text: [Themes: love & dating, historical]
  
  Life has never been so good. Each day you work greater and greater magic, though still in the confines of your room, and nearly every night Seria comes to reward you. You feel guilty about it, sometimes, having so much pleasure when your mother's killers still breathe, but you know that you must have patience. Your anger no longer burns quite so hot against the professors, perhaps because you release a lot of energy during the night. The other daemons are almost convinced, and you are almost strong enough to summon them.
  
  This is, you learn, your essential role in Seria's plan, and so you've been studying the basics of summoning in secret. Each of the spirits was banished long ago by one of the professors, which explains their willingness to risk destruction for revenge. It takes someone with more power than the banisher to reverse that kind of magic, and she believes you are close. Thankfully, one of the spells you've come across lets you dimly sense another's strength, though it is not exact. Chancellor Fogg is the only daemonologist who could certainly best you. Dr. Hopkins is powerful too, as are a few professors you don't know well. The others are pitiable weak, substituting useless knowledge for their lack of natural strength.
  
  Speaking of Hopkins, he and Peter are the only people that keep you from complete allegiance to Seria's plan. You don't care at all if innocent professors are slaughtered. They sheltered your mother's killers and probably did similar things themselves. You don't even mind if some students are killed, though Seria assures you that your allies have no interest in doing so unless the students try to resist their attack. You hope Peter will not, but you aren't sure how to warn him without raising his suspicions. Hopkins is the one professor whom you wish did not have to die. He has always been kind to you, and he doesn't seem to have the same attitude as the others, the attitude that you now find so hypocritical. If he has to die, so be it, but you'd like to find a way to spare him.
  
  Thewliss is in a way the worst of them all. You find it hard to believe you once respected him and felt grateful when he gave you the ankh. His lectures are full of what you now recognize as sanctimonious nonsense. To hear him tell it, spirits have been oppressing mankind since the dawn of time, and daemonologists have defended them. You've done a little reading of your own and know now that the truth is very different. Your mother's murder is only one of many through the ages, innocents killed by overzealous daemonologists. Soon she will be avenged, and all the others too.
  
  Still, the matter of Peter and Dr. Hopkins preys on your mind. There must be some way to explain what's happening, some way to get them to see reason. You need to act quickly, however, since Seria's been hinting that the attack will come quite soon. Last night she told you she won't be back for a few days. Apparently there's one more spirit to convince, a mighty raksha in Bengal who Bullock encountered during a brief job protecting the East India Company. This should give you a chance to warn them, but who should you speak to first?
  
  > Dr. Hopkins
  Seria promised that students would not be targetted, and you trust her. Hopkins, though, is one of the strongest professors at the College, and unless you can convince him to flee will surely be killed. You aren't sure it will work, but you must try.
  
  You wait through practical metaphysics the next day, trying and failing to think of anything but the truth that will convince dr. Hopkins. As the students file out, he is still pacing back and forth, genially saying goodbye. It is curious that this stooped, kindly man would have such power, probably even more than you, but you know it won't be enough to fight off the daemonic army Seria is gathering.
  
  "Well my boy, another excellent demonstration of magic prowess. Sprouting flowers from seeds is a difficult thing, but once again you had no trouble. I'd better watch my back with you around, or else the Chancellor will send me packing and hire you straightaway." He stops pacing and chuckles. "Or perhaps you're too busy with that succubus to care much about employment. I haven't heard you mention her in a while, has she finally found someone better to pursue, or did you tire her out?"
  
  You decide to be direct. None of the stories you rehearsed are convincing, and Hopkins is a clever man. "Sir, there's going to be an attack on the College."
  
  His smile immediately drops away. "When?"
  
  "I'm not sure precisely, but soon. There won't be any chance of victory, the daemons are too strong and too numerous. If you leave, though, you can survive."
  
  Hopkins stares at you a moment, lost in thought. Finally he asks "How do you know?" He keeps muttering to himself as you answer. You hadn't expected the news to rattle him so deeply, but perhaps he isn't as powerful as you thought.
  
  You take a deep breath. "My succubus hasn't abandoned me. She's gathering forces into an immense army, and they'll utterly destroy everything in their path. But I don't want you..." Your body suddenly locks in place, your mouth still open.
  
  Hopkins grimaces. "I'm sorry, my boy, but I could never flee while the College is in danger, and I could never let you side with a daemon against us. Why did you do it, why did you listen to her? It's probably my fault, filling your head with all that nonsense about the pleasures of the succubi and even giving you that protective charm. Never thought you'd actually be enslaved. I'll say it again, I'm sorry, but I must take you to the Chancellor."
  
  You try to protest, try to explain that you are not enslaved and that the daemonologists deserve everything that they will get, but your body stays motionless. Hopkins mutters another spell and you begin to float behind him, out the door and building and to Chancellor Fogg's office.
  
  > Meeting Fogg
  Hopkins does not bother knocking and barges right through the Chancellor's door. He is at his bookcase, but as soon as he sees you enter walks calmly over. "Dr. Hopkins, I presume there is a very good explanation for this intrusion? Is that young Latimer?"
  
  You try to protest but are reduced to simply hoping Seria will arrive in time, just as she did with your father. Hopkins quickly explains everything, how you are almost certainly in league with a succubus to destroy the College. You never thought he cared much, but it seems you greatly overestimated his cynicism and unorthodoxy. Hopkins does admit his share of blame, but Chancellor Fogg silences him with a quick motion of his arm.
  
  "This is quite serious, the most serious offense a daemonologist may commit. It is far beyond my jurisdiction. It is a matter for the King and the courts, and it is to London that you will go. But first I would hear your side of the story."
  
  Since Hopkins immobilized you, your anger has been building, and you are in no state to explain why you've done what you've done. Instead, as soon as they unbind your face you begin shouting every invective you can think of, raining down curses on them both and ranting that all daemonologists are murderers and hypocrites. Needly to say this does not help your case, and the Chancellor soons tires of it and renders you motionless once again.
  
  Once he realizes your power, Fogg decides it would be best to escort you to London himself, and you leave at once. The journey is an uneventful carriage ride, though you're certain he must have given the horses a little extra speed by magic. He does not release the binding spell until you're safely in a jail cell designed specifically for magical criminals. The bars are silver and laced with glyphs and intricate designs, and you find that none of your spells do the slightest good. Once again you can only hope Seria can find you and arrives in time.
  
  You go to court the next day, bounding in a netting of silver cord. You can feel it choking your aura, preventing any magic. Fogg and Hopkins both testify against you, and you do not bother to speak in your defense. Seria is your only chance now. You are swiftly found guilty and sentenced to hang at Tyburn.
  
  Justice is quick, and your sentence is carried out the next day. The crowd is pleased to watch the hanging of an evil sorcerer, though you barely notice them. Your eyes are scanning the sky for any sign of your succubus, your eyes listening for the sound like rushing wind. Even when they place the noose around your neck, you are convinced she will save you. It is only in the instant of death, as your body falls and your neck mercifully snaps, that you realize you have utterly failed. Your mother's death stays unavenged. Perhaps Seria will manage to succeed, even without you, for all you can do now is rot in a common criminals' grave.