Blood Magic - Part 1

Well...long time no post...

Blood Magic - Part 1 - Of Blood and Magic

Rated: R...if it changes, I'll say so

Summary: Well...guess you'll have to read it to find out. Essentially it's in a contemporary setting with demons and magic (obviously I've watched too much Buffy). There will be homosexual relationships as well as heterosexual ones in this, though mainly homosexual. Possibly gore in the near future (or far future) we'll see...

Feedback: feel free to tell me what you think (eg. whether it's crap or not) and umm...no one to read it so yes, mistakes are all mine...I'M SORRY!!! But tell me and I'll fix it

There’s something about magic. The way that it courses through your veins until every single nerve ending in your body is singing makes me feel complete. I’ve always held onto magic. It’s always been my safety blanket, something to wrap myself in until someone could find me. There are lots of creepy crawly things out there, usually of the bug nature, but some are more dangerous, more threatening and altogether bad news. But when I’m wrapped in my magic, I feel like there’s nothing that could hurt me, nothing that can cause me pain.

Then again, that was years ago. I’ve stopped magic since then. I don’t touch the stuff. I guess I grew out of it or something, but the essential idea was that it didn’t hold me like it used to. When I’m scared, I still wrap myself in my magic, but I don’t get scared anymore. At least I pretend I don’t.

***

The alarm clock went off.

Three grumbles, several muttered curses and a yelp later, the alarm clock was turned off. Eight shivers, sixteen half jump half skip steps, and four yawns later, she was in the bathroom and brushing her teeth. It was another ordinary day. At least it was in her books, considering she hadn’t managed to hit anything and suffer serious bruising from a table corner or wall, she figured it was a good day already.

At least it was a better day than all the other ones she’d been having so far.

The phone began to ring just as she was sticking some bread into the toaster. Throwing it in quickly, she picked up the phone.

“Hello?” she said. A muffled sound of someone falling out of bed was heard before a second yelp was heard.

“Herrow?” asked another woman’s voice.

“Good, your both up,” said a cheery third voice.

“Wharra want?” asked the woman’s voice.

“Good morning Sal. Morning Mira,” she said, just as her toast popped out.

“Good morning Liz. Sal, get out of bed and wake up properly, I need you both listening,” said the third voice.

Liz sat down and started eating her breakfast. Knowing Sal, this could take a very long time. She smirked at the thought as she heard a muttered curse followed by a yelp and the sound of the phone being dropped.

“The sound of Sal waking up is worth every morning phone call,” said Mira. Liz just laughed and proceeded to make small talk with the background sound of Sal waking up. Compared to Sal, Liz’s way of waking up was extremely tame.

The sound of a crash followed by a meek “I’m alright” stopped the light hearted chat on the phone. It was coming up to the end of Sal’s wake up routine. A few more muffled yelps and crashes later, Sal finally made it to the phone.

“Morning,” she said. Liz rolled her eyes and returned the sentiment, waiting for Sal to actually settle and all the crashing sounds to stop.

“Are we all settled then?” asked an amused Mira.

“Yep!” said Sal, her normal cheerful self. Liz supposed she’d just finished her coffee.

“What’d you need us for?” asked Liz, toying with the rim of her coffee.

“Are either of you busy for the next few weeks?” asked Mira, her tone suddenly serious. Liz’s forehead crinkled in thought. Something serious was happening and it was obvious that she was going to end up in the middle of it. Sal seemed to have the same thoughts.

“What happened? Where do you need us and what do you need us to do?” she asked. Liz smiled. They had been partners for so long they already knew exactly what the other needed.

“We have a job for the both of you, and if you’re not busy we’d like you to come in and we’ll explain it to you,” explained Mira.

“We’re on our way,” said Liz, downing the rest of the coffee before setting the cup on the sink and hanging up the phone.

It didn’t take long for Liz to make it to the station. She was a detective and had no need for a uniform, but she generally wore exactly the same thing anyway.

“Morning Liz!” yelled Veronica. Liz waved and walked over to her desk.

“What’d I miss?” she asked.

“Nothing much,” replied Veronica, picking up a file off her desk and handing it to Liz.

“Sure, cause this is nothing much,” she said sarcastically, pointing to the thick file that she just got handed.

“Could be worse,” replied Veronica, indicating the other desk where another detective was getting handed an entire box.

“Right, happy with the file then,” said Liz, grinning sheepishly.

“Glad to hear it. Talk to you another time then,” said Veronica, getting straight back to work as Liz waved and shuffled off.

Sal met her on the way to Mira’s office holding an identical looking folder.

“I guess you got your own precious little gift then,” said Sal wryly, hefting the file with one hand like weights.

“Yea, just then,” she said, smothering a laugh at Sal’s antics.

The ding of the elevator alerted them to their new floor. Sharing a grin they both walked out at the same time and with the same style they always employed, waltzed into the corridor of the upper offices of the Agency.

A few heads poked out from cubicles and offices as they walked. Finally reaching one of the last few doors, they glanced at each other before opening the door and walking in fluidly. It was almost like a well rehearsed play that they had done for years and were completely comfortable to do for the rest of their lives.

“Ah, you both arrived promptly then,” said Mira. She was an intense woman to say the least. She filled up the room despite the fact that she barely took up one hundredth of the space.

“What did you need us for?” asked Sal, her cheery voice permeating Mira’s serious demeanour until they were both grinning like idiots.

“I suppose you got the files?” she said, indicating the thick tomes they both held.

Liz and Sal nodded in response, sharing a look of amusement.

“I need you to handle the case. It’s been puzzling us for a while and we need it solved,” said Mira, indicating the seats. This was obviously an important case if they needed to sit down. Usually it was just, come in, get words of encouragement, get out and solve the case before coming back in for congratulations.

“What’s so special about it?” asked Liz, her voice puzzled and a furrow appearing between her eyebrows as she concentrated.

“There are slightly …disturbing instances that do not make logical sense and it requires people of more…open opinions to take a look,” explained Mira, indicating the open door. Sal got up silently and shut the door with a resounding click. The blinds were shut and the room was essentially plunged in to absolute darkness.

“What’s happened?” asked Liz. Mira turned on her desk light and it cast a slightly eerie glow in the room, enough to see by but not enough to make out everything clearly.

“There have been a string of murders. They’re all demonic in nature and we’re certain that it’s the same group of demons,” said Mira, her tone completely serious.

“What’s so special about them? Did they kill someone important on the food scavenges?” asked Sal, her tone still slightly jovial.

“I wish,” muttered Mira. She merely opened up a file on her desk and handed them both separate copies.

“They’re not killing for food. They’re hunting for something and we’re not quite certain what. We need you to find out for us,” she said. Liz looked at the sheet she was given, there was a list of names and each name held some kind of link to the next person that was killed.

“They’re going from bottom to top,” said Sal. Her voice was finally serious and when Sal was serious it was obvious that it was a dire situation.

“What do you mean?” asked Mira, her voice perplexed. It was obvious that she was worried; no one liked it when Sal became serious.

“I mean that the demons are starting at the bottom of the chain and working their way up,” said Sal, indicating the names.

“Explain,” said Liz. Now was not the time for words.

“These women, I recognise some of their names,” said Sal.

“They’re all women?” asked Liz, looking to Mira for confirmation.

“Yes, all of them, but how’d you know?” Mira asked Sal.

“For one thing, magic like this is passed through the females of the family. For another thing, this kind of magic is extremely valuable. I’m presuming all of these women were bled dry?” asked Sal. Mira nodded.

“What’s that mean?” asked Liz.

“They’re going after women with a certain type of magic in them. This type of magic is passed through blood and thus they’re hunting down the women. Most of these women are related by birth, most are married so their names have changed and the like, but essentially they’re all from the same lineage,” explained Sal.

“What makes you think they’re working their way up?” asked Mira.

“They were taking out children in the beginning. Children don’t know how to control their magical abilities; these demons would have taken that into account and gone straight for the ones with the most potential and were unable to control it. The children’s mothers would have had to be the ones that taught their daughters how to control their abilities. Greatest or perhaps worst thing about this type of magic is that it doesn’t skip generations and it doesn’t have carriers in the males,” said Sal.

“So they’re finding the children, draining them, draining the mothers and then looking for more,” said Liz.

“Exactly, but it’s hard to hunt down women as demons, they would have to either have human appearances or otherwise they would need to have a human handler,” said Sal.

“Something tells me that this is going to get messy,” muttered Mira.

“What type of blood are they looking for?” asked Liz, tucking the sheet into the already full folder.

“Yours,” replied Sal simply. Mira and Liz looked at her.

“What do you mean?” asked Liz, fear etched into her voice despite her attempt at masking it.

“I mean…” Sal pointed at her sheet of paper and the name on the list made Liz's blood chill.

It was her aunt’s name.

I've started something new, I'll see where this takes me, though I might never finish it