A/N: A huge shout out to Mauryn here on Fanfiction, who beta read most of this chapter and helped me decide on whether or not to keep certain scenes. I highly recommend you check out their Van Helsing fics after you read this chapter!
"How many are you, then," said I,
"If they two are in heaven?"
Quick was the little Maid's reply,
"O Master! we are seven."
We Are Seven, William Wordsworth
Chapter 4: The Johnsons, Part 2
In the Johnson camp, just outside the entrance to the bunker, a sliver of red light cut vertically through the air, and then began to expand. To view it from behind, it stretched into what appeared to be just a six-foot rectangle of softly-glowing light; from the other side, it was a door in space, rimmed with light, opening into a dim bedroom. Fiona stepped through, Devon on her shoulder and a hand around her necklace, and the portal closed behind her.
The iron smell of blood hung in the air, and movement to her left made Fiona spin, hand still around her pendant. Twenty yards away, a man- a vampire- crouched over a small body on the ground. Her mind distantly realized that the boy was Ryan, only seven years old, his chest stuttering and stalling for breath. The vampire was tall and spindly, with high sharp cheekbones and his head shaved bare. He had been watching with rapt attention, but at Fiona's movement, he leapt to his feet and whirled towards her, body primed for motion.
Rage swept through Fiona's chest, and she blinked once, and then her eyes were black from corner to corner. The vampire cocked his head exaggeratedly at that, a slow, manic smile spreading across his face.
"A pretty bird with pretty eyes." He purred, and he wasn't looking at Devon. He took a deep breath in through the nose, and his face lit up. "Like Christmas dinner."
Fiona wanted to rip him apart, to quite literally tear him limb from limb. She'd done it before. But she glanced to Ryan on the ground behind him, and knew there wasn't time for a fight.
She was distantly aware that the vampire was still talking, practically cooing. "Come here, little birdie. Angry little thing. I don't mind some spice in my food-"
Her teeth grinded as she raised the palm with the fiery sun tattooed on it, and the vampire's brow furrowed briefly in confusion. Then she said one word, and a bolt of blindingly white light shot out of her hand. He jerked out of the way, screaming when it passed close enough to burn his arm. Fiona bolted forward, and the vampire's eyes went wide as he scrambled away, barely avoiding another blast of light as he ran. Devon launched from Fiona's shoulders and gave chase, but the witch slid to her knees next to Ryan.
There were deep lacerations across his torso, an alarming amount of blood on soaked through his shirt. She ripped her left arm out of her jacket, yanked her dagger out, and cut across the healer's tattoo on her left shoulder. She said a string of words in Gaelic and planted her palm on his chest, and the cuts began to laboriously knit themselves together. In the back of her mind, she recalled Devon to keep watch over them as she focused on the spell.
It wasn't long before the witch was shivering violently despite the warmth of magic beneath her skin, and she put her free hand back on her pendant and switched to drawing power from it. When the wounds were closed, Ryan didn't wake; he was no longer bleeding out, but the blood he had already lost was significant. She could only hope he would be stable for at least a few hours. Fiona pulled him into her arms and trotted to the hatch to the bunker.
"Tabby?" She shouted down. There was a moment of silence.
"Fiona?" That was Chad's voice, shaking and cracking. The Celt held Ryan in one arm and awkwardly descended the ladder to find the bunker in disarray. Furniture was thrown and broken, blood was smeared everywhere, and against one wall, holding a M16 that Fiona always provided ammo for, was a shaking and hyperventilating Chad.
"Bloody hell." She cursed, setting Ryan on a bed as she crossed to him. "Are you hurt?" She was already patting her hands down his torso, checking for blood. He tried to bat her away, but his attempts were weak and uncoordinated.
"He was too fast. So fast." He repeated, over and over.
"Where's Tabby?" She asked, but he didn't seem to hear her. She grabbed him by the collar and yanked his face towards hers. "I know she's alive. Now where is she?"
"G-get off me!" He protested, trying to push her away. The witch let him go and turned away, laying flat on the floor to look under the bunk beds.
"Tabby?" She called, and heard a small response from under one of the beds. She scrambled to it immediately and saw a small, wide-eyed face starting back at her. "Tabby, I'm here. It's okay."
She coaxed the girl from under the bed, and when she was out she immediately threw herself into Fiona's arms.
"You're safe, lass." She soothed. "You did so good, Tabby. I'm here. I'll keep you safe."
Then they heard footsteps above, and looked up at the ceiling in sync. Fiona pitched her voice low and said, "Get back under the bed. Don't come out unless I tell you to."
The witch planted herself in the middle of the room, between the ladder and the two humans, and drew her dagger. Over her shoulder to Chad, she whispered, "If it comes to a fight, don't worry about shooting me." He nodded shakily, sweaty hands adjusting and re-adjusting on the gun.
Anger and adrenaline and a small tingle of fear surged through the witch's body, and at such strong emotion, Devon sent assurances down the familiar-bond. She relaxed only a fraction, and when the hatch opened and a man descended, she saw the hair and the jacket.
"Mike!"
"Fiona?" He asked immediately in confusion, and then his eyes found his partner. "Chad!" Mike was to his side in an instant, and Chad started up again like he had when Fiona first arrived- So fast, he was so fast. A group of people started down the ladder after him, but the witch barely glanced at them.
"You." A woman snarled from the ladder, and Fiona whirled. For a second, she stared in unbelieving shock at Vanessa Van Helsing, uncaring of the group of teens or of Julius, who had crowded into the bunker behind her.
"What did I fucking tell you?" Fiona snapped, stalking forward, and she only caught a glimpse of absolute animal rage on Vanessa's face before the Van Helsing closed the distance between them and swung at her. Fiona ducked on instinct and backpedaled, and then everyone was shouting, and Julius was in between them, holding Fiona at arm's length by the collar of her jacket and pushing Vanessa back with the other.
"Enough!" Julius shouted. "That's enough!"
Fiona, who hadn't tried to go at Vanessa again after Julius grabbed her, shouted around him, "What did I bloody tell you? Like a goddamn shadow, and you brung it exactly where I told you not to go!"
"They found us!"
"And you-"
Julius yanked on the collar of her jacket, and the Celt glared up at him. "Knock it off, Fiona." He snapped. "This isn't her fault. It was a vampire." Julius looked at Vanessa and added, "And it's not her fault, either."
Fiona ground her teeth together, and then was struck with something. The unchild. Where is she? It was a half-panicked thought, because if she wasn't with Vanessa, she must be loose somewhere in the Johnson camp-
But she hadn't been in the camp, had she? And as Fiona's eyes flickered over them, she couldn't find the little vampire anywhere in the group of kids. Comprehension began to dawn on her. After a second where no one moved, Julius looked between the both of them and let go of Fiona's jacket. She glared at Vanessa, then turned and knelt next to the bed.
"Tabby, you can come out."
As before, the girl was instantly in her arms, and Fiona wrapped one arm around her and motioned for Julius with the other. He lifted Tabby into his arms and sat on the bed, and for a second Fiona marveled at how naturally he comforted her.
"Fiona!" Ian called from above, and everyone whirled toward the ladder.
"Who's that?" Vanessa demanded hotly.
"My people." Fiona snapped back. She pushed through the small crowd at the base of the ladder and called up the open hatch, "Rook, area's clear for now. Get me a perimeter and prepare for a Code 45. And keep the Vultures back from the hatch."
"On it."
The witch could feel everyone staring at her. She pinched the bridge of nose, sighed, and spun back around to face the adults. "What is going on? And who are all these kids?"
Mike gave Fiona the general summary of things from his point of view, and she settled on the bed next to Julius to stay near Tabby as she listened. Slowly, the remaining Johnson kids- now only consisting of Tabby, Ryan, and the teens who had gone with Mike- began to put furniture back in place and talk amongst themselves. The group of older, unfamiliar teens also talked in hushed voices, huddled together at one end of the bunker, and the quiet chatter filling the room created an illusion of privacy as the adults, congregated on the other side of the room, relayed the events of the past few days.
The conversation shifted to what the Johnsons should do next. Fiona sat next to Julius and held Tabby silently as everyone talked, frustration and resolve hardening her heart with every foolish idea they proposed to fortify the bunker and strengthen a perimeter. When the juvenile detainees agreed to that latter point, Fiona passed Tabby back to Julius and stood.
"I'll introduce you to my people. They'll find places for you and give you a crash course."
"Hey, wait a minute," Chad put in suddenly, "You weren't supposed to be back for another three weeks. Why are you guys out here?"
"Oh, that's right." Mike agreed. "And I thought you liked to travel alone. Something big come up in the area?"
In her peripheral vision, Fiona watched Vanessa tense at that idea, and mentally scoffed. Not everything is about you, Van Helsing.
"I called her." Tabby piped up from her place huddled in between Julius and Fiona, and everyone looked at her.
"Called her?" Mike asked, brow furrowing as he looked to Fiona for clarification. Julius glanced between them all.
"You haven't told them?" He asked, frowning over at her in the quintessential I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed. Fiona scowled back at him.
"I haven't told them?"
"Tell us what?" Chad asked.
Fiona continued to Julius, "Let's go around the room and tell everyone our birth year. You can start." Now he was annoyed with her, a muscle in his jaw flexing just slightly in an oh-so familiar way. "That's what I thought. Pardon me if I didn't want to find out if the Brady Bunch would try to burn me alive."
"Tell us what?!" Chad snapped.
"And why would we try to burn you alive?" Mike added, exasperated.
The witch leaned her head back against the railing of the bunk bed behind her and sighed, staring detachedly up at the ceiling as one resigned to inevitable pain. She drew the Sending Stone from her pocket and held it out in her palm.
"Tabby, lass, say something into your stone."
The young girl peered up at her nervously, hands fiddling on the stone around her neck; she could sense the tensions just as acutely as the adults, if not more so. "Was I not supposed to tell anyone?" She asked, voice beginning to quiver as she added, "You said I could tell 'em. You said."
Fiona tilted her head down to look at her. "I did. You've done everything right. We're going to show them how it works now, yeah?"
"...Okay." She said hesitantly, and held the stone pendant of her oversized necklace up to her face. She said the activation phrase perfectly- Fiona felt a small spark of pride- and the stone began to glow. For a second, the teens around them stared at it with the same dumbfounded look as their adoptive fathers. "Hello?" Tabby said into the stone, and it echoed clearly from the stone in Fiona's hand.
Silence stretched for a long, long moment. Quietly, Mike asked, "What are you?"
"I don't suppose anyone knows what a hemomancer is?" Fiona asked. When she got only blank looks in response, she sighed. "Witch, warlock. Call it what you like. And by the way, Devon is my familiar, not a pet. He hates being called that."
"So you were lying to us?" Chad asked. "This whole time?"
"I have never once lied to you!" Fiona snapped, voice starting to rise. Julius almost imperceptibly nudged her with an elbow, shot her a hard look that she noted in her peripheral vision. Voice tight and carefully level, she went on, "Every question you have ever asked me, I have answered truthfully."
"Or not at all." Chad shot back bitterly.
"I'm entitled to some privacy."
"Were you ever going to tell us?" Mike asked softly.
"Yes. I was." She'd known that whenever they finally ended up at Elsinore, she'd have to tell them about all the things that go bump in the night- including, to some extent, herself.
Chad looked her over searchingly, suspiciously. "Are you human?
As human as the Van Helsing, she wanted to say. Instead, she said, "Biologically, the vampires are human. I'm a bit closer to normal than that." There was uneasy silence for a long, long moment. In the way that Mike and Chad looked at her, the way they looked at each other, she knew that their relationship had changed irrevocably and irreparably. If they had found out at a different time, in a better situation, perhaps things could have gotten close to normal again, but now…
Doesn't matter. She thought distantly. This friendship is going to be ash in a few hours anyway.
Finally, Fiona said, "Take some time for yourselves. We've got the perimeter for the night."
When the group of detainees was gathered above the bunker with her, Fiona called for Rook and Talon. All her humans went by callsigns when on mission, and Ian, codenamed Rook as the head of the squad of the same name, now resembled a member of a SWAT team more than the man who had once been a captain in the IRA. All her guards were in similar attire- automatic rifles, grey and black fatigues, body armor, black helmets with night vision goggles. The only thing to differentiate one shadowy form from another in the dark were the designs painted onto helmets and vests. Rook's was a raven-like bird with a white face and beak; Talon's was a vague outline of a bird, feet and talons extended toward the viewer and rendered in sharper detail.
"Talon, stick these guys in the perimeter and teach 'em what you can."
"On it, boss." She said, and looked over the assembled teens. "Com'on guys, with me."
As soon as they were out of hearing range, Ian said with disapproval, "New additions to the Johnsons, huh? Where do they even find all these kids?"
"That juvenile detention center."
His body tensed. "Christ. The little sociopaths that tortured Troy? I wouldn't let them anywhere near a weapon."
"They're desperate."
He gave her an evaluating look. "Desperate enough to come to Elsinore?"
"I didn't bring it up again." Her voice was tired and ragged, but hardened for a second when she added, "And I'm done asking." She deflated almost instantly, shoulders sagging.
Ian put an arm around her, and she leaned into his side. "We're doing the right thing." He soothed. "The Round Table approved it, and they don't approve of anything we do." The Round Table or The Cabinet were nicknames for the ruling council of Elsinore.
"The Round Table aren't about to destroy their relationship with these people."
"They'll come around, one day." He assured. "Once they're settled in, they'll see that this is for the better."
Fiona looked up at him and flashed a small smile. "Thanks for trying, love. Where are the Vultures?"
Ian called them over, and three humanoids materialized from the darkness. Two were males and one was female, and all were vampires. Fiona swept a quick look over them.
"Silus was out hunting, I suppose?" She asked, a little uneased by that. Silus was the oldest of her vampires, and one of only two turned through magic and sire-bonded directly to her. She would have much preferred him at the head of Vulture Squad for this.
"Probably. He wasn't at home." Ian answered.
"And you say you don't have favorites." Karl jested in his refined Berlin accent, sensing her unease; he was the oldest of the assembled group, and the other vampire bonded to her.
"It would be better if he were here. The vampire that did this… Lets get Jackdaw over here."
They called over Jackdaw, the other squad leader, and once she had joined them, Fiona explained all that she had just learned. Early into her story, a teenage boy- one of the detainees, whom she had noticed had some kind of speech impediment- emerged from the bunker and settled in to keep watch. Fiona smiled and waved, and moved her little group of advisors to huddle farther out of earshot.
"Kinda useless to keep watch now, ain't it?" Jackdaw asked. "Our perimeter is rock-solid."
But it's our perimeter, and the Johnsons don't trust me anymore.
Outwardly, Fiona only shrugged. "Let it be. It makes them feel better."
The witch summarized the vampire's attacks against the detainees and the Johnsons, then his past, and ended with the presence of Julius and the Van Helsing.
"Julius?" Victoria, the female vampire, asked. "Your Julius?"
"Your Julius?" Ian repeated, looking at her questioningly, almost accusingly. Victoria winced and shot the Celt an apologetic look. I'm going to hear about this later, Fiona thought with an internal sigh.
"You're missing the point, mates."
"The Van Helsing." Karl said knowingly.
"Aye, the Van Helsing. She complicates things. If the Johnsons don't go along with the Code 45, she'll put up a fight. Someone will get seriously hurt."
"We should find a way to isolate her." Ian said. "Subdue 'er away from-"
"No." Fiona interjected sharply, and looked at them each in turn as she said, "None of you are engaging the Van Helsing at all, even if she comes at us. If it comes to it, I'll deal with her." The witch did not particularly relish her chances in that scenario, but it would be leaps and bounds better than the regular humans. "And go easy on Julius and the Johnsons. These people have been through too much to start this relationship with violence. Only use force with them if they make the first move. Got it?" The humans and vampires around her nodded slowly. "Good. Now, I propose we wait a few hours before we execute the 45, but I'll hear arguments for earlier."
"Hours?" Jackdaw asked incredulously. "Warlock, if we're not back by morning, Elsinore will be spread thin-" The hatch to the bunker opened, and everyone looked over to see Vanessa climbing up.
"Vultures, out of sight." Fiona hissed at a whisper, and Malachi, Victoria, and Karl backed away from the light of Felix's fire and melted into the darkness. A little louder, as though they had never paused their conversation, she continued to Jackdaw, "We could stay the night if we need to. If we have to be spread thin, daylight is the time to do it."
Vanessa glanced over reflexively at hearing voices from the murky shadows around the fire. Fiona nodded to her, but the Van Helsing only scowled back before settling down with Felix. The Celt resisted the urge to roll her eyes and turned back to her guards.
"That was frosty." Jackdaw observed. "You shit in her cereal or something?"
"She doesn't understand the phrase neutral party." Fiona responded. Bemused, she added, "She actually took a swing at me downstairs."
"Christ." Ian said. "This is why we tell you to bring your security detail."
"She wasn't gonna murder me in front of the Johnsons, and Julius broke it up pretty fast." She glanced over to the Van Helsing, and sighed when she saw that Vanessa was keeping an eye on them, glancing over occasionally. "Let's go see the perimeter. We'll walk and talk."
The trio found Talon, who toured them around their perimeter to point out where the juvenile delinquents had been placed. Fiona made small adjustments as they went, trying to spread the kids out from each other so they could be easily disarmed when the 45 was executed. Perhaps ten minutes into this endeavor, Jackdaw glanced over her shoulder, then did a double take.
"Uh, boss?"
"Hmm?" Fiona asked, then followed her gaze back to the fire Felix and Vanessa had been sitting at. The Van Helsing was gone, and the boy was holding his neck, body tensed and curled into himself in pain. "Sweet Mary and Joseph." The Celt cursed, trotting toward him. He looked up as she approached, and shrunk back. "Easy, lad. It's Felix, right?"
Fiona could see now that there was blood on the hand on his neck. "I'm fine." The boy said defensively, words thick in a way that was insistently familiar, but which she couldn't quite place. She knelt in front of him.
"I can tell." She replied dryly. "Can I see it?" Felix shook his head furiously and edged away, and Fiona sighed and glanced around. "Vanessa took a chunk out of you, yeah?" He stared at her with wide eyes. "Can't say I'm surprised. She take off?" She tried not to sound too hopeful, but when he slowly nodded, exhilaration sung through her veins.
"She's gone?" Ian asked from where he hovered with Jackdaw and Talon.
"It's our lucky day." Fiona glanced over with a wide grin, and then her face fell serious. "Mates, this is the best chance we'll get. Disarm the delinquents- quietly- and gather them 'round. I'll be over in a minute." As they dispersed, Fiona looked back to Felix. "I can close that up, but I've got to touch you. Is that okay?"
His eyes darted over her, and then he nodded hesitantly. Fiona wrapped one hand around her necklace- now a pale pinkish-red instead of vibrant crimson- and placed the other below the wound on Felix's neck, and a phrase had the crystal pendant warming to almost painfully hot in her hand as the boy's wound slowly pulled itself together. When it was closed, Fiona settled onto the ground, pulled out her satellite phone, and dialed for Elsinore.
"Warlock to Elsinore. You in, Druid?" She said into it, and then paused to listen. "We're good. ETA is about forty minutes. I still have to draw the Circle, and then execute the 45." Another pause. "Because I didn't use one to get here, and now I'm almost out of reserves. I might have to open a vein to get back… What are you, my mother? Just have the quarantine wing ready and medical on standby." Yet another pause. "Love you too. Warlock out."
As Fiona slid the antenna down on the sat phone and shoved it back into her pocket, her people were already hard at work around them. Teenagers were being brought in ones and twos to huddle in a group at the edge of the fire's light, waiting under the supervision of Talon and two other Rooks. The witch sighed, stretched, and stood, and then glanced to Felix.
"Right now I count you as a Johnson, same as Troy. All I ask is that you stay here and stay quiet, or I might have to count you as one of them." She paused. "My, that sounded quite ominous, didn't it? We're not going to hurt them, but I just might leave them out here."
"Warlock." Ian called from the darkness, "This is the last of them."
Fiona joined him and surveyed the small group of teens, who were now hemmed in by four guards and huddled together, glancing about like nervous, flighty animals.
"Alright, listen up, because I won't be repeating myself." Fiona began, and the delinquents' nervous gazes honed in on her. "I and my people are about to attempt the evacuation of the Johnson family, possibly by force. They will come under my protection and be relocated to a facility with electricity and running water and medical care. Unfortunately, I do not count you as members of their family." Anxious whispers swept through the small group. She looked across their faces and continued, "All I know of you lot is the tortures you have inflicted upon others of your group. By the laws of this land and this time, I understand that you are children. But these were not the actions of children, and in these times I cannot afford to treat you as such." Now they were deathly quiet, a mixture of nervousness and shame and wariness across their young faces. "The Johnsons see it differently, I'm sure. They would lobby that I extend my invitation to you. So this is my offer. All who want to may come to Elsinore and join my organization. You will be provided with food, shelter, and a better chance at surviving this apocalypse than you will have out here. In return, you will be expected to behave as adults. That means working, following orders, and playing well with others. If you find these terms unacceptable, by all means, try your chances out here. If you're coming, go with Talon over there. If not, stay here and stay quiet."
Without another word, Fiona turned on her heels and walked away. Rook followed after her, standing a few feet back as she found a suitably long stick and began carving a pattern into the dirt.
"Not your most charming speech." Rook observed as he watched. "You'd catch more flies with honey, y'know."
"These aren't flies, they're bloody hornets." She griped back. "I don't know if we should be catching them at all."
"Y'know I'm with you on that." Ian said quietly. "But Cor- Druid would want to help them. A softer touch might coax them along."
"Then by all means, get on with the soft touching."
Ian made an incoherent grumbling sound at her and fell silent. She spent several minutes on what she was drawing on the ground, starting with a ten-foot circle that elicited croaks and rumbles from Devon in the trees above them, and in turn cursing and re-drawing from Fiona. Once it was almost perfectly round, she began meticulously adding symbols along the inside edge of it. She was halfway done when a commotion from the bunker's hatch drew her attention. She glanced over and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"One thing after another," She grumbled, stepping carefully over her drawings in the ground and handing Ian her stick. "Make sure no one steps on my Circle."
The Celt trotted back towards the fire and the hatch, and even in the dark, the stature of the figure arguing with Jackdaw left no doubt as to who it was. Jackdaw glanced over at her approach, easing back a half-step as Julius turned to the witch, looking none too happy.
"Fiona-"
"Julius."
"What do you think you're doing with these kids?!" He swept a hand towards the teens.
"We took their weapons and had a little chat about not mutilating each other."
He fixed her with a hard evaluating look; they had known each other long enough for him to sense the half-lie. "What are you up to?"
Fiona's lips twitched back towards a snarl, anger flickering to life in her chest. She had given up on Mike and Chad, but Julius should have known her better. "You listen to me, Romanski," She growled, stepping up into his personal space, "We are the only people in this entire camp who are doing something that might actually keep these people alive. So do me a favor and ease off with the fucking accusatory tone."
Julius leaned forward just slightly, glaring down at her. He knows I hate his bloody towering, she thought bitterly. "That," He said lowly, "Wasn't an answer."
"My, my, Julius." Karl practically purred. Behind Julius, the trio of vampires had materialized like wraiths in response to their raised voices. The blond German stalked a half-circle around the taller man, sweeping an openly predatory gaze over him. "Don't you look good enough to eat."
"Karl." Fiona scolded, exasperated.
"Karl, Victoria." Julius greeted cooly, head turning slowly to track them as the group circled around him to assemble behind Fiona.
"Malachi." The youngest vampire introduced himself with a grin that flashed too-sharp canines. "I thought you'd be shorter, Julius. How exactly did this height difference work out?" He asked with a glance to Fiona, who stood a solid foot shorter than the former vampire.
Victoria patted Malachi on the shoulder. "I'll draw you a diagram later, honey."
A flush crept up Julius's face, and Fiona sighed again, loudly.
"Knock it off." She commanded her vampires. "You're already on HR's shit list."
"Why should we care about human resources?" Victoria asked.
"Sorry to inform you, love, but you're still human."
"Fiona." Julius cut in, and now it was his turn to be exasperated. "What's going on? And where's Vanessa?"
She didn't tell him? Interesting. "She took off. Bit a chunk out of Felix first. How long has that been going on?"
For a split-second, he looked at her with the expression of a startled deer. "She's gone? Why didn't you come get me?!" His voice grew louder on almost every word, and then he glanced over Fiona's shoulder, telling her that Karl had bared his teeth in warning behind her.
"I'm not your bloody babysitter." Fiona replied levelly. "And for the record, I thought that the Van Helsing would have the sense to tell her people where she's going."
Jackdaw scoffed behind her and muttered, "Like you do with your security detail?"
Fiona scowled over at her, and Devon cackled from the trees above them. Julius was already stalking back towards the hatch to the bunker, yanking it open and sliding down the ladder. Distant male voices filtered up, and the frantic snippets of conversation Fiona caught made her sigh and look skyward.
"Sweet Mary. He's going after her." The witch distantly wondered why all the men in the camp seemed incapable of coming up with good ideas. "Vultures, follow him when he leaves. Stay out of sight if you can, but keep him alive. I'll pick you up at the Mount Hood cabin in two days."
"Why? You in a sentimental mood or something?" Malachi asked.
Fiona rolled her eyes. "I want him at Elsinore one day. I'm willing to invest some resources if it keeps him in one piece till then." And, though she wouldn't admit it, she was in a sentimental mood. It was dangerously humanizing to have found out that Julius was good with kids.
Less than a minute later, Julius was back up the ladder, one of Mike's shotguns in hand. "Watch out for the Johnsons while I'm gone." he said to Fiona as he loaded shells into the gun. She made a face at him.
"Since when do you know how to shoot?"
"We had guns in my day."
Fiona hmmphed and looked him over, not comforted by the statement, chewing on her bottom lip indecisively. "You want a ward?"
His head came up. "Really?" Fiona had put them on Julius a handful of times before; he knew she didn't dole them out lightly.
This is a bad idea, Fiona thought. I'll be lucky if I don't pass out trying to get us home.
The Celt let out a slow, controlled breath. "Aye. Let's do it." Immediately, her head swung around to her vampires as she added, "And you three will be silent, got it?"
They nodded solemnly, but watched with delight as Julius handed the shotgun to Jackdaw, and both he and Fiona both began to peel off jackets and shirts.
"Bloody fucking Christ, it's cold." Fiona complained as she pulled off her black sweater, leaving her in only a sports bra in the freezing winter air. The web of tattoos on her arms extended across her chest and wrapped around her shoulders to cross her upper back; a few others symbols were interspersed sparingly across her lower torso. Next to her, Julius was also shivering and shirtless, and Fiona glared around him at her leering vampires until they looked away. Then she pulled her dagger out of her discarded jacket and handed it to Julius.
"Between the shoulder blades." She reminded him, turning around.
"Yeah, I remember."
He put one hand on her shoulder and placed the tip of the knife to the shield knot between Fiona's shoulder blades. She nodded, and he made a small cut in the center of the tattoo. He handed the knife back and sank to one knee, one forearm across his leg and the other hand braced on the ground. Fiona wrapped one hand around her pendant and placed the other palm square between his broad shoulders.
"This one's for the pain." She said, and Julius glanced back over his shoulder at her in surprise. A phrase in Gaelic had the skin on both of their backs warming to the edge of pain, and in the cold air, steam began to rise off of them almost immediately. Fiona was vaguely aware of Karl's searching look; he knew that that particular spell did not eliminate pain, only transferred a portion of it to another person. "Now the ward."
The witch's lips pressed into a thin, hard line as she braced herself and split her mind in two, reciting the words to the ward even as she held focus on the other spell. She and Julius tensed at the same time as the heat on their backs turned to white-hot pain. Steam billowed off of them, and three seconds in, Fiona bared gritted teeth as her back burned hotter and hotter. The steam and the firelight seemed to play odd tricks with the shadows across their skin. After five seconds, Fiona's knees started to buckle underneath her, and she had to brace her other hand against Julius's shoulder to keep herself standing. Her people stepped closer, concerned, but dared not interfere.
Then it was done, and Fiona staggered back, breathing raggedly; Karl stepped forward, letting her steady herself with a hand on his arm. Between Julius's shoulder blades, the same shield knot from her back had burned itself into his skin. The spell would fade in a few hours, and the burn in a few days, but for now, trying to pierce his skin would be like trying to pierce a rhino's.
"Fiona?" Julius asked, brow furrowing in concern, turning as he rose. "Hey, you alright?"
The witch nodded, though she was still using Karl to hold herself up. "Just stung like a bitch."
The concern didn't leave his face, but he stooped to collect their shirts and jackets and handed Fiona's back to her. They redressed in efficient silence, and Jackdaw handed the shotgun back to Julius. He nodded to her and then looked to Fiona.
"Thank you", he said, at the same time that Fiona said, "Good luck." For the first time in the night, the pair grinned at each other.
"Keep them safe." Julius added.
"Mate, I promise you that they'll be safer tonight than they have been in years."
She could see in his face that he trusted that statement. If he knew how she'd be keeping them safe, it would have been a fight, but the sentiment was honest. He set off into the night, and the minute he was out of hearing range, Karl leaned in.
Quietly and in German, Karl asked, "Why did you do that first spell?"
In the same language, Fiona responded, "I'm cutting it close on energy. It would've taken too much to fight his nervous system."
"Why did you do it at all?" He hissed.
Her expression shuttered. "You have orders. Get to it."
The vampire stared for a second, then spun on his heels and stalked away, and Victoria and Malachi followed him as they disappeared into the took a deep breath and turned back towards Jackdaw and, some yards behind her, Talon and the juveniles, who were all openly gawking.
"Jackdaw, bring the perimeter into thirty meters around the hatch and switch everyone to rubber bullets." Jackdaw nodded and trotted away, and Fiona crossed back to where Ian still stood, holding her stick and looking none too happy about what he had watched. "Rook, pull three of your squad out of the perimeter to exfil the kids in the bunker."
Ian handed her her stick and brushed past her without a word. Devon clicked his beak at her and sent a thought down the familiar-bond, and Fiona glanced up to him as she resumed drawing her circle.
"Jealous? You think?" The raven clicked in response, and the witch let out a frustrated sound. "He said he could do no strings, and now he's jealous? Who in their right mind would think that that looked fun enough to be jealous over?"
Witch and familiar continued to complain as Fiona rapidly finished adding the symbols to her circle in the dirt. Some of her guards appeared just outside it as she worked, hovering a few feet away as they kept their thirty meter perimeter. When she was done, Rook and three members of his squad were waiting.
"I'll call Mike and Chad up. You lot will separate the Johnson kids from any weapons they might have and get them up from the bunker."
Her people nodded, deathly serious, and Fiona trotted towards the bunker. "Talon, Jackdaw." The pair of women joined her as she walked. "When I get Mike and Chad up here, keep close to them. They're not going to be happy about this."
"Got it, boss." Talon said, and Jackdaw nodded. They waited a few yards away as Fiona opened the hatch and slid down the ladder.
Everyone looked up at her when she hit the bottom. They must have been preparing for bed, because the lanterns and candles had been dimmed down, and most of the kids were curled up in the bunk beds. Fiona honed in on Mike and Chad, still sitting together at the other end of the bunker.
"Lads," She said, quiet but serious, "You need to come see this." They glanced to each other warily, and then to her. Without a word, they rose, Chad swinging his M16 over his shoulder and passing Mike a bow and quiver. "It's not like that." Fiona added, meaning that it wasn't dangerous. The pair glanced to each other again, and came to the ladder with weapons still in hand. The witch schooled her face before she could frown.
Fiona went up the hatch first, and mouthed Armed to Jackdaw and Talon. Mike and Chad glanced around warily as they emerged, and Fiona quietly shut the hatch behind them.
"I thought you were putting the kids in your perimeter?" Mike asked, brow furrowed in a mix of confusion and disapproval at the assembled group of teens, and then Talon and Jackdaw stepped forward, rifles at the ready.
"Weapons." Jackdaw ordered.
"Excuse me?" Chad said sharply, and both he and Mike looked to Fiona, expecting her to intervene. She only looked back at them, face cold and impassive. "Fiona, you can't be serious!"
Jackdaw leveled her rifle at Chad, and Talon at Mike. "Weapons." She repeated. The couple didn't move, but with guns at their chests, neither resisted as the women took Mike's bow and Chad's gun.
"So we can't have weapons on our own land?" Chad demanded. The women had lowered their guns, but were crowding Chad and his partner back from the hatch. Mike was silent, staring at Fiona with mounting suspicion and horror.
"I'm sorry about this, lads." She said cooly.
There was fear and betrayal on Mike's face. Chad scoffed, thinking she was referring to disarming them. It was only when Rook and his three squadmates opened the hatch and began to file down that he realized the situation, and his eyes went wide.
"What do you think you're doing?!" He demanded, taking a few steps forward as though to intervene. Jackdaw put a hand on his chest and shoved him back, rifle coming up once again. Behind Talon and Jackdaw, Fiona stood defensively in front of the hatch, armed crossed, face unreadable.
"What are you doing?!" Chad demanded again, looking directly at Fiona now, voice pitching higher with anxiety. He already knew, but he needed to hear it for it to be real.
Her lips twitched back at the corners, half a snarl, half a bitter smile.
"Think of me as the apocalyptic Child Services."
For a deathly silent minute, both of the Johnsons simply stared at her.
"Fiona," Mike began softly, imploringly, "You can't do this. Don't do this."
"Don't do this?" She snarled back, cold façade melting into frustration and a deep, visceral anger. "I should have done this last week! I should have, but I didn't, and now six kids are dead, and that is on my head for the next bloody millennia!" She was shouting, and she took a breath and lowered her voice. "This madness ends now. I don't care what you two do, but those kids are coming with me."
Behind her, someone was coming up the ladder, and Fiona turned and offered a hand up to a blond teenage girl.
"Hey, Chloe. Go stand with Daurian over there. Wave, Daurian!" He waved so that the teen would know which one was him. Chloe, the eldest of the Johnson girls at sixteen, glanced nervously at Mike and Chad, still stood at gunpoint only yards away.
"Chloe-" Chad began.
"Quiet." Jackdaw snapped.
"Easy, everyone." Fiona said with just the slightest edge in her voice, glancing over at them briefly before refocusing on Chloe with a tight smile. "No one's gonna get hurt, you have my word. Things are just a little tense. Go stand with Daurian, yeah?" The girl looked between the adults, and the guns, and slowly began to walk to Daurian. Fiona let out a breath.
"Felix, you too." She added. Felix hadn't moved from the fire since she'd healed his neck, watching everything in wide-eyed silence. He too glanced nervously between Fiona and the Johnsons, and then went to join Chloe.
One by one, the handful of Johnson kids emerged from the bunker, most of them nervous, some only half-awake. With Chloe being their eldest sister, they filed over to her and Felix with little resistance, and Fiona stepped away and pulled out the sat phone again. When Cormac picked up on the other end, all Fiona said was, "ETA is ten minutes."
When she turned back, Rook's squadmates were climbing up from the bunker, the first man turning back to help up the next, who was carrying Ryan. Rook came up last, Tabby in his arms. Ian nodded to her, confirming that they had all of them, and she nodded back. Then Fiona fixed Mike and Chad with a cold, serious look.
"Last chance. Staying or coming?" They stared back at her, completely at a loss, faces the picture of grief and betrayal. She turned away. "You've got 'bout one minute to change your mind." She turned and walked towards the Circle, voice raising to carry out everyone else. "Prepare for exfil. Daurian and West, take the Johnson kids through first. The new kids go next, then go reverse rank order by squad, Jackdaws first. Rook, you're on me."
Daurian herded his handful of charges to the edge of the Circle and was joined by West, the soldier carrying Ryan. Rook passed Tabby, half-awake and rubbing her eyes as she looked around in confusion, off to Daurian.
Fiona stepped up to the edge of the teleportation circle and rolled up her left sleeve as Devon landed on her shoulder. This is going to be unpleasant, she thought as she held her bare left forearm over the Circle and drew her dagger. She began to chant low and smooth in Gaelic, voice unwavering as she made a cut across the inside of her forearm. When the blood fell onto the symbol in the ground, every line lit up with a vibrant red light, and a red glowing line appeared in the air above the center of the Circle, expanding to a portal much like the one she had arrived in. On the other side, a long room was visible, the walls lined with beds. A group of nurses and doctors looked over and jolted into motion, preparing for the incoming people.
"Daurian, get them through." Fiona commanded, voice already strained. The Johnson children were gawking, and that made it easy to push the first kids through. She was distantly aware that Mike and Chad were shouting now, trying to push bodily past Talon and Jackdaw; it was quickly escalating to a fight. Too late, the last few kids realized that they were being separated from their fathers, but Daurian shoved them bodily into the people waiting on the other side, and then stepped through with West and Ryan.
Fiona began to shiver uncontrollably, the bleeding arm she still held over the Circle visibly shaking. Devon rubbed his head against her chin and clicked encouragement. Two more soldiers were already arriving at the Circle with the half-dozen juvenile detainees who were coming with them. They stepped through the portal with some nerves but no resistance. Dizziness was starting to creep into Fiona's head.
Why does punching a hole through space-time have to take so much energy? She thought with sarcastic bemusement.
The Jackdaws were next, backing through one by one. Fiona gritted her teeth against the sensation of being both unbearably hot and numb with cold, swaying in place. Rook put a hand on her shoulder to keep her balanced. Just a few more seconds-
"Gun!" Jackdaw yelled, and Fiona's head jerked around, and Chad had a pistol- where the hell did he get a pistol- and the world became chaos. The first shot seemed deafening, and Talon was knocked to the ground from the impact of the bullet on her vest. Jackdaw and the remaining Rooks opened fire in a panic, the impact of rubber bullets staggering Chad. Mike dove for Talon and fought for control of her gun, and Rook lifted his rifle and pumped pellets into him; he jerked back, Talon's rifle in hand.
"Retreat, now!" Ian shouted, and the portal flickered as Fiona's focus slipped, caught in indecision between helping them or holding the spell. Jackdaw bolted to Talon, rubber pellets glancing off her body armor as she grabbed Talon's vest and dragged her back towards the portal. Ian stepped in front of Fiona, and barked without looking, "Keep it open, Fiona."
Chad had one arm across his face to protect his head as he staggered toward the portal, face twisted in pain and body jerking whenever a pellet bounced off him. The four remaining Rooks had backed to the edge of the Circle, struggling to keep up a volley of covering fire as Mike returned rubber rounds at their unarmored shins and Chad fired live rounds in half-blind shots.
Black spots were swimming in Fiona's vision, but she heard a rifle click on an empty magazine next to her. "No live rounds!" She shouted over the noise, and a man cursed and ducked back through the portal. Jackdaw made it back to Circle and dropped Talon, who scrambled the rest of the way herself. Chad had gained ground. Fiona nearly tipped over, shivering so violently that her whole body was shaking uncontrollably, but her mother had trained her well, and as long as she was conscious, nothing short of a major wound would get her to drop the spell now. Jackdaw caught her, holding her up from behind with an arm around her waist.
"Out, now!" Rook shouted, still keeping in front of Fiona's, shielding her unarmored body with his armored one as Jackdaw drug her back through the portal, holding her up just on the other side so she could still see through. The only thing she could hold in her mind was the spell; she watched everything else as though it was happening in a dream, only distantly aware that it was supposed to be real.
The last two Rooks backed through, leaving only Ian a few steps in front of them. They were still firing for a half-second before their guns clicked on empty at nearly the same time, and Chad looked up at the sudden drop in noise and impacts, eyes wide in animal desperation and fear as he realized the portal would close any second. His arm jerked up, and he fired again. Ian crumpled back, blood gushing from his neck, half in and half out of the portal. Fiona stared, uncomprehending. Jackdaw shouted, dropped her, and dove for Ian, and the witch fell straight to the ground.
Jackdaw yanked Ian through, and the portal snapped shut, and Fiona passed out.