by Nichols, TJ
Saka walked around him and the demons holding him, making a formal circle. The air shimmered then settled. This magic was different. The circle not as strong. He realized why as Miniti made her own, snapping it around the tent with barely a movement of her fingers.
He refused to look down, so he stared at her.
Saka ran a hand down his back, over his butt, over his hip. His hand cupped Angus’s groin. He was not going to look down and see if there was a knife missing. There would be.
What was Saka going to do with it?
Like last night the anticipation built. Then just before he was about to ask what Saka was going to do, the cool blade touched his shoulder.
“I could make you like this if we had longer. You would get hard at the sight of these blades.”
That would never happen. Saka’s hand moved over Angus’s dick—his body didn’t know if it should be afraid or aroused. Miniti was watching his every reaction. Was she waiting for him to cry or plead for mercy?
The blade at his shoulder moved, and his skin stung. He grunted but didn’t move. Saka repeated. Angus kept his eyes open and his chin up, he fought to keep his breathing even and to think only of the next breath. When Saka released him, he was hard.
Miniti nodded. “Put your mark on him, Saka.”
Saka moved in front of him. He showed Angus the blade. It was clean of blood. What? Had he made no cuts? Saka placed his hand over Angus’s heart. His skin warmed.
“Now you will bleed for me.” Saka removed his hand, then cut a symbol into Angus’s left pectoral.
Angus hissed and flinched. Every drawn-out cut stung. His eyes prickled. He kept his teeth clamped together. He would not give them the pleasure of hearing him cry out. The demons held him up and still until Saka had finished carving a symbol into his skin. Blood welled and shimmered and ran down his chest. Angus watched one rivulet race toward his jeans.
Blood magic made of fear and pain. A little more magic rebalanced in Demonside.
He sucked in several deep breaths. He much preferred sex magic.
Saka dismissed the circle and gave Miniti a half bow.
Miniti watched the blood. “It is a pity they will come. He would be days of fun.”
Saka nodded. “I could train him well and get much magic out of him. But one isn’t enough to rebalance what is taken.” He indicated to Angus. “Would you like more?”
He was there, and they were talking around him. And he was nothing. Something to be used to rebalance the magic that warlocks were using. He was being treated the way demons were treated on the other side of the void. There had to be a better way to keep the flow between the two worlds.
Miniti handed Saka a cup, and Saka collected some of the blood that was still rolling out of the cuts. He didn’t look Angus in the eye. He didn’t speak or give any indication that he gave a damn. Angus didn’t know him at all. Saka had become a very different demon. Angus tried to free his arms, but the demons gripped harder. Theirs claws pressed into his skin. He wanted to yell at them to stop, that he wasn’t a walking store of magic from the other side of the void.
But Saka’s warning to be silent remained with him.
That, and he was full of magic to be returned to Demonside, and Miniti would quite happily take his soul before he was ready to hand it over. Miniti smiled at Angus. He glared at her.
Saka turned away and handed the cup to her as though it were perfectly normal to have a sip of human blood. Just how many times had Saka done this?
Angus didn’t want to know.
He knew his father had been through several demons. Drawing magic from Demonside through them and then using up their innate magic, killing them, without a second thought.
Miniti added some liquid to the cup and drank his blood, her gaze on him. Her fingernails tapped the glass. “Take him to the mat to await collection.”
She broke the circle. The demons holding his arm didn’t release him, but lowered his arms to his side. He tried to break free again but failed. It wasn’t like he had anywhere he could run to, but he didn’t need to be held either. The demons turned him and marched him toward the door.
“If no one claims him by dusk, I want a public ritual. We must show off the power of the one we caught.” Her voice was level as though they were discussing the weather.
Angus stumbled as panic punched upward. There was no way he was doing anything in public, and he certainly wasn’t getting cut again. His back stung, and the symbol Saka had cut into him burned. Saka had freaking marked him…. For all Angus knew, that had magical consequences. How was he going to explain that back home? How was he going to be able to talk about any of it?
He couldn’t. He didn’t want anyone to know what had happened.
“We must take more like him before the rivers sink deeper and Demonside dries up,” Miniti said.
“Or we hope for change on the other side.”
“I fear that won’t come in time.”
Angus glanced back. But the demons didn’t stop to let him hear the rest of the conversation. The sun struck his skin, and he squinted. They took him to the mat and made him sit. The guards didn’t leave. What would they do if he got up and walked around? There was nowhere for him to go, and he was now painfully aware that things could have been much worse. That had been etched into his skin so he could never forget.
He glanced down at the carved sigil. It had stopped bleeding. The tracks of blood were drying in the sun. He rubbed some dried blood off.
Things could still get worse if no one came for him.
The red sand reflected the heat and light. His mouth dried as he sweated. The sweat stung the cuts. He put his shirt on as a hat and let it fall over his shoulders. He closed his eyes and let the curious stares and conversation around him sink away. In his own mind, time slipped away. He didn’t dwell on what had happened or what could happen, instead he let his consciousness connect the world around him. He knew what Earth felt like. Touching the four elements was basic, wizard-level magic. Demonside was different. The four elements were there, but they weren’t familiar. Beneath the sand was rock, caverns and tunnels carved out by centuries of water flow. There were things living down there too. Big things. He pulled back to the surface when one sensed him. Gradually he became aware of someone sitting on the mat with him.
Saka.
Angus didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t want to look at him. While he hated going into Miniti’s tent, what Saka had done to him was nothing different than what warlocks did to their demons. Demon blood for a spell, using the demon as a conduit for magic until it collapsed from exhaustion. Or died.
He was far from dead, and Saka had made sure that he was fine after every ritual.
No one killed their demon deliberately, not the way Saka had suggested happened to humans here… did they? But those demons who rampaged through the streets were killed.
His knowledge of the wizard underground and what he’d seen here tumbled together. He’d had reservations about being a warlock before. Now he had more. But if he did nothing, if he walked away, then nothing would change and more would be taken. Demons used for magic. Humans sacrificed to rebalance.
If there was no balance, Demonside would die and there would be no magic.
“They are bridging the void.” Saka’s voice was soft.
Angus opened his eyes. “How can you tell?”
Saka smiled, but there was no joy in it. “I have been working magic for longer than you have been alive. I can feel the tear starting to form in my world. It was how I was able to make ready when you bridged the void and answer your call.” He fisted his hand and placed it against his chest. “You are my warlock. Do not forget. I am your Demonside master.”
“I am your earthbound master.” He repeated the words by rote, but here there was a shimmer of power in them. Something changed in the air. It sharpened.
Saka put his hands on the edge of the mat Angus was sitting on. A circle sprang up. “I look forward to your summons,
warlock.” Saka nodded, then stood and stepped back.
Everyone watching stepped back, forming an even bigger circle. They linked hands and started humming. The vibrations rumbled through the ground. The air crackled, and then there was a person standing in the circle with him. Behind her he could just make out a room and figures, but it wouldn’t come into focus.
The woman glanced around with a sneer on her lip, then looked down. “Angus Donohue.” She said his name clearly as though expecting a demon to challenge her. She paused for a moment. None did. “You walking out of here, or are you injured?”
Angus stood. He glanced at Saka. There was no way he could come to Demonside again. But Saka would come if summoned. He had no choice. Angus had an inkling of how that must feel.
The woman took his arm, much like the demons had. One step and they were across the void. The room was cold and dim after the heat of the desert market. A vampry demon and another warlock also stood in the circle. While he knew there was a circle, Angus couldn’t see it. It was like being blinded.
On the other side of the circle were three other warlocks, including his father.
Chapter Ten
Saka stood there for several moments after Angus was gone, returned to Humanside. He was glad that someone had come for him. He was. He just didn’t feel it within him. He was strangely empty. The same way he had been when he’d realized that Kitu was gone.
He breathed in the hot air and then exhaled.
He had more of a connection to Angus than he’d ever had with Kitu. The bond between warlock and demon could only be broken by death. Usually the demon’s. He closed his eyes, aware of the people moving around him and the chatter.
They were impressed with Angus and the way he had handled himself and the amount of magic that had been released. They were happy with him. It was always good when the people had faith in their mage. If the people liked him, it would be harder for Miniti to remove him if she found him too troublesome.
If things went badly with Angus, Saka could become a problem. The one thing in Saka’s favor was that he’d handled a warlock before and had succeeded in making him see the flaws in what the humans were doing.
With Angus he was already two steps in. Angus knew something was off, and he had been a willing participant in the magic. A smile formed on Saka’s lips. His penis started to thicken at the memory.
The liquid heat cooled just as fast as it had formed. There had been cold metal in Angus’s eyes after the knives had been brought out. Saka hung his head. The rules of the college tied Angus as much as the rules of Demonside bound him. If he’d refused, Miniti would’ve done it. Or worse the other mage would’ve. Usi’s specialty was blood magic, and she was very good at extracting every drop. But where Saka created pleasure—usually—Usi went for fear and pain.
Miniti liked that about her other mage. She also liked that she got the soul. However, as much as she liked inflicting pain, she wasn’t stupid, and she knew that sex magic was a nonlethal replenishing source. She also knew that many mages didn’t have the skill or patience to do it.
Angus had made him hungry for more.
A smile formed. He’d really like another attempt.
But if Angus came back, he would need to be retrieved again, and Saka knew that while getting taken once was allowable, twice would be seen as a failure. Angus was more valuable alive and on Humanside.
Saka opened his eyes, sensing Usi approach.
Her green skin glimmered, shifting color from light to dark. Her short pink hair stood straight up from her skull ridges. Many considered her to be very beautiful.
She smiled, her teeth small and sharp, as she stood opposite him. “Missing your new toy?”
“Wondering how long it will be before he summons me.”
“There will be an audience.”
“Of that I have no doubt.” He turned away. “The gathering draws closer; we must plot a way.”
Usi nodded. “The scouts brought no good news. Our previous wells are dry. The river has sunk again.”
Saka swore by the sun and the stars on both sides of the void as he stood. “How much more do we need to do?”
Usi hooked her arm through his. As they left the mats, someone rolled them up and took them away, honored to have been the mat provider for such an important event. “We take stragglers and too few.”
“We take too many and they will retaliate and kill more of us.” That method had been tried a hundred years ago. The unwritten rules had come out of it. Saka hadn’t been born at the time, but like all mages, he knew his history.
“Then we retaliate and take more of them,” she snarled.
“And then we chase our tails and become buried deeper in the sand.” He shook his head as they made their way through the town. “We must convince them to stop sucking us dry.”
She gave a gurgling laugh. “Is that what you said last night?”
Saka stopped walking. “It was productive.”
“He’d still be screaming and sobbing if I had him.”
“True, but I would rather not alienate someone who could be an ally.”
“Humans don’t care about us.”
“No, but if Demonside collapses, Humanside will not fare well.” It was a theory that some mages had floated at the last gathering. It made sense to Saka, and he had supported it. Others did not. They felt that the only effect would be the loss of magic from Humanside. Now he knew they were wrong. Angus had said his world was growing colder.
“They will kill him like your last warlock. They will learn he is a traitor.”
That was a risk. But Angus had already been figuring out the truth. Saka had seen the doubts, and lust, in Angus’s eyes in those first few seconds. It had been that first impression that had made him want the warlock. He’d rather keep Angus than let him die and try again.
Better the warlock he knew.
“Perhaps. Have you received any fresh traitors?” He knew she hadn’t. They had to wait for the warlocks in charge to send traitors across. They controlled how much magic was restored, and they were sending fewer humans.
She purred. “Did you want to help me question one?” She leaned in and licked his ear with her long pointed tongue. “You could fuck while I cut.”
“My knife skills are not rusted.” He’d taken the time to learn to meld his skills together so one ability emphasized the other. Usually he could separate ritual from his own pleasure. Angus had blurred that line this morning.
“I forget you like them to cry for entirely the wrong reasons.” Usi opened the tent flap for him, as was protocol. He was the senior mage, the favorite. Something that Usi would love to take from him even as they worked together.
Saka smiled. “I prefer them to beg me for more.”
Chapter Eleven
The chair was cold and uncomfortable. The heater was noisy. And there were too many sets of eyes on Angus.
He’d been given a shower—to remove the taint of Demonside—and had his cuts treated by a healer. The whole time she’d been working her magic, he’d been thinking about the demon not that far from her and the way the magic was coming across the void to be used to heal him. Saka could’ve healed him if he’d wanted.
Saka shouldn’t have made the cuts in the first place.
The magic that Angus had rebalanced in Demonside had now flowed back to heal him. Part of it, or all of it? Did any warlock ever think about the cost, or were demons and Demonside just a resource to be exploited?
Now the cuts on his back, that had never bled, were nothing but fine scars. The mark on his chest was a knotted scar that looked as though there was red metal trapped in the wound. As though part of Saka was in his skin. He remembered the heat of the demon’s hand before he’d done it, seen the look in his dark eyes. There had been no glee, but there hadn’t been regret either.
Angus suppressed a shiver. He should’ve asked more questions instead of withdrawing into his own thoughts, but the shock of what had happened and the a
nxiety of waiting for rescue had taken over. He hadn’t wanted to see any demons. He was regretting that now as he sat before the warlocks who had rescued him. They had observed him in the shower, watched him get healed, and watched him some more as he sat there wearing only a towel.
His father hadn’t rushed to his side or asked about his welfare. He was sure his father was thinking only of the humiliation of having his son taken to Demonside.
“There is no hold over him,” one of male warlocks said.
“That marking can’t be removed. It was made with blood magic.” The warlock who had healed the cuts had her head tilted to the side as though perplexed by the problem.
Only the healer’s demon was now present. A green skinned man with impressive ridges on his skull and dark orange hair tufting out of them. He stood there silently. Why didn’t he fight back? But Angus already knew. If the demon did anything wrong, his warlock would kill him and move on.
The unwritten rules were meant to protect everyone. There were three that he was now clear on.
Demons can’t kill humans in Humanside, only in Demonside.
Demons had to wait twenty-four hours before killing a human to rebalance the magic.
Humans can’t kill demons for magic.
And yet they were. The occasional rampage was an excuse to take a huge amount of magic. It was no wonder that some demons were unhappy with the way things were.
“Check his memories,” his father said.
“Or you could talk to me, since I am sitting here.” Angus really wanted a hot meal and some sleep. He was tired of being ignored and treated like some kind of experiment. There had been little concern about how he was coping. No one had asked. They had just ordered him to wash, to stand, to sit. He had expected more from his father. He shouldn’t have.
“We may not get the truth. They may have altered your mind.” His father looked as though he were serious.
Angus lifted one eyebrow. He really didn’t want them in his mind. They would see what he’d done with Saka. That would not go down well. “Ah, no. They used me in some kind of ritual, thus the cuts.”