Chapter 22 - Ouroboros, Part 2

Inara stared at the wooden stake protruding from Corinne's chest, and then she looked slowly towards the smirking human with the machete. Dimly, she was aware of Corinne's body falling to the asphalt, but she didn't spare the blonde vampire a glance. She walked forwards, lifting her sword to attack, but she never got the chance.

A blur slammed into the man from behind, sending him flying past Inara. He landed hard on the asphalt, rolling as his machete skittered away. Colin stood there, looking downright murderous. His fangs were bared, his eyes were burning with hatred, and as he stalked forwards, the man dived for his machete.

"Nuh uh." Abigail said, and the human detective aimed her shotgun at the man, making him freeze. Colin reached the man, and he seized him by the collar and yanked him up before slamming him down again hard. Even Inara winced as the man's nose snapped under the force of Colin's vampiric strength. Blood sprayed out, and the man cried out in pain.

Colin snarled, a bestial, animalistic sound, and the vampire leaned down to sink his fangs into the man's throat and with a savage twist of his neck, he ripped the man's throat. A feeble gasp went up from the man, and then he went limp. Colin stepped back, panting hard, blood dripping down from his chin as he looked towards Corinne, who lay motionless. Abigail rushed to Corinne's side, and Inara stood and watched as Colin pressed in close on the other side.

"Should we..." Abigail asked hesitantly, but Colin grabbed the stake and yanked it out. In an instant, Corinne's eyes flew open, and she sat up, gasping for the air she didn't need. Abigail scrambled backwards with a cry of surprise, and Colin's eyes flew open. Corinne reached up, feeling for her chest, but the wound from the stake was already closing up before their very eyes.

"I thought stakes were usually more fatal." Inara said, relieved.

"He must have missed her heart." Colin shook his head. "Usually we don't come back from that."

Corinne let out a little cry of delight, and she threw her arms around Colin. The Parker twins embraced tightly, tears dripping from Corinne's eyes as she and Colin hugged.

"What's going on?" a voice asked, and Inara turned to see a naked Ellen limping over towards them. She was mostly unharmed, but she had a wicked cut across her side, right beneath the ribs.

"Corinne's alright." Inara relayed, and Ellen nodded.

"Great news." the werewolf winced. "Uh... I think one of those silver knives got me. I'm feeling it."

"Ah, shit." Inara huffed, and she jogged over to Ellen, sticking her sword back into the sheath on her back as she went. She slid beneath Ellen's arm and supported the girl as she helped her over to the van. Meg was waiting by the open doors of the van already, clearly she'd seen the pair of them coming.

"Silver, I'm guessing?" Meg checked, and Ellen nodded grimly.

"This is going to hurt. A lot." Meg admitted. "Inara, can you hold her still?"

"Yeah, I've got her." Inara sighed, nodding as she moved behind Ellen to grab her firmly and pin her. "You got this, Wolfie."

"Whew." Ellen exhaled. "Just do it fast."

Meg nodded, and she poured the bottle in her hand all over Ellen's wound. Ellen's head jerked back so fast she smacked it into Inara's face, but even through that, Inara held fast as the nude werewolf tried to squirm away.

"What in the hell are you doing to her?" Abigail asked incredulously, walking up holding her shotgun by the barrel in her injured arm while her free hand was pressed to the knife wound in her shoulder.

"Cleaning out the silver." Meg said with a sigh. "It hurts her a lot, but it means she'll heal much faster. OK, done! Let's get you bandaged. All of you."

Inara sat down beside Ellen on the edge of the van's interior, with the pained werewolf leaning into her shoulder. Meg was quick and efficient with the bandages, but Ellen's fingers slipped into Inara's and squeezed tightly as Meg unavoidably had to put some pressure on the wound. Inara returned the squeeze, but it didn't take long for Meg to finish and give Ellen a cleanish bill of health. Inara unbuckled the sheath on her back, tossing her sword to the floor of the van as she stripped off her leather jacket, offering it to Ellen.

"Thanks." Ellen smiled, taking the clothing gratefully. "I should have packed some extra clothes."

"Oh, I think I might have put a pair of sweatpants back there. I was worried I'd get cold." Meg frowned thoughtfully, looking up from fussing over Abigail's shoulder.

Ellen put on the leather jacket and zipped it up while Inara scrounged around for the aforementioned sweatpants.

"You packed clothes for in case you get chilly while preparing to fight a murderous warlock?" Inara had to laugh.

"Well, I'm not fighting a murderous warlock, I'm sitting in a cold van." Meg pointed out, making Abigail chuckle, though it turned into a wince as her shoulder moved.

Inara found the sweatpants tucked into a backpack, and tossed them Ellen's way. She pulled them up her long legs, and Inara frowned at Ellen. The sweatpants were significantly too short on Ellen, who was quite a bit taller than Meg.

"Leather jacket and sweatpants... you're rocking the look." Inara teased, and Ellen laughed, putting her back against the wall of the van and sliding down it until she was sitting on the ground. She yawned, patting her mouth with her hand a couple times.

"You think Jules is doing alright?" Ellen asked sleepily, and Inara shrugged. She felt a boiling pit of worry and nerves in the bottom of her stomach, but she refused to let any of that show.

"I'm sure he's doing fine." Inara shrugged. "He wouldn't have sent us off if there was trouble."

"True." Ellen agreed.

"Hey, uh, everyone?" a female voice asked, and Inara looked over to see Colin and Corinne walking up to the van.

"We're gonna head home." Colin shook his head. "I came way too close to losing my sister tonight."

"Really?" Inara asked, walking out of the van a bit crouched and hopping down to the asphalt of the parking lot, where she straightened up. "Our vampire support is leaving?"

"I'm sorry." Corinne apologized. Inara could tell the girl was rattled. Her skin was even paler than usual, and she seemed anxious and fidgety.

"You have nothing to apologize for." Abigail shook her head. "You almost just died, we'll be perfectly fine without you."

"Call me when it's all over, OK?" Corinne asked. "I wanna make sure everyone got out OK."

"Oh, you want Julian to call you and say night-night after you ditched him?" Inara lifted an eyebrow, and Abigail glared at her fiercely.

"Inara, shut up for once, alright?" Abigail scowled.

"We were all thinking it." Inara shrugged.

"Who do you think you are?" Colin demanded, stepping forwards angrily before Corinne put a hand on his arm and pulled him backwards.

"I'm sorry, Inara, really." Corinne said in a trembling voice. "I just... I can't stop shaking, I need some time."

"Fine." Inara shrugged, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her pants. "You do what you want."

Colin scowled at Inara, but Corinne took him by the arm and pulled him away. With a whoosh, the pair of vampire twins were gone into the night.

"Jules isn't answering." Ellen called, and Inara looked over to see the werewolf girl holding her phone, frowning.

"He did warn us he wouldn't be checking his phone." Abigail reminded her.

The driver's side door opened and Romero hopped out, coming around to look everyone over.

"Everything alright?" he checked, and there were lots of noises of assent.

"Peachy." Inara rolled her eyes.

"Alright, well, we need to figure out what we're gonna do with the bodies we just left in this parking lot." Romero warned them.

"Ugh." Inara groaned, lip curling in disgust. "Maybe our resident cop should do it."

"Why me?" Abigail protested. "I can't hide bodies!"

"Why not?" Inara asked incredulously. "You have no problem killing them, but hiding the evidence is some breach of morality?"

"I did leave one alive." Abigail mentioned. "I think he passed out from the pain, though."

"Great, so there's a witness." Inara scowled.

There was a whoosh from behind Inara, and she turned, expecting a Parker twin, but her stomach dropped when she saw who it was.

Alexandra Blackwood tumbled to the asphalt, coughing violently. Her hair was in disarray, her dress was stained with wine or blood, and it was torn a little bit. Her cheeks were flushed with exertion, her piercing blue eyes were unfocused, and she looked dazed and barely conscious.

"You... moved." Alexandra groaned accusingly. "You weren't where you said you'd be."

"What the hell happened to you?" Inara exclaimed. "Is Julian alright?"

"Benning has him." Alexandra shook her head. "The jengu as well. Ciara Sinclair betrayed us, Benning knew we were coming."

"Fuck!" Inara wiped a hand across her face, that roiling sea of nerves within her growing even stormier.

"Why did you leave?" Ellen demanded, climbing a bit haphazardly out of the van. "You should have saved him!"

"They poisoned me with aconite." Alexandra shook her head. "I'm halfway to torpor, I need blood.. Julian set me free, told me to run."

"That idiot." Inara shook her head, anger joining the anxiety.

"What are we going to do?" Abigail demanded. Alexandra sniffed the air, then her head whipped towards the carnage over by the serial killers' SUV.

The vampire zoomed towards the SUV, and as they watched her seize up the one Abigail had left alive, Inara side-eyed the human detective.

"I don't think we have to worry about that witness anymore." Inara stage-whispered, making Abigail's nostrils flare. She felt some twisted smugness in pissing Abigail off, and she glanced over towards Romero.

"Get this van on, Mero, we need to get back to the mansion." Inara said, and Romero nodded at once.

"I'm on it." he said at once.

"No!" Abigail exclaimed. "Ellen can drive, you two should stay here and deal with the bodies."

"Are you sure?" Romero checked, looking between Abigail, Inara, and Ellen.

"Positive." Abigail said firmly.

"Fine." Inara scowled. "But someone better call Corinne the Cowardly Vampire."

———

The van ride back to Cassius Benning's Brentwood mansion was a sober one. Alexandra Blackwood sat in the back with Inara, with blood still staining her chin, neck, and dress. In the state she'd been in, it was a wonder she hadn't broken the Law of Blood. She didn't look any more composed now than she did when she'd first arrived, if anything she looked even more feral, with the blood all down her front.

Meg had set to work taking care of Alexandra's little buffet, and Romero had just started putting bodies into the SUV when Ellen had pulled the van away. Inara's sword lay across her thighs, and she was staring down at the sheathed blade, running her fingers along the leather impatiently.

"Can't we go any faster?" Inara demanded, not even looking to the front of the van.

"You care for him." Alexandra spoke, and Inara did lift her head then.

"What do you mean?" Inara asked warily.

"The detective." Alexandra said. "I do not know you that well, djinn, but even I can see it. The pain and worry written across your face... I know it well."

"You don't know me." Inara scowled.

"I know enough." the Highsire shrugged. "Am I wrong? I have heard no denials."

Inara's eyes flicked to the front, where both girls were unmistakably listening. "You're wrong."

A small smirk spread across Alexandra's lips, and she nodded slowly. "Of course, of course. Worry not, however. We will rescue the detective... or we will make Cassius Benning pay in blood."

"You're damn right." Inara said fiercely, and Alexandra gave a nod of approval.

Ellen pulled onto the winding road leading up to the mansion, and Inara yanked her sword free of its' sheath. She set the blade down beside her, buckled the sheath on over her tank top, and then she lifted the sword.

"That is a fine weapon." Alexandra noted. "An old one, as well."

"It was my mother's." Inara said quietly. "She was a warrior djinn, like I am."

"A fine heritage." Alexandra said.

Ellen whipped the van around the circular road, slamming the brakes hard. Inara jolted from the sudden lack of motion, and then she moved forwards and kicked the van doors open. She hopped out, twirling her sword expertly in her fingers as Alexandra whooshed out of the van to stand beside her.

"No Corinne?" Inara asked Abigail as the detective climbed out of the passenger seat. Her shoulder was bandaged, but she held her shotgun again.

"I didn't call her." Abigail shook her head. "The girl's been through enough."

Inara scoffed, but she said nothing else as Alexandra started ascending the steps to the front doors. Inara, Abigail, and Ellen followed closely behind as Alexandra reached the two red-vested men standing at the double doors. What they must have thought seeing a strikingly gorgeous, deathly pale, frenzied looking vampire covered in blood approaching them, Inara would never know. The terror on their faces were evident, however.

"Open the doors." Alexandra said coldly. "Your master has wronged me and mine tonight, and I will make him pay for it."

The two men looked at each other, and they opened the doors. Alexandra nodded once, and swept past them. Inara followed, abreast of the other two girls as they entered into a ballroom. Their appearance caused a lot of stirring and muttering, and more than a few gasps.

"Everyone out!" Alexandra snarled.

The room seemed frozen, nobody making any motion any which way. Abigail pumped her shotgun, pointed it at the ceiling and fired it.

"Get the fuck out!" Inara added, but Abigail's shotgun blast had done the trick. The crowd started streaming out through all the doors, and Alexandra looked to the three women, smiling toothily.

"Follow me, ladies." she said, and gathered her tattered skirt primly before setting off across the ballroom. She led them through the rapidly emptying ballroom and then through a fully empty dining room. She opened a side door, and led them down a hallway before taking a sharp left turn and opening another door, this one opening to reveal stairs, descending into a dimly lit room.

Inara shoved her way forwards, so she entered second, right behind Alexandra and right in front of Abigail and Ellen. The stairway led down into a circular room, where two people stood at the center of it, facing away from them. One of the figures was a man wreathed in glowing, shimmering light, looking maybe thirty or so. The other was a young woman in her twenties with fiery red hair holding a gleaming, bloodstained iron sword by her side. The man stood at the head of a symbol drawn on the ground, a seven-pointed star with seven beacons of light emerging from glass jars set at each of the points of the star.

In the center of the circle was a dead man, his wrists and ankles shackled to the floor by iron and nails. From the looks of it, he had died screaming in agony, his body twisted mid-shudder. Inara's eyes swept the room, and they went next to two figures slumped against the wall. One, the more familiar one, the one Inara couldn't take her eyes off of, looked lifeless, slumped back against the wall with a gaping bloody wound in his chest. Inara wanted to scream, wanted to tear her own hair out, she wanted to burn this mansion down, but above all, there was one thing she wanted to do more than anything.

The woman holding the sword was focused on the light wrapped around the man, and she didn't even look as Inara shoved past Alexandra and stalked across the room. The fool woman with the sword still didn't hear her over the roaring sound of magic happening in that seven-pointed star. The man saw her, his eyes widened, but by time he opened his mouth, Inara lifted her sword and shoved it through the back of the fiery-haired woman, who could only be Ciara Sinclair.

"I hope it hurts." Inara whispered in Ciara's ear, who finally turned, staring at Inara with wide, shocked eyes. She made a gasping noise, and Inara yanked the sword out. Ciara Sinclair fell to her knees, and Inara took a sick sort of glee in the horrified look in Cassius Benning's eyes as Ciara slumped forwards, knocking over two of the jars and smearing blood across the seven-pointed star. The glowing lights stopped instantly, and Cassius Benning, looking about thirty-five, staggered backwards, his eyes fixed on the body at Inara's feet.

"You bastard." Alexandra snarled, stalking past Inara. "You intended to sacrifice me on this altar of ash?"

The horrified shock was wiped from the warlock's face, and it turned into murderous, blinding rage. He roared, extending a hand, and a wildfire burst free of his hand. Alexandra was gone in a whoosh and a shriek, but the whoosh looked to be on fire as it rocketed up the stairs. Inara walked right through the fire unharmed, lifting her sword and swinging it at Benning.

The sword froze in mid-air, and no matter how much Inara struggled, she couldn't get it to move another inch towards the warlock with his hand raised.

"I will make you pay!" Benning raged, his eyes wide and burning with anger.

"No, that was me making you pay." Inara scowled, and she dropped the sword. It hung there in the air, but Inara tackled Benning, something he couldn't dodge as easily. They both went down to the floor, where Inara punched him in the face. His head knocked back from the punch, but then he put his foot against her stomach and pushed. Purple light flared in his eyes, and Inara went absolutely flying backwards, smashing into the far wall hard enough that she heard cracking that she didn't know if it was the wall or her bones. She fell hard to the ground, and looked dazedly towards Abigail and Ellen, who had both entered the fray themselves. Ellen howled an anguished howl, and leaped at Benning, claws and fangs extended. Abigail pumped her shotgun again and fired at the warlock right before Ellen was on top of him.

Inara, her whole body aching with pain, started crawling towards Julian. He was slumped against Asha's side, his cheek pressed against hers, and while tears glistened on the jengu's face, her eyes were glowing a bright blue.

"Inara!" Asha begged. "My hands, please! Free my hands!"

Hands. Right. They were probably tied. Inara tried to struggle to her feet, but her body wasn't cooperating, and she couldn't get out of her sprawled position on the floor. Grimacing through the pain, she reached out and slowly dragged herself forwards.

"Enough!" Benning boomed, and Abigail and Ellen both went flying backwards. Ellen landed on all fours, and she tore through her clothes as she emerged in her huge snarling werebeast form. Benning, a huge book floating by his head, was firing off spell after spell at Ellen. She dodged some of them, but some she just took. She did not stop going though, and even through the agony burning through her body, Inara felt a dull pride thrumming through her watching Ellen muscle her way towards Benning.

"Inara!" Asha sobbed. "My hands!"

"Right, right." Inara mumbled, looking away from the fight. She continued her slow, anguished crawling, reaching down to seize the knife on her leg and yank it free.

"Hands." Inara repeated, reaching out. Her vision was swimming, but she tried to blink back the shadows encroaching on the very edges of her sight.

"A little closer, please!" Asha pleaded, turning to the left as much as she could. She kept her cheek pressed to Julian's, but she offered her hands out towards Inara as much as she could. Her arm felt like it was weighed down with bricks, but she lifted it somehow, the knife trembling in her grasp as she reached out... and slipped. It clattered to the floor, and Inara mumbled a slurred profanity of some kind. She couldn't even hear her own voice over the pounding in her ears.

Inara dragged herself forwards just a little bit more, and she felt her fingers wrap around the hilt of the knife. She lifted it again, a Herculean feat, and she stabbed downwards. Asha let out a sob of relief as her hands were separated, and Inara's head slumped to the ground.

Maybe... maybe a nap wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Just a couple minutes...

———

The first thing Julian felt was pain.

He was surprised by that, as he hadn't expected to feel much of anything ever again. Then he felt pressure. Pressure on his hands, something keeping them bound behind his back. A lighter pressure, something that felt like two hands, pressed to his chest. His vision hadn't returned yet, all he could see was blackness. He could feel something swirling through him, the crackling electric feeling of magic. He tried to open his eyes, to blink, to move anything, but his body wasn't responding.

As seconds or minutes or hours passed, he felt that magic course through him, ebbing and flowing like the tide spilling onto a beach. Each time the water hit the sand, he felt more of his body returning. When his vision finally did return, the first thing he saw was blue light, glowing so brightly it felt like he was looking at a supernova, before his vision adjusted, and he realized what the blue glow was. It was Asha's eyes, glowing a brilliant blue as she wept. It was her hands he felt on his chest, and he realized as his head was moving that he could move his head again. He looked down at where Cassius Benning had ran him through with Ciara's sword, and saw, to his amazement, that there was a much lesser wound than he had expected. Asha's ebony hands were stained red with Julian's blood, and she seemed to be almost pressing the wound shut, while blue magic traveled down the veins of her arms and then into the veins in his chest.

He gasped as sound returned to him, and he looked around in astonishment at the view before him. A familiar brown werewolf was fighting Benning, who was ducking away from her blows and sending spells her direction whenever he could. The Grimoire was floating beside him the whole time, moving with him when he moved, ducking when he ducked. His eyes moved to the ritual septagram, right past Asha's head, where a pair of bodies lay amidst the whitethorn ash symbol. One, her green eyes wide and shocked, was Ciara Sinclair, the other was unfamiliar to him. Moving further left, he saw Abigail laying unmoving at the base of one of the walls. Julian looked to his right, and saw Inara laying unconscious on the floor.

Her face was half buried in the crook of her elbow, her fingers outstretched towards a knife that lay right in front of her fingertips. She was laying in a puddle of blood, and she wasn't moving.

"Asha..." Julian croaked. "Inara... save Inara."

Asha looked towards the djinn, then back at Julian. "I'm almost done with you, just give me a second." she urged him, shaking her head. Julian lifted his hands, catching her by the wrists.

"No." Julian shook his head. "Inara."

"Fine!" Asha exclaimed, and she crawled over to the right to lay her hands on Inara's side, the blue glow returning to her hands. Julian got to his feet, and he braced himself for pain, only to feel... just about nothing. A glance down confirmed it, there was only a shallow cut on his chest where a sword had just ran through him.

"Benning!" Julian snarled. "This ends now."

Cassius Benning froze, as did Ellen, who was also bleeding pretty significantly. She was also singed in several spots, and had what looked like nails embedded in one of her broad furred arms.

"How?" he demanded, looking thunderstruck. His gaze moved past Julian to where Asha was bent over Inara, and he snarled.

"Healers." he spat like it was the nastiest insult he could think of.

He looked between Julian and Ellen, made a fleeting look to the stairs, only to stop cold. Julian turned to look, and coming down the stairs was Alexandra Blackwood. Her once flawless pale skin was marred by vivid burns, and her dress was similarly charred in several spots.

"Not possible." Benning shook his head. "Fire kills vampires on the spot. They go up like their skin is gasoline-soaked paper."

"Not always." Alexandra snarled, lifting her wrist where the bracelet from Romero sat.

"You lost, Benning." Julian said. "Give up."

Benning looked down at Ciara's body, strewn across the septagram, and he let out a little sob. "I assure you, all of you will pay for this. I will make sure of it."

Before any of them could react, the Grimoire closed, flew into Benning's chest, and with a spiral of gray light, both the warlock and the book were gone.

"No!" Alexandra shouted, whipping her head back and forth. "Where is he?!"

All the energy left Julian at once, and he dropped to the floor in a sitting position, staring at the spot where Benning had vanished from.

"He's gone..." Julian whispered.

———

The following night, there was a somber gathering at the Arcana Augurum. Freya had a plate of cupcakes sitting out on the center table, but she was the only one who'd eaten any.

Julian sat on the floor against the wall, and Inara was sitting beside him.

"This sucks." Julian sighed.

"It does." Inara agreed. "Sucks even more that Ellen shredded my favorite jacket."

"Yeah, I shredded mine last week, too." Julian agreed glumly.

"Are you two commiserating over lost leather jackets?" Abigail frowned, glancing over from her spot sitting on the edge of one of the tables.

"Uh huh." Julian and Inara said in unison.

The previous night, the entire grounds of Benning's mansion had been searched, but the search turned up nothing. Benning had well and truly vanished, and when he'd shown up, Romero had theorized that the spell Benning had used to escape could have sent him anywhere in the world. Fortunately, however, the search had turned up plenty of information on Benning's involvement with the five serial killers that the warlock had used to his own ends.

The two living serial killers, Declan Sorensen and Nathan Vaughn (the one Abigail had spared and the one who had, perhaps unluckily, survived Ellen's claws), were both in custody, while Garrett James, Tom Goldstein, and Connor Walsh were all found dead. The story, as far as the LAPD knew it, was that Cassius Benning had funded the five serial killers and helped them pick targets for use in a Satanic ritual. However, the five killers had turned on Benning, and had a bloody clash with Benning's private security, leaving bodies on both sides. This was made possible by some foolish members of Benning's staff, who had tried to fight an enraged Alexandra Blackwood as the team was leaving the underground evil lair.

Cassius Benning had gotten away in the chaos, and he was wanted in connection to nine murders, the seven victims killed by Garrett James and his friends, along with Niamh and Ciara Sinclair. His house was currently being torn apart by federal investigators, who had been very interested in such a notable businessman funding a ritualistic serial killer operation that had also taken the life of a wealthy philanthropist like Niamh. Frankly, Julian couldn't be bothered to worry about them finding anything supernatural, it'd probably all just get bagged as being some Satanic nutjob's toys if they did manage to find anything not hidden by magical means.

Asha had passed out for sixteen hours straight not long after healing Abigail's broken bones from where Benning had flung her into the wall. She had tried standing up after healing Abigail, and passed out on the spot. Fortunately, Julian had been close enough to catch her before she hit the ground, and he'd carried the jengu out to the van. Her healing powers had saved not just Julian's life, but Inara's too, and he was deeply grateful to her for that.

Currently, she sat in one of the armchairs on the other end of the room, looking utterly drained but otherwise in good health. She did have a huge coffee cup beside her that she kept drinking from, so maybe her body wanted more sleep.

Alexandra Blackwood sat in the other armchair, her skin once again flawless porcelain. Vampires didn't often live long enough to heal from burn wounds, but thanks to Romero's bracelet, she had indeed lived to heal from the effects of the fire. She had regained her typical composure, but there was an anger to her tonight, one that wasn't typically there. Alexandra had done a lot of the searching of Benning's mansion herself, but the warlock was nowhere to be found.

Abigail's arm was in a sling, but she was otherwise essentially alright, Ellen's werewolf healing had kicked in and taken care of her, and Asha's magic had restored Julian and Inara to near perfect condition. Corinne, standing with Colin beside Meg, was also fully healed from her apparent staking, which had been a relief to see. All in all, the team had bounced back quickly from what had been a brutal night.

"Is there any hope of locating Cassius Benning?" Alexandra spoke aloud, looking to Romero, who sighed.

"I've given the matter a lot of thought since last night, and it's well beyond my abilities. However, I did inform my friend Cornelius about the identity of who stole the Grimoire from his store, and he's very committed to helping us find Benning." Romero explained. "It might take some time, but I feel confident we'll track him down. I've reached out to some of my warlock contacts, as well, who are also lending their magic to our search."

"I've been trying to summon up a vision of him, but no luck yet." Meg volunteered. "I'll keep trying, but forcing visions has never really been something I can do."

Alexandra nodded, her face hard like ice. "If you need any aid within my power, know that you have it."

"Thank you." Romero nodded towards Alexandra. "I'll keep everyone posted about my search."

"Abigail and I will do what we can using the LAPD's resources, too." Julian spoke up. "Hopefully, one of us can find something."

"Even if we do find him, there's still the problem of the Grimoire. The more time Benning has to study its' magic, the more powerful he will become. The fact that the Grimoire has magic such as the Ouroboros ritual and the teleportation spell within it means that he stole a very powerful Grimoire." Romero warned the group. "He might be even stronger when next we encounter him."

"And we know he's out for blood, too." Ellen agreed. "Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll come to us."

"Not if he knows what's good for him." Inara smirked, fiddling with the sheathed sword in her lap, a familiar sword that Julian knew had a glowing iron blade. Inara had claimed the magical weapon as her own before they'd left Benning's, and nobody had any issue with it. The blade would burn Inara if she touched it, just like it would have Ciara, but Inara was delighted to have such a powerful new sword.

"So... what now?" Corinne asked uncertainly. "Do we just... go back to normal?"

"Fingers crossed." Abigail exhaled, crossing the fingers on her free hand not in a sling.

Julian glanced at Inara sitting beside him, and shrugged. "I don't know, I think some good came out of this whole serial killer business. I got to meet everyone in this room, for instance."

"Aren't you sweet?" Asha mumbled tiredly from her armchair, but she gave Julian a smile despite her exhaustion.

Julian got to his feet, and he glanced around the room. "I guess I'll call you guys the next time dead bodies start popping up?"

"You better call more than just when you need something." Ellen put in with a mock glare. "We need to celebrate winning, at least. Clubbing?"

"I'm definitely down for some partying at the Glade." Inara agreed.

"Or somewhere that humans can get into." Abigail chimed in.

"Ugh." Inara rolled her eyes.

"No clubbing tonight." Julian laughed. "Maybe this weekend, once everyone has some time to recover."

"I can live with that." Ellen nodded.

Ellen was right, some celebration definitely needed to occur. Cassius Benning may have gotten away, but the serial killers and Ciara Sinclair had been dealt with. Eventually, Julian knew they'd have to track down Benning and his stolen Grimoire, but for now... For now, Julian could relax. His job as a homicide detective was never exactly stress-free, but not having a serial killer to worry about would be a big weight off his shoulders. Plus, everyone in his life knew who he was now, there was no more having to lie to Abigail. He had a whole bunch of people in his life now, a far cry from the lone wolf lifestyle he'd been living just a few weeks ago.

There'd been a lot of changes in his life recently, but... they weren't all bad. Some of them, he thought as he glanced around between Ellen and Corinne and Inara and Asha and Abigail, were pretty damn good.

End of Book One