Jerry looks around calmly, but internally he's trying to control his runaway heartbeat. His grip on his shotgun is much tighter than it needs to be.
"Okay, I'll bite." He takes deep, calming breath. "It looks like we should have died back at that warehouse, but somehow we're not. If you have anything to do with that, then thank you.
"As for my question, if you can answer in a way that gives more information than will create questions, I'd appreciate that. I know you said only one answer, but I'm hoping you're the sort that will not play any genie games and will take the question seriously."
"What the hell is going on?"
"Then it is probably a good thing that your part in this situation does not require understanding, only action," the disfigured man replied sardonically, although he seemed somewhat wary of the angel-host.
Jessica scowls, her eyes getting the light of something terrible in them. She watches the man closely, waiting to see how he answers Jerry's question before deciding on how to act.
The scarred figure sighed. "That is a terrible question to ask, I hope you understand? I could answer 'the world spins on' and it would satisfy the question as an answer, for example, just not the answer you want. Time moves. The heaven's weep. Angels and devils alike cast envious glances on the world of mortal kind. All are answers, so understand the kindness I choose to grant by answering something relevant to you."
He sighed. "Forces greater than the bleachers wished for secrets to remain hidden. The bleachers in there ignorance were only as dangerous as anything foolish enough to mess with what they cannot understand, control or accept can be, but the beings gathered could cause certain revelations to occur. It was decided that it would be simplest to edit the issue until it was 'safe', but 'safe' suits neither my needs nor desires, so after they enlisted a plane loaded with napalm - and some other, less friendly additives for the more magically inclined - I took some steps, and teleported the creatures captured to there homes. Since this was not supposed to have occurred, I have chosen to reveal a little to yourselves as recompense, here and now. Of course, I could be lying, manipulating you, and the like. I leave it to you to decide my agenda, since nothing I say will prove especially convincing and nothing I could do to convince would be worth my time or effort."
"Well..."
Jerry looks around at the other others and then back to the mysterious speaker.
"Thank you."
Kavax contemplated things. He had a great deal of questions to ask, but would almost certainly not get helpful answers for most of them. Though, perhaps there was something to ask.
"...Not sure if this is your department, but I'm guessing there's something big going on with me being here early. Probably can't get full answers, I know, but I will ask; was my premature arrival really just because some warlock utterly flubbed the ritual, or are there... other powers in play?"
The scarred figure nodded. "There were elements at work that wished your prescence, but those elements had a limited effect - they could only guide events, not steer them. Some chance was involved. So 'both' would be the correct response. Your presence was both desired by chance and by forces that find it's possibilities...exciting."
Jessica watched and listened, unease knotting her stomach. This disfigured man was at least being somewhat forthright and even had something to say about Kavax's reason for being summoned early. She thought she didn't have questions about her own present existence -- she knew how she was made -- and believed it dumb luck that she was more or less in control until this scarred figure started talking about forces and elements pulling strings and guiding events.
An involuntary shudder passes through her, and her ash-gray wings flap agitatedly. To think someone or something wanted her like this...
Her voice is hoarse as she asks, "What forces are you talking about? Who wanted the bleachers silenced and Kavax'Kaotl here on Earth?"
"Ones you would not wish to anger," the scarred being replied. He considered. "I will honour your question, if you are certain, but I feel an obligation to warn you - knowing is not safe. Knowing will draw there eye, there attention. You can ask another thing, if you prefer."
Jessica takes a step back. She glances at Jerry and Kavax to see what they thought. Did she want to know? How much was she willing to risk?
There was so much she didn't know. About herself, about this whole world just beneath the surface of everything she had known and had been pleasantly oblivious to. Was she supposed to be just some weapon, obsessed with vengeance against scumbag men? Or could she actually do more with this twisted existence?
"I-- I think I need to know," she says.
Darkness.
He didn't think it would be so... Cliché.
Carlos wandered around a bit, greeted by six voices. He knew those voices, it didn't take long to recognize them. It was his father, grandfather, great grandfather, and he could assume the rest.
Its not time yet.
The hunter looked at his hands, seeing bloodstains on them before looking back up to see the blackness replaced with sand... A familiar desert.
He had to move forward, it was the only way. Whether it was physically, mentally, or spiritually... He ran through it, with the searing heat of an efreet scorching him.
It took only a few moments before he saw the others, was this reality or something else.
"Hola. What in the name of the Virgin's caress is going on here?"
"The forces of hell itself," the scarred man replied after a moment. "Or a faction of it, to be more specific."
To Carlos, he asked, "Was that addressed to me, sir?"
Carlos puzzles over this, the fresh dream of the efreet in his mind, before deciding on a very noncommittal answer by shrugging.
Jessica stares at the man, stunned. "That's... that's... that's the lamest thing I've ever heard of!! You built it all up, giving me a option -- 'do you want to change your question?' -- and then you drop that?" She pitches her head back and groans in the back of her throat while rolling her eyes.
She looks over to Mr. Garcia as he shrugs in answer. "We just had our asses pulled out of the literal fire by this guy, and he's being all vague and mysterious answering one question apiece. I asked who wanted the bleachers torched." She rolls her eyes again. "The 'forces of hell,' he says. Which faction? Do you at least know that? Considering I happen to be a member of a faction, I think you can do better than that!"
The man snorted. "Oh, certainly, the revelation that the forces of the broken angels are arrayed against you and wish for you and your worlds demise in a more focused than theoretical fashion is not enough, oh no. You wish for me to name names. You should know better than most that names have power, and uttering them gives them power. But as you wish."
He sighed. "But as you wish, for it will harm me not at all to draw such attention. You face the cohorts of the בני החושך, those who serve the father of invention, one whose names are without worth - Belial. Thankfully for you his eye is on other places, and so the leader you face is Enêpsigos the thrice-bound, still wearing the chains Solomon forged to contain there three forms."
The world shuddered and the uncomfortable feeling of something becoming aware filled the air.
Jessica shifts her stance and defensively crosses her arms. "I still don't see how it's news that the forces of hell are bad guys, but okay. Thanks, I guess." She looks up in the sky to see if clouds start rolling in ominously.
"It is the difference between knowing that a feral werewolf would kill you if it could, and that a feral werewolf is hunting you, specifically," the scarred old being explained cheerfully.
Jessica's mouth twists as she gives him a flat look. "And it's bad knowing that? How does that make sense? Is a person in less danger if they don't know they're being hunted?" Jessica shakes her head.
She gestures to Carlos. "Someone else please ask a question because I sure don't know if I'm doing it right."
Jerry had raised a calming hand to Jessica, but she finished her turn before he could say anything, so he let it drop.
Looking over at Carlos, "You're up. We know a little bit about how we got here, and we know somewhat specifically who didn't want us at that warehouse.
"Helpful things to know could be what's next for us or even where the heck we are, but we might just also figure those things out with just a little time."
Kavax looked over at Jessica. "There's magic to it. You know a Name now, and Names have power. And a lot of the time, the big ones have it set up so that if you know their Name, they know that you know. And that gets their attention, big time. Can't say much about this specific one though."
"That would depend on your view, I suppose," the scarred man replied to Jennifer. "Someone brave could prepare for the attack, take the precautions to ensure success. Someone less so would simply know fear and terror there last few days. Which you are is not for me to say"
He looked to Carlos as well, or as well as something without eyes could.
Jessica clenches her jaw, feeling annoyed at the way she was talked down to but absorbing the lessons nonetheless. Most of it made sense; something instinctual in her recognized Kavax's description of the power of names. But she was afraid of dipping too deeply into that well of knowledge, or whatever it was. If she relied too much on the Fury, would it take her over? Would she still be Jessica?
She stays silent and looks at Carlos, hoping his question will get something of value.
All eyes on him, of course.
"One question..." He posed it in such a way that it was a lingering statement, he knew enough that he would have to choose his words carefully and stayed quiet for a moment.
Okay enough drama.
"These Chains of Solomon, assuming they are wearing down, what must we do to keep them working and let their leader stay imprisoned or worse?"
That was it. He had to ask questions with a lot of qualifiers, hopefully have it make a mistake and try to answer one too many, even if indirectly.
"Oh, interesting," the scarred man replied. "There are two ways that it could be done - repairing the bonds that are, more difficult but safer in the long run as the fully fury of a demon that would be a titan and a god is to be feared. Or you can break the bonds and set them anew, perhaps even more potently with the right focus. Of course, finding one that will be more powerful than the Seal of Solomon would be a challenge.
First, you will need a sample to connect - a drop of the demons blood, a hair, the usual things serve just as well. Secondly, you will need a truly powerful focus - the Seal would work, of course. For repairing the chains then it would probably have to be the Seal itself, but for the making them anew something suitably powerful would work - the ground bones of a true wiseman, the blood of a living saint, a nail from the true cross, the prophet's sword, the Buddha's prayer beeds, something of that sort. Finally, you will need to find and create the spell to bind or repair, as needed."
After a pause, Amelia, who had been quiet until now, asked, "And who, prey, are you our savior?"
The scarred man smiled. "I am Samyaza, first of the Grigori, father of the Nephilim." With that, the figure vanished.
Jerry is silent for a long moment after Samyaza has disappeared. And the he sighs.
"I get why we all asked the questions that we did. They all seem important, but I kinda wish we had gotten him to tell us where we are."
Jerry looks around the starlit desert, trying to detect the light pollution of any nearby towns or cities. Failing that, he looks for any sort of landmarks in general. Then he walks over to his truck to make sure it's still in one piece.
Carlos looks up toward the sky, "Shouldn't be a problem Jerry."
He looks up, seeing a sky that is partly unfamiliar, before he takes his glasses off. "Now where exactly are we...?" Carlos had been in this position before, long ago, but wondered if it was fate or something else.
"The better question we need to ask is how were are going to stop this thing? I know that I will, and any help would be appreciated." He stops stargazing to look at the dragon-man, "You wouldn't happen to know anything more about this whole ordeal?"
Jessica goes wide-eyed. "You're not serious, looking at the stars? Really?"
She calls forth her cell phone from otherspace and checks for a signal and GPS location.
The hunter scratches his head, "Well, I mean, uh..."
He really had no response, "You see, I don't actually have a..." And pulls out a massive, blocky flip phone, "It survives sand and water and all sorts of mess that we get into."
Kavax shrugged. "We're at where we're at, and we'll go where we need to go. If I just wander along, I'm sure to end up someplace interesting sooner or later. As for the demon... Eh, I'm more familiar with the breaking of seals than the constructing of them. I mean, technically, if I were fully manifested, I might be able to fight it on even or better terms, but that's a horrible idea to attempt to execute. Too much collateral damage anyway."
Kavax also turned to look at the others who'd been dropped out with them, taking stock of who else remained.
Most of the people who had been there were missing - back where they belonged, if the words of the Griogori were true - but a few with a more intrinsic connection to Kavax had come along as well.
Phones indeed pick up your location - about two miles from a major highway. It won't take long to get on the road, as it were.
You can also see the lights of the highway from this point.
Jessica cuts off her phone once everyone knows where they are. She shunts it away and calls forth an oversized hoodie that she pulls over her cuirass.
"Um, Jerry, if you're worried about having enough room in your truck for everyone, I can just meet you later. You know? It's fine."
She turns away from the others and stares up into the night sky.
Jerry looks up from his truck's inspection to nod at Jessica.
"Thanks, I had forgot. That's a good point. Can you teleport someone with you? Because if someone can stay with you, that will make me feel a lot better about leaving a teenage girl alone in the desert in the middle of the night."
Jessica looks over her shoulder at Jerry. She feels a slight stirring of anger but she tamps it down hard. Instead, she gives him a sad smile. "You know I'm not. But thanks for wanting to believe I still am."
She raises her hand and suddenly a flaming sword is in it. Her face is illuminated in the reddish glow as the flames dance along its edge. "I'll be all right by myself. Though, I can take a person or two along with me, but it's dangerous for them. It's really best for emergencies."
The sword fades away and she's back in darkness. "Or just tell me where you're going. If it's somewhere I've already been to, I can just go and wait for you there."
If Carlos was embarrassed, he definitely didn't show it. "Lets move to an urban center, if something has happened to the world we will have more data points there."
Urbana is indeed not far away, and easy enough to get back to.
"You know I'm not. But thanks for wanting to believe I still am."
"Enough of her still is," Jerry murmurs to Carlos.
If Carlos was embarrassed, he definitely didn't show it. "Lets move to an urban center, if something has happened to the world we will have more data points there."
"We can head back to Urbana. Whatever happened to us, we haven't been moved that far away. Kavax, where would your friends like to go?"
While he addressed this question to Kavax, his gaze invited any of the former prisoners to speak up.
Kavax shrugged.
"I haven't got much of anywhere specific to go. Just tend to end up where I need to be sooner or later."
"Maybe... that diner by the truck stop?" Jessica offers. "I can wait there for you."
As the Hunters made there way towards the lights the camera fades out, and shows the remains of the warehouse. Somehow the fire at the warehouse has faded, leaving only flames flickering here, and there, lines and dots forming a sigil. For a moment the fire flames white, and goes out.
Two weeks after the fire Kara Loiuse's sultry voice comes across the radio. "Hiya folks, been a while. Things are on the wind and whispers in my ear, and they'll be a lot to come soon, I think. But for now, my collectors of the spooky, I have a new story for you. Ready?"
"So, a lot of people are find a new hotel in the hills, the Cliffside Keep. An old foley turned guest house. There's a problem with that, though - everyone in the area can you tell you it isn't a new hotel. It's an old hotel that burned down to the foundations after the boiler exploded back in '84. And now it's back, offering a great winter experience - which is odd, given it's August. People are checking in. But I can't find anyone whose come back out. With what I've found at least 50 people have gone in. I think someone needs to take a look, because I don't think that number is going to stop. But I don't think it's going to be safe, or be easy, or be fun."
------
The driveway up to the hotel is a little odd, a block driveway leading up the slope, it's edges covered in snow. What makes it odd is that, at the moment it leaves the property, a thick bank of sundried weeds leads to the road. The sun beats down on the road as snow gently coats the trees of the drive.
Something is very wrong here.
Jessica arrived at the truck stop way before the others got there, using her ability to move and be someplace else. She appeared behind the place, in the dark shadows where the street lights don't quite reach. These were the places that ordinarily Jessica would have avoided, or would have felt her hairs on her neck stand up as she hurried to better lighted places. But now, she was a being that preferred those spaces in between the lights.
She had pulled some baggy sweats over her Fury's armor and made sure her wings were unseen as she stepped around front of the diner. It was with a sigh of relief that she noticed Gina wasn't working that evening, since Jessica didn't want to be reminded of Manny Grissom -- the man who had swindled away her life savings.
Jessica sat down at a booth and was prepared to wait until the others arrived. The gruff man running the diner for that shift, however, let her know quick that he wasn't going to allow her loitering. She debated about using some of her dwindling money to buy something, even though she didn't eat and was only going to push the food around on her plate for however long it would take for the others to get there. Instead, she left.
As it turned out, Jessica wasn't the only destitute teenaged girl to have been run out of the diner that night. Looking marginally more disheveled than Jessica, the girl made eye contact with her from across the parking lot and gave her a nod. Jessica returned the nod and crossed the lot, wondering why this girl was hanging out just off the property line of the truckstop diner in the middle of the night.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"So, you couldn't talk Dale into letting you hang out there either?" the girl asked, shivering in the cool night air.
Jessica shook her head.
"His coffee tastes like ass anyway."
Jessica chuckled. "What are you doing out here, anyway?"
The girl shivered again and hugged herself with her light jacket. "Just... had to get away. All the bullsh-- at home and everything, I'm just done. I got a cousin out west, and, you know. Fresh start and all."
"Sure. Sounds good," she responded noncommittally. Jessica didn't see herself making friends with this stranger, but it struck her that she hadn't had a normal friendship ever since she came back as a Fury. That thought twisted her stomach as she wondered how she could have a normal relationship with a normal person. Could she even pretend? To act like regular old Jessica and not let it slip the fact that she was some sort of fallen angel of vengeance--
Oh. Oh no.
Androleteira stirred as she sensed something about the girl. She was running away from an abusive household.
"Your stepdad..." she muttered.
The girl recoiled, eyes wide in shock and suspicion. "What the hell? How do you know--?" her question is cut off by the terrifying light in Androleteira's eyes.
"... will not be a problem for you anymore."
Massive, ash-gray wings appear on the Fury's back and she takes off into the night sky, leaving a shocked and horrified girl standing underneath a street light. After several long minutes, she turns and runs off into the night.
.
.
.
Jessica is nowhere to be seen at the diner.
About ten minutes after the broadcast, Jessica appears out of nowhere next to Jerry.
"... Hi."
Jerry's head whipping around to his right to stare at Jessica serves as his greeting to her, but he doesn't look alarmed or even tense up at her arrival this time. Instead, he gives a wry shake of his head and a quick shrug of the shoulders that might be a chuckle.
"Hi yourself. I figured if you were going to be here for this one you'd most likely show up about now."
Indeed, Jerry was standing right on the summer-side of the winter snow line. His beaten old truck is parked on the edge of the road about 30 feet away. He hooks his thumb at it.
"Trying to decide if I should drive it to the parking lot or risk leaving it parked on the side of the road."
Jerry was feeling particularly protective of his vehicle right now. Apparently, Samyaza, first of the Grigori, father of the Nephilim could roll-back the universe or whatever, but he couldn't adjust the alignment or fix whatever was causing that damned knocking noise. Not having a direction after the warehouse incident or many immediate answers, the Hunters in the area dispersed to do their own things for a couple weeks. Working Hunters don't tend to make a lot of money, and non-working Hunters don't make any money, so Jerry had worked some odd jobs to raise the funds to finally get his truck tuned up. He'd hate for it to get towed from the side of this road. He'd also hate for it to get caught in a supernatural snowstorm.
Jessica looks at the truck, then follows the road up to the hotel, then back at the truck. She shrugs.
Jessica appears far more disheveled than when Jerry'd last saw her. Her oversized hoodie is far dirtier, torn in several places that show she's wearing her armor underneath, and bearing suspicious dark rust-colored stains. She doesn't make eye contact.
"I... don't know if it really matters? Worst thing, it'll get towed, right?" Her mouth twists. "My dad always parked super far away from whatever store we went to. He'd always say, 'your legs work, don't they?'" She rolls her eyes despite herself.
With her hands jammed in her hoodie's pockets, she starts trudging up the road toward the hotel.
Jessica found the temperature drop as shocking as expected, going from the warm sun to bitter cold in the space of a step. The brutal cold sinks into her bones with a shocking pace. The path up to the hotel itself is easy enough to navigate, having been salted sometime recently, and the building itself is well lit and warm looking when it comes into view.
Kavax came meandering up the road, his trio of new friends (and an irritable sword) in tow. He came up to Jerry.
"So... what do you think the chances are of me eventually burning this building down? Just want to get an outside opinion."
"Depends on who's inside, I guess," Jerry shrugs.
"If it's full of people in over their heads, the chance better be pretty low."
Jerry narrows his eyes as he observes Jessica's reaction when she looks back. He addresses everyone still on the road. "Come on, let's catch up."
Carlos felt different, he walked different and more importantly, looked different.
"Hola."
He gives a grin and lifts his new glasses up and down a few times while moving his eyebrows, "Been a long time amigos." Looking around for familiar faces he hoped to find some, at least to show off his new shades.
They'll notice right?