The People v. Eleanor Warwick

“The auction was a joke.”

The summoner steps out of her BMW, pinching her cell phone between her head and shoulder. Pulling up her collar, she rounds the car and heads toward her apartment building.

“Beck apparently thought the hellblood thrashing some pitiful miscreants would impress us enough to drop a quarter of a mil. So I made things a little more interesting by summoning an avatar of wrath.”

She listens for her friend’s response. A smile spreads on her face. “I know. He freaked. It was hilarious.” The smile fades. “Of course, things kinda went to hell after that. Suffice to say though, the hellblood is worth pursuing. I’m getting some people together to figure out if she’s bound to anyone and remove them.”

“Excuse me.”

Coming to abrupt halt, she turns to face a mysterious woman who came out of nowhere. Taking one such as her by surprise is no small feat. Yet, despite the stranger’s accomplishment, she isn’t bothered enough to get off the phone.

“Just a sec,” she says into the device before lowering it. “What do you want?”

The summoner tensed slightly, but clearly doesn’t perceive her as a threat. That’s fine with Cassandra. Her false security will just make this easier. “Just a few seconds of your time.”

The summoner narrows her eyes. “Did Beck send you?”

“No one sent me. I just needed the assistance of someone of your talents and you were the closest.”

“Is this about a summoning? I don’t consult for free and certainly not out on the street. If you’d like to make an appointment-.”

“Like I said;” Cassandra lifts the shimmering blue Tempus Stone from her coat pocket. An eerie azure light baths her face as her hard eyes stare forward, “this will only take a few seconds.”

Tendrils of cobalt energy lash out and dive into the wizard’s chest. Her body jerks forward by the torso and becomes stiff as a board. Her cell phone drops to the street. Blue lines spread across her skin like cracks through concrete as she gasps for air. Her eyes, wide with shock, shine a pale azure.

Cassandra watches the display carefully. She wasn’t certain what would happen when she attempted to use the Stone in such a way. Everyone knows Tempus Stones act as a sort of battery, but she theorized there is untapped potential within the artifact.

She’s pleased to see her theory is looking correct.

Once the colored cracks sweep across the summoner’s body, they swiftly recede, returning to their point of entry. The blue streams detach from her bosom and retreat into the Stone. Cassandra feels the rock pulse with energy, its cobalt light burning brighter in the early morning dim.

The summoner falls to her knees, clutching her chest. Long, haggard breaths attempt to draw oxygen back into her lungs. Once she regained enough, she glares up at her attacker. “What did you do to me?”

Cassandra’s brown eyes are sharp and unflinching, but her voice is even. “I made you a part of something greater than yourself.”

Her physical strength returning, the summoner comes to her feet. An angry sneer mars her comely face. “Well I don’t know what that means, you bitch, but I hope it was worth dying for!”

The summoner focuses her energies and extends her palm.

Nothing follows.

The rage in the woman’s face shifts to utter shock. She throws her hands forward a few more times, as if some sort of misfire occurred.

Still nothing.

Pulling them back, she stares at her palms. Searching inside herself, the summoner feels empty, hollow. A great void remains where power once lay. “What did...how...this is impossible.”

“It’s cruel, isn’t it?” Cassandra asks without waiting for an answer. The tears welling up in her victim’s eyes are all she requires. “Something that had always been there for you, something you thought always would be, torn away.” Her voice wobbles slightly, but she quickly composes herself. “And why? Because someone else simply decided you shouldn’t have it. It inconvenienced them. Now you know how I feel.”

The summoner looks back to her, tears running down her cheeks. “Who are you?”

“I’m no one,” Cassandra answers with an air of self-pity. “Because a long time ago someone decided I should be.”

“Is...this...permanent?”

“I don’t know. More research is required, but there simply isn’t time.” Cassandra slips the Stone back into her coat. “Especially not for you.”

The summoner doesn’t like the sound of such an assertion. Cassandra turns and walks away revealing the massive dog that had been standing silently behind her.

The summoner barely has time to gasp before Grace charges her, teeth bared and bark angry. With a single leap, the hound strikes hard against the woman’s chest and sinks her teeth into her prey’s throat.

Cassandra ignores the guttural sounds of the mauling as she puts some distance between herself and the scene. As she walks, she fondles the Stone in her pocket. The artifact is warm to the touch. She can feel the magic she stole from the poor summoner swimming within it.

A single wizard’s energies are nice, but she would have to repeat the process a few hundred more times to have the power she needs for what’s to come. Such a process would be far too dangerous and take too much of the precious little time she has. Joseph’s torrent is her only hope.

She sensed her ally’s hesitation. Joseph entertains the notion that if she were unable to perform her ritual, then they can be together. He’s a fool. A sweet fool, but a fool nonetheless. Her heart can never be his.

It belongs to another.

Lifting her phone from its resting place, she selects the only number and waits. “Joseph? It’s me. You have 12 hours. I’ll be there whether you are ready or not.”

A whimper for attention accompanies Grace back to her lady’s side. Kneeling, she lets the dog lick her face with a tongue red with blood. “You are such a sweetie. Mommy’s so proud of you, yes she is. No, Joseph. I’m talking to Grace. 12 hours. No more delays.”

Hanging up, she stands and tousles her pet’s hair. “Come on, baby. Let’s get you home.”