Disclaimers: None, they're mine, all mine!
Warnings: Violence and such and if I've written it right, drama.
Thanks: To Helene for once again giving proper sacrifice to the grammar and spelling gods for me.
If you read me, feed me boudicax@yahoo.com
Olli slowly opened her eyes, trying to take in her surroundings. Thankfully, it was dark in the stone room she was being kept so she wouldn’t have to subject her battered head to light. She could feel her left eye was almost swollen shut and she imagined the other didn’t look much better. Judas had taken great care in making her feel at home after he had her brought down here and shackled to the wall.
When Olli first awoke in these surroundings, she felt her hold on sanity slip. She immediately flashed back to her time of enslavement and it took three demons to hold her down, even with the collar. Olli craned her neck against the object feeling the steel edge of it bite her skin. She remembered the first time Judas had so lovingly bestowed the little gem upon her. He had decided that she was getting a little too strong for her own good and had the thing made for her. While she wore it, all of her irregular strength was suppressed and she was no stronger than an average human.
For the first time in a long time, Olli was completely helpless. What made it worse was she knew Ilona was upstairs with Judas and he was doing only God knew what to her. Olli kept trying to tell herself that he obviously needed the little girl for something and that he would only be hurting himself if her hurt her, but that reasoning only held water for so long. Eventually his true nature would get the best of him and he would do something that, if given the chance, Olli would make him regret.
The Halfling heard something stir in the shadows and held her breath, waiting to see what was coming next. She inhaled as deeply as possible, hoping to pick up some type of scent. A familiar smell met her nostrils, “You can come out,” she rumbled. There was another shuffling sound and then a single shadow, darker than the rest, moved closer to her. “What are you doing here?”
“I tried to help,” said the shadow, “But they were too fast…”
“Gus…it’s alright. Do they know you’re here?”
“No ma’am, I’ve been hiding since we got here.”
“Good...stay out of site for as long as you can.”
“I’ve also been listening,” said Gus scooting a little closer. “I know what he’s planning…and…”
“I know, it doesn’t look that good for Ilona…”
“No, and even worse for you,” interrupted the young vampire.
“Listen, I know that our people are on the way, and they will find us, but until that happens we’re alone and I need your help if we’re going to give them every advantage.”
Olli heard the vampire take a deep breath.
“I will do anything to help, I swear it,” said Gus with more that a hint of resolution in his voice.
“Very good, now answer a question for me.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“First, don’t call me ma’am, call me Olli, and second, when were you turned?”
Gus was surprised at the question. “Since the time of Roman rule,” he answered, unsure.
“When did you last feed?” asked Olli with worry.
Gus thought, “Almost two days ago.” As the realization hit the young vampire, he began to pay more attention to his hunger. He had suppressed it until now, but having it acknowledged only made him more acutely aware of exactly how much Olli was bleeding. The copper smell began to caress his tongue and work its way through his body.
“I know you’re hungry,” said Olli softening her voice. “I promise to give you what you want, but you have to make me a promise in return.”
“Anything,” breathed the bloodthirsty vampire.
########################
“She’s gone!” exclaimed Matty in fear.
“Who?” asked Aphrodite.
“Olli, I can’t feel her anymore. Usually I have some connection, some hint of her but there’s nothing there.” Matty was starting to panic.
“Is it possible she’s just unconscious?” asked the Watcher.
“No, even then there would still be something,” said Lillith interrupting the conversation.
“This isn’t good,” said Matty on the verge of tears. “Even when she was gone for all that time I could still sense her. Now there’s nothing.”
Aphrodite wrapped the distraught woman in her arms, “We’ll find her honey.”
“What’s going on?” asked Mother Elizabeth seating herself next to them on the plane.
Lillith almost swallowed her tongue when she turned to look at the nun. Instead of the usual habit, Elizabeth was wearing camouflage pants with a black t-shirt and had her hair pulled back into a French braid. “You look…different,” said the Queen.
Elizabeth smirked, “I wasn’t always a nun.”
“I see that,” purred Lillith. “If I had known what you were hiding under that habit…”
“Watch yourself,” warned the Mother.
Lillith put up her hands in surrender. “If only your sexuality were as fluid as your robes.”
Elizabeth turned from the vampire with a smile only to set her eyes upon a distraught Matty. “What’s wrong my child?”
“I can’t sense Olli anymore…she’s… gone,” Matty answered in tears.
Elizabeth’s face fell at the news. They were relying on Matty’s connection to help them find Olli once they got where they were going. “I’ll talk to Clark. We’ll have to come up with another way to track her in the catacombs.” With that, the Mother made her way towards the rear of the plane.
After watching the nun go, Lillith turned back to the Watcher and the woman in her arms. “Don’t worry Chosen, Augustus will take care of your Halfling.”
“How do you know that? He’s only a boy himself,” said Matty trying to calm down.
“He is more than a boy Chosen, and he has been around for many years. I trust him more than anyone else in the world,” said the Queen with a genuine smile.
“Why?” asked Matty sitting up and wiping her face on her sleeve.
“Because he loves you and Ilona as I do.”
“Uh…Matty?”
The trio looked up to find Joseph standing next to them. “What do you need Joe?” Matty asked.
“It’s more about what you need really. I think I have a way that we can track Olli in the catacombs,” said the man with a smile.
######################
Augustus sat hidden in the shadows watching Olli’s body contort in pain. He was still shaking from the powerful rush he’d received hours ago. He had seen this ritual done in the coven but had never taken part in it before. Olli slumped against her chains again, gasping for air. Gus slowly moved toward her and lifted her head. The Halfling’s color was improving but he was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to gain enough strength before Judas came for her.
“You mustn’t fight it Olli. It will hurt less if you try to relax.”
“How much longer?” Olli grunted out.
“Only a few more hours before they come for you, based on what I’ve been hearing, the Spear of Destiny had made its appearance.”
Olli’s body arched again against the chains that held her in place. Augustus could see her muscles straining against the bonds and placed a hand on her shoulder. “My mother says you are the greatest warrior she has ever known,” he whispered, “and now the same is true for me.”
##########################
“Explain to me how this works again,” said Matty donning her flack jacket.
“Simple,” said Joseph. “I uplink a connection to one of our satellites via the laptop here. Then I tweak the signal a little bit with the software I wrote and wallah. I call it heat seeking x-ray.”
“Why?” asked Elizabeth.
“Because it’s kind of like and x-ray that can see through several layers of earth over a five mile radius all while zeroing in on heat signatures.”
“So theoretically we can sit right here in the front of the catacombs and find Olli without having to search around aimlessly?” asked Matty.
“Yeah, but it won’t be that easy. It’s still going to take some time to narrow down a general area for you to start looking.” Joseph returned to his computer and connected a couple of more cables. He tapped his com device, “Base to Clark, come in.”
“Clark here,” came the gruff man’s voice over the group’s earpieces.
“Is the dish set up yet?”
“Affirmative, we just completed construction.”
“Good, base out.”
Joseph cracked his knuckles and set to typing. The group around him continued checking gear and weapons as they got into their body armor. By the time they had all suited up the hacker was done with his link. “Okay, I linked a couple of these hand held units to my signal so you can see what I see. The rest of you will have to take your direction from me. Your goggles have all been modulated to read heat as well as give you night vision so you will go in anything but blind.”
“Thanks Joe” said Matty patting him on the back. “Remind me when this is over how much of a genius you are okay. That way I can show proper homage.”
“You can count on that my lady,” said Joseph with a smile. “Good luck, and let me know if there’s anything you need from my end.”
Lillith sauntered up to the two as they talked and waited impatiently for them to finish. “If you’re done setting up your toys I think we should be going. That toad isn’t going to wait much longer before he tries to take over the world.”
“Okay, where’s the first place we start?” asked Matty.
##########################
They had been searching for a little over two hours when they finally came upon a heat signature that was viable enough to investigate.
“I’m showing a massive collection about fifteen meters below your current location,” said Joe over the com link.
“Okay, we’ll check it out,” answered Matty. The woman swung her hand held around and by chance caught a massive movement of green and blue on the view screen. “What was that?”
“What?” asked Joe.
“That,” said Matty training the hand held on the spot where Lillith was standing with a group of her people.
“Those are the vampires. They have no body heat to register so they show up as cool colors.” Joseph watched his monitor as Matty moved, turning the hand held toward Elizabeth, Clark, and the other humans. “See, humans equals heat, vampires equal cold blooded.”
“I think I require a snack,” Lillith announced over the com.
“Sorry your highness,” mumbled Joseph.
“I’m picking up the signal below us. Joe, can you widen your field and see if there’s anything else around it,” asked Matty.
“Yeah, just a sec.” Everyone heard tapping over the com link. “Okay, try that.”
Matty took another look at the device with Clark over her shoulder. “It looks like we’re above a huge cavern,” said Clark pointing to the screen. “And there, smaller caverns surrounding it with a couple of isolated signatures in them. That one looks awfully small…”
“It must be Ilona!” Matty almost yelled.
“Yeah, and one of the others is probably Olli,” said Mother Elizabeth.
“How do we get down there?” Matty asked.
“We blast our way,” said Shad, Misha, and Abe in unison. “If we set a big enough charge…” began Shad. “Then we can blow most of the ceiling in on them…” continued Abe. “Giving us the element of surprise while taking out most of their forces,” finished Misha.
Clark looked to Matty, “We have plenty of rope for all of use to repel down. We can send groups at a time so they don’t pick us off one by one.” The soldier shook his head, “But I don’t think it will work.”
“Why not?” asked Lillith.
“Because this stuff is almost solid rock,” he answered stomping his boot. “In order to set the charges we would have to drill them down to about two meters. I can almost guarantee that they’ll hear us.”
“We need a diversion. Joe, you with us?” said Matty into her com.
“Til the end Matty,” said the hacker, keys clacking in the background.
“Find me another way into that cavern, preferably hidden.”
“Right ‘o.”
“What are you planning?” Rachel asked coming to stand with the group.
“If we can find another way in there then we can keep them occupied until the charges are set and detonated.” The petite mother began stripping off some of her weapons.
“You can’t seriously be thinking that you’re going in there alone,” Mother Elizabeth objected.
Matty nodded once, “I sure as hell am going in there, but I won’t be alone.” She then turned and gestured to Lillith and Rachel, “You two are coming with me.”
“Won’t this be fun,” mumbled the Queen.
“I thought you would be chomping at the bit for a chance to play with Judas,” said Rachel with a smirk.
“I try not to play with a potential meal. Why do you think I’ve left you alone for all this time?” Lillith smirked back at the scout as the woman’s face fell slightly.
“Matty, I’ve got something for ya,” said Joseph over the com.
“Go ahead,” said Matty, turning her attention to him.
“About eight meters from where you are, there’s a small passage that leads down and to the left of the main chamber.”
“Stand by,” said Rachel as she moved to look for a door to the passage. Running her hand along one of the walls she came in contact with a round piece of iron that looked like it would crumble if touched. She chanced it, and with a little force the iron, shifted and she heard a latch give way. “Great, now all I have to do is put on about a hundred pounds so I can open it.”
“Need a hand?” asked Rio in his deep baritone.
“Have at it big guy,” Rachel said as she stepped aside. Rio wrapped on meaty hand around the knob and pulled. The muscles in his arms and shoulders bulged for a second and then with a loud grinding noise the door pulled free. He turned around to see everyone eyeing him, “What?”
“Could you have done that just a little louder? I don’t think they heard you up on the street,” said Lillith.
“Well they know someone’s here. Let’s let them know it’s us three before they come looking,” Matty said walking through the door. Lillith and Rachel followed her cautiously, all three women hyper aware of their surroundings.
“How long do you think it will take them to come looking for us?” whispered Rachel. As the final word left her mouth, the sounds of running could be heard coming down the tunnel they were in.
“About that long,” said Matty in answer to her question.
The trio stopped and pressed themselves along the sides of the tunnel waiting to see how many demons they were up against. They didn’t have to wait long, for a couple of seconds later there were at least five demons coming around a bend in the tunnel ahead of them.
“How do you want to play this Chosen?” asked the Queen.
A hardened look fell over Matty’s features, “Take them out.” As Lillith and Rachel began to move, she held out her hand, “Quietly.”
Rachel switched from her side arm to her bow and arrow and then joined Lillith who had proceeded ahead of them. The first demon was taken off guard as the Queen grabbed his arm and spun him around by the head, breaking his neck. The second and third were only slightly more prepared when she grabbed each of them by the neck and slammed them together so hard, Matty could hear bone crunching.
While Lillith was occupied, a demon passed her and was struck in the chest with one of Rachel’s arrows. The scout immediately loosed another one and it imbedded itself into the abdomen of an approaching demon. After dispatching their allotted foe, the vampire and the scout turned to see one more demon had gotten passed them and was headed straight for Matty. Their immediate worry was short lived however, when they saw the petite woman draw a gun from a holster at her back. Two muted shots later and the demon fell where he stood.
“You cheated,” said Rachel eyeing the silencer on Matty’s gun.
“You’re just jealous because you don’t have one,” said Matty pointing to the silencer with a smirk.
The trio continued uninterrupted until they came to the end of the tunnel and a large wooden door. They checked and rechecked weapons before Matty gave the final nod and Lillith threw the door wide, bathing the tunnel in candle light from the cavern. Without thinking, they dispatched the first group of demons they came upon as they made their way into the cavern. A good number of bodies littered the floor before a booming voice echoed from the walls of the cavern.
“Enough!” yelled Judas.
The three women stopped as the demons around them froze. Standing back to back, they scanned the room they were in and realized they had entered toward the front of the cavern next to where Judas had Olli chained up in between two pillars and her daughter sitting on a stone altar.
“How nice of you to join us,” said Judas controlling his anger. “I must admit you have impeccable timing, we were just about to begin.”
“Back them off Judas or we’ll keep going,” said Matty, aware of the close procimity of the demons around them.
“While that could prove to be entertaining, you will undoubtedly run out of ammunition soon…”
“I can see you’re still a pompous wind bag,” interrupted Lillith. “And while they may run out of ammunition, I can go all night long, or have you forgotten?” she finished with a smirk as she connected her fist with the face of a demon that got too close.
“Lillith, my darling! What has it been, at least a hundred years?” Judas almost acted happy to see the vampire Queen.
“At least, only I wish it could have been a hundred more,” answered Lillith with the sweetest smile.
As the two bantered back and forth, Matty focused on the spot next to Judas where her daughter sat. Ilona looked scared to say the least, with large tears welling up in her eyes at the site of her mother. When it looked like the toddler was going to speak Matty held a finger up to her lips to keep her quiet. Pulling her attention away from her daughter, she laid eyes on Olli’s still form. At first, the woman thought the Halfling dead and she knew why she was unable to sense her. Then Olli’s head lolled slightly and she had a flash of her recurring dream.
What light was available to her was from a couple of candles standing nearby. In the dimness, she could just make out another person across the room. This person was chained in a similar fashion; only they dangled freely having lost the ability to stand on their own. They had deep bruises and gashes that covered most of their body and if the stains on the floor around them were any indication, had lost a lot of blood. The person lifted their head and in the flickering candle light Matty was horrified to see that it was Olli. "I'm sorry," her friend said and then her head dropped again.
Fear gripped Matty as she imaged the possibility that the rest of her dream would come to fruition. She made a split second decision that she hoped wouldn’t haunt her if she lived through it. “You know, you’re pretty stupid for someone who’s been around since the beginning of Christianity,” said Matty turning to Judas as the Queen had delivered a particularly scathing retort.
Pulling his attention from Lillith, he asked, “I suppose you think your opinion means something to me?”
“Well I do tend to hold a lot of pull in certain circles,” said Matty.
“Unfortunately for you, you’re in my circle now and there is nothing here that belongs to you.”
“You’re wrong,” said Matty raising her voice. “She,” she said pointing at Olli, “is my Halfling. And she,” she stated pointing to Ilona, “is my daughter. These are both my good friends,” she said gesturing to Lillith and Rachel. “And after I’m done here, you’re going to be my bitch.” As Matty finished her statement, she brought her gun up and fired one shot, taking Judas by surprise. The bullet tore through his shoulder and rocked him back a few steps. This left enough room for Matty to run passed and grab Ilona from the top of the altar.
The three fought their way behind the altar and when they were clear, Lillith flipped the stone slab on its side, blocking them in between the two pillars Olli was chained to. “This will only give us a few moments,” said the Queen as Rachel handed her a couple of guns.
“I’m hoping that’s all we’ll need,” said Matty hugging her daughter. “Ilona honey, you need to sit right next to Lillith and don’t move.” The toddler nodded her head and burrowed down at Lillith’s side. Matty then turned to Olli, but was unable to get any closer due to the demons that were attacking. “I have to get to Olli,” she said tapping Rachel on the shoulder.
The scout nodded, “I’ll cover you but make it quick.”
The two women stood as one and while Rachel fired, Matty ran the few paces back to where Olli was chained. The small woman wrapped her arm around the Halfling and tilted her head up, horrified at what she saw. Olli was pale and looked like she had lost an excessive amount of blood. Numerous bruises and cuts marred her skin, but when Olli opened her eyes, the small amount of hope that Matty had doubled.
“Hold on love, we’re getting you out of here,” Matty said as she pulled on the chains. Nothing was budging so she looked to the wrist shackles to see if she could free Olli’s hands.
“The translation’s wrong,” rasped Olli as she laid her head on Matty’s shoulder. “He translated it wrong. Get Ilona and get out.”
“I am, just as soon as you’re free and we find Gus.” The shackles had no clasp that Matty could tell so she pulled out a pistol and held the muzzle to the chain. “Hold on,” she said and pulled the trigger. The bullet broke through a link and Olli’s arm fell heavily to her side. Matty shifted and fired again at the chain on the other arm. Olli dropped like dead weight to the ground, taking the small woman with her.
Matty grabbed a handful of the back of the Halfling’s shirt and started dragging her back to the others. The effort it took to move Olli’s body almost undid Matty but she struggled through and made it back to collapse against the stone slab next to her daughter.
“Now all we have to do is find Augustus,” said Lillith shooting off a few more rounds.
“Gus?” Ilona asked with a mix of hope and fear.
“He’s hiding, they don’t know he’s here,” grunted Olli.
Lillith looked down to see what shape the warrior was in and froze at the site of her. The Queen grabbed her by the back of her neck and raised her up until they were face to face. For the first time, Matty saw actual fear grace Lillith’s features. “What has he done?” the Queen asked Olli.
“What I asked him too,” Olli responded firmly.
Lillith yanked the steel collar from Olli’s neck and turned her head to find two puncture marks in her skin. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“What I had to,” Olli ground out.
“What’s going on?” Matty asked, taking Ilona into her arms.
Lillith ignored her, “He has never turned anyone before, and for good reason.”
“I’m out,” Rachel said, sinking to her knees next to the others. “Clark. Now would be a good time,” she said yelling into her com.
“He was strong enough,” Olli said.
“Too strong Halfling, you now have my blood running through your veins,” yelled Lillith, shaking Olli. “He is my son!”
An explosion rocked the cavern and Rachel and Matty peered over the stone to see what was going on. The ceiling began to crack and large chunks of rock fell to the floor. A sound like a gigantic snapping twig was heard and then the ceiling fell straight to the bottom of the cavern. Two thirds of Judas forces were caught under the rubble as they fought to get out of the way. Rachel grabbed Matty and pulled her down just as a huge cloud of dust enveloped the entire cavern making everything go black.
##########################
Everything froze for a moment as if suspended in time. The cloud of dust hung in the air maintaining the impenetrable darkness. A single sound began almost too low for the huddled group to hear. Then the noise became familiar as they registered it to be the whir of rope against harness. It was the sound of their backup repelling into the cavern from above. The sound of boots hitting the ground and running, fanning out into the dusty room brought relief to Matty as she crouched behind the stone slab. She could hear orders being issued over her comm. and the words began to penetrate the fog in her brain that threatened to match the thickness of the dust in the air.
“Be sharp, no friendly fire,” came Clark’s voice.
Eerie silence filled the room as everyone waited for…laughter? Matty strained to listen and decided that it was indeed laughter she was hearing. It had started low and grew; building upon itself to the point it was at now. The laugh sent shivers down her spine and made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
Olli reached up a grabbed Matty’s arm, “Leave now, go out the way…” Olli’s plea was drowned out as the laugh's crescendo built to a deafening level.
Matty and Rachel lifted their heads above the stone to find the dust settled and Judas standing just on the other side. “FOOLS!” he yelled. “I promise, you will not survive this.” As he raised his hand, the stone slab was levered from the ground and with a flick of the demon’s finger, it flew to the other side of the cavern and smashed into pieces on impact. The huddled group sat frozen in their exposure having no way to escape.
Judas stared them down as he raised his hand signaling for the rest of his minions to attack. Gunfire rang out through the cavern serving to bring Rachel out of her stupor first. She pulled the knife from its leg sheath and sprung at the demon. He didn’t even bother to look her way as he mentally threw her aside and into a group of demons waiting to pounce. Matty had no time to worry about her friend as Judas reached down and grabbed her by the throat.
Lillith had the presence of mind to grab Ilona from her mother’s arms and quickly tried to crawl out of sight around a pillar. Judas seemed not to notice her as he focused all of his attention on Matty.
“You have caused me more trouble than you are worth,” Judas seethed. “I will take great pleasure in causing you unfathomable pain before I take your soul.”
“Hey Judas!” yelled Olli standing near where Lillith was hiding Ilona.
The demon turned his attention to the Halfling. “You look as if you’re feeling better,” he snarled.
“Someone was kind enough to take off that collar of yours…”
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but if you’ll give me just a moment, I’ll be right with you,” he said gesturing to Matty who was dangling from his grip.
“You might want to take a moment to hear me out; could be worth your time.”
Judas rolled his eyes, “Why would you think that you have anything…” He froze mid sentence spotting the object that Olli held in her hands.
“I have everything. Without this,” she said twirling the Spear of Destiny in her hand, “well you’re just all dressed up with no place to go.” Judas began to lower Matty as he concentrated on the Halfling. Olli laughed, “All this time I was giving you way too much credit. Turns out, you’re just as stupid as the rest of them.”
“The rest of whom?” asked the demon taking a step forward as he turned Matty around in front of him to pin her back to his body.
“All of them, Grigori, the archangels, humans, I laugh now when I remember how afraid I was that you would actually succeed. All this time you were as clueless as the rest of us.” Olli was leaning against one of the pillars now, seeming to have regained a good amount of her strength.
“Do you have a point?” asked Judas looking bored.
Olli laughed, “All that time I spent hanging around in your dungeon helped me figure out what the other parts of the prophecy mean…” The look of shock on her ex master’s face stopped her mid sentence. “You didn’t know about the other passages,” she said laughing again, “This just gets better and better.”
As Matty’s breathing started to level out, she began registering the words that were reaching her ears. She thought back to what Olli had told her only moments ago about the translation being wrong. Had she figured it out and once more was Olli’s version the correct one?
“What makes you think you have all the answers my pet?” asked Judas moving a little closer.
######################
Lillith heard a noise off to her right and turned to see Augustus creeping toward her. “Mother?”
“Augustus!” Lillith gasped as she took the boy into her arms.
“Mother, we have to take Ilona and leave now.”
“We can’t leave without them,” said the Queen looking to Olli and Matty.
“Please mother, there isn’t time…” the boy’s speech was halted by a tremor wracking his body.
“You are still weak,” Lillith said as she wrapped her arms around Ilona and Augustus. “Why did she do this?”
“To save us all,” said Gus and then he lost consciousness.
“Gus?” said Ilona as she touched the young vampire’s face.
“He’ll be fine little one,” said Lillith with a small smile to reassure the toddler then she turned her attention back to Olli and Judas.
########################
Matty thought about what Olli had just told Judas. It was possible, and if she were right, it would keep Ilona out of danger. The only thing they had to do now was convince Judas. “Listen to her,” said Matty from her place of confinement.
“I’ve been listening and so far all it has done has convinced me I should have killed both of you a long time ago.” Judas pressed his palm into his forehead, “When will I learn not to play with my spiritual food?”
“If you don’t want to listen that’s fine, I wasn’t counting on it anyway,” said Olli looking away from Judas to settle her eyes upon Matty.
Matty only saw resolution on her love’s face and didn’t need a psychic link to know what she was about to do. “No Olli, please don’t.”
“I’m sorry little one,” said Olli and then she flipped the spearhead around in her hand and buried the entire blade in her chest.
“No!” screamed Matty trying to go to the other woman. Judas held fast to her waiting to see what would happen. Blood seeped out over the front of Olli’s shirt as she dropped to both of her knees.
A few more seconds of nothing and Judas chuckled, “The phrase ‘too good to be true’ comes to mind right about now.”
########################
Lillith clutched Ilona to her chest as she saw the blade enter Olli’s body. As Judas laughed, she began to hear a low hum in the air and when she listened, she realized that it was coming from Olli. The Halfling wasn’t making the noise; it seemed to be resonating from her body. When the Queen looked closer, she noticed a faint glow coming from the woman as well. Judas was so busy laughing he didn’t notice what was taking place until an arch of blue light erupted from Olli’s body through the spearhead and shot straight into Matty’s chest. “You don’t see that every day,” muttered the Queen.