The red dressed woman waved her hand again and a new image appeared between them. This was of a man walking down the Newark streets, moving fast with his arms close to his body. He had dark skin and a short combed hair, and wore a loose jumpsuit with his name stitched on the front. "This man was to be your first Master.He is kind, but stern. You would learn much as his Genie."

Alessia looked up to the woman, "Was?"

The woman nodded, "He shall be, at best, your second Master. Another has found your lamp and comes to claim you as we speak." The image changed to a tall thin man in a crisp suit. The Genie looked away. "He is a wizard, and a cruel one. He will twist your soul until you are no longer Alessia."

The room trembled. The images of the Djinn city faltered. The bricks and wood of the apartment began to fade. "I will bring your true Master to you as soon as I can." Smoke filled the lamp and Alessia began to disperse. "Be ready for him, dear Genie."

The lamp spout that had so fiercely kept Alessia trapped drew her smokey form from the lamp, she screaming all the way. She billowed back into the world, swirling in the tiny alleyway. She saw the white vapor of her lamp, and her own violet coloring, and then saw something new. Black, oily smoke rose into her form, sinking into her body as Alessia reformed. It got into her skin and her lungs and every part of her body. When the smoke dissipated into the air, it left Alessia kneeling in front of the tall, thin man.

She saw her hands ashy gray, and nails blackened things. Her airy costume was replaced by tight leather. Her hair was a serve braid, and she had long knife-like ears.

"Rise, slave." The words slammed into Alessia and her body acted on instinct, following her Master's orders. He smiled and revealed yellow teeth. "A freshly bottled Genie, all for me." Alessia trembled, or tried to, but for her compulsion to stand for the man. She tasted something acrid in her mouth; the black sludge that had forced its way into her body and soul.

"What would you wish of me, Master?"

He chuckled, "Wishing is for fools and beggars. I will have no part in wishing."

"Yes, Master."

"I am very nearly late for a meeting of my peers." He smiled, "But I believe finding you will be worth it." He stepped aside and motioned for Alessia, "My car is waiting."

The Genie nodded and walked forward, her boot heels clacking on the concrete, hips swaying in a way they had never done before. Ahead she saw a black Cadillac and another man in a crisp suit standing by its side. He had wide shoulders and shaven head. And his eyes were vacant of any life.

"Slave, this is Pawn. Your predecessor. But he is now . . ." Her Master looked the man over, "inconsequential. Be rid of him." Alessia's hand reached up and magic started to flow from her fingers on instinct. The magic reaching out - her magic, guided by her Master's oily corruption - was going to kill the man. No, no, no, no! The Genie cried in her mind. She saw into Pawn, and knew that he was not inconsequential. He was once named Mark, and had a family to care for. A family who didn't know where he was.

She couldn't stop the magic; her Master had given her an order. But she could change it. As the smoky black tendrils of magic reached Pawn, Alessia concentrated. She fought down the instinct to kill the man. She could see into him, and see the corrupted spells that wrapped in his body as they did in hers. The Genie forced her magic to draw the corruption to her, pulling it from his veins. But it wasn't enough. Her compulsion was to get rid of him. She closed her eyes and focused, finding a safe place to teleport him. A hospital far, far from here.

Pawn remained still as magic washed over him, not noticing or caring. Tendrils of smoke wrapped around his neck. TIme was running short. The Genie snapped her hand and the corruption -- all of it, his included -- pulled back into her. He glowed in Alessia's violet for a moment and then disappeared. If she did everything right, he appeared in a hospital with no memory of the time spent with his Master. All that was left was a black chess pawn in the Genie's hand. She held it up.

"It is done, Master."

"Interesting." He said, flicking in the pawn into his hand, then putting it into his pocket. He glanced at the rear door on the Cadillac, and Alessia automatically stepped forward and opened it for him, "Take me to the meeting place." The Genie nodded, her magic working and finding the congregation of magicians in the city. She closed the door and stepped around to the driver's seat. And just before she got inside, she saw a woman standing beneath the corner streetlight. She wore a bright red hoodie and smiled at the Genie. Then she disappeared.

"We really must hurry, Slave." Alessia's Master called. She knew then why Pawn had a completely empty gaze, because it came over her eyes, as well. She silenced her mind and let her compulsion take her.