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Rhett allowed himself to be shoved around by Clarity, his eyes avoiding the icy fury that was held within the ifrit's pupils. He kept silent as she unloaded what was probably both her's and Brianne's anger. When Clarity was finished venting he slid away from the wall, and patted her shoulder. "I know what I've done. I'm not going to act like it wasn't my fault. Don't think that the severity is lost on me..." He sighed and glanced Clarity's way once, unsure of what kind of things he could say. "Thirty-seven hours. Give or take..." With everything Ash had trained him in, Rhett had a fair bit of medical knowledge himself. He was not sure if knowing more made him more uneasy or not.

"Thanks for sticking by her side." He whispered with little strength in voice as he walked over towards Brianne, unprepared for any kind of speech he could give her or how she would treat him. He stopped and knelt just inches away from the girl as he struggled to search for the words he would use to comfort her. Rhett knew his sense of humor would do nothing for him at the moment. "I never had a say in the matter when I was turned. My creator made sure to abandon me just as quickly as I abandoned my family. I am not going to let the same happen to you. If you'll have me, I'll be right here with you til the end." Though, "the end" might end up coming sooner than either of them would want.

"I never intended this to happen, angel. I'm not going to make an excuse but I..." He stopped short of asking for her forgiveness. It was far too soon. It was too selfish a thing for him to ask. "I am sorry." He spoke quietly, lowering his head.

"Vacation is a word Rhett uses quite often. I don't believe I've ever given him one." Perhaps working with Rhett, even for such a short time, had allowed for some of the wolf's personality to rub off on him. Ash shook his head at the thought and continued on his work. He traced his finger along the wall, not needing to take a second look at the spell he had drawn on the paper. It was his spell. There was no need for him to look at it as he had long since memorized every minute detail of it. Though it appeared that the basin did not have enough "ink" to last them through the entire drawing, the oil which they used never dropped below half its initial volume.


"I wonder what she is like. If she has been revered so, then I doubt she could have been anything but benevolent during her rule." His black eyes fell upon Morrigan, a feeling of content washing over him, knowing that as long as she was by his side there was the chance all of this could turn out for the better. He took a deep breath when his eyes returned to the almost-blank canvas before him. "Somalia seems like a strange place for her to reside in. I wonder if she would be willing to answer the questions I have for her. Especially considering the fact that we need her to stop her own daughter." From one so old there was an endless amount of questions that could be answered had they the time. Perhaps, when all was said and done, there would be another chance in the future to speak to her provided she would be willing.


Ash looked at his black fingertips and over at Morrigan. A completely childish thought came to mind no doubt due to the influence of Rhett's positive and strange attitude. "It would be a welcome change of scenery to return to Scotland. And after that..." He glanced Morrigan's way. "Ireland. Retiring may not be in my nature but I suppose you could convince me otherwise." Reaching towards the basin once more to coat his fingertip, he accidentally touched her cheek, marking it in ink. Ash did not say a word as he went on to continue writing out the multitude of complex runes that comprised his spell but he showed the faintest smile.

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"Gonna have to decline that offer, sorry. I could make you my beta though." He joked, though he had a feeling Felicia might not appreciate his humor. The infinitesimal amount that his mood had risen suddenly dropped to a new low as Alarick stepped out into view, his eyes filled with hate as the Shadowhunter glared at Rhett. He knew exactly what that was about and it only made him all the more anxious to get this conversation done and over with to rush to Brianne's side. "Look, the Clave is hunting Downworlders and others allied with them--I'm sure you know that now--but there's going to be hell when Seelie Knights get involved. The Queen is angry and it won't be long before no one is safe. Sticking around the Institute is only going to make the nephilim around here unwilling to work with you leaving you and us with less allies than we'd all like." He spoke quickly, slowly inching towards the very door he had seen Alarick walk out of.

"Athelrick and Clarity will be taken care of but there's only so much anyone can do against the bloodbath that's coming. The Institute just might end up being the worst place to stay." Rhett headed toward the door. "If you'll excuse me..." He stopped for a moment before turning towards Felicia realizing that he had never even introduced himself to the werewolf. "I'm Rhett, by the way. I need to...uh...do something but if you're still around when I get back then I'll take it as a sign that maybe you're not that salty. Try to think of a better place to hang out than here. I'm sure there's an abandoned building or two that could house a few dozen werewolves without being the target on everyone's radar." Taking another step towards the door, he decided to leave his pack to watch Felicia's though he knew there would be little need to as it seemed that she did not want to pick a fight...at least not at this moment. He was sure that if she had anything else to say the other people around could keep her company. His mind was too busy focusing on Brianne to make a good conversationalist.

Without another word, he left, heading towards the back of the Institute where he found both Brianne and Clarity. Just seeing Brianne so distraught left a pit in his stomach. He stood at the entryway with a complete loss for words as he stared at the girl. What was there to say? He cleared his throat, hoping for words to come but nothing escaped his lips but an empty sigh. With the way Alarick had looked at him and what he overheard the Shadowhunter say, because of his powerful sense of hearing, he wondered if he deserved to have Brianne forgive him. Assuming that she ever would. "Hey..."

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Rhett turned his attention away from Felicia and towards Brianne as she stormed inside the Institute angrily. He would have followed after her had he not been forced to stick by his pack as "muscle". His thoughts were interrupted with the low growl coming from one of the werewolves standing uncomfortably close behind him, causing Rhett to step forward to get some more personal space. With his mind situated back on the present, he took a short moment to process the words Felicia had said just to make sure he could recall them correctly. It would have been embarrassing to ask the girl to repeat herself just because he had been distracted.

While he could have asked her what her deal was considering she had no right to be giving attitude after making the first mistake, he figured that would have only made her grow more upset. Perhaps she was just having a really bad day. Maybe it was that time of the month. No, not the werewolf kind. The female kind. Or maybe she was just hungry. Unfortunately, he didn't bring any food with him.

"I don't understand what part of your plan requires you being here though." Rhett scratched the back of his head. "Look, if you want someone to look after Clarity, she's got plenty of people here willing to do that. Myself included." Just speaking the ifrit's name reminded him about the level of sass she had. Thankfully, at least half of his interactions with her were just directing her to Ash. He wondered how and why he would ever deal with a girl like her considering he never took payment from her and never once asked a favor of her.

"Hey, if you're so worried, why don't we work together? Two packs are stronger than one and this guy you're talking about isn't going to be the only problem. Bigger fish to fry, as they say."

I wasn't good at statistics until after I started to tutor it. Then I got really good.

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Roric looked at the others in Anthea's party. Sticking around seemed like a better idea than wandering alone and risking being captured a second time. At least with this group, he could continue exploring with the added benefit of saving people. Herowork sounded like a much needed benefit to him. "I suppose I'll join then. It's not as if I'm taking away from my grand adventure of wandering about." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, hoping that the group did not have some strange and dark initiation ritual. Though judging by the look of Anthea, she did not seem the type to stick around if it had involved some horrific blood rite.

"I was never too fond of thugs like that. Too focused on gold and, more often than not, they had little brain to spare for other thoughts." His eyes shifted over towards the corpses of the thugs they had battled. With the knowledge that there was "bad blood" between them and another in the group Roric was sure that this would not be the last he would see of them. At least the next time they encountered the bandits, he would be better prepared to fight. He tugged at the bow slung over his shoulder to keep it from slipping off. With a deep breath he turned his attention back to the mage, Anthea, wondering what could have made her join this group if she was so uncomfortable with the sight of blood. Roric was curious about the others in the group as well but, seeing as how he had already struck up a conversation with this lass, he figured that he might as well press for a bit more information if he was going to be sticking around.

"What's your story? I don't mean to judge, but you seem just a little...uh..." He scratched the back of his head, thinking over how to best put it lightly without offending her, "A little queasy. First time away from home?"

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And just as the tides of battle turned, they did so again leaving the group who aided him victorious. "And to think, just moments ago I was a prisoner to these brutes." He slung his bow over his shoulder and looked around at his new-found allies. Well, he was not sure if he could call them allies yet but they did step in to help him out of this mess. What seemed to be the leader of the group spoke to him, asking him to help out with healing the others who had been wounded. Though, aside from minor wounds, the worst of it was not all that bad. The two who had been knocked out were already up and looking to make a quick recovery.

"The name's Roric. It looks like I owe you and your people a debt of gratitude." He called out towards Aston. Though he had studied medicine happen to have any curatives on him at that moment. Still, sometimes a friendly word could do just as much good as a bandage...depending on the injury. The girl who had been one of the first to run up into battle would be his first stop. Here these people were going into a fight alongside him and he did not even know any of their names.

He walked over towards the mage and extended his hand towards her hoping she would take it to help herself up. She seemed distraught. Unfortunately, he had little in the way of words that would sound comforting other than what would have been expected in the situation. "Glad to see you're still breathing. I don't honestly know if I could escaped on my own if it wasn't for you and your comrades. Thank you. I'm Roric by the way, if you didn't catch what I said to that other man over there." Roric glanced over towards the battlefield. Blood wasn't an uncommon sight for him but it was the first time he had ever participated in such a skirmish. He had no idea whether to call it exhilarating or something much less positive to which he could not find the word. "What's the story behind you guys anyways? Are you all a traveling pack of adventurers roaming about saving people?"

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"Good, good." Irrin nodded, somewhat distracted by the tactical console he was going through. If the numbers worked out, this should would fare better than the last flagship that had been lost. "You'll be sure to gain much experience on the Ouranos. It will be good for you." He stepped away from the panel just moments after the Commander walked onto the bridge. As expected, she introduced herself as Commander Lightwood. She was shorter in person than he anticipated though she still held the same powerful air he would have expected for the First Officer, the second-in-command, of the ship.

"Inspector Quint. Coalition Intelligence assigned me here to ensure the smooth operation of this vessel and its crew members. In a way, that puts us as having nearly the same job." He looked around at the other bridge staff who maintaining the less vital functions of the Ouranos on their own consoles. "I believe this to be a good crew. Take care of it and look after the ship and they'll take care of you." As he finished speaking, the lift opened and the Captain stepped out.

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With the last of the crew on board the Ouranos, Captain Altius had entered the ship and ordered the docking platform to be withdrawn. It was time to depart and there had been enough time to have passed for everyone to get settled in. She was greeted by several salutes on her way to the lift. "Deck five." She ordered, the computer making its compliance with her and taking her down four levels to reach the bridge. As she stepped in the first group of people she spotted were Inspector Quint, Ensign Greer who she was glad to see at her post, and Commander Lightwood.

"Good to see you all aboard." Almira headed towards her chair placed at the center of the bridge and took her seat, taking a moment to relax from the hours she had just spent standing at the ship entrance and greeting all seven hundred crew members. It was not customary to do so, but if she was going to be serving alongside them, she wanted to make sure she at least met every man, woman, and other aboard her starship. "It's about time we see what the Ouranos can do. When you're ready, Miss Greer, take us out of port." Almira motioned for both Quint and Brianne to come over by her side to explain their current orders.

"The Coalition has tasked us with exploring an anomaly at the far edge of Coalition space. An exploration probe picked up life signs on a planet thought to be uninhabitable. According to the probe's data, the planet had once supported life advanced enough to have been part of the Coalition. Unfortunately, it seems that they were all wiped out some time ago." Even as she spoke, Captain Altius knew that this was hardly a mission worthy of the interest of the flagship of the Corps. Any research team could have been sent to explore the planet but for reasons hidden to her by her superiors, they were picked to look into it.

"Head to the Gravity Rail in this system and plot a course for Star System 498 B, Ensign. I would prefer not to take the scenic route." Like many uninteresting solar systems in their galaxy, this one did not have a designated name other than its reference number. After all, who would waste time naming every star system when thousands were nothing more than lone brown dwarfs with half a dozen asteroids orbiting about them? Or the occasional binary star system isolated from interaction with planetary bodies? There simply weren't enough names to go around.

Pressing a button on her chair to activate the Ouranos's intercom, she leaned to the side of her chair finding it more comfortable than the seat in her last command.

"This is Captian Altius." Her voice spoke clearly throughout the entire ship. "We will be setting off. Those scheduled for duty will report to their posts immediately." She shut off the communication channel and shifted in her seat as she ran through the orders from "higher up" in her mind. Something didn't add up and she did not like surprises.

That's...better than I thought it'd be. Damn.

If we're talking about Master Xehanort then...

Spoiler

RIP Nimoy.

Ash eyed the other warlock for a moment, raising his eyebrow at the immaturity displayed. Responding simply to agitate or validate Masque's behavior was beneath him so, instead, Ash chose to ignore him. His interest was on Morrigan's reaction towards his long-winded story. The spell had ended before she had much chance to give him a better read on how she felt over it but, from the look in her eyes, that was enough for him.


"Brianne and Rhett? I don't see much of a point going after them. The Lightwoods are capable of taking care of themselves and Rhett is hardly a pushover." The truth was, he wanted to check on them but time was too short. He had to get used to the idea that he couldn't be everywhere at once. Sometimes there was no way around allowing others to put themselves in danger. How could Rhett grow if he did not allow the werewolf to act on his own? The same principle held with Clary...although the ifrit was proving to be more than difficult.


"They will be fine. Have faith in the young, Morrigan." He pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it to reveal an intricate design that looked vaguely like a rectangular door albeit with hundreds of runes drawn across it. There was more than one way to make a portal and Ash had researched just about every kind during his time in the Spiral but, being who he was, decided to create his own spell which none but him could replicate. It was always better to be safe than sorry. The last thing he'd want done with his own spells was for them to be used in any way he did not intend.


He offered the paper to Morrigan and took out his satchel once more, pulling out a bowl made of brass. "Can you help me draw this?" He pointed over towards one of the walls that looked to have enough space. "The intricacies of this spell would take me an unreasonable amount of time to duplicate it on my own." He back to pour a black powder into the brass bowl before dipping his finger into it, causing the power to suddenly transform into a substance closer to oil, before tracing the outline of the door to give Morrigan an idea of the dimensions it was to be. "It would have been easier for the two of us to go alone. I'm sure you are decades, or centuries, overdue for a vacation." He muttered lowly, half serious.

​

Rhett stepped beside Brianne, having finally caught up, and held his hand out to tell the other werewolves to stand back. He did not want any bloodshed and he was sure they were sure to start a fight at the slightest sign of trouble. Hopefully, that fact alone would keep the other wolves in check. Rhett eyed the Brianne's arms, glancing at where she had hidden her wounded hand, and breathed in and out slowly. The smell of blood was clear to his nose but it was something more than just that which kept his attention. He wanted to speak to her desperately but whatever he wished to say was best left between the two of them. His stomach sank as he mulled over it but there would be time to settle that particular issue later.

He looked at the pack before him, shifting his eyes towards the damaged Institute for an instant, before he spotted the alpha. The female was already in wolf form. He couldn't help but smile with relief. This was no Keller. "Is there really a need for words, ange-er-Brianne? I'm sure they're just leaving." Rhett turned his attention towards the pack occupying the Institute. He spotted an ifrit. "Oh right. That's Clarity. Yeah, I recognize her. You see? There was nothing to worry about. No one's dead and you're getting the Institute back."

He spoke towards the pack. "You guys aren't going to be stupid and risk dying over territory that was never yours, right? There's bigger fish to fry." That was the second time he used a fish analogy today. He was hungry for fish. The sooner they were done here, the sooner they could have a food break.

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Rhett stepped down from his elevated position. A dozen or so of the wolves were totally oblivious to his speech due to their intoxication or the fact that they were too high to know what was going on. Still, despite everything, perhaps it was his own conviction that changed their minds and made them follow after him. He could almost smell the agression in the air from some of the wolves who he knew would wish to use Rhett as a stepping stone to jump-start their own career into being the alpha of this "pack". Rhett was certain the wolves would separate as soon as their job was done however. His words might have convinced them for now but for how long would they put themselves in harm's way for words alone?

For now, he could only hope they would trust the nephilim long enough to keep from anyone dying. Through the crowd, Rhett spotted Brianne. He smiled. Trust was something that was always in too short a supply. He led the group of werewolves forward, glancing over his shoulder to see how many were following. While it wasn't the entire club, which consisted of at least over sixty wolves, the majority did follow him. And Rhett followed Brianne, all the way to the Institute, bringing a whole lot of backup. Well over thirty, he guessed. Strangely, Rhett felt saddened by the thought that the quasi-pack following his lead would dissolve as quickly as it gathered, even with the threats facing their kind he had spoke so strongly about.

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Once more, Rhett clutched his wound until the bleeding stopped, his eyes wide with shock as he saw how close he had came to missing his mark and hitting Brianne. His unsteady hand, a side effect of his blood loss, had caused him to make a poor throw. He rushed over towards Brianne's side, his eyes now fixed on the cuts left on her fingers from the knife he had thrown in her direction. "I'm so sorry, angel. It was a stupid move." His eyes fell to the knife in her hand. He could smell his own blood on the blade. His sight flicked between Brianne and the blade several times.

Rhett said nothing. Maybe it was all just nothing. He had to hope so. Brianne's voice redirected his attention towards the larger matters at hand. Rhett ripped Ash's hatchet out of the shoulder of the werewolf he had thrown it at, finding that the wolf was still alive as the man yelled in agony as he did so. "Next time play nice." The music was still blaring in his ears and was beginning to give him a headache. Once more Rhett looked Brianne in the eye, concern clearly struck across his face but she was right. They had no time to wait around.

He made his way towards the DJ, the waves coming from the speakers making him feel as if his entire body was going to vibrate until it exploded, and went up beside the strangely-dressed werewolf. Despite the DJ's protests, Rhett threw the wolf overboard off the raised area where his equipment sat and, with the click of a button, shut off the music. Finally. Peace and quiet. Well, it would have been if not for the quickly angering werewolves casting hateful glares his way. Rhett took up the DJ's microphone and tapped it to make sure it was on. It was. "Are you all done having fun watching your brothers and sisters die?" He spoke over growing boo's and curses thrown his way. "No? Seriously?"

"Keller's gonna rip your throat out when he comes back!" One particularly angry werewolf shouted.

"And how many of our kind is he going to kill if he shows up? Alphas like him give our kind a bad name. How many of your friends will die when he decides to subjugate a new pack? Hell, he's not even the biggest fish around town. Things are about to get a whole lot messier." Once more, the crowd was riled up and only grew angrier as he spoke. "My friends and I are here to fix things. Right now some bad shit is going on at the Institute and the nephilim need our help." The jeers only worsened. "We need to help them. If we don't, we'll be standing in the middle of a bloodbath between the Clave and the Seelie Court with no one else to turn to. All of this fucking political garbage has to stop. Your damn packs don't mean a thing if we're all dead tomorrow. War is coming and we need to be standing together instead of bickering with each other over which alpha has the biggest dick. Once it's all over, then we can settle our differences once we make it out of this alive. I fought Keller. I nearly killed the damn bastard and he nearly killed me too but I can tell all of you that he is nothing compared to what's to come. So join us and help me make things better for our kind. Don't let hate drag us further into the gutters."

The werewolves shifted uncomfortably with the weight of his words. Rhett said them with total confidence in his voice but even with the gravity of it all, he was still unsure of how it would sit with them. He hoped they would listen to reason...or the need for self-preservation.

Well then.

Spoiler

And then Alarick became totally fabulous. #TeamSausage

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The werewolf Rhett kept pinned on the ground continued to struggle despite his warning. With a frustrated sigh, he drew his fist back and slammed it into the man's face and yet his hands continued to claw at Rhett's arm in an attempt to break free. "Get unconscious, you damn idiot." He growled, lifting the werewolf's head by his throat and crashing him back down against the hard floor. Though the thought crossed his mind to kill him, the last thing Rhett wanted to do was to become another Keller. The world had enough killers. He took the silver knife from the werewolf's side, glad the man had not made the reach for it, and looked around to watch how the others were doing.

Despite the adrenaline running through his system pain from the old wounds sustained in his last battle flared up. His own blood stained his shirt when one of the larger gashes reopened during the brawl. "Oh come on. Useless body." Rhett clutched his side in order to slow the bleeding. "Great. Isn't this magical?" Looking from Creed, who seemed to be handling himself, to Brianne, who was in a spot of trouble with trying to not get her face eaten by a changed wolf, Rhett eyed the knife in his hand. If it worked once...

With a twirl and a flick, the silver dagger flew threw the air and into the back of the wolf trying to munch down on Brianne.

Emulator.

"I don't see a reason why you're wasting time on that." His voice was raised just enough so that Masque could still hear if he chose to listen in. "He'll continue to butcher others for his so called art sooner or later. Even if he changes his way nothing will excuse his actions. Not even if you choose to forgive him." Given Morrigan's current lack of anger towards Masque, Ash was clearly able to see what was going on. With that in mind he knew he had to remind her what the other warlock was. Nothing more than a serial killer. But this was not what he wished to discuss. There were far more important matters at hand that needed to be cleared up and Morrigan was one of three he had any faith in.


"I'm glad to see that you're acclimating well despite..." He turned his head to the bloodbath that lay at the entrance of the safe house. "Hm." He folded his arms, mulling over how he would relay everything he had to say to Morrigan. All of which, of course, were far too sensitive to be heard by unworthy ears. Not trusting Masque to not eavesdrop, Ash retrieved a small satchel from his coat and reached inside to withdraw a small vial containing a dark gray powder. He began to drop the dust around the two in a circle just a few feet in width and the moment the circle was closed, emptying the vial, the powder began to glow red as if comprised of millions of burning embers.


"I never gave this one a name. I suppose one could call it a privacy spell but that hardly has a good ring to the ears. We have a few minutes until this burns out to speak freely without worry of peering eyes or listening ears." Ash eyed the ring of dust-embers around them. "I wanted to tell you this during our first...tryst but it was hardly the time for such a tale. Before we travel, I want you to know everything. All of it. So I'll start from the beginning."

​

The one who had called him out leaped at Rhett, vaulting over the table that separated the two which gave him just enough time to draw the hatchet Ash had lent him. "Back down and I promise I won't knock you out in front of your posse." The werewolf lunged at him without so much as a response. Rhett knelt down and ducked just under the first swipe of the silver blade, catching the werewolf and using the man's momentum against him by throwing him backwards over Rhett's shoulder. The wolf landed on the bar behind him and rolled off, shattered glass and spilled alcohol tumbling to the floor. During the werewolf's attempt to raise himself to his feet Rhett smashed the handle of the hatchet into the back of his head, knocking him out cold. "Warned you."

Looking over at how the others were doing, he could see Brianne subduing one wolf, Creed pulling off a second from attacking her before sending it crashing into another before being attacked by the fourth. Being too far from Creed to reach him in time, Rhett launched his weapon towards the wolf, striking the one making a move to kill Creed in the shoulder with the silver-edged hatchet. Even before the blade made its mark Rhett could hear the snarl of a changed werewolf behind him.

Rhett avoided the changed wolf as it jumped at him and landed on the bar table before leaping at him a second time. In one swift motion Rhett grabbed the neck of the werewolf and slammed the large wolf into the ground. The wolf changed back into human form and snarled up at Rhett. "Struggle and I'll snap your neck." Rhett growled with uncharacteristic anger. Fighting another werewolf always did this. It wasn't something he was proud of.

This reminds me...

Spoiler

1996

Blood dripped off of the gashes covering Ash's body and pooled onto the concrete floor beneath him. He struggled to stand, ignoring the fact that his broken bones fought against his every movement but ignored the pain. He had felt worse. His black eyes fixed on the Greater Demon, his father, who stood before him completely unharmed.

"So how did it go in your head? You would come straight from the Spiral and suddenly have the strength to overpower me? I thought you were the smart one, Ashy-boy." The demon gripped his collar and lifted the warlock to his feet. "If I enjoyed being at another's beck and call then I would have chosen to remain in Heaven with all the other feathered snobs." The demon grinned. "Once I'm done turning you into paste, I suppose it would be time for me to have another son. Perhaps I'll teach that one how to change a tire."

"Interesting..." Ash spat out the blood that filled his mouth.

"What? Did I hit you on the head too hard?" The demon drew his fist back, apparently aiming to "correct" his mistake.

"You actually thought I was stupid enough to fight you head on." Steam began to rise from the demon's hand. He released Ash and yelped in pain, gripping his hand.

"What did you do, boy!?"

Ash snapped his fingers, revealing that their entire surroundings had been covered in runes made out of blood. Thousands of square feet of binding spells written in blood containing high concentrations of angelic divinity. Nephilim blood gathered over decades. "All I needed to do was buy time for all of this to take effect." Ash placed his hand to his mouth, wiping his mouth clean. "I'd say that's eighty years well spent. Wouldn't you agree, father?" In this prison, the demon could lay no hands on him nor use his immensely powerful magic. There was nothing that could be done to peer into the prison nor break its seals save for Ash himself. Layer upon layer of protection had been placed, accounting for every eventuality. Every loophole had been considered. Ash knew he could not leave any chance of his father being accidentally set free as it would be...apocalyptic. If any layer of warding was broken, the most powerful spell he had ever devised would be unleashed ensuring that his father could never leave.

"Clever child. But why not just kill me now, mighty warlock?" The demon sneered.

"You're more useful to me alive."

"Is that it? Or is it because you're not sure that ace up your sleeve is enough to kill the big fish?" Upon seeing Ash's hesitation the demon's wide grin returned. "Oh? Ashy can't preform? Don't worry. It happens to the best of us."

"I'll leave you to your thoughts. The sooner you get comfortable spending eternity here, the smoother this will be."

"Leaving so soon? I haven't even had time to make another sibling for you to kill." Even as Ash ignored his father, the demon continued to taunt him as he made his exit.

Ash watched as Clary left, shaking his head at the attitude she had given him. As much as he wanted to keep an eye on her, he had to stand by what he had said. She was free to make her own mistakes. Once he took his belongings and made a trip to the basement, Ash left just minutes after the young ifrit. Everything had been settled but discomfort had settled in the back of his mind. He wondered about going back but knew that the effort would be pointless. It would not change anything.

With a deep breath, Ash made his way forward keeping his pace brisk to not waste any time during his trip back. He returned to the safe house moments later, having traveled faster without having to carry Clary around. The bodies and blood remained but Cin was nowhere to be seen. Ash doubted the knight could have gone too far. When he made his way deeper into the house it was immediately noticeable that fewer people remained. He appreciated that the place was less crowded even though he knew he would have to wait until others returned for the trip.

Ash made his way towards Morrigan and Masque who were, strangely, calmly conversing. It hardly seemed like a good idea. "Morrigan," Ash called out towards her. "A word?" The warlock motioned for her to come his way, not even giving Masque a glance his way as Ash's black eyes fixed on the fairy. He had told her he would explain everything when he returned and return he had.

​

Rhett eyed Brianne and smiled at her concern for him as it was more than he was used to from anyone. He adjusted his coat as he walked forward, the trio getting occasional glances from the other werewolves as they walked by. Several noticed that Brianne and Creed were not one of "them" but made no move. So long as they believed they were part of Rhett's pack, which was nonexistent, they would not make a move unless threatened...or annoyed...or looked at the wrong way. Rhett approached the bartender and leaned on the table, ignoring the passing gaze of a girl who was obviously eyeing him or, perhaps, just looking his direction. She and the wolf beside her both seemed too drunk to really be "all there".

"Any alphas in the house?" Rhett asked the man, showing no attempt at subtlety.

"What?"

"Alphas. Any here? I'm looking to make some deals."

"No. But I suggest you get out of here. There's some wolves out looking for your head, Rhett." The bartender spoke gruffly, his eyes shifting from Rhett to Brianne and to Creed. His eyes narrowed suspiciously at them, glaring at the bunch.

"Why?" He raised his eyebrow wondering who could want him dead. The only ones that would even want to do that were probably all dead, being picked up by a desperate wolf looking for a pack, or in hiding...or...

"Rhett!" Upon hearing his name, he froze. He hoped the wolf who had shouted his name had been friendly but by the tone and low growl in the man's voice, Rhett knew otherwise. Slowly, he turned around to see five werewolves, all in ratty clothes, and their scents belonging to that only found from those in Keller's pack. They must have been some of the last remnants of the alpha's pack. The blood lust in their eyes was clear. Each wolf pulled out a silver blade and began to approach. The others in the club made no attempt to stop the fight that was about to break out. Obviously, they all wanted to see some blood spilled. Especially if it meant seeing a nephilim die.

The werewolves lunched at them. The song blasting in the speakers of the club switched. ...Battle...music..?