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Merci cranked the wheel to the side and slammed the breaks, bringing the SUV to a full and complete stop in what had to be the worst parallel parking job of her entire life. At the moment, however, the half demon did not really give a fig. Dio was curled up in the passenger seat with his hands clutched over his chest. It had taken her way too long to get across town from the old Victorian she shared with Cinder and their rather large extended family. It was probably a good thing that it hadn't taken her long to decide that they needed to head for the shop. They'd been through too many strange things before to procrastinate. Getting her fiend into the car had been a chore, she hadn't exactly wanted to touch him, and he hadn't been as coherent as he usually was.

In the back seat was Vance, his long body curled up so he fit. The Medusa looked terribly put out or at least as put out as a Gorgon with a blindfold could, considering half their face was covered. Next to him was his own whimpering fiend. With a growl he muttered, "Well we might not have to worry about them too much considering your driving. You're going to kill us before we can even get into that blasted shop."

Merci shot Vance a scathing look over her shoulder that would have withered a lesser being. "Get your fiend out of the car and get inside. Now." Her tone brooked no argument.

With a grumpy hiss the snake opened his door and slithered out onto the ground. "Come on Sully. Or don't. I'm pretty sure that I'll survive whatever's happening to you."

Sulfur was in pain. She was younger than the shadow that was in the passenger seat of the car and whatever was happening to them seemed to be affecting him more. Her blood red eye was creased with pain and she kept one hand up over the stone in her chest. No matter how she felt, she was a lady and she had to remain composed. The crackling along her skin had faded away, but she'd still been instructed not to touch anything unless she absolutely had to. Her guardian was not being as sympathetic as Merci. That was fine by her, she didn't need to be coddled. The girl drifted through the open door and followed after her serpentine guardian to the front of Twilight Designs.

Merci turned to Dio and murmured quietly. "Dio honey, we're here. You just have to make it into the building. Reyna and Athan will know what to do." She tried to sound reassuring. Her fear of the magical man was put aside for the moment in the best interest of her boy. With a concerned look the Kitsune gripped the handle of her car and slid out, holding it open for Dio.

The Stargazer didn't follow right away, it wasn't until Merci said his name again, more firmly that he stirred himself. Lifting from the seat he floated through the open door. It was hard to concentrate, and he could easily have phased through the side of the car but it seemed better to use the opening provided. 'It hurts...'

The woman just bit her lower lip and nodded. "I know, come on we'll get inside and everything will be better. I promise." She made sure he was following her and strode ahead to lead the trio of others to the shop. She reached out to push the door open only to find it locked. Merci scowled and fumbled with her keys, it was a good thing she worked there otherwise she would have had to call someone. Coming up with her key she put it into the lock and turned it, opening the door with the familiar chime only to see the strange scene inside. She put a hand out to stop the others from moving forward, not entirely sure what was going on.


Harper had taken to keeping Flo in the front pocket of his hoodie. Which was a habit he would probably try and break after today. The wisp had literally freaked out, whipping around in there like a cat trapped in a bag. It had actually pulled the Pooka right off his feet, causing him to fall head over tea kettle in front of his brothers. They'd laughed so hard that he was sure he'd never hear the end of it.

Right now though he had other worries. The boy moved fast as he darted through the back alleys of the city toward the jewelry store he'd gotten the little stone from. Harp was by nature nervous, he blamed the rabbit instincts for that, and whatever was happening to the stone freaked him the hell out. The little shadows that had curled around the stone and acted like tiny arms and wrapped around it's colorful center and created what looked like a shadowy cocoon. Normally he'd try and find a vet for a sick pet, but he was pretty sure that stones with magic leaking out of them didn't really qualify quite the same way. He was out of breath and seriously considering quitting smoking when he rounded the end of the block to see a strange group of people standing outside of his final destination. Harper skidded to a stop and reached his hand into his pocket to make sure Flo was still in there. His finger brushed the shadow engulfed stone, and he felt a weak little prod back from the wisp. Well, now was no time to be a coward. The boy squared his shoulders, flattened his long loppy ears against his head and marched forward to join the other people standing outside.

One of these people had fox ears and a tail, the other one seemed to be mostly snake. At least he wasn't the oddest one of the bunch.

Mystic's eyes went a bit wide at Nephrite's declaration, but he already knew it was true without having to see this man for himself. He could feel the subtle shift of Reyna's presence. It was as though the fire that burned in her own aura was slowly being stoked, and the man's was very similar to Athan's.

The difference was, this strange man had allowed the darkness to completely consume him. Athan's instincts were to fight it, and even though it looked like he was on the losing end of that battle, he still maintained some semblance of himself instead of becoming the hollow shell that Ezra appeared to be.

He glanced over at Nephrite and reached for her free hand. As softly as he could manage in what barely-there-telepathic speech he had left, he said, 'Don't run yet. It would just make you a target.'

Reyna, on the other hand, was staring him down with an immensely displeased look on her face. While yes, she was a demon, she still held a little bit of respect for certain living things and even possessed a few solid core values that would likely shock the pants off anyone who thought she was nothing but an ornery mean a**.

She was definitely that ornery mean a**, but while looking at Ezra and seeing what he had done not to just his own soul, but to Amethyst, she could tell he possessed zero respect for any living thing at all. And it had likely been a very long time since he had, if ever. She idly wondered if he knew that she could see the trails of darkness that bled over from her into him. Not all demons could see into a person's soul, but she could. It was one of her few abilities that always seemed to be right on cue.

The phone started ringing and she glanced towards it. Ezra was still giving her that creepy smile and hadn't made a move just yet. He was still busy gloating over how beautiful Amethyst was, but she had mostly tuned him out.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" he asked after it kept ringing.

Reyna glanced up and slowly reached for the phone without lifting her gaze off of him and answered it. "Hello?" she said. If it was Miranda calling back again she was going to rip her a new one.

At the same moment Merci stepped through the front door after unlocking it. s**t. Of course people would start showing up when weird things started happening to their Shadows. Damn it all to hell! Where is Athan?!

Amon had instinctively been holding his breath upon stepping through the portal, and released it now in a quiet breath of relief to have made it through whole. He just really, really did not like these things. Athan's at least were mercifully quick to pop up and wink out of existence, giving him little to no time to wonder about what could possibly go wrong.

Speaking of . . . It very much seemed like Athan had been right with his feeling that there was trouble afoot. It was less the small crowd of fiends and their concerned looking guardians in front of the shop, most of which seemed to have arrived just now. But Nephrite was also here—he'd been aware of it the instant they'd arrived.

And Nephrite, he knew full well, had avoided the shop like the plague ever since Athan had made it abundantly clear to her that it was Not Okay To Poison People. Yet she still was here, and he could clearly sense through their bond that she was terrified—and definitely not of Athan this time around.

"Understood," he said upon Athan's warning and dipped his head with a serious expression. The spell he was confident he could pull off—the one lingering doubt he had was if it would be quick enough in a pinch. He kept in step with Athan's pace and breezed past the small crowd in his wake, though he did nod a quick greeting in passing at those he knew.

Inside, there seemed to be only a handful of people present but him and Athan: Merci, Reyna, and . . . another guardian and his fiend? He frowned. He'd never met the dude, he realized. But if Reyna's expression was anything to judge by, he was trouble. Massively so.

He too made his way past Merci, one hand pressing her shoulder for a moment in a reassuring manner. He knew Athan freaked her out. He scanned the room for Nephrite's whereabouts, but she was nowhere in sight. The back room then, he guessed, and wondered who else might be there.


Nephrite was slightly weirded out by the touch of Mystic's hand. It was warm. Like, real living person kind of warm. Weird, just weird. She was just about to remark on it, when all of a sudden her head snapped up and her eyes brightened as the bond to her guardian seemed to intensify all of a sudden. Which could only mean one thing: Amon was here! He had come for her after all.

Of course, she realized, this meant he was only going to get himself into deep trouble again, and she would likely end up going to have to stab that vile person to save his a**. Her grip around the pin tightened.

Ezra was so, utterly pleased with himself. He turned his back on Reyna to lounge casually against her desk to survey all the newcomers to the shop. This had been entirely too easy. He seemed to bask in pleasure at the audience that had gathered.

"Ahh. There's the man of the hour," he said in a jovial voice as he settled his gaze upon Athan, "It didn't take long for you to show up at all." He paused to look down at his watch and tapped the surface with one finger. "Right. On. Cue."

Either this man did not know what Reyna was, or he had a death wish—as turning his back to her was an incredibly stupid idea. Or he was just utterly confident in his abilities. The thought made Amon's hair stand on end.

He did not like the tone of his remarks at all—he was too sure of himself. He had expected the fiends and their guardians and Athan himself to show up, wanted it even.

Trap, Amon realized with a jolt. Gods knew he had managed to walk right into one often enough to know what they felt like. He caught how Athan flexed his fingers and wondered about it for a moment. It was reminiscent of someone getting ready for a quickdraw. Then dawned on him: Athan couldn't anything much while he and Merci were still present.

He half turned towards the kitsune, trying to catch her attention with hsi gaze as he quietly nodded towards the shop door. Out, he motioned, but kept between her and the creepy redhead with the glasses. If Merci didn't leave the shop, he wouldn't either.

Reyna made a low growling noise when Ezra turned his back on her. She was sorely tempted to reach across her desk and throttle the jerk. Maybe rip him to shreds with her claws, even, but the look on Athan's face indicated that would be a very poor choice.

Instead, she clenched her hands against the wooden edge of her desk and did her best to resist the urge. s**t was obviously about to get real serious, and unfortunately for her she had misplaced the handy ring Athan had made her that allowed her to tolerate his spell casting.

She could feel a small thrill of panic from Mystic, but it was just barely there. It was though the threads of their bond had become frayed and was now down to its last strand. It was a strange feeling since he had been bonded to her for so long.

Her Shadow found it to be equally as strange. He paused just behind the door that led to the front room, unsure if he should enter or stay put. Nothing was happening just yet, but the tension was undeniably thick, and he could hear Athan's voice. He didn't at all sound pleased.

"If you're going to run, this would be the time to do it," he said softly as he glanced towards Nephrite, "They're all distracted."