Thaumatology 06 - Hammer of Witches Read online

  ‘Yes,’ Barry said. ‘Miss Carpenter’s theory actually fits the facts.’ Nugent looked disgusted. ‘Unfortunately, if we are dealing with some religious nutcase it’s going to make it that much harder to find him.’

  Lily shrugged. ‘If he’s religious then he’s going to church. Canvas for people who have moved into the area recently. Really devout believers aren’t that common these days.’

  Barry looked at her as though seeing her for the first time. ‘I have to admit that when I put you in the Advisor programme, it was because you have special talents and to act as a brake on Miss Brent’s… enthusiasm. You are far brighter than I gave you credit for.’

  Lily smiled at him, though Ceri was growling inside. ‘I work hard at being underestimated, Chief,’ Lily said. ‘Men usually have trouble coping with an attractive woman with a brain.’

  Kennington

  Lily collapsed back onto the bed panting for breath and Ceri climbed up her body, giggling, until she could snuggle up against her side to wait for her lover to be able to speak.

  ‘That was amazing,’ Lily said when her breathing had stabilised. ‘What got into you?’ Ceri had dragged her upstairs as soon as they had got back from Greycoat Street.

  Ceri ducked her head a little, embarrassed. ‘I, um, I just really got off watching you be smart.’

  ‘I’ll have to do it more often. You were like… like…’

  ‘Like you get when I do something over the top with magic?’

  Lily giggled. ‘Uh, yeah, like that. Are you sure you don’t have a bit of succubus in you?’

  ‘God, I hope not. My genome’s convoluted enough with two dragons adding to it.’ Ceri smirked slightly. ‘I could probably do what you do, though.’

  ‘Which bit?’

  ‘When you feed. Drawing energy out of the Tantric Median. Keep you hanging right on the edge.’

  ‘Really? I’ve, um, never actually had that done to me.’

  Ceri developed an evil grin. ‘I’ll give it a go then…’

  ‘Cool!’

  ‘Next time I have you on the cross in the dungeon with the toys and the nipple clamps.’ Lily gave out a little, anticipatory whimper and Ceri giggled. Then her face straightened. ‘Lil?’

  ‘Yes, love?’

  ‘Am I turning into a total slut?’

  ‘That probably depends on your definition of “slut.” I don’t think so, no. I’ve never known you have sex with anyone you didn’t have some feelings for.’ She paused and her lips quirked. ‘You may have some sluttish tendencies, but that just gets me hot.’

  ‘Not helping,’ Ceri said, though she giggled.

  ‘What?! If some guy has sex for fun, he’s a lucky stud. Why should we be any different? There’s no risk of pregnancy. Why shouldn’t we have some fun?’ She poked Ceri in the ribs with a finger. ‘You enjoyed what Belvedere did to you, and Jessie. You thoroughly enjoyed doing that porn scene for Tawni. As long as you’re enjoying yourself and no one gets hurt, who gives a widder fucking damn?’

  ‘Well… yeah, I guess.’ The non-committal reply came with a contented tone and Ceri snuggled tighter against Lily’s body, enjoying the warmth. ‘Your father was right.’

  ‘About what?’

  ‘I think having normal sex is making me feel… closer isn’t the right word. More bonded maybe? I feel like I’m getting to know you more, even if it’s mostly your body I’m getting to know.’

  ‘Yes,’ Lily said. ‘He was right. Better yet, I have to admit I’m getting a lot more out of us being together doing it this way.’

  ‘Good,’ Ceri said, smiling.

  ‘I still want you to hang me from the cross and keep me on the edge for an hour though.’

  Ceri giggled. ‘Done,’ she said.

  October 23rd

  Michael met Ceri and Lily just outside the Oval tube station. There were not many people about at four-thirty in the morning, but a couple of them seemed surprised to see a werewolf leaning against the tiled wall, and the staff seemed even more surprised when he got hugs from two attractive girls coming up from the platforms.

  There were few cars about, and they cut across the big junction to the park. A light breeze stirring the leaves was about the only sound, aside from the gentle chatter of the two women and the rumbled replies of their less talkative companion. They were almost to the fence around High Towers when Michael suddenly stopped, lifting his muzzle.

  Undead. The word was a bark. Ceri’s Sight cut in instantly as she searched for the tell-tale emission of negative thaumitons. Lily was dropping into a fighting stance and hating the fact she did not have her knives on her. Then Michael relaxed. An almost purring growl said, Friend. He loped off toward the side gate and the two women followed.

  There was only one undead Ceri considered anything like a friend and sure enough, they found her sitting on the step outside the door to the second kitchen. Ceri had never seen Lorna in anything other than a dress and here she was in a T-shirt and jeans, the dim moonlight making the bare skin of her arms look even whiter. Beside her on the step was a fairly small nylon bag. She looked up as they came through the fence and it was immediately obvious that she had been crying.

  ‘Oh,’ the vampire said, wiping a tear from her cheek, ‘hi. I was… I was wondering if I could stay here… for a couple of days, maybe. I won’t be a bother. Just ‘til I, um…’

  ‘You’d better come in,’ Ceri said. Stepping around the willowy woman on the step, she unlocked the door and went through into the spotless second kitchen.

  Twill appeared in the doorway. ‘I’ve put coffee on,’ the fairy said. She looked at Lorna, her eyes narrowing a little. ‘Come on, dear, I’ll take you up to the spare room. You can’t have much in that little bag, but we’ll get you settled in first.’

  ‘You don’t have to tell us what’s happening, Lorna,’ Ceri said. ‘Certainly not now.’

  ‘No,’ Lorna replied, ‘I’d prefer to get it all out and then maybe get some sleep.’ She managed a weak grin as she started for the door. ‘Well, if I can. If I can’t maybe Twill’s got some dusting she wants doing or something.’

  There was something of a balancing act performed in the lounge before Lorna came back down. Lily undressed, because otherwise it would be obvious they were trying to be sensitive, but Michael sat on the rug in front of the fire rather than perching Ceri on his lap or sitting at her feet. It did not really work.

  Lorna walked into the lounge dressed in a dressing gown which was left in the guest room just in case. She looked up at the little group and frowned. ‘Oh no,’ she said. ‘I’ve messed up my marriage, I’m not having you messing up your relationship because of me. The thought’s appreciated, really, but if you don’t start acting like you normally would, I’m leaving.’

  ‘Uh, we’d be having sex by now normally,’ Lily pointed out. ‘Get your behind in that chair and tell us what’s going on.’

  Lorna sat down, but she did wait until Michael had moved to the space beside Ceri’s legs before she started. ‘The night of our anniversary,’ Lorna said, ‘we went home pretty drunk, with Kate.’

  Ceri nodded. ‘Kate told us,’ Ceri said. ‘She was apologising for being ratty at us and explaining why we found her in a bar in Vauxhall.’

  ‘Ah… I’d pretty much decided what I was going to do before we left the Dragon. Actually, I was hoping I could swing it when I suggested taking her out with us.’ The vampire’s brow knitted. ‘I’ve been getting worried about John for a while. I don’t need to feed too often, but it still takes its toll on him. I’ve vaguely suggested finding someone else I could feed on “if he got ill,” but he always changes the subject.’ Her eyes widened. ‘Oh God, I haven’t eaten in days! What am I going to do for blood?’

  ‘We’ll make arrangements if it comes to that,’ Ceri said.

  ‘But it’s dangerous! I could addict someone…’

  ‘I know spells to take care of that if needed, Lorna. What happened next?’ Actually, she did not know any such
spell, but she would cross that hurdle when it came to it.

  Lorna settled again, though her posture was nervous. ‘We went home, I started kissing Kate. She was well into it, but I knew she would be, and I figured John was drunk enough that his inhibitions would be blunted. They were.’ She looked up, smiling nervously. ‘Kate knew this spell to keep him up longer. We were at it for ages. Then I blew it. Kate woke up first, I was a bit worn out and I was feeding off her when John came to. He just walked out of the room, all silent. Kate left. Then we had an almighty row and we’ve barely been talking since. I said he needed help feeding me. He said I was his wife and he’d take care of me. I said I’d kill him at the rate he was going. He said…’ She swallowed. ‘He brought something up which made me unhappy. Last night it started again. He said Kate had been sleeping with you two, she was a slut, how could I think of feeding from her… I grabbed a few clothes and left.’ Her voice went quiet. ‘He’s not himself.’

  ‘Of course he isn’t,’ Lily said. ‘He loves you. He’ll remember that given some time.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lorna said, ‘he was pretty…’

  ‘I do,’ Lily stated flatly. ‘You need to rest. Things will look better in the morning.’

  ‘I don’t think I can sleep…’ Lorna began, then her eyes closed and she slumped forward. Lily was already moving to catch her.

  ‘She’ll sleep,’ Ceri said. ‘You two take her up to the spare room, tuck her in.’

  Twill floated in as Michael lifted Lorna from the chair. ‘Her husband called an hour or so before you got home, asking whether she was here. Of course, then she wasn’t.’

  Ceri nodded. ‘I’m going to call him. How did he sound?’

  ‘Concerned.’

  ‘Only concerned?’ Ceri said. ‘Then I’ll call him in the morning.’

  ~~~

  ‘That was all you got out of him?’ Lily asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Ceri replied. ‘Telephone lines aren’t great at passing emotional tone. I think he was relieved to know where she was, but “thank you for letting me know” was about it.’

  ‘Jackass,’ Lily commented.

  ‘When did we suddenly become relationship councillors, Lil?’

  ‘Well… We’re in a stable relationship of three partners. All three of us sleep with other people and no one gets jealous. We must be doing something right.’

  ‘Or people think we are,’ Michael said. ‘We aren’t exactly a conventional, err, threesome. That sounds a bit redundant now I say it, but you know what I mean. I’m a werewolf so I have a different view of sex and relationships. Lily’s a half-succubus. If any of us was going to get jealous it would be Ceri, and she’s the one who started it, so to speak.’

  ‘Good point,’ Lily said. ‘It’s all Ceri’s fault. If she wasn’t so damned gorgeous…’

  Ceri swatted her on the arm. ‘I’m going to check on our guest.’

  Lily’s face straightened. ‘She needs to feed, Ceri. She was playing it down last night.’

  Grimacing, Ceri said, ‘I’ll take care of it. Would you dig out one of my mother’s books? It’s called Morborum Sanguinis. It’ll be in the medical section.’ Lily nodded and Ceri started for the lounge door.

  Lorna’s eyes opened like traps as soon as Ceri sat down on the edge of the bed. Ceri saw the flicker of red in her pupils, the flick of her tongue across her lips. ‘You need to feed,’ Ceri said, putting a towel down on the bed beside her leg.

  ‘No,’ Lorna insisted, ‘I’m…’

  ‘Hungry,’ Ceri interrupted. ‘I can see it. Lily could sense it last night. You’ve been putting it off because of the arguments. You’ll either kill yourself or hurt someone if you keep this up.’ Dressed only in an over-sized shirt, Ceri placed the towel under her right thigh and lay back. ‘I’m told vamps prefer the femoral artery.’

  Lorna looked at her, apparently a little confused by the business-like attitude. In truth, if Ceri did not institutionalise the process she would probably scream. ‘Should I use my aura?’ Lorna asked. ‘John says it’s easier when I do.’

  ‘Please,’ Ceri replied, her eyes fixed on the ceiling. ‘I’ll try not to resist it.’ She felt a wash of warmth spread over her and tried to go with it. Don’t think about what she’s going to do, just go with the feeling, just let it… Her fingers were tingling and the feeling of light-headedness seemed to spread out into her limbs. She barely noticed the shifting of Lorna’s weight on the bed.

  The bite was a shock; a sudden sharp pain which almost cut through the fog in her mind. It died away quickly, however, and the dull pain of the first, hard, suck was dulled even more by the aura. A soft moan escaped her lips as she felt Lorna’s tongue sliding over the wound, ensuring there was saliva getting into her blood. Some part of Ceri’s mind knew what was coming and tried to recoil, but then the endorphin analogues kicked in. Ceri relaxed with a sigh. The sensation of Lorna sucking on the wound she had made felt wonderful, erotic. Ceri’s body trembled, her skin was tingling; this was nothing compared to what Lily did to you, but Ceri could see why people liked it. The tingling seemed to concentrate around her clitoris and her eyes rolled back. A slow throb built in her groin, starting to grow into something more insistent…

  It took several seconds to realise that Lorna had stopped drinking. Ceri opened her eyes and looked up. Her body was still buzzing from the chemicals swimming around in her bloodstream and the near orgasm. ‘Lie still,’ Lorna said. ‘You’ll still be high for another minute or so. I’ll get something to cover the wound.’

  ‘S’okay,’ Ceri slurred, but Lorna was already up and out of the door. Propping herself up on her elbows, Ceri lifted her leg to look at the damage. There were two, fairly neat, punctures leaking a bit of blood, surrounded by a big bruise. Ceri considered it through her buzzing brain. Actually, she had got love bites almost as bad from both Lily and Michael; it was an occupational hazard of sex with people who had fangs.

  Reaching down she covered the bruise with her hand and concentrated. Light was flickering over her fingers when Lorna reappeared with a box of sticking plasters. Ceri lifted her hand away to reveal unblemished skin and Lorna said, ‘Ah… right.’

  ‘I did say it was okay,’ Ceri said.

  Lorna grinned slightly and dropped onto the bed. ‘Thanks,’ she said, ‘for everything. You didn’t need to do any of this.’

  Ceri pulled herself upright. The effects of the bite were wearing off and actually it had not been nearly as bad as she had thought. Of course, she might have to deal with the addiction later, but… ‘No,’ she said, ‘I didn’t. Look, I have a confession to make.’

  Lorna’s brow furrowed. ‘Oh?’

  ‘I… really don’t like vampires. I wouldn’t call it hate, or prejudice, but I’ve pretty much never had a good experience with one. And the old ones? Yuck! I can see what they really look like. I see the expressions on their withered faces while the illusion they’re showing is smiling sweetly. I wouldn’t trust one as far as I could comfortable spit this bed.’

  ‘Oh,’ Lorna said flatly.

  ‘You, though,’ Ceri went on, ‘you give me hope that maybe they aren’t all worthless, bloodsucking freaks.’ She shrugged. ‘You’re the only one I’ve talked to who wasn’t trying to kill me or bleed me, so maybe I am just prejudiced.’

  ‘No, I’m pretty sure John would agree, and I’ve never really met another vamp I liked.’

  Ceri frowned. ‘How did you get turned, Lorna?’

  The vampire sighed. ‘John was working a case. Drugs. He didn’t know the guy he was trying to hunt down was a vampire, a really old vampire. When John got too close, the vamp grabbed me. While John was running around beating information out of drug dealers, the vamp bled me for three days. He made me think he’d raped me though I later found out vamps that age are ill-equipped to do so. Messed with my head and then finally sucked me dry. He knew John would find me either dead, or turned and hungry.’ She paused and swallowed. ‘I almost killed my own husband when he found m
e.’

  ‘Did they ever get the one who did it?’ Ceri asked quietly.

  ‘No. His drug ring was destroyed, but he’s still out there somewhere.’

  Ceri nodded. ‘Lily’s right, you know? He’ll come around.’

  ‘I hope so,’ Lorna replied. ‘I love him.’

  Ceri nodded again. She was not really sure undead could love anything, but she was sure that Lorna felt something like it for her husband and he certainly loved her. He had stayed with her when she was turned, it would be an act of stupidity to let her needs come between them now.

  ~~~

  ‘So, how was your first vampire bite?’ Lily asked. Her head was resting on Ceri’s shoulder as they lay in bed. Lorna had retired to the guest room when they did, though she went with a book; Ceri was not going to enspell her again, she could sleep if, or as long as, she wanted.

  ‘Not as bad as I thought it would be,’ Ceri replied. ‘I let myself go with her hunting aura. The bite stung a bit and then I just felt kind of... high. You think I’ll need to try any of those spells I found in Mum’s book?’

  ‘Depends how much of her juice got into you, which usually depends on how much she took. You didn’t seem too weak when you came down. You’ll probably be fine.’

  ‘Have you ever… well, fed one?’

  ‘A couple, yeah,’ Lily said. ‘Young ones. We kind of exchanged energy. The girl was best, really intense, but we got a bit carried away and nearly killed each other.’

  ‘So you can feed off them?’

  ‘Uh-huh. They have an active Tantric Median. I’m not sure about the older ones.’

  ‘Honestly? I’d rather not think about it.’

  Lily giggled. ‘So, maybe you’re not so worried about vamps now?’

  Ceri gave a little shrug. ‘Old ones still creep me out, but I’d feed a younger one if they needed it. And I thought I could trust them.’ She gave Lily a soft kiss on the forehead. ‘Mind you, it’s nothing like as intense as what you do to me. I think I could muster the will to throw a vampire off me if I had to. Once you’re feeding, I can’t do anything but moan and pant.’

  ‘So you still prefer your pet to a vamp, Mistress?’ Lily asked, her voice a cute, wheedling giggle.