Don't Close Your Eyes: The Devil's Science (Part II)

[x-jeangrey.livejournal.com]

Klara, Angel and Kurt find themselves at the wrong end of a literal witch-hunt.




In the centre of the village a bonfire had been set up, branches and wood piled up against and around a wooden pole. The crowd had assembled, eyes cold and flat, silent now as the witch was brought out, hanging limply between the two burly men who had been appointed her guards. They tied her to the pole roughly, paying little mind to rope burn and bruises - what was the point, after all? Their task done, a tall man dressed in priest's robes began reading from the Bible, his stern tones describing just what should be done to those accused of witchcraft.


"I am not a witch!" Klara protested, tears stinging her eyes as memories of the past blurred with the present. Ugly accusations, and eyes that looked at her as if she didn't deserve to live. These people all wanted her dead. They didn't want to understand. But she was supposed to try to make them understand in spite of that. "I am a mutant...I have only ever used my powers in self-defense or to help others. Please...you don't understand."


Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. The passage repeated in her head over and over again as reality set in. Whether she was a witch or not, they were condemning her as one and there was nothing she could do. She flinched under the unyielding gaze of the crowd and the priest leading them.


Angel gasped as she finally finished climbing a near by tree so she could see what was going on without having to resorting to her flying abilities. Her mind went completely blank - they were tying her up to a stake. What the hell were they even thinking? She felt anger burn deep inside as she gripped the bark and made a decision. If they wanted a scary mutant on their hands, they'd get one. All she had to do was make sure she got a little bit closer to the action and then she'd draw their attention away and hopefully get Klara out of there.

Swinging herself down, Angel had barely hit the floor when she flamed up but even before the first person was turning towards her, screaming, she felt this wave of heat blast from her body. The trees and everything around them suddenly burst into fire around them and, behind her, a car exploded from the heat.

"Oh god, no, no, got to get this under control ..."


Kurt had been watching from the shadows for a few minutes, desperately hoping someone would come to their senses and put a stop to this... but it was becoming increasingly clear that no one was going to. Which left only one choice. He teleported forward, punching one of Klara's guards before he could adjust to what had just happened, then snarled at the crowd. "What do you think you are doing?"


"DEMON!" cried the priest, pointing at Kurt with a shaking hand. "See? She has summoned a demon to come to her aid!"


"Witch!" came the yelling from the crowd. "Demon!" "Kill them! Kill them both!"

Then a familiar figure pushed his way to the front of the crowd, face hard and stony. "Burn the witch. Burn the demon," Stefan Szardos declared loudly to the crowd. "Don't let them get away!"

The sight of that face, and the sound of those words, knocked Kurt back like a physical blow. "Stefan, what are you saying? You know I am no demon."


"With that face? That body? Look at you, Kurt. The only thing missing is the cloven hooves!" Stefan's face was twisted into something ugly. "Devil spawn you were born and that's all you'll ever be." He reached over and grabbed a flaming torch from one of the men. "Burn with your witch mistress, demon," he spat, before tossing the torch onto the wood surrounding Klara. Almost beyond reason, it flared up into flames immediately.


Klara squirmed and tried to recall anything that might be of use in her self defense classes as the fire roared to life. Even if there was still some small part of her that could have let them kill her, she couldn't allow other people she knew to be killed in front of her. She coughed when the smoke rose with the flames. It was a futile struggle against the pyre.


There were people fleeing from her, though a few braver ones had tried to throw rocks at her but to no avail as the heat was far too high. Angel knelt with her arms clasped around her, trying to rein in the heat and fire that flowed out of her like a dam with a hole in it. But for every second it seemed, it just got hotter and worse. She was well into her second stage of power but it seemed she was just dialing it up not down.

"Fire demon!" someone screamed, again, as one of the stores exploded outward and the entire building went up into flames when she just looked at it. This was wrong, so wrong, and Angel sobbed as she tried to put a stop to it.


Kurt had closed with Stefan, more trying to hold him off and reason with him than actually fighting. "Brother, what has come over you? All these years, I have never heard you speak so."


"Maybe I've finally seen the light," Stefan spat back. "Isn't that what that priest of yours preached?" He shoved Kurt back, almost to the edge of the flames that were creeping higher, eager for blood. "Or maybe I got tired of protecting you, you and the little monster. Abominations, the pair of you! You're not true Clan, you're not even true family!"


Kurt's eyes flared in the firelight, terror mingled with anger at the implications of those words, and he pushed back against his brother for the first time. "What have you done to Meggan?!"


Around them the world was falling into chaos. Fire was spreading from building to building, despite Angel's efforts, and the screams of those trapped were echoing higher and higher. The mob had become a riot, no-one seeming to know where they were going or what they were doing, lashing out in fear and pain. And on the pyre, flames were licking at Klara's feet, singing her shoes.

Afraid to move, to breathe, lest it get even worse, Angel finally forced herself to look up and she cried out when she saw Klara. "Kurt! Stop it! Stop fighting him and get her! I can't - I can't make this stop! Get her out of there!"


The fire seared into Klara's skin and she tried desperately to rub the rope against the stake enough to chafe away at it. It wasn't working very well, especially as more smoke filled her lungs and made her eyes sting.


Stefan's smile was cruel. "You'll never know," he taunted Kurt. "Now burn, with the rest of them!" With that, he drew a knife from his belt, stabbing low towards Kurt's stomach.

"I am sorry, my brother", was the response as Kurt danced back from the knife, "...but you first." His next move, face stiff and set with anguish, was to reach up and twist Stefan's neck, then let him fall.


Between the smoke making her cough and blinding her and the flames burning her skin, Klara was only passingly aware of the exchange happening. The sound of Stefan's neck being twisted made her flinch a little.

The demon appeared in the fire, now, grabbing Klara's shoulder and vanishing a moment later, girl, ropes and all. They popped back up on the other side of the crowd, Kurt all but holding Klara up as he looked around for his other charge. "Angel! Where are you?"

She was sobbing uncontrollably now as she stood up. "H-here," Angel called, over the sounds of screams and flames. "Don't come too close - I can't turn it off! I - this is all my fault!" She gestured and then screamed when someone's clothes near by caught fire. "We have to go before I make this worse!"

He dragged Klara towards her, focused on nothing but the job at hand and especially not what he'd just done. "I cannot get you both away from here safely at once with my powers. We will have to do it the hard way - Klara, can you run?"

At first, all Klara could do was cough and rub at her eyes. She shook her head. "I...I am sorry, but I do not think I can."

"I'll fly," Angel said, trying to keep a good distance between herself and the other two. Every footstep made the ground beneath her crackle and flake as she burned the concrete. "We can't make ourselves any larger targets and it'll keep me away from you guys."


"Good, because I will have to carry Klara", Kurt said grimly, lifting the girl into a secure position in his arms. "Angel, if you go faster than us, we will be heading for the docks."


She didn't even respond before she was already well above their heads. With her leaving the ground, the oppressive heat went with it for the time being. Angel cast a look around and looked back down at the other two. "Kurt, we better move fast. There's a small group of people looking for Klara and us coming this way."


Angel's panicked mind was starting to calm down a bit and a rough plan formed in her mind. If the crowd got close to Kurt and Klara, she'd intercede - they'd be hard pressed to hurt her at this rate and she'd certainly scare them off either just by looks or, well ... she turned a frightened look to where half of the city square was now engulfed in flames.



"Go", Kurt agreed, and broke into a run. It was a good thing Klara was so small, he thought, or this might have been all but impossible to pull off.



They ran - or rather, Kurt ran and Angel flew - but there seemed to be no escape. Every corner hide more people calling for their blood, every door was locked to them. It became less about getting to anywhere in particular and more just about escaping, finding a safe place. But there was no safe place available.



At last, they reached the docks. Nowhere left to run and a boat slipping away, mocking them with its closeness.



"Wait!" Kurt called desperately after the boat, not willing to try teleporting onto a moving target. Not when he had someone else's safety to consider. "Come back, we can pay if you come back..."


From the bridge of the boat Hank turned around, his hat blowing off his head and letting the sea wind ruffle his bluish-black fur. He squinted behind the dark sunglasses that covered his equally dark eyes at the tiny men on the shoreline. The wind was deafening, but it carried their words to him, in response he considered kicking one of the girls overboard to drown in the shark infested waters, but instead smiled and gave them a parting wave. Chuckling as he did, the sea winds whipping his blood drenched overcoat around him.


“Oh. My. God.” Angel halted in mid-air, completely stunned by the sudden appearance of Hank on the boat. She glanced down at Kurt, unsure of what to do now.



The blue bastard that had carved up her face was no longer standing over her, though Sarah still didn't dare open her eyes again. She hoped he'd never come back, but then who would know where they were and come and rescue them? No, they were going to die, sooner rather than later. All she could hope to do was to bring their killer down with them, maybe if someone heard her screaming they'd track him down or something. It was the best she could hope for, so she mustered up as much of her strength as she could and screamed once more, as loud as she could, which came out as a rough, ragged roar. "HELP US! PLEASE!" She followed her words with some wordless wailing but that quickly died out and turned into hacking and coughing, her throat too sore to be of any further use to her.



The mob was approaching, angry and murderous, intent on their destruction. The boat was beyond reach, carrying Sarah and Yvette away from them, beyond reach of any of them, except Angel. Klara was hurt, Kurt was unable to teleport out. They needed her, Sarah and Yvette needed her, and she had to choose.



It almost physically hurt to make that kind of decision but she had to decide and she had to do it quickly. Kurt and Klara might need her but Sarah obviously needed her more if that scream was anything to go on. Knowing, hoping, that Kurt would forgive her for her decision, Angel exploded into motion, hoping she could burn fast and hot enough to catch up to that boat in time. But no matter how fast and how hot she burned, the boat just kept slipping out of reach. She would never be able to catch up.



Night seemed to be settling in on the increasingly choppy ocean. Were the girls not chained to the deck or boxed, they would certainly have been thrown overboard. Cutting the engine, Hank turned to face the city once again, getting a more complete picture of the nightmare that seemed to be unfolding behind him. Fires lapped at the sky, heat lightning arcing between the clouds and the ground caused by the arid smoke. The docks were just close enough to make out the mob pushing the remaining mutants in town toward the ocean. Hank smiled, glad he'd closed his bank accounts and would soon be relocating to fresh hunting grounds. There was money to be made, and if anyone would be the one to do it, he was. Turning back to the ocean, the doctor threw the throttle forward and put the town and it familiar inhabitants to his back forever.


Kurt watched the boat go with despair, then looked up at Angel with something like pride. He knew she'd made the right decision, even as he set Klara back on her feet, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into the shelter of his side. He turned to face the oncoming mob.


"Klara, my poor child", he said quietly, "I will not let you go back to the fire. This will only hurt for a moment."


And stepping away a little to look into her eyes, he set his hands on her neck.


Time stood still. An endless moment, where anything could happen. Then:


"Enough."


The voice belonged to Charles and with that one word, the world shattered into waking.