Prophecy: Tome of Heart

4. Not Dead, Never Dead

All of them were coughing when they arrived back at the shop, and it seemed like the particularly repulsive cloud of stench had followed after them. What started out like any other demon hunt ended on a sour note when they realized the breed they were fighting excreted a horrible scent as a defense when provoked. Sure, they'd still gotten the job done, but they were certain that the smell would linger on their skin for days to come and they weren't too happy about it.

"It's not like we don't already have enough to worry about as it is with all these demons," Percy stopped to catch her breath, suddenly not feeling all that grateful that she had lungs again. "But now we're one man down?"

"Lay off it," Cliff stepped in, turning to their newly pacified friend, "I think it's a great decision, little brother, I'm glad you made it."

"Hey, you know I love him more than anyone, but all I'm saying is he picked a fine time to give up fighting," the ghost continued.

"Somehow I think you'll all get along fine without me." Austin chuckled, wishing that he hadn't gone along since he was of no use anyway-there was no reason that he should've been sprayed too. Only, it was a learning process now for him to try and figure out just where he belonged in their group since he'd given up his warrior ways.

"To fight is to protect. That is honor." Qui'hara also lacked the capacity to understand his choice, but she worked hard to accept it.

"Let's try to get back to the problem at hand, shall we?" Myrna rose above them, not caring for their commentary.

"Yes, thank you, that's a damn good point." Toby followed behind her directly, throwing his arm around his husband and pulling him close to kiss him. "You can all bitch about this later if you want, but if you feel the need to air your shit right now you can bring it to me. We still have yet to figure out how to deal with this whole demon problem-we're losing innocents because there's too many for us to keep track of."

"But we can't deal with them until we know where they're coming from." Percy connected the obvious dots, sounding bored. After all, they'd gone over it again and again, and saying it out loud one more time didn't change the fact that they were still just as clueless as they had been.

"Exactly, but I think I may have a lead." Myrna cut back in, saying what she already would've had she not been interrupted. "It's been hard getting any leads without good contacts like Dill used to have, but I've managed to scry for some of the similar energy readouts we've been getting from the demons. There's a block a couple of miles from here that's had some high levels this past week, I figure that's as good a place as any to start."

"Good, go, it's better than nothing." Toby shrugged, watching her leave without another word.

"God this feels good, doesn't it?" Cliff grinned, "just like the old days when things were so much simpler. I can even say that I'll go check in at the station again. I'll keep an eye out for any more commotion and take patrol duty-if any more innocents need saving, leave it to me!" Then he was gone too. Qui'hara went after him, not offering any insight to her destination.

"Well then, I, uh, guess I'll head back out there and find something else to do too." Percy was the last to depart, and she already had a fair idea as to what she would spend her time doing-and it wasn't anything for the betterment of mankind. That left Toby and Austin all alone, and though they could probably think of a few things to help out, they were more interested in following in the footsteps of their ghostly friend. After all, they'd done their part for the day-they'd killed some demons and saved some people-there was no reason they couldn't head home and relax.