Annie felt like she was running in circles. First the Sheriff's office, now the motel again. It was like she was replaying her first night here with a few extra dead bodies to spice things up. With Connor out of action for the time being on top of all that, Annie's job was getting harder by the second and she couldn't even charge extra for it. She was in the middle of recalculating just how fucked her day was when two armored figures stepped out from an alley in front of her, their faces obscured behind their helmets. 

Their silver armor appeared chitinous, almost insect-like in appearance, and the scarlet robes beneath the plates were reminiscent of chords of exposed muscle. Annie would recognize that garb anywhere. It was the regalia of the Seraphs, Paladins who served the Wings of the Empress.

"Andromeda Flynn?" The Seraph with the masculine voice asked.

"Nope!" Annie attempted to weave around the duo, only for the closest one to stick out an arm and bar her way. The other Seraph reached beneath their breastplate and pulled out a small pulsing red sphere hanging from a golden chain. The blood inside it pressed against the glass in Annie's direction. 

"Motherfucker." she sighed, "This just isn't my day."

"The blood doesn't lie, Ms. Flynn." The other Seraph had a more feminine voice, "Lord Herald Dharven has ordered your capture. Please do not resist."

"They bumped my father up to Herald? I guess they'll let anybody be a holy prophet these days." Annie stepped back and put a hand on her gun and both the Seraph's hands shot to their swords. 

"Your father?" One of the Seraphs began...

"Stop!" Jaigra yelled as she sprinted around a corner and slid between the Stranger and the Seraphs, “Tarthen, Jocaria, what are you doing here?” she panted.

Annie groaned, “Are you fucking kidding me? Those two? Empress' sacred tits, I just can't catch a break!”

“Lady Vrath!” the masculine Seraph, Tarthen, said, “Our Lord Herald has sent us to assist you!”

“You didn’t mention they already found a replacement,” Annie hissed, “What the fuck do they want me for? Obviously I was easy enough for the Wings to replace if my fucking father can take over.” 

“Jaigra, what is she talking about?” The other Seraph, Jocaria, looked to the bounty hunter. 

“I can explain!” Jaigra glanced over her shoulder at Annie, “Andromeda, please don't make this any worse.”

“Any worse? Seriously? Fuck you, Vrath. Call off your dogs before they get hurt.” Annie drew her sword. 

“You dare speak to the Herald’s Bride that way? I’ll cut out your tongue!” Tarthen growled. 

“Bride? Bride?” Annie ignored Tarthen and took a menacing step towards Jaigra, “You're hitched to my fucking dad?”

“Andromeda,” Jaigra pleaded, “I need to explain!”

“Bullshit! I should have shot you when I had the chance!” she snarled. 

Tarthen moved to unsheathe his own blade and Annie had her pistol leveled at him before he could blink. 

“Watch yourself, Tardy-Boy! I’ve had a rough couple of days and I’m not about to play nice with you and Jojo over there!”

“How do you… What the hells is going on?” Tarthen cried.

Annie laughed bitterly, “Yeah Jaigra, what is going on?”

“What are you talking about? And how do you know those names?” Jocaria pressed. 

“Tarthen, Jocaria! Stand down, we need her alive!” Jaigra raised a hand towards the Seraphs, “Annie I had no idea these two were coming, I swear!”

“Save it Vrath. You had your chance.” Annie was looking past Jaigra and at the Seraphs, “Well? You Seraphs are this new Herald’s dogs, right? You gonna let Vrath here pull on your leash?”

“Lady Vrath, please stand aside. We will not kill the girl.” Jocaria said. 

“Aw, I’m touched.” Annie sneered

Jaigra glared at her, “Andromeda, shut up! You are not helping!”

Annie bared her teeth in a feral grin, “But I'm being so nice.”

“Empress preserve me.” Jaigra groaned.

Tarthen stared at the blade in Annie's hand, "Where did you get that sword?" he asked.

Annie glanced at her sword and shrugged, "This old thing? Found it at a yard sale."

"You're lying."

"Yep."

"Tarthen what are you talking about?" Jocaria glanced at Annie's sword, "...That's the Herald's blade."

"Actually, it's the Stranger's blade now." Annie said.

Tarthen and Jocaria looked at each other, then to Jaigra.

"Jaigra," Jocaria said slowly, "What is going on? Who is this woman?"

"It's complicated. Very complicated." Jaigra emphasized. 

Annie scoffed.

"She's talking like Avi's her father. That's not possible, Avi doesn't have children." Jocaria said.

"Jocaria, shut up!" Jaigra glanced over at the Stranger, "Annie..."

Annie was watching the two Seraphs carefully, "So Avi's still the Herald?"

"Of course!” Tarthen puffed out his chest.

Annie locked eyes with Jaigra, “You hear that Jaigra? Avi’s still the Herald.”

Jaigra looked away, “Yeah, about that…”

Annie pulled back the hammer on her pistol and leveled it at the bounty hunter, “Consider your next words very carefully, Vrath.”

Both Tarthen and Jocaria unsheathed their blades, Annie shot them a warning glare and wrapped her finger around the trigger, “Stay put.” Neither Seraph moved. She turned back to Jaigra.

“Explain to me how exactly Averius Dharven is still the Herald of the Empress when Lord and Lady Dharven drove her out of the country years ago.”

Now it was Tarthen and Jocaria’s turn to look at Jaigra, “Her? What does she mean Lady Vrath?” Tarthen asked hesitantly. 

“I— I was going to tell you,” Jaigra stammered, “I just didn’t know how!”

“Tell me what?” Annie shouted, “That my parents replaced me when they couldn’t force me to be their perfect little prophet? That you’ve been lying to me this whole time? What exactly were you going to tell me Jaigra?”

“… Avi?” Jocaria’s voice was soft. Annie froze.

”That's not my name anymore.” she said.

Tarthen shook his head, “She can't be Avi, I spoke with him right before we left!”

Annie had had enough. She threw her hands up, "You know what? No! I'm not doing this. I don't care what those snakes are doing. You all can go fuck yourselves and leave me out of it!" She clipped her blade to her back and shoved past the Seraphs.

"Stop!" Jocaria called after her.

Annie flipped her off, then felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder, "It doesn't matter who you are, the Amaryll Lords have ordered you be taken to Therult." Tarthen said. 

Annie shot one of his leg plates and ice erupted across his lower body, pinning him in place. Tarthen yelped in surprise. 

"If the Lords want me so badly, they can come and get me themselves." Annie's voice was as cold as the ice she'd shot Tarthen with. 

"Avi!" Jocaria shouted. Annie stopped.

"Don't call me that." she said.

"What happened to you?" Jocaria asked.

Annie jerked her chin towards Jaigra, "Ask her." and then stormed away.

To say Annie was not having a good day would be the understatement of the millennium. It was actually a pretty bad day, Annie would even go so far as to say it was a particularly awful day. A day that was pretty far up there on her list of shitty days she'd had over the course of her life. It wasn't quite number one, but she'd definitely put it in the top ten. Maybe even the top five.

This job was complicated enough as it was, finding out your employer's boss was some sort of doppelganger is bound to throw a wrench in the works. But Jaigra and those damn Seraphs showing up on top of that and dredging up painful memories Annie thought she'd buried brought new complications that the Stranger had neither the time nor the patience to deal with. Not to mention the fact that her sort of ex sort of enemy neglected to mention that Annie apparently had a doppelganger of her own running around back in Therult living the life she'd left behind.

So yeah, today was definitely in the top five.

She arrived outside the motel and took a quick look around. No sign of Jaigra or the Seraphs and no sign of Sheriff Not-Jed or whatever monster he was keeping on a leash. Good. She pushed open the door, only to feel a frantic buzzing in the back of her neck. Annie pulled the door closed and pressed herself against the exterior wall just in time for hole the size of her head to get blasted through the motel door, sending splintered fragments of wood flying out into the street.

"What the hells?" Annie cursed and then chanced a quick look through the convenient hole in the door. Tallis stood behind the counter calmly loading another round of shells into her shotgun. 

"Tallis what the fuck?" Annie shouted. The girl looked up at her as she snapped the shotgun closed and leveled it at the Stranger who ducked out of the way again as Tallis unloaded the shotgun into the door again. 

Today was swiftly becoming one of the top three worst days of Annie's life.

The Stranger weighed her options. She was armed and armored, so option one was to go in guns blazing while Talis was reloading and get off a shot or two, but Annie didn't really want to hurt the girl. Option two was to try and get to Tallis and disarm her without getting shot, which Tallis seemed determined to make rather difficult for Annie. She could burn an ironblood elixir and make closing that distance a cakewalk, but she’d been using so many of her battle concoctions that she was down to her last one. Better to save it and chance getting shot now rather than cut in half by that grey mage’s monster later. 

Annie took a deep breath and peeped through the hole in the door. The frantic buzzing immediately erupted down her spine and she stepped back just in time for Tallis to blow the door entirely off its hinges. Well, it was now or never.

She bolted inside and saw Tallis calmly loading the shotgun behind the counter, the motion looked so routine it was as if she was polishing the smudge out a glass rather than loading a deadly weapon. Annie suppressed a shudder and kept moving. There was an audible click as Tallis finished loading the gun and leveled the barrel at Annie.

"Shit!" Annie was only about halfway through the lobby. Perhaps forgoing the elixir had been a bad decision. She dove to the ground as the shotgun roared overhead, obliterating the space her torso had occupied just a second ago. No time to stop. Annie scrambled on all fours across the floor and sprang over the counter, tackling Tallis and pinning her arms down so she could wrench the shotgun away from her and throw it as far from her as she could.

"Tallis what the fuck?" Annie shouted again. Tallis said nothing and struggled beneath her in an attempt to wiggle out of Annie's grip, slipping a hand loose to try and go for Annie's throat. She grabbed Tallis' wrist and pinned it under her knee, finally taking a good look at the girl.

Tallis' eyes were hazy, as if she were looking at something just beyond Annie rather than right at her, and her jaw was completely slack. There was no sign of any tension or aggression in her body as she tried to throw the Stranger off of her; it gave Annie a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. With Tallis mostly safely restrained, Annie chanced a quick tap on her glasses and threads of veil energy sprang to life all around her. 

Tallis was surrounded by light blue threads very similar to Tulvir's Annie had seen back in the office. But what immediately caught her attention were the barbed grey threads bound in a circlet around her head. The thin grey threads severed the natural blue threads that should have been enveloping the girl, cutting off the natural flow of energy to and from her mind. Annie wasn’t sure what would happen if the circlet was dispelled, but they didn’t have much other choice.

She bit down on her thumb to reopen the small tear in it she’d made earlier and smeared the blood across Tallis’ forehead. The girl began spasming erratically and there was a sizzling spark of magic as the spell collapsed, threads snapped and thrashed like a dying wild animal searing small arcs of flesh across Annie’s arms and face as she tried to back away. The grey light surged and there was a final sharp popping sound, then the light faded. The severed threads fell off of Tallis’ body like dying leaves drifting to the earth. 

Tallis gasped suddenly and sat bolt upright, coughing and gagging like she was trying to expel seawater from her lungs. Tears streamed down her face and she buried her face in her hands to sob. Annie studied her silently, the only sounds were the girl's chocked sobs echoing across the desolated motel lobby. 

"Tallis?" Annie crept closer to her, "Are you alright?"

"I couldn't do anything," Tallis clawed at her temples like she was trying to dig out the memory, "I couldn't stop myself. It was in my head!" 

"Who was?" Annie leaned in closer. 

"Jed! I thought it was Jed! But it wasn't and it... it put something inside my thoughts. It twisted them around and made me not me anymore!" Tallis shuddered and pulled her legs up to her chest. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to do it..."

Annie put what she hoped was a comforting hand on Tallis' arm, "Hey, hey, hey! It's okay, nobody got hurt. Just a couple new holes in the door. Honestly they really light up the lobby."

Tallis gave a weak chuckle, then looked up at Annie and her eyes widened, "You're bleeding."

Annie frowned, "I am?" she looked down at her torso. Sure enough there was a smattering of small holes in her pauldron and the shoulder of her jacket with a thin trickle of blood running down her arm.

"Well damn, I guess I am." Annie flexed her shoulder and winced, "Oop, yep, definitely got shot there." she glanced at Tallis’ horrified expression, "Oh don't look at me like that. This isn't even the worst I've had this week." She stood up, giving her arm a few experimental twists and grimacing. 

Annie shrugged off her jacket to take a proper look at her shoulder. It was already beginning to bruise, turning a mottled greenish purple tone, and her skin was peppered with small bloody pinpricks. It wasn’t exactly pretty to look at, but Annie much preferred it to a hole in her chest.

“Oh gods Annie, I’m so sorry.” Tears welled up in Tallis’ eyes again.

Annie frowned, “Don’t be sorry, you’re not the one who did this.”

”But I shot you!”

”Did you choose to do it?” Annie’s kept her voice level.

”N-no…” Tallis sniffled.

”Then it wasn’t you. Someone hit you with very powerful magic, there’s not a lot you could have done to stop it once the spell was cast.” Annie rose to her feet, ”I’m going to go patch myself up, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Tallis looked up at her with teary eyes, then shook her head and gave Annie a nod. The Stranger wasn’t sure if she should leave the girl alone, but Sheriff Not-Jed already had a head start on her. She needed to catch up before he hurt someone else.