Fierce Lessons (Ghosts & Demons Series Book 3) by Robert Chazz Chute, Holly Pop Read Free Book Online

again, but politely this time, taking his damn time. He tapped my forearm. “You and I have more in common than you might think. Forgive the indelicacy of the term, but I’m a half-breed, too. I am a cambion .”
    “What’s that?”
    “I am the son of a human and an incubus. I derive my magical abilities from the one who sired me. My mother raised me, but cambion literally means, child of a demon. Just like you, hm?”
    “Twins,” I said. “You said you’ve been expecting me. For how long?”
    He made a seesaw gesture with one gloved hand. “Like Death, Time is a relative concept, too. It would seem a long time to you.”
    “Are you a mind reader like Fawn or — ”
    “No. I’m simply not a fool. You’re a pretty young girl who has been transformed into a monster in the eyes of her peers. Though, if I may, Iowa, I have seen many monsters in my lifetime. You are the most comely of the lot.”
    “Have you been talking to Rory? You sound like him.”
    “Bah! That old ghost! Still licking his wounds from the last battle. He’s still up in the Arctic contemplating polar bears. No, Rory and I do not talk much these days, though we did for almost a hundred years. I tend to lose track of time. With Rory’s incessant prattling about all the evil in the world, he can make tea time feel like two hundred years.”
    “I miss him.”
    “Of course, you would. He points at the baddies and helps you get going in the right direction when you ride into battle. I am tired of battles. I miss dragons. That was a good time.”
    “Are you kidding?”
    “Yes.”
    “Really?”
    “Eh. Mostly. Life really was more like Game of Thrones in my day. Dragons weren’t everywhere, but we did have a few giant lizards tucked away in a few remote places, guarding treasures. They were good for the occasional flight into a blue sky on a sunny day.”
    “I’ll never know for sure how much of you is full of crap, will I, sir?”
    “No one ever knows the degree to which others are full of crap, Iowa. But it’s polite to nod when your elders are speaking and pretend you believe it all.”
    “Okay.” I gave an exaggerated nod. I usually am more polite to my elders, but drowning had made me cranky and anxious.
    “Are you up to standing?” Merlin asked. “I thought we might like to adjourn to my den. It’s more comfortable. I have a rather interesting library and a television. You can rest on the couch if you’d like. Victor also gave me a PS4. The view I get of the world through Grand Theft Auto V is all I see of the world these days. When I was very young, I thought I’d be a farmer or a blacksmith. If I were born today — or reborn — I’d be a video game designer. They’re today’s magic makers.”
    I stood. My legs didn’t shake too much so I followed Merlin to a set of double doors. The doors slid aside to reveal a large sunken living room. Merlin’s den was dominated by his entertainment center. A chunk of granite sat off in a corner beside the hot tub. The hilt of a sword protruded from it.
    As soon as I spotted it, I shouted, “Oh, come on! ”
    “You know the story, of course,” Merlin said. “Everyone does. It’s always interesting to me to see what lasts. So many things don’t even last one measly century. And some of the things that do capture the people’s imagination are quite feeble, really. Who knows why? Joan of Arc lives on in time and story while a million other burned prophets and schizophrenics slip into anonymity and are lost from memory. History is brutal in that way. Everything seems so important while we live, yet so much of what we care about is disposable.”
      I was sure Merlin was grinning behind his mask, warming to his favorite subject: himself.  
    “What you may not know is, the king I served got the sword for a price. He made me his royal advisor. Before I came up with the sword stuck in the rock trick, I was just another magical mad man running around in the woods, nearly naked and