Coricopat stood, his arms crossed over his chest, looking at Grids with a frown the next morning. "You went hunting last night."
She shrugged out of Mac's coat, draping it on a chair, "Yep."
"When you promised me you wouldn't."
"I lied. Let's move on."
Mistoffelees entered the library at that, bag hanging off one shoulder, plaid much in evidence in his outfit. "Hey guys. Grids lied? Dare I asked about what or have we moved too far on already?"
Cori glanced in his direction, "She went hunting last night."
"It was just a little hunt!" She protested. "It wasn't even that bad..."
Mistoffelees looked about as impressed as Cori at that. "A little hunt? Did you see anyone with a fork then?"
Grids looked away, "More like a jumbo claw."
Cori gaped at her for a moment, "Thank goodness you weren't hurt."
"I saw something else too. Something much more interesting than a run-of-the-mill killer vampire."
Mistoffelees' eyes widened slightly at that. "What the hell would that be?" he asked.
"Miss French." She glanced at Cori, "You know, the teacher who's substituting for Dr. Gregory."
He nodded slightly, "She's lovely." He paused at the look Grids gave him at that, "In a common well-proportioned sort of way..."
The girl looked singularly unimpressed, "Well, anyway. I'm chasing clawguy last night, we're on the street and Miss Well-Proportioned is heading home, I figure she's his next meal. He takes one look at her and runs screaming for cover."
"He ran away? Big scary fork, well, jumbo claw guy, ran away?" Mistoffelees asked, seating himself on the table and swinging his legs slightly.
She nodded, "He was petrified."
"Of Miss French?" Coricopat arched an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Yes! So, if I'm an undead monster who can shave with his hand - how many things am I afraid of?"
"Not many. And not substitute teachers, as a rule," the librarian answered.
"So, she's probably not just a substitute teacher then," Mistoffelees said and shook his head. "Well, what is she then?"
"I couldn't say, but I do think we should keep an eye on her for the time being," Cori responded, already turning to pick up a book.
Grids rose, scooping up Mac's coat and her bookbag, "Then we'd better get to class."
Mistoffelees sighed and slid off the table. "That just means watching her being ogled by all the boys..." he paused. "Is that maybe something that has to do with what she is?"
Cori considered for a moment, "Perhaps. I'll see what I can find. Come by after classes again, and we'll see whether anything of interest has turned up." Mistoffelees nodded, and sighed again, following Grids to class.
The two were passing the principal's office when Principal Flutie stepped out, "You two! You were there, you saw Dr. Gregory, didn't you?"
"You mean yesterday?" Mistoffelees asked, having startled at being addressed so quickly. "You mean in the cafeteria?"
Grids looked at the principal, "After he was-"
"Don't say 'dead', or decapitated, or decomposing. I would stay away from 'd' words altogether. But you witnessed the event so this way please," he motioned down the hall to the counselor's office.
"We've gotta...we'll be late for biology," Grids couldn't believe she was protesting missing part of a science class, but they needed to be there.
"Extremely late." He corrected, "You have to see a counselor. Everyone who saw the body has to see a crisis counselor."
"We really... we don't need... we have each other to counsel," Mistoffelees tried to protest. "And Dr. Gregory would hardly approve of us missing his subject, we want to do good for his memory and...
He took them by the elbows, ushering them to the counselor's office and pointing to two chairs outside the door, "No you talk to the counselor and start the healing. You have to heal."
"But, Mr. Flutie," Grids started to protest.
He shook his head firmly, "Heal." With that he turned and walked away.
Mistoffelees glanced at her, a slow look of horror dawning over his face as he realized who was already inside. Grids let her head fall back against the wall as she heard Bombalurina's shrill voice from inside. They were never going to make it to biology now...
Mistoffelees shook his head. "So, you know how we're on a Hellmouth? I'm starting to think this, right here, and now, is hell itself. We must've fallen in."
Grids managed a weak laugh, "Maybe we can sneak away before he comes back?"
It took one more comment from Bomba to make Misto nod. "Let's."
Grids rose, slipping carefully down the hall, listening for anyone coming. They managed to make it back to the classroom without anyone noticing them, but Mistoffelees paused outside the door. "Pop quiz, yeesh."
Grids grimaced, but looked in through the window, "We could..." She trailed off as she watched Miss French straighten from where she was leaning over Tugger. The teacher's head turned a full 180 degrees, Grids ducking out of sight as she did so and pressing her back to the wall just before the teacher would have seen her.
Mistoffelees blinked from where he was on the wall opposite the door. "Cori?" he asked if they were fleeing back to the library.
She nodded rapidly, "Y-yeah."
"Good," he said, and led the retreat.
Coricopat looked up as they entered the library, "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
Mistoffelees just shuddered. "I refuse to be in a classroom with that...whatever it is. Thing. Just...ugg."
The librarian glanced at Grids, who nodded, "I'm with him. I am not going in there until we know what we're up against."
"Alright then, what happened?"
"Turned her head. One hundred and eighty degrees," Mistoffelees said with another shudder, retaking his seat on the library table.
Cori's brow rose, "What?"
Grids nodded, sinking down in one of the chairs, "We're talking full on exorcist twist." She glanced at Misto, "Which reminds me...did you see Blayne in there?"
Mistoffelees shook his head. "No, his seat was empty and it didn't look like he'd moved to another."
She frowned, "He was meeting with her one-on-one yesterday and isn't here today...I'd sure like to know what's with that..." She glanced at Cori, "Any luck?"
"I haven't had much time, but I also can't find any record of a creature who would strike fear into a vampire's heart. I'm not entirely sure I want to."
"Try looking under 'things that can turn their heads all the way around'."
"It wouldn't be anything human," he mused.
"No," Mistoffelees replied. "I think we can safely say it's not human."
Grids considered for a moment, "But there are some insects that can." She got to her feet and started toward the stacks.
"What are you doing?" Mistoffelees asked.
"My homework," she called back over her shoulder as she entered the stacks. There was a moment before she stuck her head back out, "Cori, where are the bug books?"
He shook his head, offering her a faint smile as he pointed her in the right direction.
Mistoffelees blinked. "Bugs..." he tilted his head before sliding off his perch and following her. "Wait, I have a thought!"
"Oh? What is it?" Grids called from the aisle she was hunting through.
Cori watched them go before returning to his work.
o.o.o.o.
Natalie French sat at her desk, two slices of bread covered in low fat mayo in front of her, and a opaque Tupperware marked "food" set to one side. She picked up the tub as the door opened. Setting it down she smiled, "Oh, hi. I was just grabbing a snack. Can I make you something?"
"No thanks," Tugger said, all but bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I never eat when I'm making eggs sacks that are..." he glanced at those already done. "Wow, if those were real they would be..."
"As big as you," she supplied with a smile.
Tugger looked half frightened for a moment before clapping his hands together. "Alrighty then. Where are we supposed to start?"
"Oh, Tugger, I've done something really stupid...I hope you can forgive me. I have a teacher conference in half an hour and I left the paint and paper mache at home. I don't suppose you'd want to come to my place tonight and work on it there?"
"Come to..." words failed Tugger for a moment. "Your place?"
"It'd just be the two of us. I'd feel more comfortable there, you know, about letting my hair down," she offered him a bit of a smirk.
"Right," Tugger said, almost bouncing again. "That's important cause if your hair's not down then it's... well, up, but down is better."
"It's a date then." She handed him a piece of paper, "here's my address. I'll see you tonight."
Grinning, Tugger nodded a little too quickly before exiting, all but doing a victory dance once outside.
Natalie watched him go before opening the tub marked "food" and dumping the live crickets inside onto the bread and making it into a sandwich.
o.o.o.o
"Aha!" Mistoffelees said, coming out of the stacks, "My hunch was so right!'
Cori looked up from his work, "Oh?"
He nodded, motioning to Grids who had the actual book. Grids offered him a bit of a smile before reading, "The praying mantis can rotate it's head a hundred and eighty degrees while waiting for a meal to wander by..."
Cori arched an eyebrow, "She's rather large and woman-shaped for your average bug."
"Yeah, but only the praying mantis can turn its head like that, and a very wacked out vampire turned tail and ran from her... besides, her fashion sense screams predator. And she was going on and on about what beautiful creates the mantis was yesterday," Mistoffelees said quickly. "Not to mention, she has most of the guys slobbering over her, while praying mantises kill their male mates, so I assume they have to have something to lure them in or who'd mate with them?" he was almost bouncing by the time he was done explaining his thought process.
Grids glanced at Misto, "Can we maybe be a little less enthused by the fact that our substitute might be a giant mantis?"
Cori considered for a moment, "If you're right, she'd have to be a shapeshifter, or perception distorter..." His eyes lit as he remembered something, "Half a moment...I had a chum at Oxford, Carlyle, advanced degrees in entomology and mythology..."
Mistoffelees shrank slightly but he nodded. "Right. I need to check something on the computer," he said and slipped over to do that.
Grids looked at Cori, "He had degrees in what and what again?"
"Bugs and fairy tales. If I recall correctly, poor Carlyle, just before he went mad, claimed there was a beast of some sort..."
"Um," Mistoffelees said from the computer. "Blayne's mom called in. He didn't come home last night."
Cori glanced in his direction, "The boy who worked with Miss French yesterday?"
"Yeah. If Miss French is..." he paused, eyes going wide in panic. "Oh god, Tugger! He's supposed to be helping her right now."
Grids moved over to him, "Let's not panic, I'll warn him. I need you to stretch your hacker muscles and see if you can get something from the Coroner's office."
"Sure," he said and paused. "What are we looking for?"
"Autopsy on Dr. Gregory. I've been trying to figure out the marks I saw on his corpse - I'm thinking they might have been teeth – and these cuddlies," she showed him a picture of mantis teeth from the book, "should definitely be brushing after every meal." Grids glanced at Cori, "You were saying something about a beast?"
He nodded, "I just have to make one trans-Atlantic phone call." He started toward his office before turning back to them, "This computer invasion Mistoffelees is performing on the Coroner's office - one assumes it's entirely legal?"
"Entirely," Mistoffelees said, looking up briefly and offering Coricopat a grin.
"Right...So I wasn't here, didn't see it, couldn't have stopped you."
Grids smiled at him as she picked up the jacket Mac had given her, "Good idea."
Mistoffelees lifted his shoulder slightly and offered a self conscious smile.
o.o.o.o
Grids made her way through the school, trying to locate Tugger, who was strolling out, whistling, his hands in his pockets.
"Hey, Tugger, wait up!"
He stopped and turned. "Hey Grids. What's up?"
"How'd it go with Miss French after school?"
"Well," he said, expression turning dreamy. "I mean, it's demanding being her man and all, but I think I'll manage to pull on through."
She took a deep breath, "Tugger, she's not what she seems."
"She's so much more."
"Look. I have to tell you some stuff, and I really really need you to listen, okay?"
"Sure, all ears Grids," he replied, still looking dreamy and far off.
"Tugger, I'm serious. I don't think she's human. She can do the twisty with her head - ever see the Exorcist? Plus Blayne, who was last seen in her class yesterday afternoon, is now missing."
"So you're saying she's not human."
"Yes!" She looked him over, "You don't believe me..."
"No, no, I get it. I've met someone and you're just jealous."
She blinked, "What? I'm not jealous."
"But there's nothing I can do about it. There's just this thing between Miss French and me."
"I know, I just read about it, it's called, uh, a pheromone, this chemical attractant insects give off."
"She's not an insect!" Tugger finally snapped. "Okay? God, why is it so hard for you to conceive that a totally human woman finds my attractive? I realize she's no mystery guy handing out leather jackets," he continued, motioning to the jacket she was still wearing. "And while we're on the subject, what kind of macho idiot name is Mac anyway? Just Mac? He born in a McDonalds or something?"
She frowned up at him, "What's that got to do with anything?"
"Nothing," Tugger snapped. "It just bugs me." He paused at that and shook his head. "Whatever, I gotta go."
"Tugger, I..."
He shook his head, walking away quickly. She watched him go, sighing.
o.o.o.o
As Grids re-entered the library to hear Cori on the phone, the fury of the once great English Empire in his voice, "Young lady, I don't care what time it is, unlock his cell, unstrap him and bring him to the phone this instant. Lives are at stake!"
Mistoffelees looked up as he finally got through. "There, coroner's autopsy complete with..." he swallowed hard. "Oh god color photos. I..." He rose. "You can look at it, I'm going to find water."
Grids moved over to the computer, "They are teeth marks," she glanced at the text book images, "which match perfectly the one insect that nips off its prey's head. It's the way mantis' feed: head first. And the way they mate -" She started reading again, "The female eats the male's head while they're...eew."
Mistoffelees looked down at the glass of water and realized it wouldn't help anymore. "Oh god. I like Tugger's head. I really do."
His friend looked up, "Take it easy, Misto, Tugger's not in any immediate danger. I saw him leave school - I'm sure he's safe and sound at home right now."
o.o.o.o
Sadly, this was not the case, as Tugger remembered showing up at Miss French's and... Waking up in a dark cage he yelped. Scrambling until his back hit the wall, he looked around frantically, finally spotting Blayne in the cage next to him. "Hey..."
The other boy however kept chanting "oh god, oh god, oh god," under his breath. "You gotta get me out of here, you gotta... she, she gets you and..." the other boy trailed off in horror and Tugger gaped at him.
"What, what does she do?" Blayne shook his head, but Tugger reached through the bars and shook him. "What does she do?" he demanded again.
"She... takes you out of the cage and ties you up, and then she... like, starts throbbing and moving and all these eggs come shooting out of her and then..."
"Then?" Tugger demanded, voice getting frantic.
"She mates with you," Blayne said in a tiny voice.
"She?"
"That's not the worst part?"
"Oh it's not?" Tugger asked, sarcasm seeping from his voice.
"Have you seen her teeth?" Blayne demanded. "Right while she's... right in the middle, she bites... I saw her do it!" Tugger glanced at where the boy pointed to... oh god there was a headless body down there with them. "I don't want to die like that!"
Tugger swallowed hard. "Yeah, yeah, just, calm down. Listen to me, we're going to get out of this..."
"You got a plan? What is it?"
"Well," Tugger paused. "Give me a minute to perfect it."
"Oh god, oh god, you don't have a plan and we're gonna get our heads bitten off and oh god, oh god, oh god."
o.o.o.o
Coricopat was on the phone, "I understand, Carlyle, I'll take every precaution . . . It sounds just like the creature you described. You were right all along, about everything." He paused, "No you weren't right about your mother coming back as a Dachshund, but . . . Try to rest. Ta." He hung up, leaving his office and approaching Grids and Misto.
"Dr. Carlyle Ferris spent years transcribing a lost, pre-Germanic language - what he discovered he kept to himself, until several teenage boys were murdered in the Cotswalds. Then he went hunting for it."
"It being?" Mistoffelees asked, un-drunken glass of water in his hands again.
"He calls her a She-Mantis. This type of creature, the Kleptes-Virgo or virgin-thief appears in many cultures: the Greek Sirens, the Celtic Sea-maidens who tore the living flesh from the bones of -"
Grids cut him off, "Cori, while we're young."
"The She-Mantis assumes the form of a beautiful woman and lures innocent virgins back to her nest."
Grids glanced at Misto, "Well, Tugger's not a...I mean he's probably-"
"He's going to die," Mistoffelees informed her, the edge of panic in his voice.
"We don't know he's with her," Grids protested. Mistoffelees just looked at her a moment before diving for the library phone.
Grids looked at Cori, "This thing is breeding. We gotta find it and snuff it. Any tips on the snuffing part?"
"Carlyle recommends cleaving all body parts with a sharp blade."
She nodded, "Slice and dice."
"Whatever you do it's got to be sudden and swift - this beast is dangerous."
"Well, your buddy Carlyle faced it, he's still around."
"Yes . . . in a straight jacket howling his innards out day and night."
She blinked at the librarian for a long moment, "Okay Admiral, way to inspire the troops."
"He's not home," Mistoffelees said, returning. "Mom said he was at a teacher's house working on a science project."
"See if you can get her address off the substitute rolls." Grids instructed him before turning to Cori, "You gotta record some bat sonar, fast."
"Bat sonar. Right. What?"
"Bats eat them - a praying mantis hears sonar, its whole nervous system goes kaplooie," she explained.
"Where am I going to find -"
"- in the vid library. I know it's not books but it's still dark and musty, you'll be right at home. I'll handle the armory."
Mistoffelees all but ran for the computer and quickly enough popped back up. "Got the address!"
Grids called toward the Vid library, "Cori, you got it?"
He came out, dropping a cassette recorder in her hand, "Recording bat sonar is so soothingly like having one's teeth drilled."
Mistoffelees offered him a sympathetic smile and glanced down at the paper in his hands. "According to this, she was born in nineteen oh seven... she's like ninety years old."
Cori's brow arched, "She is terribly well-preserved."
Grids glanced between them, "Let's roll."
o.o.o.o
Tugger watched as the she-mantis moved around the basement. He'd broken part of the cage to get himself a sorta of weapon, which had only seemed to freak Blayne out more.
The mantis made her way over, stopping in front of Blayne's cage.
"He broke the cage!" Blayne all but shrieked. "Take him not me, take him!"
"Thanks for the support, bub," Tugger said dryly.
She turned her attention to Tugger, considering him. He swallowed hard. "Oh come on..."
o.o.o.o
Cori, Grids and Misto approached the house, "What now? I mean we can't just kick down the front door."
Grids glanced at the librarian, "Yes, that would be wrong." She tensed to kick the door in anyhow.
However, the door opened and a sweet little old lady stood with the light at her back. "Oh, hello dear. You're not selling something are you? I'm on a fixed income you know."
She blinked, "I'm looking for Miss French."
"I am Miss French," she said and Mistoffelees blinked.
"...Natalie French. The substitute biology teacher," Grids tried again.
"Yes, that's me. I taught for thirty years then retired in nineteen seventy-two, but I miss the students so I come in to substitute when asked."
Grids let out a cry of frustration, "She used Miss French's records to get in the school. Damn it, she could be anywhere!"
"But I'm right here dear," Miss French said in confusion and Mistoffelees considered screaming as well.
Cori managed to offer her a polite smile, "Thank you for your time, Miss French. Now, we'd best be on our way."
o.o.o.o
Meanwhile, Tugger was still facing down the she-mantis, who finally opened up the door to his cage. "I'm coming, I'm coming," he muttered, stepping out so she wouldn't touch him. However, once he stepped out, he attempted to slam the bar down on her hard.
It slammed into her body, catching her off-balance and she stumbled back.
He broke for the stairs. She caught him as he got part way up the stairs yanking him back down, slamming him to the ground.
o.o.o.o
Mistoffelees looked around frantically. "What do we do now?"
"Abject prayer and supplication spring to mind," Cori sighed.
Grids shook her head, "I saw her walking past this park. Carrying grocery bags. She lives in this neighborhood."
Mistoffelees made a strangled sound at Cori's statement, looking at him like he was a puppy that Cori had just kicked. "That's it, I'm knocking on doors."
Grids caught his arm, "We don't have time for that."
"Well you have a better plan then?" Mistoffelees demanded.
"Yes." She pulled a hefty length of rope out of her bag and headed into the street toward a manhole cover. "I won't be long," she pulled the cover off and dropped down into the darkness.
"Grids!" Cori stepped in that direction but sighed heavily.
Mistoffelees watched her go down and swallowed hard. Every passing second was making him more and more jittery. "Come on Grids..."
There was a noise from behind them and Grids shoved the Clawthing in front of her, holding tightly to his bound wrists. "Alright, let's find Tugger."
Mistoffelees blinked and nodded, trailing a safe distance with Cori behind her as she shoved Claw past houses in the neighborhood.
"Which house, where is she?" She continued shoving him faster and faster past houses, "You're not afraid of much, but you're afraid of her and her cold blood." She watched as his face fill with fear and he started struggling. She followed his gaze to the small house with a white picket fence. "Better than radar."
"Grids!" Mistoffelees cried out as Claw finally managed to cut through the ropes holding him.
"Run!" Cori called out, pulling Misto backward to give them a head start should they need it.
Grids took off with the vampire right on her heels. She dove for the fence and got her hand on a slat as he grabbed her from behind. He closed in for the kill and she yanked a slat loose, jamming it into his chest. He turned into dust. She brushed herself off, rising, "You guys coming?"
"Suppose so," Mistoffelees said, voice strained though he was trying to brush it off. He glanced up at Cori for a moment and followed Grids into the house.
o.o.o.o
Down in the basement, Tugger was tied up, and the She-Mantis had laid her eggs.
The Mantis moved nearer, "Kiss me." Her mandibles opened, coming toward him.
Tugger shrank back, more disturbed than he possibly had ever been. "Can I just say one thing?" he asked in a small voice before shrieking at the top of his lungs, "HELP!"
Grids kicked in the basement window, slipping in, dropping the equipment bag, "Let him go!"
The mantis hissed and headed for Grids who grabbed two large spray cans out of her bag. She sprayed the bug in the face as it retreated quickly. Mistoffelees followed her, heading right for Tugger as Blayne cried out for them to help him out of his cage.
"Get them out, the bug is mine!" Grids snapped as Cori headed toward the cage.
The teen slowly made her way toward the bug, pulling out a machete and the tape recorder. She spoke as she advanced, "Remember Dr. Gregory - you scarfed his head? He taught me if you do your homework you learn stuff. Like what happens to your nervous system when you hear this." She hit the play button and gasped in horror as Cori's voice came on about filing. "Cori!"
"It's the wrong side!"
The mantis came screeching from the shadows and knocked the recorder out of her hand, sending it skittering across under an old refrigerator. Cori dove for the fridge, trying to retrieve the tape recorder.
Grids dodged the slicing leg of the She-Mantis, swinging the machete through the air and reveling in the howl of the bug's rage as she connected with it.
Freed, Tugger dived for the bug spray as Mistoffelees tried to get the sobbing Blayne out. Finally getting the spray, Tugger approached and got it right in the she-Mantis' eye
The mantis whirled on him, Grids turning in his direction as well, "Tugger, get out!"
She pushed him back, just in time to get slammed to the ground by one of the Mantis' forelegs. The other machete went skittering out of her reach and the bug raised its foreleg to cut Grids' head off.
Cori finally got the tape recorder dealt with and hit play. A high-pitched sound reverberated through the room. The She-Mantis howled, shaking its head as it tripped backwards. It fell as Grids rose and picked up the machete.
"Bat sonar makes your whole nervous system go to hell. You can go there with it." She raised the machete high, bringing it down repeatedly-slice and dice.
Later, the others stood around the body, looking down at it and then back to Grids. Cori shook his head, "I'd say it's deceased."
"And dissected. And kinda gooey," Mistoffelees said, head tilted to one side.
Tugger glanced over at Grids. "You okay?"
She nodded, managing to not shake, "Yeah."
"Just for the record?" Tugger continued. "You were right, I was an idiot, and god bless you, thank you." He glanced over at the other two. "And thank you guys too."
"Yeah," Blayne said softly, still shaken badly.
Cori nodded, "Glad we could be of help."
Grids smiled her agreement, "I'm glad we got here in time."
"I'm glad you're okay," Mistoffelees said. "It's sorta unfair how she only went after virgins after all." Alright, he probably hadn't needed to add that last bit but he was feeling annoyed at the other boys for falling for it.
"What?" Tugger demanded.
Grids couldn't suppress the smile that tugged at her lips, "It's alright, boys, there are worse things. It's kind of sweet."
"I am not..." Blayne started to protest.
"Cat's out of the bag, lads. It's part of the she-mantis M.O." Cori remarked, smiling a bit.
They both gaped at him and then Blayne turned to Mistoffelees. "Why didn't she go after you then, huh?"
The smaller teen raised his brows. "Well, first of all I wasn't stupid enough to fall for her..."
"I'd say that's the primary reason." Cori supplied, "After all, he didn't exactly walk into her lair."
"See?" Mistoffelees replied. "I'm the smart one." Tugger was staring at him. "Oh, I get to gloat about not being stupid," Mistoffelees informed him.
Blayne was not handling the information well. "My dad's a lawyer - anybody repeats this to anybody, they're gonna find themselves facing a lawsuit."
Grids looked from one to the other, "Alright, let's get going."
Tugger was still glaring at Mistoffelees who was smiling innocently as they trailed out.
o.o.o.o
At the Bronze a few nights later, Grids was at the bar to get a drink. She turned to see Mac there and offered him a slight smile, "Hey..."
"I heard a rumor," he remarked, leaning against the bar and smirking. "That there was one less vampire walking around making a pain of himself."
Her smile softened, "There is. Thanks for the tip."
"Pleasure's mine," he said, eyes softening from where he was looking at her.
She glanced down at her drink and then back up to meet his eyes, "Of course, it would make things easier if I knew how to get in touch with you..."
"I'm around," he replied smoothly.
"Or maybe who you are...?"
He just smiled softly at that, and shook his head ever so slightly. "What, you need more than my name?"
"Well, Mac could stand for anything. Could be a first name, could be a last name, could be a nickname..."
A brief look of what might have been pain crossed his face, but the Bronze wasn't quite lit well enough to really be sure. "It's just my name," he said softly.
"I..." She finally nodded, "anyway, you can have your jacket back..." Not that she really wanted to part with it, but it was a really nice leather jacket.
His hand drifted up and gently traced around the open collar. "It looks better on you," he said softly.
She swallowed, neither encouraging nor discouraging the touch. "I..."
His hand stilled as if realizing where it'd been. "Yeah?"
She shook her head, "Thanks."
"Anytime," he replied softly.
"Take care, Mac."
"Always," he said softly. "You be careful yourself."
"Always."
He nodded once more before slipping out of the club. She watched him go, sighing before heading on her way as well.
One episode in two chapters. Not too shabby. Victoriousscarf adds: And yeah, Misto is going to be gloating to Tugger, probably for weeks. Their friendship is funny that way. ((I sorta love that even though I sorta like the pairing, the perfect opportunity to ship Misto and Tugger falls into my lap and all I can do is write them as really snarky best friends.))