TRANSFORMATION!
Ogre’s Assistant
Book Three
DJ Martin
Transformation! Ogre’s Assistant Book Three
Copyright © 2018 by DJ Martin
Cover Art by Fiona Jayde Media
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-732027-0-7 (e)
978-1-732027-1-4 (sc)
Published by The Herby Lady, LLC
The right of DJ Martin to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
To everyone whose patience is better than mine: thanks for waiting on this one.
PROLOGUE
“You’re getting better at this,” Gregory said as he placed his marble directly opposite mine. We were playing Chinese checkers and drinking wine at his house on a Saturday night. Gregory wasn’t only my boss’ driver, he was also my magical teacher. The marbles we used weren’t the standard glass ones you usually see; they were stones. We’d started playing it when I was learning about the different kinds of crystals and gemstones used in magic and discovered we enjoyed simply playing the game. It became our relaxation after my weekly lesson with him.
I took a sip of wine as I contemplated my next move. Gregory had almost two hundred years’ experience on me, not only with magic, but also using strategy and tactics. I had yet to beat him but each week I lost by fewer marbles. Once I’d decided what to move where, it was a simple matter to enclose the stone with my will and think it to the selected indentation on the board. No touching required.
As Gregory started to peruse the board in search of his next move, my cell phone rang. I sighed. It had to be something to do with work. The boss was out of town so the office phone had been forwarded to mine instead of his. We frowned at each other as I answered, “This is Amy.”
“Amy, it’s John. I can’t find Ev and he’s not answering his phone. I think he may have gotten himself into some trouble.”
“Hang on, John. I’m with Gregory and I’m going to put you on speakerphone.” I hit the button and put my phone in the center of the playing board. “How do you know Ev is in trouble?”
“You know Ev and his fondness for women.”
Gregory coughed. “Now what?”
“Well, one of the actor’s assistants is a rather handsome woman and Ev started making eyes at her at a party the other night. And before you ask, yes, she’s single and unattached as far as I know. Anyways, Mark, the actor, didn’t like Ev paying attention to her and said so. Ev asked if she was Mark’s lady and when the answer was negative, essentially told him to take a hike.
“Mark then talked to his assistant who, apparently, didn’t mind the attention. He left the party in a huff but on set the next day, things sort of escalated. I’m assuming Mark is a wizard because lights started flickering on and off during a heated argument. The director told Mark to take a break and cool off while Ev started talking to the assistant again. He left a short time after concluding their conversation.
“That was two days ago. We were supposed to have a meeting with the financial people yesterday but Ev never showed. I called his cell but there was no answer. Then I went over to his hotel and the staff said his bed hadn’t been slept in the night before.”
I interrupted his story. “Has the assistant been around?”
“Yes. She went to dinner with him the night of the argument on set. According to her, he was a perfect gentleman and dropped her off at her door afterward. She says she hasn’t seen him since.”
I looked at Gregory whose face had gone blank. I knew by now that he was checking on the beacon spell he’d put into the ink on Ev’s one and only tattoo. It had come in handy more than once when the boss disappeared without telling either of us where he was going.
“He’s alive and still in your part of the country,” Gregory told the agitated guy on the other end of the phone. “However, if you’re worried, that’s saying something. I will catch the first flight out in the morning and track him. Will you sleep tomorrow, or may I call you when I find something?”
(John was an old vampire who rarely slept. He just made sure he was out of sunlight during the day.)
“I will undoubtedly be awake so yes, do please call.” John hung up.
Gregory and I looked at each other once more.
I let out a sigh. “Here we go again!”
Chapter One
Four months earlier
It had been about a year since my magical powers had manifested, my boss found out, fired me simply because I was a witch, then finally rehired me. The first few months after I was rehired had some amusing moments. He harbored a fear of witches for some reason he wouldn’t divulge and each time he pissed me off, was afraid I’d turn him into a frog or something. That spell was beyond my fledgling abilities, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. It was fun to see him think better of what he was about to do in an effort to avoid incurring my wrath.
Ev, despite being an odiferous, irascible ogre, excelled in the people-end of his private security business. He’d hired (and rehired) me to handle the paperwork and money. Most of the time I let him spend his money as he saw fit. It was, after all, his company and I was just his employee. One particular day, though, I wished I could manage that frog spell.
I was reconciling the monthly brokerage statements and a transaction stood out as if someone had run a highlighter pen over it: a wire transfer of two hundred fifty thousand dollars out of his personal account to “In The Limelight Partners, LLP.” A quarter-million and the investment manager hadn’t alerted me? Something was fishy. I hit the intercom button on my phone.
“Ev, would you care to explain that two hundred fifty thousand wire last month?”
A cough then a clearing of throat preceded, “An investment. I’m promised a hefty return in just two years.”
“And?” I prompted. There was more to it, I knew.
“It’s a movie one of John’s clients is starring in. I’ve read the script and since I’d pay good money to see it, I figure others will, too. It could even be a blockbuster in which case, I’ll more than double my investment.”
I was going to kill first John and then Martin. The former was a long-time friend of Ev’s, a vampire who was agent to several high-profile actors. Our firm provided security to some of his clients. The latter was our investment manager. He usually called me when Ev wanted to do something stupid with his money and gave me an opportunity to avert disaster.
“I assume you told Martin not to tell me,” I growled. Unfortunately, my voice was too high to produce a proper, deep-throated growl but it was usually enough to make Ev pause.
“Yes, I did. I get tired of you telling me what I should be doing with my money. I wanted to prove I could make good investment decisions on my own. It’s a done deal, Amy. You’ll see I’m right in less than two years. Now, was that all? I have phone calls to make.”
There was a downside to using the intercom on speaker. You couldn’t slam the receiver. So I punched the button as hard as I could.
I heard “Control yourself” clearly and loudly in my mind. My familiar, a cat named Fudge, unfortunately had unrestric
ted access to my brain. Distance didn’t seem to matter, either. He was back at my apartment, three blocks away.
But he was right. Bad things could happen if I lost my temper. At the least, I could kill any electronic device within six feet or so. At the worst, I could cause an earthquake. Both had happened before and I didn’t want a repeat. I especially didn’t need the Witches’ Council punishing me, which they would if I didn’t keep a lid on my anger.
I closed my eyes and took deep breaths until my heart rate returned to normal and I heard “Better.” Fudge’s presence withdrew from my mind. Unfortunately, Ev was right both in the fact that it was his money and that it was a done deal. I just looked forward to gloating somewhere down the road when he not only didn’t realize a profit but probably saw part of the principal disappear.
I could take part of my anger out on someone, though. I picked up the phone and called Martin, the investment manager.
I wasted no time when he answered. “Since when do you adhere to Ev’s wishes and not call me when he wants to throw away money?”
“Sorry, Amy. I probably should have but he gave me the same-day wire instructions the day before the full moon. I was more than a little distracted and forgot. He also told me not to tell you, so there’s that.”
Martin was a were – the same as my now-deceased boyfriend – so I understood about being distracted once a month. Yes, they only involuntarily transformed on one day but they all had to ensure they were out of range of people or locked away, so in reality, it took more than just twelve hours out of their lives.
“If it’s any consolation, his principal is protected by collateral. Yes, I know if things go belly-up there will be legal fees, but at least it’s something.”
I snorted. “Based on the little I know about Hollywood, Ev is a minority investor. If it comes to that, he’ll probably see pennies on the dollar because the big hitters will take most of the collateral.”
“You’re probably right. I’ll offer my apologies once again but all I can do is hope the market will make up for any losses there.”
I accepted his apology, graciously I hoped, and hung up. No use crying over spilt milk and all that, eh? With another sigh, I entered that investment into the computer and continued on with my work.
The next afternoon I was in Gregory’s cottage for my weekly magic lesson. Gregory had taken over as teacher from my best friend – he had more time to do so. At first, I had read books and been drilled every day, topped off with a practical lesson (I thought of them as Labs) every Saturday. Six months in, however, Gregory had decided just a once-a-week practical would suffice.
We also moved the classroom from my apartment to his cottage behind Ev’s house. Like Cassandra, he had a garden which enabled me to work with plants. Also like my best friend, he had a workroom, but his put hers to shame. At over two hundred years old, he’d had time to collect all sorts of interesting things from the four corners of the world. Where Cassandra just had jars of dried herbs, piles of stones, and bottles of oil, in Gregory’s workroom, reindeer antlers gathered in Lapland vied for space with jars of herbs, bottles of oil, and jars of poisonous bugs like bullet ants from South America. (Those were dead. Thank goodness.) It definitely broadened my studies!
While I was learning to draw the essence from one of those dead bugs for a potion, I related my frustrations of the prior day.
“He’s such an idiot!” I exclaimed. “Yeah, okay, he’s got some play money but to invest it in something as risky as a movie? Why won’t he learn he doesn’t have much common sense?”
“No, you’re going about it wrong. Feel for just the poison and draw that energy, not the spent life force.” Gregory’s voice was quiet but held a note of admonishment. “As I’ve reminded you before, Ev is still just a child in many ways. I know that’s a lot of money but he has the lifespan to make it up if need be. Maybe losing that amount will be what he needs to learn that particular lesson.”
“What are we using bug poison for anyways?” I asked. “Did someone hire you to throw a curse?”
A soft laugh then, “No. It’s for a protection spell. My client lives in a not-so-nice area and is having difficulty with break-ins. We will use the poison’s essence as a deterrent. Now, once you’ve got hold of that energy, direct it into this bottle. I will do the rest.”
Fudge, who always accompanied me to my lessons, padded over to the workbench and put his paw on my arm. I felt his familiar presence as a slight pressure at the back of my brain. With his help, I was able to separate out the poison energy still in the bug’s dead body, pull that out and push it into the glass bottle in Gregory’s hands. Once I’d accomplished that, Fudge promptly ate the carcass.
“Eeew, gross!” I cried.
“What? With the poison gone, it is healthy protein. You should try it. Bugs are crunchy and tasty.”
Nonetheless, I was glad it had been a while since I’d eaten. To distract myself I turned to watch Gregory finish the potion.
There had already been a watery liquid with floating pieces of herbs in the bottle. Adding the poison energy turned the liquid from almost clear to brownish. As I watched, Gregory enveloped the bottle with his carmine-red personal energy and while muttering something under his breath, that energy became a tornado that dipped itself into the bottle and stirred the ingredients even further. The tornado disappeared and as the watery whirlpool calmed, the liquid became clear once again. Gregory put a cork in the bottle, scribbled something on an adhesive label and after slapping that on the bottle, declared it good.
I grabbed the bottle and read, “One teaspoonful sprinkled every five feet around perimeter. Apply one dab with cotton swab on each windowsill. Not for internal use. Avoid skin contact.”
I set the bottle back down. “I have two questions.”
“You always have at least one,” Gregory smiled. “Ask.”
“Why do witches and wizards always mutter? Can’t you speak spells out loud? How am I supposed to learn spells if I can’t hear the words?”
I felt a metaphysical slap from Fudge as Gregory let out a guffaw. “And here I thought I’d been teaching you about how energy manipulation equals intent. I was apparently mistaken. Okay, I will give it another try.
“Magical people use their intent to manipulate energy, right? Like when you want to move something, you just will it to do so. Do you talk to whatever it is you’re moving? No.”
“Pay close attention. I believe he is losing patience with you.” Even though Fudge was talking in my head, I waved him off with my hand then had to apologize so Gregory wouldn’t think I was blowing him off. He nodded. He was used to Fudge’s interjections even though he couldn’t hear them.
“I’d guess some folks do say something out loud and others may only think things but for most of us, muttering is just a way to focus our intent. There is no set wording for any spell. I won’t tell you the client’s name but I was just muttering ‘Protect the client’s hearth and home’ as I infused the potion with my intent. Now does it make sense?”
“Yes, I guess so,” I said as I mused on how to phrase the second question.
“And your second question?”
“If our intent and energy is all it takes, why the extra stuff? I mean, take this potion for example. It’s got oil, herbs and bug poison in addition to your energy. Couldn’t you just go over there and wrap her house in a protection spell?”
Gregory blew out a breath. “When you first learned to shield, before your powers manifested, did the shield stay put without you thinking about it?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I had to concentrate on it every morning and whenever I needed it to be stronger, like before one of Ev’s parties.”
“And now that your powers have manifested?”
“It’s there all the time but if I need to tighten it, I still have to think about it.”
“So, if I were to go wrap the client’s house in a protection spell, would it continually maintain itself or would I have to re
fresh it occasionally?”
“I get where you’re going with this but can’t you sort of make it self-feeding, like drawing energy from the ground around the house?”
That elicited a frown and given that Gregory was the smiling type, I knew I’d said something wrong.
“You learned early on about drawing energy from the ground and affecting plants and trees growing around the area. How do you think the area lawn and trees would fare?”
He had me there. My first practical lesson with Earth energy was learning to draw it so it didn’t affect the growing things. In some places, that was difficult to do because of intertwining roots. I felt like an idiot.
“So, you know the spell can’t be truly self-sustaining, you know I don’t have time to go refresh every long-term spell I cast, and I know you’ve learned a little about plants and other things having their own inherent magical capabilities. What conclusion do you draw?”
Although a good teacher, Gregory could be a little stern at times, which I didn’t like. On the other hand, he made me think, which was a good thing. So, I thought. Like the proverbial light bulb going off over my head, I finally understood where Gregory had been leading me.
“The extra stuff keeps the spell going without your presence. You use things with magical signatures appropriate to the situation and let them do the heavy lifting, as it were. You just get the spell started.”
“Bingo. In this case, the two herbs I used have protective properties. The bug poison essence is in case someone ignores the ‘stay away’ admonishment of the herbs. It won’t be fatal but whoever breaches the ward will end up in hospital with some odd symptoms, making them easier for the authorities to find.”
“But isn’t your client a witch? Can’t she do this stuff on her own?”
“She lives in an apartment, just as you do. Do you have a large, varied stock of herbs, oils, and other supplies right at your fingertips? Also, her element is Water. She doesn’t relate as well to earth-based plants. She does a bang-up job with ponds and such in landscaping, though.”
Transformation! Page 1