Demon Tales: Magic Bound, #4

By J.E. Cluney

While learning how to wield my newfound powers, I find myself hunting down a demon with my father.

But things go haywire when my childhood friend reveals that her brother's partner has been kidnapped.

I need to leave the demon hunt up to my father and work on finding the missing girlfriend.

Can I use my new abilities to aid her? And can we get to her before it's too late?

 

***Previously published as Ghosttales in the Portland Ivy series, contains adult scenes***

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.E. Cluney
• Release date: May 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201804893

Book preview

1

‘T hat way!’

I veered into the alley with Axle a few feet in front. The German Shepherd husky mix was hurtling down the alley as I struggled to keep up with him.

His voice shot through my head once more, our minds linked.

‘He’s up ahead!’

I drew in sharp breaths as I pumped my legs, my sneakers scraping on the pavement as I tore after him. The adrenaline coursed though me as I ran, my heart pounding and the blood rushing through me.

My father had taken me on as an apprentice, teaching me the magic of what I was, and I now worked with him for the Protectors, an organization that dealt with supernatural issues before the Council got involved. The Council were quick to handle things, and didn’t care of any human casualties and believed in doing things quickly. Thus many innocents would end up with the blame and punishment for crimes they didn’t commit. They didn’t do too much investigating; they were a shoot first, ask questions later type of business. The Protectors believed in proper justice for all, and I was learning more and more about their organization now. I’d been holed up in my apartment for nearly three weeks after coming back from the dead practically. My spirit had been severed from my body, but we’d found my body and linked it and my spirit back together once more, but I’d paid a price in the six months I’d been a ghost, linked but vacant from my body. I was skinny and weak, barely able to walk, and the past few weeks my lover, a vampire named Alex, had cared for me and helped me get back to normal with a mix of potions and much needed food. I was now ready to come back out into the world, still underweight and easily tired, but on the road to a full recovery.

I slid around the corner and nearly tripped over Axle as he stood frozen in place, his icy blue eyes set on the figure before us.

A familiar snort and snuffle alerted me to the presence of my father and his own familiar, Otis, the pig.

We had the witch caught now, stuck between us.

I looked past the back of the man, spying my father across the alley, blocking his escape with his small pig by his side.

Kevin Chiat, my father’s voice boomed out in the alley. You are wanted for the unlawful use of magic on humans, and the accusation of black magic use.

I stood firm beside Axle, glad for my furry familiar. We’d tested our connection a few weeks ago and discovered he was indeed my familiar, and our minds became linked.

The male witch before us laughed as he raised his hands to clasp them behind his head.

The sound chilled me to my core as Axle growled. The way his laugh echoed around us, bouncing off the brick walls that towered over us, ringing in my eardrums like a persistent mosquito.

It was all too familiar.

I knew my father recognized it as his face hardened and he held up a yellow glowing hand. His electrical magic crackled threateningly as he took a careful step forward.

The man before me turned slowly, his eyes catching mine as he smiled. He was shorter than my father, with a slim build and of Asian descent. His black suit was ragged and torn, like he’d been caught up in a brawl earlier. But it was that smile that unnerved me, the way it curved upwards farther than humanly possible. A smile I’d seen once before, that reminded me of a Cheshire Cat.

It’s nice to see you both again, a shame I can’t hang around, he grinned as his eyes flooded black. The sight of that dark void froze me in place, those two pools of nothingness that dared to drag me into their depths as he laughed once more.

I gasped as Axle whimpered and pushed back against my leg uncertainly.

He could sense what this man truly was.

He was what had possessed Monica.

A demon.

My father chanted and shot a powerful spell at him, and I recognized it from one of my spell books as an exorcism.

The shot of blue and yellow light hit Kevin, but it zapped around him for a moment before it sizzled out.

Oh my, Kevin tutted as he wiggled a finger at my father. That wasn’t very nice. You didn’t really think I wouldn’t take precautions after our last dance? he grinned, flicking his eyes between my father and I.

He tugged his suit jacket and white tie shirt open to reveal a bloody carving on his chest. An assortment of runes were carefully laid out upon his skin, the blood having dried some time ago.

You see, this vessel is mine now, and you can’t tear me out of it, he laughed at my father mockingly.

So tell me, how would you like to die tonight? he mused as he cocked his head and looked between us.

‘What do we do?’ Axle growled.

My father shot a bolt of yellow magic at him, but Kevin deflected it with a flash of red magic.

Kevin turned to me and cocked his head, as if trying to see me from within.

You killed my mutt. A powerful Sorceress you are, he said as he pouted.

The expression did not suit those black, dead eyes in the slightest.

What do you want? I asked, eager to drag out any conversation in hopes my father could handle this. I knew little about demons yet.

Oh, just chaos, confusion, death, he waved his hand in the air like it was obvious. The way he moved reminded me of a prima-donna.

‘Can demons be gay?’ Axle asked, hearing my thoughts.

I don’t know. He certainly was acting like a flamboyant gay.

Hush now! Kevin spat as he turned on my father and hurled a shot of red magic at him. My father barely managed to deflect it with a white barrier. He must’ve been casting a spell, chanting.

As much as I’d like to hang around and kill you both, I have other fun things to do, he chuckled as he threw his arms in the air.

Kevin exploded before me in a mighty cloud of black smoke that billowed and swirled before us as it licked at the brick walls and blocked out the alley street lamp. It slammed into the dumpster, smashing it against the wall as it swirled in a chaotic motion, a powerful, solid type of smoke that terrified me.

It twisted and lurched toward me with a mind of its own, and I threw my arms up defensively as I summoned the protective barrier around Axle and I.

The black cloud slammed into my crackling blue shield, and I gritted my teeth as I focused on maintaining the barrier. It crackled and groaned beneath the pressure, and I mustered my power, using all my energy to keep that wicked cloud away from us. Who knew what it could do if it hit us. We’d fought a demon once before, and it was terrifying.

Axle snarled but remained within my barrier as he stared hard at the wispy cloud attacking us.

‘What do we do?’ Axle shot me a desperate look.

Hang in there, I growled through my teeth.

The smoke thumped against the barrier twice more before it slowly rolled over the crackling shield encasing me and swirled up into the night sky.

Ivy!

I turned as my father raced towards me with Otis hot on his heels. Relief flooded across his face as he pulled up before me, his brown trench coat flapping in the cool night breeze. Otis snorted unhappily as we watched the black cloud disappear over the city buildings.

I locked onto my dad’s deep brown eyes, anger boiling through me along with the fear. Fear of what this thing was.

What the hell? That was the demon, wasn’t it? The one in Monica?!

My father sighed as I looked up at the night sky, but the black cloud was gone from sight.

Dad? I snapped.

Yes, he muttered.

How? I thought you got rid of it?! I gaped as Axle stood firm beside me.

When it possessed Monica, it was too entwined with her own soul. Exorcising it properly and sending it back to where it came from would have killed Monica as well. Maria asked us to save her mother. So I did the next best thing, I forced the demon out of her. I tried to hunt it down afterwards, but it had already found a new, willing host, so tracking it was next to impossible since I didn’t know who the host was, and I’d used all the magic I’d gotten from it last time to track Monica, he said, exasperated.

Monica was my best friend’s mother, and her son had used black magic to try to cure her dementia. It had resulted in something horrendous when he’d made a deal with a demon.

A deal I’d learned had stripped him of all his magic now and he was sent to a strange prison hidden from the world just for supes. Black magic usually resulted in immediate death by the Council, but new laws were being put in to try to make some leeway for those using it for family. A pity law was my understanding.

You just tried to exorcize it then, wouldn’t that have killed the witch? I asked.

No, a witch is more powerful, more likely to recover from a possession like that. Their own magic would protect their soul. But those runes carved into his chest, that will keep that demon inside him, no exorcism will work, shit, my father muttered.

‘It could be more of a problem now, possessing a witch instead of a human,’ Axle said, his voice as clear as a bell in my mind. Our connection was strong, and he could use my magic too, which had enhanced him in many ways, making him much smarter, faster, and stronger.

The energy he’d gained from me had allowed him to join me in the ghost realm as well. A power I still retained after my body and spirit had been combined once more. When I’d tried to jump once, Axle was unknowingly dragged along with me after we’d become linked, something I hadn’t expected. But after my father had checked him over, we discovered it didn’t have any side affects on him. Although it was unlikely I could jump anywhere with anyone else, as the only reason he could accompany me was because my own magic and energy filled him as well now. He was, in some words, an extension of me. A part of me.

I need to call this in, and we need to find him, fast. A demon inside a witch is more dangerous than Monica. Dammit, this is all my fault, my father grumbled as he pulled out his phone.

The annoyance and anger inside me sizzled out at the fury evident in his voice at himself. It was his fault, but he’d saved Monica’s life by not exorcizing it correctly.

You saved her life, I found myself saying.

Yes, but how many others may lose theirs because of it? he snapped as he held his phone to his ear. I have only made our problem so much worse.

‘Otis says not to take anything to heart, he’s just upset with himself,’ Axle relayed to me.

The small pink pig with his studded red collar snorted at me, and I gave him a smile.

I’d since learned that he should actually be weighing in at over 400 pounds, instead he was the size of a small dog, almost a piglet size. My father altered his size with potions to make traveling with his familiar easier. Otis hadn’t complained, being smaller was a godsend in his mind, allowing him to do much more than he could’ve.

Why would it have possessed a witch anyway? I asked as my father scowled and hung up the phone. Whoever he was calling hadn’t answered.

A witch is connected with the spiritual realms, unlike humans, making them more formidable hosts. They’ll last longer, so to speak. A possessed human will decay after a few weeks, their body failing to contain the demon inside them. The demon will abandon its host body and move onto a new one, whereas possessing a witch, or any supernatural creature for that matter, can be a more permanent host. But possessing a witch is no easy matter, like I said, their own magic and power protects them. So either this demon is a more powerful demon than we thought, or the witch allowed it in, meaning he practiced black magic. I’ll put in a request to find out if it’s possible he was a willing host, my father said as he dialed another number.

This time someone answered, and he spoke with them in a hushed tone as he moved away from me.

‘Sounds like someone official from the Protectors,’ Axle relayed as he cocked his head and listened in.

Axle and I will go check on Monica and Maria. You’ve got your hands full here. I’ll see you back at home, I called out. My father just waved a hand at me in acknowledgement as he spoke on the phone.

I could’ve waited for him to finish, but I wanted to see Maria. She’d been studying demons ever since her mother’s possession. Maybe she could give me more information on our unwanted prowler of Portland.

I stepped into the ghost realm with Axle, the world turning into shades of grey all around us. Axle stuck close to my side as we both jumped to Maria’s house, appearing out in her small yard. The grey-scale world flooded with color again as I stepped back out of the ghost realm and drew in the sweet night aroma of her garden.

Lavender. A gift I’d given her some time ago, she had a small planted pot of it on the wicker table on her porch. It had withered and nearly died some time ago, but she’d somehow restored it, and planted plenty more around the yard.

‘I wonder how Monica is doing? The last time I saw her, I could tell she wasn’t well,’ Axle’s voice was just a soft whisper in my mind.

He’d met Maria’s mother some time back when I used to visit her along with Maria at the nursing home. I’d taken Axle once, but she’d gotten rough with him when she’d experienced an episode so I no longer took him to see her.

I walked up the stone path, devoid of weeds and the lawn was mowed recently, the smell of fresh grass filled the air with the lavender.

The porch sensor light flicked on as I climbed the few steps with Axle, and Maria was already at the door before I had the chance to knock.

Ivy! she beamed as she swung the door open, her flawless bronze skin illuminated from the light behind her, giving her an angelic glow. Her wild curls were pulled back into a messy bun, and she wore a set of purple cotton pants and shirt, obviously a pajama set.

Hey Maria, how is everything going? I asked as she stepped forward to pull me into a tight hug. She was quite warm, and I wondered if she had the heater on tonight. Either that or I was just cold from being out in the night air.

It’s good, mom’s good. You’re looking much better now. Guess those potions are working for you, Maria smiled as she gave me a once over.

After my spirit had been reconnected with my body, I’d become lethargic, weak, malnourished and bony as hell. It seems the infrequent eating I’d done had been all that sustained my body while I was not within it. My magic had kept it alive.

Now I made potions with the use of my memories which had been recently restored, and the potions book from my mother, who’d died just after my eighteenth birthday.

And Axle has come to visit, he’s your familiar now, Maria grinned as she knelt down and Axle greeted her with his tail wagging.

Yes, I nodded, although we’d already spoken about Axle being my familiar and the ghostly abilities he had along with me.

Come in! I just made dinner, there’s plenty to go around, she stood and beckoned me in.

The sound of food was tempting, and Axle led the way eagerly as we headed inside.

I clenched my jaw as I reached the