Awestruck

                                    

                                          

It was the talk of being the devil that did it. She had felt herself growing closer to Ginny, flustered by her brashness and her secretive smiles, but all that she could have laid aside. All that, she knew, was hardly a surprise. But seeing her talk about her work, calling herself the devil when they stood beside each other, not even ashamed of it... No. Certainly not ashamed.
Proud.
'What,' Ginny had said, lip curling as she looked her up and down in a way that made her feel hot and cold all over, 'you sold yourself to the devil and you're surprised she collects?'
If there were words to fall head over heels to, those were hers.
She was disappointed, she couldn't help it, when they came upon the others, two of them huddled in the middle of the floor as if they were covering up a crime, more blood between them than was on her entire face. She didn't want there to be more than the two of them, her and Ginny a duo she had quickly grown to rely on, even in just a couple of hours. There had been a relief every time a door didn't open, every time a corridor led to another dead end, for an extension of this, whatever length it was, was delightful.
'Ginny,' she said as they stood on the periphery, as yet unnoticed and still with arms entwined, as if they were far more than unknown forces who had momentarily collided. But Ginny didn't notice the depth to her words, her smile so wide it was as if she were a beast who had sighted her prey at long last- and this time she didn't even need to be looking at her for heat to curl across her chest. Ginny was powerful. She knew it and she liked it.
'Lets play devil's advocate, shall we, Taun?' she whispered, slipping her arm free and marching towards the group with a bright, deceiving, 'Hello, girls!'
Taun ducked her head, hiding the quick smile she couldn't help, running after Ginny and watching as all eyes went to her, a myriad of expressions flitting across two very open faces. Neither of them noticed Taun as she stopped just behind Ginny, not at first.
'Oh my god,' a woman around Ginny's height said with an angry laugh, wiping bloodied hands on her dark trousers as she stood. She had dark curly hair and she flicked it over her shoulder in a single movement, eyes narrowing as she marched towards Ginny, the shock in her gaze as she looked at Taun becoming fury as she hovered for just a second before hitting Ginny clean across the face.
'Evi, how darling to see you again.' Ginny grinned, hand resting on Taun's shoulder to stop her from rushing forward, the only movement she made in reaction despite the bright white mark only just beginning to fade from her skin.
'You conniving, scheming- you monster!' Evi yelled, wiping her hand against the knit vest she wore, as if to remove all mark of Ginny. 'How dare you come here!'
'Well. I hardly stole poor Peony's invite, did I?' chirruped Ginny and when Taun glanced at her she saw eyes alight with glee. Her fingers tapped ever so gently on Taun's shoulder and she wondered how hard it was for the journalist to restrain herself from pulling out that notebook and writing at once.
'I'll kill you,' Evi spat, lunging forward. She came close, so close to Ginny's face, before another of the women grabbed her and pulled her back, something about her touch against Evi's shoulders making her hold back a scream of pain.
'Add that to your record and you'd have a round three, isn't that right Ly?' Ginny called, laughing outright as Evi shouted an obscenity, shaking herself free and marching to stand beside a window. The other woman looked them both over with a sharp eye, gaze lingering on Ginny but holding none of the anger of Evi, although a weight more malice.
'Taun, moppet, go and play with those two for me, could you?' Ginny whispered, winking as her eyes darted from reddening cheeks to lips before pulling out her notebook and beginning to write fervently.
Taun nodded and turned, instantly consumed by the anger of Evi's words to the woman across from her, her hair loose and wavy and dress pretty, if very dirtied.
'How could you be with her?' Evi spat, massaging her shoulder and glowering. The other woman made a face, mouth thinning as she nodded towards Taun who stood before them awkwardly, not entirely sure what Ginny meant by devil's advocate but hoping she would be able to suffice.
'I... no. I'm not.' She clasped her hands, glancing between them awkwardly, before instantly backtracking and holding one out. 'I'm Taun. Ginny and I only met a little while ago.'
'You'll find it only takes a minute for Ginny Veneer to ruin your life. You're lucky she hand't written about you yet,' Evi growled, wincing as she reluctantly shook Taun's hand.
'Oh, she has.' Taun shrugged. 'But it was nothing people wouldn't have worked out themselves in a day or two. I can hardly fault her for that.'
'I can,' Evi snapped, glaring Ginny as she continued to write. 'That harpy...'
'Isabel,' the second woman said, fingertips just barely skimming Taun's hand before darting back to hide behind her back. 'And Evi you've met.'
'Evi I've met,' Taun agreed with a wry smile. 'Were you injured?' she asked, nodding towards the blood on Isabel's dress and hands.
'Oh... oh! Oh, no, not really. Just a few scrapes, nothing my herbs can't sort out. I'm a herbalist,' she added distractedly when Taun frowned. 'Really it's Evi who... she was nearly killed. This writer, Sara something, I don't know, she tried to push her out the window'- she gestured to a hole in the wall a few feet away, less a window than... a hole in the wall, surrounded by bits of broken wood and glass. 'I managed to get there just before she fell.'
Taun shot Evi a glance. 'Where's the writer?'
Isabel swallowed, looking again to the hole. 'She didn't make it.'
'Maybe she's the one who poisoned me,' Taun mused, finger wiping across her nose. 'I was poisoned. It was in the tea.'
'The... the tea.' Isabel's eyes widened and she seemed to be dazed.
'The tea,' Evi repeated quietly, mouth twisting as her eyes took in the blood around Taun's nose. 'Are you alright?'
'Fine.' She smiled. 'You?'
'Yeah... Yes. Yes I'm fine. Sara- the writer, she found me this morning, let me out.'
'I see.'
'I'm sorry.'
'What're you making Evi sorry for, Vincent?' Ginny asked, hand landing on Taun's shoulder as she appeared by her side, looking between the two of them with delight. She seemed happier than Taun had yet seen her, although there was a devious glint to her eyes when they shared a glance that spoke of a different emotion.
'My poisoning. This is Isabel. She's a herbalist.'
'Isabel, herbalist. Isabel, herbalist,' Ginny muttered with her eyes half shut, eventually shaking her head. 'Nope, you don't ring any bells. And here I was hoping we'd have a full house of crimes to work with.'
'Crimes?' Isabel choked, shaking her head. 'I don't understand.'
'Apparently someone fell from a window. A writer,' Taun said, nodding towards the window that had been. 'Tried to kill Evi. Who doesn't like you,' she added in a significant whisper.
'Tish. Everyone likes me, Vincent. Some of them just want to do it with a hatchet.'
'I would love to do it with a hatchet,' Evi snarled, rubbing her shoulder and glowering at Ginny.
'I bet,' Ginny intoned, gliding towards the area of broken glass. 'A writer, you said?'
'Sara Burns.'
'Ohhhh, a writer.' Ginny nodded sagely, ducking a head out the window and making a face as she saw, just a moment before Taun, the fallen figure of a woman with limbs askew. 'Depends on what you call writing,' she mused before turning back to face the others. 'What did you do to make her catty, Evi?'
'Fuck you, Veneer.'
'Evi Ly, you foul mouthed thing. Can I quote you on that?'
Evi, who appeared to be about to hit Ginny for a second time, was stopped in her steps by a sound that was uncannily like a scream.
'Hold that thought.' Ginny held up a hand regally and Taun... she fell in love with her a little bit. 'We've got a crime to cover.'