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10 years later:
Scud turned around as soon as the garage door started to open. He took out his smoke and lit it up as Blade's black car pulled into the warehouse. But it was the second set of headlights pulling in behind Blade's car that made him frown. The second car parked next to Blade's and a tall girl and young boy got out of it. His eye brows went up when he caught Blade's eyes. Blade ignored him as the three moved to the trunk of his car. Scud casually walked over. Blade popped opened the trunk.
" You found him." Scud stated. Blade leaned down to pick the old man up. " You didn't kill him."
" Why the fuck would he kill him?" The girl snapped. Scud looked at her.
" Well, sweetheart, look at him. He's been bit. He needs to be put down." He said. Blade brushed past him as the girl stepped up and looked up into his eyes.
" He isn't a dog and if you even think about touching him, I will put you down. Sweetheart." She said. The young boy took her hand.
" Alexcia, what does he mean by that?" The young boy asked. She narrowed her hazel eyes to Scud.
" Nothin, Taylor. He's just a stupid dick."
" Whoa, whoa! You don't even know me, sweetheart." Scud said.
" Do not call me sweetheart again if you care to keep your dick where it is!" Alexcia snapped. Scud rubbed the bottom of his lip for a second than sighed. He thrust his hand out to her.
" Look, I think we are getting off on the wrong step. I'm Scud." He said. Alexcia didn't make a move towards him but Taylor did. He took Scud's hand and shook it hard, making Scud smirk down at him.
" I'm Taylor. This is my sister Alexcia." He said.
" Hey, it's nice to meet, lil T." Scud said. " How do you guys know B and W?"
" Whistler's our dad." Taylor said. Scud's eye brows went up as he dropped Taylor's hand. His eyes went to Alexcia's face.
" Your dad?" Scud asked. Alexcia patted her brother's shoulders.
" Tay, go and get our stuff out of the car." She said without taking her eyes off Scud. Taylor walked off without another word. " Our parents were killed when Taylor was 2, he doesn't remember them. Whistler and Blade found us and we have been with them ever since."
" Well, I have been with Blade for a year and I haven't heard about you before." Scud said.
" When Dad was taking by the vampires, Blade sent us away to keep us safe while he was looking for him. He contacted me when he found him and here we are." Alexcia said. Scud nodded.
" Look, I didn't know. I'm sorry about what I said about him but no one comes back from the thirst. You should be ready in case Blade has to kill him." Scud said.
" I don't need your advice. Just show us to a room." Alexcia said,
Scud leaned against the wall with Taylor as Alexcia and Blade went into the room Whistler was in. Blade had chained him to the wall so he couldn't hurt them but Alexcia didn't want Taylor to see him as he was. Whistler had raised them as his own and Taylor didn't know any better. Alexcia wanted to keep Taylor's memories of him intact. If Whistler couldn't be brought back...well she would deal with that when it came to it.
Alexcia crept behind Blade. She reached out and took a hold of one of his belt loops. She slipped her fingers into the loop, making Blade glance at her than back at Whistler. He reached behind him and unlatched her hand from him. He took her hand in his and pulled her close. Blade wasn't an affectionate person but he could feel her fear and hear her heart beating fast. He loved her in his own way and wanted to comfort her without giving her false hope.
" Whistler." Blade said, making the old man raise his head up. Alexcia sucked in her breath at the sight of him. " I have given you an injection. If there is anything left of you, now's the time to come back because in the morning the sun will flood this room." Alexcia let go of Blade's hand and came forward. She bent down and kissed the top of Whistler's head.
" Push through, Dad, please." She said softly. Whistler's head jerked towards her when he heard her voice. Blade patted her shoulder then they walked out of the room. As soon as she walked out of the room, she took a hold of Taylor's arm. " Come on, it's late. You need to go to bed."
" Scud said he would show me some of the things he's been building for Blade." The 12 year old whined.
" Go to bed." Blade snapped as he passed them. Scud pushed away from the wall and smiled at Taylor.
" Don't worry about it, Lil T. There's always tomorrow." He said before he walked away.
Alexcia put her arm around her little brother's shoulders as they started towards the room Scud had showed them earlier. Taylor rested his head against his sister and sighed. He was tired and ready to sleep. Alexcia put her arm around his shoulders as they walked. They stayed quiet as they walked to the room where their stuff was at.
Scud was half watching his cartoons, half working on his gadgets when movement across the room caught his eyes. They shifted up and he saw Alexcia walking towards him. Her head was down and she was playing with the hem on her sleeve. She was walking slowly towards him. He leaned back in his chair and took the cigarette out from behind his ear.
" Hey." He said, making her head snap up. She stopped in her tracks as he started to light up his smoke.
" Hey." She said before she started walking again.
" Look, I'm sorry about what I said, about W, about putting him down. I wasn't thinking." He said as he stood up. " We are both going to be working with Blade so maybe we could start over." He popped his hand out for her. " So I'm Scud." She tried not to smile as she shook his hand.
" What the hell kind of name is Scud?" She asked as they dropped their hands.
" It's a nick name. My first name is Josh but no one calls me that." He said as he sat back down. Alexcia start walking around the table.
" I'm going to call you it. I don't like Scud." She said. He took a long drag from his smoke as he looked at her. She was looking at the things he had on the table. Her eyes went to the TV. " Really? Power puff girls?" She asked as she sat down beside him. He laughed and looked back at the TV.
" Yeah, they're bad ass." He said. " Ain't nothing better than a night with donuts, power puff girls and my smokes." He said. When she didn't respond to him, he looked at her. Her eyes were on the TV. " So you can't sleep or something?" Alexcia shook her head.
" No. I don't really sleep at night. I sleep during the day when Tay goes to school." She said as she looked at Scud. His blue eyes were sparkling and made her stomach jump for some reason. She frowned and looked at the table quickly. " So what is all this shit?" Scud smiled and jumped up. He loved talking about his work. Alexcia watched as he start talking excitedly. ' Well, he's kind of cute.'