Thaumatology 02 - Demon's Moon Page 17

  ‘Well, surely that means that it was made for a sorcerer,’ the half-succubus said. ‘I mean, the energy build-up thing is part of your power, the limiting factor like Cheryl said. This thing would be no use to any other mage.’

  ‘Yes,’ Ceri said, ‘good deduction.’

  ‘Ceri, there haven’t been any sorcerers for… fifteen centuries,’ Lily said. ‘This thing must be old.’

  ‘Yes, yes it must,’ Ceri said. ‘Makes you wonder what Carter was doing with it.’

  December 14th

  Ceri’s mother had never done much in the way of summoning. There had been a few nature spirits when she was feeling particularly witchy, and Ceri knew for a fact that she had once summoned a lust spirit to possess her as a present to her husband one wedding anniversary, but mostly Marion Brent had left the summoning to David. Ceri’s father had been of a more wizardly bent, and demons were generally of more use to the couple in their work as enchanters.

  Still, even if Marion had married into the Brent name, she had the Brent tendency to accumulate books. Even when she had no inclination to practice what was in the book, if it pertained to her field of expertise and expanded her knowledge, she would buy it and devour its contents. The couple’s knowledge and attention to detail had been one of the things which had made them such good enchanters. It was something Ceri aspired to, though she had given up trying to amass their combined knowledge; it would have taken her the next thirty years just to read all the books.

  It took most of the morning to find three books on the summoning or calling of what one of them described as “ancient spirits of great power,” and a couple of hours of speed reading to find one of them which seemed to contain the most complete material on the kind of ritual which would give the best chance of success.

  Despite the fact that Ceri was sure what she was doing constituted “boring beyond the limit of most humans to endure,” Lily spent the entire time lying on the chaise longue watching her mistress working, with a rapt expression on her face. When Ceri finally sat up straight in her desk chair and looked at the window, seeing the light going, Lily got up from the lounger and walked over to her. Delicate, but strong, hands began to massage Ceri’s neck and shoulders, and the sorceress let out a groan of pleasure.

  ‘Loosen your shirt,’ Lily said, ‘you’re tense as Hell.’ Ceri undid the buttons on the over-sized shirt she was wearing and allowed it to be pushed off her shoulders so that Lily could work. ‘You’ve found what you wanted?’ the half-demon asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Ceri replied, though the urge to just sit there and be melted into a puddle by Lily’s expert hands was great. ‘We should have all the necessary materials down in the lab. I’ll check in a minute.’

  Lily giggled softly. ‘If you keep doing things like this you’ll actually need to restock.’

  ‘Not any time soon,’ Ceri said. ‘Though some of the stuff may be out of date. That’s why I’m going to check.’ Her parents’ death had left her with a house without a mortgage and an enchanter’s workshop come alchemical laboratory stocked with a year’s supply of materials which she had not touched until that summer. Five years had taken its toll on some of the more perishable items, she had had to buy new oil to make ink for example, but there was still plenty there. Especially when you did not use much of it. ‘Salt,’ she said, ‘I may need to start buying more salt.’

  ‘You’ve got a couple of scratches on your neck,’ Lily commented blandly.

  ‘Uh, yeah,’ Ceri replied, her cheeks flushing, ‘Michael was a little… urgent last night.’

  There was silence for a while as Lily’s hands worked their magic on Ceri’s tight muscles. ‘You know I don’t mind, right?’ Lily said.

  ‘About Michael?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Lily said, ‘or anyone else. I’m your friend, not your girlfriend. The sex is just…’

  Ceri stood up, her shirt falling away completely as she turned and pulled the half-succubus into a tight embrace. ‘The sex is fucking wonderful and if I’m totally honest I’m probably so addicted now I couldn’t give it up if I wanted, but you are more than just a friend, or a good lay, and any man I meet had better understand that or he won’t last long. You hear me… pet?’

  Lily blinked. Her eyes were wet and a tear threatened to fall from the corner of one of them. She opened her mouth, and then closed it again, choosing to simply nod.

  Ceri reached up, lifting the half-succubus’ chin in a firm grip and looking into her unearthly, black eyes. ‘Are we quite clear on this, pet?’ she demanded.

  There was the briefest flicker of red in Lily’s pupils and she straightened her back. ‘Yes, Mistress,’ she said.

  ‘Good,’ Ceri said quietly. She placed a soft kiss on Lily’s lips and the half-demon let out a sigh which was half moan. ‘Now go and put some clothes on, Alexandra and her wolves will be here soon.’

  ~~~

  ‘Well,’ Alexandra said, ‘this is… nice.’ She was standing in the dungeon, looking around at the two cages and the St Andrew’s Cross, and… luckily Lily had remembered to put a sheet over the shelf unit with all the sex toys. Ceri could feel her cheeks heating up as she watched the old woman look around.

  ‘I put it in,’ Lily said. ‘I guess you might have guessed that, but it’s dual purpose. That door up there is shielded against magic and can’t be opened from the inside without the key. I don’t have a key.’ She walked over to the big cage and patted one of the bars. ‘And this has earthed silver-iron cores to the bars. If I’m inside it, my aura can’t touch anything outside it.’

  ‘It’s Lily’s safe room, basically,’ Ceri said. ‘If she feels like her succubus side is getting too strong, she can come down here and lock herself away from me.’

  Alexandra walked down to the other end of the room where there was a summoning circle carved into a slab in the floor in front of a large, stone altar. The cross was mounted in the middle of the circle such that anyone chained to it would be facing the altar. The altar itself had a cross-shaped, black, ceremonial cloth draped over it, upon which Ceri had placed the candles and incense sticks which were needed for the rituals. She was not going to tell Alexandra that the cloth was there because that altar was damn cold to lie on.

  However, the old woman smiled as she stroked the wood of the cross. ‘This brings back memories,’ she said. Ceri’s eyes tried to bulge out of her head. ‘What?’ Alexandra said. ‘I was young once you know.’ Amid Lily’s giggles, she asked, ‘Can this thing restrain a werewolf?’

  ‘It’s pretty over-engineered,’ Lily said, ‘and we have silver-iron manacles and chains.’

  ‘Excellent,’ the Alpha said, ‘if you would get them, Lily dear. Ceri, you prepare your circle while I get undressed.’

  ‘The ritual doesn’t require you to be naked,’ Ceri said.

  ‘Perhaps not,’ Alexandra replied, ‘but she often forces me to change when she comes and I don’t want to ruin my clothes.’

  Ceri was still laying salt into the inner circle as Lily started chaining Alexandra to the cross. The old woman was smiling and Lily grinned at her. ‘Could I ask how old you are, Alexandra?’ Lily said.

  ‘Black-furs tend to age slowly,’ Alexandra replied. ‘Ceri knows I was not a child before the war. I was born in eighteen-ninety-eight.’

  Lily blinked. ‘I hope I look this good at a hundred and twelve. You’ve… really kept your figure.’

  ‘Lily,’ Ceri said, ‘we’re working, not seducing.’

  Lily pouted as she locked the last padlock in place, stretching Alexandra’s right arm over her head.

  ‘Really, dear,’ Alexandra said, ‘it’s quite all right. Lily can compliment me on my figure any time she wants.’

  Ceri winced. ‘Sorry, it’s just… it was bad enough when she took my boss to bed without seeing her considering the molestation of my Alpha while she’s chained to a Saint Andrew’s Cross. It’s like… like when I walked in on my parents when my Mum had summoned a lust spirit.’

  ‘I was
not!’ Lily protested. She smirked. ‘Though now you come to mention it…’

  ‘Lily!’ Ceri squeaked.

  ‘Technically I’m not your Alpha, dear,’ Alexandra said, ‘and at my age I’ll take all the molestation I can get.’

  Ceri groaned. ‘Could we maybe get on with this before I have to explain to the pack upstairs why it took an hour longer than expected and they try to gut Lily?’

  ‘And then I’d have to explain to them why they had just spent twenty minutes rolling around on the floor in ecstasy?’ Alexandra suggested.

  Lily backed carefully out of the circle, being sure not to disturb the salt, and Ceri began filling the outer ring. The circle consisted of two rings around a north facing pentagram with sigils in various points around it and between the two rings. As Ceri finished marking out the circle, clockwise and starting from the north, she looked up at Alexandra. ‘Ready?’ she asked.

  ‘As I’ll ever be, dear,’ the old woman replied.

  ‘Is there anything I can do?’ Lily asked.

  ‘Light the candles, and the incense, please,’ Ceri instructed. ‘Start at the left and work across. Incense last.’ As Lily began doing as asked, Ceri turned back to the circle and focussed. Letting out a long breath, she pushed power into it. Somehow it felt like some words were needed. ‘By my power I raise this circle,’ she said and the rings and sigils shone brightly for a second. She ignored the little whimper from behind her.

  Closing her eyes, she let the aroma of sandalwood permeate the room and went over the ritual in her mind. Then she turned and took a pestle from the altar. She had prepared the contents earlier, a mixture of caraway, fennel, and rue, ground into powder. She placed it just outside the circle, at the northern point, and straightened up. ‘Here we go,’ she said and raised her arms.

  ‘Spirits of the Earth, harken unto me and protect this place from the north and from the realms beneath.’ Ceri felt the first stirrings of energy around her as the magic began to flow. ‘Spirits of the Air, harken unto me and protect this place from the east and from the realms above.’ She felt her hair stir as a wind which did not move the candle flames sprang up around her. Lily let out a tiny gasp. ‘Spirits of Fire, harken unto me and protect this place from the south. Lend us thine energy that we might pursue our goals. Spirits of Water, harken unto me and protect this place from the west. Lend us your power to break down barriers.’

  The pestle of herbs flashed, a blue flame flaring for a second and white smoke rising up in a plume before swirling up around Alexandra. The old woman gasped softly, breathing in the smoke and relaxing into her chains.

  ‘Luperca, Goddess of Wolves,’ Ceri called out, ‘come unto us, your humble petitioners. We seek your audience. Take this vessel for your body, come into our presence.’ Ceri could feel the power building around her, reaching out across what magicians called the Realms, and she knew by the rather more weird sounding term of “p-branes.” Somewhere, hopefully, her words were reaching a goddess. She raised her arms in supplication. ‘Luperca! By my power, and at your will, I call you! Neither time, nor space, nor the walls of reality stand between us. Luperca, Mother of Wolves, Blessed Protector of Werewolves, come!’

  There was a loud growl from within the circle and Ceri lowered her head to find a black-furred werewolf in the shackles on the cross. She thrashed against the chains, but Lily had been quite determined that if it were her so strung up she would not be getting free. Ceri allowed the thrashing to continue for a minute or so. ‘Thank you for coming, Goddess,’ she said. ‘You can’t get free. Perhaps you could change back so we can talk.’

  The only result of her request was a howl which sent shivers down Ceri’s spine. In all probability, if the circle had not been there, she would have been cowering in terror after hearing it, but whatever magical effect it had was stripped by the barrier.

  ‘Please, Goddess,’ Ceri said. ‘I need to speak to you about Remus.’

  The struggling stopped and suddenly they were looking at Alexandra in human form again. The voice which issued from her mouth, however, was not hers. There was more resonance and an odd, guttural quality, and the accent was thick and unidentifiable. ‘My wayward son? What of him? Still he seeks to raise the demon he used to twist my gift.’

  ‘Fenrir, we call it,’ Ceri said. ‘In a week he plans to do something, yes. The Solstice coincides with the full moon and…’

  ‘He will bring the Time of Wolves,’ Luperca said. ‘Winter will last for a year and the world will fall under my children.’

  Ceri’s stomach sank. ‘That doesn’t really sound like something you’d want to stop,’ she said.

  ‘Before Remus I taught my children to live alongside your kind. He is driven only by his hatred of those who cast him aside in favour of his brother. I raised them both, but Remus chose the path of the wolf while Romulus stayed human. Romulus controlled his power while Remus unleashed it with all of a berserker’s fury. Romulus forgot me in his rise to power, leaving me to the bitter hatred of his proud brother.’ Alexandra’s lips drew back, showing her fangs as the goddess within her snarled. ‘If Remus succeeds in his aim, the children I have watched over for aeons will be my children no longer. Every werewolf, everywhere, will belong to the demon Remus has pledged his soul to.’

  Ceri’s heart was pounding. She swallowed hard. ‘How do I stop him?’ she asked.

  Luperca barked out a laugh. ‘Once there were men he feared. No longer. They all died when the magic died in this world. Those who wielded the raw power of magic.’

  ‘Sorcerers,’ Ceri said. ‘Look closer, Goddess.’ She lifted her right hand, fingers cupped, and summoned a ball of thaumic energy into it.

  Alexandra’s head tilted to the right, and she squinted at Ceri. ‘So, they return from beyond,’ the goddess said, and then shook her head. ‘But you are barely into your power, child. You have the blood, the heritage, but not the skill. My foolish son is more than a match for you, even if you are the Fair One spoken of in prophecy.’

  ‘I’m all we have,’ Ceri said, closing her fist. ‘He has to have a weakness, some way to defeat him?’

  ‘Raw magic will destroy his physical form, but it will not finish him. He is a spirit of darkness and he will return to darkness if you end his body. You may gain time to learn to fight him, but he will return and try again.’ Luperca sighed. ‘Only the light of the sun can end him, and he will seek solace in the earth before sunrise. Your quest is a hopeless one, child.’

  ‘No!’ Ceri snapped. ‘I won’t believe…’ But Alexandra was slumping in her chains, her breath coming in pants. The goddess was gone. ‘Crap,’ Ceri said. Lily started forward from behind the altar. ‘Wait,’ Ceri said. ‘If you go in there right now you’ll fry.’ She focussed once more and spoke clearly. ‘Spirits of the Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, our work is done. I gave thanks for your assistance. Be gone and rest.’ Behind her on the altar, four candles flickered and went out.

  Rushing forward, Ceri did not even wait to drop the circle, letting her body passing through the barrier do the work. She felt the shock of the power slamming through her, but ignored it to wrap her arms around Alexandra, taking the weight off her arms as Lily started to undo the shackles.

  December 15th

  Ceri yawned as she padded into the kitchen in search of the coffee her brain needed in order to fire on most of its cylinders, never mind all. She was a little surprised to find Alexandra sat at the table reading the morning newspaper, a cup of tea in one hand. She was dressed in a robe which Lily had bought at some point and never actually worn.

  ‘Good morning, Ceridwyn,’ the Alpha said brightly. ‘You look considerably more tired than I feel.’

  Ceri poured a mug of coffee. She was never sure how Twill managed to have a pot ready whenever one was needed, but she was usually far too grateful for the fact she did to worry over it. ‘Lily finds conspicuous displays of my power to be…’

  ‘An aphrodisiac?’ Alexandra suggested, grinning.

  �
�Yeah, that,’ Ceri said, her cheeks colouring. ‘She never actually asks, but she’s very good at making her desires known and I find her very difficult to resist. And then she got Michael involved… I left them sleeping.’

  ‘We left him sleeping,’ Lily said as she padded in the door. Her nudity suggested that the pack had now been included in her list of “people who I don’t have to dress up for.”

  ‘I think we may have broken him,’ Ceri said, grimacing slightly. ‘It almost broke me.’

  ‘If you break him, you buy him,’ Alexandra commented blandly. ‘Did you actually get anything useful out of Luperca? I’m afraid I don’t remember a thing that happened after she possessed me.’

  ‘A lot of negativity?’ Lily suggested, pouring coffee for herself. ‘Lots of “you’re all doomed.”’

  ‘She seemed to be suggesting that I don’t have the power to kill him,’ Ceri said, ‘or maybe just the skill. I might be able to stop him from completing his ritual this time, but he’ll just come back and try again.’

  ‘That’s not the worst bit,’ Lily said. ‘She told us what would happen if he succeeded.’

  ‘I can’t see past Solstice night,’ Alexandra said. ‘Actually, my knowledge ends about four days hence.’

  ‘A year of winter,’ Ceri said, ‘and every werewolf on the planet falls under the will of Fenrir, presumably with Remus as their general, though she pretty much said Fenrir already controlled him.’

  Alexandra put her cup and paper down. ‘I… believe I would rather you stopped him, dear,’ she said, ‘even if only this time.’

  ‘Well,’ Ceri said, ‘she suggested something which might work. I guess we have to try, but I don’t know how to find him to do it.’

  ‘You need to find Alec and the North Hills pack,’ Alexandra said. ‘As I said, they will be tracking Remus by now.’

  ‘How?!’ Ceri exclaimed. ‘I can’t contact them. I know Carter tried Alec’s mobile with no luck and I don’t have a contact number for the pack.’

  Alexandra smiled, picking up her cup again and taking a sip. ‘You’ll know how soon,’ she said. ‘Trust me, that won’t be the hard part.’