Author's Note: Okay, so for those that didn't like the ending of "Pride Goeth Before the Fall," here is your alternate ending. This starts after Chapter 50, when Lady Jaye visited Destro at the prison. I'm a sucker for "happily ever afters" as well, so here's what else was playing out in my mind while writing. I hope you enjoy (especially if you didn't agree with the other ending!).
Grunt and Stealth met her at the door, and they walked out together in silence. Her mind was racing with the information her uncle had given her. She was starting to feel less guilty about what she had become….or at least, thought she had become.
She cast a sidelong glance at her companions. Was it true, like Destro had said, that their thirst for the kill had rubbed off on her? That to be away from it would help lessen her own hunger and delight in the hunt? God, she hoped so!
If she was having doubts and guilt, she reasoned, she wasn't totally the monster she had assumed she had become. If she wasn't the monster, then why sign on for another year? Then again, she frowned, what was out there waiting for her? Sure, she could go back to MARS and work for the family, or she could rejoin MI-6. They had already been asking her to come back full-time, after she had taken a year's hiatus from the organization.
Neither one appealed to her, she realized. No, the one thing that did…well, that wasn't going to happen. The sigh escaped her lips before she could suppress it.
Stealth looked at her, one eyebrow raised. "Troubles, princess?" he asked her.
"Just reflecting on things," she admitted.
He was about to speak again when his attention was diverted by a shadowy figure waiting by their car. He frowned. What now? They had taken care of everything back at the wedding….or so he had assumed.
He felt Grunt tense and knew he had noticed the figure as well. He glanced at Alison and realized she, too, had noticed the figure, but her body language was…strange. She wasn't prepared for attack, he realized, so she must recognize the figure. Great. Just what they needed – another distraction. He and Grunt had sworn to protect and guide her…as well as convince her to sign on for another year of duty. So far, they had been most successful with that.
"Dash?" she asked, and Stealth's eyes narrowed. This was the last person they wanted to see.
Flint stepped forward into the glow of the security light.
"Allie, I need to talk to you." His voice was rough and Stealth detected a note of desperation. Not good for them, and he could see by Grunt's hard look he agreed.
"We don't have time for this," he heard Grunt mutter to Alison, and he agreed. What was wrong with this human? Couldn't he take no for an answer?
She held up a hand. "Just a moment," she murmured. "I want to hear what he has to say." She smiled indulgently at the two. "I know we need to leave, but…just give us a moment in private, okay?"
She stepped forward to meet with the human male, and Grunt and Stealth reluctantly stayed where they were. At Grunt's nod, he too held his hand on his weapon, ready to rid themselves of this pest once and for all should he make a wrong move.
"I don't have much time," Allie stated, arms crossed over her chest in a defensive move.
"I know," he said, running a nervous hand through his hair. "I just couldn't let you leave with the way things are."
"And how are they?" she asked, arching a brow in a mirror image of Stealth's earlier move.
He glanced at the two behind her and sighed. "Isn't there somewhere we can go, for coffee, or a drink? Somewhere where we're not chaperoned?"
She glanced at her watch. "I wish we could," she said, the wistfulness creeping into her voice, "but I have a deadline I have to attend. I wish…." she paused, her voice apologetic.
He sighed again. "Look, I just want to say…." This time, it was he who paused, not sure how to put the words together so that she would understand. So that she would stay.
She squashed the glimmer of hope she had begun to feel. Hadn't this happened before, only to turn out all wrong? "You didn't follow me all this way for nothing. Out with it," she snapped, irritated. Why was he doing this to her? Again? Did he really need to rehash this all again with her?
"This isn't exactly going the way I wanted," he admitted sheepishly. "I was hoping we could go somewhere and talk." He made a swooping gesture with his arm. "I hadn't envisioned us discussing this in the middle of a parking lot at a prison!"
She glanced at her watch. "Look, I need to fly out….well, now. Why don't you drive me to the airstrip in your car and we can talk along the way?" I'll give him that much, she thought, but not any more.
"I don't think that's a wise decision," Grunt spoke, stepping forward. "We're on a tight schedule and if you're not back on time…."
She sighed, rolling her eyes. "You have a better suggestion? Look, I'll drive if that's what you're worried about. You can follow us there, or lead. I really don't care which, as long as we get going!"
The two demons seemed to communicate silently to one another before they finally, reluctantly, nodded. "We'll follow," Stealth said grudgingly.
"Fine," sighed Allie, tired of the back and forth. She looked at Flint. "Which car?"
He waved his hand at a rental which had seen better days and handed her the keys.
She glanced over at the plush sports car they had driven and shrugged. She had driven worse than this little rental, although it sure as hell wouldn't be as fun to drive as theirs.