Magi Saga 2: Shadows of Darkness (24 page)

By beating this man half to death, had she lowered herself to the Nomads standards, using violence as the answer to this situation? She wanted to save these kids, she needed them to trust her and feel safe while she got them to some help. Being covered in blood would not help that.

She’d done enough, she’d spent that anger, she’d found the payback she wanted, now she needed to do some good.

Liz had been trying to release the kids, but had been finding it difficult.

Amanda looked back to Celest.

‘Sure, I can help. Will you… take out the trash?’ She gestured at the Scion.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him,’ Celest said, ‘you just worry about these kids and the girls downstairs. Get them out of here and do not worry about me. I can take care of myself.’

Amanda nodded at the taller woman.

‘Will I see you again sometime?’

‘Maybe,’ said Celest.

‘Well, if you’re ever in the New York Area, stop by,’ Amanda said, offering her hand.

Celest shook it.

‘I will.’

Amanda and Liz made short work of freeing the children and quickly took them out of the room before Celest shifted form to take her own revenge.

It seems that a rival gang raided a house on the outskirts of Medellin last night, killing one of the Cartel Bosses and freeing more than 20 children and teenagers, effectively ending one of the most shocking cases of human trafficking law enforcement has ever seen.

Some local good Samaritans found the children out on the streets and dropped them off at the local police station.

- Columbian News Report.

Pit Fight

May 20
th

New York

Amanda stood in her main living room in front of the fire place, facing the men and women who all sat or stood before her. She’d gathered her friends here this morning after a busy night in Columbia and a few hours’ sleep on her return before people started to arrive. Getting a shower after the events in Columbia had been bliss, and she felt much more at home now she wore her ripped bootcut jeans, trainers and fitted white top. 

‘…and that brings us up to this morning. So, as you can see, we’ve had a fairly eventful few weeks here in New York with Lucian and his Coven,’ Amanda said.

They were all friends in here, and now all of them knew everything that had happened with Lucian while they had been here, as well as any useful background information.

Yoh and Maya sat next to each other on a Sofa to her left, Yoh sat forward, his elbows on his knees looking nervous in his white suit and black shirt, while Maya sat back, relaxed and calm wearing black jeans and a black turtle neck jumper. She always looked beautiful to Amanda, her Dark hair cascading in waves down over her shoulders, framing her alabaster face and deep dark eyes. She could see why Yoh had taken a shine to her recently. Her beauty mixed with her also being a Scion had proved compelling to him.

Gentle Water stood behind the sofa directly in front of her in his customary jeans and shirt, his posture formal, but Amanda knew him to be relaxed. In front of him sat Raven, in Combats and vest top, his long black hair tied back, looking thoughtful and relaxed. Liz sat next to him in cream leggings and a baggy jumper, she had her feet up on the sofa, her knees tucked up tight to her body so she could wrap her arms around them. All of them looked more than a little shocked from Amanda’s description of the operation she took on alone in Columbia.

‘Are you crazy? You could have gotten yourself killed,’ said Yoh.

Amanda acknowledged the comment, giving him a nod and pursing her lips for a moment. Yoh spoke the truth, but what’s done is done, the mission had been a success and she stood before them now in the peak of physical health and unscathed, so she didn’t feel too bad.

‘That’s great Mandy, that’s a job well done,’ said Xain from where he sat next to Orion to Amanda’s right. Both wore black clothing that wouldn’t be out of place on a SWAT officer and both of them looked quite relaxed as they listened.

‘Thank you,’ What I did, needed doing, not least because I needed to bring back Liz, but also because I now understand the depths of depravity that Lucian will sink too. I always knew the Nomads were bad news, but these ones, they need to be stopped. It has gone on long enough and if we don’t take a stand now, who knows how many more lives they will ruin.’

‘That’s all fine Amanda, and I agree with you that he needs stopping, but the American Arcadians have tried time and again to stop him, and every time they try, they have failed,’ Yoh said.

‘And why have they failed?’ Amanda asked, putting emphasis on the why.

Yoh twisted to speak more to the group than to just Amanda, taking it as an opportunity to get everyone up to speed on this.

‘Lucian is part of a larger network of Nomads. His ultimate master is Nymira, also known as the Voodoo Queen. She controls much of Central America and the Islands there, Haiti and Jamaica etc. Nymira has her own Coven and several Coven’s of Nomads she directly sponsors. Beyond them, numerous Nomad Covens reside in the area and swear loyalty to her. Lucian’s Coven is one of the Sponsored ones and is probably the most remote one that Nymira has her claws into. Whenever we have tried to take out Lucian, he simply calls in Nymira and the other Covens who come to their aid. Within moments of us attacking, we’re swarmed with Nomads who don’t care about innocent lives.’

I agree, we cannot fight the full might of Nymira’s army. But we won’t,’ Amanda said.

‘And what make you think that?’ Yoh asked.

‘Look. Everything you have said to me since arriving about how he deals with Arcadians has suggested that he’s been ruthless with them. He kills them quickly at the first chance he has, right?’

‘That’s right,’ Yoh answered.

‘So why not me? He’s had plenty of chances. I’ve even tried to provoke him but he won’t do it, he won’t hurt me. Why?’

‘Yasmin,’ said Gentle Water calmly.

‘What?’ said Liz.

‘Yasmin?’ said Yoh.

‘That’s right, and yes, I do mean that Yasmin. She visited here yesterday, she told us where to find you,’ Amanda said, looking at Liz, ‘and as good as confirmed that she was stopping Lucian hurting me.’

‘But, why would she do that?’ Yoh asked.

‘That’s a good question, and honestly I don’t know. But, I think that this gives up an unprecedented opportunity so it does,’ Amanda said.

‘Because he won’t call for back up, Xain said.

‘That’s right. He will be forced to deal with us on his own, for the first time ever as Coven master here in New York. Which means he’s vulnerable.’

‘Are you sure about this?’ Yoh said.

‘I’m as sure as I can be, but ultimately there’s only one way to really be sure.’

‘We’re in,’ said Xain, jumping in, Orion nodded next to him.

Amanda smiled, she liked their enthusiasm.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘The target is the PIT Club, his base of operations, and using a contact I have made I can get into the Club by a back door. We’ll be able to bypass his Aegis and take him by surprise.’

‘Unless it’s a trap,’ said Yoh.

‘Unless it’s a trap,’ said Amanda. ‘Yasmin is a Nomad after all and we all know how much they lie. But, I’m going. After seeing all that in Columbia, seeing those innocent lives being ruined by their depravity, to me, the risk is worth it. I can’t guarantee your safety, but I am asking for your help on this. You don’t have to come. I know the risks involved, this will be a dangerous mission, so please, think about your answer. Who wants to come with me?’

Orion and Xain raised their hands, to which Amanda nodded, acknowledging them. Yoh sat back and looked at everyone else.

‘I’ll be there for you,’ said Gentle Water, ‘I’ll do it.’

‘Thank you,’ said Amanda.

‘Me too,’ said Raven.

‘Count me in,’ said Liz.

‘Are you sure Liz, with what you have been through you might want to…’

‘No! I’m going. I need to do this, she said.

Amanda looked at her for a moment. She seemed basically unscathed by her kidnapping, in fact she seemed stronger, more determined than ever before to forge ahead. Amanda felt proud of her, she’d come a long way this past year and a half, and the fact that she wanted to head right back into the Lion’s den after her kidnapping, spoke volumes.

Amanda smiled at her apprentice.

‘Then you’re in,’ she said to Liz.

Maya raised her hand and nodded, to which Amanda smiled, before her gaze came to a rest on Yoh. He’d sat back in his chair and looked at Amanda and then around the room at the others. Most of them looked back at him, waiting for his answer.

He sighed and sat forward.

‘OK, I’m in. Let’s do this.’ Yoh said finally.

Amanda walked ahead as they passed in single file through one of the cities sewers.

Beneath New York lay a maze of tunnels, sewers, subway tunnels and their attendant service passageways. People lived down here. A whole community of the forgotten had found a life and even friends in the darkness which hadn’t existed for them above ground. Over the decades, they had made their own changes and modifications, adding connecting tunnels, walkways and more.

In a world where the supernatural existed, this subterranean world became a natural home. Shaun, as disfigured as he was, probably found a better life down here, away from the revealing light of the sun.

Shaun had given Amanda directions, and they walked along a connecting stretch of sewer with a makeshift walkway that kept you out of the raw sewage that bobbed along beneath you.

‘Had I known we’d be walking through shit Amanda, I might have had second thoughts about this,’ said Liz.

‘Well, fair play to ya. But I had no idea that the directions would lead through here either.’

The tunnel stank, nearly making Amanda retch with the stench. She’d already heard a couple of the others nearly bringing up their breakfast.

Moments later they stepped through a hole in a brick wall and dropped down into a tunnel that looked like some sunken factory or service tunnel. Amanda walked along here for a little while with everyone following behind her before coming to an iron door. She looked at it for a moment, and eventually found the small distinguishing mark that Shaun had told her about.

‘This is it,’ she said, and stepped up to the door. She knocked a few times and waited. Nearly a minute later the sound of heavy metal bolts sliding from their locks could be heard as someone unlocked the door. It swung wide and from the shadows Shaun’s face appeared.

‘Top of the mornin’ to ya, what’s the craic?’ Amanda said, emphasising her Irish accent.

‘You brought your mates I see,’ he said.

‘Of course, it wouldn’t be a party without them,’ Amanda joked.

‘I suppose not. You had better come in.’

Shaun led them through another dark tunnel, filled with junk piled up on both sides before they stepped through another doorway into Shaun’s disused subway platform home. Although dirty and dark, they did seem to keep the place as clean as realistically possible. There were still a few piles of junk here and there, but the place certainly seemed to be liveable. The lack of fresh air and sunlight didn’t agree with Amanda and she felt she would probably go a bit stir crazy living somewhere without windows. But Shaun and his assistant were apparently happy here. Looking round the room Amanda noted that there were three beds, not two. Amanda could fairly easily pick out the one that Shaun slept on, and she felt sure she knew which would be Vanessa’s, but the other one, if she had to guess, looked like a young mans bed, judging by the posters and other items on and around it.

Amanda looked back to Shaun, who had been looking at Amanda as she scanned the space.

‘Yes, there used to be three of us in here,’ Shaun said.

Amanda glanced back at the vacant bed, and then back to Shaun.

‘Lucian?’ she asked.

Shaun nodded. ‘He shot him, for no other reason than just being angry at… well, angry at you.’

‘Me?’

‘Your arrival here and Yasmin’s ban on him killing you, you’ve pissed him off,’ he said.

‘Bleedin’ hell I knew it! I knew she had banned him from hurting me,’ she said.

‘Seems our suspicions were correct Amanda,’ said Gentle Water.

‘Apparently so. The mystery deepens,’ she said.

‘You want to get into the Pit now?’ Shaun asked.

‘That would be grand,’ Amanda said.

‘This way then,’ he said, and led the way towards another doorway. Vanessa watched them go, eyeing Amanda as she passed by her.

During the previous forty five minute walk through the tunnels to reach Shaun’s hideout Amanda and the others had taken the time to fuel their Magical shields and basically get themselves ready for the fight ahead.

With Shaun taking them through the last stretch of tunnel now towards the Pit club and it’s underground complex of rooms and corridors that served as the home of Lucian and his Coven, Amanda started to feel a bit nervous. Lucian and his Coven were going to be the most dangerous group of Magi she had ever faced. She’d been careless and a little rash during her siege of the mansion in Columbia, and she had nearly paid the price for that when Joaquin surprised her. Luckily Celest had been there for her when she had needed it, but that wouldn’t always be the case.

She wondered about Celest now. After the fight she and Liz had concentrated on getting the children and the teenage girls out of the building and into the hands of the relevant authorities. When they had returned to find Celest, just before the police took control of the building, Celest had gone.

She’d wanted to thank her for her help, but clearly Celest had a lot on her mind and didn’t want to spend any more time in that building than she had too.

Amanda understood that and had silently wished her the best of luck.

Taking her friends with her to take on Lucian had been the obvious choice, storming in there alone would have been foolish, to say the least.

As they turned another corner, passing through another dark corridor, Amanda could now feel the huge and powerful Aegis that surrounded the Pit Club. The huge Magical barrier extended underground, all the way around basement floors that they were now approaching, and as they traversed this last stretch of tunnel, Amanda could make out a doorway ahead.

Moments later Shaun stopped in front of it and waited for the group to all catch up and pull in close.

‘This is it. This is where I leave you. Beyond this door is the Pit Club. You’re on Sub level 3 of five that serve as the Coven’s Sepulchre. You’ll have to find your own way from here on in. I wish you the best of luck,’ Shaun said.

‘Thank you. You’re one in a million, I won’t forget this,’ said Amanda as he unlocked the deadbolts in the door.