Content Warning: Violence, threats of physical violence, language.
Pain.
Hesitation.
Fear.
I could hear myself screaming, as I’ve already said. It felt like I was plugged into a wall socket, that at any moment I could start firing electricity from my fingertips. It didn’t help that the energy was crawling over me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. This must be what it feels like to be the little metal rod inside a tesla ball. The power of the whole world coursing through me, but I have no control over where it goes or what it does. Honestly, even after the confrontation with my Eidolon I was half expecting to become a lump of Danny-coal.
‘Take a deep breath,’ A voice echoed in my mind, a flash of a yellow eye. ‘It’s part of you, but you can relax and let it pass through you, too.’
I tried taking stock of myself, managing to feel that I was on the ground of the stage. I was curled into myself, everything seemed like it was still there. Small miracles, it seems. As another wave of pain tore through me I yelled out once more, trying to internally shy away from the source. ‘You’re so damn nervous.’ The flash of a smile, black nails- Micki!
I tried focusing everything I could manage on to remembering what it was that she’d told me, any sliver of insight that could help. ‘You should think about the flipside too… whether you need this?’
“Need this..?” I said, almost growling the words from the exertion. “I want to feel like myself…” As I inhaled it felt like fire wormed its way through my throat, causing me to cough momentarily. “To feel normal… and wanted…” Even through the haze that filled my vision I felt like I could make out the silhouette of Arianna, whether or not I actually could was moot.
‘Figure out who you want to see in the mirror, Danny, and walk towards her.’ Who did I want to see in the mirror? What was the absolute idealized version of myself? I’d dreamed it up hundreds of times, each time something a little different. Taking the time to think about it, what frantic time I had, I realized it had all been unrealistic. Superimposed ideals from industries who want your money, not your happiness. Peddlers to the impossible. Who am I? Who did I want to be?
I stared at what I hoped was Arianna when it all washed over me, bringing a sense of emotional and mental relief. “I want to be what Arianna sees in me.” I had too skewed a view of my own body, too pained a perception of myself, too much dysphoria, too many unrealistic desires. Arianna, though, she had always seen me for me. I could trust no other viewpoint as I trust hers.
I honestly don’t know which came first: My smile as I felt the change begin to wash over me, or the yelling in the crowd.
**
Arianna watched as Danny threw her head back with a scream that sent chills down Arianna’s spine, rushing towards the stage as fast as she could; it wasn’t an easy task, as the crowd had bunched together in mob-mentality-based concern. She watched as Danny’s scream seemed to die in her throat and she collapsed to the floor, muttering to herself. Arianna was just over twenty feet from the stage when she couldn’t go any further, and as if on cue Danny opened her eyes and stared directly at her.
Arianna couldn’t stand it, knowing that Danny was going through something and she couldn’t reach her.
“HOLY SHIT, HE’S DEAD!” someone in the crowd yelled, causing Arianna to whip around. The crowd dispersed to reveal the corpse of a dead Elf with his head almost entirely hacked from his body. There were more screams throughout the crowd, until eventually a very gore-covered Skylar jumped up onto the stage.
“Listen up! Every ordinary, vanilla ass needs to get the fuck out! OUT!” Skylar yelled, waving her knife down towards the crowd. They screamed and dispersed rather quickly, more than likely to report the murders. Arianna raised a worried eyebrow at Skylar, who only laughed as she sheathed her knife.
“What’s wrong with you?” Arianna asked, annoyed.
“A handful of mental illnesses, a sprinkling of ‘80’s Devil’s Music made me do it’, a side of ‘I fucking knew this was a bad idea’, and probably a fair bit of Alcoholism,” Skylar retorted with a bloody smile. Arianna didn’t know how to respond, just shaking her head and climbing up the stage. "Besides, let's be honest here, it was your girlfriend who was pointing out the targets.” Arianna was fighting the urge to roll her eyes at how blasè Skylar was about the whole situation, but found herself unable to look up from the writhing form on the ground.
Danny was convulsing, groaning and twitching from pain. Beside her head a small puddle of blood had begun to form as it leaked from Danny’s mouth. Arianna couldn’t tell if the blood was from her having hurt herself or if her jaw was clamped too tightly--either way, it didn’t make it any less distressing. She tried approaching with care, not wanting to exacerbate the situation beyond what had already occurred, but Danny startled her with a sudden, choked gasp.
“We need to get her back to the safehouse,” Skylar chimed in, her voice losing its amused inflections. “We have no idea what’s happening right now, and she needs to be out of the open. I don’t know what it is, but I’m getting a really bad feeling right now.”
Arianna tried to pick Danny up, or roll her over so it would be easier to hoist her up onto her feet, but even getting within an arms-length from her was proving difficult. Danny was throwing off heat like a boiler. The air itself seemed to take on a haze around Danny, and touching her was painful. “Ah, son of a-” Arianna shook her hand in the air from her attempt to lay a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “She’s burning up!”
Danny kept gasping, eventually her eyes opening slightly and turning to Arianna. “Get… away… from me. Please…” She managed to turn over and sprawl onto her hands and knees, her cheeks flushing rapidly, whether from the heat or exertion it didn’t matter. “Don’t… touch…” Danny held a hand out in warning to Arianna.
**
It was hard to breathe in the initial moments. It felt like every cell in my body had all decided to attempt nuclear fusion at the same time. I was charged with more energy than I had ever felt in my life, but I had also become hyper-aware of the growing tension within my being. I could barely open my eyes to look around, I couldn’t even will my body to stand. I just remained where I was, feeling sweat beginning to bead along my arms and face from the impossible fire burning inside of me. The fire brought with it a deep ache that stretched out into my very bones, threatening to snap me into a fine powder.
When a particular surge of pain spiked through my abdomen my hands clenched, and before I knew it my fingers had gripped chunks of the planks beneath me. In my state, I somehow had enough strength in me to damage the planks below me, which was strange because it felt nearly effortless. I would have chuckled if I could’ve breathed, but between the fire and the blood, all that escaped me must have looked like a death-wheeze. It would’ve been funny if it didn’t hurt so bad.
I raised a hand to smooth my hair from my face, trying to get any semblance of cooler air on my skin, but I was surprised when my hand continued through my hair for quite a bit longer than I’d thought it would. Once again my abdomen felt as if someone was driving a spike through it, all the while like an unseen hand was viciously twisting my innards around. It was at that moment everything sort of hit me all at once. Through the haze of the heat, the pain in my body, it finally sunk in: I’d finally got my wish. I could feel my lips twitching into something akin to a smile.
**
Arianna watched as Danny sat up somewhat, running her fingers through her own hair that had grown a fair bit in the last while. Then, as Danny held a hand over her stomach, a desperate smile broke her lips, bringing with it a torrent of tears. Danny’s teeth had become more fang-like over the last few weeks, sure, but Arianna didn’t remember them all looking like that. Her teeth were unnerving to say the least, predatory. But the quivering lips of the changing girl in front of her, the smile, the shine in her eyes… she had begun taking on aspects of predation, but Danny just looked like a young woman who’d finally learned what it meant to love herself.
Skylar’s cell phone rang, to which she answered and had a hurried conversation with someone on the other side. The look Skylar shot the pair was enough for Arianna to understand that it meant that something was definitely wrong. Hanging up the phone, Skylar kneeled down beside them, her face somewhat cleared of the blood. “We need to get out of here. Now.”
“Cops?” Arianna asked. She knew it had been a hopeful thought that that’s all it was.
“Danny’s not just throwing off heat. Their instruments back at the safe house are going nuts. Danny is throwing off enough Etheric particles that it’s building up and acting like a beacon. Every Demon, Fey, monster, and half-breed that wants power is going to show up looking to chew on her. We need to get her up and moving n-”
“Finally…” A voice interrupted from the doorway, echoing chillingly along the walls. “I’ve been looking for you for weeks, bitch-child.”
Arianna turned her head to see a rather heftily built man walking confidently towards them.
“Fuck…” Skylar stood, brandishing her knife. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
**
This was bad, very bad. I had only just managed to sit myself up when I noticed him, the man who’d attacked me in the restaurant, the Cambion. I was lost for a short period as my memories returned to me in bursts of how he’d almost killed me, the violence seeming much more vivid than it had previously. No longer did it feel like it’d happened to someone else as I relived every slam onto the concrete, every mental attack he launched on me, how he’d torn me asunder with relative ease. I had been no stronger than a scared child to him the first time we’d met.
‘I found you, and this time I’m going to finish the job,’ came a single thought, the Cambion having attempted to launch an assault on my mind anew. It was strange, feeling his mental assault on my mind now. It was sharp, it felt like it dug into me like a pickaxe, but then it stopped. It didn’t penetrate my mind or anything else. It hurt, but it didn’t injure me. I hadn’t really been paying attention to what had changed about myself more than just the physical changes I was undergoing, but now I could feel myself. I could feel along my mind and my being, and I could feel the scars along where he’d initially attacked me.
I was stronger. Durable. I knew that whatever was making me this way wasn’t human, but at this point I didn’t care about the label anymore. So what if I wasn’t human? Was I really a Demon now? Some strange half-breed? I chuckled as he stood a distance away, looking at me with rageful and confused eyes. It didn’t matter what I was, I knew who I was. As he tried attacking my mind once more I latched onto the feeling, seeing how close my mind could get to his through this connection he was making. All this directed animosity, all this desire to crush me, all the hate of a long-gone world… and then I just… knew him.
**
Skylar watched as Danny began chuckling, occasionally coughing out blood as she did so. It was a fairly disturbing visual, and that was saying something coming from her.
“Yasna…” The name came out of Danny’s mouth in a strange, elongated way. Her tone was deep and her eyes were fixed onto the man. “Son of Aeshma…”
Skylar watched as the man’s expression flattened out. If Danny hadn’t been throwing off so much heat, the way she was speaking definitely would’ve chilled her enough to give her goosebumps.
“False priest of a dead religion…” Danny spoke accusatively to the man.
“Keep my name out of your mouth, traitor-child.” The man’s voice was dangerously sharp, threatening to go off at a moment’s notice. “You will die for what your mother did. I can smell her stink on you from here.”
Skylar’s attention turned back to Danny as she could hear the popping of bones, and when she turned to look she saw Danny standing up from where she sat. With a grimace Danny flexed her hands, making fists and letting them uncurl Skylar could hear Danny’s knuckles crackling.
“Um…” Skylar began, tapping Arianna on the shoulder. “We need to get out of the way.” Skylar knew she couldn’t feasibly take on the Cambion on her own, maybe with the help of another hunter or two, but something about how Danny just felt, the air around her, Skylar couldn’t help but feel these two were both able to outclass her. She’d be impressed if it wasn’t so daunting.
Arianna stood up and backed away from Danny, who gave her a warm smile. “I love you babygirl, and I know you were protecting me for a long time. Let me protect you here.” Danny turned her attention to the man again, straightening her back, cracks and pops all along her as she did.
Skylar tilted her head, was Danny shorter than she was previously? Did that even matter when it came to Demons? Danny was obviously still changing, but right now her focus was on something of a more pressing issue.
“Hey, if you think you can, be my guest. I’ll be over here, as backup,” Skylar said, giving Danny a thumbs-up.
“If you think any of you are getting out of here alive, you’re mistaken,” the Cambion said, looking towards Skylar and Arianna.
“If you so much as lay one finger on either of them, Yasna, so help me…” Danny took a few steps towards the Cambion. “Babel as my witness, I will send you back to Aeshma in pieces.” As if to emphasize her point, Danny clacked her teeth together. Bones crunched and Danny fell to a knee, holding her ribs as they slowly collapsed smaller.
**
How does someone go about explaining what it feels like to… shrink? I could say it was bone-snapping, but my bones didn’t break one iota. I could say it was like a twisting sensation, but that wouldn’t be quite right either. The pain, though, was blindingly easy to describe: Imagine, if you can, the old, time-honored tradition of pressing a person. Now imagine being pressed with stones, and people are also kicking you with steel-toed cowboy boots along your ribs, all the while the worst cramp you’ve ever had seizes your muscles between your ribs and pulls them tight from the inside. Sure, I could’ve just said it was painful and unpleasant, but it doesn’t really do it justice.
I heard Yasna laughing, and I knew why. I was still in the midst of my changes, which put me at a severe disadvantage if we fought. All it would take is a powerful wrench here and a muscle contraction there and I’d be unable to defend myself properly while under attack. My display earlier was almost entirely thwarted by his new confidence. Almost. Fact was, I could still feel the charged animosity, I could feel an almost indignant fear just beneath the surface. He more than hated me--he was scared of me.
“Do you really think in your current state that you’d be able to fight back? I will make the ones you love ble-”
“I am so sick of it,” I said, cutting him off. “I’m so sick of the threats, so sick of everyone trying to fear-monger me, so sick of people telling me what I am and am not able to do…” I raised my head, looking right at him, pointing angrily at him. “Fuck you! Fuck you and everyone like you! I’ve had enough!” I slammed a fist into the stage below me, causing a significant amount of damage in the process. I could feel my bones continuing to pop and contort, but I stood up as best I could on my shaky legs. “Fuck… you…” I growled at him. At the time I hadn’t even noticed that I’d begun salivating. I was angry. I was hungry.
**
To Skylar, Danny looked unhinged. Shortly before the shrieking outburst that escaped Danny, Skylar had noticed that Danny was drooling, staring at the Cambion as if she’d just found a delicious steak.
“Get out,” Babel said from behind Skylar, causing her to whip around. “There’s an exit out the side, leading to the back alley. You both need to get out.”
“What’s wrong with the kid?” Skylar asked, already trying to push a struggling Arianna out the side way.
“The change she’s going through is strong, and it’s hard on her body. Normally this kind of thing takes time, a lot more time than this. Right now she’s probably starving, and a Cambion is a Demonic half-breed,” Babel said very matter-of-factly.
“She’s going to eat the Cambion?” Skylar said, feeling more than a little repulsed by the thought.
“Not in the way you’re thinking. She’s not requiring food, she’s requiring energy, which he’s filled with,” Babel said, escorting them out the side door.
“That still sounds like cannibalism. Is she going to be able to beat him alone?” Skylar asked, keeping her grip firm on Arianna as they walked down the alley. Before Babel was able to reply the Cambion walked through a wall, stepping in front of three of them. Just as Skylar’s guts were about to drop out of her ass, Danny rushed through the same hole he’d made. She ran her shoulder into him, and even though she was a good deal smaller than him, this time she’d tackled them both into traffic. The Cambion took the brunt of the hit when a small Camry ran into them, causing them both to spin out into the road. With groans of pain from both of them, both Danny and the Cambion managed to stand back up.
“I don’t know,” Babel conceded.
**
Babel didn’t exactly have a heart, or, at least not the physical kind like humans do, but if she did it would’ve been racing. She was afraid for Danny, afraid of what was going to happen to her, afraid of just her inability to provide support to this young woman she’d forgotten she loved. Babel knew her own death was coming, and it was coming quickly, but if she stepped into this fight she’d die today, and she’d only be a hindrance to Danny. She’d never been in this position before, where she could only provide moral support. She was a woman of action. Seeing this Cambion, this Yasna, brought back terrible memories from those centuries ago during the final crusade. The Cambions had sided with the angel after Babel had betrayed Aeshma to the religious inquisitors, and as such his children vowed to avenge him. Truthfully, she didn’t know if Aeshma survived.
Though as she looked at both Danny and Yasna it occurred to her that this was history just replaying itself. The children fighting their parents' war. This very thing was what her kind had been against from the start, why they’d been hunted for millenia. Babel fought against the organizing of religion of all kinds, because they’d all been around corrupt beings looking to further their own power, not caring what it did to the humans. But she was a Tutelary; by her very design, she cared. She couldn’t tell you if she was a Demon or just some other kind of spirit from a different reality similar to hell, she couldn’t remember that far back anymore. She had done her best… hadn’t she? Everything she stood for had led up to this. She, like her predecessors, had been unable to break free from Ouroboros.
Though as Danny reared up to lunge at Yasna again, she could feel that something was different here. Danny was not fighting for the same reasons they had, in fact she didn’t want to fight over something she had no part in all those years ago. For a moment, through the flashing of fangs and slashing of claws, Babel felt a sliver of hope. Perhaps Danny could do the one thing she’d never been able to do? Maybe Danny could break that cycle… Perhaps she could slay Ouroboros.
And that was reason enough to die for.
**
I was grateful, at the time, that most of the people around us had done their best to not get involved… at least not directly. I was having a hard enough time focusing through the pain that I couldn’t afford to also try to protect someone else. I coughed heavily as Yasna flung me into the side of a van, little sparkles invading my vision from the impact. Truthfully, that wasn’t the only thing causing me agony, but I couldn’t inspect it as Yasna was pressing himself into me, his hands on my neck. It was everything I could do to breathe and keep his ham-fists from crushing my windpipe.
“I have to admit, now that I can truly see what you’re becoming, I know I was right. You could’ve been stunning,” Yasna said, licking his lips as he redoubled his efforts to strangle me. All I could think of at that moment was that, 1) I was very sick of him monologuing, and 2) My tailbone felt as if I’d broken it. I’d done that once before when I was twelve, I’d slipped on the ice playing hockey with a few friends… and this was very similar. Similar, but not the same. Shocks of pain fired down my back and into my tailbone, each time feeling like the bone itself was pressing its way out of my skin.
“When I’m done with you… I’ll save your girlfriend for myself, have a little fun with her,” Yasna said, his hot breath stinking in my face.
“Yes… yes… I get it!” I groaned out, my legs kicking as he lifted me up and pressed me harder into the van. It hadn’t taken me too long to realize what had been happening up to this point. “You’re… super evil!” I felt my tail, yes my tail, pushing out longer and longer. I could feel nerves and muscles coming alive in it, feeling the impulses to move it as I struggled. “But you forget… I’m… still… becoming!” Moving it was a chore, and it felt awkward, but when I flexed a certain way it tore its way free. I only had a rudimentary knowledge on how to move it at best, but I could still swing it with as much force as I could muster. Batter up!
He shouted as my tail impacted with his side, and I was finally able to get a decent look at it. It was still getting longer, getting thicker with more muscle, and the tip was a boney spade with a jagged edge. When I flexed I could somewhat move the ridges apart from each other, exposing spines underneath. Not exactly what I had expected, then again it’s not like I went out of my way to look at Babel’s tail. Like daughter, like-- No. I took his moment of distraction with my new addition and bit into him as hard as I could. His skin tasted like dust and rot, and somehow his blood tasted like a thick wine… it almost sizzled in my throat. With a roar he slapped me with his free hand, and for a moment my vision was a kaleidoscope of spots and colors.
Before he could do more, Babel swiped him with her tail, and sent him several feet away. I did get a good look at it from this distance, and it seemed the same… in theory. Though the jagged edges were worn down, many of the spines were gone. I felt sadness welling up in me as I looked at it. She was old, and she was wearing down. I could almost smell the energy bleeding out of her as she atrophied.
“Babel, you can’t be in physical form, you’ll die,” I said, rubbing at my neck. She turned to me, and her smile was so genuine, so serene and accepting.
“You are worth dying for.”
I froze. What was I supposed to say in response to that? What could I say? She reached a hand out and placed it on my cheek, and I could feel the warmth of her palm on my cheek.
“I have had children before, but all humans, all adopted. I have never truly had a child of my own, one like me.”
“Stop it,” I said, feeling the first of what would later be a torrent of tears, run down my face. I didn’t want to hear it. I wanted to stay mad at her. I couldn’t just forgive her. Could I?
“Though, you were human like the others I’ve adopted… you have a piece of me with you. A real piece. I wish I could say I was as much your mother as your blood-mother, but I have not behaved as such,” she continued.
I pushed her off of me with a grunt. “Shut it! In case you’ve forgotten, we’re killing an asshole right now.” I turned back to Yasna, who’d managed to finally push the car that had run him over off, and was standing up. I didn’t have to see it to feel it, her smile.
“Yes, we are,” Babel said, almost cooing. I hated how it made me feel…
**
Arianna watched as Danny raced from behind the van with Babel in tow, and a shocked laugh escaped her. “Does Danny have a…”
“Tail? Yeah, it would appear so,” Skylar remarked, sounding more amused than anything. “She’s still changing, even in the middle of fighting. She’s one hard-knock bitch.” Skylar reached into her pocket as she retrieved her phone, clicking her tongue while she thought. “This isn’t good.”
“What?” Arianna asked, prying her eyes away from the fight.
“There’s reports of minor fights breaking out all over this part of the city. It appears the combination of Danny’s Etheric runoff and the Cambion’s psychic assault are creating a resonance field, driving some lesser creatures into a frenzy. There’s reports of Imps stirring up trouble uptown, and some lesser fey losing their shit.”
“What can we do about it?” Arianna asked, her tone more than a little huffy, causing Skylar to raise her hands defensively. “From what you said, we step in, we die. So what are we--” Arianna’s phone began ringing, buzzing wildly as she went to retrieve it.
“Wait, that’s your ringtone?”
“Yeah, so what?”
Skylar clicked her tongue and smiled. “After Me by Saliva, nice.”
Arianna looked at the ID before answering. “Jericho, now’s really not a--”
“Are you and Danny okay?” asked an unfamiliar voice. “Please tell me you’re both alright.”
“I’m sorry… who is this?” Arianna asked.
There was a sigh on the other end, and the tapping of what sounded like a fingernail on a desk. “There’s a lot that needs to be explained, but right now is not the time. Just tell me you and Sticks are alright,” the voice pleaded. Whoever she was, she was at least aware of Danny’s nickname, so they knew her personally somehow.
“I am, but Danny’s in trouble,” Arianna said.
The person on the other side was quiet for a moment. “Tell me where you are, I can help.”
“Uh… no. I have no idea who you are.”
“Listen up, Twinkles, I will explain everything LATER. Just tell me where you are and I’ll help!”
Arianna’s eyebrows shot up. Only one person ever called her Twinkles, and it was a private nickname.
“J-Jericho..?”
**
I was running out of steam, fast. Anger can only carry you so long before you just burn out, I guess. Though as rough as he looked, Yasna seemed to have plenty more. I guess it came with being older… and stronger. Babel couldn’t bleed, but every time she got hit or hit him she’d hemorrhage what energy she had left. The fight needed to be over soon, or at least rock at a different pace. It didn’t help that my clothes had begun to fit me awkwardly, swimming in some places and tight in others. That and I wish I could’ve had at least a few moments to get acquainted with my tail, as I kept incidentally hitting myself or Babel with it without meaning to. The situation was frustrating, to say the least.
“ENOUGH!” Yasna yelled and kicked Babel, booting her a fair distance away. She stayed down, the only signs that she was still living was that she tried moving her arms and head to sit up, but wasn’t able to. “I will not be treated this way by a couple of rats!” Up until this point, his psychic assaults had done no harm, but had still hurt and still used up some of my energy from just the exhausting barrage. But this one REALLY hurt. His fist connected with my cheek at the same time his mind connected to mine, and it felt like someone had managed to hit my face and brain at the same time with two different sledgehammers. I wish I could say I didn’t go down, but I did.
I could smell ozone as I breathed through my nose, and I believed that he’d possibly given me some kind of brain-bleed, or caused me to have a stroke or something. The air felt prickly, like it was charged with static. Whatever this was… it couldn’t be good.
“Who the fuck are you?” Yasna demanded, yelling at someone who was approaching from behind me.
I looked up.
The girl wore her dark hair down, falling in loose ringlets around her face and down her back. Short skirt, heeled boots, and a crop top that barely left anything to the imagination. She was pretty--not my type, but pretty. Her eyes darted between the Cambion, Babel, and me, as if trying to make something out of the situation. She unslung the guitar from her shoulder and raised her hands.
“Woah, I’m sorry… I think I made a wrong turn…” the girl stammered.
Yasna growled, stomping over to the new girl.
I have never heard a guitar make that sound before. Then again, I’ve never seen a scrawny twenty-something girl hit a Cambion across the face with a guitar before. The guitar didn’t even break… What the hell was it made out of?
The Cambion stumbled backwards, holding his face.
“That you, Sticks?”
I blinked, looking at the girl. I didn’t recognise her. “Yeah, I’m Sticks,” I replied to her, backing away from the Cambion and slowly getting up.
The girl whistled at me, and then chuckled. “Nice. I’m not going to lie, as Darren you were a 7 out of 10, but as you are now? 10 out of 10, you are so hot.” The girl smiled brightly at me. “By the way, you can call me Jericha. Yes, I know, it’s a whole thing and it’s kind of mind-blowing, but trust me! All will be revealed in due time. Right now… let’s--”
I wrapped my arms around my friend. I had missed hi-her a lot, and thought that because of my changes I’d lose my relationship with them.
She patted me on the back. “Yes, yes, I get it. But… priorities--HOLY SHIT.” She held me out at arms-length. “Holy shit, you’re hot… no, I mean you’re actually burning me. And.. damn… I thought I got stacked!” she said, gesturing to my chest.
My face, though burning from the change would have blushed, if I was at all capable in that moment.
Yasna growled his disapproval, clenching his hands into fists, letting out clicks and pops. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with. You continuously fail to take me seriously… to take THIS SERIOUSLY!” He held Babel, who was barely conscious, up over his head in one hand. “I did not wait centuries to avenge my father just to have it mocked by a couple of upstart bitches!”
“We don’t care,” Jericha said, turning to him.
“What?” Yasna asked, seemingly stunned by how placid we were in this moment.
“We. Don’t. Care. Not about you, not about your quest for vengeance. Truthfully, I don’t really know what’s going on here, or even why all this bulltshit is going down. All I know is, my best friend became a smoking hot chick, and some creepy dude is trying to kill her. Other than that, I don’t give one fuck.”
**
Skylar watched from a distance, listening alongside Arianna. “I’m going to say it. That. All of that--” she chuckled, running her hands down her sides. “I am so fucking wet right now.”
I really really want Babel and Danny to get to know each other as mother and daughter but the way things are going I don't think that's gonna happen
. Thank you for the chapter ✨✨✨