‘Not that they could do much until we got out of the hole in the ground they stuck us in,’ Lily said. She glanced at Ceri, a faint grin forming on her face; she was not going to spoil Ceri’s surprise for Cheryl.
‘It was a null magic zone, Cheryl,’ Ceri said, beaming.
Cheryl’s jaw dropped. Carter actually spoke. ‘A real one? A genuine area of zero natural magic?’
Ceri nodded. ‘Our ankle chains didn’t work. Nita’s an evoker and she couldn’t work magic. I could and Lily could still use her powers. So could Gadriel. If you took a store of thaumic energy in with you you could use that to cast, but normal practitioners were powerless.’
‘Gadriel again?’ Alec growled.
‘He’s toast,’ Lily said. ‘Destroyed, atomised, reduced to nothing.’
‘Maybe I should start at the top and work down,’ Ceri said.
The explanation started out brief and got longer as people asked questions. Cheryl was fascinated by the Black Fields zone, but agreed to wait until they could get together properly and go over what Ceri had observed. Alec and Michael were more interested in the Black Crow pack, especially Katarina. Neither of them had known Alexandra even had a sister until she had said Luperca would be contacting her. Carter listened carefully to everything, asking for clarification occasionally, but remaining silent most of the time. The only thing Ceri left out was the discovery of another sorcerer; she figured that that was something private, Martin Whittaker’s secret, not hers.
‘You’ve had an eventful few weeks,’ Carter said when she had finished. ‘You’re quite sure you’re both okay?’
‘Fine,’ Lily said. ‘I got given a submachine gun to shoot. We all got out alive. I don’t think I can ask for better than that.’
Ceri was silent for a second while Lily answered. ‘I feel… good,’ she said. ‘Really quite good. Maybe it’s the last couple of days. After I woke up in the hospital I felt… alive.’
‘You have a habit of that after near-death experiences,’ Twill commented.
‘It sounds like rather a natural reaction,’ Carter said.
‘Yes,’ Twill replied, ‘but then it turned out her enchantment had been destroyed and she was a functioning sorceress.’
Ceri giggled. ‘I don’t think I can have got any stranger after this one.’
Twill floated up in front of Ceri’s face and tapped her on the nose. ‘You’re not strange, dear, you’re just unique. But then, so are we all. You’re just unique in a unique way.’
Ceri’s eyes crossed as she looked at the tiny woman. ‘You’ve really missed being cryptic at me haven’t you, Twill.’
~~~
Lily had called Michael’s behaviour practically perfectly. He had stayed man-form at the start, gentle and warm, and all passion held back by concern for their recent ordeals. Then he had started to realise how much his two women wanted him and the softness had turned into something more like animal passion. With Ceri’s hips propped up on three pillows and her legs spread as wide as she could get them, and Lily feeding off Michael, in wolf-form, as he pounded into Ceri for what felt like an eternity, Ceri whimpered and moaned and gripped the sheets, and came for the fifth time, and wondered whether Lily would ever let him stop… and hoped she would not…
Michael’s hands gripped Ceri’s shoulders, the tip of one claw breaking her skin. The slight pain and the feeling of him finally gushing into her tipped her over the edge again. She blinked and became aware of his weight on her back and Lily’s hands gently stroking her face.
‘God… I’ve… missed that,’ Ceri said, breath still coming with some difficulty. Lily smiled at her and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Michael moved, lifting himself up and moving around to Ceri’s side. She turned her head and saw his human face lying beside her. He licked his finger and wiped away the blood from her collar bone. ‘Sorry,’ he said.
‘Little wounds are kind of… oh, wow… an occupational hazard when you’re having sex with a werewolf,’ Ceri replied. ‘The benefits outweigh the tiny disadvantages.’
Michael smiled and then frowned. ‘What happened to your freckles?’
‘Huh?’
‘He’s right,’ Lily said, ‘you used to have a lot more freckles on your shoulders. There’s like, the odd tiny spot now.’
‘Your skin is a little paler too,’ Michael said.
Ceri frowned at her arm as though it had done something wrong. They were right; her skin seemed lighter, almost translucent in the pale light coming in through the window, and the brown smudges which had been there were gone. ‘It looks more like Brenhines’ skin,’ Ceri said, her voice soft.
‘And mine,’ Lily added.
‘Maybe I can get stranger.’
‘Not strange,’ Michael countered, ‘unique.’
‘And gorgeous,’ Lily said. Ceri felt the bed shift as the half-succubus moved. ‘And incredible sexy.’ Lily’s tongue parted Ceri’s labia, seeking out the cherry hidden beneath and Ceri moaned. In the position she was in, Ceri was ill-equipped to object. Not that she would have objected if she could.
Michael leaned forward and kissed her. ‘She’s right,’ he said, ‘you are.’
###
About the Author
I was born in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall so perhaps a bit of history rubbed off. Ancient history obviously, and border history, right on the edge of the Empire. I always preferred the Dark Ages anyway; there’s so much more room for imagination when people aren’t writing down every last detail. So my idea of a good fantasy novel involved dirt and leather, not shining plate armour and Hollywood-medieval manners. The same applies to my sci-fi, really; I prefer gritty over shiny.
Oddly, then, one of the first fantasy novels I remember reading was The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper (later made into a terrible juvenile movie). These days we would call Cooper’s series Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy and looking back on it, it influenced me a lot. It has that mix of modern day life, hidden history, and magic which failed to hit popular culture until the early days of Buffy and Anne Rice. Of course, Cooper’s characters spend their time around places I could actually visit in Cornwall, and South East England, and mid-Wales. In fact, when I went to university in Aberystwyth, it was partially because some of Cooper’s books were set a few miles to the north around Tywyn.
I got into writing through roleplaying, however, so my early work was related to the kind of roleplaying game I was interested in. I wrote “high fantasy” when I was playing Dungeons & Dragons. I wrote a lot of superhero fiction when I was playing City of Heroes. I still loved the idea of a modern world with magic in it and I’ve been trying to write a novel based on this for a long time. As with any form of expression, practice is the key and I can look back on all the aborted attempts at books, and the more successful short stories, as steps along the path to the Thaumatology Series.
Writing, sadly, is not my main source of income. By day, I’m a computer programmer. I work for a telecommunications company in Manchester, England. My favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, and (recently) Kim Harrison. Kim’s Hollows books were what finally spurred me to publish something, even if the trail to here came by way of Susan, back in school, several decades ago.
For More Information
The Thaumatology Blog: http://thaumatology.wordpress.com
Other Books by the Same Author
Thaumatology 101 – ASIN: B006IYIESW
Demon’s Moon – ASIN: B006JPN7A0
Legacy – ASIN: B006OKR8PK
Dragon’s Blood – ASIN: B0072S1DOU
Disturbia – ASIN: B007GNICZO
Hammer of Witches – ASIN: B007YG2I44
Tales from High Towers’ Study – ASIN: B006ZAJ7TY
Tales from the Dubh Linn – ASIN: B0080XPD88
Table of Contents
Part One: The Dragon Dance
Part Two: Intelligence
Part Three: The Pit
Part Four: Black Crows
Part Five: Taking on the World
Part Six: The Politics of Cataclysm
Part Seven: Peace
Table of Contents
Part One: The Dragon Dance
Part Two: Intelligence
Part Three: The Pit
Part Four: Black Crows
Part Five: Taking on the World
Part Six: The Politics of Cataclysm
Part Seven: Peace
Thaumatology 07 - Eagle's Shadow Page 23