Black Thursday (Group 13)

[Skylar]

It probably wasn’t a night for making amends what with the weather and all but it needed to be done sooner rather than later and I’d let Ric distract me for just long enough. It’s not that I’m frightened of Pi. Not anymore. I wasn’t even apologising for Ellie’s sake, which was probably a shock even to me. I mean since Christmas things had been different between us. She’d offered to let me use her cabin for crying out loud. I mean that’s progress. Since then however, I’ve managed to trigger the same set of traps twice. The first was definitely due to my drinking, the second was entirely my crappy shoes. I’d blamed them the first time round too and to be honest they probably did play a part but when the heel broke, I really had no way of stopping myself from landing arse first into the most dangerous area I’ve ever known. And so here we were again. Me inviting her out with the lamest excuse ever and her accepting. See… Ric had told me about the ritualist that worked out of the old abandoned mansion in the north of the city and me being me, I decided I could drag Pi along to watch the woman work and explain to me what it was that she was doing. I don’t really see myself going down that route but I’m pretty sure Pi’s the one that made my tome - a tome she was likely to ask back if I wasn’t careful – so it seemed like a good way of learning more about the magics and kissing some arse at the same time. I mean the woman was bound to know more than me and she couldn’t rightly explain to me what she was doing if she were the one doing the ritual.
We’d been there maybe an hour so far, observing this and that and chatting amongst ourselves. Pi’s still not the easiest person in the world to talk to, but she seems to try and keep the conversation going when she can. I can’t really ask more than that. I’d already grovelled several times and promised to pay more attention to my footwork and footwear in future when toming in. I’m not sure she believed me – hell I’m not sure I believe myself – but it really is all I can do. It’s not like I don’t suffer each and every time I mess up. This time was different to the first; I was in a hell of a lot more pain what with not having had a drink beforehand and I didn’t get burned, but it didn’t really do much good to compare the situations, as when all was said and done they both sucked. The only upside to getting injured is having Ric take care of me. I mean yes, technically Ellie stitched me up this time but Ric was still the one looking after me as I recovered. I even managed to get him to come cuddle the first couple of nights which was pretty much an event akin to winning the lottery since my chances of getting him to do that on almost any other night was still practically non-existent.
“Thanks for this.”
I say to Pi as we finally decide we’ve had of the magic lessons for one night. I mean really, after you’ve seen one ritual performed, you’ve kind of seen them all. Switch out a few ingredients, change up the chant and presto… magic happens. I’m still a bit unsure about the creature that appears but since I don’t intend on going down this route, it’s not one I’m likely to spend any more time thinking about.
“And again. I’m sorry I keep messing up. It’s like the story of my life and I’d love to tell you it will never happen again but with my track record…”
I let my words peter out. I’ve said it all several times over already and I’m starting to feel like a broken record but sometimes there’s really nothing more I can think of to say to fill the silence.
“I guess we go home now then? Right? You may wanna go first and catch me if I fall.”
I’m teasing and I give her a wink to show as much as I take out the magical piece of paper. I read the words but nothing happens. And no. I wasn’t being rude. I fully expected her to follow and for our conversation to continue in the elevator.
“Erm…”
I shake the piece of paper in my hand as if I’m trying to get the last of the ketchup out of a nearly empty bottle, the hope of course being that my manhandling of it might fix whatever it was that seemed to be broken.
“Do these things run out of juice?”
Maybe it’s a stupid question but how would I know. I’ve never had one of these thing and for all I know they need recharging.
“I guess we’re hoofing it then.”
It’s as I say that, that I look towards the door and realise that the wind was whistling through the empty room as if we were out on the flats and there was nothing there to challenge it or slow it down. I start to wonder how I hadn’t noticed this beforehand, I mean yeah, I knew the weather outside sucked and I knew we were expecting a storm of some sort but whatever this was seemed different. I’d put the electric charge in the air down to the activity going on at the ritual altar, but now I realise I was wrong about that too.
I listened to the elements as they batter against the brickwork and the window panes. I half recall hearing a series of loud cracking sounds earlier but again I attributed them to the ritual that was going on at the time. Now I know better I start to look around. My eyes look to the ceiling and walls, since I’m indoors. The sound could be attributed to any number of things, support beams breaking, the roof caving in or tiles coming loose, subsidence finally causing cracks in the walls to widen, trees being blown over.
It’s as I’m looking about that there’s another loud cracking noise, only the echo bounces around the empty hall meaning I have no way of pinning down where it came from.
“What the **** was that?”
Instinctively I jump at the noise and move a little closer to Pi. Wherever Ricky is, I hope he’s safe, cos damn if the weather outside isn’t angry about something.

[Pi dArtois]

Pi hadn’t dressed for the cold, why would she? She was rarely out in the currently frigid weather so it hardly seemed necessary to dress for it, not when their sole reason for being in this run down shack of a place was to watch someone else do a ritual so Pi could explain. She supposed she could have suggested to Sky that they ask Asteria to give them a demonstration, being she was as much a Ritualist (more so) than Pi, but she’d been loathe to dampen Skylar’s enthusiasm. Overwhelming enthusiasm that seemed to bleed all over everything in its wake like a virus, or a foot fungal infection. She laughed at the thought her lips turning up as she pulled her tome out of her pocket.

So despite the ridiculously frigid weather she only had on a light cardigan over a tank top and a pair of light coloured skinny jeans the bottoms of which were tucked into casual brown leather knee high books. Even her scarf was summery, (she always wore one, was rarely seen without something around her neck), as if wearing so little she could ignore the fact she the weather outside was a far cry from the weather she was currently dressed for. (Spring couldn’t come soon enough). Temperatures had plummeted, their rapid decline nose diving into well below zero and squatting there like the intractable homeless.

There had been no intention at all to walk around in the weather (thank you tome) so why would she bother (three cheers to hubris).

The night was cold, frigidly so but she’d had no worries about it. It was cold as a witches titty in the Mansion, but Pi was a vampire and hadn’t thought it a big deal. Talking to Skylar through it all had been a chore, but one that had eased a little since Christmas. Maybe they were reaching an accord, Pi hoped so. She acknowledged to herself (if no one else) that it was largely her own jealousy that had got it the way of any initial friendship but maybe that had to be something they worked through naturally on their own. The limitations of what they meant to one another, and come to an understanding of what they were comfortable with. And maybe, even more, Pi had to stop being so.. unreasonable. She had to work at it still. Work at the small talk (which she thought was largely unnecessary gabble most of the time) and work on not being so stand offish (which was more due to her own personality than inclination). But they were getting there, her and Skylar. Slowly. Surely. Not all the way yet, but it was coming around.

The Mansion was a dilapidated mess, cracked windows and some casements that held only the frame and no glass to speak of. Wind screamed through loose boards and open panes, chilling the already cold building to something worse, chilling, a cold that seeped into your pores and made you long for a fire and well… certainly not conditions for the clothes she was wearing.

And her tome didn’t work. At first she wasn’t sure what Sky was talking about until she tried to use her own.

“I have no idea why the tome isn’t working” she answered, staring at the small book in her hand, the slim innocuous volume devoid of the magic that should have transported them back into the underground safe house.

Pi was at the door and yanked it open only to be slammed back, the handle ripped out of her hand, the exterior door slamming inwards throwing her on her *** as sleet and snow followed, rolling in from the burgeoning blizzard outside. Skidding across the floor on her *** Pi rolled awkwardly, hauling herself up before her shoulder slammed into the wall.

The building rattled, shaken like a rag doll as high winds battered it, beating on the already ancient walls. What she could see of the outside was no better, branches, broken from their tree mooring slid across the night, flickering in and out of view as street lamps guttered, their weak light faltering as the storm ravaged power lines with its fury.

“Dammit… Skylar.. can you get to the door? Close it? Jesus, I hope no one is out in this…” Pi called to the other woman, losing sight of her as she righted herself. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to walk out in this… vampire or not.” She finished.

[Verity (DELETED 3963)]

Wh-…where am I?

Verity had been working in her studio on a new sculpture, drowning out the sounds of the world around her with music. Rex had stayed dutifully at her side, laying at her feet and keeping them warm as she worked the wheel, hands sliding over the clay as she worked to mold a piece for a new commissioned project. Nolan had been working but, when a craving struck, he’d wandered off to try and get it for her. With a departed kiss, he’d left and she’d sunk even further into her own mind as “Haunted” played over her headphones. A hand occasionally brushed some of her loose strands of hair away from her nose, the tendrils tickling and causing her to sneeze, but she not even paid it any mind, the gesture subconscious.

Had the music not stopped working, she’s not sure when she’d have come back around. Would her mind have reconnected with reality when the ground fell out from beneath her feet? Would her mind have reconnected with reality when the powerlines went down? When the riverbanks overflowed and swept her away like forgotten refuse along the bank?

Rain pelted her hard in the face as the world filtered back in. Beyonce’s smooth voice had vanished, replaced with the sounds of chaos, wind-blown, unadulterated chaos. Her hands felt over her person as she stood in place, unsure of where to move, of which way was which, ignoring the rain that pelted her and cut her to the core as she prayed that the music had merely stopped due to being accidentally pressed while moving. But, as she struggled with the buttons and spoken commands, her phone only came back with an error. There was no map to tell her where she was, no phone calls to be made as the towers appeared to be down, and no way of contacting anyone she knew.

“Rex!” the woman called out, patting her leg for the dog who’d been with her in the studio. But, the more she called to her, the deeper the realization sunk that the dog was nowhere to be found. For whatever reason, Rex was gone. Nolan was gone. Her familiar surroundings were gone. Shaking her head, her hands reached out, waving blindly as she sought some sort of an edge, a wall, anything that would have given her a point of contact. Feet shuffling along the ground, the wind was picking up, the rain beating into her like shards of glass embedding into her skin. A hand rose to keep her eyes covered as that point hurt most of all as she willed her vision to come back just for this moment. Of all the times she wished she could go back in time and avoid the accident, this one was it.

“Anyone! Please!” she tried next, taking a few more steps and finding nothing but puddles and the occasional crack. “Can someone help me?!” Turned around, lost and without the ability to find where she was, she could feel the panic creeping in.

…But it wasn’t done yet. No, it was getting worse as the ground felt like it was caving beneath her feet. Barely able to keep her footing, she was hopping around, swaying, swerving until her knees impacted the ground. “Someone! Please!” she tried again, her heart racing a mile a minute, her body aching, head light in a combination of panic and blood loss from a feeding she’d not yet connected. The sound of buildings collapsing and trees uprooting had her screaming, crawling around for anything she could find for shelter.

“P-Please!” Verity screamed again, unaware of the building some feet off, crawling toward it but still not close enough to notice the change of echo. The winds were too heavy for that. The sound of the world falling apart was too overwhelming. “A-Anyone p-p-please!”

[Skylar]

I nod my head in agreement but I doubt the woman sees it. I creep up on the door as best I can, using the wall to shelter me from the wind that could probably knock god almighty on his arse. It had certainly managed to get the better for Pi. I dig my heel into the floor as best I can, press my back against the door and push. The door moves but only just. I'm using most of my energy just to keep the damn thing where it is. Gaining ground with it is not unlike trying to walk in quicksand, but I'm managing to move the large, heavy door, one inch at a time.
I hear something coming from outside. It's faint but it's there. At least I think it's there. A voice on the wind. It's that or I'm going mad and while the latter is perfectly possible, I have to check if it's the former. Someone might actually be outside in this freaky storm.
"Erm... Pi... D'you hear that?"
I look over at Pi; she's still routed to her spot on the floor. If the noise was real, she was bound to have heard it too. In fact she probably heard it with far more clarity than I did, what with being longer in this life than I'd been.
“Yeah, can you see anything?” Pi replies, her eyes seemingly searching the darkness outside of the still open door I'm fighting with.
I sure as **** can't see anything from where I am. I turn my body so that I face the door, the thing now trying to smack me in the face. I peek around the edge of the large, wooden object and peer into the abyss. It might as well be the ******* abyss cos the weather seems to obscuring my view.
"Err... maybe. I dunno. Was that a person or the wind?" I ask.
“I thought I heard someone.” Pi gets to feet. “There it is again.”
I strain to hear it. I'm pretty sure I catch someone pleading with their god. Or maybe it's us they are appealing to? Well not us specifically, just someone, anyone that might hear their cries for help. The door's almost closed at this point, but then I'm struck by something. If someone's out there... Shouldn't we go help?
“So… Should we like… go out there and check it out?”
"No. What if it's a human?" Pi replies as she joins me at the door.
“All the more reason to go help then, right? I mean… Right? Don’t they like need our help more if they’re human?”
"And then we what? Bring them back here to snack on later?"
I laugh sarcastically. I can't tell if she's messing around or just trying to be awkward. I can't actually believe the fact that she'd leave someone out in this because they are human.
“No. We bring them back here to wait out the storm. With us. I can’t go around snacking on people anyways.”
"I think it's a bad idea.."
“Why?” I ask.
Okay. So maybe the woman does want to leave whoever's out there, out there to die. I can't help but wonder if she'd be just as reluctant if it were me. Probably mores so. I mean we're getting on but I'm still not convinced she actually likes me.
"Vampires?" She waves her hand between us, indicating she's pointing us out as being different. "Potentially hurt bleeding human? How is your self-control?"
****. The woman has a point. I've never been around an injured human. Well not one I hadn't already fed on. I mean I fed before I came out but I haven't had blood from the vein in a while, so that could be an issue.
“Erm… Untested.”
I blush, feeling stupid.
“You strong enough to pin me down if I go postal? I mean you’re skilled and all that but I’m pretty strong when I wanna be.”
I hear Pi sigh. I'm not sure I'm making my point.
“They might be dead already.. I expect I am, but if you do go postal. We have to kill it anyway... Nice rescuers we'd be.”
Her words indicate she might be caving. I mean she used the word rescuers. So she must be thinking about it now. I decide to help things along a little by trying to guilt her into action.
“So I just close this door and we assume they’re dead? ‘Kay. Do you want to be the one that tells Ellie about what we did? ‘Cos I can tell you now. I’m not that brave.”
I feel my legs straining against the door and dig my heels in a little harder as the wind picks up outside. I know it's not the time for this kind of thought, but I can't help but wonder if my shoes are going to make it through this storm. They're new too and I've only just started to get them broken in.

[Pi dArtois]

“What are you? A child? Threatening me with I'm going to tell Elliot cause that's supposed to make me feel guilty? He's seen me kill and I've seen him kill too. This random human is not our problem and using guilt is ... Uninspiring.”

Pi had been distracted when the conversation began. Elliot speaking into her mind asking her where she was. She wasn’t a mind reader but even she could understand his concern. It was awful out there. Some sort of weird weather catalyst was going on (el Nino, Nina crap) and he wanted to know if she was okay.

She replied to him, touching her mind with his, making sure he was okay and satisfied with his answer. They were vampires and they were a hardy bunch, hard to hurt, hard to kill. She told him that she was Skylar, where they were and that they were okay. Well, they were okay. Okay back when she’d said as much and before they’d made this monumentously bad decision to go outside in this crap weather to rescue what could only be a human (cause no vampire worth their weight would be out there bleating like a sheep).

Instead she kept up her end of the conversation while quickly sending Elliot an update. Sklyar is convinced someone outside needs help.. we are heading outside. You stay safe. I’ll let you know when we are back inside.

It was her irritation that answered Skylar’s querulous question, a little annoyed verbal bite that was delivered with heat. Not much, but enough to show Pi wasn’t entirely happy with this change of plan. No tome, no way back that didn’t entail a hike through some pretty ugly weather and now a human that needed heroes.

Pi wasn’t a very good hero. Maybe an anti-hero, definitely a reluctant one. She waved her hand with a less that gracious grumble giving Skylar a rueful look when the other woman laughed.

“Well, by all means go... Let us save this random unknown.”

“I didn’t threaten you. I was just getting it straight. Ain’t no way I’m telling him someone called for help and we ignored it. I’m actually not sure I could do that anyways.” Skylar said, shrugging, her body wedging the door open so it didn’t bang and come off its hinges. It was losing battle Pi thought. It looked like the wind, the rain and the earthquake was about to do in a few minutes what time had been attempting to do to the abandoned mansion over years cause the place looked like it was ready to topple. Walls creaked, and loosely fixed weather boards flapped against the outside walls, clacking and crashing until she was pretty certain some would come loose of their moorings to fly into the street.

A street they were about to head out onto.

“After you oh fearless leader.” Sky said, waving for her to precede her out the door in search of their human victim, in need of saving.

Pi rolled her eyes and steps forward into the howling sleet, snow and other crap. Just as she reached the threshold the ground moved, swelling and buckling under her feet as if the surface had grown liquid and cresting like a slow moving wave trying to sweep her feet out from underneath her to drag her out on an eddying rip and throwing her forward.

Grabbing the mull post near the strike plates (that were rusted and nearly falling off) she holds on barely keeping her balance watching as behind her Sky falls on her *** to the floor and sprawls there in an ungainly heap.


“Oh now, this just gets better doesn't it? If I get sucked down a sink hole, YOU can tell Elliot about how that happened.” She mutters, letting go and moving forward. “Everyone wants to be a damn hero.”

“Anything happens to you and I’m skipping town.” Sky calls out over the wind and from the floor, where the latest earthquake left her.

“Good call.” Pi says, secretly hoping to be a fly on the wall in that conversation and the fireworks to happen after. An angel fly, a fly from heaven cause her *** would obviously be dead or in the SR she thinks as she ducks her head against the wind and snow and walks out, leaving Skylar to pick herself up. “HEEELLO!!!” Pi yells out.

Sky scrambles to her feet and follows, clutching the nearest anything to stay upright. “Hello? Yell so we can find you!” she yells too, following Pi out the door and into the driving rain, sleet and carnage that is Harper Rock.

[Skylar]

I manage to get back on my feet and cling to pretty much anything I can find that looks like it might stand a chance of weathering this storm. Pi’s screaming for the person. Her voice loud enough to be heard over the howling wind. At least it sounds that way to me but since I’m standing next to her, I may not be the best judge as to how far her voice is actually carrying.
"HELLO!"
Having called out Pi starts to slide across the floor and grabs my arm. I grunt. I have no ******* idea why she’d assume I’m any more stable than she is. Didn’t she see my shoes?
"This is nuts!" she tells me.
"Who's ******* idea was this?"
I growl, as if it wasn’t my suggestion to come out in this **** storm. I’m doing my best to remain upright; one arm gripping the spoiler of a what’s probably an abandoned car considering this mansion is in the middle of ******* no-where. Pi’s still hanging off my other arm. Men have a lot to answer for; my current footwear being one of those things. I have no ******* clue what it is about Ric that has me acting like a ******* teenager in heat but it better damn well be worth it. I push any thoughts of him from my mind as I try to concentrate on the situation at hand. I’m not worried for him. He’s resourceful. If anyone can get through tonight unscathed, it’s him.
"If anyone's out there, now's the time to ******* reply!"
Okay so I’m getting frustrated but this person needs to pipe up now or forever hold their ******* peace. Pi and I struggle on, the woman is relentless. I knew this before but now I’m watching her push against the wind.
"WHERE ARE YOU?"
Pi yells out again. Maybe it’s that action has her losing her foothold again. She slides, I slide and we both stumble and fall. Pi rolls one way, I roll the other and backwards.
"Merde!" Pi swears.
"God damn, mother *******, son of a *****. Argh!"
I’m seated on the floor and probably look worse than someone who’s been swept through a hedge backwards; three feet to the left and I might have actually been. I take my shoes off and throw them as far away from me with as much force as my strength and the current weather conditions will allow.
"I think I twisted my ankle."
I probably sound like a child; here we are in the middle of all this chaos, doing our best to cling to one another, remain upright and we’re failing miserably. Pi’s actually more graceful about this whole thing than I could have hoped and actually indulges my stupid sprained ankle.
"Can you walk on it? We can't stay out here."
Yeah. No **** Sherlock. Staying out here definitely wasn’t something on my to-do list. Pi starts to try and right herself and I follow suit. I get to my feet but damn if my ankle does feel more like it’s broken than just twisted.
"Yeah. I think I can do it."
I’m grumbling. But I give it a go.
"We're the worst rescuers ever."
And we are too. I’m pretty sure Pi didn’t need me pointing that out but it appears I’m playing the role of Captain Obvious; at least for now. Pi stumbles but manages to stay standing. I’m keeping myself low and doing my best to hobble on one leg. We’re both soaked through to as we look around us for this person who’s gone quiet.
"Where is that damn person... Probably smart and holed up somewhere!"
I don’t know how Pi and I can even hear each other over all this wind but were managing. She’s probably right too. The person probably found themselves a nice, safe hidey hole. ********.
"Let's get...."
I think Pi’s about to suggest we head back when her eyes widen and she yells at me.
"Sky! Drop!!!!"
"Huh?"
That’s about all I get out before I get slammed by a falling pole and pinned beneath it. I could blame my ankle but even if I could walk normally I’d still probably have been hit by the damn thing. I’m starting to think that the universe has it out for me now that I’m pretty much immortal; like I’m in my own personal, real life version of the ‘Final Destination’ films.
"****!"
The swearing catches my attention. I was a little too busy with my own **** to realise that Pi caught the tail end of the pole and that it swiped her across the face and shoulder, but I’m not so out of it that I don’t quickly realise that she’s all caught up in some dead power lines. My head’s pounding; I think I cracked it on the floor as I fell, and while this isn’t an immediate concern – what with me being pinned and all – it has at least taken my mind off my ankle. I groan as I try and push the pole off of me. The damn thing is proving hard to budge and – as far as I’m concerned - I should be able to toss the thing like it’s made of air. I mean, I’m a ******* vampire and I’m super strong to boot, like scarily strong. This storm is seriously kicking my arse and that damn person is no-where to be found.
"Pi?!"
If I’m getting out from under this thing I’m going to need a little help and I just about manage to bit back the urge to tell her, ‘screw the person we came to save, save me,’ as I’m pretty sure she’s not going to leave me here like this. We’d joked about me skipping town if anything happened to her, so I’m reasonably confident she wouldn’t want to be the one doing the explaining now that the situation had become quite real and the hypothetical roles had been reversed.

[Pi dArtois]

If the person had been a vampire then he/she have answered by now, this mysterious stranger who was apparently in straits. And the person wasn’t, then it was even more likely it was hurt, dead or inside somewhere. Skylar and Pi had been crashing around outside like two drunks on a bender, stumbling, falling, falling again, bleeding themselves and making a bad situation worse by their inelegant stumblings. It was not a shining moment, for either of them. But no matter what flavour of humanity you happened to be, it would have been hard to miss two women sprawled out in the street, one of them currently pinned by a power pole.

It would have been better if the pole in question had been wood. Wood was lighter, pliable, easier to move. What lay across Skylar was a concrete support, a solid chunk of concrete with rebar acting as a spinal cord through its slim back and it was little wonder Sky had a hard time lifting the thing. Pi would have a hard time without injury and right now, in this ****, she couldn’t guarantee it.

Not that the weather was cooperating cooperating. Rain pelted around them, high winds picking up everything it could sweep underneath and sent it careening around the street in mad and dangerous arcs through the air. Pi could only assume the earthquake(or whatever the hell it was) was to blame for their current predicament. Sediment rising from the ground, sucking away what little solid ground held up the pole. Sink hole or unstable earth. It didn’t really matter. The pole had fallen, and right on top of the poor blonde. Her and her crazy inappropriate shoes she looked like a modern wicked witch, pinned and needing rescuing. Even the trees bowed in abject obeisance, genuflecting to the mightier power and holding its position, cracking and groaning under the pressure from the storm.

Pi rather felt like keeling over herself. Her shoulder had buckled under the heavy hand of the concrete monolith that had decided to fall on her Tearing pain shot up her shoulder, radiating from the socket and her arm hung loose, useless. She’d dislocated it, knew it but couldn’t fathom the painful necessity of shoving it back into place. Not yet, and not by herself. It would happen, but later.

One handed she struggled to unwind herself from the conducive wiring, glad as she’d never been before that it hadn’t been live, that on top of everything else they had going on her and Skylar hadn’t had to contend with being fried alive like chicken nuggets.

“Hold on.” Pi said, crawling over to Sky, trying her best to untangle herself and left the behemouth piece of **** off her companion.

“Merde!” she groaned, her shoulder protesting profusely at the movement (any damn movement). One hand, she’d have to do it with one arm. It was an awkward attempt, she tried to protect her injured shoulder by tucking it against her stomach, curled along her waist as she leaned forward to wrap the other arm as far as she could around the pole. Sky’s body lay prone to the side of as she lifted, straining the muscles in the one arm until she thought she might pop the other shoulder out.

“Come on, you *****, MOVE.” She grits out, straining watching as Sky pushes up, trying to help.
“Man, this shouldn’t so hard.” Sky groans, the sound ripped from lips thin with pain.
“No, it shouldn’t.” Pi replied, holding the pole mere inches higher than where it had been, the muscles in her one arm straining to hod the position while Sky wiggled her way slowly sideways, slowly.
“I’m out. Thanks.” Sky said when she was free.

When the ground shook Pi’s grip on the pole loosed with it, the heavy pole hauling her forward as momentum jolted her out of the tenuous position she’d been in the first place, thumping before her knees that had sunk into the soft earth beneath. They shouldn’t be outside. They shouldn’t have made the heroic decision to go out in search of someone who might not have been anything to begin with. Because this, could get bad, very bad, very quickly and just how bad came to her as Elliot’s voice invaded her mind. Je T’aime. Don’t go outside. It’s bad out here. she sent out, her mental thought choppy and short, as her energy reserves bled out of her shoulder injury, washed down into the soil by freezing rain and a heckling wind, taunting her.

“I don’t care who that person is… We have to get out of this mess… My shoulder is fucked.” And it was and she was tired, cold and a little put out. Okay, a lot put out. And Sky looked in worse shape, seeing as she was nearly flattened by the beast laying recumbent at her feet.

“Ugh. My chest hurts.” Sky said, her body bowed as she had trouble standing. “I’m either broken or bruise. Good job I don’t need to ******* breath. I think that would have ******* killed me. I’m a fricking electricity magnet.

“No more heroics. We need to head back.” Pi stands, slowly, her shoulder drooping like quasi modo, the weird angle screaming the injury clearly. Moving forward she uses her free arm to help prop Sky, threading her arm along her waist.

“Kay..’Kay.” Sky replies. “And back is…” When Sky looks around, Pi mimics’ the gesture, her own body twisting, barely to see where the hell they were. Sky’s arm tightened along her own waist, the two women working together to prop each other up in this horrendous weather.

“****, which way?” Pi asked, wiping blood from her eyes, Sky looking about and pointing behind them.
“That way? Maybe?”
“Looks good.”

Pi bends forward as much as she can, head bowing under the pressure, like the trees around them, giving the storm its due with Sky beside her doing her best to stay upright and following, groaning as they fought their way back to the abandoned mansion.

[Skylar]

We make it back to the mansion and I'd sigh with relief but my chest still hurts like a mother ******. In fact, it feels like I'm pretty much a walking bruise. Still, I don't feel nearly as bad as I did those times I stepped in traps. Yes, times, plural. I really am a walking trouble magnet.
We're not exactly safe in the mansion, least I don't feel it. The roof sounds like it's about to be ripped off - well more of it as it's leaking in places so I know the thing isn't intact as it is - and the creaking makes it sound like the walls about to collapse in over us too.
"This is ******* insane."
Pi and I do our best to make the place safer for the pair of us. Well the pair of us, the ritualist and a couple of her customers. We'd been lucky in as much as they hadn't thought to batten down the hatches and **** with us outside. Though neither Pi nor I are particular quick about blocking up the door and stuff as we're both pretty worse for wear. Still, means we're forced to tough it out as if we were human.
I settle down with Pi when we're sure we've done what we can to protect ourselves and I start to wonder just how long we have till sunrise and I pass out. I check my phone but there's really not much point to that, the thing is pretty much busted, not that it was working before we went outside. I'd give anything for that mind power Ellie has where you can talk into someone's brain. If I had that I'd tell Ric I'm stranded in the middle of ******* nowhere and that he can summon me home.
I laugh to myself but I keep it quiet. Pi probably thinks I'm nuts but as I was thinking about him summoning me a small part of me wished I had that power so I could summon him to hell with me. I can just see his expression as he works out he's trapped in this **** hole with Pi and I for the night. Come sunset he'd be gone though and I half think he'd leave me here for having summoned him the night before. Still. At least then I'd be able to get him to snuggle. Yeah right. That ain't happening even in my little fantasy world.
When Ric summons me for real - which he does - I'm not prepared for it. He knows I like warning in case I'm in a crowded place surrounded by humans or something but it's not like he could text me with my phone doing its best impression of a brick.
"Thanks babe. You have no idea how good it is to see you."
I hug and kiss him twice each but not with as much strength as I usually do, as i just don't have it in me. There's just about enough time for me to give myself a quick wipe down, change into my nighty and climb into bed. I'm talking pretty much the entire time, explaining to him the ordeal I've been through before I more or less force him into climbing into bed with me. As dawn comes I fall asleep more or less on top of him, as is the norm for when I can coax him into bed what with us sharing a single and all.
I felt bad for stranding Pi, but took comfort in the fact that I know she's safe where she is. That's pretty much my final thought for the night before "death" takes me. That and I'm glad Ric cares enough to summon my arse home before dawn if he.