Shattered Pentacle

Volita worked in relative silence, crouched beside the door. Lyra couldn't see what she was doing exactly, but it couldn't be very much. She made almost no sound, let alone any other dramatic displays. Maybe she had to get into the right state of mind?

While she worked, the members of her cabal all gathered in a group about twenty feet away, where they watched with growing tension visible in their stance and behavior.

It would seem like it from the outside anyway, thanks to Akiko's little spell.

“I don't like how long they're taking,” Reagan muttered. She had her arms folded, magical tool clutched in one hand. “They give a little blood and leave, right? Or am I remembering wrong?”

Their prisoner tugged on her restraints with one hand. “Sure would love to be able to check. Too bad I can't use any magic.”

“They're your allies,” Starlight said. “Why wouldn't you trust them?”

Tempest grunted, turning her back on them all. She folded both arms, watching the vampires' work. “I worked with Ventus, some years ago. He was much easier to deal with.”

Lyra gaped. “Ventus? He was a monster! Like a rabid dog, barely in control of his animal desires. But more dangerous than anything alive.”

Tempest turned, glancing back at her over her shoulder. “You knew him, I see. All that is true, of course. Ventus was among the most repulsive beings I've ever had the misfortune to encounter.”

“Then why?” Tabitha asked. “Why have anything to do with him?”

“What makes a monster dangerous isn't the powers it can turn on you. The danger comes in being able to judge their intentions—or not. Ventus was a dog. Point him at a squirrel, and he'd chase. Point him at a cat, and he'd rip it apart. Give him a steak, and he considers the arrangement rewarding. This creature, though—she's something else. The sister was always an unknown quantity. If I ever heard she was party to one of our arrangements, I always withdrew. She isn't worth the risk.”

His sister?

Lyra felt a sudden gulf in her chest like an invisible wound. In an instant, the lingering vampires in front of her gained new meaning. Wanting to come directly here, then waiting in place while they seemed to do nothing at all. “We're in trouble. Sunset, can you close that portal? I expect Volita to bring friends through it any second. Hers, not ours.”

The Mastigos mage smiled wearily. “Thought of that when I made it. If anyone who isn't those two vampires or one of us gets close to it, the portal will collapse. If they try it, we'll know.”

“Is something wrong, dear?” Tabitha asked. “More than the obvious, I mean. We knew there were risks involved when we elected to work with the Kindred. If we see any sign of hostility, we'll be ready.”

“We did what they said.” Starlight twisted the watch, moving the hand forward. It spun rapidly, until she'd brought it a full cycle. “And they have limited time until light. It won't matter if they're done here when the sun rises, they'll still fall asleep. Usually.”

Usually. Because vampires were much too poorly understood for any concrete rules to be known about them.

“The door still isn't opening,” Akiko said. “Should we go talk to them?”

“Maybe send them home,” Reagan added. “I know how badly you want this door open, Twi. But this whole thing is sketching me out. Almost ten minutes so far, and no progress.”

Lyra nodded along with Reagan. As upset as she would be at the prospect of losing the reward they'd worked for, at least nothing permanent would be lost.

But before she could say as much, something sharp drew her attention. It was her magical senses, the spell she used to sense living things nearby. Somewhere high over her head, a pair of living creatures were abruptly missing. The Arrow guarding the entrance.

She swore under her breath, loudly enough that even Tempest turned to look at her again. But none of her mage friends had the same sense for living things that Lyra did. Some might have other spells to detect it—but if they did, they would probably know what had just happened as well as she did.

“Guards just went down,” she whispered. “How could they find this place? Do they have magic phones too?”

Her friends all tensed. Anyone who wasn't holding a magical tool or other enchanted weapon lifted their tools from wherever they were stored.

“We fight them now,” Reagan said, spinning the little dagger over her arm. “Twilight, can you alert the Concilium?”

“Speed, apprentice,” Capper thought, his voice urgent. “Make yourself as fast as you can. Flood the spell with light. Now, before they know their allies are here.”

“Not just me,” she thought back. Lyra squeezed the leather handle of her dagger, drawing little shapes through the air. Enhancing someone's physical abilities was well within her purview—but she'd never tried it on so many at the same time. Without her existing sympathetic connections to the cabal, she would probably be doomed. Yet with it...

She broadened the spell to cover them all, each one an extension of the same power. That strategy would make it far too vulnerable to attack by another mage—but they weren't fighting the Seers this time.

For a second she stopped listening—as Akiko turned to face the vampires, and called out to know how much longer they would take. It didn't matter.

“She ran faster than the nightmares,” Lyra whispered, while both hands moved rapidly between the mudras. “Where darkness struck, she was there. At every lonely crossroads, beside every traveler, in the great city's winding alleys. She was there.”

The spell demanded power, and she gave it—more mana than she spent on most weeks, all gone in an instant. It left her feeling drained, wrung out. If she needed more power, she knew where to find it. She had to live long enough to run out of mana for that to matter.

Reagan raised an eyebrow, watching her work. “One of these days you're gonna have to teach the rest of us where you got that vocabulary.”

The spell crashed down on them all at once, a sudden, incredible burst of strength and increased dexterity. Would it be enough?

Akiko's little sphere of silence collapsed.

“I thought I knew one of you.” Volita turned her back on the door. Nothing had changed about it—no dark stain of blood, or grinding stone as it opened. The vampire hadn't done anything.

“I made a few calls while you were on that little errand. Dug around in some old security tapes.”

As she moved, Rainbow followed, just beside her. She flicked something out of her pocket—a butterfly knife, which swung open so fast Lyra could barely track it through the air.

She could track it now, though. “Don't show them what we did,” she thought, glaring at the others. Unless other Thyrsus mages had ever enhanced them like this before, they might not even know what it felt like. “I can't drop the spell for one of us without releasing it for everyone.” One way or another, all Lyra's eggs were now in the same fragile basket.

“Found your face, cat mage. You were there the day my brother died. Pulling the trigger.”

Several of her friends looked shocked, mouths hanging open.

“I hoped we were mistaken,” she continued. “Your powers were so... interesting. You shared my respect for all nature's creatures. I didn't want you to be his killer.”

“What kind of drugs are you on?” Rainbow asked. “Seriously, because I want the blood of people on them. The cast iron balls to walk right up to the sister of the Kindred you killed. What did you think was going to happen? That we wouldn't find out?”

Lyra stepped forward, so she was beside Akiko. Unlike the others, she could keep her movements deliberately slow, showing no hint of the magic on her. Unless vampires had some way to sense her powers, they wouldn't see it. “I had no idea who you were,” she said. “Ventus didn't tell any of his slaves anything. He used us up and threw us away. Into the river, usually.”

Volita sighed. “At least she's honest. A refreshing change of pace.” She waved vaguely over their heads. “Recent events have seen to the death of the VALKYRIE agents involved in his murder. But one of his ghouls escaped. Do you have any idea what the Camarilla will do to one who betrayed their master?”

From beside her, Akiko held one hand open, expression wistful. “Could you please not make us fight like this? We're on the verge of the most significant breakthrough in Atlantean study since the Orders were Founded. Please put the knife away. Before this gets pointlessly violent. No one here benefits from conflict.”

Volita sighed. “We did prefer to work with you. I thought we were at the start of a productive friendship. Unfortunately, she must answer for my brother's murder.”

Rainbow pointed her dagger in Lyra's direction. “Now.”

“You all can surrender her, and send us on our way. Or defend her, and suffer the same punishment.”

As she said it, something loud ripped through the air behind them, like a shotgun blast. Someone screamed, and bits of arms and legs went tumbling through the air, spraying black ichor behind them.

Reagan burst out laughing, almost as loud. “You people have no idea who you're dealing with. You were just going to take out the guards upstairs and flood the mine? Now you're stuck here with us.”

“Your brother was a monster,” Lyra said. Maybe it was Capper's confidence that filled her—or maybe Bonnie's. Either way, she stood up straight, faced them both without fear. “I watched him kill in front of me, until the poison he fed me wasn't strong enough to enslave my will any longer. My bullets didn't kill him—but if I could have, I would.”

Rainbow lurched across the empty mine towards her, faster than any human could see. Except Lyra. She drew her magical tool in one hand, while casting another spell with the other. No time for the supernal invocation this time. Her own memory would have to be enough.

Lyra called forth the likeness of those who dwelt in the Supernal. If vampires were beasts, she would show them what animals were like in the Wild, where the Fall did not taint them. Lyra grew taller, muscles stretching and skin hardening. Wings sprouted from her back, tearing through flesh and spreading into the same wide, feathered organs she once used to reach Tempest.

Rainbow swung for her, and Lyra caught the blow against her magical tool. Thanks to Tabitha's magic, the stone knife resisted. She struck back, driving her knee into Rainbow's chest with her greater size. The vampire might be supernaturally strong and fast, but there was no beating leverage. She went tumbling through the air, before striking painfully into a distant stone wall. The impact didn't seem to phase her much—she was up in seconds, wiping blood from her face with the back of one arm.

The distant lift rattled, then dropped through the ceiling in a single massive clatter of twisted steel and naked cable. Several dark figures fell into the opening, each one drawing weapons. They have guns.

But that wasn't her problem. She couldn't fight that group, or worry about what Volita was doing. Her cabal would have to do that, if she could keep the most dangerous undead away.

“Find wood and pierce the heart,” Capper thought. She couldn't see the cat anymore, and that was probably for the best. The undead would use him against her if they saw him. He was still close—close enough to speak to her, and maybe even give her advice where she needed it. “Or use fire, but that makes them more dangerous. It's usually not worth the risk.”

Gunfire barked through the room, along with distant shouts. The mine rumbled and shook, with chunks of ceiling tumbling down around them.

Lyra bolted to one side, dodging rocks larger than she was as they fell from overhead. A generator exploded from the impact, bursting into vibrant orange flame.

Then something heavy struck into Lyra, ripping her out of the air and dragging her painfully to the ground. A dagger stabbed into her shoulder, then the stone beneath. She screamed, red blood pooling from the point of impact.

Rainbow held her down, crushing her arms and legs with superhuman strength. “Been waiting for that. Someone had to... put you people in their place.”