Lost in Mystic Creek
Chapter 13
Reasons
"I think I've got it!" A huddled figure said, bent towards the sidewalk. The creature leaned up, sniffing the air. "Somewhere in this direction." It pointed ahead of itself, looking back at the rest of the figures huddled in a mass underneath the cover of a shady tree. They were waiting for night to fall. It wouldn't do them any good at all to be walking around during the day.
"Are you sure?" Another creature asked, a disbelieving look on his face. "Last time we followed your lead, you lead us right to some place he had already left."
The creature shrugged off his comment, turning to the rest of the group. "I'm pretty sure its him," He told them. "Seriously, I couldn't mistake his pansy stench with anything."
"Yea," One of the others said. "William the Bloody is as menacing as a helpless baby."
"Wouldn't mind one of those right about now," Another voice popped up from within the crowd.
"Are we doing this or not?" A whiny voice asked from the crowd.
"Let's do this!" Screamed the leader, earning whooping and cheers from the group of creatures.
--
"I stink, don't I?" Bella asked, smelling her T-Shirt.
Edward pulled her closer, kissing her hair lightly. "You smell great," he replied. "You smell as beautiful as you always do."
Bella smiled and stretched beneath the covers of their king sized bed. "I smell like pizza sauce which is more than a little disgusting." She looked up at him, kissing his lips firmly. "You smell like cologne."
"Very manly cologne, right?" He laughed.
"I think it smells very manly. I mean, there's a reason they call it cologne, not perfume," she agreed.
"I should wear more perfume, shouldn't I? I mean, come on, if we go out and someone gets close to us, you'll smell like heaven and I'll smell like crap."
"Beautiful crap," Edward corrected.
"That doesn't make any sense."
Their very meaningful conversation was interrupted by a loud BAM outside of the house. Bella jumped, giving Edward a panicked look. "What was that?" She asked, sitting up and putting on her shoes. "I'll go down. You can stay here."
"Are you out of your mind?" Edward exclaimed, standing up before she even blinked twice. "Am I the helpless klutz here? You don't have any strength. You'll probably fall down the stairs before you get to the door."
"Then I'm coming with you," she decided. "You'll be my big, strong protector."
Edward rolled his eyes, as he and Bella made his way down the stairs. "As always…"
"Open up, Slayer!" They heard as they reached the downstairs area. Someone was banging at the door and were apparently looking for a slayer.
"Slayer? Are you a slayer too?" Bella inquired, obviously confused.
Edward sighed, running a hand through his perfect hair. He pursed his lips together, shaking his head. "No, Bella. I am not the vampire slayer."
"Vampire slayer?" She shrieked. "Do they want to kill you? Slay you? They can't kill you, Edward!"
"They're looking for the vampire slayer."
The banging continued. "Come on, Slayer! You can't hide for long!"
Edward vamped out, ready to face whomever they were. "Hide, Bella." She did as she was told after kissing him one last time. He was ready, his game face on. Seconds later, the door was broken down and many creatures of the night were seen. Vampires, demons, every kind of species stood outside, and now inside the house.
They threw random punches at Edward, which he ducked luckily. "Who the hell are you?"
A vampire stood forward, with the crowd of demons behind him. "We want the slayer, Vampire. Give us the slayer."
A very horn-ey looking demon came out from behind the head vampire. He looked very mad. "And Spike too. We want Spike!" The creatures cheered behind them, some of the demons even having torches.
Edward raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"Don't play dumb, Vampire!"
"You have the wrong house." He threw a kick at the demon that was speaking and started punching as many of the creatures as he could, knocking some down. "Bella! A weapon please!"
Bella ran towards Edward and handed him a butcher knife. "Eww," she whispered once Edward started cutting heads and gutting the creatures. "I think I'm going to throw up."
"Little girl," a vampire approached. "You are not the slayer. I smell fear and weakness."
"He'll kill you!" She yelled at him, backing away. "Edward's strong!"
"Bella!" Edward boomed from his place near the doorway, as he was battling the head vampire now. "Don't hurt her!"
"Or you'll do what? Bite me?" The vampire snickered.
Edward rolled his eyes, staking the head vampire somewhere near the heart. He wasn't very successful. "I was thinking more like staking you." He threw the knife at the vampire, turning him into dust.
Bella's face brightened, realizing they weren't completely undefeatable. "Wow," she muttered to herself. But her expression darkened when two of the many demons grabbed her by the arms. "Leave…me…alone…" Kicking was useless, she knew, but it didn't stop her from doing it. "You—you---you ugly thing."
"Actually," the purple demon said. "You are incorrect, Ma'am. We're one of the more beautiful demonic creatures."
As the demons were holding her down, the head vampire approached. Bella looked behind him, where Edward was laying on the ground, the creatures were beating down on him where the rest of them were venturing upstairs.
"Hello, precious," the vampire said. "You smell good."
"There was a debate going on about that," she shot back. "Leave Edward alone!" She felt tears coming quickly. She wouldn't let herself cry in front of these…things. It would only make her situation worse. The vampire was only inches away, bending his head so he had a perfect position above her neck.
"No!" Bella cried out. "Please…" she begged, tears forming in her eyes. She never pictured this as the way that she would be turned. But, she knew that she wouldn't even be turned. He would suck her dry.
She yelped in pain when the head vampire's teeth sunk into her neck.
"Please…please…" she sobbed.
But suddenly, the creature that was biting down on her turned into nothing…into dust. "Are you alright?"
Edward's beaten face appeared behind the dusted figure. "Bella…" He killed both demons that were holding her down and then took her into his cold body. "Are you alright?" He repeated.
"I'm fine," she replied, wiping away tears. "It just hurt."
"Chief!" Another vampire ran down the stairs. He searched the chaotic room. "What happened to the chief?"
Edward let go of Bella, his game face looking fiercer than ever. "He's right here." He pointed to the big pile of dust at his feet. "What would you like to say to him?"
The vampire looked at the other creatures. "Let's go! The slayer's not here."
The group quickly dispersed, leaving Edward cradling Bella in the living room, surrounded by shattered glass and broken furniture.
"What the hell was that?" Bella asked Edward frantically, searching his face.
"Nothing of importance now," He muttered distractedly, standing up and sniffing the air. "I'll be back."
"Where are you going?" Bella asked him, trying to catch up with him, but failing as he ran full speed towards the bedroom. "Edward!" Bella cried, making her way quickly up the stairs. "Edward!" Bella yelled, finally stumbling into the bedroom.
All she saw was Edward desperately trying to put out the fire before the heat became too much for her.
--
"Did you hear that?" Buffy asked.
Spike grunted, closing his eyes and holding her even closer now. "Sleep is valuable, pet. I think we should both start to respect it." She was lying face down, on top of him. She drew circles on his stomach with her hand.
"It's not my fault that we haven't been getting sleep," she went on. "You don't ever get tired."
"Well, I'm tired now," Spike mumbled into her hair. "Turn the T.V off."
"Nope. I can't move. Too comfy." She smiled against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. "Are you really sleepy? Because we could--"
"Unless what follows that sentence is shag 'til the sun comes up, then I suggest you just go…to…sleep," he sighed.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Spike. I'll do anything, just wake up."
Spike's face suddenly woke up 100 as he flipped them around so he was on top of her now. He smirked widely. "Well, then, let's get on it, shall we?" He started kissing her neck.
Buffy let out a squeal of surprise. "You're a pig, Spike," she giggled.
"That works much better with the scowl and look of loath on your face." Spike took off his shirt, letting himself fall onto Buffy's frame. "Don't wake me up if I fall asleep," he said with a raise of his eyebrows.
"Oh, I'll make sure that the word 'sleep' doesn't even cross your mind," Buffy retorted, kissing him fervently.
"You should know better than to--" He started, but never finished his sentence. Something had knocked the T.V down. "Uh…Luv…" he whispered, looking around. "Uhm…Buffy."
She turned her head to see what had been done to the T.V. Then, she heard something. "Spike. Window." She threw him off her (a bit more violently than she had intended) and ducked. "Don't get close."
Spike stayed on the couch. "Are you completely off your lid?"
"I don't understand how anyone knows what that's supposed to mean," she told him, crouching in front of him. "Someone threw something through the window and it knocked down the T.V. Whoever they are, they're still out there."
"Oh, bugger it to hell," He muttered to himself. "Can't a bloke get anythin' he wants around here?"
"I seriously thought you were just-" She was interrupted as an arrow flew through the window and pinned Spike's shirt to the wall.
"Sodding demons don't have a coordinated bone in their bloody body," Spike grumbled, pulling at the arrow. He gave it a good yank, sending the arrow flying somewhere into the room.
"I don't think," Buffy panted, crawling towards the window, "that demons have bones," she said to herself, ducking underneath the window. "I'll have to ask Giles."
"Why don't you write that down on a post-it, luv," He told her sarcastically, making his way over to her. "Glad you have time to deviate from surviving to mental notes."
"Right, right," Buffy agreed, grabbing a shirt off the floor.
"Oh, no," Spike gasped, clawing at the shirt. "Not my best shirt. You're going to get demon goo all over it."
"Grow up," Buffy growled, grabbing a few weapons from underneath her bed. "It's show time."
Spike merely had the chance to shake his head before a vampire came flying through the window, a gang of demons close behind.
--
"Seriously, if we don't hurry, I'll miss the kickoff," Pacey complained, snaking his arm around Joey's waist and guiding her to the car. "I've got a betting pool on this game. Do you want me to go broke, woman?"
"You're gambling?" Joey asked in surprise, strapping on her seatbelt. "Seriously Pacey, do you want us to go broke?"
"It's a social thing," he muttered to himself, keeping his eyes trained on the road.
"Until you get addicted!" She cried, crossing her arms over her chest angrily. "Do you really want our baby to grow up with nothing?"
"Au contraire," Pacey remarked, holding up his hand to silence her. "She'll have everything with the lucky streak I have going."
"And it's just that," Joey spat. "A lucky streak."
Pacey turned the car into the driveway. "It's been this way for a while," he attempted to explain himself. He parked the car, turning to face Joey.
"How long has this been going on?" She asked him, her face red with frustration. She unbuckled her seatbelt, opening the door. She got out, facing Pacey over the roof of the car. "God, Pacey. I didn't know you had that much of a social life."
"I'm glad you believe in me," he told her, slamming his door.
Joey followed, locking the car with a button on the door handle before shutting the door. She followed him towards the house, waddling as fast as she could. "Don't you dare have attitude with me. You know you're at wrong here."
"I'm sorry if I tried to earn some extra cash," he yelled, an exasperated tone in his voice. He walked up the front steps, reaching into his pocket to grab his keys.
He froze. It was empty.
He quickly checked his other pockets, frantically patting down his coat before he looked up at Joey, who was glaring at him angrily.
Off the look Pacey gave her, Joey lunged herself at Pacey.
Pacey thanked whoever was up there just then, now extremely aware of how pregnant Joey was.
She really waddled more than lunged, to be exact.
--
"Spike!" Buffy cried, throwing a stake towards him. "Behind you," She warned, turning around and decapitating a demon that tried to stab her from behind. "Bastard," She muttered, picking up a bloody weapon off the ground. She leaned down and wiped it off on the dead demon's shirt.
Buffy, seeing that Spike finished the last of the group that was currently in the house, peered out of the window. She saw a few of the creatures hidden in the branches of the tree in her yard. Looking around, she climbed out onto the ledge outside of her window.
Before she had time to take a better look, she was hauled up by her shirt collar towards the roof. Grabbing the arms that were holding her, she launched herself over the body, landing safely on her feet on the other side of the demon. "Is that all you've got?" She asked him, her body in a fighting stance.
"Always more for you, Slayer," the demon hissed, hooking his arm and slamming his fist into her face.
Buffy straightened out her jaw, stopping the next jab aimed for her stomach. "That one actually did hurt. And you'll pay," she explained, giving him a strong punch to the gut. She proceeded to punch him repeatedly in the face as she called out to nowhere in particular.
"Spike!" Buffy cried, looking around on the roof for him. "I'd really like some help. It'd be really appreciated."
"Spike?" The demon asked, straightening up. "Where is he?"
"Nowhere," she told him quickly, kicking him in the gut and sending him flying off the roof. She looked down to see his body sprawled in a completely impossible position.
"Oh, bloody wonderful," Spike yelled out to Buffy. "I was completely AWOL, and you give out my location?" He grumbled angrily, clambering onto the roof.
"Trust me," Buffy assured him, staking a vampire that had made its way onto the roof. "They knew we were moving before we did."
"We sure did," said one of the more ugly looking beasts. He was holding a torch in his hands, a clan of vampires behind him. Apparently, they had climbed up on the roof when Buffy had been distracted.
"Jeez," Buffy said, rolling her eyes. "How many are there of you?"
A short vampire stepped out behind the demon. "Fifty-two. We got signatures and everything."
Buffy laughed. "That's cute. 'Kill the Slayer Club'?" She scoffed, throwing a random piece of brick that was laying on the room at the vampire, successfully making him lose balance and fall off the roof. "Never heard that one before."
She ran towards them, fighting off every single one that stepped up to her. "Spike!" She said as she staked a vampire. "Care- punch –ful with kick the punch fire!" She yelled out.
"I got it, luv!" He responded, heading straight for the demon with the torch.
Buffy sighed. "He's a really crappy vampire."
Spike ran towards the demon, knocking the torch out of his hands, and then making signals for Buffy to throw the sword. She gladly did so, of course. He jammed the sword through the demon's neck, resulting in some very nasty demon goo.
"'Didn't hear your last sentence there, Slayer," Spike boosted, smirking.
She laughed as an enormous demon picked Spike up and slammed him down. "Crappy. Vampire." She went over to the big demon and kicked him on the hip, hoping to send him toppling over. No such luck. The demon took her by the leg and sent her flying across the roof.
"Buffy," Spike grunted from his place, lying down on the roof.
Buffy was sent toppling over the roof, holding on to the rim just barely. "Spike! I would really appreciate some help here!"
As Spike was about to stand up, the same demon stomped over, making the roof shake quite a bit, and lifted him up in the air. "Ahhhhhh!" Spike yelled at the top of his lungs, holding on to the demon's horns for dear life.
"Spike!" He heard from the other side of the roof. Buffy, somehow, had climbed back onto the roof. "Let go of him! Put him down!" She screamed at the demon.
"Okie-dokie," the demon said in a deep voice. He slammed Spike down onto the roof, making the roof give out.
"Spike!" Buffy ran over to him, but it was too late. He went through the roof. "Now look what you've done! My roof!" She kicked the demon again, but harder this time, making him fall down. Then, she took his big neck and twisted it, resulting in his very timely death.
"Thanks for that, but could you help me out here, darling?" She heard Spike's voice and turned around. The bottom part of his body was through the roof and in the house, and the top part was still over the roof. He was holding on with both his arms, spreading them out so he couldn't go through. It looked extremely uncomfortable.
Buffy sighed, and walked over to Spike, kneeling down in front of him. "Try not to move. It could cause some internal damage…and completely destroy my roof."
Spike rolled his eyes. "'Glad to see what matters to you."
"Slayer!" They heard from a distance.
Buffy showed him a finger, signaling that she'd be right back, and turned to the edge of the roof, where down on the ground there were what was left of the angry mob. She smiled sweetly at them. "Don't even think that you're getting away without paying for my roof."
"Come down and fight!" One of the vampires hissed.
"Yeah!" the rest of them echoed.
Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you really think that's wise? I mean, have you seen these guys up here? They don't have the greatest life ahead of them."
"Huh?" A clueless creature asked.
"Their dead," she exclaimed. "Now get away from here. Quietly. If you wake up our neighbors, you're deader than dead." Buffy watched them discuss something or other between them.
"We surrender!" They roared, and started running away in clumps.
Buffy rolled her eyes, turning back to Spike. "Hey, you okay?" He shook his head, looking like he was in pain. "You moved, didn't you?"
--
Kate looked over to Sawyer across the dark car. She looked away, glancing at her fingernails awkwardly. "It was…um, good food," she said. Sawyer nodded, turning on the window wipers, rain starting to pour down. "It's really coming down, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Sawyer agreed silently, turning onto their street.
"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah," she repeated. "It's not fair, Sawyer. Not in the least bit. You give me one-worded answers; you sleep on the couch automatically without even asking me. You assume that I don't want you in bed, and you don't even ask. None of this is fair to me," she ranted.
Sawyer stopped the car, once they pulled up at their driveway. He slumped down into his chair, closing his eyes. "We're gonna wait 'till the rain lets up, is tha' alright with you?"
Kate sighed, touching his arm slowly. "Sawyer, please."
He pulled his arm away, setting his hands on the wheel once again. "Look, Freckles, I'm fine. Jus' don' feel like havin' a heart to heart." He finally looked at Kate, giving her a meaningful look. "I'll sleep on the bed, if that's what ya want."
"It's not what I want!" She exclaimed, exasperated.
"Well, then what the hell do you want, Kate?" He asked, raising his voice.
Kate sighed, opening the door. "I want to be able to talk to you. Really. I want you to be like you were before. Before all of this happened!" She got out of the car and into the rain, slamming the door behind her. She stopped in front of the door, hearing some CRASH sounds.
As soon as Sawyer was beside her, she stopped him from entering the house.
"I think I hear something…" She looked down the street, looking like she didn't care about the rain. "Is smoke coming out of that house?" She pointed to Edward and Bella's home.
"O' course not," he responded, rolling his eyes.
"It looks like people running out of that house," Kate mused.
"What? Now people can't have guests over their own house?" Sawyer demanded, opening the door and letting himself in. "Come on. You're gonna catch somethin' if you plan on stayin' out there."
"What do you--" she started.
"God damn it!" Kate was interrupted by Sawyer's muffled cry.
"What's wrong?" She asked, entering the house quietly. The second she stepped into the house, her shoe was filled to the brim with water. "Jeez!" She exclaimed. "What happened, Sawyer?" She flipped on the light switch beside her.
The lights flickered on. The first thing Kate could see was Sawyer sitting in the middle of a very big puddle of water. She ran over to him and helped him up. "What happened?" She repeated, looking around at the soaked house. Everything was covered in water, and there was about three inches of water on the floor.
"The windows!" Sawyer yelled, throwing his hands up. "The damn windows!"
"What?" she asked, looking out the windows. "There's nothing wrong with them."
"Except that they're open," he deadpanned.
Kate looked around at the water, a look of realization crossing her face. "You left the windows open and now our house is filled with water. Now that's just great, Sawyer!" She shook her head, running up the stairs.
"Where are ya goin'?" Sawyer shouted, following her.
When he reached the master bedroom, he found Kate taking mounds of clothes out of the closet. Kate turned to Sawyer and threw a pile of clothes at him. "Can you help me, please? We need to get out of here."
"And go where?"
"Somewhere without a lake on the bottom floor!" She grumbled, stashing clothes into a small duffel bag.
"Don' say that like it's my fault," he pointed at her, panting with anger. His shirt was soaked through, and his hair was matted to his face. "I ain't no goddamn weatherman. How was I supposed to know it'd rain?"
Kate didn't even glance at him as she zipped up her bag and headed through the door. "I've got an idea," she called over her shoulder. "Let's go."
"Go where?" He asked her in an agitated tone, grabbing his bag and following her through the door. "Kate, damn it, we ain't movin' again."
"Are you crazy?" She shouted, her eyes going wide at the thought. "No, we're just going down the street."
"And stayin' where? We don't got no friends here."
"Rory's," she answered, as if it was obvious.
--
"Hermione!" Draco called, groaning as the water boiled over the pot and spilled onto the stove. "Merlin's beard, hurry."
He heard muffled footsteps as Hermione made her way quickly down the stairs. "What, what?" She cried hysterically, panting as she ran to his side.
"I've burnt it," he explained to her, pointing to the water bubbling on the stove.
"You can't burn water," she told him, turning the stove off and moving the pot to another burner. "It'll just turn into steam."
"Do I honestly look daft to you?" Draco asked her, pointing to himself. "Honestly, it's what I was boiling that I burnt."
Hermione grumbled under her breath, grabbing a wooden spoon and attempting to pry off the pasta that was sticking quickly to the bottom of the pan. "How many times have I told you not to even attempt to cook?" She chastised him, muttering as some of the pasta stayed glued to the pan.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Obviously, several times, judging from that tone in your voice."
"This isn't some muggle studies class, Draco," she began, dropping the pot into the sink. "You can't just try all this out. You've got no wand to help clean up whatever disaster you end up creating!"
"We've established that countless times," said Draco, sighing loudly. He turned on the water and let it run over the pot. "I think you're the one who keeps forgetting."
"Why would I remind you if I was the one forgetting?"
"I've seen you reach for your wand in every difficult moment," he said, sitting down at the dinette in the kitchen. "Don't try and lie, it'll just make you look silly."
"Just…don't touch the stove," she ordered him, turning around towards the stairs.
"Fine," he shouted to her retreating back, before turning around.
He walked over to the sink, shutting off the water. Now that the pot was soaked, he easily scraped off the remaining pasta, cleaning off the pot and setting it on the counter to dry. "Bloody muggles," He began muttering under his breath. "Not a sensible brain cell in their stupid, stupid heads."
His one sided conversation was interrupted as an owl flew onto the windowsill in front of the sink, tapping it with its beak. He visibly jumped, dropping the pan he was drying. "Sodding owl," he said, opening the window and untying the letter from its leg. "Who the hell could it be?"
Shooing the owl away, he closed the window and walked over to the dinette, sitting down. He untied the letter, and he froze completely as he read the first word.
Son –
I'm happy to see that you've settled well in that rather…cozy home of yours.
I've made it my top priority to make sure it's not permanent. Please see to it that you're muggle-born wench is aware that she's my primal target.
And keep in mind, He's also completely aware of your situation.
- Father
"Hermione!" Draco called, dropping the letter onto the table. "Hermione!" Draco called again, running out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He bumped into her at the top of the landing.
"What is it?" She asked him irritably. "Don't tell me you've burnt yet ano-"
Draco interrupted her. "He knows."
"What? Who?" Hermione questioned, now paying more attention after seeing Draco's worried face.
"He knows," Draco said again, stepping closer to her. "Lucius. He knows where we are."