Azarath, Friday Fandom time

[trigons_child]

[Follows after this.]

Fandom seemingly vanished, leaving them floating in a column of kaleidoscopic light that carried them upward, up through a hazy golden mist, into blue then purple and finally black. There was a momentary pause as light and dark merged into one. Their hearts suddenly stopped. No pulse. They were trapped in a moment of time, between worlds and dimensions and here and now and then and will be. Then the moment ended and they were elsewhere.

Most of them had seen this place before and would remember the beautiful city whose spires pierced the dark star-filled skies. They would remember Azarath in all its magnificent but sterile beauty. But what they saw now was nothing like before. Azarath had been razed and awaited death's dark scavengers to feast on its final meager pickings. The buildings were in ruins, and the skies burned red and yellow. Only one building still stood, the Temple Azarath, from which came voices raised in prayer.

Bodies littered the streets. Winged demons circled overhead, looking for more victims. And they'd spotted the new arrivals from Fandom.



Kennedy
Well, that had been a hell of a thing. Probably not of the good, if you wanted her unscientific opinion.

Time to break in her new Christmas toys; Kennedy would be lying if she'd said she wasn't waiting for a chance to test out those throwing knives from Karla and Warren, and the sword Tara had given her, all of which was strapped to her body somehow right now with their weight providing a comforting counter to the chaos. (She could quibble with the circumstances, though. And would. Just, you know. Later.)

She looked up at the demons, her jaw set stubbornly-- it helped to mask her nerves, though that seemed to get easier with every fight-- and unsheathed her sword.

"Oooh, well, time to go to work then, huh?"



Demons
One of the demons swooped down toward Kennedy. It was a rather foolish demon, so its thoughts were something like "Oh look, a girl with a sword. How quaint."



Kennedy
A not-very-big girl with a sword, even. Which was in fact quaint, and also in keeping with a longstanding tradition that tended to pit said not-very-big girls with swords against your type, oddly enough, demon. How about that?

...never mind about the part where those girls were usually a lot stronger than Kennedy was. It was a little too early late to do anything about that.

Having had more experience in fighting flying things since their last trip into Raven's world, Kennedy stood her ground (let it be noted, that was difficult) and waited, the sword in hand, until it closed within range.

Then? It was time to jump to the side and then slash out.



Demons
The demon tried to dodge the swing, but Kennedy was faster than it thought she would be and the sword sliced through one wing. Crippled, it hit the ground hard, but sprang up immediately to lunge at Kennedy with claws outstretched.



Kennedy
She was overthinking it; if she'd been acting on instinct she'd have had a better shot at dodging the attack, but Kennedy was trying too hard to analyze the demon's attack and couldn't sidestep in time.

"Gah!" she yelped as pain ripped through her left shoulder. It wasn't a serious wound-- she'd managed to move just fast enough to avoid that-- but there was already a trickle of blood seeping through the gashes in her shirt.

There was nothing pretty or impressive about the retaliatory hack she took at the demon's arm, but now she was pissed, and that put a little more force behind the blow.



Demons
The demon shrieked in pain as she severed its arm. It spun to the side, trying to knock her to the ground with its one good wing.



Kennedy
"Winging it now?" Kennedy quipped, wishing it'd come out sounding more witty and less gritted out between her teeth.

She probably shouldn't have done that; she took a tumble and hit the ground, her sword clattering out of her hand.



Demons
Now that that unpleasant weapon was out of the way, the demon was pouncing as best it could with one limp wing, the claws on its remaining hand going for Kennedy's throat.



Kennedy
And this was where Kennedy was glad she'd been practicing unsheathing the throwing knives strapped to her arms. It was still a somewhat clumsy movement, but the point was, it worked.

The demon was too close for a throw now, but she managed to swing her injured arm up to knock the demon's clawed attack away, and with her good arm, get the knife up and in position just in time to brace for impact.

Which was gonna suck anyway, wasn't it?



Demons
The demon shrieked as the knife tore into its chest and belly. It thrashed on top of Kennedy for a moment, then fell still, leaking thick black blood all over her. Hope you didn't wear anything you liked, Kennedy.



Kennedy
As a matter of fact she had liked that jacket. A lot.

So it took Kennedy a few minutes-- two to remember how to breathe again after getting the wind knocked out of her that badly, another to clear her head, still ringing from the impact, and one more to make reasonably sure nothing was broken-- but she finally grunted out a muffled, "Oh, god, that was gross," and managed to squirm her way out from under the demon.

She kicked it a couple of times, too, hard, and wiped her knife off on a clean (relatively) patch of her jeans.

That was for messing up her jacket, stupid demon.



Demons
Maybe some extra strength detergent, elbow grease, and a spell would get the demon guts out. Maybe.

But the demon picking up her sword with a grin was more concerned with getting Kennedy guts all over itself. It rather liked that idea.



Kennedy
Kennedy, perhaps unsurprisingly, was much less a fan of that idea.

"Hey!" There went one of her throwing knives, flying toward the demon's face, and damn the situation for not giving her the time to appreciate how well balanced the knife was. "Get your own damn sword-- that's my Christmas present!"



Demons
The demon batted the knife aside with Kennedy's own sword. "Mine now," it growled, the arced the sword toward Kennedy's head. See how much of a smart mouth she had when she was decapitated, huh?



Kennedy
Oh, that was not fair, using one of her Christmas gifts against the other one.

"Hell it is!" Ducking and twisting like that-- because now she wasn't thinking, just reacting-- was going to hurt her shoulder, but she came up inside the demon's swing with another knife in hand, and slammed the point of the blade down toward the inside of the demon's elbow.



Demons
The knife slashed the demon's arm, and it dropped the sword with a roar of pain. Deprived of its weapon, it made use of its natural weaponry, its talons, and it grabbed for Kennedy's hair.



Kennedy
Which, for once, was tied back in a more practical ponytail; Kennedy had learned a little bit of a lesson about that after her run-in with Debbie in Bon Temps.

"Oh, come on," she groused, taking another slash at the demon's side with the knife while she ducked to scoop up her sword again. "Hair-pulling? Really? How many times have you repeated demon-kindergarten?"



Demons
It thought the ponytail was a handle?

"Die, human," it growled at her. "Die like the rest." It slashed at her face, determined to silence that mouth of hers.



Because Kennedy was going to-- what, do what someone else told her to do, especially if said someone was a demon?

Pssht. Also, she had her sword back, so nyeah.

She dropped into a crouch just in time to miss the claws swiping at her face, reversing her (blood-sticky) grip on the sword as she pushed back up out of the crouch with all the pissed-off momentum her slight frame could manage.

The sword point was angled up, and if she was calculating it right she could get it up behind the demon's ribs with enough force...



Demons
She calculated right. The demon shrieked, but fortunately this one fell to the side as it died, rather on top of her.

Unfortunately, there were still a lot more demons where that one came from.



Jono
//No, no, don't swoop threateningly on my account. Please.//

Really, at this rate, Jono was suspecting that angry things with wings were going to become a mainstay of most Fandom-centric rescue missions. Right up there with mass slaughter of innocents, and lasting emotional trauma.

He was hoping for as little of those last two as possible as his hand twitched toward his bandages.



Demons
The demons were preparing a gimmick infringement lawsuit against the Jhinka. Any day now, really.

Since Jono didn't have any sort of weapon, a demon singled him out as easy prey. But maybe he'd run and provide a chase at least rather than just standing there like the Azarathians had.



Jono
//Yes, I've wrestled with you blokes before.//

Wait for it... Wait for it...

Jono's eyes narrowed as he looked upwards toward the demon that seemed to be circling entirely too close for comfort. //What're you waiting for, you ugly bugger? I haven't got all bloody day.//

Yes. Because taunting the flying hell-beast was an excellent plan.



Demons
Oooh, this one was sassy. The demon swooped down toward him, talons ready to shred into his flesh, but pulled up short as it got closer. This one had its mistress's scent all over him, and now it was confused.



Jono
Jono had been ready to tear down his wrappings to blow a new one right through the demon's chest, but... Well...

//... That's new.//

He was going to need a moment to kind of blink up at the creature, in no small part confused, himself.



Demons
The demon had been ordered by Trigon to destroy, but..."You belong to her," it rasped.



Jono
//I...//

He couldn't deny it. He still hadn't said the L-word, was still bloody petrified to, but here he was, standing and feeling like an absolute berk while he tried to find the proper words in order to justify himself to a demon.

//I do.//



Demons
The demon wasn't used to being confused. Usually its life was pretty straightforward -- burn, destroy, kill. But it didn't want to bring its mistress's wrath down upon itself.

"Trigon commands the deaths of all who walk here," it growled, still deciding what it should do about this.



Jono
//Yes, well, Trigon can blow it up his arse.//

That, at least, Jono didn't have to stop and waver about.



Demons
The mistress's will was Trigon's will, the demon decided. So...death it was for this disrespectful creature. It swiped at Jono with its talons, intending to slash his chest open.



Jono
Jono let him. Always the same for these things, wasn't it? Go for the chest wounds, make it messy. Crack open ribs and feast on the heart, blah blah blah...

This was one demon who would find himself sorely disappointed, as Jono loosed a blast of concussive energy that was really rather on-par with the one he'd accidentally levelled an entire building with, once before.

//I'm in no bloody mood to play tag today,// he intoned, as the flames licked up around his face. //And you can blow that up yer arse.//



Demons
The demon had been expecting a gory mess. But instead of the joys of evisceration, it found itself nearly completely vaporized by the blast of energy that came from Jono's chest. Its last thought was maybe it should have taken this one aside for its mistress after all.

Another demon wasn't entirely impressed by Jono's display, and was flying down and breathing fire of its own. Take that.



Jono
Funny thing, wasn't it, how being on fire didn't actually make Jono fireproof? And so the flames that were shooting Jonothon's way meant that his arms were moving up to cover his head, and he was scrambling out of the path of the flames for dear life.

And he was completely unashamed of that fact, yes.



Demons
This demon didn't particularly care that Jono had its mistress's scent. Orders were orders, and this one was clearly dangerous. It circled back around for another fiery blast.



Jono
And here Jono was, with barely enough time to turn to face his attacker. But this time around, he had a trick or two up his sleeve, especially since Agio.

He didn't need fire to hurt an opponent. All he had to do was take careful pains to exclude everyone but the nearby demons from the range of his voice, and scream.

The scream might not kill them, but the sheer drop while they're left reeling very well might.



Demons
The demon and three others who were close by clutched at their heads, plummeting from the flaming skies. The other three were high enough that they stopped moving once they hit the ground, but the one that had been attacking Jono dizzily pushed itself up with a howl of rage and pain. It staggered toward him, intending to stop the scream somehow with its talons.



Jono
And now, there was no hesitation. There was no cause for hesitation. Not now. Not with Raven gone.

The demon didn't have a chance to get close enough to use those talons, before everything close to Jonothon was fire.



Demons
Despite breathing fire, the demon wasn't flameproof, either, and it tried to reverse its lunge. But wounded as it was from the scream and the fall, it couldn't stop its momentum, and it burst into flame as it got too close to Jono.



Jono
//Honestly,// Jono grumbled at nothing in particular as he looked down toward his shredded bandages and the fire that billowed out from his chest. //You really can't expect me to believe that you didn't see that coming, mate.//

There. That'd sure show those... ashes.

Jono gave his head a shake, and then he took off at a run toward the temple.



Anakin
This, Anakin was comfortable with. He ignited his lightsaber and gave a little "come on over here" wave to the nearest big and ugly thing.



Demons
Said big and ugly thing really didn't like the look of that glowing sword, so it decided a ranged attack to start things would be best. It opened its mouth and breathed a jet of fire at Anakin.



Anakin
Anakin decided to be a giant show-off cut to the chase immediately and held his hand out and concentrated. The fire ricocheted off his hand and headed back at the demon.



Demons
The demon hadn't been expecting that. The blast caught it square in the chest, and it tumbled backwards through the air.

Unfortunately it had a pair of friends who decided Anakin was a threat and should be eliminated immediately. One tried to distract him by attacking from the front, while the second lunged from behind.



Anakin
Anakin swung his lightsaber toward the more immediate threat--the demon behind him--first, aiming to bifurcate!!! cut him in half across the middle.

...and praying the loincloth stayed on.



Demons
The loincloth stayed put, but the demon's torso didn't, and it fell in two neat pieces to the ground. His companion, on the other hand, was moving to use its claws to try to disarm Anakin, and it didn't just mean the lightsaber.



Anakin
"Oh, I don't think so," Anakin commented, shoving the demon back with the Force. Hard.



Demons
Well, that wasn't fair. The demon tumbled backwards into the ruins of one of the buildings, and a marble wall collapsed on top if it. For a moment the rubble was still, then it began to move as the demon climbed its way out. It shot straight up into the air, though its flight wasn't smooth due to injuries to its wings, then zoomed straight back down at Anakin, trying to turn him into charcoal with its breath.



Anakin
Anakin reached out with one hand to repel the fire again, holding his lightsaber in the other.

It would be useful for snicking off the demon's head when it got a little closer.



Demons
Separating the demon's head from its body put an end to its attempts to tear Anakin into itty bitty pieces, of course. But there were more where he came from, and they were hoping to overwhelm him with sheer numbers, fancy Force tricks or not. As long as he was standing, they'd continue their attack.



Anakin
And as long as they were attacking Anakin, they weren't paying attention to the students, so he was happy to serve as a very visible target. He was supremely confident in his abilities.



Bobby
They say that practice makes perfect, and Bobby was definitely getting plenty of practice when it came to shifting into his organic ice form. So, yeah, if it was challenge the demons wanted? Bobby was ready to do just that.



Demons
The demons weren't really impressed by ice. Ice melted, right? And they breathed fire. So one was swooping down at Bobby, sending a blast of fire at him.



Bobby
Oh, sure, your average, everyday tray of ice cubes might melt... but Bobby's ice was anything but average.

"I'm sorry, is it too chilly for you?" Bobby snarked as the flames fizzled out as they came within range. "I'd offer to turn the heat up, but you might have better luck asking my friend over there..." he jabbed a thumb in Jono's direction even as he sent a blast of ice towards the demon.



Demons
The demon somehow -- somehow -- managed to refrain from bursting into a chorus of "Fire and Ice."

The demon roared in rage as the ice struck its wings and it fell from the sky. It picked itself off the ground and lumbered toward Bobby. No stupid ice cube was going to defeat it.



Bobby
"That looked like it hurt," Bobby said with mock-sympathy. "Maybe you should get it looked at?"



Demons
The demon wasn't particularly good with witty comments -- snarling and growling were more its thing -- so it answered Bobby's question with a swipe of its talons toward his chest.



Bobby
"Hey!" Bobby's chest now had a nice claw-shaped gouge in it as he couldn't quite dodge in time. Luckily he was sort of self-fixing, or at least he would be as soon as he got a chance to switch back to human form again. "A physique like this takes time and effort, you know. You can't just go around ruining people's hard work like that!" He sent another blast of ice at the demon, hoping to send it reeling.



Demons
The demon did indeed go tumbling back through the air as the ice hit it. It hit a marble pillar that was remarkably still standing and fell still.

But there were plenty more of his kin to keep Bobby busy for awhile.



Karla
Karla's first thought--you know, after th existential horror and all--upon seeing the demons was actually something along the lines of 'Oh, goody.' She was angry, upset, hurt, and very glad to have a few nasty little things to take her foul temper out on.

Rather than pull any weapons, Karla simply strode forward and waited. Let them come to her.



Demons
A demon did come to her, dropping from the sky with every intention of grabbing her in its claws and taking her into the skies to either tear her apart or drop her to break on the ground. But when it got close enough to really see her, it abruptly peeled away. Not this one. This one they weren't allowed to kill.



Karla
"What?!" Karla squawked, watching the demon whirl and fly away without engaging. "You get back here, dammit! I am going to peel you like a grape!"



Demons
Trigon would do worse if this one was harmed. Now if Karla had, say, a winged boyfriend she wanted attacked, it would happily oblige her.

Another demon swooped down then pulled up short when it got close enough to see Karla's face, proving that this hadn't been a one-time incident.



Karla
Karla did not have a winged boyfriend she wanted attacked. In fact, if anyone in this fray was going to have some kind of demon-repelling ward, she would rather it were him and not her.

Watching the second demon fly off without trying to kill her actually made Karla stomp her foot in frustration. She hated every minute of this adventure so far. Every minute. It didn't help that she knew exactly why they were leaving her alone. Having Trigon's so-called 'protection' was worse than no protection at all.

Though, there was always the option of making them fight. "I am never going to marry him!" she shrieked, and sent a whip of Sapphire power out to curl around the retreating demon's ankle, yanking him to the ground.



Demons
The demon hit the ground hard and instinctively rolled to spring at Karla. Maybe it could subdue her without harming her and bring her to its master. That would bring it great reward, wouldn't it?



Karla
Good luck with that, demon.

It sprang at her all right. Right into the gout of witchfire Karla had called. That witchfire was then followed up by a blast of the Sapphire.

Karla wasn't going anywhere, thanks much.



Demons
The demon screamed and burned into ashes. Karla was safe from this one, at least.

But there were more, so many more, and another one was coming her way now.



Karla
Karla didn't have her wings, but she did have her Craft and so she was creating a staircase of air to run up and meet the demon halfway. "Tell your master that we're coming for him! And we're taking Raven back!"



Demons
"The mistress belongs to Trigon, as will you," the demon snarled. "All others will die."

And since it couldn't hurt Karla, the demon flapped away looking for another target, like, say the one with the white feathery wings.



Warren
"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Warren was trying to just not look up. Only he had to look up, because... Well, if he didn't, then he'd learn just what his spleen looked like, which he was in no hurry to do.

He kind of had to look down now and again, too. So that he wouldn't trip over dead people.

This 'highly traumatic swarm of flying murderers' thing was going to turn into a once-a-year event, whether he wanted it to be one or not, wasn't it?



Demons
There weren't as many of these demons here as there had been of the Jhinka at Agio, but they were twice as big and made up for that lack in sheer size.

It was probably a good thing they didn't know Warren's connection to Trigon's chosen bride, or they might be attacking him more furiously. As it was, just one was swooping down for now, thinking Warren would be easy pickings like all the Azarathians had been.



Warren
Well, it wouldn't be difficult to hurt Warren, so at least the demon was partway right.

Making it stick, that would be the tricky part.

The upside to there being not so many airborne creatures here as Agio, at least, was that Warren was at least slightly confident about his ability to take to the air without being immediately overcome. Which was for the best, because his first reaction when he noticed the demon swooping down? Was to flare his wings out and leap straight up.



Demons
The demon's expression could best be described as "OMG WTF WINGS?!?!?!"

But then it grinned, showing sharp yellow teeth. A chase then? That would just make the kill all the more sweeter. It reversed its direction and zoomed after Warren.



Warren
Warren's mutterings of "Oh, God," had now changed to "crap, crap, crap," yes.

But, hey, if there was one thing that he could do, it was fly. He glanced over his shoulder at the demon following in his wake, and he frowned deeply. Flapping. Now would be a good time for flapping, because a bit more speed was in order here, as he veered towards some of the (marginally) less-demolished looking buildings nearby.



Demons
The demon wasn't quite as fast as Warren, but he managed to keep up. And, just to make things interesting, he breathed a jet of fire at him. Can you do that, stupid winged human?



Warren
Warren couldn't do that! But what he could do was dart upward, and then ride the thermal, the ripple of hotter-than-usual air, so that he could gain a little bit of altitude. If his wingtips wound up slightly scorched, then so be it.

Altitude meant that he could circle around and try to get behind the demon.

... With no idea what the hell he was planning to do from there, granted. But unless the thing could shoot fire out the other end, behind seemed like a better idea at the moment.



Demons
Warren really didn't want to know the answer to that, did he?

The demon paused, flapping its membranous wings and hovering in midair, confused and looking around for its prey. It had momentarily lost sight of him when he'd flown upward.



Warren
Logic, here, would dictate that flying the hell away would be the smart way to go. And, even a few months ago, Warren might have done just that.

He was really in no mood to let this thing slaughter more innocents, not without putting up a decent fight, first. And Warren was more difficult to kill than the average winged idiot who was about to do exactly what he was about to do. He hoped.

Drawing in a deep breath, he went into a steep dive, aiming himself directly at one of the demon's wings. He didn't trust himself to be able to do decent damage to its head, not with all of those spikes going on, but if all of his body weight were to make solid contact with one of those wingbones?

A guy could hope.



Demons
The demons bodies were tough and thicked-skinned, but their wings were thin and vulnerable. The demon screamed in pain as the impact of Warren's body tore the membranous skin and bent its wingbones. It flapped its one good wing frantically, trying to keep in the air, but it wasn't nearly enough and it plunged toward the ground.

It did, however, make a grab for Warren as it began to fall. Hitting the ground from this height might be fatal, and it wanted to take Warren with it.



Warren
The demon's hand closed around his ankle, and Warren's 'crap crap crap' mantra got a little louder as panic rose up in his chest. There went gravity, hauling him down with the demon, and it was all that he could do to struggle, trying to get free, kicking at the demon's hand with his free foot and beating at its face with his wings.

He didn't think the fall would kill him, but he'd really rather not find out.



Demons
The demon wasn't about to let go, no matter how hard Warren kicked or struck it with its wings. Talons dug into the ankle it gripped, not enough to sever it from Warren's leg, but enough to tear flesh and muscle.

It was trying to reach up with its other hand when it hit the ground.



Warren
And Warren was screaming as everything came to a sudden stop, crumpling like a shot bird on top of the demon, and then just... laying there, for a bit.

He was vaguely aware that he wasn't dead. He was vastly aware that everything hurt. And then, eventually, even that began to fade and he was almost desperately scrabbling to get away from the body that he'd landed on, leaving bloody streaks on the ground behind him.



Demons
Another demon had seen its sibling fall. This one was going to to its best to make sure Warren didn't get airborne again, which meant trying to rip off those pretty pretty wings of his. So it was swooping down from the burning skies, talons outstretched to tear into his left wing.



Warren
Running wasn't easy, when his leg was still working on piecing itself back together, and Warren' couldn't quite throw himself out of the way of those talons, not before a large bloody streak was left behind, stark red against feathers that would have been otherwise a clean white.

Warren wasn't going to give the demon such an easy target again. All it took was blood to activate the bracelet that hid his wings from view? Well. He had plenty of that to spare right at the moment, and stooped low to run his wrist over his still oozing ankle.

Look, no wings!



Karla
"Warren!" The words were ripped from Karla's throat and she lunged for him, trusting that her presence would at least give the demons a moment of pause. "No! Leave him alone! I command it!"

Would that work? Who knew?



Demons
The demon had already paused because WTF where did the wings go? It looked at its talons and saw blood and feathers there, so it knew the wings had been there, but it hadn't ripped them off yet, so where did they go?

Then the Trigon's chosen bride was in the way. It couldn't hurt her, but.... "Move!" it rasped.



Karla
"Drop dead!" Karla retorted, moving more completely between Warren and the approaching demon. "I will if you will!"



Warren
Ow. Ow. Ow. Everything ow. Ow.

Warren turned and blinked up at Karla's backside, and then past her at the approaching demon.

And his brain took a moment to kind of run completely blank before he took a deep breath and pulled himself to his feet again.

"Karla...? Why... isn't it killing you?"

Look, you ask your important questions, and Warren will ask his.



Demons
The demon was happy to provide Warren with an answer. "This one belongs to Trigon. The rest of the living will die." It tried to dart to the side and get around Karla to get to Warren.



Karla
Yeah, Karla wasn't about to let that happen, oddly enough. She lunged to the side, keeping her body in between the demon and Warren. "I do not!" she protested. "Trigon is in for a world of disappointment. Again!"

Speaking quickly, she murmured quickly to Warren, "Okay, so Trigon might have claimed me for his next bride, but it's really not going to happen. I hadn't realized that his offer had, uh, trickled down to the rank and file, though."



Warren
"Wonderful," Warren managed, through grit teeth as he sidestepped, to stay behind Karla.

His girlfriend, his lover, his human shield. Warren was a shameless romantic at heart, really.

"Shouldn't they be off buying kitchen appliances or something, then?"



Demons
This demon wasn't a dummy; it could put two and two together and come up with the fact that Karla obviously cared for the one who no longer had wings. "Trigon will reward me for this one's death," it grinned at Karla.

Why Karla would pick a silly human with wings instead of the 1,000 foot tall red-skinned demon in a loincloth was beyond it.



Karla
Karla would be willing to bet there was plenty of things beyond the demon's ken. It didn't look all that bright, honestly.

Also--the loincloth? Not the turn-on Trigon thought it was.

"You come near him and I will string your tongue on barbed wire and wear it as necklace," Karla snarled.



Warren
Warren's eyes might have gone a little wide as he looked at the back of Karla's head.

Okay, she was absolutely his hero, right now.

"Seriously?"

... Later, he would blame adrenaline and blood loss for that stupid question, yes.



Demons
The demon snickered at Karla. "I see why Trigon likes you," it said. But Trigon didn't like rivals, so it wanted to get Warren's head to give as a necklace to its master.

It moved to bat Karla aside with one wing so it could get its talons into Warren's throat.



Karla
Karla wasn't actually expecting the demon to touch her, not after the games of keep-away they demons had been playing with her before. Unexpected wing to the side of the head was unexpected and Karla fell to the ground.



Warren
There was one important lesson that someday, Warren was going to have to learn.

When someone knocks your girlfriend upside the head with a wing so that it can gouge vicious claws into your throat? Don't react by staring in horror at her prone form and yelling her name. That was just dumb.

"Karla!"

Yep. Someday, Warren would learn.



Demons
With the pesky blonde out of the way (honestly, what did Lord Trigon see in her?), the demon grabbed hold of Warren by the throat and lifted him into the air so they were face to face. Its breath, incidentally, was rank.

But considering it was starting to squeeze with every intention of popping Warren's head off, that probably wasn't the first thing on his mind.



Karla
Perhaps he admired the tenacity of spirit Karla was about to display?

Karla sprang up off the ground, launching herself at the demon. It was hurting Warren! She landed on its back, grabbing onto one of its horns for purchase and wrapping her legs around its hip. "Don't you hurt him!" she screamed, raising her right hand high.

Her snake-tooth was already out, a drop of venom glinting in the light of the fire. Karla's hand slammed into the side of the demon's neck, right where the pulse beat. Black sticky blood oozed to the surface, but not before Karla's venom went pumping into the vein.



Warren
Warren was having difficulty appreciating Karla's act of heroics at the moment, as he was busy gasping, struggling for air.

Whether that was because of the demon's breath, or the fact that he was dangling like a ragdoll by his throat really remained to be seen. If there was poison being pumped into the demon, well, he wouldn't notice for a moment, because his windpipe was busy being crushed, and he was pretty certain that he'd just heard his own neck snap.

This was not a good day, for Warren.



Demons
The demon could ignore Karla's weight on its back, even her hand on his horn. But the snake-tooth in his neck? It stung for a moment, almost nothing, really, and then the pain really began. A pain-filled shriek tore from its throat, and it flung Warren aside, clawing at Karla to dislodge her, not caring now if it hurt her.

The demon sank to its knees, spasming and tearing at its own flesh to try to stop the pain of the poison. But it was already in its system, and after several long minutes of screaming and convulsing, it toppled to the ground and was still.



Karla
Karla hung on, even after her snake tooth had retreated back under her nail. It hurt where the claws caught her, tearing through clothes and skin and hair, but if the demon was trying to harm her, it wasn't going after Warren. So she clung to its back even as it thrashed and flailed in its death agonies.

Finally, once it fell, silent, to the ground, Karla released her grip. "That's my answer to Trigon," she said quietly, rising shakily to her feet.



Warren
Warren had hit the ground and rolled, unable to so much as reach up his arms to help blunt the impact, and so while the demon died, his body had its fair share of hollow, splintered bones to knit.

He lay there, a ragged lump of blood and invisible feathers, waiting. What else was there to do but wait? Until all at once, his body convulsed, and he rolled himself over, pushing himself to his hands and knees and coughing furiously until he spat up blood.

Nope. Not dead yet. Totally not going to make that standing still and yelling mistake again.



Karla
Karla's head throbbed a bit. Was there a target on her temple for flailing wings to hit? Mother Night, if she ended up concussed--

Her internal monologue was cut short as she caught sight of the broken, bleeding lump of flesh that was her boyfriend. Healing factor forgotten, Karla dashed to his side. "Warren?" she asked, heart -pounding in her ears. "Warren? Darkness has mercy..."



Warren
"M'okay," Warren managed, going from 'hands and knees' to 'falling backwards to sit' all in one less-than-graceful flop. God, everything hurt. Talking hurt, and he'd probably not be doing much of that for at least a little while, at this rate.

Limbs that had been bent in awkward directions needed a little bit of prompting to heal the right way, and so that was what he was setting himself to doing now, gritting his teeth and wrenching one arm firmly into place again.

Oh, God, that hadn't sounded good.



Karla
Karla flinched at the sound, falling to her knees next to him. Her own freely bleeding wounds were forgotten. "Can I help you?" she asked, a trifle timidly. "Is there anything I can do?"

You know, besides drag him into danger where he could get targeted simply for being her lover by the minions of the evil demon-king that lusted after her.



Warren
Warren did at least manage to shake his head, watching his arm while it went from 'hideously mangled' to 'kind of gross.'

That was an improvement.

"Just have to wait it out," he replied, his voice barely a whisper. "If no more demons hit until then, I'll be okay."

He had no idea just how strong his healing factor was, but if his wings had grown back when he was a kid, this would go away in due time, too.



Karla
There was a flash of Sapphire power around them as Karla put up a shield. "That will keep them out," she promised. "I won't let anything hurt you. Again."

That was a not-so-subtle apology in there.

She wanted to go to him, to hug him and hold him and make sure he was all right--which was a stupid impulse on its own considering he so clearly was not. But she didn't move, fear of hurting him further keeping her still. And with the way her head was suddenly spinning, she might just miss him and topple over instead. Karla gasped slightly, an indrawn hiss between clenched teeth. She felt hollow to her bones.

Poison. She'd expended her poison and now her body was clamoring for more with a craving so intense it bordered on pain. If she didn't get something appropriate soon, it would do a lot more than simply 'border' on pain.



Warren
Warren caught that gasp, yes. He was in pain, but he wasn't deaf, and he looked up at her almost sharply, his brow creased with worry.

"Are you okay?"

He would be fine. She wasn't the mutant with the healing factor, here.



Karla
"Just need some poison," Karla said, trying to give him a smile. It was a little closer to a grimace than a smile, but she'd tried? "I'm just hoping I remembered to tell Emma to grab me some before we left. That will be really embarrassing if I didn't."



Warren
"Poison?" Pardon him for managing to sound slightly incredulous, even in the face of what was going on, here. He was trying, at least, and the tone was more a result of having to choke out the words than any real state of disbelief. "Is Emma close?"

He sat up a little straighter, looking around, his expression etched with worry. He still wasn't going to be getting anywhere fast, at this rate, but he'd make the attempt regardless if it came to that.



Karla
"I'm not sure," Karla said, glancing around. It was hard to tell who was where amidst bodies and demons and fighting and death. "But don't worry about it right now. I'll be fine. I'm not the one who looks like he went through a meat-grinder."

An apt, if not entirely flattering, description.

She reached out to touch him, caressing his cheek with her hand. "Mother Night, I was so scared for you."



Warren
He kind of felt like he'd been through a meat-grinder, too. Hollow bones. Not quite as dense as anybody else's, unfortunately. He was trying to be strong in the face of the slaughter that was going on around them, trying to block out all of the worst of it, both outside and in, but the moment her hand touched his cheek, Warren cracked.

He leaned forward (lurched, more accurately), wrapping one of his arms and a wing around her and pulling her close. The rest was still in the process of healing, but right now, to hell with the rest, he needed a hug.

"You saved me," he murmured.



Karla
Karla was just going to melt into his arms for a moment. It wasn't her fault that everything just felt better when he was holding her, right? Her cuts didn't hurt as badly and even her craving for poison was eclipsed a bit.

"I couldn't let it hurt you," she murmured into his chest. "Not more than it already did. I couldn't bear to lose you, too."



Warren
"I guess I'm not that easy to get rid of," Warren replied, lifting his other arm to wrap around her as well, once mobility had finally returned to it. "Thank you."

He was pretty sure right about then that he was destroying whatever had been salvageable of her clothing, but really, in the face of all of this, there were worse things, right?



Karla
If he felt all that horrible about it, he could always just buy her new ones, right? This hug was worth getting a little--okay a lot--of blood on her clothing.

"Always," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. Well, started to, anyway. "What?"

Her left arm was soaked with blood. It had been sliced up pretty badly when the demon had been clawing at her and the wounds had bled freely. She'd given them a cursory glance, enough to know she'd need to clean them before healing them: three long gouges across her forearm.

It was hard to tell under all the blood, but...it looked like they were gone.



Warren
"What...?" Warren hadn't gotten a look at her bleeding arm, pre-hug. Truth be told, he was still kind of reeling from his own injuries, but at least they seemed to be on the fast-track to less crappy, now. That was something. "What, what?"

Say 'what' a few more times, Warren. That totally wouldn't get repetitive fast.



Karla
"I think I'm...Healing," Karla said, confused enough that she'd barely even noticed the multiple what's. "But I'm not doing it--I mean, I'm not Healing myself! I'm just...Healing!"

She was barely hurting anymore, not her arms or her legs or even the deep gash along her back. It had stung and fiercely when Warren had first wrapped his arms around her, but now? Nothing. Fine.

She pulled away from him to turn. "Look at my back," she said. The long rip through the fabric would be enough to show him where. "What do you see?"



Warren
Warren winced and hissed between his teeth at the sight of all of the blood, but it took him just a moment to look closer, and... blink.

"Blood," he finally replied. "But... just blood."

No wound.



Karla
Karla's arms immediately flew to try and touch her back. There was no pulling or tearing of her skin as she did. Everything felt fine. Like she'd never been hurt at all.

"But not all of me," she said, bending down to touch the cuts on the backs of her calves. They still stung and oozed blood. "You can see those, right?"

What in the Hell?



Warren
Warren's eyebrows furrowed, and he nodded, leaning back to get a better look.

There was a gory, Warren-shaped body print across a lot of Karla, where they'd hugged.

And nothing of the sort on her calves.

"No way..."



Karla
"No way what?" Karla asked, straining to try to look behind her. "What, what?"

Oh, dear. It was catching.



Warren
Warren chewed his lip, looking down at his arm, almost completely healed, but still coated in his blood. And then down at her legs.

And then he smeared his hand in that blood, before reaching down to gingerly brush his fingers over the wounds.

... If this didn't work, then he was seriously going to owe Karla an apology, for being both horribly unsanitary, and just plain weird.



Karla
"What in the name of Hell are you--oooh!" If she concentrated, she could feel the flesh knitting back together, the pain and sense of wrongness fleeing.

Looking down at Warren with something akin to wonder she asked, "Am I...Healed?"



Warren
Warren nodded. He couldn't quite pull his gaze from Karla's legs, now, while his brain wrapped itself around that fact, around the implications that brought.

It was exhilarating. And... kind of unsettling.

"Yeah," he replied, biting into his lip a little harder. "Yeah, you are."



Karla
"Did you--Did your--Did it really--?"

She called up a wisp of her own Healing Craft, sending it along her body to find anything wrong, hurt, even bruised.

Nothing. She was unmarked. She idly touched her side where the scar from the radscorpion stinger still puckered her skin and wondered if Warren's blood could Heal that, too. What were the limits? What could he do? What couldn't he?



Warren
Considering the way it looked as though Warren's mind was reeling at the moment, he probably wasn't the one to ask about that sort of thing, at least not just yet.

"We need to go."



Karla
Karla nodded, holding her tongue on anything more. "Are you well enough to keep going?" she asked. "We should make for the temple, I think. If you're ready to go, I mean."



Warren
"If I can stand," Warren replied, "then I'm ready to go."

And his leg looked less like it had been involved in some freak lawnmower accident, so he was going to consider that to be good enough.



Karla
"Stay close?" Karla asked. Half because she wanted to be nearby in case of demons and half because she felt better when he was holding her hand. "Hopefully we can make it the rest of the way without being spotted."

[Preplayed with blondecanary, brat_intraining, furious_maximus, furnaceface, glacial_witch, icecoldfrost, justwantsquiet, life_inshadow, longislandiceme, not_a_parakeet, sith_happened. NFI and NFB but OOC, as always, is welcome.]