Freya proved to be knowledgeable beyond Theo’s expectations, but a taskmaster. She gave Davina a brief amount of time to be orientated on magic -what it was and what it could and couldn’t do- before she dove into their lessons. Her expectations of Davina’s comprehension and abilities were high and she’d settle for nothing less. Although Theo felt compassion for Davina, he didn’t interfere. He understood the urgency of the situation.
When the day was finally over and she and Theo were allowed to retire to the room Freya provided, Davina expressed her exhaustion.
“Tomorrow will be better,” Theo said. “Just watch. Freya will be showing you something and then, without realizing it, you’ll repeat it without effort. It’ll just come to you. You’ve got the magic inside of you. It just needs to be brought forth.”
“It’s dark magic.”
&l
Sybil exercised extreme caution as she pulled her car into the parking lot of Valkyr’s club. She cursed the woman who’d held her up by demanding a potion to make her husband want her again. She should have shoved the old bat out the door and told her to lay in the bed she’d made. Instead, she whipped up a potion that would make her husband want her to the point she’d be begging for relief. It served her right. If she’d acted like a wife to him over the years, he wouldn’t have sought out other women. Now, after years of rejection, she decided she wanted him in her bed and was put out because he no longer desired her. Well, he’d desire her alright. She chuckled to herself at the thought of the torture she’d bestowed upon the devious woman. She’d placed a bit of demon blood in the potion to encourage the husband to be aggressive. Between the physical exertions, the sexual energy, the irritat
Davina smiled as she made her way back to her room. She’d managed to finally get an actual complement from Freya during her lessons. More than once, she’d confided in Theo that she wondered if she could ever do things right enough to please the future witch.She had to overcome several obstacles just to work with Freya. The devastation to society had caused a major collapse. Were it not for the aid of an off-planet civilization -which she eventually determined meant aliens- they would have regressed to the point of the dark ages. As it happened, they shot past the state that society was at when it was attacked and were, in many ways, far more advanced. One of the side effects of integrating with an alien species was altered genetics in a good portion of the populous and unfamiliar words added to the language.There was also the fact that Freya possessed what her society referred to as an “A”-type personality.&
“The first order of things is to see you both dressed properly,” Margaret said as soon as Davina and Theo appeared in the cave she now occupied. “Theo, you have clothes in that trunk. I believe I have something that will fit Davina.”Theo surveyed their surroundings. “Where are we?”“I have been forced to move my things into a cave about four miles from the estate. Louella’s doing,” Margaret said with disgust.“Wow, things must be bad,” he said with a scowl. He’d only ever seen Margaret surrounded by aristocratic luxury. Seeing how a woman of her station and breeding was having to make do in a dirty cave was heartbreaking.“It started a few weeks ago and has escalated beyond reason. Where I was once accepted in society with the grace afforded the aristocracy, I am now on the run. I have seen ten women who were accused of being witches burned at the
Sibyl paced the floor of her shop. She was clearly agitated. Louella was completely out of control. After seeing her at the mercy of Valkyr, Sybil had gone home and put great thought into what to do. What the vampire was doing wasn’t right. Louella wasn’t an ordinary female. She was the daughter of the Lord of Darkness.After relaying to him what she found when she visited the vampire’s club, she asked for permission to rescue Louella. It was granted on the condition that Louella be replaced by another female to continue supplying the vampires with their precious milk as it seemed to be keeping them in a state of complacency where he need not worry about the messes they tended to thoughtlessly create with their bloodlust and he was forced to clean up.There were times when he rued the day that he agreed to allow the vampires access to his planet and longed to send them packing, but doing so could potentially c
Margaret held a perfumed handkerchief over her nose and mouth as she tiptoed over the bodies that were strewn across Cornwall. Davina and Theo did the same.It was the year thirteen-hundred-forty-nine. After doing a bit of scrying and a few magical spells, they determined that Louella’s crimes began during an outbreak of the black plague. Capitalizing on the pestilence that took almost half of the population, she spread the claim that the disease was the devil’s work brought on by the dark witches. This was, in fact, truth, but it wasn’t something that was meant to become public knowledge and bring attention to the witch community.With most of the witches taken by surprise when the vigilante groups hunted them down and burned or hanged them on the spot, few were left for Davina to have to deal with. Even so, she begged Margaret to join her; more for the moral support than anything else. Margaret, like Theo, was a s
Davina’s head slammed against the side of the cart as the wheel passed through a deep rut in the dirt road leading to the clearing that was called the witch’s circle. It was an open space in the forest where they burned women suspected of practicing magic. Frustration consumed her when she tried to reach up to comfort her head and discovered that her wrists were bound together and then tied to a ring that was secured in the side of the cart. Her feet were also bound.Her mouth and throat were dry and felt as if she’d swallowed something coarse, like sand. She struggled to bring her eyes into focus while she tried to remember how and why she was in this situation. The last thing she could recall was forcing down a sufficient amount of the stew the earl had served her and Theo so that they wouldn’t offend him or have to admit that they’d already filled their bellies on a scrumptious meal less than an hour earlier in the cave
“It’s been two days and I still can’t do magic,” Davina complained as she paced the hardpacked floor of their hideout. “I’m sick of this cave. I need fresh air. I feel like I’m suffocating.”“I think it might be prudent to return you to your own time. The means of clearing that potion out of your system are more readily available there.”“Why can’t you eliminate it with magic?”“It attaches to magic and sucks it like a pariah. It was risky enough to teleport us. I would be a fool to use magic around it; especially for something that involves getting rid of it.”“You conjured our food with magic.”“Only once. After that, I left the portal open for the servers to come and go. It was less risky than using the magic to open and close it.”“Damn Louella!” Davina hissed as she stomped her
Louella stopped outside of Valkyr’s club to collect herself before entering. Seeing the vampire who’d figured out a way to keep her breasts producing the milk they coveted and held her captive for months while he shared her with his two goons who joined him in drinking not just her milk, but also her blood before he seeded her womb with his brat was the last thing she wanted to do, but there was no choice. If she was to keep in good favor with her father, it was necessary to maintain amicable relations with the vampires.Valkyr had made a formal complaint to the dark lord that his daughter was ignoring him. He questioned the well-being of his unborn child while complaining that, according to vampire law, she was now his bride and it was necessary that she perform her wifely duties for him. While Damianfound it utterly amusing, she was outraged.She was about to knock on the door when it swung open and she found herself face to face with
“I’m going to miss all of this green,” Freya sighed as she and Margaret walked the gardens one last time.“Why leave? I’ve enjoyed your company so much,” Margaret said. “We make a great pair. Imagine all of the good we could do together.”“Sadly, like you said, my time was destined to suffer even without Louella’s interference. We eliminated the catastrophic events Louella caused but there is still the devastation caused by war to deal with. I can’t, in good conscience, abandon them.”Margaret sighed. She completely understood Freya’s thinking. Hadn’t she made her home in the less advanced past in order to protect and aid the innocents from evil? “Well, at least promise me that you’ll visit often.”“That, I can do,” Freya said with a smile.“Will you be stopping in to see our young couple
Davina wailed with dismay at the sight of Theo’s bruised and emaciated body. Her first instinct was to rush over to the vampire’s den and pummel it with fireballs, but she knew better. She was a new mother with a child who depended upon her. She couldn’t run around putting herself in danger for the sake of revenge, no matter how badly she wanted it.At the others’ insistence, she sat in the corner of the room holding her baby while Sally patched up Theo as best as she could. The doctor sent Margaret and Freya off on several errands -such as fetching blood from a nearby blood bank for a transfusion- before she was satisfied that Theo was no longer in danger.Although Margaret and Freya would have preferred to teleport Theo to Davina’s house, they listened to the good doctor’s advice and transported him via a vehicle instead. Teleporting could prove hard on a body and Theo’s body was in too weakened
Valkyr finished having sex with a drugged and almost lifeless mundane that was brought in from the club and walked away with disgust. He’d been spoiled by Louella. He no longer enjoyed sex with half comatose men and women. It didn’t matter what he used from his arsenal of sex tools, their reaction wasn’t as real and animated as Louella’s had been. Their moans and screams lacked the passion and power behind them. He’d also grown accustomed to the cleaner blood that Louella offered. The mundanes from the club tasted of the drugs that were slipped into their drinks.His men had gone out several times searching for his pregnant witch, but came back empty handed each time. He was beginning to wonder if he should contact the dark lord. He hesitated because, although the dark lord would not think of starting something with him, Louella was his subject. She’d confided in him on more than one occasion about her si
Freya found Margaret pacing the exterior of the hovel she’d prepared for Louella’s confinement when she returned with the doctor. Her footsteps had worn a smooth path in the dusty ground from her steady repetitions over it. She was clearly distraught.“How is Davina?” Margaret anxiously asked.“She and the baby are doing just fine,” Sally replied. “She’s a remarkably resilient girl and her daughter entered this world strong and healthy.”“What a blessing,” Margaret said with relief.“It’s a damned miracle if you ask me,” Freya said as she walked past Margaret toward the entrance of the prison. “That baby was technically in its second trimester. Yet, it came out a fully developed and completely healthy child.”“You deal in magic. Why should this surprise you?” Sally asked as she followed Freya.“Becau
Valkyr watched as Victor and Jeremiah dragged the traveler into the room. His face was battered and bruised to the point of being almost unrecognizable and blood still oozed from the feeding holes in his neck. It was clear to Valkyr that his men hadn’t bothered to heal the feeding wounds on the traveler like they did with others after drinking their blood. He smiled with approval.Professional travelers were of a supernatural nature that set them apart from the others. Their skills were never simply traveling. Some had the ability to perform a decent amount of magic. Some could influence the thoughts in the mundane’s head. Some had calculating minds that were phenomenal in staying one step ahead of the enemy during war. Whatever the extra, you could bet that there was another ability mixed in with the time travel talents. You could also be assured that all travelers were doing the biddin
“I can’t believe you didn’t notice how big her stomach had gotten,” Sally Morgenstern huffed as she completed her examination on Davina. “I can understand Davina not realizing it, since her mind is stressed and she’s wearing the stomach, but you are separate, unstressed, and have easy visibility of her person.”“Who says I’m not stressed?” Freya complained.Sally eyed her cousin wearily. “Okay. I’ll give you that. ““So, what’s the verdict?”“The magic sped up the gestation period. She’s ready to give birth.”“I can’t give birth!” Davina howled from the bed they’d placed her on for the examination. “Theo needs me!”Sally shook her head. “Theo will have to wait. That baby wants out now.”Frey ran her fingers through her short brown hai
Freya greeted Davina with a smile as she entered the estate house that Louella had been occupying. “I’ll bet it feels good to be back home.”Davina nodded as she guided Freya to the back patio. “This place holds a lot of memories.” Pointing to a small table that was set up with brunch, she added, “I thought you might enjoy eating outside. The grounds are so beautiful this time of year.”“I’ll miss all of this greenery when I go back,” Freya said as she seated herself at the table. “This looks delicious. Are you an adept cook or does the house come equipped with one?”“Both,” Davina said with a smile. “I’m fairly comfortable in the kitchen, but, admittedly, I had help with today’s food.”“When you get Theo back, will you two live here?”“It’s mine by right. Well, half of it is, anyway
Theo tugged at the chain that offered him roaming ability of only a few yards from the damp, stone wall. He was in the basement of a building by a body of water. He could tell that much. Unfortunately, because of the lack of windows, electrical lighting, and variety of attire worn by the vampires, he had no idea what body of water he was near or what century he was in.Being a seasoned traveler, he was able to tell certain things. One of them was the fact that he was no longer in the fourteenth century. The density of the air was heavier and far more familiar to him. If he was to take a guess, he’d say he was at least in the nineteenth century, if not later. He might even be in the twenty-first century. Not knowing was almost as annoying as the cuffs on his wrists and the chain around his ankle.“I see you are awake,” said the tall vampire that he’d heard the other vampires call Valkyr,
Louella paced the small cell that she’d been locked into by the two very annoying witches. It took her a while to realize that she’d been drugged by her doctor in order to lower her abilities to do magic. She couldn’t wait to be free and look that doctor up. The pain she’d happily inflict upon the medical woman would do her father proud.The cage was spelled. Not only did it bind her magic, but she could feel it drawing it out of her. If she was kept in it for too long, it might permanently syphon every drop from her. Should that happen, she feared reprisals from the unforgiving dark lord.She was rapidly learning that there were just as many disadvantages to being in the dark lord’s eye as there were advantages. Maybe more. After all, she’d witnessed him killing several of her siblings on various occasions for disappointing him and he’d allowed her to behead Sybil wit