Spellcaster series #2: The Acolyte

New Rules

TRISTAN

I was never fond of working with the police, and perhaps it was because of my impatience with their ridiculous rules. That evening was no exception.

"Arsonion!" I cried, pointing my wand to a djinn that was charging towards me.

It was three metres tall. It flinched from my white flames and roared. Brian, an elite Vampire, dashed across the room and tackled it with his claws. They wrestled in the dark, wall to wall. Brian was a burly Vampire who could match the djinn's physical strength. I widened my stance and aimed my wand towards it.

"Frozium!"

A sheet of ice blasted towards the djinn. As it froze, Brian beheaded it with his claws.

Sergeant Monica Bells rushed in with her pistol. She was knocked out earlier when she and some of her men entered the abandoned factory building by themselves. One of them summoned me and I called Brian for backup. I straightened myself and lit up my wand with the light of the Lunar.

"It's dead," I announced as her wild eyes scanned the room. "Thanks to Brian."

"We make a great team, sir," Brian tossed the djinn's head aside.

Sergeant Bells narrowed her eyes and moved her aim towards him. Her partner, Sergeant Michaels, followed and Brian raised his hands to surrender.

"I didn't ask you to summon it," the sergeant said in her shaky voice. "It's past curfew."

The curfew. I hated it.

I held a hand up to her, "Stand down, officer, Brian is on your side. Besides, I wrote his permit and it was approved."

"Well, next time, bring a human," Sergeant Bells retorted and withdrew her gun. Her partner did the same.

I summoned a portal and turned to Brian, "Thank you, Brian, I owe you."

Brian nodded and disappeared through the portal. I closed it. The sergeant and her officers pulled back and headed for their cars outside the building. Red and blue lights flooded the night. I put out my light and pocketed my wand. The sergeant turned to me before entering her car.

"Sir Tristan, would you like us to escort you back to town? It might not be safe here."

"I'll be okay, thank you." I said and transported myself back to The Academy.

~

I walked past the old tree which still remained a burnt stump in the middle of The Gardens. Nobody had dared to replace it or grow a new one even though they could, with the help of the Herbio spell—the spell of gardening. Somehow we left it as that, as a reminder to those who wished to go against the rules.

"Mr. Embers?" A voice from behind called. Before I halted, she appeared in front of me.

"Yes?" I asked, never having seen her before. She could be a Neophyte or just one of those students that never trained with me. There were so many students.

The girl's doe brown eyes read me, her red lips slightly upturned. Her small frame reminded me a little bit of Heidi, except that she had short brown hair, parted in the middle.

I had seen her before.

"Dora, from the orphanage?" I asked, my eyebrows raised, hoping to get the correct name. Her eyes were unmistakable.

The young lady chuckled and nodded her head, her bob hair along with it, "Yes! I was hoping to find you here, Mr Embers."

I couldn't hide my smile. "I thought you were working at the orphanage? I did not get to thank you for helping me look for my student."