Luke was in the infirmary, watching as Natasha devoured one plate of food after another. She had already recovered. She was wearing a patient's uniform and eating as if possessed by the demon of gluttony. Her wounds had healed, and she only had bandages on her left arm and hand.
"It looks like you're doing well if you can eat that fast," Luke remarked, feeling more at ease seeing the housekeeper in such good condition.
"Try barely eating anything for two weeks while being hunted and attacked by assassins who never rest," Natasha replied, pausing her meal for a moment. She took a napkin, delicately wiped her mouth, then drank some water before continuing to eat.
'That's her personality,' Luke thought with a slight smile, letting Natasha eat in peace. Ten minutes later, she finished and looked at Luke.
"You've accomplished a lot since I left," Natasha commented, praising him. "No Poe ever struck such a hard blow to the Spellman reputation and killed two direct heirs. Not to mention killing a powerful servant like Atlas."
"I know," Luke said.
"As modest as ever," Natasha added with a slight sarcastic smile.
"Do you want me to tell you everything the Spellmans went through?" Luke asked, and Natasha nodded. During her return to Jericho, while being chased, she hadn't learned everything in detail. She wanted specifics.
Luke focused more on the battle he had against Atlas, Sabrina, and Sebastian during the blood moon and on the fleeting memories he managed to read from Atlas before he died.
"It's clear they want to kill you with much more enthusiasm than they did your father. I don't think the protection the congress gave you will be of much help," Natasha commented after Luke finished his story.
Luke nodded. He thought the same. If they attacked Nevermore with an army of thousands of undead, he doubted that just because the council forbade them from attacking him at Nevermore, they would comply.
Most likely, they would still decide to attack him, just on a smaller scale, avoiding trying to kill others, although there could be injuries and school property might be destroyed.
"And what about you? Did you find what my parents hid? Since when has the Kairia clan been hunting you?" Luke asked, firing several questions at once.
"My destination was Ohio. I got there without being pursued by anyone. But during my stay, they discovered me. The Spellmans twice requested the services of the Kairia clan—once at the beginning of the war, when Lord Edgar's brother was alive, and now. The first time they rejected the request because the Poes were still an important family of psychics. This time, they accepted, believing there's no harm in doing so when you're the only one left alive," Natasha said.
"They could have requested their services during my father's time," Luke said. His father, like him, had been the only surviving member of the Poe family.
"They didn't need to. Why request the help of the Kairia clan when they can take care of the last Poe themselves? Now they've requested their services again because something is different. They want to kill you with such intensity for some reason we don't know," Natasha said.
"Maybe because of my three auras, there's a prophecy that says I'll kill them all," Luke replied with a slight, narcissistic smile.
"It's possible. It'll only put you in more danger, but we have to deal with that," Natasha said.
"The Kairia work in teams of three. A fighter, a tank, and a support. I took down two groups, and the third was handled by you and your goth girlfriend," Natasha added.
Luke let the comment about his goth girlfriend slide and was surprised by the fact that Natasha had taken out two groups—a total of six outcasts.
"You managed to kill that many?" Luke asked, his tone surprised.
Natasha is a shapeshifter, like Mystique from the X-Men. Her power isn't much in battles between outcasts, where vampires, werewolves, psychics, and others fight.
On the other hand, Amaranth, the vampire shapeshifter, if she drank the blood of a victim—like a werewolf—could replicate some of their power, but that's only because she's a hybrid, part shapeshifter and part vampire.
This is why it was hard for Luke to believe that Natasha had managed to eliminate six outcasts. How do you kill a group of three when you're alone and can only change your appearance?
"Seems like you have little confidence in my strength despite all the times I beat you in combat," Natasha said.
"In those fights, I was a beginner and couldn't use my auras," Luke replied.
"That's true. Watch," Natasha said as she extended her right arm with a mysterious smile.
Luke watched curiously, his eyes fixed on Natasha's delicate fingers as they began to transform before him. The smooth skin of her hand started to darken and harden. Her palm and fingers lengthened, sharpening with precision until they formed a thin, lethal blade, gleaming under the room's light.
The blade extended from the tips of her fingers down to just below her elbow, creating a perfect, deadly extension of her arm.
"Incredible," Luke said, wide-eyed. He hadn't expected this.
"How do you do it? Shapeshifters are only supposed to change into people, not objects," Luke added, examining the sharp blade in front of him. The metal was incredibly hard, probably steel.
"Witchcraft," Natasha answered.
"Aren't you afraid of becoming a deranged hag?" Luke asked, recalling the hag he had faced over a year ago. A deformed, ugly creature, completely mad.
"I'm willing to take the risk if it means protecting you and eliminating the Spellmans," Natasha replied.
"I can protect myself. You don't need to risk yourself for me," Luke said, feeling a bit embarrassed by her comment.
"Oh, how brave. Should I give you a pat on the back?" Natasha asked with a slight, mocking smile.
"Stop making fun of me, I'm serious. If we had both gone, we could've defeated the Kairia clan without much trouble," Luke said in a serious tone.
Natasha had arrived badly injured, which made sense after facing three groups of outcasts who specialized in hunts and assassinations.
Natasha's mocking smile faded as she looked at Luke in surprise. It was the second time she'd seen Luke worry about her. The first was just a few hours ago, when she was half-dead.
She knew she hadn't treated Luke well in the orphanage, which is why their relationship wasn't great. After officially meeting in Larissa's office over a year ago, Luke started attending Nevermore, and they became separated again.
Then, during Luke's first summer vacation from Nevermore, she sent him to his maternal family's home and left him there. She knew Luke didn't get along with them, and they didn't like him either, but she believed it was the best option.
Because of all this, she thought Luke held some antipathy toward her. She believed he would never worry about her or consider her part of his family. Knowing Luke's strange, little sociopathic (though she wasn't the best judge of that) and antisocial personality, she didn't think he would ever care about her, given how their relationship had developed.
"Natasha?" Luke said, noticing that the redhead wasn't responding. He saw a strange gleam in her eyes, something unusual.
"You're right... It's better for us to act together now that we know the Spellmans will come after you by any means necessary," Natasha said, snapping back to reality, feeling a relief she'd never experienced before. She did not dislike Luke's concern for her.
"Good... On another hand, can you transform your body into metal? Like metal skin," Luke asked, curious. If she could do that, she'd be like Colossus from the X-Men. That would give her two X-Men powers.
"Yes," Natasha replied, and her face turned a metallic color.
"Incredible," Luke murmured, wondering what dark rituals Natasha had to perform to alter her body like this.
One of Goody Addams' rituals in her book of shadows involved gathering various mutilated body parts for a dark resurrection ritual.
"Let's get back to what's important," Natasha said, returning her skin to normal.
"Oh, right. Did you find the evidence my parents and the other Poe ancestors gathered?" Luke asked.
"I found the location. But not where they're hidden exactly. Your parents were very careful. They likely put protections in place, so recovering them won't be easy," Natasha replied, starting to share what she knew.
The evidence was in Ohio, as she'd mentioned before. Specifically, in two cities: Shadyside and Sunnyvale. They would need to search there.
Natasha had to halt her search due to her pursuers. She didn't want to draw attention and raise suspicions that there might be something hidden in those two seemingly ordinary small towns.
"We can go now," Luke suggested, eager to find the evidence.
"That's not the smartest move. You killed Elliot Spellman's two children. It's possible he'll take action himself, especially if you leave Nevermore. We need to prepare," Natasha said.
"We'll go to Ohio, but not right now," she quickly added when she noticed Luke was about to protest, "Finish the school year. There's less than a month left. In the meantime, we need to plan how to go to Ohio to search for the evidence."
Luke nodded, understanding Natasha's point. It would be dangerous to go to Ohio, just the two of them. The entire Spellman family could attack them, not just Elliot. But here at Nevermore, any attack would have to be on a smaller scale, as long as Luke stayed at the school.
The problem was figuring out how to prepare for the search in Shadyside and Sunnyvale without drawing attention. It would be two of them against a whole prominent psychic family. How many Spellmans were there? Luke doubted his ability to face Elliot, unsure of his strength, and if more family members joined in, they'd be in serious trouble.
'It's not just Natasha and me. There's also Wednesday,' Luke thought, recalling his girlfriend's words. Though adding a third person didn't change the situation much.
For now, Luke had to stay at Nevermore. He wasn't about to embark on a suicide mission to Ohio with his girlfriend and housekeeper.
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