by Al K. Line
She stared at us, uncaring and already dismissing us from her thoughts. With Death so close I could hear him calling Morag's name, she opened her mouth wide. The deranged entity that was once her soul slammed into her and spread through her system, integrating and corrupting in an instant.
Morag shuddered once, moaned with joy, then her head shot forward and her body convulsed wildly. Limbs slammed this way and that, nothing under her control.
She snapped to the side a little as if making the final link to her lost soul. Then she was still, the room utterly silent.
Morag lifted her head and it was clear she was gone, no longer whole. Her eyes were dead even though she lived, and would live for centuries to come if there was somebody to take care of her, which I very much doubted. One side of her face was paralyzed like a stroke victim's and a thick line of drool hung from the corner of her mouth, her jaw slack.
The witch had lost her mind. She screamed and screamed and then was silent, the melding complete.
She would suffer unimaginable horrors until the day she died, and then they would get worse, become more real and increasingly terrifying as she finally met the fate waiting patiently for a corrupt human being such as herself.
Morag was in for an eternity of pain even though she had already suffered such a fate once, and was right now reliving what her soul had already experienced.
I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Some things are beyond revenge, and a part of me wept for the extent of the suffering I knew was now her world.
"She should have listened. Nobody deserves that," I said, shaking my head.
Kate opened her mouth to speak and I jumped her, pinned her to the ground with my knees on her arms, and locked my mouth against hers. Rather than sucking the magic out of her, I breathed out and shunted my Hidden magic deep inside her before she could use her vampire strength to fend me off.
Timing is everything, and I knew if I didn't do this now then I might never do it. This was what was required of me and I acted before Kate could stop me or I could change my mind.
As Kate struggled beneath me a part of me died, but I was resolute.
In the backroom of a house in Paris, with a tortured, insane witch the only witness to the actions of an enforcer and his vampire wife, something was born as something else died.
The Pain
For over a hundred years I'd experienced agony every single time I used magic. Whenever I drew energy from the Empty, used what wasn't mine, there was a cost, always paid in pain.
Once the magic receded, and I was myself again, it was payback time. I would keel over, clutching my belly, hurting in ways impossible to describe. Sometimes if I used too much, got too drained, I would be almost eaten away inside by my thievery. My body would be emaciated, muscles wasted away, mind confused, limbs utterly useless.
I would be listless for days, weeks, sometimes months on end. Slowly, I clawed my way back up from the depths of despair, knowing it would pass. I just had to hold on tight to my belief in myself, in this thing called magic, and in the power it would provide once I was well. I was an addict and I would pay whatever the Empty asked of me for I was a wizard. A dark magic enforcer. To wield magic was all I'd ever wanted to do.
Over the years the pain eased a little, was never like the early days as a young, foolish apprentice when I was crippled even touching the Empty, let alone drawing power.
And then I got gifted something from an immortal, and I became a true Hidden, at least in part. His essence was mine, his innate magic was unlocked in a time of utter desperation. I released my new mastery and was never the same again. I was powerful, could use magic without the terrible comedown. No punishment, no retribution.
Such a dream come true. All these years, decades, the constant pain and suffering, the fighting of the addiction only to lapse and dive headfirst back into the world of magic, it all faded as I was reborn slowly as something beyond human.
Faz Pound became true Hidden. It was what I'd desired my whole life, to one day be able to be a master of magic and beat the sickness.
I let my tears flow freely, soaking Kate's face as I kept our mouths locked. She struggled at first, not because she didn't want what I gave her, but because she knew what I'd been through and the obstacles I'd overcome to achieve what I had. But as I breathed out my essence and forced it deep into her lungs where it spread around her system and she assimilated the unwelcome gift, she relaxed, knowing I did this by choice, that it was what I wanted. My ultimate gift not only to her but to myself.
For us.
My magic rose, building to a crescendo of terrible power. I drew all I could from inside and from the Empty, channeling it through my tattoos until it almost tore through the blackness that had stained my skin for so many years, the ink as much a part of me as the skin it adorned.
I focused on everything I was, all I had become, and I shunted it around my system, allowed it to gather up every little Hidden part of myself. I let everything that marked me as more than an average magic user flow in huge smoky lumps from my open mouth straight into Kate.
She swallowed these gifts, ultimately receiving them with the love with which they were given. Then we were kissing, connecting on a deeply emotional level the likes of which I have never felt before.
I gave her all I was, all I could give, and she finally accepted it.
With a weak breath, close to collapsing from lack of air, the last scraps of my newfound powers shot from my mouth and clawed their way deep inside Kate's system. I was done.
I moved off her with what little strength I had and rolled onto my side. Kate clutched me tight and I saw her radiance, her beauty enhanced until it was almost too hard to look at her. She shone with a vitality that went beyond mere vampire and the sensuality and animal magnetism many of her kind had. This was something more. Something more pure and something a helluva lot more powerful.
She was both vampire and true Hidden, the gift I had been given passed to her. Kate was now a vampire with the ability to use magic. To harness the forces of the universe itself. If she was kind of immortal before she was downright uber-immortal now. A new breed. Deadly, powerful, and so damn beautiful.
"Faz, oh, my love, what have you done?" she asked as she bent close and I took a final look at her face.
"Just a little wedding present," I muttered, the last words I would speak for many, many weeks.
I felt it build, the warning signs of what was to come, but I hadn't believed for one moment it would be as bad as it was.
Then it hit.
Every single thing I'd ever done that had involved magic, be it blasting the dark arts, taking what wasn't mine, sucking the magic out of someone else, using spells, or the countless times my eyes snapped to black, it was all paid for again. Compounded, layer upon layer dropped down on top of the other, all of it come back to claim payment.
I cried out then doubled up as my guts felt like they were shredded with razors, laughing inside and thinking that it hadn't even hurt like this the first time. No way could it have been this bad or I would have sworn off it for life, never gone near magic again. But even that made me laugh, even as I was assaulted with a pain so unbelievable I wondered how it was even possible to hurt this much. Surely the human body couldn't feel this deeply? Apparently it could.
I'd go back, of course, I knew that much. Even if I had to start all over again, I'd be back.
Wave after revolting wave roiled around my system. My tattoos flared until they burst in places. Fracture lines along the magical routes that channeled magic effectively now twisted and compromised, shuttling pain deep into my system. Erupting and leaking a sick blue light into the chaotic room.
I felt the flow falter as the lines split, but I couldn't worry about the state of my body now, how it looked, as a second wave, much harsher than the first, hit like a troll wearing a knuckle duster. It slammed into the side of my head, knocking me almost senseless.
My mind was almost lost, the pain too int
ense, but I fought and remained conscious. Knowing it was futile to resist, I let the Empty do its worst and paid for what I'd done.
In full.
I accepted responsibility for all that was wrong with me and gave back in the only way I could. I offered myself up and opened myself to an impossible tirade of visceral, base agony. There was no escape. I had to let it in because fighting would only make it worse.
It kept coming and would not stop. On and on and on until I didn't think I could take it any more. Yet I could, and it would last for eternity.
As the hours went by and the assault intensified I knew I'd make it, knew I'd live through this and that was all that mattered. All I could think of as my body turned traitor and every nerve flared with impossible pain, as Kate screamed and cried and Morag cackled from her chair, was that I loved my family and I loved magic. It was a harsh mistress, the harshest, but I loved her anyway.
I couldn't keep away from magic any more than I could Kate. Seems I was going right back to the start. Maybe I'd do it better this time. Then again, maybe not. This was a new beginning for all of us, but it marked the end of so much, too.
Ah well, can't say it was all fun, but it sure as hell beat being a Regular.
"Hey, Spark, got any Marmite?" asked Intus as she peered at me where I lay on my side.
All I managed was a scream.
I was wondering when she'd make an appearance, but it was bad timing, as usual.
She cocked her head, ears flattened to her bald red imp head. "Don't worry, nothing lasts forever. Um, apart from eternity of course." She smiled her freaky smile at me and somehow I was reassured.
Things weren't so bad. I had a wife. I had friends. I had a family. A future.
Maybe Intus could babysit? The thought made me smile before the next wave of suffering hit. Can you imagine? No, me neither.
Hi, I'm Faz Pound, Dark Magic Enforcer, and I'm an addict.
I'm also going to be a father.
The End
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