Black Cat, White Moon

Chapter Five
Fighting Back

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Thee I invoke, bornless one
All woman, pure predator
Wherein conspiracy and impulse dwell
Like a seething fall from grace

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Evil.

That was the only thing he could think as the monster moved into the doorway, radiating pitch Plutonian darkness and malicious cruelty.

Reid stared at the creature standing in the doorway, heart pounding as if it would rip open his chest and explode in a shower of blood and shreds of muscle. The thing aiming the gun at him was, for all intents and purposes, human. But nothing like that could be described as human. The eyes were almost familiar, a toxic, poisonous yellow with slit pupils, and teeth, yellowed and decaying, the tips a rusted brown with old blood, too many teeth to fill a mouth that small. Its jaw was lumpy and misshapen, and its hands… it had hands with fingers like steel worms, and at their tips, long, yellowing, jagged nails dripping with clear amber poison. It was grinning madly.

Razielle, help me, please… he's going to kill me….

The words had the feel of some divine invocation, and he prayed that she would help him, whoever she was.

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Razielle, help me, please… he's going to kill me….

NO!

Razielle rocked, rocked her convulsing body until she was on her stomach, pulling her hands close to her body to push herself up. Her breath ached in her lungs, but at least she wasn't gushing scarlet all over the floor anymore. Grunting with the pain of it, she managed to force herself to her knees and hauled herself using the door handle. She shuddered, shaking like a wet cat, and grayness passed in front of her eyes for a moment.

Razielle!

I'm… I'm coming… I'm….

The critically wounded, preternatural huntress fell to her knees, struggling not to pass out. What was in those bullets, that she was struggling so hard to get back on her feet? Her kind had no allergies to silver, wood, iron, or any other of the common anti-monster materials. Water and powdered moonstone were enough, but these bullets weren't hollowed, and there was none of the familiar burning from those accursed ammunition rounds.

And Spencer… why was Sebastian drawing it out? Why hadn't he killed Spencer yet?

The hunter couldn't see Jackal, and she didn't have the time to grab it, anyway. She had to find Spencer… and somehow, she knew that Sebastian was waiting for her, the same way Spencer was waiting for her. But Spencer was waiting for her to save him, and Sebastian waited… so she could watch Spencer die.

NO!!

Like a black goddess from some primordial time of darkness long past, with a fierce snarl of effort, she rose to her feet and flicked both wrists, unsheathing Thornography and Nightwish. They gleamed, even in darkness, reflecting some infernal, abyssal light. She was no angel, and she'd done her share of evil, demonic things in the past – her father had been so disappointed at her "fall from grace," as he put it – and she'd killed a lot of people, sometimes people who didn't truly deserve it, but she'd be cursed by the mystical guardians of the Cradle if anyone were going to hurt Reid. Not if she and her blades had anything to say about it.

Baring her teeth in a savage, Cheshire cat grin full of madness, malice, and murderous intent, and pushed herself through the brutal and grasping dark, her fury parting the tenebrous cloak around her.

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Thou art darkest Gabrielle
Lilith who rode the steed
Thou art pale Hecate
Rising from Thessaly

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Reid tasted darkness on the air, a sharper darkness than the midnight that seeped from the creature in the doorway, still aiming that gun. He knew she was coming. Razielle, black dream jungle cat, was coming to save him.

"Are you going to shoot or not?!" Garcia demanded.

"When lover boy's whore finally shows her face, then yes, I will. I want to see her agony, her anguish at losing the man she loves, before I put a bullet or twelve between her eyes." The monster grinned, showing its hideous teeth that were too numerous to reside in such a humanoid mouth. "And she's actually managing to make her way here, even shot up with all that Vatican silver. I must admit, I am very impressed. Apparently, her father's blood offsets the weaknesses of her mother's blood. But I'm still gonna kill the irritating little–"

"No…." Reid mumbled, and tried to sit up. "Leave her alone… don't…."

"Shut it, human. I don't care how much you like the little witch, I'm going to shoot you in the head when she gets here, then shoot her, several times, in the head, just to make sure that this time, she stays down. Your girl is very, very hard to kill, Spencer Reid."

Reid tried to go for an uncaring persona and laughed softly, muttering through gritted teeth, "That's my girl. She's going to be a major inconvenience to you, won't she? I bet that really gets under your skin, doesn't it? Beaten by someone like her, even though you're supposed to be better at it all. How many times has she shown you up?"

"Shut up!" It cocked the hammer of the gun back. "That little she-cat is Dragon's favorite, even though he can't get his penis within a league of her without her putting a gun to his head. She does her own thing, with no respect for the rules, no respect for deadlines! And she makes more money than any of the rest of us! Dragon wants her, but if he can't have her, then I get to kill her. Just because she's dead doesn't mean he can't have any fun."

"No!" Reid tried to shove himself up, but couldn't get even halfway off the ground. "Don't you… don't you touch-"

BANG!

With a grunt of pain, he fell back on the ground, clamping a hand to his shoulder, blood gushing from the ragged hole in his flesh. He winced, hissing in pain, and snarled, "Don't. You. Ever. Touch her. I'll kill you. I'll blow a hole in your head, you stay away-"

BANG!

This time it was JJ who screamed when a bullet tore through her stomach. Reid glanced at her and contented himself with glaring at the monster standing over him.

"I'm going to kill you both," the creature hissed. "I don't have to kill your friends, so if you don't want me to, you'd better watch what you say to me. So, let's all sit back and–"

BANG!

The monster fell to the ground, howling in agony and clutching his knees, and the knees of his blue jeans were quickly drenched in blood. One of his hands was horribly misshapen, and several of those long, hideous fingers were missing. Twin blade tips glinted from the writhing creature's kneecaps. The gun he'd dropped was leveled at him by Emily, who tried to ignore the throbbing in her shoulder.

When Reid looked first, he thought it was a huge black panther standing in the doorway, sleek and predatory, a demon out of legend, a guardian to bite back nightmares and terrors. But then he blinked, and standing where the panther had been was a woman in black leather. Black leather pants, black leather hand gloves, black leather corset. There was blood on almost every inch of exposed skin. She was shaking violently, but the gun aimed at the thing lying on the floor was steady.

"Razielle?" Reid whispered.

She glanced at him, caught his gaze, and held it. Her eyes were the eyes of the girl in the mirror, the shadow at the edge of his consciousness, the panther angel of his dreams, who came out of the jungles of his night terrors to guard him from every fear. Suddenly, he felt this rich, wonderful outpouring of love washing over him. She blinked slowly, and in that single movement, he knew everything would be all right. She nodded to him almost imperceptibly, and whispered, "Is anyone going to arrest this thing?"

How dare you, Sebastian. Dragon will pay for this.

"Shoot him," Gideon whispered. "Kill him, Razielle."

She didn't move.

"Do it now," he commanded.

"I can't," she whispered. "It's a death sentence. I can shoot him a few more times, then have him picked up. How does that sound, Lord Jason?"

Baby, she whispered softly in Reid's mind at the same time. Spencer, baby, are you all right? How badly are you hurt? I smell blood.

"Sounds good. Are you going to put a bullet in my agent? That's what you were hired for, isn't it?"

Gideon watched the girl in the doorway, remembering. Remembering Shekinah, and the Lord of the Kiss de Carabas, remembering a tiny child with long, chestnut curls and cat green eyes sitting on his lap as he explained what a gun was and why she should never touch one. Remembering the day she told him just what she'd become.

I'm fine, Reid tried to think back at her, but he couldn't quite manage it. She glanced sharply at him, then at Gideon before looking back at Reid.

Hold on, loverling. Hold on.

Take care of JJ and Emily, he whispered.

"Spencer se im romejul, Drol Jason." She whispered to Gideon in a strange language, not taking her eyes off of Reid. This seemed to satisfy Gideon, who replied, "Shoot him until the clip's empty."

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

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Crush their unworthy idols
No church shall bar our path
Seductive Evil, drink your fill
Of the bleeding Christ in your arms

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At last they meet. What do you guys think of that?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. I own Night, Razielle, Dragon, etc.

A/N: I'll translate what Razielle said to Gideon some other time. The meaning isn't important, only that it involved Reid and satisfied Gideon.

Copyright notice: the song I used this time is the song "the Black Goddess Rises II" by Cradle of Filth.