A Home for Lost Boys

~Nineteen~

{Possible trigger warnings: swearing, skeletons, mention of betrayal

If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know}

"Didn't expect you to be out here tonight." Roman frowned when Virgil walked up with Logan. "Something happen?"

The White Court crossed his arms, glaring back in the direction of the Sanctuary. "Nina's here."

Roman grimaced. "Lovely."

"She smells awful."

"Most of JJ's team does." He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "With who's already there, and who we still have to get into the Sanctuary, I'm starting to think aggressive action would be better."

"What do you mean?" Logan pushed his glasses up, looking interested. "If we try to attack first, it won't work well."

"No, it won't." Roman agreed. "But maybe we can get him to attack. Bait him into it somehow..."

Virgil nodded. "Force his hand."

"The problem is that I have no clue how to do that. He's a f*cking madman, but he's a smart madman."

All three of them jumped when a new voice joined the conversation. "To stop him, you've got to think like him."

"What the f*ck?!" Roman leapt up. His vision went a little hazy and he felt that stabbing pain in his hands that meant his fingers had elongated into huge claws.

"Don't even try it, Meathead." Nina inspected her nails.

Roman growled at her, taking a half step forward.

"Don't. Try it." Her quiet tone took a biting edge. "I can filet you where you stand without even raising a finger."

Virgil hissed, shadows beginning to gather at his boots a little bit. "What do you want, you godless b*tch?"

"Watch your attitude, Court." Nina locked eyes with Roman. "To stop JJ, you have to think like JJ. Which I assume would be very hard for you, because you, unlike him, are a good person."

"What do you want?" Roman demanded.

She shrugged, crossing her arms. "I saw your friends leaving, wanted to see what was going on... Pietos won't shut up about you, y'know."

Something scrabbled in the darkness to their left. Roman didn't bother looking to see what it was, he had a pretty good idea. Nina's eyes flickered with a dark, maniac energy.

Virgil shifted closer to Roman's side as he clenched his jaw. "Get to it, Nina. You know I hate beating around the bush."

"Oh darling, I know." She raised her eyebrows. "You really aren't putting the pieces together?"

Roman growled again.

"I'm offering to help you, you dunce."

"Hell no!" Virgil spat. "I don't trust you as far as I could throw you."

Nina snickered. "I'll point out that you could probably throw me a good distance, considering your kind's strength. And besides, I'm not making the offer to you. I'm making the offer to Roman."

Roman flexed his fingers slowly, forcing the cloudiness on the edges of his vision away. "What do you get out of this?"

The chattering in the shadows got louder, became wilder. Virgil hissed again and backed up a pace, taking a defensive position.

"JJ has lied to me." Nina growled, her face now twisted with rage. Roman could see Gremlin standing behind her now, the skeleton's leering grin glittering in the faint lamplight that Logan had brought. "He has deceived me and used me, he has turned me into a tool for his benefit and his benefit only. I want him to die for that."

Claws sank into Roman's shoulder and he began to take a swing on instinct, but Virgil grabbed his wrist and held him in place. He looked up at his sudden cape ornament, seeing Logan's vibrant blue scales next to his face.

She could very well be an ally to us, the dragonshifter's voice whispered in his mind.

Roman flinched, then nodded slowly. "I know that." He grumbled quietly. "Doesn't mean I like it."

"I'm impatient, Garrat."

"Give me a minute." He snapped at Nina. "Virgil, your input?"

"I say no."

"And Logan says yes." Roman sighed. "Down to me."

Logan hopped off his shoulder and sat on one of the large tree roots to their left. 

"If I say yes to this, you're leaving the Sanctuary alone afterwards, got it?"

Nina rolled her eyes. "Really, Roman, you think I want to get rid of that place? It's beautiful."

Roman glanced at Virgil, then at Logan. He took a slow, deep breath.

"Fine. What are your ideas?"

The necromancer flashed a grin and dropped down onto a nearby tree stump, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. 

"You've got to convince JJ he needs to question his control on the situation. You want him to act first, and you need to get his attention to achieve that."

Roman nodded. "He's not easy to trick. We'll have to be smart about it."

"Good thing Logan's here because you're not too hot with that kind of thing." Virgil grumbled. Roman shot him a look.

Logan appeared in human form now, sitting crosslegged on the tree root he was on. "What was the lie?"

Everyone stopped, and Roman did a quick review of the conversation to figure out where the question had come from. He got to it right as Nina did.

"All my life I have been hated. I am an oddity, even among my own kind. I was told by Thompson that the only way I would be accepted would be to rip apart those who hated me. I have seen the way the Sanctuary treats necromancers. I have seen Pietos. I have seen acceptance here, and JJ Thompson is a liar."

The vehemence in her voice hissed out into the air so aggressively that several small carcasses scrabbled their way out of the ground near her feet. Roman backed up two paces on instinct.

Logan nodded. "Understandable."

"How do we trick JJ?" Roman tried to pull the conversation back on track. They had limited time to work. "What could we invoke that would scare him enough to force his hand?"

"Oh that's easy." Nina waved him off. "We'll tell him you're going for Destiny."

Logan and Virgil looked confused. Roman shook his head. "Destiny is dead, you were there. We can't use that."

The Necromancer grinned. "You're assuming I told JJ about that."

Now that changed things. Roman felt a matching grin crossing his face at the idea of terrifying JJ that badly.

"Then tell him Destiny cometh."