Application: Algaliarept (Kim Harrisons' "Rachel Morgan" series)

[phobophilia]

Algaliarept wasn't typically into the business of traveling long distances - Cincinnati and the Hollows bred more than enough people willing to deal with him - but, he felt, desperate times called for desperate measures. 'Times', in this case, referred specifically to the growing lack of those willing to do deals with demons. They were getting

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[racheltherunner]

"Ley-lines, huh?" Listening to this guy talk gave me a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. There was something familiar, something...off, and I didn't like it. My eyes narrowed and I studied him. "What do you know about ley-lines?"

Here, I hadn't met another person who used lines like I did. Or, like I could. Bad idea to actually use them. Unless I had to. I was an earth witch, damn it. Safer that way. Anyway, it was odd to hear someone else talk about them. And these days, 'odd' equaled 'me reaching for my splat gun'.

[phobophilia]

Now this was just delightful. He'd felt a certain pinging over the ley lines, a feeling that was uniquely one Rachel Mariana Morgan. Different ley lines, obviously, but there were some powerful ley lines running underneath this castle. It wasn't like she was being subtle.

"A little," the demon smiled, readjusting his glasses. She wasn't close enough to see the slight blur of color underneath them, and Algaliarept made sure to keep that distance. He didn't want to give the game away just yet. "Just enough to know that using them isn't very healthy for the soul. From your recognition, I say you know something about them. Tsk, tsk."

[racheltherunner]

I felt my face grow hot under the rebuke, but I simply jutted out my chin and glared at the man. "I don't know much. I'm an earth witch." I was! Just because I could tap a line didn't mean I did it often. Only when I needed to. Ceri had taught me how to spindle a part of the ever-after in my head, so I could do ley-line magic without actually tapping a line. But I hadn't practiced that since I'd come to Hogwarts.

At this moment, I was regretting that. Something about this guy made me really want to have something ready to throw at him.

"So, if you don't know much, why name your bar after it?" Hey, I was a runner, not an investigator. Barrel in with both guns blazing was my motto. This guy wigged me out, so I wanted to know why. Therefore, the unsubtle route. "Seems kind of weird to name it after something you're clearly afraid of."

[phobophilia]

"An earth witch?" Algaliarept faked ignorance to the fact that he didn't already know that, and he sniffed deliberately. "I must say, you've got a very funny aura for someone who's just an earth witch. Fell into a few curses, did you?" The demon smirked, mockingly sympathetic.

She hadn't changed a bit. Even her aura still wore the black marks that he had given her, and those wouldn't be gotten rid of very easily. But he had to be careful - one wrong word could very easily give the game away, and he rather liked this situation. When she didn't know who he was, information might be so much easier to get.

The accusation of being afraid of ley-lines only made him tip his head to the side, a strange smile lurking in his expression. "Something I'm afraid of? Oh, dear me, no. I only said it was unhealthy, not scary. Much like cigarettes. They tend to blacken certain portions of your anatomy."

[racheltherunner]

"They were accidents," I protested quickly. Too quickly. The first one really hadn't been my fault - Nick had... Well, he'd tried to save me and things had gone downhill from there. The rest were just bad freaking luck and Algaliarept always being there at the right...time...

Holy shit. Backing up quickly, I plunged my mind into the nearest line, hissing as the power flowed into me too quick to stabilize. "Al." My aura wasn't out and visible to just anyone. And he sure as hell didn't smell like a Witch. But that sulfur scent...yeah. I could get it all now. Stupid, Rachel. "What the Turn are you doing here?" Then, as I managed to get control and equalize the ever-after in my chi, I stood a bit straighter and glared at him. "And I'm not black, you son of a bitch. That's you." Asshole.

[phobophilia]

Clasping a hand over his heart in exaggerated surprise, Algaliarept smiled widely. "Oh, you recognize me now, Rachel Mariana Morgan. Superb. I was waiting to see how long it would take that brain of yours to finally click."

Well, there was no hiding now. Algaliarept took his glasses off, sliding them neatly into an inside pocket in his jacket. He took a step closer, still smiling. "You have no idea how much I've missed you. Oh, it's been simply dreadful without you around - I find most people lacking in fighting spirit these days. Do you like my new image?"

The demon straightened his jacket and tipped his chin back slightly, as if he were posing for a photo shoot. "He was the sexually abusive brother of a young woman that did a deal with me not long ago, and I took a certain liking to his form," he said conversationally.

[racheltherunner]

Oh, God. Oh, God. A shot of pure terror filled my gut and I backed up quickly as he moved forward, only to find the wall solid at my back. Crap and damnation. "You look like shit," I shot back, both hands curled into fists.

I could set a circle. I could set a circle.

That one thought kept pounding through my brain. It was the only reason I wasn't more freaked out. Meeting a demon in the middle of a school where I didn't know the lay of the land, I didn't have many friends, and I'd already made a deal with another demon? Not good.

Shit, Ivy. Ivy needed to...not be here. At all. Jenks either, but God only knew what Ivy would do if she should meet up with Al... Glancing around, I tried to be subtle as I made sure the living vampire wasn't already in the sorting room. I didn't see her. Thank the Turn for small favors. Shifting focus back to Al, I swallowed, hard, and lifted my chin. "What are you doing here? No one summoned you. Get out."

Oh, God, was Nick okay?

[phobophilia]

Curiously, Al swiped a finger through the air. She hadn't set a circle - interesting. Not that it would matter. As long as she could see and hear him, it would be enough.

"How do you know that nobody summoned me?" Algaliarept asked pointedly, watching as Rachel backed into the wall, and taking another step closer just to see if he could raise her fear that much more. "Maybe someone did. You might not know them; there's a lot of people here. Or maybe one of your friends did."

The little glance around she did was interesting, and Algaliarept briefly wondered what she was looking for. Or whom. "Maybe," he continued, "Ivy Tamwood summoned me. She could have finally reached her breaking point, needed a way out." It was a pity he didn't know much about Ivy Tamwood - the best he could do was vague references. "Or maybe your little friend Jenks did. Who knows? I'm sure most of the people you know wouldn't think twice about summoning me, Rachel Mariana Morgan. You're all so delightfully dense."

[racheltherunner]

I hadn't set a circle because that would mean I was stuck there, and he'd know it. Better we continued this little pissing contest while I looked for a way out. Although the second he reached for me, I had one waiting. He was not going to drag me into the ever-after. Not if I could help it.

But his mention of Ivy set a little growl through me and I clenched my jaw. "Ivy would never summon you," I told him, eyes flashing. "She's smarter than that. And neither would Jenks. So you keep your slimy hands off of them."

Doing my best not to shrink back from him, I met his eyes unwaveringly. "If someone summoned you, go and bother them, and leave me the hell alone."

[phobophilia]

"But talking to you is so much more interesting, Rachel Mariana Morgan," Algaliarept purred, close enough now that he raised an hand to touch her cheek, stopping only inches away, his fingers hovering in contemplation. Eventually, he pulled his hand back.

But he didn't stop there; as if by an after-thought, the ever after gathered around the demon and changed his shape, forming into a replica of Ivy. The only thing unchanged was his eyes. Smiling, Algaliarept breathed in deeply, taking the ability of vampires and producing the rather unique vampire pheromone that would set Rachel's scar on fire.

"You have the stink of another demon on you," he frowned, suddenly noticing. Oh, he recognized that stink, and a certain fellow demon was going to have a stern talking to. "Getting so desperate for attention that you have to whore yourself to multiple demons, now? Tell me, what was the deal?"

[racheltherunner]

Oh, shit. Shrinking back even further, I made to set my circle, the trigger word on my lips when...

There. That feeling washed over me, making my knees buckle and my mind sink down into a pool of wanton lust. I couldn't do anything but be terrified and completely welcome the emotion. Because pain suddenly equaled pleasure and my mind couldn't separate the two.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I panted, trying to focus. Set a circle. Get him away from me. Would the circle stop the pheromones? Shit. I didn't know, but it was my best bet at the moment. I managed to gather myself together enough to tap back into the spindle of ever after in my chi when another wave of vamp juice knocked me back, making me moan and sending me to my knees.

It wasn't Ivy. I knew that, I knew it, but my heart was still thundering along anyway. The cold slick sweat of panic settled in, trickling down my spine. "What do you want?" I hissed at him from between clenched teeth. "Bastard. You so desperate for a kick that you have to come up here and

[phobophilia]

Watching while she reacted with a pleased eye, Algaliarept shook his head and wondered exactly what her next move was going to be. "It will never become a tired routine if you keep responding in such a delightful manner. Oh, but you are a fiery little hellcat, Rachel Mariana Morgan." His tone was almost approving - he always did like a bit of struggle. It made the victory that much sweeter.

He'd been in this form once before, and it was wonderful the way that Rachel responded to it, so Algaliarept went exploring. He ran his hands through Ivy's hair, skimmed his fingers down the clothes the form was wearing - Ivy's typical run gear; leather pants and a black shirt - all the while targeting Rachel's scar with vampire pheromone and making the movements look positively provocative.

The demon smiled sinuously. "I'm beginning to rather like this form, if only for the look it puts on your face. Maybe I'll wear it more often."

[racheltherunner]

I was on my hands and knees at this point. Sounds - whimpers, quiet little moans - being teased from my throat, unbidden, and causing my stomach to knot up with fear and anger. This son of a bitch could go Turn himself.

"Don't ever use her again," I ground out, pulling up my head and meeting his eyes. His eyes, not Ivy's. No brown, no black, only red. This was not Ivy. Even though it looked like her, smelled like her, it was not. "You got it all wrong. Losing your touch."

My skin was damp with a cold sweat and I was literally aching for...something. Anything. For pain, pleasure, whatever came in between. It was a struggle not to beg Al to run his teeth along my scar, to sink them deep into my neck. I watched his hands run over Ivy's body with a hungry kind of desperation.

If he had really been Ivy, I wouldn't have been able to resist.

That thought, that terrifying truth, spurred me into action. Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself up. In a voice way more confident than I felt, I spat, "I summon you, Algaliarept

[phobophilia]

Algaliarept simply smiled down at Rachel as she told him not to look like Ivy; on Ivy's face, the expression was far from pleasant. For all her bluster that he was losing his touch, this form had reduced her to nothing more than a scared little girl, cowering on the floor

[racheltherunner]

Deep breaths in filled my lungs as the pressure on my scar faded. Oh, thank the Turn. After a second, I pushed myself shakily back to my feet, running my hand through my hair and finding my composure. "No." Damn it, I'd bound him. He got to play by my rules now. I looked up at him and my eyes narrowed. I remembered that form all too well - it reminded me of being helpless in Piscary's office, dying.

Fun times.

Well, I'd gotten out of that, and I'd find some way of getting out of this one, too. "Jealous, Al? That's not a good look for you."

I needed to get rid of him. Trouble was, if I broke the bonding, saying our business was done, he could just come after me. And, as I suddenly realized with a sick feeling, a circle wouldn't hold him back. I was his freaking familiar. His aura was on me, mine on him. My aura would break the circle. Therefore, Al couldn't be held, not by me.

Oh, that was just greatTrying to hide the sudden shot of uncertain fear, I raised my chin and glowered at him. "Why are you here?" A