Chapter Text
Mildred had the whole thing planned out, sneak into the trafficker’s bulk stock just in time for their monthly scheduled delivery to the poorly named cult, The Followers of the Ravenous One. Having then infiltrated the cult, proceed to locate what was stolen and escape with said property. It was a rather simple plan that she has used before under similar circumstances.
So far things were going smoothly. She had managed to slip in with ease. The stock this time was mostly made of rejects, those too scarred both mentally and physically to fetch a good price, she blended right in. She leaned back against the wall in the crowded room, letting her eyes close. All she had to do now was wait and the traffickers would do the rest. Or so she thought.
Screams began to ring out throughout the building and before long the sound of fighting could be heard in the hall. A scuffle seemed to be taking place right outside the door of the stockroom, one of the people in the room yelped when a loud bang came from the door as it was hit hard marking the end of the scuffle. It was followed by an unfamiliar voice.
“Did you hear that?” The person’s voice was a little muffled by the door.
“Yeah, I did. There must be someone in there.” A second voice quickly joined the first. The door rattled.
“Shit… it has a padlock.” The first cursed.
“We are probably going to need bolt cutters or something. Oh, wait there’s Lucy Ann. HEY LUCY ANN WE COULD USE SOME HELP OVER HERE.” The second shouted. A few of the people closest to the door flinched and started to scoot away, although they didn’t go far with everyone already in close quarters. A second later whoever the two were calling for came within hearing range.
“What do you want? Everybody is already getting ready to clear out before the cops get here.”
“This door is locked and we can’t break it.”
“Seriously? Whatever it is you can leave it for the cops to deal with. We seriously got to go.”
Mildred was startled by the childlike voice responding to the men outside, but Mildred tried not to dwell on it after hearing such worrying information. The authorities were on their way. Mildred couldn’t let herself get caught by them, it would cause too many problems, too many questions. She didn’t have the time to deal with that. Mildred quickly made her way across the room to the door and impatiently banged on the door.
“HEY, LET ME OUT!” She yelled in addition, making sure that she was getting her point across. Luckily she got the response she was looking for.
“What the hell?! Why didn’t you guys tell me there was a kid in there!” The one called Lucy Ann said, followed by the sound of tearing metal. The door swung open, the light from the hall was blinding in comparison to the dark room. Mildred rubbed her eyes trying to adjust to the sudden transition.
“Dear god…” The words escaped from the lips of one of the men in the hallway as they took in the sight that had been hidden behind the door. Mildred was not surprised by their shock, most people were when they saw her. After all no child should as scarred as she was. Large, obvious claw marks covered the right side of her face, eye lying dead in its socket behind torn lids. Another set ran across the left side of her neck. A bite mark on her left leg covered most of her calf and her right foot was missing a couple toes. And those were just the most noticeable, dozens more covered her limbs.
Mildred sighed and looked over her shoulder back into the room, bringing attention to the others in the room. They had managed to force themselves into the back of the room in some attempt to stay out of the light. Mildred let out another sigh turned her sight back to her ‘rescuers’. Before her stood stood a little girl who looked like she couldn’t be more than 5 or 6 years old, a red cape was draped around her shoulders. The girl was not wearing the same look of shock as the men, if anything she merely looked mildly surprised. Mildred held no doubt that ‘Lucy Ann’ as the men had called her, was more than she appeared. If it wasn’t for the familiar aged look in her eyes, the predatory air she gave off would have given it away for sure.
“Thank you for letting me out, Miss.” Mildred allowed a forced smile to sit upon her face as she addressed her ‘rescuer’.
“Now if you excuse me, I really must be going.” She said keeping up her pleasant facade as she tried to walk past them, but she was stopped by an iron grip on her arm.
“And where are you off to in such a hurry?” Lucy Ann slightly tightened her grip on Mildred as she tried to pull her arm free, preventing her from getting away. Realizing the only way she would be let go was to answer Lucy Ann’s question. Mildred let the false smile fade from her face, allowing her normal neutral expression to return before speaking.
“There is someplace I need to be and I have no wish to be here once the police arrive, being caught by them would be an unnecessary hindrance of which I have no time for and truly rather avoid.”
As Lucy Ann opened her mouth to respond distant sirens sounded, the sound was growing steadily louder as time went on.
“We can’t stay here much longer. Come on guys, time to go.” Lucy Ann stated, Mildred gave her arm another tug. Lucy Ann merely tightened her grip some more, giving Mildred a somewhat puzzling look.
“And you are coming with me, I still have some questions for you.”
Mildred looked down at her arm then back at Lucy Ann. She was too strong for Mildred to fight off, even if she did win it most likely wouldn’t be without injury and then there was still two full grown men she would have to take on. There was no easy way out of the situation.
“Alright, I’ll go with you. But only because you are giving me no other choice.” Mildred reluctantly agreed. Lucy Ann, seemingly satisfied with the response, loosened her grip but didn’t let go. Most likely to not give Mildred the chance to make a break for it before she could get her answers. Lucy Ann began to make her way back down the hall pulling Mildred along with her. It was then that one of the men decided to speak up.
“What about the rest of them.” The one on the right asked, glancing back into the dark room of terrified people who were quietly cowering in the darkest corners of the room.
“It would be best to leave them to the authorities. I highly doubt you would be capable of removing them from that room willingly before the police arrive.” Mildred replied to the man even though the question was directed towards Lucy Ann. The men looked to Lucy Ann for confirmation. She sighed as put her face in her free hand.
“What she said. Look we need to leave now .” As though to confirm her words a loud whoop of a siren sounded as blue and red light were growing brighter in a nearby window. Now that her point was made, she continued on her quest to exit the building with Mildred and the men in tow. After exiting through a side door into a back alley, they traveled several blocks on foot before getting into a car.
Mildred sat in the back with Lucy Ann. An awkward silence had taken hold of the space, not that it bothered Mildred much. She rather preferred the quiet, it was relaxing. Although she could do without the staring. Out of the corner of her good eye she could see Lucy Ann’s gaze locked on her. Her mind visibly running a mile a minute in her unnaturally aged eyes. Finally Lucy Ann breaks the silence.
“Alright, spill. You’re obviously not a human trafficking victim if the other guys were anything to go by, so why were you even there?” She asked giving a glare that would easily intimidate any full grown man, but Mildred merely sighed and rubs her tired eyes. Her plan was already ruined so there should be no harm in telling, it wasn’t like it would make much of a difference.
“Well I believe you have already realized that like you, my true age exceeds my external appearance. Although I doubt we share the same affliction, if your strength and the predatory aura you give off has anything to say about it. As for why I was there, I’m currently on a time sensitive job to retrieve stolen property. And it just so happens that the auction house you and your people just took down was my only lead.” Mildred tried to hide the frustration leaking into her voice with another forced smile.
Lucy Ann was not fooled by the false grin. She was rather curious about this scarred girl and her, as she put it ‘affliction’, but she was more concerned by the fact that this girl had basically went undercover trying to do a job and the Dinner Crew had just stomped all over her hard work. Lucy Ann knew if it had happened to her she would be rather pissed off.
Mildred patiently waited as Lucy Ann appeared to be in deep thought over what she had just been told. Silence had retaken the car. After a few minutes Lucy Ann spoke up once more.
“I’m sorry that our involvement caused you problems, but I believe I know someone who might be able to help. Especially since this situation is mostly his fault.” Lucy Ann said confidently as the car pulled to a stop.
“Just follow me and I see if we can get everything sorted out.” She stated as they got out of the vehicle, they were parked next to a large warehouse. Lucy Ann and the men approached the door while Mildred lagged a couple steps behind, observing her surroundings and committing them to memory. One of the men knocked on the door and had a brief conversation with the person on the other side before being let in. Mildred walked quickly to not be left behind as they entered the building.
Mildred immediately taken aback by the amount of people inside. A wide variety of beings filled the space, she could see gnomes, selkies, pixies, fairies, mages, a troll who appeared to be in deep conversation with a dragon in the back, and what she believed to be a fire elemental flitting around near the ceiling and those being the ones she could name off the top of her head. The two men were easily lost in the crowd as they entered. Mildred could feel the start of stares as people began to notice her presence, she chose to ignore them in favor of closely following Lucy Ann who was making a beeline for a tall red headed man.
“Hey Hank.” The man turned towards them when Lucy Ann called out to him. Mildred felt a shiver go down her spine at the sight of a brightly glowing mark on the man’s forehead. Clearly this man was not to be messed with.
“There you are Lucy Ann, I was just wondering where you had run off to.” He said smiling widely as they approached. Mildred manages to catch Lucy Ann muttering under her breath at the redhead’s comment, something about headless chickens. It was then that the man’s eyes landed on Mildred, his smile faltered as he stiffened gripping the cane he was leaning on tightly before relaxing slightly as he got over the initial shock.
“Lucy Ann, who’s your friend?” He asked.
“This is… Oh right, I never did ask for your name.” Lucy Ann said as she tried to introduce the girl. Mildred lets out a deep sigh before speaking.
“My name is Mildred and I presume you are the one Lucy Ann was talking about.” She says looking up at the redhead ‘Hank’ as Lucy Ann had called him earlier.
“Yup that’s right.” Lucy Ann confirms.
“I found her at the auction house in one of the back rooms mixed in with a bunch of human trafficking victims.” Hank’s expression darkens at the mention of human trafficking.
“Apparently she slipped in chasing a lead for an important job she is working and our raid on the place crushed it.”
“It was my only lead.” Mildred hissed. Lucy Ann merely waved off her comment.
“Yeah so, seeing how we caused her problem I figured I would offer up our services.”
“Of course I’m willing to help, I would be more than happy to.” Hank said turning to Mildred.
“Now what are we dealing with?”
“Well I have spent the past two weeks tracking the cult, Followers of the Ravenous One, they have stolen something important and I have been tasked with retrieving it. So far I have discovered that they plan on using it in a major ritual on the full moon, which is in two days. The ritual will most likely destroy the stolen property. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem. However, this cult has a tendency of being a bit paranoid, which is a given seeing how the demon they worship is fond of mass sacrifices. The point being, they are very secretive about their location and the only people I have been able to find that have their location was the auction house because they were the cults main sacrifice suppliers. Who are now gone thanks to your people’s efforts.”
Mildred didn’t even try to hide her annoyance this time. She was still upset about being put in this predicament by these people. It had been years since she saw the possibility of failing a mission, but they didn’t know that. Although if Hank’s grip on his cane was anything to go by, he clearly understood the seriousness of the situation if not at least he was disturbed by it. His knuckles were white from how tight he was holding onto the cane. All color had drained from his face.
“I can see why this is a problem.” Hank said after a long moment of silence, running a hand through his hair.
“Although I’m glad that we will be able to help you do something about it. I already have an idea of how to find these guys, but it would be best to save it for the morning. That way everyone will be well rested and level headed."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Mildred accepted when Hank offered for her to spend the night at his house. They stop by the park she has been staying in so she can grab her bag from its hiding place. Upon arrival Hank introduced her to his wife Vivienne who insists to be called Vivi before she bids them a good night.
Now that they were alone Hank let his curiosity gets the better of him.
“So… how did you get that… it must have really hurt.” He gestures to the particularly large scar covering the right side of her face as he sits down in the recliner, rubbing his sore knee. “My sister lost an eye before and they had to pump her full of pain meds until she was loopy.”
“Poorly chosen birthday present from my guardian when I turned 100, honestly who gives a wild leopard as a present? And no, it didn’t hurt. I can’t feel pain, never have.” She said nonchalantly, taking a seat on the couch. It wasn’t often that anyone actually asked about a specific one of her scars but at the same time she has lived long enough to have given this speech before. She could the surprise on his face when she mentioned her age.
“100? If you don’t mind, exactly how old are you?”
“If you must know, I am 232 years old as of last winter.”
“Wow… Uh… is that young for what you are? I don’t mean to be rude, but you don’t strike me as a vampire.”
“Not at all. Actually it is rather old for a witch. Most witches don’t live beyond 200, some might reach 210 if they are lucky. Although that is through more natural means.”
“And your…” Hank pauses in search of the right wording. “...youth, is by unnatural means?”
“Yes, when I was young I was cursed with eternal youth. Cursed to be perpetually 8 years old. Unable to grow old and die, although I’m still susceptible to illness and injury.”
“Wow...” Hank finally says. “That sucks.”
“Yes, yes it does. Luckily it isn’t as bad nowadays. Its a lot easier to explain away my age when everyone assumes I’m not human.” Mildred states barely holding back a yawn. “I think is about time I retired for the night.”
“Oh, of course. I shouldn't be keeping you up with all my questions.” Hank says, getting to his feet. “Good night Mildred.”
“Good night.”