Vivienne

Vivienne walked around the remains of the council chamber and noted that no other vampire in the room escaped the onslaught.  Amid the puddles of vampire parts, Vivienne made her way to Patricia who’d killed herself with a hunk of metal jammed into her femoral artery and lay atop of what remained of Franco Tarsey.  Vivienne looked down at the empty open eyes of the elder, “Sorry this happened.  All of it was a ruse to get me here, for some reason.”  She knelt down beside the man, “I will do my best to avenge you.”  Vivienne reached down and closed Franco’s eyes. “I hope you two find each other in whatever afterlife you have.”  The lights went out in a loud pop and doused the ancient vampire in near complete darkness, with only the emergency lighting kicking on.  Feeling her blood supply getting low, Vivienne looked once more at Patricia. “Nothing left, I am sure.”  She huffed and walked out of the council room.  Vivienne reached the third floor balcony and spotted Captain Kino retreating into the distance.  All around the room bodies laid charred on the floor, either dried husks reminiscent of a mummy or in a pool of bloody ooze. “Who are you…”  Vivienne wondered aloud.

“I bet it was their leader that did that last part.”  Kody calmly walked up to Vivienne while holding an umbrella in their hand. “That knocked out the power, so I gathered what I could and came out.  I figured it was safe at this point since the sprinklers were done.”  Kody scanned the area with their HUD. “I have already checked the rest of the building, you and I are the only ones left in here.”  Kody pulled off the backpack they were wearing. “I hid in the refrigerator.”  Opening the pack, Kody handed Vivienne a couple bags of blood. “I took what I could, It won’t stay useful with the power out.”

Vivienne quickly punctured the first bag and drained its contents in a few gulps.  Wiping her lips free of the excess, she perked one of her eyebrows. “Here I thought Faye was a quick thinker.”

Kody twirled the umbrella and shrugged. “It seemed like the logical place to hold out.  There is only one sprinkler in the walk-in and it seals shut, air tight.”  Kody drank from a bag of blood, “I broke the one sprinkler with a shelf and waited for all the commotion to stop.”  Fastening the buckles on the backpack, Kody swung the back over their back again. “I just stumbled across the umbrella.  Seemed prudent.”  Kody started walking with Vivienne for the exit when they stopped. “We don’t have long, word is EMS has one truck almost out of the way.  Less than five minutes?”

“Are you sure there is no one else here, Kody?”  Vivienne asked once her second bag of blood was depleted. “I made a promise to Faye to make sure that I would save all that I could.”  Vivienne sensed Faye close but in the wrong direction. “I sent her to take care of…” Vivienne followed her instinct and dashed out of the front entrance of Phantasmagoria, just in time to see a brilliant flash of light and the group disappear like nothing had happened. “Damn it!”  Stomped her foot and shattered the red brick pavers that made the entrance. “Mon amour…”  Vivienne took a deep and steady breath, “You’d want me to get the others out of here.”  Vivienne mumbled and kicked the dust of the brick she’d shattered.

Kody tapped Vivienne on the shoulder. “Nothing you could have done, Doctor Moreau.”  They scanned the house. “Nothing but latent magic…left over.”  Kody shrugged and pointed to Casey. “Look there, your ward is safe at the very least.”

Vivienne dashed over to Casey, “Are you alright?”  Vivienne ran her fingers over the length of Casey’s body to make sure she was alright.  It was only after Vivienne had performed her inspection that she saw Sylvie sitting on the ground crying. “Luna?”

Kody silently walked up and sat down beside his moon gifted friend. “Sylvie?”  Kody whispered, showing a hint of emotion for the first time. “Here..”  They pulled out a couple more bags of blood and handed it over.

Sylvie felt her wounds still oozing blood and gratefully took the two bags that Kody offered.  Draining one slowly, Sylvie’s red rimmed eyes dimmed and began to shine like a full moon once more.  She looked up at Casey. “I couldn’t leave you trapped after your valiant defense.” 

Kody darted their power button eyes, reading the information being transferred from their HUD in real time. “This is already going to be a mess for the Veil Council to fix, we can’t get caught.”  Standing up and handing Sylvie a small card, Kody nodded once. “When you are ready, that is where you can find me.”  Waiving to Vivienne and Casey, Kody shifted into what looked like a metallic steam powered seagull and flew off into the distance.

“You are welcome at the manor should you choose to follow, Miss Miakoda.”  Vivienne offered.

“I will gladly take you up on that offer, Vivienne.”  Sniffling and standing up, Sylvie gave Casey a hug. “You saved me at the cost of losing someone close to you.”  She plucked another feather from her headband. “I am in your debt, give that back once you feel the debt has been paid.”

Casey watched Vivienne shift into a raven and fly off fast towards Ravenstead Manor. “We need each other right now.  You are a mess and I need to get out of here before we are seen.”

Sylvie looked at the moon that had just started peeking through the cloud cover. “I know the back alleys of this city pretty well.”  

Casey looked down at the mud and quicksand that Brian trapped her in. “I loved him, you know.”

Sylvie tugged on Casey’s hand, “Tell me about it as we run.”

When Dusty started wildly barking Heather stopped what she was doing in the medical cabinet and knelt down over the yellow hair dog. “What is it boy?”  Heather softly coaxed and rubbed the dog behind his ears. “Don’t worry, Denise will be back in a little bit.” Feeling the hair on the back of her neck rise, the older gray-brown haired woman hugged the cute dog and smiled. “You are more in turn with her than any of us I think, Dusty.”  Heather received a light yap in response and the dog ran around her legs, his tail wagging in a blur.

Seconds later a bright pine green doorway appeared out of thin air and crackled close to the empty stretchers that Heather prepared before the crew had departed for the mission.  Heather quickly scanned her triage area and first saw Denise step through the magical door. “Loved One.”  Heather quickly bowed.

“Heather, good.”  Denise stepped to the side and pointed to the portal. “There are six of us.  One is, well, a treasured find.”  Pulling back her hood, Denise shook out her dusty-blonde hair. “Captain Mattson is injured.”

A shocked look appeared in Heather’s brown eyes. “Six out of what thirty?”  Captain Addison couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Everything sounded completely normal here, Loved One.”  Heather flicked out her bluetooth device and it landed on her medical cart with a little flick of her white rune. “Ho…how did we lose …”

Denise raised one eyebrow and slyly smiled. “They were a bit more prepared than Captain Mattson indicated.”

Captain Kino and Captain Jonah stepped through next, “So fucking cool!” Captain Kino balled up her fist and waved it at Heather, “I am telling you right now Heather, The Loved One.”  Angelie was half out of breath from running, “Her and Captain Mattson, they are the best team ever.  Fuck Yeah.”

Heather saw Captain Jonah walk-stumbling and rushed over to help him stand. “I got ya Charlie.”  She walked the thin mage to one of the beds and carefully helped him onto the stretcher. “What’s wrong with him?”  Heather gazed at the others standing in the room.

“He used quite a bit of magic setting the trucks to explode.”  Denise said flatly and slipped off her parka.  She knelt down in front of her faithful dog, “Good evening, Dusty.”  A hectic yelp and a flurry of licks across Denise’s cheeks made the small woman giggle. “Yes boy, So glad to see you too.”  Denise scratched under Dusty’s chin. “Sorry I couldn’t take you with me, it was a little too dangerous for you.”  Denise’s eyes scanned her barn and then back to her dog. “I hope Heather was a great substitute.”  Dusty hopped in place for a second, then ran around Heather’s legs and back to Denise.  Petting the dog on his head a final time, Denise walked over to a bench and sat down. “I take that as a yes.”  Unbuckling her boots, Denise slipped on her paint stained sneakers. “We will have company very soon, Captain Kino.”

“What do you mean, Loved One?” Angelie walked over and sat down beside Denise. “We just kicked their collective asses.  No way they are coming now.”  She kept her fist balled up, “I didn’t see any of them alive.”  She grinned, “That electric shock was amazing timing, Loved One.”

Denise pointed to the portal when Raollet and Brian walked through, carrying Faye. “That is the reason, Captain.”  Denise got up and walked upstairs to her studio. “I suspect we have less than an hour to prepare.”