The Problem With Black Magic Page 29
Cassie could tell by the look on Serenus’ face that he hadn’t expected the other man to be called to the front, and the prospect of Serenus being surprised made her pulse quicken. Cassie didn’t realize how much she’d counted on the professor knowing everything until it became obvious that he didn’t.
She heard the sound of someone getting up from a chair a few rows behind her and turned to look. Her breath caught in her throat as she laid eyes on quite possibly the most handsome man she’d ever seen.
Nathaniel Lewis was well over six feet tall, with a build somewhere between a swimmer and a gymnast. His eyes were a shocking blue-green color, especially vibrant against his lightly tanned skin. Looking perfectly coiffed in a tailored, pin-striped three-piece suit, his mane of light brown hair slicked back with a careless-looking flair that had to be deliberate, he smiled at her with impossibly white teeth as he made his way to the front of the room. Cassie felt her stomach doing flip flops, something that only intensified when Sam put his hand around her waist again.
She turned to Sam to gauge his reaction; he was looking at Nathaniel like he wanted to kill him, but then again that was so close to his normal expression, it was hard to be sure.
Nathaniel stood before the dais about twenty feet away from Cassie and Sam with his hands clasped loosely behind his back, looking as relaxed as though he were standing by the pool. In profile, the ambient light in the room emphasized his sharp cheekbones, and his perfectly formed nose, and the clean, formidable line of his jaw.
Cassie leaned close to Sam. “Does he really look like that, or is that magic?” Not that she didn’t have more important things to worry about, but at the moment, there was nothing she could do but talk to Sam anyway.
“No disguise spells are allowed at court,” Sam said, narrowing his red eyes as he looked at the other demon. Cassie noticed they seemed to be giving off more light than they had before; she was beginning to get the impression that his eyes glowed more when he felt threatened. Territorial.
“Nathaniel Lewis, is it true that you’ve trained five witches within the last ten years?”
Nathaniel chuckled; as Cassie would have suspected, he had a deep, melodious voice. “I’m afraid your records aren’t up to date; it’s been seven. Although I had my doubts about Melissa,” he said, to scattered laughter from the audience.
Cassie looked at him, squinting: something was bothering her. She knew she’d never seen this man before— certainly, she would have remembered a man who looked like that— but ever since his name was called, she’d felt a vague sense of dread. Like she should know who he was, and every second she couldn’t remember was wasted time.
Graellen took up the questioning. “And has a witch in your care ever been seriously hurt?”
“No, sir,” said Nathaniel, crisply. “One girl broke a leg, but that was actually from a skiing accident in the Alps; none of my witches have ever been seriously injured, and never suffered any injury from magic.” Some of the members of the board nodded as Nathaniel talked, smiling.
Cassie felt her stomach drop, and this time not at the sight of Nathaniel’s masculine body: this was their plan. They had a hand-picked witch-trainer, safe and loyal to the court, and they were going to make it as clear as possible that she was much safer with him than with Sam; furthermore, it was probably true.
Looking at him though, would that really be so bad? She thought, then thanked her lucky stars for the thousandth time that Sam couldn’t read her mind. It was a glib thought, though, not an honest one; somehow, despite his looks and seductive voice, her gut instinct was telling her that she wouldn’t be safe with him. How could she be so sure of that?
“Please explain your method of training witches to the court,” said Arrigio, and Nathaniel smiled before answering. The light glinted off his teeth when she did and she noticed that, while he didn’t have fangs, his incisors did seem to be unusually sharp….
She stiffened as the memory of the two vampires in the shop came back to her: I don’t care if she tastes like nectar and ambrosia, it’s not worth pissing Nathan off....
Sam had felt her stiffen at the realization, and leaned in close. “What is it?” he whispered in her ear. Out of the corner of her eye, Cassie saw members of the court turn their attention away from Nathaniel (or Nathan) to look at her, and realized that it might not even be safe to whisper what she was about to say. Sam followed her eyes and presumably came to the same conclusion.
Cassie closed her eyes and took a deep breath; dimly, she could hear Nathaniel prattling on in his beautiful voice, something about benchmarking and Universal Casting Standards. Sam could read her emotions, and he had been able to speak directly into her mind when he had called her to his side; obviously, they had some kind of strong mental connection. Just because he insisted he couldn’t read her mind, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hear something that she actually wanted him to hear, did it? At worst, if she tried to communicate with him by mind and failed, her emotions would at least give him a clue.
She locked eyes with him and began doing the mental equivalent of yelling, trying to push out her own thoughts at the maximum volume possible. HE’S THE ONE WHO SENT THE VAMPIRES AFTER ME WHEN YOU WERE GONE! HE’S BEEN AFTER ME ALL THIS TIME.
Sam’s eyes widened, and he looked at Nathaniel again with a new intensity. Cassie leaned back, exhausted; she wouldn’t have thought thinking out loud would be so tiring, but suddenly she felt like she’d just jogged several miles. Sam had obviously gotten the message, but would it do any good?
Suddenly, she felt a hand caressing her; it took a moment for her to realize she was feeling the calming sensation in her mind, not on her skin. I see; I’ll take care of this, said the voice she almost recognized as Sam’s.
She exhaled; he was going to try something. She didn’t know what he could do at this point, but if Nathaniel was the kind of man who sent around vampires to do his bidding, she wanted nothing to do with him; she’d take her chances with her current master, thank you very much.
And next time? Inside voice, please.
Nathaniel trailed off his testimony at the sound of Cassie’s nigh-hysterical laughter; she couldn’t help it. She was so stressed out, Sam’s mild joke about her yelling in his head pushed her into a fit of mirth, and she didn’t even have the energy to be embarrassed anymore.
Arrigio fixed her with one of his disapproving glares, while Nathaniel just looked bewildered, craning his neck to look at her from his place in front of the dais.
“Once again, this is your master’s hearing, miss; I won’t ask you to maintain proper decorum again,” he said. “One more peep out of you, you can stand out in the hall like a child, do you understand?”
Before Cassie could decide how to respond to that, Sam held up a hand and replied for her. “I beg forgiveness for my familiar, chairman; though in fairness to her, if she couldn’t contain her laughter at the thought that this presumptuous half-demon was fit to train her, I can’t hold it against her; I find the idea laughable myself.”
Cassie struggled to keep her face impassive as the members of the court visibly bristled at Sam’s words, while Nathaniel’s mouth dropped open. She flicked her eyes to Sam and then back again; what was he trying to do? Insult them all into submission?
“Excuse me?” said Nathaniel through gritted teeth, turning his body to face Sam. “Is there something you’d like to say, Sammael?” He pronounced Sam’s name like it was a vile curse. For all Cassie knew, maybe it was.
“Yes, thank you,” said Sam. Cassie expected him to stand to address the court, but to her surprise, he reclined further into his chair. “I’ve no doubt Mr. Lewis here has successfully trained several witches, but what kind of spells could these witches cast when he was finished with them? Weak protection circles? Herbal charms? No wonder he’s had such consistent results; it’s easy to rack up a successful record when you’re training garden witches. Low risk, low reward.”
At his words, the audien
ce behind Cassie exploded into outraged whispers. As little as Cassie knew about the culture of witches and demons, she was pretty sure that what Sam had done was the verbal equivalent of walking up to Nathaniel and kicking him in the groin.
The gorgeous man sputtered, outrage clearly visible in his large turquoise eyes. “And this, coming from someone who’s never trained even one witch successfully? I assure you,“ he said, turning his attention back to the court, “my witches are among the best-trained in the world. They can craft iron-clad defenses for their masters, they can perform upper-tier spellcraft, they can heal—"
“By which you mean, they can cure the sniffles and mend broken arms,” Sam said derisively. “Have you trained a witch to cure life-threatening diseases, heal a body broken beyond mortal repair, and extend lives by dozens of years? You know, the things we actually need witches for?”
The murmuring of the crowd intensified, only this time, Arrigio didn’t bother quieting it with his gavel; he had an expression on his face Cassie couldn’t read. Graellen, however, was red in the face.
“Chairman, I won’t sit here and listen to him insult our witches. You should hold him in contempt—"
“No, it’s true,” said Arrigio quietly. “Sammael raises a valid point, however impetuously. The witches today are nowhere near as powerful as the white witches of yore, and everyone knows it; it’s the elephant in the room. The kind of training Lewis provides, however proficient, may not be what this Cassandra will require.”
“Chairman, I—" began Nathaniel.
“If he has no experience training a true white witch— the one we are all hoping Cassandra will become— does his experience teaching weak witches justify ripping the girl away from her current master, changing her life irrevocably?”
Cassie began to hope that things were going her way; not only was she seeing some of the honor Serenus had characterized Arrigio with, finally, but she was beginning to understand why the demons were making such a fuss about her. It wasn’t all about a bunch of greedy men hungering for power; if a properly trained witch could cure disease, things beyond what modern medicine could accomplish, then that ability was truly worth fighting for. She wasn’t sure if half-demons suffered from human diseases, but surely they had friends, lovers— maybe even children— who did.
Nathaniel shook his head. “Chairman, obviously Cassandra’s potential is a source of concern— that’s why we’re all here,” he said, indicating the audience. “But to conclude that all of my experience isn’t worth more than that of a demon with none, simply because the nature of the charge is different? That’s insanity!”
There was a pause. “So I’m insane now, Mr. Lewis?” said Arrigio.
Cassie had to stop herself from whistling. Hoo-boy, Mr. Handsome had dug himself a hole now. She felt almost giddy.
Nathaniel licked his lips nervously. “Of course not, but sir—"
“This is all a waste of time,” said Sam, cutting Nathaniel off; she was amazed how cold he could sound when he wanted to. “The real question is, can this middling half-demon even handle my familiar? If he can’t, then everything else becomes irrelevant.”
The murmuring of the crowd increased; a few people even whistled. Arrigio banged his gavel half-heartedly, but seemed too lost in thought to care about the noise level in the room anymore.
Giving up the pretense of civility, Nathaniel turned in Sam’s direction and practically snarled his words at him. “What are you suggesting? That I tap into her right here, at court?!” he spat, his tone implying that such a thing would be more scandalous than urinating on the floor.
“I think that would be an excellent idea,” said the Asian man. Who the hell are you? Cassie wondered once again. “I know it’s usually not done, but these are unusual circumstances. If Mr. Lewis cannot handle the flow of magic from her, it will be immediately obvious. Then, the court will have little choice but to award custody to the current master, and we can skip unnecessary dialogue and move forward with the agenda.” Arrigio nodded in approval.
Graellen turned to the chairman in disbelief. “You’ll allow this?”
“Apparently, I will,” the chairman snapped. “What Mr. Yamanaka says makes perfect sense. Cassandra, are you willing to let Mr. Lewis attempt to tap your magic? It would save a lot of time.”
Cassie raised an eyebrow; after all this time being talked about like a commodity, she was surprised anyone would ask her permission for anything. Apparently Arrigio had some inkling that she should have a say over how her own magic was handled; she was liking him more by the second.
She turned to Sam, who nodded almost imperceptibly; she didn’t know how this was going to play out, but apparently, he had expected this.
“Okay,” she said, and rose from her seat. Feeling awkward, she closed the distance between her and Nathaniel, trying to focus on his collarbone to avoid making eye contact; she didn’t want to give him any openings.
She snuck a glance up at Serenus on the panel, and guessed from the worried look in his eyes that this wasn’t part of his plan. Whatever Sam was playing at, the older demon hadn’t been a part of it.
Stopping a few feet from him, she shifted in her heels, not sure what to do. Finally giving into the temptation to look at his face, she gulped while he flashed her a brilliant smile; the fact that he showed no sign of his anger from just a moment ago was more disturbing to her than a scowl would have been.
“So, uh, what do we do? I’m still pretty new at this,” she said, provoking soft laughter from the audience. She briefly wondered how the crew from The Daily Grind was finding this whole spectacle.
Nathaniel was still grinning, but Cassie thought his smile looked a bit strained; just maybe, he wasn’t sure how this was going to play out either. “Just take my hand; I’ll do the rest,” he said, extending his arm to her.
When Cassie took his hand, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. Using the same senses she had when Sam had asked her to get a read on the demons in the room last night, she hoped that she could get a feel for how powerful he was. If he was weak, maybe tapping into her really would knock him for a loop, and she could go home.
Inhaling, she recognized the dark musty scent that she associated with Sam; not exactly the same, but similar. She realized it was probably the smell of demon magic.
When Nathaniel reached with his mind to tap her well, she gasped; the musky scent overwhelmed her senses and she knew he was strong. Maybe not as strong as Sam, but that wasn’t the point; he was strong enough that she doubted the act of tapping her magic was going to faze him.
As her mind began to reel from the connection, she had to resist the urge to throw a glance over her shoulder at Sam; had he just gambled everything on the hope that Nathaniel would be too weak to handle her? If he had, it was reckless and stupid.
She felt a strange sensation, like all the warmth was leaving her body. It wasn’t exactly painful, but strange. When Sam had tapped her, all that she had felt was pain; she guessed it must be because Sam hadn’t had any time to waste. Nathaniel was testing the waters, not trying to pull out all her magic through the pores of her skin under pressure.
Nathaniel laughed softly, a sound she probably would have found beautiful and sexy if she wasn’t so busy hating his guts at the moment. “Wow,” he said. “I was expecting it to be a rush, but this is…it’s so pure. This must be what magic was like at the dawn of time,” he said, something akin to awe in his voice. “Cassandra, I would be honored to teach you.”
Thanks, but I still hate you. And myself, for trusting that Sam knew what he was doing! If I have to go away with this guy now, who’s going to tease Hunter when he gets his first girlfriend? Hell, whose going to tease JAY when he gets his first girlfriend?
Someone on the dais began to speak, probably pointing out that Nathaniel seemed to be handling the power transfer just fine, but the sudden sound of Sam’s voice in Cassie’s head blocked out every other sound.
Now, this is the part where y
ou knock him on his ass— if you can stop lusting after said ass for two whole seconds, that is. Fickle little thing.
Cassie gasped, and Nathaniel looked alarmed.
“Uh, Cassandra?” he said. “Are you alright? Would you prefer to sit?“
Oh, and by the way? That thing I kept saying about not being able to read your mind? Lying through my teeth. Did you really think I would admit to being able to do that? So much more fun if you don’t know.
Cassie felt her grasp on Nathaniel’s hand tighten into a death grip. Son of a— all this time?
There was a sound like a balloon popping, and before Cassie knew what had happened, Nathaniel was halfway across the room, twin trails of blood running from his nose, marring his perfect face. As he turned over and coughed up a mouthful of phlegm on a seated witch’s platform shoes, Cassie realized that he’d flown twenty feet away from her, as though she’d pushed him with superhuman strength.
She looked down at her hand, still extended; she hadn’t moved a muscle.
On the dais, she heard a rustle as a demon, probably Graellen, got to his feet. “That was a set-up!” he growled. “No way did the familiar do that herself— she’s not even a witch yet. Sammael did it! He’s been planning this all along.”
Cassie turned to Sam, who was still reclining in his chair, sitting cowboy style with his left ankle resting on his right knee. When he caught her eye, he couldn’t suppress a smug smile. Bastard, she thought, even though she was pretty sure that she wasn’t going to have to go home with Nathaniel anymore.
“It was all her,” he said. “Have the Examiner check me if you don’t want to take my word for it; I haven’t cast a spell in days.”
“Oh, and I’m sure the Examiner will be totally honest with his findings!” the heavyset demon sneered. “This is a farce— Zeitbloom has known this one since childhood! He won’t testify against his friend.”
“Putting aside the ludicrous suggestion that the Examiner, of all people, would lie to this court,” said Arrigio, his voice dangerously calm, “we have more than one Examiner present for obvious conflicts of interest such as this. And sit down,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. Still grimacing, the larger demon obeyed.
“Garcia, check him,” the chairman said, gesturing to a thin, dark-skinned man standing beside the dais. Nonchalantly, Sam stood while the smaller demon circled him, sniffing and touching his wrists.
“He’s clean, Mr. Chairman,” said Garcia. “Like he says, this one hasn’t cast a spell in days— weeks, even,” he said, shaking his head. “Furthermore, I don’t sense any spells coming from anywhere else in the room; whatever happened was between Mr. Lewis and the familiar.”
“This is ridiculous,” said Nathaniel, struggling to his feet. “I was handling her just fine— you all could see, and then there was a….a spike of some kind. It was an aberration, normally I would never—"
“Enough,” said Arrigio, fixing Nathaniel with a withering glance that made even Cassie wince. “The fact of the matter is, young man, you said you could handle her and yet you couldn’t maintain the connection for 30 seconds. Given that assigning her to you is obviously unfeasible, and no other viable candidates are available, I see no reason to reassign the girl from her current master…who can at least draw from her without embarrassing himself.” At that, the audience laughed openly; Cassie thought she could hear Khalil’s barking laughter from way in the back.
Arrigio looked from side-to-side, making eye contact with each of the demons on the board in turn. “All in favor of voting to keep the familiar in her current position?”
“Aye!” said Yamanaka. Cassie noticed he seemed awfully eager to get this over with.
“Wait!” said Graellen. “This is a landmark case— I move that we recess, go into executive session, and reserve the vote until a later date. There’s still—”
“No,” said Arrigio with more vehemence than Cassie would have expected. Apparently, this case had tried his patience…or was it Graellen who was doing that? “The evidence presented has been compelling, we have nine more cases on the agenda for this evening, and I know that most of the board is willing— dare I say, eager— to move on. Aye, or Nay?”
“Nay,” said Graellen, fixing Sam with a look of pure hatred. The rest of the demons quickly voted Aye; Cassie got the impression they didn’t disagree with the chairman without good reason.
“Aye,” said Arrigio, tapping his gavel softly. “Passed, by a vote of 6-1. We will now take a twenty-minute recess before the next case, in accordance with Section 8-A of the charter.”