Crazy Seduction(erotica)

“Shit! What now?” he groaned.

“Magic is not the way of Valkyries.”

He pointed to his face. “Not a Valkyrie, but I don’t like magic either.” When she looked at him doubtfully, he smiled. “I’d much rather just work on computers and programming.”This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

Her frown was back. “So, you’re a technology nerd. This explains much.”

Henry’s smile fell. He pointed to the doorway, so Hilda left Eden to return to the mansion. He followed and closed the doors, restoring the spell to its dormant mode.

Turning back to the hall, he saw Hilda was no longer there. He sighed in relief. He wasn’t sure if they were ever going to get along.

He looked inward at his new rift control and spun the ring, slowly closing the aperture. When he was done, a trickle of energy flowed out, probably more than the typical background levels, but the control felt stable.

He climbed back up the stairs and paused at the top as he heard the Valkyries in the living room talking excitedly. He didn’t feel up to seeing what was charging them up. No doubt it was Hilda showing off again. Ooo! Look at the nasty weapon I’m going to make for my granddaughter-oh yeah, and my grandson.

Henry had some thinking to do, so he headed outside to sit in his favorite spot in the gazebo.

He spent the first few minutes just soaking in the sunlight. He hadn’t seen blue skies in a little while.

The bright sunlight flashed off the surfaces of some Silver People coming in for a recharge. He wondered what activities kept them in the neighborhood now that the storm had passed.

Henry closed his eyes and listened to the distant sound of children laughing and playing. There was something relaxing about that. It was so easy to remain here and let the warmth of the sun and the joyful voices protect him from thinking about what he needed to do.

He knew he was procrastinating. It just felt so good to pretend for a moment that he was just another member of the blissfully unaware populace, just moving through life one day at a time, ignorant of the malignant forces from an incomprehensible and sanity-tearing dimension trying to get their claws on their world. Their entry point had been Baba and her spells. The same spells she’d shed in her attempt to free herself of the deal she’d made with those ancient beings.

The spells that now resided in his brain.

Though Baba had released them from her mind and no longer had a body, she was somehow still resisting his efforts to shed them as well. He thought about that. It seemed likely that the resistance might be coming from the dark being’s influence on her.

He had another epiphany, and this one stung with a bitterness that brought tears to his eyes once more.

Baba’s splitting of Henry from Stanley might not have been a change of heart after all. It was likely the only way those alien monsters could keep the dark magics bound to someone still part of this world.

It also shed new light on his months of agony climbing out of that dark pit. Hazy memories sharpened, and he recalled their promises of relief if he’d just surrender to their will. Never said with words, just impressions. They needed him alive to keep their link to Earth and its people. He’d rejected them but lived because he wanted it for himself. They didn’t get their new slave then, but their vile magic was still in his mind, and Baba was working against him, and her own desires, by preventing him from shedding them.

And the ageless alien minds were patient.

His eyes snapped open as he gasped for air. He hadn’t realized he’d stopped breathing.

“Henry? Are you okay?”

He turned his head and saw Lorelei climbing the steps of the gazebo, a look of concern on her lovely face.

He sucked in another breath as his emotions rocked his foundations once more.

Then Lorelei’s arms were around him, and he gave in to his grief.

His heart refused to give up hope that Baba would recognize and return his love. Each time he was slapped with the reality of her manipulations and the alien minds’ influence on her, that hope dimmed a little more.

He took slow, deep breaths to get his stability back. Lorelei’s grip on him was helping a great deal. It was like a grounding, a founda-

His eyes snapped open once more.

Henry looked into Lorelei’s eyes as he struggled with what he wanted to ask her.

“What is it?” she asked, then her expression changed to fear. “Henry, breathe!” she exclaimed.

He sucked in a deep breath and felt the pressure easing. He realized it was coming from the dark magic in his mind.

They were aware of his train of thought and didn’t approve. This just told him he was on the right track.

He gently eased himself from Lorelei’s grip and pushed himself to his hooves. He had to purge the alien-touched spells from his memory. He tried to eliminate just one, but Baba was there, blocking him, clinging to the magic and his mind.

“GGGGGRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!” Henry roared in rage and frustration until he dropped to his hands and knees. His muscles shook with tension.

He heard shouts and felt the soothing touch of Lorelei’s hand on his back and another in his hair. Slowly he opened his eyes and saw Valkyrie surrounding the gazebo, all armed to the teeth and aimed outwards to defend him.

He sat back and rubbed his face with his hands to remove some of the emotional fog. He pushed himself to his hooves, then turned to Lorelei. Henry took her hands in his and kissed her palms.

“Thank you for helping me regain control.”

Her concerned look strengthened. “Who were you fighting against?”

He shook his head and snorted. “Beings way above my weight class.”

Henry left the gazebo and faced the gathering warriors as the danger seemed to have passed. He held out a hand for Lorelei.

“What’s happening, Henry?” Sigrid asked.

“I need to fill everyone in on… a situation we face.” Seeing some kids in the mix, he added, “Just the adults, please.”

“The tables and chairs are still in the main cavern,” Roy suggested, and Henry nodded.

Layla, Felicia, and a few other kids complained, but the parents put their hooves down, and that was that.

Everyone filed back inside and made their way into the dining room, where the table was now back in place. Henry was very grateful for that. “I’m no longer going to make Magic Doors when there’s this much glass,” he muttered to Roy, who looked at him in question, then nodded.

Once the last adult passed through the doors into the corridor, Henry stepped through and closed the doors behind himself, releasing the spell. Then he locked the double doors from the inside to keep the curious kids out. He saw the handles wiggle and smiled.

Henry walked down into the large cavern and faced the group. It seemed the Valkyries wanted to meet this new threat on their feet. His friends had taken seats facing where they had the buffet table the night before, so he stood there to be visible to all.

He cast his eyes over the gathering. “Okay, getting right to it. Baba Yaga physically died the night of Skyfall, but her essence didn’t move on. It was her plan to perish with the rest of Humanity, but she needed to cut loose her magic for that to happen. Instead of casting it away, and maybe that was impossible, she implanted it all inside my mind. Some of this magic is strongly tainted by the dark energies lent to her by the beings who bound her to a deal for her powers. These beings are ancient, inconceivably alien, and intensely malignant. They’re from a dimension far beyond ours or Eden’s.

“Have you faced them?” one of the Valkyrie’s shouted.

Henry held her eyes to speak to her directly, but his voice carried to all ears.

“Facing these entities directly would strip you of your sanity. There’s no way for a rational mind to grasp their scope, physical nature, or powers. Because of the vast separation between our dimensions, they cannot directly interact with ours. Only their energy can make the journey, and thankfully, only in small amounts.”

He took a deep breath. “The energy that has made that journey is currently quarantined inside my head.” There was some shuffling of feet and uneasy murmurs as the gathered people came to terms with that.

“The problem is, I cannot deal with these spells in any meaningful way until Baba releases her control over them. She put them in my head but also left parts of herself bound to them. She has no faith in anyone but herself, probably a by-product of working so long with the dark entities. If I can complete the conditions of her deal, her spirit will be free to go where it needs to go. She’ll have no need to continue blocking me from dealing with the magic. Then I can defang the monster.”

“Henry, energy can’t be destroyed, so how will you deal with it?” Roy asked.

Henry sighed. “I’d love to send it back to where it came from, but the danger’s too great.”

“You won’t open a gate from here to there!” Hilda bellowed, and other Valkyrie voices chimed in.

Henry held his hands up for calm. “Listen, I couldn’t even if I wanted to, and I definitely don’t! I was speaking of bleeding the energy back into the void where the entities live, much like how the Wild Magic bleeds into Earth’s dimension. The risk would be to my mind, which would be open to the entities’ dimension. So, I’m not doing it.”

Hilda still seemed angry. “So, Master Wizard, how will you deal with the spells?”

Henry looked at his girlfriend’s mother and wondered where the hostility was coming from now. He sighed again as it seemed like another unsolvable dilemma.

“All I can do is drain the energy from the spells so they can be unwoven into their harmless base components. I’ll have to contain the collected energy inside something when I’m done, then lock it away.”

Roy’s expression showed his concern. “You’re talking about creating a reliquary of considerable power. Are you sure this isn’t exactly what these beings are after?”

“No, Roy, I can’t be sure of anything involving their intent! That’s my point! Their minds don’t track at all like ours do, so I can only do my best to find a solution that keeps the most people alive,” Henry snapped. He took a deep breath and continued with more control. “My alternative is to leave the spells as they are, pushed down in the back of my mind where the corrupt energy slowly and surely warps my values and personality until I become a slave of the entities like Baba. They’re willing to wait. They’re extremely patient.”

“If you create this artifact, the Demons will hunt for it. It will resonate with them. I’ve always said their powers don’t come from this realm,” Hilda said.

“The Demons are already working together,” Roy said, and the gathered Valkyrie made angry noises of disbelief. Roy looked to Sigrid, who nodded.