Grim Echoes

Chapter 32 - Will

Will and Mason stumbled into the motel room. His arm held Mason upright until they reached the closest bed. Some of the succubus's blood was on their clothing, more on his than Mason's. He sat Mason on the bed and then collapsed on the other one. His arm still bleed, nasty bitch had cut him. Will closed his eyes and wished Ander was there. He could've cleaned his wound and sewn him up. It was always less painful when Ander played doctor.

"That didn't go smooth," Mason chuckled and broke the ice.

That was an understatement. It was a disaster. All the fucking planning that went into the various scenarios had been shit. She'd been so goddamn focused that he was gonna to fall under the succubus's spell and how they'd deal with it. Ha! Hadn't been him that wanted to fuck it. That nightmare memory was gonna be in his head forever. Will didn't want to think about Mason getting busy with anyone. It was weird, but to actually witness her sucking face with a sexy demon. He rubbed his temples. There went all of his fantasies about sexy demons.

"Didn't help that we mixed up who the succubus was." Will took a long, slow breath.

They'd screwed up and trailed the wrong lady, so when the succubus showed, it knew who and what they were. By the time he'd realized they were already fucked, because Mason was under its spell. He'd known that succubi could make anyone want them regardless of gender or orientation, but damn to see it happen was kinda impressive. Didn't change the fact he took its head, but he respected its skills.

"How'd you break the hold?" Mason picked at the wound on her leg.

It looked nasty, needed to get back so Ander could doctor it. Will shrugged and felt a sharp jab of pain in his neck. When he realized he couldn't break the hold over Mason, he'd changed tactics and convinced the succubus it'd also snared him, silly monster.

"I was just fucking with it. It never had me." Will flashed his charming smile, the one that drew in all the ladies.

"This was a two-man job because at least one always becomes enchanted. I didn't think it'd be me." Mason glanced at the blood on her pants and leg. 

"Could've happened to anyone. I mean, it's what they do." Will stretched his arms out and examined his wound.

Mason stared at him with an expression Will couldn't really place. "Yeah, that's true. You interacted with it first, flirted with her,"

"Well, it was fucking hot. I didn't know it was the succubus at the time. Guess I should've but we were following the other lady at the time," Will replied and touched his neck in the spot that burned. He pulled his fingers away and saw blood. Bitch did manage to bite him, fuck now he'd have to take an antidote.

"The only way someone can escape enslavement from a succubus if it uses its charms is," she paused. "if their heart belongs to someone else. Either because of a previously made deal or love," Mason said slowly and stared at him, her expression unreadable.

He held up his fingers. "It got me,"

"Fuck! Why didn't you say something before?" Mason attempted to stand.

Will got up and put his hand on her shoulder. "Its all good. I have antidote in my bag." he walked to the table where his bag laid and nearly fell on top of it. Well shit, didn't judge that right. He scrambled to get the antidote out, glad that it was one of the last items packed. Easy to get to. Immediately swallowing it, he collapsed in the chair next to the table with heavy breaths. The tunnel vision went away, and his body no longer felt covered in flames.

"Will, you know better. You told me the only wound you had was your arm."

"Yeah, I know. Didn't really feel it until a minute ago." Will laughed at his own words.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Cause we're a wreck. This should've been simple, in and out. We screwed the pooch," he continued, laughing.

After a moment, Mason joined him.

"You want a beer?" he took one out of the mini fridge he'd put there only hours before.

Mason nodded and held out her hand. Will took her a beer and sat across from her and looked at her leg again.

"That looks bad. We need to clean and sew it. Ander can re-do it once we get back, but we can't leave it like that."

Mason nodded before she tipped the bottle back. Will got his first aid kit and pulled supplies out. Mason stared at her phone.

"They doing alright?" Will asked.

"Yeah, they're talking. Ander looks calm. He'd better fed all my babies," Mason grumbled.

Will spread out everything on the bed, opened packages and stifled a laugh. Her babies. More like her zoo of random stray animals. He hoped Ander remembered to feed that damn tiger, Cuddles. That bitch was ornery in general, and worse if she was hungry. Will paused and imagined her eating the other annoying stray cats. Maybe it'd be better if he forgot.

"You sure he's been ok? No more episodes during missions?" Mason grimaced as Will cleaned her wound.

"Yeah, he's still a little paranoid and gets stuck in loops, but he knows what's real and what isn't. Since she's been around, he hasn't looped and he's a little too accepting of things," Will grumbled and put the needle in the flame of his lighter.

Mason let him thread the needle and then took it out of his hands. "Your stitches are crap, I'd rather do it myself,"

"Your criticism is hurtful." Will laughed again. 

She was right. His needlework was crap. That was Ander's department, not only medical stitching but any kind of sewing. He'd always fixed their clothes when they got ripped or had holes in them. Will got rid of stains. Didn't matter what got on their clothes most of the time, he'd figure out how to get it out.

Mason slowly put the stitches in. Will checked the supplies and made sure there was enough for his arm when she was done. Relieved his hand had healed. One less thing to deal with. Another night, another scar to add to his collection. Part of the life as a Soldier of Night. For the most part, he didn't care if he got scars unless they were on his ink. He liked his tattoos, scars, fucked them up.

Will had never known any other life. He was born into the Soldiers of Night and taught to fight from the moment he could handle a weapon. Raised in a world full of monsters and threats, it was tough for him to have patience with normals. They all lived in a bullshit bubble. It was shiny and could float, but just about anything popped it and then they fell down to his existence. There was nothing but the missions and the war. Create, preserve, and destroy. He rubbed the back of his head where his hairline met his neck slowly.

"You want this?" Mason asked with heavy breaths and held the bloody needle out to him.

He cleaned and re-sterilized it as Mason laid back on the bed.

"Don't take forever. We need to get on the road before the body is discovered," Mason mumbled as her eyes closed.

"Yeah, yeah, old lady, relax and take a nap. Looks like you need it after your make-out session. This won't take long."

"Fuck off, Will," Mason said in a light tone.

Quickly, Will cleaned up and stitched his arm. The wound wasn't as deep as he initially thought. It'd been hard to tell when it bled. He moved as quiet as possible and packed things so Mason rested. They were both hurt, but she'd been drained of her life force by the succubus, so she earned a nap. He pulled out his phone, checked on Ander. They still sat and talked, but had moved from the couch to the floor. Everything else seemed in place. 

Hours later, Will was in a good mood when they hit the road. They hadn't been seriously hurt on the mission, and Ander was doing alright on his own. Things were looking up.