CHAPTER 12
Levy looked at her phone, her fingers running over the glass as she idly scrolled through her text messages with Gajeel.
She sighed, long and lingering as she read his worry and concern over the last few days. He had seen the signs before she had, and had warned her a thousand times that this wasn't going to get any better.
Perhaps it had been naive of her to think it would all work out in her favor, but she had drawn out enough time.
She was seriously strapped for cash now with as little jobs as she was getting sent her way and no one wanted to give her a chance to even introduce Gajeel to them.
Not that she would at this point. She was convince that given the chance to lure Gajeel to her city, they would take advantage of the situation to try and kill him.
What could she even do if that was where this was heading? They were whispers of hunting down the vampire that had turned their sweet Levy down the path of darkness already.
She was fairly certain Gajeel was powerful enough he could more than likely handle the guild on his own... but they were talking about trapping him. Killing him.
And if they found out about Lucy and Natsu. Her heart clenched at the thought of the twin terrors who had become such a wonderful presence in her life. How often had she stayed with them and woken up to the two kids sprawled out next to her.
They loved Gajeel dearly, and Levy knew they cared for her as well.
She couldn't put them in danger.
She sighed, pressing the lock button on her screen, making her decision not to involve them.
"You sure you don't want to call him?" Jet asked from his seat on the park bench. Droy stood nearby, giving Levy a regretful look.
"No, he'll just worry and drop everything to come here. He'll be too focused on protecting me, he won't notice if he was walking into a trap. And I wouldn't put it past the brats to follow him if they caught wind I was in any kind of trouble," Levy sighed, "the town is just too hot for them to come to."
"Lev," Droy said reproachfully, "it's getting too hot for you to stay here either."
"I know," Levy took a breath and gulped down an lungful of air, "but I have to speak with the Master and try to convince him not to let the guild hunt down Gajeel. If I can only convince them that I'm doing this out of my own free will, they'll know he didn't enslave me."
"Morons," Jet growled angrily, his arms crossing tight.
"Well we're with you Levy," Droy set a hand on her shoulder, "don't think for even a second we're letting you go in there alone. We're a team."
Levy gave her two friends a grateful smile, but reached out and drew them both into hugs. They were a team, but perhaps after today they wouldn't be.
They had a good run together though.
"Jet, if this goes south, you have to run and tell Gajeel that Twilight Ogre is going to hunt him down. They don't know he's in Magnolia, but it won't take them long to figure it out when they look at my records," Levy begged Jet, "please, you have to run the instant this goes south before they have a chance to throw up any walls and cage us in."
Jet hesitated, clearly reluctant to leave Levy and Droy if things went badly, but sighed and nodded, "Alright. If your plan fails... I'll go." He looked at her seriously, "But Levy, the odds of this working are really low. You know that right? If you confront the Master things could get really ugly really quick."
Levy nodded, "I know. But that's a chance I have to take. Gajeel and his family can't get involved or everything could explode in their faces. I can't do that to them. I love them all too much."
Jet and Droy exchanged looks over her head, a silent communication passing between them, "And we're not going to let you lose them." Droy told her, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly, "No matter what."
Even if it meant they stood between her and the rest of the guild.
Despite what some might think, neither of them were stupid. They knew their powers, and their strengths compared to the rest. There was no question Levy was the powerhouse on their team, and at best they would just slow down the others. But that wouldn't stop them from doing so.
"Yeah." Jet grinned, "Now let's go beard the dragon before this gets any more out of hand huh?"
Levy smiled and took another deep breath as she stood up, "Yes." She agreed, her eyes burning fiercely, "Let's do this, and settle things once and for all."
Because this would be their last shot and she knew it. No amount of talking had budged their guild as soon as Thibault had blabbed about Gajeel. She'd willingly undergone several, sometimes humiliating, detections and rituals to try to prove to them that Gajeel had not, in fact, turned her. Or enthralled her. Or done any of the other insane things they'd talked about. But no matter what she'd done it hadn't been enough to convince them.
They were determined that Gajeel was the enemy and had stolen their Levy's free will. It was absolutely maddening, and she'd basically given up on changing their minds by now.
This was her last shot. If this didn't work she didn't really know what she was going to do. She loved her guild, she really did, but this stubbornness was beyond absurd.
She shook her head a little as she set off determinedly towards the guild. She would just have to make sure she succeeded then, despite Jet's odds. That was really all there was to it.
-::-
Gajeel was staring at the skillet in hand, frowning as he contemplated the amount of food he was going to have to prepare to stave off the monster children he was currently trying to feed.
It was technically their summer break now and Gajeel was running out of things to keep them entertained short of throwing them in a room with Lisanna and Elfman. Mirajane also looked a bit out of sorts as well.
He glanced over where Natsu was practically about to start chewing through the table, the frustration on the little demons face over his hunger becoming a rather concerning fact.
He was a demon and that meant pretty soon normal food wasn't going to satisfy him. Even flames would only start taking the edge off. Gajeel huffed and glanced at his phone, wishing Levy would text him back soon so he could ask her about her ideas on the subject.
Especially since Natsu was well on his way to eating everything in his fridge. The appetite of a growing boy was scary just from mortal standpoints. The appetite of a growing demon boy was going to be terrifying.
Lucy was obliviously reading a book at the table while Gajeel could practically feel Natsu's eyes glued to him.
"Alright, Alright," Gajeel snorted, "enough with staring at me like I'm a steak. Natsu set the table, Lucy come pick out what you want before it's wiped out."
The children scattered to do as he asked, and Lucy grabbed her plate with food and returned to her book. Only for Gajeel to click his tongue at her and indicate for her to put it away.
Sighing heavily as all kids her age did, she dragged her feet and put it back in her room before returning to the table sulkily.
"Brats," Gajeel smirked with affection, dropping a torch of flames in Natsu's cup and a pile of food on his plate. The demon let out a happy groan and began to sink into the food while Gajeel satisfied himself with a blood bag from storage.
He checked his phone again, frowning a bit at how long it had been since Levy got in contact with him. He hadn't heard from her for a full day, which he supposed wasn't unusual but it wasn't like her.
"Has Levy not called you back?" Lucy asked Gajeel, looking up from her plate curiously.
Natsu, who had already worked though three quarters of his own, gave Gajeel an accusing glare, "what did you do?"
"What! I didn't do anything ya little runt," Gajeel gave Natsu a bland look, even as the little demon looked smugly back at him, "she's probably on a job."
Unlikely, because she hadn't been getting any jobs. Gajeel tried his best to smother the tiny voice of doubt in his head that told him how unlikely that was.
That something was wrong.
"Is there something wrong Uncle?" Lucy asked, bringing voice to his thoughts with her sensitive nature. She was always capable of picking up on feelings in a room. Gajeel spared a single moment to feel pride in her cleverness before he shrugged.
"Probably nothing. Finish your breakfast," Gajeel trailed off, blinking when he heard something distantly. Natsu also straightened up, his eyes locking on the door and his nose twitching.
"Someone new is here," Natsu announced, his eyes narrowing with a decisiveness that laid credence to his heightened senses, "I smell blood."
Gajeel got that too, Natsu swallowing down the remainder of his flames. Lucy stood up, her eyes narrowed and fierce while Natsu took up position against her side.
"Into the hallway, go," Gajeel ordered, and despite wanting to protest, Natsu growled before he and Lucy did as they were told. There was very little that could stop an Elder in his tracks, so they didn't go very far, peeking around the corner to see who was coming to them.
The footsteps arrived with a speed and desperation they hadn't counted on, and suddenly the door was being hammered on.
Immediately they relaxed a bit, because of someone meant to do them harm they wouldn't bother on knocking. Gajeel however was picking up on something else that Natsu hadn't.
"Jet," Gajeel breathed and then ripped open the door, catching an orange haired man as he stumbled inside. There was a bloody gash on his forehead and he barely managed to catch himself on Gajeel.
"Jet! What're you doing here? How did you know where I lived? Where's Levy?" Gajeel burst out, dragging the injured man towards the couch.
"Sorry Gajeel for dropping in on you like this, Levy just..." Jet trailed off as he spotted the kids creeping out from the hallway to investigate their visitor.
"Oh man, I get it now..."
"Get what, Jet. Use your words or so help me I will rip out your tongue to get the story a different way," Gajeel snapped with impatience while Lucy closed and locked the door.
"Levy sent me to warn you, the guild. They've become irrational," Jet touched his bloody head, blinking hard, "They think you've turned Levy. That she's manipulated us, and there coming to hunt you down in revenge."
Gajeel took a moment to process that and swallowed it down while Lucy and Natsu drew by his sides.
"Jet, where's Levy," he repeated.
The man shook his head, "I don't know." He whispered, "The Master, he went after Levy when she went to appeal to him and tell him to call off the attack on you. He wouldn't listen to her, and when he attacked her I got in the way."
"I blacked out, and when I woke up I was buried in some rubble. Droy must have gotten her out of there," Jet said grimly, "she had told me before if things went south I was to warn you. But I don't know— I don't know where they are or if they're even okay."
Gajeel felt his heart clench at the words, ice trailing down his spine.
"We gotta help her!" Natsu burst out as he and Lucy tumbled around the corner, reminding Gajeel they were there, "Levy's our friend!"
"Yeah!" Lucy agreed firmly, her eyes blazing in outrage that anything could've happened to her friend. A friend who, despite the age difference between them, had become like a big sister to her. And she wasn't about to abandon family when they needed her.
"You two will do no such thing." Gajeel growled firmly, "You're both strong, but you ain't strong enough to deal with a whole guild yet!"
"But Gajeel!" Lucy protested, "We can help! Natsu and I have both been training so hard! You even said we were almost ready for jobs!"
"Takin' out a light guild ain't a rookie job!" Gajeel replied firmly, "Especially when we're not aiming to kill."
He held up his hand when they both opened their mouths to protest, "I'm not saying you'd do that on purpose." He half scolded, "But neither of you have enough refined control to guarantee it wouldn't. Remember what happened when Natsu had his power up? And when you tried that drain spell?"
Both teenagers flushed and hung their heads. A soft whine sounded in Natsu's throat and he looked mournfully at the slowly fading burn mark on Lucy's shoulder, reaching up to touch it gently.
She looked over at him, her expression softening, "It wasn't your fault." She murmured, "It was just an accident, and I don't blame you for it."
"Anything that happened to Levy's guild would be the same kind of accident." Gajeel rumbled softly, "But the council would still blame you for it. There'd be no stopping them from hunting you both down."
Jet watched as the girl shivered a little in horror, "like Karen." She whispered and looked at Natsu, "I don't want that."
Gajeel walked over and dropped a hand on each of their heads, "Don't worry 'bout it." He smirked darkly, "I'll make sure they regret ever goin' after our Levy. An' there won't be a thing they can do to us after. I'll even show ya the memory alright?"
Lucy smiled a little and nodded, "What should we do in the meantime?"
Gajeel jerked his thumb at Jet, "Take care of this one. Get him patched up. I'm gonna call Mira and take her as backup."
Of all the potential partners out there, Mira was the one he trusted most to have his back. She was old enough to have achieved control over her power and would know exactly how far she could push. And going in there without a partner would be suicide. He had no real idea how powerful Levy's guild was and wanted to take no chances after the wolf pack.
"In the meantime, you brats get yourselves, Jet, Lisanna, and Elfman over to Bisca and Alzack's. They can protect you up there in case anyone gets any ideas while I'm gone, and you can work on your trainin'."
Jet watched in slight awe as the vampire elder gently manipulated the kids into doing what he wanted them to, kids that were not vampires at all, and wondered just what sort of insane coven Gajeel had. And just what he'd gotten himself into.
He was in no position to protest though as the remaining grumbling was dealt with and the three moved as a unit to get everything ready. In less time that he imagined he was being patched up by the girl as Gajeel made the relevant calls and arrangements. Before ten whole minutes had passed Mira had arrived with the other two, a grim look of fury on her face, and he was watching her leave with Gajeel.
"Stay safe Levy." He murmured as Elfman threw his arm around his shoulders to help support him.
"Don't worry." Lucy said firmly as a wild haired young man with a set of guns appeared, "Gajeel will bring her back in one piece. Levy's strong enough to hold out until he and Mira arrive to help."
Jet certainly hoped the girl was right.
He didn't want to think about what he would do if he lost his best friend.
Either of them.
—::—
Arriving at Levy's town was usually anaffair Gajeel enjoyed, but there was a certain air to the place that weighed down on him.
He knew what it meant. That there was a hunt going on. Even though they didn't know what was going on, the mortals sensed something wasn't right. The supernatural was out of their preview but they still knew when not to go out on the roads.
Something was afoot.
Gajeel knew all too well the sensation of being hunted, and so did Mirajane. They walked the streets as strangers, but the feeling of being haunted lingered. Gajeel could remember when he was turned, being terrified of the wild hunger that tore at him and the desperation to find safety.
It was true that Layla had saved him minutes after being turned, but there were times when he was by himself. And it was a time where vampires were feared worse than a diseased rat.
And when he had lost his coven, he had felt so utterly alone. He had been alone.
He wouldn't let anyone in his tiny coven feel like that ever again.
They made their way to Levy's townhouse, Gajeel being fueled with each step to try and get there faster. There were instances where he had to duck away with Mira to avoid mages from the guild who were clearly hunting down someone.
Gajeel growled as their pace was slowed down with the distractions. It was slow going but he eventually made it to Levy's house. Only for him to feel like a knife was being stabbed right through his heart.
"No." Mira breathed in horror as they stared numbly at the burnt out wreckage that had once been Levy's townhouse.
There was police tap and other signs of investigation, but it was obvious this hadn't been the work of an ordinary fire. It hadn't touched any of the other homes nearby, only targeting Levy's. Something the mortals had clearly picked up on as despite the police tape up it was clear that the milling cops had no clear idea what had happened.
His heart in his throat, Gajeel rushed up to what looked like the lead investigator, "What happened here?" He demanded desperately, "There wasn't anyone inside was there?"
The detective scowled at him and took half a step back, "This is a crime scene." He replied coolly, "And we're still investigating. You should step back."
"I'm afraid that's not possible." Mira spoke up as she joined Gajeel, "The person who lived here, Levy McGarden, is Gajeel's girlfriend and a friend of mine."
The detective's eyes sharpened on that, "Is that so?" He asked, a mix of suspicion and sympathy entering his eyes as he looked at Gajeel, "Perhaps you can help us then. When was the last time you saw your girlfriend?"
"A week ago Tuesday." Gajeel growled, desperately trying to reign in his frustration with the mortal, "I live in Magnolia an' she came to visit for the weekend before headin' back on the Tuesday morning train."
The cop checked a couple of notes on his notebook and nodded, "Can you provide an alibi for your whereabouts in the last twenty-four hours?"
Gajeel snorted, "Easily. I was teachin' my goddaughter an' her friends self-defense yesterday morning before takin' 'em to the zoo for the afternoon. Mira an' about a hundred other people, including video cameras, can back that up."
The detective's shoulders drooped slightly, though if it was due to losing a potential primes suspect or because he had bad news Gajeel couldn't tell.
"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this then Mr..."
"Gajeel." Gajeel supplied quickly, "Gajeel Redfox."
"Mr. Redfox." The detective nodded, "But yesterday evening at 6:03pm the fire department got several urgent calls about the fire here. By the time they arrived, the blaze had become an inferno and it took the better part of six hours for them to put it out. We're still investigating what exactly happened, but I can tell you that there have been no human remains found in the house. What I can't tell you is Miss McGarden's whereabouts. Several of the neighbors gave your description as her boyfriend, and I had hoped you would be able to tell us she was with you."
Gajeel spat a curse at that and glanced around, half hoping there would be some sign of Levy or where she'd gone, "I'm going to look for her." He said bluntly.
"If you have any idea where she might be, please tell us." The detective implored, "The sooner we can find her the more likely we are to catch the arsonist that did this."
Gajeel shook his head, "There's a lot o' places that could be." He replied and ran a hand through his hair, "I suggest you start with the obvious stuff an' be sure an' check the libraries and bookstores around. Lev has friends there she might've turned to."
He didn't think it likely, but it would at least keep the cops out of his hair while he and Mira tracked her down. The last thing they needed was for ordinary mortals to get caught in this battle too.
The cop nodded and pulled out a card, "Here's my number." He replied, "Thank you for the information. Is there a way we can contact you if we have further questions?"
Gajeel pulled out a card of his own and handed it over, "Thanks." He grunted and tucked the man's card away, "I'll have Levy call you once I find her."
He didn't wait for a reply as he strode off, half expecting the cops to change their mind and bring him in for questioning. It had happened in the past when he'd had to deal with fledglings, and he didn't much care to spend several hours in an interrogation chamber. Fortunately, it seemed this one was reasonably efficient and didn't have any reason to suspect him. Yet.
Nor would he if Gajeel had his way.
His fists clenched with fury as he and Mira started their own hunt, and prayed to Anna's soul that he would find his beloved in one piece.
