"Aoife, open your eyes." Ximena called softly as she took in the wavering woman before her.
She hoped desperately that she hadn't taken too much, but Aoife's magick was only too eager to come to her and she had inadvertently taken more than she had intended.
Already, her own magick was embracing Aoife's as if it was its own, intertwining with it so that both magicks became nearly indistinguishable from each other.
This child was powerful, but Ximena was certain that Aoife had no idea just how powerful she truly was.
She held onto Aoife's hands tightly as her eyes flickered open and instantly Ximena recognized the familiar exhaustion that pooled in Aoife's eyes, sending a wave of guilt washing over Ximena.
"I'm so sorry Aoife, as soon as I called it, it poured into me so quickly that it took me by surprise. Are you okay?"
Aoife nodded numbly, her mind awash with confusion as she was overcome with a wave of dizziness.
"It's okay. I…I really thought I was going to die."
Ximena tutted loudly as she squeezed her hands reassuringly.
"I'm not a monster, Aoife. I promised to take only what I needed." Ximena answered softly, "Now, go get yourself hidden before that bitch comes back."
"Wait…you'll need this," Aoife murmured as she fumbled in her pocket and produced a small bottle of a suspicious looking liquid.
"What's this?" Ximena asked as she took it from her, mildly surprised that the bars of her cell no longer burned her on contact.
"It should help with all of...that," Aoife answered absentmindedly as she wafted her hand in the general direction of Allen and Greyson, "If you can get it on their skin or in them, they won't feel the pain for a little while. It's effects are more potent and last longer if consumed though. It should give you enough time to have them act rationally anyway."
"Okay. I'll try and get some on them first, then hopefully talk them into drinking it." Ximena hummed thoughtfully as Aoife nodded.
"I'll go and…you know..." Aoife mumbled as she stumbled off and around the corner that she had initially emerged from.
Ximena watched her remorsefully and mentally kicked herself before sucking a deep breath in and turning to face the two males in the cell beside hers.
She knew that out of the two of them, Allen tended to be the more reasonable one so it seemed that he would be the safest bet to tackle with this first. She was going to need both of them to help her distract Narcissa and in this state, they weren't any use to anyone.
She bit back a snigger as she briefly debated attempting to call them over like you would a frightened dog and then kicked herself mentally again.
She had forgotten how carefree her magick had made her feel and it wasn't helping in this situation.
"Allen!" She hissed into the cell, pressing her face against the bars and clicking her fingers to try and get his attention, but the only response was the sound of them both crying out in pain.
She sighed as she looked at the bottle in her hand and unscrewed the lid, waiting for Allen to roll a little closer to the bars before splashing a portion on him.
Greyson was still flailing about like a mad man, alternating between clutching his chest and attacking the bars in front of him but Allen had at least stopped rolling around and groaning as loudly now.
"Allen, pull yourself together! I need your help to get Lexi out of this" Ximena hissed furiously as Allen's head turned towards her and his pained eyes locked with her own.
"What? Lexi?"
"Yes, Lexi." She coaxed a little impatiently, "I need you to drink some of this so that you can think clearly. Don't drink it all though because we need to pull Greyson out of this state too."
Allen pushed himself up, rubbing his chest in confusion as he blinked up at Ximena.
"What..."
"Allen. Don't talk." Ximena snapped, "We don't have a lot of time until Narcissa gets back and this is our only chance to get out of here and rescue Lexi. Take a few mouthfuls of this please, it will help."
Allen took the flask from her outstretched hand and lifted it to his mouth, cringing as he took a few mouthfuls and handed it back to her.
"That tastes awful." He spat in disgust as Ximena rolled her eyes.
"Well it's hardly going to taste like a good cabernet is it? Honestly Allen, pull yourself together." She snapped, "Listen, you need to get Greyson to drink this. Both of you need to distract Narcissa and hold her at the bars, close enough that I can get my hands on her."
Slowly, Ximena watched the realization dawn on his face as his eyes went wide and he turned towards Greyson.
"Try and get a little on his skin first, the active ingredients absorb through the skin quite quickly so it should be enough to talk some sense into him." Ximena called from over his shoulder.
A few minutes later a very angry, but coherent Greyson was sitting fuming before them, stuck somewhere halfway between his Lycan form and his human form.
"When I get my hands on..." He started but Ximena spoke over him impatiently.
"Yes yes, horrifying murder and torture and a painful death. We all want that, but first things first we need Narcissa dead."
"And how the fuck are we supposed to do that?" Greyson snapped as Ximena grinned wildly at him.
"Because I have taken enough magick from Aoife to kill Narcissa myself. What I need you two to do, is to somehow trick her into getting close enough to the bars so that you can hold her in place.and I can get my hands on her."
"You stole Aoife's magick?" Greyson asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Technically it was gifted, but we can debate the semantics later. While you two have been flailing around like lovesick teenagers, the grown ups have been working to facilitate our escape. Right now, Lexi is at Eromaugs mercy so save your questions until after she's safe, ok?"
They nodded sullenly at her admonishment and sat quietly for a moment before Allen's face lit up.
"Eromaug still needs us alive, right?"
"I think so," Ximena answered thoughtfully, "What are you thinking?"
"I mean, it's one of the oldest tricks in the book, but we could fake our deaths. Narcissa is going to be expecting us to be writhing around helplessly, but if we're completely still and play dead, then perhaps you can persuade her that she's going to be in trouble if we die on her watch."
Ximena was quiet for a moment as she mulled it over before chuckling loudly.
"You know, it's so stupid that I'm almost sure she'll fall for it."