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Abolish swore, peeling his head off the frozen gravel and running a hand across the back of his skull. There was no blood, but a tender patch that suggested he might be bruised. Just his luck. His prey seems to have vanished into the ether as well, which means he doesn’t have anything to show for his stupidity either.
It was early spring and still freezing and miserable out, and normally he’d be spending his time indoors but one of the other hunters took the month off to spend it with their family and their cases got pushed onto Abolish as punishment for accidentally setting the cafeteria on fire. He’d wanted them over with as fast as possible, which meant he’d gotten sloppy, which meant…
He shut that line of thought down forcefully and made himself sit up over his body’s protests.
First things first, scan your surroundings for immediate threats. He was at one end of a small canyon, carved by a thin running river that’s still mostly ice this time of year. Above his head was a small overhang, but as it went on the lip of the canyon slowly turned outwards more and more. It didn’t open out onto flat ground however, about ten to fifteen steps away from where Abolish was sprawled was a stone wall the river disappears into the base of. If he wanted to get out, he’d have to climb. But at least he was safe and he had water.
Next, check yourself for injuries. That part took a while, he seemed to have injured absolutely all of himself falling down here. Most of the injuries were surface level scrapes and bruises, but his right shoulder felt funky in a painful way when he moved it and his right leg was bruised and lumpy. When he ran his fingers over the bruised area, he felt the poke of bone. “Oh come on!” Abolish swore, slumping back against the rock. He definitely couldn’t walk with that, let alone climb.
He reached for his temporary beacon ability, his earring putting out a red glow as a faint warmth flooded his body. It had gotten a bit weaker after his transformation into a dhampir, however, and it hadn’t worked instantaneously before that. Relying on it to fix his injuries would take a long time.
“-bolish!”
He raised his head, craning his neck to the side to hear the distant voice better. Was that-?
“Avid!” He called, cupping his hands around his mouth and trying to project his voice. “Avid!”
“Abolish! Where are you!?” That was definitely his partner’s voice, and he’d never been more pleased to hear it.
“Down here!” he yelled. “In this weird canyon!”
A few seconds later Avid’s head popped over the canyon edge, his clawed fingers digging into the earth so he didn’t fall into it as well. His yellow demonic eye glowed with concern. “Abolish! Are you okay!? What happened?”
“Sprained right shoulder, broken right leg, and some superficial damage,” Abolish tried to keep his voice clinical and avoid scaring Avid any further. “Those are the ones I’m sure about, but I’ve also got a bruise on the back of my head. I didn’t lose consciousness and I’m not dizzy, but I can’t rule out a concussion.”
Avid’s face fell. “That sounds really bad. I’m coming down there.”
“Be careful,” Abolish called up. “The walls are pretty steep.”
Avid tipped his head down, glancing at the rough rock face for a few moments. Then he nodded to himself and vanished from view. A few moments later a long line of rope dropped over the canyon wall. Then Avid reappeared at the edge of the wall, another rope secured around his waist. He rappelled slowly down the canyon wall, pausing every few seconds to glance up and make sure the rope was still secure. When his feet settled securely on the ground, he hurriedly untied himself and rushed over to Abolish’s side.
“Oh that’s bad. That’s really, really bad.” He didn’t seem to realize that he was talking, dumping his backpack onto the ground and rifling through it for a first aid kit. “I think I can fix that, hang on.”
“I trust you,” Abolish nodded. Despite Avid’s nervousness and the pain of his injuries he felt almost supernaturally calm. Sure he’d taken a historically bad spill, but the two of them were together and working to fix it. Everything would be alright.
Avid smiled and nodded, relaxing ever so slightly. His demon eye stopped glowing and his hands were steadier as he taped up Abolish’s shoulder and splinted his leg. It wasn’t a permanent solution, he’d still have to see a medic first thing when they got back, but it would keep him from aggravating his wounds further.
Abolish draped one arm over Avid’s shoulder as they got to their feet, leaning on his partner as they approached the wall again. He was able to tie one of the ropes around his waist with no issue, but rappelling unassisted with his broken leg was beyond him. Avid wrapped his arm around his waist and partially carried him up the wall. Abolish took a moment to admire his partner’s strength. Between the vampirism and the demonic powers, he was a lot stronger than he looked.
When they made it over the edge and untied themselves, Abolish took a moment to rest while Avid retrieved the ropes. For a moment, everything seemed peaceful, but then Abolish heard a faint sniffling noise at the edge of his hearing. “Avid? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine!” Avid called, but his voice seemed tense and uncomfortable.
Abolish raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Are you sure?”
Avid was quiet for a while, shuffling his feet and twisting the rope between his hands. Then he settled cautiously on the frosted earth next to Abolish, his face wet. “I-I just…” he tapered off. “You were there and then you were gone and then you were hurt and I…” Abolish nodded reassuringly and Avid took a deep breath, leaning into his side. “It was just like with Elle. You vanished and then you were hurt. I thought I was going to lose you too.” His face was wet with tears, he’d started crying again during their conversation.
“Oh Avid,” Abolish reached out and put his arms around him, mindful of his injured shoulder, and kissed him on the forehead. Avid buried his head in his chest and began to sob almost immediately. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”
Avid wrapped his arms around Abolish and the two of them stayed there for a few moments, just resting together and enjoying the feeling of being safe together.