Just when it was about to be the holidays, this happens. Braxton sighed as he stood guard where he was assigned to. A war was not what he had in mind when it came to finding something interesting to do in this town but since he was the beta of the pack, he had to ensure their safety. His brother had more things to worry about. “...Twas the jolly season...” He snorted as he squinted out into the distance to see if there was any activity. “Couldn’t have waited till after New Years..”
The doctor had vowed to never do this again but she was now on top of the building with her gun, shooting down the ferals who came near the building. As much as she was confident about her sniping skills, she was better at close combat. Although she had a feeling that the Sheriff wasn’t going to be pleased, Jessica started her way down to get onto the battleground. With her silver blade in one hand, and a handgun in the other, the former hunter rushed towards the first horde of berzerkers she saw someone else was fighting with.
“Need a hand?” She shot her gun before flipping her grip on the blade and stabbed the oncoming wolf in the mouth who thought it was a good idea to jump up high in the air. “That’s two down, how many more?”
The witch had managed to come up behind the bezerker without giving away her presence, and had successfully managed to latch on to the creature from behind. Slipping her hands around its neck all the way until its neck was in the crook of her elbow, she easily set up a rear naked chokehold. She wrapped her legs around it’s torso and used her weight and momentum to fall back, the added force of the landing granting the snap she was looking for.
Letting the thing go, she shoved it off her as she caught sight of an onlooker. “Some of the faster ones are starting to make their way to the initial perimeter line, but nothing that Alpha team can’t still handle,” she reassured, even as she stood back up with clear evidence all over her that things weren’t quite so easy.
TAGGING: Evan Grey III, The Demon Azareal, (mentions of Evalyn Grey, Evan Grey, Sr.)
LOCATION: Fallcrest Forest, en route to the Nexus
TIME FRAME: New Year’s Eve, Nearing Midnight
GENERAL NOTES: After doing her part to get as many of the wounded as possible to the triage unit, and overtaken by the anger of knowing the war is one giant distraction, she heads into the forest intent on stopping the real plan
Last night had been the very first time she’d transitioned into her full demon form, and Evan wasn’t entirely sure it was something she was comfortable doing on a regular basis. The physical pain brought about her body rearranging itself, and the aesthetic of it all aside, her full demon form seemed to augment her succubus powers to the point that it didn’t matter what kind of energy she felt around her, she was going to siphon if for herself.
It had been a rush at first, being to heal almost immediately instead of having to wait. But then she’d noticed how indiscriminate the siphoning was, and how her full demon form was making her fellow soldiers weaker on the frontline, and she could allow that. So she’d but a clamp on it and hadn’t dared to go near that level of rage again.
Until now.
As she watched the new frontline near the school struggling to hold out until midnight, when the magic would wear off enough on those things to make them easy targets, Evan couldn’t help but think about how all of this was just a giant distraction. These creatures served no further purpose than to divert all supernatural focus, leaving the real target completely unprotected and up for the taking.
Throwing a few more energy balls at some bezerkers and a feral to weaken them for the others, she began to retreat from the frontline and head in the direction of the forest. Evan had a plan in mind, but there was no way in hell she was going to risk draining any of the people that had essentially become their last line of defense.
Once out of sight, she shimmered to a random part of the forest and tapped back into the power from before. As soon as her vision turned red, she wasted no time in tapping into her sensing ability. Her father was near and he was one of the men responsible for what was happening to her town. After all, regardless of how much her grandfather wanted to distance what he believed to be his own daughter’s greatest mistake from the Grey name, the truth was that by virtue of being her mother’s daughter, the blood of the original Gray witches that helped to found this haven ran through her veins.
But so did his.
The ancient Incubus Azareal, conquerer of lands far and wide, had mistaken a powerful witch for a simple human to siphon and drain. Instead, he left behind a child who would be connected to him for as long as they both lived. And it was this very connection that Evan tapped into now, stretching her sensing abilities to their very limits in a bid to get a read on where exactly the Scions currently were in relation to the Nexus. It took almost everything in her, but she finally managed to sense him and based on where she located him, Evan shimmered to a part of the forest he’d have to cross to reach what he wanted. Wasting no time, she took out her athame and began to carve symbols on specific trees, shimmering from tree to tree in an effort waste even less time.
Evan was just making her way to the middle of the area, when moonlight caused the tell-tale ripple of someone shimmering before her to become apparent. She didn’t have to wait until he was corporeal to know it was him, however, once he caught sight of her an unsettlingly large smile spread across his features. “I see you’ve managed to tap into your full potential. I’m impressed. You’ve managed to shed the mask of humanity all on your own,” he goaded.
“If you find the mask of humanity such a burden to bear, then why are you still wearing yours now?” she countered, not really interested in the reason, but needing him to shed the glamour in order for things to fall into place. It seemed that her mother was right in having once told her she inherited her temperament from her father, as all it took was that simple question for him to revert to his true form as well. As soon as he stood before her, a staggering seven feet easy, Evan couldn’t help the laugh that began to pour of her from deep within her chest.
The laugh was such, that one point she even doubled over attempting to catch her breathe, and Azareal was forced to finally ask, “And just what the bloody hell do you find so entertaining child?”
The half-demon managed to regain just enough composure to state, “I just really hope you didn’t have somewhere else to be tonight...”
No sooner had the words her lips, than her father was shimmering in an attempt to get to the Nexus, failing miserably as the ward that Evan had prepped the area with caused him to get no further than maybe a few feet. This didn’t stop him from trying at least another five times, Evan’s laughter serving as a soundtrack to the entire ordeal.
Her laughter was only cut short when she felt his taloned hand clutch at her neck and lift her clear off the ground. Bringing her eye-level to himself, red on red, he growled out, “I don’t know why you find this so funny. After all, if I can’t get out of this place neither can you.” The words were followed a menacing squeeze to her throat, clearly meant to intimidate her into lowering the ward.
However, Evan simply leaned in a little closer and ground out, “Perfect set up for some long overdue father/daughter bonding, no?”
Her answer came in the form of being flung by the neck, coming to a stop only when her body collided with the invisible -but very much solid- ward of entrapment that she’d enacted. The second shot, from hitting the ground after, knocked the wind out of her a bit. As she struggled to get back to at least a sitting position, Azareal advanced on her determined to show no mercy regardless of whether this was his daughter or not. He didn’t have to voice it. Evan could sense it. All of it. While both in their true forms, their connection was its strongest, and for some reason he hadn’t had the forethought to attempt to temper it on his end.
She could feel his rage mounting, and she wasted no time in siphoning what she could so that enough strength came back to be on her feet and shimmering to the other end of the entrapment. There were only two ways he would be getting out of here: wait out til midnight, when the ward would be rendered useless and hope to still be in time at the Nexus. Or, the one she could already feel he was option for: kill the enactor of the ward have the spell break with them.
Evan had managed to check the time shortly before carving into the trees. Though her sense of time had been a bit warped by everything that had happened since then, she knew all she had to do was hold out for ten minutes - five of which had likely already passed. The girl didn’t have any grand delusions of actually surviving a one-on-one battle with her own father, but if she could at least hang on until midnight, there was a chance the Nexus could remain undisturbed for at least another year.
It was with this in mind, that she sent out the first energy ball at the much older demon. His attention was quickly focused on dodging her shots, as even though she wouldn’t be able to kill him, being a supernatural herself, her magic would certainly cause him harm as if mortal. Unlike her, his demon makeup afforded him wings, which he fully used to his advantage by hovering above ground.
Evan took a running start at one of the trees near him, and once her foot hit the bark she shimmered to twice as high up and did the same when the second foot came down, giving her the height and launching point she needed to drive her athame into one of her father’s wings. Using her own weight, she then dragged the blade down the length of the wing, and then landed on the ground, shortly followed by a very disgruntled seven foot demon.
Though she knew she was likely staring into the face of her own death, Evan found that there was no shaking to her resolve. She’d spent her entire life being regarded as a mistake, told she wasn’t worthy for a number of reasons that were all beyond her control. As she stood here in front one of the very sources the lifelong curse upon her name, her shirt torn, her body bruised, and the world now silent as her hearing aids had finally given out from the recent damage, none of that mattered. Because in her final stand, she would make sure it was worth something.
Standing her ground even as Azareal began to take a running start at her, Evan simply waited for the impending contact that she knew was to come. It had to be nearing midnight, and even if it wasn’t she was wiling to go out so long as she took this asshole with her.
When it happens, she isn’t entirely sure what order things occurred in, but by the time all is said and done, Azrael has managed to take a deep swipe at her face with enough force to have her on the ground, bleeding profusely, and back to her humanoid form. Granted, for his troubles, he himself is now laying about a foot away in a pool of his own demonic, inky blood as an athame protrudes from one of his temples. Evan tries not to think too much about how ironic it is that this should be their first and last meeting as everything slips into darkness.
Can I clear my conscience
If I'm different from the rest?
Do I have to run and hide?
I never said that I want this,
This burden came to me,
And it's made its home inside
