The Sharp Edge of the Veil – Chapter 6 [MF][Urban Fantasy]

This is not a stand-alone story. Please read previous chapters first. Links in comments

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Six – How Bad Can a Ball at the Castle Be?

“What is it with you guys and hitting me in the face,” I gurgled through the blood that was running from my nose down into my mouth.

“You should stop snooping around,” said the guy behind the guy who had punched me.

He had a heavy eastern accent. One that fit all to well with his face that seemed to have gone a few rounds in the tumble dryer.

Snooping around? Who the fuck says snooping around nowadays?

I looked up at the guy who had punched me. He looked like the missing link between a neanderthal and a rock. I recognized the guy who had talked, but couldn’t place him. None of them had been there when I got beat up last time. I tried to focus. It was hard with the excruciating pain hammering with every beat of my heart.

“And you should stop punching my nose,” I said, yelping as I put my nose back into place.

The cracking sound as the bone snapped back into the right place echoed through my head. Damn. It hurt just as much every time. But it was easier to fix it the closer it was to the original state. The fist hit me once more, this time right in the forehead. The world spun.

“I warned you last time,” I said, holding one hand up in front of me.

I blinked trying to get the four thugs to turn into two again. They looked at each other, then back at me. The good thing with brutes is that they are easy to manipulate.

“Close your eyes,” I said looking back at Luna.

“Uhu. I wanna see this.”

I looked at her. She had that look in her eyes again. That crazy look.

“What the fuck are you talking about,” the big guy said, grabbing me by the collar.

I didn’t answer. Instead I reached out and touched his temple with my fingertips. His eyes flew wide open and started trembling. I smirked.

And got creative.

*

“I’ve seen them before,” Luna said as we watched the two naked men running barefoot down the gravel path, one chasing the other.

“They weren’t yours, were they?”

Luna shook her head. I blinked and remembered why I had hurried home in the first place.

“Come,” I said, dragging her to the lab.

I unwove the wards on the door and let her in. She whistled as she saw the place. I looked around. I guess it might seem impressive to an uninitiated. One wall was crammed full with glass containers in various sizes holding everything from twenty kinds of sand to toad bile to bat’s eyes. Yes. They are very common in alchemy. Don’t ask me why.

“Take a seat,” I said removing a couple of dead ferrets from one of the chairs.

Luna sat down as I went to work. I started by making sure the wards were as tight as succubus’ handcuffs. Then I pulled the map of Lund out again and performed the same procedure as in the office. This time well protected. I held my breath as the burning cross formed once more. To my surprise it hadn’t moved.

Weird. Why would he stay in the same spot if he had sensed me?

I grunted and shook my head. It made no sense.

“What’s wrong?”

I looked over at Luna. Her purple hair was hanging over half her face and a look of honest concern showed behind the colorful curtain. That scared the dying daylight out of me.

“Nothing. I just … nothing.”

She got up out of the chair and walked over to me, sitting down at the edge of the table.

“I know when people are not telling me everything.”

I looked at her for a moment. I didn’t have much to lose. She was already neck deep in the metaphorical magical quicksand.

“All right. I think I found whoever made your mom.”

“Made?”

I pressed my lips together.

This is what happens when you drag norms into your supernatural shit.

I sighed and shook my head slowly.

“The thing that has taken your mom’s place. I think I found whoever put her there.”

She raised her eyebrows. Both of them this time.

“But I was careless. I wasn’t hiding properly when I did so … so … he saw me. Or at least sensed me.”

And maybe so did the Judiciaries, I thought with a shiver.

Luna nodded, urging me to go on.

“But he hasn’t moved. He’s right where he was before,” I said, shaking my head, looking down at the map.

“Where?”

I looked up at her and ran my fingers through my hair. Luna frowned and reached out, touching my forehead.

“What’s that?”

I stood up and walked towards the mirror. I only have the one mirror in the lab and it is very seldom that I use it to gaze upon my own reflection. But there I was. I am strikingly handsome. I’ve made sure of that myself through many, many hours of excruciating pain. But given what I started off with the result is pretty darn good. I pulled my dark hair away from my forehead. Then I sighed heavily.

“I fucking hate amateurs.”

“So you know these guys?”

“Know of them,” I grunted, shaking my head.

I spent the next five minutes cleansing my skin from the symbol of the Ordo Astartes and transferred it onto a piece of parchment. It sat there staring back up at me. It made sense, of course. The mage who had made Luna’s mom copy was cooped up in the AF castle smack in the center of Lund. And that’s where the ball organized by the Order of Ass Starters was going to be held. When was it again? I had ripped the invitation to pieces. I couldn’t believe it. There was an actual mage at the Ordo Astartes? Why? Why would any mage in their right mind join that little boy’s club?

“What’s the next step then?”

I looked at Luna. She stood with her arms crossed looking professional. In a I’ll-rip-your-guts-out-if-you-don’t-do-what-I-say kind of way. I had never seen that side of her before but I could see her running her terrible little crime family with that look on her face. It was a look that made people do stuff.

“Right,” I said, any thought of doing anything but what she wanted me to, purged from my mind. “Next step.”

I put the piece of parchment down on the table.

“I need to go to a party. But first you have to call my least favorite person in the whole wide world.”

*

“Yes. He has reconsidered.”

I could almost sense the perplexity of Johan Bohman on the other side even though it was Luna who was talking to the fat man.

“Well. I’m delighted that you are delighted. And it is tomorrow night? Good. Excellent. I will most certainly give your warm regards to the Wizard Gyllenborst.”

I put my face in my palm and shook my head. I hate when amateurs call me Wizard. And you can always hear the capital W. Luna hung up.

“Tomorrow night?” I cringed.

Luna nodded.

“And you need a date.”

“I what?”

“A date. Apparently it was required. I’ll go with you of course.”

“Absolutely not,” I said putting my hands up. “Not happening.”

“Why? Give me one good reason,” Luna said, putting her hands on her hips.

It was a surprisingly frightening pose. That girl had clearly had a lot of practice. My brain clawed against the inside of my skull like a rat trapped in a maze. I was not myself around this woman. Things would probably already now go horribly awry. Having Luna there would most definitely result in a crazy ride down shit creek.

“You are not initiated into the circle of circles.”

Luna opened her mouth, but shut it again. There was nothing like what I had just said, but at least my brain had farted out something useful for once.

“You still need a date for the ball. The guy … what was his name again?”

“Bohman,” I said with disgust.

“Yeah. He said that you couldn’t come alone.”

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. Who could I take to a place filled with amateur mages and at least one dangerous such dabbler? Then it struck me and a smile curled my lips upwards.

“Come,” I said, heading towards Sophia’s room.

“Are you sure it’s such a good idea for you to go there? At all I mean?” Luna said, increasing her pace to walk next to me.

I looked at Luna as we walked towards Sophia’s room. I stopped and turned to face her.

“Why?”

“Cause they know you. They’ve literally sent goons to beat you up. Let me come and bring a few of my men with me.”

I hesitated. She had a point there. But mostly I hesitated because honest concern did not strike me as one of Luna’s attributes.

“I’ll …”

Luna raised one of those fear inspiring eyebrows once more. I straightened my back and crossed my arms. I was at least a head taller than she and I would assert dominance. I had to.

“I know what I’m doing,” I said in the most confident way I could. “And I can’t put my client in a dangerous situation. That would be unprofessional of me.”

That was utter bullcrap. I was the first person to put someone, anyone, in harm’s way if it got me out of it. But Luna didn’t know that. I like people who don’t know me properly. They’re much nicer to me than the other kind. And I definitely knew not to bring a gun to a magefight.

“Furthermore. She’s also in bed with the occult.”

That, at least, wasn’t a lie. But the real reason was of course that I was pretty sure Sophia was immune to magic. And given her ability to kick me in the balls, I was certain she could handle herself.

“Who?”

“Sophia. My landlady.”

“I can’t wait to meet her,” Luna said.

She walked behind me up to Sophia’s room. I knocked on the door. There was no answer.

“Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to wait until she comes back.”

There was a thud from inside the room. I looked at Luna.

“What was that?”

“I … don’t know,” I said, reaching for the handle.

Then I remembered what Sophia had promised to do if I walked in on her and Andy again and hesitated.

“Maybe they’re busy,” I said, pulling my hand back.

There was another thud.

“Uhu,” Luna said, shaking her head. “I know that sound.”

She opened the door. The room was an absolute mess. Someone had made sure to turn over almost all of the furniture and in the middle of it all lay Sophia. She was tied to a chair that had toppled over. She lay there glaring at us with a gag in her mouth. Other than the gag she wasn’t wearing a single thread. She thrashed around a bit and it was clear where the thudding sounds had come from. It was clear that she was very, very angry. If it hadn’t been for the gag in her mouth she would have most likely been screaming her lungs out.

“Is this your landlady?” Luna asked.

I nodded.

“She’s pretty.”

I saw Sophia trying to throw daggers with her eyes at the purple haired girl. I stared at Luna. She really knew how to piss people off.

“Should we untie her?”

I looked down at Sophia. Having her tied naked to a chair was a definite improvement of her normal state. I probably couldn’t do it again myself. She was surprisingly strong and I did not want my balls crushed again. On the other hand I couldn’t leave her like this. It would just make things more difficult when I finally untied her.

“We probably better,” I nodded.

I approached the furious Sophia in the same way I would a demon trapped in a summoning circle. We spent the next minute freeing Sophia. As soon as she had her hands free she tried removing her gag, but the people putting it in place were clearly professionals and it took the three of us to get it loose.

“Those fucking bastards!” Sophia yelled as soon as the gag was removed from her mouth.

She jumped up and down in place and once more I proved myself an absolute pervert by looking at her bouncing breasts instead of listening to what she said.

“… rip their guts out!”

Then she slapped me.

“Stop staring at my breasts!”

It really hurt. But I was at least glad that she hadn’t kicked me in the balls. Yet. I glared at her and once more reminded myself that using magic on her wouldn’t work. I quickly imagined Sophia on her knees in front of me as I shut her up with my dick. It made me feel a little better. She continued talking through my daydream until she slapped me once more. I blinked and forced myself to look at her face.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked, once more with that uncomfortably caring voice.

“It’s not the first time I’m tied to a chair,” Sophia said, walking over to the bed to grab her robe.

Then she walked back towards us, recovering some of her composure. She looked from me to Luna and back, tapping her bare foot against the floor, tying her robe shut.

“Are you his girlfriend?” she said, looking straight at Luna.

Luna and I both vehemently shook our heads.

“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed,” Sophia said, tilting her head.

“Who is she then?” Sophia said pointing a finger at Luna but looking at me.

“My current … employer.”

The women looked at me. Luna with a smirk, Sophia with a frown.

“He also fucks me,” Luna said with a crooked smile.

There was an awkward silence and Sophia shook her head slowly.

“Well. Right,” Sophia said, clearing her throat. “I’m going to go call the police.”

I don’t know who panicked worst, me or Luna. Me, because I can handle a copper or two, but if there had been a home invasion in a castle you’d bet your ass there would be more than that, and I had far too many things to hide. Or Luna, cause you know, the fact that she was a crime boss or whatever. The result was that we each grabbed one of Sophia’s arms as she tried getting to her phone. I could see the anger flaring in her eyes once more and thankfully my wit was prepared for this.

“Don’t do that. They’ll just come here, take a look and then leave because they have more pressing things to do. Whereas I know where we can find these guys.”

Sophia looked flatly at me for a moment.

“Go on.”

*

“I still don’t get why I have to be your date to this ball,” she said once I had tried to explain the situation.

I had given her at least a part of the truth. Wrapped in some convenient lies. I would of course have disguised myself, if it wasn’t for the fact that the invitation was in my name and that goat’s head upon a pile of lard Bohman knew who I was.

“I told you. I know where they will be, just not who they are.”

I had conveniently left out the fact that I had in fact seen the two guys and had them running back naked all the way to Lund. And Luna had kept a perfectly straight face all the way through my web of untruths. She was clearly well versed in the art.

Sophia nodded slowly

“Tomorrow night?”

“Yes. And I have a lot to prepare before then.”

That last wasn’t a lie. I had a bunch of things I needed to get done before attending the ball. The first thing was to enchant an anti-scrying device for Luna. I had a few half-baked pendants lying around in the lab and I got started immediately. Three hours later I was done and handed the thing to Luna who had been studying me intently as I worked.

“What is it?” she said, holding up the amethyst pendant to the light.

“So wizards can’t find you. You still have to stay away from more mundane ways of finding you.”

Luna looked at the trinket a little longer, then slipped it around her neck.

“I guess it can’t hurt,” she shrugged.

Next I went to work on the more dauting project. My energy potential staff. It had been lying around the lab for far too long. It’s a wonderful piece. Perfectly black ebony harvested more than two hundred years ago by yogi in India. It’s the perfect vessel for the purpose. Evocation has never really been my specialty. But then again, it’s always harder to create and control things that it is to destroy. And destruction comes easily for wizards. That’s one of the reasons the Ordo was created. Otherwise wizards would have blown the world apart ten times already. My little rod had always been adequate for my needs but after the incident with the drink table it wasn’t quite itself anymore. I had spent almost a year preparing the staff but had always found another project to work on. I had been pushing off finishing the staff for far too long.

The theory was simple. Create a device that harnessed a small fraction of the kinetic energy that it was exposed to. But not too much or it would quite literally explode of you took it for a ride in your car. It was also the reason why it was an extremely bad idea to bring one on a flight. Not that I dared get on any plane built after the second world war anyway. I had adjusted the staff to handle speeds below two-hundred kilometers an hour or so. It wasn’t a precise art, I just had to drive at a reasonable speed while having it with me.

It took me the better part of the night to get it done. I did some speed to keep concentrated. It is the go-to drug for any enchanter. Ultra-focus for hours at an end. And the habit isn’t too bad. I knew some mages who swore on heroin or meth, but I hadn’t gone down that rabbit hole yet.

When the sun started rising in the east I began polishing up my protective amulet. I didn’t use it often, it was considered crass to wear it in the presence of other mages, but where I was going there weren’t any proper mages anyway and I guessed that they would be impressed rather than revolted.

It was late afternoon the next day when I finally stepped out of the lab. Luna had left sometime during the night and it suited me well. She was too much of a distraction. Sophia was nowhere to be seen and thankfully Christina had left me alone. Sophia had left a message saying she would meet me outside of the AF castle at eight. I grabbed some food and got dressed. I must say I look striking in black tie.

*

“There you are.”

I looked up and saw Sophia walking towards me. She wore a short-sleeved red dress that hugged her figure tight and went all the way down to her feet. I blinked. For a moment she had looked like a colored in version of the ancestor of hers that I was bedding most nights. I forced my dick to be still and put on a smile.

“Miss Sophia. You look quite wonderful tonight.”

She frowned at me, the walked up and stood next to me.

“What’s the plan.”

I pulled the taped-up invitation from my pocket and waved it.

“We go in. We find the bad guys. I take care of them,” I said, leaning on my staff.

Sophia raised an eyebrow. Then she sighed and shook her head, holding her arm out. I hooked my arm in hers and we went inside. The doorman looked at my dilapidated invitation suspiciously but before he could say anything a voice rang out.

“Wizard Gyllenborst!”

Through the throng of party dressed people came a massive frame. I had to admit. It was the first time I didn’t hate seeing Johan Bohman. The big man made his way up to the front and shook my hand vigorously.

“I am so happy that you decided to join us. There are so many of our members that can’t wait to make your acquaintance,” then he shifted his gaze to Sophia. “And who is this lovely lady,” he said, taking her hand and kissing it.

“Johan. This is the lady Sophia af Truls.”

I saw one of Johan’s eyebrows twitch at the name. I’m absolutely abysmal at heraldry, but it was clear that Bohman knew of Sophia’s family.”

“Lady af Truls. It’s a formidable pleasure meeting you.”

“Likewise. And it’s so wonderful to finally be among people with manners,” Sophia said, throwing a glance at me which I diligently ignored.

The next two hours was a slow descent into hell. I’m pretty sure we made it to the third circle or so. Dozens of wannabe amateur mages who wanted to discuss magic. It was about as interesting as discussing quantum mechanics with a toddler. There was at least some decent food and I ate about half a cow’s worth of filet mignon. A band up on the stage played horrible instrumental versions of sixties superhits.

“There’s one,” Sophia hissed as I was stuffing another stuffed calamari in my mouth.

I looked up and saw one of the thugs that had visited the castle standing by a doorway scanning the crowd. I turned away and put myself between Sophia and the man.

“What now?”

I glanced over my shoulder. Now the other guy was there as well. They were standing on each side of a nondescript door leading out of the ballroom. There was at least fifty people between us and the goon and he hadn’t seen us.

“Bet you ten to one that whoever is calling the shots is behind that door.”

Sophia glanced over my shoulder, then back at me.

“I still say we call the police.”

“And tell them what?”

Sophia opened her mouth but soon closed it again and frowned.

“Fine. What do you suggest then?”

I smirked.

“Time for a little bit of magic.”

I looked around and soon found Bohman. I snapped my fingers and saw him looking my way. I waved him towards me. He looked a bit confounded but headed our way.

“How did you do that?” he said as he reached us.

“Just a parlor trick,” I said with a smile. “But I was thinking that people may want to see something more … spectacular?”

Bohman’s eyes lit up like equinox bonfires.

“Would you?” he said, voice almost trembling.

“If it’s no offence to anyone? I have some volunteers that would be happy to assist. Would that be all right?”

“No. I mean yes. No problem. Yes. Yes, yes of course,” Bohman said with a wide grin, then he raised his hands and clapped loudly. “Ladies and gentlemen!”

The din slowly subsided into the murmurs of lingering conversations.

“Tonight we have the honor of being in the presence of Wizard Jakob Gyllenborst. And he has been generous enough to show us some of his magical talent. Jakob,” he said, turning towards me, “the floor is yours.”

I spread my arms wide and spun around slowly parting the crowd. It isn’t just stage magic that works best with a captive audience. The real thing is just the same. Keep people distracted. Especially the ones that you want to captivate a little more than the others. I saw the two goons looking my way from over by the door.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” I said letting some power flow into my words, making them reverberate against the walls of the huge room.

I saw the enthralling words hitting the crowd. It was always a good way to flush out the ones with some power of their own. There were about twenty of them that didn’t react as much as the others. Far more than I had expected. Then of course there was Sophia. She just stood there, looking at me without a frown on her face, completely unaffected like a rock in a winter storm. A shiver ran down my spine.

And to make things worse, I owe her.

I shrugged the feeling off and smiled broadly.

“I am here to show you something you have never seen before. Now. Please welcome my two assistants.”

I let the last word fly towards the two men over by the door. The path between me and them cleared as the crowd instinctively took a step backwards. I saw the recognition hit the larger of the two men right before the weave settled in over his mind and he became docile like the sheep that he was.

“Maestro. Music, please.”

The band started playing the first notes of a Finnish tango. It sounded strangely soothing coming from the wannabe rock & roll band. I twirled my fingers and so did the two men. They stepped close to each other and the tango started. I’m not much of a dancer myself, but magic tied to music has a kind of life of its own. The two muscular men stepped across the floor with large strides. I let them dance for a bit as I kept my eyes on the closed door. There were a few laughs from the crowd as I made the two men rip their jackets and shirts off to dance bare-breasted, but most of them were just watching quietly.

“Let’s make things a bit more colorful.”

I stepped close to the two dancing brutes and put my fingers on their shoulders. A wave of color spurted from my fingertips and a moment later the larger the two became a striking purple while the other turned a pale white. This drew a few more laughs and a couple of gasps. The transformation would wear off in a few minutes, but it was a nice party trick.

Then I felt it. The resistance. I froze. Something was hindering my efforts and I almost broke into a sweat before it relented. I smiled broadly doing my best to disguise my discomfort. I pushed a little more energy into the weave and felt a thrum of energy as I let my weave loose. The resistance was still there. I turned towards the door the two goons had guarded and saw a young woman standing in the opening. I swallowed hard. There was no doubt the emanation was coming from her. I met her eyes. She looked strangely familiar. Short, pale skin and blonde, almost white hair. She waved her fingers at me and once more I felt my weave faltering. I smiled back and let my spell fail.

I’m not going to show her the true depth of my power, I thought, quietly grinding my teeth and forced myself to keep smiling.

“Ladies and gentlemen! The Wizard Gyllenborst!”

I was jerked out of my torpor by Bohman’s cheery voice. I turned around. The two goons had stumbled to a halt, letting go of each other. The color draining slowly out of their skin. The ballroom was absolutely silent. Then the applause started. I bowed taking in the applause.

“We should talk.”

The voice was silky smooth. Smoother than was humanly possible. My protective pendant thrummed against my skin. I should have stricken her with my staff and run away as fast as I could. I blame my dick that I didn’t. Instead I turned around slowly and faced the woman. She looked fragile somehow, even though I had proof that she wasn’t. I let myself be led away. Second bad decision of the night. I looked over my shoulder after Sophia but she was nowhere to be seen. The blonde woman pulled me after her into the room which she had come from. It was a small library. She pulled me all the way to the middle of the room where she turned around and faced me. She studied me intently for a few moments.

“You don’t remember me, do you?”

I looked down at her once more. She did look familiar in a way that I couldn’t put my finger on.

“What if I do this,” she said dropping to her knees and starting to unbuckle my pants.

My protective pendant protested loudly as she touched my skin. At this point I should have definitely run away. But. 95% dick. Remember? It didn’t take long before she was balls deep on my cock and it felt very, very nice. The further down she went on my shaft, the more familiar she looked. Tears started running out of her eyes and she looked worshippingly up at me and then I saw it.

“Wait a minute. You’re that girl …”

By then it was too late. She drained my balls and my consciousness went with it.

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This was the sixth chapter of The Sharp Edge of the Veil

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