Hammer of Witches

The Sixth Novel in the Thaumatology Series

By Niall Teasdale

Copyright 2012 Niall Teasdale

Kindle Edition

Contents

Part One: Bad Girls

Part Two: Partying in Hell

Part Three: Pentateuch

Part Four: Angels in the Architecture

Part Five: Inquisitio per Sigillum

Part Six: Faith

Housemates

About the Author

Part One: Bad Girls

Clapham, London, October 5th, 2011

The body lay in a patch of scorched grass. Its skin was blackened, charred to the point of decomposition, and the stench was almost unbearable to a werewolf’s nose. It was the posture, however, which had Ceri on the verge of throwing up; the woman, it was just about recognisable as a woman, had been hog-tied with wire and from the way the head was stretched back, the mouth open in a wide, agonised scream, she had been alive when she burned.

Stinks, Michael growled from behind her. The speech of werewolves was rudimentary, but functional, and her mate had managed to get his revulsion across exceptionally well with a simple sound. Howl?

Ceri nodded her head, backing out of the little coppice they had found the corpse in. She growled her reply out as he followed. You howl. I get Man Guard. This Man crime. Police was not actually a wolf word, but he understood her intention. When she just stood outside the trees as he raised his muzzle, he did pause to give her a frown. Call Demon get Man Guard, Ceri added.

Shrugging, Michael raised his head and let out a loud howl which echoed out through the night. Ignoring him, Ceri summoned her power and thought of Lily at work across London in the Jade Dragon. The half-succubus was not expecting the telepathic call and her mind put up token resistance…

And then they were connected and Lily knew everything as their thoughts became a jumble of melded minds. ‘Holy shit!’ Lily exclaimed, the specific thought as clear as a bell amid the tangle of images. Lily was getting better at these random connections; she had paused walking back from one of her tables, but now she was walking again. ‘Should I call Kate?’

‘They’re off duty tonight, I think,’ Ceri thought back. ‘Just call Greycoat Street and report it. Tell them I’m here… uh, in plain clothes?’

Lily giggled. Alec was looking at her funny from across the bar as she asked for the phone. Lily was not telling him what was funny. ‘I’ll call them,’ Lily’s thought came through. ‘Don’t forget your crime scene etiquette.’

‘I won’t. See you later, love.’ Ceri broke the connection off and turned back toward the body. Hidden by foliage, she reached up to her throat and the silver-studded, leather collar which rested there. A tiny surge of power and a tingling sensation in her skin, and she was human again. She sighed; meeting the cops in her birthday suit was not her idea of fun, but her clothes were back in Battersea Park.

She turned her head slightly to look at Michael. ‘Can you smell… petrol? Anything else chemical?’ He sniffed a couple of times and then shook his head. ‘Thanks. When the others arrive, form a cordon. No one gets through except the cops.’ He nodded again and backed out of the trees; he was probably not that keen on being there either.

Ceri frowned, squatting beside the fallen body well outside the burned grass. They had found it by scent, but how had no one heard the screaming? It took several seconds for her to notice the oddity about the scene; the burnt patch was a perfect circle. Moving a little closer, she peered at the edge. Sure enough there was salt among the grass blades; someone had formed a containment circle around the body as it burned. Or something similar to a containment circle.

She turned on her Sight, the vision which allowed her to see magical energy. She was a thaumatologist so she knew that what it actually let her see was the flow of open-loop thaumitons, the particles which transmitted magical forces. She was also what the police called a Special Advisor; Lily had been alluding to the training they had had regarding behaviour at crime scenes. Ceri would stay out of the circle until forensics arrived, but she could look, and what she saw was traces of thaumic energy lingering in the salt. The corpse had been there for hours, it was possible the fire had been set during the day!

There was noise behind her and a uniformed policeman pushed through. Ceri stood up, turning toward him and he came to a sudden stop. You would think cops who worked werewolf territories would be used to naked women, but apparently the sight of an attractive, slightly masculine girl with barely medium sized breasts wearing a collar and a silver ankle chain gave him pause. ‘You got here fast,’ she said.

‘We were… patrol… Um, detectives are on the way.’ The man was fairly young. ‘You should, uh, go back to your pack.’ He started toward the body.

‘Ceridwyn Brent,’ Ceri said, ‘Special Advisor to the Greycoats. Sorry, I’m not carrying my warrant card, but if you take one more step toward that body I’ll have you up on disciplinary charges for contaminating the crime scene.’ She had no idea whether she could do that, but neither did he; he came to a sudden stop.

‘I have to check she’s dead,’ he said.

Ceri turned and looked at the blackened corpse. ‘Are you fucking kidding me?!’

~~~

The trees rustled and Ceri turned to see Detective Chief Inspector Barry pushing through the branches. She had not expected the ex-military chief of the Greycoats’ detectives to turn out to this, but then he looked like he was not expecting to see two naked women around the corpse either.

‘Chief,’ Ceri said, ignoring the slight colour in his cheeks, ‘I didn’t expect to see you here.’

‘Yeah, well, I heard you were down here,’ he rumbled, ‘and I needed to make an assessment myself on this one.’ His gaze drifted over Anita who was standing nearby. An impressive woman, the Captain of the Battersea Pack’s Guard would have made a respectable barbarian princess; tall, attractive, with a lot of long muscle.

‘Detective Chief Inspector Barry, this is Anita, Alexandra’s Guard Captain.’

‘Good evening, Detective,’ Anita said. Ceri had the distinct feeling that Anita was actually enjoying his discomfort at shaking hands with a naked Amazon; not that Anita would admit it. ‘She was human and neither me nor Michael can smell any accelerant. Your forensics people might find residue, of course. If your people can handle the crowd control I’ll get my wolves back to what they should be doing.’

‘Yes, thanks for keeping the press back,’ Barry said, rallying on her business-like attitude. ‘How they got here so fast I don’t know, but thanks.’

Anita nodded and started off through the trees, shifting as she walked. On one step she was a strong, lithe woman, on the next she was a larger, stronger wolf-girl and no one was going to argue with her at all.

Barry turned back to Ceri and the body. ‘Thoughts?’ he asked.

‘There’s evidence of some sort of containment circle being used,’ Ceri said. ‘It’s still got a little residual energy. She could have been here for a while. I’m assuming that the spell blocked the sound of her screams. I think it provided the heat, but I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of magic like that.’

‘Think she’s a witch?’

Ceri blinked at him. ‘She’s a charcoal briquette! I’m not even sure she’s a she. Why?’

Barry gave a shrug. ‘May be a connection to another case. You go back to your boyfriend. We’ll call you if we need your talents on this one.’

‘My mate,’ Ceri corrected, reaching to her throat.

The DCI raised an eyebrow as she shifted into a black furred she-wolf. ‘Well, thank him for me. You two were probably the best people we could have asked for to find this.’

Ceri bowed her head, fairly sure Barry would not understand her barks, and headed through the trees to Michael. Patrol, she growled. Her nose was full of the stench of burned flesh. Hopefully the run around the last half of the pack’s territorial boundary would clear it out.

Holloway, October 6th

‘All right,’ Cheryl said, slumping slightly in her chair, ‘it’s taken me weeks, but I’ve gone over your work on the ley line creation idea.’

She did not immediately continue and Ceri found herself unaccountably nervous. The theory she had asked her boss, Cheryl Tennant, to look over was designed to create a channel of thaumic energy, an artificial ley line, which would transfer that energy from one place with a lot of it to another with far less. She had worked it all out with the help of Ed Perry, a thaumatology professor from Aberystwyth who also happened to be a dragon.

‘I barely understand this, Ceri,’ Cheryl admitted after a few seconds. ‘Seriously, this stuff is horribly advanced. However, I can’t find anything wrong with it. No hidden dangers, no errors or problems I can see. There is a gotcha though…’

‘The power requirement to kick the thing off?’ Ceri suggested.

Cheryl nodded. ‘Building a small line isn’t too bad, but for the mega-line we want it’ll take hundreds of thaums.

‘And that’s another reason why it’s going to be me setting up the line,’ Ceri replied. ‘I’ve done it before, at Stonehenge. I can collect and store a lot of power, and then use that to spark the line.’

‘Okay. The Ministry has agreed to manufacture the marker staves. Get me the schematics for them and we’ll get them started.’ She picked up a memory stick and passed it across the desk. ‘In the meantime, here’s something for you to take a look at.’ Ceri took the stick and looked at it, as though she could divine its contents by sight. ‘There were a few anomalous readings in the data we got from our “big bang” experiment. I’d like you to take a look and see what you think of that data.’

Ceri grinned. ‘Not even going to give me a hint of what you think is there?’

Cheryl grinned back. ‘Nope. Consider it an exercise.’

Kennington, October 7th

Ceri sighed, reached for her coffee mug without looking, almost knocked it off the desk, and then discovered the contents was stone cold. Grimacing, she looked up from her tablet and found that Lily was in the room. The half-succubus was laid out on the chaise longe, a faint grin on her perfectly curved lips and her black eyes fixed on Ceri. Her gorgeous, impressively large breasts were encased in a black halter top which still left plenty of cleavage showing, and her wide hips were graced by a pair of matching shorts which took the name to extremes.

‘Hi,’ Ceri said, a little bewildered. ‘You’re dressed… almost.’

‘Yes.’ The grin on Lily’s lips grew wider. ‘You have been glaring at that data for two days. Do you actually know what day it is?’

‘Well, yes it’s…’ She glanced down at her tablet, tapped the screen, and found the little calendar in the corner. ‘…Friday.’ She beamed at the discovery, ignoring the fact that she had had to look it up. Her eyes widened. ‘Oh, Friday!’

Lily giggled. Friday afternoon they went down to the dungeon for pole practice. Ceri checked the time; after two, oh Hell! ‘You need a break,’ Lily said.

‘I need coffee first,’ Ceri replied. At least she was not hungry; she had a vague memory of a sandwich being placed in front of her an hour or so ago… Had Lily done that? And had she entirely ignored her best friend and lover? ‘Tell you what, you go pour me a mug and I’ll get changed. I’ll wear something special to make up for ignoring you all day.’

Lily rose from the chaise with easy grace and strutted toward the door on six-inch heeled platform pumps. Ceri watched her walking for several seconds, swallowed, and then scurried up to their bedroom to find something suitable to wear.

Dressing to please Lily was actually very hard. Almost anything Ceri selected would be greeted with a look of lustful desire. Trying to come up with something “special” was not easy. In the end she went with corset, thong, and spike-heeled thigh boots. She had not worn that outfit since filming a porn scene the month before. She was hoping it would bring back a few memories, and besides, when she wore it it made her feel more… dominant. Lily always liked that, it was built into her DNA; succubi were naturally submissive, unless faced with a weak-willed master or mistress anyway.

Lily took one look at her as she sashayed into the kitchen and a tiny gasp escaped her mouth. Her usual confident posture and expression shifted subtly; her eyes went down and she stepped forward, handing over the coffee mug and then standing up straight, heels together, chest thrust out. Yes, that was the kind of reaction Ceri was looking for.

‘Thank you, pet,’ Ceri said. She took a drink of the life-giving, black fluid in her mug, the scent of firing neurons filing her nostrils. Lily did not reply, she just stood there, eyes downcast, and awaited her mistress’ pleasure. Ceri ignored her and sipped coffee. It had taken her months to learn to be a good mistress, but she was fairly sure she knew what she was doing now. It was an incredibly complex balancing act, something she could not entirely apply science to. At first she had been sure she was doing it all wrong, though Lily and her inner demon seemed satisfied. Like everything she did, however, Ceri had to at least try to excel. In this case Ceri wanted to be the best mistress she could be for Lily; Lily deserved it.

‘Come on then,’ Ceri said. She put the mug down on the table and turned on her heel to head out of the kitchen.

‘Yes, Mistress,’ Lily said. Her heels clicked on the slate floor as she followed Ceri out.

Crossing the hall, they went through the semi-hidden door which led to the staircase down to the cellar. Negotiating the steps in the dark and in heels was not the easiest of things, but they had both had fair amounts of practice. At the bottom the corridor was lit by glowing runes in the ceiling and it was far easier to move along to the second of the three iron doors. Ceri opened it and waved for Lily to go down ahead of her. ‘Find me a collar for you to wear,’ Ceri said. Lily gave a tiny squeak of glee as she went down the steps into the dungeon.

Grinning while Lily could not see it, Ceri walked down the steps, turned on the coloured spots they had arranged to light up the pole, and unhooked a bull whip from the candelabra near the light switches. As an afterthought she waved her hand and lit the candles. There was a tiny gasp from Lily; the succubus in her loved to see her mistress use power, even in such a tiny way.

Ceri turned and took the collar Lily was holding out; a fairly slim, leather one with a padlock and a ring mounted over the throat. Stepping around her pet Ceri put the collar in place and locked it. Then she stepped back and swatted Lily’s left buttock with the rolled up whip. ‘That was for the squeak at the top of the stairs,’ Ceri said.

‘Sorry, Mistress,’ Lily replied, her voice a little breathy.

Another swat hit the other cheek and Lily quickly suppressed a gasp. ‘That was for the gasp when I lit the candles,’ Ceri told her.

‘S-sorry, Mistress.’

Ceri walked around in front of Lily again and let the whip uncurl, its end snaking across the stone floor. Ceri had to stop herself from taking it all back as she saw Lily almost whimpering at her mistress’ displeasure. It was all part of the game, but there had to be care along with the punishment. ‘Now you can show how good a pet you are.’ She reached out and used the whip to lift Lily’s chin. ‘Dance for me.’

‘Oh yes, Mistress,’ Lily breathed. Ceri thought she would never get used to the love Lily could put into a few simple words.

Soho

It was five nights to full moon and the Jade Dragon’s customers were more werewolf than undead. There were humans, of course; they thinned a little at the full moon when the werewolves got boisterous, but they were always there. Ceri dropped off five glasses of wine for the tourists on table fifteen and turned back to the bar. The group were down from Manchester, two couples and the teenage son of one pair. Ceri was a little amazed they had brought him here with them, but he seemed to be enjoying himself so…

‘Do you have a personal rune?’ Lily asked as Ceri put her tray down and turned to lean against the counter.

‘No,’ Ceri replied, ‘I’ve never needed…’ She stopped, frowning. ‘Actually, I do. Mum created one for me when I was a baby, registered it and everything. Of course, then I turned out to have no magic…’

‘But now you do. Do you remember what it looks like?’

‘Of course not,’ Ceri said, grinning. ‘Mum showed me it when I was, like, twelve. I haven’t seen it since. It’s probably in their files.’

‘Can I see it?’

Ceri frowned at her. ‘Sure, I guess. I mean, I suppose I should dig it out anyway. Why do you want it?’

‘Just interested. Carter has one, I know your parents had them.’

‘Oh… Well, I’ll see if I can find it.’

Lily beamed. ‘Thank you.’ Then she headed off toward one of her tables, her hips swaying. That girl was up to something.

The thought was lost as someone arrived at the lectern in the entrance and Ceri turned to look. John and Lorna Radcliffe were there with Kate Middleshaw standing just a little away from them, looking slightly awkward.

Carter glanced over and smiled. ‘Put them on twelve, Ceri.’ Considering that the two cops had been on the verge of arresting him for murder not long ago, Carter was showing considerable equanimity.

Ceri nodded and headed for the lectern. She came to a stop and smiled her best waitress smile. ‘Good evening and welcome to the Jade Dragon. I’m Ceri and I’ll be your waitress for the evening.’

Lorna giggled. As usual the vampire looked stunning. Her model-good looks were only emphasised by her pale skin. By comparison her handsome husband was about average and Kate, while attractive by any definition, looked almost homely. In a change from the norm, Lorna’s long legs were on display; her little black dress was really very short where she normally wore longer gowns when out on the town.

‘Table for three?’ John asked, smiling.

‘Right this way,’ Ceri replied, turning on her four-inch heels and heading back into the club proper. ‘What’s the occasion? I feel like it’s an occasion.’

‘Our wedding anniversary,’ Lorna replied. Ceri was glad they could not see her blink. Their anniversary and they had brought Kate along? It was almost as if the vamp could see what she was thinking. ‘We dragged Kate along because she needs to get out more.’ Well, it certainly explained why Kate was looking uncomfortable.

Stopping at their table, Ceri waited for them to get seated. ‘Drinks?’

‘Champagne,’ John said. ‘Death in the Morning for Lorna.’

‘I’ll be right back.’ She headed for the bar and gave a nod to Alec.’ Bottle of champagne, two glasses, and a Death in the Morning.’ The latter was a champagne cocktail with a little added synthetic blood which let vampires absorb the alcohol. Ceri grinned; Lorna was cute when she got tipsy.

‘Wedding anniversary?’ Lily asked and Ceri nodded a reply. ‘And they brought Kate along? That’s practically cruel and unusual.’

Ceri glanced at her demon. Succubi could sense the desires of anyone they looked at; well, almost everyone. Lily was no exception and she knew something about Kate’s desires. There was a time when Ceri had suspected that Kate had fallen for her new partner, but she had decided it was just worry. Perhaps she had been wrong. Lily would never volunteer the information, but she would probably reveal it if asked… Except that Ceri would not ask.

‘I’ll bring the bucket with the bottle,’ Lily said and together they strutted through the tables to the booth where the trio were sat. ‘Congratulations,’ Lily said, placing the bucket near John.

‘Yes, congratulations,’ Ceri said, placing the glasses down. ‘Just yell when you need more cocktail, Lorna.’

‘I will,’ Lorna replied, giggling.

October 8th

Kate emerged from the back rooms at the club and wandered over to stop beside Ceri and Lily. ‘Mind if I stand here for a bit?’ she asked quietly. ‘Lorna’s starting to get affectionate.’

Ceri chuckled. Lily looked sympathetic and said, ‘Sure, pull up some bar.’

The detective sergeant propped herself up on the counter beside them. Away from the glory that was Lorna, Kate’s mini-skirt and blouse combo together with her red hair, green eyes, and pale, slightly freckled skin were attracting more attention. She had good legs, Ceri thought, not for the first time. ‘Any news on that body on Clapham Common?’ Ceri asked to distract herself from the consideration of the aesthetics of Kate’s limbs.

‘The burnt corpse?’ Kate checked before going on. ‘The Chief’s taken that one in charge himself. There’s a cross-force factor to it, apparently. Something about a couple of deaths in the New Forest?’

‘There was one about the time you arrested Carter,’ Lily said. ‘That was a suspicious fire.’

‘There have been a couple of others, I believe,’ Kate said, ‘but most of them were kept quieter. Whoever’s doing it, they’re getting careless. The kills are getting more public.’

‘A serial killer then?’ Ceri asked.

‘It seems like it. Not my case though. The Chief has Laurel and Hecks working with him on it.’

Lily glanced at Ceri, a slightly worried frown on her face. Ceri gave a slight shrug; having the Order of Merlin’s spy in the Greycoats working the case was not going to be a big issue. Well, she guessed it would not. She glanced across at John and Lorna. ‘I think we’re both needed,’ she said. ‘Lorna’s glass is empty.’

Kate actually gave a little whimper as Ceri picked up her tray and they started across the floor.

Kennington

The mats laid out on the floor of the hall were the big difference. That, and Ceri and Lily sat on the staircase watching instead of taking a lesson from Ray, the muscular Metropolitan Police unarmed combat instructor. Today it was Ray taking the lesson and the sight of it had even brought Twill out to watch; the tiny nut-brown fairy was perched on the balustrade with an intent look on her face. It was more of a demonstration really. Well, Ceri reflected as he slammed into the padding on his back, again, it was more of an arse kicking.

Anita grinned and offered the big man a hand up. Dressed in a mini-skirt and a halter top, she was hardly decked out for combat practice, but a lot of the Battersea pack had a limited supply of clothes and she was no exception. Actually, facing off against a half-dressed Amazon seemed to be having an effect on Ray’s skill. The werewolf Captain clearly thought so too. ‘Am I distracting you, Ray?’ she asked as he regained his feet.

The instructor gave a short laugh. ‘Don’t sell yourself short,’ he said. ‘You’re good.’

‘You’re holding back,’ she replied. ‘Don’t.’

Ray narrowed his eyes slightly, nodded, and dropped into a ready stance. With a predatory, fanged smile on her face, Anita slid one leg back, bracing herself, and waited. Ceri watched the display, her hands gripping the stair’s runner. Beside her she could feel the tension in Lily’s body as well. Then Ray moved and they both jumped. He led in with a leg sweep, but Anita just pushed her weight forward and took the blow. Ray was already turning, his weight shifting to the sweeping leg as he brought the other, heavily muscled, limb around. It was an unorthodox manoeuver and it caught Anita by surprise. Hooking his leg around her waist, he locked his heel into her spine and then put his entire weight into pulling her over. Feeling herself go, Anita pulled into a roll and the two figures tumbled across the mats. Ray ended up on top, his knees on either side of Anita’s chest, and his bottom parked on her stomach.

His grin of triumph was short lived. Anita lifted her right leg, swinging it around and looping it around Ray’s chest. His eyes widened as he was slammed backward into the mat with enough force to knock the air out of his lungs, and get a wince from Ceri in sympathy. He grunted as Anita’s weight came down on him; she sat lower, her behind over his hips, and trapped his arms under her hands, leaning her weight on them.

‘Now I rip your throat out,’ she said, grinning and baring her fangs before leaning in to give him a nip on the side of his neck. She sat back, laughing. ‘You nearly had me there.’

‘She’s awesome,’ Lily commented quietly. ‘I should get her to give me some tips.’

‘She is, yes,’ Ceri said, grinning at her Captain as she sat perched on her martial arts instructor. To be fair, Anita taught wrestling and wolf-style brawling, Ray taught Ceri to use her staff. Right now he was looking up at Anita, his chest heaving from the sudden winding, and maybe something else…

Anita’s eyes widened slightly and she looked… hungry? With a push of her strong arms she bounced up and turned so that she was standing beside Ray, her hand held out to help him up again. Ray climbed to his feet looking a little flushed.

‘Do you, uh, use the same moves in wolf form?’ Ray asked, straightening out his sweat pants and then adjusting his shirt. Normally he wore more formal, Japanese dress including a wide skirt-like garment for his sessions with Ceri; she was not used to seeing his legs, which were impressively well muscled.

‘Mostly,’ Anita replied. She was looking a little flushed herself. ‘I can rely more on sheer strength and I have teeth and claws, but I teach my people to rely on skill, not brute strength.’

Ray raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re stronger as a wolf?’

‘Considerably.’

‘Well… damn! Could you show me some of those techniques?’

Anita grinned at him and reached for the tie on her halter. ‘Sure, but not on you. I don’t want to injure you. Ceri, would you oblige?’

Ceri had been half expecting this and Luperca’s collar was already in place around her throat. She undid her jeans and pushed them down her legs, a little embarrassed at undressing in front of Ray, but not much. Partially it was because she was fairly used to public nudity now, and partially it was because Ray was busy watching Anita.

‘Isn’t Ceri a bit… small, compared to you?’ Ray asked.

Anita dropped her skirt and stretched; Ray swallowed hard. ‘She’s a black-fur, by Luperca’s blessing. They’re typically stronger than greys and that makes up the difference.’

Ray was about to say something else, but suddenly he found himself looking at a huge, grey furred wolf-woman. ‘Well… damn,’ he said again, and there was a hint of awe in his tone. He looked around to see another she-wolf walking across the mats, this one black. ‘Ceri?’ Ceri nodded to him, and he wandered over to the stairs to sit beside Lily.

‘Ceri makes a fairly impressive werewolf,’ Lily commented.

‘Yeah,’ Ray replied. ‘More muscle… and… well…’

‘Her boobs are bigger,’ Lily said, nodding matter-of-factly.

Ceri rolled her amber eyes; though it was true, her breasts were bigger in this shape. And then she got down to being tossed around the room by her Captain. They did various exercises which Anita drilled into all her Guards. Throws, holds, claw strikes, and finally there were a few combo-tricks. Most of the latter involved Ceri ending up on her back with Anita’s jaws around her throat. When she had first started doing this with the pack, Ceri had been half-terrified, as well as bruised and battered after the sessions. Now she was used to it, and had certainly learned to fall with less personal damage.

Ray actually clapped when they finally stopped. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘Really, I’ve learned a lot just watching.’ He stood up and grimaced slightly. ‘Uh, could I use your shower, I’m a bit sweaty.’

There were rumbling noises from the two wolves, which Ray blinked at. ‘Anita says you’re welcome,’ Lily translated, ‘and Ceri said you could use the shower.’ She giggled. ‘Well, that’s the meaning if not the exact words. My wolf isn’t perfect.’ Ray gave a short laugh and turned to head up the stairs.

Anita waited for him to be out of sight before growling, Man mated?

Lily grinned at her. ‘No,’ she replied.

The grey wolf was suddenly a woman. ‘I’m a little sweaty myself,’ she said as Ceri reached to her throat to change back, ‘do you think I could use the shower too.’

Lily’s grin broadened. ‘I think no one will object. Especially not Ray.’

‘There are towels on the rail,’ Twill said. ‘Just try not to break the cubicle.’

Anita started up the stairs. ‘Yes, ma’am,’ she said, and her grin was positively predatory.

~~~

‘Here it is,’ Ceri said triumphantly, holding up a form. She walked around from the side passage off the study where her parents had stored the filing cabinets and waved the sheet of paper at Lily, who was lying on the chaise. The half-succubus bounced to her feet and hurried over, peering at what Ceri had found.

It was a registration form and Lily frowned at it, reading aloud. ‘The Ministry of Supernatural Affairs and the Intellectual Property Office have registered the symbol, glyph, rune, or design below to be the personal rune of Ceridwyn Brent of High Towers, blah, blah… And that’s it?’ Under the writing was a graphic, carefully printed onto the sheet in the middle of a black box. It had a solid bar across the top from which descended a tail of sorts. It was something like a capital letter ‘C’ with a bar cutting the top, or a ‘T’ where the descender was curled. In the centre of the curl was a single black dot. Lily contemplated it for a second before pronouncing her verdict. ‘I like it,’ she said, grinning. ‘It’s simple but elegant. Can I borrow that?’

Ceri narrowed her eyes. ‘What are you up to?’

Lily stood up straight, putting on her most innocent expression. ‘Nothing,’ she said, but the innocent look was not working, so she shifted into a melancholy pout. ‘You don’t believe me.’

Ceri had been standing up to that pout for years now, but rarely was she faced with the full-on effect. She could feel herself caving. Then Lily’s bottom lip started to quiver… ‘Okay, okay! Here, take it, just stop pouting at me!’

Beaming happily, Lily plucked the form from Ceri’s unresisting fingers. ‘Thank you. You won’t regret it, honest.’

Ceri grimaced. Why had she had to say that?!

October 9th

Sunday at High Towers was, most assuredly, a day of rest. Well, it was a day of rest after bedtime, which was usually around six in the morning. It was now habitual for Michael to be waiting for Ceri and Lily to get back from work, and then there would be enthusiastic, succubus-powered sex, followed by a collapse into bed. That was when the resting began.

Ceri almost always woke up first; usually around midday she would open her eyes and find herself sandwiched between a werewolf’s back and a half-succubus’ front. She would smile and lie in the warmth, eternally thankful that her mate and her demon lover got on so well. Then she would wake Michael up, and their activities would wake Lily up, and things would get hot and steamy again until they went through to the bathroom to shower.

Twill almost always did a roast, which would be ready when they all came down to the kitchen, and she would sit on the table and drink honey thinned with alcohol while they ate. It was a family event. Admittedly it was possibly the oddest family event one could imagine, with four naked people, none of them entirely human, sitting around a table for Sunday lunch, but this was Ceri’s family now and she absolutely adored it.

‘We’ll have to prepare for your birthday soon, Ceri,’ Twill commented as they sat there on this Sunday afternoon. ‘Your twenty-fifth, isn’t it?’

Ceri grimaced, but she chewed and swallowed before answering. ‘Uh-huh. Twenty-five years. Quarter of a century. I’m getting old.’

‘I’m twenty-five already,’ Lily said, ‘and I don’t feel old at all.’

Twill smirked at them. ‘Are you inviting the North Hills pack down again this year?’

‘Well, I’ll send them an invite,’ Ceri said, ‘and the girls at the Dragon and the Collar Club, and Jenny and Tawni, um, Carter, Alec, Cheryl, John and Lorna and Kate…’

‘Kai and Tegan, if they’re free?’ Lily suggested.

‘Alexandra suggested you might like to come to the park the day before,’ Michael said. ‘The pack has to get together for Samhain, but she thought maybe you two could come over and have a little pack party.’

Ceri glanced at Lily, who nodded enthusiastically. ‘We’d love to,’ Ceri said.

Michael nodded. ‘I’ll let her know when I get back.’ He glanced at Twill. ‘The invitation applies to you too, Twill. If you wanted to come.’

The fairy gave a pleased, slightly surprised smile. ‘Thank you, Michael. And please pass my thinks on to Alexandra. However, I’ll be busy making food for the party here. I’m sure I’ll see you here then.’

‘Oh yes,’ Michael said. ‘I’m the official Battersea delegate.’

‘Yes,’ Ceri said, ‘mustn’t forget Catherine and Stefan. I could invite Rhys, but I suspect he’ll be busy this year.’

‘Probably,’ Michael said, ‘but he’ll appreciate the invitation.’

‘It’ll be quite a houseful anyway,’ Twill said.

‘It’s not too much trouble is it?’ Ceri asked.

‘Goodness no!’ The tiny woman laughed, a sound like wind chimes filling the kitchen. ‘I rather enjoy having a full house and it’s only for one night.’ She tilted her head slightly, thoughtfully. ‘I think the house likes it too.’

Ceri looked up and around the room. High Towers was a big place for two full-sized people and a fairy, but it always felt comfortable. Then again, it did seem to feel happier when it was filled with people. It had always been a happy place when her parents had held parties there, and it had been at its saddest when it had just been Ceri on her own.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘maybe it does.’

~~~

With the weather being overcast and damp, once Michael was out of the house and heading back to Battersea there was little for Ceri and Lily to do aside from sit around the house. A kind of sexual Brownian motion resulted in them drifting together every so often, as though the sudden proximity and intimacy was a surprise. After a couple of hours of this, they had managed to arrange themselves on the couch in the lounge, Lily lying with her head on Ceri’s curled legs so that she could watch the TV while Ceri read.

‘That’s not work, is it?’ Lily mumbled. She sounded sleepy and contented; the sensations Ceri could feel from her through their binding link were sleepy and contented too.

‘No,’ Ceri replied. Her hand drifted down to play absently with Lily’s beautifully lush hair. ‘I can assure you that this is mindless pulp.’ She paused for a second. ‘Actually, that’s unfair, it’s quite good science fiction. Iain M. Banks, Scottish author. However, it’s not even vaguely like work.’

‘Good,’ Lily said. She giggled slightly and twitched her head as Ceri’s playing tickled. There was silence for a second, then, ‘I can’t believe I’m watching “Pride and Prejudice.” Again.’

‘I thought you liked the cleavage?’

‘Well, yeah. That’s some pretty awesome cleavage.’

‘Of course, it’s set back when girls would soak their dresses so the wet muslin turned translucent and stuck to their bodies.’

‘Only person in this with translucent clothes is Darcy,’ Lily grumbled. ‘Though he does look really fantastic climbing out of that lake.’ The half-succubus shifted slightly as a little restless shudder ran through her. She sagged suddenly as the titles rolled and then perked up again as she realised that the evening news would be next. Ceri allowed herself a little smirk at the child-like enthusiasm Lily showed for such things.

Lily nudged her after a minute or so and Ceri looked up, wondering what she should be paying attention to. ‘…has been missing now for two days,’ the presenter was saying, ‘and police have been called in by her parents. Karen Mitchem spoke to Detective Inspector Radcliffe outside Greaycoat Street police station this afternoon.’

The picture shifted from the studio to footage taken at the front of the Greycoat Street police station. John looked uncomfortable on camera beside the attractive TV presenter. Ceri had met the woman before in the summer doing an interview about an experiment at Stonehenge. She was nice enough. ‘Inspector Radcliffe,’ Karen asked, ‘what is currently being done to discover the whereabouts of Miss Shore?’

Ceri frowned. ‘Suzie Shore?’ Lily nodded in reply.

‘Obviously,’ John said, ‘we have uniformed police canvasing the areas she was last seen. Two of our Special Advisors have been brought in to hunt for scent traces at any potential crime scenes, and we are using diviners. Miss Shore’s parents and boyfriend have been most helpful in providing suitable material to act as a focus.’

‘Are there any indications that Miss Shore was kidnapped?’ Karen asked.

‘We have some evidence in her flat of a struggle, but it’s inconclusive. No one in or near the building saw or heard anything. If she was kidnapped, we are not sure it was from there.’

Karen nodded. ‘And finally, Inspector, is there any connection between this case and the body found recently on Clapham Common?’

‘We are keeping an open mind,’ John said, looking even more uncomfortable, ‘but we are treating the cases as separate at this time.’

The presenter turned to camera. ‘Thank you, Inspector Radcliffe. This is Karen Mitchem, outside Greycoat Street station, for BBC News.’

As the screen switched back to the studio Ceri frowned and put her book down. Suzie Shore was the daughter of a parson, but she was also a witch with a talent for ending up in the gossip columns. She had been to the Jade Dragon several times, and gone home with Carter once or twice afterward. A little on the silly side, she was still not the sort of girl to just vanish without a word. ‘Do you know who she’s dating currently?’ Ceri asked.

‘You’re the one who loves the gossip columns in the Wednesday Witch,’ Lily replied.

‘Huh… um… Ah! No, there were a lot of rumours that she’d got herself a new beau, but no one knew who he was.’

‘You thinking the secret lover has a secret?’

Ceri shrugged. ‘No idea. Besides, we aren’t on the case. No one’s asked us to look into it, or the Clapham body.’

‘Uh-huh,’ Lily said, her voice entirely neutral.

‘Like John said, there’s no reason to assume she was taken by the same person. Or even that she was kidnapped.’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘I mean, if someone’s killing witches, then why would they kidnap a famous one? None of the others have been famous. I don’t think anyone even knew they were gone so it stands to reason that they were killed immediately.’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘Are you listening to me or watching the TV?’

‘I’m waiting for you to talk yourself into calling Kate,’ Lily replied.

‘I am not going to call Kate!’

‘Uh-huh.’

October 10th

‘At the moment it’s still just a missing person case,’ Kate said, her voice made hollow by the phone line. ‘There’s nothing suggesting a link to the body you found. We’re still not even sure she didn’t just run off.’

‘She never struck me as the type,’ Ceri said. ‘She just has a habit of being in the wrong crowd at times.’

‘Well, exactly, she could… Hang on…’ The line went silent as the detective hit the mute button.

Lily watched Ceri from the chaise, a told-you-so grin on her face. ‘What?!’ Ceri said. ‘I lasted until almost midday.’

‘Ceri? You still there?’ Kate’s voice cut in again.

‘I’m here.’

‘There is something you could do for us. Shore’s boyfriend is in the Royals…’

‘She was dating a werewolf?!’ Ceri looked at Lily, surprised. ‘That explains why she kept it a secret.’

‘We don’t think he’s involved, but it would be good to get some opinions from people who know him. Maybe the pack has seen them together, know how they were behaving. Maybe they’ve seen someone hanging around…’

‘We’ll see what we can do,’ Ceri said. ‘Has the Chief found out anything about that body?’

‘We identified her. Had to use dental records. She was a witch, lived alone. Nothing much else, but he’s keeping things pretty quiet about it. Don’t say anything to anyone.’

‘Of course not,’ Ceri replied. ‘We’ll be in touch.’ Hanging up the phone, Ceri turned to Lily again. ‘Better get some clothes on, we’re going shopping.’

Lily bounced off the chaise longe with a grin. ‘Mysteries and shopping. It must be my lucky day.’

Soho

Catherine, Alpha of the Royal pack, looked up as the little bell over the door tinkled and gave a bright smile at the sight of Ceri and Lily walking in. Her shop was not large, but it stocked a wide range of clothing for the discerning female; everything from fashionable but inexpensive casual clothes to multi-thousand pound designer gowns. Lily’s eyes were already sparkling.

‘Hello you two,’ Catherine said. Blonde and good looking, she fitted the image of designer clothing retailer nicely. ‘Another dinner with the Minister? Or are you just here for pleasure?’

Ceri smirked. ‘No, no dinners at the Green Room, but if we get out of here without Lily buying something I may feint.’ Lily did not object; she knew herself, Ceri was right. ‘I need to talk to you, about Suzie Shore.’

The werewolf’s face fell. ‘Garrett’s distraught. He came to me about… three weeks ago to ask for my permission. We’d known he was seeing someone for a while longer, but he waited to be sure before asking. Of course I said yes, so long as I could meet the girl. I was a bit surprised when it turned out to be Suzie, but she seemed genuine.’

Ceri nodded. If the boy was faking, his pack would have known. ‘Kate asked me to talk to you,’ she said. ‘This is going to sound bad, but you understand they have to chase up every possibility?’

‘Ceri,’ Catherine said seriously, ‘you ask anything you want. I trust you and we’ll do anything we can to help find her.’

‘Okay, in that case I’ll ask the direct question. You’re absolutely sure he can’t have had anything to do with her disappearance?’

‘Positive,’ Catherine replied without the slightest rancour or hesitation. ‘Even if I hadn’t noticed, and I’m not the best wolf in the pack, someone else would have and they would have told me.’

‘Any ex-girlfriends or people with a grudge?’

‘I’ll check, but none I know of. He’s never been mated and I don’t recall seeing him with any particular bitch. He’s fairly quiet, never rubbed anyone the wrong way.’

‘I don’t suppose anyone would have objected to him mating with a human?’ Ceri asked. She was clutching at straws and they both knew it.

‘No. You know we’re a pretty mixed pack. There are several others with human mates. Male and female I might add.’ Catherine paused, looking as though she was unsure about going on. ‘I’m not so sure her parents liked the idea,’ she said, her voice quiet.

‘They are supposed to be fairly strongly faithful,’ Lily put in from where she was examining lingerie hung on a rack. ‘I remember someone tried to interview them about their daughter once. About all they got was some comment about praying for their daughter’s salvation.’

Ceri frowned. ‘Seems unlikely. Kidnapping their own daughter to keep her away?’ Then again, her own father had saddled her with enchantments which made boys largely ignore her; over-protective parents could do some very weird things. ‘I’ll pass it on. Kate and John can look into it.’

‘Finished with the business?’ Lily asked. Ceri turned and looked at her pet, who was holding up a teddy in an iridescent black material. ‘Try this on,’ Lily said and Ceri sagged. ‘Come on, you know you want to.’

With a sigh, Ceri took the garment from Lily and trooped into the changing rooms. Lily was right, it looked gorgeous and she just could not resist a nice teddy.

Battersea, October 12th

Usually a Tuesday evening was spent in High Towers curled up on the couch. Perhaps a bottle of wine would be opened. Perhaps Twill would sit with Ceri and Lily, a little wine in her drinking thimble, and they would all watch TV. Tonight had been no exception until it had got to just after midnight. It was going to be true full moon at seven minutes past three and Ceri and Lily were going to be with the Battersea pack when it happened.

They did not hurry to the park. It was a nice night with almost no cloud, the air was crisp, but not cold. Lily had put on one of her thicker jersey-dresses to walk the distance from Kennington to Battersea, while Ceri had just put a leather coat over her skin. There was plenty of light; the moon stood overhead, bright and huge in the sky, and the light from the Aurora danced across the sky in rather comforting blue-green waves.

Under the trees at the corner of the park, Michael was waiting for them. A soft whine escaped his throat as Ceri slipped her coat off to reveal bare skin beneath. Werewolves were a distinctly straight species with very few sexual kinks; at least that was the theory. In practice, like any other race, individuals varied, and also learned from experience. Michael found the idea that his mate had walked over to meet him wearing only a coat quite erotic; hardly a normal reaction when he was often surrounded by naked, human-form she-wolves. Ceri grinned at him as she reached for her collar to change; the psychology of desire was a weird thing.

Turning, she took Lily’s hand and drew the power for her pet’s transformation through their binding. Using Lily as a sink for the energy would let them share the burden of maintaining her form for the night. Most brown-furs, which was what Lily became, were not terribly sought after as partners at pack orgies, which was what tonight would end up as. Browns tended to be a little scruffy looking, not the most attractive of werewolves. Lily, however, had soft, chestnut-brown fur and, while she lost her succubus abilities in wolf-form, she still had all her erotic skills to fall back on. Lily was a popular she-wolf at parties.

Michael wrapped an arm around each of their waists and nuzzled their necks, starting with Ceri and then turning to Lily. He looked a lot like he did not want to share, especially when both girls returned the nuzzling and then began licking at his muzzle. He gave a terribly plaintive whine which said, Join pack, in a way which was more question than suggestion. Ceri gave a low, throaty growl and stepped around so that she could grind her behind up against his erection… And joining the pack was put off for a while.

~~~

Ceri and Lily did not know it was coming; despite looking like werewolves, they were mentally the same as ever and they could not sense the moment of the full moon the way the real ones could. They were not the only ones since Jenny Li, once Ceri’s friend at school and now mated to one of the wolves, was there as well, though she was still human and had a better excuse.

The humans, or near humans, whether transformed or not were totally lost in the gathering which had formed on Alexandra’s island in the park’s boating lake. Ceri was popular at parties like this too, when she allowed herself to indulge. Somewhere around the middle of it the thought occurred to her that she allowed herself to indulge more and more often these days. But Michael had pulled off quite a coup when he had got her as a mate; the only other black-fur in the pack was their Alpha, and even if Ceri was not actually a werewolf they could sense her power and it attracted them. After an hour Ceri had lost count of the number of males she had been with and the number of females who had cooed over her as their mates were busy. At one point she looked up to see Alexandra, the pack’s Alpha, laid out on the grass with Lily between her legs.

Then everything stopped. It took a few seconds for the non-werewolves to realise that the clearing had gone very still. The bright light of the moon shone down, casting sharp shadows. The werewolves were waiting, waiting for the moment…

Even if she was not a werewolf, Ceri could feel the instant where the full moon was at its height, when the wave of love, no, comfort, well-being, flooded over them. From the sensation Ceri felt through their link, Lily was feeling it too. Even Jenny was blinking, awed by what Ceri knew was a wash of emotion from Luperca, the goddess and mother of the werewolves. It lasted no more than a second, but they all lay in the moonlight for much longer, feeling the togetherness of the pack, perhaps even of all the wolves under the Goddess’ protection.

When people started to move again the frenzy was gone and the orgy became more of a love-in. There was still sex, but there was more simple touching, caressing, being together. When the sky started to lighten the moon was still visible and Ceri was curled up beside the oil drum fire in the middle of the clearing with Michael’s furry form keeping her back warm. She had turned back to human when Lily had changed back, and Alexandra had joined them, and Jenny had crawled over with Lee, her boyfriend.

‘That was amazing,’ Jenny said, her voice soft. No one wanted to disturb the stillness which had descended. ‘When the moon… I just… I’ve never felt anything like that before.’

Alexandra, wrapped in a blanket, smiled warmly. ‘It seems the Goddess feels you’re a proper member of the pack, Jenny.’

‘That was her?’ The half-Chinese girl’s eyes widened.

‘That was her,’ Lily said. ‘She’s changed a lot from when we first met her.’ She frowned slightly and glanced over at Ceri. ‘Was I dreaming, or was she there at Bevan’s funeral?’

Ceri smiled slightly. In the smoke over the funeral pyre there had been a figure when they had sent Michael’s father off, but… ‘I saw her,’ Ceri said. ‘I wasn’t sure anyone else did.’

‘Does that happen every full moon?’ Jenny asked.

‘No, dear,’ Alexandra replied. ‘Just certain nights. When we’re lucky. I must say, I feel distinctly lucky to be part of that at my age.’

Lily gave a soft giggle. ‘At your age… You gave me a run for my money.’

The Alpha chuckled softly. ‘I should thank you, dear. The younger wolves were being a little timid around me until you showed them I wasn’t so fragile.’

‘Well I feel fragile,’ Jenny said. ‘I’m so glad I have tomorrow off. Now I just have to figure out how to get a shower before Gran asks what on Earth I’ve been doing.’

‘She wouldn’t approve?’ Ceri asked. Jenny’s grandmother had not seemed the type to object to a werewolf boyfriend, though perhaps attending orgies…

‘Oh, no, it’s not that,’ Jenny said, turning scarlet. ‘She’ll want to hear all about it.’

Ceri and Lily burst into giggles. Jenny looked even more mortified when Alexandra joined them.

Kennington

The hall was full of light. Jenny walked down the stairs, rubbing at her hair with a towel, and sat on a step beside Lily, her eyes on the strange shapes and streams which occupied the space. It looked like some weird sort of fireworks display; coloured lines spread out from central points like stars. However, standing in the middle of it, Ceri was making little annotations against various points in silver light, constantly making reference back to her tablet.

‘What’s she doing?’ Jenny whispered.

‘She’s doing science with magic,’ Lily replied, sounding awed.

‘Cheryl gave me some data to analyse,’ Ceri said, her eyes still on the tablet, ‘and it’s kind of complex. I needed a bigger view.’ With a nod, she looked up at the illusory lines which rose above and around her, all the way to the ceiling. ‘They’re particle paths from the experiment we did last year. We’re still working through all the data.’ Her eyes narrowed and she began tapping at her tablet again.

‘She’s had an idea,’ Lily said, grinning.

Ceri looked up and smiled. ‘I have. Now we’ll see if the data processors agree with me.’

‘You analyse data on that little thing?’ Jenny asked, indicating the tablet.

‘No, I assign processing jobs to a server in the study. This just displays the results. Feeling better?’

Jenny grinned and nodded. She had spent a few hours sleeping in the spare room then taken a shower. ‘Much. Thanks for letting me come back here. You’ve saved me some embarrassing conversations.’

‘No problem,’ Ceri replied. ‘There’s coffee in the kitchen and I’m sure Twill can arrange a late breakfast if you’re hungry.’

The half-Chinese girl beamed and bounced down the last few steps, walking through part of Ceri’s illusion to get to the kitchen. Ceri smirked. ‘She’s gone native.’ Lily looked at her questioningly. ‘Didn’t get dressed,’ Ceri explained.

Lily, not wearing anything either, had barely noticed. ‘You going to be busy with your calculations for a while?’

‘Well, I’m mostly waiting for the results, but yeah, I’ll be busy for a while. Why?’

‘I’m feeling snacky and I didn’t get to Jenny last night.’ Lily’s smirk was predatory.

Ceri giggled. ‘In that case, I’ll be in the study. Seduce her on the chaise, I could use the entertainment.’

Lily giggled in turn. ‘You are turning into a really bad girl.’

Pulling herself up straight Ceri walked over to Lily with a strut in her step. Placing a finger under Lily’s chin, she pushed upward and looked into her demon’s eyes. ‘Problem with that, pet?’

Lily’s eyes widened and she gave a tiny whimper. ‘Oh God no. No problem at all…’

Holloway, October 13th

‘Okay,’ Ceri said, ‘according to my calculations, there’s a particle being generated of about a hundred-and-fifty TeV, plus or minus ten per cent. It decays into two opposing thaumitons and a photon after three hundred milliseconds.’ She looked expectantly at Cheryl across the desk.

‘That’s what I thought, yes,’ Cheryl replied. She was trying very, very hard to keep her face straight, but her eyes were sparkling and giving her away; she was excited. ‘Conclusions?’

‘A fermion in that mass range, with that kind of signature… you think it’s a thaumino.’

Cheryl managed to hold her expression. ‘And a thaumino is?’

‘Super-symmetry suggests that every particle in the Standard Model has a super-particle counterpart. Pretty much all of them are theoretical. The super-symmetrical version of T-Null is supposed to be the thaumino. The last paper I read on it suggested that the lowest mass for one would be around one-fifty TeV.’

The older woman broke and she positively beamed at Ceri. ‘Of course, we would need to pass this on to other groups to confirm. Cambridge have that massive accelerator. That might have the power to recreate the conditions.’

‘Maybe,’ Ceri said. ‘The energies in that region were really massive. It may need something bigger. Weren’t the Americans talking about building something twice the size?’

‘That’s Americans for you.’

Ceri giggled. ‘You realise this would be a good indication of the existence of the Super-magic field?’

Cheryl nodded. ‘I’m going to write up a note for the Journal of Thaumatology. I’ll pass it on to you to check, if you don’t mind?’ She sucked in a deep breath. ‘Proving Super-magic would be big. Bigger than the null thaumiton.’

She was right. Super-magic had been proposed as the moderating field governing the amount of T-Null decay in a given ‘brane and that governed the amount of magic in the universe. Fluctuations in the Super-magic field could account for the periods of higher and lower magic in the world. ‘Don’t you think we’ve discovered enough for our lifetimes?’ Ceri suggested.

Cheryl looked blankly at her. ‘Well… no?’

Bursting into a fit of giggles Ceri said, ‘No, me neither.’

Soho

Giggling, the two women more or less stumbled through the door of the club. Ceri handed over the cover charge to the girl on the door and dragged Cheryl into the back room despite her protests; they were not exactly heartfelt protests.

‘What are we doing in this place?’ Cheryl said, her voice a little slurred.

‘We’re celebrating,’ Ceri said. ‘We’ve eaten, and had a drink, and now we’re going to sit here and watch half-naked women prancing around on stage.’

‘Why would I want to do that?’ Cheryl protested as she was half-pulled into a booth, but she sat down with a rather girlish giggle.

‘Because we shouldn’t,’ Ceri replied. ‘Sin is always fun.’ She looked up as a slightly bored waitress in bra, thong, and hold-up stockings appeared at the table. ‘Two glasses of white wine,’ Ceri said before the girl could speak.

‘You’re trying to get me drunk,’ Cheryl stated.

Music started and a girl in a white kinky-cowboy outfit pranced out onto the stage. ‘I like you drunk,’ Ceri said, watching the stage. ‘You’re a fun drunk, and you deserve to let your hair down after finding that data.’

With a laugh Cheryl reached up and pulled a couple of pins out of the bun her hair was wound into. A flurry of red fell about her shoulders and she shook it out. ‘Better?’ she asked.

Ceri looked at her boss with the pale, freckled skin, green eyes, and deep red hair. Last time they had got drunk together had been in a tent on Salisbury Plain, beside Stonehenge. They had ended up in bed together, in the non-platonic sense, and it had changed their relationship. ‘Much,’ Ceri said. ‘You look great.’

Cheryl smiled, a hint of coyness about her expression. Her head bobbed downward a little, her eyes avoided Ceri’s. Ceri felt a sudden tingle of pleasure rush through her and her breath caught. Was she going nuts? Was Cheryl? It was the alcohol; Cheryl had got drunk on her birthday and then thrown herself at Ceri. But the older woman did not seem as far gone this time… Then again, Ceri had said that doing things they should not be doing was half the fun. Maybe Cheryl was just going with it. Flirting was harmless, right?

The arrival of their drinks broke Ceri from her thoughts. Cheryl paid for the drinks, her eyes on the stripper, and Ceri followed her example. The girl was not a bad dancer, though Lily was way better and Ceri was a match. Topless now, but apparently unimpeded by the heavy looking chaps, the girl swung around the pole with enthusiasm and a fair degree of acrobatic grace.

‘You do that at home, don’t you?’ Cheryl asked.

‘Mmhmm, it’s good exercise.’

‘I’d love to see that.’

Ceri glanced at her boss, but Cheryl was still watching the dancer. ‘Lily and I do it Friday afternoons,’ Ceri said.

‘I bet she’s good.’

‘She’s done it professionally. I… uh, I guess you could come over tomorrow if you wanted.’

Cheryl smiled. ‘Thank you, I will. Consider it my birthday present.’ Her birthday had been in the summer, while they were at a conference in Cambridge. Not knowing what to get her, Ceri and Lily had given her a “whatever you want” gift. She had not collected on it yet.

‘Okay,’ Ceri said, her lips twitching, ‘I should warn you that the pole is set up in the dungeon.’

‘Better and better,’ Cheryl replied. Her cheeks were flushing.

Pushing any tentativeness aside, Ceri draped an arm around Cheryl’s shoulders, her hand draping down to settle over one breast. She felt the slight shudder pass through her boss’ body. Ceri was not going to go too far, but a little heavy flirting was harmless, right?

Battersea

Anita looked down the line of werewolves, nodded in satisfaction, and began the Guard briefing for the week. ‘All right, Guards, there’s nothing major this week. Everyone’s still a little hyper after Wednesday night, so let’s not have any incidents. Keep an eye on the younger wolves in particular, though I admit even I’m feeling frisky still. It was a helluva night.’

There was a rumble of laughter. Ceri’s mind was not operating on the more intuitive level the werewolves were at, but even she had felt the excitement as she changed. Ed, her sorcery tutor, had told her that the shape you took tended to affect your mental processes if you assumed it for long enough; he would know since he was a dragon who spent most of his time as a human. The thought that the excitement might have been something to do with the horny Michael she had had pawing her as she changed almost made her giggle. She composed herself as Anita continued.

‘We got a heads-up from the Royals regarding some reporter they spotted snooping around their territory with a camera. He was using a long lens, and said he was a freelancer doing a report for the Wednesday Witch on human-wolf relationships.’ The Guard Captain looked a little wistful for a second, though it might have been Ceri’s imagination. ‘Apparently that kind of thing is on the rise. Anyway, keep an eye out for this guy. Make sure he doesn’t get any pictures we don’t want him getting.

‘Finally, two minor notices. We’re coming up to Samhain and Alexandra thinks it could be a tough one. Remind everyone that we want them under cover that night. As usual, Alexandra’s going to be raising a circle around the island with the pack’s help. Anyone not planning to be here, we want to know they’re going to be somewhere safe.’ Anita looked over at Ceri. ‘I think Lee’s going to be over at yours with Jenny?’ Ceri nodded a reply. ‘Well, that’s one covered. Please check on everyone else. Last thing, I have tomorrow night off on personal business. Michael’s drawn the short straw so he’ll be brevet Captain for the evening. Okay, that’s it, go to work.’ She started to turn away and then stopped. ‘Oh, uh, Ceri? Could I have a word in private?’

Ceri glanced at Michael; he shrugged and Ceri decided that being human might be advisable. She followed Anita over to a corner of the north clearing where the trees would hide them. The north side of the island was open along the shore, but it was larger and not full of wolves, and Anita always gave her briefings there. What was confounding Ceri as Anita turned to face her was that the tall, attractive, supremely confident Captain of the Guard looked nervous.

‘I need some advice,’ Anita said. ‘Tomorrow night… well I have a date.’

‘Ray?’ Ceri asked, a grin forming. Anita nodded, and actually blushed! ‘Brilliant! That’s really great.’ Ceri’s face straightened suddenly. ‘There is no way I’m giving you advice on your sex life and I suck at dating.’

Anita shook her head. ‘I figure my dating technique is my problem and I’m perfectly good at sex…’ She frowned a little. ‘…though if this gets serious I might ask for some tips on doing it with a human…’ Ceri’s heart sank, but at least that horror was likely to be in the future. ‘No,’ Anita went on, ‘I need something to wear.’

‘I’m still not the best person to ask,’ Ceri mused, ‘but I know just the person. We’ve got another, err, appointment tomorrow afternoon. Could you come over to High Towers in the morning? I can get Lily out of bed by ten if there’s a promise of shopping.’

‘You’re going to get me dressed for a date by a succubus?’

Ceri giggled. ‘She knows what she’s doing. Seriously, she’s got a great sense for fashion.’

Looking as though she were putting her life in Ceri’s hands, Anita took a deep breath and let it out. ‘Okay,’ she said.

Soho, October 14th

Lily was not wasting time. She knew exactly where to take Anita and they marched into Catherine’s boutique on Poland Street with Lily doing her best determined stride. Even striding with determination the half-demon’s hips swung, swishing the little pleated skirt she was wearing. Ceri was thoroughly amazed at her pet’s ability to look sexy no matter what.

‘Catherine,’ Lily said, ‘your sister needs a new outfit.’

Two werewolves blinked at her and then blushed. ‘How did you know we…’ Anita began.

‘We talked to Bea,’ Ceri said. Beatrice was another of their sisters, the Alpha female of the Dog Boys. ‘So we know, so there’s no point in being all formal around us just because Catherine’s an Alpha.’

The sisters looked at each other. ‘All right,’ Catherine said, ‘what’s the occasion?’

‘I’ve, um, got a date,’ Anita said. Catherine’s eyes widened, but her mouth curved into a broad enough smile that her fangs showed. ‘With a human,’ Anita added in case the need for clothes was not obvious.

‘You and a human?’ Catherine said. ‘He must be something special. Okay…’ She stepped out from behind the counter and moved over to stand beside Lily. Werewolf and half-succubus took up almost identical stances, chins resting in their hands as they studied their victim. Anita seemed to shrink under their gaze; Ceri almost felt sorry for her.

Kennington

Cheryl’s eyes bulged slightly as Ceri opened the door to her. Ceri grinned mischievously and waved her boss in. Clearly the outfit was a good choice; the skirt was a belt and the teddy under it consisted of a couple of strips of mesh held in place with thin ribbon. She had worn it before to go out to some very risqué clubs with Lily, but since she was not going to be doing much walking she had been able to add some outrageously tall heels to heighten the effect, and herself. Of course, if Cheryl was surprised now, she would fall over when she saw Lily.

‘Lily’s downstairs already,’ Ceri said, taking Cheryl’s coat. The older woman was not exactly over-dressed; Ceri had never seen her in a skirt that short and her silk blouse was far from opaque. ‘Go on down. You remember the way?’

The spotlights were already on in the dungeon and Cheryl gave a little gasp as she preceded Ceri down the steps. There was a chair waiting for her, facing down the room toward the pole, though the area they used for dancing was not visible until they were all the way down. Cheryl turned at the bottom and her jaw dropped open.

Lily was leaning against the chromed dance pole dressed in a sexy parody of a schoolgirl outfit. Her blouse was knotted under her large breasts, her pleated, tartan skirt was ludicrously short, and her hair was pulled up into a pair of pigtails. As Cheryl looked on, she slowly pulled the lollipop she was sucking on out between her full lips with a soft pop. ‘Ceri says you want us to dance for you, Miss,’ she said, ‘otherwise we get detention.’

Ceri guided Cheryl into the chair, trying very hard not to giggle, and then moved over to Lily, snuggling up against her. The kiss was entirely for Cheryl’s benefit, but Ceri could not deny she enjoyed it. Lily tasted of cherry lollipop.

Cheryl managed to rally herself. ‘You two are very bad girls,’ she said. They nodded at her in unison.

~~~

Cheryl’s eyes flickered open and she saw Ceri and Lily sat opposite her. Ceri was sat in her usual wing-backed, leather chair with Lily on the footstool beside her, which meant that Cheryl was in the other wing-back. She shifted slightly, discovering that someone had wrapped a blanket around her, and Ceri smiled.

‘You’re awake,’ Ceri said. ‘I was beginning to think we would have to put you to bed.’

‘You deserved the nap,’ Lily added. ‘How do you feel?’

‘Um,’ Cheryl said, considering how she did feel, ‘a bit tired, but… I feel really good. I’m surprised my wrists aren’t aching. How long did you have me up on that cross?’

Ceri giggled. ‘An hour, give or take.’

‘Proper suspension cuffs,’ Lily said, quite seriously. ‘They spread the load over the hand more so the wristbands don’t dig in. I’m usually the one hanging up there so I’ve made sure I can be comfortable when I want to be.’

‘The question is,’ Ceri said, ‘did you enjoy your birthday present, belated though it was?’

‘I think it was well worth waiting for.’ She looked across at Ceri, her expression slightly quizzical. ‘You know, when we were in Cambridge you were… reticent about sleeping with me. I know I was the same, but I was throwing myself at you when I got drunk on my birthday, and then you never took advantage of being in the same bed on the last night. Now you’re more… You’re not in the least bit worried about it, are you?’

Ceri blinked. ‘Well… um, no, I guess I’m not. I still wouldn’t take advantage though. That’d be… I wouldn’t.’

‘What’s changed?’ Cheryl asked.

Ceri looked thoughtful, but Lily answered. ‘She’s stopped trying to be what she isn’t. She taught me to be me, she’s always taught me I should let myself be me, that there’s nothing wrong with what I am and I can let myself be that. Now she’s finally listening to her own advice.’

‘Like you said downstairs,’ Ceri said, giggling, ‘I’m a bad girl. It’s just taken me twenty-five years to figure it out.’

Soho

With the full moon barely past there were still plenty of wolves in the Jade Dragon, but the number of undead was starting to rise. It was actually one of the better times to be a waitress with the Sight in a dress that barely maintained your dignity; no old vampires looking disgusting, and the werewolves groped less.

It was closing on midnight when Carter waved her over quickly as she was walking back from a drinks run. He nodded at the entrance lectern. ‘Isn’t that your martial arts instructor?’

Ceri raised an eyebrow. ‘Yeah, and the woman with him is Anita, my Captain. I wasn’t expecting them here though.’

Carter raised one of his own eyebrows. He had only ever seen Anita as a towering, grey furred she-wolf. ‘Impressive woman,’ he said. ‘Put them on table ten? They look like they would appreciate a little privacy.’

Nodding, Ceri headed for the lectern. Privacy was likely a good idea, but Carter was looking at Anita’s clothes and Ceri was watching her body language. There was something wrong and Ceri suspected Anita had suggested coming to the Dragon because of that.

‘Good evening,’ Ceri said as she stepped up to the lectern, smiling. ‘I’m Ceri and I’ll be your waitress for this evening.’

Anita frowned a little. ‘Do you say that to everyone who comes here?’

‘The ones who I’ll actually be serving, yes,’ Ceri replied.

‘I’m quite sure most of them don’t deserve it,’ Anita commented.

Ceri grinned and turned around. ‘Follow me,’ she said. ‘We’ve got a booth at the back waiting for you.’ Leading the couple through the tables Ceri spotted various people looking their way. They did make a very impressive couple. Anita was currently matching Ray’s six foot six and both had plenty of muscle going for them. Ray’s black jeans were stretched over his thighs slightly tighter than his T-shirt was stretched over his chest. The leather jacket just added to the tough-man image and having Anita on his arm just made the look. Lily and Catherine had gone for simple-but-sexy; Anita was dressed in a very short, black leather shirt, a camisole top in striped mesh which hid little of her ample bosom, and slouch boots with three-inch heels. They looked incredible together, but there was something wrong.

Ray was all gentleman, and allowed Anita to sit before slipping into the booth opposite her. Ceri watched them, noting Anita’s slight disappointment, Ray’s broad smile, the way they both sat… ‘Can I get you something to drink?’ Ceri asked.

‘Beer or wine?’ Ray asked Anita.

‘Oh… beer,’ Anita replied.

‘Two beers then,’ Ceri said. ‘I’ll be right back… Oh, Ray, Lily said something about talking to you tomorrow. Since you’re here…’

He frowned, but he was a chivalrous sort of man. ‘Uh, sure. I’ll go see her now.’

Ceri waited for him to be out of earshot. ‘Okay,’ she said to Anita, ‘what’s up?’

Anita grimaced. ‘He’s so deferential,’ she said. ‘He was great in the shower, but now he’s acting like I’m made of glass. I really like him, but he’s just been talking to me all evening, and I’m getting all kinds of mixed signals. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.’

‘He’s human,’ Ceri said. ‘You’re not doing anything wrong. He’s being a gentleman.’

‘But we fucked in the shower!’ Anita said plaintively.

Ceri gave her a supportive smile. ‘Just be patient,’ she said, and then headed off toward the bar where she could see Ray talking to Lily and looking a little confused.

‘She didn’t need to talk to me,’ he said as she walked up.

‘No,’ Ceri said, placing her hand on his chest and pushing him out of sight of Anita, ‘I do. Do you like Anita?’

The big man blinked at her. ‘She’s gorgeous. She’s clever, amusing, confident, and, well, I mean, her body…’

‘Right,’ Ceri said. ‘She’s a werewolf. Werewolves are tactile and they have no idea of personal space. You’re confusing her by being all perfect datey. When you go back, sit next to her. Right next to her. Touch her. Her arm, her leg, doesn’t matter. Even the males don’t think anything of personal contact you’d be embarrassed about. This is a woman you’ve already had sex with so don’t be bashful.’ Ceri could not believe she was giving dating advice to a man who looked as good as Ray. ‘What are you going to do after you leave? Your place?’

Ray went scarlet. ‘Uh, well, I thought I’d ask…’

‘No,’ Ceri said.

‘No?’

‘No, you don’t ask. It’s clichéd, but “You place or mine?” is good. It says you’re expecting sex, but you’re giving her the option of location and she has a get out clause. She’s expecting to sleep with you tonight. Casual sex is practically built into werewolves. She’ll want you to take charge though. Bitches are submissive to males of their rank.’

‘But I don’t have a rank,’ Ray pointed out.

‘In her eyes you do. You impressed her. When you offer, she’ll go back to your place. Have a drink, but don’t get comfortable. Make sure there’s lots of skin contact. Take your shirt off. Oh, and if she starts looking down a lot and then turns her back to you, jump her. Don’t worry about foreplay and being nice. There’s plenty of time to demonstrate how good a lover you are after the first time. You’ll be at it all night.’

‘Uh… okay,’ Ray said.

Ceri grinned at him. ‘Now go show her you like her. I’ll get your drinks.’

Ray looked a little bewildered as he wandered off, but by the time Ceri was bringing their drinks over he was sat beside Anita, one hand resting on her exposed thigh, and she looked a lot more comfortable. The smile she aimed at Ceri as their beers were delivered held a hint of gratitude and Ceri smiled knowingly back.

Ceri walked back to the bar with a bigger swing to her hips and a broad grin on her face. Lily watched her, smirking the entire time. ‘You did that well,’ the half-succubus said.

‘Anita deserves a good time,’ Ceri said, ‘and they like each other, a lot. There’s no point in letting social mores get in the way. He just needs to be less of a nice guy.’

‘Says the bad girl.’

Ceri giggled. ‘Says the bad girl,’ she agreed.

Part Two: Partying in Hell

Kennington, London, October 16th, 2011

‘Anita looked really happy yesterday,’ Michael commented over lunch. ‘She was walking a little funny, but she was really happy.’

Ceri and Lily giggled. The sound of wind chimes accompanied Twill’s grin. ‘Ray is a very nice young man,’ the fairy said, ‘and I’d imagine he’s well able to keep a girl like Anita entertained for quite a while.’

‘Well he did call to cancel our lesson yesterday,’ Ceri said.

‘Exhaustion or further “entertainment”?’ Lily mused.

‘Anita didn’t get back to the park until just before dark,’ Michael said, trying very hard to keep his face straight.

‘Entertainment then,’ Ceri said. ‘Good, I think they both deserved some stress relief.’

‘Well,’ Michael said with feeling, ‘I’m glad she came back so I could get some… stress relief that is.’ He managed a slight blush. ‘Being Captain for less than twenty-four hours was tough enough.’

‘We were happy to provide you with relief,’ Lily replied, giggling.

‘I bet you were fine as Captain,’ Ceri said.

He shrugged. ‘Nothing much happened, but I never realised how much work it is.’

‘Anything worth doing is worth a little effort, young man,’ Twill said.

‘A rule I live by,’ Lily said brightly.

‘Lil,’ Ceri said, ‘the only thing you put effort into involves nudity and bodily fluids.’

‘And?’

~~~

The evening news was full of one thing. Graham’s Bar was a popular gay hangout in Kentish Town; “was” being appropriate since it was now a smoking ruin. Someone had planted several pounds of explosives along with two gallons of petrol in a store room and the bomb had gone off just after midnight when the place was full of people out for a good time on a Saturday night.

‘Police are not speculating on the reason for the attack,’ the presenter was saying, ‘but Home Office spokesman David Lee-Barrows gave the following statement this morning.’

The picture switched to a moderately young politician in a blue shirt and suit. He had the typical moderately good looks of someone who was wheeled out to give statements concerning bad news. ‘We will, of course, begin a thorough investigation into this horrific crime. While the police are ruling nothing out, it seems likely that this was an act of homophobic terrorism. The Home Office wish to make it clear that this kind of barbaric act is not tolerated in Britain today.’

The presenter returned to the screen. ‘Current estimates place the death toll at seventeen with another forty people injured. No details are being released officially, but one unattributed report, apparently from the nearby Royal Free Hospital stated that doctors had not seen such injuries since the Blitz.’

‘I can’t believe anyone would do something like that,’ Lily said as the presenter moved on to lesser news items. ‘Not for the reasons they’re suggesting. I thought that kind of thing died out in the seventies.’

‘Honestly? So did I,’ Ceri replied. ‘Mind you, London’s more cosmopolitan than some areas of the country. You remember Sergeant Croft in Cardiff? Wales is still a little stuffy about homosexuality.’

‘Then why not blow up a gay bar in Cardiff?’

Ceri shrugged. ‘More publicity?’

‘That’s sick,’ Lily replied.

‘I’m not disagreeing.’

Lily’s arm tightened, pulling Ceri closer on the couch which acted as their TV viewing chair. ‘You know, witches getting burned, now people who just happen to like the same sex… It’s like someone turned on a religious switch.’

Ceri frowned. It did sound biblical, but it could have just been some crank and there was no connection she knew of between the dead witches and the bombing. ‘I don’t think we can draw that conclusion,’ she said. ‘Well, not yet anyway.’

‘There’s Suzie Shore too,’ Lily said. ‘They haven’t found her yet, and there was that woman you said was on the radio. She died in a house fire and she was a witch.’

‘Okay,’ Ceri conceded, ‘I hadn’t thought of that. I mean, there was no suggestion of foul play in Aunt Sally’s death, but… We’ll call Kate tomorrow and see where they’re getting with Suzie Shore, and ask if the Chief’s looked into Aunt Sally too. Okay?’

Lily smiled and pulled Ceri into a proper hug. She planted a soft kiss on Ceri’s cheek. ‘Thank you.’

Ceri smiled back, enjoying the hug. ‘What for?’

‘Taking me seriously.’

‘I always take you seriously, love. If I ever don’t take you seriously or don’t take your advice into consideration, feel free to punch me in the mouth.’

Lily giggled. ‘I’ll have to think of some other punishment, there’s no way I’m ruining that mouth. I’ve got much better things to use it for.’ As if to demonstrate, their lips met and Ceri had to concede the point.

October 17th

It did not quite work out as planned since Faran, Lily’s incubus father, turned up quite early in the morning for another training session. Ceri opened her eyes thinking that it was Lily who was fondling her breast, only to discover herself looking at a handsome man with shoulder-length, chestnut coloured hair who did not appear to be anywhere near old enough to have fathered Lily. Incubi, of course, could appear in more or less any shape their target found appealing; they aged, but only showed it when they were trying to seduce someone who liked their partner a little older.

You could tell Faran was not really trying too hard this morning because he had assumed the shape he used around Lily and her mother, which was the shape he had taken when Lily had been conceived. He could have selected a shape targeted specifically at Ceri, but had not. Then again, she did not exactly find this shape unappealing, it was just that he was not trying to be sneaky. In fact, as she lay there looking him in the eyes with his fingers sliding over her bare skin, she decided that he was just teasing. Not that it was not turning her on, but the incubus seemed more interested in seeing her turned on than in capitalising on it. It was a shift in attitude she had not expected and she just lay still, letting him play, for longer than she probably should have before saying anything.

‘Have you given up on our game?’ she asked. ‘Or are we just taking a break?’ They had been playing “their game” for several months now; Faran trying to get Ceri into bed and Ceri not falling for it. Except that it was all play. Neither wished to let Lily down so Faran made a show of trying to get Ceri into bed and Ceri gave the impression that there was the slightest chance she might actually do it.

‘Perhaps I have a newer and more subtle plan,’ Faran suggested.

Ceri could feel the muscles in her stomach starting to flutter; if it was a new plan then it might actually have a chance of working. Of course, there were ways she could turn it back on him. Snuggling slightly against the warm body behind her, Ceri relaxed and let him continue until her moans and pants woke Lily.

‘What are you doing to my mistress, Dad?’ Lily asked. The yawn which followed the question rather suggested the Lily was quite confident that Ceri would not let him get further.

‘I’m entertaining her while you wake up,’ Faran replied. ‘Honestly, I usually get here after she’s up and the sight of the two of you lying there was quite endearing.’

‘Endearing?’ Lily said over the whimpering noises. ‘And that’s why you felt it necessary to start teasing her nipples?’

‘Breasts, my dear daughter,’ Faran replied without the slightest hint of embarrassment. ‘It would be a crime to focus on such a small percentage of such a beautiful part of nature.’

‘What’s the lesson for today?’ Lily asked, apparently changing the subject. What was starting to get to Ceri was that she had not actually said anything to stop her father!

‘Perception and awareness of your partner’s body,’ Faran said, matter-of-factly. Ceri’s eyes widened.

‘Oh yes,’ Lily said, ‘that’s right.’ Ceri let out a squeak; they had set her up! ‘I’d say my partner is highly aroused despite the fact she’s just realised her lover has played a despicable trick on her.’

There was a smirk on Faran’s face. ‘Very perceptive,’ he said.

~~~

‘Do you really think Lil needs to be better at sex?’ Ceri asked. She was exhausted and Lily and her father had carried her up to the study to lie on the chaise longe and recover. She was used to Lily keeping her hanging on the edge of orgasm, but that was via her feeding process which pulled energy out of her Tantric Median, delaying the climax. This time Ceri had spent over two hours with Lily taking her up and down between almost there and almost relaxed by far more traditional methods.

‘You’re asking a Lorril if I think someone should be better at sex?’ Faran replied.

‘Okay,’ Ceri said, grinning weakly, ‘you have a point.’

‘However, that’s not actually the point of the exercise.’

‘Reading body language, using her metaphysical senses, and adapting to her partner’s desires on the fly?’ Ceri suggested.

Faran bowed his head. ‘Very good, yes. And while I’m sure you’ll appreciate her increased erotic abilities, the same skills can be employed in other arenas. I hope you were paying a little attention to what I was saying as well.’

‘I think I picked up a couple of tips. Mind you, there were long periods where I couldn’t hear anything aside from the blood rushing in my ears.’

Faran chuckled softly and then turned as Lily came in with a tray of coffee mugs. She looked almost as tired as Ceri. ‘Child, you’re tired, sit down before you fall down?’ the incubus said.

Lily handed a mug of coffee to Ceri and then did just that, sinking onto the rug to drink her own beverage with a sigh of relief. ‘I didn’t get to feed,’ Lily pointed out.

‘You rely too much on your abilities,’ Faran said. ‘You need to have more sex, both of you do.’

‘We do it morning and night!’ Ceri gasped. ‘And sometimes between the two. If we get any more we won’t get out of bed!’

‘I beg to differ,’ Faran replied. ‘Lily feeds on you a lot. I’m suggesting you have real sex more often. Two Lorril in a relationship don’t feed off each other constantly. In fact it’s considered a sign of great respect when a Lorril employs their skills to please a partner, not simply their powers. Not only will it increase your bond as a couple, but it’s excellent aerobic exercise if you engage in it enthusiastically.’

‘Fuck yourself fit,’ Lily said, deadpan. ‘I think we should write one of those fad health books. We could make a mint.’

‘Just so long as I get included in the royalty payments,’ Faran said.

~~~

Kate sounded tired and irritated. ‘What was it you wanted, Ceri?’ the detective said wearily. ‘I’m kind of busy.’

‘Uh, we were wondering whether anyone had connected the witch murders with the bombing on Saturday night?’ Ceri asked.

‘Another of your hunches?’ The tone was sharp and there was a distinct hint of annoyance. It was not like Kate to be like that.

‘Lily’s actually, she was…’

‘I don’t have time to entertain ideas from Cindy the Sex Doll.’ The line went dead leaving Ceri blinking at the study wall.

‘That didn’t sound like it went well,’ Lily said.

‘No, no it didn’t. She, um, sounded stressed.’

‘She wasn’t keen on an idea that came from a girl whose boobs are bigger than her head, right?’

Ceri grimaced. ‘Well, no, but I don’t think she was going to listen if it was my idea either.’

Lily’s brow creased. ‘That’s not like her.’

‘I said she sounded stressed.’

‘We, uh… we haven’t actually been told we can’t investigate this,’ Lily said.

‘No, we haven’t, but where would we start?’

Lily walked over and sat on the corner of the desk, sucking on one of her fangs thoughtfully. ‘Well we could try a few clubs and bars I know. Ask around, see if anyone’s got any news about religious nuts or militant homophobes.’

‘Does this mean I have to dress up like a hooker again?’ Ceri asked wryly.

Lily giggled. ‘Well I’d love you to, but normal club wear is all we need.’ Ceri looked a little relieved right up the point Lily added, ‘We’re just going to a few gay clubs.’

Hampstead

The bar was called The Hoedown and, whatever Ceri was expecting, it was possibly one of the nicest places Lily had ever taken her. It was full of women of all shades of lesbian, none of them apparently feeling the need to demonstrate anything other than a desire to be out with friends in a comfortable atmosphere. The place looked like any other wine bar in London; fairly modern decoration, brightly lit around the bar with dimmer areas off to the sides.

No one paid them much attention as they walked in. They got a few interested looks, but no more than Ceri would have expected anywhere else. Lily ordered a couple of white wines at the bar, her gaze sweeping around the floor as she waited.

‘Are we looking for anyone in particular?’ Ceri asked.

‘Bets,’ Lily replied. ‘Betsy Meech, she’s a reporter for a counterculture magazine called The Other Side. She’s usually got a good handle on what’s going on. If we can find her.’

‘What does she look like?’

‘Five-nine, shoulder-length, red hair, green eyes, a little on the plump side, but long legs and big boo… There she is.’ Lily started marching off across the room with Ceri hurrying to grab their drinks and follow. She could see no one matching the description Lily had given and was a little surprised when the half-succubus stopped beside someone who did not match it at all.

Bets was probably only five-foot-nine, but the five-inch heels on her patent leather pumps made her look taller. Her hair was a mass of blonde curls, and the pencil skirt and fitted jacket she was wearing gave her the kind of look you expected to see walking into a private detective’s office in black and white. Ceri was fairly sure the stockings were actually silk. She did not look plump, though the shape of her waist did suggest corsetry, but Ceri suspected that was choice rather than a desire for slimming foundation wear; certainly the cleavage attempting to escape from her silk blouse suggested a degree of up-thrust being applied to a substantial, natural bosom.

‘What on Earth have you done to yourself, Bets?’ Lily said as she approached the small group the reporter was talking to. ‘You used to be cute, now you look like something out of a Noir movie.’

The blonde’s eyes widened as she turned and saw Lily standing behind her. ‘Lily!’ The reason Lily had not picked up her own drink became apparent as Bets flung her arms around the half-succubus’ neck and hugged furiously. ‘I haven’t seen you in ages,’ Bets was bubbling. ‘What are you doing with yourself these days? I heard rumours you’d snuck back into porn, but I couldn’t believe it. Who’s your girlfriend?’

It took a fraction of a second for Ceri to realise she had been included in the conversation. She handed Lily her wine, since Bets had now released her, and said, ‘Ceri Brent,’ before offering her free hand.

Bets took it and held on, her eyes scanning over Ceri appraisingly. ‘The thaumatologist?’

‘That’s right,’ Ceri replied.

‘You must be some kind of girl to have captured Lily.’ The journalist was still holding Ceri’s hand as though it would somehow reveal the nature of Ceri’s mysterious attraction.

‘She is,’ Lily said. The adoration in those two simple words left Bets speechless for a few seconds. ‘Can we have a word, Bets?’ Lily said into the silence.

‘Sure,’ Bets replied. She did not actually let go of Ceri’s hand, just shifting her grip so that she could lead the couple off toward one of the tables at the back of the room. Ceri was finally allowed her freedom when she had been steered into the back of a booth, with Lily on one side and Bets on the other.

‘I’m surprised there isn’t more… tension,’ Ceri said, though she was actually feeling a little tense herself.

‘After the bombing?’ Bets suggested. ‘There’s tension. Everyone’s keeping their eyes on their bags, and other people’s. I know for a fact the back rooms here were swept before they opened. You can’t let bastards like that get in the way of your life though. They win if you do.’

‘Anyone got any ideas on who did it?’ Lily asked.

Bets grimaced. ‘No one’s claimed it. The best guess right now is some lone nutcase, though I’m sceptical.’

‘Why?’

‘Too organised. Someone had to sneak a fairly large amount of fuel and explosives into that room. How do you do that solo?’

‘It’s possible,’ Ceri said. ‘Invisibility, insubstantiality, illusion. They can be done by a lone practitioner.’

‘We’ve always had a fairly good relationship with the supernatural community,’ Bets said. ‘Back in the sixties and seventies we were both facing off against people who hated our guts for being open about what we were. We’ve all grown up and become part of the normal world.’

‘When the radical becomes established, it can take on establishment ideas,’ Ceri said.

‘What about religious extremists?’ Lily suggested.

‘Well…’ Bets seemed reluctant, like if she discussed this it might bring something bad down on them. ‘There are a few religious groups who preach strict biblical law. The Old Testament is pretty much a licence to kill gays, but it’s equally harsh on witches, sorcerers, wizards… depends on which version you read. Unlikely they’d use magic, or condone its use.’

Ceri shrugged. ‘Thaumaturgy.’

‘Sorry?’ Bets asked.

‘It’s… directed miracle working,’ Ceri explained. ‘Thaumaturges act as a conduit for the magic of some higher power. They differ from Evokers who do the same sort of thing, but they use the higher powers through their messengers as well as taking power from spirits.’

‘Oh,’ Bets said.

‘She’s gorgeous when she gets her lecture on,’ Lily commented, grinning.

Bets giggled. ‘I just can’t see you going out with a scientist.’

‘We don’t go out that much,’ Lily replied.

‘Lily lives with me,’ Ceri replied. ‘Originally as a lodger, back when I thought I was straight.’

Lily raised an eyebrow, but Bets seemed to take it entirely in her stride. ‘Oh it’s surprising how society can channel you down that route. You conform to the lifestyle your parents and friends think is right, and you’re not happy, but you don’t do anything about it…’

‘Oh no,’ Ceri said, ‘I still like guys, I just… appreciate women. I really thought I was straight, but I’ve just given up trying to believe it. Self-delusion is just stupid.’

‘Thank God for that,’ Lily said. ‘I’ve been waiting for her to admit it for months.’

‘Are you saying she just outed herself as bi to me?’ Bets said, a smirk developing.

‘Oh no,’ Lily said, ‘you are so not printing that…’

‘She can if she wants,’ Ceri broke in. ‘I don’t really think it’s anyone’s business but ours, but people figured we were sleeping together long before we did. Hell, the Wednesday Witch already suggested we were a couple, it’s not exactly a scoop.’

Bets grinned. ‘It’ll give me an excuse to interview you for the magazine next time you do something clever. I’ve been trying to push a few articles on, well, people who do amazing things and just happen to be gay or bi.’ She grimaced. ‘My editor prefers articles on “issues.”’

‘Issues?’ Ceri asked.

‘Yeah. Prejudice in local government, the policy of discharging gays in the military, trying to get the Church to recognise gay clergy and perform marriages. I’d like to cover more stuff about real people. If you read our mag you get the impression being gay sucks! Everyone’s against you. There’s nothing to encourage anyone, to show that you can be great and not straight.’

Lily giggled. ‘Very alliterative.’

The journalist giggled in turn. ‘My editor’s a bit of a militant. She’s loving the bombing far too much, to be honest. I’m not even running an article next issue because what I was working on has no “human interest.” What she means is she’s running an entire issue on the explosion. It’s been a couple of days and she’s headlining with an article on how the police aren’t really trying to find the killer.’ She took a long pull on her drink and sighed. ‘So I’m getting drunk. I don’t suppose you’d like to come back to my place and shag me into insensibility?’

‘That bad?’ Lily asked. She turned her head slightly toward Ceri. ‘Bets is a workaholic. When she’s trying to forget her job, it’s gotta be bad.’

The journalist reached over and patted Lily’s arm. ‘I’m just kidding about the sex part, Lil. Not that I’d say no, but I’m sure I’ll manage without a pity fuck. It’s just this new editor, she’s getting me down.’

‘What’s her name?’ Ceri asked.

‘Millicent Prentice,’ Bets growled. ‘She gives lesbians a bad name.’

‘Thanks, Bets,’ Lily said. ‘I’ve got a few other places to show Ceri around.’ She grinned mischievously. ‘Maybe we can get together sometime when it won’t be a pity fuck.’

‘Yeah,’ Ceri said. ‘I for one would love to know how you got your waist that shape.’

Bets laughed. ‘Leverage, dear. It’s all about the leverage.’

Vauxhall, October 18th

It was pushing one in the morning and Lily had said she just wanted to try one more place before they headed home. Ceri, having never done what amounted to a pub crawl before, never mind one down every gay bar on Old Compton Street, was just happy this would be the last. She was a little surprised when Lily hopped the tube lines over to Vauxhall and then took Ceri under the railway arches to a door cut into the brickwork with a psychedelic sort of neon sign which read “Sin-co-Pation.”

Ceri looked up at the sign. ‘First,’ she said, ‘seriously?’

‘Maybe all the good names were taken,’ Lily suggested. ‘It’s been going for years now so it can’t be too much of a problem.’

‘Okay,’ Ceri said, though she did not sound convinced, ‘since when has there been a gay district down the road from our place?’

‘Since a fairly long time. You didn’t know?’ Vauxhall Bridge was less than a mile away from Kennington Park and Ceri had not had a clue that there was any sort of gay scene down there. ‘Come on,’ Lily said, ‘it’s not too bad on the inside.’ Smiling at the heavy-set bouncers on the door she ducked in through the door and slipped to one side to pay the cover charge. Ceri looked on in amazement.

Tucked into the line of the brickwork supporting the railway tracks was what looked like a garden. It was a little late in the season for flowering plants; the rose bushes had no blooms and relatively few leaves, and the bedding showed no sign of colour. However, the privet hedges forming something a little like a maze were thick and concealing. No one was visible on any of the tables Ceri could see, but there were a few noises suggesting that the garden was not empty.

‘It’s kind of based on Spring Gardens,’ Lily said as she stepped up behind Ceri. ‘Back in… uh, the sixteen-hundreds, I think, this place was noted for music, fireworks, dancing, and sex, of course. That was before it was Vauxhall. You had to get here by boat.’

‘How do you know this stuff?’ Ceri asked as Lily led her through the bushes, apparently heading somewhere.

‘Some people you meet spreading your legs for a living can actually be interesting to talk to,’ Lily replied. ‘There was this history professor from LCU who had done a study of prostitution in London as part of his PhD thesis. He was, oh, sixty when I met him and he just loved telling me stories about how people had been doing what I did since the Romans built the place.’ She giggled. ‘Gave him time to rest between periods of demonstrating what they had got up to. Did you know “lupa” was the Roman name for the cheapest form of prostitute?’ She pushed open a door set into a wooden wall which had been built under one of the arches and a wash of heat slid out to warm Ceri’s skin.

‘Yes,’ Ceri said, ‘I did.’ It was also Latin for a she-wolf and werewolf slang for an easy lay.

The bar area was relatively dimly lit, but there was a dance floor which expanded out on the other side of the arch and that was full of throbbing music, pulsing lights, and dancing people. The company seemed mixed; male couples and groups, female couples and groups, and a small number of mixed pairings. Ceri could not tell whether they were straight and liked the atmosphere or just confused.

‘It doesn’t look like they’re any more concerned than the other ten places you’ve dragged me through this evening,’ Ceri said.

‘I didn’t drag you,’ Lily replied. ‘Another drink or have you had enough for tonight?’

‘I’ll have a…’ Ceri stopped, her eyes narrowing, and Lily looked at her and then in the direction she was staring.

Sitting alone at a table in the corner was a woman with red hair, dressed in a pale coloured camisole top. She looked miserable and no one was going near her which made her presence in the place that much more odd. Lily recognised her immediately, though. ‘That’s Kate,’ she said.

‘Yeah,’ Ceri replied, ‘it is. C’mon.’ She marched off across the floor with Lily at her heel. As they neared the table a flick of Ceri’s wrist sent Lily off to Kate’s left; the detective suddenly found herself flanked and unable to get out from behind the table. She looked at Ceri and Lily liked a scared deer. Ceri smiled and said, ‘Hi Kate. We weren’t expecting to see you here?’

‘I wanted to get out of the house,’ Kate said, her tone defensive, ‘grab a drink…’

‘You live down Herne Hill way,’ Lily said. ‘This is hardly your local.’

‘Uh, well…’ Kate stammered.

‘Then there’s the matter of the camisole top and the little pleated skirt,’ Ceri added.

‘I’m wearing a bra,’ Kate countered, ‘which is more than I can say…’

‘Hmm, yes,’ Lily broke in, ‘a push-up.’

‘I didn’t know you liked girls,’ Ceri commented.

‘I did,’ Lily supplied, ‘though it’s actually more complicated than that.’ Her gaze turned to Kate who was looking even more uncomfortable. ‘You know, you just had to ask.’

‘Like you said,’ Kate almost mumbled, ‘it’s complicated.’

‘Things usually seem to be complicated because we make them complicated,’ Lily stated flatly.

Ceri’s eyes narrowed; there was something wrong with the witch and it was getting in the way of investigating the bombing and the deaths. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ she said. ‘We can talk back at High Towers where no one is going to hear us who shouldn’t.’

Kate gave a resigned sigh, but she followed Ceri and Lily out of the club. This was going to be tough, but she also had to tell someone about her problems, why not these two?

Kennington

The fire was burning in the lounge and Twill had made coffee; it seemed like a better idea than alcohol. Kate sat in the guest chair with her legs curled under her. Lily had stripped as soon as she got in and was now in her customary position on the footstool beside Ceri’s chair, her chin resting on the leather of the arm.

‘I recall you saying you had no lesbian leanings,’ Ceri said when Kate had said nothing for several minutes.

‘I lied,’ Kate replied. ‘I’m not saying cops are prejudiced against… alternate lifestyles, but I’m also not saying it wouldn’t have affected my career. Besides… well, it’s not exactly like I’m a lesbian…’

‘She’s attracted to supernaturals,’ Lily said. ‘Gender doesn’t matter. I said, you just had to ask. I’d have wanted to share you with Ceri, but you just had to ask.’

Kate blushed, but Ceri was more concerned about something else. ‘So what’s happened? You’re the bright one, John’s the sourpuss. What’s got you depressed and snarky?’

‘You remember John and Lorna took me out on their wedding anniversary?’ Ceri and Lily nodded, though Kate looked like she was hoping they had forgotten. ‘When we left the Dragon we went back to their place for a nightcap. I kind of knew it was a bad idea, but I was a bit drunk and you know how Lorna is when she’s half-cut. She’s such a cute drunk.’ The witch took a drink of coffee and then a deep breath. ‘We were sitting there drinking whiskey and Lorna asked if I’d help her give John a really great anniversary present.’ Ceri gave a little wince, and Kate confirmed her suspicion. ‘I said yes and the next thing I knew she was kissing me.’

‘John didn’t go for it?’ Ceri asked.

‘Oh, he went for it,’ Kate replied. ‘He may be straighter than a Roman road, but he’s human and male. His wife was snogging another woman and making it clear it was for his entertainment. By the time she’d got my clothes off he was really interested and I was just too far gone to care. Thing is, when he woke up with a hangover to discover his wife sucking on my thigh…’

‘He started wondering what the hell he’d done?’ Ceri suggested.

‘Yeah, and Lorna hasn’t helped. She asked him if we could make it a more regular thing.’ She grimaced, but went on quickly. ‘In her defence, she’s thinking of him. He’s the only one she feeds from. He eats huge amounts of red meat and he’s on iron pills, but there’s still days when he looks far too pale.’

‘She’s dead,’ Ceri said flatly. ‘No matter how hard she tries she’s not as good at reading human emotions as she was when she was alive.’

‘I know,’ Kate said, ‘but he’s overreacting. We got drunk and did something stupid. He was pretty keen about it while it was happening. Now he’s sullen and I’ve been suffering from withdrawal from the bites… It’s been shitty.’ She looked at Lily apologetically. ‘You had some sort of bright idea about the bombing? I’m sorry, I should’ve listened.’

Lily shrugged slightly. ‘You’re listening now. You’ve got three dead witches, one missing, and now a bomb meant to kill homosexuals. Has anyone considered a religious angle?’

‘Wait,’ Kate said, frowning, ‘three dead witches?’

‘Sally Pendle,’ Ceri said. ‘Died in a house fire in the summer. It may not be connected, but it’s an interesting coincidence.’

‘I’ve not heard anyone on the Chief’s team mention her,’ Kate mused. She gave a slight shrug. ‘The bombing has disrupted everything, but there’s a heavy suspicion it’s terrorism related and it’s being run by Special Branch.’

‘Terrorists?’ Ceri asked. ‘What terrorists? And why hit a gay bar?’

‘I didn’t say I suspected it was terrorists,’ Kate said, managing a weak grin. ‘They’re muttering things about Scottish separatists.’

‘Because they’re so effective and noted for gay-bashing,’ Lily commented. You could have used the sarcasm to build a wall.

‘So, you’re thinking someone’s taking Leviticus a little literally?’ Kate asked.

‘Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy,’ Ceri replied, ‘they’re all pretty full of capital crimes we’d consider a little extreme these days.’

‘Well,’ Kate said, ‘there was one detail of the bombing which didn’t make it into the press reports. The Times was sent a letter the morning after the bomb went off. It was posted in Westminster and it had one line on it, “Their blood is on their own hands.”’

‘That’s from the Bible, give or take,’ Ceri said. ‘It was used to indicate that people doing things against God’s Law could be executed without it constituting an infringement of the Sixth Commandment.’

‘Special Branch said a lot of Scottish extremists are highly religious, but it’s more likely designed to throw us off the scent.’ Kate shrugged a little. ‘It could be that’s your religious link.’

‘If there’s a link,’ Ceri said, ‘I’m not buying it. Why hit witches and gays? It makes no sense. And shouldn’t they be making demands?’

‘That’s assuming there’s a link between the murders and the bomb,’ Kate pointed out. ‘We’ve not found anything on Shore’s disappearance. That’s still a mystery.’ She had been looking more animated, but she suddenly sagged again. ‘Assuming I can get John to talk to me properly I could maybe take this to the Chief and see what we can link up.’

‘He’ll come around,’ Lily said. ‘He loves Lorna too much to let this destroy their marriage and she’ll persuade him it’s all okay one way or another.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ Kate said. She looked depressed again.

Lily looked at Ceri, who looked back and nodded. ‘I think it’s time for bed,’ the half-succubus said.

‘Yeah,’ Kate said with a sigh, ‘I should get home and…’

‘No,’ Ceri said. ‘We’re taking you to our bed. Call it Dutch courage, but you won’t be depressed once Lily’s finished with you.’

Kennington, October 19th

‘A little bird told me you’ve found evidence of the thaumino,’ Ed’s image said. The smirk on his face was positively mischievous.

Ceri grinned at him, though she was concentrating on manipulating normal magic rather than super-magic. ‘I’d imagine you lot have all the equations written down somewhere and solid proof of the Super-magic field…’

‘No,’ Ed said. ‘No, we’ve never had definite proof of it. In fact it was considered more or less mythology until it was theorised here. There was a suggestion among some elements that the entire concept was heresy. Something which controlled and limited magic? The stuff we were formed from given boundaries we had never considered?’

‘Dragons with religion?’ Ceri said. She grinned as the figure she was working on assumed the shape of a wire-frame dragon, it’s nose bent around to touch its tail.

‘Why not?’ Ed replied. ‘There is some evidence to suggest that intelligence brings with it a desire to find answers where we have none. Religion is one way of doing that, even if it’s not one I find satisfying. That’s very well done, by the way. Modelled after your tattoo?’

‘After the pendant,’ Ceri said. ‘I’ve never had that good a view of the tattoo since it’s on my back.’

‘Have you ever asked Brenhines about it?’

Ceri shook her head and contracted the figure she had formed into a ball. ‘She hasn’t dropped by since Barnes was trying to kill me.’ Plucking the ball of thaumic energy from the air, she closed her hand around it, vanishing it into the nothing she had originally summoned it from.

‘I think that’s enough for today,’ Ed said. ‘You have your homework, I’ll leave you to it.’ He turned as if to walk out, though actually he was just going to vanish, and then turned back, his face serious. ‘I’m very proud of the work you and Cheryl are doing, you know? It’s the kind of advancement of knowledge we tried to progress back in the old days. It’s nice to see you surpassing the knowledge we had then.’

Ceri smiled. ‘Thank you, Ed. I hope you’ve told Cheryl that.’

He frowned slightly. ‘I haven’t. You’re right, I should.’

Battersea

‘So, how did it go with Ray?’ Ceri asked. She had made a point of getting Anita alone and shifting back to human for a while to do it. The Captain must have known what she was up to because she was wearing an odd sort of resigned grin.

‘You gave him a few pointers, didn’t you?’ Anita said. ‘When he came back from that “talk” with Lily he was suddenly more… like a werewolf.’

‘I suggested he should be more demonstrative,’ Ceri replied.

‘Well he was certainly that. He even picked up on me offering myself. Most humans wouldn’t.’ She suddenly went a little bashful, her cheeks colouring and her eyes going down. ‘I must admit I’m not used to males… well he… he licked… I’ve had bitches do it, but never a male.’

Ceri rolled her eyes. ‘I’m going to have to start sex ed classes for werewolves. Michael’s learned that a little foreplay works wonders and he’s got pretty good at giving head.’

Anita’s eyes widened. ‘Michael does that?’

Ceri giggled. ‘In both forms. His tongue is amazing in wolf form, but his lips make up for it when he’s man-shaped.’ She developed a slightly distant look; so did Anita. ‘Would you excuse me? I need to go find Michael.’

‘Of course,’ Anita said, ‘I think I might have to go find someone myself.’ Giggling, the two girls started off in opposite directions, shifting as they went.

October 20th

Jenny Li, it turned out, had got visiting the pack in winter down to a fine art. Ceri spotted her on the bank of the boating lake and watched, fascinated, as she stripped down to a very conservative swimsuit, pushed her clothes into a bag and then swam across the lake. Once on the island she hurried into the trees, opened her bag, stripped out of the suit, and then pulled a towel out of the bag to dry herself. She was, however, shivering a little when Ceri appeared beside her.

‘H-hi Ceri,’ Jenny said, fairly brightly. She looked down as Ceri waved a clawed hand at the little rucksack. ‘Waterproof. I don’t have fur to change into if I swim over. It’s still a bit chilly this way, but it’s better than sitting around in a wet swimsuit.’

Ceri made a snickering sound which she had worked out humans thought sounded like a laugh, but did not sound entirely stupid coming out of a wolf, and stepped forward quickly to wrap Jenny in a furry blanket.

‘Hey!’ Jenny yelped. ‘Stop that! Oh, actually, that’s really nice, you’re warm, but I might get to like it.’ Ceri tickled Jenny’s neck with her muzzle and Jenny burst into a fit of giggles. ‘No! Stop it!’ Ceri added a few strategically placed finger pads to the mix and Jenny was reduced to a giggling puddle on the grass squeaking, ‘Ah! No! Stop it!’

When Ceri finally relented, at least partially because she was getting to the point of going further, Jenny lay there panting. ‘You… you did that… to me… when we were… six,’ Jenny huffed out. ‘Except… wasn’t naked.’

Warmer? Ceri growled.

‘Yes, thank you.’ The half-Chinese girl hauled herself upright and pulled her dry clothes from the bag. Dressed, she put the damp swimsuit into a zip-lock bag and tucked it away. ‘There,’ she said, ‘all sorted. And I’ve had some fun, so now it’s down to business.’ She pulled another zip-lock bag from her rucksack, opened it, and handed an envelope from it to Ceri. There was another in the bag.

Her brow furrowing, Ceri used a claw to delicately slit open the envelope. There was a card inside, embossed with gold lettering. It was an invitation to the New Year Ball at the Chinese Embassy on January the twenty-third addressed to Ceri and one guest. Ceri looked up at Jenny and blinked.

‘I know it’s well in advance,’ Jenny said, ‘but they have to organise this stuff really early. It’s going to be a huge deal this year. Huanglong is coming over and…’ She glanced around and lowered her voice. ‘…there’s a good chance the American President is going to be there. That’s really secret, by the way, but Mei said I should mention it.’

Ceri reached up to her collar. Her skin tingled and she was standing in the cold night air. ‘Who’s the other one for?’

‘Alexandra. Who else? I’ll be there and I’m allowed a guest. I asked Gran already and she said not to be silly and I should take Lee. There’ll be plenty of pack there to keep an eye on her.’

‘Okay,’ Ceri said. ‘Well, I’ll check and send a reply. I don’t think there’s anything happening in January to stop me going.’

Jenny beamed. ‘Good. The last ball I went to was amazingly boring. It’ll be so good to have some people I actually know.’

Ceri smirked. ‘As I recall, you were complaining about old men staring at your non-existent cleavage.’

‘Yeah,’ Jenny replied, sagging a little. ‘They aren’t rude enough to do it to Mei.’

‘Well, don’t worry. This time they’ll all be staring at Lily instead.’

~~~

Ceri and Michael swam back across the lake with Jenny, and Lee was along as well, keen to see the girl he definitely thought of as his mate off for the night. Ceri wondered whether she had ever been that cute with Michael. In truth, she doubted it since they spent much of their time as wolves… Or perhaps she was just suffering from self-delusion again.

Jenny and Lee cut into a thicket of trees nearby where she could change clothes again, but Ceri stopped as Michael paused, raising his muzzle and sniffing. Scent? Ceri growled softly, raising her own nose to try to sense what he had.

Man scent, Michael rumbled back. There were always people in the park, even at this time of year, so she was not sure why he was concerned. Don’t know man, but smelled before.

Ceri’s eyes caught something and she stared at the spot trying to make out any shapes in that area. There was no moon yet and the park was not well lit, but her wolf eyes were good in the dark. Still, all she managed to see was a figure moving away. He looked like he was holding something and as he moved she identified it; a camera.

Reporter Captain said about, she growled.

Michael frowned, and then shrugged before heading into the thicket. Ceri followed, and bumped into his back as he came to a sudden stop. She looked around his broad back to discover that Jenny and Lee were engaged in saying goodnight, rather enthusiastically. Lee, it seemed, had already learned the value of a little foreplay; his long tongue was working in long strokes between Jenny’s legs and, from the look on her face, he was pretty good at it. Michael looked around at Ceri and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Ceri gave a little shrug and a nod; she was not sure whether Jenny had been expecting a foursome, but she was going to get one.

Soho, October 21st

John looked serious and Kate looked harried. Ceri suspected the evening was going to go badly downhill as soon as she saw them waiting near the bar. Lily slid in beside her as she started back toward them and Ceri could feel the unease in her demon’s mind.

‘This isn’t going to be good,’ Lily said, her voice soft and carrying the same disquiet.

It was not, and John was not wasting time. ‘We found another body,’ he said as soon as they were close enough. ‘Uniforms responded to a call from the golf course out at Kew.’

‘Middle of the eighteenth hole green,’ Kate added. ‘It must have been put there last night.’

‘There was nothing in the evening news,’ Lily said, frowning.

‘We asked them to keep it out of the news while we identified the victim,’ John said, ‘but that’ll only last until morning.’

‘You think it’s Suzie Shore,’ Ceri stated.

‘She’s missing, the body’s female,’ John said. ‘Not that it was easy to tell.’ He swallowed back bile.

‘How can we help?’ Ceri asked. ‘I’m assuming you’re here because you want our help.’

‘We’re just the messengers,’ Kate said. ‘We’re going off duty, but the Chief wants to hear your theories on it. Tomorrow morning, ten o’clock.’

Lily grimaced. ‘Why does police work have to start so early?’

‘If it’s any consolation,’ Kate said, ‘he’ll probably have had a couple of hours sleep in a chair at HQ.’

‘Between the bomb and the murders he isn’t seeing home much,’ John agreed. There was an undercurrent to his tone Ceri did not like. He looked around at Kate. ‘You want a lift to the station?’ The same undercurrent was there, but a little harsher.

‘I think I could use a drink,’ Kate replied. ‘You go on home.’ He said nothing in reply, just shrugged slightly and headed for the door. Kate watched him go before saying, ‘He’s still a bit…’

‘Of a jerk?’ Lily suggested.

‘Annoyed,’ Kate said, though she did manage a bit of a smile.

‘Sit down,’ Ceri said, ‘get a drink. Just forget about it for a while.’ She turned, immediately spotting one of her tables running low on alcohol.

‘Sure,’ Kate said, ‘but there is one thing you should know. We found a card near the body with a message printed on it. It said, “Her blood is on her own hands.”’

‘Oh,’ Ceri said. She started off for table fifteen. That did explain why Chief Inspector Barry wanted to talk to them, but somehow it did not make Ceri feel happy at the idea that Lily’s hunch had been right. There was someone out there killing people based on Biblical Law and she was a sorceress whose girlfriend was half-demon. That could not be good.

Kennington, October 22nd

A voice woke Ceri, though her eyes remained closed as she mumbled, ‘Just five more minutes, Mum.’

Soft wind chimes filtered into Ceri’s sleepy brain. ‘That’s sweet, dear, but I’m not your mother. You asked me to wake you at nine.’

Ceri lifted her head and looked at Twill. The action disturbed Kate who mumbled something unintelligible and pulled Ceri’s arm tighter around her waist. ‘Sorry, Twill,’ Ceri said. ‘We’re going to need a lot of coffee.’

‘It’s already brewing,’ the fairy said. ‘I’ll organise some breakfast.’ Turning in the air, she flitted out of the room.

Ceri felt Lily stirring behind her, which left only the cop in front of her. She pinched one of Kate’s nipples. The squeak of surprise brought Lily fully awake too; two birds with one stone.

‘If you’re going to do that, it could at least be because you’re going to do something else too,’ Kate growled.

‘Sorry,’ Ceri said. ‘You wanted to come back with us, which means you get the pleasure of getting up with us.’

Kate rolled out of bed with a groan. ‘What was I thinking?’

‘You were thinking,’ Lily told her, ‘that it would be really awesome having my head between your legs again.’

‘Yes, but what was I thinking?’

Bursting into laughter, Ceri swung her legs out of the bed and jumped to her feet. ‘I’m grabbing the shower first,’ she said. ‘And no, no one’s coming with me or we won’t get there until midday.’

Westminster

Barry was using one of the conference rooms for their meeting. Besides him, Ceri, and Lily, there was John and Kate sitting on opposite sides of the table, Laurel and Hecks, and another man Ceri did not recognise. He was Barry’s age, but slim where Barry was bulky, and with far more grey hair. Ceri’s Sight showed her evidence of magic use, but no sign of a pact, and she turned it off again before she had to look at the one person in the room who did have one.

‘Ceridwyn Brent, Lily Carpenter,’ Barry said, cutting the introductions to a minimum, ‘this is Detective Chief Inspector Harold Nugent of Special Branch.’

Nugent neither got to his feet nor offered his hand; Ceri was beginning to think anyone involved in counter-terrorism or counter-espionage was a dick. ‘I understand you have a theory regarding the explosion at Graham’s Bar,’ Nugent said.

‘We’ll get to that,’ Barry snapped. ‘Please have a seat, ladies.’ There appeared to be some jurisdictional rancour; Ceri and Lily glanced at each other before pulling out a chair each and taking a seat. ‘Right,’ Barry went on, ‘I want to go over what we have so far on all the cases to get Miss Brent and Miss Carpenter up to speed.’

‘The information on the bombing is classified…’ Nugent began.

‘They are Special Advisors,’ Barry said, cutting him off. ‘Miss Brent was responsible for the neutralisation of Remus at Stonehenge last Winter Solstice. Miss Carpenter led the team of werewolves who went in to take out Remus’ human associates. They have both been cleared for access to information well beyond some group of Scots malcontents you’ve fixated on.’ He glared at Nugent, Nugent glared back; Barry had a far more impressive glare. Nugent looked away. ‘John,’ Barry said, ‘you start?’

‘Unfortunately,’ John said, ‘there’s relatively little to tell. Suzie Shore, noted celebrity witch, is known to have entered her flat in Kensington on October eighth at around ten-thirty. Her boyfriend entered the flat at eleven the following morning, found signs of a disturbance and called the police. We don’t think there was a struggle at this point. Forensics believe the flat was searched. They can’t find any evidence of the intruder.’

‘The boyfriend is a werewolf, isn’t he?’ Nugent asked.

Ceri could hear the insinuation. ‘Garrett, he’s one of the Royals. We were asked to check on him. He had nothing to do with it.’

‘And you know this because?’

‘His Alpha says so. They were checking on any ex-girlfriends or other people who might have had a grudge, but if there was anyone they haven’t found them.’

‘You’re taking the word of one of his pack that…’ He stopped as Ceri’s eyes flashed angrily.

‘When you know as much about werewolves as I do, I’ll be happy to take your opinion, sir,’ Ceri said.

‘We have no leads,’ Kate put in quickly. ‘We’ve had diviners trying to locate her, but she’s somewhere they can’t scry into.’

‘The body you found on the golf course wasn’t her?’ Lily asked.

‘No,’ Barry said. ‘We’ve determined that, but not who she was. Which brings us to the murders.’ He was obviously not going to let Nugent get a word in; Ceri had to suppress a smirk. ‘We know of four victims killed in the same way. Angela Hoff and Teresa Tobin died in the New Forest area, Miss Brent found Helen Brewster on Clapham Common, and now there’s the new one at Kew. They were all witches, but there appears to be no other connection between them. Forensics say that the bodies were exposed to a temperature of about eight hundred Celsius, which is above the ignition temperature of human flesh. There was no fuel or accelerant used. As you said at Clapham, Miss Brent, some form of containment circle was used to contain the heat and, presumably, the sound of the screams.’ He picked up a folder and pulled out a photograph, pushing it down the table. ‘This card was found at the Kew crime scene. The quote is, essentially, from the Bible.’

Ceri and Lily looked at the photograph, but it just showed a standard index card with the message Kate had quoted laser printed onto it. ‘Have you had diviners check this?’ Ceri asked.

‘Not a trace of anything,’ Barry growled. ‘Our killer knows how to break the Law of Contagion link.’

‘That’s not a particularly simple spell,’ Ceri commented.

‘So I’m told.’ Barry looked across at Nugent. ‘Inspector Nugent?’

‘A bomb consisting of eight pounds of plastic explosives and two gallons of petrol was detonated at Graham’s Bar in the early hours of the sixteenth,’ Nugent said, looking reluctant even though he was not saying anything Ceri and Lily did not already know. ‘No one has claimed it, but we suspect a group called the Sons of Wallace, a radical Scottish separatist group. Intelligence indicates that they have been making plans for a more active campaign over the past year.’ He sniffed. ‘There was a letter sent to The Times with a similar message to that one. There are several active Catholics in the Sons…’

‘So a Scottish separatist movement begins their campaign by killing random witches?’ Ceri asked.

‘Let’s keep this moving,’ Barry said. ‘Let’s hear your theory, Miss Brent.’

‘It was Lily’s idea,’ Ceri said, looking at her pet demon.

Lily blinked. ‘Okay. It simply seemed to me that these things seem connected, certainly the murders and the bombing, but Suzie is a witch and it seems like the killer must kidnap his victims before burning them. Witches and homosexuals are both subject to the death penalty according to Old Testament law. They used to burn witches, cleansing fires and all that. It’s also interesting that a firebomb was used at the bar. Add in the messages… I think this is someone with religious motivations. A loner or a small group anyway. They’ll be a devout Christian or Jew…’

‘That kind of person wouldn’t use magic,’ Nugent stated flatly.

‘Thaumaturgy,’ Ceri said. ‘Religious adherents refer to it as “miracle working,” but it’s still magic. Since it’s through the intercession of some form of higher power it can be fairly powerful too. The thaumaturgist doesn’t need to be too skilled to work serious magic. They just need to be devout.’

‘There’s also another possible death,’ Lily said. ‘Sally Pendle? She died in a house fire, but she lived near the New Forest and she was a witch, a fairly famous one.’

‘Patrick,’ Barry said, looking to Laurel, ‘get the locals to send us the case file on that.’

‘You’re taking this seriously?’ Nugent asked, disbelief strong in his voice.

‘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 break 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 me.’

‘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.

Ceri’s lips twitched. ‘Well… I’m not sure. Perhaps you should remind me what you can do, pet.’

The slightest touch of Lily’s lips on Ceri’s throat sent a sharp pang of desire through her body. ‘Of course, Mistress,’ Lily purred. ‘Pet will make sure you don’t even remember the vamp.’

After a few minutes “Mistress” could not even remember her name.

October 24th

Busy as she was tracing over a rune marked on the side gate’s posts, Ceri barely noticed Lorna coming up behind her. Lily, sat on the grass with a mug of coffee, looked up and smiled. ‘You can see through that?’ the half-succubus asked.

Lorna had left home in a hurry and had forgotten to bring her sunglasses. Instead she had a double thickness of bandage wrapped over her eyes. ‘Just about. I can’t see a damn thing without it.’ Vampire eyes were able to see in near total darkness. Unfortunately that meant they were essentially blind in daylight. ‘What’s she doing?’

‘I’m reinforcing…’ Ceri said, a little distractedly, ‘…the fence wards.’ She dipped the quill she was using in her pot of ink and started on the next rune.

‘She did the same last year,’ Lily said, ‘just after she got her power. Word from Alexandra is that this Samhain is going to be a bad one, so she’s beefing them up again.’

‘So,’ Ceri mumbled, ‘it’s a good thing… you’ll be here… and back with John by then.’

‘I will?’

‘You will,’ Lily said. ‘Call it a mission, but we’re not letting anything ruin Ceri’s birthday, so you’re both going to be happy by then.’

Ceri sat up straight suddenly and the runes around the arbour sprang to life, glowing for a few seconds before dying away. Lily little out a little squeak of glee and Ceri turned to grin at her. ‘You were the same last time I did this.’

‘No I wasn’t,’ Lily said, ‘I was stalking you last time.’

‘Stalking?’ Lorna asked bemusedly.

Ceri grimaced. ‘I made the mistake of thinking that we could keep going as we had been if I just held out until she’d got over lusting after my sudden magical ability. Then I spent a couple of days as her sex slave before I managed to take control.’

‘So, now you’re Ceri’s sex slave?’ Lorna asked, smirking.

‘Yes,’ Lily said brightly.

‘No,’ Ceri said. ‘Well, not exactly… Well, sort of, when I let her. It was either I be her Mistress or she be mine, and I’m a lot…’

‘A lot less likely to keep her slave in a half-mesmerised state and ready to service her mistress at any moment,’ Lily said. ‘I was really bad. My demon side was in almost full control.’

‘It was weird,’ Ceri said, picking up her ink pot and climbing to her feet. ‘It was like my head was full of fog. It got worse when she was in sight, but it was an act of will to disobey her orders even when she was away.’

‘I didn’t think succubi had that kind of power,’ Lorna said.

‘They don’t,’ Ceri said, starting down the fence to one of the corner posts. ‘It was a combination of the sex and psychology. I’d never had much of a sex life and suddenly I was having fifteen minute orgasms from a woman who really wanted me. I just didn’t want to give it up. Vampire bites are chemically addictive, and you could enslave someone that way, but succubi…’ She shook her head. ‘Mental addiction can be a far more subtle, nasty way of controlling someone than any drug,’

Lily climbed to her feet, looking forlorn, her head hanging slightly and her eyes downcast. Ceri reached the post and sat down ready to start on the runes. ‘Still, for all the two of us were miserable I wouldn’t have had it any other way,’ Ceri said. ‘Lily learned something about herself and I was stronger for breaking out of it. And I think I’m a better mistress for having been a complete slave. We probably have a better relationship for that screw up.’

‘I’ll get more coffee,’ Lily said, breaking into a smile. ‘She’s going to be at this for hours.’

‘Thanks, love,’ Ceri said, her voice once again taking on an absent tone as she concentrated on her work.

~~~

Ceri was working alone, her quill tracing over the bottoms of the runes on the concrete gateposts at the front of the house, when a figure in a dark suit appeared in the corner of her vision. He said nothing, just standing there, waiting for her to finish. She made the final mark and looked up as a wall of orange light flared up along the fence line.

‘You’re learning,’ she said as she stood up.

‘I’ve had a year,’ John replied, ‘I’d hope I’d have become a little more aware of magic and magicians.’ He looked hesitant for a second and then added, ‘How’s Lorna?’

‘Okay,’ Ceri replied. ‘Unhappy, unsure, but okay.’

‘She… well, she hasn’t fed…’

‘I took care of that yesterday,’ Ceri said and watched his face stiffen. ‘If I’m going to have a vampire under my roof, it isn’t going to be a hungry one. I did it as clinically as possible. I’m no kind of chew toy. Frankly, the thought of being bitten freaked me out. It still does, but I won’t let her go hungry while you straighten yourself out.’

‘Me?’ His tone was snappy, angry. ‘Her and Kate…’

‘Your wife,’ Ceri said firmly, ‘is worried that you’re over-taxing yourself keeping her in blood. You know, most vampires have a small group to feed them. It takes time to recover. You won’t get a blood bank allowing you to give blood once a week.’

John frowned. ‘Could we discuss this inside?’

‘Only if you’re going to keep your temper.’ She watched as his temper flared and he swallowed it back down again. ‘How much sleep have you had since she left?’

‘I’ve slept,’ he replied, his tone hedgy and defensive.

‘I’ll make you a deal,’ Ceri told him. ‘You come in and let me put a sleep spell on you for a few hours. We’ll all talk when you’ve had some decent rest.’

The detective looked at her, obviously conflicted, and then sagged noticeable before nodding. ‘All right. You’re probably right. I should have a clear head.’

‘Good,’ Ceri said, opening the gate with a smile. ‘It sounds like you’re thinking more clearly already.’

~~~

It was dark by the time Ceri woke him. ‘What did you hit me with?’ he asked, stretching. They had put him in the spare room since Lorna was not using it at the time. He had been uncomfortable about that, but he had climbed under the covers and found himself comforted by the scent of his wife lingering on the sheets.

‘It’s a spell Alexandra taught me,’ Ceri said. ‘It’s deeper than a normal sleep, but you wake up far more rested.’

He did, actually, feel like he had had the best night’s sleep ever. Shrugging, he started to climb out of bed and then stopped. ‘I’m, uh, not actually wearing anything?’

Ceri chuckled softly. ‘Come down to the lounge once you’re dressed. Twill’s made coffee and some sandwiches.’

John stopped in the doorway to the lounge, his face going hard. ‘What’s she doing here?’ he said, his voice a growl. Kate, sat in a straight backed chair a strategic ten feet from Lorna in another straight backed chair, lowered her eyes.

Twill appeared right in front of his face, red light flickering around her. John reared back as though a cobra had struck at him, but Twill just pressed forward. ‘That’s quite enough of that, young man. This business needs to be sorted out between the three of you. It isn’t Kate’s fault this happened, so you will treat her with the respect she deserves as your partner. Now sit down, shut up, and eat something. You look like you haven’t eaten any more than you’ve slept.’

It was enormously difficult to stand up to Twill when she got in one of her moods. Something about a four-inch naked woman with rapidly flicking wings hovering an inch or so from your nose was just too much for almost anyone. Looking sullen, John backed up another pace before heading for the guest wing-back; it had obviously been left for him and he slumped into it with a sigh. On the other hand, he did sink his teeth into a beef and mustard sandwich with more relish than Ceri had expected.

‘While John has his mouth full,’ Ceri said, ‘we’ve heard the story from everyone except John so far, and Lorna told me how she was turned, so we know that part. I think we need to hear John’s side and I don’t want anyone interrupting, which means you, Lorna and Kate. Are we clear?’

The two women in the little love triangle nodded. Lorna actually looked a little scared; Ceri had spent the day pouring thaumic energy around like water and she was using her firmest voice. Ceri turned and looked at John. ‘When you’re ready. Calmly, please, no eruptions.’

John carefully swallowed the last bite of bread and meat in his mouth. ‘I’m sorry, Kate,’ he said. ‘Twill is right, you should be here. This involves you too.’ He took a breath. ‘Well, if you’ve heard the story, then I don’t need to go over what happened…’

‘You don’t need to,’ Ceri said, ‘but I’d like to know what you were feeling that night.’

‘I can’t imagine I was feeling much different to the way Michael does when he’s watching you two,’ John replied.

‘I think you’ll find you did,’ Lily said.

‘Werewolves have a more social view of sex,’ Ceri agreed. ‘Michael might object to me sleeping with a lesser wolf or a stranger. To take a hypothetical example, he considers Lorna and you friends so, providing you asked him, he’d let you sleep with me and he’d have no objection to me laying Lorna.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘So quit stalling and tell us how you felt.’

John looked at her for a second; his face said, “Too much information!” His mouth said, ‘I was… surprised. I didn’t know Lorna was even interested in girls and Kate had said she wasn’t.’ Ceri felt the amusement coming over the link from Lily. Lily had known, of course, but even Ceri had got the impression that Lorna would try it if she could. ‘I was… aroused,’ John went on, his cheeks colouring. ‘Seriously, who wouldn’t be? Two attractive women are making out in front of me. One of them is my wife… it was like a scene out of a porn movie.’

‘So you joined in?’ Ceri asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Enthusiastically?’

‘Yeah… Yes, I suppose I did. I was four sheets to the wind. I wasn’t thinking about the consequences, I…’

‘Enjoyed yourself?’ Lily suggested. John went bright scarlet. ‘You’re not Catholic, are you? You’ve got a bigger guilt complex than anyone I’ve ever known. Except maybe Ceri.’

‘I don’t have a guilt complex!’ Ceri squeaked.

‘Of course you do. You take on responsibility for everyone around you. Doubly if you actually know them.’

‘I’m not Catholic,’ John interrupted. ‘I do have… an over developed sense of responsibility. I think a fair number of cops have it.’

‘And your wife was kidnapped,’ Ceri said. ‘Not because of anything she had done, but because she was your wife and they were trying to get at you.’ She could see John’s face reddening, but she continued. ‘She was turned and left to kill you. She almost did, but you both survived, and you felt guilty. You swore you’d look after her, keep her safe, and you failed. Then you swore you’d look after her…’

‘Dam right I did!’ John exploded. ‘She should never have had to deal with this. It’s my fault…’

‘No, it’s not,’ Ceri said. ‘You know it’s not.’

‘Then who am I supposed to blame?’

‘The bastard who kidnapped her, you pillock! You didn’t even know you were dealing with a vampire. How were you supposed to know what he’d do?’ She raised her hand to forestall the denial which he was about to make. ‘That’s really not the point. You’re in this situation and you have to live with it. Why did you remarry?’

Lorna looked as surprised as John did. ‘What?’ he asked.

Ceri shrugged. ‘Lorna died, your marriage ended. You had to fill in a load of paperwork…’

‘Turn up in front of a registrar,’ Lily added, ‘with witnesses.’

‘And pay the registration fee,’ Ceri said. ‘It, uh, didn’t even occur to you to not do it, did it?’

‘Well… no,’ John said. ‘She’s my wife.’ Lorna nodded firmly in agreement.

‘No,’ Ceri said, ‘she’s a vampire. Your wife died. This is someone who looks like her and acts like her, but it’s a walking corpse.’

John was getting redder by the minute, and that was the last straw. ‘Fuck you, girl! She’s my wife! I love her and…’

‘So what the Hell’s changed?’ Ceri said, raising her voice to be heard over his.

The detective sagged into his seat with a thump. ‘Nothing,’ he said.

‘No,’ Ceri said, ‘it has. What’s changed is that your wife, who you love and have always protected and worried over, is worried about you? Like I said, you’re in this situation so you’d better make the best of it. You’ve been feeding her yourself for, what, eighteen months?’

‘Almost two years,’ John said quietly.

‘I’m going to be frank,’ Ceri said. ‘Feeding her at minimum, which I’m sure you’re doing, is going to do two things. You’ll start suffering organ failures and other delightful problems, and she’ll deteriorate faster. The less blood she drinks, the faster she’ll decay. You won’t be able to tell because she’ll learn to cover it up, but it’ll happen. You’ll end up in separate beds, probably separate rooms, because she can’t maintain the illusion when she’s asleep and it’s not nice being in bed with a shrivelled corpse. You want to stave that off as long as possible so she needs to feed more often and you can’t do it alone.’

There was silence. Ceri was voicing the fears both of the Radcliffes had and had never really spoken of. Lorna had tried, but John did not want to hear it. Ceri bent down and picked up a small, but thick, book. ‘You’re a strong man, John,’ she said, ‘but you’re only human. I was reading up on magic to ease the addiction problems for me if I needed it, and I found something which can help. There’s a potion Kate can make easily enough which helps with the effects, but it’ll still need more than just you if you’re feeding Lorna at more than the minimum level. You need the help, especially if you get ill, or hurt.’

John sighed. ‘I suppose you’re right. I just… It’s always been the two of us. We took care of each other. We didn’t need anyone else…’

‘There’s the jealousy factor too,’ Lily said. ‘It’s tough having a wife who looks like Lorna. Always wondering when she’s going to find someone better?’

‘I’d never!’ Lorna interrupted, outraged.

Lily smiled at her. ‘So not the point.’ Turning back to John, the half-succubus added, ‘Kate doesn’t want to take Lorna away from you. You can take my word on that. She’s not being entirely altruistic, there’s pleasure in it for her, but she doesn’t want to break you two up. She just wants a small part of what you have.’ Kate looked mortified, but nodded dumbly.

‘I’d be willing to donate again in an emergency,’ Ceri added, ‘which brings me to another point. There doesn’t need to be sex involved. I know you’re terminally straight when you’re sober, so if you have to come to some arrangement where Lorna and Kate just get together for a snack, so to speak, then I’m sure you can all cope…’

‘But you’ve already cracked that taboo,’ Lily said, smirking, ‘so if you don’t take the opportunity for a little extra-marital nookie we’re going to start thinking there’s no hope for you.’

‘Yeah,’ Ceri said, trying to keep her face straight, ‘that.’

John stared at them. His mouth opened and then closed. Lorna was holding her breath and Kate looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole. Then John started chuckling. Lily giggled first, followed by Ceri. The chuckling turned into laughter and soon John was doubled over in the chair.

Twill floated up from the back of the chair behind Ceri. ‘If he doesn’t stop in a few minutes, I’d suggest intervention,’ the fairy said. ‘I’m going to open a bottle of wine and make some snack food.’ With that she flitted happily off toward the kitchen, leaving John to his slightly hysterical laughter.

October 26th

‘It’s nice having company,’ Lily said, ‘but it’s nice when they leave again and we’re alone.’

Ceri gave a little chuckle, but she was concentrating. Down in the cellar, she was standing in front of the alcove which housed her mother’s clever solution to maintaining the house enchantment runes. Inside the stone cupboard with its iron door was a sort of model of the house, the shape made up of silver runes which hung in the air forming the same pattern as they did in the house walls and foundations. Ceri just had to retrace the patterns with her finger, supplying power as she went, to recharge the runes in the house.

Lily was standing right behind Ceri, full breasts pressed against her back. Ceri could feel the warmth her demon was giving off and she was quite glad of it. A cellar was not a place to be standing in just a shirt, but Ceri never seemed to remember that until she was too busy to do anything about it.

‘You’re nearly finished, right?’ Lily asked.

Ceri finished a rune and turned her hand to bring the last one around to the front. ‘Just one more.’ She reached out and started to trace the last rune. ‘Why?’

‘You know how hot it makes me when you do this.’

‘Uh-huh,’ Ceri replied. The rune was quite complex and she was concentrating on that, not what Lily was saying. ‘You feel lovely and warm.’

‘So when you’ve finished we’re going to the dungeon,’ Lily said.

‘Uh-huh.’ Ceri put the last loop in and the rune shone silver, and it snapped back into the model with a tiny shimmer.

‘Then I’m going to fuck you senseless,’ Lily said.

Ceri swallowed hard and turned the model into its locked position. There was a pulse of power which both of them felt, a soft moan escaping Lily’s throat, as the model passed energy to the house runes. Ceri pushed the door closed on the alcove.

‘I’m so glad you waited until I’d finished to mention that last bit,’ Ceri said.

Lily grabbed Ceri’s hand. ‘Never mind that. C’mon. I’ve got a strap-on with your name on it.

Ceri whimpered as she was dragged off toward the dungeon door.

~~~

‘Do you think John will actually go for it?’ Lily asked. They were laid out on the couch in front of the TV. Ceri had intended to do some work, but she had ended up lying in Lily’s arms instead.

‘Go for what, exactly?’ Ceri asked in return.

‘Well, let Kate help him feed Lorna.’

‘Yes. He’s not stupid. We just forced him to confront the situation he’s been avoiding for two years.’

Lily shifted slightly, settling Ceri against her stomach more comfortably. ‘What about three-in-a-bed, kinky, vampire and witch sex romps?’

Ceri giggled. ‘That one’s a tough call. I give him… two weeks before he decides “what the Hell.”’

‘Two weeks, huh? How much are you willing to bet?’

Ceri’s eyes narrowed. ‘What’s your estimate?’

‘I’d say… three.’

If she was saying he would last longer, then she was not basing it on knowing he would fold quickly. ‘Okay,’ she said, ‘twenty quid?’

‘I was thinking of more… interesting stakes.’

‘Oh, you would be. Like what?’

‘If you win I’ll… let you lead me into the Dubh Linn in a collar and chain as your mufty.’

‘Okay… A night at the Fun Factory. And you can lead me around on a chain. And I’ll have a glass of fae wine before we start.’

‘It’s a bet,’ Lily said. There was just a hint of something in her voice which suggested Ceri had just let herself get royally suckered.

Battersea, October 26th

There was no moon, but the sky was shot with green waves; the Aurora flaring brightly as the Earth’s magical field interacted with its magnetic field. Ceri watched it through muted colours, fascinated by the play of light.

Michael was less interested. Despite the fact that the moon had set before the sun, the werewolves could feel the new moon and it made them lazy, sullen, a little depressed. Ceri, being only physically a werewolf tonight, was not affected. On the other hand, her mate’s mood affected her and even if the light show was impressive, Michael needed cheering up.

Patrol! Her bark jerked his head up and he took her hand so she could yank him to his feet. It never failed to amaze her how strong she was in this form. He followed her off on a run along the territorial boundary, but he did not look particularly excited about it. By the weekend, with the moon waxing, he would be his usual self. For now the best she was going to get was “less grumpy.”

By the time they were running into Clapham Common the endorphins in his system were actually having an effect and he seemed bouncier. She was a little surprised, then, when he came to a sudden stop and lifted his muzzle, sniffing.

Raising her own head she wondered whether she would ever be as good a wolf as Michael was. Unlikely, considering that he did it full time and she got two nights a week to practice. She caught a scent she recognised, two in fact. Jenny and Lee were here. Well, Jenny did live in Clapham and this was still pack territory so them meeting here seemed safe.

Come, Michael growled. He moved off in a direction which was not where the scent was coming from. Was he planning to sneak up on them or…?

There was another scent. Human, but not one she really recognised. It did have a hint of familiarity about it, but nothing strong enough for her to identify. Then her eyes picked out the shape in the bushes; there was a man crouched there, a camera with a long lens pressed against his eye.

‘The lights are really bright tonight.’ It was Jenny’s voice. Whoever the creep was, he was watching Jenny and Lee.

‘Yeah. Alexandra says Samhain will be really wild this year. It’s probably something to do with that.’ Ceri did not recognise the voice, but she had never actually met Lee out of fur.

The two wolves moved closer, the man oblivious to them. Jenny’s voice came again. ‘Good thing we’ll be at Ceri’s place then.’

‘Her place is really that well warded?’ Lee asked.

‘Her parents were the best enchanters in the country.’ Possibly an exaggeration, but Ceri was happy to hear Jenny thought it.

The man suddenly jerked his head around. Ceri caught a glimpse of his face; a flat sort of nose, broad cheekbones, a flash of close-cropped, dark hair. Then he was off, running out of the clump of bushes and away. Michael glanced at Ceri, his brow furrowed. He was probably thinking the same as her; odd behaviour for a reporter.

Looping around the bushes, they trotted across the grass to Jenny and Lee. The young werewolf looked up and smiled. ‘Michael, Ceri, hi. You on patrol?’

Michael dipped his head yes and then placed a clawed hand on Lee’s shoulder. Take care, he growled, keep nose high.

Lee looked a little confused, but nodded. Michael nodded back and then set off across the park, Ceri close on his tail.

She heard Jenny’s voice receding into the distance. ‘I wonder why he said that…’

Ceri decided that she needed to talk to the staff at The Wednesday Witch. There was something a bit strange about this reporter who was supposedly working for them.

Poplar, October 27th

The offices of The Wednesday Witch were a little underwhelming. Ceri had been expecting a huge room packed with reporters busily talking into telephones, teenagers rushing around with copy, that kind of thing. Instead there were a half-dozen offices in a managed office building, though they did have a nice view over West India Quay. No one even yelled “hold the front page” or “copy!”

Alison Wentworth had been Editor in Chief at the magazine for almost a decade. Around fifty, she was something of a stress bunny and her brow showed more than a few worry lines. Apparently she had been taking dressing lessons from Bets Meech, though the corset part had been left out and Alison needed it rather more than Ceri suspected Bets did. She did, however, agree to see Ceri and Lily without an appointment and, actually, with rather too much enthusiasm.

‘Somehow,’ Ceri said as they sat down on the little couch in Alison’s office, ‘I expected more people here.’

Alison sat across a low coffee table from them. Ceri got the impression they did interviews here. ‘Well, this is primarily the editorial staff. There are a couple of desks the reporters can use on a hot-desking system. Most of our people operate from home, or on a freelance basis. The Witch is a bit of a cottage industry really. Always has been.’

‘So, you do employ freelance reporters? Ceri asked.

‘Oh yes, but on a contract basis.’ Alison’s nose wrinkled a little. ‘We get offers of photographs and articles all the time, but I have a strict policy. If I haven’t commissioned an article then it’s not going in the magazine. People do come along with ideas, pitch them, and I may take them up on the idea, but I don’t even read it if I haven’t asked for it.’

‘Have you commissioned a piece on human-werewolf relationships?’

There was a shake of the head; blonde hair wound into a bun took a second longer to stop then her head did. ‘Why would I? It’s not our kind of article. If we learn someone’s going out with a werewolf and either is famous, that goes in the gossip column, but we don’t do major articles on that kind of thing.’

‘Well,’ Lily said, ‘someone’s been snooping around the packs and claiming to be doing an article for the Witch.’

‘Not on my say so!’ Alison almost shrieked.

‘Dark hair,’ Ceri said, ‘wide cheekbones, a flat sort of nose. I’ve only caught a glimpse of him. He’s… very furtive.’

‘Not a description I recognise,’ Alison said. ‘Not one of our regulars anyway. He could have used our name rather than give away the real publisher. I’ll make some enquiries.’

‘I’d be grateful,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m a little worried this guy has some other motive.’

Alison developed an almost predatory grin. ‘Grateful enough to do an interview for the magazine?’

Ceri grimaced. ‘What do you want an interview with us for? I’m a research scientist, Lily’s a waitress. Neither of us are actually witches.’

‘You’re a rather unconventional love story,’ Alison replied. ‘We could do with something up-beat, frankly. The next issue is going to have an article on these recent deaths. I’m not hearing any suggestions that the Greycoats are close to finding a suspect, so I suspect that’s going to run on. “Local girl discovers her power and then has her gorgeous housemate fall in love with her?” It’ll cheer people up.’

Lily giggled. Ceri said, ‘If you can confirm this guy isn’t a reporter, or that he is, we’ll do it.’

‘Fantastic!’ Alison enthused. ‘The photo shoot will be fantastic too.’

Ceri’s eyes raised skyward; what had she just agreed to?

Kennington, October 29th

Ceri lifted her head and listened. Something had disturbed her, but it took a second to realise what it was. In fact it was the sound of a motorcycle engine cutting out that clued her in, and she jumped to her feet, heading for the front door.

Kort and Tabby looked just the same as ever. He was a wiry sort of man, thin in face and body. He always managed to look a little scruffy, his short hair tousled and his chin showing half a day of beard. She was short, slightly stocky, with mildly boyish features and a mop of mid-brown hair. They were both in leathers, the quintessential biker and his girlfriend.

Kort gave a broad grin, his fangs showing, and hurried down the path so that he could be the first to sweep Ceri into a big hug. She was almost positive that the thin shirt she was wearing had nothing to do with his enthusiasm. Hugging back, Ceri allowed herself to be carried back into the hall. Tabby, by now wearing a grin of her own, followed behind to shut the doors.

‘Put her down, you lummox,’ Tabby said. ‘I want a turn.’

Ceri took the short break between hugs as an opportunity to get some words in. ‘You’re both looking good. Everyone in the pack well?’ Then she was being crushed against Tabby’s chest.

‘Yeah,’ Kort said. ‘Doing great. A few more of them now too. We have two more couples and four unmated males.’

‘Good,’ Ceri said, when she was allowed air. ‘We could do with a few extra men at the party. It’s always girl-heavy. I’m assuming you’re not here to say they can’t make it?’

‘Course not,’ Tabby said, grinning. ‘They’ll be here on Monday. I need to go to Baltzman’s, so we came down early. We can stay here, right?’

‘No one’s using the spare room at the moment,’ Ceri replied. ‘Lily and I will be working tonight so you’ll have to amuse Twill. Tomorrow… Oh, do you want to come over to Battersea? We’re having a pre-birthday party with the pack there. I’m sure Alexandra will welcome you.’

‘We should give Dane a call,’ Kort said. ‘For form’s sake really. He won’t say no.’ He looked around. ‘I was expecting to have been crushed to death by a naked succubus by now.’

Ceri giggled. ‘Lil’s busy,’ she said. ‘Learning to be a better succubus in the dungeon with her dad.’

Kort’s eyes actually bulged. ‘She can get better?!’

Soho

The last open night before Samhain, the Jade Dragon always did something special. Since the standard uniform for the waitresses was a micro-dress barely large enough to carry the name, “something special” had to be quite something and Carter had developed a taste for coating his girls in paint.

Examining herself in the locker room mirror, Ceri had to admit that Audrey was quite the artist. Carter had just let her loose on his waitresses this time and, with relatively limited time to work, she had done them proud. Seeing the tattoo on Ceri’s back, Audrey had wound Chinese-style dragons up Ceri’s legs, over her back, and over her shoulders. Two dragon heads looked at each other over her breasts. Then a scale pattern had been painted over her hips and the little white string she was wearing, and thinner dragons had been twisted down her arms, their heads on the backs of her hands.

‘You look amazing,’ Lily whispered in her ear.

Ceri turned, grinning, and her jaw dropped. Audrey had gone with a demon motif for Lily. The previous years she had pained Lily red and they had added a tail and horns; a half-succubus playing a cartoon, fantasy succubus. This time Carter and Audrey had gone a little overboard. Lily’s skin was coating in a shimmering purple paint from her gorgeous breasts down. The upper edge was feathery fronds which seemed to have tiny, naked figures dancing through them. There were horns, and a tail secured onto a belt around her hips, but it was the feet which really made Ceri stare. Somewhere, someone had found a pair of purple, latex boots which formed Lil’s lower legs and feet into hooves. She was stood there, balanced on her toes, showing not the slightest sign of stress. She looked like someone’s wet dream version of a Devos demon.

‘Uh… you can walk in those?’ Ceri asked.

Lily pirouetted on the spot. The paint on her back dipped to a point at the base of her tail. ‘Of course. The shoes are really supportive. It’s just a matter of balance. You could do it too.’

‘I don’t think…’

Lily raised an eyebrow. ‘You could do it too,’ she said.

Ceri looked down, considering. Maybe she could. ‘I’m not sure I’d want to, certainly not for long.’

Lily’s lips twitched. ‘I could make it worth your while.’

Ceri laughed. ‘I bet you could. Go on, club’s opening in ten.’

Giggling, Lily tip-toed out of the room to play at being a demon for the night.

October 30th

Three werewolves walked into the club around two in the morning. Michael was dressed in his leather jeans and mesh T-shirt; he had relatively few clothes, though the collection was growing, so his choice for clubbing was limited. He knew this outfit was a hit with his girls, however. Ceri had never seen Kort in anything other than scruffy leathers, so the tighter, cleaner ones he was wearing came as a surprise. So did the pressed, white shirt. He had even combed his hair. The fact that Tabby even owned a dress was a shock, but she looked great in an LBD.

‘I stopped by your place to get changed,’ Michael said, ‘and I found these two reprobates bothering Twill.’

Ceri giggled. Kort was already leaning over the bar to clasp hands with Alec. ‘Oh,’ Ceri said, ‘you remind me. Can you check with Alexandra tomorrow that it’ll be okay for Kort and Tabby to come to the party tomorrow? Just let me know if there’s a problem.’

‘Sure,’ he replied, ‘but there won’t be. You look… I mean… Wow!’

Ceri did a little turn for him, smiling. ‘Wait until you see Lil.’

As if on cue, Lily strutted through the tables toward them and Michael’s jaw dropped, much as Ceri’s had done. The half-succubus walked up to him, smiled, and kissed him on the cheek. ‘That is exactly the kind of reaction a girl expects from her mistress’ mate,’ she said.

‘I just can’t figure it,’ Kort said from behind Michael.

‘What?’ Ceri asked him.

‘Well, this young pup had to have done something so fantastically good in a past life to get you two that he should’ve gone straight to Nirvana. So what’s he still doing here?’

Michael smirked at him. ‘You mean this isn’t Nirvana?’

‘No, dear chap,’ Carter said from his place beside the bar, ‘it’s not. However, on nights like this I do believe it could be a small slice of Heaven.’ He grinned. ‘Tabitha! You’re looking gorgeous tonight. Could I woo you away from your boyfriend, do you think?’

Tabby grinned wide enough to show fangs. ‘Handsome, rich, and charming,’ she said. ‘I might be persuaded.’

Lily giggled. ‘Oh, you’re in trouble now, Kort.’

The werewolf gave a shrug. ‘I’m sure I can find someone to console myself with.’

‘Hi,’ Cheryl said from behind him, ‘have I missed much of the party?’ She frowned as Ceri and Lily burst into giggles. ‘What?’

Kort turned around and grinned at her. ‘Hello, fair maiden,’ he said. ‘Your boyfriend seems to have stolen my mate.’

Cheryl blushed a little at the “fair maiden” line. ‘Really? Well, turnabout’s fair play.’

~~~

The night lit up like a summer lightning storm as the four waitresses stepped out onto the carpet outside the club. Ceri, Lily, Sasha, and Tess walked out through the main door and spread out in a shallow arc under the entrance portico to pose for the cameras. They had never done this before; generally the girls stayed well inside on special event nights, but it had actually been Sasha who suggested they should show off Audrey’s work and Carter had been perfectly happy to get the extra publicity.

Some discussion and a little choreography had been required. If they were going to do it, they were going to do it properly. Each girl got her moment in the spotlight, stood before her three compatriots, and there were group shots before and after. The press seemed most appreciative of all of them from Sasha’s gold and black abstract artwork, through Tess’ mass of ghostly white plant stems which crawled up her limbs against a dark basecoat, to Ceri and Lily’s designs.

With the show concluded, Carter, Alec, Michael, and Kort came out to drape the girls’ coats over their shoulders, but the cameras kept flashing as Cheryl and the rather bemused Tabby came out to join their partners. Carter and Kort exchanged a glance before steering the two women out for a quick press call.

‘But I’m not anybody,’ Tabby whined as the little group started walking down Dean Street to the tube.

‘I beg to differ,’ Kort replied, tightening his grip on her waist.

‘You’re a really good artist,’ Ceri said, ‘and a generally awesome person.’

‘And you look hot in that dress,’ Lily added.

‘Cheryl was much sexier,’ Tabby countered. ‘That dress was…’

‘Almost non-existent,’ Kort supplied. ‘She wasn’t wearing anything under it either.’

‘Knickers would’ve shown through,’ Ceri said. ‘Carter buys them for her. I think he enjoys her squirming when he points out that everyone knows she’s going commando.’

‘I think he may enjoy just looking,’ Michael commented. ‘So does Alec. And I think, from the scent, she enjoys being looked at.’

‘Who wouldn’t?’ Lily asked.

‘Not everyone’s quite as exhibitionist as you, love,’ Ceri pointed out.

‘Maybe,’ Lily replied, ‘but everyone likes attention when it’s genuine.’

‘I wouldn’t say no to giving her some genuine attention,’ Kort said, receiving a slap on the arm for his trouble. He just grinned at his mate. ‘You think she might, y’know? Join in a bit more tomorrow night.’

‘I think,’ Ceri said, ‘that she’ll save herself for Carter and Alec, but I’m not sure. I think she’s reverting to her student days.’

‘Especially when she gets some alcohol in her,’ Lily commented. ‘She’s up to foursomes when she’s in the mood.’

‘Well, I can hope,’ Kort said.

‘Seriously,’ Tabby said, ‘show him an attractive woman without underwear and he’s in there.’

‘We’re basically naked,’ Lily pointed out.

‘I know,’ Tabby whined.

‘Ah yeah,’ Kort said, ‘but they’ll be entertaining Michael tonight, and you’re not wearing knickers either, love.’

Tabby smirked. ‘I’m aware of this,’ she said. Her hips swung a little more, bumping his as she walked.

Kort was quiet for a second or two, then he growled slightly. ‘I bet you think I won’t try getting you out of that dress before we get back to the house too.’

Everyone laughed, except for Tabby who just gave a little growl in reply.

Battersea

The moon was far from full, but somehow that made things nicer. There was sex going on around the clearing; a lot of wolves in close proximity and in a party mood usually gave rise to, well, partying. However, they were not quite as hyper as they had been at the full moon, but sufficiently over the depression of the Black Moon to be properly social.

Somewhere around midnight Ceri was sat beside the fire with Alexandra. The old Alpha was wrapped in a blanket, since she had assumed human form to chat. Ceri had a furry Lily in her lap and Michael cuddled up to her back so a blanket seemed overkill.

‘It’s almost your birthday, dear,’ Alexandra said.

Ceri grinned. ‘I was born after dark so I usually call Samhain night my birthday. Under the circumstances I’ll extend it, however.’ She frowned slightly. ‘You really think it’s going to be a bad one?’

‘Yes,’ Alexandra said. ‘That’s why I’m not… indulging quite so much.’ She gave a small grin. ‘I’ll need my strength.’ She raised a hand to forestall Ceri’s next comment. ‘Don’t worry, with the pack around me we’ll all be quite safe. We could hold back an army of dragons together.’

‘Not something you’ll have to do, I’d hope.’

‘Well there have never been that many of them around, so I doubt it. And…’ She looked up at the sky and then nodded. ‘…happy birthday, Ceridwyn.’

Ceri smiled as a howl rang up from the assembled werewolves. ‘Thank you,’ she said. Then she burst into giggles as Lily lifted her head and licked her on the face. Not to be outdone, Michael leaned around and did the same. ‘Great start to a birthday, a face covered in wolf spit.’

‘Don’t worry, dear,’ Alexandra said, a smirk forming, ‘I’m quite sure plenty of other areas will be covered in wolf spit before you go to bed.’

Kennington, October 31st

Lily went out around midday saying that she had something she needed to get sorted out. She had looked far too furtive for Ceri’s liking. Kort and Tabby were taking extensive advantage of having a bed, and Twill was busy in both kitchens organising food for the party. So when Ceri felt a dragon nearby she was almost glad of the company.

She slipped into the summoning room in the cellar expecting to see Ed’s ghostly form standing there. Instead there was the tall figure of a woman with raven-black hair and a perfect figure accentuated by a white corset-dress.

‘Happy birthday, Ceridwyn,’ the woman said, a broad smile on her full lips.

‘Thanks, Brenhines.’ Ceri was never entirely sure how to react to her maternal dragon. Of course she was never going to meet her paternal one; he had died thousands of years ago.

‘Call me Gwyn,’ the dragon replied. ‘This is hardly a formal visit.’

‘Thank you, Gwyn, then,’ Ceri said, grinning a little. ‘It’s nice of you to visit today.’

‘I thought it might be nice to show my face on my most distant relative’s day of birth.’

‘Actually,’ Ceri said, ‘I did want to ask you about this… tattoo I seem to have developed.’ Brenhines looked blankly at her. ‘Okay… Pardon the familiarity, but this tattoo.’ Ceri turned and pulled her shirt up to show the woman the curled, tribal-looking dragon tattoo at the back of her right hip.

‘Oh!’ There was a pause. ‘Well, that’s…’

‘The same as the one on the necklace you gave me,’ Ceri pointed out.

‘Yes, yes it is.’

‘So why did you…’

‘It’s not my doing, dear,’ Brenhines said. There was just enough urgency in her voice to suggest she was telling the truth, and she wanted Ceri to believe it.

Dropping her shirt, Ceri turned back to find the image of the woman standing just behind her. One hand was outstretched as though she had tried to touch the dragon mark. ‘Then how did it happen?’

‘I don’t know…’ Brenhines’ brow knitted. ‘It was our sigil, Brenin’s and mine. You carry genetic material from both of us. That’s relatively rare, you know? Two dragon bloodlines meeting, and two strong sources at that. It doesn’t happen often. Perhaps that’s it. You’ve developed an outward expression of the two lines meeting again.’

‘That would mean I did it,’ Ceri said. ‘Before I’d even seen the sigil, I formed the mark where I couldn’t even see it?’

‘Dragons are inherently magical, dear. So are you. Magic is inherently… mysterious.’

‘I spend my time demystifying it, Gwyn.’

Brenhines smiled. ‘But not entirely. Am I right? There are still things about it you don’t know. There are always things yet to learn?’

‘Yeah,’ Ceri replied, nodding. ‘Yeah, there’re always things left to learn. We’ve got a clue to the Super-magic field now, but I don’t believe that’s the end of it.’

There was a twitch of an eyebrow. ‘You’ve confirmed that?’

‘It needs to be ratified, but we think we’ve found the force particle.’

‘Our people believed it a myth.’

‘Ed said something similar.’

‘He always believed it existed, but his research on it was shut down. Not politically correct, one might say. Back in “Atlantis,”’ she rolled her eyes slightly as Ceri beamed at the name, ‘we were never able to find the proof he needed. He must be very proud of your discovery.’

‘It was Cheryl who spotted it in the data,’ Ceri said. She was rather proud of her boss; no magic, just brainpower, and she had still seen what Ceri had not.

‘Really? I should meet your supervisor. She seems a very intelligent woman. She isn’t a magician, is she?’ Ceri shook her head. ‘Impressive.’ Brenhines smiled again. ‘Have a good birthday, Ceridwyn, and make sure your wards are strong. Tonight will be wild.’

‘I will…’ Ceri began, but the dragon-woman was already vanishing.

~~~

Lily was still looking furtive when she returned from her trip. She was also grinning a lot which did not help with Ceri’s suspicions. However, Dane and the rest of the pack had arrived in the meantime so whatever Lily was planning had to wait until everyone had been hugged.

Dane and Aleena, the Alphas, were looking happy. Considering that Aleena had been thought dead, and had actually spent several years as one of Remus’ demon-wolves. She was looking well for it. In fact, the couple had some news.

‘I’m, uh, pregnant,’ Aleena said, looking a little bashful. She was suddenly wrapped in Lily again which resulted in a lot of giggling. Aleena was a statuesque, Amazonian sort of woman and hearing her giggle like a schoolgirl was disconcerting.

‘How far along are you?’ Ceri asked.

‘About eight weeks. Should be a May or June birth.’

‘Congratulations,’ Ceri said. She hugged Dane since Lily was still attached to his mate.

‘First pup in the pack for a while,’ Dane said, ‘but I don’t think it’ll be the last.’

‘Do we get to do a baby shower?’ Lily asked.

Aleena cringed visibly. ‘I hadn’t thought of things like that.’

Lily giggled happily. ‘We have to! But hold that thought, I need to steal Ceri away for something.’ She turned, picking up two carrier bags she had brought in and grabbing Ceri’s hand to pull her toward the stairs.

‘You guys get comfortable,’ Ceri called over her shoulder. ‘I’m not sure what she’s up to so, uh… get comfortable.’

In the bedroom Lily put one of the bags down and pushed Ceri down to sit on the bed. ‘I’ll be right back,’ she said. ‘Just wait there and no peeking in the bag. It’s one of your presents.’

‘But it’s already my birthday,’ Ceri said plaintively.

‘It’s for later,’ Lily said. ‘No peeking.’ Ceri pouted, but she was just not as good at it as Lily was, and all she got was a giggle and a view of Lily’s retreating back. The door closed behind Lily and Ceri sat, trying to be patient, wondering more about what her pet demon was up to than about the present in the designer carrier.

Despite that, Ceri was getting close to peeking in the bag when the door opened and Lily stepped through. Ceri let out a gasp. The was a heavy leather waist cincher strapped in place around her ribs, leather straps holding it up so that it pushed her breasts up and out a little. There was a tiny G-string and a pair of five-inch platform pumps, and there was a thick collar around her throat with three D-rings mounted on it as well as leather cuffs with rings around her wrists. None of that was what drew Ceri’s attention, however. A silver chain was strung between twin, silver nipple rings, and just above the black thong there was a tattoo. The tattoo was Ceri’s personal rune, inked into Lily’s skin for all time.

Lily stood silently for several seconds, her hands by her sides, while Ceri stared at her. Then she began to fidget slightly and her hands drifted closer to clasp over the rune tattoo. ‘You don’t like it?’ she asked tentatively.

‘I… no, I do… I…’

Lily’s hands slid back to her sides and she took a couple of steps forward. ‘I know a really good tattooist,’ she said, her voice still a little hesitant. ‘He uses magic to heal the skin and he knows about active tats. I had my nipples re-done at the same time…’

‘Re-done?’

‘I had them pierced years ago, but I let them heal over when I gave up… when I moved in here.’

‘So this is why you wanted to know if I had a rune?’

Lily nodded. ‘If you’re okay with it, there’s just one thing left to do.’

‘There is?’

‘It’s your rune, you have to empower it.’

‘Empower?’ Ceri said warily. ‘What does it do?’

‘Nothing we haven’t already done,’ Lily said, her voice soft. ‘It’s old school demonology practice, taken from demon culture. When a demon takes patronage from a lord, or from a human, it used to be customary for their skin to be marked with their patron’s rune. I’d like… I feel we should… I want to be yours, forever, and I want to show it. This is my birthday present to you… me.’

Ceri lifted slowly to her feet. ‘Oh my God, I’m trembling,’ she said, laughing nervously. ‘I’m not dressed right.’

‘Then open the other bag,’ Lily suggested.

The bag held a new corset in red and black which, once Lily had tightened the laces up, did wonders to Ceri’s rather less ample chest. There was also a red thong which matched the corset and a pair of totally kick-ass thigh boots in black with a red flame pattern up the back and the front composed of laces.

Ceri giggled. ‘You’re wearing that to the party?’

‘And you’re wearing that,’ Lily replied.

Ceri shrugged slightly. ‘It’s technically more than I wore last year.’ She pulled herself up straight and reached out, hooking a finger into the chain between Lily’s nipples. She pulled, fairly gently, but Lily still let out a little whimpering moan as she stepped closer. ‘They’re sensitive,’ Ceri commented.

‘Very,’ Lily replied. Ceri twisted her finger into the chain and Lily whimpered again. ‘Oh God…’

Ceri’s eyes closed and she reached out her other hand, resting the tips of her fingers over the tattoo on Lily’s belly. Her mind focussed on the rune, letting the shape of it fill her mind. With the image fixed, she fed power into it. Her eyes flew open. Lily’s eyes were hooded, her lips parted, and an expression of ecstatic pleasure on her face. The room was full of light; light which curled around them, caressing their skin and leaving electric tingles in its wake. Ceri thought she could see shapes in the overall glow; serpentine dragons curling around their bodies and in the air.

Then it subsided, evaporating into nothing, and Ceri took a step back. For another second or two Lily stood there in rapture, the rune on her belly shining a bright white before finally dying away to black.

‘Oh… wow…’ Lily moaned. ‘What a rush…’

‘I, uh, I think it’s… well, empowered,’ Ceri said. Her skin was still tingling. ‘What the Hell was that?’

‘Don’t care,’ Lily murmured. ‘Test it. Concentrate on me.’

Ceri closed her eyes and focussed on Lily. The half-demon’s moan made her look again. The rune was glowing, more softly but still glowing, and Lily was looking wobbly on her legs. Ceri giggled. ‘Cool, a new toy.’

‘Maybe… maybe I should’ve… had it put somewhere else,’ Lily stammered.

Ceri’s finger was still wrapped in the nipple chain and she pulled Lily closer. ‘Too late now, love,’ she said, her voice barely above a whisper. ‘It’s the most wonderful present I’ve ever had.’ And then their lips met and neither of them were really thinking any more.

~~~

The wolves knew the two of them were up to something. Lily only wore clothes around the house when she had a reason and Ceri did not generally where a coat indoors. No one said anything as the pair marched around in the leather coats they usually wore when walking to and from the Jade Dragon, but they all suspected there was something going on underneath.

As the other guests started to arrive there were some odd looks, but again no one said anything other than birthday wishes. Ceri was positively bubbling over when everyone was finally there. Ceri locked the door behind Kate, once again the last one in, though this time well before dark. Then Ceri went up the stairs to where Lily was standing on the first small landing.

‘Ready?’ she asked.

‘Uh-huh,’ Lily replied.

‘Okay,’ Ceri said. She turned and nodded to Twill, hovering nearby. ‘Lights,’ she said quietly. The room fell into darkness and everyone gasped.

From down on the floor of the hall a voice said, ‘Oh wow.’ Of course Lorna could see better with the lights out than with them on. Then the room was bright again and everyone seemed to let out a simultaneous gasp as they saw Ceri and Lily, resplendent in their party outfits, at the top of the stairs.

‘Hello everyone,’ Ceri said when the murmuring had died away, ‘and welcome to High Towers for the, now annual, “Ceri’s survived another year,” Samhain party.’ There was laughter, though Ceri was aware that Michael was not joining in; he was too busy standing near the bottom of the stairs with his mouth hanging open. ‘It’s my twenty-fifth this year. I am now officially old.’ Carter and Alec both barked out sarcastic laughs in reply. ‘It’s apparently going to be a pretty tough night out there tonight, but we’ve got plenty of booze and food, and lots of warm bodies, so let’s get down to business. If I don’t see everyone enjoying themselves in five minutes I’ll be upset. And yes, I do have a bullwhip on hand, just in case.’

There was no danger of her needing the whip; the party was in full swing before the two girls made it to the bottom step. Michael slipped in between them immediately, looping an arm around each of his women’s waists in a rather possessive manner.

‘Enjoying the view, love?’ Ceri asked, grinning at him.

‘I, uh, well… I thought you looked great on Saturday night,’ he said. ‘And the chain… Doesn’t that hurt?’

‘No,’ Lily replied, ‘as long as you’re not too rough anyway. Quite the opposite, in fact.’

Around them a pack of werewolves were mixing with a squad of were-fox strippers and one were-panther, along with various other random individuals. Most had not seen each other for a year and were catching up. Carter and Alec, with Cheryl between them, came out of the scrum. Both men were in black silk shirts and dark slacks, which went with the near-transparent, silky mini-dress Cheryl was wearing. The garment was strapless, very short, and looked as though it had been woven out of black spider webs. Ceri had never seen anything like it.

‘What are you wearing, Lily?’ Carter asked, though he seemed to be enjoying it.

‘I was wearing hoof-boots and some paint on Saturday,’ Lily replied.

‘And no tattoo,’ Carter commented. He could likely sense the magic from it; Ceri could. His comment drew everyone’s attention to Lily’s belly.

‘It’s Ceri’s personal rune,’ Lily said happily. ‘I’m her pet demon, she’s my mistress, this is to show it.’

Carter’s lips quirked. ‘Generally wizards used to do that too their demons,’ he said, ‘not have it done by the demon for them.’

‘Those demons had no free will,’ the half-succubus pointed out. ‘I do and I gave myself to Ceri.’

‘What about Michael?’ Cheryl asked. ‘Isn’t there some official ritual you can do with him?’

Alec shook his head. ‘Wolves don’t have what you’d call a marriage ritual. You ask permission of your Alphas if you’re mating outside the pack…’

‘Which I did,’ Michael said.

‘Then you tell people you’re mated,’ Alec went on. ‘It’s customary to seek the blessing of your Alphas for in-pack matings, but not necessary. Werewolves are big on tradition, but not really big on ceremony. If two wolves want to be together, that’s their business.’

‘There’s been a trend to getting civil partnerships done these days,’ Michael added. ‘Even marriages in some cases. It’s mostly because it helps with legal stuff though.’

‘I’m never going to be a bridesmaid,’ Cheryl commented, mock-sadly.

‘Sorry,’ Ceri said. ‘I think my unconventional lifestyle is ill-disposed to conventional ritual. Not that you should complain, you’re just as bad.’

‘Cheryl is a sweet, innocent young woman,’ Carter said. And then gave exactly the right amount of pause before adding, ‘Who is wearing no underwear and a dress you can see her nipples through.’

Cheryl’s cheeks flushed and she did, indeed, squirm a little. Alec came to her rescue. ‘You bought it for her.’

‘Are you complaining, old friend?’ Carter asked blandly.

Alec grunted a laugh. ‘I’m not that stupid.’

Ceri giggled. ‘I need to go and mingle,’ she said. ‘I’ll catch up with you all later.’

She found the police contingent in the kitchen with Twill who was warming a bottle of Syn, the synthetic blood used in drinks, for Lorna. The vampire was dressed in a mini-skirt and loose, cropped top which showed her midriff. One of the advantages of being undead was not feeling the cold on the way to the party. John looked more casual than usual, somehow, though he was still in a well pressed shirt. It took Ceri a few seconds to realise that there were more buttons undone on it than she had ever seen on him. Kate’s jersey-dress was close fitting and looked good, but Ceri suspected she was going to be warm in it after a while.

‘Well,’ Kate said, ‘knowing the way these parties go I just made sure I was wearing suitable underwear.’

Ceri giggled. ‘What about you, Lorna? Does it match this time?’

‘Sort of,’ the vampire replied. ‘I’m not wearing a bra.’

John raised an eyebrow. ‘You didn’t mention that,’ he said and then, surprising everyone, especially his wife, he reached under her shirt. Lorna gasped. ‘She isn’t,’ John confirmed, smirking.

‘You’ve loosened up,’ Ceri commented.

‘I’ve… decided I could be more flexible when it matters,’ John said. ‘Don’t expect me to be all soft when I’m working, but a young woman drummed some hard facts into me recently. It wasn’t easy to hear, but having someone sit down and tell me I was being a stubborn fool was what I needed. You were right. Both of you were right.’ He nodded to Lily as she walked in with Michael. ‘I’ve got a gorgeous wife, but it won’t do me any good if I’m dead, or I don’t enjoy it. If I have friends willing to help then I should take advantage of the fact.’

‘Damn right,’ Lily said.

‘You’ve made us up a bed in the dungeon again?’ Lorna asked.

‘All ready for you,’ Twill said. A glass with a thick, reddish cocktail floated into the vampire’s hand. ‘Nice and dark. The spare key is in the usual place when you want to come up.’

‘Great and thanks for the drink,’ Lorna said. She took a sip. ‘John?’

‘Yes, love.’

‘You can let go of my boob now.’

~~~

Ceri found Tawni, Jenny, and Lee chatting to Jasmine and Naira. All the girls from the Collar Club had come in what could best be described as “working clothes.” In Naira’s case this was a two-piece swimsuit which largely consisted of string, while Jasmine was wearing a pink and white schoolgirl outfit. Jenny had on the same mini-dress she had worn to the Jade Dragon while her boyfriend was in jeans and a T-shirt; the Battersea wolves tended to have relatively little clothing.

‘I’m over-dressed,’ Tawni said as Ceri walked over. Her large breasts were trying to climb out of a very solid looking corset and while her skirt was long, it was split up the front to show her stocking-clad legs.

‘Give it an hour or two and you won’t be,’ Ceri replied.

Jenny giggled. ‘We were catching up. We haven’t seen each other in years! And an actress now! I mean, wow!’

‘Yeah, right,’ Tawni replied. ‘Most of my acting involves faking orgasms, but I’m an actress.’

‘Well you were always the confident one,’ Jenny said. ‘You remember it was always you scrounging candy on Halloween?’

‘Huh, yeah,’ the dark-skinned woman’s eyes drifted to the door. ‘I doubt there was much of that going on tonight. Have you looked out? There’s actually some yellowish streaks in the sky and the wards are glowing like crazy along the fence.’

‘I reinforced everything at the start of the week,’ Ceri said. Her attention drawn to it, she could feel the house holding back the night outside. It really was getting quite harsh. ‘We’re quite safe in here, even with all these supernaturals.’

‘I hope the pack’s all right,’ Lee said. ‘Alexandra was starting to set up the defences as I left to pick up Jenny.’

‘They’ll be fine,’ Ceri said. ‘Luperca wouldn’t let anything happen to them and Alexandra knows what she’s doing.’

‘Luperca?’ Tawni asked.

‘The goddess of werewolves,’ Jenny told her.

‘We haven’t spoken since before the last Winter Solstice,’ Ceri said, ‘but she’s showed up a couple of times for special occasions.’

Tawni blinked. ‘You spoke to her?’

‘What can I say? I get around.’ Ceri grinned. ‘Actually, we summoned her into Alexandra in the dungeon. You know that big cross we had you strapped to? We used that and silver-iron shackles to restrain her.’

‘Oh wow,’ Tawni breathed, ‘I got munched by a Dutch girl on the same cross a goddess hung from.’ She grinned. ‘Oh, I left your present beside the TV. You might want to open it tomorrow when people have gone.’

‘Okay,’ Ceri said, ‘worried now.’

‘What have you two been up to?’ Jenny asked.

‘Rescuing my retirement plans,’ Tawni said. ‘I’ve never had so much fun securing a pension.’

November 1st

The sky visible through the bedroom window was an incandescent green shot with bursts of yellow. The wards along the fence line at the rear of the house were flaring orange and red. It looked like a vision of Hell and Ceri had never seen anything that bad.

Something caught her eye and she looked across at the park. A huge figure walked through the night toward the house. The light from the sky turned the iridescent purple skin some strange, scary colours, but the fifteen foot tall demon was quite frightening enough without that. Tall horns crowned his head, and he was definitely a he. Muscles bulged in his arms and hooved legs. He was massive… and somehow familiar.

The demon stopped near the back fence and looked at Ceri. From the outside there was no window there; the illusion which made the house look like something off a horror movie set masked the real windows. But he was definitely looking at Ceri. He made a terribly formal bow, his lips curling into a wide grin. The sharp teeth were not really visible at this distance, but Ceri knew they were there. She had met this demon before, in person, on another birthday.

She had been eighteen and her parents had died that year. On a night almost as bad as this one she had walked out into the park. Deep down she had known that the enchantment she had still worn back then would protect her, but what she had hoped was that something would come along to end her misery. Then this demon had walked up to her.

‘You don’t seem scared,’ he had said.

‘Maybe I just don’t care,’ she had replied.

‘Perhaps I will see you again when you do,’ had been his parting remark, and there he was. Something had come along to make her care. She had friends, a life, and most of all there was Lily and Michael. And there he was. She had no idea how powerful he was. Could he break the wards? She realised she was holding her breath.

However, the demon just straightened up and turned away, walking back into the park without even trying to get to her. Ceri frowned. She felt like he was waiting, like he had known back then they would be meeting again and this moment was not the time.

Shaking herself she headed back out of the room and down the stairs. There were happier things to think about, and to get done.

Down in the hall things had gone from music and dancing, to music and dancing with less and less clothes, to the music being just a backdrop for rather more intimate forms of rhythmic movement. Lily was standing on the small landing above the hall, smiling as werewolves, were-foxes, and various human shapes coupled in a few couples, but more often in threes and a few larger groups. Twill was sat on the half-demon’s shoulder.

‘Twill,’ Ceri said as she came up behind them, ‘would you just hop down and land on the carpet for me.’ The tiny woman looked back at her, bemused, but she lifted easily from Lily’s shoulder and flew down to land beside Lily’s leg. Ceri grinned and reached out to take her pet’s hand. ‘Remember what we said we’d do when the pack was next here?’ Ceri asked.

Twill looked up at the two women, frowning as Lily stepped back a little. Ceri was already drawing power through Lily as remembrance dawned in a flush across Twill’s cheeks. ‘Oh no,’ the fairy said. ‘You wouldn’t…’

Lily let out a little whimper as Ceri pulled more energy through her. ‘We so would,’ Ceri said. ‘Cynyddu!’ Light danced around Ceri’s fingers and Twill’s body, and Twill’s eyes widened as the world around her seemed to shrink.

When it was finished Twill was a little over four feet in height and the differences in her physiology from a human were far more apparent. The most obvious thing was her legs which were disproportionately long for her body. She looked like an old, wartime, Vargas pin-up with a bob of purple hair and a pair of feathery butterfly wings sticking out between her shoulder blades. She also looked very sexy and a little shocked.

‘All right, boys,’ Ceri called out, ‘we have a new player. Be careful with her wings and only two at a time… at first.’

Twill gave out a little squeak, pink light flickering around her body, as Jasmine and Naira emerged from below to grab a hand each to pull the fairy down onto the floor of the hall. They vanished into the throng with Twill squirming as hands reached out for various parts of her anatomy.

‘Think she’ll be okay?’ Ceri asked.

‘Twill?’ Lily replied. ‘She’ll be fine. She might kill a couple of werewolves, but they’ll die smiling.’ Giggling, Ceri turned back up the stairs. ‘We’re not joining in?’ Lily asked plaintively.

‘Not yet,’ Ceri replied. ‘I’m the hostess, I’m going to socialise with the non-combatants first. Chat now, orgy later.’

Lily nodded and followed Ceri up the stairs to the lounge. ‘I can live with that.’

The fire was burning and the lounge was warm and welcoming. The chaise longe had been carried in from the study and Dane and Aleena were sprawled on it. Carter was sat in the guest wing-back with Cheryl sprawled in his lap. Her skirt had ridden up to almost indecent levels and her legs were hung over the chair arm to rest in Alec’s lap. The werewolf was massaging her toes. In front of the fire there was a bit of a bundle. Catherine and Stefan, her Captain, were sprawled on one side. The Alpha was naked and human while her mate-by-any-other-name was in fur, cuddled up against her. On the other side, Lorna had lost her top and skirt and was snuggled up against her husband. Between the two couples was Kate. As predicted, her dress was gone and the black satin push-up bra and thong did, indeed, look “suitable.” She was laid on one side, Lorna playing absently with her hair and Catherine stroking her calf.

In Ceri’s chair, Michael was sitting comfortably and made no move to rise. Lily took her customary place on the foot stool and Ceri sat down in Michael’s lap. ‘It’s pretty bad out there,’ Ceri commented. ‘There’s some nasty stuff walking around.’

‘I saw at least one lord,’ Carter said. His hand was playing over Cheryl’s neck; she looked like she was in heaven. ‘A Devos, I believe, or some offshoot.’

‘He likes the area,’ Ceri said. ‘I’ve seen him on other years when it’s been bad.’ She could have said she had met him once, but that might have entailed explaining why she had been out of the house that night. ‘I don’t think he can get through the wards or he would have by now.’

‘If he did he’d be partying in the hall before he knew what was happening,’ Lily said.

‘Getting hot down there?’ Dane asked.

‘It’s got hot,’ Ceri replied. ‘Especially after we dropped a four-foot fairy in the mix.’

‘I beg your pardon?’ Carter said, surprised and a little confused.

‘We told Twill,’ Lily said, ‘that the next time the North Hills wolves were staying here we would grow her to four feet tall and set three of them on her at once. So we did.’

‘I told them two at a time,’ Ceri said.

‘To start with,’ Lily added.

‘True, and I doubt they listened.’

‘I doubt she listened,’ Lily replied. ‘I told you, she’s a total slut when she gets started.’

‘I find that slightly difficult to believe,’ Carter said.

‘She is fae,’ Ceri supplied. ‘She says their reputation for debauchery is undeserved, but I’ve met Belvedere.’

‘A finer example of a complete and utter degenerate I cannot think of,’ Carter said. ‘When did you meet him?

‘When we were hunting down that ghost in August,’ Lily said. ‘We needed information I thought he’d probably have.’

‘What did he want in return?’ Carter said. ‘The man does nothing for free.’

‘He was paid,’ Ceri replied. ‘Lily thinks he was hoping if he asked for little now he might get more in the future.’

Carter raised an eyebrow. ‘More?’

‘He wants Ceri,’ Lily said. ‘In bed. It’s kind of odd, actually. When he wants someone, he usually just… takes them. Try to at the very least. He was trying to persuade Ceri.’

‘Ceri’s special,’ Michael commented. ‘Even degenerates know it.’

~~~

Ceri opened her eyes, smiled, and closed them again. It was daylight outside, though she could not tell exactly when it was. She would use the excuse to lie in bed a while longer, warm and comfortable between Lily and Michael.

They had not gone to sleep until well after dawn. Partially it had been to avoid hearing the sounds from outside. If you strayed too close to the windows you could hear things battering against the wards and it was likely that if the house had gone quiet you would be able to hear them more clearly.

So Ceri, Lily, and Michael had joined the activity in the hall. Ceri could only really remember parts of it now; all the bodies seemed to mesh together into a continuous stream of sensuality. She remembered looking down at some point to see a dark face and purple hair between her legs, and a werewolf behind that. The wild look on Twill’s face had been like nothing Ceri had ever seen the fairy show before. She had seen Lily taking three wolves at once, one of them Michael. Lily had the same sort of look on her face as Twill, wild, lost in the moment. Lying in bed, feeling warm and happy, Ceri wondered whether she had looked the same.

Eventually the three of them had left the slowing orgy and gone up to their bedroom. The lovemaking had been calmer there but no less intense and Ceri could remember it far more clearly. The memories did their work and the little groan which escaped her throat woke Lily.

‘Mmmm… you’re awake,’ the half-succubus said, her voice half groan. ‘You were incredible last night. I never thought I’d see you taking three at once.’

‘I did? Three men?’

‘Mmhmm… Michael, Kort, and Stefan, I think.’ Lily sounded sleepy and really proud. Ceri had a flash of memory; of feeling very, very filled. ‘Amazing feeling, isn’t it?’ Lily said.

‘I barely remember half of what happened after we went downstairs,’ Ceri said. ‘I never thought I’d let anyone take me… like that. Not after Stonehenge.’

‘You were gone,’ Lily replied. ‘Totally out of your body. I could see it in your face. You were just a bundle of senses.’ She gave a soft giggle. ‘I love it when it’s like that. It happens so rarely. Just… giving up your body to whatever happens. You were almost there at full moon with the pack. I’ve never seen you go all the way before.’

More memories were starting to drift back. It was almost like Ceri was watching herself from the outside. Feeling everything, but observing it at the same time. Lily was right, Ceri had been just as wild as her housemates. She had been something elemental.

‘If you think you’re getting more of the same this morning,’ Michael mumbled, ‘you’re not. I’m not sure I can walk never mind anything else.’

‘I’m afraid you won’t anyway,’ Twill said from the doorway. She floated over and landed on Michael’s shoulder, having shrunk back to her normal size at some point when the spell wore off. ‘John and Kate left about two hours ago. Lorna’s still down in the dungeon, but they came up in a bit of a hurry.’

‘All three were down there?’ Lily asked. ‘Damn, who won the bet?’

‘Why did they leave, Twill?’ Ceri asked, focussing on the important part. ‘They were supposed to be off work today.’

‘I think everyone got called in,’ the fairy replied. ‘Last night was very bad. John asked that you call when you woke up in case they needed help.’

Ceri grimaced. ‘That bad? Okay, since my mate is too worn out anyway… Michael, perhaps you should head over to Battersea and check on the pack. Lil, perhaps you should take that chain off in case we have to go out. Let’s move before I decide to go back to bed.’

~~~

Ceri waited on the phone while the switchboard at Greycoat Street tried to connect her with anyone free to talk to her. Lily had put the TV on and it was readily apparent why John had suggested they might be needed.

‘…relatively little damage south of the Thames,’ the presenter was saying, ‘but on the north side emergency services are still dealing with the aftermath of the worst Samhain since the Shattering.’

‘Ceri? Is that you?’ It was Kate’s voice and it sounded like she was outside.

‘Yes,’ Ceri replied. ‘John asked us to call in case we could be useful.’

‘Hospitals have been overrun with both normals and supernaturals injured in a number of incidents throughout the city,’ the TV presenter reported. ‘In Child’s Hill the small church of Saint Hammond’s was demolished when a creature described as “Great Cthulhu himself” by one witness smashed into it. The assault took place during an All Saints Blessing service. Four parishioners and the parish priest were killed and another twelve injured. Several private homes were invaded by lesser demons as wards failed.’

‘We’re at a club on Eastcastle Street,’ Kate said. ‘A place called Blood Culture. They were holding a sort of rave down here for vampires last night.’

‘Demons got in?’ Ceri asked.

‘I wish, this is plain weird.’

‘Hang on,’ Ceri said into the phone, ‘you’re on TV.’

‘…at the well-known “Blood Culture” night club a group of vampires celebrating Samhain have become trapped inside the building. Humans with them have been able to leave, but the vampires themselves are stuck behind an impenetrable barrier.’ The voice over was running over live footage of the building. Ceri could see Kate outside the door talking on the phone.

‘That’s weird, I agree,’ Ceri said. ‘You want us to come look at it?’

‘If you could, I think it’d be useful. There’s some sort of magic going on here, but I have no idea what and we’re stretched pretty thin.’

‘We’ll be there in half an hour or so,’ Ceri said, hanging up the phone. ‘Come on, love. We’re going to go rescue some stuck vamps.’

‘Blood Culture?’ Lily asked, rising to her feet. ‘Can’t we just leave them in there?’

Fitzrovia

Blood Culture looked a little incongruous with its bricked-up windows covered in black paint and large sign covering the entire frontage featuring red lettering with the name of the club on it. The rest of the street seemed fairly normal, aside, perhaps, for the church down the street. What was definitely not normal was the police cordon and the horde of press surrounding the place. Ceri and Lily showed their warrant cards to one of the uniformed officers at the cordon and passed straight through to where John and Kate were standing outside the door.

They were talking to a man in dark sunglasses with a very pale complexion who was standing on the inside. Ceri put him down as thirty when he died, and he had not been dead for that long. John nodded as they approached. ‘Ceri, Lily, this is Eric Broadwell, the owner.’

‘Bloodaxe,’ Eric said. ‘Broadwell’s just my modern name.’ He was putting on a fake Scandinavian accent which he obviously practiced, but if he was trying to make out he was a Viking he picked the wrong people to try it on. The leather gear was all modern, and heavy on the silver chains.

‘It’s the name the club’s registered under,’ John said, clearly trying to keep his temper in check. ‘We don’t know why they can’t get out, but they’re stuck in there…’

‘Bloody demons must’ve done something,’ Eric said. ‘I’ve been trying to tell you people…’

Since Eric had interrupted John, Lily felt no issue with doing it to him. ‘There’s no hint of demonic magic around here.’

Ceri blinked her Sight on and started looking around as Eric started to protest. ‘Well what else could it be?’ the vampire asked indignantly. Everything was fine when we came in last night. People were coming and going before nightfall. We try to leave this morning and we can’t.’

‘What exactly happens when you try?’ Ceri asked. There was something there all right, but she agreed with Lily, it was not demonic.

‘Well, that’s just it,’ Eric said, ‘we can’t try. It’s like we don’t want to leave. I can’t even think about leaving. And the humans left this morning as soon as the doors opened. No one even wanted to stay with us.’

‘Has anyone tried walking in to see if they can get out?’ Ceri asked.

‘Uh, no,’ John said.

‘We don’t want to go in,’ Kate said, looking annoyed about it.

Frowning, Lily waved at Eric to step back and then walked through the door. Ceri raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged and walked back out again. ‘No problem,’ Lily said.

‘It’s some sort of compulsion spell,’ Ceri said. ‘It keeps vampires in and humans out. Lily’s neither so it doesn’t affect her.’ Deciding not to mention, at this point, that it did not seem to affect her she looked around, narrowing her eyes to take in the magic surrounding the club. ‘It looks like it doesn’t extend too far outside the walls, but you’d better make sure no vampires come down this street for safety’s sake.’

Eric’s eyes had widened, though it only showed in the eyebrows peeking over his glasses. ‘We’ll starve! You’ve got to get us out of here!’

‘I’m sure you all fed last night,’ Lily pointed out.

‘Yes, but…’

‘Practice some abstinence,’ the half-succubus told him.

‘Has anything odd entered the club recently?’ Ceri asked. ‘Especially last night.’

‘Odd? No,’ Eric said, and then seemed to reconsider. ‘Hang on…’ He vanished back into the club.

‘You don’t seem fond of this place, love?’ Ceri said.

‘Full of chew toys and vamps who love to live “the life,”’ Lily replied. ‘They wouldn’t know how to hunt if they had to. Tend to try to seem older than they are to impress the hufties. Nothing older than twenty years dead ever comes in here.’

Eric was walking back. He stopped just inside the door and held up a sheet of paper. ‘One of the God botherers down the road pushed this through the door last night,’ he said. ‘At least I think it was one of them. See the cross emblem in the corner?’ The sheet was covered in glyphs of some sort and, to Ceri’s eyes, it shone.

‘That’s Theban,’ Kate said. ‘Angelic script some people call it. Uh… I can’t read that, what is it?’

‘Latin,’ Ceri said, ‘hang on… um… Qui comederit ullum sanguinem… eum de medio populi sui... Right, it says “Anyone who eats any blood, I will turn against that person who eats blood and cut him off from his people.”’

‘Leviticus,’ John said. ‘You’re kidding me?’

‘Put the paper down on the floor and back away from it please,’ Ceri said. Eric looked as though doing so gave him considerable pleasure. Ceri took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway into the club. ‘This is the source of it,’ she said. ‘I’ve no idea what kind of spell it is or how it was done so I’ll just have to neutralise everything…’ She focussed, keeping back from the paper, but raising her hand toward it. Light shimmered around the sheet and Ceri felt the resistance as the enchantment fought to maintain its integrity. Then there was a bright flash of light and the spell was gone. Ceri picked up the sheet of paper carefully by one corner. ‘You have any of those evidence bags? It might not lead anywhere, but we could get lucky.’

John stepped through the doorway holding out a bag for Ceri to slip the paper into. ‘It looks like London’s Finest have managed to free you, Mister Broadwell,’ the detective said.

‘Bloodaxe,’ Eric muttered under his breath as he walked back into the club to tell his clientele they could leave.

John was busy writing on the evidence bag while Ceri slipped out past him. Kate was looking at her and frowning slightly. ‘Something wrong?’ Ceri asked.

‘I get why the spell didn’t work on Lily,’ the witch said quietly, ‘but it worked on me, so why not you?’

‘She’s just that awesome,’ Lily said. ‘The important question is, where the three of you banging each other like a Salvation Army drum last night?’

The distraction worked perfectly; Kate turned several shades of scarlet and changed the subject. ‘The Chief has another problem for you, could you head back via HQ?’

‘Sure,’ Ceri said. ‘We’ll head over there now.’ Smiling, she started off down the street toward the station, Lily taking a couple of quick paces before falling into step beside her. ‘Nicely done,’ Ceri said. ‘I didn’t really want to lie to her.’

Lily shrugged. ‘You are that awesome, but you’re missing the important point.’

‘I am?’

‘Uh-huh. If they were at it like priapic bunnies last night, it only took them a week! We were both wrong, so what do we do about the bet?’

Westminster

DCI Barry was in what the desk sergeant had described as “the incident room.” It was like a conference room, but with the usual table replaced by a set of consoles and desks. Three men sat in front of the consoles with headsets on, apparently talking to people out in the city. Barry was staring at a huge map of London which occupied one entire wall. It looked like it was printed onto some form of plastic since there were various pen marks all over it indicating events being dealt with by the Greycoats. There were a lot of pen marks.

‘Ah,’ Barry said when he noticed the two women, ‘excellent. Thanks for coming in.’

Ceri smiled. ‘You do actually pay us for this stuff.’

‘True. Good work at that club. John indicated it was part of this witch hunter business?’

‘Is that what we’re calling him now?’ Ceri asked. ‘Yes, well it was the same sort of MO. Biblical reference delivered to the target. In this case, that note was also the delivery method for a curse of some sort. It’s very sophisticated.’

Barry gave an irritated grunt and turned back to his map. ‘The reason I asked you to come here is this. Notice anything about the distribution of incidents?’

Lily had been examining the wall while they talked. ‘There’s very little south of the river,’ she said. ‘The events are far thinner and, if I’m reading the notation right, they’re mostly concerning spirit possessions.’

‘Precisely,’ Barry said. ‘After midnight we were fairly heavily stretched. We had special tactics units out trying to keep things bolted down as much as possible, but we were, frankly, out of our depth.’ He walked over to one of the tables and picked up a photograph, handing it to Ceri. ‘But one of the teams got some video footage of this on Vauxhall Bridge.’

Ceri looked down at the picture. It was a slightly blurry still from a video showing two major demons apparently doing battle. One of them was huge, bulky, with a mouth full of far too many sharp teeth. Despite the thing having an advantage in size it appeared to be losing. Ceri recognised the other demon almost immediately.

‘The Devos-like one was outside High Towers last night,’ she said. ‘He seems to like the area.’

‘Interesting,’ Barry said. ‘We’ve had a number of reports indicating that a group of demons more or less carved out the area between Wandsworth and Rotherhithe, held it against any other demons coming in, and then… did nothing.’

‘Nothing?’ Ceri said, frowning in confusion.

‘No damage, no one hurt, no attempts to break wards.’ The detective shrugged. ‘Nothing.’

‘Demons don’t do anything without a reason,’ Lily said. ‘They had to be up to something.’

‘I was hoping you might be able to shed some light,’ Barry said, nodding in agreement. ‘With emergency services trying to keep a lid on things in the north we had very few people in your area.’

‘There was a demon lord walking around outside,’ Ceri replied. ‘Frankly we were making as much noise as possible to avoid hearing the sounds of things attacking the wards.’

‘We could check with Alexandra,’ Lily suggested. ‘They were in the open all night so they’re more likely to have seen something.’

Ceri nodded. ‘I’d like to check in anyway. Battersea it is.’

Battersea

There was a tree down near the boathouse on the edge of the lake, but aside from that there was no real damage in the park. As Ceri and Lily walked into the clearing on the island, Alexandra was making tea and looking quite relaxed. It seemed that things had been fairly quiet here as well.

‘Good afternoon, ladies,’ the Alpha said. ‘I’m just going to go ahead and pour two extra mugs, I know you’re thirsty.’

Ceri smirked. ‘I hate it when you do that.’

‘I know that too, dear.’ She smiled as she poured tea into three mugs. ‘It was far less of a problem here last night than I was expecting. There were quite a few spirits about, but those are easy to hold back. The demons just seemed to stay away. I hope you had a good birthday.’

‘Excellent,’ Ceri said, ‘but I came about the lack of demon activity. It seems a group of them basically walled off this part of the city. Kept all the other demons out and then just sat there and did nothing. The leader was a lord who seems… interested in me, but we just find it hard to believe they would go to all that effort without doing something while they were here.’

‘I’m afraid if they were I know nothing about it,’ Alexandra said. She took a drink of tea and contemplated the sky for a moment. As she did so, Ceri was wrapped in grey furred arms and a muzzle brushed her cheek. ‘Ah, Michael,’ the Alpha said, ‘has anyone mentioned anything odd today? Strange marks on walls, evidence of demon activity?’ Michael growled a negative and Alexandra nodded. ‘Have word put out that people should keep their eyes open, please.’

Ceri felt Michael nod against her cheek. ‘Are you subbing for Anita again, love?’ she asked.

‘Indeed,’ Alexandra said, ‘and he’s doing well at it. Ray has a day off and Anita is spending it with him. Hopefully they won’t be indoors the entire time. She went dressed in that outfit you got her, however.’

‘I’d have trouble keeping my hands off her,’ Lily commented, ‘but Ray is quite the gentleman.’

Ceri felt a tongue brush her ear and giggled. ‘You’ve recovered from last night then?’

His growled reply said, Almost.

‘Both him and Lee were looking a little tired when they came back,’ Alexandra commented, her lips quirking. ‘I must admit I did assume the party had gone well before you confirmed it. Do you still have a house full of wolves?’

‘Dane and his people are leaving in the morning,’ Ceri said. ‘Oh, Aleena’s pregnant.’

‘Excellent news. They deserve some good things after the last few years.’

‘Yes,’ Ceri said, ‘they do.’

‘It’ll be another late night,’ Lily said, sipping her tea and smiling happily.

‘Yeah, probably.’ Ceri looked around at her mate. ‘That okay with you, love? I’ll likely be on all fours again before midnight.’

Michael gave a little rumble, something like a laugh. Of course. Hospitality.

~~~

Werewolves had a rather tribal view of hospitality. If someone was a guest in your territory they were treated with respect and given a good welcome. Of course it was horribly impolite to abuse that hospitality, and generally it all balanced out.

With the North Hills wolves it was different. Ceri had known them longer than the pack she belonged to. A North Hills wolf, she was still not sure who it had been, had been her first werewolf when they had helped with her thesis. Even though they were not her pack, Ceri felt at home among them. In turn, they were nomads and when they got together under a roof with a warm fire things tended to become lethargic right up until the time people’s clothes started coming off.

But so far the only naked people were Lily and Tabby. The she-wolf had developed it as a habit when it was just the pack and the housemates in High Towers. The first time she had been surrogate Lily since the latter had been out at work. Now it was just because. So Lily was in her usual place on the footstool and Tabby on the floor, her head resting on Ceri’s thigh.

‘So this demon seems to have been protecting this area?’ Dane said. His tone was suspicious and disbelieving; hardly a surprise considering his experience of demons.

‘I find it difficult to ascribe protective tendencies to him,’ Ceri replied. ‘Let’s say he didn’t want anyone else coming in to ruin whatever he was doing.’

‘But we don’t know what that was,’ Aleena stated. She was lying across the arms of the other wing-back, in Dane’s lap. ‘I doubt it was anything good.’

‘I don’t know,’ Ceri said, ‘which is what worries me. Maybe he was actually protecting the area. Maybe there’s something here he didn’t want damaged. Maybe he took the opportunity to do something while he was here and wanted it kept secret. I can’t believe any of those things would be good for anyone here.’

Lily gave a little giggle. ‘Maybe he heard it was your birthday and didn’t want the other demons disturbing the party.’

‘Right,’ Ceri said, her tone sarcastic, ‘we partied guarded by demons. I’m not sure I like that idea either.’

‘You prefer the idea of Shub-niggle-yoggle barging in through the front door?’

‘Depends,’ Ceri replied. ‘Does Shub-niggle-yoggle have lots of tentacles? I mean, that could work at an orgy.’

‘Oh yuck!’ Tabby giggled. ‘I don’t want some multi-tentacled something or other probing my sensitive bits.’

‘I dunno,’ Lily said. ‘I can’t imagine it’d be that different to what was going on last night. All those “tentacles” probing…’ She leaned forward and began “tentacling” Tabby ribs with her fingers. When the giggles and yelps became moans and whimpers Ceri knew the serious discussion was finished for the night.

Part Three: Pentateuch

Kennington, London, November 6th, 2011

On a rainy Sunday in November there was a great deal to be said for cuddling up in your lover’s arms on a couch and watching an Ealing comedy which was older than you were. The Ladykillers was, after all, an absolute classic and Lily had never seen it. Ceri had, in a hotel lounge, while they were on holiday in Tenby. She had been eleven, if she was remembering it right.

‘Never underestimate the ultimate power of batty old ladies,’ Lily said as the credits rolled.

‘Especially when totally oblivious,’ Ceri agreed. ‘They have angels watching over them or something.’

‘It’d have to be that, or she was really a witch. They certainly seemed to be under a confusion spell.’

‘Not a witch, not in the fifties. No one would’ve written a kindly, but wacko old witch into a movie back then.’

Lily frowned. ‘I can’t imagine what it was like just after the Shattering. I mean, when I was growing up my mother was a bit worried about what might happen, but to just about everyone else I was just this cute little girl. The doctors said I was too thin, Dad said I was a little plump for a succubus child. Then I grew up, of course, but then it was what I did that caused the problems, not what I was.’

‘From what I was told it wasn’t as bad as people make out,’ Ceri replied. ‘There was prejudice, yes. I mean, there still is to some extent. But the Shattering didn’t hit Britain as badly as the rest of Europe and people just got on with life mostly. I think the lack of supernaturals in media was more to do with over-sensitivity than actual dislike among the audience.’

The evening news was starting as they talked and what was being said suddenly impinged upon Ceri’s consciousness. ‘…Karen was at home with her boyfriend last night when she was attacked. Her companion was killed in the assault. At this time police are not giving out much information on the attack, but detectives from the Greycoats are investigating. Detective Chief Inspector Lionel Barry asked for any witnesses to come forward. Once again, Karen Mitchem, a reporter for BBC News was attacked and severely hurt in her home last night.’

Ceri and Lily looked at each other as the presenter went on to the next item, then Ceri rushed to the phone.

Westminster

‘She’s suffering from forty per cent, second degree burns,’ John said. ‘Her boyfriend took the brunt of it. On purpose as far as we can tell.’

‘We think it was a fireball,’ Kate said, ‘a big one. He threw a rock through the back window, into the lounge, and then fired the spell in through the hole.’

‘Why?’ Lily said, frowning in confusion. ‘If this is our witch hunter, why them? Neither was a witch…’

‘Because,’ John said pulling an evidence bag from a file folder, ‘he was a werewolf.’ He held the bag out to Ceri. She took it and she looked at the sheet of paper inside.

Lily looked over her shoulder and snarled, ‘Son of a bitch!’

Printed on the paper in laser printed Times New Roman was a message. If a woman comes near any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their blood is on them. Ceri grimaced. ‘We’re going to need to warn the packs.’

‘Suzie Shore was dating a wolf,’ Lily said. ‘There’s Jenny and Lee…’

‘And plenty of others,’ Ceri said. ‘You remember Bea said some of her people used human prostitutes. If he starts getting more enthusiastic he could go after any of them.’ She frowned. ‘Has the Chief had any luck tracking him down?’

‘A little,’ John said. ‘We got a partial thumb print off the paper delivered to Blood Culture. They’re trying to locate matches, but so far there are just too many possibles. Lily’s idea about the churches paid off. We found three places where someone remembered an intense young man who came once, attended communion, and then never returned.’

‘One of them agreed to work with one of our artists to see if we can work up a picture,’ Kate added.

‘He’s Catholic then?’ Ceri asked.

‘Apparently,’ John replied.

‘I wonder what he’s been confessing to.’

‘Not any of this,’ Kate replied. ‘It’s on their own hands, remember?’

Hammersmith, November 7th

Karen Mitchem opened her eyes and wondered for a long second where she was. There was a beeping noise from nearby which she slowly recognised as a heart monitor. Turning her head, she first saw the rack of machines, then the old woman with long, silver hair sitting at her bedside.

‘Good morning, young lady,’ Alexandra said, her voice soft.

Ceri appeared from behind her, a slightly nervous smile on her face. ‘Karen? Do you remember me? We met at…’

‘Ceri Brent,’ Karen said. ‘I remember you, I… Oh God! Did Alan make it?’ She tried to sit up, but Alexandra was there with a lot more speed than an old lady should have, pushing her back onto the sheets.

‘Ceri and I have taken care of your burns,’ the Alpha said, ‘but you need rest.’

‘Did Alan…’ Karen repeated.

‘I’m sorry,’ Ceri said, ‘he… died protecting you.’

‘Oh…’ Karen said. Tears began to brim in her eyes. ‘Oh God…’

‘That’s why I’m here,’ Alexandra said, reaching out to touch Karen’s arm. ‘He was not one of mine, but he upheld the best of our nature. I felt I should finish his work. If you’re willing, we would like to give him a proper funeral ceremony when the police release the body.’

‘I, uh… I’m sorry, I don’t know…’

‘Oh!’ Ceri said. ‘Sorry, this is Alexandra, Alpha of the Battersea pack.’

‘P-pleased to meet you, ma’am,’ Karen said. There were still tears in her eyes, but now there was added confusion. ‘I, uh, I don’t think I have the right to say what happens to him. He was my boyfriend…’

‘He felt more for you than that, child,’ Alexandra said. ‘He would not have done what he did for just anyone. And I think you felt as much for him. It’s all right, you can admit it.’

Ceri slipped out of the room leaving Alexandra to comfort Karen. Lily stood up from the chair outside and fell into step as Ceri marched down the corridor.

‘I want this one, Lil,’ Ceri said.

‘I know. What’s our next move?’

‘I don’t know, that’s the trouble. I can think of a lot of things I want to do to the bastard once I find him, but I don’t know how to find him.’

‘Something will come up,’ Lily said.

‘I wish I had your optimism.’

‘It’s not optimism. If we don’t get a break you’ll think of a way to find him. I have confidence in you.’

Ceri grimaced; she wished she had the same confidence in herself, but right now all she was feeling was frustration.

Kennington

The phone rang and Ceri absently reached out for it, her eyes still glued to the equations on her tablet. ‘Hello?’

‘Miss Brent? It’s Alison Wentworth at the Wednesday Witch?’

‘Oh, hello Alison,’ Ceri said, finally looking away from the work she had been using to distract herself.

‘I did as you asked,’ Alison said, her voice a little distorted by a speaker phone. ‘No one in any media circles has commissioned an article of the kind you mentioned. No one has had such an article peddled to them. Whoever this man is, it’s unlikely he’s a reporter.’

‘Yeah, I was guessing that was the case.’

‘I did turn up one thing,’ Alison went on. ‘A couple of photographers around some of the recent big events that have been happening spotted someone new. Not too tall, dark hair, flat nose. One of them said he had kind of scary eyes. There’s a cockroach of a celebrity chaser named Donald Pugh says the guy got in the way of a picture he was taking. He wouldn’t sell it to me, but you might have more luck.’

Ceri grinned. ‘I think you earned that interview. Where do I find this guy?’

Canning Town

Pugh lived in a bedsit in one of the more deprived areas of London and he fitted the neighbourhood well. He was practically the epitome of his profession; short, hunched, long in the nose, watery eyes. There was even a patchy, disreputable looking mackintosh hanging from the inside of his front door. The one incongruous thing in the front room was a high-end computer system with a couple of expensive cameras sitting beside it. Tools of the trade, Ceri guessed.

‘This is a really nice place you have here, Mister Pugh,’ Ceri said, her eyes running over the pile of dirty dishes in the sink.

‘Classy,’ Lily added.

‘Yeah, well,’ Pugh said, hurriedly picking up some magazines and stuffing them under a cushion, ‘the life of a celebrity photographer is all glamour.’

‘That’s why we’re here,’ Ceri said. ‘We heard someone got in the way of one of your shots.’

‘You want that one? The Wentworth woman asked about it. Wouldn’t pay what I asked though?’

‘What were you asking?’

‘Twenty thousand,’ Pugh said, straight-faced.

‘Without even seeing it?’ Lily asked.

‘If you’ve seen it then you won’t have to pay, will you? You’ll know what he looks like.’

‘This man may be a suspect in a series of murders,’ Ceri said.

‘It’s still twenty grand.’

‘I can get a squad of Greycoats down here with a warrant…’

‘And I’ll have erased it before they get here,’ Pugh replied. ‘That’s the beauty of digital photography.’

Lily looked at the scrawny little man. ‘An hour with me,’ she said. Ceri frowned at her and she returned the look with a wink.

‘And ten thousand,’ Pugh said. There was a hint of eagerness in his voice.

‘An hour with both of us,’ Ceri said.

‘I don’t know…’

‘Full access,’ Ceri added, ‘no holes unbarred.’ She glanced at Lily. ‘Show him the merchandise, Lil.’

Lily was in one of her jersey dresses. Reaching down without the slightest embarrassment, she grabbed the hem and pulled it up over her head. Ceri felt the wave of heat spread out from her body before the glowing pupils appeared as Lily shook her hair out. Pugh’s jaw fell open, then his eyes rolled back, and then he collapsed backward like a felled tree. Lily giggled.

‘Can you keep him like that?’ Ceri asked, heading for the computer.

‘Of course,’ Lily replied. She knelt down beside Pugh and began taking his trousers off.

‘What on Earth are you doing?’

‘We want him to think he got his money’s worth, don’t we?’

The computer was logged in and Ceri quickly found the file folders where Pugh stored his photographs. ‘Yeah, I guess. This may take a while. He takes a lot of pictures.’

Lily was yanking Pugh’s trousers down his legs. ‘Take your time. Donald isn’t going anywhere. Are you Donny Boy?’ The photographer moaned in reply.

It took Ceri twenty minutes of searching to find the shot she suspected Pugh had been trying to sell them. ‘The prick!’ she exclaimed.

‘What is it?’ Lily asked, moving over to look. She was still naked aside from her shoes, which was a little disconcerting.

‘It’s a shot of the back of his head,’ Ceri said. ‘Well, you can see a slight profile, the line of his nose. I saw him better than that.’

‘Yeah,’ Lily said, her voice concerned, ‘but look at the background.’

Ceri frowned. The man’s head filled most of the frame, but she could just about make out a portico and a glowing letter… She tapped a key and advanced to the next frame. She had been so concentrated on looking for some dark-haired head in the frame that she had just been flicking through the pictures without seeing them. She found herself looking at herself along with Lily, Sasha, and Tess. Pugh had been taking pictures at the Jade Dragon after the Samhain party.

‘He was watching us there,’ Ceri said.

‘Yeah, he was.’ Pugh let out a mumbling sort of groan and Lily said, ‘Take your T-shirt off and follow my lead.’ She turned back toward Pugh as Ceri did as she was told. ‘Oh wow, Don, you were awesome!’

Pugh let out another groan and tried to sit up. He failed. ‘I was?’

‘Oh yeah,’ Ceri said, ‘amazing.’

The photographer looked boggle-eyed at the two women. Lily started pulling her dress on and Ceri did likewise with her T-shirt. ‘I could barely keep up with you,’ Lily told him.

‘I’d, uh… better get you your picture,’ he said.

‘I got it, you already showed us,’ Ceri said. ‘Wow, you really were out of it there. You should hydrate.’

‘Uh… right,’ Pugh said as they headed for the door. ‘Uh… nice doing business.’

‘You think this guy is the witch hunter?’ Lily asked once they were out on the street.

‘I don’t know,’ Ceri said. ‘He could really be some freelancer. I don’t know if he connected Alec and Cheryl either, but I’m going to warn her. I’m pretty sure he’ll have connected us with Michael and the North Hills wolves though. In fact, he may have been at the Dragon because of me.’

Lily ignored that little bit of self-recrimination. ‘So if this guy is our killer, this just got personal?’

‘Doesn’t it always? We’re trouble magnets’ Lily giggled in reply. ‘What?! It’s not funny!’

‘It is a bit funny.’

‘It’s not. People keep trying to kill us.’

‘But they never succeed, and the next time some mystery comes up we’ll be right back at it, putting ourselves in front of the bullet.’

Ceri giggled. ‘Yeah. Yes, we will.’ Well, it was laugh or cry.

Kennington

‘Michael’s in the lounge,’ Twill said as they entered the hall at High Towers.

‘He is?’ Ceri said. ‘I wasn’t expecting him.’

‘Not that she’s complaining,’ Lily added.

‘Not that I’m complaining,’ Ceri agreed, heading for the stairs.

‘I’ve been officially assigned as your guard,’ Michael said. ‘Alexandra and Anita were quite firm about it, so don’t argue.’ It was kind of defensive; Ceri and Lily grinned at him.

‘Just one wolf to guard us both?’ Ceri asked. Behind her she could hear Lily kicking her shoes off.

‘Well, we’ll be going to the Dragon with Lily this week, and I’m there for support more than physical force,’ the werewolf said. ‘My senses are better. I spot something, you blast it.’

‘Now that’s the kind of plan I can get behind,’ Lily commented. Naked, she walked over and cuddled up to Michael where he was stood in front of the fire. Not to be outdone, Ceri snuggled up on the other side, though she was still dressed so the effect was not quite so good. Lily, apparently, felt it was not good enough. ‘Come on, get naked. Our guardian wolf deserves the best.’

Michael shuffled uncomfortably. ‘Don’t tease the guardian wolf,’ Ceri said, but she backed off far enough that she did not hit him when she pulled her shirt off.

‘What did I do to deserve the pair of you?’ Michael asked plaintively.

‘Oh,’ Lily said, ‘you’re just really, really lucky.’

November 8th

‘We have a problem.’ Alec’s voice sounded tense on the other end of the phone.

‘Alec?’ Ceri said. ‘What’s wrong? Has something happened to Cheryl?’

‘Not Cheryl. Naira’s gone missing. She went out shopping this morning and never came back.’

‘Crap! Is Jasmine okay?’

‘She’s crying. A lot. Carter’s with her.’

‘Have the police…’

‘Carter put through a call to John Radcliffe about ten minutes ago.’

‘Well, they’ll canvas to see whether anyone’s seen anything. I’m not sure I can do…’

‘Carter wants you to try to find her location,’ Alec interrupted. ‘The way you did with Lily. We saw you, kid. I don’t know whether it’s special talent or sheer power, but you broke through wards to find her.’

Ceri took a breath. ‘Okay. I’ll need something of hers, and Jasmine. Can you bring them here? I’d feel safer doing it here.’

‘We’ll be there in thirty.’ The phone went dead.

~~~

‘Do you think you can find her?’ Jasmine’s face was tear-stained, her eyes puffy. Somehow Ceri had never seen the strawberry blonde werefox stripper as the emotional type, but she had really got attached to Naira. That was what Ceri needed.

‘I’ll try. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try.’ Ceri looked over at Lily. ‘Take her down to the summoning room. I need to talk to Carter.’ She turned to look at her sometime boss as Alec and Lily led the way downstairs, waiting for the door to close before speaking. ‘You tried?’

Carter looked tired, worried. He nodded. ‘I tried and hit a wall.’ He pulled a toothbrush in a plastic bag from his pocket and handed it over. ‘They don’t share. The police took her hairbrush.’

‘This’ll do, with some help from Jasmine.’

Carter frowned. ‘How’s she going to help?’

‘Emotion. Love, worry, fear, all directed at Naira. I think that’s how I found Lily that time. The emotional attachment gave me the extra jolt.’

‘And you think you can tap it from Jasmine?’

Ceri shrugged. ‘I can try.’

The summoning room had already been tidied up before they had arrived. In particular the dragon statuette had been put in its screened box and tucked away in a corner where it looked like any other piece of equipment. Jasmine was looking uncomfortable around all the magical paraphernalia; Ceri remembered when Lily had felt off in that room. The summoning circle in here was meant for demons and it used to make the half-demon feel strange. It did not bother her now which seemed a little odd considering that she was now more in touch with her demon side.

‘Jasmine, you’re in the circle with me,’ Ceri said. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to power it. It’s just kind of symbolic.’ She walked into the circle, pulling the toothbrush out of the bag.

‘Do I sit? Stand?’ Jasmine asked, stepping in beside her. The werefox’s green eyes looked down at the complex sigils carved into the granite.

Ceri held her hand out. ‘Doesn’t matter. Just take my hand and think of Naira.’ She began summoning her power as Jasmine took the offered hand. ‘Remember the last time you made love. Remember watching her dance. Remember having breakfast with her this morning. Remember what you said to her when she went out…’

Jasmine fell to her knees, Ceri holding her hand as she went down. ‘Oh God, Naira!’ Jasmine’s wail filled the room, reverberating from the stone walls. The light followed it, flooding out from Ceri as she focussed on the traces of Naira still on the toothbrush and the outpouring of emotion from Jasmine. There was a gasp from the others in the room, but Ceri ignored it. She was flying, sweeping out across the city on widespread wings, following a trail of silver light through the air.

She went west, out past Battersea where she could see Alexandra’s clearing below her. Across the bend in the river which was Fulham. Further and the grassy area which was Kew was below her and she turned north toward Ealing. That was when she saw something rising toward her. Another winged figure rising from a spot near the cemetery. Tall, glowing, it rose on wings of bright fire and rushed toward her. She heard words. ‘Thou shalt not have him.’

Ceri opened her eyes with a snap. The toothbrush in her hand was crumbling to dust. Dropping to her knees, Ceri pulled the sobbing Jasmine into her arms. ‘It’s okay, hun. It’s okay. I’m sorry. It’s okay.’

‘Did you find her?’ Carter asked.

‘I got close. There was something…’ Ceri shook her head. ‘Ealing, just north of the cemetery.’

‘There’s not much up that way,’ Alec said, ‘and I know her scent.’

‘Call the cops,’ Ceri said. ‘Get a tactical team out there as well. He’s got… I don’t know, divine help.’

‘That’ll slow us down,’ Alec growled.

‘Alec, I’m serious. We need heavy weapons. Some of those anti-immaterial rifles. It wasn’t a ward that stopped me getting closer, it was a fucking angel!’

Little Ealing

The front door of the small house exploded inward; Ceri was in a bad mood. Alec had been right, of course, it had taken too long to get the police organised and before she blew the door she knew that Naira was not going to be there.

Four men in combat gear charged in; two had submachine guns, two had anti-immaterial rifles. The latter were specifically designed to take out ghosts and spirits, and the police did not officially have any of them. In fact, they did not officially exist. They were not going to get any use, however. The house was empty, at least of anything living. It was, on the other hand, informative.

The place was barely lived in. There was a computer in one of the rooms and a bedroll laid out near it. The kitchen had food in it, but just the bare essentials. The man was living like a monk, which probably made sense. The cellar, however, was another matter.

The floor was scuff marked, as though some heavy objects had been dragged out in a hurry. Heavy, iron rings had been sunk into the walls in several places and there were chains hanging from a couple of them. Around the room, on rough, wooden tables, there were tongs, knives, and various other things Ceri had only the barest clue about. Some of the implements had blood on them.

‘Kind of kinky for a religious guy,’ Lily said.

‘This isn’t kinky,’ Ceri replied. ‘This is a real torture chamber.’

A newer cabinet stood in one corner and Ceri opened it. It looked like one of the shelves had been cleared out, but he had not had time for the others. There were a number of bottles labelled in a language she did not immediately recognise. She picked one of them up and stared at it. ‘Anyone any good with languages?’

Kate appeared beside her and looked over her shoulder. ‘I don’t know what it says, but it might be Spanish. Kind of looks right.’

‘Spanish?’ Ceri said, frowning.

‘Naira’s from Brazil,’ Lily said flatly.

‘Our witch hunter is from Brazil,’ Ceri said. ‘Oh great.’

‘We don’t know it was the same man,’ John said.

‘We do,’ Kate replied. ‘Look around. This place makes my blood run cold. That over there, that’s a scold’s bridle, those are thumb screws, this…’ She kicked a metal contraption near her foot, ‘…is a foot press. He’s got a pulley in the ceiling for hanging people strappado-style. This is an inquisitorial torture chamber. He was torturing witches to get them to confess before he burned them.’

‘If he’s after witches,’ John said, ‘why the bomb, or the vampire club? Why take this Naira?’

‘I’m guessing she’s a special case,’ Ceri said. ‘She told me they burn were-creatures there and she escaped.’

‘But there’s no body, no sign of burning.’

‘No,’ Ceri frowned. ‘He’s keeping her alive for now. He’s kept Suzie alive too.’

‘How do you know?’ Kate asked.

‘The scrape marks,’ John said, pointing to the origin of the ruts in the dusty floor. ‘There were two containers dragged out of here.’

Ceri nodded. ‘For whatever reason, he’s keeping them alive. Now we just need to find him.’ Again. If they had been faster… She pushed the thought out of her head. Next time she would take Alec’s advice, but there was no point in crying over it now. Now they needed another lead.

Kennington, November 9th

Ceri opened her eyes and saw nothing other than Michael’s grey, furry back. It was dark still and she had no idea why she had woken until the flicker of orange light caught the edge of her vision. Something was trying to get through the wards.

Michael stirred as she climbed over him. Lily was already awake at her first movement. The half-succubus was terrible at getting out of bed in the morning, but move in the night and she was instantly concerned. ‘What’s wrong?’ Lily asked.

‘Something’s attacking the wards,’ Ceri replied. She pulled the curtain aside and looked out through the window. There was nothing visible, just a shimmer of dying energy at the fence line. Then it struck again; a flare of light which looked like something humanoid with huge wings slamming into a wall. Abstractly, Ceri thought it looked a bit like a snow angel, or the marks birds left when they hit a window.

‘An angel?’ Lily said from behind her. ‘You said the witch hunter had an angel guarding him. You think it’s attacking here?’

‘I don’t know, but I’m going to give it a headache.’ She turned and started for the door.

Michael’s clawed hand gripped her bicep, pulling her to a stop, though not roughly. Wise? he growled.

Ceri gave him a bleak smile. ‘Maybe not, but I’m going to do it anyway. I’ve had enough of this guy.’ His hand released her; arguing with her was likely pointless and the wards seemed to be holding.

Ceri picked up her staff from the study and then walked out through the side door of the house, not caring that she was still naked until the cold air bit into her skin. Almost immediately the wards flared directly in front of her and she flinched.

‘Good.’ The voice was beautiful, somehow neither male nor female, but soft, perfectly toned, and in her head. ‘It is good that thou art frightened.’

Her Sight showed her the figure ahead of her; not exactly as a real shape, more as a bending of the magical fields around the house; a humanoid shape with no distinct features and two huge, fiery wings extending from its shoulders. Angels had no natural shape, Ceri knew that, but they liked to meet expectations; it made life easier. The head of Ceri’s staff began to glow as though providing light.

‘Why shouldn’t I be afraid? Isn’t that what you guys are all about? The fear of God?’

‘God is love, child,’ the angel replied, and slammed into the wards again. Ceri could see it driving its body into the wall.

Ceri felt Michael and Lily behind her now; the angel’s aura flared brightly at the sight of them. ‘What then,’ Ceri asked, ‘are you Fallen? I’m seeing not a lot of love here.’

‘Consorting with demons? Having congress with beasts?’ Michael growled in response to that one. ‘You mock the laws of He Who Is.’

‘I’m mocking nothing,’ Ceri replied. ‘Lily is not a demon and Michael is not even like a beast. I never agreed to abide by those laws. I don’t belong to the Nation of Israel and you have no right to impose those laws on me or anyone else in this land. Go back to Brazil.’

She saw it then, a flicker in the spirit’s fields, a betrayal of emotion. Was it anger? Surprise? She could not tell, but she was going to use the second of distraction. She raised her staff and fired off a bolt of thaumic energy tuned to the angel’s energy signature. The angel screamed, a sound like razor blades being dragged through the mind, and even Michael cowered down in fear.

‘Is… is it gone?’ Lily asked when she was able to speak again.

‘Yes,’ Ceri said, her voice soft.

Michael growled, Dead?

‘I don’t know. I hit it pretty hard, but I’ve never blasted an angel before. It’ll be licking its wounds for a while.’ She shivered. ‘Let’s get inside before my nipples can be used for hole punches. I need to call Greycoat Street.’

Lily frowned, but half-pushed Ceri in through the kitchen door. ‘Why?’

‘If the angel’s down, their diviners might have more luck tracing our witch hunter.’

‘Sweet!’ Lily said. ‘I’ll start a fire in the study, get you warmed up. Kind of stupid of the thing to attack us like that.’

‘Yes,’ Ceri agreed. She clenched her jaw to stop her teeth chattering, and then added, ‘I figure it didn’t realise what it was up against. It does now, so if I didn’t get it this time I doubt I’ll get another chance.’ She picked up the handset of the phone and dialled, waiting for an answer. From the fireplace she felt a little surge of magic and then there was a gleeful cry from Lily as her spell worked. Ceri grinned, and the phone picked up. ‘It’s Ceridwyn Brent, I need to talk to someone on the witch hunter case.’ There was a pause and then she added, ‘Yes it’s important!’

~~~

It was on the morning news. ‘In a raid on a house in Landford, Wiltshire, police rescued Suzie Shore and an unnamed second victim of the man people are now calling “The Witch Hunter.” At this time, no indication of the condition of either victim has been made. The Witch Hunter was not found at the house. Police are continuing to investigate.’

Ceri stabbed the mute button on the remote. ‘Why the fuck didn’t they call us?!’

‘Perhaps they were busy…’ Michael began just as the phone started ringing. He grinned at her. ‘Must’ve heard you.’

‘She yelled loud enough,’ Lily commented. She was nearest and grabbed the phone. ‘High Towers,’ she said into it. ‘Hi Kate… Yes, we heard… BBC News… Yes, she was. In fact her voice may have rattled your office windows.’

‘Hey!’ Ceri protested.

‘Yes, of course we’ll come over,’ Lily continued, grinning. ‘Have you called Jasmine?’ She nodded. ‘Okay, we’ll be right over.’ She hit the disconnect button. ‘Jasmine is with Naira. Naira and Suzie are in the secure infirmary at Greycoat Street. We’re expected.’

Ceri slapped Michael on the thigh. ‘Come on, hunk, much as I love you naked, we can’t go out without clothes on.’

‘But he almost always goes out without clothes on,’ Lily protested.

Ceri stopped in the doorway. ‘He’s not turning up at Greycoat Street in fur.’

Westminster

DCI Barry eyed Michael for a few seconds as he walked into the conference room. ‘Morning ladies,’ he said. ‘Morning young man. If I keep seeing you around these two I’ll be putting you on the Special Advisor programme.’

‘Alexandra assigned him to guard us,’ Ceri said, ‘and you don’t want a bored werewolf in your foyer.’

‘No, I’ve already had to deal with an angry one today.’

‘Alec wasn’t pleased with being left out of the raid either?’

Barry grunted. ‘Mister Fleming calmed him down, and he was somewhat mollified to discover we weren’t there either. A team from the naval base at Portsmouth did it.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Not that an entire squad of Marines was actually necessary. It looks like when you took out his… guardian angel he panicked and ran. The diviners are trying to get a new lock on him, but they found the place in Landford by tracking your were-panther friend and they aren’t hopeful about anything from either of the houses.’

‘Landford’s near the New Forest isn’t it?’ Lily asked.

‘It is,’ Barry replied.

‘So that was his base when he was working that area,’ Ceri said.

The detective nodded. ‘Forensics are still working, but I expect to find evidence of the witches killed there. They doubt there’s going to be much evidence of our killer. And in other good news the computer from Ealing is giving us problems. Apparently the drive is encrypted.’

‘No way to decrypt it?’ Ceri asked.

‘Current word is that we need the password.’

‘Uh, I know how we can break it,’ Lily said.

Ceri turned and looked at her. ‘You do?’

‘Probably,’ Lily replied. ‘You remember that friend of Twill’s that helped us when the spooks were watching us?’

‘Are you serious?’ Ceri’s eyes were wide. ‘They don’t get along well in public.’

‘We could at least ask,’ Lily suggested.

‘What are we talking about here?’ Barry asked.

Ceri looked at him. ‘A gremlin.’

‘Oh,’ Barry said. He took in a deep breath and then let it out. ‘Oh,’ he repeated.

Kennington

‘Are you serious?’ Twill asked.

‘That’s what I said,’ Ceri said.

‘Well we can ask,’ Lily said plaintively.

‘You want me to ask a gremlin if he’ll go down to a police station to help them crack a computer system?’ Twill asked, her tone just a little disbelieving.

‘You think he’ll say no?’ Lily said.

‘No!’ Twill replied. ‘I think he’ll say yes. I think he’ll be absolutely gleeful. The Greycoats won’t be. They’ll never get rid of him!’

‘Oh,’ Lily said.

‘And that’s what the Chief said,’ Ceri commented. ‘Twice, actually.’

‘You’re not helping,’ Lily told her. ‘What do gremlins want? I mean, what could we give to persuade him to do the job and leave?’

‘They want,’ Twill said, ‘to be mischievous little buggers who make machines go wrong.’ She paused, looking thoughtful. ‘Though Kipple does have something of an unfortunate problem.’

‘Oh?’ Lily asked.

‘Yes, he’s under a curse.’ The fairy’s tiny face screwed up into a very expressive grimace. ‘He suffers from incurable boils and sores.’

‘So if we cured him?’ Ceri said.

‘Oh he’d do anything for the girl who cured him,’ Twill replied.

Ceri’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why girl?’ It seemed a little specific.

‘Well, the only way he can be cured is a kiss from a dragon,’ Twill said. ‘I’m not absolutely sure it would work…’

Ceri winced. ‘Boils and sores?’

‘Suppurating,’ Twill said, nodding.

Ceri looked at Lily, who looked back, grinning in embarrassment. ‘You are so going to pay for this, pet.’

Westminster, November 10th

Gremlins were unusual fae. About eight inches high with green skin, they had abnormally long arms and a bulbous head featuring large, black eyes. No one knew how or where they had evolved, but it had been a relatively recent event. Some thought they had originated around the time the steam engine had been invented, an off-shoot of sprites, but they were not telling.

What was particularly odd about them was their love of technology. Fae, as a rule, hated the stuff. They were actually only harmed by silver-iron, which affected their magic absorption, but they tended to dislike iron and steel, and machines. Gremlins had an affinity for technology, they loved the stuff. Unfortunately they also liked breaking it.

Ceri watched Kipple work from a distance, trying hard not to wipe her mouth again. So far she had had two showers, washed her face five times, and brushed her teeth three times, and she still thought she could smell the goo that had been oozing out of the gremlin’s face. He looked fine now. Apparently someone with a couple of dragons in her bloodline had been sufficient. Curses were weird things, something of a balance; a relatively mild one, like Kipple’s, could have a horribly complex or unlikely revocation trigger and still not be too hard to cast. Ceri betted whoever had cursed the little fae had never thought he would find a dragon, let alone one willing to cure him. Still, apparently it had been worth it.

‘Pah!’ Kipple said. He had an alarming buzz in his voice. ‘Trivial, not even a challenge. This is old tech. Sub-standard encryption for a modern system.’ His long fingers flicked over a few more keys as a command line prompt appeared where the login prompt had been. ‘Ah well, there you go. This is out of South America. You’ll need a translator. I don’t do languages.’

He turned on the swivel chair he had been provided with; it had been wound up as far as it would go and he was still standing on it. ‘There you go, toots. Job done.’ His grin had a large number of very sharp, pointy teeth in it. ‘Anything else I can do for you?’

‘No, thank you, Kipple,’ Ceri said. ‘I… sorted out your problem, you did as asked. Now you go back where we found you and you don’t bother the nice policemen, just like we said.’

The fae looked around longingly at the forensics lab and sighed. ‘Deal’s a deal,’ he said. Hopping onto the table he reached out for one of the bench power sockets at the back. ‘Nice working with you.’ Then he vanished in a shower of sparks into the socket.

Ceri turned around to where Barry, Kate, and John were standing. ‘All yours,’ she said.

Kate looked at her with a raised eyebrow. ‘He seemed really grateful.’

‘Yeah, he did, didn’t he?’

‘What was this problem you solved for him?’

Ceri grimaced. ‘I’d really rather not talk about it.’ Her eyes narrowed at Lily, who was trying not to giggle.

Soho

Carter was watching Lily as she moved between the tables. ‘Lily doesn’t seem to be keen on sitting down this evening,’ he commented. He looked around as Michael stifled a laugh.

‘No,’ Ceri said, ‘strange that.’

‘Is there a particular reason her behind seems rather tender?’ Carter asked.

‘She came up with a very clever idea on how to crack the encryption on that computer we found in Ealing,’ Ceri replied.

‘And you punished her for it?’

‘No. I had to do something particularly disgusting for it to work.’

‘So you punished her for that?’

‘No, I’m not that mean. They’re already getting useful data off it. The idea worked, it would be horrible sour grapes to paddle her backside for something that worked so well.’

‘Then, if you’ll pardon my continued inquisitiveness, why did you spank her with a paddle?’

Lily was walking back to the bar now, smiling happily, hips swaying as usual. Ceri looked at Carter and then at Lily. ‘Lil, why were you spanked this afternoon?’

Lily fidgeted slightly, keeping her eyes down as she put her tray on the bar. ‘Because I giggled, Mistress,’ she said.

Ceri turned back to Carter; her lips were twitching. ‘Ah well,’ Carter said, trying to keep his own face straight, ‘in that case I completely understand.’

Lily hung her head and pouted. ‘It was just a tiny giggle,’ she said.

‘Do you want another spanking when we get home?’ Ceri asked.

The fidgeting turned into squirming. ‘No, Mistress?’

Ceri laughed. ‘You’re really hard to punish. All right, I forgive you.’

It never failed to amaze Ceri how Lily, a twenty-five year old, fantastically sexy, very adult woman could turn into a beaming, happy twelve year old at a moment’s notice. The half-succubus grinned, bouncing forward to kiss Ceri on the cheek.

‘So what have they managed to dig up?’ Alec asked.

‘A name, well, part of a name,’ Ceri said. ‘Brother Falk. They got a few emails out and that’s what he’s referred to as in those.’

Carter frowned. ‘That does not sound like a Brazilian name. Did they get a source for the emails?’

‘Not a confirmed one. The email headers were either forged or partially erased. The text sounds like it’s coming from a cleric of some sort, but nothing specifically identified.’

‘Naira was pretty sure,’ Alec said. ‘She said that he told her she was being sent home to be tried for her “crimes.”’

‘It must’ve been a complete nightmare for her,’ Lily said softly.

Ceri nodded silently. She was fairly determined that Brother Falk was going to discover exactly what a nightmare was if she got her hands on him.

Part Four: Angels in the Architecture

Soho, London, December 1st, 2011

‘Three weeks,’ Ceri said. ‘It’s been three weeks and no sign of him.’ The full moon had faded, the new moon come and gone. The werewolf to undead ratio at the Dragon was on the way up, so Michael no longer felt out of place, but he was beginning to get restless around the house and fed up of spending half his evenings sitting at a bar. So was Ceri. The only outing they had had was to Ceri’s graduation ceremony; she was now, officially, Doctor Ceridwyn Brent.

‘You think he’s buggered off back to Brazil?’ Alec asked from behind her.

Ceri shrugged. ‘His operation was trashed. Maybe I did manage to kill his angel. Maybe he went back home to regroup. The Greycoats are still working through that computer and the other stuff they found, and they got descriptions from Suzie and Naira which are out to all the police forces… But they have backed off the alert some.’ She glanced at Michael. ‘Much as I love having you around all the time, I think we should do the same.’

‘Good idea,’ Lily said as she dropped her tray onto the bar. ‘Three ‘Banes, Alec,’ she added. ‘Grumpy werewolves are just no fun, and we’re getting to the point where we actually go to sleep when we get home.’ She looked pointedly at Ceri. ‘I think I’m getting tired of nightly threesomes.’

Ceri reached out and put her hand on Lily’s forehead. ‘She doesn’t seem hotter than usual.’

‘Too much of a good thing,’ Alec commented. He placed three glasses on the tray and nodded to Lily.

‘Well yes,’ Ceri replied as Lily picked up her tray, ‘but it’s Lily. Lily saying she’s tired of sex!’

‘I believe that’s one of the prophesied signs on the End Times,’ Carter said from the end of the bar. ‘Perhaps the Apocalypse nuts are right.’ Lily was smirking as she walked off.

‘I’m pretty sure they’re just nuts,’ Ceri said. ‘Besides, that’s supposed to be next December.’

‘Perhaps it’s early,’ the playboy said, his lips curling. ‘Cataclysms, so unreliable.’

‘Huh,’ Ceri grunted. ‘Well Brother Falk was apparently a devotee of Heinrich Kramer. I believe he thought that witches were a sign of the End of Days.’

‘I don’t believe I’m familiar with the name,’ Carter said. ‘Should I be?’

‘Henricus Institorius? Kramer was the man who wrote the Malleus Maleficarum. Falk was running his inquisition on Kramer’s rules, more or less. His notary was a digital recorder, but he did a lot of it by the book.’

‘Hence the torture equipment,’ Alec growled.

‘Pretty much. They think Suzie will be out of hospital before Christmas, but it’ll take a long time before she can use her hands properly again.’

‘I’d just like five minutes alone with him,’ Alec said.

Ceri glanced down the bar at Carter. ‘You’d need to get in line, and I don’t think there’d be much left to bring to trial.’ She saw Alec’s mouth opening and added, ‘Not that I’m saying that would be a bad thing.’

‘Are you allowed to say things like that?’ Carter asked. ‘Being almost a policewoman.’

‘I’m a Special Advisor,’ Ceri replied.

‘And our special advice,’ Lily said as she returned, ‘would be to redecorate a wall with his brains.’

‘Too quick,’ Alec said.

‘Not if we crack his skull open and use a spoon,’ Lily replied flatly.

December 2nd

‘No Michael tonight?’ Alec said. ‘You’ve broken up and I have a shot?’

‘You’ve had a shot,’ Ceri replied. ‘Salisbury Plain, remember?’ She smirked at him. ‘Was I really that unmemorable?’

Alec smirked back and shrugged. ‘I’m up to my ears in hot, black-fur bitches. You can’t expect me to remember all of them.’

‘Right,’ Ceri drawled. ‘We backed down from red alert. Michael’s in Battersea, and I think Anita’s taking the opportunity to hump Ray into a sweaty blob.’

‘Interesting,’ Alec commented.

Ceri glanced at him. ‘How so?’

‘I never pegged Anita to pick up with a human,’ Alec said. ‘Though I saw the guy and he looked made for her. I just never thought she would.  Second, interesting the amount of trust Anita, and Alexandra, are putting in your young wolf.’

Ceri considered that for a second. Anita did not seem to have a second stand-in for herself. It could be argued that she had stayed on duty with the pack during the period of danger… but Falk had not been targeting the packs as such. Anita had waited until Michael could take her place before taking another break with Ray. ‘Alexandra considers Anita and Michael as potential replacements when she goes,’ she said. ‘I’d imagine if Anita takes over as Alpha, she expects Michael to take over as Captain. So Michael gets more responsibility to see how he handles it, and a look at Anita’s job in case he ends up in it.’

‘Yeah, kind of what I was thinking. You didn’t comment on Anita’s choice of partner.’

Ceri gave a shrug and pushed off from the bar; table ten was calling. ‘I didn’t figure it too, but I’m glad to see her doing something for herself for a change.’

‘Amen to that,’ she heard behind her as she headed across the floor.

December 4th

‘I assume Michael will be there when we get home?’ Lily said as they walked down Dean Street.

Ceri nodded, pulling her coat tighter and considering a warmth spell. ‘Aside from it being our usual arrangement, he’s been getting a lot of you these last few weeks and going cold turkey wouldn’t be a good thing.’

‘True. Grumpy wolf might become really grumpy wolf.’

‘Uh-huh.’

Lily came to a stop. They were almost to Old Compton Street, but she stopped and turned, looking around. ‘Do you feel that?’ she asked.

‘I don’t feel anything…’ Ceri blinked her Sight on and scanned the street around them. ‘I don’t see anything either. What are you feeling?’

The half-succubus frowned. ‘I… nothing I’ve felt before, but it has to be magic.’

‘Can you get a sense of where it is?’

‘All around us.’

‘Let’s move.’ They hurried down the street toward Leicester Square tube. Nothing attacked or even showed itself, but by the time they were heading down the steps into the tile-walled ticket office Ceri was starting to feel watched.

‘It’s gone,’ Lily said as they descended into the tunnels. ‘Whatever it was, I can’t feel it down here.’

Ceri could feel the pressure wave of a train coming toward them. ‘I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad. Let’s see what happens when we come up the other side.’

They travelled in silence, though that was at least partially because they had nothing much to say. Both of them were a little spooked by what had happened back in Soho and they were about to pass down through one of the most haunted sections of the underground. Still, there was no sign of anything odd as they passed under the river.

It was not until they were walking out of the Oval station that Lily stopped again, her brow knitting. She turned slowly, trying to localise what she was feeling, and her eyes fell on Saint Mark’s Church across the road from the station.

‘It’s Sunday,’ Lily whispered.

Ceri looked at the Church, her eyes rising to the roof, and gasped. They were just sitting there, dozens of figures which were nothing but distortions in the world’s magical field. They had to be angels. They were like the thing which had attacked High Towers, but not quite. Smaller, Ceri thought, probably less powerful, but watching. All of the ones she could see seemed to be looking down and watching. But that was all they were doing, watching.

‘They’re just… sitting there,’ Ceri said. ‘They’re watching, just watching. Why’ve we never seen them before?’

‘Because they weren’t there in that kind of numbers?’

‘But they’re just watching.’

‘I don’t think I care,’ Lily said. ‘Let’s get inside.’

Michael was waiting in the hall when they got in. ‘Alexandra said to ask if you’d seen any of them?’ he said as soon as he saw them. ‘She didn’t say what.’

‘Angelos,’ Ceri told him, ‘angels, messengers, whatever your preference. Yes, we have.’

‘She has,’ Lily added. ‘I felt the magic. You know, these ones didn’t really feel like the one that hit the wards.’

‘They were smaller,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m not real good on angels. I know there are Angels and Fallen, but I’ve no idea if there are sub-classifications.’

‘Something for the morning,’ Lily said.

‘But…’ Ceri began.

‘She’s right,’ Michael said. ‘You can start reading books when you’re fresh in the morning.’ He looked more determined about it than Ceri had ever seen him.

‘Plus,’ Lily said, confirming Ceri’s suspicion, ‘we need to take the edge of Michael’s appetite before he turns into the Great Black Horg.’

Ceri giggled, despite the fact that she really wanted to start researching. ‘Don’t you mean the Big Bad Wolf?’

‘No,’ Lily replied, heading for the stairs, ‘I’m talking about the proper version of the story. Back when Gorefguhadget was Lord of All Demons, on the shores of the Silver Lake, in the village of Shoshteffrif, there lived a young succubus named Tef…’

~~~

Ceri lay, warm and exhausted against Michael’s furry back. Behind her, Lily shifted slightly to snuggle tighter. Sleep was beckoning.

‘I can’t believe we delayed the sex to listen to a fairy tale,’ Ceri mumbled sleepily.

She did not get an answer, and fairly soon after that, she was busy being unconscious.

Kennington

The smell of roast pork filled the air of the kitchen and Michael was looking really happy. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘not having Twill’s cooking for a day or so makes it so much better when I get it again.’

A tiny flicker of pink light danced around the little, brown woman as she hovered over the final stages of food preparation. ‘Thank you, Michael. It’s nice to be appreciated.’

‘You’re always appreciated, Twill,’ Lily said, ‘especially at birthday parties.’ This time the pink light was rather brighter and lasted longer. ‘You actually getting anywhere, Ceri?’ the half-succubus asked, mostly to change the subject before Twill threw something at her.

‘My parents weren’t big on theology,’ Ceri replied. ‘I found some more general stuff in one of the spirit books, but thaumaturgy is pretty specialist and not much use to them.’

‘I thought they tended to just pick stuff up for the interest value?’ Michael asked.

‘They did, but maybe this didn’t interest them. They were enchanters and people kind of frown upon using angels for enchantments.’ She gave a little frown. ‘Which doesn’t stop some people, but it’s frowned upon, and a bit of a pain.’

‘Have you considered asking an expert?’ Twill asked.

‘I don’t know any thaumatologists,’ Ceri replied.

‘Neither do I, but it’s Sunday and they teach at least the basics at seminary school, I believe. The evening service is at six-thirty, if my memory serves.’

‘I haven’t been to church in years,’ Ceri said.

‘You’ve been to church?’ Lily asked, sounding surprised.

‘Well, Sunday School. My parents felt I should be given the chance to choose a faith if I wished.’

‘I take it you didn’t wish,’ Michael said.

‘I think I just found it all a bit illogical, and really boring. They wanted me to believe things I knew were ridiculous. I could get behind some of the essential concepts of Christianity, but then they weren’t really that different from a lot of other religions, so why believe in one, all powerful God. Why did God need me to believe in him? Why couldn’t just being a good person be enough?’ Ceri shrugged. ‘So I just told Mum and Dad that I was perfectly happy to determine my own morals and I didn’t need to be told what I should think by a crabby old man in a pulpit.’

Twill glanced around and smirked at her. ‘How old where you then?’

Ceri frowned in thought for a second or two. ‘About seven?’ Lily giggled and Twill’s wind chime laugh filled the air. ‘What?’

‘Precocious child, weren’t you?’ Twill commented.

‘By that time Tanya, Tawni that is, had already decided the only thing she wanted out of Rastafari was being able to smoke weed at meetings,’ Ceri countered.

‘That young lady strikes me as someone who always knew what she wanted,’ Twill said.

‘I’m not entirely sure anyone ends up in porn because they have a great life plan,’ Lily said. ‘I didn’t and I’m half-succubus.’ She glanced at Ceri. ‘On that note, if you’re going to the church later, I’m coming with you.’

‘Well, yes,’ Ceri said. ‘I figured you would.’

‘The thought of a half-demon walking onto consecrated ground doesn’t make you wonder?’ Lily asked. ‘I’ve never been into a church.’

Ceri smiled. ‘I’m willing to bet half the parishioners at the service tonight have blacker souls than you, Lil. Besides, consecration carries no force unless it’s carried out by a practitioner with the active participation of an appropriate spirit. You’re quite safe.’

~~~

Lily stopped at the foot of the steps leading up to the church’s doors and looked up. St Mark’s was a slightly incongruous structure; yellow stone formed the body of the building, a relatively standard rectangle, but there was a large, classical portico with six columns and a clock tower and cupola above it in white stone.

Ceri, half way up the steps, turned and looked at her. ‘It’s okay, Lil. There’s no hint of anything here which would affect you.’ Actually, there were some standard wards against demons on the door, but Ceri was quite sure they would not stop or harm her friend.

Lily shook her head. ‘They’re still up there.’

‘Yeah, I know.’ A middle-aged couple slipped past Ceri on their way in, the woman glancing between the two women on the steps, confused. ‘They’re not doing anything. C’mon, it’d be rude to sit down late.’

Lily followed Ceri in, seeming rather subdued as they sat down on one of the pews near the back where they would not disturb anyone. Ceri remembered a little of the procedure. She had attended a couple of morning services during her times in church, but remembered little of it. They would be observers here, nothing more.

They were right on time. A minute or so after they took their seats a tall, fairly young man in the usual robes of an Anglican priest stepped up into the pulpit. The church was perhaps half full, which was more than Ceri had expected, and the vicar looked around at all of his parishioners before beginning. Ceri could tell he had spotted the two strange women sitting at the back, but he made nothing of it; there was work to be done.

‘Oh God, make speed to save us,’ the vicar began.

‘Oh Lord, make haste to save us,’ the audience responded.

~~~

‘Thanks be to God.’ The chorus from the assembly marked the end of the service. Ceri watched as the vicar gathered his books and made his way down, heading for the door to thank his parishioners as they left. He had a minute or two to get there since most of the people at Evening Prayer were fairly serious about their religion and were taking a moment for personal prayer before going.

‘That was actually quite nice,’ Lily said, her voice soft and low. ‘I liked the hymns.’

‘A better choice than some I’ve heard,’ Ceri replied. ‘And the vicar’s better than the old guy I remember, but I’m still going with boring.’

Lily was looking back toward the door as the assembly began to file out. ‘He’s actually kind of hunky,’ she said. ‘Are priests allowed to be hunky?’

‘Yeah, I think so.’

‘But aren’t they supposed to be celibate? It’s such a waste.’

Ceri had to stop herself giggling. ‘Celibacy is only a requirement of religious orders. If he’s a secular priest then he can get married. I doubt he’s available for anything outside of marriage though.’

Lily nodded. ‘Oh no, that’s okay. At least someone can have him.’

As the last of the parishioners left, Ceri and Lily started to rise. The vicar poked his head in through the door. ‘Would you prefer to talk inside?’ he asked. ‘I’m assuming you want to talk to me. I haven’t seen you here before.’

‘Observant too,’ Lily whispered.

‘Out of the cold would be good,’ Ceri said. ‘I need some advice on angels.’

He blinked at her and closed the door. ‘Come through to the vestry. The heating works better and I can get out of these robes.’

They started after him, down the aisle, and Ceri grinned at Lily. ‘Down, pet,’ she murmured. Lily pouted at her, but she did look a bit disappointed when it was just the outer vestments which came off a minute or two later.

‘You wanted advice on angels?’ the vicar asked, looking curious.

‘Yes,’ Ceri said. ‘Thanks for making the time, Vicar.’

‘Philip,’ he replied. ‘Take a seat.’ He sat down behind a small desk tucked into a corner of the vestry.

Ceri and Lily pulled up chairs of their own. ‘Okay,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m Ceri Brent, this is Lily Carpenter. We live…’

‘Over on Saint Agnes Place,’ Philip said. ‘That big house off a horror film set.’ He grinned. ‘I like to know a little about the people who live in my parish, even if they don’t come to church. You’ve even been on TV.’

Ceri smiled. ‘We’re investigating the recent Witch Hunter murders and, well, we find ourselves in need of advice on angels.’

The Vicar frowned. ‘I see. I’ve seen the TV reports, obviously… Well, angels. There are a few lectures on them in seminary. I’ve never personally seen one.’

‘You have a small army of them on your roof,’ Lily said.

He looked confused for a second. ‘Well, God is always at home in His house…’

‘No,’ Ceri said, ‘you really have a horde of angels up on your roof. It seems like they turned up this morning, after midnight anyway. I think there are more of them, scattered through the city, and they weren’t there the night before last. They just sit up there and watch.’

Philip’s eyes raised upward as if he could penetrate the stone and see something. Ceri could see his aura, the lines of energy which formed his two medians; he had no magical talent. ‘Uh, well, there was a type of angels known as Watchers, but they were supposedly cast out before the Flood. They were sent to observe and teach, but they started getting… personally involved. The resulting children were called Nephilim. Some suggest the Flood was sent to destroy them. It strikes me that the ones on the roof are either redeemed or not the same things.’

‘I’d tend to agree,’ Ceri said.

‘To be honest,’ Philip went on, ‘most of what we’re taught is at least partially conjecture. Or that was the impression I got. If you follow the biblical line there are nine choirs of angels, split into three spheres. Seraphim, Cherubim, Ophanim or Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. Only the last three, the Third Sphere, have much to do with us. The rest either spend their time praising God, or they run Heaven, the celestial bodies, that kind of thing.’ He gave Ceri a grin. ‘I’d imagine you’re fairly sure that physics keeps the planets revolving.’

Ceri grinned back. ‘Pretty sure. So there are definitely greater and lesser angels?’

‘It is referred to as a hierarchy.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘You’ve encountered something greater?’

‘The one trying to kill us was more powerful,’ Lily replied.

‘I’m sorry? An angel was trying to kill you?’

‘This would be confidential information,’ Ceri said. ‘It’s part of a current police investigation. The Witch Hunter had an angel helping him. A fairly big, powerful one. He attacked the house, our house.’

‘What happened?’ Philip’s eyes were wide now.

‘Ceri’s pretty good with spiritual entities,’ Lily said. ‘It went away.’

‘What do you know about the Church in Brazil?’ Ceri asked.

The vicar’s head pulled back a little at the sudden change of subject. ‘It’s Catholic. I believe with the loss of Rome in the Shattering the Church in Brazil declared itself the home of Catholicism. Appointed a pope to sit in Rio and everything. They’re very hard line. Rather Old Testament in their views… This “Witch Hunter,” he was from Brazil?’

‘Probably,’ Ceri replied. ‘If you saw the news reports, the police rescued an unnamed second victim?’ Philip nodded. ‘She’s a Brazilian asylum seeker, a were-panther. The kidnapper said she was going to be sent home. There are a few other, fairly circumstantial, clues suggesting a connection with the Church over there.’

‘You think they sent some sort of… inquisitor over here to hunt witches?’ Philip asked, though it was half-statement and his eyes were downcast.

‘That’s how it looks,’ Ceri replied, ‘and now we have angels all over the city.’

His hand reached out, apparently unconsciously, to stroke the cover of a thick, leather-bound bible on his desk. ‘There’s someone I could speak to,’ he said. ‘One of my old theology teachers. He knew a lot about thaumaturgy, angels, the whole spiritual side.’

Ceri nodded. ‘The information has to remain as quiet as possible, but I’d be grateful. Any information you can get could be useful.’

‘I’ll see what I can do.’

Ceri got to her feet, followed by Lily. ‘Thanks, Philip,’ Ceri said. ‘I have a feeling this could be important.’ She got a nod in reply and they left the young cleric to his thoughts.

Lily stopped just outside the church gates and looked back at the roof. ‘Do you think they’re Fallen?’

Looking up, Ceri scanned the fields of distorted energy watching them from the rooftop. It seemed as though glowing pinpricks of eyes were looking right at her, into her, through her. ‘No,’ she said. ‘No, I think they’re just different. I’m just guessing, of course.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ Lily said before starting back toward the park.

December 5th

‘Know anything about angels, Faran?’ Ceri asked. She was in the shower and he was standing outside it looking as though he wanted to get in with her. He did, but he was successfully controlling himself. Ceri ignored the fact that her best friend and lover’s father was watching her shower because she knew he could not help himself. Besides, the attention felt nice.

‘There are a lot more of them about than usual?’ Faran replied.

‘Smartarse.’

His laugh was rich and full of humour. ‘I much prefer your arse. Angels and demons have little to do with each other. While popular culture sees us as enemies, I’m sure you’re aware that if angels have enemies then it’s their fallen counterparts. And as far as I’m aware they don’t think of Fallen as enemies, more as annoyances.’

‘So you largely ignore each other?’

‘Yes. Largely. There is the occasional conflict. One is recorded in that book your religious people put so much trust in.’

‘The Bible?’

‘That’s the one. There’s a section of rules and laws in there, I believe?’

‘Several. I assume you mean the various laws in the Pentateuch.’

‘Probably. It mentions Molech by name, prescribing his worship and sacrifices to him.’

‘Molech?’

‘A Lord. He managed to get himself worshipped by various tribes and nations in the Near East thousands of years ago. I don’t believe you’d be interested in the details, but it was not pleasant. Something of a rarity though. Relatively few demons have ever managed that method of power generation. It’s generally spirits that pull off the transition to godhood.’

‘So Molech became a god?’

‘Not… exactly. Gods are something else. Molech managed to siphon power from worshippers. For a time he was powerful enough to take Gorefguhadget’s crown, but the practices which gave him power were eventually wiped out and he lost control.’

Ceri laughed. ‘Lily was telling us a fairy tale yesterday. That started with something about Gorefguhadget.’

‘It’s much like your “once upon a time,”’ Faran said. ‘He was the greatest Demon Lord who ever lived. We’re talking about tens of thousands of years ago. I think he would be entirely consigned to legend if it were not that his crown still exists. It sits on his throne in the Castle of Bones atop Mount Khed. Were any demon ever strong enough to wear it again, all demons would bow down before him. That’s its power.’

Ceri shut off the water and turned around, opening the shower screen. Faran tensed slightly and Ceri could feel the slight flicker of heat caress her skin as his aura danced over her. ‘Could you pass me a towel?’ she asked.

Faran breathed in slowly, closing his eyes. Without looking he plucked a towel from the rail and handed it to her. ‘Ceridwyn Brent, you are a terrible temptation,’ he said softly.

‘You don’t have to watch me, Faran.’

He sighed and started for the door. ‘Would that that were so,’ he said.

~~~

‘Reports of angels throughout Southern England today,’ the presenter said. The report was accompanied by a classic picture of a serene looking androgynous figure in a robe with broad wings and a halo. Ceri snorted derisively. ‘Practitioners of various forms have reported the invisible, immaterial entities perched on rooftops from Plymouth to Dover and as far north as Oxford.’

‘They’re pretty widespread,’ Lily commented.

‘Neither the Church of England nor any government agency has given a statement on the meaning of the sightings,’ the presenter went on. ‘Eye witnesses have stated that the figures appear to be simply observing. There have been no instances of interaction of any kind as far as anyone is aware.’

‘This is going to bring out more religious nuts,’ Ceri predicted.

‘In Canterbury,’ the presenter said as though she had heard Ceri, ‘people have gathered in front of the cathedral.’

The scene cut to a woman with Canterbury Cathedral in the background, a vast, white stone, buttressed and spired bulk. ‘I believe the Holy Ones have come foreshadowing the new Messiah.’

A cut to a man wearing a huge “The End of the World is Nigh” placard was followed by another cut to an older woman who told the camera, ‘I’ve come to ask forgiveness.’

And then there was a vague eyed man in his thirties who drawled, ‘Hey… I just came to be one with the universe, man.’

‘I hope they aren’t sitting in judgement,’ Lily said. ‘If they are we’re fried.’

‘If they were they’d be beating the door down and telling us off for debauchery,’ Ceri replied. ‘This is bad. And it’s just going to get worse if nothing happens.’

‘If nothing happens?’

‘Yeah. If they actually start doing something then people will know why they’re here. People can deal with things when they know what’s going on. If they just sit there, unseen, untouchable, they could be anywhere. People will get paranoid. They’ll start wondering if maybe these are Fallen. Maybe they really are here for the end of the world.’

‘Oh,’ Lily said, ‘I hadn’t thought of it like that.’

‘Most people haven’t yet. They will soon enough. The apocalypse conspiracy freaks will kick off saying it’s the Second Coming, or the time of the Rapture. Someone will suggest the timing on that Mayan calendar thing was a year out. The closer we get to the Solstice, the worst it’ll get.’

Lily grimaced. ‘I’m starting to really hate the Winter Solstice.’

‘I’m not looking forward to the anniversary,’ Ceri replied. Lily leaned over and gave Ceri a hug; holding her close for a minute or two.

‘You know,’ the half-succubus said softly, ‘with all that’s happened this last year, I could almost believe we were heading for the end of the world.’

‘I doubt it,’ Ceri said. ‘Well, I don’t think so anyway.’

‘If it is,’ Lily said, ‘at least I found you first.’

Ceri smiled and kissed Lily’s forehead, and the half-succubus snuggled herself closer, content. ‘That was really sappy,’ Ceri commented.

‘I know,’ Lily replied, still quite content. ‘I’m allowed to be sappy if I want. The world’s going to end.’

Battersea, December 7th

There was an angel on the roof of the boathouse. A little searching found two more on the bandstand. For some reason the little restaurant had been skipped. Maybe they did not like the coffee. Maybe they were not into commercialism. Whatever, they seemed to be largely ignoring the werewolves. They watched the dog walkers and the couples taking walks in the cold night air, and Ceri.

They watch Man kind, Ceri growled.

Michael followed her gaze toward the roof of the boathouse. He saw nothing there. He could smell nothing, sense nothing, but he trusted her that the angel was there. Not Wolf?

Ceri shook her head. Just Man. Me. Other Man. They could see through her transformation, which was not entirely a surprise.

Why? Michael barked, but Ceri just shrugged in reply. She had no clue what they were up to. The angels continued to watch. There had been no communication, no contact. Her contemplation of the angel was broken as Michael’s hand slapped her rump. Run!

And they were running.

December 8th

They lay under the tree where Ceri hid her clothes in the afterglow of sex which, while fuelled by the soon-to-be-full moon, had been more intense and tender than normal while transformed. Ceri brushed her muzzle against Michael’s and gave a soft mewl. She did not have the vocabulary in Wolf to say what she wanted to say, and she did not want to change back just yet.

Michael growled softly. Love Mate. He was not especially given to emotional statements and it came as something of a surprise.

Love Mate, she growled back and they lay there in silence, wrapped in each other’s arms for several minutes until it was time for Ceri to go.

Ceri stood and reached for her collar. There was the now familiar tingling sensation across her skin and then her vision was human. And standing at the edge of the small clearing was a humanoid figure in a white robe.

Michael was on his feet in an instant, but the angel’s eyes stayed fixed on Ceri. ‘He comes.’ The creature’s lips did not move, but they both heard the voice.

‘Who?’ Ceri asked. ‘Falk?’

‘Gadriel,’ the angel said, and then it was gone as quickly as it had come. Ceri watched the spirit form dissolve out of existence and then lift into the air, vanishing through the trees.

‘Gadriel?’ Ceri repeated and glanced at Michael. He shrugged, which was about how she was feeling.

Kennington

Ceri opened the door and more or less instantly wished she had stopped to put some jeans on. When you opened the door to find the local vicar standing there, complete with dog collar, you wanted to be wearing more than a large shirt. When he was accompanied by a silver-haired old man who also seemed to be a priest, and all you were wearing was a shirt, you pretty much wished the ground would swallow you up. Ceri did not wish for any such thing, however; you never knew who might be listening.

‘Philip,’ she said, feeling her cheeks colouring, ‘I… wasn’t expecting you to come around…’

The old man, bent over and leaning on a walking cane, answered her before Philip could respond. ‘Young lady, I was married for forty years and you’ve got nothing I haven’t seen. If Philip can’t handle some leg he’s in the wrong profession.’ He had an accent Ceri did not recognise; eastern European maybe.

‘Uh, Ceri, this is Father Fabian Król,’ Philip said. ‘He was my theology tutor and he knows more about angels than anyone I know.’

Ceri looked down into an old face with intent, grey eyes under a heavy brow with wiry, white eyebrows. He had a good, solid Roman nose and strong bone structure, though his skin was drawn across it with age making him look vampiric. There was more of that eastern European heritage in his face. Ceri guessed at Polish; there had been plenty of Polish immigrants left in Britain after the war and the Shattering. Król looked old enough to have been one of those.

‘Hello, Father,’ Ceri said. ‘I’ll still say sorry for my attire. Please come in.’ Ceri turned and walked into the hall before yelling up the stairs. ‘Lily! Put some clothes on, we have guests.’ She turned and grinned back toward the two priests. ‘She really isn’t wearing anything, and I really do have to tell her to get dressed.’

‘She’s the half-demon?’ Król asked. Ceri could detect neither distaste nor distrust in the question. In fact the old theologian seemed a little intrigued.

‘Half-succubus,’ Ceri said. ‘She stopped wearing clothes around the house not long after she moved in. She has a demon’s internal heating to keep her warm and absolutely no issue with showing off her body.’

The old man’s lips twisted into a half smile. ‘Well we do want to give young Philip a small chance of staying celibate until marriage.’ The accent was stronger now; definitely Russian or Polish.

‘Come on up to the lounge,’ Ceri said. ‘Would you like anything to drink?’

With the old man settled into one of the big chairs, a cup of tea you could stand a spoon up in cradled in his hands, and Lily wearing a fairly subtle dress, for her, they could start talking. ‘Philip tells me that you’re investigating the angels who have turned up,’ Król said.

Ceri nodded. ‘Especially after last night.’

‘What happened last night?’ Philip asked.

‘One of them spoke to me,’ Ceri said. Król’s eyes narrowed. ‘I usually spend Wednesday and Thursday evening with the Battersea werewolf pack. There were a couple of angels watching the humans walking in the park. They weren’t paying any attention to the wolves.’

Król nodded. ‘Werewolves have a goddess they tend to worship, I believe. Angels generally pay little attention to those of a different faith, at least these days. In the past there have obviously been more militant periods.’

‘Luperca,’ Ceri agreed. ‘She’s become more active over the last year. Anyway, just before I left one of the angels materialised and told me someone called Gadriel was coming. I looked the name up on the Internet, but there seems to be relatively little about angels in general on there.’

‘Theologians tend to be old fashioned,’ Król said, amused. ‘Gadriel? Hmm… That one is something of a mystery. His nature depends on who you talk to. Some say he is one of the heavenly host, ruling angel of the fifth Heaven. Others say he was one of the Fallen, that he was the angel who seduced Eve and corrupted her. In either version, he is responsible for wars among men and nations. He’s coming here?’

‘I thought Satan was the one who corrupted Eve,’ Ceri asked.

Król smiled slightly. ‘Satan is more of a title than a name. It’s a Hebrew word meaning “the opposer,” “the accuser,” or “the adversary.” Satan may have been more than one entity. Lucifer, Beelzebub, perhaps Gadriel, they have all fulfilled the role.’

‘I think he’s been here,’ Lily said. ‘Gadriel. I think he’s the one who attacked the house.’

‘Philip mentioned something attempted to break through your wards,’ Król said. ‘And that you saw it off.’

‘Tuned thaumic energy blast,’ Ceri said, ‘a big one, though not the biggest I could manage. I don’t like using full power. Keeping something in reserve always seems a good idea. Aside from anything, I wasn’t entirely sure I’d got the spell right.’

The two priests looked at her; Philip’s eyes were wide again. ‘I’m not sure about the theological implications of talking to someone who blasts angels,’ the young vicar said.

‘It was self-defence,’ Lily pointed out.

‘Studying the history of our faith can be rather hard on it,’ Król said out of the blue. ‘We think of as a line of worship stretching back to biblical times, but things have changed over and over again in those thousands of years. There have been schisms, changes of belief. There were the Tribes of Israel, the Jews, the Essenes, the Pharisees, the Christians, the Muslims. All looked to the same God, but with different points of view, different views on how He should be worshipped. I’m not willing to say whether any of them had it more right than the others. These days we have Anglicans here in Britain, and we have a fundamentalist Catholic church in South America. I’m not saying we have it more right than they do, though obviously I’m inclined to believe we do, but there is certainly a difference of opinion and perhaps our angels are reflecting that difference.’

Ceri looked at the old man for a second. ‘Perhaps your gods are too.’

Król nodded slightly. ‘Yahweh, the god of the Israelites, possibly started out as a tribal war god. One could argue that our God is a very different personality. Perhaps he grew up and became more of a father, more global, more beneficent. Perhaps the later version is a different god. And perhaps the deity being worshipped in Brazil now is the older one.’ His tone had become very abstract, musing. ‘Marcion, a philosopher or theologian in the mid second century, taught that the New and Old Testaments did, indeed, describe different gods. The world had been created by the God of the Old Testament, a judgemental, war-mongering, inconsistent deity, and this was why the world was full of pain and sorrow. Then Jesus had come along to reveal a different God, a mild, forgiving, good God. The Gnostics taught something similar. The creation of the world was an accident, a mistake, or done by a cruel, malign Creator. There was another God out there we should look to.’ Then he smiled. ‘All conjecture, of course. Marcion’s church was very popular in Rome for a while, the Gnostics were suppressed as heretics. I have no idea what that says about the entity we call God. We can no more know His mind than a gnat can understand quantum physics. It’s not our place to understand, just to play our part.’

Lily giggled. ‘Yeah, asking Ceri to try something she doesn’t understand… not going to happen.’

‘I’ve been around for a… little longer than all of you, young lady,’ Król said. ‘After my wife died I was lost for a while. It’s not uncommon. You wonder why. Why did this happen? There seems no reason for it. Eventually, I came to a conclusion. Well, two conclusions. Marriam would not have wanted me moping about her, and sometimes you just have to have faith.’

Soho, December 10th

Thick cloud blanketed the sky outside, but above it the moon was shining full. By now the werewolves had all figured out that whatever the deal was with the angels, it did not affect them, and it was full moon, and that meant it was party time.

The Jade Dragon was full of happy wolves, some hangers on, two bemused looking vampires, and a small group of humans who Ceri could tell did not realise the reason for the bouncy atmosphere. Two couples, they were becoming more and more confused by the attention they were getting. At first the two men had looked a bit annoyed that their women were being chatted up by strangers who seemed to be oblivious to the circumstances. That had changed when a little group of she-wolves had started pawing at the men and complimenting the women on their partners’ muscles!

‘You’re from out of town?’ Ceri asked as she dropped off a new round of drinks.

‘We live in Norwich,’ one of the two men said. ‘We’re down for a martial arts tournament and a friend of ours mentioned this place for a night out. We were expecting something a little more…’

‘Quiet?’ Ceri suggested, smiling. ‘It’s full moon. Most of the people in here are werewolves.’ She saw the rising alarm on three out of four faces and added, ‘That’s the non-contagious variety. The only effect the moon has is to make them a bit hyper when it’s full. Werewolves have little idea of personal space and a rather different view of sex. They won’t run off with your partner without asking, but you might get propositioned. Please don’t take offence, it’s a genuine compliment.’

‘Uh… right,’ the man said.

Ceri smiled and started to turn. She stopped. ‘Martial arts tournament? You don’t know a guy named Ray Downs, do you?’

‘That’s who recommended this place,’ one of the women replied. ‘You know him?’

‘He usually teaches me staff combat on a Saturday.’

The man who had spoken earlier narrowed his eyes slightly. ‘You’re not the one with the big chest…’

Ceri smirked. ‘That’s Lily, she lives with me. She’s over by the bar. Give my best to Ray and enjoy your drinks.’ She strutted back through the tables toward Lily, a slight smile on her face. ‘What’s the betting they end up in bed with some wolves?’ she asked as she closed the distance.

‘Low,’ Lily replied. ‘The woman you spoke to is interested, but the others are too provincial to go through with it. Ours are higher, I believe.’

Ceri nodded. ‘Michael’s taking over from Anita today and tomorrow, so I said we’d go over to the park tonight.’ She gave a little half-grin. ‘Want to be turned, or stay furless?’

‘Hmmm… I’ll keep my skin. There’s something kind of kinky about having bare skin around all that fur.’

‘Well, you’re getting plenty of fur. Anita’s going to be back late Sunday afternoon. I told Twill we’d be back at the house in the evening and bringing Michael for dinner.’

Lily pushed off from the bar. ‘I’m always happy to have Michael for dinner,’ she said as she started off across the floor, hips swinging seductively.

Battersea, December 11th

‘What’s the angel situation?’ Ceri asked as she settled beside the oil drum fire with a mug of tea. Since they would be there for quite a while, and Michael had been busy dealing with some issue by the river when the two girls had arrived, Ceri was leaving her clothes on the island. It also gave her a little time to chat to Alexandra, which seemed to have been lacking recently.

‘They keep themselves to themselves,’ Alexandra replied. ‘They appear to have little interest in us, and I’m the only one here who can see them, so we ignore each other. I’ve noticed they pay attention to the humans walking in the park, quite considerable interest in some cases. I haven’t yet managed to work out what they’re looking for.’

‘I don’t suppose you’ve seen any undead…’

‘They don’t like undead,’ Alexandra said. ‘Nothing direct or overt, but I could tell the one on the boathouse was disturbed when a vampire couple walked past last night.’

‘Interesting,’ Ceri said.

‘So maybe some of those old stories about the faithful fending off undead could have a bit of reality?’ Lily asked.

‘I suspect that someone able to speak to an angel could persuade them to attack a vampire,’ Alexandra agreed. ‘I don’t think angels will go after them without prompting, however.’

‘Not these ones anyway,’ Ceri said. A grey-furred arm wrapped around her shoulders and she giggled. ‘I think Michael has sorted out whatever it was.’

Lily had her own arm to deal with. ‘Yeah, looks like.’

Alexandra smiled. ‘He’s doing very well. I think Anita is thinking of taking a few months off to relax.’ Michael let out a whine of horror. ‘Only kidding, Michael. You know she’s wedded to the job.’

Ceri patted Michael’s arm. ‘You have to admit, it’s nice to see her actually enjoying herself. Ray seems to be good for her.' Michael growled his agreement and gave Ceri a nuzzle. ‘Do you need anything from us?’ Ceri asked, her hand lifting to stroke Michael’s cheek.

Alexandra shook her head. ‘No, dear, things should be quiet until at least dawn. Go and make some happy wolves. I may even join you for a while. Lily is difficult to resist.’

Lily smiled and gave a little, embarrassed, glance at the Alpha. ‘Thank you, Alexandra. That means a lot coming from you.’

‘I’m just stating a fact, dear. You’re a great source of pleasure.’

Lily lowered her eyes and did her best submissive pose. ‘Whenever you’re ready, Alpha.’

Alexandra actually looked a little unsure of herself. ‘She’s… really good,’ the Alpha said.

‘The best,’ Ceri replied, grinning.

~~~

It was getting close to dawn and the wolves had settled into small groups among the trees around the clearing to rest. They would probably be sleeping late into the morning, but Ceri and Michael were not quite ready to close their eyes. He had grabbed a blanket and changed back to human form to cuddle up with his mate.

‘There is one thing I don’t totally understand,’ he said, his voice low and drowsy.

‘Then ask,’ Ceri replied.

‘Well, I love Alexandra like a mother, and she really is attractive for an older woman, but I’m a werewolf and we have… different aesthetics…’

‘Aesthetics… long word.’ Ceri chuckled softly as he nudged her.

‘But Lily,’ Michael went on, ‘is a hot, young girl, and not a wolf, but she really seems to want to be with Alexandra.’

‘That’s Lily,’ Ceri said.

‘Huh?’

‘She has different aesthetics too. She’s attracted to power and Alexandra has that in spades. But Lil also lives for making people happy. She’s half-succubus. She really likes being appreciated for what she’s good at, sex.’

The blanket moved and a naked half-succubus slid under it beside Ceri. The temperature under the blanket went up a little as Lily’s body, internally heated by thaumic reaction, warmed it. ‘I thought I’d join you,’ she said. ‘Alexandra’s sleeping.’

Ceri turned slightly to kiss her pet’s cheek. ‘Also,’ Ceri added, ‘she makes a fantastic hot water bottle.’

Lily cuddled up, wrapping her arm around Ceri’s waist. ‘Fantastically sexy hot water bottle,’ she mumbled. ‘Now get some sleep.’

‘Yes, Mum,’ Ceri said, giggling.

‘None of your sass, young lady.’

Kennington

Well-fed and content, and with Michael on his way back to the park, they settled in front of the TV in time for the nine o’clock news. Why Lily just had to watch the news was a mystery to Ceri. It had started out with a reason; Faran had been the main story. Now it just seemed to be an obsession with keeping up with current affairs. Except that they knew more about what was actually happening than the BBC did half the time. For once, Lily’s OCD paid off.

‘Tonight on the nine o’clock news…’ the presenter trailed in and the picture cut to a view of buildings burning ferociously in a distant shot. ‘Emergency services, assisted by the Army continue their attempts to enter the village of Mending near Shoreham. Eye witnesses state that winged figures were seen battling in the streets…’

Ceri was already on her feet heading for the phone. It answered on the second ring and Kate said, ‘Nine o’clock news?’

‘Yeah,’ Ceri said. ‘Is there anything they’re not saying?’

‘Not a whole lot. We think they came off a freighter bound for Rotterdam. We’re having trouble identifying the source, but we’re pretty sure it was somewhere in South America. It looks like the angels in the village tried to fight them off, but it turned into total carnage. The Army have them pinned down with those rifles and some heavier versions mounted on armoured vehicles.’

‘None got out of the village?’

‘None we know of,’ Kate responded. ‘A Navy cruiser stopped the ship, but it had moved on quite a distance. The assault may have been a distraction. The crew were all dead, no information there.’

‘Killed? How?’

‘Burned to death. Most of them were found hiding, cowering under tables, in lockers. One of them was in the freezer in the galley. Frozen after he burned.’ The detective paused. ‘I’m glad I wasn’t on that detail.’

‘What’s being done?’ Ceri asked, her tone hushed.

‘Chief has the diviners trying to locate any weird spirit activity, but there’s not too much we can do until they show themselves.’

Ceri frowned. She had no good ideas on anything to try either. ‘No. Thanks, Kate. If there’s anything we can do, call.’

‘Huh, yeah. People get me out of bed all the time. Don’t think I won’t do the same.’

‘Under the circumstances, I’ll forgive you.’ Ceri hit the disconnect button and looked up. The TV was still showing pictures of the burning village. The distance they were filming from suggested that the press were being kept well back. ‘It sounds like we’ve got trouble,’ Ceri said.

‘Yeah,’ Lily said, turning to look at Ceri, ‘I’d gathered that. If they weren’t lying their arses off in History the Crusades didn’t go down too well in the Holy Land.’ She turned back to the screen. ‘And that wasn’t crusading angels.’

December 12th

‘Ceri. Ceri, wake up.’ Ceri opened her eyes to see Twill hovering beside the bed, her wings beating more than usual. She was glowing enough to provide a little light in the room and there were hints of red in the light.

‘Twill? What is it?’

‘There’s something on the roof. A spirit of some sort. It feels a little like the thing that attacked the wards.’

‘The wards aren’t reacting,’ Ceri said.

‘No,’ Twill said. She sounded worried, even a little scared.

‘If it’s just walked, or floated, through the wards, then it means no ill intent.’ Ceri swung her legs out of bed. Crap, three in the morning. Why couldn’t angels keep normal hours? ‘I’ll get dressed and go talk to it.’

‘Not without me you won’t,’ Lily grumbled from behind her.

‘And me,’ Twill said. Her whole body shook as she pushed back whatever trepidation she was feeling.

The angel was a pattern of cascading colours in the magical field at one end of the roof. Ceri stopped ten feet from it, Lily halting at her right shoulder, Twill hovering at her left. The spirit-form made no move, but Ceri could see the glowing pinpricks of its eyes watching her. ‘Show yourself,’ Ceri said. ‘I know you’re there, and you know I know.’

It took the form of a woman, taller than Lily by an inch or so, narrow in the hips and ribs, with a beautiful face and long, blonde hair which moved in a breeze which was not blowing. The white robes it was wearing shone brightly in the darkness. ‘Your soldiers,’ it said, ‘their weapons wound us.’

‘Yes, they were designed to,’ Ceri replied.

‘We fight with them, but they harm us.’

‘You want me to tell them to stop?’

‘To be more selective of those they fire upon.’

‘I’m not a soldier,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m not even a real policewoman.’

‘You can communicate with them.’ The voice was soft, vibrant but delicate.

‘Why don’t you tell them yourselves?’

‘You have been chosen.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘You have been chosen.’

‘Why?’ Stupid, enigmatic messengers.

‘You have been chosen.’ Ceri growled in frustration. ‘You are the only one of your kind. Dragon-blooded. Sorceress. You were chosen to pass on our message. He knows you were chosen.’

‘He?’ Ceri asked. ‘Gadriel again?’ The angel said nothing, which Ceri guessed was a yes. ‘And what’s he going to do about it?’

‘You must have faith, sorceress.’

Ceri laughed. ‘I’m not exactly religious. Don’t you people persecute sorcerers?’

The angel actually smiled. ‘One does not have to believe to have faith, child. We are watching.’ And then it was gone, wings spreading from nowhere and driving it upward in one, powerful stroke. By the time it was a body-length into the air it had vanished to normal sight, but Ceri watched the disturbance in the world’s magic rise and arc away.

‘That was… enigmatic,’ Lily said.

‘Indeed,’ Twill agreed. ‘I believe I understand why it annoys you when I do it, Ceri.’

‘Does that mean you’re going to stop?’ Ceri asked, grinning a little.

‘Of course not.’

Figures.’ Ceri turned and started for the roof hatch. ‘I guess I’d better make some phone calls.’

Westminster

The inside of Malcolm Charles’ office looked pretty much as Ceri remembered it. She felt a cabinet minister’s office should have wood panelling, like in Yes, Minister, and there should be a Parliamentary Secretary of some sort who actually ran the place. Actually, the Minister for Supernatural Affairs was damn good at his job and the civil service got on with doing their jobs rather than trying to run the country.

The building was modern and the only bit of suitably ministerial furniture was Charles’ big, oak desk. He sat behind it and looked across at the people in his territory with an element of distaste which endeared him to Ceri because she was not included in his long-suffering look, and neither was Lily. Avery Sachs from MI5, though claiming to be from the Home Office, and General Morton from Army Special Projects did get the full weight of it, but neither of them appeared to care. The two of them had been arguing for the last thirty minutes over who should have seen the attack on Mending coming. Getting less attention was the old man sat nearer to Ceri and Lily, and looking disapprovingly at the two girls while trying to ensure that no one blamed his “department.” He was Geoffrey Halford, Bishop of Oxford, and Ceri suspected he had been assigned the task of being here because he had been too infirm to step back as quickly as his fellows.

Charles flicked his gaze at the youngest people in the room. Beside Ceri and Lily, but sitting a little back from them with a laptop balanced on his thin knees, was Dennis. Dennis was Charles’ Parliamentary Private Under-secretary who took minutes in meetings and made sure that his Minister actually got to the meetings. Charles’ expression was apologetic, and Ceri got the impression the apology was for what was about to happen more than for what was happening now.

‘I did not call this meeting so that I could listen to people covering their own backsides!’ Ceri winced as Charles’ roar cut through her ear drums. She had never actually heard him shout. Dennis, apparently, had since he just carried on typing without even a flinch. ‘What I want to know is what you actually plan to do about Miss Brent’s message?’

‘I can’t comment on the theological implications of angels communicating with this… young lady and her companion,’ Halford said, his voice doddering, but carrying a distinct hint of disdain.

‘None of your people have received any such communications?’ Charles asked him.

‘No, none.’ Again his tone was disdainful; if no clergyman or church-goer had been contacted, this man doubted a practitioner and a half-demon would be.

‘Security Services evaluation?’ Charles said.

‘We have no indication of significant South American intelligence activity in Great British territory,’ Sachs said. ‘We were able to track down Justin Falk, however. He entered the country over a year ago from Spain looking for political asylum from the fascists. The unit which raided his house in Landford found papers for Alfredo Chavez, the name he was using at the time. The Falk name appears to be his real one. He was born in Cornwall in sixty-seven to an Argentinian father and an English mother. Became highly religious, following in his mother’s footsteps, and left for his father’s homeland when he was seventeen. The next thing we know about him is him turning up as Alfredo Chavez.’

‘And he was living down by the New Forest, amassing a collection of torture equipment?’ Ceri asked.

‘That’s the way it looks,’ Sachs said. ‘We think he was getting deliveries by boat, would you believe. As far as we can tell, he had two safe houses set up. We can’t find anything linking him to other groups. We can’t find any evidence connecting him to other properties.’

‘But you also can’t find him,’ Lily said.

Sachs nodded, giving Lily a hard look. ‘No, we can’t. We think he’s gone to ground, possibly in the New Forest. Living rough wouldn’t be too different from what he was doing in the houses.’ The spy glanced at Morton. ‘As the most likely location for him to be holing up, we’ve dispatched Army teams to search the Forest, but no luck so far.’

Morton apparently felt the need to defend his servicemen. ‘It’s a large area, we’re looking for one man, possibly with magical help. We’ve deployed the latest equipment, but it’s not an easy task.’

‘No one is saying it is, General,’ Charles said in a conciliatory tone. ‘Now, is there any chance we can avoid killing these “friendly” angels while we try to wipe out the invading ones?’

Morton’s brow creased. ‘I’m informed that there may be.’ Ceri thought he looked a lot like he did not like the idea. ‘Forward observers have detected distinct features in the two groups of spirits and orders could be given to avoid hitting the native ones.’

‘You have concerns?’ Charles asked.

‘We have a civilian’s word that one of these things says they are fighting for us,’ Morton replied. ‘We could be assisting one side in a civil war. They could turn on us as soon as we’ve wiped out the invading forces.’

‘Bishop?’ Charles said.

‘The Church has no opinion,’ Halford commented. ‘Since these angels have not communicated with an expert in their nature we cannot know whether they are Fallen.’

The minister grunted. Ceri thought the bishop had spent too much time in politics. Apparently Charles did too. ‘Miss Brent, your opinion?’

Ceri glanced at Lily. The half-succubus looked annoyed, and the feeling coming over their link confirmed it. Lily gave a little nod and a twitch of her face which suggested Ceri should give them Hell. Ceri nodded slightly and looked back. ‘You’ll have to excuse me,’ she said, ‘I’m not a politician, or a tactician, but I am a scientist. I work off the evidence I have. The angels who have been talking to me are all over southern England. There are a lot of them and they have supernatural powers. If they wanted to attack us, they could have done it already. Instead they just watched until Gadriel’s boys turned up. They seem to be defending their territory.’

Morton grunted derisively. ‘And that’s your considered opinion is it?’

‘No,’ Ceri replied, ‘that’s my gut instinct, but it’s based on observation. My considered opinion is that I’d trust something which appears to be concerned for my welfare more than I trust a man who wanted to build a world-destroying weapon out of paranoia, or an old man who seems annoyed that an agnostic was selected to get a message from his god.’

Morton’s face darkened and Halford looked like he was going to have a fit of apoplexy. Ceri was more than a little surprised when it was Sachs who came to her defence. ‘I agree with Miss Brent,’ the agent said. ‘Tactically, the angels hold the upper hand and have done nothing with it.’

Charles was having a little trouble keeping a straight face. ‘Are you going soft on us, Avery?’

‘I made the mistake of underestimating Miss Brent before,’ Sachs said wryly. ‘She shows an uncommonly acute awareness of what is actually going on.’ He looked across at Ceri and Lily. ‘I wouldn’t say I entirely trust some of the company you keep, but you’re both capable and reliable.’

‘We aren’t entirely sure we trust all the company we keep either,’ Lily told him. ‘Sometimes you have to work with what you’ve got.’

‘I’m going to recommend that we treat the native angels as friendlies,’ Charles said. ‘It’ll go through normal channels, but it would be useful, General, if you passed it along as a matter of urgency. Thank you all for your time.’

~~~

‘Do you think they’ll really listen?’ Lily asked as they walked toward the tube.

‘I have no idea,’ Ceri replied. ‘We can hope.’

Lily grinned. ‘Have faith?’

‘Huh,’ Ceri grunted. ‘Faith in that lot? Well… I think we can trust Malcolm, and Sachs, amazingly enough.’

‘Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that.’

‘We made a good impression, or he’s been keeping an eye on us.’

‘Perhaps both. If he knows what we did to find Terry Newton… I’d imagine that kind of thing might actually impress someone like Sachs.’

Ceri nodded. They had trawled through the underworld of London’s club scene, got information from powerful Unseelie Fae and vicious criminals. Ceri had tortured a man to get what they needed and then had had to kill Newton to save one of his victims. A lot of that had not made it into any official report, but you never knew what intelligence agents might dig up.

‘What do we do now?’ Lily asked.

‘Nothing. I don’t think there’s anything we can do. If the Army and the Greycoats can’t find Falk, I don’t think we can.’

‘You found Naira.’

‘I had Jasmine’s help and really huge motivation.’

Lily glanced at her. ‘You’re not motivated to find Falk?’

‘Yeah,’ Ceri replied, ‘I am. Trouble is, I’m really not motivated to find Gadriel. I don’t want to meet him again if I can help it. Not. At. All.’

South Lambeth, December 14th

Clapham Road was not the most pleasant way to get from High Towers to Battersea, but there were not many pleasant ways to do it, and it was a bit convoluted on the underground and not really any faster. Another third of a mile and she would cut down Lansdowne Way and into pack territory, and then she would feel happier. Right now there was an odd feeling of oppression in the air. The moon was waning, maybe that was it. Ed had told her once that the more time she spent as a wolf, the more she would start to think like them. Maybe it was happening.

She looked up at the cloudy night sky and completely failed to see what it was about the view which made her pause for a second. Frowning, she looked around at the street. There were a few other people walking along the pavements, but nothing threatening.

Giving a shrug, Ceri started off again, shifting her bag on her shoulder. She took two steps and then stopped. There were no angels on the rooftops. She looked up again, alarmed, and something hit her from behind tossing her through the air like a rag doll. She had a second to see something, a figure in chainmail with wide, flaming wings, before her head hit the paving stones.

Part Five: Inquisitio per Sigillum

Ceri opened her eyes and winced at the pain that burned through the back of her skull. It was dark and cool, and she was naked and hogtied, lying uncomfortably on her stomach. The ground under her felt like bare earth; a cellar floor? That would explain the complete darkness. The other girls Gadriel and Falk had taken had been kept in a cellar and Ceri had no doubt she had been captured by them.

She tugged on her bonds and winced again. The sounds suggested chains, and they were attached via metal cuffs and a collar. And they felt… odd. There was something weird about the metal, or the way it felt against her skin. It was when she tried to work a spell to unlock the cuffs that she realised what was wrong; something was suppressing her magic. Ceri’s stomach twisted. No magic, bound up like a Christmas turkey, in an unknown location, with an angel blocking scrying…

The sudden explosion of light in the room cut off the panic which was about to set in. Raising her head got her a view of two pairs of boots, one pair topped off by leather trousers, the other by black denims. The latter set were moving, but stopped near her face a second later. A voice came from above her, thin with a slight Spanish accent; Falk, Ceri guessed. ‘In the year of Our Lord twenty-twelve, in the month of December, on this the fifteenth day, it has come to the ears of Brother Justin Falk, Inquisitor, that witchcraft is being practiced openly in this land.’

‘Yeah,’ Ceri said, ‘stating the obvious.’

‘The defendant will be silent!’ Falk snapped

‘The only thing the defendant can do is talk, so she damn well won’t be…’ Ceri stopped as Falk’s boot glanced off the side of her head. It was not exactly a powerful blow, but it sent searing pain through her already rattled skull.

‘You are accused of the commission of acts of witchcraft, and of acts of witchcraft, and of consorting with demons, and of consorting with beasts. How do you plead?’ It sounded like he was speaking from a script. Maybe he was.

‘Not guilty,’ Ceri replied. She was expecting another kick in the head, but what she got instead was a surprise.

‘The defendant’s arguments will be heard,’ Falk intoned. ‘Raise her up.’

Four sets of hands grabbed Ceri and lifted her upward. She was just wondering whether she was going to be held off the floor in this ridiculous position when she heard chains rattling. Her arms and legs were released, briefly, and she was allowed to lower her legs to the ground, but the freedom did not last. A second later chains clanked and her wrists were pulled upward and outward, and she was left standing in a crucifixion pose.

At least she could see Falk, and Gadriel standing behind him; the people, presumably angels, who had moved her were nowhere to be seen. The inquisitor was pale, but he had a few Hispanic features. It was his eyes which were the scary part; mostly he looked like a weak, skinny man who needed to eat more and work out some, but the eyes were dark, empty aside from a hint of wild fanaticism. The angel was androgynously beautiful in a hard, angular way. He was bald with a Roman nose, hard, blue eyes, and a muscled body currently covered in leather and chainmail. He looked like the Angel of War he was supposed to be, aside from the look he was giving Ceri’s naked body, and that scared her more than anything else.

‘Why am I naked?’ Ceri asked.

Falk glared at her, but apparently his desire to be magnanimous about her trial made him answer. ‘Witches commonly secret items among their clothing to allow them to lie before God and withstand the questioning. We were unable to remove the collar from your neck or the chain around your ankle, but the enchantments on your bonds will negate any effect they may have and my advisor tells me the enchantments are of no danger.’ Ceri tried hard to keep the frown off her face; the chain was enchanted to not come off, but the collar? That was weird… Unless Luperca was with her somehow.

‘Your advisor,’ Ceri said. ‘Gadriel.’

‘The messengers of the False God told you my name,’ the angel said, a slight smirk on his lips.

‘They don’t seem to like you either,’ Ceri replied, ‘though they didn’t resort to insults.’

‘Your arguments,’ Falk snapped. ‘State why you believe yourself to be not guilty of the charges.’

‘I don’t work witchcraft and I’ve never “commissioned” anyone to practice it for me. I work magic, but not witchcraft. And I think I’ll call your advisor as witness to that.’ Ceri looked straight into Gadriel’s eyes as she said it.

‘It’s true,’ the angel said. ‘The defendant is not a witch, she is a sorceress.’

Ceri’s eyes flicked to Falk. The lack of surprise or anything similar indicated that he did not understand the implication. ‘Leviticus nineteen, sixteen,’ Falk said. ‘You are not to practice divination or sorcery.’

‘So you’re changing the charges?’ Ceri asked.

‘The punishment for witchcraft and sorcery is the same,’ Falk said.

‘Huh,’ Ceri grunted. ‘I don’t “consort” with demons or beasts.’

‘I have observed you myself with both,’ Falk countered. ‘You live with a succubus, you fornicate with werewolves.’

‘Half-succubus,’ Ceri said. ‘Lily is a half-succubus. I’ve never had sex with a demon. If you’re going to tell me that half-demon is sufficient then I’m going to have to question your nature as a Christian.’

Rather than answer, Falk asked, ‘And your fornication with the beasts?’

‘Werewolves aren’t beasts. They evolved from humans, probably as a result of exposure and adaptation to the Reoviridae lycanthropia virus. They may be able to change form, but they are on the same genetic line as humans, not wolves.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘But you can’t afford to admit that, can you? If I’m right, you killed a werewolf and tried to kill Karen Mitchem on a false premise. You committed murder.’

‘The Convocation of nineteen fifty-nine declared that all those who become beasts by their own will are beasts,’ Falk stated.

‘Dogma,’ Ceri said. ‘Doctrine. Your Church needed to declare were-creatures as something they could destroy without thought. They needed an enemy for their war, so they just decided, without evidence, that were-creatures were beasts.’

‘Blasphemy,’ Falk said. There was a smile on his face, bleak but triumphant, as though she had fallen into a trap.

‘Fact,’ Ceri replied. ‘Not that facts have ever had anything to do with your Church’s decisions, have they? Anything facing the “Chosen People” has been fair game for millennia. They don’t have to attack you, they just have to be standing in the way of what you want.’

Falk raised his hand and Ceri braced herself for the blow, but Gadriel’s vibrant voice stopped it. ‘She has denied her guilt, Brother Falk. She must be questioned and appropriately encouraged to admit her guilt and given opportunity to recant her blasphemous ways.’

Falk lowered his hand, slowly and obviously reluctantly. ‘You are… right. The defendant will remain in isolation to consider changing her plea prior to questioning.’

‘You mean torture,’ Ceri said.

Falk looked her in the eye and nodded. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Only torture is guaranteed to bring the truth out of your kind.’ He turned and walked off to a flight of wooden stairs at the back of the room. The last thing Ceri saw before the room was plunged into darkness was Gadriel’s face. He was smiling at her.

~~~

Exactly how long she was left in the dark Ceri could not tell. She could not tell whether she was alone. She heard nothing and saw nothing. There was no feeling that anyone else was there. Without her Sight, however, she was entirely blind. Gadriel, or one of the other angels which had manhandled her, could have been right there, watching, but she could not tell.

At first it had been easy enough, but with no way to move about her legs started to get tired fairly quickly. She tried resting her weight on her arms, but her shoulders started to hurt taking her weight. Sleeping was out of the question and she began to wish they had left her hogtied.

She blinked when the light returned, squinting as Falk descended the stairs. ‘Are you ready to confess?’ his reedy voice asked. There was no sign of Gadriel this time.

‘Go fuck yourself,’ Ceri said. She was feeling eloquent.

Falk nodded. ‘Your police confiscated my tools. I’ve been required to improvise, but I assure you that I have had considerable training in extracting the truth. You will confess everything to me.’ He stepped under the chain attached to her right cuff and walked behind her. After a second or two there was a scraping sound, and then water dripping. Ceri tried to turn her head to see what he was doing, but her movement was too restricted. Something wet and spongy was pressed against her left hip. ‘You are a sorceress and a blasphemer,’ Falk said. ‘Admit it?’

‘You have no right…’ Something pressed against her right hip and her body was on fire. The pain stopped and she realised she was still screaming. Her body was convulsing still, yanking on the chains holding her arms up, and when it was finally over she was left hanging, her full weight on her shoulders.

‘Confess,’ Falk said.

Ceri said nothing in reply. There was no point. She knew what was coming and tried to brace herself for it, but there was nothing you could do to prepare yourself for that kind of pain. A second later she was screaming again.

~~~

There was darkness and silence, and there was pain burning in her arms and shoulders. Feeling like a just born deer, Ceri forced her legs under her and tried to stand. She was shaking and it seemed to take a lot of effort to stand, but she managed it, taking the weight off her screaming arms. She let out a sobbing cry as the cuffs, which had been cutting into her wrists, came loose. They felt sticky.

Then she heard the voice, soft, seductive, vibrant, and in her head. ‘I can take the pain away.’ Gadriel. She could not sense him. If he was there in the room with her he was immaterial, but his voice seemed close, like he was whispering in her ear.

‘If I confess?’

‘Submit yourself to me.’ That was not an answer to her question. ‘I can teach you as I have taught so many. As I taught the first of your kind. Submit to me.’

Ceri’s brain was not exactly firing on all cylinders. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘You will.’

Even if she could not feel him there before she knew he had gone, leaving her alone in the dark once more.

~~~

Ceri woke up as a pair of androgynous figures in white robes carried her across the cellar, putting her down on a wooden plank seat with a hole in it and a bucket underneath. She saw others with buckets and mops taking care of the reason why the latrine break was unnecessary; anything she had to relieve herself of had been lost when Falk had applied the electrodes. Now, with her brain beginning to work slightly better, she realised how bad the stench was.

‘This is kind of pointless,’ Ceri said, her voice sounding thick in her ears, ‘I’ve got nothing left to go with.’

The angels ignored her, instead lifting her unresisting arms over her head and attachin her cuffs to rings on the wall high enough to stretch her spine. Then her legs were wrenched apart, not that it took too much effort, and chained to the floor. Humiliation, wonderful.

The smell of disinfectant started to overcome the acrid odour of urine and faeces. Ammonia stung Ceri’s nostrils and she gagged, then coughed. The angels ignored her, vanishing away or gliding up the stairs carrying the cleaning equipment. She was alone again, but at least she was in the light and sitting down. She was even able to relax a little. It was not exactly a comfortable position, but far better than before.

Falk walking down the steps destroyed any slight improvement in mood Ceri had developed. He stopped in front of her and looked down, his expression thoughtful. ‘You see, I can be merciful. I can ease your pain.’ Yeah, she was getting that a lot. ‘You believe that a confession will bring about your death,’ Falk said. He was trying for soft and conciliatory, but he just did not have the voice for it. ‘I am not required to execute you… if you recant your mistaken beliefs. Give yourself up to Our Lord and you can be saved.’

‘Saved?’ Ceri asked. ‘Is that what you promised Suzie Shore? Is that what you said you were doing for Naira?’

‘Naira? Oh, the beast-girl.’ He was not making himself more popular. ‘I was given specific instructions about any fleeing criminals I discovered. Shore had faith and lost it. Her plea to be allowed to return to the fold was accepted.’

‘So I get saved and shipped back to Brazil?’

‘You will do God’s work in the new Promised Land.’

‘Yeah,’ Ceri said, ‘I’m sure I would. I think I’ll decline.’

Falk turned and started for the stairs again. ‘As you wish.’

The lights went out and the door slammed shut. This time she heard the lock being turned. It seemed pointless; she could barely move. A demonstration of the futility of her position? The tactics being used seemed obvious; a variation on good cop, bad cop. Torture her, then be nice to her. Now what?

‘I can influence him, Ceridwyn.’ Ceri flinched. It was the first time the angel had used her name. ‘Submit to me and I will see to it that your pain ends. Join with me. I can teach you. I can show you pleasure you have never known.’

‘Weren’t you paying attention? I’m accused of “consorting” with a succubus.’ She managed a weak laugh. ‘Believe me, we’ve got “consorting” down to a fine art.’

‘I could take you,’ he replied, ‘but I prefer to wait. You will accept me as your kind has always done. As the first woman did in her weakness. You are weak, Ceridwyn. You will submit.’

‘Get lost,’ Ceri told him, but he already had. Now she had an angel trying to get into her knickers? Not that she was wearing any. Why? And why the emphasis on submission? If, for some perverted reason, he wanted her, he could just take her. Unless he could not…

Father Król had said Gadriel had possibly been the angel who seduced Eve. If you believed, Eve was the first woman, so he was basically admitting he really had got Man kicked out of Eden. If you believed in it. But he had had to seduce her. He was “the opposer.” He had been given the task of tempting Eve, not raping her. And then there had been the Nephilim which came after, the products of angels seducing human women. Seduction, not rape. Gadriel needed her to submit to him.

Ceri smiled in the darkness. Gadriel, the great Angel of War, seducer of Eve, the original serpent, had a weakness. Not that it was getting her out of this mess.

~~~

A straw was pushed between her lips and she sucked liquid into her parched throat before wondering what it was. Thankfully it seemed to be water. Two or three hard pulls and the straw was pulled away again. She tried to lean forward after it, but she was still chained to the wall and came up short with a cry of pain which came out as more of a croak.

‘Easy,’ Falk’s voice said. ‘You’ll be sick if you drink too quickly.’

Ceri blinked, prying her eyes open to look at him. She was almost glad to hear his voice. It had been dark and silent in the cellar for… She had no way of knowing how long, but her aching stomach and dry mouth suggested it had been a long time. He moved the straw back and she sucked water down again, slower this time. Her eyes stayed on his, willing him to keep allowing her to drink.

Eventually he took the drink away and reached around to get a plate. There was bread on it, spread with what looked like honey. ‘Are you ready to admit your misdeeds?’ Falk asked.

‘If I say no do I still get fed?’

He grunted a laugh; it was the first sign he had any positive emotions. Lifting a slice of bread, he folded it and allowed her to take a bite. White bread and honey, it was sort of biblical. He should have given her milk instead of water. ‘Your friends, your so-called police force, they won’t find you.’ Ceri chewed and swallowed, and he fed her more of the bread. ‘Gadriel’s power keeps us shielded from them. Your only hope is me.’ Another bite. ‘I give you food and water, without me you’ll die.’ Another bite went in and Ceri swallowed it.

‘You know, I’ve been tortured before,’ Ceri said. He raised an eyebrow and then fed her the last bit of bread. She swallowed it down. ‘I was repeatedly raped to get information out of me. Thing was, I didn’t have any information to give them.’ He fed her the next piece of bread, saying nothing. Ceri swallowed. ‘I told them then that if you’re torturing someone, they have to have something to lose.’ She got another bite of bread.

‘You’re telling me you have nothing to gain by confessing?’

Ceri swallowed and said, ‘I’m finding it hard to see what.’

He gave her the last bite of bread, and then some more water, without saying anything in reply. He stood up, and pulled a packet of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket. ‘Confessing our sins is the way to absolution. Through absolution we gain forgiveness.’ He pulled out one of the cigarettes and lit it. ‘It grants us entry into Heaven and allows us to participate in the life of the Church.’

‘There you are,’ Ceri said, ‘I don’t believe in Heaven, or Hell. Not the ones you do anyway.’

Falk nodded and took a drag on his cigarette, blowing out the smoke high into the air where it made vaporous curtains in the light from the single bulb. ‘Would you care for one?’ he asked her, sitting down on the stool in front of her.

‘No, thank you, I don’t smoke.’

‘No,’ Falk said, ‘neither do I.’ His hand dropped and the burning stub of tobacco landed on Ceri’s inner thigh.

~~~

It was dark again, but Ceri could not sleep. The burns on her thighs, stomach, and breasts stung. Her jaw ached where he had struck her when his frustration finally came to a head. That had been her only tiny triumph, and it had been a painful one.

Unable to sleep, but with food and water in her stomach, she thought. Falk had made a point of telling her that her friends and the police would not find her. That meant they were trying; well, of course they were. It meant that Gadriel had told Falk that they were trying, but… Falk had said he was her only hope. Gadriel had said he could help her. Falk did not know Gadriel was coming to her. No, that made sense. What would Falk think if he knew the angel wanted her that way? Falk probably did not know about Gadriel’s history with Eve either.

Gadriel needed her submission, but it seemed that Falk needed her confession. He had evidence that she could work magic. Gadriel, if no one else, could bear witness to that. So why was he going to so much effort to gain a confession? Why did they both seem to need her to give up? To give in to their demands?

Of course, that was it. Falk wanted her to give in. He wanted her to give herself up to his Church, and the forgiveness of his god, and to be something they could use in their war.

Gadriel was another matter. She got the strong feeling that it was something personal with him. Or some greater plan, but it felt personal. It felt like lust, surely a cardinal sin. Perhaps he had fallen, lost his faith.

She shook her head. Where did that get her? Falk would likely not kill her or ship her abroad until he had her confession. Except that if he kept leaving her alone for days and then used more and more extreme torture she was going to be dead in a couple of days anyway. If no one managed to penetrate Gadriel’s shields soon it would not matter who was looking for her. She needed a way to let them see her…

‘You will not last much longer.’ Gadriel’s voice was soft and comforting, even if his words were not. ‘I can ease your pain. I can keep you alive and help you through his trials.’

‘If I submit to you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Some people say you fell.’

‘I have always done my God’s work. I have always had faith in the Word.’

Faith. People had been telling her she needed to have faith a lot recently. ‘All right,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘All right,’ Ceri repeated. ‘I submit. I accept you.’

There was a sound like a sigh and she felt him. She had expected some sort of physical intrusion, but instead it felt as though he was merging with her body. It took all the will Ceri had not to fight back. She felt him inside her, wrapping around her mind and soul, twisting around the physical bridge at the base of her two medians and then…

Ceri gasped. It was as though a dozen hands were stroking her skin, soothing away the pain from the burns and replacing it with exquisite, tender touches. Her breasts, her neck received tender caresses and her nipples hardened under their touch, even though she was sure the sensations were not exactly real. She was suddenly, irrationally, aroused. He was manipulating her body and mind, making her feel things, making her want more, and she let herself go with it.

The touches became more intimate, sliding over her spread thighs and wiping away the lingering pain. She felt fingers on her labia, her clitoris, massaging, circling, stroking. She heard herself moaning. There were hands everywhere, caressing her body, squeezing her nipples. She was panting even before something seemed to fill her, the penetration deep and thick, thrusting into her, over and over. And she gave herself up to it, letting herself fall into the pleasure which went on and on.

As her orgasm finally broke she felt him within her and the ecstasy he was feeling at her release. Her body, her mind, were his. Even her soul was blanketed in the warmth of his desire, his love. She belonged to him entirely… She felt him falter slightly as he encountered one tiny spark within her which he did not own, and she felt him leave her, the emptiness like an ache until it filled again with a different warm glow.

Ceri smiled in the darkness.

~~~

They had moved her again. Her ankles were chained to a ring in the floor, her wrists were behind her back and pulled upwards, bending her over and threatening to dislocate her shoulders. It was known as the strappado, a medieval technique which had never entirely gone out of fashion. Lily had demonstrated it to her once in the dungeon at High Towers and Ceri was using the memory of that afternoon to help her through this. She was not sure she would ever be able to put Lily through it again, even in play, but it was a good memory and…

Falk tightened the chains and Ceri screamed, pushing up onto her toes to try to relieve the pressure on her shoulders.

‘Confess!’ Falk barked out.

‘Go,’ Ceri stammered out, ‘to Hell.’ Lily. Think of Lily. Beautiful Lily waiting at home…

The chains tightened again and the strain on her shoulders sent searing pain through her arms and into her chest. She screamed so hard she barely heard the explosion. There was noise and voices. Gunfire.

Falk’s voice yelling something like, ‘In the name of the Lord!’

Gadriel’s resonant voice raised in anger and yelling for an attack.

There was the sound of fire roaring and guns firing, and something like a high-pitched whine she had heard before but could not place.

‘Get her down!’

‘Get those chains off her!’

‘My God! What’s the bastard been doing to her!’

The pain seeped away from her arms as she was grabbed by strong arms and the chains released.

‘Where are the keys?’

‘Never mind, let me see.’ Ceri blinked. That last voice sounded familiar. Soft, yet resonant and authoritative. Alexandra?!

She was pulled upright. There were cops in tactical gear on the stairs, and she saw Kate and John, Barry behind them, at the top. The grey she-wolf standing over Falk’s body was Anita and beside her was the black form of Alec. As the cuffs fell from her wrists she knew that was Alexandra’s touch she could feel, but in truth she was only really focussed on the two faces in front of her. Lily and Michael were there, helping her stand and looking both worried and immensely relieved.

‘Get her to hospital,’ Barry said from the top of the stairs.

‘No,’ Ceri said. ‘No, I want to go home. I can treat myself if you get this collar off. I want to go home.’ She looked up at the detectives at the top of the stairs. ‘I need to go home now.’

The ankle cuffs were already gone. ‘We’ll take you there, dear,’ Alexandra said as she unlocked the collar. ‘You’re safe now.

Ceri smiled at Lily and Michael. ‘I always was.’

Part Six: Faith

Kennington, London, December 19th, 2011

‘How did you find me?’ Ceri asked. She was curled up on her chair in the lounge under a blanket and beside a roaring fire. Michael was sat at her feet, Lily at her right side, and Twill was perched on the other arm of the chair. Alexandra sat across from her, and Carter, Alec, and Cheryl were sat on chairs around them as though forming a barrier against the world outside. Ceri felt protected, very protected.

‘When you did not turn up in the park,’ Alexandra said, ‘Michael went out looking for you with a squad of guards.’

‘I found your bag,’ Michael said. ‘I knew something had happened, so I came here and called Lily at the Dragon while the others tried to catch a scent of you. Of course they got nothing.’

‘I called Kate,’ Lily said, ‘and they got their diviners onto it immediately, but they were finding nothing either.’

‘Which is where Alexandra and I came in,’ Carter said. Ceri blinked. It seemed as though more or less everyone had been involved. ‘We both came here and began searching for you, using Lily as our focus. As you did, we went to the summoning room… And that was when your ancestor showed up.’

‘Gwyn?’ Ceri said. ‘Brenhines?’

‘Yes,’ Lily said. ‘She appeared. Used that statue thing to make contact. She said she could help.’

‘She said that the angel was keeping you hidden,’ Alexandra said, ‘but she could teach us a way of keeping up a constant watch to catch even the slightest hint of contact and locate it. If we could understand what she was telling us.’

‘Which was where Cheryl came in,’ Alec said.

Ceri looked around at her boss. Of all the people in the room, she was the only one with no supernatural ability at all. ‘It wasn’t that hard,’ Cheryl said. ‘She had to explain a couple of the notation glyphs, but I figured it out and explained it to them.’

‘And then we worked it in shifts,’ Cater said, ‘until suddenly we got something. I don’t know what you did, or what happened, but for about thirty seconds there was a clear impression of your location.’

‘The Greycoats wanted to handle the assault themselves,’ Michael said, ‘but we were pretty determined to be there.’ Ceri smiled. Even Carter and Cheryl had been there, waiting outside when she had walked, unsteadily, from the house. ‘We would have been there faster if they hadn’t been holding you in some hovel near the coast.’

‘I was surprised to see you in the thick of it, Alexandra,’ Ceri said.

‘They needed me to hold the angels off while those nasty guns of theirs did their job,’ the Alpha replied. ‘Anita, of course, insisted on accompanying me.’

Ceri sighed and laid back against her chair. Her wounds were healed. There were not even scars after her magic had done its work. She felt… good, though she was dreading what sleep might bring. ‘I owe all of you,’ she said, ‘big time.’

‘Don’t be an arse, girl,’ Alec said with characteristic abruptness.

‘You have saved every single one of us,’ Carter said, ‘personally or collectively.’

‘Exactly,’ Alec agreed. ‘At the very least we’re even, but frankly we’d have done it anyway.’

‘You’ve always been there when we needed you,’ Cheryl said.

‘You’re one of my pack, dear,’ Alexandra said, smiling.

‘And we love you,’ Lily added softly.

Westminster, December 21st

‘So,’ Chief Inspector Barry began, ‘Falk is dead.’ Ceri had insisted she was quite well enough to go into Greycoat Street for the debriefing. Michael had insisted that if she was going to do that, then he was going to be with her. So they were all sat around one of the conference room tables. ‘Forensics pulled eight bullets out of him,’ Barry went on, ‘and he caught some of the backwash from the angels’ fire that Alexandra blocked for us. Sachs over at the Home Office was not best pleased. MI5 and Special Branch have started conducting investigations into the whole business.’

‘What about Gadriel?’ Ceri asked.

‘The Tactical boys say he took several hits from the special rifles.’ The detective shrugged slightly, effectively animating Ceri’s doubts. ‘We have no idea what that actually did to him. What we do know is that the angels who came off that boat retreated immediately after the raid, and our diviners are saying that the other angels have now effectively gone. They’re sensing a couple around the country, and they suspect that’s normal. Before all this started they weren’t looking for angels hanging around buildings.’

‘The ones on Saint Mark’s are gone,’ Lily said.

‘And Alexandra says the ones around Battersea Park have taken off too,’ Michael added.

Barry turned and looked at the young werewolf, a thoughtful expression on his face as he sucked on a tooth. ‘You’re back in my conference room and being useful, young man.’

‘Sorry, sir,’ Michael replied.

‘You will be. I spoke to your Alpha while she was assisting us with Ceridwyn’s recovery. We’ll arrange for you to do the induction course early in the new year. I told these two the same, if I can’t keep you out of my cases, I’ll have to employ you.’

Ceri and Lily giggled as Michael’s jaw worked up and down several times. ‘The pack press-ganged me into the Guard,’ Ceri said. ‘I think it’s only fair you get dragged into the police.’

Barry grunted a half-laugh. ‘We don’t drag, young lady,’ he said. ‘We cordially invite, with menaces.’

Battersea

No one actually said anything, but the entire pack managed to make contact with Ceri at some point during the night. It was going to be New Moon on Saturday night, which was also Christmas Eve. The wolves were quiet as the funk they felt with the dark moon settled in. In truth, Ceri felt the same though for a different reason. Tonight was the Winter Solstice.

As if to remind her of the winter before, a cold wind blew over the river as Ceri and Michael stood on the bank, twisting around and between them, no matter how closely they hugged each other. It was still warmer than the previous year, and back then she had barely known the young man, currently a wolf-man, whose arms she was wrapped in. A year ago, in fact, she had just met him and had run off to Stonehenge to try to save the world.

She should be getting used to being tortured before Christmas. It was not just the last two years, when she had actually had people applying real, honest torture. She could remember the lead up to the first Christmas after her parents’ death and if she were really honest that had made the last two years seem like a picnic in the park on a warm summer afternoon. Hell, having a lighted cigarette applied to the underside of her breast had been less painful than waking up every morning for two weeks knowing it was almost Christmas and she was alone. She shuddered.

Cold? Michael growled. Run more? Go fire?

Ceri shook her head, rubbed her muzzle against his, and pulled his arms tighter around her waist. They would go to the fire on the island soon enough, but she wanted more time with relatively few people wishing her well. There seemed to have been a lot of that about. Too much. She was not that fragile. This time the shudder was a shiver. Okay, so she was cold.

Fire, Ceri growled. Yes, cold!

With a rumble which amounted to laughter, he took off into the park toward the bandstand, and then a left turn to bring them around the boathouse. He was about to dive into the lake when she caught his arm and shook her head. Stuff that, it was cold. There was a shimmer from her hands and then she darted off across the surface of the water. Michael blinked his amber eyes and then followed her, running across the water surface with a surprised bark.

Anita, in human form and wrapped in a blanket, met them at the edge of the clearing. ‘I’m glad you’re here,’ she said to Ceri. ‘Alexandra’s acting… oddly. She’s just been sat there for the last twenty minutes. Not saying a thing, not moving. She’s not responding to anything we say…’

Ceri reached up to her throat and shifted form. Anita was handing her a blanket before she spoke. ‘Thanks,’ she said, wrapping the wool around her shoulders. ‘I’ll take a look.’ She stepped forward into the clearing and cast her Sight on the Alpha sat beside the fire. She gasped; Alexandra was practically blinding. ‘I think I know what’s wrong,’ she said. ‘It’s okay. I’ll talk to her.’

Walking in the blanket was a little difficult, especially while trying to keep the cold air out, but she scurried over, settling down on the grass in front of Alexandra and looking up into eyes which shone with life. ‘You’re worrying her pack, Luperca,’ Ceri said, keeping her voice low. ‘You could have at least let them know she was all right.’

Alexandra’s lips moved, but the voice was different. Luperca was less used to using vocal chords to speak. ‘I was enjoying being among a pack again. It has been a year. Has it been a good year, Ceridwyn?’

‘It’s had its ups and downs. It’s been good for the packs. You’ve been good for them.’

‘Thank you.’ The smile was a little lopsided.

‘You know I was kidnapped recently?’ There was a nod in reply. ‘They couldn’t take my collar off…’

‘There was not too much I could do, but I was able to ensure they did not take it, and provide strength to Alexandra when she needed it. Gods, as you like to refer to us, have limitations just as you do.’

Ceri nodded. ‘Well, my thanks for that. I’d… like you to meet some people, if that’s okay?’

‘Not too many. I can’t stay much longer.’

Nodding again, Ceri waved at Anita and Michael, signalling them to come over. She looked up at them as they arrived looking confused at what was happening. ‘Keep your voices down,’ Ceri said. ‘Anita, Michael, I’d like you to meet Luperca. Luperca, Anita is Alexandra’s Captain, and Michael is my mate.’

The goddess in the Alpha’s body chuckled softly. ‘I know them, but it is a pleasure to meet you both face to face.’

The two wolves looked entirely dumbfounded. Anita finally managed to get out, ‘It’s, uh, our pleasure, Goddess.’

‘Pssht!’ Luperca said. ‘You are warriors. Fine ones. You do not see this young human, even if she carries ancient blood, bowing down before me. Neither should you.’

Michael, still in wolf form, settled down beside Ceri, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Mate special, he growled out.

‘You are all special, my child. Never let anyone, human, wolf, or other, tell you anything else. I was once like you, a “simple” werewolf. There is no limit to what you can become.’ She paused and her eyes drifted closed. ‘I will be with you…’

Alexandra’s eyes flickered open and she looked at the people gathered around her, perplexed. ‘I didn’t nod off, did I?’ she asked. ‘I know I’m getting old, but…’

Ceri chuckled. ‘Luperca dropped in for a chat.’

‘Ah.’ Alexandra began checking her clothes. ‘I hope she didn’t do anything too strange.’

‘She was very discrete,’ Ceri said, ‘and she didn’t make you change so there’ll be no rips.’

The Alpha let out a relieved sigh. ‘Good. I like this dress.’

From the looks Ceri got from Anita and Michael, they did not think her giggling fit an appropriate response to someone who had just embodied a goddess.

Soho, December 23rd

In some respects it was an easy night at the Jade Dragon. They were all in big, fluffy snow boots with low heels. However, the rest of the outfit consisted of furry cuffs, satin rabbit ears, and a puffball tail on the back of their thongs. Everything else was paint forming a ski-suit.

Illusory snowflakes drifted down from the ceiling for the “snow bunnies” to walk through as they delivered drinks. There were a fair number of celebrities in to deliver them to because this was the Dragon’s public Christmas party and it tended to attract the rich and famous even more than usual. The one group of customers missing were the werewolves; outside the moon was dark and the wolves were sticking to their homes and territories.

The undead count was actually lower than usual. Christmas was a rather human festival and, while there were plenty of vampires who continued to celebrate it, they left the public displays of frivolity to the living. Ceri, for one, was not unhappy about that.

Cheryl was up at the bar, perched on a stool in a halter-necked, sheath dress which shaded from a slightly translucent, icy blue at the neck to an opaque, snow-white at the ankle. Carter was employing all of his skill as a club owner and expert host to keep his hands off her. Alec was enjoying the view and wearing a huge grin. Lily was not helping matters in the least since the half-bunny, half-demon was flirting happily with Cheryl and was certainly not keeping her hands to herself.

‘Would you mind keeping your pet under control?’ Carter said as Ceri arrived at the bar.

Ceri smirked. Cheryl’s throat was flushed and her nipples were tenting the thin fabric of her gown. She turned and raised an eyebrow at Carter. ‘You seriously think I’m dressed for being all authoritative and dommy?’

The playboy looked at her for a second and then leaned over to whisper in her ear. ‘I realised when we were using her to trace you why it was so easy to do so.’ Ceri felt her heart sinking into her stomach. Carter was the last person she wanted to know Lily was bound to her. She was sure he would disapprove. Enthusiastically disapprove. Except that he could have said something before now and he had not… ‘Lily explained the circumstances,’ he said softly, ‘and your reluctance. I don’t believe I would have had the courage, considering what you risk if you’re found out.’

‘Then you understand why I won’t use that to order her about,’ Ceri whispered back.

‘Yes,’ Carter said, ‘but she’s driving me insane and I’m not above blackmail.’

Ceri giggled, getting a chuckle in response from Carter. ‘Lily, I think you’ve wound her up enough now,’ Ceri said.

Lily pouted. Cheryl said, ‘I don’t mind, really.’

‘Okay,’ Ceri replied, ‘I think she’s wound Carter up enough now.’

Cheryl pouted this time.

December 24th

The wind of the night before had gone and the early morning of Christmas Eve was actually not that cold. Ceri and Lily walked down Dean Street wrapped in their coats. Ceri was smiling; her feet were far warmer in the thick boots than the heels she normally wore to work.

‘This must be the first time we’ve been alone together since we got you back,’ Lily said.

Ceri chuckled. ‘Yeah, I guess it is.’

There was a second or two of silence, punctuated only by their soft footfalls on the paving stones. ‘There were a few moments, after he took you, that I thought you were gone. Dead.’ Lily’s voice was bleak. ‘I couldn’t feel you, but the chain wouldn’t come off so I knew you were alive.’

‘Falk said they couldn’t remove the chain,’ Ceri said. ‘I think they could’ve cut it off if they’d tried, but Gadriel had told him it wouldn’t help me so they left it.’

‘Huh, if they’d cut it off we’d have thought you were dead.’

‘Yeah. I think he was hoping the libido increase would work for him.’

‘Hmm. I felt some of the pain when they tortured you, but neither Alexandra nor Carter could pick anything up. Then there was something else, really intense pleasure, and that’s when they got the signal.’

Ceri nodded. ‘You remember that old priest saying Gadriel was the angel who seduced Eve? He was. He wanted me. I figured he couldn’t maintain the blocking spell if he was… Well, it worked.’

‘It didn’t quite feel like sex.’

‘It wasn’t. He… possessed me. He took over my mind and body. He wanted my soul, I think. He wanted me to give up everything.’

‘But you didn’t.’

‘No, not quite. I held onto something, just one thing, and that kept him from taking me entirely. I don’t think I could have held him off a second time. I’m glad it worked and he lost his concentration.’

‘Yeah,’ Lily said. ‘So am I.’

They walked on a little further until the Chinese arch at the bottom of the road was visible and the lights began to brighten again.

‘What was it?’ Lily asked.

‘Hmm?’

‘The thing you held onto?’

‘Oh, it’s not obvious? It was you. I had faith in you. I knew you would find me if I could give you a chance.’

‘Me?’ Lily said, her voice a tiny squeak.

‘Of course, love,’ Ceri said, smiling at her pet demon. ‘People kept telling me I had to have faith. Father Król said it. He said I didn’t need faith in God, just faith. I chose to have faith in you.’

‘Oh,’ Lily said. ‘I… I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone have faith in me before.’

Ceri laughed. ‘Don’t be silly. I’ve had faith in you for years. I might not have realised it, not like that anyway, but I have. So suck it up.’

Kennington, December 25th

Christmas morning started late. The Jade Dragon’s Christmas party had kept them out until around three am, and even Michael’s moonstruck spirits had been unable to stay maudlin in the face of the staff of the Dragon and the Collar Club, and their various partners, enjoying themselves.

People were being a little delicate with Ceri, which she was annoyed about. She was perfectly fit, physically, and the mental scars would heal a lot faster if she could get back to normal. That was her opinion anyway, and she was getting a little grumpy about people treating her with kid gloves when she noticed Lily talking to Naira. Five minutes later Ceri was being dragged out to the middle of the floor, sat in a chair, and both Naira and Jasmine were competing to give her a lap dance. After that things had got significantly better.

And they had tumbled home and fallen into lovemaking which was less frantic than usual, but it felt like that was just how it was, rather than anyone being gentle with the recently kidnapped girl. So that was okay, and sleep had finally claimed them and they had dozed until Twill flew in around ten am.

Ceri had looked up at the small, brown woman hovering over her, reached up with one hand, caught Twill, and pulled her down to the bed. Turning between Lily and Michael, Ceri had lain flat, sat Twill on her chest, and held her there until the fairy had given up with a giggle and laid her head down.

After another hour or so of fitful snoozing, they had slowly woken, but stayed in bed. Twill lying on Ceri’s chest, Michael on one side and Lily on the other, they had chatted about nothing much. Lily had described Ceri’s lap dance the night before in embarrassing detail. Ceri had talked about Luperca turning up to visit the pack. And then they had finally got out of bed when Lily had suggested making Twill bigger again with fairly obvious intent. Twill had rebuffed the overture with, ‘Not now, dear, I have a turkey cooking,’ which did not mean they could not do it later, but it did mean it was time to rise.

There had been less time than the previous year for shopping. Somehow it did not matter. Among the practical gifts, like a new copy of The Practitioner’s Handbook for Ceri, were the awesome ones and the incredibly important ones. Michael did not have much money, but he had saved little bits through the year to buy Ceri and Lily silver chains with carved, wolf’s head pendants on them. He had not left Twill out either since she had got a short silver chain which she could use as a belt. Twill had got Ceri a signet ring marked with her personal rune; practical and sentimental in one present. And there had been giggles as Lily had unwrapped a little succubus doll, complete with horns and a pointy tail.

It was after the turkey had been reduced to a skeleton and the consumption of a little too much wine, that the four of them sat down in front of the TV to watch whatever was on. That was when Ceri spotted the little package on the cabinet beside the screen. Giggling, she bounced up and opened it. ‘I forgot about this. I know it’s not exactly Christmassy…’

Twill, perched on Michael’s shoulder, shrugged. ‘I have no doubt we were going to end up with home grown porn at some point this evening.’

Ceri put the disk in the player and settled down on the couch between Michael and Lily. She gave it until the second scene before they were playing along, but aside from a little groping and stroking, and a lot of cuddling, they managed to watch all the way through to the final scene.

‘That’s you!’ Michael squeaked, looking around Ceri at Lily. ‘That’s the dungeon downstairs!’

The half-succubus giggled. ‘Tawni needed a final scene. We filmed it in the dungeon with fixed cameras and no script. Three female slaves entertaining their Mistress.’

Michael turned back to the screen in time to see the three slaves kneeling on the rough, stone floor as the “Mistress” stalked into shot in a black corset, thigh-high boots, and a mask. His jaw dropped open.

‘I think you’ve melted his brain,’ Twill commented.

‘It’s not like he hasn’t seen me in a corset before,’ Ceri said.

‘You don’t normally have three hot women at your beck and call,’ Lily suggested. ‘Maybe that’s it.’

‘I think,’ Twill said, ‘that he wasn’t expecting to see you prancing around on a screen.’

‘You’re right,’ Ceri said, ‘it’s probably that.’

Michael’s eyes were fixed to the TV and he was starting to make little whimpering noises.

‘Are you sure he’s not just disappointed we didn’t ask him to be in it?’ Lily said.

All three women looked at the werewolf. He licked his lips.

‘I’ll, um, put my corset on after the movie’s finished,’ Ceri said.

Lily giggled. ‘Are you sure you should wait that long?’

‘Hell yeah!’ Ceri replied, leaning back on the couch. ‘There’s no way I’m wearing a corset this soon after Twill’s Christmas dinner.’

###

Housemates

Kennington, London, November 2005

It was a simple matter of economics. Lily was quite determined to take the chance Carter had given her. Her job at the Jade Dragon was an opportunity to get out of the sex industry, to get off her back and, more importantly, out of the pit of more and more dangerous activities she had been falling down. Unfortunately, being a waitress did not pay anything like as much as indie and illegal porn movies. Lily needed to cut her expenses and that meant moving out of the centre of the city.

She walked out of the Oval tube station and looked around. Across the road was a church, blocky and pale with a high cupola over it. If she remembered right, the long, straight road to her right was Clapham Road, and the long, straight road on the left was Kennington Park Road. Straight ahead was Camberwell New Road. This place had a lot of long, straight roads.

There was also a park, which made sense really since it was on the other side of Kennington Park Road. She had heard that there were squats on the road across the park, Saint Agnes Place. They would be a real downgrade from her current flat, but they had the huge advantages of being free and well out of sight, off the grid, so to speak. Checking the traffic, she cut across the road and headed through the gate.

The trees were bare, of course, but it looked like a nice place. Not one of London’s larger parks, to be sure, but with a couple of big, open lawns and some sort of sporting facilities. A little run down maybe… Well the little tea house looked as though someone was keeping it running and maintained. From the gate it looked newly painted. Still, check out the squats first so that meant cutting off the path and through the trees to the other side, so that was the way she went. At least there was no mud; her heeled pumps were not exactly built for cross-country trekking.

Coming out of the trees she saw the house. It looked entirely out of place at the edge of the park, on a street full of fairly normal terrace houses. Then again, the only place it would have looked normal was on the set of a Hammer horror movie. Three storeys and a fairly large attic space, high windows which looked like they had seen better days. There were cobwebs and broken panes. The railings around the flat roof had bats built into them. Lily grinned. It looked kind of disused. The fence around it looked like it could use some work. Maybe that was one of the squats.

Lily was about to go knock on the door when a tall woman with short, black hair appeared from the front of it, walking around the little gravel path and out through the arbour at the side. She was dressed in a neat, blue jacket and jeans which could have fit better, but were clean and unpatched. Lily took in the long legs, trim body, fairly small chest, slightly masculine features; yes, the jawline was strong, that was what did it, but actually she would be kind of pretty if she did not look like she was scared of her own shadow. The girl stopped on the path, looking around as though she expected to be mugged at any moment. Really hesitant, that was what she was. Apparently coming to a decision, the girl turned and walked off toward Saint Agnes Place, vanishing out of sight behind some buildings.

Now those buildings looked more like squats; scruffy in the badly maintained sense. Unfortunately, they also had big metal plates bolted over the windows and, when Lily followed the dark-haired girl around onto the street, the doors were similarly sealed. The nearest one looked like it was a Rastafari temple, or had been before someone had locked it up tighter than a drum. None of the other nearby buildings were open; it looked like the squats had been shut down. Damn! Well, there were still flats around here she could probably rent for far less than her current one.

What she needed was some inside information. Turning back into the park, Lily headed for the tearooms. She was willing to bet someone there would know where the good places to stay were.

~~~

There were a few shops on Camberwell New Road, right around the corner from the house and one of them was a newsagent-come-off licence which would put cards in the window for a couple of pounds. That was where Ceri took her own little six-by-four index card with the carefully written advertisement on it.

It was a simple matter of economics. She was a student. The house had no mortgage, but it was starting to need maintenance. There were the usual bills, and she was on a grant from the local council, not a real salary. She needed extra money, and maybe she did not really want a lodger, but it was the only thing she could think of to get the extra cash.

Standing outside the shop, she looked at the card. Wanted: Housemate. Rent £300 pcm plus share of bills. Female preferred. Apply High Towers, St Agnes Pl. Well, it was to the point. She had entertained ideas about some hunky guy coming to stay, falling madly in love with him, and ending up with a new boyfriend. The entertainment had lasted for about five seconds before she remembered the last guy she had dated, and how well that had gone. Then she had added the “female preferred” bit.

Now, should she put the second card on the board at the tearooms? People visiting the area often went there and that would be a good place to put a card. She headed back to the park, considering it as she went. Her parents had been involved with fundraising for the park’s upkeep and the people at the tearooms knew her. They might be willing to post her advert, even if the board was technically for announcements. She could ask…

She stopped outside the low building and looked in through the window. There was only one customer in the place and she was facing away from the window. All Ceri could see was a trim figure and a mass of lush, auburn hair. Unfortunately she could also see Mrs Pubert behind the cash register. Pubert had never liked her and Ceri had never really understood why, though she thought it had something to do with her parents being enchanters. Some people just did not like practitioners, or magic in general. No, the one card in the newsagents would have to do.

Turning, Ceri headed back to the house. Being outside was starting to make her feel edgy anyway.

~~~

The waitress was a jobbing arts student; Lily could tell she was not exactly a professional. She did not live nearby either which made her pretty worthless as a source of information. The old bat behind the till had given Lily the kind of look one normally reserved for dog shit on the bottom of your shoe. She was no use. The student had said that the local newsagent had cards in the window; that could be useful. Lily finished her overly bitter coffee and headed for the main road.

Sure enough there were cards in the window. Two flats, one room in a student house, and… High Towers on Saint Agnes Place. High Towers? There had been a big, tower-like construction at the front of the “haunted” house. But that was just one tower. Three hundred was cheap, even with extra bills… There was the girl. The cute, slightly repressed girl. Was she the resident, or another lodger? She seemed young to be living in a place like that. She really had been kind of cute though.

Almost out of curiosity as much as anything, Lily walked back around the curve in the narrow road again, and this time she opened the iron gate at the bottom of the garden. It was not exactly much of a garden; a gravel path, some scruffy grass, and some trees, one of them looking like it had died. There was a portico with double doors and that looked kind of grand, even if you suspected they would be opened by a tall, thin butler who looked like he had been dead for a century. She knocked and waited.

~~~

The knock on the door came as something of a surprise; no one came to High Towers, generally anyway. Someone wanting to read the meters? It could not be someone answering the advert; not this quickly. Ceri opened the door and immediately decided that this was not a meter reader.

For one thing, meter readers generally did not wear little, spaghetti-strapped tank tops or mini-skirts, or four-inch heels with open toes. Then again, Ceri was not sure how the girl was not freezing to death. The lush, auburn hair suggested that this was the customer from the tearooms. She did, indeed, have a trim figure, though her hips were wider than Ceri would have guessed and the chest was… How did she keep her balance?! Long legs too. Her face was angular, exotic, beautiful. Perfectly arched eyebrows over eyes so dark they were black, and her skin was porcelain perfection. She favoured Ceri with a slight smile; her teeth were perfect too.

‘Hi,’ the girl said, her voice bright, ‘I’m Lily. I saw your card in the newsagent’s window…’

‘Oh… I put it in there, like, fifteen minutes ago. I wasn’t expecting… You’d better come in.’ She backed up, allowing Lily to walk through into the hall.

‘Oh… wow… this place is really awesome. How many live here?’

Ceri closed the inner doors, following the buxom girl inside. ‘It’s just me. It used to be me and my parents, but… uh… well, they died.’

Lily turned on the spot, looking around at Ceri with what looked like an honest expression of compassion. ‘I’m sorry.’

Ceri’s eyes dropped away and she shrugged. ‘It’s been over a year now. I’m used to it.’ She looked back up and knew that Lily did not believe a word of that; neither did Ceri. ‘Uh, I’m Ceri. Should’ve said that. Ceridwyn Brent, but… Ceri, everyone calls me Ceri. Would you like the tour?’

‘Oh yes.’ Lily nodded enthusiastically and grinned. This time the grin showed elongated canines. Werewolf maybe? A vampire would have needed sunglasses in the bright sunlight outside. Werewolves were more tolerant of low temperatures…

‘The kitchen’s through here,’ Ceri said, heading to the right of the big staircase and through a door. A short corridor went further back into the house, but she took the first door on the right and walked into a good-sized kitchen, fully fitted, with a big, wooden table. There was a door at the back leading outside. ‘There’s another kitchen on the other side of the house, but I don’t use it. My mother had it for brewing potions. And there’s the utility room down the corridor. Washer, drier, space to hang stuff.’

‘Your mother was a witch?’

‘My parents were enchanters, but Dad did some wizardry and Mum some witchcraft.’

‘Do you practice?’

‘No talent for it.’ Ceri’s face pinched as she said it. ‘You?’

‘No.’

Ceri was already walking out and Lily followed, her heels clicking on the slate. They went up the stairs to the first landing where Ceri stopped. No, she hesitated. ‘There’s the lounge and the study on this floor. I don’t really use them. The kitchen’s kind of… comfortable.’ She started up the next flight of stairs and Lily followed, making no comment. ‘Two bedrooms up here,’ Ceri said when they reached the top. ‘That’s my room there, and this is the bathroom…’

Lily gave a little squeak of delight as she walked into the big bathroom. There was a large shower cubicle as well as a big bath, plus toilet and sink, of course. ‘This is gorgeous. You could have parties in here! You should see the place I’m in now. You can barely turn ‘round in it and it’s just got a showerhead over the bath.’

Ceri smiled; Lily’s enthusiasm was sort of infectious. ‘There’s storage space in the attic if you need it. And you can get up onto the roof from there. I’m not sure why you’d want to, but you can.’

‘It’s not overlooked, right? I love sunbathing in the summer. I don’t tan, but the heat feels good.’

Ceri frowned slightly, but saved the question for later. ‘You’d be in my parents’ old room,’ she said, backing out and walking down the hall to the door at the end. Her hand faltered, but she pushed on the handle. Her little bit of courage faltered there; she could not bring herself to walk into the room.

Lily did walk in and looked around with a smile on her face. It was a big room with a big bed. It would do nicely, but… ‘Are you really sure you want someone else here?’ she asked. Ceri blinked at her. ‘Don’t get me wrong. It’s perfect. I’ll take it if you’ll have me, but you seem… conflicted.’ Lily knew she was conflicted; she could see it there in the interplay of desires and needs in Ceri’s mind.

‘Come down to the kitchen,’ Ceri said. ‘There’s fresh coffee. We can talk.’

The coffee would have been worth staying for, even if the house had not been just what she needed. Lily sat across the table from Ceri, sipping the smooth, dark brown liquid and waiting for her potential housemate to speak.

‘You’re right,’ Ceri said eventually, ‘I’m used to living on my own. But I need someone to share the costs, and a bit of extra money. I’m a student and this place needs some work I can’t afford and… I think I’d like some company. I’m not really great company, but I spend so much time alone…’ She looked up. ‘Are you a werewolf? Not that that’s a problem.’

Lily shook her head. This was the bit she had been dreading. ‘Half-succubus. My Dad was an incubus.’

The reaction was not what she had expected. ‘Really?! Oh wow. I mean… really? That’s amazing!’

Lily raised an eyebrow. ‘Most people don’t react like that to half-demons.’

‘I study thaumatology,’ Ceri said.

Lily’s brow furrowed slightly. ‘Actually, you don’t react to me like most people do at all. You’re not interested, are you?’

Ceri blinked, uncertain. ‘I’m fascinated? A real half-demon? Do you know how rare those are these days?’

‘Not really. I’ve never met another one. Most end up doing something stupid and dying. That’s not what I mean. Most humans who find out what I am, well, most humans who look at me, want to find out what I’m like in bed. You’re not interested.’

Ceri’s cheeks went scarlet. ‘Well, no, I like guys. I…’ Her face straightened suddenly. ‘Oh maybe this wouldn’t work,’ she said.

‘What? Why?’

Ceri lifted her arm and Lily found herself looking at an intricate, runic tattoo which covered the inside of Ceri’s forearm from her wrists almost to her elbow. ‘They’re enchantments. Protection against spells and supernaturals. A vampire attacked me once. All that was left was a pile of ash. Auras don’t affect me, aside from making my wrists hurt. If you and I were to, um… Well, I don’t know what it’d do to you.’

Lily looked at her, her gaze intent. ‘I’d really like to try. Living here, I mean, not sleeping with you’

‘But…’

‘Okay, look. I… I’ve been going through a bad patch. I sank pretty low and someone gave me a second chance. I’m trying to clean up my act, if you like. I’m sick of being the girl everyone wants to sleep with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m half succubus, I like sex, but I don’t want that to be all I am. If I can’t sleep with you that’s great. Really great. I could really use a friend, and when you look at me you don’t just see tits, legs, pussy.’ She paused; the next bit was delicate. ‘And I think you could use a friend too.’

Ceri looked back across the table. She could see the tension, and the eagerness. She could see someone who wanted to be her friend and most people did not seem to notice she was even there. ‘All right. When can you move in?’

Lily beamed. It was really amazing. An incredibly sexy woman, a half-succubus, had suddenly turned into a twelve year old who had been told she could have that pony she wanted. ‘This weekend? I can’t wait. Can I start bringing stuff over earlier? This’ll be great! Do you drink? I’ll bring a bottle of wine for housewarming.’

Ceri giggled. ‘I don’t drink much, but a glass or so would be nice. Not too much. I don’t want to turn you into a cinder on the first night.’

Lily smiled back. ‘You won’t. I’ll be careful. Though…’

‘Though?’

‘Well, you are going to be a temptation. You’re really kind of cute.’

Ceri’s cheeks felt as though they might be about to ignite. This was such a bad idea. On the other hand, somehow she felt like Lily would be good for her. It was almost as though this was meant to happen, like they were being pushed together by someone… Except that Ceri did not believe in pre-destination. Luck, coincidence, that was all it was, but it really felt like good luck and Ceri had the feeling that they both needed a little good luck right now.

###

About the Author

I was born in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall so perhaps a bit of history rubbed off. Ancient history obviously, and border history, right on the edge of the Empire. I always preferred the Dark Ages anyway; there’s so much more room for imagination when people aren’t writing down every last detail. So my idea of a good fantasy novel involved dirt and leather, not shining plate armour and Hollywood-medieval manners. The same applies to my sci-fi, really; I prefer gritty over shiny.

Oddly, then, one of the first fantasy novels I remember reading was The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper (later made into a terrible juvenile movie). These days we would call Cooper’s series Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy and looking back on it, it influenced me a lot. It has that mix of modern day life, hidden history, and magic which failed to hit popular culture until the early days of Buffy and Anne Rice. Of course, Cooper’s characters spend their time around places I could actually visit in Cornwall, and South East England, and mid-Wales. In fact, when I went to university in Aberystwyth, it was partially because some of Cooper’s books were set a few miles to the north around Tywyn.

I got into writing through roleplaying, however, so my early work was related to the kind of roleplaying game I was interested in. I wrote “high fantasy” when I was playing Dungeons & Dragons. I wrote a lot of superhero fiction when I was playing City of Heroes. I still loved the idea of a modern world with magic in it and I’ve been trying to write a novel based on this for a long time. As with any form of expression, practice is the key and I can look back on all the aborted attempts at books, and the more successful short stories, as steps along the path to the Thaumatology Series.

Writing, sadly, is not my main source of income. By day, I’m a computer programmer. I work for a telecommunications company in Manchester, England. My favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, and (recently) Kim Harrison. Kim’s Hollows books were what finally spurred me to publish something, even if the trail to here came by way of Susan, back in school, several decades ago.

For More Information

The Thaumatology Blog: http://thaumatology.wordpress.com

Other Books

Thaumatology 101 – ASIN: B006IYIESW

Demon’s Moon – ASIN: B006JPN7A0

Legacy – ASIN: B006OKR8PK

Dragon’s Blood – ASIN: B0072S1DOU

Disturbia – ASIN: B007GNICZO

Tales from High Towers’ Study (Anthology) – ASIN: B006ZAJ7TY

Table of Contents

Part One: Bad Girls

Part Two: Partying in Hell

Part Three: Pentateuch

Part Four: Angels in the Architecture

Part Five: Inquisitio per Sigillum

Part Six: Faith