Inhuman Bound Ch. 01

"You think it worked?"

"Tastes just like honeysuckle, and yes. I know it worked. Can't believe you did the nettle last. I've been pink all night." Then he squeezed the bulb, emptying the potion into his mouth and swallowing. "One question, Lacey."

I took a breath and sighed, "Why me?"

"Universal questions don't count. Be more specific."

"You have at least a hundred people summon you each month. Of all of them, why did you decide you wanted me?"

"I almost didn't," he said. "You were just another face in the crowd, but then you kept calling me. And you didn't just ask me to solve things for you, you bounced your ideas off me and listened when I talked. You were this naive little shit, but you grew on me, and I liked helping you. When you stopped summoning me, I panicked, thinking you had to be calling someone else. So I made this deal. I hate the mark Caim left on you during that time." Then he snapped his fingers, and I knew he'd negated the spell.

"Naive little shit, huh?"

He pointed at me, "I was under a spell, you can't hold that against me. And you're still a naive little shit. Write your spell down already. The pink one, too."

"Could this be used in a summoning?"

He made a noise and walked around to look over my shoulder, "Possibly. If the one being summoned was stupid enough to drink something the summoner offered."

"So, yes. Because pretty much all of you are suckers for food on this side."

"It would have to be something sweet and not carbonated," he said. "It would limit its uses in that way. Don't tweak the incantations, though. If it works and someone manages to get the truth out of a demon, then the only thing to worry about is whether they like that truth."

I wrote both spells down, but paused at the end of the pink one. "Did you smear the pink stuff, or is that where it came out when your were breathing?"

He rubbed his hand over his mouth then showed it to me, "If this is permanent, you owe me."

"It's like porn star lipstick. I have some makeup remover that might work," I giggled and made a note about the staying power at the bottom. It would be fun as a prank, but might actually work as a cosmetic as well. I made a note to play with the ingredients to get different colors or less glitter. "You can't just negate the spell like the truth one?"

"It wasn't a spell. It did nothing but stain me like some Barbie groupie."

That made me laugh harder because he wasn't wrong. I finished my notes and waited a few minutes for the ink to dry while I packed everything up. Once that was all done and we were heading back to the house I stopped and watched the two horses trot around one of the fields. In the light of the moon, his stallion looked black. But Firecracker's white spots were luminous. Her tail was high and streaming behind her.

"Will you really let them breed?" Astaroth asked quietly from my side.

"I don't know," I said. "It was chance that had her at that auction. He's also more pure than she is, so unless there's a market on the other side of the veil I don't know how this world would handle the high strung foals."

"One of the other Horsemen might be interested, and there are some jinn who might be more interested in her bloodlines as an endurance horse," he said. "Especially the Arabian and Akhal-Teke crossing. The jinn had a lot invested in those breeds. Why? Are you wanting to go into business on the other side? I'm trying to get away from it."

"I'm just worried if I breed her, and the foals show the same characteristics as all hell get, that someone will try to go on TV with the horse that can count or do math or some shit and then the horse will kill them for making them the butt of the jokes."

"Hm," he grunted. "Point taken."

We walked the rest of the way to the house and I put everything away. It was almost one in the morning and my back was killing me from standing over the spelling table, so I just kicked off my boots and flopped into the bed. I heard the windows open and the fan turn on, and then the bed shifted as he crawled in with me.

"You know," I mumbled, "I never thought a demon would be so cuddly."

"Not a demon," he slid his hand over my hip. "I would do more if you would let me."

"You taste like the earth," I whispered, and I could feel my face heating up. I had no idea why I'd said it, but I couldn't unsay it now that it was out there.

"Since that's where my power comes from, it makes sense." His hand tightened on my hip and tugged gently until I rolled on my back and looked up at him. His eyes were red points hovering in the dark, so I didn't have to wonder if he was looking at me. When his fingers brushed my cheek I closed my eyes and just let myself enjoy the contact.

His nose touched mine a second before his lips found mine. The kiss was soft, just our lips moving, but that taste of life and death in one breath still made my thoughts slide sideways. My hand went to his shoulder, then up and around to the hair at the back of his neck and he groaned. His tongue slid along my bottom lip and I opened for him. I held him to me, adding my other hand to cup around his cheek. He rolled over me, and I knew missionary wouldn't work with him. My legs were around his waist, not his hips. The kiss deepened until we were both gasping when we broke from each other.

"Lacey..." he nuzzled against my neck.

"I want you, Astaroth," I said, and he groaned. "I won't lie about that. But I don't know if I'm ready to bind myself to you. What if we decide we hate each other in another month?"

"It doesn't work like that," he said, propping himself up on his elbows so he wasn't squishing me, but he didn't move off. "We won't be attached at the hip or anything. The more balanced the bond, the better off we both will be. But we can wait if that's what you want. I'm not into force. I do like this, though." He bent and kissed me again, just as deep but with less body English involved.

===

I woke late the next afternoon, but that was normal for me. I sat on the couch with a few sheets of paper on the coffee table and an inkwell, writing up the spells to send off to Witchery for possible publication and probable rejection. I made sure to use the copyright spell as well, especially on the truth spell. I set a secondary spell in the paper itself on that one.

Once it was read and set aside, the paper would disintegrate so no one could just take it from the publishing house and use it on their own. Not that I thought that was something they'd do, but it would be a hell of a thing for it to get out that there was a truth potion that worked on demons.

Then I went out to find Firecracker taunting the hands. She wasn't hurting them, though, and they seemed to be having fun with it. So I walked up to the road and left the envelopes in the outgoing box to be picked up tomorrow. Walking back, she trotted up to me.

"Want to go for a ride?" She snorted and tossed her head, and I took that to mean it sounded like fun to her. "I have a lightweight treeless saddle that should fit you. If it doesn't, I can use a bareback pad until we can fit you for a saddle."

The treeless saddle fit her just fine, and she had such a smooth gait across the field. Most of our horses were bred, broke, and then trained for cow work or barrel racing. We had very few trail horses, but she made me want to see if there were any endurance trail groups still riding in the area. She would be amazing on a long ride like that.

My ranch had enough hay fields to keep up with our demand for it, but the rest of it was covered in brush with just trails cleared through the entire property. Two hundred acres, give or take, was a lot of ground to cover and a lot of fun when the trails criss crossed and gave all kinds of variety of terrain to keep the ride interesting.

We were at the back corner of the property when I felt it. Firecracker danced under me, but didn't shy. I patted her shoulder but didn't say anything, just concentrated on what I was feeling. Whatever it was it felt oily in my head and I wanted a shower to get rid of the sensation. Magic shouldn't feel like that. Magic came from the earth and felt natural. Unless it was someone not born with the ability.

Stealing magic from another source would make it feel unnatural and wrong. Only one thing would feel like that when casting. A sorcerer. I put my knee into her for the first time on this ride and she didn't even bitch about it, just spun and cantered over the trail toward the barn.

"How'd she do?" Jerry asked. "We were wondering how to even get a saddle on her earlier."

"Ask her," I said. "And it was good. God, she's got a helluva stride for her size and so smooth."

"What do you mean ask her? Ro, even for you that's a little weird."

"You know the big gray stallion? She's like him. Talk to her like she's an intelligent being and not a dumb animal. As far as I can tell snorts and head tosses are a yes, shakes and paws are a no. Just like any other horse trying to tell you they don't like it, except she's got the brains to back it up. The treeless fits her perfect, too. I just gave her her head. Effortless ride."

"Shit," he said. "No wonder she was such a handful at the auction. I'll let the others know so no one pisses her off. Hey, work's done down here so you won't have to worry about much. We got a new kid coming out this weekend with a young gelding, too."

"Sounds good," I said. "I'll have checks done tomorrow, direct deposits should post tonight, though."

He walked back into the barn and I walked up to the house. It wasn't long before I heard the rumble of several diesels and the pop of gravel under tires as the hands all headed out. Through the kitchen window I could see Firecracker prancing around, then she dropped and rolled, kicking her feet and just having fun. I was pulling hamburger out of the freezer to thaw when I heard her angry scream and the front door blew in.

A tall figure ran into the house and tossed a spell at me before I could think how to defend myself. Pain ripped through my chest as the spell landed, and then a fist slammed into my face and the world went black.

===

I blinked down at the ground, and could see the glow of a fire off to my left. My head hurt, but not much else did. I couldn't even feel my feet, but I didn't know if that was something serious or if it was because I seemed to be hanging from something. I could feel the horrific magic the sorcerer was using beating against my aura, sticking in the places the marks had seared through.

I didn't want to make a noise. I didn't want to draw this guy's attention. He wanted my magic. It was how sorcerers worked. They didn't have magic of their own. They were some weird middle group between human and inhuman. I rolled my eyes to the side and saw how I was being held up. Somehow this man had gotten a tree to wrap itself around me. My arms and shoulders were buried in the branch of a large oak tree. I could feel the pain the tree felt, but it didn't have any way of fighting him.

"Wakey wakey little witch," the man's voice was annoyingly nasal and high pitched. "I must thank you for that truth potion you left in your mailbox. It will come in useful later." He must have opened it to see what it was and then not again. That page would be gone when he went back to it, but I didn't try to say anything. "It was really stupid of you to not have anyone out at the ranch with you at night. I thought they taught women better than that."

I needed out of here, but if he was going to do an evil monologue I could use that noise to cover my own words. This asshole thought I was just a witch. He didn't know shit and hadn't done his homework at all. I was so much scarier than a mere witch. I filled my lungs as much as I could and breathed, "Astaroth, by my breath I summon you."

"Oh, the little witch is awake," the man came around the fire where I could see him. I felt the sweat running down my face from the heat of the fire, but it wouldn't do me any good. I needed more precious fluids. The man nudged my foot, barely even pushed it, and pain shot through my body and I let the tears spring to my eyes and spill over and I took another breath.

"Astaroth, by my tears I summon you."

The sorcerer spun back to the fire for a moment and I heard something banging. He had his spell over the fire already. Only sorcerers cooked their magic. Nobody else would be so uncivilized. Then he was back and he gave me the last thing I needed when he slammed his fist into my leg and pulled a blade out, covered in my blood. There was no more precious body fluid than that. I screamed the next words.

"Astaroth, by my blood I summon you. Thrice named. Thrice in tribute. Come to my call!"

"No!" The man screamed and I heard something go into the cauldron he'd set up. How did I know it would be a cauldron and not just a pot? Because sorcerers were just that tacky. "Witches can't summon anything! Summoners can't summon without a circle!"

The almost-sound of the change in pressure that signaled just how wrong he was had never been so sweet to me. The sorcerer shrieked and started stirring his spell. The fool should have run. What walked out of the shadows under my dangling feet was Astaroth at his worst.

He'd warned me if I actually summoned him, it would not end well. His once gorgeous horse was rotting, his naked chest was caked in something thicker than blood, and I could see black flames through the stallion's ribcage. Astaroth glanced up at me just as my vision started to fade around the edges. Screaming might not have been my best idea.

"She can't do this! Her magic is mine by rights because I captured her!" The sorcerer had already lost his mind if he was yelling about my magic being his.

"You need to learn your place, human," Astaroth's voice was at it's most creepy. I would have shivered, I think, if I had been able to. "You will be a good meal for my friend."

"I am a powerful sorcerer, demon! How dare you threaten me!" My hearing was starting to make things sound like everything was down a tunnel.

"The power you have stolen will go back to the earth where it belongs. I regret we do not have time to make you suffer." I saw his horse lunge forward and some noises that made me really glad I couldn't see what was happening.

The next time my eyes opened, the big gray was whole and walking carefully underneath my feet. He was no longer rotting, but he looked wet. Astaroth's hands came up and guided my feet around the horse. "This is going to hurt a lot, Lacey."

He whispered a few words and the tree sighed, then lowered me onto the horse before releasing me from the branch. He was right, it hurt like hell when I had all my weight on the horse, and my vision swam as he held my head to his shoulder. I was whimpering, unable to scream anymore but really wanting to so the pain would have some place to go. The horse started walking, and Astaroth's hand moved down the back of my head to the middle of my back. Then I couldn't feel it anymore.

There was the feeling of pressure building behind my ribs, and then excruciating pain and I suddenly found I could scream. The pain faded to a dull throb and I was able to feel my arms, but when I tried to move them to hold onto him the pain spiked. His hand slid down from my shoulders until I couldn't feel it anymore, and I whimpered. I had a pretty good idea what was going to happen now. The pressure built through my entire pelvis this time, and when the pain came I blacked out. If he did any more than that, I didn't have to feel it.

I came around still held to his chest on the horse, but we were under bright lights and people were yelling and just generally not happy to see us. I looked over his shoulder and saw messy red hoof prints on white tile, with a trail of bloody drips between them.

"Everybody stop!" A loud woman somewhere to my left boomed. "You! Get a gurney. You on the horse! Stop walking and let us get her down. Everybody else outta the way!" People moved around us, the horse stopped and nickered, and I managed to get my head around and saw a tiny woman in scrubs glaring up at Astaroth. Maybe it was just because I was on a horse. "Sir, we need to get her down."

"Sir," Astaroth sounded amused, but at his hissing voice people gasped. "Get the bed closer to him. He will not shy."

"Do you know her injuries?"

"Mostly blood loss." He turned his face and I felt his lips on my ear as he breathed, "I healed the worst of it."

The nurse lady looked at the bloody trail behind the horse, "Is that hers?"

"No, and it will fade when I am gone from this plane." That was news. I kind of hoped someone got it on video. "They are going to take you now, Lacey. It's going to hurt again."

"Don't leave me."

"Til dawn," he said, then I felt hands on me and tried not to scream. I failed, but I did try. It was almost worse than whatever he'd done to my back, but I didn't black out.

When I was down and flat on the bed, the horse snorted and shouldered past a nurse who squeaked and moved aside. He flipped his upper lip against my hand and then just disappeared. Astaroth said from behind the nurses, "He says Firecracker needs him."

They wheeled me somewhere, but no one seemed to think they could boss Astaroth out of the room and I didn't tell them different. An IV bag was hung on a thing attached to the bed, and I had enough equipment attached to me I felt a little like Frankenstein's monster. "Sir, do you know what happened?"

"Sorcerer," was all Astaroth said.

The loud nurse cursed a blue streak then said, "She's lucky to be alive. Most witches don't survive that."

"She is not a witch," he said. He was either being real formal or I was losing my mind and missing some of what he was saying. He almost sounded like the first time I'd summoned him.

"We need to know what she is, sir. We have witches on staff and they don't want to try anything without knowing race."

"She's a summoner," another voice said from somewhere on the other side of the bed. They had already put a neck brace on so I couldn't turn to see him. "Think witch plus."

"That means you're a demon, sir?" The nurse sounded stunned and terrified, but it didn't stop her from doing whatever it was she was doing by my legs. God, I hoped it wasn't a catheter. Nope, it was the air massager thingies which meant the catheter was probably already in and I hadn't noticed.

"He is," the man I still couldn't see said. "And none of us on staff can circle him."

"All of you together could not contain me, Gregory." He didn't use the man's whole name, which meant he either didn't know it or he was being nice. I wanted to look at him to see which it was, but then I caught the fatigue in his voice. "I'm fine, Lacey."

The mind reading thing had always kind of creeped me out. "You sound tired."

"Not physically," he said. "She might have internal damage I was unable to heal."

"We're taking her to imaging in a moment, sir. Right now we need you to not scare the staff witches," the nurse was on my other side now.

"I have not moved."

"Right," the nurse huffed, but not like she was annoyed at Astaroth. "Will you be okay not following her into imaging? You can stand outside and wait if you like, but the room is too small for extraneous bodies."

"I will be fine in the hall," he said. They had me moving by then and I guess he just trailed behind because I couldn't see anything. I didn't really want to know what would show up on the imaging. I was pretty sure he'd healed my fucking spine in at least two places. He stood to the side of the doors and caught a nurse from the side of the bed. The man squeaked a little, but didn't freak out fully. Then I heard the door again and the man appeared where I could see him.

"He asked to know what's injured," he said. "Is it okay for us to tell him?"