3
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Lythia'l had said, not for the first time. In fact, she had protested quite a few times since Jade had first asked her help. It was true that the demon was doing her a favor, one she desperately needed, and that was the only thing keeping her impatience in check. Even then, Jade took a second to sigh away from the phone, hearing Lythia'l's continued, "If you offered to babysit the children I don't see why I have to. Or why you even bothered to say it in the first place, and make it so you're expected to be there." It was again, not the first time that Lythia'l had brought up that point, nor the first time Jade had tried to explain. She figured her roommate was just irritated and wished to complain, and Jade supposed she owed her that right. Still, it was aggravating. Jade didn't like playing the hero more than anyone else, and if she had another choice… but she didn't. The vision had come to her, and she was going to figure out what it meant. Even if it meant listening to Lythia'l complain.
When she was sure she could keep the annoyance out of her voice, Jade finally turned the phone back towards her. "So I could be here, waiting, without being suspicious. I need to find out wherever they're going. Which means I need someone powerful to watch the kids. Which means you. Please." She added the please as an afterthought. Lythia'l would do it, Jade knew, as long as the demon was fawned over and made to feel important. Jade wasn't sure if that was a Mok'tagar thing, but it was definitely Lythia'l's. A grumble on the other end of the phone made Jade want to sigh again, this time in relief. It was acquiescence, no matter how grudgingly, and Jade was grateful it meant that this conversation was finally coming to a close.
"Fine. When you call me, I'll be there."
That had been a few hours ago, and now Jade sat in the porch, widening her eyes to see through the darkness. The kids had still turned back from now and then, waving to the house. They had already been through their tearful goodbyes, even towards Jade, and Jade had to shoo away Neva's attempt at a hug more than once. Fyora was helping the children pile the rest of their belongings into the van, and impatiently, Jade lit a cigarette, letting it burn between her fingers for a moment before placing it on her lips, eyes glued to the scene. She was nervous, feeling her heart beat rapidly in her chest. She had a bad feeling about this, a nervousness and an anxiety that wanted something to happen to justify it as much as she wanted nothing to happen again. Just paranoia. Her free hand began to tighten around her phone, just a tap of a number away from calling Lythia'l to take over watching the children. Jade had already sent them to bed, as it was late, and the goodbyes between the children had been long enough.
Her breath was shaky with the exhalation of smoke, and the cigarette was doing little to calm her splintered nerves. She hadn't done anything like this for a long time. She kept to herself for a reason.
Finally, the doors of the van closed, and Jade watched tentatively as the vehicle came to life, and she waited, in the doorway, waiting for it to move. After a pause, the engine sounded, and Jade whipped her phone to her ear. "It's time," She said, after the call was picked up after the first ring. There was a pop then, not quite a break in the connection, when then where there was no-one standing beside her in the dark, abandoned porch of the institution, there was Lythia'l, having easily teleported herself. Her pretty face was skewed with an irritated expression. "Okay, I'm here." Jade was barely listening to her, watching the van pull out of the driveway. Jade let her cigarette fall, crushing it with her heel.
"The kids are upstairs, sleeping." Jade said in a rush, reaching for the door. She heard Lythia'l's sigh. "They're sleeping then. They don't need a babysitter. Who's going to come after them?"
"Lyth." Jade warned, pausing in the doorway, a strong breeze of cold air hitting her skin, eyes still on the van, waiting for it to pull out of sight. But she had no more patience for Lythia'l, to explain why she couldn't just leave the rest of the children, even if the danger didn't surround them. She had to make sure.
"Fine, fine. I'm going to steal your soul someday you know, this is all so I don't feel bad about it." It wasn't the first time that Jade had heard Lythia'l say that, but Jade was far from ignorant about the practices of Mok'tagar demons, she wouldn't have lived with one otherwise, but she knew Lythia'l didn't mean it as a threat. She might not have had much in the loyalty, but she had enough, which was why she was here, albeit reluctantly. Jade trusted her at least that much, so Lythia'l's fuming bothered her little.
"I know. Thank you." Jade glanced back at the peeved Lythia'l, giving her a small, grateful smile. "You should be okay. But—just in case, there's no-one better to be here." She stepped through the doorway, out into the cold, but before the door swung shut, Lythia'l caught it.
"Yeah. Well you be careful. I know you're—well that doesn't mean you're invincible. Don't do anything stupid. I'm not keeping those cats if you don't come back."
It was touching, her concern, no matter how the demon tried to conceal it. Jade didn't waste any more time, walking quickly over to her bike and starting it up. She freed her hair from her usual ponytail, letting it cascade down her shoulders—it was quite long now, but having it in a ponytail underneath her motorcycle helmet gave her a headache. Hair free, she shoved on her helmet and drove after the van. She didn't turn on the light, and thankfully her motorcycle was quiet enough to not draw attention to her. She had waited a couple of necessary moments to give her some distance, but she would rather be caught then let them get too far away for her to follow.
The moments seemed long, as they were headed out of town, and she glanced at the departing Haven behind her, though they were still close enough to the city's limits. She had kept the van in just bare vision, but as it slowed, so did she, her heart beating rapidly. Had they seen her? She really didn't have an excuse thought out if they had, except for, "Oh hey I got lost while watching the children." But excuse was only needed if what they were doing was innocuous and this was an overreaction on Jade's part. If it only was just an overreaction, but her suspicion increased as the van turned off the road, heading out onto the dirt and grass out in a field. She crossed the terrain slower than they did, just barely seeing their outline in the dark, to keep from being detected. When they finally stopped the car, she cut off her motorcycle's engine at the same time, kicking out the stand and taking off her helmet. Hanging it carelessly on her bike, she took off at a jog towards the still-lit van.
She saw the building appearing more vividly than anything else, the old-looking, stone-built structure. A shiver ran through her body. Magic, definitely magic. She barely felt the cold then, pulling her machete free from her back-pack and strapping it to her hip mid-stride. She pulled her compound bow from her back next, a smaller one that wasn't much longer than the length of her arm. She had a feeling, if there were magicians—witches, warlocks, whatever, that they wouldn't be too fond of fighting face to face. Still, if they were allied with Fyora or against her—that still remained to be seen. She was still halfway across the field when she saw the figures—eight now? A new figure, cloaked as Fyora now was, had joined the scene. Jade narrowed her eyes, but her night-vision left much to be desired. They opened the door of the stone building and walked inside, followed shortly by another figure—a man in a black coat, who ran in after them. Not surreptitiously, as a spy might, but aggressively. Jade pursed her lips and sprinted the rest of the way.
She was fast, and strong, and the run didn't take too much out of her, but her heart still hammered hard in her chest—more likely from apprehension than exhaustion. Her bow in hand, she jogged down the hall. Having forgotten to die her hair up, it tumbled down her face, her shoulders, barely rectified by an impatient shake of her head. She heard chanting before she reached the room, and there was the figure she had glimpsed entering the building before she did. He stood tall—taller than she did anyway, in a long black coat that swept only a few inches above ground. The first thing that she noticed was his platinum blonde hair, gelled up away from his face, and the words bleach blonde punk echoed in her mind. He was turned away from her, only the side of his face visible, the sharp edge of his cheekbones as he looked up, speaking to someone. She didn't pay attention to his words, her eyes instead on the flicker of movement coming from his other side. He moved then, turning his face first in her direction, and for a heartbeat, their eyes met. Then, as quickly as he had swiveled towards her, he let out a curse and turned away, from where the wooden spikes were hurling themselves through the air, towards him.
She hadn't realised she had started moving again, to join him in the large room, as he twirled, just in time, to avoid most of the deadly projectiles, smacking a few of them out of the way with his arms. In the same moment however, more sprang, now from behind where both he and Jade were standing. She saw it first, before he could, and she was quick, her reflexes honed, enough so that she reached out and pushed the man with enough strength to cause him to stumble backwards more than a couple feet, and the stakes that would have buried themselves in his back, in his heart, flew harmlessly through the air.
Well, most of them. Jade let out a strangled cry as she realised some of them had hit their mark—one sinking into the arm that had pushed the blonde man out of way, and two more embedded in her torso. The man turned back to her, his eyes wide with bewilderment, a confused scowl on his face as he looked upon her, sinking to her knees. Jade clutched at her stomach, grinding her teeth to prevent another groan, looking up towards the chanting was still coming from, and an increasingly bright light, that snapped green electricity, some sort of portal. And standing before it, at the top of the stairs, was Fyora. She looked down, no remorse as she gazed at Jade, while her companion continued to speak in latin that meant nothing to Jade. But the huddled kids did, as she found them then, the five of them grasping close to each other, their wrists shackled with manacles. Her eyes found Neva's, who had tears running down her dark cheeks, her mouth moving in a silent 'Help us, help us.'
"What the sodding—" The man finally spoke, an English tilt to his voice, as he was still looking down at her with alarm, temporarily disarmed by his surprise. He was bleeding from one shoulder, having a stake embedded in his flesh, but Jade knew she was the worst of the two of them. "Help them," Jade forced out, as he hesitated, and a determined scowl covered his features once more, looking back up at the stairwell. But it was too late, as the man finished his incantation with a "…Aperta porta!" Another green flash, and a swirling gateway appeared, a hole in…air it seemed, brimming with energy. As the blonde man began to race up the stairs, Jade watched Fyora raise her hand, causing a shout from the man as he was flung backwards, as if hit by something large, and not… air. A telekinetic force that kept him from getting to the two casters. Jade tried to raise to her feet then, when the pain in her abdomen increased, and she realized how much blood was seeping through her fingers as she had pressed them to her stomach to put some pressure. The wooden stakes were still there, long and thin, but deep, protruding from her skin. It hurt, badly. She took a second, a gulping of constricted air, before pushing up with her one hand, the one that wasn't covered in blood. Her bow lay at her feet, forgotten as she tried to stand. And she did, for a second, before stumbling. She floundered back a few steps before her back landed against solid stone, the wall behind her. She tried to use it to support her weight, to keep on standing, but her knees buckled, and she sank back down to the floor, her body crying out in relief. And pain. When she looked back up, the man was leading the kids into the portal—pushing them, who still cried silently. Jade made another attempt to get up, feeling the blood pool down her stomach, trickling to the floor, but this time, couldn't stand.
"Will you stop knocking me about," the blonde haired man growled in frustration, his eyes narrowing further as the kids were being hauled off, though his next attempt to climb the staircase again had him thrown, this time all the way to the back wall where Jade laid sprawled. Dust and stone crumbled where his back hit the wall, a few feet to her left. "Bloody cowards, stealing children, hiding behind your tricks. Got anything else up your sleeve, bitch?" He swore at Fyora, who looked back at him impassively.
"Now. Leave them." Jade could just make out the second cloaked figure's words as he too stepped into the portal, which crackled and spat. Fyora looked after where he went, ready to follow.
"Fyora!" Jade managed, as loud as she could, though each breath was painful. "Don't do this. They're just children. Whatever you're trying to do—don't." Fyora stopped for a moment, turning back towards them, as the man in the black coat pulled himself back onto his feet, ready for another go. Fyora's hand outstretched, and commanded, "Vinculum." Chains appeared, wrapping around the man, and pulling him, cursing, back to the wall, wrapping around his wrists and pulling them above his head. Jade let out her own curse as they appeared around her own wrists, pulling them away from where they pressured her stomach, forcing her to her feet as they wrenched her arms up. She whispered another expletive under her breath, raising her eyes to Fyora, whose face was expressionless.
"Goodbye, Jade." She spoke in a detached face, turning away, and stepping through the portal, which flickered for a moment longer, and then disappeared in a flash of light, closing it behind her. Jade leaned her head back against the hard, cold stone, trying to fight the hopelessness that rose up in her as surely as the pain did. So much for a daring mission, or for Fyora being the one in danger. The children's caretaker had betrayed them all. And had left Jade here, trapped. Where she was going to die.