The Blood Seal – Chicago Part One
Electric fingers played over my skin, tugging at the invisible threads wrapped there. A warning. Someone was coming.
My eyes snapped open, instantly alert I sprung from the chair I had been dozing on. I felt my warning spell collapse, who ever it was had a magic user with them. Default reaction under threat was to become invisible, I picked up my combat knife from the dresser and made it to the door, my back to it's left side just as a high pitched whine was heard.
A charge.
I covered my head with my arms, blocking my ears and closing my eyes as the whine escalated. The door exploded off its hinges. Splinters of wood and dust flew into the room, my eyelids flared for a second and a popping sound could be heard through my hands. A flash bang. I counted to three before opening my eyes, beside me through the broken doorway I watched three men dressed in black military combat gear enter my apartment. Guns up, assault rifles at the ready.
The third man crossed the threshold then dropped dead as my knife slashed across his exposed throat. High grade armour won't stop what it doesn't protect. A soft gurgle was the only sound he made, his colleagues didn't notice until they turned to give the signal to fan out, a second fell from my unseen hands, blood from his throat sprayed out over his companion. The third shouted into his comm. link, back up on the way he sprayed the area over his dead companion, too slow, I was no longer there.
My knife moved again, a shot rang out and blood gushed from the soldier's neck, gasping with his hand on his throat, he fell, still alive.
My eyes moved to the doorway, there stood three new soldiers; clad the same as their comrades with the exception of the man stood at the front of the party. Gun in hand, his eyes focused on me, I glanced down at my knife. A third of the blade was missing; the length split in two a sharp crescent at its new tip.
A clean shot, that explained the gasping man at my feet, another inch of blade and he'd be on his way to whatever afterlife he believed in.
The man's comrades had their weapons pointed towards me, but their eyes were unfocused. No, only the stranger before me could actually see me. This was my magic user then. His emerald green eyes were wholly focused on me, hand holding a pistol with a steady ease, he was tall, a good six three, maybe six four. He was dressed in black jeans, t-shirt and long overcoat, and his face giving a three day growth of beard, not military then. The only similarity with this guy and his half dozen grunts was the target. Beside him one of the soldiers made a strangling noise, his eyes fixed on the blood and bodies before him, the gun in his hand shaking, I noticed the modified taser on the end as the weapon, they meant to take me with them then. The Taser in his hand went off in anger, the barbs piercing my skin on a lucky shot and sending electricity through me, I simply let it flow, absorbing it, much to the surprise of the mage stood before me. The black ski mask the soldier wore hid most of his face but the horror in those crystal blue eyes was clear. The mage ignored him.
"You brought a rookie to apprehend me?" I asked dropping my spell and tossing my knife to the floor, useless now "I feel so insulted" I tutted, I pulled the barbs from my skin, tearing part of my T in the process; the rookie's eyes snapped to me, I could feel his hatred, so powerful it almost felt physical, the potential of magic perhaps? His hatred turned to shock as he took in my wiry frame, waves of red berry hair hung loose to my waist, I was clearly not what he had expected, at 5'8" I was average height for a woman, but I was all lean muscle beneath my plain jeans and T-shirt, my green eyes wide they were large features giving me a childlike innocence to my look. The soldiers now were hesitating, not believing their eyes, the muzzle of his rifle shook, I muttered under my breath softly
"Evelyn Xanders, Runner name Ghost, known aliases Courtney Hope, Erin Ford, Devon Wright, Shyuga Nave. You're to stand down and come with me, should you resist I have full authority to exterminate you" Mr Emerald eyes spoke calmly, a stone figure. He might not be dressed to military standards but he had the training and I didn't doubt him for a second.
I raised my hands in surrender and he gave the signal to lower weapons, the rookie stayed put, death glare to full power, I wondered for a moment who I'd taken out, a colleague, a partner, or a close friend? Emerald placed a hand on the rifle, momentarily leaving eye contact; I took the split second to finish my muttering. The last of the assault rifles now pointed downwards, but Emerald's pistol remained on me. He was taking no chances; smart man. He produced a pair of cuffs and I shook my head
"Not unless you want ten K of volts" I warned, he raised an eyebrow
"Are you resisting?" he asked coolly
"Just warning, I'm charged, physical contact may shock you" I said, a soft snort was heard from one of the soldiers on Emerald's right, something in my comment must have amused him.
The eyebrows grew taller and for the second time the mages eyes left mine as he looked about the room, a simple apartment, no comm., not even a visualizer, his analytical gaze took in the soft rubber pads stuck to walls near switches and around door handles, insulation from electrical charges.
I had come back from Tibet eight weeks ago after receiving a huge magical charge that had almost killed me. My body had since developed this awkward tendency to electrocute things that I touched. His eyes flickered back at me, I slowly pulled up the sleeve of my left arm, and purple lightning like a burnt tattoo was stark against my pale skin. A mark like that could only be made from high magical energy. As runners we only ever saw that kind of mark on corpses. It was a miracle I was still alive, so if a few things shocked or fried out occasionally I could live with it.
"So the rumours are true" he murmured looking for a moment in awe "You survived with only a minor burn?" he asked in disbelief
"I wouldn't say that" I said pulling up my T-shirt, the tattoo visible across my stomach before disappearing below my waist line, and much lower than that.
"You're either a more powerful mage than we gave you credit for or you're incredibly lucky" he said, a slight hitch in his voice, was he impressed? I shrugged; let him think what he liked.
"So are you going to tell me where I'm going? Or is this a guessing game?" I asked
"Think what you will, my orders are to bring you in alive or exterminate you, but you will need your gear, my boys will gather your weapons" My gear? Weapons? Interesting
"A job offer then?" I assumed
"One you won't refuse" hmmm interesting choice of words
"Could have just said please" I told him, he smiled then, showing me a little more of the man that would stick around for the military training but have enough of himself to know when to rebel back
"What would be the fun in that?"
"My landlord is going to kill you for that" I said nodding to the dust that was now my front door
"Let him try" Emerald eyes said waving me through the rubble over the silent forms of his dead men, we were finally outside, his rookies inside collecting my things and seeing to their dead, alone he turned to me, the poker faced mask gone now looking decidedly more human "You know you didn't have to do that"
"Do what?" I asked innocently
"Heal the soldier, he failed in his mission and knew the consequences of what he was getting into" so he'd seen my spell, of course he had, he had eyes that saw everything.
"But you went to a lot of trouble to save him" I said with a smile, I let the smile drop "Besides I only kill if absolutely necessary"
"And the other two?"
"You came at me with guns, self defence and so yes it was necessary" I paused and gave him a softer look "don't worry, it was quick"
"I appreciate it" I nodded and got into the back of a black sedan, Emerald tapped the driver's shoulder and he started the engine, the rookie came running through the door, unarmed, ski-mask off but those blue eyes were unmistakable, he slid in front of the van halting it. Even through the heavy tint his eyes found mine, no hatred this time, he simply nodded, his soft brown hair falling into his eyes, I nodded back and he moved aside, the driver put the sedan in gear and moved off,
"Who was it?" I asked
"Ensign Kumara" came the reply
"Not the rookie, the partner, brother?"
"Oh I see, it was lieutenant Soma" he gave me a look before continuing "They're partners" the stress on partners was not lost on me
"Dangerous putting lovers on the same team"
"Not my idea, I think the General wanted something to happen"
"Puritan?" I asked
"Of the worst kind" he confirmed "No metahumans on board the crew of his personal guard, no magic, no same sex marriage, everyone who's been exposed so far has met an ugly end, his excuse? Purity must be maintained and the Gods of fate have decreed as much"
"Sounds charming" I said "so how come you're here?" I asked, he gave me a look that told me it was a longer story than I had time for, I settled back "I guess he'll love me then"
Emerald laughed out loud "You're a strong, independent woman, a powerful mage, more than capable of taking out a retrieval squad without even breaking a nail; he'll hate you with a passion Miss Xanders"
"Ghost" I said, "just Ghost"
A/N: Hi peeps, It's been recommended to me that posting horrendously long complete stories is a bit of a pain for the few readers I have, so I'm making it easier by splitting this story up into chapters. This story is based on my Shadowrun RPG team and the crazy exploits that they get themselves into, all told from my character's point of view (Ghost). This was a huge campaign for us, mainly as a result of introducing two new main players to the team, who both played the game rather well for their first outing into the table top RPG world. As a result the story ended up in two distinct parts, this is the beginning of part 1, I hope you enjoy!
As always any comments just leave a review or PM me
xxx