Every King Needs A Queen / Book Three / Daring Spell Series / The Originals

Savior

 I was standing in the French Quarter, looking around.

Vincent walked closer. "You're ballsy, that's for sure, Auria. Showing your face in public with the Strix after you."

"I'm not afraid," I told him.

We walked down the street.

"Yeah, I can see that," Vincent told me.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I need for you to make a house-call," Vincent told me. "Kinney got fired last week."

I stopped walking, surprised. "What? No. But he--he's a good cop."

"Yeah, he was a good cop," Vincent told me. "Until he started having blackouts, going MIA when he was supposed to be on duty. I mean, there are gaping holes in his reports, arrests he can't explain..." I realized that this was all from Lucien's compulsion, back when he had kidnapped Will and Cami and compelled Will. "Missing evidence he can't explain. And now, he's isolating, he's not coming out of the house, he's not taking my phone calls..."

"I'll go see him," I told him. "He was my friend before all of this. There has to be something I can say."

"Thank you," Vincent told me.

I nodded.

We walked down the street.

 ~~~  

I just got to Will's house, knocking on the door, though he didn't answer. I raised my voice to call out to him through the door. "Will? You in there? It's Auria."

Marcel walked up behind me. "I assume you called first. I've been told turning up at someone's home uninvited could be considered rude."

I gave him a look. "Are you seriously following me? Marcel, I don't need a bodyguard, or some white knight trying to protect me."

"With the Strix out to get you, maybe you do," Marcel told me. I gave him a look. Marcel looked at me seriously. "And maybe I'm here because it's Christmas, and I figured that the best present that I can give to my girl is to help her with her friend."

I looked at him in surprise, touched, smiling a small smile. I turned to the door. "Vincent said he'd be home..."

Marcel was using his vampire hearing to listen to what was happening inside. "Shh, shh."

Marcel put a finger to his lips, focusing his hearing, rushing toward the door, kicking it open. 

I could see that Will was about to shoot himself, running through the front door toward him. "Oh, my God." Marcel was forced to stay behind at the threshold since he hadn't been invited in. "Will! No!"

Will instinctively aimed the gun at me.

Marcel watched worriedly. "Auria!"

"You shouldn't have come here," Will told us.

I looked at him in alarm and concern, trying my best to talk him down. "Will, it's gonna be okay. Just drop the gun."

Will looked nearly hysterical, gesturing around with the gun. "Insert empathetic psychobabble here. It's not okay."

Marcel was worried about both of our safety, knowing that I didn't want Will to be hurt, trying to help me calm him down. "Put the gun down."

"Or what?" Will asked. "You'll save me the bullet? I'm the definition of worthless. I try and try to make a difference, but there are things lurking out there in the shadows, and... And in the face of them, I am nothing. Do you understand?"