Crossing Worlds (Minako2012 and Nekrosilisk88)

Josef didn't have time to react as Lina knocked him sideways. He could barely keep on his feet while maintaining muzzle control. He saw the monstrosity, but with Lina in the way he couldn't draw a bead safely while getting back on his feet. By the time he was squarely planted, it was already gone. He scanned both sides of the hallway, his pistol snapping back and forth quickly.

"What the hell was that thing?" He was breathing hard. Adrenaline was really coursing through his veins at the moment, and it was making it hard for him to keep still. He didn't really wait for a response though. "Try to warn me next time you do something like that, I don't want to end up shooting you on accident."

He stepped into his apartment, constantly sweeping the place as he made his way back into his bedroom. After sweeping the room and his closet about three times he looked over at Lina again. "Keep an eye open I'm going to be busy her for a second.

Holstering his gun, he popped the hanger bar up and out of it's mount, just letting it, and his clothes hit the floor. He then pulled the inside wall down revealing a compartment with a gun safe, and a backpack. He dialed in the safe number, and popped it open. Reaching he pulled out boxes of pistol, shotgun, and rifle ammo, tossing them into the backpack that hung on the wall nearby. he zipped up the pack and slung it over his shoulder.

Next he pulled out the shotgun, and a handful of shells to load it with. All said and done, he was finished in less than five minutes from getting to the closet, and turned on the rail mounted flashlight. His hand wrapped tight around the pistol grip of the shotgun, and he pulled out am M1 Garand, handing it to her, along with a full clip.

"Ok, lets get out of here before something else comes out of the woodwork. This much adrenaline can't be healthy."

"An Infernal...Demon Servants...ruthless killers...He sent it..." She said breathing heavy "I didn't have time...it woulda gotten you if I hadn't acted."

She followed him inside her eyes narrowed as she watched for any more nasty surprises. Her father was toying with them he had to have been. The scratches were starting to burn and she tried not to swear she hadn't thought it would have gotten her.

"Impressive...let's hope it can deter them" She said "At least long enough for you to run..."

She looked at the gun he offered her and sighed softly it wouldn't work and she wasn't trained for them.

"I don't use guns..." She said to him "Can't...never trained for it...never needed it...I can't be weighed down."

She turned toward the door and slowly walked out keeping watch she was feeling antsy. There was something still here hell she knew it but she wondered if it would attack again. It didn't take long for her to get her answer as soon as they were taken by surprise. The infernal launched itself arm catching her shoulder with its claw.

"Shit..." She growled readying herself "Josef get out...now..."

It launched itself at her again and she sidestepped the Infernal's claws deflecting off of her blade.

Josef barely caught the Infernal out of the corner of his eye, and swung the barrel of the shotgun to meet it. In that moment everything slowed down. Lina's voice was drawn out and low. He could barely make out what she was saying as she moved to defend herself. Even his grandfather's service rifle seemed to be falling to slowly. It was like he'd stepped into another dimension where everything was moving through molasses.

He had a bead on the monstrosity before the rifle hit the ground, and he pulled the trigger, firing the gun one handed like a long barreled pistol. As the muzzle flared, he swore he could see each of the 00 pellets and the cup in the flash as they erupted from the barrel. His left hand rose up to catch the gun as it recoiled, pumping the action as he dragged the barrel back down.

He knew he was moving a lot faster than it looked like, but he was still pushing himself to move faster because of how slow his perception made everything appear. Even as he drew bead on the creature, and began to pull the trigger, he could feel the creep in the trigger moving agonizingly slow before it fired a second shell into the demon.

She barely registered the shots before they struck the creature it staggered but it didn't stop its attack and it charged her again. Steadying herself she focused on the creature before it struck her with a long swing. She blocked it but the blow caused her to stagger to the side. The creature went in for another attack but the second shot distracted it giving Lina time to straighten. She was bleeding profusely from the shoulder but the Infernal was no longer interested in her. It turned to Josef and let out a screech that could make any mortal freeze in fear.

"Move Damnit!" She shouted at Josef as she charged forward.

She slammed into it knocking it to the ground and rolled away from a swipe of the Infernal's claws. Her movements were getting sluggish as she slowly got to her feet. This was too much it had gotten the drop on her but it reacted to the gun maybe Josef could fight it off. Her eyes were no longer silver and she looked as if she could fall over. The intense burning of the wound didn't help either she just hoped they had enough holy water at her place to purify it.

The Infernal launched forward at Josef again moving way too fast for her to do stop not that she didn't try. Her blade was ready as she moved forward but she knew she couldn't get to it in time. She just hoped Josef got it with another shot so she could have a shot at the killing strike.

Time seemed to recollect it self as the beast staggered. He didn't have much time as the beast turned to him. He steeled himself as it charged.

"Rak Chazak" and pumped the shotgun again.

"CHAZAK AMATS!"

As he exclaimed the last part of the battle cry, he pulled the trigger, emptying the shot into the beasts face, and then swung the butt of his stock up into it's head to try and stagger it so he could get more space. All the noise at this point had to have gotten some attention, but he didn't hear a sirens yet. It would still take time for them to get here, even if the neighbors were calling into NYPD now.

He hoped that was enough to fell the beast, because they needed to get out of there now. Lina was definitely in bad shape. He needed to get her to a hospital

She watched his assault of the Infernal grateful that he could at least fight. The slamming of the but into the creature was the opening she needed in a swift movement she rushed forward whispering a phrase in Aramaic. A bright light surrounded her blade and she slashed it into the creature's throat. It severed the Infernal's head ending what could loosely be called a life. It crumbled to ash and she dropped her blade staggering forward.

"F-fuck..." She swore gripping her wounded shoulder.

It felt like someone was sticking several searing hot needles into her wounds she needed to purify them and get patched up. Looking at Josef she gave a weak smile before fallong to one knee. Her blade was sitting next to her and she gathered it up and deactivated it before sliding it into her pocket.

"We have to go...get...to my place..." She said "Please...Josef...we can't stay..."

Josef watched the creature crumble into ash as she stabbed it and breathed a sigh of relief. At least until he saw Lina. He stooped down and picked up the M1, and slung it over his shoulder.

"Fuck that Lina, we need to get you to a hospital. I'm trained in first aid, not EMS."

He squatted down and took her right arm over his back to give her some support as he walked them out of his apartment. He was already trying to figure out the fastest way to a hospital.

"No...no...not human..." She said "Bad...bad idea...have to...get home..."

She couldn't go to a hospital one blood test and she was screwed. Her DNA wasn't fully human and it would show up that way. She could take care of her own wounds but she couldn't handle a hospital.

"I...I...have supplies" She told him "Lincoln...and River Drive...Apartment 3C...please...just...trust me"

She was leaning against him trying not to make sounds of pain despite the searing pain shooting from the wounds. Infernal attacks always left behind some trace pf corruption for Nephilim and Angels it often left them writhing in pain. She was doing fine at least just for now but it wasn't going to last much longer.

"I...I hate Infernal...so much..." She said through gritted teeth "Need...to purify...wounds..."

Josef gritted his teeth. He really didn't like this, but at the moment he wasn't seeing much of an option towards anything but trusting her. He thoguht about taking her to Brimstone, but that was just as far out of the way. And it might mean compromisng the investigation since they'd know he'd been informed.

He hauled her down the stairs, and got her strapped into the car. As they were pulling out, he could hear the sirens in the distance. They were damn lucky to be getting out of there now. He looked over at Lina. She didn't seem like she was doing that well, and he was having to fight every ounce of sense he ha screaming to get her to the hospital.

He floored it as fast as he could without flashing his lights. He didn't need to attract any undue attention at the moment. He just needed to get to her apartment.

Lina was kicking herself for being taken by surprise she had better training than that. Now theybwere in a huge bind because hospitals and half breeds didn't mix and Brimstone would likely be pissed at a human knowing where they were. Leaning against Josef she let him help her into the car.

"6 hours...of daylight" She murmured pulling out her phone using her good hand "He has...enough...time..."

She flipped it open her vision was swimming and she could hear the sirens but thankfully they were already leaving the scene. It took a few tries before she got the right number and Mark answered the phone.

"Mark...get home...now" She said into the phone.

She was gonna lose conciousness before she got home she already knew it was hard to stay concious right now. Mark was asking all sorts of questions but she could barely focus on any of them.

"Just...hurry" She managed to say before her vision went black.

She was still breathing though even inconcious she was groaning in pain. The apartment wasn't an endless drive thankfully. Mark was shouting into the phone loud enough to be audible.
~~~~

Mark was trying to get Lina back on the line while rushing out the door he shouldn't leave but hebwas terrified of what could have happened to Lina. Not once hanging up the phone he was soon speeding toward their apartment imaging the worst possible outcomes.

Josef grabbed the phone as she was fading out, and floored it. He didn'thave time to fuck around. If she had Mark on the line, he could at least tell him what to do until he got there.

"Mark, this is Meyer. We went back to my apartment to get a couple things, and something was in there waiting for us. Lina said it was an Infernal. It clawed her a few times, and she's bleeding pretty bad right now."

He looked over to see how she was doing. This was not going to be a pretty mess to clean up, or explain down at the precinct. Lina defintiely wasn't doing good though.

"I'm almost to your guy's apartment, what do I need to do when I get there?"

He was thankful that Josef was with her if she were alone he wouldn't think about that. Then he heard the word Infernal and sped up.

"Son of a bitch" He shouted angrilly "Josef I'll be at the apartment soon...under my bed its the left door I keep a box...its a Mythic first aid kit...I have two bottles...one has black seeds in it...the other a dark red liquid...I need you to grind the seeds...I have a mortar in the box...mix them with the red liquid and three drops of Blessed Oil its in a green bottle labelled in english...and if you can...try to get her to drink the Holy Water too...I'll explain it when I get there...if at any time you think you messed up...just leave it alone and wait...if this process gets messed up...Lina dying will be the least of our worries."

He hung up and floored the gas terrified that he was going to lose his sister. His car was fast but he had to tale a bad route. It felt like forever before he could see their building he knew exactly where the Infernal came from and why it had been there. He could see Josef's car in the parking lot and pulled in beside it practically leaping from the car to run up to the apartment.

Josef braked hard into a parking space at the apartment. This was not going well. He was frustrated that he couldn't do more, and pissed with Mark for not telling him about who it was that they were dealing with. He got out of the car, and picked Lina up, and then started running towards their apartment. He reached into her pockets, digging her keys out and got the door open, no mean feat when your trying to carry someone.

Once in, he set Lina down on the couch and then darted into Mark's bedroom. It took him a couple minutes to find the box. He took the box back to Lina, and popped it open, and started reading the labels looking for the holy water. That was the point he was least likely to mess up, but still tried to pull out the other ingredients as he found them. Once he had it, he heard another set of tires screeching into the apartment, probably Mark.

He opened the bottle, and propped Lina's head open. "Hey Lina, come on, you need to drink this. You can rest a bit afterward ok?"

Mark burst into the apartment and rolled up his sleeves the sight of Lina made him snarl but he just knelt in front of the table and grabbed the ingredients. He watched Josef try to get Lina to drink the holy water while he ground the seeds carefully. Lina stirred long enough to look at the bottle but nodded vaguely as she drank the liquid immediately letting out a loud groan.

"I hate that part..." Mark said finally as he measures out the red liquid.

He mixed the powdered seeds into the liquid turning it into a dark paste before adding the oil and murmuring incomprehinsible words under his breath.

"Spread this into every scratch..." He said handing the mixture to Josef "And prepare for screaming...I'll get the bandages..."

He wasn't being cold but he could freak out and break things after Lina was out of danger. It only took a few minutes to wash up and grab his med kit but that was enough time for the first round of screaming to start. The paste always burned he bet for Lina it felt like lava spreading through her veins he was used to it but he doubted Josef would be.

"Don't worry...the neighbors can't hear...sound proof walls" He stated.

He looked at her screaming in pain and rage surged through him why couldn't she have gotten an easy case. Something that would have kept her out of harm's way he felt like he was a failure. He wasn't around for three days every month and couldn't protect her. As soon as Josef finished he took his plave and began stitching the large claw marks together and bandaging the wounds.

Josef followed the instructions as they were given to him. He couldn't afford to be to let things get personal between him and Mark right now, though he was still getting that introduction to madame fist before he disappeared for the evening.

The screams from Lina were painful. It didn't help that he was right there rubbing the concoction into her wounds. He gritted his teeth and continued on. He wasn't sure how long he was going to be able to restrain himself. Every second this dragged on, he wanted to sock Mark more. While it was good that this wasn't going to draw undue attention it didn't make it any less arduous.

Once Mark had finished bandaging her, Josef just couldn't hold it back any longer. He let his fist fly full force into the lycan's face.

"You couldn't fucking tell me it was your old man?!"

Her screams had died to whimpers and groans by the time Mark finished much to his relief. When he had her bandaged he stood up only to be knocked on his ass by Josef's punch. His reaction was instant as she launched himself up and gripped Josef's throat slamming him into a wall.

"How the fuck did an Infernal get near her" He growled showing fangs.

Mark's eyes were staring right into Josef's he could easilly break his neck right now but he held back. He was pissed and the impending full moon did nothing to dispel his rage.

"I was protecting my sister" He snarled "What's your excuse?"

"N-no..." Lina cried out in her sleep "St-stop!"

Her voice sounded panicked and he let out a low sigh releasing Josef he was angry but he was more concerned about Lina. Walking over to the couch he knelt down by Lina and grabbed her hand he couldn't stop her nightmares he'd never been able to.

"Its okay sis...I'm here..." He said softly "He won't hurt you."

He lowered his head before looking over at Josef not really sure what to say but he didn't have in him to yell at Josef anymore.

"I...didn't want her to know...I couldn't say anything in front of her" He said "She'd finally stopped looking over her shoulder...stopped screaming in her sleep...if I'd said he was back...well...you'll be staying here you'll find out..."

Josef was a little surprised by the fact that he'd actually managed to knock Mark down. What happened next caught him almost completely off guard, though realistically he should have been. The speed at which Mark recovered was superhuman, and if he was prepared for it, he might have been able to get out of the way, instead he found himself pinned against the wall fighting to breath.

Once Mark let him down. He sat there for a minute getting his breath back. Before he could answer his cellphone started ringing. When he answered he was greeted by the sound of an irate Franks yelling his ear off.

"MEYER WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?" Even holding the phone away from his head it was making his ears hurt. Not that it wasn't expected he'd just had a firefight in his apartment.

"Franks I'm fine. I'm at a safe location."

"God Dammit Meyer what the hell happened, you're all over the news."

"Not over the phone Franks. I'll talk to you later. I'm in a safe place, but geez this place smells like sulfur."

He hung up and hoped that Franks understood. He looked over at Mark and shook his head. "You could have sent me a text message or something so i knew. I would've been more careful if I'd known. Especially since the bastard's stalking us.

"We got ambushed when we went back to my apartment. I needed to grab my shotgun so I had something I could fight with. Do you guys have a TV? I need to see what's going on with the news."

((Yay brain fail >_>))
"In hindsight yes...but she'd have found out anyway..." Mark tried to keep his voice level "Just look out for her...until the full moon passes...I mean."

He patted Lina on the head and glanced over at Josef not sure why a shotgun had been so damn important.

"Entertainment center...behind the two doors" He said "I gotta get back...you know how to reach me...least til the moon rises..."

Taking one last look at Lina he walked out the door leaving Lina and Josef alone. Lina took that time to groan and reach out for Mark but finding nothing she slowly opened her eyes.

"Wh-where am I" She murmured.

She shook her head aware of a dull ache spreading across her body the last thing she remembered was fighting an Infernal. Her throat was burning and of course so was her shoulder but that was the least of her worries.

"Josef?" She said his name hoping he hadn't gotten hurt.

Josef nodded his head, and watched Mark leave. After this he owed her at least that much. Once her bother had left, he turned and opened up the entertainment center. Sure enough there was his apartment. He flipped through a couple of channels, and sure enough it was a media feeding frenzy. It looked like Franks was having a hard time dealing with them.

He heard Lina stirring on the couch. He rubbed his throat as he walked over to check on her. Mark had a good grip, and he'd probably still be feeling it tomorrow. He knelt down next to her and placed the back of his hand against her forehead.

"How you feeling?"

She just looked up at him when he put his hand on her forehead her skin would be warmer than normal but not by much.

"I don't think shit is a strong enough word to describe how I feel" She said one hand on her bandaged shoulder "I feel like I got beaten...stabbed...and then set on fire...in that exact order."

She glanced past him at the television seeing that his apartment was on the news this was not going to end well. Her superiors would know about it and his probably did too she was going to be in deep shit.

"What about you...it didn't hurt you did it?" She asked him realizing now how ragged her voice sounded.

She really needed some water hell she could probably do with a soak in the tub but she knew that would have to wait. If she had gotten hurt by an Infernal then she knew why she felt so crappy. Though honestly it was better to suffer now than deal with what could have happened later.

"Thanks...by the way..." She said "You really saved my ass...my memory is a bit fuzzy...but I remember this much..."

Josef nodded his head. Given how bad of shape she was in when he brought her in, he was surprised that she was even conscious right now. He knew he shouldn't have brought her back to the apartment with him, but then again if he hadn't, he probably wouldn't be here right now.

“I'm fine. I think that last load of buckshot to it's face stunned it enough.” His voice was still abit rough from Mark almost choking the life out of him.

He walked over and turned off the TV. She didn't need to be stressing over the news right now. They could burn that bridge tomorrow. Unfortunately something in his gut told him that he was about to get a worse shock than his initial introduction to this world

“You go ahead and rest up. I'm going to go get my stuff out of the car.” He walked back over to her for a moment. “You want some help getting to your room first?”

"It's good you're not hurt" She said sitting up.

She shook her head when he turned off the television and sighed this was going to bite her in the ass hard. It was a wonder Kindrell hadn't called her then again Mark was at Brimstone at least he should be she doubted that Josef would have known how to treat her wounds.

"I'll be fine Josef" She said "What about you? What happened to your voice?"

She could see bruising on his neck and worried that something might have happened to him. Mark was here at least she assumed he was Josef may have called him for instruction. She also knew Mark's temper was worse during the full moon. She stood up she was a bit shaky but she was in better shape than she'd been in before. Mark's poultices were miracles but she wouldn't tell him that she knew what was in them.

"I don't need help...but thanks for offerring...but I'm not sure going out is safe" She said walking toward the window "The place is warded...but he might be outside...waiting for one of us to leave..."

Josef cast his eyes sideways a bit. It was that look of guilt that he did something he wasn't overly proud of, but end over it wasn't something he regretted. He rubbed his throat lightly.

“Mark and I had a little bit of a tussle.” It was clear there was a bit more to it than that, but he wasn't going to say what.

When sh mentioned it it not being safe to go outside, he looked down at his clothes. They were pretty well stained with her blood. He really should have changed before they left, but given the circumstances, he'd needed to get Lina out of there before she did something stupid. He was definitely going to need to get a new dress uniform.

“If it was just the guns, I'd say you might have a point there Lina, but I do need to get changed still. Besides what good is it going to do to just cower and hide in here. I know I'm not that experienced with this, but no matter what the evil, somebody has to stand up and fight it.”

She tensed when he mentioned that he and Mark had fought she knew that Mark didn't do 'tussles'. There would be time to confront him later right now they had bigger problems. Looking out of the window she scanned the street more out of habit than anything else.

"I guess you're right" She said softly "I'm not in any shape for a fight...just be careful."

She wasn't acting like a Brimstone agent and it was infuriating first the police station and now her own home. He'd picked an apropriate word for how she was acting cowering behind wards.

"Do you want me to go out with you...if he is waiting he'll target me first" She said to him.

Josef grimaced a bit when she tensed. He knew she wasn't buying that it was just a tussle. Granted it was short, but neither of them had really been pulling their punches. He looked out the window with Lina and shook his head. She wasn't in good enough shape to be dealing with him right now.

“No, you're still recovering. Besides I don't think he'll kill me outright, not yet. He's toying with me right now. There have been several places where he could have easily dealt with us if he wanted to. I don't think he's done playing with us yet.”

He flashed her a quick smile and stepped outside. He was trying to be as quick as possible, and fortunately he'd parked right in front of her apartment so it wasn't a long walk to get back to his car. He popped open the back door, and grabbed his duffel bag and backpack. Things were so quiet it was a bit unsettling. He grabbed his shotgun, and the closed and locked the door before making his way back to the apartment.