-Where Angels Fear To Tread-
Nia Foster thrust herself through the line of policemen as they scurried to hold the growing, anxious crowd back behind the lines. Eryn tagged behind the petite detective, a secretive smile pulling at her mouth as she followed, hands buried in her overcoat.
Nia was just brushing past the last of the barriers when the inspector in charge finally noticed the interlopers.
“Hold there!” the portly man roared, rushing at the petite woman. Nia glanced back at Eryn, a grimace on her face. Nia leaned into the taller woman with a sigh.
“Fifty officers standing about and I get the one that isn’t affected by my charm,” Nia grumbled to the blonde. She turned just as the inspector reached them, her most alluring smile jumping to her face immediately.
“Just what do you ladies think you’re doing crossing my police line!” the inspector balled, his face turning a stunning mauve color. Nia’s smile didn’t slip a notch as she reached into her overcoat and pulled out her badge.
“Inspector Foster and Inspector Grant from the Special Investigation Unit,” Nia spoke with a brusque commanding voice as she flicked her badge in his face.
“Special Unit,” the inspector snarled, “I’ve never heard of them.”
“Really?” Nia sighed, arching one long ebony brow, “I’m sure my associate here would be happy to explain our involvement in this case,” Nia turned to Eryn with a cheeky grin. Eryn tried not to roll her eyes as she moved in front of the petite detective.
“I want answers right no missus! No more double talk!” the inspector roared. Eryn kept a calm smile on her face as she placed a hand on his elbow.
“Inspector…?”
“Pattison, Inspector Detective Pattison and I want some answers! You can’t just come tromping on to my crime scene and…” Pattison’s voice dropped off as Eryn applied a gentle pressure to his elbow. His face seemed to go blank for a moment as Eryn leaned in, whispering something into his ear. The next moment she had stepped back, releasing the inspector’s arm. Pattison blinked dumbfound for a second as a strange seriousness came back to his face.
“Right, carry on Inspectors,” Pattison told them in an almost cheery voice before turning back to his men, “Oi! Roberts, get those people back in quay!” Inspector Pattison went after the young policeman, his face turning that funny shade of red again.
Eryn turned back around with a grimace as she glanced at Nia. The Order detective was still grinning almost manically as she started down the stairs to the Underground with Grant a step behind her.
“I should bring an empath with me more often! Saves me energy trying to charm the nosey bastards,” Nia chortled as they reached the platform. Eryn grimaced again as she fished a set of latex gloves from her coat pocket. Nia threw the younger woman an inquisitive look.
“What? Don’t you like being out in the field? You’ve practically been begging the Director to let you join the duty roster. Not as glamorous as you imaged?” Nia teased. Eryn sent the succubus a limp smile.
“I just feel like I’m taking advantage of the poor man is all. I mean he’s just trying to do his duty and we walk in and muck about with his memory. It just doesn’t seem fitting,” Eryn sighed. Nia snorted.
“Trust me dearie, you’ve done far kinder to that man than you think. Suppose he actually finds out what went down in here, that there’s a real monster lose in the Underground? Do you think a man like that could wrap his mind around that? Better to muck him up a bit and let him go home to his tea and telly without being burdened with that sort of knowledge,” Nia told Eryn sternly before she knelt beside one of the white shrouds and lifted the corner. Eryn gagged and turned away, tears bursting to her eyes. Nia hissed under her breath as she inspected the tattered remains of what might have been a teen aged boy at one point. Nia reached out with a bitter smile and stroked the boy’s gouged but nearly intact cheek with the back of her knuckles. Eryn watched with a sick fascination as Nia caressed the dead boy’s face with almost motherly gentleness.
“Poor thing,” Nia whispered to no one in particular, “Had his whole life ahead of him until tonight.” She glanced at the tattered boutique of flowers still clasped in his hand. She lifted one of the white smashed flowers from the wilting boutique.
“Daisies,” Eryn murmured as she crouched down beside Nia, swallowing back her revulsion. Nia nodded and dropped the flower on to the boy’s gouged out chest.
“Probably bought them for a bird he fancied,” Nia whispered and reached out, sliding her fingers over the boy’s wide, terror filled eyes until they were closed. Eryn shook her head, looking away as the first tear slid down her cheek.
“I need you to touch him,” Nia told Eryn in a calm, but flat voice. Eryn’s blue eyes leapt to Nia’s face.
“Wh-what do you mean t-touch him?” Eryn croaked. Nia winced and let out a heavy sigh.
“I need you to touch the body and tell me what happened to him right before he died,” Nia ordered the younger woman. Eryn’s entire face went deathly pale as she looked between Nia’s stern face and the boy’s mangled corpse.
“You can’t be serious! I can’t do that!” Eryn whined pathetically. Nia shot the terrified younger woman an icy glare.
“I’m not asking you to, Inspector Grant, I’m ordering you to,” Nia snapped and grabbed the wrists of Eryn’s coat and thrust her forwards until the palm of her hand hovered over the corpse. Eryn squealed in terror, tears parading down her cheeks as Nia lowered her hand the final centimeters until Eryn’s hand lay over the boy’s forehead.
Eryn’s head snapped back as a sickening rattle climbed from her throat and echoed through the empty platform. The empath’s eyes rolled back in her head, her jaw hanging loose as more twisted cries crept out of her body. Nia watched with a morbid fascination as the empathic woman’s body convulsed and finally slumped forwards on her hands and knees. Long lanks of blond hair obscured the woman’s face.
“Who are you?” Nia ordered. Eryn’s shoulders teased as her body rose back up to its knees like someone pulling a puppet by a string. Eryn’s head hung against her chest still, her blue eyes clouded over with a white film. Nia swallowed back on the bile that was rising in her throat as she studied the empathic.
“Johnny,” Eryn hissed in a voice that was dry and thin. Nia’s eyes shot to the dead boy, a sense of remorse coming to her.
“Tell me Johnny, what did you see?” Nia ordered looking back to Eryn Grant’s possessed body.
“I saw a monster,” Johnny’s dead voice whispered over Eryn’s lips. Nia grimaced.
“Tell me Johnny, what kind of monster was it?”
“Fury!” Johnny screamed through Eryn, her body convulsing, “I saw fury and rage and blood. So much blood! The sky opened up and it rained blood inside the car.”
“What did you see Johnny!” Nia screamed, grabbing Eryn by the shoulders and shaking the younger woman. Eryn’s head whipped back and forth on her shoulders like a rag doll.
“I saw a monster,” the voice inside Eryn whispered but the voice sounded like it was falling away, disappearing like smoke rings in the dark. Eryn sagged sideways, her body slumping onto the platform’s tiles.
Nia leaned over the unconscious American, her face stern but her eyes glistened with real concern for the younger agent.
“Please tell me you didn’t kill her.”
Nia’s hand shot to the gun at her belt as her head whipped around to look at the stairs. Alixandra Sinclair sat on the bottom step of the platform’s stairs, her dark red eyes scanning over the carnage filled scene with an air of detachment. Nia let out a heavy breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and let her arm fall away from her pistol.
“Bloody hell Alix, you damn near made me shit myself,” Nia cursed and rose to her feet. Alix smirked, her claret eyes glinting as she let her gaze flicker over the other agent.
“How much of that did you hear?” Nia asked, jerked her head towards Eryn. Alix frowned, her eyes lingering over the unconscious young woman before flicking off to study the melee of white shrouded bodies that lines the blood stained platform and subway car.
“Enough of it,” Alix sneered and stood, “He called them monsters, ‘fury and rage’.”
“But what does that mean? You think there was more than two?” Nia asked. Alix shrugged as she picked her way through the bodies like she was stepping over stones. Nia had always admired Alix’s level of detachment from crime scenes but sometimes she found the half demon’s aloofness disturbing.
“With this level of overkill I’d say it was a whole pack,” Alix drawled, “But someone would have noticed a pack of werewolves charging through London’s Underground. No, this was something else, something far more sinister than a roving werewolf.” Alix paused and shot a look to Eryn. “He called it ‘fury’. That seems strange for a teenager. I mean a boy at this age would have seen a Hollywood werewolf, so why didn’t he say werewolf? He said ‘fury’.”
“You don’t think he actually meant a furie? They’ve been extinct since the dark ages,” Nia snarled, kneeling beside Eryn. Alix shrugged and waved a hand to the carnage.
“We haven’t seen this sort of attack since the dark ages, care to explain that? Creatures we’ve been calling extinct for centuries seem to be propping up right and left these days. Like royal vampires…”
“And Valkyrie. We thought Valkyrie were all dead up until a few years ago? Twenty five years, to be exact,” Nia murmured, her eyes shooting to Alix. Alix’s frown turned a little colder as she nodded.
“What is old is new again,” Alix drawled, lifting the corner of a sheet, “Old species of fey reappearing, a sudden string of human murders the likes of which we haven’t seen in centuries, and the Order is falling under the power of these mysterious Ministers.”
“You think it’s connected then?” Nia asked tentatively. Alix paused, her eyes meeting Nia’s with an eerie glow. Nia felt the succubus side of her hiss and draw back from the raw power she saw floating in those dark ruby orbs. Nia blinked and looked away.
“Link should be on his way,” Alix murmured, changing the subject, as she let the cloth drop back down over the corpse she was studying. Alix jerked her chin towards Eryn, “He’ll know what to do with our young empathic.” Nia frowned and shook her head.
“God, Alix, at least try and pretend you don’t hate the girl. She’s a valuable member to our team,” Nia chastised. Alix’s silvery white brows shot up at she met the succubus’s glare.
“I don’t have anything against the little psychic…”
“She’s an empathetic, not a psychic and you know it Alix. Play nice Agent Sinclair,” Nia warned her friend. Alix rolled her eyes, the air of formality slipping some from her stance.
“I don’t have anything against Grant, I just don’t like people that can muddle with someone’s head,” Alix grumbled. Nia shook her head with a rueful smile.
“Funny, Eryn said the same thing before she passed out,” Nia sighed and moved towards another body, shaking her head in disgust. Alix moved to stand next to Nia, her eyes sweeping the wreckage and bloodstains with a cold impassiveness. A slight wind from down the tracks stirred up the air around the platform.
“Have you been inside the train car yet?” Alix asked suddenly, her hand going to the pistol at her hip. Nia’s ebony brows shot up as she automatically went for her own firearm.
“No, Eryn and I came and went to the boy first. I thought our agents had already given the all clear,” Nia whispered. Alix put a finger to her lips and motioned Nia to follow her. Alix moved towards the train car, Nia flanking her with weapon drawn.
Alix slid into the compartment, her pistol sweeping over the white shrouded bodies on the left while Nia pressed to Alix’s back as she swept the right side of the train car. Both agents held their breath, their ears straining to hear even the faintest movements. Alix was the first to take a deep breath, letting the coppery air slid over her tongue. The heavy metallic scent of blood and death tasted bitter in her mouth, making her grimace but she could sense the traces of something else lingering. Nia sniffed the air, her eyes closing as she lifted her head.
“Can you smell that?” Nia whispered, her eyes bolting open with a twist scowl.
“No but I can taste it,” Alix hissed, moving forward, her firearm sweeping each body she passed. Nia followed Alix, sniffing the air as the scent grew more pungent. Nia let out a thunderous sneeze as they reached the end of the compartment. Alix tried not to flinch as the succubus threw her an apologetic look.
“What is that?” Alix murmured, motioning to a dab of dark green ooze that was dripping from the handle of escape hatch. Nia sniffed and grimaced, putting her free hand to her nose.
“God, it stinks whatever it is,” Nia complained. Alix rolled her tongue in her mouth, trying to banish the vile taste from her senses. She reached out and touched the handle, feeling the door sway open on its own. Nia’s gun shot up immediately, covering Alix as the other woman pushed the door open the entire way. A distinct trail of green ooze trailed off into the dimly lit railway.
“I say we pursue,” Nia whispered. Alix nodded but hesitated. She glanced back towards the platform.
“What about Grant?” Alix murmured, eyeing Nia. The succubus’s intent expression faded a bit as she too looked towards the platform.
