Halloween I.F. – “Something Rich and Strange” – Day 21

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The movement of Vayne’s hand in Star’s blind spot was unbearable, and even worse was the fact that he knew that Vayne should fucking know better. 

So Star did what any anxious horse would do if a disliked person approached him suspiciously from behind: he snapped his leg back and slammed his foot into the inside of Vayne’s knee.

There was a pretty awful popping noise, and Vayne let out a yell, trying to grab onto Star—for balance or whatever else, Star wasn’t waiting around to find out. He jolted forward, whipping around to kick Vayne again, flinging him to the ground.

Vayne hit the ground hard, arms slamming to either side to try to catch himself, and Star saw properly what was in Vayne’s hand now: a rope halter. A blind rage and nausea swelled in the pit of his stomach as his gaze nearly took on a hazy, reddened sheen. “Enslave me?! You wanted to fucking tie me up? Make me yours? Fuck you!”

It looked like Vayne was trying to push himself upright, so Star kicked him in the chest again with a nasty cracking sound that was probably a rib giving way. Vayne hollered and Star slammed down on top of him, pinning him down, grabbing the halter in one hand.

It was fine to touch it; it just couldn’t go over his head or neck or his nature would force him to obey whoever had bridled him. Nevertheless, it stung to the touch, and he realized there was a spell on it, too—it shouldn’t take effect unless it was on him, or it’d affect Vayne too, but he did not like the realization and flung it down the sidewalk, away from him. “You motherfucker!” 

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Vayne raised his arms and crossed them in front of himself with a painful gasp, trying to defend himself. “I’m sorry! I didn’t want to! I’m fucking sorry, okay?!”

“Is the warehouse even a real place?” Star demanded, grabbing those wrists, but not doing more than letting Vayne feel the strength he usually kept hidden. He was the same creature whether he was in human form or horse form, and he had the same strength in both forms. It was just if he chose to use it. The same weight, too, though he wasn’t going to drop twelve hundred pounds straight on Vayne’s midsection unless he had to. Not with the man apologizing and begging. “Or were you just going to take me right to my enemies instead?”

“It’s real,” Vayne stammered. “I think so, anyway, but yeah, it’s not—I don’t think it’s their headquarters, not really, I think it’s just supposed to be a drop-off point for hostages?” He stammered out a description and an address for the warehouse. “But yeah. I think they’re using the track as HQ, the warehouse is just a separate thing. I didn’t want to, Star, I fucking promise!”

Star pressed on his wrists a little too hard just to make a point. “I’m not sure I trust your promises right now.” But something Vayne had said just penetrated the haze of his anger and fear. A plural. “Wait, hostages?”

Vayne was shaking, breathing hard, and had gone a very unpleasant colour. “As far as I know. I wasn’t asking details, it just sounded like they were going after other people too to try to get what they want. I didn’t want to hurt you! I almost didn’t even lie! I did follow them, but they fucking caught me, Star, and they threatened my family and promised me riches all at the same time, what the fuck was I gonna do except go along with it? They could kill me in a fucking heartbeat, I’m just fucking human, Star, and—and then I come back and find you’ve got Georgio involved—”

Star’s breath caught. “Did Georgio know you were going to do this?”

“Georgio doesn’t know shit,” Vayne gasped. “He’s got no subtlety, he’s just a great guy who runs fast and is strong and doesn’t know when to stop talking. I wasn’t gonna risk Georgio in this shit, you’re the one who pulled him into things.”

Fuck. Star swallowed. “Is he okay?” He let go of one of Vayne’s hands, which flopped back to the sidewalk, and patted Vayne down until he found his phone, scrolling through his contacts list. Family, friends, contacts at the track, other jockeys—no Georgio. After a moment, he felt a bit embarrassed; Georgio didn’t have a phone, after all. But still, better to check.

Vayne let out a loud groan, tried to shift his position, and swore instead. “He’s fine. I didn’t lie. I got him loaded up in the trailer and had a friend bring him to a stable outside of town. Equine Equinox Haven. You can look it up. I just wanted to keep my bud out of it if they were threatening me.”

That was disappointing; Star could have used Georgio’s brute strength and, (he had to admit to himself) his support and friendship. But the rest of what he was doing might not be suited to someone with a bull’s body, and if he had time, he could always go fetch him back. “All right. Okay, Vayne, I’ll believe you. Tell me what happened with the guy. What did they look like?”

People were stepping across the street to avoid what was happening here, but Star was fairly confident nobody was going to call emergency services until Star did. This was the Valley, and if someone was getting a beat-down from a person who clearly looked fae, that was business they didn’t want to get involved in. The police wouldn’t want to either. 

Vayne coughed, and clearly regretted it. “Fuck, Star. I followed them, like I said, but when I rounded the corner after them they were right there. They were… terrifying. Something about them just, I knew that they would be willing to do every terrible thing to me if they wanted to, and any threat they made I knew they could carry out. I’d have done it if they didn’t offer me wealth but they did a full, a full stick and carrot thing. They want your boss, Dandelion. They thought as a jockey who you knew, I might be a good choice to try to get you as a hostage. They asked me to bring them one of the track’s halters, and they’d make sure you’d never get it off if it was on, they just needed to prepare some things and would bring it to me. That’s why I needed an hour, because they did. They were there when I called you and were listening to me set up the meeting, Star.”

“Oof,” Star breathed. He sat back, finally.

It didn’t seem like Vayne was willing to move again under his own power anyway. He sighed. “I thought you might figure out what I was doing. Should’ve realized it’d be the same in your human form as in your horse form.”

Star attempted to divert guilt off before he could really feel it. If he hadn’t acted quickly, what would have happened to him? And even after the first kick, Vayne had tried to grab him. His own safety had to come first. “What did that person look like?”

“They are not a person,” Vayne muttered. “They were… listen, I’m not kidding that they were hard to look at directly, but their skin was…cracked. Like the whole thing was a clay mask. They looked human but there was something else looking out from inside them. They were too tall. Their hair was so long it was like a cape. They had a height that went on over their head. I don’t know what the fuck they were but they weren’t human and they weren’t a normal monster like you.”

“Too tall,” Star muttered. That had been mentioned before. Cracked skin. “Abyssal, maybe?”

“What, a demon? Yeah, I’d believe it,” Vayne muttered, closing his eyes. “Being close to them was like every worst thought you’d ever had came bubbling to the surface.”

Yeah. That sounded abyssal. Star shuddered. “Okay. I’m gonna call you an ambulance.”

“Okay,” Vayne mumbled, quiet, almost petulant. OHIP would cover the ambulance and whatever hospital stay he needed, and, given his line of work, there’s no way he wouldn’t have his own insurance to cover other recovery care. For clean breaks, magical doctors might even be able to fix him right up within days, and most of those were covered under private insurance, if not the provincial plan.

Still, no need to be totally rude about it. Star dug out the bread he’d got earlier and peeled off a slice, putting it in Vayne’s mouth. “Eat this in the meantime. It’ll kickstart your healing.”

“I’m gonna puke,” Vayne warned him around the mouthful.

“Don’t.” Star got up and dialed 911, letting them know that he was at the corner of Elm and Buller with someone who had broken his leg, maybe some other injuries. When he hung up, he looked down at Vayne on the sidewalk. “You’re not gonna tell them I did this.”

“Fuck no,” Vayne said. He sounded meek now. “A shitton of locals probably saw me trying to halter you anyway. There’s no way it’d go in my favour if I tried. You’re not going to tell others? The track? …Georgio? I want to go back to racing, and… you know…”

“Maybe not,” Star said. “I’m not in the mood to make promises right now.”

“Please, Star,” Vayne said quietly. “I was fuckin’ scared.”

Star didn’t want to feel bad for Vayne. Instead of answering immediately, he went over and picked up the rope halter, skin crawling, and tucked it away. He didn’t like the idea of keeping it with him, but he disliked the idea of leaving it out here even more. Besides, it might be a good idea to take it to someone who could figure out the spell on it. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. “I get it, Vayne, I do. But it’ll kind of depend on if you help them more after this.”

“Sure, yeah,” Vayne said to the sky. “I get that. We can circle back after this all shakes out.”

Star snorted and stepped around the corner, digging his phone out. His hands were shaking despite himself, and he quickly messaged the group chat about what had just happened.

Then he scrolled through the messages he’d gotten since he’d previously sent his update: Viv said she’d try to get out there, but was caught up with a client. Dandelion had just dropped Dom off at the Lindwyrm’s and was very worried now, and was asking how it went—well, asked and answered. Dom likewise was asking if he needed to come get Star. Adrien said that he had just gotten invited over to another girl’s place, but could ditch if needed, so he at least seemed fine.

But there was no answer from Caoimhe, who’d last said she’d gone to help a friend, no other details. No updates at all.

She might still be fine, he reminded himself. And he had more info now: an address for the warehouse, and the fact that the track seemed to be their HQ. Trying to assuage his worries, he tried calling her. 

It went right to voicemail, no answer, as if her phone were off.

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