Sometime later while they were waiting for their ride to the garage, Shalimar stood from the curb as she saw a truck heading down the road.
"Finally, the nightmare comes to an end," she said as the truck pulled into the front of the inn. The girls watched as a short, little man got out and headed over to them.
"You two the ones with the broken down car?"
"Unfortunately," Shalimar answered.
"I'm Jamie from Elmer's Car Service. I'm here to take you to the garage."
"Thank God," Shalimar said as she and Emma made their way into the truck and the driver began to take them back down the road.
"Your car's already been taken in for service. It shouldn't been too long," the man informed as they traveled down the road.
Within five minutes they reached the service station and the girls stepped out onto the pavement in a sigh of much awaited relief.
"Your car will be ready in about five minutes," a mechanic informed them as he walked by.
"Thanks," Shalimar said as she gestured for Emma to follow her into the waiting room.
They made their way inside and Emma sat in one of the chairs. Shalimar began to pour them some water from the water cooler and handed a cup to Emma. She made her way over to the vending machine to get a couple candy bars and sat herself down next to Emma.
"I guess this is breakfast," Shalimar said as she handed one of them to Emma.
"Thanks. I guess it'll hafta do."
"We could drive somewhere else for breakfast, but you probably wanna go home huh?"
"I think it's best. Like you said, Barbie could be stalking us still."
"Yeah. We'll head home."
Shalimar called Adam to inform him of their plans and as she was hanging up one of the mechanics came in through the door.
"All set, girls," he said with a smile. "The battery is replaced."
"Um, is there anything else wrong with the car we should know about?" Emma asked as she felt like if there was it would surely go wrong.
"I didn't give the car a whole check over, but I didn't notice anything no."
"Good," Emma sighed in relief.
Shalimar stepped up to the counter and handed the man her credit card.
"Thanks for doing business with us," he said in a smile as he handed her the card back.
"Thank you," she answered and began to walk to the door. "All set, hun?"
"Yeah," Emma answered and stood to her feet to follow the feral out the door as they made their way over to the car. Shalimar opened the doors as they each took their seats and sighed that they finally seemed to be getting back on track, although, now they were heading home and not off to a romantic destination. Emma reached into the back seat to the cooler as Shalimar started up the car and began to drive.
"Ew," she said in disgust. "Those sandwiches went south."
"I bet."
"I guess I'll just eat when we get home."
"Emma, I was thinking. While we were waiting for our ride, I was looking at Barbie's phone."
"And?"
"And I think I know where she's staying."
"So?"
"So, we could go get the jump on her. Now that we're feeling better we can just stop in on her and take care of her once and for all. Have one less enemy to worry about. I don't like the idea of her out there plotting revenge on us."
"Shalimar, you heard what Adam said, it's too risky."
"But she doesn't know we know where she is. She won't be expecting us to barge in and attack like that."
"What if she has hundreds of guards or something, Shal?"
"No, I don't think so. I was reading some of her text messages. They talked about the secret hideout and how only the three of them would be there. We're gonna go right past it I think we should at least get a look."
"Shalimar, she killed you last time you faced her."
"That's because I was drugged, and it wasn't her, it was someone else that was working with her who snuck up behind me. This time we're feeling much better and we know what to expect. I know we can defeat her, Emma."
"Did you get some kinda rush from being dead, Shal? 'Cause I didn't and I don't wanna go through it again."
"Emma, we're going to have to attack her eventually, even if not today. I think we should at least stop and take a look at what she's got going for her."
Emma sighed knowing Shalimar would probably just keep trying to convince her if she disagreed.
"Maybe just one quick look, and that's all. No fighting."
"Fine."
After a few hours of driving Shalimar turned as they came to a small side road.
"Where are we going?" Emma asked as she looked around. She noticed the area they were in now was much more forested with trees and plants.
"Barbie's dream house."
"Oh. Remember what I said, Shal."
"I know. We're gonna hafta stop the car and walk soon. Since we don't want her to know we're here."
Shalimar pulled over and turned off the engine as she noticed she'd stopped pretty close to the small, house like building in front of them.
"We better get walking," she said as she stepped out of the car and quietly closed the door behind her. Emma did the same and headed over to stand beside the feral.
"Let's go, quietly," Shalimar reminded as they began to walk through the tress slowly approaching the house.
As they came to a window they carefully peered inside to scan for their enemy. Shalimar looked around the empty room inside in confusion as she saw no one in sight. She began to feel uncomfortable as they stood by the window and soon her feral senses were tingling with warning.
"Something's not right here," she warned in a low voice as she looked around them for any signs of danger.
"Maybe we should leave, Shal," Emma suggested as she felt herself quickly becoming tense at seeing the ferals own uneasiness.
"Wait," Shalimar said as she put her hand out to stop Emma from stepping away. "Don't move." Shalimar sniffed in the warm air around them and Emma could tell she was preparing herself for battle.
"Shal-"
"Shhhh."
Emma watched quietly as Shalimar remained perfectly still as if stalking some unknown, unseen prey. She always admired the way the feral worked when out on a mission and couldn't get enough of watching her in all her glorified action. She was such a wonderful and skillful fighter she was rarely ever matched, let alone topped, by an enemy she faced. She always felt safer when she was beside her and knew she'd never let anything happen to her.
Emma watched in admiration as Shalimar concentrated on their seemingly quiet surroundings. Suddenly, Emma turned as Shalimar blocked an incoming attack from an overhead tree. Shalimar grabbed the arm of the woman and threw her down to the ground. She braced her foot tightly on the neck of the strange woman as she held her down and in place. Emma moved to stand behind the feral as she starred down at the woman on the ground.
"That's a hell of a greeting, wouldn't ya say?" Shalimar said as she pushed her foot in tighter around the woman's neck.
"What do you want?" the woman sneered with an angry tone in her voice as she turned her black eyes to stare at Emma with a deadly glare.
"Your heart on a stick. Where's Barbie?"
"On a date with Ken," the woman grunted as she tried to twist under Shalimar's tight pin. Her answer only further angered the feral who pressed her foot tighter and leaned in to the woman.
"If you won't tell me what I wanna know I have no more use for you," Shalimar informed and began to push her foot farther into in already red neck of her attacker.
"The house," the woman replied in a weak, faint tone. "She's in the house waiting for you."
"Waiting?" Shalimar echoed as she knew that couldn't mean anything good.
"She knows we're here?" Emma asked as her whole body begged her to turn and leave. She couldn't allow Shalimar to risk injury again. "Shal, we should leave now."
"She'll just hunt us down, Emma. We have a mission to accomplish." Shalimar reached down and grabbed the woman's head to slam in down, knocking her out. "Time we took care of it." Shalimar stepped over the woman as she headed towards the window.
"Shalimar, we can't just go in there she's expecting us. Who knows what she has in there."
"Emma, please, I need you on my side in this."
Emma sighed and Shalimar smiled as she accepted her terms. She watched as Shalimar slowly slid herself into the window. She turned her yellow eyes to the dark room and peered around for any signs of Barbie or anyone else. She turned back to gesture for Emma when she was satisfied she was alone. Emma reluctantly sighed and followed Shalimar through the window.
"Follow me," Shalimar said as she began to walk slowly through the room. "And stay close."
As the two made their way into the large, opened main room of the house, Shalimar's danger sense was tingling once again. She looked to the left to see the front door was closed as were the windows on the sides of it. She turned her gaze up the large staircase and over the balcony to find them abandoned as well. She searched her eyes down the long hallway at the bottom of the stairs and across the open hall they stood in only to find no one within her sights.
"She's here," Shalimar informed.
"Wait," Emma began as she stepped further down the hall. "What's that?"
"Emma wait-"
Shalimar protested but before she could pull the psionic back she watched as Emma was tackled from above by a dark haired woman. Shalimar gasped as Emma fell to the ground under the clutches of the stranger. Before she could rush to her aid she found herself fending off Barbie as she attacked her from the side. As Barbie pounced atop the feral Shalimar rolled herself onto her back to flip her enemy behind her and into the wall beside the stairs.
"Here's a tip," Shalimar said as she flipped herself to her feet and whipped around to face the evil psionic. "When you kill someone you might wanna make sure they stay dead!"
Shalimar rushed towards Barbie as all the pent up anger she'd been carrying quickly surfaced and came through in her fierce blows. She unleashed punch after punch and kick after kick as fast as she could as she noticed her attacks were becoming harder and harder for the psionic to fend off. Shalimar grinned as she kicked Barbie back against the wall and punched her across the face.
"Now you see what it's like in a fair fight."
Shalimar dodged a punch from the psionic and leaned forward to kick her in the face with her back leg. She grabbed Barbie's shoulders and threw them both to the ground as they toppled into the joining room.
Shalimar quickly stood to her feet and noticed they'd relocated into the kitchen. Barbie stood up and grabbed a knife from the holder on the counter and Shalimar just raised her eyes and held her ground firmly as she began swiping the weapon at the feral. Shalimar dodged much faster than the psionic could lunge at her and was soon able to send the knife flying out of her hand and across the cold, tile floor. Barbie quickly lunged at the feral and sent her flying back into the stove. Shalimar wrestled with the psionic until she was able to kick her off her and back across the room. She watched as Barbie slid across the floor, cutting herself on the knife. Barbie picked the knife up and threw it at Shalimar who jumped to her feet to avoid the collision with it. As Barbie stood upright again Shalimar grabbed her and reversed their positions once more. She shoved the psionic back into the gas stove and noticed she had turned the handles on them as well. She kneed Barbie in the stomach and elbowed her in the back as she fell to the ground.
Shalimar quickly turned and ran from the room to find Emma. When she reached the hallway once more she saw Emma standing over the fallen woman and quickly grabbed her hand to lead her out the door.
"Come on, let's go," she said as her and Emma bolted out the door and headed for their car. Shalimar opened the drivers' side door and slid into the seat as fast as she could. She leaned over and locked the passenger door before Emma could pull the handle and sped off directly at the house. Emma stood in the dust the feral left behind speechless at what had just happened. Shalimar drove faster and aimed the car square at the open door to the house. As she approached she grinned as she saw Barbie once again stand in the doorway. Shalimar smiled and quickly jumped out the car door she'd never bothered to shut in the first place and sent it hurling straight into the door as she watched Barbie try to dodge out of its way. Seconds after plowing through the door Shalimar looked up as she saw the house explode and ducked to cover her head from the small debris that flew beside her.
Shalimar stood to her feet and dusted herself off. She turned and began to walk over to a stunned Emma who still stood where the car had been parked.
"Like I said, gotta take care of business."
"Shal, my favorite shoes that you just bought me were in there."
"At least that's our biggest concern now," Shalimar said as she smiled and put her arm around the psionic.
"Yeah, well you owe me some new shoes now."
"Ok, ok, I'll make it up to you," Shalimar said as she took the psionics hand in her own.
"Ok, just not with another trip."
Shalimar made a face to hint she was offended but Emma could tell she was just being playful.
"We'll see."