Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/6482992.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character_Death, Underage, Rape/
      Non-Con
  Category:
      F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      Original_Work
  Relationship:
      Original_Male_Character/Original_Male_Character, Original_Female
      Character/Original_Male_Character, Original_Female_Character/Original
      Female_Character
  Character:
      Original_Elf_Character(s), Original_Characters
  Additional Tags:
      Magic-Users, Dark_Magic, Demonic_Possession, Past_Child_Abuse,
      Kidnapping, Sibling_Incest, Witchcraft, Witch_Hunters, Magical_Tattoos,
      Magical_Bond, Curses, Shapeshifting, Explicit_Sexual_Content, Original
      Character_Death(s), Interspecies_Relationship(s), Magical_Accidents,
      Polyamory, Bisexual_Male_Character, Lesbian_Character, Implied
      Beastiality, Angels
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-04-26 Updated: 2017-03-15 Chapters: 14/? Words: 21103
****** The Tragedies of Magic ******
by kuki
Summary
     A chaotic shop owner and his long suffering best friend, the most
     feared dark witch in history and her mortal enemy, cursed jailbait
     and his lost twin, and an elf find themselves at the cross roads of
     conspiracy and fate. A story about finding, losing, and a lot of sex.
***** Chapter 1 *****
Chapter Notes
     I know, I made another one. Don't kill me. I love you.
He was tapping on the glass on the front counter. It had been very long since
the first time he had walked into the shop, with a death grip on her skirt, but
he wasn’t that scared little kid anymore. She was talking to him, while she was
waiting for the owner to make his way out of the backroom. Despite how much she
had grown attached to him, she was always a little wary of him
The owner made his best effort to avoid customers as much as possible, except
this one. He smiled at the teen as he pulled his goggles off his face. “Morning
Ridley.”
“It’s three in the afternoon, Milo.” Serafina glared at her employer and friend
as she crossed her dark arms across her body. Her thick, but well maintained
eyebrows raised in annoyance above her large brown eyes.
Patting her large mass of curly, black hair, he turned the smile towards her.
“Shh, you take things too seriously my friend.”
Sera threw her arms up and motioned at Ridley, as if thinking Milo had
forgotten about the boy. Milo turned back to Ridley who looked to be holding
back laughter. “What can I do for you today? Need me to order you something
special or just the usual?”
“Since I’m here, I’m pretty sure I’m due for some more, but I was just hoping
you had some free time…” He looked shy, hiding behind his long, messy, red
bangs. His rust-brown eyes couldn’t even focus as he spoke.
Milo’s grin only grew, like a Cheshire cat. “Oh? Let’s go upstairs, I’ll put on
some tea. Would you care to join us, Sera?”
“Who’s going to watch the shop?” She had her arms crossed again: it was going
to be a long day.
“And that’s why I keep you around. I may even make you a partner yet.”
“You did, last year. Remember?”
He blinked at her a few times before lifting the counter lift-up so Ridley
could follow him up to his and Sera’s apartment above the shop. Ridley waved at
her as he passed by and she gave him a small smile.
“She still doesn’t trust me, does she?” Ridley said as he sat at the small
table in the kitchen. Milo paused in gathering tea materials to sigh.
“It’s not you, it’s what’s been done to you that she doesn’t trust. She’s
actually quite fond of you.” Milo tried to give him a convincing smile before
returning to making tea. “But I’m sure there was something you wanted to talk
about, to make the trek all the way to the shop.”
“I-…” Ridley put his head down as he rubbed his face. “I was just lonely. You
and Sera are the only friends I have.”
Milo bit his lip to hold back the smart comment, instead put the kettle on the
stove and sat across from the boy. “You know, Sera and I have a spare room. I
have friends that could get you work.”
“I can’t do that Milo, it’s safer for me to stay on my own.” The pain on his
face was evident and Milo instinctively reached out, pulling his hands away
from his face. As he held the boy’s hand, he noticed the bandages covering it.
“Safer for who Ridley? If you were here, I could help you, help with this…” He
motioned to the hand, which Ridley immediately pulled out of sight. With a
sigh, Milo looked away.
“You already told me you can’t help, at least not more than you already have.
It’ll be bad enough if I get caught, but I don’t want you and Sera to get in
trouble when that happens.”
“You’re not going to get caught, I won’t let that happen.”
“Please don’t make promises you can’t keep Milo.” Ridley looked away too. “But
I didn’t come here for a lecture, if I wanted one of those I’d have stayed with
Sera.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Milo put his hands up in defeat with a smile. “It’s been a
while since you’ve been to the shop, how’s business?”
“Slow. It’s apparently not the season for rare and illegal magical objects. If
business keeps going this way, I may have to take you up on the spare room.” He
sighed, but moved his bangs out of his face. “Have you heard anything, any
customers that want something you can’t usually get them?”
“Not lately, but me and Sera always keep an ear up for you.”
“Thanks. How’s your research coming? Any new developments?”
“Don’t tell Sera, but I almost blew up the store a few days ago.” Milo’s smile
was infectious and had Ridley chuckling. “But other than that, not much
progress. I think she’s having better luck, mostly with sex plants though.”
“Does she have a fetish, or is just an accident that most of her experiments
want to make tentacle porn a reality?”
“That’s something you’d have to ask her.” Milo stood up the second the kettle
started hissing. Ridley watched him without saying anything as he poured the
water into the mugs. When he was handed one, Milo was examining him.
“What?” Ridley was surprised by the look he was getting and hid behind the mug.
“How old are you now Ridley?”
He choked as he took his first sip of his too hot to actually drink tea. “What?
Are you trying to see if I’m legal yet?”
Milo swore as he sat down. “I guess this means you’re not yet?” He then smiled
at the boy.
Rolling his eyes and rubbing his throat, Ridley smiled back at him. “I’ll be
seventeen next month. I’m surprised I’ve made it this long.”
“You were what, eleven when we first met?” Milo hummed, watching Ridley give
him a small confirming nod. “It’s been a while since then; a lot has happened
in the last six years.”
“I hate it when you do this, act all cryptic. I’m half expecting you to start
speaking in tongues and spouting off prophecy nonsense.”
“That sounds like that happens to you a lot.”
“Only every time I go down Fifth street, one of those physics is always
grabbing my arm and giving me a glossy eyed prediction of apocalypse.” Ridley
shrugged as he tried to drink his tea again. Milo just hummed and looked at him
with appraising eyes again.
“I don’t know how old you are.” He said it matter-of-factly and Milo tilted his
head before realizing that Ridley was expecting him to tell him, as if it was a
question.
“I’m 22.” Milo smiled when Ridley’s eyes went wide. “How old do you think I wa-
… actually don’t answer that, I’ll probably just feel insulted.”
The teen just grinned as he continued drinking his tea. Milo rolled his eyes at
him as he picked his tea up too. When Ridley sat his cup back down, he glanced
at the clock and then clenched his fist. “I should go.”
“You okay? You don’t have to leave.” Milo watched as he stood up. Ridley didn’t
say anything as he pushed his chair in. “Actually, I’d like you to stay.
There’s something I actually think I could use your help with.”
That peaked his interest just enough to look at Milo, though suspiciously. “I’m
not going to get blown up am I?”
“I hope not, Sera would kill me.” Milo grinned as he stood up and put the mugs
into the sink. “Come on.”
Sera glanced at them as they passed her to go into Milo’s workshop. “Milo…
Milo…”
“Yes dear?” He turned to look at her, his hand on the doorknob.
“Be careful, especially with Ridley, okay?” She smiled at him, her eyes
flickering towards the teen. Milo nodded as he opened the door. Ridley smiled
back at her before going into the workshop.
Once in the workshop, Ridley looked at the objects and vials of colored liquid
laying around, finally picking up one with a black, undulating liquid. Milo
took it from him, setting it back in its spot.
“I don’t know what I did, but that is not something that you should play with.”
Milo put his goggles back onto his face. “I’m not sure if I want to know what’s
in that vial.”
Ridley continued looking at the vial. “It looks like… like a liquid demon.”
Groaning, he turned to look at the teen. “That is not the confirmation I
wanted… but if anyone knows, it’d be you…”
“What did you need my help for?” Ridley reached out to pick at a smoking pile
of ash before withdrawing his hand when the smoke started moving towards his
hand.
Milo nodded and pulled a box from one of the shelves. “There’s something that
I’ve been working on. After doing some research, things like this in the past
have needed a little black magic to get it started.”
“I’m not sure about this Milo. Are you sure asking me to do this is a good
idea?” He watched as the older man pulled things out of the box. “You know I’m
not very…”
“I trust you Ridley.” Milo had a smile in his voice. “And what I’m trying to
do, I promise it’s not going to make any demon goo. I’m just trying to make a
regeneration potion.”
“You need black magic for a regeneration potion?”
“It’s a mana regeneration potion, to help recharge magical powers quickly.
Black magic does it best naturally.” Milo swirled a vial that had a few
separated liquids. “You want to give it ago?”
Ridley took the vial from him and looked at him. “How much magic does this
need?”
“Start out with a little bit and we’ll see where it goes. It should change
color when it works.” He put one of his hands over Ridley’s. “You can do this.”
Closing his eyes, Ridley let small wisps of black float out of hands and into
the liquid. Slowly the liquid turned to an opaque green color. Ridley opened
his eyes and looked at it.
“Good job.” Milo beamed at him as he took it from his hands. “I’ll make sure
that when I use this to make a big patch you get some.”
Ridley sat down on in Milo’s desk chair with a huff. “Just what I need, more
magic.”
“You never know.” Milo corked the bottle and sat it down. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I just haven’t used pure magic like that for long time.” Ridley rubbed
the back of his neck. “I wish I wasn’t like this.”
Milo bent down and put his hands on his knees. “There’s a lot of things I wish
I could change, but we just need to make the best of the situation we’re in. If
I could make things better for you, I’d do anything to do it.”
“I know that… I just… I really should go…” Ridley gently pushed him away as he
stood up.
“Yeah, okay. Go on out, I’ll grab you your stuff from the stock room.” Milo’s
fingers twitched before he decided that he was going to pull the boy in for a
hug. Ridley held onto his sleeves until Milo finally pulled away with a smile.
Sera watched Ridley as he came out into the main store. “What we’re you guys
going back there?”
“He just needed some help with something.” He moved out from behind the counter
and leaned across from her. “He’s going to grab me the usual, so you can
probably ring me up a while.”
“You okay? You seem even more on edge than when you came in.” Sera started
punching numbers into the antique cash register.
“Milo is… difficult, which I’m sure you know…” He smiled at her. “I’ve been
tired lately too.”
“You need a hobby.” She laughed at him as Milo came out from the back with a
bag.
When Ridley started fishing in his pockets, Milo cleared the cash register.
“It’s on the store today.”
Shrugging, Sera pushed the bag closer to Ridley. “You heard the boss.”
“Thanks guys.” He grabbed the bag warily before heading out.
 
It was a long walk back to his apartment, and he was already ready for bed as
he was finally approaching his building. The loud bang and yelling from the
alley was not on his schedule for the day. Ridley was all for ignoring it until
a man in white light-armor was projected from alley and landed right in front
of him.
Three men were chuckling as a fourth was gathering dark energy at his
fingertips. “Better learn who you’re messing with. Us Dark Rangers don’t take
no orders from magic cops.”
Ridley looked down at the man, obviously badly injured and barely conscious. He
bent down and set his bag of supplies next to the man before walking into the
alley, putting his hood down. “How about you go find somewhere else to play
cops and robbers?”
“Get a load of this kid. Haven’t you heard of us kid? We own this block, how
about you leave?” The men behind the main one all were punching each other and
egging him on. Ridley rolled his eyes as a dark energy ball was thrown at him.
He caught it and tilted his head as he absorbed the energy.
“I think you’re going to find a new block.” He held up his hands, dark and red
energies mixing in his palms before it sparked into a flame. Closing his eyes,
he held his palms towards them and made an every growing wall of flame,
seasoned with swirls of pure black and red magic. When his eyes opened again,
he blew lightly and the fire wall surged towards them, quickly.
A few spells were thrown hurriedly at the wall, but did nothing but make it
curve slightly into a wave. The four men ran screaming farther into the alley,
their screeches growing louder when they realized it was a dead end.
Ridley drew his fingers into a fist and the wall stopped moving. The four men
were crying out apologies and promises. He sighed and lowered his hands, the
wall sizzling out as he did.
Without even looking at the apparent gang again, he picked up his bag and knelt
next to the man. The man turned to him slightly, his dark brown eyes hazy and
unfocused. “I am…”
“Can you walk? If I can get you up to my apartment, I can help you.”
With a small nod, the man raised his hand shakily for the red head to help him
up. Ridley managed, barely to get the man up to his room and all but dropped
him onto the mattress on his living room floor.
Ridley sat the bag from Milo on his rickety table and then worked on getting
the man’s armor off to assess the damage. As he did this he found a wallet with
a badge.
“Leopold Corte-Fiel, Black Magic Enforcement, Holy Order.” Ridley dropped the
wallet and balled his hands into fists to keep himself from shaking. “Maybe he
won’t kill me since I’m basically saving his life… Fuck…”
The man groaned and Ridley took a deep breath before looking more closely at
the injuries. They weren’t bad, those four hooligans wouldn’t know a proper
spell if they were hit with one, but there were a lot of them and some were
bleeding or oozing pus. Letting red energy surround his hands, he moved over
the wounds, closing any openings and drawing out any lingering dark magic.
When he finished, the man seemed to have calmed down in his sleep and he was
now longer sweating. Ridley fell back slightly from exhaustion and looked down
at his bandaged hands. He held his breath and pulled up his sleeve.
He stood up and grabbed the bag. He disappeared into his bathroom, taking off
his shirt and pulling the contents out of the bag. When he finally finished
applying the magic ointment and taking a shot of the potion, he heard stirring
in the living room. Quickly he pulled his shirt back on and went out to find
the man sitting up and examining where he’d been hit by magic.
Leopold looked up when he heard the bathroom door open. His eyes locked with
Ridley’s and the teen quickly looked away. “You healed me?”
“Yeah. You weren’t bad, there were just a lot of hits.” Ridley took a few steps
over. “Those assholes wouldn’t know real magic if they were hit with it.”
The man laughed, and then winced in pain. He held a wound on his side that was
sealed, but not completely healed.
“That one was pretty deep, I’m not a healer by trade by any means.”
“I’m still in your debt. I am Leopold-…”
“I saw your ID. I’m Ridley.” He crossed his arms and looked at him again. “And
you’re not in my debt, I would have been an dick if I didn’t help you.”
“Even so, I owe you my life, and I will repay you.” Leopold was smiling at him
very sincerely. Despite that the notion of someone owing him something making
him extremely uncomfortable, he couldn’t help but smile back.
“Sure Leopold, if you insist, I guess.”
***** Chapter 2 *****
“Milo… Milo.” Sera sighed as gave up on knocking on his workroom door and
opened it up. With something close to a snarl, she snapped the googles on his
face to wake him up. He made pitifully pained noise as he woke up.
“Ow…” Milo moved the googles onto his forehead as he nursed his quickly
bruising nose and cheeks. “Whaaaat?”
Rolling her eyes, she glared at him. “What do you want to do about dinner?”
The man’s eyes moved to the broken clock on his desk. He groaned and laid back
down on the futon. “How about you grab some cash out of the register and get us
some take out?”
“There’s about six dollars in the register. We’ve had two customers all day,
and you gave Ridley his order for free.”
He pointed to his desk and mumbled something. She followed his motion and
picked up his wallet. “Thanks. Anything you want in particular?”
“Not that Chinese place again. It made me sick as a dog.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle as she left the shop. Milo sighed when he heard
the bell and rolled so he could get some more sleep. He opened his eyes when he
heard the bell ring again.
“Hello?” A female voice that wasn’t Sera's called from inside the shop. With a
huff, he got up and walked out, leaning on the counter. The woman who walked in
was tall, with long grey hair. Her dark eyes fixed on him and her lips turned
up into a smile. “Hello.”
“How can I help you ma’am?” He smiled back at her. Milo couldn’t but feel like
she looked familiar as they stared at each other.
“I’ve been told that this is the premier in this town for magical items, is
that true?” She strutted a little closer.
“I’ve heard that too. Are you looking for anything special?” His eyes tracked
her. “Sometimes I can’t just order things from my usual suppliers, but I might
be able to get something for you.”
“Oh? Do I look like someone that would want something, off menu?” Her words
were mocking him, but she was looking at him seriously.
He smile and tapped his temple. “If you were looking for average magic items,
you could’ve walked into any magic shop in town.”
“I was also told that this shop would not ask questions.”
“Only of our very interesting customers; I’m naturally curious.” His smile
turned into a sly grin. The woman, whoever she was, was certainly interesting.
Her eyes told him she was dangerous, but her smile said that she was kind.
She finally broke eye contact and started surveying the store in an attempt to
release the tension that was building between them. “You know what they say,
curiosity killed the cat.”
“And satisfaction brought him back. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what
you’re looking for.”
A hand was a few inches from his face, holding out a folded note. “This list.
Is there anything on it you cannot get me?”
Milo took it and unfolded it carefully. He mouthed curses as he read some of
the items. “There are quite a few things on this list I’m not supposed to sell
without proof of a black magic license.”
“Would there be a way around that, perhaps?”
“We can figure something out, some of these I can get for sure, but these last
two items. I’ll have to make a phone call.” He was staring at the list. The
items on the list were worth a lot of money, and a lot of trouble.
With a small hum, the hand was in his face again, this time with a small
jingling pouch. “This is for your trouble. I’ll return tomorrow to check to see
what you’ve already received and what you will be about to retrieve.”
She turned once the pouch was out of her hand. “Wait. A name, for the order.”
“What is your name, first?” Her smile was dangerous, and it made him feel a
little tingly.
“Milo Connors.”
“Well, Milo, I am Agatha Talbot.” Then with a small wink she had left the shop.
 
“So, you’re part of the Holy Order, huh?” Ridley had his back to the other man,
who had just come out of the bathroom, without a towel. The teen’s face was
still as red as his hair.
“Is that a problem?” Leopold was looking at Ridley while he got dressed.
“I just figured that you would have been able to fend off those thugs with all
that fancy training.” He snorted, glancing back to check on him.
“I was caught unaware. It did not occur to me that they would have magic or use
it against me.” Leopold sighed as he slipped the shirt over his head. “It was
foolish of me.”
“Most people in this city have magic, even the common thugs. You were lucky:
there are much worse people in this city than those idiots.” Ridley sighed and
turned to look at him again. “What were you even doing, approaching them?”
“I was just asking directions. The last time I was in this town, it was much
different, I was understandably lost.”
“Your phone doesn’t have GPS?”
“I have not managed to master the use of the phone the Order gave me. It is a
confusing device.” He glared at Ridley as the teen was visibly trying not to
laugh. “Perhaps you could help me.”
“No way, I am not getting myself involved with a Holy Order investigation.”
Ridley put his hands up and shook his head. Leopold was staring at him, like he
wasn’t used to such rejection. “Getting involved with the Holy Order… it hasn’t
exactly done me a whole lot of good in the past.”
“I am sorry for whatever others of my Order have done to wrong you, but I
assure you Ridley, no harm will come to you in my care. You are of this city;
your help would be most valuable.” Leopold took a few steps towards him, taking
his shoulders gently as he smiled at him.
Ridley looked away as he crossed his arms. “I-I… I think it would just be best
if we just parted ways. Before you change your mind about me.”
“There is nothing that would change my decision to protect you. I owe you my
life, and I will act as your protector until my debt is fulfilled.” Leopold
gently pulled Ridley’s gaze back to him. “Please Ridley. You need not fear me.”
“Fine. Though, I feel like you’re just trying to get me to let you stay because
you have nowhere else to stay.”
“I am able to rent a room, but for my particular mission, the added anonymity
of staying with you, would be beneficial. Staying here also allows me to better
fulfill my oath to safeguard you.”
Laughing, the teen pulled away from the man. “The way you handled those street
thugs, I’m probably going to be saving you again.”
“I am quite insulted.”
“Do you have any cash, cause if you’re going to stay here, you can pay for
food.”
Leopold rolled his eyes, but kept his smile. “I suppose that is fair.” He then
held out his wallet to him. “It is about dinn-…”
Ridley sighed as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Milo’s name was
flashing across the screen. He took the wallet, keeping his hand up to keep
Leopold from talking. “Milo? Miss me already? I’ve only been gone about an
hour.”
Milo grumbled from the other side and there was a thump sound like he threw
something. “I just had a customer, looking for some things you might need to
track down…”
“I’ll be there in a few to discuss the details…”
The man on the other side was talking, but Ridley just hung up with glance at
Leopold, who looked like his interest was piqued. “A friend of mine, he
sometimes throws a few odd jobs my way. I’ll be back in a bit, and I’ll grab
some pizza for us?”
“I am quite fond of pizza.”
“You are so strange.” Ridley shook his head as he headed out of the apartment.
When Ridley walked into the shop, Milo was on the floor with over a dozen
different books spread in front of him. The man didn’t even glance up at him
when he entered, so he looked over at Sera who was eating spaghetti at the
counter.
“He’s been doing this since before I got back with our dinner. His is going to
get cold soon, if you want it.” Sera said with a smile.
“Don’t give my food away Sera.” Milo said, still staring at the books.
“You know, if you told someone what you were looking for, we might be able to
help you.” She sighed and closed her take out container.
“The customer that was in here, she seemed so familiar.”
“Sure she didn’t just look like an ex?” Ridley chuckled as he sat down next to
Milo, looking over the books.
“No, like I’d read about her somewhere before.” He looked up and gave Ridley a
strange look. “Does the name Agatha Talbot mean anything to you?”
Ridley stared back at Milo like he had just kicked him in the face. “The most
notorious black witch in all of history? Part of the lore is that she’s so
talented that she keeps herself young with her power, but…” He looked at the
bookshelves.
“Excuse me? Like, I might have had… oh…” Milo watched as Ridley stood up and
pulled a book from the shelf. The teen held his hand over it, pages flipping
rapidly until he held it out to Milo, with a picture of Agatha filling the
whole page, but with black hair. “That is definitely her…”
Milo walked over to him and took the book, skimming the text on the next page.
“Ah, I remember now. I wrote an essay about her antithesis, well half an essay.
A Holy Knight that pledged never to die until she was brought to justice. He
was quite the interesting character, Sir Leopold Corte-Fiel…”
“What?” Ridley leaned back against the shelf, covering his face. “Fuck… this is
terrible…”
“What’s terrible?” Milo raised an eyebrow at him.
“Leopold Corte-Fiel is currently in my apartment, waiting for me to come back
with pizza.”
“I think we should get these together. Sounds like it’ll be fun.” Sera pursued
her lips at the two males. Both of them glared at her before looking at each
other.
“What are we going to do?” Ridley looked away from the older man’s gaze.
“You’re going to try to track down some of the rarer things she’s looking for,
and you’re not going to mention her being a customer to the Holy Knight.” Milo
put his hand, ever so lightly on Ridley’s shoulder. “How’d he end up there,
anyway?”
“I sort of saved his life. He’s a piss poor knight, I can see why Talbot is
still on the loose, 400 years later.” He sighed and glanced at Milo. “What does
she need stuff for? What if she’s planning to do something dangerous? She’s not
infamous for her rhubarb pie recipe.”
“Then, we’ll let your new friend know where she is. I have no idea what kind of
thing she could be doing with the things on the list she gave me.” Milo
shrugged.
“And you’re such an expert on dark magic.” Sera held out the list to Ridley.
“Maybe you’ll recognize it?”
Ridley took it and looked over it. “I suppose the last two are what you need me
to get.” He glanced at Milo, who nodded. “If it’s two different things it makes
sense. A antiaging potion and… I think a transportation ritual, maybe.”
“That doesn’t sound too dangerous, it’ll be fine.” Milo smiled as he started
putting the books back on the shelf. “I promise, it’ll be fine.”
“Famous last words.” Sera took her takeout container and started heading up the
stairs. Milo only chuckled as he shook his head.
“She’s right though, Milo. If something really does go down with her, you’ll be
right in the middle, and you’ll be dragging her and I into. What if…” Ridley
took a few steps towards him.
“I will take full responsibility if anything happens from this.” Milo paused
and turned to the red head. “You have enough to worry about. With your
condition back, and your new Holy Mage friend. Leopold Corte-Fiel is written as
a man that will kill any dark mage, without even thinking about questioning.”
“I know. I’m not scared of dying Milo …” Ridley crossed his arms and looked
away. “Would you fight a Holy Knight, if you had to?”
“I would try. I think you’d be a better match for someone like Leopold if a
fight came down to it. You’d probably give Agatha Talbot a run for her money.”
“If fighting could be avoided, I’d like to do it.” He held out the list to the
other man. “I’ll make some calls and see how soon I can get you those things.”
“So you can definitely get them? She’s coming back tomorrow to get a progress
report.”
With a small nod, Ridley headed towards the door. “Do you have a thing for
dangerous mages, or are you just crazy?”
“Call me when you get a lead on those, okay kid?” Milo smiled at the back of
the boy’s head as the door chimed. He finished putting the books away and
switched the sign on the door. Sera was sitting on the couch when he walked
into their living room.
“So, which is it, attracted to danger, or…”
“Probably both.” He nudged her as he sat next to her with his own takeout. With
the first bite, he pouted at her. “It’s cold.”
She just started cackling as she flipped on their TV.
***** Chapter 3 *****
Ridley hadn’t said anything since he walked into his apartment and set the
pizza on the counter. Leopold had thanked him and asked him a few times if he
was alright, but the teen had barely looked at him. He was focused on his
phone, texts from his contacts, and didn’t even acknowledge the knight.
Finally, Leopold grabbed a slice of pizza, which Ridley hadn’t touched it since
he brought it in, and sat next to him on the mattress. The red head finally
looked at him.
“You should eat.” Leopold held out the slice to him.
With a sigh, Ridley sat down his phone and took the pizza. “Are you my mom or
something?”
“I made an oath to protect you, and I believe that includes seeing to your
health.” Leopold smiled at him. “You seem uneasy. Are you alright?”
Ridley took a few bites and then sighed. “I’m just worried about I job I took,
but I unfortunately don’t have much choice.”
“You always have a choice. Perhaps you need a new job. Is there any way I could
assist you in getting one?”
“You’re the second person to offer that to me today.” Ridley shook his head.
“Most of my choices are even worse than what I currently do. Trust me, it’s all
my conscience can take.”
“Sounds like it is not quite legal.”
“I arrange the exchange of objects between people. That’s perfectly legal, but
the objects aren’t usually allowed by law.”
Leopold hummed and appraised the boy sitting next to him. “Is that why you
wanted me to leave so bad? Were you afraid of me being a part of the Holy
Order?”
“It’s certainly part of it. I’ve been alone here a while and I’m not really
sure how to live with someone else, especially a magic cop.”
“Know that you never fear me, or that I may turn you in. Not only are my effort
as a Holy Knight focused elsewhere, but you saved my life and continue to house
me, I could never betray you in such a way.”
Ridley stared at him for a while before he looked away sharply. “Not even if
you found out something terrible about me?”
“Ridley.” Leopold put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and smiled softly at the
back of his head. “I know we have just met, but you can trust me. There is
nothing that would make me go back on my oath to protect you, even at great
personal cost.”
“You promise?” Ridley had his eyes closed and was shaking with the effort. He
hated when he acted like this, like a child, but he was still a child.
“I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.” Leopold glanced up at the clock.
“It is late. We both have had full days, perhaps it would be best to head for
bed.”
With a groan, Ridley fell back onto the bed. “I only have the one bed. I should
have pressed harder to make you leave.”
“I am not opposed to sharing, but I could also sleep on the floor if that makes
you uncomfortable.” With another smile, Leopold brushed Ridley’s bangs out of
his eyes. Ridley’s face turned bright red, causing Leopold to let out a hearty
laugh. “You face is practically as red as your hair.”
“I’m going to go get ready for bed. I’ll be right back out.” Ridley got up and
headed for the bathroom. “And I’d be alright with sharing.”
Leopold was already in bed when Ridley came back out of the bathroom. He lifted
the covers for Ridley to crawl in beside him. The teen underestimated the size
of the bed when he agreed. Facing away from the knight, he pulled the blanket
up to his chin. Leopold’s chest was against this back and an arm was around his
chest.
“Apologies. This bed is smaller than it seems while looking at it.”
“It’s alright.” Ridley was tense as he put his hand over Leopold’s. “G-
Goodnight Leopold.”
“Sleep well Ridley.”
 
Milo woke up to knocking on the shop door, falling to the floor with an oomph.
He had fallen asleep at the counter, doing some research out of their reference
section. Once he pulled himself from the floor, he saw someone peeking through
the glass of the door. It looked like Agatha, and it looked like she was
giggling.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. The hours on your door says you
should have opened by now.” She smiled at him once he had the door open. He
grumbled something while he changed the sign on the door to open.
“What time is?”
“Almost noon.” Agatha looked around and her eyes looked on the bookshelves.
Sera usually kept them alphabetized, but he had just thrown the books from the
day before back on the shelves at random. “Looks like you’re doing quite the
little research project.”
Milo tensed as he reached over the counter for the list she had given him the
day before. He put on a cocky grin and turned to her, hoping his forced bravado
would keep him from being murdered. “Are you the Agatha Talbot?”
Her lips kept their smile as she took a few steps towards him. “Why? Are you
afraid what it would mean if I was?”
“Afraid? I just sell things, anything after that, it doesn’t really concern
me.” He leaned on the counter. Agatha was very close and he was trying to
preserve his personal space. “Just that curious streak again.”
“I see.” Her hand reached towards his face as she paused. A finger with a long,
well-manicured nail traced his jaw line as she perused her lips. “I am
theAgatha Talbot, but I am afraid what history has recorded of me are largely
falsehoods.”
“It’s the victors that get to write history.” Milo shivered at her touch.
“The victors? That fool Corte-Fiel has been pursuing me for centuries, and yet
I remain free.” She turned away as she let out a dark, humorless laugh. “But, I
came to do business. Have you had luck filling my order, Milo?”
“Yes.” He stood up straighter and pulled at his shirt once she had given him
his space back. “I rounded up what we already had from the back, put an order
in for what I could, and should be here in two days. And my contact will be
able to secure the rest by the end of the week.”
“Excellent.” She turned back to him, her hands clasped in front of her body.
“My contact, will need advance payment on those items, as his suppliers require
advanced payment.” Milo said with a sigh.
“Very well.” Her hand was near his face again, with a wad of cash this time. He
took it from her hand with a nod. “Is there any way I could assist you, in the
interim?”
“Help me?” Milo stared at her in confusion, the hand with the money frozen
between the two of them. “I-…”
“I am aware how inconvenient my order is, and while I plan to pay you
handsomely, I would like to be able to repay you in other ways as well.” She
was in his personal space again, a wicked smile on her face. One of her hands
was tracing his jaw again, while the other slowly slipped down his arm. “If you
cannot think of anything, perhaps, something mutually ben-…”
Milo was still frozen, his heart beating fast in his chest at her closeness and
insinuations. The sudden cut off of her thought worried him though. “Ag-
Agatha?”
Both hands were off him and he followed her with his eyes. She picked up the
book he had fallen asleep looking at. “Who is inflicted with a curse of this
nature? It is not you, is it?”
“No.” Milo replied with a tense breath. “I guess you would know a lot about
curses.”
“Yes, but most of the curses in this book are outside of my purposes. These are
the types of curses performed as rituals by demon worshiping cults.” She
flipped through the pages. “For you to have fallen asleep reading of this, it
must be someone you care about immensely.”
“It isn’t my secret to tell.”
With a nod, she set the book down and headed for the door. She turned back to
him with a smile and opened her mouth to say something when the door opened.
Sera walked in and did a double take of Agatha. Agatha  looked back at her with
a smile.
“Agatha, this is my business partner, Serafina. Sera, this is Agatha.” Milo
motioned at each woman as he said her name.
Sera gave the other woman a forced smile before she walked over to the counter.
“Good day to you both. I will be back at the end of the week to receive my
order and to see if you changed your mind, Milo.”
Once she was gone, Sera was glaring at him. He looked over at her and shrugged.
“Where the hell have you been?”
“I met a new supplier for breakfast to determine terms. Our inventory will be a
little more varied now.” She crossed her arms. “I woke you up before I left,
and you feel back to sleep.”
“Yeah.” He looked away.
“What did she mean about ‘changing your mind’?”
“Nothing. Breakfast couldn’t have taken until now. What else were you doing?”
With a sigh, she pulled herself up onto the counter. “There were elves at the
café. Elves!”
“Okay?”
“Not like the partially human elves that live uptown, but like old elves. They
didn’t have the right money, so I sort of paid for their breakfast.”
Milo drew a breath through his nose and stared at her. “What was her name?”
“What?”
“The one that you are now madly in love with?”
“I’m not madly in love with her!” She looked away when he grinned at her,
silently gloating. “We just met!”
“Her name?”
“It’s Yawe. She’s the head of an envoy to try to kick start elf-human
relations.” She smiled at him, taking a strand of her hair to twirl around her
finger. “I gave her my number in case she or her envoy run into any other
problems.”
He wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “So an elf huh? An elf.”
She pushed him away. “Oh shut up. Better than what you’re trying to get in the
sack.”
“Get back to work.” He rolled his eyes at her and went back into his workshop.
***** Chapter 4 *****
Ridley woke up to the sound of a default ring tone. He pressed his face against
the hard surface he was laying against with a displeased groan. The thing he
was laying against moved slightly and the supports around him started pulling
away.
“Oh, that is my talking device…” Leopold said as Ridley’s eyes went wide and he
pushed away from the other man. Chuckling, the holy knight stood up and walked
over to where Ridley had piled his things the day before.
As Leopold spoke on the phone, Ridley sat up and rubbed his arm absently while
staring that the older male. Leopold occasionally looked at him with a small
smile.
“That headquarters?” Ridley asked, not looking at him as he moved to nervously
pick at the hem of his sleeve.
“Yes, they just got a lead on my case. I should follow up on it.” He bent down
to pick up his armor. “Will you be alright if I…”
He couldn’t help himself as he started laughing. “Will I be alright? You’re the
one who almost got killed by low level thugs yesterday.”
“I will not make the same mistakes as yesterday. I understand now that there
are a lot of illegal dark mages in this town and they are not friendly.”
Ridley didn’t say anything as he rested his head on his knees, the humor in his
eyes gone. Leopold must not have noticed the sudden change in the teen’s mood
as he started to get ready. As he put on the armor, he called for the teen to
help him get it on. Rolling his eyes, the teen agreed.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what is it you’re investigating?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.” Ridley cinched one of the straps a little tighter than necessary.
With a sigh, Leopold turned to him. “I am looking for a weapon and I have
reason to believe it is in this city.”
With a confused look, Ridley double checked the fastenings on the front of the
armor. “What do you plan on doing with this weapon? Does the Holy Order not
already have enough power?”
“I am hunting it to keep it out of a dangerous witch’s hands. It was previously
in the hands of another witch that we have imprisoned. She has taunted her
interrogators repeatedly with the fact that this weapon is powerful and
currently hidden.”
Ridley’s hands stopped and they started shaking slightly. “What witches? Any
that they warn us about in the news or…?”
“One you may have heard of, Agatha Talbot… The other, we have tried to keep her
and her followers’ names out of the media, Aster Mallos.” Leopold put his hand
on Ridley’s shoulder. “But do not worry, I will return tonight safely. You have
things to do as well, yes?”
Ridley absently nodded as his hands dropped away from Leopold. He only looked
up at him because Leopold bent down and pressed his lips against his own before
turning and leaving the apartment. Once the door was shut, he fell to his hands
and knees. His vision started blurring as he could feel his heart beating in
his throat and he wasn’t entirely sure if he was breathing.
When he finally calmed himself down enough that he was able to get air into his
lungs and get onto his feet, he felt like shit. His head was pounding and his
entire body was sore. He took a quick look around to see if any clean pants
were obviously visible. He had to talk to Milo.
Once he made it to the shop, he paused as he looked through the display window.
Sera was staring at Leopold, looking confused. Milo came out and pushed Sera
out of the line of questioning as he gave Leopold one of his flirty grins. Of
course this was his lead.
If he went in now, it would be suspicious. He knew he looked like a mess since
he really didn’t bother to clean himself up before he threw on pants and hit
the road. He turned away from the window and walked into the alley next to the
shop, around to the gate into the small backyard.
Milo appraised the Holy Order officer that was talking to Sera. He couldn’t
quite make out what he was asking her from the crack in his workshop door, but
he knew Sera was lying her little ass off. He smiled as he walked over to the
counter, holding out his hand for the man to shake.
“Hello, I’m Milo Connors, Sera’s partner. Is there anything else you need?”
“I was just asking your partner if what you know about Aster Mallos. She says
that she doesn’t know anything, but we have evidence linking her to this shop.”
“It’s possible she was a customer. We don’t exactly ask names, maybe if you
knew what kinds of items she bought a lot of or…”
“Indoctrination drafts, hex bags, common ritual items, for a start.”
“Ah, yeah, the people who get stuff for those kinds of things aren’t commonly
real chatty with what they plan on doing with them.” Milo smiled. “What kind of
magic she use?”
“Holy.”
“Hmm, I think I know who you’re talking about. Nothing really sticks out in my
mind other than that she was quiet. I haven’t had her in here in what, probably
three years. What is wanted for?”
“She’s already been put behind bars, but we’re interested in a magical object
that she and her followers claimed that she possessed. You wouldn’t have
happened to have bought anything from her, would you have?”
“I think it sounds like this witch is wasting your time officer.” Sera crossed
her arms as she stared up at him.
“We didn’t buy anything from her, but I do remember her always wearing this
large amulet around her neck, with lots of jewels. It looked plenty magical to
me, never asked her about it though.” Milo shrugged. “Anything else we can help
you with officer?”
“Did you ever ship or deliver any orders to her?”
“Nope.” Milo smiled at him. “Now, if you’d be so kind, our customers get a
little skittish around magic cops, especially the ones with nothing to hide.”
With a small nod, Leopold turned to leave. Milo and Sera both fell forward onto
the counter once he was out of sight of the front window. They both jumped when
the door to the back yard opened.
“Ridley? How did… Nevermind.” Sera sighed and went back to the accounting work
she was doing before.
“Why did you come in the back and why do you look like you were crying?” Milo
reached out to touch Ridley’s tear stained cheek.
“That was Leopold.” Ridley turned away from the touch. Sera dropped her pencil
and Milo’s frown grew. “He asked about her secret weapon, didn’t he?”
“Yeah. What are you going to do? You can’t let him keep staying with you, not
when…”
“I can’t just kick him out now, it would make him suspicious. When he told me,
I was probably already acting suspiciously enough.”
“Just be careful kid.” Sera said as she picked her pencil back up. “He seems
stupid, and stupid is dangerous.”
Ridley just held his head in his hands with a groan. “I guess this is what I
get for thinking I could live a relatively normal, peaceful life.”
“You’re going to get through this, I’m going to make sure that you make it
through.” Milo put his hands on the teen’s shoulders. “Come on, we have some
business to discuss. Maybe that’ll help, huh?”
***** Chapter 5 *****
Leopold returned to the apartment before Ridley, and had picked up dinner. He
was sitting at the small table looking at a file when Ridley came in.
“You forgot to lock the door when you left.” The knight said without looking up
at the teen. Ridley stood by the door, his eyes on Leopold as he worried his
lower lip between his teeth. “Are you okay?”
“How’d your lead pan out?” Ridley looked away quickly when Leopold looked up at
him.
“I’m not sure yet. I may be looking for an amulet, but there are so many magic
amulets that it is not much of a help.” Leopold stuffed the papers into the
folder. “Are you hungry? I picked something up.”
“I haven’t eaten anything all day, I should at least try to eat something.”
Ridley sighed and sat at the table as Leopold went to retrieve the take out.
“So, how did your day go? You had to pick something up, didn’t you?” Leopold
asked once they had both started eating.
“I got it, dropped it off where it needed to go too. I have another one to pick
up tomorrow night.” Ridley looked up at him. “Nothing dangerous, at least not
on its own.”
“Illegal though?”
“Yeah. People breaking the law lets me keep this apartment.” Ridley shrugged as
he pushed his half-eaten dinner away. “It’s not ideal, but…”
“I understand. When I was your age, I joined the military to survive. When I
was transferred to the Holy Order when my magic developed, I grew to enjoy it.”
“Most history books say you joined the Holy Order as an adult because of truly
believing in the cause of hunting down mages.” Ridley stared at him. They
hadn’t talked about him being theLeopold since Ridley had realized it.
Leopold couldn’t help but laugh. “Do they? History is often a little different
than how it is written. I did grow to fully believe in the Order’s cause, but I
did not join because of it. I was a bastard, joining the military was the best
option.”
“Do you still believe in the cause, of destroying all magic?”
“No. Magic is dangerous and cannot be left unchecked, but magic is just a tool.
Some use it for good and some use it for ill. Most don’t choose to have magic.”
Leopold frowned as he paused in eating. “But, dark magic, it corrupts the user
and those it’s used on. No good comes from dark magic, it needs to be monitored
closely, and sometimes people are not strong enough to hold against that
corruption and unfortunately…”
Silence fell between them. Ridley could feel that every muscle in his body was
tense, ready for a fight. Leopold stared at him, unsure of the uncomfortable
feeling that had settled into the conversation.
Ridley stood up from the table. “I’m going to get a shower.”
When he came out of the bathroom, Leopold had moved to look at the file on the
bed. Ridley sat on the edge of the mattress, his back away from him. “What’s
that?”
“A list of amulets that the local Order has received since Mallos’ arrest. I
was going to have my lead look over them, perhaps it will jog their memory.”
“Can I take a look?” Leopold gave the teen a strange look, so Ridley smiled at
him. “I deal in illegal magical items, I’d know if any of those are dangerous
enough to actually be called a weapon, it might help.”
Ridley flipped through the evidence photos quickly, recognizing some of them.
He dealt with many amulets. Most of the photos were of amulets with copies.
Finally he held out a picture to Leopold. “What about this one?”
“I believe the Order returned it to the owner when it wasn’t found to have any
magical properties.”
“They were verywrong. This thing multiplies all types of magics, except holy.
Ten folds dark magic, doubles everything else.” Ridley put it on top of the
pile and handed them back to Leopold. “I know a lot of people want it and
Agatha Talbot probably knows about it.”
“How do you know about it?” Leopold took the stack and stared at the picture.
“I’ve had a lot of people try to get me to track it down for them. Most people
call it the Amulet of Woe, because using it becomes addictive. A lot of people
kill each other to get it.” Ridley closed his eyes. “Even if Agatha doesn’t
want it, you should probably get it off the market.”
Leopold nodded and put the photos away. “Thank you. You’d make a good
informant.
Snorting, Ridley smiled at him. “Me being a snitch to the Holy Order? I never
thought someone would even joke about that.”
“There’s a budget for paying confidential informants, it would be a steadier
income than what you’re doing now.”
“I’d be doing the same thing, just telling the cops about it and getting my
clients and dealers both arrested. It sounds more dangerous.”
With a small hum, Leopold nodded and sat up, next to him. “But it’s late. We
should get some sleep.”
Ridley looked at him for a while before looking away. “I-… This morning, you
kissed me.”
Leopold smiled and gently tilted Ridley’s chin so they were looking at each
other. “I did, at the time it seemed… but I may have misread… was that okay?”
“I don’t know. We just met… and I’ve never really and…” Ridley bit his lip as
he watched Leopold’s smile fall. “Fuck it.”
When Ridley’s lips collided with his, Leopold was shocked, but quickly got over
that. He kissed the teen back, Ridley’s arms reaching for Leopold desperately.
Leopold tried to have a little restraint as he cupped his cheeks gently as they
pressed closer. Slowly, they lowered onto the bed, with Leopold hovering over
Ridley, panting and staring down at him.
Ridley’s lips were kiss swollen and his eyes were wide with desire. Leopold
smiled as he lowered himself to kiss him more, but Ridley pushed on his
shoulder and turned his gaze away.
“We should get some sleep.” Ridley sounded like he didn’t completely agree with
his own words, but Leopold just laughed as he rolled off the teen. He curled up
close to the knight, his hands shaking slightly as he placed them against his
chest.
“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll go at your pace.” Leopold gave him a quick peck on the
lips, like he had that morning.
***** Chapter 6 *****
“You can’t hide from him forever.” Sera leaned over the counter to look at
where Ridley was laying on the floor, out of sight.
“Nope, but I can hide for him until I go home.” Ridley covered his eyes, trying
to hide from her.
“Whatever, I’m going to meet Yawe, you two stay out of trouble.” She glanced at
the cat who was sitting next to the cash register, who flicked his tail in
acknowledgement.
“Have fun with you elf.” The red head said mockingly.
“You’re hardly one to judge someone on their preferred partner.” Sera said
before leaving, slamming the front door. The cat turned his head to look down
at the teen.
“Don’t. You’re not allowed to say anything either.”
After a few hours of silence, Agatha walked into the shop. She looked around,
“Milo?”
“Hello.” Milo’s voice came from the cat. Agatha jumped slightly and the cat
laughed before jumping off the counter and transforming into his human self.
“It is the day, isn’t it?”
“I feel that I have not been completely honest with you Milo.” Agatha stared at
the back of his head as he turned to retrieve her items. He paused. “I didn’t
need any of the items I asked for. I needed to know if you couldn truly get the
things you had been rumored to get.”
“So, the rumors about why you are in town are true then.” Milo clutched his
fists at his sides as he turned towards him. “You’re not the only person that
has walked into this shop asking about that weapon, I’m not going to tell you
any more than I told him.”
“So, Corte-Fiel is in town as well then. That fool only knows that the weapon
exists and that I want it, but he has no idea about what it is or why I want
him.” Agatha sighed and looked away.
“Him?” Milo blew a breath out of his nose. “Really? You think that this
infamous weapon everyone’s been looking for is a him?”
“I know. Some of Malos’ former cultists have told me as such. A young boy,
terrified into doing what she wanted, a boy she sometimes brought along to this
store.”
“Hmm, it’s possible, I suppose. But even if I did know it was a kid, and I knew
where said kid was, why should I tell you?” Milo crossed him arms.
“Because I want to help him. I’ve spent my years trying to help other mages. In
my youth it was fighting, now it’s finding those who cannot help themselves
sanctuary. My understanding is that he could very much use sanctuary.” Agatha
took a few steps towards him, reaching for his shoulder.
“Do you really expect me to just tell you where he is because you’re being
friendly?”
“No. But I was hoping you’d see I’m genuine enough to talk to him for me…” She
tilted her head as she paused. “You care for him deeply, is… is he the one
afflicted with the curse you were researching the last time I was here?”
“I think it would be best if you left, Agatha.” Milo turned away.
“He needs help. I can help him, Milo.” She gently pressed a kiss onto his cheek
and then left.
Milo leaned against the counter, bending his head back with a sigh. “So,
Ridley? What do you think?”
“I think that I need to find the deepest dark hole and go die in it.”
“You knew you couldn’t hide forever, you knew that. What are you going to do?”
Ridley stood up and dropped his head against the back of Milo’s neck. “I’m
going to try to stay hidden a little while longer.”
“It sounds like you’re going to have to make a choice, when you decide to come
out of hiding. Who are you going to choose?”
“Milo…”
“I’m not an option here, I’ve done everything I can for you, now you…” Milo
turned and gripped the teen’s shoulders.
“Agatha… who knows what price her help will come at.” Ridley shook his head,
tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “Leopold… he might be okay, but the
rest of the Order are going to… I don’t even want to think about it.”
“I don’t know what to tell you kid. I’ve tried to keep you safe, but only you
know what’s going to be best for you.” Milo moved his hands up to face, smiling
at the teen. “You’re going to be okay, remember? I promised you.”
Ridley pulled Milo closer, crying into his shoulder. Milo patted his back,
“Come on, I’ll close up the shop. Maybe you should stay here tonight.”
Shaking his head, he pulled away. “No, I… I should go back home.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“You’re the one that said I know what’s best for me.” Ridley smiled at him.
“Thanks Milo. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay, just be careful with Leopold. He’s… he’s really old.” Milo watched as
the teen headed towards the door. Ridley nodded slightly before heading out,
still wiping at the tears running down his cheeks.
***** Chapter 7 *****
It was always especially dark in the warehouse district, even when there was
still daylight. Agatha looked around as she headed towards one particular
outdated, empty warehouse. She could hear people inside and the man behind the
ply wood serving as a door asked her for the password.
Once inside, she wondered through the crowd of people. She wasn’t looking for
anyone in particular, but someone spotted her.
“Ag- Mistress Talbot.” He said with a small bow as he stopped her. Staring at
him long enough, she recognized him as one of her leads for the area. It was so
rare that she visited the area that she had almost forgotten the people she had
left in charge.
“Mathew?” She was unsure of his name. Most of her communication with the city’s
branch of her coven went through Wendy.
“Marcus. If you had told us…”
“I’d rather keep a low profile. I was in town on an important matter, but since
I had some free time, I decided to see first hand how we’re doing here.”
He nodded and paused before walking away. “There is someone I think you should
meet before you leave tonight. I’ll see if he’s here tonight and introduce you
after the meeting.”
“Thank you.” She smiled back at him before continuing gliding through the crowd
to find a dark corner to listen on the meeting.
It wasn’t a long meeting and it was pretty standard: be on the lookout for
anything suspicious from the Holy Order, take any chance to help mages that
can’t help themselves, and don’t take any crap. The group wasn’t the great army
that she used to have to defend the innocent, back when she was young, but it
was about equivalent in the current world. After the meeting, most people filed
out while a few stayed to talk to Wendy and Harris.
She spotted Marcus talking to a young boy standing with a golden retriever.
They were soon approaching her, and as they came closer, she could see that he
was extremely nervous. He was wearing a uniform for one of the most prestigious
magic schools in the world, his tie told her that he possessed brown magic –
magic over animals. His dark brown hair was cut short, and styled. He had rust
colored eyes and a long scar on his cheek from his eye to his chin.
Agatha smiled at him kindly, trying to ease his nerves. Even the members of her
coven were afraid of the legends surrounding her. “Hello.”
“Mistress Talbot, this is Ryder Brooks.” Marcus started before she put her hand
up.
“Thank you Marcus, you can leave us now.”
“Uh, Miss-…” Ryder started after Marcus went to join the other branch leaders.
“You may just call me Agatha, Ryder.” She motioned for him to follow her. “It
is quiet unsettling in here, let’s walk.”
With a small nod, he followed her outside, the dog following along. “Mis-
Agatha… You’re really her?”
“I am.” She smiled at him again. “What is your familiar’s name?”
“Fam-… Ridley, I named her after my brother… he was killed when we were kids…”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I sort of named her before my teachers told me
that she was girl dog.”
“I think Ridley is a fine name for a female dog.”
“How did you know she was a familiar?” He looked at her, a little surprised
that she could just tell that.
“Your tie. Millennium Academy uses their tie colors to differentiate their
students. Brown magic with an animal by your side: beast master.” She shrugged.
“Oh, so you know about Millennium Academy.”
“I know of. I know they primarily accept Holy mages and they have some
discriminatory practices against their Dark mages, but they have the best
program for training mages with any affinity.” Agatha looked around before they
crossed the street, leaving the warehouse district. “They’re also a relatively
new school.”
He looked down and paused for a second. She stopped to turn and look at him.
Ryder looked up at her when his familiar made a small noise to get his
attention. “I don’t think that’s all there is to it.”
“Oh?” Agatha was intrigued, and worried. The school was already on her list to
give a bitch fit into changing their dark magic curriculum, but Ryder seemed
scared. “What is it?”
“I don’t know for sure, but what I’ve seen and heard… I think they’re
experimenting on students, maybe even people who aren’t students. I’m not…”
“That’s a serious accusation. Without definitive proof we can’t take any legal
actions against the school, but I will look into it. I have fought my entire
life to keep our kind from having to be treated as anything but human beings.”
Agatha put her hands on his shoulders.
He nodded. “Thank you. I wish… I wish someone like you could’ve been there for
my brother.”
Agatha moved her arms so one arms was around his shoulder, gently making him
start walking again. “If you don’t mind, what happened to your brother?”
“He… he had a really tough time, even before he died. We’re twins, but not
identical, and definitely not the same. We were really young when he started
showing signs of powerful dark magic.” Ryder slyly got out of Agatha’s hold.
“Our parents had no experience with magic, and it terrified them. They went
looking for a way to seal his magic… and they somehow managed to seal a demon
inside of him instead.”
Agatha shook her head. It was not the first time she’d heard about something
like that and it wouldn’t be the last.
“When people were busting down the door, my parents thought it was the Holy
Order, but it was some crazy coven of holy mages. They killed my parents and my
brother.”
“I’m sorry. Even the Holy Order no longer condones such acts of murder, do you
know if they caught those responsible?”
“Yeah. Aster Malos was the name of the leader. I don’t know what the Holy Order
did to her, but I hope they killed her.” Agatha glanced at him and saw that he
was tensed up with rage.
“I’ve heard of Malos. She’s a nasty piece of work, even more so than the Holy
Order of old. I’m actually in town to recover something she used to own.”
“You’re not actually thinking of using something that monster used, are you?”
He looked at her with shock and fear.
“No. I want to keep it out of dangerous hands.” She glanced up at the sun.
“It’s late, I’m sure the academy has a curfew.”
“Yeah. Is there some way I can contact you… if something happens?”
With a smile she handed him her number on a piece of paper. “I don’t give that
out even to most of my coven leaders. Be careful with it.”
He nodded and ran off with the dog Ridley running off after him. Agatha watched
until he turned a corner. A few minutes later her phone buzzed with a text that
just said ‘ryder’ and she took a deep breath, hoping that Milo could convince
the boy he was protecting to meet her tomorrow.
***** Chapter 8 *****
Chapter Notes
     This chapter is one of the many reasons that this is rated E. Enjoy.
Leopold was sitting on the bed, looking over files again when Ridley came in.
He was hoping that he’d get home before the holy knight so he could at least
clean himself up before they talked.
“You okay?” Was how Leopold greeted him, setting down the file he was holding.
He stood up when Ridley didn’t answer, just stayed in the doorway. He kissed
him gently, which was becoming more and more frequent. “Hey, what’s up?”
Ridley pulled away from him. “I need to talk to you about something… I need to
tell you-…” His eyes fell onto the first page in the file. It was a picture of
a dark mage that he used to talk to when he first moved to town but had
recently been arrested for not keeping his license up to date.
“You can tell me anything Ridley.” Leopold said it softly.
“When you mentioned Aster Malos, I have heard of her.” Ridley glanced at
Leopold for his reaction, but he just looked a little shocked. “I was only
seven when she killed my parents and my older brother. She-…”
“She’s behind bars now, she can’t hurt you.” Leopold took a few steps towards
him and took his face in his hands. “No one is going to hurt you.”
“I-I… Leopold, I…” He bit his lip. “I’m the reason she came to my house. I-I…”
“Don’t blame yourself, you were just a kid. There was nothing you could have
done…”
Ridley held up his hand between them, a small black flame danced on his palm.
“She wanted me. My whole town knew that I could barely control my magic, they
were scared and she heard about it…”
Leopold wrapped his hand around Ridley’s, closing it to get rid of the flame.
“It’s not your fault. You were a kid, no kid I’ve even met could control their
magic. It’s not your fault that you just happen to have black magic.”
The teen stared at him, taking a few deep breaths, still unsure of whether or
not he should tell Leopold the rest.
“I understand why you were so frightened to tell me, and why you can’t get a
better job, but it doesn’t matter to me what kind of magic you have, as long as
you don’t hurt people.” Leopold smiled at him. “Ridley, I can help you get into
a good program, so you can get your black magic license, then you won’t have to
live in fear anymore.”
“Leopold I can’t… I-I… There’s still…” Ridley pulled away from him again. “It’s
not…”
“With my reputation, getting you into a school won’t be a problem. Whatever
you’re worried about, it’s not an issue.”
“There’s nothing that would be an issue? Nothing?” Ridley glared at him.
“What? No, of course not.” Leopold frowned. “You’re not any of the things that
would get in the way, even with me being me.”
“What are those things?”
“You’re not possessed, or cursed, or bewitched or anything like that. Those
kinds of things…” Leopold sighed, and grabbed his shoulders. “What’s your
problem?”
Ridley closed his eyes. He had his answer. When he opened his eyes again, he
forced himself to blush and look away. “I’ve never been to school before, ever.
I’d have no idea how to act.”
Leopold was laughing and Ridley’s blood was boiling. He wanted to be able to
trust Leopold, but… Leopold was a Holy Knight, and Ridley… and Ridley was
everything that Leopold described as… he couldn’t even say what he thought of
all those things that Ridley was.
“There’s a lot of kids, especially with dark magic, that get into programs
without ever having gone to a school before. You’ll be fine, I promise.”
Chuckling nervously, Ridley pressed in for a kiss. Even if he hated that he
couldn’t bring himself to tell Leopold, he was… he was something. “You keep
promising me things. Eventually you’ll have to make good on them.”
Leopold kissed him heavily, slowing backing him until they were against the
wall. Ridley wrapped his arms around his shoulders, pulling him in closer. When
Leopold pulled away for breath, Ridley bit his lip as he looked at him. “Fuck
it… Leo-Leopold… please.”
At first Leopold looked confused, but Ridley wrapped one of his legs around
Leopold’s ass, pulling him between Ridley’s legs. Leopold groaned as Ridley let
out a desperate whimper. With a small nod, Leopold pulled away to pull off his
shirt. Ridley reached down and started taking off his pants.
Getting on his knees, Leopold ran his hands down Ridley’s chest. When he ran a
tongue down his dick, Ridley put his hands on the older man's shoulders to stop
himself from falling over.
“Turn around for me.” Leopold said gently, lightly fondling the younger male’s
balls. Ridley nodded and managed to do so, bracing himself against the wall.
“Fuck.” Ridley felt his knees almost go again as he felt Leopold’s mouth
against his ass. Leopold’s hands held him steady before licking around the
entrance with his tongue. He heard Leopold chuckle before going at it with a
passion.
Just when Ridley felt he couldn’t handle anymore, he felt Leopold stand up,
manhandling him so they were facing again. Ridley was shaking as Leopold kissed
him. One of the knight’s hands holding him tightly, the other working on
opening the zipper to his own pants.
Ridley pushed him away, his face red. Leopold kissed his neck. “Your face is
almost as red as your hair.”
“I-I’ve never… this is…” Ridley held his shoulders tightly as he felt Leopold’s
dick brush against his own.
“I’ll be careful. You can trust me.” Leopold kissed him again before pulling
him off the ground.
Ridley hooked both of his legs around Leopold’s hip, rolling his head back when
he felt Leopold’s head touching his thoroughly worked over hole. Leopold
pressed another kiss to his neck. “You ready?”
“Yeah.” Ridley breathed, his nails digging into Leopold’s back as he felt him
slip inside. With a spasm, Ridley came as soon as Leopold was all the way in.
He pulled himself closer, burying his face into Leopold’s shoulder.
When Ridley stopped spasming, Leopold started to thrust into him without a
word. He held Ridley close, kissing him in between particularly needy moans and
whimpers.
Ridley came again after several minutes, his body shaking worse than before. He
was so over sensitive that his orgasm brought tears to his eyes.
“I’m almost… almost…” Leopold said as he took Ridley’s dick into his hand,
rubbing it through the orgasm. With a few more thrusts, Leopold came too.
They stayed like that for what seemed like forever, Leopold’s quickly limping
dick still in Ridley’s filled hole, and Ridley shaking and fighting back the
noises. Leopold finally lifted Ridley again to pull out, both of them groaning
over the pop of them disconnecting. Ridley fell into Leopold when his legs
touched down.
“Let’s lay down. We can clean up in the morning.” Leopold chuckled as he
swiftly picked him up, bridal style. Ridley reached for his face to kiss him.
 
***** Chapter 9 *****
Chapter Notes
     Some serious shit goes down this chapter.
Ridley had woken up before Leopold, the man was absolutely fast asleep. He
pulled away gently, trying to make sure he wouldn’t wake him. Once he was
standing, he felt dizzy.
“What the fuck was I thinking…” He whispered to himself as he looked back at
where Leopold was sleeping. “I-I… he can’t help me.”
Just to be sure, he locked the bathroom door with magic. When he pulled off his
shirt, he stared at himself, hating his decision even more.
The thick black lines that covered him… they were longer. Before they had only
covered his arms, but they were running down his chest and onto his back.
Surrounding the new lines, his skin was red, irritated. He withdrew a hand,
grunting in pain as he touched one. He turned around, finding the lines that
met with the mark on his back. There were more. Only three before, but now
seven lines had made it from his hands to the mark. Seven of twenty. Four for
just the one deed.
He ran his fingers over his reflection, the dark band of black around his neck.
The other lines marked him cursed, but the collar marked that he was owned.
Once he was done his very long and contemplative shower, he looked around. He
had forgotten to grab clothes. Magic swirled around his fingers and he
flittered them up his body. As clothes appeared on him, his back and his chest
burned. His own magic had never made it worse before.
Leopold was rolling around, in the process of waking up. As Ridley walked
towards the door, he heard the man sit up.
“Where you going?”
Ridley winced before turning to smile at him. “I just have something I need to
do. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“You should’ve.” Leopold smiled at him, waving him over.
Their lips met when Ridley bent down. Ridley hated himself as he twisted one of
his hands in Leopold’s hair. “Last night was amazing, thank you.”
Leopold’s smile grew, and they were kissing him again. “We should go somewhere,
for dinner tonight. What’s fancy around here?”
“I don’t know, maybe we can just walk around and go where ever catches our
eyes.”
Before Leopold could reply, his phone was ringing. Ridley smiled. “I have to
go, but you probably have important business too. I’ll see you later.”
 
Sera was standing at the counter, talking to an elf that was sitting on the
counter. They both looked up at him when he entered. The elf smiled at him.
“Hey Ridley,” Sere sounded concerned, taking a few steps towards him, “you
okay?”
“Where’s Milo?” Ridley didn’t look at either of them.
“Looks like we’re not the only ones that got laid last night.” The elf cooed,
and Sera looked horrified. Ridley’s face went bright red.
“Please tell me you didn’t…” Sera reached for him.
“Where’s Milo?” He looked at her this time, his eyes narrowed at her.
“He’s out, meeting with a client. You can wait for him in his study.” She
smiled at him, finally touching his arm lightly. He winced at the touch and she
withdrew her hand.
“Can I go upstairs? There’s too much magic in there… it…”
Before Sera could answer, someone else walked into the store. Agatha.
“Milo isn’t here, so you’ll have to come back.” Sera said to her, taking a step
in front of Ridley.
“I’ll wait for him. I need to know if he did as I asked.” Agatha took a few
steps towards them.
“He di-…” She paused when Ridley pushed her out of the way.
“It’s okay Sera.”
“No, you can’t,” Sera grabbed his arm, “not here, and not now.”
“It’s okay Sera.” He looked at her seriously before looking back up at Agatha,
who was looking at him curiously. “Agatha Talbot.”
“I see you know me, boy.” She took a few steps forward. “You look like someone
I know.”
“I’ve heard you’ve been looking for me. Making Milo do menial errands to gauge
him. Sending the Holy Order on a wild goose chase.”
Her eyes went wide and she smiled. “So, boy, you’re really what I’ve been
looking for? Aster Malos’ infamous and powerful weapon?”
“You want proof? She marked me.” He took her hand, holding it to his neck, to
the band around it. He felt her put a small bit of magic into it, igniting
Malos’ magic trapped inside, runes lighting white against the black and making
him whimper in pain.
“Her magic is distinctive.” Agatha pulled her hand back.
“It’s not j-…”
The door opened again and Sera pulled the elf behind the counter with her.
Agatha and Ridley both looked over at Leopold. Ridley’s eyes went wide while
Agatha’s went cold. Before Leopold did anything, his fingers glowed white and
something popped and sparked near one of the bookshelves. A listening device.
Sera had tried to warn him.
He moved towards them, pulling Ridley’s arm, making him stand behind him. His
eyes were turned towards Agatha. “Stay away from him.”
“He came looking for me, Corte-Fiel!” Agatha pointed at the man. “You have no
right.”
“It’s you who has no right, Agatha. You’re a monster, you’ve always been a
monster.” Leopold turned lightly to look back at Ridley. “Did she hurt you?”
“Leopold, please… I-I…” Ridley looked away from him, pulling out of his very
tight grip.
“Please tell me you’re not really…”
“I’m sorry… I didn’t know how to…”
“Don’t turn your back to me, bastard knight.” Agatha stomped her foot. “Let me
take the boy!”
“You poisoned him, you’ve fooled him. He’s not going with you! I’m going to
protect him.”
Ridley could feel the magic in the air. Both of them were getting ready for a
fight. “You don’t have to fight. Leopold, I want to go with Agatha.”
“Ridley… No!” Leopold’s fingers were twitching as white magic surrounded them.
“Leopold, please. You can’t protect me. What will the rest of the order do to
me? I need to go with Agatha.” Ridley pulled at the back of his shirt.
“The boy has made up his mind, Leopold, just step out of the way.” Agatha’s
hands flew up and pure black magic was surging towards Leopold. Leopold
reflexively let his magic go too. Ridley ran between them, putting up his
hands. A wall of solid black went up on either side of him, each blocking and
absorbing the magic. When the walls came down, Ridley fell to the ground.
Before either Agatha or Leopold could run to him, Milo was already leaning over
him.
“I’m going to take Ridley upstairs. When I get back, you’re both going to sit
down, shut up, and listen.” Milo picked up Ridley, kicking open the door to his
and Sera’s apartment.
Once Milo had disappeared, Agatha ran for the door. When her hand touched the
handle, the door glowed green and she jumped back. Sera stood up from behind
the counter. “Emergency protocols. Seals the building. Only Milo can do magic
until he takes it down.”
Leopold was heading for the stairs, and Sera rolled her eyes at him. “Milo’s
bite is as bad as his bark, so I wouldn’t go up there if you value your life.”
“Sera!” Milo yelled from upstairs. She went into one of the doors behind the
counter and came back with a few vials. She looked at both Agatha and Leopold.
“Stay.”
Milo had laid Ridley on his bed, and he was petting the teen’s cheek gently.
Ridley’s breathing was uneven and occasionally he would spasm, sparks of white
and black magic dancing up and down his body.
“Tilt his head up.” Sera set some of the vials on the end table. Milo looked up
at her, nodding slightly. Once they forced Ridley to drink it, he coughed, his
eyes fluttering behind his eyes lids.
His eyes opened slightly, just as he spasmed again. He made a pitifully pained
noise. “I forgot how long it’s been since I’ve done that…”
Milo took his face into his hands. “Shh, you’re going to be okay. We’re going
to draw out their magic.”
There was crash from downstairs. Sera and Milo shared a look, and Sera picked
up a vial. “You go, they’ll listen to you.”
Sera sat next to Ridley on the bed, taking one of his hands. “You ready?”
Ridley closed his eyes tightly and Sera opened the vial, placing the opening on
his palm. Her hand glowed green and wisps of white magic swirled into the vial.
Ridley groaned in pain, trying to pull his hand away, but Sera had too tight of
a grip on his wrist.
When the vial was full, she put the top back on. He pulled his hand to his
chest, spasming again. Still both the white and black magic.
“No more…” Ridley breathed after the spasm ended.
She put the back of her hand on his forehead. “You’re burning up Ridley. We
need to at least get the holy magic out.”
“I can’t…” He looked at her, tears in his eyes. “Please…”
“We’ll take a break. Let me see the curse.”
Ridley tense up, looking away again. She put her hand on his shoulder gently,
and he sighed.
“Help me sit up.”
She helped him get his shirt off. “Ridley. Eight.” He flinched when she touched
his back.
“Eight? It was only seven this morning…” Ridley fell back onto the bed with a
groan, covering his face.
“So one just from doing this, and then what, four from Leopold?”
“Yeah.” He pulled his hands away to look at them. There was burn from the Holy
magic on his one hand, it hurt like hell. “Things were so much more simple
before either of them showed up in town.”
There was another vial in his face. He took it, drinking down whatever was in
it. He grimaced at the taste.
“Get some rest Ridley. When you wake up, we’ll try to get more of the holy
magic out.” She ran a hand down his cheek before haphazardly throwing a blanket
over him.
When Milo got down stairs, Agatha was laying in the broken glass of one of the
display cases. He rolled his eyes, pulling her to her feet. “You two have no
idea what you’ve done.”
“She-…”
“Don’t you dare place all the blame on her, Leopold Corte-Fiel. You promised
Ridley you would protect him, and you do this to him?” Milo was slightly
shorter than Leopold, but the knight took a step back regardless. “You didn’t
even give him a minute to explain.”
“Hear that…” Agatha stopped when Milo put his menacing gaze in her direction.
“And you. You think you know Ridley, but you know nothing about him. There is
more to him than what other people have made of him.”
“Please, just let me see him. Let me apologize.” Leopold put his hand on Milo’s
shoulder.
“You will likely not like him anymore, not once you know the entire truth about
him, knight.” Agatha said mockingly.
“There is nothing that would change how I feel about him.”
“Really? You can’t think of anything?” Sera said as she came down the stairs.
She walked to stand next to Milo.
“How is he?”
“Filled a whole vial of the Holy magic, but there’s still more in him. It hurt
so much taking it out, he wouldn’t let me take anymore.” She whispered to him,
but not quite quietly enough for the others not to hear.
“And the…”
“Eight now.”
“Just from…”
“No. He and Leopold…” She looked over at the knight, a disgusted look on her
face. Milo was livid, taking a few steps towards Leopold before he was padding
towards him in the shape of a large wolf.
“Milo, stop.” Ridley looked like he was about to fall over, standing at the
bottom of the stairs. The wolf was still growling at Leopold, but he was no
longer walking towards him. Leopold was staring at him.
“Ridley…”
“Yeah, this is me Leopold. All of me.” Ridley looked away just as another spasm
of Leopold and Agatha’s magic caused him to start falling forward. Agatha
caught him just in time, before he hit the ground.
“I can call my magic back, it will be more effective than what Sera was trying,
but it will still hurt.” She said, putting a hand on his chest. When she
finished, Ridley was breathing better, but he spasmed again, just the holy
magic sparking around him this time.
“Thanks Agatha.” Ridley smiled at her, pulling away to stand against the wall.
“You need to go back to bed, you’re not okay.” Sera frowned at the teen.
“I haven’t been okay as long as I can remember. I can handle it.” Ridley glared
at her.
She threw her hands up and nodded for the elf that was still cowering behind
the counter to follow her upstairs.
Milo had turned back into a human, walking towards Ridley. “Kiddo, at least sit
down. You’re just going to fall over again.”
“I don’t think I can get back up the stairs.” Ridley fell into Milo, yelling
out in pain as he reached for his neck. It was sparking white, burn marks
surrounding the band.
“Fuck, Ridley…” Milo picked him up again, taking him upstairs. He looked back
at Agatha and Leopold. “You two coming?”
Ridley was still holding his neck when Milo sat him on the couch. It had
stopped sparking, but there were still burns.
“I really wish healing magic worked on you.” Milo had his hand hovering over
Ridley’s neck. “That looks like it hurts.”
“What made it react like that?” Agatha said as she sat in one of the arm
chairs.
“Aster ordered me to not die, unless it was by her hand. It likes to over act
to me getting even slightly injured.” His voice was raspy. “And healing magic
works, but only red or blue.”
Milo blinked a few times. “I think Yawe said she’s a blue mage. I’ll go talk to
her.” He looked at Agatha and Leopold. “He better be in the same or better
shape when I get back.”
***** Chapter 10 *****
 “So you’re really…” Leopold was standing awkwardly in front of the teen.
“I’m really the weapon you were looking for. I’m really bound to Aster Malos’
will. I’m really cursed.” Ridley rubbed his neck.
“Ridley, you could’ve told me, I would’ve protected you still.” Leopold sat
next to him reaching out to him. The teen flinched away. “I promised you, and
that promise still stands.”
“The Order wants me, Leopold. If they find out about my curse and being bound
to her, what would they do? You can’t protect me from them, can you?”
“You protected me, when I was a stranger. Please, you can trust me still. I
will protect you even from them.”
“Can you protect him from Malos? Or from what is inside him?” Agatha said from
where she was sitting across the room.
“Aster Malos is securely locked up in an undisclosed location. She’s not
getting out.” Leopold glared at her.
Agatha shrugged, looking away slightly. “And the curse?”
"Stay out of this witch!" Leopold turned to Ridley again, looking his over line
covered torso.
Ridley wrapped his arms around his body, looking pointedly away from the older
male. “Please stop looking at me like that.”
Leopold let his eyes drop to the floor. “What kind of curse is it?”
“Possession.” Agatha helpfully supplied. “Though I do not recognize the mark of
the demon, which is unsettling.”
“I would’ve thought you knew all the demons, as you would have laid with them
for your powers.” Leopold was glaring at her.
She stood up, growling. “You have no room to talk, you bastard son of a whore!
A young boy or girl for every village, wasn’t that the old Order motto?”
Leopold took a step forward, and Ridley stood up, coming between them again.
“Knock it off!” They both stopped and stared at him. “How about instead of
fighting, you work together.”
Both of them make a disgusted face at the other, making Ridley roll his eyes
before he doubled over in pain. They both rushed towards him but he put his
hands out towards them.
“You both want to protect me, right?” He stood back up as Milo was coming back
into the room. “I’d feel a lot safer with both of you. The two most feared
magic users in history, looking after me.”
Milo walked forward, gently pushing Ridley back onto the couch. He nodded for
Yawe to come over. “Nice speech.”
Ridley rested his head back, looking at the elf warily. Yawe smiled at him.
“I’m not the best at healing magic, but we’ll see what I can do.”
Blue light surrounded her hands as she swept them over Ridley’s body. He closed
his eyes, biting his lips in pain when the magic scrubbed over the worst of the
injuries. She nodded to Milo when she stopped.
“That’s all I can do for him.” She glanced at the door. “I should go, I have
duties I have to attend to, but I will return later.”
Milo sat next to Ridley, saying his name gently. “Feel better?”
Ridley just groaned and put his head on his shoulder. “Yeah, a little. I’m
sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Milo kissed the top of his head with a sigh. “Come on,
you probably need more rest.”
With a small nod, Ridley let Milo help him up and lead him back to the bedroom.
Ridley sat on the bed and put his face in his hands. “Can you hand me my
shirt?”
When Milo returned to the living room, Leopold was talking on the phone and
Agatha was texting furiously. They both glanced at him before going back to
their conversations. From what he could gather from Leopold’s, the rest of the
order has been waiting for a status report since he barged into the building,
and Leopold was lying his ass off.
Milo stood there watching both of them until they both put their phones away.
“You both probably have to go, huh?”
“Yes, the others in the Order need to be assured in person of my lies. Please
look after Ridley while I am gone.” Leopold nodded at him.
“I’ve been looking after him for years, and nothing bad has happened to him
until you came into his life.” Milo crossed his arms, staring at the older man
with the same menacing gaze he had used earlier. Leopold left without another
word.
Agatha walked over to him. “I will look more into Ridley’s curse while I am
out. Take care of yourself Milo.” She gently pressed her lips to his before she
turned to leave.
Sera started snickering from the doorway to her room. He turned to glare at
her. “We need to focus on making sure Ridley’s okay.”
“Seems like you and her are going to be spending a lot of time together while
you watch over him. It wouldn’t hurt to focus on someone other than him for a
little bit.” Sera smiled at him softly but he just rolled his eyes, heading
downstairs to clean up the shop.
***** Chapter 11 *****
Chapter Notes
     Wow, it's been a while since I updated this... but here's an update.
     If I titled these chapters, I'd title this one 'Reunion'
Agatha had her feet up on the table in the restricted section of the local
library, the attendant was magically passed out on the floor. Books were
floating around her, the pages turning as she twitched her hand. She didn’t
look up when she heard footsteps coming towards her.
“He’s not dead, is he?” Ryder asked as he stepped over the man, his dog pausing
to sniff him.
“No, of course not my dear. Now, what was so urgent that you called me for?”
Agatha put her feet down, twirling her hand to get a new set of books in front
of her.
“I was in the headmistress’s office earlier, and I found some weird things
while I was waiting for her.” He took a few steps toward her, looking over the
flipping pages of the books. “There were folders on her desk, one about me that
had things that my school folder shouldn’t have had…”
“Like?”
“Things about my parents, like them trying to get pregnant: the doctor they saw
for their fertility treatments, all of the drugs and potions that my mother was
given while she was pregnant. The name of the person that cursed my brother…
Details about my brother’s curse, and it said that he wasn’t killed by the
person that killed our parents, he was taken.”
Agatha finally looked at him. “Was there anything else you found? Having the
whole file could be helpful.”
Ryder looked at her strangely, but shook his head. He wished he could’ve
grabbed the file, but the headmistress would have noticed it missing for sure.
“Ryder, do you remember if this folder had the name of the demon that was
trapped in your brother?”
“No, it didn’t have that listed at all… Why?”
“What is security like at this school? Better than this room I suspect, but how
hard would it be to get in, or out?” She turned back to the books, still paging
through them with magic.
“A lot of the seniors do it pretty often, but I’ve never managed to both
without getting caught. You could probably manage, but if they catch you, it
wouldn’t just be detention.” Ryder felt a little uncomfortable now, not getting
his own questions answered.
“If you can wait a little while longer, I’ll show you why I wanted to know. I
told you that I’d help you, didn’t I?”
With a deep breath, Ryder nodded and called for his familiar to stop sniffing
the unconscious man.
 
Sera heard movement on the stairs, glanced at Milo and then left the shop
without another word. Milo stood up and walked around the counter, waiting.
Ridley looked at Milo and then looked away.
“You must’ve come down here to talk, and now you’re too nervous?” Milo smiled
at the teen after he got tired of standing in silence.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry about…”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Milo took a few steps towards him. “Now, you
don’t have to choose between letting Leopold or Agatha help you. You’ve done
the impossible, made the two of them work together.”
“I-I just need some air… I’m going to go for a walk.” Ridley looked up at Milo.
“If that’s alright?”
“It’s fine, just don’t go too far okay? You’re still not 100 percent, I can
tell by how you’re standing.”
Then Ridley walked out without looking at Milo again.
He hadn’t gotten far, it was a decent part of town and it was still pretty
early in the day, the alleys were a fine place to walk but keep out of sight.
Barking was in the distance, and he almost thought for a second that Milo might
have been following him, but it was getting closer. Milo wouldn’t have wanted
to draw attention to himself.
It finally sounded like it was close, so he turned to see a dog barreling
towards him. It was barking happily as its tail wagged. This was a strange
occurrence, because generally animals usually growled at him and ran in the
opposite direction.
The dog jumped, hitting him square in the chest and knocking him to the ground.
Ridley felt all the air leave his lungs as the dog started to happily lick his
face. As he started to breathe again, Ridley dug his fingers into the fur
around the dog’s neck, trying to find a collar hidden under all the fur. He
felt magic instead of fabric.
“So you’re some’s magical pet too huh?” Ridley looked up at the dog, which had
finally stopped licking his face. “And you’re not scared of me?”
It barked happily, turning its head in the direction it had come. Ridley could
faintly hear someone yelling. As it got closer, he could make out what was
being yelled: his own name, but he didn’t recognize the voice.
Someone rounded the corner, laughing as he stopped running. “Ridley, come here
girl!” He patted his knees and the dog barked, running over. The human Ridley
blinked from where he was lying on the ground.
“Oh, did you knock someone over girl?” He petted the dog, also named Ridley,
before walking over to Ridley. “I’m sorry if she scared you…”
As Ryder held his hand out to him, with a smile, Ridley’s eyes went wide. He
took the hand, being pulled up until he was eye to eye with the other boy.
Almost eye to eye. The other boy was a few inches taller than Ridley.
“Ry-Ryder?” Ridley squeezed his hand in his twin brother’s as tears welled up
in his eyes. He didn’t look much different from when they were kids, other than
the long scar on his right cheek. “I-I…”
Ryder took a step back in shock and then looked down at the hand in his. He
could see the thick black lines on the back of his hand. When he looked back up
at his other half, he used his other hand to wipe away his tears. “Ridley…
little brother.”
When Agatha came around the corner, panting and complaining about her age the
two were hugging each other tightly and crying. She took a few seconds to
compose herself before walking over to them.
“Ridley, what the hell are you doing out here? Why aren’t you at the shop?” She
rolled her eyes, waiting for the two of them to stop hugging since she was
ruining their moment.
They both turned to look at her, confusion the most predominant emotion on both
of their faces.
“I met Ryder the day before I met Ridley. It wasn’t until I saw the curse that
I knew you were the same Ridley that was Ryder’s brother. I was going to tell
you, but your boyfriend fucked up my entire day.” Agatha crossed her arms.
“Come on, it’s not safe out here.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Ridley wiped away his tears, looking over at his
brother. “Come on, I guess we have a lot to catch up on.”
Ryder nodded, whistling to signal the dog Ridley to follow them. He took
Ridley’s hand again as they walked, making sure he didn’t let go once on the
silent walk to Milo’s shop.
 
 
***** Chapter 12 *****
Milo did a double take when the three entered the shop. Agatha shrugged when he
looked over at her for an explanation.
“So… you’re Ryder, huh?” Milo looked at the boy closely. They looked just
enough alike to assume that they were related, but not enough for people to
assume they were twins.
“Uh…” Ryder looked at Ridley, a little terrified by how accusing the older male
sounded.
Ridley blew out a breath, glaring at Milo. “Yeah, this is Ryder.
“Are you sure?” Milo glanced at Ridley, who started glaring at him. He put his
hands up and took a step back. “Okay, okay, fine.”
“This is Milo,” Ridley motioned at him. “He’s most of the reason I’m still…”
Ryder looked at Milo again, nodding slightly. “Thank you, for taking care of my
little brother.”
“It’s not a problem. Why don’t you two go upstairs? I’m sure you have a lot of
catching up to do.” Milo motioned to the stairs, his eyes going back to Agatha.
Once the boys were both upstairs, Agatha gave Milo the same explanation she had
given the twins only a few moments ago. Milo sighed and leaned against the
counter.
“What did Ryder ask you for help with?”
“He thinks there’s something up with Millennium Academy, and after what he told
me today, I tend to agree with him.” Agatha walked towards him. “I need to get
inside their records room, see exactly they know about those boys.”
“I’ve heard getting in there is a death trap, there’s no way you’ll be about to
do it without getting caught.”
“Maybe I can’t, but I know someone with powers that might just let him get in
and out undetected.” Agatha ran a finger up Milo’s chest. “You care about him
enough to do this for him, don’t you?”
 
The two were sitting across from each other on Milo’s bed, their hands linked
in between them. They were staring at each other in silence. It felt so unreal
to both of them.
“Hey, how… how bad are the marks?” Ryder finally asked, his eyes finding
themselves staring at Ridley’s hands. He swore when he watched his brother
flinch and pull his hands away. “Sorry, it’s okay if you don’t…”
Before he could finish, Ridley had taken his shirt off. Ryder felt tears come
to his eyes as he looked at the dark marks covering his brother’s body. He
reached out and touched one that was going to sneak up Ridley’s neck. Ridley
drew in a shaky breath when Ryder touched him.
“How did they get so bad?” Ryder found his fingers wandering over his brother’s
chest. Ridley didn’t answer and Ryder scooted in closer. “You… you had sex,
recently right?”
“Last night…” Ridley’s face was as red as his hair. “With… with um, Leopold
Corte-Fiel.”
“Agatha Talbolt worries about you and you’ve slept with Leopold Corte-Fiel? How
exactly did you manage that?” Ryder looked at his brother fondly, his hand
sweeping against the black ring around his neck.
Ridley let out a whimper at the touch as Ryder’s brown magic and the white
magic in the mark cracked against his skin. Ryder moved his hand away quickly.
"No...“
Of course Ryder knew exactly what it was, he was a beastmaster after all.
Ridley looked away, the pain bringing tears back to his eyes.
“Who did this to you?” Ryder gently swept the bangs out of Ridley’s eyes,
looking directly in them. Ridley tried to break the gaze, but Ryder took his
face in his hands. “It’s okay, I’m here now. I’m not going to let anyone hurt
you again.”
Ridley let out a surprised squeak when Ryder’s lips collided with his, but
after a few seconds, he wrapped his arms around his brother. As the kiss
deepened, Ridley felt a burning sensation. His marks were spreading again, but
he didn’t care. He didn’t care that it was his brother either.
When Ryder finally broke the kiss, he looked confused like that isn’t what he
meant to happen. He pressed his forehead to his brother’s. “I’m sorry, I don’t…
I don’t know what came over me… I… I just was so glad to have you back…”
“It’s okay. Of all the things I’ve done in my life, kissing my brother is the
least of my sins.” Ridley put his hand on Ryder shoulder, smiling at him.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry…” Ryder was full on crying now,
his tears flowing down his cheeks and dropping between them.
“There was nothing you could do. We were just kids.” Ridley pulled him in for a
hug. “Just, just don’t let me go again. We have each other back again, and I…”
“Is this really happening? This isn’t just a dream right?” Ryder asked through
his sobs.
“I hope not.” Ridley hugged him tighter, afraid that the other boy might
disappear.
They sat like that hugging for a while, in silence. Eventually Ryder’s sobbing
stopped and he pulled away. “So, do you want to kiss again, or was that a
onetime thing?”
Ridley rolled his eyes before pulling Ryder in for another kiss.
When Milo came in with Agatha and Leopold in tow, the two boys were lying next
to each other, quietly talking about the time they had lost. They both looked
up at the adults all staring at them.
“Ryder, it’s getting late. You should get back to school.” Agatha said it
softly.
Ryder looked at Ridley, who was holding onto his arm tightly. He smiled at him.
“I’ll come back to see you tomorrow, I promise.”
“Okay.” Ridley replied quietly, still holding onto him.
“Come on, you have to let go.” Ryder nuzzled into his brother’s hair before
kissing him softly. “I love you, little brother.”
“Love you too.” Ridley let go, sitting up to watch him leave.
All three adults were speechless, looking between Ridley and Ryder. Milo was
the first to speak once he heard Ryder leave the shop. “So, your brother huh?”
“You’re really going to judge me for kissing my brother? Didn’t you fuck one of
your exes while in the form of a lion?”
Milo’s face went red, getting side eyed glances from the other two adults.
Leopold looked like he was about to puke, while Agatha looked, horny. Milo took
a few steps back, heading back down to the shop.
***** Chapter 13 *****
“Hey, can we talk?” Leopold stood nervously in front of Ridley, who tensed when
the older man started talking.
“A-about what?” Ridley didn’t look up from the book he had been flipping
through for Agatha.
“Us.”
“Leopold…” Shutting the book, Ridley shuffled slightly. “There isn’t… we’ve
only known each other for a week. Just because we fucked…”
“Is that all it was to you, a fuck?” Leopold’s voice sounded strangled.
“I was tired of waiting, of not letting myself have things, and you were so
willing.” Ridley looked out to the kitchen where Milo was trying to bug Agatha
while she was cooking. “Look how that turned out? I was so selfish, and now I’m
paying the price.”
“I’m not going anywhere, and I want to try. It was more than just a fuck for
me.” Leopold bit his lip, looking away.
“It’s not that simple. The curse… it got worse when we had sex. I don’t think I
can do that again.” Ridley wrapped his arms around his torso.
“We don’t need to have sex.”
“There’s so much going on… with the Holy Order, and Agatha… and Ryder’s back in
my life. My life is a mess right now and I don’t know if I can…”
Leopold grabbed Ridley’s face gently, pulling him in for a gentle kiss.
“Please. Ridley, I’m right here and maybe something like this will help.”
Ridley pulled away, his face pinched with pain. “Shit, so it’s not just with
Ryder.”
“Your curse.” Leopold sighed, rubbing Ridley’s cheek with his thumb. “I’m
sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Ridley leaned into the touch. “But are you sure, about
this, about me?”
“No. With your curse, and now your brother?” Leopold looked concerned.
“Are you going to judge me about my brother? Weren’t people marrying their
siblings when you were my age?” Ridley rolled his eyes. Leopold rolled his eyes
right back. “Ryder and I were always closer than we should have been, and now
after all this time, it’s like… I don’t know.”
“Okay. I don’t mind sharing your heart or your time.” Leopold kissed his cheek
gently.
“Wow, you’re really desperate to be with me huh?” Ridley smiled, wrapping his
arms around Leopold’s shoulders.
“You are a special young man. I just want to see you with that smile on your
face.” Leopold traced Ridley’s lip with his thumb.
Milo cleared his throat, and both of them looked at him. “Uh, Agatha says
dinner is ready. And she has some things that she needs to tell you, Ridley.”
Leopold nodded, standing up from the couch as Ridley released him. When Ridley
stood up, Milo grabbed his arm gently. “After dinner, I want to talk to you.”
“Wow, I’m really popular today. Is Sera going to want to have a chat about our
relationship too?” Ridley smiled at Milo, who looked concerned about the way he
had said it. “Yeah, we can talk later. We probably should’ve talked about this
years, ago.”
Agatha waited until everyone had started eating before looking over at Ridley.
“Did Ryder tell you why he came to talk to me?”
“No, it… it didn’t really come up.” Ridley sighed, putting down his fork.
“He thinks there is something going on with his school, and he said their file
on him had some unusual things about him, about you.”
“His uniform, he goes to Millennium Academy, doesn’t he?” Leopold glared at
Agatha, who nodded.
“Isn’t that the school you were trying to talk me into going to?” Ridley looked
over at the man, who sighed.
“Milo is going to sneak into the records room, to retrieve the file to see how
much they know about you.” Agatha picked up chunk of meat and bit of a large
chunk to punctuate her point.
“Or if they were involved with your curse.” Milo looked over at the teen,
shocked to see him glaring at him.
“You can’t go. I won’t let you risk yourself like that.” Ridley’s voice was
shaky, like he was trying to keep his composure.
“Ridley, I want to do it. It’s not just you who might be affected by them.”
“No!” Ridley slammed his fists on the table, the lights flickering as he did.
“You can’t do it alone. I can’t let you do it alone.”
“You want to go.” Agatha said calmly as the two men were staring at Ridley in
horror. “It is your life, but you have already been through so much.”
“You can’t, if these people had…” Leopold started, getting cut off by Ridley
glaring at him, the light bulbs in the chandelier exploding.
“Can you get me enrolled or not?”
“With your curse, I don’t know if I can now…” The knight sighed, seeing that
there was no reasoning with him.
Ridley closed his eyes, black and red magic swirled around him. When he opened
his eyes, he pushed up his sleeve to reveal unmarked skin. Leopold reached
around and Ridley bit his lip when he felt small traces of Holy magic ghosting
over his skin.
“I can’t even detect the curse. Why… why didn’t you do this sooner?” Leopold
looked at him, fear and pride on his face.
“It’s draining to do it all the time. Most people don’t really check, so hiding
them with clothing is easier.” Ridley let his sleeve fall back down and the
marks slowly reappear on his hands.
“It’s still too dangerous for you to go.” Milo glared at Ridley. “Whether or
not you hide it, they know about your curse. They wouldn’t have put in the
effort to learn about if they didn’t want to do something to you.”
“If they’re doing things to other people… I can’t let them ruin anyone life
like mine was ruined. If I can keep just one person from having to go through
what I went through, I’d give up my freedom.” Ridley looked back at Milo.
Milo’s gaze softened and he nodded. “Okay, but we need to come up with some
kind of game plan. We’re not just going into this place guns blazing. I want to
know exactly what we’re doing and when. I want to think of every single
possible way our plan could go wrong.”
Ridley nodded back at him, sitting down again. “Okay. Okay.”
“Good, then it’s settled. Leopold will work on getting Ridley into the school.
I will gather all of the information I can about the school.” Agatha nodded,
picking up another chunk of meet.
“If they know who Ridley is, would using his real name be such a good idea?”
Leopold looked at Agatha, without the usual disdain that was obvious on his
face.
“Perhaps a different last name would be enough.” Agatha glanced at Ridley.
“I’m pretty sure that Ridley Brooks was pronounced dead ten years ago, so using
my real name wouldn’t just let them know, it would set off some red flags with
the government.” Ridley shrugged, scooping around the vegetables that Agatha
had put on his plate.
“I’ll get some convincing documents while I’m gathering information.” Agatha
nodded, glancing at Leopold.
“And your magic… did you just do red magic? I thought you had black magic?”
Leopold was staring at Ridley, who ducked his head slightly.
“Yeah. It sort of came with the curse. Just put me in with black magic, the red
magic sort of magics the curse worse.” He scratched his cheek. “Another reason
I usually use bandages to cover it…”
“Then I will work on making a phone call as soon as Agatha gets the documents.”
“I will go now then. The sooner this is sorted the better.” Agatha wiped her
mouth and stood. Before she left, she pecked Milo’s lips, leaving him red
faced.
Ridley looked scorned as he watched the kiss. Leopold cleared his throat,
standing as well. “I should follow up on some of the leads that I have my men
chasing to keep them off your trail. Are you going to stay here tonight?”
The teen didn’t answer, so Leopold kissed his cheek and told him to call him
with the answer later.
Once he was gone, Milo stood up from the table with a sigh. “Why are you
looking at me like that? You’re the one that has already moved on.”
“Just because you have super-animal hearing from being a shapeshifter, doesn’t
mean that you should be listening in on my private conversations.” Ridley
crossed his arms, following Milo with his eyes. “And I haven’t moved on.”
“Then why did you really sleep with him?”
“I thought that after I met with Agatha, I was just… I thought it might be my
only and last chance to do it. I just wanted to know what it was like.” Ridley
looked down, biting his lip. “It should’ve been you.”
Milo didn’t say anything for a while, and Ridley stood up and took a few steps
towards the man before he finally looked at him again. He said the teen’s name
softly before pulling him closer, pressing their lips together.
Ridley let out a groan when Milo kissed him, bringing his hands up to grab at
Milo’s hair. He was trying to will away the pain of his marks spreading. He had
waited too long to feel Milo’s lips against his.
When Milo pulled away, Ridley chased his lips with his own. Milo smiled at him.
“I don’t know what’s happening with Agatha, but I want this, I want you.”
“I’ve always wanted you. Even before, when I was still with Malos.” Ridley was
still holding onto Milo, like he was going to stop breathing if the other man
left his space.
“Ridley, are you sure you can juggle me, Leopold, and your brother? That’s a
lot to handle, even for you.” Milo’s look of concern was what really made
Ridley like him.
“I’m actually really flexible.” Ridley’s grin was so flirty it made Milo moan.
“Don’t look at me like that, not when I can’t have you like that.” Milo rested
his forehead against Ridley’s.
Ridley pushed Milo against the wall gently. “Who said you can’t have me? I’m
right here.”
“Your curse. With how much its spread in just the last few days… and you told
Leopold that you couldn’t.”
“I’ve been waiting for four years to feel you touch me, to touch you. Please
don’t wait me wait any longer.”
Milo caressed Ridley’s cheek. “It’s not a good idea.”
“Please.”
***** Chapter 14 *****
Ridley panted as Milo traced each line of his curse with kisses. His fingers
were pulling at Milo’s hair as Milo’s fingers were wrapped around his dick.
There was the stinging and burning from his curse spreading, but the pleasure
was just enough to let him ignore the pain.
“Milo…” He pressed his eyes closed when Milo kissed the mark between his
shoulder blades gently. His arms were shaking and he pressed his ass back
against the man. “Please…”
“I’m here, I’ve got you.” Milo’s hand left his dick, moving to Ridley’s hole.
One finger pressed inside with the help of a little lube.
Tears came to Ridley’s eyes as his back burned like it was actually on fire. He
let out a choked noise with the pain. Milo immediately pulled his finger out
and moved his hand to sooth Ridley’s side.
“Breath, just breath. You’re okay.” Milo cooed as Ridley calmed down. Once he
was sure the teen had settled down, he turned them both so they were on their
sides, facing each other. He brushed Ridley’s hair out of his eyes.
“Maybe this was a bad idea.” Ridley sniffed as he looked into Milo’s concerned
eyes.
“Ridley, it’s okay. I understand why you wanted to, but it’s okay.” Milo kissed
his forehead.
“It’s not. You know how hard it’s been, a horny teenager, to afraid to
masterbate? It’s been a nightmare. And now I can’t… with you.” Ridley put his
face to Milo’s chest, holding him tightly. “Did you and Agatha…?”
Milo couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, we did, last night… on the cot in my
workshop.”
Groaning, Ridley nuzzled into him. “I’m so ridiculously jealous that this as
close as I can get to you.”
“What about when I was just jerking you off, how did that…?” Milo brushed his
fingers against the sensitive skin of Ridley’s dick.
Ridley sucked in a breath. “Better, the pleasure was more than the pain. I’m
still probably going to get another line connected.”
“That didn’t seem to bother you a few minutes ago.” Milo gently took Ridley’s
chin so he could look at the teen. “But if you want to stop…”
“If I could, I’d do this with you for the rest of my life.” Ridley kissed him,
pulling him closer. “Don’t stop.”
Milo nodded, moving his hips closer to Ridley’s. He wrapped his hand around
both of their cocks. Ridley let out a breathy moan at the contact between their
dicks. The teen reached between them, putting his hand over Milo’s.
They were both breathing heavily as they moved their hands together, their hips
occasionally bucking into the touch. It didn’t take long for Ridley to release
his load, biting into Milo’s shoulder as tears came to his eyes. As the orgasm
racked through his body, another line connected to the mark and there was a
surge of magic in the room.
Milo stopped moving his hands to hold Ridley’s torso as sobs erupted out of the
teen. He looked over at his side table, where the potted plant that Sera had
given him to ‘liven up’ the room had gone crazy. The single bud it had had
bloomed and was abnormally large, and accompanied by several other flowers.
“Shh, it’s okay, I’m right here.” Milo rubbed Ridley’s back, pressing kisses to
his forehead. “I love you.”
Ridley pushed away when he finally stopped crying from the pain. He sat up, his
eyes catching the flower, which was oddly colored. “D-Did I do that?”
“I may use green magic, but I’m not good at plants, so it must’ve been you.”
Milo sat up, touch Ridley’s shoulder. “But red and black magic would’ve killed
it, not…”
Ridley held his hands out in front of him, green magic was wisping out of his
fingertips, interspersed with black magic. Milo kissed Ridley jaw. “What the
hell is happening to you?”
 
The next morning, Leopold and Agatha walked into the shop at the same time,
bickering heavily. Sera looked over at them, scoffing. “Sexual tension much.”
They both paused, sharing a look, before glaring at Sera. Acknowledge flashed
across her face before disgust. “Ridley and Milo are upstairs, neither have
said anything to me or Yawe all morning.”
Both of the immortals looked concerned by that and elbowed at each other,
trying to get to go up the narrow stairs first. Milo glanced up at them when
the door opened. He had just finished sitting food in front of the teen, who
was curled up on the couch.
“Did something happen?” They both asked, concern in their voices. Agatha walked
over to Milo, taking his arm gently. Leopold knelt in front of Ridley, trying
to catch his gaze.
Ridley looked up at Milo, who nodded at him. The teen sighed. “Last night… Milo
and I were…” His face was red, but Leopold smiled at him with understanding.
“But when… another line… and now I have green magic too.”
Leopold took Ridley’s hands, kissing his knuckles gently. Agatha looked
shocked. “Green magic? To develop so many different kinds of magic… and for
this curse to be so affected by sex…”
“Agatha, what is it?” Milo took her cheek gently. Leopold was looking at her as
well, regocnition going across his face.
“But they were all killed, over a century ago. I remember killing the last of
them myself.” Leopold’s eyes narrow at her.
“I know. But it’s the only thing that makes sense. The mark on his back
resembles the one for their entire order.” Agatha looked at Ridley, who’s eyes
were wide and scared.
“What? What is it?” Milo’s voice was urgent.
“There’s one class of demon that drew power from sex, that had master over all
types of magic, except Holy… but they’re gone.”
“Agatha, just spit it out, for love of G-…” Ridley choked, bringing a hand to
his chest. “Shit.”
“The archdemons.” Agatha looked away from Ridley.
“You mean, the most powerful type of demons? The only ones that don’t need a
gate or a summoning to get to the living plane? The only ones that can summon a
fallen from hell?” Milo’s voice was booming as he asked.
“The very same. But it doesn’t make sense. I know there are no more, but yet
all signs point to Ridley being possessed by one.”
Ridley curled up tighter on the couch. “I can’t let this thing out into the
world. I can’t… I can’t let anymore lines…”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t go to the school, it would be best to just let us…”
Leopold moved to sit next to him. He sighed when Ridley glared at her.
“Alright, but if anymore connect, we’ll need to figure something out. I’ll
protect you, even from this.”
“Thank you.” Ridley took a few breaths before getting up. “I’m going to grab a
shower and change. I need to think for a while.”
Once Ridley disappeared, Leopold looked over at Milo. “I’m surprised that you…”
“It won’t happen again, not after what happened to him last night.” Milo looked
away, shrugging out of Agatha’s touch. “I wish I could’ve had the self control
to tell him no…”
Sera came up the stairs, leaning against the doorway. “Yawe and I are going out
for lunch. Also, Milo, interesting fact, Agatha and Leopold have apparently
slept together.”
Milo looked between the two, who were glaring at each other.
“It was one time!” Agatha pointed her finger at Leopold.
“By one time, you mean we spent an entire week in bed together?” Leopold
crossed his arms, looking away.
“And it was the best sex you’ve ever had.”
“What about you? I seem to recall asking me to marry you!”
“That was before I knew who you were!”
“You were the witch that seduced me under false pretenses!”
Milo put his hands up. “Under normal circumstances, I’d say we have a
foursome.”
Both of them stared at him for a long time before Agatha, scoffed. She left,
saying something about more research. Leopold followed after her, having a
meeting with the Headmistress of the academy they were investigating.
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