One look at Micaiah's form from across the hall rekindled a tingling sense of familiarity within me. So much that the feeling grew close to irritating. But I managed to squelch it, dismissing it as a warning bell telling me to be wary of such a man.
"Well, look who it is. The prodigal son finally shows his scarred face." Micaiah's mocking tone was the first to resonate round the kitchen once we had entered. He leaned against the refrigerator and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Tell me, Lucy, who gave you an invitation? I don't remember ever extending one to your messed up den."
Instead of retorting, Lucifer remained silent, a warning glare his only retaliation to Mik's comment.
Alright. So they know Lucifer and vice versa. Curiosity sated. But how? I'll remember to ask about that later.
"I'll interpret that as "Cleo" then," Micaiah stated and cast an accusing glance at said person, sounding no more surprised than expected. "You could've at least told me you invited this bastard."
"If I gave a damn about your opinion on whether I should've invited him or not, then I would've bothered to," Cleo replied, not missing a beat. "We need him here, Mik. Your dislike towards him won't hinder me from doing what's necessary. So get over it."
"Asshole," Micaiah muttered under his breath, although it was loud enough for us to hear it. "I can't believe I've tolerated you for this long."
Cleo cast a glare his way. "I could say the same."
Lucifer and I stood by the counter on the opposite side of the two burly men, clad in nothing but black attire. I positioned myself on a stool, still reeling over how on earth I had gotten myself into this mess.
Micaiah's dry chuckle snapped me out of my thoughts. I narrowed my eyes, earning myself the same humourless gesture in return.
"You two came from where? The bedroom?" he thought out loud. "I see you didn't waste time in sleeping with the enemy then, Lucy. Bonus for you."
I almost jumped off the stool in an unexpected fury. "The hell did you just say?"
"I don't like repeating myself, Kid," he drawled sarcastically. "You heard me word for word and know it's nothing but the truth."
Okay, the bastard just crossed the line.
"Do you have to act like such an idiot?" I snapped through gritted teeth.
Micaiah swiftly, in reply, pushed away from the refrigerator and mimicked the stance of Cleo, who had positioned his palms against the counter's smooth surface and watched the scene with unveiled annoyance.
Micaiah simply shrugged a shoulder after he'd repositioned himself. "Only to those I couldn't care less about."
"Okay, that's enough," Cleo interrupted, his expression revealing his impatience even after he turned to face his companion. "You better stick to the reason why we are risking our lives like this tonight or I swear I'll abandon your sorry ass to complete this search alone and face Jairus when that idiot and his pigeons catch up to you. Just one more word aside from commencing our only purpose for being here. Count on it."
The recipient of Cleo's outburst, though he didn't say a word for a while, pressed his lips together and clenched his jaws stubbornly, as if he didn't like being told off. Let alone in front of an audience.
I almost snorted out loud. What an arrogant jerk.
The kitchen remained quiet as Cleo clearly waited for Mik's consent before he moved on.
Which the bastard gave.
"Fine," Micaiah growled out after a few seconds of silent battling with Cleo. "Fine, you're right, I'm being a jerk."
"More than that," Lucifer added, glaring at him.
Instead of retaliating verbally as I'd expected, Micaiah simply chuckled again and closed his eyes, appearing to have an internal battle with himself. Yet, it was at that moment that I saw a different side to him.
He looked worn-out, tired, stressed, and above all, hopeless. A memory of him saying that I was their first clue in nineteen years didn't escape me as I studied his visage. I didn't know what the hell he'd been talking about, but I was certain anyone in his position would've long gone crazy after such an amount of years.
Yet he'd managed to stay sane, showing just how much of a fighter he was.
Even now, as he unknowingly exposed his vulnerable side, I couldn't help the tiny tinge of admiration despite my immense dislike towards his jerky character.
However, that moment lasted only a minute when he took a deep breath and opened his eyes, fixing his gaze on me. All the signs of being just a tired, normal human vanished and were hardened with a determined glint that made him look nothing like the man I'd seen just a few seconds ago.
"Alright, Kid." To his credit, he sounded less hostile than before, although that didn't mean that he was now on my good side. "We had a deal. We tell you about Et Kar, you help us find the Night Witch."
Hearing that title for the first time that night jarred a particular fact in my mind that I'd forgotten to inquire about entirely. I shot up from the stool I was perched on.
I couldn't help it. Despite myself, I began to panic, eyeing the dark corners of the kitchen frantically.
"Damn it! Everyone quiet. How could we forget that that monster could be listening to our conversation right now? We should've done this during the day!"
"Lena."
I didn't hear my name the first time it was called. Maybe it was because my trepidation levels were riding up the slope at the prospect my next meeting with Et Kar.
"Lena!" I was grabbed by shoulders and my body was shifted afterwards to face the one who had uttered my name.
But funny enough, it wasn't mainly the quick motion that snapped me out of my panicked daze. It was the realization that if I didn't breathe in soon, I'd die of lack of oxygen.
Immediately, I pushed away from Lucifer and sucked in a deep relieving breath before my lungs were smothered to death.
"Don't ever...come closer to me," I hissed out with a finger pointed at his bemused expression. "Not unless my life depends on it. Even though that'll probably make me die faster."
Lucifer's frown deepened. "I was just trying to tell you that your house is protected by what I was smelling earlier."
"And what is that?"
"Xandar," he answered. "It's a potion that repels creatures of the shadows. They can't stand the smell."
An agitated sigh echoed just after Lucifer's explanation.
"Yes, yes, just a drop on your doorstep solves it all," Micaiah added. "Now let's move on to what really is important here."
"Yeah, let's." Casting a wary glance at Lucifer, I sat back on the stool and faced Micaiah.
"About Et Kar. I just don't want to know anything about him," I said.
Mik raised an eyebrow, obviously not knowing what I was referring to.
"Urgh." I rubbed my temple in irritation, leading me to notice for the first time that I hadn't bothered to wear my shades for the sake of company. For a minute, it felt oddly refreshing to have people around that weren't affected by the sight of my eyes.
"He's been stalking and pressuring me to join his family for years and I want to get rid of him," I explained, unable to help but reminisce all those creepy memories of his visits. "I just don't understand what he wants me for."
Micaiah's derisive snort drew my attention. "Have you not looked in the mirror?"
I frowned at that. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're a witch, Lena," Cleo replied in Mik's stead, who apparently thought it wasn't worth the effort. "A Night Witch to be precise. That's why he wants you."
Well, at least now I know what I am.
That was one question I'd always been asking myself answered. The others I'd kept pondering upon also began to gradually spill from my mouth. "Why am I like this?"
Micaiah snorted again. "Simple genetics. Kid."
"Genetics?" My mind buzzed with this newfound information. "So you mean my parents were like this?"
Mik raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
"You don't know your parents?" Lucifer, who had been quiet for some time, spoke up so suddenly that his alluring baritone momentarily distracted me as I tried to process his inquiry.
"Uh...no. No. I've never known them."
"Pity," Mik commented with hardly any emotion, turning about to open the fridge. "'Cause we could really use all the help we can get."
I ignored his statement. "He wants me because I'm a Night Witch." This time, I purposefully directed my question at Cleo, who watched me with a solemn expression. "Why?"
He didn't break eye contact. "Because those are the supernatural beings he feeds on. You are what he hungers for. Your essence. Your abilities."
"Abilities?" I snorted sceptically. "The only thing I do is slowly kill people with one look and camouflage in darkness. That's not really anything to feed on."
"To him, it is apparently. What an idiot," Micaiah murmured, head stuck in the fridge.
"And no alcohol? Damn. Didn't picture you to be a saint."
I ignored him again. "Cleo, I need to know how to get him off my back."
Cleo clasped his hands on the counter and thought for a moment. "I don't think there's a way to do it permanently."
At that revelation, I felt all hope and colour drain from my face. "You've got to be joking."
Cleo's expression remained stoic. "No. The only way is to eliminate him. And that is likely impossible since he's immortal and also a shadow who can become intangible and corporeal whenever he feels it."
"But there's got to be another way." I struggled to keep my voice calm, especially as I was on the verge of losing my mind. "He can't be pestering me and monitoring my every movement for the rest of my life."
"I'm sorry, but I don't know of any other alternative. The only way we can stop him is to put him to sleep, that's the only way."
"Then there's no deal," I gritted out in rising anger. "I told you to tell me everything-"
"Everything we know about that asshole," Micaiah interrupted, closing the fridge with a fist before leaning against it again. "And that's what Cleo here just did."
"No, he didn't!" I argued. "All he did was to..."
Micaiah raised his left brow to prove his point.
Disbelief coursed throughout my system as I glanced from Cleo to Mik. "That's it? That's all you know?"
Cleo nodded. "That's all we know about him. Et Kar is a sly creature. His only weakness is your kind. Those of who we've been trained to put to sleep."
I froze. "Excuse me?"
"We're Witch Hunters." Micaiah took the liberty to add meaning to Cleo's words. "We're trained to put Night Witches such as yourself to sleep for a very long time."
Carefully, yet with my heart starting to race a mile a second, I pulled my right hand from the counter's top and lowered it so I could grip one of the drawer's knob.
"So, in other words, you're here to kill me," I said, slowly pulling the drawer open in order to grab a knife from its compartment. But Lucifer's fingers, which had curled about my wrist, halted my movements.
I cast him a glare and jerked my hand away.
He shook his head. "If they wanted to put you to sleep Cleo would've done it long ago."
Unwillingly, I felt my face heat up at the realization that Lucifer had just inaudibly ratted me out to the two people I'd intended to defend myself against.
I continued to glare at him. "I didn't ask for your input."
"He's still right," Cleo admitted. "I would've pit you to sleep long before you would've met me. But I didn't."
"Because you need me," I finished for him. It still boggled me that I could be so oblivious as to not notice that Cleo was far from the average bartender.
This could mean that anyone at all in this town could be dangerous. Could not be who they say they are, and yet, would selfishly send me to the dogs just to get suspicion off themselves.
The lengths humanity - or in this case, supernatural beings - would go through just to please their own skin.
"As much as I hate to admit it, yes. We do need you to find the Night Witch."
I stared down at my hands for a moment before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.
They are all the same, I realized. The fearless façade I'd had on for as long as I could remember began to slip away.
"Get out of my house." I opened my eyes and permitted the two Witch Hunters to see all the betrayal and helplessness I felt.
"Find some other Night Witch to help you out. I'm done here."
☆~☆~☆