Lucy smiled as she set the last bear trap on place. The creature seemed to only be able to use its weird mind-reading ability when it was in a close proximity to its target. Otherwise it would have known about Lucy and David before it had attacked. Contacting Dark had reminded her of his limitations. Something she would need to do a little more research into before she decided to meet with him again.
"Okay," Anti muttered irritably. "I still don't get why Dark was necessary or why you need to reward him at all. It's not like he's made himself that useful. All he did was point out some things that we could have figured out with enough time."
"Yeah, but that would have given The Rake time to adapt," Lucy answered quietly to the watch. "It might have even figured out what we were going to do next."
"Fine… but be careful."
"I was," Lucy assured him. "I did a lot more research on light magic before I finished training with Oliver. And I've looked it up in most of the worlds we've gone through."
"I know. It's still dangerous. He's going to try and drag you away."
"I'm not in the same position that I was in before… I'm better. Stronger. I can handle him."
Anti mumbled as Lucy walked back to the ship. She hadn't entirely convinced him, nor herself, but it had calmed him down for the moment. Jamie needed them to focus. Taking care of The Rake was going to take more than a few well-placed traps. Lucy opened the door to the ship and noticed Jamie placing a couple of guns on the table. The Doctor probably wouldn't agree with her methods, but Missy would have been impressed.
"How do you know it won't see this coming?" Jamie asked and folded her arms in front of her chest.
Lucy replied with a shrug, "I don't… but I suspect that it won't. It didn't know about David or me when it tried to attack you last night. Otherwise it would have planned differently. Maybe lure me away at the beginning and then circle back to attack you and David. Just because it's got some special abilities doesn't make it all powerful."
Jamie relaxed and nodded. She slowly dropped her arms and looked at the guns for a few moments.
"What if these don't hurt it?" Jamie asked, sounding far more scared than angry. "What if… all of this is for nothing?"
"We'll try something else," Lucy said nonchalantly. "And we don't give up until it's dead."
Lucy picked up the shotgun and a container of bullets and asked, "Did someone set up the tree stand?"
"Yes," David replied with a curious look at Lucy. "Are you planning on waiting up there?"
"Yeah, it's safer than the ground," Lucy explained with a quick glance at David. He seemed to agree and became more relaxed.
Lucy bit her lower lip to keep herself from blurting out her irritation as she switched through the camera feeds. They had moved the cameras except for the one on the ship. There shouldn't be any blind spots now, but Lucy could still feel the tingle of nervousness in her stomach. Jamie had volunteered to act as the bait again. Lucy didn't like it, but it wasn't her call. All she could do now was to set the traps and hope the creature stumbled into them.
The sun had already started to slowly vanish beyond the horizon as Lucy gathered a few more items for her long night in the tree stand. A hand on her shoulder caused her to flinch. She turned to find David's piercing blue eyes staring into hers.
"Yes, David?" Lucy asked as she turned back around to find the walkie talkie.
"Please call for help if you need it," David answered hesitantly.
"I'll be fine… but I will if I need it. Thank you."
Hoping that the creature would return soon, Lucy quickly gathered the rest of her supplies. D'Artagnan turned into an owl and flew into a nearby tree as she left the safety of the ship and headed for the tree stand. David would be inside the house with Jamie, and Anti would be watching the cameras. A shiver went up Lucy's spine. Everything was in place, so why did she feel so unsettled?
The sun disappeared over the horizon. Lucy waited and pointed the gun toward the forest's edge. The cool night air did nothing to relax Lucy's nerves as she stared into the distance.
"It's on the way," Anti warned, and Lucy's grip tightened on the gun as a screech echoed from deep in the forest. "Got 'im! Ah, wait, no. He broke the bear trap… well, there's about twelve more where that came from. He's coming straight toward the house now."
A blur charged toward the house, and Lucy quickly fired the gun. There was a spray of blood as The Rake ran back into the trees. It didn't reappear as Anti tried to desperately find it on the cameras. Each camera went dark as the creature ran by it. No doubt it was destroying them as it found them. Anti announced that the camera closest to Lucy lost connection, and Lucy quickly looked down to see The Rake climbing the tree toward the stand.
Lucy aimed and fired at its shoulder. It lost its grip and sank toward the ground as a jet black hawk swooped down to gouge its eyes. D'Artagnan flew back into the air. The Rake missed him by inches as he sailed skyward. Lucy used the distraction to reload the shotgun and fired again. Blood splattered on the trees as the bullet hit its leg. With a scream of pain, The Rake started climbing the tree again. Lucy got ready to fire, but a loud clank caught her attention as she realized that she was falling. The Rake had dislodged the tree stand. Grabbing a large branch, Lucy waited until she could see the creature before firing at its head. The bullet grazed The Rake, and it stared at Lucy with a creepy smile.
"Need help?" it croaked with amusement as the shot gun fell from Lucy's hand.
"No," Lucy grunted as she pulled out the hand gun and fired a shot right between the creature's eyes.
The Rake fell to the ground, but Lucy fired off two more shots. A screech told her that it had just playing dead as she'd suspected.
"I might need a little help," Lucy muttered to the watch as The Rake twisted its neck to peer at her.
Bloodlust gleamed in its now glowing eyes as it focused on her. Dropping to the ground, she fired another shot, but only the spray of blood told her that it had landed. The creature only smiled at her. An odd roar caught her attention as a pickup truck slammed into the creature. The Rake flew into a tree as Jamie opened the driver's door to get out.
Lucy got up to run toward her when Jamie plunged the knife into the creature's chest. David grabbed her shirt and pulled her backwards as The Rake tried to slash her. Its claw missed her, and it gurgled one last breath before sinking to the ground. Lucy walked toward it and fired the rest of her rounds into it. No movement.
"Is it… is it dead?" Jamie whispered.
Movement startled Lucy, and she jumped back. The Rake's body made a cracking sound as it cracked and turned to dust. The demon knife gleamed in the moonlight. Lucy picked it up from the ashes and put it in her pocket.
"Yes, I believe so," Lucy replied and gave Jamie a smile. "Thanks for that."
"I should be the one thanking you," Jamie said as her eyes glistened. "I… I'm alive because of you. How can I ever thank you enough for this?"
Lucy shrugged and replied, "Live your life. Trust me, I'm getting something out of all of this. I told you from the beginning."
"You did," Jamie acknowledged. "But thank you anyway. I'd be very much dead without your help."
"No problem," Lucy said as she looked at the watch.
A small beep told her that a breach had opened, and they needed to leave.
"Okay then," Lucy said as she started walking back to the ship. "We need to leave. David, could you help me pack up?"
"Of course," David replied and quickly got to work.
Lucy opened the door grabbed a box for the cameras. After making sure that everything was packed, she walked to Jamie's house to see her packing up the bear traps. David stood nearby and looked at Jamie as though perturbed.
Lucy handed her the shotgun and the handgun and said, "I'll leave these with you. The Doctor would throw a fit if I had them on the ship."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, they're more trouble than they're worth for me, but maybe you'll get some use out of them. Just in case."
"Yeah," Jamie agreed. "I'm going to stay with my parents for a little while. I was afraid of bringing the creature to their doorstep, but now… thank you. I feel like its really gone. No more dark cloud hanging over my head."
"Good… goodbye then," Lucy said and extended her hand.
After saying her goodbyes, Lucy walked back to the ship with David, and they flew once again into the unknown.