The Arwain Chronicles: The List.....
The figure moved with deathly silence through the total darkness. The darkness hampered neither his speed nor his awareness of his surroundings. He understood the darkness, it was his home, his friend.
He was close, he could feel the dark aura that clouded any place his master dwelt in. The castle came into view. The magnificence of it and the absolute aura of power and dominance it gave off still, after two hundred years of service to his master, managed to take his breath away. He watched as a human walked past the front of it without sparing it a second glance. Even with the knowledge that the castle was magically cloaked from the sight of normal humans, he had to fight back down the spike of rage that suddenly welled up within him. How could the insignificant worm, walk by in total disregard of the absolute superiority that was before him.
The thought of torturing and bringing him to a slow painful end fleeted through his mind. His jaws clenched as he forced himself to remain focused on the task at hand. There would be time to spill blood soon, very soon. With eyes filled with total and absolute hatred, he watched the human walk away till he was out of sight. The original and rightful order of things would soon be back in place, a malicious smile crept across his face at the thought.
Despite the fact that he was loath to it, he stepped into the light at the entrance of the castle. Unlike him, his master and others in his following neither understood nor appreciated the darkness like he did. He felt the spell take hold of him and in so doing totally immobilize him.
Even after two hundred years, the spell that guarded the entrance to his master's lair still made his stomach turn; something about the magic that had made this spell just didn't sit well with him. In spite of being unable to move a single muscle however, he was calm. The spell wouldn't harm him, he was after all, his master's loyal servant.
And surely enough the spell let go of him after a while, pushing them open, he moved through the doors into the castle. The two faceless creatures stood silently guarding the doors just in case anyone got past the spell at the door. Despite the fact that they had no eyes, nose or ears to speak of, he knew that they were as much aware of his presence as he was of theirs.
They never slept. Day and night for the last two hundred years, they had stood at the door ever guarding it against any fool that would dare try and force his way into the castle. None except for his master knew what sustained them. From reputation, he knew that to defeat one of them would require one who was both exceedingly powerful and skilled in magic. To defeat two of them however, would require nothing short of a miracle! How his master had gotten the two of them into his servitude was a mystery all in his following would never solve.
His master would, at this time, be in his private office at the very top of the tallest tower in the castle. He moved deftly through the hallways of the castle towards him. His master was extremely cautious of outside attack to the point of paranoia. But given the kind of world they existed in however, it was a most wise level of caution.
The whole of the castle was full of magical traps of all kind in each and every last hallway. Each of which was excruciatingly painful to any of his master's followers if they fell into one. To them that didn't belong to his master's following, it meant death. To those that lived in the castle, it had become second to nature moving without falling into one of them. It was only when his master added a new one that any of them got caught by them. He however had a sixth sense for them, being able to move though total darkness made this, a walk in the park. Not that he ever did.
His excitement was rising as he got closer and closer to his master.
"Back from the dead?"
He stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of the voice. He had to summon all his will power to school his features and keep the absolute loathing he felt for its owner, from showing on his face.
"Viera," he spat venomously. He could keep his face from revealing any emotion, but keeping the pure hate he felt for her from his voice was a feat he was yet to achieve.
"Master ordered you to watch the old man, why are you here?" She asked a smile playing on her lips.
"Correct me if I am wrong Viera, but I don't answer to you," he replied his voice dripping with abhorrence.
"Tell me, was it exciting?" She went on, ignoring his words. "Did you jerk off watching the old man shower?" She posed her voice syrupy sweet.
The mask broke, all the hate he felt for her rose to the surface, her smile widened. He momentarily considered casting a spell on her to cause her enough pain to make death seem like a respite to her.
The thought however vanished quick as it had come. He knew perfectly well that the seven thousand year old vampire would take off his head even before he'd let out the first syllable of the spell. He'd seen her do it to others much more powerful than him.
"As much as I would love to engage you in this very interesting conversation," he didn't bother to try and hide the sarcasm that laced his voice. "Our master awaits my report," he said brusquely.
"Still the loyal puppy," all pretense of being cordial had faded from her voice. "Running to master with every little insignificant thing that crosses your mind," she had now walked up to him and now stood regarding him, her faces barely two inches from his. "Still trying to be his favourite, when I so obviously occupy that position."
He wouldn't have been able to stop the snigger that escaped his lips if he had tried. "Master has no favourites," he spat. "You are deluded if you believe any different,"
"I would be very careful how you talk to me if I were you," her voice had gone low as her eyes narrowed dangerously.
He summoned all his magic keeping it close to the surface just in case he would need it. "Bites to hear the truth, doesn't it?" he knew he should probably stop before things escalated further, but the chance to hit at her for all the shit she had put him through was too good to pass up.
His fingers clenched and unclenched at the ready as he watched the crimson red colour bleed into the whites of her eyes. The distinction between her iris and her pupil vanished as both merged into one black circle. He didn't have to look to know that her nails had elongated narrowing to form razor sharp claws.
"Funny you should put it in that exact manner," she whispered her fangs clearly showing. A smile had crossed her face. It was the very same smile she usually had when she was about to kill. Both his palms were glowing as he readied himself to counter any attack she made.
"Thorin, Viera," at the sound of the harsh admonishing voice both of them sank down on one knee heads bowed low.
"Master," they both answered in unison.
The tall slim figure slowly made his way towards them. An aura of powerful magic filling the whole hallway and pressing down upon them as he moved closer. Though neither of them dared to look him in the eye, they could feel his glare trying to bore holes through the back of their down turned heads. He regarded them silently for a while letting them squirm in his presence before he finally turned to him.
"Thorin, if you have come to me without news to justify why you are not watching the keeper of secrets as I instructed you, it shall be your last act," he breathed his voice barely above a whisper yet heard clearly by the both of them.
"He's moved," Thorin immediately spoke up his eyes never leaving the floor. There was a moment of silence. Thorin knew from the fact that he wasn't at the moment writhing in pain on the floor meant that the news was indeed of consequence to his master. Even Viera had gone still at his words; she too knew what this meant.
"A new one has come into being," his master said contemplatively more to himself than anyone else. "How long ago was this?" he asked.
"Two hours have passed since master," Thorin instantly replied.
"Good," was the only word that escaped his master's lips before he swept past them his steps hurried towards a destination only known to him.
Five hours later:
The two of them stood eyes closed in the dark room that was faintly illuminated by both a sourceless light from the spell they'd cast and the single candle that stood in the middle of a map of the globe laid on the table. Both of their hearts were racing. Neither of them could yet fully believe what they had just seen, yet there was no denying it. It was now five hours since their master had told them that a new one had come into being and ordered them to find him.
For the first two hours or so they'd hit a brick wall as the new wizard that had come into being was simply nowhere to be found. They'd used all the magic tracking skills that they had but it was all useless. It was as if he didn't exist at all. Then, they found him.
Both of them had had to pull both their minds and magic back as quickly as one would draw their hand away from a hot object that had just burned them. One more second and their minds would have been completely destroyed.
'He's powerful,' no sound had been made even as she clearly heard the words from her brother. Being mute, her brother only talked to her mentally.
Calling him powerful is like calling the sun a candle,' she replied unable to keep a slight tremor even from her mental voice. The image of it once again reformed in her mind. When they tracked others who had magic, they appeared as small flames on the map before them. Though they usually had their eyes closed, the spell recreated the map clearly in their minds' eye.
For the first two hours they'd only seen small flames scattered all over the map but none that hadn't been there before, no new wizard. Just as they'd been about to stop, it happened. The only thing she could equate it to was the birth of a star. At one moment they'd been seeing nothing more than small flames then the next they were in the middle of an inferno as a new wizard came on to the map.
Did you see how far his vibrations went?' The awe at what they'd just witnessed clearly palpable in her voice. For the past three hours they'd been tentatively letting out their magic trying to see if they could find the source of the magic. But it was like trying to stare directly at the sun. If they allowed that amount of magic in, it would overwhelm them and in so doing totally destroy their minds. A flame they could have easily pinpointed its exact location, but finding this new wizard was like trying the center of an inferno! They could only skirt around the edge of it, but jumping into it in an attempt to find the source, its center, was nothing short of suicide.
Only one of us can go in,' her eyes popped open at her brother's words, abandoning the futile effort of trying to find a way to the center of the inferno.
What are you talking about?' she replied mentally. 'Are you not seeing what I am seeing?' she asked her mental voice clearly showing she thought him crazy.
Her brother's calm blue eyes silently regarded her in the same way they always did when he saw or understood something that she didn't. 'We've been going about this all wrong. Individually, we've got about as much chance of finding him as we do of freeing ourselves. So as I said, only one of us, meaning you, goes in. I will be focusing all my magic towards strengthening your shields,' he explained. 'It's our best shot.'
She went silent for a while as she considered the idea. Being mute, her brother had never been very proficient in casting spells and other areas of magic that required verbal expressions to work. This disability however, had only given him more time and drive to study learn practice and refine on his more cerebral skills in magic. He could do things with his mind that she knew perfectly well she would never be able to do. She on the other hand was not the kind of witch you wanted to cross, as her brother had refined on his mental skills she had mastered the verbal aspects of magic. Both of them were born from a powerful magical bloodline so alone they were dangerous, but together, they were near invincible.
Her confidence in her brother's abilities was the only reason she was even considering the idea. Had it been anyone else proposing this, she wouldn't have spared it a second thought. 'Are you sure you can do this,' she posed mentally trying to reaffirm her confidence.
'Just don't stay too long,' his brother calmly replied in her mind. 'I can only buy you a bit of time so be as quick as you can,' he said calmly. Once again she found herself being jealous of her brother's ability to remain calm even in the face of possibly lethal danger.
She was yet to see him panic for whatever reason, and not that they were short of reasons for panicking. It was his ability to remain calm that had helped her through a lot of situations that would have turned out much worse had she been on her own.
'Okay then, lets do it' she at last agreed. She raised both her open palms to her brother who also raised his to place them on top of hers. Closing her eyes at the same time as her brother she lowered the shields that protected her mind. She could feel it as her brother moved past her lowered shields and into her mind. When her brother erected the shields once again around the both of them, they were a hundred times stronger than anything she could ever make on her own.
Wasting no time, she immediately started muttering the spell under her breath. Soon they both had moved back into what they had come to call the magic-force plane. On this plane all those that had magic stood like small flames on a map of the whole world. Wherever they were, if they had magic, she and her brother would eventually find them. Finding the new occupant on the map was no problem at all as the whole of the US. was covered in an inferno of the power he was radiating. All other flames within the area his power covered were obscured by the mere intensity of his power.
They both moved to the edge of the flames. She took in a deep long breath and she let it out in a long slow sigh. She too tried to add to the strength of the shields protecting the both of them. 'Here we go,' she passed on mentally to her brother before diving headlong into the flames.
Even with both she and her brother doing their best to hold up the shields, she could feel the intense amount of power that was now enveloping the both of them pushing hard against the shields from all sides. Moving in further into the flames, she tried to move as fast as she possibly could towards the center of it.
The closer she got to the center of it however, the harder it was to move as the magic pushed against the shields harder than ever. She came to the edge of the town from which all the power was radiating from. 'Pull out!' the urgent message from her brother reached her as she tried to move further towards the center of all the power.
'A few more seconds,' she pleaded pushing as hard as she could forward. Even she could feel the strain the raw power around them was exerting onto the shields.
'I can't hold it any longer,' for the first time ever, she heard panic in her brother's voice.
'Two more seconds,' she returned as she moved towards the block from which the raging raw power was blazing from.
Just as she was about to pinpoint which house on the block the power was originating from two things happened at the same exact moment. Their shields crumbled under the force of the magic pushing down on them, and two blazing eyes appeared before her. She'd been found.
The two of them were immediately thrown to the opposite ends of the room, as before either of them could react they were ejected from the magic-force plane. With the appearance of the two flaming eyes, the inferno had suddenly vanished, and not a moment too soon. Half a second longer exposed to that kind of power was all it would have taken to turn them into nothing more than vegetables.
Both of them rose to their feet from the floor, where they'd been thrown off to. Though he said nothing, she could see the strain she'd just put him through as he leant against the wall behind him for support. Her teeth gritted as she berated herself for letting her curiosity get the better of her.
It hadn't all been for nothing though, gears were already turning in her head as a plan formed in her mind. Her eyes moved to the map, at least what had remained of it. It had burst into flame as they were thrown back against the walls. The table upon which it had been laid was now charred and covered in ash and candle wax.
Despite the fact that she knew he was strained way beyond his limit, she felt her brother's shields immediately erected around her own reinforcing them as their master moved into the room. On her own she would have never been able to keep the fiend out. Her mind would have been as warped as that of the others in his following.
"Have you found him?" he asked in the same low harsh yet clearly audible whisper that he always used. His eyes moved to where the table was. She remained calm knowing that even as he looked directly at the burnt table all he saw was the map with the candle sitting in the dead center of it. In the few seconds between her realizing that they were no longer alone in the room and her master's words she'd cast an illusion spell to make it seem as if nothing had changed.
"No," she replied her voice both calm and cold. "Whoever the old man went after is either yet to awaken as a wizard, or simply doesn't exist. We've been scouring the map for the past five and a half hours. He's nowhere to be found." she lied nothing about her changing in any way that could possibly betray that she was.
Had it not been for her brother, he would have been able to see it plainly in her mind that she was lying. Her brother however being the strongest in cerebral magic within the castle kept her mind safe from invasion by their master. Their master's two cold grey eyes surveyed her for a while, she returned the gaze with equal intensity defiance blazing in her eyes.
She was perfectly aware that he was trying to break past her brother's shields into her mind to verify what she'd just told him. Though she didn't show it, she, for the first time ever worried about her brother's ability to keep her mind safe, after the strain she'd just put him through trying to keep them from being totally consumed by the power from the new wizard. At last, their master turned away as her brother's shields proved too strong for him to break through even in his current state.
"The only reason either of you two draw breath is because I allow it," his voice was now a sharp hiss. "And I only allow it because your skills have so far proven useful. Outlive your usefulness and your death is assured," he spat at them. "You have two more hours," he said turning and leaving the room.
'You lied, why?' Her brother posed mentally, pushing himself off the wall his calm exterior falling back in place. How does he do that? She once again for the millionth time asked herself. She let go of the illusion spell that covered the table and looked down at the burn marks that now covered it. 'Because, whoever he is, he's the key to our freedom,' she answered eyes fixed on the table.
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Dan's eyes slowly blinked open, his hands moving on autopilot to turn off his bedside alarm. His eyes slowly scanned his empty room. "Need to read a lot less fiction novels," he muttered to himself. "What a weird..." the word dream faded from his lips as his eyes landed on the old leather bound book on his bedside drawer. It couldn't be possible...
The stubbornly rational part of him that chose to believe nothing but what could be proven once again rose to question whether all he thought had happened last night had really happened. Closing his eyes, he mentally called out, 'Ember.'
His eyes opened just in time to see a ball of flames materialize from thin air. It grew increasingly larger taking a more defined feminine form till it finally turned into the very same girl he remembered from the previous night. She was still in the long flowing flame coloured robes she'd vanished in. "Yes Dan," she answered regarding him with a smile.
Dan who'd risen to a sitting position fell back onto the bed. "Fuck," the word escaped his lips as the immensity of all he'd found out the previous night came down on him.
"No, it wasn't a dream," Ember put in words what was going through his mind. "How did you..."
"You should really be careful what you project down our bond," she answered his incomplete question.
"Where are the others? Where did you all go to last night," he asked as the memory of their departure replayed in his mind.
There had been a moment of stunned silence after he'd read out loud the words that had been written on the first page of the leather bound book. The second passed. It was as if somebody had hit a switch or something. Suddenly all four of them had shot up to their feet. Athena Kirra and Karra moved towards the window of his room, the twins once again taking their tiger forms once again. "Kirra, Karra, a ten block radius, Athena, the air, I will check the tracking plane," Ember's commanding voice was heard down the bond that linked the five of them. Pulling it open Athena was first to jump out the window head first, Dan thought he heard the flapping of wings.
The twins now in their tiger forms jumped out after her Kirra first followed by Karra. Dan's head turned just in time to catch a glimpse of Ember finding her in long flowing flame coloured robes a second before she bursts into flames and vanished into thin air.
A look of both annoyance and disgust crossed Ember's expression at the question. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," Dan immediately backtracked.
"Quite to the contrary, it is I who owes you an apology master," Dan had noticed that she'd gone back to calling him master, but his mind was too busy trying to figure out why she thought she owed him an apology to say anything about it. "The others are still outside guarding your home," she answered his first question before going on to the next. "I'm sorry master, we should have created wards to mask your magic from others who would try and use it to find you the moment it became clear to us that you didn't know anything about magic and so had most probably not done it yourself," she explained moving towards the window and pulling it open.
This time it was Karra who jumped through it first before being followed by Kirra. It was only now as they jumped back into his room that Dan noticed it. In the split second that they were moving through the open window, they morphed to their human forms. Once they were past the window, they once again while still in midair shifted back into their tiger forms and landed on their front paws. As he now looked on at the tigers before him Dan knew they must have done the same the night before as there was no way either of the two tigers would have fit through the window.
Athena was the last to reenter the room, diving through it as she'd done the previous night, Dan watched wide eyed as what looked like... bat wings of the a wing span about twice her own height, unwrapped themselves from around her body. They'd been tightly wrapped her body as she flew into the room through the window. The opened up bringing her to a stop in midair before she softly landed on the floor of his bedroom. "The sky's clear," she reported. Dan heard nothing his mind frozen as he watched the wings retract into her back.
"So was the ground, except for one warlock, but he was totally fried by the time we got to him, so he doesn't really count," Karra reported her voice revealing little emotion.
"A wizard and a witch working together, almost tracked you all the way to your house master," Dan could feel it through the bond he had with her that Ember was blaming herself for all that they were reporting.
"What are you talking about?" He finally asked as Ember went silent.
"All humans with magic can be tracked if one is powerful and mentally disciplined enough to do it, luckily only a precious few can do this," Kirra answered as Ember moved to stand by the window her eyes scouring the area outside of the house.
"What do you mean, can be tracked?" Dan asked not liking the idea of people he didn't know, knowing exactly where he lived.
"Your magical powers are like a signal. For those with the ability, all they have to do is track it to the source. Normally, most wizards and witches mask their power signatures, so finding it is almost completely impossible, except for the exceptionally skilled in tracking" Kirra went on.
"We should have masked your power the moment we found out you hadn't," Ember spoke from the window. "You were exposed to anyone with the ability to track," she said. "Any number of people around the world could have found you by the time we erected the wards to mask your power signature."
"I don't know whether that number is that big," Karra spoke up. "Judging by the state we found the warlock in, not a great many will be able to come close to him on the magic-force plane," she stated looking at Dan. "He was already half dead by the time we got to him."
"You practically killed him without even raising a finger," Kirra informed him a smile tipping the side of her lips.
"I did what!... how?" Dan queried despite the fact that he'd heard her clearly.
"You killed him," Athena repeated her voice without any emotion to indicate she actually cared about what he'd done.
"But... but, how I wasn't trying to kill anyone," Dan said defensively the distress in his voice clear to everyone in the room.
"You didn't have to," Ember spoke up from the window. "There are many planes in the magical world, each with its own peculiar features about it. I only know of two, but it's said there are more, many more. One of these planes is what most choose to call the magic-force plane. In this plane, all magic is simply energy."
"As you've been told, only a disciplined powerful few can access it and use it to find other wizards. To track a wizard on this plane however, one has to project their minds and a part of their consciousness into the plane, a very dangerous thing to do. The risk in this is that if you encounter one with a lot more magic than yourself, it has the ability to totally scramble your mind should it prove too much for your brain to handle."
"If you run into more power than you can handle, best case scenario is you manage to exit the plane immediately with a migraine that will most probably put you down for about a week or so. With the kind of power you hold, to ninety nine percent of the magical population, tracking you would be like connecting a light bulb directly into a transformer."
"I went into the magical plane last night just in time to stop two others who had somehow managed to track you all the way to this particular block. I did manage however to eject them before they found where exactly you were. So while your power will protect you from a large section of the magical population, you aren't invincible. The few out there who can track you are the ones you really need to be worried about," Embers eyes had not left the window as she said all this.
"Why does it seem like I am the only one here concerned by the fact that if all what you are saying is true, I killed someone," Dan queried a sick feeling settling at the pit of his stomach. All four sets of eyes turned to him, yet in all of them Dan saw a complete lack of any distress over what he'd done.
"What else would you have done, invited him over for coffee?" Athena's voice dripped with apathy.
"You said it yourself Dan," Ember spoke up, once again reverting back to referring to him as Dan as she turned away from the window. "The life you now live is one where you will always have to fight for the simple right to live. How did you think the fights would end?" Despite the bluntness in her words, Dan could feel her concern for him.
"Hate to break it to you Dan, but this won't be the last time you have to kill," Karra spoke up her voice, though not apathetic as Athena's, only holding as much emotion as one talking of the day's weather.
"No, no, no, I am not killing anybody," Dan said out loud though his more logical mind knew he wouldn't have a choice in the matter.
"Too late," Athena interjected.
"I signed up to be a wizard, not a killer," Dan said stubbornly, choosing to ignore Athena's words.
"And so what will you do when others with not as good intentions as you come along. What will you do when others who won't stop at anything till they have drained every last bit of power from you come along?" Kirra asked her voice unlike Athena's and Karra's showing that she understood the conflict within him.
"For some of the people that will hunt you, there is no turning back, they either hunt till they kill you or they die trying, for them only one of you can come out alive." she went on. "If you do not kill Dan, You will be killed."
"A fate the world won't survive," Ember spoke up.
Four confused expressions turned to her at her words. "Two conditions had to be fulfilled for the magic in lord Arwain's bloodline to be once again released," she explained looking him in the eye. "One, a pure heart that would not be corrupted by the power and two," she said then paused letting it dawn on them what she meant.
"A dire need for it," Dan whispered as it dawned on him what Ember meant.
"Exactly," said Ember. "I fear that if the magic lord Arwain locked away has been unlocked, then a great evil powerful enough to require as much power as was left to you through the bloodline, has risen. And it's moving for the same goal as every other corrupted by magic in history did, ultimate dominance."
"You can either kill a few and save many or you can die and most probably the whole of humanity will follow after you. You are quite literally the fork in the path, either to the salvation of the world or the destruction of it."
Dan stood staring at Ember his mouth opening and closing but no words managing to come through. Suddenly, it felt like a thousand tons of lead had been placed on his shoulders.
"We need to begin immediately," Karra said.
"Begin what?" Dan posed not sure if he really wanted to hear anything more.
"The list," Kirra said smiling.
"What list?" Dan pushed.
"The four things wizards of your power, or at least near your level of power, do," Ember corrected. "One, find or create a fort whichever you prefer, two secure the fort, three create a harem, and lastly create a following," she listed them.
"Wait, wait, what do you mean create a fort, and what would I need a harem for, and what the hell is a following," Dan asked unable to make sense of the list.
Dan looked at the four surprised faces that were now regarding him. "What?" he asked not seeing what had them looking at him as they were.
A smile tipped the side of Ember's lips as she replied, "In fifty thousand years you are the first man to ask what they would need a harem for."
"Did your mom ever tell you about the birds and the bees?" Athena asked a teasing note in her voice a smile crossing her face as Dan's went pink.
"I know what a harem is for," he managed to choke out his colour rising. "I just don't see why I would need one, if what Ember says is true, sex is not really anywhere on my list of priorities," he quickly explained.
"Actually, if you are going to make it out of this alive you are going to require sex, and going by your power level, whole truck loads of it." Kirra said a smile crossing her face.
"Why is that?" Dan asked unable to see the link between his survival and sex. "Magic is very dynamic energy," Karra spoke up. "It can't stay dormant for too long otherwise it starts harming the very vessel within which it resides, so unless that energy keeps being expended, you start having headaches which will progress into migraines at the peak of which, you start having power leaks followed by power slips and finally full blown power bleeds," Karra explained. "Sex is simply the easiest way to burn out the excess energy, unless of course you'd rather spend hours on end casting spells for which you have no need."
"What do you mean by power leaks slips and bleeds" Dan asked already not liking the sound of it.
"In the power leaks stage, your small amounts of your powers are released without your wishing for it or you knowing that it has. Depending on the kind of magic you practice, this affects things around you differently, for some it simply makes the flowers around blossom faster, for others it kills all small living creatures around them."
"When you move into the power slips stage, the amount of power you release without intending to increases significantly, in this stage you can tell coz things will be flying across the room, blowing up and such, the last and final stage before the magic totally shreds you is the power bleeds."
"In more powerful wizards their very mood can affect the weather, if they are persistently sad then it may rain for days on end without ceasing. A number of floods have been caused by this. Their rage can cause thunder storms or even earthquakes of epic seismic proportions."
"If the amount of power you possess is anything to go by, you'll probably be exhibiting the symptoms of full blown power bleeds while still in the power leaks stage." Kirra explained.
"And," Athena began, the seductive undertone once again seeping into her voice. "While we intend to do... everything, in our power," Dan could feel his dick stirring as Athena walked up to him. "To keep this from happening," she said eyeing him with that predatory gaze her hands gliding lightly on his chest as her tail tip moved from the base of his spine to the top. "Unfortunately" she said stepping away from him a sly smile on her face fully knowing the torment she was putting him through. "There are times when we won't be with you, so while we are gone away on whatever mission you will have sent us on, you will still need an outlet for your..." her eyes dropped to the tent in his pants. "Surplus energy."
"And what of the other things you mentioned?" Dan asked using all of his will to tear his gaze away from Athena's body which happened to be in the same state of nudity as it had been the night before. "What did you mean by find or create and secure a fort?" he asked turning to Ember.
"You are a hunted man, you need to stay in a place that is secured by more than a door," Ember answered. "With the kind of power you possess, your vibrations are probably at a global scale, you..."
"Vibrations?" Dan interjected confused at what she meant by the term in relation to him. It was finally dawning on Dan how it felt to be slow as he found himself having to stop the others every few sentences to get them to explain what they were talking about.
Ember smiled, "There is a difference between not knowing and being slow in understanding." Dan's face contorted in confusion at her words. "As I said earlier, you need to check what you send down our bond," she answered his unspoken question. "All questions you've so far asked us were sent through the bond to us before you even verbalized them." she informed him.
Dan remained silent not sure that after learning he'd just become a killer there was anything more that could distress him any further. "Don't worry, like all other skills, this too can be learned," Ember said with a smile.
Dan's head turned to lookup at Ember just in time to catch her hand movement as she passed it through the air before her. She'd muttered words in a language he was not familiar with.
Dan watched as a two inch deep stone basin of water appeared floating before them full of water. "Magic is a force, very much like gravity," Ember began. "The larger an object is the stronger it's gravitational pull, in the very same way, the more powerful one is in terms of magical power, the more of magic he pulls towards himself."
"Look very closely and tell me what you see," Ember said extending her hand out over the water. With her index finger she touched the surface of the water in the basin at the middle of it then withdrew her hand. "What did you see," Ember asked. Dan was momentarily at a loss, he'd expected her to do something magical.
"Well apart from the ripples moving out from where you touched, not much else," he said sheepishly.
"Look closer," Ember urged and repeated what she'd just done.
"I don't know what you expect me to see but all I see are the ripples moving outwards from where you touched," Dan repeated his first answer.
"Look more closely at the ripples," Ember further clarified as she touched the surface of the water a third time. Dan's eyes turned back to the ripples moving in the water.
"They come back to the center after hitting the edge of the basin," he said suddenly understanding what she meant. A smile crossed her face as she dispelled of the basin of water with a wave of her hand causing it to vanish into thin air.
"Magic works very much in the same way," she said. "How strong they are and how far they move from the center is determined by how strong the magic force of the individual, the stronger the individuals are, the stronger the ripples are and the further they move from them."
"Unlike ones power signature however, which can be tracked and be pinpointed to its exact location, vibrations, as they are so widely known, are more subtle. The ones being pulled by the ripples are not even aware that they are, they simply through one means or the other for whatever reason find themselves moving towards the center," Ember explained.
Dan now reconsidering that there was nothing more distressing that he could hear that morning. "For the weaker ones, they may not be able to be felt from across the room, the stronger ones however may be able to cause ripples through out a whole county, state or even country, there has so far only been one case in history of one who could be felt across a whole continent." Ember went on.
"If those being affected by the ripples don't know it, then how can it be known the size of the area they affect," Dan asked his logical mind once again rising to question Ember.
"Because the closer to the center they get the more aware they become that they are being pulled to that given place if the pull is really strong. Vibrations are not an unknown phenomenon in the magical world. Once others in the magical world find themselves moving collectively towards a certain point, they put two and two together," Ember answered.
"Your vibrations have a global span. Which, considering the fact that you hold the sum total of all the magical power that there had been in the world at the time of the purge, is not surprising. While the supernatural community starts moving from places like Europe, Africa and Asia they might not know why they are, but believe me going by the vibrations I can feel coming off you, by the time they land in the US. They will know," Ember said.
"Which brings me back to why you need a fort, not all those who will surely eventually be on their way here will want to be best buddies. In fact in the magical community, one who is exceedingly stronger than the norm is more often than not viewed as a threat by majority rather than a friend. Of course, there will be those who will seek to ally themselves with you seeing it as more wise not to have you as an enemy. But you need to be prepared to have to combat a good number of those that will be coming this way."
"When that happens then you will need somewhere secured to stay that only those loyal to you and those powerful to break through your protective barriers can get to. Also, while you and we can defend ourselves from almost all the attacks, I highly doubt your mother and brother can," Ember explained.
Dan felt a block of ice settling at the pit of his stomach. It hadn't occurred to him that his family would also become a target of those coming for him. While he didn't have the best of relations with his brother, the thought of him coming to harm cause of him filled him with dread. The thought of his mother being hurt by anyone, was simply unimaginable to him. He could feel rage filling him at the very thought. He was barely aware of the fact that his hands were clenching and unclenching trembling as thoughts of what he would do to anyone who threatened his family rushed through his mind.
"A following," Ember who could feel his master's rage rising, went on trying to keep him from letting his mind stay on the thought too long. "Is when other less powerful wizards, magical creatures or any other members of the magical community, ally themselves with a stronger powerful one whom they serve and in return whoever they serve offers them protection from, at least that is what it ideally is supposed to be, but like many other things this too has changed with time," Ember said.
"What has changed about it?" Dan asked.
"Originally, one joined a following out of their own free will. The last time we were out, this had changed, the stronger members of the magical community can force the lesser ones into their following, and it is no longer the leader of the following who protects their own but they use those in their following to protect themselves," Ember explained. "I doubt much has changed since," she added.
"If that's what followings are currently all about, why would anyone want to join my following?" he posed.
"Well, it's either that or they have you as an enemy," Athena spoke up in a voice that made Dan glad he wasn't his own enemy.
"Not everybody who chooses not to join my following is necessarily my enemy," Dan said pushing down the tendril of fear.
"You may not see it yet, but battle lines have already been drawn, and while it is not out in the open yet, it will boil down to two sides, those who stand with you, and those who are against you," Karra spoke up.
Dan went silent as it all became too much, how did things get this fucked up so quickly. "I should start getting ready for school, I am already late as it is." he at last said with a sigh.
"School?!" Athena spoke up her voice clearly showing she thought he'd just said something absurd. "What part of you've got a bull's eye drawn on to your back, do you not get," despite the fact that her voice was harsh, Dan could feel through their bond that she was actually concerned for his safety.
"Graduation is only two months away, I can't quit now," he replied. "I have dealt with too much bullshit, to just quit when I am almost through," he added.
Athena looked ready to put up another argument but Ember cut her short by saying, "He's going." The finality in her tone left no room for argument on the matter.
Seeing that there was nothing more about to be brought up, Dan quickly got ready for school. "Take this," Ember spoke up holding out her hand as Dan walked out of the bathroom towel wrapped around his waist. Dan looked down at the golden chain with a miniature golden bird attached to it.
"Uuh... Thanks," he replied not sure why Ember felt the sudden need to give him a present.
"It's not a present," Ember spoke up. Dan didn't bother asking how she knew that was what he'd been thinking. "Wear it at all times. We have wards around the house so while you are here you are undetectable. But if you walk out of the house without this, your power signature on the magic force plane goes nuclear and you become tractable once again," she said opening her palm as Dan picked it up.
Pulling it on Dan thanked her as he moved to quickly get dressed, all the time acutely aware of the lust filled looks the other four were giving him. Dan had to use all the tricks in the book to keep his body from reacting to the lust that was quickly thickening within the room. 'Dead spiders, old hairy grannies, dead cats and dogs,' he kept mentally repeating the mantra using all his will to keep his eyes from straying one of the other four not sure he would be able to stop himself from taking them right them there and then.
"See you later," he said quickly making his way out of the room.
**************************************
Soon as Dan walked out of the room Athena turned to glare at Ember. "What do you think you are doing? He's not safe at school and you know it, why let him go?" she asked the fury in her voice barely veiled.
Ember smiled unperturbed by the demon's wrath. "He's still a boy. His whole life has been thrown off balance into total confusion, what he previously believed to be true no longer holds, and what he didn't acknowledge he now has to comprehend, school is the one stable thing he still has in his life, take that away and he'll be totally unanchored," she said moving to sit before the computer in their master's room. "Let him be, when the time is right he will see the sense in no longer going."
"If for whatever reason we get sent back to the other side because of this, I will rip your heart out," Athena's voice was icy.
The smile on Ember's face however didn't falter, as she turned to her. "Hopefully, it won't come to that," she answered simply before turning back to the computer and typing the url for Wikipedia into the browser.
Athena turned away with an angry huff, all four in the room knew perfectly well that Athena was indeed much more powerful than your average demon, but even if her powers were quadrupled they wouldn't come anywhere near those of Ember's. "Well, what are you waiting for" Athena said turning to the other two in the room. "Come on, we've got work to do," she said as she conjured clothes from thin air, her connection with Dan giving her an idea of what kind of dressing was fashionable. Kirra and Karra did the same before following her out the room.
********************************
Dan sat alone at the table he'd always sat at during lunch period since he began high school. Occasionally, others had sat with him at the beginning. But after it became clear that Dan was a target for Jim, the table was avoided by others like the plague lest they too become a target. Dan had absolutely no problem with this, it was a lot less people he'd have to pretend to be listening to or like.
Dan's left hand was feeding him on autopilot. All of Dan's concentration was on the leather bound book he was holding in his right hand. After reading the first few pages it had become clear that the book was both lord Arwain's spell book and diary. One he'd kept from the moment he'd accidentally discovered that he could use magic.
Turns out lord Arwain had been one of lady Eldrid's top most human servants. From what Dan could gather from the book, lady Eldrid had been the only one among the lords and ladies to treat the humans with any kind of decent regard. Lord Arwain however, hadn't trusted that after they had taken out the other lords and ladies, she wouldn't move against them for fear of she too being attacked.
The book must have been spelled to hold a lot more content on a page than a normal book would, each page Dan had read had the same amount of information as ten pages of a normal book of the same size would. He was now going through the very first spells lord Arwain had tried.
Dan heard, but paid no mind to the wave of murmurs that broke out in the cafeteria. He never concerned himself with whatever irrelevant gossips or rumors that others occupied their minds with. Whatever the murmurs were about, he would treat no different.
'Dan,' his head shot up so fast at hearing Athena's voice in his head, that he was momentarily dizzy. 'I need you to trust me and do everything as I tell you,' her voice sounded in his head. 'Can you do that for me.'
Looking around himself to see if he could see the succubus anywhere around he mentally returned, 'Uuh, sure.'
'First off, stop looking so clueless and turn to the window facing the school parking lot,' it was quickly becoming clear to Dan that it was simply Athena's nature to be brash and show very little if any emotion or regard if any, for anything. Not that he should have expected any different from a demon now that he thought of it. Admittedly, part of him liked it about her.
It was as Dan now looked out the window towards the parking lot that he understood what the murmurs had been all about. Pulling up into the parking lot was a sleek black Lamborghini Veneno. In spite of himself even Dan's mouth fell open.
Dan could almost feel Athena's eyes roll as she said, 'No you dummy, pick your jaw off the floor and smirk.' It was only then that Dan remembered he was supposed to be doing as Athena dictated. Quickly closing his mouth, Dan did as instructed and morphed his expression into a smug smirk. 'Now look back to your book,' Athena's voice instructed. Dan turned back to the book all his concentration was however long gone.
Fighting the very strong temptation to look back out the window, Dan kept his eyes firmly fixed on the page he was on. For the next one minute Athena said nothing. The murmurs grew to about three times what it had initially been as Dan heard the doors to the cafeteria opened. 'No, don't look up,' Dan heard Athena mentally say sharply stopping him from doing what he'd just been about to do.
Dan somehow, he wasn't sure how, but he could feel it as the lust in the room sky rocketed. No doubt it was Athena's fault as she walked in. "Do you realize that you are the only one in here who hasn't even spared me a single glance." Dan almost looked up to confirm who he was talking to. The sound of the slightly offended girlish voice that was so unlike the strong defiant voice Athena usually spoke with, the same one resounding in his head.
Playing by the script Athena was passing to him mentally, Dan disinterestedly flipped the page of the book in his hand. With a voice that reflected an equal amount of disinterest he answered, "Do you realize that only one person in this cafeteria actually gives a fuck?"
Dan had to summon all his self-control to keep his expression neutral as he finally looked up at Athena as she finally granted it to him. She stood before him in a tight purple tank top. Her firm D-cup, gravity defying rack pushing hard against the top as if fighting to be free of it. She had an equally tight white miniskirt of mid-thigh length.
Dan was glad she was facing forward. All of his self control wouldn't have been enough to stop him from staring at her ass in the skirt like an idiot even if he had tried. Which he very much doubted he would have. Her hair was now in a tight ponytail behind her head. It was only now that it occurred to Dan that he'd not seen Athena in her human form up until this moment. Despite not showing it as Athena directed him, he was stunned by her beauty.
Standing on either side of Athena were the twins both dressed in matching green tops and black denim jeans. Dan let his eyes roam over their exquisitely feminine forms. Though not as large as Athena's their breasts were a healthy C-cup bordering on being D's. Their hips flared out from their slim waists in a way that made Dan want to groan with lust. All three girls standing before him had the perfect hourglass figure that most girls spent their whole lives trying to gain before they finally gave up without attaining it.
"Miss us?" Athena asked now in a sultrily seductive voice. If it was even possible the lust in the room rose even higher at the tone of her voice. To anyone else in the cafeteria, it would look like, seeing she had not gotten the kind of reaction she'd wanted from Dan, Athena was shifting tactics and trying to seduce it out of him.
"Uuh... I was with you all night last night," even Dan was surprised at his own acting abilities. His voice dripped of cocky male pride as he repeated what Athena passed to him as an answer to her question.
At this point a snigger Dan that recognized as Jim's resounded in the now grave silent cafeteria. "Nice try loser," Jim spoke up walking over to the table Dan was seated at. "But I happen to know you spent the whole of last night at home in your room." he said aloud for all in the cafeteria to hear.
Dan was momentarily at a loss on how to answer Jim knowing that there was no way he could actually lie about this to him. But he needn't have bothered. Athena turned and offered Jim a dismissive glance very much like the ones Dan had been receiving from the popular girls since his first year in high school. "So he's the one who was trying to get into your room last night," she said in a tone that made even Dan feel for his brother's ego.
Dan watched as Jim's face turned crimson, a shocked expression marring its features as he turned to look unbelievingly at him. His mouth soundlessly opening and closing. No doubt his mind was putting two and two together and forming the exact picture Athena wanted in his brain. Dan was no longer acting as a supremely smug expression crossed his face as he answered, "Yeah, he's the one." His voice sounded like he was trying to hold back a derisive laugh which he reduced to a snort.
"Anyway," Athena started up once again turning to him, her voice clearly dismissing the fact that Jim even existed. "We and a couple of the other girls are getting together for a party, you should come," her voice had once again taken on a seductive undertone while still exhibiting a bit of insecurity as if she really wanted him to come but was afraid he might turn her down.
"Sure, if I got nothing better to do," Dan answered as directed. "When?" he asked his voice reverting back to the disinterested tone it had held at the beginning of the conversation.
"Actually, it's just about to begin, the other girls should be arriving at my house any time now," Dan had to give Athena credit for her acting skills too as her voice displayed relief at his answer without being too obvious about it.
Dan wordlessly closed the leather bound book placing it before him and held out his hand to Athena as per the script he was mentally receiving. "What?" Athena finally asked after a pause feigned confusion in her voice.
"The keys," Dan replied prompting her to be quick about it with his hand.
"What!" Athena replied clutching the keys to the Lamborghini possessively. "But I just got the car today," she replied her voice whiny in a girlish sort of way.
"Fine then," Dan answered simply turning back to the book before him and pulling it open. "You can text me how the party went later" he said his voice dismissive.
There was a short pause in which Athena pulled off a look of being conflicted. "Give him the damn keys," Kirra's voice was heard for the first time, she too sounding like she didn't want Dan not to go to the party.
"Fine," Athena's voice was heard as she grudgingly handed the keys over to Dan.
Dan put the book back in his back pack, and without asking gave the back pack over to Karra to carry it for him. "Let's go then," he said getting up from the table.
For the first time since Athena walked into the cafeteria, Dan turned to survey the others in the cafeteria. In the eyes of all the other guys in the cafeteria was pure and unbridled lust as even those who were seated with their girlfriends had their gazes fixed on the three girls before him. Even the girls had their gazes fixed on them, their stares full of jealousy and in spite of themselves also laced thickly with lust too.
"Sluts."
Dan had started walking out of the cafeteria with the girls walking ahead of him, when Heather's not so quiet voice was heard. Dan's heart rate changed as Athena paused midstride. When she turned towards Heather, the insecure persona was gone. The gaze she fixed Heather could have melted steel. Athena walked over to the table where Heather sat. Heather shrank back as Athena placed her hands on the table. "You got something to say Sasquatch?" She asked in a menacingly low voice as she leaned forward towards Heather.
Dan watched confused as Heather's eyes went wide her face turning completely pink as she suddenly became very uncomfortable. "No," she finally muttered in a small voice shrinking even further under Athena's glare.
Dan's heart beat even faster as he noticed the look in the eyes of the girl seated next to Heather. Unlike Heather and the other girls seated at the table, her expression showed absolutely no fear instead in her eyes Dan could only see a single minded focus as she fixed Athena and the twins a glare that screamed murder. It was Claire, Heather's best friend. Dan watched a smile slowly crossed Athena's expression as she turned to face her. "See you soon," she said, to Dan's further confusion. Athena turned to him and said loudly, "I see what you meant when you said that none of them are worth the bother."
Knowing perfectly well that it was neither the place nor the time to ask what that had been all about, Dan turned and walked out of the cafeteria the girls following behind him. It was as Dan got closer that he realized that there wasn't just one but actually two Lamborghinis in the parking lot, one was parked behind the other which explained why he'd not seen it from the cafeteria. As Dan got behind the wheel he turned to Athena who'd gotten into the passenger side of the car while the twins got into the other car. "Okay, which banks did you rob to get these cars?" he asked.
"I didn't have to," Athena replied the air of smug confidence back. "Men find me to be... Pretty convincing," she added a sly smile crossing her face.
Dan for a moment felt sorry for the poor sap that had been victim to the succubus's powers of seduction, but that was forgotten soon as he turned the key in the ignition and felt the engine come to life. He probably had enough money to buy others, Dan justified to himself as the car shot out of the parking lot. "So what was that all about back there," Dan asked once they were on open road driving very fast towards nowhere in particular.
"Well, we couldn't exactly wait for a thousand years for you to finally get up the courage to approach a girl," Athena replied dryly. "So I decided to tweak the odds a bit in your favour, Harems don't make themselves you know." she added.
Dan simply smiled turning back to the road ahead, not in the least offended by the demon seated beside him. "And exactly how do you hope to achieve that, when you've just announced to the whole school that I apparently said that I thought that none of them was worth the bother?" he asked.
"You have a lot to learn about women," Athena said simply. "Take it from a succubus, the only thing worse for a woman than to be seen as simply a sexual object for a man's desire, is not to be seen as one."
"I don't follow," Dan said confused at her words.
"While many women hate the fact that most men see them only as sexual objects, believe me, it is nothing compared to how much they would hate it if that desire was not there. My saying that you thought none of them were worth the bother, makes it so that you are no longer the one going after them but them that come after you," Athena explained.
Despite the fact that he could follow her line of logic, Dan highly doubted that any chick would be coming after him. Barring, of course, the ones in the magical community that would be coming after him to kill him, he thought with a wry smile. "Why did Heather react as she did when you called her a Sasquatch," still not seeing why the insult had had such a profound effect on her.
"I have the innate ability to see a person's insecurities. Heather, as you call her, has way more body hair than she is comfortable with," Athena answered simply.
"Heather?" Dan asked not believing that "perfect heather" could have any insecurities.
"So what are my insecurities," Dan asked out of curiosity.
Athena let out a scoff and laughed before wordlessly turning back to the road ahead. "I'll do you a favour and save you the shame," she answered.
************************************
'I thought the last of the hunters were killed when we were last out from the other side.' Athena heard Karra's mental voice in her head.
A chilling smile slowly crossed the demon's expression as she mentally returned, 'Seems they weren't, we'll just have to rectify that little problem.'
************************************
"Turn here," Dan heard Athena's voice after a few minutes of silence passed between them. Turning the steering wheel in the indicated direction, Dan asked, "Where are we headed?"
"To your fort," Athena answered not revealing any further information.
Dan drove following Athena's directions. A confused expression etched itself onto Dan's face as he finally came to a stop before a dilapidated house at Athena's instruction. It stood on the edge of town nearer to the woods. Its walls were cracked parts of the roof missing and the rest looking ready to collapse at any moment. The other Lamborghini pulled up beside them as both Dan and Athena got out of theirs.
"Uuh.. Not to sound ungrateful or anything," Dan started as the twins got out of the car and came to stand on one side of Dan as Athena stood on his other side. "But I really don't see this house keeping the kind of enemies you guys were talking about out," he said.
There was a moment of silence as the other three stood looking at the house before Athena finally said, a smile crossing her face as she walked forward towards the house, "Oh, I think this will do just fine." Seeing the twins walk after Athena Dan did so as well.
The shock Dan had felt at seeing the Lamborghini pull up into the parking lot was now a pale shadow of what he currently felt. Soon as he crossed its threshold into the unkempt looking front lawn of the house his jaw had dropped open. He found himself looking up at the castle that stood in a compound that was probably the size of twenty or so soccer fields surrounded by a stone wall about fifty meters high. They were now standing before an iron gate which was about the same height as the wall. Dan's head leaned backwards as his eyes traced the height of the castle to its peak which was at about the same height as where the hundredth floor of a multiple story building would be. Dan turned to look at the smiling faces of his guardians, "H...How," he managed to stammer still not believing it.
"There were two options to pick from with the first item on the list, either find a fort," Karra replied then paused and turned to face the castle. "Or create one," she finished off.
"At the moment only an illusion spell is guarding it," Kirra said. "But you are the one who should put up the security spells."
Dan once again turned too look up at the enormous castle and the compound around. "This is over half the size of the town. I get the illusion spell would keep others from seeing it, but how can all this," Dan said spreading with his hands to indicate the castle and the compound around it. "How can all this be here in the space of just one house, and not a very large one at that?" he asked as his mind continued to try and wrap itself around what he was seeing.
"This is magic Dan, not physics," Athena answered without bothering to turn to him as her eyes remained fixed on the castle. "An infinite number of worlds can exist between one inch and the next, you just need to know what spells to play with,'" she said. Dan thought he heard a haunted note in her voice, as if something about what she'd just said reminded her of a memory she would much rather have forgotten.
"What is it?" Dan asked.
"What?" Athena returned turning to him a plain mask that revealed no emotion having settled on her face.
Dan already knew that short of ordering her to tell him what it was that bothered her, she wouldn't tell him of her own free will. Dan smiled at her before turning away and saying, "Forget it." For some reason despite the fact that they had made it clear that they were completely under his control. To do as he asked of them no matter what that was. In the short span of time he'd known them the connection he felt with the ran deeper than a simple master-slave bond.
For the first time in his life, Dan understood what it felt like to have friends. Asking her to reveal what she so clearly didn't want to just didn't sit right with him. "So why can't you guys put any security spells on it? I am a fast learner, but it may be a while before I am proficient enough to set up strong enough spells. From what little I have read of lord Arwain's spell book, magic is set up on a whole world of different principles from the science I know." he said changing the subject.
"Actually, we can set up some spells to protect it but we are not as strong as you. The strongest in a following is always the one to set the spells that protect the fort," Karra explained. "We may set up the spells but the number of those out there stronger than us is a lot larger than those stronger than you."
"Then set them up to protect it temporarily until I am adequately able to put up stronger spells," he said.
************************************
Her jaws clenched soon as she got the feeling. Once again she found herself wishing it was wrong despite the fact that she knew perfectly well it never was, never had been. A murmur had erupted in the cafeteria as everyone turned to look out the window that faced the parking lot. Her hands reached for her back pack pulling it onto her lap below the table they were now seated at.
The overwhelming hate and urge to kill surged up inside of her soon as she saw them step out of the cars. Muttering a spell beneath her breath she switched her sight to the other one that revealed the true form of what she saw no matter what disguise it was hidden behind. Her jaws clenched tighter, even without an actual combat encounter with them, she could already tell they were all pretty strong. A succubus and two weretigers, it wouldn't be easy, but then again, it never was.
Being well practiced in the art of pretense, she didn't even to spare it any conscious thought to feign shock as the rest around her. On the inside however, she was frowning. If they were coming to wreck havoc in the school they wouldn't have made their entrance so obvious, and two weretigers would most definitely not have paired themselves with a demon.
Weres were a proud race, they would quicker walk to their own deaths rather than work with other races much less a demon. Their being there at the same time without trying to tear each other to pieces could only mean one thing, there was either a wizard or witch in school. But that was impossible she would have sensed them long ago!
She could feel the lust in the room her own included rising as the three walked into the cafeteria, no doubt the succubus was responsible for this. It was however different with her, while her body was indeed turned on mentally she wasn't in the least bit affected. Unlike the rest in the cafeteria, she had been trained from since before she'd even comprehended what conscious thought was, in the art of mental discipline and keeping it from being infiltrated by outside elements. She couldn't stop her body from reacting to the succubus' power but mentally, she was no more affected by the succubus than she would be by a piece of rock.
Her father being the leader of all hunters in the state, had made sure she turned out every bit like the son he'd always wanted but never had. He'd not been above brutality in making sure she'd learnt absolutely everything it entailed to be a hunter. Her face frowned slightly as she watched the trio walk over to the one person she would have least suspected to be their leader, Daniel. Dan, as he was better known as, had been a secret crush of hers back when she'd been in their first year of high school but with passing time it became increasingly clear that he preferred the company of his books to that of those around him.
She'd had a few classes in common with him over the course of the four years, but she highly doubted that beyond knowing she was best friend to Heather the most popular chick in school, he'd ever spared her existence a second thought. However, given the kind of life she lived, this was probably a good thing, more so now that he'd just become another name on the list of those she'd have to kill.
She looked on at the act they were putting up for the whole school. She almost laughed at how ridiculous the whole thing was, a succubus acting like it was anything short of a deadly predator. She did however have to give them credit, they were putting up a good act, but not good enough to fool her. A plan was already forming in her head on how to go about taking them out. And despite the fact that she was loathed the thought, the plan would have to involve Jim.
"Sluts."
She almost kicked Heather as she watched the succubus come to a stop midstride. The facade of being an innocent insecure teen had totally vanished from its features when it turned to face Heather. Though there was no movement on the part of her body visible above the table, her hands reached into her backpack and circled a firm grip around the handles of the two blades inside.
The closer the succubus got the harder it was to push down the pure and venomous hate she felt towards her and the other four who now stood watching it. Had she been any less disciplined, she would have given in to the urge and tried to kill them and there.
"You've got something to say sasquatch?"
Being the only person Heather had ever told about her body hair issue, she understood why her best friend was turning red and suddenly very uncomfortable. Serves her right for calling the succubus' attention to them, she thought harshly. The succubus turned and locked gazes with her,
"See you soon."
There was absolutely no fear in its voice, no caution, only undaunted confidence. Though she maintained the look of absolute hatred on the outside, She was smiling on the inside. The only way one of them would ever come this close to her without showing any signs of fear or caution is if they absolutely didn't know who she was or had been trapped on the other side for more than two thousand years. From its words it obviously wasn't the first case. The smile fully formed on her face as she watched them walk away, one of the very first lessons she'd ever learnt coming back to her, an enemy who underestimates you is an enemy you have an advantage over.
Soon as they were out of sight Heather rose to her feet and walked out of the cafeteria, no doubt she'd be spending the next thirty minutes to one hour in front of a bathroom mirror. Normally, she would have gone after her to try and reassure her but right now she had other things on her mind, like the death of a succubus, two weretigers and a wizard.
"Jim," her voice taking on a slightly seductive undertone as she talked to the biggest ass in school, in her opinion, made her want to puke.
"What?" She had to fight from letting a smile come onto her face at his foul mood. Probably still picking up the pieces of his ego from the ground.
Of the things she'd resigned herself to never understanding, Jim was one of them. He was an egocentric, self absorbed prick who thought he was the universe's gift to mankind. What other girls saw in him was simply beyond her. The only thing she hated more than the fact that the absolute ass actually believed that any chick he hadn't fucked yet was still a virgin, was that in her case it was actually true, she was still a virgin.
Once, he'd hit on her at a party back in their freshman year of high school. He'd been passable at the very least in the looks department. But barely five lines into the conversations he turns and asks her whether she wants to ditch the party and find a private place they could get to know each other better in. His tone of voice had left no doubt what getting to know each other better would entail.
"I was wondering if we could hang out after school, you know, like, at your place or something," she watched his foul expression go from that to slightly confused, to slightly pleased, to its more usual form, a smug smirk. He was probably thinking he'd finally manage to get in her pants after four years of failed attempts. It took a good measure of her restraint to keep from rolling her eyes. All he was, was a means to an end.
*************************************
Dan walked through the front door to the house he'd for the past eighteen years considered home, this was probably going to change real soon. Athena changed back into her demon form soon as they were past the door the twins however remained as they were.
"So what have you been up to all day?" Dan asked as he pushed the door said is room open to find Ember seated at his computer.
"Trying to read through the whole internet," they all heard Athena not so quietly mutter.
"It would do you good too to try and gain more knowledge yourself" Ember said to the demon as she turned to the rest of them.
"Why, when I can simply ask you all I need to know?" Athena returned as she laid herself beside on Dan's bed.
From the way Ember sighed choosing not to pursue the subject, Dan could tell this wasn't the first time they were holding this conversation. Instead Ember turned to him "Phoenixes are the keepers of all knowledge, we spend our lifetimes gathering knowledge in history, science, art, magic and every imaginable field which is then passed on to the next in our line, I've simply been catching up," She explained. Dan suddenly understood the feeling he'd gotten the first time he'd looked into her eyes.
"So you've been gathering all knowledge since lord Arwain's period?" Dan asked unable to help the bit of awe present in his voice.
"Actually, about a hundred and fifty thousand years before that, is a more accurate figure," Ember corrected. "Though I can't really say I've collected as much knowledge as I should have in the past fifty thousand years," Dan could tell it made her sad not to have been able to collect all the information she would have otherwise had, if she hadn't been on the other side. "A few months from now would have been my peak burn," she said to no one in particular clearly lost in thought.
"Peak burn?" Dan repeated questioningly.
"Yes, as I said before, A lifetime for a phoenix is two hundred and fifty thousand years. However, we don't burn twenty five times as burning every ten thousand years would suggest. We only burn twenty times, the last burning is called the peak burn. With every successive burning a phoenix grows stronger until they attain the full measure of their powers. The final burning is the worst of all and hardest to get past,"
"Worst?" Dan once again found himself interjecting.
"Of the few things we phoenixes dread, burnings are among the most feared," Ember informed him.
Dan's face contorted in confusion at her words, "But I thought..."
"That burning was a painless affair. That I would simply just disintegrate into the ashes from which I would be reborn," Ember once again finished off his exact words as he would have said them. Dan went red. "I sincerely wish it were that easy," she said smiling. "The actual burning is a much more complex and painful process. Every ten thousand years for three continuous days I slowly burn to death from the inside out, a slow and excruciatingly painful process, most phoenixes don't live through their fifth burning. As of fifty thousand years ago, I'd lived through my fifteenth," though there was no pride in her voice, the slight smile she had across her face made it clear that she was well aware it was an achievement. "I do not much appreciate lord Arwain trapping us on the other side. However I do have to say, I do not miss the burnings through which I would have had to go otherwise," she went on to say.
Dan jerked, his back straightening as if he'd just been electrocuted except that to him it felt more like he'd bumped into something solid yet insubstantial. Dan turned studying the rest around him, ember looked a bit confused, both Kirra and Karra had perked up as if it was something they both knew was eventually coming. A smile was creeping onto Athena's face that for some reason, inspired more fear than joy. "We have a house guest," she said rising from the bed her eyes gleaming with anticipation as her wings spread out behind her.
************************************
"Don't worry, only my dorkaloid brother will be home right now," Jim spoke up closing the front door to the house.
Claire could feel a headache coming on. How was it possible for one person to be able to talk so continually about himself without ceasing? "Let's go up to your room," she quickly suggested before he started talking again, all this would be a lot easier with him out of the way.
"Eager huh?" Jim asked a smirk on his face.
I'd rather scratch my own eyes out, Claire thought to herself. She had changed her clothes, she wasn't in the cheer leading outfit she'd been in earlier, she was now wearing a pair of tight but flexible pants and a similar top, both were black. Her backpack was hanging off her left shoulder with everything she would need.
She'd felt the wards set up around the house, soon as she'd stepped through them, the element of surprise was already gone... Good thing she didn't need it.
Jim was barely past the door to his room before she cast the sleep spell to knock him out. His sleeping form hit the floor with a thud. Quickly pulling her backpack open, she pulled out the twin broadswords and strapped them onto her torso so that they formed an X across her back. She pulled out the small blades and fitted them into various points in her gear, pulling out the four knives, she fit two into the sheaths built into her boots and the other two into the sheaths of her belt.
Rising to her feet, she spread her magic out slightly just enough to ensure that there were four people in the room. All four of them were still in what she was assuming was Dan's room. The fact that none of them had made any move against her even with the knowledge that she was there, had her a bit worried about what they were planning. But there was no time for second guessing herself.
Turning to the door to the room opposite the one she was in, she walked forward. A quick spell knocked the door off its hinges throwing it into the room. Pulling the blades from her belt, she stepped into the room...