by Sean Stone
“Nick, no!” Jamal shouted and ran forward. Nick turned to him.
“Jamal now is not the time for this,” he shouted.
“I love her, Nick. You said you understood that!”
Clara pulled herself painfully to her feet.
“I do, Jamal. You know I do but how many times can I let her get away with trying to kill me? How many? She will never stop!” Nick said.
Elias caught Clara’s eye and he dashed forwards. He snatched the ambrotos dagger from the pedestal and tossed it through the air. Clara caught it by the hilt. Nick turned and saw her holding the one weapon that could kill him. His anger turned to fear. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy it.
“For my father,” she said and then thrust the blade straight into his heart. Nick screamed horrifically and Clara had to step back and cover her ears. Wind howled around them and the fires around the courtyard exploded. The immortal tried to step forwards but his legs failed him and he fell to his knees. The other disciples all moved back to give him some space. All of them had the same stupid expression of shock on their faces. Blood as black as coal oozed out of his eyes, nose and mouth. His scream diminished into a strangled cry as the blood clogged his throat. His veins somehow protruded even more than they already were. His skin turned as grey as the tombs around him and pulled tighter over his body. It died and cracked. His thick hair thinned and turned wispy and white. His fiery eyes glazed over and turned totally white. The last thing to change was the expression on his face. It was a look of shock mingled with anger and pain but as his eyes whitened it changed to an expression of such sadness that for a moment Clara wanted to take back what she’d done. Then his body collapsed lifelessly to the side and the cemetery was silent. Nickolas Blackwood was dead.
26
Henry and Adam collided in the road, a jumble of furious fists and both men went down. The athame slipped from Adam’s grasp and clanged to the floor. Henry rolled onto his front and immediately received a punch in the face from Adam, who was already back on his feet. He avoided going back down but before he could respond he was given a further two punches. Henry kicked the back of the Adam’s legs and brought him down. He darted away before Adam could attack him again. He got a considerable distance from him before stopping to catch his breath.
“I like this new you. You used to be so weak and pathetic. Now you’re so much better. All that rage and ferocity. Is the old Adam still in there somewhere? Little Adam who loved his books and would never dream of getting in a fight.” Henry chuckled although he wasn’t feeling all that confident. Adam had managed to level the playing field. Henry needed an advantage. The athame was on the road but closer to Adam than it was to Henry. Luckily, they were nowhere near the town centre. The closest building was abandoned and fields were either side of the road. They shouldn’t be disturbed. The last thing Henry needed was somebody else interfering in his plans.
“The old me left when you murdered my family. Needlessly,” Adam said coldly. He climbed to his feet and faced Henry.
“It wasn’t needless. It was revenge.”
“They didn’t do anything to you. None of the people you’ve killed did. The people who killed you died a hundred years ago. And you know what? You deserved to die. You’re scum,” said Adam.
“Scum? I’m just a man who’s willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. That’s why you can’t stand me. Because your whole life you’ve shied away from doing the things that would have made you great. I’ve been in your head, Adam. I know you used to dream about being a great and powerful wizard. But you was never blessed with great power. Your magic was mediocre at best. I had the same dreams as you. The difference? I did something about it. I became great. You remained feeble. And that’s why you despise me,” Henry said smugly.
“You think whatever you like. Whatever makes you happy. Go ahead and tell yourself you’re just a guy that does what he needs to do to achieve his dreams. Tell yourself whatever you need to live with yourself.”
“I have no trouble living with myself. I know that my actions were wrong but I just don’t care. But you care don’t you? You care about the fact that you’ve never had the balls to do what you want. To get what you want.” Henry was enjoying goading Adam.
“Maybe. Before. Not now. You’ve changed me. You’ve filled me with all this stolen magic. You’ve taken everything from me, so why bother being good now? I might as well take what I want. What is there to lose?” Adam said.
“My sentiments precisely. No need to thank me, though.”
“It’s a shame that what I want more than anything is to destroy you,” Adam said. He looked over at the athame lying in the road just a few feet from him. Henry looked too. There was no way he could beat Adam to it.
“I know that feeling. I carried my anger for more than a hundred years. The more you feed it the more it grows,” Henry said. “Feed it, Adam. Become me. You’ll realise how liberating it is to just do what you want.” If he could anger him enough he might forget the athame and come straight for Henry instead.
Adam shook his head. “I will never be you. I’m smarter than you. When you escaped from your mansion you didn’t plan properly. You just went on a killing spree and you got caught. When I escaped from my coma I hit the books. I planned. That’s how I am going to beat you. You see you didn’t really destroy the old me. You just gave me an upgrade. And now I’m going to use it to destroy you. For good,” he said assuredly.
“You and your bloody books. You think you can learn everything by reading. I’ve always been a more active learner. I learned by jumping in feet first. That’s why you will never be able to beat me. Because I have experience and skill. You just have books. So, go on. Try to take me down. If only one of us is surviving this I know who my bets on,” Henry said cockily.
The two men locked eyes. They both knew what was coming now. They had no magic they could use on each other. Only fists and the athame. Then both men ran for the blade.
“What did you do?!” Jamal roared at Clara. His eyes were bulging with fury as he marched towards her. The other disciples were too shocked to move but that would not last and Clara was alone. She acted instinctively. She rushed forwards, snatched the ambrotos dagger from Nick’s chest and turned the blade on Jamal. He stopped coming at her.
“Everybody get behind Jamal!” she shouted. Nobody moved. “Move now or I’ll start stabbing!” she warned.
“Do you really think you can stab us all?” Kristen asked bemused.
“Do you want to find out?” Clara replied.
“I think I do,” Kristen said. She brought her hand up for a spell.
“Let’s do as she says,” Elias said.
“Shut up, traitor,” Cole hissed. “You’ve got a lot to answer for.”
“Clara, what have you done?” Jamal said again, more quietly this time.
“He was going to kill me. I did what I had to,” she said.
“He would not have killed you if you’d stayed at home!” Jamal screamed the words. She emphasised the dagger she was pointing at him but it had little effect. She’d never seen him so furious.
“He was putting the town in danger.”
“It was under control,” James said.
“You can shut up right now,” Clara said, turning to him. “What have you done with Dean?”
“So you’ve corrupted him have you?” James asked.
“I’m sorry? The immortal, werewolf, warlock murderer is accusing me of corrupting his son!” Clara said in amazement.
“Clara, you cannot imagine that you are going to walk away from this?” Jamal said. “My protection has run out.”
“How many of you will come with me?” she said and thrust the dagger forwards pointedly. Jamal’s eyes widened in horror. She couldn’t believe how surprised he was at her threat. She’d made her intention quite clear. Then she realised the true reason for his surprise.
“That was deeply unpleasant,” a familiar voice said from behind her. She tu
rned so slowly that she was barely moving at all. She was too scared of what she knew was behind her. When she was finally facing the other way she seemed to lose control other limbs. The dagger fell from her grip and her knees began to shake. Nick was standing before her and he was very much alive. The dagger was the one thing that could kill him. The one thing and it had failed.
“How?” was all she could say. She knew now that she was truly fucked.
“I have consumed so much power now that even that cannot kill me,” he replied. “Although, I didn’t know that until today. Thank you for enlightening me. The smart thing would have been to leave the dagger in my heart.”
“I…”
“Nothing to say?” Nick asked calmly. “Even words have abandoned you. Look around you, Clara. Does it strike you as odd that I am surrounded by so many allies and you are alone? Even Jamal does not defend you now.”
Clara looked over at Elias but he was just as terrified as she was and would be no help to her now.
“Ah, yes. The Judas in our midst. I should have known there would be one. Twelve disciples and all that.” Nick turned to Elias.
“Nick, I’m sorry,” he said. “I just wanted to go.”
“I’ll deal with you later. Clara, needs my immediate attention.” Nick turned back to her. “Are you sorry, Clara?” he asked curiously. He tilted his head to the side. Those were the exact words he’d spoken in her dreams. Right before…
Oddly she found that she could talk now. If he was going to kill her there was nothing she could do. She might as well take it standing up. “Not at all. You murdered my father. You and your people have murdered my friends. You even sent your spy into my bed. I’m not sorry. Not even a little. If I could go back to before I arrived here tonight I would do it all again. Only this time I’d leave the dagger in,” she said. Her voice flowed out without tremor. For a moment, her fear was gone and only her hatred for Nick was present.
“Even if time travel were possible, you’d never be given the opportunity to do it. Your time is up.” Nick’s face changed into something demonic. Clara knew death was coming and straightened up for it. She would not let him see her fear. If these were to be her last moments then she would go with honour and pride. “It’s been interesting knowing you, Clara. You’ve certainly kept me on my toes. You’ve been such veracious fighter. Though ultimately of little consequence. Go to your grave now knowing that nothing you did made any difference whatsoever.” Nick’s hand shot forward and smashed through her chest. She cried out but did not take her eyes from him. She would not look away. He remained still for a second or two, although those seconds felt like an eternity to her. His fingers felt so alien as they gripped her heart and then ripped it from her chest. She was dead in an instant.
27
Nick tossed Clara’s heart aside unceremoniously and then retrieved the ambrotos dagger from the ground where she had dropped it. It was truly a marvellous feeling to know that it no longer had the power over him that it once did. His magic was contained within the dagger but the most it could do to hurt him was put him into a deep sleep. He was completely immortal.
“Clara,” Jamal said softly as he fell to his knees beside his fallen former lover. Nick looked on with compassion but not regret. He didn’t like to see his best friend going through this pain but if he had to go back he would most certainly kill Clara again. “Clara,” Jamal said again. Tears ran freely down his cheeks. The others, like Nick, looked on in silence.
“Jamal, I’m sorry for what you’re feeling,” Nick said softly.
“No,” Jamal shook his head and glared up at Nick. “Don’t give me your pity.” He closed his eyes for minute and when he opened them again his anger was gone. “Bring her back,” he said.
“Jamal. No,” Nick said as gently as he could.
“Bring her back,” Jamal repeated. He climbed to his feet and faced Nick.
“She tried to kill me on numerous occasions if I bring her back she’ll just carry on trying,” Nick argued. He wasn’t a fool; there was no way he was going to resurrect an enemy.
“You can’t be killed; therefore you have nothing to fear,” Jamal protested, his voice shaky. “I love her.”
“I know you do but Jamal… She will never forgive you for what you did.”
“What I did I did for you,” Jamal reminded him. “Everything I have done for the last five-hundred and forty-one years has been for you. I have never asked for anything.”
“I saved you from your abusive family,” Nick reminded him.
“Yes, you did. And for that I loved you and followed you and given you my undying loyalty for half a century. I was loyal to the point that it cost me the only person I have ever loved since meeting you. Surely, I have more than paid you back for saving me?” Jamal pleaded.
Nick breathed out sharply and looked away. “Don’t ask me for this, Jamal. Ask for something else. Anything else,” he said, almost pleading back.
“This is all I want.”
“It will not go the way you want it. She will never give you another chance!” Nick shouted.
“Let me at least have the chance to try. Please. Think about why we’ve done everything we have for the last five-hundred years. All of it to bring back the girl you lost. You know this pain more than anyone. You cannot make me live with it. Not after everything I’ve done — everything we’ve all done — to rid you of that same pain.”
“The pain will ease. You will move on,” Nick told him. He already knew he wasn’t going to win this fight. Jamal was too stubborn and too much in love.
“Did you move on?” Jamal asked.
Nick let a small barking laugh. He looked right into Jamal’s eyes as he considered his plea. “You never ask me for anything else,” he said.
“Never,” Jamal agreed.
“And if she so much as lifts a finger against me…”
“She won’t,” he promised.
“The consequences…” Nick didn’t need to say the rest. Jamal understood more than anyone the consequences of upsetting Nick; he’d seen enough people perish over the centuries. Nick turned away and dressed the others. “Shall we do this ritual then?” he said to everyone and they returned to their places around the courtyard.
“Nick,” Elias said quietly. He kept his eyes on the floor.
“Ah, yes. Judas,” Nick said.
“Forgive me,” he said simply.
“Forgive you? I think not.”
“You still need me,” Elias said in a quavering voice. At least he still had the sense to be afraid.
“But I don’t need to forgive you.”
“I will not willingly help you unless you give me your forgiveness. I need to know that you won’t kill me for what I’ve done,” Elias said.
“The ritual involves killing you,” Nick reminded him.
“After that, I mean.”
Nick sighed. “Why did you betray me?” he asked. He’d done nothing to deserve Elias’ disloyalty. He’d been as good to Elias as he had been to the others.
“It’s been so long since we started. I didn’t think you’d be able to pull it off,” he admitted. “I just wanted to be free.”
“You are not a servant. I have not kept you against your will.”
“I know but I…”
“You didn’t think I’d let you go?”
“No.” He looked down at the concrete.
Nick nodded sourly. “Alright, Elias. Once the ritual is over I will not kill you. But you and I are done the moment the ritual is complete. I want nothing more to do with you.”
“I understand.”
“Good. Now get in position.”
Nick returned the ambrotos dagger to the pedestal and it once again began rotating on its blade as the disciples chanted. All their power would fuse with his in the dagger and he would use it all to shatter the barrier between realms.
“When you die the connection we share will be destroyed,” Nick told the group. “Your immortality and your lives wil
l be given in sacrifice to tear a hole in the divide. I will return both to you after Olivia is returned to me. Our connection will remain broken for we will not need it once we are done tonight. We can all go our separate ways.” He eyeballed Elias as he said the last sentence. He turned to Casper. “If this ritual works then you will finally have the peace that you have craved for for so long.”
“Longer than I can remember,” Casper replied.
“This is the moment. Everything we have ever done has been for this one moment. This is the final test of our abilities. The moment when we weigh all of our deeds against our aims and see if they are worthy. The moment when we will do the impossible; the one feat that has defied sorcerers for millennia. We will become immortal in every sense of the word. We will prove ourselves to be the greatest wielders of magic that have ever lived. Greater than ancients. Greater than jinn. Tonight, we will take out places amongst the gods!” he told them. “Tonight everything I have ever lived for will be mine,” he whispered to himself.
“We’re with you, Nick,” Kristen said. Jamal nodded his agreement and then the others all vocalised theirs. Nick shook his head to try to shake off the emotion that was seizing him. Gratitude and anticipation were roaring around inside him like a great tumultuous hurricane. The love he felt from his disciples — most of them — was second only to the love he had shared with Olivia; love that he would soon know once more.
He rolled his shoulders back and focused on the dagger. He felt the power flow from his disciples, through his dagger and into him: the power of thirteen. All of his power and their’s was combined and it was phenomenal. Thunder roared overhead as the clouds blackened. Lightning broke up the darkness continually; barely a minute passed between flashes. The ambrotos dagger started to vibrate from the effects of the spell. Thirteen sorcerers had been preparing for this for centuries; they all knew what they had to do and they were all focusing the spell at the dagger.
