Magic

John watched as the illusion of Lana was suddenly stripped of her wedding dress and spread out before him on an illusory bed. Her legs were wide open to him and she beckoned him to join her with a smile of seduction he wasn't sure even Emura could pull off. He also saw Sama and Kristen had moved on to necking each other and their fingers were a blur over each others' sopping pussies. Meanwhile the illusion of Agent Marquez was whipping Morgan on her bare, incredibly shapely ass. The naked fey sorceress apparently had a body like a fertility goddess, if the illusion was accurate.

"Well?" Emura asked after several minutes.

For just a fraction of a second, the two of them made eye contact out of his periphery, and finally John said, "I want Lana."

"Is that a yes?" Emura asked, draping her fingers gently over his shoulder.

"Yes," he said.

"Excellent!" Emura hissed. With a handwave the three illusory women disappeared leaving himself, Emura, Kristen, and Sama alone in the office. The two other ladies stopped their foreplay and stood perfectly still facing Emura and John.

"What else?" Emura asked, "Do they not excite you?"

"Yes but..." John stammered as Emura's voice echoed in his head, "No. NO! Sama's married! I couldn't destroy someone else's marriage, and I barely know Kristen." Emura's expression was unreadable as she shook her head. Kristen and Sama immediately redressed and walked out of the room like nothing unusual had happened.

"I'm a little disappointed by your lack of vision, John," she said, "But as you wish."

"I didn't say I was finished," John said. Emura cocked an eyebrow at him and folded her arms with renewed interest.

"Oh?" she said.

"I want you to teach me magic," he said. Emura's expression changed several times in a few seconds: surprise, confusion, then finally amusement.

"That's more like it," she said, "There's just one problem."

"I want you to teach me magic so I can protect myself," he said, "So teach me, or I walk."

"Now hold on, let me explain," Emura said, "Not just anyone can learn magic. I've felt your essence intimately, and you don't have the talent. It's like teaching a fish to fly no matter how intelligent the fish might be."

"Well then our business is concluded," John said and got up to leave.

"Wait..." Emura said with annoyance, "It's not impossible, but the cost will be... very high."

"I'll be the judge of that," John said, "So what is it? My soul? You wanna draw blood?"

"Your firstborn," Emura said bluntly. John snickered until he realized she wasn't joking.

"You're serious," he said. It wasn't a question.

"Granting innate magical talent to a nonmagical being requires the recipient to offer up their firstborn," Emura explained, "I don't make the rules, and this one has been written in stone since the Fair Folk first rose to power."

"Uh huh..." he asked, "In what capacity?"

"As my ****," Emura said, "In body and soul." John thought about it while looking out the window. He wanted to marry Lana and hopefully have children with her. Between whatever Emura already had planned for her, and now this... If he was really about to get back with Lana as Emura promised he doubted even magic would prevent her from leaving if she found out he had bartered away their first child to his boss.

Then he had an idea.

"Does the mother have to be in anybody in particular?" he asked.

"What are you thinking?" Emura asked.

"Can humans and dragons have children together?" he asked slyly.

Emura bit her lip and flicked her forked tongue like a snake.

"There's only one way for you to find out," Emura said.

"So you'll have my firstborn child?" John asked.

"If you get me pregnant first, then your end of the deal is fulfilled," she said, "But if any other woman bares your child, then it belongs to me. I make no guarantees. So, do you accept these terms?"

She held out her hand and stared him down without looking in him in the eye. One way or another, he couldn't draw out this decision any longer. So he took her hand and felt a jolt like static electricity. He yelped and drew his hand back and shook it until he could feel his fingers again.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

"That was magic," she said, "You are now blessed with innate magical talent. Even I can't take it away from you."

John snapped his fingers but nothing happened.

"I don't feel any different," he said.

"You haven't learned how to use it yet," she explained as she worked on her computer and then the office printer started buzzing, "Here are the terms of your employment and our magical contract."

"A printer?" he asked, "I was expecting something a bit more... I dunno... spooky."

"You expect me to write this all out by hand?" she asked.

"Tax info..." he said, "Wait you use regular IRS tax forms?"

"I make certain to cover all of my bases, financially speaking," she said, "I do NOT want to deal with Dracula and the IRS."

"Dracula runs the IRS?" he asked.

"Worry about it at tax time. If there's nothing else, I'll let the other knights know you're hired, and as soon as you've read through that, come back to me for your first assignment. And then, tonight, your first magic lesson."

"Am I going after the wendigo?" he asked.

"Not yet," Emura said.

"You promised-"

"I promised nothing about hunting down that monster right away," Emura said sternly, "It's old, very cunning, and knows how to avoid trackers. We don't know where it is, it could be anywhere, but as soon as it strikes again, I'll let you know first thing."

"First," she explained, "You're going into town with one of the knights to find out why the person I hired to keep Coyote away from the facility betrayed me."

"Betrayed you, or failed because you sent them to preoccupy a god?"

"I need you to find out which," Emura said as her phone buzzed. She looked at the message and said, "I'll explain more at the airport."