Southwest Nights (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 1) by Kal Aaron (large ebook reader txt) 📕

a group,” Lee continued, “we remain committed to it being bound to your weapons and feel that is the best solution with the least risk at this time.” His nose twitched. “But I’ve become concerned, especially since your activities are now more high-profile than when it was bound. The group thinks it’s appropriate for me to increase the frequency of my visits until the situation stabilizes.”

“Stabilizes?” Lyssa scrubbed a hand over her face. “You’re going to be up my ass until, what, you discover a way to destroy Jofi?”

“If necessary.” Lee’s expression didn’t change. The man didn’t need a mask. His face was a mask.

“Give me a break. The sealing happened before M-Day. High profile? Haven’t you heard? We’re all out of the top hat now.” Lyssa shrugged. “And let’s face it. The Shadows might like the occasional healer to help them out, but there’s nothing easier to understand than how to use something or someone as a weapon. It’s no big surprise that Torches are getting decently well-known. That’s not going to lead to any problems. They barely understand what regalia is. They aren’t going to figure out anything about dangerous spirits bound to guns.”

Lee’s gaze flicked to the ground as a small bark scorpion scuttled past. He lifted his foot and crushed the insect under his heel. It took all of Lyssa’s self-control not to laugh at the obvious symbolism.

“I have my concerns.” Lee inclined his head at her. “Your powers would be reduced without it. You can’t deny that.”

“I’m not a Shadow running around with shards.” Lyssa shrugged. “Yes, I can pull off a lot more stunts with Jofi’s help, but that’s not the same thing as being reliant. I rarely get even close to drawing on his full power. Besides, what do you care about my ability to do my job?”

“You misunderstand my concerns. Or you’re purposely missing the point.”

Lee made a quick series of elaborate hand gestures. A shadowy figure appeared in front of him, roughly humanoid but wavering and shifting constantly.

“Your concern is sorcery-enhanced puppet theater?” Lyssa asked. “You should move to Bali with that. We need more Sorcerers working the entertainment circuit.”

“Your involvement with it was necessary because your essence is darkness and your regalia is the Night Goddess. It was a unique combination of factors at a time that meant rare effectiveness against the grand emptiness spirit. It wasn’t like we had time to hunt for a lot of help when binding it. The fool who brought it to this world had no idea what he was doing. If he hadn’t already paid for it with his life, we would have punished him ourselves.”

“Sounds like I’m a hero,” Lyssa joked.

“Don’t forget it’s not defeated, only sealed and limited. There’s still a risk of it breaking free of the binding, especially if you draw too much power too often.” Lee strolled toward her, his hands behind his back. “Power is seductive, isn’t it? It’s the thing every Sorcerer wants. In the end, age brings refinement, not true extra power, but you might have found a way around that and think to take advantage of it. This is, after all, a time of great change. Certain factions are selfish and think more in terms of years than centuries.”

Lyssa stepped forward and squared her shoulders. “Here’s the thing. I’m not interested in Society politics. I don’t care what a bunch of fossils sitting around pretending this is 4000 BC say or do. I’m not a member of some faction seeking power.”

“It sounds like you’d like to change things. A devotion to changing the status quo is a de facto faction, Miss Corti.”

“I’m too busy with my own life to worry about the Society.” Lyssa stepped back and wondered if she could get away with punching him. “Jofi’s fine. He helps my work, and my work helps the Society and feeds him what he needs. Win-win-win.”

Lee’s eyes bulged. “Stop using the word ‘he,’ girl,” he shouted. “That thing isn’t human. It’s an emptiness spirit and an extremely dangerous one at that. The only reason we haven’t destroyed it outright is that we can’t risk losing people in the process or have it break free and go on a rampage. The more you pretend it’s a friend who thinks and feels like a person, the greater risk you take. It’s nothing more than an embodied concept, and even if we’ve tricked this one and stripped away what it once was, that doesn’t mean it’s gone. It’s waiting beneath the seals, ready to be released.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Lyssa scoffed. “Screw you, Imperial Sage. I’ve got the situation under control.”

“Because of your violent lifestyle?” His tone dripped condescension.

“Partially. I think I’ve got a nice balanced way to feed Jofi without risk. What’s your plan without me? Toss sacrifices into a pit every few months and hope the angry god doesn’t wake up? As it stands, he’s been fed enough by my Torch work to not awaken for a long time, and that’s with me going out of my way not to kill people half the time.”

From what Lee had told her, Jofi took sustenance from the death of intelligent beings, which was a twisted aspect of its nature as an emptiness spirit. It wasn’t that it was absorbing their lifeforce as much as the resonant metaphysical energy of the transition between life and death, a ripple from the soul leaving the body.

Lyssa had worried enough about the implications of Jofi’s feeding not to agree to the ritual until another Sorcerer’s truth spell had verified Jofi wasn’t feeding on anyone’s souls. There were things far worse than death.

“It’s not a god!” Lee yelled. “It’s nothing more than a spirit.”

“Whatever. I’m not the one freaking out.” Lyssa shook her head. “I think after all these years, you’d trust me a little. I’ve not once damaged the seals or risked Jofi waking up. Not for a second, even when my life was on the line.”

“You’ll die rather than risk