When the sun rose, they were all ready for action. Nikola was the first to wake up. He looked at the oak tree, whose leaves were rustling in the faint wind.
He stood, stretched, and then went to where Jean was using Jack's chest as a pillow.
That was like a gut punch for the brunette. Finally, Jack was winning Jean over, and now Nikola had to put him at risk.
He didn't have the heart to do so. But he had no other way. He gently shook the vampire awake.
"We need to go," Nikola told him, as he took a dagger from the clean pile. "You don't mind if I take this, do you?"
Jean smiled.
"I can teach you how to use it, so you won't cut off your fingers!" The vampire told him, a sly grin on his lips, his eyes twinkling with mirth.
Nikola nodded. It was good that Jean wasn't panicking.
The two were just about to head to the oak tree, when Dimitri came back to their campsite.
"You have to see this, Niki!" The sheet of paper was in his hands.
Nikola nodded, taking it.
Only for his eyes to go wide.
"That's the Madara Horseman!" The horseman was there, so were the dog and the lion. "But why… who would make a statue like this here?"
"Well," Tangra's voice echoed in his mind. "I was bored."
Nikola saw red.
"You were bored? How many people were killed because of your boredom?"
The deity chuckled.
"I made you; I can undo you!" He said in a sing-song voice.
"To hell with you!" Nikola roared, even as Dimitri tried to shush him. "This world is not your playground! You have no right to destroy it!"
He heard a chuckle. So, as if his protests were dismissed as soon as they were being made.
Nikola felt the connection in his soul to the deity.
"No, don't!" Dimitri said, as he took hold of Nikola's arm. "We can't afford to have a deity gunning for us. We just can't!"
Nikola narrowed his eyes.
"He is no deity; he is a demon! One day, I will make him pay!" He hissed.
The small golden chain around his soul snapped then. He heard one last chuckle.
Then nothing.
Nikola felt for his connection to nature. That was still there.
"One of those days, I will make him pay for everything!" For the home he had lost. For the fact that he couldn't be with his child now, when it needed to feel his love more than ever.
"Well, now things will never be boring," Dimitri murmured, as he hugged Nikola. "I suggest we all attack the demons now, before Tangra gives them a boost."
Nikola smelled the rotten eggs coming from the graveyard. He let his connection to the grass guide his sight.
There, in the middle of the graveyard, was a demon made of sulfur!
"Crap," Nikola murmured, as he began to walk towards the oak tree. "Come on, everyone, up in the tree."
The fire demons might be weak to the melody he was supposed to play now, but he doubted that the sulfur demon was going to disappear only because of a melody.
"I think I know how to get rid of it!" Jack said, as he took Nikola's bottomless bag. "We can use some of the dust from the magical crystals we mined!"
Nikola blinked.
"And how is that supposed to work?" He asked.
The ghoul smiled.
"Well, they can be made into chlorinators. We just need to dump enough on the demon, then rinse with water. Then repeat until it dies!"
Nikola nodded.
"I will do it," Jack added, as he took hold of two bags with crystal dust and began to head towards the demons.
"Wait!" Both Jean and Nikola yelled at the same time.
Jack just smirked.
"What? Go on, I need background music! Dimitri, are you coming? I can use some fast heals!"
The vampire nodded, a smirk on his lips. He clapped Nikola on the back, as the man began to shake his head.
"What? No faith in me?" He teased. Nikola brought him closer, burying his nose in his nape.
"You better come back!" He whispered against the pale skin.
"Oh, now you wound me, dearest!" Dimitri teased, as he kissed Nikola on the head. "Of course I will come back! Don't I always?"
Nikola had no answer to that. The longest the two had been separated was when the Wendigo had tried to eat them.
But he still nodded.
It was a leap of faith. It was the first real hurdle in their life.
"And, you know," Dimitri continued, as he took off a chain with two rings on it, which had been resting around his neck. "When we go back to the town, we are getting married. We already have a baby boy. I think we are long overdue for the next step!"
Dimitri took off running after that.
Jack followed him.
Nikola was staring at their retreating backs so, as if he was wondering if he was ever going to see them again.
"Come on, Niki! The fighting started. We need to get in our tower!"
Nikola nodded, letting Jean take the lead.
Soon, the sounds of fighting and magical healing were heard. Nikola's hands were shaking.
He was a child of the modern times. He had never fought before he had been confronted with the Selkie. And even after that, he was still unsure of himself.
"Hey, don't be afraid," Jean said, as he took out a dagger. "They will pull through. We need to help them."
Nikola bit himself on the palm of his hand and let some of the blood drop on the flute.
The melody calmed him. He looked on, as the demons were becoming thinner and thinner.
Only for the sulfur demon to begin to advance towards them.
Both Jean and he froze. The melody came out like a screech.
Only for Dimitri to step in the demon's path, a bag of crystal dust in his hand.
Ready to defend his better half.