Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

have to die now - people who died in pain and terror because you wanted their fear. You stole their lives from them. You stole them from those who love them. Your grief isn't pure and holy just because it's yours. It's all the same - the grief you cause, the grief you feel."
    "You are wrong, but you lack the scope to know this." She rose to her feet. "I speak to you of these things both to poke at you and because you may have a choice to make. Did you know there is a technique to drain the magic from another?"
    "You alluded to that."
    "There are two ways to do this. One requires the permission of the person being drained. One does not. Both are painful. I cannot force your power from you, for that would be against the treaty. I can, however, take what is offered." She smiled. "By you or your grandmother. I believe you will offer to allow me to sip at your power."
    "You have some strange beliefs."
    She just stood there, smiling. Johnny stood up. "Don't like that idea, do you? Can't say I blame you, but you'll do it." He nodded in a friendly way, turned, and opened the door that had been ajar, revealing stairs. He jogged up with little taps of his feet.
    Were they in a basement? No windows, cement block walls, stairs going up. What the hell - why not ask? "Is this a basement?"
    "We are belowground. It is called a bomb shelter. I believe humans in this country expected to all die in nuclear war some years back, so some built these shelters."
    "Cozy."
    "S'n Mtzo will not be able to sense you here - earth blocks him. Did you know that? In addition, my love and I have crafted other layers of protection. This will prevent any humans from finding you. Oh, and I should warn you." Clearly she was enjoying doing so. "One of the wards will be triggered if you try to escape. This will cause this shelter to collapse, burying you."
    "Isn't that a lot like killing me?"
    "I have warned you, so you are able to avoid dying."
    "Stretching the treaty pretty far, though, aren't you?"
    The Chimei tipped her head. "Has S'n Mtzo deceived you about the treaty? It is quite literal in its binding. I cannot kill you, but I can keep you as long as it pleases me to do so. You will have food and water and air, and your wastes will be disposed of. You won't be harmed, save for what you offer willingly, so I abide by the treaty. But you will not leave this room until I am ready for you to do so."
    Breathe, Lily told herself. Nice and slow. Fear was a largely physical reaction. She'd do what she could to keep from giving Bird Woman any little tastes. "Us puny little humans have a saying. It goes something like this: fuck you."
    "You try to control your fear. That increases its savor." She smiled, hands clasped in front of her, almost as if she were praying.
    On the stairs, two sets of feet sounded. One was Johnny - tap-tap-tap. The other sounded less certain. "And here comes the reason you will allow me to sip at your power. The same reason, as you will see, that the other sorcerer will not trouble us."
    Lily didn't recognize the feet that she saw first, but she knew the ankles. The calves. Surely no other ankles and calves were decorated with those particular arabesques.
    Cynna's belly moved into view, her blue T-shirt straining against the mound of baby beneath. She moved awkwardly. The stairs were steep, and her hands were fastened behind her back. Johnny was right behind her, and he wasn't fooling with a no-weapons look now. He pressed the barrel of a subma chine gun to Cynna's back. "Here she is, Beloved," he said. "Unhappy, but undamaged."
    Cynna met Lily's eyes, and sighed. "Hey, there."
    "This one is not covered by the treaty," said the Chimei. "I can do anything at all to her. I can give her pain or fear, abort her offspring, kill her outright. Whatever I wish. But I give you the power to stop me. Only offer a sip of your magic, and I will leave her alone. For a time."
    Fury turned Lily's vision red. Her hands clenched at her sides.
    "More anger than fear? Your friend is afraid." The Chimei smiled and smiled. "Consider your power, little human. Your decision. I will return when it suits me and you will tell me what, if anything, you offer. Whatever your decision then, you will remain here as long as I wish. Will that be a week or a year? Five years, or a decade? I have not decided, but at some point I will allow your grandmother to trade herself for you. You will be free then, and she will be fed and tended, and have nothing taken from her