• First Night of Winter

Posted: **Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:34 pm**

I feel pretty bad about the way I worked Dad over to get him to let me come with him when he did his solstice patrol in the Blight. I know I didn’t play fair, but sometimes he let’s his image of daddy’s little girl in her Sunday best get in the way of seeing the way things have turned out for me.

A fey lord wanting to take me away to live in Fairyland, a monster trapped inside my head, a vampire that likes to use me as a toy in his continued sparing matches with my father, a cult leader for a grandfather and a repeated pattern of random beasts that shouldn’t be popping up where I am are just the highlights of the first 17 years of my life.

Therefore, no matter how much my Dad hates the idea, I have to get good at dealing with the supernatural and get good fast.

With the combination of the Winter Solstice and a Lunar Eclipse on the same night, I knew that the Blight was going to be a scene for something to happen. My Dad knew too, which is why he fought so hard to keep me home.

Still, putting on my best dress and telling Dad I’ll happily wait at home in case Robin Goodfellow shows up to claim me while he was out in the Blight.

Fortunately, my Dad’s paranoid enough not to care that Robin can’t show up between around Hallowe’en and the start of Spring.

However, you can see what I mean about it not playing fair.

An hour later, after changing into something more practical (or possibly tactical) Dad, Mr. Fluffers, Nemesis and I were on our way downtown to see what had crossed through into our reality.

Hannah

Posted: **Sun Feb 13, 2011 5:30 pm**

I was less than pleased that my daughter wanted to come on this excursion. I was even less happy about the way she forced me into taking her. Even Nemesis figured how angry I was and gave me a wide berth as we moved through the alleys and abandoned storefronts of what I call the Blight.

Even on a warm summer’s afternoon the Blight always feels . . . well for lack of a better word, lonely. It’s almost as if the buildings miss having people caring for them. But that night, with the cold wind, flakes of snow in the air and a blood red stain creeping across the moon . . . the Blight felt hungry.

Darcy was picking up on it too. When I patrol, even on the bad nights, I don’t keep long guns visible. I need to move among the street people without causing a panic. As a result, everything is either folded under the coat, in a handy duffle or in the car. Darcy had her weapon under her coat, and was constantly clutching it, as a child does their favourite blanket.

Hannah didn’t seem to notice. She was smiling, chatting with all the street folks like they were long lost friends and sharing makeup tips with the working girls. Charlie, one of my regular sources of information, commented to me that I should “. . . bring her around more often. She makes a tired old bum forget about the cold for a little while.”

I told him not to expect to see her around that much and that he should add another chunk of pallet to his fire.

It was about then I saw the last of Mr. Fluffers for the night. He and another alley cat were rubbing up against each other as they crept out of sight. Philandering at a time like this, you can never trust a cat.

Muttering to myself about getting Mr. Fluffers fixed, I continued to work my way down the street.

Posted: **Thu Feb 17, 2011 6:42 pm**

Ron mutters to himself a lot. It can be disconcerting. But this time it was even worse than before.

Ron quite obviously didn't want Hannah along. He's been resisting the idea of her putting herself into dangerous situations. Can't say I blame him. It's a natural paternal instinct, right? So I'm told, anyway.

Way I see it, she's in danger just from being who she is. If it wasn't bad enough that she seems to be the focus or target of just about any number of... let's call them creeps. In any case, if that wasn't bad enough she's willful and is something of an thrill seeker and action junkie. But who am I to point fingers?

So Ron didn't want Hannah along. Hannah didn't want her dad to hold her back. And me? I wanted to be somewhere south of there on a beach.

Seriously. I hate winter. All the pretty young things are all covered up. This makes mama sad.

If that wasn't bad enough, my car just is not build for this sort of weather. Even with winter tires (which I highly recommend, by the way), it wants to spin its tires too much. The low road clearance doesn't help in avoiding getting stuck either.

The winter can play havoc on fire arms as well. There are ways to counter the colds effects of course but it's just so much extra hassal and extra consideration.

It gets so blasted cold in Washington that even the sun doesn't like coming out.

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's because the sun isn't out as much that causes the cold, not the other way around. It's not like I'm superstitious or nothing.

Despite my objections to being out and about in the winter wonderland, Ron insisted I come along. And Hannah asked nicely so I was stuck for it. I suppose that the solstice would be an ideal time for the creepy crawlies to come out. More reason to stay in bed, says I. Diana concurs. She only woke enough to give me a dirty look when I left.

Winter is a dangerous time in the Blight. Even without unnatural elements. Nature herself seems determined to make everyone just as miserable as possible. The homeless huddle around metal drums burning whatever will combust. The hookers ply their trade in clothes that will ensure some of them are dead by morning due to exposure.

I hate pimps. I really, really hate pimps. They're bottom feeders in the crime world. I'd rather kill one than talk to one.

Yeah, so that was pretty much the mood when our merry little ban set out.

Posted: **Sun Feb 20, 2011 3:12 pm**

Yeah, Dad does mutter to himself a lot. I figure he picked this habit up while he spent all those years alone after he left the compound. He still sometimes goes the whole day without saying anything aloud to anyone. I think it has gotten a bit worse since I’ve gone off to school.

I was sort of hoping I’d get to see the whole eclipse, but just as the blood-red stain had seeped about three-quarters of the way across the moon the clouds started to roll in. The snow started flying almost immediately after that.

Still, I didn’t care. There was a certain tingle in the air . . . some kind of energy. I don’t know where it really came from, but it felt kind of like it feels when I am visiting the faeries.

It felt like possibility.

So, I tried a little experiment. Normally these things don’t work around a lot of people, but you never really know until you try.

I approached one of the fires the street people had going, when I got next to it I closed my eyes for a moment and reached out with Air and Fire. I felt the warm air rising from the fire, felt how it mixed the properties of both Air and Fire within it.

Then I copied it and stepped back away from the fire.

I suppressed a little giggle when I realized that the warm air had followed me. I’d never really mixed Air and Fire at the same time before and I was impressed at how well it had worked.

I opened my eyes and watched as the snowflakes melted about an inch away from my skin.

Then I looked around at the people here in the blight. The hobos pushing themselves as close to the fire as they could, the street walkers applying extra lipstick so you couldn’t tell their lips were turning blue, the addicts numbing their minds so they didn’t notice the numbness in their bodies.

I wanted to share the warmth with them. I wanted them to know the comfort I now felt.

I was still trying to find a way when the commotion started.

Hannah

Posted: **Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:35 pm**

Commotion . . . I suppose that was one word for it.

One of the street people staggered out of a side alley. His skin was white and lips blue. The lower half of his battered army jacket had been torn away by whatever it was that had hit him.

He took a couple of steps forward before falling face first into the fresh snow. His injuries quickly staining the white powder around him with red.

I reached him a moment before Hannah did. As usual Nemesis hung back a bit, saying she'd watch for trouble. I suspect she just didn't want to get her new boots stained with hobo blood.

I turned him over and applied pressure while Hannah prepared the dressing. “What did this to you?”

“Ice . . . claws . . . snow.” With that he passed out.

“So we're looking for the Abominable Snowman?” Nemesis's dry comment brought a click of disapproval from Hannah.

We did our best to bandage the guy up and called an ambulance. While Hannah and I worked on him I noticed the tell tale signs of severe frostbite around his nose, ears and fingers. Hannah noticed it too.

“I didn't think it was cold enough for frostbite.” She tightened the last of the bandages.

I shook my head, remembering the long winters I'd lived on the streets. “If you stay out long enough without proper protection, it will still happen.” I took a closer look. “This is pretty bad though . . . he may lose some of these fingers. There's no way he could have gotten frostbite this bad over the last few days, not without half the folks on the streets being in as bad a shape.”

Hannah took a closer look at one of his hands, concentrating on it for a moment before softly saying “I wonder . . .”

A few seconds later the blackened skin around his finger tips and ears changed to a healthy, normal colour while the waxy paleness faded from his face. I could feel a gentle warmness emanating from his body.

I barely stopped myself from asking her how she did it. It's better if I don't think about where her gifts come from.

As much as I don't want this life for my daughter, there are times when I have to admit I am in awe of what she can do and even on occasion I think that maybe, just maybe, she is better suited to this than me.

Still, the patient wasn't out of the woods yet. Hannah had cured him of the frostbite and warmed him from the cold, but he had lost a lot of blood. We called an ambulance and put a couple of the more honest street folk of making sure he stayed stable for when the ambulance got there.

I cleaned the blood from my hands with snow and stood up. “Looks like we'll need to go see what happened.”

Nemesis peered through the swirling snow. “We've saved a life tonight, perhaps it's time for some Hot Chocolate instead.”

Nemesis and I are both pretty hardened and not used to doing what others say. But Hannah can crack our will just as easily as she cracks eggs. In this case, it only took one syllable. “Dar . . .” Hannah intoned.

“Fine, but I'm taking drag.” The resignation in her tone was almost as thick the blowing snow.

“Hannah, behind me and keep alert.” I moved towards the entrance of the alley, sliding the HK417 out of my bag of tricks and opening up the stock. I cycled the action on the under-barrel shotgun as I gathered my focus for the task at hand.

I stepped into the alley and the world turned to ice.

Posted: **Mon Apr 04, 2011 5:11 pm**

All things considered, I think I would have rather we had gone up against the abominable snow man. I've heard that they can bleed.

They alley we just turned into was coated in ice. I'm not talking like it was everyplace else with the snow and the freezing. I'm saying that everything in this alley was coated with ice at least an inch thick.

The chill in my bones wasn't entirely from the environment. This just wasn't natural. "This isn't natural." Hannah whispered.

"I think we can all see that." I said from behind her, sparing a glance behind us. No one was following us into this particular area. "Yeah, but I can feel it." She reached out and touched one of the ice coated garbage cans, and then she visibly shivered.

There was a crack, like thunder from one corner near the very back. What I had taken to be a ice stalagmite (or is that stalactite?) was moving, rigid limbs pulling free of its surroundings. It was all ice and rigid angles. What I took to be eyes glowed with a soft blue light that seemed to almost soften it's otherwise wicked countenance.

The familiar sound of gunfire was almost instantaneous. Even as the wiff of cordite was filling my nostrils, Ron was diving for cover behind a pair of frozen trash cans. Hannah dived for the only other available cover, a frozen dumpster. Having a clear shot now, I let a couple of shots go from my short barrelled shotgun before joining Hannah behind the dumpster.

Ron was taking a few more shots at the creature and I risked a look. A significant portion of the rounds were being deflected off the dense and angled ice of the creatures form. Even solid hits only gouged out small chunks of ice from the creatures hide. What we needed were incendiaries. Not that I was packing any and I don't think Ron was either.

"Reloading!" Ron shouted out as he ducked back down. The creature was slowly lumbering towards him but it was slowly speeding up as it become unstuck from the ice around it.

"Firing!" I took up shooting the thing, drawing its attention away from Ron while he could reload. This sort of tactical cooperation wasn't something that came up very often in my former trade but my Da thought it important enough to include in my training. My rounds were no more effective than Ron's were. I did manage to get it's attention though.

I don't think that sat well with Ron as Hannah was right beside me. "Firing!" He again opened up on the creature.

Rather than reload the shotgun, I decided to reposition myself. Away from Hannah. There was a fire escape above me. "Moving!" I got Hannah to help boost me on top of the dumpster, which was thankfully closed. It was dangerously slippery but you don't get to where I am by not taking risks. I lept up, knowing if I didn't manage to grab a hold of the fire escape, it would be a hard and painful fall to the ground below.

Either luck or skill or both let me get a solid enough grip with one hand. From there I pulled myself up.

"Reloading!" The creature was on top of Ron and with one swipe knocked his cover away. With a single kick, Ron pushed off from an ice stump left behind from the monsters swipe. The ice helped Ron slide at least ten meters away from the creature. For it's part, it did not seem to have the traction problems we were suffering.

"Firing!" My shotgun was empty so I was using my pistol sidearm.

I got off at least two rounds before it looked up at me. It seemed to inhale and then exhale although how that was possible is beyond me. The exhalation engulfed my hands with frost. Hands and pistol were now encased in ice. I had to let my partner know I couldn't currently support him, "Stoppage!" Then I started slamming my fists against the brick wall of the building I was beside in a desperate attempt to crack the ice.

"Firing!" Ron hadn't even had a chance to stand up, and was firing from a semi-sitting position.

The creature advanced on him once more. But it would have to go by Hannah to do so.

Posted: **Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:36 pm**

I really should have added what happened next a long time ago, but between school and the strangeness this summer I really haven’t had time.

I know things must seem pretty confusing to those who weren't there, I know they were to me at the time. The howling wind made it almost impossible to hear Darcy and Dad’s battle talk. The blowing snow made it hard to make out more than the basic shapes of everyone there.

This is why I was extra glad of who I was out with. Though Dad had done little of my training himself, we’d both grown up in the same system. Even barely able to see him I knew where he would be and what he would be doing. Darcy, having worked with Dad a lot and helping me with the more aggressive aspects of my own training was just as known a quantity. So being barely able to see and hear them was good enough.

The challenge was figuring out what the ice thing was doing. Fortunately I had a few clues. First was Dad. He’d stepped up his rate of fire. He wasn’t on full auto; he only does that in the closest of close contact situations. Instead he was delivering aimed fire as fast as he could. That told me the creature was close, but not to dad, but to something that dad didn’t want to put a bullet into by accident. Seeing as I knew Darcy was up on the fire-escape, which left only one other friendly potentially in the line of fire . . . me.

It was time to move. I called it out and made it a couple of steps before I hit the glare ice and went down so fast I didn’t have a chance to brace myself. The back of my head bounced off the ice and my vision immediately started to swim. Hazily, I made out the icy pillar that was the creature’s leg beside me. I rolled onto my side to try and push myself up, but between the knock to the head and the ice, I just couldn’t get my arms and legs under me.

I remember Dad shouting at me to move. I remember the creature’s bellowing and then I remember Darcy doing something totally insane . . .

Hannah

PS: Yeah, I mean totally insane, stuff like I would pull.

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2011 12:43 pm**

Insane? Crazy? Like a fox, maybe.

I was quickly realizing that this was not a problem I could simply shoot better. My bullets were having minimal if any impact on the creature. And now Hannah was in direct danger of experiencing its cold embrace.

First thing I had to do was get my hands free of the ice. Slamming them against the brick wall did the trick but caused me to drop my pistol in the attempt. Given how useless it had been, I was glad to be rid of it.

Reaching behind me, I pulled two cylinders and struck their ends against the brick, igniting them. A burning road flare in each hand a jumped for the creatures back.

I hate the cold.

This thing wasn't just cold. It was colder than anything you've ever experienced. Touching it was like feeling that you would never be warm again. You forgot what warmth was, even.

Nevertheless, I couldn't stop. I had stabbed it with both flares, causing it to roar and howl in pain. Since that apparently affected it, I kept it up, treating the flares as though they were knives.

I also tried to stay behind it as much as possible. Partly so I wouldn't be in Ron's line of fire but mostly because I didn't want it freezing me even more. As it was, the cold was already in my joints, slowing down my reactions. I was one miscalculation away from death.

Yeah, okay so it was maybe a little insane. Especially given that those flares weren't going to last forever. This was a stop gap measure at best. But it would turn out to be enough.

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:10 pm**

It was totally nuts. I'm pretty crazy jumping off of buildings and all, but I don't do it with a couple of burning flares in my hand hoping to go 12 rounds with a 10 foot tall animated ice sculpture.

Hannah

PS: As insane as it was, it was even more awesome! Thanks for the save.

Posted: **Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:05 pm**

You're making me blush. It was just something I did in the heat of the moment.

First Night of Winter

First Night of Winter

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Ice, Ice, Baby!

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