ARMISTICE
Book 1: Hells Magic
Leslie Vatenar
The Armistice, Book 1: Hells Magic
Route de Grand-Fond, 97222, Case-Pilote
Copyright © 2020 Leslie Vatenar
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
LAST CHAPTER
AKNOWLEGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER 1
My feet were dangling over the edge; the clean air caressed my face. The landscape was green and idyllic. Who would have thought I’d find my haven here, in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of a waterfall whose stream of flowing water appeared infinite to me?
I touched the greenish, moist grass with my fingertips. I admired the rainbow, and the rays of the sun caressed my skin. I could hear the water from the waterfall falling on the rocks at the foot of it.
Everything was perfect for me. Too perfect. I had something to do. Something important. So what was I doing here? I was wasting time. But what was more important than living the best moment of my life?
A sudden movement drew me from my daydreaming. I woke up with a start, alert. With a keen eye, I looked around to find the cause of the attack. But there were just cars. Heavy traffic, nothing more. The threat was only a careless driver.
“You fell asleep, Mrs. Wilson,” the taxi driver said, looking at me through his rearview mirror. “We are almost there.”
“Thank you, Frank.”
I slumped in my seat. How could I have dreamed of paradise when my life had turned into a disaster? My heart was pounding after my start, although this was the pace it had decided to keep since the Armistice attack. A ball of anguish and sadness fell upon me as I thought of the last twelve hours. I was wondering what was worse, thinking about the past or thinking about the future.
He turned to me, his look filled with hope and sadness. “We have arrived. I hope you can do it.”
“Me too, Frank. Keep your family safe during this time; protect as many people as possible. But don’t expose the seriousness of the situation. Take care of yourself.”
“Take care of me? Ma’am, you are contradicting yourself. If I want to protect my family, I go to war. We will not sit here and do nothing. If you fail, we will have to act as soon as possible. War is the second option.”
These words struck me with a powerful blow to my stomach. If I failed, chaos would be the second option. Great, no pressure at all.
“No war, no way. We’ll leave the city, the country, the earth. We’re supernaturals, we can find an uninhabited planet or even make Mars a habitable planet. We can’t go to war, it would be suicide. If he wants the reign, let him have it. But there will be no one to rule over.”
The thought of the loss and destruction that such a war would bring was horrifying.
“Mrs. Wilson, our life is here. And that of our ancestors. We will not leave because of a lunatic who thinks he can have it all.”
“Frank, he has defeated the most powerful mage in the world,” I whispered in a trembling voice, struggling to say these hard words. Out of nowhere, like a demon being summoned, he had destroyed everything in less than five minutes. It took five minutes for my friend to go from a radiant and proud smile to a cry of pain. I could still hear her howl, an echo that followed me everywhere I went, that reminded me of what I had to do.
“Mrs. Wilson, such a mission should not be entrusted to you,” he said with a look imbued with sympathy.
His kindness surprised me. After all, our meeting was quite extraordinary. If I’d been him, I don’t know if I’d have stayed by my side. A young woman with red hair, covered in blood, banging on his taxi in panic, the devil at her heels. Literally. I had over twenty soldiers from the Hells on my tail, launching all the attack techniques they knew to stop me.
Frank, a little brown man in his thirties, had hidden us, thanks to a magical spell that had saved us both. Since then, we’d been on the road all night. I was distraught and desperate, but Frank had helped me calm down, miraculously understanding something between my excessive sobs, my screams, and my outbursts every time I heard the slightest noise. He’d gone to a shopping mall for a few minutes to buy me clothes. I couldn’t walk down the street covered in blood, looking for a man of whom I only knew his first name.
“I think I’m the only survivor of the attack. And we can’t risk our people knowing.”
“I can only wish you good luck then.”
“Frank, thank you for everything. And I hope you understand that panic among the people would be unmanageable. Be careful and don’t take to the streets shouting, ‘Stop the coup!’”
“I understand; you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Great.”
I got out of the taxi and the chilly wind made me shiver despite my coat. Gray clouds covered the sky. In front of me, cars snaked down the crosswords of the major avenues of Iry, the capital of my country, Mayi. The wind gradually picked up, and a thunderclap echoed. Time seemed to sympathize with the misfortune that had befallen the mages. I heard Frank’s taxi start and drive away.
I was now on my own.
CHAPTER 2
Over seven billion people on this earth. One man to find among seven billion. I had the city: Iry, and I had his name: Jayden Rik. I had to find him as soon as possible.
How? The most wonderful question. I’d entered the nearest hotel after Frank dropped me off. The sky had finally shed its tears, like those I’d shed after the attack, which forced me to find refuge. It wasn’t on the street, wet and with no idea what I had to do or the exact place where I needed to go, that I’d find a solution. I needed shelter to ponder.
Sitting in my hotel room for over twenty minutes, I remained frozen.
What do I do?
The Hells’ soldiers were stalking me. The Hells had nothing to do with biblical hell. This wasn’t the place where some human beings would be punished and tortured. The Hells was a prison reserved for dangerous creatures who absolutely didn’t have to interact with our world or risk ravaging it. Now I had soldiers straight out of this place who wanted me dead.
The Armistice had been attacked. The Armistice was a castle and a zone of peace within our country. Mages, shapeshifters, and necromancers lived side by side, but relationships were sometimes strained. The Armistice was in the center of the triangle formed by the residence of each leader. The king of shapeshifters lived in the southeast, the king of necromancer
s lived in the southwest, and the queen of mages lived in the north. The Armistice enabled leaders to come together to make important decisions.
Unfortunately, it was possible to trace someone through an object belonging to them, creating a link with their magic and therefore a link with the person. The soldiers could find me using an object belonging to me; they could easily find me at the Armistice since I was there during the attack.
It was only a matter of time. The Hells soldiers would soon find me. Using my magic would make it easier for them in their search, despite Frank’s mighty spell. I didn’t intend to speed things up by using it. Now my magic seemed to be the only way to find Jayden. Some rare mages like Frank had the power to make spells, but that wasn’t my case. I had the power to manipulate energy, I could create illusions and I could heal myself from minor wounds. None of these gifts could help me find Jayden.
“His name is Jayden Rik, look for him in bars, shout on every rooftop that you’re looking for him, and he’ll find you, but be careful, because he won’t be cooperative,” my best friend, Alice, had told me.
I got up from the hotel’s bed. Mages were counting on me, I had to act. I usually assessed the thirty-six thousand possibilities before deciding, but time was running out. I could no longer try to imagine a solution to the problem. I had to find one, even if I had to search all the bars in this city.
I got out of my room and walked to the front desk. My room was on the first floor, so I was quickly in contact with a smiling and energetic receptionist. Her curly blonde hair cascaded on the right side of her young face. Perfect makeup embellished her resplendent face, contrasting with the mess I was looking like right now. I’d taken a good shower in the hotel room, yet I felt dirty. I’d been rubbing my body, desperately trying to remove blood that had been gone for a long time.
The queen’s blood. From my best friend, Alice.
“Good morning. What can I do for you?” the receptionist asked me, Linda, according to her badge.
She should have been a model or an actress, not a receptionist. With a smile like that, she’d have been perfect for a Colgate commercial. And she had no idea that I was on the verge of collapsing in front of her.
I attempted to smile. “Hi. Tell me, how well do you know this city?”
“I know it well. I’ve lived here all my life. You can visit the Almar Bridge, Salam Cathedral, beautiful places even in rainy weather. Buses are available to tour the city and its most beautiful landmarks.” She picked up a brochure from her counter and gave it to me.
“Actually, I’m looking for a bar, or, more precisely, the location of all the bars in the city.”
She frowned. “That’s a lot of bars.”
She may have been right, but she wasn’t really helping me. She reminded me of the friend you confided in about your problems and who would tell you at the end, “Well, you’re in deep shit.”
“I know, I know. Does your brochure have the names of every bar in the city?”
“Only the best known.” She stared at me. “Would it be indiscreet to ask you what you’re looking for?”
“I’m looking for a man. I was advised to look in bars.”
“What kind of man? Shy and lonely? Fierce and dangerous? Football fan?”
I thought about it for thirty seconds. “Be careful, he won’t be cooperative.” My queen, Alice, had warned me against this man, so she considered him potentially dangerous. And he was supposed to be our savior by a Holy Ghost operation.
“I would say fierce and dangerous.”
“Then I suggest Warriors’ Cries, Higher Blood and Post-War. The most dangerous souls hang out there. Don’t get noticed in these kinds of bars and talk to the bartenders. Pay them, and they’ll do whatever you want.”
“The bartenders. All right.”
I nodded while thinking about the money I had. Frank had taken out all his savings, so I could move around and take refuge in a hotel with no problems. There would surely be enough for some negotiations. I was hoping so anyway. The receptionist wrote the addresses on a piece of paper for me before slipping it to me, always radiant and smiling.
“Good luck. Be careful.”
I thanked her with a large smile before going back to my room. She understood and was informative after all. My thoughts turned again to Alice, queen of mages and my best friend. She always stayed calm in any situation, unlike me. They showed me a minor cut on a finger and I saw an amputated finger. Alice was always calm, charming, a pure and caring soul, unless we were both in my room at midnight, with no guards, no obligation to look flawless, just the two of us. The life of a queen was full of responsibilities, but I was there to make her smile whenever she couldn’t take it anymore.
We were two childhood friends laughing uproariously at the trivia of our lives: the hideous dress of one guest, the embarrassed and forbidden looks of one guard for Alice, the first transformation of a young werewolf in the middle of dinner.
The shapeshifters didn’t know when their first transformation would take place, only that it would occur on a full moon. They normally shifted for the first time at fifteen, up to eighteen years old. The great surprise was one particular young werewolf, thinking he was cursed for he still hadn’t shifted at twenty-one His wolf spirit decided to wake up in the middle of an important dinner that only happened once every four years at the Armistice.
Dinner was, of course, postponed. The shapeshifters’ king, Spencer Vace, was too busy trying to calm his beta, excited like a little schoolgirl, frightened like a rabbit and suffering like a sick patient. Besides the overwhelming magic wave that took hold of his body, his bones weren’t quite used to twisting and breaking so he would turn into a wolf for the first time.
Shapeshifters had chosen Spencer Vace to represent them, just as mages had chosen my best friend to represent them, for they were both the most powerful and the rarest of their kind. Spencer Vace was a griffon shapeshifter, a half-eagle, half-lion creature, and Alice was an elementary mage. The last leader was Clinton Bak, the most powerful necromancer. He was as impulsive and dangerous as his kind. These three leaders, the Order members, watched over each species and ensured peace and harmony.
If only Craid hadn’t come to ruin everything. If only he hadn’t attacked the Armistice.
CHAPTER 3
All that was missing were crows around this Higher Blood bar. I hadn’t entered yet, but the place stank of black magic. On entering, the smell became worse, a mixture of cigarettes, alcohol, and sweat.
Mages’ magic was associated with life, creation, and transformation, whereas necromancers were much darker because their magic was related to death and destruction. They could animate the dead and control them.
All eyes turned to me. The place was extremely dark, and it was with great difficulty that I missed banging my knee on the tables. The receptionist hadn’t been joking when she’d talked about dangerous men. I swallowed my saliva, breathing hard with my heart beating fast against my rib cage.
It wasn’t their powerful black necromancers’ magic caressing my body when I walked that would change my mind, even if I really, really wanted to. From the overweight bearded man to the probably underage thin young man, I’d seen everything. They all had a common trait, they were terrifying.
The bar contained more necromancers than I’d ever encountered in my entire life. I imagined them all holding hands, singing and laughing, as in Rapunzel, to calm me down. I suddenly understood why I was attracting so much attention.
I was alone and a mage. The only one in the bar.
All the necromancer women in this bar were with their personal Pablo Escobar. I hurriedly walked to the bar counter where a young bartender greeted me with a tired smile.
“What do you want?”
I was tempted to have a drink, pretend that I had the time and that I wasn’t desperate. I looked at its magical essence. Verdict: a necromancer. And strong at that. Only mages could recognize and see the m
agical essences of each supernatural or object. I took a deep breath. No time. It’s a make it or break it situation.
“Hi. I’m looking for Jayden Rik.”
“No drink of that name, sorry.”
“No, Jayden, it’s someone. A man I’m looking for.”
He breathed slowly, looking at me with that tired, soulless expression. The necromancers had been more difficult to convince when the Order was created because of their unpredictable nature.
“There are no wanted notices here. We’re also not a dating site where you have your desires and we find you who you want. Here we ask for a drink and that’s it.”
Charming… Talking to him would be pointless. I slipped him a wad of banknotes and a piece of paper on which I’d written the number of the phone I’d bought fifteen minutes earlier.
“I don’t want a drink. I want Jayden Rik. If you hear about him, call me.”
The necromancers weren’t our biggest fans. They knew that the Order was necessary for us to avoid killing each other, but the blood of a lone young mage wouldn’t fail to arouse their primitive, impulsive and barbaric instincts. It was a matter of fun. I liked karaoke, but everyone had their tastes. So I kept the information to myself.
“And if he doesn’t show up, talk to as many people as possible. Tell everyone that a young woman named Katy will do anything to find him. If anyone knows him, let him call me.”
He took the wad and the paper then turned his back on me without a word. “Liam, I’m taking my break.”
I met the gaze of a young man who frowned as he looked at me from the other end of the counter. He nodded to the bartender’s words. His gaze landed on the paper and the wad I’d given to his colleague before returning briefly to me. All right, the more people who knew the more likely it was that Jayden would come and find me before the end of the day. With all the luck in the world. He wasn’t aware of the urgency of the situation; I hoped he wouldn’t take his time before showing up.
I was on my way out when a chubby man, three times my size, planted his face a few inches from mine, his breath stinking of rotten fish and cigarettes.
Hells Magic (The Armistice Book 1) Page 1
