Chapter 21 - Ouroboros, Part 1

Julian felt like he couldn't breathe.

His brain felt like it was clogged up, like this thoughts weren't registering properly. He could only stare at the sight before him, of the girl he had thought he was protecting, holding a sword to the throat of one of his friends.

"Ciara." Julian blinked. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm sorry it had to come to this." the fiery-haired girl shook her head. "Really, I am."

"You killed your own mother!" Julian exclaimed, horrified.

"I didn't want that to happen either." Ciara snapped. "I just needed the whitethorn ashes, I didn't think she would fight me so much. Cassius had given me the sword just in case, and... that was an accident, alright?"

Julian had seen that body, the deep gashes left in Niamh Sinclair's body. Nothing about the way she had died really screamed accident to him, but he wasn't about to argue with the woman holding a sword to Asha's neck.

"Then put down the sword." Julian tried. "We can just talk."

"We're past talking, Detective. I know why you're here, you told me as much yourself yesterday." Ciara shook her head. The aos sídhe wore a green gown that reminded him distinctly of spring time, but despite that, she looked downright menacing as she hefted that sword of hers, pressing the iron blade to Asha's throat.

Julian hated himself in that moment. He'd gone running to Ciara and told her everything. He'd told her they were suspicious of Benning, he'd told her they thought he was going after Alexandra... Benning had known they were coming. He'd led them right into a trap. And now Asha was in danger because of it. Alexandra too, wherever she might be right now.

"What did you need the whitethorn ashes for?" Julian blurted. "What was worth killing your mother for?"

Ciara shook his head. "You'll see soon enough. Cassius wants both of you downstairs for the big event, the only question is... are you coming willingly?"

Julian looked to the sword in Ciara's hand, and he nodded slowly. "Yes, we'll come. Just... don't hurt her."

"Then follow me." Ciara said. A pair of muscular men in the red vests of waiters stepped into view of the doorway, and Ciara shoved Asha into one of their arms, while the other stepped forward to take Julian by the arm. Julian wanted to resist, to fight, but Ciara stayed right beside Asha the whole walk. There was no way he could get to her before she could stab Asha.

As for the walk they took, Julian and Asha were strong-armed in a direction different from the one they'd came in, keeping to the far side of the mansion and away from all the party guests on the other side. They were led down to the ground floor and then lower, into the place Julian had guessed would be around here somewhere. The secret basement evil lair.

They were led into a circular chamber lit by candlelight only, a circle of red wax candles that ringed the perimeter of a shape traced on the ground in some whitish-gray substance. At first glance, Julian thought it was chalk, but he realized a second later it must be the whitethorn ashes. He didn't recognize the shape, but it looked unmistakably ritualistic. He was familiar with the famous pentagram, the five pointed star often associated with satanism, but this was a seven pointed star, a... septagram.

The septagram was traced in what must be the whitethorn ashes, a seven pointed star with a circle connecting the seven points. It was drawn pretty big, with the middle section unfortunately just about the right size for a human body, Julian couldn't help but observe. The rest of the room was pretty bare, minus a rectangular table sitting on the opposite end of the septagram from where they shoved Julian and Asha down against the wall. The table had a gray tablecloth covering it, and seven mason jars sat atop it, along with a hefty, thick hardcover tome that Julian knew at once was the Grimoire from Cornelius' shop. Benning had been busy, it seemed.

Julian and Asha's hands were bound behind their back, and their legs were bound together in front of them. Julian glared at the waiter doing the tying the entire time, but he didn't look his way once. Damn disrespectful in Julian's opinion.

"Told you." Julian muttered to Asha.

"What?" she asked, blinking back what Julian saw were tears.

"Freaky underground lair." Julian said, bumping his shoulder against hers in some semblance of comfort. "I told you."

Asha gave him a trembling smile. "You were right."

She leaned into his side, and Julian felt another burning pang of self-loathing rush through him. He had to get Asha out of this, it was his fault she was in danger in the first place. He'd fucked everything up.

Footsteps came on the steps, and Julian turned to see what was coming. Asha remained with her head on Julian's shoulder, and he hated the sniffling of terror he heard from her. Asha had always been so fierce and stubborn about tracking down what had happened to her sister that seeing her like this... it just tore him up inside. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. And even worse? Julian had sent their rescue team away just minutes before they ended up needing them. Julian would miss the check-in time, and they wouldn't even notice, they'd hopefully have five serial killers apprehended. He'd fucked this up from start to finish.

Cassius Benning came into the room, fixing the cuffs of his tailcoat jacket as he strolled in like he was joining them for tea or something.

"Ah, you caught them, darling. Excellent." Cassius said with a grin. "How far did they get?"

"I found them in your office." Ciara admitted.

Cassius frowned. "Hopefully they didn't do too much snooping around."

"I'm.. not sure." Ciara admitted. "Nothing looked disturbed."

"Good, good." Cassius sighed, then he looked over at Ciara. "You look superb tonight, by the way."

Ciara, to Julian's astonishment, blushed prettily in response. "As do you."

Cassius scoffed, waving a hand. "I'm old and decrepit these days, hardly like the man you first met so many decades ago."

"You're the same beautiful man you've always been." Ciara said fiercely. "And after tonight, you always will be."

"Indeed." Cassius beamed, and Julian saw with dawning horror the glittering ring on Ciara's finger. She definitely had not been wearing that when he'd spoken to her previously. He looked to Cassius' hand, and sure enough, a golden band sat on his ring finger. What the fuck was going on here?

"You two are married?" Julian demanded.

"I see you're missing quite a lot." Cassius chuckled. "Is this the part where I monologue?"

"Please don't." Julian grimaced. "A simple yes or no would suffice."

"Then yes, we are indeed married. Have been for... I want to say 50 years now?" Cassius winced.

"52." Ciara said wryly.

"I was close." Cassius shrugged.

Julian looked back and forth between the old man and the pretty young redhead, and a lot of pieces started to click into place.

"The whitethorn ashes, from the Land of the Young..." Julian realized. "You're going to turn back the clock."

"Not just turn it back." Ciara shook her head. "We're going to freeze it. My mother tried to do something like this with her husband, Oisín, she brought and kept him in the Land of the Young with her for 300 years, but the second his foot touched the soil of this world again, he aged and was unable to return. I've seen how my mother grieved her husband until the very day she died, hundreds of years later. I will not bear that same grief."

"There are many powers available to a warlock." Cassius agreed. "Immortality is not commonly one of them, but between my magic and my wife's... we've made it work."

Ciara smiled lovingly at Cassius, and Julian wanted to gag.

"And after this, our souls will never have to part." Ciara beamed.

Cassius smiled back, but Julian was in no mood to watch them fawn over each other.

"You killed all of these people so that you could be young again?" Julian demanded.

"And stay that way, once I have my eighth." Cassius nodded.

"Ninth." Julian corrected. "You're forgetting Niamh Sinclair."

Cassius shook his head. "She was not part of this ritual. She was a regrettable tragedy."

Ciara nodded, reaching out to take her husband's hand. Julian felt Asha stir beside him, and he looked to see that the tears were gone from her eyes, replaced with fury.

"You killed my sister to power your fucking ritual?" Asha demanded. "You're a monster!"

"I killed your sister because she was trying to interfere in the happiness my wife and I sought." Cassius snarled.

"Does your wife know who Amaya was? And why she knew everything she did?" Asha shot back.

Ciara's eyes narrowed at Asha. "There are no secrets between my husband and I. Yes, I'm aware your sister was a whore. My mother kept me away from Cassius, and because of this, I gave him full permission to bed other women. If I could not be the warmth in his bed, I would not leave him cold in it."

"My sister was not just some whore!" Asha screamed. "She was a good person, one of the best, and you monsters killed her!"

Cassius flicked his hand and a length of ribbon shot off the nearby table and gagged Asha. "I will have quiet so I can focus. The ritual is about to begin, I'm just awaiting my delivery."

Asha struggled fiercely against her bindings, but they did not give.

"This delivery... it's Alexandra, isn't it?" Julian asked with a growing pit in his stomach.

"It is indeed." Cassius nodded, almost gleefully. "You see, I need the death of an immortal to power this ritual. Her immortality for mine, in a sense. Any immortal would do, but you see... I really want that bitch dead."

"So you're willfully tangling with a vampire Highsire?" Julian asked incredulously. "You don't even have to?"

Cassius chuckled. "Vampires are not difficult creatures to tame. A little bit of aconite powder in her drink and she'll be easily bound. Not so much she's in torpor though, no. I want her just lucid enough to appreciate that I bested her."

Ciara chuckled, shaking her head.

"Alexandra trusted you." Julian said to Ciara. "She sent me to find out what happened to Niamh, she was worried about you."

"My mother was the most controlling woman I have ever known in my life, and Alexandra sat there smirking throughout so many of my memories." Ciara shook her head. "Oisín's death ruined her, my mother. She forbade me from marrying Cassius, and locked me away after I did it anyway."

"She feared that you would one day lose me." Cassius told his wife gently. "But now... you never will. I have moved the heavens and the earth so that we will never be parted."

Ciara beamed at him, and Julian turned away as the couple embraced. He looked to Asha, who had given up her struggling and now just sat there practically trembling with rage, her eyes burning with hatred even as tears fell from her eyes.

Julian closed his eyes, summoning the wolf to him, bringing it bubbling to the surface, when he felt a sudden sting just moments after the process began, and his eyes opened to reveal Cassius shaking his head.

"No wolf tricks tonight, Detective Anderson." the warlock shook his head. "The room is warded against creatures like you. There will be no shapechanging occurring within this chamber."

The door at the top of the stairs opened, and several steps of footsteps started down them. Cassius grinned.

"It's time." Ciara whispered, clinging to Cassius' arm.

Two of Cassius' men in their red vests emerged into the room, dragging Alexandra between them. The vampire Highsire was conscious, but she was slumped and looked woozy.

"Benning?" she slurred, shaking her head. Her crown braid had come loose, and several parts of her hair now hung free, the rest of it hanging on by a thread.

"Tie her against the wall with them." Cassius sighed. "We'll let her sober up just a bit while I prepare the ritual. I need her a bit more conscious for this."

The waiters obeyed, tying her up like they had Julian and Asha, then they pushed Alexandra down on Julian's other side. At a nod from Cassius, the pair of them headed back upstairs, leaving Julian, Asha, and Alexandra to the whims of Cassius and Ciara.

"Detective." Alexandra mumbled, her piercing blue eyes unfocused and dazed. She leaned into his arm, her head resting on his shoulder.

"I think something's wrong." she whispered with a groan.

"Great." Julian grumbled. "The ancient vampire on my side got roofied."

Julian could only watch as Cassius moved to the table with the gray cloth over it. He lifted one of the mason jars, and now Julian could see what it contained, a swirling cloud of pulsing green light. Cassius picked up the second jar, also swirling with green light, and he carried them down to his ash septagram. He set the jars down at two of the points of the stars, where he left them, lid still sealed. The warlock returned to the table and picked up the third jar, a shimmering pale blue light within this one, and then the fourth, which contained a dark green light that was the most violent of the four jars so far, the light storming angrily within the jar.

Julian realized with a pang what he was looking at. These jars contained whatever Cassius had needed the serial killers for. The victims' souls, or their essences, or... who even knew what. But the two green ones, those must be Robert and Anna Russell, the werewolf couple. The shimmering pale blue had to be Marina Davis, the nixie. The stormy dark green had to be Jenna. The next two jars he picked up were a jar with light that somehow seemed to be every color all at once and none of them at all, a swirling rainbow mixture that flashed monochromatic every couple of seconds. Miguel Ortiz, the shapeshifter. And then the sixth jar, the shimmering blue-purple, swirling like the crest of an ocean wave... that was Amaya Lake. Julian turned to look at Asha, and she had clearly made the connection, too. She was transfixed by the bluish-purple light, sobbing noiselessly as she stared at it. The seventh jar was a bright golden color, which had to be Elena Smith, the moura encantada.

It took only a minute for Cassius to set the seven jars on the seven points of the septagram. He waved a hand, and the Grimoire over on the table floated towards him, opening automatically as it drew towards him. It was a sizable tome, a book with a heavy-looking cover traced with a title in black runes that Julian could not read.

"This has been a long time coming." Cassius shook his head, giving Ciara a warm smile. "It took me longer than I would have liked to prepare this ritual. Ideally, I never would have reached this age at all. I never wanted you to see me like this, my dear, but finally... the Ouroboros ritual."

Ciara smiled, and she stepped up to her husband, to kiss him properly, her arms going around his neck.

Julian looked to his left, to Alexandra, who had a spark of intelligence in her eyes now. She still looked a little out of it, but she seemed coherent, a big step up. Thank God for vampire super-healing. Julian flexed his fingers, tipped with the claws that he'd managed to shape his nails into before Cassius' shapechanging ward had kicked in.

"I'm going to kill him." Alexandra snarled.

"Or..." Julian exhaled, as quietly as he could. "Do you think you could make it out of here?"

Alexandra looked at him, startled.

"You're not beating him while you're like this." Julian said in that same quiet voice. "But if you can escape... you can bring my friends. And your clan."

Alexandra's nostrils flared, but she nodded slowly. Julian leaned into her, pressing as far into her side as he could as he desperately tried to angle his claws, reaching out with his fingers, straining until... his fingers met rope.

"Run." Julian hissed, and he tore the binding at her hands. The aconite poisoning her may have been enough to keep her from yanking apart the bindings on her arms, but with both hands free, it took her very little effort to extricate her legs from her bindings.

She met Julian's eyes, gave him a single nod, and with a whoosh, the vampire Highsire was gone. The noise disturbed Cassius, who looked up from Ciara's mouth in shock. Alexandra hadn't been moving quite as fast as usual, but it was much faster than any human could go. She was up the stairs and out of the room within seconds.

"What the-" he demanded, looking to Julian with a sudden murderous look in his eye. "What did you do, Detective?"

"Me?" Julian asked innocently. "She just got up and ran off."

Cassius stalked forwards, grabbing Julian's arm and hauling him forwards, where he looked down at Julian's hands, at the clawed fingers that Julian had no chance of hiding. The shapechanging ward seemed to have locked in somehow, meaning he couldn't get rid of the claws now that he had them.

"Guess your ward was just too slow." Julian smirked at the warlock, who backhanded him across the face. Julian grunted as the blow hit, knocking his head back.

"We can get another immortal." Ciara scowled at Julian. "There's plenty at this party."

Cassius exhaled. "Yes. Yes, darling, find me someone. Anyone."

"Of course." Ciara said, heading towards the steps.

"Ciara!" Cassius called, and the girl paused, looking back. "Leave me the sword."

Ciara smirked in Julian's direction as she walked back to Cassius and handed over the iron blade, with its' faintly glowing blade.

"Do you know, Detective, you have been causing me grief this entire time?" Cassius snarled as Ciara walked up the steps. "What abysmal luck, that the one detective in the LAPD capable of seeing my runes ended up on the serial killer case immediately."

"Not luck." Julian shook his head. "I always get onto cases with supernatural victims."

Cassius chuckled grimly, shaking his head. "You should have left this one alone. You even nosed your way into Niamh's murder, despite my best efforts."

"It was you, wasn't it?" Julian realized. "'John Hartman.' I looked him up afterwards, nobody had heard of him."

Cassius chuckled. "It was so easy to charm the humans into thinking they'd known me all along. Detective John Hartman, one of their own who always had been. Until you showed up, questioning who I was. I wanted that case buried, but you had to come in and butt into that one, too."

"Don't worry, it's not like I solved a single thing." Julian shook his head.

The warlock laughed, shaking his head. "You may feel that way now, but you have been pestering me constantly. I almost thought the jig was up when you rescued that vampire bitch, but thankfully, Garrett kept his cool. From what I heard, young Tom almost shot you."

"Well, you gave me a couple days to find her." Julian said, seething at the insult to Corinne. "Pretty stupid, wasn't it?"

"Bah. The boys know they don't make the kill without me present, and I was unfortunately dealing with business elsewhere." Cassius waved a hand dismissively. "They don't know why I always ask them to wait, but they're the kind of bloodthirsty lot who don't ask many questions."

"I kept an eye on that zoo, you never came back." Julian shook his head. "Would have been awfully nice of you."

Cassius snorted. "We never did kills in the same place twice. The boys liked abandoned places, the zoo, a warehouse, some TV set-"

"Not a medical drama TV set, was it?" Julian asked as realization hit him, and the warlock laughed.

"My, you do know a lot, don't you, Detective?" he smirked. "Not enough, of course, but I'm impressed. When did you find that one out?"

"With some help from a friend." Julian said, unable to help from glancing over towards the jar holding Jenna's... something, the stormy dark green light.

Cassius shook his head, lifting the iron sword up so that it gleamed in the candlelight. "Do you know, I've almost enjoyed watching you chase after my tail. Ah, pardon the werewolf pun, I suppose. It'll be quite a shame to put an end to it all, but all good things must end."

"Ironic coming from the guy trying to make himself immortal." Julian retorted. Asha had stiffened beside him when Cassius lifted the sword, and Julian's heart was pounding at the thought that Asha might get hurt here. Julian had had to take the risk to save Alexandra, but he'd known Asha wouldn't have been able to make it out. She didn't have Alexandra's vampire speed, and he'd only had one shot at freeing someone.

"I'm a generous man, Detective. Did you have any last words?" Cassius asked, putting both hands on the hilt of the sword.

Julian's eyes widened. He'd been so focused on Asha, he'd barely even considered that it might be him who Cassius killed here.

"Let Asha go." Julian whispered. "She's not part of this."

Cassius looked to Asha, then sighed. "I'm afraid not, Detective. I said last words, not last requests."

Julian took a steadying breath, glaring up at Cassius Benning with all the hatred he could muster. "When Alexandra comes back and tears your throat out, I hope she makes it fucking hurt."

Cassius didn't respond, he just angled the sword and ran Julian through with it.

———

Abigail Richards glanced at the woman sitting beside her. The djinn was clearly a bundle of nerves, she was tapping her foot impatiently, idly fiddling with the hilt of her sheathed sword. Everyone in the van was feeling the nerves though, Abigail thought.

Romero and Meg, the enchanter and the seer, were up front in the driver and passenger's seat, respectively. The delivery van that Ellen had gotten from her friend wasn't too big, but there was enough space for all of them to sit on the floor. Abigail was sitting opposite Corinne while Ellen was sitting opposite Inara. They were in a little square, and Abigail felt her own nerves thrumming like hornets in her stomach. Butterflies was too mild a comparison.

They'd been sat in this van for nearly three hours now, and Abigail had worried they might sit there all night until Julian's text had come through. He'd not given much detail, just an address and what to expect. Five humans, all likely armed, one with Inquisitor training. Abigail wasn't an expert on what Inquisitor training entailed, but surely it wouldn't be enough to overpower this team.

The four women in this van had a lot of stopping power between them, Abigail thought. A quick mental inventory of the three others in the back of the van was enough to realize that a vampire with essentially superspeed, a werewolf who could turn into a huge monster, and a djinn with a wicked sharp sword were quite a tough team to take on. And then worse come to worse... Abigail had brought her shotgun. She had her usual pistol, too, but this seemed like a shotgun kind of night. Her dad had always said to only use it in case of emergencies, and she really didn't know what counted as an emergency if it wasn't an evil warlock and what was apparently five serial killers.

Jesus, her life had gotten insane recently.

"Are you guys as nervous as I am?" Corinne complained. "I think it's all the waiting."

"I certainly am." Abigail sighed. "I'm worried about Julian and Asha, too."

"They have Highsire Blackwood, she could take on an army." Corinne shook her head.

"Not to mention Julian." Ellen pointed out. "The werewolf form is no joke."

"You're right." Corinne exhaled. "I just worry, you know?"

"What, this your first battle?" Inara lifted an eyebrow.

"Well... kind of." Corinne admitted. "I helped Julian fight that werewolf at the Glade a little bit, but I didn't do much. I'm not really a fighter."

"Don't worry, it's easy." Inara said wryly. "If someone points something sharp at you, get out of the way."

Abigail glared at Inara, who rolled her eyes when she noticed. "Look, Corinne. If things get too much, just use your speed and get away. We can handle this."

"Yeah, they're just humans." Ellen agreed. "No offense to the human in this van, but they aren't much of a problem."

Inara snickered at that, but Abigail just shook her head. "None taken, I guess."

"They're here." Romero spoke up, and all four women in the back got up onto their knees to peek out of the windshield. The van was parked outside an out of the way coffee shop, one that had been closed for hours by this time of night. It was the address Julian had given them, and right now, an SUV was pulling into the parking lot. The van was parked a distance away, and it was turned off, no headlights. Abigail stared at the SUV as the doors started opening and five men started climbing out.

"Son of a bitch." Inara muttered. "It's those assholes from the zoo."

Abigail looked in surprise to Corinne, who had gone ashen. Those were the men who had kidnapped her, after all.

She reached out and squeezed the younger blonde's shoulder, offering a reassuring smile. "You can wait in the van, Corinne. You don't have to do this."

Corinne took a shaky breath, nodding. She still seemed undecided, so Abigail just squeezed her shoulder again.

"Colin just texted." Romero reported. "No one else is here, it's just those five."

They'd sent the other vampire on their team to watch the perimeter, as he was uniquely suited to being a scout considering the speed and stealth with which he could move.

"So we're going in." Inara said with a grin. Abigail was slightly surprised by the eagerness in the djinn's face. The way she'd been so jittery, Abigail had expected her to be nervous somewhat, but... well, unless it wasn't this fight she was nervous about. Maybe it was Julian's.

"We are." Abigail agreed. "And let's try not to kill them, if possible. It'd be great to arrest them."

"This isn't police business." Inara snapped. "This is the real world."

"Police business is the real world." Abigail retorted, glaring at the djinn.

"Not my world." Inara scowled. "And not Julian's either."

"Are we going to go kill those guys or what?" Ellen complained.

"Yes." Inara said, and she kicked open the back of the van, whistling loudly.

The five men all turned towards Inara, and Abigail swore. She grabbed her shotgun and jumped out of the van beside the djinn, but it wasn't the men Inara had whistled at. It was Colin.

As Abigail watched, the vampire boy charged at the five serial killers in a whoosh, sending one of them sprawling backwards onto the asphalt. With a whoop, Inara drew her sword. She tossed the sheath back into the van, and took off running towards the SUV. Every instinct in Abigail's body advised against stupidly charging at the enemy, but her instincts also told her to not let Inara run at them alone.

Pumping her shotgun, Abigail gave chase. One of the men had the presence of mind to run around to the trunk of the SUV, which he opened to reveal a weapons cache. He caught up a machete, drawing it as he turned to face Inara. The djinn grinned like a maniac and ran at the machete wielding man.

"LAPD!" Abigail shouted. "Don't fucking move!"

She raised the shotgun, but one of the men drew a pistol from his jacket and started firing wildly in her direction.

"Fuck!" Abigail grunted, scrambling out of the way. She was way too far from cover, for some stupid reason, she'd followed Inara. Fortunately for Abigail's health, a bulky brown shape hurtled past her, and the man with the gun, perhaps unwisely, decided to start shooting at her instead.

"Silver!" roared the man with the machete as he locked blades with Inara.

Abigail's brain felt scattered and useless as she watched Ellen charge the men. Two others had pulled out guns, but were struggling with the magazines. She slapped herself to get herself back on track. Yes, the fights she was privy to typically didn't involve swordfights and huge werewolf monsters, but... adaptation was an important trait for a police detective. Abigail lifted her shotgun and as she drew nearer to the fight, she fired a shot at one of the men. He was busy trying not to get mauled by Ellen's sharp claws, and her shot took him in the leg right on target. He howled in pain, dropping immediately as he tried grabbing at his leg.

"I did say don't move." Abigail huffed, pumping the shotgun again.

She scanned the field quickly, trying to assess this insane fight. Ellen was fighting two of the men, but they seemed to have pulled silver knives, and she was being wary. The one that Colin had knocked down had gotten to his feet again, and he had pulled out a pistol of his own.

Abigail pointed her shotgun at that guy, who looked to be in his early twenties, with a hunting knife strapped to his leg, a camo jacket on, and his hands trembled as he held the pistol out towards Ellen.

"Don't even think about it!" Abigail shouted, and the guy reacted like an idiot. His eyes widened, and he swung the gun towards Abigail. Abigail didn't think, she pulled the trigger, catching him in the chest. He was knocked backwards by the shot, falling spread-eagle onto his back, where the gun clattered away from his grasp. He wasn't moving, but Abigail didn't have time to think about that.

Abigail glanced at Ellen, who had taken out one of the two silver knife-wielding men, and was chasing the other towards the back end of the parking lot. She looked to Inara, and her eyes widened. The machete wielding man had her on the backfoot, and from the three bloody cuts Inara was sporting, he'd gotten some hits in.

"Hands up!" Abigail called, pumping her shotgun again. The machete-wielding man glanced back at her, and he dived to the left, away from Inara. He rolled across the asphalt and came up with a knife in his hand. He threw it towards Abigail, and she shouted as it caught her in the shoulder. She let go of the shotgun with one hand, clamping that hand to the wound in her shoulder, gritting her teeth.

Inara shouted and stormed towards the man, but he blocked her frenzied swings easily. He kicked her right in the stomach, knocking her onto her back. A whoosh started at the van, one that came zooming towards the man with the machete. Corinne, Abigail thought in relief, but somehow, the man had the time to yank something out of the sheath on his leg.

Corinne zoomed into the fight, but rather than slam into the man and attack him, she came to an awkward, halting stop right in front of him. Corinne staggered, looking up at the man in shock, and Abigail gasped at the sight of the stake protruding from the vampire girl's chest.