P. Stormcrow

Car rides back with the perps was one of the parts Finn liked the least. The tension was always palpable; the silence was designed to be uncomfortable. And with the heat, everything became downright oppressive, even with the air conditioning on.

They took a turn off the main roads into the quieter side streets that would lead to the warehouse. She tilted her head towards the window, glancing outside at the other buildings, spaced so far apart that one neighbor would not hear another scream. Typical of industrial areas and more than likely why they had chosen the area as their innocuous base of operations. 

It was the only reason she saw the driver in the other car, a white grimy van that had seen better days. Beady dark eyes. A smirk stretched too wide. Red skinned with black markings, the rest covered by the hood of a ratty sweater.

“Shit!” she swore beneath her breath even as Jackson swerved. 

A second later, the impact rocked the car, sending them spinning past an intersection. Glass shattered, and she ducked her head, covering her face with her arm. Bright pain blossomed where debris cut her.

“Hold on!” Jackson wrestled for control over the vehicle and only then did Finn realize they took less of a hit because her partner had seen it coming and his defensive driving skills had kicked in.

She pressed her back against the seat and her head on the headrest as hard as she could, extending her leg to brace against the footwell. They spun and someone behind her shrieked in fear. 

The fishtailing stopped only for the car tipped sideways. This is it. This is how I go. Killed in an accident caused by a demon crashing into them to stop them from breaking a curse. The absurdity of that statement made Finn laugh out loud, and even she could recognize the hysteria in her voice.

The station wagon resettled, landing back on four wheels by some sheer luck.

“Everybody okay?” Jackson asked, breathless and shaky himself.

“We are alive,” Fujigami-san replied, sounding just as shaken as the rest of them were.

“Jackson, it was—” Finn started.

“I know. I saw.”

Finn could already feel her chest and shoulders ache where the seat belt had stopped her from flying out of the vehicle, nevermind the bleeding from her arms. But that wasn’t the biggest problem right now. There was no movement from the other car, but she drew her sidearm anyway and glimpsed her partner do the same.

“Stay here,” Jackson instructed their passengers and exited as she did the same. He motioned for himself to take the lead and she bobbed her head, lingering behind, recalling the demon’s ability to teleport.

Empty. Of course it was.

Finn glanced backward to make sure the demon hadn’t attacked Fujigami-san and April-san. At least the wards on the car should still work even if the vehicle looked like it was no longer drivable.

“We need to get you bandaged up.” Jackson nodded at her arm.

“You too.” She pointed at her own cheek and he gave her a wane smile.

As they made their way back, Fujigami-san got out and swung around to help his wife. “What’s going on?”

“It was him, wasn’t it?” April-san asked, cowering against her husband.

There was no point lying to them. “Yeah.”

Meanwhile, Jackson reached in for the CB radio. Finn sighed in relief as the speaker came alive, crackling with static. At least some things were still working. 

“Calling in code red. I repeat, calling in code red. Over.”

“Response line connected. Code red acknowledged. Over.” Olivia’s voice played over the speaker.

“Request package one three four nine, delivery through the tube system. Over.”

Finn recognized that numbers listed from her very first case and suppressed a shudder. He was right. It was time for the big guns. But somehow that didn’t comfort her much.

“You got it. Sending you extras too. Backup required? Over.”

“Yes. Over.”

“Copy that. Over.”

Jackson hung up and turned to all three of them. “They’re about fifteen minutes out. We just have to hold on until then.”

The couple paled but did not complain, and Finn had no comment either, focusing on retrieving the first aid kit from the trunk instead. 

“Here. I have some training.” April-san appeared beside her and held out her hands.

Finn nodded and removed her shirt with care, letting the other woman apply the bandages. Jackson and Fujigami-san joined them and for the next few minutes, they busied themselves with patching up as best they could.

A sudden thump in the trunk made almost all of them jump. Exchanging a glance with her partner, she returned to the back of the car to stare at the familiar box. “The interdimensional rift projectile launcher?”

Jackson nodded as he opened the case. “You said the green energy ate the red. We’ll do the same, but this time, aim it at the demon. Hopefully it can’t come back since it seems to only travel through those specific ones.”

“But I thought that was just for apparitions?”

“I don’t know. It’s a risk,” Jackson muttered under his breath.

Fuck. She understood what he was getting at, but it didn’t reassure her. Then again, she never took a job with the FBI to be safe. “Let’s get the wards on the civilians first.” Pain stabbed at her arm as she moved. Suck it up. Keep going. “Pass the salt.”

He handed it to her without a word and she returned to the couple. “Stay close to the car.”

Once more, there was no protest, only fearful nods as husband and wife clung to each other. Despite the knowledge that they had inflicted this fate on themselves, Finn could not help but pity them.

With the instruction relayed, she spread a rough circle of salt around the vehicle, protecting both Fujigami-san and April-san and the broken car that served as a base for now. “No matter what happens, don’t step out of this, got it?”

“Got it,” Fujigami-san replied with a whisper as he wrapped an arm around April-san. 

“Here, put these on.” She handed them the extra snap bracelets and though they stared at them as if they couldn’t quite believe their eyes, they obeyed without question. 

Was this what witness protection was like, trusting earnest faces, fearful yet hopeful because she and her partner were the only thing standing between them and harm? Somehow, the pressure of it seemed a thousand times worse than when it was just them alone.

“Ok… okay,” Finn stammered and nodded. It was not the time to be awkward, and she still sounded that way as the realization threw her off. Before she could make another blunder, she walked off to arm herself with the other equipment Olivia sent and rejoined her partner.

“You good?” Jackson asked as if sensing her disturbing thoughts and wavering confidence

Finn cleared her throat and bobbed her head up and down once. “I’m fine.” Lies. “So what now?”

Jackson heaved the oversized weapon up, adjusting his grip. “We wait for backup to pick us up.” When Finn’s brows shot up in surprise, he laughed. “What? I’m not risking getting yelled at my Ms. Callaghan twice on one case, are you?”

He had a point. But that didn’t mean time sped up any faster. In fact, it became agonizingly slow, and she swore as she stared down at her watch the hands came almost to a grinding halt.

That was perhaps why when she sighted the first red portal through the kaleidoscope, a sense of relief accompanied the fresh wave of adrenaline. 

“Two o’clock!” she warned.

Jackson pivoted and aimed the weapon, but as the demon popped its head out, it vanished again, leaving him muttering curses under his breath. “It’s too fast, and this thing takes too long to aim. We need to slow it down.”

“What about the psychic pulse generator?” Finn gasped, trying to scan the area.

“It won’t work on a demon.”

“Shit.” 

“Ten!”

Finn adjusted her aim and shot with her much weaker version of the veil puncher, straight at the demon this time. It hissed in pain and staggered on its feet. She didn’t wait for it to recover, but fired again in rapid succession. It screeched as it stumbled, going down on one knee.

“It’s working!” Jackson’s own weapon whirled as he started it up. She just had to keep it pinned in place.

Sirens screamed and tires screeched as more vehicles pulled up along the road. Their arrival provided enough of a distraction that Finn hesitated for a second. But it was enough for the demon to vanish again.

“Fuck!” Jackson sniffed the air as he lowered his weapon and took off.

“Damien!” she called out after him, but he didn’t even wait for her. She tossed a glance back to glimpse Kou exiting her car. “Take care of the civilians,” she shouted and ran after her partner.

Because damn if she was going to let him get hurt again.