Emergence: Return of Magic book 1 (10 page)

He looked at her in disbelief, sadly enough she understood
the look.  She was twenty and an attractive woman, not the most likely of
people to be leading others.

Franks asked, “You don’t say, and these people… listen to
you?”

She nodded, “Most people are just scared, I know I’m young,
but grouping people in small farming communities just makes a lot of sense,
until pre-technological infrastructure can be put into place, the people need
to be near the food, at least here in the bread basket they do. 

“It’s not my true purpose, like I said, I’m travelling to
Colorado with my two friends, I’m just trying to help out on the way.  I
grew up on a farm, I know how important it is, and the idea of all those people
starving, well, you can understand right?  It’s not that big an
effort.  Seemed like the right thing to do, since as I passed them I
already knew where the active farms were.”

She figured she’d leave the sorceress, goddess, and man with
the magic sword part out, since she didn’t want to be locked up.  Although
maybe they’d already heard about magic being real, but she didn’t want to risk
it.

Hernandez raised an eyebrow, “Right, so why Colorado?”

She shrugged, “I have people I need to meet there, sure it’s
inconvenient, but its personal business.  The three of us by ourselves…
you think it’s likely we are raiders?”

Franks shook his head no, but Hernandez grimaced, “You could
be scouts for the main force.”

John laughed, which pissed off Franks.

“What’s so funny?”

John shrugged, “Looters aren’t that smart.  Sure, maybe
later, when a few have been pinched they’ll pick up on it and send out recon,
but right now they have no reason to be cautious, you just got here
right?  Besides, we’re not, and we all know we can’t prove a negative, so
what now?”

She heard a loud pained scream.

“What was that?”

Hernandez shook his head and rolled his eyes, “Damn butter
bar L.T.  broke his damn leg.  Course, we ain’t got no medicines, or
a way to get him medical aide.  We have a medic, he’s doing the best he
can with it.”

She dismounted, “Let me take a look at it.  You guys
know about magic right?” she asked nonchalantly, pretending it was common
knowledge.

She wasn’t sure if this was the wisest course, but that
scream had been horrific.

Franks, Hernandez, and the other guy took a step back and
looked at her oddly.

“What, you don’t think two young attractive women and one
man with a sword are going to travel with all the raping and pillaging going on
without skills do you?”

Franks snorted a laugh.  Hernandez looked at her like
she was the devil come to life.

John rolled his eyes, “Why’d you do that.”

She frowned, “Because I can help,” she looked at Franks with
a smile, “How about it, want to escort us back there?  Then we’ll continue
on after, places to be and all that.”

Hernandez said in horror, “She’s a Bruja!”

The third guy slapped him in the back of the head, “Shut the
fuck up Hernandez.  Go ahead Franks, either we get an in shape L.T., or
she’s a nutcase, in which case she can go on her way until she gets her stupid
ass killed,” he turned to her, “No offense ma’am.  And may I say, you’re
lookin mighty fine this afternoon.”

She snickered and gave him a friendly nod to show she took
no offense, and then led her horse through when Franks moved a sawhorse
over.  They had to weave back and forth across the road, to move around
several obstacles, no doubt set up so people couldn’t charge through at a
sprint, since they didn’t have guns anymore. 

Although she wasn’t entirely positive of that one, chemical
combustion seemed screwed, but she thought an air rife might work.  Only
problem is, it took a compressor to reload the cartridges, so… maybe not. 
She was sure someone would figure out how to pressure air without combustion or
electrical needs.  A kind of pump would be possible, if they used counterweights
and something extremely heavy.  Then once a large tank had high pressure,
they could fill multiple cartridges.

She was sure some things would come back, and she knew men
would want their guns.

When they got to the center, there were a group of tents
right on the road, and they were taken over to an infirmary.  She was glad
she hadn’t decided to bully through, there were a few hundred people here, not
just the thirteen she’d seen near the checkpoint.  She was also mad at
herself, because she hadn’t thought to look through the magic, behind the
obstacles on the road.

It wasn’t even hard, all she’d had to do was not ignore it,
she’d actually been blocking it out.

In any event, they were led to one of tents, and she stepped
inside with John crowding her, and she was starting to get annoyed.  Maybe
she’d done something to piss him off, but he should have shelved it until they
were alone.  Franks stayed outside with Nim, though he didn’t close the
tent flap.  There were two soldiers, the medic, and the lieutenant who
looked like he was in a lot of pain, drinking down some whiskey.

She said, “Hi, I’m going to try and heal him, anyone object
to that?”

The lieutenant looked up and smiled, “Ma’am, you can do
whatever you want.”

She smiled, pointed her staff at the guy’s head, and
whispered, “Relief,” and the lieutenants face cleared.

She warned, “Don’t move yet, that was just the pain I took
away.”

All the soldier looked at her intently, and then the
lieutenant.

She pointed her staff at the leg, and honestly had no idea
what to do.  She didn’t know shit about anatomy, except people had bones,
and other stuff in there.  Oh, she remembered ninth grade biology from six
years ago, and all about the bodies systems, but only in general terms and
ideas.

So she whispered, “Status,” and felt the spell take effect.

Immediately, a picture appeared in her mind.  It was
kind of… gross.  But she could see where the bone was snapped, and how it
needed to move to be fixed.  She looked around, and didn’t see any blood
vessels that were too close.  It was a constantly updating picture, like
she had an x-ray camera, only, much better because whenever she saw her own
x-rays she wondered how doctors read the damn things.

She whispered again, “Fix,” while picturing the bone back
together, and whole.

She watched it happen in that little moving status picture
in her mind, the bone shifted, joined, and then the crack disappeared. 
She felt… immense satisfaction, and a sense of power.  That… worried her a
bit.  She didn’t want to be addicted to the power, or become arrogant, or
worse, overconfident.  She cut the other spells she’d been maintaining,
the status and relief, and then looked up at his face.

He was still drunk, but he didn’t look to be in major pain
any longer.

“You should be okay now, I mean, you probably shouldn’t walk
though, until you sober up.  It may take a couple of days for the soreness
and swelling to go down, I fixed the bone, but the surrounding tissue damage… I
wasn’t sure how to fix that, so I left it alone, okay?  Best to let that
part heal naturally.”

She’d been worried if she’d tried, and did it wrong…

The medic shook his head, and then examined the guys leg, “I
can’t really tell without an x-ray, but it doesn’t feel broken, or nearly as
bad as it was.”

She didn’t have the heart to tell him he’d set it wrong, so
she turned and went back outside.  She felt uncomfortable at Franks’ look,
he was regarding her with awe.  Was that what would happen, awe and shock,
or hatred and suspicion.  She’d have to get over it.

Franks escorted them through the maze out the other side,
and bid them goodbye.  They were riding at least two minutes and well out
of earshot when John finally spoke.

“What the fuck was that?”

“Which part, and don’t curse at me again.  Are you mad
because of the whole scout out in front thing?  Either way, you’re the
only one acting differently here.”

“No… yes.  No, I was annoyed at that, but only at
myself.  It was that third guy, he was totally eye fucking you the whole
time you spoke to Franks and Hernandez.  Didn’t that bother you? 
That whole camp put me on edge.”

She shrugged, “They’re soldiers on their home soil.  I
was perfectly safe, even if there was a bad apple or two in there, the rest
would have stopped anything funny.  As for the guy, I don’t let stuff like
that bother me, I’m kind of… used to it.  Either way, put that jealousy
away, it sure as hell wasn’t my fault, and I did nothing wrong.”

She thought he’d respond, but he just bit his tongue and
rode away to scout, leaving us in the back.  The ironic thing, was he was
in range of the magic she felt without even trying, she could feel about twice
as far away as he was.  She just needed to be more cautious, and stop
filtering it out the way she’d started too, once she’d gotten used to it. 
It was a lot like filtering out sounds, and it was starting to come to her
automatically, she’d have to work on it and make sure she didn’t ignore the
wrong things.

Nim said softly, “He’ll get over it, and probably apologize,
he’s just jealous.  He sees you as his now and it bothered him.”

She frowned, “But why, looking doesn’t do any harm. 
I’m not arrogant about my looks, and I’m sure you understand what I mean when I
say he’s going to have a tough time of it if that’s his reaction all the time.”

Nim smiled, “It really doesn’t bother you?”

Katie shook her head, “When I turned fourteen and got curves
overnight, the boys, and even young men would look at me with desire.  It
scared me then, and I didn’t like it.  When I turned sixteen, I enjoyed
the power I had over the men around me, not abusively, and I wasn’t a tease,
but it wasn’t hard to get my way.  Then I graduated high school and went
to college, that’s when… it just didn’t matter to me anymore.

“I love when a boyfriend looks at me that way, but the rest
of them just… I don’t let it influence how I act or think anymore.  Men
are just wired that way, it’s pointless to get upset about it, nothing would
change anyway, and manipulation just never appealed to me.  I’m comfortable
with who I am.”

Nim said, “I get it, it just took me longer to figure out,
you’re a wise girl for a baby.”

She snorted, “My parents and being raised on a farm.  I
think it’s more common sense than wisdom, but far be it from me to argue with a
goddess.”

Nim said in a faux deep and wise voice, “You are definitely
wise young one.”

She snickered, and Nim stuck her tongue out at her…

Sean had always been a fairly solitary man.  Before the
invasion, he’d had his work friends, and went out on occasion, but in his old
life he’d been at home alone more often than not.  Even here, surrounded
by everyone… people tended to leave him alone.  In the past he’d thought
it likely his looks and social status, although it had never really bothered
him.  Now… he knew it was his presence, plus, the whole zombie thing.

At least he wasn’t alone now, he was never alone with
Cynthia at his side, and he’d grown accustomed to it, even liked it. 
Cynthia had become so much more than she’d started out as, to him, and more and
more he had found himself using her as a sounding board for his ideas. 
Sure, the sex was a part of it, maybe a big part, but it was more than that
now.

But still, for the most part, it was just Cynthia, his
growing army of undead outside, and his thoughts.  Most others… stayed
away unless they had a question or request, which mostly they asked Cynthia
about.  That’s why he’d felt a little uncomfortable all day, not in a bad
way, just outside of his comfort zone.  Because when he’d gone to check on
Cassie in the morning, she had followed him when he left, just an unobtrusive
presence, and he felt… studied.

Like Cassie was trying to figure him out.

He’d been considering reading her to understand what was
going on in her head, but of course, how could he explain touching her? 
He knew if he just walked over and touched her it would come across as creepy,
and telling her why would be… just as bad, so he dealt with it. 

Maybe she’d never met another person that could do more
either?  Or maybe she was just grateful he’d saved her, or felt more
comfortable with someone with power like her, and not comfortable among the
women that couldn’t relate to it.  Maybe she just saw him as someone that
would protect her and keep her safe?  In this new world that was no longer
the handsome guy with the thick wallet and sports car, it would be men like him
with power.  The same instincts that had caused women to avoid him, may
actually draw them to him now because of his power.  Or maybe it was a
mixture of all of that, and probably something he hadn’t even considered?

He wasn’t sure, and came to the conclusion there was no
point, and that him trying to figure out a woman’s mind was probably an
exercise in futility.  He’d never understood them before, why would he now?

He was outside, checking up on the field to see if anything
had grown at all yet.  He wasn’t a farmer, and worried his knowledge
wasn’t enough, after all the zombies were just following his thoughts on how to
do things.

“Excuse me?”

He turned, it was one of the women that had been with them
since the beginning.  She was in her early thirties, and was starting to
look less haunted, and he remembered she had a son.  He always gave those
women space, so really didn’t know them that well.  He struggled for a
moment, and couldn’t come up with a name.

Cynthia said, “
Tara
,” in his mind.

He said gently, “Tara, what can I do for you?”

She smiled, “Sorry to bother you, but my son’s asthma
inhaler is running very low.  I don’t… know what to do.”

Three of his zombies took off at a run toward town, reacting
to his thoughts immediately.

“What kind?” he asked while sending out instructions to
clean the place out, if it hadn’t been yet.  He realized they didn’t have
any first aid at all really, except the very basics.  He also knew sooner
or later they would need anti-biotics, pain medication, and other stuff… unless
a sorceress could heal the sick.

She said, “Just an emergency inhaler… albuterol.”

Good, now his zombies would go somewhere else if they
couldn’t find it in the Walmart pharmacy.  He knew there was a CVS and
Walgreens close as well.  He was almost positive the pain medicine would
be looted by the druggies, but maybe the other stuff would still be there?

“I’ll make sure you get it when they come back.  Is he
okay now?”

She nodded, “Yes, thank you.  He still has a handful of
doses.  I just don’t know what I’ll do when the supply runs out.”

He frowned, “There must be natural remedies, we can send
someone to the library, since the internet seems to be down,” he added with a
smile.

She snorted, “Good idea, let’s hope none of the idiots burn
them down.”

He asked, “Anything else?”

She shook her head, “No, thank you sir.”

He shook his head, “Call me Sean.”

She smiled lightly but just nodded tentatively before she
left.

He turned to Cassie, “We’ve got hot water, food coming,
we’re hunting for meat, medicines, beds, a stockpile of clothing, a roof over
our heads, any ideas what else we need?”

Cassie frowned, “Entertainment.  The necessities seemed
pretty well covered.”

He raised an eyebrow, that was true.  Well, movies and
television were out.  Books were a possibility though.

“Like what, bar sports?”

Maybe a pool table or two, foosball, and a few dart
boards.  Cards too, decks of cards.  Maybe some Frisbees and balls
for the kids?

She grinned, “And alcohol.  Right now things are fine,
but the lack of outlets will get people to arguing soon most likely. 
Right now everyone is grateful, but when boredom sets in…”

He nodded, “I’ll add it all to the list, we should probably
learn to make alcohol as well.  Both kinds.  Our candle supplies
won’t last forever either, soap and shampoo too for that matter, we need how to
books.  We can hope the world settles by then, but I don’t want to assume
it will happen before we need it.”

She snickered, “I might be able to help with some of
it.  I haven’t had much time to experiment with my magic being on the run…
so I’m not sure what it can do.”

He smiled, “It should be safe enough now, we need to keep an
eye out for when they come back.”

She shivered, and kissed his cheek, “Thank you,” and for
some reason he didn’t reach out with his power and read her.  He knew she
didn’t mean them harm, and although he was curious, he resisted doing so. 
He’d been more willing to invade her privacy when it was for safety, but for
simple curiosity… it seemed like a much worse violation of privacy.

He nodded soberly, and got to work on all of that. 
More specifically, he got his zombies started gathering all the stuff they
would need, while Cynthia went around asking who would be interested in what
job.  Maybe they’d even start some kind of trading post, for when things
settled down.  He’d had the idea someone would be doing that, why not his
community?

It was a long day, but his zombies did find the medicine,
and he got to enjoy a hot bath at the end of it.

That night, before he went to bed his door was knocked on
one more time, when he answered it Cassie stood there, and she looked a little
nervous.

“What is it Cass?” he asked not unkindly.

She asked in a soft intimate voice, “Would you mind if I
joined you?”

He raised an eyebrow, he’d already spoken to Cynthia about
it, and she wasn’t opposed to the idea, although that really didn’t surprise
him at all considering…

“Come on in, I told you last night I wouldn’t say no,” he
said in a slightly bemused voice.

She blushed, and stepped forward boldly and kissed
him.  He froze for a split second, and then kissed her back.  She
sighed into his mouth and then pulled away.  He looked down into her eyes
as she looked up.  He didn’t see any conflict in her eyes, just trust, and
desire.  He considered reading her again, and decided he didn’t need to
know, he already had a pretty good idea, she felt safe with him, and he could
take care of her.

She’d been studying him all day, he was curious how she’d
decided but…  It was enough she was here.  She was a beautiful and
powerful young woman, and he was very aware of the fact he had no influence on
her really, she was here completely of her own choice, and that turned him on a
great deal.

She smiled lightly, “I’ve been wanting to do that for hours
now.”

She turned, closed, and locked the door, and his mouth went
dry as his heart sped up in anticipation.

He pulled her against him, and claimed her lips hungrily,
and she moaned and melted against him, rubbing her nubile body against his
subtly.  He believed what she said, she had to have been thinking about it
a while to be so worked up already.  He felt Cynthia come up behind him,
and kiss the back of his neck as she pressed her soft voluptuous body against
him.  If he hadn’t been having so much sex lately, he’d have blown right
there, being sandwiched between the two soft supple bodies.

When their kiss broke, Cassie pulled Cynthia around him by
her hand, and kissed her just inches from his face.  He… really liked
watching that, and started to undress, his manhood already throbbing and
straining against his pants.  Two weeks ago both of these beautiful women would
have been far out of his league, but now, he got to have both… at the same
time.  He had the feeling it was going to be a very good night, a night of
firsts for Sean Anders, and he couldn’t wait to explore every inch of this
young blonde beauty…

He moaned softly as he woke up to the sensation of warm wet
pleasure below.  He looked down, and saw sparkling blue eyes looking up at
him.  Cassie looked so beautiful with the morning sunlight against her
soft light blonde hair, as she took him deeper into her mouth.  She
winked, and sucked harder as he hit the back of her throat, but then she popped
her mouth off of him, and quickly straddled him.

“Good morning,” Cassie said with a grin, as she lowered
herself slowly, impaling herself on his manhood.  The pleasure that
radiated through his body from her warm, snug, moist center was overwhelming.

He took a deep breath, and pushed up into her from below,
“Morning beautiful.”

She smiled and winked, then he felt his head turned by soft
hands on his face, and Cynthia claimed his lips, kissing him passionately as
Cassie wasted no time and started to bounce on him vigorously, milking him with
tight silken friction.

He cupped the back of Cynthia’s neck and moaned into her
mouth in pleasure.

Cynthia broke the kiss, and looked at him with love in her
eyes.  He thought his heart would burst with the added pleasure that
simply look gave him, as Cassie worked, squeezed, and pleasured him from above.

Cynthia whispered in his ears, “I love you Sean,” and then
smiling a bit wickedly, she knelt, and straddled his face, lowering her already
moist sex to his lips.

He heard kissing although he couldn’t see it, all he could
see was Cynthia’s perfect supple ass, and puckered little hole, as his tongue
and lips worked on her pleasure.  They must have cleaned up somehow from
last night’s sex, Cassie’s magic maybe?  Because she was fresh, and he
moaned at the taste of her liquid pleasure as she squirmed and lightly ground
against his tongue.

He felt Cassie getting close, she was riding him hard and
fast, and he wasn’t far behind working both of them from below.  He wanted
them all to cum together, so he reached up and started to play with Cynthia’s
breasts, finding Cassie’s hands there already, and they worked Cynthia’s
supple, firm, yet incredibly soft flesh as a team.  After a few minutes
when she was breathlessly grinding herself on his face, he thought she was far
enough along for a more intense sensual assault, so he started to tease and
please her swollen button.

He felt Cassie tighten around him, she was so snug around
his length, as she cried out and he felt her silken liquid bliss flush out,
bathing his length in her satiating desire.  His balls boiled and he
moaned deeply into Cynthia’s hot moist center, and sucked, licked, and flicked
her clit with his tongue as she started to tremble above him. 

Cynthia was on the edge, so he grabbed and lightly twisted
her nipples, and she cried out in pleasure.  Her liquid silk flooded his
mouth and face, and he released his tight desperate hold on his own
satisfaction.  He pushed up hard into Cassie’s still grasping sex, and
released his ecstasy deep inside of her, as his mind and body were wracked with
waves of almost unbearable pleasure.

Several moments later, as they all came down and settled
into post orgasmic bliss, they both got off of him and snuggled into both
sides.  He kissed them softly one at a time, and sighed in pleasure.

“That was a hell of a wakeup call,” he said in deep
satisfaction as he pulled them both tightly against him.

Cassie laughed lightly and caressed his chest, “My
pleasure.”

He knew they should get up to eat and start their day, but
he was too content, and happy, to move at the moment.

Cassie said, “So… I know this is a little fast, but can I
sleep with you two from now on.  I… it’s too early to know how we’ll feel
about each other, but I feel safer with you.  And if you hadn’t guessed
yet, I really like sex.”

“I don’t know about that, I think I’m a little in love with
you already,” he said in a lightly joking voice, and then said, “I won’t say
no, you’re smart, beautiful, and sexy.  If it grows into more great, if
not… we’ll deal with it then.  For now, this is more than enough. 
But I only want you in my bed if you want to be there, don’t think you need to
trade sex for safety, because I’ll protect you either way, just like everyone
else that comes here.”

Cassie kissed his chest, “Thank you.”

He frowned, “For what?” he asked.

He felt her body shrug against his as he caressed her hair,
and she said, “For accepting me as I am.  Most people… freak out.”

Cynthia said, “The magic?  For us that’s an added
bonus.”

He nodded, “Most definitely, I think you just met the wrong
people, of course it helps that I’ve got my own, sort of.  I deal in life
and death, not magic.”