Thaumatology 05 - Disturbia

by Teasdale, Niall

  Lily flinched, her face screwing up into a grimace. ‘He already has.’

  In the centre of the room, perhaps six feet in the air, something began to ripple and writhe. Light sprang from nowhere, twisting and flickering, refracted by something which was not really there, but it was growing. ‘See if you can get the girl out of that collar,’ Ceri snapped. ‘I’ll try to take out the demon.’

  Lily dashed across the floor toward the girl as Ceri began gathering her power and the air finally split open. Out of the gash in reality a demon stepped. Goat hooved, horned, and bat winged, it stood well over ten feet tall. It’s gaze swept the room, taking in the three women. It opened its jaws to reveal sharp, vicious teeth, and roared in pleasure.

  ‘Take what you will!’ Newton yelled from his podium. The demon ignored him; it planned to do that anyway. The choice was two or one, Lily and the blonde or Ceri. The enormous member between its legs began to stiffen as it selected its first choice and took a step toward Lily.

  ‘Demon, I bind thee,’ Ceri called out. The words were unnecessary, but she wanted its attention on her. ‘Let thine unclean flesh be gone from this realm.’ She heard a gurgle of rage from Newton and the monster turned, its blazing eyes turning toward Ceri. ‘Return to the realm you came from,’ Ceri continued and the ground shook as the demon started toward her. ‘Pass beyond the veil and…’

  A fist the size of her head flew toward Ceri’s face and she ducked sideways, trying to maintain the pattern of the banishment. A hoof swung out, catching her in the ribs and tossing her across the room to slam into a wall. She heard Lily scream her name through the ringing in her ears, and just managed to duck as another hoof smacked into the stone where her head had been. She rolled, managing to get to her knees. As her head rose she saw Newton, his hand full of fire; was he that stupid?

  He was. The ball of flame arced toward her and she barked out, ‘Aros!’ The fireball sparked as it struck her barrier and dropped to the floor exploding into a sphere of flame. Newton shrieked as his robe caught, but Ceri was more concerned with the demon. She dropped, rolling sideways, and gasped as a clawed hand swept over her. Her hand stretched upward toward the creature, letting loose a ball of raw energy. She heard a roar of pain and a shuddering footfall; the demon had stepped back.

  Swinging around toward Newton, she saw another fireball forming in his hand, but she was faster. Her hand stretched out and he fell backward, the flames dying, as the bolt of energy smashed through his chest. There was a shriek from behind her and she turned. Another ripple of energy had formed behind the demon, growing to envelope it. It looked as though it were being dragged backward into the rift, even though it was not quite wide enough yet to let the creature through. There was a sound like ripping flesh, and then the demon and the rift were gone.

  Ceri stood, blinking. The adrenaline was starting to drain from her body. ‘Lily?’ she said.

  ‘I’m here,’ Lily said from right beside her.

  ‘You’d better call the police.’

  ‘Sure… What are you going to do?’

  Pain seared through Ceri’s side as the broken ribs made themselves known. ‘I’m… I’m going to faint,’ Ceri said just before everything went black.

  Part Six: A Portrait of Revenge

  Kennington, London, August 30th, 2011

  ‘I’m under orders to rest,’ Ceri said, ‘not skulk in the lounge eating soup or something.’

  Twill hovered over her like an angry wasp as she lay on the lounger, in the sun. ‘If you stay out here,’ the fairy said, ‘Lily will have to rub oil onto your back and then there will be very little resting.’

  ‘Nuh-huh, Twill,’ Lily said from the other lounger. ‘I saw what that thing did to her last night. She may have fixed the bones, but I’m not touching her, that way, until at least tonight.’

  ‘You see that you don’t,’ Twill admonished, though she looked as though some of her anger was dissipating; Lily was being sensible, that had shock value. There were also fewer people around for her to worry over. Carter, Cheryl, and Alec had decided that the party was over with the demise of Newton and had gone back to their own homes. That left Tawni and Lia, and her normal charges.

  ‘Twill,’ Ceri said, remembering something, ‘have you ever heard of a fae named Gloriandel Wintergreen?’

  Twill’s face lost its anger entirely, turning instead to a serious, almost sad expression. She drifted down, settling herself cross-legged on the peak of Ceri’s breast. ‘Not in a long time,’ she said.

  ‘Who is she, or was she?’

  ‘The Wintergreens are a powerful family in the Seelie Court,’ Twill replied. ‘Highly political, their reach stretches very wide and they’ve been known to use some… quite extreme tactics to maintain their power. It’s said that angering them is the last thing you’ll ever do. You haven’t, have you?’

  ‘Belvedere said that Gloriandel Wintergreen had given Ceri her protection,’ Lily said.

  ‘Belvedere?’ Twill almost spat the name. ‘You went talking to that son-of-a-goblin?’

  ‘He’s got his fingers in just about every underworld porn and prostitution racket going, Twill,’ Lily replied. ‘I knew he’d have a lead on Newton.’

  ‘What did you give him for the information?’ Twill asked tightly.

  ‘Five minutes with his hands on me,’ Ceri replied. ‘He seemed very interested in me.’

  ‘That isn’t a good thing, Ceri,’ Twill stated.

  ‘Yeah, I figured that out for myself. But I don’t think he’d harm me. I got the feeling he took this threat of Gloriandel’s seriously.’

  The tiny woman shrugged slightly. ‘Gloriandel Wintergreen ran from Court over a century ago and no one has seen or heard from her since, though the rumours persist that she’s still alive.’

  ‘Someone’s heard from her,’ Lily said, ‘if she’s giving out warnings.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Twill said. Her head turned in the direction of the front gate. ‘Two human men and a woman, a witch.’

  ‘Damn,’ Ceri said, ‘I was hoping they’d wait longer. Time to get dressed, Lil. The Greycoats are here.’

  Lily was distinctly grumpy about having to come down from the roof and the dress she put on was very tight and somewhat translucent. Chief Inspector Barry looked just as grumpy when he saw her, but he was visiting their house. Ceri’s excuse for wearing just an over-sized shirt was that she was recuperating. Kate’s smirk at the discomfort of both her superiors made it even harder to take the whole thing seriously.

  ‘Did you really have to kill him?’ Barry asked, his voice an annoyed grumble.

  ‘He didn’t give me a lot of choice,’ Ceri replied.

  ‘Calling for tactical backup would have been a better idea,’ John suggested.

  ‘And then you’d have a dead blonde on your hands,’ Lily said, ‘assuming you found the body.’ Barry grunted, nodding slightly. ‘How is she?’ Lily asked.

  ‘Who is she?’ Ceri added.

  ‘Millicent Hargreaves,’ John said. ‘She’s in hospital, but it’s largely psychological damage. He picked her up near King’s Cross with a promise of five grand if she’d do whatever he wanted.’

  ‘She barely looked old enough to be out on her own,’ Ceri said.

  ‘Sixteen,’ John said, sounding disgusted.

  ‘It’s an old story,’ Barry commented. ‘Ran away from home in Leeds looking for a career in the Big City. Ended up whoring herself out on a street corner when she couldn’t get a job.’

  ‘That’s been happening since London was a couple of scruffy buildings on the Thames,’ Lily said. ‘Come to the bright lights of London to make your fortune, end up on your back just to stay in food. At least she hadn’t started on the drugs.’ Ceri glanced at her pet; Lily was speaking from far too much experience.

  ‘What’s your opinion on this ghost?’ Barry asked. ‘Will she stop now the man who killed her is dead?’

  ‘Hopefully,’ Ceri replied, ‘but honestly I’m not sure. Theore
tically she should. Her focus has gone. That would be enough to lay a normal ghost to rest, but she was something… well, something else. There was something odd about her.’

  ‘So we’re hoping, but not sure?’ John said, an eyebrow raised.

  Ceri nodded. ‘That about covers it.’

  ‘Oh,’ Kate spoke up suddenly, breaking the silence that followed, ‘one of the guys from Cardiff asked if you’d call. Detective… Croft?’

  Ceri nodded and then looked to Barry. ‘That okay?’ she asked.

  ‘The Metropolitan Police Force is always happy to assist its sister forces,’ Barry replied. ‘Don’t forget to get your expenses in by tomorrow.’

  Lily giggled. ‘What do we put brothel cover charges down as?’

  Without even skipping a beat, Barry replied with, ‘Miscellaneous costs. I’ll sign it off.’ He shrugged slightly at the surprised looks he got from the two civilians. ‘That would be comparatively normal compared to some of the things I have to sign off on.’

  Ceri, for one, really did not want to know.

  ~~~

  Tawni closed her mobile phone and sighed. ‘I’m screwed,’ she said. ‘I’m short a major scene, I can’t use the stuff with Monty or Chrissy, and I’m supposed to be going to editing next week.’

  ‘You can’t get someone in to do some more shooting?’ Ceri asked from her lounger. ‘Cruise didn’t strike me as the kind of guy to miss the opportunity for sex. Lia’s still here.’ She looked down at Lia’s back; she was stretched out on a towel since there were only three loungers. Ceri’s eyebrows twitched slightly; the girl had a nice arse.

  ‘Cruise won’t do a damn thing unless he gets paid extra,’ Tawni said and sighed again. ‘And I can’t ask Lia to put in the extra time without pay. I wouldn’t do that to her.’ Lia turned her head, as though just shifting her weight to the other cheek. ‘We have some insurance at least,’ Tawni went on, ‘the other investors will get their money back.’

  ‘But you’ll be out of pocket?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘I’ll be back to square one.’

  ‘I can’t believe I’m going to say this,’ Lily said. ‘Have you still got access to the cameras and sound gear?’ Ceri’s eyes lifted from Lia’s behind as they widened and turned toward Lily.

  ‘Uh, yeah, until Friday,’ Tawni said.

  Lily gave a sigh which came close to matching the ones Tawni had been heaving. ‘We film in the dungeon,’ the half-succubus said. ‘Fix the cameras, no script, we’ll just wing it. A bit of submissive, lesbian sex in a dungeon. Lia, you in?’

  The Dutch girl’s head lifted. ‘I get to have sex with a succubus? Hell yes!’

  ‘Half-succubus,’ Lily reminded her, ‘but I’m told the effect is the same.’

  ‘You’d do that?!’ Tawni asked. She sounded surprised and incredibly relieved. ‘You wanted out. You got out. I can’t ask you to…’

  ‘No, you can’t,’ Lily said, ‘but I can offer. And I won’t be doing what I wanted to get out of. I’ll be having sex with some friends in front of a camera.’

  Tawni was frowning. ‘I’m not buying it. It’s good, but it’s missing something. We need a dominatrix.’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Lily said, ‘I know one we could probably get to do it.’

  ‘You do?’

  ‘Yeah. She might take a bit of persuasion, but if we give her a mask she should be okay with it.’

  Ceri was frowning; Lily had never mentioned knowing another Dom, but then, until recently, Ceri had not known much about Lily’s earlier life. ‘Why would a Dom need a mask for that?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘She’s a little timid,’ Lily replied. ‘Has to get into character to pull it off, but once she gets going she’s great. I think to do it on camera she’d need the anonymity, but I’m sure she’d be willing. To help out an old friend, y’know?’

  ‘Who is she? Do I know her?’ Ceri asked. Lily looked at her, a faint smile on her lips. ‘Lil?’ The half-succubus’ lips quirked a little, but she said nothing. Ceri’s eyes widened. ‘Oh no…’

  ‘You’ll wear a mask,’ Lily said calmly. ‘No one will know it’s you.’

  ‘I can’t…’

  ‘You won’t have to actually do anything,’ Lily continued, ignoring Ceri’s protests, ‘just stand around looking menacing while your slaves entertain you.’ She glanced at Tawni. ‘We’ll need collars.’

  ‘Lil,’ Ceri tried again, ‘I really don’t think I can do that knowing it’s going to be seen by… other people.’

  Lily looked at her, her beautiful face quite serious now. ‘You can, love. You’ve faced demons and ancient Sidhe, and you’ve risked your life to save just about everyone. This is nothing. This is easy.’

  Ceri looked back at her pet, felt the confidence Lily had in her through the link. She turned to Tawni. ‘How fast can you get that equipment here? If I have time to think about this I’ll freak.’

  Tawni squeaked with joy and grabbed her phone. ‘This is going to be so much fun!’ she said as she dialled.

  Lily grinned and rose from her lounger. ‘Come on, love,’ she said to Ceri, ‘we need to get you dressed up and psyched up.’

  Psyched up… Ceri climbed to her feet feeling mildly bewildered. Yes, she was certainly going to need some psyching up.

  August 31st

  Ceri fell onto the bed, still tightly laced into her corset and wearing her high-heeled thigh boots. She felt exhausted, but Lily cuddling up beside her still felt good. Her hand curled around Lily, reaching up to stroke the back of her neck, and finding the thick, leather collar with its four D-rings still in place.

  ‘I can’t believe I did that,’ Ceri said.

  ‘What? Enjoyed yourself?’

  Ceri giggled. ‘You’re right, I did.’

  Lily giggled in turn. ‘So did I. If I have to remember being in a porn movie, I’d rather that was the memory.’

  Ceri was silent for a few seconds. ‘Those places we went to, that was your life before… well, before?’

  ‘Yes,’ Lily said, her voice quiet. ‘It wasn’t all bad. Some of it was, but not all of it.’

  Ceri was silent again and when she spoke she sounded a little embarrassed. ‘I… well… I enjoyed some of it.’ Lily chuckled softly. ‘I guess if it’s something you don’t have to do…’

  She felt Lily nod against her shoulder. ‘I spent so much time hating what I was becoming that I forgot I enjoyed it sometimes… and I was really good at it.’ Her head moved again and this time her lips touched Ceri’s throat softly. ‘You’re good at it too.’ Another soft kiss. ‘Maybe we should get me a proper pet collar. With a padlock. I’d like that.’

  ‘I, um, did enjoy making you go down on me,’ Ceri admitted. ‘I know I wasn’t supposed to actually do anything, but…’

  ‘Of course you were,’ Lily said, her voice suggesting it was obvious.

  ‘But you said…’

  ‘If I’d told you you were expected to really take part you’d have said no, but I knew you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself.’

  ‘You sneaky succubus!’

  Giggling, Lily leaned forward and kissed Ceri’s throat again. ‘What can pet do to make it up to her gorgeous Mistress?’

  Ceri slipped a finger through the ring at the back of Lily’s collar and used it to guide her downward. ‘I swear you’ll be the death of me one day, pet. But at least I’ll go out smiling.’

  ~~~

  ‘Detective Croft please,’ Ceri said into the phone. ‘It’s Ceridwyn Brent.’

  There was a short pause while the line was reconnected and then the familiar English voice. ‘Ceri? Thanks for calling.’

  ‘Well, I’m always happy to help,’ Ceri replied. ‘We got Newton, you shouldn’t have any more mysterious car accidents.’

  ‘Great,’ Croft replied, ‘but that’s not why I wanted to talk to you. We’ve hit another wall on this Oblivion business. All we could get from the dealer was that he thought they were making the stuff at a farm somewhere. All the supplying was done by de
ad drop. We’re stuck.’

  Ceri frowned. ‘And you think I can help somehow? Oh! Maybe I can… You said a farm?’

  ‘Uh-huh. Do you know how many farms and disused farmhouses there are out here?’

  ‘I can guess. Look, I’ll make some calls.’

  Croft sounded relieved. ‘Thanks. I’ll owe you one.’

  Hanging up, Ceri dialled another number and waited for an answer. ‘Rhys? I hope I didn’t get you out of bed, it’s Ceri…’

  Battersea

  Alexandra raised her head, frowning. ‘There’s something coming.’ She turned slightly. ‘From the river.’

  Ceri lifted her muzzle and sniffed. She could make out wolf-scent, humans, the river itself, but nothing out of the ordinary. The other wolves around the clearing were also sniffing and seemed to be getting nothing either. Ceri looked at the old woman, her brows creasing.

  ‘A woman,’ Alexandra said. ‘Angry… a spirit of some sort.’

  Reaching for her throat, Ceri growled as she invoked her collar to turn her back to human. ‘This is mine to deal with. You need to protect the pack.’

  ‘You are part of the pack, Ceridwyn,’ Alexandra reminded her.

  ‘She’s dangerous,’ Ceri replied. ‘She’s already killed three werewolves. Put a barrier up around the clearing and leave her to me. Please.’

  Alexandra nodded. ‘Very well.’

  Ceri glanced at Michael as she started toward the other clearing. ‘You’re staying here too, love. There’s nothing you can do to her.’ He looked distinctly displeased, but he stayed put as she headed for the trees. Behind her she felt the barrier begin to form; Alexandra would draw on the power of the pack to help her, Julia would not get to them.

  Her Sight showed her the spirit moving across the water of the lake before Julia made herself visible. Ceri came to a stop in the middle of the clearing, her nerves on a knife edge and her power already built and ready to react. She could feel Lily becoming concerned, but pushed that aside; she needed all her wits about her.