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Ephron frowned as the doorbell rang faintly across the kitchen and into the living room, reminded once more that the contraption was in dire need of being repaired. However, aside from that obvious fact, he was at an utter loss as to who would be at the door in the first place. A terrible storm had been brewing the whole afternoon, and with the crash of lightning, it seemed to be coming to a peak of a light show. Who in their right mind would be out in such weather, let alone at his own front door? As a matter of fact, it was a wonder he heard the doorbell at all, with the amount of noise that was coming from the skies.

He wasted no time in answering the door, despite asking himself questions that would soon be answered anyway. It took him a moment of squinting through the dim light of the evening, but once his eyes caught sight of the double-pair of horns amidst the unruly chocolate hair, he knew instantaneously who it must be, growth or no. "Ily..?"

Whether it was out of curiosity for who may have been at the door or coincidence, Nina peeked out from the hallway to glance at who was at the door once she heard the commotion, although her view was blocked by her thick-garbed guardian. Her ears twitched, catching the half-word that came from Ephron's mouth; she could have sworn her heart stopped beating for a number of seconds. The way her name was spoken, combined with the atmosphere that was set... it couldn't have been good.

Without a moment's hesitation, she rushed to the door. Lightly shoving Ephron aside, startling the man who had thought he was alone in the room, Nina grabbed Ilyrosa by the upper arms to gently help her up, taking the situation step-by-step as she saw more detail unfold. She payed little heed to what little Ilyrosa had clothing-wise, or the barbs and armor plating that seemed to sprout from a surprise growing. Rather, she pinpointed the most important aspects -- her friend was exhausted, something that almost never seemed to happen, and she was battered and bloody. "Rosa, what happened!?" she squeaked, offering an upper arm to lean on (she would have gladly offered a shoulder instead, if she could have). Apparently, she could speak a lot easier than her own guardian when taken by surprise.

As if this act snapped Ephron back to attention, he held up a finger and sped down the hallway. "Jus' a minute," he hurriedly said before disappearing around the corner to grab a makeshift first aid kit from the bathroom.

Taking baby steps, Nina helped her friend toward the living room, where she could rest comfortably in a couch. Terribly worried, she found herself at a loss for very many words. All that kept running through her head as she eased Ily onto the cushions was, Who could do something so horrible?

Nina frowned slightly as she listened to the scattered, random words that Ilyrosa mumbled, trying to decipher the code. Almost immediately, Nina started regretting asking her what had led up to this moment. It hurt to see her so injured, outwardly and inwardly both, and the tears -- Nina had never seen her cry before. It shouldn't have been possible to happen, should never happen...

She almost reached out to hug her friend, but the reaction that she had given to Ephron as he tried to clean her wounds made her second-guess that option. Ephron sighed as he lowered the first aid material, though not out of frustration. It wasn't immediately apparent why Ilyrosa had been pulling away from them, but she was safe now, and that was all that had mattered at that point. Gently, Nina grabbed a blanket that had been draped over a recliner and pulled it up over Ilyrosa's shoulders, careful not to touch her in the process. Even though what was happening in the now wasn't completely registering to the other spawn, Nina wasn't about to protest if it would help her feel better.

Ephron paced a little, making sure that he had moved further away to give Ily breathing space. He ran his hands through his bangs, leaving them there as he tried to weave through his racing thoughts. He didn't know what to do at this point. First steps first -- cleaning up Ilyrosa before things got further out of control with infection or pneumonia, was out the window at this point. Trying to get her to settle down... if it was something this traumatizing, that could be nearly impossible, too. What next, what next..?

Nina's talons had sunk into the palm of her hand by this point, rage boiling up inside of her and blinding her from any pain she may have otherwise felt. It was probably a good thing that she was immune to her own poison... She whipped around from Ilyrosa's side and marched toward the door, ignoring common sense. "Those bastards, I'm going to get them for this!" she snarled, swinging open the front door once more before she was grabbed by the arms and held back, kicking. "Let me go!"

"Nina, stop it!" Ephron hissed quietly, pulling her back inside and shutting the door with a tap of his foot. "That won't solve anything; it's too far away for you to travel on foot," he whispered, indicating the spawn on the couch with a flick of his eyes. After a momentary lapse in time, he concluded, "I'll call over, okay? I'll see if everything's okay."

"That won't solve anything!" Nina snapped, pulling away from her guardian. "Nobody hurts Rosa! Nobody!"

He winced, but blocked the door lest Nina tried to leave again. "Ilyrosa needs you here right now, okay? We'll work with what we have now, and look to those options later," he spoke low. No, he wasn't seriously going to go out looking for the 'bad guys' to beat them to a bloody pulp, but it was the only way he knew of to get Nina to settle down a smidgen.

Honestly, she could see right through the guise, but he was right... Ilyrosa came first and foremost. She took up the contents of the first aid kit and set the box on her lap, seating herself on the table in front of the couch that Ilyrosa occupied. "It's okay, Rosa; you're safe now. Nobody and nothing's going to get you as long as I'm here," she said softly, though the rage still coursed thickly through her being.

Punching in the designated numbers into the phone, Ephron took the call in the other room. He didn't want to upset either of them further, but he was hoping that he would get a voice on the other end of the line. Please be okay, he prayed silently, Please...

Nina wasn't sure whether to be glad or not, to hear that nobody would be home. On the one hand, whoever had hurt Ilyrosa wouldn't be there anymore; on the other, Damon wouldn't be there, either. She was about to as, "Do you know if Damon's alright?" before she caught herself and swallowed the thought. She didn't want to bring back any more bad memories than was needed at this point. Instead, she set her untaloned left hand onto the couch, face-up, in the off-chance that Ilyrosa wanted something more substantial than a blanket to hold onto for reassurance. "It'll be okay, now," she vowed, "I won't let anything else happen to you."

At this point, she was folded over the first aid box in her lap so that she could lean over better. She thought for a moment over her friend's explanation of the vehicle, glancing down at the red cross painted on the box, before it clicked. "An ambulance?" she asked, "He was taken to the hospital?" If that was the case, Damon should be in good hands.

Ephron's foot had been tapping out a tone-deaf rhythm by the time someone answered the other end of the phone line. There was the briefest flicker of a smile when the ring tone had stopped, but it was immediately replaced with the anxiety that was present before. He didn't know what to expect, but this certainly wasn't what he was expecting to hear. There was a rather long pause where Ephron was tangled in confusion and panic, and even when he ultimately found his voice, it wasn't the answer they were expecting. "W-Who is this? Where's Damon? What is going on here!?" he asked, voice strained. It sounded like the police were looking into a kidnapping, but that couldn't be right... Were they even the police? His pacing began up again, in shorter steps this time to keep the cord from tugging the phone off the table. None of this seemed right, but he didn't know where else to check next, and the words "hospital" didn't seem to be registering for his fear-clutched mind.

"Shhh..." Nina tried to soothe, nearly silent in an attempt to make it a bit of white noise as opposed to getting her to stop talking. She had to strain herself to talk quietly and calmly; it felt like there was nothing that she could do to help this whole mess, and it wasn't as if calming someone down was her strong point -- taking action was. Painting the best smile on her face that she could muster, she stated, "Don't worry, everything's going to turn out just fine; your dad will be fine. The bad stuff's over with, now." She was determined to make that more of a vow than for reassurance, because she sure as hell wasn't about to let anything else happen.

Nina jumped up off the table where she sat, nearly launching the first aid kit from her lap before she remembered that it was there. "S-Sure thing! Anything you have a preference for?" she asked, setting the box down and dashing into the kitchen a couple of yards away. She frowned as she glanced in the kitchen and the cupboards, trying to search for something that would actually be nourishing. She grabbed a few cans of chicken noodle soup and shrugged -- it helps cure colds, but it also can warm a person up. Holding the cans above her head so that Ilyrosa could see what she had in her hands despite Nina's short stature, she asked, "Chicken noodle?" Easy enough to fix, at least.

"G-gang-related?" Ephron practically whispered before he swallowed, trying to gather his thoughts. Okay... being recorded... this sounds really bad. "N-no, sorry officer, haven't been watching the television," he managed to say. How could all this be happening? What had instigated it? Not that he was going to ask -- chances were good that the police didn't know anything about it. "Yes, Ilyrosa's safe. It... it looks like she escaped in the middle of it all. She's okay; she ended up over here," he answered.

Blinking, he realized that he was leaving out some information that they were probably wanting after his final comment, even through his flailing thoughts. "M-my name's Ephron Falco. I'm a family friend," he added before giving them an address. He could feel a bit of relief course through him when he realized that Damon was, for the most part, alright.

Nina was attempting to multitask with her work, taking the electric can opener to the soup cans while she tried to think of something that Ilyrosa might like to drink while she waited for the food to heat up, glancing momentarily through the cupboards for a pan and setting it on the stove. As she set the second can's lid to be peeled away, she poured the first can's contents into the pan, immediately turning the burner on (higher than normal, but as long as she watched it, it would cook faster). Emptying the last can, she apologized, "Erm... it's organic, hope you don't mind." The "organic" brand tended to be more bland, but Nina's allergies overtook what tasted better for what wasn't harmful.

"What would you like to drink? The soup's going to take a few minutes," she asked, really not sure if Ilyrosa should even handle anything cold right now. The storm was pretty bad outside, and she was soaked... maybe it would be better to just wait for the soup to finish cooking? She hopped quickly over to turn the temperature dial up, keeping the room warmer. "Was there anything else you needed? Or wanted, even?" Reduced to waiting on hand and foot, it was all Nina could do to keep herself from punching a hole in the wall... or feeling so helpless.

Ephron hadn't been given very much time to reply to any of what the officer on the other end of the phone line said, but it was all for the best -- he had been tripping over his own tongue enough as it was. He stood motionless for a few moments, staring at the receiver as he was lost in blank thought. He hoped that anyone that they sent over to question Ily about the occurrence would be considerate enough to give her ample time to recover from the shock and patience with her responses. He didn't like having to put the girl through the horrid memories so many times, in such a short amount of time... perhaps it would be best not to bring it up for a while. However, from what little information that Ephron was given, it was apparent that Damon was recovering well enough. They said "when he's released from the hospital," not "if." If nothing else, perhaps the best thing he could do at the moment was to give Ilyrosa some good news.

He wasted no time in heading back out into the combination kitchen-living room, glancing around the area to make sure he wouldn't be out of bounds for saying anything. Looked like Ilyrosa was conscious enough, but there wasn't really any complete way for him to know. Wandering over to the couch, Ephron leaned against the back of the furniture, furthest from Ilyrosa so as not to startle her. "Ily... I just called your house," he started, and Nina's movements immediately stiffened as she overheard. "The police force is looking into this whole mess. They've got most of the bad guys in custody, and your dad's at the hospital. He should be fine, but you're going to have to stay here for a bit until he recovers enough. Sound okay?" he smiled.

Nina wasn't sure whether or not to feel relieved or disappointed that the culprits were already taken in, but once she thought over the situation again, it was probably for the best. If things could go back to normal, well... the sooner the better. She held onto that thought tightly, pricking from her demonic blood that seemed to scream for retribution. To stave off the feeling, she stabbed her talons into the palm of her hand once more, turning to concentrate on stirring the soup.

Nina stared at the doors to the cupboards, trying to think of something that they may have in there that could be heated up and drank. She was drawing a blank, however -- it was summer, and this freak thunderstorm was unexpected. Most of the drinks they had currently were for warm days, like lemonade and iced tea. She blinked, suddenly feeling slightly foolish. Tea could be heated up, too! Glancing down at the stove top where the soup sat, she decided against it. There was already a plume of steam coming from the dinner, indicating that it was almost done. There was enough liquid in the soup to make up for a lack beforehand, and she had even added extra water to it to add to the broth.

She was snapped out of her clouding of thoughts when Ilyrosa called her attention. Had she heard that Damon was okay? Her face flushed a mild red in embarrassment, realizing that she had unintentionally tuned the conversation out when the mention of the 'villains' being under police watch passed into the air. Stupid... she was being stupid. Her attention shouldn't be on her own feelings right now!

She hopped from the stool that sat in front of the stove; already a preteen, and yet she still couldn't see over anything set at counter-height. Jumping in place slightly while a broad grin painted her face, she chirped a sigh of relief, "I'm glad! I was worried!" Still couldn't figure out how to express herself like she wanted, could she? But her demeanor swerved drastically as she watched Ily topple over, and without hesitation, she found herself running back to the couch at top-speed. "Rosa!!"

Ephron twitched, not expecting the reaction to occur. After a moment of assessing the situation, he asked a sharp, "Nina, is the soup done?"

"Nuh?" she fidgeted slightly with the kick of adrenaline, taking a half-glance back to the kitchen before fixating her tri-colored eyes on her guardian, "I-It might be."

"It might be a reaction to all that's been happening," he mumbled, turning quickly to the kitchen to grab an empty bowl and scoop up the soup's contents. The steam was nearly billowing by now -- it was plenty warm. Bringing it back over to Ilyrosa with a spoon in tow, he noticed that Nina had disappeared quickly down the hall. "Ily, you need to eat this. It will help with the headache," he instructed, holding the bowl out to her for when she was able to sit fully upright, the spoon in his otherwise unoccupied hand.

Running back down the hall, Nina had gathered all the sheets from off of her own bed and was now carrying them back out. One blanket wouldn't have been enough to keep Rosa warm, she should have known that! Coming back around, she wrapped the extra blankets around Ilyrosa before any objection could be made, and before her friend was able to grab the soup. Ephron couldn't help but smile, but he tried to hold back the laugh.

Nina tried to smile back, but with everything hitting so fast, if not all at once, she was finding it incredibly difficult to come up with one stronger than she had mustered. She was glad that things were slowing down and good news was starting to poke through the rubble of disaster, but she was still amped up. Not only that, but whether she'd like to admit it or not, she was terrified. What exactly had happened? What had started such violence to peak at such a level as it had? Above all else, could it happen again? What could Nina do if it did?

Ephron noticed as Nina's talons, longer and still rather unwieldy to Nina than the week prior, were slowly tearing up the top of the couch. Clearing his throat, it was an attempt to get her to notice what it was that she was doing to the furniture without drawing too much attention to it. She jumped slightly, glancing at her guardian and giving an apologetic grimace, but he only gave a mild grin and spoke, instead, to Ilyrosa, "No problem, kiddo. You need anything at all, you let us know, okay? We don't mind one bit. Need a fill up on the soup? There's plenty left." Not only that, but she needed to regain her strength, even if it was only to sleep off the occurrence.

Nina nodded vigorously in response to what Ephron had said, but quickly found that she was not really able to do anything else. Her voice was shot in it's tenseness, and she was much too restless with anger at the whole situation. Going to be a long night, she thought to herself, despite the fact that the evening was winding down at this point. Maybe she could grab something to get Rosa's mind off of everything, or turn the television on? Though that might be a bad idea, as so many crime dramas tended to take over evening television, not to mention the depressing news reports...