Seeking Refuge

[Emily Shale-Vanders]

Emily thanked Ana for the information. That was one less thing to worry about anyway. Upon arrival at the hopital she found the detective with two policeman and made it though their barrier after showing ID. Rachel was there, but she also wasn’t. Not in a way Emily could recognize anyways. The detective filled her in. No drugs as expected. Emily was fine with that. She wanted Rachel out of here now. 

Rachel seemed okay when she signed her out, but then started freaking out in the car on the way. She constantly muttered about needing Lucio, and even though she was concerned about it. She was more pissed off. Pissed off that someone would hurt her sister and pissed off at herself for not picking up on it faster. She had thought Rachel’s odd behavior was just her coping with the break up. 

She arrived at the location Ana had sent her and got out of the car, summoning her magic. If Pirozzi showed up, he’d face her wrath. For now though the most important thing to do would be to get Rachel inside. Hopefully people were ready - she might need help if Rachel started to freak out again.

[Elyse]

Elyse got the message from Ana - a text saying they had Emily shale and her sister on their way. Her sister had been attacked by a sentient. Elyse had never seen a sentient attack before. But she had to imagine it wasn’t good. Elyse thanked Ana and mentioned they should get dinner sometime. Elyse went and knocked on Anna’s door.

”Got a message, someone coming in who’s been attacked by a sentient. She might need some help. Let’s go to the ground floor.”

Anna didn’t hesitate and followed Elyse downstairs. They waited out front until the car pulled up. A well dressed woman got out and Elyse headed out to help her get her sister out. Anna waited by the door and held it open. The scents wafting off the younger one were intense. Fear, arousal, desire, guilt, responsibility, and confusion. They swirled and quickly changed, creating a miasma of scents that made Elyse nauseated. The one who had to be Emily just smelled pissed off.

Elyse helped Emily get her sister out and moved to the door. Her sister was almost dead weight. She kept muttering how much she needed Lucio and even at times tried to resist their aid. Elyse began to heave a bit as they got to the door, the scent was so strong.

”Okay, Elyse?” Anna asked as she shut the door behind them.

”Just lots of scents…” Elyse said, trying not to gag. ”Take her - I’m gonna text Mae.”

Anna did and Elyse got out her wallet and was glad she was still friends with Mae. Mae - got someone at the house here who was a victim of a sentient attack. She’s pretty bad. Emotions everywhere. Her scent makes me feel sick. She keeps talking about how much she needs him. Almost like she’s addicted. Anything you know that we can do to help her?

[Legione Sumus]

Mae Kawata (Mist)

Best thing for her is to sleep. Sedate her if necessary. I think Nox has some stuff from Zeke at the house. Probably all locked up now.

[Anna]

Anna took Elyse’s spot on the other side of the young woman. She looked rough. She only knew one sentient and that was Mae and Mae had never done anything like this before. Holy fuck, this girl was messed up. The other one, Emily Shale who Anna recognized from pictures, had a look of fury etched on her features.

”Mae says sleep is best. Sedate her if we have to…should have some locked up here.” Elyse chimed in and sent a couple more texts.

Anna looked at Emily. ”She’s not gonna fall asleep on her own like this,” she said, her voice resigned.

Anna nodded. ”Hey Sky - we’re going to need Liv or Liam to get us some sedatives from the lock box. If you haven’t already, tell them what’s going on. We’re taking her to the basement room.

Anna began to lead the pair downstairs, Elyse following. She heard Elyse gag a couple of times. ”Elyse, breathe with your mouth open.”

The gagging stopped and they made it down the stairs. They set the young lady down in the bed and covered her. She fought it. She didn’t want to sleep. She actually screamed then - shouting the name Lucio. What the fuck did this guy don’t her!?

[Legione Sumus]

Liam Wilson

Liv was taking care of Lily for Nox. She liked that activity and it kept her away from the other kids most of the time since she spent most of it locked up in Nox's room where everything for Lily except her crib and clothes and extras were. That was easy enough to get without someone bugging her if necessary.

The locked room was right there too so Liam stopped in. "I got the crisis." She smiled.

"Thanks." Not that it mattered she didn't look like she was getting up.

Liam tapped in the keycode to the room, and then to the lock box. It was really inconvient but that's what happened when you had people who wanted to hurt themselves on the regular. And it didn't look like it was gonna let up anytime soon. Shit just kept hitting the fan.

Nox didn't like sleeping pills but he'd tried them apparently and discarded them, but the bag from Zeke still remained in the house even though Nox swore he'd never use them. Liam took one out and placed it in a plastic cup. All business like, though it was mostly so they didn't freak out cause he was touching it. Some people didn't like it. Most of the family didn't care.

Downstairs he found two women he didn't know. He handed Anna the cup. "Anything else I can do to help?" Liam asked. "I can call Hayden if you'd think it'd help. I can also order some food. What do you like?" He said mostly to the woman who looked to be fuming. "She's safe here. No one will get near the house without Sky knowing. And Sage's drones will annoy the shit out of them until they leave, or one of the guys can show up. Ashton can probably help."

[Emily Shale-Vanders]

Emily didn’t realize how much she needed to calm down until the young man entered the room. She didn’t know what it was about his presence that did it. Maybe it was simply how calm he spoke. She was still angry, but she needed to focus on Rachel now, and not the fuckwad that screwed with her sister.

Emily took a deep breath, anger was still on her face, but her voice was calm. ”Anything will be fine,” she said with regards to food. She probably wouldn’t have the appetite to eat much anyways. ”Thank you.”

”Maybe call Hayden - see if he can come. Adrian is on his way too.” the golden eyed girl sai to the young man. Emily had questions for her. 

”You can drop the power now too. She’s okay.” the other woman said. Emily hadn’t realized she was still holding it.

Emily nodded, dropped the power and grabbed Rachel’s face and made Rachel look at her. She stopped fighting then. ”Em…Em…I don’t know what’s going on. I’m so scared.”

”I know - it’s going to be okay. We’re going to give you some medicine to help you sleep. You’ll feel better then.”

Rachel started crying. It was all Emily could do to keep her anger in check. ”I need him, Em. I don’t want him anymore, but I need him.”

”We’ll get through this. Me, you, Jared, and Mara - and all our friends. Looks like we might make some new ones. That would be good. Well make it. One step at a time. First one - we take some medicine okay. That’s not too hard right?”

Rachel nodded and Emily held out her hand. The other channeler handed her the medicine and Emily gave it to Rachel. ”Close your eyes Rachel, try to sleep.”

[Elyse]

Elyse immediately responded to Mae. Thanks Mae - she's pretty bad. We're sedating her.

She sent another text to Adrian, asking if he was on duty and could come, assuring him she wasn't the issue. He responded back that he was on his way. Elyse had to continue breathing through her mouth. As they entered the bedroom downstairs and got the Emily's sister into the bed. She wasn't very cooperative, and Elyse wondered how they were going to get her to take the pill. That wasn't going to be fun.

Liam came down with the medicine and something changed within Emily. Her anger was still there, but it stilled as the woman took a deep breath. It could have been something as simple as she didn't want to yell at Liam - especially since he hadn't done anything wrong. Elyse understood the woman's anger. It was very primal. Someone had hurt her family, and watching her sister like that fueled it. Now calm, the Emily began to talk to her sister, offering comforting words. She forced her sister to look at her. Elyse took a tentative sniff and realized that her scents, still many and changing, weren't swirling so much. It was now tolerable to breathe at least.

"She's got a lot on her mind," Elyse said approaching Liam. Emily's answer about food hadn't been very helpful for him, and it was likely just one too many things for her to think about. "Something Nox would like would be great. According to what Ana told me, he's probably out Noxxing right now. He'll be appreciative of it when he gets back - and I'm sure she is too, she's just distracted. Thanks, Liam."

"He is," Emily said. Elyse looked over saw that the girl was mumbling, but falling asleep. "Nox is out with my husband dealing with the threat. And - yeah - ordering food is so simple, but it's too much for me to handle right now. I'm grateful - really - to all of you. I'm sorry if I haven't shown that yet. I'm Emily - and this is my sister, Rachel."

"I'm Elyse. Trust me - we understand. You're good,"

[Anna]

Anna sat on the other side of the bed from Emily. She spoke comforting words to her sister. Rachel was falling asleep, part of it was probably natural tiredness. The pill couldn't have taken effect yet, but she had responded when Emily had calmed down. Emily had been pissed off, that was certain, and Anna could see why. She had never seen someone as messed up as Rachel had been. Elyse had said there had been a lot of scents. That likely meant she had been feeling a lot of emotions all at once.

Anna didn't speak as Elyse spoke to Liam, she just watched Emily as she spoke softly to her sister and stroked her hair. It was clear Emily cared a great deal for her sister because even as Anna could still see the anger, Emily was using it to fuel her compassion. Still that anger would need some release soon, or she would explode.

Introductions began to happen and Anna piped in after Elyse, ""I'm Anna." The pair would allow Liam to introduce himself He was quite capable. "You're good - we understand family here."

[Legione Sumus]

Liam Wilson

Everyone was on edge. It was a trying time for sure. But now he had his marching orders.

"I think everyone should let her sleep. I'll call hayden and get some food delivered. But we should do it all upstairs."

He doubted they'd listen to him, but someone had to tell them they were making things more complicated with all the people here. "And you could probably use a drink. It's a good thing I'm calling a bar tender."

Liam didn't wait for anyone to follow but he pulled out his wallet and texted Hayden.

Probably already heard. Nox is off saving someone else. We have another emotion girl here and her sister. Elyse says you should come over. I'm ordering food. But drinks would nice and ya know the talking."

Liam did the rest of his marching orders. Ordered some grilled chicken with roasted root vegetables and sauteed spinach and roasted garlic. It also came with a couple loaves of bread and rice.

[Emily Shale-Vanders]

Emily nodded at Liam’s suggestion. There was nothing she could do here. Nothing any of them could do here. Rachel just needed to sleep. After that they’d have to figure things out. The two women in there with her were concerned for her and her sister. That meant a lot to Emily. More than she could express right now.

”Yeah…we should let her sleep. Just…give me a couple of minutes alone…please. Then I’ll come up.”

Emily looked up at them. Elyse looked at her with her golden eyes and then nodded. Anna followed suit. All three of them left with Anna mentioning they’d be on the second floor, and Emily took Rachel’s hand. Rachel looked so peaceful now, a stark contrast to what she had been just moments before. Occasionally, she’d twitch and Emily wondered if she was having dreams. She hoped it wasn’t nightmares.

Emily didn’t speak even though she had so much to say. Now didn’t seem to be the time. Rachel couldn’t hear her anyways. Emily’s anger shifted and she allowed herself to cry before she kissed Rachel’s forehead, whispered ”Love you, sis,” and stood up to head to the second floor.