Chapter 26

Her Auto-cab stopped at the front of a partially completed residential tower, the structure closed and sealed for two weeks over the holiday season. Nata looked out through the windows but could not see any other people or vehicles in the vicinity so she paid the Dumb AI and exited the cab.

The whole block was a construction site, with only the road running through the middle accessible to traffic. Nata checked her phone and the address was definitely the empty tower in front of her. Senses reaching out, she walked towards the front entrance, noting the lobby had been completed and a few work lights were glowing within.

At the glass doors, still sheathed in opaque plastic while work was under way, she saw the Security company for the premises was listed as Brackenridge Secure. That explained a lot so she pushed the side access door open and entered the rather fancy lobby. When this building was finished it would house top level executives and professionals, as evidenced by the quality marble tiled floors, ornate wood panelled walls and Victorian styled elevator doors and fittings.

A hand scrawled note was taped above the controls for the penthouse private elevator, telling her to meet them at the top. The PIN code was given as 1234 so she punched that in and was rewarded with a ping as the elevator doors slid open.

The elevator ascended smoothly, a single light illuminating the interior. Nata was disappointed there was no music being piped into the car but she supposed that would be one of the last features to be installed. With a gentle bump the elevator reached the top most floor and the doors slid open, revealing a large open space lit by another pair of work lights on stands.

Nata stepped onto the bare concrete floor and could see two figures near the large windows that overlooked the street many storeys below. One was seated on a crate while another was facing Nata, hands held loosely at their sides.

“Mrs Brackenridge?” Nata called out and the seated figure turned to regard her. The figure’s face was in shadow but she replied in the Witch’s voice.

“Good evening, Sister” Yolanda answered. “I am glad you came”

“We could have met at a coffee shop” Nata replied. “Is there a reason we are meeting in a deserted construction site?”

Yolanda let out a tinkling laugh and Nata caught a gleam of light reflecting from her eyes.

“Do you suspect I want to kill you, Sister?” the Witch asked lightly. “You are the one who wanted to meet with me, so please do not feel threatened. I know what you want to discuss and I thought a private place would be best”

“Indeed” Nata said in response. She drew a rune carved stone from her pocket, rounded and about the size of a cookie which glowed with its own pale light as she held it. “May I add a little more light?” she asked. “There are too many shadows for my liking”

“A Candlestone? How very traditional of you, Sister” Yolanda replied. “Be my guest, there are no Mares waiting here”

Nata willed a fragment of her power into the stone and it began to glow brightly. She threw it with practised aim at a point halfway between herself and the Witch. The Candlestone grew as bright as a powerful torch, flinging light into all the corners of the unfinished apartment.

“Satisfied?” Yolanda asked her and Nata nodded in agreement. Other than the Witch and her Familiar, the place appeared empty. The Sister walked forwards and stood beside her glowing stone, drawing the left side of her armour coat back to reveal the hilt of Lacerata in its concealed scabbard.

“For now” she added to the seated Witch. Nata observed the woman standing at the Witch’s side, a plain and unassuming looking woman at first glance. This was Monique Shaw, whom Nata understood masqueraded as the Head Maid for the Brackenridge family. Her true role was much more sinister, acting as an Enforcer and occasionally executioner if the stories were true.

“In many countries, binding your Familiar into a human host is a violation of the Covenant” Nata told the Witch, never taking her eyes from the maid. The maid regarded her blankly, alert but as responsive as a security drone.

“Monique was my best friend, long before the last war” Yolanda began. “When the war came to our village, she was caught in a chemical weapons barrage by the invaders. It destroyed her lungs and left her dying in suffocating agony. With what breath she had left, she begged me to let her stay by my side, no matter what it took”

“So you bound a Familiar spirit into her body?” Nata exclaimed in disgust. “To commit such an act against a bird or cat is one thing, but to do that to someone you cared for!” Nata felt her right hand reach of its own accord for the hilt of Lacerata.

“Draw that sword and we will be at war” Yolanda spoke loudly. At her side, Monique had drawn a long barrelled pistol from under her jacket, holding it with expert confidence in her left hand, keeping the muzzle pointed at the floor for now.

“I chose this” Monique Shaw spoke out, her gaze unwavering on the Sister. “I wanted to be at her side always”

Nata deliberately relaxed her grip and dropped her hand back to her side, leaving her sword undrawn.

“Is that how the butler got a Mare inside of him?” Nata demanded. “He begged you to put a monster in his body?”

Yolanda stood at last and walked towards the Sister, her face lit from below by the glare of the Candlestone. It gave her a sinister expression, or perhaps it unmasked her true face with its enchanted light.

“Hammerton is not a host to a Mare” Yolanda told Nata, facing her from barely an arm’s length away. “He is my Master”

Eric was staring out of Nata’s living room window when he heard the bedroom door open. A bleary eyed Angelina stepped out, fumbling the door closed with her bandaged hands.

“Hi Angelina” he said to the girl and she startled in surprise.

“Eric! What are you doing here?”

He was tempted to tell her he was their babysitter but he remembered her infamous temper when roused.

“Nata had to go and meet someone” he replied instead. “She asked me to bring some stuff over and keep watch until she returned”

“Oh, I see” Angelina said softly in reply. She went to the padded sofa and sat down, bringing her feet up underneath herself and cradling her hands against her waist. Eric could see she was miserable so he sat facing her in Nata’s big chair.

“How are your hands?” he asked “Do you need any more painkillers?”

“No, they are feeling a lot better. Nata gave me some herbal drink her mentor makes, I think she called him the Bishop. The pain is nearly gone” She held one hand out and flexed it experimentally then spread her fingers wide and focused on the low coffee table that lay between her and Eric. The table rocked a little then slid a few centimeters towards Eric, propelled by her Telekinesis.

A look of anguish passed across her face and the girl relaxed her hand, placing it against the other hand at her waist. The table ceased rocking and fell immobile once again.

“A Telekinetic with busted hands is pretty useless” she said sadly.

“You shouldn’t define yourself by your Ability” Eric chided her gently. “Angelina Brackenridge is more than just a Telekinetic”

“I’m not much else” she answered morosely. “I’m not smart like you, or brave like Carmody. I can’t even punch things like Sarah does”

“I don’t know if punching things is Sarah’s real specialty, no matter how much she enjoys it” smirked Eric. “But you are smart and brave Angelina and your friends all know that”

“What about you, Eric” she asked, meeting his eyes at last. “Am I your friend too?”

He thought about it for a moment and Angelina could see he was giving it serious thought.

“Yes, you are” he decided at last and that brought a crooked smile to the girl’s face.

“Even though my parents are smugglers and my guardian is a monster?” she wondered aloud.

“Even so” he replied quicker this time. “As someone pointed out to me, we should not be judged by the actions of our family or guardians. Mine have done some terrible things too in the past”

Angelina smiled, her pain forgotten for a moment. Eric saw the beauty of her mother in her at that instant and realised the girl would grow into an incredible woman one day. Then he had to break the moment because he needed to ask her something.

“Angelina, what do you mean that your guardian is a monster? Do you mean Hammerton?”

The girl frowned and looked away, her hands tensing in her lap.

“Nata doesn’t want to tell you in case you try and get involved” she answered uncertainly. “She says this is not something that AURA or the Guards can handle”

“If it involves you and Carmody, then it concerns me as well” he insisted. “Please, what is your butler hiding?”

The girl frowned but gave his question serious thought.

“I think Hammerton is a host to a creature summoned by my mother” she said calmly. “I don’t know a lot about magic, as my mother keeps a lot of that side hidden away from me, but I have picked up a little knowledge over time. As a Witch, she has an ability to summon certain creatures from the Dark Side. The simplest is a Familiar, a kind of weak Mare that assists her in her magic and performs tasks she sets it”

“A Mare?” Eric interrupted. “That is short for Nightmare, isn’t it?”

“Yeah” Angelina said. “Mares are some of the most dangerous creatures that can be summoned to our world. There are lots of different types, but to exist in our world for any length of time they have to be bound into a vessel. For some, like Iron Mares, they can be held in an object like a sword or knife. Others have to be within a living host, the bigger the better”

“So your mother may have bound a Mare into Hammerton?” Eric asked. “That means he could be a very dangerous type of creature”

“Very dangerous” Angelina agreed and hugged herself with her bandaged hands. “And now for some reason he thinks I belong to him”

=====

“Your Master?” Nata cried out in disbelief.

“Yes, a Lord of the Before who granted me my powers as a Witch” Yolanda responded calmly. “My Master in this life and the next, the one to whom my soul is promised”

Nata was visibly shaken and regarded the Witch with a look of pure horror.

“How?” was all she managed to utter, struck by the enormity of the concept. “No Lord of the Before can dwell in the Now! Not here in the Light and not in the Dark”

“It has been done before” Yolanda assured her. “Gods have walked upon this earth in ages past, taking up a human form”

“For how long has it been in this world?” the Sister demanded.

“Since the birth of my daughter Angelina” the Witch told her. “She was a miracle when she was born, a child I had never expected to have. The war that nearly killed Monique damaged my body also and when I fell pregnant I had not thought my baby would survive until birth”

“Yet she was born at last, alive but not well” Yolanda continued. “Her little body was a victim of the same war crimes inflicted on me, unable to survive in this world. We brought in every doctor we could find, the best that money could buy, but none of them could stop her fading away”

“So you made a Pact with your Master” Nata breathed. “You promised her soul to him in exchange for her life”

“Yes” Yolanda said without emotion. “He already owned my soul, so I had nothing else to offer him. In return for Angelina’s soul he healed her damaged body, made her strong enough to live in this world”

Yolanda’s head dropped and her voice became harsh with sudden grief.

“But only for sixteen years. When she became a woman he would claim her as his own and take her from me, from my husband. She would become his bride and dwell forever in his realm, never to return”

Nata looked with pity on the woman before her, understanding at last the desperation she must have felt.

“So why is he here in this world, Yolanda? He has three more years until the Pact comes to fruition”

Yolanda laughed mirthlessly at the Sister.

“Why? Because my Master knows the wickedness of my heart. He knew from the beginning I would spend every moment of my life searching for a way to break the agreement! I would cheat my own Master to let my daughter live free”

“I see” Nata said, the final piece of the puzzle falling into place. “He demanded a vessel to contain his essence here so he could watch over his prize. You could not free her when he was standing guard over her all of her life”

Yolanda wiped her eyes and regarded Nata with a fierce intensity.

“For thirteen years I have scoured the world, seeking some spell or artifact to free Angelina from the fate I doomed her to! I won’t stop now, no matter who stands in my way”

“So why has Hammerton gone so crazy now?” Nata wondered. “Are you close to setting her free?”

“Not yet” Yolanda admitted. “He has been unstable since Angelina had her Soul Spark stolen by that Summoner some months ago. It was all I could do to stop him ripping the whole city apart to find her essence. No-one else knows how close Pan City was to being utterly destroyed that time”

“You stopped him?” Nata asked.

“For a while, using all my power and guile to keep him in check. I was a shadow of myself for some time afterwards, until I was able to regain my strength. It was only a fear of breaking the Covenant that has kept him from revealing his full powers”

“The Covenant?” Nata asked in confusion. “If he is a Lord of the Before, there is little the Order of Michael could do to stop him. We are just not that strong against an actual god”

“As Above, So Below” Yolanda reminded her. “The most ancient of magical concepts. Your Order enforce the Covenant on creatures from the Dark Side. Your Master, Michael, enforces the Covenant on those beings outside of our worlds. If my Master threw off his mortal body and revealed his full powers, the entire Heavenly Host would be sent to destroy him”

“That would destroy the world, not just Pan City!”

“Probably” the Witch agreed. “So I have been trying to keep him under control, satisfied with how things are, stopping him from revealing his true nature”

“Except now he thinks Angelina is in too much danger, here in Pan City” Nata postulated. “He wants to take her away, somewhere she will be safe from harm, until she turns sixteen”

“Yes” nodded Yolanda.

“Alright, Yolanda, I’ll do what I can to save your daughter from your Master” Nata declared. “You need to stay out of my way and let me deal with it”

“Thank you, Sister. That is more than I deserve”

Nata picked up her Candlestone and placed it into her pocket, the light fading away. She faced the Witch one last time.

“I am not doing it for you, Witch!” she said harshly. “This is for the soul of an Innocent you condemned to misery thirteen years ago”

Nata turned and strode away, angrily punching the call button for the elevator.

=====

Yolanda stood for a long time after the Sister left the unfinished apartment, pondering the path ahead of her.

“The Sword is powerful but she can’t defeat our Master” Monique observed to her Mistress.

“I know, dearest Monique” Yolanda answered her. “She will keep Hammerton focussed on her, allowing me time to work with our ally”

“The Abyss is not to be trusted, Mistress” warned her Familiar.

“Neither am I” Yolanda replied and with a gesture of her hand extinguished the lights.