Devilla
The spell Doll provided to me was a simple one. A little
too
simple, if you asked me - rather than pinpointing the location of what you sought, or even telling you how far away someone was, it gave nothing but a vague feeling that your target laid in a certain direction. A feeling I'd found to grow more certain with every floor I'd punched my way through in pursuit of its downward trajectory.
Thankfully, the tower seemed capable of repairing itself. I certainly had no time to do it as I broke my way down, circumventing private property where possible in favor of unoccupied bits of street and sidewalk. Eventually, it led me down to the eighty-ninth floor - specifically into the basement of a rather nice looking building full of extremely startled people who I promptly ignored. Most of them dove to the side to hide, while a few started shouting and moving towards me, but I was already gone, having punched my way through a wall and then a floor to reach the final obstacle between Abigail and I. When I broke through that final layer, however, it was not Abigail my eyes first focused on, but
Alira.
Alira, who had taken Abigail from me. Alira, who had sought to wrap a friend of mine into her plots for the
second
time with no care for the consequences. Alira, who - far from learning her lesson - had done everything in her power to ruin my reputation. She'd worked so hard to keep me isolated, and now that I finally
wasn't
she was trying her best to force me back into that isolated abyss.
"
Found you
." I growled the words out as I crashed into her from above, my hand wrapping around her throat as I slammed her into the floor. There was a part of me that felt disconnected from this madness, and it idly wondered if I actually
had.
I wasn't entirely sure I'd ever seen Alira in her true form, and I certainly didn't know all the other forms she could assume. I had no way of truly knowing that this was the target of my ire... and yet I was certain of it.
It was the look in her eyes. The same hateful look as when I'd first fired her, shortly before I'd resorted to physically removing her from my presence. A look of pure hatred and rage, mixed with scorn and arrogance. Like she was looking at a mortal enemy but also a disgusting bug. As if I would be beneath her notice, had I not already earned her ire.
Yet, for all the rage that that look of hers stirred within me, it was another's gaze that froze me solid. When I looked over at Abigail all I could see was the look of absolute terror in her eyes. The eyes of someone looking at a
monster
.
"Abigail..." I whispered, my throat tightening. My grip around Alira's throat did not loosen, but neither did I feel such an urge to rip her head off, anymore.
The look of fear on Abigail's face faltered and then disappeared, replaced a moment later by one of exasperation as she shook her head. "One second you're wearing the most terrifying expression I've ever seen, and the next you look like Bailey does when she thinks you're about to scold her for something. Do you even
realize
the bitch has stabbed you, like, half a dozen times in the last five seconds? Look!
She's still doing it!"
Indeed, I could feel a small amount of pressure against my skin between my breasts. When I looked down, I realized Alira had produced a knife from somewhere in her clothes and was currently using it to try and stab me in the heart. From the way it glistened, it must have been coated with something very dangerous.
"...
Ereff Bajoul Draten,"
I intoned, allowing holy power to flow out of me and into the now petrified figure of Alira. She realized something was up halfway through my casting, for what little good it did her - in fact, in her attempt to pull away from me she'd put herself into a rather precarious situation. With her body contorted and twisted from her attempt to escape my grasp, her petrified form was far from stable. Simply releasing her would likely see her fall and shatter against the ground.
Not that I was going to allow anything of the sort to happen, but the thought was nice.
"Is it just me, or are you imagining something
really
grim?" Abigail asked.
"Can you blame me?" I asked back, not bothering to deny the truth in her words. "She
kidnapped
you. Not to mention the fact that she was carrying a poisoned knife that was probably
meant
for you."
"Maybe," Abigail admitted, "or maybe she just wanted to wave it threateningly. Kinda hard to know without hearing her side of the story."
"Are you
seriously
suggesting I went too far by petrifying her?!" I asked, arching an eyebrow. "As far as temporary holding measures go, I think it's one of the kinder ones. Certainly a lot less rough on her old bones than if I had to truss her up. A lot more secure, too, considering her shape shifting."
