He sat at his small kitchen table, surrounded by darkness, nursing a beer sand a heavy heart. His brow was furrowed in pain and stress. Every few moments he would sigh and run a hand over his bald head. A picture sat beside him, of himself, his wife, and his deceased daughter Trisha. He loved her still, despite all she had done. That love was what drove him to drunkenness and depression all those weeks ago. When she had died, he never thought he would get over it. Rawlins reached out and touched the picture numbly.
"Jesus..." he muttered, voice fraught with emotion.
Sadie leaned on the door frame, watching him with sympathetic eyes. She had taken the opportunity to pick the lock on his front door and let herself in. Apparently, he had yet to notice. She took his momentary lapse of awareness to expand her senses and hone in on the poor cop. He didn't reek of alcohol as he used to, which was good. She noticed his diet had improved too, which meant he had the will to actually cook for himself again. His aura, however, was dark and heavy in comparison to everything else. Something must have happened recently, she thought, but what else could happen to this man to bring him even further down?
"God, you look like hell." He jumped, spinning around and dropping his beer. It shattered on the ground, punctuating the silence of the night. He automatically fumbled for his piece, still holstered in his belt. "Relax, it's only me." His eyes widened as he realized that the dead body of Sadie Blake was in fact not dead, and standing in his kitchen. "You look like you've seen a ghost." Delivering horrible puns, none the less.
"Sadie?" Rawlins took a shaky step towards her, a cautious hand rising up to touch her arm to see if she was actually there.
"Rawlins." His rough hand grasped her sleeve and his brow furrowed deeper.
"How…why-" He looked up at her, examining her features, as if he didn't believe what he was seeing. "You-You died. You were dead. I-I killed you. How are you…?"
"Exactly my question." She made her way over to his table and took the seat he was previously in. "Did you do something that would cause my death to go wrong?" Still bewildered, he shook his head.
"No. I put that stake in your heart, watched you die, then put you in a body bag."
"Did you see anyone come in or leave afterward? Besides the cops?"
"I would've stopped them." he told her. "I knew how much you wanted to be in peace."
She looked away bitterly. "Yeah, well someone has different plans for me."
"Any idea who?"
"If I knew, I'd be out there killing them right now."
He grabbed another beer from his fridge and offered it to her.
"You look like you need it." She accepted it and popped the cap off, taking a big gulp of the amber liquid.
Wiping her mouth, she asked, "What about you? You don't look too happy either." His normally no-shit-attitude, brazen self seemed to wither in front of her eyes. Quite frankly, it frightened her.
"It's my wife." He finally muttered. His eyes threw a wary glance towards the picture he'd been holding, which now lay on the table. "She-She left me....a few weeks ago." Sadie's mouth opened, but no words of sympathy could come out. She looked down at the picture, at the smiling woman with one arm around Rawlins, and the other around Trisha.
"But...Why?" He scuffed the floor angrily with a booted foot.
"Said I hadn't been the man I needed to be once Trisha died. She said I wasn't there to carry her through her grief." He scoffed, finishing off his beer. "As if I didn't have enough shit on my door step with finding the killer and dealing with my own pain..." Sadie rose from the chair and approached him, unsure of what to do.
"I'm sorry Rawlins." He waved it away.
"Eh. I'll be fine." Somehow, she didn't believe him. But Sadie didn't come here to apologize for another woman's actions, despite how they effected her friend. No, she had other business to settle.
"If you're interested," she suggested, "I'm willing to make another deal with you."
"Why? You have nothing to offer me."
"No, I don't. You're right. But I can give you a reason to get out of this damn house and live again." He paused, searching her eyes.
"You want me to help you find whoever did this?"
"And get revenge." She finished.
"How do we do that?"
"We start by visiting an old friend of mine named Arturo. He lives in Southern California. It's at least a day's drive down there." Sadie stood up and grabbed Rawlin's coat from the chair, tossing it at him. "We should get going now if we want to get there by tomorrow night." He swung that trench coat around his shoulders.
"And I'm guessing you don't have your car?" She smiled.
"Not unless you got it back from the kid that stole it from me."
"Sorry. Wasn't expecting you to make a miraculous return from the dead again." She clapped a hand on his shoulder and jingled the keys he hadn't even realized she'd stolen from him.
"I guess we're taking yours then." He made a grab for the keys, but she dodged his hand with almost inhuman speed. She smirked, and let out a teasing laugh. "You'll have to be quicker then that Rawlins." He chuckled deeply and grabbed her arm.
"Screw the car then. You take it."
He began leading her down a narrow hallway that split off from the kitchen. "What we need are weapons. Guns."
"Ah, shit. My crossbow was taken along with all of my possessions prior to my autopsy." He froze and glanced back at her, eyebrows shooting up.
"They already autopsied you?!"
"No, no, I escaped before that." She smiled reassuringly at him. "I'm fine."
He nodded, seeming a little embarrassed, and pushed open a door to their left. They walked into the room, which Sadie soon discovered was Rawlin's room. It wasn't nearly as messy as she expected, thought there were clothes thrown amiss and bedsheets tangled on the floor. She shook her head, picking her way through the room.
"Definitely a single man's room." she muttered. "It looks like it hasn't been cleaned in weeks."
"Yeah, well," he deadpanned. "It's not like I've been swimming in spare time lately." She picked up a shirt between two fingers and examined it.
"Work?"
"Hellish." he replied, digging through a set of drawers.
"Heh, I can relate." She barely had time to react when he tossed a shotgun at her and said,
"Here, catch. We'll keep that in the car." He pulled out another gun, this one a pistol, and tucked it in his belt alongside his holstered gun. "And, like I've said before, don't pretend you know me. You don't." She frowned, leaning on the shotgun.
"Still a bit of a prick I see." He smiled sarcastically.
"Bite me, hun."
"Ooh, wrong choice of words." she replied, baring her teeth. He rolled his eyes, getting out a bag and throwing any clothes in arms reach inside. Sadie looked down at the scrubs she still wore and sighed.
"Got anything I could borrow?"
"Sorry, the wifey took all her clothes when she moved out."
"I'm not picky."
Donning a too-large-for-her-frame, white button up shirt and a pair of Rawlin's ex's old jeans that they managed to dig up, Sadie walked outside, shotgun on her shoulder.
"Got everything loaded up?" Rawlins slammed the trunk shut, sighing.
"I think that's it. Put the gun in the backseat and get in. Sun up's in a few hours, and I'd like to get there soon." Sadie complied.
"A bit gurmpy, are we?"
"I'm not nocturnal like you Sade. Right now, I should be sleeping." Sadie started the car and rolled down the windows.
"We'll stop and get you some coffee or something." Rawlins took the passenger seat and grumbled something about how the hell an undead vampire ended up driving his car. She chuckled. "I almost forgot how whiney humans can be."
"Yeah, and this human's helping you. So shut up and drive." Sadie smirked, giving a little mock salute.
"Sir, yes sir, Detective Rawlins." She heard another grumble come from the cop before he leaned his head back and attempted to get some rest.
Another short chapter, but I'm happy with this one. Rawlins and Sadie developed a deeper relationship working together then I think either of them realize. I took the opportunity to hint at that in this chapter. In the next one, they'll be hitting the road to Arturo's, with a few minor unplanned setbacks. Sorry if Sadie's a little OOC. Review please!