by Viola Grace
"I was born to absorb the power that you arrogantly call magic. It runs into me like a river whenever I am around it and I will drain Abby dry. I have never been able to drain a Nexus before. I think I will enjoy this.” She rubbed her hands together in anticipation. “But first, I am going to make sure that you don't distract me in my purpose.” A few sharp jerks and his mouth was duct taped.
Well, hell. She was nuts.
* * * *
The slope leading down to the oak tree was lit by tiki torches, a nice touch. Miranda must have brought her own. Just to give it a spooky feel. Creepy. Creepy and tacky.
As the gnomes had indicated Xander was tied to the tree, but from this distance, she could only see that he was shirtless. Damn. How did that psycho get his shirt off?
Sliding open and deliberately closing the glass patio door bought her a little time to calm herself. This was going to be sink or swim. Laura would appreciate that one.
"Ah, the great and powerful Nexus! How kind of you to join us.” Miranda Simmons was cheerful. She had some weird dagger with her and was looking distinctly pleased with herself.
Abby kept walking toward the nut with her back to the river.
"Are you prepared to die?"
"That depends, are you prepared to let Xander go?"
A cackle cracked through the air. “No. He stays until your power is tapped out and your heart has stopped beating.” She waggled the dagger in the air.
"Uh, if you are going to kill me, why don't you get it over with and shoot me?"
Miranda looked a little impatient. “Based on my lack of success in hitting you with a car or blowing you up, I feel that the best way to kill you is up close and personal. Without any mechanical intervention."
"Okay, I have to admit that you have a valid point.” She crossed her arms, but still stayed about fifteen feet away from the knife wielding nut-o-naut. “Did you know that I could deflect that stuff? Because I surely didn't. A fucking car for god's sake."
"I tried to get to you before your powers fell under your control.” She paced restlessly.
Abby moved closer to Xander.
"How was I to know that Xander was going to tutor you so extensively?"
"He did show me several things that I hadn't seen before. Especially during the tutoring sessions at my home.” Xander's weary face lit with a smile behind the tape and he shook against his chains. The distraction was enough for Abby to have her toe connect with the oak root that was under her foot.
Miranda brandished her knife at Xander. “Keep quiet, Xander. You will have your turn."
Phase one was now complete. Phase two was a little more difficult. “Are you going to kill the other inhabitants of the neighbourhood as well? Including Xander?"
"No, of course not. I simply need to kill you so that the plague that you spread will be stopped. Xander needs to be punished a bit before I let him go though. If he hadn't been so obsessed with you, you would be dead already.” Her confidence that she would not be punished was proof of her madness. She honestly seemed to think that everything would go back the way it was.
Abby fixated on the one word that caught her attention. “Plague?"
"Magic. Or what passes for magic nowadays."
There was a lot of loathing in those words. “I thought you were from a magical family? Why do you hate it?"
"I have always been a second class citizen. My own family is embarrassed by my existence. I have never felt like I belonged.” The shudder that ran through her was more true emotion than she had ever shown before. And here it was all due to family feuding. What a surprise.
"I understand.” She really did. It echoed her own experience with her family.
"How could you? You have all the power in two worlds at your disposal!"
She did? Cool, she would have to put that on her business card. “I have been shunned by my mother's family. I was always too low class for them. Never the right job or the right address. Saved me a lot of money on Christmas presents, I can tell you."
"So that is why you are willing to walk into my knife?"
"No. That is why I don't want anyone else to be hurt. The people here are good, no matter their magical status. They have been friends and helped me when there was no reason to. That alone is my reason for being here.” The truth in her words surprised even herself. “That brings me to another point. Can you drain the Nexus energy without touching that of the others?"
"Of course I can."
A deep breath and a longing look at Xander, with as much warning as she could put into her eyes, and she nodded. “Then let's rock."
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Chapter Thirty
The process was not painless. Not by a long shot. Bitsy must have been in agony.
It took all the energy that she had just to keep from shrieking in panic and running for the safety of her house. A deep breath and a mental recitation of her plan let her stay fixed to the ground.
As it was the first sharp tug on her magic actually made her stumble forward a few steps. She tried to retreat, but the energy that bound her to Miranda was stretchy, like taffy and kept snapping back.
"You have so much more power than I had imagined. No wonder I couldn't kill you by surprise.” She sounded like she had stumbled across a cheesecake buffet.
"Are you simply drawing my magic? The taste of the Nexus magic is what you are aiming for, right?"
Miranda was pacing again.
Abby tried to keep her from detecting the location of the power that she was drawing. Idle chitchat in the face of agony and torture should work.
"Of course, I am. I have control over my talent. Too bad you could not say the same.” And with that Miranda flung her arms wide and let the power of the Nexus flow into her.
With her inner eye, Abby could see her power moving toward the black hole that was Miranda. It disappeared into her, but she could still feel it, moving and fighting the darkness.
The flowerbed heaved. The thick bubble of magic was dissolving rapidly, and Miranda was standing right in front of it. This was going to be good.
It only took twenty-three seconds for her to eat the bubble. And only three seconds for the boom to flatten everything in sight.
The draining had already weakened her knees so Abby was able to drop to the ground and lie flat as the blast wave washed over her.
Miranda was not so fortunate. The rampaging psycho was flat on her face, evidence of the garden exploding, all over her back.
As Abby investigated, it seemed that a begonia was now firmly lodged in Miranda's butt. The jokes were too terrible.
Her magic had returned to her in a rush, but no amount of magic on her part would get Xander off that tree. The oak had shielded him from the blast, using its roots and branches to take the brunt of the debris.
"Hey, Xander. I just have to find the keys for those cuffs.” She frisked Miranda's unconscious body and it was in the third pocket that she found them. “I'll have you out of there in a minute. I got the keys."
While Abby worked at the cuffs in the limited lighting, she heard a tiny stampede and looked over to find the gnomes carrying Miranda up the hill, the begonia waving proudly from her ass. A flag on the battleground.
She opened the left cuff first, arm, then leg and the leg and then the wrist of the right side. Just so he wouldn't fall down as so often depicted in the movies and cartoons.
With a grimace and a wince, Xander tore the tape from his mouth. “Abby, if you ever do anything that stupid again, I am going to paddle you for a week."
Abby looked at him for a long time. “If I am ever in the position to do something like this, I'll let them kill you first, then take my turn. Is that okay?"
He glared at her. Bruised and insulted, he took the only course of action open to him. He kissed her.
Abby wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him into her with everything in her. “This was the reason that I risked my life, just this. My life has been turned on i
ts head, everything I thought wasn't real, is and then there is you. You are the same man that I met the first day. The same man that made my heart pound and gave me the energy to bring the gnomes to life just by walking through my house.” Her lips duelled with his again, then pulled away. “For that I will risk anything."
He looked down at her as he kept her close enough for her to feel his appreciation of her speech. “For that I am humbled, and grateful, and still really, really pissed off."
"Oh, dear, is there anything that I can do to take out the sting of it?"
His hands wrapped around her waist and he rocked his hips against her. “I think you may just have to work it off."
"Is it a worthy cause?"
"I think so. What do you think it's worth?"
She shifted her hips from side to side against him. “A lot. Quite a bit. I have a large bit of interest in your large bit of interest.” A sudden thought occurred to her. “Do you need any extra energy? Did Miranda drain you?"
"Uh, no. She drugged me with coffee."
"But why did you let her in? Your own rules said that no one was to go visiting on the street."
"Uh, Miranda and I used to date. Years ago, just after the street was activated."
Nothing to kill a mood like knowing that it was his ex that had put him and them in danger. “Dare I ask as to why she had the handcuffs?” The flush that was visible on his cheeks was answer enough. “She bound you with stuff from your toy chest. That is twisted.” A new side of Xander that she wasn't pleased with. She would have to deal with it another day.
He was gently rubbing at the marks left by the cuffs. “She is a twisted lady. Speaking of which, where is she?"
Okay, it was back to business. “The gnomes took her back to Seesee's. We should probably join them."
"How do you know where the gnomes took her?"
"I can follow that pitter patter of tiny feet. That, and it is where I told them to take her when I was making my plans.” She took his arm to support him across the yard. “Don't worry, the others should be waking up shortly."
Xander stopped and looked at her. “What did you do?” His arm snaked around her waist and he gripped her tightly, his worry for his friends obvious. “Are they all okay? Did Miranda do anything?"
"Nope. I took a little help from my friends.” She got him moving again, and together they made their way through the darkness and to the only lit home on Oak Point Way. “The gnomes have a way with sedatives. Now let's go wake them up so that Verne can try to kill me again. He really is a one trick pony. Werewolf. Whatever."
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Chapter Thirty-One
Seesee's living room was almost as Abby had left it. Almost. The addition of a bound and gagged Miranda was new as was the prone form of Verne on the eastern carpeting. His eyes were open and blinking and, as Abby and Xander entered the room, his gaze became furious.
The gnomes were even giving him a wide berth and that was not a good sign. They weren't afraid of anyone, but Verne had done something to scare them.
"I am sorry that I told them to dope you, but if they used what I think they did, this should burn it off.” Abby went from neighbour to neighbour and gave them a shot of the panic-magic that she had generated while Miranda was draining her. When they stirred within two minutes, she had another answer for her growing list of questions. Her power did indeed carry flavours with it. And panic magic was a short burn.
"What happened and why did you do that to us?” Seesee was the first one to be revived.
Abby had just finished Laura and was reaching for Verne. Two fingers touched his shoulder and she let the power run between them. “I needed to meet her alone or she said she would hurt Xander and you all.” She should have been paying more attention because seconds later, there was a rush of fur under her hand and she again had a snarling wolf at her throat. Xander was in no shape to help her so Seesee's hair whipped out to pull the were from her torso.
"Back off, Verne. I wasn't harmed. Neither were you, so stop being so dramatic."
He slumped in the air where the gorgon was holding him and began to shift back to human before he was back on the ground. “I am sorry, Abby, Miranda's scent tells the truth about her being the stalker, well, that and the marks on Xander's wrists.” He was fully back to human now, but still looked a little dizzy.
"Did you put all your energy into the change?” Another point for her list of questions. Now to see if he would give in and let her help.
"Yes. It does take a lot of magic to shift."
"Will you accept more power to take up the loss?"
He shook his head and his stocky body shivered. “Here? Now? The magic you just gave me was enough to power the first shift, but it seems to have worn off."
"Different magic for a different purpose. That was to wake you.” She moved toward him again and Seesee had her hair at the ready. “This is to charge you.” Abby looked over at Xander and let the warmth of his presence wash through her. It was enough. Verne took her hand and the power moved from her to him. It was a smooth transfer and not the first jolt that had hit Laura. He looked surprised, but smiled as the energy absorbed into his body and light came to his eyes.
"They were right to send us here. Even Miranda had her part to play. I sincerely hoped that they had not known of her plan before she was sent here, and if they did, they must be made to pay.” Verne the avenging werewolf was a mercurial change from the beast at her throat a minute ago.
Xander had taken up a seat on the couch and Abby joined him.
"Is she all right?"
His concern cooled her attraction, but then she realized that Miranda hadn't moved yet.
"Yup. She is awake already, although she is really sore."
"How can you tell?"
"I am reading her lack of magic. It is shifting and pulsing, but missing in a few spots. Plus she has started to twitch."
The room at large turned its attention to the figure on the floor and watched her as you would watch an alligator that had entered your house.
"Can you block her talents?” Laura was asking, Verne had taken her into his arms and they were eyeing Miranda with disgust.
"No. If you know anyone who has tranquilizers, that may be best. She can still suck all my power out of me as soon as she can calm down enough, but I don't have any more exploding flowerbeds nearby."
The gnomes were near Miranda's head and poking a hole in the tape they had used with a small knife. They fed a straw to her and she slowly and solemnly drank from the lemonade that they had brought her. She seemed grateful for the attention. The room grew quiet as her breathing slowed and she fell into the soothing darkness of sleep.
"Ordinarily, I wouldn't let them sedate someone, but I feel that Randy is a special case here. At least until someone can find something to do with her.” As she spoke, Xander flushed.
"Seesee? May I borrow your phone?” With a groan, he stood and moved into the kitchen at her nod. He was in pain.
Abby had no idea how long he had been shackled to the tree, but it had been more than five minutes and less than six hours. He was stiff, he was sore, but he was safe. Abby counted his blessings for him. The idle thought that with elves in his family, he may have a sensitivity to metal flitted through her mind. Well, he would mention it if he needed extra attention.
The group that was normally so boisterous was ominously silent.
Abby threw in a conversational hot button. “So I know that Miranda here was used to purchase and search out the location where I would want to live, but how did you all decide to come in and join this merry neighbourhood?"
Not one of them was going to answer.
She asked, “Seesee? Why did you end up on the Nexus Neighbourhood Watch?"
Seesee glanced around her for a moment as if looking for an escape. No such luck. “My people wanted to send a representative to the seers to see if we had someone suitable."
"Who are your people? Forgive me for my i
gnorance, but in the histories, there are never more than three gorgons at a time.” She had googled the history of gorgons as best she could. The history of mermaids as well.
"That is true. I have two sisters and Melly already has her three daughters. There will be no more this generation. That is what made me a candidate for the Mythology seat on the council to send as a companion for you."
"Wow, so singular creatures are part of your group? Can you name a few?"
Seesee did look pleased at her interest. “There is a Phoenix, a Dragon, a Minotaur—he is our current ambassador to the council—and a Gryphon just joined. There are also some half breeds making a bid for a separate seat, but until they get it, they are lumped in with us."
"That is excellent. Everyone needs to feel that they belong somewhere. It was part of Miranda's problem.” They all looked at her. “She felt like a second class magical citizen and she claims to have been treated in just such a manner her whole life. It sucks when that happens.” She blotted at her eyes, the thought of being alone in a room full of people who are supposed to love you touched a little close to home. “All right. Seesee was chosen by a seer. How about you, Laura?"
"I was ordered to be here, by my grandmother."
"Right. Is she still alive?"
"She is. And she was insistent that her family be represented here. It was a matter of honour. I did it out of family obligation and have not regretted a moment of it since the day we met. Aside from you sedating us while you wandered off to take on Miranda. That sucked. Don't ever do that again."
Abby grinned. “I think I can guarantee it. I hope I can anyway. If there is another one out there like her, I may just live my life in a bunker.” She turned to the wolf man who had twice laid a fang on her. “Verne. Let me guess. You were ordered here by your pack leader."
"You are incorrect. I entered a competition to earn my place in your guard."
Giggles broke out. “You are in my guard and you have attacked me twice? Did you read the job description at all?” His chagrined face was too precious. The giggles turned into peals of laughter.