The foggy highway was pleasantly deserted as Mills drove, allowing Crane to exercise his power of curiosity by playing with the radio. His painfully slow turning of the knob the community college station to jazz to public radio to classical station would have had her skin crawling within a half second. Her ninja reflexes to repossess dominion over the radio would have shocked anyone who dared change her Hot 97. It was the only station she listened to for sanity maintenance when she was on lunch and had been dealing with a stressful day.

Crane glanced at his companion as he twisted the volume knob far to the right quickly. His blue eyes went wide as he twisted the knob the opposite way until the country station he'd found was barely audible. He looked apologetically to Mills and sat back when she did not return his gaze or reprimand him.

"Your vision has disturbed you, Leftenant."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Mills glanced out of Crane's window at the wall of trees that blocked the street view of the golf course and shivered. "I've lived here all my life. Never once did I worry about things that go bump in the night. Freddy Krueger didn't scare me even when I did watch that stupid movie alone when I was a kid. Now, I'm afraid of what I think I see in the mirror. It's like I'm stuck in a really bad dream and I'm not waking up. One of the four horsemen of the apocalypse is in Sleepy Hollow of all places. I never thought the Hollow would be the epicenter of a doomsday scenario. In movies, it always starts in New York City, or in Los Angeles or in Washington DC. It never starts in small farm towns hours away from a major city."

Crane narrowed his eyes. "Los Angeles. Is that a modern day Indian name?"

"It's Spanish. It's in California, which is on the other side of the country next to a whole other ocean." She sighed heavily as the vehicle neared the Tarrytown Reservoir+. "It's too quiet out tonight. It's like people subconsciously know something is horribly wrong but they don't know what it is or how to make it right."

Crane stared out of his window, watching the passing forest that was eerily illuminated by the full moon. "This night is no different than those I knew from my previous life. However, those days we were growing less concerned with vampires and ghouls, and more afraid of the Hessians and the Redcoats attacking at night when we were all more vulnerable."

"There was more than one Hessian? Were they all like Headless?"

"Indeed. There were roughly 30,000 Hessians hired by the British to fight in the War. They were a most fearsome army. They had no fear and had been bred from childhood to be an unstoppable force." Crane allowed his head to rest against the seat as he yawned into the back of his hand.

Mills pulled into the parking lot of the LaQuinta where Crane had temporarily been put up at. She shut the vehicle off and stared at the dimly lit building as Crane stifled another yawn. "Thank you."

Crane raised a brow and turned slightly towards her. "For what?"

"For everything today." She rolled her eyes in gratitude as she gave a low chuckle. "You're not like guys these days. If one of my ex-boyfriends had been at the Gillespie Ranch this afternoon instead of you and heard the gunshots, he would have hidden. You came to make sure I was okay and to help me if I needed it even though you weren't armed. You drank that tea and let a scorpion sting you just so you could go into an alternative universe to protect me from the Sandman."

"Your energy drink, and perhaps sheer exhaustion, have made you not yourself tonight, Miss Mills." Crane unbuckled his seatbelt and stared at the door handle for a moment before remembering how it functioned and opening the door. He set one foot on the ground before looking back over at her as she watched him with a soft gaze. "In any case, you are most welcome."

Mills got out of the car and led Crane up the stairs to his room. She looked back at him expectantly and gawked as he attempted to open the door. "You need the room key to unlock it."

"A room key?" Crane frowned down at her as her eyes slid shut.

"Patt must still have it from when he watched your door this morning." She sighed and rubbed her brow with the pads of her fingers. She shrugged and threw her hands out dramatically. "I guess there's nowhere else for you to go except my place."

"Miss Mills, that would be inappropriate." He held his hands behind his back. "You are a single female, I am a married man. It would be scandalous."

"Things are different now. Much different. Come on." She trudged down the stairs to her car and smiled when Crane appeared to open her door and stood to the side to allow her space to get in then closed the door for her. "Katrina, you lucky witch."