Sidhe Stone

Tian Yi woke with the mother of all headaches. He closed his eyes and tried to collect himself. Where was he? More importantly, when was he?

Memories came rushing in, and he looked around.

It was a small room with two narrow beds, but there were no bars on the windows. On the contrary, they were wide open and only covered in insect nets. The door was shut, but the simple skeleton key was in the lock inside.

There was, however, something pulsing at his wrist and he frowned at the delicate silver bangle that looked very much out of place on a man's wrist. The red stone on it pulsated like a blood covered organ. It was disgusting. He tried to pull it off, but it tightened.

What the hell was it? An object of power, obviously, but he couldn't feel the magic in it.

He tried to summon his Seeker powers and check if the little minx was still around or if she had given him to someone else.

Nothing came. He tried to summon other powers, but nothing worked. When he tried to revert to his Shadow Form, the thing backfired on him and he found himself sprawled on the back, gasping for breath like a fish out of water.

He could practically hear his old master's voice from the grave, telling him his arrogance would be his downfall one day. Apparently, he still hadn't learned that lesson. It was his own fault. He had gotten used to the idea that modern witches were mostly weak and that there was generally less magic in the world.

Park Su had also told him that witches had been hunted almost to extinction in Asia and the Middle East in the 20th century. He had also told him that even though European witches had fought each other in world wars, they had at least had the advantage of having long ago convinced regular humans that they didn't exist. Their numbers might not be large, but some of them were still powerful.

Tian Yi had listened respectfully, but he had been certain that Park Su couldn't know what a really powerful witch was. He hadn't seen the Warlocks and other major witches who had ruled their own stretches of land, laughing in the faces of emperors

Pride comes before a fall was one of the first expressions he had learned in English, and it seemed to be catching up with him now.

The door opened, and the Sentinel came in.

"Whatever you're doing, stop it. You'll just hurt yourself," she stated matter-of-factly.

He just stared at her as she sat down on the opposite bed, her legs crossed under her. She didn't even look gleeful or vengeful, just mildly interested. There was an identical bracelet on her wrist.

He remembered the gentle fluttering of her fingers on the side of his throat that had made him instantly hard, and then the sudden sharp sting that had taken him out.

"I'm sorry about this, but you really asked for it," she said.

He remained lying but turned his head to her and said, "I really didn't. I had something quite different in mind."

"Uh-huh."

"What did you think I was doing?"

"Trying to syphon off my powers."

"That's the first thing that comes to your mind when a man touches you? You seriously underestimate your charms, lady."

"It's the first thing that comes to my mind when you do it."

"It's not true."

"Well, if it isn't, you still deserve it for being stupid."

He sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm forced to agree with you there. How long have I been here?"

"An hour at the most. Maybe you should just relax and catch up on some sleep."

"And then?"

"And then do whatever you want until the High Warlock arrives. You just shouldn't go too far away from me or the thing will cut off your vital functions."

"You put a bracelet on me that makes me your slave? I'm almost flattered that you want to keep me so badly."

"It doesn't make you my slave. It's just a precaution."

"What is this stone?"

"A Sidhe stone."

"What is a she stone?"

"It's not 'she'. It's Sidhe. Fae. Fairy Folk. Celtic supernatural beings. Not those nice, cute fairies from fairy tales though. Beautiful, whimsical, and cruel."

"Are you a Fae?"

"You are so not funny."

"So, this is a bracelet made by some cruel immortal beings that allows you to make me your slave?"

"Could you not call it that?"

"Your toy on a string? Your puppy on a leash? Your…"

"All right, all right. Stick with the slave bracelet, then," she sighed.

"What did you do to take me out?"

"Just made you faint."

"I don't faint, lady."

"Fine. You lost consciousness. I just stopped the blood pressure for a moment."

He sat up and leaned towards her. She didn't flinch an inch, but just said, "Pinch me."

"I would gladly oblige you with those strange kinks of yours, but doesn't it seem like exploitation when you are clearly the one in a position of power?"

She wrinkled her cute nose in a grimace, and he couldn't resist pinching it lightly between his fingers. Immediately, his own nose started hurting like it had been pressed together by two heavy stones.

He put his hand over it and complained, "I didn't pinch you that hard!"

"Whatever you do to me will come back on you a thousand-fold. Also, as long as we're bonded with this, if I die, you die too."

He kept touching his nose to check if it was broken.

"It's not broken. You'll be fine. Let's just get along for a day and you'll be rid of me and the bracelet soon. I promise not to hurt you in any way if you don't do anything stupid."

"Do I get a kiss as a reward if I'm good?"

"Sure."

He blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes. I'll find you one of those 'paid companions' later."

"You are so not funny. And you can hold a grudge like nobody's business."

"You are absolutely right there," she said, and got up.

"Where are you going?"

"Just outside. You try and catch up on some sleep."

He stared after her. At least the bracelet didn't seem to have any effect on his spirit, only forced him into physical obedience.

 He had once destroyed an object of power that could make regular people and even most witches obey the holder's every word, however much their mind and body resisted. This trinket wasn't as bad as that, but it was apparently enough to suppress his powers.

That was the problem with the human form. He had dialled his powers so far down to pass for a regular human that he was almost one right now. Had she tried to trap him like this in his Shadow Form, he would have just laughed it off. Even when he had still been a regular witch, his original powers would likely have allowed him to absorb the bracelet's magic after a while.

What would happen if he died in this form? Would he just revert back to his Shadow Form as usual, or would he be dead for good?

The silly girl had no idea what danger she was courting. Despite her magical abilities, she seemed innocent and even a bit naïve.

He smiled to himself. He had rarely ever had a problem making any woman like him and the few who had resisted his attempts to seduce them were far and few in-between. Even without using any magic, he had been sure that she was attracted to him. All the little signs were there and once he had kissed her wrist, he could feel her arousal almost physically.

Or was she really just such an excellent actress? He had assumed that the call she had gotten was connected to him, so he had just meant to touch her to use magic empathy. Your opponent's feelings could tell you much about what they were thinking.

Well, he had miscalculated here. More than that, he had shot himself in the foot by allowing her to trap him in this form. Damn it. He had to get out of it before they caught up with him and killed them both.