Jen looked around the cavern. Over the last month Shaela and Arcturo had been making journeys to London to bring people here to safety. They had been able to bring over a hundred people here so far. The cavern was big enough to hold everyone. There were two side caverns with holes in the ground that they used for toilets. On the other side were two more caverns with springs in them. The springs were warm and perfect for bathing. Slifer had been worried about diseases being spread but the water had some sort of healing property. This prevented the spread of disease and even cured those who bathed in the springs. The girl's wounds healed faster than they would have normally.
Jen and Charlene had taken on the responsibility of organizing everybody. They rationed the food they were able to bring back since they had limited funds. Fortunately those that came also offered their own food for the group. This helped and no one was starving but they didn't exactly get full at each meal.
Of course when new people came in they had news. At first there wasn't much that was worth anything to Jen and the girls but then news of the wolves began to filter in. They were controlling territory expanding out from the church which seemed to be their new headquarters. The police were out at night and a few of them had been lost to the wolves.
Shaela kept training them so they would be able to fight when they needed to. Some of the people who came wanted to learn what they could too and Shaela was more than happy to teach them. Of course there were those that were able to contribute their own expertise.
When he wasn't out looking for people to save Arcturo just mopped around. Finally Jen asked "You miss Allison don't you?"
"Of course I do" Arcturo said. "She's my friend."
"How did you meet her?" Charlene asked coming over.
"It was luck I guess" Arcturo said. "I was in a pet store to be a pet until the mystical world became known. After that I was free to reveal what I was. I stayed there because I didn't have anything better to do. Then one day Allison and her parents came in. I felt a connection to her immediately and flew over to her. I introduced myself to her and commented on her necklace. She had come in looking for a pet and instead she got a familiar and a friend."
"We'll get her back" Jen said with conviction in her voice.
Charlene turned away and silently cried. She had tried to believe that Allison would be saved but as time went on it seemed like less of a possibility. One new group of people had brought news of clashes between the police and wolves. One clash left one of the wolves dead. It reverted back to a mystical upon death. Charlene had a moment of panic thinking that it was Allison until she was told it was a young elf girl. Since then however Charlene had been having nightmares. Her nightmares always started with her being back in Karther's harem and then Jen and Allison were brought in. Karther made them part of his harem and had his pleasure with them and her. While Karther had his pleasure with Allison she would transform into a wolf and kill him. She would then kill every member of the harem with Jen being next to last. As Allison would turn to kill Charlene police would come in and start shooting killing Allison. It would be at this point that she would wake screaming. Kyriel usually appeared to give her physical comfort as well as emotional comfort.
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Allison was holding Elizabeth after a particularly long day where everyone had learned that the wolves territory was just about to the door of the school. Elizabeth had gone into hysterics as had most of the other kids. Now as she held her she had calmed down. They were in their nightly group.
Elizabeth looked up at Allison and asked "How did you and Father Winston get rid of the demons?"
Allison smiled at Elizabeth and said "Father Winston helped me get rid of mine. I was in a scary place with the demon hunting me. I found an object that was able to expel the demon from my body."
Father Winston smiled and said "With me it was a little different. I was the one hunting the demon through a deserted London. After days of searching I finally found it in this school. I won't tell you what the demon looked like as it was not pleasant. Anyway, once I found it I basically told it to leave." Of course the struggle was more complicated than that. London hadn't been deserted but had been filled with zombies. Each one of them had tried to stop him by trying to scare him. Some of them almost succeeded but he had remembered what he was there for. Once he had found the demon it looked like what Allison had described. His demon backed away from him however whereas Allison's had went after her. He had said the Rite of Exorcism and before long the demon was just a bubbling puddle of black goo which quickly disappeared.
When Father Winston had woken Allison was right their holding his hand. They had told each other about their experiences and Allison had admitted that she had nightmares because of her experience.
"You'll get rid of the demons?" Elizabeth asked.
"We will" Father Winston promised. It wasn't a promise he made lightly.
"It may take some time but they will go away" Allison said with a smile.
Allison wore her necklace out of her shirt in order to be able to transform faster. Digging it out of her shirt would cost her precious seconds that she would need. Elizabeth touched it and it began to glow yellow. As everyone watched in stunned silence the glow moved down her arm and was soon encompassing her. The glow then shrank down to her chest and took on a familiar form which solidified as the glow faded.
Allison looked closely at Elizabeth's new necklace. It looked like Allison's own but different. It took a minute for Allison to realize what it was. It was the other half of the fossil. She looked up at Father Winston when he asked "What just happened?"
"I don't know" Allison said in all honesty. She looked at Elizabeth again and noticed that she was giggling and looking at her new necklace.