Chapter 8: Meeting Ellie Again

Magnus had won. The room fell into stunned silence. It really was five sixes. "Yay! Our handsome guy is a wizard. Julius, Judith, you lost, drink up!" Judith's gorgeous besties erupted, gloating as they watched the losers squirm. Magnus said nothing. A wicked smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You wanna mess with me? I'll oblige." He thought. "I... I..." Julius couldn't make sense of it. He had shaken three twos and two fours. How had they turned into five sixes? Judith shot him a glare, then drank all three glasses of strong mixed liquor sitting on the table. The moment she finished, her stomach churned like a storm-tossed sea.  Her anger at Magnus only burned hotter. After Julius downed his penalty, he gritted his teeth and said, "Accident! It's an accident! Again!" But across the next six rounds, Julius got utterly crushed. Every single time, it was the same number on five dice, either five sixes or five ones. It left him utterly dumbfounded. Judith found it unreal as well. Neither of them knew Magnus practiced Immortal Arts. To tweak the numbers on a few dice was child's play. Half an hour later, the booze hit them. "I... I can't drink..." Julius blacked out. Judith was a lightweight, yet she still wanted to keep playing.  Her thoughts scattered, her gaze turned hazy, and she slumped into the sofa, dozing off. Magnus was speechless. "For Mr. Hopkins's sake, I'll take her home." He slid an arm around her slim waist, hooked the other under her thighs, and lifted her gently. Her besties stared with envy.  They were all adults. They knew perfectly well what might follow. Then it hit them like a slap. "Oh no! When Judith gets drunk, she goes wild." "She's never dared to get drunk, not once, all these years!" By the time they scrambled to warn Magnus, he had already settled the bill and vanished from sight. Outside the wine bar, in the car. "Magnus..." Still drunk, Judith had barely dropped into the passenger seat when she crawled across the seat, cupped his face, and planted a fierce kiss. Her scorching red lips jolted him upright.  "Judith, what are you doing?" It clicked a heartbeat later. Judith carried a rare enchantress constitution.  Once she got drunk, a sultry side surfaced. With a dreamy look, she unbuckled her seat belt and her smooth legs twisted, clamping around Magnus's thigh.  Her hands wandered over him, hot and insistent. Magnus could've cried. He never imagined he'd get pushed around by a woman. "My dear Ms. Rhea arranged a match like this for me." "Judith, don't tear my shirt!" Judith, deep in her drunken frenzy, couldn't care less.  She pressed her lips to his again, and the tip of her tongue attacked, wild and relentless. She yanked at her clothes until the fabric gave, and a sweep of porcelain skin flashed before Magnus's eyes. "Magnus, why do you always make me mad?" "Let me teach you a lesson." Her lips curved, and she went on the offensive. "Hey, beautiful. If you continue like this, I won't be able to hold back. Don't push me." Heat from his Kirin Kidneys surged through him. Even his breath came out hot. Two military SUVs roared up and blocked his car. "Magnus!" Two women and a man quickly climbed out.  The one in front was none other than Greyhove's first female War God, Ellie.  The other two were her adjutants, Ramon and Priscilla. The trio strode toward him. Ellie wasn't in uniform.  She wore a tailored suit with high heels, her figure all curves. Sheer stockings drew the eye down her long legs for miles.  She could make anything look good. Whatever she wore turned heads.  She had the allure of a siren. Ellie shot Magnus a glance and asked urgently, "Magnus, what's your relationship with Lord Zero?" Lord Zero was Draconia's most mysterious and formidable figure. Ellie hadn't asked out of nowhere.  Earlier that evening, during the operation to capture the Bloodthirsty Maniac, her team had been outmatched. They were knocked down across the board, lives hanging by a thread. At the crucial moment, Ellie remembered what Magnus had said. "The Bloodthirsty Maniac has an old injury in his left chest. Strike there and you'll catch him off guard." With death breathing down her neck, Ellie had to follow his words. It worked exactly as Magnus predicted.  They went after the old wound. The Bloodthirsty Maniac's combat strength plummeted.  Magnus's intel saved Ellie and her War God Squad. She would never forget the look on the Bloodthirsty Maniac's face, stunned and afraid. "How did you know about that old injury on the Bloodthirsty Maniac left chest? Did Lord Zero tell you?" There was a legend in the military department.  Lord Zero was both terrifyingly intense and secretive.  He was the one who put the Four Maniacs into the Undersea Prison, a superhero of Draconia's military department. Ellie idolized Lord Zero.  If Magnus knew about the Bloodthirsty Maniac's weakness, then maybe he knew Lord Zero. She stepped up to the window and froze.  Magnus was holding a woman tight, while the woman was all over him, kissing and groping, the scene smoking hot. Ellie's face went crimson. "You!" Magnus hadn't expected Ellie to show up out of nowhere. He winced.  "Don't get the wrong idea. It's not what you think. She's drunk and going wild." "Enough! You don't need to explain. I'll pretend I didn't see a thing." Ellie turned away fast, cheeks flaming.  The woman in his arms had practically stripped down, and he wanted to call it a misunderstanding? Then her instincts kicked in.  As Greyhove's first female War God, she had seen things.  Something about Judith's condition was strange. "Her breathing's uneven, she's flushed, and her whole body's overheated." Had Magnus given her an aphrodisiac? Ellie's gaze sharpened like knives. "I didn't," Magnus said at once. "Shut up!" Ellie snapped. She flicked a look at Priscilla. Priscilla had medical training. A check from her would settle it. Priscilla moved in and took Judith's pulse.  "Ms. Ellie, she's just drunk and going wild." Ellie's embarrassment hit hard. Magnus's tone cooled. "You heard her." Priscilla gathered True Energy and sent it into Judith in steady waves.  She sweated the alcohol out, and she gradually sobered. After a few questions, Judith haltingly retraced everything that had happened. It matched Magnus's words to a tee. Magnus clicked his tongue. "All boobs and no brains, huh? I'm a gentleman, and you still managed to misunderstand me." He spat, thoroughly displeased with Judith and Ellie. Ellie was mortified and angry.  Judith, remembering how she had kissed Magnus while she was out of her head, had no defense at all.  Had he taken advantage and then played innocent? Ellie took a breath and reined in her emotions. "Let's turn the page. Magnus, what's your relationship with Lord Zero?" Magnus ignored her and continued scrolling through his phone. Ramon, behind Ellie, couldn't hold it in. "Magnus! Are you deaf? Ms. Ellie is asking you a question!" His voice boomed, all command and no warmth. Magnus glanced at him, then spoke to Ellie. "He's too loud. Make him do frog jumps over there." "What? Magnus, do you have a death wish?" Ramon looked ready to explode. Judith watched, trembling, terrified by the way this was going. She couldn't fathom how Magnus dared say that.  Standing opposite them was Greyhove's first female War God, along with her two adjutants. "Magnus, if you've got a death wish, leave me out of it."