LUCKY THIRTEEN

"Stop!"

Sakaki shouted the word. It tore from his very heart and soul. Both Nycole and Karasuma had felt the rising wave of darkness in the man as his Craft awoke. Unfortunately for Karasuma, the other empath had known better that to stand out in the open. Her hand shot out, grabbing Kathain's shirt and dragging the precognitive to the ground. They plastered their bodies to the floor.

A wave of flame had burst from both Brett and Robin just before Sakaki jumped between. Both of the opponents gasped, reaching to pull the energy back within them or to just dispel it. Brett managed to successfully gain control of his flame, slamming the fire back, directly into his heart. Robin's exploded in a rain of fire.

It didn't matter.

"Yes…."

The voices of Sakaki's mind, the spirits who held him, spoke in approval as the man cut loose, fueled by his emotions, by his own fear and anger. His rage poured out, venting in one, tremendous wave. All those who stood, meaning everyone except for Sakaki himself, and the two girls huddled on the ground, were sent flying through the air. Amon, Karasuma, Bear, Raven, Geoff, and Kristo all slammed against the walls with horrific thuds and grunts. Brett and Robin were knocked to the floor. The terrible, yawning sigh that always followed such a tremendous burst of psychic energy pulsed over.

Instinctively, Robin leapt up, climbing to her feet as fast as she could, aiming her energy, her Craft at Sakaki. Then, the Craft user caught sight of him. Haruto sat, trembling, in a crumpled heap on the floor. His eyes had glossed over, staring into space. Robin cut her power short, letting the flames flickered out of existence.

"Sakaki!" Robin rushed to his side, placing a gentle hand on him, ignoring the black form crawling towards them from the corner of her eye.

The terrified man at her feet just whimpered. "No… I'm not like that. I'm not… a witch."

"No," she whispered. "You're not."

Amon scrambled towards his partner, the gun with witch killing bullets still in hand. Broken glass cut and stung at his arms as the man literally crawled over the bamboo floor, trying desperately to get to Robin as quickly as possible. The former hunter leveled his gun at Sakaki's heart before even sitting up fully.

"No." Robin just pushed Amon's arm down, taking his aim off Sakaki. "Don't. He's alright now." The girl wrapped her arms around Haruto. "Shh…"

Amon then turned his attention to the next problem. While Robin had been quite content to divert all of her focus on her fallen friend, Amon remembered the band of witches they had come to attack and rescue Sakaki from.

They were rallying.

Karasuma brought up her own gun just as Amon aimed upon the witches.

His low, deep, bass voice thundered over those gathered. "Do you know what these are?"

The witches didn't answer. The just stared. Some, the two red heads in particular, just looked curiously to the tall man in black who addressed them. Others just stared defiantly, waiting for their opportunity to attack. They didn't seem to hold any regard for the man who had dared to attack them.

Amon knew this for a fact when the witches awoke their Crafts. At Brett's hands, wisps of red flame danced, whirling around his moving fingers and around his arms. The heat seemed to comfort the fire elemental. The light bathed his slightly rounded features in a warm glow. White runes swayed and flowed over Raven's body elegantly. All around Bear, objects lifted off the ground, floating and levitating around the man threateningly. In Kristo's spot, the darkness pooled, growing dense and darker, moving as if alive. And Geoff? The air around him began to feet heavy, condensed, looming over the bartender. Amon almost had to stifle a laugh at the witch's defiance.

So many others had been just like them, proud and haughty to the very end, always saying that the STN-J hunters would NEVER be able to capture them. They ALL thought that. And, yet, not a one of them EVER got away. It was just a fact of life. Still, it was a common thought to all witches that they were truly omnipotent.

"These are witch killing bullets," Amon answered the question for them. "A whole clip of them. Seven bullets. One for each of you."

"You wouldn't," Brett snarled.

The hunter smirked. "Oh, but I would." He frowned. "Now. Return Sakaki to us."

Nycole tried not to giggle. "He could have returned at any time."

"Liar!" Karasuma shouted. "I have heard the voices in your head. I knew you've been forcing him to do these things." The woman squeezed the trigger to her gun, but didn't fire, yet. "He's not like you. He's not a witch. He's not…" Karasuma shook, her gun practically rattling in her hand. "You did this to him!"

Nycole's face fell. "Yes…. I did it."

Robin blinked. The telepath had just admitted it. Despite any doubts the teenager could have had, the lady just admitted it. But, she didn't seem smug and satisfied like Robin would have expected an accomplished telepath to be after controlling an STN-J hunter. Robin would have expected the telepath to grin wildly at the thought of running a hunter around like a puppet, helping witches. Instead, the red head looked sad, depressed and solemn even.

Haruto tried to wave a hand, but Robin caught it. "Shh…. It's alright. You're safe now."

"What did you do to him?" Karasuma demanded bitterly.

Nycole blinked back tears of her own. "I just showed him the truth. I opened up what was locked away inside of him when he needed it most." Whispers carried on the air from the girl's anger, hissing inside everyone's minds. "I helped him know who he is."

The female hunter felt her resolve waver. "And the voices?"

"Spirits…" Sakaki gasped. "They're spirits."

"Lies," Amon snarled.

Karasuma turned her gun to the telepath. "This is your work."

"No, it isn't," Kathain argued, standing up from where she had been crouched. "It's the truth. You…" She closed her eyes for a moment, as if losing herself. "You're empathic. You could tell if he was lying."

"I could tell if he thought he was lying," Karasuma responded harshly.

The precognitive smiled. "I hadn't thought of it that way. Smart cookie." She thought again. "Then look into me. You could tell if I was lying."

"Don't," Amon ordered. "It's a trick."

"BULLSHIT!" Nycole swore.

Even Sakaki seemed agitated. He struggled in Robin's hold, despite her gentle protests. The witch fought against the Craft user, successfully. Sakaki, as a person, was far stronger than Robin, and he quickly pushed her aside.

"Amon…" he blinked, trying to clear his vision. "Amon, don't."

Karasuma closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath as she did. Her gun fired with a small puff of gas. The tranquilizer dart shot out of the chamber, down the length of the barrel and straight into Sakaki's shoulder. He didn't feel anything after the sharp prick of the needle stabbing into his muscle.

Nycole's mental voice screamed over anything else. "NO!"

Amon swung around to take aim at the empath with his gas gun, but Robin jumped in front of him.

"No!"

"Robin," the man softened upon seeing his partner at the wrong end of the barrel of the gun. "Robin, get out of the way." Amon's eyes narrowed to tiny, dark slits. "Get out of the way."

The girl sniffed. "We have what we came for."

Nycole shook her head. "No. You're not taking Sakaki back to some STN-J prison, some Factory holding cell. I won't let you."

"Shut up!" Karasuma turned her aim to the other empath.

Things were getting worse and worse by the minute. Brett couldn't stand it any longer. He wouldn't see Sakaki thrown into the captivity of Solomon, or any other witch for that matter. That was why Nocturne had become a haven for witches. None of the band would allow that dreadful fate befall another witch. As long as the fugitive witch in question behaved, he or she could stay as long as they needed. It went against everything Brett believed in to allow these intruders to just up and take him away. The elemental wouldn't allow that for a normal witch, let alone a person who had become his friend. Brett's fire burned brighter and hotter.

"Shoot her and die," he ordered, balling a sphere of flame in one hand.

Amon turned his witch bullets on Brett. "Don't even think about it."

Geoff's wave of air rushed past Amon, fluffing up the hunter's ebony locks, just a taste of the bartender's power. "No, you don't even think about it."

Kathain spoke up. "Shh… everyone… just calm down."

All eyes turned to the precognitive, knowing full well who and what she was. Even Amon and Robin knew. Karasuma had been kind enough to tell them about the girl and her powers. They knew to listen while she spoke, for this creature held the mysteries of past, present, and future.

"Let them have Sakaki, providing he is willing to join."

Amon stiffened. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kathain's lips curled devilishly. "It means you wait for whatever was in that dart to wear off. But you, ALL of you, need to relax, and wait it out. If you can wait that long peacefully, and Sakaki so chooses, you can have him."

"That could take up to 24 hrs." Karasuma simmered.

"Then you have to wait 24 hrs," the precognitive responded.

Amon contemplated the offer. He had no choice, really. They were too evenly matched. Even with Robin, the hunters were outnumbered, badly. He couldn't guarantee the safety of the teenage Craft user, the empath, or the fallen hunter. In truth, Amon didn't like the odds of any of the possibilities presented to him. The words of her offer lingered over them, smothered all who stood in the room.

"You will take my offer," the precognitive stated simply.

The tall man turned, now aiming at the girl. "And who says that?"

The image of Amon, bound and bloodied flashed over Kathain's eyes. It overlapped the present, over the hunter who threatened to shoot her with a witch killing bullets. She could almost taste the copper of his blood from its mental stench, splashing up in metallic bursts in her throat. Kathain tried to ignore it, to swallow and force the taste from her palette. The scarlet liquid trickled down the side of his head from an unseen gash, but Kathain knew it was not truly there... not yet, at least.

"I say that. I know you will wait," the girl breathed.

Amon sighed. "And how do you know that?"

"Because I have seen your future. Your future is just as bound to us as Sakaki's. It is intertwined and interwoven, like many strands of string into fabric." Kathain's regal voice trickled into his ears. "You need us just as much as we need you."

"Explain."

xxxx

Happy Hanukah, NyKole Todd.