Only the sound of the car rumbling filled Ruby's ears. Blake had insisted on having the radio turned off, saying it distracted her from her reading. Thusly, besides the occasional turning of a page, Ruby was left in relative silence as she drove.
She was already missing Yang. Any moment she was waiting for that cheery voice to make a horrible pun or smart remark or teasing quip. But she wouldn't be hearing any of those for a while and her heart felt heavy at the realization. Yang had been an integral part of her life for as long as she could remember. It was hard for Ruby to imagine her life without her sister. It would be like the blue sky without the sun. Yet, here she was, driving down the interstate with two strangers who had tried to kill her with Yang nowhere in sight.
Ruby lightly tapped on the steering wheel as she let out a small sigh.
"Is everything alright?'
Ruby looked into the rear-view mirror at Weiss, who was sitting up straight in the backseat, blue eyes trained on Ruby.
"I…I wouldn't say 'alright'. Just…missing my sister is all. She's probably worried sick. I wouldn't be surprised if she's already called the police." Ruby mumbled.
Weiss said nothing, stone faced as Ruby explained her troubles.
"Well, if it comes to that, hopefully no one was privy to our little moment in the street last night." Blake said.
Ruby hoped so too. Much to her irritation, she felt her face grow red as she remembered her first encounter with her new companions.
As much as she had denied it to Blake, she would be quite the liar if she denied how attractive Weiss and Blake were. Weiss, with her icy blue gaze, smooth skin, and princess-like aura. The air seemed to get colder around her, but one could become enraptured with the authority she radiated and the respect she demanded without even trying. And then there was Blake, whose golden eyes were rife with mischief, but also displayed a deadliness that could make someone freeze in fear. She reminded Ruby of a femme fatale from one of those old movies she used to watch with her dad.
It had been terrifying at the time, but thinking back on it, Ruby couldn't help the heat inside her as she remembered being pinned to the ground by Blake. The feeling of leather on her skin, warm breath on her neck.
Despite Ruby's valiant effort, she couldn't hide the blush on her face.
Especially not from Blake.
She heard the rustling of pages as Blake closed the book.
Ruby heard a low chuckle. "You're thinking about it, aren't you?"
The girl shook her head in response. "N-No…not at all." She denied
Ruby tried to stay focused on the road as she could see in her peripheral vision Blake moving closer to her. She could see Weiss raise an eyebrow as she watched. Ruby flinched slightly when she felt Blake's gloved hand rest on her thigh. She shivered as Blake trailed her fingers up and down her skin.
"I've never met such a terrible liar in my life." Blake rasped close to Ruby's ear.
Ruby gritted her teeth. "I'm driving…"
"I'm not distracting you, am I?" She teased.
Ruby yelped when a wet sensation touched her ear and she leaned away, looking to her side in horror at Blake, who still had her tongue sticking out. Ruby glared, looking back towards the road. She let out a huff as Blake pulled back with another laugh. Silver eyes looked at Weiss pleadingly.
"Can't you stop her?"
Weiss rolled her eyes. "As if I have the power to stop Blake from doing whatever she wants."
"Actually, speaking of power…that's another question I have."
Weiss hummed in response.
"So…what did you do to me last night? You touched my head and all of a sudden I felt really tired, like all my energy just got sucked out of me." Ruby looked back through the window with a raised eyebrow.
"Well…in essence, it did. All I have to do is think it and I can transfer energy from the person I am touching and bring it to myself." She narrowed her eyes. "Though, when it comes to vampires, it's not nearly as useful. It was simple with you, a human with small amounts of energy, or tapped energy at the very least. However, vampires have much more energy within them, so I would have to have hold of them for quite a while to make any sort of difference."
"Oh…and what's Blake's power?"
Blake snorted. "Not nearly as interesting."
"Blake's power is merely an enhancement of strength. Vampires are physically strong by default. However, Blake's power is multiplied many times over. I'm sure you felt some of that last night."
Ruby had. She had been rendered nearly immobile in Blake's grasp, with both of her wrists trapped in Blake's hands and almost her entire lower body imprisoned by Blake's thighs.
"Weiss frequently claims that she is the brains to my brawn." Blake remarked, smirking back at her partner.
"And you never deny it."
"You brag, but you would have starved to death by now had it not been for me."
"Oh, spare me."
"And here you are, not denying it."
Ruby couldn't help her lips quirking upwards at the banter between the vampires. It seemed so normal. It reminded her of Yang and herself. She had barely been gone a day, and already she was missing her sister's reassuring presence, that familiar arm thrown around her shoulder or that hand ruffling her hair being so obviously absent. Once again, she felt a sadness envelope her heart and she quietly huffed, refocusing her attention on the road. She yawned and noticed that the sky was beginning to transition from blue to orange. It was getting late, and she was getting tired.
"In the next town we're in, I think we might stop to stay at a motel."
"Why?" Blake asked.
Ruby chuckled a bit. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I need to sleep. So unless you want me to pass out at the wheel, I need to be in a bed."
"Right…it's been so long since I've needed to sleep. I must have actually forgotten humans do that."
Weiss nodded slightly in agreement. "Night is when we usually do our hunting, though we only need to do that every few days or so. Otherwise, we go about our days as discreetly as possible." The white-haired woman eyed Ruby. "It was actually quite the surprise being caught in the act. Most humans are either in their homes or ignore whatever they might here on the off-chance they're out and about."
"Speaking of which…" Blake interjected. "Why did you come and check things out? I'm assuming you only did it because you heard us."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
Blake an eyebrow in amusement. "Most humans choose not to investigate the sound of someone screaming from a dark alley late at night."
The redhead said nothing for a time as she continued to stare.
"Because it was the right thing to do." She said simply.
And she left it at that.
Weiss and Blake shared a look, a single eyebrow rising into Weiss' hairline. It was almost as if they didn't believe her. Ruby really didn't care either way. She just wanted to get some sleep.
She just wanted this to be over with as soon as possible.
It had taken them some time to arrive in the next small town. It was dark by the time Ruby turned off of the interstate and prowled about the town until she found what she was looking for. It was a surprisingly well-kept motel, almost brand-new looking were it not for the flickering lights on the neon sign. She pulled into the parking lot, patting her back pocket to make sure her wallet was still present. Ruby wasn't too concerned about the money as they would only be staying for the night, but better safe than sorry, she figured.
They paid for a room and, upon entering, were pleasantly surprised at the quality. The room was reasonably spacious, clean, and a small TV sat atop a wooden desk on the right side of the room. There was a bathroom on the far end. However, there was just a small problem.
There were three of them. And there were only two beds.
"Um…" Ruby started. "I…guess I can sleep on the floor?" She offered.
Weiss scoffed. "There's no need for that. Blake and I are perfectly fine sleeping in the same bed."
"It's not as if we haven't done it before." Blake said, turning to Ruby and waggling her eyebrows a bit.
Ruby's face burned as she broke eye contact and sat down on one of the beds. She was tired and really wasn't prepared to deal with Blake's antics. She kicked off her shoes before reaching into her suitcase and pulling out a simple pair of pajama shorts and a beat-up t-shirt.
By sheer habit, she began to take off the shirt she had on, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there were two relative strangers right next to her. She hadn't given it a second thought. She and Yang changed in front of each other every day. However, after feeling a pair of eyes on her, she froze when she shirt was about halfway off her body. She slowly looked to her left and her eyes widened.
Blake was staring at her with narrowed eyes and a raised brow, wearing that already too-familiar smirk.
"No, please. Don't stop on my account." She purred.
Weiss rolled her eyes at her partner's immaturity, striding away from Blake to sit on the unoccupied bed.
Ruby swallowed as she hastily tore off her shirt before replacing it with the other that she wore to bed. She made sure that Blake wasn't looking before slipping out of her jeans and into her shorts. She sighed as she scooted farther back onto the bed and reclined against the pillows. The redhead closed her eyes to the sound of Weiss and Blake sorting themselves. She wondered what they would do for the whole night, given that they didn't need to sleep.
She didn't care that much. As long as they let her sleep so she could drive in the morning.
Flashes of red.
The ringing of metal against metal.
The tearing of skin and the breaking of bone.
Harsh whispers.
Eyes of blazing fire.
Ruby awoke with a gasp and immediately brought her hands up to her eyes.
They were burning, as if they were being held directly above an inferno. As if they were melting in her sockets.
She shrieked as she unconsciously rolled off the bed, the heels of her palms pressed against her eyes.
Blake and Weiss immediately rose from their bed at the disturbance, launching themselves in Ruby's direction before crouching down next to the girl still writhing on the floor.
"Ruby, what's wrong?!" Blake demanded.
"My eyes! They're burning! It hurts!"
Ruby curled in on herself, trembling in pain, unaware of the desperate and panicked looks being exchanged by the two vampires. She had stopped her flailing and thrashing, settling on groaning, moaning, and gasping in her agony. Weiss and Blake could see tears trailing out from underneath the girl's hands. Her skin was slick and shiny with sweat. Her feet occasionally kicked out.
Why wouldn't her eyes stop burning?!
"Weiss, what do we do?" Blake pressed.
Weiss wracked her brain, options and solutions running through the gears in her head. Finally, she nodded. "Blake, you need to hold her down."
Blake promptly positioned herself behind Ruby, pulling the girl into her lap so her back was pressed against Blake's front. Ruby shouted in protest, once again kicking out in response to the sudden shift in position. The dark-haired vampire curled her arms underneath Ruby's armpits, keeping her immobile aside from her lower half.
"Please make it stop…" Ruby pleaded weakly, eyes still tightly shut
Weiss let out a breath as she prepared herself. This was totally just a hunch on her part, and there was no guarantee this would work. But she had to try.
She reached forward and put her hands on either of Ruby's temples and gently pressed her thumbs against Ruby's forehead. She closed her eyes as she concentrated on the energy within Ruby, searching for whatever was plaguing the young girl.
Finally, she began to draw something out and it took everything within her power not to pull her hands away when her thumbs began to heat up. It was such a stark contrast from her normally frigid skin, she gasped in surprise. However, she pushed on, continuing to pull at this energy. It kept getting hotter and hotter and hotter and Weiss gritted her teeth in pain. However, she could feel Ruby becoming more still under her hands, the girl's breathing evening out, her gasps becoming less harsh.
Finally, the heat became too much for Weiss to handle and she pulled away with a wince. Ruby slumped in Blake's arms, with Blake moving her arms from underneath Ruby's own and resting them on the girl's stomach.
Weiss' body felt much warmer than it had a few moments ago.
"Ruby, can you open your eyes?" She asked.
Ruby grunted in response, her eyelids twitching before she slowly opened them
Weiss swore that she saw those silver orbs glowing for the briefest of moments as they were revealed.
Apparently, Blake noticed it too. She looked up at Weiss. "Should I even ask what the hell that was?"
Weiss tiredly looked up at her. "I haven't the faintest idea."
Ruby, on her part, could only keep her eyes open for a mere minute before exhaustion overtook her.
She fell limp in Blake's arms as she was once again welcomed into the arms of sleep.