6

Adrenaline can do amazing things; it can give strength and speed and energy to even the most lazy individual. Singing through the blood, it can revive even those who have gone past the limit of their endurance, those who otherwise would be passed out on the ground.

Unfortunately, it doesn't last forever.

Sarah fell to her knees and lay panting for a minute. She could still hear sounds of pursuit, male voices calling to one another, mingled with their female counterparts. As if her situation couldn't get any worse, the police had found her. Thinking only of her most recent encounter with Vader, Sarah did what any self-assured, normal, reasonably intelligent being would do.

She ran like the hounds of Hades were snapping at her heels.

She had managed to duck into a large city park and had sprinted through a grove of pine trees before there was any real pursuit. If they caught her…well, she wouldn't be escaping in any sort of hurry, and she was sure they would have some questions about the powers Vader had shown through her. Vader would be only too quick to find her, just as he had been too quick to find her before. Her breath burned in her lungs, the October chill gripping her throat with frigid hands. Her arm hung at an odd angle, limp at her side, aching dully and every now and again flaring pain seared along her nerves. Leaping a fair sized river and landing up to her thighs in mud, she fought to free herself and keep running. She staggered into a space between roots and fell to her knees. This brings us to the present time, and to Sarah, still trying to summon another burst of energy.

"Why does the Force hate me?" Sarah whispered, shrinking into the bole of the tree as a police officer charged past, huffing and puffing. She forced herself to her feet and jogged through the trees, keeping close to the evergreens. Their smell wafted towards her, embracing her as she leaned against them. She peeked out and trotted back to the riverbank, avoiding the sticky mud that sought to trap her. She had long ago abandoned the idea of taking a bus, and anything larger was out of the question. A train? Too slow. A plane? Good luck getting on one. A Boat? That was the most likely of the three, but the nearest boat wasn't for miles, and she was having trouble moving a few feet. Besides, where would she go? She only had Canadian money, and very little of that. She had to concentrate on other things, in any case.

Like trying to figure out where Vader would be next, and going elsewhere.

She glanced behind her, and crouched again between roots, becoming like stone. Footsteps thundered above her, quickly becoming dulled by earth. She waited a few moments longer, listening intently. She almost moved when she heard a twig snap. She froze, holding her breath, not even daring to blink.

"A beautiful day, isn't it?" Vader leaned against a tree, toying with a twig between his fingers. Sarah swallowed hard, her breath hitching in her chest. Leaves rustled, and Sarah realized only later that it was from her own shaking. He's here…he's going to-

"Kill you?" Vader laughed, running his long, tanned fingers through his hair, letting the cool breeze play with it. "No, child, I'm not going to kill you. However, I must admit that your hiding places are becoming less and less original as the time goes on. I confess myself disappointed."

"Go play in traffic" Sarah hissed, leaping from her now useless hiding place and dodging through the trees. She heard him laugh and tried to get a sense through the Force of where he would appear next. The Force opened for her, but she could do little to interpret its many ripples.

She had trained herself, and even then only in things that she found amusing, like telekinesis. As she tripped over a root and was sent sprawling in the dirt, she bitterly regretted her lack of knowledge. She curled up in a fetal ball, covering her head with her hands and waiting for the blows to come.

All was quiet for a moment, then she heard it. Laughter, coming from above her.

She rolled onto her back in a convulsive movement, almost a spasm. Vader lounged in a tree, laughing at her quietly. He covered his mouth with one hand, a hand that was gloved in light-leeching black. "Pardon my insensitivity, young Jedi, but this is the most fun I've had in a long time."

"You're sick." Sarah choked, coughing and tasting blood in her mouth.

Swinging down from his branch with easy grace, Vader grinned at her. "Come now, see this from my perspective. The other Jedi were so…boring. They fought, oh yes, and some of them fought well, but you," He knelt beside her and she swallowed, "your terror is intoxicating."

"At least one of the Jedi hurt you." Sarah tried to nod her head at his gloved hand, but it emerged more as a nervous tic than a nod. All the same, Vader understood.

"What, this little trinket?" Vader tugged off the glove in one smooth movement, baring a hand that resembled a droid's more than a human's. "No Jedi did this. Work of a Sith, this one."

"There are others?" Sarah tried to keep her gaze steady, but it darted around like a confused hummingbird.

Vader laughed again, genuinely amused this time. "You thought I invented the order? Young one, you flatter me." He smirked "No, always two, there are. This," He raised his golden hand, twitching the digits, making them click. "Was the work of…my predecessor, I suppose."

"That must have hurt." Sarah yelled, lunging at him at the last word. Caught momentarily be surprise, Vader yielded. She tackled him, trying to get a grip on his throat. The momentum of her lunge took them down an incline and – as she had hoped – into the water.

That hand looks like an antique…without the glove it has no cover, no protection. If it gets wet enough, it might just short out.

That was the plan, at least. Sarah broke the surface of the water – she must have rolled into a deeper portion of it – gasping for breath. Glancing around as she swam back to shore, she could see no sign of the Dark Lord. Laying on the shore for a moment, he still didn't appear, and she found a tiny spark of hope spring to life deep within.

Maybe he hit his head on a rock.

She pulled herself to her feet, determined not to give him a chance to recover, and staggered back into the trees. She shivered, wet through and almost regretting her swim. It was October, after all. She pulled a leaf out of her hair…

"Freeze!" The shout came from behind her and jumped a foot in the air.

"Don't move," the police officer warned, pistol trained on her, holding up one hand to try and calm her. It didn't work. She thought she was going to have a heart attack. "Hands on your head."

"I can't." She replied, voice cracking.

"I don't care, put 'em up anyway." The officer, kept the gun trained on her and stepped closer, "Sarah Gryph?"

"Yes. But I didn't do any of those things that you want me for." Sarah tried to reason with the man, she didn't want to end up in jail.

"Well, put your hands up and you'll make it to court to say that." He gestured with the gun, "Up, now."

"My arm's broken, you moron." She snarled, shaken by his threat. Out of the garrote, into the shooting range.

"I'm going to count to - *snap*" The man fell to the ground, head at an angle no human head was supposed to be at.

She retched, stomach reacting violently to the sight. She had never seen death before, never felt it this keenly.

Two hands, one marginally warmer than the other, grabbed her and threw her back into the shadows of giant oak tree. She yelped in pain, then again in terror as she was pinned to the tree and she saw her captor. He didn't look happy.

"That was a dirty trick, little one." Vader whispered, face millimeters from Sarah's own. "I'd be amused under different circumstances." Sarah started to speak, but he roughly covered her mouth with his mechanical hand, "Hush, little fool."

Three officers ran by, yelling for their partner, each gun seeking a target. She froze as one stopped, stared at their hiding place, and moved on.

Vader was hiding her. But why?

"Because I don't want them ruining my fun." Vader hissed, a wicked grin flitting across his mobile features. He moved so that all she could see was black cloak, all she could feel was his breath, all she could hear was her own pounding heartbeat. Did Vader even have a heart?

"Indeed, it's the topic of much debate." Vader murmured, he tilted his head to listen to the cries of the police, "I had no idea you would warrant this much attention."

"You fear them." Sarah whispered around the hand still pressed firmly to her mouth.

"Them?" Vader snorted, "Hardly. I suspect that sub-species of human to be the product of a coupling with a Gamorrean. No, child," his eyes turned to ice, "I fear no one. Not those pitiful creatures, not the Jedi, no one."

"Jedi?" Sarah whispered, but the sudden tightening of Vader's hand stilled more words, and nearly broke her jaw.

A twig snapped, and Sarah heard the unmistakable sound of a safety switch flicked off. "Freeze, bub."

*Snap*

"Like I said," Vader grinned wickedly, spinning them around so that Sarah faced the body, pulling her so close that she felt his lips move as he spoke, "This is the most fun I've had in a long time."