I half-heartedly waved back and grinned sheepishly at the blonde. Now that I’d had the chance to look closely at her I saw that she had a pretty face too, to go with the long hair and the curves. She had bright green eyes and dimples. I liked dimples. Yep, she was very attractive.
“…and then I said that you seemed too cute to stand up.” She smiled.
This had never happened to me before! I’d approached women with the intention of asking them out but they never approached me. I wasn’t entirely sure how to act. Take the jokes and one-liners out of my conversation and I tend towards the idiotic.
“My name’s Devon.” I smiled as I introduced myself in way of an opening line. It seemed to work. She smiled back. Easy.
“Natasha,” she replied. “If you’re not here waiting for anyone, would you like to come over and join me and my friends?”
“Actually I am waiting on someone,” I said, with an apologetic expression on my face. “At any other time I’d have been delighted though.”
“I knew it! You are on a date!” she said cheekily.
“You should dump her though,” she went on, with a twinkle in her eye, “it’s really not nice to keep you waiting so long.”
“Actually it’s not a date as such,” I said. Wow, when did my love life suddenly get so confusing to explain. “But I do have a girlfriend.”
“Pity.” She gave me a wink and I watched her walk back to the other side of the bar, greeted by catcalls of laughter from her friends.
I couldn’t help but grin to myself. It doesn’t matter how grim things can get there’s always something, somewhere that can put a smile back on your face. It’s almost always the last thing you expect too.
I figured that I’d spent enough time here and that tonight Renee was a no-show. I waved down the attention of the bartender and slipped him some money.
“Can you send a glass of whatever that blonde girl is drinking down to her table, compliments of Devon.”
He nodded at me, a dry grin on his face and a slightly bored expression in his eyes. He obviously didn’t find this as entertaining as I did. I’d always wanted to do this. They made it seem so classy in the movies and it was actually kind of fun now that I’d done it.
I winked in Natasha’s direction as I made my way to the door and listened as Natasha’s group broke into laughter as the bartender delivered my line. I turned and made a hat tipping motion in her direction, which brought more giggles as I left. I couldn’t help but enjoy that. Sure it hadn’t gotten me any closer to my goal of finding Renee – but that had been a lot of fun.
My search was getting frustrating. So I walked the streets. Using the awareness spell helped a little, as I was able to see into bars and clubs without paying an entrance fee. I’d probably saved about fifty dollars from my quickly dwindling savings. I grudgingly arrived at the conclusion that Renee wasn’t in the area and determined that a better place to search would be the Central Business District and the Casino complex where I had also run into her. The tram ride back into the city was quiet. In fact I had the section to myself. Once I got into the city it was a vastly different situation. Swanston Street was packed with people, as late night shopping hadn’t quite wrapped up yet.
You could tell from the strained expressions on some of the storekeepers that closing time couldn’t come quickly enough. I walked from Flinders Street Station up Swanston Street trying to avoid knocking into people. It was chaos. There was no way I was going to find Renee on these streets.
I tentatively sent off an awareness spell when I finally reached a moderately secluded spot, only to be greeted by the huddled mass of light as the awareness spell simply merged the shapes of everyone in the crowd into one amorphous blob. There were simply too many people in one place for the spell to really be effective. What I really needed to do was to get up higher and look down on the street. At the moment Renee could be on the next street across and I’d never find her.
I needed to get up onto the rooftops.
There was no way I was going to be able to get up higher on the main street without drawing attention to myself. I had no doubt that Renee would be furious at me if I got caught on a bunch of mobile phone videos. I’d need to get off the street. This part of the city was mainly buildings of about three or four stories tall. I needed to find a back alley or somewhere where I could work unhindered.
It didn’t take too long to find a suitable alleyway. A quick awareness spell indicated that there was no-one already in the alley. It appeared to be a loading bay for several of the retail businesses on the far side of the building.
Excellent. This was just what I wanted.
In my haste I hadn’t noticed that I had been followed. It wasn’t until I was already in the alley that a sneering voice brought me spinning around.
“You lost, kid?”
As I turned I could see a rough-looking looking man saunter down the alley. He was wearing one of those stupid blue beanies over his head and a blue tank top and scruffy trench coat, his hair matted to the sides of his head in dreads under the beanie.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I thought this alley might have gone through to the other side.”
“Well it doesn’t.” He smiled grimly.
It was obvious that he’d positioned himself in the centre of the alleyway to prevent me from getting past him.
“In fact, it’s pretty much a dead end,” he continued, “which is bad news for you.”
“Why is that?” I asked, not liking his tone of voice.
“Because once you’re off the main street,” he gestured behind him, “there’s no-one to help you.”
I could see people walking down the street in the distance. Unfortunately they were some distance away and unlikely to get here in time even if they were inclined to help.
“Why would I need help?” I asked, playing stupid to gain some time.
“Look buddy,” the man grumbled, finally getting annoyed. “Just throw over your wallet and mobile phone and you won’t get hurt,” he demanded, pulling a knife from his coat.
“Listen mate,” I sighed, drawing extra emphasis on the word ‘mate’. “I’ve already been in one fight today. I really don’t need another.”
He balked at me slightly. This show of defiance obviously wasn’t the reaction he’d expected from a little kid like me.
“You see the knife, right?” he said in a raised voice, taking a step forward. This obviously wasn’t going to his script.
“Yeah, I see it,” I confirmed, “and if you take another step I’m going to take it off you.”
“Big talk for a small kid,” he snarled.
He took several more steps forward, obviously about to attempt bodily harm.
“I’m going to enjoy wiping the smile off your face,” he sneered as he rushed forward.
There was a good ten metres or so before he’d get close enough to strike but I obviously didn’t intend for him to get that close.
My encounter with Mark Constance that afternoon had taught me one thing – don’t let an opponent get close enough to hit you. This is actually a fairly fundamental truth in hand to hand combat. I had taken several martial arts classes through school. The main thing they always tell you is that if someone attacks you with a knife then you need to do whatever you have to do to get away. No matter how good you think you are – you’re going to get cut. Your skill just determines how bad that cut will be.
The technique I’ve been told is to wrap your jacket around your arm and use it to attempt to take the first swipe and then hope like hell that you’re faster than his second strike.
Fortunately I had other options.
With a quick flick of my wrist I sent out a mana thread around the blade of the knife. I quickly pulled it effortlessly from my assailant’s fingers. He had obviously not expected any kind of resistance as the knife slid free. My assailant let out a startled curse. He obviously thought he’d dropped the knife by accident.
His curse turned into a stran
gled yelp as the knife slowly curved its downwards motion and flew into my out-stretched hands. I stepped forward to meet the blade as I reversed its direction and allowed the blade handle to slide into my hand.
My assailant at this point became a victim to the laws of physics. It’s impossible to simultaneously rush forwards to attack someone whilst at the same time flee in terror. With a horrified look he fell on his back with his knees scrambling as he attempted to pull himself away from me.
I continued my steady walk forward, which caused him to scramble crab-like against one of the alley walls. He frantically pulled himself up and attempted to press himself through the wall behind him. He looked terrified.
His eyes widened, glued to the knife that I now held lightly in my fingers. I opened my fingers with a mocking smile. I heard a sharp exhale of breath from my foe as I used the mana to direct the knife, point first, towards my terrified attacker who was now paralysed with fear.
He let out a horrified gasp as the blade of the knife pressed slowly against the side of his throat.
“You were saying?” I murmured, allowing my head to tilt slightly in a mocking fashion. I still stood about four or five metres away, my hand held up before me and a quizzical expression on my face.
His only response was a slight croak, his eyes darting wildly between the knife point and me.
“Speak up!” I demanded.
He jerked slightly at my raised voice with his hands pressed firmly against the wall behind him. He looked frantically down the alley towards the main road. He was obviously looking for someone to help him.
“It’s as you said to me before,” I confirmed with some satisfaction. “There is no-one to help you.”
“Are you going to kill me?” His voice raised slightly higher as he realised that he might not want to know the answer to the question.
“That depends,” I replied. “Why should I show you the mercy that you wouldn’t show me?”
“Don’t hurt me!” he pleaded as tears began to stream from his eyes.
“You were going to stab me,” I pressed, feeling little sympathy. “You followed me into this alley with the express purpose of stabbing me.”
“No! I just wanted your money! You have to believe me! I wouldn’t have stabbed you!” he pleaded, his panic finally giving him the power of speech beyond a hushed squeak.
“I have trouble believing that.” My eyes were cold.
“It’s the truth, I swear!” he wailed. “I just wanted your wallet and phone! That’s all!”
“Okay,” I shrugged, “let’s say I believe you, what do you think I should do with you now?”
He didn’t answer, just looked at me with pleading eyes. Fear was literally pouring off him now and tears were freely running down his face.
“Drop your phone and wallet on the ground,” I ordered harshly.
He looked up at me hopefully and began to rummage through his coat pockets. To my amazement two wallets and three phones dropped to the ground.
“I have trouble believing that all those phones are yours,” I stated dryly.
He croaked again as I slid the knife slowly up his throat – forcing him to raise his head. Then I placed the tip of the blade just at the joint between his jaw and his neck.
“They’re not mine,” he whimpered pathetically. “Please don’t kill me.”
“I don’t know if I can afford that luxury,” I whispered, just softly enough so that he could hear me. “After all, you’ve seen my face.”
“I saw nothing!” he promised. “It’s dark here! There’s no way I’d recognise you again!”
“If you tell anyone what happened tonight, I will find you and make you wish that I hadn’t. Do you understand?”
He squeaked another affirmative.
“Just let me go, man,” he pleaded, trying to simultaneously talk but not move his jaw at all.
“I’m still not sure I should, and I’m sure at least three other people would agree with me,” I continued, gesturing to the pile of phones and wallets at his feet.
“If I get out of this alive, I’ll never mug another person again in my life,” he swore. “I promise.”
In truth I really didn’t want to hurt him. But I also really didn’t want him to blab about what had happened here to anyone.
He shook his head very gently from side to side, which was actually kind of impressive considering he really couldn’t move his neck that much.
“You will never speak of this and you’ll never mug anyone again?” I asked, as if I was trying to make up my mind.
“I swear,” he whispered far too quickly.
“You have to mean it,” I hissed as the stress of the situation finally got to me. I wanted this over and I wanted it over now.
“I swear! Just let me go!” he repeated, louder this time.
I let the knife fall to the ground and took several steps back, allowing him a clear path to exit the alley.
“Then, go,” I ordered. I kept my eyes on him in case he tried anything stupid.
I had a mana thread raised and ready to smack him back into the wall should he attempt anything. I didn’t particularly want to use it though as if I did hit him, he’d probably not survive an attack at this range.
To his credit he didn’t even look at me. He simply ran as fast as he could down the alley. I left the knife on the ground but recovered the wallets and phones. I’d deposit them at a police station, claiming I’d found them in the trash.
I took a few seconds to calm down before I attempted my next move. I grinned to myself with some degree of dark amusement. If my assailant was watching the alley waiting for me to come out then he’d be disappointed as I did not intend to leave the alley that way. I didn’t think it was likely he was waiting. It was more than likely that he was still running.
I could have had quite a career in law enforcement with these powers. In fact I wondered if this was how superhero crime fighters in comic books felt when they first began their careers. I shook my head sadly as I realised that this wasn’t a comic book and I was most definitely not a superhero.
I had no inclination to ever place myself in a situation like that ever again and I’d question the sanity of anyone who would knowingly seek out such situations. I was no hero – I saw no reason to risk my life for others too stupid to avoid situations like this.
I latched a mana thread onto the roof of the building in front of me and launched myself into the air. I quickly gained momentum and latched myself onto the roof. I was amazed at how easy it had become. I pulled myself on to the roof and turned back to see if anyone had noticed my ascent.
Confident that I hadn’t been spotted I took a moment to look around. From my vantage point I could see the street below and watched as people walked past, unaware of the fact that they were being observed. In actual fact I could see most of the block.
There were several larger buildings further down the street that would allow me an even better view. It took several more jumps before I was in what I’d considered to be an ideal position. I was perched on top of Flinders Street Station.
The view was amazing.
I could see far along the river line and down across the casino and waterfront areas. The view facing towards the city was a little more restricted. If it weren’t for the buildings directly in front of me I’d have had an unobstructed view of pretty much the whole city. Fortunately direct line of sight wasn’t required by the awareness spell. The point of the spell was to be able to see through walls in the first place.
Yes, this spot was perfect.
I took a few seconds to ready myself. This was going to be very interesting. The largest awareness detonation I’d accomplished so far was only about fifty metres. I’d had thought that large enough at the time. This time, however, I wanted to make it as large as possible to increase the chances of catching Renee within its reach.
This was going to dwarf anything I’d attempted before.
I breathed in as I built the mana wit
hin me. The feeling of mana intoxication washed over me and pulsed from my chest and down into my arms. I built the mana into a small but potent ball of power in front of me. I filled the sphere with more energy. I watched with satisfaction as it grew in size. I noted with pride that I was having no trouble with the stability of the sphere as I enlarged it. It was already twice the size of what I’d previously thought was possible. This isn’t to say that it wasn’t causing me some strain. Keeping the mana flowing from my body in such a fashion was taking a heavy toll. I was sweating profusely and my breath came in gasps as I struggled to maintain the vortex of power before me.
The best way to describe the strain I was under would be to compare the process to attempting to blow up a balloon underwater. It’s a delicate balancing act between power – your breath, and the external force – the water.
I’d reached the apex of what I considered to be my limits when I released the mana. The shockwave of the blast sent me reeling backwards. I hadn’t expected such force from the charge. I watched the mana charge as it absorbed the street below and then the next street. It didn’t look like it was slowing down much as it made its way through the Melbourne streets. The wave passed over the street and people going about their night’s activities. As the wave passed over each person they began to glow with an unearthly blue light.
It was fortunate that only my kind could see the light created by the mana or I would have created chaos on the streets. I watched with increasing curiosity and amazement as I could now see several people far below the street level. I guessed that they were standing on a train platform in one of the city loop subway train stations. Several couples were obviously in conversation as they took the escalator down to the platform. I noticed with amusement that a discreet couple were making out in what I assumed to be a broom closet.
The mana charge still showed no sign of slowing and I watched with flabbergasted disbelief as the charge quickly consumed several more street blocks. If anything it appeared to be gaining in momentum.
In a few more city blocks it would have consumed the entire CBD. I was giddy with elation as I watched the mana charge expand, my eyes searching out for the tell-tale sign of a mana user within the charge. I had found no-one yet. I waited for a few more seconds as the mana charge did indeed consume the entire Central Business District and felt the first tremors of doubt. I couldn’t see her. Renee wasn’t in the city. This made the whole exercise a little more than an elegant and excessive waste of time. I watched with amusement as it impacted the sides of the apartment buildings and allowed me a voyeuristic glimpse of people in their homes. I could see them sleeping in their beds, watching their TVs and going about their everyday lives.
Mage Catalyst Page 17
