The Mage in Black (14 page)

He put a paw over his heart. “That hurts, Sabina.”

“If I might add something here,” Rhea chimed in. “If Slade’s willing to accept Giguhl’s participation in the fights as payment, and the demon’s willing, then refusing the compromise might send Slade the wrong message.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Given that you two have a history, perhaps he’ll see your refusal as a sign he can still get the best of you.”

I sighed. Gods, I hated being backed into a corner. But damned if she wasn’t right.

“Please,” Giguhl said. He sent me his wide-eyed kitty look.

I looked from the cat’s pleading expression to Rhea’s challenging one. I was outnumbered and outmaneuvered. Again.

“Gods! Fine. But if you get hurt, it’s your own damned fault.”

“Aw, Sabina. Does that mean you won’t kiss my boo-boos?”

Rhea chuckled and I felt a smile crack on my own lips. “You’re a real pain in the ass, you know that?” I said without heat.

“That’s why you love me.” There was a beat of silence, and then: “So you and Slade, huh?”

I shifted in my seat. Talking about Slade was bad enough, but doing so in front of Adam’s aunt made me feel self-conscious. “Not much to tell. We knew each other.”

“Knew each other? Like in the biblical sense?” Giguhl asked.

“Obviously,” Rhea chimed in. “Most women don’t deliver an uppercut to old platonic friends.”

I let that comment pass. “It’s not a big deal. Water under the bridge. Ancient history. I barely even remember him.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Shut it, Mr. Giggles.”

“I’m just sayin’. I saw the way he looked at you.”

I chanced a glance at Rhea. She met my eyes over Giguhl’s head and nodded. “Agreed.”

I looked from the mage to the demon. “You’re both crazy.”

“Crazy nothin’. You’ll see.” With that, Giguhl ducked back inside the bag for a nap.

I spent the rest of the ride avoiding Rhea’s knowing gaze.

Y
ou ready to learn about the wonderful world of magic?” Rhea said in an overly chipper voice. She’d asked me to meet her in the foyer of Maisie’s apartment at the buttcrack of dusk. It was now six in the evening, and I was dragging.

What’s worse, Rhea insisted I bring Giguhl with me. As a result, I had to listen to his steady stream of complaints as she led us through the building to the area they used as a school. I was ready to send him back to bed when Rhea opened the door on the top floor of the building.

“This is the gymnasium,” she said, waving us inside. The room smelled of old sweat and vinyl from the blue mats covering half the floor. “It’s not used very often, so we’ll have plenty of privacy for your lessons.”

Damara was waiting for us. She’d accessorized her standard black ensemble with a scowl. Guess I wasn’t the only one who’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed.

“Is everything in place?” Rhea asked.

Damara nodded. “Yeah.”

Rhea didn’t seem fazed by the younger mage’s bad attitude. “Okay, then. Sabina, I thought we’d start tonight by testing the skills Adam taught you and work up from there. Did you bring your grimoire?”

I held up the leather-bound journal Adam had given me in California. He explained then I was supposed to fill the book with all the magical tips and spells I learned.

Rhea held out a hand for the book and I gave it over. “Let’s see here.” She started flipping through the pages. Seeing page after blank page, she looked up. “Where are all your spells?”

I leaned in and flipped to the last page. “This is the only one I have.” I pointed to instructions for summoning Giguhl. Adam had written them in the back of the book before giving it to me. Looking now at his bold, masculine script, I felt a little ache in my chest. Since he’d left, I’d worked very hard to keep my mind on less complicated subjects, like prophecies and turf wars with werewolves. Yes, getting involved with Adam would be a colossal mistake. But try telling that to my libido.

If Rhea noticed my woolgathering, she gave no indication. Instead, she read through the spell and nodded. “Hmm. It’s a bit clunky. I can teach you how to summon the demon using an abbreviated spell without all the ceremony.”

Glad for the distraction from thoughts of Adam, I looked up. “Oh yeah?”

She nodded. “Adam’s specialty isn’t demon summoning. He’s an energy manipulator. This spell is textbook stuff, but with your latent talents and some training, you’ll be able to do this in your sleep. But for now, why don’t we run through this the way he taught you?”

Beside me, Giguhl raised a claw. “Question. How can she summon me when I’m already here?”

I looked at the demon, thankful he was paying attention. I felt, like, totally disconnected from what was going on. Like I was watching myself through frosted glass.

“That’s easy,” Rhea replied to Giguhl. “She’s going to summon a different demon.”

That got my attention. “But I’ve never summoned another demon.” Suddenly my hands were damp. The reality of the situation hit me smack in the face. Rhea wasn’t easing me into this magic stuff; she was determined to throw me in the deep end. If I didn’t want to sink, I had to get my head in the game.

“Don’t worry. The process is the same, you just have to change the demon seal you trace during the incantation.”

“Wait, what?”

Rhea sighed. “Every demon has a unique sigil. This is Giguhl’s.” She opened the book again and pointed to the symbol Adam drew in the journal. The design was pretty simple—a circle with a zigzag in the center. “Anyway, a demon’s unique seal is similar to a telephone number. When you trace it, you call the demon directly.”

“Oh.” I looked at Giguhl for confirmation. He nodded, looking bored.

Rhea turned to her assistant. “Please get the salt so Sabina can cast a circle.” The young mage turned and walked to a table under the windows, muttering to herself the entire way. While Damara grabbed a box of sea salt, Rhea snapped her fingers. A book appeared in her hand.

“Anyway,” she continued, “the trick is knowing the right sigil. The stronger the demon, the more complex and secret the design.” She flipped through the pages as she spoke. “Now we just have to figure out who you should summon.”

As she searched for a likely candidate, I wiped my damp palms on my jeans. Here’s the thing. While I felt comfortable with Giguhl now, the truth was our first meeting hadn’t gone well. Adam had summoned the demon to test me. And by test, I mean Giguhl staked me. I’d survived, but it was touch and go there for a few minutes.

“What if the demon I summon tries to kill me?” I knew I could survive a staking, but demons had other means of killing I had no idea how to defend against.

Rhea looked at me over the pages of the book. “That’s what the circle’s for. It binds the demon.” She looked at Giguhl. “You’re what? A seventh-level Mischief?”

Giguhl’s chest puffed out with indignation. “Fifth level.”

Rhea pursed her lips. “Hmm.” She finally stopped on a page and nodded. “Okay, let’s see how strong you are. The demon you’re going to summon is named Furfur.”

I laughed, suddenly relieved. “Furfur?” A demon with such a silly name couldn’t be so bad, I thought. Until I got a look at Giguhl’s face.

“Um, do you think that’s a good idea?” he said to Rhea, sounding uncharacteristically serious.

Rhea simply smiled. “It’ll be fine. I think. And if not, we’re all here to help.”

That didn’t sound good at all. “Wait. Why is Giguhl worried?”

Rhea opened her mouth to speak, but Giguhl beat her to it. “Furfur is a Count of Irkalla who rules twenty-six legions.”

Rhea waved a hand, shooing away Giguhl’s concern. “We’ll have to take a couple extra precautions, but it’s nothing you can’t handle. Trust me.”

Call me crazy, but trust didn’t come so easily these days. “I don’t know, Rhea.”

“Look, all you have to do is cast a triangle inside the circle for extra protection.”

It’s not that I was scared, exactly. Surely Rhea wouldn’t have me summon a demon I couldn’t handle, or at least not one she couldn’t handle if shit went down. I looked at her now, and the challenge in her eyes and the smirk on her lips all but dared me to back down. To hell with that.

“Okay, fine. I’ll do it.”

Her smile widened. “Thatta girl.”

For the next few minutes she walked me through casting a circle in salt on the floor, followed by a smaller triangle inside. Then she made me trace Furfur’s sigil over and over on the page until I had it memorized. Unlike Giguhl’s, Furfur’s design was a irregular collection of shapes in an asymmetrical pattern. Once I felt I had a good grasp on how to draw it, Rhea stepped back and closed the book.

“Now picture the sigil in your mind when you evoke the demon. And whatever you do, don’t cross that line.” She pointed to the border of the circle. “Good luck.”

Rhea joined Giguhl and Damara several feet away. Giguhl sent me a halfhearted thumbs-up while Damara yawned and looked at her watch.

I swallowed and stepped up to the circle. A trickle of sweat rolled down my back and I rubbed my hands on my jeans. “Here goes nothing,” I muttered. I took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. Closing my eyes, I focused on clearing my mind. Furfur’s sigil lit up in my mind, neon against a black background. I raised my right hand and let it hang there for a second. Then, releasing my breath, I traced the complex design in the air.

“Idimmu Alka!”

My stomach dipped. A split second later thunder boomed through the room. I jerked and my eyes flew open. In the center of the triangle, a roiling black cloud appeared. Instead of the brimstone odor that always accompanied Giguhl’s appearance, the room filled with the sharp scent of ozone.

I didn’t dare take my eyes from the cloud. My breath caught, as wind wiped through the circle, blowing away the cloud.

I’d never imagined what a half-man, half-stag would look like. Never occurred to me. But as I stood there looking at Furfur, I realized he was exactly that. Shrewd eyes stared out from a man’s face, and his upper body was covered with muscled bare flesh. But the antlers jutting from the sides of his head were so big I wondered how he held them up with his human neck. Four powerful flanks covered in fawn-colored fur made up the lower half of his body.

I stared in shock for a few moments, unsure what exactly I was supposed to do now.

“Well?” His voice was hoarse, like he’d smoked a dozen packs a day for a millennium.

“Um.” I wanted to look over my shoulder for guidance, but even I knew better than to turn my back on a demon. “Hi.”

A bolt of electricity zapped through the circle, crackling off the invisible barrier between us. I flinched and took a step back. He didn’t move. “I don’t have time for games. What is your bidding, mage?”

“Rhea?” I called over my shoulder.

“Yes?”

“Little help here?”

“You’re doing great,” she said.

“Ask him a question about your future,” Giguhl said. “Furfur is required to tell the truth when bound by a triangle.” I heard a scuffle behind me. Then, “Ow, hey!”

“We’re conducting a lesson here, demon,” Rhea scolded. “If you’re going to give her the answers, you can leave.”

“Sorry,” Giguhl muttered.

This exchange made Furfur narrow his gaze at a spot behind me, which I assumed meant he’d finally noticed the audience. I figured having a Count of Irkalla pissed at him wouldn’t do Giguhl any favors, so I waved my hands. “Hey, Bambi. Over here.”

More lightning crackled through the circle, but Furfur transferred his attention toward me. “That’s better,” I said.

I rubbed my hands together. If this demon had to tell the truth about my future, then this was too good an opportunity to pass up. And I knew exactly what I was going to ask. “Okay, here’s my question. Do I have a destiny?”

Furfur tilted his head and pursed his lips. As soon as I’d asked the question, I regretted it. What if he told me Maisie was right about the prophecy? Was I ready to handle that kind of pressure? Finally, after what felt like forever, Furfur smiled. “The answer to your question is…” He paused for dramatic effect. I held my breath. Not a sound could be heard in the room. “Yes.”

I blew out my breath. Shit, leave it to me to ask a vague yes-or-no question. “No, what I meant is, what is my destiny?”

Furfur shook his head. “You have used up your question.”

I frowned at the frustrating demon. “Rhea? Is he telling the truth?”

“Yep. You only get one.”

I heard Giguhl mutter, “Smooth move.”

“Shit,” I said. “Fine. You can go now.”

Nothing happened.

“Ahem.” This from Rhea.

“Godsdammit,” I said. I was so flustered by my mistake, I’d forgotten demons have to be sent back to Irkalla by their summoner. “
Idummu bara nadzu
.”

Another burst of thunder, another black cloud, and then Furfur disappeared.

“Well, that was lame,” Giguhl said.

I turned and speared my demon with a glare. “You might have mentioned the one-question rule.”