White Lie (Selena)

[Selena Marks]

Selena didn’t stay long on the bench. Frankly, sitting there so calmly when she should probably be back at headquarters made her feel guilty. So, before the children settled on their bet for “who can get close enough to poke the zombie lady with a stick,” Selena rocked to her feet and lurched into a standing position (which made said children scatter in different directions, screaming and howling with laughter). Since the marketplace was directly en route to headquarters, Selena decided she might as well walk through and see watch the stalls shut down.

Curiously enough, she found that the marketplace was even more active in the later hours; merchants weren’t shutting down their stalls just yet, as customers came out from the shaded regions to do their shopping. Selena had never actually paid much attention to that before. Looking around, she noticed that all the stands that’d previously been open were still open (even the counterfeit jeweler, though he was disassembling his stall for good).All except one, that is.

The vegetable merchant.

I wonder why, Selena thought, looking at his stand curiously. Sure, people didn’t like him, but they still needed vegetables, right? A small aversion wouldn’t stop his business so dramatically. Selena continued to watch him, from the corner of her eye, hating herself for following Arin’s lead and blending in. Something is off, she decided, finally. Since she was supposed to be in training for a covert unit, this might be good exercise, right? Selena allowed herself a small smile. Right.

As the merchant returned and hastily reopened his stall, Selena pulled some coins from her coat pocket (and realizing that, at some point in the day, she’d been pick-pocketed), she approached the stand casually, picked out three ripe tomatoes and paid for them. In the time it took to put her tomatoes into a burlap sack, she took in three things that were off.

One, he wasn’t making eye contact.

Two, there were a few blackish-brown beans hidden in a pocket, which his hand rested over defensively.

Three, there was a green smudge on his apron that came from a paste rather than a grass stain.

Selena went on her merry way without gaining so much as an curious glance from the merchant himself. Blending in entirely, she slipped into a store- which just so happened to be an apothecary- and continued to watch him from the window, pretending to shuffle through vials of differently assorted vials and pastes. She was about to leave the apothecary when she ran across a thick, green paste that matched the smudge on his apron perfectly. Her eyes widened a bit as she looked at the vial; it was labeled Calabar Bean Paste; Warning, Toxic.

“Poison…” Selena muttered to herself.

“Excuse me, may I be of assistance?” A young girl asked, looking to be about the age of eleven.

“Yes,” Selena replied, a bit too hastily. She showed the child the vial and smiled hopefully. “Do you know the antidote for this?”

The child nodded, almost seeming a bit shy. “Just there, directly below it.”

Selena saw that, indeed, there was another vial of liquid below the Calabar Bean Paste. As the child wandered off to help other customers, Selena slid the vial into her sleeve, assuming the worst. The vegetable man was up to something bad, if poison was involved, and Selena wanted to be ready.

[arin]

"What do you think, Derek?"
"A painting? Let me see... the colors are pretty good..."
"I thought I would try my hand at an art."

"OI LASS!" Arin felt a blow hit her abdomen and her eyes shot open. She tried to move her arms to hold her stomach but her arms were bound. She looked up at them and noticed the shackles over them. Why did she feel so weak... she could have cognitive thought. She felt a cloth wrapped around her mouth and shoved inside. She looked down at the floor and saw the pentagram below her. Arin tried to move her legs but they were bound together by a large shackle. Enchantments... someone has magic here... Another blow hit her across the cheek. She let out a yelp and felt her wings unfurl themselves, flinching. I'm not hiding, she thought in horror. I'm exposed.

"Why ain't she dead yet?" a voice snapped, and then another blow hit her abdomen again. Arin groaned and coughed, drool running the side of her mouth.

"I dunno... boss said the symbol should have worked. Maybe she ain't a demon." A figure, a short blond figure stepped in front of her. He was stocky but well built. Arin needed to get her hands unbound.

"Nah. That ain't the wings of no dragon. But it's okay... boss stepped out to get more of that poison. That seemed to work." Arin glared at the two men. The other was a lanky and tall man, dark hair. Neither one was the merchant. Accomplices perhaps? Arin couldn't think straight; she must still be drugged. It was strange really... she wasn't worried and she did not struggle.

She relaxed in submission. What did it matter? No one would save her... Derek was gone, Selena was back at HQ... no one would come rescue even if they knew. Who'd rescue a demon? Demon's don't deserve sanctuary. Arin closed her eyes and saw the open field that she dreamed of many times. "Oi! Don't go to sleep yet! We ain't done with you yet." Another fist hit her in the abdomen, but it was a dull ache.

[Selena Marks]

Back in the streets, Selena noticed the two children from before; but this time there was a key difference. The girl had a long, well-decorated bow in her hand, much to large for her, with a quiver slung over her shoulder. She ran sloppily, and managed to break one of the weaker arrows, making it’s tip fall off and onto the ground. Selena, walking behind them picked it up with one swift motion. Smeared along the edge was green paste; which linked the weapons to the vegetable merchant. With hardly sparing the pair a glance, Selena tapped the girl on the shoulder and returned the arrowhead, then continued walking past. As she passed, she noticed the boy had been hiding something in his shirt; a small sack of assorted nuts and berries.

Where in this area can you find nuts and berries? Selena wondered, thinking. She faintly remembered an old shack on the outskirts of Nilisk, where some unruly, untamed wild plants had started blooming. Some of them bore nuts and berries.

Afraid of calling attention to herself by turning around, Selena turned into an alley and, once out of sight of the humans, broke into a dead run. Maneuvering the tricky alleyways was hard, but Selena remedied the challenge by simply heading in one direction, staying true to her path. Eventually, she broke free of the buildings and alleyways of Nilisk and came to a single, clean, dirt pathway lined with stones. Selena was afraid she was running out of time; she had no way of knowing if the poison had been used yet, but she could only assume it had been, and whoever had the misfortune of being poisoned might still be alive, hidden in that old shack by the patches of nuts and berries.

Within ten minutes of leaving town, Selena made it to the shack. Built with half-rotted driftwood, the shack was windowless, doorless and- as a good shake of the doorknob proved- locked. Selena took a deep breath, looked both ways and hoped the vegetable man was still in town- had he left soon after Selena’s departure, he could’ve easily headed her off without being seen. Selena took a deep breath, exhaled, looked both ways, and with one good, solid kick, knocked the door from its hinges.

[arin]

The taller, lankier one approached Arin suddenly grinning. His stockier friend gave a curious look and then shrugged. "You are really fucked up man..." He took a step a way going over to the table looking away. He knew what was coming and he never joined in on things like that. The tall one pulled a knife from out of his brown jacket and held it up over Arin's cheek. He ran it slowly over skin making a small scratch on the succubus's near perfect face. Arin only distantly felt the pain. She didn't really care... why should she? She was a monster... monster's were meant to be punished.

The stocky friend reopened a book with a pentagram on it. "When Raze gets back, I'll ask him to use this spell. Until try to control yourself. Dunno how you do it with these... things." His tall friend shrugged his shoulder's slowly as if barely paying attention to him. "Heeeeey... C'mon... Why aren't you struggling... I like it when they are struggling." Arin made no response. She just hung there suspended by her arms, her eyes glassed over staring into space. "Never seen a bitch like her so tame. Wonder if she's meditating or something."

A loud crash broke the serenity of shack. The stocky one jumped making the book he was holding fall to the floor. The taller one came to the door of the backroom they were in and pressed against the edge of the door frame. He turned to look out the door to see the other door kicked down. The stocky one grabbed a pair of machetes and his taller friend put away his small knife. He pulled out several bigger throwing knives and glared over at his friend. "WHO THE FUCK IS THERE!" the stocky one shouted now rumbling through the doorway from the backroom.

Both went into the front room at the same time to see a fragile woman standing at their doorway. They lowered their weapons slightly glaring at her. "Who the fuck are you?" the stocky one asked again brandishing his machetes. He was not in the mood for games and if Raze came back to a mess, he'd fry them both.