A/N: So I'm getting closer to the ending of this tale. It's been going on for how many years now? (doesn't bother looking) Anyway, I'm going through some health issues, so I don't know when the next update is, but it may be as soon as today if I am in the writing spirit and feeling good. But it could be a while from now…for now, enjoy this little blip.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jessi muttered under her breath as she walked down the street, arms wrapped around herself. She had to find her brother. Had to kick the creeps' asses that took her brother in the first place. And then get the hell out of Santa Carla and far away from everyone that had ever lied to her.

I can never forgive Paul, she thought, feeling angry tears fill her eyes. Fucking Chloroforming me?! What kind of freak does that to someone that he claims to love?

"I fucking hate him!" Jessi snapped, kicking a nearby trash can.

A passing older woman looked at her down her nose and frowned. "Really?"

"Oh, piss off Karen!" Jessi growled, flipping her the bird. "Go ask for a manager somewhere and die of a bad haircut."

The woman looked offended and stormed off, but Jessi couldn't give a single fuck. She continued down the street and tried to think of where the bastards could have taken her brother. She'd already checked the old place and found it to be burnt to the ground, so that wouldn't help.

"Assholes," Jessi muttered, shoving her hands in her pockets. "If I were psychotic lowlife leeches, where would I take someone to hold hostage in exchange for another person?"

Tires screeched as Jessi turned to cross an intersection and a white van came barreling towards her. Jessi jumped back onto the sidewalk to avoid it.

Doors slammed open as it came to a shuddering stop in front of her. Jessi's blood ran cold as Erik and Phil's leering faces looked out at her.

"Hi Jessi," they sneered, grabbing her and pulling her into the van…

Next thing that Jessi saw was complete darkness and something sent her plummeting into deafening silence…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"She's gone!" Paul yelled, running out into the main lobby of the cave, "Jessi's gone!"

Faith sighed. "She must have left when we were all sleeping for the day…" Her gray eyes turned to David. "She's hunting for her brother and going to get herself killed."

"There's no hunting involved," David corrected in a bored voice. "She's just going to get herself killed. Those fuckers aren't going to give her back her brother…he was probably dead the moment that they took him away."

"But like the asshole you are, you weren't going to tell her that," Iona commented, folding her arms over her chest.

"I'm not the psychic one, Iona. You could have just as easily told her if her brother was alive or dead."

Iona looked away from him. "It doesn't work that way, David, and you know it."

"Does he?" Marko teased, chewing on his thumbnail.

Paul ran his hand through his hair, pacing. "What are we going to do? We can't just let her go out there and face those fuckers by herself. She's going to get hurt or end up as some kind of dickwads' fuck toy and I am so not having that happen."

"Because you love her," Dwayne said, lifting an eyebrow.

Paul pointed at him. "Don't start with me on that subject, bro. This is not when we get into details. This is when we get into action and save a damsel in distress so that I can get laid by her later…"

Faith broke away from David and moved in front of Paul, looking up into his eyes. "Paul, we're going to help you find and save both Jessi and Jack. But you've got to do something for me first…"

"Sis, there's no time…""

Faith cupped his face between both of her hands. "You need to stop being afraid of commitment and admit that you have finally fallen in love with someone. And that someone is Jessi. You're a big boy. You're a man. You can have feelings and admit to them. Same as the rest of the Boys."

Paul looked at her. "But Sis, look at me…"

"No, you look at me. Tell me why a playboy like you can't find the one that makes him want to stop being the playboy?" She arched an eyebrow. "You're not without a heart, Paul. And you're not invincible to Cupid's arrow."

Paul closed his eyes and nodded slowly. Faith smiled and pressed a kiss to his forehead before releasing him.

"C'mon Paul," she said gently. "Let's go save your mate."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jessi looked around when the smelly bag was pulled off her head. She could breathe but she didn't know for how much longer that would last. With Lester and the vampire creeps that he called friends standing in front of her with smirks on their faces, she could tell that she had fucked up big time.

"Let my brother go," she ordered, glaring at Lester since she knew that he was in charge. "You have me in your grasp. That's what you wanted. Now let Jack go, you ugly motherfucker."

Lester rolled his eyes and smacked her across the face. "You'll do well to shut your mouth, bitch. Especially to your mate."

Jessi felt her tongue split and warm blood trickle down her chin. "Let my brother go!"

Phil and Erik growled at the sight of her blood, their eyes going golden tinged. Lester waved them back.

"You think that it's going to be that simple, don't you, Jessi? You walk in and Jack goes out? No. No, you're going to listen to your friends suffer when they come to save you and Jack. Because we're going to kill them."

"I'm not going to just sit by and watch you kill a bunch of people, Lester!"

Lester smirked, pulling out a filthy bottle filled with dark red liquid. "Oh, you weren't paying attention. I didn't say anything about you watching me kill those fuckers. You're going to listen to them dying."

Jessi tried to keep her mouth shut and not swallow any of the vile red liquid that Lester brought to her. But he forced the liquid into her mouth and it was either swallow or drown. She gasped as her head swam and she felt icy fire in her veins. The world started to swim and she vaguely heard Lester tell Phil to throw her into a room where she could be made into something proper…

Jessi was gripped roughly and dragged into another room before being dropped like a sack of potatoes on the floor. Thundering footsteps retreated and then the door banged shut with the clang of a lock.

Jessi's head couldn't take any of the sounds anymore and fell into darkness…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A/N: And we're back into the darkness again? I like darkness apparently. I'm trying to get a grasp of what I want to do with this story before the end. I want to have something similar to what I planned a long time ago – from the very beginning thoughts of this story. I am happy with how this is turning out, though it is considerably shorter than Crimson and Mother Knows Best. Have a good day, lovelies and toodles. -Scarlet