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infamoussparks · 2 months ago

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Chapter 3: You're to Blame

Approx. words 5,300; 40 minute read

MATURE THEMES & MONSTERS AHEAD

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60799630/chapters/158078416

Luck has always been on my side, no matter the situation. It’s how I got my nickname of Lucky. I wield it as easily as I do my spells and persuasion, good and bad luck heeding my every desire. To most, this is a magic they can only wish for, but for me I understand that it is my burden as well as my nature. So when Ferric and I burst through the portal I had created, I wasn’t surprised to see that luck had drawn together the two people I needed in that moment–Orion and Benji, both off-guard and in our way.

We crashed into them, all of us knocking each other to the rough pavement in a burst of loud expletives and shouts. I had seconds to regroup and focus on sealing the portal behind me, a burst of white light and silver sparks weaving the tear closed before anything, or anyone, could follow us through. Portals were only allowed in marked areas of our realm but I had no time to get Ferric to a location like that when it was a life or death situation I had found him in.

“Holy Gods, you’re covered in blood,” Orion gasps as he helps Ferric to his feet. The werewolf is in bad shape, one arm slung across his stomach. He’s panting and clearly heavily leaning against Orion. My brother didn’t seem to be struggling with the weight.

“Unfortunately, most of it is mine,” Ferric laughs and immediately grimaces.

I’m on my feet and catching my own breath as I throw instructions to my brother. “Get him to a hospital, Orion. He has to shift but carefully. He has silver in his body but I don’t know how much. It’ll complicate his healing.”

“What the Hell were you doing over there, Diaz?” Orion is glaring angrily at his partner but that’s going to be a spat that’ll have to wait.

“It’s not much,” A shift in the air happens to my left and the shimmer shifts as a form takes place. A woman appears, slender and taller than I am with auburn red hair cascading down her back, wearing a deep garnet suit and gold-rimmed glasses. She narrows her eyes at Ferric, one hand reaching out to him. He eyes her hand cautiously. “Please, let me help you.”

Ferric twitches one wolf ear in annoyance before huffing softly and placing his paw in her outstretched hand. A soft golden glow envelopes their extended handshake and the woman reaches toward Ferric but does not touch him as she pinpoints the places that silver-tipped weapons entered him. The points are marked with soft golden light. After ten seconds, she nods and releases his paw. Ferric pulls it back across his stomach, his panting increasing to balance out the pain he must be feeling.

“There. Seven points, though only these four are the worst ones,” four of the golden markers flare in response. “My practice is very close if you want to take him there. I can assist with a blood transfusion–I can smell his blood type is AB.” She smiles softly and the tips of fangs can be seen over her painted lips. “My name is Doctor Rosaline Hutch, but please call me Rosa.”

“Vampire…” Ferric wheezes. “Fine, take me in. The need to shift is very strong and I grow weak against this fight. Can you work on human bodies?”

“Of course,” Rosa nods. Orion is all caution and clearly torn between being mad at his partner and untrusting of a vampire when so much blood is involved. His face shows his disdain for this turn of events.

I reach out and touch Ferric’s arm gently, “Good luck, Ferric,” I whisper, passing my luck to him to boost his survival rate and healing factor. “Orion, go with him. Now.”

My brother nodded once at me, a quickly mouthed thank you passing his lips as he noticed me pass my luck to his partner. I was sure Ferric would be okay. My luck would see him through.

“Are you okay?” For the first time since crashing in, Benji is softly checking on me. I didn’t realize how close he was to me until he spoke and I can feel myself both startled and calmed simultaneously.

I glance over myself and brush my arms over my body. None of the blood on my clothes was mine, just a casualty of being so close to Ferric as I ushered him through to our realm. “Yes, I think so.”

“You found him, huh? Looks like just in time, too.”

“Yeah,” I nod glancing toward Orion and Ferric as they are helped into a nearby building. I take a few calming breaths, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with my adrenaline crashing out. “I got lucky with finding him, but it was bad over there. He was fighting someone he called the ‘Legendary One’ and she was really strong. Her aura was all rough edges and… fuzzy somehow.” I turned my full attention to Benji and lowered my voice to a hush. “She knew his name, Benji. She was going to kill him.”

Benji studied my face, shadowed hands reaching around me and pulling me into his embrace. I stayed put there long enough to reset my emotions, feeling they were all jumbled in the memories as I tried to piece together what I had seen and what I had heard.

“You’re okay. You’re home now,” Benji comforted softly.

“That’s the thing,” I sighed as I pulled back far enough to look into his eyes. I read worry cross his face. “I don’t think any of us are okay with her over there. She knew him. She’s coming after him. And now she’ll be coming after me.”

Rosa came to retrieve us from the waiting room, wiping her hands clean on a towel and smiling wide enough for us to acknowledge her fangs. She was gorgeous for a vampire and didn’t look much older than being in her early forties. I had a good feeling about her even knowing that sometimes that feeling is a passive trait from vampires so that their potential prey feels safe with them, a lure. Despite that I didn’t feel that Rosa was luring any of us toward our doom.

“Ferric is awake and healing quickly. We got all the silver from his body and he’s all patched up.”

“Can we see him?” Orion is already standing and I knew even if Rosa said no he would go to Ferric anyway.

Rosa nodded once, “Yes. I am requesting quiet for him and no rough activities for at least 3-5 days. That includes sex.”

Orion scoffed. I rolled my eyes. No way he would adhere to that rule. My brother is an incubus, after all. That’s like asking a frog not to hop or a bird not to fly. Orion followed Rosa to Ferric’s recovery room with Benji and I in tow. When we entered the room it felt as sterile as it looked but Ferric, despite being in human form, looked well-cared for and bandaged cleanly. His scars through his right eyebrow gave him a bad-boy appeal and I could see what my brother was so hung up on. The man also had hair that was dark brown with a gray patch running from his right temple, falling around his face. The gray stretched into his beard in a streak on the right side of his face. It was like the scars pulled stress at that edge of his face.

“Diaz, you look like shit,” Orion greeted him. I shook my head and caught Benji glancing between the two.

“Shut up and give me a hair tie, would ya?” Ferric grumbled, his voice a mess from sedatives that were still wearing off.

Orion pulled one from his wrist and passed it over. Ferric took it and lifted his arms to tie back his hair into a bun atop his head. He winced with pain or soreness or both but managed the task.

In the silence that followed Ferric looked at me and cleared his throat, “We need to talk.”

“What? With her?” Orion chided. “What about us?”

“Later, Stella.” Ferric growled, keeping eye contact with me while answering my brother. I felt heat lick my cheeks as second-hand embarrassment settled in. Benji gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and he left the room in a soft dissipation of shadows and shade.

I glanced over to Orion and offered a silent apology. He snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, wings pressed too tightly against his back as his tail tip twitched like an angry cats’ would. “Orion, please?”

“Fine. But I want full disclosure about whatever it is you two discuss.”

“I’ll talk to you in a few minutes. I have something to tell you,” Ferric gave Orion a stern look and my brother suddenly looked a little crushed, some of his anger washing away.

“Just tag me in when you two are done.” The words a mask for his annoyance as Orion left Ferric and myself alone in the recovery room.

The silence stretched between us and although I had a list of questions for the shifter, he looked like he was struggling with something that had to be said first. I let him find his words.

“First, thank you, Lucky. You saved my life back there,” He started, adjusting himself in his bed before the pain made him second think that and he settled back into his pillows as he was. I realized he must have made the connection that I was Orion’s older sister upon seeing us together. Either that or he had asked Orion and my brother told him the details before they were separated for medical aid. “How did you find me?”

I approached his bed and stood beside a chair that I pushed closer to his bedside. “I had some of your fur from Orion and I used magic. I cast a simple location spell.”

“If you are honest with me, I’ll be honest with you. I know you have questions,” Ferric softened his voice. “Let’s start over. How did you find me?”

I sunk into the chair. “I have luck on my side for everything. That’s why I let you go with Rosa for treatment. It’s how I tracked you faster than most could have,” I had nothing to hide here and everything to learn. Being honest with him was easy. “I also have a very worried brother who was afraid you were cheating beyond the veil. I couldn’t say no when he asked me to track you.”

Ferric sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, one hand raising to his face so his index finger and thumb could pinch the bridge of his nose. “Stella thought I was cheating on him? With a human?”

“Yes.”

He barked his laughter out, the sound rich and loud in the small space. “Gods, he’s an idiot, isn’t he?”

I smiled, “I couldn’t agree more with you on that.”

“Listen,” Ferric dropped his arm back to his side and he had me in full focus now. His eyes were so silver they were almost entirely white. “I love your brother. But I’m older than he is and I understand the needs of his kind–no offence–”

“None taken,” I interject.

“I had to see if a shifter and an incubus could even hope to last longer than just a fling. I heard about this oracle who toes the line between our realms and I had to seek them out to ask for guidance. But I’m an idiot in love and it took me a few visits to find the shop and then a few more to even build up the confidence to go inside.” Ferric paused and then sighed. “Okay, I see how he connected the dots to me potentially cheating on him.”

I reached forward and rested my hand over the back of his. “It’s okay. Easy mistake, right?”

“Right,” Ferric gave me a small smile and I noticed that he was opening up so much easier as we spoke about my brother. It was reassuring in a way. “Anyway, I finally met with the oracle and they did their thing and said it was fine to chase this. They said whether or not it was love would be obvious when I got home. Then I was being tracked on my way to the teleport point so I tried to shake my tail. Only I didn’t know I had two of them on me and one of them was…” Ferric shuttered slightly and I felt I was losing the lead.

“And I guess the oracle was right then,” I prompted.

Ferric looked at me with a slightly confused gaze. “How do you mean?”

“Orion didn’t leave your side. You were in bad shape and he could have just left you when we crashed through. But he got you here and he waited for you to be in the clear and he’s waiting for you even now, his anger is temporary.”

Ferric blinked. He clearly hadn’t thought about it like that, if at all.

“But I need your help now. I have you safely here and healing up and I know my brother is going to command your time as soon as you are released from here. I answered your questions, will you answer mine?”

“Yes,” Ferric agreed.

“Thank you, Ferric,” I squeezed his hand gently. “Who is the ‘Legendary One’ and why was she so intent on killing you back there?”

“A monster hunter.” He answered so plainly that I raised an eyebrow and leaned toward his bed from the chair. My eyes flashed silver, my power pushing this conversation into the direction I needed.

“Give me more.”

“Her name is Nines. I killed her father by request of her mother. Her mother was one of us, but was caught and sentenced to death for relations with a full human. Before the sentence was carried out she got word to me to kill her human lover so that the trail would go cold and her daughter would live in secret among the humans,” Ferric paused for a moment with a heavy swallow as though he was trying to stop himself from speaking but could not prevent the truth from flowing. “I could have killed Nines… she was there, hiding when I killed her father. But her mother made me promise not to. It was her dying wish.”

I contemplated this. It seemed to be a heavy burden to bear for Ferric, a secret he’s had to keep for years. I wondered how many other secrets he had like this one. I had heard rumors of assassins within the ranks of shifters but had never met one until now. I filed away that line of questioning for another day. But even with this story, I was still perplexed about the title Ferric had given Nines.

“And her title?” I pushed.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Ferric whispered, his voice low and steady. “She’s the best monster hunter in her realm because of us. She’s half of us.”

I dropped my hand from his and sat back hard in my chair. Nines was hunting monsters but was half monster herself. She was using our gifted abilities to kill us one by one. I didn’t know what abilities she had exactly, but I did know that I could at least effectively block her human ones with my own magic. Or at least, I did in that single moment to save Ferric’s life.

Ferric blinked rapidly as though regaining control of himself and I knew that to be true. My power had been dropped with the lack of contact–both eye contact and physical contact from our touching hands. I didn’t regret pulling what I needed from him in this instance and I did not apologize for it.

“Can I ask you one more question, Ferric?”

“You’ll get the answer you seek, regardless,” Ferric retorts.

I square my jaw and sit straight in the chair. “Can you share the address of the oracle?”

As I stood on the stoop of the so-called oracle’s shop, my dream journal tucked into a satchel at my hip, I remembered something that Ferric had mentioned. He had cautioned about the feeling of hovering on the edge of something that could land either in your favor or against it before he passed through the doorway. I was feeling that same way suddenly, a mix of curiosity and doubt riding the waves of my stomach. Finding the place had been easier than expected. It helped that I also looked incredibly, disarmingly human, blending in at best and narrowing my chances of running into Nines while I was across the rift.

Unfortunately, something was definitely now going wrong with our mandated teleport points. They were marked and guarded to track our comings and goings but now something was amiss. Some were no longer opening like they should and one was spontaneously closing, trapping monsters on the wrong side at inopportune times. The one I had wanted to take was under scrutinization as it had allowed a human to cross through–a full human! Not only was that dangerous for the human but for us as well. It took a fairy a few hours to wipe the mind of the human so they forgot how they ended up here, while a shifter had to usher them home. Things were falling apart at the seams and I could not only see it but feel it as well. Something about the teleport points faltering had my magic acting up as well. It was stronger than ever and I was having trouble keeping it under control. Small bursts of sparks nearly set my curtains on fire this morning when I awoke and then nearly lit the grass aflame as I walked through my favorite park.I felt like I was bleeding magic in a dangerous way but I also have never felt so strong. My magic needed an outlet but that would have to wait.

Ultimately, I had slipped away from the view of the teleport crew and used my magic to create a portal instead. It brought me close enough to the address I had scribbled into my dream journal while keeping me out of sight from humans. I sealed the portal then, marking the location on a map I had taped into my journal, and found my way to the shop before me. But now I felt that I was wasting time and that wouldn't do. I needed answers and I needed them now. Taking a deep breath I entered the shop.

A soft tinkle of bells sounded against the door as it swung open and closed behind me. The scent of patchouli and jasmine filled my lungs as I breathed in the hazy smoke from burning incense. The shop was all wood and crystals, suncatchers tossing an array of rainbows across the wooden floor and shelves. Amethyst rocks were placed in corners and quartz stones displayed on lovely pieces of fabric that lined the shelves. I was the only one within the small confines of the room, though it felt comfortable inside the shop despite the variety of items for sale and on display, every corner a marvel to look at. The shop immediately felt like home and I could feel my shoulders relax and my guard drop.

“Took you long enough,” Startled, I spun around and saw someone standing within the beaded curtain at the back of the shop. They were leaning on a cane and had long pink hair that was half up in a messy bun, the rest cascading around their shoulders like a shawl. They seemed young and I realized the cane was not for show but for support as they approached the counter by the register. “Didn’t think you’d actually come in.”

I paused to sweep a glance behind me, but they were clearly speaking to me. I cleared my throat. “I… I wasn’t sure I had the right address. Are you the oracle?”

“Oracle, dream eater, fortune teller… I have a million titles but yes, you are right where you need to be,” They seemed to be a little annoyed, as though I was the first customer of the day and had interrupted their morning tea time. But then I saw them tilt their head at me slightly and narrow their eyes. Something like recognition flashed across their face and suddenly they were more alert.

“Then, do you know why I’m here?” I ventured.

They studied my face and slowly responded, “I actually do not, but something…” their voice trailed off and they swept a hand out toward a table at the back of the shop. “Sit with me.”

I nodded and approached the table, fetching my dream journal and setting it down atop the table close to me as I sat quietly. The oracle sat across from me, with only their cane making so much as any noise at all. They didn’t seem to be exerting themselves with the effort to sit and I wasn’t sure if they were masking any pain or if they were just so used to it at this point that it didn’t even register for them. They reached toward a nearby coffee table and pulled a worn deck of tarot cards into their hands, shuffling them in a practiced, comforting motion.

“Would you like some tea? Coffee? I have several flavors of each from both realms,” They offered.

“How did you know I’m not from… here?”

“Your aura. It’s different from humans.”

I was not too surprised by this but the ease at which this conversation was happening was unexpected. “And do you see many people from my realm often? I’m just curious.”

They nodded, “I see enough. I walk the line between the realms and I do not care who shops here as long as they are paying in one way or another.”

“Are you like us? Or half?”

“All human, unfortunately. Though my intuition is very strong, I found I could read others from a young age. I’ve honed my skills to the point of them being well-known between both realms. I can usually ‘see’ why someone is here before they even enter my shop, but you…” They pause and stop shuffling the cards long enough to set the deck between us on the table. “I can’t read you.”

I’m not sure what this means for me and I express as much, “Should I leave? I don’t want to waste your time–”

“No!” They interject so quickly that they suddenly cough and clear their throat, bringing their voice back down to a softer tone. “Don’t leave, not yet. I want to help you, if I can.”

“Alright,” I meet their clear blue eyes, the color like the glass of marbles. Something about it seems so familiar to me in a way I cannot place, like I’m falling forward into some sort of trance state, a thread tugging me gently closer and closer still… They blink and I find the strange spell broken. I shake my head slightly to reset my mind on the task at hand.

They break the small silence. “What’s your name?”

“Please call me Lucky. You have been helping a friend, a shifter with a love problem. He passed along your address.”

“Ah, I see,” They palm the top card of the deck and place it in front of themselves, facedown. “Are you here with a love problem, Lucky?”

I shake my head quickly, heat rising to my cheeks at the thought. “No. I don’t believe in love.”

They palm a second tarot card and slide it to lay just below the first on their side of the table, facedown. “That’s interesting. Why don’t you believe in love?”

“I have bigger issues to resolve than finding love right now. And I’m not about to tell you all about my love life when I don’t even know your name.”

“Do you want to?” They ask, their gaze meeting mine.

“Want to what, exactly? Tell you my history?”

“Know my name?”

Did I? Would it change anything about the answers I was seeking? I wasn't sure I should be on a first name basis with an oracle across the rift. I decided to avoid the question and I dropped my gaze to my dream journal, one of my hands gently moving to rest on the worn leather cover. “How much do you know about the realms and how they are intertwined?”

Another card palmed, but held, hovering above the table between us. “The realms are connected by various magic points that work as one-way tickets for humans, though monsters seem to be able to traverse roundtrip without issue. Humans can be pulled into your realm as long as one of you has physical contact with them. Humans rarely return as humans from your realm, and if they do they are altered in ways so as not to remember the connection points or what they saw beyond our realm.” The card lands to the left of the one closest to them on the table, again with the face of it down. A spread being pulled but not yet flipped.

I’m watching and listening and waiting for an alarm bell to sound in my mind as a warning, that maybe coming here was a trap, but nothing happens. The store is quiet, empty except for us and I’m getting no warning signals at all. “Correct.”

“... Are you going to ask me how I know that?”

“No.”

They freeze, reaching for the deck again and then place their hands on the table, leaning toward me. They are zeroed in on my face and their nostrils flare once before they sigh and lean back to slouch slightly in their seat. “Not being able to read you or hear your thoughts is making this nearly impossible for me to figure out why you are here.”

“Oh,” The noise slipped from my lips before I could stop it. “Am I doing something wrong?”

“No, it’s like you have a shield in place and I can’t work around it even though I’m trying. Not on purpose, of course, but seeing into someone’s consciousness helps me to understand what they need and how I can assist. I get more of the story that way. But with you I’m getting nothing. It’s just a wall of silver.”

I knit my eyebrows together and chew on my bottom lip slightly. “I’m sorry. I’ll be very direct with you, if that will help?”

They sigh and roll their neck slowly before adjusting themselves to sit with a better posture. “It’s… fine. It’s fine, Lucky. I’ve just never met anyone like you and as frustrated as I am by this, I’m twice as curious about you now.”

A heat rises again into my face and I push my journal toward them instead of sitting with the feeling. “The rift between our worlds is starting to break down and it’s causing weird things to happen to those ‘magic points’ you mentioned. I’m not sure what is happening or how to fix it but I’ve also been having this repetitive dream and I see a little more of it every night. I think it may have something to do with it all. Please, can you help me figure this out?”

They look at my journal and reach for it at the same time that I move my hand and we touch for a moment, fingers brushing lightly against one another. Their touch sends a strange shockwave up my arm and I can tell they feel it too, their eyes narrowing at me for a second before they break contact and take my journal from me.

“Garrett.”

“What?” The words hang in the air like mist.

“My name,” They say, “Is Garrett. Give me a few minutes to look this over.”

I nod and watch as Garrett reaches for their cane, pulling themselves to standing, my journal cradled in their other arm. They turn and disappear into the beaded curtain separating the front of the shop from the back. In the silence, I reach for the tarot deck, pulling the next card from the top and laying it facedown to the far right of the line up that Garrett had started. I leave it facedown to match the rest of the spread. I stand quietly and walk the store, my fingers trailing across the countertops, over glass and crystals and runes. Despite my anxiety about letting someone read my dream journal (especially someone not from my realm), I felt nothing but calm mixed with hope that Garrett could help me figure this out.

“I have two questions,” Garrett calls out from beyond the curtain. I spin around from my place across the shop as they appear once again, my journal open as they lean against the doorframe, one finger trailing across my words written inside.

“Ask me anything.”

“You know who the hunter is now, correct? The one in your dream?” They are studying something on the page with an intensity of focus.

I nod, even though they are not looking at me, distracted by pushing the puzzle together from what pieces I have to offer them, “Yes. I know her now. I know her name and her story.”

Garrett flips to the back of the journal, blank pages whipping by and then they page back a few from the end of the book. I hadn’t written anything that far into the journal but even from where I was standing I can tell there is writing on that page. “And who owned this journal before it was yours?”

“My mother… why?” I cross the shop to them, my feet increasing in speed until I’m right before them, reading my own journal upside down. The cursive penmanship is clearly reminiscent of my mother’s hand writing. I can’t read it fast enough before Garrett closes my journal and I meet their gaze.

“I have a few more questions and I need you to be honest with me, okay?” Garrett’s face is one of all seriousness and I only nod in response.

“You are a witch?”

“No, I mean, yes. It’s complicated. I’m technically a cambion–born of incubus and witch–but I feel more attached to my magic as of late.”

“And it’s been getting stronger? Your magic?” They inquire with all seriousness.

“Yes. And more out of control with the way the realms feel like they are collapsing in on one another.”

Garrett sighs and drops their gaze only to refocus on my face again. “I’m not sure how to tell you this…”

“If it will save my realm, please just say it.” I plead.

Garrett places my journal on the table beside us and takes my hands in theirs. I feel that same warm jolt rush through my fingers and up my arms and I’m lost in their blue eyes for a moment before they blink. “It’s you, Lucky.”

“What’s me?” I ask, clearly confused.

“The rifts are shifting and the realms are collapsing because of your power, Lucky.”

I’m shocked. That can’t be right. Garrett just met me and I’m convinced suddenly that they have no idea what they are talking about. “What do you mean?”

“Lucky, you aren’t a witch and you aren’t a cambion. You are a replaced.”

“I don’t understand, Garrett. What are you telling me? What did my mother write in my journal?” Tears suddenly invade my eyes and my vision starts to blur, leaving Garrett’s face a soft filter of pale skin, pink hair and the bluest eyes I have ever seen.

They take a breath and very softly break the news. “You are a changeling and your magic is blooming.”

#Sparks-verse #Lucky Stella #Benji Duncan #Orion Stella #Ferric Diaz #Rosaline Hutch #Garrett Jorrer #Monsters vs Hunters #Infamous sparks ocs #original story #sparks-verse AU #Thank you for your patience #Guest star OCs are multiplying #I will be posting more regularly soon #If you read this know you are loved and valued #drink some water please

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