Infinities' Edge

by Andrew Dobell

  Maybe they were right. Maybe everyone around her was trying to tell her something and she needed to finally listen to them.

  It all seemed to fit together, everything that had happened to her, everything that she could do, it all pointed to her being the chosen one. She’d struggled with this concept these past few days, but escaping Nymira and seeing the reaction of the girls and Howie seemed to be the thing that made her start to rethink it all.

  She’d saved them, and only she could have done that with her ability to shift into the Abyss. Without her, they would likely have died.

  She turned that phrase over and over in her mind. The Chosen one. Amanda, the chosen one, and started to quite like the idea.

  It was late in New York now, night had fallen hours ago but the city lights meant that Manhattan was never really truly dark. Dodging a couple of cars, they crossed the street and walked up the steps to the front door of the building.

  ‘Here yeh are,’ she said.

  ‘Thanks,’ Howie answered. ‘How long has it been since you were last here?’

  ‘I have no idea, a few years at least,’ she said and looked up the front of the building. ‘It’s not changed much, to be sure’ she said.

  ‘Never does,’ Howie answered.

  ‘This is where we first met, isn’t it?’ Amanda mused.

  Howie looked down to the floor behind him, to where Amanda had been sleeping to the side of the front door all those years ago. ‘It is,’ he said. ‘I’ve often walked past here these past few years and thought of you. Wondered where you were, what you were doing. But I’d have never guessed the truth.’

  Amanda nodded in agreement, a slight smile on her lips.

  ‘You wanna come up? Have a cup of hot chocolate, for old time’s sake?’

  She smiled up at him, ‘That sounds grand, thank you,’ she said.

  She followed him upstairs but could have easily retraced her steps back to his place without him being there. Once inside, the familiar sights, sounds and smells made her feel instantly relaxed and calm. She’d come to know his apartment so well, it had felt like home to her, the first home she had ever known in the USA. Some of the décor had changed, and a few bits of furniture had been moved, but it was essentially the same place she had walked out of way back when.

  ‘You remember it all then?’ he asked from the kitchenette in the open plan living space he had.

  She looked up, realising he had caught her looking around and smiling to herself, remembering her time here. She flushed slightly and walked over to the breakfast bar and sat on a stool on the opposite side of the counter top to him.

  ‘I do remember it yes, it’s good to be back,’ she said and glanced around the place once more as he finished making up the two drinks.

  ‘So I’m one of these Initiated then now that I know of Magic and the Magi.’

  ‘That’s right, you’ve broken through that barrier, so you will be more aware of it now.’

  ‘So, do most people not see Magic then?’

  ‘Not really, no. When most people happen across something Magical that their brain can’t comprehend, the Riven mind kind of blocks it out, which helps us to remain hidden.’

  ‘Riven? You’ve not used that word before.’

  ‘The Riven is the name we have given to anyone who is a normal human and still unaware of Magic, don’t yeh know. It means separated, which is a reference back to an event in Pre-History when the Archons tried to get rid of all the Magi by separating us from the Magical energy in the world. It worked for the most part, and the numbers of Magi were vastly reduced, but we still survived, so the story goes.’

  ‘Jeez, there’s so much to take in, it’s crazy,’ he said, looking a little overwhelmed.

  Amanda could sympathise with him. She remembered her first days out in Ireland learning under the tutelage of Gentle Water and feeling like she was drowning in all the information that he was giving her.

  ‘There is, but you will get there in time, so yeh will. Depending on how involved you want to be with this side of the world.’

  ‘Do I have a choice?’ Howie asked.

  That was an interesting question. Unlike being a Magus which would automatically mean a certain level of involvement in the Magical world, there was still a healthy amount of separation between him and the dangerous world of the Magi. The Initiated were no more connected to Magic then a Riven was, meaning they were indistinguishable from the general masses of Humanity the world over, something that the Initiated of the Arcanum and those who worked directly for a Coven used to their advantage.

  So, did he have a choice? She supposed he did.

  ‘Yeah, you have a choice,’ Amanda said. ‘You’re not a Magus and you won’t show up in our Magical sight as an Initiated, so if you wanted to keep separate from the Magical world and continue on the path you know, then sure, you can do that. I’m sure there’s plenty who do, but it might be that now you’ve peeked behind the curtain and seen the truth, you might find keeping out of things harder to do than you think.’

  ‘Hmmm,’ he said and walked over to the couch with Amanda where they sat and sipped on their drinks

  ‘You could work for me,’ Amanda said.

  Howie looked at her over the top of his mug, pausing as he took in this new information. ‘Really? You’re offering me a job?’

  ‘Sure, why not,’ she smiled.

  ‘Doing what?’

  ‘I don’t really know yet, but I’m sure I can keep you busy, and pay you well. You could work with Shaun on the security and intelligence side of things.’

  ‘Work for the scary Vampire in your basement?’

  ‘That’s the one,’ Amanda said with a smile.

  ‘You know what, maybe, I kinda like the idea.’

  ‘Think on it, and let me know,’ she said, going back to her drink.

  They chatted for a little while longer, finishing their drinks before Amanda decided that she really must be getting home. She liked Howie a lot, and a part of her ached to take him there and then, but she just wasn’t sure if that was a really good idea or not. She just wasn’t sure.

  Pulling her denim Jacket back on, she made her way towards the door.

  ‘Thank you for the drink, it’s really been lovely to see you again, it’s been far too long really, but hopefully it won't be that long again.’

  ‘I’m sure it won’t be,’ he said and stepped in towards her to kiss her good night.

  She stepped in as well and came together with him for a quick kiss goodnight, that seemed a little more gentle and lingering than it should be. She could feel his hands on her back and looked into his eyes. She almost felt like she could get lost in those deep dark eyes, and wondered if he felt the same with her.

  Maria’s words echoed through her mind once more, and Amanda made a snap decision to make the first move. It seemed like Howie wouldn’t, like he felt unsure or just was being polite, too polite really.

  She closed the gap between them once more and kissed him on the mouth again, but this time, it was a deep and lingering kiss, as they slowly moved against each other. He pulled her in tight to him, his huge muscular arms easily lifting her up.

  She liked that feeling of strength, and felt very safe in his arms, even if she were the stronger of the pair and the more potent fighter.

  Her kisses became stronger, filled with more energy and a need to have him. She had been friends with Howie, on and off, for a few years, and even back in the day when she lived with him for a while after first moving in, she did fancy him and often thought about what it would be like to be more than just friends with him. But it had never progressed past that, and in the later part of her time here, it had started to feel slightly wrong to think of him that way.

  But separation had changed things and given them a new lease of life and a new perspective on their relationship. They now lived their lives independently of each other, and the thought of them being more than just friends felt much more appealing now.


  She pulled off her jacket and continued to kiss him, enjoying his touch as he ran his hands all over her back and bum, squeezing her flesh. Amanda did the same to him, feeling the strong toned muscles of his torso that she struggled to get her arms all the way around.

  She wanted to get a better look and feel of him, so pulled on his shirt buttons, undoing them as quickly as she could before opening up his shirt and drinking in the way the light from the room picked out his muscled shape. She ran her hands over his black skin, loving the feel of his body before he started to pull her camisole top over her head, freeing her bust that he took in his hands and kissed, sucking one of her nipples into his mouth and using his tongue to play with it, flicking it and circling it before doing the same to the other.

  Coming up to kiss her again, she took his head in her hands. ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ she asked.

  ‘Are you?’ he replied.

  She nodded back to him, smiling and giving him her best “Come to bed” eyes.

  ‘Then I am too,’ he said, and took hold of her bum once more and pulled her in against his pelvis. As she kissed him, she could feel his arousal against her hip and leg. How it grew and seemed to try and pull itself free. Just thinking of it there, waiting and wanting to be inside her made her feel desperate to touch it. She wanted to hold him, to run her fingers over his manhood and taste it before she took him inside of her.

  She reached down and slid her hand down the front of his trousers, feeling the course hair that led the way down to his crotch and to something much bigger than she had ever been with before.

  She wrapped her fingers around him as best she could and marvelled at the girth of him.

  She found she couldn’t wait any longer, she needed to see him, to free him and she needed to do it now.

  After a moment of fumbling, she undid his button and zipper and pulled his trousers and underwear down in one smooth motion as she crouched down before him, his manhood wobbling free before her, growing steadily stiffer as she watched.

  She reached up and took him in both hands, and still there was room for more. He was huge and she wanted him so badly, but she also wanted to enjoy him too, to savour this first coupling, hopefully, the first of many. She moved her hands along his length, bringing him to full arousal as she attempted to take him into her mouth.

  Above her, Howie moaned in pleasure and ran his fingers through her hair, gently and lovingly. She looked up at him as she moved her tongue around, stimulating him and enjoying his taste. Even as deep as she could take him, she could still hold him with both hands with space to spare. Looking up into his eyes, she knew he was thoroughly enjoying himself. His mouth hung open slightly as his rate of breath increased. She pulled him out of her mouth and moved her right hand up and down his length, pumping away at him and enjoying the moans of pleasure he made from her attentions.

  She stood up and came up to him, face to face.

  ‘I want you inside me,’ she said as she guided him towards the sofa, one hand on his manhood the whole time. Sitting him down, she stepped back and pulled off the rest of her clothes before climbing on top of him, straddling him and using her hand once more to guide him into her. She had an ache, a need for him to fill her up, to plunge deep inside of her. She felt so aroused. As he started to push inside, stretching herself around him as she lowered herself onto him, she couldn’t help but let out a deep moan of pleasure. She leant down and kissed him, her tongue writhing around his as she started to move up and down on top of him, taking more and more of him inside of her as she did so. She didn’t know she could fit that much inside of her, but she felt so happy that she had and the pleasure it gave her at the thought of it was intense.

  Everything built up so quickly as she moved, she could feel the heat and the tingling growing between her thighs, and knew she couldn’t stop. She moved quicker, with ever more urgency as she built up to what she hoped would be the first of several orgasms tonight. As the intense pleasure and need for release grew she stopped kissing him and concentrated on her movements alone as he reached up and pawed at her chest that bounced as she moved.

  It seemed to take forever to get there, but when she finally did, the powerful release of pure ecstasy that flooded her whole being made her body shake while she moaned in delight.

  Her insides seemed to grip him wanting to hold onto this wondrous thing that had created such an amazing feeling within her.

  As the feeling faded, she leant into him and nuzzled his neck as her movements calmed down.

  ‘Did you…?

  ‘I did, thank you, that was amazing,’ she said in a breathy voice.

  ‘Are you okay to… you know…’

  ‘Don’t you dare stop! I need more of this tonight, so I do,’ she said as she reached down and wrapped her fingers around the base of his manhood as she moved slowly on top of him.

  He smiled. ‘Yes Ma’am,’ he said as he picked her up and held her while he was still inside her and walked through to the bedroom where he lowered her to the bed on her back and started to move into her, building up a slowly growing rhythm.

  She closed her eyes and concentrated on the pleasurable feeling of Howie deep inside as her own arousal started to grow once again.

  This would be a night to remember.

  - Approved email from Syndicate Staff member to partner on the mainland.

  Hi Babe.

  It seems like we have new management here at work, nothing changed much, but we had a few dramatic scenes when they first arrived earlier today. Looks like things will calm down quickly though and it’s business as usual.

  Not sure if this will change my work rotation, but I will let you know if my return date changes.

  I’ll skype you later.

  Lots of love.

  Nick

  Searching

  The Atoll, the Pacific

  Jan 14th

  The seaplane bounced once, its skids touching down in the water, kicking up spray all around it and onto the window that Assunta looked out of. Her view of the small island in the center of the outer ring of islands, blurred by the water that ran down the window.

  The trip out here had taken hours and had consisted of a view of endless sea in every direction. This Atoll had been the first thing they had seen since leaving the Honolulu airport and it made for a welcome change.

  The Atoll had a curious shape that looked quite unnatural, no doubt a result of the recent events that had taken place here.

  Many small islands formed an almost perfect circle around a single pretty much perfectly circular central island in the exact center of the outer ring.

  The ring islands were all quite barren with just a hint of grasses upon them, but the central Island, as small as it was, held a good amount of vegetation on it, as well as a central rock that jutted up from the sand.

  With the water on the window drying quickly, the plane powered in and came to rest in the shallows close to the beach of the central island.

  ‘That’s as close as I can get. You should be able to walk to the beach from here,’ the pilot said.

  Assunta nodded to one of the Crusader knights that sat next to the door, who proceeded to open it before jumping out into knee deep water.

  Assunta followed him out and took the lead as she walked up out of the water and onto the beach. Mary had called Assunta back from her mission in New York watching Amanda to follow up on a related lead. A contact in the US military had reported back to the Vatican that they had recently picked up some strange survivors from an Atoll in the Pacific after detecting a nuclear blast there. Their investigations led them to this island where they picked up a number of people, including a Submarine crew from a missing U-Boat and some strange civilians.

  Mary had put this together with the rumours she had been hearing about Amanda-Jane Page and the Prophecy of Helene and the choice had been made to investigate.

  To keep the assets assigned to this personal mission of Mary’s to a minimum, Assunta had been ca
lled in from her stake out and sent here. She didn’t mind jetting about the world, and it kind of made sense to her that she should be the one to do this mission to keep some continuity in the wider investigation of Amanda.

  It might be the middle of winter back in the Vatican, but here on the equator, the days were hot the year round. A few steps up onto the beach, away from the gently lapping water, she stopped and dropped her bags, looking back to the six other Crusader Knights that she had brought with her. They all followed her up onto the beach and stopped close by to her, catching their breath in the bright sunlight of the day.

  ‘Right, first things first, let’s set up camp somewhere and then we can start to organise the search,’ she said, and watched the team move into action.

  They chose to base themselves beneath a cluster of trees to keep out of the sun as much as they could, also the ground was much sturdier here and made for a better area to pitch their tents.

  They were planning to stay here for a few days at least to make sure they thoroughly searched the whole area, so she made sure that the team took their time to get properly set up and to make themselves as comfortable as possible.

  Shortly after arriving, the Pilot of the plane came to see them now that he was ready to head back to Hawaii and wished them good luck. Assunta had a satellite phone and would call him back once they were ready to leave.

  Minutes later she stood on the beach and watched the plane take to the skies once more and head off in the direction of Hawaii. They were truly cut off now and on their own.

  Heading back up the beach, she watched her team going about the business of setting up camp. They were making good progress and she felt hopeful that they would be organising the search teams very soon.

  Her team worked well, and after an hour of hard work in the unrelenting sun, they were all sat around the fire that Cesar, Assunta’s second in command in this group had built, sipping on some water and catching their breath.

  Assunta sat next to Cesar in their pop-up chairs and organised the search teams, choosing to send Valeria, the only other woman on the team, and Leon off to swim out to the outer ring where they would do a circuit of the Islands. Today would be more of a case of getting a lay of the land, checking out the terrain and figuring out the order of their search.