Session 65 – Five
Hannah
"Alexis!" I lunged forward as my girlfriend collapsed. "What- what's happening?!" I turned her over and there it was. The dark lines of demonic corruption. Again. Fuck, fuck, fuck. My heart raced with panic. I had only just got girlfriends, I couldn't lose one of them now!
"What is this?" Lily appeared much calmer than me, but I knew it was a well-practiced mask. I could see the tremble in her lips and the pinching of her eyes. Her fingers traced along the lines as she whispered to herself.
"I- I think it's demonic corruption. She looked like this right after she got back from finding you the first time."
"I- I see." I could nearly feel the heat pouring off Lily's brain as she worked through things. That clever girl, as Alexis would call her. My tiny girlfriend rolled out of bed and yanked on clothes. "Grab her. We'll take her to Jacque, the temple, fucking Iridatha, whoever can help. I'll rip the teeth out of Lothe's head one by one if this is his fault. Actually-" She paused and a terrifying grin spread across her face. "I might do that just for fun anyway. Don't tell her," She pointed down to our girlfriend, "But Lapazulalei is only partially retired. Sometimes, you just really need a gods killing monster."
I scooped up Alexis and followed Lily into the hallway and across to another room. She banged on the door so hard that I feared it would fly off the hinges.
Jacque pulled open the door, his hair messy and wearing a barely closed robe. Gods willing, there would be no sudden breezes.
"Blondie. Red." He inclined his head by way of greeting. "What can ole Jacque do you for?"
Lily growled, barely keeping a chain on her temper. "Alexis is sick. She collapsed and we're not sure if it's demon corruption or something else."
"Oh, no way! Babe!" He turned and shouted over his shoulder. "Blondie is sick!"
"Blondie? Which Blondie? Jacque, you really need to be more spec- Miss!" Xena came running out of the room, still pulling on a robe and knocked Jacque aside as she rushed over to examine Alexis in my arms. "What happened?"
My head shook sharply. "We don't know exactly. She and I went out for food. We came back with spiced meat and started eating with Lily. She cried out in pain and collapsed. Alexis looked like this after the first time she visited Lily's prison. I think it might be demonic corruption? When she first arrived in Illith Aranor, we found her being attacked by a Sombryr demon, but apparently she didn't ever mention that to either of you!?!" Lily and Xena both shook their heads. "I don't know what to do! I'm so scared. Do we take her to the temple or a wizard or-"
Lily put a gentle hand on my back and I forced myself to take a breath. She moved the hand up to my cheek and wiped away the tears. "Don't worry, we'll figure it out. We won't lose her."
I nodded and forced myself to swallow the knot in my throat. "Yeah- yeah. What are we going to do?"
"First things first. We try healing spells." Xena put her hands on the delicate blonde infernal in my arms and her hands flared with light and magic. We all held our breaths hopefully, but nothing changed.
My ginger girlfriend huffed a bitter snort through her nose. "I wish it was one of us instead. Alexis would know what to do. She knows Illith Aranor better than anyone." She moved over and banged on a third door.
"Awooo!" We heard Cerbe jumping around and barking. Sterling pulled open the door with a yawn and the Hellbeast shot out between her legs. He ran over and started sniffing Alexis with all three noses.
"Oh no. Moira! Put some pants on." Sterling padded over to us on bare feet and put her hand against my girlfriend's forehead. "She's burning up."
I lowered my cheek to Alexis's head and felt the warmth against my skin. "I didn't even realize."
"Shit. Alright. Shit. Fuck!" Lily ran her hands through her hair and I caught them trembling even as she tried to hide it from everyone.
"I can like, commune with the spirits and seek their wisdom." Jacque gestured widely as if wanting to include said spirits in our discussion.
Xena nodded aggressively. "Yes. Yes! They brought me back to life. Surely there is something they can do for the Miss. I will help you Jacque!"
"Far out." He nodded with his whole body and so broadly that he looked like an apple bobbing in water.
"Okay, good. Thank you." I nervously shifted from foot to foot.
"Is she getting too heavy?" Lily put a tender hand on my shoulder.
A humorless chuckle escaped me. "No. No, it's fine. I'm just sick to my stomach with worry."
Moira finally emerged from their room and walked over to stand by her girlfriend. "Shit. Uh... what if Sterling and I go to the Infinite Library and do some research? This nerd has been spending most of her free time there already." She patted Sterling on top of the head who turned and gave her a dirty look.
"She- she wanted to see the library so bad, but we haven't had time with all the bullshit!" Lily doubled over, grabbing her knees and sobbing. "I j-just l-l-love that blonde idiot so fucking much."
"Hey, it's going to be okay." Sterling moved over and rubbed gentle circles on my girlfriend's back. "We'll figure this out. Heck, she's died once already." Lily's head snapped up and she glared. Sterling's hands shot up in an easy now gesture. "Not that we'll let that happen again, of course. It was totally our bad the first time."
"You don't understand." Lily straightened up and angrily wiped away tears with the back of her hand. "If this is a Sombryr portal, then she won't just die. Her soul will be Annihilated to fuel it. There will be nothing to save or resurrect."
"Well, shit." Great, now I was saying it too.