Black Dawn

by Andrew Dobell

  Windows to Yoh’s private quarters.

  She had been meaning to see Yoh and try to rebuild some bridges with him for a while now. Things had been going so well when she had first moved here, she even ended up having a passionate one night stand with him, the memories of which still burnt strong in her mind. Everything had changed since Kimi Takahashi, the Black Lotus had attacked and basically killed him, which led to Maya turning him into a Scion to save his life.

  Going from a mundane Human to Scion would be traumatic enough as you gained powers and abilities from the change, but going from Magus to Scion, and potentially losing your Magic… Well, Amanda knew that she would feel utterly lost and confused if that ever happened to her.

  Yoh had been through that change, and ever since that day, he had withdrawn from Amanda and they had hardly talked for months. She had been meaning to go and see him and talk to him for a while but he’d not really spent much time in New York, or at least, not in the Jade Palace or anywhere she knew of. So maybe now would be as good a time as any.

  She walked from the Garden and made her way upstairs and into Yoh’s apartments. She soon found him in the Library, sat with Maya who he had grown increasingly close to since the attack.

  She walked into the dimly lit room, her heels clicking on the polished hardwood floor announcing her presence.

  ‘Hi guys, sorry, I didn’t interrupt anything did I?’

  ‘No no, come in,’ Maya said and rose from the leather chair she had been sat in opposite Yoh. Maya always looked stunning to Amanda. She stood a similar height to her and had lustrous wavy dark hair that framed her pale face with dark eyes and ruby lips. Today she wore a long black dress with long sleeves and a high turtleneck and approached Amanda with her hands out, taking her into a hug as they reached each other. ‘It’s lovely to see you. It’s been too long I think,’ she said, looking back at Yoh as she said that last sentence.

  Yoh had also stood to greet Amanda and walked over to her, offering his hand. ‘It has, it’s been way too long.’

  Amanda took his hand and pulled him in for a hug. ‘Do you have time to have chat, I’d love to catch up?’ she said as she pulled away and looked at them both.

  ‘Of course he does. I’ll leave you two alone,’ Maya said and smiled before walking away, showing the rear of the dress and it’s plunging backless cut.

  ‘Thank you,’ Amanda said to the retreating Maya, who raised her hand in acknowledgement. She looked up at Yoh and smiled. ‘You ok?’

  Yoh gave a half smile and sat in his chair, Amanda followed suit, the leather creaking as the two chairs took their weight.

  ‘I’m good thank you…’ Yoh said, and paused.

  ‘Look, I know…’

  ‘I just wanted to…’

  They’d both spoken at the same time, and both of them stopped as quickly as they started.

  ‘You go,’ Amanda said.

  ‘I know I have been distant, and I’m sorry, that must have been, confusing after our… thing.’

  ‘The sex.’

  ‘Yes, that. I never planned for that to happen, the attack and the change I mean. I didn’t mean to become so distant after that. I just, I’m different now. What Maya did to me, saving me, but changing me. I’m not the same man I was. I mean, I’m technically dead now, and my Magic is… different. It took a long time for me to get my head round this. I’d been a Magi for years, my Magic was part of me, as I’m sure yours is part of you. It helps define you, it shapes your life.’

  Amanda just listened, she could see his pain and how much this change had affected him and she hated herself for it. They’d asked her for permission to change him into a Scion, and she had given it as she had been ignorant about Necromancy and what, according to Council Law, was allowed and what wasn’t.

  ‘What I’m saying is, I just needed time, to figure things out. I needed to re-evaluate my life and Maya-san has helped me do that.’

  ‘I understand. But I feel so guilty. They asked me you know. They asked me what they should do. I didn’t know if I could use my Magic to bring you back, I didn’t know if that would be considered Necromancy or not at the time and get me branded as a Nomad. It wouldn’t have as it turned out, I could have brought you back, but instead I gave Maya the go ahead to change you into a Scion. I’m just, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. It was a crazy situation and it should never have happened. Can you forgive me?’

  Yoh sat forward and took her hands in his as tears fell down her cheeks. She felt guilty and sad, but also foolish, both for not knowing the law and also for crying here in front of him.

  ‘It’s OK. I was dead, you weren’t to know that you could use your Magic. All is well now, I’m here, I’ve not gone.’

  ‘I know, I just feel guilty and, God love ya, but I just can’t imagine what you have had to go through. I’ve tried to put myself in your shoes and the thought of it kills me. What you have been through is horrific and yet you have come through it. I’m not sure I could be that strong.’

  ‘I think you underestimate yourself Amanda-san. You’re stronger than you think you are.’

  Amanda smiled. ‘Thanks,’ she said, blushing slightly as she relished the feel of his large hands holding hers. She still didn’t quite know what their relationship should be going forward, she felt she needed some clarification. She needed to know what this was. ‘So, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but, where do we stand? I mean, after that night we had.’

  ‘Friends. We’re friends Amanda-san. I don’t want anything more.’

  Amanda let out a breath and relaxed. She’d not been sure where things were for a while, but knowing where Yoh stood on this whole thing felt like a huge relief.

  ‘Is that… okay?’ Yoh asked.

  ‘That’s totally fine, perfect in fact. I feel like a weight has been lifted.’

  ‘Come here,’ he said as he stood up, she went to him then and they hugged. Everything felt right with the world, and she enjoyed the feeling of love and friendship she got from his powerful arms wrapped around her body. They pulled apart and sat back down, Amanda dropping into her chair and enjoying its cool embrace.

  ‘So, how about Raven? I thought you and him were close.’

  ‘Yeah, so did I. I don’t suppose I ever mentioned to you that I caught him in bed, well, in his room with another woman. I mean, we were never a thing, we’d never done anything, but we seemed close and I felt like he had returned some of the signals but, when he opened that door half naked and I could hear a giggling girl in there with him, I don’t know. I felt a little led on by him. But maybe that was just me. It’s not like we’d done anything as I say. Maybe I just read the signs wrong.’

  ‘Aww, that’s a shame. Sorry to hear that,’ Yoh said.

  ‘Aaah, it’s no bother. No offence but I don’t seem to have much luck with men. I’m thinking I’ll just give up on them for a while. It’s not like I don’t have enough other things happening anyway without a man to complicate matters.’

  ‘Sounds like a plan.’

  ‘Maybe. So, we’re good then?’ She asked.

  ‘Grand,’ he said, mimicking her Irish accent.

  ‘Hah! Happy days,’ she said smiling. Suddenly she felt the presence of someone’s thoughts wanting to talk to her, she concentrated and recognised Liz’s Magic, so she opened her mind to her and let it link with Liz briefly.

  ‘Amanda, we have that Coven from L.A. here, would you like to pop down and say hello?’ Liz said telepathically to her.

  ‘Yeah, sure. I’ll be right down,’ she thought back to Liz before closing the Mental Link. She looked over to Yoh, ‘I’m needed downstairs, but I’ll be sure to see you soon, ok?’

  ‘Of course Amanda-san, I’ll see you soon.’

  They rose from the seats, kissed cheeks and parted ways, Amanda feeling a spring in her step after finally speaking with Yoh properly. It had been a long time coming, in fact, she felt a little silly having put it off for so long. This should have been sorted a long ti
me ago, but then, sometimes in life these things never get sorted, so better late than never.

  She walked through the building and came to a ground floor meeting room, a much smaller one than the one upstairs, but big enough for meeting most of the small Coven’s that came here. Inside, Liz sat at a table with three other young looking women, although, with Magi, looks could be deceptive and they could, in theory, be of any age.

  ‘Hi,’ she said as she entered the room.

  Liz stood, ‘Hey, so this is Melissa, Toni and Tabitha, they’re from L.A and they’re interested in possibly settling here.’

  Amanda greeted each of them, shaking their hands and saying hi. ‘So what brings you to New York?’ she asked, and watched as they all hesitated and glanced at each other. Amanda immediately had the feeling she’d put her foot in it, that she’d mentioned something raw and emotional for the three of them. She noticed that Toni had even started to well up, the first hints of tears glistening in her eyes.

  ‘I’m sorry, did I say something…’ Amanda asked.

  ‘No no, you didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just, the reason for us being here, it…’ Melissa paused, taking a breath and seemed unsure how to proceed.

  ‘Our Coven was attacked, by some Nomads, and we think… we’re pretty sure we’re the only survivors,’ Tabitha said.

  Toni sobbed while Melissa seemed to take a moment to herself. Tabitha pulled Toni in close to comfort her. Amanda noticed how comfortable they were with each other, she guessed that Tabitha and Toni might be more than just friends.

  ‘You’re from the Coven of Angels? One of the American Magi Houses right? You must have had over ten members?’

  ‘Seventeen actually, not counting our affiliate Covens.’

  ‘Jaysis, and they were all killed?’ Amanda asked.

  ‘We believe so.’

  ‘Any idea who did this?’

  ‘We don’t have any names, but for the past, maybe six or seven months Arcadian Covens in the Los Angeles area have been attacked again and again by what we think are the same three Nomads.’

  ‘Just three?’

  ‘We saw one of them, they’re powerful and they’re using some Magic that, I just don’t recognise.’ Tabitha said.

  ‘You saw one? Can I see?’ Amanda asked.

  ‘Sure,’ said Tabitha who sent a mental image to Amanda. She felt the rush of Essentia and accepted the telepathic thought and could suddenly see the memory of the Nomad from the attack.

  Amanda let the memory fade after a moment of concentration on the image and brought her focus back to the room. ‘Thank you. Firstly, I’m sorry for your loss, and for what it’s worth, you’re very welcome in New York.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  Amanda sent a request for a mental link to Liz, who immediately allowed Amanda’s thoughts to pass through her Aegis.

  ‘That do you think?’ she sent to Liz.

  ‘They’re genuine, Victoria has been in touch and vouched for them in very strong terms. They’re young, but they’re loyal Arcadians,’ Liz sent back.

  ‘Have you got a place to stay,’ Amanda said to the trio of girls.

  ‘No, we’ve just arrived here.’ Tabitha said.

  ‘Then come stay with me, I can have some rooms made up for you at my place. Can you see to that Liz?’ Amanda asked.

  ‘Of course,’ Liz said.

  ‘Are you sure, we don’t want to be any trouble,’ Tabitha said.

  Melissa stood and shook her hand, ‘Thank you. I appreciate it.’

  ‘It’s fine, really, I’m happy to help,’ Amanda said. Toni, still staying close to Tabitha nodded and mouthed the words ‘Thank you,’ to her.

  Amanda nodded back and smiled. ‘I’ll also have a think on the whole Nomad situation in L.A, might be that we can do something. Leave it with me.’

  - The Vatican

  Mary signed the document, authorising the order which would now be carried out. She looked over the open file next to her and the photos that spilt out of it. She recognised that face and the red hair from a little over two years ago and the mission that went wrong on the train.

  She would never forget the face of Amanda-Jane Page. Her actions and the actions of her Coven had caused Mary some trouble, caused her plans to become the next Witch Finder General to be put on hold while she rebuilt her reputation with the Conclave of Grand Inquisitors. As the only woman in that group of twelve, she had to prove herself above and beyond what the others had to. But she had come back stronger than before.

  Amanda might have disappeared for two years, but as it turned out, that worked out quite well, and now she would start to take some well-earned revenge.

  She looked over the order to send a squad of Crusader Knights into New York and smiled as she handed it to her secretary. This would be phase one.

  Opening Salvo

  Brooklyn, New York.

  Nov 8th

  Jessie stood in the kitchen of the suburban house they could now call their home. The place had a very modern feel with an open plan layout in this main living area, she stood at the Island in the kitchen space pulling out groceries from the box in front of her, ready to put them away in the cupboards behind her.

  When Alex had first suggested the Coven should move down to the City, Hayden, Roxy and herself were all a little unsure. They had lived in Upstate New York, on the edges of Lucian’s territory for a long time. They always wanted to live in the city but it had never been possible, until now. But making that jump and moving down here had taken some confidence. She’d heard the reports, that Lucian was dead, killed by an Arcadian and that the city would now be under the Council’s protection. She’d also heard the rumours that the King of New York had been killed by this Magi she’d never heard of before, Amanda. They’d discussed it for a week or so before they started to hear of other Coven’s moving into the city, which quickly convinced them to make the trip.

  Looking back on that choice now they had been here for a few days, she felt they had made the right decision. They’d met Amanda on their arrival, along with Liz and a couple of others at the Jade Palace. She found them to all be very welcoming and she wasn’t sure she could believe the rumours that Amanda had killed Lucian. She seemed too normal. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, maybe some sort of hard ass?

  Well, maybe she had killed him, maybe not. Who knew.

  She loved their new house as well, it made for a very welcome change to the dump they had lived in upstate. A nice suburban house on a quiet road in Brooklyn was a big change from the dusty, cramped old loft in the middle of town.

  She watched her Coven mates in the main living space towards the front of the house, they were laughing over something, Jessie had missed the joke, but she didn’t mind. She wanted to get this food packed away.

  When the Aegis over the house fell away, it took her a moment to realise what she had just happened. It had felt like a tension in the air that suddenly grew and then snapped away to nothing. She frowned at the sensation, not sure what to make of it when a second later the lights went out.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Jessie said, while her friends made similar comments.

  The window smashed then as something sailed through it and clattered to the floor trailing gas or smoke.

  ‘What the hell,’ Hayden said.

  ‘Shit,’ yelled Alex.

  Jessie looked at it, a curious metal canister that sat in the middle of the living room, her friends did the same when a moment later, with a loud bang, it exploded, filling the room with smoke. Jessie dropped to the floor just as the front door got kicked in and slammed open. She could hear voices shouting and the sound of heavy boots running into the house.

  ‘Go go go!’ they shouted.

  They came through the back door in the corridor next to the kitchen as well, coming into the open plan area from another door, their gear shifting on their bodies as they moved and cocked their weapons.

  From where Jessie crouched behind the Island, she realised
that whoever it was who had stormed the house could not see her, from where they entered the room both from the back corridor and the front door, she remained hidden. Her friends, however, did not.

  ‘Get down, get down now. On your knees, hands on your heads, do it, NOW!’ the men shouted.

  She gingerly moved to the edge of the Island and readied herself to peek around the side into the room as the men who had stormed the house shouted at her friends.

  Were these policemen? A swat team maybe? What the hell were they doing here, they might be Magi but they had done nothing to warrant armed police storming the building.

  She could hear her friends, their voices shrill and wobbly, they were scared and she couldn’t blame them. They might be Magi but it wasn’t often that you had an Assault Rifle pointed at you.

  Jessie slowly peered around the Island and looked into the room beyond, through the thinning smoke to see her three friends all on their knees with their hands on their heads, looking terrified.

  She also could see a few of these men for the first time. Initially, she thought they might be a Swat team. They were dressed in black with tactical gear, silenced machine guns and balaclavas on their heads and they worked as a unit. But a couple of things made her question what she had first thought. One of them had his back to her and she could quite clearly see a large sword strapped to his back. She felt fairly certain that the Police did not carry swords around with them.

  But what she noticed next sent a chill through her spine and all of a sudden she knew who these guys were.

  A small insignia on one of the shoulders of the men in the shape of a shield with a crucifix on it meant one thing and one thing only. These guys were the Inquisition.

  ‘Keep still, don’t move,’ the men shouted. ‘You three, secure the rest of the house, make sure there're no others in here, go.’