Cesario knew they were in trouble when the Edgewise went quiet. She skidded across the floor on her knees, frantically patting Lady Agatha's face.

"Come on, come on, time to wake up," she said. Yosepf knelt beside her, his birdlike mask hollowed by shadows.

The apothecary shook his head. "I don't know what's wrong with her--"

Lady Agatha sat up without warning, connecting with Cesario's forehead.

"Ah, my Lady, you've awakened," said Yosepf. Cesario clutched her wounded head, trying to settle her double vision when Lady Agatha seized her shoulders.

"I remember him! Melvin Deacon! He was Macklemore's apprentice!"

Cesario stared at her. "But Mack's never had an apprentice before Calponia."

Lady Agatha shook her harder. "Do try to remember, Viola!"

The Edgewise shuddered, the floorboards rolled beneath them. Cesario would have pitched forward if not for the Lady Knight's hands holding her upright. The two clutched one another as the door slammed open.

"Oh no," said Cesario.

Henderson filled the entrance, an apocalypse unfolding in his dark gaze. The tavern shivered as he entered, dragging an unconscious Calponia by her hair. He dropped her once he cleared the threshold, staring down the collective group.

"You," he sneered. "The lot of you. The chosen few, revolutionaries, warriors, princes, kings. What a fine collection gathered together. Do you even know how special you are?"

Cesario shared a wide eyed glance with Lady Agatha. By the Bard, what was he raving about? Calponia's head fell limply to the side, her features lax. A thrill of recognition went through Cesario as memory trickled back to her.

"Mel," she whispered.

Lady Agatha's grip tightened on her. "What is the meaning of this Jacob?"

His smile was cruel madness. "Sanctuary. What a grand lie." He spat on the floor. "The Edgewise is nothing but a manipulative machine. Did you never wonder why the door opened for any you? Did you ever wonder what purpose you had to play? I know my purpose." He stepped forward, looming over them. The others were two shell shocked to move, but Yosepf shifted in front of them.

"Oh, I'm ready for you this time, mongrel," said Henderson, flicking his fingers. Yosepf burst apart in an explosion of shadows.

Lady Agatha roared, drawing a blade from a holster on her thigh. Cesario saw the intent on Jacob's face and wrapped her arms around the woman's leg, holding her in place for all she was worth.

"You bastard!" Lady Agatha screamed.

"I am many things, Lady Knight, but not that," said Henderson. "Not one of the Edgewise's chosen scions, but it will regret such a careless dismissal when I'm through. Enjoy the show." He rasped. Henderson stomped his foot. Cesario watched in horror as he and the unconscious Calponia sank into the floor. She'd never seen anyone manipulate the tavern like that except Mack...

"Is Mack dead?" Cesario yelled the question at Henderson, already sunk up to his chest. He merely smiled that Devil's leer at her before the floorboards closed over his head.

"Father, what do we do?" Ariel's voice echoed in the dark common room.

"The door's still open," Lady Agatha choked out. Cesario released her as she strode forward to shut it. They had enough problems without leaving it open. The tavern shook. The lot of them staggered. Lady Agatha caught herself on the door and gaped out at the fog.

"Incoming!"

It took several long moments for Jacob's crushing power to abate. Mack was flying through the cyberspace of Hume. He registered the arm around his waist, hauling like a piece of luggage while running at mach one. Bad enough, until the vampire's legs gave out. Eugene had the presence of mind to toss Mack aside as his speed sent him into a painful looking crash, flipping end over end at least six times before landing on his face in a skin peeling slide.

"Bloody hell," Mack gasped, rushing to the downed vampire. Where was his helmet? The tavern master struggled to piece together what he missed. His stomach bottomed out. Jacob pinned him to the wall like a butterfly under glass. What happened to Jacob? How had he become like this? When had he become like this?

Mack winced as he turned the vampire over. Eugene wasn't in good shape, torn up by his rather epic crash, while the atmosphere of Hume had the vampire bleeding out of his nose and ears. At this rate he was almost beyond the healing capabilities in his blood. What in the realms was he thinking? And where was Calponia--

"Hey, wake up, boyo, where is she?"

The vampire's eyes fluttered open, an alarmingly dull shade of brown. "Henderson---took---her," he wheezed.

"And you just left her!" Mack shouted at him, barely leashing the desire to throttle the seriously injured vampire.

Eugene's head lolled, his expression listless. "Promised---I'd save you." He swallowed, the effort clearly painful. "Then her."

Mack ran a hand over his mouth, still reeling from the parade of revelations. It was enough to make a man's head explode. Alright, poor taste, since the vamp's head might literally do so in a few minutes here. He grabbed Eugene's wrist with one hand, physically dousing the presence of Hume. Not that it did much since the vamp wasn't healing. And Calponia had sacrificed herself.

"That makes sense, with her being a part of the bloody tavern." He slammed a fist on his knee. This was all his fault. Jacob's betrayal born from his neglect and abandonment. The Edgewise protecting him from his own weakness. Melvin...

He clenched his hand until his knuckles creaked.

"Not--a---part," Eugene choked out. "Cal is cal." He grabbed Mack's arm, his grip far too weak. "Save-- her." His eyes rolled up in his head, too wounded to stay conscious.

Cal is cal. Mack looked up at the sparkling atmosphere of Hume. Charette called her the dream of two entities that desired life. And she was, something alive, and fresh, and wholly unique. Mack wanted....needed her to live.

Jacob would destroy her. That filled Mack with a sting of rage that stole his breath. He just might share some small role in what Jacob had become, but a man was greater than the sum of his parts, forged by his choices. Calponia was the embodiment of pure chaos and she managed more humanity than his former protege. Jacob chose to become a monster all on his own.

Mack went cold inside. He could feel the Edgewise in his mind, a fluttering weak presence like a dying moth. He couldn't let this happen. He wouldn't let this happen. He glared down at the vampire. This would require more than blood. It wasn't a matter of simply healing. He needed the Blood Prince in top fighting form.

Better than top form.

"Jaysus, I'm going to regret this." Mack pressed both palms against the vampire's still chest and poured his essence into him.

Calponia felt like a dozen gnomes were knocking around her skull with tiny hammers. She groaned and rolled over. Her face pressed against a barrier that felt like one massive static shock. She yelped, awkwardly scuttling back into Henderson's legs.

His hand came down, holding her in place by her hair.

"It was a stroke of luck, finding you first. I think it was the bête noire that did it. The Edgewise created you then ejected you into the fog between realms like a severed tumor. I didn't understand why, but when the door refused to open for me, well, I took pity on you. I wasn't lying when I told you I've watched over you for years. I brought you to the Anders family."

His fingers sifted through her hair in an affectionate gesture. Calponia felt sick inside. He was about to use her to destroy the Edgewise. To tear apart reality. A tear slid down her face.

"I understand now. Why it rejected you. Too flawed, imperfect. It must have realized what a mistake it made in giving the bête noire a body."

She tore away from him, pulling out strands of her hair in the process. "Who's the liar now," she said, shoving at him.

Henderson chuckled, the same cheerful gentlemanly laugh he greeted her when he was nothing by the charming elderly neighbor. She was far from charmed now. He held up his hands. She tensed.

"You caught me. The Edgewise probably had no idea what happened to you. I simply found you first. I didn't have a plan then, but I wasn't going to let a tool like that slip through my fingers. And look how you've grown."

Calponia stared up at him, a fresh perspective. Henderson was crazier than a bag of cats. There was still that small part that pitied him, maybe an echo of Melvin, but it pitied the young man he used to be, not this twisted mess in front of her. "Why are you really doing this?"

Henderson raised a brow, all visage of that righteous anger vanishing. His gaze flickered, looking past her. Calponia turned and felt her heart skip a beat.

The Heart of the Edgewise did the same.

She slapped a hand against her chest, spooked as she watched that crystalline structure pulse in time with hers, perfectly synced. It was one thing to learn where she'd come from, another to see it. A fine tremor hit her jaw. She really wasn't human.

The bête noire didn't react to the presence of the Heart. She wondered about that, until she realized she couldn't feel it at all. She grit her teeth. Why would she feel it when she was the bête noire? Her mind might not have fully accepted the truth, but her body felt...whole.

"I forgot you were unconscious during my grand speech," said Henderson casually. "It was really something, you should have seen how absolutely gobsmacked they were when we arrived. Specially when I destroyed Agatha's pet creature Yosepf."

Her shoulders tensed. "You're an asshole."

Henderson laughed. "Such language is unbecoming of a young lady." She gave him the finger.

He tutted and seized her hair one again, forcing her head back. Boy, was she tired of that move. "You think I'm a villain. The Edgewise is a master of manipulation. It's spent the last few millennia steering the course of the multiverse. You think the patrons find this place by accident?"

"The Edgewise chooses those in need," said Calponia.

"In need? No, the Edgewise chooses those it needs." He glared at the heart as he spoke, his free hand tracing circles in the air. "Individuals capable of steering the course of an entire world."

Calponia knew this, but not for the reasons he implied. A sanctuary for those with the weight of worlds on their shoulders.  "But it didn't choose you."

He gave her hair another yank; she'd struck a nerve. For all his talk and mercurial emotions, he was a greedy selfish man, warped by his own jealousy.

"Mack saw potential in me. Saw enough to teach me how to move between worlds, to teach me the Edgewise's secrets. I could have been the next tavern master."

"You killed an innocent man," said Calponia.

"Mack's killed thousands in his tenure as tavern master. Think none of them were innocent?"

She fell silent, trying to process that, to understand it. Was he lying to get a rise out of her? She didn't know. But Mack had rules. Boundaries. Reasons behind everything he did.  "You would kill everyone," she said.

Henderson's expression soured. He looked away from her. Calponia took the chance, lifting her hand in front of her face. She didn't need to control it, she was the bête noire. She held her breath.

Shadows flickered over her skin.

"After I killed Melvin, the Edgewise refused me entry. Do you really think I stayed on Earth to rot? I searched for other doorways, other paths, and I found them. I found knowledge and power. I learned what I needed to take the Edgewise for myself. I can do a better job of harnessing the realms than some half cracked machine."

She closed her fingers into a fist. "Least the machine has a soul," she said. Predictably he gave her hair another yank. Calponia let her fist fly, smacking him in the gut with a fistful of chaotic energy. Henderson released he with a gasp. She rolled away, running for the stairs she spotted across the room.

Calponia only made it halfway when a force, like hooks in her skin, seized her up and hauled her back. She screamed, the chaotic energy of the bête noire lashing over her but there was nothing to hit. She flew backward, passed Henderson's furious face, and smacked back against the barrier around the Heart. Her shriek went up an octave as the shock ramped up, burning her nerves raw. The barrier was eating her alive.

"The Heart wants to be whole, but rejects the chaos of the bête noire ," sneered Henderson, clutching his stomach as he approached her. Her body was a mass of pain, muscles locked, spasms running through her useless limbs as her body began to tear itself from within. The bête noire's dark energy poured out of her, resisting the barrier, fire against fire. Doing exactly what Henderson intended. Smoke seared her eyes.

Help me. This couldn't be happening. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want this. A sob stuck in her throat, unable to move past the pain. Somebody help me.

Henderson's expression was ghoulishly sympathetic. "I'm sorry my dear, no help is coming. You see," he lifted his hand, tracing more circles, "I gave them plenty to deal with."

The tavern rocked above them. Henderson grinned. "The door is wide open."

Tears streamed down her face. Calponia could feel herself dissolving against the barrier even as it started to fade, broken down by the bête noire. Her two natures were shredding her apart.

I don't want to die.

A popping sound filled her mind, like the cork of a perfectly aged barrel. The scent of whiskey filled the air.

"Hold the line!"

Cesario dodged a wild slash from a Zealot. The creature's mask had fallen, revealing a gruesome half rotted face that made her stomach churn. Course, there were plenty other monsters to worry about in the room.

"Look out!" Ariel slammed into her, rolling with her as a Kraken's hooked tentacle raked the space she'd been. A near miss, one of many. Ariel dragged her to her feet, standing back to back as they continued fighting the overwhelming horde of enemies.

Zealots poured through the open door. Kraken tentacles tore through the walls, snatching and swiping at them. Furred bestial Wolven crawled up the walls, diving onto them from above. Unnamed creatures slithered on the ground between their feet. Lady Agatha hacked and slashed, downing Zealots by the dozens only for twice as many to flood through the door. Caliban grappled with a Kraken's tentacle while Prospero chanted, erecting a barrier that kept the slithering creatures from wrapping around them and deflecting the Wolven from above. Cesario and Ariel fought anything that came in range but they were grossly outnumbered and overwhelmed. Any moment, one of them would fall. One, then all. She stabbed a zealot through the eye hole of them mask, kicking it away. The Edgewise shuddered and groaned around them, shaking to its foundations, unable to withstand the onslaught. Was Calponia already dead?

Ariel cried out next to her, bright red blooming across his abdomen. He snarled, shoving a gust of wind at the Wolven who cut him. The beast flew backward, plowing through a dozen enemies and slamming into the bar. Ariel staggered. Cesario caught him.

"Don't you dare fall," she hissed.

A shadow fell rose over them. She jerked her head up, frozen as a Kraken's massive tentacle came toward them. Her mistake would--

The tentacle blew up, coating them with noxious slime.

"Auuugh," Ariel griped, furiously wiping his face. A Wolven rose up behind them only to be knocked off its feet by a blast that sliced the air.

"Eat teeth," said a familiar voice.

Through the empty hole left by the Kraken tentacle emerged Ravelock and the Munch. The Zealots paused, looking at the door where the steady stream of monstrous minions was suddenly overwhelmed by pirates armed with all manner of blunt instruments. Ravelock's crew bludgeoned their way through, until they reached the others. The chandelier flickered on over their heads. The light was weak but there. The Edgewise was still there.

Cesario whooped and fist pumped the air.

"What took you so long?" She grinned at the pirate.

"Don't know what you're on about, I came here for a bloody drink," grumbled Ravelock, shooting a Zealot in the face. He eyed the ruin of the bar. "There better be some rum left."

The fight resumed. The tide hadn't turned but the patrons held their ground.

The Captain delivered a vicious elbow to a Wolven's face. "Where's Mack?"

"I thought he was with you," said Cesario. "Jacob has Calponia."

Dread flashed across Ravelock's features.

The tavern began to shake. Enemies and patrons alike froze, transfixed as cracks ran up the walls. The support beams of the ceiling ominously creaked. The common room chandelier snapped free and fell, crushing a knot of Zealots and two of Ravelock's men. The Edgewise began to shudder apart around them. A high piercing scream rose and abruptly cut off.

"Calponia," said Ravelock, his expression haunted.

"No," said Cesario. She clutched her knife tight and hurled herself at a Wolven. She would go down fighting.

The scream was not Calponia; the Wolven in front of Cesario vanished in an explosion of blood and fur, his guttural cry swallowed up by the passing blur. She stumbled. "What the hell?"

Another scream rent the air. Followed by another. A Kraken tentacle fell to the ground, ripped free of its body. The great beast withdrew, clearly considering the Edgewise too bothersome for prey. Enemies continued to fall. A strangled cry from outside caused the Zealots to collapse en masse, their unseen puppet master taken down. The remaining Wolven had the good sense to retreat, fleeing through the many holes in the tavern's walls.

The slithering creatures weren't so wise. One attempted to grab an astonished Lady Agatha.

Eugene emerged from a blur of air, stomping the creature flat. The other low creatures keened in a chorus of nerve shredding shrill voices and joined the enemy exodus. The vampire's shoulders heaved, his clothing stained with all manner of fluids. He looked up at them. The patrons took a collective step back.

For a moment the vampire's irises were a solid band of gold, gradually fading into their normal crimson rimmed brown.

Ravelock raised a brow. "Get some high octane fuel there, vampire?"

The cracks along the walls stopped spreading. The whole building shivered but held as Macklemore stepped through the door, firmly closing it behind him. "Something like that," said the tavern master.