“Are you sure you want Alexandra for this?” Mark asked, settling himself cross-legged in the worn, but admittedly comfortable, chair. He hadn’t bothered asking questions about, or trying to get into, the library, but Christian preferred it when possible for larger acts of witchiness, so he hadn’t argued while being ushered in and up to the loft. “Won’t that make it harder to concentrate?”
“Probably,” Christian conceded. Currently, he was perched on the arm of the couch, which looked no more reputable than the chair, but might well be equally deceptive. “But the binding was done while you were Alexandra, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s how I have to undo it. I’ll just have to deal with it somehow.”
“You do realize that you are almost certainly the only person in the entire known world with a bound lamia. And you’re about to undo that. Which means that instead of it being impossible for me to hurt you or let anything else hurt you, you’ll be counting completely on my own motivations for keeping you safe. And you really do not understand lamias. Or how dangerous a lamia can be.”
Christian heaved a sigh. “I’ve spent my whole life around liminals that could be dangerous. And you said that you’re not going to hurt me anyway.”
“I know I’m telling the truth about that. You don’t.”
“I trust you.”
“Does this have anything to do with trying to make up for bringing home that cat?”
“Of course not! I told you I was going to do this way before I even heard of Sid! It’s not a... a bribe, or something!”
Mark had known that. He just wanted to see what Christian would say. It wasn’t surprising in the least. He shrugged. “All right. But given your general lack of concern for your own safety, it’s probably a good thing that Vadin found me.” His family must know about his profound aversion to bindings, though, right? They must have known that as soon as he identified the one on Alexandra, he’d insist on removing it. But they’d moved to another continent anyway, leaving only her goodwill and self-interest to ensure his safety. Either Mark was missing something, or Vadin had not told Seth and Rosa the truth about lamias.
Or Vadin knew something Mark didn’t. That remained a possibility.
“And you’re sure you figured it out? It’s okay to wait longer. Maybe even ask your mother and grandfather.”
Christian made a hmph sound low in his throat. “I didn’t ask them and I’m not going to. Their priority is keeping me safe, and they probably wouldn’t even tell me, but even if they did, it would only be after they tried their best to talk me into not undoing it. I don’t need the frustration. I found the right one, I’m absolutely certain, and it included how to undo it. It’s a pretty intricate and unusual one, probably because a standard or weaker one would just dissolve eventually under the amount of power it would be interacting with all the time. But I promise, I know what I’m doing and I’m not going to hurt either of us. I promised myself I’d make sure that by Hallowe’en, it would be just a memory, and that’s coming up fast. I know it’s sort of arbitrary, but if I don’t set goals I keep getting distracted by researching other things. Anyway. Do you want me to remove it or not?”
“I’d love it. I mean, I don’t notice it much, but it keeps making Alexandra want to scratch at it. I just want to make sure you don’t regret it.”
“We covered that.”
They had, and it would only take this conversation back around in a circle.
Mark shrugged, and with a thought, switched to Alexandra. The molecules of her clothing rearranged themselves only minimally, adjusting her black jeans to fit smoothly, stripping the collar and sleeves and half the bottom from her black wolf-print T-shirt. Her long black hair fell in a single braid forward over one shoulder, her only jewellery consisted of silver hoops in her ears, and her feet were bare.
Christian closed his eyes and took a slow deep breath, then another. Alexandra contemplated whether there were anything she could do to help, but came up blank. Even without any effort behind it, lamia fascination existed at a low level, and quite possibly would even if she wrapped herself from head to toe in loose stiff flourescent-patterned fabric with only her eyes visible, because it wasn’t simply about being physically attractive. Add in the fact that Christian was young and male and not in a sexual relationship, and of course he’d find her distracting.
“Right. I’m okay,” he said, after the third breath, and opened his eyes. “I can do this.”
Offering him a reward afterwards wouldn’t help, she was sure of that.
He would be tasty, though, even if she were very careful to not leave even short-term damage.
On the other hand, she’d have placed the odds no better than even, whether he had any actual experience with sex. That wasn’t likely to be helping.
“Okay. You don’t need to do anything. Actually, probably best if you don’t do anything, because this is going to be tricky and it’s going to be a challenge to concentrate as it is.”
“I’ll stay right here and be absolutely still and quiet until you say otherwise.”
Christian nodded and reached out to hold one hand palm-down over her head. The other hand, beside her, twisted into a position she assumed had some purpose. Eyes tracking something she couldn’t see but was sure she could feel, he began to hum softly.
That made her twitch, instinct insisting that it was a potentially threatening pose, but she throttled that and simply closed her eyes. It was ridiculous anyway. Christian was about as threatening as... as... she stalled, trying to think of something that was appropriate. Although she completely lacked any personal experience, she knew humans tended to think of baby felines as harmless and appealling, with other baby mammals also in the running, especially canines. She’d thought she had quite a good grasp of human pop culture, at least, even if many aspects of human psychology often remained a mystery, so it was a bit disconcerting to discover that she had a substantial blind spot about which she knew little. What else did humans consider cute and inoffensive? Unicorns often seemed to be implied to be such, but she was fairly sure that a large animal could do some damage even without a built-in spear. Fairies? Those were either human children given improbable wings, or unknown liminals with potentially dangerous defences. Teddy bears?
She hadn’t yet decided whether Christian more resembled a plush toy or a baby feline of some sort, and if the latter, then what kind of feline because judging by nature documentaries there seemed to be a lot, when she felt a sort of vibration sing through the binding that was laced around and through some part of her being. It was distinctly not comfortable, and made every muscle tense reflexively, but she forced herself to hold still.
The vibration faded nearly to nothing, then surged back up beyond the previous intensity, at a higher pitch than before. Instead of the force dropping this time, it only rippled, but the pitch kept changing. It took a considerable effort of will to stay calm and just breathe, although she couldn’t contain the occasional wince when it was painfully high.
“Ha! Got it!”
There was no snap, no recoil.
Without any fanfare or drama, the binding dissolved and vanished.
Alexandra took a deep breath, revelling in the freedom after enduring its presence for the better part of four months.
Impulsively, she unfolded her legs and rocked forward in the chair, tangled a hand in Christian’s rust-red T-shirt, and yanked him into reach for a fierce kiss.
He squeaked, which she found as adorable as humans found baby mammals, but after the initial stunned heartbeat, he unfroze and returned it. Inexpertly, but enthusiastically.
“Thank you,” she said, when she let him go. “That feels much better.”
“Um... you’re welcome.” He blinked, still a little dazed, as he sat back to keep from falling.
Right now, he needed a break. She switched back to Mark. “You didn’t overdo it, did you?”
“Uh... no, that was a lot easier than the thing with the troll. No summoning, and you’re right here instead of only halfway in a circle, and this one was mostly not based on a lot of complicated hardware anyway, it was all sound and gestures and some mental stuff, so I wasn’t improvising. Plus I was ready and grounded and all. I’m okay. I could do that a couple more times before I even really felt it, if I had to.” He stood up, and dropped back down into the couch properly. “Well, okay, I could do it a couple more times with a break and a snack in between.”
“I think I owe you supper for that at the very least.”
“You don’t owe me anything!”
“I say I do. Deal with it. C’mon, let’s go get some cookies or something into you while we figure out what we want to eat and whether we’re staying in for, Idunno, pizza and Diablo, or going out for something else.”
“Are you sure you want Alexandra for this?” Mark asked, settling himself cross-legged in the worn, but admittedly comfortable, chair. He hadn’t bothered asking questions about, or trying to get into, the library, but Christian preferred it when possible for larger acts of witchiness, so he hadn’t argued while being ushered in and up to the loft. “Won’t that make it harder to concentrate?”
“Probably,” Christian conceded. Currently, he was perched on the arm of the couch, which looked no more reputable than the chair, but might well be equally deceptive. “But the binding was done while you were Alexandra, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s how I have to undo it. I’ll just have to deal with it somehow.”
“You do realize that you are almost certainly the only person in the entire known world with a bound lamia. And you’re about to undo that. Which means that instead of it being impossible for me to hurt you or let anything else hurt you, you’ll be counting completely on my own motivations for keeping you safe. And you really do not understand lamias. Or how dangerous a lamia can be.”
Christian heaved a sigh. “I’ve spent my whole life around liminals that could be dangerous. And you said that you’re not going to hurt me anyway.”
“I know I’m telling the truth about that. You don’t.”
“I trust you.”
“Does this have anything to do with trying to make up for bringing home that cat?”
“Of course not! I told you I was going to do this way before I even heard of Sid! It’s not a... a bribe, or something!”
Mark had known that. He just wanted to see what Christian would say. It wasn’t surprising in the least. He shrugged. “All right. But given your general lack of concern for your own safety, it’s probably a good thing that Vadin found me.” His family must know about his profound aversion to bindings, though, right? They must have known that as soon as he identified the one on Alexandra, he’d insist on removing it. But they’d moved to another continent anyway, leaving only her goodwill and self-interest to ensure his safety. Either Mark was missing something, or Vadin had not told Seth and Rosa the truth about lamias.
Or Vadin knew something Mark didn’t. That remained a possibility.
“And you’re sure you figured it out? It’s okay to wait longer. Maybe even ask your mother and grandfather.”
Christian made a hmph sound low in his throat. “I didn’t ask them and I’m not going to. Their priority is keeping me safe, and they probably wouldn’t even tell me, but even if they did, it would only be after they tried their best to talk me into not undoing it. I don’t need the frustration. I found the right one, I’m absolutely certain, and it included how to undo it. It’s a pretty intricate and unusual one, probably because a standard or weaker one would just dissolve eventually under the amount of power it would be interacting with all the time. But I promise, I know what I’m doing and I’m not going to hurt either of us. I promised myself I’d make sure that by Hallowe’en, it would be just a memory, and that’s coming up fast. I know it’s sort of arbitrary, but if I don’t set goals I keep getting distracted by researching other things. Anyway. Do you want me to remove it or not?”
“I’d love it. I mean, I don’t notice it much, but it keeps making Alexandra want to scratch at it. I just want to make sure you don’t regret it.”
“We covered that.”
They had, and it would only take this conversation back around in a circle.
Mark shrugged, and with a thought, switched to Alexandra. The molecules of her clothing rearranged themselves only minimally, adjusting her black jeans to fit smoothly, stripping the collar and sleeves and half the bottom from her black wolf-print T-shirt. Her long black hair fell in a single braid forward over one shoulder, her only jewellery consisted of silver hoops in her ears, and her feet were bare.
Christian closed his eyes and took a slow deep breath, then another. Alexandra contemplated whether there were anything she could do to help, but came up blank. Even without any effort behind it, lamia fascination existed at a low level, and quite possibly would even if she wrapped herself from head to toe in loose stiff flourescent-patterned fabric with only her eyes visible, because it wasn’t simply about being physically attractive. Add in the fact that Christian was young and male and not in a sexual relationship, and of course he’d find her distracting.
“Right. I’m okay,” he said, after the third breath, and opened his eyes. “I can do this.”
Offering him a reward afterwards wouldn’t help, she was sure of that.
He would be tasty, though, even if she were very careful to not leave even short-term damage.
On the other hand, she’d have placed the odds no better than even, whether he had any actual experience with sex. That wasn’t likely to be helping.
“Okay. You don’t need to do anything. Actually, probably best if you don’t do anything, because this is going to be tricky and it’s going to be a challenge to concentrate as it is.”
“I’ll stay right here and be absolutely still and quiet until you say otherwise.”
Christian nodded and reached out to hold one hand palm-down over her head. The other hand, beside her, twisted into a position she assumed had some purpose. Eyes tracking something she couldn’t see but was sure she could feel, he began to hum softly.
That made her twitch, instinct insisting that it was a potentially threatening pose, but she throttled that and simply closed her eyes. It was ridiculous anyway. Christian was about as threatening as... as... she stalled, trying to think of something that was appropriate. Although she completely lacked any personal experience, she knew humans tended to think of baby felines as harmless and appealling, with other baby mammals also in the running, especially canines. She’d thought she had quite a good grasp of human pop culture, at least, even if many aspects of human psychology often remained a mystery, so it was a bit disconcerting to discover that she had a substantial blind spot about which she knew little. What else did humans consider cute and inoffensive? Unicorns often seemed to be implied to be such, but she was fairly sure that a large animal could do some damage even without a built-in spear. Fairies? Those were either human children given improbable wings, or unknown liminals with potentially dangerous defences. Teddy bears?
She hadn’t yet decided whether Christian more resembled a plush toy or a baby feline of some sort, and if the latter, then what kind of feline because judging by nature documentaries there seemed to be a lot, when she felt a sort of vibration sing through the binding that was laced around and through some part of her being. It was distinctly not comfortable, and made every muscle tense reflexively, but she forced herself to hold still.
The vibration faded nearly to nothing, then surged back up beyond the previous intensity, at a higher pitch than before. Instead of the force dropping this time, it only rippled, but the pitch kept changing. It took a considerable effort of will to stay calm and just breathe, although she couldn’t contain the occasional wince when it was painfully high.
“Ha! Got it!”
There was no snap, no recoil.
Without any fanfare or drama, the binding dissolved and vanished.
Alexandra took a deep breath, revelling in the freedom after enduring its presence for the better part of four months.
Impulsively, she unfolded her legs and rocked forward in the chair, tangled a hand in Christian’s rust-red T-shirt, and yanked him into reach for a fierce kiss.
He squeaked, which she found as adorable as humans found baby mammals, but after the initial stunned heartbeat, he unfroze and returned it. Inexpertly, but enthusiastically.
“Thank you,” she said, when she let him go. “That feels much better.”
“Um... you’re welcome.” He blinked, still a little dazed, as he sat back to keep from falling.
Right now, he needed a break. She switched back to Mark. “You didn’t overdo it, did you?”
“Uh... no, that was a lot easier than the thing with the troll. No summoning, and you’re right here instead of only halfway in a circle, and this one was mostly not based on a lot of complicated hardware anyway, it was all sound and gestures and some mental stuff, so I wasn’t improvising. Plus I was ready and grounded and all. I’m okay. I could do that a couple more times before I even really felt it, if I had to.” He stood up, and dropped back down into the couch properly. “Well, okay, I could do it a couple more times with a break and a snack in between.”
“I think I owe you supper for that at the very least.”
“You don’t owe me anything!”
“I say I do. Deal with it. C’mon, let’s go get some cookies or something into you while we figure out what we want to eat and whether we’re staying in for, Idunno, pizza and Diablo, or going out for something else.”
