Naomi was hesitant to get in Joan's car, but her aunt showed no sign of attacking. Joan was relaxed. Scarily so after she had tortured and gutted Simmons. They had left his body where he died. Joan had set the body on fire and assured Naomi that Simmons would turn into nothing but ashes. It had been dark, and difficult to see Simmons' body in the streetlights. She couldn't get the image out of her head. It was surreal to see his dead body and guts spewing dark blood onto blackness of the pavement. Naomi rode in the passenger's seat in silence while Joan shook her thermos and rattled the metal straw around the empty cup.
"This batch sucks." Joan muttered.
Lancer was in his spirit form, so Naomi had no idea where he was. In the car or following alone outside. Likewise, Joan's Assassin was missing. Naomi was glad for that. She was sure the Servants were keeping tabs on each other.
"What did you make it out of this time?" Naomi's asked through the tension.
"I tried adding a herb blend to make it taste better. It came out disgusting and I'm not full at all."
Joan slapped the thermos into the cars cup holder and the straw ping-ponged around the rim with metal clanks. There were dried flakes of blood crusting the bright green paint.
Naomi tore her eyes away from the thermos. "You don't seem bothered after killing someone."
Joan gave her a side glance before returning her attention to the road. Her eyes narrowed and she sighed softly. "You need to toughen up. Fast. Miss 'I want to be a magus.' If you really want to be a mage then that won't be the last dead body you see. I promise you that."
Naomi glared. There was no reason for Joan to bring up that topic. This was about her aunt. "You've killed before?"
"Yes!" Joan admitted angrily. "I've killed a lot of people. A lot of mages. It put food on the table and it was the only thing I knew how to do."
Naomi's mouth fell open. Never in a million years would she have taken her aunt for a serial killer. "How many? You hate mages that much? You're a mage!"
"Listen to me!" Joan slammed the breaks and pulled over to the side of the road. She turned fully to Naomi.
"I killed out of control mages for the Church. They were criminals slightly less worse than the ones from home."
"The Church fucking what?" Naomi's voice rose an extra octave in disbelief. "You're a hit man? Is this a fucking joke? You've been acting psycho since the Grail War started."
"Shut up and listen!" Joan barked then took a shaky breath that barely helped cool her frustration. "This isn't a joke. I have to keep these mages from getting the Grail. We need that Grail."
"What is wrong with you?" It felt like the world was tilting and Naomi grabbed the arm rest to stay grounded. "Why do you need the Grail so bad?"
Joan's knuckles turned white around the steering wheel. "I'll tell you at home. It's not a good idea to sit out here in the open."
Naomi simultaneously wanted to throttle her aunt and jump out of the car as Joan pulled back onto the street with more gas than necessary.
After suffering an hour of tense silence, they pulled into Joan's driveway that went through a short stretch of woods before making it to her two-story house. When she first moved out to her small plot of 10 acres, it was in the middle of the country. Now it bordered the suburbs that had been creeping toward the country with the city's expansion. Joan often complained about construction and congestion it caused.
There was a separate, dedicated greenhouse with a well-tended garden surrounding it. Naomi couldn't see it in the dark, but she had spent a lot of time in her aunt's garden playing. She pretended to be studying magic behind the hedges and large stone fountain with a swan in the center was her pretend teacher desk. Naomi still remembered when Joan caught her there with the runic tome and tried to burn it. That was the last time she played pretend in the garden. Naomi had cried to her parents and then that was the end of her being babysat by Joan. The next time she stepped foot into Joan's house was when she was an adult.
Joan parked the car and the two of them entered her house. Joan was a self-made botanist. Trays of herbs grew on almost every counter surface with artificial lighting encouraging the plants to grow. Regular plants hung from the ceiling and sat in pots strewn around the room. Her house always smelled earthy and made Naomi sneeze. Joan once told her that she used to live in a desert with no plants, so she wanted to surround herself with them.
Joan did a quick wash of her thermos in the sink and pulled a blender forward on the counter. She started plucking herbs with more force than necessary from her nearby growing planters then hurried into the pantry to take out large canisters of protein powder. It was likely a mix of several different brands dumped into one container. She poured them in with haste and added liquid before blending it all together.
She poured the concoction into her thermos and took a gulp like a starving animal. Her face twisted in disgust, but she sucked it down.
"Better," she said after downing it.
"Have the doctors still not figured out what's wrong?" Naomi asked from where she stood by the couch. She didn't want to sit after a long car drive, and her nerves still hadn't fully calmed down.
Joan always had an unusually active metabolism. She had to constantly eat to keep up her weight. For the longest time, Joan looked like the wind would blow her over because she was so thin.
Naomi still couldn't wrap her head around the fact her aunt was hit man.
"Course not. And they never will." Joan made another drink and sat down on the couch across from Naomi. "But forget that. Tell me about this Edward. Or do you want a drink first, sweetie?"
Joan had snapped back to acting normal, but Naomi couldn't shake the tension in her muscles.
"Why do you kill for the Church? Was it the local church?"
Joan suddenly looked tired. "I used to. That's not my job anymore. It paid the bills. And no. The Church is an entity." Joan paused to gauge Naomi's reaction she but offered none. "Someone has to police mages who go too far. Normal people can't stop a person with high magic skill. Though some mages didn't deserve being hunted…Please. Tell me about this Edward."
Naomi dug her fingernails into the tips of her thumb. She didn't want to tell Joan about Edward and wanted to hear more about this hit-man job Naomi never knew about.
"A stuck-up jerk. He has a lot of Command Seals. Way more than normal. He can command Servants who aren't his," she said hotly.
"He's the overseer." Joan concluded. "What did you do to draw his attention?"
"You know?" Naomi balked that Joan knew Edward's position just from her description of him. "Why didn't you tell me there was someone who could use my Servant against me?"
Joan's brow pinched. "Because it wasn't supposed to be a problem. You weren't supposed to be fighting. But now it's too late."
"Any other Grail War rules I should know about that could get me killed?" Naomi growled.
Joan pursed her lips. "No. Just. Don't let more people know about you than necessary sweetie."
"And he's from the Mage Association." Naomi added knowing full well the information would be pure gasoline being thrown onto Joan.
Joan's eyes turned dark. "That's a problem. Shit. And he knows you have a Servant?"
"Duh," Naomi couldn't help spitting the word. She was beyond caring if her aunt got mad. Naomi was too angry herself.
"Shit." Joan began pacing. "Shit, shit."
"What does that matter?" Naomi knew Joan hated the Mage Association, but she seemed more perturbed that Edward knew about her Servant.
Joan turned on her heel and annunciated each word, "It. Matters. You're an unregistered magus." She growled in frustration. "Not only have you exposed yourself as a Master, but only mages can be a Master. So now they know. You screwed up! You want to know what kind of people I killed? You just made yourself a target!"
Naomi griped the back of the couch. "I'm going to keep screwing up because you never taught me jack shit! So, what? There's a mage census? Big fucking woop. I'll just register."
Joan matched Naomi's raised voice. "This is why! There is no place for you among Mages. Your magic is so weak you would be chewed up and spit out. They're evil and vile. They'll sell your organs to highest bidder and that's not an exaggeration. I killed a mage that was harvesting other mages for their liver."
Joan didn't have to tell her that much after Naomi witnessed Fuller melting people for parts. She still didn't care if some mages were psychos. She wanted to be competent enough to match Joan's magic.
Naomi moved in front of the couch, her heel still touching the leg of the furniture and crossed her arms. "How do you know if my magic is weak? You never let me have a chance to learn!"
"Because I know!" Joan walked toward her, and Naomi felt a primal fear shoot up in her chest.
Joan would lose her mind if she knew Naomi was trying to be admitted to the Clock Tower. Or that she had contacted a mage on her own before the Grail War started. She didn't want to even think about relaying that information. Joan could find out once Naomi was well and gone. If she won this war. If not, then. Well. She'd book a flight and harass her contact anyway.
Naomi leaned back, but held her ground, and Joan stopped short of knocking her over.
Joan lowered her voice. "It's a life you don't want." She chanted and fire gathered in her hand and Naomi finally took a step back.
"Are you going to set your house on fire?" Naomi uncrossed her arms in a shaky voice and prepared to pool prana into her runes. The prana was unsteady and wouldn't be enough to use the barrier spell she would want to use. "You've been acting crazy."
"Don't be stupid." Joan reached for Naomi with her flame engulphed hand and Naomi bolted out the garage door and to the outside.
Joan followed her out and a fireball skirted past Naomi and she wasn't sure if the miss was on purpose.
"You think I'm crazy? You haven't seen even a fraction of the depravity mages will stoop to. You don't know how to navigate that world."
Naomi turned to tell Joan to shut up and Lancer appeared behind her aunt. He grabbed Joan's wrist and yanked her arm in the air. The flames in Joan's hand winked out.
Lancer said smoothly. "I'd normally let people knock their problems out of each-other," Lancer said smoothly, "but I can't let you harm my Master."
"Lancer. Let her go." Naomi would fight Joan if she had to. Even if she lost or had to resort to strangling Joan with her bare hands. At this point it was a matter of pride. Naomi wasn't a great, or good magus, but she was sure she could be something more if given the time and resources.
Lancer released Joan's wrist.
"At least you ended up with a good Servant," Joan stepped away from Lancer. "It might be the only reason you're not dead. But he won't be around forever."
"From you?" Lancer snarked. "If you were actually serious about killing you wouldn't be standing there mouthing off right now."
Joan looked like she wanted to retort but decided against it.
"Yeah, he's good. The best Servant on the roster." Naomi couldn't deny what Joan said and agreed with Lancer. Joan wasn't really trying to kill her. Joan always overreacted when it came to magic and anything involving mages, but since the Grail War her reactions had been amplified. Joan also wasn't wrong that Lancer wouldn't be around forever. It was even more of a reason for her to learn magic.
Lancer rubbed his head and chuckled. "Keep flattering me like that and I might have to take you away from here." He gave her a smirk that would have normally made her cheeks flush, but Naomi was too agitated for it to relax her.
"No you won't," Joan said vehemently. "You're not leaving until you tell me about this overseer Master. Who is his Servant? And what interaction have you had with him? How-"
Assassin appeared before Joan and vigorously pointed behind her into the dark woods. "Mommy, there's a scary looking monster on the road. Should I kill it?"
Naomi wasn't sure what weirded her out more. A child Assassin Servant, or a child Assassin calling her aunt mommy.
"Depends. What kind of monster?" Joan asked in a calm voice, but her shoulders prickled upward.
Lancer's pupils slitted, his nose crinkled, and his eyes widened. In a split second he vanished, and then a loud crash was heard a couple hundred feet away in the darkness.
Naomi saw a flash of sparks.
"Rider?" She asked incredulously. She was sure Lancer had finished her off.
"Not snake lady," Assassin said while holding onto the fabric of Joan's pants.
A second later fireworks went off miles away in the distance, but they weren't colorful. Bombs? The bang shook the air and Naomi could feel the concussion in her chest even though Lancer had flung it far away.
Something slightly darker than the rest of the night flew right at her and Naomi hardly had any time to react with more than a flinch when Assassin jump kicked the object away. Naomi heard a distinct ticking sound just before the object flew and an explosion lit up the trees. Naomi stood there stupefied at how close she had just come to turning into a statistic. The speed Servants moved at was truly frightening. She had no chance of defending herself if one decided to murder her.
"Score!" Assassin pumped her fist into the air. "Did you see that mommy? I kicked it like the soccer ball on the TV!" She looked up with childish expectation at Joan. "I did like you said. I didn't let a mean thing hurt my sister."
"You did great," Joan praised with an edge of nervousness in her voice. "You did a good job. You kicked that soccer ball right out of the park."
Naomi's face skewed up in confusion. She really hoped Assassin hadn't just referred to her as sister. The idea did not sit well in her stomach.
The explosions stopped as soon as they had started. Naomi and Joan held their breaths, and both nearly jumped out of their skin when Lancer appeared in front with such speed, he looked like he had teleported. His eyes darted around the edge of the woods, but his weapon wasn't raised.
"I think the home warming gift is over."
When Naomi finally breathed in oxygen, she asked, "Who was it?"
Cu wrinkled his nose. "It stank of Caster, but the guy wasn't even here. I bet it was a timed trap. Or a remote one. Casters have a bad habit of leaving nasty presents wherever they go."
"Damn it," Joan cursed. "Fuller is pulling pranks again."
"A prank?" Naomi spat. "Trying to murder someone is a prank. Fine then."
"I have to agree with her on this one." Lancer offered an apologetic smile and raised his hands in submission when Naomi glared at him. "It wasn't a heartfelt assault. And it was like he made sure I sensed it before it went off."
"Opposed to a friendly assault?" Naomi's raising voice nearly cracked. Tiredness was catching up with her. She wanted to go to sleep, and eat, and shower. Not in that order.
Joan waved her hand in the air as if batting away mosquitos, but it was the wrong time of year for those bloodsuckers.
"Fuller does this. He thinks it's funny to show off that he knows where I live but I don't know where he lives. That's not the first stupid thing he's done."
"Are you two playing some kind of stupid game?" Naomi prayed Fuller wouldn't start attacking her at her home, too. Having her aunt's Servant break into her house was more than enough to rattle her sense of peace in the one place she should feel safe.
Naomi still wasn't over that. Something had switched in Joan, and that had been the starting point.
"It seems that way. I'd rather split his face open and be done with it. Which I'm going to do once I find him." Joan sounded mildly annoyed by the ordeal.
Naomi wondered if Fuller knew she was here, or that Simmons was dead. Maybe he was watching them right now, though Lancer said there was nothing. She should listen to him and try to keep herself from spiraling into paranoia.
"That's just great. I'm going home." Naomi had her fill of her aunt for the night, and of being awake.
"Wait," Joan got Naomi's attention with her 'you are in so much trouble' tone. "As much as I've tried to keep you away from mages. The Mage Association knows about you now. If you aren't hunted during the Grail War, they'll come after you when it's over. You should pack your bags and come live here."
"Hell no." Naomi balked. "I'm not moving in. Actually, I'm going home."
"It's only temporary. Until I can get the Mage Association off your back. That'll be after the Grail War but-"
"No," Naomi shut her down. Her aunt would stifle her, and Naomi knew Joan would prevent her from doing so much as lifting a finger or glancing at a tome. "I'm a magus and I'm in this Grail War. I'm not coming after you now, but eventually I will. I know I said I would be your ally in the Grail War, and I will be. But only until you're the only one left. Then our Servants will decide the winner."
Naomi was practically shaking from her declaration. She had decided Joan was no longer her ally. She would win the Grail War.
Joan crossed her arms. "It doesn't matter who wins so long as it's one of us. If you're so hell bent on fighting my Servant, fine. I'll promise you they can fight for the winner when all the other Masters are defeated."
"Fine," Naomi hated that Joan was being agreeable. "But I still won't move in."
Joan looked like she was thinking hard for a moment, but it was hard to see her exact expression in the near darkness.
"If you're so determined, then alight. But sweetie, let me know if anything is going wrong. Strengthen your wards and call me with any new information you have on Masters. I still want to hear more about Edward."
Naomi had definitely left out how far into deep shit she was with Edward. She had no intention of telling Joan just how deep or ask her for any kind of help if she could avoid it. Hell, she would avoid it. She had her own Servant and didn't need Joan.
Naomi beckoned Lancer to take her home.
"I've got your back, Master," Lancer said in Naomi's mind while he gave her a piggy-back ride home. "You can count on me to win the Grail War. And I swear on my pride as an ulster warrior I won't let anything happen ta ya."
Naomi finally cracked a smile. "I know I can count on you."