Family Reunion || Fight
Feb. 4th, 2018 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThe cavalry arrives. Unfortunately, escape isn’t that easy.
Magic swirled in the air like an invisible fog, thick and almost choking anyone who was sensitive to it. Topaz felt like her head was being compressed, and even swallowing down the bile at the sight of Albert's body, his freshly slit neck still spilling blood, was hard.
There was a flash and a bang and the sensation of something punching through the magical fog. Then a familiar voice could be heard. "Have got to be fucking joking me." Amanda stepped out from behind a mausoleum, followed by Wanda and Billy. None of them looked happy, but Amanda was almost incandescent with rage. She began pulling on London's power as soon as her feet touched the ground, and on the outskirts of the cemetery, lights dimmed and car alarms started shrieking. "Are you that bloody stupid, Taboo, that you'd go after Topaz again? After what happened last time?"
Taboo sneered. "Stay out of this, amateur. It's none of your concern." And he continued with his chant, Topaz' hand clutched tightly in his as he drew on her power.
Wanda held up a hand, trying to urge caution in the group around her. The stakes were far too high to go rushing in no matter how badly they wanted to do so. She edged away to the right from Amanda, studying the chaos lines that swirled and changed with every moment.
Finally! "Uh, yeah, about all this." While Taboo had been siphoning off her power, she had been stealing, bit by bit, from the nearby guards still holding the remaining Destines. She didn't want to be noticeable until she had a real escape plan. And now her escape plan was here. She immediately ripped away whatever was left in their heads, and a bright fire burned to life in the hand that wasn't being held. Before Taboo could stop her, she drove her hand, fire and all, into his leg, and ripped her other hand from his while he was howling in pain; she wiped the blood off her face as she immediately backed away.
Billy wobbled as they popped into London, his knees threatening to give way. There wasn't time to think, only act, when Amanda showed up, but there they were. He had to count again to make sure, one, two, three. No one left behind, and an ocean between where they were. Sometimes the magic works,, he thought. But it took its toll, and he leaned against the stone for support. The tension and magic in the air was thick, and he almost imagined he could feel the chaos beginning to replenish his reserves.
Under her grief the trickle of power that Jasmine had been trying to draw from the earth sprung in the form of a mighty river. While she usually directed towards healing, this time held her wrists out in front of her. The bounds that kept her in place definitely held traces of earth energy and if she did this right... the power built and with one word she gave it purpose: "Destructo!" The traces of energy 'grew' into wide strands and before the energy manacles had fully dissolved she gestured at her siblings. "Destructo!" she called out and she felt their 'chains' shatter too.
The second Grace felt her bounds disappear, she leapt into action, both literally and figuratively. With an apology to her dear, dear Albert, she reached down into the puddle of blood pooling around his cooling body. The power was there, just waiting, and she wasn't going to let anyone else take it for themselves. It was what Albert would have wanted.
In seconds, she felt her power stores surge. With anger flashing in her eyes, she turned her new-found fury towards the guards. Not relying on luck, she pulled on her magic, pinpointed the guard holding the amulets, and let loose. The fires burned hot and fast, but slow enough that the screams of the guard were clearly heard. Using the chaos as a distraction, it wasn't long before the amulets were in hand, and Grace was tossing them as fast as she could. The Destines were not going to take this lying down.
"Well now. I bet that didn't go like you thought." Adam drew himself up as his sisters raged at the guards behind them. The fire outlined him, traces of flame contrasted by his black clothing. His eyes burned bright red as he drew power inside him. One of the surviving guards rushed him. Adam held up a hand, not even bothering to look at the man. He screamed as his blood was blasted clear from his body. Deep red lances burst out from his back, legs and head, shredding the flesh as if he'd been minced by an industrial blade. Adam let his hand drop and the blood rained down to the ground, splashing in huge drops and covering the stones in gore.
"You see, you miserable old wog, you think you know pain. You think it makes you stronger. Ruthless. But you're nothing but a bloody tourist in it." Adam swept his arm to one side, smashing and sending flying the gravestones and memorials between him and Taboo. "Me? In that world, I'm a fucking king. And I'm going to spend a long time showing you what pain; real pain, actually is." Tendrils of dark energy sprouted around the pair, trapping them in their spot, directly in the path of Adam's seemly inexorable advance.
Topaz was too late to move, and found her feet literally rooted to the ground. Fuck, fuck. She had been completely ready to run over to the others and get the hell out of dodge and let the Destines do whatever they wanted to Taboo. Magic crackled between her fingers, but she already knew that wasn't going to do her any good. He was stronger than her. Always had been. Always would be. The thought shook her right to the core, and for the briefest moment she forgot anyone else there - she forgot Taboo, she forgot she had allies. She was going to die here. She didn't want to die.
It was difficult to tell who cast first. But before Adam could reach Topaz, two shielding spells appeared, one black and oily-looking, surrounding her and Taboo, and the other neon-lit and blazing bright with power, surrounding Adam.
"Sorry, sunshine, but if anyone's going to make the old man suffer, it's me." Amanda's words were mild, but reinforced by the shrinking of her spell around Adam as she closed her fist. "And no-one messes with my kids."
The battle begins, with mixed results for everyone involved.
Wanda didn't have a particular problem with the Destines seeking revenge on Taboo but they were throwing an awful lot of power everywhere. It was just a matter of time before one them accidentally, or perhaps not, turned their abilities towards her people. Her gaze turned towards the one with the amulets and she moved quietly around, positioning herself closer without getting herself disintegrated.
'There's my 2018 resolution,' she thought, pulling on the strings just so to avoid a nasty looking spell from the woman, knowing it would draw her attention. But at least it wouldn't be on Billy, Amanda or the others.
Blood magick was one of the strongest dark magics around, and Grace was having troubles trying to curb her new found power with her intense need for destruction and revenge. Trying to concentrate, she reached out her energy and found a weird space around her. Fluttering her eyes open, she noticed Wanda and without much prompting, she let out a spell directed that way.
* * *
It took Topaz a moment to snap out of her stupor. It wasn't too hard to summon up enough rage to burn whatever the tendrils of energy still crawling up her legs. Amanda had Adam. Which just left one person.
There was absolutely no mercy in Topaz's gaze as she turned on Taboo, gathering crackling energy between her fingers.
"Bloody hell." The last word was accented by Topaz throwing her hand out, and the energy wrapping around the man. "You can never just leave well enough alone, can you?" The energy tightened like ropes, burning into his skin. "Five fucking years and you dig all of this back up." Anger was a dangerous emotion, especially when it was used to fuel magic. And it was all Topaz had right then. "Anyone else would have moved on, but you just can't let it go. Why can't you let it go?!"
She yelled that last part, whipping her hand back to wipe away the spell, releasing Taboo from the burning bindings. There were angry red crosses running across his face, and the skin Topaz could see from where she was standing. She wasn't sorry.
Taboo raised a trembling hand to his face, wincing as he touched the welts. Then, incredibly, a smile crossed his face. "I always knew you had it in you, pet," he said, and his expression darkened. "You want to take your shot, have revenge on me? Make me suffer? Then show me what you've learned." And with that he raised his hands, shadows rising from around him and streaming straight at Topaz.
* * *
Wanda dropped, intuition telling her moments before the spell was released to get down. Even then it was a near miss and the magic blazed over her head by inches as she avoided it. It hit something behind her and she could feel the implosion against her back as she rolled back to her feet.
"This stops now," she snapped, worry for those with her skyrocketing. Red light crackled to life around her as she threw two handfuls of entropic energy at Grace, shading everything between them a dark hue.
* * *
As the Destines’ bindings fell loose, Billy pushed himself back to his feet. Things could get ugly once magic started flying around. His focus settled on Jasmine, sizing her up. He didn’t want to chance teleporting again so soon, so instead, he extended his arms, and a shimmering, translucent shield appeared in front of him. Low energy, but hopefully enough to deflect any projectiles - stone, energy, or otherwise - she might fling at him, and he began closing the distance between them.
A faint smile played on Jasmine's face when she placed the shield. Tapping into the connection she had maintained with the earth, she didn't pull energy from it, but instead pushed her will into it. Her smile widened a bit as the earth erupted around her opponents feet, neatly evading the shield and locking him into place with hardly doing any damage. "Just stay there and let us leave. I don't want to harm you." She called out.
* * *
Meanwhile, Adam touched the neon traced bubble around him. "Oh, fuck me, 'manda. You've perfected whore magic now? What is this, the Red Light District shield." His fingers traced along the concave edge for a moment, before sinking through the energy skin. Red traces of energy crackled between his fingertips as they emerged. He made a fist and wrenched his hand down. The shield tore as he pulled at it, ripping a hole large enough to step through before it popped like a soap bubble.
"You're also in my way, sweetness. Tomming around for Rack might have gotten you extra treats from Daddy, but he saved the power for his real students." Adam raised his hand towards her. The energy leapt from his hand to his eyes and back, sparking and flaring. "This one was my personal favourite." The red lightning arced, bridging between them in a split second. For Amanda, there was a brief moment where she thought she'd somehow diverted the spell. She straightened, ready to respond when her back flared up in intense pain. The white hot fire raced up and down her back, following the lines of her scarring with an artist's exactitude. Adam closed his fist and Amanda gasped as the pain suddenly intensified. A sharp spike of ruby energy emerged between her breasts, impaling her as it thrust up. She could see the unbroken skin and cloth through the red spire, but her body screamed out as if a fiery poker had been rammed through her back and out her chest. Adam jerked his hand up and Amanda was thrust in the air, sliding down in agony on the stake of energy that was impaling her, leaving her screaming as gravity forced her further down the energy spike.
"You stay there. I'll take care of you later." Adam said as he turned back to the others. With a violent gesture, he wrenched Topaz to one side. The woman crashed into the ground, skipping several times end over end before coming to a halt on the ground. Taboo's shadows snapped shut on nothing. "It is you and me, you fucking wog. These cunts can have what's left after I'm done."
* * *
“Debatable,” Billy said, before his voice dropped from audible range. The rock around his ankles pulsed, pixelated, then burst into a cloud of sand, which went flying toward his opponents eyes with a wave of his hand. Perhaps to blind, perhaps to distract, just long enough for him to hop aboard a blue disc that hovered several inches above the ground. “Next round, I want Paper,” he called out, a large canvas forming over Jasmine’s head.
Shields sprung up with small wiggles of her fingers, protecting her from both the sand flying at her eyes and whatever it was that he was trying to drop on her. She wiggled her fingers in complicated pattern and the addon of a few hissed words, a multitude of small shields started battering the guy, trying to knock him of his disk. She started moving back, intent on making her escape. "Like I said, I just wanna get out of here." She called out as the wave of shields intensified.
* * *
Son of a bitch. Topaz pushed herself up, wiping a bit of blood from her lip, eyes casting around, landing on Amanda, then back to Adam. Searching out his emotions specifically wasn't hard - everyone else was a mix of determined, a little bit of fear, some uncertainty. Adam was pure anger and arrogance. Not a combination she wanted, but it would do.
"How 'bout a pick-me-up?" she said, not loud enough to be heard over the noise of the fighting. Going into Adam's head felt greasy, and Topaz was sure she was going to need several showers to wash away the feeling. She didn't take everything. She could have - she should have, should have left him completely numb, should have cut off any ability to feel ever again - but she didn't have time. He'd feel the effect, but he couldn't stop her.
Energy flared in her hand, almost forming a frisbee, and she threw it at the bolt still piercing through Amanda. To her slight joy and surprise, it actually worked - the bolt cut, letting Amanda fall to the ground. "Thank god," Topaz muttered, pressing her hand to her face for a moment. She really hadn't been sure if that would help or make it worse.
The respite was brief - with a manic laugh, Taboo leapt on her distraction to send the shadows after her again. This time, they wrapped around her, insubstantial but immobilising, as cold as death. Another batch flew at Adam, seeking to do the same.
* * *
Grace widened her eyes as she barely jumped out of the way. Even so, she still felt a singe on her right ankle, enough to throw her off and have her stumble as she landed. With no real thought (after all, she had never been the most hands-on of the group), she spread her fingers and directed energy on where Wanda was standing.
But Wanda wasn't there anymore. Instead, she'd used the momentary distraction she'd bought herself to move quickly and quietly, taking care to not be seen by any of the other combatants as she did so. It was easy enough to see where the energy from the girl had been coming from and Wanda was, simply, in no mood to play 'my powerful blasts are better than your powerful blasts'.
As Grace lowered her hands from her responding attack, Wanda reached out and snagged the hand nearest to her. "Sorry not sorry," she said as she fed chaos energy right in to one of the amulets. She tightened her grip on the amulet even as she slammed her foot down on the spot her chaos blast had touched Grace.
Several somethings snapped.
The pain was instantaneous and excruciating, and yet, Grace couldn't process it. She tried to stand and stumbled down immediately, scraping her palms as she landed hard on the ground.
How did this happen? Her mind raced, trying to look around for Wanda but her pain-laced brain couldn't take it anymore. I'm so sorry, Albert, . She lifted her hands to her face and started to cry.
* * *
For her part, Amanda was lying face-down on the muddy ground where she'd dropped, shaking and sobbing, her hand pressed to her chest where the energy spike had impaled her. The channelling spell on her back burned like fire - for all the times she'd used it, no-one had used it against her, not since Candra had carved it there and every fibre of her being protested the action. Sucking in a breath, she let herself merge with London, preferring the conflicted feel of a city at odds with itself as it was increasingly these days than the sensation of being impaled.
The darkness closed on the advancing Adam, wrapping around him like an inky fog. It was appropriate in London, after all. But the mage kept advancing. The darkness tried to constrict and stop him. He ignored it and Taboo fought to channel more power into his spell. Abruptly, the darkness rippled and burst into flame. The torrent traveled back towards the caster in an instant and Taboo screamed as his hands were momentarily engulfed in fire before he could cut the spell. When he reached him, Adam didn't bother to use magic, instead slamming his head into Taboo's mouth. The old man fell hard to the dirt, several teeth coming loose in his bloody, ruined mouth.
"I warned you. You thought you were powerful. You thought you were so fucking clever." Adam's hand began to glow as he squatted down beside Taboo. "You thought you'd get away with killing my blood." He touched the tips of his fingers to the flesh over Taboo's heart. Smoke tendrils began to wind their way up. Taboo felt like Adam's hand had punched through his chest and grabbed his heart with white hot fingers. The cruel smile grew. "Scream, you fucking cunt. Scream your fucking life away." He hissed as the sensation of fire spread from Taboo's heart to his nerves, wiring the man into living immolation.
* * *
"I bet he said the same,” Billy commented, with a nod toward the corpse in their midst. He held up an arm to protect his face from the initial volley of shields, grimacing as others found their mark. With a motion, the summoned canvas dropped behind her, forming a wall to prevent her retreat, then began advancing in attempt to force her toward him.
"Sure... Grace!!!" Jasmine's face changed when she spotted her sister on the floor, clutching her ankle. Instead of backing away, she immediately changed course to aid her sibling. "Bind!" Light flashed and magical bindings of the type that had bound her and her siblings just minutes before snapped in place around her opponents wrists and ankles, glowing a soft green.
Jasmine didn't look back as she hurried over to her sister and slid down next to her on her knees.
* * *
Topaz was already on her knees, and the shadows forced her further down, until she was hunched over, a horrible chill running through her body. No, come on, come on, shake it off, you need to-
"Alice?" She kicks her shoes off by the door to avoid the wrath of getting the carpet wet. No answer. Weird. The car's here. "Are you downstairs?" She tries again, dropping her bag by the basement steps and looking down. The door is closed. What the heck is the silent treatment for? Well, she did forget to put the dishes away last night. She shakes her head and turns toward the kitchen.
"If you're mad about the dishes I'm sorry, I was-"
NO!
Topaz forced herself out of the unbidden memory, shaking her head and trying to gather up whatever energy she had left. It wasn't much, but it was enough to rip through the shadows around her, freeing her from the suffocating darkness. She straightened up shaking, dragging a hand across her eyes - she wasn't crying, she wasn't crying, she wasn't crying - and saw Adam with his hand to Taboo's chest, heard the screaming for the first time. He was going to die. Topaz half raised a hand as if to help, but she was spent. Everything she had taken off Adam had gone to helping Amanda and getting out of those shadows. Did she even want to save Taboo? This could all end if he were gone... he could rest in peace and Topaz wouldn't have to worry about him ever again....
Taboo writhed in pain, the very marrow of his bones on fire. He cast a look at Topaz, standing still, watching. "T-that's m-my girl," he stuttered with a hideous twisted grin. And then movement behind Adam, the blonde witch appearing out of the very earth, grabbing Adam by the hair and wrenching his head back, a knife to his throat…
Taboo’s spell almost works. Almost.
Topaz wasn’t sure what drew her attention to the blood soaked grave. It was like something had changed in the air — like it was electric. Was it magic? Had Billy and Amanda felt it? Had Taboo or the Destines? Topaz didn’t know. Her eyes moved slowly to the grave, pausing first on Albert’s body, then finally landing on the area in front of the stone.
A hand had dug its way out from beneath the ground. It went against all logic — it went against all sanity — but Topaz’s heart jumped, and for one moment, one brief, stupid moment, she allowed herself to hope…
“Mum?”
Hope was always her undoing.
What clawed its way out of the earth, out of the place it had rested for seven years, may have at one time been Alice Ashdown. Now, it was a monster, with decaying, rotted skin and once beautiful red hair falling out of its scalp as it climbed out of the ground. Topaz stared at the emaciated, bent creature, expression blank. At one time — at a weaker time, when she had been grieving and Luca had been turning their lives upside down — she had looked into raising the dead. Just to see if it was possible, she had told herself. She would never try it. And while spells had varied, one thing had remained the same.
If it’s done not properly, there’s no telling what you’ll bring back.
"Fuck right off, Mandy." Adam's eyes flashed and the blade at his throat suddenly heated hundreds of degrees in an instant. Amanda dropped it with a gasp and Adam put a hand to her abdomen. The witch cried out as the scarlet energy exploded against her body, tossed her back like a ragdoll. Adam turned back to Taboo, who was frantically pushing himself back on his hands and feet. "You and your Paki wife get to burn together, old man." Fire started to dance around the outlines of both as Adam spread his hands. "Won't that be fun?"
Wanda, after leaving Grace in a crying heap, had been circling back around to reconnect with one of her people when she saw Amanda go flying. She changed direction immediately, trying to find a good path to get to her but the creature that hadn't been there a few minutes ago drew her attention and she slowed. A quick glance at the chaos around the moving remains of the woman confirmed that there was nothing natural about her. "Of fucking course," she muttered, tired.
Amanda rolled across the muddy, bloody ground. She was dimly aware of something horribly, hugely WRONG nearby, but she couldn't think past the pain firing along every nerve. She couldn't beat Adam, not with London as divided as it was, and once he was done with Taboo he'd go after Topaz. She couldn't let that happen. But what could she do against such a monster?
A foot connected with the small of her back, not in a deliberate way, more an accidental collision. Amanda squinted up at the pain-blurred figure above her and realised it was another of the Destines. One of the sisters... Grace? Amanda didn't even stop to consider what she was about to do - she grabbed onto the woman's ankle and pulled, Grace's life energy pouring into her without any kind of restraint.
"Stop," she croaked at Grace. "Get him the fuck out of here, or I'll kill you and your sister both."
With heaving breaths, Grace tried hard to come up with answer. The Destines didn't run away, but the facts were this: they were woefully unprepared for this assault, and she alone had a broken ankle, wounds all over, and she was feeling weaker and weaker by the second. Recognizing the woman was speaking the truth, she nodded and reached out for Jasmine. Grace put her trust in Jasmine to watch her back while she got them out of there.
"Adam," she managed to croak out as she used the last of her magick to create the spell. The three second warning would have to be enough.
"Scream, Taboo." Adam's face was close, watching the flames char his skin. "Scream your life away, you fuck!" In his fury, he couldn't hear anything but the blood roaring in his eyes and the crackle of skin burning.
The gate wasn't Grace's usual style -- instead of the light colours she liked, it was deep red, with flickers of silver writhing within. Within seconds, the individual gates engulfed the three remaining Destine siblings, whisking them away in an instant. Grace would forever regret not bringing Albert's body with them.
With Adam gone, Taboo let his body relax against the bloodied earth. His skin was burned and broken, his body wracked with pain from Adam's magic, but he had survived. They had all survived, him, Topaz and... Alice. Alice was there, and his expression turned beatific (or as much as it could, considering the damage) as he hauled himself up painfully on his elbows and then to his knees. "Alice, you're here," he murmured, opening his arms to the shambling horror. "Alice, my love..."
He had lost it, Topaz thought dimly, staring at the creature before her. He had completely lost his bloody mind.
And yet, she couldn't stop herself from whispering, "Alice?" as she blinked back tears. She knew this wasn't her mother. It wasn't even human. It turned at the sound of voices, as if trying to figure out which target to focus on. It finally settled for Topaz, it's movements jerky and unsteady as it walked. Topaz immediately started stepping back, fire flickering weakly to life in her hand. She was spent. She had nothing left. Come on, come on, come on...
"NO!" Taboo saw the flicker and lunged at Topaz from his kneeling position, trying to wrap his arms around her knees and topple her to the ground. "You can't! She's your mother! I won't let you!"
Surprisingly, the fighting instinct flared before the magic did. Topaz rammed her knee up without a second thought, slamming it into Taboo's chin then kicking him square in the chest, throwing him back. Kyle would have been proud. The flames in her hand flickered a bit brighter with the sudden burst of anger, but it wouldn't enough. She searched out Taboo without taking her eyes off the zombie, finding him easily and trying to sift around his head. It was something she had been practicing on her own time, after what had happened last year with Amanda - trying to drain specific emotions, instead of taking everything. She wasn't great at it, but she didn't mind experimenting on Taboo. She latched on to his mania with surprising ease, pulling it out and letting it run through her own head for a moment. It was a frightening glance into the mind of her father. She didn't enjoy it.
The fire finally came fully to life, and Topaz threw the ball at the zombie; it hit the creature in the chest and immediately exploded, engulfing it in flames. the shriek it let out was horrible. Topaz resisted the urge to cover her ears, or close her eyes.
Drained of the mania that had driven him this far, Taboo lay where he'd fallen, on his back in the mud. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. "Alice..." he whispered brokenly, turning his head to watch the corpse burn. "I'm so sorry..."
Topaz just stared, her expression completely dead.
"If you're mad about the dishes I'm sorry, I was-"
Whatever stupid excuse she has for not putting the dishes away dies in her throat when she sees her mother on the floor. For a moment, she thinks Alice has fainted - Luca is always giving her grief about not taking better care of herself. It certainly wouldn't be the first time.
But this feels different. There's something in the air the teenager can't identify, and she starts to shake as she whispers, "Alice?"
No answer.
The energy she'd stolen from Grace had helped Amanda deal with the effects of Adam's magic, but she was still moving stiffly and painfully as she approached her former student. Regardless, her hand was gentle as she reached for Topaz' shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, giving the girl's shoulder a squeeze before she turned to the sobbing, shaking figure on the ground. "Now, what do we do with him? I seem to remember telling him I'd yank his heart out of his chest if he went after Topaz again."
"I am not sure that would do much damage at this point," Wanda said, eyes drawn to the still screaming zombie though the cries were growing softer. Gently, she reached to find what strings were left that tied the remains to the world around them. They weren't supposed to be there, not really, so it didn't take much effort to persuade them to unravel, to withdraw whatever energy still directed her. The screaming quieted and, stupidly perhaps, Wanda tossed her jacket on top of the still burning remains to give them what little dignity she could, if only for Topaz' sake.
"If not his heart, then what would be the next course of action?"
As Jasmine vanished, Billy felt the power quickly drain from his bonds, and a few moments later, he was free. He hovered on the edge of the group, more because he didn’t know what to say than any other reason. How do you offer comfort from something like this? Instead, he focused on rebuilding his power for the return trip. He still felt lightheaded from the teleport, but the barrage of magics swirling around was more than sufficient--exhilarating, almost overwhelming. Probably leave a hell of a hangover in the morning, he thought, as he began running through mental exercises to calm his nerves and regain focus.
Topaz wasn't paying attention to what anyone was saying. She still hadn't taken her eyes off the spot where she had watched the zombie - her mother - burn, not even after Wanda had covered it.
It was Taboo's sobbing which finally pulled her out of her reverie, and she turned her head almost mechanically, fixing her gaze on him. She had been prepared to let Amanda kill him - it had even been part of the plan, before that of course had gone straight to hell. And there was part of her that was still screaming to let Amanda do whatever she wanted. He didn't deserve to live. This was all his fault. But...
Topaz shrugged Amanda's hand off her shoulder, finally turning and walking slowly to the huddled form on the ground. Adam had done a number on him. It might have been kinder to put him out of his misery. She knelt down, one knee resting on the blood soaked ground, the other coming to her chest. "You know what," she said, locking eyes with him and speaking just loud enough for everyone to hear. "No one's going to kill you. Not today. Because that's what you want, isn't it?" She looked over her shoulder at Wanda's jacket, knowing what was under it, then back at Taboo. "You'd rather be dead than live without her. And why should you get what you want? Why should you be allowed to have peace when the rest of us have to live with the consequences of what you did? Why should you get away so easily? You don't deserve that. You can wake up every morning and remember the pain you put your wife through, just because you were too selfish to let her go. You can close your eyes every night and listen to her screaming echo in your head for the rest of your life, however long or short that may be. I'll tell you what, though."
She paused, reaching into Taboo's jacket pocket and extracting his cell phone. Somehow, it had survived. She pressed a button to bring the lock screen to life, holding it up so Taboo could see the picture of Clea and Stephen. "If you ever go near these two again, you won't have to worry about Amanda Sefton, and you won't have to worry about Adam Destine, because I will kill you." A spark of magic ran through the phone, frying the electronic pieces; there was noticeable pop as smoke started curling out of it. "No one threatens my kids.
"So here's the deal. Next time - if you're stupid enough to make there be a next time - this stays between you and me. No Winding Way, no Destines, no blackmailing me with people from the mansion. Just you and me, Dad. And then you can see what I've learned. Or, you can be smart, and never try to contact me again. Your choice. But I'm ready to end this whenever you are."
She stood, dropping the phone and crushing it under her foot for good measure. She held Taboo's gaze for a moment longer as she searched his eyes, trying to find some sign of the man she had once happily called her father. Had any of it been real, she wondered. Had he ever really loved her? Had Alice?
Had anyone?
The distant sound of police sirens broke the heavy silence, and Topaz turned away from Taboo at last, making her way back to Amanda, Wanda, and Billy.
Time to go home.
Magic swirled in the air like an invisible fog, thick and almost choking anyone who was sensitive to it. Topaz felt like her head was being compressed, and even swallowing down the bile at the sight of Albert's body, his freshly slit neck still spilling blood, was hard.
There was a flash and a bang and the sensation of something punching through the magical fog. Then a familiar voice could be heard. "Have got to be fucking joking me." Amanda stepped out from behind a mausoleum, followed by Wanda and Billy. None of them looked happy, but Amanda was almost incandescent with rage. She began pulling on London's power as soon as her feet touched the ground, and on the outskirts of the cemetery, lights dimmed and car alarms started shrieking. "Are you that bloody stupid, Taboo, that you'd go after Topaz again? After what happened last time?"
Taboo sneered. "Stay out of this, amateur. It's none of your concern." And he continued with his chant, Topaz' hand clutched tightly in his as he drew on her power.
Wanda held up a hand, trying to urge caution in the group around her. The stakes were far too high to go rushing in no matter how badly they wanted to do so. She edged away to the right from Amanda, studying the chaos lines that swirled and changed with every moment.
Finally! "Uh, yeah, about all this." While Taboo had been siphoning off her power, she had been stealing, bit by bit, from the nearby guards still holding the remaining Destines. She didn't want to be noticeable until she had a real escape plan. And now her escape plan was here. She immediately ripped away whatever was left in their heads, and a bright fire burned to life in the hand that wasn't being held. Before Taboo could stop her, she drove her hand, fire and all, into his leg, and ripped her other hand from his while he was howling in pain; she wiped the blood off her face as she immediately backed away.
Billy wobbled as they popped into London, his knees threatening to give way. There wasn't time to think, only act, when Amanda showed up, but there they were. He had to count again to make sure, one, two, three. No one left behind, and an ocean between where they were. Sometimes the magic works,, he thought. But it took its toll, and he leaned against the stone for support. The tension and magic in the air was thick, and he almost imagined he could feel the chaos beginning to replenish his reserves.
Under her grief the trickle of power that Jasmine had been trying to draw from the earth sprung in the form of a mighty river. While she usually directed towards healing, this time held her wrists out in front of her. The bounds that kept her in place definitely held traces of earth energy and if she did this right... the power built and with one word she gave it purpose: "Destructo!" The traces of energy 'grew' into wide strands and before the energy manacles had fully dissolved she gestured at her siblings. "Destructo!" she called out and she felt their 'chains' shatter too.
The second Grace felt her bounds disappear, she leapt into action, both literally and figuratively. With an apology to her dear, dear Albert, she reached down into the puddle of blood pooling around his cooling body. The power was there, just waiting, and she wasn't going to let anyone else take it for themselves. It was what Albert would have wanted.
In seconds, she felt her power stores surge. With anger flashing in her eyes, she turned her new-found fury towards the guards. Not relying on luck, she pulled on her magic, pinpointed the guard holding the amulets, and let loose. The fires burned hot and fast, but slow enough that the screams of the guard were clearly heard. Using the chaos as a distraction, it wasn't long before the amulets were in hand, and Grace was tossing them as fast as she could. The Destines were not going to take this lying down.
"Well now. I bet that didn't go like you thought." Adam drew himself up as his sisters raged at the guards behind them. The fire outlined him, traces of flame contrasted by his black clothing. His eyes burned bright red as he drew power inside him. One of the surviving guards rushed him. Adam held up a hand, not even bothering to look at the man. He screamed as his blood was blasted clear from his body. Deep red lances burst out from his back, legs and head, shredding the flesh as if he'd been minced by an industrial blade. Adam let his hand drop and the blood rained down to the ground, splashing in huge drops and covering the stones in gore.
"You see, you miserable old wog, you think you know pain. You think it makes you stronger. Ruthless. But you're nothing but a bloody tourist in it." Adam swept his arm to one side, smashing and sending flying the gravestones and memorials between him and Taboo. "Me? In that world, I'm a fucking king. And I'm going to spend a long time showing you what pain; real pain, actually is." Tendrils of dark energy sprouted around the pair, trapping them in their spot, directly in the path of Adam's seemly inexorable advance.
Topaz was too late to move, and found her feet literally rooted to the ground. Fuck, fuck. She had been completely ready to run over to the others and get the hell out of dodge and let the Destines do whatever they wanted to Taboo. Magic crackled between her fingers, but she already knew that wasn't going to do her any good. He was stronger than her. Always had been. Always would be. The thought shook her right to the core, and for the briefest moment she forgot anyone else there - she forgot Taboo, she forgot she had allies. She was going to die here. She didn't want to die.
It was difficult to tell who cast first. But before Adam could reach Topaz, two shielding spells appeared, one black and oily-looking, surrounding her and Taboo, and the other neon-lit and blazing bright with power, surrounding Adam.
"Sorry, sunshine, but if anyone's going to make the old man suffer, it's me." Amanda's words were mild, but reinforced by the shrinking of her spell around Adam as she closed her fist. "And no-one messes with my kids."
The battle begins, with mixed results for everyone involved.
Wanda didn't have a particular problem with the Destines seeking revenge on Taboo but they were throwing an awful lot of power everywhere. It was just a matter of time before one them accidentally, or perhaps not, turned their abilities towards her people. Her gaze turned towards the one with the amulets and she moved quietly around, positioning herself closer without getting herself disintegrated.
'There's my 2018 resolution,' she thought, pulling on the strings just so to avoid a nasty looking spell from the woman, knowing it would draw her attention. But at least it wouldn't be on Billy, Amanda or the others.
Blood magick was one of the strongest dark magics around, and Grace was having troubles trying to curb her new found power with her intense need for destruction and revenge. Trying to concentrate, she reached out her energy and found a weird space around her. Fluttering her eyes open, she noticed Wanda and without much prompting, she let out a spell directed that way.
* * *
It took Topaz a moment to snap out of her stupor. It wasn't too hard to summon up enough rage to burn whatever the tendrils of energy still crawling up her legs. Amanda had Adam. Which just left one person.
There was absolutely no mercy in Topaz's gaze as she turned on Taboo, gathering crackling energy between her fingers.
"Bloody hell." The last word was accented by Topaz throwing her hand out, and the energy wrapping around the man. "You can never just leave well enough alone, can you?" The energy tightened like ropes, burning into his skin. "Five fucking years and you dig all of this back up." Anger was a dangerous emotion, especially when it was used to fuel magic. And it was all Topaz had right then. "Anyone else would have moved on, but you just can't let it go. Why can't you let it go?!"
She yelled that last part, whipping her hand back to wipe away the spell, releasing Taboo from the burning bindings. There were angry red crosses running across his face, and the skin Topaz could see from where she was standing. She wasn't sorry.
Taboo raised a trembling hand to his face, wincing as he touched the welts. Then, incredibly, a smile crossed his face. "I always knew you had it in you, pet," he said, and his expression darkened. "You want to take your shot, have revenge on me? Make me suffer? Then show me what you've learned." And with that he raised his hands, shadows rising from around him and streaming straight at Topaz.
* * *
Wanda dropped, intuition telling her moments before the spell was released to get down. Even then it was a near miss and the magic blazed over her head by inches as she avoided it. It hit something behind her and she could feel the implosion against her back as she rolled back to her feet.
"This stops now," she snapped, worry for those with her skyrocketing. Red light crackled to life around her as she threw two handfuls of entropic energy at Grace, shading everything between them a dark hue.
* * *
As the Destines’ bindings fell loose, Billy pushed himself back to his feet. Things could get ugly once magic started flying around. His focus settled on Jasmine, sizing her up. He didn’t want to chance teleporting again so soon, so instead, he extended his arms, and a shimmering, translucent shield appeared in front of him. Low energy, but hopefully enough to deflect any projectiles - stone, energy, or otherwise - she might fling at him, and he began closing the distance between them.
A faint smile played on Jasmine's face when she placed the shield. Tapping into the connection she had maintained with the earth, she didn't pull energy from it, but instead pushed her will into it. Her smile widened a bit as the earth erupted around her opponents feet, neatly evading the shield and locking him into place with hardly doing any damage. "Just stay there and let us leave. I don't want to harm you." She called out.
* * *
Meanwhile, Adam touched the neon traced bubble around him. "Oh, fuck me, 'manda. You've perfected whore magic now? What is this, the Red Light District shield." His fingers traced along the concave edge for a moment, before sinking through the energy skin. Red traces of energy crackled between his fingertips as they emerged. He made a fist and wrenched his hand down. The shield tore as he pulled at it, ripping a hole large enough to step through before it popped like a soap bubble.
"You're also in my way, sweetness. Tomming around for Rack might have gotten you extra treats from Daddy, but he saved the power for his real students." Adam raised his hand towards her. The energy leapt from his hand to his eyes and back, sparking and flaring. "This one was my personal favourite." The red lightning arced, bridging between them in a split second. For Amanda, there was a brief moment where she thought she'd somehow diverted the spell. She straightened, ready to respond when her back flared up in intense pain. The white hot fire raced up and down her back, following the lines of her scarring with an artist's exactitude. Adam closed his fist and Amanda gasped as the pain suddenly intensified. A sharp spike of ruby energy emerged between her breasts, impaling her as it thrust up. She could see the unbroken skin and cloth through the red spire, but her body screamed out as if a fiery poker had been rammed through her back and out her chest. Adam jerked his hand up and Amanda was thrust in the air, sliding down in agony on the stake of energy that was impaling her, leaving her screaming as gravity forced her further down the energy spike.
"You stay there. I'll take care of you later." Adam said as he turned back to the others. With a violent gesture, he wrenched Topaz to one side. The woman crashed into the ground, skipping several times end over end before coming to a halt on the ground. Taboo's shadows snapped shut on nothing. "It is you and me, you fucking wog. These cunts can have what's left after I'm done."
* * *
“Debatable,” Billy said, before his voice dropped from audible range. The rock around his ankles pulsed, pixelated, then burst into a cloud of sand, which went flying toward his opponents eyes with a wave of his hand. Perhaps to blind, perhaps to distract, just long enough for him to hop aboard a blue disc that hovered several inches above the ground. “Next round, I want Paper,” he called out, a large canvas forming over Jasmine’s head.
Shields sprung up with small wiggles of her fingers, protecting her from both the sand flying at her eyes and whatever it was that he was trying to drop on her. She wiggled her fingers in complicated pattern and the addon of a few hissed words, a multitude of small shields started battering the guy, trying to knock him of his disk. She started moving back, intent on making her escape. "Like I said, I just wanna get out of here." She called out as the wave of shields intensified.
* * *
Son of a bitch. Topaz pushed herself up, wiping a bit of blood from her lip, eyes casting around, landing on Amanda, then back to Adam. Searching out his emotions specifically wasn't hard - everyone else was a mix of determined, a little bit of fear, some uncertainty. Adam was pure anger and arrogance. Not a combination she wanted, but it would do.
"How 'bout a pick-me-up?" she said, not loud enough to be heard over the noise of the fighting. Going into Adam's head felt greasy, and Topaz was sure she was going to need several showers to wash away the feeling. She didn't take everything. She could have - she should have, should have left him completely numb, should have cut off any ability to feel ever again - but she didn't have time. He'd feel the effect, but he couldn't stop her.
Energy flared in her hand, almost forming a frisbee, and she threw it at the bolt still piercing through Amanda. To her slight joy and surprise, it actually worked - the bolt cut, letting Amanda fall to the ground. "Thank god," Topaz muttered, pressing her hand to her face for a moment. She really hadn't been sure if that would help or make it worse.
The respite was brief - with a manic laugh, Taboo leapt on her distraction to send the shadows after her again. This time, they wrapped around her, insubstantial but immobilising, as cold as death. Another batch flew at Adam, seeking to do the same.
* * *
Grace widened her eyes as she barely jumped out of the way. Even so, she still felt a singe on her right ankle, enough to throw her off and have her stumble as she landed. With no real thought (after all, she had never been the most hands-on of the group), she spread her fingers and directed energy on where Wanda was standing.
But Wanda wasn't there anymore. Instead, she'd used the momentary distraction she'd bought herself to move quickly and quietly, taking care to not be seen by any of the other combatants as she did so. It was easy enough to see where the energy from the girl had been coming from and Wanda was, simply, in no mood to play 'my powerful blasts are better than your powerful blasts'.
As Grace lowered her hands from her responding attack, Wanda reached out and snagged the hand nearest to her. "Sorry not sorry," she said as she fed chaos energy right in to one of the amulets. She tightened her grip on the amulet even as she slammed her foot down on the spot her chaos blast had touched Grace.
Several somethings snapped.
The pain was instantaneous and excruciating, and yet, Grace couldn't process it. She tried to stand and stumbled down immediately, scraping her palms as she landed hard on the ground.
How did this happen? Her mind raced, trying to look around for Wanda but her pain-laced brain couldn't take it anymore. I'm so sorry, Albert, . She lifted her hands to her face and started to cry.
* * *
For her part, Amanda was lying face-down on the muddy ground where she'd dropped, shaking and sobbing, her hand pressed to her chest where the energy spike had impaled her. The channelling spell on her back burned like fire - for all the times she'd used it, no-one had used it against her, not since Candra had carved it there and every fibre of her being protested the action. Sucking in a breath, she let herself merge with London, preferring the conflicted feel of a city at odds with itself as it was increasingly these days than the sensation of being impaled.
The darkness closed on the advancing Adam, wrapping around him like an inky fog. It was appropriate in London, after all. But the mage kept advancing. The darkness tried to constrict and stop him. He ignored it and Taboo fought to channel more power into his spell. Abruptly, the darkness rippled and burst into flame. The torrent traveled back towards the caster in an instant and Taboo screamed as his hands were momentarily engulfed in fire before he could cut the spell. When he reached him, Adam didn't bother to use magic, instead slamming his head into Taboo's mouth. The old man fell hard to the dirt, several teeth coming loose in his bloody, ruined mouth.
"I warned you. You thought you were powerful. You thought you were so fucking clever." Adam's hand began to glow as he squatted down beside Taboo. "You thought you'd get away with killing my blood." He touched the tips of his fingers to the flesh over Taboo's heart. Smoke tendrils began to wind their way up. Taboo felt like Adam's hand had punched through his chest and grabbed his heart with white hot fingers. The cruel smile grew. "Scream, you fucking cunt. Scream your fucking life away." He hissed as the sensation of fire spread from Taboo's heart to his nerves, wiring the man into living immolation.
* * *
"I bet he said the same,” Billy commented, with a nod toward the corpse in their midst. He held up an arm to protect his face from the initial volley of shields, grimacing as others found their mark. With a motion, the summoned canvas dropped behind her, forming a wall to prevent her retreat, then began advancing in attempt to force her toward him.
"Sure... Grace!!!" Jasmine's face changed when she spotted her sister on the floor, clutching her ankle. Instead of backing away, she immediately changed course to aid her sibling. "Bind!" Light flashed and magical bindings of the type that had bound her and her siblings just minutes before snapped in place around her opponents wrists and ankles, glowing a soft green.
Jasmine didn't look back as she hurried over to her sister and slid down next to her on her knees.
* * *
Topaz was already on her knees, and the shadows forced her further down, until she was hunched over, a horrible chill running through her body. No, come on, come on, shake it off, you need to-
"Alice?" She kicks her shoes off by the door to avoid the wrath of getting the carpet wet. No answer. Weird. The car's here. "Are you downstairs?" She tries again, dropping her bag by the basement steps and looking down. The door is closed. What the heck is the silent treatment for? Well, she did forget to put the dishes away last night. She shakes her head and turns toward the kitchen.
"If you're mad about the dishes I'm sorry, I was-"
NO!
Topaz forced herself out of the unbidden memory, shaking her head and trying to gather up whatever energy she had left. It wasn't much, but it was enough to rip through the shadows around her, freeing her from the suffocating darkness. She straightened up shaking, dragging a hand across her eyes - she wasn't crying, she wasn't crying, she wasn't crying - and saw Adam with his hand to Taboo's chest, heard the screaming for the first time. He was going to die. Topaz half raised a hand as if to help, but she was spent. Everything she had taken off Adam had gone to helping Amanda and getting out of those shadows. Did she even want to save Taboo? This could all end if he were gone... he could rest in peace and Topaz wouldn't have to worry about him ever again....
Taboo writhed in pain, the very marrow of his bones on fire. He cast a look at Topaz, standing still, watching. "T-that's m-my girl," he stuttered with a hideous twisted grin. And then movement behind Adam, the blonde witch appearing out of the very earth, grabbing Adam by the hair and wrenching his head back, a knife to his throat…
Taboo’s spell almost works. Almost.
Topaz wasn’t sure what drew her attention to the blood soaked grave. It was like something had changed in the air — like it was electric. Was it magic? Had Billy and Amanda felt it? Had Taboo or the Destines? Topaz didn’t know. Her eyes moved slowly to the grave, pausing first on Albert’s body, then finally landing on the area in front of the stone.
A hand had dug its way out from beneath the ground. It went against all logic — it went against all sanity — but Topaz’s heart jumped, and for one moment, one brief, stupid moment, she allowed herself to hope…
“Mum?”
Hope was always her undoing.
What clawed its way out of the earth, out of the place it had rested for seven years, may have at one time been Alice Ashdown. Now, it was a monster, with decaying, rotted skin and once beautiful red hair falling out of its scalp as it climbed out of the ground. Topaz stared at the emaciated, bent creature, expression blank. At one time — at a weaker time, when she had been grieving and Luca had been turning their lives upside down — she had looked into raising the dead. Just to see if it was possible, she had told herself. She would never try it. And while spells had varied, one thing had remained the same.
If it’s done not properly, there’s no telling what you’ll bring back.
"Fuck right off, Mandy." Adam's eyes flashed and the blade at his throat suddenly heated hundreds of degrees in an instant. Amanda dropped it with a gasp and Adam put a hand to her abdomen. The witch cried out as the scarlet energy exploded against her body, tossed her back like a ragdoll. Adam turned back to Taboo, who was frantically pushing himself back on his hands and feet. "You and your Paki wife get to burn together, old man." Fire started to dance around the outlines of both as Adam spread his hands. "Won't that be fun?"
Wanda, after leaving Grace in a crying heap, had been circling back around to reconnect with one of her people when she saw Amanda go flying. She changed direction immediately, trying to find a good path to get to her but the creature that hadn't been there a few minutes ago drew her attention and she slowed. A quick glance at the chaos around the moving remains of the woman confirmed that there was nothing natural about her. "Of fucking course," she muttered, tired.
Amanda rolled across the muddy, bloody ground. She was dimly aware of something horribly, hugely WRONG nearby, but she couldn't think past the pain firing along every nerve. She couldn't beat Adam, not with London as divided as it was, and once he was done with Taboo he'd go after Topaz. She couldn't let that happen. But what could she do against such a monster?
A foot connected with the small of her back, not in a deliberate way, more an accidental collision. Amanda squinted up at the pain-blurred figure above her and realised it was another of the Destines. One of the sisters... Grace? Amanda didn't even stop to consider what she was about to do - she grabbed onto the woman's ankle and pulled, Grace's life energy pouring into her without any kind of restraint.
"Stop," she croaked at Grace. "Get him the fuck out of here, or I'll kill you and your sister both."
With heaving breaths, Grace tried hard to come up with answer. The Destines didn't run away, but the facts were this: they were woefully unprepared for this assault, and she alone had a broken ankle, wounds all over, and she was feeling weaker and weaker by the second. Recognizing the woman was speaking the truth, she nodded and reached out for Jasmine. Grace put her trust in Jasmine to watch her back while she got them out of there.
"Adam," she managed to croak out as she used the last of her magick to create the spell. The three second warning would have to be enough.
"Scream, Taboo." Adam's face was close, watching the flames char his skin. "Scream your life away, you fuck!" In his fury, he couldn't hear anything but the blood roaring in his eyes and the crackle of skin burning.
The gate wasn't Grace's usual style -- instead of the light colours she liked, it was deep red, with flickers of silver writhing within. Within seconds, the individual gates engulfed the three remaining Destine siblings, whisking them away in an instant. Grace would forever regret not bringing Albert's body with them.
With Adam gone, Taboo let his body relax against the bloodied earth. His skin was burned and broken, his body wracked with pain from Adam's magic, but he had survived. They had all survived, him, Topaz and... Alice. Alice was there, and his expression turned beatific (or as much as it could, considering the damage) as he hauled himself up painfully on his elbows and then to his knees. "Alice, you're here," he murmured, opening his arms to the shambling horror. "Alice, my love..."
He had lost it, Topaz thought dimly, staring at the creature before her. He had completely lost his bloody mind.
And yet, she couldn't stop herself from whispering, "Alice?" as she blinked back tears. She knew this wasn't her mother. It wasn't even human. It turned at the sound of voices, as if trying to figure out which target to focus on. It finally settled for Topaz, it's movements jerky and unsteady as it walked. Topaz immediately started stepping back, fire flickering weakly to life in her hand. She was spent. She had nothing left. Come on, come on, come on...
"NO!" Taboo saw the flicker and lunged at Topaz from his kneeling position, trying to wrap his arms around her knees and topple her to the ground. "You can't! She's your mother! I won't let you!"
Surprisingly, the fighting instinct flared before the magic did. Topaz rammed her knee up without a second thought, slamming it into Taboo's chin then kicking him square in the chest, throwing him back. Kyle would have been proud. The flames in her hand flickered a bit brighter with the sudden burst of anger, but it wouldn't enough. She searched out Taboo without taking her eyes off the zombie, finding him easily and trying to sift around his head. It was something she had been practicing on her own time, after what had happened last year with Amanda - trying to drain specific emotions, instead of taking everything. She wasn't great at it, but she didn't mind experimenting on Taboo. She latched on to his mania with surprising ease, pulling it out and letting it run through her own head for a moment. It was a frightening glance into the mind of her father. She didn't enjoy it.
The fire finally came fully to life, and Topaz threw the ball at the zombie; it hit the creature in the chest and immediately exploded, engulfing it in flames. the shriek it let out was horrible. Topaz resisted the urge to cover her ears, or close her eyes.
Drained of the mania that had driven him this far, Taboo lay where he'd fallen, on his back in the mud. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. "Alice..." he whispered brokenly, turning his head to watch the corpse burn. "I'm so sorry..."
Topaz just stared, her expression completely dead.
"If you're mad about the dishes I'm sorry, I was-"
Whatever stupid excuse she has for not putting the dishes away dies in her throat when she sees her mother on the floor. For a moment, she thinks Alice has fainted - Luca is always giving her grief about not taking better care of herself. It certainly wouldn't be the first time.
But this feels different. There's something in the air the teenager can't identify, and she starts to shake as she whispers, "Alice?"
No answer.
The energy she'd stolen from Grace had helped Amanda deal with the effects of Adam's magic, but she was still moving stiffly and painfully as she approached her former student. Regardless, her hand was gentle as she reached for Topaz' shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, giving the girl's shoulder a squeeze before she turned to the sobbing, shaking figure on the ground. "Now, what do we do with him? I seem to remember telling him I'd yank his heart out of his chest if he went after Topaz again."
"I am not sure that would do much damage at this point," Wanda said, eyes drawn to the still screaming zombie though the cries were growing softer. Gently, she reached to find what strings were left that tied the remains to the world around them. They weren't supposed to be there, not really, so it didn't take much effort to persuade them to unravel, to withdraw whatever energy still directed her. The screaming quieted and, stupidly perhaps, Wanda tossed her jacket on top of the still burning remains to give them what little dignity she could, if only for Topaz' sake.
"If not his heart, then what would be the next course of action?"
As Jasmine vanished, Billy felt the power quickly drain from his bonds, and a few moments later, he was free. He hovered on the edge of the group, more because he didn’t know what to say than any other reason. How do you offer comfort from something like this? Instead, he focused on rebuilding his power for the return trip. He still felt lightheaded from the teleport, but the barrage of magics swirling around was more than sufficient--exhilarating, almost overwhelming. Probably leave a hell of a hangover in the morning, he thought, as he began running through mental exercises to calm his nerves and regain focus.
Topaz wasn't paying attention to what anyone was saying. She still hadn't taken her eyes off the spot where she had watched the zombie - her mother - burn, not even after Wanda had covered it.
It was Taboo's sobbing which finally pulled her out of her reverie, and she turned her head almost mechanically, fixing her gaze on him. She had been prepared to let Amanda kill him - it had even been part of the plan, before that of course had gone straight to hell. And there was part of her that was still screaming to let Amanda do whatever she wanted. He didn't deserve to live. This was all his fault. But...
Topaz shrugged Amanda's hand off her shoulder, finally turning and walking slowly to the huddled form on the ground. Adam had done a number on him. It might have been kinder to put him out of his misery. She knelt down, one knee resting on the blood soaked ground, the other coming to her chest. "You know what," she said, locking eyes with him and speaking just loud enough for everyone to hear. "No one's going to kill you. Not today. Because that's what you want, isn't it?" She looked over her shoulder at Wanda's jacket, knowing what was under it, then back at Taboo. "You'd rather be dead than live without her. And why should you get what you want? Why should you be allowed to have peace when the rest of us have to live with the consequences of what you did? Why should you get away so easily? You don't deserve that. You can wake up every morning and remember the pain you put your wife through, just because you were too selfish to let her go. You can close your eyes every night and listen to her screaming echo in your head for the rest of your life, however long or short that may be. I'll tell you what, though."
She paused, reaching into Taboo's jacket pocket and extracting his cell phone. Somehow, it had survived. She pressed a button to bring the lock screen to life, holding it up so Taboo could see the picture of Clea and Stephen. "If you ever go near these two again, you won't have to worry about Amanda Sefton, and you won't have to worry about Adam Destine, because I will kill you." A spark of magic ran through the phone, frying the electronic pieces; there was noticeable pop as smoke started curling out of it. "No one threatens my kids.
"So here's the deal. Next time - if you're stupid enough to make there be a next time - this stays between you and me. No Winding Way, no Destines, no blackmailing me with people from the mansion. Just you and me, Dad. And then you can see what I've learned. Or, you can be smart, and never try to contact me again. Your choice. But I'm ready to end this whenever you are."
She stood, dropping the phone and crushing it under her foot for good measure. She held Taboo's gaze for a moment longer as she searched his eyes, trying to find some sign of the man she had once happily called her father. Had any of it been real, she wondered. Had he ever really loved her? Had Alice?
Had anyone?
The distant sound of police sirens broke the heavy silence, and Topaz turned away from Taboo at last, making her way back to Amanda, Wanda, and Billy.
Time to go home.
