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."

Viola was looking down into her lap, feeling the weight of those words press down on her. “This was all my fault.” She breathed with a quiet little sniffle. “You told me to wait in the hotel room... I should’ve listened! I just... I never thought Lillian was the one I was supposed to be afraid of!”

“What does that say about you then, princess, if you’re sticking with me?” Darbok breathed, his lips brushing against Molly’s ear as he spoke.

Talon nodded, his smile fading. This is all my fault. All of it. I never should have left you that night. I basically let your mother have you again." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I looked even after I found the note but it was like you had dropped into the void..."

"It says alot about me." Molly purred, turning her head so their lips met. She adored this man on so many levels. She wished she could tell him so but she was terrified to lose him. "You're just jealous." She teased finally, breaking the kiss and kissing his flat nose.

“She left a note?” Viola whispered, lifting her gaze to watch Talon this time. “I had gone back to the house to wait for you. That night we had... I was confused, I didn’t know what the future held, but I hoped it meant I could hold you forever.”

“You’re right...” Darbok breathed, a large hand resting against one of Molly’s breasts as he grinned. “Jealous of everything you are...” he added, twisting with her one fluid movement to have the slender woman on her back on the table he had been sat in front of. “Which makes me wonder... what I have to offer you?” The orc leader breathed as he watched Molly’s face.

"And because I refused your magick.. I ruined everything. I've spent my life fighting it because my father told me to. After my mother and yours...I was sure it was the right thing to do. I'm so sorry, Vi..." Talon's voice broke and he swallowed several times. 

"What do you need to offer me?" Molly asked. Her eyes searched his, wondering why he felt this way. "Darbok..."

“You’re here now, aren’t you?” Viola replied, reaching small, if broken, fingers out to thread gently through his dark hair. “You know my happiest memory? It wasn’t even that night we spent in the hotel... it was the day you picked me up in the middle of that road. You didn’t know who I was, or what had happened... only that I needed your help. You gave me a home without a second thought.”

“You’re a bright, you’re beautiful, and... you are so strong.” Darbok breathed. “You could lead this clan much better than I ever have... how does that make me worthy of you?” He asked, letting out a long sigh before simply laying his head down against her chest.

Talon laughed softly, swallowing again. "You hit your head that night. I saw it. That's all that amounts too." He teased her, finally leaning over and pressing the gentlest of kisses to her forehead. "I love you, little bit. I never stopped."

"I hide in closets. I cry all the time. And worst of all, I talk too much, what's special about that you silly man?" Molly asked, running her fingers over his head. "I love you, Darbok." She breathed, her stomach in knots at the confession.

That simple and chaste kiss was all it took to assure Viola that Talon did indeed love her. She closed her eyes, breathing him in, even if she wasn’t touching him. With the pointed tip of one of her ears missing and now her eyes no longer being bright blue, Viola was looking more human every time her mother got her hands on her. “Lillian called me a home wrecker...” she whispered, as she toyed with the buttons on the front of Talon’s shirt, a nervous distraction. 

“That makes you a silly, naive girl...” Darbok breathed, though he was smiling as he said it. He took her hands from his head and pinned them to the table beside her own head as he once more looked down into her face. “But I’m selfish enough... that I can’t deny that I love you too...” he breathed, closing his lips over her own before she could challenge him to the contrary.

"That's a pot calling the kettle black." Talon said sadly, his smile gone again. "When she showed me the note I died inside. I just gave up. She did everything herself from that moment on. I just existed. I don't really know what went on. I feel like I lost an entire year." 

Molly woke up the next morning in a room much bigger than the one she'd been staying in. She was alone in the bed and it made her chest hurt. 
The night was something special. Darbok had treated her like she was precious. This was far beyond anything even Ruvik had done. This was something deep and truly special.

“You believed... I would just leave a note and disappear?” Viola asked sadly. “She dragged me back to my mother in exchange for magick that would keep you from leaving her.” She added, knowing she shouldn’t blame anyone but Lillian and Celia in all of this.

Darbok had been rather reluctant to leave Molly’s side, kissing her bare shoulder before he left her to sleep. He was now sat amongst the rest of his clan, again assuring them that no one was hunting them down to rip out spines.

Talon cringed, the guilt eating him alive. "I had a run in with her a few months ago. I drained more magic. She said something about the darkness had taken the light. I'm assuming that means the dark lord stole your magick. I have a feeling he didn't do it like I did..."

"You cannot prove that the dark lord hasn't returned. We already catch enough shit from humans. They'll blame us. We'll be lower than fearies now." A leader from another city snapped.

Viola lifted her eyes to meet Talon’s for a brief moment. The colour change was indeed due to her magick being forcibly taken from her. The young elf mutely shook her head as a fat tear rolled down her cheek. Judas had blamed her for the kiss Kandomere stole, she was terrified Talon would blame her too.

“No, I can’t prove that.” Darbom agreed rather calmly. “But can you prove that he has?” He countered. “Where are the strung up bodies, the dead babies, the weeping children lying in the entrails of their parents? We all know the stories, we know what he is capable of, and yet... what have we actually seen?”

"I'm going to kill him." Talon hissed. "I'm going to tear him into tiny pieces and then set them on fire!" His hands shook and his eyes turned red. 

"What did you and the bright see in the church?" Another orc hissed. "An elf trapped everyone inside and set fire to the doorway. He used the word for death on your own man! You said so yourself! Can you imagine if he had gotten out with the wand!"

Viola was quick to shake her head and grasp hold of Talon’s large hands. “Please, I just want to get far away from all of this.” She breathed, her own periwinkle eyes imploring him. “I... I thought...” she suddenly seemed so shy and nervous as she tried to get her words out. “After my father was killed... his house has just been empty, I was scared to go back there. But I thought, maybe... you could move in there with me?”

“But he didn’t.” Darbok replied with a simple shrug, like it was no big deal. “The bright destroyed his wand and crippled his ability to hurt anyone.”

"oh honey...we can't move into elf town..." Her gentle words were enough to wake him up but the crimson didn't go away. "I'm so sorry." 

The first orc slammed a fist on the table hard enough to shake it. "He is still living! He will make another! How can you sit there so calm knowing the truth?!"

Viola’s lower lip trembled, but she was quick to bite down on it, his response making her feel a fool for asking. She wanted to ask why not, but felt she wouldn’t like the answer. “Are you? Really?” She whispered, then seemed to put some physical distance between them. Viola couldn’t go back to the house when she was abducted from, and she didn’t think Talon was going to understand that. 

“Because being rash is what starts a war.” Darbok replied, again remaining rather cool. “Is that what you want, Hobart, all out war?”

"You're pissed that I don't want to move to elf town and make you a beacon for that monster?!" Talon hissed. "Viola seriously?!"

"Fuck yes I want war! It's the only way to protect our people!" Hobart roared. "Screw the elves and certainly screw the humans!"

“You don’t even know who my father was, do you?” Viola shot back. “I hated that house so much growing up, it’s entire purpose was to keep me safe from my mother. You know how many times I was abducted by her in all the years I lived there? That’s right, she only got me when I was stupid enough to leave!” Her chest was heaving now, clearly far more upset than she was letting on. 

“And when he is done with them, you think you will be safe?” Darbok made it sound like a question, but the calm tone of his voice made it quite clear it was a threat.

"Then why are you wanting to move there?!" Talon asked, his own chest heaving now. "Vi, calm down. Stop thinking of that. You're home now. We're done with that darkness. You're safe."

"Which is why we protect our own people. We get the hell out of here and fortify ourselves." Hobart snarled.

“You can’t know that!” Viola shouted as tears streamed down her face.

“So you make the choice to be a coward, that’s it?” Darbok asked, clearly mocking Hobart now.

"Viola...stop..." Talon leaned in close to her and rested his forehead on hers. "Honey...breathe and look at me. I'm here now. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. I'd die before that happened and I'll put up one hell of a fight first. Do you hear me?"

"I'm protecting our clans. You, being our leader, should have that interest in mind more than anyone." Hobart snapped, shoving his glass off the counter. "Do as you wish. Play host to some human.  I won't do it and I won't ask my people to do it while everyone around us dies! We are leaving!"

Viola’s shoulders still shook slightly as she tried her very best to quieten her sobs. She remembered her first few weeks with Talon, how she would wake screaming in the night, and even though he barely knew her, he would come running and sit with his arms around her until she knew she was safe again. “I want to be strong enough for you...” She managed to breathe, touching her lips lightly to Talon’s before he could answer.

Carbon didn’t even get to his feet. He allowed Hobart to turn and walk away for several steps before a single gunshot fired in the otherwise silent room. It had hit the other orc in the back of the knee, exploding out the other side through his knee cap. “I plan to alley with the humans, they breed like rats. The army will be vast, and no match for Kandomere and his fledglings. But of course, by all means go and hide in a hole somewhere, coward.”

"Just be you, little bit. That's all I care about." Talking told her the moment she pulled away before kissing her again. His kiss was not so timid. 

Darbok's words helped him with the orcs but hurt him with the human he'd spent the night with. 
He probably hadn't meant them the way the tiny blonde had heard them when she'd been listening outside the door. But the was how she took them. Molly once again found herself shoving things into a bag and making a run for it. When someone came in to tell Darbok she'd left it had been several hours.

Viola had slid from the bed and settled herself in Talon’s lap as he kissed her. He was strong, and handsome, and even now as he took her breath away, she couldn’t believe he was her’s.

Darbok destroyed the room he was in. Anything he could get his hands on, he tossed at the wall. Anything that could be torn apart, lay in tatters on the ground and finally... he punched the wall until his fist bled. It was something few of the younger orcs had ever seen from their leader, a usually calm and collected man.

"Be careful. You're still covered in wires." Talon breathed, gently stroking her hair. "I missed those nights when we talked. Or even when we just sat and played cards. You were the worst cheater." He laughed.

Molly sat outside the place where her bookstore had been, feeling lost. It was an elven clothing store now and there was nothing left of her old building. Not even the stones. She clung to her bag, hating herself for letting the lot go. Her father would have been ashamed.

Viola grinned, her head resting against Talonks shoulder as she too recalled the memory. “Worst because I was bad it, or worst because I did it at all?” She teased.

“Aren’t you a little close to the elven district?” A haughty looking elf asked as she approached the store, noting Molly sitting there. She didn’t seem to care that the young woman looked distraught, only that she was making the store front look unsightly.

"Worst because you were bad at it." Talking said, getting up and easing her back into the bed. "You tried to be so sneaky but you weren't fooling anyone." 

"Fuck off." Molly hissed, at the woman, in no mood for lip from anyone at that point.

“Fooling you was the farthest thing from my mind back then.” Viola breathed. “Do you have any idea how much self control it took not to just pounce on you any time we were alone together?” She added with a wry grin.

The elf tutted and shook her head. “Get out of here before I call the police!” She huffed. “Your kind make a place look dirty just by breathing!”

"You never even seemed to pay attention to me." Talon said, shaking his head. "I don't believe you ever even noticed I was there."

Molly waved the woman off and headed back toward the human side, unknowingly passing an orc guard who would pass the word along to Darbok.

“I was in love with a man who belonged to someone else, how was I supposed to act?” Viola asked sadly. “The last thing I wanted was to ruin Lillian’s life after she let you bring me into her home. You were both so beautiful... I couldn’t delude myself into thinking you saw me the way you saw her.”

Word would also get back to Kandomere, that the human female who had humiliated him was out wandering the city alone.

"So you went to the house to tell her what?" Talon asked. "Did you actually get to tell her or did she flip out on you before that?"

Kandomere no longer trusted Celia to do his work. He sent Ivy instead.