Mahjicke Chapter 15

The Giant secretary had a new trashy romance novel in her massive hands, so trapped in it's bland, fictional world that she didn't even notice when the huge doors were pushed open. If it weren't for the pain, she probably wouldn't have even noticed when James threw one of his glowing charms towards her, whispering "#knute." Red vines had immediately grown out of the charm, flowing and wrapping around her limbs like tentacles before binding closed, forcing her to fall from her chair, completely tied up.
They didn't wait to see if it worked, to see if she could somehow get herself out of the bloody cords, but ran on ahead. That was what the cavalry was for.
They had no issues with finding Cor's office. All three of them had been there before. Michael exhaled slowly, trying to calm his nerves. To this point the plan had worked out just fine. Here was the hard part.
Cor may not know they were coming, but there was no way he would remain surprised for long. He was much more powerful than they were. He could rip them apart.
They stopped in front of the door, the nerves obvious on the faces of those without magic.
James must have noticed it, as he started to dig through his things, looking for some more of his blood filled charms. They already had a talisman each that would work as the signal to their backup and the words that would make them work. Once he had found what he was looking for, he handed one to either of his partners.
"Medium shield." he explained, "#Beskytte. Protects from most magic. Only works five minutes."
Michael clutched the charm tightly in his hand, "We'll have to work fast then."
Grigori nodded, sharply. Ever since it had been repaired it tried to speak as little as possible. It was probably humiliated by how mechanical it's voice had become and how little it could actually speak. Michael was sure that it would speak normally again though, it's eyes had already stopped frantically spinning in it's head.
James placed a paper charm on the door and took a few steps back, signaling to the others to do the same. They were grateful to comply.
Once they were at a safe enough distance, James gritted his teeth and with a slight smile, breathed "#eksplodere."
The paper caught on fire and spread to the entire wall, much to quickly for natural fire. The metal turned black as if it were carbonized wood and the sound of the flames dissipated as it vanished.
Michael was just about to ask if it was supposed to do that just when he had proof that it was. The door burst apart, the fire drawn inside of it rupturing it and spreading crumples pieces of metal flying.
James ignored the projectiles, putting an arm over his face and heading towards the explosion. The human and the android followed behind him, timidly but with great dedication.
There was smoke everywhere and Michael had to hold his breathe so as to not gag on it. It made his eyes water and caused it to be difficult for him to see where he was going, but he could see the dark shape of Grigori and kept it in hi sights. Grigori wasn't human, surely it could see in the smoky confusion.
Once they got through, Michael took a millisecond to look around. It looked like their plan was going without a hitch. There was chaos everywhere, the small men rushing about trying to put out the small fires that had cropped up from the explosion. Some were wounded, a few dead, having been stabbed through with chunks of metal. None seemed to care about the newcomers, they were all too busy with other things.
But where was Cor?
Michael raced towards the cabinet, back where it was under the stairs, but he couldn't keep from looking around. The creature was no where. The priest was missing as well.
The couldn't be good. They could have been shuttled out of there by the little henchmen, being protected before they knew what the actual threat was, but that didn't seem right. Cor was inhuman, regardless of his species. He wouldn't have run because of some big noise.
He was planning something on his own.
Grigori grabbed the handle on the front of the cabinet, pulling at it. The handles and hinges creaked and strained, wanting to come with it's pressure, but they couldn't. Grigori was strong, powerful enough to open a Giants door without sweating, strong enough to carry it's own impossibly heavy body around.
The locked doors wouldn't open to him.
Grigori's eyes were wide, even though one of them kept blinking sporadically and it looked straight at Michael, saying exactly what was in both of their minds, "Fuck."
That was when lightning struck.
It wasn't common lightning, it was strange. Michael shielded his eyes and turned to look at it. It was just standing there, shifting at the speed of light, not just striking and vanishing.
A dark form appeared inside of it and slowly stepped out.
Cor was looking dashing, his long red hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and his clothes without a single crease. Even though he had just stepped out of a, now quickly vanishing, lightning bolt he had no signs of it on him. The only things that made it look like he wasn't just an attractive whatever-he-was were the scowl on his strange face and the lightning rod clenched in his hands.
"Are you a fool?" he bellowed, marching towards James, lightning striking his rod, "Do you want to die?"
James held his ground, he didn't even move to grab a talisman. Michael's heart was in his throat, he knew nothing good would come of this. Why didn't James run? Why wouldn't he fight?
"I have given you opportunity after opportunity." Cor barked, his spit flying onto James' calm and collected face, "I gave you a job and when you failed at that, did I punish you? No! I gave you another chance. Time and time again you failed, but I let it slide. Now you're here and you destroyed my door!"
Lightning struck his rod again, the bottom of it grounded on the floor.
"Why?" the creature hissed, "Why can't you do your job? It's so simple! If you did it, I wouldn't have to ki-"
His glowing eyes opened wide as the words were stuck in his throat.
James was beneath him, using his small size to his own advantage. His hand was jutted forward, something hidden in his palm pressed deep into Cor's thin abdomen, pushing against his diaphragm.
A smile appeared on James' unaccustomed lips as he murmured, "#Spyd."
The small talisman in his hand glowed for a second before jutting upward, lengthening in both directions. One end hit the ground, the other rammed its way through Cor's thin body, a sharp blade attached to the end.
There was a sharp and mangled scream as the tip exposed itself to fresh air, cleanly cutting through Cor's delicate spinal cord. Blood sprayed from his mouth and his body went limp, the thick ooze of his black blood staining his handsome attire.
It was an elegant spear, made of solidified blood with the carvings from the original talisman ingrained into it's shaft and as the blackness dripped down it, it pooled and dripped into the intricate curves.
James pushed the spear to it's side, knocking Cor down to the ground as he did so. The creature breathed heavily, it's eyes now heavy, it's skin a sickly pale. It had already lost quite a lot of blood and if it weren't for him not being at all human, he would have been dead already.
It's lips stained with blood and it's glowing eyes now soft, the light from them only a small spark in the darkness, he called for his mate, mewling like a hurt or lost kitten. It called the name of the priest, who he believed to be his friend, hoping the Man of God would save him.
Like a candle being lit, the man came forward out of the shadows. While his mustache hid most of his mouth, his sad blue eyes gave away that he was secretly smiling. He knelt beside Cor, who reached for him with his blood drenched hand, and patted his head, thin fingers getting caught in the tumbling trusses of red.
The creature asked to be saved, but the priest shook his head.
He was being true to his word. While he hadn't killed Cor on his own, not having such an opportunity, he had switched sides, just as said he would.
This was obviously the case. Cor's hand was gripping the priest's, needing something to hold onto in his weakness, but as he knew that the man would do nothing to save his life, he gritted his sharp teeth in agony and croaked his name.
Just as James had fallen to floor in complete powerlessness, the priest did as well. His lightning rod tumbled from his fingers, rolling along on the ground until it reached the blood magician's foot. It looked as if the priest had been pressed into the floor, gravity working hard on his frail body and the heavy black robe incasing him.
The creature pulled itself upward, into a sitting position, it's head reeling. It spat, a combination of black blood and saliva striking Father Devin in the face and slowly dripping down his cheek.
He then turned his attention to James, grabbing the spear in his hands. He snapped the spear shaft in front of him, removing it's elaborate length from his thin and dying form. Not thinking about it, he threw the broken piece at James, lazily, not having enough energy to do any damage with it.
He glared at the magician and coolly repeated one word under his breathe, over and over.
"Ayden."