by Martha Woods
"I did say that it would just mask the pain, I never said that it wasn't a reason to do it anyway. Whatever can be found that distracts them for a few moments should be used, but losing someone so dear often makes one numb, things they enjoyed feel grey, things they hated may become appealing." The older witch chuckled, "The way we deal with emotions is so counter-productive."
"Well what would you suggest?" Michael shrugged, looking her in the eye. "Leah is your friend, you've been spending a lot of time together, surely you can think of something that we can give them?"
"That is something that is not so easily figured out, for the both of them finding something that they would enjoy is..." She trailed off, her eyes snapping to the picture of her brother on her mantle. The others were slightly put off by the way her eyes lit up and her mouth twisted into a crooked smile, but when she turned to look at them they couldn't deny being utterly transfixed by the spark in her gaze.
"Actually, there is something that we can do..."
Chapter 4
The convoy made its way across the desert, the sweltering heat melting the asphalt and sticking to their tires. Christian huffed miserably in the driver's seat, Claire sweating in the passenger seat next to him and pointedly not saying anything. Things between them had been awkward ever since the... incident a few days ago, the dull ache in their hips from where they had so vigorously met fading and leaving only an empty feeling of shame. Christian wouldn't deny that he still felt some desire towards her, an alarming amount actually, considering that if she would have him he would pull the whole convoy to a stop in the middle of a boiling desert just to have her on the side of the road, but he knew that she had a world of issues to work through before she would even begin to consider something like that, if ever.
Chief among them, the immeasurable grief she had from losing her sister. All other feelings to that were secondary.
"Christian?" He looked to the side, seeing that even now her eyes would not meet his, instead only focusing on him for the briefest of flicks before looking back ahead to the road. "Can you tell me how she died? Everyone else just looks away when I ask, they don't think I should hear about it."
"They might be right there Chloe, it was..." He closed his eyes briefly, the very thought of what happened to his beloved Laura almost too painful to think about. "It was horrible, and I don't know what good can come from hearing about that."
"But she was my sister Christian! I need..." She sniffed, looking out the window and clenching her fist. "I need to know what happened to her, I can't just leave it. I need to know what happened to her so I know what to hate, and how I can prepare to fight against it."
"Are you sure?" At her nod he continued on, grabbing her hand. "No, I need you to really be sure. What happened to her is not something that I would like to relive lightly, and I will not traumatize you with the details unless you are one-hundred percent certain that you can handle it. So I'll ask again, are you sure that you want to hear about it?"
"I'm certain. Laura was important to me, she was all I had left of my family apart from..." She coughed, cringing noticeably. "Apart from you. How she lived was important, and so was how she died. I want to respect that, and her sacrifice."
"Ok. Ok I'll tell you then, just tell me to stop if it gets to be too much." He exhaled, steeling himself to claw open a wound that was already so slowly closing, the pain from that moment that she vanished before his eyes flaring up all over again. "It was a mission just like any other, against a thousand other of those things that we've killed before. It was a couple witches and some low-rent shifters, we even had someone who'd gone up against them before so we knew how they fought. It was just going to be a simple search and destroy, and then..."
When he trailed off she looked back at him, seeing the way that his eyes unfocused and his knuckles whitened around the steering wheel. She extended a hand, squeezing his shoulder and bringing him back to her. "I'm here Christian, it's alright. Just... Take your time."
He smiled gratefully at her, though his eyes flashed with anger soon enough. "That thing showed up, then everything went to hell for us. She killed our informant, in a way that even I haven't seen done to anything before, she made two of our men kill themselves and then... Then she grabbed Laura." He squeezed her hand, as much for his comfort as hers. "She looked at me, she wasn't even screaming she was just... Looking at me. And then she was gone, she just blew away in the wind and everything went black. I found out later that George had knocked me out and dragged me into the car to get us away, if he hadn't done that I probably would have stayed there and died alongside everyone else. We lost over half of our number in that shitty town, and we have nothing to show for it other than heartache and grief."
Claire sniffled, tears rolling gently down her cheek. "She was just gone? Just like that?" She let out a brief wail of despair at his nod, finally allowing her emotions to bubble over. "What was that thing? How could... How could it just destroy us so quickly and so horribly?"
"I have no idea what it was, and I didn't get a chance to try and find out." He sighed, "It's still out there, I don't know what happened after I was knocked out but that much I'm sure of, that's why we're still running like this. We need a time and a place to recover, that's the only way that we'll be able to stand a chance when we meet it again."
"But what about George? From what you said he's the reason you're still alive, why isn't he coming along with us?"
"He wanted to stay back and gather some information from some of the people that we work with, he's going to trail about ten towns behind us at this rate. He knows the risks, that's the only reason I agreed to it." Christian shook his head. "Truth be told I think he feels guilty for taking me away from Laura, and honestly I am pissed at him for it, but I'm not so foolish that I don't see what he did as necessary. This movement is more important than us as individuals, I shouldn't let my emotions cloud my judgment in the field."
"I hope he's alright, he was always one of the nicer ones to me." At his curious look she chuckled briefly, "Oh come on, you know just as well as I do how some of the men look at the women of this movement, I'm no different. A bunch of them are more... Unpleasant about it though."
"How do you deal with it?"
"I broke the last ones nose and threw his favorite knife in the river, I think the rest got the message for the next month or so."
The image brought a smile to his face. "You really don't seem like the type to do something like that, do you realize that?"
"Well," She said, "Appearances are usually deceiving, right?"
He thought back to their moment a few days ago, the way she had so easily assumed control at the beginning of their encounter before so willfully giving it up. How she had thrown herself back against him so recklessly and with so much passion that a thousand poets wouldn't be able to do it justice. He shuddered as that feeling of desire began to take him over again, fists clenching around the water and his teeth squeezing down around his lip. She likely knew what he was thinking about, given the way her cheeks dusted with pink and she resumed looking out the window.
"What were you doing that could have made it react so violently? Why did it take it's time with Laura like that?"
He could easily blame his moment of hesitation on the change in subject, but the truth was that he was unsure on what exactly to tell her. It was no secret that they did some unethical things to draw out and destroy the monsters, even Claire had been a part of some of them, but what they had done in Boulder Junction wasn't something that she would necessarily agree with. At least, not at this point.
"That man that we were working with, Sarconi..." She groaned at his name, he was glad that the reaction was universal. "He had someone who knew who the monsters were, we were hoping to use them to pinpoint exactly where they were and what they could do."
"And then?"
And then Sarconi shot the monster's father and it all went to hell.
"It didn't take, it killed the informant, the
n Sarconi, and then it moved onto your sister."
"But why her? Why did it take its time with her when there were dozens of other people it could have taken?" She growled, "Why did it have to take my sister away from me?"
He couldn't very well tell her that Laura had a gun to a baby's head, and was more than prepared to pull the trigger. Claire loved her sister, and he was sure that she loved him, if not exactly in that way, but he had no doubt in his mind that if she found out about what had Laura had been doing she would have nothing but hatred remaining for the both of them.
She would need a few more years of experience, a few more years to see what they were truly up against, and what they could so easily lose. Then she would see why their methods were as just as their goals, no matter how much they may come to regret them.
"She wasn't doing anything, she was just standing in the wrong place at the wrong time." He thought back to the look in her eyes, the look of utter surprise when she had been grabbed, the haunting sight of her finally realizing that this was the end. "She didn't do anything, that monster just killed her for no reason."
Claire looked out across the desert, fists clenching in anger. "We'll kill them all. Every one of them, for what they've taken away from us." She looked back at him, eyes flashing with an anger that he was more than familiar with. "We'll kill them all."
Slowly, he took his hand off the steering wheel, moving it across the cab of the truck before laying it gently atop her shoulder. When she didn't make any move to brush it away, or show any signs of discomfort, he squeezed down, his thumb rubbing gently along the freckled skin underneath. "I'll help you Claire, whatever you need, whoever you need to help you do it, you have it. They took your sister away, they took my wife away, they need to pay for that." His eyes glinted the same way they did when he picked up a particularly zealous student, when he saw the opportunity to plant the seeds necessary to awaken their innermost darkness. "You're one of us, and we'll help you however you need."
* * *
Skylar was tired, she was homesick, she was most every negative emotion one could think of right now, and she could chalk that up in part not just to the fact that everyone she knew and loved assumed she was dead, but because the terrible town that they were currently holed up in must have been almost one-hundred degrees, and the heat had rapidly overstayed its welcome.
“Oh my god…” She hung her head back over the edge of the couch, groaning loud enough to draw Leila’s attention from the board in front of her. “This heat is terrible, how can you possibly be ok with this?”
“I lived in New York my entire life Skylar, in a city of millions of people and cars. It was usually hot.” She raised an eyebrow, idly sticking another picture up. “Didn’t you live in Florida? I thought that was hot year round.”
“It is, but I don’t live there anymore. Boulder Junction has a nice breeze, and rain, and a thousand other things that make everything not so unbearable.” She sighed, closing her eyes. “I think it’s about to snow there, and I’m missing it.”
“If it’s any consolation I think we should reach somewhere colder sometime soon. Christian’s leading us on a merry chase around the country, we’ll surely end up near Canada at this rate.” She trailed off, muttering to herself, “Not that there’s much to see up there but still…”
Skylar shuffled around on the couch, her body sticking to the material and her face twisting in a grimace when her skin all but ripped off when she pulled away. “This is absolutely disgusting, this shouldn’t be something that happens.”
“Well blame carbon emissions, not much else we can do at this point.” Leila clicked her fingers, fishing around in her pocket for her wallet. “If you really need something to do you can go get us a bucket of ice and a few sodas, I bet your feet are killing you right now right?”
“I… Yes, they are. How did you know?”
“I was the same way after I had you, for months afterwards actually, it was strange.” She smiled briefly before turning back to the board. “Ice should help with that, plus it should help cool the room down. It’s starting to get to me now as well.”
“Alright, I’ll be back in a minute.” Skylar considered saying more, wondering if maybe for a minute there they were approaching something resembling a moment, but decided against it. There was no point in pushing something like that, considering they had only really acknowledged each other’s existence one month ago. Still, as the door clicked shut behind her and she stared out over the sweltering plains surrounding what had to be one of the most remote places she had ever visited, perhaps she was due at least a few minutes of grace, and failing that, at least a few more answers.
That could wait until she got that ice though, the thought of something cold around her aching feet was too good to pass up.
After grabbing the last of the ice, the other residents of the motel obviously having much the same idea, she made her way back to the room, ice already starting to melt in the bucket before she even made it to the door. “If we never come back to the desert ever again it’ll be too soon…”
“Skylar, could you come over here please?” Skylar looked over at Leila, who hadn’t moved from her position in front of the board. She put the bucket of ice down on the floor, drinks placed carefully inside before she joined her mother’s side. “Look at this trail that they’ve been making, it looks like they’re heading further into the center of the country rather than up or down.”
“Leila… I don’t know what any of this means.” She gestured at the maps and pictures of members pasted all over the wall. “I’ve never tracked anyone down like this, I don’t even… Wait, have you tracked people down before?”
“A few times, it’s normally just been across the five boroughs, never across a whole country.” She smiled, and for the first time Skylar saw that her mother was truly a predator. “I have to admit, this is exciting.”
“I’m… Sure it is.” Skylar darted her eyes between her mother and the board. “Leila, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Who was my father?” Leila paused for a second, her mind blanking from a question that she had not in any way been expecting this soon. She had been expecting some probing towards her past, or towards what the two of them were doing hopping between towns, but something so far back in time was not what she had been prepared for.
Leila sighed, “I don’t think it’s a great time to talk about him Skylar. You’re going to have to trust me on that for now, ok?”
Skylar wasn’t impressed. “When am I going to get any answers out of you? You take me away from my family who are at this very moment mourning me, you refuse to tell me for a month what we’re actually doing out here until I kept pushing and pushing, and now when I ask you a question because I just want to figure out who I actually am you brush me off.” She rolled her eyes, walking towards the door and snatching her soda out of the bucket. “You know what? No, from now on you can just do this on your own. If this is how it’s going to be, with me just being expected to help you without getting to know anything in return then I’m going back to my family. Have a nice life Leila.”
The door slammed behind her, Leila staring blankly at the door before sprinting across the room, hand fumbling for the door handle and slipping off in her hast. In pure frustration, she shifted underneath the door, coming up on the other side and looking around for any sign of where Skylar could have gone. See her heading towards the car, soda can crunched up in her clenched fist and keys dangling out of her pocket. “Skylar wait!”
Her daughter looked over her shoulder briefly, scowling at her before increasing her pace. She made it to the door and was about to open it when Leila’s hand pushed against it. “Skylar wait, please. I know… I know that you have a lot of questions…”
“And you don’t really have a lot of answers for me, so why am I even bothering here?” She turned around, crossing her arms and shaking her head. “Do you know how I feel right now, how horribly l
onely I feel? I should be at home with my husband and my daughter, but instead I’m out in the middle of the desert helping you with your… With your murder plan or whatever this is! And I’m not even entitled to some answers in exchange?”
Leila looked away, not able to hold her gaze. “I’m sorry, this… This hasn’t been very fair on you, I know that. I want to answer your questions, I really do, but… There are things about them I have to reconcile with myself first, can you understand that?” She chuckled bitterly, “Maybe I’m just being selfish, but I haven’t thought about these things for a very long time. It’s just going to take a little getting used to again. Just, please, I know it’s frustrating but I need you to be patient with me.”
Skylar wanted to stay angry, to stay fuming with her mother, but her usual nature pushed its way through, much to her chagrin. But that didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to leave this conversation without at least some of her curiosity being indulged. “Can you at least tell me something about him? Don’t you think I’ve earned at least that by now?”
Leila hung her head, eyes closing as she thought back to a man she hadn’t dared to think of in years. “He was a paranormal, just like the both of us, but not like the both of us if you know what I mean. I will tell you more eventually but right now… Right now I would rather not think of him.”
“That’s all you can give me?” Skylar didn’t bother hiding her disappointment. Leila looked almost grateful for that.
“That’s all for now, but I promise you that I’m going to tell you the whole story someday, just… Once I’ve worked out the proper way to say it. I know it’s not what you want but… Do you think you can be patient with me?”
Slowly, Skylar nodded, rolling her eyes all the while. “I don’t really have much choice do I? I want to know more about myself and… And I have to do this with you to protect my family. So I’m stuck with you and whatever answers you’re going to give me. But I guess…” She shook her head to herself, putting the keys into Leila’s hand and patting her briefly on the shoulder, saying, “I guess I can try and be patient, so long as you promise not to hide anything from me. I get that you need time to think about what to say, but when you do don’t leave anything out, no matter what it may be, can you do that?”
