by Martha Woods
"Well that's wonderful, my mother is more unsettling and annoying than an actual grease ball. Do you at least... Not hate her?"
"Of course, I don't hate her. I think she's strange, and threatening, and more than a little condescending, but if you've been willing to trust her for over a month then there must be something to her that we just haven't seen yet." He tapped his fingers alone the steering wheel, muttering to himself, "I just hope she shows it soon, I'm not sure how long everyone else can hold on and wait."
"Don't worry, she knows that she can't push her luck forever." Skylar looked out the window over at the car her mother was riding in, seeing the tense set of Leah's shoulders and the awkward way that the young vampire was leaning out the window. "She'll try and push as far as she can go, trust me. But she'll come around before too much damage can be done." She pointed over at Iggy. "What's his story? Unless I left some of my brain cells behind when I reformed I'm pretty sure I've never met him before."
Liam ruffled her hair, chuckling at the protesting squawk she made in response. "He's a pretty recent addition, we only found him a few nights before we ran into you again. Just enough time for us to tell him that you were dead and for him to be confused when you came walking out that front door."
"Where did you find him? You said that you spent your time doing pretty much what I was, so it probably wasn't anywhere nice was it?"
"No, no it was not." He shook his head, looking over at the vampire in sympathy, smiling to himself when Iggy saw him and waved. "Christian's men had grabbed him and a bunch of other paranormals before they even came knocking on our front door. After they ran away after you killed a lot of them, a few of them went back to him and started working him over again. I don't know how many there were with him but he's the only one left, by the time Cayden and I got there he didn't look like he had much longer left."
"Poor thing..." Skylar shook her head sadly. "You said that he could stay with us, right? If he doesn't have anywhere else to go?"
"Cayden took care of it, but yes. Congratulations Skylar, it looks like we've adopted another one."
"Oh don't be like that." She snuggled up to his side as much as she felt safe doing. "I saw the way you just smiled when he waved at you, he's already wormed his way inside hasn't he?"
His first instinct was to protest, to deny any allegations of feeling like he would have before he first met her. But he was a changed man since then, which meant that his lies died on his tongue before they could even breath air. "Fine, yes he has. He reminds me of myself when I was younger."
"Misunderstood? Rebellious?"
He huffed, "An idiot."
"Aww..." She pressed a kiss to his cheek, settling back in her seat and looking at the backseat, where Abigail was sleeping soundly next to Hayley and Michael, the two of them leaning on each other's shoulders and snoring soundly. "For an idiot you've sure gotten a good group of people together, it can't be all bad."
Liam snorted, rubbing her leg. "Let's not pretend that I had anything to do with bringing everyone together, that's purely because of you and your... Incredibly infectious enthusiasm about everything and everyone. Cayden was in love with you and I tried to kill him until you told us very firmly to stop. The fact that you can bring people together like that is nothing short of incredible."
"Hey, speaking of..." Cayden's voice caught them by surprise, the two of them turning to see him stretching his arms above his head. "Don't worry, I didn't hear all the terrible things you were saying about me, I just figured Skylar could use some affirmation."
"That's not necessary, really. You don't have to do that." She shot a warning look at Liam, who already had his mouth halfway open. "Neither of you need to do that."
Cayden groaned behind them, laying back in his seat. "Then why did I get up?"
Skylar barely heard him, her mind occupied with what Leila and Cassandra could possibly be talking about. When she had seen her mother again after coming back from her... Celebration with Liam she had been surprised to see Leila walking away with Cassandra and judging by everyone else's lingering awkwardness and the way they were huddled closely together, they had been talking for quite some time by then.
"What is so important that it's got her acting like this?" She thought, "Normally she can't wait to get away from everyone else, even when it was just the two of us she preferred it to stay that way. What happened when I was gone that added Cass to that list?"
"Sky? Skylar, you in there?"
She shook her head, turning back around and meeting Cayden's eyes. "What is it Cayden?"
He put his hands up, smiling innocently. "Nothing bad, come on you know me. I was just wondering what it was the two of you got up to this whole time, it's pretty boring driving a carload of sleeping people I can tell you that from experience."
"Nothing," Liam said, "We were just discussing how we came to meet Iggy."
"Ah right, the kid." Cayden shuddered, though he looked embarrassed about it. "I gotta tell you, he's a pretty great guy but... That whole vampire thing... It's just something I can never get used to seeing."
"Is it the blood thing?"
"Yeah Sky, it's definitely the blood thing. I mean I get that he needs it to live, god knows I've eaten some pretty disgusting things in my life, but blood is just something I can't get down with." He screwed his face up, gagging, "Every time I've been in a fight and blood's gotten in my mouth I've almost thrown up, it's just a taste I can't get used to."
"You know that's not just a vampire thing, right?" Liam looked in the mirror at him, arching his brow. "Have you seen the way I fight? Hell, have you just seen me in my other form? I swallow blood by the gallon when I'm in the middle of a fight, that doesn't just vanish when I change back to this form."
"Great, everyone around me drinks blood." His face lit up in horror. "Oh my god, my friends are pretty much all shifters and witches, they really do all drink blood!"
Skylar rolled her eyes, a smile on her face. "We're all here for you in this hard time Cayden, don't worry."
They were silent for a while afterwards, the atmosphere inside the car relaxed as they drove along the road, the other two cars not far behind them. Though Liam and Cayden's minds were burning with the questions that they were dying to ask Skylar, they were content for the moment to be able to enjoy the feeling of her just sitting next to them and enjoying a drive through miles of nothingness on a clear day.
Of course, there was a limit to that relaxation, and eventually curiosity got the better of Cayden. "So, Skylar, I don't want to sound like I'm prying but... You and Leila, you were up to the exact same thing we were right?"
She had a feeling she knew what he meant, but figured it was best to make sure. "What do you mean?"
"You know... Taking the fight to Christian, making sure that what happened to you can't happen to anyone else." He sighed, smacking his forehead. "I'm sorry I probably sound like a major asshole right now, just forget I said anything."
"No, it's alright! It's just... I haven't really gotten used to the whole idea of it. Like I understand why we need to do it, I understand how we need to do it, I even understand that it needs to be done. But the idea of me being the one to do it..." Her pause lasted quite a while, but neither of them wanted to interrupt her. If she was going to say it then it was going to come out at her discretion. "When I was growing up my mother, my other mother, she raised me to value life, to not fight if I didn't absolutely have to. I didn't listen most of the time of course, but it still sunk in a little bit. I fought when I had to, I stuck up for other people when they couldn't do it themselves, but I never went out looking for a fight. I never walked out the door one night with the intention of going and causing pain to another human being."
"But now you have to," Liam nodded, voice tinted with sympathy, "And every time you do it feels wrong, like you're betraying your mother and your code of honor by doing so."
"Yeah... I want to think that she might approve if she was here to see it, or at lea
st understand, but I don't know if she would. And that breaks my heart honestly." She looked at her husband with eyes filled with sadness. "Does that make me weak?"
"Trust me Skylar, caring about what your family would think about your actions is the opposite of weak." Liam smiled at her, squeezing her thigh to try and give her some comfort. "The moment you stop caring is when you've started to become weak, and you are definitely not weak."
"That does make me think though..." Cayden leaned in, placing his own hand on her shoulder after looking at Liam and getting a nod of approval. "Are you really ok with doing this with us? Now that you've joined back up with us you can take a step back if you need, none of us will think less of you for it."
She shook her head. "I can't do that, it's not fair on the rest of you, even if you don't think it would matter. This is something that I need to do myself, something that I need to see through until the end."
"You said that you'd never thought of doing something like this before, how do you feel about it now?"
She worried her lip with her teeth, sighing deeply, "A few months ago I probably never would have thought myself capable of it honestly. But now... Now I don't know what to think." She looked in the rear-view mirror, seeing her daughter sleeping soundly between her uncle and what she assumed would soon be her aunt. She steeled herself, squaring her shoulders and speaking confidently. "But when I look at Abigail, when I think about what was almost done to her... There is nothing that I wouldn't do to make sure that she was safe, to make sure that children like her and parents like us never have to fear for our lives ever again because of baseless hatred."
"Our daughter will grow up in a safer world Skylar. Everything that we're going to do is to make sure that happens, just focus on that."
"I don't have to, and I shouldn't." She looked back at him, her voice filled with conviction but her eyes swimming with that same sadness that they carried before. "I should remember exactly what it is that I've done and why I've done it. I should remember the people who I've taken away from this world so that we can be safer, who made the mistake of trying to harm those that I care about and paying for it with their lives."
She let her head rest on the dashboard, clenching her fists over and over again. "I'll worry about the morality of what we do later, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to ignore the bad things that we need to do. Because Abigail is worth that, if it means that I have to do things that make it hard to sleep just so she can be safe I'll do it. But I don't have to enjoy doing it, I don't want to enjoy doing it."
"And you don't have to." Liam ran his hand through her hair, fingers scratching lightly at her scalp. "While we do this, and after it's over, you have all of us to come back to. Don't ever forget that Skylar, we're here for you."
He kissed the tips of his fingers, pressing them to her forehead.
"Forever."
Chapter 3
Surprisingly, no other cars had come through looking for Claire, the now-former hunter driving undisturbed through the night. Though she kept her head on a swivel, keeping a keen eye out for any sign of an impending ambush as she made her way into town, hoping that anyone awake that early in the morning didn't look out their window and see her bullet riddled car.
She pulled into an empty side street, abandoning the truck where it hopefully goes unnoticed for at least a few hours. Every second that she could get where Christian didn't know where she was going was a second that was going to save her life. Claire grabbed both pistols and the medical kit, keeping to the back streets in her injured state. The last thing she needed was for someone to think she was an easy target, and that didn't even have to be a hunter that would attempt an attack. Though considering that she was carrying two weapons and had grievously injured a small team of some of the most skilled hunters in the country in a matter of hours, they were in for a very rude surprise if they attempted anything other than complete respect.
Once she had walked a few blocks she figured it was as good a place as any to acquire a new vehicle, ducking into a nearby parking garage and searching the rows upon rows of cars in search of one that wouldn't stick out. "Here we are," She said, spying a nondescript sedan that was the very picture of forgettable. "I wouldn't be caught dead in you normally, but considering I'll be dead if I get caught..."
A quick look around to confirm that she was alone and she reared her elbow back, slamming it into the side window and scattering glass shards over the ground, popping the lock and letting herself in. A few seconds of crossing wires later and the car roared to life, Claire pulling out slowly to avoid attracting any more attention. "That's all I'd need," She chuckled, "To get caught for stealing a car, that'd be just perfect right about now."
She swept the glass away from the rim of the door with the butt of her pistol, grunting in satisfaction when she was finished. "There, no one'll be able to tell that you've been stolen."
Pulling into another side street, Claire pulled out the map once more, wondering how far it was that she had to go from there. Tracing a finger along the route she felt her heart dropping deeper and deeper into her stomach, until she was almost sure she could feel the seat vibrating with her heartbeat. "Oh goody. After I leave this town I have a thirteen-hour drive ahead of me before I reach something even approaching civilization." She screwed the map up, tossing it into the passenger seat.
"Fuck the desert, who really even needs it? What are we even doing with it?" She grumbled, "Could be using it to grow food or provide energy but no, we've gotta keep it absolutely pure and absolutely empty. Fuck the Grand Canyon."
Unable to ignore the way her stomach was grumbling, she thought it would be best to make a quick stop to pick up some food and water for the road, and a quick check of the meter let her know that gas was also a priority. One look in the mirror and she grimaced, this wasn't exactly going to be an ideal shopping trip. When she pulled into the gas station she took an extra moment to try and clean her face up as best she could, but there was only so much she could do considering the blood that had soaked into her collar and still dusted parts of her neck. She just hoped that the clerk on duty was at least open minded, the last thing she wanted to do was to have to knock someone out for a can of baked beans.
The clerk didn't look up as she entered, clearly just some seventeen-year-old who drew the short straw and had to work over their holidays. If luck was on Claire's side then he would just keep his head down the entire time she was in the building, he wouldn't have to be traumatized by a bloodied and armed woman walking into his place of work and buying groceries like nothing was out of the ordinary.
But of course, like so many things lately, luck was not on Claire's side, his head coming up and his eyes growing wide as soon as Claire put her items on the counter.
"Oh I... I uh..." He was clearly trying to say something, but Claire was only interested in where his hands were staying. If they edged closer to the silent alarm then he was liable to lose a few teeth and a few hours of consciousness. She could live with that, but she didn't exactly relish the idea of hitting a seventeen-year-old, that was low even for her.
"Look kid, can we just... Not do this right now?" She ran a hand through her hair and judging by the way that he blushed she could tell that he found her attractive. She wasn't sure whether she should be relieved or concerned that it was while she was covered in blood, but she supposed she could work with it. "I've had a pretty rough night, all I want to do is get home."
"When you say rough... What do you mean exactly?"
She pointed at the cuts on her cheeks, showing off the bruises and cracks that she'd gained on her knuckles as well. "What does it look like I mean? Some people don't know how to keep their egos in check, and I wasn't in a mood to take it lying down."
The attendant gulped, looking over her face. "And what about them? Are they having a bad night?"
Claire smirked, flipping her hair again for good measure. "They'll be fine in a while, but I'm the one standing here and they're not if that
explains anything." She leaned in, pouting slightly and having to suppress her giggle when he shifted his legs together. "I've just had a really bad night ok? I just want it to be over so I would really appreciate if we didn't make a big deal out of this, can you do that for me? I'd really appreciate it."
He nodded frantically, ringing her items through and throwing a candy bar into the bag for good measure. "That's on the house, I hope that you have a better day tomorrow."
"Aw thanks, that's so sweet." She gathered her items up, throwing a selection of bills onto the counter. "Can I get fifty dollars’ worth in the tank too?"
* * *
Day came and went after that, the sun rising on that town and revealing a shot and blood covered car to a group of spectators that were equal parts confused and horrified. By the time news reached that gas station attendant Claire was long gone, but once he got a look at the car himself he knew that it was the right decision to keep his mouth shut.
After all, if she had gotten away and her car looked like that, what must the other people involved look like?
The woman herself meanwhile was halfway across the desert, sweating terribly and already her supply of water was half gone. She knew that she had enough supplies to last the trip, and more than enough gas to make sure she wasn't stranded, it just meant that she had another few hours out in the sweltering heat to deal with.
And of course, there was another problem, namely that with every second that ticked by, she could feel her eyes getting heavier and heavier, vision blurring the longer she spent awake. She was no stranger to multiple days without sleep, it was rare that she spent more than a week with sleep every night, but those were normally spent on recon. Staying awake after a strenuous fight and having to grit her teeth through injury was another matter, and she was rapidly nearing the end of her rope.