My breaths are heavy and only slightly labored, and my arms hang at my sides, but I know I can reach for my small knife if necessary. It might cause me to get my throat bitten out, though, which is why I haven't yet reached for it. The woman focuses intently on my bloodied face, likely recognizing that the fight could easily be far from over.

"Speak." She says to me in a tone that brokers no argument or hesitation.

"Cassandra Bentham."

She narrows her eyes on me, almost like she doesn't believe me. Her grip tightens, and I realize she doesn't believe me.

"Delilah Falk is her maker."

She hisses and immediately releases her grip on me. It's a startling reversal, so much so that I stagger forward and fall to my knees before I can catch my balance. Seeing the woman release me makes the enraged form of Khalil, with his maw dripping saliva down onto the face of the man, slowly release the rifle from his mouth and pull his weight off of the very, very severely wounded vampire. Aria doesn't immediately release the vampire she was savaging, but she does lower her arm. She doesn't loosen her grip on the vampire's neck, though.

I reach a hand up to my nose and face, trying to stem the bleeding. The woman looks over at the other two vampires and speaks in a language I don't recognize, but I do recognize the names "Cassandra Bentham" and "Delilah Falk" somewhere in the mix of it. The man that was being mauled by Khalil slowly moves but doesn't stand up. His voice is hoarse and pained when he responds to the woman in the same language. The other man, still being held by Aria, slowly holds his hands up at her, not joining his comrades in conversation, and wisely, he is much more concerned with the creature holding him down to the ground.

I slowly start to pull myself off of the ground, feeling the wetness of blood trickling down my side and arm from where the bullet got me in the shoulder not but a few minutes earlier. I press my hand up to the wound now that the blood coming from my face seems to have slowed a bit from the headbutt I received.

"We're looking for people of our kind." I exhale through deep breaths. "They were here. Maybe just a couple of weeks ago."

"What do you know of Delilah Falk and Cassandra Bentham?" The woman says to me, her calculating eyes keeping track of me as I move around.

"Not answering that," I mutter as I stagger to locate and pick up my compound bow.

"Aria, let him up. Khalil, you good?" The bear grunts, but Khalil stays precisely where he is, about two feet from the vampire sitting on his backside, focusing intently on healing his wounds.

Aria very, very slowly releases her grip on the neck of the vampire, her jagged maw of teeth letting a hissing, low-grade snarl out from somewhere deep in her body. It's terrifying to hear, so I can't even imagine being the man currently having it directed at him. His body is healing, too, as I see some of the gouges in his chest underneath his bulletproof vest sealing themselves. He scoots along the ground, putting at least ten feet between him and Aria.

"What do you know? Where's the people who were here?" I ask the dark-skinned vampire woman standing next to me more directly. She seems to be looking towards the man sitting on the ground next to Khalil for guidance and, yet again, speaks to him in a language we can't follow.

"Lady, speak plainly, or the bullshit starts up again." I try to icily state, hoping I sound severe enough to make it intimidating.

She flashes me a look that could easily lead to violence, but she's restraining herself. Perhaps those two name drops mean more than I initially gave them credit for, so I lean into it.

"Cassandra Bentham knows exactly where we are, so don't get any stupid fucking ideas."

"Fine. We'll speak normally." She says in a tone entirely clipped.

The man standing next to Khalil slowly pushes off of the ground, groaning and grunting with the faintest bit of pain. Any human alive would have been screaming in agony. As he stands to full height, I can see the damage Khalil was doing to him with just his weight, strength, and claws. His body armor is completely shredded, only being held up by one strap. Part of his dark pants are shredded, too, showing icy white, pale skin underneath the dark fabric, which is still healing. If the man hadn't used his assault rifle to hold back Khalil's jaws, there's no doubt in my mind that Khalil would have absolutely torn his face and upper body to shreds, likely killing him like Aria did that one unlucky one.

"My name is Rhys. The woman you are speaking to is Christina, and that is Vincent."

I don't tell Aria or Khalil to give up their shapeshifted fey forms, and the vampires seem to respect the danger they're still in.

"Are there more of you?"

"No," the man exhales in response. "Only the four of us. The woman your fr–friend killed was Opal."

"I don't give a shit who she was. Answer my original question."

My anger is starting to rise, along with the throbbing pain in my shoulder as my adrenaline continues to ebb away. With the bow in my hand, I know I can't use it without one of the vampires being on me, so I don't make sudden movements.

"We know where your people are. We'll take you there if you want."

"Are there more vampires there?"

There's some hesitation from the man, which answers my question before he even has to.

"Oh sure, yeah, let me agree to go to your fucking main base or whatever, full of vampires. Let's get right on that train to idiot town. You think we're fucking stupid, guy? We're not going anywhere with you, and you're not leaving. So unless you want to find out how pretty the sun is, you better start making real strides towards figuring out this shit. I figure you got what, three, maybe four, hours or so before the shining sun makes its appearance? Sun rises in the east, motherfucker; better start thinking quick."

The anger is flowing through me now, and that's probably the first time in my life I've felt like the one in control over a situation with a wild amount of variables. The three vampires initially seem unsure of how to react, almost as if they were expecting a docile reaction from any faeries they encounter.

Surprisingly, Rhys doesn't appear that intimidated; he's just more confused about their situation. Maybe he's just an excellent card player. He carefully measures his voice when he looks at me to speak.

"I'm going to tell you something you won't like."

"Out with it then, pal."

"We already radioed for the hounds."

"Not worried about some dogs. We're from the Wilds."

Rhys turns his head to check on Vincent and then at Christina. She nods at him, and Rhys slowly puts his rifle over his shoulder on its miraculously still attached strap. He holds his hands up, then presses them together like he was praying at an altar or speaking to idiot children.

"Alright, let me clarify my statement. These aren't normal dogs. They've been bred and fed vampire blood since birth. The first thing they were fed when they dropped out of their mothers was vampire blood every single day of their development. They aren't just 'some dogs,' understand?"

"Radio back and say everything is fine, then call them back."

"Not going to happen." After Rhys says that, Khalil growls beside him, his deep bear tenor encouraging the man to continue. "What I mean to say is once they're loosed on the property, they can't be just called back. They have to be wrangled by our stable hands. They're coming, and they're going to attack anything that doesn't smell like a vampire, including someone with a patron, understand?"

"Yeah, fuck you, nice try," I growl back at him.

Rhys smiles, and there's no kindness there; his bloodied face and lips are all malicious-compliance-worthy.

"So, yes, you're right that we could, in fact, just wait. I don't think that's the best idea, though. The smarter idea is to agree to come with us, and we will grant you and your two friends peace until you speak with our liege lord."

"Nope. See, I know a bit how animal training works, you lying piece of shit. One of the first things you do is teach a heel command and teach the word to whoever interacts with the animal. So I know you have a heel command, and I'm betting it's in your fancy vampire language. Now the real question is: does the fey with a patron know the word? Tricky, tricky." I don't know if it's the adrenaline or being close to immediate danger, but the words and lies spill out of me in the prettiest version of the "truth."

Aria starts to advance on "Vincent," her grotesque hand talons spreading further and further apart. All it would take is the wrong word or move, and all six of us would be back into violence.

"You're smarter than the last group. I suppose that makes sense."

"Keep it up. Do you think you can get away from them?" I nod at Aria and Khalil. "I'm thinking I could probably play monkey ball and keep away from Christina here long enough for Aria to rip your friend Vincent's head clean off and help me with Christina. You? Eh, fifty-fifty chance Khalil doesn't rip you in half this time in the first three seconds since you kindly put up your rifle."

"Alright. Fine. We'll call off the dogs. Vincent!" He probably purposely calls for Vincent because Aria's advancing on him. "Vincent, go radio in again; call off the dogs. Tell them we're sorting out the disturbance for now."

Vincent gets up carefully from the ground and pushes the arrow I lanced into his leg through and out of the other side with a loud grunt of pain. He drops the arrow and then hobbles a few feet backward.

"Let 'em go, Aria." She slowly comes to a stop, staring her bloody red orbs for eyes at Vincent for as long as it takes him to hobble and then run across the glade.

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"Alright now, I gather your people are named Khalil and Aria. May I know who I'm speaking to?"

Khalil's bulk turns, and the grunts and growls from him don't need much of a translation. He doesn't trust the vampire any more than I do. I'm relying on a sliver of information and a prayer that I have a convincing silver tongue. Otherwise, Christina is likely going to be able to tear out my throat before Aria can get to me.

"Orion." I finally say.

"Suiting name. You're an excellent shot and exceptional at covering yourself."

"Enough. Tick tock, pal. You said you know where our people are."

"The ground you are literally standing on is the property of the House of the Bear. My question is why you, with a patron from the Falcon House, are here without permission?"

"What makes you think I don't have permission?"

The two vampires blurt out laughs at the same time, making me internally cringe. When they look back at me, I know they now realize that half of what I've been saying is bullshit.

"Ah, I see now." Rhys murmurs in sudden apparent amusement.

"Laugh if you want, but now it's three on two, and your dogs aren't coming. Maybe you should worry a little less about my permission and more about how you may not see the sunrise, and if you do, well, poof anyway, right?"

"You do make a good point. So, we can sort this out civilly, don't you think?"

The vibrating ring on my finger tells me otherwise.

"Yeah, I also know you want to take my head clean off, Rhys, so stop playing pretend."

"Of course I do. You just killed my first scion. Well, your friend Aria did, I suppose. I'd love nothing better than to tie you to the back of two cars and drive off in opposite directions until you were in pieces. But, I must be polite because I represent the interests of my liege lord."

"I'm listening," I murmur, trying to resist the terrible stinging pain kicking up from my nose, back, side, and shoulder.

"Turn over the faeries to us now. Enough with these vampire stall tactics." Aria's voice comes in, a warble of barely restrained violence, much like the hissing of alligators being disturbed.

"And how am I to do that, creature? I don't see them here; I already told you where they are. You must return with us to claim them or trust that we bring them here. Neither is a good option. I'm talking with your leader. Maybe you should just be quiet." Rhys responds derisively to Aria.

"What about Tallulah?" Christina murmurs in Rhys' direction. He immediately flashes her a look with some heat behind it as if she shouldn't have said anything.

"Wait, I know that name." I tilt my head. "What about her?"

Rhys starts to speak, but he doesn't realize Aria did not appreciate being brushed off like she is the hired help, or spoken to in the way he did. He poorly judges the "power dynamic" of our group, incorrectly thinking I am the be-all and end-all of decision-makers.

"I wouldn't wor-dre-URGHK!"

Rhys splutters as Aria comes straight up behind him, slamming both of her hands with their jagged, razor-sharp talons into his back and out the tattered remains of the front of his bulletproof vest. Her maw has clamped onto his shoulder, and she uses the leverage to twist violently. He manages a scream before she brutally tears him into the exact halves he'd just threatened me with.

As Rhys starts to break down into ash and bone, Christina goes wide-eyed and, being the last vampire remaining with us, immediately races toward the nearest tree. Aria throws her head back and howls an unholy noise, like a deep rumbling crackle from a shifting, creaking glacier. I'd never heard such a throaty noise before, and it startled even me. Before I had a chance to react, Christina had pulled herself up about thirty or so feet into the air.

Aria dashes underneath the tree that Christina has climbed up, and I run over to grab one of her arms–with my free yet blood-slicked hand–to stop her from continuing to rampage.

"Wait, Aria! We need one of them!"

She slams her arm down, shoving me off with a vicious force that topples me down to the ground a few feet nearby. I grunt in pain loudly as my broken ribs and bleeding shoulder wound slam into the ground. The sound of my pain seems to shake Aria out of her murderous trance, and she quickly looks at me and then up at Christina.

"Sorry, Orion." She hisses in my direction, and it probably isn't meant to sound like grinding glass, but it does. I groan for another moment before letting her carefully help me back up. After a few moments, once I have my breath back in me, I call up into the tree.

"Christina! We're not going to attack you!"

"Right," comes a sarcastic, rapid reply from above.

"Seriously, let's get this sorted. We want our people. You seem to know more than that other guy wanted to share, so let's be civil like you wanted, huh?" I pause, waiting to see if there's any reply. I see her head moving up in the tree, searching out a potential exit plan, and not yet finding one. I finally yelled up to her when it was clear she wasn't going to respond to what I first said.

"Tallulah? You said her name."

"Do you agree to speak with her?"

I look down at Aria and Khalil, but since Aria is the only one who can kind of vocalize, I speak to her.

"Tallulah, I remember her from the village during our other trading runs for gasoline. Older fey. Don't remember what she does; I just remember meeting at some point, so she's not lying about them existing, at the least."

"Will you recognize her voice?" Aria hisses once again in response.

"Yeah, I think so, probably."

Aria shakes out her hands and looks over at Khalil. I take that to mean she wants me to handle it. So, I turn my head back up to the tree and yell back up at Christina.

"Yeah, I'll talk to her. Come down, and let's get this sorted out."

"Have the bear change back; you'll still have your whatever-the-hell that is." She's clearly referring to Aria.

"Alright." I nod to Khalil, and he grunts a few times before shaking his coat back and forth. I lower my voice to a whisper. "Man, do it. I need someone to help me tie up my shoulder, and I can't keep trying to stop the bleeding on my own."

That's all it takes. Khalil's fur immediately starts to fall away as his bones crack and reset. His face, legs, hands, and back return to how they were right before he shifted, clothing and all. The only difference is that Khalil has very pronounced bags underneath his eyes, openly showing signs of physical exhaustion.

"Alright, Christina, right? Come on down now."

A few moments pass, and she lowers herself carefully and gracefully down the tree. She lands a few feet from us.

"We have to get to the ATV to use the more powerful radio. It's why Vincent had to run back to have the radio used to call for and stop the dogs."

"Sure. You lead, we'll follow. If your friend Vincent does anything stupid, he'll be K-I-A number three."

"He's too much of a coward to do anything alone." At that, she carefully moves past Aria, clearly respecting the raw power of the old redcap.

"Hold on, we need our backpacks. I've got to get this bleeding stopped on my shoulder."

"She isn't your patron, is she?" Christina says from right next to me, extremely quietly, when it's mostly just her and I walking together for a few long seconds.

I tense and try to roll through about a thousand answers but ultimately fail to come up with one. My hesitation is precisely the same as when I knew Rhys was about to lie earlier.

"I didn't think so," Christina murmurs.

"Why would you say that?" Responding in a murmur, I hope to sound confident, as if she were being ridiculous.

"Because, if she were, you'd be able to use her blood in you to heal that wound of yours slowly. She would have told you that." She quietly answers.

Fuck.

I slowly turn my pale eyes towards Christina to see what she's planning on doing. She impassively returns a look at me, betraying no emotion or intentions whatsoever. The silence spreads out to about ten seconds–an eternity.

"You were looking for your packs, I believe." She finally says, at full volume.

"Right." I start to move again, my hand pressing against my shoulder wound to keep putting pressure on it. I don't even want to look at my side and arm to see how much blood I've lost. Both are sticky from the blood that has already flowed since I was tagged with the assault rifle bullet.

It doesn't take long for us to find where Khalil and I dropped our packs. I take a brief detour to pick up the arrows I'd left in a pile next to shrubbery and the tree where I took my first shots of the evening. When I return to the packs, I sit down on the ground, trusting that Aria is going to hold vigil over Khalil and me while he helps me bandage up my wound.

"Anything other than your shoulder, dude?"

"Think she broke a couple of my ribs, probably my nose, but I can't do shit about that right now."

"I can help to patch him up." Christina carefully intones. Aria hisses behind her menacingly, but to Christina's credit, she doesn't flinch away.

"I saw this on a TV show. You're not going to make me get infected, lady."

"What?" Christina sounds bewildered. "I am trained in some degree of first aid."

"Why would you help?"

"Because I rather like living, and if I help you, then I'll likely make it through this shit night."

She makes a good point. I drop my stack of arrows and bow next to me and slowly reach over to open my backpack. My fingers are sticky with my blood, and I smear it a little as I'm searching around for my medical gauze. I pull out the whole box and toss it in Christina's direction. Khalil looks slightly concerned, but I give him an "it's okay" look. Christina moves over and picks up the box of gauze.

"Tear a strip off of either Rhys or Opal's clothing. I'll need it to tighten down on the wound."

Christina instructs, and Khalil begrudgingly goes to the closest pile of clothing, which happens to be Opal's. He grabs the entire black shirt she left behind in its tattered form and comes back, tearing it into halves before winding it up a bit so it functions a little bit more like a rope.

"Take off your shirt, Mister Orion."

I grimace and start to comply, but my ribs catch, and pain shoots up my side. I try to play it off, but Christina doesn't miss anything with her sharp eyes. Khalil comes over and helps me to tug off my shirt. I look down at my shoulder with its ragged bullet wound from the assault rifle and the amount of blood that's spilled down my arm and side from it.

"This will hurt, but you will be alright."

"Shit, I've lost a lot of blood."

"Yes, but you will be fine. You have a lot more in you."

I started to protest, but then I just stopped. I figure a vampire probably knows a little more about how much blood is in a body than I do. With my shirt off, Christina carefully wraps my wound in the fresh gauze. She uses the entire box, tightly wrapping it with skilled hands. She looks back at Khalil, who then hands her the remnants of Opal's shirt. Christina wraps it directly over the wound several times, then pulls it exceptionally tight. The pain definitely rates high on the scale, and for a moment, I see spots in my vision. She ties down the shirt directly on the wound, and when she finishes, nothing moves.

"This should hold until you reach medical assistance."

"Um, thanks, I guess."

"I can wrap your ribs, but it won't do much with so little fabric."

"I'm good. Let's get moving to that ATV of yours."

I hold out my hand to Khalil for my shirt, and instead of handing it to me, he worriedly helps me put it back on top of Christina's work on my shoulder. The amount of blood on my side and arm clearly has shaken Khalil, and when Christina starts to move in front of us in the direction of the glade, I set a hand briefly on his shoulder to let him know I'm okay. As we're walking behind Christina, I realize the silver ring on my finger hasn't been vibrating since Aria killed Rhys.

As we draw close to the ATV, the vampire Vincent, with his absolutely forgettable looks, shoots out of the seat he was in. He looks ready to run when he sees there's no Rhys. Christina holds a hand up to him.

"Have them get Tallulah on the radio." Vincent looks at the three of us behind Christina and hesitates.

"Where's Rhys?"

"Dead. Do it, Vincent." Christina's voice is deadly serious.

He carefully slides back into the ATV, and I move onto the other side of the same front seat he's using. He carefully flips on two switches and then calls in to a main radio operator. He states that he has been ordered to get Tallulah directly on the radio and refuses to give more information when a different vampire responds rather than the radio operator. He carefully repeats the same phrase he used before: Christina was ordering him to get Tallulah on the radio immediately.

The five of us stand there around the ATV, each side not trusting the other and yet calmly waiting for whoever speaks through the radio to us next.

What a night this has turned out to be.