Hours Until Sunset

"Come on! Kill him or I'll do it," Roisin shouted.

To make her point, Cathal groaned in agony, obviously from her grip on him. He looked as though he was in serious pain, his normally smug look long gone as his dark eyes roved around frantically, almost as though he was looking for some sort of help.

The shadows that had cut them off from the rest of the group were long gone, now much lighter as they hovered around his body. He was weakened, that was easy to see. Paul wondered what had happened when they were stuck in the tornado of shadows together.

Paul wasn't sure what to do. He had never seen Roisin like this before. This unhinged. Was it a fae thing or a Roisin thing?

Her hair and wings were alight in flames and he could see them dancing around her hands. There was a fierceness in her eyes that he had never been before. Almost as though she was enjoying this.

He chanced a look over at Sean, the stoic fae now with a stern look on his face as he took in the scene. Paul could also sense a bit of confusion and worry in his dark eyes. Almost as though he wasn't sure what to do either. The temperature around them was about the same as a hot summer day, and climbing.

"Roisin, let him go," Sean finally said. Both Cathal and Roisin looked up at him in confusion.

"What?" she asked. "But isn't this what you want?"

"I want him to leave me alone. But not at this cost. At what it's doing to you," Sean said calmly.

Roisin stared at him a few moments and then something switched inside her. She looked down at Cathal and then let him go, backing away from him as she stared down at her hands in momentary shock. Cathal brushed himself off and slowly got to his feet, grimacing.

"You really were never meant for Shadow Court. All this mercy," Cathal said, disdain filling his voice.

Now that it was obvious that Roisin wasn't about to kill him, Cathal had transformed back into his usual arrogant self.

"I don't want the court. I only want to be left in peace," Sean said. He was then suddenly in front of Cathal, gripping his shirt as his shadows swirled around them. "But get this through your head. Leave us alone and we won't have any problems. Try something like this again, I won't hesitate to kill you." He glanced over at Roisin and then back at Cathal. "Or I'll let her do it."

Cathal swallowed and nodded quickly. Sean shoved him away and Cathal looked around the clearing. He snapped his fingers and then he and his guard disappeared into the trees, some of them carrying others, though Paul wasn't sure if they were just injured or dead. To be honest, he had been so desperate to get to Roisin in the fight, that he wasn't sure what the casualties were on either side.

As soon as the Shadow Court was gone, Paul rushed over and took Roisin in his arms, holding her tightly.

"Thank god you're okay," he said, kissing her head. "When I couldn't see you - I thought the worst."

"Yea, I'm fine," Roisin said, though she still sounded a bit dazed.

Paul stepped back and looked at Roisin. She had some scratches and bruises, but seemed more shaken than anything. For a moment, Paul was back in the moment when he saw Roisin cut off from everyone. He had tried to break through, as had Sean, but neither had any luck. And they couldn't see or hear anything that went on inside. He thought he would collapse in relief when the shadows broke down and he saw Roisin on top of Cathal.

And then he had seen the look in her eyes and he wasn't so sure.

"What was that?" he asked. She shook her head and shrugged.

"I'm… not sure. It was like something else just took over," she said. "He got into my head and then… something just snapped."

Paul looked over at Sean, who was studying her with a concerned look. He then turned.

"Come on, we should see to the others. Make sure no one was hurt too seriously," he said. Paul sighed as he and Ro started back towards the house.

Now that the fight was over, he took the time to scan his surroundings. There was blood here and there, but he wasn't sure who it belonged to. A few of the solitary fae were limping, injured. Helping each other back to the house. The wolves seemed okay - minor injuries from what he could tell, but nothing Carlisle couldn't fix up. At least whatever didn't heal itself. The Cullens were uninjured, but it wasn't as though they could actually get that hurt. Or at least, whatever injuries would heal instantly.

"So… that's over," Paul said, looking down at her. Roisin nodded, though her face was still tense.

"One disaster down, another to get through," she said dryly. Paul squeezed her hand, causing her to look at him.

"We'll get through whatever comes next, together," he vowed. Roisin nodded and looked away, though she didn't seem as convinced.

But then the same look of determination came over her face as she picked up her pace.

"Come on, I need to check on Tara…"

OOOO

Roisin stood just inside the doorway to one of the guest rooms, watching as Brendan checked on Tara again. She had been given something to wear and seemed a bit more comfortable - at least she was no longer in pain. But Roisin could still see the cuts and bruises on her. The haunted look in her eyes.

They would need to come up with a story. As relieved as Roisin was to have Tara back, they couldn't just take her home right now. She had been thought lost at sea. Dead. How did they explain finding her alive weeks after she had supposedly drowned in a rip current?

"Ro," Tara said, her voice scratchy.

Roisin smiled as she pushed off the doorframe and walked over to the bed. Brendan stood and stopped for a moment at her side.

"She will heal physically. I cannot attest for what happened to her in Shadow Court, however," he said softly.

"Thank you," Roisin said. He bowed to her and then left the room, shutting the door behind him. "What do you remember?"

"We were surfing… and then something grabbed me. Pulled me under. I… I thought I was dying, but… just before I passed out, we were above the water," Tara said, a confused look on her face. "It was… things are a bit fuzzy, but… I remember being dragged onshore. And then through the trees… we were moving so fast… I got sick… then we were in this biker bar, which makes no sense." She stopped and looked up at Roisin. "I… we went into a closet, but it wasn't a closet… Next thing I know… I'm in some… cell."

Roisin took a deep breath, not wanting to ask what happened next, but needed to know.

"Did they… whoever took you… did they hurt you?" she asked softly. Tara looked away, a pained look on her face.

"It all just kind of blurs together. I can't remember much. I know that I was in and out of consciousness. But anytime I was awake, I wished I was knocked out… I, I don't know what they did to me, but I remember the pain… and fear. I was terrified," she said softly. She then looked up at Roisin. "What did they do to me? Where was I? How… how long have I been gone?"

Roisin walked over and sat on the bed next to her. Tears were pooling in Tara's eyes.

"It's like… I keep trying to remember details, but my mind is blocking it," she murmured. "But from what I do remember, I don't think I want to remember more…"

"It's probably a good thing," Roisin said gently, knowing that whatever they did to her, it was definitely a good thing if Tara couldn't remember the details. Tara then met her eyes.

"But… what's going on? Those people… they weren't real people. And then Mae was there. And you… what are you?" she whispered.

"I'm your friend," Roisin said. "And I'm going to make sure nothing like this happens to you again." Tara looked confused. Roisin then placed her hand on her forehead. "For now… sleep."

OOOO

Everyone was still in the living room when Roisin came down, which she shouldn't have been surprised about. They still needed a plan for getting Tara back to her parents, and one that preferably didn't involve fae, wolves or vampires. Sighing, she walked over to Sean.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Confused. She doesn't know how long she's been away. All that she can remember are fear and pain," Roisin said. "We need to come up with something… What little she remembers, it can't be explained. She remembers the portals and being in a cell."

Sean nodded and looked around the group. He cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention and then gave Roisin the floor.

She turned to look at them, taking in the faces. She was happy to see that they hadn't lost anyone - that had been a huge possibility considering who they were fighting against. But for the most part, everyone was okay, even if the fae and wolves were still sporting some injuries. Injuries that would likely heal quickly. She was still a bit stunned that she had such a large group that had willingly come to fight with her - even more so that only a portion were fae.

The packs, she understood. Thanks to the imprint, they saw her as one of their own. But she still wasn't completely sure just why the Cullens had been so eager to help. Perhaps they, like Jacob, just wanted to help protect the area.

"She'll heal, physically. Her memory seems a bit spotty - whatever they did to her, she was in and out of consciousness. So she isn't sure of where she was exactly or how long she was gone," Roisin said. "She remembers a lot of fear and pain, though."

Roisin looked to the ground, the guilt welling up in her again. This was her fault. Tara was like this because of her. Because she had allowed so many fae into the area and then somehow Cathal had found out and gotten involved. Perhaps wherever they went next they should stay far from mortals. Roisin didn't want to chance anyone else getting hurt because of her.

"Did you tell her the truth?" Jacob asked, though his voice was gentle. Roisin looked up at him and then shook her head.

"I don't know how much more she can take before she breaks," she said, running her fingers through her hair.

She felt Paul grip her shoulder and she looked at him, seeing him offer her a comforting smile. It worked a bit, but her worry for Tara was too big to be pushed away by a smile. Even the calm that he usually brought to her wasn't helping.

"We need to find a way to get her home," Roisin said. "But I'm not sure how to do that. Her parents - and the police - think she's dead. Drowned. How do we explain that?"

"It might be better if one of us takes her in, rather than you or the Cullens," Sam said. "We have a deal with Charlie. He'll help us out. Won't ask too many questions. We can tell him that we found her farther up the coast."

Roisin thought it over and then nodded. It was probably for the best. They needed to get out of Forks, anyway. Being involved with this, it would just hold them up or make them more suspicious in Chief Swan's eyes. Though she hoped that whatever deal the wolves had with him now extended to her.

"Okay," Roisin agreed. "But we still need a story…" She looked over at Sean and then back at the others. "I'm not that great at altering memories, but I could attempt to take them away… Mae's better at that sort of thing, but I don't want to bother her right now…"

"I can do it," Sean said.

"Wait, so that's another thing you can do?" Jacob asked, astonished. Roisin shrugged.

"Not all of us, no. Like I said, I can to an extent. But some are better than others. Mae is good at manipulation, so she could use that to get Tara to forget or remember something else. Or at the very least to not tell anyone the truth," she said as she glanced at Sean. "Shadow is better at getting into people's heads, though. Messing around in there."

"Ah, right," Jacob replied.

"Okay, so… what's the story we're going with? You found her wandering in the woods near the coast?" Roisin asked, trying to stay on track as she looked at Jacob and Sam.

"I don't think we could get away with that. She's been missing for over two weeks," Sam said. Roisin frowned as she looked away.

She had been so caught up in finding and getting Tara back, that she hadn't really stopped to think about how to handle it once they got her.

"What if you completely take away her memories and we say that we found her in a hospital in another town farther away with amnesia?" Paul suggested. "It's better than trying to come with some other logical explanation for finding her in the woods. Or a cover story for Tara. People hit their heads and get amnesia all the time. And like Sam said, if we tell Charlie it's need-to-know, he won't ask too many answers. He can convince the family not to look into it more."

Roisin looked at Paul a few moments and then nodded. While still a bit shaky, it was better than nothing. And at the moment, she was a bit too frazzled to think of something better. And well, she was pretty sure in the long run, it would be better for Tara if she couldn't remember her time with Shadow Court.

"Okay, we'll do that. But we should let her rest and then we can take care of everything tomorrow," she said.

She looked around the room, yet again a bit overcome by everyone there. Most of these people - beings - barely knew her and had stood by her tonight regardless. She wasn't even sure where to begin thanking them.

"Thank you, everyone. For today," Roisin said, finding the words rather lame at best.

"That was one hell of a fight," a large vampire said, grinning. "Let us know if they decide to come back."

Roisin looked over at him, slightly surprised to see him still so giddy. Vampires must love to fight. Or at least this one. A blonde vampire next to him rolled her eyes. Roisin really needed to get around to learning their names - or well, they wouldn't be here long enough for it to matter, she supposed.

"Regardless, let us know if there is anything else we can do," Carlisle said. Roisin nodded and then they turned and left.

The remaining fae all bowed to Roisin. She stared at them, dumbstruck. Not this again. She wasn't trying to do anything but stay away from her brother and Rian. Get her friend back from Cathal. At least they had dealt with that problem.

"You don't have to do that," Roisin said.

"We still choose to follow you," Niamh said as she rose. "Seeing you this night only solidified our thoughts. You are stronger than the Shadow king. Perhaps the strongest of us all."

Roisin looked at Sean, who had a curious look on his face as he studied the room. He then glanced over at her, before looking at Paul, the curious look remaining.

Whatever it was he was thinking, Roisin didn't care. Her thoughts were spinning out of control at the moment. She still wasn't even sure what had happened when she was fighting Cathal. Other than she had nearly lost it, which as she remembered, was not a good thing usually. Not to mention, they still needed to get on the road if they wanted to avoid another run-in with her brother. She was pretty sure it wouldn't be as friendly as his last visit.

"I… I need some air," she said, spinning on her feet and rushing outside. She could hear Paul say something to Sean and knew one of them was about to follow her.

Sighing, she sat down in a chair and stared out into the night.

OOOO

Paul sighed as he followed Roisin outside. Without a word, he sat down next to her and reached out, taking her hand. He immediately felt a bit of the tension leave her body, but there was still a lot there.

"I can't handle… that," she said, motioning towards the house, "right now."

"I know," Paul replied, glancing at her. "But they seem to want to follow you."

Roisin shook her head and he could feel her frustration. He began to caress the palm of her hand, doing whatever he could to help calm her down.

"I just… this is all a bit much," Roisin admitted, not looking at him. "I feel like everything is happening too fast. I mean, I meet you, imprint. Then Shadow takes Tara and I have to deal with Cathal. My brother shows up. These fae start showing up… I mean, thank the goddess we have Tara back, but… I feel like going on the run and staying hidden is going to be a lot harder now that other fae know about me…"

Paul reached over, guiding her to look at him. Roisin's eyes were wide with worry, tears threatening to fall down her cheeks, which were still sporting dirt and scratches from her fight with Cathal. Without a word, she stood up and walked over, curling up in his lap. Paul gently rubbed her back.

He knew that a lot of decisions needed to be made very quickly and that they would need to leave within a week - as soon as they possibly could - if they were going to stay ahead of Darraugh. Or, well, part of him wondered if they should run. She already seemed to have attracted a decent amount of fae to her side. Had the packs and perhaps the Cullens. Maybe making a stand was the best solution. However, Paul also knew now probably wasn't the best time to get into that. Roisin needed a moment to breathe.

"It's going to be okay, Ro," he said.

"But how do you even know that?" Roisin asked, her arms around his neck, though she didn't look at him.

"Because we'll be together," he replied. Roisin scoffed softly.

"Love doesn't conquer all," she said, a harsh edge to her voice.

"Maybe not, but I do know that we're better together. I mean, you saw the way we fought tonight," he said, unphased by her response. Roisin sat up and met his eyes. "I know that you can feel it too."

"But, are you really sure you want to do this? We're about to go on the run and you'll have to leave… everything. Your dad, your friends, your pack," she said softly, her brow furrowed. "Because of me."

Paul chuckled as he gently took her face in his hands.

"Thought we've been over this. Where you go, I go," he said. "We're imprints and we're in this together. Going on the run. Figuring a way around the prophecy. Or at least getting you out of your betrothal to Rian. And I promised I wouldn't let him get you… Granted after today, it's obvious you're strong. You took care of Cathal pretty easily on your own."

"Yea, and then nearly killed him," Roisin said, looking off.

"But you didn't. Honestly, I don't think it would have been that bad a thing if you had now that I really think about it," Paul replied with a snort. While he had been a bit frightened at the time, in hindsight, it probably would have saved them a lot of grief later on. Roisin glanced at him and then back at the yard.

"It would have meant that Sean would have to take back the court," she said, her brow still furrowed. "Or well, I probably could have taken it… if I had done it… but I'm glad that Sean stopped me. I don't want Shadow Court. And I don't want to lose Sean to Shadow Court. He really doesn't want to go back..."

Paul was silent a moment, the full implications of what could have happened if Roisin had gone through with her threats earlier and killed Cathal. And he could sense there was more there that she wasn't saying.

"I mean, yea, if either of us had taken it, it could have solved the problem with Rian - either I would be sole ruler or Sean's queen. But we still aren't completely sure if me marrying into another court or taking over another court is enough," she continued.

She shook her head again and sighed, now chewing on her bottom lip.

"Ro… you've never killed something before, have you," Paul said, realizing just why she was rambling. She sat up and looked over at him, her eyes wide. She then looked away, shaking her head.

"No, I haven't," she said. "And well, after today, I'm not sure how I feel about that, to be honest. There've been times when I thought I could. Especially today. I thought I was ready to kill Cathal. And then, I realized all the things that would do… It would have created more problems." She sighed. "Not that it matters. We're still stuck with the same issue. Darraugh will come for me. And I'm stuck engaged to Rian… who will look for me too if he isn't already…"

Paul pulled her closer, not speaking for a moment as everything she said ran through his head. He didn't believe there was no way around this. And honestly, he felt like the answer to everything was within their grasp - and that running wouldn't solve anything.

The fae that had fought here today, they were ready to follow Riosin. Maybe it wasn't the mending of the Fae world, but rather bringing together solitary fae who had previously left other courts into a brand new one. It made sense to Paul. But at the same time, he wasn't sure if right now was the time to hash everything out. He didn't know the first thing about starting a new fae court or how easy or hard that would be.

Roisin's emotions were all over the place and he was tired as well. Maybe it was best for the both of them to get a good night's sleep and then they could attack everything in the morning. Maybe the packs could help.

Paul pulled her close and kissed the side of her head.

"We don't have to figure out everything right now. But no matter what, I'm with you Ro," he said seriously. Roisin stared at him a few moments before a small smile appeared and she pressed her lips against his.

"Always," she whispered.

OOOO

Mae watched Paul and Roisin a few moments longer from the second-floor verandah, before turning to walk away. She knew that it was going to be harder to get Roisin to realize that they needed to go back to the Fae world once she had met Paul. But at the time, Mae thought it would be just like any other mortal.

Roisin would fall for him a bit, have her fun and then move on. He was turning out to be more of a pest than Mae had thought. And whatever this fucking imprint thing was.

At first, Mae thought she could do this on her own. She had talked a few solitaries to making a bit of a ruckus around the town. Not too much, but enough that it would draw attention and worry Roisin. Then Mae would swoop in and convince her to go back to the Fae world. But then that wasn't enough.

Stupid Paul had distracted her with the imprint thing. Please. As if a wolf would make a suitable partner for a royal fae like Roisin.

Narrowing her eyes, Mae kept walking until she was alone in her room, pacing around. She needed a new plan. And this time, it was probably best not to enlist the help of anyone from the Shadow Court. Cathal wasn't supposed to get involved, but Mae realized she had been too foolish. Of course, he was going to get involved if something happened that would benefit his court.

He had long wanted Roisin as part of it. This had been too close. But now at least it was over with. And Mae knew better than to try and make anymore deals with Shadow fae.

The stupid fae wasn't even supposed to take Tara - just scare the mortals. Then that would scare Roisin into leaving. When he had taken Tara, that was about the point that Mae realized what had started out as her plan was quickly dissolving into chaos and nothing was in her control.

She hadn't wanted anyone to get hurt. No one was supposed to get hurt. And while she wouldn't have minded if Sean disappeared, she knew it would hurt Roisin too much. So she had gone to Cathal, hoping to call off everything. All that had gotten her was locked up for a few hours while Sean offered himself up. Again, this could have worked in Mae's favor if Roisin hadn't ended up kicking Cathal's ass. Now his pride was on the line and he wouldn't mess with her or Sean again until he knew he could take them.

Leaving Mae with the original problem. They were still in the mortal world. And Roisin and Sean were planning to run. Again. But this time they had the smelly wolf tagging along with them.

Groaning, Mae fell back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. All she had wanted to do was to show Roisin that they weren't meant to be here. They were meant to be back in the Fae world. A hundred years had been far too long and Mae ached for home. Why couldn't Roisin see that?

And what was so bad about getting married? Riosin could do a lot worse. Rian was set to be a king. And he was powerful, not to mention good-looking. He might even let her keep the mortal as a lover - it wasn't uncommon for royals to have their side pieces. But no, Roisin was willing to give that up so she could spend some time with a measly human that turned into a wolf.

Paul was ruining everything. And short of killing him (something Mae wasn't so keen on), she wasn't sure what to do.

She then sat up, her thoughts turning to the Winter Court. Mae had told Darraugh where they were and he gave Roisin a month. But what if Mae told Rian? Surely he would come and get them quickly if he knew they were about to go on the run again. He had made no such deal with Roisin to wait.

A smile drifted over Mae's face as she walked over to the window, and opened it. She then looked back towards the door, for a moment faltering. Roisin was her best friend and she had followed her here. Mae remembered the haunted look in her eyes when she had returned from the Winter Court for Rian's birthday. But she refused to say anything about what had happened. Just that she was running away...

But Roisin was thinking of no one but herself and her precious mortal right now. Running from her destiny that everyone knew she couldn't run from forever. It was with that thought on her mind that Mae hopped up on the window ledge and then took off into the night.

OOOO

And now the truth comes out. Mae was behind everything all along. And now you see what I meant by how making it so fae can't lie was a bitch. I had to be super careful with that conversation between Mae and Ro at the school about who was behind the graffiti. Make sure that Mae was speaking in a way that was truth, but still hid that she was actually behind it. Though, at the end of the day, Mae really didn't want anyone to get hurt. She just wants them to go home together. And she doesn't know the truth about Rian. She's all sorts of hurt that Roisin, Sean and now Paul are keeping things from her. So, there's – hmm, I don't want to say fault, because that's not the right word, but things all around. But at the same time, Roisin should be the one to decide who she wants to know what happened to her. And she has her reasons for not wanting to tell Mae. And Mae is being a bit selfish, but I feel like she wouldn't resort to such measures if she either knew or just trusted Roisin a bit more.

I'm now about halfway finished with the last chapter, and well, I'm still on the fence with the bonus chapter. I started it, though now thinking about either completely leaving it out or adding it to the end of Chapter 31 with a fade-to-black. We'll see. I'm just not in the mood to write a love scene at the moment, but it may hit me before we get there. But I will definitely have all the writing on this story finished up this weekend. Probably today as it's still in the afternoon where I am.

Felinegreat – I know, right? And there's so much more there to come… Roisin's a beast.

Thanks everyone for reading and following!