"What do we do?"
He sank down on the floor next to Nikolai. The mage put his arm around his shoulders and leaned against him for a moment.
"I don't know. First step, we see if the demon will cooperate. It will make all of this much easier."
Not expecting comfort from someone else, but grateful to have it, Doc put his arm around Nikolai's waist and leaned against the mage, trying to fight off soul crushing weariness. He had finally found someone, and he hadn't been able to do enough to protect her. He guessed by the anguished expression on Nikolai's face, the mage felt similar.
Victoria sucked in a breath and bolted upright.
Both Nikolai and Doc turned.
She stared at them for a moment, wide-eyed, before she looked around the cabin. Her eyes landed on Ed and Allan where they lay stretched out on the floor, and finally they landed on Sofia.
"Is she going to be okay?"
Nikolai shrugged and turned his attention back to Sofia. Doc could hear his breath hitch, and knew he was holding back quite a bit at the moment.
Victoria scrambled over to them and sat down on his other side, tears streaming down her face. He wasn't sure if she would welcome him touching her or not. He put his other arm around her, anyway. She could move away if she didn't want to be held.
After a moment, Victoria scooted closer and leaned against him. "What do we do?" She sniffed and rubbed at her face.
"Don't know," he muttered, trying to hold his anger in check. "Wait and see what happens when she wakes up. Go from there."
"Did they…get a demon?"
"Yes," Nikolai grunted, biting the word off angrily.
"They had a gun." Victoria trembled. Doc tightened his hold on her. "There wasn't anything either of us could do."
"We shouldn't have left her alone," he replied. That mistake would haunt him, even if they did rescue her from this. "We shouldn't have left you alone."
"You can't follow us everywhere. Eventually, they would have done something."
"There are a lot of things we could have, maybe should have done," Nikolai said. "There is no point in looking back."
Though he knew Nikolai was right, he doubted the mage followed his own advice.
Tires crunched on gravel, and he tensed. Victoria and Nikolai glanced at him.
"I hear a car, don't recognize it."
Nikolai stood, went over to the window, and glanced out. He felt the mage's absence keenly, even though he was only a few feet away.
"No idea what kind of car it is," Nikolai cautioned. "It's black. Not a truck."
Victoria tensed, fear coloring her scent.
"It's Ash," Doc declared, not sure how he knew, but certain he was right.
Nikolai glanced back at him, eyebrow raised. "You can sense demons now?"
"Ever since…" He snapped his mouth shut. Victoria still didn't know all their secrets, and it was better if she didn't. "I see Ash a lot."
Normally, Nikolai's knowing smile might have made him blush, but he didn't have the energy at the moment to react to the mage's gibe.
Victoria glanced between them, brow furrowed. "I would like to ask again, isn't he a bad guy? Like, powerful demon, could kill us all? You don't seem worried."
Nikolai shrugged. "He likes Doc. He won't do anything to us unless directly ordered to."
"What if he was ordered to? And how exactly does he like Doc?"
"Then we'll defend ourselves," he answered. "He probably wouldn't drive up in a car if he was going to try and kill us. He knows at least three of us can hear it a fair ways off. Not exactly stealthy." He ignored the other question, not sure how to answer it.
Nikolai opened the door before Ash could knock, and the demon came inside. He didn't say anything, his blue and white eyes fixed on Doc for a moment before shifting to Sofia. He moved to sit cross-legged on the other side of them and stared at Sofia.
Nikolai sat next to him, across from Victoria.
"Is this not weird to anyone else?" she finally pleaded.
Doc still had his arm around her, and he squeezed gently. "Why are you here, Ash?"
"I was ordered to bring her back once she had killed all of you. Until she does, or they get tired of waiting and call me, we can stay here."
"Why do they think she'll kill all of us?" he asked.
"Sometimes, when a demon is first bound, especially a powerful greater demon, they can still do a little magic. Usually, they try to kill anyone near them. As the demon doesn't have full possession of this body, she's unlikely to be able to do much. The Andersons do not know they failed to push Sofia out. I'll stay until they call me and order me to return, or you want me to leave."
"Turn your phone off," Doc ordered.
Ash shook his head. "I tried that. I can no longer neglect to keep my phone charged, turn it on silent, turn it off, or ignore it." He grimaced.
Doc held out his hand.
Ash tilted his head slightly, but after a moment, pulled his phone out and handed it to him.
Smirking a little, Doc tightened his grip around the phone, crushing it.
Victoria gasped, but to her credit, didn't pull away.
Ash's eyebrows rose, and then the demon smiled, before his expression fell. "That will work for a while."
"Do you have any other orders we need to know about?"
Ash shook his head.
He put the remains of the phone on the table and brushed his hand off on his jeans.
Allan groaned, and everyone turned their attention to him. He clutched his head, before slowly sitting upright. After a moment, he looked around, eyes going wide as he saw Ed still unconscious and everyone else gathered around Sofia.
He scrambled forward on hands and knees, stopping next to her.
"We were too late, weren't we?"
"Yes," Ash answered for everyone
