Over the next couple of days, they developed something of a pattern. Sinsa would spend her day bonding with Gemina, looking for a job, or hanging with any combination of the Parthenopaeus'. Occasionally, Axel would get calls from other Dark-Hunters to help with Daimon patrol, and whenever he left, Sinsa refused to leave the apartment until he returned, fretting needlessly despite his and Gemina's assurances.
It was during one such event that her fears were given a better foundation, though admittedly not in a way anyone had anticipated.
Axel had just left, and Sinsa was curled up on the end of the couch with a book on her lap. She'd been on the same page for a while, staring into space in a daze.
A frantic knock at the door brought her to her feet quickly and she hurried to crack open the door, leaving the chain on. The man outside wore a ragged jacket over a dirty t-shirt and jeans, sneakers and beanie worn almost threadbare. He had blood all over him and he glanced around with a terrified expression.
"Please! Help me," he whispered anxiously. "No one else is answering; you gotta help me!" Sinsa was hesitant to get involved, but she knew she'd hate herself if she let some psycho kill him. Or worse, if a Daimon took advantage of his state and consumed him, after she'd turned him away.
Closing the door, she undid the chain and quickly opened it again.
"Come inside," she bid, glancing behind him for any sign of pursuit. Then she closed the door, locking it tightly, and reached for her purse, and her cell. A wicked laugh stopped her and she looked up just as the man pulled the beanie off, revealing Daimon-blonde hair.
Oh shit...
"Don't you know trusting strangers will always get you in trouble?" he asked, grinning cruelly. Lifting his hand, he made a gesture that made Sinsa think of opening some kind of door. Almost immediately, three other Daimon's stepped out of space. Gasping, she snatched up her phone and scrambled for the bedroom, hoping to lock herself in.
She didn't get more than two steps before two Daimon's grabbed each of her arms, and the other hit her in the back of the head, making white-tinged blackness consume her vision and thoughts. She struggled against the darkness, but in moments was unconscious.
Axel returned not even two hours later and immediately froze. Sinsa's presence wasn't in the apartment and there were signs of a struggle. From the very slight scent in the air, Daimons. He never did understand why they all smelled like garlic chives but this wasn't the time to think about that.
He immediately sent out a mental call to three individuals: Demetrius, Emily and Acheron.
The first two arrived immediately, his father a few moments later no doubt having told his wife and daughter that he was seeing what his only son needed him for.
Demetrius, being a demon by birth had a sharp sense of smell than the later and immediately stiffened. "The fuck they get in?"
"No sign of break in." Emily said, looking around. "So they obviously tricked her into letting them in."
"They probably needed leverage against you," Acheron said, glancing at Axel, "which doesn't bode well for any of us."
Gemina popped in at that moment, beaming.
"Sin! I..." She trailed off at the sight of four very powerful individuals clustered in the living room. She wrinkled her nose at the scent. "Daimons... Sinsa!" No one had a chance to respond before she flashed out again.
The demon sighed. "I'll go stop her from doing something stupid."
"Might not be a bad idea to bring her back here. She might now just exactly what they're planning to do." Emily and Acheron both raised a brow at Axel, but he didn't elaborate. The demon nodded and flamed away.
Emily snickered. "Does the great GGA know something we don't?"
Like Gemina, Sinsa had never been very susceptible to being knocked unconscious, and she woke while the Daimons were still tying her hands to the arms of a very uncomfortable wooden chair.
"Oh look, she's already awake," one of the Daimons laughed.
"Makes our job easier," another noted. Sinsa clenched her jaw tight, wishing she'd asked Axel to teach her to fight Daimons. Even if she was outnumbered, she'd rather go down fighting. Noticing that her feet were still free, she bit back a grin and waited for a Daimon to get close enough. Then she kicked him hard, right between the legs.
"FUCKING...!" The Daimon slapped her and then cupped himself, stumbling away to the laughter of his companions.
"Easier, huh?" the first snorted, carefully grabbing her legs and holding them down while a third tied them to the chair legs, keeping a firm grip no matter how much she thrashed.
"Damn it!" the second Daimon growled, still cupping his manhood. "Can't we just knock her out again?" The third Daimon scoffed as he finished tying Sinsa's legs to the chair.
"Jared would kill you," he said. "He was already pissed off that you hit her the first time."
"Honestly, why does he care?" the first Daimon asked. "I mean, we're just going to kill her anyway, right?" Sinsa's struggles ceased, blood draining from her face, and the Daimon grinned. "That's right, sweet cheeks; your days are numbered."
"Forget days," the second Daimon snarled. "Try minutes; the minute Jared gives the word, I'm ripping out her throat."
"Shut your mouth, Kyle," a new voice ordered. "Unless you want to lose some teeth."
"She kicked me in the crotch!" Kyle ground out. The newcomer gave him a bland look.
"Really? I'm surprised it hurt, wuss."
"What's next, Jared?" the first Daimon asked as Kyle balled up his fists, stopping himself though he looked ready to turn on his boss. Sinsa recognized Jared as the one who'd tricked her into letting him into the apartment and focused her glare on him, keeping her mouth shut. For now.
"Patience, Cesar," Jared said. "I just sent word to Stryker's new second that we have her. When he contacts me back..." Stepping closer to Sinsa, he reached out and fingered a strand of hair that had worked its way loose from her ponytail. "...Then we'll have our fun."
Gemina kicked down the door of the house she'd been living in with Quandus, but it was abandoned. She quickly searched through it for any sign of where the other Daimons might be holding Sinsa, but came up empty. She shouted angrily and kicked over a chair just as Demetrius appeared.
"Get back or you'll be the next thing I kick!" she snapped, furious.
His blood colored eyes narrowed into a chilling glare. "If you want your sister back, you just might want to calm down and come with me. We already know where they are, we just need to know what you do."
The last thing Gemina wanted to do was stand around talking while her sister was in danger, but she hardly had a choice; she needed to know where the Daimons were, and those who knew weren't going to tell her until she talked, so she gritted her teeth and flashed back to Axel's apartment, knowing Demetrius would follow.
"Apparently," she began, not waiting for anyone to ask, "Sinsabaughs are part of a long ling of... something, some creature that can come back to life after we die. If we do, we lose all our memories and become like kids, but we can be taught anything and everything, from cooking to killing gods. Now where are they holding my sister?"
"The Atlantean hell realm." Axel answered automatically. "You have to know where it is to get there. And I'd rather not risk grandmother incinerating you on the spot for having my blood in you." He rubbed his temple with one hand before looking up to his father. "You can't go without the apocalypse ending us all."
Emily's head tilted to one side as if hearing something. "And they most likely want you as the GGA. You're bloodline's stronger and most uh..." She had to think about it. "accommodating, I guess is the correct term."
Gemina blinked, making a face. "The hell is GGA?"
Sinsa snapped at Jared's hand, making him jerk it out of the way.
"Watch it, girly," he warned. "I'd hate to turn my back and find out Kyle killed you before Stryker gave us the go ahead."
"Then don't turn your back," she said through gritted teeth. "...On second thought, go for it. I'd love to see you ripped a new one for messing up the plan." Jared's mouth twitched in an annoyed smirk.
"It's a shame you'll lose all your memories," he said. "All your personality. I like feisty girls; they taste better."
"So I'm just a buffet?"
"No." His smirk widened. "You're our secret weapon."
"How much you wanna bet Axel and Gemina get here before you kill me?" Sinsa said, sneering at Jared. He laughed.
"I'll bet your life," he said. "Because any moment now, Stryker is going to contact me, and you're dead."
"My life it is," she said. "If I lose, I die anyway."
"Very true."
"But so do you," she added. He frowned, eying her and she smirked. "Whether or not I die, Gemmie's gonna rip you limb from limb. She's got god powers now, you know. And all her memories. She'll kill you for even touching me, her precious little sister."
"You..." He cut off and tilted his head as though listening to something no one else could hear. A slow smirk spread across his lips. "Maybe you're right, girly, but to do that, she's gonna have to go through you first." He turned and nodded to Cesar, who stopped Kyle from lunging forward.
"We do this as planned, Kyle!" Cesar snarled. "Saleem." The other Daimon stepped past Jared as he left, and went over to stand behind Sinsa, grabbing her hair and yanking her head back. She stiffled a cry of pain, gritting her teeth as tears sprang to her eyes.
Please, she begged silently. Please, Axel, hurry!
"Basically it's short for 'Guardian of the Greek and Atlantean pantheons' not only does he have the blood of both flowing through his veins, but literally, if he wants to, the full powers of the entire pantheon of both sides of his family are backing him." Emily explained. Ash gained a look of surprise as did Gemina and Demetrius. "Yeah, like I said... His bloodline's more powerful and adaptable to almost anything. The only other one in existence with this quality is his daughter Sorcha, but she's too well protected for the Daimons to get her. So basically they need Axel's blood."
The guardian let out an exaggerated sigh. He looked to his father. "Does Apollymi even know she has a grandson yet?"
Acheron shook his head. "Haven't had the chance to tell her yet."
Axel couldn't help a small smile. "This might actually help us then." His demon friend rolled his eyes.
"Then let's get a move on then. I doubt they're going to keep her alive much longer."
Emily grabbed the back of Axel's jacket before he disappeared.
Gemina only managed to snag Emily's sleeve, following. She prayed to every saint, god, and divine being she could think of for Sinsa's safety; her little sister was the only family she had left now, and meant more to her than anything in the world. She would never be able to live with herself if Sin was gone.
The room they popped into was barren, save an empty chair by one wall. Shadows hid the corners, and a dark, ominous air hung in the room.
"...Sinsa?" Gemina called tentatively. A dark blur shot from one of the corners and tackled her. She reacted instantly, kicking the attacker away and flashing to the other side of the room. Emily started to move, but Gemina finally got a good look at her attacker. "WAIT!" Emily stopped, startled, and Gemina was about to explain when the figure flashed across the room and wrapped their hands around her neck, slamming her into the wall.
Sinsa's eyes gleamed murderous as she began squeezing the life out of her sister.
Emily's eyes widened in shock. "We're too late..." Then she flashed across the room and reached around Sinsa to pull her hands away from her sister's neck and pull her away. Sinsa wrapped a leg around hers and twisted, cause if the two to fall over. Emily growled but gripped her wrists as she flipped them over and twisted her arms behind her back. "They don't pay me enough for this." She muttered quietly.
Axel immediately sent out his senses to look out for others. There were several groups waiting around them. "Just great." He said through gritted teeth. "She's the bait. They knew we'd come for her."
"Maybe you and Gem. But not me." Emily said after cuffing the still struggling Sinsa in a pair of special cuffs she worked and tested on mortals, immortals, Daimons and even Chthonians. They not only cuffed the wrists but the torso and ankles as well. She turned to look at Gemina. "You okay?"
"Y-yeah," Gemina coughed, rubbing her throat.
"Let me go, you bitch!" Sinsa shrieked, twisting and writhing on the ground and trying to yank her hands from the cuffs. Gemina winced; the sister she knew would never have used that kind of language. Now she understood how Sinsa had felt when their positions were swapped. It made her want to rip every Daimon to shreds.
"Come on out, you bastards!" she screamed. "I'll make you pay for this!"
"Leave my friends out of it!" Sinsa snarled. "I'll rip you limb from limb, bitch!"
Emily kicked her side, not hard enough to break anything. "Shut up asshole!" She growled out dangerously. She looked up to Gemina with half an apologetic look. "You can kick my ass later. Let's make sure we all live first."
Axel bite back a growl, but knew it was a better idea to keep her tied up for now. "How many of those cuffs you have?"
"Two." The witch-godkiller hybrid pointed down to the still struggling girl. "She's wearing one."
"Good. I know just who to use the other on."
"Yeah, if you all live long enough." A new voice growled out.
Great... all three thought sarcastically as they turned to the group of Daimons that just came in.
"You know, the wonderful thing about you Devas is that you learn so quickly," Jared said, gesturing at Sinsa. "A single Deva can go from baby, to god, in a matter of hours. Imagine what we could do with an army of Devas." He smirked as the other Daimons spread out around the room. "Or better yet, Deva-Daimon mixes."
Gemina paled.
"You didn't..."
"No, I didn't," he assured. "Not yet, and not me. Stryker himself wants the honor of breeding the first hybrid. We were going to do the same with you, Gemina, but unfortunately, that idiot Quandus claimed you first. Stryker forbid him to touch you of course, but with you thinking you were married, there was no chance of Stryker stepping in. So we used you as bait instead, to draw your sister in. Oh, by the way..." His gaze went to Axel, but he still spoke to Gemina. "...we explained everything to her. How you all were using her to kill us, her real family."
Axel could feel the fury boiling. Oh, to say he was pissed was an understatement.
There was a sudden yell of protest from behind him when all attention went to the three girls. Emily had used the other set of cuffs on Gemina before flashing her ass back out of there. "For your own good sweetheart..." She muttered in apology before crouching next to Sinsa, who growled at her. Emily reached into her jacket and pulled a dagger and turned her head to smirk to the Daimons. "Fine plan and all, but be a total bitch if she's dead, eh?"
She knew a look of total shock passed Axel's eyes though he kept it clear of his face and the sunglasses hid it well. "You get the assholes, I get the bitches remember?"
"I never understand your tactics sometimes..." He muttered before turning sharply and punching Jared right in the face, breaking his nose and both cheekbones. He howled in pain as the other Daimons tried to go at the guardian.
Emily flipped Sinsa on her stomach and played with the dagger. "Hope you've said your prayers to all your saints. Cause this is gonna hurt like a bitch." And with that she drove the knife straight down into the other girl's chest. The blood the sprayed wasn't an issue to her.
"NO!" Gemina screeched, but it was too late. She was stuck, powers blocked and unable to move. "Damn it, Emily, I'll kill you!"
Sinsa screamed, the sounds of her agony echoing off the walls. Several Daimons tried to get to her, only to meet with a quick death at Axel's hand.
The witch looked up at her with a dead serious look. "Whoever said I was Emily?" Then it was as if a veil was pulled away. Emily's five foot nine figure disappeared and revealed Axel. The Axel across the room turned into Emily.
Gemina's jaw dropped. "The fuck?!"
Axel smirked. Then he looked back to Sinsa before his face hardened. He shoved the blade in deeper until the light completely left her eyes and she stopped struggling. Then like he had done with Gemina before, he ripped his wrist open before forcing the blood down her throat in a bloody kiss.
A sudden flash across the room indicated that Emily had finished blasting apart the rest of them before returning to the group of them. "Sorry about that. Since Axel needed to be right here to give her his blood to counteract the Deva effects of memory loss and such, he had to be the one to kill her, but we didn't want them to know. Though it was still me that kicked her. We just switched places really fast."
"Wha...?" Gemina couldn't even speak. She shook her head, trying to catch up with a plan that had obviously been put together when she wasn't paying attention. "S-Sinsa?"
The younger girl groaned, but otherwise didn't reply, her head throbbing.
Axel brushed her hair back from her face. Her eyes slowly fluttered open.
"Morning sunshine." Emily started undoing the cuffs on Gemina.
"Please tell me Jared's still alive," Sinsa muttered as Gemina dropped beside her. "I want his hide on my wall..."
Emily shook her head. "No. I personally sent his ass to Hades." Then she smirked. "But Stryker's still kicking though."
Axel sighed in relief as Gem helped her sister stand up. "How are you feeling Sin?"
"Like I got ran over by a couple Mac trucks. But I'll live."
"You might want to rest a little," Gemina said. "I was pretty ready to collapse when it happened to me."
"Yeah, I... Ah, someone catch me," Sinsa blurted, stumbling.
Axel scooped her up into his arms, letting out a sigh of relief. Sinsa was okay, that was what had worried him the most.
Emily snickered. "As cute as this is, I believe we have so Daimon ass to kick." She turned to Gemina and smirked evilly. She reached into one pocket and tossed her the white leather gloves she had previously given to Sinsa to beat up Artemis. "You ready?"
"Oh, you'll enjoy that," Sinsa hummed, resting her head against Axel's shoulder. "Just don't touch the metal; it gave Artemis some pretty bad burns..."
Gemina pulled them on before looking to her sister questioningly. "Artemis...?"
"No time to explain!" Emily said, taking charge. "Ax, get her back to your parents then book it back here. Gem, you and me are gonna try to make it to the Daimon throne room. I'll explain why on the way."
Sinsa didn't want Axel to leave her, but she didn't say so. She knew he'd go back to the Daimons, and she didn't want to be the one to stop him. So she didn't say a word when he laid her on the couch at Tory's insistence.
"I'll watch her until you get back," Tory promised. "Ash just went out to help the other hunters put down a Daimon party going on all across the town. Probably a distraction while they took care of you and Sinsa." She tsked and waved him off. "Go on, Kamali; get the revenge I know you're aching for."
Kamali nodded, but leaned over to kiss Sinsa's lips gently. "I'll be back before you know it." Then he stood back up. "It wouldn't be a bad idea to ask Katra and Sin to come and help out too." He said to the woman who became the mother he never had before flashing away.