Shaun checked his watch, they were back in good time, the Lotus would not be here yet, but he needed to inform his apprentices that she would be coming.
Vanessa and Ben had been with him a while now. Ben the longest of the pair, and after getting to know them, he held some genuine affection for them.
Ben had been just a dumb kid who got himself into trouble with his formidable hacking skills. As the modern world had progressed, and the digital age dawned, some in the Magi and Scion communities were early adopters of this new technology. They were able to take some of these basic computer systems and with the aid of their Magical ability, modify them, making them more and more powerful. While many Magi stayed away from this frightening and powerful technology, those who did embrace it tended to be those with a younger outlook on life and it became a way for these Magi to become lords of their own domains.
They created faster and more powerful machines, and a small community grew online, hidden within a private encrypted forum they built called The Dark Web, or DWeb for short.
Today, the pioneers of this digital Magic were creating lifelike virtual reality worlds that you could plug into with the VR Rigs they were developing.
The Dark Web certainly is one of the most secure sites on the internet, but there was no full proof way to stop breaches in security, and Ben had been one of the hackers who had made it inside, into the Dark Web.
Punishment came swiftly for those who broke the DWeb’s security, but Shaun thought he saw something he liked in Ben, and managed to reach him just before the others did. Shaun had saved him, but he could not save his family who were killed without mercy. Ben had been forever grateful for Shaun saving his life, but carried the scars of his family’s demise around with him.
Vanessa had been a street kid for a while. She’d ran away from home, from her abusive family, lived on the streets, getting into drugs and prostitution before ending up in a bedsit where she saw another resident on a computer system. It turned out there were a few of them in here, they were part of a community of digital rights activists who used the internet to cheat the system and make a kind of living. They hacked, they took part in the work of the hacker group Anonymous and provided various digital services to those who needed them. They actually earned good money, doing everything from hacking the social media accounts of a cheating partner to hunting down kidnapped children, and facilitating business deals that otherwise would not be possible.
Fascinated, Vanessa watched and learned, before quickly joining the group and becoming a trusted worker.
Ben happened across her online, and the pair struck up a friendship, even though they had never met. Then one day Ben got a frantic text, Vanessa’s group had landed themselves in trouble and their building had been raided by men with guns. She had ran, like others of her group. They had been tracked down twice already with more of her group being killed. She ended up separated from them and knowing no one else she even vaguely trusted, she contacted Ben.
Ben, after speaking with Shaun, agreed to meet her and bring her in. In an out of the way diner, Ben met her for the first time, and fancied her right away.
Ben warned her that he and his associate would be able to save her, hide her from those who wanted to kill her, but that there would be no going back, this would be a one way trip into the shadows. Desperate, she agreed, and followed Ben into the tunnels beneath Manhattan, and into their hidden sanctuary. There, Ben sat with her and started to tell her some of the truth of the world, about the Scions and the Magi, and, with some warning about Shaun’s appearance, introduced her to him.
She handled it well, and soon settled into life beneath the streets. Shaun’s work and contacts kept the three of them living in comfort. Money was never a problem, and they wanted for nothing really. It wasn’t an uptown penthouse with views over Central Park, but when you lived on the fringes of society and in Shaun’s case, looked like Bram Stoker’s nightmares, your choices were few.
Shaun walked over to the window and looked out over the buildings towards Amanda’s house. Everything looked quiet, so he turned to his two apprentices. He couldn’t think of another word that seemed suitable for them really, they were learning from him after all.
Scions could pass on their gift to others, by pouring their blood into a cut on a human or by allowing them to drink of their blood.
Either worked just as well. But the transformation could not be guaranteed. The blood of a Scion in well over ninety percent of cases, killed the subject. Their blood was toxic, and only a few humans ever survived the process. When it came to passing the gift onto a Magus, the chances of it working were even less, and in either case, there was no way of telling who would survive and who would not. There seemed to be no pattern.
Shaun knew this, as did most Scions, so passing his gift onto Ben or Vanessa would be a last resort.
‘Guys, you need to know that we will have a visitor here shortly.’
Vanessa raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. Ben raised his head in surprise.
‘What?’ Ben said.
‘The meeting with Lucian tonight, turns out he was introducing me to someone who is interested in finding Yoh. My guess is that she’s an assassin, and this won’t end well for Yoh.’
‘Oh, right,’ said Ben, clearly a little unhappy at the thought of bringing someone in here on such short notice.
‘She?’ said Vanessa. ‘Cool. She must be pretty bad ass to be able to take on Yoh.’
Shaun smiled, something that scared most Mundanes when they saw his mouth filled with sharp teeth, not unlike a shark. Vanessa had become used to it though. ‘Indeed,’ he said.
‘I thank you for your compliment.’ Said a voice from the other room. It’s tone creamy with a far eastern accent.
All three of them looked round to see the figure step from the bedroom. She wore the same outfit from the rooftop meeting, her whole body covered in the black and white catsuit, including her head.
Her movements were entirely silent as she stopped and stood in the doorway to the bedroom.
‘Apologies for the interruption, I did not mean to startle you.’ She said.
‘But, how... what…?’ Vanessa started.
‘Welcome. Thank you for joining us.’ Shaun interrupted. How she got into the bedroom was of little consequence to Shaun, and it didn’t mystify him as much as it did Vanessa. A magical Artefact would accomplish that with little trouble.
The assassin offered a small bow in response.
‘How may I address you?’ Shaun asked. Curious to find out her name, or something he could use try find out more about her.
‘I am known professionally as the Black Lotus. You may address me as such Shaun-San.’ She said.
Shaun nodded. ‘Thank you. Please, if you would come over here?’
She stepped forward, her hands clasped behind her back and she walked, somewhat daintily, over to the window.
Shaun gestured outside. ‘The house on the far side of the junction. A Magus by the name of Amanda-Jane Page lives there with two others, they are friends of Yoh’s and he visits most days.’
She looked intently at the house, before looking at the feeds from the cameras. She pointed to the images coming from the alleyway behind the house. ‘A rear entrance?’ She asked.
‘Yes, and the main one for Yoh who usually Ports into the Alleyway from where ever he comes from and enters the house from there.
‘You don’t know where he resides in this city?’
‘I’m afraid not. He is a capable Magi and has so far managed to cover his tracks quite well. This is the only place we know he frequents.
‘And the layout of the house?’
‘We only know parts of it. Ben, get the Black Lotus a copy of the map.’
Ben nodded and tapped away on his laptop for a moment, until the printer spat out a copy. Ben handed it to the assassin.
She took it from him and looked at it for a few moments, glancing at the house a couple of times before handing
it back to Ben.
‘Arigato Ben-San.’ She said, thanking him in Japanese.
‘Err, that’s ok.’ Ben said, a little unsure how to reply but taking a guess anyway.
‘Domo, you have been very helpful. I shall await Yoh’s arrival in the alleyway.’
‘Of course.’ Shaun said.
The Lotus then walked to the door and left the apartment.
‘I thought she might just vanish.’ said Vanessa.
Shaun smiled, but said nothing. Instead, he picked up a laptop and sat in one of the soft chairs as he logged into the Dark Web and navigated to where he needed to be.
He saw his post in there from a few days ago, asking for anyone on the DWeb that worked in The Liberties Children Coven House who would be able to help narrow down the timescale of when Amanda might have bought that house. He hoped that this search would be just as fruitful.
He did some searches, and within a few minutes discovered that The Black Lotus worked for an organisation in Japan that did wet work. Assassinations, contract killing, body disposal and other dirty work seemed to be their forte. As one of their premiere assassin’s, the Lotus seemed to travel the globe, taking on contracts of all kinds, killing Mundanes, Initiated, Scions and even a few Magi. The general consensus seemed to be that she was probably a Scion and that she used a range of Magical Items that her organisation procured for her from powerful Magi that they worked for.
But Shaun couldn’t find her name or her connection with Yoh anywhere. He supposed he might never know, but he already felt better now that he knew a bit more about her. He logged off and closed the Laptop.
Now all they could do was wait.
- Summery of the Laws of Necromancy, by Louisa Hunt.
Within the ranks of the Arcadian Magi, Magic that interferes with the natural order of death, the Soul and with the Spirits of the dead is known as Necromancy.
All living creatures have within them an Energy we refer to as the Anima Mundi, and it’s this that gives us life.
We know that this energy, upon death, eventually ascends to a higher plane of existence, and the Arcadian Council decrees that interfering with the natural order of this is wrong, dangerous and can be punishable through expulsion from the Arcadian Ranks (thus becoming a Nomad by default), or death by execution.
Examples of Necromancy include, but are not limited to:
- Bringing someone back from the dead who’s Anima Mundi has departed their Physical Body.
- Forcibly removing an individual’s Anima Mundi before the death of their body.
- Replacing an individual’s Anima Mundi with that of a Shade (Anima Mundi that had departed a dead body).
- Creating a Zombie by forcing a Shade into a dead body.
- Binding one’s own Anima Mundi to your Magically animated dead body, thus becoming a Lich.
Vendetta
May 18th
Greenwich Village, New York
Liz pulled the pint, slowly filling the glass she held in her hand as the customer waited for her. She’d been working behind the bar at the Jade Palace for a nearly a week now, making drinks and talking with customers. It had been exactly what she had needed to do. Getting out the house, away from the magic of her other life and to mix with normal people. Talk with people who had every day problems and weren’t being hunted by psychotic wizards. These shifts were a welcome release for her.
While she worked out front in the bar she never saw Yoh, or Stella either as they almost never came to the front of the building. A precautionary measure in case they were spotted, but she supposed it had kept them hidden for this long so who was she to make any judgements.
As she pulled the pint, she flicked her eyes to look down the bar to the young man sat a little further down. He saw her looking and smiled, Liz smiled back.
His name was Jason and he’d been in here every day for the last few and made a point to talk to her. She’d seen him in here before, and she’d served him, but when he came in the other day, he started to talk to her.
He’d flirted with her, touching her hand and looking her in the eye for a touch longer then he needed too. She enjoyed the attention, and she thought he looked good, he always looked well turned out and polite.
Yesterday he’d been there at the end of her shift and afterwards they went for a drink. She’d been unsure if she should do this, if she deserved this kind of attention. She’d thought back to her friends, to Stephan and Ben. She’d grown quite close to Ben, she’d even kissed him, before that Nomad had killed him in cold blood.
That had been over a year ago now. Maybe she’d never fully get over it. That kind of thing could easily scar you for life. But as they chatted and drank, she realised she might actually be enjoying herself. They laughed and talked about all kinds of things. The differences between the British and American cultures came up often, frequently ending with them breaking down into giggles.
Towards the end of the night they even had a dance and indulged in a few gentle kisses.
When she saw him today, there’d been a hint of awkwardness, but it passed quickly and they went back to talking openly again as she continued to serve people.
The shift went quickly and before long her finish time approached and her manager said she could go home when she wanted.
After a few moments, she put her things in her locker in the back room, pulled on her coat and stepped back into the bar.
Jason waited for her and smiled at her as she appeared.
‘You know, I really enjoyed last night Liz, can we not go out tonight? I know of a great place we can go.’
‘I can’t right now, I have some things to do, but maybe tomorrow? I’m off tomorrow so we could head into town, have a day together? What do you think?’
‘Sounds great, I’ll call you tomorrow, late morning probably.’ He replied.
They stepped outside and stopped, facing each other.
‘Thank you. I’m looking forward to it.’ She’d sensed the slight disappointment in his voice, so she leaned in and kissed him gently. ‘I gave you my number right?’ She asked.
‘You did. See you tomorrow.’
They hugged and she watched as he turned away and walked down the street.
Feeling happy, she turned and walked over to where Amanda sat on her bike and waited for her.
‘Well well well, found yourself a guy have you?’ Amanda teased as she handed Liz her Helmet.
‘His names Jason, and, I don’t know. Maybe. He’s nice. I like him.’ She said, and pulled on her helmet.
‘He’s a good looking lad to be sure.’
Liz climbed on behind Amanda.
‘Yeah, I noticed.’
‘Bleedin’ right you did. I saw you kiss him.’ Amanda said as she checked traffic and pulled out onto the road, doing a U-turn to head back to her house.
Liz didn’t answer, she just thought of how it felt to kiss him. She thought back to the dance last night, when the slow music had come on and she put her arms round him.
He’d slid his hands down onto her bum and pulled her closer to him as they moved to the music, enjoying each other’s kiss and touch.
After all the bad memories, it felt great to have a happy one. Her thoughts drifted and she thought about the night ahead and her plans.
‘Training night tonight?’ She asked Amanda.
‘That’s right. We’ll spar in the gym and talk about some Magical theory.’
As much as she enjoyed last night, and as much as she wanted to spend more time with Jason, she couldn’t help but look forward to something a little more routine, something familiar that she could lose herself in.
She looked up at the passing buildings as they sped through the city, enjoying the rush of air and the sense of freedom that the bike gave her. The concrete jungle around her might really be a home to her one day soon she thought.
Amanda breathed deeply as she caught her breath and pulled Liz into her side in a rough hug.
‘Well done Padawan. That
was great, you’re really coming along.’
‘Thanks’ Liz smiled back at her.
Amanda enjoyed seeing Liz like this. After the past year and a half she felt that Liz really deserved this. She deserved a bit of happiness in her life. Something she could smile about. Seeing her step out of the Jade Palace earlier this evening and looking so happy as she had kissed that boy filled Amanda with pride. Liz had come a long way, she’d healed so much and seemed to be a much tougher person now.
They wiped their faces with their towels and sat on the bench at the side of the gym on the third floor of her house. The entire floor was just one large open space with crash mats on the floor and Japanese décor around the walls. A curious mix of oriental and western themes filled the space. Weapons racks were in one corner, Gym equipment in another. The stairs from the floor below and up to the roof were at one end of the room, made from dark varnished wood.
Amanda used this room every day, either on her own, teaching Liz, or being taught herself by Gentle Water. Her sessions learning Magic with her mentor had become less frequent, and they were on more of an even footing then they were back in those early days in Ireland when everything had been new. Now, Amanda didn’t need much tutoring, she knew how to advance her abilities within Magic. She knew the ranks she had not achieved, the effects she could not yet do, and she knew how to reach them.
These days Amanda and Gentle Water tended stick to the martial arts training. She had become a capable fighter, picking up the Art form very quickly. She wasn’t that far behind her mentor in ability these days, although he always seemed to have a new trick up his sleeve.
She knew there was a big difference between a sparring session and a real fight though. Her memories of the train ride and how Angel had pretty much only used Magic to defeat her played on her mind when she thought about confronting someone like Lucian. Sometimes, how well you could throw a punch counted for nothing when it came to the Magi.
She’d built her confidence back up some way since then. Assisting Xain and the boys in their raids had been great for her and she’d ended up in a few fights on those missions. She always had back up though and most of the fights were against Initiated or not very skilled Magi.
Magi Saga 2: Shadows of Darkness Page 12
