Undercity: Manifest

Chapter Six

Marcus was placing a file into one of his many cabinets when Zach walked into his office stopping just shy of the large sofa in the centre. Zach made the decision to fill his superior in on Sadie shortly after leaving the bar. He was going to need the resources of the Coven to find any answers about her. One thing was clear, she was a Mystic and for reasons unknown, someone had hidden her from them. 

'You know, you're the only person with the balls to walk in here without even knocking'. Marcus' voice held both authority and amusement. 

Zach grunted and sat down on the sofa. Marcus regarded him for a moment before joining him and pouring them both a drink from the decanter he kept on the glass table situated between the sofa and his desk. Zach took the glass when it was offered and placed it down without taking a drink. Marcus sipped from his glass before placing it down next to Zach's. 

'What's going on Zach?' 

'There's a woman...' A deep laugh from his friend cut Zach off before he could finish. 

'It's not like that for stars sake'. Before Marcus's promotion, he and Zach had been partners and had remained close despite the change in power dynamic. They were professional in front of the other Mystics, but on rare occasions it was easy to fall back into old routines. Marcus was still chuckling, and it was starting to piss Zach off. 

'You seriously think I would drag myself here in the middle of the night to talk about a girl like we're teenagers?' 

'You never know. It wouldn't be the first time'. Disappointment laced his words. It was no secret between them that Marcus sometimes missed the freedom he had before he became the head of the Coven institute. His face turned serious when Zach didn't join him in his teasing. 'What's going on?' 

'I met a woman the night of The Event, her name is Sadie.' Marcus raised a brow in a final attempt to elicit some humour from Zach and he couldn't stop himself this time from shaking his head as his lip twitched to the side. He composed himself before adopting a serious tone and continuing. 'She's a Mystic but has no idea that's what she is'. That got Marcus' attention. 

'That's not possible. How do you know? Can you be sure?' Zach nodded in response before picking up his drink and swallowing it back in one.

'She works at a bar in Upper North. She could see my mark. I couldn't sense any energy markers to indicate magic. It got me curious so I spoke to her alone and she's either the worlds' greatest actress, or she has no idea why it threw me off that she would compliment my mark. She thought it was a tattoo'. 

Marcus was listening intently at this point. 

'You didn't include this in your report'. It was a statement not a question. 

'No. I wanted to look into it further and be certain before I brought this to you'. It was Marcus' turn to nod his head now. 'Ben called later that night to report a woman who had been mugged. He said there was something off about her and that she was wearing a suppression stone. He sensed her energy when she took it off for him to photograph'. 

'The same woman'. Another statement. 

'Yes'. An unnecessary confirmation. 'Ben said that she didn't seem to have any idea what she was or that she was wearing a suppression stone. I confirmed it was the same person when I saw the image of her necklace'. 

'How is this possible?' 

'She... I went back to the bar tonight to see what I could find out. Her stone was left to her by her mother, her mother who is dead'. 

'Fuck'. Marcus rarely cursed and if Zach didn't know him as well as he did, he would have been taken aback. Marcus stood, taking his glass with him. 

Zach hesitated slightly, everything he had revealed so far boarded on impossible and he knew the final part to his report would hit Marcus the hardest. 

'There's more'. Marcus stared hard at him as he spoke. 'Ben sent over the CCTV footage from the attack. She was able to fight off her attacker when she handed him her necklace. She generated a light wave which knocked him back into the wall. It should have killed him, but her power was weak. Too weak, but I have no doubts, she's manifested'. 

A silence filled the room. They both knew the gravity of what Zach had shared. The only way a Mystic could manifest was to take the life of another Mystic. There was no fathomable way that could have happened without the Coven knowing about it, which meant someone had betrayed them and gone to great lengths to keep their secret hidden. 

'Who else knows about this?' All amusement from earlier now lost in Marcus' tone. 

'Nobody. Ben knows what he reported, but I haven't shared anything further with him'. 

Marcus drained the last drop of his drink and moved to re-fill both of their glasses. 'We need to bring her in'.

Zach released a long breath. 'I know. She won't take it well. She's lived her whole life as a human. It's unprecedented to bring somebody in this late in life. We're going to have to handle it carefully'. 

'You know we don't have any other option. Even with a suppression stone, the risk of allowing her to live in the human sector is too great. What happened during the attack is proof enough of that'. 

'How do you want me to handle it?'

Marcus considered this for a moment before answering. 

'Have Ben take her to the station. Set up a secure room and tell her there. She will probably feel more comfortable in a human setting. He can tell her he needs to ask some follow-up questions about the mugging'. 

Zach stood to leave, call Ben and have him set things up for the following morning when Marcus spoke again. 

'I want you to bring Dante and Payden in on this'. Zach blanched at Marcus' instruction. Payden he was fine with, but Dante was an arrogant prick and he wanted to keep him as far away from Sadie as possible. Sensing Zach's annoyance Marcus continued, 'She's going to need training and a role within the Coven. There's no other way and you have other responsibilities to oversee'. 

Fuck!

Conceding defeat Zach agreed, 'I'll brief them after I call Ben'. At that, he left not waiting to hear if Marcus had anything else to say. 

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Chapter 7