667: Issue #11 Pt. II "Fallen"

“A gift can often be a curse. Give someone wings, and they may fly too close to the sun. Give them the power of prophecy, and they may live in fear of the future. Give them the greatest gift of all, powers beyond imagination, and they may think they are meant to rule the world.”

Professor Charles Xavier

(X-Men: Apocalypse)

“Violet! Vi! Dinner’s ready!” Sal’s voice echoed through the side-yard.

I let my eyes flutter open to find myself face down in the dirt inside the shed, the doors wide open and Dingus just standing there. He came to lick my face with his rough tongue, whining as he did so.

“It was just a dream.” I pulled myself up from the ground and rubbed my face. I had a scrape from cheek to chin and wondered if I had had some sort of dizzy spell while sweeping, maybe due to the mass amounts of dust, and had somehow passed out.

“Violet! Everything good out there?” Sal’s voice didn’t seem as distant as I steadied myself against the workbench.

Salome peered around the open door to the shed, “There you are; you weren’t responding and I was getting worried.”

“I’m sorry.” I rubbed at my temples with my apology; my head was throbbing.

“What happened to your face, Vi?” Salome came into the shed and proceeded to check me out in the dusty light of the singular bulb in my new space.

“I’m not sure. I think I fainted or something; hit my face on the workbench on the way down.” I could now taste blood as it dripped onto my lips.

“Oh, Vi. Let’s get you inside and clean that up.” Salome wrapped an arm around me to lead me back to the house.

Then a thought dawned on me.

“Alex called me.”

“How’d it go?” Salome was casual as we walked to the back door.

“Oh, my God…not good. They escaped.” The whole conversation came flooding back to me.

“What? Who escaped?” Sal paused in her step to stare at me with wide eyes.

“The others. Asher’s group—they broke out of jail. Alex called to tell me and said that Krumpp was forcing them to keep it quiet for right now.” I was clearly in shock, but I didn’t know how to snap out of it.

Salome cussed, “Fuck. Let’s get inside. I need to call Khaine; he and Adam went out to pick up a cake I ordered. Naomi is on her way home with Henri. Dinner may have to wait…we need to get ahold of the Council.”

(*)

In less than half an hour, the lot of us were sitting in Cassandra’s dining room. The tension in the room was palpable as we waited to hear back from Alex.

After trying to calmly explain to them what he regaled to me, Josiah insisted that I call him to see if there was any new information, but his mobile had gone straight to voicemail.

“I meant to ask when you got here, but how did you get that scrape across your face?” Josiah pointed to me as I sat adjacent from him, my arms wrapped around myself.

“I’m not really sure. I was cleaning out the shed on the side of the house and I think I passed out. Must have smacked my face on the workbench or something.” My hand rose to my face where the blood had dried and crusted.

“Medusa, will you get her something to clean herself up with.” Josiah eyed me warily as he spoke.

“While we are waiting, should we talk about how we’re going to protect ourselves? What is going to stop those psychopaths from coming for us?” Naomi posed a question that some of us were probably thinking.

“How the hell would they know where we are though? We only ever encountered them in the cemetery.” Khaine didn’t appear to be as concerned.

“If they find Asher they’ll know.” Naomi nodded at him.

She actually had a really good point.

“Do you think that’s where they will go first? To find Asher?” Salome queried.

“It depends on a lot of factors. Did they have a designated safe house or hideout they would meet at if they ever got out? Do they have a way to contact Asher once on the outside? Where the fuck is he even?” I threw in my two pence.

“What if he told them about Cassandra’s before things went to hell? I think we should fortify things just in case.” Henri interjected with a very good point.

“It would be a good idea just to be on the safe side; same goes for the swamp house even though that wasn’t even a thing when he was last here. Wherever any of you are, we should make it as safe and protected as possible. We don’t know what sort of resources they or Asher may have.” Josiah was in agreement with Naomi.

It felt like someone had shoved a hot knife in my gut. The thought of being face to face with Asher again had me sick to my stomach and I didn’t like the prospect.

“Are we going to have to move again?” Sal asked, looking disappointed.

“Doubtful. If we can get new wards up and double up on protection, you should be able to stay.” Josiah assured her.

Adam leaned in over the table, “Maybe we don’t just sit around here and wait for them.”

“What are you suggesting? That we go looking for them instead?” I was dumbfounded by what he was saying.

“Well, why not? Head ’em off at the pass and put an end to this before they kill more people and expose us in a negative light.” Adam shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

I didn’t like the prospect, but he had a good point.

“That’s dangerous, Adam; you know that.” Josiah pointed a pen at him, but there was quite the smile on his face.

“You’re okay with this?” I shot a look at Josiah.

“I’m not okay with it per say, but maybe it’s necessary. If you all can work together to permanently put an end to them, it may save us all.” Josiah’s words were chosen carefully.

“Wait. A permanent end? Are you saying we hunt them down and kill them?” I was now shocked at what he was suggesting.

“What do you suggest, Violet? That we try and find them then politely ask for them to stop being violent psychopaths?” Naomi snapped at me.

“Do you really think I would suggest that? No, I just don’t think we need kill them.” I rebutted.

“Yeah, because incarceration worked so well.” Naomi scoffed.

“Enough of the arguing. You both have good points, but maybe Violet’s is better. We aren’t murderers, Josiah. I seem to remember a time when you had an issue with that.” Cassandra spoke, raising a brow in the Houngan’s direction.

“Yes, but that was before there was a group of supernatural crazies gallivanting around New Orleans in cosplay.” Josiah threw his hands in the air.

“Josiah knows what cosplay is?” Claire leaned in to whisper in my ear. I tried to stifle the giggle.

“Capture first, possibly maim them a little if need be, but no murder right now.” Cassandra was adamant that that was not an option.

“Why don’t we look up their files and dig up a bit of dirt on them? I know we don’t know their real names or anything, but maybe we can use specific search criteria or something.” I came up with a better idea in the meantime.

“Like what criteria? Hair color, eye color, and if they have ever had a violent mental illness where they like to inflict pain on others?” Adam was joking, but I didn’t find it funny.

“No, sulfur breath. I mean, maybe we can narrow it down to location of origin. I’m fairly good at picking up on accents and I heard them all speak at one point or another. We could look up subjects that pertain to a certain locale and then weed them out.” I shot him a look.

“It’s a start.” Cassandra seemed to like that idea.

“And just let them possibly run amok while we get to know their culture?” Josiah glared at me and Cassandra in turn.

“Then split up into teams or something. Half can go looking for them in a safe and discreet way, while the others stay here and do research.” Cassandra looked irritated.

“I volunteer for Team Research.” My hand shot up a little too enthusiastically.

“Don’t you think we’d fare better with Violet in the field?” Khaine questioned and I would have smacked him had he not been clear across the table.

“Yeah, but she’s our best researcher. She could help us figure out who they are and if there are any weaknesses.” Adam cast me a sideways grin and Naomi snorted audibly.

Josiah flicked his wrist at us, “Fine then. Violet heads the research department while Adam leads the field team. Now to determine who goes and who stays.”

“Claire should stay with me.” I knew that she was a pretty decent researcher herself.

“I want to hunt.” Khaine mashed his fist into an open palm.

“I want to stay with Khaine.” Sal leaned into her boyfriend and looped her arm through his.

“Alright, then Naomi can stay here.” Josiah settled that and I fought the urge to sigh loudly and dramatically.

I didn’t want Naomi around me at the moment, but I didn’t want there to be uneven teams.

“Alright, figure out how you all want to approach this and then get a fresh start in the morning. Until then, let’s all move to the kitchen.” Josiah got up from his seat and beckoned us to follow him.

The break from the conversation was welcome, but I was still none too excited about having to do research with Naomi.

Might as well enjoy the rest of my birthday while I could and worry about all the shite going on later.