Chapter 7

"Elemental magic is a basic application of natural energy, usually one of the first to be mastered." Sanna said, sitting a candle on the little table in the work room. A ward circle surrounded them to prevent the magic they were about to tap from causing disaster elsewhere in the house. "Though they can be called upon with incantations and gestures, and almost always are in pop culture, the Order finds it most useful to train its apprentices in calling forth the elements while bound and gagged from the start."

"As a means of escape or at least revenge against one's captor." Charlie added. Sanna nodded.

"We tend not to emphasize the 'revenge' part too much, however, Master." she whispered affectionately. He smiled. "Shall we try fire, Master?"

"Sure. What do I do?" Sanna tied his hands behind his back and his feet to the chair, then inserted a ball gag in his mouth--a new one, not one from Amelie's collection. He made a mental note to try this with her later.

"Imagine the hottest thing you can think of, and combine it with a burning anger--righteous wrath works best." she said. "When you have it in mind, project it toward the candle. Take your time and learn to do it first, we will work on speed at a later date. You may close your eyes if you need to, Master." Charlie did close his eyes. He pictured the time he had smuggled himself to his father's job by hiding in the trunk, and ended up being stuck there all day. He pictured his first gulp of whiskey. He pictured the time he had accidentally stepped on a hot brand while barefoot during a camping trip. He pictured a mouthful of jaba¤eros. But what for the anger? Charlie had his faults, but an out-of-control temper wasn't one of them. He imagined Steve forcing himself on Amelie, but inevitably the common-sense portion of his mind told him Steve wasn't like that. He would steal a hypnotic pendant, but never his best friend's girlfriend--and besides, Amelie would quickly transfigure him into an invertebrate if he tried. The thought tickled his funny bone. That would never do. He imagined policemen abusing their power. Close, he thought to himself with a frown. Policemen abusing their power against his family. Tazering Akiko for no reason. Getting closer, he thought. Then it hit him: Cardinal Wolfgang drugging clergy to force them to violate their religious oaths, sending goons to round up Amelie's former slaves--only Hilda had managed to escape seizure. He felt the magic stirring within, and directed it toward the candle.

There was a whoosh, and Sanna gave a startled cry. Opening his eyes, he made a muffled noise of his own when he found the entire table ablaze. Sanna put forth her hand and put out the fire with elemental ice. "Don't feel bad, I did the same thing myself the first time I tried." she cooed, kissing his cheek. "We're going to need another candle, though."

Not to mention another table. he thought silently. Sanna untied him so he could rest comfortably while she went outside the circle to fetch the required items.

Claudia's hips gyrated sensuously, her body having lost its sparkling coverings several minutes ago. She slowly pulled the string on the side of her swimsuit bottom. The music thumped loudly--even if she were deaf, she could have danced by the feel of the beat. In fact, one of her fellow dancers was deaf, and had been since birth. It mattered little to Claudia. She wasn't dancing for them, or the drooling spong monkeys who threw their money to her at the end of her dances.

She danced for Master, who was watching her from backstage. She pushed the envelope to make him want her and to please him with her take. She pulled the string on the other side of her bottoms to raucous applause, leaving herself standing in nothing but her boots and the prop police belt and cap. She waggled the garment invitingly. Several men reached up to try to grab them, but she gave them to the one who had the brains to offer money. She continued to dance, enticing the men, dancing away when they tried to grab her, winking to salve hurt feelings. The song ended with her in a combination splits/grovel. The money flew and she gathered it up quickly along with her clothes, to make way for the next dancer. She knelt beside Master as he counted the money, then patted her on the head for a job well done. She could see his erection and was filled with the desire to pleasure him right here, right now.

"Let's go." he said. "You can repeat that dance in private for me when we get home."

"Yes, Master." she moaned. She put on an oversized T-shirt and sandals so they wouldn't be arrested and left the strip club. The neck of her shirt slid down one shoulder, exposing the cup of her breast. Seeing this by dashboard light, Master made a decision. He parked behind a store that had closed shortly after Wal-Mart had opened a super center in town, and they adjourned to the back seat. He pulled her shirt off over her head and dropped his pants down to his ankles, his boxers going down with them. She kissed him as he fondled her breasts and slipped his pecker into her wet cleft. Her hips gyrated in a dance far more ancient than the one she had performed on stage, her eyes rolling as she lost herself in the pleasure of the act. She had several minor orgasms along the way, but it was only when Master stiffened and splashed her insides with his semen that she achieved true release. "I love you, Master." she sighed and began to kiss his face, his neck, his lips, anything she could reach in this position.

"I love you, too." he responded. Master froze, as if shocked by the words that had just come out of his mouth. Then he smiled and held her close. It was a powerful moment, simultaneously eternal and heart-achingly brief. They reassembled their clothes and returned to the front seat. She entwined her fingers in his as they finished the drive to the campus.

Master went in first as always, and she waited, as always. When he returned and brought her in, the guard was asleep--the effects of a sleeping powder which would leave him unconscious for ten minutes and leave him with a fifteen-minute gap in his memory.

The smell of smoke greeted them as they traversed the closet gateway to the Spanish manor. "What's burning?" Master asked.

"It's taken care of." Charlie said. "I set a few tables on fire during practice, that's all."

"I thought you were gonna be lighting candles." Master said.

"I tried for a Zippo, I got a blast furnace." Charlie replied.

"Over-achiever." Master chided jokingly, punching his friend in the shoulder. He headed upstairs to the room he shared with Claudia, and she followed. He closed the door and pulled her into his arms. "I'm so backwards." he said. "It used to be, people fell in love, then had sex, not the other way around." Claudia couldn't think of a suitable reply, so she just mashed her breasts into his chest and enjoyed his closeness.

Hilda sat next to Charlie as they watched television together. Charlie was summarizing the news stories for a class project, speculating on how (or if) history would remember them fifty to a hundred years from now.

"And finally, the Pope announced plans to display several Vatican artifacts to the public for the first time, beginning with a coast-to-coast U.S. tour." the anchorwoman said. "Among the artifacts is a sword called Wizardsbane, a centuries-old sword said to be one of three specifically created to hunt those accused of witchcraft."

Charlie had stopped writing. There, on the screen, was the sword that had taken the head of Tashi Myrdhynn. He could feel the ghost's rage battering against the wards in the work room where he now kept the grimoire. He flipped to a new page and copied down the itinerary for the Papal exhibit. The tour would stop in Dallas for a week during the Christmas break. That would be his window of opportunity.

For what? he wondered to himself. He sure as hell couldn't take that magic-scrambling sword with him through the closet gate, and even if he could, he had no desire for that thing to be in the same house with him. Airport security would certainly notice a sword at any rate, so he would have to take it by boat. But where? He wondered about some of the other houses owned by Amelie and Annemarie, but decided against that. But, if he went by boat, there might just be an opportunity to ditch the sword. All he had to do was get tickets on a boat whose course would take it across the Marianas Trench. He went to the work room and spent ten minutes trying to get Tashi Myrdhynn's attention as he clawed at the wards.

"You're upset about the sword, I see." he said when the spirit had calmed.

Wouldn't you be? Tashi Myrdhynn responded. Charlie related his plan to the spirit, and watched as its angry glow dimmed. You will have to hire a professional. The Pope is no fool.

"No shit." Charlie responded. "But in case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly shacked up in a cardboard box. Amelie and Annemarie are no paupers ... AND Amelie has hired professional thieves before. Wizardsbane is as good as sunk."

I confess, that makes me feel better than I have in centuries. the spirit said, fading from view entirely. I need some rest.

"Yeah, I imagine those tantrums of yours are exhausting." Charlie said.

If you're referring to the incident with the Druidess, I felt she was important to your future. I wish I could tell you more than that.

"Still, since our home security seems to be lacking, I hope you won't be too offended if I keep your book here for a while longer, so nobody else takes it. Especially since we're thinking about employing a thief." He left then, crossing back through the wards and sealing the work room once again. Call me crazy, but I like to have a little more choice in who gets added to my harem than I've had recently. he added silently to himself. He found Annemarie in the kitchen, showing Amelie how to cook something that didn't have microwave directions on the package. He seated himself on a stool and watched.

Cardinal Wolfgang was sitting in his office when he felt a breeze touch his cheek. Turning in his chair, he found a female form in a tight-fitting black outfit and mask. Two swords, one longer than the other, were sheathed on her back.

"I was expecting Yoshida Taichi." the Cardinal said irritably.

"He is dead." an icy voice said from behind the mask. "Ten years dead. You need fresher intelligence."

"The last time I sent someone to Mr. Yoshida's village, he mailed a piece of him to me from the capitol of every nation on Earth."

"He taught me everything he knew, and I have learned much since then." the ninja woman said.

"Then perhaps you and I can do business." the Cardinal said. He reached into his desk and pulled out a file folder. The woman took it and looked through the pages quickly.

"This sketch is very vague." she said, holding up a paper with a sketch depicting a Myrdhynn's robes on a male and female figure.

"Quite deliberate, I assure you." the Cardinal said. "The primary target is known or believed to associate with members of a certain heretical order with whom those of us still loyal to ALL the Ten Commandments have been in conflict off and on for centuries."

"What is this book?"

"A grimoire from a member of the Order of Merlin slain by my ancestor long ago. The fool threw the book, in a protective satchel, into the river and it has been circulating these many years, changing hands one step ahead of our agents. You would be surprised at the number of people who 'kept their hoods up' when buying rare and unique books in those days."

"I can't imagine why." the ninja responded dryly.

"In addition to the deaths of all those in the folder, I want the book brought to me. It may contain information that may be useful in the annihilation of the Order itself."

"It will be costly." the woman said. "A million British pounds a head, and I don't leave witnesses. The book I will count as ten heads if I have assurances from your Pope that the contents of the book will never be used against any ethnic Japanese. Otherwise, I will simply destroy it."

"A million American dollars a head, the book counts as ten heads, and you will not fail to bring me the book."

"This is not a negotiation." the woman said, her dark eyes narrowing. "I have stated my terms. If you find them unacceptable as they are..." she thumbed the shorter of her two swords partially out of its sheath.

"Indeed you are one of Yoshida's pupils." the Cardinal sighed. "You shall have it. Half now, half on completion of the task. And, there is a bonus if you do it before the Pope's tour reaches Dallas."

It was the weekend. In the dark of a moonless, overcast night, the house was as silent as a tomb except for the breathing of many sleepers. Chelsea Smithe's tail hung off the edge of the bed, swinging lazily. Master had given her an illusion-spell that caused those who were not members of his harem to see her as human. A sound roused her, and she crept quietly from the bed. The sound had come from outside--something in the trees which was larger than a squirrel. Her feline ears picked up the sounds like radar dishes did a plane. The night-vision goggles the stranger wore might as well have been a signal flare. Smithe concealed herself nearby. This one wouldn't get the drop on her like that Druid lady.

The female figure bypassed the Brinks system as if it were nothing and cut a hole in the window. Chelsea's tail twitched and her body moved in preparation for the pounce. The window opened and the woman slipped inside. As soon as the woman's feet touched the floor, magical light flared to life, momentarily stinging Chelsea's eyes. When she was able to look again, the woman was wrapped in an orange glow and stood immobile.

Chelsea sighed and crept back upstairs to awaken Master. She crawled over the other women and licked his ear. "Wha? Chelsea?" he asked, sleepily.

"We have an uninvited visitor, Master." she whispered.

"Where?" he asked, fully awake now.

"Downstairs in the parlor, frozen." Chelsea said. "I wanted to pounce on her." He smiled at the note of disappointment in her voice. "Go make sure she didn't bring a friend, pretty kitty. If she did, and her friend isn't frozen, you can pounce on them." Chelsea grinned and scampered downstairs, diving through the open window and sniffing the air, the shingles under her feet, the branch from which the ninja-lady had jumped, the whole yard and every tree in it. Nothing.