No, I have not abandoned Birth by Fire, yes I am still working on it. This was actually the first attempt at fanfiction I ever made, though I never published it because...well I don't really know, but I'm still not convinced it's good/interesting enough for anyone to want to read. HOWEVER, I also thought that about Birth by Fire at first, so I decided that I would put it up and let you guys be the judges of whether you like it or not! Read and review, and (hopefully) enjoy.
Chapter One – A Dangerous Discovery
It's amazing really, how unseen, how utterly overlooked such important places can be.
For centuries the meeting place had stood, its existence playing an anonymous but guiding role in so many great events. Wars, plagues, and all manner of disasters had passed by it's walls, some being coincidental, and others not so. It was frighting really, how one small, malevolent dwelling was able to exist.
And to exist in secret.
Most of the people that speed down the lonely Canadian highway would miss the small side road nestled between the dense trees. The few that happened to be paying close enough attention to the passing wilderness to catch a glimpse of the unmarked turn-off would think nothing of it, for why would they? Two hours from the nearest town on a normally quiet route, most drivers never even noticed the overgrown dirt track leading away into the ancient forest, more focused on getting to the end of their own journeys than on paying attention to seemingly endless sea of browns and greens that made up the blurring scenery. They had no way of knowing that if they followed the pot-holed side road through the dark canopy of trees for a few miles, they would happen upon a small, single story moss-covered house, a shack really, standing steadfast against the ever-changing elements in a small clearing well out of sight or sound of the road, hidden for years from most of civilization.
Hidden, that was, until now.
Parked haphazardly in front of the dilapidated building, under the dreary overcast sky, was a remodeled muscle car, its bright yellow paint, normally lovingly washed and polished by it's owner, now dulled by the liberal coating of dust that had been collected from its long trip along the highway and a somewhat haphazard journey down the bumpy side road, stray twigs and straggled weeds caught in it's wheels and bumper.
Wind whistled eerily through the nooks and cracks of the cabin, rattling the loose tiles on the roof and blowing tiny flecks of blistered grey paint from the peeling walls. A few brave (or perhaps oblivious) rat's scurried under the skirting and around the sunken stone foundations, ferreting away bits of the thick oily sheep's wool that had once packed the wooden walls tightly as insulation and pieces of long-tattered curtains to line their winter nests. Apart from the rustle of the ever-present breeze the surrounding woodland was unnaturally quiet. No birds sounded their eager chorus in the canopy of the gnarled trees and no small creatures scuttled through the tangled undergrowth in search of food or shelter. It had been this way for generations here. The unseen stain that blackened the house had seeped into the land like a disease, slowly tainting the very soil around it and warding off all but the most obstinate of rodents from it's vicinity.
No strangers ever approached the shadowed building. Any who came near, be they hunters, lost tourists, or curious teenagers out for any trouble they could find, would be quickly beset by a sense of unease, as though the land itself was warning them away. The closer they came, the more the feeling would grow, until without any conscious will they would shy away from it, detouring down the nearby valley or turning back on the unkempt road – convincing themselves that it lead to nowhere they could possibly want to be.
Today's visitors, however, had not been deterred. Already knowing what they were looking for, and stubborn enough to ignore the prickling at their spines, they had crashed through the oppressive silence and into a space in which they were most decidedly not welcome. The rickety front door to the shack was open once more, creaking as it swung slowly in the cool autumn wind, while the sound of an argument drifted from inside.
"Well that was a bust."
"Kenzi..."
"Come on Bo! Admit it! There's nothing here!" The statement was punctuated by the petite young woman's exasperated kicking of a moldy couch, which sent a thick cloud of dust exploding into the already stale air. "We just drove for over five hours to the sweaty ass-crack of nowhere, and this shack is most certainly empty. No evil druids, no magic necklace."
Kenzi was not at all amused. The young Russian had been dragged out of bed at dawn - freaking DAWN for crying out loud – to accompany her best friend on an obscure but supposedly critically important mission for her grandfather, who had just so happened to finally find a solid lead on something he had been working on for a century (because these things only ever seemed to happen with Bo around), and which apparently had to be dealt with immediately. It had taken most of the day to travel to the middle of nowhere and, after no small amount of wrong turns later, they had finally arrived at the distant location he had mapped for them. Her and the succubus had charged in, weapons drawn, ready for a hell of a fight, only to find the place was genuinely as deserted as it outwardly appeared. The cult of druids they were supposed to be rounding up and interrogating were gone without leaving any possible convenient clues to their whereabouts, and after almost tearing the place apart searching, it seemed that they had taken what they had been tasked with retrieving along with them.
Though it was rather hard to be sure when they didn't really have a good idea of what shape, size or design that actually was. Or any idea, for that matter – for something he was so worried about, Trick had been remarkably unhelpful.
The second woman, a tall muscular brunette sighed at her companion, closing the wobbly cupboard she had been re-checking hopefully and bending down to rummage once again under the rusty sink. "Jewel Kenzi. We're looking for some kind of precious stone. Trick said all of the texts were incredibly vague in it's physical description, they mostly just contained references to it's power and general cosmic importance or whatever. It could be pretty much anything." She rubbed her temples when her search revealed nothing of possible interest, frustration mounting. "Are you sure there aren't any..."
"No jeweled rings, necklaces, arm-bands, hairpieces, cuff-links, staffs, crowns, or freaking tiaras. No loose stones either. Trust the resident thief when she says there is nothing shiny here at all. Unless you count that freaking mutant sized beetle that scampered over my hand when you told me to check out the bathroom – which by the way, I am going to have to shower in bleach for at least a week to feel clean again after." Kenzi put her hands on her slender hips and tapped her foot impatiently against the splintering floorboards. "We've been through the whole place twice, and unless this Jewel of The Forest is secretly a dented tin teapot or a bunch of smelly old herbs, then I'm afraid you're gonna have to accept the fact that it just ain't here."
Bo frowned. Surely they hadn't traveled all this way for nothing at all. "Tricks source was sure the druids were here with it. He said he'd been tracking them for years, that they had finally returned back here with their newly found prize to do the big-evil-whatever...and the goblin confirmed it!"
"Um, yeah...key-word in that sentence babe – were. They've obviously cleared out, and from the looks of it they were in a hurry. All the important crap's gone, but the place hasn't fallen apart yet either. Well..." She wrinkled her nose as she slammed an empty wooden chest shut, "not everything anyway...oh!"
The movement had caused a small hidden drawer to pop open in the side of the chest, and she reached into it eagerly to pull out...a key. The metal was dark and heavy, almost seeming to absorb the thin light that trickled through the cracks in the filthy windows. It was noticeably cold to the touch and with a strange symbol carved near the top, but there were no precious metals or stones set into it and she rolled her eyes, shoulders slumping in disappointment.
"Well so much for that." She went to toss it back into the old chest, then hesitated, tapping it idly against her skeleton-print tights. "Looks important though, think we should hold onto it to show Trickster? It is the only thing left in this place that looks like it might actually be worth keeping." The young Russian turned back to Bo and shrugged her shoulders. "It would be good to come back with something to show for our efforts, even if it turns out to be yet another dead-end."
The succubus sighed again, wiping her dirty hands down on her jeans as she finally accepted defeat. "Might as well I guess. Lets get the hell out of here. It's a long drive back, after all." She kicked the door frame in irritation, making it rattle dangerously on its rusted hinges and send another charming cloud of mould spores onto her leather jacket. It didn't make her feel better. "Remind me to smack the crap out of that bogus-tip-giving-goblin if we ever see him again."
"Only if I get to take a swing at him too. I can't believe I wasted so much precious beauty sleep time on this demented goose-chase."
The pair made their way back outside into the fresh air, the decaying old wooden porch creaking ominously under the combined weight of their boots as they jumped back down onto reliably solid ground. They were almost back at the car when Bo stopped abruptly, nearly causing Kenzi to walk straight into the back of her.
"Woah, how about a little warning before you-" She noticed the look on her friends face. "What is it?"
Bo pointed to ahead of them to the left, at a slightly thinner looking patch of mossy trees, barely discernible in the forests gloom. "Look, over there, it's a path."
The Russian blinked, pale blue eyes squinting until she was finally able to make out the vague outline of a track amongst the undergrowth. A chill went down her spine and she took an involuntary step back.
The succubus however didn't seem to be phased by the aura radiating from the eerie thicket. "How did we miss that? I wonder what's down there?" She spun around on the gravel and started marching towards it, only to be halted by a grab to her wrist.
"You have got to be kidding Bobo! You want to walk down a creepy ass path that leads into the creepy ass woods behind an old abandoned house in the middle of nowhere? Have you never seen a single horror movie in your life?!" She waved her hands above her head incredulously. "Next thing you're going to suggest we stop of in an abandoned amusement park for kicks, or sleep in an old asylum on top of a haunted hill."
Bo rolled her eyes a little at her best friends melodrama. "Relax, I'm just going to check it out Kenzi, it'll be fine. You can stay here if you want. Guard the car or something."
"Split up? SPLIT UP? Oh hell no! Do I look like a big-boobed blonde teenager to you?" The smaller woman groaned, knowing that she had pretty much no chance of talking her tenacious friend out of something once she had her mind set on it. "Fine, I'll come with you. But if I end up getting used in a ritual sacrifice, brutally murdered, or eaten, I will come back from the dead and kick your shapely ass succubitch! I'm too damn fine for an early, tragic death." Sighing heavily, Kenzi let go of Bo and reluctantly followed her down the darkened track into the eerily rustling woods.
Twenty minutes later, she was deeply regretting it.
"Ouch...dammit...would you slow down Bo?"
Kenzi climbed back to her feet for what felt like the hundredth time and picked another broken stick out of her hair. "Ugh, if I knew there was gonna be hiking I would've dressed accordingly. These boots are definitely not made for walking." She pouted as she brushed the fresh coating of mud and wet leaves off her favorite new pair of pants. "You had better be planning on buying me a hella big stack of pancakes on the way ho-" She let out a muffled squeak as Bo suddenly slapped her hand tightly over her mouth, silencing her.
Indicating for her to stay quiet, Bo removed her hand and crept cautiously around a sharp bend in the track coming to a halt as she reached a point where the path abruptly narrowed, passing between two massive boulders that an average sized person would be only just be able to walk through without touching the sides. Now that she was listening, Kenzi finally heard what had alerted her friend. Up ahead she could hear the sound of dull scraping and...growling? Oh crap, that was definitely growling. She shuffled nervously behind Bo, who had drawn the long combat knife strapped to her thigh, and pulled a smaller but equally sharp one from it's hiding place in her leather boot, handing it to Kenzi with a murmured, "just try really hard not to stab me in the ass with it please."
Biting back a sarcastic response, the girl followed her forward, slowly peering around the large weather-worn boulder that was blocking most of their view. The trail had lead them to a small open space amongst the towering trees, the muddy ground that stretched in an almost perfect circle flat and bare. In the middle of the clearing a tall, smooth stone pillar nearly triple the width of a man's arm-span reached straight up towards the dreary sky.
The duo, however, barely even noticed this as their gazes were fixed frozen on something else entirely.
Pressed tightly against the pillar, on all fours, was a massive...dog? Wolf? It was hard to tell, but the animal was big, bigger than any dog or wolf either of them had ever seen. It's head came up to about the same height as Bo's chest, and it was strongly set, long sturdy legs leading to heavy paws. It's muscular frame was covered in a thick fur, darker than coal underneath but fading to pure white at the tips. Despite the fact the it was matted with leaves and twigs, it looked soft, reminding Bo of the friendly (if somewhat destructive) pet Husky that one of her neighbors in Grimley had owned when she was a little girl. The resemblance was lost at the creatures head though. It's ruff was rusty, caked in various degrees of fresh and dried blood, and it's muzzle was pulled back in a snarl revealing a row of long, and particularly deadly looking teeth.
Looking past that however, the succubus was captivated by the animals eyes. The dark green orbs were focused on the two of them with an unnerving clarity, and even as her and Kenzi both stared, they turned to her, gazing into her as if the creature could see her very soul. She couldn't help the slight chill that went down her back.
Oddly though, she found that looking into its eyes, she didn't feel afraid...at least until Kenzi swore loudly next to her, and the animal tore away from her gaze to shatter the morning silence with a blood chilling roar that seemed to shake the very leaves on the trees, the spell well and truly broken.
"Jesus fuck Bo,I SO did not sign up for this."