2. Reckless Endangerment

Lauren yawned, overtaking the blue Ford in front of her. Her eyes squeezed shut, mouth opening widely as she swerved left. They were on the highway, making their way slowly to an old friend of Lauren's. The address Kenzi gave them was the stop after and basically hook turned them backwards across borders. They had just over a day's trip ahead of them if Lauren pushed it, then another few days on top of that.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, with the sun sitting low on the horizon and rising fast, it felt like a very bad, stupid idea. Knowing the statistics of sleep deprivation on a highway, you would think she'd choose a better option. Like sharing the driving with Evony.

Peaking at her, Lauren grimaced at the idea. Evony was probably not the best option either.

Stifling another yawn, Lauren groped beside her, only to find the middle seat empty of what she needed. Turning her head, she saw the red label peaking out, nearby Evony's boots. "Pass me the bottle of coke."

Evony looked down at her feet, picking up the empty bottle. Tilting her head then, she peered at her curiously as to why she'd want a bottle of air. Lauren groaned. "What? I was thirsty," Evony defended.

"Well seeing as how caffeine dehydrates you, yes, I can see how that helped both of us." She breathed in, holding the breath low in her belly. She could do this. She just needed to keep awake for a little while longer and just imagine Evony as a defenseless, silent bunny rabbit who was going to hybernate for the rest of the car trip.

Adjusting herself in her seat, Lauren flicked on the AC, turning it down low. Beside her, Evony pouted, "Well, it's not my fault."

"Actually, yes, yes it is your fault. You drank half a bottle of coke!" Lauren hissed out a breath, forcing herself to relax. She was cranky and Evony was not making it easier. At least she'd been quiet for the most part, taking naps here and there when exhaustion took over. "Look, just past me the Sprite."

Evony shrugged, throwing the empty bottle onto the back seat before she reached to the lemonade, handing it over to Lauren. Lauren placed the bottle between her legs, one hand on the steering wheel as she opening the lid. The bottle exploded. "Shit!"

Evony laughed, watching as the lemonade went everywhere in Lauren's lap. "Oh honey, didn't anyone ever house train you?"

Lauren's eyes pierced over hers, lifting the bottle to her mouth. "Did you do that?" she asked, taking a sip. Choking, she side-eyed Evony as if it was her fault she'd inhaled the drink up her nose.

"No, that was all you."

"Did you shake up the bottle?" Lauren asked. A car beeped beside them and Lauren's eyes snapped back onto the road, switching back into her correct lane. "Just don't do it again."

Evony sneered at her. As if she would sink so low as to shake a bottle before handing it to someone. "I'm not that juvenile."

"Could have fooled me."

Evony's jaw clenched. How dare Lauren come of acting as though she was the victim in this situation. Self-righteous, the fucking lot of them. This was why she kept human's at an arm's length away and for shorts bursts of moments only. "Keep to yourself, doctor and we won't have any more issues."

With the quiet holding over them, Evony settled into the seat, shivering with the AC. She felt Lauren place the lemonade bottle back down at her feet but just as she thought the good doctor was going to turn the damn thing off, the temperature seemed to lower. Opening her eyes again, Evony looked to the AC. Full blast, temperature just above freezing.

What the fuck.

The human doctor was shivering briefly, her skin broken out with goosebumps. Still she made no move to do anything about the temperature.

"It's cold," Evony snapped.

"I know."

"Fix it."

Lauren gave a short look, sighing. "I can't."

"Well, I don't like it." She reached out to turn the AC off, Lauren's hand snapped it away. Glaring at her, she swerved on the road briefly. "Dammit. I'm exhausted Evony. The cold makes it difficult to sleep."

"But I want to sleep."

"Oh for fuck's sake." Knees holding the steering wheel in place, Lauren reached into the back seat, grabbing one of the bags and throwing it onto Evony's lap. "There's a sweater somewhere in there. Put it on and stop complaining."

"Touchy," Evony teased. She unzipped the bag, looking through contents with interest before pulling out the eggshell coloured sweater. "This is an actual sweater," she commented, staring at it. She'd never worn sweaters. She had no reason to. when jackets had merely been an accessory. But all of that was before some idiot blonde woman changed her DNA.

Shooting a look to Lauren, she looked from the sweater to her. "You've got to be kidding me. This is the best you have?"

"Take it or leave it, Evony," Lauren said, reaching to turn the temperature down lower.

The Morrigan scoffed. Undoing her seatbelt, she tugged it on, immediately thankful that Lauren had removed the battery out of her phone. There was no way in hell she'd let anyone see her this way.

Not that it really mattered. Salvaging her reputation from this seemed impossible. She'd have to kill everyone and start over. Not that she hadn't contemplated that before now.

Shutting her eyes, she laid back in the seat, squirming in the material. She still wasn't used to feeling everything. The sweater was soft and yet still itchy. Or ticklish. Is that what humans meant by ticklish? If it was, she didn't like it. "Put your seatbelt on."

"Make me." Lauren glared, grabbing the seat belt and shoving it on. Swerving on the road again. Evony's eyes flew open. "Are you fucking insane?"

"I could say the same about you! You're human, Evony. Do you understand that?" Evony breathed out sharply, tossing her head to look away. "You get that a car accident will kill you. A collision will throw you out of the window at this speed. Your bones will shatter, your ribs will break and probably puncture a lung or other vital organs. Then it's just a matter of bleeding out, brain damage or cardiac arrest. Do you understand?"

Evony shuddered, then smoothed her features before she could see. "Oh honey, if there's a car accident, you will be the one driving." Lauren side-eyed her, stifling back a comment. Her shoulders squared, muttering to herself, dirty comments Evony didn't care to listen to. Uninspired language. She was a doctor and she had one hell of a tongue on her. If she couldn't come up with something better than mountain troll than she might as well be reading a phone book.

Relaxing back into the carseat again, Evony fixing herself in the seat belt, rubbing where Lauren's hand had yanked over her torso. It felt like it might actually bruise. Evony frowned at that thought. Bruises were all well and fun when inflicting them, having them was another thing entirely. She didn't get bruises before. It used to take a lot more force to rupture blood vessel than a simple blow to her body.

She was beginning to understand why humans were always whining about torture.

"How long until we get there?" Evony asked.

"Soon."

"Soon is not good enough. When will we arrive?"

"When you see a town," Lauren glared, looking over at the passenger seat, "then we're there."

"Ugh."

"If you don't like it, you can drive."

"At least I'd get us there before the sun goes down again," Evony bit back. She had no desire to drive this car. Truck. Whatever. They'd been driving non-stop, having a short break at a gas station where Lauren came out more disgruntled than happy.

Evony shut her eyes, head growing heavy. But as the road began to wind through a forest, a wave of nausea lurched inside of her.

Ugh. She hadn't felt that way since she was pregnant. Opening her eyes, she picked up the magazine she'd bought with Lauren's money and flicked through it. But even the gossip of her (now ex) clients couldn't stop the wave of nausea. Groaning, she threw the magazine away from her.

"What are you even doing there?" Lauren said, looking over at her. "You're making a lot of strange noises."

"You wish."

"I wasn't- that wasn't what I-" Lauren sighed, cheeks heating as she shook her head. Evony took some amusement at that, but as the road twisted, she found her humour lost. "Look, are you okay?" Lauren glanced to her. "You look like you're about to throw-up."

Evony paused, contemplating keeping quiet when the sickness lurched. "I feel strange," she admitted.

Lauren sighed, hands clenching on the steering wheel. "Probably from drinking half a bottle of coke on an empty stomach. Eat the chips."

"I feel sick. How will eating help the situation?"

"Eat the plain salt chips and keep your eyes on the road."

Evony glared. "Shouldn't you be keeping your eyes on the road?"

The hands clenched tighter around the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white. "If you don't want my help," Lauren said, "then keep quiet."

"Well how the hell am I supposed to know what to do?" she asked. "I don't feel nausea. Nausea was previously a sign of a fetul infection. You humans are so complicated with your bodies."

"Well not all women feel morning sickness when they're pregnant. Most do because of the drastic changes in hormone balance, blood pressure-"

"I know what causes nausea in pregnancy," Evony cut in. "I did my research." Flicking her eyes, she looked down at the magazine, unhappily glaring at it. "What I don't understand is why I feel sick now."

"Maybe you are pregnant," Lauren said spitefully, looking over at Evony. "Now that you're human, it's a lot easier to fall pregnant."

"Don't get cute, your vagina may be fucking fae-defying, but unless you were packing a fertility blessing up there, I doubt you knocked me up." Lauren's mouth twitched, turning to face the road again. There was a quiet moment before Evony made another noise of complaint, grabbing her stomach. Lauren sighed.

"You're carsick. The salt will-"

Terror flushed through Evony, "The car's making me sick?"

"What? No!" Lauren stifled back a hysterical laugh. She needed sleep. A lot of sleep. A whole day of sleeping. Dammit it was the weekend. "Motion sickness affects the sense of balance and equilibrium. Your body right now feels one thing but you're seeing another. Because of that, your brain is telling you that something's not right, therefore: nausea."

"Fucking fantastic," Evony grimaced. Grabbing the packet of chips, she ripped them open, slumping in the seat. "Just went I think I couldn't hate being human more, this happens."

"Well, get used to it. This is my life every single day and you haven't even dealt with the worst of it." Evony angrily bit into the chip loudly, knowing it'd bother her. Lauren barely took a second glance, instead reaching over to the radio and switching it on. As Evony began eating louder, she turned the music up. The Morrigan glared, reaching to turn it down when Lauren slapped her hand away.

"This is trash music, written by people who have no idea how to write or play instruments!" she snapped, changing the channel.

"How very eloquent."

"Don't start. I'm exhausted."

"Really? Exhausted, I wonder how that feels, Evony." Lauren fixed the station, turning the music up. The sound pulsed through Evony's ears, down her body and gyrating against every nerve. Sounds, as a human, had changed and not for the better.

"Nobody with taste likes this crap," she said, changing the channel. Fucking hell, she'd take the classical channel over this. At least there was ability there. Talent. Finesse. That and she had a thing for violinists.

"Well I like it," Lauren snapped.

"My point proven." Lauren pushed the channel back, just as the song ended. Her eyes narrowed threateningly at Evony. A car honked behind them just before Lauren drove off the road's shoulder. Lauren swore, swerving the car in place as Evony clung to her chair. "Pull over and sleep!"

"No! We're almost there." Sleep deprivation was growing into a horrible migraine, but the music helped to annoy her awake. She just needed to drive another fifty or so kilometres, then the highway town would be in sight.

However, when they drove past a road sign, Lauren realized she'd overestimated how far they'd travelled. They were still eighty kilometres away. "Fuck."

"What?"

"Nothing," Lauren grumbled. It was nine in the morning and all she wanted to do was crawl into a motel bed. She didn't care where she was sleeping, she'd take a bus station bench at this point.

Evony suffered the radio station by turning the music down to a bearable level. She was partially pleased and simultaneously annoyed that Lauren didn't argue with her, probably because she was too busy focusing on the road. How boring.

Unfortunately, as the next kilometre passed, it became prominent, very quickly that the coke she'd drank was working its way through her system.

"You need to pull over," Evony said.

"What?" Lauren glanced at her. "Why?"

"I need a restroom."

Lauren blinked at her tiredly. A sigh pulled from her lips as she tried to watch the road. "We'll be at the town in about forty minutes or so."

Evony adjusted in her seat uncomfortable, arching her back. "I need a rest stop," she said. "Now."

"I asked you when we stopped for gas if you needed to use the bathroom."

"Well I didn't need to go then, did I?" she snapped.

Lauren shook her head, trying not to take pleasure out of Evony's discomfort. "Well, you'll have to hold it."

"Lauren. So help me-"

"Do you see a rest stop on this road?" Lauren gestured. "There's nothing. I can pull over and you can go behind a tree if you're that desperate."

Evony gasped, horrified at the idea. This was the twenty-first fucking century. She didn't do tree squatting. Growling, she narrowed her eyes at Lauren. "Speed, do what you need to get there, but if you don't find me a toilet, Lauren, I promise that I will make the rest of your life a living nightmare."

"And how would that help the situation you're in right now?"

"Do it or you'll find out."

Lauren pushed down on the accelerator, narrowing her eyes as she drove on. They got lucky, there was a truck stop fifteen kilometres up the road. Pulling up, Lauren gestured for her to leave. Evony ripped out her seatbelt and shoved her way out of the car, stalking over to the dingy bathroom, scowling the entire time.

Lauren felt a chuckle raise in her throat, the Morrígan using a public restroom was more amusing than she'd probably ever admit to anyone.

She blamed the lack of sleep because it wasn't that funny.

Removing her seatbelt, too tired to get out and walk around, she shut her eyes, planning on sleeping for just a moment. Just a small nap while Evony probably tried not to touch anything in the bathroom. Lauren half hoped there'd be a giant spider on the door just to hear Evony scream.

But seeing as how she had lived a long life, it was feasible that Evony wouldn't be too sensitive to roughing it up. Lauren shrugged the thought away, preferring her mental image of a panicking Evony after the last few hours of driving. Her mind lulled, humour dying away and embracing sleep, assuring herself she'd wake up to the door slamming shut.

She didn't.

When she woke up, Evony had returned to the car, and had fallen asleep beside her. Somehow, Lauren had not only ended up spread out over the front car seat, but also over Evony, using her knees as a pillow. Shit. She did not need another ranting lecture about not touching her.

Muscles creaking, Lauren sat up, rubbing her shoulder. Evony was a lot more comfortable than she felt right with knowing.

Turning the ignition on, she started up the car. Music burst through the speaking, starling Evony awake. "Sorry," Lauren said, shutting it off. "I forgot."

"Bullshit," Evony yawned, stretching in her seat. She blinked at the dashboard clock, frowning until the numbers focused. "Two and half hours isn't much," she said.

"It's enough to get us into town. Well, me. Unless you'd like to drive?" Lauren groaned, blinking. She should probably get out and walk around first. But they were only forty kilometres away from their destinations. Turning to look at Evony, she watched as the woman removed the sweater, turning into a pillow before she snuggled back up to sleep. Her shirt had risen, revealing the bandages Lauren had placed there.

Without thinking, Lauren reached over and touched it. Evony froze at the touch. "What are you doing?"

"I need to change the bandages. Let me see the wound."

Evony narrowed her eyes, pulling away from Lauren. "It's fine. Itchy, but fine."

"Itchy as in it aches or itchy as in itchy?"

"It's itchy! That's all that matters." Evony tugged down the shirt, glaring.

"Well it could mean infection, or it could just be a sign that you're healing," Lauren said. She scooted closer, raising her hands ready to peel away the bandages. "Let me look at it. I'm a doctor."

"Thanks, I wouldn't have known that if you hadn't told me." Lauren glared at her. They both knew what she meant. "Besides, don't you think that you've done enough damage?"

"I wasn't the one who tried to stab you."

"No! You're just the reason I'm in this god forsaken mess in the first place," Evony flinched. Hitting Lauren's hands away from her. "I'm fine. That's what you humans say, right? When you don't want pestering doctors groping up your shirt?" Lauren bristled at the comment. "I'll just take whatever humans do when they get sick."

"Antibiotics?"

"Yes. That."

Lauren bit back the growl in her throat. She was going to kill her. She was going to kill the Morrigan with her bare hands. "We're not near a hospital, Evony. And I'm on my last twenty dollars. I can't afford to get you antibiotics if you fall sick because you wouldn't let me check your bandages!"

Evony blinked, "What do you mean last twenty dollars?"

"I mean that I don't have any more money after this."

"What about credit cards?"

"They can track our cards and so far, they don't seem to know where we are. Do you really want to ruin our great escape because you wouldn't let me check your wound?"

"It was hardly great." Evony looked away, biting at the end of her tongue. Fuck the doctor. No, wait, that's what got her into this mess. Lauren can go fuck herself for all she cared. "How are you supposed to...do whatever you need to do if you don't have any money." She looked at her, watching as the doctor licked her lips nervously, her shoulders falling slack.

"Look, I have a plan…"

"Yes, a plan. How fantastic. Which fae will you seduce next with your wonder snatch?"

Dark eyes snapped to hers as Lauren scowled. Evony almost grinned, gloating as the mark hit. "You are incorrigible."

"Why change what works?"

Lauren was about to screech and throttle her. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and recounted the periodic table. She got all the way up to iron before stopping. "Evony. Why don't you want me to check the wound?"

The question caught her off guard. Evony blinked, then frowned. She had a retort on her tongue before it died at the simple, calm expression over Lauren's face. "Because." Great now she sounded like a toddler. She was having flashbacks to the mid-eighties with Massimo.

"Because?"

"I have no idea what you plan to do to me," she bit back. She took a breath, holding it low in her chest before giving in. "Fine, just be quick about it." Leaning against the door, Evony refused to look at Lauren as the woman grabbed her medical kit, snapping on a set of gloves.

Lauren tried to give Evony a reassuring smile, that the woman ignored, before she began untying the bandages, peeling back the gauze. The skin shivered at her touch.

"Well, it doesn't look infected. I'd still prefer cleaning it again."

"Just get it done, Lewis."

Lauren looked up, biting back a frustrated remark. The crease on Evony's forehead, pinching her brows together, struck coldly into Lauren's belly. Lauren flicked between the eyes; Evony was staring out at the windshield, watching wind blow across trees. But the edges of her eyes were narrowed, her lips pressed firmly together.

Fuck.

"There, all done." Lauren smiled, throwing the medical waste into a small rubbish bag. The bin outside was just near the toilet stalls and only a few feet away. Climbing out of the car, she disposed of the waste and came back to find Evony picking at the bandages. "You'll be fine in no time."

Evony glanced at her, frowning. "Can I turn the AC off now your highness?"

"You should speak." Lauren waved a hand, tired of arguing, "Sure, do what you want." She climbed back into her own seat, buckling up. Evony grinned, switching off the AC, then turning on the music. Lauren reached over, snapping the music back off. "No music."

"You said I could do what I want," she drawled. Lauren shivered, throwing her a dirty look. Whatever vulnerability had been there before was gone, now replaced with arrogance. Lauren rolled her eyes.

"Driver picks the music."

"That rule only applies if you own the car, Lewis."

Lauren shrugged, "I stole it and the license plates." Evony laughed. The statement may be true but that did not give her any right. Lauren had switched over the license plates with another car, telling her that it was unlikely the person would even notice until someone else pointed it out. By then they'd have switched both numberplate and cars again.

With police able to scan number plates as they pass by, it was supposed to give them an extra shot. In truth, though, Evony thought it was extra work.

But if it does work, it will be smart.

And if there was anything Doctor Lewis was, it was intelligent. Well that and a raging sex goddess but kudos given when deserved and Lauren did not deserve that after everything.

Besides she was almost certain half of the orgasm had been due to extra grown nerves, not Lauren's ability.

Back on the highway, Evony listened vaguely to the Top Rated show as Lauren grew exhausted again. As it slowly crept down to the top ten, Evony found herself growing bittersweet over the announcement. She felt oddly proud and reluctantly pained at the forced vacation she'd been placed on.

'Minerva Meyers, also known as Rita Grafton to those of up down in Ottawa, has been holding the top five spots for how long now, Sal?' Michael Briggs, the radio host, asked his co-host.

"Twelve weeks," Evony smirked.

'Twelve weeks!' Sally gushed over the radio. 'First with her single 'Inferno', now with her latest new song 'Running (out of time)', which is track number eight on her controversial album 'Frivolous Genocide'. And I have to say, I adore this punk-pop album! What about you, Mike?'

"I assume," Lauren broke in, "That Minerva's one of yours?"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Evony grinned at her. "Or perhaps you're just jealous?"

"Jealous?" Lauren laughed. "What do I have to be jealous of? Her depleting sanity?"

Evony shrugged. "Rita signed with me about the same time you did, actually. She was doing quite well. Usually I have to do a lot more work, but she knew exactly what she wanted, kind of like you actually." Lauren stiffened. "I had a tour booked for her, before all of this shit happened. But, well without me there, she's likely to fall of the deep end."

"You mean her career will go down without your added burst of insanity-inspiring inspiration?"

"Well, that too. But no. Darling, it's so much more. You see, when I stop feeding from someone, one of two things happens; the first being that their mind begins to heal and with the correct lifestyle they'll return home. This happens to most of those I suddenly stop feeding from. However, I'm usually there to reduce the feed."

"And the others?" Lauren asked. Out the corner of her eye, she could see Evony's smile flicker.

"Those I leave without warning, because I have to depart suddenly or for whatever reason," her hand flickered, gesturing to the current situation. "They have a tendency to go insane."

"So? Isn't that what usually happens?"

"Oh honey, no. Where a feed goes insane, I keep it on a leash. I don't let it wander around like a stray pet. If I did, the world would be in chaos." She paused, tilting her head. "Or heading towards a revolution. Who knows?"

Lauren grimaced. "You know."

"You're right, I do. But Nero was a fucking train wreck who my idiot servant at the time, let out of sight and I didn't want that happening again. Really, I had business to attend to in Antium, was it that difficult to stop him from making decisions without my consent?" Lauren choked, staring at Evony briefly. "Road."

Lauren swerved at the last minute, almost hitting a car coming the opposite way. "Are you telling me that you're the reason Rome burned?"

"Weren't you listening? My serving girl was."

Lauren shook her head. Disbelieving what she just heard. Evony and...Nero. Evony had been Nero's...muse… Evony was really old. Clearing her throat, Lauren snuck a look at to the ex-fae, watching her clean her nails. "Did he...did he really play the lyre?"

"Horribly. But he was a lovely singer." Lauren frowned. Evony sounded almost nostalgic talking about Nero. It was...well strange to say the least. She wasn't sure how she felt about nostalgic-Evony. "It was a shame his life ended so soon." Worried. She felt worried.

Lauren sighed. "He committed suicide."

"Yes, well he was making a mess, wasn't he?" Of course he was.

Blinking, Lauren tried not to roll her eyes. But Evony's nonchalance itched at her skin. "Do you always kill your lovers?"

"No, not always. Sometimes they kill themselves." At the dirty look thrown her way, Evony sneered. "Don't get your morals in a twist, in this day and age, when I grow tired of a client they turn to alternative methods. Drugs, alcohol, and the above, whatever makes them feel like they're closer to me. It's not my job to mother them. It's their own lives that they're wasting."

"No, you just made them dependant on you and cut them off cold."

"Hardly. I grow tired of them, the feedings becoming dulled or the emotions they feel are lacklustre. I still use them here or there but it's like eating the same meal over and over again until it becomes tasteless. It gets boring. I want something exciting. Full of life and passion."

Lauren laughed. "Well clearly there are those you do find interesting to keep around." Evony smiled, laying back in the chair as she thought over her favourites.

"I've always had a soft spot for poets," she admitted. "But in this day and age, it's just not sustainable to support them. You have to move with the times."

Lauren couldn't help but ask, "Who else has been one of your feeds?"

"In general or in passing?"

"Both?" Lauren asked.

Evony laughed at her. The absurdness of the question. Where did she even begin? "I might as well ask what you've ate over a lifetime. Narrow it down and I'll do my best to answer," she was teasing her, but Lauren didn't hear the tone. She wanted to know about Evony, her life. Here was a woman whose history was far richer than most other fae. Over two thousand years of great, brilliant minds seduced into her bed.

She didn't know where to begin. Probably with one of the most known woman in history. "Cleopatra?"

"Once. Julius liked to share, I still don't understand what all the fuss is about."

"Kurt Cobain?"

Evony laughed, arching an eyebrow. "Do you really want that answer?"

"Jimi Hendrix?" At that, Evony sighed blissfully, sounding the most human Lauren had ever heard. "You look almost happy," she teased. Evony waved her hand, dismissing the comment. "Well...what about...Da Vinci?"

"Ugh. Him. Not for a lack of trying. But unfortunately, I wasn't his type." Lauren perked up at the comment.

"He refused you?"

"I didn't offer. Being ensl-" Evony cut herself off there, biting back what she was going to say. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, glaring out the window. Bitter tension sat over them and Lauren felt herself grow awkward. Whatever Evony had been about to admit was terrifying enough to stiffen her limbs. At least for her to admit.

Instead of prompting another argument, she decided to sidestep the issue. "So...Michael Angelo then?"

"No."

"Oh, ah…" She blinked, trying to think of other historical people. There were a thousand names, none of which were coming to her at the moment. "How about one of the Borgias?"

Evony froze, her eyes going wide, "Let's not go there."

"Why?"

"Just keep you're eyes on the road, Lewis."