Magi and Djinn World Tour – Student of the Dark Arts
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Chapter 15: The Curse of a Red Lord
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Raku was very used to waiting on John to pull back through his muddled mindset, as the door clacked open by suppertime with a light creak. He stood there, winded and failing the kid's expectations, yet Raku wasn't a bad kid. He saw john as family, and deep down a part of him must have been worried enough to start drinking.
His heaving breaths and Zee's support made Raku anxious all over – as he'd been with Aiden fighting Lilith, or Dick Grayson being the caregiver he never wanted.
"Is that you, mate?" Chas peered over by the countertop as his dish was readied from the oven, Baked vegetarian lasagna to cheer the boy up, like Aiden had when they were in California as brothers.
"Zee, too? Well, jus' do come in. We have another plate out if –
"I got the treatment right, but Chas…?" John cleared his throat as he pointed to Raku. "Could you, maybe set out for two others? As well as Zee and I…"
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Jack and Jen still had no way of going back into their states by Ignito or Raku's concentration.
"Your trauma, it's in the past…" Zee read as Raku hid his face in his faux meat and greens. "Yes, and I'd like to not discuss this until John is better."
"Can't it wait, then? Those faces at our table, lad?" John scoffed as he smeared more balm onto his dying warts. "That curse was meant to wreak havoc on whoever was after that; there is no way that you can't have a copy. If Ignito is holding back –
"He wasn't…and you can't know!" Raku stood up, hands to the table as his jaw trembled with the room. "I…can't we go into the House to talk? I'm not much of an eater, tonight. It is fine, very sorry."
"Very, and we can. Chas, save him a plate for later."
"What about your guests??" Chas exclaimed as Jen had a fork to her lips, Jack's snort as loud as Zee's thoughts.
"I'll be doing more of my own work. This is in my city and country. Whatever it is, I don't think it works alone."
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Inside the House's safe walls, Raku's eyes were nearly glossy as he'd walked with John into the House's doorway and shut it with a click. "He's a monster, Constantine." The boy murmured in memory of all of the horrors he'd fought to own up to. None so to compare thanks to what he'd felt in the academy when Adam's body had been removed from its walls.
"What…?" John turned to the boy, his hand holding something.
Raku saw it and screamed. His voice was harshly stopped as John put up a finger, the kid's half immortal mind caught in a stammer.
"Th- the… that… that's a page of the…th - the!! –
"You know, don't you? Who that devil actually is, the one that bit Adam!"
"Adam was…was, I'm sorry!" His face was wildly pale, dispute the boy's origins.
"It's a page of YOUR story."
Raku shook his head, catching the wall as he breathed, feeling as if he could choke. That there was –
He'd shut it off. He'd lose control.
No, of his." The boy said, body pierced to the wall, trapped there.
Raku fell to his knees and finally, wept. "I….if know, I know I didn't seal him up…I'm sorry! Anna tried, she had…back then, not enough magic….please…"
"I want you to be honest in every word, lad." Kneeling to one knee, John pulled the kid's hand to his face as he let Raku feel the stubble. "I'm fine, just a little curse. Should have seen when I swallowed the blood off a corpse to save another corpse." He saw Raku try to piece the image in his mind, he only shook his head.
"It's worse…you can –
"The house has a barrier. It can't activate if the hand that held it weren't so gifted in magic wielding." He, was one such sorcerer to be so egocentric, not her. But by their magic, so was Zee. "I've faced vampires, beasties and hobgoblins and even dragons once upon a fairytale. You're no different to me. Similar to one older case that involved "roasting" Prince Vlad, thee Dragul himself in front of his own court. It was, pretty ripe for the picking." John smiled, Raku not knowing what to say to that.
So was Raku, a creature… if he ever wished to believe that for himself, fully. He was afraid of his powers and a part of them not being borne to the mortal realm. Sighing, John shushed the boy softly and patted his head, letting the kid's tears dry long enough to allow the teenager room to speak up.
"I, his name…what that page said….what he did to me while she was a part of my….transformation." The boy hugged his arms to his chest and sniffled. "What he is, and what Roku….how he was born by two minds, not hearts."
"Roku, the one you were because of the strix's mess?"
"Yes, because he…was the creation that she wanted. Not me." He shook his head, forlorn. "I was a vessel . A thing to –
"Focus on me, lad. Who was the other mate she worked with?"
"His name, and he by far is stronger now that Roku is buried... He can't kill, he can't only kill, he turns and kills but…that wasn't his bite, but… it was a follower's." Raku told the magi. "I smelled it, John….a part of me saw the tainted aura surrounding Adam…and I….I, shut myself down…to be safe…"
"His name, you then… know, it?"
Last chances left here to do the right thing, the boy finally complied.
"L….Lothos. Lord Lothos is another version, another alternate vampire akin to Shadow Von Hert…you don't know him. Mr. Grayson and Verra do… and to Dragul, a different alternate I have never met….He is, the fantasy addition of a warlock and a demon, and…he raped me to awaken my anguish before Roku became us….Lilith, she claimed that Roku was the child of she and Lothos, by their power making….him, from my despair. I was a catalyst, yet Roku won…"
Shadow Von Hert…all fantasy character names from a lousy, reclusive, adult.
"Why did you panic inside the halls? Was that bite a warning that he's maybe, back?"
"Yes."
John's blood was far colder, yet too were Raku's eyes. Empty, as his empathy vanished with his youth and that promise of a tomorrow he'd made with Aiden. "John, promise…the r…rape. You won't tell any, or only those that you must…he will use that memory to hurt me, and it will hurt. He always knew like Lilu, how to hurt me the worst…please…"
It was not Nergal, he was not as devious. Yet somewhat worse to women… to them, but a boy? A half mortal child…?
This Lothos, it was confusing how fascinated a demon was – Nergal had boundaries yet toyed with his prey. Yet a mean old pedo - vamp?
John's conscience lurched as he never let his eyes waver from that boy's. He'd bring back the shine in those eyes. Lothos…a criminal in another world was here, in London. Waiting to hurt those dear to the magi.
To do again whatever he sought in his demon's mind's eye.
"Lad, you can't run from it and in your condition, Jen and Jack will have to enjoy being four-foot-tall copies. I won't push it. You can face –
"It's because he's still after what I stood for, that aura…I can read it, it tells a story." Raku breathed again. In and out. "It said…I'm a leader and you…are destined to stand beside… th – the red lord…once more…."
Raku must have been faint enough to fall, instead, he resisted as John scooped up the boy. His djinn self was worn, yet the magi and empath within was eaten alive by a tiny nip from an energy feeder.
And the very worst part of this chat?
The criminal demon didn't have to so much as touch that boy, he was as powerful as Raku then, maybe, even Roku…
The red lord; that stayed asleep for the rest of its time in stasis.
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Inside Chas's rooms, Zee was leaving with Jen dangling her keys over her head for John to see. "My flat is closer. These two will bunk with me, Johnny. Take care of your pupil for us, Alrighty?"
John nodded, mostly to Zee as she grabbed her coat and waved them out, her eyes making that crinkle she did when her heart was too wide. Too true for a friend not to notice it, that quirk had John stumble on the sofa and throw an arm over his face. Desperately, things were not getting any better from their standpoint. Raku was too close to being led around by some crazed lunatic with a necrophilia unmatched by time.
He'd rated John's student. Raku even said that Roku came from this walking corpse - if ever it were one to nail back into its coffin.
His throat had acid burn as Chas brought over some tea and a pill. Acid. Great move.
"I know you well enough to see that this all is eating at you, mate. The boy is in capable hands."
"Ignito never showed." John sighed into his sleeve, into the air. "The boy is not just spooked, Chas. He needs saving, and…"
"Can you, then? Try over with him? He won't go to hell. You know he's immune to that."
IN a sense, also true. He couldn't be placed in the care of the gods unless something terrible happened. Mind - bendingly so.
"He may not have a Nergal, but this lovely beastie…he sounds like purely a bloody sadist. And that boy, he's not young. I have to recall his real face…"
"So? Jack is any different? He's practically a little –
"Oy. That child in me is, is complex. Not so easy to stereotype." John rubbed his stubble - clad chin.
"Raku, is the same. Complex people have more bullies glued to their backs than normies in a day job cubicle on a Friday night." John sat up and pushed back his hair. "The agenda is that with this new menace, we push through. Raku forgets one big part of the job he'll later gather by being my student; people suffer while around you, so stay single always and staying always alert of anything that goes thump under our heels. Always."
"Amber worries you, does she? I think she's so close –
"Too close, and she was the one that dragged the lad off on separate occasions just before the attack in the school yard."
"She's a child at heart, maybe crushing a bit on the lad!" Chas exclaimed. "It can't be so, it's- she doesn't…"
"No, I think the opposite. She doesn't like him one bit, yet Michael does."
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Part of that was correct. We shall see. Raku gave us some insight because any friend of Lily's was no friend of Raku's. We are going to learn about the fully revived monster that Anna never got rid of in the last few arcs before. Find out!