We ended up having a change of plans- Holden wanted to help hunt down Nikki and the old black lady who's name we would later learn was Pithia. It was decided we best not split up and I went along with them, despite my injuries, which were relatively minor anyways. I was more winded than anything else, I was just worried about getting jumped in the hedge before I recovered. We dragged frickin' huge guy with us and pulled lava-boy's corpse into the hedge so he wouldn't be found in the apartment. Then Lana got to following the ladies' tracks while the rest of us dragged huge frickin' guy.
I helped Lana a little bit with the tracking, I got a good whiff a hot ass little Nikki when she was rubbing up against me in the club and followed the scent. We passed by a clearing with a big oak tree that would wail whenever we got near, so we just stayed away from it. After a few hours, we made it to a forest path shaped like an 8 or infinity symbol. We went through one circuit with nary a clue of where the two ladies went. There was some trick to it, probably, and since we couldn't figure it out, we woke up the huge frickin' guy.
He told us to check the northern most part of the 8. I didn't feel like knocking him out again, so we tied a rope around his neck and tried to drag him along, me threatening to shoot him with the shotgun if he tried anything funny. Either he didn't believe I had the balls to shoot him or he thought highly of his abilities, because he did try something. He boosted his strength and broke free from his bonds. I ended up nearly blowing off one of his legs with the shotgun, then Lana stopped his run by pulling on the rope around his neck. This put him off balance, and I used the chance to tackle him to the ground, and he ended up passing out from his injuries.
We dragged him to where he had said, and we saw it, if you looked just right, you could see a hidden door in the foliage. So Holden transformed himself to look like Lava-boy, claiming he and frickin' huge guy escaped while we hid by the door and out of sight. Nikki and some other human dude named Raoul, her male counterpart I'm guessing rushed out to check on frickin' huge guy and we jumped them. Lana and Nikki rassled around (too bad there wasn't any mud or hot oil around!) while I choked out Raoul. I think I might've choked him a little too hard, he had massive bruising around his neck after I let him go.
I was about to help Lana by knocking Nikki out with the butt of the shotgun when Holden ran out, looking badly hurt and shouting about vines attacking him. There was a voluptuous hottie (who we'd later learn was named Rebecca) in the doorway who I thought was the one controlling the vines, so I levelled the shotgun on her and took a chunk out of her side. I soon learned it was actually Pithia manipulating the vines to attack, so I switched to her. I got a little cocky, underestimating Rebecca because she didn't seem that skilled with the knife she was holding. I got a slug from the shotgun into Pithia, but Rebecca was on me and stabbed me in the side. Pithia's vines wrapped around my neck and all I knew was burning pain as the vine's thorns tore at my neck before passing out.
I woke up later to an angel's face. Had I died and gone to heaven? Nah, it was only Chrissy, who healed me of some of my injuries. Apparently the rest of the group managed to subdue everyone else after I went down, so that was good. I spent the next few weeks convalescing. Violet came to visit, impressed with my showing and saying I might be Summer material. I was glad for that. The experience cemented in my mind that we need to fight back against the true Fae and their lemmings. Before he tried escaping, I asked frickin' huge guy why he was doing this and helping the Gentry. Apparently, each one of us they captured got them a year of freedom out in this world.
I said to him, why doesn't he just escape for real rather than betraying his brethren? Because we apparently can't beat the true Fae, they'll get us all eventually. Well, yeah, if guys like him keep helping them! If they can get us anytime they want, then why don't they do that instead of sending punks like him to do it? They're all hype. Yeah, they're tough in their own world, but out here in the real world, they must not be all that if they need others to do their work for them. So if we fight back, I'm sure we can stay free!
Owel, while I was healing up, the courts managed to cook us some fake IDs for us so we could get jobs. And I did, at REI. I mean, I know a thing or two about outdoor equipment. I want to eventually re-enroll in college, maybe Georgia State. But with it being too late to sign up for summer classes, I guess I'll have to wait a few months.