She’d been in a rage, angry with these Nomads for kidnapping someone. Someone she didn’t really know, but someone with information she wanted. Did that really warrant the deaths and injuries she had just inflicted on these men and women?
Seeing this aftermath, she realised she didn’t recognise herself anymore. She felt like the person who had done this, who had acted so callously towards these guards, she felt like this wasn’t her. She didn’t know who this person was, and yet, this person was her.
She had done this, she had been responsible for this devastation.
But this wasn’t her, not really. She wouldn’t do this, surely.
Something had caused this to happen, something had changed her, made her care less about others and think only of herself.
Had she really become this self-absorbed that she would kill potential innocents?
As she looked about her, she caught sight of herself in the polished sheen of a glass panel and paused.
She saw the tattoo that encircled her arms and spread onto her back. Reaching up, she ran her fingers over the skin on her arm where the tattoo marked her. It felt no different to the rest of her skin, but, somehow, maybe, this had changed her.
The sounds of approaching people broke her thought processes and snapped her back into reality. She needed to get out of here, so she Ported away.
- Texas.
‘Rylie, thank you. You have outdone yourself with these, girl’ said Forrest as he leafed through the prints in his hands. On them, in graphic high definition, were images of that red-headed whore Amanda having some fairly wild sex with famed Nomad, Yasmin the Dark.
‘This is incredible work,’ Forrest said. Finishing looking through them, he put them on his desk and looked up at Rylie.
‘Thank you sir,’ she said.
‘I think we can finally put our plan into operation, she will never survive the fallout from this. This is a great day Rylie, a great day, you should be proud.’ Forrest stood up and walked Rylie to the door. ‘Go tell everyone, we’ll have a meeting in about thirty minutes. We have a lot of work to do.’
He watched Rylie walk away, her blonde hair swaying as she went with a big smile on her face. With her far enough away, he placed his do not disturb sign on his door, then shut and locked it. Closing his blinds, he returned to his desk and looked down at the photos and spread them out a bit. He pulled down his pants and started to touch himself as he leafed through the explicit photos once again.
‘Oh yeah, we’re gonna’ fuck you good!’ he said to himself looking at Amanda in the throes of ecstasy.
Arrest
New York
Jan 18th
Amanda rounded the corner from her living room and looked up the stairs. She’d been waiting in the lounge for a little over an hour, waiting to catch Liz as she really needed to talk to her. She’d been up most of the night thinking back over the past few days and how she’d been acting to her friends and what they must think of her.
In short, she’d been a self-absorbed idiot, and now she needed to make amends to those who mattered most in her life.
Liz had been avoiding her for a few days now, always walking out of rooms she was in and just not talking to her. She’d thought that Liz had been going through some kind of teenage rebellious thing, that Liz had been the one who was being rude, when in fact, Liz had been trying to point out the issues to her all along.
Amanda could see that now, and she desperately wanted to fix it with Liz.
Halfway up the stairs, Liz paused as she saw Amanda step into the hallway.
‘Liz, please, don’t walk away. I… I need to talk with you. Please,’ Amanda said.
Liz narrowed her eyes briefly. ‘Okay, sure,’ she said and descended the rest of the way down the staircase. Amanda led her into the lounge.
‘Thank you,’ Amanda said. ‘Let’s sit shall we?’
They both sat on the soft sofas. Amanda looked down at her hands for a moment, knowing that Liz was looking at her, waiting to see what she would say.
‘Firstly, I want to say sorry. I’ve had a bit of a realisation and I think I’ve been a bit of a feckin’ dick recently, yeh know?’
‘That’s putting it mildly,’ Liz answered.
‘I suppose I deserve that,’ Amanda flinched. ‘Look. Things have been… difficult for me recently. With everything that’s been going on and how people have been with me recently, it… I don’t know, it did something to me. I think I started to believe the hype. I think with everyone saying how great I was and how I was going to save the world. I think I just ended up agreeing with it. I mean, that mixed with what happened on the island and the Prophecy and all that, it just had more of an effect on me than I realised, and I know that this ended up hurting you guys as well. I know I said some pretty horrible things and accused you of being in the wrong, that you were being the obnoxious one, when in fact, it was me. So, I suppose, I just want to say, I’m sorry.’
Liz smiled slightly to herself and sighed.
‘Well? Is that okay?’ Amanda asked.
‘Yes…’
‘Oh, good…’ Amanda blurted out.
‘…you have been a bit of a self-important bitch recently, and certainly not your usual self,’ Liz continued.
‘Hey, I am the chosen one you know,’ Amanda said defensively.
Liz slapped Amanda across the cheek. It wasn’t a hard slap, and although it did sting a little, it didn’t really hurt her.
‘Get a grip Mandy,’ Liz said.
‘Wow,’ Amanda said and put her hand to her cheek.
2‘You’re only human, just like the rest of us, you really need to learn to keep your feet on the ground a little more. I mean, sure, you’ve been very lucky. You seem to be the one spoken of in that Prophecy, but so what? Who cares? That’s not what defines you, that’s not really you. Who you are, and what you do are what count. For all we know this whole Prophecy thing could be a big joke or a trick to get you to act a certain way. You need to be more careful than this,’ Liz said.
‘I know, you’re right. I’ve been so caught up with this Prophecy and how everyone has been treating me that I kind of forgot who I was.’
‘Yep. I certainly didn’t really recognise you recently. You weren’t the kind relatable Mandy that I met in Paris way back when. I mean, I kind of get it. When you have everyone coming up to you and treating you like some kind of celebrity, it’s tough not to get caught up in that. I get it, I do, which is why it becomes even more important to keep yourself grounded. I know that can be difficult as a Magus, given what we can do. But if we don’t keep ourselves grounded then we lose sight of what we’re fighting for. We forget that there are lives at risk here,’ Liz said.
Amanda thought back to the fight in Milan just a few hours ago and the people she had hurt in that little fight and felt worse than ever. She’d acted no better than a Nomad, hurting people to get what she wanted.
She thought back to Yasmin’s words as well, about going out there and taking whatever she wanted. She had somehow equated those words with the words of Maria, of living her life to its best and fullest, and mixed the two opinions together.
Maria, of course, didn’t agree with Yasmin’s point of view. She just wanted Amanda to have the best life possible, to not miss out on experiences and opportunities, but there was a line in the sand. There were some caveats to that philosophy. Maria meant that everyone should be able to live their life to its fullest, and to do that, you had to work together. Her right to swing her fist, ended at the faces of others. She could do as she wished as long as whatever she did, didn’t stop others from doing what they wanted to do. Hurting or taking from others would be a breach of that philosophy, but that was exactly what Yasmin was advocating. Yasmin only thought about herself, she wanted power and she didn’t care who she stepped on to get it.
Buoyed up by the opinions and belief of others, she had taken a few steps down that path before realising what she had done, and now, looking back, it fel
t suddenly so clear.
Had she danced along the start of the path of the Nomad? Maybe. Thinking of Yasmin and her philosophy reminded her of her recent dalliance with Yasmin and the admittedly amazing if poorly judged sexual encounter she had had with her.
Having realised how much of an idiot she had been recently, the thought that she had been set up, and that this would cause her problems still to come, raised its ugly head once more.
That afternoon with Yasmin had been a mistake and a pretty big one.
‘Liz, thank you. I think you have given me exactly what I needed,’ she said.
‘That’s okay,’ Liz said and smiled back at her.
She had no idea what she had done to deserve such great and forgiving friends, but she knew how grateful she felt for them. She knew she could trust them as well, and felt that she really wanted to tell Liz about Yasmin. She needed to offload the growing feeling of fear and the weight that keeping such a thing hidden within her created on her mind.
‘Look, Liz, I’ve… I’ve done some… questionable things recently,’ Amanda said.
‘I know. But there’s no need to go back over them. We’ve talked about it now we can move on.’
‘No, I mean, other things, not just how I treated you. I mean…’
‘AMANDA. THE TRAITOR KNOWN AS AMANDA, WE KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP AND NO ONE WILL GET HURT,’ boomed a voice from outside the house. The voice had clearly been amplified, probably by a megaphone and it echoed around the street.
Amanda felt her eyes go wide as she looked up at Liz as the voice sounded. By the time it had finished, Amanda was stood at the window and looking out into the street with Liz stood next to her.
She felt her mouth drop open in shock as footsteps behind her ran up to the next window over. It was Gentle Water and with a glance over to him, he looked as shocked as she felt.
The intersection had been cordoned off entirely with barriers while police cars and SWAT vans filled up the space, with more joining those already here.
Cops were hiding behind their vehicles pointing their guns at her house and as she scanned the faces of determined looking police, her eyes suddenly landed on a face she recognised. Forrest Ward, the leader of the Magi Legion Coven stood, dressed in a suit with an FBI badge on his chest, holding a megaphone, smiling as he looked up at the house.
‘What the feckin’ hell is this?’ Amanda blurted out.
‘I have no idea,’ Liz said, clearly equally as surprised as Amanda felt.
Amanda dropped her vision into the Magical spectrum and looked on at the intricate magical effects at work here.
They had managed to cast a very subtle, but persuasive illusion all over this, meaning that whatever Amanda was seeing, the Mortals were probably seeing something quite different. She could also now spot the rest of Forrest’s Coven, spread out amongst the Cops and onlookers, keeping close to mortal civilians, which was no doubt a calculated move on their part.
‘I DON’T WANT THIS TO GET MESSY AMANDA. YOU NEED TO COME TO YOUR FRONT DOOR AND SURRENDER TO THE MAGI LEGION TO ANSWER FOR YOUR CRIMES. YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE,’ Forrest called out. Amanda could almost hear the altered version of his words that the Mortals were hearing, which obviously made no mention of the Magi.
‘Crimes?’ Liz said.
‘What’s going on?’ said Shaun as he also appeared in the room with Vanessa.
‘This is bad,’ Gentle Water said.
‘What the bleedin’ hell is he doing?’ Amanda said.
Shaun looked out the window and quickly took in the scene before he turned back to the group. ‘Clever,’ he said.
‘What?’ Amanda asked.
‘They don’t like you right? The Magi Legion I mean. I think he wants to take you into custody and he’s using the Mortals out there as both a shield and leverage.’
‘Why would he want to do that?’
‘He must have something on you. He’s called you a traitor already, so maybe he’s trying to discredit you somehow. Have you done anything recently that he could twist and use to call your integrity into question?’
Amanda’s heart sank. She’d done a few things, the obvious ones being her meetings with Yasmin, the most recent one being the most damning of course.
‘Oh feck,’ she muttered.
‘What have you done?’ Shaun asked.
‘Amanda?’ Gentle Water said.
‘Mandy, what is it?’ Liz asked.
‘Yeah, I’ve done some stuff they could use. In fact, I think I’ve been set up. Shit, I knew this would come back to haunt me.’
‘Care to share with the group?’ Shaun said.
Amanda sighed, there was no right way to say this, it would look bad whatever she said. ‘This… this will sound bad, but, I’ve met up with Yasmin a few times recently…’
‘Yasmin? As in Yasmin the Dark? Legendary Nomad Yasmin?’ Shaun asked.
‘The same…’ Amanda admitted.
‘This is, unfortunate,’ Gentle Water said.
‘Jeez Mandy,’ Liz said.
‘Anything else?’ Shaun asked.
‘Look, I knew the stories of her, I knew the legends, but try and see it from my perspective. She’s only ever been either kind or indifferent to me, she’s saved my life on several occasions, some of which you lot have witnessed. Hell, she’s saved your lives too. She’s flirted with me and shown an interest, is it any wonder…’
‘Oh Mandy, you didn’t?’ Liz said, dread in her voice.
Amanda hung her head.
‘You did didn’t you, you slept with her,’ Liz accused her.
‘Like I said, I was manipulated into it. She tricked me, got me to lower my guard, flirted with me. She knew exactly what she was doing.’
‘If they know of this, it will look bad for you Amanda,’ Gentle Water said.
‘Is there anything else?’ Shaun said.
‘Not much, I don’t think. I’ve had a number of visitors to the house wanting to meet me, Arcadians and Independents, but that’s all.’
‘Nothing as bad as the Yasmin stuff then, okay, that’s fine,’ Shaun said.
‘What are we going to do?’ Liz asked.
Amanda looked out the window at the red and blue flashing lights that were calling to her to take responsibility for her actions and thought of how she had hurt so many people recently in one way or the other, and then looked back at the crestfallen faces of her friends who now looked at her in a way that she didn’t like. They had lost some of the faith they had previously had in her today. Hearing how she had slept with the enemy, literally, had affected them, clearly.
She wanted to regain that trust, she wanted to do the right thing, no matter where that led.
Amanda walked through her friends.
‘What are you doing?’ Liz asked.
‘Amanda, I urge caution,’ Gentle Water said.
Amanda paused and turned to her friends who looked at her with looks of surprise. ‘I’m going to take responsibility for my actions, I’m going to turn myself in,’ she said.
‘I’ll be running damage control,’ Shaun said, and with Vanessa in tow, moved off quickly towards the basement.
Gentle Water just nodded to Amanda in answer to her statement.
‘Oh,’ Liz said, a little surprised.
Amanda turned and walked to the door, and with a deep breath, opened it up, raising her hands in the air as she stepped outside. The mechanical sound of guns being cocked sounded throughout the intersection, but no one moved apart from Forrest, who lowered the megaphone and walked towards her, threading through the cars and cops until he broke through their front ranks and walked up to the front steps of her stoop.
‘Well now, this is a turn up for the books, I thought I’d have to storm that there house of yours.’
‘No need, I’m here,’ Amanda said.
You gonna come quietly now missy?’ Forrest said.
‘Maybe, what if I refuse to come at all?’ Amanda threatened.
&n
bsp; ‘Well, we do have some insurance, just in case of that eventuality.’
‘Oh, really? You care to elaborate, or is that an empty threat?’ Amanda asked.
Forrest smiled at her, before taking his smartphone from his pocket and tapping it, taking his time and making her wait. After apparently finding what he wanted, he held the screen up towards her.
Amanda frowned at the screen, finding it tough to see what was happening in this light, but a video was playing on the screen, and as she watched, she suddenly recognised a man who was apparently tied to a chair. It was Howie, and he carried a few cuts and bruises on his face.
‘Like I said, insurance,’ he said, quietly.
‘If you hurt him at all…’ Amanda started to say.
‘You’ll do what?’
‘…’ Amanda didn’t have an answer to that and merely frowned back at him.
‘I thought so, now, are you going to come quietly?’
‘We’re coming too,’ Gentle Water said.
Amanda looked behind her, seeing Gentle Water and Liz stepping out onto the top of the stoop, their hands up also.
‘No, you don’t need them, it’s just me you want,’ Amanda said quickly.
‘I’ll be the judge of that.’ Forrest said, and beckoned over a team of men holding guns. They looked like Feds, similar to Forrest, but with Amanda’s Magical sight, she spotted a few Magical items on them, meaning they were likely Initiated from the Legion Coven.
‘It’s okay Amanda, we do this together,’ Gentle Water said.
‘Liz?’ Amanda asked.
‘I’m fine, you’re not doing this alone Mandy,’ Liz said. ‘I mean, come on, what’s the worst that can happen?’
‘Drop your shields,’ Forrest said.
Amanda looked over at him, but knew she had little choice, and complied with his request, with Gentle Water and Liz following suit.
The Initiated ran up to them and quickly started to cuff their hands.
‘Okay, let’s load them up,’ Forrest said and led them to a nearby Federal van where they were hustled on board.
Moments before they stepped onto the van, Amanda caught a glimpse of armed men moving up the steps and into her house. She hoped that Shaun would not be found as she sat inside the van with Forrest and a few other guards.
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