by L. C. Mawson
“I didn’t want to be a bother,” Freya mumbled. “And I hoped that it would still turn out okay.”
“You’re not a bother, Freya. Now, come on. We’ll look at your workload and, if you need it, I’ll look into tutors.”
MARGARET ENDED UP DECIDING to wait until close to the summer exams before looking into the possibility of getting her a tutor, and Freya came away from their conversation with much less anxiety than she had entered with. In fact, she hadn’t realised just how much of it had been buzzing around in the back of her head, even with her contemplating leaving her Human life behind.
Now it was significantly lessened and she was facing a sudden wave of exhaustion.
“I was going to watch Strictly, if you wanted to stay down here,” Margaret offered. “I know you don’t much like the tat that I do, but, well...”
“Um, I actually... I was going to head out.”
“To see Damon?”
“Is that a problem?”
Margaret sighed with a frown, clearly indicating that she was looking for some reasonable excuse to keep Freya in the house. At least, for today.
“I’ve known Damon for years,” Freya said, not really surprised by the low tone beneath her words. She did her best to ignore her compulsion power when she used it. Or, if not ignore it, focus on the emotions that triggered it and try to ignore them in the future. If she had to use magic to get her way, she usually used a spell. It felt less... invasive. Or maybe she felt like she needed the effort of the spell to keep her in check, so that she wouldn’t start abusing the power for every little thing. She felt guilty, but she didn’t stop the effect. She couldn’t risk staying at home. If Uther sent men after her, they would go straight for her foster parents. No, better that Uther thought she was living at Damon’s permanently.
Maybe, even after everything that had just transpired, it really was time for Freya to let go of her Human life.
“I’m going to stay at Damon’s tonight and indefinitely after that. You will not question it. If anyone asks, I still live here, but I’m spending most of my time with Damon. Laugh it away by saying it’s puppy love. Find some way to explain it to Ryan so that he won’t worry. And if people start to get too suspicious, or strangers start asking about me, call and warn me. Otherwise, keep no contact. If you do call and I don’t respond in a few days... Act as you usually would if I had gone missing.”
Margaret’s eyes went glassy as Freya spoke, her skin paling, as if she was in unmoving terror. The colour quickly returned once Freya was done, however, and her vacant expression was replaced with a slight frown. Freya worried a little at that. She’d never used her compulsion to give such complex orders before.
However, Margaret’s frown finally lifted, to be replaced by a smile.
“Have fun at Damon’s,” she said.
“I will,” Freya replied, though she failed to make her voice as bright as she wanted.
She headed upstairs to her room, quickly filling her backpack with the essentials, from clothes to weapons. She had no idea when she would have the opportunity to come back, but she could make do with just the basics for now.
By the time she made it back outside, Damon was waiting for her at the end of the garden, his eyes glued to his phone.
“Hey,” she called.
He lifted his head with a frown. “What happened? I tried texting but you didn’t respond. I worried my father had gotten to you, but I could still sense you in the house.”
“It’s okay. Margaret and I just had to talk.”
“About her sending you away?”
Freya shook her head. “No. I don’t think she’s really thought that far ahead yet. There’s still time for her to change her mind between now and when the baby comes but... It doesn’t matter. I can’t continue putting them in danger like this. Not with your father after me. It would be safer for them if I wasn’t around until we’ve dealt with him. And, if Gregor finds my father, then who knows? Maybe I won’t have to go back at all...”
Damon smiled. “So, you’re definitely staying with me for now, then?”
Freya nodded, though she felt a little uneasy after her talk with Margaret.
“Damon...” she started as they made their way down the street. “Do you... Do you think we’re going too fast?”
He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“I just mean... Maybe the unrequited love thing has us thinking that we’re further along than we are. Not to mention the whole ‘two magical beings’ thing.”
Damon frowned in thought, shrugging. “I mean... I guess. I hadn’t really thought about it. We could slow down though, if it’s what you want.”
And there was the real question. Was it what she wanted, or was she just trying to tick boxes? Was their speed really bothering her, or was the outside perception the problem? But then, wasn’t there a reason for those conventions? Was this an area where the rules were arbitrary, or was she missing their importance?
The real question in the end was, as always, did she trust her own judgement, or the judgement of those around her?
“I’m not bothered,” she admitted. “I just... It’s unusual, and I’m not always good at telling the good unusual from the bad...”
“Well, I didn’t think it was bad until you brought it up,” Damon offered.
“And now that I have brought it up?”
“I don’t know... Most of my other girlfriends were the reverse, you know? Usually we got drunk and hooked up, and then we worried about relationship-y stuff. I don’t really know how it works when I actually like someone.”
Freya sighed. “Neither do I...”
“Then maybe we should just do what feels right for us. I mean, it’s not like we can hold ourselves to either Human standards or... What was that word? The one you use to mean not Autistic or mentally ill or whatever?”
“Neurotypical?”
“Yeah. We can’t exactly go by neurotypical standards, either.”
She smiled at that. “Yeah, I guess not.”
“So, we’ll just do whatever and it’ll probably be fine.”
Her smile widened into a grin at Damon’s optimism, only to be quickly wiped away as a unicorn sped past them with a screaming rider on their back.
“Was that-” Damon started, but Freya had already rushed after them. “Wait up!”
Even when she enhanced her speed, the unicorn was too fast for Freya, but she managed to catch up with the rider as they crashed to the ground, unable to hold on anymore.
“Are you okay?” Freya asked them, realising that they were a young girl.
“No,” she said as she started to cry.
“What happened?”
“I... I just made a wish and then...”
Freya sighed, nodding. There went the hope that no one had noticeably tapped into the excess.
“We have to get it back before it hurts someone,” Damon said.
“Hurts someone? It’s a unicorn!”
Damon looked at her as if she’d just said something incredibly naive. Though “naive” was being generous. He was looking at her like she’d just tried to say that dirt was chocolate.
“Okay, what is it? What don’t I know?”
“Unicorns are bred by Elves for war.”
“Really?”
“Freya, it’s a horse with a sword on its head!”
“Okay, well, when you put it like that...”
“You’ll have to tame it.”
“Me? Why not you?”
He looked awkward at that. “Well, because, you know, you have to be...”
She raised an eyebrow, not realising what he was saying.
“You know... A virgin...”
She rolled her eyes. “Goddamn Elves...” she muttered, though she was suddenly feeling much better about them having been interrupted that morning.
She was about to launch herself after the unicorn, when she realised that she had no idea what she was doing.
“How do I tame
it?” she asked.
Damon shrugged. “I don’t know. I assume it would be like taming a horse.”
“Yeah, I live in the city. I have only ever seen one horse irl, on a school trip to a farm when I was ten!”
“Ah.”
“Can I kill it?”
“You can try.”
She nodded, launching after it. Damon followed close behind and she reached into her bag, bringing out a sword for each of them.
Damon seemed surprised by her preparedness, astounding her with how lax his attitude was. How could he be magic and not leave the house with a weapon? Though, she supposed that Mel only ever had her wand with her. But that, at least, could be used offensively.
Damon was very much coddled, she decided as she shifted in front of the unicorn, startling it.
It reared up in response and she shifted back a step before a hoof made contact with her face.
She thrust her sword forward, but the unicorn countered it with its horn.
“A little help here!” she called to Damon as she threw fire at it, only for it to bounce off as if it were nothing.
“I’m trying!” Damon said, his own magic not having much effect.
“Magic’s no use,” she told him as she refocused on distracting the unicorn from him. “You’ll have to try something else.”
“Like what?”
She tried not to sigh. She didn’t know how much the unicorn understood, but she didn’t want to give anything away.
“Like something designed specifically to fight magic.”
She could sense the hesitation in his silence, telling her that he understood.
“I don’t... I’ve never...”
“I know,” she said as she narrowly avoided being skewered. “But you have to try.”
She couldn’t see what he was doing, as she kept her focus on distracting the unicorn, keeping its attention away from Damon.
Mid-thrust, the unicorn stopped dead, collapsing to the ground with a painful whimper. As it collapsed, she saw that Damon’s sword was lodged in its side, and his arm was covered in blood.
“Are you okay?” she asked Damon. He seemed even paler than usual.
“I... I nullified its magic...”
Freya nodded, unsure of what to say. He seemed unsettled.
“It felt wrong,” he eventually admitted. “Empty. I felt so empty, Freya.”
She approached him carefully, so that he could see what she was doing, before wrapping her arms around his middle and holding him tight.
“You’re okay. You don’t have to do it again,” she assured him.
“You can’t promise that,” he replied as he brought one hand up to her back, and the other to her head. Her hair began to clump together with the blood.
“I know, but I’ll try.”
“Even if I don’t... Freya, it’s still... It’s still there...”
She realised then that his uncle had probably been trying to protect him from this as much as anything else. Damon was a weapon designed to be used against himself. The fact that both Enhanced and Demonic abilities could exist within a single person was astounding, but also terrifying.
“I know, love, I know.”
He relaxed at her calling him love and she let out a breath of relief. Though it was short-lived as she realised that their fight had drawn a crowd. A crowd now investigating the unicorn with interest.
“I don’t suppose you’re good at heavy-duty clean-up?” Freya asked under her breath.
Damon pulled away from her to assess the situation. “I... I think this might be a job for the Royal Cleaners.”
Before Freya could ask what the hell the Royal Cleaners were, she heard a horrific screeching noise, quickly followed by the sound of metal thudding against concrete in rhythmic thuds.
The noise had her immediately grabbing the fabric of Damon’s t-shirt, looking for any purchase.
She threw up a sound barrier around herself, but it took a few moments under it for her to regain her sense of the world.
The fabric in her hands was now ash.
“I’m sorry,” she managed to mumble as she straightened herself back up. “It was the noise...”
“It’s okay,” Damon assured her. “I can always buy more tops.”
She brushed her fingers along his side, making sure that she hadn’t accidentally burned him.
“I’m fine, Freya. I’m pretty durable.”
She nodded, returning her attention to what had made the infernal racket in the first place, only to see that they were surrounded.
“Demons?” Freya asked as she saw them. “Why are they here? For clean-up?”
Damon didn’t answered, but she felt him tremble beneath her.
“What is it?” she asked him softly.
“I recognise one of them. They’re my father’s men...”
“It’s okay, we can take them.”
“Freya, I... I can’t feel my magic... And I don’t think I could nullify theirs. Not again. At least, not so soon.”
She nodded. “That’s okay. It’ll be okay, Damon.”
She retracted the soundproof bubble around them and faced the woman she assumed was in charge of the Demons surrounding them.
She was wearing combat gear that looked quite formal, with fewer leather straps than usual, and a smart black jacket. Just like the Demons that had shifted away from Freya two nights before.
“You here to clean up?” Freya asked, noting how most of the Demons had visible weapons. “Because you’re not exactly doing a good job of being low-key.”
“There is no longer a need for low-key,” the woman informed her. “While the excess is in effect, the Humans are no danger to us.”
“And after? When you idiots have exposed us all?”
“They will be no threat by that point.”
“If you’re not here to clean up, why are you here?”
The woman smiled before turning her head to the rest of the troops. “Kill the girl and take the boy. Uther will want him back.”
They responded by raising their hands, with Freya hearing just the barest crackle before she was engulfed in a flood of black lightning.
Chapter Eleven
“What the hell happened?” Freya demanded as she stormed through the castle.
“It was Caroline,” Mel told her as she wheeled up. “Uther sent her to capture Damon.”
“Capture him? Where is he?”
Mel gave her an apologetic look. “Sarah did all she could, but they were caught off guard. The only consolation is that Damon was a secondary objective. It looks like he sent her to kill you. Cut off our head, since facing us in battle isn’t going well for him.”
“Dammit it... Do we know where they took him?”
“Lady Persephone has a couple of operatives tailing them, but they can’t get to Damon.”
“But I can.”
“Lady Persephone said you would say that. She insisted that her brother accompany you.”
“Fine. As long as he doesn’t get in my way.”
FREYA AWOKE GASPING for air, every part of her screaming in pain as she sat bolt upright.
“Hey, Freya, you’re alright,” Gregor assured her as she realised that she had been lying on Damon’s bed. “You probably want to take a moment. You were almost dead when we found you. You’d used up all of your Energy.”
“Where’s Damon?” she croaked as the pain began to fade.
“I was hoping you could tell me that. I was in the Underworld and we started receiving reports that a large number of Demons had made their way to Earth, despite the King’s orders to stay put until the excess passes. When I got here, you were gone. Evelyn scryed for you, but couldn’t get a signal on Damon. That’s when we found you in the middle of a crater. I thought you were dead, but Evelyn assured me that you can’t scry for the dead. We brought you back and let you use up the source stones we had around.”
Freya looked down to see that there were several of the stones next to her on th
e bed, all drained of power.
“What happened, Freya? Where’s Damon?”
“I had to leave to see my foster parents. They were freaking out about me being gone. But, when we left, we saw a unicorn. It seems a kid tapped into the excess and brought one to them.”
“Did you tame it or kill it?”
“Damon killed it. Why?”
Gregor cursed under his breath. “Because a unicorn’s last line of defence is to curse the person that kills it. It’s a particularly nasty curse and very difficult to reverse.”
“But Damon tapped into his Enhanced abilities to stop it. He nullified its magic. Shouldn’t that include the curse?”
“Damon used his Enhanced powers? He’s never done that before.”
“Yeah, it kind of freaked him out.”
“If he did, then he may not have been cursed. So, what happened then?”
“That was when we were surrounded by Demons. Damon said they were his father’s men. Some woman told them to kill me and take him for Uther.”
“And this woman? What did she look like?”
Freya shrugged. “Long blonde hair, tallish? Her combat gear looked more like a uniform. I’m sorry, I’m not very good at taking note of appearances.”
“It’s okay, Freya. You had other things on your mind.”
“Though... When I was out, I visited the Shadow Realm. Damon’s gone there, but I was told that the woman who took him was called Caroline.”
Gregor’s eyebrows shot up. “Caroline? You’re sure?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Lady Caroline is one of the noble Demons. She isn’t one to throw in with others on ideological grounds. If she’s working with Uther, it’s because she’s convinced that opposing him would be against her interests.”
“She said that the Humans weren’t a threat to them while the excess is in effect.”
“Then Uther is most likely planning to use the excess to attack the Humans. If he can subjugate them now, rather than trying for peace as we did at the beginning of the War...”
“But, if he hadn’t had Caroline attack me with magic in broad daylight, there would be no worry of another war.”