✓ DYING MOURNINGS, original

one : alliances

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𝐎𝐍𝐄 : 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒

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"What are we going to do?" whispered Blondie, pacing in front of me. She had a nervous arm wrapped around her middle and her other hand was working its way through her hair. Her face was pale and there was black soot dusted across her cheeks and clothes.

I slid off the hood of Crow's car, shrugging because I really didn't know. We had driven maybe a mile from the barn before we pulled over to take a moment to breathe and think, that was thirty minutes ago. We had watched a fire truck come the opposite road and we watched the smoke slowly fade out into the sky.

"There has to be something we can do," she continued, picking at her bottom lip. "I mean, we just saw a fucking dead body, Blaire. We–we have to go to the cops, tell them more–" She slapped her thigh, scowling. "But of course we can't because the police are on John's payroll, the dick." She was rambling and I let her as I racked my own brain to figure out what to do.

John had taken Crow right from underneath my feet and then slaughtered Dr. Hex in the time it took for me and Blondie to leave my house and get to the barn. I moved my weight from foot to foot, easing the slight tingle out of my feet from how they'd fallen asleep. It was impossible not to let my mind wander from Crow to any other possible thing. When I thought of him, my throat threatened to close.

He could already be dead.

"God, and he has your goddamn knife," said Blondie, still rambling. Her voice cracked and she turned to look at me, tears in her eyes. "Tell me we're not screwed, okay? Tell me we can beat this."

I looked her in the eyes and didn't have the heart to lie. Not now. "I don't know."

"Oh my god," she cried, shaking her head. "At least tell me you've–you've killed a demon without your knife. At least tell me it's still possible to protect ourselves."

"I still needed the knife," I explained. "We could use holy water, like the bottle we brought tonight but we'd need the knife to kill them dead."

"Can we make our own?"

"I–" I stopped myself from saying no because I didn't know. "It's possible."

"Okay, okay," she muttered, nodding as she wiped her face, "this is good, we have an actual plan."

"And that is?"

She grinned. "Make more knives."

I pulled out my cigarettes from my bag, needing the smoke as I nodded along to her idea. I lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply before responding. "There's probably a spell for it in one of my mom's journals."

"Then we go back to Crow's place and figure out what to do."

"I think there's a place we should go first," I muttered, rubbing the back of my head where a small headache was beginning to form. I had been getting them even when there wasn't a spirit around and I had a horrible feeling it had to do with John. "Crow's missing and his...coworkers need to know."

Blondie frowned.

"The Clandestine Church probably isn't open but I know someone who's always around that we can speak to."