The McCallister Curse Pt. 04

In Violet's case, the girl had been born with TrueSight. Incredibly rare, it blessed the holder with magnificent golden eyes and a truly wonderous ability.

Veils, illusions, invisibility, and all other kinds of magical manipulation hid nothing from her. Violet saw everything.

Ever since she had been a small girl, she had been able to see the things that went bump in the night, the creatures that hid themselves among humans. All the devils and demons, the spirits, and ghouls. Goblins, elves, dwarves and worse. Violet had seen them all and everyone thought her cursed, mad from such a young age as she raved of the things that lived among them.

The stories had spread of the mad girl who saw ghosts, who spoke of monsters walking amongst them. The first attempt at taking her had happened when Violet was only 7 years old. A wandering wizard wanting her eyes for himself when he realised what they meant.

Violet's parents had died defending her, taking the wizard with them, love and devotion for their child shielding her as the wizard took their lives. Shunned by everyone else, no one wanting anything to do with the cursed child or the unexplainable things they had seen occur around the death of her parents, Violet had been destined for a short life alone in the government system. But fate or the Divine had intervened, a passing agent of the Church, moving through Korea on an assignment had heard about what happened and took it upon himself to investigate.

Upon finding a young girl full of fear and hate but blessed with TrueSight he had taken it upon himself to save her. Notifying his superiors of what and who he had found, arrangements were made and within days Violet Song was whisked away from her home to safety.

That should have been the end of it. A young girl saved from her doom and shuttled off to a foreign land with a new name, a new identity, far from anyone that knew of her existence. But that was not to be.

Violet's power was too rare, too powerful for her to be truly hidden and forgotten. Hunters had come knocking on her door again and this time it was her saviour and mentor who fell, giving his life to save Violet's.

Violet had buried herself in the system of the Church after that, flitting from abbey to abbey, church to church, monastery to monastery. Always studying, always learning something new. She found the Inquisition and they took her in, recognising the drive within her and trying to give her a place to focus the rage and anger in her heart for the good of the faith.

They did not know what they had truly helped create. No one did. Not until it was far too late to stop her.

Violet had never forgotten those that had hunted her, those that had taken her parents and her mentor from her. While she had been studying the ways of the faith, the ways of battle magic and war for the Inquisition, she had also hunted them in turn, tracking down those that had visited evil unto her.

The night she had found them, a gathering of those that traded in the lives of those like her, was the night Gabrielle met her, and she could still remember it so clearly.

Those golden eyes gleaming like a wolf in the dark of night, Violet had fallen on her foes like the wrath of God and visited upon them a night of death and fire that would make her legend.

A symphony of bullets, woven into a melody of doom, she danced amongst the dead, conducting her masterpiece of destruction through the screams of terror and the prayers of the condemned. A hymn of vengeance for those she had lost.

It was the prayers of the dying that had drawn Gabrielle. So many of them beseeching for salvation and a forgiveness that would never be granted by the spectre that chased them through the dark.

She had found Violet at the centre of it all and she hadn't known what to say, she had simply stared at Violet, at the girl before her bathed in the blood of her enemies, the dead and dying at her feet. Her golden eyes closed, and her face turned to the sky, the pale moonlight creating a halo in her hair, framing her face and the mask of blood it wore. Guns the colour of silver and midnight held loosely in her hands, she had appeared more an angel of death then any mortal had any right to, and Gabrielle had found herself shivering at the sight.

"What have you done?" she had managed at last, her voice sounding far too loud in the graveyard Violet had created.

Those golden eyes had found her, knowing her for what she truly was, and Gabrielle had found herself afraid of the terrible light that had glowed from within them.

Violet's smile was cheerful as she answered, white teeth glowing against the dark blood that plastered her face.

"The Divines work Guardian. Justice for the fallen and retribution for the wicked. Is it not glorious?"

"Glorious? This is monstrous! These men died in terror and pain; I could feel their souls calling to the heavens for mercy!"

"Hahahahaha, monstrous Guardian? These men were the monsters, they deserved every part of their fate," Violet had laughed at her.

"That is not for you to decide!" she had cried.

"I am an Inquisitor Guardian. There is extraordinarily little I cannot decide," Violet had told her simply, those golden orbs boring into her before the woman turned away.

"I have served my purpose here, I must go. Farewell Guardian." Violet had told her before melding into the night, leaving Gabrielle alone amongst the vengeance she had wrought.

Gabrielle had gone to the Church, telling those she knew about what she had seen, what she had felt, about the golden-eyed angel of death that they had amongst them. They had listened and they had done nothing.

Violet Song was their knife in the dark, the monster other monsters feared. They would not stop her. The inquisition would use whatever and whoever it had to to protect the Church and the faith. They would use her until they couldn't anymore.

Gabrielle had followed word of Violet ever since, not knowing whether it was from fear or because she wanted to save the girl from her unending bloody crusade, tracking her from her place, to place, to place, the bodies of men and monsters always marking her path.

But then she had found Sara, the hidden last McCallister and her world had changed.

Now she was about to become stuck in the middle of a war between the Greys and the Church and it looked like the angel of death she had feared would soon become her best hope of getting Sara out of it alive.

"I said hello Gabrielle."

The words entered Gabrielle's consciousness, shaking her from her memories.

She shook her head.

"I'm sorry Violet, I was lost in thought," Gabrielle replied, "Hello, how are you?"

Violet quirked a single pierced eyebrow at her questioningly, the black spike she was currently using rising with it.

"Considering the past," Gabrielle answered the unspoken query vaguely before continuing.

"You look well, you've changed your look again as well I see," she said.

Violet nodded in agreement.

"Still keeping tabs on me then? Got new tats, new piercings too," she grinned before reaching for the bottom of the dark top she was wearing.

"Wanna see?"

"No thank you Violet, that is unnecessary," Gabrielle answered quickly, gesturing for the other woman to stop hurriedly.

"Spoilsport," Violet replied, but she did stop raising her shirt.

Violet considered the angel for a moment, golden eyes studying her perfect form and face, the soft curly platinum hair, and the ironically sinful body she possessed.

"You've changed as well Gabrielle," Violet said slyly, smirking at the angel.

"That is doubtful Violet, angels are immutable, we don't change."

"Hah! Then why are you blushing oh immutable one? Shouldn't you be immune to my charms? Or are you actually thinking about how hot I look under this outfit?" Violet teased.

Gabrielle turned away, hiding her face from Violet as she blushed even harder at being caught doing exactly that.

What was wrong with her? She hadn't lied when she said angels were immutable. Yet here she was blushing like a schoolgirl from some mild teasing. It had to be Rose's fault somehow.

She considered Violet from the corner of her eye. The shorter Asian woman was hot, she couldn't deny that. Petite like Sara, but lithe, fit and toned in contrast to Sara's subtle curves, her breasts were small but incredibly perky and Gabrielle found herself trying to imagine how the piercings she now knew graced them would look without the dark shirt hiding them away.

Her other piercings were more visible, a stud in her nose and a row of them in her ears, Violet also had a couple tattoos that Gabrielle knew of. A circlet of the flowers for which she had been named encircled her left wrist, her pistols crossed and a tragically cliché R.I.P stencilled beneath them on her other arm. The idea of newer ones that she couldn't see intrigued her as well.

Gabrielle's eyes traced Violets body, locking onto her ass, taut cheeks wrapped firmly in skin hugging short shorts, the twin pistols she carried at all times slung about her hips and black knee-high boots that she was fairly certain concealed another three weapons completed her look. Violet was the epitome of sex and violence in one tiny package, a delicious cocktail that had her trying to avoid the desire of going over to her and taking a long hard drink.

"I can see you still watching me Gabby, you'll have to do better than that to hide from these eyes," Violet said with a soft chuckle.

"I was only teasing, but I was right, wasn't I? You were thinking about it," she accused.

Gabrielle turned back to face Violet, to tell the Inquisitor she was wrong, to deny her words. The lie died on her curved pink lips, shock painting itself plainly across her face instead.

She had planned to lie. Her. An angel of the Divine. Lying to save herself from embarrassment at the hands of a mortal.

Violet was at her side in an instant, her teasing discarded and her game face on when she saw the change play its way across the angel's face.

"What's wrong Gabrielle? Are you ok?" Violet's question was no nonsense, businesslike and to the point but a hint of true concern managed to tint the edges of her tone.

"I think..." Gabrielle began softly.

"I think you might actually be right Violet; I think I am changing, something is happening to me," Gabrielle confessed in a shaky whisper.

"What do you mean?" Violet asked carefully, her hand drifting slowly towards one of her guns. She wasn't sure what could be wrong with an angel, but she was certain it could only be dangerous.

"Ever since I met Sara, met the succubus..." Gabrielle started.

Before she could get any further, Violet pulled her gun, the long barrel coming to rest under Gabrielle's chin in a blur.

Gabrielle flashed away, the white metal barely touching her skin before she was gone across the room, snow white wings extended and holy fire coiling in her fists.

Violet tracked her; the glowing barrel of her pistol aimed directly at the angel's head as she came to a stop across the room from her.

"Violet! What are you doing? I'm an angel!" Gabrielle cried.

"Are you?" was Violet's curt reply, cocking her head to the side as she questioned the shaken angel.

"You're acting different, you said yourself that should be impossible, you showed up here wounded and defeated and now you mention a succubus. Are you an angel? Or are you one of the Fallen?" Violet accused her, her golden eyes hard, narrowed and focused on Gabrielle.

"I am an angel of the Divine!" Gabrielle snarled at her, the fires in her fists flaring brighter with her anger.

"One way to find out I guess," Violet said with a wicked grin, her finger teasing the trigger of her weapon.

Gabrielle braced herself, she knew in her heart of hearts that she was an angel. The Divine had not abandoned her or she it. But Violet would not be so easily convinced, she should have expected such a reaction from the dangerous Inquisitor. Violet could be aggressively paranoid about anything she considered a threat.

She was going to have to bite the bullet. Literally in this case and let Violet shoot her, she couldn't think of another way to resolve this, and she couldn't attack the other woman. Just let Violet shoot at her and all of this would be done, her divinity proven. The only problem was that gun.

Violet's weapons were not your normal firearms. They had been personally crafted for her by the finest weaponsmiths the Inquisition had access to. One black, one white. They were already legendary amongst the agents of the Church and those they faced.

They had been named to match the woman that wielded them.

'The Pale Horse' and 'Scythe'.

The weapons of an angel of death in human form, sculpted from the finest steel and inscribed with holy scripture, enchanted, and blessed, they had dealt death without mercy to monster and man alike, forging themselves a legacy of blood, destruction, and salvation.

It was 'The Pale Horse' Gabrielle faced now. The metal turned white from the power of the magic it carried, the weapon glowed and for hundreds it had been the last light they saw as it heralded their end. Twelve inches long, based on the venerable Colt 1911, it carried a fifteen round magazine and fired specially crafted 454 Casull rounds, each one individually forged from the metal of churches long destroyed and blessed with holy water, it truly meant death for anyone or anything that stared down its barrel.

At any other time, with any other gun, Gabrielle would've been certain she would be fine. But her self-doubts about what was happening, her encounter with Harrowrift still lingering in her mind, these were not normal times, and they made her fearful. Still, she had to save Sara, to protect the young woman that was so dear to her, and for that she needed Violet.

"Do it then Inquisitor, show me the violence you love so much," she dared Violet.

It was at that moment, Gabrielle's taunt hanging in the air between them, that the Prelate decided to arrive, his door swinging open and his large muscular form filling the doorway. He stopped dead as he took in the tableau before him, the imminent violence about to be unleashed in his office.

Violet on one side, arm outstretched, her gleaming pistol pointed at the angel opposite, Gabrielle her holy fires swirling around her fists, wings flared and angled in a threatening display.

He frowned, his brow furrowing and the already deep lines in his rough features deepening further as he looked at them both.

"Guardian, Inquisitor. I don't suppose either of you would care to tell me why my office is about to become a battlefield?" his question rumbled forth, voice deep and gravelly.

They both had the grace to look abashed in the face of his rebuke.

With a flourish, Violet holstered her gun before giving the Prelate a brazen smile.

"Oh, you know, just having a spiritual discussion Prelate. Nothing serious really."

Gabrielle was more reserved, thankful for the interruption, glad that she didn't have to find out the answer to whether Violet's weaponry could actually hurt her at the moment.

"I was attempting to explain to Violet what happened to me this morning and she got a tad over eager," she explained as she let her wings disappear and her fires fade away.

"I see," he said with a tone that very clearly indicated that he thought they were both full of it, but to the relief of them both he didn't push the subject for now.

Stepping into the room, the Prelates hulking presence seemed to fill more space than it actually should within the smallish room. Moving to his desk, Gabrielle moving out of his way, he pulled out his chair and the Prelate took a seat before gesturing to them both to do the same.

Violet and Gabrielle shared a look, blue eyes meeting golden ones with a silent understanding. They would behave themselves in front of the Prelate.

When the two beauties seated themselves before him, the Prelate considered them both for a moment, as if weighing them for judgement, staring into their souls from beneath his bushy grey brows.

"I think," he said at last, "that perhaps you should explain to us both how you came to be in such a state Gabrielle, I saw you not a few hours ago and you were fine. What has happened in such a short time?"

Gabrielle glanced at Violet lounging in the chair beside her briefly before looking at the Prelate.

"As I've told you before Prelate, the last McCallister has been found, earlier this morning the Greys took her by force from the Abbey of Saint Avacine and declared war upon the Church with their actions," she told him plainly, her cool melodic voice doing nothing to hide the anger burning in her words.

Violet bolted upright in her chair at Gabrielle's revelation, anger, and incredulity on her face as she stared at the angel.

"They dare attack us?" she yelled.

The Prelate was calmer, a deep sigh escaping from the depths of his chest, and he leant forward, resting his elbows on his desk, and cradling his head in his hands. He looked at Gabrielle through the gaps in his fingers.

"The full story please Gabrielle."

Gabrielle just nodded before beginning the full tale.

"After I was here looking for an update on my message to the Inquisition, I went back to the abbey and as I arrived, I was attacked by Rose."

"Rose?" the Prelate asked.

"Uhh, she's a succubus," Gabrielle answered, Violet raising an eyebrow at that explanation.

"I see. Please continue."

Gabrielle started up her tale again.

"As I said, I was attacked by a succubus, she has some serious power in her too, I suspect she could even be an Elder Succubus, she knocked me into the abbey with a single blow," Gabrielle admitted, and this time it was both of her listeners raising their eyebrows with that revelation.

"I managed to warn Sara that the succubus was attacking," Gabrielle continued, "then I went back to fight the demon.

"As I did that a small army arrived and attacked the abbey. They blew up the gate and went straight inside. I... I could hear them start shooting almost immediately but I didn't know for certain who they were until later," the Prelates head rose from his hands, his face a grim mask as Gabrielle revealed the fate of those in the abbey and Violet swore vehemently, vowing vengeance for the lost.

"When they went after Rose, the succubus, she named them as the Greys and threatened them, saying that she had seen their end approaching," Gabrielle explained.

"They went after the succubus as well?" the Prelate questioned, doing his best to not let the fate of the nuns stop him distract him from Gabrielle's continued story.

"Yes, I'm unsure why they took her, but I can only assume it was to stop her from interfering any further with Sara, the curse would have compelled her to keep hunting her. I couldn't help her either, I was too slow, too sure of myself," the angel admitted sadly.

'Why would you want to help a damn demon?" Violet demanded angrily.

"Because of the other demon," Gabrielle answered shamefully, "he was too strong for me, he is the one I ran from in the end."

"Another demon?" the Prelate prompted when Gabrielle lapsed into silence, trying his best not to sound impatient with the angel across from him.

"A soldier type, he came along with the Greys, don't know where they found him," Gabrielle roused herself to answer.

"A soldier type? Even you should have wiped the floor with him Gabby," Violet exclaimed.

"I thought so as well, I didn't take him seriously at first, neither did Rose.

"We both regretted it," Gabrielle shrank in on herself, some of her natural radiance noticeably fading as she recalled the events for them.

"He...He had a weapon.

"He called it Harrowrift," Gabrielle said, turning to look at Violet, terror clear in her bright blue eyes, the sight of it disturbing the veteran Inquisitor more then she could say.