Kat- There as never any offense taken, I just wasn't sure how familiar you were with dominant and recessive genes and the effect our ancestry can have on us. How about a few one-shots instead of 58 chapters? :p I'll even take requests from the audience!

Silver Bird, Jamie Kay, Body and Soul, Black Heart, Mandy, Hee, AHAH, Kenhat, Ghost, Jessi, Spencer Reid, Emmoria, Mr., Burning Bright, Emily 2 and Laura- You spoil me! More chapters for you!

Emo Taco- You ARE lazy! :p

Vamp Lover- Necrophiliac. "Sexual attraction to corpses." Pleasant stuff.

Vamp Fan and Ayonne- Thank you for the French tips!

Sydney- I've read house of night and while I have a fascination and participate in tattoo culture her weakness for men makes me want to stab my eyes out.

Sharpest Satire- Well I couldn't not give a personalized response after that! I'm so glad you finally were able to review you must have been exploding with review-y-ness (it splattered all over the page!) I'm thrilled you like it, there are only two male characters in books that I would readily leave my sweetheart for and those are Derek and Fang (Maximum Ride). I don't know if you're a Max fan but I heard that they were going to cast Kristin Stewart and Rob Pattinson as Max and Fang and if that happens I will publicly kill myself just so that my fans will riot and take out Hollywood. Sorry, I just read that and I had to rant somewhere!

Super long chapter because tomorrow is a big move day and I don't know if I'll be able to update.

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Chapter 21

After that informatively useless encounter we found a storage room with a pile of gym mats and I pulled one across the hall into the empty racquetball court. I was too jittery to take a nap but I knew that I needed one before our auto theft excursion so I decided to wear myself out.

Derek settled against a wall, leaning his head back.

"You're not going to take advantage of an empty gym?" I asked surprised.

He cracked open one eye. "I got plenty of exercise last night. I'm just going to recuperate."

I couldn't resist, he really set himself up. "Wow, I didn't know that making out was such hard work."

He snorted and closed his eye again, ignoring me.

I stretched. Stretching feels absurdly good when you haven't done it in a while. Like when you wake up and stretch your legs out as far as you can go except better because I was doing it with my whole body. I started by touching my toes, well really putting my hands flat on the ground. Yes I know, I'm a shorter version of Gumby.

Once I was a little more limbered up I slid into a split and turned when I felt Derek's eyes on me. He looked like he was in pain.

"That looks so uncomfortable." He said, wincing as I lay flat forward on the ground. "Bodies are definitely not supposed to do that."

I gave him the most incredulous look I could muster. "Do you really want to argue about what bodies are and aren't supposed to do wolf-boy?"

I stretched forward and swung my leg around. The one Rambo-esque move that I could actually do was the super sweet flipping up to your feet from your back thing, kipping up I think. I guess it's more Jackie Chan than Rambo. In gymnastics you fall down a lot and one day on the trampoline me and a few of the other girls on my team decided to figure out how to do that. If you have a couple of years of gymnastics experience and a few (albeit dusty) trophies on your shelf it really was not as hard as it looked. Compared to a handspring it was a piece of cake.

I put my palms flat on the ground above my shoulders, rocked my knees to my chest and shot them forward while pushing off my hands. Derek raised an eyebrow which I took to be his version of a standing ovation and I bowed.

"Thank you. Thank you, I'll be here all week."

I got half a smile at that. "You are as ridiculous as Simon."

"Oh we're allowed to say the S-word now?" I grinned at him.

He grimaced. "As long as there's no kissing."

"Why not? It's not like I have a boyfriend or anything." I stuck my tongue out at him and went into a handstand.

Suddenly I was no longer on the ground. I was in the air and squeaked accordingly. "Hey!"

"Take it back." He rumbled, flipping me upright and holding me at arm's length like a bad puppy.

I rolled my eyes but I think the effect was somewhat lost since I was dizzy. "We're on temporary hiatus remember logic boy?"

"Hmph. Yeah. I remember." He set me back on my feet and walked out of the court.

I squelched the urge to run after him, feeling tired finally, and lay down on the mat. It actually made me smile a little bit that Derek was huffy because he was jealous of the idea of me kissing someone else. The possessive thing would be super annoying if it were anyone else but it was just so… Derek.

After a few minutes I felt him come back and check on me, then settle just outside the door to keep watch. I knew he was right outside because when I turned around I couldn't see him but felt he was close. This little Derek radar might come in handy.

I thought about how weird it was now to not be sleeping next to Derek, and remembered once again about the werewolf cuddling thing. It took me another millisecond to decide whether or not to invite him in, heck we'd already introduced ourselves as mates to my great grandmother, why not cuddle?

"Come in here." I said quietly, knowing he would hear me.

It was about thirty seconds before the light over the court was turned off and Derek lay down next to me, putting his arm out so I could use it as a pillow. I snuggled into the curve of his body for the companionship as much if not more than the heat and fell asleep listening to his steady breathing.

"Hey." I was pulled up through the foggy clouds of sleep by a wonderfully familiar voice.

"Fuck off Simon… I'm tired…" I mumbled sleepily, turning over and curling up again. Derek's chuckle brought me fully conscious and I yawned. "Time to get up?"

"Yeah. Care to explain your genius plan before we go steal a car from a police station?"

I stood up creakily and stretched. "Not really."

I managed to keep Derek's questions mostly under control until we got to the very tall very barbed wiry fence.

"Any dogs?" I whispered.

"No, that's in junkyards." He muttered back.

I glared at him. "You could be a little more excited about this."

"Chloe our lives have had enough excitement in them for a lifetime. After this I'll be ready to retire."

I walked around the fence until I found what I was looking for, the ever-convenient tree. The branches were higher than I could reach without jumping and I glanced back at Derek, hopeful for a boost and saw him looking like he was just waiting for the chance to tell me 'no.'

Fine then. Jerk. I took a few steps back, then ran at the tree, stepping up on one slightly raised root and catching the bottom branch. I took a moment to be proud of myself that I didn't trip and end up face-planting in the trunk before monkeying myself up. There was a small ominous crack and I quickly climbed onto a sturdier branch. As I was turning to tell Derek the branch wouldn't hold his weight and trying to figure out my next move, he jumped, caught a heavier branch and swung himself over the fence, landing lightly.

I glared at him as he looked up at me with a smug… look. Well fine then. I stood, grabbing the branch above me and walked out until I was standing above the fence. Derek crossed his arms and looked bored. I jumped off. Derek looked less bored.

Naturally he caught me easily but I definitely got a concentrated massive dose of Derek-scowl.

"Let's be clear. You are NOT a secret agent, or a green beret. You WILL run if there's any danger and let me take care of it. Understood?" As he put me on the ground I let out a small girly whimper and he immediately picked me up again. "What's wrong?" He asked sharply.

I kept the high-pitched edge to my voice. "Oh gosh, I just am too delicate to stand up on my own. The ground is so hard and dangerous, what if I fall down?" I gasped. "What if I trip?" I mock fainted.

Derek dropped me. I managed to land mostly on my feet but I was so awkwardly angled that I fell on my butt anyway. "Ow." He just glared at me as I stood and brushed myself off, taking my time and adjusting my clothes.

A low growl interrupted my being-a-butthead process and for a second I thought Derek had been wrong about there being no dogs. Then remembered what Derek was.

"Quit your yapping." I turned on my heel and looked around. There were about a dozen cars, most of them minivans and trucks. Perfect. I found an older model Kia Sedona that looked like it would run fine and waved Derek over. As I walked around it he read the impound notations, I smiled when I saw an "O'Henry honor student" bumper sticker.

"They confiscated it four months ago for drug running." Derek informed me as I came back around to the front.

"Huh. Well I guess even soccer moms need a hobby." I carefully walked up to the small two-room building that served as an office.

There were cameras on the corners of the buildings but when I checked all the doors and windows I didn't see any signs of an alarm system. Small towns, gotta love 'em. Everything was locked and I was about to curse my luck when I saw a tiny window set high on the wall. I carried over an empty wooden crate and climbed up on it to look inside. It was the bathroom window that was cracked open, it was so small that I thought for a moment that even I wouldn't be able to fit through.

"Oh no you don't. You are not going in there alone." Derek's low-pitched voice came from somewhere in the darkness behind me.

I gave an incredulous look to where I thought he might have been. "Well it's that, or I wait out here unguarded while you find a shrink ray and squeeze through."

I didn't have to hear him or feel his energy to know he was scowling at me again.

I slipped off my coat and scarf and put them on the ground, checking for any other loose clothing then hoisting myself up, looking for a foothold. I found one in the form of a hand as Derek took the if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them mentality and boosted me. It was still a really tight fit, I had to put one arm in first, then my head, turn sideways to get my shoulders through and wiggle when it got to my hips. No problem. Except for the whole, falling face first on the other side thing.

"Ow." I said for the second time in so many minutes.

I pictured Derek rolling his eyes as I disentangled my limbs, got the standard blush under control and eased open the bathroom door. The first thing I looked for was where the cameras were connected. Luckily they were just for show as the cases that should have been recording the video cassettes were empty. I looked incredulously at the video cassette devices. Small wonder they were empty, I couldn't even remember the last time I'd seen a blank VHS for sale.

Next I found the paperwork, flipping through everything recent until I found the file on the Kia. It apparently ran fine, they had just impounded it when they found five kilograms of cocaine in the back. The owner had gotten a six month sentence at the county prison for intent to distribute—which was kinda obvious, five kilos is way past recreational—and so they van would stay here until he got out. It could not be more perfect.

I found the keys hanging in a cabinet and took them and the file with me, leaving everything else like I'd found it.

"Derek?" I stood on the back of the toilet and peeked over the window sill.

"Still here." He grumbled and I passed him the keys and paperwork, letting him pull me through the window this time.

We walked in relative quiet until we got to the car and a thought occurred to me How are we going to get it out? I glanced at Derek as he unlocked the car and he looked at me.

"It's a combination padlock, I think I can listen to it."

"Like in The Italian Job?" I asked excitedly and he gave me one of his disparaging long-suffering looks.

We got in and I sat in shamed silence while Derek turned off the headlights and started the car. But you know what? It was totally like The Italian Job! He kneeled and listened to the locks turning, separating the difference between a normal click and an unlocky click. My not-boyfriend is the shit.

In no time we were driving down the highway, the gate locked behind us and me in a total bemused state over the fact that we hadn't run into any complications while stealing a car from a police impound lot.

A small gray cat with squashed back half dragged itself into my lap and I screamed.

Well, almost no complications.

At five in the morning I made Derek pull over at a truck stop and switch our license plates with a car parked there, the last thing I wanted was for us to do something menial like run a red light and have our plates come back as belonging to a cocaine dealer. Maybe paranoid but so far being paranoid had worked for me. Once again my knife came in handy as we had no screwdriver. We pulled into the Rochester airport at 8:20am on the nose, right after I got a text from Jaime saying that they had gotten their luggage. I texted her back, telling her what kind and color of car we were driving and she replied that she would jump up and down when she saw us. So when I saw a gorgeous redhead jumping up and down my first thought was Lola! Followed by insta-hatred. But this woman had way too genuine of a smile to be Lola and she was with a really well dressed dark-haired man that was too gentlemanly to be in Lola's league.

It took me a second but the nagging feeling of familiarity resolved when I saw her, the name had been a flag but so subtle I barely registered it. Now, looking at her, I recognized her as one of the more popular TV psychics.

We pulled to the curb and Derek got out and opened my door for me—which was not as charming as you'd think since I was literally incapable of opening the door due to the stupid friggin' child lock that he refused to take off because he thought it was funny. Then as he turned around the wind changed, and he froze, and when he got a good look at the man he took a stumbled step back. And let's be clear, Derek never stumbles.

"Derek?" I asked softly, taking in his slightly widened eyes.

"A little warning would have been nice." He said under his breath, never taking his eyes off the other man.

"Hi Chloe!" Jaime flounced over and with no hesitation hugged me. "Boy you guys look almost as tired as we are!" She looked behind her and her eyes had a look that I suspected mirrored how mine looked when I saw Derek. "This is Jeremy Danvers!"

The name sounded a little familiar and I thought for a second. Let's see, Derek is petrified of his smell, his name is Jeremy and he's hanging out with another supernatural. "Elena's Jeremy?" I asked tactfully.

Jeremy flashed one of those predatory werewolf smiles but it was more refined than Clay or Derek's and somehow even more intimidating. I pushed my nervousness down and held out my hand. "Very nice to meet you Mr. Danvers."

He shook it but let go quickly like he knew Derek was already on edge and other weres touching me amped that up. "The pleasure is all mine Miss Saunders." He turned to Derek and I saw them side by side for the first time.

"Holy crap you two look a lot alike!" Jaime exclaimed, looking back and forth between them and echoing my thoughts.

Jeremy looked thoughtful for a moment, then surprised. "Jaime could you drive please, I think that Mr. Souza and I have quite a bit to discuss."

"As long as you steroid-ridden boys can put the luggage in the car that's fine with me!" Jaime took the keys from Derek, who hadn't broken eye contact yet with Jeremy and went to the front seat.

"Derek? … Honey?" I tried the endearment out and despite blushing liked it. "I know that you know this but… uh… alpha wolves and eye contact… kinda not good." I tugged on his sleeve.

He looked down at me and the intensity of his gaze made me take a step back. Instantly he winced and shook his head. I stepped up on tip-toes and nuzzled his neck reassuringly. It was all I could reach after all… I really needed to invest in heels.

"Can you get the bags?" I turned to gesture at their bags but couldn't find them over the mountain of luggage that was in the way. "Uhh… do you need help?"

"I think we can handle it." Jeremy murmured with a quick smile in Jaime's direction. Since the vast majority of the bags were pink I could take a wild guess at who they belonged to. The one slim black overnight bag looked lonely and Jeremy put it in the car first.

"Oh just ignore Fluffy, he came with the van." I told Jaime as she climbed into the driver's seat and the dead cat's ghost meowed, making her jump.

She looked at him for a moment. "He?" She asked, waving to the completely smashed lower body of the cat, complete with tire print. "How can you possibly tell?"

"… Just a guess." I said as Fluffy tried to mount Jaime's leg.

"Ah."

I buckled into the front seat, I figured that if the guys wanted to talk it would be easier for them to be in the same row. When everyone was settled and we pulled away from the airport Jeremy requested that we stop for breakfast which everyone readily agreed to. We went to a small Jewish deli and ordered huge breakfasts except for Jaime.

She made a face at the two boys after ordering her bagel and fruit bowl. "If only I had your metabolism."

"You don't need it." Jeremy assured her.

"So…" Jaime started in the thick silence that followed. "You're a necro."

"Mancer." I added quickly.

She raised an eyebrow in a well-duh expression and I glanced at Derek quickly. "We learned some… unpleasant things about my Uncle Ben yesterday…"

She looked thoughtful, then her eyes widened. "Not Benjamin Fellows?"

I kept my eyes on the table, feeling once again like I had dirty blood and played idly with my fork. "Yeah."

"My goodness." She rocked back in her chair. "Well I will be sure to specify the 'mancer' in the future… So you're from the Laveau line."

"We learned that yesterday." I smiled at Derek who kept his eyes fixed on me rather than Jeremy. "She's very… promiscuous."

Jaime's eyes bulged. "You summoned Marie Laveau?"

"Well yeah."

"You. Summoned a powerful necromancer's spirit. Without any of her remains."

"Y-yes." I was nervous now. "Is that bad?"

She stared at me. "Do you have any idea… That takes… Just an ungodly amount of power."

I winced. Great. Back to being a genetically effed-with freak.

"Chloe and I were both part of the genesis 2 project." Derek said shortly.

Jaime looked blank but Jeremy was unsurprised. "Yes Elena filled me in about that. The project was the catalyst for the group field trip tomorrow." He explained for Jaime's sake.

"Ah. So Chloe. Any other bouts of insanely large displays of power?" Jaime asked delicately.

I still blushed. This was not how I thought my first conversation with a real live necromancer would go.

"She used to raise in her sleep." Derek said easily, eyes fixed on Jaime. "She's mostly got that under control now."

I kicked him under the table, I suspected that he was using Jaime as a gauge for how other necromancers would act around me. Which was kinda sweet but also really not helping the being-normal thing.

"Oh good." Jaime said faintly, looking pale, then fixed her gaze on Derek. "And what did they do to you? Feed you miracle-grow?"

I cracked up, the tension about my crazy powers and the fact that I had thought the exact same thing less than 24 hours before made me feel a little giddy. As I got my giggles under control the food arrived and in true werewolf fashion, the men focused all of their attention on that.

When they were done—in half the time it took us to eat—they talked idly about Bear Valley and the twins Katie and Logan and then Jeremy paid for everyone before I could even get a proper protest out. Almost as soon we were back in the car Jeremy turned to Derek, looking him over critically.

"You have your mother's eyes you know."

I whipped around in time to catch the second most shocked expression I'd ever seen on Derek (The first being when he kissed me and I liked it). Jeremy seemed unsurprised that he had managed to completely floor Derek.

"Did you ever meet her?" Derek asked when he got his jaw working.

"Well yes. Obviously I got her pregnant."

Jaime almost swerved off the road.