the blanket while Stefan poured sparkling liquid into two glasses. ‘To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?’ Catherine asked.
Ceri took her glass from Stefan and raised it to him before taking a sip. ‘Happy birthday,’ she said, receiving a grin in reply. ‘Have you seen any strange men around the park? They would be just watching, standing around the park.’
Catherine looked at Stefan. ‘You’ve not mentioned anything…’
‘No,’ he said, ‘we’ve seen nothing like that. Should we be looking out for it?’
‘Keep an eye out,’ Ceri told him, ‘but if you haven’t seen them already then you probably won’t.’
‘Just the Battersea pack then,’ Lily commented.
‘Someone’s been watching Alexandra’s people?’ Catherine asked, frowning.
‘Well,’ Ceri said, ‘we’re thinking they were watching me, but I’m not sure. Maybe both. We’re wise to them, though.’
‘We’ll look for them,’ Stefan said, ‘just in case.’
‘And meanwhile,’ Catherine said, ‘we can enjoy the sunshine. Forecasts say it’s going to be a warm May.’
‘Oh I hope so,’ Lily said, grinning, ‘I need some sun!’
Ceri rolled her eyes and grinned, sipping Champagne in the park.
Kennington
Ceri stopped as they walked out of the Oval station, her gaze fixed on a young woman sat on the pavement strumming an old guitar. Lily followed her gaze and frowned, not recognising the girl. She followed, bemused as Ceri walked over, dropping some change into the girl’s guitar case.
The girl looked up with a smile which turned into a grin. ‘Hey, Ceri. Thanks.’
‘Afternoon, Ella,’ Ceri replied. ‘This is Lily.’ She glanced at the half-succubus and added, ‘Ella’s Battersea pack.’
‘Resident sing along organiser,’ Ella said and Lily grinned at her, showing her fangs. ‘Oh,’ Ella said, ‘you’re the half-demon Michael’s mentioned. Yeah, of course.’
‘Ella,’ Ceri said, her face going serious, ‘have those men been watching the pack the last few nights.’
Ella shook her head. ‘No, they’ve stopped. We’ve seen none of them around for, oh, a couple of nights, though…’
‘Though what?’ Ceri asked, frowning.
‘Well, I think I saw one here earlier. About half an hour ago. He headed over into the park there.’
‘Looking for you?’ Lily suggested to Ceri.
Ceri nodded. ‘Ella, can you let Alexandra and Anita know that these guys aren’t cops, if they turn up again. I’m looking into it. Okay?’
‘I’ll let them know,’ Ella said, nodding, and Ceri and Lily started off across the road toward Kennington Park. There was no obvious sign of the man Ella had seen, but Twill was already waiting for them in the second kitchen.
‘There’s someone watching the house,’ the fairy said. ‘There have been two, a woman across the street and a man hanging around in the park. She left about twenty minutes ago.’
Ceri nodded. ‘Have any of them tried to get over the fence?’
‘Not as far as I can tell,’ Twill replied, ‘they just watch.’
‘Okay, I’m going to go downstairs and check the boundary enchantments,’ Ceri said. ‘I want to make sure the scrying wards are up and fully functional.’ She headed for the vaguely hidden door in the hall, opening it and heading down the stone spiral of steps in the dark. At the bottom, a stone hallway was lit by glowing runes inscribed in the ceiling and she followed them to a small, metal hatch set in the wall between the bigger iron doors leading to the dungeon and the summoning room. Behind it was the magical construct which Ceri’s mother had designed to allow the house’s enchantments to be monitored and maintained.
The silver runes hung in a vaguely cubic shape, echoing where they sat within the structure of the building. Moving her hand into the control space in front of the model, she turned it and the runes responded, revolving and tilting to give her a good view of them all. One of them caught her attention; the northern obscuration rune was flickering, patterns of darkness dancing over its surface. Ceri frowned.
‘That doesn’t look good,’ Lily said from behind her.
‘Someone’s trying to look into the house,’ Ceri replied. ‘The enchantment is stopping them for now.’
‘You think they could break in?’
Ceri looked at the rune for a few seconds. ‘They haven’t got the power. Not at the moment anyway. I guess they might try harder if they can’t get through.’ Reaching out, she traced her finger over the rune to leave it glowing brighter. Drawing her hand back, she let the model snap back into place. ‘That should hold them.’
Behind her, Lily gave a little squeak of glee. ‘I love it when you do that.’
‘Down, pet.’ Lily dropped to her knees and Ceri giggled. ‘Not like that!’
‘Pet is just following orders, Mistress.’
Ceri growled. It was Sunday afternoon, their one real day off, and there was no excuse not to do whatever they wanted. ‘Get up then, the bed’s more comfortable than a stone floor.’
April 25th
Ceri struggled out of sleep to the sound of someone shouting her name. ‘Ceri! Oh God, wake up! Please wake up!’ It was Lily’s voice and Ceri was totally confused by the urgency and… pure terror in it. She opened her eyes and was rewarded by Lily saying, ‘Oh thank God! I thought I’d killed you.’
‘What?’ Ceri managed sleepily. ‘Of course you didn’t… Did you have a nightmare or something? What time is it?’ She stretched to look at the bedside clock; just after six, but there was plenty of light coming in through the curtains. She reached out and pulled Lily down from where she was kneeling. The half-succubus’ smooth-as-porcelain skin was slick with sweat. ‘What happened, love?’ Ceri asked softly as Lily huddled against her.
‘I guess I was dreaming,’ Lily said. ‘One of those dreams where you dream you’re waking up? I was in a strange bed, in an apartment somewhere, and there was a man in bed with me. Never seen him before, but I remembered having sex with him. He was dead, Ceri. I’d killed him. I know the look they have after. I’d killed him! And then I was waking up, and you were lying there…’
‘Asleep,’ Ceri commented.
‘Well I know that now!’ There was a hint of humour in her voice, but she was clinging fiercely to Ceri.
‘It’s okay, Lil,’ Ceri said soothingly. ‘I’m here, I’m fine. You haven’t killed anyone, okay?’
Lily lifted her face and looked at Ceri. There were tears in her black eyes. ‘It felt real,’ she whispered. ‘Really real. Like I was there, like I could taste him still in my mouth.’
Ceri frowned. ‘I know of magic which can send dreams into someone’s sleep,’ she said, ‘but there’s no way someone could get something like that through the wards. I’ll check them anyway. You’re absolutely sure these can’t be memories?’
Lily shook her head. ‘I’ve really never seen this guy before, dead or alive.’
‘Well, no,’ Ceri said, ‘I’d not expect you to have seen him dead, you…’ She stopped. ‘Have you? Ever?’ There was no answer for a few seconds and she added, ‘I’d just like to know. I’ve never thought about it, but I guess it’s possible…’
‘I’ve woken up beside a couple of corpses,’ Lily said quietly. ‘Accidents. They had a weak heart or were over-tired.’ She paused. ‘I got asked twice to do it on purpose. I nearly did it the second time. They were offering a lot of money.’
‘But you didn’t?’
‘No,’ Lily whispered, ‘no I didn’t.’
Ceri shrugged. ‘Well someone could die having sex with me. Accidents happen.’
‘Thank you,’ Lily said and then she giggled. ‘Can I die having sex with you?’
‘Only if you take
me with you,’ Ceri replied. ‘I am so not coming down from that high and discovering a sexy corpse. Now, go back to sleep.’
‘Not sure I can,’ Lily said.
‘Nightmare still bothering you?’
‘Oh no,’ Lily replied. ‘I’m just a bit hungry, that’s all.’
Ceri sighed. Well, she could always sleep in a little late.
Holloway
‘I had an idea,’ Ceri said.
‘You have those,’ Cheryl replied, smiling. ‘Fairly often, as I recall. They’re usually worth listening to.’
Ceri pulled a chair forward and sat down facing Cheryl across her desk. ‘Okay, so you’ve engineered a device which efficiently converts thaumic energy into electrical energy, right?’
‘Hardly an entirely new concept,’ Cheryl said, ‘though my design is a little more efficient than previous models, yes.’
‘Right, so what if we put it in a natural strong thaumic field?’ Cheryl raised an eyebrow and Ceri continued. ‘At the Solstice,’ she said, ‘I was at Stonehenge. I used the field there, pulled power out of it to work magic. It’s not huge, but it’s constant and fairly strong…’
‘So, we build a bigger version of the energy converter and use it to convert that local field into power…’ Cheryl trailed off; Ceri could almost hear her brain cranking up to eleven. ‘It wouldn’t produce very much though.’
‘Enough to power one of the villages nearby,’ Ceri said, ‘basically for free, but you’re right. The henge would just be proof of concept.’
Cheryl narrowed her eyes. ‘What are you thinking?’
‘We put them along the German Rift,’ Ceri said. Her boss looked at her as though she had gone insane. ‘Well, to be exact, we tap ley lines off the rift out into more stable territory and collect the power there. The mages with Remus created an artificial ley line to tap power from the henge. We can do the same with the Rift.’
‘Use the Rift like an oil reserve,’ Cheryl mused. ‘You realise that’s crazy, of course?’
‘Just crazy enough to work?’
Cheryl’s grin was almost predatory. ‘Maybe. I’ll work through the project plan and put together a proposal for the trial. Though, if it works, I have no idea how we’re going to implement your plan to power the world.’
‘Oh that’s easy,’ Ceri replied. ‘We go talk to Carter. He’s bound to know someone who can get it going.’
Kennington
‘I’m home,’ Ceri called. There was no one around in the hall, which was unusual. Not too unusual, but Lily would often be waiting for her when she came in.
‘I know you are,’ Twill said appearing out of nowhere. Her ability to turn invisible at will was, occasionally, very annoying. ‘Good evening, Ceri. Whoever was watching the house yesterday, they haven’t been doing it today.’
‘Well, that’s something. Where’s Lil?’
‘She went out to the shops this afternoon and went down to the cellar as soon as she came home.’
Ceri smirked. ‘Right… Well I’ll try to be out in time for dinner.’ She turned toward the cellar door.
‘She seemed… distracted,’ Twill said. Ceri looked back, frowning. ‘I’m sure it was just concentration on some diabolical plan to get you naked.’
‘She doesn’t actually need a diabolical plan for that. I’ll go check on her.’ Ceri headed for the door, climbing down the steps and making her way to the dungeon’s iron door. She put her hand on the handle and paused. The door had an anodised silver-iron layer on it which blocked magical fields from passing through. Lily had built the dungeon for two purposes, fun and safety, and it was the latter which was worrying Ceri. She took a second to prepare herself and then opened the door.
There was no intense magic field, no succubus aura trying to drive her into ecstatic collapse. In fact Ceri could not even see Lily at first. Walking down the stone steps to ground level, she looked right to check the cages. Neither the big one with its silver-iron bars, nor the smaller dog cage had an occupant. She turned left. Lily was not busy swinging around the dance pole, nor was she leaning against, or attached to, the St Andrew’s Cross. Ceri finally found her perched on the stone altar, knees tucked up under her chin. There was a shopping bag on its side on the floor nearby. Lily did not look up as Ceri moved closer.
‘Lil?’ Ceri said. ‘You okay?’
The half-succubus looked up. ‘I’m okay, now,’ she said.
‘Then what are you doing down here?’ Ceri asked, a little confused.
‘Aside from not having a key to get out?’ Lily replied; it was a good point. ‘I was out shopping. Y’know, just wandering between shops looking for nothing in particular?’ Ceri nodded she understood the motivation and Lily nodded down at the fallen shopping bag. ‘I bought you a new teddy, and then I found myself in Mayfair and… I was going to the Dubh Linn and I didn’t know why.’
‘That’s… odd,’ Ceri said, trying to keep the worry out of her voice.
‘Yeah. So I turned around and headed home, but I looked in the bag when I was on the tube…’ She nodded at it again, indicating that Ceri should look.
Ceri dropped to one knee and lifted the bag. The first thing she saw was a red, lacy teddy and she lifted it out, noting the thin shoulder straps, the thong back, the cups which were split down the middle and closed with ribbons tied into bows. Lily normally bought her things to wear out clubbing, or when playing dominatrix. This was neither, but it was gorgeous. Then she spotted the wire frame mouth spreader and the thick, leather arm-binder at the bottom of the bag. She looked up at Lily.
‘I don’t really remember buying them,’ Lily said, ‘but I know I bought them to use on you. I feel like I’m back-sliding, Ceri.’
Ceri put the teddy back in the bag and dropped it to the floor. She looked up at Lily. ‘I admit I’m concerned,’ she said. ‘You said you were feeling okay now?’ Lily nodded. ‘I think something was influencing you. The wards are stopping it now.’
‘That’s kind of what I thought,’ Lily told her. She looked down. ‘I’m a danger to you.’
‘No,’ Ceri said and Lily looked up again, blinking bemusedly. ‘Lil, you broke it. It had you, but you broke out of. Before you got behind the wards.’
‘Oh,’ Lily said. ‘I hadn’t thought of it like that.’
‘I know you hadn’t,’ Ceri said. ‘We both have more faith in each other than we do in ourselves.’ She came to a decision. Reaching down, she grabbed the sides of her T-shirt and pulled it off over her head, dropping it to the floor before reaching back to undo the hooks of her bra.
‘What are you doing?’ Lily asked. There was a hint of fear in her voice.
‘Undressing,’ Ceri said. Dropping her bra she started taking her jeans off.
‘I can see that. Why?’
‘So you can put me in that arm-binder. I don’t think I can manage it myself.’ Ceri paused, looking quite seriously at Lily. ‘I trust you, Lil. If I have to be Mufty to convince you then… Well, actually, I’ll enjoy the hell out of it.’ She pushed her jeans down her long legs and then had to sit down to take her trainers off.
Lily slipped off the altar. ‘No,’ she said. ‘No, I don’t want that, Ceri.’ Ceri stopped, looking up at her. ‘Not now anyway.’ The half-succubus pushed her face into a slightly timid grin. ‘P-put the teddy on. That’ll please me and I think you’ll look gorgeous in it, but I won’t do that to you. Not the way I felt earlier. It’ll feel like giving in.’
Ceri smiled, hoping it looked confident. Someone had targeted Lily, damaged the control she was starting to have over her demon side. That was far from good. On the other hand, they had failed. The question was who had done it?
She pulled her trainers off and continued undressing. ‘Okay,’ she said, ‘I’ll do that for you.’
April 26th
‘Don’t leave me, Lily.’ Ceri watched her friend’s retreating back leaving the tent. She looked around, expecting the usual men in black combat fatigues, but finding herself surrounded instead
by men with blank, featureless faces, all wearing black suits. They moved closer, grabbing her arms and legs, stretching her out, face down, across a table. She felt the first of them move between her legs and looked up at the entrance to the tent. He would be the first of many. ‘Lily! Help me!’ she screamed.
The tent flap opened and Lily walked back in. She was dressed in a black business suit, her chestnut hair wound up into a tight bun. She looked down at Ceri with an expression of supreme indifference. ‘We’re going to break you,’ Lily stated flatly. ‘You’re going to be ours.’
Pain ripped through Ceri’s body as the man at her back forced his way into her…
…and she sat bolt upright in bed, supressing the cry of pain by covering her mouth with her hand. For a second she felt disoriented, still in the nightmare, and there were no comforting arms wrapping around her. She was alone in bed and, from the looks of things, it was barely gone dawn; Lily never got up that early. Slipping out of bed, Ceri padded across the landing to the bathroom where she splashed some cold water into her face, and then headed down the stairs, following the scent of coffee to the kitchen.
The half-succubus was sat at the kitchen table, cradling a mug as though she were trying to suck the warmth from it. She looked up as Ceri walked in and smiled. ‘You do look really sexy in that,’ she said.
Ceri looked down at the red teddy she was still wearing from last night. Lily had asked that she keep it on for bed, and it had been comfortable enough that she had agreed. ‘Thanks,’ Ceri said, pouring herself a coffee and then assuming Lily’s usual position; leaning against the kitchen counter, legs crossed at the ankle. ‘What are you doing up so early?’
‘I had another dream,’ Lily replied, grimacing. ‘You’re up earlier than usual yourself.’
‘Yeah well…’ Ceri looked down and then sucked in some coffee before continuing. ‘I had a nightmare after you got up. Um… You left me to be raped by faceless men in suits and then came back into the tent, also dressed in a suit, to tell me you were going to break me.’
Lily grimaced. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Mine was me fucking three men at once and draining each of them in turn, and then just walking out of the room like nothing had happened.’ She looked up apologetically. ‘Thing is, when I woke up I was feeling really horny, and not in a good way. I came down here rather than take it out on you.’ She grinned slightly. ‘You were looking really hot laying there in that teddy.’
Thaumatology 03 - Legacy Page 8
