Chapter 12: Chapter Nine : Clarion Call

“I, well, it’s very hard to admit. But there was a… a woman I fancied. Father help me, I can admit that much now. Strong, brave, the best of us. But the battlefield is cruel, even for a fully trained Weaver. I still weep for her. I miss her. Don’t hate me, please don’t, but maybe… she and I could have been something. If I was not so bull-headed.

“You help me more than you can possibly imagine, Hazel. Never leave my side.”

~~~

Hazel’s first impression was big. Her second impression was hot. Her third thought was ‘not now, my craving mind! If a person came through that door, then it's obviously a vampire!’

A woman stepped through the swinging door, and froze as well, jaw dropping in shock. She was tall, and she was built, bulky with lean and soft muscles. Hazel pegged her affinities as fire and earth, the combination giving her skin a rusty tint with dappled brown freckles spreading across her face and shoulders. Her soft black hair swept back with shaved sides, one braid woven with jade beads and brown owl feathers. Multiple artful piercing peppered her ears, all pale white, carved from bone. Her clothes were unusual. She wore trousers, but no shoes. And she wore a wrap around her chest covered in zigzagging diamond patterns.

All three of them had paused, taking in the situation, lost on how to act.

And it was the woman who moved first.

She suddenly threw open her arms, broke a wide smile and shouted, “Relly!”

She stepped through the door and closed it with her bare feet. Some rats skittered into the wine cellar, and Hazel winced with relief that none got caught as the wall shut with a thump.

Aurelius laughed nervously and mimicked the motion, “Taé!” He stepped towards her and then said. “Oh, one moment, darling.”

Aurelius patted Hazel on the head and said. “Hazel, this is Taé! Taé, Hazel!”

He locked eyes with her, pressing his hand against her skull. Hazel stared back, confused. Was he… trying to subvocate? She would have laughed, were the situation not so…

She nervously grinned, blinked, and patted him on the cheek.

“—Vampire, sister, enemy, damn him, too soon, too fast, I should have killed—”

He stepped away, and in one smooth motion, grabbed the paper-covered board he had set against the wall and pulled it down. Taé seemed confused by the action, but Aurelius was already back around the wine racks with his arms open wide and smiling like nothing was wrong.

“Dearest sister!” Aurelius cried, reaching for a hug. Taé’s smile returned and they embraced, with Taé a head and a half taller and practically lifting the man off the ground.

“Grandfather’s been looking everywhere for you!” Taé exclaimed, setting him down. “Said, you uh… said you missed a tea date. Or something. But you know him!” She rolled her shoulders. “Whole Watch is out ‘looking’ for you because the old man’s gotten a little worried.”

Aurelius gave a high, tittering laugh. “Oh really! Well! I’m fine. And you!” He patted her roughly on the shoulder. Through a toothsome smile he asked, “What are you doing here???”

“Oh, well uh…” Taé glanced between Hazel and Aurelius, indecisive. She waved at Hazel. “He wants them. For tea. Now.” She leaned in towards Aurelius and cocked her eyebrows. “And you too, I reckon.”

The room froze again. Aurelius smiling with all his teeth. Taé smiled back, awkward and nonplussed. Hazel blinked, and slid into a world surrounded by green glowing Earth. Pillars of black and green wood cut between her and the pattern of black that was Taé and Aurelius. Hazel could see his beautiful red-woven fabric stand out proudly against Taé’s near-pure black, and see the clawlike vice of green and black around the taller woman’s neck.

Hazel carefully stepped around the wine racks, the carpets sinking like plush under her feet, trying to get closer.

“Soooo…” Hazel said. “Your sister, huh?”

She heard Aurelius make a click in the back of his throat, and saw twinge yellow annoyance flicker around his head. When they spoke, she could see a powerful glow of green coating the entire inside of their mouths.

‘That confirms it,’ Hazel thought. ‘A paralyzing coating of Earth. That’s the ‘Princess’ Kiss.’ Or rather, the ‘Vampire’s Kiss.’

But oddly enough, Taé’s thoughts swirled and flickered with black threads too. Different from the black emptiness of her fabric, these struck outwards like bolts of lightning. On another person, Hazel would have guessed it to be one emotion :

Fear.

“Uh, yeah!” Taé said. “I was adopted by the Asphodel family a couple years back. Uh. Adopted is the right word, right?” More spikes of fear and uncertainty. “Just a poor—“ she made a clicking and popping sound that Hazel couldn't quite follow “—girl. Lost in the big city. Then big brother Sloth… uh…. You don't need the whole story do you?”

Taé fidgeted, the threads of her fabric shifting and trailing behind her. Hazel was almost around the wine racks.

“So you and—“ Hazel quirked a smile. “— Relly must be pretty close huh?”

More fear spiked around Taé’s head, annoyance from Aurelius.

Taé stammered, “Um, well, uh… I uh, work for the Night Watch… mostly… so…?”

“Not altogether close,” Aurelius said flatly.

Strangely, that almost seemed to dim the black bolts of fear around Taé. She said, “Yeah, just, friendly with my adopted family is all. Who wouldn’t be?”

Hazel was around the wine racks, Taé within full view. The witch leaned down to grab the threads of the stone beneath her to yank up its Fabric.

Black suddenly overwhelmed Hazel. Something gripped the back of her head, and with a surprisingly heavy shove, her face slammed into the stone. Before she even realized it, Hazel was face down on the ground.

“Oh shit!” Taé shouted above her. “Sorry, sorry, sorry! I thought you were going for a weapon! Oh man…”

Hazel was fine, her face pressed back up by the Fabric as she glanced up at the looming woman. Taé was frantically looking between Hazel and Aurelius. Bolts of fear and uncertainty danced around her head.

Hazel dug her hand into the Fabric, and threw Earth at Taé’s feet. The woman tried to hop away, but the threads tangled into her black Fabric, wrapping wildly around her leg, pinning her in place.

“What the…” Taé reached down to tug at her legs. She released a low whine, crying, “Sorryyy, Rellyyyy, did I mess this one up? Yeah I messed up. My bad. Tell you what. I’ll get this one my way, you get the other girl your way. Yeah?”

And without even waiting for a response, something about Taé shifted. Wildly. Hazel blinked to try and keep up, but it was too fast to follow. It was like Taé’s body fell away, and in its place erupted a rusty-red furred jaguar, its spots the same color as Taé’s freckles and wearing Taé’s clothes.

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With a roar, the jaguar leapt into the air, faint green threads of Earth falling away and becoming dust as it fell away from the stone’s Fabric. Hazel had one long look at the claws and jaws above her —

— when the jaguar hit its head on a beam in the low basement ceiling, and came tumbling back down inches from Hazel’s face. It writhed and roared, pawing furiously at the spot.

“Don't just sit there!” Aurelius screamed, near hopping in place as he pointed frantically at the jaguar. “Get her! Free her!”

“R-right!” Hazel blinked and grabbed for more Earth, weaving it, binding it across Taé’s animal form.

But then Taé’s Fabric shifted. She watched as the black Fabric of the Jaguar shifted downward, dragging the green threads along with it. A new Fabric of Death began sliding into place, one more akin to a person’s. Hazel watched with fascination as Asphodel’s Grip (she just came up with that name) shifted and rolled as the Fabric replaced itself, staying in place until it settled around Taé’s neck once more.

“Fascinating…” Hazel whispered.

Then Taé grabbed her by the throat, the Earthen Threads having sloughed off and puffed away in her transformation.

The fraying black fingers around Hazel’s neck may as well be soft as cloth. But even cloth could kill with enough force. A single hard thumb dug into the soft part of Hazel’s throat, pressing against the passageway most vital. She saw, here and now as Taé’ rose to her feet, her mind was clear of fear and anxiety. This woman was used to killing, unafraid and certain. And that certainty was all she needed to hold a Weaver in Death’s grip.

Hazel didn’t try to breathe. She peered at that Grip around Taé’s neck. Reached for it. Her fingertips just barely brushed that bark, and she could hear its whispers. But Taé’s arms were longer, and kept Hazel from getting closer.

Hazel rested her hand instead on Taé’s arm. She could break it. She could. It would repair, grow back even if she ripped it off. Just like Aurelius’ fingers, Right? But the thought was absurd. Could this woman really grow back something that complicated?

Hazel’s lungs felt like they were swelling from pressure, urging her to push the air out, clear this blockage. Her eyes watered, and she blinked rapidly. She heard glass breaking, and wondered wildly if her ears had popped.

But then Taé suddenly shuddered. The pressure on Hazel’s throat eased an inch. She saw Taé’s gaze turn behind her, and saw the red and black pattern that was unmistakably Aurelius.

He clutched a shard of Earth, of glass, and was forcefully digging into Taé’s kidneys.

“Relly…” Taé said, voice full of pain. “What…? Why…?”

She didn’t let go of Hazel. But the tight grip slackened just enough for Hazel to press out of it, and grab the wheedling, whispering bark of the Grip. She just had enough time to claw for the Air of Freedom, aiding her as she yanked the branch free.

~~~~

She was running! Running, running, running! Four legs! Clear air! Smells bad… smells interesting? Lights! Sounds! Not the jungle?? Wow! Ooh, people! Hello people! Haha, they’re running too! Running is fun!

Horses? Horses fast! Horses fast towards me! Towards me?

Oh no.

Screaming whinneys. One hoof waist. Two hoof ribs. One hoof head. Wheels roll and bounce. Metal and wood screeching. Lots of screaming. Was she screaming? One voice, two voices, flipping in and out as she writhes in pain.

~~~

Hazel dropped to the floor, her head smacking on stone softened by carpet. Taé writhed and gasped, clutching her head, her neck, patting her ribs, then crying out at the shard of glass still stuck in her back.

Taé growled something in a language Hazel didn’t know, heavy in clicks and pops, like stones rolling in a river.

Hazel blinked back to her second sight, and saw that one Grip, one finger remained clawing at the other side of Taé’s neck. She forced herself to her feet, lunged forward—

—And Taé caught her with a punch to the gut. But that was nothing more than a rock buried in a feather pillow. Hazel still pulled at Air, and reached for the last branch, yanking it out.

~~~

A friend grips her shoulders tightly. He’s taller than her, soft and weighty and all warm smiles. He smells like the jungle, like her home. Like blood. Like rats.

He whispers in her ear, “This will help,” and presses her to her knees.

A pale skin man limps forward. His clothes are a fine black and red, his hair as silky as midnight. His black bone cane clicks beside him as he walks.

He smiles warmly, gently. Runs a finger across her chin. Down her throat.

She gulps. He leans in, as if to whisper something.

But then fangs dig into her neck. She has a moment of confusion. Was this helping? Somehow? But a moment is all it takes for numbness to overtake her.

And then she doesn't have a choice. The man pushes her down and greedily drinks his fill.

As the numbness spreads, she can still see her friend’s apologetic smile above her as the world fades to black.

~~~

“WHAT IN THE TUNNELS OF HELL IS HAPPENING DOWN HERE.”

Hazel gasped for breath, numbness falling away as the shout roused her. She had collapsed against Taé's chest, the woman lukewarm and groaning. Black smoke dispersed around them both, not nearly as dense and thick as the smoke that exuded around Aurelius when she freed him.

“And who the hell is she?!” she heard Zinnia bark. “Where’d she come from?! Are you triple timing me—?!”

Hazel lifted her pounding head as Aurelius screamed. She saw him kneeling in the remains of a broken bottle, alcohol soaking into his stockings.

“DAMMIT!” he shouted. “It was too! Soon!”

He smashed a fist down in the glass. Both fists. Again, and again, smashing the glass into bits, shards littering his bleeding hands. Bleeding. In Hazel’s addled mind, she thought, he was leaking her gift.

“Give me a goddamn day of peace you Old! Fucking! —” He yowled, digging his bleeding hands in his white hair. “Get out! GET OUT!”

“Aurelius!” Hazel cried.

She tried to sit up, but her head pounded. Thudding.

She heard lips part beside her ear.

And a wheedling voice whispered.

“Ah, precious little two skin…”

Hazel blinked. The lingering smoke transformed in black and green threads, zigzagging like twisting, spiraling worms in water. She looked down, and saw them attempt to tunnel into the white Fabric of her skin. She inhaled sharply, and along with it, she could hear the cracking lips and sharp inhale of Asphodel.

“Everything is better now.

“Just act normally.

“You’ll be glorious, little two skin.

“I’ll make you captain of the Night Watch in no time.

“I just have a few little requests…

“I saved you from something horrible, after all…

Directly in her ear, he commanded, “Bring me more.”

Hazel grabbed at the fabric of her mind. She wished she could tear it around, yank the worms from her mind. But she knew if she was too rough, the Fabric of her skull itself would tear. Her brain.

And she knew not how to repair those wounds.

But as she shook her fabric, she felt the voice lessening to indistinguishable, mumbling laughter. The black threads in the air were spinning away and vanishing.

But as she looked at Aurelius, she saw the wounds in his head were bleeding black blood, fat drops of liquid Fabric squeezing between his fingers. Oozing but never falling. And squirming in those fat rivulets, black and green threads were worming into his fabric. Digging into the five bleeding wounds that constituted a crown of sorrows.

And growing larger.

“Don’t you dare!” Hazel cried.

She frantically crawled towards Aurelius. This time, she took the time to yank the stone up and protect her hands. And with fingers flowing with protection and freedom both, she began tearing the invading threads from Aurelius’ Fabric. They squirmed and writhed like fat maggots pulled from a corpse, whispers dissolving into hisses.

“He is not yours any more!” Hazel cried, yanking away each thread and smashing it on the stones, scattering them into smaller and smaller particles.

Edelweiss joined her, sniffing the air and snapping at lingering threads. He shivered as he bit into them, gagging. But he continued to help disperse the spellweave, a few of his opalescent scales becoming tinged with black.

They scattered all the threads of Asphodel’s Grip, yanking them off both Aurelius and Taé’s wounds. Hazel winced at the sight of Taé. The glass shard was no problem. Hazel carefully removed it from Taé’s back, and watched as the wound slowly stitched itself closed. But while Taé’s black Fabric seemed fine at first, Hazel could see something like scar tissue developing, her neck slowly looking more and more crushed and twisted.

Hazel turned back to Aurelius. He stayed crouched among the broken glass, hands dug deep into his hair. The shards of glass slowly pushed their way out of his skin and plunked to the ground. His layer of peach makeup was smeared, revealing a sickly gray tone beneath.

Hazel hesitantly kneeled beside him and placed a hand on his back.

He flinched, eyes wide, gaze darting back and forth as if following nightmares she couldn't see. Her heart gave a squeeze, face tensing.

Hazel slid an arm around Aurelius’ shoulders and gave him a gentle hug. She took slow, even breaths, and beside her, Aurelius did the same. She could still feel him shaking.

Zinnia sat on the top steps. Her hands were steepled over her mouth and she frowned in anger and confusion.

“Hazel,” Zinnia said. “What the fuck just happened?”