Half-breed’s Bargain by Samantha Wolfe
29
The human male sits at his desk and shoves the last bite of whatever horrid food was on the plate in front of him, then stares at the ring he holds between the fingers of his other hand while he chews. Despite his magical gifts, he’s clueless that it was once my prison, and that I’m currently hovering close in my ethereal form. My current state vexes me beyond measure. My lack of a physical body and the ring’s continued hold on my aura severely limit my powers. I should be in my chosen vessel even now, but the strong bond of anam amháin between her and her half-breed mate prevented me from taking possession of what is rightfully mine by blood when she put on the ring and killed her enemy in battle. Now I’m stuck here, tethered to the ring this human has kept in a drawer of his desk for days, with no suitable hosts weak in spirit enough for me to possess. I need a pathetic human with enough magical ability that I can use to search out my permanent vessel again and figure out a way to separate her from her mate so I can claim her body as mine. And then? This entire realm will be mine to conquer and rule as I please, and the heavens and earth will quake with my wrath.
A knock on the nearby door pulls the human’s gaze away from the ring and my attention away from the heady plans of death and destruction I have for this world. He quickly tucks the ring into its drawer again before calling out for whoever’s at his door to enter. A young and lanky human male opens the door with a pained expression.
“We have a problem, Anson,” he says with a grimace. “The food delivery is short, and the driver says there’s nothing he can do about it.”
The mage I now know as Anson huffs out a breath. “Seriously? Again?” The man at the door nods and he shakes his head, mumbling beneath his breath, “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”
“I’m sorry, boss,” the other human says.
“Don’t be,” Anson replies as he pushes back his chair and stands. “It’s not your fault, Josh.” He rounds the desk and walks toward the door. “Is the driver still here?”
Josh nods.
“Good,” he says. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks, boss,” Josh replies with a relieved expression, then glances back at the desk. “Do you want me to take those dirty dishes back to the kitchen for you?”
Anson glances absently at his desk. “Sure,” he says, then disappears down the hallway.
Josh turns, then walks into the office and around the desk. He gathers up the plate and cutlery Anson left behind, and I see my opportunity and take it, reaching for this human’s aura to see if he’s an acceptable host. He’s as mundane and pitiful as I suspected at his first appearance. I’m beyond pleased. Finally, I have a way out of this miserable place I’ve been trapped in for days. I just need to coax him into touching the ring so I can possess his body. I press closer and peer into his thoughts, then carefully supplant them with mine so he’s none the wiser. I plant the seed of curiosity and direct it toward the top drawer with the ring inside.
The human pauses with the plate in his hands and looks down at the drawer for a moment as my suggestion gains purchase in his mind. Then he glances toward the open door, looking for any witnesses, before he sets the plate down and takes a seat in the desk chair. He shoots yet another furtive glance toward the door, then pulls the drawer open and stares down at the ring where it’s nestled amid a bunch of human rubbish I can’t identify. I squash his surge of guilt at what he’s doing, then watch with glee as he reaches into the drawer and picks up the ring. The instant he does, he’s mine.
I pour myself into him with a surge of glee, noting that he won’t last long containing my aura before it drains his life away. But I won’t need him for long. I can hop from body to body until I find one more suitable to my needs, one with the gift of magic strong enough to tolerate my powerful aura without burning out too quickly, but has no training to protect themselves from my possession.
I smirk at the ring that’s now between the fingers of a body I now control, then let the now useless thing drop back into the drawer and close it. The cursed thing can stay there forever now for all I care. I never want to set eyes on it again. I stand, rolling my shoulders and flexing my hands as I relish the feel of having a corporeal form again after so long. All my new host’s knowledge and memories are mine now too, and I tap into them as I pick up the plate again and head for the kitchen he mentioned earlier. I need to find more humans if I’m to supplant another before I burn through this one’s already weakening body.
To my disappointment, none of the humans in the kitchen are anymore suitable than the one I’m already possessing. I leave them behind and walk down a hall familiar to my host and step through a door that leads out into a large open space with some kind of elevated dais on one end and a long bar running along one side of the room. I search my host’s mind to make sense of what I’m looking at. This place is called a night club, a place where hundreds of humans will gather later tonight to drink and revel. I grin in anticipation. What better place to find my next host than in a large gathering of humans, their minds weakened by debauchery. Oh yes, this will be perfect. If I’m fortunate, I’ll find the perfect vessel for my needs tonight, but if not, I’ll leave this place behind to search elsewhere. It might take some time to find just the right host, but I’m a patient goddess. After all, I’ve already waited for millenia to enact my plan, what’s a few more days, weeks, months, or even years to an immortal like the Morrígan.