Raven came back to the hotel later that night. She glared at me through the doorway.
"We need to talk about Zinnia," she told me.
I stepped aside to let her inside the room.
"What about her?" I asked.
"She's a maiden like me. She's most likely the Summer maiden."
"Wait. How do you know this? Did she tell you?" I asked.
"More like showed me. She struck me as odd, so I transformed into my corvid form and followed her," Raven explained. "While she was out, she ran into a pack of Beowolves. She shot one of them with lightning. Not going to lie, I was somewhat impressed."
"Raven, why did you—"
Before I could finish, I heard the sound of sirens go off. After a few seconds, I heard a voice.
"Alert. Level ten Grimm attack. Please seek shelter immediately."
"Talking can wait. We have Grimm to kill," Raven said, running out the door.
"Raven wait!" I cried.
But she was already gone.
I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, contemplating on what I should do. My hand fell on my sword. I couldn't just let these creatures take over Vacuo. I had to help.
I ran out the door to see the entire town in chaos. There were Grimm everywhere. Soldiers tried their best to fight them off, but the Grimm easily swatted them away like flies.
I jumped in front of some civilians and used my eyes to freeze the Grimm into stone. I then took my sword and shattered them like glass.
"Are you all okay?" I asked the them.
"We are now thanks to you," a man said. "But there's still more Grimm out there!"
"Try to stay safe. All of you," I told them as I ran off to find Raven. I gazed around, but didn't see her. Then I felt a strong tug on my arm.
"Summer! Come with me!" Raven exclaimed.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"To the entrance. That's where the Grimm are coming from. Zinnia is doing her best to fight them off, but I can tell she's having a hard time. We need to hurry!"
Raven and I ran through crowds of terrified people as we made our way towards the entrance. I saw Zinnia several feet away fighting off Deathstalkers.
"Zinnia!" I said, "we're here to help you!"
She turned to face us.
"Violet? What are you doing here? You need to get to safety! Now!" she told me.
I shook my head. "Not gonna happen. I'm a huntress. So is Raven. We can help you."
Zinnia nodded. "Okay. Could you take care of the Deathstalker on the left? I'll get the one on the right."
"We can do that. Ready to kick some ass, Raven?"
She smiled slightly. "Of course."
She attacked the Deathstalker's claws and chopped them off with her sword. The Deathstalker roared in agony and pointed its' stinger at Raven.
"Raven! Look out!" I said, pushing her out of the way. The stinger hit the ground so hard it got stuck. I used this as my chance to take my sword and chop it off.
"Nicely done," Raven said.
"You weren't too bad yourself," I told her.
We gazed over at the other Deathstalker. Zinnia was trying to hit it with her lightning powers, but it dodged easily. It creeped closer and closer until it pointed its' stinger straight at her.
"Zinnia! No!" I screamed.
The stinger went through her chest, making her choke out blood. I watched as she fell towards the ground. Raven and I ran to her. As Raven was dealing with the Deathstalker, I was doing my best to stop Zinnia from hemorrhaging. I pressed my hands on her chest and tried to slow the bleeding down, but it didn't help much. The blood easily seeped through my fingers, covering them.
"Raven, I need you!" I called.
She was by my side in seconds.
"What's...?"
She gazed down at Zinnia.
"That doesn't look good."
"I know! You have to help me! Please?"
Raven knelt down and gazed at Zinnia. She was pale and sweating.
"I'm not sure there's much I can do," she said. "She's lost a lot of blood already it looks like. And there's still some Grimm attacking people."
I looked at her. "Go and help the others. I'll try to help Zinnia."
She gazed at me. "You sure?"
I nodded. "Yes. Now go. Hurry!"
She nodded and ran off, leaving me alone with Zinnia.
"Zinnia. You're going to be okay," I said. "Can you squeeze my hand?"
I felt her lightly squeeze and I looked at her. Her face was pale and sweating, her eyes were open, but they didn't seem to be focusing on anything.
"Zinnia, stay with me," I begged.
I watched as her eyes began to close. Her breathing slowed down.
"No," I whispered.
Then her body went limp. Before I could even comprehend what just happened, I felt a force knock me backwards. As I stood to my feet, I felt... different.
"What... what is this feeling?" I asked.
I slowly opened my hand. I concentrated for a brief moment. And then a tiny flame danced on my palm.
"No way," I whispered.
This couldn't be happening. I couldn't have the maiden powers... could I?
I gazed over at Zinnia's body. She had stopped breathing. I wiped away my tears and did my best to give her a small burial.
I was going to have quite the conversation with Raven when she got back.