The purple horn glowed brightly, an ominous vibe that made Gabriel tense.
"W-what do you want?" Gabriel asked, clenching his fist, preparing himself for any attack.
The figure stood, the black smoke finally leaving as a person that resembled Nadia appeared. Not only was a horn coming out of the left side on the top of its head.
The figure's left hand has morphed purple. A white mask covered the left side of its face, creating a very scary visage.
The figure held its arms up, showing that they were defenseless. "Wait, wait, Gabs, it's me."
Gabriel opened his mouth before closing it quickly. He was confused, not only with how she looked but the energy radiating off of her felt different from usual.
Felt closer to what the demons they fought have recently.
"Are you going to say something, Gabs, or are you going to keep staring at me?", The figure spoke, the voice distorted, a higher pitch compared to Nadia's.
The sudden question broke Gabriel from his contemplation.
"This might sound stupid.", He trailed off.
"It's you; you're always saying something stupid."
"Yeah, I think that proves you're Nadia.", Gabriel said sadly, his shoulders slumped.
Nadia went to step forward, but Echo moved on its own and stood in front of Gabriel.
"Ugh, come on you big lug I'm not here to hurt Gabs.", Nadia whined, stomping her foot on the ground, accidently leaving a small crack in the ground.
Gabriel looked down at the crack in the ground, eyes widened.
"I'm not so you don't mean any harm", He muttered.
"What did you just say!"Nadia growled.
"Nothing, nothing at all!"
"Hmph, that's what I thought."
"Scary as always", Gabriel thought to himself .
Gabriel did his best to shiver in fright looking at Nadia's new form, it's just so creepy. He did force Echo to float behind him.
Although for a moment Gabriel thought Echo was going to ignore him. Another worry to add to the list.
Nadia stuck her tongue out playfully at Echo before walking closer .
Gabriel gulped, his breath hitching in his throat. His aura turned a low red as Nadia approached. When Nadia grabbed his hand, his aura turned pink.
His cheeks felt like they were burning from embarrassment.
"See, I promised I would never hurt you.", Nadia assures, holding onto his hand softly. "At least I won't hurt you on purpose."
"Gee thanks.", Gabriel muttered, pulling his hands gently out of her grasp.
Nadia pouted as Gabriel took a small step back away from her.
Gabriel rubbed his hands through his hair, trying his best to get his thoughts in order.
"Listen I know this is a lot to take in but-", started Nadia
"BACK AWAY FROM HIM DEMON", Blake's loud voice echoed around the clearing.
"Ugh, I'm tired of this bullshit.", Nadia muttered under his breath.
Gabriel turned around to see Blake running out of the building. Besides a couple burn marks and some soot on his face, he looked relatively okay.
Gabriel didn't get an opportunity to clear the air before Blake launched his shield at Nadia.
Echo moved before Gabriel could give a command, moving forward and grabbing the shield out of the air.
Gabriel recovered from his state of shock at Echo's movements.
"Blake stand down!"Gabriel commanded, his tone stern as he leveled his gaze at Blake. "That's Nadia you're attacking.
Blake stopped his charge a few feet away from where Nadia and Gabriel were standing. A look of purse confusion on his face.
"You're telling me that's Nadia?"Blake questioned, his gaze never leaving Nadia's form.
Nadia threw her hands up in defeat. "I know my partial demon transformation is still active, but I don't look that different.."
"You have a legit skull growing on half of your face, Gabriel deadpanned.
Not including the damn horn coming out of your head." Blake added.
Nadia slumped her shoulders in defeat. "Guys don't have to be so rude about it."
"Actually, can we rewind the conversation to demon transformation, are you now like a demon or something?", inquired Gabriel.
"Good Rook, now you're asking the real questions.", Blake cheered.
If possible, Nadia slumped even lower; her face had an expression of being lost.
"I don't know how I should explain it."
Gabriel turned to face Nadia, stepping towards her. He gently put his hand on her shoulder; looking down at her with a gentle smile on his face.
"If it's hard for you to talk about, just know I trust you.", He assured the best to his ability. "We-"
"Don't speak for me!", Blake interrupted
Gabriel twisted his head, sending a fierce glare at Blake.
Blake instantly corrected his sentence, with sweat appearing on his face. "R-rook is right we s-s-support you as part of the team."
"See, even the old man is being supportive of the situation!"
Nadia's shoulders shook from, a quiet laughter threatening to burst forth from her body. Lifting her head up to look at Gabriel.
"I think the conversation we would best had was not in the public.", Nadia stated.
At that moment, part of the police precinct caved in.
Crash!
The loud noise echoing throughout the city block, screams of people could be heard.
Nadia shook her head softly, letting out a small sigh. "Right on cue I suppose."
"At least we made sure we sent everyone just in case something would happen.", Blake stated.
Gabriel's eye twitched on its own, pure annoyance running through his body. . Removing his hand off Nadia's shoulder and taking a step back from her personal space.
"Let's just meet at my house in the morning.", Gabriel proposed.
Nadia lifted an eyebrow up at Gabriel, and stared at him.
Gabriel cleared his throat. "Blake, you will meet Nadia and I at my house in the morning."
Nadia's lips curved upwards into a huge smile.
"Fine, but it's not going to be early. I'm sleeping in after the shitshow of the day we had."
"That's fine I can't say, I don't feel the same.", Gabriel shrugged.
"On that note Rook, I'm going to call Thea about getting the body of the Dullahan.", Blake told Gabriel.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket before walking, seemingly to get privacy.
Nadia and Gabriel stood there quietly, with Gabriel mostly staring up at the sky. It was a peaceful quiet, and besides the small whispers from Blake.
The crackling of fire was the only sound as it slowly started to die out. In the distance, Gabriel could hear the sound of firetrucks, which were probably heading towards the police station.
"So Gabs.", Nadia spoke up, interrupting the quiet mood.
Gabriel lowered his head from the sky to look down at her. "Yes?"
"How the hell did you take on that monster by yourself?"
"Well I wasn't by myself I had Echo to help out too ", Gabriel admitted, pointing over his shoulder to Echo, who was floating behind him quietly.
"Even then you legit defeat a Dullahan! They're like some of the hardest creatures to fight, especially with how durable they are."
"If you would've believed it I just used a war hammer; after that it kind of went down easily from there."
Nadia looked at Gabriel with scrutiny, as if trying to see if he was lying about anything. Though it was for naught as she could discern anything from the glance.
"I suppose then you might've just gotten lucky."
"Or hear me out, I could've gotten stronger."
"And here I thought I was the only one who was good at making jokes.", Nadia chuckled, bumping Gabriel with her shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah once I get more training I promise you'll be able to beat you in a fight.", Gabriel vowed.
Nadia cocked her head to the side, staring at Gabriel with some interest. "Oh is that challenge I hear you speak?"
"Nah it's a promise; once I train I'll beat you in a fight."
"Oh, looking at you aiming so high up on the totem pole.", Nadia joked. "Maybe if you trained for the next one hundred years, then maybe you'll be able to beat me in a fight."
"You never know, I've been thinking about joining the Church for some extra training.", Gabriel paused her for a moment, his gaze looking momentarily at the police station. "With the building burning down, I think it'll be a good time to do it instead of joining another precinct.
"If you join, then I'll go as well!"Nadia cheered, throwing her fist up in the air. "We need a team name, something like the dynamic duo.
"Yeah, I will think of the team name.", Gabriel stated.
The conversation grew dead, as they stood there in silence. With Gabriel wondering his next move.
With Stolas escaping police custody, and murdering a bunch of police officers, they're kind of back at square one for the case.
Unless the mayor wants to cover it up by using the Dullahan as the culprit. Though now Gabriel thinks using monsters like this is off limits per the rules.
That's something they'll figure out tomorrow.