CHAPTER TWO
One self-administered iratze, and almost twelve hours later, Jane is in Maura's room, fully enjoying the look of utter disbelief on the blonde's face.
"But I don't understand how that's even possible!" She ran her fingers over the tender, but mostly healed skin.
"Shadowhunter," Jane explained, smugly pointing to herself. Rolling her eyes at Maura's expression of pure incredulity, she dragged the both of them to sit on the edge of the bed and took out a wand-like implement.
"What's that?" Maura asked, eyeing the object warily. Jane offered it to her, and carefully she took it. She twirled it around in her hand, scrutinising it.
"It's called a stele. It's what gave me the runes, or the tattoos as you imprecisely call them," she gestured at her body, toward the interwoven webs of black scattered across her skin.
"Show me?" Maura held the stele back to Jane.
The brunette grasped it skilfully between the fingers of her left hand and tugged her shirt up with her right. Pressing the tip firmly against her flesh next to the healing wound, she drew the fairly simple design of the iratze rune, enjoying the comforting burn of the process. She finished with a flourish and observed Maura who watched with fascination as the wound healed before her eyes, and the black markings of the rune faded from her sight. In their wake were only pale white tracings to show that a rune had ever been there in the first place.
Suddenly everything Maura had ever known swam before her vision. If things like this were possible, does that mean that the bible she'd followed and adhered to her entire life, the religion of science, was nothing more than a fallacy? Because no amount of science could explain what she'd just witnessed.
"Is everything like this, in your world?" Maura asked in dejected wonder.
Jane wasn't sure how to respond with the drastic change to the blonde's tone. "How do you mean?"
Maura played with the ring on her finger as she answered, "I mean that I have lived my entire life based on the scientific method and logical explanations for everything. If you just turned all of that upside down with this one simple thing, which you seem to take for granted, is that how it will be for everything I know? In order to even have a hope of accepting everything you're telling me, do I have to throw everything I know, or everything I thought I knew, straight out of the proverbial window?"
The honestly earnest expression on Maura's face tugged at Jane a little bit. This was clearly an important topic for the doctor, so she replied as solemnly as she could. "Yeah, probably."
Shoulders slumped slightly, Maura nodded sadly. "I'd still like to stay and learn a bit more, even if you appear not to need my medical assistance. Would that be okay?"
"Are you sure? I mean, it's a lot to take in, it's okay if you need to leave. We don't exactly get a lot of visitors anyway," Jane smoothed her pants at the thigh.
"No, please, if there's a whole new side to the world I thought I knew, U cannot in good conscience ignore any opportunity to further explore it. You understand that, don't you? You strike me as someone who would."
Jane couldn't argue with that. After all, in her youth, she'd spent a fair amount of her free time in between tutoring sessions and training just hanging out at local coffee shops and parks simply to observe the ignorant mundanes going about their 'normal' lives.
"Yeah," she nodded. "I get it."
Three quick raps sounded at the door before it opened and Frankie popped his head in. "We've got another one, Korsak's coming, we're rolling out in ten," he said and then he disappeared.
Jane snorted, "Well, duty calls. I guess I'll see you when I get back." She stood and crossed the floor to the door.
"Wait!" Maura called, scrambling after her. "Do you think I could come along?"
A look of uncertainty crossed Jane's face. "I'm not so sure that that's a good idea, Maura. You aren't trained. If there are a bunch of them, I might not be able to protect you."
Sensing an opportunity with Jane's seemingly less than whole-hearted conviction that she stay, Maura pressed on, "Oh please? I'll stay back, I just want to watch what you guys actually do, what these things look like. I know about them now, if I see one in the street I want to know about it and run in the opposite direction." Maura persuaded. "You wouldn't want to leave me at a disadvantage, would you?"
"Every other mundane is as ignorant as you were," Jane retorted. "But fine," she relented. "Just stay back and keep out of the line of fire."
"There'll be a line of fire?" Maura asked, perplexed. "Why?"
Jane sighed, but the curl at the corner of her mouth showed her amusement. "It's a figure of speech. It means stay out of the fighting." Jane paused. "Please."
"I can do that," Maura readily agreed. Jane nodded and then she left, Maura following after her. She went to her room first to change into gear and then they entered a room at the far end of the hall, a room which had not been a part of Maura's welcoming grand tour.
"Weapons vault," Jane explained as she opened a couple of chests and removed some daggers before crossing to a wall of mounted weapons and taking down two twin blades. They weren't made of steel, they were too pretty to be made from such a general metal. They were almost transparent, with the way the light reflected along the blade.
Sheathing one, she held the other aloft and whispered, "Cassiel," before doing the same with the other, this time with "Ambriel." They flashed as the words were said, glowing with an ethereal white light. Taking sight of Maura's look of confusion she partially explained, "Seraph blades. You have to name them after angels before they truly work for you. Basically, if they don't light up, they aren't going to do more than irritate the damn things."
"Darn," Maura corrected absentmindedly, processing the information. "Any angel name will do?"
"Pretty much," Jane answered, "though we never name a blade after Raziel. He's the one who created us, it kind of gives him a place of honour." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Between you and me, though, Cassiel is my favourite. Particularly after that TV show, what was it… Supernatural? Yeah, after they did a portrayal of him, he was definitely my favourite."
"You have time to watch TV?" Maura asked, thoroughly taken aback.
Jane grinned. "Yeah, Doc, I have a laptop and everything. I don't need a whole lot of sleep, so why not enjoy some of humanity's culture. It's mindlessly entertaining at the very least. A nice little reprieve."
"But – you hunt demons for a living? And then you watch a fictional program about them?" Maura's brow was furrowed, trying to work out how exactly that made any sense.
"It's like those two say: it's a part of the job, the life. You live and breathe this stuff, and after a while it's like there isn't even anything else in the world. Besides, I admit, I've even used a couple of their techniques for my own excursions." Jane chuckled as she plucked a whip from a chest of drawers in the back corner.
"Like what?" Maura had never seen the show. Medical school was not particularly conducive to partaking in America's favourite past-time.
"Everything has to at least pause when you behead it." Jane rummaged around a few of the smaller boxes in a forgotten alcove before extracting a small, plain dagger. It didn't look like it was made of the same thing as the seraph blades, but Maura had no idea what it was for.
Jane handed it to her. "It won't kill anything, but if something happens to the rest of us, and you need something, it should buy you enough time to run away. Okay?"
Maura gingerly took it from Jane's fingers and nodded.
They met the rest of the gang down by the main door, everyone but Maura dressed handsomely in their Shadowhunter black, blades faintly glinting in the light from the grand chandelier above their heads.
"You must be Maura," a deep, yet vaguely cheerful voice said from behind her. The doctor turned to face a man, not unlike Sean in age, but slightly more in shape. "Name's Vince, but everyone calls me Korsak," he introduced himself.
"Pleasure to meet you, Vince," she smiled and looked him over. "No weapons?" she asked, gesturing to the fully loaded foursome behind her.
He shook his head, "Just one, this here wooden stick. I let these four do the dirty work." He leaned toward her to whisper conspiratorially, "Between you and me, they need all the practice."
"I heard that, Korsak," Jane called, sticking the older man with an unamused glare.
Korsak just winked at her. "Shall we?"
They all nodded. "Lead the way, old man," Jane smirked, even as Vince's hand smacked the back of her head.
"Kids," he muttered, shaking his head. He opened the door and sighed, "Just go get in the van."
They walked with purpose to the nondescript vehicle Maura hadn't even noticed the night before in the darkness. They smoothly slid in, everyone automatically going to their usual positions and Maura felt a little lost at not knowing where to be.
Thankfully, Jane rescued her, "Here, come sit next to Frost and I."
"Hey Doc," Barry greeted, nodding at her in hello.
"Hello Barry," Maura replied back, enthused.
Jane rolled her eyes and captured Maura's attention. "Okay, you stay in sight of the van at all times. Korsak's the getaway driver. We all die, you run back here, jump in and tell him to get the hell out of here. You get me? You DO. NOT. COME. TO. US." Jane stared determinedly into Maura's eyes, her gaze flickering back and forth between them. "Promise me," she whispered.
"I promise." Maura said lowly. "Run back here to the van. Okay."
Jane stared at her for another moment before seeming to accept her word. She stared out of the window for the rest of the short journey.
Maura spent the ride half-listening to Frankie's and Giovanni's hushed and hard to discern conversation in the back and watching the thoughtful brunette beside her. Frost was mostly quiet as well, only occasionally tossing input into whatever conversation the two in the back were carrying on.
The van gently rumbled to a stop, but Korsak left the engine running. "Reports says there are a couple of Drevaks here, but stay alert. There could be way more than that, or there could be a mixture depending on which summoner we're dealing with here. They aren't fighters, but we shouldn't let them roam free to deliver their messages. Stick to your parabatai, watch everyone's backs. I don't want any injuries today," Korsak stared particularly hard at Jane with that remark. "Also, I hear Angela's making gnocchi for dinner, and I know not one of you wants to miss that."
The group chuckled at this and even Maura offered up a smile.
"You heard the man, guys. Gi, you and Frankie wait one minute and then follow. Frost and I will take point. Maura, remember, watching only, and run your ass back here if it turns south," Jane instructed, hand poised on the van door handle.
"Butt. Buttocks. Gluteus maximus. Your choice of word is unnecessarily vulgar," Maura offered up, unasked.
Jane gave her a 'Is this really the appropriate time to do this with me?' look and then simply opened the door, dashing out with Frost at her heels. Maura left next, followed closely by Giovanni and Frankie. The two guys traded slaps to the shoulder before they took off down the alley after their friends, leaving Maura to chase after them.
When she joined them, they were in the throes of battle. Korsak had been right to tell them to be alert because Maura counted six things which were definitely not the Shadowhunters she'd arrived with. They were large black creatures, and they were faster than Maura thought possible with their bulk. The stench emanating from them was rotten, like stale garbage left out in the sun too long, and they seemed to be covered in a thin coating of slime.
One of them was on the ground, a seraph blade protruding from its abdominal area, but the others were swarming the Shadowhunters and two of them were on Jane. Maura watched in rapt awe as Jane slashed at one, rolled away, and swiped at the second, fending them off intermittently. Frost was tackling his own off to the side, and Frankie and Giovanni were constantly switching enemies, keeping the ridiculous things on their toes. Or whatever it is they had, Maura wasn't entirely sure of demonic anatomy at this point.
The mouth of one of the demons attacking Jane opened right next to her ear, and Maura caught a fleeting glimpse of blackened spikes instead of teeth. Truth be told, she'd been expecting razor sharp incisors, and the sight of those black, deadly looking quills was more than disconcerting.
With a blade in each hand, Jane finally managed to catch one of her assailants off guard, and severed the neck, just as a groan of agony came from one of the boys.
"Frankie!" Jane hollered, quickly disposing of her other foe and leaping to her brother's side. She made quick work of his Drevak as well, while Giovanni and Frost wrapped up their own encounters. Inspecting his wound after ripping his gear open, she called, "Maura!"
The doctor rushed over and fluidly dropped to her knees beside the fallen warrior. It was easy to see the black tooth-like spine pressed into the flesh of his shoulder. Jane moved to remove it, but Maura's hand stayed her actions. "Don't. We don't want him to bleed out while we get him somewhere else." Instead, Maura ripped a swath of cloth from the bottom of her shirt and held it tightly against the wound, careful not to touch the weapon.
"They're poisonous, Maura, we need to get him to a warlock before anything else." Jane gestured to the other two and they picked up their comrade, lugging him to the van.
"Poisonous spine?" Korsak asked, already putting the van in gear. Jane nodded solemnly. He whipped out a cell phone and hit a speed dial preset.
Jane pulled her stele from her boot and set to drawing iratzes around Frankie's wound. "It won't do much, if anything, but maybe it'll help enough to keep him alive until we get him to Tessa."
"She'll meet us at the Institute," Korsak stated, swinging a sudden left turn and tossing his phone on the passenger seat.
"Hang in there, Frankie, we're almost home, bud. You're gonna be fine," Jane promised, squeezing his hand.
"You're a – a rotten liar, J – Janie," Frankie gasped out, wheezing.
"Korsak! It's spread to his lungs already!" Jane yelled worriedly.
The van noticeably sped up, weaving through traffic dangerously. Maura pressed more firmly, in an attempt to counteract the movements the driving was causing for Frankie's wound.
They came to a sudden stop and Korsak was out of the driver's seat before they could even open a door. He pulled Frankie from the bench seat and carried him single-handedly up the path and walkway to the Institute. The rest followed quickly, hearing Korsak call for this Tessa person and thunder up the stairs to the infirmary.