A/N: hey y'all. Here is chapter 16! I'm actually pretty happy with how this turned out. I also have news! I've begun working on an update schedule and I've decided that I want to update on the 1st and 15th each month. It should keep me consistent, not be too much pressure and allow you all to know when to expect updates.
Thank you all for reading, favoriting, commenting and following. I really do appreciate every single one of you new and old. This story would be significantly less fun to write without all of you!
Hiei grinned, feral and gleaming, as he readied himself for battle. He felt alive, thrilled to his core. This was where he shone brightest, where he could do what no one else would dare to try. He didn't bother checking behind to see Victoria's state. Either she was fine or she wasn't, either way he wasn't going to be the one to pull her to safety. One of the women arguing with Kurama or even the redhead himself could take on that task. Hiei had done enough cleaning wounds for one day. Now, oh now he focused solely on the man before him standing there in the muted light in that suit that reminded the shorter man so much of the member's of the Black Black Club. He had never been granted his true revenge against them for pulling him into The Dark Tournament, nor for what they had done to Yukina by proxy.
This man had been ready to kill Victoria, it had shone in his eyes, radiated in his strength as he'd held her aloft.
Hiei supposed that meant he would be a pretty damn good substitute for that rage he wasted on phantoms so many years before.
This was a victory, a fight, he would not be robbed of. So he held his stolen kitchen knives and regarded his enemy and he took satisfaction in the flash of shock that rocked through Dorian. This was obviously a man who thought himself impervious. Hiei repressed a snort at the thought. He'd knocked loftier demons from their pedestals.
The anger at himself for being useless hours before fueled him as he launched forward. He wasn't about to let another demon onto his territory to hurt his humans. Not again. The kappa had been a stab in his pride, poking a weakness he hadn't cared to correct. Sometime in the days to come he'd make Victoria teach him how to swim. Dorian stepped back from him as he got close, holding the knives close to his own body before attacking.
Knives were a different beast from his sword. They required less room, and in some ways, less force. He wouldn't be claiming any limbs with clean cuts with these smaller blades but he could definitely cut Dorian from navel to sternum and watch his innards spill out. He could slash at arteries and wait for the red to stain that dusty earth beneath those stupid shined shoes. Hiei ducked in close, swooping behind Dorian who spun at the wrong moment and hissed as the edge of a blade snaked over his ribs.
"What the hell are you?" Dorian growled at him, his previous composure thoroughly rattled and broken.
"I'm better than you, that's all you need to know." Hiei offered his response steadily as he darted to the side, forcing Dorian to step out of his way or take another hit.
"I can't believe she managed to hide you for so long. Victoria isn't normally that good at keeping her secrets." Dorian smiled then, and when Hiei struck out once more, he weaved away with casual grace. "I appreciate your blood lust, but you should have stayed hidden behind her precious barrier. Now that you're out here with me she can't protect you."
"Out here with you?" Hiei offered a single, small dismissal shake of his head while never allowing his gaze to waiver from his opponent. "You're out here with me."
"Are you misquoting Rorschach?" Dorian paused to stare at Hiei, perplexed.
"What the fuck is a Rorschach?" Hiei stopped momentarily as well, annoyed at this deficit in his knowledge. "Is he another fighter?"
"Oh honey, no." Dorian shook his head, his tone laden with amused pity. "I understand a bit more now. Bless your heart, Victoria must have her hands full taking care of you."
Hiei didn't understand everything about English, but he knew for a fact the way Dorian had said bless your heart had been a poorly veiled insult. Victoria said that stupid line all the time when someone annoyed her.
"Keep your blessings to yourself." Hiei spit, lunging into action once again. This time he managed to cut through Dorian's jacket and shirt, though he barely knicked the skin beneath as the demon jumped back.
"You're faster than I would have expected. Most men can't touch me. I know for a fact Victoria can't." Dorian seemed mildly impressed, which in a way egged on Hiei's pride.
But Hiei was also curious why the demon couldn't seem to keep Victoria's name out of his mouth.
When he went in for another attack, sure of his victory, when Dorian moved far too quickly. A palm strike to the side of his head, the twisting of his wrist the wrong way to force the knife from his left hand, the taste of dust of coating the inside of his mouth, it all happened so quickly Hiei wasn't fully certain which action had occurred first. He grunted as a knee landed unceremoniously in the softness just below his sternum, the flat of Dorian's shoe pinning down his right wrist without regard for how the gravel bit through Hiei's skin. Fury bloomed in Hiei's chest, molten hot. Once again he found himself outdone on his own territory. Bested by a man in a suit.
He was a laughing stock.
He refused to show his defeat on his face, instead ducking his chin down to offer a venomous glare to the being lording over him. A thought occurred to Hiei, one that made him grimace inwardly. Underhanded tactics weren't something he enjoyed stooping to, but at some point in the past this act had disabled him for capture, hadn't it? Hiei's fingers curled around a palmful of dirt and gravel.
Dorian's hand lowered toward Hiei's face, a maliciousness splitting his mouth open into a toothy, threatening smile. His dark eyes glimmered. The world existed only between the two of them, charged air cycling around them as the seconds somehow stretched to impossible lengths. Everything was slower, nearly still. Hiei focused on his attacker, on the intent behind that open palm. His intestines recoiled against whatever that looming contact might mean. Instincts spit words through his brain. Danger. Pain. Death. He trusted those feelings, that intention, and he resigned himself to playing coward so he could come out the victor.
That's the moment when Hiei let fly a handful of dirt right into Dorian's face. The demon sputtered and yelled, yanking himself off the smaller man as he tried to fish the dust and tiny rocks out of his eyes. Hiei took that moment to flip himself up to his feet, landing assuredly as Dorian turned toward him with a shroud of palpable hatred coating his aura. It rustled around him like a living thing.
"You." Dorian stalked one step toward Hiei who refused to back down. "I'm going to ruin you."
Hiei's narrowed eyes dared him to try. The shorter of the two rushed forward, landing one solid hit to a pair of heaving ribs before his arm was captured, twisted, and he was sent rolling over the uneven ground. The crunch of a single footfall warned Hiei that Dorian was coming toward him, so he pushed himself up quickly, not caring that his palms were cut open when he spun on his hands. Pain was irrelevant. His eyes widened for a second before he allowed himself to laugh.
"I was beginning to think you'd lost your will to fight." Hiei teased Kurama, who stood between Dorian and Hiei wielding a length of rope.
"More experience lends itself to taking more breaks my friend." Kurama offered back, eyes on their opponent, voice light despite the circumstances. "Just like old times?"
Hiei nodded, coming up to Kurama side. Dorian eyed the pair of them, sweeping his dark and ill-intended gaze over their forms. His styled hair was now mussed, sticking up in places it shouldn't and coated with a fine film of dust. His suit, immaculate when he'd stepped onto the property, now bore several gashes and holes courtesy of Hiei's deft performance with a blade. His shined shoes were dirty and scuffed. And his arranged features, previously taunting and smug, were now twisted in seething anger.
"Great. Two of you." Dorian spit, flicking his attention to Victoria who was just managing to pull herself from the ground.
Hobbling she joined the pair, flanking Kurama's empty side, gun recovered and held at her side. She too was covered in dirt, it smeared over her arms and face and clothing. Her sunken, exhausted eyes, wouldn't leave the demon's form. Even though she shook slightly, trembling from the effort of movement and keeping conscious, she remained. Blood dribbled down her cheek from where a rock had scraped her face when Hiei threw her back. Her eyes were agitated and the whites were red from the dust on the ground.
"Three." She told him in no uncertain tone. "Get lost Dorian."
"Darling, do you really think you of all people has any power over me? Look at you. You're barely standing. And these two little menaces of yours might be clever and fast and hungry, but they are still nothing." Dorian drawled. "Just give up, Victoria."
She merely stared at him.
After a heartbeat she shrugged uselessly. "Have it your way sweetheart."
Hiei found his knife, scooping it up on a swift movement as he lunged forward. Kurama rounded the demon's other side, lashing out with the rope in a poor imitation of the lightweight whip he'd grown accustomed to utilizing. Dorian was forced to step back from Kurama assault which allowed Hiei to get in close, slicing a line from the man's back around to his navel. Dorian shoved Hiei back with a fist to the nose, only to find Kurama's rope around his neck. Victoria staggered forward, gun raised and aimed at Dorian's forehead.
"ENOUGH!" The demon bellowed the words and all three of them were thrust back by an invisible wall of power.
The force of his frustration and rage thrust them back to their side of the protective barrier Victoria had raised. All three of them rose as the sound of gravel crunching caught on the breeze. Dorian froze, staring with narrowed eyes as he toed the line that had proverbially been drawn.
"I think it's time you go, Dorian." Grams stood just before him, no smile, no sass, no kindness. Vanessa hovered on the front steps, bathed in the light of the house, her eyes wide with fear, her hands trembling as they gripped a baseball bat too tightly.
Dorian didn't speak, but he also didn't move. Grams took a step forward, willingly crossing the barrier. Kurama's mouth fell agape, some warning caught in his throat and refusing to slip to his tongue as though the words knew they weren't needed. Hiei felt a sense of vindication that the fox was finally seeing what he'd been seeing all along. Grams' aura smothered over Dorian's. Her small stature the only diminutive thing about her in that moment as her presence swelled. Victoria watched too, though she look far less surprised and impressed than the two men rising sitting around her.
She knew that look in Grams' eye. That sheen of anger.
She was in so much trouble. Part of her almost wished Dorian had seriously hurt her, because at least then she could play the pity card and Grams wouldn't be able to yell at her too much. Sighing she readied herself for the tongue lashing she was about to receive.
To everyone but Victoria's immense surprise Dorian took three quick steps back to keep space between himself and the wizened old woman with her cropped silver hair and her embedded laugh lines framing her mouth, her eyes.
"This isn't done. I want to know why you were between worlds darling Victoria, and I will find out. I felt the tear and I'm not happy about it. I hope you aren't back to dabbling with powers you have no hope of wielding." Dorian took his eyes from Grams to narrow on Victoria. Then his attention skirted over Hiei and Kurama, who offered their own calculating cold glares in return. "Those two are interesting but they're no prize to keep. They aren't what I'm looking for."
Then he was gone just as suddenly as he came. With his absence came the rush of sound that always hurried to fill the vacuum his sudden disappearances created. When the crickets began to chirp once more, Victoria allowed herself to fall to the ground gently so she could close her eyes as exhaustion swept over her. She also didn't want to see the mean look Grams was most definitely casting her way.
"Victoria Priscilla Delaney you get up right this instant look me in the eye." Grams demanded, marching over to her granddaughter who offered a drawn out pained groan in response. "Right now young lady!"
Hiei and Kurama both startled at the sharp tone from the normally gentle woman. They exchanged a look, Kurama feeling as though he were being scolded by his own sweet mother and Hiei feel relieved he wasn't the one being shouted at by the old woman.
"Grams." Victoria didn't open her eyes, didn't move. "Can you not right now?"
"Girl, I swear if you don't get up this instant I will get you up."
"So, boys, let's get you cleaned up." Vanessa called, fidgeting with her bat as she tried to draw the two men inside.
Hiei shook his head, intent on watching this shit show play out. Kurama hesitated because truthfully he had rope burn on his palms and he would have liked to clean them up but he also didn't want to not see this because he had a feeling it was important. Vanessa sighed heavily then shook her head and went back into the house closing the door.
"Were you talking to Dorian by the way? I thought I heard your voice." Kurama tipped his head toward Hiei and spoke quietly so he did not draw the palpable ire of Grams' attention.
"How could I have been? He only spoke in English." Hiei straight up lied to his closest friend without so much as a tell.
He would not allow Kurama to find out he could replicate this stupid language. He refused, ardently. He especially wouldn't allow the redhead to find out while they were within ear shot of those two nosy ass women who most definitely would never allow him another moment of peace. How strange, he thought, that the only being in the world he could trust with this secret was a five year old.
What had his life become?
Kurama eyed him that patented scrutiny of his before turning his attention back toward the two women locked in a stalemate match of stubbornness. In words he had heard Grams use before he noted that Victoria got it honest. There was no denying their relation when they mirrored each other so perfectly right now. He sighed. Victoria had yet to move from her assumed post on the ground, laying prone like a child mid-tantrum.
"Do you really want your friends to see you get yelled at?" Grams demanded hotly, arms crossed over her middle.
"Does it matter what I want?" Victoria snapped back at her grandmother in an unusually heated tone. She jerked herself up to sitting with an angry look.
"You're being a brat." Grams told her.
Victoria inhaled through her nose and then huffed the breath out. She glared away from her grandmother, sulking. "Just yell at me already Grams. I'm tired. I want to go bed and forget today ever fucking happened."
"You should have told me he was back. You know he's a weak spot for you! You get so in your head whenever he's around, Victoria. Do you even realize how dangerous he actually is? He can and will kill you!"
"I'm more than fucking aware of Dorian's danger rating, thank you very much. Out of the two of us, I think I'm more the expert on him than you are. I'm the one he's been haunting. You only get to see the fringe of it all. I'm the one he attacks and traps and degrades!" Victoria got to her feet. "Don't come at me over this, Grams."
"You should have asked for my help! Maybe this could have been prevented if-"
"I'm so sorry I'm not perfect like you!" Victoria threw her hands up in the air, tears stinging her eyes. "I'm sorry I don't have your innate power. I'm sorry I don't have your unreal patience and your skills and I'm sorry I'm the fuck up who got herself a stupid demon stalker. I get it. I'm a disappoint in this department, I don't need you out here yelling at me about it, okay? I already know."
"Victoria." Grams deflated then, frowning. "You know-"
"I get it." Victoria cut her off, angrily wiping the hot tears from her cheeks with a sniffle. "Sometimes I wish he had been able to save mom so that you wouldn't have to deal with me anymore. I hate this as much you do, but I'm trying, okay? I'm trying to survive this and I'm trying to get stronger and I'm trying to make it work. I'm so sorry my efforts aren't up to your standards. Goddammit why am I crying! I don't want to cry over this. This is so fucking stupid."
Victoria continued to wipe at her face, sneering the whole time. Kurama's eyebrows rose high onto his forehead and he glanced to Hiei who suddenly looked incredibly uncomfortable. Tears always had that effect on Hiei. Those sorts of outward displays of intense emotions made the man nervous and mildly disgusted.
"I should have gone inside." Hiei muttered, glaring away from the pair of women then.
Grams walked over and despite Victoria's fussing about it, she wrapped her arms around her granddaughter and held her tightly. Victoria's tears came more heavily despite her doing her best to stop them. Grams rubbed her back and murmured a few soft words.
"I just wish you had told me." Grams offered gently. "You are incredibly strong, honey, I know that. I know how hard you work. But Dorian isn't like the other things you have to deal with and I get so worried whenever you have to deal with him."
Victoria reluctantly returned the hug then after a second she held her grandmother tightly, eyes closed.
"I just want to help you. Let me support you honey, that's what I'm here for." Grams reminded Victoria gently. "Let's go inside so you can tell me what's been happening and I'll see if there's any way I can help."
"Okay." Victoria nodded. She bent down to pick her disregarded gun from the ground immediately flicking the safety on and pulling the magazine free before emptying the chamber. She didn't store her guns loaded even when she lived alone. She definitely wouldn't start doing it while Ashland was in the house.
Or Hiei for that matter. Sure, he was a grown man but his penchant for curiosity would definitely get him killed if he messed with a weapon with no idea how it worked. She'd actually started storing the bullets and magazine separately from the gun itself. She used to keep them both in the same case when it was just her because she knew how to handle the gun and she knew not to be a dumb ass. Now that she had roommates she took more precautions than ever. No one in that house was going to hurt themselves on her watch, accidentally or on purpose.
"Let's get going." Victoria nodded toward the house looking at the men who rose under her soft command.
Kurama and Hiei filed into the house after Grams. Victoria took an extra moment on the front steps to assess her property. She'd need to dig up her protection jars first thing in the morning and revitalize them. That was definitely something Grams could assist with. Maybe the boys could help too. More hands made less work after all and they should be complicit in their own safety.
The night wore on until the dawn burned Victoria's eyes as she sat on the back porch rocking in a chair. Hiei had long before passed out on the cushions next to Ashland, Hank the dog laying on the child's other side. Kurama fell asleep sitting up, leaning against the arm of the couch. Vanessa had coiled herself into the armchair, snoring slightly from her head being tucked so awkwardly. Grams had fallen asleep in the rocking chair beside Victoria, their conversation over a few hours before, then the woman had awoken to take herself home for a spell. Now, Victoria was out here alone. Blue eyes stared out over the backyard, studying the fog on the lake as the sky turned from black to a deep blue and then eased its way into hot orange and striking pink. The ducks on the water paddled with indifference moving in their easy lines.
Her limbs felt heavy, her body felt weak, her eyes hurt and her chest ached. It was uncomfortable to be alive, but there she was, just living anyway. A small band-aid covered the neosporin slicked cut on her cheek. Her shirt covered her bruised ribs. With tired fingers she traced the lines tattooed against her throat, Dorian's hand print etched into her skin.
A heavy splash broke the water's surface and she saw the head of the kappa—who she'd named Abraham—pop up, those dark eyes staring at her. Seemed like a trip to the grocery store would be in order sooner rather than later. Maybe she had acted rashly, keeping the damn thing alive, but it felt sort of wrong to kill it. Plus she wasn't actually sure how to go about such a feat. Everything she'd done had been on instinct. Wasn't there a myth about making the kappa bow and it's bowl would empty? It seemed sort of cruel to exploit polite behavior that way. She'd pick Kurama's bed about it later. For now, though, what was done was done.
With a deep breath she relaxed in her seat. It had been a hellish day, hadn't it? That awful experience between the planes. Alice. Abraham and his attack on Ashland. Then Dorian and Grams and everything had just been so terrible for so many hours it felt like an eternity had already passed around her. And yet…
Victoria rocked forward in the chair to rise to her feet with a wince. Her hip hurt from being thrown to the ground. It would take her at least a few days to get back to normal, if not longer. She was not looking forward to that recovery process. Ugh. Life. Quietly she peeled open the back door then the screen beyond it, stepping into the house. The curtains dampened the burgeoning sunlight, muting it but still she could make out each of the faces in her living room. The drool wetting the corner of Vanessa's mouth and thus the cushion she cradled under her head. Kurama's serene features as though he weren't sleeping in what had to be an incredibly uncomfortable position. His back would definitely be sore when he woke up. His palms were bandaged, also coated in neosporin to help the rope burns heal faster. Grams had insisted. Hiei slept soundly, a scowl on his face, Ashland curled against his chest, her blonde curls tucked under his chin. They were like two cats, one old and gruff and the other a kitten fresh to the family.
This is what survived the day with her, these people. Hank lifted his head from the couch cushions, his tail wagging slowly. Victoria smiled at him and nodded toward the stairs. The dog stretched himself off the makeshift bed and then trotted to the stairs, arriving just as Victoria did. She patted his head and started up the stairs, pausing midway to smile at her little makeshift band of idiots.
It had been such an awful day. One for the record books.
But everything that mattered had made it through to dawn.