Somewhere in the bitterly cold night, a pane of glass shattered. A group of three small, hunched figures pulled themselves out of the snow through a busted window and into the back room of an Astoria pet store. "Ferrets!" One of them whispered excitedly, poking her fingers through the cage to stroke the stirring creatures.

"If that's what you feel like eating tonight, by all means," another scowled. She made her way towards the kennels housing the puppies. They barked wildly as she approached, scrambling towards the back of the cage in a pitiful attempt to escape. "I hate winter," she muttered under his breath, yanking open the first door and snatching a small lab by the scruff of its neck. It whined pathetically in her grasp and she shoved it carelessly into a large duffle bag.

It was early January in New York, the coldest time of the year. She and her pack normally preyed on the desolate homeless population in the area, but they had all been driven indoors to homeless shelters as winter trudged on. With their food source in guarded hibernation, they had to resort to alternative methods: pet stores and animal shelters. It was degrading.

She moved down the row discriminately, selecting only the fattest and largest specimens to feast on. Her companions did the same around the store, gathering rabbits, cats, and anything else they could fit into their bags that would feed them for the next few days. They had to finish quickly; though they had disabled the security system the wailing animals were sure to draw unwanted attention. Within minutes they were leaving, each shouldering a large, writing bag of fresh meat. The one tailing behind pulled a corn snake from her pocket and clamped down on its head with her powerful jaws. The body twisted and coiled around her fingers and in her mouth like a possessed Twizzler candy as she chewed on it.

"Aren't there enough rats in this city for you three to eat?" A voice called from behind them.

The trio turned quickly, bearing their long fangs aggressively and releasing an angry hiss. Before them, standing in a weak beam of light from a lone streetlamp, stood a single girl clad in a navy leather jacket and black jeans. Her emerald-streaked hair draped across her shoulders, mostly obscuring her face. "It's our lucky night, ladies. Looks like we will get human flesh to hold us over. Or, should I say, Guardian flesh?"

The stranger strode forward and the demons braced themselves. As soon as she exited the orange glow of the streetlight, however, she vanished. The three stared, dumbfounded, and took a hesitant step forward. "Where'd she go?" Their leader hissed.

"Behind you," the hybrid whispered in her ear, plunging a dagger between her shoulder blades. The tip pierced through her chest and black blood poured from the wound, spilling down her torso. The small demon released a gurgling sound as blood spilled into her esophagus. She fell forward, dead before she hit the snow. Tar-colored blood trickled from the corner of the mouth as her lifeless, bloodshot eyes stared ahead.

"Shadow-walker!" One of the others cried. They bared their fangs and dropped their bags in the snow.

"Please, make this interesting," their attacker taunted.

"You could stop teleporting and even the odds a little bit," a voice called from the mouth of the alley.

The lone girl didn't bother to turn. "It'd still be too easy," she sighed.

The new arrival crunched through the snow to her companion's side and wrapped an arm around her shoulder affectionately. In her free hand she clutched a crimson-stained short sword. "Aswangs?"

"It would appear so," the pale girl replied.

"When you weren't waiting for me at your apartment I figured you might need this," her companion explained, passing the weapon to her. The pale girl smirked at the demons as she twirled the blade in her grip.

The demons stared suspiciously at them, suddenly feeling ill-equipped to face these foes. They shared a sideways glance and began to back away slowly before turning and breaking into a run. As they passed through the beam of light to the other side they watched as a pair of silvery-blue eyes materialized in the darkness. They attempted to skid to a halt, only to stumble and slide uncontrollably on the icy pavement.

The pale girl swung her sword in a wide arc, cleanly decapitating the nearest one. She followed her momentum through and spun on her heel, piercing the final demon through the throat. Her red eyes bulged as she pawed weakly at the weapon, gurgling and gagging through the blood. Jade ripped the blade free and watched, brow raised in amusement, as she collapsed in the snow on top of her fallen sister and lay still.

"That seemed uneventful," Tori called from a few yards away as she knelt down to examine their discarded bags. "What were they even doing in this part of–oh, puppies!" That Latina exclaimed shrilly as she lifted a fluffy Pomeranian into the air and cradled it in her arms.

Jade chuckled as she stepped over their bodies and made her way back to her girlfriend. She stood on her tiptoes and pecked Tori on the lips as she took the dog from her. "They're going back to the pet store, Vega. Don't get any ideas," she explained, turning her head as the puppy licked her face.

"Can't we keep one of them?" The younger girl pleaded as she retrieved the writhing bag from the snow. "There're so many!"

"I'm not puppy-sitting for you while you're gallivanting across the globe on Guardian business," Jade replied firmly.

"Jaaaaade," Tori whined as the older girl returned towards the pet store.

"Bad girl! Bad! No!" She teased, wagging a finger in her face.

"Oh, that's not cute."

"Is this what you've been up to since I last saw you?" Tori asked moments later as she and Jade walked down a New York sidewalk on their way to dinner. They walked hand-in-hand briskly through the light snow that had begun to fall, eager to reach their destination before the weather got any worse.

Jade brushed a few tresses of wind-swept hair from her face. "So I get a little bored when you're not around," she admitted. Tori had been gone for a week now on Guardian business, leaving Jade to her own devices.

It had been a few months since Eris' attempted apocalypse. Since then Jade had moved from her crumbling Brooklyn brownstone to a nicer apartment in Kingsbridge. Shocktop's had closed since the incident with the Totoli, and Jade had found a new job dancing at another nightclub, The Red Devil, much to Tori's chagrin. She was still pulling her old tricks to rake in the tips, also to Tori's annoyance, but was, on the whole, staying out of trouble.

She'd even returned to the occasional demon slaying now that she wasn't concerned with the Brotherhood hunting her down, which is apparently how she kept herself busy when Tori was away on business. "Though stumbling onto them tonight was just luck," she explained. "I was heading to the liquor store."

"Based on the texts you were sending me this morning I expected to walk into your apartment to find you waiting for me on a bed of roses. Imagine how disappointing it was to find you playing in the snow with a couple of low-level demons," Tori tsked.

"Silly girl. You know I'm allergic to roses," Jade joked, nodding at a door just ahead. "This is it up here."


"How'd the mission go?" Jade inquired as they took their seats at the table. They shed their heavy coats and draped them on the back of their chairs and brushed the snow from their hair. "Where'd you even go? My texts never went through."

"Ugh," Tori huffed. "Middle of nowhere desert. Nowhere even remotely interesting." She watched as Jade unwound the plum-colored scarf from around her neck and folded it over her coat. Her eyes wandered over her hungrily as she shed her heavy layers; she'd missed her this past week, especially not having cell reception. She frowned when she spied a gash on her throat. It had already closed up, but was still red and puckered. "What's that?"

"Hm?" Jade brushed her neck. "Oh. Vampire. A few days ago. He's dust, don't worry" she dismissed. "So, necromancers?"

She was discussing the mission again. "Yeah, they summoned something ugly. They had no idea what they were doing." Necromancers were usually little more than humans who had watched too much fantasy television. Little understanding, but still held the potential to create a lot of trouble.

"And Trina?" Her visit to see Trina is what delayed Tori's visit an extra day.

"Still out," Tori said quietly. The Brotherhood had quickly determined that no amount of counseling or reasoning would make Eris release her hold on Trina's mind. They had placed her in an enchanted sleep, hoping that, with time and without Eris' constant oppression, Trina would be able to gain more mental ground. It was only a temporary solution. "Any luck with Mercy?"

Though not officially affiliated with the Guardians anymore, Jade had made it her business to reclaim her part of town where she could by herself. Her current objective was to track down Mercy, the demon bartender that had poisoned her for months. He was still at large, and she was having trouble locating leads to hunt him down. "Please explain to me how a big burly man who smells like coleslaw and stale cigarettes can fall off the face of the earth?"

"Are you worried he's up to something?"

"No. The coward's probably just hiding. I'll keep looking."

"Not tonight, I hope," Tori smiled.

Jade smirked. "Why? Did you have something else in mind?"

"A few things, actually."

"Do tell."


Tori, as usual, awoke first that next morning. When she stayed with Jade she typically slipped away for an early workout and had just enough time to make coffee before the half demon roused herself. This morning, however, she decided it was too bitterly cold. Last night's storm had dumped six inches of snow on the ground and the warm-blooded Latina couldn't fathom running in this weather.

Instead she pushed herself carefully up onto her elbow and tucked a few strands of hair draped across Jade's face behind her ear. Her brows twitched her in sleep but remained otherwise undisturbed. The older hybrid snuggled deeper against the girl behind her and continued snoring lightly. Tori felt herself smiling, grateful for this time. Only when Jade was asleep was she not making some sort of sassy or sarcastic comment; it was during the early morning or late at night when Tori stirred herself awake could she study her lover without teasing.

Her brown eyes wandered from Jade's peaceful face and down her torso. Both were nude. She wrapped her arm gently across the other girl's waist, studying the contrast between their light and tanned skin. Two fingers lightly traced the self-inflicted scar above her breast, Eris' sacred rune, the one that had allowed her to disappear for all those years. Tori glanced down at an identical one on her own chest, recalling the series of events that had led her to receive it.

In the few months they had been reunited, Tori couldn't imagine how they had remained separated for so long. "Jade," Tori purred in her lover's ear. The older girl grunted as she stirred but said nothing. "Wake up." No response. The brunette sighed; it was always a colossal battle to wake her up before 9 AM. "Come shower with me, lover," she breathed, taking an earlobe between her teeth and tugging gently.

"Go warm up the water," Jade instructed, her eyes still closed.

"I'm not falling for that one again," Tori huffed. Jade rolled out of Tori's arms and over onto her stomach. "… I'll do that thing you like."

She watched blue eyes pop open. "I'm up. I'm up," she yawned as she pushed herself out of bed and made a wobbly beeline for the bathroom.

Tori smirked. For as strong willed as Jade was, she was still easily predictable.

When they exited the shower nearly 45 minutes later, Tori had eight missed calls from Aria and Cat. The Latina frowned and wrapped her towel tightly around her and unlocked her phone. "This can't be good," she murmured as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"I thought you were enjoying yourself," Jade disagreed from the next room. She appeared in the doorway, her pale skin splotchy red from the heat of the shower. She rang her hair out in a towel before wrapping it around her body.

Tori put a finger to her lips as she tapped Aria's number. "Where are you?" The council member demanded without even a hello.

"I… with Jade. New York," she replied. "Mission's over. I was debriefed two days ago. I'm taking a few days –"

"We need you here," Aria stated plainly.

"But –"

"Bring Jade. This may concern her too." The call disconnected.

Tori pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it in bewilderment. "What was that about?" Jade asked as she pulled on a pair of purple panties.

"Aria wants us back at the council. Both of us," she replied.

"Oh, hell no," Jade refused flatly as she clasped her bra behind her back. "Sounds like Guardian business, which means it's none of mine."

"She asked for both of us, Jade. Specifically mentioned your name."

"Did she say for what?" Tori shook her head and Jade crossed her arms. "Nah."

"Jade, you told her months ago if she really needed your help that you'd be there," Tori argued.

Jade sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "You still remember that, huh?"

"Yes, because it distinctly impressed me that you'd be willing to work with them at all again."

"… Fine," Jade conceded as she tugged a black sweater over her head. "But I'm not agreeing to anything. I'm just going to hear her out since apparently her phone etiquette is downright terrible." She bounced on one foot as she struggled with her tight jeans. "Is that understood?"

Tori nodded graciously. "Yeah, just let me get dressed and we can go. She sounded urgent."

Within minutes they were ready to go. They stepped inside Jade's massive closet and shut the door; it was the only room in the apartment that didn't get an impressive amount of sunlight, unlike her tiny little tenement she had moved from. "Fucking Guardians." Tori heard Jade mutter bitterly under her breath as she wrapped her arms around the Latina's lithe frame. Tori hugged her reassuringly as they disappeared.