Qrow.

Chapter 37 | Another Loss

Ryan-Ashley's hands were shaking so much, she could barely manage to raise a tea cup to her lips. She almost dropped the piece of chine trying to set it back down. Marci could see herself in her, having painful flashbacks to when she'd lost Felix. The two women sat quietly in the drawing room while waiting on Felix to return.

Marci tensed up when she heard Jasper's cane against the hardwoods. She didn't bother to even look at him. The only time he made her uncomfortable was situations like this. There was obviously something gravely wrong, and it's never good when he feels the need to involve himself. 

"Ma'am, my name is Jasper Knight. I'm the head of this estate and the warden of the asylum. My apologies you didn't receive the warmest of welcomes, but the hunters were just doing their job. They didn't know any better. Your family will be out soon. My deepest sympathies are with you. I'm sorry for your loss."

She tightened her hand around the arm of the chair, "How do you know?"

"Marci, would you excuse us?" He asked of the young lady. She had no other choice than to obey him, removing herself from the room. He sat down in a seat across from Ryan-Ashley. "I know everything. It can be unfortunate at times. There's some things I wish I didn't know. The others are unaware, though. I just found out a few hours ago myself and thought it more appropriate to wait until morning."

As much as Felix wanted to be involved in this conversation, he knew better. When he led his parents and uncle to the room, he was just as quick to excuse himself. Ricky, Ryan, and Ghost were pretty tired, but they could never be too tired for their family. She stood up and received tight hugs from all of them. It'd been almost two years since they'd seen her in person.

"What happened?" Ricky asked as they settled into their seats, "Where's Josh?"

Her silver hair fell in front of her face as she lowered her head. She felt the tears threatening her eyes as she answered, "Josh is dead." Her words took the life right out of them, "We were attacked by this- Well, I don't know what the fuck he was. All I know is he beat the shit out of me and killed Josh. He kept asking us about some stone."

"I... I don't even know what to say." Ricky sighed, "I'm so sorry, Ryan. I thought, being on Earth, you two would've been safe. Sebastian and Maria were both murdered recently, over the same thing."

"I'd bargain to guess they left you behind for a reason. They wanted you to come here and tell us, so they could scare us. They're taunting us." Jasper said.

"Who exactly is "they"?" Ryan asked, "I'm sick of your cryptic shit. This has gone too far. I want some fucking answers out of you."

He lowered his head, taking a moment to compose himself. "I know. I'm getting there. Ma'am, I know this is hard on you, but can you describe your attacker in any way?"

Ryan-Ashley sniffled, "Tomorrow, when I'm not so shaken up, I'll try to draw a sketch of him. He had dark hair, about the same length as Ricky's. He was pretty big, and he had an accent. I... I couldn't place it. It sounded sharp, middle eastern, maybe."

"That son of a bitch." Jasper's names tightened around his cane, "I was afraid of this. Before I get ahead of myself, let me start from the beginning. Many, many centuries ago, when creatures were allowed to roam the earth in peace, we were treated like Gods. Then, around the time the Ottoman Empire came to power, dark creatures were suddenly being treated like trash. They were hunting us like mad and we were forced to go into hiding. This lead many creatures down the wrong paths and our world became utter chaos.

At the time, I was one of the most powerful demons on the planet. The Gods sought me out and ordered me to create the Society of the Fallen. I was appointed the living guardian of the afterlife and the watcher of the underworld. They tasked me with finding creatures capable enough to join the society. Over the years, members have passed and been replaced. The only original members left would be myself and the elves.