Angel looked up at Roxane and Ian. Ian looked unhappy at the turn of events, no doubt wondering when his next blow job would be. Roxane however seemed to take a small pleasure in the idea of Angel not being here for a while.
Although extreme temperatures were not much of an issue for Magi, Angel didn’t really relish the idea of spending time at the South Pole. But, maybe it would be worth it. If they were bringing all the Magi with them, maybe there would be something worthwhile down there.
She made a mental note to contact Yasmin about this latest turn of events soon.
- Greenwich Village
Ben opened the door to the apartment and looked inside.
‘Clear,’ he said, and waited for Shaun to walk in followed by Vanessa. He couldn’t resist a quick glance at her perfectly shaped behind in that tiny skirt. He sighed quietly to himself and closed the door behind him. He’d worked for Shaun for years now, and it has just been the pair of them for a long time. Shaun had brought Vanessa in months ago, and they chatted as friends, but secretly he really fancied her. He’d never had much experience with women, he never felt that confident around them, preferring his online life and interacting with people on there as Chronos, his online name.
Blind Eagle, his contact within the Liberties Children Coven had come through in fine form, that gave them a time frame of when Amanda had bought her house, they then hacked the MLS database, and narrowed the choice down to the most likely houses that suited the profile of Amanda and her two friends.
They then hacked the security cameras around the properties and went through hours of footage until they had finally recognised someone.
Ben walked over to the windows and stood beside Shaun and Vanessa. From here they looked over the top of a few buildings towards a large brownstone house on the far corner of a crossroads.
‘That’s it,’ said Ben. ‘That’s her house.’
House Call
May 12th
New York
These first few days in New York had been great. Being back in the city that, in all honesty, she most associated with being her home gave her a feeling of peace and belonging that she had missed since she first moved back to Ireland.
Even though Amanda has spent her earliest years in Ireland, and she considered herself Irish in nationality, it never really seemed like a home. The closest she got to that was the cottage in Donegal, which she still used. That little house and the area around it would always be special to her, and carried with it a lot of memories, but it was always New York that really felt like home to her.
Over the past few days she had been both sightseeing and unpacking. She saw no reason to really rush things, to get everything unpacked and into place too quickly. She planned to stay here for a long time, she would make this her home, Lucian be damned!
So far at least, there had been no confrontation, no major drama. But, she had been careful and believed she had covered her tracks and remained hidden from casual investigation.
In short, she felt very confident here in her new home.
Anyway, it wasn’t as if she was alone. Gentle Water and Liz lived with her full time, and Yoh kept stopping by and checking on her, all of which helped to keep her feeling confident and safe.
Also, for the moment at least, she had another house visitor. Raven had come to see them and agreed to stay a few days to help with the unpacking and settling in.
It felt great to see Raven again, but it also made her feel a little confused over her emotions. She liked both Raven and Yoh, she felt attracted to each of them and really didn’t know for sure which one she liked the most.
Yoh was a beautiful man, tall and muscular, powerfully built, always well turned out with his styled hair and strong jaw line. His kindness shone through everything he did and he really could not do enough to help.
Raven had a very different feel and look to him. Raven had a thinner frame, wiry and tall but very fit with it. He felt very rough and ready, an outdoors man, practical and self-sufficient, and he didn’t seem to care so much about his appearance. Raven had an equally kind temperament to Yoh, but with less of the ritual and social graces.
Both men appealed to her, but making the choice between the two of them, would no doubt prove to be very tough to do.
For now, she just enjoyed the sight of the two men lifting boxes and furniture in her lounge and fantasizing about which one she’d like to take to bed that night as she rummaged through the next box of ornaments at her feet.
They had been unpacking for a couple of hours now, preferring to do it, for the most part, manually and refrain from using magic to move the furniture about the room. The room had been full of laughter and good feeling the whole morning as they indulged in some banter and light hearted sarcasm.
Amanda felt relaxed and utterly at home, as they worked. Her cheeks had even started to ache from all the smiling she had been doing. When the doorbell rang, she went immediately to answer it, just as she had done several times already for visitors and deliveries.
She opened the door still with a smile on her face from the last silly joke, and as she looked over the 3 faces on her doorstep, she had a moment of disconnect between the house and her friends, and what she could see before her.
A stocky powerful looking black man with impressive Dreadlocks, Caribbean style clothes and black sunglasses stood there staring at her, scowling in fact and not looking at all happy.
She knew immediately who this was, she had seen enough photos of him to recognize Lucian when she saw him. To Lucian’s right stood a bald man with tribalistic tattoos covering his whole head. He wore black robes that had an almost Ninja-like feel to them. On Lucian’s other side stood a woman with thick voluminous robes of tan and terracotta that fell to the floor all about her. She also had tattoos, but in contrast to the bald man’s bold sweeping designs, hers were made from delicate script that covered every inch of her visible skin and even seemed to extend under her long dark hair.
All three of them stood there in silence for a moment, looking at Amanda and past her into the house, having a good look at the parts of it they could see.
For what seemed like an age, Amanda just stood there and stared at them, in shock that they were on her doorstep.
How could they have found her? She had been careful, not leaving through the front door and doing her best to cover her tracks. But in a matter of days, here stood Lucian and no doubt two of his coven mates.
Amanda took a slow step back and balled the fist of her free hand as she came to her senses and realized this could get messy very quickly. Sure, the house had defences, powerful Aegis effects that still seemed functional and would hinder their progress into the house, but nothing cast on this house could hold off a powerful and determined Magus for long. Had they studied the house defences? Did they know how powerful its Aegis was?
She suddenly got flash backs to the train in France and the fight she had with the Nomad Angel. Amanda had been outclassed and soundly beaten by the blonde Nomad. The thought of that fight had scared Amanda and had been one of the reasons why they had lived at the monastery in Tibet for a while, it had given her a quiet place to concentrate on her fighting abilities and to learn more Magic.
She did not want to be outclassed again. But now she stood here not three feet from another Nomad, someone who would likely be as powerful as Angel was, suddenly the confidence in her abilities with Magic diminished. Quite abruptly she felt like her own Magic would be inadequate, that someone like Lucian would be able to overpower her and take what they wanted.
As the four of them stood there in a standoff, and as the trio of Nomads didn’t seem to be using magic or trying to attack, Amanda took the time to use her magic and pull in as much Essentia into herself as she could, fuelling her Aegis and storing it for use in attacks should she need it. She also opened up her vision to the Magical realm and allowed herself to see the Essentia around her. Both actions were almost second nature to her now, she just did them almost aut
omatically when the situation seemed to call for it, even though she hoped she would not need to use them.
The three Nomads glowed brightly to her magical sight, filled with energy which swirled and eddied about them revealing the powerful Aegises that each of them held in place. She could also get a rough idea of their ability by looking at the complexity of their magic. Unsurprisingly Lucian looked to have the most ability with shaping Essentia, and would likely be the most powerful Magi of the three.
Only a few seconds had passed, but already she heard the sounds in the next room change and then stop. Amanda guessed they sensed the sudden Essentia shift as Amanda readied herself for a fight, so they stopped what they were doing and listened, she also sensed Essentia stir from that direction. Magic of some sort.
The silence stretched into seconds, and it looked like Lucian didn’t know what to do, he seemed as conflicted as he was aggressive, like he wanted to kill her but knew he shouldn’t.
This made Amanda pause for a moment. For the past few seconds she had been preparing herself for a fight that she assumed would be inevitable and that she would likely lose. All the stories of Lucian and how he dealt with Arcadians on his patch agreed that he was ruthless, with no quarter given or asked. You either left before he found you, or you died.
But this felt different, he seemed to be holding himself back. She got the feeling that he wanted to attack and kill her where she stood, but for whatever reason, something stopped him. Could it be the Aegis on the house maybe that gave him pause? Possibly, but she doubted it.
Cocking her head slightly at this strange turn of events, she relaxed her stance. She had backed up and had started to move into a fighting pose, but never really got there as she had realized something seemed different.
Now she stood straight again before these three Nomads, and looked at them where they stood.
‘So… um, Lucian I presume? She asked.
Lucian took a deep breath and blew it out through his nose, calming himself.
‘Bouzin, you gonna leave New York now, irie? This your only warning. New York is mine!’
‘Whoa, hold on a moment. Don’t get me wrong, it’s awful nice of you to stop by and say hi, but I’ve just moved here. What makes you think I’m just going to up and leave?’ She said, putting on some false bravado to hide her fear.
‘Cos, bouzin, if you don’t do this ting, me posse gonna fuck up all your friends. That little blonde friend of yours, she’ll do nicely as play thing for my boys.’
Inside, Amanda’s heart raced, her thoughts were a mess as they sped through her mind like lightning. She felt scared and vulnerable stood here, and the talk of him raping Liz started to make her blood boil.
But she had to try and remain calm, at least outwardly. He said those things to scare her, in fact, that must be the reason for the visit, he wanted to terrorize her. It seemed like he could not attack her, at least for now, for some reason that currently escaped her. So, if he wanted her to leave, but could not attack her directly, terrorism would be his next best weapon.
She could feel the other Magi in her house, her friends, taking a keen interest in the events happening at Amanda’s front door. They remained hidden, the less Lucian saw the better, but she knew they were mere feet away from her and ready to spring into action should the situation need it.
As if to confirm it, she suddenly felt the presence of Gentle Water, he wanted to speak to her through their Magical Link, she of course let him.
‘We’re here Amanda, we’re watching and ready,’ his tone calm and assured.
Amanda gulped as she focused back onto the Nomads, her confidence bolstered slightly knowing her friends had her back.
‘Really? Well that’s just grand. I’ll be sure to pass that message on.’ She just couldn’t help herself, sarcasm came naturally to her and had always been her way of dealing with confrontations.
She couldn’t see Lucian’s eyes, hidden as they were behind his shades, but the rest of him clearly displayed that he didn’t like being disrespected like this. His friends didn’t seem too happy either. ‘Are you going to introduce me to your two lovely looking friends here? Those are some awful mighty tattoos you have there.’
Lucian visibly trembled with anger and made a step towards the house as far as the buildings Aegis would allow him and pointed at her as he spat the words out.
‘Fuck you bouzin, you will watch your tongue when you speak to me bitch! You think you some big mambo in your house, hidden behind dis Aegis? I will rip you a new batty hole. You got one day, den it be open season on you.’
And with that, he turned and walked down the stoop to the side walk, his two companions following close by looking back at Amanda as they left with nothing but hate behind their eyes.
A few seconds later, they were gone.
Amanda closed the door, and leant against the door frame and took a few deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. Her heart felt like a jack hammer in her chest as it pumped adrenalin around her bloodstream. She realised she’d tensed up and as her body relaxed and the threat ebbed away, she felt exhausted by the whole meeting, like she’d just run a marathon.
Her four friends appeared round the corner, Raven and Yoh looked all business, their faces thunder as they scanned the entrance area, Gentle Water held Liz as they walked into view, as they saw her, Liz ran forward and hugged her, Gentle Water close behind.
‘Wow Mandy, that was amazing. You were great! I can’t believe you stood up to them like that,’ Liz said
‘Thank you, I was as terrified as you though I think.’
‘You were so brave.’ Liz answered.
‘Heh, thanks.’ Amanda took the compliment, feeling anything but brave. She felt sick to her stomach as her adrenalin started to ebb away.
Yoh stepped up next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘Well done Amanda-san, that took some guts.’
‘I thought, from everything you had said, I thought he would just attack me. Why didn’t he try to come at me? If all three of them had attacked at once…’
‘Hai, you are right. That would have been, challenging.’
‘Deadly more like it.’ Amanda countered.
‘Well, they didn’t, and you’re right, that was very out of character. Everything I know about Lucian would suggest that he never does this. Usually he attacks without warning and without mercy. You were off your guard, he could have punched a hole through the Aegis and killed you. But instead, he basically said, “Get off my property”.’
‘But why?’ Gentle Water asked as he stood next to Amanda, a hand on her back to comfort her.
Yoh thought for a moment. ‘I admit, I am at a loss. Do you have any ideas?’
Gentle Water, Liz and Raven all shook their heads.
Raven came forward and gave Amanda a hug. ‘Howah! Are you OK Mandy?’
‘Grand, I’m grand.’
‘What do you think, do you have any ideas why he didn’t attack?’ Raven asked.
‘No,’ she said.
And yet, she wasn’t sure. Maybe she did. Something else about that confrontation reminded her of the train, and of the reaction of the Nomad she now knew was Yasmin. Everything she knew about her, which was not a lot, suggested that Amanda should be dead right now. The few concrete stories she had learned about her suggested that Yasmin should have, by rights, killed her. Certainly if she is as powerful, ruthless and as secretive as the stories tell, Amanda would have had no chance against her.
But, instead, Yasmin stopped Angel’s attacks and retreated. This seemed like far too much of a coincidence to her. So she wondered, were they related somehow? And if so, how? Or could it be Yasmin behind this? But again, why?
She wasn’t sure she would find out anytime soon, and the only other person who knew the full story of the events at the end of the fight in the train was Gentle Water.
She wondered now if she should tell Raven the full details as well. To everyone else she had merely said she blacked out from Angel’
s attacks, and when she came round, Angel had disappeared. Others had mentioned there had been a scuffle, that someone else had been there and intervened, but they didn’t know who. They had been too busy fighting their own battles anyway.
It had been Gentle Waters idea to keep this to themselves. The legend of Yasmin, perhaps the most notorious Nomad alive today, saving Amanda, might not play well with the outside Magi community, and might lead people to the wrong conclusions about Amanda. So, until things became clearer, they agreed to keep this to themselves.
Amanda stood on the patio roof of her house, three stories up looking out over the city before her. Night had fallen and the glows of a thousand windows lit up by the golden glow of the lights within filled the city around her. She could hear the rumble of the twenty four hour traffic of Manhattan drifting up from the street below, punctuated with the occasional car horn or the distant echo of a siren as it threaded through the city streets.
They had eventually returned to their unpacking, but the conversation never ventured far from the subject of Lucian’s visit. The boys, Yoh and Raven, where almost spoiling for a fight, but kept their temper in check, Gentle Water kept his own council as ever, offering few opinions on the matter, but Liz had been scared by their appearance on her doorstep. She talked the most of everyone there, a product of her nervousness and fear, and needed fairly constant reassurance that everything would be fine.
Amanda had talked, joined in with the conjecture and as the afternoon wore on, the relaxed atmosphere started to return to the house. One thing that resulted from the day’s events being that Raven, Yoh and the rest of them took a couple of hours to strengthen and add to the protective shields around the house, and started to take a closer look at the house’s defences.
Magi Saga 2: Shadows of Darkness Page 7
