Disclaimer: Hey, guys, look! I'm making soup! Seth and El Ray are owned by Tarantino and Rodriguez. Sands is owned by Rodriguez. Blackheart is owned by Marvel Comics. Alex Tully is owned by Fox, although they don't seem to want him. I do own Xanny, Augusta and Marcos (wherever the hell he went). And that's it.

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Ten: Drive

Xanny stared out the window.

Alex was an impressive driver, and his car was fitting. Sleek and low to the ground, but not too sporty, it was a great getaway car. If he and Seth ever did go into business together, it would be a good pairing.

He knew how to drive, too, and the car seemed to float over the dirt roads. Scenery whipped past her, but she wasn't really concentrating.

She just kept thinking about Augusta.

It was bad enough to think of Augusta with Seth. Seeing him again, Xanny was quite sure it wasn't jealousy. It was worry. She knew that Augusta had an entire life that no one knew about – except her, and now Xanny was starting to wonder how much she had been told.

But this Blackheart…not a man, but something worse. What then…a demon? She knew they were real, as much as others preferred not to believe in such things. And Seth…the look on his face, as he had talked about vampires. Vampires! If they were real, who knew what other myths actually walked the Earth?

Still…that was only the tip of the iceberg. This trip she and Augusta had taken had been for several motives – Xanny's own need to get away from Marcos, Augusta's search for Seth, but neither of them had spoken the one deep down, hidden by the camaraderie and laughter.

This trip had been about the two of them getting closer. Xanny had sensed their slow drift apart, and she had an innate feeling exactly why it had happened.

It was because of things like the Rosary.

It was no secret that Xanny had been trying to clean up her life, and more importantly, her soul. The "straighten up and fly right" motto of most ex-cons was something that stretched much farther back with her. Even during her tail-end days with Seth, she had felt a pull on her, something unfathomable and wide, taking her away from everything in the world she thought she knew.

Prison had been an excuse to purge. And after prison, she had been able to come into the Church with a clean conscience, and had lived out her humble penance in an apartment she paid for with money from a legitimate job. Sure, her criminal background was considerable, and extremely useful. But it was like a set of tools – to be used, indifferently.

Ever since that day she had been officially welcomed into the Baxton clan, Xanny had sensed that Augusta was shocked to find her ex-criminal twin was a goody-two-shoes. And it was even worse to realize, as the weeks stretched into months, that Augusta was disappointed . She had expected much more from her new twin, things she wasn't getting. And it disturbed Xanny to think that she may have been the "good" one in their identical twin-ship. It hurt even worse to think that after all these years of being alone, the brief hope that she wasn't, was being ripped out from under her. It was bad enough to lose Marcos, but to lose Gus too…it was unbearable.

"So," Alex said after a time of silence, wanting to make friendly conversation with his passenger, and also finding her sincerely attractive, which was something he hadn't quite expected to find during his time in El Ray, "you…and Seth…?"

She lifted up her head from where it rested on her hand, and turned to look at him. She blinked, absorbed the question, and then said, "Once upon a time, a long time ago, yeah. But not anymore."

"But you were, once," Alex said, and Xanny wondered if he was just confirming it in his own mind, or if he was trying to pry. Considering that she rather liked him, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"He and Ritchie and I used to rob banks, and pretty much anything else where we could make a good buck. It used to be a lot easier, everything was cash-centered, not this electronic shit nowadays. I'm pretty sure Seth and Ritchie were just doing banks. Before coming down here, of course."

"So how did you three wind up parting ways?" He realized what he'd asked, and amended. "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be nosy, it's just I kind of feel like a fish out a water, dropped into the middle of this drama, and I'd kind of like to get my footing."

Xanny nodded. She wasn't hiding any big secrets anyway. She decided to be blunt. "Well, Ritchie Gecko was the worst kind of pervert – he liked to rape and murder women. One time, I wound up walking onto the scene after he just got finished, and when I tried to tell Seth he wouldn't believe me."

"He didn't see it for himself?" Alex asked, shocked.

Xanny shook her head. "Ritchie knew what was coming. He cleaned up before I could show what he'd done to Seth. So it was his word against mine and Ritchie won. So I left."

"Just like that." Alex snapped his fingers.

"Not even close," Xanny chuckled. "No, it was rather ugly. Seth…sometimes he just doesn't know what he wants. Or rather, he wants his proverbial cake and to eat it, too, and when he can't have it, he goes a little nuts. I wound up serving some jail time…but when I got out, it was all the straight and narrow path for me from thereon in."

"So Seth still has…he still has feelings for you, then."

"Then, maybe. Now, I'm pretty sure he was all eyes for my sister."

"From what I saw back in town, I wouldn't be so sure. But how did he get involved with your sister? And isn't that a little…"

"Under normal circumstances, yeah, it would be, but Seth wound up kidnapping my sister during a bank robbery, thinking she was me. So my boss at the time, I was working for a private detective, he goes to offer his help, and mine, and the family sort of flipped out when they saw me. Turned out I was taken away when I was very young, and it was an unexpected reunion of sorts."

"Taken?"

"Kidnapped." Xanny paused, rolling over her thoughts. "Raised by a welfare-class family that couldn't have kids of its own. I think they thought I'd get some ransom, but they weren't very bright, so they wound up having to raise me as their own. And trust me, God knew what he was doing when he made that woman barren. Or was that man sterile? I can't remember."

"God, that's awful."

Xanny nodded. Her early years were not often up for discussion. And this was how it had happened before – chasing after Augusta, and falling in with some nice guy who seemed to take an honest interest in her. Well, no thanks, she had been there, done that, got the friggin' T-shirt, and she wasn't up for round two, more of the same. "Let's just say I was really, really young when I hooked up with Seth. I never graduated from high school. He was older, he was cool and sleek and tough, what chance did a girl like me have? I learned just about everything I know about the world from Seth and Ritchie Gecko. But they don't give diplomas for that." She chuckled. "But I finished my G.E.D. in prison and did a few college courses. I was wanting to get back into that before Gus dragged me into this."

"Gus?"

"Augusta, my sister."

Alex nodded, and seemed ready to ask more questions, but Xanny was done talking, and while it might have been nice to switch the subject to him, and find out about his story, she just didn't want the temptation. The less she knew, the better. "Look," she said, keeping her tone polite, "I really appreciate you doing this, helping us out, but I meant it before when I said I needed time to think. I'm not trying to be rude, I just…have to get some thoughts straight."

"I understand," Alex said, but there was an undertone of hurt that she ignored with an effort.

"I appreciate it." She flashed him one of her brightest smiles, and settled her cheek back on her hand and watched as the Mexican desert whished past her.

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Augusta – a fitting name, he might allow her to keep it – rolled over, her cheeks flushed, her skin quivering in odd places. Her eyes were pressed shut and her eyelids were furiously rolling back and forth. Her lips were parted and dry from her panting, but very, very red, and Blackheart could see the pulse in her throat, frantic and thready.

Blackheart sat on the bed quietly, fingers pressed together between his knees, undisturbed by Augusta's tremors and quakes. She would not die, not yet, although she may wish it. He still needed her, needed her as herself. Which was a risk, because it could backfire, and he could lose them both.

Blackheart smiled. He doubted that would happen. Augusta was deep in his thrall, and the other, well, she had already tasted the fruit once, and knew how sweet it was. She was not that strong – she relied too much on herself, and pride was so delicious.

Memories were easy to come and go. Satanica – although that had not been her name at the time – had been a bit harder to tame than this creature, as she was not the subservient type. Rather, her human self had been rebellious and cantankerous, but that all changed when she surrendered.

Because simply put, she was not who she was anymore. A shell remained. A new host dwelled in the house.

Normally, Blackheart would not care when she died, as long as she did so in the right state, but this one was different. This one shared blood with another, a woman who also was close to Gecko. One beautiful woman was a prize, but two were treasure, and he was a greedy being. Problem was, the other was not weak like this one. The other knew him already, had already walked the wide path and had seen fit to leave it. And while those kind were a bit harder to bring over, they tasted that much sweeter, having known the truth and then betrayed it.

"Augusta," he said, his echoing, distorted voice washing over her like a caress. She let out another moan, and her eyes snapped open.

"Huh…hu…he...here. I'm here. Yes?"

"It's time to get up, Augusta."

Her moan was disappointed. How these mortals infected themselves, lashed themselves, and yet still begged for more. It was hard not to indulge in his delight, but it would be better later, he knew, after his plan succeeded.

She rolled over and scooted closer to him, and he turned and leaned back so that she might enter his lap, like a pet cat. Then wrapped her arms around his lower torso, so that she could rest her cheek against his chest and gaze up at him in worship. He reached out and stroked her like a pet, his fingers running down her spine and back again, until they entwined in the hair at the back of her head in a nearly-painful grip, pulling her closer to him, where he breathed his cold breath on her ruby-red lips.

"Your sister is coming," he whispered to her, and she twitched in ecstasy as his mouth hovered millimeters away from her ear. "I want her to join us."

Her eyes opened, and he saw jealousy there. It was beautiful, but it was not useful. "But you're mine," she whimpered. "I don't want…to share you."

"Hmm, poor Augusta." His hold on her tightened, bringing her face almost evel with his, and she sucked in her breath. "Of course I wouldn't dream of making you share me. But you promised to serve me, and this is my will."

She sighed, and the pout receded. "Yes, I did. But shall I always be first, Blackheart?"

"Yes, you shall be first," he said, running his lips along her cheek as he spoke, until he was at her ear, and all the color from her face drained until she was as pale as her hair. "And as my first, I shall share her with you."

After a thoughtful moment, a smile curved at Augusta's lips. She gazed into Blackheart's beautiful, angelic face, and then without further argument, he released her, and she got up and headed for the hotel lobby.