comeback.kid

“You motherfucker!” She yelled. She knew that she was around the children. Karina quickly stepped in between the children and Ava. She pushed Nico, Sawyer, and Grace behind her, whilst Jeremiah remained in his car seat. The baby kicked his feet, ignorant of what was happening. “I don’t give a shit you who you think you are!” She couldn’t believe that Ava would be so bold to try to give candy to the girls. 

destrecier‌:

Nico and Grace had such a strained relationship. Jeremiah could only hope for the day that they got along. Luckily for him, because of his age, he didn’t normally get in the way of both of them. He bet that they could end world if they wanted to. He shivered. “Green thumbs… I think that would be a good improvement for my sister.” He joked trying to bring some light to the situation. “Wait, both of them? Do you need to do that?” Miah stepped forward. “Mom’s here to stop Ma from this apocalypse stuff. “

As he listened to both his aunt and Grace, he frowned and lowered his shoulders. All he wanted was to have their family back together, but this was turning out to be more complicated than he thought. “No, she’s different…” Karina had a point. Even Sawyer seemed more distant than before. “How do we rebalance stuff? That’s how it works right. Something has to adjust, right? So why don’t we help balance stuff.”

He pounded his fist against the palm of his hand. “Who’s Eve?” Despite having Lilith as a mother, Jeremiah didn’t remember all of the stories that she told him. The mother he knew seemed rather normal, nothing like the raging Antichrist the wards were supposed to keep out. “I can help look through the library. I can’t read Ancient Witch Language though, but if you tell me what the symbols are supposed to look like, maybe I can help!”

@xx-death​

Death threw a wave of dark aura at her brother once he made a comment about Nico’s curse. “I’m untouchable.” muttered Grace. If the youngest Hernandez-Oliver were to try any funny business, well good luck to the infant cause she’s gonna need it. “Thanks Auntie Rina…” Her voice was low as she watched the younger versions of themselves made themselves at home. “Miah, we don’t want them ruining a home that’s not theirs. We’ll just leave as soon as they make themselves known and take this matter elsewhere.” 

Pressing her lips into a thin line, Grace nodded to confirm that Aurelia’s been different, “Her soul has some sort of darkness attached to it, but she’s trying to fight it.” She knows her mother is there, but a part of her was eating at her identity on the whole. Looking over at Miah, the eldest Vale-Young walked up to him, placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Hey, we’ve done enough. We should try to leave this with professionals like Auntie Rina and assist when needed.” Dropping her arm onto her side, she looked over at the older woman and bit her lip as she thought of a response. “I had her soul though…It shouldn’t be tainted.” And then it hit her. “But Lucifer and Hades took turns in having her soul to keep Mama or myself away…Do you think that’s why? They did something to her?” 

// @revcnir​

With the way that Grace was reacting, Karina was worried that the childhood rivalry continued well into their adulthood. She tried not to show her disappointment. “They won’t ruin anything.” She reassured them. “My magic will hold up against them and your parents would have to be idiots to attack when your younger selves are here.” Karina glanced over at the sleeping baby Jeremiah. “No need to scar you both.”

“Ah... Dark attachments are always fun.” Karina muttered sarcastically. She held her hand out and manipulated the soul energy from her phantasms to heal herself. “No need. I have plenty of friends on the other side to help me get what I need. I think we should focus on trying to isolate the exact problem.” Karina had the spirits scoot chairs over to Grace and Miah. “That might be why something changed. Or maybe she changed to survive them. Those entities aren’t the kindness, even if some of my magic comes from his unholiness.”  Karina looked over at the younger of the two Vale Youngs. “Eve is the first human and one of the first to achieve the status of an ancient witch. Her most magically accomplished child is Goldie Oliver and my magic may be powerful, but you should see what Goldie does in her fucking sleep.” Eve used to criticize her magic for being too raw and unrefined, but she could understand why. Goldie’s, in comparison, was like a work of art. 

destrecier‌:

The reason why his aunt was scary was because she was one of the few people who could control both Sawyer and Nico. Jeremiah gave his aunt an apologetic smile while Grace seemed like she was getting ready to fight against a baby. He continued to cradle the infant in his arms, who seemed to have fallen asleep. “She’s really good at battle magic. I think she rivals Sawyer’s speed casting.” The two siblings were a terrifying duo when talking about magic practitioners. It was just a shame that they didn’t share the same opinion of his sister. 

“We had her preserved body and her soul. So it made sense…” Jeremiah said as he found a soft place to put a baby. As soon as the wards came up, he felt some of the shadows from the outside recoil from the house. “I think we brought back our mom. But she wasn’t in hell or anything, Auntie…” He then looked back at Grace. “We had to pay cash or something? How much money do we need to pay for a person?” He frowned when Karina called them idiots. “Grace, do you know about what Auntie is talking about. I’m new to this.”

@xx-death​

If Nico wasn’t Sawyer’s sister, then Grace wouldn’t hesitate taking her life force for her greater good. The kid was such a little bitch that the demigod was on the verge of fighting her…literally. “No need to apologize Auntie Rina.” replied Grace as she glared at Nico while she went on time out. “It makes sense that the Old Hag played a part in all this.” She’ll get what’s coming to her, she just needs the perfect opportunity…Grace attempted to summon reapers around Nico, but she got distracted when her aunt lectured herself and Miah.

“Miah…You know when Mom said we’d upset the balance of life and whatever. This is what Auntie Rina meant.” She furrowed her brows and concentrated on the topic at hand, allowing her anger to disappear as she faced both individuals. “I’m Death, I preserved her soul. Auntie Angie had her body preserved…She should still be Mommy Aura, it’s just that…” Her voice trailed off as a hint of regret started to creep up on her. Something had to be wrong. The fact that both she and Miah felt something off about Aurelia, that in itself should have been a warning sign. 

“She’s the only one who can save Mama…” whispered Grace as she casted her gaze downwards. “I don’t want Mom to die again, there has to be a way to help her stay without any consequences!” 

// @revcnir​

Karina wasn’t sure where and when it started, but she knew that Nico was gunning for Grace. She wanted to ask her adult daughter for more information, but the time traveler always seemed so tight-lipped when it came to things about the future. “It doesn’t help, but the curse isn’t anything too serious. She was trying to give you literal green thumbs.”  Karina sighed as she continued to activate stronger wards and protection charms. “At the very least, you’ll be protected whilst in here, but just in case, I’m keeping both of your parents out.”

She looked up from the tome. “She isn’t the same, right? Crossing the realms isn’t an easy thing for our souls to do. I’m not sure what my mother did to make it so that I can, but when Gray would crossover because of his deal with your mother,  he’d lose bits of his humanity. Sawyer’s been different too. Sometimes, the changes are small, but sometimes... when the Balance is broken...” She lowered her gaze again so she could work on healing her wound. 

“If we figure out the price and what exactly happened then I might be able to help. My mother in law was a pain to deal with, but she left me with her library. Eve has to have something to help. If not that, I can seek help from the Elders... or Goldie...”

destrecier‌:

“I don’t want to give up on them… They’re our moms.” Jeremiah frowned and then stayed squatted down near the ground. After reviving their mother, he suddenly felt tired. With all the portal work, he just wanted to sit down. From another room, he heard Auntie Rina playing with their cousins. He smiled. “She’s really a nice lady even if she’s a little scary.” He looked up and raised his hand to wave at Karina as she walked into the kitchen, but in his peripherals he caught a dark shadow move toward Grace’s side. 

His head snapped back to the wall behind Grace and saw a cursed symbol. He sent his shadow over to bind Nico’s hands. Jeremiah had forgotten about Nico’s goal to end his sister. “No magic, that’s mean magic! And we’re sorry, we’re just really desperate. Our parents are having a… discussion!” He didn’t want to say argument. He was pretty sure that the eight year olds would be able to understand the word. Grace and Sawyer were two of the smartest people he knew. “Please let us stay here!”

@xx-death​

Grace remained silent as she listened to her brother. To be honest if it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have been able to keep it together. He gave her all the more reason to hope and for someone who embodies darkness on a daily basis, he was the exact opposite of that. Snapping out of her thoughts, it was like clockwork as Grace summoned Mr. Jacques and gave Jeremiah within seconds before transforming into Death. 

‘Why that little shi–’

The demigod glared at Nico as she ignored her aunt yelling. It seemed like everyone had a contingency plan against the child’s curses. Black hues were still glaring at the child despite the commotion was going on. She could feel Death’s urges to just snatch Nico’s lifeforce, but this was her family for fuck sakes. “You know, five year olds usually watch Peppa Pig or draw, play, eat, cry, shit…But this one.” She points at Nico accusingly, “This one is messed up. Auntie Rina you should put her in day care or something.” 

Death didn’t let her guard down as she floated over to Karina and frowned, “We brought our mom back to life. I think that explains everything don’t ya think?”

@revcnir​

“You know what happens when we do bad things, Nico.” Karina placed her hand over her daughter’s bound ones. Then she traced a few symbols. Her energy caused the symbols to glow and the shadows moved away from the light before dissipating. “You’re going to have to sit in the time out corner with no magic.” Her youngest started to cry, but reluctantly started to walk to the corner. Thankfully, he children could still be disciplined. “Grace, I’m sorry for that... My mother’s been teaching her magic and I can’t break her out of it... I think they’ve discovered her affinity for battle magic. I thought about day care, but Amara has a hand in all of them, I swear.” An over-exaggeration, but if she was right, then she wouldn’t be surprised. 

“What do you mean you brought Aurelia back to life?” She asked and tried to keep her tone even, but her movements betrayed her, signalling her alarm. She opened a drawer and pulled out a spell book. Karina reached for the knife block. She took the closest knife and then cut a line through her palm as her phantom opened the book to the right page. The witch squeezed her hand and allowed blood to drip onto the opened tome. “You don’t just bring people back. These things always come at a price. Do you even know what you brought back? Have you paid the correct amount?” She started to draw sigils and then she pushed down with all the weight focused on her palm. Protective wards erupted from the book and flew to every part of her home. “You two are idiots. I say this with all the love in my heart, but I still can’t believe you brought this shit into my home. The dead are never whole.”

jeremiah‌:

Jeremiah wondered if the Vale family was always supposed to be this troublesome, but he tried not to think too hard on it. They needed to get their younger selves out of this place. He couldn’t see where their mothers were, but he could feel the lingering darkness around their home. “Up.” He told the little Grace while he picked her up and held her close. He was sure that both versions of his sister could feel his anxiety, but he was trying to keep the worry from his face. He made another portal to their next destination. 

“I don’t… Things seem… pretty… not good?” He shrugged as he stepped through the portal. “Yeah, it looks very not good. I don’t know. Mom seems different, like something’s really different. Everyone’s changed and…” What if they weren’t compatible as a family anymore? “I picked Auntie Rina. Her house is the safest and little you can play with little Sawyer. I also think that we’ll freak her out a lot less than Vera.” He closed the portal after Grace stepped through. Then he lowered the eight year old and allowed her to run off. 

“It’ll get better.” she murmured while cradling Baby Miah. She didn’t sound as confident, but she needed to speak it out into the universe. “I sensed that too, but the afterlife is different than here. She’s not the mother we once knew, but we can’t give up on her okay?” Once her brother confirmed that they were going to Sawyer’s place, Grace nodded before hopping into the portal and cautiously walking around the Hernandez-Oliver household.

“Auntie Rina!?” called out Grace. “It’s us! We kinda have nowhere to go…So uh, we’re gonna stay here. Hopefully that’s okay?!” 

@revcnir​

She wasn’t sure where Gray had gone off too, but she didn’t mind having the girls to herself. She had Nico on her shoulders and Sawyer was holding onto her leg. Luckily, her phantoms were helping her move around. “Mámá Train is going to go to the kitchen and we’re going to eat all the leftovers before daddy comes home!” She shuffled over and then took Nico off of her shoulder to swing her around. “Oh, no~!  A magical wind storm! What are we going to do?”

Karina heard her youngest daughter yell, “Boo!” Then Nico waved her hands to send a cursed symbol at Grace. 

Quickly, Karina tucked Nico underneath her arm while she ordered one of her phantoms to tug Grace out of the way. She then placed a hand on her chest and let out a sigh of relief. When she realized just who was in front of her, she quickly gathered her composure and then glared. “What did I tell you two about teleporting here!? Use the door! Nico’s learning curses! And Sawyer-” She looked over at Jeremiah and could already see her young daughter checking on the eight year old Grace. “Double... What do you mean you have nowhere?”

“Big sis.” She blinked at Karina a few times to make sure that she was seeing things correctly. An Apollyon Agent and her kids were right in front of her. She knew Karina was fully capable of protecting her children, but she didn’t think that this place was the best place for two little girls. “Nico, Sawyer… Hello, please be careful. I don’t want you to accidentally hurt yourself… your mommy might get mad at me.” She reached under the table to get some wooden weapon replicas and handed it over to the kids. “I do have some shields, but if you’re looking for force shields, that may require some time. I don’t have access to Inner Sanctum technology at the moment… I think you’re better off asking Vera for that kind of equipment.”

She hadn’t been reinstated back into the Inner Sanctum, not exactly. When her old boss left, her file was left sitting under the category of inactive agents, so while on leave, she decided to make use of her talents. She started making armors and weapons for people she deemed worthy enough for her skills, many of those people included heroes and a few anti-heroes. Today, she had her shop set up in an alleyway between two abandoned buildings. She had a few pickups for today, so she figured that this would be a safe enough place. “Hello.” She greeted, noticing someone approaching. “What do you need?” Honor smiled. “I’m armed.”

Karina chose to decline several missions so she could collect ingredients for her girls. While she didn’t agree that using curses on kindergarten bullies was the best course of action, she did believe in practicing responsible magic. Light curses could be a good learning point for Nico, or at least, that’s what she told herself. But of course, her daughter would choose to do a light curse that required rare ingredients, which meant that Karina had to find them in difficult places. 

Dressed head to toe in all black, she entered the seedy marketplace. She had the money to spend, but this wasn’t the type of place that she wanted to feed money into. If anything, this type of place was just a stone throw away from being shutdown by SHOT, the Inner Sanctum, or any hero, so if the criminals missed a few magical items, her conscience would sleep well tonight.

The witch passed a table and glanced around before she pocketed a bundle of herbs. She moved to the edge of the marketplace, walking past a stand, making note of the dragon scales. She leaned over to reach for one when she heard some commotion. Sovereign. Karina didn’t recognize the name, so she took advantage of the distraction and pushed a scale into her bag. She turned a corner and started to walk away from the panic, but a couple steps down the alley way, she found herself faced to face with the hero. 

“I really don’t have time for this.” She sighed and then pushed her hands together. Magic flowed from her hands and activated the spells in her gloves and watch. Her phantoms erupted from her watch but hovered around her neatly, chained to her. “Move.”

“Well, that’s their method to our madness Rina. You should already be accustomed to the sounds of them.” Sighing, Amara knew he annoyance of having these creatures on earth, but they were inevitable to avoid. “We don’t always get what we want hija. You adapt to them, that’s all.” She made it sound like it was easy, but no ordinary person can take on a demon like Amara can. The hybrid doesn’t fear them one bit and if not, welcomes them to do their damage. If anything, they should fear her. 

Observing Karina’s actions, she remained unfazed as one by one the demons were eliminated. Impressed with her skills, Amara did a nod of approval as she faced the screaming woman. Profanities and curses were being thrown at them in both english and foreign tongue. However, she remained unbothered as she went past the wards. “Let this be a lesson to you all.” declared Amara after periods of silence. “Number One Rule: Bring up my past or dare to cross me and you will cease to exist.” Turning to the demon, she cupped her face gently and faked a sympathetic look. “If you think you’re going back to where you came from…” Her eyes turned bloodshot red as she bore her fangs out and hissed in anger. “Think again.”

Amara recited an incantation in her native tongue, a curse that was once said by her mother when she cast out evil from their village. The added touch were the karambits that appeared out of nowhere and were wrapped tightly in each hand, one of said prized possession from the Odavia heirlooms. Her magic appeared onto her hands and the items she was holding, before digging the blades onto the woman’s chest and neck. In one swift motion, she swiped her hands away and the demon was not only decapitated since everything from their vessel to their soul erupted in flames. A piercing scream filled the room until it was no more and Amara regained her composure as she stood still for a brief moment, before using her magic to make the karambits disappear. “Now, clean this mess up. Business…As usual. If another demonic fucker sets foot into HQ without my permission, I will not only end them, but the individual who let them in.” Glancing over at Karina, she crossed her arms and said, “And next time, don’t question if you’ll be concerned about an interference such as that. I’ve said it before and I’m saying this for the last time: I’m the ONLY one left.”

She wasn’t sure if Amara was joking, but she hoped that she was. Karina felt like the people who were truly unaffected by demonic presences, as dark as the ones in front of them, were monsters in their own ways. In another time, Karina wouldn’t have minded being called one, but she didn’t want her girls to believe in the title. It would break her heart if Sawyer or Nico looked at her with fear. “I will continue to resist.”

Karina watched as Amara stepped into the warded area. She would have been concerned for her mothers safety, but she was confident in the original hybrid’s abilities. The host seemed to be foaming at the mouth with curses and because of how distracting her outward appearance was, Karina tuned out what she was saying. Her mind wandered for a moment as she thought of what kind of food she would bring home to the girls today and if Gray wanted to try something new. She snapped back to the situation when Amara started to explain some more protocol. 

The demonic entity continued to scream while Amara manipulated their mind with as much pain as possible. Overload them with torment and torture was the only way for her to weaken them greatly. Now having to banish them back from where they came from was going to take some time as she wasn’t sure what this being brought with them. “You must hate this.” Amara had the tendency to do small talk in order to pass the time. “You don’t like demons after all.”

And right on cue, Karina began to do her part as she acted out of spite towards the demon. Of course she’d do anything for family. “Good, do it.” She was impressed with her daughter’s attempt at taking matters into her own hand, however her expression faltered as soon she noticed the tendrils wrapping around her arm. “Fuck.” she hissed as she began to wield her hands together and blast a wave of aura towards the body. Appearing behind Karina, she grabbed her arm and slashed the insides of the demon while pulling her away. “Wards up!” she commanded and immediately on cue, the demons were surrounded by magic that balanced between dark and light. Each dark entity began to make themselves known as they stood before all of Amara, Karina and the rest of Apollyon.

“You can’t keep us here any longer.” “C’mon Miss Wolff, we came to play.” “Karina darling, you were once dark too…Want a taste?”

Crossing her arms, Amara stood there completely angered by the whole ordeal. However, she opted to take a negative into a positive. Looking over at Karina, she instructed, “Consider this further training. The brujos would have wanted this, but the way I see it, this is the perfect time to prove that you’re better off without them. Don’t cave into the temptation Rina. Banish them now.” 

“They’re always so noisy.” Demons seemed to scream too much and there were times, though rare, that she could understand the words as if they were meant for her. Karina never told anyone about that though; she preferred to keep uncomfortable truths buried, even if it could hurt others. “I prefer it if they don’t exist in the same plane of reality as me.” She admitted as she worked. 

After Amara sliced through the tendrils and pulled her back, she looked up to see a wall of wards surrounding the demons, plural. She had read books and watched movies about humans being the perfect vessel for multiple entities, but she had never seen them even leave their host. They must have been feeding off of the ambient magical energy. She tilted her head as she stared at them and then noticed how none of her spirits wanted to approach them. Karina cradled her hand, which was beginning to ache. The bits were the tendrils touched were growing redder and inflamed. 

Amara knew better than to prolong the argument with Karina. She was lying and she didn’t need to repeat herself. She was with her after all and that’s all that matters. “Your girls are smart, they’ll know what to do and certainly don’t need my guidance. If anything, they’ll naturally take after us.” Amara eventually narrowed her gaze at Rina, “It has to be the demonic side to them. Demons are nosey bitches okay?” She was becoming defensive as she too herself was confused as to why the Odavia name was leaked out. “You say that now, but watch hija.”

The fraud eyed both Amara and Karina in horror as she hyperventilated in her spot. The hybrid lets go of her and immediately magical restraints appeared to shackle and prop the woman upwards. She then stood next to her daughter and watched proudly as she interrogated the other. ”I have no idea what you’re talking about! I’m a single mother and I’m out here trying to make a living for my child…I just thought Amara could help me out since I’m an Odav-” Before she could even finish, the Director did a pulling motion and the restraints multiplied as it pierced through her skin. The cry of pain was heard loudly as Amara didn’t flinch, let alone react. “I hate repeating myself.” she stated to no one. It was more so a fact that everyone in the room knows about and if she were to do it, they knew who ever caused her to do it will face the consequence.

Just as she’d expected, the woman had a crazed look as blood gushed out of her mouth while she laughed. ”Ne…Ne…Amara, you’re becoming a sensitive fuck.” The hybrid didn’t react as she watched the demon enjoy the pain being done to them. Instead she looked over at Rina and lowly said, “Don’t listen to a word she says.” The demon smiled and shook her head in disappointment, “Cepheus was a complete dumb fuck for choosing you as his mate. Also, Karina sweetie, do you really want to stay with this old hag? She got her own children killed. Three beautiful girls, sort of like you…Sawyer…and Nico…It would be a shame for all of you to g-GAH!” Amara’s pupils turned crimson and darkened as she pushed tortured illusions into her mind. She took the approach of literally clouding her judgment since physical pain wasn’t working out for her. “Rina darling, I believe it’s time for you to make the necessary steps to end this now.”

“I hope that they don’t.” She didn’t want her children to get involved with her kind of work, but she also didn’t like that her adult daughter settled for delivering food. The amount of times that Sawyer had show up at her door to hand over food to her was unsettling, and she had a feeling that the girl was hiding something. She made a note to ask Amara if she knew anything about what Sawyer was really up to. “I don’t like demons.” She crossed her arms. “And many of them like to attend your galas.” She wasn’t sure how long she’d keep it up, but she was going to fight her mother on everything she could. Karina was used to this and she wasn’t going to dare to say it, but she was thankful that her mother entertained her. 

She ignored the terror in the woman’s eyes as she started to hyperventilate. She looked away, however, when the restraints started to pierce the woman’s skin. Whenever she used her own magic, she never really paid attention to how brutal it could look. She was told that her methods were rough and unrefined, which added to the quality of what she could do, but it was nothing like Amara’s. Despite the change in the Director, the way she used her magic was practiced and she seemed to be greeting it like an old friend. Quite frankly, it was terrifying. 

“We’ve been defying death for awhile now,” Gray admitted as he could recall many near death experiences and actual deaths. There were many times when even he couldn’t even lie to say it was because he was that good; as much as his luck turned soured, it seemed he was just as lucky as he was unlucky. He turned to face Karina with a smirk, “The River Styx must be tired of waiting for us to finally take that ride.” Although, with the amount of trouble that had befell him and his team within the Dome, he was hoping that his luck would continue to save them - especially when his lucky charm was standing in front of him. He looked over to her as she spoke and smirked as her hands grabbed a fistful of his shirt. As he leaned in for that kiss, the unknown device between the popped up. Gray didn’t need to be Micah to know that this was a bomb. “Shit,” he muttered he reached for Karina and pulled her to him before he tried to roll them both out of the way. If there were devices like this being put between them, he knew their cover was already blown.

“Tch,” he muttered. As he stabilized him, he closed his eyes and focused everything on his sense of hearing. One, two, three …, he counted the movement of the people around them, “Six, seven, eight. There’s eight right now. I can’t tell if they’re people or Atlanteans.” Then again, differentiating between people and Atlanteans was not something anyone could do easily. Even if he was a vampire. He frowned, “They’re cockblocking me.” A short laugh came from him, “We need to take care of them quickly, before they drag back-up in.”

“True. I’ve only died once.” She wasn’t sure if it was too soon or a sore topic to discuss with him, but as far as unlucky days went, she only counted one because of her own missteps and several because of her family. “They won’t have us for a while then.” A bomb had just exploded near them and she remained unperturbed. Gray was always quick on his feet and she trusted him. She muttered a quick thank you as she gathered up her magical energies and summoned her phantoms. “Atlanteans wouldn’t be so sloppy. My money is on SHOT.” Both were a pain in her ass and difficult to deal with since they were shrouded with mystery. Not even her phantoms could give her all the details of what either of them could do. 

There were many lessons learned from their time at the Inner Sanctum. Not all of them were well-intended. If anything, most of those lessons were unintended, in Gray’s opinion; there was a lot of things that he learned at his time there that wasn’t ever worth mentioning again, but he would rather focus on the good things that came out of it. Gray turned his head and threw a look back over to Karina with a smirk and a small chuckle as he walked forward slowly. There were assets to show off, after all. “Date night, huh?” Gray said as he looked over to her, “Well, then we’re going to have to make sure this is a good date night.” Although he could say that, he knew things weren’t going to be smooth sailing. Not with the sounds that started to ramp up. “I’m pretty sure they’re still here,” Gray said, “Mickey warned us that they might use their abilities to blend in …or show up when they’ve got unwanted visitors.” He gave Karina and smile, “Trespassing on date night? How romantic.”

“You’re so cute when you lie.” cooed Amara as she gave her daughter a playful wink. She then scoffed at her comment and shook her head, denying the assumption that it was a bad habit. “Oh hija, always believe in yourself.” It was a legitimate advice used in a poor context, but that the Director was known for denying failures. Atlantis was one of them, but she was actually amused with the outcome of that. Look how far the City had come? And yet, it was still functioning and her business was still booming. 

As the elevator took them to the Pit, Amara crossed her arms and narrowed her gaze on Karina. "The only thing that’s bothering me is that this person is wasting my time and they’re a fraud.” Once the shaft came to a halt, the Director walked to the confined area where the impersonator was imprisoned. A large group of agents and advisors followed suit behind them and as she came to a stop, they did too. “I ripped your heart out, so now you’re an immortal. That’s code for untouchable and even if they did try, they won’t get to you, not when I’m here.” Rolling her eyes as per usual, the hybrid looked over at Karina and sighed, “One day I will get you in a beautiful gown and not only you, but your husband will thank me later.” 

The walls began to separate and in a blink of an eye, the prisoner appeared before them. It was a young woman, around Karina’s age that had features similar to Amara as she sat there looking like a beaten puppy. The hybrid was clearly not falling for it as she appeared behind and pulled her hair back in a roughly manner. Using her freshly manicured nail, she did a light scratch on her throat which was just enough to make her bleed briefly. Leaning down, she licked her flesh to taste her blood and picked up on the fact that she was not human. “Give me a reason why I shouldn’t kill you.” demanded Amara as she held her hand out for a knife came straight at her which she caught with ease. In one swift movement, the Director stabbed the woman on her thigh and heard her cries of pain. She ignored it to the best of her abilities and focused her pleading look on Karina. “P-please, help me! She’s misunderstood the whole intention. I’m not here to cause any trouble, I just wanted to reunite with my family. Amara’s all I’ve got.” 

“I’m not lying.” They both knew that she was though. Karina had always been attached to Amara in some way or form. When she was with the Inner Sanctum, she wanted to be the one responsible for taking down her mother and often told others that she wanted the kill. She didn’t know it at that time, but it was because she wanted to keep that connection to Amara. In retrospect, her actions were probably closer to someone who wanted to be as near to Amara as they could. Thankfully, no one had the guts to call her out on it.

 “Don’t teach my girls that. I don’t allow chaos in my house.” She worked around the law all the time, but at home, her word was the law, and she preferred it when her children were well behaved. She crossed her arms, matching Amara’s stance, as she waited for the long elevator ride down. “If they’re such a fraud then why do they know your true name.” Very few people knew and most of them were dead. The only reason why she wasn’t was because her mother made her that way and after losing her heart, she wasn’t in the mood to repeat her mother’s clan name unless she was given permission. “I’m not going to one of your galas. The girls can enjoy that time, but I don’t like those unnecessary displays of wealth.”

“I was far too eager,” Gray admitted, “I’m surprised you didn’t just walk away from the mission.” It wasn’t wrong to admit that Gray’s approach to everything had changed; he was far too inexperienced back then, despite how much he thought he knew about the fairer gender. He nodded at her and said, “Yes, you did but you can relax today. It’s different now.” He was different now - not only was he more experienced, there was a new set of abilities attached to him. “The thing with the monkey won’t happen again this time,” Gray said, then followed it with a quick look back. Just in case. He looked at her and rose an eyebrow, “An Atlantean flower.” Gray repeated the words to himself as he nodded and shook his head. Magic was definitely a field that he had a hard-time fully understanding. At least, not as well as he would have liked. It was embarrassing only knowing the bare bones when he was his mother’s son. “I can’t believe we’re risking it to get them an Atlantean flower,” he said as he stepped forward, further ascending up the steps. He paused for a moment, his eyes narrowed as he took a quick look around. He swore he heard something …, “It’s supposed to be abandoned,” he began, “But, nothing is ever what it’s supposed to be around here.”

Lighting her cigarette, Amara took a long drag as she leaned against her arm chair and stared out the glass windows of her office. She didn’t bother looking at her daughter as she entered and began speaking to her of news that she’d already known. “Good afternoon to you too sweetheart.” she greets with sarcasm as she exhaled a puff of smoke. “Now, now…Don’t tell me you’re jealous of this person claiming to be a Wolff hm?” Finally, the hybrid swivels her chair back to the edge of her desk as she faced her daughter with a cunning smile. “I have no bloodline Rina, so no this isn’t a concern. If anything, it’s another fucking nuisance to add to our list.” Her features faltered to a look of irritation as she tapped away excess ashes onto her black marbled ashtray and continued to smoke away.

“Regardless, if they are or aren’t part of the Odavia clan, they’re going to obliterate anyways because today you and I are going to have some bonding time.” She threw her cigarette up into the air and allowed her aura to incinerate it completely, before getting up from her desk as she was ready to leave. “Selene and Odette informed me that they hold a demonic energy. I may possess such ‘characteristics’, but my ancient, not to mention royal bloodline would never be tainted with that thing. Anyways, they’re in the Pit.” Eyeing her up and down, she then headed towards her private elevator and motioned her daughter to follow her. “It’s days like this where I’m grateful for your poor fashion taste because things are definitely going to get messy down there.”

She knew that they were both immortal but she never liked the smell of cigarettes so she raised her hand and touched her fingertips to her thumb. A phantom moved past Amara with the goal to extinguish the cigarette, but she didn’t want to sour the mood any further. “I don’t get jealous.” She lied with a straight face. Karina had a habit of getting jealous and she often went to far lengths to secure what was hers from others. “To our list? Assuming that everyone will go along with your plans is a bad habit, mámá.”