Emma ran after Jes through the streets, not sure where they were heading at first. Most of the backstreets looked exactly like each other and that made it a lot harder to navigate.
"Rhiannon and Nehut should be at the border, we should get to them before we find Jean."
Emma listened with creased brows.
"Nehut wouldn't hurt her, would he?"
Jes glanced back at her.
"Nehut is an ancient, I would be glad if he doesn't take a fatal blow from Jean first."
Emma felt confused for a second but then remembered descendants are the natural predators of ancients. At least descendants that had time to nurture and get stronger. Jean was definitely in that last class.
As they ran she heard Jes starting to chant and her tattoos started glowing on her dark skin with a bright contrast. The ground shook and a bunch of tar hands broke through the asphalt, accompanying them and slamming any ferals that came across their way onto the ground or throwing them off to the walls. It was like a black wave of hands creating a protective barrier around them. Emma felt glad she wasn't at the other side of that wave. She had no surprise that Jes was one of the survivors of the carnage, although she didn't exactly know what other necromancers could do either.
It was a while before they reached a rather far place to White Heather. It had stairways going up and a bunch of supernatural guards along the way, that must have been the outer entrance to the Underworld. Emma felt something crawling on her skin as they went up, there was something, someone with an immense amount of power and authority above them. When they got closer, she saw a man standing next to Rhiannon. He was obviously a kin, but his looks were too distinct to be your everyday kin. He had definitely lost his humanity a long, long while ago, probably longer than Emma could even comprehend. He was slightly shorter compared to Rhiannon, his skin a pale gray, showing that he probably used to have a darker skin color at a time long left in the past. His eyes had an uncanny shine to them, but his outfit was oddly casual despite all of the heavy authority surrounding him. Emma had never seen or felt the presence of someone like him before, and she could easily guess he was Nehut, the anarch ancient.
"Don't make it too obvious that you're staring."
Jes's words broke her trance, she blinked but had a hard time averting her gaze from him.
"It's the first time I'm seeing an ancient, it's... a bit eerie."
"I've seen way more ancients than I'd have liked to so I'm used to it I guess. Nehut has a rather calming aura compared to some of the psychopaths I've met."
Emma was even more irked at that. She wondered what kind of an ancient Hysteria was, definitely not someone she'd like to meet.
Or have you already met her?
She ignored the random voice in her head. That wouldn't be possible.
"Emma?"
She looked up again with Jes's words, Rhiannon was looking at them and so was Nehut. His gaze was something Emma couldn't ignore even if she wanted to.
"Rhi."
Jes went up the last set of stairs and Rhiannon nodded at them. Tristan wasn't there.
"My haven was destroyed, I lost Caleb too. I need a safe space to summon him again."
Rhiannon creased her brows and sighed, her feathers moving with a soft shiver that went along her neck and hair.
"Underworld is gonna lose its reputation as a safe haven if it keeps going like this. We have to put an end to this mess quickly."
Emma could still feel Nehut's eyes on her, she felt intimidated at the gaze. She looked up for a second with a questioning gaze but Nehut's stare froze her in her place.
"Child of Hysteria, you have her mark on you."
Emma didn't understand what he meant at first but Jes seemed to. She looked at Emma and then at Nehut.
"Jacob marked her right before he died."
Nehut raised his brows.
"How did she survive his death?"
"She didn't, I had to revive her."
He nodded, then turned back to Rhiannon. His attention seemed to be lost on Emma. She tried to understand what all of that meant so Jes leaned in and enlightened her.
"Ancients can feel others' presence and anyone that has been directly marked by an ancient, like Jean, or you."
Emma looked confused, fixing the arm of her tank top as she listened.
"But, I haven't been directly marked."
"Are you sure about that?" Jes looked at her, "A feeling inside me says you already met Hysteria, perhaps the night you were embraced."
Emma furrowed her brows in doubt.
"But you said she's dead, she has been long dead before I was even embraced."
"Ancestry is a bit more complex than that. Their bloodline presence remains as long as there's at least one representative of them, a second or third generation kin. Some ancients get forgotten, but some make sure they will leave their mark engraved into society, like Ophen."
Nehut's expression seemed to twitch at the mention, but he didn't avert his eyes from Rhiannon. Emma was sure he was hearing everything Jes and she was talking about. She wondered how much better his senses were, was he able to hear them before they even arrived there? She finally focused on the rest of their conversation although it wasn't too enlightening.
"Stopping a descendant like her would be hard, whoever is behind this has probably thought things through. My guess is he is someone as old as time would allow."
Rhiannon nodded, taking a look at the underworld. Things were mildly calmer along the border, all the guards keeping trouble at bay and fighting back the ferals.
"Lowering their numbers would be a good start but we don't even know how many of them there are."
Jes stood quiet. She was most likely one of the only people capable of doing that without a scratch but did they really want to use her energy up like that? Emma didn't know if Jes was unable to fight against Jean, or was just caught off guard that one time. Actually, she didn't know how strong either of them were and she was scared to find out.
"Give me a place to summon Caleb and rest for a while, then I'll get to cleaning them up."
"You can use White Heather," she reached out a set of keys to Jes, who took them, "Tristan is making sure it stays clear of danger."
Jes thought about it for a second. Emma wasn't completely sure but she saw a look of doubt on Jes's face as she took the keys. She didn't exactly understand why, but just as she worded her thoughts Jes pulled her hand.
"Let's go."
Her mouth hung open, then closed. She gave a last look at Nehut and Rhiannon before catching up to Jes. For some reason holding her hand was rather strange after the last talk they had.
She ignored the thought. Now wasn't the time to think about it.
"How do you think they found the location of your apartment?"
"Beats me. That place has a ton of protection spells over it that hides our presence, and if anyone followed me I would realize. There isn't anyone that knows the location other than you and Caleb, not even Rhiannon has been there. The crusader has enough dark magic knowledge to realize my spells but unless he spent half of his time strolling through the Underworld, there isn't much of a chance to randomly come across our place."
Emma followed behind quietly. A thought passed through her mind but she felt rather silly for thinking about it at first. After a second though, it didn't feel so silly anymore. Such an accusation would be hard to make but Tristan was the only person that knew the location after them, and the place getting attack the same day he learned the location?
She stopped in her place and Jes realized her hesitation. She raised her brows, waiting in patience. It could be a coincidence, or someone's attempt at trying to frame Tristan. But whichever it was Jes had to know about it.
"Tristan helped me carry Caleb to your apartment, he died while protecting me from, um, Rhiannon's scream?"
"Sonic scream. That's her harpy ability."
She thought about her words, same thoughts seemed to be running through her mind, or so Emma guessed.
"Did you use the front door? Was there anyone else nearby?"
Emma shook her head.
"We did use the front door," was there even another entrance? "But I'm not sure if anyone was following us. My eardrums were gone so I had no perception of anything."
"And Tristan didn't suspect anything either?"
"I... don't think so? He didn't say anything."
Jes creased her brows, seeming deep in thought but mostly confused. She looked frustrated before taking out a cigarette and continuing to walk with fast steps. She was mumbling a few curse words between her lips.
It wasn't too long before they reached White Heather. It felt weird to see it so abandoned after being used to the mixture of scents inside the place. Now it smelled like fur and death. Jes stepped inside and Emma followed behind. Despite the empty halls and the eerie aura Tristan was in his usual place behind the bar. He looked tired, almost all of the alcohol bottles were broken and he had a glass of something heavy in front of him. He drank the bottom of his glass and hit it on the bar before raising a hand at them as a greeting. Jes looked around, the cost of repairing the interior would be devastating for any other business.
"Rhi sent us, did you clean up the bodies?"
"Just threw them out the back door. It took a while."
Jes nodded, then shook the keys in her hand.
"We'll be upstairs so let us know if you see anything, or anyone."
Tristan nodded, but Jes didn't go to the stairs and instead stared at him.
"Did you see or feel anyone following you while going to our haven? Or tell anyone about it?"
Tristan raised a brow.
"I took hidden alleyways so I don't think anyone should have followed us. I didn't have time to talk to anyone but Rhiannon since then, and she didn't ask for the location."
Jes nodded, staring at his red eyes. He tilted his head in confusion,
"Did something happen? You don't usually use White Heather for resting."
"Not particularly." Jes took a deep inhale from her smoke. "Just a mild case of arson."
Tristan knew the words held sarcasm in them. He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. It was either from frustration or disbelief but his usual humor was missing from his lips. He didn't know what to say and just poured himself another glass of alcohol.
"Use the upstairs, I'll let you know if anything happens."
Jes nodded and finally headed to the stairs. The heavy scent of fur was considerably milder at the upper floor. She threw her jacket to the side on top of one of the couches and emptied her pockets onto a nearby table. There was some lilac colored chalk as usual, her decorative knife and two packs of cigarette.
"Is it a necessity for the chalk to be lilac?"
Jes looked at her with the unexpected question, seeming caught off guard.
"No, I just like the color."
She took one of the chalks, a thin layer of lilac colored dust covering her fingers.
"The color somehow feels peaceful, helps me keep a calm state of mind while doing rituals."
Emma tilted her head.
"Did you use the same color for my ritual too?"
Jes nodded, seeming to remember that one time Emma laid down in her arms lifeless. Well, not exactly lifeless. There was still a hint of life left in her body when Jes did the ritual. She hadn't exactly cared for Jean's threats back then but for some reason, leaving Emma like that hadn't felt right. She didn't feel guilty, it was simply a job she did, but she hadn't expected the sudden surge of curiosity and interest that would pull her towards Emma after their introduction. Her hand instinctively went over to the place Emma had shot her in.
"It was the first time I realized Jacob claimed you. There's a reason I can't easily fight against ancients and descendants, their bloodline protects them. You had the same type of protection that pushed me out, so it would be near impossible to reanimate you like Kat."
Casually talking about the time Kat nearly died felt a little weird but then again, nothing had made too much sense in Emma's life recently.
"I see. I guess you knew more about me than I did for a while now huh."
Jes wanted to make another jab at Jean's companions but didn't, Emma seemed a bit too somber almost like she was disturbed by the situation, or tired of being left in the dark.
"I don't think you would appreciate me just walking up to you and saying 'hey, I learned your lineage when I was reincarnating you' back then."
Emma laughed, it was a small one that she accidently let out.
"Yeah, I wouldn't."
"And hey, you're plenty quick at figuring stuff out so I'm sure you'd find out without me."
Jes stopped for a second at her own sentence. Was she trying to console Emma? She shook her head and realized she had been playing with the chalk in her hand for the past ten minutes. She spoke again before Emma could speak up and dusted off the chalk on her palms, realizing the surprise on her face.
"Let's get this ritual done, then we can start handling the feral problem."