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Chapter Text

Acrid smoke filled the air making it hard to breathe. It was thick, thicker than the fog that was encroaching within the town's borders threatening all the citizens with severe amnesia and dangerous insanity. That didn't matter much to Wynonna though. Not now while she waited helpless on the ground. She felt beyond useless as she watched the scene unfold, wishing for the millionth time that she had kept Peacemaker on her and that she could have shot Jolene again the second she'd laid eyes on her in that cabin. 

Above her, the dark angel had a deathgrip on the town's sheriff. The wind snatched the stetson off her head revealing her braided red hair. The hat flittered down to the ground, giving the demon hunter below an intense pang of anxiety as the pair soared ever higher out of her view. Still the dark angel flapped her wings, carrying them up past the clouds. Nicole squeezed her eyes shut tight, unwilling to look at either the heights she was being carried to or what the woman she loved had become. 

"Shutting your eyes to the horrors of reality won't stop what's coming," Waverly threatened. 

No, Nicole reminded herself firmly. Not Waverly. The creature carrying her to her death might look like her fiancé, but Waverly had never sounded so cruel when talking to someone she loved. Nicole knew better than to trust the dark angel holding her lover captive. 

"You should look," the dark angel cooed. "It will be the last thing you'll ever see." 

"If I have to die," Nicole panted, reluctantly parting her eyelids to peek cautiously up at the demon, "then the last thing I want to see is Waverly." 

The demon's lips curled up at her request. In any other instance, it would have formed a smile on her fiancé's face. It would have been a sight so sweet and sincere and it would have immediately warmed Nicole's heart while forming a swarm of butterflies in her stomach. At this moment though it formed a sneer. It was menacing and it made Nicole's blood run cold. She knew whatever the dark angel said next would be a lie. 

With a flutter of her wings, the demon scoffed, "You're in luck. Waverly is right here, and she's the last thing you'll see." 

"Then let me see her," Nicole demanded, fighting back a shiver as the dark angel's grip slackened slightly. 

The creature was laughing at her when the unexpected occurred. A ripple shuddered across the dark angel's face, stopping the eerie laughter at once. The creature winced as though in pain and they plummeted several feet before the angel righted herself. Nicole screamed in terror and the angel wrapped her arms around her even tighter. 

"It's alright," she promised, pressing her lips gently against Nicole's temple. "I've got you." 

"Waverly!" Nicole sobbed and she buried her face in her fiancé's chest. 

Waverly held her close as she flew them back to the ground. Wynonna was waiting for them, anxious, and she drew her gun on them as the angel's feet touched the dirt. It broke her heart to have the barrel aimed at her little sister, but she knew it would break Waverly more if she came back into herself and found out she had hurt Nicole in any way. "Let her go!" Wynonna commanded. She took a step closer, flicking her thumb down so that Peacemaker was cocked and ready to go. 

"It's okay," Nicole called, signaling to her to lower Peacemaker. Tears were streaming down her face. "It's Waverly again." 

Peacemaker was back in its holster before Wynonna was even fully aware of what she was doing. By the time she had fully regained control over her actions her feet had carried her halfway across the field. She didn't slow down when she realized where she was heading. Instead she barrelled full speed into Waverly, grabbing her and holding her tight in her arms. Her sister instantly reciprocated, and the intensity in her embrace made Wynonna suspicious. She knew her baby sister. She knew what it felt like when she was saying goodbye. 

"What's wrong?" Wynonna asked. 

Waverly sniffled. "How did you know something was wrong?" 

Wynonna leaned back slightly so that Waverly could see her expression. "I know you baby girl," Wynonna told her, giving her a look. "I know when you're scared. And I know when you're about to ask me for something you feel like you shouldn't." 

"Yeah," Waverly sighed. She gave her sister a sad smile. "Do you remember what I asked when you came in to save me from Jolene?" 

She did. And she didn't like it. Wynonna took a full step back to give Waverly her most withering glare. "No," she said. 

"Wynonna," Waverly insisted. 

"No!" Wynonna argued. 

"You have to stop me," Waverly told her, her voice gentle but firm. 

"No I don't," Wynonna replied. "You're you again." 

But Waverly shook her head at that. "It was always me Wynonna," she confessed. A tear slid down her face and she quickly wiped it away. "Jolene only made it so I can't fully control myself, or my powers. But it's still me. All of it. It's all the darkest parts of me, every horrible thought and angry urge coming out of me and even right now I still can't control it. You have to stop me before I do anything worse." 

"I can't," Wynonna whimpered. She gave her sister a pleading look. "Please don't ask me to do this baby girl." 

"I'm sorry," Waverly whispered. "You're the only one who can." She placed a hand on Peacemaker. At once her hand started sizzling, smoke rising as the gun burned her flesh but she didn't let go. She didn't drop the gun until she'd tugged its barrel up to her chest. 

Through the entire encounter Nicole had remained silent to allow the Earp sisters their reunion. When Wynonna cocked the gun, letting Peacemaker glow orange with runic symbols, she broke her silence. "Drop the gun Wynonna," she demanded, raising the barrel of her own baretta. 

"Nicole, don't," Waverly begged. 

"Sorry babe, but demons don't get a vote," Nicole growled. She still didn't lower the gun, keeping it leveled at the Earp heir instead. "Wynonna!" 

"Christ, Haught, what do you expect me to do!" Wynonna yelled. "You think I want this? I'd do anything to keep Waverly safe!" 

"Then give me more time!" Nicole urged. "There has to be something I can do. Let me save her!" 

"Nicole, there's nothing!" Waverly snapped. Her gaze softened, her eyes filling rapidly with remorse. "There's nothing you can do. If Wynonna doesn't do this-- now -- you won't be able to stop me. No one will. I'll burn the whole world to the ground with you two in it. I don't want that." 

"We don't want this ," Wynonna interjected. 

Waverly walked over to her fiancé. She locked eyes with her as she reached up and slid her fingers in between Nicole's interlocking their hands. Nicole sighed and lowered her gun, and Waverly kissed her on the lips. Nicole didn't hesitate to return the embrace. She responded so enthusiastically that Waverly's featherlight touch melted into something fierce and passionate enough to result in Waverly being lifted up in Nicole's arms. When they parted both women had tears streaming down their faces. Wynonna wasn't the only one who knew Waverly well. It turned out that Nicole could also tell when Waverly was saying goodbye. 

With a final kiss on the cheek, Waverly dropped Nicole's hand. She trudged back over to her sister, a determined sort of resignation in every step. "It's time Wynonna," she said softly. 

Wynonna wanted to argue. She wanted to say her sister was crazy. She wanted to toss Peacemaker into the still-smoldering remains of the BBD Headquarters behind them and watch it melt from the stray flames. As it were, Wynonna very rarely got what she wanted. She stepped forward and held Waverly tight because damned if she was going to let Waverly's  last moments be spent anywhere other than in her own arms. 

"I love you," Wynonna sobbed. 

Waverly managed a watery smile. "I love you too. I'm so sorry I let you down." 

Wynonna scoffed. "You could never," she assured her, and she brought up the gun. 

"You're the best big sister anyone could hope for," Waverly whispered, leaning even further into Wynonna's jacket. 

Wynonna wiped her eyes. "Make your peace," she barely managed to say. Before she could lose her nerve, she tugged hard on the trigger. 

The ground opened up underneath them. Hellfire roared from the hole, flames licking up as they dragged Waverly down. She had meant to go bravely, but as the heat ate at her flesh she couldn't stop the screams. A wave of terror washed over her as the pits of Hell filled her sight. Then the earth closed over her head, and she was completely out of sight. Just like that, she was gone. 

Wynonna sank to her knees, unable to cope with the treachery she'd just committed. The one thing she'd set out to do since coming back to Purgatory was to keep Waverly safe. She'd failed spectacularly at that. Because of her, her baby sister was now trapped in the deepest circle of Hell. Waverly's soul would burn for all eternity, and it was entirely Wynonna's fault.  

"She didn't deserve that," Nicole muttered, staring fixedly at the last spot Waverly had stood. 

"No," Wynonna agreed. "She doesn't." 

Rage coiled in the pit of Nicole's chest. She tried to keep her voice even, but the pain and fury she was feeling over the loss of her love made her very breath tremble. "I don't understand how you could go through with that." 

"I promised I'd stop her," Wynonna murmured. She holstered Peacemaker and straightened up, her sight fixed firmly on the burning building in the distance. "Luckily I never promised not to mess things up after that." 

Nicole frowned at that. Clearly Wynonna was up to something. Really that was no surprise. It was Nicole's experience that an Earp always had something up her sleeve. That being said, she had no idea what her plan might be this time. "I don't see how you can fuck things up worse than this," Nicole snarled. 

"Things can always get worse," Wynonna promised. She nodded her head at the direction of the Headquarters. "Usually we can blame it on BBD. This time we're gonna thank them." 

"Wynonna," Nicole sighed, her frustration levels rising to peak annoyance. "What the hell are you talking about?" 

"Remember the BBD site that got us into the Garden?" Wynonna asked. 

"Got you in," Nicole corrected. She still felt shame at having let Wynonna go in alone, broken appendages be damned. 

"Right," Wynonna said. "The portals there went just to one location. But that's not the only cross-dimensional site BBD is hiding." 

Nicole's eyes widened in understanding. "You're sure about this?" 

Wynonna nodded. "I could use some backup," she said hopefully. 

"I'm in," Nicole answered. "Hell has a lot of enemies waiting there for the Earps. If anything happens to you I'll make sure to get Waverly out no matter what." 

"Good," Wynonna sighed, grateful that Waverly had found someone so loyal as to literally go through Hell and back without batting an eye. "Let's go save my sister." 

Chapter Text

“Absolutely not.” 

The answer was spat at them. It was clear in tone that they were foolish to even bring up such a request. It was clear that they should have known better. Though in her defense, Wynonna did know better. It was just that desperate times called for desperate measures. And Waverly being in Hell? This was the most desperate Wynonna had ever been. 

Desperate enough that she and Sheriff Haught had hopped in the car and driven like two bats out of Hell straight over to Shorty’s. Unsurprisingly, this is where they found the once infamous Doc Holliday with his head tipped back to better down a mouthful of booze. The two women had wasted no further time on howdy-do’s or preambles of any kind. Wynonna had tossed open the doors to the bar and demanded that Doc lead them through Hell. His answer had been immediate and firm. He knew Wynonna was not playing any games, and so he wouldn’t play any either. 

“Holliday, we need you,” Nicole told him. Her amber eyes were wide and pleading. Desperation, it seemed, was mingling with the lot of them. 

Doc sat himself up and made a show of slamming the now-emptied liquor bottle down on the table in front of him. With a swipe of his arm he dragged the remaining droplets off of his mustache before smacking his lips and settling his steely gaze on the recently re-elected sheriff. “You’ve never been there,” he reminded her, anger coating every word like venom. “If you had then you’d never even think to brave those flaming walls. But I have. I know better. And because I know better I know now to say to y’all both, ‘Go fuck yourselves.’ I already escaped that damned place once, and I will not be going back again.” 

“Listen you piece of shit!” Wynonna snarled. She knocked the liquor bottle with a vicious swing of her fist that sent it sailing across the room. It hit the far wall near the door in a shower of glass, creating a rather unusual welcome for any guests that dared try to enter the establishment. Doc fixed Wynonna with a glare and in return she introduced him to the business end of her gun. “I have had the worst fucking day.” 

“One that will only get worse by descending into Hell,” Doc promised, unfazed by his lover’s violent acts. 

“She wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important,” Nicole pointed out. 

“Oh, and let me guess,” Doc scoffed. “The world is in danger and we are the only ones who can save it and to do so we must venture ourselves down into Hell to retrieve some item of incomparable importance in order to succeed in saving said aforementioned world? Well I say, ‘To Hell with that.’ If the world needs saving so many damn times then maybe it deserves to burn.” 

“I don’t give a shit about the rest of the world,” Wynonna said. She blinked rapidly in an attempt to stop the flow of tears in her eyes but her heavy sorrow was too much of a burden. The first drop that rolled off her cheek was what finally caught Doc’s attention. It sobered him up enough that he finally took stock of the situation. 

His eyes roamed the room, a darkness settling over his features as some understanding seemingly crept into his mind. He met Wynonna’s gaze, devastation blatant in his shiny opal eyes. “Where is Waverly?” 

Wynonna burst into tears at that. She couldn’t handle it anymore. The guilt and the fear and the heartache all came rushing out of her faster than Doc could take her into his arms. She cried for a moment that felt like an eternity. Each tear that trailed down into Doc’s chest made her feel like an increasingly horrible sister. Somewhere inside her she knew that the longer she waited, the longer Waverly stayed being tortured in Hell. A more outwardly side of her, however, needed some time to grieve. 

Doc understood that. He didn’t say a word as he held Wynonna close. Each second that ticked by with the Earp heir in his arms he feared the worst. He knew that Wynonna loved Waverly more than anybody, himself included. He knew that Wynonna would rather watch the world die than lay a harmful hand against the baby sister she cared so much about. Yet in those moments while he held Wynonna close he found himself feeling scared for the bisexual half angel. This sinking feeling in his gut was heightened ever more when Nicole shot her gun into the air, regaining the attention of the woebegone lovers. 

“We don’t have time for this,” the sheriff insisted. “Waverly needs us.” 

“And I will guide you,” Doc promised. He gently pushed Wynonna back slightly so that he could look into her eyes. He needed her to know how serious he was about this. About her. “I will do whatever it takes for us to get young Waverly back.” 

Wynonna did her best to manage a smile. “Let’s not leave her waiting then. Shall we?” 

“In a moment,” Doc said. Nicole shot him an incredulous look, one sprinkled with no small amount of exasperation. “Well if we are descending into the fiery depths of Hell through a Black Badge facility’s portal, I do believe it would be in our best interest to acquire the help of a particular Black Badge agent.” 

Nicole crossed her arms over her chest. “If you’re talking about Jeremy--” 

“Yes, of course I am referring to Agent Chetri,” Doc responded, cutting her off. “He is most knowledgeable about the doings of Black Badge and he may be able to help us now.” 

“You know who needs help now?” Wynonna growled. “My sister. We can fill Jeremy in later.” 

“Ugh!” Nicole groaned, rubbing a hand on her forehead. She could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. Though of course, that was the least of her problems. She locked eyes with Wynonna, an apology already on her lips. “He has a point Wynonna. Hell’s not exactly going to be a picnic; any advantage we can have, we might as well take.” 

Wynonna stomped her foot in aggravation but Nicole could tell she knew they were right. “I hate you both so much right now,” she declared as she holstered Peacemaker and strode purposefully back over to the door. She stopped to glance back at the pair, an eyebrow raised in emphasis. “Jeremy had better make this worth our while. Worth Waverly’s while.” 

“I have faith in the young man,” Doc assured her. 

Wynonna snorted. “Yeah, well, that makes one of us.” 

Without another word she hurried back to Nicole’s cruiser and slid into the passenger seat. Nicole hopped in only a second after and Doc shook his keys at them as he raced by to signal that he would be taking his own ride to the cop shop. That was fine with Wynonna. Totally fine. Perfect even. She wasn’t even thinking about Doc in these trying times. At least, not in any other capacity than how grateful she was to have him guiding her through eternal damnation to rescue her sister. Yup, her autobiography was going to read like one hell of a Sci-fi novel. 

“Hey,” Nicole spoke suddenly. Her voice was as gentle as the hand she placed overtop of Wynonna’s own. She didn’t take her eyes off the road in front of them but Wynonna was still able to register the forced confidence in them. “We’re going to get her back.” 

“Or die trying,” Wynonna agreed. 

Nicole risked a glance off the road to shoot her a worried look. “No one is dying today,” she said firmly. She was probably trying to add more of that fake confidence in her voice. To Wynonna it just sounded like she was trying to convince herself that what she was saying was true. 

“I need you to promise me something,” Wynonna said. She waited for Nicole Haught to respond. She needed to hear the woman acknowledge this next part. It was too important to get swept under the rug. 

“What is it?” Nicole asked, taking the bait. 

Wynonna sighed. “No matter what happens to me, you get Waverly out of there.” 

“Wynonna--” 

“I’m serious,” Wynonna told her. “I’m the first Earp after Wyatt who managed to send all seventy-seven Revenants back to Hell.” 

“Seventy-six,” Nicole corrected. “Rosita managed to escape that fate.” 

Wynonna actually had to stifle a laugh at that. “Not that anyone’s counting,” she said pointedly. 

“She took Waverly to a spa, soaked her in a hot tub, and then jammed her tongue in her mouth while running her hands all on her body,” Nicole spat, tightening her grip on the steering wheel as she drove. “It might’ve just been me, but I was counting the days until you put a bullet between her eyes.” 

“Okay, well, for one: I don’t remember Waverly describing the moment that graphically,” Wynonna teased. It was a final dig before solemnity dragged her back to a more somber state. “I still put seventy-six Revenants down. All seventy-six of them are going to be waiting there, hungry for blood. My blood. I don’t know if I’ll make it back out.” 

“Earp, I will drag that top shelf ass of yours out of there if that’s what I have to do,” Nicole told her fervently. 

“You can’t guarantee that I’ll make it past them all,” Wynonna said. “And I don’t want you to. What I want you to do is promise me that you will bring Waverly back. Drag her ass if you have to, but don’t let her stay there a second longer than she has to. No matter what happens to me, get her topside. Promise?” 

Nicole shook her head. “I won’t leave you behind.” 

“Nicole,” Wynonna said sternly. 

“Waverly would never forgive me,” Nicole pointed out. 

“Yes she would,” Wynonna argued. “Besides, forgiveness is hard to come by if she’s trapped in Hell.” 

“Wynonna, I--” 

“Promise me, Haught!” Wynonna yelled loud enough to make Nicole flinch. 

Finally, the sheriff sighed. “I promise,” she murmured. “If it comes down to it, I’ll leave you behind to get Waverly out of there.” 

“Thank you,” Wynonna said. A small weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She knew Hell was a dangerous game for her, and she knew what might happen to her when she got down there. But she also knew it might be even more dangerous for Waverly. Besides the fact that their Revenants were all down there, her sister was half angel. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what demons did when they managed to get their hands on an angel. 

Nicole slowed the car to a stop in the police station parking lot. Doc’s ride sat a few spots over, glistening in the high winter sun. The tracks in the snow leading off from the driver’s side were almost completely filled in with freshly fallen snow. Given how slowly the flakes were falling, Doc must have broken the sound barrier to have gotten there so much longer ago than they had. That or stupid Haught had taken the time to follow all the traffic laws in a time of crisis. 

When they walked inside the BBD office, Jeremy was in the middle of explaining something to Doc. Based on the absolute fear in the younger man’s eyes and the furious twitching of the ancient man’s mustache, it seemed as though the former lab technician was not delivering very good news. If Wynonna had to guess, she’d say it was the opposite. Given how the rest of her day was going, she figured she shouldn’t have been surprised. 

“What now?” she huffed, coming to stand beside Doc. 

“Jeremy here thinks we should not go through the portal created by BBD,” Doc explained, giving Jeremy a pointedly nasty look. 

“Not shouldn’t ,” Jeremy clarified. “Can’t. After the breach with the Garden, BBD revisited all those old facilities and shut everything down properly. You can’t get in through the portal because it doesn’t exist anymore.” 

“Okay, but you said BBD shut it all down,” Nicole said. “Isn’t there a way we can open it back up?” 

“Probably, but not without current BBD scientists and agents with top clearance security badges,” Jeremy replied. “I’m sorry, but using the portals is out of the question.” 

“Then how the fuck do we get to Hell?” Wynonna asked, furious. 

“You could say ‘please,’” a new voice suggested. 

The four demon hunters whirled around to face the newcomer. On instinct, Wynonna raised Peacemaker and aimed it at the voice. Instead of its runes lighting up in human blue or demon orange, the barrel emanated a deep blood red as it faced the intruder. Dropped jaws intermixed with puzzled expressions as everyone contemplated what that particular sign might be forewarning. Wynonna simply cocked the gun. 

“Start talking,” she spat. 

The owner of the voice stepped forward, and Wynonna did a double take. It was a woman, and she looked strikingly similar to Rosita. She knew this wasn’t the Revenant though. She wasn’t sure how, but she could feel it in her bones. A black cloak was draped across her shoulders, adding more cover than the bright red bodice that clung tight over her breasts provided. A matching pair of lacy shorts completed the ensemble. Not-Rosita fixed Wynonna with a smirk as she lowered her hood. 

“I go by many names in this realm,” the creature began. “Though the easiest way to introduce myself would be the Queen of Hell. I come to you, Wynonna Earp, to make a bargain with you for your little sister’s soul.” 

Chapter Text

Agonizing pain seared every fiber of her being. A scream was ripped from her throat and it didn’t stop the entire drop down into the pit. Waverly heard a crunch as the rocky ground broke her fall. She let out a whimper when she looked down and saw bone exposed on her ankle. That was not going to be helpful. 

She struggled to her feet-- well, foot because she was not about to try to put any weight on that ankle. Flames obscured her vision, and the haze from the smoke in the air did nothing to help. As far as she could make out she was in a vast, barren landscape that was always on fire and never seemed to end. Not that that actually surprised her. It was Hell after all. It was exactly what she’d pictured it to look like in those rare moments when she’d dared think about it at all. What did surprise her though was that she was alone. She kept glancing around expecting to see demons rushing up to her but all she ever saw was the smoke and the flames and the rocks. 

That part of it all shouldn’t have unsettled her. With all the demons she’d helped Wynonna put down here she should have been glad to have made it to a sort of solitary confinement. And she was. It was just that she was also completely on edge waiting for the other shoe to drop. The heat was way too high and she was sweating like crazy and her skin was on fire and her ankle was broken seemingly beyond repair and all that was really super awful. But was it eternal damnation and endless suffering levels of suck? Unspeakable and unimaginable pain had been Hell’s whole gimmick on earth. Waverly found it hard to believe that this was the extent of her otherworldly torture. 

She hopped around a bit in search of something she could use as a crutch. A long stick was what she had in mind, but the lack of vegetation-- even small, scraggly dead bushes-- left much to be desired. All she had was fire and rocks. Too bad she hadn’t spent more time with the Blacksmith, though she doubted even Maddie would have been able to make anything with so little. 

A rock shifted beside her and knocked against one of the toes on her bad foot, sending a new intense pain to flare up her leg. She plopped herself down on a nearby boulder and gently tugged the injury closer to inspect it. She regretted it instantly. The sight of her bone-- yes, bone, it was definitely a bit of her bone poking through her flesh-- made her want to vomit. Added in was all the blood and pus and oh gosh she really needed to focus on something else. The intense lighting around her was still visible as she snapped her eyes shut. The heat was causing her head to pound in what was surely her most intense migraine yet and her heavy hyperventilating was leading her down the road of passing out. She was also trembling like a leaf throughout her whole body which was causing these miniature spikes of pain from her ankle but she was trying not to think about that. 

Think of something calming, she commanded herself. Something good, something distracting, something now! 

In her desperation to not lose consciousness her brain rendered her an image of a most familiar redhead with the most gorgeous amber eyes. Tall and lean and strong and wearing a stetson. She had always been brave, since the moment they’d first met. Waverly remembered that day with a smile. She’d still been with Champ and yet she’d left Shorty’s that day carrying the business card of Purgatory’s new rookie cop. The number printed on that card had already been memorized by the time she’d pulled up to the Earp homestead. 

Nicole. 

Tears started streaming down her face as Waverly realized with a pang that she would never see Nicole again. She was damned to Hell for the rest of eternity, and if she knew anything in this world it was that Nicole was destined for the better place upon her passing. That single moment above had been their last embrace. The pain of that realization made her crumple to the ground as sobs wracked her body. 

There it is, she thought miserably. The unimaginable pain. 

She was glad Nicole would never step foot in this place, but she also really wished she could have known what was coming ahead of time. If only she’d had a day to prepare, to be with Nicole and truly say her goodbyes. God, the things she would have done with those twenty-four hours if only she’d have known they were what she had left. She thought of their last few moments together, the feel of Nicole’s arms around her and the taste of her lips. She didn’t want that to be their last. 

Waverly forced herself back into a standing position. She had to figure this out. She’d needed Wynonna to send her to Hell before her Darkness could do anything irreversible but she also wasn’t cool with leaving her family alone. She remembered reuniting with Nicole after her eighteen months in the Garden-- god did she remember. Nicole had been so soft with her those times, so passionate and yet so caring as she’d worked Waverly over the edge. She’d also been so, so damaged. Waverly had noticed the signs of her trauma in those months after their reunion. She’d still been noticing them even mere hours before her body had been overtaken by the Darkness. Nicole still needed her, and Waverly was going to be there for her no matter what. 

I stay, Waverly told herself, thinking back to her first dangerous encounter with Jolene. Even when the demon had made herself feel worthless, it was the thoughts of her loved ones that had kept her going. I’m here, Waverly had told her, and I stay. She endured a lot for the people who cared about her and she wasn’t going to stop now. If that meant finding a way to control her Darkness so that she could climb out of Hell then so be it. Because Nicole needed her. Her sister needed her. 

Oh god, Wynonna. Her poor sister. As if the Earp heir didn’t have enough on her plate. Ever since coming back to Purgatory, the one thing Wynonna had been telling her was that everything she was doing was to protect Waverly. It must be killing her to know she’d condemned her baby sister to Hell. A new kind of pain shot through her chest as her heart ached in sympathy. Don’t worry Wynonna. I’ll be home soon. 

At least, Waverly hoped so. 

She hopped forward one step, teetering to and fro as she kept her injured foot in the air. She wasn’t entirely sure she could call it progress. After all, she had no clue where she was going. But at least she was on the move. That made her feel a little better. So she hopped forward again, regained her balance, and hopped another step. Her surroundings really didn’t change. There was still a lot of rocks, still a lot of smoke, still a lot of flames. The color red was seared into her brain and the faint rumbling had gotten slightly louder. The fire it seemed was always around but never close enough to actually scorch flesh so-- 

Wait. 

Rumbling? 

Waverly stopped in her tracks. Holy shit, the rumbling was definitely new. It hadn’t been there when she’d first fallen into the pit. But it was there now and it was growing louder by the second. She took a few steadying breaths but they did nothing to calm her racing heart. Just in that short time the rumbling had crescendoed into a wrathful roar causing the ground around her to shift and shake. The rocks beside her were trembling worse than she was. Without warning, the ground she was standing on split apart and she fell once again. 

She barely had time to scream before something broke her fall. There was more fire, but this kind was softer. She took a second to glance around her, and she noticed the flames were candlelight. There was a cloth below her and dirty dishes beside her. Chairs dotted every other step off to the side. She sat up, wondering how on earth she’d ended up on somebody’s table. Did Hell have a dining room? She must have missed that in her studies. 

“H-hello?” she called tentatively. It occurred to her only after she spoke that she might not want to catch the attention of whatever creature was waiting down in Hell. After all, she’d just interrupted their maggot infested dinner. Whoever or whatever they were, they would likely not be pleased. 

A groan resounded from beyond her line of sight, letting her know that flying under the radar was already out of the question. Well, she supposed she could also try being nice. There were more than a few sticky situations back on earth that she’d been able to talk her way out of. And, if all else failed, maybe a certain dark angel could come out for a moment to play. Maybe. 

“Please,” Waverly called, slowly lowering herself off of the table, “whoever you are, I should warn you: I have a… stone.” She was lying. She didn’t have a stone. She hadn’t thought to grab one before tumbling down to a lower level of Hell. Not that the groaner needed to know that. 

“You,” a voice growled from the dark. It was low and guttural, and definitely inhuman. There was something about it that was familiar, but Waverly didn’t yet know if that was good or bad. 

Without thinking, Waverly snatched one of the candlesticks off of the table. She held it up, brandishing it as a weapon. Hot wax barely made her flinch as it dripped onto her skin. She kept her eyes towards the darkness, her body tensed and ready for a fight. “My name is Waverly Earp,” she told the voice, doing her best to sound strong. 

“I know who you are,” the voice responded. A chuckle followed, and with it the darkness spread. The fire around her was put out, even from the candle in her own hands. She gasped as she felt a cool wind brush past her. It sent a chill down her spine. 

“What do you want from me?” Waverly asked, glancing frantically around for her attacker. The darkness was so complete. She couldn’t see anything. 

“Waverly Earp,” the voice spoke again. This time it was coming from right behind her. “You are my final target.” 

Suddenly Waverly knew exactly who the voice belonged to. Of course he sounded familiar. He was one of the first Revenants Wynonna had put down. He was also the first Revenant taken out with the help of both Waverly and Dolls. “Killer Miller,” Waverly murmured, and she wondered what would happen to a dark angel who died in Hell. 

Whatever it was, she was so fucked. 

Chapter Text

Sure, maybe laughing was an inappropriate response to the offer. But how else should someone respond after being propositioned by the Queen of Hell? Haught might’ve had more tact, but if Not-Rosita wanted professionalism than she should have approached literally anyone else in the group. This was Wynonna freakin’ Earp she was talking to. Inappropriate banter and witty innuendos were basically her trademarks. 

“I’m sorry,” Wynonna apologized to all the exasperated faces around her. “It’s just not how I was expecting this day to go.” 

“Oh, you mean like when you blasted my fiance into Hell?” Nicole snarled. Wynonna shot her a look and the sheriff's gaze instantly softened. “Which you obviously didn’t want to do.” 

“Yeah, no shit,” Wynonna retorted. She returned her attention to the newcomer. “What exactly do I have that’s worth offering me a bargain?” 

The Queen of Hell shrugged, a sly smile playing at her lips. “Your kind would call it a weapon. In my hands, it’s more of a key. One that could change lives and unlock so much bliss.” 

Wynonna shrugged. “Not that I don’t completely agree with that, but I don’t really see how Doc’s penis is mine to trade.” 

Doc shot her a look at that. “Wynonna--” 

“I’m not interested in vampire genitals,” the Queen of Hell clarified. She narrowed her eyes at the holster strapped to Wynonna’s hip. “I’m talking about your most loyal little sidekick.” 

“Peacemaker?” Wynonna questioned. Sure, it was well established already that the revolver was quite the magical artifact. It had even spent some time as a sword for a short while there. But what would the Queen of Hell possibly want with a gun? A demon slaying gun… 

Okay. Take away the demon hunter’s weapon so that your goons can’t keep getting dispatched back to the base. It made sense in a way, although it didn’t entirely explain what Her Royal Suffering had meant when she called it a key. Peacemaker had only ever served as a weapon; what exactly did the Queen of Hell intend to unlock with a gun or a sword? 

 “Wynonna, do not do this,” Doc whispered low enough that only she heard him. 

Wynonna gave him a puzzled look until she realized she had been slowly lifting her arm up to extend her hand to Rosita’s lookalike as though offering her the gun. Her eyes widened at her own subconscious gesture, and she quickly tugged her hand back down and put Peacemaker back in its holster. She looked up and shot Hell’s Highness a glare. “Neat trick,” she sneered. “But unless you tell me why you need Peacemaker so badly, I don’t intend to strike up a deal.” 

The Queen of Hell allowed a small chuckle at that. The sound of it was very cruel and knowing, like she was the only one in the room aware of the joke and she was just waiting for everyone else to catch up. It made Nicole shiver and she kept her eyes glued on the Queen as she circled the room. Her gut told her not to trust this creature, and she hoped to god that Wynonna’s was telling her the same. It didn’t exactly help that the Queen of Hell was wearing the face of the woman who had intimidated her so much of her life. Bleached blonde hair curled into perfect ringlets, striking green eyes that shone with cunning manipulation, right down to the trimmed and manicured purple nails. Sergeant Westwood, the woman responsible for training her when Nicole had been going through the academy. It had been despite that dreadful woman’s best efforts that Nicole had become a police officer. She thought she’d left Sergeant Westwood behind for good when she’d taken the job offer from Purgatory. She supposed it was only fitting that the woman who’d tortured her the most would share a face with the ultimate demon. 

“You know, I honestly wouldn’t mind sharing my plans with you,” the Queen purred, and Nicole forced back a shudder as the demon locked eyes with her, even daring to give her a wink. “I just thought you’d be in more of a hurry, what with Waverly’s soul on the line.” 

Nicole clenched her fists. “What did you do to her?” she growled. 

“ I haven’t done anything,” the faux sergeant assured her. She turned to bat her eyes at Wynonna. “But then, I’m also not the one with a grudge against the Earps. While Waverly is not technically an Earp there are several demons down there with her who have gotten to know Wynonna on a more personal level. Personal enough to know that the most effective way to hurt her would be to hurt her darling little sister.” 

“You watch your mouth!” Doc snarled as Wynonna uncharacteristically took an uneasy step back. Nicole recalled the conversation they’d had in the cruiser. By the look on the heir’s face, Nicole knew she was thinking it too: that Wynonna had been right on the mark. The Revenants were going to use Waverly as a punching bag stand-in for the real cause of their anger. Doc must’ve realized it as well because he put a protective arm around the Earp, glaring pointedly at the Queen as he raised an accusatory finger towards her. “You may look like Michelle Gibson, but you do not share the same investment in her daughters and as such you do not get to speak to either of them in that condescending tone.” 

Well aware that it was the wrong thing to focus on, Nicole still found herself doing a double take at Doc Holliday’s extremely incorrect observations. “Uh, who did you say she looks like?” 

“Yeah,” Wynonna agreed, momentarily forgetting the fear she had for her little sister. “Her Royal Bitchiness looks nothing like Mama. She’s actually the spitting image of your old fling. Remember? Super smart, wicked evil, happened to be a Revenant. Also, fine, she was super hot.” 

“Wait, no, that’s Rosita you’re talking about,” Jeremy pointed out. 

“Yeah, she definitely doesn’t look like any of your Revenants,” Nicole said. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave the queen a glare. “She looks like someone way worse.” 

Jeremy looked over at her, a bemused expression on his face. “What on earth is your beef with Lucado? I don’t remember you interacting with her much. Or even at all, actually.” 

Now Nicole definitely had a headache. There was just too much crazy going on around her at the moment. Her brain had kicked into overdrive trying to keep up with the rapidly evolving situation they were in. It felt like every second was adding in another detail that left her mind reeling in confusion. “Jeremy, who is Lucado?” 

“Well, she was a member of Black Badge,” Jeremy explained. “She was one of the agents working with us back when Dolls was still alive. She’s dead now though. But Her Majesty over there is almost an exact clone, right down to the voice. It’s, uh, kinda creepy.” 

“Now that’s ridiculous,” Wynonna scoffed. “I was around for Lucado, okay, and this chick looks nothing like her. For one thing, Lucado was blonde--” 

“This chick is blonde,” Nicole interrupted. 

Wynonna regarded her like she was sure Nicole had lost it completely. “Uh, no ,” the Earp heir argued. “This chick is brunette. It’s the exact same shade as Rosita’s hair, and she also happens to look exactly like Rosita!”  

“Okay,” Jeremy sighed, and Nicole was relatively certain that his brain was in overdrive as well. “I don’t get it. Nicole and I both swear the Queen is blonde. But Wynonna sees a brunette. How is that possible?” 

The Queen of Hell shrugged and gave them all a smug smile. “It’s really not that complicated. I take on the appearance of whichever woman you find most intimidating. That means that unless two people share the same intimidation, everyone will look at me and see someone else.” 

“Ohhh,” Jeremy said as though that made perfect sense. 

Nicole turned to Doc with a brow raised. “You found Mama Earp to be intimidating?” she asked him, her amusement evident in her voice. 

Doc shrugged, clearly not ashamed about it. “That woman had herself a will of steel,” he replied. “There were several times during our engagements that I found myself fearing for my life. Keep in mind Sheriff Haught that I was still immortal at the time. Yet I still found myself wondering if she’d find a way to put me in the ground and keep me there.” 

“Well I think it’s bullshit,” Wynonna said stubbornly. “I was never intimidated by Rosita.” 

The Queen gave her a knowing smile. “There are many forms of intimidation.” 

“Sure,” Wynonna glared. “Now let’s get back to the real topic: saving my sister. You mentioned she was being hunted by Revenants. But how do I know that you’re telling the truth?” 

“I can show you,” the Queen offered, sounding very indifferent, as though she found the entire exchange rather boring. A thought seemed to strike her and it tugged up the corners of her lips into a gruesome grin. “Only if you feel like you can handle it.” 

Wynonna narrowed her eyes at the demon. “Show me,” she demanded. 

The Queen reached a hand up to the top of her red bodice. Slender fingers dipped down below the fabric and removed a slim, black tablet. Wynonna moved forward to inspect it. The object looked like a mirror except that it was solid black. The reflections it revealed seemed to be peering out from deeper within than a normal mirror. The energy it gave off was eerie; whatever it was, it was definitely enchanted. 

Noticing her wary expression, the Hell Queen nodded encouragingly to usher her closer. She brought up a hand and swirled it over the mirror. Smoke appeared suddenly, dancing across the glass and twirling in between the demon’s fingers. A cloud glazed over her eyes as she looked back over at Wynonna.  

“Watch the mirror,” the demon instructed. “It will show you your sister. It will reveal Waverly as she is right now.” 

Wynonna leaned forward, watching the mirror intently. Beside her, Nicole did the same. An unexpected flash if gratitude swelled through her chest. Oftentimes it was easy to forget that Nicole Haught was both Waverly’s fiance and Wynonna’s closest friend. The sheriff had fought for both Earps, had nearly died on several occasions for the two sisters. She was solid and dependable, perhaps the most loyal friend Wynonna had ever known. She was forever grateful that Waverly had moved beyond the ridiculous boy-man Champ and found a real love with Nicole. Especially now. Wynonna didn’t think there was any way she could do this without a friend to hold her hand. She needed someone who understood exactly what Waverly was worth, how irreversibly tragic the world would be without her in it. Someone who understood the true depth of the stakes. 

The smoke on the mirror shifted and sank into the glass. Once it was below the black, it swirled into the image of Waverly. Her head was thrown back, her mouth wrenched open in a soundless scream. The smoke swirled some more, revealing a hulking figure on top of her. Who- or whatever it was had her pinned to the ground. A large knife glistened in the creature’s hands. It brought it down along her shoulder blades, carving deep into her flesh where her wings had sprung from mere hours before. The mirror did not supply sound, so Wynonna couldn’t hear what the creature was demanding nor what her sister was saying in response. It was clear from her expression that Waverly was in agony. The monster above her ripped without mercy, tearing the knife down her body with untamed aggression. 

Wynonna itched to shoot the bastard. No, not just shoot him. She wanted to take her own knife to him and stab it down his throat. She wanted to rip off his balls with her bare hands. She wanted to make him feel pain, worse than what he was causing Waverly and double it for making her watch. She wanted to find this demon and she wanted to end him all over again. 

“Get her out of there,” Wynonna demanded, her voice shaking from barely withheld wrath. 

“First, give me Peacemaker,” the Queen bargained. 

“Wynonna, don’t you dare give in,” Doc warned. 

“Fuck that!” Nicole bellowed. The desperation had returned, and it had claimed the sheriff’s voice in full. She felt so goddamn helpless, watching from above while Waverly was tortured. She couldn’t fight the demon, but she sure as shit wasn’t going to let Doc chime in with his fake morals about why they shouldn’t get Waverly out of there. If Doc didn’t stand down, she might shoot him herself. 

Doc, for his part, instantly forgave Nicole’s outburst. He knew what it must be doing to her, being stuck on the sidelines while so much horror occurred between the Earp sisters. He himself had been resigned to similar fates in the past. He had not seen for himself what poor Waverly was suffering but he had known instantly by the looks from the women who loved her most that it was nothing pleasant. That alone broke his heart, and while he hated to play devil’s advocate (so to speak) he did not trust the devil in the room before them. 

As firmly as he dared, he rested a hand on Wynonna’s shoulder. He gazed into her eyes, making her look at him. Making her know he was serious. “She is a devil,” he reminded her, speaking of the Queen requesting Wyatt Earp’s gun. “Without that gun, what chance will we stand?” 

“However slim, we’ll be much better off than Waverly is right now,” Wynonna told him. Without another word she turned and handed the gun to the Queen. “Take this, and get my sister out of there.” 

The Queen accepted the proffered gun with a triumphant squeal. She tucked the mirror back into her bodice, concealing the visions of Waverly’s torment. With a flourish of her hand, she raised a stone archway directly out of the ground. It cracked through the old tile floor of the cop shop and rose steadily toward the ceiling. Flames flickered to life through the other side, and the seals between stones shone with a bright plasma-blue. 

Wynonna strode forward and snatched the Queen’s wrist. She yanked hard in an effort to grab the woman’s attention. “Waverly,” she reminded her firmly. “You promised you’d get her back here. No Waverly, no gun.” 

The Queen waved her hand as though the matter was frivolous. “I only said I’d get her out of Hell,” she told her, reaching out a finger to lightly tap the tip of Wynonna’s nose. “It’s up to you to find out where exactly she ended up.” 

“You bitch!” Wynonna snarled, reeling back a fist to strike the death goddess in her Rosita-looking mouth. 

“Tick-tock,” the Queen tsked. “She’s losing a lot of blood.” 

Before Wynonna could react, the Queen walked through the archway and disappeared, presumably heading back to Hell. The earth shifted and groaned like it was preparing for a massive earthquake. The blue lighting between the stones shifted into a reddish glow, closer to the color Peacemaker had made when pointed at the Queen. Ethereal looking lettering appeared over the arch. 

“What do you suppose that means?” Wynonna grumbled. 

“ Quondam praeferratus nunc liber, ” Nicole read off. “Once chained, now free.” 

Jeremy whipped his head in her direction, eyes wide with shock. “You speak Latin?” he questioned, impressed. 

Nicole shook her head. “Waverly’s fluent. I picked up a little bit from her, but not much.” 

“Well it seems you know enough to translate this mess,” Doc pointed out, nodding his head at the glowing lettering. “That, Sheriff Haught, is enough.” 

But Nicole shook her head at him. “It’s not enough to translate it if we don’t know what it truly means.” 

“Oh, I can crack that code,” Jeremy assured her. He rubbed a nervous hand on the back of his neck. “You’re not going to like it.” 

“I sent Waverly to Hell, traded Peacemaker to get her back, and now she’s out there somewhere alone and probably dying,” Wynonna recapped with a huff. “There isn’t a single aspect of this day that I don’t despise. Just save us the suspense and tell us what we need to prepare for.” 

“Oh uh, just the Gates of Hell,” Jeremy supplied, keeping his gaze fixed firmly on his hands. Those he kept clasped tightly in front of him. “As best I can tell, they’ll be opening any minute now.” 

“So every hellish fiend to ever exist will then walk the earth,” Doc added. 

“And I don’t have Peacemaker to send them back down,” Wynonna groaned. 

“Plus Waverly is still out there and she’s injured,” Nicole said. 

Wynonna aimed a hearty kick at the stone arch, anger flaring up once more. “Just one day,” she grumbled. “One goddamn day where the entire world doesn’t fall to shit!” 

A peaceful day, rare as they were, did sound nice. Though it was too late in the shitshow to think one would be popping up any time soon. For now, everyone had their work cut out for them. For now, it was fight or die time. And Wynonna Earp had no intentions of letting anyone else die that day, demons be damned. She was going to kick some supernatural ass. 

Chapter Text

The debate was, understandably, heated. Nicole blamed Wynonna and her infamous stubbornness. Wynonna just blamed Jeremy. Doc and Jeremy meanwhile mostly kept to themselves, chiming in only when absolutely necessary. The whole situation would have been easier if Waverly were still around. What Jeremy needed was someone to help him with his research. True, his best help in the lab had come from the frequently-aforementioned Rosita (Dolls was actually a close second), but in terms of the current team’s roster Waverly had proven to be a big help. She knew a lot already about demons and other paranormal entities. Her smarts and her study skills had helped out a lot in the past. The problem was that Jeremy needed someone-- now -- and Doc had already volunteered himself to go gather up the weapons. Which left Jeremy with either Wynonna or Nicole to help, both of whom thought their time would be better spent combing the Ghost River Triangle for Waverly. Nevermind the fact that without a serum that would stop the demons there wouldn’t be a Ghost River Triangle left to search through for long. 

“She’s my little sister,” Wynonna pointed out, hands placed firmly on her hips. 

“Yeah, well, she’s my fiancé,” Nicole returned, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“This is all super familiar,” Wynonna said. “What, are you going to tell me that it’s your fucking turn? Are you going to guilt me by talking about how lonely you were while we were in the Garden?” 

Nicole laughed mirthlessly. “I might, yeah. If it gets you to drop this and let me go after her.” 

“Oh, because that worked so well for us last time,” Wynonna sneered. “By the way, thank you for saving Waverly from Jolene, you were such a big help there.” 

“Whoa-kay, easy does it,” Jeremy interceded. He knew things were tense and that both women were scared of losing Waverly-- heck, he was too. But that didn’t change the fact that Wynonna and Nicole were best friends who shouldn’t say things they couldn’t take back just because the moment was getting heated. “Look, I know we’re all scared right now, but let’s just take a deep breath and remember that you both failed at saving Waverly from Jolene. Am I the only one who remembers the dark angel?” 

Wynonna turned a stunned, furious expression on the young ex-BBD scientist. “Are you suggesting,” she said calmly (too calmly), her voice low, “that you could have done better?” 

“I--” Jeremy gulped. At this point he was wondering how the hell he’d seen Lucado as the Queen when clearly it should have been the older Earp sister. “I am merely suggesting that we hurry this discussion along so that we can develop the serum before the demons invade Earth.” 

“I’m sorry ,” Wynonna snarled, not even close to sounding apologetic. “Are we bothering you with our plans to find and save Waverly?” 

“Wynonna,” Doc sighed, stepping in to rescue poor Jeremy. “Even you have to admit, he does have a point.” 

“Alright, anybody who is not either a sister or lover of our missing angel better butt out of this conversation!” Wynonna announced. She turned to face Nicole, a new rage simmering in her eyes. “And you; there might be a pending wedding on the horizon, but you are not a part of this family yet. So just stay out of my way while I go rescue my sister.” 

Unfazed, Nicole leaned in until she was mere inches from the older Earp sister’s face. “As the demon hunter of the group,” she told her, “shouldn’t you be the one to stay here and figure out how to slay the demons?” 

“You’re the sheriff,” Wynonna reminded her. “Shouldn’t you be focusing on keeping the citizens safe?” 

Nicole shrugged. “I don’t have jurisdiction over the whole world, which the demons will be attacking when they’re let loose. You’re right about one thing, though: I do have a duty to keep the citizens of Purgatory safe. That includes Waverly.” 

“So it’s settled,” Jeremy piped up. “Nicole will go after Waverly and Wynonna will stay here and help me with the serum.” 

“No, Wynonna will not,” Wynonna argued. “Wynonna will go and save her baby sister.” 

“Wynonna should stop talking in the third person,” Nicole said smugly. 

“Nicole should stop being an ass!” Wynonna yelled. 

“That’s enough!” Doc insisted, slamming his fists down on the desk for added emphasis. The room quieted down, everyone looking to the gunslinger. “Alright. The Queen said Waverly could be anywhere in the Ghost River Triangle. Now that is a big area, and clearly we have two searchers who are raring to go. As such, you two will both go out there. Figure out who is searching where and go find Waverly. I will hold off on gathering up our defenses so Jeremy will have his help in the lab. As soon as you find Waverly, let us know so I can get our weapons. One of you will have to come back here and relieve me. We’ll say it’s going to be whoever does not find her. Sound fair?” 

“Fine,” Nicole huffed. 

Three pairs of eyes turned towards Wynonna, waiting for confirmation. “Okay,” she grumbled. “I guess we’ll do Doc’s thing.” 

“Maybe later,” Doc replied, giving her a not-so-subtle wink. “For now I believe you should go find your sister.” 

“When we do I’m gonna punch you,” Wynonna declared, glowering at Nicole. “Not in front of her though.” 

“Ditto,” Nicole promised. “I’ll take the North end of the Triangle, you take the South.” 

“Meet up at Shorty’s?” Wynonna suggested. 

Nicole hesitated. “No shots,” she told her firmly. “We’ll need to keep our heads clear.” 

Wynonna nodded begrudgingly, not at all planning on following through with that. She worked better with a slight hum in her skull. With a dramatic spin on her heels, she grabbed the keys to a police cruiser and marched outside. It was a mark of how utterly terrified Nicole was over Waverly that she didn’t say anything about Wynonna commandeering government property for personal use. Not that Wynonna blamed her. They had both seen the images in that black mirror. If Waverly was now on Earth in the same condition she had been in down in Hell then they didn’t have long to find her. She was out there somewhere, alone and wounded and bleeding out. Oh, and there were demons coming. A whole shit ton of them. Wynonna had to find her sister, and fast. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Waverly tried to blink back the vision of trees from her eyes. She didn’t understand it. She couldn’t quite recall how she had gotten here. Had she fallen again? One second she’d been on somebody’s kitchen floor as Killer Miller had dragged his knife down her back, screaming at her about clipping the demon’s wings. The next second she’d been here. 

The sky above was overcast, touches of blue just barely visible here and there between the branches from the trees. And there were trees around her. Lots of them. It didn’t feel right to her. Plants didn’t grow in fire, it just wasn’t possible. There should only be rocks. And smoke. It didn’t seem right for Hell to have trees. Unless… 

Unless she was no longer in Hell. 

Hmm. That might explain it. But then that brought up other questions. Mainly, how had she gotten out? There had been nothing, no rescue or escape attempt. There had only been the Revenant tearing into her skin. Perhaps that was it. She had been expecting something awful after dying in Hell, but was this the result? If an angel died in Hell were they simply sent back to Earth? Or was this only because Waverly was half human? 

‘Maybe it’s because we still have a job to do.’ 

That was the Darkness in her. It wanted to control her again. Waverly shut her eyes against its thoughts. She pushed herself to her feet and instantly screamed out in pain. Okay. Great. Clearly she hadn’t died because her ankle was still broken and the cuts on her back still burned. As far as she could tell, blood still flowed freely from Killer Miller’s handiwork. She thought she should take a second to figure out how to patch herself up.

‘Allow me.’ 

There was an uncomfortable pressure near the cuts. Waverly hissed in pain as something seemed to pop free. A feather floated down to land near her feet. She picked it up, studying the dove-grey color with a roll of her eyes. Apparently the Darkness had only pushed out her wings again. 

‘Oh right, like you aren’t dying to use them.’ 

Well… 

Okay, as much as Waverly hated to admit that the Darkness was right, she was super stoked about having wings. Ever since she’d found out she was half angel she’d been a little bummed about being on the flightless spectrum of bipeds. Flying had always seemed so cool in the movies! She was a little surprised her wings had come out so dark, but she supposed it was still worth it to have flighty superpowers. As long as she didn’t get the urge to kill anyone, she was totally good. 

‘And it’s not like you can walk,’ the Darkness chimed in. ‘Not with that ankle.’ 

That was also a good point. So two points in favor of flying. If she felt the Darkness taking over again she’d just land and put them away. Well, she’d figure out how to put them away. At any rate, she wouldn’t let the Darkness win. She’d control it. She’d have to. 

“Alright,” she mumbled to herself. “Where to?” 

‘A hospital wouldn’t be the worst idea.’ 

“They’ll ask too many questions,” Waverly argued. “Most of them I won’t be able to answer.” 

A rumble shook the ground. Waverly squeaked in alarm and instinctively flapped her wings. She didn’t want to fall again. It had happened twice already and she did not want there to be a third time. From the air she watched as the Earth split apart. A reddish glow pulsed from beneath the crack, illuminating the scene as over a dozen rotting hands reached up and over the edge before carefully pulling themselves out. Humanoid creatures emitting guttural growls stumbled off into the woods. Waverly couldn’t explain it, but somehow she could sense that the creatures were out for blood. 

“Oh god,” Waverly whimpered. “What do we do?” 

The Darkness laughed at her from within. It was clear it had a plan, and Waverly shivered to think what that might be. The Darkness didn’t leave her guessing for very long.

‘Now, Ms. Gibson, we go to work.’ 

Waverly wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The light from the screen clicked on and off. On and off. Lighting up one section of the room for a second and then darkening it once more. It was utterly distracting to say the least. 

As the phone clicked off for the umpteenth time, Jeremy sighed and glanced over at Doc. “You have the sound on,” he reminded the cowboy. “If either of them have any news, we’ll hear them call.” 

“Well what if they don’t call, Jeremy?” Doc asked, continuing to pace the room. “What if they text instead?” 

“The phone still makes a notification sound,” Jeremy pointed out.  

“And what if I don’t hear it?” Doc demanded, coming to a stop to glare at the boy. “Then Wynonna or Nicole will be left stranded, possibly with Waverly in tow, needing my help!” 

Jeremy shot Doc a quizzical look. “What makes you think you wouldn’t hear it if the phone went off?” he questioned. “Your notification noise is a gunshot.” 

Doc shrugged, unconvinced. “I have selective hearing,” he argued. 

Ohhh, right. Because the fastest draw in the West sometimes forgot to keep an ear out for trouble, and when that happened someone could easily get the drop on him. Yeah, Jeremy wasn’t buying it for a second. Doc was hot-- uh, heart ily prepared for anything. He had good instincts and impeccable hearing. Also, it seemed, a really horrible case of nervousness. Still, if his phone went off they were both sure to-- 

“That’s it!” Doc whooped as he phone gave off a series of gunshots. With a flourish, he removed the phone from his pocket and clicked on the screen. His triumphant expression faded to one of sheepishness as he checked the phone from top to bottom. He wordlessly stuffed the phone back into his pocket. 

“Well?” Jeremy prompted when the sexy cowboy didn’t say anything. “Are they okay?” 

“I don’t know,” Doc admitted with a shrug. He rubbed at the back of his neck, a sign of embarrassment. “My device was only alerting me to the offer of a sale down at the men’s headwear store.” 

“Oh, are you in the market for a new hat?” Jeremy asked. He set down the vial in his hands in favor of approaching the pristine man, an inquisitorial expression etched firmly on the scientist’s face. “I guess yours is a little patchy in places.” 

“Patchy?” Doc echoed, confused. 

“Yeah,” Jeremy confirmed. “It’s also fraying on the rim, like all the way around. Maybe a new hat wouldn’t be a terrible idea. Are you thinking about spicing it up? If you’re tired of the fedora look, I’ve personally always thought you’d be super appealing in a bowl hat.” 

“My own hat is fine, thank you,” Doc replied with a huff. “Besides, I would never wear a bowl hat; I am a gunslinger, not a mob boss.”  

Jeremy actually felt his eyes light up at that. If the living antique of a man knew what a mob boss was, then that could only mean he had watched some of Jeremy’s T.V. show recommendations. There was something so satisfying in knowing that the Doc Holliday was hip to the latest television trends. He started to voice his satisfaction when a low rumbling filled the air. It sent the vial Jeremy had been working with crashing to the floor. Glass shattered out in a dangerous array, resulting in all of their progress-- albeit limited-- seeping beneath the floorboards. 

“Uhh, what is going on?” Jeremy asked. His voice was shaking as he whipped his head around, frantically searching for a source. His eyes found nothing out of the ordinary. 

“I do not know,” Doc replied, his voice coming out in a low growl as he as well looked around for an intrusion of any kind. “Whatever it is, it will not be good.” 

Suddenly all the lights went out. Even the sunlight outside vanished, replacing the late afternoon sky with a midnight look. Footsteps fell softly outside the room, so softly in fact that Jeremy almost missed them. As the handle on the door turned slowly, Doc removed his pistol from its holster and cocked the hammer of his gun. As quietly as he could Jeremy scurried around the desk to hide behind the gunslinger. 

A Darth Vader-esque sigh sounded from the creature as the door slowly swung open. A massive, shadowy bulk entered the room with near-silent steps. Jeremy trembled from head to toe as the cloaked figure seemingly searched the room before coming to stand before Doc. It bowed its head to him almost imperceptibly. 

“The target has escaped,” the demon informed him. “But not for long.” 

Jeremy and Doc exchanged looks. It was clear that neither man knew quite what the demon was referring to. “Who, pray tell, is the target?” Doc finally asked. 

The demon lowered its hood, and Jeremy gasped when he recognized the old West’s most successful assassin.  The Revenant form of James Miller eyed Doc Holliday with slight suspicion. “Your target,” the undead hitman reminded him, “is Waverly Gibson.” 

“I’ve changed my mind,” Doc growled as the Revenant turned wordlessly and began to stalk out of the room. “I said I’ve changed my mind, goddammit!” 

“Her blood will be spilled,” Killer Miller promised as he exited the station. 

“Shit,” Doc cursed. “Shit!” 

“Well you were right,” Jeremy told the old cowboy with a gulp, unsure how to process everything that had just happened. “The rumbling wasn’t good.” 

Chapter Text

There was a split second of calm before both men dove for the cop shop door. Amazingly, Jeremy got there first. He used his momentum to slam it closed, planting his body firmly against the handle to keep it closed. Doc grabbed him, his fingers digging almost painfully into the skin of Jeremy’s shoulders. Still the ex-scientist stood his ground. He refused to let the cowboy through. 

“Just think for a second,” Jeremy pleaded. 

“I have,” Doc assured him angrily. “And I have decided that if I do not stop Jimmy Miller, then Waverly will be dead before the sun should set.” 

Jeremy braced himself as Doc moved to the left in an attempt to shove the boy out of the way. He shoulder checked him hard, but Jeremy stayed in front of the door. “If we don’t figure out a way to stop him then what’s the point?” Jeremy reasoned. “He kills you, then moves on to Waverly. Nobody wins except him.” 

“So your plan then is to do nothing,” Doc growled, fixing him with a glare. 

“My plan is to stop the demons,” Jeremy corrected. “That’s always been the plan. And if you guys could help me for just one fricking minute instead of arguing with me or losing your shit over each other then maybe we could get that goal accomplished. I mean, for gods’ sake, at least one person in this group is facing death at any given moment. Maybe we could bring that down a bit if there weren’t so many demons fighting us.” 

Doc stared at the boy. “My,” he said, eyes widened slightly, “it seems you have been holding that in for quite some time.” 

“Since around the time of Bulshar,” Jeremy confessed. 

Doc let out a sigh. It was hard for him to stay put. He knew Jeremy needed a set of hands in the laboratory, but Doc’s own seemed hardly of use for the current task at hand. It was especially straining to be staying in one spot knowing one of their own was out there and vulnerable, particularly when she was now being hunted by an undead shadow assassin. Doc felt a desperate need to be out there fighting, or at the very least out there finding the wounded angel and giving her a heads-up about the mark on her head. 

Even so, Doc supposed Jeremy was right. There would be no stopping the demons without a way of killing them. With an immense feeling of guilt, Doc stepped away from the door. He knelt down in front of the shattered vial Jeremy had been working with. Whatever progress had at one time been made, it was now seeped thoroughly into the floor never to be retrieved by human hands. Well, vampire hands in Doc’s case. Either way they were screwed. 

Wordlessly, Doc grabbed a handheld broom and a dustpan and began to sweep up the glass. He wasn’t entirely sure what Jeremy needed him for-- he suspected the scientist merely craved companionship and perhaps a living someone with whom he could audibly speculate some of his theories with. Also, if Doc were to be honest, he supposed Jeremy might have only wanted him around for the view. While their actual relationship remained strictly brotherly, Doc was not unaware of the attraction the younger man held for him. He straightened up to dump the broken glass into a bin, half expecting that when he turned around the ex-BBD agent would be staring at his backside with a small giddy grin. 

Jeremy was not. He was instead staring fixedly at the space where the glowing stone arch now stood. The look in his eyes was both very focused and slightly perplexed. Doc had seen the look before. He knew Jeremy had an idea of what the puzzle might look like now as he mentally fit all the pieces together. If he didn’t have an exact solution, he might at least know a method that would lead them to one. 

“These stones,” Jeremy murmured. He timidly stuck his gloved hand through the arch, that concentrated expression still on his face. He tapped some of the stones, even scratching roughly against some of them. He stuck his pointer finger in one of the cracks that was emitting that red light. When he took a step back, he looked more bewildered than before. 

“Well?” Doc prompted when the boy didn’t say anything. 

“They’re the same as the Garden stairs,” Jeremy decided. He strode swiftly over to his desk, removing a couple of plastic baggies and a small, metal scraper before returning to the arch. “That makes me think that this should be a doorway, the same as they were. But it doesn’t have that same field around it. When Robin and I first found the stairs in the woods, we both felt this weird attraction to it. Robin even tried to climb it but I knew it wasn’t meant for us. I had to stop him, but even I felt the urge to go through the door.” 

“It was almost like the Garden was calling out,” Doc agreed, remembering his own time standing at the base of it. “Calling us through.” 

Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, and that’s what’s missing here. Instead of that suction the arch is giving off a pulse. It’s almost like it doesn’t want us near it,” he explained. 

Doc eyed him wearily. He was almost afraid to ask his next question as he was too sure he would not like the answer. Still he swallowed hard and said, “What might that mean for us?” 

“I’m not sure,” Jeremy confessed. He looked worried as he scraped some samples of the stones into his baggies. “I think that this isn’t an entrance though. Not like the stairs.” 

“Then what is it?” Doc frowned, confused. 

“Well,” Jeremy sighed, “if the stairs were a portal, then I believe we can think of this arch as a sort of beacon.” 

“A beacon,” Doc echoed. “For demons, I presume?” 

“For all of Hell,” Jeremy corrected, sliding some of the arch samples under his microscope. “I think that’s what the rumblings have been about. That’s the sound of the real entrances opening up. The arch, I believe, is to help gather everything in one place. Peacemaker must have been the ignition key to turn it on, just like the Queen of Hell said. Once everything is all in one lace, she’ll have an army ready to storm the whole planet. It’ll be a full on supernatural war, right here in Purgatory.” 

“And without Wynonna’s gun, we will have no way to fight back,” Doc added, his frustration at the Earp heir’s willingness to give away Peacemaker rising substantially. 

“For now,” Jeremy said. He looked up from his microscope, giving Doc an encouraging look. “I’m working on it though. We’ll figure something out.” 

“We’d better,” Doc urged as another tremor shook the building. This one felt much stronger than the others, almost like this one was much closer to them. “And we’d better do it fast.” 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Nicole was in a frenzy. She was still so pissed at some of the things Wynonna had said back at the cop shop. She was also horrified by the implications of the Gates of Hell opening up. Most of all, she was beyond petrified over Waverly, who was probably off somewhere dying in a ditch waiting for someone to save her. 

No, she reminded herself firmly. Waverly is strong and capable. She’ll take care of herself until I get to her. If I get to her. 

Ugh, she needed to stop thinking like that. She was just so nervous and she felt guilty over letting Wynonna send Waverly down to Hell in the first place and the Ghost River Triangle was so super massive and it was beginning to feel like they would never find Waverly aaaaand now Nicole was hyperventilating. God, ever since she’d been left alone during everyone’s stint in the Garden she’d developed some pretty frequent panic attacks. Not that she’d never had panic attacks before, it was just that now she seemed to have one any time she felt even a little bit overwhelmed. It was making her feel so crazy and useless. She needed to fight through it right now, but her rapid breathing was making her light headed. 

Nicole knelt down in the snow, lowering her body to the ground before her trembling legs had a chance to give out on her. She could get through this, she knew she could. She just needed to breathe in, pause, and then slowly let it out. While she concentrated on breathing, she let her mind wander to good moments with Waverly. That time she made her vegan pancakes with fake bacon and brought it to her in bed. The first time she told Waverly that she loved her. The first time they’d kissed. Fuck, the first time she saw Waverly and she’d joked about Shorty’s having a wet T-shirt competition. 

Her heart rate hadn’t slowed down any, but now it pounded for a different reason. Her fear was still there-- fear for the woman she loved-- but she also had a hardened resolve. She would not fail in this. She’d failed at a lot recently, but now was when she was going to make up for it. No matter what happened, she was going to save Waverly. That was a promise. 

With renewed vigor, Nicole continued her trek through the woods. She used to love the vastness of the forest, but right now she hated it. She just wanted to get Waverly and get her home. The recent rumbling that had tossed her on her side like a ragdoll a few minutes before didn’t sit right with her. While she hadn’t yet seen anything out of the ordinary, she was sure the rumbling had been a sign. She highly doubted it was a good one either.  So she kept her eyes peeled as she continued on through the woods, searching desperately for an angel but expecting to find demons. With any luck, she would at the very least find both. 

Shivers raced down her spine and she tugged her windbreaker tighter. The wind had picked up. It was whistling through the trees in a way that made it sound like whispers. In fact the more Nicole concentrated on it the more sure she was that the firs around her were leaning in and telling each other secrets about her. She thought of Bulshar and the steady flow of information he’d received through the plants. With the Gates of Hell opening up, was it possible he was back? Was he the reason the trees were whispering, keeping tabs on her? 

Don’t be ridiculous, Haught, Nicole inwardly scoffed at herself. The trees aren’t talking, and certainly not about you. 

Still, it felt eerily like they were. Some of the whispering had switched to growls and it all mingled together to fill the air. Nicole’s breath hitched when a new sound entered the mix. It was a distinct grunt, one she thought she knew well. Her feet carried her forward faster, her body responding to the noise like it was the only thing that mattered. She shoved the oversized leaves of a fern out of her way and stopped in her tracks. 

Four humanoid creatures were ambling about between the trees. They were the true source of the growling, and they hurried around with aggressive intention. Above them soared a winged woman, the sun shining behind her in a way that all Nicole could see was her silhouette. That didn’t matter though. Nicole didn’t need more than that to recognize the person who held her whole heart. It skipped a beat in her chest as she took in the sight of her beloved, her lips parted slightly in a silent gasp when she noted all the fresh bruises and the blood and the awful twist around her limp right ankle. Nicole stood frozen, staring, as Waverly dove down and grabbed one of the undead monsters by the head. It shrieked as its face began to smolder, and within seconds its body dissolved into vicious tremors. Waverly released the creature and it dropped beneath the snow, unmoving. Nicole was certain it would never move again. 

Nicole took a subconscious step towards her lover. Her right foot sank into a drift and landed on a twig, snapping it in half with a loud crack! that reverberated through the still, winter air. She froze as the remaining three creatures turned their sights on her. It was then that she caught a good glimpse at all the rotting flesh and their glazed, cloudy eyes. The creatures instantly reminded her of the gassed BBD scientists she and Wynonna had fought at the site where they’d found Rachel. As the one closest to her let out an unintelligible moan she realized that was more than accurate. 

“Fuck,” Nicole muttered, pulling out her beretta. “More zombies?” 

She backed up a step and fired a full round into the first zombie’s chest. The force of it was enough to knock it to the ground but beyond that the creature was fine. It struggled back to its feet and kept coming towards her. Great. She still had three zombies after her, and now she had only a handgun loaded with an empty magazine to defend herself with. Her life was so insane she almost wanted to laugh. Instead she threw down the beretta and pushed her sleeves up to her elbows. If this was how it was going to go down, then Nicole was going to go down fighting. 

“Wanna dance?” she challenged, watching them all stumble forward.  

The zombie she’d pumped full of lead let out an impatient snarl. In return, Nicole fixed it with a confidently grim smile. She motioned all three of the zombies forward before returning to a boxing stance, waiting patiently for her opponents to enter her range. This was the stupidest thing she’d ever done, but it was worth it to keep their collective attention off of Waverly. Just then she caught sight of a large broken branch just poking up out of a mound of snow behind her. She eyed it for a second before stepping back to snatch it up. It would work alot better than her fists anyway. 

“C’mon,” she urged the zombies. “Daddy’s ready.” 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Purgatory was a goddamn ghost town. At least, that’s what it felt like. The entire South end of the Ghost River Triangle consisted of the populated parts. Shops and houses and different kinds of businesses and establishments all formed together to make the place liveable. And yet, no living persons in sight. Normally this was a sight that would lift Wynonna’s spirits. Half the town hated her, the other half wanted her dead. In this particular case though Wynonna needed bystanders and witnesses. If Waverly had crawled out of Hell in a dying state and ended up in this part of town, surely someone would have seen it. And if someone had then Wynonna needed to question that someone so she could save her little sister before it was too late. Questioning that someone was kinda hard though when that someone was being a little bitch and hiding indoors at the moment. 

“Hello?” Wynonna called out to the abandoned street, her voice magnified through the police cruiser’s radio. “Is anybody there?” 

No answer. 

Of course there was no answer. There was no one even around. Any other day that would have been awesome. Just once Wynonna wanted the town to do her a favor, just a little something to make her life easier. As mentioned before though, the entire town hated her. Maybe that was the real reason nobody was responding. Maybe everyone just didn’t want to open her particular box of crazy, even if it meant letting Waverly die. 

“Please!” Wynonna tried again. She refused to believe everyone in Purgatory could be that heartless, at least where Waverly was concerned. They might all hate Wynonna, but everybody loved Waverly. “It’s my sister, she needs help!” 

Her only response was the wind whipping snow into her eyes through the open window. With a huff she rolled it back up. This wasn’t working. She’d driven down all these streets at a snail’s pace in hopes of finding any kind of a lead that would take her to her sister. At the rate she was going, even if she did find Waverly it would be hours too late. Even a half-angel could die in the cold, especially one that required five fucking blankets just to fall asleep in the winter. 

Tears pressed suddenly at the corners of her eyes. God, poor Waverly was probably freezing right now. Wynonna tried to recall what her sister had last been wearing. A thin black cardigan over a pair of black leather shorts? Thank fuck for the knee-high socks, although Wynonna doubted they would make much difference in the snow. 

“Don’t worry, baby girl,” Wynonna murmured, darting her head towards every little movement happening off to the side of the road. “I’ll find you.” 

She just hoped it wouldn’t be too late. In her mind’s eye she suddenly saw Doc Holliday standing solemnly before her, swearing vehemently to do whatever it took to get Waverly back. She wondered what he’d meant by that. Sure, when he’d first said it he’d been talking specifically about leading them through Hell to find her. But Wynonna had sensed then that he’d been talking about something more. He’d expected trouble in Hell and not just for the obvious reasons. Doc was the kind of man who always had secrets, and Wynonna was positive that there was some crucial information about the eternal inferno that he was keeping to himself. She just didn’t yet know why. 

Of course, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t drag it out of him later. She just had bigger fish to fry at the moment. Those bigger fish being her sister’s wellbeing and the lack of information on her whereabouts, the latter of which was pushing her past the edge of her fucking sanity. 

“Come on!” she screamed, using the cruiser’s bullhorn again. “If any of you dicks have seen Waverly, you’d better tell me RIGHT NOW!” 

As expected, she received no verbal answer. She did, however, hone in on a shadow slipping down the alley of a long-abandoned JCPenney. She kept her foot on the brakes, watching for the creature again. It took several long minutes that seemed to stretch into an infinity before she was rewarded for her patience with another glimpse of the thing. Mercedes slunk into view, crouched low to the ground. She shuffled forward a few steps, gently patted a particularly large lump of snow, and then hurried forward another few paces before disappearing behind another building. 

Wynonna put the cruiser in park. She repeated her friend’s actions in her mind, trying to make sense of it. The more she thought about it the more confused she felt. Mercedes had always been quite the character, even back in high school. There usually was a method to her madness though. This? This was just… Did “crazy” even cut it anymore? 

Several yards away Mercedes darted into view again. She crept forward, her posture reminiscent of a lioness stalking her prey. Also like a lion, the woman pounced forward suddenly, her entire front half sinking into the snow. While she was too far away to hear, the frustrated look on her face as she opened her mouth let Wynonna know the woman was very likely cursing. 

“Okay,” Wynonna muttered, turning the car off as she took the keys out of the ignition. “I’m intrigued.” 

With Mercedes, you never knew what you were going to get. What Wynonnna did not expect-- what she never would have thought to expect-- were the fangs glistening with fresh blood that greeted her as she approached. The gunslinger stumbled back a few steps, eyes widening in shock as her rich bitch friend drew back, replacing the threatening snarl with a genuine smile. 

“Wynonna!” the woman greeted with sincere enthusiasm, red droplets rolling down her chin. 

“Mercedes!” Wynonna returned, matching her energy despite not feeling as enthusiastic. She tossed her arms up, staring at her friend in wonder. “What the actual fuck, girl?” 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Perhaps a moment to think would have come in handy for this particular situation. Waverly certainly thought so, though her angel alter ego didn’t seem to agree. Before she could evaluate anything and come to the conclusion that going in all Wynonna-style-- meaning gun’s blazing -- was a terrible idea, the Darkness grabbed control of her mind and made her swoop in on the squadron of undead creatures. They all snarled at her as she passed by them, and they turned to keep her in their sights as she soared back up out of their reach. 

“Hey!” she complained, managing to regain control. “Endangering my life is so not cool!” 

Oh please, the Darkness huffed. You were never in danger. You are so much more powerful than you allow yourself to be. 

Waverly shuffled nervously about in the air. “Yeah, well, now really isn’t the best time to test that theory,” she countered. 

The Darkness outright laughed at her at that. Now is actually the perfect time, it assured her. Let me show you your power. Allow me to set you free. 

“Jolene tried that and look where it got us,” Waverly reminded herself. “We went to Hell and now Hell followed us back to earth.” 

And you want to make up for that, the Darkness guessed. 

Waverly shrugged. “Uh, yeah?” she replied. Of course she did. She very much doubted the zombies lumbering around right after she somehow managed to escape from Hell were simply a coincidence. She owed it to the world to at least send them back. 

You can, the Darkness promised. Let me help you. 

Waverly flinched as the zombies growled. They looked bloodthirsty and vicious. She shuddered to think what would happen if this group bumped into some poor, unsuspecting human. Their decaying limbs were still muscular. Their rotting teeth were still sharp. Any person who crossed their path would surely be torn limb from limb. Waverly couldn’t let that happen. 

Already regretting the decision, Waverly gave in to her Darkness. The second she let up control the Darkness had her zip back down to the miniature horde. She felt her hands close around the head of one of the zombies. A slight stinging sensation raced across her palms as the zombie let out a shriek and struggled in her grasp. Smoke sizzled as she literally burned the life out of the creature. It struggled for a second longer before slumping to the ground. The other three zombies roared and made a move towards her. 

A thrill rushed through her body as the fight drew nearer. Just before the trio would have reached her there came a sound like a gunshot through the still forest air. Waverly’s head whipped around with the rest of the group. Her eyes sighted a stranger hiding in the trees. Her red hair was pulled back into a braid and tucked under a stetson. She unholstered a gun from her belt and fired it again and again into one of the zombies. It didn’t even slow down. 

“Foolish mortal,” the Darkness chided, speaking through Waverly. It watched as the zombies drew closer to the woman. “I am afraid she will be the first casualty.” 

No, she can’t be, I won’t let her! Waverly argued, struggling to take back control. That’s Nicole! 

“Nicole?” the Darkness mused. “Oh, yes. Your beloved.” 

We have to save her, Waverly insisted. She would not allow the Darkness to sit back and watch the love of her life be torn into pieces. Never. 

“Alright then,” the Darkness challenged, easing up on the body. “Do it. Go save her.” 

A shudder traveled through her body as Waverly snapped back into control. By then the zombies were closing in on Nicole, who was armed now with a stick. Waverly wasted no time in getting to the sheriff. She landed in front of her, placing herself between her fiance and the zombies. With a demonic screech that she hadn’t thought possible for her to make, she clapped her hands firmly together. The resulting sound sent out an ethereal sonic boom that blasted the zombies back on their asses. Waverly dove at the nearest one, plucking it out of the snow and wrapping her hands around its throat. It struggled momentarily, dissolving too quickly into sizzling agony to put up too much of a fight. 

Just as Waverly turned around to face the next one, it grabbed her from behind and pinned her arms to her side. She struggled to get loose as it brought it’s mummified lips up to her neck. The stench of its breath made her gag. She managed to lean her neck away as it snapped its jaws on air less than an inch from her exposed flesh. It leaned in for another shot but was wrenched roughly off of her. 

“Not today, shiteater!” Nicole yelled, swinging it away from Waverly before smacking it with her stick. The creature lunged forward again and Nicole shoved Waverly behind her. She brought the stick down across her thigh, breaking it into two sharp halves. When the zombie ambled forward a third time she stabbed one of the halves through its throat. 

While Nicole had that one distracted, Waverly rushed up to the other zombie still standing and grabbed it by its hair. It instinctively yanked its head free, leaving a clump of its scalp in Waverly’s hand complete with a patch of hair. Waverly tossed down the grotesque souvenir. The zombie rounded on her, sizing her up with an aggressive snarl. Waverly let loose another demonic shriek before smacking her hands against either side of the creature's head. Its eyes popped out of their sockets and flew onto the ground, bouncing away into the undergrowth. As for the creature itself, black goo came oozing out of every orifice in its head. The collapse that followed immediately after indicated that the zombie had already been rekilled the very instant Waverly had placed her hands upon it. She let it go with a disgusted shove and its body plopped beneath the snow like a stone in a river. 

“What the fuck?” she whispered in horror. 

See? the Darkness chuckled. I told you: you are very, very powerful. 

Waverly shook her head, blinking back tears. “I don’t want this,” she insisted, speaking softly. She had asked Wynonna once about her own history; the story of the Earps was well known, while Waverly’s had always been an ongoing mystery, one that was continuously being unraveled bit by bit. These days, the more she found out about herself the more horrified she was. She missed the days she thought she was merely cursed. She missed the days she believed herself to be an Earp. 

You are not an Earp, Ms. Gibson, the Darkness told her. You are so much more. 

“Babe!” Nicole called, snapping Waverly out of her own despair. 

The angel looked up, instantly aghast at the sight of Nicole wrestling the zombie. It had her pinned up against a tree. One of the stick halves was still in the creature’s throat, the other was laid horizontally across its chest to keep it out of biting reach. So far Nicole had managed to evade any bites or scratches, but Waverly could see her strength was waning fast. With a grunt, Waverly flapped her wings and kicked off the ground to get into the air quickly. She Wonder Womaned her way over to the pair, grabbing the zombie by its shoulders and tossing it roughly into the snow. She landed with a powerful thud, one that made her broken ankle protest with a flare of agony. 

A scream ripped its way through her throat as Waverly collapsed by the roots of the tree. The zombie struggled to its feet, baring its teeth in a bloody grin. It ambled forward, glossy eyes set firmly on Nicole. Waverly forced herself to stand. She fixed the monster with a stern look and held out a hand to it. 

“Aperio!” she commanded, and the earth obeyed. A chasm opened at the zombie’s feet. Flames curled up and enveloped the creature, effectively melting all of the snow in a neat radius. The thing gave one last howl of despair before the earth closed over its head, sealing it in Hell. 

Waverly and Nicole could only stare at each other, both women’s eyes filled with terror and confusion. The silence was only broken when Nicole swallowed hard and managed to say, “Well that one’s new.” 

All Waverly could think to reply was, “Yeah, no shit.” 

Chapter Text

After another moment of stunned silence, Nicole couldn’t keep herself back any longer. The fact that Waverly had just casually slung out a wizard spell that made the earth open up and swallow a zombie whole was not nearly enough to wash out the relief she felt at seeing her lover alive and not in Hell. She raced forward and wrapped her tight in a hug, so tight she lifted her feet up from the ground. Waverly responded with the same enthusiasm, melting into the embrace so completely that even her dove grey wings had folded themselves around the pair. 

“I missed you so much,” Nicole murmured, pressing her lips against Waverly’s neck. “I’m so, so glad you’re okay.” 

Waverly didn’t offer a verbal response. Instead she turned her head so that she could press her lips against Nicole’s. She felt the angel smile into the kiss and it made the corners of Nicole’s own lips quirk up. After a few seconds that felt much too short the two pulled apart. The sheriff’s eyes instantly traveled all across the shorter woman’s body, stopping when they sighted Waverly’s mangled ankle. 

“I might need crutches for a while,” Waverly confessed, watching Nicole’s face with trepidation. 

Warm, amber eyes shone with concern as they looked back up into hazel ones. “How are you even standing right now?” Nicole asked. 

“Very carefully,” Waverly said, meaning it as a joke. She shifted in Nicole’s arms, a slight wince crossing her features as she did so. It did not go unnoticed by Nicole and she realized that Waverly was actually being entirely truthful. 

As gingerly as she could, Nicole knelt down and scooped the shorter woman up. A surprised-sounding yip escaped Waverly’s lips, making the sheriff chuckle as she carefully adjusted the woman’s weight in her arms. “Let’s get you to a doctor,” Nicole offered, beginning the walk back to her squad car. 

The wind had picked up again. Nicole could feel Waverly shivering violently in her arms. She tried to pick up the pace, wanting to get the woman to a warmer place as soon as possible. Waverly snuggled closer and nuzzled her face inside Nicole’s jacket. It was a small movement and yet it conjured up a whole swarm of butterflies in the sheriff’s stomach. She couldn’t believe Waverly had just been in Hell. She couldn’t believe they’d almost lost each other for good. 

“Hey,” Waverly said softly to her. One of her wings turned slightly, bringing up a feather to gently wipe away a tear from her cheek. Nicole hadn’t even realized she’d been crying. “It’s okay.” 

Nicole shook her head firmly. “It’s so not okay,” she sobbed. She didn’t stop in her trek. She was still determined to reach the car in record time. As guilty as she felt about everything else, this at least felt like something she could do right. “I am so sick of almost losing you.” 

Waverly giggled at that, though the immense remorse shining in her eyes suggested that she didn’t actually find it funny. Fingers played gently in the hair at the back of Nicole’s head. “I always come back,” Waverly reminded her. She fixed her with a solemn gaze. “I’ll always find my way back to you.” 

Nicole moved her slightly so that she could place a kiss on the woman’s lips. Part of her hated that she was making this about herself. It was Waverly who had suffered the most; they should be talking about her. Nicole should be comforting her, reassuring her that she was safe back on earth. Yet all she could manage when she opened her mouth next was to say, “Please stop getting lost. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” 

“I know, baby,” Waverly whispered apologetically. She leaned her forehead against Nicole’s chest, feeling the sheriff’s steady heartbeat reverberate through her body. “I know.” 

At last they reached the cruiser. Nicole rushed them around to the passenger side, using one arm to hold Waverly up as she reached her other hand out to pull open the door. She carefully lowered Waverly down into the seat, stopping for a moment as her wings bumped the frame. Waverly gave Nicole a sheepish look before folding them up.

“A little help?” she muttered, a cross look settling on her features. 

Nicole blinked in surprise. After a moment she put a hand on one wing, gently pushing it down. “Let me know if I hurt you,” she instructed. 

Waverly laughed, shaking her head slightly at her fiance's antics. “I wasn’t talking to you, silly.” 

“Oh,” Nicole replied. 

That really didn’t explain much. She pulled her hand away wondering what Waverly had meant. After all they were the only ones there. If Waverly wasn’t talking to Nicole then who the hell was she talking to? 

Possession was always a possibility, Nicole supposed. Or maybe it was more of a symbiote and host type of relationship. Was Waverly the host for some evil or otherwise demonic creature? Ugh, okay. Surely Nicole was overthinking things. What she really wanted to know was how concerned she should be about this. 

A snowflake fluttered down to land on her eyelashes. She brushed it aside as she made her way over to the driver’s side. She trusted Waverly. She trusted that the woman would tell her if she were in any kind of immediate danger. And either way they were going to figure this out. They always had in the past. Nicole didn’t see why this time would be any different. 

She hopped into the driver’s seat, sticking the keys in the ignition and turning the heat on full blast. “You must be just about frozen,” she joked, turning to face her fiance. She stopped, weirdly unprepared to see Waverly without her wings. 

We seem to be scaring her, the Darkness mused. 

“Stop it,” Waverly scolded. “She’s not scared.” 

“Sorry, who’s not scared?” Nicole asked. 

“You,” Waverly responded. 

She looks plenty scared to me, the Darkness argued. 

“I mean, I guess I am concerned,” Nicole allowed, giving Waverly a soft smile. “You were just in Hell. I want to make sure you’re doing okay.” 

Aside from that busted ankle, anyway, the Darkness pointed out. That part is a little painful. Shouldn’t she realize that? 

“I’m fine,” Waverly assured Nicole, ignoring her inner monologue. “I just need to be patched up.” 

We may need more than a patchjob, the Darkness told her.

Nicole placed a gentle hand on Waverly’s thigh. The soft look in her eyes made Waverly’s heart melt. She felt her breath catch as the sheriff leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on her lips. “I’ll get you taken care of,” Nicole promised her. 

Waverly surged forward, locking their lips back together again. Her hand went up into Nicole’s hair, lightly brushing the loose strands there at the nape of her neck. Nicole responded in turn, wrapping her arms around Waverly’s waist as she kissed her back with just as much fervor. A satisfied hum sounded in the back of her throat as Nicole lightly brushed her tongue across Waverly’s bottom lip. She shifted her hips, wanting desperately to be closer to the woman. As she did so, she knocked her ankle against the car door. A hiss of pain seeped out and she pulled away. 

Nicole looked her over, worry evident in her widened eyes. She gently caressed Waverly’s chin, looking down at her ankle and then back up at her face. “Right,” she murmured. “Let’s get you some medicine first.” 

Waverly groaned at the responsible decision. She didn’t argue because she was in pain. She also wanted to continue what they’d been doing though. Nicole gave her a look, and Waverly knew she was grateful that the half-angel wasn’t vocally dissenting the call. With a smirk, she placed a hand firmly on the sheriff’s upper thigh. 

“Better get us there quick, Officer,” Waverly teased. 

Nicole shook her head at the woman. She complied, throwing the gear shift into drive and moving them quickly back down the path. They were both so focused on the other, trying to force down their feelings of lust until a more appropriate time. Neither of them noticed the rapidly darkening sky, or the large shadow lumbering silently after the occupied police cruiser. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Their progress was maddeningly slow. Actually, take that back. Their progress was nothing. They had made zero progress in the hour they’d been back at it with shockingly no interruptions. The fact that they’d been allowed to work for so long meant that they should have found something-- anything-- helpful. And yet, nada. Jeremy tossed his notes aside, letting his frustrations out for a second. 

“Y’know Jeremy,” Doc prompted, “I did feel as though we were gearing up for a breakthrough with that doorway talk.” 

Jeremy, in his agitation, actually shot Doc a look. The cowboy put his hands up in a sign of surrender, causing Jeremy to sigh with guilt. “Understanding the function of the arch doesn’t actually help us with finding a way to send the demons back, unfortunately,” he explained. “I need to study a substance that more closely matches some of the things coming through.” 

“In other words, you need to study a demon,” Doc clarified, his bushy eyebrows shooting up high on his forehead in his surprise. 

Jeremy nodded, looking none too thrilled about it. “The more recently it came through the better.” 

“So a fresh demon then,” Doc sighed. “How do we go about capturing one of those?” 

Jeremy turned a pleading look to the immortal cowboy. “I was hoping by saying please?” he tried. 

“Oh no,” Doc told him when he understood, fiercely shaking his head. “No way am I going out demon-hunting with no way to defend myself or fairly fight back.” 

“But you’re a vampire!” Jeremy pointed out. “It’s not like you’ll die!” 

“Well I will still feel pain!” Doc argued. He crossed his arms across his chest. “No means no, Jeremy.” 

“Not to start your #MeToo moment,” Jeremy returned, “but I am going to have to insist. The fate of the world might depend on us getting this right. I can’t do that without studying something that recently came through that doorway.” 

Doc growled so ferociously that Jeremy actually took a couple steps back. His bumped the desk, rattling a few vials they had set up on it. Doc gave him a wounded look, to which Jeremy could only shrug apologetically. He knew Doc was scared. Heck, he was too. But that didn’t change  the fact that this was something that needed to be done. 

“I can go with you,” Jeremy offered. He really meant it, though he was grateful when the living relic shook his head in dissent. The scientist doubted he’d have actually been of assistance. 

“I can go it alone,” Doc assured him. He straightened the hat on his head, shooting a forlorn look at the door. “Some of those creatures coming out of there will be vicious.” 

Jeremy gave the man an encouraging smile. “I’ll bet none of them will be as vicious as you.” 

“Yeah,” Doc snorted. “We’ll see.” 

He snatched up his belt and looped it back on. If he was going to face some demons then he was damn well going to do it with his trusted pair of pistols in hand. Next he grabbed his jacket off the coat rack. Carefully he stuck first one arm and then the other through the sleeves. Knowing how cold it was out there he started to button it up but just halfway. He thought better of it and decided to button it up the rest of the way. 

Jeremy, after watching all of this, cleared his throat. “You usually take this long getting ready?” he challenged, a dubious look on his face. 

“I am merely taking the necessary precautions,” Doc insisted. “It is cold outside-- hence the jacket. And I will be fighting demons that cannot be killed to try and capture one that has only just gotten free. Therefore, I will be bringing my pistols.” 

“If you’re too scared to do it just say so,” Jeremy teased. Doc growled again, and Jeremy worried for a moment that he’d gone too far. Clearly Doc was scared, but the old man really didn’t like anyone calling him out on his fears. “I just meant that I can text Wynonna and get her to do it. I mean, she and Nicole are already out there.” 

“Looking for Waverly,” Doc added, a thoughtful look on his face. 

“Yes,” Jeremy agreed, hesitantly. He noticed the change in the vampire’s demeanor. Doc was thinking about something and he was thinking it hard. Jeremy lifted his eyebrows, silently asking the cowboy to talk to him about it. 

“Wynonna shot Waverly with Peacemaker,” Doc murmured. Jeremy nodded, with the man so far. “And it lit up orange before she fired, meaning that Waverly was demonic at the time of firing.” 

“And?” Jeremy pressed. 

“ And wouldn’t it be easier to do your studying on a more willing subject?” Doc pointedly asked. He removed his coat and hurried back over to point at the arch. “The Queen of Hell didn’t let Waverly back until she had Peacemaker. She was using the girl as a bargaining chip, but I don’t think she even could have brought Waverly back until she had the gun. In that case, Waverly would have come back the same way as the rest of the demons--” 

“And if that were true then we could study her and get the same results we would if we used an evil demon,” Jeremy finished, connecting the dots. He gave the cowboy a triumphant look. “Doc, that’s brilliant!” 

“Now we just need to find Waverly,” Doc announced. At the same time he said that, footsteps sounded from down the hall. 

Jeremy was just nodding his agreement when the door swung open, dramatically revealing Sheriff Haught who was carrying a half-conscious angel. “Found them,” Jeremy called to Doc before rushing over and grabbing Waverly’s other arm. “What happened?” 

Before Nicole could answer, the lights overhead turned off with a forceful whoosh! sound. Doc and Jeremy exchanged looks, knowing exactly what was going on as the daylight outside turned once more into night. The cowboy stepped forward as the two took Waverly and lowered her down into a chair. Jeremy placed two fingers under the half angel’s jawline to check her pulse. 

“She’s still alive,” he breathed out with relief. 

“Yeah, for now,” Nicole growled, looking at the doorway with a fierce glare. “This demon’s been chasing her since before it got sent to Hell.” 

“Mm-hmm, I kind of already knew that,” Jeremy confessed. When Nicole shot him a confused look, he elaborated. “See, before Doc decided to join the Earp sisters and help them take down the Revenants he was working for Bobo Del Ray.” 

“The Revenant leader with an obsession for Waverly’s angel half,” Nicole recapped with a nod. “I’m with you so far.” 

“Right, well, during that time Doc may or may not have awakened one of the Revenants who had become a shadow assassin and he may or may not have sent him specifically after Waverly,” Jeremy informed her.  

Nicole immediately fixed her glare on Doc. “Holliday?” she snarled, her voice full of venomous accusation. 

“I did not intend to harm the poor girl!” Doc said in his defense. “Besides, it was a long time ago that I did such a thing.” 

“Well that ‘long time ago’ thing is about to get us all killed!” Nicole shouted. “Can’t you just call him off?” 

“It isn’t that simple,” Doc started to explain. “I would have to--” 

“Doc Holliday,” a new voice interrupted. A shadow filled the room. It was the shadow of a man, one that Doc had known a very long time ago. Killer Miller regarded him with a nod. “Our contract will now be complete.” 

“I already told you I have changed my mind,” Doc insisted. The shadow assassin moved past him, having already changed its focus to where Waverly sat. “Hey!” 

Nicole moved quickly, leaving Waverly’s side to stand in front of her and block her from the Revenant’s view. “If you want to get to her,” she told the assassin, “then you’ll have to go through me.” 

The assassin looked momentarily confused as it eyed Nicole. “You are not the target,” it told her. 

“I know,” she told him, standing her ground. “But I’ll protect your target with my life.” 

“So be it,” Killer Miller allowed. 

He lashed out an arm, grabbing Nicole by the throat. He squeezed tight to cut off her airway. The sheriff wriggled and gasped in his grip. She tried desperately to reach for her gun but her dying body was freaking out as it went into self preservation mode. In an attempt to shake free of his grip she started thrashing and rolling, to no avail. It wasn’t long before her vision started to go dark. 

Jeremy watched, terrified, as Nicole’s body went limp in the assassin’s arms. The Revenant dropped her with a dull thud, and his soulless eyes met Jeremy’s horrified gaze. He wanted to stay with Waverly. He didn’t want to abandon her for the assassin. He just didn’t know what to do. He was unarmed and totally unmuscular. What could he do that Nicole couldn’t? 

“Stand aside,” the assassin advised. “You are not the target.” 

“But she’s my friend,” Jeremy told him, his whole body trembling. 

“And your friend will protect you,” the Darkness in Waverly spoke. Using her body, the Darkness hopped to its feet and stood between Jeremy and the demon. “You wanna play? Play with someone your own size.” 

Killer Miller launched himself forward, a knife at the ready. Waverly dodged him, rolling around to grab him from behind. She wrapped one arm around his chest, bringing her other arm up around his throat. Smoke sizzled from the place of contact as his neck glowed red as an iron brand. 

“I would advise against killing anyone she loves,” the Darkness suggested to the demon. “She was raring to go when she saw the sheriff drop.” 

Killer Miller didn’t respond. He couldn’t; he was already dead. Waverly let him drop, and at that same moment the floor split apart to let his body drop back into Hell. Jeremy and Doc found each other’s gazes once again as the angel knelt down next to Nicole. It was clear they had found a way to stop demons. Now they just needed a way to replicate it. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 

“Well I was stripping for some demons down at the Glory Hole , you know, the one run by that sexy, enigmatic vampire Amon, and believe me I was making bank ,” Mercedes was telling Wynonna, in reference to how she’d become a vampire. “The thing is, none of them knew I was actually a human. I made them all think I was some kind of a demon. So when one of them figured it out they all wanted to kill me but then Amon was like, ‘Wait, you bring in the largest crowd. Since we already thought you were a demon anyway, how about I just make it official?’ and I was like, ‘Um, it depends. What kind of demon would I be?’ and he said, ‘A vampire,’ so I said, ‘Sweet, I’d love to be a vampire,’ so he bit me and now-- voilà!” 

Wynonna stood there, slightly in shock. Mercedes had been through a lot. First with getting attacked by demon spiders, then getting her face ripped off, marrying Bulshar, fucking Kate, trying to help Randy Nedley only for him to turn into a barnacle monster… the list went on. But becoming a vampire? Wynonna couldn’t help but feel like she’d failed the woman in some way. 

“Those demons could have killed you,” Wynonna told her. 

“Oh, don’t worry about them,” Mercedes assured her, shrugging off her concerns. “They might be a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters, but first and foremost they are always fucking horny. I was never in any real danger.” 

“Debatable,” Wynonna argued with a shrug. She gestured to the blood on Mercedes’ chin, a quizzical look on her face. “So what’s with the, uh, tromping through the snow there? Did that vampire bite also turn you into a bloodthirsty reindeer?” 

Mercedes shot her a look. “Amon, in his infinite wisdom, decided it wasn’t necessary to provide me with food. That’s why I’m out here hunting on my own.” 

Wynonna glanced around at the totally deserted streets and the surrounding desolate landscape covered in snow. She looked back at Mercedes. “Hunting for what, exactly?” 

“Well, there was just a rabbit here somewhere,” Mercedes told her, glaring at the ground with a hungry gleam in her eyes. 

“Okay, I have a better idea,” Wynonna said, putting an arm around her to guide her over to the car. 

“Oooh, are you about to surprise me with a blood drive?” Mercedes squealed, clapping her hands together excitedly. 

“What? No,” Wynonna confessed. She clicked the keys to unlock the cruiser before making her way around to the driver’s side. “I’m taking us to Shorty’s.” 

Mercedes stopped at the door, looking as though she might protest. She seemed to think better of it, giving a shrug before hopping in her seat. “I guess I could use a drink.” 

“Amen to that,” Wynonna sighed. “When Doc owned the bar he had a stash of bloodbags. A gift from Charlie so he wouldn’t go all psychotic and eat his patrons. The thing is, the bags that are left won’t exactly be fresh. I’m talking eighteen months and counting not very fresh.” 

“I’ll take my chances,” Mercedes said, nonchalant. 

“Okay,” Wynonna replied. She started up the cruiser and drove them up the abandoned streets, making their way to the saloon. A shiver crawled down Wynonna’s spine as she watched empty house after empty house go by. “When Bulshar was rising, we had to fake a forest fire and evacuate these people. Nicole and Robin had to go house by house looking for stragglers. They found so many people trying to hide and stay behind. Probably looters, but they were also under the impression that some raging fire was on its way to burn this place to the ground. Fucking crazies.” 

“Doesn’t seem like you’ll have that problem this time around,” Mercedes commented. Like Wynonna, her eyes flittered from one house to the next, an unspoken question left dry on her lips. 

The conversation died down after that. Wynonna continued the drive lost in her thoughts. Where was everyone? Purgatorians had never been Wynonna’s favorite type of people, but even she found herself worrying over the town’s safety. Entire populations didn’t just up and vanish. Added in with the fact that the Gates of Hell had just opened up made for very suspicious timing. Wynonna really hoped it wasn’t just that the civilians had been dumb enough to investigate some pit that had dropped them all into Hell. 

Pulling into Shorty’s, Wynonna and Mercedes were met with more eerie stillness. There was not a single car in the parking lot. Even Randy Nedley’s truck was absent, and he was the current owner. Wynonna hardly ever saw him off the lot during business hours. Not unless there was some extreme demon on the loose that they needed his help with. Had Nicole called him in to help with the search for Waverly? 

The engine seemed loud when Wynonna put the cruiser in park. She cut off the ignition and the air went dead. She and Mercedes exchanged hesitant looks. “At least you’re immortal now,” Wynonna pointed out. 

“Yeah,” Mercedes said, her voice betraying her fear. She tried to put on an encouraging grin. “And at least you still have that magic gun that defeats demons.” 

“Mmhmm,” Wynonna lied, getting out of the car. She decided against telling Mercedes the truth. Somehow she didn’t think that the vampire would find it calming to know that Peacemaker was currently acting as a key to unlock the doorway that let loose all of Hell. If the past had taught her anything it was that upsetting vampires was never the way to go. 

She and Mercedes pushed open the doors to the saloon, neither one sure what to expect. What they got was a dark room and abandoned bottles of alcohol. Nedley and his daughter were nowhere to be found. A quick peek into the basement proved that the bloodbags were gone as well. The minifridge where they had been stocked had been taken out. Wynonna gave Mercedes a sympathetic shrug. 

“Oh well,” Mercedes sighed, sitting down at the bar. “At least there’s tequila.” 

Wynonna joined her and fixed herself a shot of whiskey. Her day was just getting worse and worse. She tried to remember when exactly it had all gone downhill. Waking up with a killer migraine wasn’t great, she recalled. The intervention didn’t help. Neither did fighting with Waverly… Fuck. Had all that happened today? Jolene coming back, Casey dying, Billy getting unreapered-- 

“Shit!” Wynonna yelled, startling Mercedes so badly the vampire spilled her drink. 

She shot her a look. “Now what’s wrong?” 

Wynonna turned a wide-eyed, worried look to the woman. “I lost the damn kid!” 

“How old we talking?” Mercedes asked, sounding disinterested. “If they’re Tucker’s age, you don’t have to worry.” 

“Rachel,” Wynonna reminded her. “She’s… I dunno, like twelve or something. Maybe seventeen. Or else in between.” 

“Wow,” Mercedes responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “You’re a really qualified babysitter.” 

“Don’t judge me,” Wynonna groaned, fishing out her phone to call the girl. “I’m not good with this kind of stuff.” 

Mercedes shrugged before returning her attention back to the drink in front of her. She’d almost been done with it anyway, and the outburst had caused her to spill what was left. She grabbed the glass to slide it closer to the bottle and poured herself a refill. Beside her, Wynonna let out a frustrated huff. “Voicemail?” Mercedes guessed. 

“It didn’t even fucking ring,” the demon hunter growled. “Doesn’t matter; I know where she’s gone.” 

“The junkyard?” Mercedes suggested. “I see a lot of kids hang out around there lately. Fucking scavengers, all of them.” 

“She’s definitely at a junkyard,” Wynonna informed her. “The Clantons’. Oh, if I find out they’ve hurt her there will be some serious hell to pay!” 

“Oooh!” Mercedes squealed, polishing off her second drink. She set the emptied glass down with a flourish, smacking her lips in satisfaction. “I’m in!” 

Wynonna thought about arguing, but without her gun backup didn’t sound like a horrible plan. And vampire backup? Even better. So instead she shrugged and hopped off her stool. “Follow me,” she said. 

“Let’s go drink some Clanton blood!” Mercedes cheered. She paused, looking thoughtfully at her still-human friend. “Well, in my case.”

Chapter Text

There was more than one sigh of relief as Nicole sat up coughing her lungs out. Of course the largest sigh came from her savior, who sat back on her heels with a wide-eyed expression as the sheriff fought for recovery. With another shuddering breath Nicole looked up and the coughing finally ceased. As soon as their eyes met the women both surged forward and wrapped their arms around each other. After feeling her alive and knowing Nicole was truly okay, Waverly pulled back and fixed her lover with a glare. 

“Do not ever do that to me again,” she told the woman firmly. Her hands were clasped tightly on the sheriff’s shoulders so she could give her a stern look. It had truly horrified her to wake up from the brink of unconsciousness to see the woman she loved being strangled to death in Killer Miller’s meaty paw and she needed Nicole to see that in her eyes. “Never.”

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Nicole forced a small chuckle. It didn’t work. Waverly still had a frown fixed on her features. “What, save your life?” she added as a joke. 

“Die!” Waverly clarified, exasperated. “Especially if it’s for me!” 

But Nicole instantly shook her head at that. She’d never been more serious as she told her, “You know I can’t promise you that.” 

Waverly recognized the intense honesty ringing every word her fiancé spoke. She sighed again and pulled Nicole back into another hug. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she murmured. Nicole smiled in the embrace, one hand holding Waverly close by the small of her back while the other got itself lost tangled in her hair.  

Doc cleared his throat, simultaneously breaking the two women apart while gathering everyone’s attention to himself. “I am also glad to see we have not permanently lost Nicole,” he stated. “However, I do question how it is she is still breathing after having her neck broken.” 

“Oh, I can bring people back from the dead sometimes,” Waverly admitted, waving her hand dismissively. She was caught slightly off guard by the old cowboy’s confusion. She’d thought for sure Wynonna had filled him in on that detail a long time ago. Then again, talking had never been a strong suit for either one of them. 

“Yeah, we learned that last season,” Jeremy pointed out to him. “Remember? She brought Charlie back after you drank his blood? And then Charlie turned out to be Julian, Waverly’s angel daddy who Wynonna was also f--” 

“We were all there Jeremy,” Nicole interrupted before he could get into any more of the convoluted relationship drama. “We don’t need a recap.” 

"Right, sorry," Jeremy apologized, sparing a glance at Waverly. 

“It’s alright,” Waverly assured him, knowing full well why Nicole had stopped him from continuing on. She turned to face Doc. “I’ve been able to do a lot of things since finding out about my angel half.” 

“So it would seem,” he mused. He quickly exchanged looks with Jeremy, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Nicole. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she wondered what the two were plotting. Doc, unaware of the sheriff’s unease, gave Waverly a grin. “I am happy to see you can dispatch the demons. Has your lover filled you in on what has been going on?” 

Waverly shrugged, giving him an amused look. “My lover was a little more concerned with getting me help, I think.” 

“Her ankle,” Nicole explained, noting Doc’s confused glance. 

Jeremy gasped, evidently only just realizing Waverly was hurt. “Oh my god!” he screeched, catching sight of the injury. “That looks really bad!” 

“No shit, Sherlock,” Nicole replied curtly. “Do we have any supplies in here that we can use to patch her up?” 

“The narcotics section of the evidence locker should suffice for some painkillers,” Doc offered, bending down to examine the wound. His eyebrows knitted together as he frowned in concentration. “There is also a first aid kit in Nedley’s old office, though I am not sure that will cover everything we may need to patch her up. It will at least have bandages though so we can wrap this up. And I believe I saw a pair of crutches lying beside that coffee maker in the break room. I do not know who they previously belonged to, but the bloodstain on the ground beside them suggests to me that whoever they are, they will not be using them anymore.” 

Nicole nodded her head in understanding. “I’ll check the evidence locker and pick up those crutches on my way back.” 

“I’ll grab the first aid kit from Nedley’s office,” Jeremy chimed in, following after Nicole. 

Doc raced after him, catching up with him just outside the doorway. Doc stopped him dead with a simple touch on the wrist. He stayed quiet, watching as Nicole rushed down the hallway. Jeremy waited for him to explain, but only when the sheriff was out of view did Doc turn and close the door to seal Waverly in the other room by herself and ensure that she as well would not overhear them. When the door clicked shut Doc turned back to Jeremy and fixed him with a somber look. 

“Don’t,” Jeremy warned. He had a pretty good idea what Doc wanted to say, but he wasn’t sure it was a conversation they were ready for. Things had changed since finding out what Waverly could do, and not for the better. 

“Waverly is the key,” Doc insisted, unaware of the reasoning behind Jeremy’s hesitation. “You saw her stop the Revenant. Besides, you were going to study her anyway.” 

“Studying her and replicating her abilities are two very different things,” the scientist explained. 

“Oh please,” Doc huffed. “What could the difference possibly be?” 

“Pain,” Jeremy told him. “A whole lot of it.” 

Doc stopped. The boy was not lying. He could see that much very clearly. But the boy had also convinced him that finding a way to stop the demons was the only way to win. And the only way they were going to survive what was coming was with that win. Just then it was looking like Waverly was the way to do that. 

Even so, Doc wasn’t sure he wanted to go that route. He had two main reasons behind this hesitation. The first, quite simply, was that Waverly was his friend and a darling to set the scope. She’d believed in him before anyone else, seen the good in him even when he didn’t think there was any. She was a true, loyal friend and those were very hard to come by. Doc would know. The second reason, admittedly, was because her other half was quite formidable. And no, he was not thinking in terms of Nicole, though the sheriff could also be quite fierce in the manner of defending her beloved. 

No, Doc thought now of the Darkness that had been consuming Waverly of late. She could raise people from the dead and send them down to Hell just as fast. The cowboy shivered, reminiscing of his own time down there in those fiery pits. The flames that had consumed him as dirt fell at an alarming rate seeking to bury him and leave him alone to suffocate in darkness like when he was trapped in that infernal well. He did not want to anger that side of her, lest he be sent back down to live out the rest of his torment. 

Huh. Perhaps Jeremy was right after all. If they could take their time and figure something else out it might be better for them in the long run. Or maybe painless studying was all they needed to come up with the perfect plan safe from the most persevering of fools. Yes, it might be best to take their time this go around. Maybe more planning was all they needed to win this eternal war with the demons.  

“We’ll figure it out then,” Doc promised, clapping Jeremy on the back. “Just go get that first aid kit so we can patch her up.” 

“Aye, aye Cap’n,” Jeremy said. He paused, waiting for the cowboy to respond in case he got the reference. He did not. A little embarrassed, Jeremy trotted off. 

Doc watched the man hurry down the hallway for a moment before opening the door again. He let the latch click softly behind him before making his way back over to where Waverly sat. He gave her an encouraging grin as he approached, noticing her slightly bemused look. “I believe they are making good progress on those supplies,” he added. 

“What were you and Jeremy talking about?” Waverly asked. 

Doc hesitated. He didn’t want to lie to the girl, but admittedly he didn’t want to tell her the truth either. In the past Waverly had shown a slight habit to be self-sacrificing. Insisting on sitting on the throne that would turn her to stone in order to somehow save the world came to mind. He worried that, if he told her, she might not hear the part about “a whole lot” of pain and instead focus up on the part where they might get a serum of sorts that would stop the demons. 

“Doc,” Waverly pressed. “You can tell me.” 

He managed to spare a single thought about how Wynonna might react when she found out before spilling the beans. He filled Waverly in on the appearance of the Queen of Hell and how Wynonna had traded Peacemaker to get Waverly back. He pointed out the arch and explained that he and Jeremy had more or less figured out its purpose of being a beacon. He also told her that Jeremy thought he could figure out a way to stop the demons, he just either needed to study her for arch residue or find out how to replicate her powers in a more weaponry way. 

To her credit, Waverly did not interrupt once despite very obviously having questions throughout the duration of his monologue. Not that Doc could blame her. He could almost see her fighting not to talk more than once during his long winded explanation, but at last he got her all caught up to speed. Only when he was done talking did she sit back and let out a breath she had seemingly been holding for a long while. He expected to be hit with a barrage of questions, but they never came. 

“I’m in,” she said instead. She made a move to stand and Doc quickly offered her a steady arm to hold onto. Together they both hobbled to the door, which Waverly promptly shut. She turned back to Doc, fixing him with a very stern expression. “Take Nicole and get her out of here. Don’t let her come back unless Jeremy or I tell you we’re ready.” 

Doc felt his heart sink, knowing only a slice of what would come next for the girl and yet already knowing that it would not be good. He found himself nodding in agreement to her request anyway though. “Yes ma’am.” 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 

The heat of her rage was almost enough to warm Wynonna up all on its own. She roughly pulled up on Magpie Ranch, taking the corner so fast it almost tossed Mercedes into her lap. Dust roiled up as she slammed a foot on the brakes and slapped the gear shift into park. Before the engine even had time to truly quiet down Wynonna was out of the cruiser and marching across Clanton land. Luckily there had been a loaded glock in the glove compartment box otherwise she’d have been totally unarmed for the upcoming possible assault. In most cases leaving a loaded weapon in an unlocked vehicle could be considered super irresponsible. In this case, it had fallen into the right hands so as far as Wynonna was concerned it wasn’t an issue. 

She stalked up carefully on the barn, fully expecting a fight. What she got was more silence. She looked back at Mercedes and gestured for the vampire to check out the main house. Mercedes gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up so Wynonna continued to search the ranch. Everything was still. All was quiet. The only movement came from the wind whistling through the prairie and occasionally pushing piles of snow down from overhead branches. 

“I’m getting real sick of this town’s supernatural silent treatment,” Wynonna grumbled, opening up the barn doors. 

The stale air mixed terribly with the wintry cold. A cough built up in her lungs with every breath so she tried to keep her breathing shallow. Light filtered wanly from the slits in the wooden barn walls, making shadows dance across the abandoned stalls. The barest glance at the unkempt hayloft above proved that it too had not housed any visitors for quite some time. It seemed unlikely that anything in the barn would offer her the answers she was looking for. At that realization she kicked over a badly rusted watering can, watching it tumble and roll before coming to a stop in front of a small wooden sign with the Clanton ‘C’ branded in the center. She scowled at the mark. 

“Well at least I don’t have to worry about reapers this time,” she audibly consoled herself.  

“Yeah, those things sure are a pain,” a voice spoke from behind a bale of hay. 

Wynonna perked up, instantly recognizing the voice. A figure stepped out around the bundle of allergies with a smirk in place. Unsurprisingly, the girl was sporting Wynonna’s signature fringe leather jacket, although the gunslinger decided to save that particular chat for another day. For now she was just glad to see Rachel alive and untethered. Given that she’d been found with the Clantons Wynonna was actually quite shocked to note that not a single injury was in her view of the girl. 

“Are you okay?” she asked her just in case. “Did they hurt you?” 

“No,” Rachel assured her, and she even laughed. “They’re not savages.” 

“Right, well, they’re actually worse,” Wynonna scoffed. “They’re Clantons.” 

Rachel shrugged. “They didn’t hurt me,” she pointed out. 

“And I’m so grateful for that,” Wynonna said, moving forward to put her arm around the girl. 

She gently steered Rachel towards the police cruiser, aiming to get them out of there before the Clantons could notice they were leaving. Wynonna thought briefly of Mercedes skulking around their house and inwardly kicked herself. She really hoped the vampire had managed to not blow their cover. For now it seemed like they might actually make it out undetected. If they did, it would be Wynonna’s first successful stealth mission, something she definitely planned to celebrate with several more shots of whiskey and maybe some alone time with a certain sexy cowboy, provided he was down with that. 

Suddenly though Rachel stopped in her tracks. Wyonna gave her a gentle tug, trying to silently convey that they needed to keep going. The teenager refused, and it was only then that Wynonna realized there was a second idiot teenager she probably should have been keeping an eye out for. She gave Rachel a quiet huff along with a stern look. 

‘What?’ she mouthed to the girl. ‘Billy?’ 

But Rachel shook her head, leaving Wynonna to feel flabbergasted. If the hold up wasn’t over Billy then what could Rachel possibly be protesting right now? With a frustrated grunt Wynonna gave the girl another tug to continue them on their way. Rachel wrenched her arm free of her grasp and took an intentional step back. Wynonna tossed her arms up in the air, completely exasperated by the girl. She shot her a look, mentally begging her to explain what the hell was going on.  

“Wynonna!” Mercedes screamed, shattering their silent stare-off. 

“Shit!” Wynonna cursed. Whatever stealth they’d had was long gone now. She turned her head in the vampire’s general direction, her anger coming to a boil. “What now?” 

“I found the kid!” Mercedes called. 

“Great!” Wynonna yelled, not caring in the slightest. “Tell Billy to get his ass in the car! We’re all heading back to the Homestead for now!” 

“What?” Mercedes questioned, making Wynonna groan in absolute torment. She’d have loved for just one fucking mission to turn out alright. 

“I said, ‘GET HIM IN THE CAR!’” she instructed. Another second of this and she could swear she was going to have an aneurism. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea!” Mercedes yelled back and Wynonna immediately brought a hand up to her temple to fight off her impending headache. “She’s bleeding a lot, and if I get any closer I think I might bite her!” 

“Her?” Wynonna questioned, her confusion stopping her dead in her tracks. “Who’s her?'"

“The kid!” Mercedes replied from her spot on the porch. “Rachel!” 

Huh? 

Suddenly Wynonna was thrown forcefully to the ground. She yelped as Rachel threw her entire body weight at the gunslinger’s back, making her fold and sending them both thumping momentarily beneath the snow. Wynonna shoved the girl off of her before leaping up out of the snow drift, whirling to face Rachel with a confused look. “What the fuck?” she demanded. 

Rachel smirked. “Wynonna Earp,” she sneered. She took a step back to grab a hatchet leaning casually against the barn wall. “I’ve been waiting for this moment.” 

It was then, seeing the murderous gleam in the eyes of an otherwise familiar-looking face, that Wynonna realized exactly who she was dealing with. She instantly tugged out the glock, clicking the safety off as she aimed it at the creature disguising itself as Rachel Valdez. Her hand shook slightly, whether from the cold or her own unease at preparing to shoot what looked like a child she wasn’t entirely sure. She blinked, squeezing her eyes tight for a brief second before snapping them open again with forced resolve. This was no child. This was a demon older than Earth, and Wynonna was determined to stop her. 

She glared at the creature, daring to speak its name. “Eve,” she hissed. 

The first woman smiled at that. “Miss me?" 

Chapter Text

Dread was causing her heart to pound so wildly that it hurt inside her chest. Here she was squaring off with Eve while Rachel sat bleeding to death inside the ranch house with only a hungry vampire to watch over her. Wynonna needed to get out of this and fast. More than that, she needed her magic gun to get rid of Eve once and for all. Given that it was in the hands of the Queen of Hell though she didn’t see that happening any time soon which meant she needed a new plan. 

The only thing she could come up with was to stall. 

“So…” she started, drawing out the word. She walked, circling the shapeshifter who was wearing Rachel’s face. Eve kept her in line, turning with every step the gunslinger took. “I was pretty sure we left you in the Garden. Was Eden not living up to your expectations?” 

“Oh, please!” Eve spat. “Do you really believe you’ve seen the Garden? You and your sister only made it to its outer perimeter. The inside is the real perfection.” 

Wynonna shrugged, trying to keep her talking. She held the glock in one hand, twitching it at her side in an attempt to draw Eve’s attention to it. In her other hand she held her phone. As discreetly as she could she hid it behind her back. “I don’t imagine Earth has a gateway that leads to the center of Eden,” Wynonna guessed. “So why come here?” 

“Do you think this was my choice?” Eve growled, stepping closer. Wynonna backed up, raising the gun to keep the woman at bay. Eve sneered at that but she kept her distance. “Your cowboy is the one who fucked up. He shoved me through one of the doors, banishing me here.” 

“And now you’re stuck here,” Wynonna filled in the rest. She sighed while moving her thumb across her phone screen. She wasn’t sure who was getting her messages or even if her SOS signals were making any sense. Without a way to look at the screen it was impossible to tell what her phone was doing. Hopefully autocorrect would make it so that whoever got her texts would know enough to come find her. “Any plans to go back?” 

“Oh I have plans,” Eve chuckled. She morphed again, growing taller and paler until she resembled the oldest Earp sister. Wynonna’s breath caught in her throat, grief instantly clawing at her heart as she looked into the eyes of the person she’d failed the most. “First, I was thinking we’d have ourselves a family reunion.” 

The smirk that lit up Eve’s face was strikingly similar to the one Wynonna had seen countless times throughout her childhood. A tear trailed down her face as she tried desperately to convince herself that it was a mirage and not her true sister. Even still, a shuddering breath passed her lips as she gazed into her eyes. “Willa,” Wynonna whimpered, the gun going slack in her grip. 

Eve gave her a mock-pitying look, using her older sister’s face to do so. “Oh, Wynonna,” she said with a sigh, “you were never even meant to be the heir.” 

“I stepped in when I had to,” Wynonna told her, swallowing down a sob. Some part of her knew she had to fight through this; she knew it wasn’t Willa. A larger part of her didn’t dare fight against her older sister again. 

“It’s okay,” Eve promised with Willa’s voice. “It’s all going to be okay.” 

Wynonna nodded, allowing Eve to come closer. The creature took a hesitant step forward, clearly expecting some resistance from the demon hunter. She grinned when Wynonna didn’t react and she took another step in her direction. When Willa was standing just one step away Wynonna reached out her arms as though for a hug. Eve smiled and lifted up the axe. Just as she was about to bring it down something barreled right into her and tackled her into the snow. 

The spell broken, Wynonna blinked and lifted the gun. Mercedes was growling fiercely and wrestling with Eve on the ground. Wynonna checked her phone, impressed with herself when she saw it open on her text messages. She was less thrilled to see that she had been sending Doc a series of keysmashing gibberish to which he had not bothered to reply. Slightly annoyed, she quickly typed out the Clantons’ address telling him to get there quickly and bring ammo. By then Eve and Mercedes had both gotten to their feet and were currently throwing punches at one another. From what Wynonna could see the hatchet had been lost beneath the snow banks which helped level the playing field at least. 

“Mercedes, duck!” Wynonna yelled. 

The vampire listened, dropping into the snow at once. Wynonna emptied the clip into the fake Willa’s chest. Red stained the surrounding drifts as the shapeshifter fell. Without another word Wynonna latched onto Mercedes’ arm and tugged her forward to the cruiser. She fumbled with the keys before hitting the button to unlock it and then tossed them to the vampire. 

“What are you doing?” Mercedes asked when Wynonna began to run away from the car. Her eyes were wild with fear as she scrambled into the passenger seat, turning to give the demon hunter a look. 

Wynonna waved a hand towards the house. “I can’t leave Rachel. Just have the car running and ready to go by the time I get back.” 

Mercedes opened her mouth to protest but Wynonna didn’t stick around to hear the vampire call her an idiot. She hurried across the drive and leapt up the porch steps taking them two at a time. With a quick tug, she wrenched open the screen door and made her way into the ranch house. A curse left her lips as she immediately tripped over the stupid coat wrack left by the door. All the curtains in the house were drawn tight, making the dark interior a stark contrast to the bright sunlight beaming off the white snow outside. She blinked rapidly in an attempt to adjust her eyesight as she picked herself up off the floor. 

Eventually the shape of the house revealed itself to her and so she carefully made her way into the living room. Dust invaded her lungs and made her sneeze. The furniture was covered in a thick layer of the stuff. It was as if nobody had lived in the place for a long, long time. Wynonna thought of Cleo with a pang of bitter remorse. Clearly the woman hadn’t been in her own home for a hot minute, probably not since the day her mother and brother had both died. 

Well, murdered actually, Wynonna’s mind reminded her, not about to let her get away from the guilt so easily. And both at the hands of an Earp. 

Which, okay, was not exactly the best way of looking at it. The Clantons had all had it coming to them. Margot, the old hag, had possessed Nicole and had been trying to get her to kill everyone, whether they were even an Earp or just a family friend. It had come to either killing her or losing Nicole, and in Wynonna’s mind Waverly had made the right call. Which could technically also be said for Wynonna’s decision to take out Holt when she had the chance. Although she maybe hadn’t gone about that in the right way, what with shooting him in the back and such, it still would have boiled down to a shootout eventually. She’d done her family a favor by jumping the gun a little bit. It didn’t matter what Doc had to say on the matter, that immortal pompous dick. 

A groan from behind the couch broke Wynonna out of her thoughts. She instantly hurried over to kneel beside the cushions. A thin beam of outside light had squeezed its way past the ratty curtains, softly illuminating a heavy strand of dust motes in the air. It was enough to allow Wynonna to see the puddle of blood pooling into the carpet and the clammy face of the girl who was the source of it. Fury shot like fire through her veins making her blood boil. She couldn’t even imagine going so low as to mutilate a child. 

“I’m here,” Wynonna soothed the girl, placing a gentle hand on Rachel’s shoulder. She lightly brushed some of the hair back from her sweaty face as she took stock of potential injuries. A couple irritated bruises dotted the left side of her face, and a small scrape claimed a large spot on her right elbow. The main offender appeared to be the large slash in her shirt. The wound itself was hidden underneath the steadily flowing blood. “Oh, my god what did she do to you?” 

Wynonna swiftly unraveled the scarf wrapped around her neck. A soft, “Fuck!” fell from Rachel’s lips as Wynonna bundled up the scarf in her hands and placed a steadying pressure against the gash. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but at this point anything was better than leaving an open wound. The color was draining from Rachel’s face with every drop of blood. Pretty soon she wouldn’t have anything left to lose. Wynonna couldn’t let it get to that point. She absolutely refused to fail anyone else in her family. A yelp sounded from the girl as Wynonna pressed harder on Rachel’s stomach. 

“I just have to stop the bleeding,” Wynonna told her, hating the pained look on the teenager’s face. “It’s just like when you have your period; you don’t fucking bleed through your panties. You sop that shit up.” 

Rachel’s head rolled to the side. Her eyes widened suddenly, and Wynonna instantly let up a little on the wound. “B-Be-Be…” 

“It’s okay,” Wynonna told her. Worry clenched hard around her heart as Rachel struggled to talk. 

“Behind you,” Rachel forced out with a vicious cough. 

Wynonna turned around just in time to see Willa looming over her. Rage gleamed in her eyes as pure hatred masked her face. Wynonna wasn’t sure she’d ever seen that look on the real Willa. She didn’t like it. 

The gunslinger leapt to her feet just in time. She managed to catch Willa’s wrist just as she brought down her arm, the hatchet once more in hand. With her wrists locked in a firm grip, Wynonna kept Willa in front of her as she brought her knee up into the other woman’s stomach with the force of a cowgirl scorned. The blow made Willa crumple in her arms. Wynonna tossed her aside, feeling nothing. She knew better this time around. This was not her sister. No matter what face she wore, the creature before her was still Eve. 

“You don’t play fair,” Willa whined from her spot on the floor. Her face began to change, morphing itself into another familiar face. Waverly sat suddenly before her. She gave Wynonna a playful grin. “Then again, I guess you never have.” 

“Fuck you,” Wynonna spat, fear and rage rumbling once more in her chest. 

Waverly gave her a wounded expression. “You shot me,” she murmured. Tears filled in her eyes, spilling over into glistening streaks on her cheeks. “You used Peacemaker on me and you sent me to Hell.” 

“I didn’t want to,” Wynonna promised, her breathing turning shallow. She tried to remind herself once more that this was still Eve, but the sobbing Waverly before her was breaking her damn heart all over again. “I swear to god I never wanted that.” 

Waverly sniffed. “You didn’t exactly hesitate to pull the trigger.” 

“Because you asked me to!” Wynonna cried. Like, really cried. Tears were rolling now down her face as well. She brought up a hand to roughly wipe them away. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, baby girl. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to kill you.” 

“I know,” Waverly nodded. She offered her a wobbly smile through her tears. Before Wynonna could react the creature brought up the axe again and took a swing. “But now it’s my turn.” 

************* 

Jeremy started rapidly shaking his head before Doc could even finish his sentence. He did not like where the living Wild West relic was going with the conversation. Not one bit. In fact, he couldn’t even believe the man would bring this up as an option, like ever! Hadn’t he heard the part about extreme pain? Jeremy cared about Doc-- a lot-- but it was ridiculous sometimes what the man was willing to sacrifice to save his own skin. 

“I already told you,” Jeremy huffed, “I’m not going to do it.” 

“I know, and I understand your side of it,” Doc promised him in that thick, countryman drawl of his. “I assure you that this is not my doing. Waverly herself is the one requesting us to do this.” 

“Well then tell her not to!” Jeremy pleaded. He looked down the hall in the direction of the evidence locker. A flash of pain in his groin instinctually told him to lower his voice to nothing above a whisper. With a sigh, he obeyed the supernatural instinct. “Do you know what Nicole will do to us when she finds out about this?” 

“Do we even know what will happen to ourselves if we do not go through with this?” Doc challenged, raising an eyebrow at the boy. If Doc was good at anything, it was giving pointed looks at his compatriots. Just a single glance from those doleful eyes could tell Jeremy everything he needed to know about what was going on in the man’s head. Usually it was useful. 

In this case, it was annoying. Not necessarily because of Doc, but because the man had a point and it was punctuated perfectly with that emphasized look. For the zillionth time since meeting him, Jeremy inwardly groaned and thought that Doc would definitely be the death of him. 

“Are you sure Waverly knows what she’s getting into?” Jeremy asked. 

Doc snorted at that. “Hell, even I don’t know what you’ve got planned for her.” 

A sinking feeling stole his gut as guilt flooded his brain. Jeremy had done a procedure like this only once before. The result had been worse than when he’d been testing different cures against the Widows’ poisons on Dolls and Rosita. The pain they’d endured would be a walk in the park compared to what Waverly would have to endure if she agreed to go through with it. The last time Jeremy had performed the procedure, he hadn’t been able to sleep for a week. The only thing that had absolved him of any guilt in his mind had been the knowledge that the creature he’d been studying for Black Badge had been terribly and truly evil. 

Doc, sensing the boy’s remorse, clapped him on the back. “Chin up, now. This’ll all be over in no time.” 

His phone buzzed as Jeremy let out another huff. Doc tapped on his phone, seeing that the message was from Wynonna. He’d been wondering where she was. Confusion settled in as he read her text, meanwhile Jeremy was still showing signs of his distress. “I’m not too sure it’ll be over for Waverly,” he confessed, not yet having noticed that Doc was on his phone. “For her, I… What is going on there?” 

“I’m not much sure,” Doc told him, his eyebrows now crinkled together firmly as he reread the text. “It’s from Wynonna.” 

“Well, what’d she say?” Jeremy prompted.

“‘Akh zeebub himinuh sim gkjoo sluhf,’” Doc repeated, reading off his phone. He gave Jeremy a look of bewilderment. “What the devil?” 

Jeremy shrugged. “Probably an accident. Y’know, like a pocket dial but in text form.” 

“Yeah, well-- Look, here’s another one!” Doc showed him his phone screen, pointing out the latest message from the demon hunter. 

“‘Hrplnw df tye dunc vikrbuw,’” Jeremy read off, puzzled as well. “Hmm. Two in a row. Maybe it’s not an accident. Do you think she’s drunk?” 

Doc shook his head. “I doubt she’d stop for a drink thinking her sister’s out there. And if Nicole had texted her their whereabouts, she’d be here right now.” 

“What do you think it is then?” Jeremy inquired. He was a bit at a loss, trying and failing to get into the mindset of Wynonna Earp. Personally, he thought he’d hit it out of the park with that drunk guess. 

Doc, however, appeared more grave as he gave a sharp tug on his hat and decided, “Whatever it is, it ain’t good. On the bright side, I do believe we’ve discovered an adequate way of keeping Nicole occupied.” 

Nicole, who at that moment was hurrying down the hallway with an armful of narcotics-filled baggies and a pair of bloody crutches, stopped short at the sight of the two men standing whispering together. They’d both had a very weird energy ever since Waverly had woken her up from Killer Miller’s sleeping spell. Whatever they had planned, she wasn’t entirely sure she could trust it. 

“How is she?” Nicole asked, looking at Doc. 

“ She is fine,” Doc assured her, tugging his gun from its holster. “It is the other Earp sister we must worry about now.” 

Nicole swore under her breath. With everything going on? Fuck, she could only imagine what sort of trouble Wynonna had managed to get herself into. When she’d first moved to Purgatory and started to notice the strange occurrences of the town, Nicole had noticed very quickly that it all seemed centered around the Earps. For a time, she had thought maybe Wynonna was the cause of it. The main issue with that theory was that Waverly hadn’t seemed concerned enough for that to be true. The younger woman had always been relaxed around her sister, and that had been enough to convince Nicole that it was something else creating problems for the town. 

The sound of a prerecorded gunshot played out of Doc’s phone, letting the three of them know another text had come in. When Doc read this one it made another frown knit his eyebrows close, but this was not a frown of confusion. The ends of his mustache were trembling and that was usually a sign of the cowboy’s rage. 

“What is it?” Nicole asked. He showed her phone. “‘Magpie Ranch. Now. Bring guns. Trouble with Eve.’ Who’s Eve?” 

“A most formidable foe,” Doc growled. He whirled around and marched towards the gun safe. “I will need your help, and we will need to bring plenty of firepower. Any dynamite you might have would be much appreciated.” 

“We don’t have dynamite,” Nicole told him. She was still a little lost on the whole Eve thing. “Is she a demon?” 

“Worse,” Doc spat. “She is a shapeshifter and a trickster. A personification of sin itself.” 

Nicole nodded her understanding and dialed the combination for the safe. They didn’t have dynamite, although they did have a grenade. Nicole snatched it and stuffed it into her jacket pocket, giving Doc a stern look of warning when he opened his mouth to protest. Doc loaded up on ammo for his pistols while Nicole replaced her handgun with a high-powered double barrel shotgun. She as well stocked up on ammo, unsure what to expect. As she went to close the safe, she noticed a long, curved blade laying at the bottom. She hesitated before taking it and clipping the sheath to her belt. 

“Jeremy!” Doc called on their way out the door. The scientist looked up, locking eyes with the hyped up vampire. In return, Doc fixed him with a serious expression. “Take care of Waverly while we’re gone.” 

Jeremy nodded, and some unspoken agreement seemed to pass between them. Nicole did not like it. She felt that feeling of distrust grow steadily inside her. It was so overwhelming that she almost called off the cavalry and told Doc that she was going to stay behind. She silently reminded herself that this was Jeremy. Sweet, cowardly Jeremy who was Waverly’s best friend. They’d had gay dinners together and he’d risked his life for both of them more than once. There was no way he would hurt her. 

Feeling uneasy, Nicole led the way out to the car. She hopped in the driver’s seat and Doc ran around to pull open the passenger door. She had the car started by the time he shut the door. “I can’t leave Waverly for long,” she told him, a warning in her voice. She threw the gear shift into drive with a threatening glare at the cowboy. “We go in, we grab Wynonna, we get out. We’re not going for a fight. We’re only preparing to fight our way out if necessary. Once we’re done we’re taking everybody and going right back to Jeremy and Waverly. Understood?” 

Doc tipped his hat, his version of a nod. There was a look in his eyes though. For half a second Nicole would have said it looked like panic. It was gone in a flash, instantly replaced with a genuine poker face. “Yes ma’am,” Doc said, and she knew it was a lie. 

For now she ignored it and continued driving towards Magpie Ranch. If he pulled any heroics, she would leave him behind. Simple as that. She didn’t like leaving Waverly alone while she was injured and the Gates of Hell were opened up. She also didn’t like the thought of leaving Wynonna with no backup so, sure, she would go with no complaints to help the Earp out. But if anything happened to Waverly while she was gone-- and especially if she found out Doc had anything to do with whatever happened to her-- then there was going to be real trouble. As in stake-the-vampire-through-the-heart kind of trouble. 

The cruiser bounced over a dip as Nicole brought the car to a stop on Clanton land. One police cruiser was already there, letting them know Wynonna had indeed made her way over. A face appeared in the passenger seat window, and a hand raised up to usher them over. Nicole and Doc exchanged puzzled looks. 

“Is that Mercedes Gardner?” Nicole asked, peering out at the face in the window. 

Doc cleared his throat. “I believe she goes by Portia Control now. At least, she does when she is performing on stage.” 

Nicole opened her door and started to get out of the car. She stopped short, seeing a very familiar face stumble across the yard. Blood dripped between the fingers she had clutched to her side as she shuffled one foot in front of the other. She dragged herself up the steps and disappeared inside the house, leaving a shaken Nicole shivering in her seat. 

Doc gave her an odd look. When she didn’t respond he reached out a cautious hand, placing it gently over one of her own. “Are you alright?” he asked delicately. 

“I don’t understand,” Nicole mumbled, shaking her head. “That was Willa. I-- Didn’t Willa die?” 

“Darling, I think everyone currently on this property has died at least once,” Doc jokingly pointed out. “Coming back from the dead seems to be part of the norm nowadays.” 

“Well,” Nicole sighed, gripping her shotgun as she got out of the car. “I’m still getting used to it.” 

She and Doc wasted no time in hurrying up the steps of the Clantons' porch. Nicole hesitated briefly, her hand on the screen door handle. Doc gave her an impatient look, silently questioning what the hold up was for. Though he would never admit it, his heart was pounding a rapid rhythm of fear in his chest for Wynonna. He did not want her to be alone with Eve any longer than she had to be. And if Eve had gone in there-- especially if she’d chosen the oldest Earp sister as her disguise-- then that must be where Wynonna was cornered. 

“Should we check on Mercedes?” Nicole whispered anxiously, casting a look at the woman who was still waving frantically at them from the front seat of the cruiser. 

Doc spared her no more than a brief glance before shrugging and deciding, “She seems alright to me.” 

Nicole nodded her assent before ripping open the door and raising the shotgun up. Doc was right on her heels, both pistols up and ready to go. Nicole turned sharply, surveying the dark dining room and moving forward another step once she’d deduced that it was safe. Doc moved stealthily to the living room, noticing a commotion by the couches. He took a sharp inhale, watching as the wan beam of light glinted briefly off of a blade being brought down on someone crouched in the corner. The figure holding the weapon had the wrong body type to be Wynonna. Taking a chance, Doc fired both pistols. One bullet struck the figure in the hand, sending what turned out to be a hatchet skittering across the floor. The other bullet caught her in the back of the knee. The figure dropped with a surprised yelp. 

It took Nicole less than a second to reach the scene. When she did, she let out a gasp and swung her shotgun around to aim at Doc. The cowboy threw his hands up immediately in a sign of surrender, giving the sheriff a glare. “What is the meaning of this?” 

“You tell me!" Nicole demanded. Doc was shocked to see tears flooding the woman’s eyes as she kept the gun leveled at his head. “I’ve been thinking you and Jeremy had some sick scheme up your sleeve. But this? Why the fuck did you shoot her?” 

“I beg your pardon?” Doc asked, totally bewildered. He looked from Nicole to Wynonna, who was kneeled on the floor, and over to the woman who’d had the axe. Only then did he realize it was Waverly. She lay crumpled on the floor, small whimpers of pain escaping her lips. Doc softened his gaze, confusion warring with guilt as his brain struggled to process. “What the devil are you doing here?” 

“Nicole, enough with the heroics, alright; it’s not even her,” Wynonna finally spoke. She didn’t move from her spot on the ground, and it was then that Doc noticed the third person in the room. 

“Oh my god!” Nicole gasped, noticing the figure as well. “Rachel?!” 

“We’ve got to get her to a hospital,” Wynonna informed them, as calmly as she could manage. On the inside, Doc knew, she was freaking out. He could tell because her hands didn’t stop trembling. “C’mon, help me get her up.” 

Nicole hurried over immediately, a pained expression in place. She looked back over at Waverly. “I don’t want to leave--” 

“That’s not Waverly,” Wynonna said harshly. Doc could tell she was scared, and her tone suggested that the fear was fastly turning to irritation. 

“I told you about Eve being a shapeshifter,” he informed the sheriff. “I failed to mention that she is also a master manipulator. She must have known taking that particular face would give us pause in fighting her.” 

“Some of us, anyway,” Nicole grumbled. She looked back down at Rachel and her worried look returned. “Doc, keep an eye on Eve. Wynonna and I are going to get Rachel in the car.” 

“We might want to get her in your car,” Wynonna added as Nicole leaned over to grab Rachel’s legs. Nicole gave her a quizzical look. “Mercedes is a vampire-- don’t ask, it’s a long fucking story-- but she hasn’t had a chance to eat yet and I don’t want her trying to snack on the kid.” 

Nicole nodded at Doc. “Should we just have him drive with Mercedes and you and I can take Rachel? I don’t want him getting any ideas either.” 

Doc inhaled sharply, noticing something off. A grave look fixed itself on his features as he kneeled beside the women. “I am not convinced that that will be an issue,” he told them. He reached carefully over, placing a gentle touch against the teenager’s throat. Sorrow filled his heart as his fears were confirmed. He looked back up at the women, meeting their questioning glances with tears in his eyes. “Vampires will only drink the blood of the living. I am afraid that Rachel Valdez no longer meets that requirement.” 

Chapter Text

Her foot tapped anxiously against the dirty linoleum floors as Jeremy poked his head into the room. Waverly had heard a commotion outside and with the Gates of Hell having been opened up it was feeling more and more impossible to guess what the interruption could have been. For all she knew, some kind of raging hellhounds had been unleashed and were ripping her friends apart. 

No, hellhounds are much noisier, the Darkness corrected her. There would be more screaming. 

“Helpful,” Waverly scoffed. 

“What?” Jeremy asked, softly shutting the door. 

Waverly shook her head, tired of explaining her other half. “Nothing,” she said instead. She cleared her throat, trying to get her head back in the game. “So, did you talk to Doc?” 

“Yes,” Jeremy sighed, “I did, and I just want to say that I’m so not on board with this. I mean, did he mention to you the part about the pain? Because it’s going to be very, very painful Waverly, and I--” 

“It’s okay,” Waverly interrupted. She gave him a sympathetic look, even as her stomach fluttered nervously. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me on purpose. In this case, it’s… It’s necessary. Right?” 

“Well it shouldn’t be,” Jeremy protested. He shook his head, and Waverly felt bad realizing that her friend was really and truly bothered by the part he’d have to play. “I have to draw blood from you and then analyze it, which won’t be that bad unless you’re scared of needles--” 

“I’m not,” Waverly assured him, giving him what she hoped came out to be an encouraging grin. 

“--and then I have to find the right balance of chemicals suited to your blood to inject in you so that your blood thickens into a more solid and malleable substance that I’ll have to cut out of you and shape into something like a weapon that will hopefully have the same abilities as you do, all while chanting in a dead language because if I don’t then you might die,” Jeremy finished. 

“Oh,” was all Waverly could say. 

“I’ll also need you to be awake the whole time,” Jeremy added, avoiding eye contact with her. 

“Is that all?” Waverly joked, hoping to lighten the mood. 

“Uh, one more thing: you have to eat exactly three mangoes before we start the whole process,” Jeremy remembered. He was still refusing to look at her, as though he felt like he’d committed the ultimate sin. Or like he was about to.

Waverly shrugged. “I like mangoes.” 

Jeremy burst into tears. He tried to say something, but he was seemingly unable to speak around the sobs in his throat. Guilt seized Waverly’s heart as she hopped carefully to her uninjured foot, hobbling forward to throw her arms around the young scientist. 

“I’m sorry Jeremy,” she whispered, hugging him tight. She’d been trying to appear nonchalant about the whole thing in an effort to relieve some of Jeremy’s stress. As she held the crying scientist in her arms though, she couldn’t stop herself from shivering slightly. She rubbed circles on his back, trying to soothe him. “I’m so sorry about this.” 

“No, I’m sorry,” Jeremy sobbed, trying and failing to stop the flow of tears. “This is going to be painful as shit and I hate that you’re the one having to go through this.” 

“Well I hate that you’re the one that has to do this,” Waverly replied. She winced when her injured foot tapped against the floor. Jeremy noticed and instantly looped an arm around her waist to guide her back to the chair. “It sucks that we have to be the ones to save the world all the time, huh?” 

Humans, the Darkness scoffed in disgust. So much whining. The boy has a plan; why should that make him so distraught? 

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because he’s not sadistic enough to find joy in torturing the people he cares about,” Waverly hissed, collapsing back into the chair. She grunted at the impact, not enjoying the sparks of pain flaring up her leg. 

Jeremy gave her an odd look. “Who do you keep talking to?” 

“The dark angel part of me,” Waverly answered with a sigh. She glanced around the room, searching for a means of distraction. “Do we have any mangoes?” 

“No,” Jeremy said. He groaned at the realization that he’d have to be the one to make a quick grocery store run for the fruit. He grabbed his jacket, carefully slipping his arms into the sleeves. “I’ll have to go run and grab some. Are you going to be okay here by yourself?” 

“I’ll be fine,” Waverly assured him. “And anyway, I won’t exactly be alone.” 

“Yeah, uh huh, that’s the part I’m worried about,” Jeremy told her anxiously. 

Rude, the Darkness grumbled. 

“Just go,” Waverly urged gently. She gave him a soft smile, hoping he wouldn’t be worried. The nervous tapping of his fingers against his thigh told her that might not be possible for him, but at last he turned and walked out the door, letting it click shut behind him. 

She sighed, eyeing the crutches and baggie of narcotics he’d set on the desktop. Not that she was too seriously considering taking the unknown substances. She barely took over-the-counter painkillers, much less random loose pills from the evidence locker at the police station. The bandages would be helpful though, especially since she was pretty sure some of her wounds were still bleeding. The blow she’d taken to the back of the head in the parking lot from Killer Miller was definitely suspect. It was throbbing like a second heartbeat and making it hard to concentrate on much. Waverly lifted her hand, tentatively pressing her fingertips to the spot. They came back coated in blood. 

A busted right ankle. Two deep gashes on her shoulder blades (near her freaking wings, which were apparently things that she had now). And a possible concussion, definitely a bleeding bump on the back of her head. She groaned as she forced herself back up to a standing position. Her left foot was starting to protest holding all of her weight. She hopped forward and almost fell over, righted herself, and hopped forward again. One more hop brought her close enough to the desk that she could grab the crutches. She was startled to see blood on the ends and decided she would ask Nicole about that later. 

The sheriff certainly won’t be happy when she finds out about this, the Darkness observed, sounding thoughtful about it. 

“I know,” Waverly replied with a twinge of guilt. Nicole cared about her so much. Waverly didn’t want to hurt the woman, she just needed to help even the playing field. This had all happened because of her. If Wynonna hadn’t traded Peacemaker to get her out of Hell then all the demons flooding Purgatory would be getting one-way tickets back down by now. It didn’t matter what kind of pain she had to endure because of it, Waverly needed to help right things. 

Well if redemption is what you’re after, the Darkness began. 

“No,” Waverly snapped. She shook her head firmly to further emphasize her response. She knew what the Darkness in her wanted. She didn’t think it was a good idea. 

Right, yet Hell itself couldn’t give you pause. 

“That was different,” Waverly said. “I was trying to stop you from using me to burn the whole fricking world down.” 

And I was giving you a taste of what is to come! the Darkness shot back, angry now. 

Waverly thought suddenly-- vividly-- of the Garden. Her mind’s eye was filled with the sight of the throne. She felt its rough texture, smelled its earthy scent, heard its urging voice. It called to her once more, imploring her to sit. She remembered the powerful feeling, having every evil in her grasp. Time itself had bent to her will and frozen Eve in her tracks. She had had perfect control and nothing could have escaped her judgement. 

With a gasp, Waverly forced herself out of that vision. She collapsed to the floor, panting as she struggled to regain her own thoughts. “I can’t go back,” she whimpered, leaning her head against the floor as tears filled her eyes. 

Fool! the Darkness spat, disgusted with her. We could end this battle right now. The Garden would heal you, the Throne would save the insignificant lives of your loved ones. Yet you do not partake in your duty. You are selfish and unworthy. A disgrace to your father’s name! Julian would weep to learn what his daughter had become. 

“Stop it!” Waverly screamed. She jumped to her feet, unaware that she was now standing on two uninjured legs. She trembled as she faced her inner thoughts, though whether it was from fury or fear she wasn’t sure. “I believe in my friends. They have a plan, and we’re going to give it a shot whether you like it or not.” 

And if it fails? the Darkness challenged with a sneer. What then? 

Waverly sighed, feeling herself cave. “Then you take me to the Garden and I sit on the throne.” 

Forever? 

“For as long as it takes.” 

Silence stretched between them as the Darkness pondered it. The unnecessary rage subsided as the Darkness pulled away, allowing Waverly her own emotions once more. She set the crutches down, relief flooding her body until one last thought shook her brain: Deal. And then it was done. Waverly stared at the door, willing Jeremy to come back with his mangoes. She suddenly had a lot more riding on his plan than she’d originally intended. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *  

Disbelief went to war with barely bridled rage. It wasn’t true. There was just no way that it could be true. Nicole shoved the vampire away from the teenager, dropping down and pressing two fingers against the cold neck to feel for herself. She waited, searching desperately for a sign of life. She adjusted her fingers three, four, countless times trying to find the faintest hint of a pulse. A sob tore its way through her throat as she came back empty-handed. 

“H-how?” Wynonna asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of the sheriff collapsed on the floor. She cleared her throat and tried again. “How is this possible?” 

Doc gave her a sympathetic look. His blue eyes seemed more grey as he blinked the tears out of them. A slight shake coated his hand as he laid it gently on Wynonna’s shoulder. “Every man who rides his horse will reach the end of the road, no matter how heroic he may be.” 

“Yeah, except she’s not some fucking rodeo clown,” Wynonna snapped. She reached up a hand to wipe at her eyes, though the effort was futile. There would be no stopping the flood of tears now that it had started. She sucked in a breath, trying to ignore the immense weight that had sat itself down on her heart. “Rachel’s a child! Sh-she was making videos on her phone just yesterday. And I was going to teach her to be more like me and help her with the growing up shit--” 

The conversation came to an abrupt halt as Nicole launched forcefully to her feet. In a flash she had stomped over to where Eve lay, still curled in a pitiful ball wearing Waverly’s face. Despite this, Nicole yanked the woman up by her shirt. Eve had time only to widen her eyes before the sheriff landed a vicious blow under the shapeshifter’s eye. A yelp came from the creature as Nicole pulled back and struck her again, this time on the nose. Blood flowed as Nicole wound back again and clocked her for the third time. 

As the ginger reeled back for a fourth strike, Wynonna instinctively moved and caught the woman’s hand. Logically she knew Nicole was beating the shit out of a very deserving monster, but with the emotional state she was currently in, the last thing she needed to see was the town’s sheriff knocking around a woman in her family. It reminded her too much of Ward and how he would get when he came home and started drinking. He rarely laid a hand on his daughters, but to him their mother was fair game. It broke her heart then and she couldn’t bear to watch it now. Not with Waverly, even when she knew it wasn’t really her sweet baby sister. 

With a look of disgust, Nicole let the faux-Waverly drop. Eve brought a hand up, tentatively wiping her fingers under her nose in an attempt to clean off the blood. With a worried glance at the cop, she began scooting herself across the floor. Only after Eve had skittered a safe distance away did Wynonna relax her grip on the sheriff’s arm. Nicole backed out of reach, giving the demon hunter an intense glare in response. 

“What?” Wynonna demanded, raising a brow in challenge to her friend’s obvious dismay. 

“Why did you stop me?” Nicole spat. She gestured to Eve and her voice rose. “This thing deserves a whole lot worse than that!” 

“Worse still would be how you’d feel if you killed your lover,” Doc told her. He as well had stood shaken to watch as Nicole had brought her violence down on poor Waverly. It had been an uncanny sight, deeply disturbing. Almost like travelling accidentally to an alternate universe where two kindly soulmates were suddenly now abusive. 

Nicole shook her head, eyes blazing. “That is not Waverly.” 

“Would your mind know the difference?” Doc asked genuinely. He remembered fighting Eve in the Garden. She had played it convincingly, even as she’d come at him with intentions to kill. He’d found it hard to strike her when she wore the face of both his lover and his brother. He could imagine the tricks Nicole’s mind might be playing on her now because his had played the same. 

Nicole regarded the woman on the ground. Eve looked up at her, fear shining bright in her wide, borrowed eyes. It did do something to Nicole. Her heart twisted itself into knots seeing such a frightened look on Waverly’s face. Blood was smeared around her upper lip, and the bottom one quivered from barely contained sobs. Nicole’s breath caught in her throat as she took in the shattered appearance of the woman she loved so much. Knowing she’d been the one to do so much damage… She felt like a monster. All she wanted was to take Waverly into her arms and apologize over and over again for what she’d done to her. 

“It’s not her,” Nicole said again, though her gaze was much softer now. “It isn’t Waverly.” 

“No,” Wynonna agreed gently. “It’s Eve. And she’s a real bitch.” 

As if to prove the demon hunter’s point, Eve suddenly leapt to her feet and rushed them. Before any of them could even think to react, Eve had snatched the shotgun away from Nicole and turned it on them. Three shots rang out at almost the same time. The first two came from Doc’s twin pistols that he’d managed to raise and fire at Eve. The third came from Nicole’s gun, now in the hands of the shapeshifter. 

Time stopped for Wynonna as she glanced rapidly around, checking to see where the bullet from Eve’s gun had gone. Her eyes zeroed in as if by instinct to Doc’s chest. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then a drop of red began to swell and drip and the vampire fell first to his knees and then face down on the ground. The demon hunter was only vaguely aware of the shadow of her sister darting for the door. She was focused more firmly on the man she loved dying on the floor. 

Without really thinking it over she tugged her shirt up over her head and pressed it firmly against the cowboy’s chest. He spluttered and coughed up blood which didn’t feel like a good sign. Wynonna didn’t understand what had gone wrong; Doc was a vampire, and as a vampire he shouldn’t have been harmed by regular bullets. It didn’t make any sense. 

“Darling,” Doc gurgled, bringing fresh blood to his lips. It stained his soft smile red. “As much as I am enjoying the view, I think you’d better provide aid to our friends.” 

Only then did Wynonna look up and realize Nicole had left the room. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she had rushed out after Eve. Cursing, Wynonna stumbled awkwardly to her feet and picked up one of Doc’s pistols. “I’ll be right back,” she told the wounded cowboy. 

“I’ll be here,” he replied. 

Wynonna took a step towards the door before she thought better of it. She turned back to Doc, fixing him with a watery glare as tears crept back into her eyes. She raised a finger in warning, shaking it at him. “If you even think about dying right now--” 

“I will not,” Doc promised. He winced as he sat himself up, clutching the shirt firmly over his chest with one hand while he used the other to keep himself upright. “I will be right here when you get back.” 

With that, Wynonna finally got her feet to move out of the living room. Once Doc was out of sight her spell of hesitancy was broken, replaced with a bout of urgency. She hurried down the porch steps, following the fresh footprints in the snow. She didn’t want to leave Doc by himself, but she wanted even less to let Nicole face Eve on her own. In her current state, the sheriff was sure to do something stupid that would fuck everything up. That was Wynonna’s M.O. and she’d be damned if anyone was going to take that from her. 

“Haught!” she screamed, trailing behind. She looked frantically around but she couldn’t see a thing. The snowfall had really picked up in the past hour. It was almost an allout blizzard and the tracks were filling rapidly now. Pretty soon she was going to lose the trail and Nicole was going to be completely on her own. “Haught! Where are you?” 

She thought she heard a faint cry to her left and she quickly changed directions. A few steps were all she got in before doubt crept into her mind. She wasn’t sure if it had truly been Waverly’s borrowed voice she’d heard or if it was the wind. Another yell sounded and had her do a complete one-eighty. That one had sounded like Nicole and it had sent chills down Wynonna’s spine. 

Her crunching footsteps echoed around back to her as she upped her pace. Her gut was telling her that she needed to find Nicole fast, and her gut was never wrong. It didn’t usually bother to offer any advice other than for her to have another shot of whiskey, so when it did pipe up with sage suggestions she tended to listen. The only issue here was that she already knew to find Nicole. What she needed from her gut were actual directions, like a freaking MapQuest search or something. 

Wynonna took another sharp left and ran smackdab into something sturdy and solid. It was a strong enough hit to dump her on her ass beneath the snow. When she surfaced she was shivering and irate and ready to cuss out at a tree if necessary. Only after she was back to a standing position did she realize that it was not a tree she had collided with. Before her stood a man, tall and regal looking. His feathery black hair contrasted with the white-out around them, though it did compliment his deep russet skin and bright aureate eyes. He regarded her, a calculating look on his face. 

“Howdy, stranger,” Wynonna greeted civilly. She kept Doc’s pistol in her hand. She wasn’t sure yet if she would have to use it. “Here to dig through the dump? Last I heard they closed the place due to the deaths of the trash that were running it. You might want to try a different junkyard.” 

The man almost smirked at that. His lips twitched at the corners and his eyes shone with amusement. He crossed his arms over his chest, his head tilted to the side. “Wynonna Earp,” he mused. “We meet at last.” 

“You know me,” Wynonna observed. She took a step back, glad she still had her pistol out. Though it would have been better if it were Peacemaker. She wasn’t entirely sure what the plan would be if the man turned out to be a demon. She hoped he wasn’t a demon. 

“I don’t mean to scare you,” the man chuckled. He stretched, unfurling a pair of large, feathered wings. He extended a hand in greeting. “I am Adam, the first man. I’m only here to collect my wife and to secure the safety of the Garden, which will in turn save your earth. I promise, I’m on your side.” 

Wynonna hesitated before accepting his hand. She shook it, surprised at how cold it was. Then again they were standing outside in a blizzard and neither of them were wearing gloves so it probably wasn’t that strange. A scoff slipped out as she let go of him. “I’m just glad someone is,” she sighed. 

Adam smiled at that, an unsettling sight given that it was as cold as his palm. He started to walk away and, hesitantly, Wynonna followed. He’d explicitly said he was on their side-- he wanted to stop Eve and save the world. That was a good thing. And yet there was something about him that made the demon hunter pause. It wasn’t that she thought he was crazy; she believed him when he said he was Adam. He just seemed… sus. That was what Rachel would have called him. 

Tears threatened to spill as she choked back a sob. Of all the people Wynonna had failed in her life Rachel hit the hardest. The poor kid didn’t deserve what had happened to her. To have gone through so much and then die so young and inexperienced was tragic. Talk about having your childhood taken away. 

Wynonna swiped roughly at her eyes, catching the tears before they could fall and flicking them violently away. Now wasn’t the right time to grieve Rachel’s death. Now was the time to avenge her by getting Eve out of her goddamn town. The world would be safer once she was gone, that much she was sure of. She just hoped that Adam would know where to take her and how to restrain her. Someone had at one point found the Garden to be secure; clearly that had been a mistake. 

“What are you going to do with her?” Wynonna asked, referring to Eve. She hadn’t meant to ask it. Sometimes her thoughts took on the troubling habit of slipping out of her mouth without her consent. She cleared her throat at the look Adam gave her. “When you catch Eve what are you going to do with her?” 

“That is between me and God,” he replied with a shake of his mocha wings. 

Wynonna rolled her eyes. “You Bible thumpers are always so secretive. I never would’ve pictured a god as some eight year old girl at a slumber party, but every time somebody says, ‘That’s between me and God,’ I--” 

“I mean that I will take Eve back to God and that He will decide her fate,” Adam clarified. “Together we will determine a fitting punishment for her.” 

“Oh,” was all Wynonna could respond with. She hadn’t expected him to mean that literally. 

He trudged through the snow, seeming like he already knew where to go. Wynonna didn’t have a better idea so she followed after him. A snowflake landed on the back of her neck and tucked itself down inside her shirt making her shiver. Adam spared her a glance as he led them through the blizzard. He regarded her for a moment before shaking his head and returning his attention to the snowy path in front of them. 

Wynonna wanted to ask him about it. In fact she almost did but she got sidetracked by a barbaric scream. She rushed ahead, shoving the branch of a tree out of her way only to see Nicole and Waverly wrestling in the snow. That wasn’t a euphemism, which was saying something given that Wynonna had a bad habit of interrupting the couple during their more intimate moments. This particular time they actually were wrestling. Nicole had the woman pinned and was struggling to keep her down. Waverly was wriggling and squirming, a look of intense frustration on her face. 

“Eve!” Adam yelled, his face stony as he took in the sight of his wife. 

Waverly’s face froze. Her eyes widened as the color literally drained from her face. For an instant the creature was completely transparent until she morphed out of Waverly’s form into someone taller and darker. Her ebony skin and amber eyes came suddenly and honestly into place. Somehow Wynonna could tell this was not a mask the woman was wearing. It was her in her honest form. 

And she looked devastatingly terrified the entire time she had her eyes on Adam. She really started trying to shove Nicole off of her, wreathing like a water serpent out of the ocean. “I can’t go with him,” she panted as the sheriff held her down. She twisted and thrashed to avail. Nicole was a cop and she knew how to keep a suspect from escaping once down. “Please, you can’t let him take me!” 

“You killed Rachel,” Nicole snarled and she shoved the woman’s face down. “I don’t give a shit what happens to you.” 

Eve struggled, making a tremendous effort to just lift her head above the bank. “I didn’t,” she attested. 

Nicole brought her elbow down on the back of the woman’s head with enough force that her forehead hit the buried ground. She let out a whimper as the sheriff roughly tugged her back up by the hair only to strike her again. “Don’t you dare fucking lie!” she yelled. 

“I didn’t touch her!” Eve swore, a hint of anger in her voice now. 

“Eve, enough of this nonsense,” Adam huffed. He started forward with a vicious stride, a glare fixed on the woman in the snow. “Let’s go.” 

Eve screamed as the man approached. To Wynonna it didn’t sound fake or manipulative, the way most of what came from the woman’s mouth did. It sounded to her the way her mother had screamed on some of Ward’s particularly drunk and volatile nights. Before she was even fully aware of what was happening, she found herself barreling forward to place herself between Adam and Eve. 

Fuuuuck, she inwardly groaned, heart hammering when Adam fixed his steely gaze on her. He was obviously very displeased. Guess we’re continuing the stupid and reckless streak. The look she received from Nicole when she glanced back told her she was in this one all on her own. Fuck, she would have loved just one mission where she didn’t Earp it up. Just one. 

“Move out of the way,” Adam commanded. 

“Sure thing angel boy,” Wynonna shrugged. She scraped together her nerves, hoping desperately that she was right about this. Quick as a whip, she reached into her holster and tugged out Doc’s pistol. She clicked off the safety with a swipe of her thumb and she aimed the weapon directly at Adam. “First, answer me this: who the fuck killed Rachel Valdez?” 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Thank goodness for homeless people.  Not actually, because it was really sad that so much of the population had to survive with no shelter. It was just that Jeremy was grateful at that moment because every winter the police station had a food drive set up. This particular year someone happened to have donated half a dozen mangoes to the cause. He quickly snatched three of them and stuffed them in his jacket. Once he was sure they wouldn’t fall out he hurried on his way back to the BBD office where Waverly was waiting. If they were really going through with this then they needed to get on with it. As soon as Nicole was in the loop she was definitely going to try to put a stop to it. 

Not that Jeremy could blame her. The procedure was intense. He was super not looking forward to it. If there was any way to show Waverly what she was really agreeing to he would. Unfortunately BBD had confiscated all of his video recordings a long time ago. There was no hope of getting them back now, assuming they hadn’t been deleted or burned. Then again it was Black Badge; those files had probably been stored somewhere semi-secure and promptly forgotten about. Some monster or another might have even taken off with them by now. 

“Good news,” Jeremy announced, holding up all three pieces of fruit. One slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor. “Oops. Five-second rule.” 

He immediately leaned down to grab it. As he closed his hand around it, another mango dropped and rolled across the floor. He frowned and picked it back up, dropping the first mango again in the process. With a sigh, he set the two mangoes he did have down on the desk before picking up the runaway fruit and wiping it off in his jacket. He set it down near the others, meeting Waverly’s amused look with a sheepish expression. 

“Five-minute rule?” he offered. 

“I’ll take it,” Waverly assured him, and she bit into the fruit. Her foot tapped nervously as she ate the first mango. 

“Holy shit!” Jeremy cried, realizing which foot she was tapping. “Your ankle! It’s completely healed!” 

Waverly nodded, bringing up a hand to cover her mouth as she said, “Courtesy of You-Know-Who,” around the bite of fruit on her tongue. 

“You have self-healing properties,” Jeremy observed, making a mental note of it. They might not have had Peacemaker to get rid of the demons, but at least they had a dark angel who could heal others and herself when it came down to it. Jeremy frowned a little, the observation bothering him a bit. “I wonder why she waited so long.” 

Waverly gave him a look. “What?” 

“Your, uh, Other Half,” Jeremy clarified. “If she could’ve healed you this whole time, why has she been waiting?” 

Waverly looked worried as she bit wordlessly into her mango. 

“Waverly?” 

Jeremy fixed her with a stern look. It was obvious she was holding back about something. He just didn’t know what. Not that he needed to know to be scared for her. In all his time on the team, he’d come to realize that when an Earp decided to intentionally hold back some information it was never good. In fact, it usually meant someone was going to die. Or get seriously injured. Or something somehow even worse. 

“It’s nothing,” Waverly assured him, and she took another huge bite of the fruit. 

Jeremy continued staring, trying to goad her into sharing by fixing her with an intense stare from his pleading puppy dog eyes. It sometimes even worked on Wynonna and Doc, so he figured he had about a fifty-fifty of it working on Waverly. Or maybe a sixty-forty against. Still, he’d take those odds. 

“Ugh, fine!” Waverly conceded, and Jeremy pumped a celebratory fist in the air. “Just, promise me you won’t freak out?” 

Jeremy shook his head. “You know I can’t do that, I freak out over everything,” he answered honestly. 

Waverly sighed. “The dark angel wants me back on the throne.” 

“The one that turns you to stone?” he questioned. Waverly didn’t respond, which was all the confirmation Jeremy needed. He aggressively shook his head, that familiar panicky feeling returning to his chest. “No, no, no. You can’t do that. I won’t let you.” 

“It’s not set in stone just yet,” Waverly promised. She paused, making a face at herself. “No pun intended. If we succeed in making the weapon, the dark angel said she’d let me stay here and fight on Earth.” 

“Oh.” 

Now Jeremy really felt like he was going to puke. So not only did he have to torture his best friend, but it turned out that the result of that torture would determine if she could spend the rest of her life in peace or if she would have to give up her future to become a statue. Oh man, what if he failed? No, no, no. He couldn’t fail. If he did then Waverly’s blood would be all on his own two hands! 

Fuck, this was so not good. This was exactly why Jeremy hated being the science guy! It felt like so much depended on him in times when everything was outside of his control. If the chemicals in her blood were too varied or if the genomes didn’t carry the right sequences to transfer her powers into the weapon then it was all over. He would fail and Waverly would be gone for good this time. He really hated this job. 

“Hey,” Waverly said, giving him an encouraging smile. “It’s going to be okay.” 

Jeremy turned away from her, refusing to let her see his crestfallen face. She had no idea how very wrong she was. This time, Jeremy really didn’t know if things were going to turn out okay. In fact, he was almost sure they weren’t going to be. 

Instead of saying any of that, he forced a smile as he turned back to her. 

“Finish up these mangoes,” he instructed, sliding the other two closer. “I’m going to go get everything we need for, y’know, the procedure.” 

Before she could question him, Jeremy slipped back out into the hall. As quickly as he could, he whipped out his phone and pulled up Nicole’s contact number. He typed her out a quick text telling her to get back to the station as fast as she could. If things went wrong, she deserved a chance to say goodbye. Jeremy felt a twinge of guilt as he pressed send on the message. 

He really hoped the feeling in his groin was wrong this time.