Magi Legend

by Andrew Dobell

  Maria raised her hands in supplication. “Did I say anything?”

  “No.”

  “No… but if you ever want to try batting for the other team…”

  “Jeez, Maria,” Amanda said, putting her hand to her face.

  Maria laughed. “I’m kidding. You’re too easy.”

  Amanda raised her middle finger.

  “Is that an offer?”

  Amanda rolled her eyes, and they both laughed. “You’re insatiable,” Amanda said.

  “I’ve been called worse,” Maria mused.

  Amanda smiled and admired her friend. Despite her protests, she was more interested in Maria that she let on. She was curious to see what it would be like. Maria was certainly interested in her, that was for sure. This was only the latest in a string of flirtations by her that had been going on for months.

  But just because Maria was interested in her, didn’t mean it was the right thing to do. Although she was curious, she also knew it would be crossing a line. A line that it was not easy to backtrack over once it had been crossed.

  Maria was her friend, one of only a few who she really felt she could open up to, and she really didn’t want to lose or jeopardise that. At least for now, anyway.

  Tearing her eyes away from the pretty brunette, Amanda drank the last of her coffee and placed the mug back on the table. “Fancy a walk?”

  “Sure,” Maria answered, draining her own cup before standing and gathering her things. “Where do you want to go?”

  “I’ve no idea. Let’s see where this street takes us,” Amanda said.

  Epilogue 1

  Niagara Falls

  Kez stood behind Yasmin as they stood upon a rooftop, invisible to mortal eyes and watched.

  The dark-haired girl wore all black and moved slowly, as if in a daze before she approached the railing and looked out at the wall of falling water that is Niagara Falls.

  “You want me to watch her, my Baal?” Kez asked.

  “Not in any great detail, just monitor her. I want to know where she is.”

  “May I ask who she is?”

  “Her name’s Alicia. She’s a childhood friend of Amanda’s.”

  It all started to make a little more sense to Kez now, as she looked down at the girl again. She hadn’t moved from the railing.

  “I have some ideas for her. Nothing concrete yet, but she might be useful,” Yasmin finished.

  “Of course, my Baal. I’ll make sure she’s watched.”

  Yasmin turned to Kez, and something approaching a smile crossed her face. She reached up and touched Kez’s face gently with her hand “What would I do without you, Kez? Thank you.” Yasmin leaned in and kissed Kez gently on her lips.

  “It’s my pleasure to serve you, my Baal,” Kez answered.

  Yasmin did smile then. “Good. I’ll see you back home.”

  “Of course,” Kez answered and watched as Yasmin disappeared. Kez looked back down at the lost-looking girl. A friend of Amanda’s, Kez thought, she wouldn’t want to be her when Yasmin put into action whatever plans she had for her.

  Epilogue 2

  The Vatican

  “Come in,” Mary called out upon hearing the faint knock on the door. She’d already okayed Augusto to come in, but he always knocked as well, just to be polite.

  The door opened and in walked Augusto. One of her most competent knights, he also had a keen mind and a handsome face. He was tall and dressed in a suit with long, mousy hair down to his jawline with a well-kept goatee. He walked across the room, his long legs carrying him quickly to Mary’s desk.

  “Good morning, Grand Inquisitor,” he greeted her.

  “Morning, Augusto. What can I do for you today?” she asked, eyeing the folder he held in his hands.

  “I have news of a witch you’ve been after for a while. Amanda. It seems she’s turned up in New York.”

  Mary sat back, taking a keen interest in what Augusto had to say. “Go on.”

  “We’ve just found out that New York has been liberated from the control of Lucian, who has been declared dead. No word on who killed him, but it’s the usual infighting amongst the witches and warlocks, we think. On looking into it, our source has discovered that Amanda has been living in New York for several months now. We’re currently trying to ascertain if she had anything to do with Lucian’s death.”

  “New York? Hmm, well, that fits with what we know about her past from the reports Vito brought in during his investigation.”

  “It does, and it looks like we were searching in the wrong location.”

  “Recently, maybe, but I have a folder full of evidence that placed her in Europe working with the Legacy Coven until she disappeared six months ago.” Mary pulled out the folder from the filing cabinet behind her and placed it on the desk, a few photos of the young red-haired girl spilling out onto her desktop.

  “So, what are your orders, ma’am?”

  “Let’s get some people in New York right away. Let’s find out where she is, and who’s with her. Then we can start to plan our next move,” she said conspiratorially.

  “Very good, ma’am. I’ll get right on it.”

  “Thank you. You may go.”

  Mary watched Augusto leave, having left the folder on her desk for her to look through. She opened it up and looked at the photo of Amanda clipped to the front page. She pulled it off and held it up, recognising the scarlet haired girl in the image from the past two years of hunting for her. Every time they thought they were getting close, she disappeared again.

  She thought back to the investigation she had sent Vito on over two years ago that had him jet-setting to America, Egypt, and Europe after a tip-off from someone who saw a demon in a New York alleyway with a certain redhead. That led to the discovery of a powerful Magical Artifact that Mary wanted to get her hands on, but which slipped through her fingers at the last moment because of Amanda and her friends. She’d lost a loyal and devout Inquisitor that day, and Vito had been tough to replace. She had a couple of capable and trusted Inquisitors now in Augusto and Assunta, but she still missed Vito.

  It had served as a timely reminder of just how dangerous the Magi were. They could call themselves whatever they liked, Magi, Arcadian, Nomad, it didn’t matter. As far as she was concerned, they were witches and warlocks in league with Satan and a very real threat to mankind.

  She had pledged to hunt them down and purge the Earth of their kind, and Amanda was next on that list because she’d made it personal by killing Vito.

  Mary placed the photo on the desk, whipped out her knife in a blur of movement, and stabbed the picture, burying the point of the dagger into the oak desktop, right through Amanda’s head.

  “I’m coming, Amanda.”

  MAGI OMEN

  The Magi Saga

  Book 3

  Prologue

  American Midwest

  Dust slammed the Arcadian up against the wall. Gripping him by the neck, Dust held him a good foot above the floor as the Arcadian struggled and clawed at his attacker’s hand.

  “Please, don’t kill me, you can take it…” he whimpered, struggling to get his words out through the Nomad’s iron grip.

  Dust had no idea who this Arcadian was. He only knew that he had something he wanted, something he’d been hunting for a very long time.

  “Where is it?” Dust demanded, his voice rough and deep. He loosened his grip on the Arcadian’s neck a fraction, just enough so that he could speak.

  “It’s… It’s in my pocket. Here, take it,” he said, rummaging in his jacket pocket. He pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper bound with a leather tie. It looked ancient.

  Dust snatched the scroll away from him and stuffed it in the pocket of his tan-coloured leather duster.

  “There, you’ve got it, you’ve won. Please, can we talk about this now?”

  “No,” said Dust. Tightening his grip, he pulled a blade from his belt that he slashed across the man’s belly. Blood poured onto the packed earth floor o
f the ramshackle building.

  The man choked and struggled as his eyes went wide in panic. His hands tried in vain to keep his ropey insides from spilling to the floor, without success.

  Dust smirked, one side of his mouth pulling back in a half-smile as he dropped the Arcadian to the floor. He landed on his knees and looked down in horror at his guts, piled all around him like slimy red snakes.

  Standing back, Dust watched the man try one last desperate use of Magic. But he calmly called on the Essentia and dissolved the healing Magic the Arcadian had attempted.

  Blood bubbled up into the Arcadian’s mouth and dribbled over his chin as he slipped into the cold embrace of death. He pitched forward, his face hitting the floor and kicking up a small cloud of dirt.

  The Nomad pulled the scroll from his pocket and held it up for a closer look. Small and unassuming, it seemed wrong that such a tiny thing would be so valued by Arcadians and Nomads alike. The rolled-up parchment was only about eight inches across and felt as light as a feather. The paper was creased and discoloured, taking on a tan hue that made it appear like it had been dunked in coffee. But Dust knew better than to judge such an item by its mundane appearance. This happened to be one of the most infamous and powerful Magical items known to the Magi world.

  Known as the Lazarus Scroll, the tales of its power were legendary, including its ability to resurrect the dead. Dust chose not to undo the leather strap at this moment. He’d look at it later when he had more time to sit and study it. For now, he wanted to be on his way in case the Magus he’d just killed had friends nearby.

  He looked down at the body, slumped on the floor and gave it a kick. At least, he’d been entertaining and put up a bit of a fight.

  Turning from the body, he walked across the room that was little more than four brick walls and a pitched, corrugated iron roof over a dusty desert floor to reach the exit.

  Opening the door, he frowned at the sight that greeted him.

  The exit had been bricked up.

  Had it been like this when he came in here? He found he had difficulty remembering. He pushed on the bricks, but they held firm. Suddenly, an intense feeling that he wasn’t alone anymore washed over him. He spun on the spot and fell back against the bricked-up doorway in shock.

  The man he’d just killed was no longer dead. He stood with his arms wide, blood pouring from his eyes and mouth. His intestines writhed and curled around each other like snakes extending from the man’s stomach, reaching for him.

  Dust scrambled to get away, but it felt like he was submerged in treacle—his every movement slow and ponderous.

  As he watched, the man’s belly opened wide to reveal rows and rows of wicked-looking teeth as blood and ichor oozed from its horrendous maw.

  The snake-like intestines whipped out and wrapped around Dust’s legs, dragging him back towards the mouth from which they’d come.

  Dust clawed at the floor. He reached for anything that might help him pull himself away, but nothing presented itself. The tentacles flipped Dust over onto his back. Looking up, another length of intestine whipped out and wrapped around his neck, pulling him headfirst into the tooth-filled mouth.

  He screamed as the jaw distended, opening wide enough to fit his head into it, before slamming shut with a final chomp.

  ***

  Dust woke up. His eyes snapped open as he sat bolt upright on a metal-framed bed.

  The building didn’t look dissimilar to the one in his dream, apart from the few bits of furniture it had in real life and the light streaming into the interior through holes in the walls and roof. He swung his legs off the bed and looked at the scroll that sat on the small cabinet next to the bed.

  He still had it, the Lazarus Scroll, right where he’d left it when he’d drifted off to sleep the night before.

  He’d killed a man for this artifact—an Arcadian Magi. He forgot the name of the man now, not that it was important. Who had it before him was of little consequence. He owned it now. He controlled its power, and with it, he could bring Horlack back from the Abyss.

  Dust had visited the alleyway in New York. He felt sure that Horlack had not been killed, but instead, transported out of this realm and into the Abyss.

  He didn’t really know how he knew this, he just did. Just like he also knew that he had to bring him back. But for that, he needed the Lazarus Scroll. He’d been searching for a year, following up clues as to its whereabouts which had ultimately led to his favourite hunting ground. The desert.

  These dreams had been happening ever since he’d found the scroll. Every night he went to sleep, and every night he woke up screaming at least once. He had no idea why and he supposed it didn’t really matter.

  The artifact was his now. He could complete the ritual and bring Horlack back.

  He just needed to find the right place to do it. He needed a Pooling. A place where two Ley Lines crossed and the Essentia from the crossing streams of energy weakened the barrier into the Abyss.

  Rising from his bed, he picked up the scroll and his wide-brimmed cowboy hat, and stepped from the shack out into the morning light. Already warm, the Arizona desert looked dry and inhospitable. But Dust loved these places. He loved to wander deserts and focus on his hobby when the mood took him. He’d not seen anyone for a few days now, so he’d not had the chance to indulge himself. Shame, really. Killing a pretty girl always seemed to pass the time quite nicely. What is it the Arcadians called him? Dust Devil, wasn’t it? He didn’t mind the name, not really.

  Looking around and putting his hat on his head, he wasn’t really sure which way he needed to go, so he just picked a direction and walked, the wind whipping his coat about him as he went.

  Fallen Angels

  Los Angeles

  Toni stood at the edge of the terrace at the back of the mansion and looked out from her vantage point over the tens of thousands of lights that shone in the darkness. Yellow, white, blue, and red. The lights glowed from windows, cars, and buildings in the vast sprawl of Los Angeles on this balmy November evening.

  Turning away from the view, she looked across the grounds. Ahead, a large swimming pool glowed from within, while other lights lit up the decking and gardens closer to the house.

  She wasn’t alone. Four other Magi were with her on the terrace, while the rest of the coven remained inside.

  Jonas, Tybolt, and Melissa chatted idly as they enjoyed their drinks. The two guys wore their swimming shorts—Jonas looking like a blond surfer dude beside the dark-haired Tybolt with his designer stubble and a towel wrapped around his shoulders.

  Melissa looked as classy as ever, wearing a dark bikini and cover-up skirt that didn’t hide much at all. All three of them had bodies to die for; like most Magi, they took pride in their appearance.

  As they watched, the fourth Magus wandered over carrying a pair of drinks. Toni smiled at her, enjoying the view as Tabitha approached.

  Before Tabitha, Toni had always been a little bi-curious, even though she’d only ever been with men. But joining this coven had changed all that.

  Apparently, Tabitha had taken an immediate liking to her, or so she said. Over several weeks, they had grown closer until one night after a drink or two, one thing had led to another, and that was that.

  Soon, she’d fallen in love with Tabby, and it had been the most passionate and intense relationship of her life so far.

  Tabby’s bob of platinum blonde hair complemented her orange bikini perfectly. She had quite striking features, not least of which being her Magically-altered golden eyes that had a vertically slit pupil, just like a cat’s. Tabby reached Toni’s side and handed her one of the champagne flutes.

  “Thanks,” she said, giving Tabby a kiss and then taking a sip of the bubbly.

  “So, you didn’t say one way or the other. Do you want to go?” Tabby asked.

  “To the ball in New York? Sure, sounds good.”

  “It should be. I hear it’s going to be a hell of a celebration. It’s been a long ti
me since the Arcadians had a presence there.”

  “This is them staking their claim to it,” Toni agreed.

  “Who can blame them? The Nomads controlled that city for decades.”

  “Lucian. Wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah. Glad he’s gone. I’m sure there’s a particularly hot part of Hell waiting just for him,” Tabitha mused.

  “Who killed him?”

  “Don’t know. I think they’re keeping that one quiet.”

  “That’s probably wise,” Toni agreed.

  “Absolutely, unless that person wants Nymira after them. If it were me, I’d be keeping it quiet, as well.”

  “Maybe we’ll find out at the ball?” Toni asked.

  “I doubt it, but it would be good to see some of New York while we’re there,” Tabby said. “Come on, let’s sit down,” Tabby said, leading her back to the table.

  “Sounds good,” Toni agreed. “So who do you think killed Lucian? I heard that it was a Council task force that acted on a tip-off from a Nomad defector. They found out where Lucian was hiding and stormed the place.”

  “The council has wanted Lucian dead for ages now,” Tabby agreed.

  “I heard it was a Nomad who wanted to join the Arcadians,” Jonas joined in. “One of Yasmin’s coven who wanted to prove himself to the Council.”

  “That’s a bit far-fetched,” Tybolt said. “The rumour I heard was that a Magi named Amanda killed him. She moved from Europe to New York about a month before or something.”

  “Amanda, I’ve not heard of her,” Tabby commented.

  “She’s not been a Magus long. Red-headed girl, I think,” Tybolt answered.

  Toni suddenly had a moment of recall. She thought she remembered seeing a red-head at the Liberty’s Children Coven House, back when she’d visited Victoria after her coven had been wiped out by Nomads. Could that have been Amanda? She couldn’t be sure. She’d been quite upset that day.