by L. P. Dover
- Dark Sorcerer -
Keeping to the shadows and skulking around the palace is degrading. It’s as if I’m cowering like a spineless dog. I should be the one these people bow down to and worship.
I look down at the talisman and it glows the blood red color it normally does after getting a dose of energy. It’s warm as it touches my chest from the unsuspecting victims I laid claim to just moments ago. No one at the palace is going to notice some worthless servants that have gone missing. Taking their power is energizing, but it is minor at best. I need someone with a little more power before I make my move tonight. I look around the ballroom at the hundreds of fae striding around and having a splendid time. They have no clue I’m here, watching and waiting. To make a bold statement, I need to find someone of importance that I can take away. Making a statement will no longer be necessary once I gain all the power of the Four. Being the ruler of the Land of the Fae will be the grandest of statements. Soon, I think to myself.
I spot the perfect candidate for tonight and he appears important enough standing with the nobles. I would say he is the son of a council member by the arrogance in his stance. That’s good enough for me. Now I need to find the person I have come here to take over. I could tell she was wearing the magical object because of the strong pull urging me toward it. I can see my target across the room and there lying between her breasts is the magical purple stone dangling from a silver chain.
I only have to wait for a few minutes before my chance to take over her body suddenly appears. As she’s sauntering away by herself, I take the opportunity to plunge into her body and take it as my own. With my enhanced power, she will have no idea that her body has been taken over. That is one of the factors that will make tonight even more enjoyable.
I have never taken over a woman’s body and being in one is awkward and uncomfortable. How can they wear this shit? The dress is tight as hell and I can barely breathe. I find the Winter fae I am to pursue and I sashay as best I can in these worthless contraptions women call shoes.
“Would you like to dance?” I ask him. I cringe at the sound of a female’s voice coming from my throat. It is awkward, but I have to do what is necessary to get what I want.
He looks this body up and down and bites his lip. The look he gives my host is pure animalistic. I groan in silence. This is going to be harder than I thought. He bows his head and holds out his hand.
“I would love to dance with a Summer beauty.” Not for long, I think to myself.
I grab his hand firmly and I pull him to the dance floor. He seems to like how I take control. He’s delighted, so I plaster on a seductive smile and continue. How pathetic can someone be? I can sense his power is stronger than the servants, but it in no way matches one of the royals. Calista’s power was unimaginable when I took it, and when I take Meliantha’s it will be just as strong and enticing. Time is wasting, so I decide to move along.
With a faux politeness I ask, “May I have the pleasure of your name?”
He responds snobbishly, “My name is Darius. My father is on the Winter Court Council and highly respected among the Winter Court fae.” I was right. He is a noble and too arrogant for his own good. I wouldn’t tolerate people like this in my army. They all know their place and to act in this manner would mean death.
I’ll be detected if I linger much longer.
To speed things up I say, “After the dance, how about we take a walk and get to know each other better?”
He raises his eyebrows with a glint in his eye.
“That sounds like a perfect idea,” he answers with a malicious grin. Yeah, I bet it does. I look around the ballroom and I see Calista and Meliantha dancing on the floor with their escorts. They give no notice of me, so I’m safe for now. However, Meliantha’s guardian is looking at me with suspicion. I need to make sure my departure goes unnoticed by his prying eyes.
The song ends and I quickly drag the Winter fae out of the ballroom and into the bitter frost of the night. I’m glad I planned ahead and hid my iron dagger in the snow on the west side of the palace. I spelled it so no one could see it or detect it. Darius grabs the hand of the body I have overtaken and loops my arm through his. Being this close to him makes me want to kill him at once, but I try to keep in mind that this isn’t my body and that I am pretending to be a helpless Summer fae maiden. One thing is certain…never again will I take over a female’s body.
I pull him in the westward direction and we set off in a brisk pace away from the palace. He must be eager to get a taste of this Summer apple, but I’m afraid he is going to be sorely disappointed. We are nearing the western courtyard where I have hidden the dagger. It is nestled under a canopy of snow by the base of the giant birch tree.
“How do you like the Winter Court palace, my lady?” he asks.
I shrug my shoulders, “I don’t like the cold, but I like that it’s dark.”
He’s still smiling, but he looks confused when he asks, “But you’re a Summer fae. I thought the Summer maidens usually danced in the sunlight naked, and enjoyed the light…or at least that’s what I have dreamed.” I should have ripped his tongue out earlier. He deserves to die because of the ridiculous shit he’s babbling off.
I give him a malevolent grin and the menacing tone in my voice has him panicked when I sneer, “Most of us like it sunny, but not me. I like it dark and violent with the smell of death.”
His eyes go wide and he nervously takes a step back.
“It’s getting late, maybe we should head back.”
I bend down to the ground and I remove the spell from the iron dagger. I reach down to grab it from its resting place.
I leer back at the quivering fae and tease, “But I thought you wanted to have some fun?” I notice his body is physically shaking, and I can tell his flight response is about to kick in. I heave magic at his feet to keep him rooted in place.
“Tsk, tsk, Darius. That isn’t very gentlemanly of you to leave a lady out here all by herself,” I taunt.
“Whatever you are, you are no lady.”
Underneath the skin of my borrowed body is the talisman ready to be brought forth. I wear it around my neck inside of my host’s body. To get it to the outside I have to will it. I make the talisman appear around the host’s neck and I pull it off to place around the Winter fae. We are far enough away that if he screams, I’ll be finished before anyone even gets here. Once the talisman is securely placed, what do you know…he screams.
“You are so pathetic. You’re nothing but a worthless pussy,” I hiss. “This right here is why I’m glad I am not one of you.”
The bloodstone of the talisman glows a faint red color letting me know that it’s satisfied. I take it off quickly and place it around my neck. It absorbs through the body to mine underneath, perfectly hidden from fae eyes. The screaming stops and the Winter fae looks at me with dead, empty eyes. The power I absorbed is flowing through my body and it’s expanding through every cell of my being. I wish I could lay back and enjoy the ride, but there is work that still needs to be done.
The Winter fae is swaying on his feet, so I retrieve the dagger from the ground and hold it tightly in my borrowed hands. The iron dagger is poisonous to the fae and as soon as I pick it up with the fae’s hand it instantly starts to sizzle and burn. I can feel the poison taking away the skin, so I move swiftly to make the killing blow. The dagger is about twelve inches in length and sharper than any blade imaginable. I swipe the blade across the Winter fae’s chest, gutting him where he stands. Blood sprays all over this body and all over the ground making the scene look horrific. It is a shame no one will see what I have done. When everyone gets here they will see nothing but the ashes of the worthless fae I killed. I drop the dagger to the ground and the sizzling stops immediately. The pain is excruciating, but it will not be my pain much longer.
Movement up ahead catches my attention and I see Meliantha’s guardian racing toward my host. He approaches cautiously and looks down at the Winter fae slowly
drifting away into ashes while I stand there smiling.
“What the hell have you done?” he asks.
I shake my head and laugh, “I was just having a little fun, Guardian. Give Meliantha my best and tell her I will see her soon.”
I exit my host’s body, laughing the whole way. I drift off into the shadows of the night and I stare down humorously at the warrior cradling the host’s body in his arms. Once she wakes up, she will be in the most agonizing pain and not to mention she won’t remember a single thing about killing the Winter fae.
I wonder if Meliantha will realize how I was able to take over the Summer fae’s body. All I know is that she’s going to have a hell of a time getting her friend out of this one, and it’s going to be a pleasure to watch.
The moment the vision stopped I gasped for air. Meliantha is breathing hard and gripping onto my arms with a strength I didn’t know her body could possess. What really caught my eye are the changes in her body. The transformation has already begun to happen, just like it did with Calista and Ryder. I knew it would happen, so it’s not that much of a shock, but I guess I didn’t expect it so soon. Meliantha’s eyes go wide at the sight of me as well, and a huge grin takes over her face.
The vision was so intense and so real that I could take her right here and now with how turned on I am. I know she can feel me pressing up against her stomach and it appears as if she doesn’t mind because she’s rubbing her body against me.
Breathless, she whispers, “That had to be the most amazing vision ever. It felt so real, and I say that literally.”
I groan loudly. Why did she have to say that? I push my groin into her stomach harder and tease, “Well, I’m sure you can feel what the vision did to me.” She laughs and I laugh along with her. It feels so good to be able to be like this with her. I look around the fountain and I almost forget to compliment her on the flowers. Between the confrontation with Finn and the vision, I haven’t had time to tell her how amazing they are.
“The flowers are beautiful, Meliantha, but I don’t think they will last very long here.”
I send my magic to the frozen water of the fountain and I make it flow again. She walks over to it and splashes her hands back and forth through the spouting water.
Her voice is wistful when she speaks.
“They may not last here, but they will in our court.”
I grab her arm to pull her into a tight embrace and I kiss her fiercely one more time. Her lips are smooth and taste like the sweetness of a summer apple. Oh, how I have longed to hold her in my arms.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” I tease.
I can feel her nodding her head underneath my chin and she laughs.
“Yes...you’re going to have to learn to live with warmth and flowers.”
I shake my head and sigh, “No…it means I get to keep you forever.” I lean in to give her another kiss when out of nowhere she pulls back abruptly with a look of horror on her face. She looks like she’s concentrating on something and I can only assume she is talking to her guardian.
Anxious, I grab her hands and ask hastily, “Meliantha, what’s wrong?” Her eyes are wide and terrified. Before she has a chance to answer, I hear the most bone-chilling scream echoing in the cold, frosty wind.
“It’s Elissa! We have to help her, now! Come on!” Meliantha urges, raising her voice.
We race up the path toward the west side of the palace. The sick feeling in my stomach warns me that what I am about to witness isn’t going to be good. Aki races ahead of us and is nothing but a white blur as he speeds across the snow. He will make it there long before we will. I wish she would tell me what’s going on.
“What did Ashur say? You need to tell me what is going on,” I demand.
“He told me what he saw. He believes the dark sorcerer got to Elissa and made her kill someone,” she stammers hastily. We move as fast as we can to the sound of the scream.
By the time we reach our destination, there are about twenty of my warriors surrounding something or someone up ahead. Ashur comes running toward Meliantha and falls down to his knees at her feet, pleading.
“She killed someone, Princess, or at least her body did. I know for a fact it wasn’t actually her that did it. You have to help her!”
He gets to his feet and turns to me, “She would never hurt anyone, Prince Kalen. It wasn’t her that did it, and I know this because…”
“Kalen!” I turn to see Breena running toward us and she throws herself in my arms. Aki growls at my feet and bares his teeth while snapping at her.
“Stop it, Aki!” I hiss.
I gently push her away and her eyes go wide and she gasps in bewilderment. She looks angry and shocked when she surveys my newly changed body.
The moment is over quickly and she screams loudly, “She killed Darius! That heartless Summer bitch killed him and I saw it. I saw everything!” Meliantha starts toward Breena looking angry and ready to kill, so I hold my arm out to hold her back. Her face is blazing red and I know that if I let Meliantha have her way with Breena there is no way she would come out alive.
I whisper softly to Meliantha, “Calm down, my love.” She’s breathing hard, but my soft words catch her attention. She gazes into my eyes and eventually nods in compliance. I can tell it’s taking a great effort for her to back away. It looks like she has grown quite a temper in the last five years.
I recall Ashur never finishing what he said. so I turn to him and ask curiously, “What were you saying, Ashur, when you were interrupted? You said you think what?”
Ashur looks at Breena with a hate-filled gaze and then back to me.
“I said I don’t think it was Elissa that killed your fae. The reason why I know this is because she said something before she collapsed, or might I say the dark sorcerer said something before he left her body. His exact words were ‘I was just having a little fun, Guardian. Give Meliantha my best and tell her I will see her soon.’ I know that isn’t something Elissa would say.” Ashur pauses and then continues, “She was also holding an iron dagger.”
Meliantha grabs my hand and squeezes.
“I believe him, Kalen. I saw her earlier dancing with a young man and her eyes didn’t look right. They looked…evil. It had to have been him in her body the whole time.”
“Well, then you’re just as guilty for this murder as she is,” Breena hisses while pointing in the direction where, I assume, Elissa is being held.
“You were too busy being a whore and stealing my prince to care about anything or anyone else, right?”
Everything happens so quickly and I couldn’t have stopped it if I tried. Meliantha’s fist flies hard and swift, connecting with Breena’s face in a loud sounding crunch. By the sound of the hit, I would have to say Breena’s nose is broken along with other bones in her face. Her blood sprays across the white snow and she lands hard in a heap on the ground. She deserves it, and I don’t feel a shred of sympathy for her either.
I grab the closest warrior to give him orders.
“Take Breena to her quarters. I want her packed and gone by morning.”
Breena jumps to her feet, blood running down her face, and wails, “But she’s the one who hit me! This is all her fault, and she needs to be locked up with her friend and executed.”
Silence has descended upon the crowd and they’re all looking at me. I have had enough of her mouth, and if she wasn’t a female, she would already be laid out on the ground preparing for punishment.
I clench my hands into fists and through gritted teeth I hiss, “If you don’t shut the hell up right now, I’m going to send you out of the palace immediately. Be thankful your father is on the council or else you would have already been gone. Do me a favor and get the hell out of my sight.”
I nod my head at the warrior, and with a firm grip he takes hold of Breena’s arm and prepares to haul her toward the palace. Her look is menacing as she stares back and forth from Meliantha to me.
Her voice sounds hateful
when she sneers, “You’re going to pay for this...both of you.”
The warrior drags her away and I watch as she is escorted to the palace. The laugh she expels makes the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. Something isn’t right about her and it hasn’t been for a very long time. I just never could figure out what it was.
I command the warriors to step aside, and once Elissa comes into view, Meliantha runs straight to her. She is still passed out on the ground and not moving. Her hand looks misshapen and deformed from the poison of the iron dagger. In time it will heal, but her hand will remain badly scarred. I walk over to Meliantha and I kneel down on the ground beside her. She takes off her red, silky gloves and places them on the ground beside Elissa. I wonder what she plans on doing. I look her in the eyes and she brings her finger to her lips as a silent gesture for me to stay quiet. I nod my head in compliance and she closes her eyes. She picks up a fallen glove and begins wrapping Elissa’s hand in it. Each second she’s touching Elissa’s bare hand I see the tissues forming back together and healing before my eyes. How can this be? I have never heard of a fae having healing capabilities like this.
By the time she’s finished wrapping Elissa’s hand, her skin is completely back to normal and not misshapen at all. But why would she keep this a secret? As soon as we are alone, I plan to ask her.
“I need to take her with me, Meliantha. I’m going to have Heylfred, our advisor, take a look at her. He’s very powerful and he will be able to help her and figure out what happened.”
She looks up at me, and although her expression is strong, I can still see the quiver in her lip when she asks, “Are you going to lock her up?” My chest tightens at the thought of her friend being punished for something she didn’t consciously do, but I have to take her with me to make sure she is secured. I don’t want to cause Meliantha more pain, but it’s looking like the dark sorcerer plans to continuously cause it. I really hope one day we will find a way to destroy the bastard.
