“And when we’re you going to mention that I didn’t have to do lewd things to get the benefits?” Reiko asked once Ella and Mary were finished talking.
“It’s cute that you think that’s an option. He definitely wants a piece of you, even if you convince Wolfe to give you blood to form the contract.” Mary laughed.
“I think they forgot I am here at all.” Wolfe mock whispered to Flame, who looked somewhat offended by this whole conversation about someone else touching his witch.
Ella gave Wolfe a sarcastic look and raised one eyebrow at him. “Were you thinking about saying no? Didn’t think so. We’ve already got your consent. We just need Reiko’s.”
The Familiar bond was supposed to make the Bonded party want to be more helpful, but wasn’t this going a bit too far? Not that he objected. Reiko’s body was as amazing as her personality, but only a month and a bit earlier, when he returned with Stephanie, they were still jealous and resentful of someone else joining their group.
Then it finally hit him. She was still trying to scare Reiko away from any path that would lead to an intimate bond by implying that lewd things were going to be mandatory if she chose that route, and Mary was inadvertently helping her.
“Can I do the blood thing instead? My heart isn’t ready.” Reiko pleaded.
Wolfe smiled at her. “Of course, you can. But we will need a healing potion first. A few spoonfuls of blood doesn’t sound like a lot, but unless we get the tools from the infirmary to draw a blood vial, it will take a pretty significant wound to get it in a reasonable time. So, unless someone wants to explain to the school nurse that we’re helping students make a pact with a Demon?”
Even Reiko laughed at that thought. Making deals with Demonic Familiars was one of the first things they had been told never to do under any circumstances when they entered primary schools as young children. It was taught to them even before they learned about stranger danger and not to get into cars with people who offered them a ride.
“We have two from Alchemy class here. They should close even the worst of cuts quickly.” Cassie told them, then went and retrieved them from the small supply cabinet in the corner.
“Since it seems we’ve got everything that we need, who wants to go first?” Wolfe asked.
If he could get both of these Witches into an agreement with him before they changed their minds, he would be able to make a huge increase in his Bloodlines and, along with it, all of his physical attributes.
“I will. I’m not great with blood, and if she goes first, I might pass out.” Reiko volunteered.
“In that case, close your eyes and open your mouth. Someone, prepare to catch her, just in case. I will make the cut on my arm for easier drinking, but that also means I will only have one arm left to hold her if she collapses.” Wolfe agreed.
Wolfe borrowed a knife from the Alchemy supplies on the desk and held it near his wrist, wondering if he could really do this. Cutting your own wrist was a pretty big mental block, but Mary said it needed a fair bit of blood.
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On second thought, the palm of the hand bleeds quite heavily as well. Wolfe moved the blade and sliced his palm, then squeezed his fist to increase the blood flow and held it over Reiko’s mouth.
As he focused on building the Blood Pact, he could sense the mark forming on her lower abdomen, seemingly using his blood as a catalyst directly and not requiring additional mana on his part. It was a different mark as well. It wasn’t the Incubus Crest that Cassie and Ella had. It was the Noxus Family crest that had formed in the same spot, marking their contract.
As it completed, Wolfe heard the ringing of a bell echo through the room, and Reiko collapsed with a low moan into Ella’s waiting arms.
Wolfe prepared to catch the falling blood, but none fell. The wound he cut had vanished as if it were never there.
Mary climbed to her feet, examining his hand with great interest before closing her eyes and opening her mouth with her tongue out.
Without hesitation, Wolfe cut his palm again and let the blood pour into her waiting mouth. This Crest formed much faster, perhaps because Mary was less reluctant about the process, and Wolfe waited to hear the chime when it completed again.
As the process reached completion, Wolfe lowered them both to the ground so she was sitting in his lap.
There was no ringing this time. As soon as the Crest finished with a happy moan from Mary, Wolfe felt his entire completed Mana Focus being sucked dry, and a large spell circle filled the room.
[First Pentacle Complete] The Inheritance runes informed him, then faded back to their standard incomprehensible jumble again as the energy from the circle was absorbed into the five Witches.
Then, the circle retracted into Wolfe, surrounding his completed mana focus and engraving it with the mark of the spell circle and its five-pointed star.
Wolfe felt the change inside of him as the spell settled into place, and five thick chains of mana appeared in the air, three in bright silver, and two in blood red, linking the Witches to him, then slowly faded from sight.
They weren’t truly gone, though. Wolfe could feel the energy flowing back and forth with every breath the girls took. His completed Mana Focus was no longer his own. They all now had free access to it, while he had free access to their power.
Not only that, but the aura they were gathering to try to balance themselves was refining both the complete and incomplete Focus, increasing the energy density by the second until it got a plateau and stopped.
[Two Blood Pacts Confirmed]
Conditions: Continually Improve the Witches’ powers in good faith.
Payment: As Demanded without preset conditions for the duration of the Blood Pact.
Wolfe opened his eyes and looked around the room to find all of the Witches, Stephanie included, lying on the floor as their auras fluctuated wildly.
The power drawn from him was changing their aura, improving it, and, most importantly, balancing it among the group. Every time one of them got ahead, their aura would bleed back through the link to equalize the others.
But when it did, it sucked up a bit of the energy Wolfe was trying to refill his Focus with, strengthening them all.
The loop continued all through the night as they meditated, and they ended their efforts only when the first alarm went off, warning them that they had 90 minutes until the day’s midterm exam.
Everyone stopped what they were doing, and the link balanced itself in an instant, leaving them all feeling refreshed and incredibly powerful. Wolfe wondered what would happen when one of them used magic. Would it draw from all of their auras? Or was the link exclusive, where he could pull mana through all of them, and they could pull it from him but not from each other?
“We need to talk about what happened, but later. If we fail this exam, we are all done for.” Cassie declared, then ran for the shower.
“This is incredible. I can feel all of your locations in my mind, and the link is amazing. It’s as if I had a limitless well of power at my fingertips, a thousand times more than the storage amulet I carry. I don’t even need to focus in order to draw on Wolfe anymore. The power is just there.” Ella sighed, then began to strip so she could join Cassie in the shower.
“You two can go after them, they won’t be long, and then we can all go for breakfast,” Wolfe assured Reiko and Mary, who both looked shell-shocked at the new development in their growth.
Pup sniffed at Mary for a second, then flopped his head in her lap, satisfied with whatever he found, but Flame was looking back and forth between Reiko and the shower, intent on getting another person’s smell off of her before she went outside. She had been sitting next to other people all night, and their scents were all over her.