Stars Align

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"Hey, time to wake up over there."

Rivkah looked up from the hand mirror at the man standing across the room from her at an easel. The man nodded at her, pushing up his glasses with paint-covered hands, leaving a drop of red on the bridge of his glasses. "How you feeling?"

Rivkah dropped the mirror on the bed next to her, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. "...Tired," she said, for lack of a better word. A better word might be... distant? Like the feeling you got after a long time spent daydreaming. "What time is it?"

"Nine," Dylan said, his light brown curls falling down between his glasses and his eyes as he turned back to his painting. He blew up at the hair, trying to get it out without using his hands. "See anything?"

Rivkah shook her head. "Jack shit," she said, blinking hard. "Maybe something, but I don't remember it."

"Don't let it discourage you. Probably we haven't found the right medium for you yet," he said, studying his painting. "It's easy to get lost looking, too."

"I know," she muttered, standing up and stumbling as her legs nearly gave way. She felt way too weak after that.

"I was gonna order pizza soon if you want any," Dylan said, putting down his palette on a table near the easel. "You probably shouldn't go out yet like that,"

"Pizza is awesome," Rivkah said, wandering over towards the window and pulling open the blinds. She stared down from Dylan's window on the fifth floor of his apartment complex to the city below. Clubs were starting to light up already, filling up with college kids drinking and dancing away the weekend. Dylan lived in the heart of the 'college' district of the city, near the university campus - the guys who lived there called it Dinkytown.

She heard the sound of running water as Dylan turned the sink on. "You gonna go out and join them?" he asked.

Rivkah shrugged. "Maybe. Why the hell not."

Jesus fuck! She tumbled back out in another alley, not too far from Teuto and the demon. Since when did he know shadowplay?!

She wanted to be pissed, but what the fuck did he think he was going to do with that demon? Rivkah slammed her fist into the wall next to her. Christ.

Rivkah grimaced, pulled out her knife again, and started sneaking back, avoiding the shadows - now that was weird. This whole situation is weird. She didn't want to go back there but fuck, this guy - there was something mad off here.

Rivkah could hear the screaming well enough - she gritted her teeth, creeping forward down the alley she was in until she could barely see what was going on. She pulled back as she scrambled to pull out her phone, cringing at the demon's screams and his chanting.

That shit... it sounded ancient. It felt ancient, and she didn't even feel magic normally, but this spoke to something primal in her soul, and it terrified her. This was ancient, demonic shit, the stuff historians of magic would fucking love to hear if it didn't make them shit their pants. She fumbled with her phone, cursing as she saw it was dead.

She crouched as his chanting reached a climax, and she ducked as she heard a window somewhere above her shatter. The demon's voice had cut off, and Rivkah looked up, hands shaking, not daring to peer out at what was happening.

She saw him take off on a floating surfboard thing and shrinked back against the wall. She waited almost a minute before she dared move, creeping out of her alley and towards where the demon had been.

There was just a scorch mark on the ground now. "Fuck," she whispered, standing over the scorch marks. Of course her phone wouldn't fucking work when she needed it.

This... someone more qualified needed to know about this. But no one would fucking believe it, and she couldn't fucking get any evidence of it.

She quietly unlocked the door to Dylan's apartment and cracked it open, sliding inside and shutting it quietly behind her. She'd given in, finally, when she thought about trying to sleep in the library again. Dylan's couch was better than that, and safer. She could just punch him out when she had to leave tomorrow.

She sat down on the couch and rubbed her face with her hands, her mind racing. And she had things to do tomorrow. No one would believe her, she realized now - everyone at Dick's seemed to like him too much, for some reason everyone else found him likeable. And he even seemed to have Coven connections, so that was out.

So that left her. God only knew what he was doing with magic so powerful it destroyed demons, and she didn't like it. He could be doing some fucked up shit behind his stupid smiles and inane jokes.

Rivkah pressed her hands together in front of her face, thinking. Just her. Her pride was gonna have to sit this one out, she thought, and she grimaced. Maybe it was time for her to reconsider his offer of lessons.

She woke up to the smell of bacon, and Rivkah opened her eyes to see Dylan standing at the kitchenette, his back to her. "Oh man, are you trying to bribe me to stay because that might just work," she muttered, pulling out her cell phone. It was working now. At least it wasn't broken for good last night.

"No, I was hungry. Maybe if you ask real nice I'll let you have some."

"What, is that vegetarian bacon because if so nevermind."

"Shut up, or its the last time I do something nice for you."

She could hear the relief in her voice, and she groaned, rolling off the couch onto the floor. It'd suck telling him she had to roll out again - hell, that he was making her bacon was pretty telling. But there was business to take care of.

She reached under the bed for her notebooks and pulled out her calculus notebook, ripping a page out of the back. Rivkah fumbled around for a pen, finding her red one and scribbling a note down on the page.

"Maybe I should take over the bacon," Rivkah said, folding up the note and shoving it in her pocket.

"Yeah, actually, I don't know what I'm doing," Dylan said, stepping to the side as Rivkah walked up to the stove and cracked her knuckles.

She was in the middle of eating a plate of bacon when her phone beeped in her pocket. Rivkah pulled her phone out and stared at the screen. "Aw fuck."

"What."

"I'm supposed to be at work in fifteen minutes."

"Call in sick?"

"Dylan, sweetie, I'd like to pay tuition this month." She shoved another piece of bacon into her mouth. I'll probably have to stop buying bacon too if I wanna do that.

"Can't do that if you're dead."

Rivkah sighed, walking into his room. "Dylan, if I spent all my life living afraid to die I wouldn't be doing shit." She came out, hopping on one leg as she tried to pull up a new pair of jeans.

"Yeah but most people don't field death threats from the mob."

"Dyl. We need the money. I've spent the last day or so out I can handle a few hours at work."

He eyed the bandages on her hand, before he let out a sigh saying he'd given up. "Yeah. You need to borrow my bike?"

"I'll sprint or something, it's good for me," Rivkah said, grabbing her messenger bag and shoving her feet into her boots. "Seeya."

Rivkah caught a bus and looked down at her phone. So maybe she actually had like an hour til work, whatever. Everything else she said had been true. Including having to pay for tuition. Rivkah scowled - she really would have to sit through work today if she wanted any hope of paying it. At least the mall was a bit too public for any more murders.

But first, she had a message to get to Dick.

When she arrived at his place, a young woman stood behind the bar instead of Dick. Made things a little more awkward, but whatever. Rivkah sighed, pulled the note from her pocket, and handed it to the young woman. "Get this to - hold on, you got a pen?" She folded the note in half and wrote "Toodles" on it. "Get this to Teuto next time he comes by, or tell Dick to give it to him, or - whatever, yeah." I look like a fangiiiiiiirl.

Time to retreat before it got too awkward. She waved to the girl, awkwardly backing out of the restaurant and making her way to the mall.

She arrived at work with about ten minutes to spare, just enough time to get another set of store shoes and lay on a magic sight spell. Maybe being a target for the mob will make this shift less boring.

"Yeah, sure thing," she said. "What can I get for you?"

The chick was a pain in the ass, and with that annoying voice Rivkah struggled to keep her patience. God this is taking forever.

She was so used to work feeling like forever that she didn't realize at first that this really was taking forever. As in, time was slowing down around them. Her coworker, engaged with another customer, had started moving at a snail's crawl while the girl she was working with kept bitching at her, utterly oblivious.

It put Rivkah on edge, and she kept an eye out around the shop for the source of this while trying to keep the customer busy. When finally the girl left the shop, Rivkah let out a sigh and rested her arms on the counter, to see time had gone back to normal in the shop.

She scanned the shop suspiciously and the mall outside. The hell was that...?

The rest of the workday was full of such bizarre, rampant idiocy - small spells designed to annoy her more than harm her, like fucking up storage so she had to keep organizing their stock if she wanted to find anything. Someone was fucking with her, not like it was hard to figure out who that someone was.

Still, for all this magic either someone was nearby watching her or someone had found a focus to use on her. Please not that note, that'd be way too embarrassing.

When her shift was finally fucking over she left and made a beeline for the food court. She was fucking hungry, and if they wanted to jump her in the middle of a mall food court props to them. Unless they'd decided to irritate her to death.

She checked her phone when she found a seat to see Dylan had been texting. Seems like the Coven was on high alert and he wanted her home. Yeah last time I did that I brought my trouble in with me. No, she wanna gonna stay right here.

She crossed her legs and began eating her takeout, scanning the food court.

Her hand shot down to swat his away, and she turned to watch him go, her eyes narrowed. There he is.

His features were too unnatural, his words were too old for his body, and he called her a mage like someone who wasn't. Don't tell me this is another fucking demon.

She rolled her eyes and returned to her seat, grabbing her soda and slurping from it. "My cooch is my business," she said, "you know, you might pick up more chicks if your modus operandi wasn't just sexual assault. And if you weren't, y'know, twelve."

She raised an eyebrow at him as she finished her soda. "No you won't," she said, shaking her head. For all she knew he was the vanguard. He could be unbound. Like the one last night. She didn't think that was a thing that happened, but what the hell.

"Begin their 'assault,' what the fuck," she muttered, crushing her cup in her hand. "Why do they even care so much?" And if they were going to attack anyway, was there any point in staying in the mall? All that did was put everyone else here under fire.

Rivkah stood up as he vanished, glancing around to see the mist seeping through the mall. Jesus. They meant business this time. Guess they got pissed I avoided them once.

She threw her soda cup in the trash as she went for the wall, eyeing the mist. This would be tricky. If she wasn't careful where she popped out she could walk straight into mist or someone else.

Rivkah cracked her knuckles and slid around the corner, shadowwalking up a floor to avoid a patch of mist.

She'd kinda figured that's what they were doing. "Go hard or go home," she muttered, pulling out her phone on the off chance it was working. Nope. Zero bars. Text might go through if she was lucky.

She blinked and looked up at him again in surprise. A headhunter? She'd heard of them, and not any good things. But what was concerning her more (at the moment at least) was this demon.

"You seem pretty damn invested," she said, deciding to risk it by taking his advice, heading left.

Last time she was listening to him. She took off running, flying down the escalator to the food court below.

If it was true they made a perimeter (which she figured she could believe) there was no getting out. She was gonna have to make a stand at some point. Rivkah grinned. She had a plan, but she needed to find a spot she could defend for long enough...

She grimaced, looking around and seeing something called a General Nutrition Center in the mall. It had an entrance at least, and a lot of space. Excellent.

"Never tried," she said. "Know the theory." She needed time, so she might have to wait and hide for a bit. She twitched as she realized who she was talking to. "Why are you still here?"

She started across the food court, making her way to the GNC. Theoretically she should be able to meld in the shadows and just stay there. She touched the wall, took a breath, and muttered a different, halting incantation.

She almost immediately shot out, but pulled herself back in the shadows. Everything looked hazy from inside, claustrophobic even, and her body and mind seemed to reject it. This isn't gonna last.