CHAPTER 36

The Ties That Bind Us

Consciousness was returning to Mars, but she was only semi-aware of her actions.

She'd never before been awake when her blackouts ended, and this was the worst feeling in the world. Desperately trying to cling to light, she stumbled. She didn't know where she was, the preserve, maybe. Probably.

She moved along further. Leaning against trees occasionally until she saw a cabin, she thought it was a cabin, at least. Before she could have willed herself to do it, she knocked on the door. Struggling against something dark that wanted dominance. Don answered the door with a gun in hand, pointed directly at her. She smiled, grimly, weakly.

"I don't feel so good." She managed, clutching her stomach.

Mars' legs folded underneath her as she lost the fight. Don put his gun down and knelt to her instinctively. She was completely naked and drenched in blood. Her hair matted to her in a coat of the sticky red substance. Without thinking, he lifted her to him and brought her inside, looking around before he slammed the door behind him.

He placed her in the bathtub. Looking over her body frantically to find the source, so he could stop the bleeding, but her body was smooth. There was nothing. Without thinking or caring about the consequences, he flicked the water on to wash her off. His uncle would be there soon.

He needed to get her clean before his Chris got there. He started too late though. "Mars what did you get into." He questioned out loud.

When he realized he needed to cover his tracks, he put her body in a closet and changed his clothes. He finished by hosing down the porch, pretending he was watering plants when the Argent's car rolled up.

When Mars awoke and her ears stopped ringing, she heard a muffled voice above her. "Mars, can you hear me?" She nodded. "I'm going to cut your arm." The voice said. She felt a stinging but she didn't care about it. When it didn't heal, Don's brow furrowed. "You have to tell me what happened."

"Don?" She squinted, her struggled to adjust. She recognized his voice, and saw hair dangling in the man's face. "Why did you cut me?" She tried to sit up. He laid her back down. She then noticed that she was in his clothes. She never thought she would be so relieved to see him.

"What happened." He demanded.

"How did I get here." She replied, ignoring his question.

"Moss, this is important."

"I was at Scott's; how did I get here?" Mars looked around at the unfamiliar wood paneling and the fireplace and back at Don, remembering what he was.

Her throat constricted. "What happened? Don, where am I?" She didn't recognize anything. She managed to sit up this time. He cupped her cheek.

"Mars, baby, breath with me." They locked eyes. She tried to mirror his breathing, it became increasingly difficult.

It took a few minutes before she evened out. "Breathe" He reminded her.

Mars began to sob as soon as she opened her mouth to speak. He didn't try and stop her.

"Please tell me what happened, anything you can remember." He tried after she calmed down a bit.

"I don't know, Don. I can't remember anything. It's all darkness. Everything is so dark." She leaned into his chest.

Don held her, trying to connect the dots. He knew he couldn't ask his Uncle Chris, or any other member of his family for that matter. Mars would be dead within a night. He knew this had to be kept between them.

Mars' face contorted completely. "Did I hurt you?" She asked him, surprised by just how much she cared.

He shook his head. "No, I'm fine, I'm trying to help you, and I need you to talk to me." He explained. "I need you to think of where you were last night." He knew wherever she'd been it wasn't going to be pretty, and wherever it was would need to be wiped down for prints, DNA, anything that she may have left behind. He needed to get there before anybody else could.

"Don, I can't remember. There is so much I can't remember anymore." She held her head in her hands. "I want it to be over. That's all I want. I need it to be over." She said, remembering all that happened with Sheriff. "Why couldn't she just let me die." Mars cried, Don of course had no idea what she was talking about.

Don felt his eyes sting nonetheless. "Don't talk like that."

Mars looked at him with bloodshot eyes. "Why are you helping me, I don't understand. I could have killed someone."

She confirmed his suspicion. "Why do you say that?" He challenged.

"I keep going to the preserve when I black out. I don't know how or why, but I do, and the bodies, they keep coming." She suddenly stopped crying, becoming serious. "What if it's me? What if I did it?"

"You're talking crazy." She didn't know about the supernatural to his knowledge. "You couldn't hurt a fly."

"I could, I hurt people all the time." She reminded him, including him in her statement.

"I don't see it like you then." He said. "I'm going to look in the preserve okay? Stay here. Do you have any idea where you may have been?"

"The lake, maybe. It's where they found the last body." He nodded.

To his horror, she was right. And thanks to the fear in the town, he took care of everything without a trace.