Black Dawn Read online

  ‘What’s up now?’

  ‘The Inquisition is in town, and they don’t want to play nice.’ She noticed Shaun’s head pop up from behind his monitors. He looked like the classic Nosferatu Vampire with his white skin, sharp teeth and talons. She’d procured him a Magical item that when activated would hide his appearance, but he wasn’t using it for the moment.

  ‘The Inquisition?’ he said.

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Well shit, that didn’t take them long,’ he answered her.

  ‘No it didn’t, but I suspect it might be personal,’ Amanda confessed.

  ‘Really?’ Shaun said, curious from the sound of his voice. ‘And what makes you say that?’

  ‘I fought… well, we fought them a couple of years back, killed a couple of their men and stopped them from getting their hands on an Artefact.’

  ‘That would do it. Who did you piss off?’

  ‘A woman by the name of Mary Damask apparently, she’s the only…’

  ‘…only female member of the Conclave of Grand Inquisitors,’ Shaun finished for her, ‘Yeah, I know who she is, her reputation is well known. She’s out to prove herself and to prove her dedication to their cause. Rose through the ranks very quickly and some tip her to be the next Witch Finder General. Certainly her ambition alone could get her there.’

  ‘Feckin’ Excellent,’ Amanda said. ‘I always pick the bat-shit ones.’

  ‘They’re all crazy if you ask me. So anyway, what’s happened?’

  Amanda related the story of Jessie’s encounter with the Crusaders and of Amanda’s subsequent visit to the house. ‘So, can you look into it? Try and find them?’

  ‘Won’t be easy, and no guarantees, the Inquisitors are good at this, it might be that they find you first.’

  ‘Then I’ll be ready,’ Amanda said. ‘I wouldn’t want to disappoint them.’

  - Nowhere

  Alicia sat naked, leaning up against the vertical steel girder she had been left bound to in what looked like a Warehouse. She still had no idea what had happened to her or how long had passed since that night in Ireland when she’d tried to banish the Demon her students had summoned. She knew things now, things she could never have known before. She knew she would now be classified as a Scion, a Magical Creature with powers all her own.

  She’d been possessed by this Demon, this Lamprey of darkness that had fused with her, creating a blend of both personalities. The Demon had underestimated Alicia’s strength of will and had not been able to subdue her. Now the two were one, and something else entirely.

  But she had been captured, kidnapped by someone of greater power than her. Her own powers were being suppressed and she couldn’t even break the bonds that bound her to this pillar. She’d been alone here, bound and naked for days, weeks maybe. She didn’t seem to need to eat at all which had been the only glimmer of light.

  Today, though, something suddenly seemed different, and when she looked up she could see a figure, clad in black and watching her. This woman was the first person Alicia had seen in what felt like forever. She looked very beautiful and very cruel, and she approached Alicia, with no humour in her expression.

  Alicia looked up at the woman as she reached her, waiting to see if she said anything, but she didn’t, instead she attacked her. She punched and kicked Alicia until she bled, before leaving her in pain with bruises and maybe a few cracked bones, disappearing just as suddenly as she’d appeared.

  Is the grass greener?

  Greenwich Village, Manhattan

  Nov 9th

  Amanda sat up in bed with a start, suddenly awake and breathing hard. Around her, the room remained empty and quiet, with only a thin strip of light from the gap in the curtains spilling into the room from the ever present lights in the city that never slept.

  She sat up properly and ran her hands through her hair, massaging her scalp as she did so. She’d had some kind of bad dream, although she couldn’t remember any of it now. The room sat in relative darkness apart from the meagre light from the window. She loved her house and her bedroom. She had the biggest bedroom in the building, decorated in a fairly haphazard way with various bits and bobs from her travels. She was never the neatest person in the world and her room always looked a little unkempt. Clothes hung off the backs of chairs and in a couple of piles on the floor, makeup and trinkets were scattered over several surfaces, the wardrobe door sat half open. Yep, she needed to tidy the room up a bit.

  She yawned and stretched, and then thought she needed a drink, her mouth felt dry. For a moment, she considered just conjuring one in her hand, but then thought better of it. She could do with the walk to stretch her legs so she pulled the covers off and swung them over the side of the bed. She wore a large baggy T-Shirt and a pair of fluffy socks and had a minor fright as she saw the state of her hair in the mirror before she shuffled to the door.

  She left her room behind and walked along the corridor passing the rooms of her Coven mates and house guests as she went. The house sat in silence, the whole structure being magically sound proofed from the city noise outside.

  As she passed the last few rooms before reaching the stairs she heard noises coming from one of the rooms and paused to listen for a moment to make sure all was ok.

  The room was Toni and Tabitha’s, and she suddenly realised the sound was not of pain, which had been her first thought, but of pleasure. She could hear one of the girls moaning in delight. Amanda's eyebrows rose a good inch as she suddenly understood what she was listening too. They were having sex and clearly enjoying it. Amanda felt a little flustered and quickly looked around, feeling embarrassed at having heard them and hoping no one had seen her.

  The corridor remained dark and quiet however and she stood here alone. Biting her lip, she went to continue walking only to hear more moans and heavy breathing, this time from both girls, and it made her pause mid-step.

  She couldn’t help it, she felt intensely curious and found she wanted to stay here and listen some more. She stepped to the side of the corridor in silence, closer to their door and just let the sounds come to her.

  They were clearly enjoying each other and whatever they were doing in there, they were both having some fun.

  Feeling a little less self-conscious, she let her mind indulge itself and allowed the sounds from within the room to carry her and paint a picture in her mind, and placed herself within that mental image. She felt incredibly horny and suddenly all thoughts of going to get a glass of water had vanished from her mind. Instead, she padded quickly back to her room and indulged in a little alone time.

  The following morning Amanda finished her breakfast and ambled back up the stairs of her house towards her room. She didn’t have huge plans for the day, there were no new Magi coming to the city today, as far as she knew, and Stella had the issue with Jessie under control. Only the related issue of the Inquisition needed to be dealt with, but Amanda had nothing to go on for the time being. Shaun had been informed and had already started to look into it. She hoped he would turn something up in the next few days before there were any more deaths in the city.

  In the meantime, Amanda had to wait and see. Today she would be meeting Maria though. They had been meeting and going for a drink every few weeks for the last few months now, and Amanda enjoyed their coffee mornings. She'd found she’d grown close to Maria and really enjoyed her company.

  She knew that Maria had some ulterior motives to their friendship, though. She’d not made a secret of the fact that she found Amanda attractive and had made a number of advances on her over the last couple of years. Amanda had grown used to these playful touches or comments though and just laughed them off, not really taking them too seriously. Maria continued to flirt with her, but it was always on a playful level, more friendly than anything else.

  She knew that Maria practised a kind of 1960’s free love lifestyle, keeping multiple partners of all genders and persuasions. She just wanted to squeeze every last drop of juicy fun and p
leasure from the orange of life, and for her, being monogamous just wasn’t in her nature.

  If Amanda ever did choose to be with Maria, she knew she would be one of several, like the rest of her lovers.

  But Amanda had never been with a woman, and it had never been anything she had thought of in any serious manner. She’d played with the idea, and remembered the tales of her old friend Georgina’s escapades in that arena. But she’d just never let her mind wander down that particular path.

  Having Toni and Tabitha in the house and seeing their very loving relationship, and then hearing them last night had certainly been something of an eye-opener, and had served to humanise it a bit, make it a bit more normal and not so taboo.

  Well, the men in her life had been a let-down she supposed. Was it a sign? Did she need to start looking elsewhere? Was the grass greener on the other side maybe? She didn’t know and wasn’t totally sure if she wanted to find out or not.

  As she continued up the stairs Toni suddenly appeared at the top and started down. Amanda saw her and immediately blushed. She felt incredibly hot under the collar and quite embarrassed by what she had inadvertently heard last night.

  Amanda took a breath and a moment to calm herself before looking back up and smiling at Toni as she approached wearing a simple black dress that showed off her legs.

  ‘Hiya,’ Amanda said, feeling suddenly underdressed in her bathrobe.

  ‘Hi, how are you?’

  ‘Good thanks, what are you up to today?’ She asked, silently cursing herself for asking a question which would prolong the conversation and allow Toni to see how uncomfortable she felt.

  ‘Well, we’re going to have a look at a few apartments, we saw a few yesterday and just need to figure out which one we like.’

  ‘Oh wow, that’s grand.’

  ‘We’ve seen some nice ones. That is to say, we really do appreciate what you have done for us, letting us stay here has really helped, and I know that Tabby and Mel feel the same.’

  ‘That’s no bother. , It was a pleasure to have you,’ Amanda said.

  ‘I don’t want you to think we’re not grateful is all,’ Toni said, a little flustered herself.

  ‘Don’t worry, I wouldn’t think that,’ Amanda smiled.

  ‘Good, thanks.’

  They parted ways and Amanda continued up the stairs, quickly retreating back to her room and sat on her bed. She cringed, why had she listened to them last night, it was such a pervy thing to do. She sighed and buried her head in her pillows, her red hair spilling over the white sheets.

  ‘Aaaaaaagh,’ she shouted into the bed, her cry muffled down to nothing. Why did love and relationships and stuff have to be so frustrating? She felt more than a little confused by all this. Did she like men? Did she like women? Maybe it was both, like Maria? Hell, it wasn’t like she didn’t have enough to deal with without her emotions clouding her view.

  She sat up and looked in the mirror opposite her that had been inlaid into the door of the wardrobe. Sitting slouched on the edge of the bed, her white bathrobe falling off one shoulder, her deep red hair just one big mess falling over her face, she thought she really did look like a feckin’ witch today.

  Why would anyone want to date this she thought as she eyed herself in the reflection.

  She fell back onto the bed and chose to procrastinate a bit, she could afford to waste some time, she wasn’t due to meet Maria for a few hours yet. She also wanted to shoot into town for a quick follow up on the homeless man, Peter, and see if he had done as she asked.

  After a few moments she sat back up and thought better of just lying there doing nothing and bemoaning her love life, she’d feel better after a shower. Everything looked better after a shower and she could stand under it for a while and let it hammer away on the back of her neck, massaging her shoulders and maybe she’d lose some of the tension she’d built up already this morning. Who knew, stranger things had happened.

  Her brief trip into the city to find Peter had proved fruitful and served to lighten her mood after all. A quick read of his mind from a distance revealed that Peter had done as she asked and opened a bank account, much to her surprise. She found him sat on a bench at the edge of one of the cities parks after what must have been something of a shopping trip for some better clothes.

  Amanda sat down next to him. ‘How are yeh Peter?’ she said.

  The man jumped at her question, surprised by her sudden appearance. ‘Oh my god, you scared me to death,’ he said.

  ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘So you opened the bank account. Well done.’

  ‘I did, yes, thank you. Thank you so much, I can’t tell you how much it means to me.’

  ‘My pleasure, now, I made a promise to you,’ she said as she worked a little magical effect. ‘So, if you check your inside jacket pocket, you will find a little something for you.’

  Peter looked away from her and dug about in his pockets, as he did so, she ported away, so that when he looked back a second later with the huge stack of cash in his hand, she’d disappeared into thin air.

  She watched him from afar as he looked around trying to spot her and failing before he returned his attention to the money and quickly hid it.

  She smiled to herself, feeling good about this little act of kindness. She wouldn’t follow up on him again, he was on his own now, and she wished him all the best.

  Amanda met Maria in London, England, and together they’d walked along Oxford street, looking in a few of the shops, picking up a few bargains before they’d headed over to Fortnum & Mason’s Restaurant on Jermyn Street, they sat on a red leather circular couch that surrounded a round table and had enjoyed a delectable Rib Steak dinner with a Salmon and Soda Bread starter.

  They had talked about the recent events in New York, and about the Inquisition’s latest attack, Maria agreeing that Amanda needed to find out where they were and to deal with them as soon as she could.

  Talk had then soon come round to her new lodgers, Tabitha, Toni and Melissa and recounting their story of the attack they had suffered at the hands of some Nomads using Magic that they had not seen before.

  ‘There’s plenty of Magic that isn’t used regularly, Necromancy for instance, and Astral Magic. Maybe that’s what they had seen?’

  ‘Maybe. Tabitha said that the Nomad disappeared using this Magic and then came back moments later.’

  ‘Disappeared? Using this Magic they had not seen before?’ Maria looked concerned and deep in thought for a moment.

  ‘Why, what are you thinking?’

  ‘Only of the old Nomad legend of the Magnus Transitus, the great crossing.’

  ‘I’ve heard of that,’ Amanda said. ‘Isn’t that when they can pass into the Abyss?’

  ‘As far as anyone can ascertain it’s merely a legend, I’m no council member but as far as I know, apart from a few rumours, no one has ever managed it before.’

  ‘Until now perhaps?’

  Maria shrugged. ‘Maybe. You said you can get in touch with Trevelyan any time these days, maybe ask him? The Council is probably your best bet for that kind of information.’

  Amanda nodded and looked at her glass of wine. Could it be that this Nomad or this trio of Nomads had discovered how to pass into the Abyss? It seemed unlikely, but then, Magic had seemed unlikely to her a few years ago, so maybe it wasn’t so farfetched after all.

  She made a mental note to send a message to Trevelyan to see if he knew anything.

  ‘So these girls are staying with you now then?’

  ‘Yeah, they’re grand. I do like them. Feel sorry for what they have been through, but Toni and Tabitha have each other and they’re all good friends and have a good craic at life from what I can see.’

  ‘Toni and Tabitha are lovers then I take it?’

  Amanda blushed, suddenly thinking back to last night again. ‘Um, yeah. They are.’

  Maria raised her eyebrows at Amanda, ‘You’re holding something back, I can tell. What is it?’

  Aman
da rolled her eyes and sighed, ‘Well, yeah, I walked past their room last night and heard them, you know, at it,’ she said, feeling a little self-conscious about telling Maria this, but she knew she could trust her.

  ‘Hah!’ Maria laughed. ‘Is that all? So what? It’s only sex, Mandy.’

  Amanda sat back, surprised by Maria’s action, and yet, relieved. ‘Heh, yeah, you’re right,’ she said, and all of a sudden she had a totally different perspective on it. It had turned on a dime, and just like that, Amanda wondered what she’d been worried about.

  Maria placed her hand on Amanda’s where she rested it on the back of the sofa. ‘Are you ok? You seem a little uptight.’

  ‘I’m… I’m fine, I just have a lot on my mind right now.’ Wasn’t that the truth she thought, there always seemed to be someone wanting to kill her these days. The feeling of responsibility she felt to the Magi in New York also weighed heavily on her shoulders, and with the Inquisition here, targeting Arcadians in what she thought must be a sick and twisted method of getting to her somehow, that weight had grown much heavier. Sitting here with Maria, though, talking with her made her feel so much better. She felt more relaxed and at ease than she had done for a few days now.

  ‘Well, if you need to share, you know where I am.’

  ‘I do, and thank you, I think I needed my bubble bursting,’ she laughed. She’d been so wrapped up in things that she couldn’t see the wood for the trees, she’d been too close to it. She’d been terrified that hearing Toni and Tabitha meant something profound maybe. But all it meant was that she was only human after all and it didn’t really matter who she liked, male or female. Feelings didn’t care about these things. You either had feelings for someone or you didn’t. Maria had given her that perspective in a few quick words and made her realise what she actually knew all along. Just follow your heart.

  Amanda smiled at Maria and left her hand under hers, enjoying her touch and her smile. She looked gorgeous today like she did every day she supposed, but for some reason, she noticed it today. If she were being honest with herself, she did find Maria attractive, perhaps, just maybe she quite fancied her. She looked at her friend, eyed her up and down surreptitiously, looking at her with different eyes now.