Good Intentions 3: Personal Demons (15 page)

Lorelei’s words came with calm frustration rather than reluctance. She sat beside Alex on one of their couches, still dressed as she was when he found her in the bar.

The admission surprised him. It seemed to surprise the guests sitting on their other couch, too. Onyx blinked. Molly’s eyebrows went up. “Um. Okay?” the redhead responded, clearly unsure where to go with this.

“I am sorry. I wish to help, of course,” Lorelei explained. “Whatever aid I can offer, you have it. But I don’t believe I should accompany you. Onyx, you have seen through my illusions before. I may have been weaker than normal at the time, but by that same token, you were not even deliberately on your guard. You and Molly are quite gifted in your individual talents.

“Yet if this is a gathering of many Practitioners, we run a high risk of finding another similarly gifted sorcerer. They will be on their guard. Doubly so given the upheavals among the supernatural communities of this city. I want to help you. I will be nearby, and if you call, I will rush to your aid. But I do not think you want to be caught with a demon at your side in such a gathering.”

Onyx released a sigh. “Yeah, we thought about that,” she said, sharing a glance and a frown with her partner. “We hoped maybe you’d know some trick that we don’t.”

“I know many such things by virtue of age and origin,” Lorelei conceded. “Yet this is your world, not mine. Despite my experience and all my abilities, my skill with actual sorcery ranks me as an amateur compared to the two of you, and to the others who will be at this meeting.”

“Almost all of them have been at it longer than we have, too,” Molly added.

“Do not sell yourself short. I sincerely doubt many of them have faced the sort of challenges you have overcome. Still, absent some catastrophe, I do not think I should enter that gathering. I would be a grave liability to you.”

“Okay, then,” Onyx said, reluctantly agreeing. Her eyes turned to Alex. “What about you?”

“If you think it’ll help, sure,” he said. “Will they let me in? Pretty sure I’d flunk the entrance exam.”

“You’d be there as our personal assistant.” Onyx barely failed at suppressing her grin.

“Wait, your what?”

“Our minion,” said Molly, who naturally didn’t try to hold back her smile. “Our goon. Our chauffeur. Our manservant.”

“It’s not weird for Practitioners to show up to these things with some sort of personal staff or…okay, it’s totally weird,” Onyx corrected. “We’ve seen it done, but it’s usually it’s only the really pretentious jackasses who bring a personal gopher to a party.”

“How many of these things have you been to?” asked Alex.

“Get-togethers with multiple circles? Two,” Onyx admitted. “Three, if you count what went down when we all met. That was all the Brotherhood, but they were big enough that a lot of the same standards held. The thing is, as long as the precedent is there, we can get away with it. They’ll think we’re trying to keep up with the Joneses.”

“It helps that you’re good-looking,” added Molly. “You make for a good trophy boy.”

“That sounds plausible, yes,” Lorelei said before Alex offered a retort. Molly winked at him playfully as the succubus continued. “You’ve strengthened your standing. A servant is a sign of wealth or power. If you do this while holding to your casual dress and youthful sensibilities, you add a slight hint of rebellion to your up-and-coming status. I like it.”

“Am I supposed to wear a tux or something?” asked Alex.

“Nah. We want you to look good, but not stiff,” answered Molly. She made no effort to hide her amusement at this aspect of their plan. “No tie or anything. Leather jacket’s fine. Wear a nice shirt. Oh, and pants that’ll show off that cute butt.”

“Wait, am I your gopher or your arm candy?”

“Both, love,” Lorelei answered for them. “We want everyone to overlook and underestimate you. That is the whole point of good ‘arm candy.’
Amateurs
bring along a pretty date to show off their status or sexual prowess. A true player brings an escort who can help further their agenda.”

“Oh,” he grunted. It seemed completely obvious now. She’d probably played the same role at a thousand high society functions and palace balls and whatever else—only she would have “escorted” guys who had no idea how outclassed they really were.

“That’s…way more articulate than we were when we first talked about it,” said Onyx.

“Your intent is no less sophisticated,” replied Lorelei. “That, too, works in your favor. Your youth makes you easy to underestimate. Still, bringing Alex as an escort is a simple matter. What of the event itself? Whom do you believe will attend? What do you expect will happen?”

“The strongest circles we know are the hosts and some guys from the International District,” Molly began. “The hosts are Native American, or mostly, anyway. We’re pretty sure they either own the casino or they’re a big chunk of its management. The circle in the ID—”

“Hold on,” Alex interrupted. “What’s a circle?”

“It’s not an official term. The thing is, almost nothing with Practitioners is ‘official.’ It’s not like we have a governing body or anyone regulating us. ‘Practitioner’ is just a nicer way to say sorcerer or wizard or whatever.”

“Don’t say wizard,” Onyx added, shaking her head. “Don’t ever say wizard, Alex. Don’t make
Dungeons & Dragons
jokes. And don’t even
think
about bringing up
Harry Potter
.”

An intrigued grin spread across his face. “Why?”

“Because most people take that as condescension, and they’re usually right.”

“Okay, fair,” he said, holding up his hands. “Go on.”

“There are different Practices,” said Molly. “Onyx and I are witches, basically. Labeling gets stupid, but that’s what we go with. A lot of the Brotherhood guys were hermetics, which is a little more like wizarding with the secret magic words and formulas and bullshit.”

Onyx groaned. “Molly, what did I just say?”

“Well, it is! Seriously, Alex, I’ve seen silly robes with ‘arcane symbols of power’ on them,” Molly added with feigned gravity in her voice.

“Oh god, like the guy who made the potion that messed up my head?” asked Alex.

“Yes! Exactly. That guy was a necromancer, which is a kind of hermetic. Usually. Not that I know a lot of ‘em. Anyway, there’s us, there are hermetics, there are shamans who talk to spirits…lots of different styles. And there are others who basically pursue a religion that gives them magical power. We call them Believers. They usually prefer to be called by their individual faiths. Again, labels get silly.

“A circle is a group of Practitioners that bind themselves together on shared principles and typically work as a group or at least look out for one another. Usually everyone in a circle is the same Practice, or at least similar. The Brotherhood was odd in that it spread across different Practices. You form a circle out of mutual interests, but it also helps with the sharing of power.

“See, the more Practitioners there are in a given area, the less power there is to go around between them. It’s kind of like everyone drinking from the same well. More people means a smaller share for everyone. But if you form a circle, that power spreads around better. However you cut it, three or more Practitioners in a circle are about as much of a drain on that well as an individual Practitioner acting alone. Having a larger circle also lets you take a bigger share along the way. It’s not exactly straight math, no matter what the hermetics say.”

“This is why we got so much stronger once the Brotherhood was wiped out,” said Onyx. “It’s also how we know they’re pretty much done as a group, survivors or no.”

Lorelei nodded as she processed the implications. “I have had all of this explained to me in the past, but usually with some partisan slant based on the explainer’s Practice or circle loyalties. Not every Practitioner is able to look at things with any detachment.”

“Well, we both grew up with a separation of church and state, right?” Molly shrugged. “Plus we had a good teacher.”

“Who?”

“Her name was Elizabeth,” answered Onyx. “She passed away last spring. She was more Molly’s mentor than mine, but she taught me, too. We’d both worked our way into using magic before finding anyone to teach us. That’s how a lot of people come into it. Some families and communities try to raise people into being Practitioners, but it doesn’t always work out. The usual path to magic starts with someone getting curious and doing a little self-teaching. If they have the talent, it goes from there. Elizabeth knew how to spot talent and coach it further.”

“I’m sorry she’s gone,” said Alex.

“Yeah,” Molly sighed. “Yeah, so are we.”

“So…you were telling us about the other circles?” he prompted.

“Right. Like I said, Kate’s group is up north of here, mostly based out of the reservation and the casinos. There’s also the group in the International District. That might give the impression that it’s all based on racial lines or whatever, but it’s never that simple. The group from the ID is mostly Asian, sure, but they’re not
all
Chinese or all Japanese or all anything. Like the ID, it’s a mix. They’re kind of a neighborhood watch group. Kate’s group is drawn from a few tribes around here. Everyone sets their own standards. It’s not like this is formalized.

“We’ve got a couple of Believer circles, too. Those are more about religion than location or cultural lines. Some of them live right here in the city, though their meeting places are in the suburbs. And then there’s Hector. He’s in Seattle, too. Loner. You’ll meet him. He’s cool.”

Onyx frowned at Molly’s last comment for the benefit of their hosts. Apparently the jury was not entirely agreed on Hector. “At least a couple of jackasses from Olympia will be there, too,” said Onyx. “They were Brotherhood groupies if not members themselves. Kate also invited the Light, who are kind of a bunch of Doomsday preppers living up in the Cascades. They can be dangerous, but they didn’t try to expand like the Brotherhood.”

“And that’s the other problem,” said Molly. “We don’t know who the Brotherhood scooped up. Or who they chewed up and spit out. Things were getting ugly when you two came along.”

“Wouldn’t a neutral ground be a good thing for the future, then?” asked Alex.

“Sure, if it works the way it’s intended,” Molly answered. “We take Kate at her word. If she says she wants a safe zone, we believe that’s what she wants. It’s where things go from there that we’re concerned about. Also somebody may want payback over the Brotherhood. We used to have more faith in people’s civility than we do now.”

“The field has shifted dramatically,” Lorelei put in. “You can take nothing for granted.”

“Yeah, well…here we are.”

“It means much to me that you would come to us with all of this, and with your trust.”

Molly paused and looked at Onyx. “I’m not blushing now, am I?”

“Oh, I would think we’ve gotten past any reason for that sort of reaction by now,” Lorelei gently teased.

“I think it’s just enough that we know we
should
have that kind of reaction,” Onyx replied, biting her lip. Then she cleared her throat. “Anyway. That’s the situation. We’ll all show up, probably Kate or Jin or somebody will give a speech and make a pitch, and then it’ll get talked out from there. Hopefully everyone will be cool.”

Alex caught a questioning glance from Lorelei. The gesture surprised him, but then he realized it shouldn’t have. “Whatever we can do, we’re on board,” he said.

“We’re gonna chew on our options a bit more between now and then,” said Molly. “If we come up with a clever plan or something, we’ll let you know.”

“Don’t be shy about asking for help,” said Lorelei, rising with Alex as the witches stood. A smile played at her lips. “Nor should you be shy about anything else,” she added evenly.

Onyx inhaled sharply, but couldn’t hold off her entirely shy grin. “Right.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Lorelei,” said Molly as they all walked to the door. Molly and Onyx both put on their coats. Hugs all around were a foregone conclusion, yet everyone could feel the tension they shared. “Alex…” Molly began, but shrugged.

“You knew I’d say yes.”

“Yeah,” she agreed smugly before slipping her arms around him. Her lips met his briefly, but opened enough to make her point. She leaned into the kiss, and then groped at him much lower before stepping back. “Seriously. Show off that money-maker,” she teased with a wink.

Onyx took her place as Molly and Lorelei said their goodbyes. “It really means a lot to us,” she said. Her kiss was chaste compared to Molly’s, but she slipped in an extra one on his neck.

“You mean a lot to me, too,” he replied. “I’ve got your back. Always.”

“Then we need another date night or hang-out time,” she decided. “This one doesn’t count.”

“I’m game.”

Alex watched her share one more glance with Molly before they both stepped out. Though he didn’t consciously hold the door to listen, he heard them talking before it shut.

“…seriously making out with him right in front of her?” Onyx objected.

“Oh whatever. She digs that. I made out with her while you weren’t looking, too.”