Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, they own me. Special thanks to Toby Whithouse and BBC3 for the playground.
Tom peered through the blinds, looking both ways down the street, ensuring the detective had gone before he flipped the cafe sign to "Closed". He stepped outside, locked the door and glanced around once more before taking off in a run in the direction of home. Tom hadn't run more than a few paces before his senses picked up that he was being followed. Sending a silent prayer that Hal was still out cold, he changed direction with his run - veering left when he would have stayed straight to head home. Without giving the brown sedan he was certain was in pursuit any indication he was aware of said pursuit, Tom kept his sprint but turned left at the next block as well. And then again at the next.
After completing three laps, Tom casually slowed down and came to stop back in front of the cafe. Hoping his sprint break just confused the investigator. he fished his keys and re-opened the door, flipping the sign back to "Open". Aware of the brown sedan passing before taking a quick right, Tom re-adorned his apron and returned to the kitchen.
Lifting the cafe phone he dialed the number for Honolulu Heights, let it ring twice then hung up. Hoping beyond hope Alex remembered the code for trouble.
Alex arrived back to Honolulu Heights in an instant. The silence that filled the darkened house was a relief. If they were in luck then Hal would still be unconscious. Then it would just be a matter of quietly unbolting the straps that tied him down at the anchors and she could rent-a-ghost him to safety. They had talked about this eventuality in an attempt to be prepared. Tom thought that the cellar would hold his friend if need be - for a short time at least. The basement room was secure enough for a raging werewolf - George and Nina had seen to that with a metal fire door that could not be opened from the inside, and soundproofing. A week ago when Hal had finally exclusively and whole-heartedly reverted to "Lord Harry" and was raging non-stop, Alex had tried to reason with Tom as to why they shouldn't just relocate him down there straight away.
"We can't keep an eye on him as easily down there Alex. What if e's sick again? Or worse?" Alex had blanched at the thought. That was certainly not fun - especially knowing it was probably her own clotted blood that was coming up. "And 'sides -" Tom continued, "Up here at least he knows we're still looking out for 'im - that we still care."
Alex had happened a glance at the man in the chair who, at the moment, was glaring at the both of them with blackened, hateful eyes. At the moment, he didn't seem capable of caring whether they cared or not.
"Untie me," He said to her softly. Alex just turned back to Tom, already knowing what was coming. "UNTIE ME NOW!" The creature that was Hal struggled against his bonds. "YOU INCORPREAL BITCH! RELEASE ME!"
Tom just moved a little further into the kitchen and Alex followed.
"So how exactly do you propose we move that?" Alex asked flatly. Hal continued to shout colorful obscenities at them from the living room.
"Well, can't you just... you know - like you did before?" Tom raised an eyebrow.
"Ugh." Alex shook her head. "You realize I'd have to be awfully close to him in order for that to happen right? I really don't think that's a good idea..."
"But what if'n say he was in danger? What if someone got in the house and was about to stake him?"
"Right now I'm about to stake him..." Alex muttered, and had halfway meant it.
"Right -" Tom just nodded, discounting her seriousness. "But what'n someone got close to the house and heard him? All ranting and raving like? We're certainly lucky Annie done-in ... er...passed-on our nearest neighbor."
Alex continued to give Tom an unconvinced scowl. Tom tried another angle, "What if it was me or you in trouble and the only way around it was to move 'im?"
"Tom, you can what-if all day long but the fact remains we should have just moved him to the basement back when we had the chance."
Tom just shook his head and sighed. "I'm not sure the basement would hold Lord Harry here, Alex. Not even if he was strapped in. Not for long." Tom's eyes were sorrowful. "We can't let 'im outta sight. Not unless we absolutely have to. Hal warned us that much, 'member?"
Alex just slumped against the table. "Yeah. Yeah he did."
Now, their captive was thankfully silent. Lifting the edge of the blinds, Alex checked the street. The front gate was still securely shut from Tom's fastening and the neighborhood was deserted. Mid-afternoon and most of the usual neighbor cars were still away for the day. The only car parked was Leo's pale blue classic, right where Hal had left it. No sign yet of Tom, but she didn't expect him for another several minutes. Alex turned back to the unconscious figure seated in the chair in front of her. His bonds were slackened and his head was dropped, chin resting on his chest. Unmoving and without breath. Truly out cold.
Hal had slept periodically towards the beginning of his confinement, which had startled Alex into waking Tom in the wee hours one morning. Once Tom figured out what she was on about, he mumbled to her, "Hal don't 'ave to breathe Alex - he's as dead as you are." Tom had promptly gone back to sleep.
Alex also quickly learned how little sleep a blood-thirsty hacked-off vampire really needed: None.
Since Alex seemed to not need sleep herself, she would stay up with him through the nights. Mostly trying to ignore the continual barrage of taunts, threats and pleadings. She rationed that there were worse ways to pass the time until her door appeared. And even though Tom never directly asked her, she knew he appreciated her watch immensely.
At first, Hal would occasionally return to himself and shamefully apologise to her, looking completely defeated. Sometimes, especially when the house was quiet and Tom was fast asleep he stayed "Hal" long enough that she could engage him in a real conversation: places he'd been, favorite books, music. Little did he know that he was helping her to build an arsenal that she used against his darker self. She had gotten rather good at reading Dostoevsky aloud despite continual interruptions. The lofty words of soulful philosophy would calm him somewhat, which was worth putting up with feeling like she had returned to Academy.
Despite everything that had happened and what she had learned about who and what he was, she was still curious about him. And as long as he was lucid, he seemed determined to help her by practically answering anything that she asked about this strange new supernatural world. Since he had lived with a ghost previously for 55 years, Hal was almost as good of a source of knowledge as Annie herself had been. Whether his openness to helping her was from his own sense of guilt about her situation or something else, Alex was still genuinely grateful. Their attempt to locate her body had only ended in a mysterious dead end with the men in suits. Beyond a stain left in the concrete it was as if she had never been in that warehouse or died there at all. Returning a day later, thinking she could at least clue the police into finding the bloodstain, she discovered that it too had gone. During one of Hal's more lucid moments she had asked him about it.
"Vampires have their own systems in place, usually involving an operation within the local police. That was certainly not the police."
"In all your experience you never saw anything like them before?"
Hal looked up at the ceiling before answering. "The lower tier recruits are usually employed with such endeavors. It has been centuries since I had to be concerned with such mechanisms. So unfortunately, no. My knowledge is lacking in this subject."
Since she no longer had any real leads, Alex found herself haunting her family that first week every chance she could get. She loved that she could be in Barry one instant and then back in her childhood bedroom leagues north in the span of a thought. But her visits were always short lived. It was just too hard to sit by idle, watching the anger and sadness from her Da and brothers without being able to do anything at all to help them. She knew they had contacted the local authorities before the end of their holiday. She watched them file a missing persons report to no avail. She also knew how they had stayed on in Barry a few extra days hoping she would reappear. The last time she had rent-a-ghosted home it was to the sight of her youngest brother, crying his heart out on her bed. A sight he wouldn't have been caught dead letting anyone see – ever. Something inside of her broke that day and she hadn't been back to haunt her home since.
Maybe if she had, she would have somehow been able to dissuade them from hiring a detective. It wasn't likely. She knew her Da and he wasn't one to give up on her. But in part she was a little glad. Maybe this detective would find a lead on her body. But Alex knew that wasn't too likely either. She knew precisely what had happened to her and that still hadn't helped her to turn up any solid evidence. Aside from an unconscious, half-detoxed vampire strapped to a chair in the middle of the living room, that is.
In the last few days his shouting rages had slipped into incoherent nonsense - sometimes in several languages. Tom was certain it meant Hal was getting better - not worse. Certain that he had entered into the hallucination phase which he had warned them about. Perhaps Tom was right. For recently the tirades and struggle had begun to slow to be replaced with long periods of utter silence. Hal's eyes would return to normal, but it was as if he wasn't really there. He would sit perfectly still, staring off into nothing and unresponsive.
At first, Alex thought the silence was a relief - finally some peace and quiet! But eventually that too became unnerving. Like in the cinema when you see someone in a mental hospital. Creepy and sad all at once. She had gotten good at avoiding looking at him too closely. But now, while she waited for Tom and contemplated just how they would move him, she looked.
Hal's hair had gone unruly and grown a little long with wisps stuck out in every direction. He had the start of a beard, which somehow only made him seem more boyish. Alex wondered how a vampire could grow hair and just shook her head. His wrists were chaffed and raw. If it wasn't for his continual healing she was sure they would be more than just raw. Her eyes followed the straps down. Even the heavy leather was looking worn - fraying where it had rubbed against the edge of his chair.
How much longer could this go on? She wondered. Alex also began to wonder when Tom was going to show up. She turned back to the window to check the street once more. Empty.
Maybe Tom ran into trouble? Maybe her investigator came back to the cafe? Maybe she was on her own. And if she was on her own then she had better take advantage of Hal's continued unconscious state before he came-to.
Decided, she knelt on the floor and began loosening the first anchor. She was halfway through the second when the phone trilled a cheery ring, shattering the silence and rang once more, then stopped.
Immediately the straps went taut.
