●●08:23 A.M. - Suzianna●●●
Her sisters followed after the Greythorne, leaving her alone with a comatose Linda Brown and her grandmother, Nazmiyya. The demigod had been irritable, suddenly impatient at the impending ritual to happen tomorrow.
"How is the demiplane for the ritual?" Nazmiyya asked, striding towards a cabinet drawer to take out a gilded blade.
"Already prepared. Although three of my sisters had not been able to… sacrifice their soul to the revival of the Great Matron," She gulped hesitantly, fearful of revealing her true feelings. "Their deaths still echoed through the chamber of time and space. Capturing Greythorne will give an energy equivalent to a High Priestess if we are short of it. I assure you, seer, everything is within the bounds of the ultimate plan."
She hummed indignantly, "Still, go down and check on our captives. It will not bode well for us if we have to take energy from our guests."
Suzianna nodded at the orders, barely resisting the urge to dessicate her. She kept her radiant smile until she had turned around the corner before blowing raspberries at the hag.
Suzianna was a goddess, alright, but even she was not above petty squabbles. The demigod had been obnoxious from the start of their centuries-long relationship, but it had been steadily getting worse since they knew of Linda carrying a female child.
She rode the elevator down to the basement after tapping her keypass on to the center of the keypad, which lets her gain access to the Basement button. After the fire the night before, her fellow sisters tightened up the security around the key places in the building and had even tapped into the contingencies they've placed centuries ago.
Mamu had summoned the Reapers that guards the gates of their part of the Underworld while Nazmiyya, surprisingly, appealed to the messengers of their brethren to hurry.
Anthony had also been bound in the basement, having seen the capture and enchantment put on his wife. Much to Suzianna's frustration, she agreed with the hag's decision to imprison Anthony as that would give her enough leeway to break him out and retreat from the apartment before Richard brings down hell upon her sisters.
The basement of the apartment building had also been refurbished, except that the sisters took extra care in its renovation. Its size had been greatly expanded, sparing no expense in hiring witches mastered in spatial studies and condemning demons into becoming lifeblood for the operation.
At the center of the basement was the Kesh circle, attuned to the divinity of the Great Matron, whereupon the sacrifices would be placed and essentially recharge her lost powers.
"This is where we die…" She muttered under her breath, shivering at the thought of nonexistence.
On the far-right of the basement laid four cells upon one of which Anthony was housed. Dressed in a silken robe he liked to wear before going to sleep, her lover was bruised and shivering on the corner of the cell.
As she inched closer, she couldn't help but feel pity and frustration at the lack of courage she was witnessing. The utter cowardice to face the reality of his situation was something she was not expecting from a man who once had been a pillar of her sanity.
Still, she loved the other facets of his personality–most of which she was blanking on. "My love," She whispered as she neared the cell. "Wake up, Anthony. It's me."
Anthony was startled awake, shivering in the tiny corner of the cell. "W-Suzie? Oh, my god." His drool sprayed everywhere as he crawled towards Suzianna desperately.
Scratches adorned his torn jeans and shirt, bruises marking points in his skin where her sisters had tortured him. She reached her hand through the bars and caressed his wet hair, and he fell into her hands like a puppy.
She hushed him gently, "It's alright, now, darling. I'm here. I'm going to get you out."
Tracing the length of the main bar, her fingers came across the padlock which clicked and became ajar upon contact. Only she and her sisters were able to lock and unlock the cells, which meant that once her sisters knew that Anthony was missing, they would most likely suspect her.
She carried him easily, letting his frail body fall against her form. She began trudging towards the only exit in the door, careful not to disturb the sleeping wardens atop the pillar at the center of the ritual circle.
Only her sister, Mamu, could summon them, but she knew of the secondary switches hidden within the basement. Just as they crossed the murals that depict the century-long hardships the Sassuratu had endured for this moment, Anthony awoke from his fearful slumber.
"Where… are we… going?" He asked, barely able to keep his eyes open.
"Away from here, my love. At last, away from here." She responded by pouring her heart out. "You and me and Joseff, maybe."
"W-what do you mean?" Anthony asked.
She cupped his cheeks lovingly as a tear rolled down her right eye. "My sisters had enacted a plan to kill Linda and use your unborn child as the vessel for our mother's return. A plan that would need the energy inside of our bodies. It would kill us, my love."
"H-how could you… do that?" Anthony seemed to have awoken from his disoriented phase, tearing away from her in anger. Weak as he was, his body collapsed into the ground immediately.
"Anthony!" She exclaimed and tried to help him up, but the man pushed her away. "You have to understand that for the longest time, I was like my sisters. I knew that it was my duty and purpose to become one with the Great Matron and–and I was willing to die with them, but then… then I met you. You made me realize that there's other things in life that matter more than the plan. I fell in love with you."
"Y-you love me?" Anthony threw out a scoff of disbelief. "B-but you've always known that this was nothing but–"
"Enough. She will die, Anthony. That is her purpose." She growled, "Joseff is already safe. We need only to remove the shackles that bind your soul into this place and then we can leave this forsaken country."
"My wife–"
"Linda is going to die and I will too, Anthony." Her voice turned distraught, not expecting the man's resistance. "Don't you get it? We are part of the Great Matron, her power divided into seven beings before her death. Batteries, that's what we are. Her revival means death to us all and I don't–I don't want to die, Anthony. Not when I have someone to live for."
Anthony broke free of her grasp and yelled hysterically, "Are you insane? I have a wife. You're just a fucking mistress. Hell, I'm not even fucking you anymore. I don't fucking love you. You're just a ball–"
Anger swole within her heart as she moves with the speed of sound, appearing before Anthony and driving her fist into his stomach. Anthony was blown away by the punch, rolling farther down before vomiting out what was left of his stomach's contents.
"W-what are–" Before he could finish his sentence, Suzianna was already upon him and placed her hand around his neck.
"You worthless piece of shit." She whispered into his ears, tightening her grip.
She had done the impossible, betrayed her sister and fed them to the wolves. For what exactly? For this miserable little man who couldn't keep his dick in his pants for more than forty-eight hours without sticking it into a hole?
What was she thinking? The realization had just hit her. It wasn't that she was in love with him so much that she wanted to live. No, it was that she wanted to live. Period.
Nothing else mattered in life than being there to exist. Anthony was just a keepsake of her old life and the man who had kept her sane during the early days of her rebellion.
"I don't need you." She whispered breathily, more to herself than to him. "The plan will still work even if you're dead–my end of the bargain, at least."
Footsteps rang behind her, which caused Anthony to panic. She was quick to cover his mouth, clamping down on his lips as she turned towards the incomers.
"Sisters." She greeted Mamu and Ninsar, who were carrying an unknown figure by its legs. "What brings you here?"
"What is this, sister? An early morning tryst with the sow?" A gentle laugh was always in Mamu's throat as they regarded Anthony with pity.
"No, sister. Just reminding him of what we're going to do with his family." She cackled, clenching the hand that gripped Anthony's cheeks. "Have you captured the Greythorne Heir?"
"We have." Ninsar threw the beaten-up figure into the ground, a bloodied Richard tumbling across the concrete floor. "He did well, even when trapped and outnumbered. Shame that he was not the sow we had chosen."
"Still, his energy will suffice to replace the untimely deaths of our sisters," Mamu said, ever the optimist.
Ninsar grabbed Richard's foot and began dragging him towards the center, "Don't play with the sow, sister. Place him back in his–"
"Masters!" A gnarly creature dropped down from the ceiling, frightening Anthony as he babbled incoherently. "Forgive my intrusion."
"What is it?" Asked Suzianna, tilting her head in fake confusion.
The creature, made of bones and thin flesh, groaned as it scraped the ground into a bow. "Joseff and Linda Brown are missing from the tower."
●●05:49 A.M. - Burger Joint●●●
"Last question."
"Yes, Kubrick. What is it?"
"What happens when one of us gets captured or killed?"
"Killed? go as planned. Captured? Depending on who, we either go to Plan C or Plan D."
"Depends? You placed a value on our bodies? Who's first?"
"Why yes, Dean, I did place a value on your bodies. And you're last, by the way. Plan C on all of you, but Plan D on me."
●●08:15 A.M. - Ellen Harvelle●●●
"Hold the fucker down!"
"I'm new to this, alright! I–"
"For the Horde!"
Garth, the damn fool, bodied the boney creature, and they tumbled on the ground with the monster gaining an upper hand. Its spiked limbs swung up and down, failing to land a hit upon Garth's surprisingly swift head.
Scott, no more useless than Garth, breathed in and aimed his crackling hand at the monster. "I need more time to recharge."
Ellen grunted, frustration mounting up in her head. Not only did the bony monster prevent them from moving downstairs, it had also activated an explosion that rocked the entire building and, more importantly, caused the door to crumble into nothing but rubble.
Trapped on the rooftop with two newbies, Ellen had no choice but to take control. She rushed forward, thankful that Garth still had the monster grappled.
Her dual-wielded Angel Blade swiftly found their targets on the back of the monster. As she marked its skin with a long gash, dark smoke arose from the wounds which was followed by a deafening scream.
What was once a featureless face now bore two undulating dark eyes, confirming what she had feared once she saw the smoke.
"Demon!" Ellen slid back, nearly tripping from the rubble. "Goddammit Scott!"
As if responding to his name, Scott screamed as streaks of blue lightning converged in the palm of his gloved hands before a pillar of azure light tore through the air. The pillar hit the strange demon square in the back which pushed it off Garth and rolled right into the ledge, only a few inches away from falling off the roof.
The lightning pillar had torn away flesh and what little muscles and fat the monster had, revealing a small hole marked with burnt flesh and blackened bones. The demon tried to stand up yet found its limbs broken into seven different directions, causing it to shriek in distress.
Ellen trudged forward, fear washed away by sheer anger as she kneeled in front of the struggling monster. "See you in hell." She whispered as she pulled both Angel Blade in the monster's back before stabbing the demon in its head.
She sighed in momentary relief before taking a knee as she contemplated on their next actions. From the looks of both men in front of her, they were considering her their leader as of the moment which meant that Richard had trusted her enough to be his contingency.
"Contingency. Right." She gazed at the rubble of a door, sighing once more. "We go to Plan B. Garth, Rip the Talisman. Scott, help me clear away the rubble."
"What? No, not Plan B!" Garth vehemently refused her order and, by the look of the taken aback Scott, it had seemed that the hunter had violated Richard's orders. "We're not gonna leave Linda and her son in here. He's mentally incapable of–"
Scott whipped his gloved hands which caused lightning to tear through part of the rubble, startling the skinny hunter. "Garth. We have our orders. Either obey them or don't get in our way."
"W-we have to save them." Garth pleaded.
"We will." Ellen promised. She knew it was uncharacteristic of her in that she knew the risk would be too great and that they couldn't realistically save everyone, but she knew how terrible it was to lose a spouse, much less their only kid and their unborn child. "We'll save both of them. Change of plans. We'll do Plan C."
Scott's eyes widened, frustration visible in his scrunched up nose. "This is. Fuck. Richard won't like this."
"Screw him, man." Garth exclaimed but backed down once Scott's hand crackled with lightning. " Respectfully, of course. Screw him respectfully."
Ellen raised a hand at Scott before the supernatural kid could talk back. "Let me handle Richard. Let's just save her."
She felt relieved when he backed down and continued on carving a way through the rubble. It was then that she realized that they could actually use the fire escape to go down the fourth floor.
"Garth, finish reporting. Scott, change of plans. We'll use the fire escape." She ordered.
"Uh, the ladder stops at the fourth floor. It's a ten-foot jump." Scott said, running to the ledge.
She patted him on the back and said, "That's alright, kid. I'll see you there."
"What do you–I'm not gonna jump." Scott said, askance by her orders. "It's better if we–"
"Jump and wait for my signal." Ellen glared at Scott. "Now, boy."
Scott was hesitant at first, but nevertheless obeyed her orders. She checked up on Garth, who had now taken out the Provocation Talisman.
"How do you–Oh, that's nice? Alright, two sentences–" The fire had already burnt into ashes when he tried to remind himself of the item's mechanics.
Ellen groaned, "It's already started when it burned."
"Ohhhhh. Hey, Bobby, yo, we're going with Plan C and Ir–I mean, Richard is away from us." Garth palmed his face yet still continued before waiting for a response.
Ellen realized that she was getting more and more frustrated at the two, in direct contrast to the initial delight at the fact that they were under her command.
She briefly wondered how Richard kept them contained all day, including the psychopathic murderer Gordon Walker, but then realized that Richard was a witch. She may not know everything about witches, but what little knowledge she had allowed her to see just how annoying and frustratingly difficult it was to fight them because of their hexes and curses.
'Maybe he's using a hex to make them more bearable. Like a magical version of Xanax.' She thought as she dangled her foot on the roof ledge above the fire escape. 'Magical Xanax. God knows I need that for Jo. That girl's been hounding me to let her hunt for weeks now.'
She jumped down, sticking the landing and catching herself on the metal railings to not fall on to the side. Ankles hurting from the height, she nodded at Scott to open the doors, which he did.
Just as the two were about to enter inside, Garth landed behind them and smashed his gut into the metal rails. An audible grunt filled the air as Garth slumped down in pain, his hands caressing his stomach in pain.
"You alright?" She asked.
"Worse, actually." Garth coughed out, "Got info from Bobby. Richard's been captured."
●●Irwin Bellios●●●
In any normal circumstances and with his current relationship with her, Irwin would have dove right in. She would have liked it and it would have made him slightly uncomfortable, but there would be an aura of consent around them.
Unfortunately, this was not a normal circumstance. He was tempted, of course, doubly so given that he was stressed up to high heavens, yet it felt like he was in a time crunch.
"Let's see. Does the system still work?" He activated his Great Hunter System, and to his relief, the menu appeared in his retina.
[ Character Sheet | Skill | Supernatural Record | Status | Quest | Trade Store ]
He sighed in relief, much to the confusion of the fake Ella. He winked at her, "Love the look, baby. But I gotta go. Spell Purge!"
She looked even more confused as the surrounding walls began to melt and trail down the ground like a candle on a summer day.
"W-what's happening, Richard?" She asked, fear setting in her voice.
The ground shook and the very space cracked with unimaginable power as Irwin closed his eyes and spoke once more, "Spell Purge!"
An earthquake hit the kitchen with Irwin as the epicenter as Ella screamed and dodged the pots and pans falling down from the countertops. Irwin felt his body convulsing as the cracks grew thicker until it fell off its position, revealing the dark space within.
More and more shards of reality broke from the earthquake before nothing else existed, only him and the space between space. Darkness surrounded him, depriving him of all but one sense.
His sense of time ticked by excruciatingly slowly as he floated around the space between space for what felt like days. He knew that he was close to breaking the spell, yet he did not do so.
The dark space, an infinite void where nothing ever matters, felt like a spa to him. It relaxed his nerves and allowed him to review his current situation.
It felt home, yet he also knew that time was ticking on the other side.
"Spell Purge!"
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