Cassandra- Magic's Hope Read online

  I wonder though if it isn’t being part witch, and in Jezebel’s case being part angel, that makes my family for the most part take the gentler route the majority of the time. Most female demons don’t feed the way I and my family do, they usually work in the sex industry, and their power always has their victims coming back over and over for more.

  For me, it’s an occasional indulgence, but I still try and manage it a little, to make sure I’m not hurting anyone. Sure, I’m still giving pleasure for the energy I take, but I have to take enough care to avoid addicting anyone. Not only for their sake, having a stalker isn’t my idea of fun either.

  When I walked in the house I went up to the common room on the fourth floor and walked in. I drew almost every eye from the fifteen people in the room. I was sure it had nothing to do with the fact I’d grown out to D cups, ridiculously firm and upright, with my large nipples tight and showing through the skin tight red shirt, since I must have forgotten a bra. Nope, I was sure that was coincidence.

  They had a large cooler full of beer and a couple of bottles of liquor out on the table with cola, orange juice, and seven up for mixes.

  “Hey Cass, joining us tonight?” asked Danny who was in my advanced Calc class.

  I smiled and nodded.

  I wasn’t in any hurry, I could tell which six were paired off right away, and flirted lightly with the rest, and eventually outrageously with the three I sensed would be best. It was around eleven when Danny, Erica, Pete, and I retired to Danny’s room for some privacy. It was around three in the morning when I left the four of them passed out on the bed. I felt thoroughly sore and well fucked on and in all of my body’s fun parts, including between my breasts, and absolutely brimming with energy and satisfaction.

  I was guilt free, feeling euphoric, and outside of remembering not to drain any of them again for at least a month, not worried about them at all.

  I took a quick shower when I got home and let my body return to its normal form. I looked at my bed longingly, wanting to stay relaxed longer, but I had made Maggie wait long enough. I pulled on a pair of jean shorts and calf high boots with two inch heels, and a loose shirt, and then I released my magic and decided I was on magic world.

  I wasn’t sure I should tell her everything. For some reason or other someone decided they shouldn’t be able to read the older histories anymore and didn’t pass on the knowledge. If I told her everything, would it really make a difference? Or would it just make her doubt her place, that this was her world, and she belonged here, crash down inside her mind.

  And how much of that was me just not wanting to tell her?

  Maggie greeted me, and I could tell she wasn’t happy I’d just ran. I couldn’t blame her, I’d probably be pissed off in her position too.

  I smiled apologetically, “I’m sorry I took off like that, but I’d learned some disturbing information and needed to discuss it. I also put up an enchantment that would tell me when they attack again.”

  She sighed, “I had assumed as much, the word has passed among the village leaders that the last two attacks were thwarted and beat back from the forest outside the villages. I’m afraid to ask, but what do you want for these acts, we’re strangers to you. The debt of your help is… worrying to some.”

  I looked around, “Is there somewhere we can speak in private?”

  She nodded and turned, and led me to one of the cottages. When we entered I could feel her reach out to the air and weave a spell. I looked and it was for privacy, the air at walls wouldn’t conduct sound outwards, only inward.

  “Please, take a seat.”

  I sat on a couch that was across from the bed. The cottage was basically a bedroom with an attached bath. I knew I shouldn’t have expected a kitchen, or table for dining, they all ate together in the center of the village. Still, it felt strange, like the room wasn’t quite… complete.

  “Thanks Maggie,” I sighed and told the truth but skirted the details, “The truth is, I can read the books in the first row, because it is an ancient language of my world. A group of humans from there… moved here, settled here. Prior to your coming it was an empty world, thanks to the phoenix race.”

  I’d decided to tell the truth, just not all of it.

  She looked fascinated.

  I continued, “The… witches, or magic users, of my world are the guardians of that world, and its people. Self appointed perhaps, but that is how we see ourselves. In my eyes, you owe us no debt, you are… us. Separated by worlds and centuries perhaps, but we feel the need to help you move toward peace if nothing else.”

  She frowned, “Protectors, or rulers?”

  I shook my head, “The former,” I said firmly, “We don’t seek to rule, but I can’t prove that. Even worse, I have been considering doing something that would convince you of the opposite.”

  I almost laughed at the absurdity, no… we don’t seek to rule, but I’m going to invade and put the dragons under my heel… wasn’t very convincing. Maybe, I really hadn’t decided yet. It was a last resort, and only if I thought it would be worth it in the end. I sighed, remembering how euphoric and calm I was fifteen minutes ago. I should have talked to Maggie first, and then fed.

  She asked, “What would that be?”

  I explained the dragons seemed to be escalating, despite or perhaps because of my interference, and that the only way to stop them was at the source. Then I told her the plan I was considering.

  She smiled in polite disbelief, “You have the power to do that?”

  I shrugged, “Its more knowledge than power, I wouldn’t have to fight them all. If I did I would fail, and die. But a challenge, a one on one fight with some of the leaders, I would definitely have a good chance.”

  She shook her head, “Enough of that, what can we do for you?”

  “Well, if we do get the dragons to back down, will you stand down as well. With the new blood crystals you shouldn’t need their blood anymore, especially if you can copy the enchantments we placed. You should be able to use normal crystals.”

  She smiled, “That is easy to say yes to. A few leaders, the wizards, are studying how we can duplicate it. We have no wish to tackle the dragons if they leave us alone, safer that way.”

  We shared a short laugh.

  “But is there nothing else you want for what you’ve done for us?”

  There… really wasn’t. But it seemed important to them, human pride was the same everywhere, no one was comfortable with hand outs, and usually if the strings weren’t visible they would be suspicious and look for hidden ones. Not that we had any, but…

  Another thing I noticed was she didn’t seem attracted to me anymore, as if she was afraid of me now. I could imagine the contents of the reports she must have gotten from those two battles and imagined they were daunting. I wasn’t sure how to take that really, except I hadn’t really been interested, so it was probably for the best anyway.

  “We really only want your friendship and goodwill once the war is over, if this isn’t enough for you, what do you suggest?”

  I added having a thought, “Or perhaps you could consider the knowledge of your library enough payment, you gave that freely, but so did we give freely the enchantments.”

  By her reaction, she hadn’t seemed to consider that idea either, or that it had been a gift. Or perhaps she just didn’t realize I’d already read the whole library in three hours over two days time.

  She smiled, “That would be acceptable. I will let the other leaders know we should share our knowledge with you, and the others of your world that helped.”

  She looked… calmer, as if the debt had been a real weight on her shoulders this whole time.

  I smiled and stood up, “Thank you Maggie, I’ll let you know what happens with our efforts.”

  Maggie escorted me out of the village, it had gone a lot better than I thought it would have, and I felt lighter as well. Now I just had one more task on my list before we could come up with a plan, but I needed to get some rest b
efore I spoke to Rafe and my sister.

  I decided I was in my bedroom, and stripped down for sleep, slipping under the covers. My phone showed it was just before four in the morning on Sunday.

  Chapter 14

  I woke up to my ringtone and fumbled for my phone. It was only ten, and Jim was calling, I guess I’d survive. I answered it and shook my head to clear the cobwebs while I muttered a good morning.

  Jim sounded tentative, “Hi Cass, you remember me telling you about Christine?”

  There was a pause for a moment while my brain kicked in, I was still half asleep. His tone seemed off and that woke me up. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and sat up as the right memory came surging forward.

  “Christine, yeah, she’s your girlfriend back home, is everything okay?”

  That might sound dodgy, but it wasn’t. I wasn’t the only one allowed the open relationship clause, since that would have been hypocritical. I even remember him showing me pictures once, she was a brunette, large doe eyes, very pretty face, and had a nice smile.

  He cleared his throat nervously, “Right, yes, everything is fine. Listen, I feel like a douche doing this over the phone, but I’d feel worse if I waited.”

  Was he… breaking up with me?

  “Doing what Jim, what’s going on?”

  He sighed, “Listen, she was okay with us dating, I never lied to her, or you. But… things happened this weekend, and I’m actually in Vegas right now.”

  I stood and headed for the kitchen and popped on the coffee I’d set up last night.

  “I see, so…” I said in a leading voice.

  He continued his tone of voice frustrated, as if I was the one being an ass, and not him, “Well, she was okay with it while we were just dating, but we’re out here getting married, and… well. You get it right, I’m really sorry about doing this over the phone, but waiting until after I was married and back at school seemed like an even worse idea.”

  I could see that, he could have waited, maybe, if he’d lied to Christine and said he was all hers before he was. That would be worse than a phone breakup, but… I was having trouble with it anyway. Probably because I really cared about him… and he should have told me about this possibility a long time ago.

  “Right,” I said evenly, “So did you knock her up?”

  I squeezed my eyes shut and winced, that was kind of bitchy, but I was still half asleep, and pissed off a little. Sure, I would be fine, but I hadn’t expected a phone breakup from Vegas right when he was getting married. That seemed… crazy. Even worse, if the length of the silence was any indication, I was right. I felt like even more of a bitch now.

  I dredged up a smile and tried to put it into my voice, “Sorry, I’m still half asleep, and this is something of a surprise. My brain to mouth filter shorted. I’ll miss you of course, but good luck and I hope you’re very happy.”

  That was true, or it would be. But right now I had a very sick feeling in my stomach and I kind of hoped she was pregnant. I knew I’d regret the thought later but…

  Jim sighed, “Thanks Cass, I… just sorry again, for the phone thing. I gotta go.”

  “Good luck,” I said in almost a whisper, to make sure it didn’t come out wrong.

  Wrong like two completely different words for instance.

  Then I hung up my phone.

  I took my first sip of coffee when there was a knock at the door. I checked with my aura, it was Dawn and Rafe. I looked down at myself, and I was still naked, having not moved from the kitchen yet since the break up. I wasn’t really mad anymore, not exactly; it was just that I hadn’t seen it coming, at all.

  “Just a minute,” I said loudly enough to be heard as I walked back to my bedroom.

  I pulled on a shirt and shorts quickly and went to answer the door.

  “Coffee?” I asked as I led them into the living room, and asked them to sit.

  Dawn smiled and nodded, and I took care of that.

  When we were all settled Dawn asked, “What’s up?”

  I briefly went over my conversation with dad, mom and Bonnie.

  “So, I thought maybe the best way was to come to your world Rafe, and sue for peace. Give that once more chance. If that doesn’t work I…”

  I stopped talking because Rafe was shaking his head.

  “That won’t work,” he said in a gravelly voice, “the dragon’s challenge does not work the same as you’ve described for the demons. It seems on that world that any may challenge for leadership, on our world it is different.

  “The only ones who can challenge a sovereign is, another sovereign, or a subordinate already a part of the same clan. As Dawn’s sister, you could probably make a case for challenging Caph, but as he’s probably the only one on your side, that would be an empty gesture.”

  I frowned, “So it’s hopeless?”

  He chuckled, “No, because as you know Aralindris challenged Dawn and died, because a sovereign may challenge anyone. The limit is one sided in favor of the sovereigns. It was made this way because of too many challenges in the past, it led to the same kind of chaos as to what the demon world now enjoys.”

  I frowned, “So how does that help, should I just be insulting?”

  He grinned at me, “Exactly, you catch on fast, dragon pride is a given. Still, since that would only give you one voice among fifty, two if my sovereign fights for peace, it will not be an easy thing.”

  I smiled wryly. I doubted it would be easy too. It was more insane than anything else, bringing a world of dragons to heel.

  Dawn said softly, “Are you sure you want to do this? You’d have to be ruthless you know, continuously. Dragons follow power, so if you actually took a clan, the ones below you might settle at some point, but then what do you do when other sovereigns challenge you. If you win and take control of another clan you’d have twice the amount of dragon underlings that could challenge you.

  “If you don’t take over, the enemy clan’s second in command will take control, and you’ll be right where you started. It’s why I’ve just tried to stay out of it.”

  Rafe frowned at Dawn, “You’ve made a big difference.”

  Dawn asked, “How is that?”

  Rafe replied, “You are my mate, we are one. Yes, my clan was different, we were the ones to look outside of our world for an answer to a problem. But we weren’t that different, we have the same instincts, but you temper mine, our connection lets me see another way and gives me the strength to resist the instinctual imperative to destroy my competitors. Caph benefits from that as well, from our clan connection.”

  Dawn looked surprised and he chuckled, “You stay out of my mind mostly, you would already know this if you took a closer look.”

  I sighed, “That’s great for your clan, but I don’t think it helps for the rest. I don’t want to fight this war until all of one side is dead, but destroying your race one dragon at a time through challenges and politics seems to me to not be any better a solution.”

  Rafe shrugged, “Life isn’t easy. Who knows, perhaps your argument alone to end the fighting will bring peace. There are no certainties in this life, except that we will all follow our own nature. You have a gentle soul Cassandra, but you can’t save everyone. Caphlindris and I know this, the other clans refuse peace as a solution, if that leads to their deaths… then so be it.”

  I raised an eyebrow, “That simple?”

  He frowned, “Simple no, but it is life. Survival of the fittest. Perhaps the fact that my race is too rigid in its thinking, and cannot see any other way but kill or be killed, means they are no longer fit to survive in the current universe. We need to evolve along with the other worlds, if we cannot, then maybe our time is simply over. What they see as strength, I can now see thanks to Dawn, is truly not.”

  I shook my head, why did I think it would be at all simple. Go kick some rumps and then kick back and relax? No… it wouldn’t nearly be so easy.

  “So, if I did take a clan, if I can provoke someone to challe
nge me, how could I get them to see peace? Another difference on the dragon world from the demon one, there is no world leader position.”

  Rafe sighed, “You simply demand peace and don’t back down. It’s why Caph withdrew himself from the council on the war issue, because he won’t take part, but also won’t challenge the rest to defend his position. If you demand peace then the council will no longer be unanimous, and if you stay firm the others will have no choice but to either give in, or challenge you.”

  “That’s… you mean they can’t act without everyone in agreement? That could never happen here.”

  Rafe grinned, “That’s because dissent on my world leads to life and death battle, we are very picky about choosing our battles for that reason and don’t play petty political games for scraps. We also follow power, the older more powerful sovereigns often hold sway over the younger ones. It will not be easy, but I don’t think you will have to kill them all as my mate fears, before they change their mind.”

  Was I really going to do this? I honestly couldn’t see a better way to stop it, and my older sister didn’t seem to be volunteering either. Maybe she couldn’t, she was already part of a clan. Or maybe she was just smarter than I was after all…

  “When is the best time to do this?”

  Rafe didn’t hesitate, “A few hours after the next attack. Assuming you push it back as easily as the last ones they’ll all gather together again to discuss it and what to do next. Right now they’re not meeting, probably getting ready for the next escalation.”

  I nodded slowly and wondered just how my life had gotten this complicated. Oh right, the two people sitting in front of me. I smiled at the thought, it wasn’t really their fault, it was no one’s. Sometimes life… shit happens. I remembered how sad and powerless Cat was when she met the dragons, at least I could fight back, and I would. I’d save their race too, no matter how many I had to kill to do it.