Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
After a night of dates and kissing, Rachel felt drained and tingly. She knew that the two men would want her to choose eventually; their fight in the cafeteria proved that, but for tonight she was going to bask in the rare attention.
Growing up in an orphanage and foster homes made it hard enough to make friends but being built like a professional linebacker meant not many boys had been interested in her. Add her fixation with finding what killed her sister and she made people uncomfortable. Apparently she didn’t make monsters uncomfortable, considering how the two men had been reacting.
They were both surprisingly good kissers, she thought, and couldn’t help but smile. Ronnie was gentle and attentive while Dowan was strong and passionate. She wondered if their kissing would be the same as their lovemaking. Even alone, she blushed at the idea.
The excitement of the day slowly washed over her and she started to feel drowsy. Her eyes felt heavy but her lips still tingled. “What a great way to fall asleep,” she thought.
On the border between reality and dreams she sat up. Fully awake her heart beat in terror. Something was wrong. She didn’t know what or why she thought it, but she trusted her instinct enough to get up and arm herself. She was thankful to have forgotten to change. It made re-arming much easier.
Once armed, she looked around, feeling a little silly. Slowly she walked across the room to her door and quietly opened it. It was dark but she could see a shadow moving. The light to the kitchen area was next to her door and she flicked the light bringing up her crossbow. She’d decided against the gun, not wanting anyone to investigate her.
The shadow froze as it was bathed in light. It was a man, dress in a long leather coat. He had black hair tied in a ponytail and he was carrying a giant knife in one hand and a large gun in the other, on his belt you could see these swiss army knives. Both the gun and the knife had strange swirling symbols on them. The moment she saw him she shot at him. He deflected the crossbow bolt with his knife and gave her a big smile.
“Ah! So you heard me coming. Good job.”
She didn’t reply, just reloaded the crossbow and shot again. He didn’t move, but the moment the arrow came close to his coat it flew off in a ninety-degree angle and hit Ginny’s door.
“I bet you didn’t expect it to be me?” He asked with a smug smile.
Opening her door, Ginny looked at the man and asked, “Who’s this guy?”
“I have no idea.” Rachel couldn’t remember where or if she’d seen the man before. He seemed a little familiar.
“What?” The man looked confused. “You’ve been following me since that first night.” The man was yelling. “You attacked my friend Sylar…” he trailed off.
“The Cyclops?” She asked.
“Yeah, and then you killed my roommate from Quebec.” He must have meant the thing attacking Tim. “I thought you were a Huntress and I’d heard they were territorial so I sent one after you, but you survived.”
“You didn’t kill my sister,” Rachel was disappointed.
“Of course not. I’m a wizard not a murderer. But tonight you walked into the Atlantean restaurant that I work at and I knew you were on to me.”
Moving at super-human speeds, Ginny appeared behind the man. She picked him up and said, “You’re an idiot and a jerk.” It looked like she was going to toss him at the door when he sliced down with his blade and cut deep into her thigh. She screamed and dropped him.
“Dipped in holy water and garlic oil,” he bragged as Ginny screamed and bled.
Knowing that she had to act quickly if she was going to save Ginny, Rachel said, “Impressive, did you make those yourself?” she gestured with the crossbow at his weapons and coat.
Puffing up, he said, “Yeah. Nice aren’t th—”
He was cut off by her dropping the crossbow and unsheathing her knives. The enochian runes glowed as she sliced at the gun first. It was obviously not spelled and her knives cut through it easily. With the biggest threat to her life gone she proceeded to position herself between the crazy wizard and Ginny.
“The gun wasn’t important. A prepared wizard can’t be defeated,” he said, his voice cracking.
Lunging at him, she cut through the runes on his coat and nicked his side. She saw blood darkening his shirt. “What were you prepared for?” Since he’d made his own equipment, she knew her weapons, which she’d gotten blessed and spelled by four separate expert practitioners, were more powerful than anything he could have made alone.
“I added some dragon blood to the blade and prepared a spell for you,” he smirked.
Rachel almost laughed, but managed an approximation of worry. He still thought she was a demi-god. Dragon’s blood was one of the only ways to kill a demi-god.
He started a spell, “Propter quam causam admoneo te tu me fascinavit. Tu melius prohibere ea quae facis. EGO iustus non potest stare , tu mihi semper.” It had an almost lyrical sound to it.
His blade glowed with power that shot from it and hit her before she had a chance to move. The energy hit her and went straight through her.
“Nice tune but you can’t really dance to it.” She said it seriously, but inside, was extremely happy to finally get off a good quip. She was also happy to be alive.
“That should have paralyzed you…” He stepped back and hit the wall.
Advancing on him, she brought up both her blades. He half-heartedly lifted his and she sliced through it easily. Sheathing a blade, she grabbed his throat and said, “I’m going to tell you this once and only once. I’m not out to get you. These were all coincidences. The only person I plan on hunting is the one who killed my sister.” He tried to nod. “Now you’ve hurt my best friend and made the best day of my life a little worse. I want you to promise me you’re never going to come after me again.” When he didn’t say anything or move, she squeezed a little and he gargled.
She let him go.
“I won’t come after you again.” His eyes were on the ground.
“Good. Now don’t move.” She tied him up and called campus security.