Thaumatology 101 (25 page)

Before anyone else could move, Carter was walking over to intercept the threesome. ‘Doctor Barnes,’ he said, ‘not often we see you here in London.’

Matthew Barnes smiled, but the smile came nowhere near his eyes. ‘I had business at my publishers,’ he said. Ceri’s eyes wandered over his associates. Lily had mentioned he had two vampires as bodyguards and these, she guessed, were them. Her eyes narrowed; the blonde looked like she had a nasty patch of red skin across her chest, but it was hard to tell through the dress.

Carter looked around at one of the waitresses. ‘Tessa, please show Doctor Barnes to table sixteen.’

‘I was hoping to have your half-succubus…’ Barnes began.

‘Lily’s tables are full,’ Carter said smoothly.

Ceri looked around, spotting Lily moving toward the bar. She met her friend’s eyes and waved her over as Tessa led Barnes and his girls toward their table. She could tell Lily had seen him from the way her aura was flaring as she got closer. Carter moved toward them, obviously feeling the same thing.

‘That’s Barnes,’ Lily hissed.

‘I know, Lil,’ Ceri said.

‘The bastard’s tried to kill you three times now, Ceri…’

‘You can’t prove it, Lily,’ Carter said. Ceri thought about the burn on the blonde vampire’s chest, probably left there by her own fire. Now was not the time to bring it up. ‘If you do anything, he can defend himself.’

‘I’ll…’ Lily’s body tensed and the skin on Ceri’s scalp tightened as the half-succubus’ aura flared hot and angry.

Ceri slipped from her stool and stepped close to Lily. Her hand reached up and gripped her friend’s jaw, she leaned in so that she could whisper in Lily’s ear. ‘He’s here to taunt you into acting. You will
not
rise to it. You’re better than that. Don’t make your Mistress ashamed of her pet.’

Lily’s eyes widened, and then she looked down. ‘Yes, Ceri,’ she said quietly.

Ceri released her hold on Lily’s chin and stepped back a little. ‘Now you do your job and ignore the freak,’ she said. Lily bowed her head slightly and pulled herself up straight. She looked around, spotted a table where the drinks were getting low, and started toward it.

Carter watched her go and then looked around at Ceri with a raised eyebrow. ‘You seem to have our Lily under firm control,’ he said. Ceri thought she detected a hint of disapproval. Or was it protectiveness? Was he worried she was taking advantage of Lily?

‘Only way we could make things work,’ she said. ‘You ever had a succubus decide you were her chosen master?’

‘No,’ he replied, ‘but I have read that document I put on your tablet. I thought it might be informative, not of practical use.’

Ceri shrugged. ‘We’re hoping she can eventually overcome her demon side, but for now I
have
to be her mistress at times or she’ll try to control me.’ She felt her cheeks heating. ‘I got it a little wrong and she
did
try. I broke free, and this is what we came up with. It’s not easy, I’m not exactly a natural dominatrix.’

Carter’s lips twitched. ‘Fun though, I’d imagine.’

‘I enjoy it,’ Lily said, returning from her table. She was smiling, focussed on being the best waitress in the Jade Dragon. ‘And,’ she added, ‘Mistress is getting much better at pushing my buttons when she needs to.’ Ceri blushed slightly. ‘You were right,’ Lily said. ‘I was being… emotional.’

‘That’s your nature, dear,’ Cheryl said. ‘Succubi are tuned to emotion. And your protectiveness of Ceri is very endearing.’

Lily shrugged slightly. ‘Since we’re not keeping it quiet… Ceri’s my mistress, I can’t
help
being protective.’

‘You can rationalise it that way if you like, Lil,’ Carter said, ‘but you’d have been doing the same thing before Ceri’s accident. Your demon side is not the governor of your actions you like to make it out to be.’

‘Maybe,’ Lily said. She did not look convinced and changed the subject by the simple expedient of looking around at Alec. ‘Three red wines for table two, please.’

Carter waited until Lily was taking the drinks to the table before he turned to Ceri once more. ‘I’m glad to see you’re not taking advantage of her,’ he said. ‘Don’t get me wrong, you don’t seem the type, but I know power can go to your head.’

Ceri glanced over his shoulder toward Barnes’ table. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I just
did
take advantage of her, well, of that aspect of our relationship.’

‘For her own good,’ Cheryl commented.

Ceri shrugged slightly and gave a sheepish smile. ‘I take a few liberties,’ she said, ‘but I don’t think Lily minds. We’re still at the stage where we’re trying each other out. Y‘know, testing limits. I think mine are a lot more, uh, restrictive than hers.’

‘That’s almost certainly a good thing, dear,’ Cheryl said. It was more of a comment on her potential power as a sorceress, Ceri suspected. Of course she was right; the ancient sorcerers had been beings of terrible power. It would be far too easy to let that kind of power turn you into something horrible. She shuddered.

Carter misinterpreted her look of disquiet and patted her on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry about that, Ceri. Enjoy yourself in the knowledge it’s unlikely you’ll ever ask her to do something she would
actually
find degrading. If my memory of that paper serves, the object of the exercise is to demonstrate to your demon that you’re the boss, not to test the limits of your depravity.’

Ceri giggled. ‘Yeah, but did you read the introduction? The author’s limits of depravity were…’

‘More of less non-existent,’ Carter said, smirking. ‘If you ladies will excuse me, I need to be a little sociable around the tables.’ Ceri nodded, smiling, and picked up her drink. Carter smiled warmly at Ceri and Cheryl, and started off toward Lily’s tables.

‘Good evening, ladies.’ Ceri had not heard Barnes approaching, though his voice identified the stiffening sensation in her spine which had suddenly developed. ‘Doctor Tennant, isn’t it?’ he added. ‘I have a terrible memory for faces.’ Fine, if he wanted to play it that way…

Ceri turned and nodded as Cheryl spoke. ‘That’s right, Doctor Barnes. And this is my research assistant, Miss Brent.’

‘I recall some enchanters of that name,’ Barnes said. ‘Relatives?’

‘My parents.’

‘Ah. What happened to them? I don’t recall hearing anything about them recently.’ He smiled pleasantly, but Ceri was watching his eyes and they were dead. Ceri did a slow blink, knowing he would think she was reacting to the taunt; he knew full well what had happened to her parents and was trying to needle her.

She looked at the protégé magician with her Sight. ‘They’re dead,’ she said to say something rather than blurt out her shock. Black striations formed a web through Barnes’ body. His Chakral Median was a thick line of darkness up his spine. Barnes was not simply pacted to some demon, he was
consumed
by it. ‘A car accident,’ she went on and closed her eyes to shut off the image before her.

‘Fate can bring even the greatest of us down so ignominiously,’ Barnes said blandly. His attention shifted back to Cheryl. ‘I heard you had a bit of an accident in your lab, Doctor. A student died?’

‘One of my students was murdered,’ Cheryl said acidly.

‘And it wasn’t an accident,’ Ceri said. ‘The murdered student sabotaged our containment circle. It was a foolish mistake since the instability actually produced better results than a solid circle would have. Whoever told him to do it was clearly a very poor thaumatologist.’

Barnes’ eyes remained flat, but a flicker of anger moved over his face. ‘Perhaps they had another reason for the sabotage,’ he said. ‘Something
you
haven’t deduced.’

‘We’ll have the circle ready to go again tomorrow,’ Cheryl said. ‘Ceri is really quite brilliant. She’s repaired all the damage Shane did, improved the synchronisation software, and she can raise a circle easily as well as he could.’

Barnes’ eyes narrowed. ‘Good luck with that,’ he said, and stalked off toward the toilets as though that had been his intention all along.

‘Was there a reason we were needling him?’ Cheryl asked.

‘He came here to wind us up,’ Ceri replied, ‘and I’m sick of hiding behind werewolves and wards. I want him annoyed and in a rush to stop us or he’ll be hanging over our heads until Doomsday.’

‘Is that entirely wise?’

‘Maybe not.’ Ceri took a drink of her wine. ‘On the other hand, he seems determined to kill me anyway. I’d rather be in control of it.’ Her eyes flicked up to see Lily heading back toward them. ‘Considering I forbad Lily from doing anything drastic, I’d prefer not to talk about it in front of her.’

Cheryl nodded. ‘We’ll take the morning off,’ she said, changing the subject without further comment. ‘I suspect we’ll be late getting to bed. Then how do you feel about running up a trial of the system in the afternoon?’

‘You know I’ve never raised a circle that large?’ Ceri replied. ‘Though Carl Bellamy seemed to think I was capable enough. The test circle I did was too large, he said.’

Cheryl snapped her fingers. ‘That’s where I heard the name! Bellamy was involved in some scandal about… two years ago. He wrote a paper on dark containment circles, and Barnes claimed he had stolen the concept and theoretical work from him. Bellamy denied it, of course, but Barnes had some notes and files which the people at Cambridge said proved the claim.’

‘Barnes stole Mister Bellamy’s work.’ Lily said.

Cheryl lowered her voice. ‘Well, there have been a few rumours about Barnes taking credit for students’ work, his own becoming unimaginative. It happens to some. They have a few years of brilliance and then burn out.’ The researcher developed a slightly self-deprecating smile. ‘I prefer being the slow and steady type. I’m no genius, but I get the work done.’ She reached out a hand to pat Ceri’s arm. ‘And I give
full
credit to the brilliant people I work with when their work is vital to our success.’

‘You actually
have
morals,’ Lily said. Barnes was walking past as she said it. Ceri saw his face cloud over, but he kept walking. Lily had not been looking at him and he had no way of knowing she was making an inference about him. Her scalp tightened, however, and she was quite sure it was not due to Lily.

~~~

The toilets in the Dragon were very plush, even if you were not having illicit trysts with the owner in one of the cubicles. Deep red flock wallpaper with a Chinese dragon design and mood lighting gave the place a sumptuous feel. Still, it was a toilet… Pulling her dress down, she flushed the loo and unbolted the door. She paused. Someone had entered the room and her scalp had tightened.

She waited, and then heard one of the other cubicles open and close, the bolt clicking home. Letting out her breath, she stepped out of the cubicle and crossed the room to the sinks. The liquid soap had a faint jasmine scent. Ceri smiled and rubbed it over her hands, lathering them. She glanced in the mirrors and smiled slightly at the girl looking back. It was the same face as always, but the outfit was… far less shy. Something made her frown; some slight error in what she was seeing…

She threw herself sideways. The mirror shattered as the vampire’s fist slammed into it. It was the blonde again. She grinned maliciously at Ceri as she rolled, trying to keep her eyes on her attacker. The vampire pulled a sliver of glass out of her hand; the wound healing over almost instantly. ‘Very good,’ she said. ‘How did you spot me?’

‘Didn’t,’ Ceri replied, ‘but all the cubicle doors were open.’

The vamp glanced back at the doors. ‘That
is
very good. And before you think of burning me again,’ she raised her hand, shaking a charm strapped around her wrist, ‘that’s been taken care of.’

‘No knives this time?’ Ceri asked, hoping to buy time. She struggled back to her feet, wondering vaguely why the vampire was not attacking.

‘Too quick,’ Blondie replied. ‘Master’s decided to make it slow. I’m to drain you while he watches.’

Ceri narrowed her eyes. Lily had said Barnes’ vampires seemed like thralls. If he had worked magic on them to control them there was a chance. ‘Master,’ she said, ‘right, so he’s using your senses. In that case I can tell him what a cowardly prick I think he is.’ It was there, the tenuous streamer of energy linking the vampire with Barnes. She was identifying the core of the spell within the vamp’s mind when a hand gripped her throat. She had not seen the vampire move.

‘You’re warm,’ the vampire purred. Ceri braced her forearms against the vamp’s chest and pushed. There was a slight wince of pain as the mesh abraded the vamp’s burn, but the pressure did not let up. ‘That’s mean,’ she said. ‘It’s a shame you keep my aura off you. This will hurt much more without it.’ Ceri felt the wall against her shoulder blades and the vampire’s breath hot on her neck.

‘Bet you didn’t think of this, bastard,’ Ceri croaked out to the magician listening in, and her power flared, blasting into the matrix of the spell. The vampire’s fangs grazed her neck and then were jerked back, the girl staggering in confusion. Ignoring her, Ceri bolted for the door, yanking it open and heading for the club’s main floor.

Carter and Lily were standing by the bar with Cheryl. All three were looking a little bemused. ‘Where’s Barnes?’ Ceri snapped.

‘He just left in a considerable hurry,’ Cheryl replied, ‘with only one girl. We don’t know where the other’s gone.’

‘Damn!’ Ceri slammed her fist onto the counter. ‘Um, the other vamp’s in the ladies’ toilet, probably a bit confused.’

Carter’s face went dark. ‘I’ll see to it.

Ceri put a hand on his arm as he walked past. ‘She was controlled, some sort of mind link spell.’

‘Enslavement spell,’ Carter spat. ‘Illegal and immoral. Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on her.’ He continued on, vanishing behind the screen wall which led to the toilets.

Cheryl sighed. ‘I guess we won’t be getting that lie in,’ she said.

Kennington, October 14
^th

They did get something of a lie in; Sergeant Middleshaw arrived at eleven o’clock sharp, on her own. She looked tired and Ceri wondered whether she had had any sleep at all that night.