A/N: These are a collection of ficlets I wrote for the Murking Fantasy summer challenge on LJ. They can all be found there, if you are inclined to look, but I'll be uploading them all at some point this weekend. Each one is a story in itself, and they range from Dragon's Bait, to Companions of the Night, to Heir Apparent.

Title: Seagulls
Author: RelenaFanel
Book: Companions of the Night
Pairing: Kerry/Ethan

It was one of those warm summer evenings where the humidity of the day pressed on your skin like a sick thick coating of emotion, so strong that it was difficult to breathe. Even the skirt and tank top Kerry was wearing seemed like too much clothing, and sweat dripped down her back at an embarrassing rate. She sat on top of a picnic bench overlooking the harbor, her feet braced against the seat as she stared into the dark, gently lapping waves below. The air smelled of salty seaweed and beneath that the more noxious scent of garbage. Within hearing distance was a carnival, and the area was alight with garish colors and screaming people. Kerry made sure she was in an isolated corner, but close enough to the crowd that she could slip among them and get lost. She was starting to get used to, and even good at, subterfuge. Sometimes she thought she was in training.

Kerry threw a piece of popcorn at a lone seagull, resisting the urge to check her watch one more time. She tried not to sigh when her spine prickled with the sensation of being watched. She kept her eyes on the black swirling water, but opened her ears to listen for noises hiding under the constant lullaby of waves. Still, he was practically sitting beside her before she noticed his approach.

"You're alone," he said, and it wasn't a question. If she hadn't been, he wouldn't have approached.

"Except for this seagull," Kerry informed him, tossing another kernel of the stale popcorn.

Michel looked appalled. "Don't feed it."

"You don't think it's listening, do you?"

"What? Like a weregull or something? No."

"I didn't think seagulls were nocturnal creatures." Kerry used the implied question to turn towards him so she could see the dark line of his hair, and his remarkable face. He had shaved his head so that his scalp was covered in a black fuzz, and Kerry felt disappointment well in her chest. She loved it when he came to her with long straight hair that she yearned to run her fingers through. Luckily, as far as she could tell in the dark, his other features were the same as they had been years, decades, or centuries ago when he had first died.

"Do you think that since I'm nocturnal that I would know what else is?" He watched the water as he spoke, never turning towards her. Kerry took the hint and twisted back on her perch to echo his body language.

"It was a thought," she responded. "That I based more on the idea that maybe you had seen one at night before since you're usually out and about."

"Out and about?" He repeated with a snort. "That's a nice way to put 'trolling for food and sexual pleasure'."

"They're on the move," Kerry told him, sensing that the time for pleasantries was over. She had wanted to get his advice on how to stop her new boss from hitting on her, but instead she ruined the opportunity by talking about a seagull and stretching his patience with the trivialities. "Planting the GPS went smoothly, and I don't think they found it yet. This morning they packed a few overnight bags into the SUV and took off. With the help of the locator, I followed them north to the Canadian border where I had to stop because I didn't have ID or my passport."

"You followed them?" He didn't sound concerned or angry, merely inquisitive, but Kerry knew that out of all the questions he could have asked, that one spoke the most towards his concern with her safety. Or maybe he was worried that she could have blown the entire undercover ops.

"From at least a mile back. It's all in my report." Kerry slipped a folder out of her purse and handed it to him. "It includes the GPS codes so you can get a lock on their location." She would give him the entire system, but there was a good fourteen hour stretch when he was dead to the world these days.

"Did they head towards Quebec or Ontario?" Michel asked, eyes scanning the white paper in the dark. She knew his senses were much better than hers, but Kerry thought it would be awesome to be able to see print on a page without a light. It would have made the late night reading sessions back in high school so much easier if her father couldn't see the line of light under the door.

She shrugged. "Canada."

Michel pursed his lips, and she couldn't tell if it was from displeasure or amusement. "East or west?"

"East-ish."

"Probably Quebec then," he mused, "but maybe eastern Ontario."

"I hope you manage to warn the target in time." Kerry bit on her lower lip, worried about the possible death of a vampire she didn't even know.

"You did good," he told her, leaning over and kissing her forehead. His lips were cool against her dewy skin, and she had a mental image of wrapping herself around him and letting him share his colder body temperature. When he pulled back, there was an envelope on her lap. She didn't bother counting the money inside, for she knew that Michel wouldn't gyp her. If he ever had any intention of not paying her the full amount promised, then she would probably be a dead woman walking. Kerry stuck the envelope in her purse without a word, standing and spilling the rest of her popcorn on the ground. The large gull almost knocked her over in its haste to get to the food. When she looked up, her only company was the bird and the gentle lapping of water against the dock.

©RelenaFanel.july18.2007