Cathie wiped the blood from her chin and stared at Ali. She was a mess; her shirt sleeves had been burned away into nothing, exposing grid-like wounds on her arms. The net was off to the side, still smoking, with a gaping hole that had provided Ali with her escape route.
"So you've figured out my secret. I guess I knew it was only a matter of time." Her senses had returned and now she could only look at herself with disgust.
"I'm surprised I didn't figure it out sooner. I guess your cowardice threw me off."
"Look—"
"You don't look so surprised, Rick," Ali interrupted, "Terrified, maybe, but not surprised. How long have you known Cathie was a vampire?"
Rick hesitated. "Since you asked Na'sval what she was. He called her a Thwei Kv'var-de."
"And what does that mean?"
"It means 'blood hunter'. It's the Yautja's word for vampire."
Ali's sharp gaze returned to Cathie. "Will Rick become a vampire?"
Cathie shook her head. "Since I drank his blood he won't change."
Ali gave a single nod, seemingly satisfied with that answer.
"Well, so now you know what I am. What are you going to do now?" Cathie asked, trying to make light of the situation, "Thrust a stake through my heart?"
Ali smiled. "It's a thought."
Cathie was taken by surprise, at first, thinking Ali was joking, but the look in her eyes told Cathie otherwise. "Why? What did I do?"
"You're a blood thirsty monster that kills people on impulse," Ali said.
"What about you? You've killed before."
"I've never killed an innocent person."
"Neither have I!"
"What about Rick? You almost killed him."
Cathie looked down at Rick. He was clutching his neck, but the blood was still spilling past his fingers and Cathie's body twitched. Ali saw the faint movement in her hands and took a step forward.
"You're a monster. You're worse than me!" she said.
Cathie shook her head to clear it. "This is only the second time I've ever lost control!"
"What happened the first time?"
Cathie hesitated. "I may have killed a few people, but my father was there to stop me before I did too much damage."
"And where is your father now?"
"Dead."
"What happens if you lose control again? You go on a killing spree and a lot of innocent people die."
"That won't happen!" Cathie said, shaking her head.
"I work hard on protecting people, you'll be too much trouble," Ali said, stepping closer to Cathie.
Scorpios scuttled across the ground and climbed up Ali's leg all the way up to her shoulder. She squealed, clicking her pincers at Cathie. Cathie started backing up, her hands rising up in a defenseless position. She thought she was done for when something stepped in front of her. By the smell, she knew it was Rick, but all she could wonder was why.
"Move," Ali demanded.
Rick shook his head. He still clung to his neck and looked shaky on his feet, but his voice was strong. "Just think about this for a minute."
"I've already made up my mind, so get out of the way."
"No."
Cathie sighed. "You don't have to defend me, Rick."
When she reached out to place a hand on Rick's shoulder, however, Rick flinched away. Cathie read the fear in his eyes and lowered her hand. Ali caught on to the fear too.
"Why are you protecting her?"
"We agreed, before we were released, that we would escape together," Rick said, "And that isn't going to change now."
"It is if I have any say in it."
"But you don't, you don't know how to fly the ship or what the coordinates for Earth are," Rick said.
Ali glared at him and, for a moment, it looked like she was going to demand Rick for the information, but all she said was, "Fine."
Rick, satisfied with Ali's answer, seemed to allow what little energy he had mustered up to stand up against Ali to simper away. He started to fall forward, but Ali was able to rush to his side and support him. She glared back at Cathie.
"He's lost a lot of blood," she said.
Cathie felt the guilt pouring into her. "I'm sorry—"
"Sorry isn't going to change anything," Ali snapped.
Cathie hung her head and followed behind slowly and silently.
"It's just over there," Rick said, pointing weakly.
They were standing at a line of trees. Between them and the large, unprotected fence to freedom was about 20 feet of open space. While they had been able to avoid any other Yautja, mainly from Ali's ability to detect them before hand and take a different route, they were at risk now. They would no longer be protected by the cover of trees and would be open targets to any predators nearby. Rick's condition had worsened as they travelled and was literally hanging from Ali's side. And now, after pointing out the exit, he had fallen into unconsciousness.
"Do we run?" Cathie asked.
Ali shook her head slowly, lost in thought. She squinted at the gate, judging their chances of making it and judging how fast they'd have to go. Scorpios's tail twitched as she scanned the area too, apparently she also knew the prognosis was bad.
"Even running, we'd still run the risk of being spotted," Ali finally said.
"Then what do we do?"
"Run."
"Are you crazy?" Cathie said, but when she looked to her left, she found herself staring at nothing. "Ali!"
Ali had already taken off running, moving with grace and speed despite supporting Rick's larger body. Cathie had to run at full speed to catch up and she was starting to feel lucky she was a vampire, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to catch up with Ali. By the time she caught up with her, Ali had already made it halfway across the field. And it wasn't until they had reached the point where it would be impossible to race back to the cover of trees did the shots begin firing.
Luckily, the sound of the weapon discharging gave them enough warning to get out of the way of the shot. Two Yautja's burst through the trees and gave chase, but they were far enough behind to not be a problem.
Ali skidded to a stop in front of the gate and handed Rick off to Cathie while she got a look at the locking mechanism.
"Na'sval never said anything about a lock," Cathie said.
Ali didn't answer immediately as she studied the lock. "I have an idea."
"What? What? Hurry!" Cathie pleaded, looking back at the gaining Yautja. One of them was starting to power up its weapon.
"Wait," Ali said.
She started to raise her hands, as if to work the lock, but, she suddenly ducked as the Yautja fired its weapon. Cathie jumped to the side, but the shot wasn't meant for her, it had been meant for Ali. When Cathie looked up, she was shocked to see the door of the gate swinging open, the lock black and smoking where the shot had hit it.
"Give me Rick," Ali said.
"I've got him," Cathie insisted.
"Do you want me to kill you right here?" Ali demanded.
Cathie sighed and handed Rick back over to Ali who then ducked through the open door and took off, forcing Cathie to once again hurry to keep up. While they were running Rick began moaning and his eyes fluttered open. Ali took cover behind a large piece of machinery, followed closely by Cathie.
"How do we get off this planet?" she asked Rick.
Rick looked around before pointing to a small space craft a short distance away. Cathie looked around for the Yautja hunters and found them scanning the area a distance away.
"We could make it," she said, "if we run."
"Then I suggest we run," Ali said.
Cathie made sure that she was ready when Ali took off, not going to be left behind for a third time. They reached the ship without being detected, but as Rick was dialing in the code to open the hatch, the Yautja caught sight of them and instantly began firing. The hatch moved slowly, causing Cathie to panic as the Yautja drew nearer.
"Hurry!"
"It's almost down," Rick said.
As soon as the hatch touched ground the three of them ducked inside. Rick pointed toward the front of the ship and Ali led him over there while Cathie worked at closing the hatch. A few of the blasts got through and Cathie ducked. Sparks flew as the blasts hit parts of the ship and Cathie hoped it wasn't anything important. The hatch finally shut, but there were still the sounds of strikes hitting the hull.
"Let's go!" Cathie shouted.
Ali had set Rick down in the pilot seat and his fingers were flying across the keypad. The ship began humming and things began lighting up as Rick hit more buttons. Finally, the ship started to shake and lift into the air, the sounds of shots from outside getting fainter and fainter.
"That's it," Rick said, leaning back, "I've entered Earth's coordinates and autopilot has been engaged."
He sounded weaker than ever. Ali checked him out, feeling his forehead and putting her fingers to his wrist. Her face grim, she eased him out of the chair and laid him on the ground. At this point, Cathie caught a clear view of Rick, noting how pale he was, and the guilt sank in again. Ali checked him over more before turning her harsh glare on Cathie.
"He's dying."