I am so extremely sorry that I didn't post this yesterday! It was on the list of things to do but I got distracted when my (recently aquired!) Boyfriend called me up and wanted to hang out! I can't even believe I was lucky enough to catch his attention! So I'm all over the place with joy and this slipped my mind and I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!
Artemis had sent Wally off to the most likely places in the city, leaving the unlikely and closer places for herself. She thought briefly at first that it was rude, but Wally knew she was doing it and he was still going to get done nearly as fast as she was anyway. So the blonde swallowed the teaspoon of guilt and decided to keep working on the case when she'd gotten back before him. And what a case it had turned out to be.
Demons.
She hadn't dealt with demons in over a year; luckily they weren't as common as other creatures. However, all hunters were familiar with them because of their famous standing in history and mythology all over the world.
After sneezing a few times from the dust collected between the pages of some of her research books, Artemis finally had the motel table covered; with every book open to devil's traps and demon weaknesses.
She pursed her lips and flipped through one particular book that she was more unfamiliar with. Their current truck had plenty of salt and iron stored away to handle them, but the quickest and easiest way to discover if someone was a demon was using holy water.
Which meant that she needed to get out the rosary.
With sixteen sketchy city blocks underneath his feet and his cheeks red from the wind, Wally was getting tired of checking for sulfur.
The redhead had never been up against a demon before, but Artemis had told him to check for the yellow substance in doorways, window sills, and behind large objects that could easily hide a person. Essentially, anywhere that the victims could have been abducted from. Once the demons had control, the minds of the victims were open books and the closest loved one would be chosen.
Wally had certainly found plenty of buildings that the demons could be using, but absolutely no sulfur was around and he was reaching the end of his search area. Anyone questioning him got the usual story of 'Artemis' his lost yellow cat. It was a simple story that he could easily keep up so long as he told them that Artemis was a touchy cat who would attack anyone except himself.
He was about to turn around and retrace the entire sixteen blocks, but finally he found what he was looking for. There, dusting across the window sill of a cracked and faded window, was the sulfur he needed.
The redhead kept walking until he was past the building, ensuring that he wasn't near any windows before scoping out the area. The whole street was deserted save for a few passersbys. A quick examination of the building itself left him with even more sulfur and the discovery that it was an abandoned apartment building, the higher windows boarded up.
Wally knew that he couldn't loiter around without catching attention, and he had no idea if the demons were currently around, so he started heading back with the good news. He briefly entertained the idea that Artemis might have some more food waiting for him, but ultimately he decided that it was a slim chance.
"What does this mean?" Artemis whispered to herself. She was sitting on Wally's bed in the motel room, multiple jugs of holy water littered across the floor. It had been an accident, but she certainly couldn't ignore it.
She turned the pendant over a few times, running her fingers along the formed metal and shimmering jewel, a smile crawling to her lips. It was the exact same necklace she'd admired at the fair, and there was only one explanation for how it had appeared in their things.
The little sneak had bought it for her when she wasn't paying attention.
Artemis wasn't entirely sure whether to be flattered or upset by his actions. He was just making it more and more difficult to keep at a friend's closeness. Guy friends didn't buy girl friends jewelry, did they? The blonde stopped in her thought process, she actually had no idea about that, her social interaction experience was rather limited and skewed.
She couldn't put it back where she found it because she had discovered it after hauling a pile of their hunting junk into the room, everything had shifted and she had no idea where it had originally been hiding. Confronting Wally about his little present was not high on her to-do list, but it was entirely unavoidable.
The motel door suddenly burst open and a wildly grinning redhead entered the room.
"I have found their hideout!" Wally declared proudly, closing the door firmly behind himself and sauntering over to the blonde. Artemis didn't say anything, rather, she just held her palm out for him to see the necklace in her hand, a small smirk on her face.
He stared at it for a few moments, his features nonplussed to see the familiar object. Then his thoughts came to him and he remembered that the necklace had been hidden from Artemis, and yet she was holding it.
"What?! How did you find that!?" Wally shrieked, grabbing the jewel and stuffing it in his pocket as his face grew red, "You didn't see anything," He declared.
Artemis laughed at his reaction, tugging on his hoodie sleeve to encourage him to sit on the edge of the bed with her, "Chill out, Wally. It was an accident,"
He reluctantly slumped down beside her, pulling the necklace out once more to glare at it, his nose wrinkled in dejection, "It was going to be your birthday present next month," Wally sighed, gently grabbing Artemis's hand and placing the trinket in her palm, "Happy birthday," He whispered sarcastically, making Artemis laugh again.
"It's great Wally, I really love it," The blonde smiled, unclipping it and pulling her ponytail to the side to put it on.
"Here, le'mme help," Wally mumbled, taking the small metal clasps out of her hands to assist her, brushing the fine hairs of her neck out of the way with a light touch and easily clasping the necklace. He smiled softly as Artemis looked down to admire it, her fingers still twirling the pendant a bit.
"You didn't have to get me anything," Artemis whispered, looking over to smile at her partner.
"Of course I did, you're turning twenty. That only happens once a lifetime, you know," He snickered, bumping her with his shoulder.
Artemis snorted and rolled her eyes, "You're so corny,"
"I'm from the midwest," Wally shrugged.
The blonde laughed once more and slapped him on the leg, "Alright, whatever. Where are the demons staying?"
Wally stood up and headed over to the map of the city that they had spread out across the motel table, grabbing a marker and circling the location he'd discovered, "I found sulfur all around this old apartment building. I don't know where they are inside, but they areinside there somewhere," He explained to the blonde who had come over to peek over his shoulder, her new necklace dangling down in front of her. Wally smiled proudly at the sight.
"I don't think it's safe to go barging in," Artemis frowned, "Our guess that there are only three demons could be off, and we would be fighting in their territory,"
"Which puts the odds in their favor," Wally agreed, nodding and glaring at the map, "What if we set up a trap and lure them in?" He suggested, pointing to the building next to the hideout.
"That could work," Artemis frowned in contemplation, "What did you have in mind?"
Wally picked up a different colored marker and circled the building he had pointed to before, "We could set up traps and weapons in this building. It's another abandoned apartment building. We lure them in, trap them, and exorcise them,"
"I've already got everything we need to fight them," Artemis gestured to the various objects that she'd carted into the motel room, "But how are we going to lure them in?"
The redhead sighed and ran a hand through his hair, a slight blush rising to his cheeks, "Well they seem to like making people hurt the ones they love, so all we need to do is catch their attention and make them think that we're in love,"
"We'll act like easy prey," Artemis sighed as well, crossing her arms in slight frustration, "Great, now we're both going to be bait,"
"No!" Wally retorted quickly, "No, It's going to be fine,"
The blonde smiled slightly, "I know, Wally. I trust that you won't throw me under the bus,"
When he didn't say anything Artemis frowned and set down the devils trap that she'd printed out for Wally's reference, "Have you called Dick yet?"
"What do you mean?" Wally dodged the question.
"It's been three weeks since Columbus; please tell me you aren't holding a grudge against one of your best friends?" Artemis's tone was one that Wally couldn't ignore so he ran a hand through his hair and sighed, leaning back against the table, "Wally,"
"No, I haven't called him," He grumbled.
"Why?" The blonde pestered.
"I don't know," Wally shrugged, "As punishment?" He offered meagerly.
Artemis smirked and headed over to grab one of the many jugs of holy water, planning to pour some into a flask for each of them, "You're calling him tomorrow,"
"Only if you can catch me," Wally grinned playfully.
"Check that the salt isn't damp, Speedy," Artemis laughed.
"My name isn't Speedy," He grumbled, flicking her ponytail lightly as he passed her.
"Careful, we don't want to be seen by the demons," Artemis whispered with her arms full of various demon-fighting objects.
"I know, Babe," Wally whispered back, checking around the corner of the fence before leading the way into the side entrance of the building next door to the hideout. They used the entrance farthest from the demon's headquarters but it was still risky.
Wally quickly found the way through the hallways to a decent apartment that was close to the entrance that they had planned to lure the demons through. The apartment was a small one-person studio, with some roughed up furniture covered in plastic sheets.
"Alright," Artemis started as the two hunters dumped their collection of junk in the middle of the living room, "I'll line the bathroom with glue and salt. It can be the safe room," She declared, grabbing the bottle of glue and two containers of salt before marching off to the bathroom that neither of them would dare use had it been the last choice on earth.
"I'll hide some iron weapons under the furniture, when you're done I can show you where everything is," Wally said, looking around the room for the best places to hide what they needed.
It took Artemis longer to deal with the mess that the glue and salt created, so when Wally finished hiding their weapons he grabbed the collection of devil trap references and black spray paint. After finding a decently sturdy chair the redhead put three devils traps on the ceiling where the dirt was the darkest, ensuring that they were hidden as best as possible.
"I'm ready for the tour," Artemis announced, stepping back into the main room where Wally was just getting of the chair. The redhead stepped over to her and narrowed his eyes, staring at her face, "What?" She frowned, drawing a hand up to touch her head.
Wally laughed and gently grabbed her wrist before she could smear it, "You've got glue on your face," He said, licking his thumb before rubbing the substance off of her cheek.
The blonde wrinkled her nose and leaned away from him, "Gross, Wally, did you have to use your saliva?" She asked, the tone of laughter bubbling in her throat as she playfully hit his hand away, rubbing her cheek with her sleeve.
"Oh it was totally necessary," Wally assured her with a grin as he led her to the closest hiding spot of a weapon, "And here is the location of crowbar number one," He gestured underneath a couch, "A fire poker can be found at the other end for your convenience,"
"Got it," Artemis nodded, smirking at his exaggerated grandeur.
Wally took her around the apartment with the faux speech of a salesman, noting the location of each iron weapon and tool that they'd brought along for use. He'd placed them strategically so that there were more weapons located in the bedroom, since that was the area that they would be acting in as the demons were lured through the apartment.
"Can you find the traps?" Wally asked her, dropping his hands nonchalantly in his pockets and taking a step back to let her look.
Artemis smiled and tipped her head back to scan the ceiling, squinting her eyes to try and catch the faint light from the streetlights that poured in through the cracks in the boarded windows, "There's one there," She pointed at the trap drawn a few feet from the front door, "And there's one near the bedroom..." The blonde frowned, still searching for any more.
Wally stepped up behind her and held her shoulders, turning her in the right direction slowly.
"In the corner?" She questioned, glancing around to give him a skeptical look, "What good will that do?"
"Hey," Wally shrugged with a laugh, "Why not?"
"You're ridiculous," Artemis said, sauntering over to the metal bed frame and old mattress, "Now help me move this so that we can put one under here,"
I know this chapter wasn't that exciting, but believe me you'll want this domestic-ness back once we get to the next one! Savor this while you can...
Please review and let me know what you think!
Love, Veg