Heart's Darkness

by H D A Roberts

  I shook my head to clear it. Now was not the time for that...

  "So, my pet, you seek the protection of the Magician, clever. But he can't save you now, he's still too weak. But, I suppose I might be willing to accept a trade. He is, after all, the sacrificial type," Tethys said, sidling closer, her walk very slow and rolling, drawing attention to all the right things, her eyes suddenly very intently on mine.

  "He'll take the deal!" Kandi said before darting away and letting me fall back against the tree with a thump.

  Tethys smiled and continued towards me.

  "Easy you," Cassandra said, lifting her club so Tethys could see it.

  "Please, I'm harmless," Tethys said, smiling sweetly at my Warden, "I just want a cuddle."

  "A cuddle?" Cassandra said with a raised eyebrow.

  "I was trying to be discreet, have you no subtlety?" Tethys said.

  She stopped close to me and extended her hand, which I lifted mine to. We entwined our fingers, and it felt good, my heartbeat picking up.

  "See?" Tethys said, "He wants to come play with me."

  "Of course he does," Cassandra said, "he's a male, and he's been dosed by Succubus musk. But he's also sick as a parrot and in horrific withdrawal. So maintain a discreet distance or I'll introduce you to Morticia."

  She patted the club.

  "You named your bat?" I asked.

  Cassandra stuck out her tongue.

  "Would you like to come with me, Matty?" Tethys said, ignoring the threat.

  I brought her knuckles to my lips and brushed a kiss over them. She smiled at me.

  "Don't trust yourself to speak, eh?" she said, grinning ever more widely.

  I shook my head, nuzzling at her hand.

  Tethys licked her lips and sat next to me despite Cassandra's warning. She leaned her head on my shoulder and pressed her side against mine.

  I freed my hand and put the arm around her. It was immensely... comforting, funnily enough. I fell asleep almost immediately.

  I woke up with the smell of chicken soup wafting its gentle way up my nostrils, my head in Tethys' lap. Kandi was carrying a small tray, from which that wonderful smell was coming. Cassandra was back on the bench watching me with amused confusion.

  "Hi," I said with a stretch, sitting up reluctantly.

  "Soup!" Kandi said, putting the tray down across my lap on its little feet, "Miss Jenkins says it's the best cure-all ever devised by man."

  "Thank you, Kandi," I said, taking a spoonful and finding it fantastic, soothing and filling, with little bits of perfectly moist chicken, mushrooms, carrots and noodles.

  Tethys smiled at Kandi and the little redhead beat a hasty retreat, a blush colouring her cheeks.

  "How are you?" Tethys asked as I ate.

  "Good," I said, "those pills helped, thank you."

  "I should get a medal, by the way," she replied, "You can't just fall asleep on me like that in your state! That's like a limping gazelle snoozing next to a hungry lion."

  "I know, just think about all the other platonic things I'm going to be able get away with now," I whispered in her ear.

  She shivered; but then she realised what I'd said and pouted adorably.

  "When you're better, I'm making you pay for that," she said menacingly.

  I smiled at her and she smiled back, and then her brow scrunched in confusion.

  "What?" I asked.

  "Why am I not jumping you?" she asked, "I can still smell the musk, it should be making me crazy, but I'm sitting here with you, and I'm just... happy. I'm just my regular horny."

  I went so red that both she and Cassandra laughed.

  "It's nice that I can still do that to you, Love," Tethys said, kissing my cheek.

  I shook my head and concentrated on my soup.

  "Maybe you just exhausted yourself on Kandi?" I offered.

  "Doubt it," Tethys said, "And between you and me, I'm not getting as much... satisfaction as I used to. It's like Kandi's being watered down, and it's taking more to get the job done."

  "Tethys, I just can't know that!" I said, blushing again.

  She chuckled, "Want I should tell you exactly which of the things she does that work best?" she asked, very slowly.

  I shivered again and turned to look at her, my dearest friend. I smiled, and she smiled back. I cupped her cheek gently and leant my forehead against hers.

  "Hey, stop it," she mumbled, "I'm trying to be dirty over here!"

  Cassandra snorted, "And the Succubus calls me dumb."

  "What was that?" Tethys asked sweetly, but in a tone that promised revenge in the near future.

  "Love, you gerbil," Cassandra said with a grin, "It makes you immune to the musk. How do you not know that? When you love the musk-ee more than you're attracted to them, it overrules the Magic. And it has to be a lot more, just F.Y.I.."

  Tethys looked dumbfounded for a second, and then she turned to glare at me.

  "Not a word," she said, waggling a finger at me in a threatening manner.

  I couldn't help but smile, moved more than I can say.

  She rolled her eyes and looked away, but I saw her face colour a little.

  "And as for Kandi, the reason you're not getting as much out of that is because neither of you are giving it your all anymore," Cassandra said, "Can't imagine why that is..."

  My Warden was looking increasingly smug. I didn't get it and decided to finish my soup instead of puzzling things out. My brain wasn't up to fighting speed yet.

  "That any good?" Tethys asked, nodding at my bowl. I offered her a spoonful and she smiled as she tasted, "Not bad. Not very bulky, though. How many nutrients can there possibly be in chicken soup?"

  "It's enough that he can eat something without returning it, don't nag," Cassandra said.

  "I do not nag!" Tethys bristled.

  "What happened the last time he fell over in the garden?" Cassandra asked.

  "Nothing, I don't know what you're talking about," Tethys said, looking away sheepishly.

  "You fussed over the tiniest little graze I've ever seen for an hour. He's a very talented Flesh Magician, could likely fix his own broken neck and you panicked over one of his boo-boos," Cassandra said, that evil look back on her face.

  "Hey, that hurt, and you know I have no pain threshold," I said.

  "You just liked the pretty lady touching your leg, let's not try and pretend victimhood," Cassandra replied.

  I muttered and went back to my soup.

  "I certainly didn't mind," I whispered. Tethys smiled.

  "You never do, you pent up little pervert," she whispered back, nudging my side.

  "Isn't pervert a little harsh?" I asked.

  "Nope," Tethys said.

  I sighed.

  "When you're better, we'll discuss it," she purred into my ear.

  "Oh this is just getting ridiculous," Cassandra said, making Tethys pull back.

  "You are such a mood-killer!" Tethys hissed.

  "That's rather my job until the musk wears off," Cassandra said.

  "And I'm immune!" Tethys replied.

  "But no less a Succubus," Cassandra pointed out, "and he's fragile at the moment."

  Tethys sighed theatrically.

  "Was there no other word you could have used?" I asked.

  "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Cassandra said, "she's fragile at the moment."

  I gave her my best glare... while the pair of them laughed.

  I'll spare you the details of the rest of my convalescence, suffice to say that it was bad, and it took me a good two weeks to recover completely. I was able to go back to school after the first week was over, but Demise came with me. She was used to sleeping in with me due to that monitoring-mess last year.

  Mary came into my room at Naiad without knocking exactly once.

  Demise had a sword at her throat faster than I could blink. I still didn't know where she was hiding that thing...

  God, the screaming... then the swearing, the tears, the guilt-trip...

/>   I had to buy so much ice cream. I literally emptied three shops of Häagen Dazs, and she still wouldn't let me off the hook until I'd sat through three seasons of Gossip Girl (and I thought getting stabbed hurt...).

  Demise, naturally, took it all stoically, but I think she was taking notes as to how Mary was controlling me for later use, which was worrying.

  "So, all I need to do is tug on your ear and you'll do what I tell you?" she asked mischievously.

  It was another Monday morning, eleven days since I'd used the Black. I was over the worst, and just fighting off the last of the flu-like symptoms. My Magic was back up and running, and I was feeling much improved. I'd moved back into Naiad Hall on Saturday night, and spent Sunday getting fussed over by Mary and the flock.

  "Probably."

  "Is it some sort of fetish? Would I like it?" she asked very evenly.

  I gave her an evil look, but she just smiled at me.

  We were walking across the square in front of Naiad, heading for my first class of the day (my professors had been very understanding about my absence, thanks mostly to Tethys' writing skills). As we got closer to the Magic building, a distinct silence had started to descend. I barely noticed, but Demise seemed to be a little on edge.

  "Something wrong?" I asked as we walked through the front doors.

  "People are staring at you. I don't like it."

  "A threat?" I asked.

  "I don't think so, just attention."

  "Any of it female?" I asked, though it was an automatic response. I was still rather stuck on Jocelyn, though I couldn't tell you why. Stupid hormones.

  She rolled her eyes and swatted my shoulder, "Coming here has done nothing good for your sense of propriety," she replied.

  I chuckled, stuffing some notes back into my bag, "Nor has it really done much for my love life, so excuse me for a little desperation."

  "No, this I cannot do."

  I sighed and made my way along the necessary corridor.

  "It's changed a lot since my day," Demise said.

  "Really? You never told me you came here."

  She smiled, "This was back when there was still a 'St Margaret's College for Gifted Ladies', meaning 'girls with Magic'. This was in the days before Suffrage, mind you, quite a few days before, in fact. So, it was an all-girls school, and getting in was tricky. But it was a good time for me; I made friends and learned my craft. My Mistress was an excellent teacher; she's still around, does the same job over in the U.S. somewhere."

  "I have trouble picturing you as a student," I said with a smile, "I always rather thought you'd been hatched fully grown with a sword in your hand."

  "Thank you; that's the image I was going for."

  I pulled the door of the classroom open, and there was a deathly hush as I walked to my usual seat, followed by an almost palpable tension in the air. Demise moved to the back of the room, where she could watch and be ready for any threat.

  Hadleigh came in, took one look at me... and burst into tears.

  Different than her usual reaction, but certainly not better. She darted over and dropped to her knees next to my seat, her hands clenched into fists in front of her chest.

  "My Lord, I can only beg your forgiveness!"

  Crap. Looks like Hopkins wasn't kidding about telling people about me, and damn if word hadn't spread quickly! That explained the looks I'd been getting...

  "Um, what for?" I asked, utterly mortified.

  "For how I treated you! For my prejudice and my thoughts! I am so sorry, if only I'd known! Please, please forgive me?!"

  More crying, I was horribly embarrassed.

  "Professor," I finally managed, kneeling next to her and putting my hands around hers, she stopped crying, ending in a croaking sob, "You have nothing to fear from me, you do know that?"

  Her lips trembled, I'm not sure she believed me.

  "You are a good person, and yours is a most honourable profession. You were scared and you were still willing to teach me. Why do you think that I would have anything against such a person?" I said, gently squeezing her trembling hands.

  She emitted one more tremendous sob, and I smiled at her as she nodded.

  "You mean that, Sir?"

  "I can't afford to hold anything against you, Ma'am," I said with a grin, "If you fail me, I'll never get my Level Ten Certificate."

  She choked for a second and then she laughed.

  I helped her up and she took a shuddering breath. I patted her shoulder and she went back to the front of the class, where she arranged her notes carefully, and started the lecture as if nothing had happened.

  It was certainly a more relaxed affair after that; there was no longer an aura of barely-suppressed terror coming from Hadleigh, and that lightened the atmosphere immeasurably. It was astonishing, really; show someone a Shadowborn Sorcerer, and they'll run. Shadowborn Archon? Maybe this might be a good thing, after all?

  "That was... very kind, Mathew," Demise said as we sat down for a sandwich after the morning lectures, "I know what she put you through, the prejudice and the fear. You could have handled that differently."

  "No I couldn't," I said with a smile.

  Demise returned it, "No, I don't suppose you could, you big girl."

  I snorted and went back to my meal.

  The attention explained, Demise relaxed a little, but remained vigilant, eyes darting to every movement, hands never far from her weapons.

  Not that it helped when the real threat materialised.

  It was Tuesday morning, that same week, and we were walking towards my Telepathy lecture. I was whistling, quite cheerful, in fact, feeling like the world was becoming a brighter place.

  We were coming from breakfast at a nearby cafe, making our way into a small garden square bound by three halls of residence and a small gymnasium. It was very quiet, especially for the time of morning.

  Demise noticed the problem well before I did, and put a hand on my shoulder before we were a quarter of the way across the grass.

  "Hm?" I said.

  "Something's not right," she said, backing us away. I frowned and put up my Shields; so did she. I cast Mage Sight and scowled.

  There were four alleys leading into the square, one behind us, one in front, one either side. The three ahead of us were now blocked by some rather impressive Spellwork, a combination of Illusion and Mental Suggestion Magic, designed to keep people away from this place. I felt it as another Illusion dropped onto the alley behind us, and I spun, Shadows gathering around my feet.

  Was it Solomon? Had he finally finished screwing around?

  After a thought like that (and the terror that came with it), I almost relaxed when the first of the Witches appeared, coming through the various alleys to surround us. There were thirty-two of them, with Jones front and centre, straight ahead. They were armed, this time, with a collection of staves and wands made of wood and bone. They looked... determined, and hungry.

  "Witches," I said to Demise, who nodded, drawing her stave, which transformed into a long-bladed sword, shimmering with Entropy.

  And not just Witches, either. A Muffling Spell descended on the whole square, designed to keep what was happening within from being heard outside. There was no Witch alive that could maintain that and the Illusions, and I could feel them both being controlled by one practitioner (which annoyed me. Using Illusion Magic to mess with people was my thing!).

  It didn't take long for my newest headache to materialise, either. He appeared from the alley opposite us, walking sedately, like he was out for a morning stroll. He smiled as he slid up next to Jones, his flinty eyes locked onto me, a smug expression all over his face.

  "You," I hissed, angry and feeling trapped (not a good combination for rational thought).

  "Yes me," Professor Aldwich said, that sneer on his face growing wider, more satisfied, "Shall we resume that discussion on courtesy now, 'My Lord'?"

  Chapter 26

  Thanks to Demise, it was now impossible to ambush us, whi
ch essentially meant that the end of this was a foregone conclusion. The problem was that, for the most part, these were kids. Stupid, ignorant kids who almost certainly didn't understand what kind of horror they were walking into. But they were also Magicians, and that made them dangerous, even in their limited way. If we started fighting, then I couldn't think how we were going to get out of this without Demise killing a lot of them.

  An awful lot of them. Demise's training hadn't included a lot of non-lethal tactics, and I wasn't going to hamstring her by ordering her to go against her nature; that might get her killed.

  "What do you want?" I asked, figuring I should keep them talking as long as I could, hoping that a solution would present itself.

  "Oh, it's not what I want, is it, Ladies?" he said.

  The women looked smug, a couple licked their lips. I really was feeling the idiot. I'd been warned about the Witches, repeatedly. I shouldn't have assumed that they were completely neutralised. And now, here they were, eyeing me up like Cassandra stared at a plate of cupcakes.

  It didn't take a genius to figure out how they'd been roped into this. You can just imagine what sort of a boost they'd get from drinking even a little of my blood. If they tried Demise's they'd likely melt from the inside (Death Mage and all), but mine was worth its weight in gold to them, now that I'd been outed as an Archon (assuming that there weren't any residual bits of the Black floating around in there, which would be even worse for them than Death Magic).

  This couldn't be allowed to go that far. I had to get through to them, remind them of who they were. They weren't Red Witches, and they would not become so, not if I could possibly help it.

  Because they'd die if they did. Red Witches were not tolerated in a civilised society.

  "Alright, what do the ladies want?" I asked, calmly and softly, like I hadn't a care in the world. It was important to keep everyone cool (especially Demise!).

  "You, little Archon," said Jones, "Every last drop of you."

  She was particularly striking that morning, with a certain predatory grace to her movements that hadn't been there before. She wore black, neck to ankle; skirt and bustier over heavy under-covers made of soft leathers and silk.

  "And then?" I asked.