Connor had been staring at Annie ever since they’d left the office. He had followed her outside when she went to get some air and was now making himself busy trying to look like he wasn’t constantly watching her like he expected her to vanish if he even blinked.

“What?” Annie made no attempt to hide her irritation.

Connor startled, “Huh? Oh! Sorry! I must have zoned out for a minute, sorry, Miss Annie.”

“Bullshit. Don’t you ‘Miss Annie’ me, Kenton. You keep staring and I want to know what exactly you suddenly find so damn interesting.” Annie put her hands on her hips so she could glare at him properly.

Connor swallowed and looked at the ground, drawing small circles in the dust with the toe of his boot, “I uh… Sorry I just… How do I put this?”

“Spit it out Kenton! I’m not in the fucking mood for whatever this is!” she gestured up and down at him.

“What was Therult like?” the words spilled out of the Paladin’s mouth.

Annie froze, “What?”

Well, in for a penny in for a pound. Connor forged ahead, “You grew up in Therult. You were important, the Herald or something. That’s what those Therans all called you. And you were a magician too, that’s how you know so much about magic.”

Annie wasn’t looking at him. She was staring into the middle distance, hazy and unfocused. Connor wasn’t sure she’d even heard him and was about to check if she was alright when she spoke.

“That was a long time ago, Connor.” Her expression was a mask.

“Do you miss it?” he asked.

“Parts of it. People I knew and places I used to go.” Annie wiped her eyes and pushed her glasses up to conceal them.

“Who?” Connor’s voice was soft.

“I don’t want to talk about this.” Annie turned away from him. She needed to go somewhere else, anywhere else to away from this conversation. Connor grabbed her wrist.

”Annie please. Whatever happened is tearing you up inside, and those Seraphs keep ripping open old wounds.” he said, “You agreed to talk to me, are you going to keep your word?”

Annie wanted to bite something. She was pretty sure she’d feel better if she did, and then she wouldn’t have to talk to Connor. Maybe if she bit him he’d leave her alone. A very tempting idea.

“Annie?”

Fine. She wouldn’t bite the paladin. 

“Alright. Fine. You win.” She walked past him and leaned on the porch railing, “You get five minutes, ask your questions.”

Connor had to suppress the grin that tried to creep across his face, “Thank you Annie.”

Annie shrugged and crossed her arms, “Clock’s ticking, Deputy.”

Oh. She was going to be literal about that. Right.

“What was life like? Back home, I mean?” That seemed like a good start to him.

”It was just like anywhere else. Not all bad, not all good either. The nobility lived in the upper echelons of the city and regular people lived in the lower districts. I split my time between the two.”

”Why?” Connor asked, intrigued. 

“I was technically a noble. A candidate for a seat on the council of Lords if I played the game right. But I never really fit the mold that was intended for me.” Annie was pacing back and forth, restless.

”So you went to the lower districts?”

”Yeah. It sounds stupid but I wanted to find myself. I figured nobody would know me down there and I could have a blank slate to start from.” Annie smiled.

“That sounds sensible to me. What did you do down there?”

“I experimented. Made some friends, really close friends. They helped me figure myself out. I started my transition down there, with Breyja’s help.”

”Who’s Breyja?”

Annie’s expression fell, “She took me in. Let me stay with her whenever I ventured down there. She actually taught me alchemy.” She lifted her spiral emblem, “This is actually hers.”

”Was she a Stranger?” Connor was fascinated.

“Yeah. She settled down when she retired. Opened up a book shop that was a safe place for kids like me.” Annie traced her fingers along the spiral, then she stowed it beneath her shirt.

“So she gave you her emblem?”

Annie grimaced, “No. I stole it. She probably hates me now. I would, if I were her.”

“Do you think she cares that little for you?”

“I betrayed her. I betrayed everyone I knew. Especially her and Tziva.” Annie felt regret claw its way into her chest like a starving animal escaping its cage.

“Who’s Tziva?”

“She was… important to me. She made me think I could have a better life. She was wrong.” Annie got off the railing, “Time’s up.” she said.

Connor started to protest, but he looked at Annie’s face. Her lip was quivering slightly and she was very determinedly doing anything other than meeting his eyes.

”Alright.” he relented, “Thank you Annie.”

Annie nodded, then her head snapped up and she looked past his shoulder, “Company.” she gestured towards two armored figures approaching them slowly. She stepped forward with her hand on her pistol.

“I though I was pretty clear,” Annie shouted, “I’m not going back. Not with you, not with Jaigra, not with anybody.”

The two figures said nothing and continued their advance.

”Who are they? More bounty hunters?” Connor drew his sword.

“Seraphs. Like Paladins but for the Wings of the Empress.” Annie tightened her grip on her pistol and moved forward to meet them, eyeing the glowing hound stone dangling from Jocaria's neck, "What the hells do you two want?" she asked the Seraphs

Tarthen and Jocaria said nothing, they didn't even look at each other as Jocaria tucked the dangling hound sphere back underneath her breastplate and drew a slender dagger from her hip. It had a hole just below the point of the blade and an ornate crossguard molded like a blooming flower, Connor could see a hint of the red leather of its grip and the sharp thorn on its pommel. The tip glowed with faint light as ephemeral grey threads manifested around it, casting both of the Seraphs in a ghoulish glow. Suddenly the needle on his hip seemed a great deal heavier than before. 

"Oh fuck off." Annie moaned and took her hand off of her pistol and tapped the rim of her glasses. Sure enough, Tarthen and Jocaria each sported a crown of that twisted grey magic. More threads hung down from some unseen point above them, encircling their necks, hands, and feet like ghostly puppet strings.

Connor drew his own sword, "What do you see?"

"Grey threads." Annie said.

A wave of revulsion washed over the Paladin and he took an involuntary step back. The power of his Icon leapt to his aid, casting the space around him in golden light and filling his body with power to choke down his fear, "What do we do?" he asked.

Annie wanted to say something to the effect of: 'Snatch the hound stone and then run like hell.' But she doubted Connor would appreciate that plan. Instead she pulled her sword from her back and dragged it across her palm, coating the blade's edge in blood. Connor's eyes widened in surprise. 

"Seems like the magician has decided to play puppet master with these two, I guess we'll just have to cut their strings!" the Stranger brandished her blade towards the Seraphs. 

"Can you do that?" Connor readied his own weapon.

"Probably?" Annie flicked open her hip case and readied an injector, "Let's find out together."

The Seraphs circled Connor and Annie slowly with daggers drawn. Grey threads were visibly trailing each of them now and Connor could hear them chanting some sort of incantation in a language he didn't recognize. 

"Iron blood incantation," Annie said, "I can take care of it, I just need you to distract them."

"What does it do?" Connor asked.

Before Annie could answer the Seraphs leapt into action, each with blade in one hand and dagger in the other. It was all Connor could do to keep up with the Seraph attacking him. His opponent's blows seemed to flow seamlessly from one to the next keeping him constantly on the back foot. Even when he tried to retaliate and strike a blow the dagger seemed to appear out of nowhere to parry his blow and bind his blade before he could counter.

He spared a glance towards Annie and was relieved that it seemed like she was holding her own. She deftly deflected each of the woman’s strikes almost as if she knew what she would do before she did it. The Stranger threw a string of blows, cutting to alternating blows to each side of the Seraph in a steady procession. Then suddenly she struck, thrusting her blade through some unseen breach in between the woman's sword and dagger to land a decisive blow against a gap in her armor. 

Jocaria faltered for an instant as whatever magic she’d woven to protect herself collapsed and Annie was immediately upon her, disarming her of her sword and binding the dagger with her own blade. She slipped a free hand up to the Seraph’s helmet and knocked it off her head to reveal her face, then she slapped her bloody palm against her forehead hard enough to make her head snap backwards.

Jocaria collapsed limply and Annie turned towards the dueling men. Connor was glowing with his Icon’s golden light and pushing Tarthen backwards. She could see Tarthen’s guard buckle under each swing of the Paladin’s sword, his form getting looser and looser with each strike. 

Connor knocked aside the Seraph’s blade and landed a clean thrust against his shoulder. To his surprise the blade barely penetrated the skin, as if her were thrusting at a brick wall instead of flesh and blood.

Quickly seizing the advantage over Tarthen’s waning stamina Annie sprinted up behind him and yanked his helmet off, exposing the dark black veins that ran up his neck and around his eyes before slapping her palm against the man’s forehead. Tarthen collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut and Connor relaxed.

“What kind of magic was that?” He panted.

“Blood magic. Standard defensive spell soldiers learn in Theran military training.” Annie said.

“Are they military then?”

Annie winced and then shrugged, “Not exactly. Remember that group I told you about?”

Connor nodded, “The Wings?”

“Yeah, these two are sort of like paladins of that group,” Annie was watching the Seraphs as they began to stir, "We should grab their weapons."

Connor obliged and took the sword and dagger from his downed opponent as Annie did the same. By the time they finished disarming the two Jocaria had begun to get up.

"Ugh... My head..." The Seraph muttered and put a hand to her temple. Her eyes widened in shock when she pulled it away covered in blood.

"Don't worry, it's mine." Annie said, "What happened?"

Jocaria's eyes went even wider when she looked up at Annie, "Av– Annie?" she wiped her eyes with her clean hand, "Your blood? Are you alright? Did I hurt you?"

"In your dreams Jojo. Now tell me what happened." Annie’s words dripped with hostility. 

Jocaria seemed to wilt a little bit, "I'm not sure. We were talking to Jaigra at her camp when a man came up to ask us about you. After that it's sort of a blur. I remember talking to him, then coming here and fighting with you." She shuddered, "It was strange, I couldn't control what I was doing. Nothing worked, it was like something had shoved my brain aside and taken control."

Annie knew that tune by now. This did not bode well for her and Connor. The Wings trained its initiates to resist spells and taught them how to use blood magic to counter many magical effects. If it was this effective on a Seraph, she didn’t want to find out how it affected a Paladin or a Stranger.

Wait.

“You said Jaigra was with you?” Annie was suddenly on top of the Seraph and lifted her off the ground, “Where is she? Did the magician get to her?”

“I don’t know!” she choked, “He took her with him!”

Annie dropped her and Jocaria hit the ground hard. She could feel threads buzzing at the tips of her fingers. Annie clenched her fist and forced the magic away. There was a touch at her shoulder.

”Annie,” Connor said, “I think I know where he’s going! He wants something to do with the wind turbine, he has to be headed there next!”

The Stranger took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself, “Great. Let’s go.” She started moving and then paused, “Almost forgot.” Annie reached down and tore the hound stone from Jocaria’s neck.

The Stranger held the sphere between her fingers and glared at Tarthen and Jocaria, “I never want to see the two of you again. Don’t look for me, don’t tell anyone I was here, just forget about me.” There was a faint glow around her fingertips and the sphere shattered with a burst of violet red light, “If I ever see another Seraph I’m going to send them back to the Wings in a casket. Do you understand me?”

Jocaria glanced at Tarthen and then nodded at Annie aggressively.

“Good.” Annie tossed the shards of glass aside and turned on her heel, “Lead the way, Deputy.”

Jocaria watched the former Herald of the Divine Empress walk away until she vanished from sight and felt a pang of sympathy for the grey magician. Andromeda Flynn wouldn’t give the man the dignity of a casket when she was finished with him, if there was even enough left to bury…