It's the cold rough sensation and whimpering that pulls her back into the land of consciousness, and she groans. With her ears ringing, she opens an eye and closes it immediately as the room swims. This is met with more whining, that sounds almost muffled under the ringing and she reaches forward and attempts to push the big ball of fur that's currently pressed up against her. Only to hear a loud yelp, and for a shooting pain to run up her wrist.
The sensation is enough to jolt her up, and she grimaces, wondering what the hell happened. All she could remember was Charlie and that damned cake, and then—fire, then darkness. Her eyes slowly focusing on the dog in front of her, and she blinks at the fuzzy golden labrador, who is trying to nuzzle her awake. "Sam?" This was not what she had been expecting. He was a police officer, part of Charlie and Quinn's security forces—she had known he was a dog, but she had expected something more fearsome looking. Well it certainly explained why the twins had rescued him as a child. She reaches to touch him to pet his fur, when she notices why he's in so much pain. His right paw was just hanging there, a bloody mess and she realizes after a moment that she's surrounded by debris, and what had been projectiles.
A bomb?
It had to have been a bomb, in a cake? How had Nancy managed that? Where had they gotten the bomb? Materials like that were supposed to be carefully managed, but they had done it. She reaches forward, wincing at the burnt skin on her hand and gently pets Sam's head. "It's okay," she mumbles, it had to be okay. Things didn't just go off the rails like they did. She tries to stand only for Sam to push her back down with his head, it was for the best because the sudden movement had made her incredibly dizzy and she was already seeing double. "We need to get out of here Sam—where's Charlie?" Sam merely whined in response and she groans, she should have learned to speak dog, or Charlie or something. "The place is going to burn Sam, we need to get out of here. Where's Charlie?" Charlie wouldn't just leave them. She was probably lurking in the shadows again, she glances around and spots a body on the ground and freezes. They couldn't die, they had both said that they couldn't die.
If she had done something that got Charlie killed, Quinn would murder her. She had been warned about Artie, she'd been warned about letting radical elements out. There had been no talking to him, no convincing him that she was right not with all that anger and resentment that had bubbled up. But she didn't know why Nancy had been involved, she had never seemed to be a radical of any sort. Just a mother who wanted best for her son.
Sam peels away from her hobbling as best as he can, and leaning over to lick another face, and whine. Charlie it had to be. This time with as much effort as she can muster she pushes herself to standing. They needed to get out of here, and Charlie could take them home in a flash. Sam needed to see a doctor, someone who could save his paw. She stumbles forward and stumbles and falls beside Charlie noticing that she was filled with holes that were slowly and sluggishly starting to fill. "Shit. Shit. You're a vampire, you're supposed to drink blood daily!" Santana bitches. She'd need to pull Charlie out of the building and into the car and hope the driver could take them back home. "Okay, we need to pull her Sam, get her out of this building. There's blood bag's in the limo, right?"
Sam barked and she hoped it was an affirmative bark. She really hoped he was saying yeah, because she was feeling uneasy. The election. Something like this would scare people and they wouldn't want to vote. All of this empowerment would have been for nothing. Charlie and Quinn had been right there was some giant conspiracy at play and she didn't have time to figure it out now. She needed to get Charlie in the limo, and get them to safety.
"Alright, Charlie," Santana muttered as she moved to grab Charlie and begin to drag her out. She grimaces, the vampire was heavier than she anticipated, "Okay I agree with Quinn no more little cakes for you," she said as she began to slowly drag Charlie out. "No more pies, no more chocolate, no more dessert, and I'm going to make sure you're drinking your blood. God you're like a child," Santana bitched allowing Sam to guide her to the door. Hopefully they were almost there.
Sam suddenly stops and moves into a protective stance beside her and lets out a low growl, before barking angrily.
"She—promised!"
Santana froze, her blood running cold as she heard Artie's voice, it sounded different, like it wasn't quite his. There was no way that Charlie had put up a protective shield around him and Nancy. He had been a thrall—all that anger, all that resentment hadn't been because of what had happened to him, or perhaps it had. But it made no sense. None of this made any sense whatsoever, William had deteriorated until he was nothing more than a shell of himself. Artie was just an angry man. She looks around before grabbing the nearest weapon that she could find.
It's nothing more than a lamp, and she picks it up and swings it around. Charlie needed to wake up she wasn't sure if she could take on a newly formed vampire. The next time Charlie insisted on teaching her how to defend herself she wasn't going to distract the vampire with sex. Well she probably would cause Charlie was annoying as hell when she was teaching her, but still. Charlie had been right. Quinn had been right. If she lived through this they were both never going to let her forget it. She breaks the bulb and takes a step forward, Will had been fast—once Artie got his bearings. She stops when she sees him on the floor, trying to crawl towards her. He looked small, and helpless even as he bared his fangs at her, there was still a part of Artie that looked miserable and upset. "Who promised Artie?" Santana asked looking over at where Nancy's body lay broken. "Is this what you meant by humanity first? Or were you just still so angry? We were never supposed to be violent. We were supposed to do stuff, talk about what we needed to make things better. Tag buildings, you know stupid dumb stuff, and when we had courage, if we ever got that courage we were supposed to march. March and protest and demand to be treated better. No one had to die. They would have punished Hunter if we had been brave enough to go to them. What he did to you—it was wrong, and I'm sorry for the shit show that you were forced to deal with. But this? Turning yourself into one of them? You're not human anymore Artie."
Artie's eyes went black and he laughs as he looks up at her. "Me? I can smell her all over you. Did you enjoy it Santana being turned into some vampire's blood-whore? Is that how you did it? Spread your legs for them, let them fuck you and do whatever perverted thing they could think of?"
Santana blinked twice, without hesitating she slams the broken lamp into his chest, pushing past bone and muscle before finding his heart. He wasn't Artie, she hadn't killed her friend. He was nothing more than a monster.
She waits for a moment, watching Charlie and Quinn had taught her that much, she needed to make sure he wasn't getting back up. When he doesn't move, she slowly backs away keeping her eyes on his corpse as she picks Charlie back up and begins to drag her out of the building once more, paying close attention to Sam. She finally opens the door and grimaces at the steps, and looks at Charlie for a moment. She glances at Sam. "Do you want to drag her down the stairs?"
Sam stared at her before hopping down the five steps, leaving her alone with Charlie's body.
"Traitor," Santana muttered and looked at Charlie, it would be so easy to roll her down the stairs. She'd survive but she'd never let her live it down and she wasn't certain that Sam wouldn't rat her out. With a grunt she pulls Charlie's body down the stairs slowly wincing at every thud that sounded as she slowly made her way down the stairs. She grunts as she pulls Charlie towards the limo frowning at the limo driver who finally got out of the car to help her and she lays Charlie out on the seat. "We need to get the fuck out of here," Santana informs the shifter. "Take us home, now before anymore—" The sudden rush of heat and smoke is enough to get her to turn and she looks at the building which is now burning in surprise as she feels Sam's teeth grip onto her sleeve trying to pull her into the car, the whining was back.
They had gotten out just in time and she's about to slip into the car when she spots a woman who certainlyhadn't been there before all of this mess. She takes a step towards her despite Sam's pulling when she turns to look at her, and maybe it's all the time she's spent around vampires—maybe it isn't but when she smiles, it doesn't feel human. And every cell in her body is telling her to run. She immediately gets into the limo and slams the door close. "Go. Go!" She shouts at the driver and looks at the woman who had turned her attention back to the flames, and she swallows, wrapping her arms around herself, as the limo jerks forward and begins to pull away.
