“Annette has a plan,” said the man. “Just play along, and your friend will get out of this safely.”
Victor fought to keep his expression neutral as he nodded. The guard ducked his head back through the door of the facility, and a moment later, he and another of Annette’s guards were carrying Annette’s unconscious form out into the parking lot.
“What is this?” demanded Eli. “Why isn’t she awake?”
“There was an accident in the lab,” said the guard. “Annette has been unconscious for most of the afternoon.”
What the hell?
Eli appeared to be wondering the same thing. He stared at the men, watching and waiting for something that Victor couldn’t fathom to guess at. Then, he waved a hand.
Annette’s unconscious head exploded in a burst of blood, bone, and gore. It took Victor an eternally long second to realize that Eli had a sniper along with him, probably nested on top of one of the nearby buildings. He rushed forward at Lucy. Eli smirked as his finger curled around the trigger of his gun.
And then an icicle the size and shape of a spear flew from the door of the facility, piercing through Eli’s shoulders and knocking him off his feet. Lucy dropped flat to the ground. Victor took another step toward her, but not fast enough to avoid Jade’s tackle.
“It’s a trap!” screamed Eli, his voice twisted in pain. “Kill them!”
All hell broke loose. Victor fought with Jade, trading blows, flinging fire and ice, flying through the air. Neither of them risked using the scarlet aura to flare the emotions of the other, and it was almost as though they’d come to a truce on the matter.
Victor could see Kiara, wearing only her hospital gown and his sweatshirt, tearing through Eli’s guards. His heart sang as he saw her pulling Lucy to safety. He’d done it. It was going to be alright.
Jade punched him in the head hard enough to make stars explode into his field of view. Victor staggered back and countered with hastily bound fan of flames. Jade leaped over it, landing behind him. She made an attempt at getting him into a headlock but Victor was moving again, binding his azure aura at the ground in hope that it would slow her down.
It worked perfectly. Jade slipped on ice and fell too quickly to land with any grace. Assault rifle bullets tore through one of Annette’s guards near the front of the building. A chunk of concrete exploded near Victor’s foot. He launched a fireball in the direction that he was pretty sure it had come from and was rewarded by a surprised shout as it stuck the corner of a building’s roof.
Jade slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. She unloaded on him with her fists, managing to stun him with the first blow, and slammed her second into the side of his head with superhuman strength. Eli had been wrong. They weren’t evenly matched. Jade had the upper hand when their auras were taken out of the equation.
It doesn’t matter. I have to win. I have to make sure everyone is safe.
Victor shielded his face as best as he could. He heard more gunshots exploding from over by the cars, and feared the worst for Kiara. Summoning as much energy as he could, he counterattacked, binding flames to his fist as he struck Jade in the chest.
She let out a surprised yelp and jumped back. Victor scrambled to his feet as she rushed forward again, readying a punch that would knock him unconscious, if not kill him.
Kiara slammed into her before she got the chance. Jade skidded across the concrete, only for Kiara to follow the attack up with a binding of her azure aura, freezing Jade’s feet in place. She struggled for a moment and started to bind her scarlet aura, but Kiara was already there.
“Try it, and you die,” said Kiara. Jade glared at her, but slowly disengaged the glow of her aura.
The fight was over. Eli was writhing on the ground in pain, with Lucy standing over him, pointing a gun at his head in what must have been a very satisfying reversal of roles. Most of the guards Eli had brought with him were dead, which gave Victor a moment of pause.
Did Kiara do that?
He turned to look at her in time to see her press her hand to Jade’s neck and freeze it solid, killing her in an instant.
“Kiara!” he shouted. “What the fuck? It’s over, you didn’t have to do that.”
Kiara gave him a strange, emotionally empty look. She slowly walked over to the one guard of Annette’s that had been killed in the fighting and knelt down next to him. Victor watched her for a second and then hurried over to Lucy, pulling her into a tight hug.
“Jesus Christ,” he said. “That was close.”
“I’m sorry, Victor,” said Lucy. “I didn’t realize they were following me.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “Everything is okay now. We did it.”
Eli let out a pained groan. The ice shard had broken in half, but most of it was still in his shoulder, keeping it from bleeding, but also greatly limiting his mobility.
“Fuck you!” he screamed. “Fuck all of you!”
“You brought this upon yourself,” said Victor. “You’re scum.”
Lucy handed him the gun and then hurried over to Kiara. Victor smiled as he saw her pull her younger sister into the tightest hug he’d ever seen. He let out a sigh of relief.
Sometimes the good guys win after all.
He watched, and then frowned as he saw Lucy take a confused step back from her sister. Victor looked down at Eli, confirming that the CEO was no longer a danger, and then walked over to where they were. One of Annette’s guards had moved to stand next to Kiara, and was waiting for… something.
“Start cleaning up the bodies,” said Kiara. “I doubt there was anyone around to call in the gunshots, but we don’t want to leave any evidence that can be traced back to us.”
The guard nodded.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. Lucy was shaking her head, mouth agape.
“Kiara…” Victor felt an icy chill run down his neck. “What’s going on?”
Kiara smiled a very uncharacteristic smile.
“I’m sorry Victor,” she said. “I know you had your heart set on saving your girlfriend. And you did, just not in the way that I think you would have preferred.”
Victor’s heart skipped a beat.
“…Annette?”
Kiara nodded.
CHAPTER 22
“You… you stole her body!”
Victor snarled and began to rush forward, only to have Lucy grab his wrist and pull him back.
“No!” shouted Lucy. “Victor, don’t. She… she might still be in there.”
“She isn’t,” said Kiara. “It’s me. Annette.”
Victor shook his head. It took all of his willpower to remain standing, to keep from collapsing to his knees and burying his face in his hands.
I trusted her. I did this. It’s my fault.
“Why…” Victor shook his head, still in a state of shock and disbelief. “Why would you do this?”
“I told you the reason before, Victor,” she said. “I’m a pragmatist. Your father developed that nanites, created aura binders as we know them. It’s not a technology that’s simple to create, even with the best scientists. I couldn’t let it stay within the hands of a man like Eli Monteiro.”
Victor waved a finger at her.
“You’d give up your company, your life, just to…” He trailed off, unable to think clearly enough to keep going.
“I haven’t given up anything,” said Kiara. “I explained to my employees exactly what was going to happen. I even brought along a lawyer to finalize my will. I left everything to Kiara Wilson.”
This can’t be happening.
Kiara walked over to where Eli was writhing on the ground and stood over him triumphantly.
“The game was fun while it lasted, Eli,” she said.
“You bitch!” he screamed. “If you’re going to kill me, do it already. I won’t give you anything!”
“I have no intention of killing you,” said Kiara. “You’re much more useful to me alive.”
“They’ll come looking me!”
shouted Eli. “Somebody will investigate!”
“Oh, don’t worry,” said Kiara. “We’ll talk about that. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
Several of Annette’s employees flocked around Kiara. She gave out orders, and a few of them began bandaging Eli’s wounds. Victor looked over at Lucy, who had her face buried in her hands. Kiara slowly walked back over to them.
“We’re done here,” she said.
“No…” Victor shook his head and felt his hands ball into fists. “No! Kiara!”
“She can’t hear you, Victor,” said Annette. “It’s just me.”
Annette stepped in closer and reached out a hand, as though to cup his cheek. Victor slapped her hand, Kiara’s hand, away.
“We don’t have to be enemies,” said Annette. “I’ll be in touch, soon. Until then, you should go back to work at Monteiro. Have Lucy rehire you. Try to settle down and live normally again.”
“You bitch.”
Annette smiled at him.
“It’s time for the both of you to leave,” she said. Annette’s guards lined up behind her, not actively aiming weapons at Victor and Lucy, but still making their threatening presence clear.
“Kiara,” sobbed Lucy. “Please… Don’t.”
Annette smile wavered.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Victor, get her out of here or my guards will open fire.”
“No!” Lucy tried to surge forward, but Victor scooped her up over his shoulder. He took one last look at Annette, at Kiara, and then bound his diamond aura and took off into the air.
Lucy wailed and howled, pounding her fists against his back. Eventually, she went still, almost like a child that’s cried herself to sleep. Victor flew as fast as he could, using the pretense of getting Lucy to safety to keep himself from thinking.
The sun was rising when they arrived back in Undercliff City, and the light it gave off was harsh and uncaring. Victor brought Lucy to her apartment. She was asleep, and he had to fumble through her pocket for her keys to get the door opened. He set her down on her bed, and then collapsed onto her couch and buried his face in his hands.
“Victor. “ Ella materialized in front of him, gently cradling his head against her body. “Victor, listen to me.”
“Just leave me be,” he muttered. “Nothing matters anymore.”
“Hey.” Ella crouched down and forced his head up so he was meeting her eyes. “I don’t think Kiara is gone for good.”
“…What?”
“During your conversation with Annette, it looked almost like…” Ella frowned. “She glanced to the side a couple of times, for, as far as I can tell, no discernable reason.”
Victor blinked.
“I think she’s still in there,” said Ella. “I think she’s along for the ride, kind of like I am with you.”
He felt hope rising in his chest, and almost wanted to make it go away. It was sharp, painful, and too intense for him to handle.
“You think she’s still in there, based off Annette looking around aimlessly,” he said, bitterly. “You’re just telling me what I want to hear.”
Ella shook her head.
“No,” she said. “I’m telling you what you need to hear. And I’m telling you the truth. I don’t have any proof, but I would bet money on it.”
Victor let out a painful chuckle, despite the situation.
“You don’t have any money,” he said.
Ella sat down on the couch next to him and pulled him so that he was lying with his head resting in her lap. She slowly ran her hand through his hair.
“It’s going to be okay.”
BOOK SIX
THE DESCENT
CHAPTER 1
“Police! Open up!”
Victor blinked. He was two steps away from the door to his room, dripping wet and wearing only a towel. It was early in the evening, he was the only one home, and the absurdity of the situation was enough to make him scratch his head.
Is this a joke?
The front door to the townhouse that he and his best friend Kronenberg shared slammed open, and several police officers dressed in riot gear flooded in. People were yelling. Victor was yelling. More guns than he’d ever seen in person before at one time were pointed at him.
“Put your hands in the air!” shouted one of them.
“Hold on, this is a mistake,” yelled Victor. He knew that it was, in fact, not a mistake. He didn’t know the exact reason the police were in his house, but within the context of the chaos of his life, it made perfect sense.
“Victor, put your hands in the air,” said a woman’s voice. “Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.”
Victor stood with his back to the door of his room. A semi-circle of six heavily armed officers had their weapons trained on him. From the front door, a tall, confident woman walked into the house, so confident that she hadn’t exerted the effort needed to draw her own gun.
“You mind telling me what the fuck this is all about?” said Victor. “Officer…?”
“Captain,” said the woman. “Captain Amanda Brookes.”
She had black hair, dark eyes, and a nice enough looking body. She was in decent shape, with a trim waist with curves in her bust and butt that bordered on the slim side of voluptuous. She was smiling slightly as she stared Victor down, a smile that dared him to try something.
Victor smiled back and decided to try something.
“Captain Brookes,” he said. “You have 30 seconds to explain to me what’s going on before I start playing rough.”
There was a chorus of laughter from the other police officers, but Amanda Brookes didn’t so much as chuckle.
“You’re the one who is going to explain to us what’s going on,” she said. “And why you were identified as fleeing the scene of one of Undercliff City’s largest mass murders of the past decade.”
Victor wrinkled his brow.
I haven’t chased down any murderers recently, have I?
“Captain Brookes,” he said. “Amanda. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“We know about your reputation, Victor,” she said. “You’re still relatively new to Undercliff City. You worked for Monteiro corporation for a while, and then defected to Blue Horizon, and then left to do your own thing after the mysterious death of your employer, Annette Lockwood.”
Victor shook his head slightly, already sensing where she would go next.
“What have you been doing for the past month, Victor?” she asked. “Collecting unemployment checks?”
“Pretty much,” he said.
“You match the description of the ‘magic vigilante’ that’s been spotted at a dozen different crime scenes,” said Captain Brookes. “Is that just another coincidence, another odd detail that of course, you know nothing about?”
Victor smirked.
“That’s what you think, isn’t it?” he said. “That’s why you haven’t thrown me to the ground and arrested me yet? Because you think I’m magic?”
Captain Brookes glared at him. She started walking forward and the other police officers tensed visibly. She walked all the way up to Victor, standing a bit too close, given his state of undress.
“Put your hands in the air, Victor,” she said.
He chuckled and lifted his hands up, letting go of the fold in the towel that he’d been keeping pinned throughout the conversation. It fell to the ground, revealing his nudity and drawing all of the eyes in the room.
She does look pretty good in that police outfit, and women in positions of authority have always pushed my buttons.
More laughter broke out from the male police officers. Captain Brookes glared at him as though he’d turned her authority into the butt of a joke.
“Are you gonna search him for weapons, Captain?”
“I think I see one on him, you should pat him down!”
Captain Brookes gritted her teeth, and then without warning, slammed her elbow into the side of Victor’s face. Light flashed a
cross his vision as he fell to the side against his bedroom doorway. He heard the sound of clinking metal as Captain Brookes pulled out a pair of handcuffs, and forced himself to focus.
“Hey, hold on!” He shook his head and pulled his arms out of reach. “I haven’t done anything!”
“We’ll let the courts decide that,” said Captain Brookes.
Victor grimaced. He felt the eyes of the room on him, and despite his pride, he felt his face heat up. It was hard for him to think of a more ridiculous situation that he’d been in.
“You’re going to bring me down to the station? Like this?” Victor took a step closer to the police captain, and to her credit, she stood her ground. She locked eyes with him and a bit of tension formed in the air between them.
“We’re professionals, Victor,” she said. “Your state of undress is none of our concern.”
“You could always help me look for some clothes in my room,” he replied.
Captain Brookes opened her mouth to answer, and Victor took advantage of the momentary awkward pause in the room, binding his azure aura out in a wide arc. It sapped the energy from all of the officers outside of Captain Brookes, having enough of an effect to bring most of them to their knees.
“What the… hell?” The captain’s face flashed with surprise and she hopped back. Victor bent over to pick up his towel and heard the safety click off her gun. “Don’t move!”
“Brookes, you’re just doing your job,” said Victor. “I understand that. But you have to understand that I’m-“
A gunshot ripped through the air, missing Victor’s head by less than an inch. Captain Brookes glared at him, and then scanned her eyes across her fallen compatriots, as if expecting the sound to have been enough to wake them up.
“Put the handcuffs on, Victor.” Captain Brookes slid the metal bracelets across the floor to him.
“Can’t we just head into my room and talk this out for a minute?” Victor re-wrapped his towel around his waist and smiled at her.
Forbidden Magic: The Complete Collection Page 54
