by Martha Woods
“Will do,” He said, “Don’t stay up too late, we’ve all got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.”
And then he was gone, just as Vincent had gone a few hours previous. Joseph had wanted help with gathering some of the further vampires, a number of whom had already agreed to help and were on their way right this moment, ready for a fight or a negotiation, whichever was waiting for them. If the shifters could possibly be intimidated by the forces that we already had, a few dozen more vampires showing up as well might very well be something to convince them to turn tail and run.
Which left me struggling to find something to do with my night, after all I’d expected for all of us to be in a fight or a negotiation right about now, or maybe to have news of a fight going on between the two forces outside the city. But Claire had kept me updated over the day, after first chewing me out for having Damon there with us at the meeting, so far there had been no sign of discussion or planning on her group’s side, and the thoughts of the other group were as of now still unknown. Not my idea of a good advancement, but at least it meant no concrete plans for violence just yet.
“Screw this,” I said, pulling on my jeans and sweeping my hair off my shoulders, pulling a shirt over my head and snatching my phone up. I had at least one person that I knew would be available and wasn’t in such a vulnerable position of planning to lead an entire group, it would be a good way to spend the night.
The phone rang for about three rings before it was picked up, Cara’s surprised voice answering and saying, “Amy? What’s up, why are you calling?”
“Do you want to go and get a drink?” I asked, “I need to relax, and I want to talk to you more about the things you’ve seen lately. Do you think you’re available?”
“A drink?” I… yeah, yeah I’m available! Just give me ten minutes to get ready and I’ll be waiting downstairs.”
“Of course it’s me driving,” I laughed, saying goodbye and hanging up the phone. Well, not like I was going to complain about that, if I had the car I might as well drive it right?
Cara was waiting for me when I pulled up, a thick coat pulled over an otherwise fashionable outfit that most people wouldn’t be able to pull off half as well, thin leather gloves covering up her mouth and rubbing together to gain some measure of warmth in the cold winter air. I hadn’t kept her waiting long, only about five minutes, but that was more than enough time for the warmth of the inside of the car to seem like a glimpse into heaving as she threw the door open and threw herself in.
“God!” She laughed, clipping her seatbelt, “Do you know how cold it is out there? I thought I was going to freeze to the sidewalk!”
“Maybe that’s why your visions are so weird, you’re actually seeing from the street that you’re frozen on for the next couple of years. We could probably make you into a tourist attraction.”
“Oh yeah that’d be great, the statue of the frozen woman, come down and see it! A great place for your dog to piss and your boyfriend to take weird tit-grabbing pictures.”
“I was going to say it might not be that way, but then I remembered how weird everyone gets about touching statues. You can always tell where they’ve touched the most because the finish wears off.” I shivered, thinking of some of the statues down at the museum. “Some of those crotches really shine…”
“Well getting away from people grabbing my frozen tits, what did you actually want to talk about tonight? Was this a real ‘let’s find out what’s happening’ visit, or a ‘let’s drink so we don’t have to actually think about any of it’ visit?”
“Hmm… a little of both?” I shrugged. “I’m thinking too much about everything tonight, so while I’m doing that I might as well try and figure out what’s happening with you too, right?”
“That’s very nice of you to make me into a distraction, I really appreciate that.” Cara smirked, shoving my shoulder just enough to not make me swerve into traffic. “Dick! If you want to hang out just call up and say so!”
“I do, I do! But I’m serious, it’d be good to talk about all of this with you, I want to make sure that you’re doing ok, you know?” Taking her hand, I ran my thumb over her palm and sighed, “Best friend remember? That means that whenever you’re going through something that I’m going to be there to help you through it.”
“Even after everything that you’re trying to work out yourself,” She said, “Well, I can’t complain about you making time for me. At least we should be able to have a couple of drinks and just forget about this for a few hours, maybe that’s what I’ve really needed this whole time.”
“You’ve definitely been stressed out, that’s for sure. That’s why I’ll buy the first drink, you can thank me later!”
“I can thank you by paying for a taxi later, I’m not letting you drink and drive.”
“I know, I know, geez mom…”
We wanted somewhere with some level of anonymity, which left out most of the paranormal run bars in town. Don’t get me wrong we got along well with the owners, and they were definitely happy or indifferent towards us, but we just wanted a night where we could fade into the background and focus on ourselves, without having to worry about anyone else noticing us.
Which meant we found a semi-charming hole in the wall right on the fringe of the industrial district, wedged in between a Chinese take-out and a bike seller. It was… quant in a lot of ways, but it was clean at least, so as long as that extended to the seats and glasses it was going to be just about perfect. It took us back to our days in college honestly, wedging ourselves through narrow alleyways to get to a drink, sidestepping to avoid perpetually dripping water and finally pushing open a heavy metal door that was too old and too creaky to be completely safe.
The inside of the bar was a lot nicer than I was expecting, cluttered and aged definitely, but it had a degree of hominess that really agreed with me, even the sour faced bartender sitting with his feet on the counter and with his eyes glued on the television set in the corner seemed to fit perfectly.
“Wow,” Cara said, smiling to herself, “This definitely brings back memories.”
“Oh, customers,” The bartender said, clearing his throat and swiping a glass off the counter, “What do you want? The taps busted, so we’ve only got spirits tonight.”
“I’ll have a whiskey,” I said, waving my hand, “Doesn’t matter which type, she’ll have a gin.”
“Coming right up, sit wherever, we don’t get many customers.”
Gathering our drinks and taking a seat in the corner, much to his relief, we sat back and felt the tension already leaching out of our bodies. Even when we were in our apartments it felt like we were under pressure to keep up appearances, like we were constantly being watched and judged when we weren’t doing anything. But here… no one knew who we were, no one even knew we were here, all the pressure that had built up and up over the last few months was just… gone, just like that.
“This place doesn’t smell nearly as bad as I thought it would,” Cara said, sipping at her drink and leaning back in her seat, “So… did you want to start or should I?”
“You should probably start, you’re the one who knows properly about what you’re going through. Just… tell me everything that’s bothering you, properly, without having to worry about anyone who might be listening.”
“Kind of obvious that I was worried huh?” She laughed, though her heart wasn’t really in it, “I guess I’m not just worried about the powers themselves, I’m worried about what I’m going to do with them. Like am I actually going to be able to help all of you by using them, or are they just gonna be some cheap parlor trick that I can pull out to make everyone laugh once in a while?”
“You don’t have to help us with them though.”
“No, but I do, don’t you understand? Everyone else is working so hard to protect everyone else, to try and repair everything that’s been broken over the last few years, what kind of person would I be if I didn’t try to do that as best as I could as well?” S
he ran a hand through her hair, and for the first time it was really apparent how much everything was getting to her. “I’m not just dating someone who’s deeply involved in this, my best friend, all the people I love are involved in this, I can’t just turn away from that and pretend that other people can take care of it instead.”
“And there we go, the Cara need to help everybody.” I smiled, taking a gulp of my drink and setting the glass down. “No wonder we get along so well, you’re so focused on how you can help others that you’re never going to consider what you should do for yourself.”
“And what is that?” She asked, “If you have any ideas then please tell me, because I am completely clueless when it comes to this. ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ and all that.”
“Well you need to realize that for all that witches and paranormal people can do, the only way that anyone ever accomplishes anything is by being part of a group working towards it with them. I didn’t create the alliance by myself, I had so many people helping me who were equally dedicated to it, this was a complete group effort. But what that also means is that even if no one else joins from now on… we’ll still be able to keep doing what we’re doing, because we’ve got enough people working towards it that one or two won’t make too much of a difference.”
“You really think it wouldn’t change anything?”
“I think that if you joined in and started moving us with your powers amazing things would happen, but I also think that if you just wanted to stick to yourself and go for what you really want to do, well that would be ok as well. No one is obligated to do anything in this alliance Cara, we’re all here by choice, that’s the entire reason that it works, and you’re already doing so much to help me anyway. Don’t think that you have to give your entire soul to this to be valuable, because you are already so valuable to all of us.”
“I…” She sighed, though I caught a hint of blush that couldn’t quite be blamed on the alcohol. “I suppose that you might be right, but it still feels like I have to do something. But maybe that would go away if I just took some time to think about it, I haven’t really had time to do that at all lately, everything’s been so intense and things have been changing so much, I can barely keep up with it all.”
“Tell me about it, it’s barely been a week since I found out I have a sister-in-law, and the hits just keep coming.”
“She seems nice though, from what you told me.” She smiled, leaning on her elbow. “Lucky you, now you’ve basically got two Damons to deal with.”
“God, they’re so similar it’s scary, I don’t know how I’m going to deal with that constant bickering around me.” I said that, but the smile on my face made it obvious how I really felt. I hadn’t seen Damon smile like he did around her in a long time, it was like something had mended in his chest when he found out she was still with us. “At least now he has someone else to annoy Vincent with, or maybe Vincent has someone else to annoy Damon with, I don’t know if they’ve worked out the particulars just yet.’
“Well, good luck with that,” She giggled, “I don’t know how I’d deal with that if I was y-”
The door opened up and let a rush of cold air in, our eyes drawing to the three figures that had just walked in looking like they were fresh off a hunting trip, dirt on their shirts and scruff on their cheeks, eyes darting around the room like they were still searching for prey.
“If you want a drink then be patient,” The bartender said, shifting behind the bar and looking at them through the side of his vision, “Already got two customers who I need to take care of.”
The three of them looked over at us, and instantly I knew exactly what this was. They grinned with the full teeth that belonged to a predator, two of them marching towards us while a third stayed seated at the bar, doing his work of distracting the bartender from seeing us. Cara looked back at me with a mixture of alarm and question, waiting for me to decide what it was that we were going to do to try and get out of this. Right about now we were remembering why we were constantly being watched by people on our side.
“Easy,” I said to her, waiting for them to make the first move, “If we have to leave, we need to leave quickly. It’ll get loud.”
“I got you,” She said, “Just lead the way.”
“Hello ladies,” The lead shifter said, clapping his hands together and leaning over our table, “I hope we’re not interrupting your drinks.”
“You are,” I hissed through my teeth, “So why don’t you be polite and leave us alone? We don’t want to make a scene.”
“Oh? And you think you’ll be able to make a scene all on your own?”
“I made a pretty good one the other day, do you want to try and test me? Walk. Away.”
By now the bartender had realized that something was happening, still speaking to the shifter at the bar but his hand slowly sliding underneath the counter. Evidently it wasn’t his first time encountering trouble, we’d definitely picked both the best and worst bar to get a drink in apparently.
“I don’t think that I will walk away,” The shifter said, reaching out and wrapping his hand around my arm, “Now be a good girl and follow us, you’re going to have a word to our leader.”
Before it could show in my eyes I thrust my hand out, palm smacking into his stomach just as I focused my energy, the blast shattering his ribs and sending him flying backwards into his friend hard enough to break more bones, his leg sticking up at an angle legs were very much not supposed to stick up in by the time he landed in a groaning heap.
The shifter at the bar jumped up to join what could have been called a fight, but didn’t make it more than three steps before the bartender pressed the sawn off shotgun he’d retrieved from under the bar to the side of his head, the boom of the gun somehow louder than the blast that I’d fired off no more than a second ago as he took the shifters head off his shoulders.
“I don’t appreciate weirdos congregating in my bar,” He shouted, pointing the shotgun at us, “Now get out of here before more of them show up!”
“Ok, ok,” I said, holding my hands up and moving towards the door, “We’re leaving, you should go out the back door in case more of them show up, trust me. Call an ambulance, or the police or something, just get a lot of people here now.”
He watched us walk away silently, before jumping over the bar and grabbing his coat. The last we saw of him when we walked out into the alleyway was him running into the back of the building with a door echoing behind him. He definitely hadn’t wasted time getting out of there.
“Alright, we need to get in the car and get out of here as soon as possible, get to a friendly place downtown with a lot of people, even if they’re willing to come into town this far they might not be willing to go through the main streets.”
“That’s very smart,” A voice called out when we emerged from the alleyway, drawing our attention to the middle of the street to our right, “You have a good idea of how we operate, but evidently not a good enough one to matter.”
“Yeah?” I shouted back, “And who are you?”
“I believe that you’ve already met my husband, awkward as those meetings have been.” The heels of their boots clicked against the asphalt, a lithe form making itself seen through the light fog that had formed. “I arrived in town a few days ago and set out to… make an impact where he hadn’t, I have to say that I’m impressed that you emerged from that as well as you did.”
“You need to train your people better,” I said, taking a step forward of my own and looking around us, “If they got bested in their own ambush then I’m not sure that speaks very well of your abilities as a leader.”
“Maybe, or maybe I just wanted you to get overconfident.” She grinned, waving her hand in dismissal. “That’s not true, they just weren’t up to the challenge that day, that’s what I get for sending some of the less experienced of our number to capture you.”
“Capture me? They damn well tried to kill me.”
“Li
ke I said, less experienced. And to be fair, it sounds like they had more than their work cut out for them don’t you think? You shot one of them through the roof after all.”
“Always with the fucking roof… if you wanted to talk, or whatever it was that you wanted to do, you didn’t think that maybe we could sort it out like adults? Maybe talk things over peacefully instead of jumping into a war game?”
“My husband tried to get you to discuss things with him peacefully, he tried last night in fact. Tell me, how successful was he in getting what we wanted?” She stood there, hand cupped over her ear before she clicked her tongue and nodded. “That’s right, it hasn’t accomplished anything. So now I’m going to take what you wouldn’t give us of your own accord. You have no one to blame for this but yourself.”
The crunching of ceiling tiles above us drew my attention, right before I lifted my hand and shot a blast of fire into the sky, lighting up the night and flash melting the snow around us, catching one of the shifters dropping towards us in the blast and sending him crashing to the ground ablaze, scrambling towards the nearest pile of snow to put himself out. The second managed to just avoid the blast, rolling and lunging towards us, clipping my arm with his claws and grabbing Cara in his arms, dragging her against the wall and holding his arm around her throat.
“Put your hands up and get down,” He growled, “Or I swear to God I’ll bleed the bitch.”
I clenched my teeth, my fist aching to shoot forward even as I forced myself not to, even as her eyes told me to just go ahead and do it. But I couldn’t, not with my best friend right in the firing line, not when she would be dead before anything that I could do to save her. So it was with the sight of her with tears in her eyes and her lips dragging out an anguished “No” that I dropped to my knees, waiting for them to take me away to whatever fate it was that awaited us.
And soon enough, when one of them marched forward and smashed me in the side of the head with his fist, that was exactly what happened.
