Astra: Synchronicity (20 page)

Without a moment's hesitation, she gathered
up her coat and headed out into the streets to save him from
himself. If she were lucky, he'd let her help him. If not, death
awaited him. After all, another dangerous psion had come to town
over the past week. Tiyuri had been busy hunting him like a small
game animal with the interminable passion of a great assassin.

And tonight, he would find him.

***

A bar known as the Drunken Dog sat on an
unassuming corner in Quad Three, the lower-class district of
Northampton. From the outside it looked like an ordinary pub, but
most people on the street didn't dare to pass it. The building's
façade had been styled in vintage splendor with its dusty olive
drapes and the Gaelic font used on its sign. The paint had begun to
peel off the exterior walls, but the dilapidated appearance gave it
rustic charm. It looked nothing like the sleek buildings around it
with their mirrored windows and holographic displays so everyone
noticed it whether they wanted to or not. Many would go out of
their way to cross the street just to avoid walking in front of the
dive.

The Drunken Dog had been around long before
the City of Dreams was built. Laborers often stopped there after a
day of heavy work to relax. Its role in the history of the city
saved it from demolition. A decade ago, a group of psions bought
the building. Overnight, it became a hot spot on the club scene,
attracting psions from all walks of life to a place where they
could mingle freely without judgment.

Magnius propped his head upon his hand and
waved toward the bartender to catch his attention.

"What you want?" he asked in a deep voice.
"More of the same?"

"I don't care," Magnius said while he stared
at the back wall. "Just bring me something."

The bartender shrugged but obliged his paying
customer. After swiping three bottles with one hand, he measured
the output by sight into a shaker. A sonic device on the bar
vibrated the mixture until blended, and he decanted a turbid
absinthe-green liqueur into a salt-rimmed glass. Magnius reached
for it and chugged its contents. It could be poison for all he
cared.

The past month's lesson in humility reminded
him how it felt to live in fear. He'd fallen from celebrated to
hapless overnight. The near-constant edge from his adrenaline made
him twitchy and agitated like a criminal on the run from the law.
To make matters worse, no one could help him even if he wanted them
to. In his apathy he'd lost the will to survive.

After his scruffy appearance caused him to be
mistaken for a beggar earlier in the day, he retreated to the
solitude of the Drunken Dog. Alcohol had become his refuge to drown
out all his problems. Sometimes he forgot his predicament
altogether in his liberating intoxication. His only respite from
the anxiety sat in the bottom of a glass—the harder, the
better.

Not every moment had been a crisis. Fate
smiled on him once, for he found a refuge that didn't check his ID
and accepted cash. He slept for most of the day while the hangover
from the previous night faded, which seemed the best way to keep
off Tiyuri's radar. When he looked in the mirror, he hardly
recognized himself. He needed every advantage he could get to keep
him a step ahead.

He hadn't yet seen Tiyuri, but his worries
about the assassin were secondary at the moment. He only had enough
money to last him a few more days. The danger of staying in a
shelter or camping on the street soared and not just because of
Tiyuri. He also risked being assaulted by some other psion craving
a fix. In Northampton psion-versus-psion crimes got brushed under
the rug, a sign of how far they had yet to go to achieve true
equality.

As the rising alcoholic haze started to wash
over him, Magnius turned and gazed onto the main floor of the club.
Shafts of fuchsia light cut through the smoke filled air while
rhythmic music emanated from the walls. People of all walks of life
clogged the dance floor and grooved to the sensual beat. Watching
them magnified the heart-wrenching pain of his split from Lyneea,
twisting the knife around in his chest deeper than before. The
heartache endured because he let it.

A young, raven-haired woman sidled up next to
him at the bar. Her coffee eyes and long, wavy hair made her a
ravishing sight to look upon. She wore a low-cut burgundy dress
with a slit running up the entire length of her slender leg. The
courtesans here provided an entertaining nightlife since they'd do
anything for a bit of money.

"Hello." Her melodic voice washed over his
senses like soft velvet. "What's a handsome guy like you doing in a
place like this?"

He offered her a weak smile. "Enjoying a
drink."

In his current mental capacity, she could
probably read his mind like an open book. With sex the last thing
he wanted right now, he turned back toward the bar and studied his
fingernails. He couldn't afford to make any sort of connection
Tiyuri could trace in order to protect others. Thanks to his
deep-seeded resentment toward humanity, the man had no qualms about
leaving a trail of bodies in his wake to bring Magnius back
alive.

She pressed her chest against him and put her
hand on his leg. "And afterwards? Could I interest you in a dance?
Or a massage?"

"That depends how good you are with your
hands. I hope they're better than your overused pick-up lines."

She pursed her lips in a fake display of
wounded pride. "Well, I do know how to relax and please a man.
After all, I'm telepathic. I know all your wants and desires."

"And what do you think I want?" he asked,
toying with her.

"Me…" The purple flash of her sclera cut
through the darkness. Although the visual effect blinded him, his
night vision returned after several moments. The woman no longer
stood next to him—Amii did.

He jumped in shock and his rapid heartbeat
made it difficult to breathe. He'd almost forgotten about her.
Aside from a few sexually charged dreams, she didn't cross his mind
anymore. And now, she was next to him…as real as his memory of her
had ever been. Of all the women in his past for the telepath to
draw upon, she'd chosen Amii.

She leaned to his ear and ground her hips
provocatively against him. "Tell me what I can do to make you
happy, Magnius." Even her voice sounded the way he remembered
it.

Her advances would've been hard for a priest
to resist. It took concerted effort to pull himself back from
falling into her. The fabricated illusion offered no warmth. No
compassion. He pushed her away. "I thought you said you were a
telepath. I shouldn't have to tell you I'm not in the mood for a
whore right now."

She narrowed her eyes in bitter frustration
and her true appearance rematerialized. "I don't blame your wife
for walking out on you, asshole. Have a nice life."

As she sauntered away, he returned his
attention to the bar. After several moments, he managed to shut out
all lingering thoughts of Amii from his head. He didn't need that
kind of distraction with his life hanging in the balance from day
to day. For all her uniqueness she represented the past, and he had
to look forward without regret.

Someone in a dark trench coat claimed the
stool next to him. He noticed a glint of light from a pair of
patent leather boots when the figure moved toward the bar. Judging
by the dark skin and ripped chest, Tiyuri had found him at last. He
didn't even have to see the giant's face. He caught his breath and
his head started to throb with anxiety.

"Magnius…don't run or I'll take you down
before you reach the door."

He forced himself to swallow the dry lump in
his throat. "You don't need to do anything rash. I'm tired of this.
I won't give you any trouble." He wondered if everyone else could
see Tiyuri or if they thought he'd become a spontaneous
schizophrenic.

"Surely you don't take me for a fool. Would
you like to do this the easy way or should I break your legs this
time so you can't run on me?"

"Let's just get this over with."

"Good." He nodded toward the floor. "After
you."

Magnius led the way through the crowd at a
measured pace. By staying behind him, Tiyuri held the advantage.
The surge of blood in his head drowned out the heavy music of the
club. He stuck his sweaty hands into his pants pockets and almost
tripped over his own feet on the way to the door.

His mind raced to find a way out of this
predicament, but he didn't have any options. Since he needed to see
an object to move it, he couldn't guarantee success against Tiyuri,
and everything else was as likely to hit him as the man behind him.
In his stupor he doubted taking on Tiyuri here would be in his best
interests. Linking him to Aliane might cause a stir, but if he
looked as drunk as he felt, no one would believe him. He could get
out of this mess but his resignation to fate squelched all
hope.

Once they got outside, he noticed a foggy
haze had descended onto the dark streets. Moisture saturated the
humid air. The wet, metallic asphalt left a bloody taste in his
mouth.

"Left," Tiyuri said. After they turned, he
pushed Magnius to quicken the pace. "Let's get moving. I put
something in your last drink. A paralytic. In a few minutes you'll
be a mumbling fool, and I'd like to get back to the car before it
happens."

Magnius grabbed his throat. Tiyuri was many
things but he was not a liar. In that moment his incentive to
escape shot through the roof.

Both sides of Westminster Avenue were lined
with high-scale shops. Most sold luxurious clothing or jewelry, but
a fat lot of good throwing a bunch of dresses at Tiyuri would do
him. In the window of the next store he saw dozens of shoes on
display: designer Manaboutins with five-inch heels and metal
buckles. Perfect.

He staggered and doubled over to feign
symptoms of whatever drug had been used on him. Tiyuri stopped in
his tracks several paces back out of caution. Fortunately, his
proximity wouldn't matter. Magnius glanced at the shoes for an
instant—just long enough to use his telekinetic power. As he turned
his head the opposite direction, the entire display window
shattered on his left sending shards of high-speed glass into the
air. When the shoes hit Tiyuri, they knocked him off balance.
Magnius spun around and hit Tiyuri with a strong concussive blast,
and the assassin sailed into the street.

Due to either his drunkenness or the
paralytic, he hit Tiyuri with more force than he wanted to, but he
didn't have time to worry about it. He needed to get away before
whatever he'd been drugged with kicked in. Magnius turned and
bounded down the street as fast as his current state would allow.
Behind him, he heard the clean crunch of breaking plastic and a
scream of horror. His heart sank but he couldn't look back.

While an obvious means of escape, an alley on
the left provided his only option. The faster he could reach the
next street over, the better his chance would be of success. He
stumbled over boxes, over the homeless, and over nothing. He felt
the poison working its way through his system. If he wasn't in such
a panicked state, he could try to fight it off. Right now, getting
to safety concerned him most.

He didn't see a raised pipe until he fell
over it face first into the muck. He tried his best to get up, but
his strength was gone. The garbage bin next to him provided the
leverage he needed to stand, but he'd wasted too much time. The
sound of quick footsteps echoed between the buildings, and he
didn't need to look back to know Tiyuri had found his trail.

As he jogged toward the far end of the alley,
Magnius' toes started to tingle. His legs wobbled like he ran on
stilts. Making it to the street wouldn't save him, but in his heart
he needed to make it to know he'd done everything he could to get
away even if he lost in the end. His pulse raced as the footfall
closed on him. He didn't plan to surrender yet. Every fiber of his
being forced him to keep going. He couldn't feel his legs anymore
but he was almost there. Just a few strides more…

When he reached the street, he took a sharp
right. A vague sense of vertigo clouded his vision from the sudden
change in direction. He slammed into a woman and knocked both of
them to the ground. After his momentary daze subsided, he realized
he couldn't move. He caught sight of Nadine's hardened face
hovering over him, and seeing her almost made him believe in
fate.

She clamped onto him and pulled him into the
alcove of a bakery. An unusual psionic energy flowed between them,
enough to make him feel faint for a moment before the sensation
eased. Her cool hands would've made him shiver if he could
have.

<here.>>

Tiyuri vaulted around the corner after him
and came to a stop a few yards away from them. He searched for his
intended victim with deliberate care. Magnius panted breathlessly
while the assassin's gaze searched their hiding spot and eyed the
bakery for signs of forced entry, but he gave no indication that
he'd seen them. He exhaled in frustration and continued to jog down
the street.

The second lady watched him for almost a
minute. She couldn't have seen him through the mist but she tracked
him with her mind. Once her attention returned to Magnius, he had a
hard time meeting her stare. When she snapped her fingers in front
of his face, his ears rang.

"XTX. Dammit." Nadine threaded her arms
around his shoulders and helped him to his feet. "My car is a block
away. Let's go."

His mind willed his body to move, but the
connection to his skeletal muscles no longer existed. Between legs
that felt like jelly and a head that wanted to explode, he was
amazed the two of them made it down the street at all. His muscles
felt weak and atrophied, unable to assist her whatsoever, and
wondered how such a petite woman managed to move him. Adrenaline
could work miracles when it needed to.