Intercepted

888

"Are you okay?" Kevin asked. He had taken their jeep to pick Caitlyn up. She was standing by the road sign that marked the entrance of the town.

"I'll tell you about it on the way," Caitlyn said. "I just want to get out of here."

"Sure," Kevin said, holding the jeep steady as she climbed in. The top was off. He did a U-turn and started going back the way he had come. "You didn't say much on the phone," he commented.

"Yeah, well, a couple of the locals were hanging around, waiting to make their call."

"Fair enough. You look tired."

Caitlyn gave a low chuckle. "Yeah, and considering that I was unconscious for part of the night, that's kind of funny."

"We found the familiar you drained."

Caitlyn was quiet for a moment. "Were the guys freaked?"

"At first. But you've only done it to familiars… and me, so they didn't care too much."

"You know, I do feel kind of … off." Caitlyn said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

"How do you mean?"

"Like maybe I'm the one being drained right now," Caitlyn said, "and my senses … humans are feeling kind of different to me now, but I can't put my finger on how."

"Me too?"

"Yeah, but not too much," Caitlyn replied quietly. "Maybe we should get Dr Jensen's unit to do another analysis of my blood."

"Might be a good idea. It just occurred to me that you weren't bitten by an ordinary vampire."

"The bite healed," Caitlyn reasoned. "But …" She paused, thinking about it.

"What?"

"No other victim of the hell-beast has survived, right?"

"Right. What do you mean 'no other', did you-"

"I got a nasty cut on my arm last night, from the claws. It didn't bite me though, so I don't know if that means anything."

"Well, we'll get it checked out. Try not to worry about it, okay."

"I have to speak to the guys," Caitlyn said decisively. "Frost gave us an interesting offer."

"You spoke to him last night?"

"He kidnapped me last night," Caitlyn said with an amused smile, "but he also saved my life twice. I'd probably be dog food if he hadn't come back to get me out of there."

"Interesting," Kevin said, as though he didn't know what else to say. "What's the offer?"

"The hell-beasts are hunting vampires too. He doesn't know where they came from, but he's willing to use all his people to help us exterminate them. He'll even get his vampires to stop turning humans until it's over."

"And what does he want?"

"Just for our help with the hell-beasts and the purebloods. Who knows, they may be connected. He thinks I can learn to differentiate between purebloods and turned vampires, so we won't kill his kind as long as they stick to the truce."

"It won't last long, the vampires will get hungry after a little while."

"I know. I agreed to it for now, but I made it clear that I don't speak for the rest of you. I just thought it might be nice to not worry about most of the vampires while we try to get rid of the beasts, and once they're gone, we can either keep just hunting purebloods or end the truce there and go back to business as usual."

"Are you going to kill Frost?" Kevin asked abruptly.

Caitlyn thought for a moment. "Now right now. I know I should. Yesterday I would have said yes in a heartbeat. I don't completely trust him, but he said he knew something about me from the Blood Texts. He wants me to join him."

"What, you think that he actually likes you, or just needs you?"

"Both. At least, as much as a vampire can. But he's changing too."

"Did he make a move on you again?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah." Caitlyn replied. "And I let him."

"Why?"

"I think because this way he thinks he's got leverage over me. If I let him think that, then maybe I can manipulate him. You know, it's kind of like it was with my mom – he doesn't need to feed so much anymore. I get the feeling that… now he doesn't care either way if the human race continues. He's… my blood is making him more human."

"Shit."

"Exactly. The other vampire half-bloods revere him; he's got a lot of influence. If I get close to Frost then I can learn a lot that would help us."

"Lets just hope you don't turn into something else first."

"Yeah, well, I'm already a freak." Caitlyn said with a little disgust.

"Nope," Kevin said confidently, "Just different. I wouldn't have you any other way."

"Flirt." Caitlyn teased, starting to smile.

"Temptress." Kevin countered.

"Helicopter," Caitlyn said.

"Huh?"

"There's a helicopter flying around here, I can just hear it." Caitlyn was looking around.

"Who'd want to go to that dump of a town?"

"Maybe Frost's people are coming to pick him up." Caitlyn suggested with a shrug.

"You can't really hide from the sun in a helicopter," Kevin said.

"He doesn't burn."

"What?"

"I can't burn him, and apparently the sun can't either."

"He's walking around among humans?" Kevin said incredulously.

"I just told you, he's not hungry, so he's less of a threat." Caitlyn sounded defensive.

"Less, maybe, but he's still dangerous."

Caitlyn sighed. "I'll deal with it. I'm pretty sure that it's going to wear off as soon as my blood is out of his system."

"But he's got your mother's blood." Kevin insisted.

"I sensed him the first night, before he had bitten me. It was only afterward that I couldn't. It's the Daywalker blood that's the trigger. The only thing that my mother's blood was doing was drawing him to me."

"Just don't let him or anyone else feed from you again."

"I wasn't planning on it," Caitlyn said shortly. "Come on, Kevin. The last thing I need is to be attacked by you too. Blade already doesn't trust me, and I'm likely to get the third degree from King and Caulder as well about all this."

Kevin sighed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sound like I was attacking you."

"Don't let Blade do it."

"What?"

"What's happening to me, or what might be happening to me," Caitlyn explained, "If it's serious, if it changes how I think, or if I permanently go off the deep end …if I become a danger to you guys I'd rather he didn't kill me. If I can't take care of it, I want you to do it."

"Cait…"

"Blade shoots first and asks questions later," Caitlyn said. "Look, it might be nothing, and I could just be overreacting, so until we get the results, could we keep my being a possible threat between us and the doctor, ok?"

"Okay," Kevin said, "but even if something happens to you, if you get the thirst or something, you'll still have some self-control. Blade doesn't feed anymore. Jenson could make you a serum or give you a cure. But it might be nothing. It could just be that your senses are getting stronger, and it's just feeling a little weird to you." Caitlyn didn't say anything. "You don't want to bite me, do you?" Kevin asked.

Caitlyn looked at him. "No. But I haven't even got fangs."

"Exactly." Kevin said, "So until there's something to worry about, don't worry. Concentrate on our other problems."

"I am thirsty, though," Caitlyn said. Kevin gave her a quick, questioning look. "You got any water?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah," Kevin said with relief. "In the glove box." Caitlyn got out the bottled water and took a drink. "I can hear that helicopter now," Kevin said. "I think it's somewhere ahead of us, coming this way."

"It is," Caitlyn said, putting the cap back on the bottle. "We should be able to see it in a moment. There's something big, like a truck coming too." She glanced over at Kevin. "You should probably put your seatbelt on. Cops do patrol these road's ya know. And if we get pulled over, I might have to eat him."

Kevin gave Caitlyn a quick look, but relaxed when he saw her smiling. She was teasing him. "Oh, I get it, you'd eat a perfect stranger, but not me, huh?" he joined in the game.

"Come on Kev, who'd want to feed from you?" Caitlyn laughed.

"Take it back," Kevin pretended to sound hurt. "Take it back or I'll tell everyone about the time you lost your temper and we got banned from that gym and almost arrested. I'll tell them exactly what you did to the instructors."

"You wouldn't," Caitlyn said, her expression turning mock-dangerous.

"Admit it," Kevin persisted, "I'd be delicious."

Caitlyn couldn't help it, she started laughing. "Okay, okay," she said, "you win."

"Keep going."

"You're my best friend, and best friends would eat each other first." Caitlyn held her hands up in surrender.

"Damn straight." Kevin said, his expression so serious that Caitlyn started laughing again. While she was laughing she reached over and pulled Kevin's seatbelt past his head so she could do it up for him. He didn't even flinch when she got close to his neck; he trusted her, at least enough to warn him if she was becoming dangerous. "What about yours?" he asked.

"The strap is stuck." Caitlyn said. "Besides, I'd probably survive a crash. And no matter how hungry, I wouldn't want to eat your remains if they got all squished."

"I knew it, you only love me for my looks." Kevin made his bottom lip tremble.

"Well I certainly don't love cry-babies!" Caitlyn said. Then she smiled and gave Kevin a peck on the cheek.

"I accept your apology," Kevin said formally. "Yep, there's your truck up ahead."

"And there's the helicopter, off to the right there," Caitlyn pointed it out.

"I see it," Kevin agreed. "You know what's on it yet?"

"Well by your logic, there wouldn't be any vamps on it, remember?" Caitlyn said.

"Yeah, but do those humans feel different to you?" Kevin asked seriously.

"It needs to be a little closer," Caitlyn said. "Give me a minute." She quietly stared up at the approaching black helicopter. She stretched lazily and closed her eyes. "Mixed company," she said after a few more moments. "Humans and one vampire in the helicopter."

"He must be covered up," Kevin said.

"Or he's using that sun-block Blade talked about." Caitlyn said. "And in answer to your question, the signature is different, but I can still tell that they're humans. Each signature isn't quite the same anymore. I can't put my finger on how it's different, not yet at least."

"All right then," Kevin said.

"Huh," Caitlyn said absently, and frowned.

"What?"

"There's a vampire on the truck too," Caitlyn said, "along with several humans." She looked out the back of the jeep toward the town. "What is going on? Invasion of Hicksville?"

"Should we follow them back when they go past us?" Kevin asked.

"Without backup?" Caitlyn asked.

"You're not scared," Kevin said.

"No, but I'm already in trouble with everyone else for going off on my own, add to that I'm getting unpredictable, what with socialising with the enemy and draining familiars, and then add to that that we're going to go off on our own without telling the others why we're delayed. I've already shown them that I'm not a very trustworthy person."

"But you do your job; you hunt and kill the vampires. You're still one of us."

"I'm a vampire's bastard child; I've seen the way they look at me sometimes. I'm not human and I never will be."

"Neither is Blade, and he never saved my life. Are we going to do this or what?" Kevin asked. "I can't have you losing your nerve on me just because of what the others think."

"I'm not losing my nerve," Caitlyn said, "Do it. Follow them."

Kevin nodded. "I'm going to have to wait until they get to the town, though, or they'll see us in the rear-view."

"Pull over, so we be any further from the town by the time they get there. I'll pretend to check the engine or something when they pass us."

"Got it." Kevin pulled the jeep over, and Caitlyn hopped out.

The helicopter was flying low overhead, and it passed them. The truck wasn't far off. Caitlyn turned her back to it as Kevin released the hood of the car. Caitlyn pushed up the hood and bent a little so that it shaded her from the light. Her fingers hovered over the parts of the jeep she'd never bothered to learn about. Kevin was the mechanic, not her.

She glanced up over the hood and froze. The helicopter was circling, turning back around. "Uh, oh." She said, and let the hood drop. "Start the jeep." She said, as she went back around to her side.

"What?"

"The helicopter's coming back." Caitlyn hopped in as Kevin did as she'd said.

"We gonna try and run?" Kevin asked, as the jeep rolled forward.

"No, U-turn it, we'll hide out in the town. They'll have to come out and split up to find us, and we'll pick them off. Watch out!"

The truck was on them, swerving onto their side of the road to connect with them. Caitlyn hit the dashboard and Kevin hit his door as they were slammed sideways. They were pushed off the road and into the ditch beside it, so that the jeep tipped up and over, landing upside down in the dust.

The helicopter noise was getting louder. Caitlyn was lying in the dirt, several feet away from the jeep. She touched her head and pulled her hand away bloody. She should have tried to wear the seatbelt. She looked back at the jeep. Kevin was dazed and bruised, maybe unconscious, but he was alive; she could feel it. There was the sound of scuffing on the ground; many boots tramping their way. The dust flew as the helicopter hovered nearby.

She tried to move but it hurt. Dammit, she was sick of being kidnapped. She forced herself up to a sitting position and her vision swam. She couldn't see them, but she could feel them. She rolled over on her hands and knees, and almost didn't have to pretend to throw up. She knew she looked helpless.

Someone grabbed her shoulder and pulled her to her feet. She let them; she needed the help. She gave him a hook to the face and kneed him in the stomach. She kicked someone else in the face and nearly lost her balance. She couldn't see, so she couldn't burn anyone, and someone pushed her to the ground. She felt a gun get pushed into her ribs as she stared at the sand that seemed to spin below her face. She tried to get up again and someone kicked her, and she moaned involuntarily as she fell over.

She lay on her back and was too dizzy to get up. Her eyes weren't focussing, although she could see the blurs that meant people were standing over her. There was blood over one of her eyes, and a little in her mouth. She moved her head a little and spat it out. She wanted to try and get up again, even though it hurt and she couldn't be sure which way was up. She couldn't admit to herself that she'd lost. She was grabbed by the arms and tried to struggle, but they hauled her away. Damn humans had got the better of her. Damn humans.

AN: I haven't quite decided what Caitlyn is going to be like yet, or whether Blade is going to attack her for it.