Across the Veil: Open Eyes (Book 1)

Chapter 28: No rest for the wicked

 Everyone in the bar had gathered around to listen to Willow and Savio. It took some time, but Willow and Savio were able to explain everything that had happened. It still felt like a blur to them though. No one could believe that Moira had been able to take out an entire room of Hunters so easily. The very idea frightened them really. Blake had commented that they were glad Moira was on their side.

"I'm just glad you guys are back." Rayne said, visibly relieved. She had sat with Willow and Savio, tending to them since they had returned.

The bell above the door rang as someone pushed open the door.

Moira stepped in, looking rather exhausted but also like her old self, hauling Willow's luggage behind her. She gave a tired smile, "It's easy to sneak shit away when everyone running around and chaotic."

Celeste caught the exhausted look in Moira's eyes. The Faerest-Demon looked a little shaky on her feet. Celeste quickly ushered everyone to the other building and up to a room with some beds.

***

The moment they entered the room, everyone took a seat either on one of the beds, one a chair, or grabbed a seat on the carpet. Moira, however, shakily made her way to a bed and collapsed onto it. She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

A mist slowly rose from her body before settling into the form of Memphis standing beside the bed. He pumped a fist in the air, "That was fucking awesome! Did you see the looks on their faces?"

Moira gave a tired chuckle, "We were badass." She turned to look at Willow and Savio, "We couldn't have done it without you two. Thanks a million."

Willow and Savio gave her a thumbs up. Willow shifted to the edge of the bed she was sitting on, "Are you okay, Moira?"

"Yeah... I just... Need some rest." the Fae replied, letting her eyes close, "It was a big drain on me."

Celeste dragged a chair over to sit between the two beds. "I know you need to rest, but I have to ask... Is it over?"

Moira smiled and nodded, "It's all good. I made sure they'll leave the city alone." She gestured vaguely with her hand, too tired to do much else, "The Hunters that survived... I wiped their minds and altered their memories. Some will be kept with the police as they try to figure out what happened, the rest will go back with no real memories of what happened. As far as they will remember, some of their own crumbled under the power of their 'blessed emblems' and went crazy, attacking anyone and everyone."

"Why not just kill them all?" Savio asked.

"That would only draw more attention. The Hunters would be all over this city like bears to honey." Moira explained, pulling herself into a sitting position, "This way... The Hunters don't have a reason to suspect direct intervention by a psychic Fae or anything. It'll put them on guard for sure, but they already know that their own can succumb to the Dragon's power and go wild... It'll be an easier explanation for them to accept.

"And the ones in police custody?" Rayne asked.

"The police can use them to track where some of the Hunters gather. It'll help other Courts figure out where they need to start being more watchful." Moira explained.

Memphis crossed his arms and glanced off. Looking a bit irritated by something.

Moira's eyes flickered to him and she instinctively kicked at his leg, "I don't care how easy it would have been, I wasn't going to wipe them all out."

Memphis stumbled from the impact. He looked up at Moira. He was genuinely surprised. "What?" he asked.

"You said we could have just wiped them all out and been done with it easy." Moira frowned.

"No, no." Memphis said, "I thought that. I didn't say it."

Moira furrowed her brows, "No. I heard you."

"He... didn't say anything, Moira." Willow said, her voice rather concerned.

There was a long silence. Moira and Memphis just stared at each other.

"Fuck." they both said in unison.

"Hold up." Memphis said. He reached over and flicked Savio on the forehead, earning a yelp and dark look from the young Fae. Though it was probably satisfying for the Demon, he still rushed from the room to test something else out.

Willow and Savio exchanged confused looks. She got up and peeked down the hall to see Memphis grabbing at a doorknob only to have his hand pass through it.

Memphis wandered back into the room. He was silent and still rather surprised looking. He slowly made his way back over to Moira, plopping himself down on the bed.

"What the fuck is going on?" Savio asked, understandably irritated by Memphis' erratic reaction.

Memphis shifted his gaze to Savio, and then to Celeste and the others. "I'm not supposed to be able to touch anything." Confused looks met his gaze. "Demons... Aren't physically present in this world. We only... project ourselves. Yeah, I guess that's a way of looking at it. We need a body or host in order to do anything physical in this world."

"So... What just happened?" Willow asked.

Moira and Memphis exchanged looks. The Demon turned to look at everyone, "We imprinted."

There was a chorus of 'what?' from a few of the people in the room. Celeste looked at Memphis with wide, surprised eyes.

It took some explaining, but even then Memphis could only provide a general answer. In his experience, he'd only seen imprinting a few times in the last couple thousands of years. Imprinting, to the best of his knowledge, was a link created between a Demon and a mortal. How and why these links occurred was unknown. It could have been power related, bond related, or completely random because sometimes the worlds and whatever powers that existed just said 'fuck it, sure'.

The end result of the imprint? The mortal could commune and connect with the Demon's aether... Their energy and lifeforce... and the Demon had a sort of 'anchor' in the mortal world. Wherever the mortal was, the Demon could physically be... But there were limitations to how far the Demon could be from their anchor before they no longer could physically impact the world.

Everyone looked at Moira after the long explanation.

Moira ran a hand through her hair. "Osriel is gonna kill us." was all she said.

"Kill me." Memphis corrected, "Not you. He seems to like you well enough as an apprentice."

Moira leaned back against the head of the bed. She shut her eyes tight, "I need to get back to Port Edwards soon. The news vans were already at the lodge when we left... I'm going to be hearing from Aunt Catherine and Osriel soon about that, I just bet it."

Moira got up and excused herself to use the bathroom. She need some time to digest all of this information. She left her phone on the bedside table and left the room.

Memphis leaned back on the bed and gave a long sigh through his nose. It looked like he had not been expecting this at all. He turned to Celeste, saying they would need to talk that night and figure out what was going to happen next with the bar.

By the time Moira had returned, Celeste had ushered everyone from the room. Willow had bid Moira goodnight before leaving to another room so she could sleep.

That night, despite the fact that everyone had their own beds and rooms, everyone piled into the room Willow and Savio were sharing. People were either piled together on the bed, or they had their pillows and blankets to sleep on the carpet.

Nina, Blake, and Vilis were both cuddled around Willow and Savio. Rayne rested beside the bed, head propped against the mattress with Willow holding her hand. Willow let her head rest on Blake's feathery arm. She was so tired. She felt like she could sleep for days.

She let her eyes drift shut, listening to the soft breathing of her friends. Despite all the chaos that had happened in the last twenty-four hours alone, she felt peaceful and safe. Whatever the future held, at least everyone was safe.