half-lich 02 - void weaver

by martinez, katerina

  The slighter woman staggered a couple of steps and Alice charged, shoulders first like an NFL player, colliding with Nyx’s mid-section and sending her sprawling to the floor with Alice on top of her. Nyx struggled for a moment, but Alice quickly overpowered her, grabbed her arms, and pinned them against the grass. Alice wasn’t particularly strong, but she was stronger than this frail body the supposed goddess of the night had chosen as a vessel.

  “You should’ve picked a body capable of fighting back, bitch,” Alice said.

  “I didn’t need to fight back,” Nyx said. Her arms suddenly transformed into tendrils of shadow, slipped through Alice’s grip, and rematerialized in a position to pin Alice’s arms to the grass. “I just had to get close.”

  There’s that déjà vu again, Alice thought.

  When Nyx’s hands solidified again, they were clasped on either side of Alice’s face. Nyx’s mouth opened and Alice saw, within her throat, the sweet blackness of oblivion. The darkness spread all around Nyx’s mouth in lines of crooked, wild, shadowy ink which seemed to spread to Alice’s face, creating a cold feeling like having ice water dripped over her head. Alice wanted to move, but couldn’t. She could hear Cameron yelling for her to get away, and in the corner of her eye thought she saw Logan—who hadn’t erected a shield—barreling down the hill to get to where she was, but these details seemed distant and insignificant.

  Slowly, Alice felt a part of herself which had once been solid, like a wall of stone, melt away into liquid, and then evaporate into air—air that had started to leak out of Alice’s open mouth and fall into Nyx’s. She could feel the gap between her lips and Nyx’s close, and knew that as soon as their lips touched, it was over. Nyx would take whatever part of Alice she wanted and flee with it; or worse, Nyx would invade Alice’s body just as she had all of these other girls.

  For a moment, for one fleeting instant, she wanted this. She was ready to give herself to the song and become one with a greater purpose, a higher power. These weren’t things she had wanted before tonight. Alice had never craved the warmth of a deity’s embrace, but she could hear Nyx’s song in her mind. She knew, in that instant, that everyone else here could hear it too; she knew that they were battling it just as strongly as she had been until now.

  But the moment passed. Isaac, Cameron, Jim, they were all depending on her. They needed her. If Nyx was allowed to win, Isaac was all that stood in her way. To allow this to happen, to allow herself to be overcome, for the song to win, would be the worst mistake she ever made.

  “No,” Alice said, gritting her teeth, “I won’t let you take me!” and she ripped herself away from Nyx with such force she toppled onto her back.

  Nyx was the first to stand, rising to her feet with an almost fluid motion. Her cheeks and arms were scorched and black, but she seemed as steadfast and as confident as ever. “You will give me back what’s mine,” she said, “You stole my energy away, and now I am a shadow of what I once was. Do you have any idea what it is like to have to survive by devouring souls like a common parasite? I was once a goddess!”

  “I do,” Alice said, “And you’ve always been a parasite.”

  Alice’s leg shot out and struck Nyx on the kneecap. One of Nyx’s legs gave way with a loud crunch and she toppled to the grass, screaming. Alice crawled over to Nyx and wrapped her hands around her slender neck. Nyx reached up with her clawed hands to grab Alice’s face again, but succeeded in doing nothing more than scratching the skin in places. Alice thought she heard something—someone yelling, maybe—but the sound was distant and it didn’t register in her mind.

  I’m going to kill her, Alice thought, I have to kill her.

  The thought came prematurely. No sooner had it formed at the front of her mind than Alice was struck on the side of the head by something that sounded almost like a sonic boom. Alice didn’t topple this time; she went flying, coming to a stop many feet away, her head ringing, and her vision blurry. She struggled to see what was going on, but caught only a brief glimpse of… purple?

  “What the fuck,” she said to her dazed self.

  Alice shook her head to try and come back to her senses, but it was as if an explosion had gone off immediately next to her. Seeing the world was like looking through a camera lens, everything coming into and out of focus in pulses. Sounds were muted, as though she had been submerged in water, and she couldn’t feel her face. She struggled to push herself up, but her arms wobbled and she fell back to the wet earth with a thud.

  Across from where she lay, she watched a woman rush up to Nyx and throw herself to her knees. Alice identified the woman as Sonia, one of the legionnaires, and wondered why she had just attacked Alice. Then the ringing in Alice’s ears cleared with a pop, and the sounds of the world came back to her in a mad rush. The howling Pain Children, the thundering magic of the praetors as they defended themselves from relentless attacks, and the thudding of her own heart in her chest were all around. But she heard something else, too—a single sound rising up above the wind of battle.

  “Take me!” It was the legionnaire. Her arms were outstretched, she was on her knees, and looking at Nyx. “Take me! I want to be yours!”

  “No,” Alice thought, the words never forming on her lips. She planted her palm in the earth, and then the other one, and then hoisted her shoulders up.

  Sonia leaned across Nyx’s face. Nyx reached for her head and pulled her close until the legionnaire’s lips found Nyx’s. For a second which seemed to last three hours, the girls kissed, and in a soft explosion of energy which sent ripples throughout the graveyard—ripples only Alice and Isaac could feel. Nyx transferred her essence into the body of the legionnaire, into the body of a mage.

  The thin, pale girl went limp, her head dropping to the grass with an inaudible thud, and then the legionnaire—Nyx—drew herself up to stand.

  “What did you do,” said a voice from across the hill. Logan was there, standing at the barrier of the invisible wards still in effect, his face red with fury and blood. “Sonia, what the hell did you do?”

  Sonia snapped her head up to look at him. She flexed her fingers and they crackled with sinister, violet light. Logan roared and charged down the hill. A gleaming sword of red fire and smoke had appeared in his hand, and he raised it over his head as if to attack. In the moment before impact, Sonia’s hand flew up—lightning quick—and bolts of energy shot out of her fingertips and into Logan’s chest, killing every ounce of his momentum and dropping him to the floor

  She touched him, Alice thought, but she had to push it out of her mind. Alice also stood, turned her fists into balls, and approached.

  “Powerful,” Nyx said, “Very powerful. I had no idea what a mage’s soul tasted like and never thought I would have the chance. But she gave herself willingly to me. She saw what the end of the world looked like and knew what side of the apocalypse she wanted to be on. I don’t think I need you anymore.”

  Alice stopped dead in her tracks, her body cold, her heart hammering. “What?” she asked.

  “That’s right. I don’t need you anymore.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Think I’m lying? If I was lying, would I be able to do this?”

  Nyx threw her hand up like a kid in class eager to ask a question. With her fingers extended, she began to make a swirling motion with her arm. She too had magic bangles on her wrist, although she wore many thin strands of metal instead of one larger bangle like Isaac’s, and they started to glow violet streaked with black. High above, the clouds began to churn and converge. Alice watched them circle each other, like a whirlpool in the sky, and felt the wind pick up. Wet leaves battered her face like flies.

  Though it seemed as though the body she was in was fighting her, visible only as the occasional grimace manifested on her face, Nyx was showing no signs that this incredible display of power was weakening her in any way. The magic was coming, and it was coming from the Tempest—not the Void. It didn’t matter whether the performance she had just put on w
as possible. She had done it, so it must have been. Her skin was flushed and warm, her eyes were sharp and alive, and she had no black veins around her mouth. Had she been telling the truth? Did she truly no longer need Alice?

  “I’m not going to let you do this,” Alice said, “Even if it kills me.”

  “I’m hoping it doesn’t,” Nyx said. “I’m still not done with you. They, however, I couldn’t care less about.”

  The eye of the whirlpool lit bright violet and spat out a streaking bolt of lightning headed straight for the praetors and the rest of the legionnaires. Alice wanted to act, but in that moment—and not for the first time in the last week—she was entirely powerless to stop what was about to happen. But the bolt never struck the shield on the ground. Instead, the crackling arc of violet light broke apart on an invisible shield placed much higher than the one on the ground, sending a shower of sparks in all directions.

  Like a darkening sky, Nyx’s expression changed from one of delighted glee to one of pained frustration.

  When Alice looked toward the top of the hill, she saw Isaac standing with his hands up and his bangle glowing brightly. He tilted his head to look at Nyx, and then slowly began to advance down the hill. The Pain Children immediately converged on him, but it was as if he had an invisible shield around him which they could not penetrate, much less approach.

  She realized then that she could actually see someone standing next to him now. It wasn’t entirely a human form, more like the shadowy impression of someone tall with a long beak for a face, but it was there. Was this the Good Doctor? Isaac’s hands both came up, palms out, fingers stretched. He closed both palms, and Alice felt a rush of energy wash through her. The wards, she thought, he’s torn them down!

  “That’s enough,” Isaac said. “Relinquish Sonia and I’ll send you back to be with your kind.”

  Nyx cocked an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip. “And just who are you to make that kind of threat?” she asked.

  “Threat? I didn’t think going home was a bad thing.”

  “Why, Isaac Moreau… I am home, can’t you see?”

  “I’m giving you one last chance. The Guardian within that body is fighting you, and it will expel you. And then where will you go, Nyx? I have the power to send you back. To send you home.”

  “You don’t have any power over me. You may have power over them, but they’re simple things—barely more than animals.”

  “Animals bite, and these animals can be re-trained to bite the hand that feeds them. I’m happy to do that, but I would be happier watching you willingly leave.”

  “You know,” Nyx said, flexing her hands and summoning her newfound magic powers again, “I’m getting tired of dueling with you, Isaac.”

  “This isn’t a duel,” Isaac said.

  “What makes you think that?”

  “The Void Weavers didn’t duel your kind; they vanquished them.”

  Nyx’s hands jerked up and tiny arcs of violet light came shooting out of her fingertips, but with a wave of his hand Isaac was able to deflect the magic away from him. Sparks of light landed harmlessly on the wet grass. He continued to advance in this way, blocking her attempts at attacking him while the Pain Children circled overhead, deciding whether to get close to him or not.

  The praetors were closing in now also, an entourage of mages wearing dark robes and an assortment of items—bangles, rings, amulets, even wands—which were glowing brightly against the dark backdrop. They had stopped focusing on defending themselves and were now coming down on Nyx and her forces with all of their collective power.

  When Isaac was close enough to Nyx, he clamped his left hand over his right wrist, put his right hand up, and began drawing lines in the air with his index finger. Before him, symbols Alice recognized were starting to form and glow. The swirl was one she recognized, as was the V with what she called the devils’ tail sticking out from underneath.

  The sigils in the air suddenly glowed brilliantly—like a camera flash—and Nyx’s body went stiff and rigid. It was as if an invisible hand had caught her by the chest and had pulled her off the ground about a foot or so. From her throat, Alice saw tendrils and coils of black shadow smoke start to rise, and for a moment it looked like she was about to choke. Alice dashed toward the floating legionnaire. If what he was doing was trying to separate Nyx from Sonia it was working, and she wanted to be there when Nyx was ejected into the night. Nyx would try to escape, but this time Alice would be ready and waiting to catch her.

  Sonia’s body suddenly began to convulse as if caught in the throes of a seizure. She hacked and coughed and then screamed, and as she screamed something emerged from her throat. Alice wasn’t sure what it was—a cloud, a shape, a light—but when the essence freed itself from the body it seemed to quickly take on the form of something humanoid; something that towered over the legionnaire’s body. For an instant Alice thought it may have had a bald head, and that it may have been smiling, but the smile was all wrong.

  Wrong, wrong, wrong.

  The creature then swirled into a fine dark mist, and Alice knew whatever it was it wasn’t Nyx.

  “No!” Logan said.

  For a moment Alice thought he was trying to stop Isaac from freeing Sonia from Nyx’s insidious grip, but he wasn’t going for Isaac; he was bee-lining down the hill at top speed toward Sonia, and the alarm in his eyes suggested he knew something they didn’t. When Sonia’s bangles flashed violet and she disappeared with a whumph, causing Isaac’s spell to break and Alice to stop in her tracks, it didn’t take long for her to realize what had happened.

  She’s gone, Alice thought, she’s teleported out of here.

  “Take my hand!” Alice heard the voice distantly. When she looked for the source, she saw Logan reaching for Isaac. Isaac took it. Alice ran toward them, toward Isaac’s outstretched hand, and managed to grab a hold of it just as the world flipped itself inside out and turned to darkness. Alice’s stomach knotted, released, knotted again, and then released. It was like a dishrag, and someone was wringing it out over a sink.

  When her feet touched solid ground again, she doubled over and coughed. She would have hurled, but there was nothing in her stomach for her to expel. Move, she thought, and despite being groggy, Alice followed the sound of footsteps through a door, into an adjoining corridor, and then through another, tougher, metal door.

  The harsh orange light of the Ashwood city streets greeted her like an old friend. Logan and Isaac were there, each looking in a different direction, both somewhat out of breath. A nearby vent kicked steam up into the air, and a cat went scurrying into it.

  “Where is she?” Alice asked, but she already knew the answer.

  Nyx had, for the second time, disappeared on them—only this time she was in the body of a mage.

  CHAPTER 29

  Whole Again

  Two hours had passed since the incident at the graveyard, and Alice was sitting in a dark marble hall on a shiny marble bench, waiting for the marble double doors in front of her to open. How long had it been now? Ten minutes? Thirty? She had bitten one of her fingernails to exhaustion in the time she had spent waiting, but she had also had enough time to reflect on all that had happened. Nyx was gone again, and she had stolen the body of a mage. But ever since she and her Pain Children cleared the area, there had been no further sign of trouble, or Void activity, as Isaac had put it.

  Logan had explained that the legionnaires had prepared a teleportation spell ahead of Alice’s arrival, so that they could grab her and get to a designated spot quickly when she was in their custody. That was how Nyx had been able to escape. Alice had seen something come out of her—some monster—and Isaac had suggested it was Sonia’s Guardian that had fled the body, but she had already put the spell into motion by the time it had left, which is why the magic had worked.

  Had Nyx realized this and gone to ground? If so, where had she gone? Perhaps more importantly, what was she planning? When Nyx first came into the picture, figuring out her
motive was easy; she wanted Alice. Alice had stolen part of her power, and Nyx needed it back. But Nyx herself had said she didn’t need Alice now that she had taken the body of a mage. Was it true? If so, it meant Alice had no idea what Nyx was going to do next or where she was going to be.

  That made things difficult.

  Added to that was the fact that she was now sitting here, in this marble corridor with glowing torches, gold and silver script engraved into the walls, and all the bells and whistles fit for people who considered themselves kings among men. Isaac had spent a week in custody specifically to avoid her having to ever set foot in these halls, but here she was, waiting to be called in like a witness to the stand—or the defendant to be sentenced.

  The doors finally opened with a loud thud, and the first person she saw was Logan Hodges. His face was low, his red eyes dull and defeated. Alice stood and tugged on her leather jacket. He looked at her, ground his teeth, and looked down. Behind him, Cameron emerged from the courtroom. He had been given a chance to wash under a faucet in a sink, but there was still dried blood on his neck, if not on his face.

  “Is everything okay?” Alice asked.

  Cameron nodded. “I’m just taking Logan into custody.”

  “Custody?”

  “For now. The court still has to decide his sentence.”

  “Everything I did,” Logan said, “I did for them. Everything. I was wrong, but… it would have been worse for me to have done nothing.”

  On some level Alice understood this impulse, to want to get the job done no matter the cost. She had been like that once and, in some ways, still was. She wanted to tell herself she would never do the kinds of things Logan had done to try and get to the bottom of the mystery that had been eating away at his mind, but could she? Would she have done any different?