“Well, this just got a lot easier to unravel,” Richard said, keeping his eyes trained on Babel. He let a puff of smoke billow from his nose, raising his hand and pointing at Babel. “Madman.” He then pointed to Danny. “Naïf.”

“What are you talking about?” Skylar asked, looking confused at Richard.

“The five types of Unreliable Narrators: The Picaro, who exaggerates. The Clown, who intentionally tells the story in a way to mess with the reader. The Liar, who intentionally lies to the reader, usually to save their own skin. The Naïf, who’s usually just immature and ignorant. Lastly, the Madman, who usually has some form of mental illness or cognizant problem.” Richard sighed as he thought. He knew something had to be off; the pieces of everything never quite seemed to fit the way they should. “Babel is the Madman, and our guests Ariana and Danny are Naïfs.” He turned and faced Skylar, passing the cigarette to her. “We’re not going to get straight answers out of any of them, none that add up.”

Skylar took a drag from the cigarette, her eyes darting between the three behind the mirror. “Well, shit. How’d you figure that out?”

“I’ll tell you some other time. I don’t feel like hashing out the past right now,” Richard said, taking his cigarette back. “All that matters right now is that Danny is safe for the moment, and Babel is under lock and key. With them right here there’s an obvious opportunity to learn what we can about Babel’s history, but at this point the answer we’re going to get will contradict itself. Instead we need to put the word out to your underground contacts, give them a false lead about Babel and see who turns up.”

“Great, more tree-shaking. You know, last time you had me do that I had a Banshee chasing my ass for six hours,” Skylar said, raising an eyebrow, obviously not amused.

“True, but the important fact is you survived. At the end of the day, survival is more important than having a flawless bag and tag record,” Richard said, an amused smile playing on his lips.

“You know the family doesn’t believe that. You might be my dad’s cousin, but that won’t matter much longer if you keep up this line of thinking,” Skylar said, her tone lightly hostile. Richard chuckled as he smothered the remnants of his cigarette.

“I’ll let you figure that one out on your own. Just ask yourself, how many more monsters can you bag if you yourself end up as dinner?” Richard patted Skylar on the shoulder as he walked past her. “The answer is one.”

Skylar watched him roam to the back of the converted house, leaving her there to think.

**

“Can you remember more?” Ariana asked Danny.

Danny shook her head, sighing. “Not really, no. I occasionally get flashes of memory… smells, sounds, sometimes a date I know is important but not why. I feel like I should be more frustrated but I’m not.”

“Apathy is often an occurrence after brain trauma, so it’s not surprising,” Babel said without missing a beat. It didn’t even occur to her that this was odd, the retention of this knowledge but not her own, but that thought alone did strike her as somewhat disturbing. Danny smiled up at Babel, beaming pride at her.

“She doesn’t seem to have any apathy towards you,” Ariana said accusingly. Babel understood Ariana’s venom and didn’t blame her for it. She was not wrong for it, but there was no use explaining otherwise.

“It will fade, in time. Both her lack of frustration and her mental fog. I cannot promise a complete return to who she was, but I can promise she will return.” Babel sighed as she reached out for Danny, gently running a finger over Danny’s more pointed ear. “And with it, her original feelings for me, as negative as they will be.”

“Can you at least explain what happened to her? Why was she unconscious for so long? What has really happened to her?” Ariana asked, pushing Babel’s hand away from Danny.

“The assault on her was not purely physical. Though her attacker did some very real physical trauma to her body and brain, he attacked her psychically and nearly shattered her-” Babel stopped a moment, her voice cracking and her words catching in her throat. She was not happy with this new surge of emotions, especially when they’re so connected to a human. Though she didn’t deny that at this moment, the idea of Danny being destroyed brought the sense of her heart being ripped apart, fiber by fiber. “The attack nearly shattered her soul completely.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Arianna said, sighing, “I’m guessing you had something to do with her survival?”

“A part of me, yes. Beings like me come in various types, with different abilities, powers, and spheres of influence, you get the picture. Mine is like what Danny is developing, where intention and directed desire both give us direction and fuel us.”

“I’m sorry, could you please explain what you mean by ‘directed desire’? Like, are you talking about Lust or..?” Ariana asked, cutting Babel off.

“Yes, it can be lust, but no that’s not what it only is. It’s like… Wishes, but not. Like if someone were to beg you to save their life, and you had the power to do it. Protection, fertility, comfort, easing pain, leadership…” Babel trailed off as she thought.

“Oh, when you say ‘directed desire’, you’re not talking about directed at you specifically, are you? You’re saying desire with direction. You can’t help someone who just says ‘I’m bored’ or doesn’t know what they want. So… I guess I get how you can help, but what do you get out of it?”

“Strength, knowledge, but mostly continued existence. I, unlike many of my kin, cannot possess someone directly. Such as, a Succubus would be able to invade the body and soul of a mortal, whereas I am not powerful enough to do any such thing. I have to intertwine a piece of myself called a Metapersonification-”

“That word sounds made up as hell,” Arianna cut in.

“Just like hell, it’s real,” Babel said, trying to keep herself from snapping at Ariana. “Think of it like an Anchor for a boat. The boat aligns itself with the dock, and then drops anchor to keep itself moored. If it doesn’t, the boat will naturally be pushed back out to sea. But this anchor is more than just that, it’s also akin to an umbilicus. A give and take is exchanged between them, often whoever we’re attached to makes a demand of sorts, we give them what we’re able, and in return we get to feed. It sustains us, helps give us form, and maintains our identities.”

Danny sighed irritably and stood up, stretching. “Listen, this is interesting and all, but I don’t really care right now.” She smiled widely over at Babel, the look in her eyes mischievous. “Is there some way you can get us out? I need to go out and do something, anything! I’m going insane just sitting in here.”

“Hon, you have to stay here, we don’t know what Babel’s influence is doing to you. Well… more than it already is,” Ariana replied, reaching out for Danny.

“I feel FINE! Plus, they’ve already told me they’re not going to outright hunt me as long as I don’t cause trouble.” Danny ran her fingers through her hair, shaking it up a bit. “I keep telling everyone, I’m HUNGRY.”

Ariana raised an eyebrow as she turned to Danny. “Wait, I thought we… solved that not too long ago?”

“That was nice, VERY nice--actually, it was fucking fantastic,” Danny chuckled, lightly biting her tongue between her fangs. “But I need something more. I feel physically satisfied, but it’s something else. I feel like I’ve just eaten some of the best and saltiest food I’ve ever had, and now I’m thirsty. I need something else.”

“Well, it’s too bad you’re stuck here,” Babel said, her tone sharp, causing Danny to flinch ever so slightly from the chastisement. “Maybe instead of running off like a prepubescent girl, you would have let one of us go with you. None of this would’ve happened if you’d not been so adamant about going alone.”

Danny’s expression immediately turned prickly, the light behind her eyes sharpening. “I wouldn’t have gone alone if you hadn’t violated me and turned my life upside down!” She fired back angrily, and then blinked as if the thoughts were lost. “I-I mean… I guess…”

Babel sighed and shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, it will come back in pieces as you heal. You’ll probably remember for brief periods and then forget them like a dream.”

Danny walked back over to Babel, sitting at the chair in front of her and leaning her head onto Babel’s lap. “I’m sorry… I don’t know why I got so angry. I promise I’m not.” Danny’s tone shifted to sounding apologetic, like a child scolding itself.

“I guess I can go see what they’re willing to let you do. Maybe they’ll let you go with an escort, who knows?”