“They tell me the car accident during our final year was caused by someone called Vincent,” Tina continued, her voice turning steely, “and that he was like you.”
“Yes.”
“I thought I had caused it,” her voice was hard.
“I know,” I sighed, “I did try to tell you it wasn’t your fault.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I had to run away, I thought that I would bring more danger onto you guys.”
“You ruined my life.”
Four simple words, yet they contained so much bitterness and anger. As much as I wanted to deny the truth of these words, I couldn’t. She was right; I had ruined her life. I had taken an honours student with a bright and promising future and destroyed all that.
“I hate you,” she whispered.
“You have every right.” I sighed.
I’m not sure why Tina had held out to see me. She certainly hadn’t seemed like she had wanted to talk. Perhaps she had simply wanted to see if what she had been told was truth, perhaps she had merely wished to tell me that she despised me. I didn’t blame her. I despised myself.
* * * * * *
Later that day I was taken from the station and told we were going to an airport to meet someone. They didn’t say whom, but I assumed they were bringing me because they were expecting trouble. Great, my duties as a hired thug had begun.
I had no idea where the airport was located; it took several hours to arrive there by car. I’d never spent much time in rural Victoria, with the notable exception of my stay in Omeo. Levenson had been unwilling to tell me where we were going. I could have used Scry to determine our exact location, but Levenson had been explicit – don’t use your powers. He needn’t have worried though, I knew how to remain off the grid.
It had been some time since I had done any notable distance travelling by car and by the second hour I was getting quite impatient. Had they told me where we were going, I could have arranged to meet them there, I suspect this might have been why he had refused to tell me the location in the first place.
After what seemed like a day of travel we arrived and were ushered through the main gates. The complex appeared to be a small, armed military camp. The perimeter was lined with barbed wire fences and watch-towers. This was obviously a military airstrip. That was an interesting development.
Our car turned into one of the hangers and pulled up next to a small passenger jet. I gripped the sides of the seat as I recognised the person standing next to the jet. The Mana unconsciously flared up along my arms and I had to clench my fingers into a fist to maintain control. The urge to strike was almost over powering. I wasn’t here to protect someone I was here to meet someone.
Marcus.
A ghostly voice in the back of my head whispered “You will kill Marcus Devereaux”. Victor’s compulsion. It was still with me. I had hoped that it had been removed with the attempt on Marcus’s life in Paris. Unfortunately, no such luck. The only upside was that it now seemed far weaker. Even so, it still took some effort to ignore it.
When I exited the car I could see a shield firmly around the Arch Mage. He was obviously expecting trouble, or more likely he had noticed my reaction in the car. I breathed out as I calmly walked over to the group. Victor’s words echoed again throughout my head, but I was able to put it to the back of my mind.
Marcus nodded to me as I approached and let his shield down. It seemed that he had expected me to attack on sight or not at all. He smiled at me and moved over to shake my hand.
As I grasped his hand I vaguely wondered if I could end the whole conflict by striking Marcus down now. True that would leave Victor in control, but I had doubts that Marcus as Primea would be any less catastrophic.
The urge to strike was almost overpowering. The last time I had fought him I had been on the verge of complete physical and mental breakdown, this time I was in full control of my powers. It was possible that I could end this now. The problem was, I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. What would the consequences of killing Marcus be? I didn’t know.
Marcus must have guessed what was going through my head as he gave me a wry smile and a nod. It was almost a challenge. “Try it,” his eyes whispered to me. He seemed almost disappointed when I shrugged and forcibly brought the Mana under control.
“I wasn’t sure if the compulsion had been removed,” Marcus began in way of greeting, “hence why we’re meeting in such a remote location – less collateral damage.”
“You weren’t worried about your jet being damaged?” I smirked.
“Never occurred to me actually,” Marcus shrugged, “besides it’s not mine.”
“The jet belongs to Division 7,” Levenson said. Marcus just shrugged as if this was inconsequential.
“I was glad to hear that you recovered from your burn out,” Marcus continued, “I was confident that you would though.”
I shrugged and didn’t answer. I was trying to figure out the dynamic of the group. Levenson and Marcus weren’t quite acting as henchman and Master. Some strange interplay of power was going on between them, but it was impossible as to who thought himself in control. If I had to bet I’d have guessed that they both thought they were the one running things.
“The compulsion is still intact,” I said conversationally as I turned to walk towards the jet. I’ve always been amazed at how large these things seem when you’re standing next to them.
“Indeed?” Marcus said lightly. I could tell that he was worried though, his Mana signature gave him away. It rose sharply in response to my words.
“Not as strong as before, but still there. I’ve got it under control.”
“As long as you don’t act on it,” Marcus nodded crisply as he brought his own mana under control, “that’s what’s important.”
“…Wouldn’t dream of it.” I assured him. Even to my ears I didn’t sound sincere.
“James tells me that you’ve agreed to help us,” Marcus said, referring to Levenson.
“Hardly had a choice – if you’re going to kidnap my friends,” I said bitterly.
Marcus raised an eyebrow at Levenson. Perhaps Marcus hadn’t been aware of that fact. I had assumed that Marcus had planned the whole thing and that Levenson was merely acting as the hatchet man. From Marcus’s reaction that didn’t seem to be the case.
Levenson shrugged, “Seemed the most appropriate way to ensure his co-operation.”
“Well, it worked,” I grunted.
“If you had joined me when you were first offered the chance,” Marcus said, “none of this would have been necessary.”
“I really don’t understand why you need me so badly. It seems that you have all the tools necessary without me.”
“Because up until very recently you were probably the only one who would be able to reign in your cousin.”
“Sister,” I corrected.
Marcus looked at me in amazement. He seemed less than impressed by this development. No doubt this new information made things more difficult for him. Good.
“Half-sister,” I amended quickly. The correction didn’t seem to help much. “ Why recruit me now? I can tell you know that Allie won’t listen to me.”
“We assumed as much after all the property damage the two of you have been responsible for recently.”
“Why does Allie factor so largely into your designs?”
“Because Victor will utilise her to take out his opposition. Neutralising her before he is established will allow us to take him on directly.”
It made a strange sense. Victor would have turned her into an assassin. It was a role that he had planned for me, but when I had refused and had turned against him, he had turned to my sister. I remembered the speed with which Allie had launched into an attack when I had confronted her at the university campus. She had certainly shown no compunctions about killing me. I had originally attributed that to rage over her dead friend, but maybe that wasn’t correct. Maybe she didn’t have any doubts about killing me,
because she had killed before. I breathed out slowly and clenched my fists. She could very well have become the monster that Victor had planned for me to be.
But something didn’t ring true. “I still don’t see why you can’t handle Victor without getting Allie involved.”
“Too risky,” Levenson said. “She’s too powerful and is known to associate with Mages aligned with Victor.”
“Like that boy on campus when I first met her?” I asked, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, “I assumed he was a guard, but he was far too weak for that. Who was he?”
“We’re not entirely sure,” Levenson said, “His name was Justin Mitchell – he was a student at the university up until very recently. We didn’t know for certain that he had Mana potential, but we suspected as much. We assumed that he was romantically linked with your sister.”
“He was,” I grunted sourly. I didn’t much like this subject. I had killed people before, but this one struck home. This one had been an unnecessary death. He had been no threat to me – had I been thinking more clearly or acted more quickly it could have been avoided.
“You are there to simply ensure that she is contained,” Marcus said. “Once she’s out of the equation we can deal with Victor.”
“When do we do this?”
Levenson answered. “Not for a few days.”
“Why not deal with her now? She’s in Melbourne, we’re in Melbourne. We could recover her now.”
“We’re not ready now.” Levenson said. That seemed to settle that argument.
“Why aren’t you doing this?” I asked Marcus.
“I assumed that you would prefer to handle this yourself,” Marcus replied blandly. “If things get out of control. I will take steps.” The threat hung in the air.
“Once your sister has been recovered, we will take you both to a remote location,” Levenson said.
This made sense. Our fight had pretty much ruined any chance of Allie being able to live here undisturbed anyway. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was whether Marcus trusted me enough to hold up my end of the deal once my sister was recovered. He may have had a point. I cared nothing for his war, I simply wanted Allie kept safe.
“I don’t care what you do with her afterwards,” Marcus said to Levenson angrily, “I only care that it happens soon, before Victor has a chance to spirit her out of here.”
“She lives though. We take her alive,” I said darkly. This was non-negotiable.
“Of course,” Marcus nodded quickly, “our main priority is with her Master.”
“…and have you figured out how you’re going to deal with him, given he’s practically immortal,” I muttered snidely. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this one bit.
“The magic sustaining him will only function while it is allowed to do so,” Marcus said. “Any sort of disruption at the point of injury and the Mana will not be able to revive him.”
“So we hit him with a disrupt spell and then kill him.” I finished softly.
“It’s a little more complicated than that. I haven’t been idle since we last met. I’m confident I can end the regenerative effect.”
I assumed he had come to this conclusion after reading the books I had taken from Victor’s experimentation facility. This was at least good news for Karl, the prisoner I had met there. I hadn’t thought about him for a long time and I felt a little guilty about that. If this worked, perhaps I could return and end his torment after this was done with. This assumed of course, that I was still alive to do so. I was so distracted by making my own plans that I nearly missed what Levenson said next.
“We know that Alisha isn’t staying at her apartment. Your altercation has obviously spooked her. She’s staying in university accommodation. We believe in Mr Mitchell’s room. ”
“So how do you plan on getting her out of there? I’d imagine those accommodation buildings are packed with students.”
“We have arranged for a student event that will hopefully minimise the amount of student interference.”
“What is this event?”
“A fund raiser for the university,” Marcus said.
“How many people will be attending this… fundraiser?”
“Many,” Marcus grinned darkly. He found this amusing, the bastard.
“You don’t see this as a problem.”
“No, actually,” Levenson interjected. “Your sister is unlikely to attend the event, but most of her fellow students probably will. Allowing us a chance to remove her from the dormitory without interruption.”
Well, that made sense at least. I didn’t like it though. It was dependent upon an awful lot of factors. This could go really badly, really quickly.
“You’re only there if things get out of hand, to ensure a minimal amount of collateral damage.” Levenson continued.
“Collateral damage?” I queried.
“If things should turn for the worse. You are to lead your sister away from the university grounds where she can be dealt with without onlookers.”
“You’re taking an awfully big chance here,” I said.
Marcus nodded grimly. “You’re right. I’d have just had her killed.” I gritted my teeth as I glared at the man.
“It would be easier,” Marcus continued, ignoring my death stare, “I don’t particularly care for the girl. Removing her is merely one less weapon available to my enemy.”
“Duly noted,” I grunted unimpressed.
Marcus didn’t comment further.
“The aim here isn’t to create a disruption,” Levenson repeated, but I wasn’t sure who he was directing this to. “We go in with a team, recover the girl and get out.”
“I’m going to be part of this team?” I queried curiously.
“Let’s say you’re just there to keep the team alive,” Marcus interjected.
“In the event that things don’t go to plan, you will be there to ensure that our team gets out intact,” Levenson continued briskly.
“Why aren’t you using drones for this?” Using live people sounded awfully risky. If things went sour people could get hurt.
“Drones?” Levenson said. I believe he thought I was referring to the American tactical jets. It was interesting to note that he didn’t know about Marcus’s forays into the realm of Necromancy.
“That’s not a conversation for now,” Marcus grunted. It was obvious that he was less than pleased with me for suggesting that. It did seem more practical though, a team of Drones could go in and take the fire. I’d seen just firsthand how effective they were at taking shots.
“Drones?” Levenson repeated angrily.
“Doesn’t matter,” I shrugged. I didn’t particularly want to explain the concept. Levenson’s face squinted slightly as he glanced between us. I had no interest in explaining just what kind of monster that he had decided to do business with. At least until after he had helped me recover Allie.
I didn’t like this. There were simply too many things that could wrong with sending armed soldiers into student accommodation. This wasn’t filling me with confidence. There was no need to risk anyone else in this. I could go in, recover Allie and then get out via teleport.
“No,” I said “I’ll go alone.”
“Like hell you will,” Levenson snapped. “We’re already very well aware of what happened the last time you tried to talk to your sister. If you think I’m letting you anywhere near the general public without some assurances you’re very mistaken.”
“And you think your ‘team’” I said, twisting the word, “will help you should things go bad?”
“That’s not the point,” Levenson said. “She needs to be recovered and arrested by non-Mages. Anything else will bring the wrong kind of attention and there’s already too much of that.”
“How can you even be assured that she will be there? She’s probably already on the run from the cops.”
“She’s not,” Levenson replied blandly.
“Why not?”
“Because she’s under orders
from Victor to stay in Melbourne.” Marcus said.
“Why?”
“Because he assumes that it’s the one place that you won’t go, I don’t know,” Marcus snapped angrily, “it’s not important.”
“Very well,” I replied softly, “I’ve only got one question left. Why now?”
“The Primea has died.”
Marcus’s words were soft and factual. As if he were simply repeating a truth and not relating the fact that one of his parents had died.
“There was evidence to suggest that Victor may have been behind my mother’s death.” Marcus continued, “Perhaps even her sickness in the first place.”
Marcus’s eyes didn’t reveal the pain that he must be feeling at relating his mother’s death. The man’s face was a mask that showed nothing. It could have been made out of bronze for all the emotion he revealed. This was typical of the man, he rarely showed any form of emotion, but I had to assume that he would grieve for the passing of his parents. This didn’t seem to be the case.
The Primea’s death was a little suspect. She had always seemed frail, so it was plausible that old age had been the cause of her death, but I knew from experience just how clever Victor was when it came to exploiting the human body. The kind of sickness that would keep her weak and malleable for years sounded just like the type of thing that he would do. It was a little also suspicious that she died shortly after Victor had thought that Marcus was killed.
“He is going to pay,” Marcus finished softly, “Victor thinks I am dead. He will be careless and won’t see it when I come for him.”
At last the mask broke and I could see the man behind. It hadn’t been loss or grief that had broken the façade. It had been his talk of vengeance. Once the mask had fallen the hurt behind his words was almost palpable. For a few seconds I almost felt sorry for him. Until I realised that his quest for revenge could very well consume me, Allie, Renee or anyone that got swept up in its wake.
“You’re planning something that could lead to an open fire fight in a very open and very crowded area. Non Mages are going to get hurt.” I accused, I wasn’t overly comfortable with this whole situation. Something was definitely off – It seemed too simple, too easy. The problem was that I couldn’t figure out what I wasn’t being told.
Mage Dissolution Page 24
