A Fine Necromance

by Lidiya Foxglove

  In this case, neither was true. So what I needed was some help. If this was a faery forest, I might luck into some forest nymphs willing to work for me…but I couldn’t get too caught up in my own magic either. I would never cheat on Charlotte, even with a nymph.

  I took a steadying breath before I released some pheromones.

  An incubus could attract prey easily. We smelled delicious. It was subtle on the nose, but it wasn’t subtle to the brain. If I really wanted to attract women, I could loop them in from twenty feet away, and even though the scent was invisible—released like an almost imperceptible sweat—I’d always known how to do it. It was one of the things that got me banned from all parties and gatherings when I was younger.

  I took off my shirt. I barely felt the cold, anyway, and clothing helped suppress my magic.

  I bet Char will be sorry she missed this, I thought, grinning. When I get back I’ll have to show her a replay…

  My cock was getting hard now.

  What I wasn’t getting was any faeries. The voices were getting closer. Piers was about to find me shirtless and horny.

  A small hand suddenly gripped my wrist and yanked me backward.

  It was Stuart’s silkie, Penny. “Shh, come with me!” she said. She pulled me through an invisible wall. I was back inside Stuart’s cave.

  “Is Stu still here?” I asked.

  “No,” she gasped, and then she grabbed the waistband of my pants, tugged me to her, and stuck her tongue in my mouth.

  Before I could even think to react, Orson shoved us apart with his muscular arms. “He’s an incubus,” he hissed at Penny.

  I wiped my mouth. “Sorry—they’re looking for me. I was trying to attract help.”

  “You got help,” she breathed, her mouth hanging open. “I never realized—you were—such a tasty man…”

  “Stuart is not here,” Orson said. “The other day, when he went poking around the campus, he found a tip as to where Ignatius might be held, so he left.”

  “Good. That’s what matters,” I said. “Charlotte was compelled to reveal his hiding place. But I’m being followed…you need to be careful too. And I need to keep her wand safe.”

  Penny and Orson looked at each other.

  “We can go to Wyrd,” Penny said, eyes shining in the shadows. “But I won’t leave you, you beautiful piece of toast.” I guess this was a silkie compliment.

  “What if we’re captured, woman?” Orson said. “They could torture us and get information. I’m not much for being tortured. I’m enjoying this posting for the food and the naps.”

  “He needs our help too…they could find him here…” Penny looked at me.

  “You only think that because he’s be-spelling you,” Orson said, giving me a judgmental side-eye.

  Now I just felt guilty. “I don’t want to get anyone tortured,” I said. “I’m a nice guy. I can’t really help being seductive. I was hoping to lure in some nymphs to distract Piers, not get you in trouble.”

  “Oh, how nice of you to use nymphs,” Orson said.

  “I’m not some seasoned warlock; I don’t have that many options.”

  We all heard voices, close now. Piers speaking to Pacetti and Stamos, their voices muffled through the rocks of the cave, but drawing closer by the moment. “Right…around…here,” he was saying.

  Orson took my hand stiffly; his hand so calloused and hairy it was almost paw-like. “Fuck it,” he said. “Let’s keep you safe.”

  The cave melted away, replaced by a dewy garden at dusk. We were surrounded by huge flowers, white and pink, some with elegant bells of petals and others fat and round with tiny petals. The sweet smell was thick in the air. But I hardly had time to take this in before several guards in light armor had spears pointed at me.

  “He’s a friend of Lord Stuart’s,” Orson said. “So back off your men, Captain Kierellan.”

  They didn’t back off more than an inch.

  My heart was pounding. I sent out a thought to my familiar, and I couldn’t feel the thread connecting me to her. So this is Wyrd.

  “Please!” Penny said. “He came to warn Lord Stuart!”

  “Stuart,” Captain Kierellan said, wrinkling a full lip under his half-helm. “We do not answer to Stuart, only to Lord Liorgan, and truthfully, we should not serve him at all if we were not commanded to do so by the queen. His allegiances are certainly not with us.”

  I had rarely seen faeries in my life. They lived in Etherium and Sinistral, but they rarely came to Earth. Earth weakened them unless they could become famous and soak up human admiration, so a normal warlock like me rarely encountered the fae. Either they were out of sight, or they were in Hollywood. I’d read that was why celebrities were so weird. A good chunk of them were just faeries and demons anyway.

  I knew we were in faery territory now because everyone around us was gorgeous. The guards all had sexy mouths and lean, muscular bodies, and their armor was not just functional but also beautiful, with silver filigree of trees or animals adorning their breast plates. The captain was the most striking, with a gold half-cloak that matched his long hair and an embroidered surcoat under his armor. I might have grown up in the magical world, but now I had some inkling of how Charlotte must have felt when she came to Merlin. This seemed too magical to be real.

  “We just need to give this man refuge for the night,” Orson said.

  “I will bring him directly to the queen and nowhere else,” the guard said. “This realm is not for human eyes; that is the rule and this hardly warrants an exception. He does not seem to bear any gift for her.”

  “No, but he is the protector of this wand,” Orson said, motioning for me to show off the Wyrd wand.

  The mood of the guards shifted as soon as they saw the wand.

  “This wand belongs to one chosen,” he said.

  “Yes…” the other guards echoed. I couldn’t tell if they were very happy about its existence.

  “But it is not this incubus.”

  “I’m protecting it for her,” I said. Ha. Charlotte really was a Chosen One. Well, I would certainly choose her any day.

  “We are trying to save this realm,” Orson said. “Why do you think Lord Liorgan’s garden is so beautiful? It’s because he engages with the Fixed Plane and is trying to keep Wyrd connected. I’ve heard the queen’s garden isn’t looking too great these days.”

  All the guards went quiet with what seemed like cold fury. I’d always heard faeries weren’t very emotional, so it was hard to tell for sure. The garden slowly chilled as every one of them slowed down, becoming a motionless statue, staring at us.

  If Orson was trying to plead my case, he was doing a lousy job. “Seize the intruder and take him to the queen,” Captain Kierellan said.

  “Oh no,” Penny said. “You shouldn’t stay here, Alec! It isn’t time! The queen will be upset!” She gave me a little shove and now I was back in the cave again, with a glowing wand nearly smacking me in the face.

  “Oh—” Piers was staring right at me. “Alec…” His eyes widened. “So this is the place…”

  I was completely jarred. One minute I was in Wyrd, the next minute I was caught, and I had no idea how to defend myself. Fuck…

  He sighed.

  We both knew there was really no way I could lie my way out of this.

  “You seem like a genuinely worthy person, Lyrman,” Piers said. “If your mother had not been a succubus, you would be on track for some truly great things, I expect. People like you are actually the reason the council has worked so long and hard to develop a method of purification.”

  “I am not interested.”

  “It’s a curse, for you,” Piers said. “Can you tell me otherwise? Truly? You don’t worry that you will never truly fall in love? Montague is your best friend, isn’t he? And isn’t he dating Charlotte? But half the time she’s looking at you. I’m impressed your friendship can stand the strain.”

  “Well…it does,” I said.

  “I know what you
’re looking for,” Professor Pacetti said, stepping in. His tone was much less benevolent. “You think you’re doing a good thing, helping the faeries, trying to find a way into the third realm? But all you’re doing is giving Sinistral power, in the end. Betraying your people, succumbing to your mother’s way of living. You’re better than that, aren’t you? Your mother forced herself on your father with magic, had a baby she didn’t want to raise, and handed that baby to your dad. You can’t help your birth, only your life. Is that the kind of man you want to be?”

  It wasn’t.

  They knew this was something I was afraid of—but finding a way to reconcile the two sides of me, felt right. Changing what I was just didn’t.

  “Just because Sinistrals can be genuinely evil…doesn’t make you genuinely good,” I said. “I don’t want to be purified. I don’t want to be forced to be someone I’m not, and that’s what the council does. That’s what you did to Master Blair. To Charlotte’s grandmother. Countless others.”

  Piers frowned, his whole mouth tightening into a stiff curve, like he had just swallowed terrible medicine. “All right, then,” he said. “We have to purify him next.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Charlotte

  “Alec!” I couldn’t help screaming as I ran toward the chapel.

  When I saw Piers and Professor Pacetti standing up there on the steps, I knew we’d lost. Piers was holding my wand in one hand. Professor Stamos whipped his wand out toward me. “Wall of wind!” his ancient voice warbled, and I was slammed back by a fierce gust into Montague’s arms.

  “Don’t hurt Char!” Alec shouted.

  “Please, Miss Byrne,” Piers said. “Your behavior doesn’t befit a student of Merlin College. I have never seen a group of students so very upset that we found a cure for demonic elements. This will save Alec from ever having to go to the Haven, from being tormented by his mother’s curse, and from hurting anyone.”

  Poor Alec had his hands chained behind his back. He was shirtless, every gorgeous plane of his chest and every sinew of his arms straining against the shackles, and I was extra horrified looking at him because I didn’t just want to save him, I wanted to jump his bones. What if Piers drained the sex drive right out of him? It would be a crime against humanity.

  Montague gave Harris a cold look. “So, are we still just playing along?”

  Harris, to his credit, didn’t hesitate. He ran up the steps. Pacetti rushed down to intercept him.

  “Let him speak,” Piers said. “Harris, I know Alec is a friend of yours since grade school. And I also know that you are aware that your friends are in danger of turning to the darkness. As I’m sure you saw from the purification of Lucas the other day, it is a brief discomfort, but—”

  “I thought you were letting me speak,” Harris said. “Piers, I just have one question. Have you tested this purification spell with someone whose bloodline was half sinistral?”

  “Yes,” Piers said, with a nervous blink.

  “And how did that go?”

  “The subject is recovering nicely.”

  “The subject?”

  “I hope you trust the council,” Piers said. “We have kept Etherium in power for thousands of years so I should think we know what we’re doing.”

  “I thought we were supposed to be on the side of good,” Harris said. “This doesn’t feel like good.”

  “No,” Piers said. “It wouldn’t, from your perspective. You are still young. Younger people embrace a certain level of chaos. By the time you’re older, you will see, these temporary rules and adjustments are what keeps our society strong. I will purify your friend with respect for his dignity, and when the dust settles, and someday he is a great magical artist—that is what interests you, isn’t it, Mr. Lyrman?”

  “Yes…” Alec stood stiffly, avoiding Piers’ eyes.

  “I’m sure your incubus side has done no favors for your focus,” Piers said.

  Alec just looked at me, like it was the last time.

  “You will all be grateful,” Piers said.

  “No!” I didn’t have my wand, but maybe I could still—

  When I tried to move, Professor Stamos’ twitched his hand, threatening me with another spell. The whole school was gathered around to watch, and I couldn’t just start summoning spirits to help me. Plus, a lot of the students seemed gleeful to watch Alec stripped of his sinistral side.

  “Isn’t there something I can do?” I asked Montague, stricken.

  “I could try to compel them,” Montague said. “But everyone’s watching. It would be too easy to break my spell.”

  “Wait!” Daisy came running across the grass from the guest housing. “Piers, wait!” She skidded to a halt like an overexcited cat. “Piers—don’t do this. Don’t hurt him.” She couldn’t help looking at Alec and nearly doing a double take. I mean, I could not blame her. If Alec was hot on a normal day, shirtless, tortured, and in chains? Somebody hose me down.

  Piers, meanwhile? Well, he noticed. He definitely noticed that his wife-to-be, the one he supposedly once said he was going to ‘tame’, was looking at Alec and her mouth was sliding open. So far Piers seemed like he’d been nothing but awkward and boring with Daisy, and he looked pissed.

  “So, you’re saving me, huh?” Alec asked him sarcastically.

  Piers started speaking in ominous Latin (well, most Latin was actually pretty ominous to my ears), practically standing on his tiptoes as he lifted his wand. Professor Pacetti started joining in, while Professor Stamos was keeping a close eye on us.

  When the spell hit Alec, he screamed and collapsed to his knees. With his hands bound, he lost his balance more easily, and it was a hard fall. His red eyes glowed.

  “Please!” I cried. “Please!”

  But it was useless. Piers was getting his revenge for not being able to purify me, plus, I guess, his revenge for Alec being hotter than him.

  Alec hunched forward, in obvious agony. His skin broke into a sweat. He retched just like Lucas, though I guess there wasn’t much in him. I still caught my breath in horror, especially as dark smoke started wafting off him like it had off Lucas.

  Daisy pushed her way through the boys toward us, her eyes puffy. “I’m so sorry, Charlotte.”

  “Fight it, Alec!” Montague shouted. “You can fight it!”

  Piers chanted more loudly, trying to drown Montague’s voice out.

  “It’s better not to fight it.” I jumped as Lucas suddenly loomed behind me, a calm smile on his face. “The purification spell helped me a lot. I used to be angry. I’m not angry anymore.”

  “Yeah, now ya just creepy,” Daisy said under her breath.

  “You are not wrong,” I said. “Anyway, Alec’s not angry. Literally the only thing about Alec that isn’t easygoing is that he needs to put out.”

  “And looking at him, nothing wrong with that,” Daisy said.

  Alec screamed again, and this time it sounded like this low, primal roar like I had never heard from him before, and believe me, I’d heard a fair amount of interesting noises coming out of him by now. This was different. This sounded they were killing him.

  I made one last effort to push forward to get to him. Professor Stamos, of course, was ready with a spell that froze me in my tracks with one sharp flash of light that burned my skin, like my entire body had grabbed a hot potato. I’d managed to get closer, but the pain made me afraid to try anything more.

  “Come into the light of Etherium!” Piers said. “Any part of you that is untouched by the realms of virtue, let it be banished…”

  “Alec…!” I could see it happening. Half of his blood, half of his personality—gone. Stamped out.

  And it was the sexy half.

  But no matter how much I personally enjoyed it, it was just who he was. The person we had all known. He would never be the same again. I couldn’t believe I had to watch as they destroyed something that had never been broken.

  “Alec! No—please, stop! Stop! He’s a good person, jus
t the way he is!”

  The professors were totally ignoring me. This was a holy mission for them.

  Alec thrashed. He wasn’t screaming now, but roaring like a dragon. The chains that cuffed his hands back snapped. “I’m sorry, Char,” Alec gasped.

  “No!”

  Alec broke away from the spell, turning his back to us, and the dark smoke that had been wafting off of him sort of…sucked back into him.

  Professor Stamos and Professor Gruben tried to rush up the stairs to help Piers and Pacetti contain him, although they were both ancient, so they were like, holding onto the handrails and moving carefully. Alec seemed to be getting bigger and all of a sudden wings sprouted from his back, horns from his head, and a tail from his…tailbone. Between the tail and his larger body, his pants were splitting and threatening to come off his body entirely. His skin was glowing from within, but with some reddish light. He whirled on Piers, his eyes glowing bright red, and roared at him again.

  “Alec unlocked Omega-Chou mode IRL,” I breathed.

  Piers took a step back and almost crashed into shaky-kneed Professor Gruben as Alec now turned to Professor Pacetti. Pacetti was chanting some new spell, and Alec grabbed his wand and broke it in half, then grabbed Pacetti by the lapels and shoved him toward the wall of the church.

  “You think I need a wand to fight a demon? Regna terrae, cantata Deo—” Professor New Jersey was in full force as he chanted back at him, managing to make his Latin spell sound like he was arguing with a cab driver.

  Alec backed off, spread his wings, and took flight, vanishing almost as soon as he did.

  The absence of Alec’s thrashing and roaring left a sudden hush in its wake.

  “That was not what I expected to happen,” Montague said, sounding stunned.

  “I am so sorry,” Daisy said. “Suddenly Piers was banging on the door, demanding I cast a spell to find this Wyrd tree. If I didn’t do it he was going to lock me in the room. He seemed so frantic. I freaked out. I didn’t know he was going to take your wand and make Alec the star of the sex demon awakening show for all the world to see although—damn, I really thought his pants were just going to full on rip off his body…”