“Well, fuck, buddy, she wasted no time in domesticating you,” he laughed.
Carmilla flashed me a lusty grin as my blood dribbled down her chin. “You don’t know the half of it,” she said. I continued to nonchalantly munch on sausage, ignoring the stinging pain and the sight of my blood painting Carmilla’s lips.
“Did you find anything in the library?” I asked her. A flash of exhaustion hit her eyes as though I’d reminded her of something very toilsome and stressful. She just shook her head.
“Sorry,” she said, wiping her lips and tapping the mark she left on my arm with two fingers I watched entranced as the wound closed. “I know it’s in there, but Mr. Shaw was busy all day, so I had to try to find it myself and that was… hopeless.” Carmilla shrugged and sighed into my shoulder. “How’d the assignment go, boys?” She finally asked after lapping up a bit more of my blood, cleaning off the rest of my arm. She wiped her lips, this time on my black cloak as she looked up at us for an answer.
“Great!” Randolph said, and then Brian appeared in the elevator door and started walking, armless of course, to our table. At the sight of our dismembered compatriot, Randolph quickly revised his statement. “Great but with caveats.”
“Holy shit, Brian!” Carmilla said, standing up so suddenly that her chair shot backward behind her.
“I may never play guitar again,” he said with a groan as he sat down.
“I didn’t know you played guitar,” Randolph noted inquisitively.
“I didn’t, but now I truly never will.”
I almost choked on my food from the unexpected levity. Carmilla dramatically slapped me on the back to scold me for laughing, but then proceeded with her line of questioning.
“How did this happen!?” she interrogated, “And whose fault is this?”
The second question caught me off guard. It made me think a bit more than I wanted to. If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine. I left them to fend for themselves while I ran off to direct the horde of Shamblers.
Randolph clearly had a similar thought. We made uncomfortable eye contact for a millisecond that lasted an eternity. His acknowledgment of what I already knew made the pain of my guilt a thousand times worse. Though I thought maybe he blamed himself, too.
“It’s no one’s fault, Carmilla,” Brian said—no, he lied for me. “A Star-spawn did it.”
“I’m not going to ask before everyone gets here because I’m assuming you won’t want to tell the story again every time someone sits down for breakfast,” she said.
Brian nodded and started eating his meal. As if to punctuate Carmilla’s point, Dahlia appeared in the doorway and crossed over to our table as she waved at us. She sat in the only empty chair next to me that a raven-haired vampire didn’t occupy. Dahlia’s eyes widened at Brian’s injury, but she said nothing and simply leaned her head against my shoulder as she focused her stare intensely on it.
Now it was Randolph and Brian’s turn to widen their eyes in surprise.
“The fuck is this now, mate?” Brian asked, gesturing to Dahlia’s head on my shoulder. She smiled cutely, her eyes narrowed as she looked back at them in satisfaction.
“You don’t approve?” she teased.
To make things even more awkward, Carmilla threw her arms around my waist and buried her face in my neck affectionately as well. It had to be on purpose. Fuck.
Randolph stood up. “Ohhhh fuck this,” he seethed, pacing. “Nonono fuck this.” He looked like he was having a panic attack.
Brian laughed uproariously, so hard he nearly fell from his chair as he leaned back. “Having an episode there, Randy?”
Randolph froze in place abruptly and pointed an accusatory finger at me. “Explain yourself, Elloway,” he said, fuming.
“Whoa, dude, chill,” I said. I threw my hands up innocently and tried to look like I had no idea what he was talking about, but in the end I couldn’t hold back a cheeky grin.
“You’ve been here like a week, and you’re already more powerful than both of us,” he complained. “And now you’re telling me you bagged two of the hottest girls at Esoterica?”
“Bagged? Excuse me?” Carmilla scoffed indignantly. “But I’ll take the compliment.” Dahlia remained silent but continued to smile impishly at the others with her head on my shoulder. I also became suddenly aware of her hand on my leg. I gently swatted it, but it lingered nonetheless, unswayed by my repudiation.
Randolph sat down with his arms crossed. “Absolutely fuck you, dude.” But then, finally, he cracked a smile. “But you gotta give me tips later or something.”
“Look, man, we may be making trades in different markets if you catch my drift,” Brian said between chews, “But I respect the game.”
I was at a loss. No idea how to respond. Finally, Evelyn filed out of the elevator with a few of her other friends, but she broke from them and sat with us. The shock at Brian’s arm and Dahlia and Carmilla’s romantic possession of me restarted anew, this time on her pretty, albeit demonic, face. We had stalled the conversation long enough, and now everyone who mattered was sitting at the table.
We explained the entire story of Brian’s injury to everyone and listened to them regale us of their weekend assignments. Finally, though, it got to Dahlia’s turn.
“Oh, yea, Dolly,” Evelyn said, “How’d the mission go with Rebecca?”
Dahlia’s whimsical smile faded. I felt her squirm in my shoulder. “Badly,” she said, and I could feel her hold her breath as her chest pressed against my side.
“What happened?” I asked.
She hesitated. Then she sat up and looked at me again. Looked around me. Studying my aura, I was sure, trying to feel out my mood. I was getting increasingly nervous at her stalling.
“What happened?” I repeated, stressing the question harder this time.
“We got the loot, but…” she trailed off. She looked at everyone, tears forming in her eyes. “She died, Liam. I’m sorry,” she admitted at last. “I know you were all friends with her. I feel so awful!”
She buried her face in my chest and sobbed softly. I felt my shirt grow damp with her tears. My jaw dropped at the revelation and my mouth dried out as it hung open, as my eyes glazed over. She died, I repeated in my head. It was the first time any of this madhouse bullshit felt real.
I caressed her hair and avoided everyone’s concerned, sympathetic looks.
“It’s not the first time, you know,” Carmilla said. “We lost someone last year, too.”
I looked at her. “I don’t want to know any more than that for now.”
She nodded. “It does happen, though. That's all I’m trying to say.”
“Happened on my mission,” Randolph confessed. A tortured look crossed his face. That must have been how I looked whenever I thought about Brian’s arm.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed someone else helping themselves to the seat on the other side of Carmilla.
“Whose funeral? For fuck’s sake,” the high-pitched voice said.
Everyone looked over and we all took in the new face-a woman, or girl, depending on how you wanted to label her. She was clearly Asian, or at least mixed, maybe Japanese or Korean descent, but her hair was cut to chin length and dyed pink, and she sported a nose piercing and multiple ear piercings, too. Heavy dark eye makeup highlighted her glowing red eyes, and two sharp horns emerged from her forehead. Her attire could only be described as goth. She even had an inverted pentagram for a pendant dangling from a black choker.
“Who the fuck are you?” Randolph took the responsibility of asking. I was relieved I wasn’t the only one caught off guard. I had figured this might have been some acquaintance of theirs I hadn’t yet met. Not the case, apparently.
She smirked at us all, but her eyes fixed themselves back on me before long. “Memento Morikawa,” she said. “I’m a brand-new student with no friends. Just got here the other night.” She eyed Brian cutely and leaned against the table, giving Randolph and him a full view of what h
ad to be glorious cleavage. “Care to take me in?”
“Barking up the wrong tree, honey,” Brian said through all the bread and peanut butter in his mouth.
“Whatever,” she chuckled, and her eyes whipped back to me again. My stare was also glued to her, even as I was still stroking Dahlia’s hair. She had returned to her original position of leaning into my shoulder but had turned her head toward the new arrival and seemed to be studying her with fascination. She wasn’t crying at all anymore. “I’m more interested in you,” Memento said, looking at me.
“Excuse me?” Carmilla said as she possessively tightened her grip on me. “Don’t you have eyes?”
“You’re a necromancer, right?” she asked, ignoring Carmilla entirely.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Me too,” she grinned.
Brian audibly gasped through the eggs in his mouth.
“Are you?” I asked, suddenly very excited. “That’s crazy!”
“So I’ve been told,” she said. “We should stick together.”
I could feel Carmilla seething. Dahlia, shockingly, was far more relaxed, and I could tell she was sizing up the new girl’s aura as we spoke. My mouth opened and closed a few times as I searched for the proper response, one that would placate Carmilla’s growing jealousy without shutting the door on comparing notes with a fellow necromancer. That just sounded like a good idea to me, if I was being honest.
And while being honest, I might as well admit that her looks didn’t make her offer less enticing, either.
“Meet me tonight in the stadium,” she said before I could respond. “As soon as the sun goes down.” She glared at Carmilla then looked back at me. “Come alone.” She walked away, gifting me with quite a fine view of her black miniskirt hugging her ass as she headed toward the elevator.
Carmilla was the first to break the tense silence. “I hate that chick,” she said. “Can you believe how rude that was?”
“She didn’t win any etiquette awards,” agreed Brian.
“She could win some other awards,” Randolph said sleazily. “And for fuck’s sake, Liam, could you leave some T&A for the rest of us mere mortals?”
I blushed at the remark. “I’m not even sure I’m meeting her, so don’t even worry about it.”
“Good,” Carmilla said. “Stand that bitch up.”
“No,” Dahlia declared. Everyone looked at her in curious surprise. She sat up straight and confident. “You should go,” she continued. “Trust me.” But when she said those last two words, she was looking dead at Carmilla.
“You think so?” I inquired, side-eyeing the vampire maiden with great care.
Dahlia nodded. Fuck. I’d do anything she said, no matter how unpleasant, and this did not seem too unpleasant. So it was a done deal, I decided.
“Alright then. Suck it up, Carmilla. I’m going,” I teased, nudging her playfully.
“Her intentions had better be pure,” Carmilla said.
“They are, more or less,” Dahlia said. “For now she just wants to know more about her powers. Your powers.” She gestured toward me. “And I sense she needs your help with something, Liam.”
“More or less? For now?” Carmilla huffed as she crossed her arms and pouted. “She won’t vibe well with the harem.”
Evelyn winced at the remark. The other two guys reacted in various ways, ranging from barely audible utterances to very physical actions. “Harem?” Evelyn asked cautiously.
“Oh, did we forget to tell you? Liam’s the first harem-magus in centuries!” Carmilla calmly clarified. Even as she said it, she looked over at Randolph with a naughty grin, anticipating his inevitable overreaction.
Like clockwork, Randolph launched to his feet, up in passionate throes of burning rage as he pounded the table as hard as he could, attracting the attention and ire of all the other students in the dining hall. “Damn you, Liam Elloway! Damn youuu!”
Chapter 21
I Need More Power
I spent the morning studying and snuggling with Dahlia and Carmilla, no doubt tempting another void incursion, but both of them had left to attend classes and meet up with their academic advisers in the early afternoon.
“What’s an adviser?” I asked, having never really heard the term used here before.
“The teacher who recommends which courses you attend each month and helps you plan your studies,” Dahlia explained patiently with a soft smile. That smile stirred my guts in the most pleasant way every time I saw it.
“Mine is Professor Whately,” Carmilla said, sucking on a blood-soaked lollipop. It was amusing to watch her dip it in the glass of transmuted blood I’d prepared for her. “I guess yours is the Headmistress. I’m surprised it’s never come up.”
I shrugged. “It’s gotta be her,” I agreed. “She pretty much doesn’t want me to waste time with anything other than necromancy.”
Carmilla nodded as she licked the lolly absentmindedly, her eyes glued to a book but clearly only pretending to study its contents. “Not surprising, given how little potential you showed for every other kind of magic.”
That stung a bit.
When they’d left, I tried to continue to study, but my thoughts kept turning to Memento Morikawa, the pink-haired goth chick who’d confronted me at breakfast. I was nervous about meeting her at sundown, but that wasn’t all. I was excited. I groaned at the realization, though. I already had both Carmilla and Dahlia. How was I not satisfied?
And yet, I wasn’t. I’d set my sights on her, and my subconscious had already settled on recruiting her into my so-called harem. It was a foregone conclusion, though I wouldn’t entertain the thought out loud yet. Nonetheless, she had potential, that much I could tell. And not only that, she was a necromancer like me, and Dahlia gave the okay as far as I could tell.
But what about Carmilla? Yikes. She was decidedly less on board with the plan, and I couldn’t blame her. So far, Memento had been nothing but abrasive toward her and ignored Carmilla’s possessiveness of me. These were all things I’d have to address sooner or later, and I wasn’t looking forward to it much.
I sat idly, pretending to study, but my thoughts flew to Memento again. What’s with the horns? Was she a demon? Why did I have such a strong pull toward her and not, for example, Evelyn, who was every bit as gorgeous? I still didn’t understand this harem shit. It was surreal even to spend time thinking about it.
A few weeks ago, I’d been a college student working overnight shifts at a supermarket, stocking shelves. Now I was some badass sorcerer traveling to strange planets and dimensions, killing evil wizards for their magic loot. Whoa. Articulating that, even in my head, was insanity. How was this my life now? And that doesn’t even bring up the polygamous relationship I found myself in.
I had the restlessness that comes when you get overwhelmed with the rapidity of shifting circumstances. What I mistook for excitement at meeting Memento that evening had ballooned into a greater understanding of just why I was so listless recently. This situation was simply too much for any person. And yet, here I was, surviving. No, not surviving. I was thriving.
My eyes turned to the enormous pile of treasure I had yet to convert into mana to fuel my cultivation. If there was anything I should do before I met Memento, it was probably dealing with that and then maybe meeting up with the Headmistress to see if she could give me further instructions.
I’d memorized the mana absorption procedures, so I sat down in front of the pile and extended a hand, chanting the overlong incantation that began the ritual. I inhaled the dust of the magic items, and it began.
Hmmm. What did I want? Ah, yes.
I found myself swimming in space again, listening to the quiet voice of Uther in my mind as he helped me to focus my intent on what it was that I desired. I felt the stinging pain in my leg and decided it couldn’t be delayed any further.
I imagined my body healed. Stronger. I could see it in my mind’s eye, and I knew if I could imagine it here, I would have it. Good. I prepar
ed to end the ritual, reaching for the green orb, but I was rejected.
You think that’s all you’re getting for that pile of treasure you brought in? Uther’s voice seemed to mock me affectionately.
I wasn’t prepared for this. I thought of Uther. I could always go with powering him up, at least. That was a safe bet. I imagined him as large as the Headmistress’s wolf—bear-sized. I pictured it in my mind, me riding atop Uther’s back, with my new enhanced body. I looked like Chris Pratt, shirtless in Guardians of the Galaxy, no longer like Chris Pratt, shirtless in Parks and Recreation.
At last, I had finished. I tried to end the ritual again.
But wait, Uther said, There’s more. I had only used half of the treasure.
“How can there be this much? You’re already going to be as huge as the Headmistress’s familiar. She’s been doing this for decades at least!”
Another latent power of yours, likely tied to your connection to your harem, he reasoned. Remember, those girls enhance your power. They make its evolution far more efficient.
I wasn’t about to complain, but I had come to this ritual woefully underprepared. “Can I give power to Carmilla and Dahlia?” I asked.
Maybe, he said. I don’t make the rules.
I tried to imagine Carmilla, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t see her in my mind’s eye.
Try to see her beside you. In the context of you.
I tried again, this time imagining her next to me. There she was! It was working. But so far, there was nothing special about what I saw. I tried to picture her in my mind, glowing with power, taking on a more ferocious form, but it wasn’t working.
Imagine a trigger, maybe, Uther suggested. Perhaps your empowering of her must be an act.
This time I imagined tracing my fingers in the air, writing out a glowing glyph shaped vaguely like a smiley face with vampire teeth. When I finished sketching the symbol in my mind, I saw Carmilla change. The whites of her eyes went jet black, and the red glowed as fiercely as ever. Her fangs elongated, and her nails became claw-like. Black bat wings emerged from her back, and her ears became long and pointy. She was still hot, thankfully.
Esoterica 1: Liam's Awakening: A Lovecraftian Fantasy Harem Adventure (Esoterica Chronicles) Page 17