A/N: I want to apologize for the extended delay concerning this and my other fic "When Darkness Turns to Light" I know I was updating like every few days in the beginning. I've got quite a few things going now so that sort of slowed me down. I also have a few chapter fics in the wings with which I refuse to do anything other than keep them fresh in my mind till I finish the ones on my plate. Thanks so much to those of you who've stuck around this long! I'm dedicating this chapter to you! *hugs*

X x X x X x X x X

He waited a count of ten, daring them to try. Five peeved faces looked back but there were no takers. There never was when he was dealing with people. He looked away satisfied that he'd have at least a few minutes before he'd actually have to run. They'd wait till he left the room to call security.

He stepped into the hallway, jogged toward the bank of elevators on his far left.

Lyssa clutched his shoulders trying to see behind them. "Hurry."

"They coming?"

She shook her head. "Not yet."

"Good. Maybe we'll get out of here clean after all."

She pulled herself higher, rested her chin on his shoulder. "Go faster."

"I thought you said they weren't coming."

"It's not them I'm worried about."

"Who then?"

"Dunno. Just a feeling. Bad. We can't be here anymore."

Damn.

X x X x X x X x X

Johnny wasn't sure the guy would come back his way but he waited regardless. He had a feeling the guy needed help and he'd learned long ago to trust his feelings.

Two days ago the kid had been in hemorrhagic shock. She'd taken three pints of blood to stabilize. She'd been unconscious and unresponsive till what five, ten minutes ago. Then all of a sudden the guy's snatching her up and flying out the door. There's something going on there. Something beyond the obvious. So he waited.

The guy didn't disappoint came right through the swinging doors nearly running him down.

Johnny didn't move.

The guy tried to side step him. He mirrored the motion. The guy puffed up. Tension rolled off him in waves.

"Move." He said through clenched teeth.

"What are you doing man?"

"I'm leaving. Please get out of my way."

"Kid don't look too good. You sure you know what you're getting into?" For the second time that week he was in this guys face. He kept looking for signs that the guy was unbalanced but he didn't see any.

"What do you think?"

Johnny considered him head tilted. "I think anybody who's sewn himself up as many times as you have can't be too stupid."

The guy got all red-faced, like he'd been caught up. Shuffled his feet. Some of the tension drained from his posture.

"Noticed that did you?"

"What? That you've got more scars than a leopard has spots? Hard to miss. Especially the one you got from that 12 gauge. Nasty bitch that. One on your face though I don't know that one and I know scars."

The guy raised an eyebrow.

Johnny shrugged. "I wasn't always a nurse." He moved to the side offered the small duffel he'd packed in case the guy came his way. The guy just stared at it unsure.

"What's this?"

"Gauze, painkillers, antibiotics oral and topical, tape, and not just for her either hear? Gonna lose that hand you mess around with it. You look to me like a guy needs both his hands. Also, couple of ham sandwiches, water, blanket. Just, and I am beggin' ya here, tell me I'm not making the mistake of a lifetime letting you walk."

The guy reached out and took the bag. "Believe me the sooner we're gone the better."

Johnny'd never seen someone get so serious so fast. He nodded. "Alright then. They're going to figure out any minute that I didn't actually see you by the front office so get out of here. There's a set of keys and an address in the side pocket of that duffle. Place of mine up round Saddle Creek. Just a cabin but it'll do ya till she can walk."

"Hey that's... you don't have to…"

"Yeah yeah just go already."

The guy made it about five steps before he turned to ask: "Why are you helping me?"

Johnny pulled up his right shirtsleeve to reveal a tattoo. The words "Semper Fidelis" in elegant script wrapped around the eagle, the earth and the anchor. "I know a brother when I see one."

The guy shook his head. "I'm not military."

"Maybe you weren't in the corps but a soldier's a soldier. Now go on!"

He nodded. The doors whooshed closed behind him.

Yeah Johnny knew scars. Even the ones that ran deeper than skin.

He also knew the way the guys' eyes were always searching out doorways and windows. How he never sat with his back to one. Word for that is hunted. He just hoped whatever the guy was running from didn't catch up any time soon.

X x X x X x X x X

In the parking lot, Sam was more than surprised to see that the little red car he'd driven to the hospital was gone. In its place, a note taped to the steering wheel, was his Jeep. Even filthy and slightly scratched it was a sight for sore eyes. He settled Lyssa into the passenger seat, covering her in the white thermal blanket he'd found in the duffel then jumped in behind the wheel. He snatched the note up, scanned it. It was a receipt.

Ruby's Hunting Clean-Up Service

"You fuck it up.

I'll clean it up."

Vampire corpse removal and incineration-$10,000

Occult vehicle tow-$500

Gun tote, fire box and equipment transfer-$150

Total: $10,650

I'll waive the fees if you get the hell out of Dodge.

Ruby.

"Don't have to tell me twice. Ready Lys?" No answer. He looked over to find her eyes closed. Panicked he shook her. "Lyssa!"

"What?" She mumbled opening her left eye and squinting at him. "Why are we still here?"

"We're not, you're dreaming. Go back to sleep just…..not too deep ok?" He offered a lopsided grin, which she returned one eye still closed tight.

"Let's get the hell out of Dodge." She whispered as she drifted back off.

Her inadvertent repetition of the phrase left him with a bad taste in his mouth.

X x X x X x X x X

She was on a playground. The sun was shining, the air was infused with a feeling of comfort and security that she hadn't felt in a long time. Not since,….she pushed the thought away not willing to spoil the atmosphere. She knew she was dreaming. She had to be. She was outside and she couldn't see her dad so….dreaming. But it was such a nice dream. Not like the one in the hospital. Idly she turned the merry go round. Pushed the swings.

Something shifted.

"Who's there?" She called out looking around. She was only mildly surprised when the little girl from the hospital stepped out from behind a tree. Something in the back of her mind wiggled when she looked at the girl. Like she'd forgotten something. Something very important. "Emma?"

"You left so fast I didn't get a chance to say I was sorry." Emma said looking down and digging the toe of her left shoe into the soft earth at the base of the tree.

"What are you sorry for?" The feeling wouldn't go away. It intensified. What is it?

"It's my fault you go hurt."

"How's that? We only just met." Didn't we? Lyssa sat on one of the swings facing Emma, patted the seat of the one next to her. Maybe it was her eyes.

Emma hopped over and sat.

"If I hadn't sent you those pictures you wouldn't have come then the blond lady wouldn't have called those bad guys to chase you away and you wouldn't have gotten hurt. I don't know why she's so scared of you guys. You don't seem scary to me."

"Ok wait a minute, you sent the dreams?" Lyssa turned.

Emma nodded.

"I'm sorry. It's just you guys were so worried about me. I felt it for a long time. Especially your daddy. He's very sad isn't he?"

"Yeah, sometimes." Yeah it's her eyes. They look just like….where had she seen them?

"I tried to send him pictures first but he's got a very big lock on his door. Closed up tight. Like a clam."

"Or Fort Knox." Lyssa said under her breath.

"Not you though. So I sent the pictures to you. Me and the blond lady that watches over me. So you would know I was safe." Emma dropped her voice as though there were someone else there to hear. "She thinks I don't know about her. Sometimes it's hard not to know. Things just pop into my head. I guess I'm better at getting the pictures than sending them."

"That's got to get annoying." Her eyes.

"Yeah. Sometimes they're scary. The things I see. I can't talk about them to mama though. She gets really weirded out."

"I—" She was cut off by a third voice. This one disembodied.

"Lyssa?"

She tried to ignore it. Just a little longer.

"Your daddy's getting worried again."

"I know. He's always worried."

"You should go."

Almost got it.

She could feel him nudging her. "Hang on."

"Lyssa!"

"I know you."

The gentle nudges fast became frightened shakes.

"Your eyes." Lyssa felt everything shift. Dad's eyes.

Scenery started to dissipate like smoke on the breeze. Emma waved then cupped her hands around her mouth. "Oh and don't worry about Moon. Momma says we can keep her till you come back."

"Arika?"

Emma smiled.

Light.

Morning.

The Jeep.

Her father's face.

Her sister's eyes.

X x X x X x X x X

Her father carried her into the cabin. It was very rustic, a man's place, but cozy. There was a large front room with a fireplace. Off from that was a kitchen a small dining room and a hall.

She couldn't quite see from where he set her on the couch but she figured the bedrooms must be down that hall. Hopefully there was an indoor bathroom down there too.

"I'll be right back with your stuff so you can change if you want."

She nodded looking around. The furniture was mostly wood and what wasn't wood was an earth or wood tone. Surprisingly the living room boasted a decent sized t.v.. Wires snaked up the wall behind it disappearing into a hole in the ceiling. Satelite.

She battled herself over whether or not to tell her dad about the dream she'd had in the car. She thought maybe he knew already. That maybe this was the thing he didn't tell her the other day.

He came back in his arms loaded with their things. "Not too bad huh?" he said as though nothing was wrong. As though things weren't different. She wasn't different. But she was and they were and she loved him all the more for trying at least to make it ok.

"No. Not too bad. Looks like there's Satelite. You can watch football."

He laughed. "Yeah and you can watch Tanya Lee: Teen Queen."

That made them both laugh. Finally the feeling of wrongness she'd been carting around began to lift.

After a thrown together meal of dried goods and canned vegetables Sam had pulled out his chalking kit. Lyssa, ensconced this time in the overstuffed recliner to the left of the fireplace, held a book she wasn't reading. She watched him cover the walls and floors with arcane symbols.

He wiped his hands on his pants leaving streaks on the dark blue material. He turned and smiled at her, his face blotched, the scar on his left cheek standing out in livid relief against the chalk dust that covered his face and hair. She hadn't seen him so happy in a long while. It made her a little sad because it wouldn't last. It never did.

Later, showered and clothed in fresh pajamas her dad dropped onto the couch, turned on the T.V.. She was too wasted to care when he flipped through the channels mindlessly. Didn't care when he sat the controller down to wander into the kitchen in search of some sort of snack leaving the T.V. tuned in to a local news station.

As she dozed the news anchors voice lost coherence becoming a soft buzz. The sound of shattering glass yanked her back into the world. Her father stood in front of the T.V. a bowl lay on the floor at his feet, popcorn and what used to be a glass of soda. On the screen was a redheaded reporter standing in front of a large brick home. He held a microphone emblazoned with the number signature of the station they were watching. Behind him men in uniforms and cars complete with flashing lights made for a chaotic tableau that only seemed to worsen when the he started to speak.

"This is Terry Downing I've just arrived on scene where a local man who was mauled to death by an enormous black dog earlier today has been identified as police Captain Ronald Tucker. Tucker's wife and daughter were seen getting into a car with an unidentified blond woman minutes before the attack. Police have been unable to locate Sandy Tucker or her daughter Emma. Tucker allegedly unloaded several rounds from a semi-automatic handgun into the animal before it bolted off into the woods behind his home. We have a few seconds of the attack caught by a neighbor on his cell phone." Terry's face was replaced by grainy footage showing the back end of what looked like a black Labrador on steroids shaking and growling. Several gunshots sounded out and the thing turned looking straight at the camera, eyes red as blood, before bolting off to the left. Terry returned his face slightly green.

"Animal control representatives believe the animal is a wolf of some kind and may possibly be ill. Civilians are advised to stay away from it if sighted and call animal control or 911 immediately. This is Terry Downing for channel 14 back to you Paula."

"Dammit!" Her dad sagged going to his knees in slow motion. He put his head in his hands.

"Thank you Terry. In other news, Jackson Memorial Hospital was evacuated today after an explosion destroyed its' emergency room. Fire quickly spread throughout the rest of the hospital. There are a confirmed thirteen deaths and another twenty-seven still unaccounted for. A total of 63 injured have been remanded to Howard Medical Center ten miles away. There were a total of seven nurses and four doctors staffing the E.R. when the explosion hit. Authorities are still investigating what caused it and whether or not it could have been prevented. More on this story and others when we return from break." The aerial view of the hospital ringed by firefighters trying to control the massive blaze filled the screen near to bursting.

Lyssa wondered where her room had been in relation to the flames that blanketed the building. Dead center would be her guess.

The sound her dad made pulled her attention away from the screen. It was less a scream than a growl. She slid from the chair and scooted on her butt to where he knelt on the floor. She reached out and laid her hand on his shoulder flinching when he did.

He turned to her and she heard what he didn't say.

I failed again.

"Not your fault daddy."

It's always my fault. All the way back to the beginning.

"You weren't even there."

I should have been.

"You can't save everyone." She whispered.

He looked like he wanted to argue but he kept silent. He reached up and took hold of her hand giving it a solid squeeze before lifting her and carrying her down the hall to her room. She knew what would happen next.

He'd make sure she was comfortable, smile and say goodnight then gently close the door. He'd dig deep down to the bottom of his big camouflage duffel pull out the bottle of Johnny Walker Red he thought she didn't know about and drink himself into a fury. Then he'd walk or stumble, depending on how much was in the bottle, to a distance he thought was far enough away that she wouldn't hear him crack. He never did go far enough. Mostly he'd just scream. Sometimes he'd break things. Once he'd taken his gun. That night she'd been too terrified to sleep until she'd heard him blunder through the door of the R.V. and fall onto the couch.

He laid her on the bed pulling the blanket up like he used to when she was little.

"Dad. Please." She said laying her hand on his. Not the gun Dad please. Not tonight

"Everything's going to be fine. Ok?"

"Sure Dad."

"Good night sweetheart."

"Good night." She whispered. She hated the fact that her eyes were getting heavy. Her body betraying her with its' weakness. She felt a touch feather light on her hair. Then darkness took the room.

The last things she heard were his footsteps like thunderclaps across the hall and the distant but distinct sound of a large military grade zipper.

Nope. It never lasts.