The Writing's On The Wall

The man standing next to her was clothed, thankfully. He appeared like he was in his late 40s, Egyptian I thought, with deep brown skin and black hair that was already starting to show streaks of grey and silver through it. He was dressed in an honest-to-God suit that looked like it probably cost as much as my tuition, the fabric cut loose, a deep color of slate. His eyes were behind octagonal shaped glasses, and he had a look of profound disappointment on his face.

"Sloppy work," he said, shaking his head. "I mean, honestly, this is far too complicated an undertaking for an amateur to be playing at, and the craftsmanship is terrible, not to even begin to speak about the penmanship. No wonder I could feel these out of control magics half a state away."

"Infernatus expulsious!" Taylor suddenly yelled, flicking her fingers in the direction of the man, who looked on at her with a sort of amusement replacing the disappointment.

"Oh, little witch, you sincerely don't know how badly you've fucked this, do you?" he said to her, almost ignoring me and Maggie completely.

"What's... what's happening here?" I remember saying. I needed to get a foothold to start to understand what was happening, so I decided to risk the danger of speaking and drawing attention to myself, as the man's gaze turned towards me.

"The sorceress here," he said, gesturing dismissively at Taylor, "was trying to muster up a binding spell, but she's mucked up so many steps along the way, it's gone all haywire."

"Incindiari maj-" Taylor started before the man flicked his hand at her and she was lifted off her feet and flung onto the couch next to me.

"Silence, mage," he said, his voice taking on an ominous, almost nefarious tone. "Or I shall decide the fastest way to rectify this mess is by removing the original cast. I am Jonas Silversmith, often referred to as the Dragon Bourne, but most commonly called The Red Joker. I take it this pedigree means something to you?"

The look on Taylor's face had switched from confrontational to terrified in just a few sentences. "Oh gods," she whispered. "Don't kill me. Please."

"Better," Jonas said, folding his fingers together in a cradle before cracking several of his knuckles. "You don't even realize how off the rails this spell has gone, do you, mage? Do I need to explain your errors to you?"

"I... I know it wasn't acting like it should have, but I don't know why, or what it's doing instead of what it was supposed to," she said as the woman leaned down to sniff Taylor's hair.

"There's genuine fear on this one, Master," the woman said to Jonas.

"Thank you, Kelly, I will handle it." He glanced over at me with a sympathetic smile. "Succubi, right? You just can't take'em anywhere without them losing their manners." His attention turned back to Taylor. "Tell me what your spell was supposed to do."

"It was supposed to lure Steve up here, and then bind him to Maggie, and then Maggie to me, so I would have two perfect playthings to enjoy."

I wanted to be angry in that moment, but it almost felt like my emotions were being kept under lock and key for the time being. "You what?"

"Relax Steve," Jonas said to me. "I'll handle this. It isn't what she did anyway."

"Oh." When no one spoke for a few seconds, I decided to interject again. "What did she do?"

"Well, she bound Maggie to you, and then didn't close off the spell properly, so it's like an engine that just keeps gaining more and more power with nowhere to go."

"That's not-" Taylor started to say.

"Speak once more, mage, and I will silence you for the rest of this conversation, if not the rest of all your conversations," Jonas said to her as the girl, Kelly, giggled in amusement. "Now I could finish the spell the way this mage intended, with you and Maggie being subordinated to her, but I don't think that's very fair. I mean, I could just close the loop off by making you submissive to Maggie or Taylor, but that also doesn't seem right. So what I'm going to do is put Taylor under Maggie's command from now on, since Maggie's under yours, Steve."

"Oh," I found myself saying again. "Are you sure that's wise?"

"Steve McKenzie," he said in my general direction. "If you have any intentions of harming either of these two women, or mean them any malice, speak now." The room was quite for what felt like a long moment before he spoke again. "There, see? You're not such a bad man. Let me set forth to closing the loop."

As Jonas walked around the room, smearing paint in different directions, changing the shape and size of many of the characters painted on the wall, I found myself with only one question. "How long is Maggie going to be bound to me?"

"Oh, forever, Steven," Jonas said with a soft shrug. "I know you didn't seek this, but poor magic like this is unstable, and in trying to undo it, I might cause her far greater harm than the good I might incidentally do. Besides, she's a gorgeous woman, and so's Taylor, so I see it as a win-win situation for you, with your two new women, although you need to remember that Taylor will be bound to Maggie and not you, so Maggie will be the only one who can order her around. Which seems only fair, since the spell was meant to entrap Maggie, and you were simply a means to that end."

Kelly, the woman who'd come in with Jonas, crouched down next to Taylor, her fingertips moving to cradle Taylor's skull in the palm of her hand. "You're lucky he didn't let me eat your soul, because I would've consumed it whole and not regret a single thing."

"Stop harassing the poor mage, Kelly," Jonas scolded as he twisted one final character and suddenly the vibration of the room shifted, no longer feeling broken and menacing, it felt warm and relaxing, like a shower after a long day. "There. It'll take another five to ten minutes to set in, but it'll keep you all alive, which is more than what I can say about what would have happened should I not have come by to fix things." He glanced down at Taylor, shaking his head. "You will not cast any more spells on yourself, Maggie or Steven here, and any other spells you might consider casting, you will not only double check, but you will also triple check your work, because if I have to come back here, your safety will be none of my concern. Have I made myself clear?"

"Perfectly, Red Joker," Taylor said, her expression one of aghast fear.

"Good. I swear, I need to take a few years off, and so many of you mages are emboldened and convinced you can do whatever you want with nobody around to prevent you from meddling with forces you aren't ready to," Jonas sighed. "I mean, the glamour you put on Maggie is excellent, so I don't know why you couldn't let that be enough."

"I..." Taylor started, then stopped, then started again. "I wanted her to love me like I loved her."

The Red Joker shook his head. "Love is earned, not taken. Let that lesson fill your brain, and may you learn it well. Come Kelly, our work here is done."

"Remember," the woman said to Taylor. "If we return, your soul belongs to my dinner plate." Her tongue whipped out, several feet long, slender and whiplike, lashing across Taylor's face before sliding back into her mouth as the door opened, a searing blast of cold wind sliced into the room and then the door shut once more, both Silversmith and the succubus gone.

All of that was four years ago, and I've never seen either of the two of them since, Jonas Silversmith or his succubus Kelly. You know what I have seen a lot of over those four years, though? Maggie and Taylor.

Maggie and I started dating the next day, and Taylor followed her around like a little puppy, yearning for attention. When I got my own apartment, both Maggie and Taylor moved in with me. Jonas was right - Taylor never listens to a word I say, but whenever Maggie snaps her fingers, Taylor comes running.

The first thing Maggie did was forbid Taylor from using any magic ever again. I don't know if I'm going crazy, but that's how I remember it all. Maggie asked me to marry her last week, and of course I said yes, and Taylor's going to be her maid of honor.

But I think no matter where I go or what I do, I'm always going to be in a bed of three.

I mean, the writing's on the wall.