Magi Saga 1: Epic Calling (16 page)

She knew that Yasmin had just arrived here from visiting with Lucian, no doubt checking to see if the cities resident Nomad knew anything about Amanda’s Epiphany in the alleyway below.

She could no doubt feel the energies that pervaded the area, the emotions of fear and fury as well as the disturbed energy from the violent epiphany of a Magi.

Moments later Essentia flared once more as Yasmin worked her Magic, the Magical energy surged about, rushing in and away from Yasmin as it fluoresced.

The figure recognised the Magic, she could feel the nature of the spell being wrought, and knew that Yasmin could see the scene of Amanda being attacked by Horlack. Looking back in time, Yasmin could see the events playing themselves out before her, confirming that it was indeed Amanda that had been here that night.

The figure winced slightly as she watched Yasmin use Time Magic, just in case it brought a Weaver, but the Nomad seemed to get away with it.

Yasmin’s feelings leaked into the surroundings, a feeling of shock followed swiftly by acceptance and determination.

No doubt Yasmin would be putting two and two together as she watched this, she would be linking the dig in Egypt with information from her informants and finally all that information to this event and Horlack himself.

Yasmin cut the spell, the Essentia dissipated, the glow faded and its movement slowed, the flow of Essentia returning to a semblance of normality.

The figure knew that Yasmin had been waiting for this day for a long time. She knew what this meant to her, how important it was. Amanda was now a Magi, she’d had her Epiphany which meant things were finally starting to happen. The event which Yasmin had waited so long for, had happened, which in turn meant that Yasmin’s plans would now start to progress, and eventually reach fruition.

The figure watched as Yasmin turned and looked at the wall and the burn mark etched upon it. Yasmin reached up and touched the wall, and quickly pulled her hand away.

The figure knew very well what Yasmin had felt, which made the figure smile to herself. She watched as Yasmin took one final look around, before Essentia flared once more and rushed into the spot where Yasmin had stood a second before. Yasmin had ported away, leaving the alleyway empty once more.

The figure loosened the tight control she’d kept over the Essentia around her for the past few minutes, control that had masked her presence from Yasmin, something very few Magi could successfully do. Satisfied with what she had seen tonight, the figure smiled, a second later there was a sudden snap of air, and the figure was gone too.

“Subject continued to wail and scream, Brother Macías was unable to bring forth any further details from the Warlock. We deemed it necessary to use more coercive tactics, and applied the use of the devices. The subject then began to talk. I asked the name of the Witch who we had observed as having been there with him that night, but again he protested, saying he would rather die. He went on to say she would find him and make him suffer. We applied the devices again, and in time he offered us the name of Yasmin the Dark. Despite further applications of the devices, we could get nothing further from him and he was placed in his cell. The following morning, Francis was dead, what little remained of him was splattered up one wall. The duty guard heard nothing all night and no one had been granted entry.“

Transcript from Witch trial of Francis Chastain

France, 1448

Hunted

Manhattan

Early September

Jade looked back over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of him again, half a block back, walking steadily, following her. She’d been rushing down the last few streets, passing along several blocks but he still managed to keep up with her. She felt really freaked out by this idiot. He’d been snooping about her and the girls for the last week or so now, harassing Renee first, but talking to Naomi and Jenny as well. He seemed really interested in her friends, Stuart and AJ.

She dodged round a few more people, walking as quickly as she could, or as quickly as her stupid heels allowed her too.

He’d been harassing her again today, trying to talk to her and driving her John’s away. She’d threatened him a few times, told him to get lost in no uncertain terms. He’d cost her business, and that never went down well with any working girl.

He scared her though, there had been something really creepy about him from the first time she met him, she couldn’t be sure what it was, but she knew she didn’t like it and didn’t want to meet him alone. She always felt more confident with her girlfriends to back her up.

She’d finished her nights work about half an hour ago and ten minutes into her walk home she’d spotted him behind her. She’d had a feeling someone had been watching her and seeing him there following her just confirmed her suspicions.

So she’d sped up, tried to get away, but somehow just hadn’t quite managed to shake him.

Home was quite close now, just a few more blocks, but she wanted to lose him before then. She didn’t want him hammering on her door. She redoubled her pace and got to the street corner just ahead as quickly as she could, nearly tripping herself up as she went. Just as she reached the corner she had a really strange feeling pass over her. She grabbed the nearby wall and steadied herself as her balance failed her for a brief moment, the world feeling like it suddenly tipped sideways and that the concrete wall beside her might collapse like flimsy paper.

It lasted for only one brief moment before everything felt normal once more. Remembering her predicament again she looked back up the street, but the man had gone.

A few people milled around, going about their business, but the stalker had disappeared. She checked the other side of the street, and then turned in a circle, looking all about her trying to find him, but he’d disappeared.

Jade frowned, she didn’t like this one little bit but maybe he’d just given up. Maybe he’d realised it wasn’t worth the effort. Who knew? One thing was for sure though, even though she wasn’t totally convinced he’d disappeared, a feeling of relief started to grow inside of her.

She looked around once more, before continuing on her way, still with a lingering, but slowly lessoning doubt.

She chose to take a somewhat roundabout route these next few blocks, passing through some switch backs and loops just to be sure she’d lost him.

She couldn’t see him anywhere though, he’d gone.

She had no idea why he would be so interested in Stuart and AJ, he’d died and she’d left on the same night, leaving them high and dry.

She had no idea what had happened, why Stuart had been killed and why AJ had disappeared that night. Georgina had left a few weeks before due to her illness, and she knew that AJ had not taken it well at all. She’d been devastated by what had happened to her best friend.

Jade didn’t know AJ well, they’d chatted from time to time and she always liked her. She’d always been friendly and kind to her and any friend of Georgina’s was a friend of hers.

There had always been a camaraderie between them, feeling like they were in this together. Supporting each other. They all had their friends, those they got on better with, but they were all under Stuarts protection and which meant they all felt a kind of kinship, and a sense of loyalty. You stuck up for your own and helped protect each other. AJ had always been close with Georgina and to a lesser extent, Stuart. AJ had not really befriended her and the others to the same extent. They knew each other to say hi and chat too, but they didn’t see each other away from their patch.

The night of Stuarts death, everything had changed. Life had been tough these past six months. They’d had it good for a few years, the last couple before Stuarts death had been some of the best they’d ever had. They’d not had any trouble from the police or the other Pimps or anything. It almost felt like AJ had been a lucky charm of some sort, keeping them out of trouble.

The death of Stuart had brought the Police snooping around and asking questions and generally making their usual patch pretty much unworkable.

They didn’t want to stay there anyway, that alleyway where Stuart had died had a really creepy vibe to it.

As far as she could tell, the Police thought there had been some kind of collapse, that the building had been weakened in that area and Stuart had been caught in the debris.

No one knew if AJ had been in the alleyway with him, no one had seen anything else, only that Amanda had disappeared only moments before.

Naomi wondered if AJ had done it, if she’d killed him or something? Maybe Stuart had been less than a gentleman towards her? But Jade couldn’t agree with that. She felt sure that AJ would never do anything like that.

She’d thought that AJ might follow Georgina over to Europe, where ever she’d gone too. She’d been somewhat anxious these past few weeks. No one liked doing this, no one liked working the streets, anyone that said otherwise was a liar, but she felt that AJ had been even more skittish since Georgie had left, almost as if she’d been desperate to get away. AJ had always tried to see the good in what they did, always tried to be optimistic about it, she’d loved that about her, the girls almost boundless zest for life had been kind of infectious.

It had been dulled for those last few weeks after Georgina had left, but that had been understandable.

She missed AJ and Georgie and Stuart, they had made this job almost fun at times. These days, things were not so good. They’d found a new patch, eventually after a number of run-ins with other working girls. They were nothing if not territorial and protective of their patch. They’d also had a few issues with potential new Pimps, most of which seemed to want to just get them hooked on the drugs they sold and take more than their fair share of the money.

They’d had it good with Stuart, dear god they’d had it good.

She looked up at her apartment block, and then looked around her, looking both ways down the street looking for that damn stalker.

He’d been sniffing about saying he was a Private Detective, a PI looking into the death of Stuart. She’d smelled a rat though, his whole demeanour, his strange accent and condescending attitude, not to mention that the incident had happened about six months ago.

Satisfied that the stalker had gone, she walked up the steps of the buildings stoop. She had an apartment in this tenement, several floors up with a crap view. They were not on a fashionable street, they were not in a nice area and the apartment could barely fit her in, let alone more than one person.

But the place was hers and for that she felt grateful.

As usual, a couple of teenagers in hoodies sat on the stoop, she knew them to say hi to and they barely acknowledged each other as she walked up the steps and into the lobby after using her key to get in.

It smelled of stale urine in here, a rancid small that lingered in your nose even after you left the area.

She rode the lift up to her floor and stepped out, walking along the dingy corridor listening to the sounds of human life coming from the apartments all around her. Kids shouting and screaming, couples arguing, TVs and Radios blasting out. It wasn’t quiet in here. She approached the corner to the stretch of corridor she lived on and once more felt the strange dizzy sensation that the world had suddenly tipped sideways while all about her the shadows seemed to move but didn’t.

She steadied herself using the wall as it passed and paused for a moment before reaching the corner and looking down the length of corridor ahead and seeing the man again, at the far end, just stood there, watching her.

The door to Jade’s apartment lay between them, part way down the corridor towards to man, although closer to her than to him.

She looked back to the lift, and then to her door and the man beyond. She had her key ready in her hand and felt sure she could get to the door, unlock it and get in before he reached it.

She ran, as fast as her heels allowed and quickly reached her door. The man seemed to only just start to move, putting one step in front of the other in a slow walk as she easily slid her key into the lock and turned it. The door swung open and she moved inside. A glance up revealed he still had a long way to move to reach her. She smiled, and closed the door as she moved inside the apartment.

But the door stopped short, hitting the man’s shoe as he thrust his foot into the doorway, preventing the door from closing.

Jade pushed once as she stamped on his foot, trying to get him to move it, but it didn’t budge. Suddenly the door felt like it had been kicked from the far side, throwing Jade into her small apartment.

She landed on the floor on her back in a heap, a small cut on her forehead from where the door had hit her.

The man stepped inside and shut the door behind him. He wore a long sandy coloured coat over dark clothes beneath, and he even wore a Fedora hat today. His outfit stood in sharp contrast to her tight top, heels and tiny skirt that did nothing to hide her modesty while she lay in an ungainly position on the floor.

She backed up away from him, using her hands and feet to scoot backwards along the floor. ‘What do you want?’ She asked.

‘To talk, just to talk,’ he said, smiling.

‘We’ve talked already. I have nothing to say to you.’

‘We’ll see, I think you know more then you’re letting on and you’re going to tell me, but not here, we need somewhere a little more private,’ he said as she listened to the raised voices next door. They could almost hear every word.

‘What?’ she said as he lunged forward and punched her hard on the side of her head.

She woke up with a stinging headache and a throbbing pain in her temple where he’d punched her. She tried to move, to bring her hand up to her head but found she couldn’t.

Panicking, she woke up quickly as suddenly she saw movement through her tear filled eyes as freezing cold water hit her in the face and chest.

Shaking her head from side to side to get rid of the excess water she quickly took in the dark room she sat in, tied to a chair. Her legs were up on a table so she sat with her legs out straight in front of her. It looked like some kind of basement maybe, she’d never seen it before but there were no windows, only one door out of here and lots of bare brickwork.

The man stood in front of her with an empty bucket in his hands which he dropped to the floor as she looked up at him.

He’d removed his coat and hat, wearing only a white shirt and dark trousers and shoes as he scowled down at her. He had swarthy skin and dark hair, looking very Mediterranean in complexion.

‘Jade is it?’ he said. ‘I’m Vito, and I have a few questions for you.’

Jade noticed he’d partially stripped her, leaving her in just her underwear as she shivered where she sat.

‘Fuck you,’ she spat.

‘No thanks,’ he said. ‘I tried talking to you on the streets but you were rude and I just wasn’t getting anywhere, so I decided that we needed to have a little alone time, just you and me, if I were to get any answers from you.’

Jade saw another chair in front of her, facing her and a small table next to it. She could see a pair of pliers on there, a drill, a hammer with some nails, and even a scalpel. She swallowed, as the weight of the situation started to dawn on her. But maybe he was bluffing, trying to scare her into talking, and not intending to use any of these things at all.

‘I ain’t got nothing to say to you, so do your worst.’ It was part bravado, part disbelief and part pride that had been speaking so far, and she wasn’t about to let this little shit scare her into submission with empty threats.

‘Really, OK, let’s not hang around shall we,’ he said as he sat down in front of her and looked over the tools on the table next to him. ‘Hmm,’ he said, as if wondering what to choose from. She watched him carefully, trying to gauge when he would reveal the bluff but finding him difficult to read.

He picked up the pair of pliers then, and tested their movement, he smiled and looked over her hands and feet. Her eyes darted from him to where he was looking as she started to realise what he might actually do to her.

He moved in close to her feet and felt the length of her nails with his finger, settling on her big toe.

‘So um, you know, maybe we can…’ she said, but he raised a finger to silence her. Would he do this? Would he actually torture her and not ask a question first?

Taking hold of her foot, he brought the Pliers in close and even though she did her best to struggle, he soon had the pliers gripping the free edge of her nail and held it tight.

‘Heh, um, let’s not be hasty here..’ she stammered, panic rising inside her now, would he do it?

He pulled, hard, and Jade screamed as the pain flooded her body. It left like he’d ripped her whole toe off it felt so intense. Tears filled her eyes meaning she couldn’t really see much at all, just a blurred mess and maybe some movement.