Studies in Demonolgy: the complete series

by Nichols, TJ

  “Did they say what it was for?” The man with the beard leaned forward.

  “Rebalancing the magic. We take, we have to give back.” That sounded a lot like underground wizard propaganda. Could it be propaganda if it was true? He looked at the five warlocks facing him. Even if they knew this truth, they wouldn’t acknowledge that it was a problem.

  “And they let you live?” his father said that as if it were a bad thing.

  Angus ignored that bite. Had his father been hoping there would be no retrieval? He looked at his father. “Sorry to disappoint you again. I can’t even die at the right time… that is what you wanted right? Now all your friends know that I wasn’t strong enough to hold my demon.”

  “Yes, let’s talk about your demon.” The woman who had stepped across the void to retrieve him crossed her arms. “Was he the one opposite you?”

  Angus nodded. “He was. A common black-horn.” He had no idea what the students or lecturer had told these people.

  “Why was he able to snatch you? Can’t you hold a circle?” His father’s eyes narrowed.

  He’d heard that tone of voice his whole childhood. Only now it had no effect. He’d survived Demonside, had a powerful demon and knowledge that he didn’t know what to do with. All of it reinforced his instinct that using demons without thought was wrong.

  The five waited for an answer.

  They would never give up their demons or make a personal sacrifice to keep the magic. That was why they sent criminals across the void. Why they waited twenty-four hours before even attempting a rescue of a taken warlock. How many people were never retrieved? How many humans and demons had died so that a few warlocks could have power?

  “I can, but that day….” It seemed a lifetime ago. “Something felt off.” He wasn’t going to admit that he was trying to fail. Nor was he going to admit that Saka was a mage. That might mean admitting to the other ritual, and no one would approve of that. His skin heated as the blush crept over his skin. He cursed silently and then lied. “I had a migraine, but I knew I couldn’t skip the class. The demon summoning is important. He appeared in the circle, and that was fine and… and then… when I tried to draw some power, he reached through….”

  “Why didn’t you see someone about the migraine? You know better than to perform magic when not fully alert.” What his father said was true, but Angus didn’t want to compound the lie.

  “I know better than to admit weakness too, Father.”

  Silence.

  The five considered him.

  Angus tried not to move. He was aching and tired and hungry. He didn’t know what he needed to deal with first.

  “I’ll check his memories.” The woman who had retrieved him stepped closer.

  Angus pressed himself against the back of the chair. “I don’t want you in my head.”

  “Have you got something to hide?” She smiled, and it was all malice.

  Yes. “No… how do I know you won’t mess my head up?”

  “We aren’t the monsters, Angus. We just want to help you and get you back to college and your studies.” She placed her hand on his forehead and tilted his chin so that he was looking into her eyes.

  A circle snapped around them. He should’ve eaten, grounded himself better so that she couldn’t use him in this ritual. The warlocks hadn’t let him eat for a reason. He tried to pull away but couldn’t move. His memories of Demonside started to flicker to life. The heat, the demons, the tents. Saka. Miniti. The knife being brought to his skin. The pain of that first cut.

  Then nothing.

  Angus woke up in his room on campus. His stomach was growling and trying to eat itself. He squinted and looked at the alarm clock. It hadn’t gone off yet. He winced as he sat up, glanced down, and saw the scar on his chest.

  It was almost an S with a line and two dots. He rubbed it. But couldn’t quite remember how he’d gotten it. Or how he’d gotten to his room. He lay back down, tracing the shape and trying to remember.

  Wiley warlock. You will have your hands full with that one, Saka. The demon’s face was close to his, and then she pulled back. Her black eyes had bored into his as she worked some kind of magic. He couldn’t blink as she looked into his mind and memories.

  He frowned, and his finger stilled. He’d been in Demonside.

  How had he got back here? He traced the shape again and tried to remember everything about the demon who had been in his head. Nothing.

  What did he remember about being retrieved? He knew he’d been retrieved and hadn’t made it across himself. It was unsettling to have so much missing time. He should remember getting such a knotted scar.

  Any scar.

  Shadowed figures. Voices but not the words. A hand on his forehead as a human woman had looked into his eyes.

  Magic stabbed, dug deep, and twisted. He clutched his temples and curled up, but the searing pain was within him and nothing he could fight. The warlock had done something to him. The scar had been made with blood magic and couldn’t be removed. It was his link to what had happened. He had to think about the scar.

  The demon’s white face and her dark eyes flashed in his mind again. She’d done something to his mind too. In his head the two magicks slammed together and tried to tear him apart.

  His alarm started going off, but he couldn’t move to shut it off.

  Fragments of Demonside and being questioned by the warlocks scattered.

  The demon hadn’t tampered with his memories, warlocks had. What did they not want him to know? He needed to remember. Acting on instinct he dug his nails into his chest near the scar. In his mind he brought up a circle around himself. His nails broke the skin, and he traced the scar with his blood.

  By my blood I will remember. Show me what was lost.

  The veil that had surrounded his memories of Demonside tore away, and he gasped, unable to move in case his brain somehow melted and leaked out of his ear.

  He saw Demonside red under the orange sun. Saka gleaming like metal. The blue crystalline circle that had surrounded them as they had indulged in… he swallowed at the memory of what they had done… sex magic. The demon’s kiss. The glowing glass orbs. The release of magic. Give and take. Take and give.

  Miniti—he knew the demon’s name now—had somehow protected his memories. She’d known that someone would try to take them. Everything that had happened after her working her magic was virtually gone, erased by the warlock who didn’t want him to know.

  He couldn’t remember how he’d got from Miniti’s tent back to his room. All he had was a vague impression of being retrieved, of being questioned. And the scar?

  Saka had carved it into his flesh. It was Saka’s mark that he wore. He was sure of that even though he didn’t remember anyone making the cuts. The warlocks had tried to take Angus’s memories of his demon.

  He drew in deep breaths and gradually released his head. Was it possible for a mind to feel wounded and bruised? As though it had been trampled on?

  It wasn’t just the pain. It was the knowledge that the warlocks who’d retrieved him had tried to take his memories. That was why no one ever talked about it. They literally couldn’t because they didn’t know what had happened.

  Why had Miniti made sure that he would?

  He didn’t want the chance to see her in person to ask. That would mean returning to Demonside, and he was sure there would be no second retrieval.

  He groaned, rolled over, and slapped the button on his alarm clock. His room fell silent. While his body was tired, he was hungry. He had no idea how long ago his last meal had been. He had to get up, eat, shower, and get ready for class. Go on as though nothing had happened. He touched the scar on his chest, now smeared with blood. That scar would always remind him of what had happened in Demonside.

  He made himself move and find some painkillers. Then he got ready to face the world outside his room.

  He made it halfway to the bathroom.

  “I thought you were dead.” One of the warlocks fr
om his class slapped him on the shoulder. “I saw you get taken.”

  Angus nodded. “I got lucky.”

  A small crowd gathered around him. All were excited to see him again and they wanted to know what had happened.

  Angus opened his mouth to tell them about Demonside and everything that he’d learned about how magic worked between the two worlds. He was taking a demon’s word over a warlock’s. No one would believe him, or they’d report him for being an underground sympathizer. Worse still he might get his mind messed with again. His temples throbbed. He just wanted to get to the bathroom.

  “I’m not sure what happened. I barely remember getting taken, or retrieved.” He shrugged. He didn’t know who he could trust. These were his friends and classmates, but how many would be happy to suck their demon dry for more power? How many would draw away in disgust if they knew he’d had sex with a demon and been part of a demonic ritual or three?

  That was why the warlocks had taken his memories. So the victim never questioned their place.

  Trouble was, he only felt like a victim because warlocks had invaded his mind. If not for Miniti, he’d be the Angus he’d been before. Filled with doubt and a gut instinct that something was wrong.

  Now he knew for sure what that something was, and it wasn’t the demons.

  Chapter Twelve

  Saka woke and listened, trying to work out why he was awake. It was dark; the breeze moved through his tent but didn’t ruffle the bed sheets. He’d changed them, but in his mind, he could still smell Angus. He’d been dreaming of him. He ran his hand over his erection. Perhaps that was why he was awake.

  Awareness glided over his skin. A faint aura formed around him.

  He sat up. Fully alert now. He was about to be summoned. It was just after midnight. This was not good. He lunged for pants but didn’t make it in time. Great, now he was going to have to face Angus and a cluster of judgmental warlocks, naked and with a hard dick.

  He crossed the void in a rush of cold air and landed on one knee with his hand over his genitals. There was no visible circle, but he could feel it binding him in place, firmer than the first time Angus had summoned him. He blinked and let his eyes get used to the light.

  There was no room full of warlocks.

  Just Angus. A bed, and a light, and a table.

  This was odd. Saka stood, keeping his hand in place. “Aren’t you supposed to have supervision when you do this?”

  “Yes.”

  Saka checked the room again: there was definitely no one hidden in the shadows or under the bed.

  “They are making me repeat the demon summoning spell tomorrow. They are acting as though I failed.” Angus rubbed his temples.

  “So you summoned me on your own?” Saka frowned, and his tail whipped in annoyance. He had a life and couldn’t jump every time Angus called—except he had to. “I could drag you across the void now, and no one would know where to start looking.”

  The idea had a limited appeal. Angus would be bound to him and in his bed… until the human’s spark went out from spending too long in Demonside. Then Miniti would eat Angus’s soul. Saka didn’t want that. Angus was more use here as a voice of the truth. The circle tightened as Angus strengthened it. Not enough to stop Saka if he really wanted to break it. Not yet anyway. There would come a time when they were more equally matched.

  “They tried to take my memories.”

  Saka tilted his head. “Which memories, and what did they do with them?”

  “Everything from the time you took me. Miniti did something. I got them back.” He pressed his hands to his head. “It hurts to remember. And I’m missing bits.” Angus pulled aside his shirt. “What is this?”

  Saka took a step forward, then stopped. He could break the circle; Angus was losing concentration. But Angus stepped back and pushed more energy and then Saka’s own energy into it. The circle strengthened. It was much harder to break a circle he was helping feed. He could close the void, but then the magic would be draining out of him. He left the void open and waited to see what Angus would do.

  There was wariness on Angus’s face now, a distance in the way he held himself. The warlocks might have forced him to forget Saka’s knives, but part of him knew something had happened. Saka wanted to hold Angus as he filled in the gaps. He wanted to kiss him. He wanted to do more than that. His dream lust was still thick and heavy in his blood.

  “Strengthen your circle, for it would be a simple matter for me to tear it down.” Saka took a half step forward, not that he needed to move to destroy the circle.

  Angus lifted his hands and concentrated.

  “More.” Magic flowed through Saka and into the circle. Should he be teaching the warlock?

  The young warlock frowned. The circle became something that Saka could feel. It became almost solid. It would take more effort for him to bring down, but it wasn’t impossible. He’d been doing magic for too many years for a simple circle to trap him.

  “This would hold a scarlips or other creature. It would even hold your average demon, but not a mage. Not me.”

  “Why did I connect to you when I cannot hold you?”

  “You would not be the first warlock to be outclassed and then taken.”

  “Were they retrieved?”

  Saka shrugged. “I do not know every ritual that occurs. But you did get retrieved….” He stopped covering his penis. They were alone; there was nothing to hide. “Why did they mess with your memories?”

  “Why did Miniti?”

  “She didn’t, all she did was anchor them to the blood magic I then worked. She isn’t a mage.” But she had invested her trust in him and Angus with that small action.

  “All demons have magic.”

  Saka nodded.

  “Why aren’t you all mages?”

  “Why aren’t all humans warlocks or engineers or librarians… being a mage means putting your leader first. It means years of grueling work. How do you think we get good at magic? I spent years getting cut and learning to cut. Longer working out the intricacies of sex magic.” He paused. “Being a mage is an honor. Not all who volunteer are chosen. The kick is that all mages feel the void open. Many shun the call of a warlock because if we have one, we must treat the warlock with respect and encourage the same because we are in a position to influence, to teach. Warlocks do not give the same respect.”

  He still remembered the pride of passing and being accepted, but of only realizing the enormity of the undertaking once he was already in too deep. He wouldn’t change it. He liked what he did; he even liked that touch of danger of knowing that he could fall out of favor.

  “I could’ve done something easier with my life.”

  Angus rubbed his forehead. “I don’t remember the blood magic.”

  “That is probably for the best as it was a crude effort done to convince your fellow warlocks that we had used you in the way they expected. They would probably not appreciate the truth.” How much did Angus actually recall of the night they had spent together?

  The warlock’s cheeks turned pink, then red. Oh, he remembered it all. Saka smiled. Good.

  “They don’t know.”

  Saka inclined his head. “For the best, then.”

  “I want to know about the blood magic. I need to know what I’ve forgotten.”

  “Let me out of the circle.”

  Angus considered him for a moment. “If I do, you could take me back to Demonside.”

  “That is true.” While demons couldn’t open the void from Demonside, they could from Humanside. Or at least mages could. He could. “But I do not think they would retrieve you again.”

  Angus nodded.

  “Then it is in both our interests to let you live here.”

  Angus didn’t break the circle, and Saka was very tempted to bring it down. His fingers curled, but he waited.

  “Is it? What about the rebalancing of magic?”

  Saka smiled. “That can be done from this side. Some warlocks do pay for th
eir magic.”

  Angus sat on the end of the bed with his head in his hands. He let the circle go. “I didn’t know who else I could turn to. I don’t know who to trust. I don’t know what to do tomorrow.”

  Saka went to him, kneeling before him. “Tomorrow we can worry about in the morning.” His fingers trailed along Angus’s jaw. Then he lowered his hand and undid the first two buttons on Angus’s shirt. “This is my mark. I do not regret putting it on you, only the manner in which it was done.”

  “Did it hurt?”

  “Yes. I do not like to inflict that kind of pain.”

  “Miniti does, yet she protected my mind.”

  Saka nodded. “And she will expect to be repaid at some point.”

  Angus looked down. “Have I made friends or enemies?”

  “One can never tell. However, I will always choose those who serve others over those who serve themselves.”

  Angus had doubted the power of the warlocks even before he’d stepped across the void. He could work for human and demon if he trusted himself to bridge the void.

  “And who do you serve, Saka?”

  “Miniti, the mages, Demonside. You.” Saka tilted his chin, his lips now close to Angus’s.

  “It felt more like I was serving you.”

  “And in doing that, you served Demonside. They all knew that. Miniti knew that. She saw the value of having you alive, and in protecting your memories.” That warlocks were actively erasing or burying the memories of those who were retrieved was concerning.

  “I have to act like I don’t have those memories. Tomorrow I will have to summon you and prove that I have control. If I don’t, I will fail and be kicked out.”

  “What do you want?”

  Angus looked at him. His blue eyes filled with worry, and Saka could feel the tension and uncertainty radiating off him. It would be best if Angus stayed in the college, honed his skills, and looked for clues. It would also be more dangerous.

  “I don’t know.”

  Saka knew he should leave, but Angus had summoned him because he didn’t know who else he could talk to. Saka couldn’t leave his warlock when he needed help. “You can’t be caught summoning me on your own.”