Black Dawn Read online

  ‘What do we do? What do we do?’ Tabby said.

  ‘We leave, we Port out of here now before we’re killed too,’ Toni said.

  ‘It’s just one girl, how bad can it be?’ Melissa said.

  Magic flared again and the woman in black appeared once more, this time holding two decapitated heads by the hair. One in each hand.

  Toni put her hand to her mouth as she let out a low scream, feeling sick to her stomach as she recognised the two heads as Jonas and Tybolt.

  ‘Holy fuck,’ Melissa whispered.

  ‘We’re leaving,’ Tabby said, ‘right now.’

  Toni felt a thought pass into her mind from Tabby, details of a location in LA as her girlfriends Essentia flared, Toni followed suit and hoped that Melissa did too.

  A heartbeat later Toni appeared next to Tabitha, followed immediately by Melissa, under a bridge in the dry concrete channel known as the L.A. River. She grabbed onto Tabby, holding her tight and not wanting to let go.

  ‘It was her, it was her…’ she muttered.

  ‘What do you mean, it was who?’ Melissa said.

  ‘Her, it was her from last time. I recognise her.’

  ‘What?’ Melissa said, still confused.

  ‘The Nomad we just saw, it was the same one who killed Toni’s Coven six months ago. Am I right?’ Tabitha asked.

  Toni got her sobs under control, sniffing them back and taking a few deep breaths. ‘That’s right. It was her, I’m sure of it.’

  ‘What the hell are we doing here?’ Melissa asked. Stepping away and looking around them.

  They were alone, stood under a bridge in downtown Los Angeles in the L.A. River. The concrete channel appeared to be bone dry apart from a small thin stream of water that ran down the middle of the huge artificial riverbed. The three girls stood there in their skimpy bikini’s looking very out of place, but they were alone in the darkness and safe for the time being.

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Tabby.

  ‘Here. Why are we here when our Coven is being massacred, we should be back at the house helping them.’

  ‘Then we’d die too. You saw her, what one Magus did to Jonas and Ty, if she can do that to them, we’d be no kind of challenge to her. We’d be dead within seconds.’

  ‘Arrgh, god damn it. I just, I feel helpless,’ Melissa said. She walked to the nearest support column for the bridge and sat down, her back leaning against it.

  Toni followed Tabitha as she walked over to Melissa and crouched down next to her. Tabitha did her best to comfort Melissa, holding her hand and saying that everything would be ok.

  ‘So what are we going to do, we can’t stay here,’ Melissa said.

  ‘I don’t know, maybe we should go and tell Victoria?’ Tabitha offered.

  ‘What will she do?’ Toni asked.

  ‘She can help, she can track down who did this.’

  ‘She said that about my Coven, it didn’t seem to do a great deal,’ said Toni. ‘They’re still out there, these Nomads and still killing.’

  ‘So what do you suggest?’ Melissa said, sounding slightly accusatory.

  ‘We go to New York, we find this Amanda and if the rumours are true, maybe she’ll help.’

  Tabitha raised her eyebrows and nodded. ‘Hmm, maybe.’

  ‘Fuck it, why not. At least we get to go to a party,’ Melissa said as she stood up.

  ‘I think we need some clothes,’ Toni said.

  Essentia flared up from around Melissa and a pile of clean new clothes rested in her hands, appearing from the ether.

  ‘What about the Mansion? Tabitha said. Maybe we should go back in the morning and see if anyone survived?’

  ‘Sounds good. I want to know that too,’ Melissa said.

  ‘I don’t like this idea,’ Toni said, feeling on edge about this return visit.

  ‘We’ll be quick, just in and out, no one will know we were there,’ Tabitha said.

  Toni sighed, she wanted to know as well, she hated the fact that they ran out on their friends, leaving them to god only knows what fate. But she’d seen these Nomads before, she’d seen how they operated and how they had killed her Coven. There was no fighting them, not as they were. They needed someone who knew what they were doing. Maybe this Amanda might be the one to help them. Going back to the house felt like a risk and an unnecessary one that might get them killed as well. But, she did also want to know if anyone else survived. It was possible, the chances were slim, but she had survived two attacks by the same people now, so others might be as lucky.

  Not that she felt that lucky really, quite the opposite, she felt somewhat cursed. Why did this death seem to follow her about?

  But her friends needed to go back, they needed to have some closure on this and going back in the day time would be the best option. And then they could Port over to New York.

  ‘Ok, sure. In the morning, when the sun’s up, we’ll head back and take a look,’ Toni said.

  Melissa threw her a set of clothes. ‘Awesome. Get dressed, let’s find somewhere we can wait out the night and get some breakfast.’

  - Lyonesse, UK.

  Trevelyan rose from his desk and walked over to the window, he gazed out through the glass and into the ocean beyond, looking across the gothic rooftops of the sunken city of Lyonesse, the Coven House of House Albion, Trevelyan's Coven, the largest in the UK and one of the founding members of the Magi Council.

  ‘So, the time is nearly upon us, the truth of the Prophecy will soon be revealed,’ he said to the other person in the room.

  His friend didn’t answer him, so he looked back over his shoulder and saw her nodding to herself, agreeing with him. ‘This is a critical time, how do you think the Council will react?’

  ‘There’ll be a period of adjustment, there will be those who challenge it, but that’s to be expected really,’ she said.

  ‘And young Amanda, how will she react?’

  The young looking woman smiled, ‘She will be just fine.’

  Working Girl

  Manhattan, New York

  Nov 5th

  Amanda sat back in the reclining office chair, sitting sideways to the boardroom table with her legs crossed listening to the last of a couple of details that needed to be mentioned.

  Four other people sat at the table with her, three of them were Magi and one was an Initiated. Amanda played with the frayed edge of one of the holes in her ripped jeans as she listened.

  ‘The Magi Legion are still unhappy with the situation, they’ve met with me a few times since we last met and they’re still pushing to have you deported from the country,’ Victoria said.

  Amanda sighed, ‘I’m not the new Queen of New York, I won’t be declaring this Legacy territory and defending my borders against anyone who wants to live here,’ she said, looking over at Victoria who sat at the opposite end of the table to her. She wore her usual tailored business suit and looked as pristine as ever. The total opposite to Amanda’s scoop neck sweater, ripped skinny jeans and knee length tan leather heeled boots. She had her scarlet hair tied back in a ponytail today with just a couple of loose strands falling over her face.

  ‘We know that, but the Legion are being as xenophobic as ever and don’t like the idea of the Europeans invading their country. To them, we might as well be living in 1775 again.’

  Trevelyan laughed.

  ‘I presume you are trying to calm their fears?’ Amanda asked.

  ‘Of course, but they are a stubborn lot. Suffice to say, I will be watching them,’ Victoria said.

  ‘That’s grand, thank you,’ Amanda said to Victoria.

  ‘No problem. How about you, how are you coping with all this?’

  ‘It’s certainly different. I never meant to be the one looking after the city, that wasn’t my intention at all. But the Covens come here and want to see me.’

  ‘And you know why that is,’ Trevelyan stated.

  ‘Oh to be sure. The rumours have spread, despite our best efforts and even though they
don’t know they’re right, they think I killed Lucian. I don’t confirm or deny it, they will think whatever they want to anyway. So sure, it’s going well. We’ve made the Jade Palace into the main place people come to meet us when they arrive in the city. We’re trying to meet everyone who comes here to try and keep track, but it’s not easy. We’re certain that there’s Coven’s in the city we have no idea about. Maybe even some Nomads.’

  ‘The Inquisition?’ asked Trevelyan.

  ‘Not yet, but I doubt they will be far behind, and no trouble from the Nomads yet either.’

  ‘Good,’ Victoria said.

  ‘Do you think that Nymira would try and come here and find me? She must have heard the rumours by now,’ Amanda asked.

  ‘She will certainly have heard the rumours. But will she come here? I’m not so sure,’ said Trevelyan.

  ‘How come?’

  ‘Well, I think it’s highly likely that she will also have heard that Lucian had been threatened by Yasmin against hurting you, and there’s very few Magi on this planet and beyond that would want to get on Yasmin’s bad side.’ Trevelyan said.

  Amanda nodded, taking it all in. She hadn’t thought about it like that. Nymira certainly seemed to be well connected, so it wasn’t unlikely that she knew about Yasmin and her involvement in the events that happened six months ago.

  Amanda’s life had become a lot busier now the news of New York’s liberation had been made public. After the death of Lucian, the Council had decided to keep things quiet for a while and to downplay Amanda’s involvement in it all. But before long the Haitian Nomads realised something was up and a Coven was sent to New York to ascertain the reason for Lucian’s disappearance. The Magi Council were here to meet these Nomads and made it clear to them that New York was off limits. Amanda had been there for that confrontation in the ruins of the Pit Club. The meeting had been tense and aggressive, but the Nomad Coven didn’t want to take on the might of the Magi Council, not with a couple of Arch Magi there to back the Council up.

  The Nomads had retreated back to Central America and they had not heard anything since.

  They kept things quiet for a few more months, but before long the rumours started to spread and it soon became clear that they had to make things public. That had been a few weeks ago, and since then the Covens had been coming to New York mainly to visit, but a few stayed, choosing to make New York their new home.

  The last thing she needed was for Nymira and her Covens to storm in here and make trouble, at least, not for the time being.

  Amanda looked up and addressed the other woman in the room, a Japanese lady in a prim business suit, not too dissimilar to Victoria. Her name was Kai and the only differences between her and Victoria’s suits were that Kai’s skirt was shorter and tighter and she carried around a beautiful looking black and gold Katana sword, which she had leant against the side of the table so that only the handle could be seen from where Amanda sat. Kai had been to most of the meetings Amanda had with the Council, and she hardly ever spoke. Amanda knew she had been brought into these meetings due to the Assassin, the Black Lotus who had tried to kill Yoh and who Amanda had defeated. Yoh had been changed into a Scion during the course of that confrontation and ended up killing the Black Lotus, who also turned out to be his sister.

  ‘Any news on the Organisation?’ Amanda asked.

  ‘Nothing to report,’ Kai answered.

  Despite Kai’s best efforts, little had been found out about the organisation that the Black Lotus had been a part of, and they had not shown themselves to be too concerned with their Assassin’s death, but they would be watched for the foreseeable anyway.

  ‘Anything else to discuss?’ Amanda asked. ‘What about the Ball on the twenty-ninth?’

  At this, the Initiated who had joined them for this meeting sat forward. Amanda had met him once before at these meetings, his name was Harry Fleming and he represented the Arcanum.

  The Arcanum was an organisation of Initiated Humans, those who knew Magic existed but were not Magi themselves. The Arcanum worked closely with the Council, their main focus was on the areas where the world of the Magi crossed over into the world of the Riven, the ignorant mortal masses of the world. The actions of the Magi often had an impact on the Mortal world and when things got a little too messy, the Arcanum were there for damage control. They had links with governments, Media, and corporations around the world, and they used those links for one purpose, the keep the world of the Magi hidden and secret, using whatever methods they had too. Usually, they were able to pull a few strings, call in a favour, make a sizable deposit into someone’s account and the problem went away.

  But for those times when subtlety didn’t do the trick, they employed some of the most highly trained and dangerous mortals, who with some seriously high-tech Magical items, would deal with the problem with extreme prejudice.

  But their job also extended to simpler things, like booking a suitable venue for a Magi Ball and dealing with the issues surrounding that kind of crossover of the Magi and Mortal world.

  Harry wore a black suit and white shirt with no tie and the top button undone, and in his clipped British tones, addressed the room as he referred back to a sheet of paper he held. ‘The observation deck at One World Trade Center has been booked for the Ball and everything is progressing well, we should have quite the night up there.’

  ‘This is a little out of your usual area of influence Harry,’ Trevelyan said to him.

  ‘A little sir, Kristal had other matters to attend to and sends her apologies. I came in her stead.’

  Trevelyan turned to Amanda, ‘Harry here looks after some of the more Tactical elements of the Arcanum.’

  ‘Um, sir…’ Harry stammered.

  ‘Don’t worry, Amanda here is no threat to you. I will vouch for her.’

  ‘If you say so sir,’ Harry replied.

  ‘I… I didn’t mean to cause…’ Amanda said, feeling like she had stumbled into a conversation she wasn’t meant to hear.

  ‘Don’t worry. Harry worries enough for the lot of us. Anyway, I think that’s everything, I’m sure you have a busy day ahead of you. You know how to reach us if you need to, otherwise, we’ll see you at the Ball.’

  Everyone stood up, Trevelyan walked to Amanda and shook her hand warmly.

  ‘Lovely to see you again my dear,’ he said before turning to the others. ‘Ready?’

  They all nodded, said their goodbyes and moments later after a series of whip cracks of air rushing into the vacuum’s left behind by the Magi who just Ported from the room, Amanda stood alone in the office.

  She had only met these four members of the council and the other Initiated, Kristal, in a situation where she could speak to them. During the confrontation with the Nomads from Nymira a few months back, she had seen several more of the council and two Arch Magi who were a little scarier, but she’d been kept away from them, and didn’t speak to any of them. Trevelyan seemed to be her main point of contact. A British Magus who usually wore the kind of robes you might expect a wizard to wear, she had always found him to be friendly and kind. Even when she had first met him he greeted her like an old friend and she felt very much at ease around him.

  Happy with how the meeting went she walked from the room and ambled along the corridor. She had a few people she wanted to speak to here today. She had arrived just before the meeting with the council had started and had only said a brief hello to Liz, so she walked downstairs and after a short hunt around she found Liz sat in the Japanese Rock Garden in the center of the Jade Palace going over a couple of thing on a clipboard.

  ‘Look at you all organised. You have a busy day ahead?’

  Liz smiled up at Amanda as she joined Liz on the bench. She wore dark trousers, heels and Jacket over her white blouse. She looked very business-like, which suited her role in the Palace after she had been promoted from bar work to being Stella’s assistant.

  ‘Yeah, I have a few meetings today with some of the Coven’s who
have recently arrived here, just making sure they’re up to speed on what’s what,’ she said.

  ‘Well, I need to add to that list,’ Amanda said. ‘Victoria just told me we have a new Coven arriving here today from L.A. Not sure when but they could be here any moment I suppose.’

  ‘Okay, thanks. Who are they?’

  ‘No idea, they went by the name of The Coven of Angels though if that helps?’

  ‘It does, thanks,’ Liz said.

  ‘Are you around later?’

  ‘No, sorry, I’m on a mission with the boys tonight,’ Liz said, referring to Orion and Xain who had been helping Amanda to train Liz and get her combat training up to a higher level. Nothing beat actual missions to really hone those skills.

  ‘No bother. I get a night off from training then, excellent.’

  Liz Smiled, ‘You can pay me back later. You could try hunting for your friend some more,’ she said.

  Amanda pressed her lips together and looked away from her apprentice, trying but failing to hide the pain that Liz’s comment brought up.

  ‘Aah, sorry, still no luck then I take it?’

  Amanda had looked everywhere for Alicia, returning to the Orphanage nearly every week at first after Alicia’s disappearance. Her friend had just fallen off the earth and despite all of Amanda’s and Shaun’s efforts to find her, they had come up with nothing. Alicia had gone. More recently Amanda had pretty much given up trying to find her. If a new lead presented itself, she’d follow it up, but otherwise she needed to focus on the here and now and not get too distracted by what appeared to be a wild goose chase.

  ‘I’ve pretty much given up, we’ve looked everywhere for her,’ Amanda said.

  ‘Never give up hope, maybe she’ll turn up someday. Stranger things have happened.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. Thanks,’ Amanda said.

  Liz stood up. ‘No problem, I’ll see you later, I really have to get on. Oh, by the way, Yoh’s here today, if you wanted that chat?’

  ‘Thanks,’ Amanda smiled as she watched Liz disappear into the building, she barely recognised the young girl who she had taken as her apprentice two years ago. These days she had much more confidence in herself and way more independence as well. Feeling proud of her apprentice, she got up from the bench banishing thoughts of Alicia from her mind and looked up at the windows on the first floor that surrounded the garden on all four sides.