Leo and Karl take defensive stances and start conjuring their magic specialties.
“He’s using Air, and it looks like he knows what he’s doing. We have to be creative with our attacks. I don’t think your fire spells will work on him,” Karl commands.
“Looks like we’ll have to attack him with Air or Water,” Leo replies, concerned.
Leo doesn’t like the idea, but knows he’ll have to take down the warlock he is supposed to mentor. Before Leo is about to throw an Air spell, Victor attacks.
Without physically hitting each other, Leo and Karl start throwing air pulses at Victor, who blocks and counterattacks. The two muscular men attempt to cast a couple of Water spells, but Victor stops their attacks and then goes after them. When Victor is about to throw anything at the two men, Karl conjures an air-roping spell to pull Victor back toward him. Because Victor is caught off guard by Karl’s attack, Leo jumps in and throws a couple of fireballs.
That was a mistake.
Victor knocks the fireballs around, setting more boxes on fire. This time, the flames are much larger.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Karl shouts at Leo. “Stop using Fire Magic before you destroy my warehouse.”
Victor breaks free from Karl’s spell and charges at Karl. Leo tackles Victor before he can reach Karl. They roll around on the floor. When Victor rolls on top, he uses an air push to flinghimself backward into the air and throws a few air punches at Leo. Leo is lying on his back and covers his face with his forearms, allowing the bulk of the air punches to hit the sleeves of his jacket. Victor lands on his feet and looks at Leo.
The glow in Victor’s eyes begins to flow outward from the corners of his eyes.
Victor then charges toward Leo. Leo takes a defensive stance to prepare for Victor to tackle him. When Victor is halfway to Leo, two large metal planks hit him. Outraged, Victor looks to his side, and a large metal rod smacks him across the face. Victor is now surrounded by metal rods floating and circling him. He tries to throw air attacks and jump away, but the metal rods keep knocking him back down.
Superior Jackie and Akisha walk into the light. They flick their hands and wrists, controlling the rods with their Metal Magic. The rods lower, and Victor tries to fight back. The rods start to coil around his arms and legs. The more Victor struggles, the stronger the metal gets.
Akisha cautiously approaches Victor. She raises the palms of her hands, and they start to flash pulses of light, which look like Morse code. Victor flings his head around to avoid Akisha’s hands touching him. Akisha lounges forward, cupping Victor’s eyes. Several seconds later, Victor goes limp like a rag doll. His head rolls back, his eyelids start twitching, and then he passes out.
Superior Jackie releases the metal binds off Victor. Karl rushes over and helps Akisha catch Victor before he falls to the ground. They slowly lower Victor to the floor. Leo walks over, brushing off his sleeves.
“Are you alright?” Superior Jackie asks Leo.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Leo responds, using the back of his hand to wipe the corner of his mouth. “What did you do, Akisha?”
Akisha sighs while looking down at Victor. “Superior Jackie and I were able to find a technique in the archives that could help neutralize a magic-wielder when their eyes glow and they go into a rage.It looks like we arrived before things got worse.”
Leo looks down at Victor’s unconscious body. “Will he be okay?” he asks with concern.
Superior Jackie steps next to Leo and places a caring hand on his shoulder, looking down at Victor. “He will be. But right now, we need to take him back to his bed. I’m unsure how long it will be before he wakes up or how he will react. But when he does, we’ll be ready for a debrief over what happened tonight.
“Talk about perfect timing,” Karl comments. “What brought you here? Besides the new empath raging out?”
“I wanted to see his eyes glowing for myself,” Superior Jackie responds. She looks down at the unconscious Victor and says, “Like you said, Karl. Talk about perfect timing. I don’t know what would have happened if we hadn’t shown up. I can sense the power flowing within him. If he were any stronger, this warehouse might have been turned into rubble.”
Victor bolts up on his bed in a panic. He looks around the room frantically, breathing rapidly, still wearing his suit. Leo darts into the room.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Leo says as he jumps into bed with Victor and pulls him into his arms to help calm him down. “Shhh. Shhh. It’s okay. You’re back in your hotel room.”
Victor begins to calm down as Leo holds him and strokes his hair while rocking back and forth.
Victor calms down but is still shaking. “How long was I out?” Victor asks.
Leo pulls away enough to look into Victor’s eyes. “You’ve been out for two days.”
Chapter Seventeen
Victor steps out of the shower and puts on shorts and a T-shirt. When he walks into the living room, several people are sitting around: Leo, Karl, Akisha, Madame Jeanette, Eddie, Superior Jackie, and an older gentleman he hasn’t met before.
The gentleman has a neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard and thick gray and black hair. He is wearing a gray and silver suit with a Western look. Instead of a standard tie, he wears a bolo tie with a deep blue sodalite stone with white markings. His boots are shiny black and gray, made out of stingray skin.
Leo approaches Victor, places a hand between his shoulders, and introduces him to the new guest. “Victor, I believe you already met Eduardo Leon, and this is Superior Charles Parker. Eddie is a Chancellor in my coven. Superior Charles is my Superior, and he is also-”
