‘Let’s see now,’ he said to himself. ‘Well, this is different again, my word, it’s unlike anything else I have ever seen.’ Mr Travers looked befuddled by the sinuous curvy text before him. ‘I have no idea about this one I’m afraid.’
‘Well, that is interesting,’ said a silky female voice from slightly behind Stephan.
He spun his head round and saw the business woman stood just behind him and to one side who was craning her neck to look at the sheet of paper Mr Travers held in his hand.
‘What!’ Stephan cried, shocked that she could have sneaked right up behind him without him hearing her. ‘No, this is private!’ He yelped.
‘Really?’ she replied.
It might have been enough to just pull the papers to his chest under normal circumstances, but Stephan had seen something in her face, in her eyes, a look, a hungry and knowing look that struck terror into his heart, as if she had looked and recognised the text on the sheets of paper. He didn’t know why that terrified him, but it did.
It was pure instinct that defined Stephan’s actions right then, very little thought went into it at all, he just knew that letting this strange woman see this script was not a good move and that he had to get out of there right that instant with the two sheets of paper as well.
Stephan lunged across the desk and grabbed at the papers and withdrew them from the table in one quick fluid motion. No sooner had he done that then he took to his heels and ran from the shop, leaving the woman and Mr Travers stood there in a state of shock.
Barrelling out of the front door, Stephan ran out into the alleyway and headed out and away, risking one last glance at the two rather bewildered looking people back inside the shop.
He didn’t know why he did what he had just done, it was something about that woman, something unwholesome that had made him panic and made him want to be out of there as quickly as possible with the two sheets of paper he had brought with him.
Stephan rounded the first corner and then the second, running straight into someone coming the opposite way.
Stephan clipped and spun past the pedestrian, tumbling to the floor unhurt apart from a couple of scratches and a bruised ego. The other person had been so immovable and solid it felt like he had run into a body builder, or a brick wall. Stephan looked up expecting to see some huge weight lifter stood there about to hit him right in the face, but the slim figure looked very feminine and as she stepped forward, towards Stephan, her high heels clicking on the pavement, offering him a hand up, he realised he recognised her.
It was the woman from the shop, and she smiled sweetly at him as he lay there on his side a little dumbstruck at what he was seeing. He had left her in the shop not twenty seconds ago and yet here she stood, in front of him.
‘You took a nasty fall there, are you okay? I didn’t mean to startle you.’ She purred.
Her voice sounded melodic and soft, and it seemed to have a hypnotic quality to it as he gazed at the perfectly manicured and delicate hand she was extending to him. Her nails gleamed in the late morning light and her gentle face oozed comfort to him from every pore.
Without really thinking, Stephan raised his hand to hers and placed it in her grip. Her hand felt warm, smooth, and small in his. She pulled him to his knees and then his feet, holding onto his hand with a strength which was surprising and that didn’t fit with her slight frame.
He noticed that her blouse had only been buttoned up to just below her bra, its white lacy middle visible between the swell of her cleavage. Stephan couldn’t help it, it was right there in front of him, daring him to look into the gaping neck line. This woman, who had only a second ago scared him so profoundly, now looked so inviting and so appealing, that his mind raced with thoughts that should have been furthest from his mind at that point.
But she moved so gracefully, the way the stockings on her legs rubbed together making that silky sound, and the way her chest moved with each breath.
As he stood, she threw her hair behind her shoulders in a flick of her head, her long, feather light, straight blonde hair sweeping sensuously through the air and behind her shoulders.
Stephan stood there dumbly, looking at her, somehow slightly hypnotised by her demeanour and her presence. He couldn’t think straight, he knew there was something he should be doing at that point in time, but he couldn’t do it, he remained fascinated as she stooped once more to reach for something on the floor, her skirt riding up and the black lace stocking tops showing for a moment, her blouse gaping open even further giving him and unobstructed view of her breasts, pulled in and pushed together as they were by her bra.
Suddenly she was rising from her stooped position once more to stand in front of him as she settled her weight onto one leg and looked down at something in her hands.
Stephan found himself gazing at her beauty and sensuality and imagining wonderful nights of passion and carnality, his mind racing with thoughts of ravishing her there and then on the street, but his body wouldn’t move to let him try it.
He wanted nothing more than to rip those clothes off, bend her over and have his way with her, his girlfriend be damned. She would understand if she saw this creature’s beauty for herself. He felt sure that she would feel the same in fact and want to suddenly try being a lesbian for a night. It would be worth it, after all, how often do you get the chance to be with an angel.
But as he stood there, fascinated by the woman before him, there was a doubt in his mind, a niggling point that he couldn’t help returning to, a feeling that something was wrong with this, something he had forgotten about, something that had been pushed from his thoughts and replaced by the angel that stood before him.
She looked like she glowed, softly like a soft focus wedding photo, golden light from all around turning her into a thing of unmatched beauty.
He felt it again then, the thought that he had been missing something. An instruction, a simple one, two words that would help him somehow, not that he felt he needed helping. He felt quite happy gazing at this young woman he seemed to be yearning for, that he knew he wanted to experience and be with.
But the instruction wouldn’t go away and slowly but surely cleared in his head, becoming less fuzzy and gradually moving into focus. The instruction was easy.
Look down.
Stephan looked down, barely able to drag his eyes away from the woman before him, the effort of it all a strange struggle that took place deep within his mind until his eyes, after lingering on her chest for the last time, came to rest on the two sheets of white paper that she held in her hands.
In a heartbeat the dreamy trance had dissipated, the fascination he felt for the woman before him gone, and so were the steamy thoughts he had been having. With horror he realised he had let her look at the sheets of paper with the writing on for an unknown amount of time, and the panic that followed ruled his actions once again.
He grabbed the paper from her and shot off along the pavement and out into the bustle of downtown London, leaving the strange woman to look on as he flew along the roads and made his way through the growing crowds of Soho.
Angel let go of the papers as Stephan grabbed them from her and ran off along the street. Angel felt a little stunned that her Magic had somehow been broken and he had come out of the fascination she had put him under. It felt a little disconcerting to her and she wasn’t totally sure how he had done it.
She had been about to read his mind more carefully, she’d done a quick scan when they had collided, catching his name and little else before she had been distracted by the sheets of paper on the floor.
She had to concede that there was some kind of Magical residue about him, a build-up of Essentia about his spiritual self that suggested he was interacting with magic in some way. Being around a Magus would do it, but Angel thought it was likely something else, something to do with the text she had just seen on the papers he had with him.
She guessed that he probably had some sort of Artefact that had Magical properties. Some
thing that had that text on it, and something that Angel thought might be interesting to have a look at.
But fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and if its Magical Aura had caused him to break the fascination she had placed on him, then it was powerful and it would be something that needed to be treated with care. As she looked after him, she immediately sensed that he seemed a little less “there” to her, as if her Magical perceptions seemed to slide off him a little bit, which she guessed might also a by-product of the Artefact.
She needed to act quickly to track him, but she knew she couldn’t do it herself as she had commitments elsewhere.
‘Cherub, to me now,’ she needn’t have voiced it, but she liked to be dramatic.
There was a crack of expanding air and out of the shadows of a nearby doorway stepped a small blonde girl, no more than about six or seven, with curly strawberry blonde hair, a heart shaped face with the cutest look to her. She wore a lovely pink floral dress, small white socks and black shiny buckled shoes, topping off the whole ensemble with a bow in her hair.
She looked up serenely at Angel. ‘Yes Baal Angel. How can I be of assistance?’
‘That boy there.’ She pointed to the retreating figure. ‘I need you to track him, but use your eyes, keep him in visual range at all times, there’s some kind of Magic about him which might stop remote viewing and keeping tabs on him magically. Keep me informed as to his whereabouts but summon me should there be any developments that need my immediate attention. You know the kind.’
‘Of course mistress, I will do what I can.’
‘And no funny business, no games, don’t hurt him, I don’t want him to suspect anything. Got it?’
‘Understood.’
‘Then go.’
And with that, there was a second crack of air rushing in where the little girl had once stood, and Cherub was gone. She and Uziel, two of her apprentices, were in London tracking Vito, but that was a one Magi job really and Uziel could handle that alone without the eternally childlike Cherub.
Besides, she had a hunch that Stephan and Vito were connected somehow and that she was now chasing two ends of the same mystery.
Satisfied by the day’s events so far, she smiled to herself before she disappeared from the alleyway in much the same way as Cherub.
Grand Inquisitor Damask,
I have been watching the Lockwood’s for some time and have seen the remnants of the Artefact in the fathers study, but the item that was inside of the stone slab is missing. Reading the fathers notes on the artefact, it’s clear he knows nothing of the item that was inside and that the Artefact is in the hands of their boy Stephan and his friends. From my investigations, they seem interested in the occult.
It is possible that they may be too far gone for us to save them from Satan.
The Artefact is passed amongst the friends for safe keeping and it’s difficult to track it. I will be attempting to snatch it soon.
There is a related issue that I wish to raise at the time though. I fear I am being followed. I have no concrete evidence yet, but I am certain of it. I’m following procedure to lose them, but it’s proving difficult and it’s interfering with my investigations. I may need assistance to deal with this and to help with retrieving the Artefact.
Please find attached to this my description of the Artefact and my suggestions for the assistance I will likely need.
May God be with you.
Knight Inquisitor de Luca.
Raven
Donegal, Ireland
Early August
Night drew in over the valley, the sky becoming a deep purple hue with strands of clouds stretching across it like dark ribbons obscuring the view of the feint stars behind them. Only the brightest stars were really visible as tiny glittering specks of fairy dust in the twilight.
The night felt warm and the sun had been shining high in the blue sky all day keeping the landscape baking hot. It had been like that all week and it looked set to last a little longer yet. The air was fresh, fragrant with the scents of the flowers that were currently in bloom and during the day the bees were busy tending them and harvesting the pollen they produced.
Amanda jogged along the last stretch of her run down the side of the valley and in towards the cottage that lay before her in the darkness, the glow of lights from inside made the cottage visible from nearly anywhere around the valley slopes at this time of night. Off to her right she could see the lights of the village glowing in the distance.
She turned her focus back to the cottage, it grew steadily nearer to her as she pumped her legs over the grassy earth, jogging for the sheer love of exercise back to the cottage, the home stretch to where Gentle Water would be waiting for her.
There would be a glass of fresh water waiting as she arrived back home before she would shower and change and settle in for the night.
They had eaten a large meal for lunch and they had just had a light dinner an hour or two before she headed out for the jog. The sheer heat of the day forced her to run in the evenings occasionally, like today, so she didn’t over heat. Of course, with a little bit of Magic, she wouldn’t have to worry about such things at all, but she had followed her mentor’s advice about needless uses of Magic and avoided using it for such trivial matters.
It had been a year since she had started learning Magic now, a year since her world had been turned upside down by Gentle Water and his revelations about Magic and Magi and she thought she had progressing quite nicely.
It had been a challenge to learn the intricacies of Magic and how to control her burgeoning powers, she hadn’t found Magic easy, but she did have a bit of a flare for it once she knew the basics of each type of Magical discipline.
Recently Gentle Water had taken to advancing her training a little further and started teaching her the basics of Conjuration, of making things appear out of thin air, creating them out of nothing.
Apparently this was a Knight’s ability, quite an advanced form of Magic and one she’d been doing her best to try and learn. The real masters of this type of magic he’d told her, could make anything appear out of thin air, they could have cars and computers spring into existence right before them with but a single thought. It sounded like a power that appealed to Amanda a great deal, as did much of what she had been learning, and she loved every moment of it.
Once she knew she’d started learning a Knight’s level of Magic, she had asked Gentle Water what rank this made her. She’d started off as an apprentice before quickly moving up to being an Adept. Gentle Water had thought about this for a while before concluding that Amanda would still be considered an Adept, all be it, a strong one.
She had progressed quickly for a starting Magi according to her mentor, although she didn’t know just how quickly she’d progressed compared to the average Magus and Gentle Water had been vague on the answer saying that every Magi learnt at different rates, some quickly and others more slowly.
Amanda wasn’t too hung up on this though and continued on at her own pace, loving the things she’d been learning and revelling in it all. The world around her seemed so different to the one she had once thought she’d known. It looked to be filled with wonder and mystery all waiting to be discovered by someone like herself.
She had begun to wonder when Gentle Water would be introducing her to other Magi, the Legacy and other Covens, she wasn’t feeling inpatient or held back in anyway, but she’d begun to feel a little bit curious about these things.
Still, she loved her life out here in the countryside, in the fresh air and the picturesque environment.
She came into her final approach of the cottage and as she neared the outer fencing she slowed down and came to a stop just outside the gate.
She felt a little breathless and invigorated by the run but she wasn’t exhausted by it. She took a moment to catch her breath, bending forward and putting her hands on her legs above her knees.
After a few seconds of deep breathing she stood up and opened the gate, her
breathing slowing down and becoming steadier as she moved.
Her body was flushed and hot from the run even though she wore only her lycra shorts and cropped vest running top. Both were black with their little white sporting logos printed onto them. The gravel crunched under her trainers as she walked up the path and up to the wooden front door of the cottage, its golden light spilling out from under it. She opened the door and stepped into the warmth of home.
‘Are you cold?’ he asked.
‘No, I’m lovely and warm thank you,’ Amanda said. She had just joined Gentle Water in the Kitchen after a lovely hot shower that rinsed away the tension of the day and the dirt of her run. After the shower she had put on her nightshirt, full-length white bathrobe and slippers, even thought it was a warm and humid night.
‘It is August, the cottage is not cold Amanda’
‘Sure sure, I just like feeling cosy, that’s all.’
‘I understand, please, go and sit down, I bring drink to you.’
‘Thank you,’ she sang and headed over to her favourite chair and pulled herself into it, her feet up on the chair with her.
Gentle Water came over and handed her the steaming mug, it felt lovely in her hands. The sweet smell of chocolate filled her nostrils.
Gentle Water put a few more logs on the fire before settling down in the other chair off to Amanda’s right.
‘You did well today. You should be proud of yourself.’
Amanda smiled at his comment, ‘Thank you.’
‘I am being serious, I am really impressed. You are advancing very fast.’
‘It doesn’t really feel like it. But I am enjoying it.’
‘Good.’
The pair sat there for a while, sipping their drinks and gazing into the fire before Gentle Water spoke again.
‘I have something to tell you Amanda.’
‘Ooh, that sounds ominous. Should I put my mug down?’
‘No, nothing like that, you have come a long way over the past year, but one thing you have not done is meet other Magi.’
Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling Page 31
