Elementalist

13

It doesn't take long for Talon to go over to the sheriff's vehicle. He is the one to open it for Stephanie. He helps her down and holds her face in his hands. "Are you alright?"

Stephanie looks at Talon with confusion. "Losing the house like this isn't the worse thing to happen. I'll be fine as long as you three are alright." That let's Talon know that she is going all out in the fight against whoever is there for them.

"You know how to combat their injections right?" Stephanie demands of all three of them once they huddle together just looking at the burnt remains of what had just earlier that morning been their home.

"Yeah, low level fire in the blood. That will be painful as hell," Jet mumbles just loud enough for the three to hear if they strain hard.

"Better that than you dead." Stephanie says more than a little angrily. She doesn't like the fact that they had to leave, had to destroy, their home because of some bastards that think they are better than they are.

Talon pauses what he was going to say when he sees the look in her eyes. "Stephanie, what do you have planned?"

"These bastards kidnap and torture supernaturals for their own sick pleasure, do they not?"

Jet and Ethan also are watching her warily at this point. "Yes, they do and have done so for as long as history has recorded the difference between normal humans and us supernaturals. Why?"

"They have the excuse of hunting us because they fear us, do they not?"

Now all three of them are more than a little wary of Stephanie. "Again yes, but that's not going to stop any time soon."

Stephanie smiles more than a little darkly. "What will happen if those they capture fight back?" 

"My guess is they kill them. They can't fight back if they are filled with the chemicals they force on them."

"What if they are no longer bound by chemicals?" Stephanie demands an answer.

"Then they would likely have very good reason to be afraid of us supernaturals. But Stephanie, they don't know how to get rid of the chemicals or they can't." Talon says rather impatiently.

"I know, but I do to both those things." Stephanie coos back to Talon's impatient words.

All three boys stare at her in fascinated fear. "NO!" They say in unison.

Stephanie smiles sadly at them. "It's not really up to you what I do at this point. I will do my best to hold their attention so you will be able to escape."

"You won't be able to do this on your own. Whole packs of wolves, and other shifters, whole seethes of vampires have gone against them and lost. There is no way you alone will be able to take down even one of those hell labs." Jet practically screams and if there wasn't such a torrential rain they'd have people from all over the neighborhood staring at them for it.

"But I won't be alone. I'll have those from inside the lab, the prisoners to help me. I will just have to hope that at least some of the prisoners are elementalists of the fire variety. I'm sure that the vampire prisoners would love some payback." Stephanie smiles delightedly at her plan.

The three boys stare at her with sick expressions on their faces. Then they turn their looks to each other.

"We'll help you." Ethan says when the other two are still unable to speak.

Now it's Stephanie's turn to look at them speechless. "No, I want you three to get to safety. I can't guarantee that I would be able to save any of you or even myself. I can't lose you."

"We feel the same, Stephanie. We can't lose you. We didn't want you to leave, we don't want you to be captured and will do all that we can to prevent it." Talon takes her in his arms and holds her wet and shivering body close. They are all soaked from the storm and can't do anything about it until the humans leave.

"They will be here soon. They are just over the hill." Stephanie says and points to the hill on the out skirts of the woods.

Talon nods and the three go to the firefighters that are cleaning up their equipment. "We'll be out to look over the property once things have a chance to settle a bit after the storm. There have never been any problems like this and this fire burned far hotter than they normally do. So far it looks to be arson, but we aren't able to locate the point of origin at this time. Once the storm lets up and things dry up a bit we might be able to figure it out." The fire chief tells the foursome as they come up to him.

Talon and the others nod at him morosely. "I am sorry for your loss. We might have some blankets for you to warm up with."

"Thank you, chief, but I'm afraid that it wouldn't really do any good. We'll be looking over the property. We need to see if there's anything salvageable from this wreck." Talon says looking at the remains of their home.

"Stay out of the burn area. Not sure just how stable things are. You might just end up going through the floor." The second floor of the house was completely gone. So there was no worries about them climbing up the non existent stairs.

Once more the four nod their heads as they are lost in their memories of the last year together, and for the boys possibly even before.

Stephanie is the first one to leave the protective huddle and go nearer to the house remains once the last of the firefighters and the police leave. She goes over and starts walking the perimeter. It looks like she is studying the house remains but her attention is actually on the presence of two people that she can feel coming closer. 

One of them is the one in control of the storm. At least nominally in control since Stephanie sent a surge of power into it. That  one is still doing her best to bleed off the extra energy and regain control of the storm.

Once Stephanie makes it to the back of the house she bends down and it looks like she picks something up. Then once she stands she takes off for the woods.

The other three take off after her. They aren't about to let her take on who ever is there on her own.

Stephanie stops suddenly and waits. This gives the boys just enough of a chance to catch up before the two people make themselves known.