Chapter 9

Waking up to the smell and warmth of Christine was absolutely lovely. She looked so terribly cute sleeping, her mouth scrunched up like that, and with the little noises she was making.

Disentangling myself without waking her was a delicate task, but I managed it. I'd read about it somewhere (well, at least one place), and I meant to wake her with a kiss and some tongue action, down there. But she began to stir, and opened her eyes before I got the chance. I was sure I'd get a chance to try it some other time.

Chris opened her eyes gradually, and slowly blinked the sleep away. She stretched like a cat, and smiled widely once she managed to focus on me. "Morning," she stretched again and seemed to consider, "No, it's GOOD morning. Damned good morning, at that. I feel so awake, so clear. What's the expression? Bright eyed and bushy tailed?" she gave a little snort of amusement.

"Quite. Such a lovely tail, too," I squeezed her ass.

Chris was built on a lavish scale, and lush and voluptuous were the appropriate words to describe her. She was not fully grown, but she definitely wasn't going to get any smaller, which was all to the good.

"We're up awfully early," she said teasingly, "so much time to spare. Wanna try sixty-nine?" her tone raised goose bumps on my skin, and she pointedly raised and settled her tush on the bed, spreading her legs. The coppery triangle of her pubic her was like a raised red flag, and the bull couldn't help but respond.

"Actually, not particularly. I mean, maybe you're more disciplined than I am, and can keep your attention on your cock sucking duties when your world is exploding around you, but you're so damned talented, deep throat or no, that I'd be doing you a grave disservice. We can try it, sure, but I'd much rather give you the full treatment now. You're so," I ran a finger over her pussylips, "so very tasty."

We left 69ing for another day, and tried to replay last night. Judging by the way Chris expressed her pleasure, over and over again, I did my part. Certainly, I had no complaints. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get the sterility spell off this time, either.

Kristen was waiting for us in the kitchen, having already put some food on the table.

She shook her head reprovingly at us, "You know, Chris, that's not the most pleasant way to wake up. I almost panicked, what with all the screaming. You're so LOUD, girlfriend."

"Heh," Chris took a bite out of an apple, "you're just jealous. I bet you'd bring the walls down, too."

"Ha, you're on! But what do you want to bet?"

"Well, if you win you get Logan for a night, all to yourself."

"And if I lose?"

"You spend a night helping test all those toys, as a training aid," Chris' grin took on a wicked bent.

"You're on!"

"Ah," I coughed, "Don't I have a say in this?"

"Nope," the girls answered in unison, before looking at each other and laughing.

Well, I was obviously outvoted. We spent much of breakfast practicing spells, and learning a few new ones, and I began to study two new second circle spells. The first, to break the first circle of transmutation, conjured a patch of slick grease (actually changing air into said grease, not creating it out of nothing), and the other was the closest thing to a battle spell the book could provide, a spell that would allow me to hurl a small bolt of eldritch flames.

Besides eating and practicing spells, I directed the conversation to the tactical uses of the little spells the girls and I had mastered, conjuring up a score of 'what if' scenarios, drawing on the book for examples of demons and elemental beasts. I thought this would make for an excellent morning tradition, letting us learn of the nature of the foe, and thinking up creative uses for spells ahead of time, hopefully a time of need that would never arise.

"Girls, your new bikes will be delivered in an hour or two, and I've already ordered a credit card for you, Kristen. I've also thought of an idea that would allow you to spend the summer, and perhaps more, with me. I do hope your parents are serious about education?"

"Yes," Chris nodded, and Kristen asked, "So what's your scheme like?"

"I don't know about you two, but another year of high school is just about all I can handle. It's just so boooring, and a terrible waste of time we might not have to spare. After your enhancements, you'll be able to digest an entire school year's material in a week or less, and it shouldn't take you more than a month or three to finish a degree, online. We need to convince your parents, and this will all be above board, that you want, and will, test out of high school after this next year, and finish degrees thereafter. The fact that they won't have to pay for anything might make them happy, but it'll also make them suspicious. Quite frankly, you two are best suited to twisting your parents around your little fingers. Do you think you'll be able to handle it?"

"Yeah, but my dad will most definitely want the details, and he'll insist on paying," Chris said.

"That's just fine, and we can sit down next week and think up a presentation for him. Remind me, please, Chris. There are so many things, that sometimes my mind's all in a whirl."

"My parents will be awfully surprised," Kristen admitted, "I'm not exactly an A student."

"Chris, can you help her there? Do her parents know you? Can your father help?"

Chris seemed a bit overwhelmed, but finally nodded. "Yeah, they know I'm more the scholarly type than Kris here," who just shrugged when we looked at her, "and I think we can make it work. She'll have to dazzle them a bit with what she's learned, of course. But first we need to put on the 'I'm afraid' act, Kris."

Kris looked very downcast, "I'm not much of an actor, really."

"But you won't be acting, not really," Chris tried to cheer her up, "you'll be telling the truth mostly, remember."

"I've got something of a disguise kit," I added, "so we can paint on some spectacular bruises."

They were staring at me.

"I've made it a habit to collect skills that might be useful, and I must say that magic can really help. Watch."

Simple spells, but the transformation was remarkable, if the girls' expressions were any judge. Just adding facial hair and changing the colour... of everything. From somewhat tanned skin, to burnished bronze, from brown eyes to glittery blue, from dark hair to bright gold.

"Holy moly! Hey, Chris, we know those spells. Let's see how you look as a brunette."

I realized my mistake instantly. For over an hour, they primped, mirror gazed, gossiped about who would look 'just fabulous' with hair of this or that hue, or just that skin tone. I made a tactical retreat, and dealt with the day's financial business and message traffic, sincerely hoping they'd remember what they'd looked like before all the polychromatic shapechange games. Matt might just notice if I returned a blue haired and silver skinned Christine.

Approaching apprehensively, I saw on my return to the kitchen that I needn't have worried. Looking as good as old, they were eating ravenously, looking worn. Obviously, they'd forgotten the price of magic — or rather, the price student wizards had to pay. I wondered, briefly, what an archwizard had to pay for access to pure elemental power.

"Girls, you look as lovely as ever..." I looked more closely, "except that you seem to have mislaid a few freckles, Chris. It's time for some driving practice, as your bikes should be here soon. I'll give you a complete overview using mine, and you can start practicing immediately."

Kristen leaped from her chair, eyes shining, "Come on, let's go!"

Showing them how to drive and take care of the bike was simplicity itself, and I left them arguing over who was going to go next, after each of them had made one circle on the asphalt. "I'll be in the pool, if you need me. Try not to break anything."

Chris waved absently, as she looked at Kristen revving up the motor.

I picked up a large tray of food, and went to practice the fourth truly effective combat spell I hoped I'd shortly have in my arsenal. The pool was really the only place I could practice throwing balls of wizardfire, as stone and cement just did not stand up to it too well. According to the book, even the water in the pool wouldn't be enough for more than a dozen application of the spell, but all I was hoping for were one or three. As long as the food lasted, that is.

It turned out that I needed more time to study the spell, and I was interrupted by the delivery of the girls' new wheels. They were very excited, and I even collected a wet kiss from Kristen.

Two more hours of work, and I managed to vaporize a significant volume of water from our pool, and had to escape (with the food) to avoid being scalded. Obviously, I really needed to build a secure and invulnerable spell practice chamber. Unfortunately, that was quite a ways beyond my present skills. At least I had the spell down, I thought on the positive side as I sat in the garden, knees weak, and ate. The sound of motors running showed that Criss and Cross were still gleefully playing with their new toys.

I collected another bounty of kisses when I interrupted them for lunch, and then we began thespian practice with Kristen. She certainly hadn't exaggerated her talents in the area, but reminding her of what had happened, as sour as it made my stomach feel, helped a lot. The girls actually refused my offer to fetch the disguise kit, "Really, Logan, if we can colour our skin and hair, we can paint realistic looking bruises without any nasty actual paint, or makeup."

Christine was right, and it worked perfectly. She had this annoying habit of making me feel stupid, something which always left me irritable. I made a mental note to bleeding well remember that Chris was smart, and to consult with her when possible. I thought I'd escaped mental conditioning, but obviously, I'd been mistaken. 'Pretty girl' equals 'brainless bimbo' was just so, so wrong, and that's one trap I really didn't want to fall into. Theoretically, I knew better. On second thought, it was more likely that I simply wasn't used to anyone trumping my ideas, and I'd gotten mentally lazy and blasé, just when I could least afford the luxury.

Fortunately, Chris was too involved to notice how perturbed I'd become, or I'd managed to keep a poker face. I, very reluctantly, gave both girls my cell phone number and admonished them to use it only when truly necessary, and never to give it away. The rolled eyes and dramatic sighs showed that the message hadn't truly gotten through, but perhaps a few spankings would take care of that.

At least they were willing to try extra cautious on their very first driving experience. We drove in column formation to the bank, and I spent half an hour idling by while the girls cornered Matt. I spent the time ordering and consuming some fast food, and cast the wizard sight spell. I wanted to see what there was to see.

BIG mistake.

Three teenagers, whispering over their meals, were not teenagers. They weren't human, either. I could see through the spider web thin illusions covering them, and they were ugly. As in, crawled out from under a rotten log, climbed all the way up the ugly tree, slipped, fell, and hit every ugly branch on the way down before landing in the putrid muck. There was nothing cute about all that ugly, either. It was warty troll-crone disgusting. You could almost feel the psychic stench wafting off. The bubbly, oozing, suppurating skin made me clench my throat shut, to avoid spewing everything in my stomach out on the serving tray.

Not that I had time for such luxuries. They'd turned around to look at me, and I cast, desperately, aiming for their distorted interiors and what I guessed were their vital organs, and sliced. Again and again.

I was down on the floor before I consciously thought about it, and something whispered through the space my head occupied an instant ago. I looked about for other demons, and noticed a twisted claw-like foot, somehow sheathed not in illusion, but inside human flesh. I cut, and the monster fell. I cut again, and again.

I could see the life leaving it, and then a flash of power. It was just gone, not even ashes left. A quick reconnoiter showed nothing suspicious.

"Hey, you alright?" a man who'd been busy reading a financial paper asked.

"Yeah," I forced a smile, "just dropped a coin."

The expression on his face evinced doubt, but he went right back to his paper. People just didn't want to get involved, in general.

A look at the booth the three demons had occupied showed absolutely nothing. And no one had noticed anything.

I was beginning to understand exactly why the Conclave hadn't risen from the ashes. But why hadn't the book told me about those illusion sheathes, or their ability to wear human shells? The fact that demons could be just about everywhere? How far did the infiltration go?

These demons are of unfamiliar breeds, with unknown capabilities was the inadequate explanation. I wanted to scream, but I was still in combat mode, adrenaline pumping, looking wildly about. I also had a newly excavated pit in my stomach.

I bit my lip, hard, and forced myself to breathe easily... and ordered another full tray, moving to a corner table, where I'd be able to see anything and anyone that came in. With an emphasis on the 'anything'. I was starting to rethink my stance on not letting 'them' frighten me. I was plenty frightened. I was also considering the sort of collateral damage a battle with real magic would cause... even the minor sort of real magic I had at my fingertips. The ball of fire I could throw wasn't much... but it was enough to collapse walls and make cars explode movie-fashion.

Information was something I needed most of all. There was a nest of demons in the city, at least one. Those had been two different sorts of demons, call them Pustule demons and Grasshopper demon. I had a hunch there were lots of insectoid varieties, and I'd run out of words eventually, even if I turned to binomial nomenclature.

I needed the where, how many, and what they could do. Most especially, I needed to know if holding concentration on wizard sight was something they would notice, as opposed to activating it. If they were able to separate me from the human herd, I wouldn't last long. If I was able to separate them, I had a decent chance of driving them out of my city, even in the short term.

I didn't think it was the smart thing to do. It was, quite possibly, suicidal. But I couldn't just leave the demons free to finish whatever nefarious plans they were working on, any more than I could stop learning magic. The smart thing would be to hole up, study like mad, and act after the first enhancement ritual. Or the second, or third, or last. When I was ready. But if I did wait, I just might never be ready. Excuses were always easy to find. After all, the world had managed just fine before super-me arrived on the scene.

I sat there, eating and looking for the next demon, until my cell phone rang and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Chris wanted to know where the hell I was.

"Encounter, I'll be right up."

Walking around with wizard sight active was like stepping through a bed of blazing coals, feeling needles pricking every bit of skin, especially just there behind the neck. I tried to keep my back to the wall, and unobtrusively look everyone over. I'm pretty sure I didn't manage the unobtrusive part, but the two demons that passed me, bipedal vaguely vulture-like creatures wearing illusions, did not seem to notice me. That was a big victory, and I relaxed minutely.