birthright_rpg | Reinforcements arrive

The car trip to the alley Cian had told them about was a little longer than usual, a roadblock having been set up and the closed-off street full of vehicles with flashing lights and police. Melody strained to see what the commotion was and it looked like there were screens raised in the middle of the pavement outside a bar or club or something. As she settled back into her seat she saw Jazz sniffing at the open window of the car, the witch's face crinkled in concentration.

Her eyes narrowed and her foot pressed a little harder on the accelerator once they were clear of the traffic around the scene. "That must be the market he was talking about," Mel said, pointing at the E-Zmart's lights, "and there's the alley." She was almost out of the vehicle by the time Jazz parked, the older witch puzzled by the young woman's keenness to get to the alley.

Mel had the backpack on her shoulder as she stepped off the kerb and looked down into the dark alley, eyes taking a moment to adjust after the lights of the market.

"Daniel? Are you here?" she called out, one hand on the corner of the wall, head tilted to one side as she took a step past the phone box.

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Mel had followed Jazz down the alley, closer to the portal, and looked where the older witch pointed, seeing the outline sprayed onto the wall. Following Jazz's lead she sniffed at the air, her nose wrinkling at the mix of odours that came to her, but the strongest in that moment being "... mothballs? I wasn't expecting that."

"And that's what I keep telling you. Expect the unexpected. As cliche as it sounds, it's still going to be one of your best weapons against the unknown." Jazz reached into her bag and when her hand withdrew it carried a crystal. She held it in the palm of her hand, out flat, and murmured an incantation, before curling her fingers around it and flicking her wrist, sending it spinning into the blackness.

Daniel rolled his shoulders and tried to pop his neck. It wasn’t like him to get this ruffled. He wondered if it had something to do with the blood on his arm and in the air, the portal with its weird humming energy, or the two witches. His temper felt closer to the surface, like a pot boiling almost over. He turned his profile so that he could see Melody and Jazz out of the corner of his eye.

Just keep singing. He began to whistle the melody to Danny Says. The song was doing its job, so he felt safer chancing looks at them.

The chunk of mineral flew back into their world and struck the older woman near her ear. It was a small, stinging slap, not bad enough to bruise, but man, that had to smart. His laughter was a sharp bark, more surprise than real humor, the vampire’s eyes wide and glistening.

“Expect that?”

That it came back at all was a surprise, the clip to her ear annoying. She'd just told Melody to expect the unexpected, and not heeded her own words. The look she gave the vampire was enough to wither a grown man, and had done so on more than a few occasions, but usually with a few words added to aid the process. Instead her attention turned to the projectile.

After retrieving the crystal she studied it, and shook her head. "There's something different about this portal," she said, sniffing at the air that rushed out for a moment, her forehead wrinkling with a frown. "Smell," she said, the single word almost sounding like an order, but Melody simply taking it as instruction, and doing as the old woman said.

"It's different now," Jazz murmured, "but with that same singular note."

Much of what she had learnt had had some sort of musical reference, and Mel often heard music playing in the background at Jazz's home when she called.

"Same tune, different soloist," she heard the older witch add as she came across to where Mel stood and gestured for the backpack Mel was still carrying. Slipping it off her shoulder reminded Mel just how heavy it was, and the clunk as it landed on the ground confirmed there was at least a few weapons inside.

A few moments later and Jazz pushed two items, two carved stones into Mel's hands, instructing the young witch to place them at the opening of the alley, which Mel proceeded to do. She glanced over her shoulder and saw her mentor go further into the alley, past the portal, and place two more carved stones on the ground. Mel followed suit, giving Daniel a quick glance and smile, almost apologetic, as she did. "She's 'working'," she whispered, as if trying to explain her mentor's demeanour. "And this nexus thing? Down at Searchlight? If it's what she taught me about?" Mel hesitated, looking down at Jazz then back at Daniel. "It didn't go too well for a lot of people last time."

He bit the corner of his mouth. “Ahhh….” The singular cringing note indicated that he knew something and had only just picked up on it. He exhaled long and slow. It was the posture of a kid who was about to confess a curfew violation. Daniel reached back to fiddle with the tag in his collar and said, “Last year I met a vampire. Katherine or Kathleen, I think. A psychic had sent her to Searchlight; she said it was the site of the coming apocalypse because of some kind of magnetism. A couple months later, I met this guy named Whistler, a half-demon. He backed up her claim. He was trying to steer people out of town.”

It struck Daniel as odd that these super-powered pieces of information kept landing in his lap, juicy tidbits other people would claw and scratch for, and he just shrugged and cracked open another beer. Went about his business.

Mel glanced down the alley, knowing her mentor's hearing was extremely good, deceptively so for someone of her age. And as if on cue Jazz appeared beside them, eyes on Daniel. "Whistler, hmm?" was all she said, before looking at the vampire and holding out two more of the carved stones.

"I need those to go up there," she said, indicating the tops of the walls on either side of the alley. "Over the portal."

Mel was about to take them when Jazz indicated Daniel. "Would you mind?" she asked, eyes meeting the vampire's as she held the two stones in her hands.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, hand going still at the base of his neck. “Nah, I don’t mind.” Daniel took the round rocks from her and looked up. The EZ-Mart wasn’t a particularly tall building, just a one-story. The vampire’s pockets weren’t big enough for the spheres, so he stuck them inside the hem of his t-shirt and tucked it into his waistband. Daniel wiped his hands and jumped. He had enough demon physicality to grab the ledge of the roof, flex his arms and pull himself up.

Once on the roof, he walked along the edge until he was above the mystical doorway. “Right about here?”

He knelt and placed the spheres a meter apart. They were heavy. He didn’t think they’d roll away.

Reinforcements arrive

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