Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of the witcher. Those are property of Mr Sapkowski and I using Netflix series canon mixed with the books and my twisted version of the lore.

Warnings : Whump (lighter). Blood. Mention of suicide attempt and suggestion of dark past. Eroticism and orgy but nothing graphic (I am not at ease with that anyway). None consenting kisses. Angst. Self-loathing.

Note :

First of all, thx susanpr for the follow :).

Then, note that I took a lot from the tvshow scenes there, even some parts of dialog, but I rearranged the events. Enjoy.

The Djinn - Part 2

Illusion

###

Night had fallen when they arrived at the mayor's house. Geralt parked in the front alley and helped Jaskier out of the car. His friend was wobbling on his feet. He was half awake and trying the best he could to help him to maneuver his body. His throat had swollen badly and a multitude of shades was decorating his skin, around the initial hand marks and further down. The curse was like a poison that had spread to his upper torso.

The mayor's house was an ancient big mansion. There was light on the second floor, probably where the mage was, if he trusted Chireadan's words. The witcher was surprised to find no guards there. He didn't complain though. He moved forward, bringing Jaskier with him. His friend was unsteady but still putting one foot in front of another.

The young man almost didn't cough during their ride, despite his degrading state, so Chireadan's medication had been more than useful. But after so long both the painkiller and the thing that helped him breathe had lost their effect. He was now clearly trying to fight, in his own ways, the need to cough out what was blocking his airways.

The front door was magically closed so they had to find another path. One of the back doors was still open, they got in from there. After wandering in some old corridors, they arrived in what seemed to be a cellar. There were many barrels in rows. It looked also like a sort of pantry with dry food in boxes, or attached to the ceiling. But it was used by some people to eat. There was a long wood table and rustic chairs. There were plates with some food residues and some pitchers.

Geralt helped Jaskier to sit on a chair.

- "Stay here. I think this would be easier if I search the mansion alone. I will be quicker."

Jaskier nodded slightly to confirm but the moment the witcher turned round to go, he met a man. A naked man to be precise.

- "What the !... Who are you ?"

The man seemed drunk and took a few uncertain steps before looking at the table.

- "Apple juice. Is this apple juice ?" He asked with a tired voice. Geralt looked into the next jug and confirmed. "Good. She loves apple juice."

- "Who ?"

- "Her !" The drunk man replied like it was obvious.

Geralt turned toward Jaskier who gave him a tired smile and a discreet "I don't know" sign from his whole body. He heard a resounding bang and only turned to see the naked man lying on the floor, fast asleep more than concussed.

- "Ok… "

He took the apple juice jug, just in case it had a real change value, and rushed forward. The place was huge but he remembered seeing lights on the second floor from the outside, so he went directly there. In the stairs between the first and the second floor, his medallion vibrated. There was magic nearby.

He followed the chaos fluctuations and opened a large double door to… an orgy. The room was big enough to have a banquet of forty in it. And to be fair, the count was almost reached there. There were so many people entangled with each other, breathing hard and moaning in pleasure. This sexal pit full of pheromones and arousal scents hit Geralt like a wave, full force, but he didn't react much and he was mainly experiencing a very strong feeling of uneasiness. The purposely fading memory of the Passiflora was tingling in the back of his head.

He looked forward, passing that sea of people, and his heart missed a beat.

She was there, sitting in a black dress, at the other side of the room. She wore an equally black lace mask that was emphasizing her lips and eyes. She was magnificent. Yennefer of Vengerberg was the mage.

By her side, on a statue, there was a crow. That was an illusion, and the center of the spell that was probably keeping all the people around him in a constant state of carnal pleasure.

As he told Chireadan, he was immune to those kinds of enchantments but he was suddenly realizing that the elf choice of word was also a poetic way to say that he had fallen for the sorceress. If he wasn't pushed to the same basic instincts than everyone else, he was subjugated. This was the woman of his dreams. Yennefer of Vengerberg was real and this was more than he could handle at the moment. How could she be more beautiful than his fantasies… No this was not beauty. This was charisma, magnetism.

She noticed him but chose to drink from a golden goblet and look the other way.

- "I brought you apple juice." He said, feeling incredibly out of place, but needing her attention. Jaskier was suffocating two floors below.

The sorceress smiled and looked at him from the side.

- "A man that doesn't fall in the trap, interesting. Are you immune or do you have an incredibly strong will ?"

- "Immune mostly, maybe both."

She put the gobelet on a small table and stood up. Her dress unfolded, revealing a strange fabric playing with the light. Her body would sometimes be visible through it, depending on how the light touched it. With the illusion spell still active she seemed like a ghost sliding in the air toward him.

She entered his personal space and began to study him as much as he was a beast. He didn't like it at all, but he was captivated by her scent. Lilac and gooseberries. Like in his dreams. How could that be ?

- "My friend is in the cellar, he needs medical attention."

- "I am not a doctor." She replied, looking at his face in great detail.

He stared back. Her appearance was a piece of art. She knew exactly how to enhance everything about herself. From her outfit and posing, to her sophisticated hairdressing and makeup. But she couldn't hide it all to a hunter like him. She had a subtle way to stand and little imperfections that were saying a bit about her probable real appearance. She clearly used the forbidden spell to fix her body deformities. But this wasn't her artificial beauty that was working on him. That was everything else.

- "The wound is cursed. I need a mage." He said trying to focus on his objective.

- "Cursed ?"

She raised an eyebrow and smiled. She was so close. She was pushing. She was trying to break him to the basic instincts so he would fall under her spell. He could see in her enigmatic purple eyes that she wanted to play with him, like she played with the others. This would not work with him though.

He would lie to himself if he's said that he wasn't attracted to her in a way, but this was coming from his dreams. He was sure of it. With her attitude, she was scaring him more than seducing him. Her little play could be fatal to Jaskier and he could not tolerate that.

- "I will pay whatever the price if you save him."

- "Who ?"

- "My friend… Don't try to break me so I would fall into your sexual playground. I am not here to play. Would you save him or not ?"

- "Interesting." She smiled again but more sincerely, her painted lips were stretching just a little bit. "Golden eyes and white hair. I am in front of the famous White Wolf. The songs about you would be real then. A force of nature with mystical powers."

- "There is nothing mystical about my powers. Genetic manipulations, mental and magical conditioning for several years. That is what makes the witchers immune to illusion spells like the one you are using."

- "I prefer the stories of the songs."

- "And there won't be anymore if you don't help my friend."

- "Your heartbeat is so low, even under pressure. This is incredible..."

She turned around him to look at him better. Their hands connected briefly. The brush of her skin against his was enough to send shivers down his spine.

- "I will gladly share knowledge about witchers with you if you dare to take a look at my friend. The Djinn has attacked his throat and he is dying in the cellar. I need your help."

- "A Djinn, you said ?"

He produced the magic seal from his pocket as a proof. She wasn't playing anymore and seemed very interested.

- "Ragamuffin !" She said very loudly.

The crow on the statue disappeared and the spell lifted. There were many gasps of surprise, undignified screams and everyone tried to hide their shame as they suddenly emerged from the collective sexual fever. There was a crowd movement and people rushed toward the exit with their heads low, trying to put on the rare pieces of clothing they could find in the ground to cover their nudity.

- "Why do this ?" He asked.

- "Vengeance." She smiled, removing her mask. It disappeared in her hand. "This town is a shitty hole was very ungrateful for my work here. They didn't want to pay for my services but asked me for taxes instead. They wanted to punish me so I punished them... Let's find your friend."

She went out of the room, leaving Geralt behind with a strong sense of perplexity. What she said was important to understand to whom he was dealing with. Chireadan, in his cryptic ways, was more than right. Yennefer was dangerous and he may have put himself and Jaskier in a dead trap. He told her that he would pay anything for her help, and he had just witnessed what she could do when disappointed. This was nothing. Just a little play. What could she do if he made her really angry ?

He finally followed her and they went back to the cellar. Geralt's heart skipped a beat when he saw Jaskier. He was absent for maybe five or six minutes and his condition had deteriorated. He was barely conscious, wheezing, fighting to get the air in. His lips were bluish again. The throat had more dark patches than when he left. The witcher put the jug he had kept all along on the table, and opened his friend's shirt. The curse had progressed a lot.

- "Take him to my room." Yennefer said, deadly serious now. "Third floor. First door on the left."

Geralt didn't wait. He took the young man in his arms and rushed in the indicated direction.

###

The room was old fashioned. There were some furnitures made of dark wood. A king size bed with baldachin, a cabinet with some mirrors and beauty products, chairs, and a chest of drawers.

He laid his friend on the bed carefully, using the pillows to elevate him a little bit, to help with the breathing. Yennefer joined them a few minutes later. Just enough for Geralt to let his mind whirling into cascading terrible scenarios.

The sorceress arrived in a bruise of fabrics. Her strange dress was still playing with the light. She sat on the bed, next to Jaskier. She pushed away the bloody pans of his shirt to access his chest and throat. He didn't react when she pressed the swellings which terrified Geralt even more.

- "The curse has spread very fast in the last minutes." Geralt said. His voice shook a little bit. He was in pain, physically, from the idea of losing his friend.

- "That's because he is losing the battle. He is exhausted and his body has been pushed to a limit there." She put her hand flat against his chest and closed her eyes for a moment. "That Djinn aimed to destroy." She said calmly turning toward him. Her purple eyes were inquisitive.

- "Can you save him ?" He asked.

- "Yes… Can I have the seal, please ?"

Geralt gave it to her, and her eyes widened a little bit. She was very much in control of her body language but that came through. She was excited.

- "Get out of the room now. I will call you when the first part is done."

- "First part ?"

- "His throat and his airways are severely damaged. He will need more than a curse lifting. But I can't push too hard on a body that is already collapsing. You want him alive, right ?" Geralt nodded. "Then let me work, and get out."

He reluctantly complied and waited in the hall.

Her magic was strong. He could feel the chaos raging in the room. This was making him even more nervous. He hated not being able to identify a menace. And he couldn't tell if that sorceress was really saving his friend. He needed to see.

For him, it seemed to last forever but it was probably not more than a few minutes. The door opened and Yennefer came out. Her dress had slipped a bit off her shoulders, revealing more skin than the enchanted fabric already did. Sweat pearled on her skin.

- "The spell has worked, the curse is lifted." She said. "But the damages are important, and he is still weak. We have an hour or two before I can cast another spell to help with the healing per se. It is plenty of time to have a nice conversation and a bath."

- "What?"

- "This is for the payment." She smiled.

- "That's all you want ?" Geralt frowned.

- "Yes."

- "I don't understand."

- "This is the first time, in my long and eventful life, that I see a witcher. I want to know more about you. But you smell like a man that has been on the road for many months without proper hygiene. So the bath is a prerequisite."

Geralt smirked. She wasn't far from the truth there. But this whole thing was making him uncomfortable.

- "We can have a nice chat here. And I don't think taking a bath in this place would leave me any cleaner."

- "I insist. Bath." She grimaced.

- "Can I see him first ?"

- "Sure."

She let him enter the room again and Geralt approached the bed. He knew the sorceress was observing him, so he stayed there, awkwardly looking at his friend. There was fresh blood on the sheets and on him but angry bruises were just what was left of the dark sick marks of the curse on his skin. The swelling of his throat was gone and he was breathing normally.

- "I had to force out the blood clots off his lungs and throat. He is not bleeding anymore." She said following his look.

- "Hmmm…"

- "Are you sure that he is just a friend to you?" Asked the sorceress after a long and awkward silence. Geralt turned to look at her directly. She was smirking.

- "Yes, he is. Why ?"

- "The way you look at him. He seemed the most precious person to you. You have the eyes of love."

- "Love is a spectrum I guess…" He replied, understanding for the first time of his life what Jaskier meant by that. But understanding it more than the words themselves, he was feeling it.

He would never love Jaskier back the way he probably needed but their friendship was love in a way only the pain he experienced with the fear of losing him could describe. He wouldn't find any other words than that.

- "I thought witchers didn't have feelings."

- "We don't in many ways."

- "But in others ?" She tilted her head and a lock of dark hair slipped off her sophisticated hairdressing.

- "We do..."

She smiled - a genuine smile - and she was the most beautiful person on the Continent to him. What was that all about ? Why was he suddenly feeling so much ?

- "The bathroom is at the end of the hall. Door's on the right. Don't make me wait too long." She simply slid out of his sight in a soft bruising of her dress.

Geralt looked back at Jaskier.

- "What would you say ? What is happening to me ? I don't love but I kinda love you. I've never been attracted to anyone but I am to her. I always could turn all the fears and all the residual human emotions off my mutated body but I barely hold myself together since… Since... I am weak… I am defective… I hate what I have become."

He turned his back to his friend and searched for the bathroom. He had a weight in his chest, a disgust to himself growing like acid heaves. He was going to pay for his weakness soon or later…

###

Geralt entered the bathroom. He was not used to that kind of luxury and he felt not in his place. This was old fashioned and a quite dark amenagement, but this was big, full of romantic displays, like candles, flowers, mirrors, perfumes, all made to arouse him. The bath tube was more of a little pool in the center of the room.

Yennefer was in a corner, facing a mirror and observing him in the reflection. She had her hair free and her long dark locks were cascading to her loins.

- "There are some clean clothes over there for you." She pointed to a chair near here with a pile of black clothes. He grunted in response. "Please, ease yourself…"

That injunction was further than anything he could feel right now. Ease… There was no place to hide and she clearly wanted to see everything. He had this feeling of prey and hunter and he was the prey. He decided to undress, on the side, just to keep an eye on her but escape her too curious look in the mirror. He let his dirty belongings on the ground, in a heap and then, he entered the bath.

The water was hot. The sorceress waited for him to adjust a little bit and let her dress fall at her feet in a graceful movement. He looked away when he turned to join him.

- "Don't be shy, White Wolf."

- "I know what you are doing and it doesn't suit me."

She sat in front of him and put something in the water that created a kind of myst at the surface, hiding their bodies underneath.

- "Better ?" He looked around, then at her.

- "Better… How is Jaskier ?" He asked before she would try something else.

She raised an eyebrow and began to use the soap. He was hyperfocusing on his friend to avoid her charms. Geralt noticed some marks on her wrists - something that the beauty spell hadn't removed from her. Or was it a choice to keep those scars as a reminder ? This was something he could relate too. He began to wash too.

- "The fight against the curse has left him very weak, as I already said, but he is holding on his own well. He is a tough guy." She smiled. "I guess that you need to be tough to follow a witcher that long."

- "Probably..."

- "He will need a strong healing spell though. That's why we are having this little pause, sir witcher. Don't worry about him… Now, I am curious, how did this happen ? Djinns are dangerous creatures but they do not attack their masters." Geralt sighed.

- "This was an accident. He used the Djinn I fished, we argued over it, he broke the amphora and the creature attacked him."

- "But if the amphora was broken, how did the Djinn attack ? He should be revoked from this plan."

- "Nice to speak to someone that know a thing or two about the hidden world and monsters." He said. "That Djinn is still attached to this plan until he fulfilled his master's wish. I tried to stop Jaskier on his third wish. This is when the things turned badly." She nodded but asked.

- "Why did you try to stop him ?"

- "Because I needed that third wish for myself. I fished the Djinn to cure my persistent insomnia, in the first place." Yennefer stopped washing and looked at him visibly confused.

- "That seems to me a pretty extreme measure for insomnia."

- "This is a very persistent insomnia." He smirked.

- "Funny, you didn't ask me to help you with that."

- "Looming death kinda jumped the queue." He grimaced. "And to be fair, I now wonder if I didn't chained myself with the payment for the first problem on the list."

Yennefer smiled enigmatically and looked at him. He could say that her eyes were following the lines of his scars.

- "Go ahead. Ask me about them. Everyone does." He said to let her know that he didn't like that.

- "Well. If the songs are accurate, I know a little about that."

- "Yeah. Jaskier does like the stories behind them. I never understood how that inspired him."

She gave her a strange look and smiled. She understood.

- "Tell me. Are all witchers similarly blessed ?" She was clearly referring to his physic but the choice of words let the door open to something else.

- "I'd hardly say we are blessed."

- "Don't be so grim. You were created by magic. Our magic."

- "Thank you for that magical childhood then." He grimaced.

- "Happy childhoods make up for dull company."

- "Judging by your wrist and your wits, your childhood was very happy too. But Aretuza fixed you up nicely." He pushed, using what he deduced on her to make her feel uncomfortable too. "What was your aliment before ? Clubbed foot ? Split ends ?" He said sarcastically.

This was working. She was controlling her emotions but she was surprised that he had noticed those small details.

- "Tell me, are there women who find this coarseness charming ? Maybe in some place where they find your coins very charming indeed."

- "You seem to find coins pretty charming yourself." This banter was beginning to amuse him. "I would be a fool not to see that you are clearly capitalizing on the political situation here and placing yourself in the role of the victime. You know, it's fine to fly in the face of overzealous authority, but to pretend it's anything other than making a profit…"

Her purple eyes flashed anger for a brief moment. He clenched teeth. He may have been too far… again.

- "And what about pretending you're after a Djinn to cure insomnia ?"

Geralt grumbled. She stood up. No magical fog was hiding her anymore. She was not trying to seduce him, nor to maximize the elegance of her perfect body, but the fierceness and the things that some could find unattractive with her at this moment were what was touching him. Because she was more than his night fantasies. She was a real person. He smiled, internally enjoying both the sight and the situation.

She got out of the water draping herself in a bathrobe and before getting out she said dryly.

- "Enjoy the bath and wash yourself better than that."

Geralt waited for her to be far from him to ease himself a little bit. That woman was something. The only other sorceress he knew was Triss and she was her opposite. Even if this was not a wise choice in this context he knew that Yennefer had buttons he could press. Perhaps this could be his way out of this, when she would have healed Jaskier completely. He might play soft until then.

He tried to be efficient in the bath. Yennefer was right on this point: he had been negligent with himself for too long. So he washed carefully. At least this bath would serve its purpose. When he got out, he guessed that the water had changed color. He smirked and looked at the new clothes the sorceress had proposed to him. They seemed fine. He took them and got dressed.

His hair was still humid when he went out and came back to the room where Jaskier laid. Yennefer was in front of her cabinet, putting some makeup on. She looked at him in the mirror. She was still a bit angry but not as much as before. She was more observing now.

She was wearing a white, almost transparent, very open dress. Maybe she was like Jaskier after all, her mind in one place for those kinds of things ? He sighed, took a chair and sat near his friend whose chest was equally showing but not for the same reason for a change.

- "You don't trust my magic abilities."

- "More your motivation. A little chat in a bath surely isn't enough as a payment for someone like you."

- "I am the judge of that. But don't worry White Wolf." She almost spat. "Your little human is going to make it and recover his vocal abilities. I need him to speak, anyway, and if he gives me what I want, I have no reason to harm him. You seem so attached to him, I don't want to make you sad..." She put some perfume behind her ears. Lilac and gooseberries.

- "What ?" He said. His brain registered her words with a delay.

He felt suddenly weird. His senses were blurred. She stood up and approached like a predator. He couldn't move much. He growled. He was furious to have been tricked. She smiled.

- "I see what pleases your friend here. You are a beast. A splendid White Wolf."

She sat on his lap and kissed him softly, pressing herself against him. In his mind something more intimate was playing. Like the dreams he used to make of them. They were naked again and sweating, entangled in a shivering embrace, floating in the darkness. His head lolled slightly on the side and he saw on the wall, over Jaskier's head, the seal of the Djinn drawn with a dark liquid that didn't appear before. He was under a strong illusion spell and Yennefer was showing him what she wanted him to see from reality.

- "That was hard to get in your mind, my sweet beast." She whispered to his ear, taking advantage of his incapacity to move to explore his body. "You have a very strong will. Immunity doesn't make for all."

- "Why do you need that Djinn for ?" He growled.

- "Not your problem..."

It took him an extraordinary effort to break through her spell. While she was kissing him without his consent, he seized her and pushed her away from him. He stood up but had difficulties orienting himself. Reality and the illusion were still mixing. Until he couldn't fight her magic anymore. She was too strong. He was too mentally exhausted.

She was smiling. There was no evil in that. Just victory.

- "Go, my furious wolf. Have fun. I will take care of your sleeping beauty while you ravage that shitty town full of stupid people."

Geralt couldn't speak and his vision was tunneling as her chaos magic was filling the room, like a storm. The last thing he saw was her, lasciviously getting on the bed and moving toward Jaskier with an envious expression on her face.

He had failed to protect him one more time…

I hope the changes were ok. See you soon.

[Edit] Sorry for the mistakes, I corrected a bunch of errors.