Chapter 33: In Which Kevin Becomes the Car Guy

Sam was pacing in front of her house, nervously clenching her hands as she searched for the familiar Dodge Challenger. After band practice she and Evan had worked together on what she would say to Kevin about the parent meet up. Admittedly, she should have gone to Carter-she was better at English, after all-but she seemed busy. So after a half hour of furiously scratching out a script of what Sam should say, Evan gave the okay to call Kevin.

And here Sam was outside her house, pacing back and forth with the script memorized in her head. Kevin, I know this is sudden, but my parents think you're my boyfriend and they want to meet you. It'd mean a lot to me if you'd play along.

"Not too demanding and it makes it seem like he's doing you a favor," Evan had mused earlier. "It might just work."

Nice to know you're go to guy guru is occasionally handy, Kirche commented playfully in Sam's head. Though I don't think a script will work on Kevin.

How do you mean?

Kevin's a wild card; you can't easily gauge his reactions. Kirche sighed happily. I just love passionate guys like him.

Touch him and I'll break you in half.

You can't hurt me without hurting yourself, Kirche sang before becoming serious. But seriously, its guys like him that start the best wars. You can't blame me for liking him.

Please keep you're mad philosophy to yourself, Sam thought with a tired sigh. I need to concentrate. Kirche mercifully fell silent.

And then Kevin rolled up in his car, the window beginning to roll down. He stopped in front of her and he put his head out. "You wanted to talk?" he asked, sounding nervous.

The script Sam memorized flew out of her mind like a thousand birds taking flight. "Yes," she croaked as she got into the car. "Can…can we drive out of the neighborhood?" She didn't want the snoopy Slayer neighbors getting wind of this.

Kevin nodded slowly and began to drive out of there. The tension between them was thick, and the silence was deafening. Sam was desperately trying to remember what she wrote earlier, but it was like trying to catch a ghost; her hand glided through the specter and she only got air.

Kevin, on the other hand, was clutching his steering wheel in a dead man's grip. He had a feeling he knew what this was about. Sam was going to break up with him- no, not break up, they weren't necessarily dating before, but they did kiss just the night before. Sam was going to break off whatever was going on between them, and just when it was going so well...

Kevin parked the car a good ten minutes away from Sterling Hills, in a dune very close the desert. He forced himself to look at Sam, who was rather pale in the face. He raised an eyebrow; maybe she didn't want to break up after all. Relief flooded through him before the question popped up in his brain: what did Sam want to talk about?

"Sam, you wanted to talk?" Kevin asked his eyebrow still up. Sam opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. Her brow furrowed as she said:

"My parents think you're my boyfriend."

Out of all the things Kevin imagined when he got the phone call, he didn't quite imagine this.

"Aren't I your boyfriend?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"That's just it. Where, exactly, does our relationship stand?" Sam turned to him, her face indifferent, but her eyes calculating. She seemed to be studying him, trying to gauge his reaction so she could equally react.

Kevin shrugged his shoulders, trying to hide the nervousness he was feeling. "I don't know. I thought we had something, but…" He let the question hang.

"I know we had something last night," Sam said. Her tone wasn't seductive or accusing. It seemed more like a statement, like she couldn't quite believe it. "We didn't get a chance to talk about it, so I don't know where we stand."

Kevin boldly swooped down and kissed her on the cheek. "I want you to be my girlfriend," he murmured into her ear. Sam's heart was going a hundred miles a second. "Can I be your boyfriend?"

Sam was never one to express her emotions through words. She was taught that actions spoke loudest in comparison. And a kiss seemed pretty loud to her.

It was soft and experimental, the tentative beginning to a new relationship. They simply stayed in the same position, bodies curved towards each other, faces meeting halfway. A full minute passed before they allowed each other to break free.

Kevin was looking at her, his black eyes boring into her own copper brown. She hated how hot her face felt, the weakness she was showing. But Sam was okay with letting down her defenses around him. She'd been okay with it for a long time now.

Speaking of defenses… "My parents want to meet you," Sam said suddenly, making the goofy smile on Kevin's face melt away.

"Aw, shit."

"It had to happen at some point," she pointed out. Kevin gave a grunt before he smacked his forehead on the steering wheel.

"They're going to hate me."

"My mom won't," Sam said, failing at being reassuringly. "She doesn't know how to hate. And to be honest, I think she's curious."

Kevin turned his head and allowed a tiny smirk. "The bad boy with the broken home dating the spoiled rich girl. We're like a Lifetime movie."

"If this was a Lifetime movie you'd have raped me by now," Sam deadpanned. "And, to be honest, she seemed excited to meet you. I guess she thinks you make me happy."

"Do I?" Kevin asked hopefully. The blush that was dusting her face was all the answer he needed.

"Yeah, but my dad hates your guts." And there went Kevin's smile.

"Already?"

"You're dating his little girl; of course he hates you."

"And he won't give me the benefit of the doubt?"

"No," Sam said simply. "On the plus side, it'll be a Skype meeting, so he can't kill you."

"There's the silver lining I was looking for," Kevin joked, and Sam laughed, the tension gone in an instant. Kevin stared at her as she smiled a look that could be described as love struck on his face. It was soft, and it stayed on when he swooped down to kiss her again.

"Son of a bitch."

Ben and Gwen looked at Carter, their faces masks of concern. After the adults decided the kids should spend some time together, they escaped to Ben's room and had just started chatting. And then Carter got two texts, and now she had an ugly scowl on her face.

"What is it?" Ben asked tentatively.

"We've got some High Breed activity downtown," Carter began. Ben and Gwen were immediately out of their relaxed sitting positions.

"Call Sam and Evan and tell them to get Kevin," Ben ordered as he and his cousin walked towards the door.

"That's not the only problem here," Carter told them. They stopped in their tracks and looked at her.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked.

"Isaac sent me a mission notice," the Goth explained. "The Pride has to hunt down a serial killer that just arrived in the Bellwood area."

"What, right now?" Ben inquired incredulously. "You can't go now, we need you!"

"Don't you mean you need me?"

Gwen cut off Ben's spluttering. "Is it just one High Breed of a whole nest of them with DNAliens?"

Carter reread the text. "He says it's a lone High Breed. I think you can take care of him."

"We've never took on a High Breed with just three of us," Gwen pointed out. Carter put down her phone and thought for a moment.

"The Pride can easily dispose of just one High Breed, but we have our orders," she said in a clipped tone. "Unless you guys want to take on the serial killer…" Ben and Gwen furiously shook their heads. Carter smirked.

"So we split up for today?" Ben asked worriedly.

"Dude, you've got Gwen covering you," Carter scoffed. "And Kevin makes decent backup. You'll be fine." Ben had to smile at that.

Carter speed dialed Sam's number. "I'll call up Sam and Evan. You guys think up an excuse to tell your parents." She walked towards the window, peering out into the street while Gwen and Ben looked at each other and shrugged.

Sam picked up. "I know," she grunted.

"Hello to you too," Carter deadpanned. "Did you tell Evan?"

"Just got an answer; he's looking for James. Where are you?"

"Ben's house. Think you can all meet us there?"

"On it," Sam said. "I'm with Kevin so we can split up. See you in ten." She hung up and Carter turned to Ben and Gwen.

"Sam and Evan are meeting up here in ten minutes," she told them. "So, what are we telling your parents?" she asked Ben.

He shrugged an innocent smile on his face. "What I've been telling them for weeks; that we're hanging out."

"Funny how okay you are with lying," Carter mused. Gwen turned to him, glowering.

"What?" Ben said to his cousin. "I can't tell them that I'm fighting aliens, I have to lie. They'll believe anything I say."

"And you're okay with that," said Gwen frostily.

"No, but I've gotten used to it." Ben shrugged.

"I'm surprised they haven't caught on," Carter said. "You suck at lying."

"No I don't!"

"Your eye twitches when you lie. How they still believe you is beyond me."

Fifteen minutes later

"So what happened with Kevin?" Evan leered at Sam in the hearse. The Pride had just split up with Ben's team and was on their way to their mission. But first, they had to be teenagers. They might as well get it out of their systems.

"He's officially my boyfriend now," Sam said without a hint of embarrassment. Still her friends went, "Oooooh!" in their most immature voices.

"Oh shut up! You didn't do that with Carter!"

"Don't bring me into this!"

"I do what I want, FUCK THE POLICE!"

"May I kindly ask you to not shout?" James the Awesome Chauffeur loudly said from the driver's seat.

"Sorry," Sam said in a quieter voice.

"By the way, Isaac wanted to tell you that you have new uniforms," James continued. "They are under your seats. I suggest you change into them." And with that a black glass rolled up from behind his seat, separating the four of them.

They reached down and got out the metal boxes with their new costumes. Opening the lids, they discovered that it was still black. What a shocker!

"Aw, stoked!" Evan said, feeling the cloth. "Is this spider silk?"

Carter and Sam picked up their clothes and felt the torsos. They were used to Kevlar, the heavy, uncomfortable body armor the police used. But instead the black cloth was similar to the soft spider silk, a biological armor that was just as good as Kevlar, if not as well-known.

The three of them immediately began to change. Normally if two girls were undressing in front of a boy, they would all be embarrassed to do so. This wasn't the case for the Pride. They had been together for so long that they were like siblings to each other. It was easier to change in front of your siblings.

The black unitards the girls were wearing were long sleeved with turtlenecks. Attached at the waist was a little thigh length black skirt. The one and half inch high heeled boots were the same, along with the fingerless gloves and masks. Evan's outfit was separated into two pieces: a black turtleneck with black pants like before. Only this time the outfit was made out of spider silk. His fingerless gloves were the same, but he was happy to see that he got new combat boots.

As Sam pinned her hair up, she said, "Why the change? There was nothing wrong with what we were wearing before."

The black window rolled down to reveal the back of James's head again. "They are indeed similar to your old costumes, but Lucille thought it best to get rid of the Kevlar. She said that was far too bulky and that spider silk might be good in the market."

"Nice to know my emotionally unstable grandma can occasionally make a good point," Sam said with an exasperated sigh.

"I don't know what you have against your grandma," Evan said as he put on his black wig. "I like her."

"That's because when she's happy she can handle your level of crazy," Sam said as she finished putting up her hair.

"True, but when she's angry she does our jobs for us," Evan pointed out with an evil little smile on his face.

"Yeah, but when she's angry she turns into Lucifer," Carter said darkly. That put everyone in a grim mood.

James cleared his throat to change the subject. "Do you want to know more about the woman you'll be hunting?"

"We're dealing with a female?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "We haven't done that in a while."

"Yes, the stigma is that men are more likely to be the violent party, murdering people when it suits them," James told them. "The mentality has been like that for centuries. The Slayers know that both sexes are capable of murder, but a lot of people are unwilling to accept the idea."

"Yeah, and girls are more catty than guys are," Carter admitted. "Guys physically beat people up, girls destroy people emotionally, which may have led to the stereotype."

"Yes, but this particular woman has chosen a very brutal path," James said darkly. "Evan, do you have the scanner I gave you?"

"Right here, J-man," Evan said jovially in contrast to the mood. In his hand was a slim, silver device that looked like a credit card. He squeezed it and a light appeared from above it, becoming a square screen in midair. The hologram showed the two-dimensional picture of a woman in her twenties.

"Lindsay Proctor," James began. "Age twenty-three, recently graduated from the University of Chicago with a law degree. When she was growing up she was sexually abused by her father and older brother while her mother did nothing. She tried telling people about her home life but was constantly shut down by teachers and other adults. When her father heard about what she'd done, the abuse escalated.

"We believe that when Lindsay realized she wasn't going to get any help from adults, she took matters into her own hands. Just after her high school graduation she killed her brother, mother and father by cutting the brakes. They all died in the resulting car crash and Lindsay got all the money because she was eighteen. She went to college, made lots of friends, and was ready to get on with her life.

"And then a serial rapist appeared on campus, and Lindsay's already fragile mind snapped. She hunted him down and killed him in cold blood. When his friends found the body, they held an enormous service for him even though Lindsay had confirmed he was the rapist. So she killed them all with the same knife she used to kill their friend."

The Pride took a minute to absorb all of this. "So, we're killing someone who's mentally unstable?" Sam said slowly, trying to piece the information together.

"Yes."

"In that case, shouldn't we try to help her?" Evan pointed out. "She's been abused for years; she needs to be put into a home or something."

"What good would that do?" Carter pointed out. "She tried reaching out for help only to get smacked down. She wouldn't trust anyone with her problems. And putting her into a home would be holding her prisoner."

"Exactly," James said flatly. "There's no hope for her in this world, and we can't give her second chances. It'd be best to end it for her."

Sam studied the hologram. Lindsay Proctor was blonde with a pixie cut, making her sweet brown eyes bigger. She had a heart shaped face with an impish mouth, and she was smiling into the camera. But there was a spark in her eyes that was unnerving, an almost mad gleam that pervaded the picture. She seemed to be nearing a breakdown.

"Let's do this quickly," Sam finally said.

Lindsay Proctor actually lived in the next town, a ways away from Bellwood. The town was small like an oasis in the desert. It was a bustling community that knew no hard times. It was the perfect place for Lindsay to strike again.

Lindsay was walking home from her job, her laptop case swinging at her side. She was dressed all in pink and humming a merry tune as she walked up the driveway to her ranch home.

"Seems pretty normal, doesn't she?" Carter murmured from the shadows. "Like she's just enjoying her walk."

"Maybe she honestly is," Sam whispered. "It's a nice day out, she should enjoy it."

"She doesn't have a long time to live," Evan finished for Sam, his voice grim. They watched as Lindsay got the keys out of her bag and opened the front door. They heard the click of a lock as she closed the white door.

"Smart girl; bet she's got a decent security system," Carter murmured.

"If she's really paranoid, it'll be state of the art," Sam whispered back.

"Let's go inside," Evan ordered, and together the three of them melded back into the shadows and slid over the front lawn and under the doorway.

The inside was impeccably clean: the white carpet was pristine, if a little old, the bookshelf had the books arranged in alphabetical order, the flowers by the window had been recently pruned, and there wasn't a speck of dust anywhere.

They found Lindsay in the kitchen. Like the rest of the house, it was a little old and was noticeably clean. The tiled floor was spotless, the table didn't have a scratch on it, the stovetop was shining and the countertop was free of clutter. Lindsay was still humming, grabbing fresh vegetables from the refrigerator and a cutting board from the cabinets attached to the walls.

After washing her hands and arranging everything just so on the counter, Lindsay got a cutting knife from the drawer and began to slice the vegetables. No, not slicing; it was more like hacking. Each swipe with the knife made Lindsay's grin become a little wider, stretching across her face in a strange mask. Her humming was quicker paced, and occasionally she let out a little giggle if a slice was particularly satisfying.

When she was finished she went to the cabinets again for something, but then she stopped. Her hand was hovering near the doorknob as she stood there silently, having finally finished her little song. She snapped her head around and frantically searched the kitchen, her eyes wide. For a second her panicked gaze swept over the Pride, who were hiding in the shadows in a corner. They stood stock still, their hearts in their throats as Lindsay finally looked past them, surveying the rest of the kitchen.

With an unsatisfied grunt she went over to the window and threw open the curtains, letting in the light. Lindsay searched the kitchen again. With a little smile she went back to her cooking, humming her little merry tune again.

Sam let out a breath that Lindsay did not hear. She wished she could see the others; no doubt they would look at her with shocked expressions on their faces. This had never happened to the Pride before. No one ever knew they were there before they allowed themselves to be seen. But it seems even they weren't good enough to handle Lindsay Proctor's insanely accurate paranoia.

Evan took a deep breath and made to step out of the shadows, but Carter put her arm out in front of him. He and Sam looked at her and she pointed to herself. Evan allowed a grudging nod and Carter stepped out of the shadows.

Her high heel made a click noise on the tiled floor. For a second Lindsay stopped humming and listened intently. Then she went back to her cooking, turning on the stove and put a skillet on the heated part. Carter dared to step completely out of the shadows when Lindsay began to fry the vegetables. Over the hiss of cooking it would be hard for her to hear the assassin coming for her.

Carter clutched her wrist and summoned her scythe. With the white mask, the black clothes and the Grim Reaper's signature weapon in her hands she looked the imitation of death, descending on the wicked with silent fury. She slowly made her way towards Lindsay, her heels making soft clicking noises.

With a savage cry Lindsay whirled around and flung the frying pan at Carter, who barely ducked down in time. She looked up to see the pink-clad pixie hold up her cutting knife and her instincts kicked in. Carter backed away as Lindsay tried to stab her. She watched calmly as Lindsay made animalistic grunting noises as she wielded her paltry weapon.

Her eyes widened just a bit when Lindsay threw herself at Carter, clawing and stabbing. She recovered quickly enough to use her powers and rapidly melted into a puddle, weapon and all. The colorless liquid split in half when Lindsay fell to the floor, knife clutched in hand. She looked around wildly, confusion written on her face as she searched for her assassin.

The split water cumulated behind her and quickly Carter's head emerged from the giant puddle, then her torso, then her legs. She stared coldly at the murderess beneath.

She raised her scythe up high.

Lindsay whirled around, her eyes wide.

A meaty splash, a strangled scream cut short, and blood pooling under the body, soaking into a fluffy pink sweater and dark pink skirt. Lindsay's sweet brown eyes looked at the ceiling sightlessly, her mouth still open in a silent shout. Her killer looked on silently, stepping over the carcass and into the puddle of blood.

"Call for the clean-up crew," Carter said indifferently as she searched the drawers in the kitchen. She finally found the cleaning rags folded up neatly in the middle drawer, all of them a neutral beige color. She quickly began to clean the blood off her scythe.

Sam and Evan got out from their hiding spot and made their way over to her. Evan stared at Lindsay and said, "Why did you stop me before?"

"She's been abused by guys all her life," Carter said. "I didn't think a guy should kill her."

Evan gave a nod to show he understood and then got out his phone. Sam knelt down and spared a pitying glance at Lindsay's empty eyes. "You poor thing," she murmured as she slid a hand over her eyes and closed them.

The three of them were in the hearse, driving away from the crime scene. They never waited for the clean-up crew to show up. They always did, so why bother?

Their masks were off and Sam and Evan were taking off their black wigs. Carter got out her cell phone and reread the text Isaac sent out earlier. "We should go to the High Breed's location," she stated. She looked at her friends as if daring them to argue.

Evan took the bait. "Ben and the others can take care of themselves."

She nonchalantly looked at her nails. "Oh, I know, it's just that I don't want to ignore a mission Isaac gave us."

Evan and Sam looked at each other and Sam got her phone out. "I'll call Kevin and see how their doing." Carter gave them a triumphant smile.

A minute later, Kevin answered. "Hey, what's up?" he answered nervously.

"Hold on, I'll put you on speaker," Sam quickly said, pressing the speaker button. She held the red phone out in front of her. "What's going on?"

"Gwen, could you handle this?" Kevin's voice was muffled, like he was talking away from his phone. A second later and Gwen's voice said, "We fought the High Breed if you want to know."

"How did it go?" Evan asked.

"Not too well," Gwen confessed.

"What happened?" Sam asked concerned.

"Well, we were trying to stop it from running away when it tried to use a teleporter pad. Then Kevin threw a rock at it and set it off, sending the High Breed and Ben to another planet."

It took a minute for that to sink in. "How did a rock activate a teleporter pad?" Carter asked dubiously.

"That's what you're worried about?" Sam muttered incredulously.

"It was a really big rock," Gwen said dismissively. "The point is that we're trying to get Ben back, but we don't know how."

"Tell us the location and we'll meet you there," Evan said firmly.

"This is a pile of crap," Evan declared. "No, it's worse than crap."

"Don't fuck with the teleporter pad!" Kevin growled. "If we can get it to work…"

"'If' being the operative word," Evan grumbled under his breath.

"Less fighting, more working," Sam said, looking at the wiring inside the control pad. The teleporter was located in an old factory-what wasn't these days?- that was dank and full of boxes. The High Breed was no doubt trying to steal it, though why he didn't have a posse of DNAliens was a mystery. The three of them were working on it, since Kevin knew alien technology and Evan was always good with machines. Sam was pretty good at wiring things thanks to her youth of jacking cars, so she figured she'd be of some help.

Gwen and Carter were off to the side, since neither knew how the teleporter worked or had the technical know-how to fix it. Gwen fixed Carter a cool look and said, "You don't seem very worried about Ben."

"Who says I'm not?" Carter said with a shrug. It was true; inwardly a part of her was freaking out over Ben's dilemma, but the cool, rational side of her knew he'd be okay. He had a knack of getting out of the worst possible situations with barely a scrape. This time was no exception.

"Tell me, are you worried?" Carter suddenly asked Gwen, startling her a bit.

"Yes," she said truthfully, "but Ben will be fine. He always is."

"Then you know how I feel." Carter smiled at her. Gwen gave her a half-smile before turning back to the teleporter pad.

Kevin was now near the teleporter, looking up the scanner attached to the side. "Everything looks fine but I can't make it work."

"Maybe we should call Beck," Sam said tactlessly. Kevin turned to her.

"Who's Beck?" he asked, his voice slightly jealous.

"He's a guy we know," Carter explained. "He's great with any type of technology. He should figure out what's wrong with the teleporter and fix it."

Sam looked at Kevin's murderous face and smiled pleasantly. "He's also the one who fixed your car after Manny totaled it."

Kevin whirled his head to her so fast he got a crick in his neck. Massaging it, he hissed, "He touched my car?"

"Yeah; did I mention that he worships you now?"

He stared at her blankly. "He worships me?"

"Oh yeah," Sam said, laughter coloring her voice. "He took one look at your engine and decided you were his idol. You are now the Car Guy."

"The Car Guy," Kevin repeated, a dopey grin spreading across his face.

As if to enhance his holy status, a light emitted from the teleporter just behind him. A swirling blue vortex appeared from the hole. Kevin jumped back and watched with the others as Ben jumped through the light and landed on all fours.

Giant grins spread on everyone's faces as the light died down and Ben stood up. For some reason, he didn't have his jacket, but no one cared about that. Carter and Gwen immediately tackled him in a hug. Sam thumped him on the back and Evan punched his shoulder as the two girls let go of him.

"You gave us a scare," Kevin admitted, tousling Ben's hair affectionately.

"Where's the High Breed? Did he get away?" Gwen asked. A sad look came over Ben's features, and he averted his eyes. His voice was soft.

"I doubt it."