Chapter 24

-Danny-

I bounced the half-empty can between my hands, staring off into space. There were more than a few empties on the table, leftovers from yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before… actually, how long had these been piling up there?

Since Tuesday. They'd been piling there since Tuesday.

When I got back home on Monday, Taylor was nowhere to be seen. I called the school. They told me she hadn't come in. Called the police. "We'll look into it." I knew that tone. I'd heard it too damn many times when one of the boys got hurt.

I snorted, downing the rest of my beer. I'd been so happy, so hopeful when they'd called me back the next morning and told me there'd been a development in the case and to come in to her school. Then… I arrived, and that woman calling herself a principal and the police officer told me that bullshit story of Taylor filling her locker with filth and running off.

I wouldn't have believed that even if I hadn't seen the janitor cleaning up the bloody footprints going down the stairs on my way in.

I was still running through the choice words I'd told that woman, and a few more besides that I should have thought to call her, when the phone started ringing. I stared dumbly at it for a moment before lurching out of my seat. "Taylor!?"

"Ah… no. Hey, Dan, it's Kurt," Kurt's voice answered me. I debated hanging up. "Sorry to call you at this hour, but I think we've got trouble brewing. Are you good to come here?"

I contemplated the can in my hand and the one I'd managed to step on in my mad dash for the phone. Well… It's not as if there's anyone left to be careful for anymore.

"Yeah, I'll be right there," I promised.

Where did I leave my keys?

Looking at the gathered mob of Empire goons, I found myself almost wishing they'd actually try and start something. I didn't let that stop me from trying to defuse the situation. As much as I might have wanted to vent my temper on deserving targets, I did not want good people to get hurt.

Still, whether because my heart wasn't really in it, the alcohol got the better of me, or… whatever desperation drove them got the better of one of them, I failed.

Again.

One of the idiots threw a brick and I leaned away, even if it would've missed me on its own. Probably. It gave me a good angle to see a girl drop out of nowhere to land next to him.

I'd have recognized her anywhere. She looked so much like Annette did during one of our misadventures back in the college days. Right down to that kick, I noted.

Only when the crowd hid her from my view did I realize that Kurt had half-carried me away from the fight. Away from her.

"Let me back there, Kurt!" I shouted, trying to wrestle my way free.

We struggled for a moment, and I almost, almost got free. "Dammit, Dan, no! Somebody help me!" he shouted, shifting his weight to better stop me as Jake grabbed my other arm. "You're just going to get yourself killed out there!"

A gunshot rang outside, as if to punctuate his statement.

"Don't you get it? That's Taylor out there! Let! Me! Go!"

I very nearly slugged him, but Kurt paused at that, his grip slipping, and I was still wobbly enough to stumble.

"You're sure?" he asked, uncertain. He glanced over my shoulder, presumably at Jake, whose grip slackened.

"Yes!" I tried to shove him aside. "I'm damn sure! It's her out there!"

He stared at me for a few more agonizing seconds, then finally stepped aside. I pushed my way past the crowd and ran forward, but Taylor was gone. I looked around, but all I saw was some random girl looking back at me before she ducked into a nearby alleyway.

"...and that was the first time I've seen her since," I told Dauntless. "I was starting to think she was…" I trailed off. I couldn't say it. Even now, even knowing she was alive, I couldn't give voice to that thought.

"I understand," the hero nodded. "Now, I understand it's a difficult question, but can you think of any reason she wouldn't return home?"

I opened my mouth to deny it, to say I'd never hurt Taylor, but… was that really true? I hadn't been there for her after Annette. I knew she was having trouble at school, but I hadn't acted, thinking that she wanted me to stay out of this, to not even think about it while at home, but what if I was wrong?

"...I don't think so," I finally said. "I wasn't there for her as much as I should have after my wife passed, but I can't think of any reason she'd stay away from me. We haven't been talking much, but I think she was having problems at school."

"I'm sorry to hear about your wife," he said. The helmet made it hard to tell, but he sounded genuine. "Would you mind if we sent a few people to look at her room?"

"If you think that's going to help, yes," I said. "Though the police didn't find anything when they searched it after she disappeared." Then again, they didn't look like they cared about the search much.

"Thank you," Dauntless said. "We'll send someone your way in a couple of hours, you might want to head home. If anything comes up, give us a call."

He left, and I returned to my empty house. Where are you, Taylor? What is going on?

"So, Mrs. Laborn," I forced myself to focus. "Why did you only start looking for a job now? It's been..." I glanced back down at the woman's CV, "years." I shouldn't have needed to do that, I should have come to this meeting prepared, but...

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, though whether from the question or my obvious distraction, I couldn't say. I tried to force myself to smile and pay attention, not wanting to do the woman a disservice, but it was… difficult.

If I was being honest with myself, I hadn't been of much use to anyone here at work for over a week. If I could have afforded it, I probably should have taken a leave of absence and let Jerry handle things for a while. He wasn't ready, but he'd do a fair sight better job than I was doing now.

"I've… made some bad decisions. I'm trying to get my life back on track, but… as you said, it's been a long time. Nobody wants to hire me after that."

"I see." And I did. I really did. It wouldn't be easy for her to find a job in this town - for many reasons - but not rushing to call it "unfair" was a point in her favor. Hers was a story I'd heard many times in my years working this job. There just weren't that many jobs to be had, and what few there were… Most employers would be leery of hiring a woman with track marks on her arm. Even if they did look older and healed over.

"I…" she continued, slowly. "I want to do right by my kids."

I looked back up at her, but she wasn't really looking at me anymore. Her face had a faraway expression of it as her head turned towards the window facing the bay.

"I haven't really been there for them for a long while." She said as much to herself as to me, one hand coming up to rub at her upper arm the way Taylor sometimes would when she was uncomfortable. Or cold. "Got too wrapped up in my own sh-business." She turned back towards me and nodded her head. "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me, Mr. Hebert."

"Of course." I watched her for a moment before standing up and holding out my hand. "Talk to Bethany at the front desk, ask her to give you some of the backlog."

She blinked at me and then my outstretched hand a few times. "...I'm hired?"

"For now." I nodded. "We'll see how you work out."

She smiled, tipping forward abortively as if she had been going to hug me before thinking better of it and straightening back up. She shook my hand and left the room with a "Thanks, Mr. Hebert! You won't regret this."

Time would tell.

Still, work and money were short. But paperwork nobody really cared that much about? That was practically infinite.

"And here we have the False King's Hall," the blur on the screen declared, pointing at the Medhall Corporation building. The company's logo - a crown on red-and-yellow - was very visible at this angle. "A self-proclaimed Great Man rules here, toying with the lives of people he considers beneath him." The blur leaned in towards the camera, my daughter's voice dropping to a stage whisper, "Though not in the ways he proclaims so stridently."

The TV host chucked at that. My eyes drifted away from the screen. After I found out Taylor was a cape, I spent most of my free time trying to learn anything I could - about her, and about capes in general. It was… disheartening, to come across the papers claiming that people got powers only when they had nothing - and no one - left to turn to. I hated to think I'd let Taylor down so badly - but it did explain so well why you never heard capes talking about how they got their powers…

"The last scene the new cape commented on before Über and L33t caught up to her was at the old ferry station," the man was saying when I returned my attention to the show. There wasn't much I could find about Taylor specifically before I stumbled onto the program… I'd at least hoped she wasn't getting herself in too much trouble. "Unfortunately, they refused to sell us the footage after that point."

"And here, Charon's boat lies moored. Far more than two drachmas has the city paid when hubris dragged it underneath; now the tides bring naught more than old memories. The people buried their hearts in the sea. Perhaps when they are made whole, it will be a beacon of pride again…"

The doorbell rang, and I got up to answer it. A blonde teenager was standing there, arms crossed in front of her.

"Good evening, Mr Hebert," she said with a weak smile as I opened the door a crack. "I was hoping we could talk about your daughter."

I frowned at her suspiciously, wondering if she was some kind of reporter chasing the story now that my little girl had been on the news. She looked a bit young for it, but then that would make sense that they'd send someone who looked like she could be—

"I'm not—" the girl sighed, her hands fidgeting awkwardly before she nodded seemingly to herself and met my eyes again. "A Little Owl sent me?"

I let her in. She plopped into a chair in the living room while I locked the door.

"Now, what do you know about my daughter, Miss..?" I asked her when I finished.

"Lisa," she answered. "And she's been hanging out– She's been living with me and some of my friends for… well, most of the time she's been gone."

My face fell. Why would she go to a stranger? Why wouldn't she come back to me? Why?

"One of my friends pulled her out of that locker," Lisa added hastily. "Taylor got attached, and, well…" she motioned towards the TV, where the show's hosts were commenting on their favorite moments of Taylor's trip, "You already know she's a cape. Her powers aren't really doing her any favors."

"You mean that her powers are making her talk like that?" I asked. Wasn't there some cape who thought herself a fairy or something?

Lisa's eyes flickered towards the window, but I saw nothing when I checked.

"As far as we can tell, yeah," she nodded once I looked back at her. "I think it's sort of a defense mechanism. She sees the future, or... at least she knows more than she should ever be able to. It overwhelms her a bit. Sometimes more than a bit."

"She sees the future?" I frowned. "And she… she thought she should stay away from me because of that?"

I couldn't keep the horror out of my voice at the idea.

"No, she—" Lisa winced slightly. "Her power has… side effects."

I opened my mouth, but she waved me off.

"Not the speech thing. Well, not just the speech thing," she sighed. "She's also a vampire."

"...What?"

I couldn't come up with anything more coherent.

"Yeah..." she fiddled with her hair, eyes slightly unfocused as she stared off to my side slightly as if trying to avoid meeting my eyes. "Drinks blood, sleeps during the day, burns in sunlight, the whole shebang. I've heard of powers taking on mythological motifs, but this is way beyond anything I've heard of."

"I… what? Drinks blood?"

"Non-lethally?" Lisa helpfully added with another wince.

"You could've said that the first time!" I tried, very hard, not to get angry with the girl who's been trying to look after my daughter.

"Right. Sorry," she said sheepishly. "That was why she was staying away. She's kind of a mess and… She was afraid that you wouldn't want to deal with having a crazy vampire daughter."

"I… I'd never…" I said numbly, then recovered. "I'd never drive her away! She's my daughter, dammit! I'll love her no matter what!" I shouted. Only then did I become aware that Lisa was still staring over my shoulder.

That's when I heard a voice behind me. "Does the Father truly not mind the—" The voice, painfully familiar even with that odd lilt I'd heard her use on the TV, cut off mid-sentence.

I slowly turned around.

Taylor was standing there, breathing heavily with her eyes closed and her fists balled up at her side. She looked pale and thin and her face was scrunched up, just like Annette's would when she was concentrating really hard. Her eyes snapped open as I finished turning, dimming from an almost-glowing amber and settling into their familiar brown as I stared at her, too afraid to move for fear of chasing her away again.

She stared back with a pleading look in her large eyes. "You… you still love me? You promise?"

I took a step towards her. Then another. She froze when I hugged her, but hugged me back.

I heard Lisa's footsteps going towards the door, but I didn't care.