The Problem With Black Magic
***
Summoning Sam was more difficult than summoning his father had been. She felt like she was mentally tugging him into the room, whereas Sammael had pretty much appeared before her once she had called him. It probably didn’t help that Sam didn’t realize he was being summoned for most of it.
Still, eventually she succeeded, and she sensed his presence in the room. Opening her eyes, she saw that he was sitting in a heap on top of his jacket, which she had put on top of the circle this time. He was still wearing his tuxedo, sans jacket, but looked slightly disheveled and worn out; she guessed it hadn’t been a fun day for him either.
He stared up at her for several seconds, as though not trusting his eyes. “I’ve never been summoned once in my entire life, and you….how….”
“Yes I’m fine, it’s great to see you too,” she said breathlessly. “Listen, we’re outside of London right now and the Eastern Court is currently discussing who gets to take me home. I’d like to get out of here sooner rather than later.”
A little shakily, he got to his feet. “The Eastern Court? Give me the short version.”
As concisely as she could, she explained her current situation to him, including how Cordley had gotten around the protection spell, which made him groan. She made a split-second decision to skip over the part about summoning his father first; she had no idea how he would take it, and they both had enough on their plates for the moment.
“I knew it was Cordley,” he said, gritting his teeth. “No one’s that friendly.”
“Whatever, the fact is we have to get out of here, pronto. Can you like, teleport us out or something?”
He looked at her incredulously. “Teleport? What do you think I am, a full-blooded demon?”
She put her hands on her hips; it felt good to be arguing with him again. “Why not? The entire Western Court seems to.”
Sam looked like he was about to argue, then changed his mind. “Alright, I’ll concede the point there, but I can’t teleport. We’re going to have to do this the hard way, which means actually going to the airport.”
“Whatever we’re going to do, let’s do it- the court’s deciding tonight! There’s no time!”
He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been to court now: do you honestly think that they’re going to be done fighting over you before the wee hours of the morning? The original court is supposedly even more obsessed with protocol than ours.”
Cassie opened her mouth to disagree with him reflexively, then changed her mind. Actually, they probably had some time.
“Hopefully, it won’t come to it, but if I have to, I want to be prepared to fight. Which means, I’d like to borrow some of your magic again.”
“Fine. No arguments from me,” she said, placing her hands in his.
When he closed his eyes and gently squeezed her hands, warning her that he was starting to tap in, a sensation not unlike an electric shock ran through both of them, and they jumped apart, Cassie falling onto the bed while Sam was pushed back against the dresser.
“What went wrong?” she murmured, slurring her words a little. Between the blood loss and the shock, she wasn’t sure how much more abuse she could take tonight.
“It’s that white amulet,” he snarled. “It messes with our bond; enough that tapping into you doesn’t work.”
“I can’t take it off.”
“I know.”
“Can you get it off me?”
“I don’t think so. It hurts for me to even look at it,” he said. “I guess I’ll have to rely on my own strength.” Normally Cassie would have deemed that sufficient, but he looked so incredibly tired, she wasn’t sure how much of his own magic he could use. It must have been rough, searching for her when she disappeared without a trace. She felt a pang of guilt, because if she’d agreed to let him babysit her for a little while longer like he’d wanted, none of this would have happened.
She touched the diamond-studded amulet; she had to get this thing off, otherwise Sam was in danger. It honestly hadn’t occurred to her that he might be in a weakened state when she summoned him, but now that she’d done it, she had to take responsibility for it; she owed him magical power.
“Put that down, you’re not going to get that off,” he said, sounding resigned.
“How do you know?” said Cassie, a ghost of an idea occurring to her. Finding out how Cordley had circumvented her protection amulet had given her a new insight into how magic worked. “I think there’s a loophole.”
“White magic doesn’t have loopholes, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No….” she said, licking her lips as the idea came together. “It’s not that white magic doesn’t have loopholes, it’s just that black magic has so many more, because of the protection clauses, white seems foolproof in comparison. But it’s not foolproof. Nothing is.” Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and reached out with her mind.
Hey, Sammael? Real demon Sammael, not puny half-demon Sammael, are you listening?
There was a pause, and she thought she heard a sound like ice clinking in a glass, then the demon answered.
What could you possibly want? I just got home and poured myself a drink.
Actually, all I needed to do was confirm that I was mentally linked with you. See, this amulet is supposed to sever my mental link with my master. But when it was made, I had only one master, and now I have two. Since I’m talking to my master mind-to-mind, that means that technically, the spell doesn’t work. Which means that technically, the amulet isn’t functioning.
And with that, she pulled the amulet over her head effortlessly, to Sam’s dumbfounded expression.
You’re one of those annoying people who takes IQ tests on the internet to prove how smart you are, aren’t you? The demon put an end to the conversation, but she was sure she heard laughter in his voice.
“You broke the spell— an advanced white spell, and you broke it. You’re not even a witch yet…I don’t understand….” Sam’s eyes were wide, and she realized he was genuinely shocked. She’d been so concerned with getting the amulet off, she hadn’t thought of what she would say to him if she succeeded. She knew she would have to tell him about the deal with his father eventually, but now was not the time.
She licked her lips, holding the diamond amulet in her palm. Now that it wasn’t impeding her, and she could feel the slightly annoying, but familiar buzzing sensation at her back again, she could admit that it was pretty again. “I didn’t break it, I just…found a weakness, that’s all.”
He still looked at her, his red eyes widened. He was so shocked, he had actually forgotten his disguise spell. Either that, or he was too tired to keep it up.
“Whatever, look I promise I’ll explain everything when we get home, but we have to get home first. Tap in,” she said, offering him her arm.
He took her arm slowly, still looking at her like he didn’t quite believe what he was seeing. “You are going to tell me how you did that,” he said, emphasizing every word.
“It’s hard when I know something you don’t know, isn’t it?” she said. She couldn’t help it; teasing him was wrong, but after the day she’d had….
She gasped as a sharp pain raced through her body as he tapped into her magic, pulling it into himself greedily.
“Ow! Hey, it was a joke, okay?”
“That’s not it…sorry,” he said, gasping for air. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you, I’m just so depleted…I think it’s the summoning that did it.” The pain ebbed, replaced by the now familiar sensation of warmth leaving her body, more gently this time, and she shivered when he let go of her. She cradled the arm he had touched, full of cuts that were just beginning to heal.
Note to self: Don’t summon first Master when we might have to fight, it saps his strength. Note to self: Don’t summon second Master again, period.
Still, the first time he had done that, she had passed out; either he was getting better at holding back, or she was getting used to it. Now it ju
st hurt like hell.
“Ahhhh,” he said, after taking a moment to catch his breath. He pulled himself up to his full height and stretched out his arms and legs, suddenly looking much more limber. “Much better. Sometimes I forget why we’re all fighting over you, but that felt really good.” At that, he made a contented noise, from deep in his throat, and finished his stretch.
For some reason, his quiet grunt of pleasure made her blush more than kissing Sammael had. “Okay, now let’s get out of here,” she muttered, turning her back to him so he wouldn’t see her flushed cheeks. “I feel like I’ve been in this room for about five years.”