Crash Course in Magic

John couldn't remember the last time he rode a motorcycle with an attractive woman, because he never had. Lana hated cycles, and he had never owned one. But any teenage fantasies he might have had were ruined by the rifle on his back and the hand cannon at his hip. He was riding into mortal danger, and two tours in the Middle East had suppressed the thrill of living dangerously.

That is to say he didn't at all get an erection from holding onto Amelia's slim waist on a speeding Harley. Not at all...

Amelia stopped the bike down the street from the factory and they hid it behind a blind corner. Amelia opened up a backpack and rummaged through it making a check list of everything inside. From what John could see, it was odd implements and artifacts which were probably magic, given the context, and all of them were decorated with black feathers. He had no idea what any of them were for though. A moment later, Amelia withdrew a small turquoise totem and rubbed her thumb on it.

"Spirits guide me," she whispered, "Here's the plan, I'll fly up to the roof and hop down through an open window. I need you to bring my pack with you, and we'll meet up in the breakroom on the second floor.

"Do you know how many are in there?" He asked.

"Four," she said, "Three men and a woman."

"Shelong?"

"No," Amelia said, "Its nobody I know. Now get moving, if they find out the bomb squad has been mobilized, it won't be too difficult to figure out that I talked." Then without so much as a goodbye she transformed into a raven and flew up to the roof. John threw up his hands and slid the backpack onto his other shoulder.

He remembered seeing a ditch that ran along the building when they were casing it earlier. It was better than approaching out in the open, so he dropped down and crawled towards the side entrance. It was dusty and choked with tumbleweeds, but nobody could see him from above unless they were right on top of him.

When he reached the factory, he crawled partway up the embankment and poked his head out of the bushes. The man he had seen earlier was standing guard just outside the door. John considered his options and didn't like any of them. There was no way to get closer without being seen. He couldn't shoot the man without being heard. Going around to find another way in would take too long.

He cursed his luck and slid back down the slope. When he put his hand down for balance though, he touched something long and muscular. And scaly. He barely avoided screaming as the snake reared its head, and not a rattlesnake or anything else he would expect to find in Arizona, but a freaking cobra. They stared at each other in the eye for a few harrowing seconds until it spoke.

"Relax, mortal," it said in a sensuous and seductive female voice, because of course it did, "I'm Vasra. Hmmm, your hand is very strong."

"Do you need something?" he asked. He was surprised how completely unfazed he was to be talking to a flirty snake. Honestly compared to dragons, genies, and coyote gods, a talking animal was pretty mundane.

"I'm one of your colleagues," said Vasra "Emura sent me to help you, but she neglected to mention how handsome you were."

"Yeah? Well, what are you going to do," John asked, "Bite that guy?"

The cobra snickered and said, "No. She told me to give you your first lesson in magic."

"Here and now?" He asked.

"Here and now."

John glanced over the edge of the ditch, but the guard wasn't going anywhere.

"The only way I'm getting in there is if I could turn invisible," he said.

"You're far too new at this to pull off an invisibility cloak," Vasra said.

"Then what do you have in mind?" He asked.

"A glamor," she said, "A trick of the eyes to change your appearance to others, make you seem uninteresting and nonthreatening."

"What do I need to do?" He asked. The cobra smirked at him and transformed into a gorgeous, curvy, and very sexy Indian woman (Asian Indian, not American) and kissed him on the lips.

"Do you feel that tingling?" She asked.

"You bet I do," He said slyly.

"Not in your pants, in your gut," Vasra said, "Like butterflies in your stomach?"

John focused and realized it was the same feeling he had when talking to Emura over the phone earlier.

"Yeah, I feel it," he said, "That's it? That's my magic?"

"Yes," she said, "Now hold onto it, and put yourself in the guard's position. Think of something you wouldn't look at twice if you saw it."

He tried to think of an animal, a rodent, and settled on a small rat.

"Now what?" He asked.

"Now comes the tricky part, you have to mold your magic around that idea in your head," said Vasra, "Reach for that feeling in your gut, and let it take shape in your mind. Then, say ignarus."

"Ignarus," He said but nothing happened.

"Say it again with conviction," Vasra said.

John closed his eyes and said it again, "Ignarus." As he said it the tingling in his gut spread across his entire body. He looked at his hands for confirmation but they were his normal human hands.

"Did it work?" He asked.

"You look cute enough to eat," Vasra said and flicked her forked tongue at him.

"Hey! Back up! I'm not for eating," he said, "So, will he really think I'm just a rodent?"

"As long as you don't do anything a rodent wouldn't do," Vasra said as she turned back into a cobra, "Just remember, you're not actually a rat, so don't try to go through any rat-sized holes or chew through solid concrete."

"Got it," he said, "Thank you... Vasra was it?"

Vasra nodded and said, "See you around, handsome." Then she slithered into the bushes at the bottom of the ditch disappeared.

"Here goes," he said as he climbed out of the ditch. He didn't trust his new ability blindly though, so he stepped forward out of the bushes rifle in hand. The guard gave him no more than a cursory glance then went back to nursing his cigarette.

"Ok, act like a rat," John thought. A rodent wouldn't run right up to the man, so he dashed to hide behind a big dumpster to his left. The man wrinkled his nose in disgust, but made no indication he was suspicious. John wanted to pump his fist, but he wasn't sure if that would blow his cover.

Then he crouched behind the old dumpster and thought about how to get inside. He was sure he could overpower the guard with the element of surprise, but what then? He couldn't keep him restrained since he didn't have any rope. So the only way to get rid of him was to kill him.

It's not like he hadn't killed before, but never on American soil. All the times he had to kill someone, they were shooting back at him or were confirmed enemy combatants. He had no idea about this guy. Although John did see him sexually **** Amelia earlier, and apparently they had no reservations about harming a child.

John crept to the edge of the dumpster and drew his knife, and forcefully suppressed the memory of the last time he killed someone by hand. The words he had so casually thrown back at Emura came back to haunt him: 'it's more complicated than just killing monsters.'" He really didnt want to do this.

He lunged around the corner and covered the man's mouth with his hand then stabbed him once on the chest. His aim was precise and lethal and the guard's eyes turned glassy and he stopped struggling. He pulled the blade out of his chest and wiped off the blood then tried the door. It was unlocked, so he dragged the body inside but gave his first kill on American soil no further ceremony or attention.

Amelia had said to meet him on the second floor, so he looked around for a stairwell. But as he crept down the hall, he heard voices. He realized it was just a television though.

He stopped at an open door and looked inside for just a moment. The TV was tuned to the local news with the headline "Unfolding Bomb Threat at Saguaro Building" and a smartly dressee Chinese man was watching while talking on the cell phone. John didn't know a word of Mandarin, but he caught Amelia's name, "bomb squad," and the name Shelong. There was no doubt they knew Amelia ratted them out now.

Suddenly he heard footsteps and gasped as a very tall woman in a bulletproof vest appeared in the hall. She wasn't Asian, like the men were, but probably Scandinavian. And she was looking right at him with the coldest, iciest glare he had ever seen. She only sneered at him in disgust and walked into the room with the Chinese fellow.

John sighed with relief that the glamor spell was still working and hurried past the door.

"Sadis," the Chinese man said, "The raven squawked and now the bomb's being defused. We're done here."

"I'll take care of the girl," the woman said and John sprinted up the first set of stairs he found. A raven was waiting at the top of the stairs but paid no attention to him.

"Amelia?" He asked, "Amelia is that you?"

"John," she asked, "You know magic?"

"No time to explain, they're coming for your daughter," he said. Amelia didn't even shapeshift to rummage through her backpack and grabbed a string with red and blue glass beads.

"This might buy us some time," she said as connected the loose ends. Immediately John heard police sirens, outside the building. Lots of them and getting closer.

"Let's go!" Amelia squawked and flew down the stairs. John followed as fast as he could. He paused just a moment to watch the other woman carrying a machinegun marching toward the door he entered. She would find the dead body in no time at all. But then he turned around and saw the Chinese man from before standing right in front of him.

"It's me," he said in Amelia's voice, "Watch the hallway, I'll get my daughter and we can get out of here." He ducked into another open door and waited. Amelia told someone to run to the entrance and handle the police, and a moment later the third man she had mentioned ran down the hall.

"I found Hyun!" someone shouted, "He's dead! The police are just a trick, find the intruder!"

"Amelia we're out of time!" John whispered harshly. She came back carrying a small bird cage with a tiny raven inside.

"Mama!" the bird squawked.

"That's your daughter?" He asked.

"You didn't expect her to be human did you?" Amelia asked. The thirs man he had seen jumped into the hallway, shouted, and aimed his handgun at them. John shot him first and they kept running.

"We'll never get out the way you came in," Amelia said, "This way." There was more shooting behind them and John pushed Amelia down as he shot wildly behind him. The entrance was right ahead and he paused just a second to reload.

Then a metal door right behind him screeched under strain. He jumped back and watched an axehead chop right through the steel like it was rotten wood. The. Something folded the door in half like paper and tore it right off its hinges. The tall Scandinavian woman stepped through and he unloaded at her face at point blank. She flinched slightly and covered her face but was completely unharmed.

"Sweet mother of-" John whimpered.

"John!" Amelia shouted, "Duck!" He hit the deck just as a smoke bomb exploded in the other woman's face. He didn't wait for further instructions and ran for the entrance.

"The bike is that way!" Amelia said.

"Who was she?!" John asked as the side of the building crumbled and the woman walked through the dust and smoke like a hunting terminator.

"I didn't know before but I do now!" Amelia shouted without missing a step, "She's a valkyrie!"

Out of ideas, John drew the hand cannon and aimed for her center of mass. Bullets might not kill her, but she still has to obey physics, right? The recoil hurt like hell, stunned him, and his ears rang, but the valkyrie crumpled like she had been hit by a wrecking ball. She fell over, but didn't die.

"That bought us a couple seconds," he said and ran to Amelia and the motorcycle. More shots rang out from the factory, and while they came close, he was too far away for the shooter to actually hit him.

When they reached the motorcycle Amelia opened the bird cage and the smaller raven hopped out onto her hand.

"Baby girl, listen," Amelia said, "Remember the place I told you to go in an emergency? Fly over there now, and I'll be there soon. Ok?"

The raven kissed her and took off flying towards the outskirts of the city.

"You drive," Amelia said. John hopped onto the motorcycle and looked back to see the Valkyrie standing back up without even a scratch on her.