The children gone to bed, as had the rest of the house. In one of her few respites of time, Betony Rue sat in the clean kitchen reading. She'd occasionally form her hand into a sign, adjusting it when she looked back at the page. She had ordered the book recently, to help her in her understanding of the Kincaid child and was having him and the girl study it as well. They were picking it up much faster than she was, having had a head start and a child's knack for language. That she was teaching at all made her wary. She could still feel the blows she had suffered. Every time she asked a question she felt it. And she could feel the urge to do the same, having taken on two 'students'.
She was disturbed by a loud knock at the back door. It came again and Betony hastily put the book down on the counter. It was the door that had been torn apart. Was it back? Whatever had killed so many. The door was locked after eight but that hadn't stopped it before. She was about to run upstairs to make sure the children would be safe when a voice came through the wood.
"Hello, Mrs. Jasons, are you there? It's Alejandro Sanchez."
Betony Rue's face hardened. She knew the name. She had healed him several months ago.
Cautiously Betony Rue opened the door
Two Latino men stood there. Well, one stood the other looked practically unconscious. Alejandro took a half step back down the step as the Jasons woman suddenly loomed in the doorway. Her eyes were cold when they met his. She was not glad to see him, however he had found where she was. He tried to speak but words somehow failed him.
Her gaze then fell on the man she knew to be the younger Mr. Sanchez, his brother if she recalled correctly. She appraised him quickly before turning back to Alejandro.
"Bring him inside," she said. She cut him off before he could thank her. She wasn't in the mood. "Place him on the table." she said quietly.
He did as she told him and the younger Mr. Sanchez moaned.
"Listen..." Betony made a sound between a growl and a hiss.
She took the younger Mr. Sanchez's left arm, slightly more roughly than she should. His soft cry was hardly audible. His brother was starting to smell of fear. She found the bite wound. Probably from a guard dog. It had healed shut and become infected. It was probably moving into his blood. She checked his pulse and felt his temperature.
"I will need payment," she said moving over to the stove. As much as it displeased her that the man had come here, it would provide her with something she needed. And it was her could to care for those that came to her.
There was a click and the gas ignited into flame. The Jasons woman balanced the blade of a knife above it.
She heard the elder Mr. Sanchez fumble in his pockets as she fetched dish cloths.
When she came over he had some money in his hand, which she seemed satisfied even though her hard expression didn't change.
"The wound will need to drained and cleansed," she said, her voice a soft chill whisper. She twisted one of the drying cloths like she was wringing it out before handing to the elder Mr. Sanchez and going over to the knife. Was it just him or had it started to glow faintly in the witch's fire by the time she'd picked it up and turned back to to Alejandro.
"Gag him." There were children upstairs she did not want woken.