The spell was simple, I just needed to focus on the effect, and then say the Latin word for partition. It was quick and easy. So I did just that. It’s hard to explain, but it got very crowded in my brain. I was now there four times, and Krystal was still humming in the background. It wasn’t complete copies of me though, the other three were quiescent to a certain extent, waiting for orders.

  I also wondered if it had to do with the fact I could do four things in my primary mind, and that’s why it split four ways. I considered it would still be wise in the future to push myself in this way. The power went up geometrically, right now I could put four things in each four minds, though it would be safer to do three and leave a margin for error and distraction.

  Still, that was twelve things at once. Obviously, when or if I could do five minds, that was a max of twenty-five, or twenty comfortably, and so on up to the max of six. I couldn’t really picture needing to do that, but if I was dueling with someone else that could, I might need to as the situation grew more and more complex.

  What a nightmare. I was an idiot for thinking this would simplify things. But then, at the same time, it would.

  I brought up my connection to Malina, and handed it to mind two. Then did the same thing with my inherent shield, and detect magic. My primary mind was mostly unburdened, all I had to do was maintain the one spell that partitioned my mind, while mind two handled three of my inherent abilities. I still had two more minds completely free.

  I casted the spells to protect from physical, and from magic, and then passed them to mind three. Now I was doing six things at once, and it was cake. And I still had four spots to fill, and two more on top of that in my primary mind, that I should leave open for offensive spells, and my balefire.

  Just because I could, I took those four up with specific protection spells for each of the four elements. Of course, if I let my partitioning spell go, they’d all go as well. On the other hand, all I had to do was keep one spell going now, which was cake. I’d still practice the multi-tasking for my primary mind, but it really wasn’t very urgent right now either. I just didn’t want to get lazy about it. But when I left the house in the future, this was what I was going with.

  I felt a bit dumb, if I’d have known this earlier, finding and even fighting the rogue would have been so much easier.

  I went back to the book and kept reading introduction to spells, I didn’t want to allow myself any more cause to feel so stupid again. There was nothing else in there though, just some advice that seemed like common sense to me. I frowned, and wondered why Malina hadn’t said anything. She could read my mind, surely she realized what I was doing wrong.

  But then, maybe she wanted me to be more powerful, and the intense multitasking has already paid off that way in just a few days.

  I decided not to be lazy when in the safety of the mansion, and moved my three inherent abilities back, and let the partitioning spell fall, and then I casted a physical protection spell just so I’d be holding four things. I definitely wasn’t ready for five so didn’t bother trying. I felt the wards announce a visitor, it was Dion, so I headed upstairs.

  Lilliana met me at the front door, and I opened it up.

  “Come on in. I have an idea, but I’m not sure you’ll go for it.”

  Dion nodded, “Let’s hear it.”

  “Well, it occurred to me there’s only three of us here, and that we are largely in the dark about what’s going on in the city with the other supernatural races. I’m going to go out on a limb and speculate that your coven has a rather good group that keeps you in needed information on what’s going on?”

  He nodded reluctantly.

  I asked, “Well, would you grant me access to it? Nothing too crazy, but I’d like to see the storms coming if I can, even if it doesn’t require anything on my part. If not, I’m still willing to entertain a suggestion of your own.”

  He shook his head, “It’s not that simple, I don’t have a database you could log in, or peruse. It’s all word of mouth and briefings. How about if I had the head of my intelligence group drop by and chat with you, or Lilliana, once a week?”

  I nodded, “That sounds reasonable, if there can also be a heads up for critical issues that explode quickly. A lot can happen in a week. Lastly, do you trust that person with your soul? If they decide to hold something back that they think is too controversial to share… it could be a problem.”

  Dion shook his head and frowned, “I see your point. I trust Christabel with my life, but the soul is another thing altogether. Let’s do this, she only shares the top ten priorities with me, if I pass that along to you does that work?”

  I thought about it, it was still a good deal. After all, he was only paying me a favor so I wouldn’t betray him.

  “That sounds good, how will you pass the information, and how often?”

  Dion said, “How often is every time she does for me. She only updates when those top ten concerns shift. Sometimes it’s a week, sometimes it’s daily. Depends on what’s going on. But you’ll get what I get, and no, I won’t tell her about our deal, or tell her to keep anything from me. She’ll never know about this pact, no one but us will, and of course, Lilliana. Let’s say, I need to deliver within twelve hours of finding out.”

  I nodded, “I can agree to that, and I will never betray the treaty between us and the shifters. Take my hand and it’s a done deal.”

  I held out my hand, and when he took it I activated the magic inscribed in the medallion, and the pact was made. Paper and ink wasn’t necessary, we both knew what we were getting, and so did the magic. If what we thought didn’t match, then the magic would fail to bind. Sometimes if it was complicated enough, a written contract we both agreed to could help the magic, but the paper was never really important. The pact was the infernal magic that bound and enforced it, the paper was just… paper and ink.

  Dion nodded and I nodded back to him respectfully, and he took his leave.

  I closed the door, walked up to Lilliana and pulled her into my arms, and then kissed her softly, teasingly, and with feeling. When I broke the kiss she smiled up at me.

  Then she asked me the same question Malina did, “What was that for?”

  I ignored it, and asked, “Are you happy here Lil? With me?”

  Her chocolate brown eyes widened and then softened, “You worry for me?”

  It seemed a moment for answering questions with questions. Of course I did. She was stuck here, in a pact, forever, passed from warlock to warlock. She obeyed my every whim. The least I could do was make sure she was happy, and do my best to respect her. Did I have to? Of course not. But then, I wasn’t an asshole, at least, not that big of a one.

  I could treat her like shit, and use her whenever I wanted, for whatever I wanted, and quite frankly that scared the shit out of me. She was an amazing woman and she must have truly loved the man that created the pact to leave it as such an open ended deal. So I continued answering with another question.

  “What kind of asshole would I be if I didn’t?”

  “Mine?” she giggled, “Yes, I’m happy. I love the Moore line, it’s how I stay sane, and slowly but surely I’m falling for you specifically. I may be a servant, your servant, but it’s who I am, and I accept that, no, I embrace that. It doesn’t make me weak, I am strong, and speak my mind when I wish, and it’s my pleasure to accede when your decision is made. It’s the price for my never ending life and beauty, and it is also my pleasure, not such a burden at all.”

  I couldn’t really understand her mindset, but it was clear to me I didn’t have to. She felt that way, and I was okay with that, even if I couldn’t truly comprehend it. I took her hand and headed upstairs to the bedroom. She was still looking at me with that soft smile and those big brown eyes.

  I pulled her into another kiss, and started to undress her slowly. The kiss, the way I undressed her, it was slow, sensuous, passionate, and gentle. I took my time, and caressed each inch of skin I revealed as I removed her clothing. She mewled in my mouth as I brushed her breasts lightly with my fingertips and her fingers found my clothes and stared to remove them as well.

  I led her slowly to the bed, and laid her down, the connection between us was so intense, and my cock was throbbing with need, but I ignored it, and lay next to her and continued to kiss her as I leisurely explored all the curves of her sumptuous and supple body.

  I groaned into her mouth when my fingers found her absolutely soaked, and ready for me. Her silken folds were puffy, and the scent of her arousal made me deepen our kiss, as I nibbled on her lip, and invaded her mouth with my tongue. She was such a powerful vampire, but right now she was soft, yielding, and her body was so responsive to my touch.

  I knelt between her legs, and sunk into her slowly, one inch at a time.

  She gasped out, “Master.”

  I kissed her as I sunk the rest of the way into her heaven. Her core gripped me and rippled as she grew used to my invasion. I put a finger on her on her lips.

  “What did I tell you?”

  She looked confused for a second, “To only call you master when we fuck…” her voice died and her eyes widened at me as she realized what I was saying. She even got a few tears in her eyes as she was overcome by emotion, but I kissed those away.

  I kissed her lips again softly, and worked my way out of her body and back in slowly, she rocked her body up slightly to meet each of my gentle thrusts. It was painfully pleasurable, moving so slow, every small movement filled with an intense pleasure all its own, as I stared into her eyes we shared those moments in an intimate connection that was both freeing and frightening.

  For perhaps the first time in my life, I made love to a woman, and when she screamed out, before her blissful release cut off her breath altogether, she screamed my name…

  Chapter 20

  Karen was almost done getting things packed when her wards went off. She cursed under her breath, she knew she was taking a chance, but she hadn’t wanted to show up at Shawn’s with nothing but the clothes on her back. She had clothes and shoes she hadn’t wanted to leave behind, but now she wasn’t so sure that was a smart decision.

  She connected to the wards with a quick spell, she didn’t have a fancy amulet to do it for her, and frowned as she saw two squads of security mages here to… either capture or kill, she wasn’t sure which.

  She cursed again, fluently.

  That bitch Clarissa couldn’t send two squads for the last warlock, but she gets two? Unbelievable. She also didn’t want to kill any of them, if things went to plan she’d be ruling them eventually, and giving them equal opportunity to advance if they had the talent. That won’t go over nearly as well if she kills a bunch of their friends.

  Beyond that, they were her people too. She knew them all and had led them on several missions. Still, if it came down to it, she wasn’t going to lay down and die for their sensibilities. She grabbed a couple of packed suitcases and looked around one last time before running downstairs and into the garage. She didn’t have long before they attacked, they were surrounding her small house now.

  She popped the trunk and loaded the bags in, and then got in behind the wheel. She looked around in a circle as she started the car and hit the garage door opener clipped to her visor. She smiled in satisfaction, they all had protection from fire with spelled shields. Since her primary element was fire, that made sense, she’d just wanted to be sure what she was about to do didn’t kill anyone.

  When the garage door was halfway up, she reached through her wards, and triggered all of her attack wards at once, and the entire house shot billowing fire around it at least twenty-five feet out. They should be fine if they run away, plus, it would blind their mage sight momentarily if they were using it. The wards only had enough magic in them to last maybe ten seconds, but that was enough.

  She gunned it, her own car was warded from fire as well, and she flew out of the fireball the size of a house and shot down the last few feet of her driveway. She couldn’t help but grin and giggle as her tires squealed as she made the turn onto the street, and shot down the road as she floored it and her adrenaline surged. Her house should be fine, if they didn’t destroy it that is, maybe she could go back for the rest of her clothes another time, when things cooled down.

  When she made it a few blocks away, she slowed down a bit and took the turn that would take her toward the Moore house. Her small house was at least thirty minutes away, and she loaded up on protection spells just in case they caught up. Physical, fire, air, earth, and general magic spell protections. She also kept her mage sight on.

  As she’d done last time, she skipped water. Most water mages preferred to live by the ocean, and even the nearby great lake wasn’t as much of a draw for them. As far as she knew there were only two weak water mages in the whole community, and neither of them worked for the council security forces.

  When she came up to the main road, she cast a quick spell to prevent anyone from scrying her or using other location type magic, and made the turn. She wanted to floor it, but the last thing she needed was to be pulled over by the human authorities. She could get out of it of course, but it would cost her time. Even with the spell she was sure they knew at least the direction she’d gone…

  Boom!

  The ground exploded and her car went flying. She was just starting to regret teaching her earth mages that tactic as the car landed on its front bumper, and then slammed down to the pavement on the roof, which buckled slightly. Her car was well warded against spells, but she hadn’t done much for the physical on it. All casting cost her magic, and she didn’t have an unlimited supply.

  At least she was covered, and didn’t take any injury when she was thrown into the steering wheel. The car eventually stopped its harrowing slide, and she tried to open the door. It was stuck. No doubt from the buckling roof. She hit the power window and to her surprise it lowered, or raised actually, into the door.

  She crawled out, traffic at a standstill, and frowned. This was sloppy, there were way too many human witnesses. If she was still an agent she’d have bawled them out for it. She looked around and saw a single mage with her sight, putting his phone away, and felt an attack on her magic shield, probably some kind of knock out spell, or sleep.

  She casted the counter spell and watched him light up as the spell feedback hit his mind. He managed to ground it to his element, but she was already casting her own sleep spell. The mage passed out and fell off of his motorcycle. She cursed as she looked at her car, she could flip it easy with a levitation spell and one finger, but there were people with cell phones out, pointing at her and her car.

  She cast the memory spell, for what it was worth, and ran towards the motorcycle, hopped on and started it. She cast one more regretful look at her trunk, which was filled with her clothes and shoes, and kicked the motorcycle in gear, popped the clutch, and gunned the throttle. She took off like a shot, her front wheel rising off the ground a moment, before the other mages could catch up.

  She’d get her revenge, she really loved her shoes...

  A short time later she ditched the motorcycle in North Chicago, just parking it somewhere random, and jumped in a cab. She still had the anti-tracking spell active, so unless someone had seen her with their own eyes and reported her, she’d be okay. She gave the cab driver directions, and he took her to Shawn’s as she brooded. It had been a complete waste of time to go home first.

  It wasn’t long before she stood before Shawn’s and knocked on his door, with nothing but the clothes on her back. A yellow dress, and white open toed sandals with high heels.

  The most beautiful woman she’d ever seen in her life opened the door. Malina. She was a demoness of course, which made her a little cautious, but she couldn’t help but be attracted to the woman. The oddest thing about that was she was a strict hetero, she didn’t judge others, but until she’d met Malina a day or two ago, she’d never entertained a fantasy about a woman before.

  “Hi Malina. Sorry to just drop in, but I ran into a little trouble. I decided to accept Shawn’s offer, but you should know I’m now wanted by the mage council.”

  Malina said breathily, “Come in dear. Shawn is otherwise… occupied. But he should be down soon. I’ll play hostess shall I? This way.”

  She blushed when she realized she was looking at Malina’s ass and finely sculpted legs while they walked toward the study. She looked up to a knowing glance as the demoness looked back at her.

  “Would you like a drink?” Malina asked lightly.

  Hell yes.

  “No, I better not. I want my wits about me when Shawn gets down here.”

  Malina nodded knowingly, “I understand. A pact is a serious matter, even when not involving the soul, because ultimately every pact does if one betrays their sworn word. How about some water, or a cola perhaps? Coffee?”

  Her mouth was a little dry, “Coffee works,” she said with a smile and a small tilt to her head.

  Dear goddess, she was flirting with a demon. She needed to pull it together.

  Malina smiled mysteriously, “Let’s head to the kitchen then, there’s no coffee here. Please don’t be offended, but until the pact is spoken it would be unwise of me to leave you alone in the house.”

  She nodded, and understood. How could she take offense, it was less than a few days ago that she was trying her best to kill him. She followed Malina to the kitchen, this time studying the house instead of a certain female succubus. It seemed safer.

  The furnishings were eclectic, but worked well together. This house was obviously very old, built before the first fire in Chicago, and had furniture that ranged through the styles of the last couple of hundred years. Some of it obviously moved here when the mansion was built. The place was also filled with magic, and the wards on the house would have scared her if she was here for anything other than what she said.