Forbidden Magic: The Complete Collection

by Anya Merchant

  This is insane.

  What Victor had told Amanda had been true. Flying during a storm, though he’d only done it once before, was undeniably dangerous. Even just dipping into one accidentally for a few seconds could lead to his death in a dozen different ways. He was planning on moving deep into the squall, and searching for his quarry while he was at it.

  The size of storm became apparent as he drew in closer to it. It was a country unto itself, a nation of the sky, full of thunder and wrath. Ella, her ethereal body unaffected by any of it, flew through into the darkness without leaving a wake. Victor swallowed hard and closed his eyes in reflex as he hit the edge and passed into it.

  The moisture was thick enough in the air to instantly soak his clothes. He felt his body being buffeted from side to side by unpredictable, rolling winds. He had to keep his eyes open, keep them on Ella so that he could keep his bearings.

  “Victor!” Ella screamed.

  He saw her for a split second as his equilibrium spun at the hilt. Focusing all of his will, Victor pushed more energy into his diamond aura, counteracting the violent spin he’d fallen into. He pushed forward. Ella was only a few feet in front of him, and he pushed forward, following her at a snail’s pace.

  A gust of wind knocked him off target, far to the right of his intended path. The strength of the wind made him feel as though he was made of thin plastic, or dandelion seeds. His weight was nothing against the strength of the storm, and he was convinced that even without his aura, he’d hang in the air indefinitely now that he’d entered the tempest.

  Ella appeared again, taking his hand this time. Victor forced himself forward after her. A deafening crack exploded into his ears and a blindingly bright white flash burned across his vision. Victor screamed, but couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, regardless of it.

  I’m not invincible. And I’m nothing compared to this.

  He felt the tug of Ella’s ethereal hand, and followed after it. He blinked, a bit of his vision returning around an ugly, pulsing neon afterimage. She was gesturing to him, straining to make him move faster.

  Victor leaned into his flight, speeding through the clouds. Lightning continued to strike down on either side of him, missing him by close enough margins to make his entire body flail with useless fear.

  It was the closest thing he could have imagined to true hell. The darkness, broken only by bright white bolts of death, was the most oppressive thing he’d ever experienced.

  And then, quite suddenly, it came to a stop. Victor slowed his momentum, taking deep, panicked breaths. He looked behind him and saw a wall of blackness, moisture and static electric chaos. It curled around in a gigantic, winding circle. He was at the center of it, and moreover, ahead of him, he could see the plane, preparing to disappear into the other side of the storm.

  It was a large cargo jet, the kind that might be able to carry the weight of a few dozen human shaped research pods with room to spare. Victor flew at it faster than he’d ever traveled through the air before. He came to a sudden stop, realizing that he had no idea how to proceed further.

  “This is the hard part,” said Ella. “Victor… you have to decide what you’re going to do.”

  He slowly continued along with the plane, seeing the wall of the storm ahead and knowing what it meant. He didn’t have time to do much, or really any, thinking.

  I could bring the plane down from the outside, but everyone on board would die. Or…

  He flew under the plane, and saw what he was pretty sure he was looking for. A large cargo door, the type that opened downward and served as a ramp for wheeling heavier supplies up, was built into the jet’s belly.

  Victor flew up to it, slid his fingers into the cracks, and then carefully bound his scarlet aura, trying to melt the door open without igniting the entire plane. It took a minute, and by the end of it he was sure that he’d run out of time and be back inside the storm before managing anything, but it opened. The plane swayed uneasily, almost losing its balance in the sky. A few heavy looking boxes fell off and disappeared into the clouds below. Victor pulled himself inside, and then breathed a sigh of relief as his feet settled onto the solid metal floor of the plane.

  Ella gave him a soft side hug and ruffled his hair.

  “You’re almost there,” she said. “This is it.”

  The door that apparently led from the plane’s seating area down into the cargo bay opened. Victor recognized the silhouette of the person walking toward him at a glance. It was her. It was both of them.

  “Annette,” he said. “Kiara.”

  CHAPTER 19

  “I have to admit, I’m surprised to see you here,” said Annette. “You are far more resourceful than I’ve ever given you credit for.”

  “Annette.” Victor shook his head slowly. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Is that really what you think is going to deescalate this situation? For me to explain my plan to you, and let you pick at every detail, hoping beyond all hope that I’ll reconsider, and tragedy can be avoided at the last second?”

  The look Victor gave her wasn’t nearly as intimidating as he wanted it to be. The sound of thunder and hard rain against metal washed over the cargo area as the plane dipped back into the storm.

  “No,” he said. “I just want to understand. None of this makes any sense to me.”

  “You aren’t thinking big enough,” said Annette. “I already explained this to you. Back when you worked for me, in fact. I should have instructed you to take notes.”

  Victor didn’t say anything. He bound his onyx aura, heightening his senses enough for him to see her face and figure. She looked like Kiara, except wearing a skirt and sweater that Kiara never would have worn, and standing with uncharacteristically tense posture.

  “I’m trying to save the world, Victor,” she said. “Maybe that part of it you can understand.”

  “By murdering your own employees and blowing up buildings?”

  “By tying up my loose ends so I don’t trip over them once I get up to speed,” said Annette. “That’s what you are, Victor. A failed experiment. A man with too much heart, fighting above your weight class. A loose end.”

  Victor couldn’t resist a shrug.

  “I’m still a loose end, though,” he said, smiling slightly. “You haven’t managed to tie me up just yet.”

  Annette stared at him. Victor was sure that she was preparing to strike, but all she did was slowly reach up to her face and brush aside a few strands of loose blonde hair.

  “I have a hundred aura binders,” she said. “All of them under my direct control. They’ve been… for lack of a better word, indoctrinated, to accept my commands and mine only. How long do you think you’ll last against them, Victor?”

  He shrugged again. He could see the pods in the cargo area, most of them stacked into neat little rows. He considered binding his diamond aura and sliding a few of the pods toward the open cargo bay door, but knew that it would be enough to goad Annette into action.

  “I’m not fighting them,” he said. “And I’m not fighting you. We’re on the same side. You’ve just forgotten.”

  She scoffed at him.

  “You and I were never on the same side,” she snapped. “I’m a pragmatist. I’m allergic to the type of idealism you subscribe to.”

  “I wasn’t talking to you,” said Victor.

  I know she’s still in there!

  “Really?” asked Annette. “Because I’m the only other one here.”

  “Kiara,” said Victor. “Try to remember. Don’t let her keep you in the backseat. Remember everything you’ve done. Remember how strong you are.”

  Annette laughed.

  “You’re not idealistic, you’re delusional,” said Annette. “Give it up, Victor.”

  “I’m right here, Kiara,” said Victor. “I came to save you. That’s what I’ve wanted to do, from the beginning.”

  “Shut up!” Annette lunged, launching a hastily bound bolt of ice in Victor’s direction. He bou
nd his scarlet aura and conjured a wisp of flame, turning it into hot, vaporous steam.

  “I’m not leaving without you, Kiara,” he said. “So it’s time for you to start fighting against her.”

  Annette let out a furious scream. She flew across the cargo area at Victor, preparing another sharp icicle in her hand to stab through his chest. Victor caught her as she slammed into him, twisting her wrist to keep the icy weapon from striking into his heart.

  The two of them rolled and then pushed away from each other. Annette attacked him with quick, accurate punches, one of which made it through to Victor’s jaw and stunned him for a moment. He blocked in front of his face, anticipating the follow up kick, and then rolled backward.

  “I’m still here!” he shouted. “Kiara! Take my hand!”

  He held it out for her. Annette grabbed onto it and levered, breaking his arm at the elbow. Victor let out a howl of genuine pain, and kicked her away.

  “Your faith is a beautiful thing,” said Annette. “But it’s doomed you, Victor.”

  She sprinted toward him, preparing another attack, this time in the form of a spear of ice that would tear through his chest easily. It would be a killing blow, and in his current state, Victor only had one arm to defend with.

  He reached his hand up and bound his onyx aura, entering Annette’s mind before he had a chance to raise her defenses.

  CHAPTER 20

  Victor felt himself being swept away, his awareness of his body fading, his experience becoming one with an open void. Colors and emotions flashed over him, becoming him, twisting his awareness into something much more open and intimate than real life.

  He was back again, after what could have been seconds or hours. He was standing in a room with a soft red carpet, white walls with wide windows looking out onto an empty landscape, and a single chandelier lit with tiny brilliant red flames hanging from a high ceiling.

  Annette stood in front of him, naked, and back in her original body. She was a woman in her mid-thirties or early forties with long brunette hair. Her body was mature, yet attractive, with soft curves that hung with a little more solidity than they may have a decade earlier.

  Behind her, and just as naked, was Kiara. She was 18 years old, and looked like Annette’s polar opposite. She was every bit as attractive, but young, bouncy, and nubile. Her hair was cut as short as Victor remembered it being when they’d first met. Her eyes were a stunning blue, but strangely vacant. Her medium sized breasts were accentuated by pointed nipples, as though the room was much colder than it was in actuality.

  Annette glared at him and took a step forward. It was hard for Victor to look at her and not feel a little aroused. They’d been intimate before, back in her original body, and the emotions were still bubbling under the surface.

  “You’ve made the biggest mistake of your young life,” she said, her voice hard. “I understand the power of the onyx aura better than you ever could.”

  “Kiara!” Victor shouted and started to run to her. Kiara didn’t react. “Get up, Kiara! We have to-“

  Annette waved a hand, and someone appeared next to her, someone Victor hadn’t seen in a great many years. John Anders, his father, slowly rolled his head up to look at his son. Except, he looked as Victor last remembered him, in their final encounter.

  Most of the exposed flesh of his body was charred, with sections of exposed, fire blackened bone poking out around his rib cage and knees. His eyes were the only part of him left untouched, and enough skin had been burnt off his face to freeze his mouth into a ghoulish, over wide skull smile.

  “You thought you could get away from me,” said John. “I’ve been waiting for this moment, for so long.”

  He took a step toward Victor. The fear hanging in the air between them was almost palpable, mixed with shame, guilt, and enough regret to sink him to the ocean floor, as though it were a lead weight strapped to his ankles.

  “Dad…” Victor closed his eyes hard and opened them, hoping that it would be enough to dissipate the phantom. “No. You’re not real.”

  Annette cackled from behind Victor.

  “He’s as real as you’ve decided to make him,” she said. “Perhaps even more so. He was the one who gave you the nanites, and his aura was affecting you when you… well, we both know what happened, now don’t we?”

  Victor flinched back as his father raised his arm, palm outstretched. Fire burst forth in an angry swirl of heat. He tried to raise his own aura to defend, but nothing happened. The flames hit him head on, and he let out a scream as pain beyond anything he’d felt before, the pain of an intense, all consuming burn, flooded his senses.

  This is what I did to him. This is how he died.

  “He’ll take your body now,” whispered Annette. “Your memories of him will give him life. And the two of us will be together, once again.”

  Victor couldn’t say anything in response. He could only scream, and his ability to do even that began to fade as the flames forced their way down his throat and into his lungs.

  None of this is real. This is a battle of minds, of imagination and creation.

  The knowledge did nothing to lessen the intensity of the experience. Victor’s muscles cramped and contorted. His arms flailed, and he tried to roll across the ground, like a child going through the motions of stop, drop, and roll.

  “…ctor.” There was another voice, almost a whisper over the sound of his screams. “Victor!”

  Even though the idea of it made him sick to his stomach, Victor forced his eyes open. Through the burning crimson glow of the flames, he could see Ella in motion, sprinting toward the ghoulish form of John Anders. Victor shook his head slowly as he saw her throw herself desperately and uselessly at him.

  Except, it wasn’t desperate. Ella’s shoulder collided with him, and Victor’s father stumbled. She let out a snarl that sounded like it came from a wildcat’s throat and threw herself onto him.

  Ella is real here. She can help me!

  Annette looked as stunned as Victor had felt a moment earlier. He was already in motion even as she took a slow step back. He ran to Ella’s aid, and began lending his strength to hers, pummeling the man who’d raised him with his fists.

  “You killed me!” screamed Ella. “You took everything from me!”

  She was sobbing and screeching. It was a horrifying, heart breaking sight. She was relentless in her attacks, and so were the tears that poured from her eyes. Victor couldn’t look at her, and looking at his father, his already disgusting face being pulverized by Ella’s small, feminine fists, was just as hard.

  “You!” screamed Annette. “I’ll kill you!”

  Victor stood up and turned to face her. He was just as naked as she was, and as he took a step toward her, an idea popped into his head.

  “What are you afraid of, Annette?” He reached his awareness out. Victor didn’t even have to reach very far for the images to come to him. The connection between their minds was a sensitive, powerful thing.

  She always needs to feel like she’s in control. That’s it. That’s her deepest, darkest fear.

  “Stop!” screamed Annette. “You can’t win!”

  Victor looked past her, to the silent, subdued figure of Kiara. He reached out his hand.

  “Kiara,” he said, in a soft voice. “Kiara, please. It’s now or never.”

  She looked up at him, and for the first time in months, Victor saw the girl that had been his friend, his partner, and his lover staring back at him. The side of her mouth lifted up slightly, as though she, too, was recognizing him for the first time in a long time.

  “Victor,” she said.

  “No!” screamed Annette.

  Kiara stood up and ran to him. She practically threw herself into the hug. Victor kissed her deeply, appreciating the sensation of her soft, naked body against his even amidst the chaos of the situation.

  The kiss dragged on for several precious seconds before the two of them pulled back. Victor cupped Kiara’s cheeks in his hand
s and felt his eyes misting, like a foolish old man reunited with a long lost lover.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” he said.

  “I was lost.” She grinned at him, and then looked over at Annette. The once proud and elegant CEO was down on one knee, gaping at the two of them as though they’d just ripped something essential out of her being.

  Victor glanced back at Ella. She was standing over his father’s corpse, and taking slow, soothing breaths. She walked over to him, clean despite the mess she’d made of the phantom.

  “Victor,” said Kiara. “We have to make sure that she won’t take control of me again.”

  “And how exactly do we do that?” he asked.

  She giggled and grinned, and it was the best sound he’d ever heard.

  “Oh, I think you’ll understand soon enough.” Her body took on the distinctive crimson glow of the scarlet aura. “And I think you’ll find it to be quite enjoyable.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Annette stood in front of them, slowly regaining a measure of her lost dignity. There was fire in her eyes, and she made no move to cover herself up as Victor and Kiara approached, preparing to bind their scarlet auras. She smiled at them, an unnerving smile, one with enough confidence behind it to make Victor hesitate.

  “Two can play at this game,” she said.

  Annette’s scarlet aura burst into blindingly bright life in an instant. Victor flinched back, feeling his arousal lurch from zero to one hundred in an instant. He almost gasped in shock, his cock twinging into hardness in a manner that was almost cartoonish. It vibrated back and forth in a hum, like a recently plucked guitar string.

  “Victor!” Kiara was at his side in an instant. Victor felt her put her hand on his shoulder and almost melted from her touch.

  “I don’t have to beat both of you.” Annette began walking over with slow, easy steps. “If Victor submits to me, the two of us can certainly come to an arrangement.”