Helluva Deal

52. Baby Power

„It's the voodoo inside of them!"

„Stolas?!" Ozzie is the first one to look up and stare at the prince and the two imps in shock when they now storm into the medical room again, „Man! Are you okay?!?"

„Yes. That's Striker's blood. Now hurry! We need blood from both of them. Moxxie, Millie, can you draw the pentagram with it? Bee, Tex, you two please guard the main gate. They won't come further with magic than that, but we need to keep them away until we've saved Blitz and Al. Fizz..."

„Hold on! Who's 'them'?" interrupts Tex now with audible worry.

„Vox and probably another wave of his creepy angels... As well, as whatever else he, Andrealphus or Stella will throw at us to get to Astrea."

„Astrea?!" Loona's initial shock is quickly replaced by visible anger and she growls, „Just let them try to get to her!"

Stolas smiles softly at this, but his voice is determined, „We won't let anybody near her. I promise, neither your little sister, nor Blitz will be harmed. Just as Alastor. Or anybody of you."

I am so proud of you, Sto. This is the demon I fell in love with all those years ago. I love you.

„Thank you, Blitzy. I love you, too," Stolas smiles softly.

The friends and family exchange a puzzled and slightly worried look. Via is the first one to ask carefully, „Dad? Are you... Is everything okay?"

„Hm? Oh. Yes, don't worry. I merely got Blitz' voice in my head to guide me," Stolas goes over to his unconscious husband and tenderly caresses his with cold sweat wet forehead, „But we need to be quick now. Astrea does her best, but without the pentagram, she won't be able to save either of them..."

„Hold on! She's just a baby! How could she...save them?" Fizz, who hasn't left Blitz' side since he returned to the room, now stares at the owl-demon and then at the tiny hybrid, still lying and suckling on Blitz' chest.

„It's only thanks to her that they're still alive at all. Remember how she struggled to get to first Alastor and then Blitz to touch them with her tail? She's incredibly powerful. Far more so than we thought. But she's of course far too young to focus her magic enough to heal their voodoo magic that got cursed by the barbed wire. That's what we need the pentagram for. To amplify and guide her magic."

„Hold on! You want to... But how?" Ozzie who's just taken blood from Alastor now comes over to do the same with Blitz, but hesitates now, „Stolas... Neither of us knows enough about voodoo to...include Astrea in a pentagram without risking hurting her..."

„Yes. I do. Now keep working."

„Stolas..."

„ALL of you, Mox!"

„Dad, please..." Via suddenly grabs his arm, „We know how you feel. And we want to save Mum and Al just as much as you! But...are you sure..."

„Starfire. You know me. I would NEVER endanger Astrea. But I KNOW what I'm doing. Blitz understood what was going on and he gave me as much hints as he could before blacking out. He also knew what needed to be done. And he knew that I could do it. He always believed in my abilities. More than anybody else ever did, including myself. So if you don't trust me – trust Blitz."

„We DO trust you, Stolas!" Millie's voice is gentle but firm, „But you said to Moxxie and me that you will include yourself in the pentagram as a buffer for Astrea. You can't do that."

„Of course I can!"

„No. Millie is right. You carry no voodoo magic inside of you. This is not a pentagram like the one we used to drain the happy energy from Alastor all those months ago. This is a healing one ONLY for voodoo magic. Look," Moxxie holds the side of the book up, they got from the library on their way here.