- Qas -

"You ready?" Vesna asked me. I nodded, rolling my shoulders. The three of us, we're all mad, but then who's not mad after they've seen what we've seen?

The Velin team is stationed outside. We've secured the entrances of the subway station on both sides of the tunnel. It's rigged with spells to slow down any goblins who succeeded in escaping, so they can finish them off.

"Okay. On the count of three. One..., two..., three..." Vesna whispered. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before slipping on her heels. As she took the first few steps, her loud heels filled the silent subway. Beside me Raziel tensed.

We've practiced this trick before and everything should go well. Well, except for the helpless victim card. But with Vesna's acting skills, she should be able to pull it off easily.

I watched as she walked deliberately slower, giving them ample time to smell and hear her approach. She's humming like an ignorant blind human and as if to take this another step further, she sat on the platform edge, swinging her legs enticingly at them from above.

If it wasn't for the situation we're in, I think I would have rolled on the ground laughing so hard until it hurts.

It happened instantly. One moment she's up there and the next, a greenish arm grabbed her leg and pulled her down. Even though she was prepared, she couldn't help the squealing.

I know when her magic started to work as I felt the familiar tingle in the air. A wall of flames rose below and I can hear the panicked shrieks of the goblins. This is no time to watch. I berated myself silently as my body automatically switches to flight or fight mode.

I shut my eyes as well and dug deep for my powers. The sound of rushing water filled my ears but I controlled it to dim wisp of moisture that blankets the subway and commaned it to the area below near the wall of flames. The wall hissed in response as steam rises between the two opposite elements upon contact. Raziel has already grabbed me and I felt the instant when we became airborne, and then the solid metal track of the subway under my feet when we landed. I opened my eyes to see that Vesna is surrounded by five goblins.

They're too focused at licking their fat thick lips to notice our arrival. Some of them cackled, squating as they eyed her. They are vicious, their squat-like faces and beady black eyes latched onto their prey hungrily. Lazily, they circled her. Vesna is shooting small flames from her fingertips randomly to ward them off.

They laughed as the flames sizzled and then died beside them. Vesna only continued, her face becoming more and more distraught. The goblins are toying with her, making leering faces and moving away when she fires at them. They love to make it a sport before they move in for the kill. If only there's an acting award. I'm sure Vesna will top if off.

Menacing, but not so bright after all.

Soon, one of them begins to cough. They looked at their companion in puzzlement. The goblins began to realize the strange heaviness in the air. Thick smoke coagulates around them, choking them. Too late. The fire died because of the wet air, not because Vesna was weak. I made sure it stays that way.

With that, there's no point in biding our time. Vesna set three of them on fire and Raziel lunged towards the other two. With a swipe of his daggers they crumpled onto the floor. Their companions' screams drew out the rest from their hiding place. They cried out in anger, set to take vengeance for their fallen comrades. With a flick of her fingers, Vesna drew the wall of flames she had set up earlier towards them. Anguished screams pierced the air followed by the sounds of skin sizzling and something burning. I tried not to look too closely into the details lest my healer's conscience decides to act up again.

They are your enemies Qas. They are pesky faeries that don't belong here. I drew out my weapon while making sure my magic was still up and running. Raziel was already thick in the fray, slashing and cutting them down. Some of them tried to run towards the exit, but Vesna immediately set them on fire. Like you belong here as well. A small voice in me said. I pushed it away and threw it to the recesses of my mind.

Their beady eyes looked around wild with panic before landing on me. It's two on the left exit and one on the right exit. Of course they chose the easy way out. Dumb but still common sensical creatures.

I grunted as I shot one of them down with my crossbow. It's automated with self-reloading. Beads of perspiration ran down my face.

It's taking a toll, my magic reserves are depleting. My focus is split between defending and blasting some of them back with water. I covered my nose and mouth as the smoke thickens. The place is already filled with billowing smoke since my element keeps reacting against the burning corpses and the fire Vesna is setting on them.

Something green lunged towards me, coughing as it inhaled the smoke. Their motions are sluggish but I'm having a hard time defending because of the numbers. One of them rushed past and managed to climb up towards the exit, only to crumple on the floor.

"It seems you need some help." Wesley said grinning as he kicked off the short body and joined me. The rest of his team are also here as they hopped down onto the subway track. They are holding an arm against their noses and mouths as they fought with the remaining goblins. "Nice trick. I would say the smoke helps a lot." Wesley's muffled voice said as he kicked down another one lunging towards him. The goblins are barely able to stand without choking and coughing.

"My team are mostly humans. Including me." Wesley said as he sliced the front cutting the poor goblin. The green ugly creature crumpled onto the floor. No wonder. That explains a lot. Like why they couldn't handle something like this. I stopped using my magic. I can feel my primary magic reserves being used up. The smoke is thick enough and their numbers are dwindling. No point in wasting my emergency reserves needlessly. I had to refrain from using magic for the past three weeks to let my reserves accumulate just for this mission. It was a freaking pain so I better not burn out and suffer from the backlash. It is so not worth it.

We moved deeper inside assuming an unspoken formation and finished off the rest easily, which consisted of running and some rolling on the floor as they gasped.

"Hey Wes. Check this out." Someone called. A girl with braids in Wesley's team was standing at an open exit door staring in shock.

We rushed towards her, and she pointed into it. The exit door was barred at the other end to create a small room. It was opened to reveal small green bodies snuggled together, deep in sleep. Some of them were only babies. "The children." Vesna was whispering but I already had a hunch. "They are asleep thanks to the smoke. At least they won't feel pain." I shut my eyes as Wesley gave the signal to his team and I heard the slice of weapons carving in the silent night.

***

"Whew. It's all over." Vesna says happily as we stood in the empty lot. Somehow during the fight, she managed to take off her Jimmy Choos and hid it somewhere safe. It was the only thing of hers that remained unburned. "Oh man and this was my favourite dress too." She said picking at the singed hem in dismay.

"Well. At least those legendary Jimmy Choos that you bought a year ago still survives." Raziel said chuckling. Most of her shoes and clothes never seem to last more than a few months when she has to go straight for missions right after her performances.

"Yes. My baby." She kissed the ridiculously tall high heels as Wesley walked over.

"Thank you for your help today. Without you guys it wouldn't have been possible." The scout leader looks exhausted from staying up several nights to guard the place.

"Do you have any injured? If any of you guys are injured we can help." Vesna says. "We have a healer." Her hand stretches out towards me as she introduced me to him.

"Thank you for offering, but no. You guys have done a lot. It's time we humans are capable of taking care of ourselves." Wesley declines politely. "Send my thanks to Damien for answering our call for help." He shook each of our hands. "It was fun working with you guys. Till then." He waved as he walked off without looking back.

"Okay. It's time we head back too." Vesna sighs as she pushes off from the car. She flips her cell phone on and dialled the squad leader's number. "Hey Damien, we've wrapped up here. So now we're heading back. Uh huh, we'll be back as soon as possible." With that, she hung up and a mischievous smile spreads on her face.

"Is there good news?" Raziel asked her. I looked at her, curious about what good news she can possibly bring.

"Mhm. A private jet and a welcome party to go for. Sounds like trouble is brewing up already."