YOU GUYS I'M SORRY FOR SUCKING SO MUCH. HERE IS 26 AND I'M SUCH A TERRIBLE PERSON I CANT RESPOND TO YOUR REVIEWS BUT THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THEM! (I'm just so super busy, I just started college, and I had a lot of moving around to do and I don't know what to do with my life because I have no time to write about the Savage bros and Cru Ella Deville and it makes me sad. I'm so sorry for not having time to get back to your reviews. If you have any questions just PM me and I'll try to get back to you. Please review and I'm sorry for not responding to them! Thanks for sticking around!)

26

I ran outside to where the shots were coming.

"Ella!" Zach hollered after me.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" I could hear Ava scream.

I spotted the Impala, and remembered where Dave had gone off too. I had to get to him before the shooter did. Another shot stopped me in my tracks, and I could hear my heart beat out of my ears, as a car window next to me shattered.

"Ella!" Zach cried again.

I looked up and spotted the shooter across the building, and all of a sudden found myself there, with Dave tackling the man. My feather brand was feeling a little strange and I figured I had unfortunately transported myself to where all the action was taking place.

"I'll kill you if you do that to my brother!" Dave hollered punching him in the face repeatedly.

"Dave!" I yelled causing him to turn around.

The shooter gained control and shoved him to the side. He was about to reach for another gun before I punched him in the face, sending him to the ground. I turned to Dave who was on the floor and tried helping him up.

"Cru, where the hell did you go?" He demanded to know.

"I don't know." I said with a shrug. "I just got here, somehow."

"Yea, no kidding." His eyes grew wide when I was unexpectedly attacked from behind.

Caught in a headlock I tried kicking and elbowing to get out of it, but the man behind me avoided all of my attempts. Before Dave could try anything, the shooter pulled out a different gun and pointed it to my head.

"No!" Dave cried trying to come towards me, but once the gun clicked he stopped right where he stood.

"I'll kill her and I wont think twice about it," the man threatened. "Unless you come with me, and you do as I tell you."

"You can kill me." I spat. "I'll find a way to get back."

"I'll do whatever you want," Dave assured him. "Just let her go. Please."

"What so she can go off to your little brother and tell him that Gordon Walker's behind this all? I don't think so." He said with a chuckle. "I let your daddy have his way when we were hunting those vampires out in Colorado, and he let the whole nest go, leaving me to fend for myself. I'm not ready to trust another Savage just yet."

"I heard about that, Gordon." Dave said. "They weren't killing people, they were harmless."

"You don't think I knew that?" Gordon asked. "I didn't care if they were feeding the poor and hungry," he snapped. "They're killers, and they've got the killer instinct. They were created out of destruction. Just like your brother Zach."

"You don't know what you're talking about—"

"Don't play games with me, Dave!" Gordon yelled. "I know all about your brother and his…special abilities. I've got my own roadhouse connections."

There was a pause before Dave tried attacking, but Gordon shot his gun in the air and pressed it harder against my temple, stopping Dave once again.

"I said I would kill her!" He hollered. "Don't test me."

"It's okay," I told Dave. "You can let him kill me." I was, after all, in a parallel universe. Anything that killed me there would just send me back to where I was from.

"Quit talkin' like that." Dave demanded.

Gordon laughed at me.

"Courageous." He said.

"Seriously, Dave." I assured him. "Just let him off me. It's more important that you beat him anyway."

"Ella, no." Dave said, this time indignantly, taking me aback. "Nobody's dyin'." He assured me. "Not today."

"Nobody but your brother." Gordon promised before knocking me unconscious.

I woke up across Dave from the sound of his cell phone going off to find that we were both tied to chairs. I felt a gag around my mouth and my head was killing me. This was twice already within the last week that someone had knocked me unconscious. I hoped the brain damage wouldn't follow me back to my universe.

We were in some kind of rundown cabin and as I scanned the place I caught the tripwires. I struggled to get out but it wasn't any use. This wasn't how things were meant to go.

"Answer the phone, and do everything I told you." Gordon said pressing it to his ear. He lifted the gun and pointed it at me. "You know the drill."

Dave sighed before talking into the phone.

"Hello?" He started. "Zach, I've been lookin' for you." He paused. "I know, Ellen told me. I'm here actually, and I gotta say, it's a real funky town. I've got Cru with me. We were there at the shooting and she got to me before I could get caught in the crossfire. You shouldn't have ditched me, Zachie." He waited for Zach to reply. "Well, look, why don't you come meet me? I'm staying at uh, 5637 Monroe St." Dave backed his ear away from the phone indicating the conversation had ended, so Gordon hung up.

"Not too hard." He said tying a gag around Dave's mouth.

Dave practically growled in response.

"This ain't revenge for what your dad's done," Gordon insisted. "I'm not a killer, Dave. I'm a hunter, and your brother is fair game." He took a seat and put his feet up on a table. "Back in Louisiana, I was hunting this demon who told me there was some war. Humans fighting on hell's side. The biggest shock was that I apparently knew one of them. Little ol' Zach Savage. And I did my homework. Like I said, I have my roadhouse connections. I was lucky to find one of 'em here. Scott Carey barbequed anything he touched. He hadn't killed anyone…yet, but I got to him before he could."

Dave struggled even more with his rope and gag, but it was honestly no use. I didn't want to leave him knowing it would probably do more harm than good. I didn't want Gordon thinking I was "fair game" in his messed up head. It would've only given him more reason to come after the Savages.

"Don't even try, Savage." He advised Dave. "Nothing's saving your brother tonight. I've got double tripwires in the back entrance, because I know you've warned him somehow. I really wish I didn't have to do this… but you know how it is."

I had to go. I had to warn Zach. At the same time I was confused, because I felt like all of this had already happened, which meant Zach obviously survived all of it. But could I take that risk?

Then I realized; my pocketknife was in my sleeve. If I couldn't transport to Zach, I knew I could at least cut myself out of the ropes and turn invisible when Gordon wasn't looking so I could get to him. Through quite a bit of struggle, I managed to get the thing in my hand, and I started to slice my way through the rope.

It was a little challenging, trying to hold the knife with my hands tied, as well as trying to position it in such a way that it wouldn't simply fall out if my hand were to get flimsy and tired.

Unfortunately I had been sitting there trying to cut at the rope for much longer than I thought because I heard the car pull up and Zach's boots crush the gravel. Dave tried screaming through the gag but Zach obviously couldn't hear his brother's warning.

The back door opened, just as Gordon predicted, and one explosion went off. Dave was nearly choking as he struggled relentlessly against the ropes. I wanted to tell him to just look at me and everything was going to be okay. Zach was smart. He could save us and live. But by the second explosion, Dave was practically sobbing through his gag.

Gordon walked over to the rubble, his rifle in hand and picked up the all too familiar burnt boot. I shuddered imagining what could've happened to him. But he had to live. I knew he did. He was Zach Savage.

All of a sudden, Zach attacked Gordon from behind and the two began fighting for the rifle. Zach grabbed hold of it, and pointed it at a now defenseless Gordon.

"Go on," Gordon encouraged. "Dave thinks your some kind of a saint, but not me. So go on. Show your brother the killer you are, Zachie."

He turned over the rifle and smacked it against Gordon's head, knocking him unconscious.

"My name's Zach." He clarified before running over to untie Dave and me. "Sorry it took so long." He muttered.

The moment Dave stood up he headed toward Gordon's body, but Zach pulled him back.

"I'm not lettin' him go this time." Dave said.

"It's taken care of, Dave." Zach assured him. "Let's just get out of here."

The three of us ran outside of the cabin, and Gordon soon followed carrying his rifle.

"Zach—"

"Shh!"

All of a sudden police cars crowded Gordon Walker shouting at him to put the rifle down. Stunned, he dropped the gun and put up his hands as the policemen searched his body before arresting him.

"Anonymous tip." Zach whispered slyly.

"Way to go, Zachie." Dave grinned.

I was kind of basking in the whole Gordon-is-finally-caught glory, but I saw something shiny right beside me, buried in some leaves. Distracted, I bent down to pick it up, and found an engagement ring. This was weird.

"What you got there Cru?" Dave asked, as I looked up at him.

"Nothing it's just a—" when I looked back down, the ring was nowhere in sight, and my scroll brand was beginning to tingle.

"Well whatever it is, it can't be more awesome than this."

"I hate to rain on our mini parade, but we have to get out of here now." I warned. "I think Ava's in trouble."

Zach turned to Dave.

"How far are we from Peoria?" He asked.

"A couple hours maybe…" Dave replied with a shrug.

"Well we're going to have to hurry." Zach said getting up. "She left almost as soon as I got off the phone with you."

We followed him to the car he'd stolen from Bobby and I rested my eyes as he drove back toward the motel. I guess the brothers thought I was asleep because they were getting into some pretty intense conversation.

"Dude, if you ever take off like that again…" Dave started.

"What? You'll kill me?" Zach joked.

"Not funny." Dave said as Zach chuckled.

"What next?" He asked.

"I hear Italy's nice this time of year,"

"Dave…"

"What? I think the three of us should just fly down over and have our selves a great time."

"We can't just ditch the job."

"Screw the job! I'm sick of it. We don't get paid, we don't get thanked, the only thing we get are some broken bones and seriously bad luck."

"We're hunters. We're meant to go through that."

"I wasn't meant to go through anything. I don't believe in this destiny crap."

"You mean my destiny."

There was a long silence before Zach continued.

"I don't think we can run from it this time. I mean you can try, but you wont always be able to protect me, Dave, and if you really want to watch my back, then you're gonna have to stick around, because I'm gonna keep hunting. Whatever there is waiting for us, I'm coming after it and taking it head on."

"Arright, aright," Dave said. "…bitch."

"Jerk."

We finally pulled into the motel parking lot and Dave woke me up to come back in the Impala with him while Zach followed us in the other car. Zach had gotten Ava Wilson's address after she revealed she was from Peoria just to make sure she wasn't someone who was a threat and gave it to Dave who was keen on leading the way.

The moment Dave found his way around the somewhat confusing directions, he didn't hesitate to get down to business.

"What the hell was that back there?" He wanted to know.

"What?" I asked not quite sure what he was referring to.

"That whole, 'it's okay, Dave, you can let him kill me'." He clarified.

"Oh, right. Well I've died in this universe before all it does is send me back to my universe. It's no big deal." I said casually.

"Uhm, yes it is a big deal." His voice was starting to sound a little frustrated. "You can't just do things like that!"

"I don't understand what you're getting so worked up about." I said defensively. "He would've shot me, I would've woken up back home in a bed and gone on until I could somehow get back here. It would only be temporary."

"I don't care who you are or where you're going, I don't even care if you're not gone for good or you're back the second you've left. You can't just go ahead and volunteer yourself to be killed!"

"Don't lecture me like I'm some sort of child who doesn't know how to follow the rules!" I flared. "I do things that I think are going to keep you from getting yourselves killed and I sure as hell am not looking for your approval!"

"This isn't about winning over my friggin' approval or not, Ella!" Dave made perfectly clear. "This is about not letting anyone die. Plain and simple as that. Me and Zach, we look out for each other because that's just what we do."

"Yea, well I was doing the same exact thing!"

"You wanna look out for us? You do it by staying alive."

"I was going to come back!"

"You still would've died!"

"I've done it before!"

"More reason for you not to do it again! Dying's not something you just go through and shrug off I don't care who you are. Sooner or later it's gonna start taking it's toll." Dave sighed. "Look, I get that you can do all of this other worldly crap, but that doesn't make you a superhero. You'd still feel it if someone shot you, or slit your throat, or tortured you to death, and who knows what's gonna come up next."

"It's not a big deal." I stressed. "No pain no gain, right?"

"What if one day you don't come back?" He asked. "What if one day you go back home and we never see you again? What are we supposed to do then?"

"That's not going to happen."

"I can't take that risk."

"Why can't you for once put a little faith in me?" I beseeched him.

"Oh, not this…" He grumbled.

"Come on! You can't sit here and tell me that you honestly think that you need me! Not the with you still treating me like a kid, no way."

"I already apologized to you about that at the clinic!"

"Oh right, and after that you accused me of being a zombie and actually physically attacked me!" I let out a bitter laugh. "How could I forget?"

"I knew it!" Dave declared. "I knew you were still angry about that. Is that why you want to die? So you can leave?"

"How could you even think that?"

"Come on, isn't that what you want? You're so disappointed at me and Zach for doing that to you you're willing to do anything to get out of here."

"No!"

"Then? What could you have possibly accomplished by getting yourself killed?"

"I wouldn't be leverage!"

"What?"

"I wouldn't be leverage, okay? I wouldn't be in your way, and no one could use me as a weakness against you two. I can slow you down if I can't defend myself in time. If I can't be what saves you I might very well be the thing that gets you killed!"

There was a sudden stillness in the car even with Dave's speeding.

"You are not leverage." Dave told me very sternly. "You are not in our way, and you are definitely not a weakness. You saved us in more ways than I can count, and it'll be hard to kill the either of us you know that."

"I—"

"And if you can't defend yourself you can make damn sure that I will."

"Look," I said after a brief silence. "Can we just focus on getting to Ava in time?"

"You got it."

I thought about what he said for so long. It mostly got me angry because he was thinking so irrationally. I'd figured he'd be happy about the fact that I was trying to do what was best for everyone else. All I could think about until we got there was how stupid Dave was being and how I didn't remember him being this dumb, but as I thought more and more about it, I remembered episodes when Dave put his family (Zach) before everything. "Family comes first" is what he had always said. I understood the principles behind that, really I did, but why did it make a difference if I wasn't going to be gone for good?

When we arrived, we parked a little farther away from the house, just to seem a little inconspicuous and Dave quickly walked ahead while I stayed behind with Zach.

"You're brother's annoying." I told him.

"What did he do now?" Zach asked with a chuckle.

"He got angry at me because I tried tricking Gordon into killing me, and before you start yelling at me for being irresponsible you have to remember that if I die, I can just come back. You guys might have to wait a month or two, but I'd be back in no time." I explained.

Zach just sighed.

"Ella, all I'm going to say is my brother cares about you… a lot." He started. "And as long as that's true he won't let you leave here like that. Even if you were to come back the next day it would be too cruel to sacrifice you for something else, no matter how important it is."

Damn. I hated these brothers and their surprisingly convincing arguments sometimes.

As soon as we got to the house, however, my mind was quickly diverted to Ava. A sickly feeling came creeping up as no one responded to the doorbell or our incessant knocking, and I grew increasingly worried as the door opened with such ease.

Zach called out her name a few times, hoping for some sort of response, but had no luck. Afraid of what we could find, we stopped in front of what seemed to be the bedroom door. Zach took a deep breath before opening the door.

Surprisingly, the room was not as covered in blood as we'd thought it would be. This still didn't ease my mind, as there was a strong sense of chaos even within the stillness of the room. The disheveled bed, with no one sleeping in it, a clock slightly askew against the wall, and the diamond ring separated from it's designated finger.

I looked down at the lonely ring that lay in Zach's palm with Dave's flashlight shining over it. Zach looked at both of us and then back at the ring.

"Ava…" he whispered.