by D. R. Rosier
Warlock’s Mage
Andrew Moore Novel 02
Author: D. R. Rosier
Copyright 2017. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Afterword:
About the Author
Other erotic fantasies by D. R. Rosier:
Non-erotic Fantasy titles:
Book Description
Prologue
The council’s deliberations were rather boring, and she found her mind wandering as she looked around the room. It was late, and there were few people left in the council chambers outside of herself, and the council of course.
She knew how most perceived her, a bit flighty and whimsical, but that was because there was a lot going on in her mind at any one time. On occasion, her attention did wander, and she came to conclusions that most others wouldn’t see.
Right then, she couldn’t get the last few hours of what she’d seen out of her head. The warlock was not typical of their kind. He was… more than that, more than most of the mages she knew as well. She suppressed a snort at that thought, no need to give her colleagues even more fodder to talk about.
She was twenty-five, and although not arrogant she knew she’d personally designed more new spells than many of the councilors in the room who were two to three times her age. She was a bit of a savant at magic, but that didn’t define her, which had always been her problem. She’d never really found a man that wanted her for her, it was always about her power and pedigree. As a result, she’d avoided any number of suitors the last seven years, and had earned a reputation for being flighty and aloof, when the truth was she just wanted more than that.
She’d even attempted to date humans a few times, in the realization that they wouldn’t only be interested in her magic or spells. It didn’t work out, because even if she wasn’t defined by magic, she was passionate about it, and she couldn’t discuss her latest work or spell theories with a human. Perhaps that was a little ironic, but she wanted the best of both worlds, and not to settle.
Which was why she couldn’t get the warlock out of her mind, or what she had seen. He’d…
“Samantha Antonin!” her name finally cut through her wandering thoughts. She briefly wondered how long they’d been trying to break through her little bubble, but ultimately dismissed it as unimportant.
She looked up at the head councilor, Carlos Antoine, and asked, “Yes sir?”
Carlos said in exaggerated patience, “We’re ready for your report.”
She nodded and stood, and then moved gracefully toward the empty place between the raised dais and the seating. She didn’t think she was a beauty, but she did walk and carry herself gracefully thanks to her air affinity. She looked around and saw she was the last one here, she hadn’t even noticed them leaving. No doubt the council had made her wait so they could hear the report in privacy.
“Council, you assigned me to find and evaluate the warlock. One of my staff noticed a movement by the shifters toward the cat shifter pride. It seemed a reasonable lead, since the warlock was known to be protecting one of theirs from the head alpha Joseph Bennington. I headed that way immediately, sufficiently cloaked, and found him within the pride house.”
Edith Graves frowned at her, “You went alone. Why?”
She said, “It seemed prudent at the time, alone reduced the risk of anyone finding a mage present at the… skirmish.”
Carlos gave Edith a dark look, “Continue please, Samantha.”
She nodded to Carlos, and said, “He warded the house,” she released an illusion spell, and glowing wards filled the air, “With these. It was also clear he has some kind of treaty with the pride. He also had a guardian with him, something rather unique, a cat shifter vampire. It seems likely his defense of her old pride was probably one of the motivating factors involved.”
Counselor Sara Cariole said, “Those wards are crudely done.”
She shrugged, “Agreed, but he only came into his power four days ago, even these crude wards are rather impressive for that. Plus, the intent of them is not to stop us, but other shifters.”
She expanded a piece of it, “This is a configuration I’ve never seen before, but it looks like it was created to stop men who… weren’t worried about the niceties of consent when visiting the cat shifters. I believe he has taken it upon himself to champion them in some way. The battle itself was relatively brief, but they managed to spare most of the attackers, while taking out the head alpha.”
Edith frowned, “That’s rather alarming, the head alpha was very fierce, how did some wet behind the ears warlock and a handful of cat shifters do that?”
She replied, “The wards took care of most of the normal shifters, leaving only the alphas to fight. Damon turned on the head alpha, and Carmine fled the area, though the warlock is convinced the wolf alpha will be dead soon. His protector, the cat shifter-vampire hybrid was the one responsible for taking down the head alpha. She’s extremely powerful, at a guess, she’s stronger than Arthur, the head vampire in Seattle. Still, she had help, both the warlock’s magic, as well as demons used as sacrificial fodder, and the rest of the cat pride.”
She frowned in confusion as she saw the reactions of the council, they were not happy about this at all. It took her a while to understand all they saw was his power at four days, not what he’d done with it.
She added, “After the battle, he recharged the wards and then they went home. Julia, the guardian, has the ability to teleport like demon kind.”
Edith asked, “So you don’t know where they are then, or where his lair is?”
She cleared her throat, “Yes, I do actually,” she waved her hand as she changed the parameters of the illusion, a large office building in downtown Seattle appeared before them, “He has his lair on the top floor. I stopped there on the way here, it is well fortified with wards.”
Carlos asked, “How?”
She replied, “Proprietary spell, suffice it to say I was able to track him.”
It was the gossamer spell she’d laid over the wards, when he’d connected to recharge them, her very subtle magic had embedded itself inside him, bypassing his protections by tracing his own spell. The magic was extremely complex, but what it amounted to is it disguised itself as part of his own energy, which bypassed his general magic protection spell.
It was her own creation, and she wouldn’t be sharing it. It came in handy for investigations, but it could be modified for much less savory practices, like assassination. Fortunately, by mage law, no one could force her to share it, or even force her to describe how it works in general terms.
Edith
looked very annoyed, but she ignored that.
She said, “I suggest we stay neutral, that we do not share the information of his location, and I’ll continue to keep an eye on him.”
Carlos frowned, “He is very powerful, perhaps too powerful, and has already thrown Seattle’s power structure out of whack. He killed a head alpha, and who knows what the vampires will do with such an opportunity. It might be wise to remove him, before he destabilizes things so badly we’re drawn into a larger conflict. In other words, why do you suggest we leave it be?”
She said, “Motivations. The smart thing for him to do would have been to let Julia be taken away, and tried to find a different guardian. Instead, he made her what she is, and protected her old pride. Given the crude but clearly new type of ward designed to stop rapists, and his respect toward the cat shifters as far as I could see, I believe he didn’t intend to kill a head alpha. I believe he intended to kill a serial rapist and abuser. There will be unintended consequences, but as things stand I do not believe he is a danger to us, or has any designs on what is ours.”
Edith looked disgusted, “It sounds like you admire him,” she accused.
She did admire him, for other reasons too which she wouldn’t disclose to this council. She’d watched him through her magic, that she’d infected him to trace him with, for hours after he’d left the shifters, and had seen how deeply he loved his human woman, Katia, and what had passed between them. It had… affected her deeply. It was what she’d always wanted, but couldn’t define, a man who wanted her for her, who loved her, and the way he treated his succubus and guardian had been… respectful. In short, he was a good man, and surprisingly moral, not an evil power grubbing fool as most of his kind were. He wanted… more than that. He studied hard, learned magic, but that power was just the means, not the ends for him, a lot like she saw it actually.
She’d also be lying to herself if she hadn’t been affected by his physique, the way he made love to Katia, or the size of his… she shook her head to push that thought out of her head. She felt a little guilty about the voyeurism as well, but she’d just been doing her job. She was also faintly regretful that her spell had expired, she could no longer watch him directly.
“Perhaps, but I was the one on site, and I saw more in him than just his power. He lacks the greed of most warlocks, and treats his servants like equals. There is also another reason we may want to be wary of trying to attack him.”
She waved her hand again, and the building wavered and disappeared, in its place stood three people.
Andrew Stewart Moore was about six foot two, light brown hair and warm hazel eyes. He had the build of an athlete, a rather handsome if unassuming face, strong jaw, and looked like a typical college graduate.
Sara said wryly, “Well at least we know he has a good imagination.”
Samantha saw that the councilor had her gaze on Julia. Julia had an exotic beauty to her, at five foot two, dark creamy tanned skin, high cheekbones, full lips, dark amber eyes, with a complexion and striking beauty that might be found on the cover of a women’s magazine. Her body was stunningly sexy, and more waspish than hourglass in shape given her petite stature. She had large D cup breasts which were very pert, and a bubbled ass that made her want to touch it. She was devastatingly sexy, and that was just the illusion, in person her cat shifter pheromones took it up another notch.
The woman next to her, Lilith, had a girl next door beauty, there was an innocence to the loveliness of her heart shaped face that was also vaguely seductive, with her slightly pouty lips and long eyelashes. She had wavy reddish brown hair, and warm doe brown eyes. Her body was an hourglass shape, and she was taller than Julia as well at five foot six. Her generous rounded pert breasts, curvy waist, and flared out hips gave her a sexy but middle of road type of body. Neither athletic, nor voluptuous, but rather perfectly average.
She could see where councilor Sara had jumped to the wrong conclusions. Julia did have the kind of beauty most warlocks who were rather puerile would find ideal. Of course, he didn’t choose Julia either, the infernal magic did. She rather thought he probably didn’t mind Julia’s stunning beauty in the least though.
She said, “Councilor, you’re looking at the cat shifter, the other woman is the succubus.”
Sara blushed, and frowned at the wholesome image of the other woman.
Carlos said, “Very well, but what is the point of this?”
She said, “I checked the archives because he looked familiar to me, like I’d come across him before in past research, but of course that would be impossible. Still, I checked before coming up here…”
She waved her hand again, and the image shrank a bit to add several more figures.
She pointed at the only new male in the tableau, “This is Shawn Moore, he’s been the warlock in Chicago for over twenty years now. You can see the resemblance. I’m not sure how or why, but Andrew is obviously one of Shawn’s heirs come to power under a new demoness. I also can’t say for certain that he’d care if we assassinated his son, but I would argue it would be foolish to find out. As you know, Chicago is one of the most peaceful supernatural cities in the world, and I would argue it’s his power and influence that makes it so, not to mention his many powerful mates and allies.”
She dismissed the illusion and faced the council, “So once again, I recommend we merely watch, and step in only if he starts to have designs on what belongs to us.”
Carlos cleared his throat, “Very well, any other questions?”
Edith said, “I find it hard to believe he’s any different than the others. You ascribe motivations to him, but it could be he was merely greedy for a more powerful guardian. A powerful cat shifter vampire hybrid, that is possibly the strongest supernatural in the city now that the head alpha is dead. The wards may have been merely the price set, and what the cat shifters wanted to protect them from the worst of shifter kind.”
She shrugged carelessly, Edith was a paranoid fire mage. She knew it would be impossible to convince the fire mage, but she had to try anyway.
“I don’t think so, the proof is in how he treated others where I could see anyway, but I suppose it’s possible. We could contact him, talk to him to get his measure.”
Sara frowned, “Under what pretenses?”
She actually had no idea, she wasn’t even sure why she’d said that, except she did want to meet him, but for personal reasons. She had no illusions though, he was already taken, but it would be refreshing to meet someone that might see her for her, instead of some prize for her magical prowess, or her breeding. She was already quite sure he wasn’t what the council believed. The problem was of course, they had history on their side. Most warlocks were power hungry assholes who didn’t think twice about who or what they destroyed on their rise to power. Worse, those on the council had that mindset, although not to that extent, otherwise they wouldn’t be where they were. Most people view others through their own motivations, and the council saw through eyes filled with ambition.
She cleared her throat, and said the first thing that came to mind, “Welcome him to town, and offer the same neutrality and services we offer the vampires and shifters. Not a pretense.”
Edith said, “It couldn’t hurt to get close to him, if we wind up having to take steps. I suggest we follow that course, but give someone else the case. I believe Samantha’s objectivity is compromised.”
She suppressed a laugh at that, wasn’t it the other way around? There was no way she was going to let that happen, they’d probably assign a cretin to the case, the investigator branch had more than one.
“It’s my case,” she said flatly.
The other councilors looked uncomfortable.
Carlos asked, “All in favor of meeting with the warlock to welcome him, and investigate his intentions?”
Six of the nine hands went up.
Edith said, “Who should we assign?”
Samantha blurted, “I challenge Edith Graves.”
They a
ll looked at her in shock, and she kind of felt shocked as well. Where the hell had that come from? She wanted the case of course, she wanted to meet Moore, and she could see where the wind was blowing, no matter how flighty they thought she was, she was far from stupid. Still, it was a risk, and quite possibly… stupid. She usually picked her battles better. She also didn’t want to be a councilor, she loved to investigate new things, listening to stupid people prattling on all day sounded like hell.
Perhaps her judgement had been affected, she was a little fascinated and quite possibly obsessed with the subject of her investigation, after what she’d seen of him earlier.
Edith stood up grimly, “You’ve forgotten your place, when you wake up you’ll not only be off the case, but packing your things.”
Edith stalked around the long-curved council table and to the center of the room. The powerful wards in the council chambers constricted around them in a dome, which would keep the other people in the room safe, as well as the furniture.
Carlos said, “Duel in five, four… one, start.”
She wasn’t surprised Edith shot fire at her, the older woman wasn’t trying to kill her, just distract her from whatever spell she was casting as a follow up. Her protection from fire took Edith’s attack and drained her just a little of magic.
She fired off two sleep spells, and a third spell which was gossamer in nature, another one of her own creations. Her sleep spells were stopped by Edith’s general magic protective shield, and she cut them both off before Edith could get off the counter spell, as the gossamer spell wrapped around Edith.
Then she just defended for a while, casting counters to keep Edith on her toes, but otherwise letting Edith pound on her shields without responding. Contests like this usually came down to who was more powerful, as she expended her magic in defense, Edith expended hers in offense. Normally the one that had magic left at the end would win.
Except… Every time Edith cast a spell, the fire mage’s magic created a tiny micro-second bridge across her shields. It was how magic worked, the protection spells only protected from magic coming at the mage, it didn’t stop a mage’s own magic from getting through and out to the world. Her stealthy diaphanous spell used that split-second bridge, and crossed through the older witch’s defensive spells a tiny piece at a time, reconstituting itself on the other side of the woman’s shields and inside her body.