Chapter 1

There it was again. The feeling he had left something undone and it would come back and bite him in the ass. Considering what it was he was thinking about, he was certain that there was nothing else he could do. The damned thing was dead. Jet rubbed his eyes, slowly sitting up. The mumbling and half-hearted attempt to hug him tighter told the boy that his bedmate was still quite asleep. Good. Listening closely, he could hear Gallows softly snoring away. Better. All he needed was a little time downstairs with a drink and he'd be sleeping fine. If Virginia and Gallows were awake, the two of them plus alcohol... He had learned that was a scary combination. Almost as frightening as the two of them plus any contest.

"Jet?"

Great, she wasn't quite asleep yet. "Yeah?"

Virginia slowly climbed out of her bed, and padded towards him on socked feet. "You should go back to sleep," she said gently, reaching out. "You'll need your strength."

He let her grab his arm. "I will," Jet grunted, looking down at her shapeless nightgown. "Just needed to get a drink."

She didn't let go. "You know Clive's going to be worried."

"If he wakes up," Jet shot back. "'m not a baby and I don't need you to sleep with me." He tried to shrug her off.

"But you don't have the nightmares if we do."

Actually, he did, but he didn't attack anybody if he woke up to the feeling of warmth to his back. In response to that, he just grumbled wordlessly. Virginia pulled her arm back slowly, smiling. "I'm still going to get a drink," he told her, annoyed.

"I'll come down with you."

Jet winced. Not good at all.

"Besides, you look like you've been thinking about something. What happened back there?"

Even she wasn't able to say the town's name. Unconsciously, Jet rubbed his ribs. They didn't hurt, but the memory of it made them ache just a little. "Yeah. Get some pants on. I'll meet you down there."

Virginia swatted him, but started searching for her ratty pair of pants. Jet had just about left the room when he heard an older masculine voice whispering, and Virginia responding in a similarly hushed voice.

Every damn time. Every time it was Clive's turn to sleep with him, he managed to fool him. At least he could sneak out when it was Virginia's turn. How the hell did he do that?

---

"Eeeaugh." Maya shoved a toothbrush into her mouth, trying to scrub the feeling of morning breath out. And did she bite her tongue or the inside of her mouth while she slept? Because there was the definite taste of blood. Gross.

"Sis! Breakfast!"

She spat out the mouthful quickly, and braced the door closed out of habit. "Thanks! Be right down!"

"You okay?" Alfred tried the doorknob, and Maya shoved her entire weight onto the door. "You didn't sleep very well."

Yeah, well, she was also still in her nightgown! "I'm fine!" Go away, she added silently, bracing her feet up against the sink.

"You sure?"

She really didn't want to shoot her brother this early in the morning. "Yes! Now go the fuck away."

Finally, Alfred stepped away from the door. "Okay, Sis... but be right down!"

Maya stayed like that for a few more minutes, then relaxed. What was with her team's lack of privacy for a woman, anyway? She needed a few minutes to get ready. Brush her hair, get dressed, that kind of thing. She wasn't like Todd, who didn't even bother brushing that bush of his. Or even like Alfred, who practically slept in his clothes. She wasn't even about to get into Shady. The damn cat could groom himself while traveling. Not fair.

But Alfred was right. She hadn't slept very well. It wasn't anything much, just some mildly disturbing dreams. It happened.

An hour later, both after managing to get her appearance under control and keep Todd and Shady from barging right in on her before she managed to lace her dress, she stomped downstairs.

"About time!" Shady looked up from a map, noticing Maya's irritated look. "Whups."

"Breakfast," she commanded, plopping down into a chair. Was the air heavy, or was it just her?

Alfred idly brushed Shady aside as the cook placed a plate of cold eggs and ham in front of Maya. "From what I can tell, the rumors are pointing this way." He traced a line from their location westward. "There's a cave about here," he circled a mountain ridge with his finger, "that no one's been able to explore fully."

"Yet," Maya corrected him. "We're going to be the first people to explore it."

"We would need more explosive material," Todd mused. "There was a cave-in a while back, and Master Alfred is running low on the higher powered material."

"Hm." Maya drew a few figures with her fingertip, frowning. "We'd have enough gella, but..."

A shot interrupted her sentence. In rapid succession, there were five more shots, then a brief silence. Maya swallowed, and realized she had pulled her primary ARM out without thinking. Her father would be proud of her reflexes.

"Sis..."

"Yes," she said in a low voice. Without putting her ARM away, Maya carefully started out of the inn.

A woman's voice, screaming, hysterical. "An', an', an' she was eatin' it!" My cat, she was eatin' my cat! An' there were all sortsa dead animals an' things an'..."

Maya carefully peeked around a corner, fighting down a sudden wave of bile at the woman's description. The speaker was being restrained, good. She had a small ARM in her hands, probably a .45 caliber revolver. If even that, Maya realized as she took a closer look. And the body behind her...

Well, bodies. There was a very young woman splattered in blood and pieces of bone. And then several cats, horribly mutilated. A bird and two dogs, also mutilated. Oh yeah, Maya could see why the woman snapped. Without looking, Maya put her ARM away and felt for the rail gun. Good, that one hadn't fallen out. If in a town like this if something that strange was happening...

"Sis?"

"We're leaving," she said shortly, without looking behind her. "Let's go."

"Right away, Milady."