Fic: The Adamant Blade (Chapter Six)
Danny jabbed the button on the vending machine and waited for what was probably going to be a terrible cup of coffee. He hated hospital coffee. It seemed to have a special kind of badness about it, as though it was already infused with worry and grief before it was even spat out of the machine. He hated hospitals.
Blowing on the surface of the beverage, he walked back towards Heather's room and tried not to add his own worry to the bitter liquid. His sister was fine, Steve was fine. Danny kept that mantra up along the corridor, past the nurses station, and round the corner. He didn't want to think how long Heather was going to be in hospital for, because even though she was alive, she was severely dehydrated, and her kidneys might have been damaged.
And he really didn't want to think about Steve and the fact that he'd somehow managed to kill a Chernobog demon, with an ordinary K-bar.
The Russians called them black gods and thought they brought evil things at night. They were pretty unstoppable without heavy duty magic and a sanctified blade. Danny was surprised the circle he'd cast had even held the thing. And the fact that Steve was still sane, or at least no less insane than before, was a minor miracle. He had his shoulder to the door of Heather's room, when he heard Steve's voice, and froze. He knew he shouldn't eavesdrop, but the man had been virtually silent since he'd killed the demon, and Danny was worried.
“He's a friend,” Steve said, his voice quiet but insistent. “He won't mind.”
Heather didn't reply right away and Danny wondered who they were talking about. It could be him, but he didn't know what Heather thought Steve may have done, that Danny might object to. Aside from the usual Steve madness.
“I'll call,” Heather croaked, her voice still making his ears hurt. “When I'm out of here.”
She'd been fine, kind of, until they'd stepped through the portal, and then the three days with no food or water had suddenly caught up with her. She'd gone down quickly, her eyes sinking into her skull and her skin drying and pulling tight. It was only Steve's experience that had stopped Danny giving her too much water, far too quickly.
Heather was hooked up to fluid replacement now, dripping slowly into her body, and she already looked less like a walking corpse. She wasn't going anywhere for a while, not if he or her doctors had anything to say about it, but she was back home and that was all he cared about.
“I can't tell you when's best,” Steve said, sounding like his words might actually be hurting. “But putting it off doesn't help.”
“Will you be calling?”
“Yeah,” Steve sighed. “I talk to a guy at Hickman every month or so. I'm pretty sorted now, but I've had some bad days. He's an ex-SEAL so he gets it.”
A light bulb went on in Danny's head as he realized Steve was talking about seeing a shrink. Given how much time they spent in each other's company, he was disgusted with his own detective skills, because he hadn't guessed at all. Danny was also pleased that Steve wasn't as careless with his mind as he was with his body.
“You've seen some bad stuff?” Heather asked, and Danny knew she had already guessed what the answer would be.
“Yeah,” Steve said quietly, and Danny could imagine exactly what kind of stupid stoic face his partner was probably pulling. “I've had some pretty hardcore nightmares, but talking about it really helps. Especially with someone who understands what it's like. Not sure what I'm going to tell him about this though.”
Heather laughed, and Danny's heart swelled about a million times in his chest. Steve, Commander Stoic McPrivate himself, was willingly sharing details about his mental health to make his sister feel better and help her find someone to talk to. What he'd done to deserve a partner who drove him insane, and made him want to hug him in equal measures, he wasn't sure. But Danny was glad he had Steve at his back.
But he couldn't stand in the corridor for ever, and they needed to find out what Heather knew before she fell asleep again. He put his shoulder to the door, and barreled in like he hadn't been listening. “Right, water for you Steve, and vile hospital sludge for me.”
“You don't have to drink it,” Heather said, the look in her eyes telling him she was pretty sure he'd been listening.
“Pfftt,” Danny said, waving off her arguments, and flipping Steve the finger when he smirked. “It's tradition.”
“You just like having something to complain about,” Heather said, and Steve laughed out loud.
Danny grinned at him, glad to see Steve coming out of the funk he'd been in, even if it meant he was the butt of the joke. Steve didn't laugh enough, even on the best of days, and this was so very much not a good day. He hadn't said anything, but Danny knew what powerful demons like a Cernobog could do to humans and he was surprised Steve wasn’t a gibbering wreck.
“I don't know why I rescued you,” Danny said, wagging his finger at Heather. “All you do is insult me. You see this, Steve? My sister doesn't appreciate me. You want to swap? I'll take Mary and you can have this ungrateful one.”
“She seems perfectly sensible to me,” Steve said with a grin.
“If I get to keep you, handsome, I'll take that deal,” Heather said sleepily.
Steve blushed and Danny couldn't contain his laugh. For such an attractive guy, and one who could be confidently charming even if Danny was never going to admit that, Steve was endearingly disarmed by compliments.
“He's so cute, Danny,” Heather said with a grin, before a massive yawn over took her. “You should keep him.”
Danny didn't really know what to say to that, because he realized he did want to keep Steve, and not in a purely platonic way. It wasn't as startling a realization as it probably should have been, but Danny still didn't quite know what to do with it. Noticing Heather's eyes getting heavier and heavier, he pushed the thought aside and turned the conversation to what had gone on in the past few days.
“You're getting tired,” he said, squeezing Heather’s hand. “And we need to ask some questions.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, giving him a little smile. “Ask away.”
“Why don't you tell what happened?” Danny said, because he knew better than to lead a witness, but also he knew his sister well. She was observant, smart and knew the sort of thing they were likely to need to know. Assuming she didn't fall asleep, they could ask questions later.
“Okay,” Heather said, shuffling herself up the bed. Danny moved to try to help her with the pillows but she waved him off with a sleepy glare. “Don't fuss, I'm fine.”
“Heather,” Danny protested, because she clearly wasn't fine at all. Her eyes were still a little sunken in, and her skin looked dry and pale. And he didn't want to think about how painful her cracked lips were.
“Danny,” Steve warned quietly, shooting him a look that was enough to snap him out of the little spiral of guilt and worry. They needed information from Heather, and it wasn’t going to help if they got into an argument about how ill she really was.
“S'alright,” Heather murmured, before taking a deep breath. “Okay, so last week, a guy I know told me he'd been tracking a Jersey Devil but he'd found something else. He's a total nut-ball Devil-hunter, so I was pretty sure he was going to tell me he'd seen Sasquatch or something. Anyway I was writing all the details down, just to get him out of the office when he pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of Solomonic circle.”
“Solomonic?” Steve asked, and then looked sheepish. “Sorry. I guess there's going to be loads I don't know. I'll shut up.”
“Ask what you need to,” Heather said with a tired smile. “No point you not understanding something when you're going to have to help Danny catch the guy.”
At Steve's nod, Heather carried on. “A Solomonic circle is a pretty complex casting circle, meant for summoning things, demons mostly. Something like that, takes work, a lot of work. And it was painted on a cloth.”
“On a cloth?” Danny asked before he could stop himself.
“I know,” Heather agreed, before turning to Steve. “Casting normally needs to be tied to the ground, earthed as it were, so being able to use a summoning circle painted on a cloth, that's pretty special. It takes so much more power it's untrue. Anyway, I didn't know if it had been used, so it could have just been a really determined goth playing at magic.”
“He told me he'd seen it when he was following up reports of a Devil round East Orange. So I went up there and staked out the Reservation car park where he'd parked too. I figured that was as good a place to start as any, because the guy said he thought he'd seen a truck when he was out there, but hadn't paid it much attention.”
“And of course you didn't tell anyone where you were going,” Danny said, unable to stop himself. She was such a fool.
“Would you?” Heather demanded, angry and ready for a fight. “I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself.”
“Yeah, that went so well,” Danny sniped, letting the anger he'd been holding on to surface.
“Danny, leave it,” Steve ordered gently, and Danny deflated. He was really annoyed by Heather, but he was also really fucking grateful she was okay, and he was willing to let the anger slide for now. For all she looked ready to verbally go toe to toe with him, she also looked like she might pass out any minute. And they really needed to get her story finished because Danny had a feeling this whole thing wasn’t over.
“Okay,” Danny said, blowing out a breath to calm himself down. “Carry on.”
Heather glared at him for a moment longer before she looked away and obviously forced herself to relax. “So, I sat in the car park for a couple of nights and didn’t see anything. I thought it was going to be a complete washout. Then on Friday night, a truck pulls in and a guy gets out, pulls a roll of canvas out of the back and heads into the woods.”
Heather paused for a moment, sipping from the glass of water on her bedside table. Danny was going to tell her to stop if she needed to but she carried on. “I called my contact in Newark PD to run the plate for me and followed the guy into the woods. She texted me back the name William Retson about five minutes later. Does he own the apartment?”
“Yeah,” Steve said before Danny could answer. “Chin said he used to be an investment banker who was let go when Goldman Sachs crashed.”
“Great, he's gone from destroying the economy to destroying the world,” Danny said angrily.
“Destroying the world?” Steve asked, sounding like he couldn't decide if he was skeptical or amused.
“What do you think's going to happen when he summons a demon and lets it lose?” Danny asked, annoyed, but not by Steve. “The demon you faced, imagine that loose in the city. Pushing its hallucinations into people's minds, making them do God knows what.”
Steve paled, and Danny cursed himself for reminding him of what he'd been through in the hours he'd face the Cernobog. “Right.”
“And there's things out there that are way worse,” Danny said, and Heather nodded. “We're just lucky he didn't summon something really bad.”
“He did,” Heather said, and Danny gaped at her. “It wasn't a Cernobog in the woods.”
“What was it?” Steve asked, squaring his shoulders and so obviously getting himself ready for a fight that it made Danny's heart squeeze in his chest, The idiot didn't know what it was he might face, but it didn't matter, he'd stand with Danny and do his best to save the world, even if it cost him his life.
“I don’t know,” Heather said, snapping Danny out of his urge to tell Steve he should go back to Hawai'i, and get as far away from this as possible. “It was big, way bigger than the Cernobog. And, god, but it was powerful, Danny. So strong. I tracked Retson up in the woods and he'd already summoned it when I caught up with him.”
“Way too fast,” Danny muttered.
“Right,” Heather said, serious and scared. “I think he wasn't just using that spot because the demon wouldn't fit in his apartment. It's a node, Danny, I'm sure it is.”
“A node?” Steve was looking frustrated that the conversation was getting away from him again.
“There's points where there's power,” Danny explained. “If you know where they are, if you can harness the power, it makes everything you want to do easier, especially summoning.”
“On top of that, the demon he's been summoning is really strong,” Heather said. “Stronger than Retson thinks. I'm pretty sure he believes he was the one who pushed me through to the other dimension, but he wasn't, it was really the demon. Retson's not in control of it.”
“That's what I was worried about,” Danny sighed. Why did every idiot with a little bit of magical power think they were going to be the ones who could control demons, when no one else could? The world was full of people who thought they were special, and that the rules didn’t apply to them. Fortunately most of them didn't do much worse than speed in their cars, but there were always a few who had grander ideas. Like summoning demons.
“So, if he's not really controlling the demon, what's it waiting for?” Steve asked, making Danny smile. The man might be new to all of this, but he was still working all the angles.
“I'm not sure,” Danny said, wishing he had more information. “But we need to find out.”
“Go see Nana,” Heather said, through a giant yawn.
“We will, sis,” Danny said, smoothing his hand over her forehead. “You get some sleep. Mom and Pop'll be here soon.”
“Thanks Danny,” Heather murmured, her eyes getting heavier with each passing minute. “For finding me.”
“Hey, you're my baby sister,” Danny said, round the lump in his throat. “Of course I came for you.”
“I'm taller than you, squirt,” Heather protested, using the nickname that came out whenever he called her baby.
Steve laughed, and squeezed Heather's hand. “I'm glad you're okay, Heather. I'll be outside, D.”
Danny watched Steve leave, a smile on his face, only looking back when Heather groaned. “You have got it so bad.”
“What?” Danny said, even though he was pretty sure what she was going to say.
“It's okay though,” Heather said, yawning again, her eyes mostly closed. “Because I'm pretty sure he does too.”
“I think you need to get some sleep,” Danny protested, leaning in and kissing her hair. “I'll see you tomorrow.”
“Kay,” she managed, snuggling down in the bed.
Danny watched her for a few moments, hardly believing she was back with them, and well enough to actually be talking to them. It was only her skill and patience that had kept her alive in the demon dimension, and Danny couldn't help but be a little in awe of her. Sure, he could have cast the circle just like she'd done, probably could have held it solid like she had too, but he wouldn't have. He'd have gone on the offensive, unable to sit still and wait for rescue, and he'd probably have been killed doing it. And even if he'd beaten every demon that had come for him, he wouldn't have gotten out, because you didn't just find open doors by wandering around.
For once, he was stupidly pleased with that fact that Heather had an easy grasp of her power and the patience to stay focused on creating stunningly strong protective works. Back when they were learning how to cast, it used to make him rage with frustration when she outpaced him, despite being younger. If luck had fallen the other way she'd have probably been dead, even if he'd ever found her.
With one last brush of his hand over Heather's hair, he left her sleeping, and went to find Steve. He needed to discover how a man who apparently had no magical skill had killed a Cernobog with an ordinary K-bar. And he wanted to tell Steve about how he'd turned his pocket change into weapons. It might lead to pleading and puppy-dog eyes, when the man tried to get his own explosive coins, but Danny didn't care. Getting Steve's mind off whatever the demon had pushed into it was all that mattered.
That, and saving the world.
Even though Steve thought he looked exhausted, Danny was in expansive mood at the wheel of the car as they crawled through Midtown traffic towards the Lower East Side. It was already dark and Steve wished they could just go back to Danny's parent's house and collapse into bed. He wasn't sure he would sleep, but his body needed the rest and he'd happily take it if they could. But there was no way either of them would rest until this, whatever it was, had played out.
“You listening to me?” Danny demanded, poking him in the side and breaking his reverie.
“Yeah, sure,” Steve said, even though he had no idea what Danny had been saying. They'd talked about how Danny had rescued Heather, with Danny laughing at Steve when he'd begged for his own set of exploding coins. His partner had explained that it wasn't as simple as him making some and handing them over to Steve. If Steve wanted to have his own, he had to learn to make them, because they didn't just explode on contact, the power had to be released by the person throwing them.
Steve's disappointment had been somewhat tempered by Danny insisting there was no reason, for a man who'd killed a Cernobog with a plain K-bar to need exploding coins. Steve still wasn't really sure about how demons were classified and who studied them, but, because Danny was dragging him to see Nana, he was beginning to get how much of a big deal it was.
He was pretty sure that Danny would have tried to go on his own, if he hadn't wanted some kind of answers to how the demon was killed. His partner seemed to be genuinely scared of the person they were going to see, and it had Steve really worried. If he was more worried about meeting this woman than stepping through a portal to another dimension, how bad was she?
“Babe, you wandered off again,” Danny said gently, bringing him back to their conversation. “What's got your circuits burning now?”
“Nothing, Danno,” Steve said with a smile he was sure wasn't reaching his eyes. “Just tired.”
Danny eyed him suspiciously but didn't call him on it. “I know. As soon as we're done with Nana, we're heading home, no matter what she says. If there's a demon invasion coming tonight, someone else'll just have to pick up the slack.”
Steve knew it was a lie, they'd both be there, facing whatever was coming, even if they were dead on their feet. But it was nice to say it, and imagine that they could go to a nice safe, normal house and shut the door on all the weird shit that they'd seen that day.
“That sounds good,” Steve agreed, willing to play along with his partner.
“We'll order in some proper pizza,” Danny said, grinning like an idiot at the idea of finally getting Steve to some of his beloved pie.
“I could eat,” Steve said, realizing he was actually really hungry now Danny had mentioned food.
“Shit,” Danny cursed, looking around the car like finding Steve something to eat was the most important thing in the world. “We should stop, get some food in you.”
“I can wait,” Steve said, his own tension ratcheting up to match his partner's, even though he had no idea why.
“No, it's not that,” Danny insisted. “You can't eat or drink anything at Nana's, even though she's going to offer. Going in there hungry is just reckless.”
“Why can't I eat?” Steve asked suspiciously, suddenly picturing all the TV shows he'd seen about hoarders, mad old cat ladies.
“You just can't,” Danny said evasively, his eyes fixed on the road.
“Danny,” Steve warned, not willing to get brushed off. Hadn't he been through enough today to not get fobbed off with a stupid answer?
“Okay.” Danny gave in with a sigh, glancing at Steve, his bottom lip caught in his teeth, obviously trying to work out what to say. “This is either going to sound really stupid, or make you want to go in there, all guns blazing.”
“Just tell me.”
“If you eat or drink anything there, even so much as a crumb, you won't be able to leave.”
“What?”
“I know,” Danny agreed, looking really weary. “It's stupid, but it's true. And don’t think this is just saying no to a nice old lady who's offering you a glass of milk. She is, quite literally, a force of nature. If she thinks you've got something she wants, she'll offer you things, play with your head until you forget and just reach out for that little cookie, or that glass of water, and that's it, you're stuck there. Unless you get an ironclad agreement first, and that's never going to happen. Not with Nana.”
“A force of nature?” Danny hated people who used the word literally when they shouldn’t. Him using it meant that this Nana was something more than human.
“Why do you always pick up on the part I want you to ignore?” Danny said with a tired smile. “She's a genius loci.”
“Genius loci?” Steve repeated, trying to translate the Latin and only partially succeeding.
“Spirit of the place,” Danny said, sounding like he wished he could walk away from the conversation. “I don't know how it really works, but she's the living spirit of New York. Or Manhattan at least.”
“What?”
“I know, okay,” Danny said. “It's stupid, and I don't believe in gods, but she's the equivalent of a river goddess or a volcano god. I can't explain it, it just is, and as much as I'd like to ignore all the superstition and crap that goes with it, I just can't.”
“But you did at the heiau,” Steve protested, remembering Danny's adamant refusal to listen to the rest of the team.
“Because there was no spirit there,” Danny said, sounding so sad Steve wanted to hug him right there and then. “If there ever was a spirit of that place, it'd gone. There was no power, nothing to stop us doing our jobs. But I couldn't tell you why I knew that. I'm not saying there aren't genius loci in Hawaii, because believe me there are, but they're tied to nature and living things. They don't want to hang around the dead.”
“But people worshiped there,” Steve said, trying to get his head round his own argument before he tried to explain. “Doesn't that mean power gets left there, like in Retson's apartment?”
“It might, but it has to be a whole hell of a lot of power, not just prayers. Normally these things are natural spirits; streams, rivers, that sort of thing, but sometimes people who use a lot of magic, in a certain place that has a very distinct presence, become them. At least that's how I understand it.”
“And that's what Nana is?” Steve asked, still not sure he really believed what Danny said.
“Yeah,” Danny agreed, turning their vehicle on to a narrow street with cars parked on both sides. “As far as I know, she came here in the 1650s, pretty much in the clothes she stood up in, and never left.”
“She's three hundred and fifty years old?” Despite everything that Danny had said, that still surprised him. Nature spirits, fine he could kind of deal with that, but that a human being was so old was almost too much to comprehend.
“Older,” Danny said, pulling the car up in front of a plain, redbrick fronted tenement building, squashed between an Asian supermarket and a dollar store. “When she arrived, she already had three kids. Then there were another six once she got here.”
“Where'd she come from?”
“She's never said,” Danny replied, getting out of the car. “And don’t think about trying to work it out. There's no records of who she is. She's just Nana and she's been here longer than any of the buildings.”
“So, what?” Steve asked, unfolding himself out of the car and smoothing down his pants. “She just lives here and helps people?”
“Kind of,” Danny said with a laugh, as he pushed the buzzer on the nondescript door of the building they'd parked in front of. “She raised all her kids to adulthood, and their kids, and then their kids, and so on. You've done history, so you know about infant mortality. Other kids died, but hers didn't. She was their Nana and great Nana and so on. She just kept on living and taking care of her family.”
“So you are related?” Steve asked, confused because he'd been sure she wasn't actually a member of the family.
“Babe, do the math,” Danny said, giving him a gleeful smirk, because it wasn't often he got to prove his smarts to Steve. “After three hundred and fifty years, pretty much all of the eastern seaboard is related to her in some way.”
Steve didn't get a chance to reply, before the door clicked and swung open and Danny walked into the building. He took a deep breath and followed his partner through.
Steve wasn't sure what he'd pictured the interior looking like, but it certainly wasn't what he found. The neighborhood wasn't exactly the best, and the exterior of this dilapidated tenement wasn't out of place, even if it was the only one on the block without a business on the first floor. Inside, the shabbiness was gone, and he was faced with a modern, pale wooden staircase that led directly up to the second floor.
Steve pushed the door closed behind him, and followed Danny up, surprised again when the second floor opened out in to a huge, light, airy living room. The furniture had the kind of quietly understated look that screamed money, and lots of it. He realized he'd been stupid to assume because Nana lived in a less than salubrious neighborhood, that she hadn't accrued three hundred years of wealth. She probably owned the building. Hell, she probably owned all the buildings on the block.
“Daniel,” a voice said, and Steve realized one of the chairs by the unlit fireplace, was occupied. “Always a pleasure to see you.”
“Likewise, Nana,” Danny said, walking across the room towards her, with all the swaggering bravado he usually had when facing off against Kiwika. Filing that away for analysis later, Steve looked at the woman who was staring at them both with undisguised interest.
Steve was pretty sure her greyish blonde hair was dyed, and it had been set in short curls. She was wearing pink framed spectacles and a blue-green floral dress. She looked for all the world like a kindly grandma, aging gracefully, and still active. But Steve could see something in her eyes that, even without knowing who she was, would have given him pause. Steve felt the press of years, the wealth of knowledge and its spreading reach wash over him.
“And who's your friend?” she asked, fixing Steve with a look that made his skin crawl.
“He's just that,” Danny said before Steve could introduce himself. “You don't need to know any more about him.”
She laughed, and Steve felt some of the tension lift from the room. “Always so protective of those you care about, Danny.”
“Always,” Danny agreed, and Steve felt a little bubble of happiness in his chest.
“Sit, sit,” she instructed, pointing at the chairs. Steve wasn't sure if that was against Danny's rules, but when his partner sat, he did the same.
Steve almost jumped out of his skin when a younger woman came soundlessly up the stairs behind them, carrying a tray. As she put the teapot, cups and plate of cake down on the coffee table, Steve walked himself through a few mental exercises to calm himself down. The day had taken a lot out of him mentally, and he was man enough to admit that to himself.
“We'll drink some tea and talk about your sister,” Nana said, her smile not nearly as guileless as it should have been.
“No tea, thank you,” Danny said firmly, with a grin that was equally false.
“And your friend, wouldn't he like some?” she asked, and Steve found he really, really wanted a cup of tea. Knowing he should say no, because Danny had told him not to, he couldn't see what harm could it do. He was thirsty, really thirsty, and a perfectly brewed cup of tea would be just what he wanted. He could sit here and drink it and not worry about anything else.
“Stop it,” Danny shouted, and Steve realized his hand was curled around a cup of tea. “If you try to keep him, I will end you. Don't think I won't.”
Nana tilted her head to one side considering them, and Steve had a flash of a younger woman, someone who'd been strong enough to pack up her three kids and sail across an ocean without any support. She nodded slightly and the tension broke.
“What did your sister say?” she asked, perfectly coolly, as though she hadn't just tried to kidnap him.
“There's a guy summoning demons,” Danny said. “But you already knew that, didn't you?”
She considered Danny for a moment, obviously debating what to say, before coming to some kind of conclusion. “I knew someone was messing with the power in the city, and I guessed it was probably demons. It usually is.”
“Retson, that's the S.O.B. who's doing this, isn't in control of the demon,” Danny explained, relaxing just a little as he spoke. “It was the demon who pushed her through to its own dimension, not Retson. She said the demon could have easily broken out of the circle but it didn't, and I need to know why you think that is.”
“What kind of demon?” Nana asked, her gaze intense on Danny.
Danny sighed. “We don't know. She didn't recognize it. Big, overwhelming power, that's pretty much all she got.”
“Hmmm,” Nana said, looking a little more worried than before. “And you didn't see it?”
“No,” Danny said. “When I found her there were just gargoyle things there.”
“Boggarts,” Nana corrected.
“Boggarts,” Danny repeated, trying out the word. Steve thought his partner would probably still be using gargoyle to describe them.
“And you didn't see anything else?” Nana asked.
“No, well, other than the cernobog that Steve killed.”
“You killed a cernobog?” Nana demanded, her gaze snapping to him and pinning him in place.
“Yes, ma'am,” he said, his mouth suddenly incredibly dry.
“You hide your power well,” she said with a frown, and Steve felt her reach out mentally to examine him.
He couldn't breathe, pinned in the web of power that stretched out over the whole city. Nana plucked the threads and the city sang, catching him, reaching into him and stretching him across the web. He was nothing, and everything, shrunk to a single cell and was suddenly everyone in the city. He felt them, every one of them, and felt their eyes turn on him, then he was back on the sofa.
“Jesus,” Steve breathed, not sure he could move even if his life depended on it.
“Babe,” Danny said, suddenly next to him, his hand on Steve's forehead. “You okay?”
“Fine,” Steve reassured him, wishing he could drink the tea that still sat on the table. Feeling like he'd run a marathon, or been in an all day firefight, he was pretty sure he was shaking all over.
“He'll be fine,” Nana said, her face shrewd as she looked at them both. “He's a quite remarkable man.”
“And killing the cernobog?” Danny asked.
“Show me the knife,” she said, and Steve pulled it out, unsurprised by the fact that she knew about it, even though neither of them had told her what happened.
She took it from his hand, and Steve felt a pang of anxiety handing it over. Looking at the blade, she smoothed her finger along the edge and flicked her nails on the handle. With a little hum of concentration, she closed her eyes and held it in front of her for a few moments.
“It seems you've had your very own Harry Potter moment,” she said when she opened her eyes.
“What?” Danny asked before Steve could even parse what she'd said.
“His love for you made him powerful,” she said, and Steve felt his face flame. “And that power turned the knife into an adamant blade.”
“Christ!” Danny said, his face filled with awe.
His partner's reaction snapped Steve out of the embarrassment of having his feelings held out there for all to see. “An adamant blade?”
“It's mythic, babe,” Danny said, looking at his with a gleeful grin. “You turned the knife into a demon destroying weapon that most magicians only dream of.”
Steve didn't know what to say. It was the first time Danny had used the word magician, and somehow that was the thing that made it all seem so much bigger, realer, more insane. And he still didn't understand what he'd done. “But how?”
“For a guy who knows so much, your pop culture is really for shit,” Danny said with an eye roll. “Harry Potter's mom protected him from Voldemort by deflecting the killing curse with her love.”
“I think,” Nana said, still studying the knife. “It may be more than just love. I think you two have become entangled, magically. When I reach out, in the aether, I can see people as flares of light, some brighter than others, all different and all beautifully human. And you two, you're different, but the same, tied together and swirling around each other.”
Steve didn't really understand what that meant. He loved Danny, he knew that, even if admitting it was more than familial love, wasn't something he wanted to think about right now. Or ever. But that didn't explain how he'd apparently used magic to kill a demon by transforming a knife into something else.
“I've never seen it happen before,” Nana said, and Steve hoped it was to answer what was an obvious question, and not because she could read his mind.
“What does it mean for us?” Danny asked, biting his bottom lip. “I mean, is it going to change us or something?”
“I don't know, Daniel,” Nana said, giving him a soft smile. “But this didn't happen recently, in case you're thinking you shouldn't have bought him with you. You were already tied together when you landed at Newark.”
“You were watching us?” Danny asked, and Steve couldn't decide whether he was angry or surprised.
“I was waiting for you,” she explained, reaching for the cup of tea she'd poured for herself. “There is something coming, and you're part of it.”
“I am?” Danny said, definitely surprised.
“I don't see the future, like your mother,” she said, and Danny flinched just a little at the mention of his mom's power. “But I feel my city and her people. There's something weighing on the edge of thought, something pulling at the web that binds us all. A darkness that's swallowing people one by one. I don’t know for sure what it is, although I'm guessing it's a demon, but the shape of the disruption started to change when your sister vanished. When you arrived the balance shifted and I felt hope.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Danny asked, sounding weary and worn down.
“You will do what you must, Daniel,” Nana said, straightening her back and suddenly looking less like an old lady. “But know this, you are stronger than you think. You always were, but now you have Steve to draw on, and he has you.”
“That's great,” Danny sighed. “But it doesn't help us know what we need to do to fight the demon.”
“No, it doesn't,” Nana said, sounding like she wished she could give them a set of orders to follow. “But I will give you something that I haven't shared with anyone since Tesla.”
“The Tesla?” Steve asked, suddenly realizing what being three hundred years old meant. “You met Nikola Tesla?”
“He was an interesting man,” Nana said, giving Steve a bright smile. “Crazy, but interesting. And he had a modicum of power, and the ability to charm an old lady into sharing some of her secrets.”
“I don't believe that for a second,” Danny said, earning himself a sharp look from Nana. “You got something out of it, or you wouldn't have done it.”
“That would be telling,” she said after a moment, conceding Danny's point with a little smile. “And that's something you won't be doing. What I'm going to do now is not for general knowledge, even among the magically inclined. Especially amongst them. Now, come here.”
She motioned for them to come towards her and Steve glanced at Danny. He wasn't going to even think of moving before he got a sign from his partner. It was immensely disconcerting to have to rely on someone else for guidance. He hated to not be the one making the decisions and not having all the knowledge, but he trusted Danny beyond everything.
After a few moments of stillness, Danny sighed and stood up. Steve matched him and they approached Nana. “I know you will want to stand, but I suggest you sit or kneel. This will be disconcerting.”
“I feel like I'm at kindergarten,” Danny grumbled sinking to the floor to sit at Nana's feet.
“You were cuter then,” Nana said with a smirk, and Steve couldn't help his snort of amusement.
“Get down here, gigantor,” Danny ordered, pointing at the floor.
Steve sat facing Danny, and Nana held out her hands. Danny somewhat reluctantly took hold of her right and Steve followed suit with the left. They sat in silence for a few moments, neither quite knowing where to look. It was too weird, just sitting looking at each other. But Steve knew he couldn't look away in case he missed something, and he was about to ask what they were supposed to do when he felt it. Danny's eyes widened a fraction, and Steve knew he'd felt it too.
“Close your eyes,” Nana ordered, and Danny obeyed instantly. Steve hesitated for a moment, not wanting to let his guard down, perhaps leaving them open to danger. Nana squeezed his hand, and he knew he had to trust her or they wouldn't get what they needed. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes.
The instant he did, he felt a rush of movement, a throb of power, and almost snapped his eyes open again. Instead, he gritted his teeth and let himself go.
Chapter Seven