Shadowborn's Terror: Book IV of 'The Magician's Brother' Series

by HDA Roberts

  We parted ways and I started walking towards the bus stop that would take me back to school. It was a pleasant day, and there wasn't much of a crowd, so I took a detour across Giles' Park, hoping to get myself some home-made ice cream from my favourite parlour before an afternoon of Chemistry.

  I didn't make it very far.

  "Mister Graves?" said a bowel-loosening voice from behind me that had me breaking out in a cold sweat right on the spot.

  I turned.

  Yep, Namia Sutton.

  "I think it's past time we talked," she said, her voice musical, her smile perfect.

  I looked around. The sun was shining down on us, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. A perfect battleground for her, being a Light Magician, especially as there weren't too many witnesses around.

  Then I remembered the warning. No Magic on Namia Sutton.

  I calmed myself down slowly, putting my hands in my pockets to conceal the shaking.

  "What about?" I asked.

  "Shall we make this a frank conversation?" she asked sweetly.

  I nodded.

  "I know who you are, I know everything. Vanessa told me, all I had to do was ask. I have nothing against you personally. There is nothing in my agenda that includes you or anyone you know. But if you keep sticking your nose in my business, that's going to change, and I'm going to come for you," she said.

  Her tone was respectful, almost sorrowful, actually.

  "Allow me to be equally frank," I replied, "I saw the look in your eyes the day we met. I saw your hatred, your bile. This cutesy exterior doesn't fool me in the slightest, I know what you are. You're a drug-pusher, a torturer and a thug. Do yourself a favour and shut Source down now, because either you do it, or we will."

  "You don't speak for the others, we both know that," she said, her mask dropping away as her face twisted into a sneer and her voice became hard and cruel.

  "When one speaks, it is with all our voices. You may be a friend of Kron's but you shouldn't believe that she'll take your word over mine forever."

  "I'm her daughter. You are a replaceable part. One that's going to be made obsolete very soon. You are nothing but a weak, ineffectual man. I'm going to enjoy tearing you down."

  "I've been threatened by the best of them, Sweetie," I replied, "You're barely a blip on my radar."

  I sneered right back at her and her face coloured. That's it, get angry...

  "You know what I did to the last man who spoke to me like that? I took him from his home while he was eating with his family. I hurt them while I took him, his last sights of his wife and son were them screaming. And then I started working on him. It took me a week to break him. I tore his mind apart and made him my slave. I still keep him around, crawling around one of my houses. He licks my boots clean. You won't have a tongue by the time I'm done, but I'm sure I can find something for your husk to do."

  I sniggered.

  "Oh, you really are a little drama queen, aren't you?"

  "You think this is funny? You think someone who could build the Source trade under the noses of the Conclave is to be taunted, trifled with? I'll eat you alive!"

  "Go on then," I said calmly, "Give it your best shot. I'll wait, take your time."

  "Oh, you'd like that wouldn't you? Give you the provocation you need to have me up on charges," she said, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

  I sighed theatrically, "Do you know what Sovereign Immunity is?" I asked, "If you were important enough for me to kill, I'd kill you. You're not. You're just a broken kid with man-hating tendencies and a penchant for power. Not worth an Archon's time."

  "I'll take your family," she said icily, "Would that make me worth your time?"

  "Indeed it would," I said neutrally, "but be very careful of wandering down that road. Because as creative as you may be, I have a Grimoire packed full of horrific ways to keep a soul in unending agony and far away from whatever peace waits beyond this life. Keep this fight civil, because the second you take someone I love from me, I'll open that book. And you'll find out what real pain is. Do we understand each other?"

  She actually had the good grace to swallow in fear, her teeth chattering. You'd be amazed what being the bound owner of the ancient repository of evil magic does for your reputation.

  She nodded.

  "Good. Then let the games begin," I said, "I'll see you when I see you."

  Her face went white with fury, but she turned on her heel and walked away. I waited until she was out of sight and pulled my mobile out of my pocket, hitting the 'stop' button on the recorder.

  Yes, that'll do very nicely...

  It took her two days to make her move. Less than I thought.

  Friday afternoon. I knew something was up when Hopkins wouldn't look at me during English, I didn't know exactly what was happening until she showed up in the Big Square just before dinner.

  "Mathew, come with me, please," she said.

  "Something wrong?" I asked.

  "Yes," she said, opening a portal. She stepped through and I followed her.

  Killian, Kron and Palmyra were waiting for us in a big cylindrical room, almost like the inside of a stone silo. Sutton was with them. The walls were black marble, inscribed with runes and sigils. They hurt to look at, but I didn't have attention to spare for them. I did notice that I couldn't access my Shadows, which gave me a little insight into the room's purpose. There was no door that I could see.

  "What's up?" I asked, deliberately not mentioning the nature of the room (which was quite clearly some sort of Shadowborn's trap).

  "Namia is a member of my family," Kron said, her eyes narrowed and furious, "You were told to leave her alone."

  "And I did," I said.

  "She says different," Killian said, "She says you attacked her. Threatened her with violence and accused her of drug trafficking. This is unacceptable behaviour. Even from you."

  "Even from me?" I asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "Nothing," Killian said, his expression inscrutable.

  "Wow, we are really getting down to what you people think of me, aren't we?" I said.

  "Are you saying it's not true?" Palmyra asked hopefully.

  "Did she offer evidence?" I asked.

  "She gave her word, and Palmyra monitored her as she offered testimony. She wasn't lying," Kron said.

  I snorted in amusement.

  "So you deny it, then? You didn't accost her? You didn't threaten her?" Palmyra said.

  "I didn't accost her. I did threaten her," I said.

  Kron's form flickered with power, so did Killian's.

  "You two stop that right now!" Palmyra shouted, "For heaven's sake, Van, you've already screwed up with him once, are you so desperate to do it again?"

  Kron growled, but settled, Killian just looked glacially calm.

  "Why did you threaten her?" Hopkins asked.

  "She threatened me first," I replied.

  "That's a lie!" Sutton said, striding forwards.

  "Palmyra?" Kron said.

  "They... they're both telling the truth. But that's impossible. One of them is fooling me!" Palmyra said.

  "We all know that Graves is a practiced liar," Killian offered.

  I rolled my eyes.

  "Purely for the sake of interest, what were you planning to do to me? I assume that my guilt was more or less determined before I arrived."

  "You'd be facing punishment. Under our judgement," Killian said.

  "Meaning?"

  "Meaning that you'd lose your privileges and status as an Archon," Killian said.

  "All on her word against mine? Well, I lived seventeen years without those things, I could probably survive," I said.

  Kron turned away, disgusted.

  "What do we do?" Killian said, "They can't both be telling the truth."

  "I guess it comes down to who you trust," I said, "Her or me."

  "There's not enough evidence to damn him," Hopkins said, looking at me, "and even if there was... I wouldn't vote for i
t."

  "I will," Killian said.

  "And so will I," Kron added, wrapping her arm around Sutton's shoulders.

  "Lucille?" Hopkins said, "There has to be a majority."

  "There's no evidence, none at all!" Palmyra said.

  "Namia's word is evidence!" Kron said, "And that's all you should need!"

  "Lucille," Sutton said, "you know I wouldn't lie to you. Think back, how many years have we been friends, taken care of each other?"

  Palmyra dithered. Then she deliberately turned away from me, "She's never lied to me before," she said, "That must mean... that Matty is."

  I smiled sadly.

  Palmyra noticed and stared at me. I felt her empathic sense fire up with a vengeance.

  "Oh, God," she said, taken aback.

  "What?" Killian asked, looking at me with hatred in his eyes.

  "He has something," Palmyra said, "He was just... he was waiting to see which ones of us would believe in him. Oh, no..."

  I pulled my phone and played my and Sutton's conversation for the other Archons.

  Their faces fell as they listened, and then they turned towards Sutton.

  "You..." Kron said, "Namia, how could you?"

  "It's not true! It's a fake!" Sutton screamed.

  "Jen, take me home, will you?" I asked before I could see any more. It was done.

  "Sure, Matty," she said, her hand on my shoulder as I turned my back on the others and followed her back to Windward.

  The portal closed behind us and I turned to look at her.

  "Thank you for believing me."

  I couldn't describe how much that had meant, but I think she got it.

  She smiled, patting my shoulder, "I'm sorry it happened that way."

  "Meh, I'm used to it at this point."

  "You shouldn't have to be," she said, anger entering her voice, "and Palmyra... I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it."

  "Peer pressure. Why do you think we have an assembly on it every year?"

  She smiled again, sadly.

  "She and Namia have always been close. Please don't hold it against her?"

  "Of course I won't," I said, "She's saved my life a bunch of times, she's more than earned the benefit of the doubt. Would you tell her that for me?"

  She nodded.

  "And Kron?" she asked, elbowing me.

  "Oh, she's dead to me," I said, earning me a swat to the head.

  "That was quite an elegant little setup, Matty. Give everyone enough rope to hang themselves with," she said, "And you made three Archons look like idiots. They won't like that."

  "Yes, I'm the bad guy."

  She snorted and nudged me hard enough to make me stagger.

  "Do you have any idea what a mess you've made?" she asked, "How long it's going to take everyone to cool down?"

  "That's assuming that Sutton doesn't manage to lie her way out of this and turn them right back on me," I suggested.

  She sighed and leant her head against my shoulder.

  "You're just a ray of sunshine today, aren't you?" she said.

  "Guys! They're doing it again!" said a tiny voice from behind the bushes.

  I sniggered as Hopkins flew away from me and started glaring.

  "Don't you have anything better to do?" she snapped. The three second years ran away, giggling.

  "Aw, you scared them," I said with a grin.

  "Shut up. And go away. Apparently I shouldn't be seen with you."

  I laughed and pulled her into a hug before walking away. She blushed hard and hit me as I left, smiling all the while.

  Chapter 15

  I didn't hear from any of the others for a while, though Hopkins kept me updated. Apparently, Killian and Kron didn't really believe either of us anymore, and Palmyra was simply miserable about everything that had happened. So there was now a series of rifts, and nobody was talking to each other except Hopkins and I.

  Thankfully, I was presented with a distraction that Thursday night.

  Well, sort of.

  The phone rang and I groaned. I rolled over and reached out with my Will for the phone, but ended up accidentally dragging the chest of drawers into my outstretched foot instead, which hurt.

  Magic + Lack of Sleep = Oops.

  "Hello?" I said groggily, wincing as I rubbed my stubbed toe.

  "Mathew? It's Crystal. I... I need your help."

  Oh, I just knew that wasn't going to be good.

  "Where?" I asked.

  It took a bit longer to get to Gardenia this time. I accidentally detoured into Brittany. To this day, I'm still not sure how.

  She stood, waiting for me, in an alley outside a nightclub a couple of miles away from the Red Carpet. She was dressed in my hoodie, over her motorcycle leathers (so that's where it went, I'd completely forgotten I'd leant it to her and been looking for it, like an idiot).

  "Thanks for coming," she said, not looking at me as I dropped out of the sky in a Shadow cocoon. I was dressed in dark clothes and a raincoat, the hood down and a glamour in place to make me look normal.

  "No problem," I said, "What's going on?"

  "It's..." she started, and then she stopped before taking a deep breath; she pointed to what I'd thought was a nightclub, "That's a 'Seven-House'. My sister's in there."

  This was one of those places where you went to indulge the seven deadly sins, hence the name. I wasn't entirely clear on what that meant, but then I'd gone to some effort not to find out about the less wholesome aspects of life in Gardenia.

  "Alright," I said, "what do you know?"

  "I haven't seen her in a while, five years. The last I heard, she was working down in Orleans as a hostess. But tonight, I get a note from her begging me to come get her. It's her writing, and it had her blood on it and it said this address. Oh, Matty, I don't know what to do! What if she's one of the victims?!"

  "Victims?" I asked.

  "Seven-Houses cater to those people who want to act out their darkest desires. Sometimes that's harmless enough; be praised and adored, have a little rough sex, sleep in a tub of caviar, beat up a shape shifter who looks like their boss, that kind of thing. But sometimes it's worse, much worse. Sometimes the client wants to kill, or cut or eat someone. Michelangelo's is where the people who want to do that go. What if they're killing her?!"

  I took her hand, "Easy, we don't know anything yet, and I need you to be as calm as possible, alright?"

  She nodded, but she was clearly still distressed.

  "Look, you went into Hell with me, so you call, I'm here. But why me? Isn't Price far more able to get in and out of a place like this? Make a deal or something?"

  At this, she looked shifty, "I'm not supposed to be here; ordered not to come, in fact. If Price found out that I'd prodded one of the territories... Well, suffice to say, I'm on my own, and you were the only one I could think to call who'd even turn up, much less be able to help me."

  That made me sad and the look in her eyes was just so... lonely.

  I nodded.

  "One step at a time, okay? First, think of... what's your sister's name?"

  "Amber."

  "Amber. Think of her so I can see who we're looking for."

  I slid a probe into her mind and saw a bright, beautiful looking blonde girl, about Crystal's height, but with a slimmer build and less generous curves. Her eyes were a lovely dark blue and her fangs were small and dainty; she was the spitting image of her sister.

  "Good," I said, sliding out again, "Now, I'd prefer to go in quietly and not give them any warning that we're coming. You'd better put that hoody up. Do you still have the sunglasses?"

  "Yes," she said, sliding them on.

  I was proceeding under the assumption that Amber was being held against her will. She may not have been, but it was better to assume the worst and plan for it, rather than hope for the best and be caught flat-footed (I wasn't making that mistake again). With that in mind, Crystal looked so much like her sister that bringing her in as she was could only
cause complications. Hence, the disguise.

  "Good, then this next bit is up to you. You know how these places work; get us in and to a private area where I can cast a mapping spell and look for Vampire Auras. Once we do that, we'll slip away and start going through the matching signatures one by one until we find Amber or someone who can tell us where she is. Sound good?"

  "Absolutely," she said firmly.

  I offered my arm and she took it. We walked around the corner at an easy pace, taking our time, pretending to be relaxed (Crystal was better at it than me). There was a guard on either side of a heavy metal door, above which the place's name shone in red neon. Both guards were tall, bulging with muscles and dressed in suits with lumps under their arms that told of weapons.

  "Good evening," I said brightly, "I'm told this is the place to come to relieve certain tensions?"

  The one on the right snorted but he opened the door. Crystal and I walked through.

  "All yours," I whispered to Crystal.

  She nodded, and we sidled through a wide lobby to a receptionist's desk.

  "Good evening, Sir, Ma'am," she said, "How may we be of service tonight."

  "We're starting slow tonight; can we have one of the L-rooms? Top tier to begin with, ease him in," Crystal said conspiratorially.

  "Oh," the woman said knowingly, "Of course. You're a lucky man, Sir, if you'll pardon me saying."

  "I'm well aware, Ma'am," I said with an ingratiating smile.

  "Oh, he's so polite," the woman replied, "how... new is he to the scene?"

  "All the way," Crystal said, giving the receptionist a naughty smile.

  "How nice. Three hundred for the hour, four fifty since there are two of you. Did you have a preference for companion?"

  "No companion," Crystal said, showing fang, "I want to enjoy myself tonight."

  "Of course, Ma'am," the woman said with a knowing smirk.

  "Pay the woman, Honey," Crystal said.

  I pulled out the gold MasterCard attached to one of Stone's slush funds. The lady smiled and took it with a flourish.