#glad i got to see my little sisters grad party and my siblings but also LAKE

[stones-x-bones]

Promise To Bind (Pt. 1)|| Mina, Nell, Bex and Frank

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @drowningisinevitable, @nelllraiser, @inbextween SUMMARY: On her way to meet Mina for their promised date at the hot springs, Bex encounters a problem. Meanwhile, Mina tries not to freak out and Nell remembers the last time she let down someone she loved. CONTENT: Domestic abuse, Drug manipulation, Sibling death mentions

Today was going to be a good day, Bex just knew it. It was getting warmer already, and she could wear her cute dresses now, even though most of the necklines plunged low enough to show off the scars on her chest. The blue summer dress Morgan had grabbed for her out of that store was comfortable, and she tried to not let it remind her of what had happened inside. And the devastating look on Morgan’s face. It was a cute dress and it deserved a better story than that. Which was why she’d chosen to wear it today, and, well, she’d picked it out specifically for this day. Mina and her were going to the Brimstone Hot Springs today, as an official second date. It seemed a little strange to Bex that this was only their second date after everything they’d already done together, but she supposed that wasn’t really their fault. Mina had had her accident only two days after they’d made their declarations to each other and then spent the entire day in Bex’s room together. She still felt warm every time she thought about it. And every time they’d done the same thing after. And especially when they’d spent Beltane-- or a few days after-- together.

It hadn’t been too long since Bex had overexerted herself and hurt that hunter, but she was feeling much better. Really. She only got bloody noses now when she used magic, and Nell’s mom was helping heal her, so that, really, was an improvement. And nothing catastrophic had happened in, like, over a week, so that was also an improvement. She’d promised Mina that they would get a week, and then go to the springs, and, well, that was exactly what they were doing. Bex had just been downtown running some errands while Mina finished work, and then she was going to meet Mina at campus. She’d worn the dress to the store because why not? It looked good on her and she wanted to make sure she felt comfortable in it in public before going to a place where she wouldn’t be able to take it off. She was even wearing the new bathing suit Morgan had helped her pick out underneath, all ready to hop in Mina’s car and whisk off to a relaxing day. 

She was just pulling out her phone to text Mina she was on her way when it happened.

Frank had been waiting for the right moment. He was under a lot of pressure. Things needed to go perfectly. If he didn’t accomplish this task, then things were going to get bad. He’d been told as much not only by his own parents, but by Odelia’s as well. It was time to stop playing around. The look in her mother’s eyes had scared Frank. Odell Ochsenstein was a frightening woman, after all. Even his own father cowered under her gaze. She was a human you knew not to fuck with. And she had given Frank explicit instructions. He was to bring Odelia home. And if he couldn’t get her home in time for the signing, then things were going to get bad, and people were going to get hurt. Not just Odelia, though, really, she was the only one he cared about.

He’d followed her downtown, to the store, and waited in the alley outside. She’d been avoiding alleys, but today she walked right by it, too preoccupied with thoughts of someone else to notice him at first. Frank slunk from the shadows and she watched her jump as he reached out and pulled her in. “Odi, it’s me! It’s me, it’s Frank.”

“Frank!?” Bex exclaimed, heaving with breath. Her heart was pounding. She couldn’t help but feel the fear rising in her bones. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you,” Frank said, and hoped the urgency in his voice would be enough for Odelia to just listen to him. “You have to come with me.” 

“I-- what? No. No, I’m not going anywhere with you, Frank, you attacked my friends! You grabbed me and tried to--” But Bex stopped, because she didn’t actually know what Frank had tried to do when he’d grabbed her. She tried to pull her arm from his grasp, but it was firm, and a sudden sinking feeling fell in her stomach. “Frank...let me go.”

“I can’t do that,” Frank said.

“Frank, don’t make me hurt you,” Bex shuddered. She would do it, if she had to. She would. She could. Right? She could.

“I wouldn’t try it, if I were you,” Frank said, and there was a new chill to his voice.

Bex shivered. “Frank, please, just-- let me go. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to--” 

But Frank had other plans. He reached out and grabbed her other arm and snagged them both together before Bex could even respond. She struggled, but his grip was tight. “This is for your own good,” he said, “I’m sorry.”

Bex’s heartbeat was increasing with each second. She struggled against him but his grip was tight. Just like the hunter in the alley. And then he said he was sorry, and Bex began to really worry. But before she could do anything, ask anything, Frank was lifting something towards her face and blowing it at her and a sudden drowsiness overtook her and the world went black.

Frank caught Bex as she fell. The fairy dust always did the trick. He rifled through her purse and dumped out her phone, her wallet, her keys. Then he hefted her into his arms, and slunk to the back of the alleyway and set her in his car. He’d take her far away. Maybe they could just leave this town, together. Go somewhere better. Somewhere safe. Somewhere not even her parents and their “deals” could get her.

He started the engine and pulled away, and headed down the street that led out of town.

---

It wasn’t that the day was going poorly. All things considered, Mina didn’t think it was a bad day, at least not at first. It just seemed to drag. She had wished that she and Bex could have gotten started on their date much earlier, but she’d already offered to go to her office and help one of her colleagues with one of the assignments for their actual classes, and somehow the guy had gotten started talking about vector spaces and wouldn’t stop. Usually, she might be interested in the conversation, but she was more interested in checking her phone to wait and see if Bex would text her. She was ready for Bex to text her. Maybe Mina was supposed to text her first. Maybe she was supposed to meet her somewhere. She started picking up her stuff, telling the other grad student that she needed to go as politely as she could. He huffed out a “Bye, Fitzroy,” before turning back to his work, and she headed out, leaving the maths department with her phone in her hand. 

No, it wasn’t that the day was going poorly. In fact, she only expected it to get better, and it had actually been a series of really, really good days. Sure, there were still patchy, yellowed bruises around her ribs, and sure, her wrist wasn’t completely healed, either, but things were okay. She was okay! And Bex was okay, and Bex hadn’t done anything to get herself hurt recently, and Bex hadn’t left her just because they’d had sex. Not that she’d expected her to! But Mina had really only had experiences where the day after was just a day after, and nothing happened again, and, yes, that was fine, she was really fine with that, but she hadn’t wanted that with Bex. She was glad it hadn’t been like that with Bex. Bex made her feel warm and safe and comfortable, and she wanted to feel like that all the time. She was going to tell Bex that she was Fae when they got to Brimstone Hot Springs. She’d already decided. And that way she could show her, and she had to believe that it would be okay because if it wasn’t, she was just going to sink to the bottom of the water and never come out. 

Mina ended up texting Bex three times while she waited by her car, rocking a bit from foot to foot as she tried to remember if she was supposed to be doing something. Bex was just going to the store, right? That’s it? Mina gave her a call, only to get the voicemail. Could something have happened on the way? Or was this maybe Bex’s way of saying that she didn’t want to go on a date without saying that she didn’t want to go on a date? No, that wasn’t what was happening. Mina didn’t think that’s what was happening. Maybe Bex was doing witchy things, since her magic was still not the greatest. Maybe she was with Nell. Maybe Mina should call Nell. Mina decided to call Nell. “Hey, hi, sorry to bother you. Is Bex with you? I-- We’re supposed to be doing something, and I can’t get in touch with her, and she’s supposed to just be at the store before we do something, and-- You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you?

Today was already turning out to be better than Nell had expected. Not that she’d thought it would necessarily go poorly. Just that she’d woken to the smell of her sister cooking breakfast in a kitchen that had gone too long without Bea in it. She wasn't all that sure of how long Bea was planning on staying in White Crest— no doubt she’d return to Felix in New York soon enough, but for now she was reveling in the peace that came with having Bea at home. She’d do her best to ignore the foreboding feeling of dread, and cloud of gloom that was simply waiting to fall over her, biding its time until the eldest Vural daughter left town. The rest of the day had seen Nell lingering around the house if only to hear Bea’s voice echoing through it. It felt like years since she’d had the daily reminder that her sister was alive and well, with physical proof of such a thing standing in front of her. But eventually Bea had gone to tend to something at Illusions of Grandeur, and Nell had gone to her greenhouse to pack the spare mattress away. With Bea home, it was easier to sleep in the house. Maybe she’d even manage to get by with the Aram tonight. The memory of Montgomery always tended to fade while Bea’s spirit filled its spot. 

There was no reason for Nell to be nervous when she answered her phone after seeing Mina’s name flashing on the screen, not when things felt like they were actually going decently for a moment or two. But that quickly changed as she listened to the hunter’s words with growing concern, a frown drawing her lips southwards. “When’s the last you heard from her? How long has it been? No...she’s not with me.” A familiar hand felt like it was already beginning to claw its way up Nell’s throat, the darkness of a sense of impending doom making a valiant effort to stake its claim. “When was she supposed to meet you?” It wasn’t like Bex to be late in the first place- let alone without a text of forewarning.

---

As Frank drove, he periodically checked on Odelia to make sure she was still breathing and still out cold. He’d seen her using magic with that other witch, there was no doubt she would try and use it on him if she felt threatened. He just needed to get her to a safe place and then he could explain everything. The drive felt as if it took forever. He pulled off the side of the road and quickly hopped out of the car, sweeping aside the bushes he’d used to cover the tiny back road that led to his father’s secluded cabin. It rested right on the city lines of White Crest, but would be nearly impossible to track without something extra to help. He hopped back in, drove through, then hopped back out to recover the tracks. 

The further he drove in, the thicker the trees got, the darker the world got. It felt ominous. Could a demon find him here? Once they crossed White Crest lines, he knew of at least one person who would be alerted. Finally, he pulled up to the cabin and parked around back, lifting Odelia out of the car and hurrying inside. He placed her on the couch, pulled up a chair, and sat down to wait.

Bex felt herself coming to and wondered, at first, if she’d passed out again. It had happened a few times recently, but something felt different about it this time. She felt groggy, stiff, and it was difficult to move. Her eyelids felt like lead even as she forced them open. A room came into view. It wasn’t one she recognized. There were plaques on the log slatted walls, a rustic fireplace with what looked like a strange deerhead over it, and, there, in a chair staring at her with what she thought was concern, was Frank. 

Bex shot up immediately, but felt her stomach heave and she fell back down, grasping at her chest. “What-- Frank-- what’s--”

“Don’t try and move too fast. The dust is still wearing off,” Frank instructed. He wanted to rise from his chair and go to her, but he knew that would be too overwhelming right now. “Just, lay down. You’re safe.”

“Safe!?” Bex exclaimed, staring at him with wide eyes. “Frank you-- you jumped me in the street and drugged me!” She wasn’t sure that’s what happened, but she remembered him grabbing her and she remembered him blowing something in her face. “What-- what even was that? What did you do?” Her head felt like a bowling ball when she tried to lift it, hands clawing at her eyes to try and scrape the drowsiness away. “Take me back, Frank. I’m supposed to meet Mina. She’s going to-- they’ll look for me. You know they will. Please, just, take me back, Frank. Please.” It was all she could do, beg. Because she didn’t want to hurt him. Because she didn’t know where they were, or how they got here, or what time it even was.

---

So, Mina was trying not to panic. She thought she was doing a pretty good job of it, presently, as she listened to Nell’s words with a heavy, sinking feeling in her stomach the more that time went on. “The last time I heard from her was this morning. She was going to the store, I had to come to the school to help someone with some work, so she said she’d text me when she was ready, but that was supposed to be a while ago, and now she hasn’t--” She was panicking, just a bit, talking way too much, and Mina had to cut herself off to try and stop that. This was nothing. It was nothing. She was worrying about nothing. But that felt like a lie, and it made her sick. She drummed her fingers against the side of her car. “She’s been letting me know, before she does things, most of the time, after everything that’s happened the last few weeks, but I thought, maybe, she’d be with you? I don’t--” She didn’t know what to do, now. She felt like this was somewhere between an overreaction and a perfectly legitimate one. She’d feel stupid, sure, if she was overreacting about this, but she didn’t want to underreact. She didn’t want to not worry enough and have something catastrophic happen all because she was being inattentive and terrible.

“Am I being--” Overbearing, insufferable, clingy, “--ridiculous?” she asked quietly, not quite sure if she wanted the answer, even if it was in the negative. If she wasn’t being ridiculous, then that meant that something was wrong. She didn’t want something to be wrong. She just wanted Bex to be okay and for them to have a nice time. That was it. She didn’t want that to be too much to ask for. “I mean, her phone could have died, right? That could be-- I’m sorry if I’m bothering you for no reason, I just--” Mina pinched at the top of the bridge of her nose and clenched her eyes shut, trying to go still. “Sorry.”

Gone was any hint of Nell’s generally jesting demeanor as she let Mina speak, brows drawing closer in concern with every word that tumbled out of the other girl’s mouth. Morning wasn’t that long off, but it was still far enough away that nearly anything could have happened in the time someone had last heard from Bex. And it wasn’t like Bex to be late without a word of warning. The young witch was always texting when she thought she might run late to a lesson, and Nell couldn’t imagine it would be any different when it came to the appointments she held with Mina. “No- no, I don’t think you’re being ridiculous.” If Mina was being ridiculous by worrying after Bex, then Nell would be too. And this was only precaution, right? It was better to be safe than sorry when it came to things like this. Nell had learned that the hard way, and she wasn’t about to let Bex of all the people she loved in her life to become the next lesson. “No! No, don’t apologize. I’m glad you called. And don’t worry- I know how to find her.”

There’d been a reason Nell had asked Bex if she could have some of the younger girl’s blood, saving it for occasions just like this. “I’ve got a tracking spell that’ll tell us where she is, alright?” Her mind was already beginning to fill with the worst of scenarios. Bex wouldn’t have gone off with Kyle alone, and without warning someone, right? Just because Nell’s relationship with the werewolf had improved, didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. “I’ll cast it- and let you know what direction it’s taking me, and then you can intercept the course.”

---

“I can’t,” Frank said, and his voice wavered in a way that he hadn’t been expecting. He swallowed and looked at Odelia firmly. “Take you back. I can’t. I can explain everything if you just let me.” 

Bex didn’t like where this was going. Any of this. This was bad. This was really bad. She didn’t have any way to contact anyone. How had she done that, in the alley, with Kyle? Astral projected? Could she do that again, here? Go find Mina or Nell or Morgan or someone to come help her. But what would she say? Where would she tell them to go? She had no idea, she’d been unconscious the whole time. She had no idea where they were. Her heart rate was increasing with each suffocating thought. She was trapped. She was trapped. Frank had taken her and she didn’t know where to go or what to do and-- had she been wrong? Was he going to hurt her? Would he hurt her? She pushed herself up with a great effort and clutched her head. “Frank, I need to go back, please. We can-- we can talk when we get back, okay? I-- I’ll listen. I’ll listen if you take me back, but I’m supposed to meet Mina, and I promised her we’d go to--” and suddenly, the words settled in her stomach like a disease, and her body heaved. 

“You what!?” Frank gasped, standing so suddenly the chair he’d been sitting in toppled over. “You promised her!?” He ran his hands through his hair, paced. This was bad. This was really bad. But if he took her back, it would be worse. He knew that. He couldn’t risk that. His eyes settled back on Odelia, pale and shivering on the couch now. “Fuck, Odi…”

“It’s Bex,” she exhaled through clenched teeth, “my name is Bexley.” 

Frank didn’t know what to do anymore. This complicated things. If they didn’t get out of town soon, someone would come looking for them. Someone might already be. He hadn’t planned for this. He had planned for them to stay here for at least the night. Shaking his head, he paced away, palms flat against the fireplace. “Okay, okay,” he nodded to himself, “we have to go now, then. Stay here,” he commanded and strode towards the front of the cabin, glancing out the windows. It was quiet for now. He turned to look back at Ode-- Bexley-- and knew she wouldn’t get far right now if she tried to run. Once they were safe, he could explain. He just needed her to understand that right now. “I’ll be right back.”

Bex watched Frank head into the great room. She didn’t know what he had in there, but it couldn’t be good. Stiffly, she pushed herself up from the couch and stumbled over to the windows, using each piece of furniture as support as she did, knees knocking. Fuck. They were surrounded by trees. She saw his car, across the lawn, hidden by some bushes. Where were his keys? Maybe, if she could just find them, she could take his car and run. She knew she’d never outrun him on foot. But, maybe she could lose him in the trees, if she could only get a good enough head start. A plan was forming in her head. 

She was going to get out of here.

---

“RIght, okay. Right.” Mina decided that this was a good time to do a few breathing exercises. She hoped they were panicking for no reason. She really, really hoped she was panicking for no reason. “Yeah, just cast it and I can meet you there. Just-- I mean, yeah. Text me where to go.” When they hung up, Mina didn’t really know what to do other than stare at her phone and wait for a text to come in. She must have looked like a fool, standing outside her car with her phone in her hand with a panicked expression on her face. But a watched phone doesn’t ring, so she decided to just wait inside the car, fiddling with the keys in her hands. Finally, the text came in, and Mina glanced at the location before starting the car and leaving campus in a way that would have probably impressed Nell before Mina realized that she needed to drive like a normal person. Everything was probably fine, and she was probably overreacting, and she didn’t need to go too fast and get pulled over for a speeding violation because really that would just make things take even longer, and she just needed to get to wherever Bex was and make sure that she was okay and be told that she was acting silly. She felt like she was acting silly.

Nell’s text led her to an alley, and Mina parked and jumped out of the car, looking for any signs of Bex as she started walking. She saw Nell, but no Bex. “Please tell me she’s just in one of the buildings, and everything’s fine, and that we’re worrying over nothing because I worry over most things, Nell, and I really, really like being told that I’m worrying for no reason. It makes me feel better about things.”

Casting the tracking spell was nearly as easy as breathing for Nell at this point with the frequency she used it. The magic was pivotal to her bounty hunting jobs, but it also came in handy for when young witches who had a penchant for getting into bad situations went missing. While she followed the spell through an alley, she looked up as she heard Mina’s car pull in- followed by the appearance of the hunter herself. Before the witch lay the little pinpricks of almost rodent-like feet, painted in Bex’s blood. The little paws looked sharper than a rat’s foot, but not nearly as large as something like a wolf’s. Maybe something in between? They were set longer apart than most animals. Something long, and rodent-like that had decent claws. The first thing to spring to her mind was a ferret, but she brushed the thought aside as quickly as it had come, not so much caring about what tracks there were at a time like this, so much as where they were leading. 

“I’m still following the spell,” Nell replied in a tone that meant business, laser-focused despite the growing dread in her stomach. There’d been such a brief moment of peace. Didn’t they deserve a few days of unimpaired happiness before shit went south again? She tried to remind herself that it was most likely her old bias, and pessimism rising in her throat. But vigilance was what kept people alive. “It’ll be alright though, okay?” she tried her best to comfort, despite hounding after the ruby trail of tracks that kept appearing before her while she followed them through the alley. Along the way a glint of reflection caught her eye, and suddenly she wasn’t so rational when it came to hoping for the better. Bex’s phone. Wordlessly, she picked the cellphone up in her hand, nothing but her own reflection staring back in the dark and cracked screen after it had been carelessly tossed aside. A new shade of darkness had fallen over their search, Nell’s jaw clenching in growing wrath as she kept after her tracking spell. “Come on- we gotta move faster.” Faster before someone hurt Bex. Faster before she found Bex’s headless body in the middle of some clearing in the forest. 

---

Frank came back into the room with two large bags under his arms. Bex turned away from the window and curled her arms behind her, concealing the candlestick she’d found on the table. Just one good swing, right? And she could knock him out. Make a run for it. His keys jangled on a clip on his belt loop. If only she’d been better at levitating spells, if only they’d practiced more, maybe she could remove them without even needing to be near him. If only her stomach didn’t feel like a raging ocean, and her head like a pounding storm. She looked up at him, shivering. “Wh-what are those for?”

Frank set the bags down and looked across the room to Bexley. “Put it down,” was all he said to her. The question wasn’t important. “You won’t get far with that.” 

Bex stood frozen, wide eyed. How had he known? He-- was a hunter. He probably had known her whole plan from the beginning. The way he was looking at her made her skin crawl. She wanted out of here, away from him. She didn’t know what he was going to do. Where he was going to take her. If they got too far, would they disappear forever? Would she never be able to escape him? She dropped the candlestick, but stayed put, even as he held his hand out to her. “Frank, please,” she begged one last time, throat tight, “please just take me back. I don’t want to hurt you. O-or get you hurt.” Because if Nell found him, if Mina found him, if Morgan found him, they would tear him to shreds. She knew it. And despite her fear, despite how terrified she felt, she didn’t want him dead. He clearly was just confused. He needed to just talk to her.

“Please, we can just-- go back to your place and talk. Okay? I-- I can do that. I’ll listen to you, hear you out. We just-- we need to go back, Frank.”

Frank’s eyes turned sharp and he crossed the room quickly, grabbing her wrist tightly. “There’s no going back, Bexley,” he spat. “We leave now, and never come back, or things are just going to get worse for you. If you stay here, your only option is going to be going back to them-- your parents. Is that what you want? Because they’ll come for you, Bexley,” he said sharply, “they’ll come for you and they’ll destroy anyone in their path for it.” That’s what people with deals did, after all. They destroyed everything in order to keep their power, their pride, their safety. And Bexley’s parents were at the top of that chain. He’d seen them do it before. And they were doing it again. Bexley didn’t even realize it, all the damage they’d done so far. He was living proof of it. 

He pulled on her arm and dragged her over to the bags, shouldering them both. “We’re leaving,” he said firmly, and left no room for argument as he pulled them both out the front door and towards the car.

---

Mina looked at the cracked phone in Nell’s hand and felt her stomach sink. She popped the boot of her car and grabbed a set of throwing knives to strap to her thigh along with a much longer, far more wicked looking knife to attach to her belt. If there was trouble, she wanted to be prepared. She was trying so hard not to panic, but it was there, hanging around in the back of her throat, nearly making her sick with it. No, no, she couldn’t do that. She had to be strong, she had to be okay. She had to shape up. She had to. Mina was trained to be calm under pressure, to be brave and collected in the face of danger. She wasn’t in danger, but someone that she cared about was, and that was all that mattered. She steeled herself. She was ready to fight, if need be. She looked over to Nell. “Do we need to walk or would it be faster for me to drive? Can you still track that way?” 

Following suit, Nell made the hiding spaces her knives were easily accessible, shouldering her jacket off and throwing it into the back of Mina’s car. This way her summoning sigils would be a touch away as well, the tattoos dark against her skin. For good measure she summoned her own set of more delicate knives from the space where they sat in her room, the throwing knives momentarily glinting in the sun along with Mina’s. Normally she would have loved to take preference with the other girl when it came to their weapons, but now wasn’t the time. “If you can see the tracks from your car— driving’s fine.” It was part of the reason she’d always stuck to her motorcycle. The details of groundwork were much easier to follow while you were nearly on top of them. “But if you can’t…” There were always the hellhounds. But Mina hadn’t reacted all that well to them. “I could call Shaggy back.” Maybe her aversion wouldn’t matter in the long run. Maybe Bex’s safety would take priority as it did for Nell. Or maybe Mina simply had better vision and would be able to see from her car.

---

The air around was cooler than Bex thought it might be, on a supposedly warm spring day. Was it getting close to night? She squinted to try and see the sun through the trees, but the heavy fog seemed to have settled around the cabin obscured her vision and she shivered. She could feel it, the magic that coated this place. 

The further that Frank pulled her from the cabin, the more sick she began to feel. She didn’t understand what was happening. Her body drooped like lead and Frank had to stop to pick her back up. Suddenly, another idea formed.

After he helped her stand back up again, she made a show to make herself look as if she were dizzy, getting sicker, letting her head loll around as he pulled her towards the car, a low groan in her throat. He looked back to check on her, about to ask her something, and that’s when she let her entire body go limp. Both of them tumbled to the ground, Frank crying out as he was yanked down by her. Just like she thought, he let go just in time to keep himself from landing on top of her and potentially crushing her with his own weight and the weight of the two bags. He was calling her name, fumbling with everything in his arms. She peeked one eye open and as soon as he turned around to set the bags down, she kicked a leg out into the back of his shins and watched him crumple to the ground.

She scrambled at the leaves and dirt and pulled herself up, feet already moving against the ground. Her shoes-- fucking sandals, of course-- flew off her feet as she fought to find more purchase on the wet, foggy ground. She bolted as fast as her stupid, jello legs would carry her, the heaving in her stomach fighting against her. For her. She needed to get back to Mina, that was all she knew. She had no idea which way to run, but she had to get away from Frank.

He was calling after her now, yelling. He sounded scared. He sounded mad. She didn’t care. She ran past bramble and brush and angry trees reaching down to claw at her, until her foot caught a root and she tumbled, head first, down the side of a hill. It felt like she had been falling forever, gasping for breath. When she finally came to a stop, splashed face first in a pool of mud and leaves, she stayed still and listened, panting. Was he close? Did he hear? Oh, fuck, her leg hurt. Her ankle. She looked down at it, but it was covered in mud. And so was her dress. Ruined. She felt stupid for letting that get to her as she backed up against the hill and hid under a fallen tree. Someone would come for her, right? Someone would come for her, like in the alley, with Kyle. She had to believe that. But, until then, she had to keep going. She had to get away.

Frank should’ve known this was going to happen. He should’ve known. She was too far under the fae’s spell. She would fight to get back to her. She was...lost. He scraped the tears from his eyes and continued his search. There, up ahead, a snapped branch. He followed it along to a hillside. She’d been through here. He slid down the hill easily, his natural athleticism giving him an advantage a normal human could never have. Her magic couldn’t save her here, he knew that much. If he could just get to her before the fae, then maybe he could help her. There wasn’t much time left. There were three competing forces searching for her, and he had to be the one to find her first.

---

“We don’t know where we’re going,” Mina murmured. The little tracks that they were supposed to be following were clear to see from her car, she could tell, but… if they ended up going through the woods, there would be absolutely no way for Mina to drive. Her car was not built for going off-road. She gave Nell a sharp nod. “Call-- call Shaggy,” What a strange name for a hellhound. “He should move faster, anyway.” She looked at Nell, who looked just as ready to go to war as she did, and she wondered just what they were about to get into. Something had clearly gone wrong. She didn’t know what, and she didn’t know how, but it had. She’d go to a hell dimension for Bex, though, and it was clear that Nell would, too. That made her an ideal hunting partner. It was always best to go into life or death scenarios with someone whose goal was aligned with your own, and she and Nell were on the same page: find and protect Bex, no matter what cost. “Whatever gets us to her fastest. That’s what we’re doing, okay?”

Nell nodded along with Mina’s decision, not having time to truly appreciate the flash of approval she felt rising in her chest. She knew Mina would protect Bex the same way she would. Besides- it would only make things easier to have the hellhounds already summoned in the first place if it came down to a firefight. “You’ll take Shaggy,” she began. The hellhound was large, but she’d never tried to put two people on him. “-and I’ll take Scooby.” The names sounded a little foolish in a setting such as this, but she wasn’t going to linger on them. Biting the scabbed bit of her thumb, she ran the blood that came out of it over one of her tattoos, speaking a quick word of Latin. In the next moment the two hellhounds had appeared before the pair of girls, tails wagging as they were eager to be of use. They knew they’d get a nice meaty and fleshy meal providing they did well. “Do you want help up, or do you got it?” Hellhounds didn’t exactly have the most obvious of handholds, and she wasn’t sure if Mina would need the confidence boost getting onto one. Her fingers fiddled with a knife impatiently as she waited for an answer, knowing every second wasted was another potential cut against Bex’s skin.

---

Exhaustion and sickness and mud were sticking to Bex’s skin, weighing her down. Her magic couldn’t help her here, not even Nell’s ready made spells could. The bracelet was snug on her wrist, but she knew she didn’t have the energy to perform them. Nell had been very adamant to let her know that they took her own energy, her own force, to complete the spell. And with how much her arms shook and her legs rattled, she knew she didn’t have the energy for them. She just needed to keep moving. She needed to keep going. Eventually, she’d find something, right? She’d never been in the forest alone before. Her parents had never let her even think about going into it. For good reason, she now knew. Their isolation had also been her protection. Feet slipped as she limped past a log, clutching onto the wood with muddy hands, leaving behind prints she barely even noticed. She wanted to cry, but that, too, would waste too much energy. She needed to find a road, a house, a river-- something. She hated these woods.

Frank was getting closer, he could tell. She wasn’t trying very hard to cover her tracks, but she was moving at a pace a lot faster than he’d thought she’d be able to. They were still within the confines of the spell on his father’s cabin, but if she went too much farther, she’d breach the edge and make it that much easier for others to find her. He picked up his pace, pulling out his knife, as he cut through bushes to get to her faster. 

But, suddenly, the trail went cold. No footprints, no snapped branches. Either she’d gotten smart, or she was hiding somewhere nearby. The low hum of the woods sung in his ears and he closed his eyes, trying to hone in on any noise that wasn’t natural. Crunching leaves under a deer’s hooves, birds scraping talons against tree branches, wind whistling through bark and broken branches. He opened his eyes again, glanced in a circle, and he started on his way again. He would find her. And he would save her.

Bex was pressed as far up under the overhanging rock as possible. She felt water trickling down from above it and dripping on her shoulder into one of her cuts, but her hands stayed pressed against her mouth and nose, quieting her breathing. He was so close. She could hear his boots crunching on the leaves outside. Her eyes screwed shut and she inhaled, holding her breath. Seconds passed, and then more-- she needed to breath-- and then he was moving again, and his bootfalls got quieter and Bex let out the longest exhale she had in a long time. Tears finally pooled in her eyes as she leaned back against the rock. 

Of all the horror that White Crest had shown her, this was the most terrified she’d ever been. Not even Kyle compared. 

She sniffled and wiped her tears away, smearing mud on her cheeks, pushing away, out from under the rocks. Limped off in the opposite direction she’d heard Frank, when other footsteps-- heavier footsteps-- echoed through the trees. Her heartbeat raced again and she ducked behind a pile of dead trees, wishing with all her heart and all her soul, that she’d have the strength to keep going on.

---

“Shaggy, right.” Mina didn’t even have time to stare at the creatures with apprehension (she’d taken down hellhounds before, but never by herself, but she could see the weak spots-- she needed to stop that), just steadied herself even further. “I think I’ve got it.” It couldn’t be any more different than climbing without a harness, and she’d done that before. The hellhound was tall; she imagined it was probably like riding a bike, if the bike was giant and demonic and canine in nature. She grabbed a few tufts of fur and hauled herself up, patting the creature gently as she got settled, hoping he wouldn’t get upset with her and throw her off. This wasn’t bad, except for the fact that she would be absolutely terrified to be riding such a large creature that really was incredibly dangerous if she wasn’t so focused on what they were supposed to be doing. She could clearly see the tracks, even from the hellhounds back, and she looked over to Nell as the smaller girl climbed on her own hellhound. “You lead. I’ll be on the lookout in case… in case.”

Nell didn’t wait to see if Mina would second-guess her decisions, climbing on Scooby while she let Mina get situated. “Alright, guys- you know the drill,” she murmured to the pair of hellhounds who wasted in time following the blood trail that continued before them, hoping they’d get some blood for themselves at the end of it. Nell went first with Scooby, Shaggy hot on his brother’s heels as the overgrown dogs picked up the trail. Soon enough ferret footprints turned into tire marks, leading along the road until it led into the outskirts. The tire marks were enough to quell any of Nell’s Kyle-related concerns. If he’d hurt Bex it would have been wolf prints she’d be following. No— this reeked of a human crime. Or at least someone that would drive a getaway car. Heart in her throat, Nell reminded herself that Miriam was retired. Killing Bex wasn’t on the bitch’s list anymore...right? Right? Fuck- they needed to find Bex now. 

The hellhounds paused for a moment at the edge of the road, the tracking spell disappearing into nothingness where the road forked. Something was keeping her magic from finishing its job, but thankfully she had something better now. Swiping a bit of Bex’s leftover blood from her vial, she held it to Scooby’s nose, letting him take a long whiff before the hound was off again. They were getting closer. Nell could feel it, almost as if she could feel Bex calling out to her. If only she could tell Bex that they were coming. To just hold on for a little longer, and let them get there. 

---

If she closed her eyes and listened closely, she could hear two sets of heavy footsteps. Bex didn’t know what that meant. Did he have friends? Were they out here looking for her, too? Or was it just something else? Something else that the terrible forests of White Crest had conjured? Maybe, if she was lucky, they could run into Frank, first, and distract him. She hated that she was hoping for him to get mauled by whatever animals were stalking through this forest, but it was better him than her, right? Her chest was still heaving and her foot was in so much pain. But she needed to keep moving. She needed to keep going. 

Adrenaline rushed through her veins and she pulled herself back up once the footsteps passed, crawling on her hands and knees for a moment. Wherever she was, it didn’t look any different from everywhere else she’d been. She was nearly ready to just collapse and give up. She was so tired of fighting and running. Her arms were shaking, her legs felt like chains dragging behind her, her head was throbbing, and if she’d actually eaten anything that day she was sure it would’ve been on the forest floor by now, laying in a pool with dead leaves and dried sticks and thick mud. She dug her hands in and put her forehead to the ground, muffling the sound of her sob as she let one slip out. But she couldn’t give up now, she just couldn’t. She would keep going because she had people to fight to get back to now.

And then, like a beacon through the haze, a voice. A familiar voice. A voice she’d been so longing to hear, she wondered if she might be hearing things.

“Mina…?” her own voice was small, strangled. Still afraid Frank was nearby, and that he might hear. But, no, it came again. And there was another. “Nell…?” A little louder this time. She clawed her way up using a nearby fallen tree for support. She drew in all her energy, all her breath. “Mina!?” she croaked, and heard it echo through the trees, and hoped it really was her. “Mina, I’m over--” 

Frank had gotten to higher ground, having climbed a tree, surveying the lands. They had hunting pads up in most of the bigger trees around, him and his father had put most of them up while he was still just a boy. He remembered sitting in them for hours, watching creatures go by. Learning how to shoot them from afar, or drop in on them from above. 

This time, he was not looking for prey, even if it felt like he was. She was running from him, and if he didn’t get to her first, this forest might. Or her parents, or that fae. 

He spotted her, crawling out from under an overhang. He went to jump down when he, too, heard the footfalls of creatures. Large and hulking, running fast. Beasts. He leapt from his post to a nearby tree, moving effortlessly through it, on to the next. He was not a large man, more lean and dexterous than most other hunters. But wardens needed speed, they needed agility, over raw brute strength, and his family prized him for his.

He dropped down right behind her, scooped her up, and threw a hand over her mouth. She struggled uselessly. 

It was too late, the beasts-- and rider’s atop-- had found them. 

The iron knife in his hand burned. He knew what he had to do.

#chatzy #wickedswriting #chatzy: mina #chatzy: nell #promise to bind #drug manipulation tw #domestic abuse tw #sibling death tw #:----------) #just a very nice sweet soft chatzy for the afternoon #nell #mina #frank