The Covenant
Reid and Faith were fidgeting now, both tapping on the table with their fingers, and ignoring the sodas that one of Lorne's bartenders brought for them a couple of minutes before. Reid had been relieved to sense that his fallen brother had woken up, but now he was antsier than before. Faith felt that something was going on as well. It was as if they were missing something important and Lorne was purposely holding them back. Faith was just about to grab Reid and leave, when Lorne burst into the room. Faith took one look at the guilt on the demon's face and she growled at him – it seemed like her thoughts were correct.
"Everyone is fine," Reid tensed at the demon's chosen first words when Faith jumped up. "Sit down Faithy Poo," Lorne insisted then took his own seat between the two who looked as if they wanted nothing more than to kill him right now.
"What do you mean everyone is fine?" Reid hissed at the demon.
"I couldn't let you leave," Lorne sighed. "You aren't meant to be seen," he told Reid. "The Death Eater that you are searching for came in here right before you guys did. You missed him by only a few minutes. I saw you in him, but I know all about the Sons of Ipswich and you have your own destiny to live for."
"What do you mean you saw me in the Death Eater?"
"What do you mean he has his own destiny to live for?"
"I mean," Lorne sighed again, downing a light blue colored drink in one quick sip, "That you have your own story to fight for. I cannot tell you too much, but you and your brothers have a covenant to protect, Reid Garwin. If I told you that the Death Eater was fighting with the very young witch you made it your duty to protect, you would have run to that cemetery and you would have been spotted."
Reid jumped up and his eyes were beginning to turn to their onyx shade again, but Faith's hand on his wrist calmed him down… just a little. "You mean to tell me that you kept us waiting in here for you to give us information while the Death Eater was fighting with Hermione? She's only a child."
"Tyler and Spike were with her," Faith reminded Reid in a low voice, not wanting to see what happened when he lost his cool. Something told her that even a slayer wouldn't be able to control him once that happened.
Nodding his head, Lorne didn't seem to be frightened by the shouting teen. "Please give Miss Granger more credit," he told the pissed off blonde, "She knows how to defend herself. And she seems to think the same way I do."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Lorne chuckled, "That when your stepfather attacked her, Miss Granger had enough common sense to knock out your brother. If-"
"My…" Faith felt Reid tense in her hand and she gave him a curious look. Hermione told them only a little about the Sons of Ipswich, and she knew that Draco Malfoy was Reid's half-brother, but nothing else was really said about them. Hermione felt it wasn't her life story to announce to people. "You mean to tell me that the Death Eater in LA is Lucius Malfoy?" Reid's voice was low, his throat vibrating with the scream that he wanted to release.
Lorne tilted his head only once in a half nod. "Yes. And if Mr. Simms were to use his powers to defend Miss Granger then you would be hunted as well. Miss Granger seems to know how important it is to not give Lucius any knowledge that the Sons of Ipswich are in LA. Not to mention that if he knew you and Miss Granger were acquaintances and that you were helping to protect her from him… well put it this way – nothing good will come of it."
Looking from Lorne to Reid, who was now biting on his lips in frustration with a bothered look in his face, Faith spoke up, "Doll Face realized that Lucius Malfoy would most likely target Reid more than her?"
"He wants me dead," Reid nodded his head and pulled away from Faith. "He told me himself. I told him that I didn't want to become a Death Eater and that I wouldn't give my powers to the Dark Lord. In turn he kicked me out and told me that once my brother turned sixteen, he would find me and have my own brother kill me."
Nodding her head to show that she understood what he was saying, Faith said, "Doll Face is protecting you."
"As I said," Lorne told Reid, "I saw your destiny when Lucius came to me. You and your brothers have your own story to play out. And the Covenant should not be interfering with Harry Potter."
"I'm not going to sit around and allow my stepfather to hurt Hermione," Reid glared at Lorne, his onyx colored eyes narrowing.
"Of course you aren't," Lorne smiled softly. "I didn't say you would. But you cannot be seen. You need to allow the course of things to play out on their own. Right now you aren't even on Lucius's mind – if he catches any glimpse of you or any of your brothers then you will have Death Eaters back in your home town and the Covenant will be at risk. You need to stay hidden. Once your own battle has been defeated then you can return."
Cordelia was wiping Hermione's forehead with a cold cloth while Spike sat on the edge of the bed next to her. They were downstairs in Angel's little makeshift home, and Hermione was lying on Angel's bed. Caleb called Pogue's phone once he saw Spike carrying a shaking Hermione into the office. They tried calling Reid and Faith too, but for some reason both of their phones were turned off. Angel stayed upstairs with the three brothers, trying to figure out why Hermione would have knocked out Tyler and silenced Spike.
"Where's the Sweetheart?" Reid shouted, bursting through the door.
"Downstairs," Angel told him then turned to Faith. "We tried calling you."
"We went to Lorne," Faith shook her head, watching as Reid ignored the protests of his brothers and ran downstairs towards Hermione.
Staying upstairs, Faith explained everything that Lorne told them while Angel hit a desk at the demon's idiotic cryptic message, and the three Sons all looked at each other. Whatever destiny Lorne was talking about included them as well. Tyler remembered hearing something that Hermione told Spike right before she passed out, and he told the group. It seemed like Hermione didn't want anything to be said in front of Lucius Malfoy; not even their names.
"What happened to her?" Reid asked, entering the room.
Lifting his head up, Spike snarled. Not so much at the boy in front of him, but at the memory of what occurred just an hour before. "We were at the cemetery when he attacked. Scarlet knocked out Tyler and the Death Eater froze me so that I couldn't move. I thought Scarlet would release me, but instead she placed a silencing spell on me so I couldn't say anything. I had to stand there – not able to do anything to protect her," Cordelia smiled pitifully up at Reid who nodded his head at her. Spike took a great liking to the young witch and blamed himself for her getting hurt. "She taunted him and he slapped her, but instead of freezing up like I thought she would, she laughed and taunted him some more."
"She taunted him?" Reid dropped his jaw. He wanted to laugh at the idea of the thirteen year old girl taunting Lucius Malfoy, but he couldn't work the laughter out of his mouth.
"It's our fault really," Faith sighed, entering the room with everyone else, "We tend to taunt vampires before we stake them and Doll Face witnessed it when we killed her stalker."
"You would've been proud of her too," Spike smirked. "She's bloody brilliant with her lines. I didn't think she had it in her, but I think she might just put you up for competition, Faith."
Grinning, Faith reached the bed. "I'm looking forward to that."
Groaning, Hermione heard people talking all around her. As soon as the sound escaped her lips she tried to roll over, but it was pointless. Her body was in too much pain to do something as simple as moving. She tried to ask what time it was, but her voice came out in a croak. Somebody was pressing a glass of water to her mouth and she allowed them to help her drink it. Slowly opening her eyes, Hermione blinked rapidly and looked at everyone. Her head was pounding, and her insides felt as if she's been run over while being set on fire.
"Malfoy," Hermione managed to gasp out as she remembered what happened to her.
"We went back, but he was gone," Pogue told her.
"My wand," Hermione muttered, feeling around her. "Where's my wand?"
Handing the wand to the flustered looking girl, Cordelia tried to make Hermione lay back down. "You need to sleep, Hermione. I called your mom at the hotel already and told them that we got caught up in watching movies at my place and we both fell asleep. I said that I woke up to use the bathroom and realized what happened. She agreed that I shouldn't wake you up."
"Thanks," Hermione muttered then pointed her wand at the purse on the table next to the bed, "Accio cramps potion," grinning as a purple colored potion flew out of her purse and into her hands, Hermione opened the vial then swallowed the whole thing. Shuddering as the cold liquid slipped past her lips and down her throat into her belly, she made a face, "Yuck! I hate cherry."
"You keep a potion for cramps on you at all times?" Reid asked with a cocked eyebrow.
Stretching her body in relief, Hermione saw the widened stares from everyone and she giggled as she jumped out of the bed. "You never know when you're going to get a cramp. I wasn't sure if it would work at all, to be honest. Having your bones on fire while being run over by a car definitely doesn't classify as a cramp, but it was worth a shot."
Cringing at the description of the pain Hermione went through, Caleb meekly smiled. "It looks like it worked."
"It did," Hermione grinned in response. "I'm hungry."
"I'll run out and buy breakfast," Cordelia said, jumping up quickly. "It's six in the morning."
"Six?" Hermione gasped. "How long have I been sleeping for?"
"Around two hours," Caleb yawned. "We heard Spike's side of the story. Want to tell us yours now?"
"Yeah," Tyler grumbled, "Like why you put me to sleep?"
It took ten minutes of persuasion, but Angel finally gave in and allowed Hermione to use his shower so that she could get cleaned up. Everyone wanted to hear why she did what she did, but Hermione insisted on showering first – claiming that she was covered in mud and what looked suspiciously like blood. Reid reluctantly backed her up and said that using a cleaning spell isn't the same as having an actual shower, especially when you've just suffered one of the unforgivable curses. Thanking Reid for his support, Hermione beamed when Angel sighed and gave in. Digging through the duffle bag that she refused to go anywhere without, Faith pulled out some clothes for Hermione then led her to the shower while everyone else went upstairs. Spike was reluctant in leaving Hermione's side, but Faith reminded him that the girl is only thirteen years old and was going to take a shower so there was nothing he could do for her at the moment without making Hermione extremely uncomfortable.
"Where's Hermione?" Cordelia asked when walking into the office, thanking Pogue and Tyler as they took the bags of food and box filled with drinks from her hands.
"Shower," Angel snorted.
"Did she say why she knocked out Tyler?" Cordelia asked, taking off a coat and looking as if she stopped at home and took a quick shower as well.
"Nope," Tyler shook his head, digging through the bags to see what she brought for them to eat. "She insisted on taking a shower. We spent most of the time arguing with her until she got her way."
Laughing, Cordelia was about to tell them that there was nothing in the world that could get in the way of a girl and her shower, but she was cut off by the sudden appearance of Faith and Hermione. "Did you take a bloody shower too?" Spike asked Faith in an accusing voice.
"Of course I did," Faith said blankly as if it were the most obvious thing. "I spent most of the night in the cemetery and then in a demon bar."
Doing a quick look over at Hermione's outfit, Reid chuckled. "Leather suits you, Sweetheart."
"Shut up," Hermione growled at Reid then took the offered breakfast burrito from Tyler. "Thanks."
Once they all had some sort of food item in their hands, everyone gathered around a table then listened as Hermione began to explain how they were walking around the cemetery when Lucius attacked them. Tyler would interrupt every now and then to tease Hermione about the black leather shorts and red tank top that she was wearing, but Reid was too busy staring at Faith. Like Hermione, her hair was damp and he saw how it waved around her shoulders; proving that she flat ironed her hair every morning then crimped it. She was wearing a black leather skirt with a dark blue crop top that had a pair of brass knuckles on it, and her usual boots, but he saw that she wasn't wearing any makeup. It's been only a day since he met her, but she seemed like the type of girl who always made sure she wore her darkened eyeliner, but now… there was an innocent look about her – like she was still a child who sometimes wanted to just curl up under a huge blanket and pretend that monsters were just a scary movie.
"Reid," Hermione called his name. Turning away from Faith who just gave him a curious look, Reid saw Hermione looking worried about something. "Are you alright?" she asked him.
Nodding his head and clearing his throat, Reid popped a hash brown into his mouth. "So why did you knock out Tyler?"
"Seriously guys," Tyler jumped into the conversation, "Can everyone please stop saying that she knocked me out. She used her magic and placed a deep sleeping spell on me."
"Aww," Pogue teased, "Someone's ashamed that he got knocked out by a thirteen year old girl."
"Shut up," Tyler warned his brother.
Chuckling while everyone laughed, Angel shook his head, "Okay everyone, settle down now. Hermione, can you tell us why you used your wand and placed a deep sleeping spell on Tyler?" Angel smirked after his question and he caught the scowling glare that Tyler was giving him.
"I thought it was obvious," when Hermione saw that everyone was blankly staring at her and obviously waiting for her answer, she shrugged her shoulders. "We can't have Lucius knowing that the Sons of Ipswich are in LA."
Faith looked over at Reid and they both exchanged a slight head nod. "It's the same as Lorne said then."
"Lorne?" eating one of her own hash browns, Hermione cocked an eyebrow. "Who's Lorne?"
Hermione listened in interest as Faith and Reid both explained their meeting with the demon in the karaoke bar, and she found herself somewhat giddy at the idea of a demon who could read your future by listening to you sing. The demon world fascinated her in a way that she couldn't describe. Making a mental note to have Faith take her to this bar so she could meet the demon, Hermione heard how the demon seemed to have the same theory as her. It annoyed her that he kept them away while she got tortured, but she was mostly glad that he kept Reid away from the cemetery. If Lucius found out about Reid – nothing good could from it.
"Exactly," Hermione said once Reid and Faith had finished talking, "If Tyler's eyes were to turn all black then Lucius would have realized he was a Son. Tyler is still underage – you all are. You may be strong now, but until each of you fully ascends you won't have a chance against a fully grown wizard who practices the dark arts for fun. He would have focused more on Tyler than me, and Tyler might have been killed."
Scoffing, Tyler rolled his eyes. "Thanks for your concern Hermione, but I highly doubt he would have ignored you just for me. It's you that's going to bring the Dark Lord down and help to kill him."
"But he can always deal with me," Hermione reminded everybody, "Lucius Malfoy is the Governor of Hogwarts and his son is my classmate. He can get to me whenever he wants to-"
"If he can get to you anytime he wants to," Faith interrupted, "Then why is he in LA to kill you now?"
"Because in LA, I'm on my own," Hermione wiggled both her eyebrows, "But back home, I'm protected. It would be hard to kill me under the nose of Dumbledore. Not to mention Harry and Ron are my best friends and we're always together, and all the Weasleys look out for me too," clearing her throat when she realized she was starting to ramble again, Hermione continued, "So as I was saying; he can get me whenever he wants to, but to catch one of the Sons on his own – there would be no way he could resist in killing you."
Cordelia nodded her head in agreement with what Hermione just said, "Until you guys ascend, you're all vulnerable. Your powers haven't truly manifested yet, and alone you guys are weaker. Kill one of them and the other three are pretty much screwed."
"And if he did let you live last night," Spike spoke up for the first time, understanding what Hermione was trying to say, "Then he would have probably followed you to the others."
Reid nodded his head as he thought about it. "He wouldn't have killed you, Ty," he turned to his shocked brother, "He would have followed you. He knows enough about us to know that we would travel together. He would have been looking for me and one of two things would have happened."
"What's that?" Caleb asked.
Hermione frowned, "Lucius would have either killed all of you right there or he would have weakened you by torture then return back home with all four of you."
"Then the day that we ascend he would force us to hand over our powers to the Dark Lord," Reid spat out bitterly.
"So that's why I knocked you out last night, Tyler. I didn't want him to find out who you are."
"And me?" Spike cocked an eyebrow, watching her closely. "What was the point of silencing me?"
"You were about to call me Scarlet," Hermione sighed.
"You silenced me because of a bloody nickname!" Spike shouted at her.
Too tired to flinch away at the loudness of Spike's annoyed voice, Hermione sighed again. "Only you call me that, William. Lucius had no idea who you were last night or he would have tried to pull you over to his side, but knowing him he's going to do some research and he'll find out who you are. I didn't want to chance him hearing anything you said because he could use a Polyjuice Potion to trick me into trusting him and telling him something important. I mean, it's not guaranteed that he would be that desperate to get to me, but there's always the possibility."
Angel remained silent for the entire exchange. He stood in the corner of the room with his arms folded over his chest, just watching and observing everything that was being said. He watched as Hermione stood her ground, and as the realization of what she was saying sunk into everyone's faces, Angel realized something, "You thought it through right on the spot," he finally spoke up. Hermione nodded her head although she knew that it was a statement and not a question. "You're prepared for what's coming."
"I won't let them kill Harry," Hermione nodded her head. Her lips were pressed into a tight line as she stuck her chin out.
Faith tilted her head at what Hermione just claimed. They weren't talking about protecting Harry. Everyone was determined to kill Hermione, but she just vowed to protect her best friend instead of herself. Cordelia sighed then stood up to answer the ringing phone as she stared at the young witch with pity in her eyes. The four Sons all silently nodded their heads in agreement at something only they understood, and the two vampires continued to silently stare at the young witch. A war was coming, and although the opposing side was making it seem like Harry Potter was the main target; it was really this very girl that they were aiming for. Instead of being more focused on saving herself, Hermione was determined to protect the unsuspecting Harry Potter.
Hermione had the heart of a gazelle, but the mind of a tiger. They were worried. Anyone who acted and thought like Hermione was a dangerous weapon. She didn't care about what happened to herself, just as long as her best friend lived in the end. Hermione was going to get hurt or killed, and by the look in her eyes they knew they would lose. They wanted to help her, but they could see that they couldn't. Hermione was fighting an early war and she was standing alone.