E N C H A N T
The relationships that the guarded families had with their familiars was, and would always be, a complicated one. For some, like Virgil and Nissa, they only united quite late on the path of life, and had much to learn in the way of catching up to the magic that bound them. For others, like the Belmont twins and Raj, he had been present for the entire time that they had been alive, and he would continue to be where they were, when they were, for as long as they were. The complication was that, despite having raised them alongside their family (or, what was left of it), he wasn't one
of them, and there were times where tempers would flare and things would be said that couldn't be unsaid. Raj was used to it. For Virgil, he was dealing with
two siblings who shot daggers at eachother with their words; at least for Raj, it was only Libby, and it was really only when he spotlighted her pragmatism for cruelty. In stark contrast, Laz had always been the bleeding heart type, and on occasion, it was his downfall. This was one such occasion.
Much like the conflict between Evan and Severin that had begun on a debate about what was an acceptable loss and ended with a knife and a swift kick off of a rooftop, so Raj and Libby now saw themselves at odds - but not with eachother; with
Laszlo. This had never happened before, and honestly, though he had faith in the man's strength, if he were a betting man, he would bet on Libby in a fight.
"Get out of the way, Laz," Raj commanded, his voice clear against the downpour. They were all outside, with Laz standing in front of he and Libby. It was impossibly dark, and they were all illuminated in a ghostly fashion by a flare that Libby had lit and thrown aside to mark the point they needed to be standing at when the building went up. It was
pouring rain, and though Raj tried his best to ignore it, the cold droplets felt like pellets smacking his face.
"I can't let you do this," Laz said, shaking his head. He had to shout over the rumbling thunder to make himself heard. "Libby??" he called, trying to appeal to his sister. "Please, I know you know this is wrong," he said.
"No, Laszlo, what's
wrong is that you are standing in front of me blocking my way rather than preparing to breach at my side," she said, her jaw set. She was so much more composed than her brother was; one had to wonder if the gods had given him
all the feeling and her none.
"They're
kids, Lib!" he yelled, raising his arms. Had everyone lost their fucking mind? "Raj! Raj, come on, you know - you
know this is wrong, that we can't just - we can't DO this!" he shouted, stepping forward and trying to reason with the dog. Raj saw Libby out of the corner of his eye, and the way she looked at him was as good as an unspoken command - as soon as Laz was within grabbing distance, Raj
grappled the lesser Belmont twin, taking him down to the ground in an inelegant move. They landed with Raj on top of him, pushing Laz face down into the water and mud and pebbles that had composed the joke of a road that lead to the old church.
"Just hold him while I handle this," Libby commanded. Her eyes lingered on her brother's thrashing (barely) form for a moment. She looked like she wanted to say something, but then, she always did. She nodded to Raj again, and then turned and began walking toward the dilapidated building. There were holes in it, but it still offered some shelter to whatever was inside - better than what the three of them were working with, at any rate.
Laz struggled beneath Raj; he had about two inches on the dog, but it didn't matter. Raj's entire life had been dedicated to protecting them, and what he was doing right now was protecting this idiot boy from himself. Laz didn't have a chance in
hell of getting out from under the death grip Raj had him in, and he knew it. He yelled into the ground in frustration, but received a knee for his action.
"They're
not children, Laz, do you understand me? And even if - even IF - they were, they are
dangerous. And right now,
you are signaling to them
all that we are here, and your sister is going - stop STRUGGLING - that your sister is going into that building
alone. Is that what you want? Do you want them to know she's coming?" he demanded.
"They
are!" he insisted.
"Ah, this fucking magic," Raj growled. "Maybe if I hit you hard enough, you'll understand. I pray your sister breaks this bullshit enchantment when she destroys them, because I cannot handle you and the supreme guilt that you will try to inflict upon us for doing what we are
made to do." He drove an elbow into Laz for good measure, ignoring the muffled cry as Laz buried his face into the dirt.
Libby stood at the steps of the church, and from inside, she heard soft singing. She looked over her shoulder at Raj, and their eyes met. He nodded. He understood. If she didn't come back out of that building, he would have to finish it. The Black Dogs were not and had never been susceptible to any sort of enchantments or other magics - not fae, not creature. Clearly, the twins were not afforded that luxury, with Laszlo already having been bewitched by the creatures - because that's what they
were, not
children. Normally it would never have bothered him to see the twins hesitate to harm a child, but in this instance, in this one very specific situation, Raj was the first to vote that they kill the little bastards.
There was a loud crack, and for a moment, Raj thought that the church had been hit by lightning. But - no, it was
magic being loosed. He heard yelling from inside, recognized Libby's voice, and realized that she must've succeeded. It was a doozy of a spell; certainly when she came out of those doors, she'd be worse for wear. All at once, the light stopped, and everything was still. Laz had stopped freaking out beneath him, and he let up on his grip just enough to test the man's reaction. Laz not immediately jumping up and running into the building was a good sign, and so experimentally, Raj drew his knee from the man's spine, giving him more range of motion.
Libby must've come back out by then, and she looked like she'd spent whatever was left of her vigor on the spell she'd recited inside to flush those little shits back to wherever they'd come from, because she just held up her hand as her brother attempted to get up and apologize. "Raj, you drive. I'm going to pass out as soon as my ass hits that seat," she informed him, fatigue - and something else - in her voice. He observed bruises on her arms in the shape of small hands and grimaced.
"Get in the car," Raj said, jerking his head to Laszlo. His voice was tired, but for a different reason.
He walked to the road flare and grabbed it, throwing it directly into the church, before turning towards the car. "It'll burn eventually," he muttered. He nearly
shat himself, running straight into Libby, who hadn't gotten in the car and had instead circled back to see the job to its end. "Christ on a fucking cross, Libertine!" he breathed. "It'll burn, don't worry. Get in the car."
"No, I want to
see it finished" Libby said. "Those fucking hellspawn give me the creeps, and I don't want them coming back. They almost got me," she admitted, and Raj recognized finally what he'd seen on her face when she'd come out.
Fear. She whispered something, a strange dancing motion made my her fingers into her palm. This time, lightning actually
did strike the building. She looked at Raj. "That should do it. Now I'm
really spent," she informed him. "Let's go."
"Are you good?" he asked, but he dutifully followed her to the car, where he opened the door for her automatically. She looked at it, then at him, and shook her head at his nature to be polite, even when they were literally fighting the denizens of some other realm.
"Right as rain," she said.