I shrugged, grinning. “I’m a creature, remember? This is how we do it at Charmden.”
War took a long pull from his D’usse, his eyes on me, face relaxed for once. No scowl, no bullshit. Just him, dark, beautiful and perfect, like a black rose with thorns.
“You ever gonna introduce me to Cashaun, or does he only come out around his human friends?”
“You nosey as fuck, aren’t you?”
“I don’t have a choice but to be at this point. How the hell did you end up with human friends when you spent most your life in another realm?”
He leaned back, eyes growing distant. “This house belonged to my mother. Jay’s mom lived next door. We grew up together—our moms were as close as sisters. I used to sneak out of our realm just to play with him. You can’t keep me away from the city. But those other niggas he hangs out with? They’re his people.”
“And he introduced you to Jade? Did you love her, or did you just fuck her like you hated her?”
War smirked, the swords in his mouth gleaming. “I fucked her the same way your elf boy was fucking you,” he replied.
At least the bitch is dead.
“One day, I hope I can read your mind the way you do mine. You know everything about me. I wish I had that kind of magic.”
“You do. But you ran from it instead of using it. Charmden could’ve been yours if you hadn’t listened to your mother when she told you to hide your wand. Magic’s like a muscle—stop using it, it goes weak. Then when you need it, it’s already dead, or you have to try to revive it again,” he responded.
He stood up, sweatpants hanging low, skin shining. For a second, I wanted to climb him like a tree, let him fuck me right here on the table. But something in his face stopped me—something vulnerable, almost aching.
Is he nervous?
He walked over, coming up behind me, brushing my hair off my neck. He paused. “Do you want to see how I became this way?”he asked.
“Yes,” I whispered.
He kissed my neck, slow and deep, and then started whispering—not English, but something ancient and eerie, words that crawled under my skin. His voice dropped, deep and raspy, cutting through me. My nails gouged the table. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. The words crawled inside my skull, dragging me under. Everything went black. The air reeked of blood, rot, and death. I saw War chained to iron poles, black-hooded warlocks circling him in a candlelit tower, their Hex13 medallions flashing in the dark.
A black cloud spilled from an urn, swirling inside a circle drawn in blood—two spirals, one black and one red, twisting around each other until they met at the center. The lines pulsed, wet and glistening, as if the blood refused to dry. The symbol seemed to breathe, promising rebirth through pain. War screamed—a sound that tore me apart—while shadows carved runes into his flesh, peeling him open like overripe fruit. Their chanting was a curse, a soul offering.
Blood pooled at his knees, and from it rose a man—the same wizard from War’s painting. He stepped into War’s body, and I felt it: that twisted presence that stole me from my land and forced me to be his pussy fairy. War’s form stretched and swelled, power radiating off him. When he opened his eyes, they burned with that same corrupted magic.
He touched my neck, snapping me out of it. “I’m no longer the same Cashaun, Eboenia. I was chosen to carry out the duties of Azarion. I carry his soul with me and inherited his magic.Cashaun plus Azarion equals War,” he said, dropping a major bomb on me.
“How long have you been like this?” I asked War.
“It has been four months since my transformation. Up until then, I was a top-ranking Hex13. I overworked myself, studied the laws of spells, and mastered each and every one of them,” he replied.
I stood from the table, feeling weak from the effects of War letting me into his past. “I need to lie down. I don’t feel right.”
Tears burned down my face—the aftermath of the pain from Cashaun losing his life to welcome War’s was still raw. I thought War had just inherited his ancestor’s magic, the same way I inherited my wand. I never imagined he was the wizard. Every time I thought I had him figured out, he yanked me deeper into the dark.
I walked out of the dining room, heart hammering. As I hit the stairs, the doorbell rang, echoing through the house. I paused, wondering if it was someone from Charmden. War shot me a glance, and with a flick of his sorcery, my provocative lace robe transformed into a heavy two-piece sweatsuit that swallowed my frame. Then he went to open the door. Jay walked in, looking rough.
“Broooo, you won’t believe the night I had,” he complained, voice hoarse. “I can’t remember shit. Some niggas ran down on me in Cherry Hill—stole my jewelry, my truck, a few g’s. Now Jade’s people blowing up my phone, saying she’s missing and she was at my party. Yo, I don’t remember none of that. You think it’s the pills I be popping?” He rambled, looking at War.
War shook his head. “Why you keep going over there? I thought you said you was done fuckin’ that one joint. You stay creepin’ over there, knowing what type of time they be on. As for Jade, I ain’t seen her. She wasn’t at Norma’s with us.” His city accent came out heavy talking to Jay, and I couldn’t help but find it attractive how he switched up.
Jay waved him off. “I ain’t trippin’ over them Cherry Hill niggas, that’s that lead poisoning got them geekin’,” he said, then paused, confusion flickering over his face. “Yo, I don’t remember seeing you at the party,” he said to War.
“I was there,” War replied.
When Jay finally noticed me, he looked at War, then back at me, clocking the collar around my neck. “What kind of freaky shit you got going on in here? Why she got that big-ass collar on? You doing it like that now?” Jay raised an eyebrow.
War just brushed him off. “Yo, that ain’t got nothing to do with you popping up at my crib.”
