Magic Resistant (3 page)

The welcoming committee waited.

Jackson skidded to a stop at the edge of the
meadow. His full attention focused on the new threat, a tall Fae
woman. Well over six feet, she dominated the area, reined-in power
seething below the surface.

She had a sleek, athletic build with small,
high breasts. A bright yellow slip of a dress barely covered her,
stopping mid-thigh and cut low on the chest with tiny straps
holding it up. Her long silvery hair moved of its accord, caressing
and wrapping around her exposed limbs. Most arresting of all was
the pale purple skin that seemed to shine in the light.

A gorgeous Fae, one meant for fantasies and
long nights of sweaty sex.

She smiled, cold and cruel, showing small
pointed teeth.

“I’m Seraphina and you’re trespassing.” Her
voice was soft, musical and oh-so deadly. He hastily suppressed a
shiver of fear.

Three trolls and the leaf guardian they’d
accidentally awakened stood in wedge formation behind her. Somehow
the guardian had arrived here before them, most likely due to the
earth magic tying it to this realm. Each one of them towered over
Seraphina, yet her power dwarfed them.

The trolls were as ugly as she was beautiful.
Rubbery greenish-grey skin covered in oozing sores; cracked
yellowed teeth poked out between their lips; and dirty, lank, green
hair hung just past their shoulders with their ears jutting out
obscenely. Tattered cloth scarcely covered the groin area. They
looked interchangeable, no discernible difference between them. As
one, they shifted their weight and tightened their grips on the
heavy wooden clubs, tree trunks that became twigs in their massive
hands.

“This is Light Fay territory and you do not
have permission from the Queen. She has ordered both of you to
appear before her for your punishment. If you resist, execution is
immediate.” The trolls grinned at the last part, eager for
resistance. One started drooling at the thought of bloodshed.

“What’s the punishment?” He asked, refusing
to cower.

Surprise flittered across Seraphina’s face at
his gall to ask her a question. He assumed most mortals would be on
their knees in fear. However, he dealt with demons on a regular
basis. It took more than a powerful Fae to make him visibly
quake.

“You would question me?!” Icy anger laced her
beautiful voice, almost making it ugly. “You will submit or you
will die.”

She glared at Jackson, daring him to disobey
her.

Her hand twitched at her side and realized
she was casting a spell. Too haughty and sure of her power, it was
unlikely she was nervous.

Jackson had already gathered energy for his
own spell, a silence one to render casting from his target near
impossible. He hadn’t yet mastered how to target more than one
person with mute, but he figured the trolls and the leaf guardian
were the least of his worries. He had to silence Seraphina and
fast.

A mocking smile curved his lips as he bent a
knee, showing his surrender. Her fingers stilled, either because
she no longer saw him as a threat or she’d completed her spell.
Made no difference to him since it gave him time to snap his
fingers and say “
Muta
.”

Most spells don’t require long, drawn out
phrases, only the necessary energy, components and a word
associated with the desired results. Some of the older mages
preferred to use arcane words, words drilled into them through
their training. The point was to make a spell comfortable to the
user although basic similarities still existed between each
caster.

Some spells, though, could only be cast by
following the ritual exactly. One small minute difference would
throw off the whole thing, especially when trying to summon demons.
Through trial and error, as well as his training with the
Enforcers, he figured out how to swiftly cast when his life
depended upon it and which spells were the most efficient during
battle.

Seraphina glared at him, her entire body
shaking with visible rage. Her white hair whipped around her as if
caught in a wind storm. Mortals rarely got the best of the Fair
Folk and certainly not ones on Fay land uninvited. The lack of a
voice didn’t stop her from commanding her bodyguards to attack
though.

Again, the trolls moved as one, which was
truly starting to creep out Jackson. He wondered if they shared
just one brain, a fact which wouldn’t have shocked him if true.
Trolls, admittedly, weren’t known for their intelligence. They
were, however, known for the battle prowess and being damn near
impossible to kill.

Jackson glanced over to check on the woman,
getting his first real look at her. Generous lips curved in a
taunting smile, a pert nose suited to her high cheekbones and dark
eyes narrowed on her target. No fear and no hesitation. Several
strands of dark brown hair escaped her ponytail, curling around her
face. She had the stance of a warrior, one used to battle.

Her right hand touched a ruby stud earring,
the other earrings glittering in the bright sunlight. As she
whispered a quick word, too low for him to hear, a basketball-sized
rainbow fireball appeared in her outstretched left hand. How odd.
He’d never seen rainbow fire before. What kind of mage was she?

She promptly tossed at the nearest ugly
troll.

All creatures had an instinctual fear of
fire, including the otherworldly Fae. Trolls had another reason to
fear it besides pain. It cauterized the wound and stopped a troll
from regenerating. Remove the arm of a troll and it would just grow
the limb back. Cut off the head and now there were two trolls. The
head would grow a body while the body grew its head back. Which
could explain why they were so damn dumb.

Never, under
any
circumstances, hack a
troll to pieces. Fire was the only weapon against trolls.

The troll tried to run from the speeding
fireball, tried to dodge it, but he was too slow. Or, more
accurate, the woman had been faster at casting then the troll
expected. Flames burst on the creature’s back, rapidly igniting its
dirty, greasy green hair. Screams of pure terror and pain burst
through the clearing.

The other Fae moved away from the flaming
troll. No one helped put out the fire.

In their distraction, Jackson summoned his
lesser imp, Xerix.

Sulfur clung to him, an unpleasant odor
Jackson learned to ignore. It warred with the honey rot of Fay
causing him to wrinkle his nose in defense. Through sheer strength
of will, he disregarded the horrible stink and instead focused on
his tiny minion.

The four-foot tall demon was an impressive
sight. Polished black skin gleamed in the brilliant light. Swirls
of smoke seemed to move beneath its skin, mesmerizing its target.
Tiny white spikes protected its spine while two razor-sharp horns
extended from its forehead. Bright red pupil-less eyes shone with
malevolence and evil glee as it cackled over the flaming troll’s
plight.

A small diamond inset on a thin gold band
bound the creature's essence. A few years back, Jackson had
confiscated it from a demon before he’d banished it back to its
plane of existence. He figured the demon wouldn’t need it anymore.
Although why a demon would need a bound imp in the first place was
beyond him.

Not very powerful, lesser imps could still
cause destruction and chaos, as well as a much needed distraction
which would come in handy right about now.

Mental commands were a main component of
summoning training. While more efficient to connect to the mind of
a demon, many forgot the high price they paid. Nasty, violent
creatures, they thought of gore, torture and death. Bombarded with
these images sometimes caused weaker summoners to go insane,
babbling about horrendous deeds.

Through painstaking care and years of
practice, Jackson learned to ignore Xerix's voice. Demons loved
power plays and mind games. By blocking the evil minion's voice,
he'd proved his dominance over Xerix. Now, he followed orders and
only on rare occasions tried to undermine Jackson.

An added bonus to speaking to the imp's mind,
as his master, he stayed hidden. With no summoning circle or ritual
outing him as the caster, Jackson's odds of surviving were a little
higher.

He directed the imp to attack Seraphina. The
one in command, she was the most dangerous.

As soon as Xerix streaked across the field
towards the Fae, Jackson reached into his pocket for a small piece
of string. His fingers moved swiftly and confidently, tying the
rope into a noose. The familiar buildup of energy, a pressure at
the base of his skull had him smiling. Casting magic was almost
sexual in nature for him. The buildup, the body tingle and then the
release.

Strong, almost overwhelming, the urge to
discharge the energy consumed him.

Whispering the word “
Contorsi
”, he
released the energy and watched with satisfaction as vines and
roots exploded out of the ground where Seraphina stood. They wound
their way up her legs, holding her immobile. Her mouth opened in a
soundless scream of anger as she tried to dodge the imp while being
rooted to one spot.

Shoving the rope back in his pocket,
Jackson’s inattention almost cost him dearly. The rustle of leaves
alerted him as the guardian swung one of its thorny branches.
Turning, it caught him on the shoulder and fiery pain exploded in
his arm. Jacket, shirt and skin ripped.

Damn it, no more physical shielding, worn out
from the battle at the office building. The shielding absorbed a
finite amount of hits before being consumed, leaving him exposed.
His arm tingled and felt a little numb, but when he wiggled his
fingers, they responded well enough for casting.

Mentally rifling through his spells, he
decided to follow the woman’s lead and play with fire. The only one
not vulnerable to it was Seraphina currently occupied with Xerix
and the roots. No longer mute, she hit Xerix with a few nasty
spells which he laughed off, his maniacal glee echoing throughout
the clearing.

While Jackson hadn’t memorized any fireball
spell, he wasn’t without a few spectacular tricks. One of his
favourite spells, Flaming Arc, didn’t need any components and used
minuscule finger gestures.

Graceful and elegant, he brought up his hands
- while dodging swinging branches - and released a steady stream of
flames from his fingertips. Lasting for less than thirty seconds,
it engulfed the leaf guardian. More screams filled the air, an
orchestra of misery, as the guardian tried to put out the flames.
Staggering around in pain and terror, it bumped into the flaming
troll and one of the other trolls. Chaos and confusion took
over.

This was their chance to escape.

A SWIFT CHECK confirmed to Julia what she
suspected, her knives and gun, gone. Mentally retracing her steps,
she had no idea when she lost her weapons. In fact, she couldn’t
remember having them when they crossed the threshold. Her shoulder
holster light even then.

A grim smile curved her lips, grateful she’d
recently imbued her ruby earring. She wasn’t defenseless, relying
on another Enforcer to save her butt. The fireball had been a
perfect way to deal with one of the trolls and caused the other two
to flinch away from her in fear. Rainbow colours trailed the
flaming troll.

The guardian flailed around, burning bright
from Jackson's fire spell. A few seconds was all it took for Julia
to recognize the other mage. Their way blocked by Seraphina, she’d
finally had the chance to see the man at her back.

As the most notorious mage fugitive, they
required all the Enforcers to memorize what he looked like and,
technically, arrest him on the spot. At this point, she figured
throwing in with him was safer than trusting the Fae. He wasn’t, as
far as she knew, planning on killing her unlike Seraphina.

Julia’s shielding flared, brilliant white
lights indicating the strength of the hit. The only troll not
currently running from fire had crept up on her, slamming its tree
trunk club into her head. Momentarily stunned, not from the hit
since the shielding stopped it, but from how close she came to
losing her head. A blow like that unprotected would have snapped
her spine.

She sent a mental thank you to Markus for the
defensive spells. Being the more powerful of the two, he’d insisted
on using his magic for the both of them.

Spinning around to assess the new threat, she
immediately regretted it. The troll had swung again, this time
lining up with her face. Flinching as her shielding flared, weaker
than before, she cursed the ugly creature. With the force the troll
was putting into his swings, the shield dropped faster than normal.
One more hit and it would be gone and with it, her head.

Thinking over her options, she dismissed
casting another fireball from her earring. The unusual rainbow
effect hadn’t surprised her as sometimes her spells went a little
awry. Her magic resistance must have interfered when she'd casted
the spell into the gem. In any case, her earring needed time to
recharge, to gather energy back into itself, before it was usable
again.

Most of her memorized spells required little
casting time - a few seconds at the most - yet, with the troll
winding up for another swing, she wouldn’t have time.

Instead she touched her star rose quartz
earring and whispered “
Tremere
”, while pointing at the
ground beneath the troll’s feet. Vibrations shook the ground,
causing the troll to stumble. The tremors increased and he lost his
balance. Falling to one knee, he struggled to stay upright.

Not wanting to use another earring casting
unless necessary, she went through the spells she had memorized and
settled on an illusion. With no fire spells to cast, she decided
this illusion would the most effective since it preyed on the
victim’s worse fears. Julia pulled out a small pinch of thyme from
a pouch on her belt. As she did so, her hand brushed against her
blasting rod. She’d forgotten about it, hadn’t even checked for it
when she’d searched for her other weapons. A gleeful smile curved
her lips.