Chapter Text
Inej has never been a fan of stakeouts. It’s not the waiting, she’s good at that, or the uncomfortable conditions. She actually enjoys the silence, enjoys the reprieve it gives her before things lurch into action. What bothers her about stakeouts though, is that more often than not they turn into a group activity. And not everyone has the same patience for squatting in bushes and staring into the darkened windows of residential homes that Inej has.
Tonight, they last 34 minutes before Jesper cracks and breaks the tense silence. It’s a new record. She’d probably be proud if she wasn’t so on edge, something about the night air making her tense and hyper-vigilant. Jesper seems similarly ill at ease, and Inej wonders if anyone else hears the slight shake in his voice when he speaks.
“I’m not saying we’re in the wrong place, but are we sure this is where it’s going down? I mean…”
He bats the hummingbird feeder in front of him, squinting incredulously as it swings to and fro.
“He has a bird feeder. Abird feeder .C’mon!”
Inej has to admit that the place wasn’t normally where they’d expect to stop a greater demon summoning. Normally there was a lot more rolling fog, or skeletal remains, or bloodstained sacrificial tables. What she wouldn’t give to see a sacrificial table right now. The utter normality of the manicured lawn and tasteful Victorian house had thrown her off, everything about the place screaming rich asshole more than a nefarious cult leader. But the rich did strange things with their money, and the anonymous tip-off they’d received had said that tonight one of the richest businessmen in all of Ketterdam was doing some serious black magic. She supposed that even crazed followers of the black arts preferred not having to clean swamp muck out of there robes, and at least gated communities like this offered privacy.
“Nina, what do we know?”
Beside her, the witch sighed, pulling the slightly torn spellbook from the folds of her red dress. Inej resists the urge to readjust the foliage in front of them, knowing that if it wasn’t already obscuring the rich colours of Nina’s clothes then there was nothing she could do about it. The dress, a stark change from the dark colours of the other's clothes, was embroidered with runes and sigils that marked her as a heart render and were too important to forgo in favour of camouflage. She was the only one of their motley crew who had any training in sorcery, and the advantages that gave them were worth sacrificing some of their element of surprise.
“Frankly Inej, we know sh-“
“Language”
Matthias’s voice comes out in a deep growl as he takes his place behind them. Back from his perimeter check, he is half transformed, and Inej works hard not to smile at the leaves and twigs caught in his hair. Nina pokes her tongue out at him and Matthias’ eyes flash in response, before he looks away, cheeks red. Nina clears her throat, focusing back onto the pages of her spellbook.
“Shoot all. We know shoot all. It’s gonna be big though, powerful. I can feel the energy from here and it’s not good.”
Inej could feel it too. The faint feeling of unease she’d been experiencing had steadily grown, becoming more tangible in the air around them. It felt like the hum of an electrical current, accompanied by a cold sickly feeling that settled deep within her bones. It had not escaped Inej’s notice that the rest of her team seemed to be suffering its effects as well; Jesper, a natural empath, was almost shaking from the energy of it, and Matthias seemed to be struggling to calm his wolf side, growling lowly as the power around them affected his control. None of this boded well, considering Van Eck had bought enough supplies to summon a greater demon and then some.
“Matthias, stick with Nina. Jesper, deal with the guards and, if possible, try to find the anonymous source from inside the house. If they’re summoning something big, they’ll need a summoning circle, and I’ll deal with whatever comes out of it. Let's do this quick and easy guys, no death, no mess.”
Thirty minutes later those final words taunt her, and, as Inej drives a knife into the eye socket of a masked henchman, she remembers why she leaves most of the pep talks to Nina.
The cult members, what few of them remain, are scattering now, tumbling out of windows and staggering away. Clearly, they agree with Inej that the huge, dark mass growing within the swirling red fog of the summoning circle is bad news. Scanning the room, she finds her team in various states of wear and tear. Nina, eyes screwed shut and armed with a ball of energy in each hand, chants furiously from the corner as Matthias, features bestial and hands clawed, growls by her side. Van Eck has managed to crawl his way towards the circle, clutching at the wound in his side, a gift left by inej’s saints and her daggers. The ritual, disrupted and spiralling out of control, has left the thing inside the circle weak and barely holding onto this plane. Van Eck screams for it to attack, and even in its weakened form, it throws itself against Nina’s wards frantically as it tries to obey, growing slowly with each thump against the glowing blue walls of its cage.
Somewhere in the house gunshots sound out, and Inej prays to her saints that they’re Jesper’s bullets and not the guards. The distraction though, the team's instinct to turn towards the noise in fear of their teammate, gives Van Eck the chance he needs. He dives towards the circle, takes the hand that had been pressed into injury, and slams a red-stained palm onto the edge of the circle.
Blood, in any amount, is a powerful catalyst to black magic. While virginal blood is best, the blood of a summoner does just fine, the fresher the better. Van Eck's blood in the circle gives the demon enough of a boost that the next slam against the ward fractures it. Nina lets out a sharp cry, collapsing in a heap by Matthias’s feet, and it’s the only warning Inej gets before a mass of red fog is surging towards her. She lets loose two knives as she rolls out of the way, one hitting its mark and the other passing straight through the thing's body. It lets out a roar, and she utters a curse under her breath as talons and fangs manifest to swipe down towards her, before turning back to coiling mist. Its edges are growing clearer, the silhouette of a broad-shouldered and barrel-chested beast taking form before their eyes.
“Inej!”
She spins to see Nina calling to her from the other side of the room, hunched in the corner as she desperately flicks through her spellbook, face pinched and anxious.
”It’s not anchored correctly! Be careful, something could follow it throu-“
There is a ripping sound, the screeching wail of metal being torn asunder, and the air inside the summoning circle shudders and parts. The air is filled with the smell of rotten flesh and seawater as black smoke seeps out of the rift, pouring onto the ground and rising to solidify into a vaguely humanoid shape.
For a second everything is still.
Then black is lunging at red and chaos descends. Across from Inej, Van Eck staggers against the wall, shock visible on his face. The black shape is relentless and his own demon seems to be suffering the consequences, it’s impressive size no match for the speed of the shadow. He shouts a muffled command to his creature, who is being forced back by the shadows blows, and the beast releases its solid form, losing shape. It rises, a cloud of red mist once more, swirling around Van Eck before both demon and man disappear.
Bloodied and breathing raggedly, Jesper slides into the room, a grin on his face and a wild look in his eyes. The excitement on his face freezes though the moment he looks towards Inej. He lifts his gun and for a second Inej sees white, before there’s a bullet flying past her shoulder.
Breathless, she stares at the expression of horror on Jespers face. Fists clenched tight around her daggers, she turns slowly, towards the smoky black silhouette of the man standing behind her. There’s a hole in what would have been his shoulder, the edges of it curling with tendrils of smoke. The shape tilts his head, featureless face watching her as the smoke knits itself together. Inej gets a strange feeling they’re being laughed at. Matthias is the first to be spurred into action, lunging forward, more transformed then before, a wolf attacking with brute force. The shadow whirls around, solidifying into arms and some kind of long stick, lashing out towards Matthias’s skull. Someone, Jesper she thinks, swears loudly.
“Nina, do something! I can’t get a shot with your boyfriend in the way!”
“I’mtrying Jesper! I don’t have anything to bind him too”
Matthias lets out a roar as the thing lands another hit. Its figure flickers momentarily, Matthias’s clawed fist passing through its arm before the demon becomes solid once more. The silhouette is clearer this time, the edges defined enough that the next time it darts out of Matthias’s way, Inej catches a glimpse of a coat and the glint of white teeth. She doesn’t like the sharpness of them, nor the smirk they peak from.
“Use me!”
She sprints towards Nina, sliding to where the witch kneels. The ritual circle she’s drawn in chalk is shaky, but Nina’ grip is firm as she grasps Inej’s wrist and slices across her palm. With Inej’s blood dripping into the circle, Nina begins to chant, the ancient language echoing strangely in the room. Inej can feel the pull of the magic, the rhythm of the words, the call to her blood. But in the centre of the room, Matthias is being hit by blow after blow, and his yelp of pain breaks her from her stupor. Running, with a knife in both hands, her eyes meet the demons. Bitter coffee eyes that are surprisingly human narrow as she lifts her first knife. It flies through the air, the perfect arc, and…
He catches it. Lifts it, aiming it straight at Matthias’s heart. Draws his arm back to throw it.
“Inej!”
Both demon and Inej turned to look at Nina.
“You can command it!”
“STOP.”
It freezes.