Snippet #2357184

Arey watched with a sense of dread as the pepper spray the security officer used against the monster had no effect, though she honestly hadn’t expected it to either. That thing had touched her, and it left a lasting impression of inhuman she couldn’t shake that she could feel in her bones. Sure enough, she watched as the monster grabbed hold of the man’s throat, and was startled by the sudden protective urge she felt. And seemingly out of nowhere, another man appeared, boy really she realized as he looked to be about her age, and Arey wondered how she could have missed him. He wasn’t handsome in the strictest of senses, but there was something about him that was undeniably attractive. Possibly it was the fact he was beating back a scary monster with an iron rod she thought dryly as she knelt next to the fallen officer to check his vitals. Her attention though, was all for Louis. It wasn’t just that she found him attractive, it was something else, a sense of familiarity she couldn’t place. Arey tried staring intently at his face, and suddenly it was like a flood gate had opened. A wave of emotion too complex to name washed over her, but she recognized anger and betrayal quite easily. It was more complicated than that though, there was also comradery, and a kind of love that one felt towards an important friend, one you’d been through hell with. And trust, once shining and bright and seemingly unbreakable, and that’s what startled Arey the most. She had never been able to trust someone like that, she’ been let down too many times in her life to allow herself to do so. People always left, or died, or disappointed you, and though she knew it wasn’t a healthy outlook on life, she couldn’t bring herself to let those walls down.

It passed after a moment, but the faint sense of familiarity lingered, making her feel shaky. When Arey looked back up at the boy, he was scrambling away from the monster, who had taken on a new face as it convulsed on the ground, making inhuman noises as its hands scrambled to grab unsuccessfully at the rod shoved through its chest that had it pinned to the ground. One look at the boy’s face told Arey that the monster had once again taken the face of a dead loved one, and she vaguely noticed that there was a pattern here. She felt a swell of sympathy for him, remembering the recent experience she’d had with the monster when it had taken on her mother’s face, and she felt compelled to try and take away some of his pain.

“It’s not real.” Arey said shakily, trying to reassure him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. “It looked like my mum when it grabbed me earlier. I think it just shows you faces of the people you’ve lost.” And feel guilty about she thought absently, but was wise enough to not voice that particular thought. “Are you alright?” Arey asked for lack of anything better to say, her accent coming out a bit thicker than normal from pure mental exhaustion at this point. Better to focus on someone else, otherwise she might begin to think about everything that had happened in the last half-hour and Arey didn't think she could handle that.

Kat too had managed to subdue the shade she’d been fighting, the rod sticking out of its back pining it to the ground. The shade was still taking the physical form of a child, though it’s eyes had melted into soulless black pools, for once giving Kat a distinct height advantage. She looked over to glance at Myranda, who stood by looking particularly spooked as she stared numbly at the monster staked to the ground. “I’ve never seen a kind like this before…” She said softly in a kind of voice people suffering from shock used, way too calm and cryptic for the situation at hand. The comment made Kat pause slightly, but she decided not to push for the moment. Her attention was much more focused on the sleek silver Mercedes that came speeding around the curb, purring like a kitten as it came to a quick stop by the sidewalk next to them. Kat let her shoulders relax in relief as she watched a familiar curvaceous red head in a gray power suit gracefully exit the car and walk their way.

“Jesus Christ Viv, what took you so long? I’ve been calling for like twenty minutes!” Kat called out in a mock grumpy voice. Vivienne merely raised a brow at her young ward, not dignifying the question with an answer. She'd been in Brooklyn, twenty minutes was making good time. Teenagers, honestly, she’d never liked them at this age.

“You seem to have everything in hand.” She said instead, sweeping the scene with her eyes, which linger a moment longer than necessary on Louis, a look in her eyes that was undecipherable, but it was quickly gone and she turned back towards Katrina.

“What happened?”