Brighid washed up as best she could in the
sinks and used the clothes that Kathryn gave her to dry off. When she received the shiny blanket she wrapped herself in it. It covered her decently. She thought of the outfits that she'd seen Nyssa wear and smiled.
Turning to Kathryn she asked what was on her mind.
"Is your station far and do you have a courier that I can report Samael's escape to the Red Hoods? Apparently the spell he used sent me far from my fellow Hoods and they might think I'm dead. You said something about clothes I could borrow as well. I think that's a good start."Kathryn stared at the woman blankly, mindlessly collecting her now-ruined work shirts from her. The vest was in the best shape, though that it was obviously damp, kind of muddy, and possessing a suspicious stain or two, that wasn’t saying much. But it was better than just going into the city proper only in her bra - it wasn’t as if she could on Jennings to lend her a shirt or something, though he’d very obviously disapproved of her state of undress - so she put the dark blue padded vest on, and rolled the shirt and undershirt together into a ball, using the long sleeves of the former to tie them together.
“We can get to the station soon. You’ll have to tell us more about this Samael person and whatever organization the so-called Red Hoods is once we get there,” she replied, mind still reeling that the woman had seriously said something so crazy without batting an eyelash.
A courier? The fuck is up with that? And she’s talking as if I should know who the fuck she means with those names...Is this some kind of a ‘Oh, I’m actually from an alternate dimension’ situation or what? Jesus, where is a magical expert when you need one.“Now, I get the feeling some of the things you will see may surprise you…” Kathryn muttered, trailing off as she wasn’t sure how to continue or what kind of an explanation she could even provide when they were apparently working on an entirely different knowledge base of what the world was like.
I swear if she just turns out to be some wacky lunatic cultist… But there was something about the female, perhaps her proper diction, or the tone full of conviction but not to the point of being ravingly obsessed, that gave the vampire the impression that O’Shay was not insane.
“Just bear with it for now,” she advised, as Jennings and she began the walk back to their police car.
There was nothing gradual about the transition from the relative seclusion of the nature-esque property and the few buildings it contained (such as the restaurant on the opposite side of the park, or the public toilet they had just been in) to the actual cityscape spanning its surroundings. Any which way one went, they were thrown into the city’s heart, the park but a meagre respite of greenery among the webs of asphalt streets full of cars, towering skyscrapers covered in glittering glass, the somewhat stockier in comparison regular buildings which consisted of shopping malls, eateries, theaters and more, the ubiquitous neon signs, street kiosks scattered here and there, people everywhere - especially the more supernatural of creatures, given that it was night time.
Brighid stopped and stared. There was something on the surface of the black still river. They moved toward it and she watched Jennings open the side of
it. She had no idea what it actually was. But putting two and two together she realized that “black still river” was a road. Buildings towered over trees now.
Brighid put a hand to her head. A shaking hand to her head. All of the blood drained from her face as puzzle pieces started to fit together. The differences in smells, sounds, even the feeling of the place was off.
“No.”She heard Samael’s voice in her memory.
“I have all the time in the world.” Brighid felt sick and realized she should have kept track of the times she changed. Samael was a fucking time mage. He hadn’t opened a portal to somewhere else it was some
when else.
Her heart broke as she realized that those that they’d left behind were more than likely dust in crypts. That’s if they weren’t just buried where they lay. This was Duncaster. Where once was a small village hardly anything really, there was now a city. Advancements like this where practically everything was different and unreognizabe took ages.
Brighid choked on a sob. Sadon, Edwin, Loona, Nick, Tholo, Nyssa, Vitius, Ryder, Finlay and Ezekiel all gone. Hot tears poured down her cheeks as she couldn’t hold it in anymore. For all she knew the others had been spat out at random intervals in time. Kiri, Colin, Eliza all could be either dead or right around the corner. That brought on thoughts of Haru, Todd, Riley, Lou, The Whitwings. Again all dead.
Clutching the blanket to herself she collapsed to her knees and sat back on her heels giving in to the grief if only for a moment. Lifting her face she saw the clouds pass across a half moon. The clouds parted and the moon shone on Brighid.
She had to push on. Had to move forward.
Her tears shone in the moonlight and after a few moments she gathered her wits. Standing she walked over to the contraption that Jennings was holding open. There was a padded bench and she slid into the seat.
Kathryn turned to the woman as she suddenly protested with a no, startled at the desperation with which O’Shay had uttered that single world. Then, she collapsed to her knees, crying quietly. The vampire looked at Jennings with a stunned frown, but the male’s expression clearly told her that he expected her to deal with this. Kathryn approached the weeping female carefully, crouching down next to her.
“Hey,” she uttered softly, laying a cautious, gentle hand on her shoulder. She wasn’t sure if the other woman was aware of her words or touch, but regardless, Kathryn helped her up, keeping the faint physical contact established until they reached the car. Jennings opened the backdoor for Brighid, and she pooled into the seat as if utterly exhausted. Kathryn followed, letting Jennings drive this time. Sitting next to the blanket-covered redhead, gazing at her curiously, she contemplated what could have happened. Late shock onset? Could it be the sudden realization that she’d crossed worlds via the portal - a possibility Kathryn had only recently dared contemplate as well? Only one way to find out.
“What’s the matter, Brighid?” Maybe it was an insensitive, intrusive, too personal of a question, but Kathryn really did want to know what this woman’s story was, what information she could give.
But, as experience advised, friendly coaxing was the best bet. The fact that she could sympathize with the situation certainly helped. Back when she was turned - which she still remembered all too clearly, the criminal who’d bit her haunting her sleep, the ghost of his presence lurking in every other vampire, even in herself - the world seemed as if it had completely changed in a day, reality inexplicably altered. Though she doubted the scale of her being and awareness shifting was anywhere near as dire as actually being transported into another world; if that is indeed what had happened to O’Shay.
Brighid cleared her throat gently and asked without looking at Kathryn asked the question that she was afraid of.
“What year is it? It seems to have slipped my mind.” Brighid’s eyes closed as she swallowed thickly.
“Year?! Are you saying you’re from a different timeline?” Kathryn blurted out, then felt the kind of embarrassment that would have brought a blush to her cheeks if she were still a human, but didn’t alter her appearance beyond the apologetic grimace she let overtake her features. She felt the car swerve lightly, and met Jennings’ wide-eyed look in the rearview mirror, though the pointed look she’d sent him seemed to be message enough for him to concentrate on the road once more. Clearing her throat to get rid of the self-conscious groan that wanted to escape her, the vampire apologized.
“Sorry for the outburst. I was just thinking that you were probably from some other world, you know…” she explained, struggling to get her tone back to a polite neutral.
“It’s 2019. Are you...from the past then?” Kathryn peered at the fellow passenger with only the slightest hint of scepticism, though her doubt that such a thing was wildly impossible was beginning to dissipate.
Brighid shook with a mixture of laughter and tears.
“Yes about three centuries. As impossible as that seems, and believe you me I would know. As the only, not only mage but female that’s been bitten and am now a werewolf you would think that the depths of impossibility would not be beyond my grasp.” She ran a shaking hand through her hair.
“I mean I know that there were born female werewolves but they don’t transform. They have all the pluses without the change. Lucky them.”“Huh, so you are a werewolf,” Kathryn’s lips quirked up at the corners, faintly pleased that she’d been correct in that assumption as well.
“But also a mage, damn, sorry to have to say so, but Meadows is gonna be very suspicious of you,” she grimaced in apology.
“Oh hell,” her eyes suddenly widened for a moment as something occurred to her.
“Especially since...Shit, you don’t even have a valid ID or anything like it. God-damn,” she sighed, turning to look out of the window.
Several long seconds later, she blinked, aware she’d been deep in thought to consider the problem, but had probably left Brighid to undue worries. Though, honestly, whatever the redhead worried about, it was surely very much warranted. Swinging her head back to her conversation partner, Kathryn offered her fellow passenger a wane smile.
“Say, could you tell me more about Samael? You said you had to report his escape…?” Kathryn questioned. It wasn’t exactly per protocol, to ask her about this right now, but the vampire was afraid the matter of the people she’d mentioned would be forgotten when the department was going to be faced with an unknown werewolf, who could be as easily suspected of being a victim as she could a criminal.
Brighid nodded at Kathryn as she was asked to talk more about Samael.
"Black Arts practitioner. Necromancy and apparently Time Magic as well. I assume that the Red Hoods no longer exist since you have that lack of recognition. I cannot even fathom how the world has changed. Apparently Vampires and humans at least work together. But I differ, Samael raised an army of ghouls and zombies and the Red Hoods were battling him here 300 years ago. He cast a Time Portal to this time...possibly. I did not see him or the others when that foul thing spat me out. They could have been here for years, months, weeks, days, hours, or minutes. They could be anywhere in the city from the size that this place is.” Brighid indicated that she realized that this was not a small place and her tone became rather hesitant due to the idea of looking for a needle in a haystack comes to mind. A gold colored needle.
“Huh. It would help to know what he looks like, so we have an appearance to go on. If he’s even the type to show himself carelessly…If not that, whatever you could say regarding his personality, goals, motivation, etc. could help too,” Kathryn commented. Just then, Jennings drove the car from a side road to the parking lot in front of Duncaster’s police department building. It was a wide, multilayered red-brick construction, parts of it stretching as far as the 4th floor while others remained at ground level. And though it wasn’t obvious from the outside, Kathryn knew there were several underground holding facilities there as well. The main entrance was a set of well-guarded standard glass double-doors.
As the police officer duo led Brighid inside, Kathryn chose to chat to her.
“Vampires, werewolves, fae, mages, and others can cooperate with humans. Some of us do, as you can see. Still...there are plenty who’d rather rampage around freely, detesting the usual restraints of polite society, as it were,” she said, keeping her tone professional. If they’d been somewhere more private, Kathryn might have chosen to offer a more personal insight, but as it was, Brighid would just be getting the PC version of her thoughts.
“The police, which we are a part of, are sanctioned by the government to upkeep and enforce the law, basically. I’m guessing you didn’t have that kind of an organization back in the 1700s, hm?” the vampire glanced at Brighid, brows raised in an enquiring expression, seeking confirmation or details regarding how it might have been in her time. Admittedly, Kathryn herself wasn’t at all historically well-versed, but she was pretty sure that while policing existed in a more basic form fairly early on, the centralization and modernization of it was likely tied to the industrial revolution.
“Those, Red Hoods was it? They’d probably be termed a vigilante group nowadays. Not to say that there aren’t groups or people like that out there anymore,” she explained, shrugging at the idea of vigilantes. Her official stance was to denounce such an approach, though personally, she was much more neutral regarding the idea.
Brighid nodded. She had no idea what to say or what more to say to Kathryn. She supposed she'd just wait till they got to the station.
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