Magical Redemption

by Nicola E. Sheridan

  The shrouded figure somehow seemed magnified in the shiny, marble room. Several shelves lined one wall, and amongst the books and ornaments were small, shiny glass bottles. In the little bottles, there were lively, tiny, angry figures jumping and gesticulating wildly.

  Oh no.

  “You collect djinn, don’t you?” Jinx said.

  “Yes,” the shrouded figure said. “The djinn have been exiled from Kuala Lumpur. I get paid by the government to capture those that remain. A magical bounty hunter, if you will. The government will pay handsomely for my latest catch.” She gestured with her large, mannish hand to the collection of small bottles.

  As Jinx stared at the tiny figures, in the corner of her eye, she noticed Lucian’s shoulders tighten.

  “Uh huh,” Jinx gulped. “What will they do to them?”

  “They will store them for eternity, until they discover a way to destroy them. Djinn are bad. They cause much trouble in people’s homes. I am always busy catching them.”

  Jinx’s heart squeezed with worry.

  “What about me? When you get me, what will you do?”

  “A genie is a rare thing and also forbidden.” The orange shroud fluttered with an exhalation of breath. “You will fetch me a great price. I will sell you to the government, and they will free you. Curses are illegal.”

  Jinx’s already squeezed heart nearly exploded with fear.

  “You can’t free a genie. It kills them. Without this curse, I’d be dead, anyway.”

  “You will be free.”

  “I’ll be dead.”

  “It is the same.”

  “No, it’s not,” Jinx roared. She threw a frantic glance at Lucian, but he paid her little heed. He was riveted to the captured djinn on the shelves. “Lucian, you can’t do this. You can’t leave me with her.”

  “You have not given me all your wishes,” he replied coolly. “I will not be leaving you anywhere. Yet.”

  “That’s not really reassuring me.” Jinx tried to regain her composure.

  “I’ve told you once before, trust me.”

  His words sent a swoop of heat through her entire being that she couldn’t understand. “You’ve given me nothing to trust,” she said.

  He looked at her. “Think that if you will.” His tone was pissy. “Before I make my wish, can you see if it is possible to remove my pledge?” Suddenly, hope flared like a weak ember in the depths of his eyes, erasing his tone and angry brows.

  Jinx could not deny him. Within an instant, her smoke surrounded Lucian. She closed her eyes. Tendrils of her smoke licked him, tasted him, gently testing him.

  In her mind, she saw him not as a man, but the true being he was. Both human and demon. Hunger boiled in his blood, anger simmered in his heart, and deep in his metaphysical body a magically-bonded pledge burned. Like barbed wire around soft flesh, the pledge penetrated and crushed the fibers of Lucian’s being. Even to a young, naive genie, it bore all the hallmarks of a Mafia pledge. Undetectable unless you searched for it, the pledge was strong and created to hold the bearer for eternity. Her smoke skirted around it, looking for a place of weakness, for some way to ease under the cutting tightness and release the pressure on him.

  There was none, none at all. It wasn’t possible to wish this pledge broken.

  When Jinx opened her eyes, she saw the hope fade in Lucian’s brown eyes. It was clear he knew her answer before she spoke it. For a moment, she forgot his demonic heritage, his casual dismissal of her, and saw a man drowning with disappointment.

  Jinx threw a glance at the shrouded woman and spoke softly, so that hopefully she may not hear.

  “Why on Earth did you pledge yourself to the Magical Mafia? That pledge will be impossible to break. It’s wrapped in counter spells and wards. Even as a magician, I was never good at warding.”

  Lucian hardened his gaze as he fidgeted with his hands. “Why I was pledged is my business, and I would prefer that you keep your over-large nose out of it.” He paused, goading her to react. “I gather you cannot break the pledge?”

  Jinx ran an annoyed tongue over her teeth. “It’s warded against being broken. I’m sure there would be a way around it, but I don’t know it.”

  Lucian scowled and shuffled the sports bag on his shoulder then glared at the shrouded woman. Jinx felt the anger and annoyance bristle on him like a cloak of spines, threatening to stab anyone who came too close.

  “What are you doing?” he growled at the woman. She was no more than a meter from him and edged closer. “Take off that damned sheet and look me in the eye. You force us down here to use our magic; why? What are you playing at?”

  The shrouded woman laughed. The sound was not in the least feminine.

  Lucian stiffened.

  “Ah, you got me.” The woman chuckled in a rich and viscous manner then raised a large hand and pulled the shroud down.

  Time stood still.

  The shrouded woman was definitely not a woman. A man with a mouth like a toad leered back at them. His rubbery, fat lips formed a repulsive smile.

  “I can see why you use the shroud,” Jinx said, stepping back and colliding with Lucian.

  “You’ll get used to it when you are mine.” His pink tongue dipped out of his mouth as he grinned and ran a slimy path around his lips.

  Lucian swung his free arm around Jinx’s waist and cinched her to him in a sudden, possessive gesture.

  “She’s not yours, yet,” he said. Jinx felt the heat of him burn against her and was absurdly grateful. “What kind of magician are you?” Lucian asked, edging himself between Jinx and the toad-like man.

  The man grinned broadly. His brown skin had a gray pallor, and sweat beaded on his brow. “You come to my country, try to use magic against our laws, and have no idea what you have gotten yourself into. Then, you have the...the...audacity to ask me what I am?” The smile slid off the fat lips. “I’ll tell you what I am.” He flickered his pink tongue, again. “I am a bomoh or witch-doctor to you. I work for my government to catch djinn and demons like you who break our law.”

  There was a loud, cracking sound and several people tumbled down the stairs. Arms and legs flailed everywhere. Jinx shrieked. Within a moment, the people separated and stood. Three men and one woman stood up with dead, blank eyes. Like unflinching soldiers, they stepped toward Jinx and Lucian with arms ghoulishly outstretched. The woman grabbed Jinx and the three men grabbed Lucian, wrenching them apart. Lucian’s eyes flashed bloody red, and he cursed.

  “Demon spawn,” the bomoh said, readjusting his shroud around his shoulders, so it flowed like a sari around his body. “I give you a chance. Take your wishes and leave the genie with me. Maybe I would like a few wishes granted of my own.” He leered at her with his small, brown eyes. “This is your one and only chance.”

  “No,” Lucian snapped. “She is mine.”

  “Possessive, aren’t you?” The bomoh smiled. With a speed that belied his large frame, he stepped in front of Jinx and stroked her cheek. “She could be pretty, don’t you think? If it weren’t for that enormous nose.”

  Jinx shivered as he touched her face with his sweaty, cool hand. She was suddenly thankful to be wearing the paper coverall. She expected the bomoh’s hand to drop, but when she looked up into his eyes, she saw lewd hunger there. He gripped her chin tightly. “Yes, little genie, young genie. I hunger for you. When you are mine, you can sate that hunger, yes?”

  Lucian let out a strangled, angry growl. Jinx didn’t look at him. She kept her eyes steady on the hideous bomoh. She couldn’t deny the truth of his words. It was pointless; if she ended up his genie, he could do with her as he wished. Instead, she sent out a shimmering arm of rainbow smoke. It slithered and coiled like a serpent around the bomoh’s body. It slid over the orange shroud, skimming the lines of his torso, and reaching further stil
l. Then, it slipped between his thighs, circling and caressing.

  “Do you like that?” Jinx murmured. The scent of her magic was thick in the air.

  The bomoh gasped as lust flared in his eyes. His jaw fell slack, and his hand fell from her chin. Lucian growled again as Jinx dimly heard a ruckus ensue behind her. She felt her lip curve into a smile.

  The bomoh howled.

  The sinuous serpent of smoke strangled his crotch. The bomoh struggled to capture the smoke but failed. He grunted as tears streamed from his tiny, widened eyes.

  “Is that enough?” Jinx hissed.

  The bomoh nodded wordlessly.

  Jinx withdrew her smoke. The bomoh staggered away from her, cupping his genitals with his large hands.

  “Don’t touch me until I am yours,” Jinx growled. Then, she wrenched herself from the woman who held her. The woman refused to let go. “Let me go!”

  The bomoh laughed. “Not likely, genie. The government will pay a good price for you―a very good price.”

  Lucian growled, again. Jinx tried to turn and see what he was doing. She struggled for a moment with the zombie-like woman holding her. The bomoh’s magic was thick in the air, and Jinx found herself unable to even rouse the most simple spell. Terror rammed through her body and squeezed her heart. She couldn’t get them out. The bomoh was somehow blocking her magic.

  Lucian suddenly appeared beside her, eyes burning red. The zombie-like woman cowered from him and released Jinx’s arms. Heat from his body roared through the thin coverall and clothing. Confusion exploded through her. How did he get free? How did he get me free? She couldn’t hold the thought a second longer as he put his mouth on hers. Power pulsed through the soft cushion of his lips, and lust screamed through her body.

  “Be calm.” Lucian’s voice echoed in her head as desire swelled within her. “I wish to get out of here, now.” Suddenly, his gorgeous lips were gone. Jinx widened her eyes as relief exploded in a psychedelic burst of rainbow smoke at his words. As her magic wisped them away, Jinx felt her body collide with his.

  “Well, it’s about fucking time,” she said.

  Chapter Six

  Lucian felt his body crash with hers. Somewhere above the sudden roar of his blood, he heard her swear. He inhaled, but his brain was full of her exotic scent. Her intoxicating smoke was everywhere. He knew this was bad, but it smelled so good. He closed his eyes and tried to steady the screaming hunger howling like a ghoulish wind through the deepest fibers of his being. One kiss was not enough.

  “Do you still think I’m gay?” he snarled.

  Jinx gasped and didn’t reply for a moment. Lucian kept his eyes closed and steadied his breath, waiting for her response.

  “What the hell is the matter with you?” Jinx cried and gave him a brutal push. “Open your eyes.”

  Lucian peeled his eyes open and saw them flash red in the reflection of her wide, brown ones. She stepped away. “On second thought, maybe you should close them, again,” she muttered and stalked away. “’Cuz you look damn creepy.”

  Lucian blinked, and the roaring hunger subsided like a tide.

  “You brought us back to the hotel?” he asked, despising how his mouth felt rubbery and numb.

  Jinx rolled her eyes. “Where else? You said yourself Kuala Lumpur has more magical ion-sensing devices than a leper has scabs. You also said we weren’t safe in the Free Zone. I knew we’d be safe here, for a while at any rate.”

  Lucian sighed and ran his hands through his hair. His gaze was riveted to her small body, still wrapped in the ridiculous coverall. “You can take that off, now,” he said.

  Jinx looked down at the coverall, a rueful smile tugging at her full lips. She didn’t often smile, and with a horrified jerk, he realized he liked it when she did.

  “I guess not.” She crawled out of the coveralls and left them in a discarded heap on the floor.

  Lucian shook his head and gulped. In his mind’s eye, he saw the matching bra and knickers beneath the modest but beautiful clothes. The screaming hunger reared its head, again.

  “Hey, your eyes are flashing, again,” Jinx said, her Australian accent more pronounced with her alarm.

  Lucian let his gaze fall and stared at the carpet. “We can’t stay here,” he said finally. “I’m safer in KL, but you’re not. That bomoh will be searching for you.”

  “What does that matter?” She sounded carefully neutral. “You promised me to him, anyway. Why don’t I give you your last wish, now? Let’s get it over and done with. Tell me where you want to go, and I will take you there. Then, he can have me.”

  Lucian looked at her. Disgust crept up his calf muscles and marched its way to his throat. There was no way that greasy bomoh is having Jinx, he thought. No way in hell. The force beneath the thought surprised him. “I thought he was a woman,” he said. “I wouldn’t have promised you to that man.”

  “You’re demon spawn, yet you couldn’t tell if it was a woman or not?” Jinx was incredulous and sarcastic. “What hellish flavor of demon are you?”

  Lucian glared at her. “It was that shroud. It was magical, and I couldn’t sense anything beyond it.”

  “Then, couldn’t you guess it would be trap? An honest magician wouldn’t do that.”

  “I was desperate. I had to know.” He softened his tone.

  “Desperate to know what?” Jinx rested her hands on her narrow hips and stared down her nose at him.

  “I needed to know if you could break the pledge.”

  “I can’t.” Her voice was hard.

  “I know.” Lucian sighed.

  “Where does that leave us?” She softened her gaze minutely as the frown melted from her brow.

  “I don’t know.” Lucian looked up and saw Jinx tense her throat. He was undone. Her thin, coffee-colored neck was so fragile and her dark eyes so wide. He wanted her. It had been so long since he held a woman in his arms. There was power in sex, and he needed it. He was losing control and wanted Jinx with an intensity beyond all reckoning.

  Before he knew it, she was in his arms. How she got there he could only guess. Her breath whooshed from her tiny chest. Unable to contain the heat screaming once again through his body, Lucian clasped her chin and tilted her head toward his. His eyes were burning fire—he knew it. He sensed her alarm and didn’t care. Swooping down with the swiftness of a hawk, he pushed his lips against hers. Lucian heard an alarmed cry drown in her throat as her body instantly yielded to him. She fitted him like molded clay and nestled her narrow hips intimately close. He felt her heart pounding against him. She opened her mouth to accept him, the heat roaring white with intensity. She tasted as she smelled: sweet, spicy, and exotic. He felt her soul, fractured by the genie curse, call to him. He could have it, control it, and gain limitless power through her sex. Sweet and kind, prickled by a sad past, Jinx could be his more than anyone ever should be. It was so tempting, so delicious, and so wrong.

  Using the last remnant of his self-control, Lucian pulled away from her with a guttural groan.

  * * * *

  Jinx suddenly found herself standing alone. Her chest heaved as her breath came out in small, ragged pants. Desire spiked her pulse. She struggled to hold a single thought in her scrambled grey matter.

  “Wow,” she finally breathed, but Lucian’s head was bowed. “Definitely not gay. If I knew you could kiss like that, I might have failed you earlier.”

  Lucian gave a weak snort. When she looked up, his brown eyes were fading from red back to brown. His lips were pink and his high, angular cheeks flushed. Jinx took a step toward him. She wanted to feel his hands on her, again.

  “Don’t come any closer,” Lucian whispered. He flickered his eyes. “I’m demon spawn, remember?”

  Like a drug, his kiss made her flippant. Suddenly, the fact that he was spawned by a demon di
dn’t matter. “I don’t care,” Jinx found herself saying. “That was a rush. I liked that kiss and want another one.”

  Again, Lucian gave an odd, sad laugh. “Of course you do. I’m incubus-spawned. You’re meant to.”

  Jinx paused about a meter from him. Her heart spiked again at the close proximity to him. “Incubus spawn?” For a moment, she tried to figure out the implications of his confession, but her brain wouldn’t work. The tickling pleasure from his kiss pulled a curtain around her common sense. “I don’t care.”

  “You should care. I can hear your heartbeat. That’s not good. I shouldn’t.”

  “Just one more kiss.” She licked her lips. Lucian’s eyes blazed red as they followed her tongue’s path. “What harm can it do?”

  She sounded like a junky.

  “A lot of harm,” Lucian said softly. Sadness drew lines of weariness around his beautiful mouth. “Do you remember back at the market when you discovered I was demon spawn?”

  “Yes.” Jinx cringed.

  “You were disgusted, but why?”

  “I was taught to hate demon kind. I was brought up a Maronite, but…”

  Lucian closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Then, put on your crucifix and don’t ever take it off.”

  “Why? I don’t care, anymore. My religion didn’t save me from this fate, so I don’t see why I should follow its dictates, now.”

  Lucian shook his head. “I’m losing control. One more kiss, and I’ll take you to my bed and dominate your soul so completely, you’ll never be able to breathe without me. I can’t help it. I want it. I want it so badly.”

  For a moment, Jinx was still with shock. She knew the truth of his words, though she didn’t want to believe them. “You’re not a full incubus, though.”

  Arrogant irritation flickered over his face for a brief moment before it settled back to resignation. “It doesn’t matter. I am what I am. I’ve done it before, and I’ll probably do it, again–but not with you. Not ever with you.”