Chapter 5

"It's alright Josie, you're okay, you can leave whenever you want." Josefine started coming out of the panicked and desperate haze to Emil's soft German accent lilting over soothing words and curled shaking into a hug. She took a deep stuttered breath, wide eyes flicking up to meet his blue as if to confirm it was him and she was out. A smile tugged at his lips. "Yeah, you're alright," Emil rubbed his hand in soothing circles against her back. She took another deep breath, letting the scents of paper and ink and ozone that made up Emil's scent wash over her and distract her from the icy cold that had made her throat raw hours ago even before she'd started crying. Josefine took another deep breath, steadier this time, though the air that filled her lungs was still painfully cold, and she started to thank Emil for coming to find her and getting her out when slow applause reached their ears. She straightened up, looking past Emil at the approaching figure in ceremonial robes that matched the two dead Oracles in the chapel. Emil shifted, twisting around to face them with Josefine protectively at his back, his hand dipping into her coat pocket for the handful of coins she kept on hand for coffee.

"Now that's real magic," the man said with delight twisting the expression on his shadowed face. "My name is Matija Vlahović," he made a theatrical bow in Emil's direction, "you will be a worthy teacher."

Emil raised an eyebrow at the man. "I politely decline," he replied simply and Josefine suspected he could feel the residual inhuman magic coming off of Vlahović as well—that magic matched the flash-frozen bodies exactly. "I don't need any homicidal students." A massive snake-like demon took shape in Vlahović's shadow, rearing up behind him as fury overtook his expression and the temperature began to drop.

"Then I'll kill your little friend." Josefine's breath fogged in the air, her fingers beginning to turn blue and numbing the pain from where she'd torn them open. "If you came this far for her, she'll make a good hostage." Despite the cold seeping into her bones and the raw state of her voice, she laughed in disbelief at that.

"He doesn't like me that much," she began, but Emil seemed to actually be considering it when he glanced back to meet her gaze and she found herself falling silent in mild surprise. She watched as Emil climbed to his feet, taking his time to brush off his pants before he looked up at Vlahović again, glancing past him at the demonic creature in his shadow.

"The answer is still no." Before Vlahović could react, he struck out with high-level magic that filled the room with lightning arcing from the coins in his hand as he threw them at Vlahović and the demon with a crack like thunder. The snake-like demon curled protectively around Vlahović as he let out a bewildered shriek and threw up his arms to protect his head. Josefine took the opportunity to scramble to her feet and quickly surveyed the situation as something clouded over Emil's blue eyes and the lightning began to die out. She took one look at him and sent a silent prayer that this would work up to a god she didn't believe in as she drew her pistol from its holster inside her coat and leveled it with Vlahović's head. She had three rounds left. There was no hesitation as she pulled the trigger and Wolf laughed its delight in the back of her mind, the shot ringing out loud enough to shake Emil out of his quasi-catatonic stupor as Vlahović's brains exploded out against the wall on the other side. The demon let out a high-pitched scream as the contract was forcibly severed and Josefine felt the temperature plummet rapidly before Emil's arm wrapped around her waist and he threw up a shield around them moments before everything within a ten-foot range exploded with ice. "You alright?" Emil shifted back to look her over and Josefine started to answer when she noticed the magic still sparking along the lines of his scars on the hand that had held her coins.

"I'm fine," she made a pointed nod toward his hand, "are you alright?" Emil shifted the arm in question behind his back and gave her his best reassuring smile, which wasn't convincing at all.

"I've had worse." His answer didn't answer her question but she supposed that was all the reassurance she was going to get.

"Thank you," she paused, "for coming to find me."

"Any time." Josefine laughed a little at that.

"I'm hoping this was a one-time event." Then she cleared her throat and stepped back out of his grip, "I should see if I can find a working phone, call the police over." She was gone before he could argue that she was allowed to—and really should—take a break given what she'd been through.

#

There was one phone in the Oracles of the Obscure chapter house, but the line was dead when Josefine picked up the receiver. She breathed a long-suffering sigh and set the receiver back down. There was another option for a surefire way to get the police to an area, but she hadn't wanted to go that route because it was a waste of ammo and relied on other people. Josefine made her way outside to join Emil and then a few places further into the middle of the gravel road.

"Did you already—?" Emil broke off and clamped his hands over his ears as she pulled her pistol and fired her last two rounds into the road rather than risk them hitting someone on the way back down—she wouldn't care if they did but there was a lot of paperwork involved with an accidental shooting that she'd rather not deal with. Then she returned it to her shoulder holster very calmly as Emil hesitantly lowered his hands. "Josie," he began slowly so Josefine met his gaze.

"The line was dead, now the neighbors will call for us." True to her word, the distant sound of sirens reached their ears a few minutes later.

#

Detective Andries and Agent Schultz arrived at the scene at about the same time. Josefine explained to the two of them what had happened and Schultz, with something that looked an awful lot like disappointment, apologized to Emil. Josefine and Emil went their separate ways as soon as they were dismissed from the scene and she'd gone home to clean up.

Then she visited Raven's Roost, pausing in the shop to say a quiet hello to Holmes, stroking through his white feathers with bandaged fingers.

A storm thundered outside, dying the cloud sea and the sky both in dark greys as lightning arced between clouds, and Josefine withdrew her hand. She moved to climb the stairs up to the living area and then up through the roof access hatch into Emil's greenhouse, built with metal forged runes and magic in the glass panes that painted the world outside in stars. Emil sat on a bench among the plants watching the storm roll across the sky outside.

"Emil," Josefine broke the silence and blue eyes flicked her way, looking her up and down.

"You look better." She glanced down at her bandaged fingertips and supposed she really did look better than she had earlier. Then she joined him on the bench, watching the static crackle across his scarred hands. They sat in silence for a long time before Emil glanced her way again. "Are you alright?" She looked up in question so he clarified, "You did kill someone."

"People die easy," Josefine spoke the words simply, an unspoken double meaning to them.

"I know," Emilius flexed badly scarred fingers as if to ease the aching that came with the storm and for that moment, she was certain he did know. Then he swallowed and began again, "I know, but I still want to be sure you're okay." She looked up, meeting his gaze briefly before looking away again to watch the static crackle across the scars on his hands like lightning up from his palms. At that moment, she could swear she saw the blood on his hands too.

"Have you ever been okay?" Wolf snickered from the dark of Josefine's head.

No, came the silent answer, I don't remember ever being okay.