swift as a shadow (QUEST) | melanie

Deacon looked across the street, watching the bushes rustle slightly in what seemed to be a light breeze, "As I am not a liar..." He started to say. He was interrupted by the smell of burning wood. Deacon saw the smoke rising up from behind the trees of the park up ahead before he actually saw the source of the flames. He stepped out into the road and looked both ways before crossing the street, ignoring that Melanie may not follow him. Inside his jacket pockets, Deacon wrapped his fingers around a sheathed dagger that he had gotten from Hermes when he was still a child. Apparently his mother had sent her tidings along with the weapon.

As he reached the other side of the road, the smell of burning leaves got stronger and Deacon could almost wear he heard a dog barking. From out of the rustling bushes, a small chihuahua crawled out dragging an abandoned leash behind it. Narrowing his blue eyes, Deacon wondered if the owner was somewhere nearby, missing their little dog, "Hey there..." He said, crouching down to get a closer look at the dog. It barked at him and snarled which made him take a step back. He couldn't be certain that it was really a dog, after all.

Watching Deacon run in the direction of the smoke, Melanie cursed under her breath. It wouldn't do any good for her to remain cloaked if something had already found them, so she took a quick glance around the ally before running out into the open. Deacon was already across the street, looking at some small dog by the time she caught up. The fire had caught in one of the trees and she was worried that it was going to start attracting attention soon. They needed to deal with whatever was causing this before they had a real issue on their hands.

Wait. Small dog, something's breathing fire...shit. Melanie thought to herself, speeding up to reach where Deacon was standing. Reaching for her knives, Melanie hoped that Deacon would catch on to what he was dealing with before she got there. Just yelling that he was standing in front of a Chimera would be a bad decision, but not saying something could be worse. Instead, she chose to just yell his name and hoped for the best.

Deacon had already figured out what it was before Melanie had even left the shadows. He had pulled the dagger out of his jacket and held it in his hand carefully. He had read more than his share of lore and knew the thing was basically harmless until it transformed into it true form. He also knew that when it changed, no mortal would be able to tell what it was. The Mist would cloak it from unwanted eyes. Unfortunately for them, it would look to passers by that Deacon was assaulting a chihuahua with a sword.

As if taking a cue from his thoughts, the smooth dog fur started to grow longer, changing to an ugly golden color. The creature grew until it's head stood at about his shoulder. A long diamond back snake was fluttering in the air, sprouting from it's back like a tail, "Stay back!" Deacon yelled, yanks the sheath off his dagger. As the sheath came off, the dagger transformed into a large, shining sword with a gilded handle. There was a large grey stone set in the hilt, smoothed into a shining ball. The sword was a gift from his mother. He dropped the sheath to the ground, knowing that it would be back in his pocket when he checked after the battle. The chimera snapped at him and eyed his sword with contempt.

For a minute Melanie almost laughed. Almost. Surely he was telling the Chimera to stay back, not her. This was far from her first rodeo. Sure, normally she ended up with something a little more tame, but still. It was almost insulting.

From the corner of her eye, Melanie saw her informant run across the road. The man was a Demi-God himself, even if he was older and had chosen to remain on the mainland and away from the safety of the island. Before she could even yell for him to back them up, the coward had dropped the packet on the sidewalk and ran. Melanie could barely blame him though. Living in New York had to be pretty hazardous when one did it full time, and even she wasn't keen on fighting it.

Deciding to ignore what she had just seen, Melanie continued on until she was standing on Deacon's right side, well out of his range so that she wouldn't be in his way. She didn't need to get close to be effective: she was a marksman first and foremost and her daggers were for throwing, not stabbing.

The Chimera was focused on Deacon, having noticed and smelled him first. The large creature stalked back anf forth, pacing a smoldering hole in the grass at it's feet. He felt the sheath to the dagger in his pocket suddenly, able to relax about losing it. He then started to pace with the creature, allowing them to walk in a circle, never breaking eye contact.

Suddenly, the chimera bolted, ready to make a savage attack. But Deacon was caught off guard when it wasn't towards him. The beast had captured his attention in an obviously successful attempt to distract him. It ran towards Melanie at full speed, looking determined to take a piece of her with it when it went down. Deacon chased after it, trying to keep a far enough distance to ensure that he wouldn't be bitten by the poisonous reptile on it's back.

Melanie had been watching Deacon and the monster circle each other intently when the thing took off in her direction. She only had two choices: hold her ground and hope that she could take the Chimera head on, or take the one shot she had and then try to get back around it. Deciding on the latter, she took aim, looking to hit the snake that made up the Chimera's tail. That would at least be one problem down, making it easier for them to actually kill the beast.

Her knife landed with a sickening thud just below the snake's head. It probably wouldn't disable the tail completely, but at least all eyes were now on her. The only problem with that, was that all of the eyes were pissed. Once the Chimera was close enough, she dove away towards a park bench, summoning the shadows underneath it and expanding them to reach about waist high all around them. It wouldn't' stop the Chimera, but it would give her a chance to get to a more defensible position, or at least closer to Deacon without hindering his sight.

The Chimera didn't give up once it could no longer see her. Once she was completely out of sight, she felt the weight of a hoof and then the ripping of flesh as it made contact with her back and shoulder before she could roll away. Suppressing a scream, she crawled away until she was sure by the feeling of the shadows that she was far enough away to stand, grabbing a long knife from it's sheath on her back as she did so.

Despite the obvious pain Melanie was in, Deacon's mind couldn't help but automatically see this as the perfect moment. He jumped on the creature back with a heavy thrust and slid his sword along the neck of the poisonous snake head that writhed in his hand. He through the slithering thing to the ground and watched it twitch until it eventually died. The Chimera, feeling the pain of loss, reared back and threw Deacon to the sidewalk. It thick tail swung around and hit Deacon across his face, spending him rolling across the concrete.

For what seemed like the longest few seconds of his life, Deacon's head was screaming. A loud ringing noise was making him feel dizzy as he tried to pull himself off the ground. The unsuccessful attempt to move just made his head spin more and he fell back to the sidewalk without even engaging the enemy. Suddenly he was painfully aware of the wet sticky mess on the side of his head. He felt the warm goo trickling down the side of his neck and when he looked down he saw a nasty, shining smear across the black leather of his favorite jacket, "Shit." He cursed, trying to convince himself he was well enough to continue fighting. By the time he made it off the ground again, the Chimera had turned on him and seemed to be gloating, watching him struggle for balance from it's spot a few feet away.

Deacon gripped his weapon tightly in his hands and started running as quickly as he could toward the beast. It braced itself for and waited for he to get close enough to attack. While Deacon knew that this was not the best strategy for one-on-one combat, he hoped Melanie would catch on to his provided distraction and make the finishing blow. He just hoped he wouldn't be completely killed by the obvious injury he was about to receive for this full-hardy charge.

Seeing Deacon hit the ground, Melanie tried to get the monster's attention. Now that the tail was gone, she could easily run up behind it without worrying about the snake, but she had to get close to it first. Before she could find an adequate method of getting the chimera to go her way, Deacon was back on his feet and running towards it as best as he could with his head bleeding. She got the message loud and clear.

Taking a split second to ensure that the monste was fully engaged, she ran up behind it at full speed, sinking her knife into its hide, close to it's heart. Pulling the knife back out as quickly as it went in, she continued running to stab the thing in the throat as well. Better to be safe than sorry.

Releasing the knife, Melanie began to look around. She briefly noticed that the fight had lead them towards the discarded Intel, but her first priority was finding her partner in crime. "Deacon?" She whispered, not quite sure where he had ended up after she lost sight of him.

The pain was just barely tolerable. He couldn't see anything and Deacon hoped it wasn't a permanent side effect of head trauma. When his vision finally blurred back into colors and lights, he found himself shielded from the sun underneath a large bush, or tree. Well, something green, that was all he could tell for sure, "Shit..." He groaned quietly, straining his ears. the sounds he heard were gargled like they were being spoken under water and he could feel the blood of a forehead wound trickling down his nose and over his mouth, "Mel?" He hoped he said her name loud enough to get her attention, although he couldn't be for sure that he'd said her name at all. To him it sounded like a fractured, gargled version of her name. He coughed and tried to roll himself over on to him stomach, succeeded after about the third attempt. It was easier to crawl out from under the bush this way.

The world was coming into focus a little better now. Deacon could make out what he assumed was a dead Chimera and nodded in relief before laying head broken head down in the grass, stained red and glistening from the blood in the sunlight. Finally his vision went black.

((Wanna jump to the future?))

(of course)

*a few days later*

Getting Deacon back to the safe house had been more than a slight challenge. Melanie had found him unconscious underneath a bush not far from the chimera, bleeding from his head and unresponsive. For a moment, she thought he was dead. After grabbing the intel, because leaving that behind would have been stupid and counter productive, she had half dragged Deacon back to the apartment. A few long blocks that felt like miles and about half an hour later, she finally succeeded.

Now, Melanie had to play the waiting game. It had been about three days since they had reached the house, almost four since they had left it the first time, and Deacon still hadn't woken up.He had only stayed up long enough for her to give him some nectar before he passed back out. More than once since then, she had considered calling for an evac crew to come and get him. Two healthy, well trained people  in the field would have been alright, but Deacon was injured and Melanie couldn't leave him, even to go check out the lead at camp.

Most of her time had been spent going over the intel and making calls in the other room or sitting in the chair by the bed, pouring over lore or past files. The latter was where she currently resided, a large book in hand and a cup of coffee sitting on the bedside table. Melanie had dozed off for a moment, but started awake at a small sound coming from across the room. Panicking for a moment, she grabbed her knife and looked around for whatever had made the noise.

Everything was so blurry. It was like he was seeing everything from underneath the water, all contorted and wavy. The sound around him was muffled and distant and he had a vague memory of something sweet like cookies and milk simultaneously sliding down his throat like a hot soup. He wanted to spit it up but it seemed an impossible task.

Breathing had even become a chore for the son of Athena. He could hear a distant voice saying something to him, but he couldn't quite make it out. Nothing was making any sense and the minute he began to understand the words they slipped away from him like they were from years ago. Like time was passing him by and he was standing completely still.

Finally, the world came back into focus. The room was dim, lit only by the setting sun through a window cloaked in blinds. He couldn't make out what time it was, but he could clearly hear the ticking of a clock on the wall to his right. He had only gotten a glimpse of this room through a door last time he was here, but he remembered well that there was a bedside table on the left. Deacon grunted as he pulled himself into a sitting position, his head swimming and wrapped in some sort of gauzy white material. The sight of the material brought back, at least parts of, the battle with the Chimera. His eyes took their sweet ass time focusing on what he knew had to be Melanie, "Whoa, cool it sparky." He couldn't help but grin, feeling better than he really deserved to after his near death experience.

Melanie sighed with relief, setting the knife and book on the side table before standing up. Her body protested the movement, sore from hours of sitting in one position. Stretching, she winced when her injured shoulder reminded her that she wasn't in the best shape herself. "Sorry. I hadn't expected you to wake up until tomorrow at the earliest." She said with a chuckle, standing at the end of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, relaxing against the wall. He was conscious and talking, which eased her mind quite a bit. He'd probably be up and ready to go again before long, which was the best news she had heard in days. The chatter was going crazy and she needed to check out camp asap.

Deacon shrugged, taking another long drink of water and sitting up completely so he could swing his legs over the side of the bed, "Better than I probably deserve, considering the fact I passed out from blood loss." He felt the bandaging on his head and winced, "Thanks for that." Deacon glanced around the room, wondering to himself what time it was and how long he had been asleep.

"Don't mention it." Melanie replied with a shake of her head. "Whenever you think your ready I'll get you up to speed." Walking back to her spot in the chair, Melanie grabbed the files, glancing over them one more time before setting them on the bed. "There's been suspicious activity at a house up the road from Camp. Lots of people in and out, significant amounts of supplies coming in and out. I'm not sure if there is a valid reason for it or not. Conner hadn't checked it out yet."


Sitting on the edge of the bed, Melanie decided to weigh her next words careful,y before deciding to be completely transparent. "I need to head out there asap and I'm not sure if we should both go in to the house. How do you feel about splitting up? You take the camp and I'll take the house. We can move twice as fast."

Deacon nodded, pulling himself out of bed he stretched out him sore muscles and looked down at the file Melanie had spread across the mattress, "Sounds good to me. Let me shower and wash off all the Chimera grime and we can head out?" He ran his fingers through his blond hair and pulled back grease covered fingers, making him frown, "I'll just get on that."