Chapter 41 – Return.

The change was instant and jarring. Harsh white light, the pressure of expectations, the scent of tainted magic. Arrays littering the floor, humming faintly with magic, inert but ready. Arrays that she was more than familiar with now. She did not want any of this.

They were back in Riddling’s lab, in the bowels of the complex. Callie had kind of hoped that they would have appeared elsewhere, anywhere really, apart from here, but it seemed that this was the weakest point, the anchor from Riddling’s casting still present. She felt her magic fade, the rift closing behind her. The other realm gone forever.

They had returned.

Callie just wanted to open another rift and go somewhere else. But she had no idea what she was doing, if it could even be done that easily, and they had things that they needed to do here.

They weren’t alone either. No surprises there. Though it did look like the bulk of the others were surprised as they scrambled to their feet, grabbing weapons or pulling magic to them, with shouts and curses and demons and inhuman creatures. A collection of spellswords and special ops soldiers, some of them familiar. Not the most welcoming scene.

Not that they looked normal any more. Felicia, Stella and Uriah all with their fox features, and who knew what impression Julia and herself gave off. But this was them, and she didn’t give a damn what others thought.

And Riddling of course, standing there on one side, looking completely calm, his eyes on them.

“How long have we been gone, Riddling?” Uriah growled, tail flicking in annoyance.

“Oh, only a handful of days, though it will have felt longer for you.” His eyes narrowed as he scanned them. “You have changed... a lot.”

Uriah shrugged. “Time does that.”

“The seed,” Riddling stated, stepping forward, hand outstretched, his eyes and words cold.

“No.” Callie’s response was quick and final.

Riddling looked almost confused.

“What, you throw us into another realm against our will, and just expect us to give you something on return?” Julia laughed, her tone mocking.

“We never agreed to anything, Riddling. Or should I call you Demon?” Callie narrowed her eyes at him, holding Stella close. Her daughter was just looking around at the moment, curious, but she did not want his attention on her. “Not that I think you were ever going to uphold your end either, with the reception that you have here for us. Did you expect us to come back, weakened and in pain, like when you sent us through? It’s amazing how much nicer it is, when the spell is cast properly.”

“The seed,” Riddling repeated, his voice firm and demanding, the arrays flaring to life around them. “It is too dangerous for those like you to possess. It will kill you.”

Callie could feel the magic and its intent. Hostile, trying to wrap around them, slow them down and drain them of their own power. No. She would not let it. Not let him have his way. Her own magic flared, a bolt of lightning searing along the ground, tearing through the floor and the arrays, the magic buckling and breaking. The benefit of having studied them is that she knew how to break them as well. “No, Riddling. Just no.”

Julia was suddenly in front of Riddling, her eyes glowing, an aura of blood leaking out from her. To say that she was pissed would have been understating it, her hands claws as one wrapped around his neck, blood trickling down. She’d taken him by surprise. “You dared throw me through a rift, like some doll, and now you make demands of us? You’re a fool, E’iures.”

All hell broke loose. More screaming and shouting as bullets slammed into them, magic flaring to life, weapons manifesting in the spellswords hands, the others spooked and trigger happy. Well, slammed into Felicia’s shields, little flashes of light as she stopped them mid air, a shimmer between them and the soldiers.

“Stop this! Stop this now,” Callie screamed, power lacing her voice. “What on earth do you think you’re doing?”

The guns silenced, weapons still at the ready. She’d been surprised for a moment that no magic had been thrown at them, till she recalled that most could only do it in a very limited capacity. They were actually showing some common sense and restraint.

“The seed,” Riddling stated again, having wormed out of Julia’s grasp, his neck red and bloodied, magic gathering around him.

Julia lifted up her hand, sniffing at the blood, and then grimaced, giving it a shake as she tried to fling it all off. “Gods, this stuff is putrid. No wonder you’re still single.” She glared back at Riddling with a wicked grin. “And you heard Callie. The answer is still no. You will never get it. Ever.”

Riddling stared at her, then them, a dangerous calculating look. “Kill them. They are not who they seem.”

More arrays flared to life, powerful and more dangerous, Callie’s magic responding and tearing into them as the soldiers opened fire again. This... was not good. Riddling’s presence had exploded, his aura dominating and oppressive, Julia barely dodging out of the way of a glowing sickly black blade, the air sizzling where it had passed. The distractions wouldn’t have been an issue if they were shadows, but they were human...

But even so, this was nothing. They’d fought more, and they were a lot stronger than they had been. Riddling would not get his way. He would pay for his crimes. He could die.

‘Uri, can you help Julia? Leave the others to me.’

‘With pleasure.’ Uriah’s body glowed as he let his magic loose, Callie barely seeing him move as he charged at Riddling, Uriah’s flaming blade smashing into Riddling’s, Julia taking the opening and ploughing straight into him, a satisfying grunt and curse as Riddling was pushed back.

“Darling,” Callie stated, giving Stella’s hair a ruffle.

“Mumsy?” Stella looked up at her, worry on her face.

“Mumsy is just going to teach some bad people a lesson, okay?”

“Okay!” Stella’s face broke out into a wide grin. “Kill bad people!”

“Stop, not kill,” Callie amended with a wince. But to be fair, Stella had only seen them fight shadows. “Stay with Muffy, okay?”

“Muffy!” Stella declared, seemingly oblivious to all the bullets that were raining down around them, accompanied by the occasional burst of magic. Felicia’s shields were still only shimmering, barely requiring any magic to maintain.

Callie handed their daughter over, Stella snuggling into Felicia as she held her close, Felicia’s eyes on the battlefield. Her mind too, as she kept track of everything that was going on, everything that their bond was telling them. Callie turned, facing Riddling’s gathered muscle, lightning crackling around her hands.

“Stand down and leave,” she stated, as a thud and crack sounded from the other side of the room. Riddling had been slammed into the wall, one faring better than the other.

“You’re a demon. Monsters and abominations, all of you.” The spellsword who had answered glared at her, trying to mask his fear. What on earth had they been told?

Callie shrugged, giving them a dangerous smile, the hint of her fangs showing. “I gave you a chance,” she said, and then charged, lightning arcing out in front of her.

She didn’t want to kill any of them. They weren’t shadows after all, but she also had no idea of their relative strength. She didn’t have to hold back when fighting them, but here she would. Tendrils of lightning seared through the weapons as she slammed into the first one, her momentum throwing him back. A kick into the most sensitive area dropped the second one, her lightning breaking through the weapon of a spellsword and burning their hand. Magic flared beside her, Felicia’s shield blocking the blade of another as Callie spun around and punched them squarely in the jaw. He collapsed too, Callie shaking her hand in annoyance. That had actually stung. And she’s gotten a bit lazy, too used to Felicia’s shields. Bullets were fair enough, she couldn’t stop those, but someone's strike with a sword? She needed to be more aware. Uriah would tell her off.

‘Thanks, Feli,’ she sent with a little bit of embarrassment.

Callie slowed down a little, and restrained herself a little less. Lightning arced out, slamming into a soldier that had pulled out a combat knife as he charged her, the resulting smell making her sick.

“Last chance,” she said calmly, pausing for a moment. “I’m hating this.”

“Die, demon.” The same spellsword as before glared at her, a deadly blade of air crackling in his hands.

He lunged at her, Callie smoothly dodging out of the way, sliding around behind him.

“I am just human as you are,” she said in a dangerous whisper, “and still very much an elite.” She placed a hand on his back, lightning surging through, the spellsword collapsing to the ground, weapon fading.

She spun out of the way of the blade of another, white flaming sword materialising in her hand to parry the weapon as she stepped in close and elbowed her in the chest. She recognised this one. There weren’t many female spellswords, and she was kinda cute. And as much of an ass as the rest of them, happily joining in with the teasing of her about her relationship with Uriah. Callie sighed and shook her head. So much had changed since then. She grabbed a hold of her wrist, squeezing tight and sending through a short burst of her magic. The spellsword hissed through gritted teeth, her weapon fading away.

“Stand down.”

“No.” Her voice was laced with hatred.

“As you wish.” Callie sent a burst of lightning through her, the spellsword collapsing to the ground.

Three left. Two spellswords and one more special ops. She was wasting time. Lightning slammed into the soldier, throwing him into the wall with a sickening crunch as she lunged at the closest spellsword, her blade slicing straight through his and into his leg, the man screaming out in pain. She ignored it, a blow to the head dropping him as she turned to the last one.

“You did something to Burt, didn’t you?”

“Huh? No.” She didn’t spare him any more thoughts, closing the distance, parrying his blade with ease, a second sword materialising as she stabbed it into his leg, the follow up blow to the head knocking him out cold before he could even scream.

Bodies littered the ground around her. Carefully stepping over them, she looked over at Julia and Uriah.

They were a little tired, breathing a little heavier, but otherwise fine, Felicia’s shields glowing around them. No wounds at all. Riddling was looking a lot worse, cuts on his arms that were bleeding a dark purple, his top torn, magic flaring around him in a poisonous black aura. His sword was still present, burning away at the air around him. He glanced at Callie, eyes flicking over to Felicia, and scowled.

“You are fools. You have no idea what you’re playing with.”

“No, Riddling,” Callie replied as she slowly made her way over, her magic intensifying around her. “It is you who have no idea. Or perhaps you do have some inkling, with what you’ve done. Your hands are so stained with blood that I’m surprised that they aren’t just naturally red in colour.”

“Or purple,” she amended.

“This isn’t over, children,” Riddling spat. “You may have gained a title, but you are young and naive. Your bonds, and those you hold close, are your greatest weakness. Our mutual vampire acquaintance may not be aware of the array’s true potential, but I am. I have seen it before. Like you, she was special. She had a title. She died, broken and in agony, the bodies of her lovers bleeding out before her.” Riddling sneered. “And don’t think that I can’t see that the child has the seed. You must have been so desperate for it to take on that form.”

“You even think of touching her, and I’ll rip your heart out,” Julia growled, anger flowing from her.

Riddling laughed. “Your greatest weakness. So small and helpless. You truly are all fools. You will regret this betrayal. I may have underestimated your growth, but this served quite nicely as a test. After all, there is a limit to what I can do here.” Magic flared around him, familiar and powerful, Callie unable to do anything to stop it, and then he was gone.

“Betrayal?” Julia laughed at the empty space. “You’d think, given his history, that he’d know what a real betrayal looked like.”

“He’s going to be a problem,” Uriah bemoaned. “We needed to kill him, but we couldn’t. He’ll be back, and more prepared.”

“Bad man not dead?” Stella asked with worry.

“No,” Callie sighed, standing back beside Felicia.

“We’re all alive and unharmed. I’d count that as a win,” Felicia said, sending out reassuring feelings.

“Yeah, I do too,” Callie agreed. “He fled, because he knew that we would kill him. Sure, he’ll prepare, but so will we. After all, it’s not like we could fight to our full strength here.”

“You were being soft,” Julia stated. “Because they were people. People who were trying to kill us,” she added.

“I know.” Callie sighed. It was hard. She would not become some monster, but nor would she let anyone harm any of those she held close. Uriah, Julia, Felicia, and Stella. “Let’s just hope any others aren’t as blind.” She knew that it wasn’t going to be that easy though. It never was.

“So... why are we just standing around? Showers! Fresh clothes!” Julia grinned. “And coffee! Though you’re making that, if you still remember how.”

Callie laughed. “Course I do.” Things that she had missed. It wouldn’t hurt to forget about everything that lay ahead and relax for a little bit. Riddling would show up again when he did, but they had no control over that, and really, stressing over it wouldn’t do them any good. Not that they wouldn’t be alert, but a shower, some food, and some fresh clothes wouldn’t hurt at all.

“What’s coffee?” Stella was a little too good at picking up on mentions of food.

“A drink that daddy and majji like, darling. Muffy at times too.”

“Me?” Stella gave her hopeful eyes.

“Not until you’re much older,” Julia answered for her. ‘Can you imagine our daughter on caffeine?’

‘Yeah. No.’ Callie giggled, Stella just pouting.

“Don’t worry,” Callie added, “I’m sure you’re going to be introduced to sugar soon enough.” That would make their daughter hyper enough, given that she’d only really had fruit for sweet things thus far.

“Come on, let go,” Julia groaned, looking over at the soldiers and spellswords, “before the conscious ones try and do something silly.”

“On that topic,” Uriah stated, making his way over to them, “they should have theirs.” Leaning over, he poked through a few pockets, pulling out phones, eventually standing after the fourth one. “Here’s one that you didn’t fry.”

Callie grimaced, and then shrugged. It wasn’t something that she’d given any thought to.

“Three days,” Uriah declared. “We’ve been gone for exactly three days.”

“These time differentials are going to give me a headache.” Julia gave her head a rub. “I wonder if they’ve even started to worry.”

“We still don’t even know exactly what he said to them either,” Felicia added.

“Oh yeah, that.” Julia sighed. “Let’s go. I just want to enjoy some of the comforts that we’ve been lacking before we leave them behind again. Everything else can wait.”

That did sound good, and right now, Callie was more than happy with that plan.

Especially since Stella would no doubt start asking about sugar fairly shortly. Or for some meat.