A laugh echoed, the sound deep, disturbing coming from such a frail old woman. “Or what?” the voice asked. Without a warning she turned and ran, the broken bone at her ankle piercing through her delicate flesh. It didn’t slow her down, her movements almost blurred as she disappeared down one of the many dark alleys that connected in that part of the city.
Xander chased after her, moving in powerful strides as he followed at a similar speed. Blood spotted the pavement, easy enough to track.
“Fuck off!” the voice barked from the darkness.
Xander turned at the last minute, the ball of arcane burning across his chi only an inch from his face. The sting was sharp and short, and enough to piss him off.
“Easy Xee,” Axel said as he dodged past. “You know she isn’t worth the cost.”
His beast stirred, the pressure to shift and take the woman down increasing. But the woman wasn’t a Daemon, she was just a shell. “Hit high,” he said back, his voice deepening as his beast fought for control in his mind.
A burst of light, followed by a feminine scream. Xander followed the sound, jumping through the open window into a bright kitchen. He squinted his eyes as he followed the shocked family’s pointed fingers towards the hall. A frying pan appeared in his vision, his reflexes able to twist out the way as the woman screamed obscenities at his back.
The front door had been smashed open, Sythe running past from a different direction.
“Frying pan?” he asked when once Xander had closed the distance.
Xander grunted. “It’s always the fucking frying pan.”
“Nah,” Sythe laughed, following the blood splats towards the front entrance. “Last month I got a rolling pin to the head. Hurt like a bitch.”
“Everyone is so grateful,” Xander muttered as they found the trail on the opposite building, blood smeared up the side of the brick, the wetness glistening against the moonlight.
“What is she, a fucking spider?” Sythe sighed, scanning the quiet residential street. “What the fuck did she even grip?”
Xander touched the blood, the temperature surprisingly hot against his fingertips. “I didn’t sign up for this shit.”
Sythe rocked back on his heels, the tattoos that decorated both his arms glowing. “Wait, you signed up for this? Because I sure as hell didn’t.”
They circled around the building, trying to find an entrance. The front had been boarded up, the name of the developer obscured by graffiti.
“Hey, this guy has some serious talent,” Sythe said as he tested the boards at the door, gesturing to the graffiti. “Look at the veins along the shaft and the detail in the tip. Honestly, the artist is wasting their talent.”
The boards would easily budge, but not without making a lot of noise, which was something they couldn’t risk in a sleeping residential area. All they needed was a civilian to get caught up in the chase, and then they wouldn’t have any choice but to take out the innocent old woman who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Shut it and find a way up,” Xander snapped quietly. “Axel is probably already up there while we’re discussing the details of a bright green dick.”
“You should appreciate theart,” Sythe muttered as he knelt onto one knee, his hands cupped in front of him. “You wanted a way up, your highness.”
Xander followed Sythe’s gaze, realising there was scaffolding a few floors up that lead to the roof. The metal frame looked sturdy, strong enough to support him.
“Ready?” Without waiting for an answer he ran, trusting his brother to brace himself. He hit perfectly in the centre of Sythe’s hands, the upward momentum launching him high enough that he could swing onto the platform.
“Don’t worry about me,” Sythe mumbled. “I’ll just wait down here like a good boy.”
Xander ignored the comment, climbing the scaffolding quickly. The building wasn’t tall, at only five or so floors, but the wind was ravenous as it battered against him at every turn. Cursing, he pushed his hair away from his eyes, his ability to see in the dark better than any of the other Guardians. Hands hooking onto the flat roof he pulled himself up, finding Axel only meters from the old woman. Her smile spread from cheek to cheek, so wide that it looked like the skin was ready to split.
“How nice of you to join us,” she said in a strangely masculine voice. Her foot was gone, a bloody stump remaining while the tips of her fingers were red raw. Her head was tilted, compensating for the length of the missing limb.
“What do you think Xee?” Axel asked without taking his eyes away from the old woman. “They want us to choose the darkness.”
“Now why would we do that?” Xander said as he joined Sythe, arcane burning his palms. “I don’t think growing bat wings and being forcibly summoned sounds like a good time to me.”
“Immorality and power beyond your imagination,” the woman snapped, eyes brightening until they were as red as her fingers. “You could join us in the uprising, a new era.”
The arcane burned up to Xander’s elbows, bursts of green and blue that were untouched by the wind. “What uprising?”
The woman’s smile widened impossibly further, her once white teeth covered in a black tar. “We have been imprisoned long enough down in the dark. Now we’re up here in the light it’s our time to rule. Join us, or burn to ash along with everyone who resists.”
