Drake laughed, “How wonderful. Yes, this is delightful information. I’ll think about it for a while, I want to gather more data on your morals and feelings, then I’ll choose which of those tasks and send you on, and you will take care of it. By then I should have a good enough understanding of your emotional makeup to start tweaking your behavior.”
I felt nausea turn my stomach, and leaned to the side and threw up. I couldn’t think, all I could do was hope I’d figure out a way, both of those things were so unthinkable, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop him from making me do it.
That was my first day in the week of hell.
The rest of the week went similarly, outside of getting the rest of the signatures, I was helpless. He tortured me with various suggestions, though he never physically raped me, he fucked my mind quite often. Every day he mentioned the two tasks, and said the time was coming that I’d go do one, and that after I did he’d start changing my personality, stripping away what made me who and what I was. The body changes were bad enough, but at least I was still me inside.
For now…
Chapter Sixteen – Jason
My eyes popped open, it was dark, and I looked at the time. Five thirty.
Crap, my internal body clock must be programmed for this insanely early wakeup time now. I rolled out of my bed and opened the blinds to take in the Seattle skyline, and the low light of false dawn. My home was actually on the top floor of a high-rise building, with large full wall one way windows facing the outside. Well, my parent’s home.
For not the first time, I wondered what exactly I was going to do with my life. My parents said my magical training was done outside of independent study, and my grandmother just finished up my sword training. I was just eighteen, that made me ready to face the world, didn’t it? I just wasn’t sure where I was going to fit in with the world, with my power, and being a Nephilim, I wondered if I ever would. There was no official place for my kind, we were rare, feared, and even called abominations by many. I’d have to make my own place, and most likely fight for it.
It wasn’t lack of ambition, not exactly anyway. A lazy life of living off my family didn’t appeal at all, nor did getting a normal job in a human workforce. I could move into any city, and stake a claim in the supernatural community. I could even run a city, but I had no ambition to do that, to become feared and hated by the rest because of my power. My father and grandfather had moved into cities, and became stabilizing elements for the other races, but they were warlocks, I didn’t think that path would work for me. I also couldn’t live at home forever, I’d need to think of something soon.
Not today though, today I was going to do something stupid, which I was sure my mother wouldn’t approve of at all. I was going to look for an angel, with eyes as dark blue as the twilight morning sky. My heart beat picked up a little at the thought of seeing her again, even if it probably would be for the last time and only to get shot down again.
I got into the shower, the warm spray felt wonderful against my body, which wasn’t aching at all anymore, and it felt really good. After the shower, I shaved with a spell and took care of all the other little things. I preferred a shower to a spell, but shaving was a pain in the ass, the spell was better.
The scent and crackling sounds of breakfast cooking reached me, as I pulled on a pair of jeans, and a polo shirt. I walked down the hallway filled with bedrooms and into the large cavernous living room, and over to the other side and into the kitchen.
Mom said, “There you are. How was the sword training?”
I laughed, “Intense and painful, but it went well I think.”
She sighed and started pulling bacon out of the pan.
“Painful?”
I laughed, “Pain is the best teacher.”
She rolled her eyes, “Damned Nephilim. You’re both immortal, you could have taken longer to do it.”
I snickered, “I survived, and it was good training. If I’m hurt in a real battle, I won’t freeze in shock from the pain anymore, which would be a fatal mistake. I flinched more than once that first day until I learned the trick of ignoring it and keeping my focus. You don’t want your son to be a pansy, do you?”
She looked at me and bit her lip, and then nodded reluctantly, “I can see the sense in that at least, though I won’t pretend to like it. So, you’re up early? Any plans?”
“Nothing too special, I need to summon a demon, and lock him down hard, to get the car and drive it back home.”
Demons were great for servant work, but I’d have to give him a long list of rules. Rules like, pay for gas, no raping women or stealing human souls, don’t kill or torture anyone. Things like that. Even better, they didn’t need to sleep, so the car would be back in less than thirty hours. They really were evil beings, which is why I wouldn’t feel guilty about enslaving them for a short job, but with infernal magic and the ability to bind them they weren’t a threat if dealt with correctly. I also imagined they didn’t mind all that much, even if they couldn’t get up to mischief at least they’d get to spend some time out of hell.
I continued as my conscience nagged at me, I was a terrible liar, “I also want to look up someone I met on the trip there.”
She gave me a penetrating look as she handed me a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage. Fortunately, I was saved from further questioning when several other family members strolled into the kitchen and started making their own plates. In the end, I spent most of breakfast regaling my multiple mothers, my father, and several younger siblings on our evil grandmother’s training regimen…
I’d teleported to Sanctuary while fully concealed, and flew a pattern over the houses, diner, gas station, and even the animal rescue place. There was no sign of her power being present anywhere in the town outside of the wards. Of course, I fully remembered the first time we met I hadn’t felt her presence when she was just five feet behind me, at least not until she’d relaxed her concealments. I wasn’t too disappointed, I didn’t really expect it to be that easy.
I landed close to the diner, and cast the concealment spell which let enough elemental magic leak through to appear like a mage. Then I released the invisibility concealment, as well as the full-blown aura concealment spell when no one was around. It was easy enough, there were only a few cars outside. I recognized the magic auras when I walked in, and went up to the counter, I also felt a little awkward as I sat down, how exactly was I going to broach the subject without sounding desperate or crazy?
Tammy walked over with a smile on her face, this time it didn’t seem as genuine, and there was worried look in her eyes.
I said, “Good morning, I’ll just take a coffee and an apple turnover.
Tammy nodded sharply, and walked away without a word.
The redhead glared in my direction, and ran into the back to talk to the cook, an older earth mage, I’d forgotten about her. She really seemed to dislike strange mages showing up.
Tammy returned with my food and poured me coffee.
I said, “Tammy, I’m looking for the one who made the wards in here? I’d like to speak with her, is she around?”
Tammy tensed, and spilled a little coffee. Something was very wrong here, because wolf shifters were not in any way clumsy individuals.
“What’s going on? Everyone in here is on edge.”
Tammy growled, “Eat, and leave.”
“I might be able to help?”
She just turned and walked away.
The first time I was in this diner, I was afraid to dip into minds, not sure if the wards would sense that as an attack or not. This time I decided to risk it, although if shit blew up I wouldn’t be looking forward to explaining why to my… the angel, I corrected my thought.
My mind reached out for the wolf shifter, and dipped into her mind. I relaxed slightly when the wards didn’t react. Perhaps they weren’t set to detect that power, or maybe they simply read my benign intent and excused the action. Regardless, I now had a name fo
r the angel. Portia. I drank my coffee, and ate the turnover as I sifted through Tammy’s memories.
The bad news was she’d been missing for a week, and they had a mage in deep freeze that had asked too many questions and had gotten belligerent. They were worried someone would investigate before Portia got back to take care of it. More importantly, Portia had been taking care of this community for over a hundred years, and she’d never been gone for longer than two days at a time, in the last one hundred and forty years.
I didn’t quite panic at that, but the urgency in Tammy’s mind told me that Portia was probably in deep trouble. I didn’t quite understand that, even if she somehow screwed up and got killed, she’d be back on Earth with a new body a day later. Which meant what? She was being held? That was ballsy, I wouldn’t want to try something that insane, even if I was inclined to do something like that, which I wasn’t.
The only other option was she’d gone back to her home plane, but that didn’t sound right either. Even if she was somehow forced or required to go, she’d have taken the time to say goodbye. Regardless, whatever the issue was, I wasn’t going to find the truth here. None of them knew where she was.
I heard a voice clear his throat, and looked up. It was John Rhodes, another wolf shifter and Tammy’s brother. He also happened to be mated with the redhead fire mage, who was named Katherine. I picked up a few things from Tammy’s head about this place. It was admirable, but I was also annoyed. John liked to intimidate people into either leaving, or attacking so Portia could mind wipe them when she got back.
It was kind of a crappy thing to do to someone, but I could see why he did it, better that the mage not remember this place existed at all. They were wary of news of this settlement getting out to the wide world. It was an ironic thing really, and showed just how selfish and screwed up the supernatural world could be.
A dangerous rogue that ran on their own, avoiding cities and killing humans, well they wouldn’t rate enough in the supernatural groups in cities for them to move to stop them. But… a peaceful town of seventy-eight rogues who all lived together in harmony, some mating across species lines? They were a threat. As usual in my world, it wasn’t about intent, or right and wrong, but about holding and keeping power. They couldn’t give a shit about a few dead humans, but an organized group would be a threat to their power by their thinking. I lived in a violent world, and that idea was just one more reason I had no wish to try and fit myself into a city’s supernatural power structure.
Sure, there were supernatural beings out there that did the right thing, just like humans, and just like humans, those kinds of people were rarely found in government. Maybe it was arrogant to think so, but I’d like to think I was one of those that did the right thing. I did stop the vampire after all, which… is what got me into this mess in the first place.
“Can I help you?” I asked calmly, as I took another bite. I was kind of full from eating breakfast less than an hour ago, but the apple turnover was flaky, melted in my mouth, and was delicious.
John said, “Why are you here.”
I said, “I met the creator of your wards a week ago, taking out a particularly nasty vampire, I wanted to talk to her again.”
John frowned, his nose picking out the truth in my statements.
I shrugged, “I’ll go after my coffee, it’s obvious she isn’t here.”
John seemed not sure what to do, while I finished off my turnover, and belted down the coffee. I paid for the food, and he retreated to the back as I left the diner. Now what? I needed to find her, who knows, she might even need my help. I wasn’t overly worried, she was immortal, but I had a bad feeling.
I pulled out my phone, and sent a text to Korinna, then teleported to Chicago.
It didn’t take long for her to show up.
“What is it?” she asked, a small crease of concern in the corner of her eyes. She hadn’t been expecting me back until next week.
I said, “I need to find someone. A few nights ago we were telling stories, someone said you had a tracking spell of some kind, that made it impossible for anyone to evade you? Could you teach it to me?”
She frowned, “I can, but it’s two spells. One to get a person’s essence or signature of being, then and only then, can the second spell be used to track that signature. Open your mind to me.”
I lowered my mind protections, and she entered my mind, and the knowledge flowered into my mind, of the spells, incantation, and how to form it without words. It would take me a little practice to get to that latter point, even though I just saw it happen and had a perfect memory, seeing and doing was two different things. But I’d be able to use the incantation easily enough.
But… it also wouldn’t work.
“I’d been hoping to get a reading of her from her wards.”
Korinna shook her head, “It only works because the first spell captures the essence of their soul, magic, and everything that they are. You know detecting magic is limited in range to fifty yards or so, this works because the tracking spell doesn’t lock on magic, but on their entire being. Who are you trying to track?”
I cleared my throat nervously, “An angel, named Portia.”
Korinna gave me a surprised look, but just said, “Never met her. Which is probably a good thing.”
Right, because up until forty years ago she’d killed every angel she ran across.
“Thanks anyway, I’ll have to figure something else out.”
Korinna said, “Tell me what’s going on, and everything you know.”
That took a few minutes. I told her about the vampire, our first meeting, and of Sanctuary. That she’d been missing for a week.
Korinna tilted her head, “The only likely cause is the Fae. The angels wouldn’t hold one of their own, and the only other race capable of imprisoning souls are the Fae. Well, a warlock could probably do it too, but that seems far less likely. Do you have access to her house?”
I nodded, I’d pulled that information from Tammy along with the rest of it, although I wondered why that would matter, until it hit me on the head.
“Divination.”
I’d just learned some of the more advanced concepts of infernal divination last week, on the drive here. With one of her hairs, or something else she had a strong connection with, I could use a divination spell to locate her.
Korinna nodded, “Be careful. The Fae aren’t to be trifled with… and, neither are angels. If it is the Fae, and she’s got some spell on her, bring her here, and I’ll bring someone that’s an expert on Fae magic.”
I nodded, “Thank you. It’s probably stupid, but it’s something I need to do. She might need help.”
Korinna snorted, “All you Moore men are the same. I can’t say I’m sorry for that, I’d be dead myself if not for your grandfather.”
On that cryptic note, she teleported away, and I teleported back to Sanctuary, right into Portia’s backyard.
She had a simple one story house, maybe twelve hundred square feet. It was in good shape, I imagined they used magic to maintain the town. Since I had no intent to steal, destroy, or hurt anyone, the wards let me walk right into the back door. It was possible to use wards more aggressively, to keep out everyone but the owner, but she didn’t do that since her basement had the town’s jail cell in it.
Fortunately, no one else was in the house. First I went into the bedroom. She had a queen-sized bed, with a white bedspread with a floral design on it, and had medium brown stained wood furniture night tables, a dresser, and a cedar wardrobe as well as a walk-in closet. The place was spotless, and she didn’t have many knickknacks.
The bed was made, and had been cleaned with magic after the last time she used it. The bathroom also had no hair brush in it, which meant she used spells to take care of her appearance much like I did. That made finding something to track her with a little more challenging.
The bathroom shower stall was spotless as well, she probably cast a cleaning spell every time she got out of the thi
ng. I’d have called her fastidious, but I usually did all the same things. Keeping things clean with magic was just too easy, and automatic habit. What I didn’t do was cast a cleaning spell on the drain after every shower, and hoped she didn’t either.
I used telekinesis to probe the drain, and sure enough I found and lifted out some golden blonde hairs. A quick spell cleaned and dried them from the drain gunk, and I grabbed it out of the air. I wasn’t quite done yet, I summoned Shar, the book not the demoness herself, and built a new spell. Normally, divination was used to find a random individual with specific traits. I wanted to find a specific individual using the hair as a sympathetic link, and it took me about thirty minutes to modify one of the spells in the book to accomplish the task.
Then I took a deep breath, concentrated on the hair, and cast the spell.
I felt both relieved and alarmed at the information that filled my head. Relieved, because I knew where she was, a Fae clan in the western part of West Virginia. Alarmed, because she was in a Fae clan in the western part of West Virginia. I sent a text to Korinna, of where I was going, and how long I expected it to take. I cast the full concealment spells with a thought, shaping and releasing the magic, and then teleported back to Chicago. That was as far as I could get that way.
I jumped up into the sky, and flew south east as fast as I could, the divination spell giving me the precise direction I needed to fly. It was about five hundred miles, and would take me over an hour, even at the speed I was going.
I just hoped this was a false alarm, and there was a valid reason for all of this, even if it would make me look like a jackass coming in to save her.
Chapter Seventeen – Portia
I woke to the sound of banging, and opened my eyes. Drake looked down on me with a curious look on his face.
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