David was on his last leg.
Between losing October and now being the personal target of a crazy witch, the vampire was at his wits end trying to keep it together in front of his brothers.
"Paul didn't come home last night," Marco informed him unhelpfully as soon as he opened his door.
And now he had to deal with fucking this.
(He hadn't even been awake for more than two minutes.)
David stood in the doorway, grumpily eyeing the pigeon cuddled in Marco's clasped hands. "What do you mean Paul didn't come home last night?"
The pigeon cooed and Marco absent mindedly stroked a finger down its head. "He didn't come back before sun up. I think he's still out there somewhere."
Before he could jump to conclusions, David reassured himself that he would know if Paul perished in the daylight. They all would have known if something like that happened.
"He probably got high, lost track of time, and had to hole up somewhere for the day. It's not like that's never happened," he reasoned.
Marco didn't appear convinced. "Or Sloane got him."
David wanted to spit at the sound of the cursed witch's name.
He motioned for Marco to get out of his way lest he accidentally brush against the smaller vampire when he moved past him because now every time someone touched him it was like he was being fucking stabbed.
"What would she want with Paul?" he asked distractedly as he made his way to the lobby.
He could feel Marco glaring at his back as he followed after him from a safe distance. "To mess with us? Torture him? I don't know. Definitely nothing good."
David didn't even want to think about what the witch would do if she got her hands on any of his brothers.
"We'll go look for him. He's probably fine."
Dwayne was waiting for them in the lobby dour faced and already up to speed on their missing rocker.
Paul, you better have a good explanation when we find you, he mentally berated his brother.
They rode into town, far from the boardwalk and towards the cheaper motels.
Marco hollered with happiness when Paul's voice finally reached their thoughts.
Guys you are not going to believe what I found last night!
On the one hand, David was relieved Paul was okay but on the other hand he had had it up to here with everyone. Couldn't a guy catch a fucking break and have at least a moment to get his shit together? We don't have time for whatever it is you found. Sloane is going to come for us in a couple of hours and we need a plan, he sent back.
But I do have a plan! Are you almost here yet? Meet me at room 13.
What or who is in room 13, Paul?
It's a surprise! Just trust me on this!
"We don't have time for this," David growled to himself, the gruff sound hidden under the roar of the engine just before it cut off.
He could be an asshole and simply order Paul to abandon whatever plan he'd cooked up but he trusted the rocker which is why he parked in the too small motel parking lot and led the others to room 13.
In proper Paul fashion, the blond rocker eagerly threw the door open before any of them could even knock and greeted them with a beaming grin.
"Hey guys! This place is great! You're gonna love it!"
David opened his mouth to make a witty retort, but the words quickly died as Paul ushered them all into the room. He could instinctively tell that Marco and Dwayne were expecting another shitty motel room; patchy, outdated shag carpeting, broken fixtures, moth eaten curtains, the works. Instead, the room they entered sparkled in defiance of their lowest expectations. They four of them stood out in the gleaming hotel suite around them.
David, Marko, and Dywane shuffled into the room totally bewildered by their surroundings.
"What-"
"The-"
"F-"
"Shh!" someone shushed them from deeper in the room because apparently they were just standing in the entryway and there was even more room in the room they were in. "The news is on!"
Wynonna stared at the tv screen with laser-like focus. She completely ignored whatever the anchorwoman was saying in her report about the gruesome murder that occured earlier that day, too distracted by the nightmare inducing images she couldn't believe they were able to show on the air. The image was blurry and from a distance but she knew exactly what she was looking at as though she were standing over the dead body right then. She didn't have to count them to know that there were ten swords impaling the body like a human pincushion.
Complete and painful ending. It was the Ten of Swords card from the tarot deck. That was what the killer wanted everyone to know. The end had finally arrived in Santa Carla.
The urge to grab her shit and make a run for it nearly overwhelmed her.
"It was her, wasn't it?" Paul asked idly from behind where she sat perched on the edge of the sofa.
"Sloane," one of the newcomers agreed. It was the dark haired one.
Wynonna turned the tv set off and twisted in her seat to get a better look at Paul's guests. She didn't know any of their names but she knew their faces.
"Where did she get so many swords? Like, actual swords," Paul wondered in genuine befuddlement.
"Paul," the leader, she guessed, snapped at blond. "Care to introduce us to your new friend here?"
She looked to Paul expectantly as he stood there dumbly for a moment, slowly processing the instruction.
Suddenly he grinned and exclaimed, "Oh shit, yeah! Guys this is Winnie-"
"Wynonna," she corrected.
He continued as though he hadn't heard her. "-and she's totally a witch! A nice one! She let me stay here when the sun came up!"
They all stared at her with varying expressions of mistrust, except for Paul who beamed happily at her. The urge to grab her shit and run returned with a vengeance.
She eyed Paul meaningfully and cleared her throat.
He blinked twice as he slowly deciphered what she was trying to ask him without actually asking him.
"Oh right, right. Winnie-" she immediately rolled her eyes at the nickname that she was stuck with apparently, "this is David, Marco, and Dwayne."
With names put to faces finally, she sprung from the sofa and started gathering her belongings. "Nice meeting you all but I've got a thing and I can not be late."
She knew instantly that this was the wrong thing to say when David blocked her path to the door. Irritation radiated off of him and she had to fight to stay rooted to the spot even though her lizard brain was screaming at her to back away.
"You're not going anywhere until I get some answers."
Despite the alarms going off in her head, she took his threat in stride. She squared up and looked him dead in the eye.
"I'm only going to be a few hours."
He glared at her darkly. "I don't have a few hours."
She scowled. "You can follow me if you want to, but keep your distance."
He reared back slightly, a defiant edge setting into his threatening demeanor. "I'm not gonna to do that."
"Have a great date night, Mr and and Mrs Sanford. Me and Jess are gonna have loads of fun," Wynonna bid the couple goodnight from the front step as their car pulled away.
As the car drove further away out of sight, she absentmindedly rubbed her collar bone, trying to soothe the ache that resonated dully from the tattoo-like mark placed there. On the one hand, she experienced some measure of smug satisfaction that David was currently eating his earlier words, but on the other hand, she was starting to doubt the wisdom in inviting a creature of the night to stalk her all the way to the house where she was supposed to be babysitting.
Intensely aware of the four pairs of eyes watching her from the shadows, she cautiously crept back into the house and shut the door behind her. There was one more thing she had to deal with before she could deal with them and that something was currently sitting on the staircase, staring at her through the spindles.
Unnerved by the little girl's attention, Wynonna struggled to hold a pleasant expression on her face.
"Hey there Jess!"
She inwardly cringed at how fake sounding the greeting was.
"Uh, it's getting kinda late, isn't it?"
Oh wow she was really struggling here. How on earth was she supposed to convince this kid she had just met to go to bed early?
Jess rolled her eyes and stood up so she was facing her over the banister. "If you want to invite your boyfriend over or whatever, I really don't care."
Startled, Wynonna barked out a strangled laugh. "Boyfriend! W-what? Uh, I have no idea what you-"
She was abruptly cut off when the little girl raised a hand to silence her. "Save it. I already said I don't care. I won't tell my parents. I already told them I didn't need a babysitter anymore," she muttered the last part bitterly to herself.
"Wait, hang on, I wouldn't-" Wynonna started to explain, borderline hysterical.
Jess raised a questioning brow that made Wynonna start sweating nervously.
"There is no-" she began again, fidgeting in place, before suddenly switching tracks, "You know what? Go to bed. I'll just be, uh, in the backyard."
Without any further explanation she rushed past the staircase and made a beeline for the back door, all the while glancing over her shoulder to make sure the girl didn't follow her. Thankfully, she didn't.
Once outside, Wynonna allowed herself a breath of relief. The moment was short lived when the Lost Boys peeled away from the shadowy corners of the dark yard. As one, they approached her with an air of hostility she wasn't entirely prepared to face.
"What the fuck is this? Why did you bring us here of all places?" David demanded of her.
"Do you know each other?" Dwayne accused her, of what she wasn't super sure.
"I swear if this is a fucking trap…" Marco warned.
"But this isn't a trap, right, Winnie? Please tell me this isn't a trap," Paul told her worriedly, just barely clinging to his usual good humor.
Wynonna held up her hands defensively, flustered by the line of questioning. "What? What are you guys talking about?"
The back door swung open behind her all of a sudden and Wynonna could feel the beginnings of a panic attack coming on as she twisted around to face Jess.
The girl took in the unfolding scene with a severe expression and critical eye.
Wynonna wrung her hands anxiously, gaze darting from Jess and then the four vampires in her backyard. "Jess? Why don't you go back inside. I'm just going to be a minute. Please don't come back out here, okay? The grownups need to talk in private. Please just go back inside."
She didn't know how to lie her way out of this. One look at the increasingly annoyed Lost Boys and it was obvious this entire meeting was more than the teenage babysitter inviting over her boyfriend while the adults were away. And there was no way she was going to use magic on a kid.
CAW
A big black bird swooped down from overhead, causing her to jump. In a flurry of inky black feathers, the bird landed on Jess's outstretched arm in a practiced motion. Stunned into silence, Wynonna stared slack-jawed at the girl and the intimidating animal.
"What shit is going on here?"