Ion shrugged. "Fine. But I suggest you think about what you're doing. As I said, I am only here because Rylan wishes to ensure I don't harm the three of you. But if you're really the only one left, if the three of us are really the only ones left... well, Rylan might begin to consider things other than your safety."
A chill crept up Avery's spine. He had come here, perhaps foolishly, with a head full of accusations and half-formed notions of drawing Ion out of the protection of this nest of vipers, but somehow it occurred to him only now how foolish an idea this entire excursion really was. The world had changed significantly over the last year, and he had all but forgotten the gravity of it until now.
If Ion returned to the mortal realm... if he were tempted into starting back up his deadly game, Rylan would rejoin it, too. Only this time, she wouldn't be on Avery's side.
"She has to know."
For a moment, Avery waited, wondering if Ion would try to stop him--and wondering, more importantly, if he wanted to be stopped. But the monster did nothing, and so Avery set his jaw in newfound determination; if Ion didn't plan to put up any resistance, Avery certainly wasn't about to abandon his noble intentions. All he could hope was that they didn't backfire on him as badly as--
As he carefully suppressed his own self-wrought wince, Avery tried not to think of all the other things that had gone wrong in his life since Ion first begun to ruin it. Avery just needed to tell Rylan what had happened, just needed to see enough of her reaction to convince himself beyond a shadow of a doubt that she'd had nothing at all to do with their friends' murder, and then he could go. Then he could put these people behind him once and for all, severe the last remaining tie to the life he'd hoped--
Christ, this wasn't helping. "Where is she?" he demanded, voice gruff and tense and far too emotional, and Ion's easy smile was all the confirmation Avery needed to be sure that the fucking beast heard it, too. Avery was weak right now, inevitably so now that the last people in the world who he loved were dead and there was still the sneaking suspicion in the back of his mind that Rylan might have been the one to kill them. And so he had to be sure, and if that meant letting Ion see through the cracks, so be it.
"Come with me," Ion said, and he turned his back on Avery so carelessly that for a moment, the hunter was half-convinced it was some kind of trick. Ion knew better than that, knew better than to give him such an easy opportunity to take him out once and for all, and yet Avery was so shocked by it that he didn't even move; perhaps that was what Ion had been counting on, he thought, or perhaps the demon was just testing him once again. Either way, Ion glanced back a few seconds later, a single brow raised in challenge. "Unless you think you're safer here with them?" He nodded vaguely in the direction behind Avery, obviously meaning the various fey that Avery knew were still watching them in idle curiosity--and perhaps waiting for the first sign that this opportunity might not be Ion's but theirs.
Bristling at the suggestion--Avery wasn't stupid, knew he wasn't safe here or anywhere else, not now that Rylan and Susanne and Myles of all people had been taken out so thoroughly--Avery obliged to follow him, and as Ion led him down a narrow path between two seemingly dilapidated but disconcertingly hard-to-focus-upon buildings, Avery was surprised by how easily Ion continued to put his back to the man who he must realize still intended to kill him if he ever got another good chance.
Perhaps it was merely that Ion realized Avery wouldn't dare attack here in the Otherworld. If so, he was certainly right; Avery wasn't nearly that stupid.
Evermore [2/?]
A chill crept up Avery's spine. He had come here, perhaps foolishly, with a head full of accusations and half-formed notions of drawing Ion out of the protection of this nest of vipers, but somehow it occurred to him only now how foolish an idea this entire excursion really was. The world had changed significantly over the last year, and he had all but forgotten the gravity of it until now.
If Ion returned to the mortal realm... if he were tempted into starting back up his deadly game, Rylan would rejoin it, too. Only this time, she wouldn't be on Avery's side.
"She has to know."
For a moment, Avery waited, wondering if Ion would try to stop him--and wondering, more importantly, if he wanted to be stopped. But the monster did nothing, and so Avery set his jaw in newfound determination; if Ion didn't plan to put up any resistance, Avery certainly wasn't about to abandon his noble intentions. All he could hope was that they didn't backfire on him as badly as--
As he carefully suppressed his own self-wrought wince, Avery tried not to think of all the other things that had gone wrong in his life since Ion first begun to ruin it. Avery just needed to tell Rylan what had happened, just needed to see enough of her reaction to convince himself beyond a shadow of a doubt that she'd had nothing at all to do with their friends' murder, and then he could go. Then he could put these people behind him once and for all, severe the last remaining tie to the life he'd hoped--
Christ, this wasn't helping. "Where is she?" he demanded, voice gruff and tense and far too emotional, and Ion's easy smile was all the confirmation Avery needed to be sure that the fucking beast heard it, too. Avery was weak right now, inevitably so now that the last people in the world who he loved were dead and there was still the sneaking suspicion in the back of his mind that Rylan might have been the one to kill them. And so he had to be sure, and if that meant letting Ion see through the cracks, so be it.
"Come with me," Ion said, and he turned his back on Avery so carelessly that for a moment, the hunter was half-convinced it was some kind of trick. Ion knew better than that, knew better than to give him such an easy opportunity to take him out once and for all, and yet Avery was so shocked by it that he didn't even move; perhaps that was what Ion had been counting on, he thought, or perhaps the demon was just testing him once again. Either way, Ion glanced back a few seconds later, a single brow raised in challenge. "Unless you think you're safer here with them?" He nodded vaguely in the direction behind Avery, obviously meaning the various fey that Avery knew were still watching them in idle curiosity--and perhaps waiting for the first sign that this opportunity might not be Ion's but theirs.
Bristling at the suggestion--Avery wasn't stupid, knew he wasn't safe here or anywhere else, not now that Rylan and Susanne and Myles of all people had been taken out so thoroughly--Avery obliged to follow him, and as Ion led him down a narrow path between two seemingly dilapidated but disconcertingly hard-to-focus-upon buildings, Avery was surprised by how easily Ion continued to put his back to the man who he must realize still intended to kill him if he ever got another good chance.
Perhaps it was merely that Ion realized Avery wouldn't dare attack here in the Otherworld. If so, he was certainly right; Avery wasn't nearly that stupid.