They are called the Oni." Chris Argent tells the group, gathered in the repurposed basement after deciding the house was much more safe than out in the open of the park, even if it was still daylight. Ashley had cashed in her favor with Derek for finding him during hide and seek, and since he was feeling particularly generous due to the rather large sum of money now in his account, he bought another couch for the basement that wrapped around half the room, as well as padding for the area that they'd be sparring in. It made fitting everyone in the basement comfortably much easier, which was a good thing considering how large the pack was becoming. For example, Ethen and Aiden were now members of the pack, as well as Danny after a short explanation of everything. Once everyone arrived, minus Kira who was still talking to her parents but knew where to go, and Ashley had her fill of telling what happened to her while she was gone, Chris found himself in the middle of the room explaining his findings. "I saw them when I was 18, on a job Gerard had sent me on. It was a weapons deal for the Yakuza."
"Wait, like, the Asian mafia, that Yakuza? Are you kidding me?" Stiles interrupts loudly, mouth agape as he stares at the hunter. "You were giving them weapons?"
Chris just glares at him, causing the teen to squirm under his gaze. "Yes, that Yakuza. Back then I didn't ask that many questions, I just did my job. The deal, however, was interrupted by a group of dark beings I know now to be Oni. They were there for the leader, who ended up being a type of vampire I believe, going by the teeth, and went through every one of his men before killing him. I managed to stop one of them by shooting its mask, which cracked in half, saving one of the men in the process. That's all I know for now, but I'm hoping the man I saved might be able to tell us more. They call him Silverfinger."
"How are you planning on getting ahold of him?" Ashley asks curiously before Stiles can cut in. "Is he still in the states, or were you planning a trip overseas?"
"He's still in the state, actually. I have a weapon he's interested in buying, and plan on meeting with him later to sell it. Well, I mean technically I am. He won't meet in person, so Isaac has volunteered to go in my place to do the sale while Allison and I search for him elsewhere in the building, since he will still be close by. We should have more information on the Oni by tonight."
"Ok, just be careful you two." She says to the teens in question, sitting next to each other on the couch but trying to act nonchalant about it, to her amusement. "I don't wanna be back for one day just to hear you got yourselves shot up. Same for you, Chris."
He gives a shadowed grin that doesn't quite meet his eyes. "He's a paranoid bastard, but it shouldn't be too hard to deal with him. Still, we'll be careful, I promise, and call as soon as we know something. If you don't mind we're going to go ahead and leave, he may be in the state but it's still a two hour drive."
"Go ahead, I don't think there's anything else we need to talk about." Chris nods at the teenagers and they stand up, following him out of the basement. As the others start to disperse as well, Stiles comes up to Ashley, wringing his hands a bit and looking nervous. Ashley waits for him to start talking patiently, noticing Ethen and Aiden following Scott out, while Danny and Lydia sat together on the couch talking softly to one another, every once in a while shooting Derek a glance.
"I need talk to you." He says quietly, wringing his hands together and looking decidedly nervous. "I feel like somethings off, but I don't know what. Like, the other day, I felt like I was in two places at the same time, and I've been getting weird, splitting headaches. Not only that, but I've been feeling sick, more tired lately."
She frowns, putting the back of her hand against his forehead, and sure enough he has a mild fever. "Why didn't you tell me sooner, go to the doctor, something like that? How long have you felt like this?"
"For about three days now. One night I woke up and it was like my body had split completely in half, though that could have been from me somehow rolling off the bed and hitting the floor, since that's where I woke up. I was covered in sweat and my nose was bleeding, and I've felt off ever since."
"Why the hell didn't you go to the doctor?"
"He blushes. "I hate the doctor, you know that. I thought maybe I could wait it out."
"You idiot." She says, rolling her eyes and pulling him in for a hug, before looking him square in the eyes. "Are you ok to drive?"
"Yes…"
"Then go to the hospital and see if Scotts mom will take a look at you, since you aren't afraid of her. Do you want me to go with you?" He shakes his head once. "Then go on and go, and call me as soon as you know something." He nods, turning to leave, but pauses as if he wants to something else. However, he shakes his head and keeps moving, leaving her alone with Derek, Danny and Lydia.
"Everything ok with Stiles?" Derek asks as she plops onto the couch next to him with sigh. "He looked nervous."
"Yea, he's just bad about not going to the doctor when he needs to. He's been feeling off, so I sent him to Scotts mom for a check up, no big deal." She says, then looks over to the two remaining teens. "Danny, I gotta say you're taking all of this almost too well. I expected denial, staying away from us for a while, something."
Danny shrugs, an innocent half smile on his face. "I've had an idea of what was going on for a while, to be honest, so it was nice to have my suspicions confirmed."
"You had suspicions there were teenaged werewolves running around?"
"My family has been here for a while, so they've noticed things here and there. They just never really got involved with the whole mess."
"Until now?"
"Until now. I can't think of too much I can do, but just sitting around watching while people I know get hurt isn't something I think I can do."
"I'm recruiting him for team research." Lydia says with a smirk. "Let the wolves handle the heavy lifting, while we handle the details. No offense grumpy wolf, I'm sure you have some brains beneath all that scruff and muscle, but between the two of us we're the top of our class."
"Only some offense taken." He says, cocking an eyebrow at her, then frowning as he pulls out his vibrating phone and stares at the message as if trying to set it ablaze. Typing out a short reply he turns to Ashley. "That was Peter, he says he needs to meet with me."
"Geez, everyone is leaving me. Go ahead, I'm just gonna stay here and talk to these two anyway, maybe fix the basement up a bit more. Don't let him piss you off too much, you know he does it on purpose."
"No promises." He says, still frowning. "He may have just his own encounter with the Oni and want to ask me about it."
****************( )******************
Ashley spent the next few hours talking with Danny and Lydia, going over things like the database she was creating, the home Tony was going to build on the land Derek sold to him, and the fact that Lydia now knew she was a banshee. It was a relief to the red head, as she had wondered for quite some time why she would always find herself at murder scenes before anyone else, and why the wolf bite didn't take. Now that she had a name, she had what she needed to research the hell out of it, and research she did. Ashley filled in what blanks she could, though Lydia had, as usual, done her job well.
The most obvious thing was that she had a supersonic scream that she could use to attack or defend herself, though she could also use it to focus on the whispers in her head that only she can hear. As well, other supernatural creatures can hear it at a long range, drawing them to her if she needs help. Another perk was that even though they are connected to the supernatural world, they aren't affected by it, meaning no bite would ever affect her, and that she could cross mountain ash barriers with no problems.
A problem was, however, that she would still likely be drawn to murder scenes unless she could learn to control the subconscious urge to head towards them. Ashley was hoping that eventually she would be able to focus enough to simply tell others where to go, instead of heading there herself in the middle of the night. Maybe Loki or Crowley knew someone who could help her hone her abilities….
Speaking of the diminutive devil, one minute Ashley was discussing using the two geniuses as teaching assistants in case she got transported off to who the hell knows where again considering between the two of them they were the most likely to keep the class in line, the next he was standing in the middle of the room, looking relieved for a fraction of a second to see her before switching to his usual mask. "You really need to stop doing these little disappearing acts poppet, you're going to give your celestial pigeons a heart attack. They really don't like it when they're reminded that they're not as all knowing as they pretend."
"Just the angels?" She asks with a little smirk. "Because I know I certain demon who hates not being in the know as well."
"I admit to nothing. Welcome back, however. I heard you had quite the little adventure this time. Germany, aliens and pagan gods? Super spies and a giant flying fortress of death? I'm hurt you didn't invite me."
"In my defense…" She starts, patting the space beside her while Lydia explains to Danny who the familiar man is, "I didn't even manage to call Luce or Gabe until the end of the battle, I had some sort of block stopping me. Balthazar was able to sense me because he was nearby, but otherwise they couldn't locate me till I cracked the block. So don't feel too bad."
"I wouldn't have been able to show up anyway, its been a very busy week." He says with a mysterious smile, then frowns a bit. "Was that the last time you saw the british pigeon?"
"Yea, after I unpossessed Loki, he went off to find Luci and Gabe. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since. Is everything ok?"
"I'm not sure. According to my sources, remains of grace and bloody feather have been left at various spots, along with the supernatural corpses. It reeks of a ritual, one that requires a constant flow of ingredients from a live source, and the trickster mentioned that a friend of his was missing. There's a high chance he's alive, but being kept for parts."
Ashley goes pale, hand gripping her leg tightly. "Is there any way to find him? I can't lose any more friends."
"I'm afraid not. All we can do at this point is try and anticipate their next move, hopefully catch them in the act before they can achieve their goal. But enough of this talk, I have something to show you if you have the time."
"What is it?"
"It's a surprise, poppet. Mind if I steal her for a while?" He asks Lydia, eyebrow cocked in challenge as if daring her to say no.
Lydia waves her hand in their general direction nonchalantly, having opened up the notepad of supernatural creature notes Ashley had handed her and scooting close to Danny so they could both peruse it. "Sure, why not, we have reading to do anyway. Have fun in hell, or where ever he's taking you."
The last thing Ashley sees of the basement is Danny's wide eyed look as Crowley pops her away to areas unknown.
************( )**************
They appear in what looks like an old part of the woods surrounding Dereks old house, the trees pressed together closely providing a natural canopy in what was almost a fairy circle, just missing the mushrooms. She can hear a stream nearby, and looks down to see herself standing on a natural path. She frowns, looking around more, and sees an elegant carved granite piece jutting up from the ground about two feet high, words carved into it. Looking over at Crowley confusedly, he simply nods her forward, face solemn and betraying nothing.
As she moves forward the words become clearer to her and tears start prickling at the corners of her eyes, and she drops to her knees in front of the gravestone, decorated tastefully around the edges with the various stages of the moon and a tiny vine just starting to climb it. It read 'Here lies Gwaine, who died protecting the one he loved most, his pack, his family, his best friend. His sacrifice shall not be in vain, and his legacy will go on.' As a tear makes its way down her cheek, she feels a hand on her shoulder, Crowley looking at with what looked remarkably like sympathy as he hands her a rose to place at the graves base. "I didn't think you would want him sitting in Argents trunk wrapped up like a mummy, so I brought him here and buried him properly. There's a slight ward around the area to keep anything from disturbing the area, as well as the path leading here, and you can reach it from your grumpy wolfs burnt house."
"Thank you Crowley." She says quietly, so soft you can barely hear it unless you were specifically paying attention. "Gabe said you took care of it, but I didn't think it was quite to this extent."
"He was your family. I assumed you would want a proper burial for him, not just for him to be dropped in a random hole and forgotten. I did the same for Growlys mother when she died, so I could have a place to visit her."
"You were right. This area is perfect for him….I'll have to make sure Tony knows to leave it be when he builds the children's home here." She kisses the rose softly and lies it against the gravestone, then stands up to face Crowley, eyes still damp. This time, he expects it as she wraps her arms around his neck for a hug, letting her quietly grieve on his shoulder where no one else in the world can see or judge, and he again finds himself protective of the young woman putting so much trust in him when she clearly shouldn't, considering his past, his job….just him in general. He wasn't exactly a good person, not in any sense of the word, yet she wasn't afraid to be alone with him, to joke with him, to cry on his shoulder like she was now and not think for a second he might take advantage in some way or another.
He wasn't this affectionate with his own son when he was alive, and that was before he became a demon! Yet, something about the woman in front of him brought out the latent fatherly instincts in him, and he still wasn't sure yet how he felt about it.
When she finally lets go, he looks at her blotchy, tear stained face and gives her a comforting smile, a strange look on his usual straight face. "Perk up love, he wouldn't want you dripping everywhere. How about I show you something that will cheer you up straight away?" She nods at him and he takes her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before popping them away once more, hopefully to a more cheerful setting.
**************( )**************
"Oh my god, puppies!" Ashley squeals in delight once Crowley tells her to open her eyes, before immediately dropping down next to the proud mother and her babies and giving Growly a soft kiss on the top of her tired head. Growly responds by nuzzling her in return, then picks up an escaping puppy and places him in Ashleys lap, a handsome fellow all black with silver eyes. Ashley immediately cuddles the little fellow close, cooing at him while Growly lays her head on a pillow and watches.
Crowley watches the scene in fascination. He hadn't known how Growly would react to another person being brought around the puppies, considering how protective hellhounds could be, but he had hoped for the best. Honestly he nearly had a heart attack when she dropped down in front of the lot, considering the first time a demon came in Growly had chased it out of the room in a rush of fire and loud, angry snarls, but she hadn't even looked crossly at Ashley. Even now, all the puppies were inching their way towards her, confirming his suspicions about them having a half formed bond with her already due to their parents. The little boy was crawling around in her lap, the rest sniffing her and edging closer, while she now had a hold of the little silver girl and held her close to her chest, smiling happily as she slowly relaxed in her hands, falling asleep to the sound of her heartbeat.
"How old are they?" She finally asks, in the midst of fluffy happiness.
"A couple of days old." He says, arms crossed as he leans against the wall, snapping up a blanket that appears over Growly as she drifts off as well. "Hellhound births can be…difficult, to say the least, so I stayed with her the entire time, plus a day after to make sure none of them died birth, and that she got plenty of rest and food."
"Well they're adorable." She says, large smile on her face as she continues to cradle the silver girl. "Hard to believe these little guys grow up to be big bad hellhounds, the little cuties. When do they start being trained to bring in souls and stuff like that?"
"When they're about three months old. However, not all of them will necessarily hunt souls. Some are used for body guards, much like Growly did for you. It depends on who they bond with, usually."
"When do they usually bond with someone? How do you know when they do?"
"Full of questions, aren't you?"
Ashley blushes slightly. "Sorry, I can't help it, I'm curious. It's what me and Stiles have in common. And considering these little guys are the last part of Gwaine left, I want to know as much as I can about them."
"It's fine." He says, moving around to sit on a chair next to her. "You see how all the puppies started sniffing you like the did, and Growly placed the one on your lap? That means, through her and Gwaine, they already have a partial bond with you. Otherwise, Growly wouldn't have trusted you with any of them. That means that while they can bond with others, they'll always have a partial one with you, and one or more of them might fully bond with you." He leans back, eyes showing him deep in thought as he chuckles to himself. "When Growly bonded with me as a hell pup, she would pop up at the most random times. Sometimes while I was eating, sometimes while I was brokering a deal…once I was taking a bath, enjoying some time between deals, and she just appeared a foot above the bath, splashing down into it and throwing water everywhere."
Ashley snorts loudly, drawing him out of his flashback and causing him to throw a half assed glare at her. "Sorry, just imaging you in a bathroom covered with water and bubbles from the splash back, and a tiny excited Growly just happy to have found you. Its quite the picture, and your facial expression makes it."
As she giggles silently, not wanting to wake the sleeping hellhounds, he can't help but shake his head at the sight of the girl surrounded by creatures that anyone with even the slightest bit of supernatural knowledge would be frightened of, while she was instead sitting in the floor and cuddling with them and calling them sweet little things. He shouldn't have been surprised considering her history with other dangerous beings, himself included in that list, yet she still managed to do so. It was a shame that the Winchesters tendencies rubbed off on her as much as they did, causing her to throw herself into dangerous situations to save people she barely knows, but at least she wasn't as idiotic about it. "Just wait, it might happen to you as well. They're precocious little buggers."
"Most puppies are." She says softly, stroking the soft down of the silver puppy's back and watching it stretch in her arms. She imagined it was what Gwaine looked like as a puppy, small and silky and innocent looking. "When will you name them?"
"I haven't named them yet because I was waiting on you, actually. I thought you might like to help."
She looks up at him, wide eyed, surprise written on her face. "You…really? I can help you name them?"
"Of course, I can't think of anyone better for the job. At least I know you won't name them something idiotic." The smile on her face once again gives him that strange warm feeling inside, making him wonder if this was what it was like to have emotions other than anger or greed, to want to make someone else happy before yourself. It was a strange feeling to say the least, and one he wanted to further study. "Why don't you start with the little girl you're holding?"
Ashley looks down at the hell pup in her arms, completely relaxed and asleep with not a care in the world. "Well, I suppose if I'm to follow my pattern so far, then there's only one thing I can name her. Guinevere, my little Gwen."
"See, that's what I was talking about, intelligent names. No Spot or Rover nonsense."
"Didn't you name her Growly?"
"I was drunk at the time, no judging." He says, throwing her an annoyed glance she promptly ignores, then sighs loudly and dramatically. "Fine I admit it wasn't my best moment, but what's done is done. Now, what about the others?"
***************( )***************
Crowley drops her back off later in the basement, after a long session of naming puppies and catching up with her on the events of the past week, reluctantly agreeing to ward the home for her once it's built, though he did say he would figure out a way to tweak them to help keep the fur inclined inside the boundaries during their change, as well as a few others for everyones safety. He also promised to keep her in the know about the investigation, suggesting none of her pack go out alone in case someone attempts to take them the same way the rest of the victims were taken. It had been hard to leave all the fluffy hell pups behind, but she made sure to take plenty of pictures, partially for her sake, partially to show off to everyone else.
Her phone, of course, immediately starts going off when she returns, due to cell reception in hell being terrible. Crowley was trying to change that, but for some reason the old snap up a solution approach just wasn't working. Luckily none of them were sent too long ago, so her lack of response wasn't worrying. Melissa had sent a text saying that Stiles had fallen asleep on one of the beds after she gave him a mild sedative, and would be having some tests done to make sure nothing too serious was wrong. She did want to stop by the house and talk to her about something after work, though, so Ashley texted her back and told her to come on by.
The other was from Scott, somehow convinced that the Oni were going to come after Kira next and wondering if they could come to the house and stay for a while, thinking that maybe the wards will keep the Oni out. Again she sent a yes, not minding keeping the teens around if they felt safer there, wishing they had a better long term plan for the nights, considering the demons only came out then. Perhaps she could talk to them about having some sorta pack sleepover, at least on the weekend. She found herself wishing Deucalion wasn't out trying to make reparations for his past…anger issues…even though it was good for his soul. It simply would have been nice to have his opinion on things, his expertise.
Lydia and Danny were, amazingly, still going over all of her notes and discussing things with one another, having gotten stuck on the pages on the differences between the types of werewolves and the story of their separation in the first place. After showing off pictures of the hell pups she joined the discussion, eventually turning it to the fact that there were several types of vampires as well due to evolution, mutations and more curses. They were discussing various forms of defense when Kira, Scott and his mom all showed up, Kira looking nervous about something as Scott sits her down. Melissa, however, looks a bit concerned as well, so after whispering to Lydia to try and include the poor girl into a conversation, Ashley makes her way to the mother still in her nursing scrubs.
"Hey, are you ok? You look worried." Ashley asks as she notices the folder in Melissa's hands.
"I am a little bit to be honest. Do you mind if we sit? I've been on my feet all day and they're screaming for fuzzy slippers."
"Oh, yea sure! Would you like something to drink? We have some cream soda and various V8's in the basement fridge." Melissa says yes, and after leading her to one of the couch ends (the one where she can easily spy on Scott and his new crush), she grabs a couple of cream sodas from the refrigerator and comes back to sit next to her. "So what's up? I'm assuming it has to do with Stiles and his not feeling well."
"You're right." Melissa says with a heavy sigh, hands still on the folder. "He had quite a laundry list of complaints, lack of sleep included obviously, so I gave him a mild sedative to at least help on that front. He…he said thanks mom before he passed out."
"Oh Stiles." Ashley says softly to herself, frowning. "Poor guy. His mom pampered him when he got sick, so he misses her more than ever when he is."
"I remember, she was quite the nurturer. That's not why I'm here though." Melissa hands Ashley the file, and Ashley takes it curiously, eyes widening when she opens it to reveal the medical records of Stiles mother. "Something nudged at my mind when he said mom, and when I followed my gut I noticed something. What does it say her symptoms were when she started to get sick?"
Ashley frowns deeper. "Lets see…sleep problems, loss of appetite, hallucinations, black outs, dizziness, various flu symptoms…there were a couple of others too, but what does this have to do with Stiles? He looked like he just had the flu, and he hasn't said anything about hallucinations."
"He has to me." Scott says, breaking in. Both the women turn to him, waiting for him to continue, and Scott flushes as everyone turns their attention to him. "He said there was something written on a chalkboard at school in code that said Kira in his handwriting, but when he went to show me it was gone. Not only that, he said the writing in books has been mixing itself in front of him, and that he thought he saw himself across the school parking lot a couple of times."
Ashley pales. "So he has been having hallucinations. Combined with his other symptoms…"
"It sounds like the beginning of what his mom had." Melissa says soberly. Everyone one else in the room goes downcast at that, even Kira who doesn't know him that well. "We need to get a scan of his brain. If its true, and we catch it early, we may be able to stop it in time. We couldn't with his mother because they spent so much time trying to figure out the problem in the first place, but we still could with him."
"Fucking hell." Ashley says quietly, leaning back with her eyes closed and running her hands through her hair, wincing when she encounters a knot. "This is going to destroy Uncle John….we need to get him in for a scan as soon as we can."
"I could, you know…bite him." Scott offers tentively. "When Derek bit Isaac and Erica it fixed the problems they had. Maybe it could fix Stiles too?"
"But there's just as likely a chance he won't survive." Ashley replies tiredly, looking at true alpha. "Remember? And it has to be his choice. For now we need to get the brain scan over with and see if its even what's wrong with him without jumping to conclusions. If not, he probably just has a bad flu and someone's messing with his head big time. And if that is the problem…well, we can pull out the big guns."
Melissa frowns. "You think someone could be messing with him?"
"In this town, yes. Someone, or something." Suddenly there is a knocking on the door to the basement, and Scott sits straight up, alert, as someone walks slowly down the stairs. Ashley puts her hand on her ring just in case, knowing that none of the pack would bother knocking, nor would her uncle. The angels and Crowley would just pop in, and Jarvis would warn her if Tony was coming. That left an unexpected guest.
Sure enough, Scotts dad emerges from the doorway a moment later, hand on his weapon as his takes in the scene. "I'm not interrupting your little gang meeting, am I?"
"What are you doing here?" Melissa cries angrily, standing and walking up to her ex. "Just because you're FBI doesn't mean you can break into someones house!"
"I can with probably cause." He replies, eyeing Melissa and his son. "Like, say, catching someone on camera breaking into my laptop to destroy evidence?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ashley growls, though inwardly she's cursing the Winchesters into Oblivion. She just knew this would come back to bite her in the ass. "No one here had any reason to delete stuff from your laptop, much less evidence of a crime."
"You're half right, no one here has." He says, bringing a phone out of his pocket and showing them the screen. Sure enough, Sam and Deans faces are there, Sam closest as the one obviously working the laptop, and Dean looking over his shoulder. However, what makes her blood go cold is the face far behind them in the background, looking through the glass of the room next door.
It was Stiles. His face was pale, and he had dark circles under his eyes and well as a creepy smile, but it was definitely him. He couldn't of been though, he was there at the loft with them that night, right?
"As you can see, I have very probably cause. And since it seems the two main trouble makers have skipped town without a trace, all that leaves me is Stiles. Unless you happen to know where the others have ran off to?"
"Why would I know? For all I know, this could be another trick of yours to get my uncle kicked off the force." Ashley says, glancing out the basement window and wincing as she notices it getting dark outside. "Crap, he picked the perfect time to come over, didn't he?" She thinks to herself.
"Kid, I don't need any tricks for that." He replies, glancing at her. "And are you sure you don't know? Because they were apparantly subbing for you while you were gone."
"It doesn't mean I know them! The school picks the subs, not me! And that's all you're getting, so you need to leave, now."
"Not until I speak with Stiles."
"Dad, just get out of here." Scott growls, having noticed the darkening sky as well. "He isn't here."
"Please, just leave." Melissa says with a frown. "We're having a private discussion."
"I'm sorry Melissa, not until I get some answers." He says, the slightest bit of regret in his eyes. "I need to know why those pictures were important enough to delete, considering they were evidence of the attack on the power plant. I already know some of you were there, so I'm guessing they had to do with the why. Either way, deleting evidence is a federal offense."
"Even if we told you, you wouldn't believe us." Scott says, getting closer, emotions starting to show in his eyes and voice. "You never do. We could tell you the entire truth and you would brush it off as a tall tale, or a cry for attention."
"Why don't you try me, just for kicks?"
"Ummm…this may not be the best time." Ashley says, looking out the window to see a pair of glowing eyes, and not a wolfs. "Everyone stay down here, we may have company, and not the good kind." Not waiting for an answer she rushes up the stairs and out the front door, just in time to see the rest of the Oni show up, pausing right outside the boundaries of the wards. As they stand there, just watching silently, she hears someone walk up behind her, Scotts dad having followed her back up, the rest of the pack on his heels. "What part of 'stay down there' did you not understand? Was it the stay part?"
"You have no authority to tell me to stay anywhere." He replies, eyeing the Oni and placing a hand on his gun.
"We kinda followed him up." Scott says a bit sheepishly. "And you really didn't order us to stay. They…they can't cross the wards, can they? Are we safe here?"
"We should be. As long as they mean us some kind of harm, they can't cross, unless they somehow destroy the wards."
"Wards? What the hell are you talking about, some sorta dungeons and dragons crap? And who are these guys?"
"One of the things Scott said you wouldn't believe." She says warily as they edge closer to the wards. Suddenly a body walks by, and before she can react Scotts dad has crossed the ward and taken out his badge. "Oh my fuck what is he doing."
"Agent McCall, FBI. Wanna tell me why you're dressed like demon ninjas and stalking the neighborhood?" Ashley internally rolls her eyes, at the same time inching forward to try and grab the idiot and yank him back inside the ward. Before she can, however, the Oni start forward, backhanding the agent when he refuses to move and knocking him into the house, a sickening crunch coming from his arm as he lands on it. Melissa gasps loudly and runs towards him, hauling him upright and leaning him against the house as he groans in pain. The rest of the group backs up until they surround the two of them, Ashley summoning a sword as the Oni test the wards, placing a hand against it to test the strength.
"I don't know what you want from us, but you're not getting it!" She says to the Oni loudly, pointing her sword at them. "And you aren't hurting anyone else here! We'll stay behind the wards as long as we have to." The Oni stare at her for a couple of seconds, evilly grinning masks cocked to the side as they contemplate her words.
Then, without any resistance, they cross through the wards.