Perna stopped when she got to the house. The rest of the team parked and got out of their cars. She wanted to be as far away from people as possible but still covered, and her apartment definitely wasn't the place to be. Danielle leapt in her arms as soon she had the seat belt off and she carried her at a sprint up the stairs. Vince, who was the first one to get to the door, unlocked it and they filed in, he locked the door behind them.
"Okay Perna. What the hell is going on? Who is this kid? She your daughter?" Leon asked and Perna looked at him.
"She's not my daughter." Perna said moving from side to side as Danielle continued to cry. "Shh, its okay sweetheart. They won't get you." She whispered.
"You promise?" she asked looking at her.
"I promise." Perna said and kissed her forehead, setting her down. "Okay, Danielle you have to tell me everything that happened."
"Okay, I was doing a routine checkup on this lady's flowers, like I do every night. When I heard them, the sounds they make, it was terrible. One of them came down into the garden and every plant around them died. She looked at me and laughed then lunged at me, but I had already started the transportation spell. I came straight to you." Danielle said and the wings fluttered, going from blue to purple.
"Those are actual wings?" Vince asked.
"Yes, they are." Perna said. "Dom, you know that Fey species I told you about? Guardian Fey?"
"Yeah." Dom said.
"Meet one of them."
"Wait a minute. You said they were like Tinker Bell, this one looks like a small child."
"They are Tinker Bell-like in nature, not in appearance. They watch over flowers and plants, sometimes even people." Perna said.
"Okay, I'm confused. What the hell are you people talking about?" Leon said.
"Long story, I'll explain later if we're all still alive." She said and her and Danielle clasped their hands to their ears, Danielle screamed and Perna dropped to her knees. It took them a little while to hear it too. Screeching, a high pitched screeching sound. Blood started to trickle out of their ears.
"What the fuck is that?" Leon yelled and Perna yelled a word in Gaelic, her glamours slipping away. The sound stopped abruptly. "It's gone."
"No, I just kept us from hearing it. Harpie calls have been known to make people either go insane or die." Perna said and they looked at her as she drew herself to her full height. Everyone's but Dom and Danielle's eyes widened.
"Perna?" Mia asked and she nodded.
"This is my true form. I am Warrior Fey, the last of the strongest clan. And we are all in deep shit." She said seriously. "I will explain all if we get out of this alive." Dom went to her side and stood behind her again, putting his arms around her waist, running his hands along the coarse black leather of the jerkin.
"Dom, you knew about this? About her?" Letty asked and he nodded, not looking at her. He put his cheek on her head and closed his eyes. Perna put her hands on his arms and leaned back against him. "Dear Lord Dom. She's not even human."
"The protection amulets I gave you all will protect you from the Harpies. As long as you're wearing it, they can't harm you. So Letty, I advise that you go get yours and put it on right now."
"I don't need your protection. I can protect myself."
"Not against these you can't. I can barely kill them. You want to see the scars I got from them?"
"You mean the mass of scars on your back and stomach?" Dom asked looking at her and she nodded.
"That's from when a Harpie tried to rip me in half. We need to take care of Danielle, Fey or not, she's still a child. You guys got a cellar?"
"Yes." Mia said.
"Mia take her down there, they can't get her there. And stay down there with her, in fact all you guys go." Perna said.
"I'm not leaving you." Dom said.
"If you want to stay alive, you will leave me. Now go all of you." Perna said in her most serious tone, and Dom took his arms from around her. Mia came over and took a sniffling Danielle's hand, leading her to a door. She opened it and flicked a light switch; the two went down the stairs into the basement. The team trooped after them, Dom was the last one to go down with one last look at Perna.
Perna stood in the middle of the living room an arrow notched and the bow relaxed, steeling herself for the battle to come. In her minds eyes she saw her last encounter with Harpies, when they killed her entire family in front of her, ripped them to pieces, then tried to kill her the same way.
"Perna." She heard and opened her eyes seeing the Harpie standing there. It looked like a woman but it wasn't. Its skin was gray, bats wings protruded out of its back and tattered cloth covered its body. Its dark hair was matted and tangled and when it smiled, razor sharp teeth appeared. "So good to see you again." It said waving at her in a mocking way. Razor sharp talons took the place of fingernails. She raised the bow and pulled back the string, it launched itself at her and she fired.
Dom and the team sat around the basement and they all flinched as a roar split the air and there was a heavy thump. Something shattered and there was that screeching sound again, but it was cut off abruptly. Something heavy fell against the basement door then slid down the wood. Then there was silence; no one even breathed as seconds of silence ticked by. Dom was the first one to get to his feet and climb up the stairs the team staying put. Mia stayed with Danielle who was shaking in her arms on her lap.
Dom slowly eased open the door and looked around; there was no one there.
"Perna?" he asked and his eyes fell on a bright red splash of blood on the wall. There was a screech and he was suddenly face to face with a Harpie, he could see his own death in those bottomless full black eyes, no whites at all. There was a roar and Perna tackled it, knocking it to the floor. They wrestled on the floor, each trying to get the upper hand. It swiped at her with deadly looking claws and cut open her cheek.
"My knife!" she yelled and he saw a shining silver blade next to his foot. He kicked it over to her; she picked it up and stuck it in the Harpie's body under the ribs, pushing it onto its back and sitting astride it. Perna removed the knife and buried her arm up to the elbow in its body and Dom retched. The Harpie flailed and screamed in pain, as Perna seemed to be looking for something. "Where is it?" she yelled. "There it is!" she suddenly yanked pulling out what looked like a still beating heart, her arm up to the elbow covered in blue blood.
The Harpie screamed one last time then collapsed into ash, the heart in Perna's hand doing the same. Dom bent over and vomited right there on the floor so hard that he cried.
"Only way to kill a Harpie is to take out the heart." She said as she got to her feet. "Immortal my ass." She pushed the ash with her booted foot in disgust. Her eyes flicked to him, kneeling on the floor, tears running down his face and dry retching. "Dom are you okay?" no answer. "Talk to me Dominic, I have to know that you're okay. I have to know if it swiped at you before I tackled it."
"It didn't have time." He said hoarsely and looked at her, her arm was still covered in thick blue blood. Red blood flowed down her neck from the deep gashes in her cheek and he could see more gashes in her chest. "You're hurt." He pointed out.
"Dom you may not want to watch this." She said and she raised the blood-covered arm. She smeared the blood into the gashes on her cheek, scraping some off her arm and smeared it on her chest and those wounds healed too.
"What the fuck are you doing?" he asked.
"Harpie blood was healing properties, it's why they are so damn hard to kill." Perna said and he watched, as the gashes on her cheek slowly closed leaving not a scar. The wounds on her chest also closed and left no scars. "I'm sorry you had to see that Dom, I never wanted you to see me when the blood lust had taken over."
"Blood lust?" he asked.
"I'm a warrior, remember? Its my nature." she said and there was a long silence.
"Dom!" Vince yelled up the stairs. "Is it safe to come back up?" he asked and Dom looked at Perna.
"It is, there was only three of them and you just saw me kill the third." She said and Dom looked down the stairs, getting to his feet.
"Yeah its okay V, you guys can come up now." He said stepping away from the door and the team trooped up the stairs, Mia carrying Danielle.
"Are they all gone My Lady?" Danielle asked and Perna nodded.
"They're all dead." She said and Danielle hopped out of Mia's arms, running over and hugging Perna's legs.
"Thank you for protecting me." She said and was gone in a flash of light. She waved her hand and arrows in different parts of the house came to her hand, she wiped them off and slipped them into the empty quiver still on her back. She walked over and picked her bow off the floor, unstringing it and putting it away.
"Perna um...could you not come around anymore. Just for a little while." Dom said and she looked at him sadly. "I need to be away from you, to process what I just saw." He said and she looked down for a second then back up, nodding.
"I understand. I'm gonna go now, I lost a lot of blood." She said and did just that, left.
"Sure, leave us to clean..." Letty started.
"Letty." Dom warned. "Don't."
Perna got back to her apartment, grateful that it was so late and that everyone was asleep. She didn't think she had enough energy left to glamour her self. When the door was locked she automatically went to the bathroom to take a shower.
She stood there in the tiny stall, watching the water swirl down the drain, turned slightly purple as the water mixed the blood on her body. She leaned back against the shower wall and slid down, racking sobs shaking her body.