I just have a soft spot for Billy-Ray. Enjoy! There will probably definitely be a part two because as it would happen I am awful at one shots and don't want to upload, like, 4,000 word chapters. So, usual warnings (a little violence, and maybe bad language?) Enjoy friends!
Billy-Ray scowled at his phone, trying to pin point the exact moment that he got stuck in this situation. The text was short but not all that sweet, from l'il miss Ezra Bloom.
We need your help, it's important or I wouldn't be saying this; you owe me. Xo
While the l'il hug and kiss at the end was sweet, Billy Ray knew that there was no way this was going to go well. And he was right, he reflected, as he sat in a room full of people that he hated and who hated him, in a small wooden cabin in the middle of freezing-ville. He cradled the cup of hot chocolate that Ezra had made him, jealous of all the elementals just warming themselves up no problem. Billy-Ray tried real hard to ignore the glares he was getting from, well, everyone but Ezra.
"Why am I here, Ezra?" He asked finally, the awkward tension simply proving too irritating for him.
"I need your help." Ezra said, looking up from her card game with Dexter, Saracen and Valkyrie.
"Yes, but why?" Ghastly asked, staring holes into Billy-Ray.
"Because Billy-Ray can do something none of us can, and it seems pretty important to have all the help we can get because, like, warlocks? On a snowy mountain? Sacrificing mortals?" Ezra pointed out, laying her cards face down.
"But him." Skulduggery said distastefully.
"Not that I'm not thrilled, but why are you here? Since when do you help team good?" Valkyrie asked, taking a sip from her steaming mug. Billy-Ray shrugged, smirking.
"I owe l'il Miss Sunshine over there a favour. Our paths crossed way back when." He explained.
"How's that?" Erskine asked, setting his book down. Billy-Ray looked around, the attention on him. He glanced at Ezra who shrugged.
"It was The War, you know, The War of Wars, all that stuff. An' I was in too deep. Gettin' in with the bad crowd, an' I wasn't doin' too well. So I figured I'd kill Ezra Bloom, surely that'd get me in her good books-"
"I didn't know I could dislike you more than I already did." Saracen interrupted.
"I'm not done," Billy-Ray drawled, "So I went, my good ol' razor sharpened and ready, but I never even got the chance. I didn't realize I was at the top of their problems list, an' I was, so they got me you see, tied me up, threw me around. Then they took a spoon, put it in a fire to get it all hot-"
"Oh gods..." Dexter said quietly, staring at the dark sunglasses. Billy-Ray nodded.
"They held me down and pried my eyes open an', well, I'm sure you fine folk can work it out. They were just about to start cutting bits off when, here's the real kicker, l'il Miss Sunshine knocks the door down. See she heard my screamin', I'm man enough to admit I was screamin', and she assumed I was a POW. So she set them alight, untied me, tended to my sockets and took me to a sorcerer who could get me my sight back. They owed her something too, and she used the favor on me. She nearly turned me Team Good." He finished, taking a big gulp of hot chocolate. Ezra half smiled.
"Wasn't enough though, was it?" She said, picking her cards back up. Billy-Ray shrugged, lighting a cigarette with flick lighter and taking a draw.
"More money in killing people." He said.
"More favours in helping people." Ezra countered.
They sat playing cards, or reading, or just generally chatting, someone always posted at the small window overlooking the snowy shards of mountains and black sky full of stars, waiting for the warlocks to slip up. It was around 3am that something did happen.
"I see something." Anton said, sitting up for a better view. The rest crowded round him, peering out of the little window. It was far away, a tiny flickering speck, but it was speck that hadn't been there moments before.
"Can you get us there?" Ezra asked quietly. Billy-Ray whistled lowly, deep in thought, then nodded.
"I think so." He said, still staring.
"Alright, gear up. We move in five." Skulduggery said, and then the cosy cabin was loud and hectic and chaotic as everyone gathered weapons, jackets, gloves, hats, scarves, anything to stay warm in the sub-zero temperature. Once everyone, besides Skulduggery, was sufficiently bundled up, they linked up. Valkyrie groaned as she took hold of Skulduggery's and Ezra's hands, knowing what was coming up. She squeezed her eyes shut as the floor splintered, and then they were in the rock, smashed together in a pile of limbs, and then they were out in the open, freezing air.
There were five burning stakes, a person tied to each one, and at least eighty angry warlocks.
"This was a terrible idea." Billy-Ray said smoothly.
"How dare you!" One of them screeched. The warlock stepped forward, a rather unimpressive man with thinning mousy hair.
"This is sacred. This is our beliefs, our practice!" The warlock hissed. Skulduggery shrugged.
"It's a breech of peace. You're killing mortals-"
"Sacrificing!" The warlock spat.
"Killing mortals, and we have come here to tell you to stop." Skulduggery finished.
"To tell us to stop? How dare you insult us! I am Ware Locke-"
"Wait, what?" Valkyrie asked, trying, and failing, to hide her laughter.
"You joined the magic world knowing exactly what you wanted, didn't you?" Dexter asked, grinning. Ware Locke's face was going an unhealthy shade of red.
"Well, you know what they say, fail to prepare, prepare to fail." Ezra chided, grinning.
"This is sacred. How dare you." He turned to the warlocks.
"Uh-oh." Ghastly whispered.
"Kill them!" Ware Locke shrieked.
"Ezra, get the mortals. Billy-Ray and Dexter cover her. Take them back, Billy-Ray, then get back here. The rest of you, offensive, with me!" Skulduggery barked, advancing already. Ezra bolted to the stakes, Dexter and Billy-Ray following close behind. Any warlock that came close to the trio quickly regretted it. The first mortal was a toddler, the second a little girl, the third a teenage boy, the fourth a middle aged woman, the fifth an elderly man. The five stages of life, Ezra thought numbly.
"Hold on to each other and don't let go!" Ezra ordered, picking the toddler up and grabbing Billy-Ray. The mortals screamed as they entered the earth, then they were spat back up into the little cabin.
"We'll be right back, make yourselves comfy, get yourselves warm." Dexter said, grabbing Ezra and Billy-Ray and then they were underground again, and then they were back to the warlocks.