Thaumatology 101 by Niall Teasdale Read Free Book Online Page A

discovered one-piece teddies when she was fifteen and had fallen in love with them. They made her feel sexy and there was really not that much which made Ceri feel sexy. If she wanted to lift her spirits, or she was going out somewhere special, or because she felt like it, she would pick one out and wear it. Meeting London’s best known playboy club owner for the first time seemed like an excellent time to feel sexy.
    Pulling out something in black and gold, she undressed and climbed into the clinging costume piece. It was not too sexy, but it was a bit flirty; backless, but no mesh or translucent panels. She checked herself in her mirror and nodded before pulling out one of her nicer pairs of jeans, black with an embroidered detail in red at the hips, and sitting on the bed to pull them on. She decided on trainers rather than heels; she was supposed to be convalescing.
    Another look in the mirror and she nodded, and then lost her nerve and put a lightweight shirt over the top. As she headed out onto the top floor landing and saw Lily emerging from her room in a gorgeous summer dress which she, of course, looked gorgeous in, Ceri forced herself to not do the shirt buttons up.
    Lily stopped and looked at her friend appraisingly. Then she nodded and Ceri let out the breath she had not realised she was holding. ‘You look lovely,’ Lily said, smiling, ‘sexy, but not slutty.’ Her face became quite serious suddenly. ‘Would you mind doing the formal thing when he arrives?’
    Ceri frowned as she started down the stairs; if he was on time he would arrive in a couple of minutes. ‘The thing Dad used to do when welcoming another wizard into the house for the first time?’ she asked.
    ‘That’s it,’ Lily said, sounding a little pleading. ‘He said, “If she feels that it would be inappropriate, since she’s not a wizard, or it would make her uncomfortable, I quite understand, but if she could see it in her heart to welcome me properly into the home of such illustrious magicians, I would be most grateful.” So will you?’
    Ceri blinked. ‘Wow, how could I decline? Um…’ She went over the little ritual in her head. She had seen her father do it a number of times, but had never actually done it herself. Yes, she thought she could do it without making a fool of herself or insulting her guest. ‘Yeah,’ she said, ‘I can do that for him. Well, for you really.’
    Twill zipped past them, heading down from the attic where she lived. ‘There’s a wizard on the grounds,’ she said in passing.
    ‘That’s him!’ Lily squeaked and hurried down the stairs. Exactly how she did this in heels was a matter physicists would likely have given their eye teeth to study, but she beat Ceri to the front door by several seconds, going through the inner doors to the outer ones. Ceri could hear people speaking but not quite what was being said.
    ‘She might have said we were having a guest,’ Twill said. ‘He’s got a huge car and he looks like he tries hard to be handsome. Be careful of him, he smells of demons.’ Then she swished upward toward her attic.
    Ceri opened the two inner doors wide and stood on the inside of them. Lily was standing in the single open outer door, blocking the view of whoever was on the other side. The half-succubus looked around grinning in an almost child-like manner, and Ceri took a deep breath and said, ‘Open the doors, Lily, and then come stand behind me.’
    Opening the second door wide, Lily tried hard to school her expression into one of seriousness. As she walked back into the house past Ceri, the man waiting on the portico was revealed. Ceri could almost believe the stories about pacts with demons; Carter Fleming did not look like a man in his fifties. He had a narrowish face and a narrow, slightly Roman nose, high cheekbones, and shallow cheeks. His hair was a perfectly coifed ash blond and the suit he was wearing looked like it had been very carefully tailored. His hand rested on a