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Lawrence being fired from the club hadn’t exactly meant her boycotting the place. If anything it had meant more of her new found wealth (as though the DA’s office paid its interns more than pennies) ending up in Hector’s pockets. Without Lawerence behind the bar, she’d had to talk the pretty-eyed giant behind the bar into lining the drinks up for her instead. Huffing out a breath she’d pulled her card from her purse each time. You’d have thought she was stealing from the place instead of merely accepting drinks in return for keeping the place buzzing.

Thank God Lawrence had bargained to get his job back and it was him on the other side of the bar tonight. Phoebe beamed at him, wriggling four fingers in the air to order another round of shots for her and Kitty. If they’d had company it would’ve been both hands in the air, but they had been left high and dry for the night. She hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Raik in the crowd and apparently Bram was the sort of responsible that her and Kitty absolutely weren’t. He might have seemed eight foot tall, but alcohol apparently didn’t burn through those slabs of muscle the same way they did her and Kitty’s delicate bodies.

”Drink,” Phoebe ordered, sliding a shot towards Kitty as she caught her tucking her phone away again. ”Time’ll go faster if you’re not looking at that every five seconds.” Not that she wanted that to happen particularly. It wasn’t like she had a lot waiting for her at home. Her last attempt to coax someone tall, brawny and sweet into going home with her, they’d both ended up going home alone. Somewhere along the line she’d become one of those sad spinsters and God she hated it. Just because her heart was off the table didn’t mean that the rest of her was too, did it?

Phoebe threw down another shot and gathered the empty glasses together to push them across the bar towards Lawrence. ”We’ll be back,” she called out with a grin, her words more warning than anything. Lawrence better make a trip down to the store room to prepare for their return.

Throwing her hands up, Phoebe strode out onto the dance floor like she was the one who was eight feet tall instead. Music pounded across the floor, setting the rhythm as she found a space and began to move to it. Who needed someone waiting at home for them anyway. Relationships were overrated, just leaving your heart open to be torn out of your chest emotionally as well as physically. At one point she’ d have said Kitty understood that, but since she’d let Bram, Phoebe had wondered if they were soon gonna be hearts floating in her eyes the same way there constantly were in Kitty’s, only Bram was way more deserving of them than the asshole Krista had fallen for.

Not again. Phoebe rolled her eyes as Kitty dragged her phone out again. At this rate she’d have to hand it to Lawrence to hold behind the bar if she wanted Kitty’s attention on having a good time. ”Oh come on,” Phoebe groaned as Kitty slammed her drink back and ordered her out. ”The night’s barely started.” She threw back her last shot all the same, taking Kitty’s glass from her to pass both off to some random guy in the crowd. ”Thanks,”[/n] she called sweetly before she took off.

Small as she was, it was easy to thread her way through the crowd to follow Kitty outside. The minute she did Kitty was explaining. Bram was apparently a sleep walker with a talent for sniffing out trouble why he was under. ”You could just lock him in, you know. I’ve probably still got some cuffs in my apartment, he might enjoy being tied up for a while.” Her grin had a wicked edge to it, one that faded fast. ”Why he couldn’t pick somewhere a little less gross to head to, I’ll never know.” Really she couldn’t talk. As a child she’d always been out in the woods, desperately trying to find some escape from the coven and her parents’ expectations. After she’d lived in the wilderness for decades, but times changed and there was a hell of a lot to be said for indoor plumbing.

”He puts the bodies, what?” Phoebe hurried after Kitty, her heels tapping rapidly as she tried to keep up with her. She scrambled in front, aimed a finger at Kitty like she could stop her and then spun around. Kitty probably just would’ve run right over her to catch up to Bram. ”That bit seems to have conveniently been missing from everything you told me before.” But suddenly it kinda made sense.

She frowned, snorting as she looked over at Kitty. ”You can’t tell me that golden retriever of a man is moonlighting as a hellhound.” She didn’t know what they honestly might’ve been like, but it wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when she looked at Bram. ”Hellhounds were like a bedtime story when I was a kid. Behave yourself or the hellhounds will end up coming for you.” When she broke her neck falling out of a tree or managed to flip her boat and drown in the lake. ”How did you find out what he is?” It sure as hell didn’t seem like it would’ve come from Bram himself. The man had Kitty setting up cameras in his room because he thought he was sleepwalking for Christ’s sake.

Tagged: KITANA RYO * Word Count: 931

Hannya might not have torn her heart from her chest in the end, but it didn’t mean that the devil hadn’t taken something from her. Like it had been punched clean through just like her chest, Phoebe had found her confidence in tatters. She’d always been able to wrap it around herself like a superhero’s cloak, sweeping it around her when she needed to appear impervious. Finding herself in the centre of a cage with the blonde bitch’s fingers clutched around her heart, Phoebe had realised that cloak was bullshit. Lawrence would always be her weakness and for the second time in her life, that had been used against her.

By the time she’d convinced Lawrence to turn his emotions back on, she’d felt paper thin. There was enough left to forgive him for what he’d done to her friend, but she wasn’t quite ready to trust that her brother would stay in her life. Maybe that was another reason why she was back here so much, glancing over her shoulder as she took another glance over her shoulder at Lawrence on her way out to the dance floor. Would it be third time lucky if something tried to take one of them again? No. That wasn’t the way this was going to work. Her brother, her friends, even Teddy, they were all going to live long, happy lives now. Karma had to give her that much at least. If there was anybody to stand between them and the nightmares that were out there (the ones their parents had always warned them about) it was going to be her. Of course, she’d probably have been able to do that a little better if she was Bram sized.

Squeezing out of the crowd would’ve been easier if she had those broad shoulders and wasn’t at risk at getting an elbow to the face as she fought her way past people. Like Moses, Bram would’ve parted the dance floor Red Sea style. The first time she’d met him she’d had to tip her head back, trailing her gaze up over that slab of a chest to the pretty face above. Taller than Raik, they’d both exuded that air of choir boy, sweet and loyal. Not the sort of guy who had some sort of a secret half life which required them to go traipsing out into the woods.

Phoebe glanced wistfully down at her shoes as she scurried after Kitty. Maybe they’d be alright. She looked wanly up at Kitty as she chuckled. ”I draw the line at sewers,” she warned, holding a finger up. "He heads into those, he's on his own. We’ll just have to figure out where he’s coming up and hose him down when he gets out.” Like Joshua when he’d gotten on the wrong side of a skunk. She didn’t have her magic to draw the stink away, but she’d wrapped a rag around her face and had practically scrubbed him raw before he’d been allowed back into the cabin.

The thought had her smile coming back, but it rapidly disappeared as her mouth fell open. Apparently there were plenty of things about the guy Kitty hadn’t been telling her. ”Don’t go umming me,” Phoebe warned, shaking her head. ”You didn’t share.” Not that it was entirely Kitty’s story to tell, but still, they were friends and this wasn’t the sort of tiny, inconsequential thing you kept from a bestie.

”If you’re a kid who thinks they’re being dragged off to the Other Side because your got your Sunday best dress dirty out in the yard, yep,” Phoebe confirmed as Kitty shot her that concerned look. "In the grand scheme of things, probably not.” As she’d gotten older they’d felt like the supernatural version of a garbage man, sweeping the streets clean so most people had no idea of the things that were really out there. ”We really need to have a talk about the things you should be sharing with me. On fire … as in clothes, all burned up?” Phoebe asked, gesturing to herself as though that’d indicate the bare assed state she’d immediately pictured Bram in. In the stories were they always creatures of fire, but in a very human form. Apparently that wasn’t far from the truth.

Humour dried up instantly in Phoebe’s mouth as she realised that Kitty had said Bra m had died. Jesus. ”I’m not surprised, the old things usually are. Did he tell you how it happened? How Bram supposedly died?” There were plenty of things that could bring a corpse back, very few of them good things. You only had to look at Hannya to realise that. Phoebe’s stomach twisted uncomfortable. She cursed as they sped up, wondering if she should just kick her heels off, but the idea of being bare foot out here was worse. ”Absolutely,” she said without doubt. ”I’d want to know if I was possessed by something, wouldn’t you? Do you think he knows he died? Have you mentioned anything of this to him?” It was doubtful Bram would’ve stayed sane if Kitty had. There was nothing like being told you had died and was now playing hand puppet to some ancient monster for leaving you a little cracked.

Tagged: KITANA RYO * Word Count: 876

Becoming a sheriff hadn’t been about having a legal right to dig into everybody’s business – although her absolute hatred of secrets had probably fed into the idea a little – it had been about seeing innocent people hurt and knowing she could do something about it. The shift to the other side of the law enforcement minefield was just an extension of it. Leaving the wilderness, living around a whole village of people for the first time in decades, had shown her just how screwed up the big wide world was. Innocent people were hurt every single day, even in a town like this. Even her own brother had a body count here. Phoebe huffed out a sigh. She’d been backing him up for so long, forgiving all of those crimes even when it had been her own friend whose blood had ended up staining Lawrence’s mouth. He hadn’t lied about it at least.

A lie of omission from Kitty felt minor in comparison, but it was still a lie. Didn’t any of them know that secrets were deadly by now? Phoebe shot Phoebe a wry look, painted lips twisting as she picked her way across the treacherous ground. If they were lucky the only thing that would end up dying out here tonight would be her Jimmy Choo heels. ”Only because you needed backup out here,” Phoebe shot back. She sighed, grumbling faintly as her foot sunk into a soft spot. ”Who knows when you would’ve told me otherwise.” Probably when something else went wrong and they were suddenly in the middle of a messy, hellhound necessary situation.

Shivering faintly, wishing she’d planned a little better for their expedition, Phoebe pulled her jacket tighter around herself. It wasn’t that she was actually scared of the things her parents had warned her about, she was just smart enough to know what lurked in places like this. Apparently the sewers weren’t the only sort of filth Bram might’ve ended up digging through. She’d been looking at the floor, trying to walk in Kitty’s footsteps without falling flat on her face. Her gaze shot up as Kitty confirmed that Bram had been strolling around like a giant tiki torch. ”That’s convenient,” she snorted, ”and disappointing. Do you think the Hellhound gets them specially made? Fireproof pants to protect his modesty?” She supposed it must’ve been awkward running around with something bobbing free between your thighs like a sparkler.

Apparently it hadn’t been Bram’s first encounter with fire. Phoebe shuddered faintly. She’d seen the effects of fire on human flesh a handful of times in her life and each time had been nauseating. If Bram had been saved from a miserable, lingering death, burned to the bone, then maybe ending up with a supernatural beast inside of you might not have seemed like a bad trade. ”Did Bram tell you about any of that, or was it just the … thing? Did it have a name at least?” It might’ve made things seem a little more personal, but none of this seemed like it had been easy. Huffing out something that might’ve held a hint of amusement, Phoebe gestured between the two of them. ”Hey hot stuff, how’s resurrection treating you might be a start. I think you just need to rip the band aid off. Finding out that there are things out there you never thought would exist have gotta be better than thinking you’re cracked.” Although finding out now instead of as a three year old being warned about werewolves and vampires by your parents wasn’t going to be easy.

If they waited long enough there was a chance that Bram might walk face first into the truth anyway, some seemed to here. Phoebe crept up to Kitty’s side, a frown creasing her brow. That feeling of something being off out here had only grown since they’d edged into the shadow of the trees. It was quiet out here, like all the small creatures had sensed something wrong and had gone silent to avoid drawing the eye of whatever that was. ”Whimpering,” Phoebe whispered after a moment. ”Like an injured dog. You don’t think he’d come out here for something like that?” Not the entirely animal sort of dog at least. ”That way.” Phoebe pointed away from the road, further into the trees. Up ahead there was suddenly a faint flare of light, like the sun had started to rise back above the horizon.

Tilting his head, Kresnik crouched beside the skinwalker. How it had made it this far, he didn’t know. The wire of a trap still trailed like a silver ribbon behind it. Gore trailed from the loop of it that circled its middle blood staining its glittering surface, looking back as it smeared across the leaves. From here he could see the irregular flutter of its heart in its chest. Perhaps it could’ve survived the silver of the wire if it had not cut so deep, or the blood loss if it had been something else to tear it apart, but not both. The hunter who had taken it down must have known that since they had melted back into the woods as the man had started to crawl away. Or he believed it had. At the light crunch of approaching footsteps, Kresnik stood back up, squinting into the darkness of the woods. The hunter would have no hope if she tried to come for him, she had to know that too.

Tagged: KITANA RYO * Word Count: 913

Would she have done the same thing to protect Lawrence? Phoebe paused to consider for a second, wiping the mud off of her shoe onto a patch of grass (as though it wouldn’t be twice as filthy in a minute). Absolutely. She hadn’t been able to protect Lawrence the first time, now she’d do anything to keep him safe – including putting her own life on the line. Kitty wasn’t as close to Bram, but she was watching out for him and yeah, she couldn’t sulk too much about that. ”I get it,” she promised, her lips twitching in a faint smile. ”I guess he decided to move the schedule up.” Such a guy move.

She was gonna have to replace the shoes. Maybe she could send Bram the bill for them when they worked out what was really going on here and protected the sasquatch from himself. It was an excuse for a shopping trip, she supposed, one she’d drag Kitty on. Phoebe narrowed her eyes, glancing down at Kitty’s boots before she looked back up and smirked. ”I’d pay to see you try and walk in these, but I don’t think it’s the time for you to be staggering around in these.” For expediency’s sake, she’d keep them on. She could have gone bare foot, if she was insane enough to want to wade around in this muck bare foot, the same way Bram probably was. Bare foot, practically naked, wreathed in flames. It had to be one hell of a sight.

Snickering Phoebe winged a brow at Kitty. ”If he doesn’t know he’s doing it, do you think it could be that planned?” Maybe if the thing inside of him was that fastidious. A trail of discarded clothing leading through the woods would be a breadcrumb trail it probably didn’t want to leave behind. ”You know it’s coming, though. I guess we won’t know unless we can interrogate that thing.” And she would’ve done without a single qualm, if it had suddenly been in front of her. Confronting it mid … gathering? … was gonna be a different matter entirely.

Piecing together the story of what that thing had done to Bram was concerning. Being a hellhound was nothing like being a werewolf or a vampire. It wasn’t just another aspect of his personality, there was something inside of him, treating that giant, perfect body like a glove puppet. It probably had the power to shed him like one too, leaving Bram cast aside like a dirty sock. ”Well, that thing’s probably not gonna be too happy about you speaking up, but yeah, I think it’s time,” Phoebe confirmed, her voice uncharacteristically serious. She’d always hated things being out of control and this sounded like Bram had zero control of his own situation. A vampire was probably like a flea to a hellhound, but she’d stand at Kitty’s back against the thing all the same.

Like she could stand between her friend and whatever Bram had come out here looking for, Phoebe eased in front of Kitty as the whimpering sound came again. ”A dog, a wolf, I don’t know, something’s hurting.” And if it was Bram making that noise then the two of them were completely screwed. If Bram hadn’t been a friend, Phoebe would’ve dragged Kitty right out of the woods instead of walking with her. The second she saw the flames between the trees she knew it was far too late to get Kitty out.

Phoebe clutched at Kitty’s arm in return as those biker boots broke twigs underfoot. The head circled in flames like it was wearing a fiery halo turned in their direction. ”Evening,” Phoehe panted, aiming a smile at the hellhound that was hard to keep up. Her gaze barely landed on the mangled body on the floor for a second before it was darting back up to Bram. ”He looks like he could do with some help,” she said weakly. ”We should call an ambulance, don’t you think?” As though any 911 operator would believe what they were seeing.

”Wolf,” Kresnik muttered, the word emerging on a sigh. He took a step away from the skinwalker, ignoring the faint sounds of movement from the creature. ”What are you doing here? This is no place to go for a walk. Or to bring friends. You should leave.” As though she would pay any more attention to this order to back off than she had the last one. Every witnesses added to the chances that something would realise he was here. Being one of the most powerful beings in this town didn’t mean there wasn’t something bigger and more dangerous out there, just waiting for a chance.

Tagged: KITANA RYO * Word Count: 784

There was a chance Kitty would try and squirm out of a little time balanced on the stilts she wore (hey, it was better than only coming up to people’s armpits – why had Lawrence gotten all the height anyway?) and Hell, she’d probably let her if all of this went wrong. The jokes about their wildly differing footway was just a way of taking their minds off the real trouble at hand – the guy who was apparently walking around with some powerful, threatening mythical creature in his head. It was no wonder Bram had been happy to tag along with Kitty, distracting himself from whatever might’ve felt off in his head with nights out at the club. Pour enough liquor into a brain and all those twitches stopped – especially if you were still human. Once you added some supernatural into the mix things got complicated, it took a barrel of alcohol to get you drunk the way your first stolen beer did, and an ankle you snapped in skyscraper heels healed with a wiggle of your toes.

The more she heard about the thing in Bram, the less she wanted to meet it. Phoebe fought off the shudder that threatened to roll down her spine. Their parents had never shied away from telling them about the worst of the supernatural world, as though warnings would actually protect them when these things came looking for them. In comparison to a freaking Hellhound a few asshole vampires were nothing. She swallowed hard, her brows drawing together faintly. ”They’re supposed to be neutral, peaceful I guess, but maybe it's different when it’s trying to keep people from realising it’s there.” A laugh tried to bubble up, but Phoebe swallowed it back. If the thing had been looking for a discreet spot to hide in, it shouldn’t have picked a hot giant shrouded in muscles.

Pleasepleaseplease. Phoebe let the words roll through her head as they crept closer to whatever was whimpering. If it had been a dog it would’ve broken her heart, she’d always had a soft spot for animals, but at least it would be something normal. If it was Bram whimpering, then they were really in trouble. Like they were moths drawn to a flame, they crept closer. She could get a little singed and survive, so could Kitty. They’d make sure that Bram was safe through whatever this thing was using him for, it was what friends did for one another, especially when they promised to help get to the bottom of some major mystery.

A glance from that thing had Phoebe’s suggestion to call an ambulance vanishing off of her tongue. The thing that lay on the ground at the hellhound’s feet looked like it was beyond help. Phoebe lifted a hand, covering her mouth as she pointedly avoided looking at it. The kinder thing would’ve been to put it out of its misery. ”Leaving might not be the worst idea,” she muttered to Kitty from beneath her hand. ”You want its life story right now?” Well, she had mentioned interrogating the creature. Pheobe dropped her hand away, trying for a smile as it looked at her with eyes that were far more intense than Bram’s hand ever been. ”I’m Phoebe. Vampire, if we’re just going by what we are.”

This time the wolf had managed to bring a friend, news of what he was spreading. It always started this way, one learning the secret, passing it on until it was a wild fire than he needed to escape from to keep himself and his host safe. ”You wish to remain where one soul has already been slaughtered tonight?” His voice was weary and wry, as though he were questioning the wolf’s sanity. Orange eyes cut down to the creature at his feet. It’s struggles had stop, the whimpers cutting off into ragged, slowing breaths. It was finally dying. ”I am doing what I have always done. Collecting the dead, hiding it from the eyes of those who would not understand, those who would try and destroy what scares them.” The bodies stacked like logs at the nemeton, hidden from sight by its power, their souls already transported to the other side.

Kresnik eyed the vampire for a moment before he took a step back, ignoring the rest of their questions as he bent to pick up the skinwalker. The body fell limp in his arms, flames wreathing it but not morning the corpse. ”A skinwalker. Those that killed it maybe still be here. You would be wise to do as I have cautioned and leave.” The words were offered in a low growl of warning. For a moment Kresnik eyed them steadily and then he pushed power into the flames wreathing him, sending a wave of them towards the wolf and vampire to drive them back before he took off running, the body carried into the woods as though it weighed nothing.

Tagged: KITANA RYO * Word Count: 824