I had never before seen Sophia exhibit genuine kindness and compassion towards someone.Oh, she had certainly put on a convincing act in the past, pretending to be a caring and empathetic individual. But this time, as she gently soothed the sobbing girl in front of us, there was an unmistakable authenticity to her words and actions."It's all right," Sophia said, her voice soothing and reassuring. "We've been assigned to investigate the mysterious disappearances in Soho, and we believe they're part of a larger case. But you don't need to worry about the larger details right now.""You're going to find them?" the girl asked, her eyes shining with hope."We'll certainly do our utmost," Sophia promised with an easy smile. "Why don't you start by telling us what you know?"The girl glanced down at her feet, as if she longed for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. But then she took a deep breath, steeled herself, and began to speak."There was another girl who worked with me at th
My stomach churned as Sophia and I turned onto the alleyway. I’d taken a life myself, drunk someone else's blood, but that had been different. The person I’d drunk from was a criminal and I’d done it quickly and quietly, it hadn’t been like what had happened here. The chairs and tables of the coffee shop down the alley were strewn about left and right, some broken and dented. The alley was rich with the coppery scent of blood. Blood that was flowing freely down the slight incline of the alley. My fangs threatened to poke their way out of my mouth but I fought against the sensation. Now wasn’t the time for me to feed. We crept down the alley as quietly as we could. Sophia took the lead, crouched slightly and taking slow, cautious steps. It wasn’t until we got halfway down the alley that I was able to see the rogue Immateria for the first time. I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting. Some wild and ravenous beast-like creature, perhaps? Something tall and ethereal with too thin li
Sophia stomped down the street, leaving me struggling to keep up with her as we made our way back to my car after her defeat by the rogue Immateria. The tension was palpable as I started the engine and we sat in silence for a few moments, with me behind the wheel and Sophia beside me.I finally mustered the courage to break the silence, my voice hesitating as I asked, "Are you okay?"Her gaze, blazing with animosity, met mine before the fire in her eyes flickered and died. She breathed out a quiet, "Yeah," but the tremor in her voice betrayed her."The Council needs to be informed and they won't be happy about it," she continued, her voice tinged with a hint of resignation. "We have to go back to the Undercity.""They can't expect you to bring rogue Immateria down every time, can they?" I said, trying to lighten the mood as I navigated the car through the deserted streets of London.Sophia's glare was back, her voice cold, "You clearly don't understand the Immateria Council yet."We d
I was jolted awake by a sharp blow to the back of my head. I rubbed the spot, wincing at the sting, and groggily turned to see Sophia standing over me with a smirk on her face."You have a whole bed at your disposal, yet this is how you choose to spend your night?" she chided, arms crossed over her chest. "Honestly, I wonder why I bother."I rubbed my neck, muttering a grumbled response as I turned back to the invention I had been working on before I drifted off to sleep. "You bother because if you didn't, you wouldn't have this new toy to play with," I said, still feeling a bit groggy.Sophia approached the workbench and peered over my shoulder, studying the device I had been tinkering with. "What exactly is it supposed to be? A flying contraption of some sort?""It's not a flying contraption, Sophia," I responded, trying to hide my annoyance. "It's a quadcopter outfitted with a bit of tracking magic-tech. I call it magitech."Sophia raised an eyebrow. "Magitech? That's a new one.""
It hadn’t taken us long to get back to the Q-Park on Poland street. It was around 4 AM and the streets of London were completely empty, too late for people in the clubs and too early for people trying to make their way to work. I pulled the quadcopter out of the trunk of the car and looped the video feed screen and controller I had synced it up to around my neck. The drone was small, with four propellers and a compact camera attached to its underside. The Talisman was attached to the front side of the drone. It would act like a magnet, dragging the drone in the direction of the rogue Immateria after it caught onto the rogue Immateria’s signature.“You’re sure this thing is going to work, right?” Sophia asked, leaning against the side of my car. “As sure as I can be with an untested piece of technology, sure,” I replied. “There’s any number of things that could go wrong, but as far as I’m aware the science and magical theory are sound.” “Alright then, it’s worth a shot,” She shrugge
Sophia took the lead, her movements graceful yet deadly as she crept into the room where the rogue Immateria's lair lay hidden. The sharp tips of her taloned fingernails gleamed in the dim light, ready for any sort of attack or defense.I followed close behind, my wand clutched tightly in my hand, pulsing with the knowledge of the few spells it had stored within its psychic matrices. If I were alone, I would have been at a severe disadvantage against the rogue, but with Sophia by my side, I felt slightly more secure. I shook my head slightly, thinking about stuff like that would only be a distraction and distractions would get me killed in a fight against a creature like the one we were about to come up against. "Fulgur ab aethere," Sophia whispered, her voice barely audible.In an instant, a burst of bright light filled the room, crackling with the power of electricity. Mighty shocks of thick lightning rained down upon the rogue's makeshift home, built from piles of scrap and garba
After the excitement and fervour of the fight that Sophia and I had shared with the rogue Immateria, now that it was over, the warehouse seemed far too silent. The only noises that could be heard were the distant calls of seagulls as they flew above the Thames and the slight buzz of the quadcopter drone’s blades somewhere above as it continued to circle the building. The air was filled with the acrid smell of burning flesh as the final remnants of the rogue were burnt away by Sophia’s magical inferno. It was an unpleasant scent, one that would probably never allow me to think of barbeques in quite the same way again.“How’re you coping?” I asked Sophia, “The Rogue looked like it managed to get some pretty heavy hits in, are you alright or do you need medical attention?” Sophia snorted, “I’m an Immateria, we don’t really do medical attention, Parker. I’ll be fine in a couple of minutes, I just need to catch my breath.” I nodded in reply. It was good knowledge to have. It seemed th
While it was early in the morning the London City Airport was already a hub of activity. I knew first-hand that, when dealing with business on a global scale, the company never really slept. As long as the sun was up somewhere in the world someone had to be dealing with company affairs, and in the case of the poor sorry sods who were rushing around the airport at eight am in the morning that responsibility clearly lay with them. “So, where’s the warp gate?” I asked as we approached the entrance to the airport, “Surely it can’t actually be inside the airport, right? That would be ridiculous. There’s no way it would be kept secret.” Sophia chuckled, “Oh because a warp gate in the middle of a park right next to one of London’s newest, hottest shopping and apartment complexes is so well hidden.” “Okay, point,” I conceded, “That just raises the question of how either of these gates manages to stay hidden.” “Just wait until we visit the gate in Trafalgar Square…” She said, there was a