June 28th 2006, Manning Colorado
Daniel Elkins lived in the mountains, and even at the end of June there was a cool chill in the air and some ice on the winding road. The town of Manning was pretty small, but she hadn't been there since she was seventeen and had to consult a roadmap to find her way. She remembered Elkins lived outside of town, a bunch of winding dirt roads to a secluded cabin. There was no chance she would remember them, she'd get lost. She reached the town in the late evening stopped in at the only establishment open in town, a bar. "What can I get you?" A young bartender asked. She had long curly dark hair and a push-up bra.
Lady smiled, "A beer, whatever is on tap that doesn't taste like water."
"You got it," the bartender said, grabbing a mug.
Lady settled into a stool next to an older man, recognizing him even though his hair had thinned and gone completely white since the last time she had seen him. "Nice place," she said as she paid for the beer.
"Mmhm," he said, sipping the glass of liquor while flipping through pages of a worn book. His hand grabbed a pen and he scribbled something out on a page and then added new notes. A journal. She remembered John had something like it, but it was now in Dean's hands.
"It's been a long time since I've been here, the town looks smaller."
The man finally glanced at her briefly before going back to his journal. If he was unsure that she was talking to him or if he was just deliberately being rude Lady wasn't sure.
Lady took a long drink of the beer. "I guess eight years," she continued. "A friend of mine brought me to meet a man who he thought could help me. Dickhead almost killed me, made me want to die for sure. It sucked ass." Elkins finally turned to really look at her, and a bit of a smile touched her lips as recognition showed across his face. "But I'm still upright and breathing, so no hard feelings."
"Lady?" he asked.
"That's right," she said.
Her eyes narrowed in frustration before he said, "Leave me the hell alone."
Lady hadn't expected a warm welcome from him, but she hadn't expected him to be on the edge of hostility. At least right off the bat, he hadn't even given her time to give him a reason to be hostile. "Afraid I can't," she said, trying to sound sympathetic. "I sort of need to talk to you."
He was finishing his drink and gathering his things, "No. I'm retired, I don't want anything to do with you."
Lady shrugged as she finished her beer, "I don't want anything to do with me, either, but I have no choice. You...well, you won't get rid of me very easily. I'm a persistent little bitch."
"Obviously, you were supposed to die years ago," he snapped at her as he got into his jacket.
Lady turned to the bartender as Elkins left, "Do you sell wholesale? I think I need something to go."
With a bottle of aged whiskey beside her she followed Elkins' Jeep. She didn't try to hide that she was following him, several miles of bouncing along a secluded dirt road where they were the only two vehicles it was sort of hard to pretend she wasn't following him.
Elkins looked mad enough to spit when he got out of his car and hurried into his cabin before her. By the time she reached it the door was locked and she could hear him moving quickly to lock the back door as well. Lady slid the front window open and slid through, she was sitting in his recliner when he returned to the front room. "Got you a bottle of your favorite," she held up the whiskey. "Got some clean glasses? I don't mind sharing the bottle but I figure we can at least be civilized. At least need a jar to drink whiskey properly."
He crossed the room to slam the window down. "What do you want?"
"A glass for starters," she said with a pleasant smile. "C'mon, Danny, I drove a long way to see you. I'll let you warm up to me a bit before I piss you off again."
Lady kept Daniel's glass full of whiskey, neither of them talking much. One thing she had learned over the years was that hunters loved their alcohol, and she didn't blame them. Anything to numb the mind so they could sleep without nightmares was helpful. She never had nightmares, not even dreams, but alcohol often helped numb things she'd rather not feel.
"I found a few counter-curses that keep me healthy without making me sick," Lady was explaining to him. "Nothing to lift it, yet."
"So is that why you are here? See if I have anything new? I wasn't much of a witch-hunter, I never had much and what I did nearly killed you," Elkins said, his eyelids getting droopy.
"I'm not here for myself," she said, setting her glass down and leaning towards him. "I'm here to do a favor for John." Elkins uttered a curse under his breath at the mention of John, and Lady smirked. "Yeah, I'd have to agree with you on that. But thing is John saved my ass and I try to repay the favor when I can. He needs to find a gun. The Colt."
"Yeah? What for?" Elkins asked.
"He's tracking down the thing that killed his wife," Lady said quietly.
"The Colt doesn't exist," Elkins said after a few moments.
Lady leaned back in the recliner. "Cool. You don't mind if I crash here until John comes to get me, do you?" Lady pulled the lever so the footrest came up and closed her eyes. "Think I can get a blanket? I just came from North Dakota and I'm no stranger to cold, but this mountain stuff sort of threw me. Think it will snow? Not that I don't like the snow, love it actually, you know the first..." Lady opened her eyes and tensed as she heard the future sound of a gun clicking. Elkins was just pulling out a pistol and checking to see if it was loaded. "C'mon, Daniel, you aren't going to shoot me."
"Get out of my house, Lady," he said.
Lady slowly stood up and stared at him as he aimed the pistol at her. She wasn't entirely confident that he wouldn't pull the trigger. She had been pouring whiskey down his throat the past few hours, drunk people weren't entirely predictable. "Okay," she said, finishing the last of the whiskey in her glass. "You know, John is closer to the demon he's been hunting than ever before. You do know it is a..." Lady put her hands up before he could threaten her again, "Okay, I'm leaving. Enjoy the whiskey you senile old bastard."
Lady drove slowly on her way back down the mountain. The temperature had dropped below freezing and her Beetle slid dangerously on tight curves in the road. She got a place to stay in town and once she was settled in called John. John didn't answer his phone but she left him a message that the first meeting was unsuccessful and asked where one could purchase a bulletproof vest with no questions asked. Before she could get comfortable and try to sleep off her whiskey her cell phone rang.
She let out a groan when she saw it was Dean, she didn't want to have to lie to him that she was helping out his father again, that she had managed to speak to John when Dean would have had all of his teeth pulled to do just that. Also she wasn't used to having to check in with people. Bobby had long ago learned to deal with long absences and her random visits, and Missouri had completely given up on her, and Mason often knew where she was going to be before she did thanks to Max. She let it go to voicemail, he could wait for his weekly update on the book until she had sobered up and got some sleep.
The next few days Lady kept an eye out for Daniel's jeep, watching for his routine. He went to the same bar every night, around the same time. The third day he came into town earlier to pick up some supplies. The fourth night he continued his routine bar stop. She could go back to his cabin while he was away, hide any deadly weapons from him so she could ambush him safely. She knew from watching him that she had at least three hours to manage that, however she had a few more tricks up her sleeve and no time restraint.
Lady walked into the bar, meeting his eye briefly before walking past him. She ordered a beer and tapped some salt in it before going to sit at a table. It was a custom John and Bobby both taught her, it was to ward off evil. Lady didn't practice it herself, but Daniel was old-school like John and Bobby so he would hopefully appreciate the act. The bars patrons were mostly middle-aged to elderly men. They looked at her with interest just like they looked at the attractive bartender, but they left her alone. Her conservative dress went past her knees, her black boots with four-inch heels weren't very warm but kept her feet dry.
She drank three beers each with a dash of salt in them while staring at a local newspaper before Elkins finally went to her. He sat across from her and put a hand in his jacket pocket while the other stayed on his glass. "Why are you still here?"
Lady looked at him and then around, "Trying to get drunk."
"I don't want you in town. Anywhere around here," Elkins said.
Lady looked at him with wide eyes, "You think I want to be here? I've been helping John on this crazy hunt for months, don't you think I'd like to go home? I'm afraid what we've been after all this time will stop chasing him and come after me," she muttered.
"You think you led that demon here?" Elkins growled at her.
"All I know is I'm not leaving this place until John gives me an all clear to leave."
Elkins hadn't been in a healthy state of mind the last time they spoke, but now he was completely paranoid. "Come on," he said. "Follow me."
Lady fought back the victorious smile as he led them out, and this time he let her follow him to his cabin without rushing inside to lock her out.
Once at his cabin Daniel rushed to grab a bag of salt, pouring it across windows and doorways. It was a purifier and demon deterrent. Demons could not cross a threshold covered in salt and Elkins was thorough to make sure any place of entrance in his home was blocked by it. Once he was satisfied that they were protected from a demon that would never have any interest in Lady he sat in his recliner and let Lady sit in the uncomfortable wicker chair across from it.
"How much do you know about this demon?" Daniel asked her, pouring them both a drink from a whiskey bottle.
"Just that it killed his wife," Lady said.
He shook his head, "This demon is powerful, evil beyond your understanding." Daniel finished his whiskey and poured more into his glass. "Damn yellow-eyes, is what John always called him."
"Yeah, I think I've heard that," Lady said.
"How much you know about the Colt?"
"Just that John wants it," she said.
Elkins shook his head, "He needs it. The Colt is mystical, can kill any supernatural thing, even if it is immune to bullets. It can kill djinn, vampires and demons." Lady was immediately curious to djinn and vampires, but she didn't ask him to elaborate for two reasons. First, she didn't need to know about any more monsters in the night, she left that sort of crap for people like Bobby and the Winchesters. Secondly, Daniel was actually talking and she wouldn't interrupt him for anything. "In 1835 Samuel Colt made a gun, a special gun for a hunter. Story goes he made thirteen bullets, and the hunter he made it for used it half a dozen times before he disappeared. The gun along with him."
Lady waited a long time, longer than she would wait for most people, to see if he would continue. "You believe in it?"
Elkins shrugged, "I've seen a lot of things in my years. You, you are just a pup compared to me, girl. But you've seen wicked things, felt wicked things that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. You tell me, you believe this gun could really exist?"
"I know John believes it does. And he believes you know more than you are willing to tell him," she said. "You sure as hell know more than you are willing to tell me."
"You are right, I do," Elkins admitted. "So you go back to John, and tell him next time he wants something from me he damn well better come himself. If he ever sends someone else to do his dirty work, I'll kill them. I don't care if it is you, or his own sons. I don't want what he is dealing with finding its way to me, I'm too damn old for this. Now get out. Out of my town. Hear me?"
"Yeah, I do," she answered. "Just so I know, when I meet up with John again...if he shows up?"
"I'll probably shoot him, too," Daniel confirmed.
"Got it. Thanks for the drink," she said.
Lady was nursing a beer and working up to a good buzz when John called her. It was early in the morning where he was, earlier where she was. "Progress report," he said the moment she answered.
"Question for you," Lady said.
"Are you drunk?"
"Trying to be, but you are a real buzzkill," she muttered. "When Elkins threatens to kill someone, how often does he carry out?"
"I'd say pretty often," John said, not sounding surprised. "You pissed him off?"
"You know, I thought he was warming up to me but he did say he'd shoot me, your sons, and even you if we bothered him again. But I think I got a bit of fear in him." Lady went over her conversation with Elkins more in depth. "You know, saying it out loud, while drunk, I am starting to wonder if you haven't lost your marbles, John. I mean, the gun is like a hundred and...um..."
"Yeah, don't strain yourself," John chuckled.
"Eat me," she muttered. "What I don't get is why do you need it for a demon? I thought exorcisms got rid of them."
"That just sends them back to hell. This one has to die," John said roughly. "Take the pressure off of Daniel a bit and just be careful. He probably wouldn't kill you but I'm not able to leave where I am to come and patch you up if he shoots you anywhere non-lethal."
"Yeah, okay," she said while hanging up. "Oh, I'm drunk," she moaned happily as she tucked herself in. "Mm, happy drunk," she mumbled as she snuggled into the pillows. They smelled a bit musty, like an old person, or maybe that was her from spending time at Elkins cabin. She missed her dog suddenly, something warm to curl up next to. She fell asleep with a near-pout and wished she had brought her dog along. Maybe Freddie needed to take it easy but he could play teddy bear and take it easy at the same time.
The next couple of days Lady stayed away from Elkins, his routine started a few hours earlier and ended an hour later, she had bothered him quite a bit. In her observations of 'normal' human behavior, even though Elkins didn't really meet normal requirements, she noticed that people were creatures of habit. Men especially. When a routine became altered it was always a sign, not always a good one. Lady knew she should feel bad for scaring an old man into believing a demon may be ambushing his town any minute, but it was hard to feel bad for a guy who nearly killed her years ago and threatened to shoot her a few times the past week.
The third day Elkins broke routine farther and actually left town for several hours during the day. But when he returned the first thing he did was go to the bar, and Lady decided he had enough time to cool down. When she met him at the bar that night he gave her the stink eye and left quickly. She found him outside puncturing a tire on her Beetle.
The next day was spent calling around local shops for a replacement tire, then finally settling for having one ordered.
"Hey, Bobby, thought I'd check in on my favorite man," Lady said brightly.
"I'm doing just fine, kid," Bobby answered.
"Not you, Freddie!" she laughed.
"Figures," Bobby chuckled. "The monster is eating anything small enough to get down his throat, which is just about anything. His leg seems a bit better but I haven't let him run around like you asked. You on your way back?"
"Unfortunately, no. The source of information I'm trying to tap is tighter than a..."
"I get it!" Bobby snapped.
"Anyways, I wish I was on my way but looks like I'll be spending more time here."
"I don't mind," Bobby said. "Just let me know you are safe and give me a heads up if you will be longer than another week, okay?"
"You got it," Lady said. "Thanks again, Bobby."
While Lady had eagerly entered this favor for John as a tool of procrastination she hadn't expected to spend the whole month of July doing so. The book she had left in North Dakota began to itch at the back of her mind, time that was being lost felt heavy on her and she got dressed in preparation to finish the damn favor or get shot.
Dressed in her knee-high black boots she carefully walked down the sidewalk to the bar. While the temperature had been steadily warming there was the occasional patch of ice that was too stubborn to melt and dry up. The whole town was staying cool and moist with frequent drizzles. She was in jeans and a sweater, comfortable and warm.
She took the stool next to Elkins and waived to the bartender. "I'll have what he's having," she said before the bartender could ask.
Elkins didn't look surprised to see her and closed his journal protectively while slipping a hand into his jacket pocket, "Roads have been clear, you should be gone."
"You know how much it costs to get a tire for my Volkswagen to a shit-town like this?" Lady asked. "Only reason I'm not making you pay for it is because you are broke as hell. And I know that because I've been to your house. Now threaten me as much as you'd want. Like you said I've been through things you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy."
"I told you, I'm not dealing with you. Nothing you say or offer me will change that."
"Not to sound self-centered, but I have a lot to offer, unless you play for a different team," she said. "Normally I don't pimp myself out but..."
"You make me sick," Elkins said.
Lady shrugged, "I've done stranger things for less, believe it or not. You know I once had to hold an alligator's mouth closed so..." Lady frowned as she was about to lose her audience. Elkins eyes were going to move to the door as it opened and stare for a moment, and curious Lady turned to look just as it was opening. A group of people around her age, mid-twenties to early thirties, walked in. One woman, long dark hair and attractive. Three men, average builds. One was black with a shaved head, the second was a bit wider at the shoulders with rough facial hair and flat short dark hair on top of his head, and the last was clean-shaven with shaggy blonde hair. Lady couldn't help but look, they were the first people in the town near her age that she had seen out past ten in the evening. Manning was a small town of retirees and couples with empty nests and a failing economy, if it didn't get some fresh blood soon it would die out over the next few generations. They stood out.
"What can I get you?" The bartender asked them.
Lady didn't hear what they ordered, Elkins grabbed her upper arm and pulled her off of her stool to drag her out. "Change your mind?" she joked.
"Come on," he growled once they were outside. "Where is your car?"
"At my motel on a cement block thanks to you," she said. "New tire comes tomorrow."
"Get in, we have to go," he said. "Now."
Lady didn't like the urgency in his voice, and got into the passenger side. He drove swiftly up the bouncy dirt road to his cabin, faster than he had when she first followed him there.
"What's going on?" Lady asked. "You aren't really going to shoot me, are you?"
"Is it true, you see things?" Elkins asked.
Lady held onto the dash as they hit a hard bump that nearly sent her into the roof of the jeep. When she had met Elkins for the first time her visions hadn't even been strong enough to be considered anything more than a distraction. She had told no one about what she saw except John, Bobby and Missouri at the time, hoping they'd fade away. Apparently John had shared that information with him. "Yeah, why?"
"Vampires," he breathed. "Four of them."
Lady sucked in a breath. That was why they had stood out so much in the bar, besides being half everyone's age. They weren't even human. "Uh...are you sure?"
"I hunted those things damn near to extinction. I'm sure," he said. "I can't take them all myself. John thinks you are good enough to handle a demon, you can handle a vampire or two."
Lady's jaw dropped as he slammed on the brakes in front of his cabin. "Uh..." was all she managed to get out as they raced to his door. They didn't have time for her to explain that she had stretched the truth about how she helped John. She knew things, sure, but she knew nothing about vampires. And because she had been trying to be as non-threatening as possible she had left her pistol in locked in her glove box, all she had was her butterfly knife. "Are you sure?" she asked again as they got into his cabin.
"Shut up and blockade the door," he ordered her.
"Yeah! Fine," she said. "So, uh...where are the wooden stakes?"
He stared at her with wide eyes, and Lady could almost see him discover her lies. She was trapped with him in a cabin and really knew nothing. "Come on," he said, urging her to follow him into the back.
Lady grabbed his arm as they reached his back room, the woman from the bar was standing there. "It's been a while. I have to say, you look old," she said with a smile. She tilted her head slightly and her dark eyes reflected the light.
"What do you want?" Elkins asked her.
"What do you think?" she smiled, and turned her eyes to Lady. "Please tell me she's your daughter. Or granddaughter."
Elkins didn't answer, he pulled a knife from his belt and threw it at the woman in one swift motion while pushing Lady back into his bedroom. The vampire hissed as the knife struck her chest, but it didn't appear to hurt her at all.
Elkins slammed and locked the door to the bedroom, and then got beside a heavy bookshelf to slide it across the door. "Weapons in the trunk," he pointed.
Lady dropped to her knees and opened a heavy wooden trunk, grabbing a gun.
"Not that! The machete, find it," he ordered as he turned to a safe on the wall. Lady jumped as the door began to splinter behind the bookshelf. Her hand grabbed the handle of a long machete. "Have to chop their heads off." Lady groaned internally at that information. "And keep your damn mouth shut when you chop, you get any of their blood in your mouth and I'll have to kill you."
Lady got off her knees and saw Elkins was desperately trying to assemble an ancient looking gun. While she was no weapons expert she had been given, force fed really, basic firearm safety and usage by Bobby, but she had never seen a gun like that. It looked like it was from the nineteenth century. Considering she had been sent to him specifically to get information about an old gun she knew what it was immediately. "You had it?" she snapped at him, momentarily forgetting about the vampire trying to break down the door.
The moment didn't last because the window in the bedroom came crashing in. Lady saw it happening with just enough time to jump out of the way and keep herself being cut to ribbons, but the moment it took her to get back on her feet one of the large men from the bar had his arms around her and was prying the weapon she had out of her fist. And the door finally gave way as the woman broke through.
Elkins was pinned against his desk, the Colt on the floor. The woman picked it up, "Nice gun. Wouldn't do you much good, of course," she said. She smiled cruelly, "Boys, we're eating in tonight."
Elkins moaned in pain as one of the men attacked his shoulder with his mouth.
"Kate, I like this one," the scruffy man that was holding her said. "I think I might want some time alone with her."
Lady was struggling as fiercely as she could against the iron warms around her before he finished speaking. "Let him go, he's just an old man," Lady said before the air could be squeezed out of her lungs.
Kate looked over Lady, "Nice boots. Size seven?"
"Don't you dare touch my boots," Lady snarled.
"Kate, please, let me keep her," the man said, his fingers sliding around Lady's wrists.
Elkins screamed in pain as they threw him on the ground and continued biting him, making her wince. She twisted within the grip and fought back the best way she knew how against a much larger and stronger opponent, she shoved her knee as hard as she could into the vampire's groin. The grip slackened enough for her to slip away but she got one step towards the door to run when his hand was around her throat. She faced him, looking into dark eyes that were not human. He pulled his lips back and a second set of sharp fangs began to descend from his gums while his other hand tore the neck of her sweater open. Lady fought and struggled as he bit into the top of her shoulder. The pain was hot and immediate, the sharp teeth tore deeper as she struggled but never lost their grasp.
The vampire let her go after a minute, Elkins screams were getting louder and more painful. "Please, I want her," he said.
"You'll have to ask Luther," Kate said. "Until he returns she's cattle."
Lady was held, every time she struggled the vampire's hands tightened hard enough to leave bruises. They bled Elkins dry slowly, and then tore him apart like animals.
"Sorry about your friend," Kate said, licking the blood from her lips. "For your sake, I hope you weren't close."
Lady met her eyes, "Monster."
"Lunch," Kate replied. "Let's go."
Lady was bound and gagged before being thrown into a small trunk of a car. There were sub-woofers in the trunk that made it cramped even for someone as small as she was, and after the first half hour she wasn't sure she'd get her hearing back after being blasted with bass.
When they let her out of the trunk she only had a few minutes to explore her surroundings. They were far down the mountain. It was at least twenty degrees warmer. She wasn't sure if she was still in Colorado or not, but she was outside of a large barn with several cars outside of it. She could see nothing else, no highway or other buildings or signs of civilization.
Her ears were ringing from being bombarded by loud bass for hours and couldn't hear what the vampires were saying as they dragged her in. She wasn't struggling, her legs were completely numb and uncooperative. If she had any hope of surviving this place it would be easier without a broken arm, she just needed a minute to measure how much shit she was in. Four more vampires were inside. Total of eight. She didn't have a measuring cup but she was willing to say that was a lot of shit to be in.
There were humans, too, a dozen of them locked in a cage. The cage had a sink, toilet, and a few blankets.
From within the cage she watched the vampires, studying them. Some of her hearing was returning and there was music, loud chatter and laughing, and a lot of beer drinking. Take away the holding humans in pens for food and it wasn't much different than a party at Mason's house.
And then, they went to sleep. Lady waited for an hour before moving from her spot to begin examining the cage when another prisoner grabbed her arm. "Sh," he hissed, and Lady was relieved that she could hear it. Once the vampires had gone to bed everything had been silent. "If they wake up..." the man said, and shuddered. "Be quiet."
Lady nodded until he let her go. She got to her feet and walked around the cage, the other prisoners watching her with terror. The floor was dirt, but packed down tight. She didn't see any tools that could be used to dig. The scruffy vampire had taken her butterfly knife, cash and phone. Kate had taken her boots. Lady knew it was a bad time to be pissed about losing an expensive pair of shoes but she had really liked those boots.
The pen was secure, any way she thought about getting out would make enough noise to wake the vampires, and required at minimum a crowbar. So she sat next to the prisoner that had spoken to her and quietly said, "What's going on here?"
His eyes looked haunted, but not as bad as the others. "It's like some sort of freakish cult," he whispered back. "Every night they grab us and...drink our blood. Some nights one of us don't come back."
"How long have you been here?"
"A week? Maybe more," he said quietly. He held out his hand, "I'm Carl."
"I'm Lunch," she said with a smile.
That evening when the vampires awoke Lady stood up, standing near the cage as the others huddled as far away from it as they could. "Beau, I don't think your girl is right in the head," one of them laughed.
The scruffy vampire walked closer to the pen and smiled at her, "That's why I like her. See that fight in her eyes?"
"Don't get too attached," Kate warned. "She was with Elkins, she might be like him."
"Little thing like her? Nah," Beau said. "You're no hunter, are you, doll?"
"Just some hired whore," Lady said. "Really a business woman at heart. What do you guys want in return for letting me go?"
"I heard Elkins talking to her about us," Kate said. "She's more than a whore."
"Be quiet, adults are talking," Lady taunted.
Kate was at the cage in an instant, but Lady didn't flinch. "When Luther is gone, I'm in charge. One word from me and you are shreds like your pal Elkins."
Lady could hear Elkins screaming in the back of her mind, the intense pain of torture...poor old bastard. "Then say the word, or give me my damn boots back," Lady said.
Kate's lip twitched, "You'd like that, wouldn't you? You might have some insight, but you are no hunter. I can see it in your eyes, you feel so hopeless right now."
"Oh, sorry, I just completely spaced out. Were you talking?" Lady raised an eyebrow.
"Enjoy your breakfast, Beau," Kate said.
It went on for nearly a week. Every other day Beau or one of the other vampires would take some of her blood to sustain their own lives. But she was still the newest cow in the pen. Considering what they had been through all of them still seemed sane.
The vampires fed them, some days it was just a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter, once it was a few boxes of pizza. Every couple of days one of the humans would be allowed a shower and a change of clothes, it wasn't optional or private. Apparently vampires liked to eat clean food.
Tamara was looking bad. Pale and anemic, she had been there over two weeks. "Looks like we'll need to find a few replacements soon," Kate said as they finished breakfast.
"Just give her a few days, you don't have to kill them," Lady said in a hushed voice.
Kate looked at her blankly, "We keep you humans around too long and you start to stink, no matter how many times we wash you."
"You used to be human, right?" Lady asked.
"And you used to be entertaining," Kate countered. "I've heard every insult you have, I'm bored with you. Beau is even bored with you. The only chance you had of surviving is gone. Once you are as weak and used up as she is he won't even want to keep you."
Lady's eye twitched as she realized what Beau's plan had been. Not to keep her as a food source, but to switch her over. She had spent a week watching the vampires as much as possible, listening to them discuss everything from music, movies and favorite places to draw blood. A lot of useless crap, but she hadn't been able to ignore the vampire sex between a few of the couples. She had also noticed the couples weren't sharing each other. In fact now that she thought about it only Beau and Kate were alone.
It was perfectly okay if Beau decided to kill her over turning her into one of them. In fact that was her new goal in the whole shit pile. For the first time since she had been caged up Lady sat in the corner with the other dying humans and tried to tune out what their captors were doing.
It had been a week, they were at least a hundred miles if not two or three hundred from Manning. John knew where she had been, he was the only one. Would he come looking for her when she didn't check in? At least try to call and make sure Elkins hadn't made good on his threat to shoot her? Well, if he really wanted that god damned gun he better. Lady wasn't sure how Elkins place was left, if John would find enough clues he needed to find the gun, and since Kate had taken it as a trophy if he could track that well he'd be running into a huge coven of vampires. She quietly hoped John didn't give a damn about her or the gun, he'd get himself killed.
Her next thought was Freddie. Bobby didn't know where she was exactly, but by now he'd figure that something had gone wrong. Or at least he'd be thinking that she had spaced out checking in with him, but by the time she had been bled dry he'd know she wasn't coming back for her dog. Freddie would be in good hands with Bobby.
And eventually Max would see, or already did see, that she was dead. What happened from there Lady had no clue. When it came to the old medicine woman she had stopped guessing. It wasn't like she would send Mason to take on a coven of vampires.
Lady let it all settle in. She never left many loose ends, she always knew that her death would come early in life. The world would keep moving on without her. It was scary, something so great and unknown, but if she only had a few days or weeks versus a year, she was going to do what she could. The hope that finding the book had given her hadn't grown enough to change her thoughts about her death, but it was a disappointment that she wouldn't get a chance to use its knowledge against the witches.
Unfortunately the only thing she thought to do was piss the vampires off enough that they'd leave the others alone, give them a reprieve and a chance to take a few extra breaths.