March 7th, 2018

Tesla Academy

Testing Chambers

08:00 AM

Doctor Jordan couldn’t believe that Nikola Tesla would come before her today, after all, his time was precious and she was just a humble employee of his. His daughter, Annya Tesla was watching the monitor of the supercomputer that showed the stats of her new friend, Elissa Von Braun. The two were really interested in the power that she demonstrated in the Omega testing chamber.

“Those numbers can’t be right!” Annya exclaimed.

The blonde was looking at the numbers on the graph of the exothermic scan, she watched the screen as if it was a really bad liar.

Nikola smiled, crossed his arms and said, “Why can’t they be?”

Nikola was proud of his last born, she was brilliant, curious and tenacious; however, she reacted badly to things surpassing her knowledge and strived to prove that what she saw was impossible. As her father, he often had to gently guide her to his way of thinking before she let go of her preconceptions. Those three were in the control room for the test Chambers.

Sandra had called Tesla personally to avoid tipping off the equipment division, hence keeping Elissa's secret. She didn't expect that the Professor would be acquainted with Elissa.

Annya stopped watching the screen, turned to her father and as she saw his teasing smile she rolled her eyes. “Dad, look she froze everything to stillness, she reached absolute zero. This proves the complete absence of motion of any substance can be achieved; our technology and science still don’t permit us to reach it.”

“That’s what’s tricky with superpowers, they enable superhumans to do impossible things,” Nikola said to make her let go of that theory that isn’t just a theory anymore.

Annya pondered long and hard, then she said,“Why is she still ranked Alpha? Omega would suit her well…”

Nikola shook his head, he wouldn’t let that happen.“No, we won’t reveal her true stats to the league.”

Omega ranked supers were automatically drafted into the Omega corps in the USA, they were similar to strategic weapons or nuclear deterrent.

“Hum, Professor Tesla?” Sandra called out to Nikola.

The man turned towards her, smiling.

“Oh, miss Jordan, I am so sorry, we can be really enthusiastic about all that science.” He said as he flashed her his perfect teeth as he put his hand in the pocket of his lab coat.

Sandra made a knowing glance that showed that she knew how he felt.

“Don’t apologize I am the same… Elissa has shown me a different dimension of what a being can achieve.”

The little redhead was the most powerful cryokinetic that appeared to date, dwarfing the results from previous contenders.

“Doctor Jordan, the thing is… with Elissa Von Braun there are some secrets invol-”

Sandra raised her hands to stop him from speaking any more, she smiled wryly.“You don’t have to warn me about keeping everything about her underwrap, Elissa made me promise not to say anything.”

“Doctor, I cannot take this risk I am sorry; a lot is depending on you keeping silent, her mother is a hard woman.” Nikola’s face took on an apologetic expression.

“Annya call Malicia.” The blonde already took out her phone and began to search through her contact list.

Sandra looked weirded out by their behaviors as if they deferred to someone. “Who?” Sandra asked Nikola who was about to answer when someone interrupted him.

“I am already here.” A soft but hard voice could be heard.

Everyone turned toward the voice, Sandra was shocked that someone could appear at will like that; she thought that the academy was protected against teleporters barging into the school this way. The woman was gorgeous, ethereally so; the doctor’s eyes glowed gold as she activated her power, and through the use of her biological manipulation, Sandra noticed that this Malicia woman wasn’t human at all.

“I have been scrying on you since this morning.” Malicia laughed evilly.

Malicia’s gaze found Sandra’s and she sucked in a breath and walked to her. The sorceress’s eyes glowed and it was the doctor’s turn to express her surprise; the two women looked at each other, smiled.

“Are you a healer? I can guess that you are through your aura, you are so… untainted for someone not bound by an oath.” The sorceress was surprised to find an unbound healer in a tech academy.

She turned her face toward Tesla and asked herself if he knew what kind of existence he had in his employ. Healers were a boon to kingdoms or countries on Phantasia, but often they turned to the dark side when not bound by oath to not harm and use necromancy. Malicia couldn’t see any oath binding Sandra Jordan in any way, the same for Elissa who possesses the same power through her patriarchal line.

The sorceress was reminded that Daphne’s daughter was destined to be a healer and not a magic warrior…

*Bound? Why would I be? I already swore a Hippocratic Oath when I got my doctorate. Does she mean magically? Is she a magic user like my mother?* Sandra stepped back, she has been wary of any magic user since her mother betrayed her.

“You miss are not human,” Sandra said out loud.

“Of course not, why would I be?” Malicia let her glamour dissipate, her crown of horns appeared around her head and her eyes became catlike with a greenish gold tint. “And it’s Mrs.”

“Oh,” Sandra said, looking at the demoness before her.

The black woman wasn’t afraid, Malicia didn’t feel as scary as the first demon she met. Malica had this aura of laissez-faire leadership around her; the proof of it was how the most powerful man on Earth was three steps behind her, keeping silent as the black haired demoness interacted with her.

“Are you not shocked by my appearance?” Malicia tilted her head, a gorgeous smile on her face.

Sandra shook her head and then adjusted her glasses on her nose. “You are not the first Demonoid that I’ve seen.”

Malicia had smelled that it was the case, she sniffed the air around the doctor. “Are you related to one?”

The sorceress could sense that someone in her family had a demonic aura as their scents were intermingled, there were also motes of darkness and spirit surrounding the doctor; however, they didn’t seem inimical at all. From demon to demon they could sense the intentions and feelings of each other this way, it was an evolutionary trait as some demons didn’t always have a humanoid form; Malicia could feel that doctor Sandra Jordan was loved by the demon cohabiting with her.

“Yes, my daughter actually; it is a long story,” Sandra confessed.

To Malicia’s demonic senses there was a string of feelings surrounding the doctor’s aura: Shame, love, resolution, worry. The sorceress could feel the tension in the black woman’s shoulders as she made herself smaller under Malicia’s gaze.

The sorceress advanced toward Sandra and put a hand on her shoulder.“I don’t presume that you would be amenable in talking about it, do you have any problems with her?”

Sandra looked into Malicia’s eyes, she didn’t seem to be trying to manipulate her, unlike her daughter’s father the first time they met.

Sandra nodded. “Yes, she struggles to control her instincts. I am also hiding her from her father.”

Malicia took her hand off the shoulder of the doctor and was already calculating the pros and cons of having a healer at her beck and call. Someone unbound by any oath made by the Corvinus Council on Earth or the Mage Circle of Phantasia. A grin appeared on Malicia’s face as she stopped pacing.

“I have a deal for you, doctor… Jordan.” Malicia read the woman’s name on the badge pinned on her lab coat. “We will bring you into our circle, and I will help your daughter have a normal life. Explain to her what the demon part of her is like, bring it under control.” Malicia’s horn shimmered as a golden ball of mana appeared up her head.

The ball began to spin around Malicia who caught it in her hand and crushed it; the motes of light dissipated as she shook her hand playfully.

Sandra was not impressed by the display of power, however, she had seen the same thing happen with daughter’s horn when she was younger. “She’s a half, it shouldn’t be this hard for her to master her demonic powers.” The doctor muttered under her breath.

Malicia heard her nonetheless.

The sorceress shook her head and said,“It depends on if she represses that side of her.”

“Oh,” Sandra said.

Her daughter, Sarah was always depressed, desperately wanting to be a normal human. She categorically tried to saw off her horn or hide her tail, but she couldn’t hide how red her skin was.

“From where I come from, Half-demons are commonplace,” Malicia informed the black woman.

Sandra’s hopes were reignited, she couldn't not seize this opportunity, even if she had to make a deal with a demoness. If a man like Tesla was trusting this woman? Why couldn’t she?

“I will help her and you. I have a school, and I will teach her personally and protect her from her father while giving her the means to do that herself.”

Malicia made a card appear in her hand and gave it to Sandra who looked at it with her hand trembling.

Dean Malicia Von Braun-Halliwell

Daphne Snow School of Arcane Art

Pioneer Park

Island Crest Way

360-666-2012

Tears appeared in Sandra’s eyes as her eyes fell on the smiling demoness.“I… don’t care about myself, but her? Yes, I would give everything I have to be able to see her smile.”

Annya and Nikola were touched by the selfless nature of the doctor; they had stayed silent to let Malicia handle everything. Nikola thought that she was an opportunistic and manipulative being, however, it seemed that she had a soft spot for parents with children in difficulty.

“I want you to teach my daughter, Elissa, everything you know about being a healer,” Malicia said, not making a heavier demand on Sandra.

The sorceress thought that slavery wouldn’t be well received from her present ally behind her and it was a taboo on this planet to even hint at it. She found that hypocritical as the nation they were in utilized an indenture system for students through the banks called ‘student loans.’ Malicia materialized a tissue in her hand and gave it to Sandra who wiped her tears and thanked her.

Once she calmed down, the black woman was all business. “I accept your terms.”

She couldn’t find anyone more suited to aid her Sarah in the pit of despair she had entrenched herself in. Sandra looked more in-depth through her biological scanning eyes, that Malicia was a demoness and something… other? The black haired demoness said that Elissa was her daughter but how could this be? Sandra decided to ask.

“You know, you don’t look like Elissa, your DNA is also different…” The doctor began.

Malicia’s expression changed, a bit sad by this fact. Elissa wasn’t her flesh and blood, however, she raised her as if she was her daughter. In her heart of hearts, she knew though that she was hers, whatever genetics and lineage said.

“A family is tied by more than blood, Doctor Jordan.” The sorceress answered to Sandra.

Sandra felt guilty as she saw the woman’s expression full of sadness.“You are right, I apolog-”

The sorceress interrupted her by raising her finger and placing it on Sandra’s lips.

“Stop apologizing, I made peace with that long ago,” Malicia said, freeing the woman’s lips. She turned to the Teslas. “Nikola, Annya do any of you have a paper and a pen?”

Malicia was keen to wrap this up as she had a meeting with the parents of the young upstart that attacked her daughter. A lesson will be extracted and she intended for it to be a resounding example for those who had designs in harming her family.

“Yes, Malicia,” Nikola said taking out his personal fountain pen out of his lab coat pocket. Annya took a paper from the printing machine. Annya and her father put the pen and the paper on the table.

Malicia’s will focus on the paper, and the pen moved by itself as the sorceress began to write a contract about keeping the origins of her family secret, the terms of services concerning Sandra’s daughter and Elissa’s own training. Once done, she dried the ink and showed the contract to the doctor who studied it and saw no traps in the wording; it was pretty straightforward. Sandra was given the pen and as she signed it, a roll of thunder made her flinch and emit a little squeak of fright.

“Welcome to the Circle, Doctor Jordan.” Malicia cackled.

---

Daphne Snow School of Arcane Art

Dean’s wing

08:20 AM

Heracles was looking through the glass window of his shared bedroom in the Daphne Snow Palace. The man giggled at the name, it was really like his wife to give hints to people and at the same time dedicating a part of her territory to Phantasia’s mightiest ruler. The sky was blue and the forest and gardens gradually became green. Spell arrays shined in the fountains and geometric patterns formed by the beds of flowers and bushes.

The hero thought that Malicia was beefing up the defensive spells of this place to make it as impregnable as their own house in Seattle. He felt safe here, more so than in his own house. Maybe because this place was under Malicia’s dominion. The atmospheric shield reminded him of the one in the capital of the Phantasian continent, Storm Advent as it filtered the atmosphere for harmful substances, UV lights and didn’t let the pollution prevalent on this planet enter the pocket realm.

Heracles’ phone rang in his black and silver jacket pocket; he took the device in hand, careful not to crush it and saw that his daughter Cassandra was calling him. He had an idea of why she was calling. The man accepted the call.

“Daddy, hi!” A cute voice could be heard from Heracles’ smartphone.

A large smile appeared on the redheaded man’s chiseled face.

“Hi, Cassandra my little star, is everything ok? Why are you calling this early?” He already knew why but decided to play her little game. Like her mother, Cassandra felt the need to manipulate and arrange events to go her way, even to the extent to cut deals. Heracles dreaded the moment she would enter puberty.

“Hum… did you talk with mom about what we spoke about last night?” Cassandra’s voice was shy.

A smile appeared on the redheaded man’s face, he closed his eyes.

“Not yet, darling. But I promise you that I will do everything in my power to let it happen. Do you trust dad?” Heracles decided to use the same immature manipulation on her, it often worked.

“Psshh, dumb question daddy! I trust you implicatly.” Cassandra affirmed vigorously, but the mispronunciation of the word implicitly dispelled the impact of her sentence.

Heracles laughed. “You mean implicitly, honey.”

“That’s what I said!” Heracles could feel her pout right at this moment.

The little girl was proud, too much so for Heracles liking but he liked that she was different from Elissa at her age. Elissa was willing to blindly listen and learn from them, following them like a baby duck following its mother. Cassandra asked questions and was unruly, more so than Elissa who had just begun to enter her rebellious phase.

Heracles began to laugh a bit at his other daughter because she was finally becoming interested in someone romantically. He decided to cut short to his way of thinking, Malicia had told him how she had found Elissa and her roommate. Of course, he wouldn’t think of sharing that news with Cassandra who might get jealous, to her Elissa only belonged to her; she was her playmate, confidant, and sister-in-craft.

“You really want to go to this school, huh.” Heracles continued.

Cassandra giggled. “Yes! I am already the best with that magic, math, and English stuff! How hard a magic school could be?” The little girl answered confidently.

Wanting to poke some fun at Cassandra, her father asked, “How is your Phantasian?”

“Urgh.” Cassandra made a dejected groan.

The redheaded man laughed heartily.

“That’s what I thought,” Heracles said, giving a smile.

The door behind him suddenly opened, it was his wife and he decided to cut short the call. Malicia put her handbag on her bed and walked toward her husband, all smiles.

“Honey, your mom is here; I will call you back.” The man said quickly.

“Don’t forget what we spoke about daddy! Goodbye.” Cassandra reminded him.

Malicia walked slowly toward her husband who appreciated the predatory gait she adopted each time she saw him. The sorceress was clothed in a black long dress with stretchy bandage ankle strap pumps of the same color, a dark blue leather double-breasted trench coat covered her outfit but didn’t hide her gorgeous form in the least. Heracles opened his arms and engulfed his beautiful wife in his embrace, as usual, she smelled of black orchids and fire, he kissed her chastely on the lips; Malicia looked at him fondly and said, “It was Cassie?”

Heracles directed his wife to come to sit on his lap while he was on the bed.

“Yes, she wants to enter the school,” Heracles said while playing a lock of Malicia’s black hair.

Malicia giggled, proud of the fact that her daughter was using her father to convince her.

“And she is using you to negotiate with me? This girl, she reminds me of myself when I was her age.” The black haired demoness smiled, her eyes literally glowing in contentment and she bonelessly leaned on her husband.

Heracles laughed and said, “I remember you telling me that you were a scourge with your mother and she cursed you to relive the same with your own daughter.”

“Yes,” Malicia said, her face expressing her dejection. “I thought I was escaping it when raising Elissa… she was so compliant, so cute. Then we had Cassandra and she showed me what hell felt like but I wouldn’t have it any other way. We have wonderful daughters.”

“That I agree with, my love.” The hero said it had been hard to begin seeing Elissa as more than his charge at first, but he was her father; Cassandra had been accepted readily and she presented all the signs of his bloodline: the charisma aura, the super strength, and toughness. He was proud of the two of them. He loved Malicia more than his life.

“What do you think we should do? Bring the house here and put it into the pocket dimension? Cassandra could attend the school this way.” Malicia said as she finally thought that it was prudent to bring her daughter and home in her place of power.

Heracles didn’t hesitate one second and nodded as he said, “A good idea, I feel safe here. At least there’s no way for their satellites to spy on us or direct a missile on it when that old goat Blake’s pride chokes him.”

Malicia’s golden aura surrounded her as she thought of the incident four years ago, her horns and eyes glowed gold with menace and her nails elongated as if ready to rip someone to pieces.

“I told you that we should have killed him at the time.” The sorceress said between her teeth, her voice echoing with power in the room.

Heracles looked cool as a cucumber, not at all scared by the display of power or the pressure Malicia emitted.

“Maybe.” He replied nonchalantly.

The atmosphere subsided.

Malicia’s glamour was in place again.“There will be no staying my hand the next time.” She said with finality.

Heracles smiled at his wife, amused by her antics; No, he wouldn’t make her stop if that glory seeking clown came at them once again.

“Speaking of staying one’s hand, what do you think we should do to those Price people?” Heracles changed the subject to the task at hand.

Malicia stopped moving, a sign that she was thinking.

She opened her mouth after a moment to say, “We will go to the meeting place at Tesla’s and confront them, I wish to see what kind of parents would let their son run rampant this way. In my court I would have him skinned and then left alone in a cell with an amorous troll, all at the same time.”

Heracles was chilled by the idea, as always when he heard things his wife had done on Phantasia in her Queendom.

“It’s a bit extreme don’t you think?” Heracles said while caressing Malicia’s arm to appease her anger.

She turned her face to look at him, eyes glowing.

“There was no crime in my kingdom, conspiracies were trampled underfoot by my spies. I had my many enemies under my heel and I crushed them mercilessly.” Malicia said with relish and longing, she was missing those old days when she could do as she pleased but still rule with knowledge and play with politics.

Heracles looked at Malicia’s long and shapely limbs, slowly passing a hand on her thigh.

“Beautiful heels, maybe I will get to play with them tonight.” He said while looking at her feet.

The sorceress leaned more into him, Heracles smelled her hair and left a kiss on her right cheek. They stayed in companionable silence for a while before the alarm on Malicia’s phone reminded them that they had a meeting to get to.

“Let’s take the car, the long way seems better in this situation; those humans are going to be made to wait for us,” Malicia said.

Heracles laughed.“I like how you think, dear.”

Malicia stood from her comfortable position and got her shapely bottom slapped playfully by Heracles, she smiled at him but shoved him onto the bed with a telekinetic spell. The redheaded man shook his head in wonder, asking himself how he landed such a gorgeous woman.

“Let’s go.” The redheaded man said taking his keys from his jacket pocket.

---

Tesla Academy

Administrative building

09:00 AM

 

They parked their black Tesla Model S in the underground parking lot of the academy and connected it to the charging station to recharge the batteries. Being married to someone who loathed any vehicles powered by combustion engines had been difficult for Heracles in their first year on this Earth. Living in Paris was not possible, so they lived in a large condo in the most ecologically conscious town near the City of Lights.

It was different in this state as they bordered a Tesla recycling facility and one of the atmospheric filters the Tesla corporation made to make Seattle clean and the air fresh. Malicia had chosen this location for its Ley lines and clean environment.

As they exited the parking, Malicia looked around her and looked disgusted at the cars near theirs and wanted to set them on fire but resisted the impulse. She harrumphed, took her husband’s hand and walked out of the parking garage and toward the administrative building.

The staff of android maids operating the place allowed them to enter, and take the elevator.

Ding. The elevator reached the third floor.

Hand in hand, Malicia, and Heracles advanced toward the door of the Dean’s office. The android maid acting as a secretary looked at them and gave a smile. Malicia was already thinking of buying one of those, she guessed that she could ask Nikola about it. Those maids could easily be used as nannies and live-in servants.

*Why not use a stable of them, I wouldn’t have to play housewife anymore now that my finances are in the clear.* She thought, and she liked this idea.

Malicia thought that maybe combining magitech and the art of golem-making should translate wonderfully with the budding enchanter that Nikola Tesla is.

The maid’s eyes gained an electric blue tint.

“It is us. Are Lord Tesla and the Prices in?” Malicia took charge of the talking as she usually does.

The mechanical maid said in her feminine but electronic voice as she stood up and guided them toward the waiting room and then to the Dean’s office.

The maid knocked on the door twice, opened the door and gave way to Malicia and Heracles who found a large chested brunette man clothed in a professional grey Armani suit and a lithe blonde woman in a white shirt and black tailored skirt, tights and to complement the outfit, black and white heels. The woman squinted her eyes at Malicia and seemed to hate her on sight as she found her more attractive than her and the eyes of her husband stayed locked on her with his mouth agape.

But her jaw lowered to as she took stock of Heracles whose aura wrecked her mind, he was terribly masculine, his muscles strained to get free from the black and silver suit he was wearing.

“Welcome Heracles, good to see you again, Malicia.” Nikola Tesla was seated in the Dean’s office whom he gave a holiday to.

“Good morning,” Heracles didn’t bother looking at the two Prices and only saluted his old friend.

He had already assessed the threat that those two posed thanks to the Justicar’s files on the other teams. The hero knew that Noah Price was a strongman with an ability geared more toward toughness and Isobel Price was an energy manipulator, both of them ranked upper Alpha. Heracles didn’t bother with the ranking system on this planet, most of the superhumans on Earth could be considered grunts on Phantasia who had people with the same powers but with decidedly more amplified versions of them.

The blatant contempt that these two had for them rankled Noah and Isobel; Nikola felt the tension in the room raise and lamented the fact that he had left his body armor in his room. He soldiered on and asked the two sets of parents to follow him into the lounge adjoining the office, furnished with sofas and a coffee table. He ordered his secretary to bring coffee and cake through his CLO.

Malicia let her supernatural allure flare at full power, causing Noah Price to follow the movement of her rolling waist, his wife slapped him on the back of the head. He was snapped out of his trance almost instantly. The sorceress went to sit on the black and red one seater sofa, crossing her legs elegantly as if she was a queen presiding over her court.

Heracles preferred to stand and lean on the wall with his powerful arms crossed.

Isobel and Noah sat on the two-seater sofa of the same color while Tesla sat between the couples; the android maid appeared through the door and came with a serving of coffee, fruit cake, and tea biscuits.

“Now that we are all here, let’s begin.” Nikola clapped his hands.“So we are here to mediate about the event that happened yesterday.”

“Is that how you call it? Their evil daughter put my son in the hospital!” Isobel shouted, pointing a finger at Malicia, who fought to keep her face straight and not laugh at the woman.

Isobel couldn’t believe the gall of these two people, their daughter assaulted her innocent son, she deserves jail time for it! Her eyes flashed with an evil light as she looked at Malicia with enmity.

Heracles intervened in a calm voice, “That boy attacked my daughter and her friends, it was obviously legitimate defense and knowing his reputation I am surprised that she didn’t kill him.”

“What?!” Noah stood up, while Isobel looked at the redheaded man, ready to attack him as she slowly stood up. Her husband seeing her hand glow put himself between them.

But his efforts were for nothing as the beautiful raven-haired woman spoke.

“I wouldn’t have minded it, this young man is a waste of air,” Malicia said as she looked boringly at the father and mother.

Her fist supported her head; she uncrossed and crossed her legs again.

“You!” Isobel’s hand shimmered dangerously in red lights. “I’m going to roast you, you devil!” The blonde woman raised her hand.

Just in time, Nikola consulted his HUD and activated the neurolock system to disable the abilities of everyone in the room. It worked wonders on the superhumans, but he saw Heracles smile at him confidently. Isobel felt cut off from her power, but it didn’t deter her at all as she tried to lunge toward Malicia.

Her husband stopped her by immobilizing her in a bear hug.

“You obviously think quite highly of yourselves, huh?” The sorceress continued, as she looked at the demented woman struggle. “We have discovered a worrying trend concerning your son and his tendencies about women. He likes to intimidate and force them in sexual intercourse,”

Malicia looked at Isobel as if she was something dirty and said, “Such an animal roaming this school should not have been permitted. Each time he was about to be charged, someone, a certain officer Leach from the local PD seems to have buried the cases or intimidated the plaintiffs.” Malicia’s hand shined gold as she made a cake from the silver tray of cakes on the low table float toward her.

She was showing that the neurolock had no effect on her innate magic. It worked as Noah and Isobel put themselves on their guard as they stopped moving while noticing that Malicia wasn’t affected by the power dampening system. Nikola just sighed and his maid came to serve him a mug of coffee.

Nikola decided to intervene to bring attention to him to defuse the violence, and said, “The money trail, a well-hidden one by the way, led to you. I have even worse news to give you, it seems Benjamin was illegally obtaining files on the students of this institution. Clearly linked to the losses after recruitment we have been having. My legal teams are already on the warpath, and the BSA is waiting for your son to wake up to be interrogated.”

Noah couldn’t believe his ears, his career was in jeopardy, he had thought that he had made his business untraceable. His blonde spouse got out of his arms, kicked the sofa but her husband caught her again.

“My son wouldn’t do any of this! How dare you-” Isobel tried to say.

Isobel struggled as she tried to attack Tesla who simply sipped on his coffee.

Heracles was amused by this woman who acted a bit like a mother bear trying to defend her cub.

“We are going to sue you, and him,” Heracles said simply as he came behind his wife, putting his hands on the back of the sofa.

Noah couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he snickered at the amateurish threat. “Ah, there’s no way you'll be able to, this is going to court.”

Isobel looked between her husband and Heracles. There was no way their son was the culprit after all! Her husband had told her that those girls had lied when they accused him.

“Actually, yes it is. This is not the Howard Blake college where they would bury all this, after all, the Von Brauns are going to put forward a case with their daughter and the girls your son assaulted.” Nikola said after finishing his cup of coffee and putting it on the low table.

Malicia wasn’t pitying the other woman in the room, either she was acting in denial or husband was used to lie to her about… everything. The sorceress couldn’t believe the level of deception this man, Noah Price, employed to keep himself clean from family and to the eyes of the people; he would be at home in the Faerie court.

But to her demonic senses, he was as conniving as a Demon of Greed. Isobel's aura wavered between wrath, denial, loss, and love for her son; finally, it settled on conviction, conviction that she was right and she chose to trust her husband and evil spawn.

Malicia decided to take the gloves off.

The sorceress worked on two curses targeted at Noah and Isobel Price, first for the man a curse that induced infertility and wouldn’t let him reproduce at all; the other one was also an act of conferring an ability, a minor one. She made Isobel Price a truthsayer, she will be able to detect lies and suffer physically as it is said. Malicia had decided to break up this couple, a man like Noah Price surely lied to his loving and trusting wife.

After another hour of mediation, threat, Isobel going berserk, an attempt to bribery and Noah being almost flattened by Heracles for insulting his wife the meeting broke up on Malicia saying, “I’ve taken everything from you already. We don’t need your money.”

The couple watched the Prices leave, those  two showed  furious and worried expression when they departed. Nikola wanted something stronger than coffee and went to the drink dispenser to get some cognac with ice; Heracles decided to accompany him.