The Darker Side of Magic

[Lady Jenn]

Merlin was stood at the back of a queue at the bank, only moderately successfully managing to blend into the crowd unnoticed. He was dressed in a blue jacket, which mostly covered a dark-blue t-shirt, and a pair of tatty looking jeans. His raven-coloured hair reached his eyebrows, stopping just short of a pair of ice-blue eyes hidden behind green-coloured contact lenses. His main aim was to get in and out of the bank without causing any problems or getting noticed.

[AngelOfDarkness]

Ava walked into the bank and bumped into a business man, who proceeded to tell her how blind she was. She carried on walking to the back of the queue, her black hair was tied back in a ponytail, her emerald green eyes were looking down to her feet. She tied up her black hoodie from the tumble, which she wore over a white tshirt, she made sure her dark blue jeans were clean and her white sneakers. Ava was planning to put some money into her account.

[Lady Jenn]

He finally reached the front of the queue, the teller quickly returning from the vault with a strange box wrapped in a red cloth. As he picked it up however he could sense something was wrong, turning around to see a shadowy-shape moving towards the girl.

"Oh hell, not now," he said under his breath as a fireball formed around his hand. "Duck!" he shouted to the girl, the thrown fireball knocking the creature off its feet before it could respond. "Are you okay?" he asked her as he walked over, his hand reaching for an orb around his neck in case the creature got up again.

[AngelOfDarkness]

She was standing minding her own business, already bored of the waiting in the queue. All of a sudden she heard the instruction to duck, following it she crouched down to the floor.

Slowly she stood up from her crouching position and looked behind where she had been standing. "What the hell ....?" she asked with a surprised look on her face. Turning towards Merlin she looked at him "What is that and what is going on?"

[Lady Jenn]

"I don't have time to explain," he said, looking outside and getting a sense more of the creatures were approaching rapidly. "I can protect you from them but you're going to have to trust me and follow me." He helped her to her feet, looking around at the shock written across the other customers' faces. "Damnit, this is why I don't come into town very often."

[AngelOfDarkness]

She got up to her feet and looked at him, she was very confused and it showed on her face. "What the hell are you talking about? Why do I need protecting from anyone? i just bumped into him. Who are you and what is going on?" She was still holding onto his wrist so he couldn't move away with answering her questions.

[Lady Jenn]

Two more shadow creatures seemed to materialize from thin air, Merlin cursing under his breath as he reached for the orb he wore on a chain around his neck. "If you fancy waiting around to see what happens if these things touch you be my guest," he replied angrily. "But your best chance is to follow me, I will explain when we're safe." He threw the orb to the ground, causing it to glow and releasing a creature which seemed to be composed of pure electricity. "Lighning Elemental, keep these guys distracted for me." With that he vanished out of the door, heading for his car which was parked a short distance away.

[AngelOfDarkness]

Standing there watching and listening to him, she was still very very confused. Her eyes opened wide as she saw the lightning creature, shock written all over her face. Taking a step back for a moment staring at the lightning creature. Then she noticed Merlin had stepped away, quickly she followed him out the door and tried to catch up to him. "Wait ... wait for me." she called out.

[Lady Jenn]

He was waiting by his car with the passenger door open, a look of concern on his face. "C'mon," he said impatiently. "Experience teaches me these things hunt in packs, Get in and I'll get you to the one place around here they're not likely to come looking for either of us." He climbed into the driver's seat, putting his seatbelt on hurriedly.

[AngelOfDarkness]

All she could do was rush over to his car and see the concern on his face. She looked around before she climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door. Slowly she pulled the seatbelt over her shoulder and clipped it in. "Um sure if you say so" she was thinking why the hell was she trusting this stranger.

[Lady Jenn]

As he pulled away there was a flash of light as the lightning creature appeared on the back passenger seat. "Tell me you've at least delayed them?" Merlin asked it, not taking his eyes off the road other than to quickly glance at the rear view mirror. The creature nodded, before vanishing, leaving just the orb Merlin had originally carried sat on the seat. "At least we don-ouch," He said suddenly, moving his hand to his side and pulling it away, turning slightly pale at the sight of blood on his hand. "Oh...oh that's not good."

[AngelOfDarkness]

Flinching as the lightning monster appears in the back seat, turning slightly to look back at it. Gasping as it vanished back into it's orb, staring at the orb, wanting to reach out and touch it, but resisting. Sitting back straight in her seat when she hears him say ouch, looking over and then reaching over to touch the blood. "We need to stop somewhere so we can take care of that. You'll bleed out and then this would all be in vain."

[Lady Jenn]

"It's...it's a flesh wound," he said, not even believing it himself as he said it, he pulled the car over and stopped it. "Glove compartment, there's a bag with a cloth in it, hold it against the wound and..." he closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them. "You're gonna have to drive, there's no way I can drive to our destination like this, I'll tell you how to get there."

[AngelOfDarkness]

Still so confused, Eden opened the glove compartment taking the cloth out, but before she could apply it he told her to drive. She quickly got out and came around to the driver's side, opening the door and helping him out. Taking him around to the passenger side and helping him sit, she ran around to the driver's side, taking the cloth and pressing it agianst his wound "hold it there"

She started the car and drove off waiting for instructions.

[Lady Jenn]

"Follow this road for about 10 miles until you come to a lake, there's an old dirt road which leads off this," he paused for a moment, wincing as the cloth touched his skin. "The road is a bit bumpy but it's the only way we can get to my house. You'll have to trust me though cos from here onwards things might be a bit...unbelievable to the untrained."

[AngelOfDarkness]

"Untrained? for what?" She had listened to his directions and taken them on a mental note "You really need to get that seen to"

[Lady Jenn]

"You may have a hard time believing this but magic is real," he said, in too much pain at that moment to worry about how honest to be with his companion. "My house can't be accessed by...conventional means." He moved the cloth slightly, turning slightly pale as he saw the amount of blood on it. "Take it from me, no conventional hospital can fix this, I've been in this situation enough times before now to be certain of that."

[AngelOfDarkness]

"Magic is real? I've always wanted to believe it. I love magic, especially magic from fairy tales." She smiled to herself "How do we get to your house then?"

[Lady Jenn]

"In a few miles you'll see a lake to our right," he replied. "You will also see a dirt road leading off this one towards it. Drive down it and stop when you reach the edge of the lake. The rest I will have to do, but I might need you to hold the cloth on my wound so we don't have any more incidents while I try and do this. Does that make sense?"

[AngelOfDarkness]

She glanced over to him when he was reciting his instructions to her. Nodding so he would know she was listening to him, looking back to the road and thinking. "Lake on the right, drive off onto the dirt road that leads towards it and go till the edge of the lake. Which kinda sounds dangerous but okay." She copied his instructions in case she got one wrong.

[Lady Jenn]

"I've spent my entire adult life doing this, he said with a pained laugh. "If this was at all dangerous we probably wouldn't be having this conversation." He heard a cry from somewhere above and looked up to see an eagle circling in the air above them, before landing on a post by the lake. "I can't decide if his sense of timing is great or useless," Merlin said under his breath.

[AngelOfDarkness]

Not hearing the eagle at first she isn't sure what he was talking about, but then she saw it sitting on its perch. "Why would it be good or bad? Is that your eagle?" Looking over to him and seeing the pain on his face "we gotta get that looked at"

[Lady Jenn]

"He...is complicated," Merlin said, brushing the eagle's head gently as he walked to the edge of the lake. He put his hand on the ground and began uttering something under his breath. As he did so what appeared to be a deserted lake changed, revealing a boat by the shore and in the centre of the island a two-storey house. "Now how's THAT for magic?"

[AngelOfDarkness]

"Magic?" watching as the lake and boat and house appeared, her jaw dropped in awe and shock. "Magic would explain all the stuff that's happened since I met you."

[Lady Jenn]

"You haven't seen the half of it," he said, climbing into the boat and offering to help her into the boat. "What would you say if I told you that's not an eagle but a human being?"