Prophecy: Tome of Embers

15. Heavy Is the Head

As much as each and every one of them would've liked to celebrate the victory they had claimed over Monica, Toby and the others found that the world they had left behind wasn't so accommodating. They'd only gone away from it for a short while, but in that time it had been left open and vulnerable. Yet it proved to be enough, and when they returned to it they found that it was not how they remembered it. No, they found it riddled with demons, more than they'd seen up until that point, and it wasn't a hard guess to figure out where they'd come from.

Even with the rising threat they had other lives they had to juggle-for the most part. Lorelei and Austin didn't really have any commitments, but Toby had work and Myrna had her shop. It would've been helpful had Qui'hara decided to stick around, but they were comforted knowing she was off saving people, and that was a good thing. Still, the toll was harsh and they found that they had to rotate out in their little group, with Toby and Lorelei taking turns. They were stretched thin, and even Myrna was helping. It was more necessary than ever to stay on top of all the chaos, especially since they were one man down now.

Today it was Lorelei and Myrna who were teamed up, taking on the strange beast that had several sets of translucent wings sticking out of its back. Using her magic, Myrna had been able to scry for demons one after the other for them to vanquish, making for a very effective system. Everything about them worked well-Myrna stood back and offered mystical support while Lorelei handled the rest. The winged demon stood no match against the pair, and as soon as a blast from Myrna sent him staggering back he had no chance against the series of kicks that the leather loving thief placed to its chest before running it through with her companion witch's athame.

After the creature had taken its last breath, Lorelei tossed the sanguine stained blade back to its owner. Even though she only offered support, it had surprised the whole gang when Myrna has said that she wanted to help with the demon fighting. She'd been so reluctant before, so unwilling to put herself in this situation out of fear or disinterest or lack of faith in her own talents. Yet there was something about everything that'd happened that had helped her to change her mind, and it wasn't just one black and white situation that had made her change her mind.

She knew that it had begun with Cliff. He had believed in her, encouraged her to believe in herself, and that was a very powerful motivator. Then there was Austin. It wasn't just what had happened to him, with his kidnapping and all the things Monica had done when she'd had him in her lab. It was before that, the way that he was in his very soul. Good. No matter what had happened to him, with the Anchoress, no matter how broken he was, he still wanted to help people. He never gave up, and if he could find the strength to rise up from being so low than so could she.

She hoped to tell him that one day. Both of them.

"Good work," Lorelei patted her gruffly on the back as she stretched and waited to be pointed in the direction of their next mark.

"Thanks." Myrna smiled lightly as she readied her scrying materials. "Do you think we should swap out with Toby, you know, so you can get some rest?"

"Yeah right, good luck with that, he just got out of work, there's no way you're going to pry him away from Austin." In truth, Lorelei didn't need to say it because it was a simple fact that the both of them already knew.

"Okay. Well it looks like our next baddie is just a couple blocks away, by the old library." Myrna gathered her things and started off in that direction, knowing that her comrade would fall in line behind her. It wasn't like she minded keeping this particular team together, it was nice having girl time-even if it was to kill demons. Lorelei didn't mind either, there was something about fighting evil that she just didn't quite get from stealing things. Not that the latter wasn't good too, but she liked to entertain a broad array of interests.