~We’re here, Shaun,~ she sent.
~Good, the club should be on the main road ahead of you, just up the street to your right,~ Shaun replied through the Link, his words sounding in their heads loud and clear.
~Okay, we’ll head there now,’ Amanda answered and started to make her way up the street towards the road. The alleyway was dark but empty, and one of the more appealing aspects of them for Magi Porting around the Earth.
It wouldn’t do to appear before a crowd of people who didn’t believe in Magic, making alleyways one of the occupational hazards of being Magus.
She soon reached the street and scanned the area. They were just outside the central city of London and found herself standing on a road that didn’t seem too busy. It was before midnight still, and there was just the occasional car making its way along the street and a few people hurrying home through the night. Up the road, the thumping beat from the club could be heard coming from a building with a small queue outside, waiting to get in.
‘That’s it,’ Maya said. ‘Club Red.’
‘Have you been here before?’ Amanda asked.
‘No, this is my first time, but we vampires do seem to like places like this,’ she said.
Amanda glanced over at her daughter with her alabaster skin and dark clothing. ‘Is it the overabundance of prey?’ she asked.
‘That’s part of it. Hundreds of people, pressed into a small space, getting drunk and losing their inhibitions. Makes feeding easier, especially when the club is run by other Scions sympathetic to their undead patrons.’
‘You think this place will be like that? Run by a vampire, I mean.’
‘It’s called Club Red. So no, it wouldn’t surprise me,’ Maya stated.
‘Well, let’s go check it out,’ Amanda replied, and led the way over the road towards the club. She checked her Aegis, pumping a little more Essentia into it to make sure it was at full strength and noticed Liz doing the same with hers. Maya, being a Scion, had an innate Aegis that protected her the whole time from a Magi’s potential attacks and didn’t need to bolster her defences.
Moving towards the club, Amanda reached out with her mind towards the two doormen who were letting people in, or not in the case of the line next to the entrance. She’d already seen through her Aetheric Sight that there was nothing Magical about the pair, so it was a simple task to reach into the minds of both of them and plant the idea that Amanda and her friends were important VIPs who should be let in right away and not have to queue.
‘Easing our entrance, Mandy?’ Liz asked.
‘I’d rather not queue if I don’t have to,’ she answered as she walked up to the door, ignoring the queue entirely.
‘How are yeh?’ Amanda asked the closest one, her Irish accent colouring her words.
‘Ladies,’ the bouncer said, looking at each of them in turn. ‘Good to have you here, you can go straight inside.’
He waved them through while the people in the queue looked on in annoyance.
‘How come they can go straight in?’ one of them called out. Amanda listened, curious to see how the bouncer’s mind would rationalise the suggestion she had implanted in it.
‘Because they have class,’ the bouncer explained.
‘What? And I don’t?’ came the reply, but Amanda continued inside and wasn’t listening any more, smiling at the bouncer’s comment.
The three of them moved into the entrance area where Amanda conjured some money and paid their entrance fee before they were allowed inside. It had not escaped Amanda’s notice that there was no Aegis around the building to keep Magi out, but this was as Amanda had hoped. Vampires typically didn’t have the power to use Magic and create Aegises, but then, if an Archon were here, she’d expect an Aegis to be in place, perhaps. An Aegis was great. It was a powerful line of defence, and they could be made subtly so that they weren’t as obvious as usual, but they did telegraph to other Magi that there was something or someone related to the Magical community in the building with the Aegis.
Some Magi purposefully did not erect Aegises around their more secret properties to hide their presence, or they had the Aegis deep inside the building, erected around a room or two instead to better conceal their presence. But, so far, there were no Aegises here.
As they wandered into the main room of the club, Amanda looked over the sea of people as the thumping music washed over her. People stood talking in groups, walked around or danced to the music, jumping up and down to the beat, waving their hands in the air.
Amanda realised it had been a while since she had been in a club, but she didn’t miss it much.
With her Aetheric Sight active, Amanda wandered over towards the edge of a raised area that looked out over much of the club and swept her eyes over the people in here, looking for any hint of Magic. She quickly spotted several people who glowed with more than the usual amount of the Magical energy, and with her enhanced vision, peered at them to try and get a better look.
She spotted a couple of Magi, but they were not very powerful, judging from what she could see of them and the connection they appeared to have to Essentia. There were, however, a more significant number of vampires in here.
Like the Magi, they glowed brighter than the surrounding people, giving away their Magical nature, but their bodies also registered as basically dead to her Aetheric Sight. They had no heartbeat and no other vital signs. A typical giveaway that they were undead.
~There are a few vampires in here,~ Amanda commented to Maya over the Link.
~I’ve spotted a few already as well,~ Maya said.
~That’s promising, then. Doesn’t mean there’s an Archon here, though, and I can’t sense anything that powerful close by.~
‘So, it’s not here?’ Liz asked.
Amanda offered her a thin smile. ‘Who’s to say? I’ll bet they can hide their presence quite well when they want to. Let’s keep an eye on these vampires, though; maybe there’s a VIP area they’re using?’
‘Shall we get a drink while we’re in here?’ Liz asked.
‘To be sure, we can have a walk around as well and see what else we can see,’ Amanda said. ‘Come on, let’s go this way.’
The club comprised of the main room, surrounded by several other smaller rooms and corridors that had either more dance floors, bars, or even a small kitchen in one room cooking up burgers and other food. The club’s patrons sat around small tables, eating and drinking in there. Passing by a bar, the trio stopped and picked up a drink each. Amanda opted for a glass of fruity red wine while Liz had a bottle of some hip looking beverage. Maya also picked up a glass of red, but didn’t drink it.
Moving on, they soon made their way back around to the main room, but walked out into it through another entrance, giving them an alternative view.
‘There, look,’ Liz called out and pointed over to a discrete set of stairs leading up to a small door with three glowing letters above it.
“VIP.”
‘Bingo,’ Amanda said, moving to get a better view as she worked her Magic and conjured a second set of invisible senses, giving her a second viewpoint she could see, hear, and smell through.
Finding a small booth that had just been vacated, the three girls sat down as Amanda concentrated and moved her senses up and over the crowds of people. They moved in closer to the door, and then passed right through it into a small lobby or entrance area with a couple more bouncers in here and one other door.
She immediately spotted the Aegis that sat over this next door, barring entry for her senses, but it was a weak one. The Aegis looked like it had been set up and left without maintenance, meaning it was losing its potency and would be very quick to break through. But, if she did that, it was likely that any of the more sensitive vampires in the room would notice the Aegis collapse, warning them of potential danger.
‘There’s another door behind that one, and there’s an Aegis around the room beyond, so it looks like we might have to head up there after all,’ Amanda said alou
d.
~Go careful,~ Shaun said over the Link.
~We will,~ Liz answered.
‘Well, no time like the present. Let’s get this over with,’ Amanda said and stood up. Liz and Maya followed suit. Amanda led them through the crowd. As they passed another booth with a table in it, Amanda noticed that the pair of patrons in there, a man and a woman, were glowing with Essentia, marking them as Magi. She made no move to approach them, focusing on the stairs she was heading to when she heard the man at the table call out to her.
‘Hey, I know you,’ he said.
Amanda paused and looked back down at the man, who was leaning towards her. The girl with him looked on with a degree of surprise.
‘Do you?’ Amanda asked.
‘Yeah, you’re that Amanda bird, right? You killed Yasmin.’
She knew the news had spread through the Magi community, at least, to a certain degree. Yasmin had been something of a legendary Nomad, so her death wouldn’t pass by unnoticed. She’d been recognised a few times since then by other Magi, something she doubted she’d ever really get used to.
‘Bird?’ Amanda answered, finding his words both amusing and a little rude.
The man's face fell slightly when he registered her look as one of slight offence. ‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean…’
Amanda waved his backtracking away and smiled. ‘It’s okay. Yes, I’m Amanda; pleased to meet you,’ she said and took his hand in hers and giving it a shake.
‘Awesome, what are you doing? In London, I mean? Cause, you know, you live, um…’
‘In New York?’ Amanda offered.
‘Yeah, in New York.’
‘Well, I’m working, so, sorry if I don’t hang around, but duty calls.’
‘Of course, of course, sorry to interrupt,’ he answered her.
‘Sorry about him,’ the girl added.
‘No problem,’ she said, smiling.
‘You’re shorter than I thought you’d be,’ he said, looking her up and down with critical eye.
‘Is that right?’
‘No offence, it’s just, having heard about you, I just imagined you as taller…’
Amanda stood there for a moment and blinked a couple of times, not really sure what to do with his comments or how to react to them.
‘I’ll catch you later,’ she said eventually, and moved away with a bewildered smile on her face. ‘People are strange,’ she commented to Liz as she walked.
‘You can say that again,’ Liz answered as they reached the bottom of the stairs up to the VIP area. Ascending them without hesitation, she concentrated on the two doormen she knew were in the room. She still had her senses in there and had been watching them. She reached out with her Magic and pressed into their minds, implanting the suggestion that she and her friends were VIPs and welcome guests.
Opening the door at the top of the stairs, she stepped inside and, with her mind already Multitasking, flung a series of attacks at the weak Aegis that surrounded the VIP area. The two bouncers in here didn’t see the invisible attacks and didn’t notice anything untoward as Amanda smiled at them, walking calmly into the small lobby area.
‘Evening, ladies,’ the bouncer said as he got up to open the door. The man wobbled slightly and grabbed the door frame to steady himself.
~Looks like your Magic was too strong for him,~ Liz commented in their minds to Amanda.
‘Are you okay?’ Amanda asked. Liz was probably correct that the dizziness he was experiencing was because of the Magic she was throwing around. It was one of the side effects of powerful Magic. If you used it close to an average human or Riven, as the Magi referred to them, then it would sometimes induce a wave of dizziness or even nausea occasionally if they weren’t used to it.
~At least, he didn’t throw up on you,~ Liz added with a smile.
‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ the man said as the Aegis to the VIP area collapsed and faded to nothing under Amanda’s onslaught.
~Awesome,~ Liz commented through their Mental Link. ~Let’s hope that none of the people in here noticed that.~
~We’ll soon find out,~ Amanda answered as the bouncer opened the door.
Amanda walked forward into the room beyond. It was a little darker in here than in the club downstairs, and although music was playing, it was also a little less loud. The room was big and filled with people, but nowhere near as many as in the main club downstairs, meaning there was plenty of room to move between the tables. The red accent lighting gave the place an eerie look, and as they walked in, many of the people in here turned to look at the newcomers.
Amanda knew they were in the right place as she scanned the crowd and saw that nearly half the people in here were vampires, and they were not being very discreet about their nature, either. She spotted a few of these Scions feeding in the booths along the walls. Nearby, another vampire held a Riven girl’s wrist over a glass on the table they were sitting at. The deep cut on her forearm dripping blood into the wine glass as she stared at the vampire in fascination.
Conflicting feelings filled Amanda’s mind at the scene before her. Her own daughter, Maya, standing right beside her was a vampire who fed on blood. She knew she did it, but Maya had always been discreet about it, to the point of Amanda having never seen her feed. Vampires needed blood to survive, it was just the way it was, and she knew their society tried to keep their rank and file under control and stop them from being too overt.
This here, though, pushed those boundaries, to Amanda’s mind, but she wasn’t here for them. Not really. No, she was here for the owner.
Glancing over the room, some of the vampires appeared concerned as they looked over towards her. They could probably sense the Magic she was using and had an idea who they were just from gut instinct. A figure rushed through the room, threading between tables and approached them. The man was thin and wearing a suit with slicked-back hair, and he was waving his hands at them.
‘No, no, no, you can’t be in here, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,’ he said as he strode up to them all flustered.
Looking up at the man’s face, as he was a good bit taller than she was, Amanda eyed him briefly before answering. ‘Where’s the owner?’ Amanda asked once he’d finished saying his part.
‘Unavailable, indisposed. Look, you’re going to have to head outside. You’re upsetting our guests.’
Amanda glanced past the man, and then returned her steely gaze back at him. ‘They’re upsetting me,’ she answered.
The man shifted slightly back, apparently surprised at her answer before he composed himself and frowned at Amanda. ‘You need to leave,’ he said, his voice a good octave lower as he stepped towards her. The door behind them opened, Amanda heard, and with her second set of sensing still active, she knew that the two bouncers had stepped into the room to back up the man's words.
‘I don’t want any trouble,’ Amanda said. ‘But, if you force us, we will defend ourselves. I just want to see your boss, the owner,’ Amanda said, standing her ground and not moving, meaning he was nearly pressed up against her now.
‘Lea…’ he never finished that statement as Amanda worked her Magic on these three Riven humans. The man before her rose up into the air as her Magic gripped him by the neck and lifted him up.
Meanwhile, she hit the two bouncers behind her with a powerful kinetic ram each, slamming both of them back into the wall behind her, knocking one out cold while the other crumpled and groaned as he clutched his chest.
The man before her struggled and clawed at the invisible force gripping his neck as his legs pinwheeled and kicked out in panic.
‘Gak… ack… What…do…you… want?’
‘Your boss, but I’m fed up with waiting,’ she said and dived into his mind with her Magic, soon finding the name of the owner and a mental image of her, too.
‘Deamira,’ Amanda said aloud, having found the name of the owner.
‘You called?’ said a female voice from nearby.
Amanda looked up and saw a wom
an walking across the room towards them. She wore a long black dress. It was low cut and hugged her figure, a slit up the skirt revealing her right leg as she walked.
She had long dark hair, the face of a seductress, and she glowed with Essentia. Amanda had assumed she would be a vampire, but although she was apparently a Scion, her body was quite clearly alive.
‘You’re the owner?’ Amanda asked.
‘Correct. How may I be of assistance?’
‘I’m looking for a man by the name of Joe Barnes, he disappeared around here recently,’ she said, and watched Deamira’s face closely, looking for any hint of recognition that might betray her, but she remained calm and didn’t show any signs of recognition.
‘Should I know him?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know. How about Lilitu? Do you know her?’ Amanda continued and saw a flicker of something in the woman’s face, but she wasn’t sure what it was.
‘I think you should leave,’ Deamira said.
~Do you think this thing’s lying?~ Liz asked through the Link.
~I don’t trust her at all, whatever she is,~ Amanda answered.
~Me either,~ Maya added.
The music was still playing in here, but everyone in the room was looking at them now. Some looked surprised, others looked scared or confused, while a few seemed a little guilty to Amanda’s eye.
‘I don’t think so,’ Amanda said, and threw the man she held off the floor with her Magic at Deamira, who expertly dodged to the side, leaving the man to crash into the table behind her.
People screamed and shouted as they jumped up from their tables and ran.
From Deamira’s back, two huge leathery wings sprouted and fanned out while horns grew from her forehead. Amanda flushed a little more Essentia into her Aegis as Deamira hissed at her, her mouth now full of needle-like teeth before she sprang forward with a single beat of her wings.
Amanda flung a blast of Essentia at Deamira, which splashed over her Aegis. She burst through it, though, and shoulder barged Amanda, hitting her in her sternum, sending her flying past Liz and Maya and into the wall behind them.
Maya, her claws extended, shot forward and slashed at the winged woman, but Deamira blocked her with one arm and extended her other out towards Maya. There was a flash of light as Magical energy flared and hit Maya, sending her flying. To her right, the conscious doorman had got up and now had Liz in a headlock from behind.
Star Magi: A Space Opera Fantasy Adventure (Star Magi Saga Book 1) Page 4
