LUCKY THIRTEEN
She couldn't stand it any longer.
The entire car ride back towards Raven's Flat, Robin couldn't sit still. Her heart raced, faster and faster, as worry overtook her mind. While Doujima drove, the teenager rang her hands with concern, squeezing them hard. Robin could almost kick herself at the thought of just leaving Amon and Karasuma there, in that vile den of witches and craft users. She left them there practically defenseless, abandoned them.
"Stop the car, Doujima." Robin slipped her glasses on.
The blonde glanced to her former coworker. "Huh?"
"We're going back."
xxxx
"Amon, I never betrayed the STN."
Anger and aggression skittered across the air, carried on Sakaki's voice. He trembled, a mix of rage and terror, pure and sweet. It was primal, guttural, instinctive. Sakaki tensed, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on edge like some sort of an animal. However, this animal was distinctly a predator, cornered and threatened. Sweat poured off Haruto in droves as the man trembled. Anyone could see the gleaming perspiration under his black fishnet. The straps and buckles of Sakaki's pants swung and clattered from his shaking body.
Amon tried to ignore that.
He focused on something more important. At the end of his gas gun, was a former partner, perhaps even a friend, if Amon ever allowed someone close enough to be considered his friend.
Worse than that, this man was a Seed.
The people around him, were witches. Amon was surrounded by witches. All of them. And the former hunter had no idea what any of their Crafts included. This one could be an empath, that one a telepath. The man all but knew there was a fire elemental among them, like his own Robin.
The air felt charged.
'Is it Sakaki?'
He cocked the gun, still pointed right between Sakaki's eyes. His quarry swallowed hard, as if knowing and accepting his fate.
"Amon, NO!"
Robin screamed out shrilly as soon as she came across them. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks at the thought of those witch killing bullets pointed directly at Sakaki, but Amon refused to drop his gun.
'End it,' Someone chirped in Sakaki's ear, an unknown, invisible foe.
Sakaki quivered, like a leaf in wind. "No…."
'End him.'
"I can't…" Haruto's breath grew ragged. "I can't do it."
Robin drew in a deep breath in fear. She balled a fist, preparing to use her Craft and unleash the fire from within her heart and soul into the world.
"Sakaki, stop this," Amon practically shouted.
Robin didn't have to.
In a flash, Sakaki was in motion, standing suddenly. Amon, however, was thrown across the room by some unseen force, seen only by Robin. She watched the pure bolt of energy streak at her partner, hurling him aside as if the man were utterly weightless. She watched it come directly from Sakaki as the hunter collapsed in a heap.
Robin rushed to Amon's side, checking to ensure he was alright, before looking to the other fallen man. "Sakaki…. You're…
"A witch," Amon coughed, staggering to his feet.
Nycole scrambled from behind the counter, crawling across the floor towards her fallen friend. "Sakaki…."
He sat up, clutching his shaking head between two hands. A thin trickle of blood slipped from his nose, pattering on the ground with slight plops and splashes. The world seemed to spin around those little red marks on the floor as Sakaki panted hard, trying to compose himself and fight back the splitting headache. The man sat, staring down into his open, empty hands, as if looking for something to appear.
"Oh, God…." He stumbled over the words, trying to form a coherent thought, but the stabbing, blinding pangs kept Sakaki from consciously speaking. "Oh, God… No…. no.. no… I'm sorry… Oh, God, I'm sorry…. Amon…" Sakaki rocked back and forth, obviously tormented by what he'd just down, out of instinct. "Amon…. I'm sorry… I didn't mean to."
Nycole's hand drifted over his head, and, as if the performer pulled the pain from him, the migraine dispelled. He looked up just as she whispered, "Better?"
"Thanks…"
Amon straightened, drawing his gas gun again, rushing towards Sakaki and aiming at his head again. But anger flooded through Nycole, and the girl stood defiantly, her eyes flickering with white flame. Glasses rattled at the bar, sending Robin jumping. Sakaki hadn't gotten control yet.
"Sakaki. Just stop now," the former hunter instructed sternly. "Calm yourself and quiet your Craft."
The witch just rocked back and forth more, faster, clearly terrified and out of control. Robin blinked. It was Sakaki's fright and terror that sent his Craft out of control. Robin had seen it so many times. Before she hunted down those who awakened like this. Now, however, it was Sakaki, and Robin didn't know if she could hunt him.
"Stop, now," Amon ordered curtly. "Or I will be forced to fire upon you."
'Stop now.' A voice echoed in his mind, but a frail whisper, carried on the wind, skipping across a still pond.
Amon spun around, searching for the source of it. "Who said that?"
'Who, indeed?'
The former hunter blinked. "Who's there?"
'Wouldn't you like to know?'
Amon turned and saw the girl standing before him. Nycole. Her shoulder length, straight red hair seemed to fluff up and flare with an electric tingle. White flame, pure and true, blazed behind her eyes, just as sparks danced across Robin's eyes went her Craft awoke. This girl, this performer was a witch.
'Lay one hand on Haruto, and I'll end you here and now.'
He gasped, raising the gas gun to her now, but it was knocked from his hand. "Witch."
"You got that right," Nycole purred bitterly in her physical voice before adding in his mind, 'Now leave him alone.'
"How long… since you awoke to your Craft?" Robin asked softly.
'It doesn't matter.' The mental voice snapped at her now.
The teenager gasped at the sudden intrusion of her mind. "Amon, c'mon," Robin begged; she tugged on his elbow. "Please."
Amon took a step back from the female witch in front of him. "This isn't over yet."
Nycole gave a sly grin as the hunters left the club, backing out slowing, their eyes never leaving the witches gathered before they bolted for Raven's Flat and for sanctuary.
'It's barely started.'
A collective sigh of relief escaped all of the witches as they relaxed. Kathain finally emerged from behind the bar, a smug look of knowledge written on her face. Nycole flew back to Sakaki's side, taking a scrap of cloth to wipe away the blood from his nose.
"Are you alright, now?" She asked, wrapping long arms around him comfortingly.
Sakaki shrugged off her embrace. "No."
"You can never go back to the STN," Kathain breathed from her spot behind the bar.
Geoff gave a nod. "No. You can't ever. They'll hunt you down and do God knows what to you." He threw a rag at the bar. "You can't go back to anything like that."
"Yeah, but, Geoff, we need them," Sakaki argued.
Nycole turned his head to her with a gentle hand. "No. Right now, you need to go rest and regroup." He went to argue, but she placed a finger on his lips. "Trust me, you need to get some rest. You're unstable, Haruto."
"I guess," he conceded.
"They'll be back. We can try again then."
xxxx
Sorry about the slip up with posting Ch8 Dancing. I forgot to set the Chapter to the new file, so it defaulted to Ch. 1.