[Sarah]

“Alright sweetie, you’re going to tell me where these seraphim are or I’ll hurt your friends,” an average looking, if tall woman asked. Her brown and white hair pulled was pulled out the the way by a hair tie. Violet eyes pierced Lila's and turned her legs into limp noodles. wings protruded from the woman's back. They weren't fully extended and the white of the feathers practically glowed through the fog. Most of them were tipped with black though the outer most feathers were completely black.

Lila rubbed her face and blinked back tears. She was furious with herself for being caught off guard. “You think I care what happens to them?” she asked barely casting a glance their way. The woman took a moment to think and it was enough time for Lila to get her bearings back. As far as she could tell there was only this one supernatural being in front of her and the two they had been hunting father away. Lila contemplated screaming for help but thought better of it when the woman’s fingernails grew into sharp claws.

“I don’t think you care enough about them to keep them living, but they’d do quite a bit to keep you alive. Though I think if I started mutilating you, you might be more eager to cooperate,” she said trailing her claws down Lila’s neck to rest over her heart.

[Sarah]

Lila almost laughed in her face. “I barely know the cyborg and the demon was just a summon. There is no way they would keep me alive,” she said her eyes locked on the woman’s claws.


The woman looked amused and her lips twitched as if she wished she could laugh. “Oh may be able to see the supernatural but you are blind to yourself. You don’t even know what you are or what your powers entail. It’s charming really,” she said, her voice was sickly sweet. “Anyways,” she said with a loud sigh. “I have work to do. If you don’t take me to the seraphim I’ll cut you,” the woman said turning Lila around and sticking her claws in the small of Lila’s back.

[Sarah]

Lila glared ahead and began walking to the two humanoid shaped auras ahead of them. “They are just up ahead. What will you do to them?” Lila asked through gritted teeth. Luckily her words were enough to awaken her magic and it flowed through her happily.

“Oh I plan on killing them,” the woman replied as if it was no big deal. “By the way, not that I think you need to know my name, you can call me Che,” she said a hint of amusement flashed through voice. She really couldn’t help herself she loved to play with her prey.

“Mm, well Che I wish I could say it has been nice meeting you,” Lila shot back disappointed that she wouldn't have any new information to being back to her lab. With that she had enough to summon her familiar. He was far out of their reach and set off instantly to wake her companions and then lead them to her.

[Sarah]

“Come on now, what shall I call you?” Che asked fiddling with the daggers she had pressed against Lila’s back. Che of course knew the girl’s name she just wanted to see how her guide would react. Lila snorted as if she found the whole ordeal amusing. It set Che’s teeth on edge.

“You can call me whatever you like,” Lila said trying to keep only a tinge of defeat in her voice. She certainly didn’t feel defeated but she wasn’t about to let her captor know that. Especially since her captor was moving her dagger-fingers up and down Lila’s back. It was distracting and she almost turned to yell at Che but figured that would probably be a mistake. Plus it wasn’t like Lila could stop, her captor wouldn’t expect it and then sink her claws right into Lila’s spine. Lila shuddered at the thought. How would she finish her research if she was dead?

[Sarah]

“You will be happy to find that we are here,” Lila said slowing to a stop. She watched as Che glanced around and then turned back to glare at Lila.

“We are not,” Che snarled quietly. There was nothing around them but forest. There was no way the seraphim would be here of all places. It was more likely that they were in town miles away. The girl had failed her and now she would die, but when she turned to glare at Lila she was met with a smirk. “What?” Che growled.

“Well we are not here, here, but we are close. The cabin is just up ahead.” Lila said pointing in the general direction of the cabin. “However, I am not going near that kill fest, so you will have to move on without me,” she said glaring right back at her captor.

[Sarah]

Che scoffed and pursed her lips. She had nothing to lose by following this girl’s instruction. If the girl was lying all Che would have lost was a little time wandering the forest. If the girl was right then she’d have bagged two heavenly beings. Either way she wouldn’t lose anything and that bothered her immensely because it meant leaving the girl in the forest and going on alone. Lila was no threat to her and her familiar was only out to get the girl’s companions back. “Very well, thank you for your time,” Che said after a long time. Without a moment to lose Che was off heading towards the direction Lila had pointed.

[Sarah]

“My pleasure,” Lila sneered into the empty air. At least that had opened her communication channel with her familiar. Lila saw him trying to wake the fallen men but with little avail. With a heavy sigh Lila sat cross legged on the forest floor to wait. Her hands followed where Che had placed her dagger-fingers. There was no broken skin that goodness but tingles shot though her skin when she went over her back and chest. Lila couldn’t place why that would happen. It didn’t feel magical even as she mumbled to herself to draw more power. Lila couldn’t help but narrow her eyes at the puzzle but stopped when she remembered the wrinkles she would get from prolonged scrunching. In the end she put it off as adrenaline from the realization that she could have been flayed easily by Che.

With nothing else to do but wait for Che to begin her attack and for her familiar to deliver her companions Lila turned to focus on the powers she knew she had. Che had told her that she didn’t know her own powers, or what she really was. It scared Lila to think that she may not be human after all. Everyone in her life always told her it was just a sixth sense that she had and others could have her powers if they would open their minds. Lila had always assumed that meant she just had the ability to see supernatural creatures. Now she turned her powers inward hoping they’d catch a scent of her own superntarual-ness.

[Sarah]

Lila found nothing other than the scent of the other supernatural in the forest. She counted them all and identified those she could. Che was almost on the cabin now and both the angel and the ‘seraphim’ were inside. Kry was shining with magic and on his way over with her familiar and the cyborg Niner. Everything there was as she expected except she kept getting little glimpses of something. It flickered here and there as a deep red glow, but anytime she tried to pin it down it blinked out. The red glow was just on the peripheral of her vision and it was infuriating. It wasn’t near her or any of the others but she got the feeling that it would make a dangerous move soon.

[Sarah]

“Finally! What the hell happened?” Niner growled once they found Lila. The creature that had called itself Lila’s familiar scampered off but Niner hardly noticed. He was furious that Lila would just leave them behind. His master had told him not to lose sight of her. If Niner came back with missing information he’d be in big trouble.

“A chaos bonded seraph knocked you two out and then threatened to kill me unless I showed her where the cabin was,” Lila explained though she didn’t move to greet them. She could feel their anger but she ignored it. There was nothing they could do about it now. Niner huffed but didn’t say anything more and Lila guessed he didn’t believe her.

[Sarah]

“Let me see you then,” Kry said stepping close to her with his eyes narrowed. If there was a seraph and if it did in fact threaten Lila there would be something left behind as proof.

Lila raised an eyebrow but allowed Kry to examine her body. His fingers instantly found where the seraph had traced her claws over Lila’s back. The same shiver jolted though Lila making her jump away from Kry’s fingers. It was an interesting sight to see considering she had done it from a sitting position but her body apparently didn’t want anything touching back.

“Woah,” Kry said not able to hide his surprise in time. He had no idea what had happened to Lila but nothing had been out of the ordinary until she had jumped away from him.

[Sarah]

“Sorry,” Lila said hating that she was embarrassed by her reaction. “It was not something I wanted to do,” she tried to assure him but it looked like he didn’t need assurance.

“Well that was weird but I can’t say I know what happened. Your back felt fine and there isn’t a trace of another’s magic inside of you,” Kry said quietly while he tried to remember all he could about seraph and chaos. “I’ve never met a chaos bonded either so I don’t know how that relationship works when magic is involved,” he added a bit sadly. He would never admit it; but he wasn’t the most powerful demon so he was rarely called upon. Except by those who were just beginning and even then they made mistakes so he never bothered to stick around and just killed them. Lila was the first to really control him for a long period of time.

[Sarah]

“So what’s it mean?” Niner asked sitting down against a tree. He could in theory keep moving forever thanks to the technology inside of him but when they weren’t moving, and it seemed not in trouble, he had no reason to stand. Plus sitting still felt just as relieving to him as it would a human who had stood and walked around for hours.

“As far as I can tell she had no reason to lie to us,” Kry said leaving his thoughts behind. “Plus if she hadn’t wanted us to be with her she would have killed us or knocked us out and not return. Instead she waited for us and even sent someone to guide us back to her,” Kry added hating that his companions seemed to feel that they were out of danger. “Anyway, we should go to the cabin. Since that was what we were sent here for,” Kry said prodding at Lila careful not to touch her back.

[Sarah]

“No thanks, I do not want to be part of that meeting,” Lila said knowing she’d go to the cabin anyway. She got up slowly and moved away from Kry’s whines.

“I wish I could say the same but we have to go to the cabin,” Niner insisted standing as well. His piercing blue eyes focused onto Lila’s until she turned around and began walking. A strong sense of dread hung in the air around them. It was thicker than the fog and clouded the cyborg’s mind. Once they started going he made sure to lead the way. It’d be easiest for him to fight any hostile creatures and he didn’t take injuries the same way humans did.

[Sarah]

Lila had of course given in to their wishes. She was far too curious about what would happen to stay behind. Plus she had never encountered seraphim before. She wanted to make sure she learned as much as possible before going back to the lab. Her bestiary was severely lacking in species diversity. The few supernatural creatures she knew about were well catalogued, some even had whole journals dedicated to them. Unfortunately in Lila’s relatively short life she had been able to meet and interview many of the creatures she could sense around her.

“When we get there we must not make our presence known. It’ll be easier said than done though; all of those creatures are on high alert. They can sense me and probably Lila too since we have magic in us. I think even if Lila stayed quiet they’d be able to pick up on her.” Kry said after a long time. “That’s where you’ll come in Niner. You don’t have any magic abilities at all and as long as you stay away from the action you shouldn’t be discovered, or if you are they shouldn’t pay any attention to you,” Kry said grateful he didn’t have to raise his voice in order for Niner to hear him.

[Sarah]

Niner nodded unhappily. Of course he’d have to get closest to the dangerous celestial beings. Silently he cursed them all. They had many different strategies to offer up as they planned his way into a place where he could observe everything safely. They didn’t seem to care about Niner’s presence at all either and blatantly stated in crushing detail every drawback he had. They whispered only because they didn’t want to be found by the people at the cabin. Niner could hear every plan loud and clear, most of them resulted in him dying or being injured. He wished they had a tactician with them. Even the most unskilled person would have done better than Lily and Kry.

“There is just so much we don’t know. That paired with Niner’s inability to get up close to them makes this whole thing a disaster,” Lila whined rubbing circled on her temples. She never had to thing like this and it was beginning to give her a headache.

“How did you know that thing was a seraph? You didn’t claim to know what they were when my master asked you about these creatures,” Niner asked accusingly. Trying to remind him he was right next to them.