Tactical Magic (1/5)
Emma Swan is a witch, still new to the job and determined to stop Zelena after almost falling victim to her machinations. When she summons a spirit to help her, she gets Killian Jones, demon of vengeance, who has grown extremely weary of helping people with their petty revenge schemes. Neither of them is best-pleased with this turn of events.
Emma is out for more than revenge. But maybe, Killian has more to offer. And together, they might just be able to make it work.
My contribution to @cssns. Cover and full summary are here; art by @wingedlioness. Also on ao3!
Emma brushed her hair out of her face, wiped her palms on her jeans, and heaved a sigh as she gave her handiwork a critical look. The pentagram outlined on the floor was a little crooked, and the rosemary in the burner was the dried, shredded kind from the store, but she was pretty sure that those were irrelevant details.
Nevertheless, she hesitated. She might be a novice at this witchcraft thing, but even she knew that summoning spirits was not something to be done lightly.
But she was out of options, and she knew that, too.
She went to light the candle. It was one of the cinnamon-scented ones that she usually lit when she curled up on the couch with a good book. Probably not standard witch equipment, either, but it was what she had.
“Here goes nothing,” she muttered, and with the flick of a thought, a flame sprung to life on the candle wick.
She’d never summoned anything before. It wasn’t common practice; the generally-accepted wisdom among witches was that bargains with demons were rarely worth the price. She had never even witnessed a summoning, nor heard a firsthand account of one, so she had no real idea what to expect. She’d always assumed that it worked more or less like every other kind of magic. You did the necessary things, and if you did them right, other things happened. No fuss, no fanfare. She’d assumed, in a vague, half-subconscious sort of way, that it was more or less the same across the board.
She had been wrong.
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