AN: This chapter takes place shortly after the previous one.
Vee gave the screen a questioning look. "So… remind me again why you chose this game?"
Luz shrugged. "Like I said, you're always talking about trying to avoid conflict when you can, so I figured this one was the natural choice."
"…You're sure that's the only reason?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
From the screen an echoing scream rang out, followed by a pained cry of "SNAAAAAKE!"
Vee gave an unamused look to Luz, who simply gave an innocent grin. The demon tossed the controller down and stood (was that still the right word if someone didn't have legs?) up. "I'm going to go grab some snacks," she declared.
It wasn't until Vee was actually in the kitchen the Luz realized the obvious problem to that statement. "Wait, we don't have any snacks!" she called out. "That's why Mom's at the store!"
"Oh, right," Vee muttered to herself. She was about to slither back over to the living room when the doorbell rang. "I got it!"
"Okay, don't forget to change!"
"I know, I know," Vee said, shifting into her human form and opening up the door.
And standing in the doorway was Lilith Clawthorne!
"Oh, hello," said Lilith freaking Clawthorne! "I wa-"
*SLAM!*
Lilith blinked at the suddenly-closed door. "Uh… okay then?"
Back inside, Vee pulled at her hair before running back over to her sister.
"Vee?" Luz stood up. "What's wrong?"
Vee pointed back to the front door. "Lilith Clawthorne is here!" she hissed.
"…Who?"
"The head of the Emperor's Coven?"
Luz paled. "Oh… shit." She took several deep breaths. "Okay… Okay, uh…" She pulled out her cell phone (with only a minimal amount of fumbling) and shoved it into Vee's hands. "Here, you remember how to use this?"
"Uh, yeah but-"
"Good, go out the back and call Mom, I'll try to stall her."
"Bu-"
"If she knew you were here we wouldn't be having this conversation, now go!" And with that she gave Vee a probably-harsher-than-intended shove and made her way to the front door.
"Bueno Luz, manten la calma, manten la calma," she muttered to herself. "Recordar, Vee es un humano normal, no sabes quién es, y este es solo alguien que asustó a tu hermana." {Okay Luz, stay cool, stay cool. Remember Vee is a normal human, you don't know who this is, and this is just someone who scared your sister} And with that she hid her fear behind her best angry-face (not hard, considering what Vee's said about her backstory) and swung the door open. "Who are you and what did you say to my sister?" she spat out.
Lilith, who had just been about to knock again, blinked. "I- I'm sorry, I… didn't mean to scare her… but all I did was say hello."
Luz looked the woman up and down. She was rather tall, wore a large sun hat on her head, and carried a shopping bag of some kind. However, her most notable features were a pair of mismatched eyes (which Luz could swear reminded her of something, but couldn't quite focus on why right now).
Glancing back into the house, Luz was relieved when she heard the faint closing of a door. "Yes well, she can be shy around… strangers." She looked back to Lilith. "Anyway, how can I help you?"
"Actually, um… I was hoping to speak with your mother."
Luz's eyes narrowed and she gave a small hum. That… was actually something she could use. "Well she's not her right now… but she will be soon! You're welcome to wait for her, if you want." After all, the more time she spent here the more time Vee had to get away.
Lilith frowned. "Are you sure? I could come back later if that would be better?"
"No, no! I-in fact, I insist!"
"Okay… In that case, would it be alright if I come in?"
Oh, crud… she didn't think that through, did she? "Uh…" Would that be alright? On one hand, it would let her keep a closer eye on her… but on the other, she really didn't feel comfortable inviting the Coven into her house. Plus, Luz had no idea if doing that would somehow make her more powerful somehow. She didn't think witches ran on vampire rules, but a lot of what she thought was apparently wrong, so who knew? Well, Vee would, obviously, but she wasn't here. "I'd… rather you not… I don't know you, no offense."
"…Understandable." Several seconds of awkward silence passed. "So… I guess I'll just wait here then?"
"Uh, yeah, sure…" There was then silence for several more seconds before Luz closed the door. She then leaned against it and finally allowed the panic to show on her face. "Mamá," she pleaded under her breath, "por favor, date prisa." {Mom, please hurry.}
On the other side of the door Lilith shrugged. "Guess I don't have anything better to do," she grumbled.
Camila pushed her cart up to the register. "Find everything you needed today?" the cashier asked as she stared passing items across the scanner.
"I did, thanks," Camila responded before a chirping came from her pocket. "Excuse me," she said, pulling out her phone and spared a glance at the caller ID before answering. "Hey Luz, If you thought of something else then it might be too late, I'm alm-"
"Mom you need to come home right now!" Vee's panicked voice came through.
"Vee? W-well don't worry, I'm almost done… did something happen?"
"Someone from the Emperor's Coven is here!"
"…What." Camila growled.
"I don't know, she just showed up and Luz told me to run and now she's stalling her but I'm st-"
By this point Camila was already in the parking lot. "Vee, listen, I'm going to need you to take a deep breath. Where are you now?"
"I-I don't know; somewhere in the woods!"
"Okay, I'm going to need you to get somewhere safe." Camila fumbled with her keys. "I'll be there as soon as I can!"
"Please hurry, I don't know how lo- AGH!" *thump*
"Vee? Are you there?"
". . ."
"VEE!?"
"…I-I'm fine!" Camila gave a sigh of relief. "I just… found another trap."
Camila groaned as she got in her car, making a mental note to properly curse out whoever's setting those later. "Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Good. I'm on my way, just… be careful."
"I will."
Camila hung up and clenched the steering wheel. She may not have any firsthand experience with the Coven, but even half of what Vee said was true she knew they were bed news. And if someone touched so much as a hair on either her kids' heads… Oh they would pay. Someone would definitely pay.
The cashier looked over the abandoned pile of food. "So uh… who's going to pay for all this?"
Despite it feeling like several hours had passed, it didn't take long for Luz to hear the sound of a car rolling onto the driveway. Luz took a glimpse out the window, confirming that yes, Camila was indeed home, that Lilith was still there, and that the former was currently approaching the latter. Luz was relieved; now that Mom was home surely she would…
Wait, what would she do? What could she do? Luz knew her mother could be a force to be reckoned with, but this was a literal witch they were dealing with here! No, no she should stay calm, this witch probably didn't want people to know that fact, so all Mom had to do was answer whatever questions she had (or… whatever else she was here for), then she'd just leave and they'd all be able to think out their next move.
As she listened through the door, she tried to calm herself by saying everything was going to turn out just fi-
"Oh, hello, good morning Mrs. Noceda."
She… she knew her name? How? How did she know her name? Why did she know her name? And if she knew that, what els-
"Oh, Lilith." What. "Listen, I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry here." What?
"Don't worry, I just wanted to give you this. You know, as thanks." What was happening right now? "Also, we're done with this, so you can have it back."
"Well thanks, but I really don't have time for this! I-I'll catch you later, but I need to be going right now!"
"Okay, well… see you later then." And then her footsteps
Luz backed away from the door in a daze. The door then opened and Camila entered carrying a box of cookies and a… power drill?
…Luz probably should question that, but she had given up on logic at this point.
"Oh, Luz, thank god you're okay!" Camila said, placing the things down on the counter. "What's going on?"
"Sorry, you… you know her?" Luz pointed at the door.
"Who, Lilith? Yeah, she moved in the neighborhood a couple weeks ago." Camila waved her hand. "I'll introduce you later, right now what's this I hear about the Emperor's Coven?"
Lilith frowned as she walked down the Noceda family's front lawn. She hadn't expected them to be so rude. The second sister's reaction was understandable of course (she could easily see Eda doing the same thing back in the day), but the first sister slamming the door in her face? And even Mrs. Noceda seemed quick to get rid of her, which was rather unexpected. Granted, meeting someone twice wasn't really enough to get to know someone completely, but even so she never would have expected the woman to be quite so dismissive.
All in all, it was a rather unpleasant interaction, even with whatever personal issues were going on. Heck, if laying low wasn't the whole point of staying in this realm, she had half a mind to march right back up there and demand an apology.
"SHE'S WHAT!?"
…On the other hand, it sounded like the whole family was going through something right now, so maybe she should just come back later.
Jacob leaned back as he checked his computer. There really wasn't anything interesting though; nothing noteworthy on the forums, only a few new skeptical comments on his videos (which were quickly shut down by the true believers; he was so lucky to have so many people who actually took him seriously)… Oh, one of his cameras was triggered. It was probably nothing though, it never wa- wait, what the hell was that?
Scrambling to rewind the video, Jacob watched as one of those kids from the other day ran right into a trap, before transforming into some thing! The creature struggled for several seconds before reaching down and using its claws to pick off the string on its tail (apparently they weren't lying about that part at least), then turned back into its fake form, grabbed the phone it dropped, and continued on its way.
"Oh, you…" his hands curled into fists, "Sneaky little…"
Jacob abruptly stood and began pacing around the room. This was bad, this was very bad. Now not only did they know who he was, they knew where he worked, they knew what he knew… heck, they probably even knew where he lived…
But they didn't know he knew they knew what he knew…
A low chuckle escaped from his lips as he turned back to the screen. "Okay then, my little 'apprentices,'" he said with a grin, "two can play at that game." His smile faltered. "Although I suppose there was already two of you, so… three can play at that game? No, wait, there's also the ones in the shack, so… eight? Do those other things count, or are they just pets, or…" The witch hunter dismissed the thoughts with a shake of his head. "You know what, I'm over-complicating things; two sides can play at that game."
AN:
Lilith: "Good morning, random human."
Vee: "Good morning, symbol of a corrupt regime which encompasses all that I hate."
L: "…Wait, what?"
V: "I said 'good morning, Head Witch Lilith.'"
L: "Oh, okay… wait, what?"
Fun fact, the little scene at the beginning was originally part of a short I had planned, but I dropped it when all the jokes I had planned were either not TOH-specific (in which case what's the point?), or involved games I'm not overly familiar with and/or sure Luz would enjoy. That's not to say she wouldn't enjoy them, I just really didn't want to do that thing where I project my own interests onto the characters. It's a shame too, because I really liked some of those jokes, but it is what it is.