Chapter Text
The moment she saw that bright flash of white to orange and the smell of smoke hit her nose, her Beast raged up within her, desperate to escape. If she stayed, she’d die here, as painful a death as she’d ever get. She needed to run. She might live if she started running right now and didn’t stop.
Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to stay calm, forced herself to focus. The rest of the coterie needed her help. She needed to find them. Would she get burned? Maybe. But she’d been burned before, from the inside of her body out, and she’d survived that. She would survive this.
Foolish girl , her beast hissed as it curled up in a trembling ball at the back of her mind, doing all this just for them.
They’d do it for me , Serif retorted.
You think so? Where are they now, then?
Looking around, she didn’t see anyone else, not through the thickening smoke. Had they all panicked, scattered to the wind? Had they just made the smart move and begun a retreat? Either way, the Beast was right that she needed to get out. At least she had enough willpower and sense to look around as she did so.
Serif sprinted, dodging falling debris, grateful that she didn’t have to worry about breathing smoke. It meant she was able to shout, calling out to her coterie. The longer she was met with no response, the more fear wrapped its white-hot claws around her. Maybe she really was alone. Maybe they’d all left her. Maybe–
“Serif!”
Relief burst like fireworks in her chest. “Fuego?”
“This way! Keep going!”
She looked towards the voice and saw Fuego, silhouetted by the black night behind her. Safe. Pushing herself even harder, Serif ran towards her, desperate for cold air and her friend by her side. Desperate to be out of this hell.
Bursting out onto the street, Serif stopped to try to get her bearings. For some reason, she felt completely disoriented. She didn’t really know what street they were on, or which way to turn to get back, or any of that. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the building they’d just been in now completely engulfed in flames and gritted her teeth against another wave of terror.
“Serif?” Fuego put a hand on her shoulder. “Look at me, you alright?”
“I’m fine, I think. I just–” She looked at Fuego and gasped. On her right arm was a big, bubbling burn. “Oh no, you’re hurt.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” Fuego smiled big, showing all her teeth. Serif thought it looked fake. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you sure? It looks like it really hurts.”
“Like a bitch.” Now Fuego let herself sigh a little bit. “It’ll heal, though. So it’s fine.”
“Right. Okay.” Fire didn’t heal like normal, but that was a later problem. Fuego seemed fine, so she’d believe her. “Have you seen Isaac? Or Rey?”
“Rey was right next to me at first, then all of a sudden he wasn’t. I hope he just found another exit, but I don’t know. Isaac, I didn’t see. Did you?”
Serif shook her head, grimacing. “What should we do?”
“We find them.” Looking up at the burning building, Fuego shuddered, but her tone was resolute. “They made it out, and we’ll find them.”
Serif wanted it to be true, but anything could have happened to them in there. They could be trapped, or in a frenzy, or hurt too bad to move. “How can you be so sure?”
Before Fuego could speak, they heard a growl of a voice ring out across the street. “Isaac! Isaac, stop!”
It was Rey. Had to be. Immediately, Serif took off running towards the sound. Fuego was right beside her, feet pounding the pavement. As they rounded the corner, they saw Rey maybe ten feet ahead of them, full-out sprinting. Farther up from him, maybe another ten feet, there was more fire, casting ghastly reflections on the glass windows around them. Cold fear started wrapping around her again. How could he even stand to run towards it? Why would he?
“Isaac!” Rey shouted again. “I’m trying to help you, for fuck’s sake.”
Realization crept over her like the sickly heat of dawn. The fire wasn’t stationary or spreading out for fuel or food because it was a person who was on fire. Isaac.
Why wasn’t he screaming? Even as she asked herself the question, the answer was obvious. He was possessed by the Beast, desperate to escape the fire, and yet he couldn’t escape it because the fire was on him, and the Beast never learned to stop, drop, and roll.
They had to help him, but as she tried to move, she felt slow, like she was trying to run through thick jello. She turned to look at Fuego, and in her eyes, she saw the same fear that she was fighting herself. Somehow, seeing that gave her the resolution she needed to force back the Beast once again. Fuego shook her head hard, loose curls flying around her face, then pointed down a nearby alley. “Come on, we can cut them off.”
“Right,” Serif said and started sprinting again. Her mind was churning a million miles a minute. What could she do? How could she stop him?
At least running through alleys was something she had a little bit of skill at. Fuego seemed pretty good at it as well, staying just ahead of her without tripping her up or impeding her progress. They could still hear Rey cursing, telling them they were managing to catch up or at the very least keep pace. Behind them started the scream of fire engine alarms, arriving finally at the scene. Hopefully, they were too far away now to be noticed.
Meeting back up with the street, they saw that they were now even with Rey and only a little behind Isaac, who was devolving from running to shambling. Fuego darted back into an alley to keep trying to get ahead of him. Serif stopped where she was, though, because she had an idea.
Forcing herself to focus, she drew on the power inside her to create illusions. Using the reflection of light around them, she tried to make it look like there was fire ahead of Isaac. It would be fleeting and might scare him more, but she hoped it might make him either stop for a moment or maybe even turn back towards Rey, giving them time to converge on him.
It worked exactly as she’d hoped. Isaac instinctively snarled and whipped around. A couple of seconds later, Rey slammed into him, wrapping him in his suit jacket as he pushed him to the ground.
Serif felt a moment of relief as the flames were smothered out. Then, though, Isaac shrieked, “Get the fuck off of me!” and swiped at Rey with a clawed hand.
He was too close to get the full effect, but he did catch Rey across the collarbone, ripping through cloth and into his skin. Rey yelped, reeling back. “What the fuck Isaac?”
Isaac didn’t say anything. Instead, he curled up in a ball on the ground and screamed.
The sound of it made her bones feel cold. Mostly because it was a scream of utter agony, but also because it was Isaac . Isaac, who raised his voice so rarely she could count the times it had happened on one hand, who she’d never heard curse before tonight. It felt like something in the universe was wrong, knocked off its axis. Like she'd crossed momentarily into a mirror version of reality.
She’d scream like that too if she were him. Drawing closer, she could see that he was covered in what a human would call third-degree burns. There were even spots that were beyond that, going gray like fireplace ash. Just looking at it made her nauseous, a sensation she hadn’t felt a single time since she’d been turned.
Finally, Isaac stopped screaming. Serif started to reach out to him, not even sure what she was going to do. She just wanted to comfort him, somehow. Before she got close, though, he hissed, “Don’t touch me,” and she immediately recoiled. She didn’t want to hurt him, and she also didn't want to get sliced.
Speaking of sliced, she instead turned her attention to Rey. As expected, he looked pissed. He was sitting on the ground, hand pressed over his wound, glaring up at the sky. Hesitantly, Serif said, “Hey, Rey, you good?”
“Oh yeah.” He leveled his gaze on her now, brow furrowed and nose wrinkled up. “Amazing. Never better. We need to get out of here.”
“He’s right,” Fuego said. Serif turned to look at her over her shoulder. “Those sirens mean this area is swarming with people who are going to investigate all this noise.”
“I”m sorry,” Isaac said, and now he spoke barely above a whisper. He sat up but stayed hunched over, everything tucked in like he was trying to be as small as possible. “I…I’m sorry.”
Fuego shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, seriously, I screamed when I got burned too, and mine is way, way less bad than yours. Can you walk?”
“I don’t know.” His eyes were closed, his teeth gritted, and he was starting to shake. “I can try.”
Serif offered him her hand. He took a moment to pull back his claws, which seemed to take more effort than usual. Then he took it and tried to get to his feet, but before he managed to get even halfway up, he collapsed back down on the ground. His teeth gritted around another scream, suppressing it down to a guttural cry. His fingers closed hard around her wrist, pulling her slightly off-balance. It didn’t hurt, but it was a lot of pressure.
“Of course.” Rey staggered to his feet, singed jacket held in one hand. “Nothing’s ever fucking easy.”
“It’s fine,” Fuego said, in that tone of voice that always meant the opposite. “Let’s just get off the main street. The alley I came through is nice and empty, there’s a dumpster to hide next to, it’s perfect.”
“Can you do that?” Serif asked Isaac. He nodded, again using her arm for leverage to try to pull himself up. He mostly managed it by leaning heavily on her, putting one hand on her shoulder and the other on her forearm. He was a lot taller than her, and she worried he was going to wind up pushing her down, but he didn’t. It wasn’t going to be easy to walk, though.
“Okay, stop.” Rey came up on Isaac’s other side. “You’re going to knock her over. Here.”
He held out his arm, and Isaac moved over to cling onto him instead. Rey grimaced a little, but at least he wasn’t getting knocked off-balance. Guiding Isaac, he moved with him towards Fuego, who was constantly scanning as she walked back towards the alley. Serif kept looking around as well, but she always returned to watching Isaac, making sure he was…well, okay wasn’t the right word, but that he wasn’t about to fall over or pass out.
The sirens were so loud now, both fire and police. There were voices, too, much closer down the street than Serif was comfortable with. People were starting to search for witnesses, or suspects, whichever made the better story. Even off the street in the shadows, they wouldn’t escape attention for long.
They made it into the relative cover of the alley. Isaac put a hand out to press against the dumpster and started to pitch forward. Rey cursed and helped make it less of a fall, and more of a controlled slide to the ground. He settled him down, and as he started to move back, Isaac grabbed his arm. “Rey?”
“Yeah?”
“I did that?” He pointed to the scratch marks. “I hurt you?”
Rey nodded. Isaac’s whole face contorted, not just in pain now but some sort of other emotion. Anger, maybe? Whatever it was, it sent a chill up Serif’s spine. Then, it smoothed out, and he met Rey’s eyes. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
“Forget about it,” Rey said, “it wasn’t…you weren’t in your right mind.”
“It was still me.” Again Isaac hunched over, trying to be small. “You saved me, and instead of thanking you, I hurt you. Please, forgive me.”
It was almost an order. It had the intensity of one, at the very least. Rey squared his shoulders and said, “I forgive you. It’ll heal in a night or two, anyway.”
“I owe you,” Isaac said.
“We’ll talk about it later.” Rey’s voice was firm, not leaving room for argument. “Now, do you have your phone still?”
“Oh. Umm…” He started trying to search through what remained of his pockets. Serif looked up at Fuego. She was standing like a watchdog, angled so that she could see out onto the street they had entered from. Her head was tilted, though, and there was no doubt she was listening. Mirroring her, Serif slanted her stance so she could keep an eye out in the other direction. At the very least, it gave her something useful to do.
“It won’t turn on,” Isaac said. He was holding his cell phone, which somehow hadn’t melted completely. However, the screen was cracked, and the battery compartment was swollen. Definitely not usable.
Shaking his head, Rey pulled his own phone out of his pocket. “I’ll call Michael, then. What’s his number?”
“Let me do it.”
“Do you even know where we are right now?”
“You’ll just scare him,” Isaac insisted. He held out his blister-encrusted hand. “Please, let me talk to him.”
Rey looked over at Fuego, who shrugged. Nine times out of ten, it was better just to let Isaac be Isaac and deal with the complications than to try to push against his sensibilities. Especially in a case like this, where it didn’t really make much of a difference.
“Will you put it on speaker, at least?” Rey asked. Isaac thought for a moment, then nodded. Sighing, Rey handed it to him. Isaac held it cradled in two hands like he was holding something fragile, like an egg perhaps. Something he wanted to keep close and that he was afraid was going to be taken away.
He had to enter the number manually, and it took him an uncomfortably long time. It rang twice before Michael picked up. His voice was hesitant, almost suspicious. “Hello?”
“Michael, it’s Isaac. I’m using Rey’s phone.”
“Boss.” He dropped his guard slightly, but he still sounded on edge. “Do you need to be picked up?”
“Yes, please. We’re–” He stopped, realizing Rey was right and he didn’t know their cross-streets.
“East 136th Street and Willow Avenue,” Fuego said. “He’s going to want to come around from the south on account of all the…” she waved her hand, “traffic.”
Isaac nodded to her, then repeated what she’d said. Michael confirmed it, then paused. After a moment, he asked, “Are you alright, sir?”
Funny, Serif wasn’t sure she would have known just by listening to his voice that something was wrong, but there were a lot of clues that things were amiss. Plus, the whole ghoul thing. Who knew how much time he had spent breaking Isaac’s voice cues down in his head?
“I’m…” Isaac closed his eyes. “I’m injured. Rey and Fuego are as well.”
“Should I bring Angela, too?”
“Couldn’t hurt, if she’s around.”
It was a good idea, in case trouble found them. An uninjured combatant could go a long way if things went that particular kind of bad. Also, she could help Isaac walk, and that on its own would help a lot.
“Understood,” Michael said. “I’m leaving now.”
“Text this number when you get here.”
The call ended, and Isaac held the phone back out to Rey. “Thank you.”
“Sure.” Rey didn’t put the phone away. He was eyeing Isaac consideringly. “Why didn’t you tell him?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why didn’t you tell him how badly you're hurt?”
“Oh.” Isaac opened his eyes, blinking rapidly. “Well, there’s nothing he can do about it right now. So why worry him?”
A look passed from Rey to Fuego and then between Fuego and Serif. Again, no one tried to object, at least at the moment. This was another let Isaac be Isaac situation. He was hard to argue with because he had this way of making points that were difficult to logically get around. He rarely said anything that wasn’t true from a certain point of view. He also had a very narrow scope of things he worried or cared about, and that made most arguments rather pointless.
It was just like he’d told her once when they’d been alone in the haven. If, in the long term, nothing about his circumstances were going to be measurably different, then why worry about it? Why be upset? She shouldn’t have been surprised that he kept that even in this state, but she was. He probably hadn’t been lying to her, then, when he said he’d always been like this.
Aside from the sirens, they waited in silence. Serif kept a close eye and ear out, but luckily nobody intruded on them. There were some passersby, but most ran by extremely quickly, and those who didn’t had many other things to grab their attention other than four people hanging out in an alley. Isaac kept shifting, unable to find a position that was comfortable and every time he moved, he flinched. He was going to be in pain for a while.
Rey’s phone buzzed with a text message. He looked down at it and said, “They’re here. To the south, near that lumber yard. They want to know if we need help.”
“We…” Isaac stopped, like he’d lost confidence in what he’d been going to say. “We’re fine, aren’t we?”
“If we exclude you, maybe,” Fuego said. “Can you walk, now?”
“With a little help, I’m sure I can manage.”
Quickly, Rey tapped out a message. Then, he slipped the phone back into his pocket and held his jacket out to him. “Put this on, so you look at least a little less burned up.”
Tilting his head, Isaac studied the jacket. After a moment, he took it. Slipping it on, he flinched as the fabric slid over scorched skin. It didn’t quite fit right, the sleeves weren’t long enough, but hopefully, it would do the job all the same.
Rey offered his arm to Isaac. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Isaac grabbed his forearm with one hand, put his other flat on the wall behind him, and slowly got to his feet. He was steadier now. Hopefully, it was because he was in less pain, but he’d probably just gotten used to it. Also, steadier didn’t mean better. He was still limping, and he was still clinging on tight to Rey. His injuries were impairing his ability badly.
Fuego stepped out first, looking carefully down the street before setting off. Rey and Isaac followed, and then Serif brought up the rear. Her head was on a swivel as they made their retreat. She made sure no one was looking at them, no one was following them. That they were safe.
Not too far, they could see headlights and the reflection of streetlights bouncing off white enamel paint. There was a low rumble of the idling engine. Angela was standing outside the car, not quite casually. She didn’t have her gun out, but she was definitely ready to draw it if need be. On seeing them, she snapped to attention.
As they got closer, close enough for her to actually see them, her head tilted, and her eyes narrowed. Serif couldn’t quite tell if she was upset by what she was realizing, but she was definitely reacting to it. Then, she turned and opened the back passenger door.
He probably was safest in the back, away from the doors and windows, and with the rest of them in between him and any threats. She doubted he’d be able to handle much more damage. Plus, it would be better for all of them if nobody nosy got a good look at him.
Since she got there first, Fuego automatically climbed into the back row of seats. Rey slid into the middle row, settling behind the driver’s seat. Angela offered Isaac her hand, and she and Rey helped him settle into a seat. Finally, Serif got in and sat beside Isaac. Ordinarily, she’d have squeezed back to sit by Fuego, but she felt the need to help protect Isaac, so middle row it was.
Lifting her head, she saw that Michael was watching them all in the rearview mirror, brow furrowed. His fingers were drumming on the wheel. When he noticed her looking, he immediately looked away, and she felt that cold, twisting feeling in her gut. She never forgot interacting with him the way he was bound to Isaac.
Angela shut the door and then took her place in the front seat. Michael cleared his throat and said, “Home, sir?”
“Please,” Isaac said. Leaning forward, he pressed on his eyes. “Home.”
The car began to move. Turning her head to look back at them, Angela asked, “Do we need to be worried about being followed?”
“Not any more than usual,” Isaac said.
“What happened?” There was a tension in her voice Serif hadn’t heard before. The usually calm, tactical Angela sounded a little bit shaken up.
“There was a fire. It started very suddenly, I think. I don’t actually remember very much.” His eyes darted around to the others in the car. “Did any of you see anything? Or anyone?”
“I saw a white flash,” Serif said. “And then everything was just on fire. Didn’t see anything unusual before that, and after, I just ran.”
“Same, pretty much,” Fuego said. “I doubt anyone would have wanted to be in there when it went off. I tried to look around, but then some debris hit me, and I bolted.”
Rey turned to stare out the window. “That sounds about right, big flash and then absolute hell. I was a little distracted, trying not to lose it. And trying to chase after you.”
Isaac flinched a little at that. Angela turned back around, eyes scanning out the front windshield. “Something that extensive would have had to be set up well in advance. Someone could have remotely detonated it with the right technology, or there could have been a trigger. Either way, someone was prepared, maybe for you specifically, maybe for kindred in general.” She raked her fingers through her hair, shaking her head. “I should have been with you.”
“I gave you an order, and you followed it,” Isaac said. “Did you get the information I sent you for?” She nodded. “Then you did exactly what you were supposed to do. This isn’t your fault.”
Angela didn’t argue. She knew, just like they all did, that there wasn’t a point. Besides, they were almost back at the haven, so there wasn’t much time to get into it.
Michael pulled the car into the garage. As soon as it was parked, Angela turned over her shoulder and said, “Please wait for a moment.” Then, she and Michael both got out of their car. They could hear their footsteps circling around the garage and see them inspecting the walls and floors.
“What are they doing?” Serif asked, watching out the window.
“Checking for more traps,” Isaac said.
Serif’s eyes widened. “You mean someone might have gotten in here?”
“It’s very unlikely. But it’s possible. If what happened tonight was set for us specifically, then nothing can be taken for granted.”
That made Serif so nervous it was hard to sit still. When Angela finally opened the door, she bolted out of the car, nervously looking around. Rey took this as the signal to open his own door, and he and Fuego climbed out on the other side. They seemed just as nervous as she did, on top of nursing their own injuries. How had she been the only one who hadn’t gotten hurt here? Had she been the one who ran away first and left everyone to fend for themselves? Abandoned them?
Angela and Michael both stayed by the car to help Isaac. Angela offered her arm to help him out of the car. Once he was steady, Michael closed and locked the doors, then went to unlock the building. The rest of the coterie trailed behind them into the brownstone. It reminded Serif of ducklings, or maybe ants. Follow the leader.
As they gathered on the first floor, Angela started to move toward the stairs. Isaac stopped her and turned to face the rest of them. When he spoke, his voice was very quiet, like he was too tired to raise it. “There’s a lot to talk about, but I just…I need to rest. I can’t force you to do anything, of course, but I’d like it if you all would stay to sleep. You’ll be safer here, and if we’re being watched, you risk having someone follow you to places where you really don’t want them to be.”
“Alright,” Serif said, nodding. This was part of the reason she’d never actually stayed at Isaac’s place. So that if she ever needed to stay there in an emergency, she could without worrying about it. “Makes sense.”
Rey shrugged. He wasn’t happy about it, the anger was almost glowing out of his eyes, but he didn’t say anything about it either. Fuego said, “Yeah, okay.” Then, her head tilted, and she asked, “Are you going to be okay?”
“It’ll take a bit of time, but yes, I will. Speaking of,” he pointed to the burn on her arm, “you’re not going to be able to make that heal like normal. Depending on how bad it is, it could take time. You could be fine, or it could wind up making you very, very hungry. So be careful, alright?”
“I will do my best.” She dragged the words out, like she wasn’t sure she’d actually be able to pull that off. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” His eyes closed, and he grimaced. “Until tomorrow, then.”
He nodded to Angela, who helped him up the stairs. Michael followed very close behind them, leaving the coterie behind on the first floor. Without another word, Rey stalked off in the direction of his room.
Looking again at Fuego, Serif asked, “You sure you’re alright?”
“I’m fine. ” She sounded annoyed. Then, though, she met Serif’s eyes, and her face softened. “You seem very worried. Are you alright?”
“It’s just…” She shrugged. “I’ve been burned before. More than once. I know how bad it feels and how scary it is, especially if it hasn’t happened to you before. That’s all.”
“That’s so sweet.” She smiled, head tilting. “Was it fire for you? Sunlight?”
“I’ve managed not to get sunlight so far.” That was one thing at least, she had actually been taught rather quickly, before it was a concern. “It’s kinda complicated, I–”
Rey stormed past them once again, now wearing a long, thick overcoat. Turning over his shoulder, he growled, “I need to eat,” and left out the front door into the night. He closed it rather loudly behind him, making them both flinch.
Staring at the door, Serif asked, “Should we follow him?”
“I’m not.” Fuego shook her head. “Not tonight. You can if you want, but I’d say let Angela know and get some rest.”
“You’re probably right.” Serif realized she was chewing on the inside of her lip and forced herself to stop. “Not like there’d be any stopping him, anyway.”
“Definitely not. Now, I’m going to go to, uh, sleep, and hope that my arm hurts way less tomorrow night.”
“Sleep well. Remind me tomorrow, I’ll tell you my burn story. It’s…it’s not very exciting, honestly, but maybe it’ll help to know I’ve been there.”
“Oh, you know I’ll ask.” Fuego nodded to her, still smiling. “Later.”
As she came up onto the second-floor landing, Serif saw Angela coming down the stairs from the third. She looked upset. When Serif told her that Rey had gone out again, she shook her head and muttered, “That’s just great.” Then, after glancing around balefully, she said, “Michael and I are going to be inspecting everything for security. May I check your room before you sleep?”
“Yes, of course.” She hated the way Angela and Michael acted around them, but she was too tired to push on it tonight. “Can I help in any way?”
“Stay inside. Don’t make protecting you any harder than it needs to be.” Angela shrugged, head twitching a little. “I don’t know. I’ll let you know if there’s anything.”
“Please do.”
She stood awkwardly in the doorway, watching Angela go over the entire room, no stone unturned. At the start of this evening, Serif never could have imagined this. That it would be necessary at all. That there was something that would get past her barriers enough that, as much as it disturbed her, it genuinely did make her feel safer as well.
Finally, Angela gave her a nod and left the room, perhaps to continue her inspection, perhaps to verify Rey’s location. Serif closed her door and sat down on her bed. Then she got up again and paced. Sitting still gave her a horrible pins-and-needles feeling, like her foot was asleep except all over her body. She desperately needed to do something, yet there was nothing to do. Not tonight, anyway.
Out of the closet, she pulled out the bag of art supplies. She’d started on one of the blank walls last night, but she’d been stuck on what to do with it. All she’d accomplished was putting down some white base paint. Now she found herself making swirls of red, orange, yellow. It wasn’t fire, it was far more abstract than that, but it was reminiscent nonetheless.
Maybe she’d paint it all over later. She probably would have to because Isaac probably wouldn’t want that reminder on his walls. It still felt good, a catharsis, and it kept her occupied until the daysleep came to finally still her, to take the anxiety and restlessness from her, along with everything else.
The last thing that stuck in her mind as she fell into unconsciousness was Isaac’s awful scream.