Thaumatology 04 - Dragon's Blood

by Teasdale, Niall

  ‘You’ve always known,’ Ceri said.

  ‘Not the details,’ Alexandra corrected. ‘Hints, vague dreams. They make sense now. You’ve told your mate, of course.’

  ‘Last night,’ Ceri confirmed, nodding. She looked around at the grey furred wolf at her left and smiled. ‘He just accepted it. No fuss.’

  ‘Of course he did,’ Alexandra said, smiling in the knowing way she did when she had known it would happen anyway. ‘We’ll talk on this in the future, when we need to. I just needed you to know I know. Believe it or not, that’s not why I asked you to come.’

  Ceri raised an eyebrow. Her assumption had been that the old Alpha had wanted to discuss her bloodline. What was going on that was more urgent? ‘Do tell,’ she said.

  ‘Your friend Jenny has made quite a good impression on the pack,’ Alexandra said. ‘She even took a day of holiday to help me at the shelter, and her understanding of our culture and language has grown considerably.’

  Ceri grinned. ‘She was always good with languages and people.’

  Alexandra smile indulgently. ‘One of my wolves has requested permission to take a mate outside the pack,’ she said. Both of Ceri’s eyebrows went up this time. ‘Lee, he’s one of the browns, but he’s more comfortable in his fur than some of them.’

  ‘I’ve met him, I think,’ Ceri said. ‘Fairly quiet, not bad at fighting?’

  ‘Anita does say he’s rather promising, yes.’ She took a sip of her tea. ‘I don’t think he’s had the courage to ask Jenny what she thinks. You know her, what do you think?’

  ‘I think I’ll talk to her,’ Ceri said.

  ‘Very wise,’ Alexandra said as Ceri climbed to her feet.

  ‘Nice outfit,’ Ceri said. Jenny jumped and then grinned sheepishly. ‘It’s very… casual.’

  ‘Well… I swam the lake,’ Jenny said. ‘How did you get across?’

  ‘I walked,’ Ceri said, grinning. ‘Mind you, normally I swim it. Of course, I’m usually just wearing a collar. I need a word. Walk with me?’

  ‘Uh, sure,’ Jenny said, looking confused. She jumped to her feet and fell into step beside Ceri as she started through the trees toward the other clearing. ‘Uh, Ceri… Am I in trouble?’

  ‘Maybe,’ Ceri said. ‘How are things going?’

  ‘Well… uh, I’m learning a lot. I don’t think I’ve insulted anyone in over a week or made a complete fool of myself.’ Jenny’s cheeks went pink and she lowered her voice. ‘And I’ve never had so much sex.’

  Ceri laughed. ‘Single males keeping you busy?’

  ‘Whenever I’m here late one of them escorts me home. We, um, fuck first and then they take me home. I mean, it’s not exactly delicate, but…’

  ‘Werewolves aren’t much into foreplay,’ Ceri agreed, ‘but it is kind of exciting.’

  ‘Oh yeah,’ Jenny said. ‘I was with a couple last weekend, just learning some stuff, and that ended up in a threesome. The female just sort of asked if I fancied her mate and the next thing I knew…’

  ‘Do you know a brown named Lee?’

  ‘Um… yeah. He was my escort… actually, he’s taken me home a couple of times. Why?’

  ‘He’s asked Alexandra for permission to take a mate outside the pack,’ Ceri said.

  ‘Oh, right, well I hope she’s a nice…’ She stopped, her eyes widening. ‘You mean me?!’

  ‘You’ve made an impression,’ Ceri said. ‘The pack likes you. Apparently Lee likes you a lot. The males have been… well, field testing you. Everyone gets a go and then I think there’s a little negotiation over who wants you most. You got the easy version. Michael had already decided he wanted me, so they all did me in one night. It’s a little different with you not being a wolf, but Lee would like to… court you, I guess.’

  ‘I don’t know what to say,’ Jenny said. She sounded shocked.

  ‘Well, it’s up to you. Do you think you’d like to give it a go?’

  ‘My last couple of human boyfriends have been a total wash out,’ Jenny said, making a face. ‘They were real nice until I gave them what they wanted, but… I guess Lee’s already had that and he still fancies me. Yes, I’d like to try.’

  Ceri nodded. ‘I’ll tell Alexandra. Just… if it’s not working out, don’t hurt him, okay?’

  ‘Promise,’ Jenny replied. They started back toward Alexandra’s clearing. There was a brown-fur hiding among the trees who quickly vanished back out of sight before Jenny could spot him. Ceri grinned. Jenny glanced at her and then asked, ‘You really had all the unmated males in one night?’

  Ceri giggled. ‘What can I say? I’m a slut.’

  Soho

  ‘Let me get this clear in my head,’ Alec said. ‘You’re a sorceress, and the reason that you’re a sorceress is that one of your ancestors was a dragon.’

  ‘And you can’t tell anyone,’ Lily added.

  ‘I should have told you ages ago,’ Ceri said. ‘I mean, not the dragon part, I only just found that out myself.’

  ‘It does explain a lot,’ Carter said. They were sitting in his office at the back of the Dragon. The club would be opening in ten minutes, but Ceri wanted this out of the way.

  ‘It explains why it had to be you who took on Remus,’ Alec said. ‘I feel less of an old failure knowing it took a sorceress to take him out.’

  ‘I was more referring to the draconic heritage,’ Carter said. ‘No one I know has ever actually come up with a reason why sorcerers were different. A few variant genes would explain it. At some point I hope it can be studied, but for now it’s a secret.’

  ‘Huh,’ Alec said, shrugging. ‘I’m good with secrets. I’m good with secrets even when I’d be better off not keeping them.’

  ‘I trust you,’ Ceri said. ‘Carter, I need you to bring Cheryl up to speed when you see her tomorrow. I didn’t say anything in Cambridge because I wasn’t sure myself, but she should know.’

  Cater nodded, his mouth twitching into a smirk. ‘She’s going to be all over you when she gets back to London.’

  Ceri grimaced. ‘I know. Luckily there’s not much she can do. She’s no geneticist.’

  ‘I’m quite sure she’ll think of something. Now, let’s get ready, we have a club to run.’

  Kennington, July 11th

  Ceri had just settled down to work when Twill buzzed into the study. ‘There’s someone coming up the path,’ she said. ‘A normal.’ Ceri sighed and put her tablet down. Well, at least it wasn’t actually interrupting her work.

  The man on the step had to be all of nineteen and might have been handsome without the bulging eyes. ‘Uh, sorry,’ he said, ‘did I get you out of bed?’

  Ceri looked down at the shirt she was wearing. It was opaque, what was he on about? ‘No, if you’d got me out of bed I’d be naked. What can I do for you?’

  ‘Oh, uh…’ He indicated the large box wrapped in thick, brown paper beside his foot. ‘I’ve got a delivery for a Miss C Brent.’

  Ceri looked at the box. ‘Well, I’m Ceridwyn Brent,’ she said.

  The kid produced a clipboard and a pen. ‘Okay, if you could sign here,’ he said, indicating a box with a barcode beside it. She signed the sheet. ‘All yours,’ he said. ‘Uh, be careful, it’s fairly heavy.’

  It was. Ceri lugged it into the hall and put it down in the middle of the hall. Twill hovered nearby. ‘Were you expecting anything?’ she asked.

  ‘Maybe,’ Ceri said. ‘Ed said something about a package.’ She pulled the wrapping off and found the reason it was heavy. Under the paper there was a metal box. ‘Anodised in silver-iron,’ Ceri said.

  ‘Be careful, Ceri,’ Twill said. ‘The only reason for doing that is because there’s magic inside.’

  ‘Uh-huh. I’ll take it down to the summoning room and open it there.’ She picked the box up and started toward the door to the cellar. ‘If it is what Ed mentioned, he said it should be put somewhere secure.’

  The summoning room did not get a lot of use. Ceri mostly went in there when she needed o
ne of her father’s old analogue thaumometers, which was not often. It was clean and tidy, and it still had its summoning circle, without a huge cross mounted in it, carved into the floor. With the box in the middle of it, she got salt from the store room and formed a basic circle. Then she stepped inside, summoned her will, and raised a containment circle up around herself. If there was anything nasty inside, she only had to worry about herself.

  Taking a breath and steeling herself, she undid the two latches on the lid and opened it. There was no sudden rush of magic, in fact nothing at all. Inside the box was a white marble statue of a dragon curled around a rock and rearing up to look at her. It reminded her of the golden one she had seen in Mei’s rooms and, as she looked at it, its eyes began to glow red.

  ‘This will be a lot easier if you take it out of the box.’ The voice was recognisable as Mei’s and seemed to come from the dragon statue. ‘Dropping the containment circle would also be useful. It doesn’t stop communication, but it does inhibit it.’

  The circle collapsed around her as she lifted the statue out. Then she closed the lid of the box and placed the dragon on top. ‘Uh… so is the statue in your room like this one?’ she asked as she stepped back.

  Mei appeared before her, slightly translucent, but definitely her. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘They were made a long time ago to allow us to communicate over long distances. I’m just here to make sure everything is working properly. Athro will be your teacher. It’s what he does. What he has done for millennia.’

  ‘And you watch?’

  Mei grinned. ‘Someone has to.’

  ‘Fair enough.’

  ‘Athro said he would be popping by at some point. You’ll know when he’s here.’

  Ceri frowned. ‘How?’

  ‘You’ll know. He said, however, that I should pass on some homework.’ Ceri sagged slightly; back to school, great. ‘He wants you to sit in on Lily’s next lesson with her father.’

  ‘What am I supposed to learn from Faran? He’s a demon. He’s teaching Lily about being a demon.’

  ‘Hmm, yes,’ Mei said. ‘I don’t really know, but demons have been teaching humans for almost as long as dragons have. If Athro believes you can learn something from the demon, then you probably can. I have to go. I have your friend Malcolm Charles coming to see me.’

  ‘That sounds like fun.’

  ‘Oh, I have no doubt it won’t be.’ Her image vanished and the dragon’s eyes went dim. Ceri wondered who had been watching her when she had visited Mei. She locked the door on the way out.

  ~~~

  Ceri had to wait all of two hours before she got her chance to sit in on one of Lily’s lessons. Faran was standing outside the shower when they opened the door. The lascivious grin on his face spoke volumes. ‘I thought you were supposed to be working this morning,’ he said, looking up and down Ceri’s wet body without the slightest embarrassment. ‘Not that I’m minding, of course. Lily should practice as much as possible.’

  ‘I was disturbed,’ Ceri said, ‘so when Lily got up for her shower…’

  ‘Pass us some towels you lecherous old goat,’ Lily said.

  ‘I don’t know, I rather like the wet look.’ He handed over two towels anyway.

  ‘I’d like to sit in on your lesson,’ Ceri said as she dried herself.

  ‘I have no objection,’ Faran said. ‘It may be a little boring. We’ve been doing some exercises to put Lily in touch with her demonic side. It’s… well, meditation I suppose.’

  Lily looked at her. ‘Why?’ she asked.

  ‘Someone told me I could learn something. I don’t know what,’ Ceri replied.

  ‘Okay,’ Lily said.

  Thirty minutes later they were all in the dungeon. Lily was sat cross-legged on the granite slab the circle was cut into, right in front of the St Andrew’s Cross. Her father was sat in front of her in a similar posture. Ceri had perched up on the altar; it had a cloth on it which was far more comfortable than cold stone.

  ‘All right, settled?’ Faran asked his daughter. Lily nodded. Her eyes were shut and she looked relaxed even though she was sitting with her back very straight. ‘Good. You know the drill… Allow your mind to empty. Breathe deeply… in… hold… out… hold.’

  Ceri watched Lily’s chest rise and fall, and tried hard not to let the sight of it affect her, which would likely have distracted Lily. She could feel the calmness coming over her link with her pet and found herself relaxing along with Lily. She closed her eyes and just listened.

  ‘Imagine your safe place,’ Faran said. ‘Since we have a visitor, why don’t you tell us about it?’

  Lily’s voice had a grin in it, but it was also kind of drowsy, relaxed. ‘I’m on a white sand beach. The sea is that green-blue, cerulean blue, and there are palm trees behind me. The sun is beating down on my skin. I’m naked. And Ceri is lying beside me.’

  Ceri suppressed a giggle. She could see the image in her head and it did feel warm and safe. She settled into it herself, lying beside Lily on the sand.

  ‘That place is waiting for you whenever you need it,’ Faran said. ‘You can return there any time you feel uncomfortable. Whenever you feel unsafe, you can be back there, lying on the sand beside Ceri.’

  ‘Yes,’ Lily almost mumbled.

  ‘Good. Now, your body is mostly human, but your spirit and soul, and the bridge between your metaphysical and physical forms have more demon in them. Today I want you to focus on the metaphysical bridge. It links the two Median lines between the base nodes. It connects your sex organs with the base of your spine. The energy which flows through that bridge governs the physical manifestation of your demonic nature. Through it, you can control your sexuality since that is the most basic aspect of a succubus. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes,’ Lily said softly. Ceri understood. She had seen that bridge of shadowy energy when she had examined Lily to find her father’s influence. She knew the same flow of energy existed in her own body and she focussed on it as Lily did the same.

  ‘Feel the power flowing,’ Faran said. ‘The very essence of your physical form sits there. Allow your mind to focus downward upon it. See the strands which make it up, the mixture of demon and human which forms you.’ Ceri felt like she could see it herself; the strands of human intertwined with slivers of something else. They were more silvery compared to the white of the human strands. In Lily the demonic strands were red; Ceri had seen them the last time she had looked, but had not known what they were. ‘Focus on the demon strands, Lily. Make them brighter. They can’t hurt you. If it feels wrong, just return to the beach. Allow them to grow.’

  Across the link, Ceri began to feel Lily’s mind shifting with her body. Her succubus side was pure lust filtered through a physical form. She was a sex demon and her sexuality was everything. It filled her, it fed her, it formed her, and it gave her her power.

  And Ceri could feel the same within herself as she allowed the draconic threads of her physical bridge to expand and fill with energy. She was magic. Magic filled her. It gave her form and meaning. Magic was her heart, and soul, and spirit. It…

  She opened her eyes as Lily’s gasp broke through to her conscious brain. Faran had turned around so that he could look at Ceri as well. Lily’s eyes were blazing red, so were her father’s. ‘What?’ Ceri said. ‘Sorry, did I disturb you somehow? I…’ She stopped as Faran jammed his eyes shut. He was trembling. Both father and daughter had been wearing expressions of pure hunger, but Faran was obviously trying to suppress it.

  Lily managed to calm down first. ‘You…’ she started and stopped, trying again. ‘It was like… like you were… glowing.’

  ‘You were tapping into your nature,’ Faran said, still keeping his eyes shut. ‘You followed the same path Lily did, but tapped into your own nature as a sorceress.’ He swallowed. ‘My self-control is better than I thought.’

  ‘Do demons know why humans can be sorcerers?’ Ceri asked quietly.

  Faran nodded, swallowed again, and shifted
around so that he was more facing Ceri. She tried very hard to ignore the throbbing erection he was sporting. ‘Dragons,’ he said. ‘Sorcerers come from a draconic bloodline. We don’t talk about it with humans, any more than we talk about sorcerers. We trap human magicians into pacts because they think they’ll get the power you have. If they know we’re lying… Dragons are, you could say, our competition.’

  ‘Huh,’ Ceri said, ‘considering that a dragon told me to sit in here today I find that amusing. She said that demons had been teaching humans almost as long as dragons had.’

  The demon seemed to consider that for a second. ‘Take this with as much salt as you wish,’ he finally said, ‘but I don’t believe dragons are any more altruistic than demons.’

  ‘You don’t really have a high opinion of demons, do you, Dad?’ Lily asked.

  He looked back at her with a self-deprecating grin. ‘Something I’m trying to teach you, my gorgeous daughter, “Know thyself.” Once you know who you are, the rest of the world becomes far more obvious. As an incubus, I am rather more empathic than many of my fellows and I can tell you that demons are selfish, power-hungry, back-stabbing creatures, and I am no different. We do nothing which does not give us personal advantage.’

  ‘If that were entirely true,’ Ceri said, ‘you wouldn’t feel the need to help Lily.’

  ‘I hate to say nice things about you, but she’s right,’ Lily agreed.

  ‘Making her more at home with herself, increasing her power, these things help her survival chances and so ensure my continued ability to stay on Earth,’ Faran said.

  ‘That’s such a rationalisation!’ Lily said.

  ‘It is,’ Ceri agreed. ‘When you came here the first time, you said you wanted to make up for the mess you made. You feel a debt to your daughter, and I think you just like being around her.’

  ‘I think you always did,’ Lily said.