The Warlock

What's more she wasn't wearing a little tube top and a miniskirt anymore, but a pair of freshly-ironed ladies trousers, a neat white blouse, and a black suit-jacket over her shoulders. She looked smaller without the dangerously thin high heels and yet much more intimidating. I guessed what had happened the moment I laid eyes on her.

She was a bloody cop.

I froze on the spot, every part of me screamed to run away but I stayed rooted out of sheer bloody-minded stubbornness. I reminded myself I hadn't broken the law, and more to the point I had this woman's soul. I didn't need to be afraid. Unless of course she got me in jail before I could try using her contract then I'd be up shit creek without a paddle.

"Nice to see you again, Wilfred." She clearly saw how uncomfortable I was and relished the moment. I didn't blame her. If our situations were reversed then I might have done the same.

"Er, hi." I smoothly retorted.

"So I thought I should come have a word with you and your parents about your night-time habits." She stood up from my front step and put her hands in her pockets.

"They aren't in. They won't be back for hours." I fucking hoped.

"Well, do you mind if I come in and talk with you for a while?" Her smile faded a little to a more serious expression. "It's ok if you don't want me to but I'll be back later."

Great.

"A-alright." I stepped passed her to slip my key in the door. I caught the scent of her perfume on the air as I passed. Light citrus and fresh fruit filled my nostrils.

I opened the door and dumped my bag in the stair well before turning to go into the living room. I didn't want her anywhere near the Nocturne Compendium or my bedroom for that matter. I took a seat on the couch and looked over to her, gesturing to a chair opposite me where my dad usually wasted the days away.

"So, why are you going around in the early hours of the morning asking prostitutes for their souls?" She got right to the point.

"How did you know where I lived?" That was some damn good detective work. She sure as hell hadn't tailed me home.

"I saw your library card in the front of your wallet when you took out the hundred. It has your name and address on the front of it." Ok, maybe it wasn't such good detective work.

"Look, I haven't broken any law. Last I checked, bartering for a soul wasn't illegal, which shows just how much faith this country places in the teachings of its church, by the way." I sat upright, resolved that I'd been caught and already considering a few ways to work the situation to my advantage.

"No, you're right. That hundred pounds you gave me was a lot of money though, and I want to make sure..." She leaned forward in the chair, her fingertips settled against each other as she looked to sympathise.

"I didn't steal it." I firmly halted the line of her question in its tracks.

She didn't say anything for a moment, her face became unreadable until she gave me a little nod and broke eye contact to take some of the unpleasant heat out of the moment.

"I see. Well in that case I'd like to ask you a few questions about the nature of what you believe in. A lot of smart people your age can feel left out and search for answers in the wrong places. Not so long ago I stopped a man from killing his girlfriend with a piece of broken glass because he said that Satan wanted him to." She locked eyes on mine again with those last four words. Her gaze was steely and searching.

I promptly burst out laughing.

"Now, Wilfred it's ok to admit that..." She started to speak again and I felt her awareness of her mistake in the sound of her voice. Once again, she really didn't seem very sure of herself.

It was actually becoming quite fun for me.

"Look, Olivia, I don't worship the devil. Never met the guy. Wouldn't want to if I could." I managed to speak through the occasional chortle as I could hardly get over the idea. She thought I was sitting in my room wearing lots of black make-up whilst listening to "Stairway to Heaven" backwards and praising Lucifer. Clearly she wasn't quite the threat I had imagined her to be.

"Then why in the hell did you do that last night? Was it a prank? Wait, how the hell do you know my real name?" Her voice took on a ferocious lilt that I oddly found rather enjoyable.

"It wasn't a prank, and I know lots about you, Olivia." I teased her with silence as I considered my options.

"Right, then we'll have to continue this conversation with your parents. I'll stop by later on." She'd clearly had enough with me.

I watched her stand up and turn to walk with those long legged strides toward the door to the living room. I couldn't resist. The look on her face when the door suddenly slammed shut in front of her was just priceless. She spared an angry glance back at me before reaching out to grab the door handle. She found it firmly jammed in place due to a little earth magic I'd conjured up a moment before.

Watching her grow steadily more alarmed was perversely fun, especially when she turned back to me and saw I was stood in the middle of the living room, watching her.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Her eyes narrowed and I saw her hands ball into fists. Cute.

"I'm showing you the reason I asked for your soul last night." I replied with a cheerful smile and what I suppose must have been a slightly malicious glint in my eye.

Before she could respond I lifted up my hand and extended two fingers into the air before me. She watched for any signs that I might attack and then her eyes widened and her jaw fell open when she saw my fingertips burst into red spurts of flame. The flame stayed in the air as I settled it into a little vertical line that burned in mid air. Then I left an empty space and slipped to the next letter as I formed four words in fire out of nothingness.

I

AM

THE

DEVIL.

It's easy when you know how. Then, for suitable effect, I stepped through the fiery words without a single burn to show for it and offered her a little bow.

The scream that followed filled my house and almost made me recoil. The woman was terrified and she quickly fell backwards on her ass and pushed herself up quickly to flatten her back on the wall beneath the windowsill. The calm, cool exterior of the cop had vanished and I saw true terror in her wide green eyes as sweat began to form upon her brow.

I let the fire behind me fizzle out and placed my hands on my hips before looking down upon her with a long-suffering sigh.

"Calm down, ok? I'm not the devil. I'm pretty sure there's no such thing."

"B-but... but... I... but..." She was obviously trying to speak but her sudden rush of fear and confusion were doing their best to keep her silent.

"You were annoying me," I explained.

"I don't... How is that... How did you do that!?" She was shaking now as she remained slumped down on the carpet beneath my window.

"Magic." I shrugged.

"There's no such thing as magic," she growled with defiance.

"Oh, I think you'll find you're very wrong about that." I lifted up my hand and conjured up a few drops of water out of the air before using the air itself to weave the drops between my open fingers.

She watched, enthralled. Desperate to see how the trick was done, she was obviously having no luck in finding any smoke and mirrors hidden about my living room. Then she blinked and looked into my eyes.

"Souls are real." She'd finally come to the point.

I let the water drop to the floor where it dripped across the carpet. I simply nodded to her with a little, admittedly mischievous smile.

"I want it back." She took a breath and raised herself to her feet.

"Well you can't have it." I cheerfully rebuked her like a five year old hogging his favourite toy.

"You had no right. I didn't know..."

"How it worked?" I helpfully offered her some perspective. "You don't know anything. You still don't. Do you think I'm keeping your soul trapped in the basement in a cage? A little see-through version of you with wings and a halo, sat there strumming an empty cup along the iron bars of its cell?"

"That's not the point." She took a step toward me and stopped immediately when she saw I wasn't giving any ground.

"I beg to differ. You have no idea who I am or what I've bought from you. Believe me, you'll get a lot more out of the hundred pounds."

"Look, you little shit. Either you burn that damn piece of paper or I'm taking you down to the station." That fear was quickly receding to be replaced by anger.

"Oh you are, are you? Well, you know how a really good magician can slip out of any pair of cuffs? Just stop for a moment and imagine what I'm capable of." I smirked at her. I decided I liked showing off. I definitely needed to do it more often.

"What do you want? Money? I'll give you the damn money back." Her voice raised and took on a slightly higher pitch of desperation.

"You don't have anything I want and, well, no takie-backsies, Olivia" I placed my hands behind my back and chuckled as I watched her slowly unravel. Yeah, I can be a bit of a cruel bastard when I want to be.

That was all it took, she curled her lips into a vicious snarl and leapt across the few feet between us. Her hands were reaching out for my neck and they would have gotten hold of it too if I hadn't quickly suspended her in mid air. The experience must have been a very unsettling one as she looked down at the floor, not understanding why she wasn't moving until she looked back to me and found my face very close to hers.

"Alright, I'll stop. You can have your soul back on one condition." I held up my index finger for emphasis.

"What?" Again, suspicion filled those lovely emerald-brown eyes.

"You go on a date with me." My other fingers along with the thumb joined the one that was already held up.

There was a pause as she processed this information.

"What!?" Apparently, the idea that a man who bartered with souls had difficulty finding good company was a difficult one for her to compute.

"A date. Tomorrow night."

"I'm already seeing someone." I found it almost sweet that she thought of that excuse first.

"Well you can un-see him or her for one night. Then, when we're done I'll give you back your soul and we never have to see each other again." I released my hold on her and she quickly managed to get her feet underneath herself instead of crashing to the ground.

"Why in the hell do you want a date?" Apparently this wasn't an idea she could swing her head around.

"Because I'm terrible with women." I never deluded myself otherwise.

"Wow, well I gotta tell you, kid. I'm kinda seeing why." She straightened out her jacket as she spoke. She took a long, deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. Then, seeing absolutely no other option she gave a little nod in the affirmative. "Alright. I'll go out with you tomorrow night."

"Brilliant! Wear something slinky," I suggested.

She looked like she was having a great deal of trouble not punching me in the nose.

"Fine. I'll be here at eight."

"Seven." I quickly raised the stakes.

"I don't get off work until seven."

"Seven thirty then."

"Alright. Oh and if you think you're getting me to put out then you're really deluding yourself." The warning could have frozen the air between us.

"Yeah, that's fine. I think I've got a handle on the sex part. I just need some experience with everything up to that point."

"You're a really weird kid. I mean, even for a sorcerer..."

"Warlock," I quickly interrupted.

"Right, even for a warlock you're pretty strange."

"Met many warlocks, have you?"

The casual banter and lack of infernal fire lighting up the room had put her at ease. Well, it put her at as much ease as you can be in her situation. She shook her head at my question and I caught a glint of something that might have been amusement in her eyes that certainly didn't spread outward to soften the severe look she was giving me.

"So, I'll just be going now." She stepped back toward the door. "Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow?"

"No, I'll pick you up."

"Can you drive?" It seemed she'd noticed the lack of cars outside our house.

"Nope."

"Then how will you pick me up?"

"I'm resourceful." I turned and took a seat on the couch.

"Alright. I want to see that contract when I see you tomorrow. Before anything happens." She had the tone of someone trying to make a deal on terms that she didn't understand.

"That's fair, but it doesn't burn until the end of the night."

"Ok. Do you want my number?"

"I have your soul. I'll know where to find you." I kept my smile amiable as I said that.

The words seemed to shake her, regardless of their intent. She looked at me for a long time before she finally nodded and turned to head out of the door. I let her go and breathed an enormous sigh of relief as I heard the door close.

That had gone much better than it could have.

I quickly ran through the living room and up the stairs to my room before I snatched up her contract from my hidey-hole. Looking it over, I saw it was still intact and in pristine condition. Of course it was. I hadn't done anything wrong when I forged it. For a moment I considered going back on my deal with Olivia. I could quite easily have gotten the date with her and then made her do damn near anything I wanted.

Remember me telling you about how the body has a very strong protection against any kind of invasive magic? Well owning someone's soul provides a convenient back door in that protection. It lets you do practically anything you like with them. Of course I'd need a certain amount of preparation time with the contract, but by the time I picked her up the next night, I could have made her cluck like a chicken if I wanted to. Oh, and in case you're wondering, then yes, I did consider making her do other things, too.

Once you have someone's soul then you can actually change them. You can make them an obsessive piano player, an avid sports fan, or a sex-crazed maniac. Given that Olivia had quite a nice body, I certainly imagined having her spend the night giving me a long strip-tease before bouncing up and down on my cock to her heart's content. What's more, I could make damn sure she loved every minute of it.

I'd like to say I had a sudden surge of conscience and decided to go the gentlemanly route, but the truth is that I've never had all that much in the way of morality in the first place. What stopped me from putting those ideas into action was that I just found them kind of... icky. Sure, it's cool to fantasise about sexually owning someone, but when it comes right down to it I don't really want a sex slave. It takes away the challenge of talking to someone when they mindlessly agree with everything you say, and I'd imagine sex would soon get boring when you didn't have to try.

Plus, taking this woman who had an obviously keen mind, a job, and probably a family somewhere, then turning her into a sex-crazed drone just seemed like an enormous waste.

So I set about practising some things I'd wanted to try for a while. Nothing too major, of course, since I was planning on voiding the contract in a day's time. Still, a few fail-safes couldn't hurt in case Olivia turned up tomorrow with a pack of cops and had me arrested for spiritual bartering or something. Much like a lot of actual magic, the process of playing with a contract isn't as visually thrilling as you might think. You simply place your hand upon the parchment and concentrate on the changes you want to make.

The first time I put my hand on to that paper and opened my mind to Olivia's soul, I felt the enormous rush of power begin to flow into me. I quickly suppressed it, albeit with some reluctance. Even the power of one soul can be astronomically potent in the hands of a warlock. You see, in its natural form, the soul does quite a few important things for a person. Just like your physical body, it has more than one thing to do at once. Magic is powered by its energy but a mage can't use the full potential of his own soul without destroying those important functions the soul provides. When you have a line into someone else's, then things become much less disagreeable. You can use it all up and drain them dry for an incredible amount of power.

Of course it leaves them soulless husks, and what's left of their existence is something not entirely unlike a waking coma.

My first experience with all that raw, useable power was when I touched Olivia's soul for the first time. Another cool thing that happens in that moment is that you tend to gain a great deal of insight into the person who signed the contract. It's not like reading their thoughts, but more like you just understand them and who they are on a very basic level. Olivia tended to put up a very hard front to mask a great many insecurities. She had a great deal of drive and it made her soul very strong in spite of a troubled love life. It wasn't very dissimilar to what I expected to find but still, seeing her soul laid bare was quite an experience.

I laid some of the bindings upon her that I would need if things turned nasty on our date. With a snap of my fingers I could command her to do anything I wanted. Oh, the power! Still, it wasn't anything that changed her psyche or who she was, so I was quite pleased with myself. I considered plunging deeper and actually listening to her thoughts, but that would make the entire exercise of dating her somewhat moot.

I spent about an hour practising some other stuff, just to see if I could do it. Once I was finished I did my usual routine of elemental magic before I turned to the more mundane chores of homework. When it was all finished, there was only one thing left to do. I opened the Nocturne Compendium and asked for an index of its entries regarding the alchemical art of transmutation.

Now, I'll be honest with you, turning lead into gold is not easy. Even with magic, you end up putting so much power into the reaction that it isn't even remotely economic. This is because gold isn't just a very valuable metal to regular folks like you, it's also a very useful substance in magical terms too. Many of the greatest potions require gold as a part of them and the metal is also one of the most potent enchantable materials. So using alchemy to turn anything into gold is somewhat difficult.

Having said all that, diamonds are easy as pie to create out of almost anything. So it's not like we magical folk really have much of a problem attaining wealth. Money has never really been something I was all that bothered about. I figured with all my time spent learning things that money was eventually bound to pour in because I'd be an astrophysicist or a doctor by the time I was 30. I didn't just fill up my bank account and move to Hawaii when I was finally able to use magic because I still wanted to go to a university and spend at least the first year in the dorms.

All that didn't change the fact that right then I needed some extra money and I figured that it was as good a time as any to see if alchemy worked. Sufficed to say that by midnight that night I was the owner of five uncut diamonds the size of golf balls.

The next day, I did skip school. I took one of my diamonds to a local jeweller I knew of who was a thrifty old bastard who hated anyone younger than 50. I strolled in to his shop when it was empty and placed the fruit of my labour on the glass counter. You should have seen the way his eyes bulged. The thing was worth well over a million pounds and he knew it. I hoped he had some savings put away for me.

I played stupid of course, I only wanted about £30,000 to open a bank account and give me a decent start at university. So I asked him for it and sure enough, a quick trip to the bank later and I was considerably richer whilst the jeweller figured he'd taken me for the biggest idiot in the galaxy. I'd just taken him for some quick cash. With that, I quickly started spending on my date.