Finishing her shower, she got herself dressed before concentrating and calling on her Magic.
Refuelling her Aegis first, she made sure she was ready for anything, Magically speaking, before picturing the Darkside of the Moon nightclub in her head and Porting across town, appearing in the back of the club’s grounds.
The black church looked imposing in the daylight towering over her, its spires clawing at the grey skies above. The enormous black edifice seemed like a fitting place for these two grieving women to live, she thought as she made her way through the grounds of the club and to the side door.
Letting her senses shift into the Magical spectrum, Amanda eyed the building’s Aegis and pressed her lips together in concern. The Aegis really wasn’t strong enough, any half-competent Magus could bring it down in one quick casting if they tried, and to her or a Master, it might as well not be there at all. She wondered if the death of their friend had caused Toni and Tabitha to become distracted, to let things slide. Like most things, an Aegis on a building needed to be strengthened from time to time to stop it from slowly fading away. The results of a Magical effect, such as an enhanced body, could last forever, but the effects themselves rarely did.
Although Amanda could rip down that Aegis like a cobweb in front of a door, it wasn’t the right thing to do and would probably cause alarm where none was warranted. So, she walked up to the side door and pressed the buzzer.
She didn’t have to wait long, and as she heard the sound of the lock being turned, she wondered if she might be greeted by Howie again. As the lock clicked home, she could see the part of the Aegis over the door fade away to allow entry to Magi such as her.
The door swung outwards, and the considerable form of her friend Howie stood in the doorway. Howie was not a small man and towered over Amanda by about a whole head. He wore his usual security outfit of a dark suit, his jacket left undone for the moment, his top buttons open, showing off his powerful chest. Howie shaved his head, keeping it smooth with no hair that a drunk could grab when he ejected someone from the club. His dark eyes settled on Amanda with a huge welcoming smile on his face, his white teeth standing in stark contrast to his dark skin.
“Amanda, how you doin’? It’s been ages, girl.”
“Yeah, sorry, I should have popped over sooner. What’s the craic? How’ve ye been? God love yeh, you look good, so ye do,” she said, her Irish accent coming out strong.
“I’m alright, thanks, keeping this place in line for the girls. And you?”
“Ah, sure ye know yeh self, same old, same old. It’s the girls I came to see, actually.”
“Aww, you break my heart, girl. Here I was thinking you were here to see little ol’ me.”
Amanda smiled. “Maybe after, if you’re free?”
Howie raised his eyebrows. “Uh, sure. Let me see what I can do,” he said as he let her in and closed the door behind her.
“How have they been? I presume you know that they lost their friend recently.”
“I heard, yeah. They’ve been keeping quiet and staying out of the way a little more than usual, letting the manager run the club pretty much. I’m sure they’ll see you, though.”
“They’ve been okay, then? They’re coping?” Amanda asked.
“Seems that way, Red,” he said as he led her out into the club proper. She’d seen the place in daylight before, and it always looked a little odd to see it fully lit without the strobes and coloured lights. But she paid it little mind and followed Howie up to the VIP level upstairs.
The place seemed very quiet.
“You here alone today?” Amanda asked.
“I always get here first and open up before the rest of the team arrives. They’ll be here later. The girls often sleep here, going to bed in the early hours and not rising until midday, which is when I get here, usually,” Howie said.
Amanda nodded and followed Howie to the office door on the VIP level, where he sounded a buzzer that Amanda could hear upstairs somewhere.
Amanda looked up. Above them, a suspended walkway hung inside the pitched roof space of the former church in a cross shape to mirror the floorplan. The bell tower had been extensively renovated and filled with two levels of living space that hung above the club below. A door into the girl's apartment opened and Tabitha stepped out onto the hanging walkway.
Amanda smiled up at her and waved. “Hiya, have you got a moment? I just wanted to stop by and see how ye are.”
“Oh, hi, Amanda, sure, come on up. I’ll get the door for you,” she said and stepped back inside. Moments later, the office door buzzed and unlocked. Howie pushed it open and held it for Amanda. The only way up to the apartment was through the staff office and up a stairwell.
“Thank you,” Amanda said. It was cute, Howie had always been the chivalrous type. “I’ll come find you in a bit,” Amanda said with a smile and a wink, enjoying the smile he gave her in return and walked inside.
She had a complicated history with Howie, but she always felt there was something there between them, although it had never been acted on over the years. While she had lived with him, back when she first came to New York as a stowaway on a cargo ship, he had taken her in and looked after her. She’d made a few advances during that time, but nothing too serious and he’d always resisted her, saying that it just didn’t feel right. And then, after she’d started walking the streets with Georgina and he found out, their relationship had crumbled. It had taken a long time for her to pluck up the courage to see him again. After a few more meetings over the past year, their friendship seemed to have returned. But Amanda had kept him at arm’s length. Her life was fraught with danger and people wanting to kill her and her friends. Forcing that and her life as a Magus on him by association just didn’t seem like the right thing to do.
She wondered if there might be a way to make it work, though somehow, if she were careful to keep things quiet.
She wasn’t sure, but she really did want to take Howie to dinner and to see if there really was anything between them.
Of course, then there was the issue of her open relationship with Maria. Maybe her love life was about to get a little more complicated.
In the meantime, she needed to see her friends and check that they were okay.
She walked through the back of the office and found the large set of stairs that led up to the walkway in the eaves of the bell tower. As she ascended the steps, Tabitha appeared at the top and smiled down at her.
Tabitha, like most Magi, was quite stunning. She was slim, with a feline quality to her face, emphasised by her golden-yellow eyes that had been Magically changed to be like a cat’s with a vertical slit for the pupil rather than a circle. Her blonde hair was cut into a bob cut, just a little longer than her jawline and today she wore dark coloured leggings and a baggy top. As she smiled down at Amanda in greeting, Amanda noticed a sadness there, and Amanda felt very sorry for her and Toni. They’d been through a lot these past few months, losing their coven, including their close friend Melissa to the Nomads
“Hi. How’re you doing?” Amanda asked, giving Tabitha a hug.
“We’re fine. As good as can be expected, really. Come through and see Toni,” she said and led the way to the doorway of the living space in the centre of the cross-shaped walkway.
“Hi there, Mandy. Lovely to see you,” Toni said, stepping out onto the catwalk. Toni was the better looking of the two in Amanda’s opinion, with long lustrous dark hair and a classical beauty to her features, even in the no-effort outfit of an old pair of fitted jeans and camisole top that she wore today.
“And you, Toni. It’s been a while and I wanted to pop by to see how you both are.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that. We just needed some time to ourselves after, well, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. Well, I’m glad you’re okay,” Amanda said as she leant her hip against the railing at the edge of the walkway. “You’ve both been through a lot recently, but we’ve all lost someone before, and I just wanted
you to know that we’re here to help if you need us.”
“Thank you. We appreciate that,” Toni replied.
“Yeah, thanks,” Tabitha said.
Looking at them both together as Toni hugged Tabitha with one arm in a gesture of support, Amanda felt a little more confident in them and in their ability to cope with what they’d been through. If she had to, she would say that based on this quick meeting, it looked to her that Toni was taking the loss worse than Tabitha was, but not by much.
Getting through the loss of a close friend was never easy, and it was clear that Melissa had been very close to these two, more like a sister than a friend. When Magi came together as a coven, their Magical nature often served to separate them from their non-magical family and friends and drew them closer to their coven mates. The loss of those people always hit hard.
“That’s no problem,” Amanda said, smiling. And looked down to see Howie on the VIP level below, sitting on the edge of one of the tables down there, looking at something on his cell phone.
Amanda sensed the flare of Magical energy at the same time as Toni and Tabitha, based on their reaction to it. Amanda quickly shifted her senses into the Magical spectrum and saw the club’s Aegis being ripped apart from the outside. Seconds later, the Aegis was destroyed.
Fuelling her Aegis, bringing it up to full power, Amanda leant out over the walkway looking into the club below.
One floor down, Howie still sat on the table, oblivious to the Magic happening around him. Amanda scanned around, looking to the dance floor below the VIP area on the ground floor, but saw nothing.
“What was that?” Toni asked.
“Someone just destroyed the Aegis on the club,” Amanda said.
“You think?” Tabitha said, sarcasm dripping from her reply.
Amanda let the remark pass. Given that this was happening during her visit, she had to wonder if the attacker was after her, or if it was just coincidence.
A powerful Magic-fuelled explosion rocked the ground floor. As they watched, smoke and debris flew onto the dancefloor below them from one side of the building.
As she watched, a nexus of Essentia moved through the debris and onto the dancefloor, visible as only a dark shadow to the naked eye through the cloud of dust that billowed out from the explosion.
Howie peered over the balcony of the VIP area looking down at the ground floor.
As the dust started to settle, a cloaked form materialised, and as Amanda got a better look, she felt sure she knew who it was.
The person looked up, revealing very dark skin and a face covered in white paint that looked like a skull. Her head was surrounded by thick dreadlocks, adorned with jewellery, trinkets, and bones.
Amanda felt sure this was Nymira, the Voodoo Queen.
She wore some kind of heavy-looking cloak, made from layers of material, leather, and skins adorned in feathers, animal skulls, and other things she couldn’t make out.
Nymira looked up, a sneer of hatred on her face, making Amanda feel suddenly very much out of her depth.
“Hey, you,” Howie shouted, clearly with no understanding who he was talking to and the danger he was putting himself in.
“Feck,” Amanda cursed, they needed to get out of here. Nymira was here for her, but Amanda felt sure that she would kill her friends without a second thought. She could try and fight against this Arch Magus, but she doubted she would last long against someone of her rank.
Better to run and fight another day.
Reaching out with her Magic, Amanda focused on where she could Port them. Suddenly a new, more powerful Aegis sprung up around the building, fuelled by Nymira’s Magic. There’d be no running this time.
“Feckin’ feck,” Amanda cursed and looked back down at the Nomad.
Nymira smiled back at her. “Come out, little mouse. The cat wants to play.”
Amanda glanced at Howie, and then back at Nymira. Nymira followed her gaze to Howie and then briefly back up to Amanda. The look on Nymira’s face chilled her and Amanda knew she had to protect Howie.
Reaching out with her Magic Amanda conjured an Aegis around Howie, and not a moment too soon. Visible green and yellow energy flew from Nymira’s small hand gesture and smashed against the invisible shield. Howie staggered back in surprise as the edge of the balcony disintegrated just in front of him. She needed to get down there. She could protect him better if she were close to him.
“Follow me down,” Amanda called to the girls, as she took one step back and vaulted the railing on the edge of the walkway. She dropped to the floor below, landing with a bang beside Howie, who yelped in surprise as she appeared next to him without warning.
Half a second later, Tabitha and Toni followed suit, and with her next thought, Amanda pushed her Aegis out and surrounded all four of them in her much stronger, personal shield.
Nymira moved, and another incredibly powerful Essentia blast of green and yellow energy, visible to a mortal such as Howie, hit Amanda’s Aegis like a freight train. Her Aegis hissed and popped with the golden energy of her own Magic as they were thrown from their feet, landing twenty feet away, demolishing tables and chairs as they went.
They were hurt, bruised, and scratched but Aegis protected them from the worst effects of the fall.
Amanda looked over at Howie as she picked herself up, brushing her long red hair behind her ear. He sat on the floor with a look of complete confusion, fear, and bewilderment on his face. His eyes were wide, his mouth was hanging open, and he mouthed silent words.
What a way to be introduced to Magic, she thought. Well, provided she could get them out of here, she would take it upon herself to explain everything to him, and hopefully, he would be able to deal with it. But for now, she had other priorities.
Looking back in the direction that they’d been thrown from, Magic flared as Nymira Ported up to the second floor in a burst of dark smoke-like energy and started towards them.
Amanda watched the cloak flare out around Nymira as she walked, revealing the Voodoo Queen’s ebony skin marked with white and red war paint. She wore little beneath her cloak. A pair of small golden disks covered her nipples while a long thin sash covered in bones and strange markings hung down in front of her crotch, nearly reaching the floor. She wore fur-covered boots with bones dangling from strings and animal skulls. Other than that, she adorned her body and legs with more bones, ribs, and animal horns that contoured her body, as if they were some kind of armour.
Howie yelped in fright at her sudden appearance, as Amanda rose to her feet.
“Your fight is with me, let them go, and I won’t run from you.”
“No, Amanda, we’re not leaving you.”
“Run from me, little mouse? You can’t run from me. And as for your friends, they will die first. Fair’s fair, after all,” Nymira said, referring to Amanda killing Lucian.
“You can try,” Amanda countered. She knew Nymira was right, there was no way they could get through the Aegis that she’d thrown up around them. But the outlook for them if they stayed and fought was just as bleak. She flooded her Aegis with power anyway, though. The longer she could hold Nymira off, the better chance they had. Amanda clenched her fists and concentrated hard, quickly using her Multitasking effect to split her mind into several parts, most of which she just used to power her Aegis.
“I will,” Nymira answered and suddenly threw a staggering amount of energy at Amanda and her friends. The blast splashed over Amanda’s Aegis, causing her to stagger, but she stayed on her feet, and her Aegis weathered the storm.
The girls yelped. “We need to get out of here!” they screamed.
The look of confusion on the Voodoo Queen’s face, caused a smile to play over Amanda’s mouth.
“You’re strong, little one, stronger than I’d given you credit for,” Nymira said.
Amanda stood in front of her friends and looked hard into the dark soulless eyes of the Arch Master, but said nothing in reply, waiting for her to hit her again with her Mag
ic.
“But you can’t stand against me forever,” Nymira continued. “I will break through your defences, of that, you can be sure. There is no way out.”
Amanda knew she was right. As strong as she might be, Nymira was more skilled and more powerful too, it was just a matter of time. With Nymira’s Aegis surrounding the building. Amanda couldn’t Port away, or call for help. They were trapped.
“Amanda, if you’re going to do something, do it now!” Tabitha yelled.
“The Loa will gorge on your spirit, little mouse,” Nymira mocked her.
Spirit! Of course. Why hadn’t she thought of that earlier? She looked up at the Voodoo Queen as she worked her Magic, a plan forming in her mind. It was risky, but staying here was much more dangerous.
Nymira’s Magic hit her again. As it did, hidden behind the powerful flare of thundering Essentia, Amanda reached out and shaped the Essentia around her, opening a gateway into the Abyss. All four of them dropped through and the scene around them changed.
They were still in the Club, but the blue-tinged darkness of the Abyss changed everything as silence filled the air. The noise of Nymira’s Magical attacks abruptly ended with the change of scenery.
Amanda relaxed and took a breath. They were safe, relatively, for the moment.
“Is this…?” Tabitha asked quietly.
“What the fuck is going on?” Howie said, his voice raised as he looked around in stunned confusion.
Amanda put a finger to her lips and shushed him. “Quiet, Howie, we’re not out of the woods yet.”
“This is the Abyss, isn’t it?” Tabitha whispered.
The sounds of the city had gone, and the silence of the Abyss made the noisy Material Realm they’d been in moments ago seem almost deafening.
Magi Legend Page 78