LUCKY THIRTEEN

"Karasuma!"

Amon stood abruptly, staring curtly at the woman who ran through the spartan home towards the table. He rushed over to her as Karasuma panted, trying to calm herself and catch her breath.

"What is it?" He asked.

Instinctively, Kristo crossed the room, taking up his katana and tonto in a flurry of motion, feeling the shadows outside with his dark Craft. The others, upon seeing the sudden action in Kristo, reached for their own arms. The swordsman shook his head at the lack of preparation in all of them. They had gotten sloppy and allowed themselves to be caught off guard. An agent of the enemy, the STN, had just run into their home without any problems. They had grown too relaxed in those days where they should have been far more careful, more vigilant.

Amon, however, didn't seem to notice the sudden arming. "Karasuma, what is it?"

The woman hurled the file at the table. It fell open, scattering papers and photographs across the hardwood. Photos of the group. Photos of Kathain in particular. The files were filled with documentation and evidence of the group. There was paperwork from America even. The folder seemed to contain the entire history of the group, or, at least, what they hadn't been able to cover up. Somehow, damn them, Solomon had managed to find them, even in Japan, even hiding out as best they could.

"What is this?" Kathain breathed as the world spun around her, but, at first, Karasuma didn't answer. "What is this?"

The empath shouted back, no longer holding her tongue out of politeness, knowing this was no time for niceties. "You tell me!" The woman rifled through the papers, pulling out choice documents and slamming them down. "All of this, all focusing on you, on whatever the hell you are." Karasuma smoldered, wondering what sort of trouble the witches had dragged Amon and Sakaki into. "What in the hell is all of this?"

"He's betrayed us," a male voice pointed out; no one seemed to notice or care who.

Brett turned to Amon, rage fueling a deep fire within. "Did you, Amon?" He didn't need an excuse to hate the hunter, but this helped. "Did you turn us in?"

"No," the man honestly answered.

"Then how in the hell did they find out about us?" Brett demanded gruffly. "Look at these." He drew up a photo in one hand, of Nycole and Robin playing the stream just a few days before. "This, this is here!" The fire elemental cast the photograph down onto the hardwood floor in disgust. "Did you lead them here, Amon?"

The hunter sighed, resigned to answer honestly. "We may have. I can't be sure."

"Damnnit," Geoff swore harshly, throwing his hands up over his head. "Great. Just great. Could anything else go wrong?"

Right as Geoff asked that, the lights flashed out of existence, plunging the group in deep, darkness. Kristo crouched down low, holding his katana. The black of night felt reassuring and welcoming for the swordsman. He could meld with the night itself and fall out of existence, returning to reality only when and where Kristo desired. Even as the others started to argue about what had just happened, the shadows pooled and condensed over Kristo, swirling around him before misting and dissipating, leaving nothingness where the swordsman had once been.

His voice spoke, however, where there was no one. "I'll be back."

From the house, Kristo shifted to the outdoors, to the gardens around the house. He slipped through the dark and shadows, moving as a passing wind and breath of God. The air carried him on the bleak, dark of night. The grounds were still, far too still, even with Kristo's concealment. Not even animals dared make a sound. A predator lurked in the woods, one other than the shadow walker.

He moved towards the breaker box, stepping out of the shadows easily, slipping into the world again from the abyss of shadow nothingness. As softly and quietly as possible, the man eased open the breaker box, aiming to just reset the main breaker. At least, Kristo would have, if he could. The main cables running into the box had been severed, violently so. Someone, in a rush, cut the power to the house, hurtling the witches into darkness.

Kristo poked at the cable with the hilt of his katana, studying it for a moment.

A rifle cracked in the distance, but it was too quick for the shadow walker to phase out of existence. The bullet slammed into Kristo's shoulder with a sickening sound, throwing the man forward. The swordsman actually felt the hot/cold metal pass through his skin and sinew and the strange suction that followed in the wake of the bullet, sucking blood and flesh up behind the bullet. His Craft reacted instinctive-ly, defensively, swallowing up the man into the shadows and out of the real world.

The abyss spanned long and vast before him.

xxxx

"Amon, how could you?"

Kathain sounded hurt and terrified, as if knowing exactly what would happen.

"Lets kill him now," Bear piped up, suggesting it sarcastically.

Nycole tried to run, but Sakaki caught her, hugging her warmly. "It's alright."

"I can hear them," the telepath whispered.

Geoff grinned at Brett, still thinking of Bear's solution to their current problems. "Y'know, no body, no crime. No crime, no murder, no problem."

Robin and Karasuma exchanged horrified glances at the thought, but Amon just stood there. He held no explanation. Kathain looked to him for answers, but Amon gave none. Instead, his face grew set and prepared, awaiting whatever grim fate the witches would eventually prescribe to him for his supposed crimes against them. Amon made no attempts to defend himself or his actions. Kathain shook her head, betrayed and saddened. Her heart couldn't bear the thought that Amon would just turn them in.

"Amon…"

Nycole looked over from Sakaki's embrace. "If we were in South Carolina, I know a field we could just dump the body in. The kudzu'd eat it in a few hours. They'd never find it."

Kathain shook her head, reaching up and gripping her hair. How could they be fighting and bickering, joking around at a time like this. Her heart ached, bruised and bludgeoned. Her time had come. The girl knew exactly what would happen, what would come to pass in just a few short hours. And despite all that, the witches continued to squabble and fight.

Amon rested a hand on each of her shoulders. "Kathain, I'm sorry."

The precog turned away. It was true. The former hunter had gone back to his old ways. He had abandoned the witches who had been kind enough to take in both the man and the teenage Craft user. They'd even been goodly enough to give lessons to Robin and Sakaki.

"Kristo could just chuck him into the abyss," Geoff teased. "They'd never find him there."

As if on cue, the shadow walker spilt out of the wall, lucky he actually phased into the room and not into the wall itself. He fell to the ground but sat up suddenly, refusing to be kept down. A hand came up to grip the gunshot wound, squeezing down to stem the flow of blood. The slug buried itself somewhere in Kristo's shoulder, just underneath his collarbone. He gritted his teeth trying not to step from the shadows, back to the real world. It took more focus and to avoid slipping back into the darkness and the safety of the night.

It was the way Kristo's Craft behaved. Whenever Kristo was truly in trouble, he seemed to fall into the shadows without any effort. His instincts took over, summoning up the darkness and drifting into it. Kristo would not; he would not leave the others. But, without his full concentration and focus, the man couldn't just take his friends into the abyss with them.

Bear ran to Kristo. Bear, the more built one of the two, held out a hand over the wound. The slug backed up, sliding out of Kristo's shoulder and falling to the floor with a metallic clink. Robin followed the sound of the rolling slug, chasing it on her hands and knees. She found it and jumped up, holding the bullet up to the light and studying it.

"A witch-killing slug…" the girl noted.

Kristo shook his head. "I've had worse."

"Amon," Robin whispered. "Amon, this is a witch-killer."

Kristo snatched the man's gas gun swiftly, moving have in and half out of the shadows, carried by them to move faster. The magazine dropped out and into the shadow walker's waiting hand. It was filled with bullets of the exact same shape and size, marked by the same etchings.

"Amon…" Robin breathed.

"Sonovabitch." The swordsman furiously clocked Amon on the side of his head, sending the hunter crashing to the ground. "We need to get out of here." Kristo turned to the others. "Down the wood path."

Karasuma knelt by Amon as Robin rushed forward, but the empath pushed her away. "No. If Solomon's closing in, you have to get out of here." Robin blinked, feeling rather like that day in the well when Amon forced her to flee Raven's Flat. "You can't let the Arcanum of the Craft fall into Solomon's hand." Robin nodded, actually understanding. "Good luck, Robin. Stay safe." Karasuma looked to Sakaki. "You, too, Haruto." Sakaki nodded. "Now, get out of here."

Brett spun around. "Go, go, go!"

They ran.

And into the night they went. Bear, Raven, Kristo, Nycole, Sakaki, Brett, Kathain, and even Robin. The house fell deadly silent, with just Karasuma and Amon occupying it and the Solomon assault team closing in.

Karasuma reached for her gas gun, readying herself.

"Make it quick."

xxxx

Mmm… you KNEW peace couldn't last that long for them.