Witch Juice Ch. 10

"Fine," Valdrina resigned her point. "So what was he doing with the stone?"

"He, like, put it on the doorknob, then this, like, magic circle appeared. It turned and stuff, and made these beeping noises. Then the circle was gone and the stone was like, in the doorknob, and it disappeared."

"That sounds like a transgate rune! For what?" Valdrina interrupted.

"Wh-what? I don't..." Frank stuttered.

"One thing at a time Valdrina. This is a good lead. I recommend we send some of our own troops to stake this place out."

Valdrina pondered the option with an obvious look of hesitancy on her face. "We don't even know what this is. This transgate could lead to some Justicar nest-"

"Oh... uh, I think I know what it is, I think?" Frank chimed up.

Valdrina rolled her eyes. "How could you possibly know?"

"Well, uh, Pol told me that if anything weird went down in the news, I should check it out. So, like, this hospital was under lockdown for some reason, so I went to, like, check it out. And then I saw that guy there."

"A Justicar raid, in a hospital?" Pollux wondered out loud. "But, why?"

"I dunno, man. But that guy was there, and there were these two other guys, uh... one was a dude that was, like, maybe in his mid-twenties. And there was this hot chick- sorry, like she was also, uh, like mid-twenties. And that guy was with them and they were talking about..."

"Out with it!" Valdrina demanded as Frank flinched.

"I don't know! It was like complex stuff! They were talking about, like, potions and shit!"

Valdrina's eyes widened and she and Pollux looked at each other with piqued interest. "That's the bitch and her cum puppet!"

"Uh, oh- I remember the detective gave the chick a key-"

"For what?" Valdrina pressed.

"He said- he said, like, for a library for secret-stuff fr-from... demons, I think!"

Valdrina stepped back in shock. Pollux's jaw dropped.

"That's the Justicar's archives," she stated, dumbfounded.

Pollux began to play with his fingers as thoughts began to race in his head. "Then, we need to make moves, fast. They could already be there for all we know."

"Shit. Who can we get on such short notice?" Valdrina worried.

"We'd have to get one of Yazu's guys-"

"No, no, absolutely not! You still need to go through Astorius for that!"

"Think about it, Valdrina! Astorius has been looking for a way into this for ages, and now we have an opening! If anything, this will get him back on our good side," Pollux pleaded.

"See if I give a single shit about his good side. Every side of him smells like a dog's ass," she hissed.

"Think! Think! They are the only units that we could deploy without question, and fast! If we can prove to Astorius that this is worthwhile, then we'll have access to even more of those resources!"

Valdrina clenched her teeth as the thought seared her brain. "Urgh! Fine! Then we have to go, now!"

"Uh, w-wait!" Frank suddenly shouted.

Valdrina turned to him. "We're done with you-"

"Wait, sorry, Frank, what is it?" Pollux interrupted.

"Uh... I could use a bit more juice, Pol." Frank held his hand up. Half his fingers and part of his forearm were fading in and out of existence, their visibility erratically pulsing on and off.

"Oh! The stabilizing agent, I almost forgot, Frank." Pollux produced a vial filled with a blue liquid from his pocket and handed it to him. Frank took it gingerly and with a shaky hand, he poured the liquid down his throat. Within seconds, his fading arm stabilized, fully visible.

"Th-thanks, Pol," he said with a nervous smile.

"No problem, Frank. And... you've been keeping..." Pollux gulped, unable to find the kindest words. "...healthy, I presume."

"Trying, Pol, heh," he responded with a small chuckle and cough. "Just, you know, sipping on my girlfriend... but... she's like, gettin' sick, man, I don't know-"

"Doesn't look like it's helping much... you need to dine on more... plentiful souls, Frank. That's your curse for staying in this realm as we've discussed."

"I know, man, but... yeah, uh-"

"You have a gift, Frank," Pollux assured him as he fitted a small device to his fingertip. He pointed away and in a sudden flash of red sparks, a black vortex ripped open. "Use it. Survive, that's what we're all fighting for, here."

Frank slowly nodded.

Valdrina simply looked at Frank, then at Pollux. "Let's go," she pleaded.

"Right. We'll catch up later, Frank. Same time, same place."

"Yeah," Frank said sadly.

Pollux and Valdrina disappeared into the vortex as Frank simply sighed to himself.

***

Lilith stood over an empty bed within a room that was incredibly neat. The rug was immaculately clean, the desk was organized and dust-free, with pens, pencils, markers, and highlighters sorted into small compartments in a neat little rotary gadget. There was a bookcase stuffed to the brim with different kinds of engineering textbooks sorted by the name of the author. Posters of various fancy cars lined the room, accompanied by motivational ones of Einstein, Gauss, Newton, and Feynman with life-enriching quotes underneath them.

She sighed as she looked around before calling out down the hallway. "Your friend is a real square, you know that? I guess that's why you get along."

"I need quiet, here!" Emmett called out, muffled, from behind a closed bathroom door.

"Do you really need to concentrate that much to jack off into a jar?"

She was answered by nothing but silence. Lilith simply shrugged and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. Then she suddenly snapped her fingers, and within the instance, purple flames flashed upon the surface of the bed. As they quickly faded, Aidan's unconscious body appeared on the bed.

"Nice!" she complimented herself. Though, she reeled over in exhaustion right after. "Oh...fuck..." she panted.

Emmett finally emerged from the bathroom and entered the bedroom holding a jar with a dollop of cum resting at the bottom, trailing down the glass. "You know people do this on the Internet? Except they put like an action figure of a hot anime babe inside and- Oh, shit, are you okay?" He hurried to Lilith's side as she was leaning over the bedside.

"I don't think I have enough juice to fuck with his memories."

Emmett frowned. "Oh... hopefully he'll just think it was a bad dream or something."

"Yeah... hopefully...shit, I wasn't this tired before."

"Before? You mean after you fought Valdrina?"

"Yeah, I think... the potion is like... eroding my aura or something."

Emmett sighed. "We better figure out this potion then. Let's head out-"

"You got the cum jar?"

"Don't call it that- and yeah."

"Okay," Lilith rose with a wobble, catching herself on the desk.

"Are you... going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll rest in the car ride. You drive."

"Gotcha."

"And... wait, if we're just going to prepare cum beforehand, why exactly are you coming along?"

Emmett groaned. "Listen, you have to admit, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have defeated Valdrina. You need me; I'm more than just a bag of cum, you know."

Lilith jutted her jaw out in annoyance. "That was pure luck."

"Nobody gets away from that monster with just luck."

She shook her head, "Fine, fine, I'm too tired to argue."

"Damn straight," Emmett stated confidently.

Emmett got into the driver's seat of Lilith's car. "So, where to, ma'am?" he joked.

"Accel University Central Library," Lilith stated as she got in the passenger's side.

"Really? The Justicar's archives are there?"

"No, you idiot. Weren't you listening before? I use Vincent's key on a hexed door in the basement, and it will teleport us there... I think?"

"Again with the 'I think'," Emmett rolled his eyes as he started up her car.

"Vincent told me about it before, okay? I'm sure it'll work."

"And how do we know we're not falling into one of his traps? You said that you thought last night was all set up by him." They began to drive off.

"I know... part of me wants to trust him, though. He really means well, he just has a... funny way of doing things."

"I wouldn't call luring you into a demon trap... 'funny'," Emmett replied.

"Anyway, this is the only lead I have to get to perfect the potion. Plus we have the cum jar for insurance, right?"

"Don't call it a 'cum jar'. And yeah, Fair enough."

The two sat in silence for at least ten whole minutes as they made the trip. Lilith gazed out the window as Emmett would occasionally glance at her. He reached for the radio, wanting to end the awkward quietness.

"You wanna listen to some music?"

"Not really," she replied in a monotone, still staring out the window.

"Oh," Emmett withdrew his hand.

Lilith saw him retract his arm. "No, but, if you want to turn it on, that's fine- I'm okay."

"I mean, I don't want to bother you. You seem like you have a lot on your mind."

"I don't. Just trying to relax."

"Yeah, then I won't put anything on."

"Well, it's fine. I can relax and listen to something, I guess."

"But you said you didn't want to listen to any-"

"Just play the fucking music if you want to, damn," she finally spurted out.

Emmett gulped and just turned the radio on, which began to play some classical music.

"Heh, that's relaxing, I guess."

"Yeah..." Lilith said without much thought, going back to the window.

More awkward silence filled the car as minutes passed.

"Do you... like classical music?" Emmett suddenly asked, which startled Lilith a bit.

"Uh, it's okay. I guess I prefer something more lively."

"Like rock, or metal or something?"

"I guess. I don't listen to much nowadays."

"Really? That's surprising. Didn't you travel around for a while looking for the descendent... or, me, I guess?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, I imagine you listen to a lot of music in your car, right?"

"...I can teleport," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, right," Emmett said, feeling stupid. "So you can just teleport, like anywhere?"

"No, there are these magical... streams around the world called ley lines...and... ugh, it's too complicated to explain right now."

"It's okay, I'm a quick learner. I'm a programmer, you know." He regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth; he knew he sounded like he was bragging about being a programmer to a person that could literally do magic.

"Programmers are quick learners?" She sounded unimpressed.

"Yeah! I have to learn new programming languages and other bits like that."

"I see."

More minutes of tense quiet passed by as Emmett's mind raced to think of anything to say to pierce it.

"So you usually travel alone? Like, do you have a whole team of-"

"Listen, Emmett," Lilith said suddenly. "You don't have to do the whole small talk thing."

"I know, I know." A wave of relief rushed through him as she finally acknowledged it. "I'm just trying to be friendly, you know. You're the first... magic... person I've ever met."

Lilith sighed. After a pause, she finally started, "I'm in a coven of witches." She squinted her face. "I think I told you that."

"Uh, maybe." So many things had transpired since their first conversation that he honestly couldn't remember. "So, they must be pretty stoked that you found the descendant of Magnus, huh?"

"Actually, this whole thing is a secret from them."

A spark of irritation jolted through him as soon as she said that. Not only did Emmett have to dodge Justicars, but her coven now, too. He sighed at the realization.

"What?" Lilith asked, hearing his sigh.

"Nothing," Emmett responded, trying to cover for his obviously annoyed sigh.

"Ah, you're worried about my coven. It's fine, they're a bunch of crazy old ladies. Old fashioned."

Emmett could not help but distrust everything Lilith said. Mostly everything that has come out of her mouth has been inaccurate and all of her actions are messy and reckless. But he had complained at her enough and reserved his judgments.

"So... earlier I told you my motivation, right?"

"I remember; your little sap story, I thought you were going to cry," she snickered.

Emmett's surge of embarrassment returned to him, as he remembered his speech as well. "Yeah, well, what's yours then?"

Lilith laughed more. "None of your business?"

"I told you mine, you should tell me yours!"

"Not how this works. Listen, Emmett, we are not friends, okay?"

"Oh... don't you worry. I'm well aware of that. Then what is this, then?"

"You can call us... workplace acquaintances."

Emmett could not help but begin to chuckle.

"What's wrong? Don't like the title?" Lilith was snickering to herself as well.

"No, it's just...it's funny... we've fucked twice now," he replied with a smile.

"That's just a part of the job."

"Well, you can't say you didn't enjoy it."

"Of course! It's sex: you'd have to be a psycho not to enjoy it."

"I... guess that's true."

"You enjoyed it, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did..." Talking about it made Emmett feel relaxed. Having such a sensitive topic laid out in the open made everything feel normal to him. He realized that Lilith was probably the only person, magical or not, with whom he would be able to share these small fleeting moments of normalcy. However, another feeling of anxiousness crept into his stomach as he realized that he probably wouldn't be able to tell Jenna or Aidan about any of these things. That also extended to any other magical person he met. Lilith was truly the only person that he could talk to about this.

"You have a pretty big cock too," Lilith added casually.

Emmett was knocked out of the stupor of his thoughts. He accidentally jerked on the steering wheel causing the car to swerve a bit on the road.

"What the fuck!" Lilith cried, her body jerking back in her seat. "What's wrong? Jeez!"

"Wha- that just caught me off guard!"

"It's true! See, this is the problem with you humans. You think everything is sacred. Sex, violence, religion- hell, you people barely talk about who you voted for! Then everyone fights over it."

"I get what you mean- you just surprised me, that's all."

"I know, but deep down, you know can't talk to your little crush about how much you want to fuck her, can you?"

"That doesn't have anything to do with the sanctity of sex! That's just fucking weird."

"But what if sex was just a casual thing? Something you did with people, same as going out for drinks. You like this girl, so you fuck her with your big ol' cock. Imagine it!"

Emmett wasn't really surprised that this topic was the one to break Lilith out of her quiet demeanor from earlier in the trip. Though her views were interesting, he still thought they were a bit simple-minded. He couldn't lie to himself though; he would love it if he could casually walk up and fuck Jenna.

"Imagine..." she continued, now full of vigor. "...how much sexual repression that kind of world would relieve. People wouldn't feel like raping or anything like that-"

"I don't think it's that simple."

"But it has to be, right? That's the root of it all: everyone is so frustrated about sex! Think about it, people gain so much power for what? Sex!"

"Again, not that simple. There are a lot of people that gain power just for the sake of power. They like the feeling of being in charge."

"But that's like, psy-cho-logically rooted..." Lilith didn't have much confidence in the terminology. "...in like... the sexual part of the mind."

"I... maybe? Maybe you have a point..." Emmett pondered. He actually may have read something along those lines. He figured that Lilith might even have more insight than him on these things, being that she seems to have invaded the minds of many.

"See? You agree with me-"

"I didn't agree with you-"

"Sex equals everything! There- oh, we're here!" Lilith pointed out the library.

"Thank the fucking lord." Emmett pulled into the parking lot of the library, observing the many cars here as he parked. "Exams are coming up, lots of eyes, we have to be careful."

"Don't worry about it, the door is on the basement level."

"Students study there, too."

"Well if Vincent was able to hex the door in peace, then we should be able to go through it in peace, as well, right?"

"Vincent probably didn't go in during exam season-"

"Do you always have to rain on everyone's parade, huh? Do you just love ruining everyone's fun?"

"We're not having 'fun,' Lilith. We're trying to enter a top-secret archive to learn about some crazy potion-" Emmett threw his hands up. "I don't even know what the fuck I'm talking about, let's just go."

"Right!" Lilith said with a spring in her step.

Emmett, exasperated, left the car along with Lilith and the two proceeded to the library. Though he wasn't fond of talking to Lilith, he couldn't help but feel glad that her spirits seemed lifted.

***

"Hmm... your findings... interest me," Astorius admitted in his deep baritone that echoed throughout the room. Pollux stood before Astorius who was sitting in a large, throne-like chair at the end of a long, ornate, steel table. It was lined with several other chairs that were equally ornate, though they were all different sizes to accommodate the different sizes of the members of the Inner Circle. The chamber of the Inner Circle was a rectangular room decorated with stone pillars that lined the wall, the large meeting table in the center. In between each pillar was a torch sconce lit with a cool, blue flame that radiated a blue tint into the room. Jutting out of each pillar were different heads carved out of stone, each with a name plagued beneath it, commemorating the retired or dead members of the Inner Circle. Some of the heads were gruesome, such as one with a draconic face set with vile-looking horns and vicious fangs. Others were gentler, like that of a lady whose hair was carved to flow down in soft waves with a kind expression. The mish-mash of moods that the heads cast always unnerved Pollux every time he entered this room.

"I'm pleased, Lord Astorius," Pollux commented with a grin. "But, this... is a timely matter, needing much covertness. I request that we deploy one of Yazu's troops for the job."

"And... you came upon this knowledge during a supply run with the dark witches of Ochrewood."

"Yes, my lord."

Astorius paused and scanned Pollux up and down. "You are well aware that I have every reason to doubt your intentions here, given your recent consorting with the dishonored Valdrina."

"That is well understood, my lord."

"Very well. One of my own troops will be at your disposal."

Pollux's eyes widened. "Y-Your own-"

"Is this a problem, Pollux?"

Pollux strained to conceal his immense disappointment and irritation. "No, my lord, I was under the impression that one of Yazu's would be better fitted to this mission."

"I cannot grant this request, as they are predisposed to another assignment."

"All of them?"

Astorius leaned forward in his seat and peered at Pollux menacingly.

"All of them, my lord?"

"You will use my trooper. Am I clear?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Good. And due to Valdrina's self-assigned mission on finding Magnus' descendant, I am also ordering all Inner Circle troops to kill the descendant on sight. We will have no more distractions."

"R-right, such is clear, my lord."

"Is this a problem, Pollux? You may object if you wish," he stated threateningly.

"No, no, my lord, it is all right in the ways of the central mission."

"Correct. Now leave me. My chosen soldier will meet you in the generator room soon."

Pollux bowed to Astorius and marched out of the chamber. However, before he left, Astorius called out to him one more time. "Pollux, remember that I am not doing this out of the goodness of my heart. I have certain interests that lay within the confines of the Justicar's archives. My trooper will retrieve them as he is informed of the matter on a need-to-know basis. I will have no interruptions to this plan. Understood."