darker_london | One of those rescue threads (Daniel, Deirdre, Thomas, Zoe? and open if you want more peeps)

Warning: Effects of sexual and physical abuse

They had one day left to fine Danny and Deirdre was beginning to get more than a little frantic. It had been her responsibility to watch over Danny in the first place, and a tragedy involving her brother had drawn her attention away. If that driver ended up causing two casualties, Deirdre was going to hate herself for a very long time. Not that Dylan was dead yet, but Deirdre was fairly pessimistic about his prognosis.

Thomas had taken to driving, and he wasn't keen on discussing the fact that Spectre had gone with Flynn instead of him. Deirdre was aware, distantly, that something had happened in Glasgow, but she didn't really have time to worry about the state of her friends' marriage. She was just happy enough to have him with her; and happier still that at the last moment, Zoe had decided to join them. Deirdre understood. They had done day and Zoe was getting as frantic as Deirdre was.

"The GPS says turn here," she informed Thomas, a moment before the automated voice chimed in and told him the very same thing. "Heh. Sorry."

"It's fine," Thomas said, flicking on his indicator and making the turn. "Where the hell are we again?"

"Maesteg, Wales," Deirdre replied. "And we are getting take away on our way out of town if we don't find shite, okay? I'm starving and I think Rhosa-fucking-weird-Welsh-word is about two hours away. We won't stop long, Zoe, I promise. Just a few moments? Mickey D's, I don't care. I'll even buy you a kiddie cone if you're a good boy, Thomas."

"Oh gee, thank you?" he said, his voice devoid of joy. "I could go for a burger though, and I can drive one-handed."

"Don't want to know how you figured that out, big guy! OOh, turn!" Once again, the GPS chimed in and informed them to turn right moments later, and Thomas complied. "Smith Street is like...the second one along this street."

They made the turn and drove along, counting the numbers up from 1. When they approached the 400 block, Deirdre started leaning out the window like a dog, and as 420 loomed into view, there were the numbers, crimson and plain as day.

"Holy shite," Deirdre hissed. "Zoe, is this the house? I don't feel an incubus in there, but I feel someone else. It's...whoever it is, they feel pretty weak."

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Throughout the journey Zoe had wanted to keep in near constant contact with Cai and Rachel. She sat in the back of the car, texting. At first, while they were still in London, they were texts about the plan, and reassurances that Cai and Rachel were okay to stay at home – Zoe was fine. Zoe didn’t need them. Zoe had Deirdre and Thomas and was safe enough. Except that was a lie – Zoe totally wished they were both here.

She was the one who had told them to stay at home, though. For Rachel’s sake mostly – Zoe didn’t want to put Rachel into a rescue scenario where anything could happen. She didn’t want Rachel to witness what Danny was suffering through firsthand. Zoe wanted to protect her from that. Cai had already seen it, but Zoe wanted to protect him from worse too. She didn’t like to imagine what might happen if Cai touched Greg. Did not want to think about the kinds of things he’d see.

Plus someone needed to stay at home and look after Rachel.

So Zoe was in the back seat, alone. One mobile out, her lifeline to the others. A second mobile in her boot, the purple, steelcapped boots with the spikes that Rachel had bought her and you know what? Zoe didn’t even care if the accusations were true and she had stolen the money to buy them. That was so far into the realms of not important anymore. What was important was this; Rachel’s life. Danny’s life. Cai’s. That they all stayed alive. Zoe had had them all less than a year and already the solid threat of death hung over them. Danny especially (except it was beyond a threat, now, it was a certainty. If they couldn’t find him death was a certainty) but if Zoe couldn’t save Danny, then she was pretty sure Rachel would be next.

And what would happen to Cai if Zoe couldn’t save Danny? What would happen if his grandfather died too? Family was so vital to Cai, she didn’t know who he would be if he lost them both. He was losing enough of himself just under the threat of losing his family.

And if Zoe lost Danny and Rachel and Cai, who would she be?

Zoe had never admitted to anyone that she’d hated the person she’d become after she’d lost the Sisterhood, but she hadn’t had any choice but to change. She’d hated the way she treated people, she hated her meanness and her cynicism, but she hadn’t been strong enough to handle it any other way. Cruelty was weak, she knew that. Her cruelty toward Liz especially had been a sign of her great weakness and failure as a person. She cringed at the memories of outbursts, mean words, slammed doors, anger. She hated herself for not being strong enough to be kind.

She still wasn’t sure she was strong enough for kindness to be an instinct, but over the last few months she’d been trying. Rachel and Danny, they demanded kindness from her, they needed it. And Cai didn’t need it because he’d had kindness all his life; instead, he inspired it in her, though that scared her in a different way.

But she still feared what she might turn into if she lost them. Was she stronger now than she was after the Sisterhood? Or would it be worse, losing all her friends a second time? Would one of them stay and haunted her with Juliet? Would she go through life collecting dead bodies and ghosts?

As that came up on Smith Street Zoe sent one last text to the pair of them and put her phone on silent. Even before she saw the house, she knew.

She knew with a certainty that this was the house. Or was it just hope? But it didn't feel like hope. It felt like knowledge. This was the street. "It's the house," Zoe confirmed out loud, when Deirdre asked. She'd already unbuckled her seatbelt, was poised to burst out of the car as soon as Thomas stopped.

Of course whoever was in there was going to be weak. Zoe wanted to snap at Deirdre for saying something so obvious and stupid, but, she reminded herself, cruelty was weakness, and cruelty directed at Deirdre would be no help whatsoever.

Once confirmation had been made, Deirdre jumped out of the car and slammed the door home. Thomas was slower, but not for lack of motivation. He simply wasn't a demon any more. Still he rounded the car and joined her so they could cross together.

Deirdre didn't bother knocking on the door. What she did instead was search for a window to break, and she found one already broken. "Holy shit," she said, staring at the lack of glass which had been taped over with a large sheet of plastic. "Righto."

Immediately she charged towards the window, ripping the sheet easily. She could tell Greg was nowhere about, but even if he was, she could take an incubus. She climbed through the window and then grabbed a chair to clean the remaining shards from the frame for Thomas and Zoe to climb through.

"He's this way," she said, rushing to a door which she tested and found locked. "Oh fuck this."

It took Deirdre less than ten seconds to splinter the door into pieces and then there they were, in the room with Danny who was chained to the end of the bed. He wasn't on top of it, however. He was underneath, working on loosening one of the bed springs.

When he heard the door crash, he instantly scooted out from under the bed and as far away as the chain on his leg would allow him. He was pale and bruised and thinner than he had been, and his hands were held in front of his face for protection. "Please, do- De-Deirdre? ZOE!?"

Zoe shoved Deirdre out of the way and darted toward Danny. She knew what he would have been doing under the bed, she'd seen what he planned to do with the spring over and over, whenever she closed her eyes. It made her furious at him, that he'd want to give up, but even more furious at Greg, who'd made him think he had no other chance to escape. "It's me, it's me," she said, dropping to her knees in front of him. "It's okay - we've found you." Her voice was shaking at she said it.

Danny bent forward, his hands on the floor to support him. Even then he was shaky and unstable. He let his eyes fall closed and he just concentrated on breathing. In. Out. In. Out. They had found him and Greg was never going to touch him again.

Oh god, was this real?

A sob worked it's way through his lips and then he had thrown himself into Zoe's arms. He knew he was disgusting and he smelled and he also knew he was injured and it was going to hurt, but he didn't give a shit. Zoe was here. He needed to feel her here. Needed to feel absolutely anything that wasn't Greg touching him.

"Oh, Jesus Christ," he whispered into her neck. "Oh Jesus fucking Christ, Zoe."

While they clung to each other, Deirdre stepped forward to examine the chain on his leg to see if she could break it without hurting Danny.

When Zoe gasped as he grabbed her she could taste the smell of him, and had to force her tongue up against the roof of her mouth to stop herself gagging. She held onto him though, tightly, because he was alive. He was still alive he was still alive - she hadn't lost him. She hadn't. He was still breathing and all his blood was in his body - probably. She grabbed him by the shoulders and held him at arms reach, patting her arms down his to check for woulds. "Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked, her voice sounding even more shaky that it had before.

Danny sucked in a breath when she pushed him back and checked him over. "Yeah," he hissed out, "my chest...pretty sure I broke a rib." He was bruised all over too, but the rib was the worst of it. "And this," he said, pulling up his pajama pant leg and showing them the angry red wound where the shackle was around his ankle. It was clear he had tried to pull away from it, without success. The wound looked infected.

"I can get this off of you, but I have to touch you, Danny. Is that okay?" Deirdre asked, while Thomas searched for a key in case it was within easy reach.

"It's okay," Danny breathed, still sniffly and half-crying. "Just get it the fuck off me."

"I've got painkillers in the car," Zoe offered, feeling pathetic. She couldn't break chains. She just knelt by Danny and offered her hands for him to grip if he needed to while Deirdre did her demon thing. "And, and the hospital will have more. You'll be okay."

Danny closed his eyes again and he shook his head. He was never going to be okay again. Not ever again. "Don't feel good. And don't want any more pills." While he knew Zoe wouldn't drug him, he honestly thought he would gag if he had to swallow pills.

"I just- I want to- I was trying to die," he admitted, because he didn't know Zoe already saw that. "I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd come."

"I know - I saw you, Danny. Me and Cai - we've been trying to see you since you left. I'm so so sorry it took so long. I was trying, I promise I was trying." She didn't want to stop touching him, as if she trusted her hands more than her eyes to prove he was there. "You're not allowed to die," she said, trying to sound firm but failing, failing miserably. "You're not allowed. You've got me, and Cai and your mum and Rachel. So - so you're not allowed."

Danny let out another choking sob and he covered his mouth with a dirty hand. There was a deep cut in his cheek that flared pain through him when his fingertips brushed it, but he hardly noticed.

"This is going to hurt if we can't find the key, Danny," Deirdre cautioned.

"Just do it-" he breathed, but the moment the words left his lips, Deirdre wasn't paying attention to them.

"He's coming," she whispered, the familiar buzz of an incubus growing stronger by the second. "He's coming back."

Danny whimpered as Deirdre and Thomas immediately stood and placed themselves between him and the door his captor would walk through. "Oh god, oh god," Danny whispered, clinging to Zoe with more strength than he should have been capable of.

Greg entered his house and, upon noticing the plastic wrap had been removed, cursed loudly before thundering down the hallway. "DAN, GODDAMMIT! I'm GOING TO KILL-" He skidded to a stop when he saw three people in his bedroom who should not have been there. "What the fuck are you doing here?!"

"Taking Danny away from you," Thomas said, sounding deadly calm which Deirdre knew was actually a bad sign. Thomas was inches away from attempting to remove Greg's head from his body and she wasn't far behind. The difference was, she could actually accomplish that. And, staring at the disgusting excuse for a human being, her eyes swirled to black and she could feel her wings threatening to settle in on her back. She held them at bay, but only just.

"You're going to go somewhere you can never hurt someone again," Deirdre growled as Greg simply stared at them in disbelief.

"You are trespassing, I am going to call the police-" Greg started to say, though it was an empty threat for obvious reasons.

"And how do you expect to explain the young man you kidnapped and held prisoner?" Thomas asked through clenched teeth.

"And if you think we didn't call the police the second we found the house, you're mistaken," Deirdre added, though she didn't elaborate that the cop she had messaged, not called, was Paul.

Danny didn't say a word as the confrontation heated up. His grip on Zoe loosened however, and instead of clinging to her, he started to curl in on himself ever so slowly. He was crying and terrified but there were people here to fight for him now. He could hide and let them do it.

Zoe rose slowly to her feet and walked, just as slowly, toward Greg. She walked with a look of fearlessness about her, but that was mostly cold anger. Here was the thing that had almost taken Danny from her; the thing that still might kill him, if Danny wasn't strong enough to recover. Here was every evil person she'd ever encountered; Gloria, the Templar, the man who'd pushed her into a cage, age eleven, and locked it behind him. "Do you know what we're going to do to you?" she asked. "We're going to lock you up for the rest of your life. You're going to be chained to a bed in a place you can never leave, surrounded by monsters. You'll die there too. Slowly, miserably. You'll never touch a soul again."

Greg just stared at Zoe uncomprehendingly. The thought that some child could threaten him was ridiculous. Greg was sure he had the tools to take all of them down. "You won't touch Dan or take him from me." Greg stared at Thomas, reaching out with his powers at the same time. Al of a sudden, Thomas felt a little hot under the collar, not to mention what was happening between his legs. His cheeks turned red and he faltered for a second, stuck between running away from the onslaught, and staying to protect poor Danny.

"Stop that!" Thomas yelled, obviously frantic.

Danny looked up at the people around him, understanding exactly what Greg was doing to them. "Oh God... Oh God." He curled in tighter on himself, dreading the feeling of Greg doing it to him. Not again.

Greg glared at them all and started to use his power on all of them, including Danny. Not focusing on one of them meant he couldn't be sure what any of them was feeling, but he was sure they would feel something. He had drained Danny so much he was pulsing with power.

A frantic whimper escaped Danny's lips as bile rose up into his throat. "Noooo. No. Please no." He could feel his body reacting and it disgusted him. "Stop. Greg, stop it." He closed his eyes and stared to gag, because he knew what came next and if Zoe and her friends failed him now, he was done for.

Deirdre looked pale herself, the onslaught reaching her, but she held her ground. She was the strongest person here, at least physically, and she couldn't falter. Deirdre knew if she soul-sucked Greg, she could stop him instantly. The idea of having that soul inside her, however...it made her hesitate.

This fire was not a feeling Zoe knew well, nor one she was comfortable with. It had not been so long since she'd kissed Cai but that had been a different sensation entirely; she trusted Cai, against all odds but there was no trust here, just the mockery of intimacy, of lust. She'd told Rachel once that she felt like that part of her had switched off, that she hadn't felt lust or even the hint of a crush since the school shooting. Even Cai wasn't that; he wasn't a crush, wasn't lust. Cai was confusion and distraction and reassurance and hope.

This thing infiltrating her body now was an alien thing, lust without invitation and intimacy without trust and Zoe panicked. Zoe revolted against it. She did the only thing she could think to do: she threw herself at him and shoved him hard back into the wall.

Greg hadn't been expecting the little girl to come attack him, and the pair of them fell backwards into the wall. The impact knocked the wind out of him, and for a split second, his focus on his powers faltered. It was enough for Thomas to get his wits together and dart over to Danny so he could pick the lock on his shackle. The thought of leaving him chained up disgusted Thomas.

The moment Greg gained his bearing, he righted himself and punched zoe hard in the face. The second of impact was when Thomas managed to get the shackle off of Danny, having used a hairpin he forgot he was carrying around. He had put it in his pocket days ago and now there was so much going on.

Danny heard the punch land, and Greg growl at Zoe. "Fuck off, you fucking bitch!" he shouted and that was enough to make Danny angry. Especially when Greg advanced, preparing to hit Zoe again.

He was far too weak and when he stood, he was shaking. Still, he had stopped gagging and that was something of a miracle. "Don't you fucking touch her!" Danny hollered, rushing towards Greg to keep him from doing anything else to Zoe.

Zoe's adrenaline was high enough that the punch didn't destroy her. It hurt but it was more shocking than painful - so far. Pain would come later. Right now it didn't hurt but it made her angry and reckless. Clearly Danny was angry and reckless too, Zoe shared the briefest of 'I'm with you' glances with him then joined him in attacking Greg again. She yelled wordlessly at him, a furious cry that came from years of built up horror and powerlessness and refusal to accept any more.

Danny caught Zoe's glance and started hitting Greg wherever he could. Greg covered his face to protect it, concentrating instead on his power. Danny faltered in his onslaught and Greg lashed out, hitting Danny in the face.

"Ow shit!" Danny yelped, falling to his knees and breathing hard. Deirdre stepped forward then and her wings finally manifested.

"Step back!" She yelled, and grab was so shocked by the sight of her, that he complied.

Sometimes wings still shocked Zoe, their sudden and unnatural appearance, defying all laws of physics (or all the laws Zoe knew) and their imbued and frightening power. Not today though, not here. Here, wings were normal, expected. Even Deirdre's voice, loud as ever, didn't make her jump. She moved when Deirdre said move though, and wrapped her arms round Danny to help him up and make sure he was out of Deirdre's way too.

Danny's head was swimming and he groaned there on the floor. "Feel sick," he murmured.

Deirdre slammed Greg back into a wall and held him. "See me now? Still think we can't do exactly what she said we're going to do?"

"Just knock him out, Deirdre!" Zoe yelled, giving Danny a rub on his back Luke that would stop him feeling sick. "Don't let him fuck with anyone else, just let him wake up in the cell he'll live in for the rest of his pathetic life!"

Deirdre glared a moment longer and then complied. Greg crumpled to the floor and she knelt beside Zoe and Danny. "Your uncle is an incubus, Danny. I'm sorry."

Danny just groaned.

"He's going to rot, Danny," Zoe said, without a hint of gentleness in her voice. Now that the danger had passed she could taste the blood on her tongue. Blood smeared the back of her hand when she used it to wipe her mouth. "He's going to rot and you're going to live."

Was he though? Danny glanced at the crumpled form of his uncle, and then to the still-winged Deirdre who was dialling a number on her mobile phone. He was going to be taken somewhere safe, and somehow Danny still felt like his life was over.

It didn't help that his sudden outburst had drained every last bit of energy he had. The room felt like it was moving around him, and he swayed a little on his hands and knees. "Uuurgghhh. Think- Think Imma faint. Where's Mum?"

"She's in London, Danny," Thomas answered, "and we'll bring you there soon. We're in Wales right now. Do you need something to help you feel less faint?"

Danny swallowed roughly and tried to keep his breathing even, though it was getting more and more difficult. "I-I can't- 's too much."

"No pills," Zoe told Thomas, still frowning. "He doesn't want any pills. Danny, I'm going to guard you, okay? Even if you faint, I'm gona guard you till we get your mum. Don't be scared, just breathe."

The took Danny gave Zoe was one of complete adoration and gratitude, even through his pain and weakness. "See," he said, slurring his words a little, "knew you loved me." He didn't smile, but is was the first thing he had said since they arrived, that didn't have an air of urgency and fear to it.

"Yes, you're very smart," Zoe told him, the first hint of softness evident in her tone. Though, as softness crept in her voice started to quaver again. "I don't let myself get punched in the face for just anyone, you know."

"Heh," Danny did manage to look guilty about that. "Trust you. Guardian Zoe." She had guarded him before, during the school prank they had thought was another attack. Zoe had put herself between him and the possible attackers, and he would never forget that, however long he managed to survive after this.

"We should get you out of here, but Paul says the case will be stronger if we wait for the cops to show up," Deirdre said, regret in her voice. "He's sending a few friends our way who will be able to make sure Greg still ends up in Peter's hospital while he waits for sentencing. And you know...even after that."

None of that really got through to Danny. All he focused on was getting out of there and that cops were coming. Cops meant safety. "'sfine," he murmured, leaning heavily against Zoe. "Tired." He barely got the word out before his eyelids fluttered and he passed out against his friend, trusting them to see him safely home.

Traces of an angry reacted flickered across Zoe's face as Deirdre spoke but she bit down on her lip, her arm wrapped around Danny till he had passed out. "You're bringing in cops - human cops?" she hissed at Deirdre, confused. "What if he ends up in a regular jail? What if he goes to court and he uses his power on the jury - on the judge? What if they let him off? We're risking that?"

Deirdre shrugged and pulled the phone away from her ear. "We have to, Zoe. His mother is going to insist on it. I mean...if he just disappears into the hospital, what is his mother going to think? She has the cops out searching for them. We have to do this at least half-way properly. The people who are coming have been involved with demon stuff down here. Paul has an entire little network all over the UK with cops in the know. We don't have any other choice."

As she spoke, Thomas searched for something to tie Greg up with. He found some bondage rope and, gritting his teeth against the thoughts of what had been done with it, he used it to bind Greg's arms behind his back, and then his ankles to each other. "Fucking disgusting bastard," he muttered as he did so. "Yvonne might have something that can restrict his powers. I don't know. She has a magic lab."

"Trials take forever anyway. He won't be able to touch anyone to drain them. He'll be too weak to do shit." Deirdre hoped, anyway.

"I don't like this," Said Zoe, though that particular fact was evident just by looking at her. She was going to have to be a witness in court, fuck fuck fuck. With one hand - the arm not holding Danny - she wriggled her phone from her pocket and handed it to Thomas. "Thomas," she said. "Take a picture of my face in case it stops bleeding before the cops get here." If she had to do this she wanted to do everything she could to keep him locked up forever.

Thomas nodded grimly, and he took her phone into his hands. "We shold take pictures of everything, actually. Just in case." He snapped a photo of her face and then he pulled his own out to photograph the rest of the area. He didn't really want her to have those photos on her phone unless she insisted.

"Do you want some ice or something?" Deirdre asked, though she wasn't sure if Greg would even have ice in his freezer.

"No," Zoe snapped at Deirdre, wrapping her arms a little closer around Danny, her chin resting softly on his head but her eyes still hard. "Not till an official police photographer has got my face." Besides, she didn't want anything out of his freezer.

Deirdre nodded, understanding. In the distance there was the sound of sirens approaching anyway, and soon enough they would be dealing with the official bullshit red tape that surrounded something like this.

She was going to make sure Greg ended up in the hospital, if she had to break people's necks in order to do it.

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An Original RPG

One of those rescue threads (Daniel, Deirdre, Thomas, Zoe? and open if you want more peeps)

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