Levi woke in a strange room. Not that the room was odd, it just wasn't his.

“How'd I get here?”

He tried to sit and wished he hadn't. His head pounded and his stomach heaved, while his side ached like he’d been kicked by a horse.

"Hey, looks like that friend of yours is awake," a voice called. A moment later there was a rapid pounding of feet on hardwood and a door to his left slammed open. Fiery copper hair and a beaming freckled face filled his vision.

"You're awake, finally," Liz cried as she half hugged him half hauled him to a sitting position.

"Urgh!"

The motion was too much for him and he heaved violently. Thankfully nothing came up, though his whole side seized. He fell back, moaning as he clutched his side.

"Woah, Liz, don't kill him. The kid's been through enough don't you think?"

Levi looked up to see Paul just coming in with Alice following.

"Sorry," she said, worry lines wrinkling her brow. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he managed to get out, half gasp half croak. His throat was dry and his tongue felt thick. "Can I get some water?"

While they were waiting for him to recover, they talked about the earlier events, filling him in on what he’d missed.

"That was pretty crazy back there," said Alice, "I was so glad Reggie and Agnes were still alive."

"Wait," said Levi, "Agnes too?"

"Yeah, she was out of town visiting grandkids. Reggie didn’t contact anyone since he didn’t know who he could trust, but since she wasn’t around for all of it, he figured...”

“He figured she wasn’t part of it. Makes sense to me. I wish he’d said something though, we spent all that time thinking he was a traitor. What happened then?”

“They were going round the city doing what they do best. I guess they’d sent out some sort of hunter bat signal and were waiting for backup before they went after the big guy. Turns out they got ahold of Ravea that morning, but they were halfway across town and got ambushed coming to help. They made it though.”

"Yeah," said Paul. "They but they sure cut it close. A minute or two longer and we'd have had it."

Levi was surprised to see Paul looking like his old self, more than he had since the forest.

"You, uh, you look good Paul. Thanks for saving me back there, and you too Liz."

"Yep. Didn't know I had that in me. Turns out I'm part one of them," he said, jerking his head at Liz.

"No, you're not you dummy," Liz said, "Darra are nothing like Guthri. That's like saying you're part frog."

"Wait, what?" Levi was totally confused now.

"Paul’s part Darra," Liz said cheerfully. "That's why he's been moping around ever since the forest. That's why him and Reggie were spending time together. Reggie's part Darra too and just like fire runs in Guthri veins, like dad says, Darkness is part of the Darra. And Reggie says Paul’s got a real strong gift. It’s probably why his adjutor picked him.

"I didn't know that could happen," said Alice.

"Yeah, sometimes. People who have at least some of the right blood sometimes show it. My sister Lila can do crazy things with fire, way more than me."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yeah, but that's you, your dad is a hobgoblin. Neither of Paul's parents are Darra are they?"

Paul shrugged. "Not that I know of. My family isn’t nearly that cool."

"Well it doesn't need to be that close, as long as the line’s pure it could have been someone way back, like your great great grandmother or something.

"It's a good thing too," said Alice. "Otherwise Liz and Levi would be."

"Yeah, I know what I'd be," said Levi. He was ready to move past that topic.

Levi was surprised when Liz didn’t say anything. She seemed distracted, biting her lip and looking at the floor and him in turn, then when he'd look at her she'd look away. Alice must have seen it too.

"Hey, Paul," she said, "Levi must be hungry, he's been out for like a day. Help me find some food okay?"

"Huh, can't you do it yours-ow! Okay, I'm coming."

Paul limped after Alice as she left the room. Did she just kick him?

A moment later it was just Liz and him. She looked more uncomfortable than he'd ever seen her. Way different from her usual confident self.

She kept biting her lip like she did when she was thinking, but now she was shifting from side to side and looking everywhere around the room but at him..

He took a deep breath and said, "Liz, look, I'm sorry."

Just as she said, "look, about what happened."

They both stopped, surprised.

"What do you have to be sorry about?" Liz demanded, "I'm the one who was a jerk, and just cause my dad grounded me."

"Well, you wanted someone to support you, and didn’t. I am so sorry."

"Well you were right. Why are you sorry about that? Surtr was way out of my league. Did you see how long I lasted? Like two seconds. He would have destroyed me if you and Paul hadn’t stepped in. I was so ready to prove myself, even after he raided Taambervol. I really thought I could do it. But you were smart and tried to tell me. And what did I do? I practically chewed your head off. Nope, I've been acting like a spoiled kid and I'm sorry."

Even her apologies were high energy, she spoke with such intensity, the words spilling out one on top of the other. It reminded him of the first time they’d had lunch, how she’d talked the whole time and left him feeling like he’d been hit by a tornado. It made him smile.

"Well?" She looked at him a little crossly, her head cocked to one side. “I’m spilling my guts out and your smiling? That’s not how this is supposed to work.”

He laughed, though it made him wince with pain. "Sorry, I just remembered our first lunch together.”

“Oh yeah. That was fun. HEY, no changing the subject. Are you going to accept my apology?”

“Yeah of course,” he said, thinking back to what Alice had said back in Tsambervol. “But I guess it’s good to know all of you, not just the happy parts.”

"Well," she said, "smiling her most winning smile, "Dad did say us redheads are all fire; that's what makes us so much fun."

"Fun, yeah, right.” Levi wasn’t so sure about that. “I’m just glad you're happy again. I felt awful when I saw how sad you were when you had to leave your home."

She seemed surprised and happy, impulsively throwing herself on him, hugging him so hard he groaned in pain.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot again.”

“No, ugh, no it’s okay.” Then he paused, and on impulse said, "so, I know our last couple dates haven't gone so smoothly." That made her laugh. "But maybe when things settle down we could try another date?"

She became quiet and he worried he'd misread things.

"Even after how horrible I was to you?"

He swung his legs over so he could look her in the eye, surprised at his own boldness. "Of course even then. With all that's happened this year, you're the best part of it by far."

She smiled so brightly she looked like she was glowing. He braced for another hug, not sure he could take it. But instead she leaned over and kissed him fully and soundly.

"It better not be at a bar," she said, winking at him before skipping out the door.

I should’ve done that months ago, he thought, once again breathless.

Paul came back in a moment later with a sandwich on a plate. "So, that must have gone well. Anyway, here's your food, I hope you like PB&J with string cheese. We're at Reggie's place and that's like all they have. His kids must be picky eaters. You okay?”

"Yeah," he said, taking the plate from Paul, "For the first time in a while I think things are finally going well."

###

Not a soul returned to the dark holes and hidden grottos, the lairs where feral babes suckled at their monstrous dam's breast. As spring passed to summer and summer to fall the clans, who’d sent warriors to their master’s call, heard nothing but the wind in the trees. But even the wind carries news and, as winter drew near, the icy winds brought with them rumors; rumors of death. It was said that a world away, in a far away place called New York, demons roamed. Demons tall as trees had killed their master, drinking his blood and feasting on the souls of their warriors. And in the faintest of these rumors, nothing more than a trembling whisper spoken behind closed doors, the name of these monsters was spoken; the hunters.