Maya remained silent as Lyss spoke, while bending over to pick out a few crystal shards still stuck in her legs. Fuck. She hadn’t even had a chance to consider that fact that she had a bunch of cuts on her legs that had been sluggishly bleeding for a while… She was going to look like a mummy after she covered them up at home. Note to self: don’t shatter crystals nearby again.
Her previous gusto from when she’d approached the group was gone as the tiredness and sheer enormity of the events hit her. Not to mention that almost every body part seemed to be in pain. She just wanted to go home and let herself break. Stop pretending that what had happened hadn’t hit (literally) so close to her fears.
But still, she nodded her agreement to everything Lyss said. The other girl was right - as much as Maya disliked some of the people here they were still a group and they weren’t getting anywhere. She didn’t want to be so close to possible death again. The feeling of being powerless, not to mention all the violence, brought back too many bad memories. She shuddered.
"He likes you. Use that to your advantage. Flirt with him. I know you think he's cute too. Maybe you can get him to slip up if you're cute with him."
“Alright,” Maya broke her silent agreement to speak when she was directly addressed. She smiled slightly - as if she hadn’t already planned to flirt with him anyway. Maybe today hadn’t been all that bad. “I don’t think it’ll be hard seeing as he already slipped up around his superiors. I’ll get some information out of him…” She then shot Riley a glare and muttered, “As if he’d even look at you.”
She went back to silence as Claudette addressed some of what Lyss had said and again inclined her head slightly in agreement. She had less that she wanted to gain from the coven herself, outside of companionship and possible revenge, but working together made sense. And then Babylon spoke… And everything she said was right, to Maya’s surprise. Because if the FBI had wanted them dead they would’ve been. Maya, and Lyss, knew that better than anyone from their discussion with the leader.
"Fine. You do that. All of you just fucking do that. Because I am done with this shitshow. When I joined this group I thought we'd just be exploring the Extra-Normal and understanding magic better. Not getting on the FBI's nerves, or becoming some gang to shake down someone's fucking vampire problem!"
Maya physically flinched back when Agatha’s head snapped in her direction, eyes widening momentarily in fear when Agatha absolutely went off in her direction. She clenched a fist in her jumper and forced back down the anger that began to return, thankfully for once that she truly was too tired to argue back. What was the point in arguing with someone who was walking out the door anyway? Someone who was completely right with everything she’d said.
She sat, slightly stunned, as the group that had gone to face the dead dog or whatever came back. They looked just as roughed up as most of them… so it must not have gone well. She didn’t even look up when Madison shouted - it wasn’t like she’d been there to help or anything. On the other hand, she completely snapped out of it when Emily opened her stupid mouth and spouted a bunch of lies.
“Quit with your bullshit, Emily. All she did was run away and get a taser to the ass,” Maya looked at Emily with an incredibly fake smile. Two could play at that game. “What actually happened was that I fought them off. I blasted all of them away and knocked off the leader’s mask so he had to get rid of the tear gas. Then I fought all of them but he was pretty tough… That’s when Lyss shot him with a taser and swung the battle in my favour. I was about to win but then one of the Agents looked at me with this adorable, pleading face and I hesitated. While I was distracted the two outside came in and took me by surprise. That’s how I almost saved the coven.”
Apparently, the Coven had been raided by the FBI. Apparently, they had somehow managed to fight them off and not all be killed by Tampa PD in the process by some absolute fluke or miracle. Perhaps her forest fire was drawing city assets away and that was some sort of saving grace. Perhaps The Hound had decided that she had performed well enough tonight that it had spared the group. She didn't know, or care. She groaned, and rubbed her face as she heard the news.
"You WHAT."
Fighting the FBI was hands down the worst thing they could've done. The FBI would just return in greater, overwhelming force because that's how the feds did it. They didn't lose, not to some group of shitkids who can shart thunder. They had setbacks at most. This was all exacerbated by Emily Agatha up and leaving. That was the smart thing to do. To run, hide, and hope that all of this blew over before anything truly horrible happened. "Okay, anyone that actually fought the FBI might want to find a relative or leave and country and lay low for a while. Nice handcuff bruises, Emily." Kayla remarked. She'd been arrested before. She'd recognize those marks any day, and her suspicion that she hadn't fought well was shortly thereafter backed up by Maya. She massaged the bridge of her nose, god this evening had been taxing.
"I'm the only one here who has actually had run ins with the law. I need to know exactly what happened."
Kayla hated this. She knew that everyone here was fucked if they actually had interaction with the government in any negative way. Every instinct told her to run, to book it and get the fuck out of town before shit went further south... but these people had helped her, and obviously planned on looking out for her. Madison was a wreck over Molly, and as far as Kayla knew they weren't event that close. Ride or dies were hard to come by like that. Perhaps it would be worth the risk.
"I'm stepping up." Kayla announced. She wasn't one of the founding members, but she held sway and she knew it. Jess, Molly*, and Madison had seen her power, and they all had experienced her leadership in some way, shape, or form. Even Emily seemed to have begrudging respect for her given that she hadn't tossed any comments her way as of late. "We've all had a long night. Given the circumstances of our previous leader walking, we need someone who can keep us out of federal prison right now. Skip the pleasantries. Does anyone have any objections?"
These people were going to be the death of her. But she almost died for Madison tonight. Fuck it, maybe more people would make it more fun.
Ellie rolled her eyes at both Emily and Maya's explanation. "Don't listen to them." She squeaked out. She stood up and faced the four who had recently come in. Agatha left angrily and Ellie didn't blame her. This was a shit show. "We were gassed. I was reading and was slow to react because I was distracted. I got Herik to safety but by the time I checked back in on the hideout, things seemed pretty bad. Emily was trying to run away... Maya and Lyss were fighting. I tried to distract the fbi to save everyone... but I failed..." She explained as best she could.
She was still pretty upset by her failure and her face was red and blotchy. She looked down apologetically, "I'm sorry... I'm supposed to get us out of danger, not run around like a loser..."
Kayla then spoke up for the position of leader. Elise wasn't sure about that at all. She was the one that had the idea to fight the vampires and that led the FBI to them. "Kayla... I appreciate you and your willingness to help... but I don't know if you should be our leader.... it was your job that got us noticed by the FBI in the first place." She felt like that had to be addressed, and also assumed no one would question her being leader with her outgoing attitude, so it was Ellie's socially awkward ass that had to bring it up.
Jess couldn't help but burst out in laughter when she heard the FBI had attacked them. It was in hysterics more than humor. "You guys fought them!? What the fuck!?" She managed to get out over her hysterics. Jess managed to let her fit die down. "Yeah... they'll be coming back. Though the fact they even left at all is weird. You cut a deal or something?" Maybe Jess had never been in cahoots with the feds before but she was no stranger to daytime tv.
Kayla threw her hat in the ring to be leader. Of course she did, she was crazy strong and a go-getter, and she was exactly the fire that Jess needed to start learning new spells and trying new forms of attack. She felt she was hopelessly outclassed in their fight, and needed to catch up, not knowing that she was the main reason the Hound actually let them leave.
"I'd be cool with it. You're tough Kayla, and yeah maybe you got us into a gang fight, but it was kind of justified. I think you'd do fine as the leader. If not you, then my vote would be for Madison." Jess had respect for the girls now, all three of them that went with her, even if Molly was currently a demon, which was still a whole problem. Jess decided to let someone else bring that up.
Pulling her hair up into a ponytail, Nina smiled brightly as she made her way into work. Scents of fresh coffee grounds and chocolate muffins filled the small and quaint cafe. The owners of the cafe were a lovely elderly couple. They were avid readers and it showed throughout the decor and atmosphere of the cafe. Hundreds of books lined the walls and even drinks on the menu took inspiration from book characters. Nina absolutely adored the cafe and everyone who worked and visited there. She only worked once a week but spent much of her free time at the cafe.
She was greeted by Josh, who had worked at the cafe since he was in high school. Nina loved working with him. He was always calm and knew how to think through every situation.
“Hi Josh! How did your exam go?” Josh was currently a junior at the University of Tampa studying biology. While she had never gone to college, hearing Josh talk of his time there made her want to.
“It went well, I suppose. I didn’t study as much as I should have,” he mumbled as he pulled out some pastries from the oven. Nina signed in before helping Josh continue with the baking for the morning.
“Aw, well you have a lot on your plate. It’s okay to not study as much from time to time.”
“I know.. I just kind of lost my passion for it all. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken summer classes,” Josh sighed.
“It’ll be worth it though when you go to Japan next year! You’ll have to take lots of pictures when you do. We’ll all miss you here!” Nina admired how hardworking Josh was. He had two jobs to help pay his bills on top of classes. How he managed, Nina had no idea. High school was difficult enough for her.
“It’s the only thing that keeps me going. Thank you, Nina. I’ll miss your positivity while I’m gone.”
They continued working toward the morning opening, following the checklist and chatting as they went. When they were finally ready to open, Marianne was already waiting at the door. She was a regular who always stopped by after her morning jogs. The rest of the day was relatively steady. While the cafe didn’t get much business, it was enough for the two to keep busy.
On her break, Nina messaged Maya to see how the Coven meeting was going. She felt bad for missing a meeting but she could never call in from work unless of an absolute emergency. Hopefully the casino would still be in pieces when she came back.
Maya frowned slightly as her phone buzzed in her pocket, shifting herself where she sat so she could pull it out and check it. She almost choked, letting out a spluttering cough, as she unlocked it and saw the screen it had been left on. BIG TREV sat boldly in the middle of the screen as the contact name and she smiled once she got over her bemusement. Certainly saved her from adding his number from the sticky note. And she was definitely asking him about this later. But for now, she had to check the message she’d just gotten.
Ah… a text from Nina asking about the meeting. She chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to figure out how to respond to it. She liked Nina and she really, really didn’t want to worry her with everything that had happened. At least not over text. Still, the younger girl would find out one way or another about the FBI raid.
To Nina: A lot happened at the meeting, most of it not good - I think there’ll be a lot of changes now. I’ll call you later to explain.
She then turned her attention back to what was being said. Kayla was demanding to know exactly what had happened and honestly Maya was in no mood to explain the entire thing properly. She’d leave that to someone else.
“No objections here,” she shrugged as Kayla stepped up to be leader. She was probably one of the best options for that job and honestly… as long as it wasn’t one of the people she actively disliked. She rolled her eyes as Elise went on to denounce her explanation of what had happened and gave part of what had actually happened before going into some self hating rant that Maya couldn’t care less about. And also spoke against Kayla as leader.
“You cut a deal or something?”
“Yes, we did,” Maya turned to look at Jess with a shrug. “Well, Lyss did. A deal with a whole bunch of terms to stop them from outright killing us.”
Once again she didn’t actually give the terms - someone else could explain them instead.
Herik smiled at Ellie. "Don't worry about it. You got me to safety and had to come back for everyone else. Thank you for protecting me. I got back on my own, so it's fine. Don't beat yourself up over it." The conversation picked up, Claudette calling for there to be changes, but Madison and other returned, alive, but worse for wear. He worried this would happen. He's happy they're alive, but the trauma of whatever happened was all over their faces. Madison looked the worst. He'd have to check up on her later once the discussion was resolved.
It quickly dissolved with Agatha storming out. Herik got up, went to the bar to get his keys, then left the casino after Agatha. She can't say much for her leadership skills, but he didn't want her to leave the Coven either. She wasn't even out of the parking lot yet.
"Agatha, don't leave." He called to her. He caught up with her, but kept his distance. He didn't want to intimidate her or be in her space. Angry people liked their space. "What you said in there is right. I'm here for the same reason you are, and so are some of the other girls. We have a few loose cannon members and that can't be helped, but don't leave. I don't know how to fix it or if it can be fixed, but don't leave. Please. I don't-I don't want you to be alone or to lose a friend."
For once, Herik was saying something that Lyss could appreciate. She nodded her head towards Herik to show it, before looking back at the group. Emily's comments didn't help. Of course, Babylon had to put in a few words too. Riley's agreement to name her leader only made her breathe out through her nose to keep herself calm.
Claudette began to speak, and her words brought Lyss back down to a light simmer. Lyss furrowed her brows when Babylon spoke up again. She watched the apparition float into the center of the table. Does she actually think that we're all listening to this? That we all care what she has to say when she speaks this way? She found herself rolling her eyes as a response.
Still, the spirit was right. The attack could have gone much, much worse. They really were lucky to be still sitting here, in this smelly, broken casino. Lyss felt humiliated, but of course she wouldn't let it show. A show of weakness is a show of defeat. She wasn't going to let that group put her or anyone here down. Metaphorically or literally.
The doors to the casino opened and Lyss felt her heart race. It was still pounding in her ears when she realized it was just the others. The relief that they were still alive rushed over her, but she was still on edge. It would take a long hot bath to relax. By the looks of the group, it seemed like they would too.
Lyss raised her hand to wave at the beaten girls. At least we all look like trash. To her surprise, Agatha was next to speak up. Well, "speak up" was an understatement. Lyss watched in shock as Agatha melted down in front of the group, grabbed her... coat? Before she walked right out of the door without a word to Kayla, Madison, Molly, or Jess.
To be honest, Lyss wasn't surprised. If anyone other than herself were to cut and run right now she would expect it to be the paranoid one. While she wasn't going to chase after her like Herik was, Lyss was silently wishing the woman the best. Whatever it took to be safe in such a weird world like this. In a way, her exit reminded Lyss of her own exit from Miami. Grab your shit, get a ride, and don't look back. Don't even say goodbye.
Lyss was quiet as Emily and Maya took their turns recounting their experience with the feds. Emily's was completely and entirely wrong. Maya's was... well, exaggerated. Lyss pinched the bridge of her nose and took a moment to think everything over. Kayla's going to be pissed.
"You WHAT."
Yup. I was right.
At least she called out Emily's bullshit.
Lyss rubbed her sore wrist, feeling a little shameful about the cuffs marks on her own body. Especially for the red mark on her cheek. Which, unfortunately, would form into a bruise overnight. She looked over at Kayla, and her suspicions about the "FBI" were confirmed when she said that she'd had experience with the law. Pushing the thought about how she'd gotten into trouble, Lyss just sat back in her stool when Kayla assumed control.
Thank Satan it isn't me.
It was her turn to speak, now. Lyss inwardly groaned, but she assumed that she was the only one that could give a completely realistic version of events.
"I think you're right, Kayla." She started. "They might have had badges, armor, and the logo, but they certainly weren't government agents."
She placed both hands on the table and pushed herself up as she stood. Her gaze moved towards their new leader.
"Still, they were much stronger than us. They've been trained to use every bit of energy they have. They're skilled, and they had the upper hand."
She shrugged her shoulders. "Maya and I - Riley, too, put up a fight, but the others didn't handle the tear gas well." Emily tried to run, but I won't call her out because the big guy would have stopped her if she tried. Lyss sighed.
"To put it bluntly, they told us to keep our heads down. Somehow they figured out that the Greenwood Fight was on us, and they tracked us down because of the footage from Dairy Queen." Damn that ice cream craving. Why can't we just meet up at someone's apartment?
Lyss stepped out from her spot on her chair and pulled the crumpled up sticky note from her pocket. She held it into the air before holding it out towards Kayla in case she wanted to see it.
"Apparently, Maya, Riley and I are on probation now." She used her other hands to make quotation marks around the word probation. "We have to meet with one of their agents every day. If we see anything supernatural, we have to report it instead of fight it. Which, I don't plan on doing at all."
She smirked suddenly and waved the sticky note around. "I, for one, am planning to use this meeting to figure out what they're really up to. Or if they're really FBI at all."
"I'll accept your control over the Coven. I think you'll do a better job than I could. I do think that we should focus on making ourselves stronger, though. I'm not getting my ass beat again."
"I could give you a more in detail report, if you'd like. I'll answer any question you have."
As the small group arrived back at the Coven Molly couldn't help but let her eyes drift across the casino. How is it that this place always looks more wrecked each time she came in. She sighed, dismissing the futile idea of maybe one day this place looking nice as she simply limped towards an unoccupied bench. She heavily plopped herself down on the pressed wood and groaned silently to herself. She considered for a moment, to listen in on what was being said. But ultimately found that all to be rather boring, even considering she heard the words FBI and gassed. Today was less than ideal for her first day in this new body and she was rather itching to get into a soft bed.
Molly simply closed her eyes and rested her head back against the wall behind the bench; simply resting there for a moment until it was all called to a close for the day and she could leave. She would leave this moment but felt that would only incur a fight with Madison and Jean Grey and she was in no shape for a third round this evening.
"... And how do you think she fought them?" Babylon said with a cheeky grin.
Okay, this was getting a bit out of hand. The whole Coven thing. Everything that happened so far was weighing down on Madison and right now that felt like a ton. First the Hound, then it turns out the fucking FBI (or whoever, everyone was throwing theories around) raided the place. Madison had no clue how the FBI worked, functioned, or anything like that. However, Lyss gave a pretty good account of events - one that Madison would take over Emily or Maya's... but things didn't add up. There was something that the entire Coven was missing.
To be honest, if Madison didn't require companionship she would have already been gone the second they mentioned the FBI. However, speaking of running...
"Girls..." Madison muttered, "I know it's great that you all finally decided to get your shit together, but you all are forgetting something. Something important...."
Her Philadelphia accent started shining more and more with each word. Some of the girls were staring at her like she was retarded or something and Madison rolled her eyes. These girls sometimes.
"Tha' law just raided the place that we are fuckin' standing in," Madison just put it bluntly, "We gotta get the fuck outta' here! Let's go! We can talk this shit out somewhere else! Just... go!"
And without another word Madison turned around and left, without a care whether or not they'd stand there like idiots or just leave. Honestly, Madison just wanted to go home. Fuck the Coven and fuck the Club. She was going to get drunk and eat ice cream and try to cope with what happened.
"Ma-Madison!" Claudette said as she chased after the girl, "You are my ride, Mademoiselle!"
"Oh, yeah," Babylon said with a shrug as Emily decided to make a break for the door herself. "That'd be smart."
With a shrug, Babylon disappeared as her work here was done. Of course, today was just the beginning... the Coven was unaware that another, more sinister, threat lurked in the background. Stirring up a conflict that they'll have no choice but to fight...
&
BIG TREV?
Monday, 3:00pm
Her first "probation" meeting.
Lyss was apprehensive in the morning. She considered pulling the agent's leg by failing to show, but she had too many questions that needed answers to miss this opportunity. So, she grabbed her leather jacket, pulled it over her grey tee, and headed out of the apartment. She pulled up to the meeting spot and parked her speedster. Her eyes scanned the park for any civilians that might eavesdrop, but only a few people were meandering at this time of day. She was a little worried about picking an empty spot, but she knew her girls would come looking for her if she didn't show up at the next meeting. After all, she'd told Maya about the time and place of her meeting. If she didn't text Maya back in an hour or two, Maya would know there was trouble.
Lyss walked through the park until she found the bench she'd mentioned in her texts to Agent Trevor. It sat facing the pond and would provide some privacy for her little interrogation. She took a seat and pulled out her phone. In a show of boredom and carelessness about this meeting, she began to play an app until "BIG" Trev arrived.
However, another one of the agents arrived instead of Trevor. It was Maximilian Cornell, wearing a white polo t-shirt, black cargo pants, some Nike sneakers, and sunglasses. He had his hands in his pocket and a blank expression on his face as he approached. He immediately took a seat next to Alyssa as he said,
"Ms. Burns," He started, "How have you been?"
Lyss looked up from her phone to see none other than the fucking big guy walking towards her. At first, her face expressed her animosity at the sight of him. This is going to be a harder egg to crack. As he sat, she accepted his presence and decided to let this be a chance for one of the real agents to spill the information.
"Well, if it isn't the big guy." She said as she put her phone into her jacket pocket.
"I know we got off on the wrong foot..." Maximilian said, "I'm just glad it didn't escalate."
Lyss leaned back into the bench and crossed her legs. "So am I." She glanced him over and wondered if he had any weapons on him, but she knew that he could take her out without one anyways. "Is Trevor still butthurt about our first encounter with each other?"
"Yeah, he wanted me to handle you, said it was too embarrassing," Maximilian with a chuckle, "I personally don't think Trevor's ready for this - or field missions - but Meifeng wants him to grow into a capable agent."
Lyss raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like Meifeng wasn't happy with what she learned about us." She resisted the urge to smirk and rested her hands in her lap. "So, can I cut the bullshit with you and speak freely?"
Maximilian raised an eyebrow, "Of course."
Lyss nodded. "Then I'll cut to the chase. Who are you, really?" She asked, looking into his eyes.
"Maximilian Alexander Cornell," He flatly answered, "Born and raised in Minnesota."
"And who do actually you report to?" She wasn't here to fuck around.
With a roll of his eyes, Maximilian pulled out his FBI badge and displayed it to Alyssa without a word escaping his lips.
Lyss frowned. "So you're telling me that the FBI has its own division of witches that operates on its own? I'm not buying it."
Maximilian chuckled.
"... Witches?" He incredulously asked, "I'm sorry to say it, but it's classified."
Lyss shook her head. "I'm still not buying it, Maximillian."
"There's no way the FBI works like that. Like this. I mean, "probation", really? I know people that have been raided before, and they weren't just set free like this."
"Unfortunately," Maximilian said, "You should happy we were willing to make this deal after what you did. Meifeng was in a good mood that day." He shrugged.
Lyss laughed. "You have no authority. As real as that badge looks, I doubt that it would hold up if I called the police right now." She pointed at the bruise on her upper cheek, left by his leader. "Why'd you hit me, Max?" She suddenly asked rather loudly. "Do I- Do I have to call the police?" She stood up from the bench and hated that she had to resort to this, but she wanted to see how far this could go before he admitted it. "Help! Help! Call 911!" She shouted towards the few park-goers around them.
"... God damn it, Liao!" Maximilian hissed as Alyssa went with the most overdramatic bullshit in an attempt to get information out of him. He hissed through his teeth as he saw people looking at him like he was a monster and he knew that he had to keep her quiet. He grabbed onto her upper-arm as he got into her face. "... Will you please, please, be quiet because I know the game you're playing and Meifeng's not going to be happy."
He sighed, "I know what you want, but I'm telling you; would the truth really make any difference?"
Lyss glared at him as he grabbed her arm. She tugged against his grip and stuck her face back into his. She had to stand on her tiptoes to get this close. "Then tell me why you're really in Tampa, who this black hooded woman is, and why you chose to pick on my friends. Because I know that the government wouldn't give one single shit about what we were up to." She hissed back. Her tone was low now so that the others wouldn't hear.
"I told you why we're in Tampa," Maximilian shook his head, "As for the black hooded woman, that's a solid no. But, I think the raid was a huge overreaction on Meifeng's part. She was put in charge of the city and seeing that fight get out on Snapchat really well..."
He sighed.
"... You don't know Meifeng like I do, she's prideful. Too prideful. She lets this stuff get under her skin and she makes rash decisions."
Lyss scoffed. Her free hand curled into a fist, and she lowered herself back to stand flat on the ground. It was worrisome that the Coven's battle had made its way online somehow. She thought back to what she'd said yesterday. What other groups are aware of us now?" Still, there wasn't anything she could do about it now. "Meifeng acted like a thug. Why couldn't she have just approached us herself and asked for help? If there is any threat out there to the innocent, we would have gladly chosen to work alongside you."
"I won't let your group threaten mine. I know how this works."
"That's a good point, actually," Maximilian trailed off, "Meifeng wanted to send a message not just to you, but everyone that Greenwood isn't going to happen anywhere else. I don't quite agree with it, that was why I was trying to talk things down."
He sighed.
"Either way, long as you all stay out of trouble and honor our deal, then there won't be any problems, okay?"
Lyss stared at him for a moment as she mulled over his words. She could have accepted this answer, but this still made her group a target. She didn't like the idea that Meifeng's influence was hanging over them like a thumb ready to push a button. She couldn't just sit back and endure these "probation" meetings until Meifeng decided to put them into a dangerous situation for her benefit. She took a deep breath, looking like she was about to answer him in a composed manner. Instead of that, she started shouting again and thrashed against his grip on her arm.
"Let me go, Max! I told you not to see me ever again. Please, please, will someone call the cops!?" She turned to face him, her free hand rising into the air before she brought it flat across his cheek. Paybacks a bitch, ain't it? "Let me go!" She then began to pound her fists against his chest. It felt good to give him a beating. Even though acting this way was extremely embarrassing for both of them.
A vein almost popped in Maximilian's head as he finally got mad. He yanked Alyssa by her arm to get her to be quiet and pretty much ignored her strikes. He brought her nice and close as he nearly yelled in her face, "Oh. My. God. I am trying to help you will you please stop making this harder for yourself? If Meifeng was in there and you all pulled that bullshit she would have started using live rounds. And my God, the DENS gives us ful-"
He paused for a second as he realized he made the worst possible decision.
Lyss immediately stopped thrashing about. Her arm fell to her side, and what once was an expression of false fear melted into a wide smile. "That wasn't so hard, was it Max?" She turned her head to look at the concerned neighbors and waved her free arm. "Nevermind! We worked it out!" She looked back at Max and grinned.
"... Shut up," Maximilian said as he rested his face into his hands.
Lyss straightened out her jacket and cleared her throat before taking a seat on the bench once more. As if nothing had happened. She pulled out her phone and with a quick google search, realized that there was no information on D-E-N-S. So, she began to type a message to Maya. "Not FBI! Org called D-E-N-S."
"... You're not going to find anything on them," Maximilian said with a shake of his head as he realized something. Maybe he was going about this the... wrong way.
Lyss tucked her phone back into her pocket and looked back up at him. She leaned back again and nodded. "What does the acronym stand for? The full name."
"Department of Extra-Normal Security," Maximilian said, "One hundred percent clandestine."
Lyss pursed her lips, nodding her head. "So, an underground department. Care to tell me who the head honcho is?"
"And this effects...?" Maximilian raised an eyebrow.
Lyss shrugged. "I want to know who Meifeng reports to. My friends are now on the list. Of course, I'm concerned with who is handling our case." She tapped the seat next to her and smiled at him. "Might as well make yourself comfortable again, Max."
"Director Alcott... but if you asked her and you weren't in the know, she would act like you're talking crazy," Maximilian shook his head.
"Of course they would." She chewed on her lip for a second and looked out over the pond before sighing. "Well. All that's left is to decide how our future meetings will go." She looked back at him.
"This is how they're going to go, little lady," Maximilian said as he took control of the situation and jabbed a finger into Lyss's chest. "We're going to meet, you're going to talk about how you're feeling or whatever or whatever activities the Coven are up to, then I'm going to move on with my day because I have important business to attend to."
Lyss smirked. "Like what, Max? What exactly does DENS have you doing every day? What does your little group get up to when they're not terrorizing witch sororities?"
"I think that's obvious," Maximilian said as he leaned back and placed his hand on his lap. "Our mission is to neutralize Annabelle Heart at all costs."
"So, the black-robed woman has a name." She raised an eyebrow. "What has she done to get the kill order?"
"She's gone on a rampage from South Carolina all the way here..." Maximilian said, "Director Alcott assembled our particular team to eliminate her because nothing short of another Extra-Normal can get even close to her."
Lyss thought for a moment before speaking again. "Does this have anything to do with a string of murders where the corpses are nothing but skeletons?"
"It does," Maximilian said, "But, I would heavily suggest you keep all of this away from your little Coven... you really don't want to get involved in that. It's already complicated enough. I don't mind if you tell your group about the DENS, because as far as the world is concerned... we don't exist. All you'd do is draw attention to yourself."
"You're exactly right about that, Maximillian. That's the last thing we want."
"... and Meifeng may seem rough, she's actually got the best intentions for everyone. We all do. We just want you all to be out of our hair."
Lyss nodded, then turned to hold out her hand to him. "So we've agreed, then. Your group won't harm mine any further, and we will offer as much help as possible with your Annabelle situation."
"Just let us know if you see her," Maximilian said, "Again, Meifeng could have gotten that across better, but... yeah. She is a nice person once you, uh, get to know her."
He scratched the back of his head as he shrugged.
"Slaps people less."
Lyss raised an eyebrow but decided to let it slide. She'd believe it when she saw it.
"Tell me..." She said, resting her hand back in her lap when he didn't take it. "What happened to Annabelle to send her on this path? Is she cursed? Possessed?"
"We honestly don't know," Maximilian shrugged, "We think it has something to do with a cult in South Carolina, but Meifeng isn't out to figure out why she went on this rampage only stopping it before more people get hurt."
"What does your group know about her? What can she do, to leave bodies like that?" Better yet. "Why should we fear her?"
"We know she used to be a college student going out on summer break to Myrtle Beach with some friends... but her ability has something to do with eating flesh," Maximilian said, "And she can, worst of all, make other people into monsters if they get too close to her. She's extremely strong, fast... tough, and Director Alcott is getting desperate to stop her..."
Lyss tilted her head. Genuinely interested in this conversation about Maximillian's foe. In her curiosity, she blurted out a rather implicating fact about herself, if Max was smart enough to figure it out, without meaning to. "If she's possessed, could someone force the apparition out of her?"
"It's a possibility, yes," Maximilian answered. "But, Director Alcott wants her dead. Not cured..."
Lyss furrowed her brows. "If there's a chance to cure her, and to trap the apparition that could be possessing her, why kill her instead?"
Maximilian sighed.
"Director Alcott is an Adept, a powerful one," He started, "Cyan Lux if you don't know what that is; she can see things. And Alcott's specialty is seeing chance..."
He sighed again.
".. and Director Alcott says that there's a ninety percent chance Annabelle Heart will end the world."
Lyss blinked. Completely taken aback by the percentage. She pressed further after taking a moment to think it over. "Can she see what the other 10% chance would need to succeed?"
"Unfortunately, no," Maximilian shook his head.
"It sounds like you need a lot more help to take her down. Not just yourself or your Task Force." She clarified.
"We do, but help is hard to come by," Maximilian sighed, "The DENS is mostly normal people and they can't get close to her without succumbing to her ability. We're pretty much the only Extra-Normals in the whole organization."
He shrugged.
"But, Director Alcott says that I have the highest chance out of everyone in the whole organization to stop her, which was why she set it up so I'd get so powerful..."
Lyss couldn't believe it, but she was feeling sympathy for this guy. She even almost reached a handout and set it on his shoulder. The more you know, huh?
Instead, she nodded so that he would know that she'd been listening. "That sounds like a tough job."
"I know," Maximilian sighed, "I didn't ask for it, but knowing I'm making a difference makes it worth it."
Lyss turned her head to look out over the pond. "I'm sure that does feel nice." Up until now, Lyss had never felt that way. Or wanted to feel that way. "I feel the same way, almost. I joined this group to make myself a better person. To help others." Ugh, stop it, Lyss. She sighed too, and let herself relax. "Well, I guess we can continue this conversation tomorrow. I'd like to hear more about this Annabelle, but I think we better go before those people come back with an officer."
"Just one thing," Maximilian said as he got up. "Please keep this away from the Coven... if Meifeng finds out; Trevor's going to get the brunt of it and he's a good kid. Just misguided at times."
Lyss chuckled. She was already holding onto one secret for Trevor. Why not another? "Sure thing, Max." She stood up herself and gave him a nod. "I'll let you know where we're meeting tomorrow. Until then, good luck."
"I'm glad we've come to terms," Maximilian said as he saluted Lyss. "Have a good day."
It was raining again.
She could take the heat but it was always raining. She was just wandering around the streets of Tampa looking for the next place to sleep. She walked a cart around in the rain as she was shivering since the rain-soaked every bit of her clothing. People made sure to give her plenty of space and she just shook her head. Bastards. She found a building on the street with an awning. She sighed as she pushed her cart underneath it and sat down. She stuck out her sign that said:
HOMELESS, HUNGRY, ANYTHING HELPS.
"Spare any change?" The woman said to passers-by but they ignored her. She sighed as she hissed underneath her breath, "Heartless bastards."
They kept ignoring her until she put her face into her knees and just shook her head. Why does she keep going on? She should just take it all.
The stranger shoved the basket into the homeless woman's lap and she looked at it... it was various toiletry items, food, and other good stuff. "I..." The homeless woman muttered out as she went through the basket, "... Thank you! Thank you so much!"
However, as she went through the basket she found a pamphlet that said The Church of the Forgiven.. The Homeless woman knew about them... they were this big yuppie Christian Church movement slash charity. She saw a lot of them in various parts of Florida and many of them offer the homeless food and other items... though many of her compatriots were jumping to join them as they offered a place to stay.
"... You're in the Forgiven?" The Homeless woman said.
"Yes," The female-Forgiven said with a smile, "We're having a party later in case you want to come. We're going to be introducing new people, it'll be fun. We'll have food, drinks, games, and all sorts of fun." She offered a hand.
"You'll take me?" The homeless woman asked.
"We'll take anyone willing to listen," The man answered with a hand in his pocket. "Willing to find happiness and redeem themselves."
"... Who are you?"
"I'm Dean," The Male answered.
"And I'm Savannah," The Female answered, "We've been out here in Tampa for years, miserable, homeless, just like you... until we found a home with the Forgiven."
"This sounds too good to be true," The Homeless woman said.
"It's good and true," Savannah said with a wide smile. "But, we're going to leave you with that pamphlet, it'll tell you where our compound is and you can come by any time. And if you want we can get you a place to stay and get you cleaned up."
Savannah got up and waved goodbye to the homeless woman, "Goodbye for now... I know we're going to meet again."
The Homeless woman stared at the two as they walked off and couldn't help but gaze down at the pamphlet.
"I am Reporter Molly Schuller and we are live with Luther Saul for an exclusive interview."
"Please, Ms. Schuller," Saul said with a warming smile without baring teeth as he raised a hand, "Just call me Saul."
"Alright, Saul," Molly Schuller started, "You're the leader of the newest religious movement that has swept the nation seemingly overnight. And it was all started about you, how does it feel?"
"It feels great that I am helping so many people find happiness, their own God, and community, and I will do everything I can to spread that to all corners of the Earth," Saul answered rather casually.
"How do you feel about your critics?" Schuller asked. "Many people are accusing the Forgiven of being a cult."
Saul merely shook his head, "I understand their concerns and I assure you that our intentions are only the best."
"... Is that why you keep your practices and community a secret?" Molly Schuller asked.
"I do that because we have many people who are attempting to escape something - an abusive family, a drug life, and-"
"So you're saying that you're sheltering drug addicts?" Ms. Schuller asked.
"No, oh no," Saul answered. "We're giving them a new life away from substance abuse."
"And what about your critics who accuse you of being a scam artist?" Schuller pressed on, "Many members of the Forgiven report that you charge your members for being in the Forgiven."
"Okay, for starters, we do not "charge" for nothing, we just politely request that we pool our wealth so we can help people - the homeless and downtrodden specifically," Saul nearly hissed at this reporter as he tried to collect himself with a deep breath and then exhale.
"And what about the rumors of sexual abuse and chi-"
"This interview is over," Saul said as he got up and walked off the set without another word. One could hear the doors being swung open and slamming shut behind him.
Red wine was poured into a short and stubby whiskey drinking glass. It was not what the glass was intended for but Saul didn't care.
Saul was leaning against his desk as he poured it with a flat look on his face. After it was filled to the brim he brought it to his face and downed it. That could have gone much, much better, he sighed as he faced away from the window of his office. It was raining outside, dark, and cloudy and a bolt of lightning didn't even phase Saul. Good grief. He lit a cigarette in the office without a care in the world that it was one of the most well-furnished places there. He threw his head back as he let out a puff of smoke.
The door suddenly locked itself, which was weird because he was about a good twenty feet away from the door. Then he dropped the cigarette went he realized what it was.
Black smoke filled the room as a swirling light appeared on the opposite side of the room to Saul. A person walked into the room wearing a white robe with ornate golden highlights and symbols. The hood was up so it covered their face and they had their hands together so the sleeves covered their hands as they approached. They were no taller than five feet tall and they approached Saul.
"M-Messiah!" Saul said.
"... On your knees," The Messiah said as Saul was launched to his hands and knees by an outside force. The figure in the white hood walked around Saul, "That display today... it was quite frankly embarrassing."
The Messiah grabbed Saul by the neck and seemingly floated over to the wall at high speeds only to slam Saul against it. "You've embarrassed yourself, the Forgiven, and quite frankly me in front of the whole world. Tell me, Saul, what is your mission?"
"T-To spread enlightenment across the world, Messiah!" Saul stammered out as the Messiah held him against the wall.
"Then tell me why-" The Messiah threw him across the room into the opposite wall and Saul was seeing stars as he was bleeding. "-you are doing the opposite, making our movement look like a petty cult?" the Messiah said as he walked over to Saul.
"Messiah, please!" Saul put both of his hands up to protect himself. "It's that girl! Where ever I go, she shows up! Nothing we used against her works! She's unstoppable!"
The Messiah stopped in their tracks and asked, "... Are you making excuses?"
Saul seemingly found himself lifted into the air and the Messiah walked up. Saul had to say, "No, Messiah,"
"Because the matter of Annebelle is the other thing I've wanted to discuss with you," The Messiah said as Saul fell to the ground and gasped for air. "The fact that you've fled hundreds of miles away from one girl is... disgraceful."
"I had no other option!" Saul tried to plead.
"I gave you all the options," The Messiah as he got close to Saul, and walked a circle around Saul as they made their speech, "All the tools, everything you need. And yet you fail to use them. When I look around... I see evil, degeneracy, heresy... all over this state. The Dollhouse perverts the flesh, there are a Coven of Witches that practice witchcraft, monsters are roaming the streets at night, and that abomination has chased you here..."
The Messiah came to a stop as Saul looked on in horror.
"... I want you to kill all of them," The Messiah said, "If you leave this city before doing so; I'm going to kill you."
"How am I supposed to accomplish all of that?!" Saul asked and the Messiah shook their head.
"I didn't choose you for this position because you were foolish, Saul," The Messiah walked off as a circle of swirling light appeared and they walked into it. Before they disappeared; they stopped and looked back.
"Whatever you need," The Messiah started, "The Mother-Star provides."
Then they were gone and Saul was standing straight up and he stared slack-jawed in horror. How... how was he supposed to take all of them down? The Forgiven couldn't accomplish that without attracting the attention of something worse.
However, a lightbulb quickly went off in his head.
It was a busy day for Paragon Labcorps.
It was usual for Mondays. What was also usual was everyone getting over their various hangovers. It was typical as the secretary that was more or less the guard for Blake Schmidt quietly played Minecraft while there was a lull in things to do. Some people walked up and she immediately X'd out of it and the first thing that came up was some Microsoft powerpoints. She raised her head and saw... Luther Saul? And a man and a woman but she wasn't that concerned with them. Luther Saul was in front of her.
"Why hello there," Saul said, "We have an appointment with Blake Schmidt."
"Oh yes," the Secretary said as she got up and gestured for them to come along, "Right this way."
"... This is the first time we met, Schmidt," Saul asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well since Paragon has funneled a lot of money into your organization..." Blake said as he took a sip of his wine. He shrugged, "So, it's like we're friends already!"
"That's an odd way to go about it..." Saul said as he took a seat on the chair and Savannah and Dean were standing at each of his sides.
"So, Saul," Blake placed down the wine glass and leaned forward and supported himself with his arms. "What do I owe the occasion to?"
"Have you seen that little video... put on Snapchat or whatever it's called?" Saul asked.
"Well, I always have my little birdies keep an eye out for that kind of thing..." Blake said with a wide smile forming on his face. "... The real question is..."
Blake got off from his seat and walked around his desk and placed a hand on it while leaning against it. "... What's it to you?" He said dramatically.
"Well, I think we can form a deal here," Saul said as he stood up and looked up at the far taller millionaire. "You want to know about the supernatural and I am willing to point you in the right direction."
"And what's the price?" Blake said with a chuckle. "Everyone has a price."
"The world of the supernatural is a dangerous one, Schmidt," Saul said, "And there's this particular group of "witches" or whatever they call themselves, operating out of Tampa."
He put his hand up and Dean put his cellphone in Saul's hand and he displayed its contents to Saul. it showed the video of Madison and Molly fighting.
"Dean Farrow here recorded this while out on the town," Saul said. "And I'll tell you that if you want to know anything about the supernatural; they'll help you."
Blake smiled.
"I don't just want to know about the supernatural, my dear friend..." Blake ominously said as he started laughing. "I want these abilities for myself! I want to build my very own organization of illustrious people enhanced by supernatural abilities! I'll call them the Elite!"
"... Then this is perfect," Saul stated, "Supernatural beings can give out powers to each other. So..."
"You want me to seek out this Coven?" Blake said, "What for...? I know you're not telling me this for nothing."
"It's not," Saul said as he sat down and crossed one leg over the other. "... I want you to dismantle the Coven. Any way possible. They're dangerous and they need to be removed for the greater good."
Blake grinned.
"... Anything ol' chum!"
The night fell and Kimberly, the Ghost Hunter, and Rowan were walking through the woods.
Kimberly had a flashlight in hand and Rowan had turned on the night vision on his camera to provide them some lighting in their trek through the scorching woods. Though, on Kimberly's side, it was just for show because the sigil of a cockroach underneath her foot was glowing. Not that anyone could see it, but one could notice how there was a bunch of flying insects around scouting the area for Kimberly. The ability that she received from a deceased girl allowed her to see the vague aura through her insects. Which pretty much meant she had full awareness of the environment...
... In her other hand, she had a microphone.
"... So, tonight we are tracking the elusive maneater," Kimberly said into the microphone, looking back at the camera. "We tracked it to these woods!" She was careful not to detail which woods they were in because other people were tracking her as well.
The insects picked up something and Kimberly paused in her tracks. There was the vague aura of somebody hunched over a dead woman who was homeless... and the figure on top of her was devouring the subject. She hissed a swearword because she didn't expect to run into something this soon. They'll have to come back and record some scenes to make it look like they were building up to the monster.
Kimberly swiped a flat hand across her throat as she reached into her satchel and pulled out a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 2.0. Rowan cut the feed, and the two moved their way over towards the figure as lightly as possible. If they played their cards right, they could get the drop on it. While she had powers she wasn't stupid, far from it, she knew that a little extra heat won't hurt. Kimberly cut the lights as she approached the thing.
With more of the insects surrounded it rather than the environment, she was able to get good at it when she flashed her flashlight on it. The thing had chalk-white skin that was almost literally skin and bones, with long bleeding claws but Kimberly couldn't see its face as it had buried itself into the torso of a... little girl. No older than thirteen years old with long black hair. Kimberly couldn't help but freeze out of pity for the girl. She has seen some shit so the gore didn't bother her but this? This was getting to be too much. She was ripped to shreds before she was killing.
Which made her mission to stop Annabelle all the more important. There was no saving this girl, however. The monster that was eating her on the other hand...
"Stop!" Kimberly said as she aimed her pistol at it with both hands and dropped her weight. Her finger was on the trigger.
The creature hissed at Kimberly as it quickly lunged at her. She had no choice but to squeeze the trigger and a bullet came out and hit the chalk-white thing directly in the shoulder. The creature let out an inhuman sequel and quickly Kimberly pulled the trigger again and there was that deafening ring as it was hit directly in the chest. And it still had enough strength to hop off... except it was bleeding profusely and Kimberly followed the trail of blood through the woods.
She cursed herself for not putting her insect swarm on it so she could track it. However, she sent the insect swarm forward after it to scout the area ahead to make sure that she's not walking into a horde of those things. She had the pistol hanging low as she ran as she asked, "Are you recording?"
"Yeah," Rowan said as he ran behind Kimberly.
"Shit, I didn't say to record, Rowan! Um..." Kimberly trailed off. "So I'm chasing after the illusive maneater as we speak!"
The insect swarm tracked the creature to an abandoned house as it jumped through the window and disappeared. The first thing that Kimberly did as the two approached the house sent the insect swarm around the house to scout. There was nobody nearby, only the cold night sky and the shrubbery. The next thing Kimberly did was send the swarm inside to find the monster however she found herself the outline of a tall, gaunt, figure wearing a robe...
"No..." Kimberly muttered
The door was kicked down as an an enormous figure wearing a deer skull and a black robe stepped out. The thing was easily like seven feet tall and smelled horrid. The person was at least thirty feet away and Kimberly found herself gagging at the odor she was giving off. Like a dead body...
"Rowan," Kimberly gagged again as she slid her pistol into her satchel. "Stay close. I think we just found the Maneater herself...." She said into the camera.
The swarm of insects floated down towards the ground as a gesture of surrendering. She took a few steps forward as the figure said,
"... Who are you? Why have you come here?"
"Annabelle," Kimberly said as there was a growing nervousness in her throat as she stepped up. "I've come to help you."
"I don't want your help!" Annabelle roared.
"You do," Kimberly said, "You're not in control of your actions, it's the curse. We need to cure you of it."
"The Hunger..." Annabelle said as she pulled her hand from underneath the robe and stared at it. It wasn't a hand at this point, it was like a claw. Her fingertips were shaped into lengthy sharp claws and her skin was pale as paper, "... I need this. I need this to kill Saul!"
The woman loudly yelled as she slashed at the wall and nearly took down the fragile building.
"I understand what Saul did to you-"
"No, you don't! Nobody understands!" The woman began clawing at her mask as she growled out the words. "You don't understand what he did to me, what he did to my sister, my friends! I-I can't stop!"
"You have to, Anna!" Kimberly shouted, "You're killing innocent people! You may hate Saul, but you shouldn't drag them into this! I know there's a good person in there deep down, so I'm begging you, begging you, stop. For them. There are dangerous people after you and I don't think I can stop them!"
Annabelle yelled as she fell to her hands and knees.
"I want to stop..." Annabelle said as she rested her face into her claws. "I... I have to kill Saul. This rage. I'm... hungry. I have to kill..."
"Annabelle, fight it," Kimberly said. "I know you can do it. We can bring Saul to justice, I just need you to stop."
"No... I must kill Saul! I hunger for his flesh!" Annabelle said as she placed a claw on the ground and pushed herself to her feet. Red eyes flashed from underneath her deer skull mask as she said. "... I'm hungry."
Annabelle lunged at Kimberly, covering the ground at high speeds.
"Shit!" Kimberly shouted as she pulled out her pistol and as she summoned the swarm of insects to attack Annabelle. Their hellish buzzing could be heard for miles as they formed a thick cloud in front of her around Annabelle. "Rowan!"
"On it!" Rowan grabbed onto Kimberly and the two were surrounded with a glowing blue aura as Annabelle was attacked by the insects. They compressed themselves from a cloud as they covered her from head to toe in bugs and attacked her. The bees and hornets stung her, the fire ants ripped and tore at her legs, and everything else just tore at her vital areas. Meanwhile, Kimberly was aiming her weapon at her.
"I'm sorry, Annabelle!" Kimberly shouted. "You've given me no other choice!"
"I... I knew you didn't care about me!" Annabelle shouted as she slashed at the insects.
"Don't make me do this!" Kimberly said as a tear went down her eye. "We can still work this out, Annabelle! We can stop! You can stop!"
"I already told you..." Annabelle shouted, "I can't!"
She lunged through the swarm of insects as she landed on all fours before launching herself at Kimberly. Who immediately let loose several bullets and they all hit Annabelle... she just didn't stop as she tackled Kimberly to the ground. Rowan went down with her as the camera, and pistol, went sliding across the floor. Kimberly felt Annabelle's claws pressing into her shoulders as she screamed.
"Kim!" Rowan shouted as she grabbed the pistol and let a few rounds off into Annabelle... and one went clean through her skull and splattered her brains all over the grass. It left a hole in her mask which showed the brutality... This gave Kimberly ample time to get from under Annabelle before it was instantly replaced. She was panting as she crawled her way to Rowan's feet and he threw his pistol to her.
"We gotta get out of here," Kimberly said to Rowan as she reached into her satchel and pulled out a photograph of their hotel room.
"Please..." Annabelle said as she stood straight up. She was violently twitching almost as if she was trying to hold herself back. She holds her hands together below her waist as she shouted, "Just... go!"
Kimberly didn't waste any time in teleporting herself and Rowan out of there.
Annabelle walked back into the abandoned building, seething because of all of her wounds and the betrayal. Her skull mask now had a hole in it that she needed to fix. At all costs. Annabelle sighed.
"... She's right you know," A voice appeared from behind Annabelle and she merely turned around her shoulder to see a familiar sight. "You need to stop hurting people."
"I'm trying to, Sophia," Annabelle softly mumbled. "I'm trying to do the right thing..."
"Then... just stop," The girl the softest smile said. "You want to do the right thing? Then stop hurting people and accept help."
"I have to stop Saul!" Annabelle shouted as she turned around, "He hurt us! I can't let him keep hurting people! What if I stop now, and he does the same thing to other people!?"
Sophia walked over to Annabelle, and put a hand on her shoulder, "Okay, maybe we can take this one step at a time? You... haven't been taking care of yourself." Sophia mentioned as she wrestled Annabelle's hand from underneath the robe and examined.
"Maybe you should take some time tooooo..." Sophia trailed off as she looked at Annabelle's claw. ".. Take a shower, do your hair, cut your nails? Maybe get out of this ugly robe? Where the hell did you get this in the first place?"
Sophia smiled at her.
"I love you, Sophia," Annabelle said as tears ran down her face from underneath the mask. "I'll do everything in my power to protect you, protect you from him."
"I love you too," Sophia said with a smile. "I just want you to come home so we can get some ice cream and maybe play some games like we used to."
Annabelle stared at Sophia for a second.
"Things will never be the same," She said as she snatched her claw away. "... And you know that." Annabelle began walking away and left Sophia standing there staring at him.
"Yeah, I know," Sophia kept that wide smile on her face. "Take your time."
The next day Emily went back to work and business as usual as one of Blake Schmidt's many, many, secretaries. She had her hair in a bun and she was, for once, wearing glasses as she stood in front of the computer endlessly typing away. It was Friday, and she was going to finish strong before she went home and wondered what kind of fuckery the Coven was going to send her way next. To be honest, she's been watching her back as of late with the whole FBI thing. She had no clue if they were actual FBI, but at the same time, they haven't hauled her or anyone else to jail.
Good.
She was too pretty for jail.
As per usual, the rest of the Coven were doing whatever during the week. Presumably, those dumbasses had to be working at a Burger King or doing something to contribute to society. Something to justify them making so many trees work so hard at keeping them alive. Though, she shook her head as she focused on her work.
"... You should go see what Schmidt is doing," Babylon said as she floated in front of Emily as she came to a stop.
"Babylon how many times have I told you?" Emily said, "Someone's going to see you."
"Long as they're not Extra-Normal or anything," Babylon smiled, "We're fine!"
"Ms. Reed," Jenna said with a coy smile on her face and a clipboard. Usually, this bitch piles the work she doesn't want to do on Emily because she's low on the food chain. And every time that Emily saw her she wanted to punch her in her little whore face. She always walks around the office all smug all because she's been fucking Blake Schmidt. And everyone who seems to drop their panties for him always gets the best of the best. It seems like everyone has been sucking and fucking for a promotion, raise, fewer duties... and it was pissing Emily off.
"Maybe you should just give in," Babylon said and Emily didn't even respond she just focused on Jenna.
"Anything I can help you with, Ms. Jenna?" Emily asked as she used all of her strength to restrain herself.
"If you hate her so much, just turn let me turn her into a monster or something," Babylon shrugged. "Or better yet, turn her into your love slave. Nothing's more empowering than seeing your most hated enemy's face between your legs."
And Emily ignored her as usual as Jenna gave her the orders for today.
"Mr. Schmidt would like to see you," Jenna said as she gestured for Emily to come along and she raised an eyebrow. Schmidt never gave her the time of day and unlike the rest of these sluts she wasn't crowding around him to get in his pants. Emily, without another word, pushed herself to her feet and followed after Jenna in the busy halls of the Paragon Labcorps. Why the hell did he call it "Paragon"? All she saw here was corporate greed and capitalism gone wild.
But it paid twenty-five (and fifty cents) an hour so Emily couldn't complain.
Eventually, they were in the elevator and Emily simply stood there as Babylon floated over to Jenna.
"My, my, she's quite attractive, red hair, freckles, a nice bosom... her nose looks strange, however," Babylon said, "But, you are far, far above her and if Blake is willing to do anything to make sure his toy is happy... think of what he'll do for you? If you just swallow your pride and get the power you desire."
Emily narrowed her eyes at Babylon. Not happening.
Eventually, the doors opened and that awkward feeling also dissipated. Emily followed Jenna as Babylon floated behind them unbeknownst to the lead secretary and lead them to Blake Schmidt's office. This was the first time she's seen the CEO's office... it was fancy.
"... And it could be yours," Babylon said.
However, Blake was standing staring out the window with his arms behind his back like a window without a word... like a total weirdo.
"Emily G. Reed," Blake started as he ominously (and overdramatically) turned his head to look over his shoulder at her. "Do you know why you're here?"
"No, not at all, sir," Emily meekly answered.
"Jenna, show her," Blake said with a snap of his fingers and Jenna Lyons displayed her cellphone... which showed the video of Emily burning her clothes off and the various fights against the Greenwood Coven and even the fight in the Dairy Queen parking lot. And Emily bit her fingertips as she looked up at Blake with wide-eyed.
"... What do you want, Blake?" Emily asked.
"Oh! You aren't in trouble or anything, I was thinking that you and this little group of yours could help me with a little problem of mine," Blake said and Emily raised an eyebrow.
She put a hand on her tiny hip as she tilted her head, "... And what problem is that?" She asked.
"Well, I've been looking to delve into the world of the Extra-Normal," Blake said as he turned around and began closing the distance between the two, and Emily instinctively took a step back. "And I'm willing to pay top dollar for whoever can get me one of these magical abilities."
"Oh, I can give him one!" Babylon said as she readied a yellow sigil and Emily shook her head.
"Shaking your head at nothing, I see!" Blake said, before he put his fingers together as if he was going to snap them, "Perhaps this can sway you." Blake snapped his fingers and somebody came in.
Emily immediately identified the tall, Japanese-American, woman that walked in as Makoto Koda. Sporting her trademark smirk as she carried in a briefcase and placed it on the table. Blake opened the briefcase and revealed that it was full of money and Emily's jaw dropped.
"... It's all yours." Blake said, "Think of it as your bonus for all the hard work."
Emily, true to her name G. Reed, went through it... and realized it was hundreds on top and a bunch of ones on the bottom.
That motherfucker.
"I would like a meeting with your friends," Blake Schmidt said, "If you get your little Coven in a meeting with me and get me initiated with the supernatural I'll shower you with money, Ms. Reed."
Emily smiled widely... this will be enough to help pay's Jacqueline medical bills and if Blake honors his end... then maybe she'll have enough until Jacqueline's curse is cured. She looked up.
"... Where do you need them and when?" Emily asked.
"Oh, well, Jenna here will arrange that," Blake said as he waved his hand, "Just contact her and we'll... sort something out." He smiled.
"Now run along, you have the rest of the day off."
Emily had to contain her excitement as she took the briefcase and nearly ran out of the office... where Blake narrowed his eyes at Makoto, "Follow her." Makoto smiled as she took off after Emily.
"... Best news I heard all day!" Emily said to herself as she ran outside with the briefcase and quickly ran to the parking lot where she threw on her helmet and hopped on her moped. As she started it, she sent out a text message to the Coven's Snapchat group.
Alright sloots I have important business so let's meet up at the amusement part right now like ASAP
it involves big $$$ from Mr Schmidt like i said get to the place ASAP like right fucking now sloots
With that, Emily zipped off on her moped towards the Coven's new meeting spot.
Fantasy Land.
Claudette wasn't one to pry.
When Madison came back from the encounter with the Hound she seemed distant. Stranger even. She didn't talk, avoided even looking at Claudette, and just went to work and came home. Every attempt to connect with her and talk with her about what exactly happened with that thing ended up with nothing. And all Claudette has been doing was experimenting with her abilities in her spare time and doing odd-jobs around Tampa to make some living. It was nice that Madison was willing to let her live with her, but the money that she has saved is slowly depleting. And she's not sure if she would be able to go back to her hole job.
Claudette sighed as she sat on the couch, watching TV bored out of her mind. Most of the other girls had a job or school to attend, which was why they always met on the weekends. Though, after what happened with the "FBI", things were beginning to change. For starters, they seemed to be getting serious. Or trying to. They needed to prepare for these things much, better. As Babylon said, they attracted strange.
Her phone beeped and saw that it was from the Coven's Snapchat group... which they only were supposed to use in emergencies.
Alright sloots I have important business so let's meet up at the amusement part right now like ASAP
it involves big $$$ from Mr Schmidt like i said get to the place ASAP like right fucking now
"Oh, dear..." Claudette didn't like the sound of this. Emily G. Reed wasn't exactly the most... sensible person. Especially with Babylon at her side. It was unfortunate but that was how things were going to go. A few messages were confirming that they were going to this impromptu meeting - but some said they were late because they wanted to meet some prospective members of the Coven - and Claudette sighed. Madison was out at the moment and that meant that Claudette had to take the bus.
Again, Claudette sighed as she grabbed her keys and walked out the door.
Just another day in the Coven.
Eventually, Claudette got off the bus and walked a little while to their brand new meeting spot. The Coven had many, many, arguments about where they should meet but eventually, somebody suggested that they meet at this place known as Fantasy Land. A theme park that was abandoned some time ago somewhat east of Tampa towards Seffner and other places. As Claudette walked through the gates she felt an odd feeling. Like there was something wrong here.
Maybe that was the thing... people say that Fantasy Land park was haunted. Cursed even. People go in and never come out, it was a bunch of silly rumors and other ghost stories. And Claudette would have regarded it as such before she realized that ghosts and monsters were real. Very real.
Today was a great day, it was bright and sunny. A perfect day for a meeting. Florida had some of the most schizophrenic weather that Claudette had ever seen. One day it'd be storming and another day it'd be beautiful. Claudette made sure to dress appropriately for the day, however. She was wearing black sweat shorts and a blue T-shirt and some blue New Balance sneakers. She had a backpack on for the door so she kinda looked like a hiker. Her afro was puffy as always...
... She heard a rustling in the bushes and she immediately cast a shroud of darkness over the area. Call it paranoia, but Claudette knew better than to shrug it off. She couldn't hear anything but she made a hole in the darkness to pierce through it and see what it was.
... And what came running out was an alligator. Any normal person would probably scream and run away, however, Claudette dispersed the darkness as she bent down.
"Chompy!" Claudette said as she pat the alligator on the head like a dog, "I missed you, Monsieur!"
The first oddity about the Coven was that they had a pet alligator (or "familiar" whatever that meant). It was the most Florida thing that she ever heard in her life. She had no clue what exactly the thing was, she heard some of the members calling it an Abscised or something. Claudette didn't care. Normally the Alligator is the guardian of the Coven's lair while they weren't around... but it was bad at its job.
Very bad.
However, Chompy was here and Claudette affectionately rubbed the sides of its face. "Let's go." She said as she got up and began walking through the amusement park until they made it to their planned meeting shop... one of the abandoned restaurants the place had in the shape of a ship. There were many, many, different seats and tables and Claudette pulled a chair out with her foot and sat down on it.
Casually waiting for the "woman of the hour" to show up.
Why did everything have to be such a bother?
Taylor turned her nose upwards as she walked down the streets of Tampa... the sun was shining bright as ever but every time Taylor looked up at the sun she always got reminded of bad things. Very bad things. She shook her head as she was looking at her cellphone. She was reading some text messages, and her phone was being barraged with Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook notifications from people she didn't even know. Honestly, she couldn't be bothered to answer them all and didn't even read it. How much do these people spend on their phones? Though one hand was on her cellphone, the other was with a cigarette in between her fingertips. It was almost like she was in a rush to ruin this body.
Though, she bumped into somebody in front of her and dropped both the cigarette and her cellphone. She let out a quiet yelp as she tried to save the cigarette but it was crushed by the person's foot. She picked up her phone and tried to dust it off.
"... Um, miss," Taylor heard the gentleman's voice looking down at her as she realized that she forgot something. "You just bump into me and not even apologize?"
Oh shit, right. Taylor thought to herself as she looked up at the older gentleman, she was about to mouth an apology before he stormed off.
"Bitch." He said as he walked off and Taylor shrugged.
Can't please everyone. Taylor thought to herself as she walked off and continued to her destination... which was a Dairy Queen. So, this was where the Coven was set to meet her. Apparently, they had a few incidents and didn't want to tell people where they were off the bat. They wanted to meet them first... but a fucking Dairy Queen? Was this the best they could do? Taylor shook her head as she walked in and ordered a strawberry milkshake and took a sip of it as she walked to a table.
They said to meet them at this exact table... and that there would be other prospective members of the Coven there, too.
“... Yeah mum, I understand. I’ll send you pictures of my results,” Maya pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried her best to keep the agitation out of her voice. She was glad that her mother didn’t call her often but it was painful every time she did. Still she put up with it because she needed the money her parents sent her for rent and food.
“Good. Have you looked at the picture I sent you?”
“Yes.”
“He’s a businessman who lives in Florida at the moment. He’s from a very good family over here that your father is friendly with and he makes an awful lot, you know. They’ve already been in contact with him and he’s interested in meeting you, I just need to know when you’re free to set it up.”
“I’m not going on a blind date, mum.”
“Myeong-Suk,” her mother’s tone held a warning that had Maya wincing. “You will meet him.”
“I’m busy.”
“I know that you’re not. If you don’t meet any of the men I recommend how are you going to get married to someone suitable? You’re not getting any younger! This is why I didn’t want you to go to university over there.”
This was exactly why she’d wanted to leave.“I’m not meeting him.”
“Don’t get snappy with me. You will meet him and that’s final, Myeong-Suk.”
Maya let out a frustrated hiss, knowing from experience that arguing with her mother wasn’t going to work. But she had to get out of it somehow. There was absolutely no way she was going to meet some random man who looked ten years older than him just because her family and his were close. She was only twenty-one for fucks sake. Still, it was something that could be solved with a little lie.
“I have a boyfriend.”
“Excuse me? Why am I only hearing about this now?”
“We just got together a week ago,” Maya lied. She’d never thought to do this before because she knew her mother would see right through her if she wasn’t able to answer all her questions. But since she had someone in mind it made things just a little bit easier.
“What’s his name, what’s his date of birth and what time was he born at?”
“Trevor,” Maya sighed, completely unsurprised by the barrage of questions. “Are you going to check our compatibility? We’ve been together for a week.”
“Are you not dating with the plan to get married?”
“Of course not, that’s not how it works anymore. Especially not in America.” Though getting hooked with an American was pretty tempting for that sweet citizenship.
“Well you better convince him to marry you. How tall is he? Send me pictures of him and pictures of you two together.”
“I don’t have any photos… we haven’t taken any together.”
“You haven’t? I thought you were very into, what was it called, taking selfies and uploading them online?”
“Only of myself. I don’t have any of the two of us… or of him.”
“Well you’ll just have to take some to send me,” her mother hummed, absolutely refusing to take no for an answer. Maya was incredibly tempted to hang up but she knew that would only get her in trouble before the questioning was over. “More importantly, what’s his job?”
“He works for the government.”
“How well does it pay? How high up is he?”
“I don’t know and it doesn’t matter,” Maya hesitated for a second as she removed her phone from her ear to check the time. She’d been talking to her mum for over half an hour. She had to end this now. “I need to go.”
“Why?”
“I have a study group,” Maya said easily even though she’d handed in all her due assignments the day before and didn’t even talk to anyone in her course. “For the upcoming exams.”
She could hear her mother thinking before she agreed. “I’ll call you again. Remember to send me pictures.”
“Bye,” Maya hung up with a frustrated groan, collapsing onto her bed and throwing her phone next to her. She let out a torrent of Korean expletives as she threw an arm over her face. How the fuck was she meant to get a picture with Trevor? Sure, she’d been slowly working things up through the past five or so days of probation meetings. He was cute and easy to flirt with… but that was all it was at the moment. Flirting. What was she supposed to do, turn up to the meeting tomorrow and ask him for a photo? That would be ridiculous. It wasn’t even like she could use someone from the Coven as a stand in.
She shook her head and sat back up. Her mother’s intense interest in her dating life wasn’t her main concern right now. She hadn’t even managed to get any information out of Trevor. Absolutely nothing. Lyss had managed to get something on the first day (the text of which Maya had screenshotted and backed up, just in case). But Maya had nothing. Maybe she’d been concentrating a little too much on other things…
Her phone buzzed and she groaned again as she picked it up. She was relieved to see it was a message from the Coven’s Snapchat group (a platform she’d argued against using) rather than her mother.
Alright sloots I have important business so let's meet up at the amusement part right now like ASAP
it involves big $$$ from Mr Schmidt like i said get to the place ASAP like right fucking now
It took her a moment to adjust back to English, especially written as shoddily as Emily had. She rolled her eyes but texted back that she’d be there as much as she didn’t want to. She’d already had her classes and “probation” meeting… she’d hoped to spend the rest of the day relaxing in her air conditioned apartment. She’d even taken her makeup off! She’d to put the full thing back on… Normally she’d be alright with a little bit, but she still had two rather obvious bruises from last weekend. At least now they were slowly fading to a less noticeable green than the dark purple they’d been. Still, it required a full face of foundation and concealer to cover at least a bit.
Shaking her head, Maya forced herself off her bed to get read.
It was sunny outside, and Maya regretted not wearing sunglasses as she walked into Fantasy land while sucking on a popsicle. She was enjoying the warm weather otherwise - she was much more used to than when it was cold. She wore a short sleeved, white linen top and a high waisted, navy checked skirt, with some white sneakers for practicalities sake. Normally she’d dress a little bit more practically (but no less nicely) for the Coven meetings, shorts and the likes, just in case but she really hadn’t had the energy to pick out a new outfit after putting back on all her makeup.
She was surprised to find that she was one of the first ones there as she approached the meeting shop. Only Claudette was sitting there along with her favourite alligator. She nodded to the girl. “Hey, Claudette.”
Then she squatted down beside Chompy, reaching over to scratch him under the jaw with a wide smile. “And hello Chompy!” If she was honest, Maya really wasn’t the type of girl to like animals. But Chompy had very quickly made himself an exception in that way. She utterly adored him. Maybe it was partly down to the fact he wasn’t really a normal pet. She continued to lavish him with affection before looking up at Claudette. The two of them hadn’t really talked in all their time in the coven but she figured that maybe today… Well, today was a day for her to be nice for once.
Well, try. To one whole person. No guarantees she’d keep it up past that when the more dislikeable members showed up.
“How are you doing?” she asked, before realising how awkward that was to ask when they barely talked in the first place. “I wonder what kind of business Emily has? I’m not just saying this out of spite, but I don’t have high hopes for it being anything good. Big money from someone so famous? Sounds dodgy to me… How does he even know about us?”
Also, it was Emily. Maya didn’t trust anything that came from her.
Izzy stared at the clock on her computer screen waiting for 4PM to roll around. She hated being stuffed inside business casual clothing. Don’t be mistaken, she still manages to look good in the clothes, but it just wasn’t her style. Not to mention she had been pretending to look busy for over an hour now and was ready for the weekend to start. As soon as it was 4PM on the dot, Izzy quickly gathered her things and rushed out the door. She had places to be and people to see.
After returning to her apartment, Izzy changed into a sports bra and leggings to use the gym. The apartment gym wasn’t much, but it was usually empty. Izzy wasn’t in the mood to get hit on at the gym. It was during her routine that she got the notification from the Coven’s Snapchat group. Big money? Blake motherfucking Schmidt? The hottest fucking millionaire in Florida? Hell yes. Izzy had no idea what was going on, but to be honest, she didn’t really care. She was up for anything that involved that hot piece of money bags. She had to quickly finish up her workout and showered before changing into something cute. It wasn’t her best outfit, but given that most of her clothes were in the laundry, it would have to do.
Getting to the amusement park was a pain in the ass. At least the casino had been in town, now she had to walk all the way from the nearest bus stop into an abandoned park. Not to mention, there was always something trying to snag her hair or rip her clothes. But of course, the girls had managed to somehow get involved with the FBI while she was gone? No one gave her the details, but of course the day she skipped is the day that things actually happened. Funny how that works.
”Hey guys!” Izzy waved to Claudette and Maya who were already there. ”I’m glad you all managed to stay alive while I was gone,” The already slightly buzzed girl skipped over to join Maya in crouching down and petting Chompy. ”I’m glad you’re okay too, Chompy boy.” She cooed in a tone reserved for pets to the 13 ft long alligator that could probably kill her in an instant. Then she pulled out a water bottle and took a big swig out of it, and offered it to Maya next to her. "It's not water, I promise," Izzy grinned.
Ellie had gone home from the meeting, completely exhausted. She grabbed a ride with Jess, seeing as she no longer had the energy to teleport. She got home, showered and fell asleep as soon as she made contact with the bed.
The rest of her week was fairly normal. She went to work at the convenience store, considered finally putting in her college application (which she did not), and in her free time kept her nose in a book. She was however, trying to edit and fluff her book about the extra-normal. She found that even among the accurate books and info she could find about the extra-normal, they were never compiled. She also continued watching Kimberly's show, knowing that it was much more than fiction.
Another strange thing was Molly. She was acting much weirder and after the meeting, seemed like she barely remembered she was staying with Elise. Ellie gave her the usual distance, and the two never really talked much, they were just kindred souls that felt safe around each other. However, that feeling wasn't there anymore, and Ellie found herself feeling more anxious than at peace around her. She didn't bring this up though, as she chalked it up to an over-reaction.
She had gotten home from work about 40 minutes before her phone buzzed with a snapchat notification. There was only one reason she even had a snapchat, so she knew it was about the Coven. Her mouth turned into a frown as she saw it was from Emily. Seemed like people were going though, so she decided she should go too. She was wearing a pair of jeans, and a loose and comfortable light blue blouse. She slid on her shoes, a pair of sneakers from wal-mart, and teleported to the new hideout. She had already been there, as her main form of transportation was her abstraction.
She saw Claudette, Maya, and Izzy already there. A small smile appeared on her face as she went up to the Coven pet, Chompy. "Hey there boy. Did you miss me?" She cooed softly to him. After greeting the alligator and giving her Coven-mates a small wave, she sat down on a patch of grass, waiting for the rest of the group to show up.
Jess had taken Ellie home after the shit-show of a meeting. She couldn't bring herself to say no to such a fragile looking kid. After she had seen Ellie make it inside, she went home herself. Thoughts kept running through her mind about the fight with the hound, and how Kayla leveled a forest. She decided that night that aside from only practicing her magic, she would also need back-up weaponry.
The next day Jess went to work, business as usual. Shooting the shit with her co-workers, talking about comics, dnd and the likes. After work, she went to a sporting good outlet and purchased a professional recurve bow. She had wanted a compound, but they were a bit too pricey for her, so she settled for the cheaper option. She also purchased a quiver of 50 hunting arrows. This would add well to her arsenal, and seemed a lot less suspicious due to hunting, than a sword. So she could keep it in her trunk at all times.
The rest of the week felt natural. She had DND on Wednesday, and noticed her cut from the vampire fight was closing up well. Her father and her got along as well as always. It was especially helpful that he never asked prying questions. She also practiced with her magic, trying to think of new spells, since she had now access to existing ones other than the ones she already knew. She had gotten the hang of object levitation, to the point that she could lift her desk chair into the air. She had to move it physically though if it all, but this spell would definitely come in handy when moving things around.
Friday had finally arrived. She had gotten off of work and was playing Dragon's Dogma on her PS4 before getting a snap from the Coven group. Emily wanted to talk about some money from that playboy millionaire. Jess didn't know why but if she had her way, she'd have casted Blake to play Iron Man in the movie adaptations. She saved her game and stood up, getting her sword into her case, and getting into her car. She was wearing tan shorts that reached to the middle of her thighs and a black shirt with the batman symbol on her chest. She slid on her converse and got into the car.
She arrived shortly after Elise. She had parked her car in the abandoned park, behind some old stands. She walked over to the girls with a big wave and a cheery smile. She was carrying her sword, her bow, and her arrows. "Hello ladies, and Chompy! Check out what I bought. Those monsters won't know what hit them, huh?" She grinned as she held out the black resin bow. She figured if nothing else came from this meeting, she'd fire some of her practice arrows to work on her aim. The abandoned park was the perfect place to do so.
Ashley cautiously walked into the Dairy Queen that she was directed to go to. She had been using her body's phone for a while now, and was desperate to find out more about her condition, now that she unwittingly discharged someone from their own body. She was wearing a leather jacket, despite the heat, and had fair skin and dark black hair. She looked a little rough as she'd been living on the streets for about a week now. She went to the appointed table, and sat across from a pretty girl. She didn't mince any words. "Are you here about the coven too?"
Vashti had spent a day laying low after the Leviathan had shredded that mean officer lady’s special police truck, and when she had made her return to the Lucky Strike Casino it had been cleared out. Surprisingly, it wasn’t very difficult to find the Coven again. Once she got a new phone (the previous had been waterlogged), all it took was going online and doing a few searches. They even had their own website. Well, okay, it was more of a subreddit, but it all still seemed very legit to Vashti. She made contact with one of the members on the site, and they set up a little meet and greet on Friday. She assumed it was just a formality. In her mind, she was already in and she just had to make it a few days without causing too much trouble.
The Leviathan had other plans. It had seemed to have grown an obsession around tearing apart large trucks, judging by the number of engine blocks she had seen spiked on a metal rod outside of a stormwater outfall when she had resumed control earlier that morning. On the brightside, she didn’t have to worry about losing control during her meeting with the Coven—and her waterproof phone case had worked! Sorta kinda. It had kept her phone dry. It hadn’t prevented the screen from being cracked. She’d replace it next week. Her allowance had already been wasted on new headphones and fresh duds for today’s meetup. Nothing fancy, she wanted to look nice but seem stuck up. Individually, everything had been under a grand.
Still, the woman who had spent six hundred (of her Dad’s) dollars on what was pretty much just a black jacket never felt more out of place than she did when she walked inside of that Dairy Queen. It wasn’t one of those places her family ever really went. Vashti figured none of the food here was halal, so she doubted they got many women wearing hijabs in the DQ. Plus, she was the only jerkoff wearing a jacket in the middle of a freaking Florida summer. She spied the table that she was supposed to meet the Coven at but it was empty. It made sense; she was about fifteen minutes early. Vashti ducked into a nearby booth, slipped on some headphones, and kicked her feet up on the bench across from her. Might as well learn about some government cover ups while she waited and watched the table for any arrivals.
Except she felt the workers continue to glance over at her, and the pressure to buy something so that she didn’t draw attention got the better of her. She killed the conspiracy and stepped in line behind a blonde girl. On her turn, Vashti ordered whatever the largest picture was advertising, and with an apprehensive look she took the ice cream war crime that the acned blizzard pusher handed to her. Hesitantly, Vashti grabbed the spoon and shoveled a tiny bite of the pink soft serve into her mouth and...was pleasantly surprised. Dairy Queen was awesome. Another thing to add to the list that her religious upbringing had made her miss out on. She shoved another bite into her mouth, and bristled at the instant brain freeze. Right. Cold wasn’t her friend these days.
She took another bite anyway and suffered the delicious, delicious pain.
Vashti made her way back to her surveillance booth, but two Covenettes had claimed a spot at the designated table. Actually, at first glance Vashti assumed it was a couple of punks, but then the one in the leather jacket (good she wasn’t the only jerkoff) asked the girl who had been in line with her if she was there for the Coven.
“I am!” Vashti surfed over to the table on a wave of excitement and plopped into the chair next to the blonde girl who was a fellow connoisseur of fine frozen foods. She grinned widely at the two. “I’m Vashti. Nice to meet ya!” she said as she threw out a peace sign. A cloud of concern crossed her face as she noticed the empty spot where a blizzard should be in front of the rough looking girl in a leather jacket.
“Oh, do you want some ice cream?” asked Vashti. She was already standing back up from her seat before she stopped halfway and leaned in to whisper behind her hand. “Actually, you didn't hear it from me, but what Diary Queen doesn't want you to know is that technically it’s not really ice cream." She snapped upright and flipped her hand to the side as if she was throwing out the previous statement. "Still! It’s pretty good anyway. My treat.”
Ashley looked toward the next girl who finally decided to join them. Her offer of ice cream was hard to refuse, since it had been a day or so since she had last eaten. Being homeless in a stolen body kind of sucked. "Oh... If you're offering... I suppose I'd like a cone. I used to go to Dairy Queens a lot with my family before..." She cut off.
Ashley went up to the counter with the woman, not the slightest bit off-put by her hijab. In fact, she admired people that devoted themselves to their beliefs. Thought it was pretty cool, and hated the jerks that hated people just for what they believed in. Ashley stood at the counter, arms crossed, resting bitch face active as she ordered a Nerds Blizzard. She had always loved the tangy sweet combination. She was handed her order from the acne-ridden teen.
She went back to the booth with her new friend. "Thanks. My name is Ashley by the way." She sat back down, close to the window. At least the Coven hopefuls seemed nice enough. She just hoped the rest of the Coven was as kind.
More and more of the girls began showing up and Claudette was honestly surprised. Maybe it was the allure of money, but with Ms. Reed, it was hard to tell. Part of Claudette wanted to warn them that it might be too good to be true. Her eyes glanced down at Chompy who did the closest thing an alligator could to a smile as he was pet by both Ellie and Izzy. He rested at Claudette's chair and coiled himself around her.
“How are you doing? I wonder what kind of business Emily has? I’m not just saying this out of spite, but I don’t have high hopes for it being anything good. Big money from someone so famous? Sounds dodgy to me… How does he even know about us?”
"That, madam, is a good question," Claudette said as she affectionately pets Chompy on the head as the alligator bellowed. How does Blake Schmidt know about them... but does he know about the Coven? While Claudette wasn't all that literal, there was nothing in Emily's message to suggest he does know about the Coven. Though, she had a theory. "Going off of what Mademoiselle Alyssa said... I can guess he may have seen a recording of our exploits in Greenwood. But, we shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet..."
"Hello ladies, and Chompy! Check out what I bought. Those monsters won't know what hit them, huh?"
Mademoiselle Jessica brandished a bow and arrow and Claudette was moderately impressed by it. Claudette was hoping that she didn't walk around town with all of those weapons but with whatever happened with the Hound Claudette was wondering if it wasn't warranted. "That's quite impressive, Jessica. But, is the new weapons in response to something...?" She tried to subtly prod the question.
"... Hey girls, waaaaaaassup," The group heard Madison Brown's voice as she sauntered over. She was wearing a sky blue and pink Kappa shirt and shorts which showed off her navel and Kappa slides. Though her navel was on prominent display and the outfit was rather tight on her. There was a slight unsteadiness to each of Madison's steps as she approached with a big dumb smile on her face. She took a seat next to Izzy as she slapped a hand on her shoulder, "Hey guuurl, saw that picture you put on the gram the other day and I was thinkin' "she a bad bitch". Then I remembered you tha' second baddest."
Claudette raised an eyebrow as Madison, with both hands, cupped her breasts and pushed them up.
"... Sorry, but, you ain't got these."
That was when Madison broke out laughing... and her breath reeked of alcohol. When she stopped, she looked around, "So we're meetin' at this place now? What a fuckin' dump, can we please sto-" She hiccuped, "-stop meeting at these dusty ass abandoned places and get ourselves a real crib. Like I don't know, you can rent libraries you know, at least you'd get some mother fuckin' wifi! Unlike some of you hoes that live with your parents, I got bills and shit! And I gotta support this bum because I'm nice." She threw a thumb in the direction of Claudette.
Claudette looked at her in abstract horror.
"Whaaaaaat?" Madison said in response as she flagged her hand. "Oh yeah, yeah... yeah... Blake Schmidt. I gotta stay on subject. I wonder what bullshit Emily's on today, hope it ain't some weirdo shit. She probably wants us to give him head or something for some money. I hope she picks me because I will suck out his soul-"
"Mademoiselle!" Claudette shouted.
Taylor had drifted off and started playing some random ass phone games she downloaded. She had a habit of downloading the games from the ads.
"...Are you here about the coven too?"
Upon hearing the voice Taylor raised her head from her phone and she saw some black-haired chick. Raven hair... ivory skin. Taylor raised an eyebrow at the girl, she was good looking in her book. But, her little question made Taylor raise an eyebrow. She asked about the Coven right off the bat, but the chick she talked to did say they would be meeting others. However, Taylor merely smiled deviously.
"That depends, sugar," Taylor started. "You're not gonna dissect me or anything if I say yes? I dunnooooo... you look like a secret agent."
She chuckled.
"Or an alien. Must be from Mars or something if you can walk around here with that on, sugar."
“I am!”
Some chick in a hijab walked up and offered the other chick some ice cream. Taylor honestly couldn't tell what race she was. Was she middle-eastern or just some Muslim? Taylor came from a racist ass town, but just to defy their expectations she tried to be a bit more open-minded. She shook her head as she wondered... these two girls were supposed to be witches? The girl who walked up just started spouting conspiracy theories like the yuppiest of all yuppies.
She sneered.
"So, what have we been eating all along then, sugar?" Taylor sarcastically asked. "And don't tell me it was soylent green all along."
She shrugged when the girl introduced herself as Ashley.
"Taylor, don't wear it out, sweetie."
It was another day in the DENS.
Trevor wondered how things changed... he was just an IT guy! Now he's fighting a cannibal monster. However, Trevor was sitting in front of his usual computer station going through Instagram and looking for anything related to the curious case of Annabelle fucking Heart, the girl who will end the world. Still, his eyes landed on a particularly risque picture of a curvy model and he almost found himself drooling. However, he had to stop himself as he forced himself to just keep scrolling. He shrugged. He was supposed this badass secret agent! Not some nerd that sees a pair of ass and titties and stops the whole world. He chuckled as he heard footsteps walking up and rotated in his chair just a bit.
It was the great and maganimous Cindy Keagan, wearing a rather casual outfit. Simply jean shorts that didn't look all that flattering and a tank-top. Trevor eyed her bra-strap but kept his attention on the older agent's eyes.
"Meifeng wants to know how your meetings with the girls have been going," Cindy said as she placed her behind on his desk and if agent Keagan wasn't like, the second in command to Meifeng, he would have told her to get her ass away from his sensitive equipment. But for an old lady, she sure did have a nice ass.
"Well, Agent-"
"Trevor cut the Agent bullshit," Cindy said with a roll of her eyes, "We're all friends here."
"Well, Cindy," Trevor started as he twirled in his chair and played with a pencil on his hands. "Maya keeps trying to flirt with me, and Riley just... doesn't talk. I don't know."
Cindy raised an eyebrow, "And I hope to God that you've been denying her advances."
"Of coooooourse, do I look like some amateu-"
"Yes." Cindy quickly responded.
"Glad to see my bosses have such confidence in me," Trevor shook his head. "I'm not risking it because she's trying so hard that I don't even think that she's trying to get information out of me. I think this is all some weird-ass ploy to get a sexual harassment charge!"
Cindy raised an eyebrow, "... Like, what is she doing? And don't be shy about telling me, I gotta son." She said with an amused smile on her face and a hand on her hip.
"First she's like, "You're cute and I wanna kiss you n' shit"! Then she did the most inappropriate thing of them all to me..." Trevor trailed off for dramatic effect and turned away from Cindy... before rotating around. "... Held my hand."
Cindy couldn't help but laugh.
"Trevor," She started, "Your generation calls dry humping dancing."
"I know," Trevor said, "I was like "get off me! I ain't sit through twelve classes on sexual harassment for nothing"!"
"Have you got any information out of them?" Cindy asked.
"Not like out of their mouths," Trevor answered as he rotated back towards his computer and brought up a few things, "Well, they didn't do anything crazy like change phones or anything and I managed to track all of them. Like some of them don't even turn off that location tracker!"
"Oh?" Cindy said as she crossed her arms.
"And not just that, I've gotten into all of their social media, browsing history, and I'm honestly...." He looked off to the side. "... Disturbed by some of the stuff I've seen. I think I'm going to need some therapy after this."
"Ooooh poor baby," Cindy put a hand on Trevor's shoulder which was supposed to be a warming gesture but Cindy accidentally activated her abstraction and turned Trevor's shirt into glass.
"Oh Gawd damn it all!" Trevor said... in a ridiculously thick southern accent.
The door swung open and a blue hawk seemingly made out of transparent light came flying in... carrying a bag of Chick-Fil-A. Followed by a few others carrying drinks and other bags of food and eventually, Helena Page came walking in carrying a few bags herself.
"Oh boy, she's here!" Leon said as the bird flew up and dropped a bag on his lap and he went to town on the waffle fries.
"Hey, why don't we get the rookie to grab dinner?" Helena said as she gestured towards Trevor.
"Hey! Don't be mad because you pulled the short straw," Trevor said.
"I'm supposed to be an officer in the United States Air Force-"
"Chair Force." Cindy cheekily added on before chuckling.
"Not a delivery woman,"
"Well, Ms. Page," Meifeng said with a smile as she sat in a fancy computer chair, "Here, in the DENS, we all do our fair share of the workload."
"... Unlike in the Chair Force," Cindy chuckled again.
"Naw, she's just butthurt she couldn't become a pilot..." Trevor laughed as he threw a thumb in her direction.
"Naw?" Meifeng imitated his accent as he didn't realize it unintentionally dipped. "Trevor, you're not in Alabama!"
Leon stopped the second he heard that,
"... You're from fuckin' Alabama, kid?"
"Ye-yeah," Trevor said.
"Not just that," Cindy stated, "He's from the sticks. A town that's barely on the map then somehow, by some miracle, he got into Yale. Fucking Yale. It's a Christmas miracle!"
"... Cindy, stop lookin' at my file." Trevor flatly said.
"Heh," Leon said as he crossed his arms. "You know what they say about Alabama, right?"
"Aw don't start with this again," Trevor groaned.
"... His sisters are really cute, too," Meifeng said.
"And how do you know that?" Trevor asked.
"I have her on Instagram," Meifeng said as she pulled out her phone with one hand, eating a chicken sandwich with the other.
"Now you're the last person I thought would have Instagram?" Helena said.
"Everyone uses it," Meifeng shrugged, "I keep up with my family and my children..." She said as she got a notification from their Snapchat group. With one button press, she was shown the Snap of Sonya throwing up the peace sign while Maximilian and Maria were in the background kneeling over a track. Sonya had on one of the biggest, dumbest, smiles that Meifeng had ever seen in her entire life. The three had volunteered to do some extra-duty tracking down Annabelle Heart.
All while the rest of them screwed around.
"... Remind me to shove my boot up Sonya's ass later." Meifeng said to no one in particular.
"Shove your boot up Sonya's ass later," Leon said with a smile and Meifeng rolled her eyes.
"Leave Trevor alone, Meifeng," Cindy chuckled, "Besides, from what I hear that little Asian girl had her hands all over Trevor. He doesn't even need his sister." She smiled at Trevor.
"Oh, really?" Meifeng said with a flat smile on her face. "Well, she is kinda cute."
"Hey! She's a walking sexual harassment charge."
"Stop acting like you wouldn't get in her drawers..." Cindy chuckled as Leon piped in.
"You should ask Director Alcott the odds of Meifeng killing you later, Trev!" Leon said.
Suddenly, Meifeng's phone started ringing and Meifeng looked and saw that it said Director Alcott. Oh boy. Meifeng quickly got up and walked off to the side and answered.
"Agent Liao, speaking," Meifeng said.
"Hello, Agent Liao, how are you this evening?" Director Alcott's voice was distorted by a voice changer as she was big on... privacy. "How is the mission going?"
"There was another case last night but Agent Cornell found some evidence of a struggle," Meifeng answered, "He and both Mayfields have volunteered to do some extra searching."
"Oh, sounds like you're quite focused on the mission..." The Director let the words hang in the air. "... Then why is it that I keep hearing about you harassing groups of little witches rather than the primary objective?"
"Director, it's fully within the DENS jurisdict-" Meifeng tried to explain.
"Liao," Director Alcott sharply said. "This is a matter of not just national security, but the safety of the free world. You cannot distract yourself with such small matters."
Meifeng sighed.
"And not just that, your behavior and actions during the raid are simply unacceptable," The Director added on. "If I hear any other reports, I will bring you before the ethics committee myself."
"Yes, Director," Meifeng said. "Anything else?"
"... Eliminate Annabelle Heart then worry everything else," The Director said, "Please."
"I promise you that her rampage will come to an end," Meifeng said. "Director."
"Good," Director Alcott trailed off. "Make it happen."
Director Alcott hung up the phone and Meifeng shook her head as she walked back to the group and sat down... rather silently. Just listening to their conversations and bickering.
"... Did I really do the right thing?" Meifeng muttered to herself.
It was five o'clock and Herik just got off from work. Towards the end of work he received a text message from Emily about money and a Mr. Schmidt. He didn't recognize the name. He didn't have a good feeling about it. Seemed fishy only, because he didn't really trust anything she had to offer. Babylon could be in on her decision for all he knew, so he was skeptic. He'd get caught up on what she was talking about at the meeting later. First he had to go meet the new recruits at Dairy Queen. Not his preferred meeting place considering other members got caught there after the fight with the vampires last week, but it was already set and he volunteered to go.
He put on a purple t-shirt and his brown sandals when he got to his car; deciding to leave on his red life guard trunks. Grains of sand were stuck to the bottom of his feet and in between his toes. He liked the feeling of the sand and lamented leaving the beach, but he had other priorities. He drove to DQ and parked the car. He had a vague idea of what the new women looked like, but he couldn't really remember the details, just that they'd be at a specific table. When he walked in there were three young women, one with orange hair, another with dark hair, and a woman in a hijab. Lovely. He put on his brightest smile and approached the table.
"Hello, new friends. My name's Herik Cletis. Are you the new members of the Coven?" He asked. He didn't sit down. He didn't know boundaries yet and didn't want to put any of them off. That wouldn't make a great first impression.
Maya raised an eyebrow but accepted the ‘water’ bottle with a smile, knocking it back for a long drink before handing it back to Izzy. Yup, certainly not water, but exactly what she’d needed after the talk with her mother. “Thanks. Speaking of us staying alive while you were gone… You mind healing this?” She pointed to this bruising on her face, still visible underneath her makeup. Why couldn’t that agent leader bitch, or whatever she was, have hit her somewhere less visible? “Honestly, I’ve got bruising like everywhere else but this is really bothering me, you know? It’s ruining my good looks.”
"Going off of what Mademoiselle Alyssa said... I can guess he may have seen a recording of our exploits in Greenwood. But, we shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet..."
“Hmm, you’re right,” Maya nodded. She’d jumped to the conclusion that he’d known about the coven because, well, why would he give some kind of job to Emily of all people? And if he had seen the recording who else had gotten it? “I just don’t get why he’d offer money to Emily for anything but the… services he’s rumoured to pay people for.”
She then turned to raise an eyebrow at Jess who was brandishing… A bow of all fucking things? Really? “Jess, have you ever considered using a normal weapon? Like a gun? I thought America was all about guns…” She paused before shrugging. “Well if you need target practice, I’m sure we can put an apple on Emily’s head!”
"... Hey girls, waaaaaaassup,"
“You cannot be serious,” Maya muttered as Madison approached them, clearly drunk. She made a face when the girl started going off about Izzy being a bad bitch which only grew more disdainful when Madison pushed up her fucking breasts. She shook her head and completely ignored the next rant she went on to give. “Anyone got any water we can give her?”
Maya shuffled away so that Chompy was between her and Madison, her nose screwed up from already smelling the stench of alcohol. As she did she let out a loud sneeze. Was someone talking about her behind her back or something? Nah, she was just being superstitious. As if on queue her phone buzzed and she pulled it out - only to see two messages from her mother. That’d be it. She shook her head and put her phone back away, turning to the real problem.
“Madison, no one wants to hear about your sex skills!” Maya clenched a hand around her knee to stop herself from completely going off at her… fuck she hated drunk assholes. “Especially not about some old rich dude! I think if it was that Emily would’ve just done it herself and not shared the money at all.”
“I swear I am so close to deafening her just so she shuts up,” Maya muttered to herself in Korean as she switched from glaring at Madison to looking at the other girls. “Any idea how we can sober her up so we don’t have to deal with this the whole time?”
For the first time ever she hoped Emily would turn up soon so they could get this over with.
"So, what have we been eating all along then, sugar?" asked girl who had already been imbibing in Dairy Queen's lies.
"Yeah, pretty much!" said Vashti over top of the other girls soylent reference, not realizing that she was the sugar in the question. She elaborated as she followed the other girl up to the counter. "There's not enough milk fat for it to be considered ice cream according to the FDA. But who cares what they say?"
According to what she read, the FDA was also suppressing the cure for cancer so they couldn't be trusted. She decided to keep that part to herself as she stood alongside her fellow jacketeer, stepping up to pay for the girl when it was time. "It's actually my first time," she said in response to the other girl reminiscing about the good old days of DQ trips. Vashti hungrily eyed the girl’s blizzard despite having one of her own. "My parents never really took us to chain restaurants."
Names were properly traded as they returned to the table. Vashti happily dug into her blizzard again, seemingly forgetting the pain of the previous bite. She shot a hand up to her temple but it quickly came down and lightly hit Taylor on the shoulder.
“Hottie alert," she said with a wink, nodding her head over to the door at the heartthrob viking in red board shorts. Vashti’s eyes widened as she realized he was making his way over to their table, and they widened even more when she realized how obvious her staring had been. She shielded her face in embarrassment. Of course the nine feet tall, zero percent body fat, beautiful bronze Florida God wouldn’t tarnish the holy temple that was his six pack abs with the empty calories of a neon colored fake ice cream snack. She wiped her lips and stealthily nudged her blizzard away from herself.
"Hello, new friends.” She swooned. “My name's Herik Cletis.” The name of a swamp angel. “Are you the new members of the Coven?” If it got them closer, a thousand times yes.
Time froze. There was a quiet voice in the back of Vashti’s head reminding her that the Coven was almost exclusively women. The last time she had agreed to meet with someone from the Internet expecting a woman and got a man had ended with her being cursed and him being devoured. Perhaps, the quiet, logical part of her brain told her, she should exercise some caution here, and fully think before joining up with the Coven. What if it was some kind of strange cult, for example? Cults always used attractive people to lure new members in. What if he wasn’t with the Coven, but with the feds? She was certain it was the fuzz that had been leaving the casino when the Leviathan striked. What if she stopped listening to her stupid brain and followed her gut which said he was hot and she should trust him?
And she did.
“Guilty! I’m Vashti Nour. Nice to meet you. Come, come, you should have a seat,” said Vashti, gesturing to a chair and begrudging the fact that the open one was next to Ashley. “I take it you’re with them, then?” Awesome. “Are you the leader?” She paused and cocked her head. “Wait, Kimberly said Agatha was the...sorry, I’m rambling. I’m really excited. You’re really big.” Her hand hit her forehead with a ringing slap at what should’ve been inner monologue. “And I’m really embarrassed so I’m really gonna stop...talking...now…”
Vashti blocked her face with her hand so that Herik couldn’t see the mortified look she had shot the other two girls. She was sinking deep. Someone needed to step in and pull her out of the quicksand. She couldn’t decide between mouthing “help” or “kill me”, so she went with both.
