Rory

The world raced by as Byron ran. Rory cautiously dropped her guard and allowed herself to enjoy a few moments of company with the vampire. Perhaps he was right that it was ancient history. Perhaps she was too tired to care. Perhaps she just enjoyed the feeling of the wind in her hair.

The breeze from his speed shifted as he rounded a corner, filling her nose with his musky aroma. She noticed, with some amazement, there wasn’t a single bead of sweat on his chin or a gasp for air. Her thoughts drifted to where else he could use his superhuman stamina, and her cheeks burned. She was thankful he’d offered piggyback so he couldn’t see her blush.

“Doc,” he said, lessening his pace.

“Huh?” She searched the road, but the landscape was more of the same. Dead or dying vegetation and crumbled remnants of civilization.

“In the woods.” He nodded his head to their right. “First heard movements a few minutes ago and thought we’d have to avoid running into some Blues. That was until I heard your other friend complaining.”

The unmistakable shape of Sven broke free from behind some brush, followed by the shadow of Doc. Rory’s heart jumped in her chest and she squirmed to get down. “Doc! Sven!”

“Careful,” Byron said, gently putting her down on her good leg.

A smile stretched across Doc’s face, but his eyes failed to meet hers. In fact, she noticed they failed to meet anything. He must have used his abilities recently. What shape was Sven in after the blast? She hugged Byron and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Her lips left his face, and she recoiled. What is wrong with you, Rory? she thought, but it felt weird leaving it like that. “Um, thank you, I guess.”

“It was my-”

“Oi! Fuck off you undead cunt,” Sven said, attempting to run, but Doc held his shirt and jacket in a meaty fist.

“Apologies for my friend. He seems to have forgotten his manners. Are you okay, Rory?” Doc asked.

“Yes. I’ll be there in a second.” She turned and said, “You can go now” but Byron had already vanished into the trees.

“You’re safe.” Doc’s voice was rough behind her. “I thought…” he swallowed hard and put a hand on her shoulder. “I thought you-”

“I’m better now that I’ve found you two,” she said, weaving her fingers into his with a light squeeze. “But what about you? Can you see?”

“It’s coming back. Sven had a care package from Nadine. We waited for a while, but after morning I couldn’t—I mean, we couldn’t wait anymore and figured we’d go look too.”

“Got it right the first time. I tried tellin’ the big ox we should wait in case you came back there but he ran off. Figured someone needed to keep an eye on ‘im.”

Doc let out a plaintive breath. “Good eyes. We nearly got lost out there.”

“Here’s Rory and there’s the road. Thinkin’ I didn’t do so bad.”

“This should lead us back to the cart,” Doc said, squinting around him as they walked. “You’re limping.”

“Yeah, but I’ve got a crutch-” she said before Doc pulled her up and into his arms. She sighed and resigned herself to being another man’s burden. Sven grabbed the primitive crutch and inspected it as they continued.

“I’ll heal you up when we get to Betts,” Doc said with an apologetic look on his face. “Don’t want to be helpless if something shows up. Can’t let you down again.”

He’s blaming himself that I got taken. “Nobody could have known the Blueskins would ambush us.”

“Something wasn’t right about the whole scene. Blueskins don’t really have enough sense to pull that off.”

“Big Chair,” Rory said. “I heard him and the way he talked; he’s smarter than the others. He’s the one that set the whole thing up, probably. But… You said it was weird that we were being sent out there on such short notice.”

“Huh? You take a smack on the head, love? Did the bad leech have a nip of you?”

“I did get hit on the head, but someone in Alma might be working with the Blueskins leader—Big Chair.”

Doc asked, “Why would the Catherine be working with the Blueskins?”

“He’s collecting people like us and something tells me the Catherine wouldn’t be sad to see us all gone.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, gonna have to hear more about that first bit,” Sven said, suddenly interested in the conversation.

“The way I hear it, he has three witches already, and I was meant to join them. Maggie, the woman in the Blueskin camp that helped me escape-”

Doc looked down at her in his arms and frowned. “You were being held at a camp?”

“Yeah, it’s how I heard the Big Chair. But don’t worry about that. Maggie said he had three. A blonde woman with light power, a memory woman, and some guy that yells a lot. I think that’s what she said, at least.”

Doc flinched, and his chest collapsed.

“Bastards got Lena and Holga,” Sven said.

“We’re going to have a long talk with the Catherine when we get back to camp,” Doc said through gritted teeth.

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“You know the three Maggie was talking about?”

“The first two, yeah. They’re a team of scouts—like Sven and I. Hadn’t seen them for a while, but we figured they were off doing something else. They did that sometimes.”

“I just figured they were off on pleasure. Don’t know the screamin’ bloke though.”

“Neither do I, but they were on the lookout for a new Starfall.”

“Where does Byron fit into all this?” Rory asked, her thoughts drifting back to their run through the Blues territory. “How did he know to be there?”

“No clue. You sure he didn’t hurt you?” Doc asked.

“I’m sure.”

“What if he did and made ya forget about it,” Sven said and moved her hair to inspect her neck. “No bite marks.”

She suppressed the urge to tell them Byron was the vampire who’d chased her the night she traveled. It wouldn’t go over well. “No. Mostly, he was a perfect gentleman…”

“I’m thankful he kept his word and brought you back, but don’t forget he’s a vampire.”

“Oh, I won’t,” she said and laughed uneasily. If only they knew.

They arrived at the cart and Betts greeted them with a hearty snort. As they rode, Rory filled them in on everything else that happened while Doc healed her ankle and wounded scalp. When she was out of things to tell, it grew quiet and she dozed against Doc’s warm shoulder.

Finally, the cart came to a stop outside Nadine’s home. Sven disappeared while Doc drank his tea. Road weary, Rory climbed the stairs to her new bedroom and collapsed on top of the covers.

* * *

Hours later, the smell of coffee roused Rory from slumber, and she made her way downstairs. Nadine, understanding the need for caffeine before conversation, poured two cups and sat down beside her.

“Rough first day,” Rory said.

“That’s one way of putting it. Doc and Sven gave me the rundown. I still want to get your side. When you’re up to it.” Nadine glanced sideways at her. “Are you holding up okay?”

“I think so? My brain still can’t catch up if that makes sense.”

“Still waiting to wake up in your old bed?”

Rory nodded, staring into the black depths of her cup. “Does that ever go away?”

“Promise I’ll tell you if mine ever does.”

“Maybe it would be easier if I knew why we’re here.”

“Some answers aren’t meant to be given until you’re ready to know.” Nadine sighed. “At least that’s what I keep telling myself. We’ll find out when we’re ready.” She took a sip and snorted a laugh. “However, by this point I’m pretty sure that’s one hundred percent bullshit.”

“What’s your story? Before all this, I mean.”

“I was a witch. Not like now, but I’d always felt like there was something just out of reach. So, I read books, any books on the occult and the blossoming neopagan scene that I could find. I learned how to read tea leaves and tarot to help pay the bills. Helped to tend a few gardens in my travels. Got involved with environmental awareness too. It’s all a bit of a blur, to be honest. Until the morning after the first Earth Day. The cards showed me the wheel of fortune and death. By night, I was here.”

“Was it easier for you? I mean, I was a waitress at a crappy restaurant in Nowhere-ville and nothing prepared me for all this.”

“Well, it’s one thing to read about the strange and wonderful things that can happen. And another to live through them. So, no. Not one bit.” She laughed and shook her head. “Doc and I both traveled around the same time. We worked with the previous Catherine to get our little plots of land and get something built for the new witches as they came in.”

“So, did you and Doc ever…” Rory raised her eyes at Nadine over her coffee cup.

“Did we ever sleep together? Goddess, no. Doc wasn’t exactly the sanest man in the world when he got here. He watched a lot of men die. War screwed him up long before he got here. As time passes, he gets better. Didn’t think he was interested in girls since he didn’t really look at one that way until…” She broke off, frowning at her coffee. “Be good to him. Okay? He gets mushy eyes when you’re around.”

Rory blushed. “He’s very sweet…”

“There’s a but in there somewhere.”

“But. He’s one of the first people I met here and one of the few people I actually trust.”

“There’s someone else you’re not talking about. Sven?” Nadine asked.

“Ew. No. Gross. Not that there’s anything wrong with him he’s just… Sven.”

Nadine smirked. “He’s got a certain way about him that’s not for everyone, I can see that. What about the vampire you met?”

“I don’t know,” Rory said and the tips of her ears burned. “Nothing can happen there. Obviously.”

“There it is,” Nadine said with a satisfied grin.

“He’s frustrating.”

“How so?”

“Well, he’s a vampire. I can’t help but wonder when he looks at me, if all he’s seeing is dinner. Besides that, I don’t know how to explain it exactly. We didn’t talk much at all, we just kept stealing little glances at each other. I’d look over to see him watching me and afraid I’d say something stupid; I’d look away as quickly as possible. I couldn’t stop smiling.”

Nadine gave her a troubled look. “Hmm… Okay.”

“He ran with me on his back and it was amazing. Wind was blowing my hair around. And he didn’t even break a sweat.”

“Because he’s a vampire.”

“I know.” Rory took a deep breath and looked at her hands. “To make it worse—and please don’t tell Doc or Sven—he’s the one… the vampire at the diner. The one that chased me.” Rory put her forehead against the table and moaned. “And he smells amazing.”

“The ones that are the worst for you always do.”

“After all that, the night of sideways glances, turbo-charged piggy back rides and whatever else. When I gave him a hug to thank him for getting me to Doc and Sven safely, I forgot myself and kissed him. I mean, it was only on the cheek, but...”

“At least you didn’t end up being his midnight snack.”

“That’s true.” Rory took another drink of coffee and looked at Nadine thoughtfully. “So, you and Sven, huh?”

“What?” Nadine went scarlet. “Did he tell you that?”

“No, but he looks at you, well, different.”

“All right, you told me the vampire thing so, yes. Once.” She covered her face with her hands and spoke through them. “It was years ago, and I needed his masculine energy to test how sex magic worked over here.”

“Did it? Work, I mean?”

“I mean, yeah but…”

Rory put her head on Nadine’s shoulder. “Our taste in men sucks, huh?”

“Literally for you.”

The two met eyes and laughed. It felt good to forget the pain and horror from the last few nights. For a few minutes, they were normal women gossiping together over coffee. “Thank you for taking me in,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “It’s nice to have somewhere that feels like home in the middle of all this.”

The front door banged open and Doc charged through. “We need to leave.”

“And I jinxed myself,” Rory said, letting her head fall back on the table.

“Why? Doc, what’s going on?” Nadine asked.

“The Catherine is what’s going on. I just had quite the talk with her.”

“You need to calm down. What did she say?”

“Well, like I told you earlier, Rory said the Blueskin’s leader had Lena and Holga. Since this was news to me, I decided I’d have a little chat with the Catherine. So, I asked her if she’d heard anything from Lena or Holga since they’d been gone.”

“And?” Nadine asked.

“Supposedly, she’d received word they were found dead a few days ago. Keep in mind, she ‘knew’ about their deaths before we were even sent out. But according to her, it didn’t even cross her mind to tell us.” Doc paced, clenching and unclenching his fists so hard Rory could hear his knuckles crunch.

Nadine raised an eyebrow and asked, “What did you do?”

“Let’s just say, I told her she should pull her self-righteous head out of her ass—in so many words,” he said and shot her a wild-eyed look.

“Oh, shit.”

His shoulders slouched. “Yeah. So, then I get escorted out by the Daughters. And Grace, you know Grace, right?”

She rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah. Fuck her. One of these days you might have the displeasure of meeting her, Rory. She acts as the Catherine’s right hand.”

“Just wait, it gets better,” Doc said and laughed bitterly. “Grace came out shortly after and said the Catherine demanded all the witches leave Alma immediately. No questions, no further debate. We need to go. I already kicked Sven out of bed, he’ll be over shortly. We need to get our stuff and get the hell out of this place. We’ll figure out where to go from there.”