‘Different?’ Amanda asked, curious as to what he meant.’
‘Well, no one knew I had come here. I didn’t announce it to the US covens, I just slipped in, quietly and kept myself to myself for a long time. I of course soon found out about Lucian and even talked with Victoria.’
‘You were more careful, is what you’re saying.’
‘Maybe. I also keep to myself and don’t interfere with Lucian or his plans.
‘Fair play to yeh.’
Yoh smiled. ‘You seem to have a period of grace with Lucian yourself though, something that’s totally out of character, I must admit.’
Amanda took a deep breath. She could feel the butterflies in her tummy return, the nerves of having to deal with another Nomad, someone who must clearly be skilled enough to hold his own. She had heard the stories of the Arch Magus that sponsored Lucian though. Some Voodoo Priestess out of Haiti by all accounts who only really turned up when Lucian needed her help. Someone else Amanda didn’t feel like meeting any time soon. Tonight’s antics were almost certainly linked to the threat of Lucian, the need for some affection and wanting to do something she felt confident doing. She’d spent two years on the streets of New York as a Pro, she was good at that, she felt confident when it came to sex, she didn’t feel anywhere near as confident when it came to her Magical abilities. But Lucian knew where she lived now, she knew he would be after her and probably wanted her dead. Maybe he knew others had been in the house with her, maybe he knew that she had back up and that’s why he didn’t attack, He was assessing her strength maybe, deciding whether he needed to ask his master Nymira for assistance.
‘Oh shite, what have I gone got myself into this time,’ she said, lifting her head to the ceiling, talking to no one really other than herself.
Seconds later Yoh squatted down in front of her and took her hands in his.
‘Look at me,’ he said.
She looked back down and gazed into Yoh’s dark eyes.
‘What you have done, in coming here to Manhattan in incredibly brave. And it seems like “The King of New York” has given you some space. Something I have never seen before. We’re all here beside you on this Amanda-San, we will help protect you if you let us. We’re not out of options yet.’
‘You promise?’ Amanda said, feeling a bit pathetic.
Yoh shifted onto his knees, which raised his head up level to hers.
‘Of course.’
She looked back at him, and smiled, and for a moment they just stayed like that, looking into each other’s eyes. As she looked at him, and he stayed right there, not moving but looking into her soul, holding her hands in her lap, the moment just seemed right.
It happened without her really thinking about it, she moved her head towards his, just a touch, parting her lips as she did so. He responded, and started to lean in, so she finished it and went in for the kiss.
It felt soft and gentle to Amanda, hesitant almost as if Yoh, like Amanda, wanted to be sure this would be the right thing to do.
The kiss grew into more kisses, and slowly he pulled her in, closer to him.
She liked it, it seemed right. She’d been admiring him from afar since she had arrived, and she’d wanted to do this since the first day she’d arrived here. Amanda reached over and put her drink on the coffee table to one side, before reaching round his waist and pulling him closer, spreading her legs to pull him tight up against her chest where she sat perched on this chair.
The movements grew more passionate as they both realised they felt the same way.
‘I wanted you since I saw you.’ She said as he kissed her neck, his hands moving over her back and along her thighs, pulling her dress up over her hips.
‘I know!’ he replied. Looking meaningfully at her as he said it.
Amanda giggled at the Star Wars reference, did he do that on purpose or not? She didn’t care.
‘Do… Do you want to do this?’ He asked her then.
She nodded at him before saying, between breaths, ‘Feck yeah I do.’
He pulled on her dress now, pulling down over her breasts. He pawed at them, kissed them and sucked on her nipples, and it felt great. It had been far too long since she had done this and having this powerful man hungrily kissing and touching her made her feel so horny it was untrue.
She sat back and put one high heeled foot on the table next to her as he went down on her. She held his head in her hands, pulling his mouth onto her. She threw her head back and moaned with delight as his tongue worked its magic.
After a while she pushed him away and stood up before him, she pulled the dress off completely in one fluid magic fuelled moment, leaving her stood there in nothing but heels.
‘Let’s take our time, we have all night after all.’
Everything changed in New York after the fire at the Crystal Palace. The official story of events that night differs from what actually took place.
Details are sketchy, but the fire certainly seemed to be Magical in nature. Regardless, it’s not the fire itself that we’re concerned about here, but the events after it that led to the Nomad Coven known as The Harbingers of Darkness taking control of New York.
At that time there were a number of Arcadian Magi living in New York, but following that fire, all the Magi in the city were killed. We don’t know who did this, but they were quick and left no trace of who they were.
The city had been left wide open and Nymira saw an opportunity. The Harbingers arrived in New York and with the help of Nymira, defended it from attack.
Lucian, the current leader of the Coven had been a young member of the Coven at the time. He soon rose through the ranks as he grew in power until he came to lead the Coven.
But let’s go back and look at the events on the night of the fire before we examine the purge of New York…
- The Purge of New York by Louisa Hunt, Magi Scholar of the Ordo Obscura Coven
The Morning After
May 13th
Battery Park, New York
The waves in the Upper Bay, where the Hudson and East River met before heading out to sea, undulated gently. The waters were calm and today seemed to be turning into a fairly warm day for mid-May.
Amanda stood in front of the railings, leaning on them, her forearms holding her weight as she looked out over the bay towards Liberty Island and, in the distance, the Verrazano Bridge, the gate way to the Atlantic Ocean stretched across the narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island.
The light wind whipped her hair around her shoulders in waves of red that stood out against the faded blue of the denim jacket she wore to compliment her fitted boot cut jeans. She held a coffee in her hands that she had bought from a street vendor moments ago and listened to the water lapping against the side of the dock below her.
The morning sun felt bright against the left side of her face, while the sound of children playing the in park behind her lent a sense of normality to everything.
Everyday life continued all over the city blissfully unaware of the things in the shadows.
Liz stood next to her in leggings, trainers and t-shirt, leaning against the railing, but facing the city rather than the sea. She sipped on her coffee, seeming introspective and thoughtful.
Amanda stood up straight and leaned her hip against the railing.
‘How you holding up?’ She asked her apprentice.
Liz blinked and looked up at Amanda. There wasn’t too much difference in height between them, Liz stood just a couple of inches shorter then Amanda.
‘I’m good, thanks.’
‘Even with everything that’s been going on?’
‘I’ll cope.’ Liz answered.
‘I don’t mind telling you, I’d be lying if I said I was fine don’t you know. I’m optimistic, I think we’ll be ok in time, but right now, I’m scared. Lucian turning up on our doorstep? That scared the shit outta me.’
Liz sighed. ‘Yeah, me too. How the hell did he find us? That’s what gets me. We were careful, Portin
g everywhere. We never left through the front door.’
‘Never underestimate a Magi, let alone a Nomad.’ Amanda mused.
‘Don’t you worry about that. I won’t.’
The pair fell quiet again as they enjoyed their surroundings.
Amanda put her bum to the railing, mimicking Liz. Her apprentice had been through a lot these past couple of years. But she had come back from the brink, built herself back up and Amanda thought she seemed to be stronger now than she had ever been. Losing your family and friends in the space of a couple of days must be tough. Amanda felt she could relate to it a bit, having lost Stuart to violence and Georgina to illness. In those early days after the incident on the train, Amanda had stayed with Liz day and night, and when she felt ready to talk, Amanda had been there and they had talked for hours. The tears had been many, as they relived the emotions of the events. Liz swung from the deepest lows of despair to being relatively normal for a while as she tried to deal with the powerful emotions. Her world had been shattered by the machinations of the Magi, with Liz and her friends being the unwitting victims of some horrific violence.
It took months, but slowly Liz had crawled out of the darkness and eventually started to smile once more.
She would never be the same, that grief would always be with her, it would never leave her, but Liz didn’t want it to either, because that would mean she had forgotten her sister and her mother, and her friends. Something she hoped would never happen.
Amanda felt immensely proud of her for everything she did. Liz could quite happily have taken the easy route and ended it all, but instead, with a little support from Amanda and Gentle Water, she had taken the difficult path.
Amanda took her on as her apprentice, and had enjoyed the challenge of teaching Liz. Amanda hadn’t been sure she would be considered old enough to be a mentor, but Gentle Water had encouraged her to do it. Liz had latched onto her, and they were almost attached at the hip for a while. No one else could have gotten near her to even attempt to teach her, so Amanda seemed like the natural choice.
Gentle Water had coached her, taught her how to pass on her knowledge. Liz progressed a lot slower than Amanda had, something for which Amanda felt very grateful. It gave her time to learn the ropes and to see what worked.
Amanda had also been starting to teach Liz the same fighting style that Gentle Water had been teaching her, The Art of the Phoenix. Again, Liz wasn’t quite the natural at it that Amanda appeared to be, but she worked hard and over time, improved greatly.
These days, Liz didn’t talk about her Family and friends much. They came up in conversation from time to time, but it didn’t seem to bother her like it used to, providing the conversation didn’t dwell on them too long.
Amanda wanted to change the subject, in fact, she had something she really wanted to talk to Liz about.
‘Sooo, I slept with Yoh last night.’ Amanda said, almost to no one.
Liz froze part way through lifting her drink to her lips, and stayed there for a moment.’
‘Oh.’ Liz said.
Amanda waited, but Liz kept quiet. After a few moments more, Amanda felt she couldn’t just leave it at that.
‘Is that it? Just, “oh”?’
‘What do you want me to say Mandy? You’re a big girl, I’m sure you can make your own choices in life now.’
‘Well, yes, I can. But, what do you think?’
‘I’m not sure it was the best thing for you to do, sleep with our guide here. But, I suppose I can see why you did it. He’s a bit gorgeous isn’t he?’ She smiled at her mentor.
‘He’s grand.’
‘Go on then, you can’t keep me in the dark, how did this happen? And anyway, I thought you liked Raven?’
‘I did. I mean, I do. But, well I went to him last night. I don’t know. I suppose I needed some comfort so I did. But, he had someone in his room with him. A girl. I didn’t see her but they were having a good giggle about something.’
‘Aah, OK, but I thought he was single?’
‘Apparently not.’ Amanda said flatly. Her emotions on the subject showing through slightly.
‘He didn’t bring her down with him this morning. She must have left early.’
‘Good thing too I say.’
‘I’m sure she’s lovely.’
‘I know. I’m just…’
‘…Jealous.’ Liz said, finishing Amanda sentence.
‘Nice.’ Amanda commented. ‘OK, well yes, I suppose, a little bit.’
‘I think I can guess how you ended up bumping uglies with Yoh then. Can you say, rebound?’ Liz commented, goading Amanda.
‘You little gobshite. What’s got into you today little miss feisty.’ Amanda teased.
Liz laughed. ‘Come on, how did you end up in Yoh’s bed?’
‘I went into town, visited an old haunt of mine. But there wasn’t much there for me, so I stopped in at the Jade Palace on the way back and the rest is fairly obvious.’
‘The broad strokes yes, but I want details. So, come on. How was it? Was he any good?’
Amanda looked up, smiled and gave a mock sigh.
‘Actually,’ she said, ‘it was awesome, just what I needed. He wasn’t half bad either, there’s a tiger in there for sure.’
The pair laughed and giggled as they chatted some more. Amanda enjoying this moment of just being normal girls chatting about their lives. She seemed to do this so rarely now, there always seemed to be some crisis or other that needed their attention. But just for a short time, away from the house and the boys, Amanda loved this moment of just being girls talking about boys.
A short time later the pair of them dropped their empty take away cups into the bin before they walked slowly back to Amanda’s Bike.
She’d parked it nearby, and with a small casting over it, no one noticed it. She’d brought the bike over from Paris where she had customised it after buying it last year. She’d never thought that she’d be able to afford one of these, but the ability to just conjure money from thin air whenever they needed it, made life a hell of a lot easier.
She loved her bike. It was a corny thing to say, but it really was her pride and joy. The bike looked like a Honda Fireblade, for the most part, but she’d made a few Magical adjustments and given it a custom paint job of white with colourful Red and Purple flames.
She straddled the bike and let Liz climb on behind her before she fired up the engine. The bike roared between her legs as she revved the engine a couple of times checking that her route looked clear. A moment later, she gunned the engine and the bike wheel span away and shot towards the nearby road where she joined traffic.
She guided the bike around Battery Park, before joining West Street and heading north along the west side of Manhattan Island.
The first part of this highway up through the city had buildings along both sides of the road, and they were soon approaching the World Trade Center and the 9/11 memorial.
The Huge building of One World Trade Center towered above them, along with the rest of the monoliths on the southern tip of the Island, with the highway creating a valley, a fissure between them with a river of cars running along it.
Amanda stayed with the flow of traffic, not speeding or dodging through the lanes. Sure, it could be fun to do that, and with her Magic it also meant it could be done safely and without anyone even noticing, but she didn’t want to do that today.
This morning had been an enjoyable departure from the pressures of a life as an Arcadian Magi in a Nomad city, and a leisurely drive through the glass and chrome of the city she loved felt great.
They soon passed the World Trade Center and a short time later rode beneath a foot bridge, after which the buildings on their left came to an end and the view opened up looking across the Hudson to New Jersey.
The trees on the central reservation were a bright green where the sun caught their leaves, while the light waves in the river glistened in the sunshine.
An engine rev to her right caught her
attention, so she looked inland straight into the eyes of two other bikers on Harley’s, who were staring right back at them.
Movement behind her that she saw in the corner of her eye made her twist slightly more for a better view. More bikes, making a group of seven in total all with one or two people on them, and they all seemed to be focused on her. It took a second, but then she realised that she recognised a couple of them.
Lucian sat on a huge Harley directly behind her, his attention focused intently on her. She also saw the tattooed guy who had been with Lucian on her doorstep that morning, riding alongside him. For a moment, all she could do was to stare at them. The sight of Lucian and his gang scared her and all of her confidence in herself and her abilities seemed to hang in the balance. When she’d seen him the day before, even though he could have broken down the Shield around her house, there had been a barrier there, something between them, keeping him out, now though, there was no such barrier.
Would she be able to stand against him? Would her Magic be enough to fight him off and protect her friends? She had no idea. She needed distance, she needed to try and get away.
Suddenly she realised Liz had also seen them now as she gripped Amanda tighter around the waist.
‘Don’t worry Liz, we’ll be fine, let’s get out of here.’ She said, while she funnelled power to her Aegis, strengthening it and also pushing it out to extend over Liz as well. She could feel Liz strengthening her own Aegis as well, but to a much less powerful level.
With that, she twisted the handle and accelerated away quickly, the magical enhancements on the bike starting to come into play.
The Bike went off like a rocket, dodging between cars as it quickly picked up speed. Amanda concentrated on the road ahead, not wanting to crash her bike so early on after moving it to her new home. Amanda could Port out of there quickly, but she would be leaving Liz and the Bike behind. Not something she wanted to do, which ruled that out.
She thought about contacting someone, wondering who might be able to help them. She realised that none of them had a bike, which meant she would need to stop in order for them to be of use.
Magi Saga 2: Shadows of Darkness Page 9