Content Warning: Violence
"Genie-bean, you don't write. You don't call. I'm hurt. Almost makes me think I'm not your favorite uncle anymore," Max V sneered.
Looking at her uncle, Genie thought he looked as confident and comfortable here, in this rundown part in Evergreen Harbor with its bags of trash and graffiti, as he did everywhere else. Standing with his henchmen, he certainly appeared unconcerned with the group of people between him and the house on the corner.
"Well Uncle Max, you're a lowlife gangster who threatened me and is trying to hurt my friends, so..." she shrugged.
"Dog," Crowe snarled, nodding at Jake.
"Leech," Jake nodded back.
"You know Genie, you could have saved me a lot of time and trouble if you'd just told me where Miranda and Mariah were when I asked," Max said, surveying the house behind her.
"You could have saved us all a lot of trouble by staying under whatever rock you've been hiding beneath," Etta put in.
"Claudette? Is that you?" Max laughed. "I hardly recognize you. It's the shorter hair and, I have to say, your wardrobe has taken a turn for the worse. I was just thinking about you the other day. I never imagined you'd be hanging with this crew."
"They're called friends, Max," Etta countered.
"Right, friends," Max laughed harshly. "Tell me, Genie, did Claudette here tell you about her friends? Did she tell you have she was such a very close... intimate... friend of your buddy Miranda... right up until she betrayed her to me? Did she tell you about how she then turned around and betrayed me? Really, are there any friends you don't end up betraying, Claudette?"
"You and I were never friends, Max," Etta snarled.
"Is that what you tell yourself?" Max sneered.
"You're not going to win here, Uncle Max," Genie said.
"Why, because you have some werewolves between me and your little friends?" Max countered.
"That's one reason," Jake grinned.
"It could get bloody, I admit... but am I really supposed to believe the great heroes Miranda and Mariah are going to let others do their bleeding for them?" Max said, his voice pitched loudly enough to be heard inside the house. "Come on out, girls. Have the guts to face me yourselves."
"You think they're in the house. They're not," Genie said with a smile.
"I smell the witch's blood," Crowe snarled.
"You smell an enchanted doll," Jake grinned. "A lure Etta here made to bring you here, to literally throw you off the scent. This is a trap and you walked right into it."
Etta just smiled at Max.
"Witch," Max snarled. "So what happens now? We fight and you think you'll come out on top?"
"I was more thinking we keep you talking until the police get here," Genie replied. "Should be any second now. Oh and in case you didn't know, your pal George T and his goon are already in custody. The Agency has the ledger. They're probably picking up Marco as we speak..."
"Damn, kid," Max laughed. "I underestimated you. You really are your mother's daughter, aren't you?"
"It's over, Uncle Max," Genie said hotly. "Give up."
"Not my style, Genie-bean," Max smiled back.
She hardly saw him move, pulling the gun from beneath his jacket in one smooth, almost graceful motion.
To Genie, everything seemed to be moving impossibly slowly and unbelievably quickly. She was aware of the vampire, Crowe, lunging forward and Jake, still in his human form, rushing to meet him. She was aware of Uncle Max's henchman, Wolfgang, reaching for a weapon of his own.
Mostly, she was aware of the gun, the cold dark metal of it and the gaping cavernous barrel, aimed lethally toward its target. The one person among them Max considered the most dangerous to him.
Etta.
The gun roared. Heat and light and sound and pain.
Such sudden, shocking pain.
"Genie!" Etta screamed.
"What did you do?!" Etta demanded.
"Couldn't let him shoot you," Genie said, smiling.
Stepping between Etta and the gun had been as natural and right as anything she'd ever done in her life. She even hadn't thought about it, hadn't even considered the consequences.
She felt cold. Was she supposed to feel cold?
"Damn it, of course you could," Etta snapped. "He was right about me. I told you who I was and what I've done. What were you thinking?"
"You saved my friend," Genie said dreamily. "Couldn't let him shoot you. It's not what Mariah would have done."
"Mariah would shoot me herself," Etta muttered. "You're going into shock. Tenebrae Externae... he hit your arm."
"That's good, right?" Genie said.
"Not if he clipped an artery," Etta said. "Let me look at the wound."
---------------
"Is she going to be alright?" Jake asked.
"I think so," Etta sighed. "I've got the bleeding under control, but she needs a doctor."
"Nice look," Genie said, looking at the rags hanging off Jake's body.
"This is why I hate shifting in clothes," Jake grinned. "Thank you... for saving Etta. That was pretty heroic of you."
"Couldn't let him shoot her," Genie repeated. It had become her mantra against the pain.
"Max got away, didn't he," she added.
"Yeah, he did," Jake nodded. "Had a getaway car close by. The police are looking for him."
"You don't think they'll get him," Genie said. It wasn't a question.
"No," Etta sighed. "But we stopped him here."
"We won another battle," Jake nodded.
"The war goes on," Etta smiled bitterly.
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