Dangerous, Diabolical

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A/N - for my ‘Dangerous, Diabolical - best kept secrets’ readers, you should read Leo’s POV - chapter 3 before this one!

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Booming cries called his name entwined into the lashings of rain. The gathering reciprocated the cry in a crescendo chant that echoed into the night, matching their tempo to the crashing of thunder overhead.

“Leofstan Willahelm Ortwin!” From the centre of the circle, a lone man stood over a stone table, gesturing to the surface before him decorated with herbs and jewels, beckoning. As a flash of light passed, multitudes of runes revealed themselves embellished across the area in bloody smears.

“The Gods have summoned you. You have chosen to accept the gifts they wish to bestow.” The voice boomed, the pressing chorus of the chant pacing the thrumming of each beat of my heart.

“It is time to unite with the earth and tie your soul to the endless cycle of rebirth.”

Lightning forked in the sky.

“Come forth our brother, and be reborn from the dust of ashes!”

Trying to steady my breaths, my heart was almost hammering out of my chest. The chill of the rain had penetrated the depth of my bones. Leofstan took a step forward, the chanting deepening. Beneath my feet, the grass began to glow in waves as power surged. Barefooted each footstep he took sent more waves of magic traversing deep into the earth. The bloody runes illuminated as he grew closer to the centre.

Upon reaching the stone plinth, he disrobed, the cloak puddled to the floor revealing the very naked form of Leo, painted head to toe in bloody runes.

Chill forgotten I blinked rapidly, the imprint of his sculpted buttocks quickly searing into my brain by my choice; a low whistle may have even escaped. As he lay across the stone table I licked an annoying raindrop that trickled over my lips and failed dismally to close my mouth afterwards.

A crack of lightning jolted me back into the scene, met with chanting, a howl of wind and glowing bloody runes. Yet I couldn’t look away from him in the centre.

“Cernunnos!” The hooded man screamed across the night. “Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam!” A blinding flash of light was followed by a bone-shattering thunderclap, causing the ground underneath my feet to protest. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge as a tingle edged its way into my limbs. A buzzing grew to deafening proportions in my ears that quickly drowned out the noise of the chant, followed by a crackling that left me shuddering.

“Reawaken!” the word seemed to echo in my head. And that’s when the lightning struck him. It was impossible to move, the sound of crackling filled every muscle and vein. Leofstans scream entered the cacophony of noises. From deep in the forest wolves howled and owls called. The Runes drawn over his skin hissed with power, sizzling into his skin. The stones surrounding held with a dull white light as the power of the lightning strike burnt through every cell capable of holding charge.

“Rise, Druid Leofstan.”

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With a gasp, I was me again. A hundred and one thoughts rushed through my mind as to what had just transpired. His antlers were gone, and he looked as confused as I felt. The hair on my arms stood on end and the ringing continued in my ears.

He took a step back, face unreadable as he gulped air.

I panicked, glancing up into the burning sun for any sign of thunder. My heart felt as if it were about to explode as I threw up a hand to combat the rays. “The gem.” He whispered, staring at my hand.

His own hands shook, and a sheen of sweat gathered on his brow.

“Loki strike me.” He paled. Did he know I’d seen his memory? “How much power did you feed that thing?” I took a step back as my sight warped, blurring, making it impossible to distinguish even if my thoughts were my own.

“More than I hit you with yesterday.” I finally confessed, doubling over as the world span.

He swore unintelligibly.

“You are more foolish than the trickster himself!” Leofstan shouted at me, and I flinched.

Well, I kind of understood now that trying to smash different types of magic together was never going to work. Would’ve been nice to know before I messed with his amulet but it was a bit late now.

Luckily, whatever he was going to yell at me next was interrupted by a phone ring.

“Grahame.” He murmured answering. “I’m at Celandine’s residence. Yes, no. An hour more maybe? Yes fine, see you soon.” Hanging up he fixed me with an icy stare and no explanation. From overhearing, I was due to expect the other councilman to join us any minute soon.

He reverted to our earlier conversation. ”It activated.” He accused.

“Mmm.” Neither agreeing nor denying the statement.

“It’s still linked to me.”

“Umm.”

“It activated in the hospital too didn’t it?”

Faking surprise I let out a dramatic “Whaaat?“. So he had noticed.

Leofstan just groaned. “Let me guess, earth magic and fae magic in an exciting concoction embedded on top of a linking spell.” He began pacing. “Now there’s probably a channel of magic flowing through it uncontrollably.”

I was trying to concentrate on what he was saying. But the memories just kept replaying over and over. For the first one, I was positive I’d seen Leofstan pre-magic. Yet this memory, in the seconds before I was sure I’d seen his other self bleed through, and he’d had antlers. First, he couldn’t use magic, now he could. And stags were naturally prey animals in the food chain, skittish and avoided danger, and he’d stood in my house and... not felt afraid. Quite the opposite. Worst of all he had a damn fine butt.

Trying to hide the blood rushing to my cheeks I slapped my hands over them. Attempting to decipher whose memories belonged to whom was not my idea of a good weekend, and I was ready to concede he was right. ”So how do we get it out?”

“We might need…” He paced a few more laps of his spot, mumbling. “Right, you said my spell randomly did this.” He slowed to a stop. “After it happened and I attempted to recall the spell, your magic reacted synchronically. Usually, an unstable spell dissolves quite naturally when prodded in precise places.

“Somehow it appears that original enchantment has evolved into something unprecedented, no longer am I entirely confident of which places to prod.”

I nodded my head in agreement, despite having zero idea what he was even on about.

“That leads me to think if I am brutish enough, and exert enough power to just shock the spell, it might cause it to dissipate.”

Even more power than I’d tried to throw at it?

We stood far too close to my house. “More power?” I repeated. Maybe it wouldn’t matter that I’d interfered with it.

“Yes, It wasn’t that strong to begin with, it should be easy to overpower. The problem will be avoiding your magic interfering.”

Had it grown stronger after I’d blasted magic into it? “And if it’s a lot stronger than you’re expecting?”

“Impossible.” He replied, rolling his shoulders. “My only concern is ensuring you stay in control.”

But it was entirely possible it was stronger than he was expecting. The real impossibility here was that our brief session this morning had given me any form of control.

“Remember, hold your magic before you cast. Open yourself to the world enveloping us and locate your source.” He nodded reassuringly, before adding “Then simply do not bring it in.” He held his palm flat for me, smiling wanly.

“I must keep the door shut.” I agreed, mimicking our conversation from earlier and placing my palm against his. Instantly the air shimmered around him, his deep brown eyes taking on a richer gold.

I’d pumped a lot of magic into the gem. My spine tingled. It had taken way more than the original incantation he’d made. What if he suddenly became like the gem and decided to merge into me? I gulped. What if it made it worse and he started getting some of my memories? My eyes grew wide. What if my brain exploded into ash?

His magic grew thicker around us. “What happens,” I shouted over the crackling of his casting, “if, oh, I don’t know, say,” I smacked my lips as I felt his power begin to creep into me, “may have blasted it with magic and you’d need an insane amount of energy to remove it.” The words tumbled out of my mouth as a look of sheer horror crept into his eyes.

“I cannot rescind the spell now!” He shouted back.

Keep calm, don’t panic. “And what if I have no idea how to shut the door?” I yelled. In response, I felt my magic unfurling to challenge what it perceived as a threat.

“At worst, we may die.” He responded, unblinking, heart hammering in his chest.

“At best?” I shrieked back.

My magic launched itself towards his seeking tendrils, coating them rapidly. I could feel him trying to pull back, to no avail.

“Stop your magic!” He boomed.

I shut my eyes, trying to take a deep breath and reach out into the world and find the source. I knew what his felt like, so surely mine might be around there somewhere.

“Pull it back!” He cried desperately as the crackling of magic turned into urgent whistling darts. Unable to distinguish any other noises through the chaos I opened my eyes to give him a scathing glare.

Instead, there was a blinding flash of light. The sound of the spell stopped, and Leofstan was twenty paces away sprawled in a candle-lit corridor. Two helmed faces peered around to look back at me, the tips of their ears pointedly peeking out.

Then the image snapped shut with a pop, leaving me standing alone, hair standing on edge, a burnt circle beneath my feet and holding my arm out as if waiting for a bus.

The portal did not reappear.

I sighed. Leofstan was going to be someone else’s problem now, probably whichever Fae kingdom he’d managed to fall into. It was a shame, I was just starting to take a shine to the guy. He wasn’t bad as far as living things went.

With one last rub of my thumb over the embedded gem, I went back to my house. Guess it was time for breakfast.