End of Watch

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Judas Carmichael hated rain. He also hated the orc that stood in groups across the street from him. It didn't help that his partner belonged to the same social class as they did. It also didn't help that the orc group hated his partner. 
They were throwing up gang signs behind the other man's back, pretending to shoot at him and it wasn't the first or the last time they would do it. 
"Hey, Ruvik!" He barked, finally tired of standing in one place while the other man decided whether he wanted an orc burger or a bronto thigh. Both smelled like death. "Today, please! Geez, I swear four elves have died in the time it's taking you to decide on that garbage."

"I doubt it was her he was talking about. I've read the story, dude. I know what the dark lord makes his wands out of." Judas got to his feet, once again spoiling for a fight. "Humans. You and I both saw the one in the book store. We have a pretty goddamn good idea of what he likes!"

“Seems he’s really not a fan of inter racial mixing. He might kill your elf now he knows you’ve been ducking her.” Ruvik sneered, for once simply to be cruel.

It was Judas' turn to throw a punch. This one landed right on Ruvik's nose. "Least yours will go first." He hissed, shoving the other man aside. "I've gotta go before they get suspicious."

“Maybe I’ll kill yours myself when I go to get Molly.” Ruvik sneered, again simply wanting the other man to hurt. “She was a useless little princess anyway!” He called after him as he wipes the blood that dropped from his nose.

"You know if you leave they're going to fire you. You don't walk away from something like this, Ru." Judas muttered, letting the door slam behind him. 

It took Molly a while to realize where she was. She'd woken up lying in a pile of snow wearing little more than Ruvik's t-shirt. Finally it dawned on her and she was able to piece it together. 
The zoo was everything she'd remembered from her childhood, she hated it as much now as then. It had been in disrepair even in operation. Most of the animals had starved to death. She could almost see their ghosts pacing the cages, though most of the cages stood empty and frozen. What was going on in this place?

Viola had been here much longer, in a cage that still held the bones of a long since decayed lioness. She had tried escape, but apparently her mother had anticipated this. The younger elf was suffering several injuries, all inflicted by her own mother under the approval Of kandomere.

Molly's feet were on fire as she walked, looking carefully into each cage. Every one brought with it the memory of an animal and a trip with her father. She'd tried telling him that the poor creatures were suffering but he'd been lost in his own world. It seemed that he too had been looking for something or protecting her from that something. 
She stopped when she came to the water, remembering that even then it had glowed the strange icy color it was now. Her father had lost his mind when she'd tried to touch it. He'd never struck her before that day or since but she'd never forgotten it. What was so bad about the water? Why had it scared him so much?

Celia felt Molly’s presence the second the third bright entered the zoo. She had been inside Viola’s cage, a hand over the younger elf’s mouth to instantly muffle the screams she was eliciting from the girl. Celia smiled, thinking she could finally give Kandomere everything that would make him happy.
“You make a sound while I am gone, and I will make you watch as i flay her alive.”

The temptation was too great, Molly leaned over the water her fingers brushing the surface of the glowing water. She no longer felt cold. A scrape that ran along her wrist to elbow was healed in a moment. She found herself unable to remove her fingers from the pool. This was the magick she swore she didn't believe in.

“That doesn’t belong to you.” Celia warned, her voice icy cold as she seemed to appear behind Molly without making a sound.

Molly turned quickly, nearly tumbling over. "What is this? What are you doing here?"

“You think you can ask me questions?” Celia sneered before her hand snapped out, the back of it catching Molly roughly against her cheekbone.

Molly didn't cry out in pain as she might have thought. Instead, she got angry. "Yes. I think I can." She muttered, finally yanking her hand out of the water.

“My last toy gave out on me. I have time to kill until she’s ready to go again.” Celia purred. “Think you can last longer than she can?”

"You're crazy." Molly hissed, shaking her head. "We went through this the last time you wanted to play. I'm not going to lower myself to your level."

Celia smiled, glancing down at the wand in her fingers. “I think maybe the dark lord would be most thankful if I have him another wand.” She mused, thoughbher dark smile made the statement an obvious threat. “There is nothing here, so I can only summarise that you came here with the intention of stealing the dark lord’s pet, and my plaything.”

"So she is here." Molly said, with a triumphant smile. "How very interesting. Would the water tell me where? Is that why you didn't want me to touch it?"

Celia smiled, though it gave little away. “You think you can save her?” She purred. “Why you, and not the human she whored herself out to?”

"Why should he waste time on you?" Molly asked, shaking her head. "He's busy trying to save the world from the dark lord. Who obviously isn't worried too much about you." The young woman tried to sound brave but her teeth were chattering. She wasn't too believable in nothing but an orc's t-shirt.

Celia smiled again. “Such a human sentiment. Why should he worry about me? I am doing just as he asked. The elf will be dead, and soon you will be too. I’ll have given the dark lord everything he desires.” She replied, finally taking a moment to look the shivering human over. “You smell like orc. It really is vile.”

Molly slapped the dark haired woman. She wasn't prone to anger. Or she hadn't been in her father's little bookstore. "Are elves really any better?" She hissed. 

The old orc woman looked up as the door to her shop opened. "I've been wondering when you would show up, Jerak." She said softly. "Does he know you've come?"

Celia could taste the faint copper tang of blood in her mouth as she turned her face back to Molly, slowly sliding her tongue against her lip and smiling at the realisation that this weak little bright had drawn blood. “If you have to ask that, perhaps you haven’t been taught correctly.” She purred, the heel of her hand slamming into Molly’s solar plexus with enough force to make even an orc want to throw up.

“Why does everyone keep calling me that?” Ruvik muttered as he ran his fingers over his head, a nervous habit he didn’t even know he had. “I want to know why you told the human girl, Molly, the things you did.”

Molly groaned, falling to her knees. She couldn't catch her breath. Her vision swam and she stayed like that for a long moment her hands on the ground in front of her. 

"I recognized her. She carried the soul of the milk maid. The farm girl you fell in love with all those years ago the last time the dark lord tried to bring the world under his heel." The old woman told Ruvik. She spoke as if it were a simple thing, as if he needed no explanation.

“What? No more false bravado?” Celia sneered, slamming a foot into Molly’s ribs. 

Ruvik was staring at the old woman like she truly was crazy. “Souls don’t just come back. We live, we die. That’s it.”

Molly cried out in pain, rolling onto her side. For a moment she went dark and her mind sent her back to a time she didn't remember being in. 
She and her orc were walking on a dirt road, holding hands. They were laughing and teasing one another. This is why she loved him. It was so easy to. 
It was in that moment she realized something that made things so much worse. She loved Ruvik and she was never going to see him again.

"And you are certain about that?" The old woman asked him.

As Molly realised her feelings for the orc, Celia proved she wasn’t nearly through. The elf dragged her human victim by her silken hair until they were close to one of the empty cages. There she hoisted Molly up and slammed her head into the iron bars. “Don’t fade on me now, human. Don’t you want to prove you can last longer than my elf pet did?”

“Yes.” Ruvik replied simply. “If souls were free to do as they chose, civilisation wouldn’t be making the same countless mistakes over and over.”

Molly screamed in rage, her foot slamming into the other woman's chest. She loved Ruvik. She had to survive long enough to tell him. 

The old woman let out a cackling laughter. "Listen to you. You sound like we all wake up perfect. That is talk for the dark one. He can't wrap his mind around talk that no one is perfect. He believes that magick makes elves better than everyone else. That it makes them unable to fail. No one is infalable. No matter how long they live."

Though it hurt like hell, Celia smiled as she stumbled back a few steps. She seemed to smile a lot at the wrong times, knowing it unnerved people. “I know that look.” She remarked as she caught her breath. “He isn’t coming for you, no one cares what happens to you.”

“And let me guess, you think I need to be the one to prove to that asshole just how imperfect he actually is?” Ruvik asked with a snort.

"Speak for yourself, sweetie." Molly snarled, blood dripping past her lips. She kicked Celia again, hearing a loud snap on the other woman's ribcage.

"Not exactly." The old woman said sadly. "You need to be the one to kill him. To end his life once and for all. He can't come. Back, Jerak. Ever."

Celia felt the pain and breathed it in. She had had worse. Kandomere himself had caused so, so much worse. “You’re here, looking for someone who thinks nothing of you, while my lord is out there finishing off your precious boyfriend. You think you would have made it this far otherwise?”

“Let’s say I buy into all this... Kandomere has a wand, he had the brights. Just how do I stop that kind of power?” Ruvik asked as he folded strong arms across his powerful chest.