Magic Multiverse 26 (Patreon)

On the drive back, Sam couldn’t help but think about his vampiric encounter. It had gone smoothly, but only because vampires didn’t expect him to fight back, or recognize the threat in the first place.

He didn’t want to imagine what would have happened if he hadn’t carried holy water with him.

He wanted to blame the System for it, but he learned his lesson about jumping to conclusions after the whole Buffy-Anne debacle. There were other possibilities. Maybe just by visiting Sunnydale, he got infected by the dark magic there, making himself more visible to vampires.

Or maybe the issue was even simpler, that vampires regularly preyed on exceptional people who could disappear with little consequence. And, he certainly qualified as an English underground boxer who had traveled from London to Los Angeles. If he had disappeared, there would have been no consequences.

He sighed, realizing that the last option was painfully likely. “Is that why the payment has been so high?” he muttered.

Just as a precaution, he decided to stop attending the fights for a while, focus on practicing and improving. As for where, the destination was obvious.

Sunnydale.

Admittedly, living in a vampire-invested city filled with dark magic sounded like a terrible, counter-intuitive decision, but it was not; for three reasons. The first and biggest reason was his ‘friends’, namely Buffy and Willow. Buffy provided him with Boxing, and Willow allowed him to develop the only magical expertise he could actually use.

The second was the presence of magic. He hadn’t tried to cast a Wiccan spell in Los Angeles, but he didn’t need to. Just by closing his eyes and using his Meditation skill was enough to show that the magical density in Los Angeles was much lower compared to Sunnydale, which was not really good for practicing.

He needed to experiment to see if he could combine Tantric and Wiccan magic to develop stronger healing spells.

Then, there was the fact that he could hunt a lot of vampires and slowly expand his available combat skills in relative safety. Vampires might be dangerous, but having Buffy to protect him would make it much safer.

Was he confident of his decision? No. But, the alternative was to return to London and start poking the magical world until he got a better angle, which came with its unique dangers.

At least, he understood the dangers of Sunnydale.

The more he understood the true face of the world, the more he realized safety was an illusion. As his encounter with the rich vampires had shown, preparation was much better than trying to hide.

When he returned to the hotel, he had the courtesy of knocking on the door before he used his key card to open it. Cordelia was wearing a different nightie, reading a magazine on bed, while the shower was on.

“You’re early. It ruins the surprise I was preparing,” Cordelia complained as he closed the door. He sighed. “Everything okay?”

He threw his bag to the side and put the bo staff he carried with him, which he brought from his car trunk. Carrying the staff with him earned a few weird looks, but the more vampires he encountered, the less he cared about the looks.

A few more fights, and he would go around carrying a sword without any shame.

“The fight went as expected. Aftermath, not so much.”

“What happened?” she said when he lay next to her, her hand on his chest.

“Well, after the fight, a rich guy invited me to the penthouse,” he said.

Cordelia’s face twisted with disgust. “Eww, one of those creeps. First rule of Hollywood. Never go to a room when invited. It doesn’t go well.”

He chuckled. “You have no idea.”

She shrugged. “Well, I have some ideas. Still, it can’t be as bad as what happened to me Saturday?”

He caressed her arm, as he noticed she tensed when she mentioned it. “Tell me?”

“Well, I thought I was meeting a producer, but it turned out to be a vampire,” she said.

“Really?” he said, surprised.

She frowned. “Do you think I need to lie about vampires?”

“No, not that,” he said. “It was just that the rich guy who invited me was a vampire as well. Luckily, I made a habit of carrying holy water around, so I dealt with him easily.” Them, technically, but there was no need to worry her unnecessarily. “But, it looks like Los Angeles has even more vampires than we realize.”

She shrugged. “It looks that way.”

“How did you get away?”

“I was lucky. Angel saved me.”

He paused. “Wait, angels are real as well?”

Cordelia snorted. “Don’t be silly. The winged kind of angels are not real,” she said. “Angel is the name of a vampire. But he’s harmless, he has a soul.”

He shook his head. He wanted to tease her about her dismissal, but Angel was more important. “Wait, vampires can have souls?”

“Only Angel has one,” she said. “Apparently, he has been cursed by gypsy warlocks in the past, to make him pay for the suffering he caused.”

He frowned. It sounded like a stupid idea, considering the whole point of vampires was that they were driven by a demon rather than their soul, causing suffering. “And, you know him how?”

“He was at Sunnydale, dating Buffy.”

“Buffy, who is a vampire slayer.”

“Yep. Very sappy, a little tragic … well, until it wasn’t,” she said. “Apparently, the soul curse had some kind of happiness clause, and one day, Angel got too happy, and his soul got released, and he turned into Angelus.”

“He knew that, and still did it?”

Cordelia shook his head. “No, apparently he didn’t. It came as a surprise to everyone, including him.”

He frowned. That sounded like a terrible plan from whoever cast the curse, but he didn’t question it. Everything he had learned about anyone with access to magic lacked basic logic.

Even Hermione, though she hid it better.

“But he has his soul again,” he said, focusing on the present instead.

“Yep. He has been sent to hell, but came back with his soul and decided to move to Los Angeles to atone for his crimes. He has some kind of detective agency. I’m even working there as a receptionist temporarily.”

“Temporarily?” he asked. Not because he needed to know that detail, but because the other details she shared overwhelmed him.

“Until my big break, of course,” she said. “I can arrange a meeting with you if you want,” she said. “He’ll be happy to teach you more about this vampire stuff.”

It was tempting, but he decided against it. After all, vampires were supposed to have an excellent sense of smell, and he didn’t want to bet on whether he could smell Buffy on him.

Soul or no soul, Angel might take offense at him … getting close with Buffy. Cordelia didn’t warn him, but then Cordelia believed Willow’s roommate was Anne.

“Maybe later. I need to return to Sunnydale tomorrow. After dusting a rich vampire, I had better disappear for a while, in case they . But, do you mind telling me more about this Angel, just in case our paths cross?”

“Fine,” she said, giving a summary of events, which could be summarized as a dedicated campaign of terror.

It explained why Buffy had been so skittish during their first time. Her attitude had been clear that her first time was bad … but her boyfriend losing his soul and going on a deadly rampage was more than he had expected.

He made a note to be even nicer to Buffy. She probably needed it.

“Vampires ruin everything,” she said. “I thought I would get away from them in Los Angeles, but…”

“Yeah, they seem to be a lot more than we realized,” he said. “You know you have to be more prepared, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Given everything, you can’t assume you won’t find yourself facing other vampires. A little extra preparation wouldn’t hurt.”

She shivered. “You want to teach me how to fight vampires.”

"We can start with the basics,” he said. “Nothing too extreme, but enough to keep one away a second or two, until you reach a fake perfume bottle filled with holy water, and start running away once they are distracted or stake them if they get too distracted.”

She was quiet for a moment, weighing the idea, slowly, nodded. "Why not? Show me what you have in mind. We still need to wait for Willow to finish preparing before we can start having fun,” she replied. Then, she paused. “Well, teaching her a lesson properly.”

That made him laugh. He could see that her attitude toward Willow was already not as intense, but he was curious about what she had planned.

He pushed the coffee table and the sofa to the side, creating enough space. He flicked the bo staff back to his hands, twirling it as he thought about how to teach her. Luckily, while the skill didn’t come with a full teaching kit, it had enough raw information to adjust the style based on the height and the power of the user.

“Let’s see how quickly you pick up,” he said. She gave him a patronizing smirk, but he ignored her. “Now, let’s start with the basics. How to hold and how to take the first step.”

With that, he spent five minutes explaining the basic mechanics, the grip, the stance, how to use her weight and her momentum for a full-powered strike. He wouldn’t have taught the same if he were teaching Willow, who clearly had no background in sports.

Cordelia was different. He could see her rise up on her toes slightly, copying his movements. Not the most obvious aspect, but the core of it, actually mindful of her center of gravity.

But then, maybe he shouldn’t be surprised, not after he learned Acrobatics from her indirectly. It wouldn’t suddenly turn her into an expert fighter in one class, but it meant she would learn much faster.

So, he decided to start with a basic set of strikes, six connected moves. Once she took the staff, she replicated it with surprising ease. “Not bad,” he said. “Not bad at all.”

“Of course—“

“I was talking about how amazing your ass looked when you lunged forward,” he said, smiling.

She smirked back. “Naturally. I have an amazing ass,” she said, then looked more serious. “How was I?”

“Far better than any beginner should be,” he said.

“Really?” she said, genuinely pleased, which was a rare emotion for her to display.

“Yep. The hardest part to teach newbies is being mindful of their balance and the rest of the body. They always throw themselves forward, caring more about hitting hard than staying responsive. In boxing, they focus on their punches, and in Bojutsu, they care about the staff too much, neglecting the rest,” he explained. Admittedly, he only had experience with boxing, but assuming martial arts enthusiasts would have the same issues was not that wild.

She hummed, smiling playfully. “Naturally, I’m perfect.”

“Not exactly,” he said. “There’s a lot to improve still. Repeat the basic strike.”

“Fine,” she said, repeating as he asked while he stepped behind her, grabbing her hips. She giggled. “You don’t need an excuse to paw my amazing ass,” she said.

“While it’s always a pleasure, I have a valid reason,” he said. “Repeat the strike, but be mindful of my hands,” he said. She repeated the attack, frowning. “It was different, right?”

“It was much weaker,” she said.

“That’s a little trick you will learn only while fighting,” he said. “Timing the rotation of your hips is different from a jump or a tumble. Think of your body as a coiled spring. You’re only releasing that energy at the moment of contact, giving your attack the extra zip you will inevitably need.”

“Inevitably?” she asked.

“You’re not going to fight with people lighter than you often, and in fighting, mass matters. Unless you have a supernatural advantage to stack the deck, you’ll always have to be careful.”

“Doesn’t it make it useless?” she said.

“Not really. You’re not learning it to fight against vampires fairly, but to have a trick that can distract them until reinforcements arrive, or you can run. It’ll be even better if you can get your hands on some kind of magical staff, assuming they exist.”

“I’ll ask Angel,” she said. “He probably knows.”

“Try to get your hands on a crossbow as well,” he suggested, and they ran through the basics, waiting for Willow to return for Cordelia’s promised gift; which was eventually interrupted by a knock on the bathroom door.

“Finally,” Cordelia said as she walked toward the door. “Wait for a few minutes while I put the finishing touches on your little surprise,” she said.

He hummed, curious what was about to happen. Cordelia was too enthusiastic, which meant it would be humiliating for Willow to a degree. Whether Cordelia would straddle the line between teasing and humiliating was a mystery that he would learn soon.

All he needed was to wait.

The door opened five minutes later, showing Willow, who had a change of outfit. She was wearing a black corset that looked surprisingly tight on her; too tight for it to belong to Cordelia. She must have packed it for the trip.

Naughty.

It wasn’t the only thing that was impressive about her. Her makeup was surprisingly thick, enhancing her beauty in a slutty way. She still wore her fishnets and a new pair of heels that likely came from Cordelia.

He hid his disappointment. Willow looked amazing, but after Cordelia had mentioned it so many times, he expected a bigger surprise—

Then, Willow took a step forward, walking weirdly. He raised an eyebrow, and Willow whimpered, but he could see her excitement as well.

Cordelia grabbed the front of the corset and dragged Willow to the bed, pushing her on all fours. “You said we have to punish her for dark magic,” she said as she grabbed Willow’s ass, parting it slightly, revealing a small toy that had been lodged in a hole he hadn’t expected.

He smiled as he quickly moved behind Willow. A part of it was his enthusiasm, but also, poor Willow needed a distraction from her current, almost catatonic shyness. From experience, he knew that orgasms would work wonders. “A punishment,” he chuckled as he spanked Willow. “Do you think it’ll work this time, Willow?”

“Yes, sir,” she moaned immediately.

Admittedly, he didn’t believe her even for a second, but at that moment, that hardly mattered. He caressed her body while Cordelia reached to free his shaft from his pants, showing him just how good an idea it was to bring Willow with him.

Cordelia’s desire to punish Willow made her a very enthusiastic contributor to their threesome rather than reluctantly playing along.

He kissed Cordelia while she pulled the little plug out of Willow’s tight hole, and he immediately replaced by his shaft. Willow’s whimper was beautiful.

He pushed in slowly, because even with the preparation, her backdoor was magnificently tight, clenching around him like sin. She made a move to grab the pillow, but Cordelia prevented her. “We want to hear your voice, Willow,” Cordelia teased. “This is a punishment, after all.”

That made Willow moan even louder.

He grabbed her hips for leverage, invading her more with each repeat. Cordelia proved to be even more impatient, and started spanking Willow. “You should have told me you want a firm hand, Willow Tree,” Cordelia whispered. “Maybe it would have made you less of a bitch.”

“I wasn’t a … b-word,” Willow stammered. He barely held back a laugh, because Willow was still too shy to say bitch without feeling self-conscious. The contrast between that, and the enthusiastic way she pushed herself back despite the pain when he slowed down made her even sexier. “You were the … b-bitch.”

Cordelia snorted. “Oh, I certainly was, and I am still proud of it.” Willow gasped, surprised. “Come on, Willow. Did you think I had a special insult for every loser by accident? Back then, I wanted to rule the school, and I did so with an iron fist. Admittedly, I slipped up somewhat last year dealing with all that nonsense from your after-school club, and the little mess my father found himself in, but that was just chasing different priorities. Unlike you, pulled the same crap whenever you could, but hid behind your poor little shy girl persona whenever you got confronted.”

Willow opened her mouth to argue, but he acted. A push of his hips killed Willow’s argument before it could form. And, at the same time, he grabbed Cordelia’s hair, pulling her for a kiss.

Them getting heated with old arguments was fun, but he didn’t want them to actually start fighting. He felt that it was a likely outcome if he hadn’t interrupted them. Luckily, he trusted his skills enough to keep both occupied.

He kept his focus on Cordelia, his hands exploring her body as he finally got rid of her corset. She looked good with it, but she looked even better naked.

At the same time, he controlled his hips carefully, keeping the edge of pain without letting it get excessive.

It was a fun way to relax after a vampire ambush…