Studies in Demonolgy: the complete series

by Nichols, TJ

  They should have done a ritual sooner.

  “You’re quiet today.” Angus glanced at him and then returned his gaze to the rapidly changing landscape. Dormant plants unfurled. Their leaves spread out like uncurling fists. That was the Demonside he remembered from his youth—bands of green along rivers that only dried for a short time. His mentor remembered a time when Lifeblood Mountain was lush and the rivers never sank.

  For the moment, the desert looked very livable, but that was an illusion. An awakened desert was just as dangerous as a sleeping one—maybe more so.

  “There is a lot to think about.” He couldn’t lie and say last night didn’t weigh on his mind. He suspected thoughts of death were filling a lot of minds. “I can’t teach you everything before you need to go back. So what do you need to learn?”

  Saka glanced at his hands. There was no red blood caking his nails. He’d scrubbed well. But it would be a while before he could face teaching Angus any more blood magic.

  Angus’s eyebrows drew down. “You’re asking me?”

  “I know that you want to learn healing, but you aren’t ready for that.” And it wouldn’t be useful for fighting warlocks. “What do you need to defeat the college? You know them better than I do.”

  Angus was silent. Until then, lessons had always been decided by Saka. They had gone through basics like sex and blood magic, and the drawing up of magic from what was around. But using that magic and directing it with purpose was much harder to do and do well. Mages spent years learning. Angus—and Demonside—didn’t have years.

  “I need to be able to defend myself.” He touched his stomach again.

  “I can get another to teach you to fight.” He would check to make sure Angus was truly healed before he let that happen. If something tore open, it would be longer before Angus could go back. And as much as he didn’t want Angus to leave, the longer he stayed, the more risk there was that Demonside would leach the life out of him.

  “I meant with magic too. I was able to deflect the rain, so I stayed dry this morning. There must be a way to use magic to stop magic….”

  Saka considered him for a moment. “We don’t attack each other with magic. That would break the oaths we swear as mages.”

  “Warlocks aren’t mages. They use the power they have.”

  “Your father used a knife.”

  Angus stopped walking. “If he’d used magic, I’d be dead. He was counting on his demon ensuring I died here. That way he could honestly say I’d been taken again.”

  “And then argue his demon was dangerous and should die, thus giving him more magic.”

  Angus nodded. “Something like that.”

  “I can’t teach you what I don’t know.” They had stopped near a part of the river that widened into a lake. The lake was fed from underground and should be there all year round. It had been dry when they arrived at Lifeblood.

  Rain pattered on the leaves above their heads. Away from the tents, the noise of life had faded.

  “If it weren’t raining, it would be nice to swim.” Angus smiled as he looked at the lake.

  “Either way you would be wet, so what does it matter?” It was nice to feel the rain instead of the sun on his skin. Angus didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as everyone else.

  “I guess it doesn’t. Shall we swim? Do you know how to swim?” He walked toward the lake.

  Saka grabbed his hand. He didn’t swim. No one did. “If you go in there, you will be taken by a riverwyrm.”

  “What? Don’t they live underground?”

  “They live in the rivers, above and below ground. They surface to swim and hunt in the lakes, especially the deep ones like this.” Saka had wondered if they’d died out, but Angus had seen one up close, so they were very much alive. “Perhaps the first thing you should do is see if you can find one.”

  “Why?”

  “Why not? Looking for things is important.”

  “And when it swims over for a taste?” Angus didn’t look very convinced.

  “There are ways of discouraging animals from attacking.”

  Angus stamped his foot, and the bells around his ankle rang. “I know.”

  Saka considered Angus for a moment. While mages didn’t attack each other, they did know how to dissuade a hungry pack of scarlips or turn away a riverwyrm if the noise wasn’t working. “Maybe there are some basic defenses I can teach you.”

  Their hands were still linked, and Angus brushed his thumb over Saka’s skin. “Maybe that could wait?”

  The air between them crackled with expectation. He knew what Angus wanted, and it had nothing to do with magic. Between Angus’s injury and the release of soul magic on Lifeblood, rebalancing with Angus had been pushed from his mind.

  “Celebrate the rain with me. We both know where it came from, but I don’t want to dwell on it, or I might start to doubt what I’m doing.” Angus stepped closer.

  He hadn’t realized Angus had his own doubts. He’d thought Angus comfortable with death. Humans killed many demons for their magic. “If we do nothing, we die.”

  “I know.” He looked away, the rain streaking his cheeks. “I don’t want to think about it. I want to be happy, even if it is for only a short while.”

  Saka reached out and cupped Angus’s chin, so he was forced to look at him. “You shouldn’t put your happiness in another.”

  Angus tugged his rain-slicked hand free. “Do you not know how to fall in love?”

  “I can’t. I have to put the tribe first.”

  “So what is this?” Angus indicated between them. “I thought there was something.”

  “There is.” But Saka didn’t know what it was either. How could he want a human, a warlock who was bound to him? But he did.

  Angus set his jaw. “Magic.”

  There would always be magic between them. There was a whole void and two dying worlds between them.

  “Can you not cast off the responsibility for even a few minutes? There’s no one here to see you drop your guard. No one is trying to take your position or prove you wrong.” Frustration made Angus’s words sharp.

  “You may not be healed.” Saka had hoped that, by giving them both space, he could find more stable footing. He had failed.

  Angus swore. “I’m fine. We both know I’ll be going back soon. I’d rather leave with a sweet taste in my mouth than bitterness. This life was paid for in blood.” He pointed to the trees. “Instead of dwelling on the death, can we not be happy?”

  “Everything and everyone has a price. Most of the time, we don’t think about it because we are happy with the trade.” He wanted Angus, and while they had blurred the line before, he didn’t know if it was a good idea. He should know better. He was supposed to be the teacher.

  “Yeah. I should’ve read the fine print on this trade.”

  “You wanted to help. You want to save your world from an ice age and from the college. What do you think they will do with all the magic they have gathered and stored?”

  “What they always do, seek more power. There will be war between the magic-using countries. My father hinted at that.” He drew in a breath. “The cost is I only get you on your terms, when you have a lesson in mind. Not when I need you or want you.”

  Put like that it sounded brutal. Saka closed his eyes for a moment and tipped his face to the rain. He should feel a measure of joy or pride. He should be able to revel in his success. The rain would ensure that Demonside and all the demons would survive another year. Hopefully by then there would be progress on the other side of the void.

  Would Angus still be his apprentice when the danger was gone, or would Angus go back to living on Humanside, keen to forget the life he had with Saka?

  And he did have a life in Arlyxia. When Angus was dying, people left gifts to lure him back.

  “I’m reconciling what I must do. It is not easy to hold the knife and kill another.”

  “No.” Angus nodded. “Do you know what they call people like me back home? Those
who consort with demons? Those who fuck demons?”

  “Smart warlocks who know magic is about balance?” Everything was. They were standing in the first heavy rain Demonside had experienced in too many years. The death was done. Life was ensured.

  Angus’s lips quirked up at the corner. “I wish.”

  Saka closed the distance between them. “You are right. I need to celebrate the rain. There will be worse to come before we are safe.”

  “That’s what worries me.”

  “It worries all of us who care.” He swept his thumb over Angus’s cheek and then kissed him. He almost expected Angus to push him away, but he returned the kiss, and his mouth opened, hungry for more.

  They hadn’t lain together since before Angus almost unwillingly gave his soul to Demonside. Angus skimmed his hand up Saka’s side. He’d missed Angus’s touch. Away from the tents, he didn’t have to be Saka, the head mage. He could just be. They were two people celebrating the rain and the life it brought.

  The sand beneath his feet was gritty, and puddles formed in his footprints. There would be no lying down. Now he had given in to the idea of taking pleasure in the moment, his body woke. Heat spread through his blood and demanded to be fed.

  In three steps he had Angus backed against a tree. The bark was smooth and cool, and when Saka reached out with magic, he could feel the tree growing both taller and deeper, its roots seeking out the underground rivers. Maybe more trees would survive if they were able to get deep enough in the growing time they had. There would be more food. That night there would be a feast with new fruits and the gifted cows—the official celebration he dreaded.

  Now he found a reason to anticipate it.

  He pressed his hips to Angus’s and ground against him. His warlock was hard and not keen to wait. His hand was already on the fastening of Saka’s pants. Angus’s shirt was plastered to his pale skin and left no line of his body to the imagination. But Saka knew every curve of muscle, every freckle, and every scar.

  Saka opened Angus’s pants and wrapped his hand around his cock. Angus groaned as Saka caressed the hot, hard length. He could give Angus the release he wanted in a few short strokes, but that wouldn’t satisfy Saka, and at the back of his mind, he knew that the more lust there was, the more magic would be released when Angus finally came. Was he doing it for Demonside or for himself? He hesitated.

  “No games this time,” Angus said through gritted teeth. “You can torture me tonight.”

  “Is it that bad?” He brushed the sensitive head with his thumb, around the ridge, then over the slit.

  “One day I will make you beg to come,” Angus said between kisses sweetened with rain.

  The threat was something Saka looked forward to. “Then I will know I have trained you well.”

  Angus slid his hand between their bodies to rub against Saka’s length. His touch was firm and his kisses harder. “Train me another time.”

  “Tonight.” It was a promise he made to himself as much as Angus. He could take the moment, but only if he made up for it later.

  Angus smiled. He looked happier than he had in days, and his eyes were bright. But before Angus could take another kiss and seal his victory, Saka turned him to face the tree.

  Saka traced his fingers down Angus’s back and cupped his buttocks. The fabric of his clothes clung to his slick skin as Saka peeled down the pants to expose the firm flesh of Angus’s ass. He kissed between Angus’s shoulder blades. He shouldn’t think only of his pleasure, but he wanted nothing more than to sink into Angus and forget last night.

  The burden of being a mage in such dire times grew heavier with each passing day, but he couldn’t say those words out loud. People would think him weak. He’d lose his position. But there was no one to see him here.

  He lapped the sweet rain from Angus’s skin and kissed his neck. Angus rocked his hips back to press against him, and Saka pressed a finger to the tight ring of muscle. He hadn’t brought anything with him. He hadn’t planned or even thought about it. He didn’t want to hurt Angus, and he wasn’t sure that Angus was telling the truth about being fully healed.

  “I’m unprepared,” he murmured, but he didn’t stop the teasing stroke of his fingers. There were other things they could do. He hadn’t felt Angus’s mouth on him in far too long, but he didn’t want to see his desire reflected in Angus’s eyes. He should wait until that night, when it would mean something. His pulse quickened and his blood sharply carved its way through his body. He could control lust… but this was something else.

  He nuzzled Angus’s neck, and the taste of his skin mixed with the rain. The feel of the warlock’s body was what he’d missed. He needed Angus.

  Angus pushed back. “Do it already. I want to feel you.”

  Saka sank one finger in, and Angus groaned. He could give Angus the release he wanted without doing much more, take him in hand and stroke that pleasurable spot deep within him. He could drag it out until the magic rose.

  None of that was what he wanted. He wanted to sink in, give in to the pleasure that was being offered without reason. Angus had nearly died. They should be able to celebrate his life. He should be allowed a moment of joy.

  He hesitated for a moment longer and then gave in to the need that had simmered for so long, untended and unwatched. He kissed his way down Angus’s spine and pushed aside the shirt so he could feel the smooth skin beneath. He flicked his tongue over the dimple on the back of Angus’s hips and then at the top of the crease.

  Angus drew in a breath. The magic was building between them, but out here there was no way to collect it… no need to collect it. There were no circles. Just them. But his training was in his thoughts, no matter how hard he tried to sweep it aside.

  He spread Angus’s asscheeks and watched the rain trace over Angus’s flesh and form a rivulet that ended as it dripped from his balls. Saka buried his face between Angus’s thighs to taste the water. Angus flinched and spread his legs a little farther, but Saka didn’t linger.

  All he wanted was Angus ready to take him. He danced his tongue over the rosy pucker. Circled and teased. Angus’s breathing quickened, and the magic eddied around them, uncontained. He could gather it and make it count. It would be so easy to fall back into his training. Even if Angus were a demon, they could use the lust to draw up magic. It was only because he was human that they could use it to rebalance.

  Saka trailed his fingers up the inside of Angus’s thigh, brushed his balls and the underside of his shaft.

  “I thought you were going to save the torment for tonight.” Angus’s words were breathy.

  Saka stood and pulled his cock free of his pants—something made more difficult by the wet cloth—then pressed into Angus. The tight heat surrounded him and took his breath. He didn’t move for several heartbeats before he thrust deeper. “Better?”

  “Yes.” Angus flexed his fingers against the tree. If he had claws, they’d be digging into the bark.

  He withdrew slowly before thrusting in. Angus hissed out a breath but pushed back, encouraging Saka to go deeper and harder each time. Just once, he wouldn’t care about rebalancing. All he wanted was pleasure. Then he’d go back to being a mage. He’d pick up the burden he’d volunteered to carry and keep going.

  Saka put a hand on Angus’s hip and another on the tree, covering Angus’s hand, and drove in hard. His raw need hadn’t been released since he’d taken his mage vows on Lifeblood. It flowed through him and bubbled like the underground rivers as they finally resurfaced. For too long, sex had been entwined with magic. And while he enjoyed it, he had a level of responsibility.

  Angus moved his free hand to stroke himself, but Saka caught it and returned it to the tree. Angus responded by tilting his hips to find the right spot with each thrust. Saka used his tail to hold Angus’s balls and tease his cock. Instead of drawing out each stroke or being cautious not to let himself reach climax too soon, he took what he needed.

  He hadn’t realized how hungry he was for something s
o simple until Angus offered a feast. Saka gave in completely and focused only on his own need. His thrusts became more urgent. For a heartbeat, he didn’t think he’d be able to come so simply. Then it rushed through him, took his breath, and left his bones molten and his muscles quivering. He rested his head against Angus’s shoulder. It was only then that he released Angus’s hand so he could grasp his length and give him the release he wanted. In a few quick strokes, it was done. Angus groaned, and his hot come splashed on the tree.

  Guilt immediately punched Saka in the heart.

  It was a wasted chance to rebalance. Even though rain pattered on his skin and there was no need for it, he couldn’t shake off his responsibility to the tribe that easily. He drew away and vowed to make up for it that night, but he hated himself for the weakness that had overtaken him. Angus leaned against the tree, and his back lifted with each breath.

  Was he all right?

  Saka reached out a hand to offer a reassuring touch, but then drew it back. He wasn’t sure what to do. No one had ever made him act so recklessly, and he wasn’t sure he liked it in the aftermath.

  Then the moment was gone, and Angus dragged up his pants. Wet sand clung to them, but he didn’t seem bothered. His lips turned up in a smile, as though Saka’s fall was exactly what he wanted.

  Saka opened his mouth.

  Angus shook his head and pushed wet hair off his face. “I don’t want to hear it.” He walked to the lake, washed his hands, and took a drink. “I’m more than a way to rebalance. I’m on your side.” He glanced over his shoulder at Saka. “I may not be your equal, but I can be your partner if you let me.”

  Saka swallowed. He wasn’t talking about being a magical partner or an apprentice. He was talking about a deeper connection. Mages didn’t have family or lovers. They had to put the tribe first. Always. Angus knew that, yet he still wanted more.

  Angus wasn’t demon. How could he understand?

  Saka didn’t say anything. He knelt at the lake’s edge and washed. As he dipped his hands in again, he felt it. There was a deeper ripple, a colder current in the water. He glanced over at the light-footed tenga drinking on the other side of the lake. “Can you feel it?”