Spell Book Ch. 04

CHAPTER 4

"Hey, what the fu--" Cally said before the man with flaming hands grabbed her by the arm and threw her off of me. She landed on the floor and glared up at them, the orange flames clinging to her arm for a moment before she dowsed them with a wave of her hand. Her eyes widened for a moment, before they narrowed to slits. "Warlocks!"

"Shut up, witch," the man with the wand growled. "Got here just in time. Another minute and she'd've had you, son."

I raised an eyebrow at the man, but didn't say anything. I didn't get up. I lifted my hands, palms-out to show that I wasn't a threat to them. I spoke the lightning spell and the air thickened with static electricity for a half-second before the lightning stabbed out from my open palm and connected with the man holding the wand.

"Hey!" The man with the flaming hands yelled, and stepped in close to me. He swung a flaming fist at me, and I caught it with my hand. I spoke the word for my own flaming hand spell, and purple flames consumed the orange that his hand was wreathed in. "Hey!" He started to step back, but I held onto his hand and stood up as he tried to move away from me, keeping him trapped with me. I pushed from some well deep inside of me, funneling more magic into my flaming hands spell. "Ow!" The man dropped to his knees as my flames' heat began to burn him.

"You need to leave," I growled.

"Y-yeh need ta listen to us," Flaming Hands said. "Not everything is what you think it is."

"No," I said. I swung my flaming fist into his left cheek, and he reeled back from the blow. "I really don't. Get out."

"You don't know everything," the man with the wand said. He had managed to get to his knees and jabbed a finger at Cally. "You need to know that these witches don't have your best interest at heart."

"I'm not interested in learning anything from people who break into my house," I snarled, and punched flaming hands again, "and attack me and my friends."

He spun away from me with the impact, and I aimed my other palm at the guy with the wand and used the lightning spell on him again. It hit him high in the chest and he stumbled back, towards the kitchen.

"Dan!" Cally yelled, and I turned in time to see Flaming Hands punch a shimmering shield about three inches in front of my nose.

Wand snarled something in an unfamiliar language and aimed at Cally.

I hit him with the lightning again, furious, and funneled more power into the word as I spoke it. He fell to the floor with a gaping, charred hole in his chest.

Flaming Hands swung at me while I was busy with Wand, and stopped me from throwing another lighting bolt at him. He hit me in the stomach, doubling me over, and I came up with an elbow high. I connected with his face, drawing blood, and he backed away from me.

"Get out of my house," I growled at him.

"You don't know what you're doing with these whores," Flaming Hands said.

"I guess I should get my money back--oh, wait, they didn't want any. They're not whores." I stepped forward and swung hard, a jab followed by a right hook, and he blocked the first but the second set his face on fire with purple flames. He screamed, and ran out the door. I shot another lightning bolt at the guy, but hit the doorframe as he left. "Asshole!"

I turned to Cally, who was breathing hard, her naked chest rising and falling hypnotically. Well, that part wasn't on purpose; that was me enjoying the view. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, yeah. They didn't touch me." She shook her head. "I didn't think they would try something this quickly."

"Who are these guys?" I asked.

"These were--are--warlocks." She pointed at the man on the floor with the hole in his chest. "And you killed one. Wow, that's impressive, actually."

I stared at the body on the floor for a moment, and the room began to spin. "Jesus," I muttered, and sat down on the couch. "Well, he did call you a whore," I said. I wasn't sure if I was serious about it or not, but I had a tendency to make jokes at inappropriate moments.

Cally smiled at me, and hugged me. "Thank you," she said. "They would have...taken me and..." She shivered, and it wasn't a pleasurable shiver.

"Yeah that isn't happening while I can stop it. This is why the coven kills warlocks, isn't it? Why are they like this?"

She shrugged, and hugged me tighter. "Some of us think it's the old, 'absolute power corrupts' thing, and some of us think it's that men tap into more primal, basic thoughts and feelings. Others just think that all men are scum, and they should be killed on sight." She rubbed the bridge of her nose with one hand and gave a shaky sigh. "Okay, well, that killed the mood. Let's get clothes on, and then I need to call the coven. Text Aria, will you? Let her know what happened?"

"Wait, we're not calling the police?"

"And tell them what? That these two random guys broke the door down and started flinging spells at us while we were naked together? And then you killed that one by firing purple lightning out of your hand and burning a hole in his chest while I shielded you with a magical force field?" She lifted her phone and started tapping away at it. "Yeah, I don't think that's going to fly. Besides, the coven has ways of taking care of this."

I stared at her for a long moment, and she looked up at me. "What?"

"You are really beautiful, you know that?"

"I--no," she blushed, and looked back at her phone. "Stop it. I'm trying to do things."

"I'm being serious. I would never hurt you or Aria. I would never hurt your coven." I gently took hold of her wrist and pulled the phone away from her so she would look at me. Her big blue eyes were liquid, full of tears. "I don't know what this whole Merlin thing is about, but if it means helping you and Aria, I'm in. I'll do it."

"You don't know everything you have to do. It isn't always happy fun naked time." She shrugged. "And I'm not that pretty. Aria has way bigger boobs..."

"Bullshit," I said. "I've had crushes on the both of you since you moved in. And your breasts are perfect. You have absolutely nibble-able nipples and a fantastic ass. Thank you for helping me with those guys."

"Thanks," she muttered. "I do a lot of squats."

"Well damn, girl. It shows." I lifted her chin so she would look at me. She met my eyes for a moment, her face and chest pink from embarrassment, and looked away quickly. "I'm serious, though. I would never hurt you or Aria. Or anyone in the coven."

"Well, stick to that. You're going to need to, if you're going to be our Merlin."

"Are all the other men who can do magic...are they all like that?"

"As far as we know. Like I said, we don't really talk about it much." She sighed. "Come on, let's get our clothes back on. I have to call Lucy."

"Wait wait wait, what about the police? I mean, don't we have to tell them something? What if someone else has called them?"

"Well, I know that this is the first time anyone has tried to kill me with spells. I've been a member of the coven for only a couple of years now, and I haven't seen anything like that. Of course, as a rule, we tend to stay away from warlocks. Pretty much because of this. They don't really tend to want to talk. Just kill, or rape, or worse. If someone else has called the police, I can handle that. Just let me do the talking and I'll be able to get rid of them."

"Just like that?" I raised an eyebrow.

She frowned slightly at me. "Do you know my specialty?" I shrugged and shook my head, and she continued. "Every witch--possibly every Merlin and warlock, as well, I don't really know--we all have one area where we have natural talent. Mine is telekinesis. Shielding. I have a limited amount of mental manipulation, but that can get pretty complicated pretty quickly. It mostly depends on the mental strength of the person as well as how recent the thing they want to remember or forget is. Anyway, I can make the apartment look normal enough, as long as the cops that show up aren't steel-trap types."

"What if they are steel-trap types?"

"Well, then I have to knock them unconscious and do the magic while they're out. Much easier that way, usually. Not as much resistance. But most people are easy enough to fool. I don't usually have to worry about that unless the other person is magical, and that's where things get very complicated. But we're not worrying about that right now." She picked up her phone and started to call Lucy. Then stopped when the phone chimed in her hand.

At the same time that mine chimed.

"Aria," I said.

Cally frowned and sighed. "You text her. Tell her that I'm calling Lucy over, and that we got interrupted by a couple of warlocks trying to kill us." She looked down at my now semi-hard penis and gave a reluctant sigh. "Also, we should get dressed, shouldn't we?"

"I'm probably not going to do anything sexy when the front door is open for all the world and there's a dead body on my floor, yeah," I said, and started to get dressed.

"Damn it. I really wanted to get fucked," she growled, pulling her sports bra on. I watched as she wrestled her breasts into their proper places--it was basically skin-tight--and she looked up to see me smiling at her as she finally got herself put away properly. "What?" She asked, her eyes sparkling and her cheeks reddening.

"You're really gorgeous," I said. I turned to my phone and started texting Aria.

"Well, don't go far," she replied. "I'm not done with you." She pulled her leggings on and picked her phone back up, tapping away at it. She put it to her ear.

My phone dinged.

Aria: Holy shit are you guys okay?

Me: Yeah, Cally's calling Lucy though to clean up the mess in here.

I didn't want to be specific about what the mess was because I wasn't sure where admissible court evidence ended and my phone rights began.

Me: So I don't know what that means for me yet.

Aria: She's calling her right now?

Me: Yeah, she's on the phone with her.

Cally was pacing the living room as she was talking on the phone. "Hi Lucy. Yeah, I'm okay. Hey, I'm in a bit of a situation right now, and we kinda need some help. Me and a friend. He's friends with Aria, too. Oh, you're there right now? Can she come help, too? I'm sure she's freaking out about it right this second."

Cally was right; Aria was flipping out over texts. My phone rang, and I picked it up. "Hi Aria."

"What the fuck, Dan? Are you guys sure you're okay? I'm coming over."

"Yeah, I think Cally's asking Lucy to take you. I mean, other than there being a...mess...in my apartment, we're fine. Jesus, though, that was intense."

"I didn't think they would find you so quickly," she said.

"Wait, so, you knew they could find me?"

"I knew it was possible. But this was very fast. It doesn't feel right. Okay, Lucy's waving me down, what did Cally tell her?"

"Hang on." I waved at Cally, who had just hung up the phone and repeated Aria's question to her.

Cally took the phone from me. "I told her that I was hanging out with Dan and these lunatics broke down the door and tried to kill us. I didn't tell her what Dan and I were doing, but I did tell her that you knew him too, and would be worried. That's all I've told her so far. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah, she probably will, but it can wait until she gets here." Cally let out a deep sigh. "Yeah, just answer her questions. I know you don't know her as well as I do, but she knows a lie when someone tells it, and I lie way better than you. She's going to find out anyway. The whole coven is going to know after this, and I am really unhappy about that.

"What? No, I was hoping for some one-on-one time, or at least a night with the three of us, that's all. Yeah, I understand what you were saying about him last night. I'm on your side. His side. I'm with you, I swear. Love you. See you in a bit." She hung up and tossed my phone to me.

"Okay, they're both coming over. So now all we have to do is convince our fearless leader not to kill you once she knows what you are."

"What about, you know...lying?" I asked. Not that I wanted to lie to anyone, but I wasn't excited to have someone in my apartment who would happily kill me if she found out that I could do magic.

Cally shook her head. "No, that's not going to work. She's...well, I can influence minds. Lucy reads them. She reads people like books. Like fucking Sherlock Holmes. Besides, she's not going to buy it if we say these assholes were after me. She's going to know something's up."

"But she's going to try to kill me?"

"I'm hoping that's not her first instinct."

I sighed. "Yeah, me too. Okay, what do we need to do to get ready for her?"

She shrugged and sat on the couch. "How about some cuddle time? I think we have a few minutes."

I sat down with her and she rearranged herself so that she was sitting in my lap, and rested her head on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her tightly into me. "I was hoping my final minutes on this earth would be in the middle of sex with as many women as possible, but I like cuddles, too."

She smiled at me. "I don't think it's going to be that bad. I'm pretty sure I can convince her..." she trailed off.

"Convince her...?" I prodded.

"To talk to you before she does anything too rash." She looked over at the dead man on my floor. "It's understandable, though, if these are the only warlocks out there."

I nodded. "Yeah, it just sucks for me, apparently."

"Oh, yeah, but if you survive..." She gave me a lecherous grin. "Both Aria and I owe you the biggest orgasm we can possibly give you. So there's still things to look forward to." She leaned in and kissed me, a slow, light touch at first, which filled with passion as it continued.

We made out gently as we waited, and stopped when her phone buzzed. Cally slid off my lap, pulled her phone out and tapped through to her text messages. "She's parking right now. She'll be up in a couple of minutes."

She sat back down next to me and pulled me in close for a long, tight hug. "You aren't going to disappear on me, are you?" She said it in a whisper, her face buried in my shoulder.

I laughed gently, pulling back and looking at her. Her blue eyes were scared, glistening with unshed tears. My laughter died in my throat and I reigned in my smile. "I'm not going anywhere. Are you okay?"

A tear trickled down from one eye, and I wiped it gently away. She pressed her cheek into my palm and kissed it. She nodded, and kissed me tenderly on the lips as another tear dripped down from the corner of her other eyes. "Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm not--I should have warned you that I'm not good with...casual sex."

I smiled at her. "If it helps, neither am I."

"You seem pretty good at it," she said, and was about to say more when the doorbell rang.

"Hello?" A voice called from the front door, and Cally and I stood up, looking exactly like a pair of teens caught making out on Cally's parent's couch.

I grinned at her for a minute and called out, "Come on in."

She smiled a tight-lipped smile at me and we both turned to the hallway, where Lucy and Aria were walking in.

Lucy was a tall woman, standing almost six feet tall with her heels on. She was dressed in a professional pantsuit with a low-cut blouse under the jacket. She had wavy dark brown hair, which was pulled back into a harsh ponytail that fell down behind her shoulders. She had dark brown eyes that drank in everything in the room with a glance, and then she focused on me.

Aria was dressed in a pink and blue paisley skirt that hugged her hips tightly and flared out towards the bottom, both accentuating her curves and adding a pretty gracefulness to her movements. She was wearing a low-cut, very tight tank top, no bra. I could tell because her nipple piercings pressed prominently through the material, and every moment sent her beautiful breasts wobbling one way or another. She looked beautiful.

"When did you change?" Cally asked. Aria just shrugged and smiled mysteriously.

"Who is this?" Lucy asked, and I pulled my eyes off of Aria to meet hers. She arched one eyebrow slightly. She looked me up and down, then her eyes drifted over to my bookshelves, and the eyebrow raised up higher.

"Hi, I'm Dan--"

Cally stepped on my toes, and I stopped talking. She glanced at Aria, who shrugged and spread her hands apart in a quiet, "the cat's out of the bag" gesture. "This is our Merlin," Cally said. "His name is Dan, and he's--"

Lucy's eyes narrowed and she made an elaborate gesture with one hand so fast that my eyes couldn't follow it. I felt something clamp onto my throat and lift me off of my feet. It was suddenly very hard to breathe, the pressure of whatever spell she had just done gripping me by the esophagus and holding me in the air by it.

Shit, she's force-choking me, I thought, and struggled for breath.

"Lucy!" Cally yelled, and began working a spell of her own.

"Cally, this is a terrible idea. Do not counter me, child. He is dangerous."

"He saved my life!" Cally yelled.

"He is poison! All men who wield magic are poison and they will turn on you! Better that they be killed before they can corrupt any of the coven!" She yelled over Cally, rage contorting her face and twisting her beautiful visage.

Cally spoke a word of power and made a slashing gesture with her hand. The pressure left my throat and I fell to the floor in a boneless heap, gasping for breath. Cally dropped down next to me with concern in her face.

"Cally, move," Lucy growled. There was a sharp clicking sound, and I looked up to see her stepping towards me with a knife in her hand. "This is what's best for the coven."

"Lucy, no!" Cally stood up and slashed the air again, and the knife went flying from Lucy's hand and embedded itself in the wall just under my TV.

"Watch...the furniture," I croaked, instantly regretting it. My throat felt swollen and it was very hard to swallow. I looked up to see the surprised expression on Lucy's face as she looked at Cally. Actually, all three of the girls looked surprised.

"That's new, Cally. What did he do to you?"

"He didn't do anything to me. He's been perfectly nice and helpful, and he hasn't hurt me in any way."

She pointed at the body on the floor. "Look over there, Cally. Look at what he did. You think that isn't going to be you in a couple of weeks? You think he's going to stay a good person? The more he uses magic, the more corrupt he will become. It may happen slowly, but eventually, all men end up the same way. Better that he die now than take you with him."

"He isn't like the others," Cally protested.

"You haven't dealt with this before. I understand the temptation to let him explore this, the power that he may hold as Merlin is tempting, but such power will corrupt him and destroy you in the process."

"So you've done this before?" I asked, pushing myself to my feet. "You've had a Merlin before? It always ends the same?"

She gave me a withering look. "Men cannot be trusted with such power."

"So you're going to kill me without even talking to me? I thought we lived in a country where people were considered innocent until proven guilty."

"Do you see a badge? We aren't talking about common law here. This is a different set of rules entirely, outside of the scope of the rules of this country. Of any country."

"Still. Summary execution is a little extreme. Especially when it's on such a hair trigger."

She folded her arms over her chest and looked down her nose at me. "You don't know the damage you can cause just by continuing to exist."

"How does it work?" I asked.

"How does what work?"

"The whole thing. I can use magic, and the more I use it, the more corrupt I get. Is that right? Explain it to me. You've done this dance before. Tell us about it."