Innocent Devil’s Harem Ch. 94

July 31, 2022

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It covers Chapters 1-14, and is 101,000 words.

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STORY NOTE: Hopefully, you’ll find this chapter pretty interesting -- it's about 7,100 words long. Although, I thought for sure a particular major event was going to happen this chapter, but it’s looking like it will be the next chapter 95 for sure this time. (It’s an event that needs to happen before the Saturday meeting, and I think all of you are going to really love the next chapter a lot.)

And then, after that, I plan on getting to that second event that needs to happen right afterward (in what should be Ch 96).

After reading this chapter, you could probably guess what the two events are, but I won’t deny or confirm them yet.

But first, let's start off with giving Rosa a tiny bit of attention!

<< Chapter 93 | Ch 1 (Book 1) | Ch 16 (Book 2) | Ch 31 (Book 3) | Ch 46 (Book 4) | Ch 61 (Book 5) | Ch 76 (Book 6) | Ch 91 (Book 7)

- CHAPTER 94: Range -

Stepping into the pitch-black concrete room where Rosa was sleeping, I found pretty much what I was expecting in the darkness. A simple coffin, the dark wood polished enough to look fairly nice, but simple enough to appear not overly expensive. I assumed the inside was at least somewhat padded.

Of course, there were no windows in the room, the only light coming from the bare hallway, and when Miriam asked if I wanted her to turn on the light, I declined. Partially because I could see in the dark just fine anyway, and suspected Rosa could too, but also because I didn’t want to startle her when I woke her up.

No doubt she’d grown to fear the sunlight, which really did burn her skin like acid, and if I just opened up the coffin lid when she likely knew it was the middle of the day, she would probably freak out from the brightness, even if the normal lights wouldn’t hurt her.

Thus, instead, with a syringe in hand, I carefully knelt down by the head portion.

Like most modern coffins, the lid was actually split into two sections, so that only the top portion could be raised for funeral viewings. Technically, I had no idea if Rosa was sleeping that way, but figured there was a decent chance she was.

Gently reaching out, I knocked softly on the wood, hoping that would wake her up gently.

When there was no response, I tried again, whispering her name this time.

“Rosa, it’s me.”

There was another long pause, and I was about to try knocking again when unexpectedly the upper lid popped open a crack.

“K-Kai?” she whispered.

“Hi,” I whispered back. “It’s about noon right now, but I was wondering if you wanted me to try giving you some of my blood.”

She sounded more hopeful than I was expecting, pushing the lid open more. “O-Okay.”

I leaned back a little as she continued to open the lid, her thin pale arm seeming surprisingly strong despite how thin she was. However, she hadn’t been lying on her back like I would have assumed. Instead, she’d surprisingly been curled up just slightly, sleeping on her side facing the opening, the dark crimson interior looking velvety soft and well padded.

I supposed that made sense.

After all, even if she needed blood to survive, she was still mostly a normal person in terms of personality. One who had preferences and desires that were unique to her, as an individual, some of which might even contradict the kind of creature she was, such as loving the sunlight and hating blood. Or at least hating the act of drinking blood from a person.

Realizing in her hopeful crimson gaze, her irises glowing in the dark, that she was definitely ready, I decided to get right to it by opening up the packaged syringe, and then getting the needle in the crook of my arm.

As I did so, Rosa slowly opened up the lower portion of the coffin lid too, and then readjusted herself as she began sitting upright.

I didn’t even have to ask her for her arm, with her having done this already several times now with Gwen, the thin blonde resting the back of her wrist on the edge of the coffin as she angled the crook of her arm toward me.

However, as I reached out to take her arm, I decided to speak up before doing this.

“Hey, if this works, then I only ask one thing of you, okay?”

“W-What is the thing?” she asked, her Italian accent thick.

“That you remain a good person, okay?”

Her crimson eyes widened at that, only for her face to visibly grow emotional. “O-Okay,” she whispered, her glowing red eyes filling with tears.

Deciding that was good enough, I carefully felt for a pulse, knowing she did have a really weak and slow heartbeat, by the sound alone, and then began inserting the needle. At first, I started off slow, just to make sure that injecting my blood this way wasn’t going to hurt her, but then I sped up a little and injected the rest, pulling it back out to see how she was doing.

Her brow was furrowed now, her crimson eyes almost confused.

“I…” She started, only to stop. “This is different. I…”

Unexpectedly, her glowing red eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell straight backwards into the coffin. I barely caught her by the shoulders before she landed, though I realized the interior was padded enough that she probably wouldn’t have suffered any kind of damage.

Setting her down the last inch or two, I focused up at the doorway at Miriam to offer my opinion.

“Well, she seems fine. And fell asleep like everyone else.”

The short sexy succubus nodded, crossing her arms, with Gabriella and Gwen standing on either side. “Yes, and assuming she wakes up later this evening and is overall fine, then that will confirm that only your blood can transform people.”

I frowned as I glanced at the much taller Gwen, standing nearly a foot over her mistress. “Might not be a bad idea to try someone else’s blood on Gwen too, like maybe Serenity, just to make sure. But yeah, it seems that way.”

Miriam nodded. “And if that’s the case, then what will you do?” she wondered.

Glancing at Rosa again, I reached out to start lowering both lids, and then stood up once they were closed. “What do you mean?”

The short minx shrugged. “Do you already have anyone in mind, who you might share your blood with? Or do you have any kind of criteria for making that decision? Because you have to remember that, if it’s true that your compulsion doesn’t work on the others, then you’ll have no way to get someone you’ve changed to do what you want. No way to force them, at least.”

Walking up to her, I nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good point. But then, do you have a recommendation? Or are you just asking?”

She pursed her lips as she focused up at me. “Well…technically I could use my soul scrying on a person to at least give us an idea if we could trust them.”

My eyes widened at that. “Oh. Would that be a hassle to do?”

She shook her head. “Well, no. But I do have to kiss the individual to use it. And it doesn’t guarantee that said individual wouldn’t one day betray us.”

I thought about that, recalling when she used her soul scrying on me. “When you say kiss, you’re just talking about putting lips together, right?”

“Yes,” she said simply. “Like what I did with you. And while it’s easier to use that person’s lust, I technically don’t have to. I could use energy from an opal.”

I was again surprised. “Oh, then why don’t you just always do that?”

She scoffed playfully. “Are you really asking a succubus, who has lived her life addicted to sex, why she preferred to arouse the individual for their magic?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I guess that was a dumb question.”

“But on a more serious note, it actually does use more energy that way.”

“It does?” I said in surprise.

She nodded. “Yes, if I’m using lust directly from a person, the amount of energy required for almost anything is much less. But if I used magic stored in an opal, often the amount I have to use is as much as double.”

“Wow, that’s actually a big difference.”

“It is,” she agreed.

“But you could use magic from an opal without a problem, correct?”

“Yes,” she replied with a nod. “So if you wanted me to use my soul scrying on someone, I wouldn’t have to get them aroused, and I would only have to kiss them for just a couple of seconds.”

I knew how I perceived kissing in the first place was largely cultural, with some places viewing even kissing on the lips as a friendly greeting, and other places even viewing the whole act of kissing as something disgusting -- definitely not romantic. Still, I supposed my main problem was the idea of the other person enjoying the kiss.

“Do they have to be conscious for it?”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “That’s…” She paused. “Huh, actually I don’t know. I don’t think so, but I’ve never done it on someone unconscious.”

I simply nodded.

She quickly continued. “But that’s just one option that I’m offering you. If you decide you don’t want to ever do that, it’s fine.”

Unexpectedly, Gwen spoke up in my head. ‘Master, you should know that it is a very big deal she is offering this to you. Her ability to peer into a soul has been abused in the past, and so her willingness to do this for you is significant.’

Oh. Damn.

“Umm, thank you, Miriam. Really, thank you so much for being willing to do that.”

She gave me a warm smile. “Of course, baby. Anything for you. Now…” She focused up at Gwen. “You are free to attend to your own needs, but unless I call on you, I’d like you to keep an eye on Rosa here, okay?”

“Yes mistress. Of course.”

“Thank you.” She focused on me. “Then, if you’re ready, let’s head outside to the range. We’ll go through the back gate.”

I decided to give Gwen a quick hug, just wanting to show some affection, before Gabriella and I followed after the shorter woman, heading back up the concrete stairs, underneath the western twin staircase to get to the dining hall, and then through the breakfast room and conservatory, to get to the northern terrace.

Stepping off the long porch onto the stone walkway that was actually meant to connect to the pavement through the grassy patch, we continued on through the open rear gate, and then began making our way along another stone pathway that led along the northeastern side of the tall rock wall, now toward our right, surrounding her mansion.

Now that I was really looking around, it was actually kind of amazing how many little details I’d missed when I had been focused on other things. For one, I hadn’t noticed this stone pathway at all, or the previous pathway leading from the terrace to the pavement in the back. I’d been far too focused either on specific people, such as Natalie or Serenity, or on getting a particular job done, such as dealing with the aftermath of that werewolf attack.

No time to smell the roses, so to speak.

Even the hedges that grew along much on the inside of the wall were something I paid little attention to, despite the fact that one of the first things I’d heard, when arriving here on Sunday was a guy saying that he would finish up trimming up some of the hedges the next day, since he was being asked to leave early.

As we continued around the stone wall, I finally saw why I hadn’t noticed the range previously, since the first indication that we were almost there was the wooden fence and gate hiding what lie beyond. And I wouldn’t have noticed it from the air either, because within that fence were four massive trees with very expansive foliage.

The wooden fence was a dark brown, almost looking as if the wood had recently been stained, definitely appearing a bit worn, but still looking nice and well maintained.

Miriam opened the gate right up, and paused to let me grab the door, before walking through.

Inside, the space was a mixture of grassy patches and concrete slabs, with it appearing to be more than just a simple archery range. In one section, against the rocky wall toward the right corner, there was a makeshift shelter with a metal roof, with a wooden rear wall and three standard white target bags with a bullseye image on them. Then, about fifty feet away, was another open shelter with metal roof, which I assumed was where someone would shoot from, the space between the two structures starting off as grass on the left and then becoming a concrete slab leading up to the targets.

However, that was just one spot.

Directly toward our left, there was a similar setup, except that the ‘targets’ appeared to be straw figures, with shooting being in the exact opposite direction, toward the forest. Granted, between the wooden wall and the wood fence just beyond it, I doubted an arrow would ever reach that far.

A bullet definitely would though.

However, then there was the third area in the far left corner, practically on the other side of the space from where we were, facing south. It very distinctly had a rusting metal wall behind wooden targets, which looked fairly eaten up from something. Possibly arrows, but I could imagine that a few bullets had taken out some chunks.

Overall, the vegetation looked fairly well-kempt, with there actually being mulching and flowers planted around each of the four tree trunks, as well as more stone walkways that led to a seating area in the middle, where there were two benches facing each other, a rocky patio between them.

Honestly, even just this one space looked like paradise.

Like someplace I’d want to come just to sit, the wooden fence making it feel really secluded.

After Gabriella closed the gate behind her, Miriam began leading us directly through the middle, aiming for that furthest range with the wooden targets.

“It’s not much, but it serves its purpose.”

“Not much?” Gabriella exclaimed. “This place is amazing! This is the kind of thing I’d expect to pay for, in order just to visit and shoot.”

Miriam chuckled at that. “Yeah, well, archery is sort of a hobby I picked up a long time ago. Honestly, kind of the only hobby I’ve had for a long time. Unless you count nonfiction reading as a hobby.”

“Oh,” I said in surprise. “So you actually shoot then.”

Miriam laughed. “Well yeah, why do you think I had an archery range built?”

“Sorry, I guess I just didn’t put two-and-two together there,” I admitted, glancing at the benches as we walked through the patio area in the middle, and continued on the stone path leading to the furthest range. “Honestly, kind of surprised there’s no damage from Monday night.”

Of course, she knew I was talking about the werewolf attack.

“Yeah, actually I was surprised too. But they came from the southwest and never really reached this far, since they were more focused on the northern and southern gates. When they were cleaning up the bodies, there wasn’t a single one over on this side.”

“Well, since most of them kind of just turned into dust, that makes sense.”

Miriam frowned at that, nodding simply as she stepped up onto the concrete slab underneath the shelter where one would stand to shoot at the wooden targets. There was actually a small wasp nest in the upper corner, which I mainly noticed due to one of them landing on the nest just as I joined Miriam.

However, I gave her my attention again when she turned to face us, Gabriella stopping at my side.

“Okay this might be too far away for what I want to try doing, but I’ve learned to not underestimate you, so we’ll see how you do.”

I nodded, glancing at the wooden targets.

She continued. “So tell me, if you wanted to kill an enemy standing over there, how would you do it with your fire?”

My eyes widened at that, mainly because she was talking about murder so casually, when I knew death sincerely bothered her. But then again, I also knew she would take a life herself, if it meant protecting others. And she completely understood that I might have to kill again, in order to protect everyone.

I cleared my throat, focusing on the target something like fifty feet away.

“Umm, I don’t know,” I admitted, knowing I’d only used my fire at close-range thus far. “I guess maybe try creating a fireball? Would that work?”

“But why do that?” she wondered seriously. “Why create fire here, when your enemy is over there?”

My eyes widened at that, something finally clicking. “Wait…could I…” My voice trailed off as I concentrated, deciding to use my magic differently, focusing on my target and reaching out toward it, making the decision that it was my enemy.

‘Burn,’ I thought simply.

Instantly, the middle target ignited with an extremely loud explosion into blue flames, the sound amplified by the metal roof and back wall, the bonfire rapidly beginning to turn orange as the wood caught fire.

“Holy shit!” Miriam exclaimed, both her and Gabriella covering their ears from the unexpected noise. “And you didn’t even say a spell out loud!”

I quickly stopped using my magic to create the blue flames, and immediately the orange fire began to die out, not being hot enough to keep burning, though it was definitely smoking now, the wood charred black.

“Umm, yeah,” I replied simply, not expecting her to be so surprised.

She dropped her hands from her ears and stood up straight, her wings briefly unfolding and refolding. “Truly, never in my entire life have I ever met, or even heard, of anyone having this kind of talent for any type of magic. You really are a prodigy.” She paused. “However, now I have to ask. In your estimation, how much magic did you just use?”

I frowned as I considered that. “Umm, well I wasn’t trying to hold back, so a decent amount. It’s hard to get a sense of how much though. Like, I could probably do that ten more times, before I’d start using the magic I need to sustain myself, or whatever.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Miriam said, shaking her hands back and forth. “Back up. You could do that ten more times, without using the reserve you need to survive?” she said in disbelief.

“Umm, yeah. Did you not realize that?”

She seemed incredulous, her red eyebrows raised. “Baby, I don’t believe you’ve said anything to me about it, since I’m pretty sure I would have remembered that. So of course I didn’t know.”

“Oh, well yeah.” I shrugged. “Pretty much ever since Sunday, after you broke that seal on my third-eye, and then obviously after that monster came through the gate, I’ve been paying close attention to how it feels to use my magic, and trying to understand it. And I definitely have this sensation that there’s a reserve that I need to be healthy, but I can also hold a little more than that. Maybe about half, in comparison.”

Miriam just shook her head. “Well, if you can just learn to control how much you’re using, then I don’t think you’ll have any problems defeating even a large number of enemies.”

“What do you mean?” I wondered. “Is there a way to create an explosion like that, but with less magic?”

She shook her head. “No, what I’m saying is that you don’t even need an explosion like that. Think about a gun, for example. Such a tiny piece of metal can kill a grown man. Can even kill many types of monsters.”

“Oh, so then I just need to be smarter about it then.”

“Exactly. Even just the tiniest flame can be lethal, if it appears in the right spot.”

My eyes widened at that. So obvious, and yet the implications, that I could actually do that, just seemed so huge that the entire concept hadn’t even occurred to me.

Gabriella finally spoke up, seeming to echo my thoughts. “Okay, that’s actually a little scary to think about. Just the idea that someone could create a fire inside your head, and you’d just drop dead by roasting part of your brain.”

Miriam nodded. “Which is exactly why learning defensive magic is so vitally important. Because even if you have all the power in the world, some random witch could drop you dead in an instant with even a simple spell used wisely.”

“Shit,” I hissed. “Well then, we can skip this part for now,” I said more seriously. “Because I feel like I’m already at least adequate when it comes to attacking. I need to learn how to defend myself from something like that.”

“Yeah,” Gabriella agreed. “Seems like that’s kind of a bigger deal. Like, even if his father means him no harm, that black stone implies that someone is trying to kill him, and if he stumbles across that person, then he might not even stand a chance. Might be dead even before he knows it.”

Miriam sighed. “Well, I wasn’t going to put it like that, since being anxious can be counterproductive to learning. But yeah, it’s a pretty serious thing. Which is why I want to put most of my effort toward trying to teach you just one spell.”

“Which is?”

“Shall I demonstrate it for you?” she wondered. “Or do you want me to just tell you, so you can try yourself?”

“Go ahead and demonstrate,” I replied, watching her intently now. Not just her physical appearance, but paying more attention to her erotic and somewhat maternal aura, as well as any tiny trickles of magic leaking out of her as she prepared to cast a spell.

“Alright then,” she said, clasping her hands together and bowing her head like she was praying. “Then pay close attention. Are you ready?”

“Yep,” I agreed.

“I think so,” Gabriella added.

Miriam nodded, taking a slow deep breath, her tone becoming…extremely earnest and sincere. As if she was really praying. “Protect me from evil, protect me from violence. Keep me from vile plans, keep me from wicked hands. Body through and through, envelope and subdue. The poison of vipers, the bite of snakes, no matter the strength, refuse to break.”

Immediately, I could sense her body become enveloped in an invisible shroud, only for my awareness of it to completely disappear.

Nevertheless, she focused up at me with a smile. “Did you notice that?”

“Umm, yeah, but it didn’t last long.”

She grinned. “No, I’m protected right now.” She took a step closer and held out her hand. “Here, why don’t you create a fire in your hand.”

I held up my palm to do so, hesitant as a blue flame appeared and she immediately held her hand over it. Which almost caused me to yank back, afraid of burning her, but I managed to stay still, trusting that she knew what she was doing.

And sure enough, the flames began licking between her fingers, with her otherwise being unharmed.

“See?” she said cheerfully, pulling her hand back.

Gabriella chimed in. “So how exactly does that work? Does the barrier around you use magic consistently?”

Miriam grinned widely. “Nope. You create it with an initial amount of magic, and then what happens is, the barrier will begin to weaken naturally with time. Which is why most people don’t go around with a barrier at all hours of the day. However, if something tries to hurt you, then it will start pulling on your reserve of magic to defend against the attack. Obviously, if you run out of magic, then the defense fails.”

“And that only protects from magic?” I wondered.

She sighed. “Technically yes, and the reason why is because barriers that are useful against physical attacks usually suck up an impossible amount of magic to work. So in order to create such a barrier, you have to be very creative in how you direct the magic to function.”

Gabriella chimed in. “Then what about the barriers around your property? How do they work?”

Miriam nodded in acknowledgment. “Well, you may not be surprised that it’s a little bit of both ‘creative spell used to create it’ and ‘lots of magic’ to fuel it. See, if a random person stumbles onto my property, they won’t hit an impenetrable wall. Instead, they’ll lose all sense of direction, and end up walking right back out the way they came.”

“That really is clever,” I admitted.

Miriam grinned. “Why thank you, my love.”

“And what about when the werewolves attacked?” I continued. “I could feel that there is an immense amount of magic being used to supply the barriers. Did that all come from you just storing magic over the years?”

She shook her head. “Again, a bit of clever spell usage. I have definitely stored a ton of magic, held within that massive crystal you saw when I shared ownership of my domain with you, and used a lot of initial magic just to erect the barriers in the first place, but the sustainability of it all comes from the very thing that threatens this world.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “The gate?” I assumed.

She gave me an approving look. “Exactly right, handsome. The transdimensional gate underneath my mansion is nearly an infinite generator of magical energy, much like the sun is for our planet. It’s almost like a paradox, because its very existence between dimensions causes an enormous amount of magical energy to be released, which only fuels it staying open. If anything, drawing energy from it helps keep it closed, along with those carnelian crystals, and prevents it from actually growing bigger.” She shrugged. “But yeah, that’s where all the power comes from, to literally block an enemy from passing through the barriers, if needed.”

“Dang. But what would happen if you did use up too much energy?” I wondered.

She smirked. “Well, I can’t imagine that ever happening, but I suppose the best case is that maybe the gate would close completely, and then I’d be free to live wherever I want.” She frowned. “Honestly, I’ve kind of developed a symbiotic relationship with it. I’ve created a domain where I can cast impossibly powerful spells and wield nearly absolute control over who can come and go, all because I have my own little sun providing all the energy I could ever want. A sun that can obviously be dangerous as well.”

“And you can’t use that energy to supply the carnelian crystals?” I asked curiously.

She seemed surprised. “Well, that’s actually what I do. Didn’t I tell you? That the crystals get their energy from the ground, but that I have to refill them with extra magical energy every once in a while?”

“Oh, umm, yeah. I guess I just thought you meant something different.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not like I have a pipeline directing magic from the gate to everywhere else. Rather, the gate leaks magic into the surrounding rock, and then that naturally leaks into the carnelian crystals. It’s not the most efficient process, but most of the energy that the carnelians get comes from the gate as well.”

Gabriella spoke up again. “I guess you couldn’t use that magic for the energy you need either, huh?”

Miriam again seemed surprised. “What? No, not at all. For one, because it’s chaotic magic, but also, I can’t use any of the energy I store in opals.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, you’re going to have to explain both of those things. Maybe starting with the last one.”

Her red eyebrows raised. “The fact that I can’t use energy stored in opals? It’s partly because of what I said earlier. Transferring magic into a crystal is one skill, and then using the magic inside a crystal is another skill. In the latter case, I can use that magic for a spell, but I can’t absorb it directly into my body and try to use it to sustain me. I can only do that with lust from a person.”

I reached up to scratch my head as I tried to absorb all that. “So you can take lust from a person, and absorb it, turning it into magic in your body. And you can put that magic in a crystal, and even use that magic directly from the crystal, but you can’t reabsorb the raw magic for your own needs.”

“Exactly right,” she agreed. “So it’s not like I can store sustenance for myself for later use, which is why I’ve always been required to have sex regularly, with me usually not wanting to waste any extra lust and thus storing it for other purposes.” She paused. “I suppose you could consider it a curse, in a way, that I can only absorb lust into my body. But you have to understand that the vast majority of humans and demons out there can’t absorb magic at all. Take Gwen for example. She turns sunlight into magical energy inside her body, much like a normal person takes sunlight and produces Vitamin D. So then, she has a reserve as well, stored inside her. But she likewise can’t absorb magic from a crystal to hold onto it. Certainly, she can use magic from a crystal to cast a spell, and she can likewise fill a crystal with the magic she’s generated inside her body, but reabsorbing the magic she’s put into something isn’t possible.”

“Wow.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

Miriam was all smiles. “What?” she wondered affectionately, looking amused at my stunned reaction.

I just shook my head. “I guess I just didn’t realize there was so much to it. Everything you’ve said makes sense, but when I found out you could store the lust you get into opals, I guess I sort of assumed that if you went a few days without sex, or even a few weeks, you’d be fine.”

Miriam grimaced at that. “Unfortunately, no. I can’t use that magic. I can’t absorb it. If I don’t have sex at least every other day, then it will make me sick. And if I went long enough, probably a few months, then I’d die, just like most people would die if they didn’t eat food for that long.” She lifted her arms, gesturing with her downward glance toward her thin body. “I mean, look at how skinny I am. If I needed food to eat, then I’d probably die within two months of not eating. It’s the same for sex with me. Two days and I start feeling under the weather. Two weeks and I feel deathly ill. Two months and I’m dead.”

I nodded somberly, due to the direction this conversation had taken. “Sorry for assuming,” I said sincerely.

She focused up at me in surprise. “Oh, there’s no reason to be sorry about it. It’s just how it is. Although, I will say that I’m glad to clear up that misconception. The only storage of lust I have is what’s currently in my body. Those opals aren’t a way for me to save lust energy for later.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay, well I guess I’ll try using that magic barrier spell. Can you repeat it for me again?”

“Sure,” she said with a nod. “Repeat after me. Protect me from evil, protect me from violence.”

“Protect me from evil, protect me from violence,” I repeated.

“Keep me from vile plans, keep me from wicked hands.”

“Keep me from vile plans, keep me from wicked hands.”

“Body through and through, envelope and subdue. The poison of vipers, the bite of snakes, no matter the strength, refuse to break.”

I began repeating the last line, almost starting to feel uneasy, until I got to the last word and…

Nothing happened.

“What’s wrong?” she asked when I looked visibly frustrated.

“Well, I was actually trying to cast that spell, and it didn’t work.”

She seemed surprised. “Oh, I was just trying to help you memorize it first, and then have you cast it all at once. For this particular one, I’d recommend saying it with the same cadence I used. Almost like a prayer. Or maybe a song.”

“Kind of like your healing spell?” I wondered, not being able to quite remember her longer version, but recalling the shortened version I’d used to heal her broken legs.

I reside, I now return. This flesh, this bone, this vessel of mine. Obey. My soul, my spirit, this essence of mine. Obey. Bone mend. Sinew bind. Flesh persist. Breathe new life. Make haste. Obey.

Miriam nodded in response to my spoken comment. “Yeah, I still don’t know how you used that so easily, but I’d say the two spells are fairly similar.”

I frowned. “Well, the other one was easier, because I felt like I’d heard it before. Like when you first chanted it, kind of felt like you dredged up an old memory of it. Maybe I heard it when I was younger or something like…” My voice trailed off when it looked like Miriam had seen a ghost again. “What’s wrong?” I asked in concern.

She visibly swallowed, trying to gather herself. “Well, that would be impossible.”

“Because I’m young and have no magic education?” I assumed.

She shook her head, still looking distressed. “No Kai, because that particular healing spell is one that I created. Other than Gwen, there shouldn’t be a single soul in the world who knows that spell. No one alive, at least.”

My eyes widened at that. “Oh. And I’m guessing it would be a rare thing for someone to recreate it?”

“Umm, considering it’s really a personal prayer to God? Yeah, I’d say that was impossible.” She paused. “I mean, technically it’s based on a passage in the bible, but it doesn’t actually come from the bible. I made it up.”

Gabriella spoke up again. “Which passage?” she wondered curiously.

Miriam sighed. “My healing spell comes from the beginning of Ezekiel 37. It talks about the valley of dry bones and the power of God’s breath to bring life to them. Really, all living things are alive because of God’s breath, and that’s what I based the spell on, although the words used are nothing like in the bible.” She sighed. “Honestly, if someone was going to develop a spell similar to mine, then it would be this defense spell, since it’s based on Psalms 140 and at least uses some similar language.”

My eyes widened at that. “So you created this one too?”

She nodded. “It was technically a joint effort with someone else, a very long time ago, but yes, I at least helped create it.” She sighed, her tone taking on a hint of playful chastising. “Young man, I have been alive a very long time, and have spent countless hours finetuning my spells through trial and error. This particular one hasn’t changed much, but that’s only because it’s very effective at doing what it’s meant to do.”

Dang.

Her reminding me of that fact was only now causing me to begin to grasp just how lucky I was to have her as my teacher. She wasn’t just offering random textbook knowledge, like I would get at school. She was offering the fruits of all her hard labor, handing me the finished product to countless hours, days, weeks, months, and even years of experimentation, creating spells that probably couldn’t be improved upon. Ones that couldn’t easily be replaced.

It was just like her actual domain itself, which she implied took more than a lifetime to set up. Like building Noah’s ark, she had labored for countless years to build this space where she could reside safely. A space where she could protect the transdimensional gate from getting into the wrong hands, and similarly protect all of humanity from the dangers the other side posed to the whole world.

However, as I began to really think about what she was saying, I ended up focusing on the breath thing, and how that related to God.

Due to what it implied about her beliefs.

Granted, by no means did I have any intention on arguing with her about it, because honestly, I just didn’t have an opinion nor was I going to pretend like my way of thinking was any more correct than hers. However, I was sincerely interested in understanding how Miriam thought about the world, and that which may lie beyond it.

I wanted to understand her perspective on life, whether I agreed with that perspective or not.

“Wait, isn’t lifeforce basically magic?” I wondered.

She cocked her head slightly in confusion. “Yes? Why?”

“Well, you just said that all life comes from God’s breath. So then, does that mean magic is from God?”

“Oh,” she said, only to laugh. “I see the problem. You’re getting hung up on the cultural notion that magic is evil, aren’t you?”

I frowned. “I mean, usually its associated with things that are anti-God, at least. Like witchcraft.”

“Yeah, well in the bible, there was even a king who went to a sorceress to raise the ghost of a prophet, so it’s not like the bible doesn’t acknowledge its existence. Although I will admit that God does frown on such things. I certainly would never do such a thing as try to raise the dead. That’s definitely in forbidden territory.”

Gabriella spoke up. “Wait, who did this?”

Miriam was pensive. “It was king Saul, just before he was overthrown, and I believe it’s in 1 Samuel 28. The prophet Samuel died, and the king wanted to speak to the deceased man, so he had a sorceress bring his soul back to our world. The bible even records Samuel speaking to Saul, and criticizing him.”

I spoke back up. “So then, magic is from God.”

She nodded. “Yeah, of course. I mean, if you want to think about it scientifically, then how can a source of energy be evil? It’s just energy. It’s no more evil than fire is. Now, what you do with it or even how you get it could certainly be evil, such as human sacrifices, but magic itself isn’t evil. And as far as where it comes from, it certainly doesn’t come from anything else.” She shook her head. “I mean, the whole notion that magic is evil is completely ridiculous, because what most call magic is literally the power that gives everything life. Which comes from the Creator.”

I nodded slowly, just trying to grasp all that.

Miriam continued. “And honestly, even the general notion of demons and angels being different, or even looking different, is ridiculous. Because demons were angels. Plenty of times in the bible, when an angel of the Lord appeared before a human, they were terrified out of their mind. Probably because it looked like a demon and was sincerely terrifying.” She frowned. “I mean, all demons still look the same as when they were angels. Lucifer was the most beautiful angel in heaven, and he didn’t suddenly become ugly or scary when he fell from heaven. If someone saw him, they would no doubt assume he was an angel.”

Gabriella spoke up. “So then, if that’s the case, where did people get the idea of angels and demons looking a specific way.”

Miriam shrugged. “Honestly, a lot of these ideas originated from the middle east, where wild goats are common. And if you know anything about goats, it’s that they tend to sound like screaming women when they cry out. Back then, things like street lights didn’t exist, and so when someone heard screaming in the middle of the night, they associated it with evil spirits or demons. Granted, there are demons like Gwen who have goat-like features, but there are angels who look goat-like too.”

My brow furrowed at that. “So then, what’s the difference between an angel and demon?”

“Angels are ascended,” she said seriously.

My eyes widened at that. “And what does that mean, exactly?”

She sighed. “Well, I could tell you what I think it means, if you want. Which is basically just that they are still in God’s good graces. But at that point we’re starting to enter the territory of opinion.”

I almost laughed at that, just the idea that we were only now getting to ‘opinion,’ and then immediately caught myself, not wanting her to think I wasn’t taking all this seriously. Because, even if I wasn’t sure about all this, this was absolutely what she believed as fact, and I wanted to respect that.

More than anything, I wanted to respect her.

Unexpectedly, Serenity spoke up in my head.

‘That’s really interesting.’

My eyes widened. ‘Oh, I didn’t realize you were listening.’

‘I’ve been on lunch for about fifteen minutes. Just long enough to hear all that.’

I smirked. ‘How’s your day going?’

‘Fine, but don’t ignore them to talk to me.’

‘Right,’ I agreed. ‘Miss you, Ren. Love you.’

‘Miss and love you too,’ she thought warmly.

Realizing Miriam was frowning, I apologized. “Sorry. Serenity is on her break, and was just saying hi. She’s apparently been listening, and thinks everything you said is really interesting.”

“I was wondering what was going on,” Miriam replied. “You just kind of zoned out there for a few seconds.”

Gabriella sighed. “Dang that seems so nice.”

“Yeah,” I admitted simply, taking a deep breath, as I decided to give her a side-hug briefly. She responded by wrapping both arms around my torso tightly, like she wasn’t going to let me go.

But then she did, her tone more cheerful, like she was trying to lighten the mood. “Guess you need to start practicing that spell. I’ll probably give it a shot too, to see if I can learn it as well.”

“Right,” I agreed. “I think I remember most of it, but could you repeat it again?” I wondered.

Thankfully, Miriam was more than patient. “Of course, handsome. You might have to say it over and over again a few times, just to make sure you have the wording and cadence down. It’s okay to take your time on this part, for every house needs a solid foundation.”

“Right. I’m ready.”

She nodded. “Okay. Protect me from evil, protect me from violence. Keep me from vile plans, keep me from wicked hands. Body through and through, envelope and subdue. The poison of vipers, the bite of snakes, no matter the strength, refuse to break.”

Using a memory trick I’d learned in middle school, I picked out all the keywords.

Protect, evil, violence, keep, vile plans, wicked hands. Body, envelope, subdue. Poison, vipers, bite, snakes, strength, break.

Trying it out loud after she was finished, I paused after each line, with her giving me a nod when I had it right, and then going for the next line. She had to correct me twice, but then I’d repeated it correctly all in one go.

And then I repeated it four more times, trying to get the cadence right.

Once it seemed like I had it, I put magic into it…

Only for nothing to happen again.

Dammit.

This wasn’t going to be as easy as I was hoping.

FEEDBACK: What did you think of this chapter?

In particular:

1. How do you feel about Miriam kissing someone else in a non-sexual way, just one time, to use her soul scrying?

---- (Specifically, I'm thinking of a specific old man who happens to be highly lethal, and who just so happened to wipe out a massive werewolf army single-handedly (no pun intended, lol), who might be the type of person who can be very loyal under the right conditions, especially if said person can end his very long-lived curse. But who probably wouldn't be trusted unless that loyalty could be guaranteed through something like soul scrying.)

2. Miriam wasn't aware of how skilled Kai was with fire magic, because she's not been super focused on him when he's used it thus far, for one reason or another (and she wasn't with him when he was testing it out by himself). Was her reaction believable?

3. Did the explanation of where magic comes from, and how she perceives life, all make sense? (Want to make sure there are no questions that she didn't answer that Kai probably should have asked.)

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