Amanda used both her minds to force Essentia into her Aegis and bolster her defences as the Assassin fell, rolled and in just a couple of seconds, stood before her once more.
Amanda screamed at the figure in black, using one mind to send a knife of Magical energy into the Aegis that surrounded the Assassin, cracking it, while using her other mind to reach out and Port a Katana of her own from the Weapons rack upstairs into her hand.
The Assassin cocked her head to one side, as if to say, ‘Really?’ before lunging forward on the attack once more.
Amanda counted the attack, their swords clashing, the sound of ringing metal echoing through the room. On the offensive now though, Amanda’s second mind reached out to the washing machine and took hold of it in a telekinetic grasp and brought it flying across the room at blinding speed. The Assassin didn’t see it coming. The heavy metal appliance hit the Assassin full force and crushed her against the wall.
The machine dropped to the floor and shifted sideways out of the way before Amanda let it go. The woman dropped to the floor as well and groaned in pain. Using both her minds, Amanda ripped the Aegis from her opponent unopposed, leaving her defenceless.
The Assassin moved and came to her feet, slower than before, her left arm limp. Amanda’s Magical sight allowed her to see the broken bones in the Assassins arm now that her Aegis had been destroyed. She also had some broken ribs and internal bleeding, but as Amanda watched, she could see that they were already starting to heal.
Amanda threw her sword to the ground, while her second mind used her magic to pull the swords from her opponent’s hands, followed by the tactical webbing and belt system that held her other weapons to her body. The belts ripped open and fell to the floor as Amanda stepped forward and threw a powerful right hook at her that knocked her backwards.
The Assassin tried to defend herself from Amanda, but in her weakened state the effort proved fruitless, and after a few moments and a number of punches later, the Assassin lay unconscious on the floor at Amanda’s feet. Blood dripped from her fists as she stood over her fallen opponent.
‘Amanda,’ said Liz from across the room.
Amanda turned and looked at Liz and Maya. Liz knelt on the floor, her cheeks glistened in the light from the tears she had shed while Maya knelt at Yoh’s side.
‘He’s gone,’ Liz said.
Amanda let out a breath, her shoulders slumped and she looked down at the floor.
‘Shite,’ she said under her breath. ‘And there’s nothing you can do?’
Liz shook her head, sadness in her eyes.
‘We tried, she’s stabbed him so many times in the chest. It would have taken Magic to heal him.’
Amanda turned to the Assassin then.
‘Damn it,’ she shouted and kicked the unconscious Assassin at her feet in pure frustration.
‘And we can’t bring him back can we?’ Liz asked.
‘Honestly, I’m not sure. I might be powerful enough, but I’m not familiar enough with Arcadian law on what’s considered Necromancy or not. He’s been hurt pretty bad. I… I don’t know.’
‘Where’s Gentle Water? He’d know.’
‘Paris, I think. I’m not sure. It would probably too late by the time we got anyone here’
‘I have an alternative,’ said Maya.
Amanda turned to the Scion. She didn’t know Maya all that well, she mostly saw her with Yoh when they came here. They had spoken a few times and actually got on really well. She mostly came here with Yoh who she seemed very close too. So she knew that Maya must be hurting just as much, probably more than she was over his.
‘Go on,’ Amanda said.
‘I’m a Scion, I can turn others into Scions by sharing my blood with them. I know I can bring him back from this with my blood. But, he would then be a Scion like me.’
‘I don’t know.’ Amanda said. That sounded like a somewhat radical step to take. But this was not your everyday situation. Their friend Yoh lay here dead, killed by this unconscious Assassin at her feet.
Messing about with Magic and Death, bringing people back from the dead, it played with the natural order of things. And the Arcadians called that Necromancy. She knew they took a pretty hard line on this and if you were caught dabbling in it, you were banded Nomad and hunted down. She knew it had been one of the primary reasons over the centuries that some people had defected from the Arcadians to join the ranks of the Nomads willingly when they had lost friends and had not been able to use their magic to bring them back from the dead.
Becoming a Nomad had lots of other connotations that went along with it though, so she would not be walking down that path.
Liz stood up and walked over to Amanda. She looked just as conflicted by this as Amanda felt. These were some pretty heavy choices to lay on young people’s shoulders. She didn’t want Liz to feel responsible for this at seventeen years old. But then, Amanda would only be twenty-one in July this year.
‘I’m not sure about this Amanda,’ she said. ‘Can we not get Gentle Water here, or a message to him quick enough to find out what we can do?’
‘Maybe, I have no idea. He’s on a mission for the Legacy so probably not. He warned me he would be out of touch for a few days.’
‘Anyone else we can ask?’
‘It all takes time, we have a minute or two to do this and convincing Arcadians to come to a Nomad city is difficult enough at the best of times.’ Amanda said.
‘Time is short Amanda.’ Said Maya.
Amanda tried to organise her thoughts, she needed to make a choice and her mind felt in a mess from the stress of this.
Technically she might be powerful enough to bring Yoh back, but she had never done this before, meaning it might not work or take time to do. Also, there was a fairly good chance this would be considered Necromancy in the eyes of some Arcadians at least.
She had no time to find other Magi and consult with them about whether this would be Necromancy or not, and getting someone more powerful than her here would take time, time they did not have.
Which left them with Maya. She claimed she could turn him into a Scion. From everything Amanda knew about Scions, she believed this to be true, but, she felt sure that she had been told that the change doesn’t always work, that sometimes it fails, killing the victim.
But as Yoh had already died…
Amanda turned to Maya.
‘Do it.’
‘Really?’ said Liz, as Maya went to work, biting her own wrist and dripping her blood into Yoh’s wounds.
‘We have no other choice. I’m not risking being branded a Nomad for using Necromancy, and we don’t have time to hunt for help.’
‘But he’ll be a Scion!’
‘He’ll be alive, if he survives the transformation.’
‘What? So this might kill him?’
‘He’s dead anyway Liz. We’re giving him the chance at another life.’
They both looked over at Maya, who stopped dripping her blood into Yoh’s stab wounds and pulled away from him. She stood up and walked away.
‘Now we wait,’ Maya said.
‘How long?’ said Liz.
Yoh’s body bucked and jerked suddenly, his movements those of someone in agony as Maya’s blood went to work.
‘Not long,’ said Maya.
Amanda watched Yoh, fascinated by his transformation. They could see the Essentia around him doing some strange things. It moved about him in odd waves and patterns as his body reacted to the blood.
And then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The Essentia around him calmed and went still, like Yoh’s body.
The Magical Energy that Amanda could see as a thin golden mist didn’t flow through him, like it did with a living creature, which meant that Yoh had died.
Amanda felt deflated. The bodies movement had brought her false hope it seemed, meaning today would be remembered as the day that Yoh had died.
‘It didn’t work did it,’ Liz stated.
‘I don’t think so Liz. I’m s
orry,’ said Amanda.
Amanda reached out and pulled Liz in next to her, hugging her.
‘It’s ok,’ she said.
Amanda looked at Maya, who continued to watch Yoh, almost expecting him to move. Amanda felt sorry for her. She’d tried to help but it hadn’t worked out.
Yoh sat up, blinking.
Amanda jumped at the shock of the sudden movement.
Yoh groaned and held his chest in pain. Amanda and Liz ran to his side and helped him sit up.
‘Yoh, are you alright? Don’t move so suddenly. Take it easy.’
‘Amanda-Chan, What, urgh, happened.’
He pulled his hand away from his chest, looking at the thick wet blood that covered it.
He looked up and around the room.
‘Where is she?’ he asked.
Maya pointed to one side of the room where the Assassin lay on the floor.
‘Over there,’ Amanda said.
‘Ugh, help me up,’ he asked.
Amanda and Liz did so. Amanda finding it easier due to her bodies enhanced strength.
‘It’s ok. She’s unconscious,’ Amanda said.
Yoh looked at her.
‘Did you… do this?’ he asked.
‘I did.’
‘Dozo,’ Yoh said, thanking her, ‘and remind me not to get on your bad side.’
Yoh walked a couple of steps and bent down to pick up the dagger on the floor. The whole thing had been ornately carved and even doused in blood, it had a beauty all its own. It also glowed in Amanda’s Magical sight with the powerful energy within it.
‘Are you sure you should be walking about?’ Amanda said.
‘I’m feeling better already. What did you do to me? Things seem, different.’
‘You died Yoh. You were dead by the time I subdued her. We didn’t have many options.’
Yoh looked Amanda in the eyes, raising his eyebrows slightly.
‘What did you do?’
‘Maya offered to turn you into a Scion. You were dead anyway, this way you had a chance of life.’
Yoh sighed and looked away.
‘That explains a lot. I… My magic seems, different. I’m not sure about my connection to it.’
‘It could still be there, but it will take time to get used to things again,’ Maya said.
‘And it might be gone,’ Yoh answered.
‘Indeed,’ confirmed Maya.
‘Awww, that’s a sickner,’ Amanda said in commiseration. ‘I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry.’
Yoh turned back to her.
‘Don’t worry. You did what you thought was right. And, I am alive at least, after a fashion.’
Amanda knew what he referred to. His body, remained technically dead. With her Magic, she could detect no heart beat at all, and the local Essentia did not flow through him like it would with a living being. It also didn’t flow through Maya in much the same way.
‘You mean, you’re a Scion,’ she said.
‘Yes, I’m a Vampire,’ said Yoh. ‘Like Maya.’
Amanda hadn’t considered what type of Scion Yoh would become, and the connotations that surrounded a change into one of these creatures. Yoh would have a lot to deal with now, and had a lot to learn too. As a vampire, she guessed that meant he would need to drink blood to survive. The thought of which turned her stomach.
Yoh stepped forward towards the prone figure of the Assassin and stood over her.
‘What are you going to do,’ Amanda asked. She wasn’t too sure of Yoh’s motives or what he might do to the Assassin. In Amanda’s eyes, the Assassin would have killed Yoh and Liz without a second thought, so she’d basically given up her right to life. But thinking such a thing and then seeing it carried out before you would be a very different thing, if that is what Yoh had on his mind.
‘What I should have done a long time ago.’ His voice remained flat, unemotional as he spoke. Then in one smooth motion, he crouched down over the body, one foot either side, and placed his hand over the mouth of the woman. He raised the dagger and brought it down hard, plunging the blade into her skull with a cracking sound that made Amanda feel a little sick.
The body jerked once, before dropping limp once more.
‘Bleedin’ hell,’ Amanda said, covering her mouth and turning away.
‘Oh God,’ said Liz, and backed off away from Yoh. Maya remained unfazed by the killing and continued to watch.
He removed the dagger and pulled the hood from the Assassins face before standing up, dropping the dagger to the floor.
Seeing the Assassins face for the first time, she looked Japanese with long black hair and apart from the stab wound at the top of her forehead, she looked pretty.
Her catsuit also changed from pure black to a black and white design of stylised black Lotus flowers on a white background as the Magic that held the effect in place faded.
‘Who was she? Anyone you know.’
‘Yes. This is The Black Lotus, her real name is Kimi Takahashi, and she was my sister.’
Amanda felt her eyebrows rise almost involuntarily. That had not been the answer she had expected. Yoh had just killed his own sister by stabbing her in the head.
‘I take it you didn’t get along.’ Amanda said incredulously.
‘That would be an understatement. I escaped my family, and Kimi here, many years ago. They have never forgiven me and have hunted me ever since. You don’t leave my father’s organisation and live, even if you’re family.’
‘That’s fecked up.’
‘Indeed it is. But the question remains. How did she find me?’
Immediately Amanda’s heart sank, and she knew for sure how this had happened.
‘Lucian,’ said Amanda and Yoh in unison, looking at each other.’
‘Has to be,’ she said. ‘He knows where I live, I presume he either knows or at least suspects you and I have some contact, and although he won’t hurt me directly, he no doubt thinks he can hurt me by hurting those I care about.’
‘Makes sense,’ Yoh said.
‘But he didn’t do anything to me the other day on the pier,’ said Liz.
‘True. But I was with you, and you came here to New York with me. Maybe you’re safe too?’
‘I however have been a thorn in Lucian’s side for a long time,’ said Yoh.
‘How did he know about her though?’ Amanda said, pointing at Yoh’s sister.
‘My father didn’t exactly keep it a secret that he wanted me dead. Lucian could have found out about my families vendetta against me without too much trouble. I doubt he knows I’m related to them though.’
Amanda sighed. The realisation that Lucian had no doubt set this up made her blood boil. It wasn’t totally surprising, she had kind of expected something like this to happen at some point. But the reality of it, seeing her friend bleeding and dying, before being turned into a Scion felt much worse than just the threat of it.
Lucian had crossed a line this time. This time, he had gone too far.
David pulled his wife in closer to him and kissed her. They enjoyed the moment for a few seconds before pulling apart and looking at each other.
‘Are you sure he doesn’t mind?’ Susan asked.
‘Babe, he must have so many people in his congregation, I doubt Father Noah will notice how often we attend church.’
‘I just feel bad, like we’ve taken advantage of him.’
‘I doubt he feels like that, he probably does christenings for loads of couples who don’t really attend church.’ David said.
‘Yeah, maybe.’
‘It went well though didn’t it?’
‘It did, thanks for a great day. Hey, I have that lingerie on you like, you wanna get an early night?’ She purred.
He pulled her in close, grabbing a butt cheek in each hand, feeling the suspender belts beneath the fabric of her dress.
Their baby started to cry upstairs.
‘God damn it, I’ll give him this, he has impeccable timing. One moment babe, I’
ll be right back,’ he said as he ran upstairs, his mind full of images of what he’d do with his wife that night. Half way up the stairs the crying stopped. David paused, but thought he should pop his head in to check on Oscar anyway. He reached the door and quietly opened it and looked inside.
Something felt wrong, he could feel a cold breeze in here but he’d not left the window open. Opening the door wider to let more light in he looked at the empty cot and then over to the wide open window. His mouth opened in shock as his stomach did a summersault. He felt sick.
‘Oscar?’ he said, in a desperate hope that their baby who couldn’t walk yet might have somehow hidden himself somewhere in the room
‘Everything OK babe?’ Susan shouted up the stairs, ‘this dress won’t remove itself.’
‘Susan, you’d better get up here!’
Hostile take over
May 19th
The Pit club, Manhattan.
Lucian stalked along the corridor of his Coven’s Sepulchre where they made their home, hidden deep beneath the Pit Nightclub in Harlem. It had been a day since the Lotus had started watching Amanda’s house in Greenwich Village, a day since she had left Shaun to supposedly stake out the House and wait for Yoh. Surely Yoh would be visiting the house every day, it seemed like it from Shaun’s reports.
This whole thing had been dragging on for far too long and had started to make a mockery of his leadership. How could he be the King of New York if he couldn’t keep his kingdom in line?
Ekua had been at his heels the whole time, dogged in his determination to discredit him and his leadership in the eyes of the other Coven members. He knew he could count of the support of Raal, Lex and Aneurin though, they knew of his predicament, they knew of Yasmin and the threat he had been under and the stress it had caused him.
No amount of back stabbing comments could change their minds, or at least he hoped so. So far they had been at his side the entire time, trusted associates who he could call on whenever he needed them.
Ekua had fostered some support from Joaquin, Lucian’s man in Columbia who visited from time to time, and in Bull, but that wasn’t difficult, that simple minded beast master followed whoever paid him enough attention. Something Lucian had not done over the past few weeks due to recent events.
Magi Saga 2: Shadows of Darkness Page 14