Thanks to Saxongirl345!
Chapter 2: Decisions, Decisions
"She's a flight risk; we can't keep her around, Blade," Whistler stated, his usual parental tone in place. He was cleaning his gun, as always, while Blade stood off to the side. His arms were crossed as he watched the old man work, his shades hiding his eyes, as always.
"Says who, you?" he retorted, stoic as always. Whistler turned ever so slightly to look at the hybrid.
"Yeah, me. Remember me, your partner? How the hell do you know she's not like that scuz bucket you had before?" Blade growled as Whistler mentioned Scud, the traitorous bastard. If there was one thing he hated more than Vampires it was Familiars.
"Because I checked. No marks, no trouble." That was that, even if it was a lie.
"Yeah, sure you did," Whistler retorted, shaking his head with a scoff and returned his focus to his gun. "Go check on her," he ordered and, with a low growl, Blade moved from Whistler to the gangplank of their new hideout, headed to the room where she was resting.
Blade didn't know much about her and, even though he despised strays, he had no choice but to take her. It had been two years since the death of the Reapers and Nyssa. He had been making the regular rounds when he found her. She'd always be at his haunts, as he learned after seeing her on five other occasions. She would fight off some suck heads, and always ask every Vampire about some Talos Clan. She was doing a pretty good job the first few times until tonight, until that one snuck up on her in the alleyway.
Whistler didn't know that Blade had brought her back after she was bit, or that Blade didn't have Karen's miracle cure on him at the time. Blade had just told him he found her in one of the clubs. He hated lying to the old man, but what could he do? After what happened with Karen, well…he didn't want that to happen again.
Walking into the bedroom, her room for the time being, he immediately sensed she was awake. She was awake and was waiting to attack him. After taking one more step, she struck she jumped onto his back and he swung her off without a second thought. She landed with a muffled crash onto the bed, and he crossed his arms as he stared down at her.
"You done?" She looked up at him and scowled. If his shades weren't in the way, she would've sworn there'd be some amusement in his eyes.
"I thought you were one of them. I guess I'm a little out of it, but I remember you," she replied, straitening herself out, and sat on the edge of the bed. "Where am I? What's your name?"
"Blade, and you're in my place, so try not to be too noisy."
"I guess I should call of the kegger than, huh?" she snapped impatiently. "I know who you are. He used to talk about you all the time, about how he and the others were gonna kill you." Blade just cocked his head with a raised eyebrow, and she couldn't tell if he was awaiting an explanation or just plain amused. "Easy, big fella, I'll explain later. I'm Maxine Doyle, but call me Max. What happened?"
"You were bitten. Pretty stupid, if you ask me." She just muttered it was a good thing she didn't ask him. "Why were you hunting?"
"It's what I do; I've done it since high school and I won't stop now." He just stared at her in stunned silence. Since high school? She noticed the look of disbelief on his face and decided to explain. "A gang of Vamps raided my neighborhood; it was small so it was easy. A few tried to fight back, but it didn't work. Everyone but my brother, Xavier, and I were killed. I was sixteen; he was nineteen. We only escaped because we lucky…if being an open bar and turned is what you call lucky."
"You don't have a glyph," he commented, starting to see what Whistler said; he shouldn't trust her.
"Not anywhere you can see," she retorted with a sly smile. "It's just above my…oh, hell. I'll just show you," she mumbled and stood up. With her back turned to Blade, she picked up her hair and moved it aside for him to see her glyph. It rested at the base of her neck, just above her shoulders. Blade grimaced with a nod; that branding had to hurt. But, then again, all brandings usually did.
"Sire?" he asked shortly, but she understood what he meant.
"Name of Snowman," she stated, turned around to face him again, "but he ditched us when he was recruited by some Master Vamp; a pure blood or something. He was supposed to be trained to kill the Daywalker, you. But you already knew that, didn't you?" Blade gritted at her humorous tone. He did remember Snowman though; he was the Chinaman of the Bloodpack who favored a sword like him. He died at a Reapers hand, like all the others – excluding Reinhardt.
"You got two choices, kid." She gawked at him a bit as he called her that. She was twenty-eight, she wasn't a kid! "You can either turn – again – or you can come downstairs and get the serum in you; give me the whole story."
""Serum"? You mean you have the cure?" He just nodded at her amazed tone. "Hell yes! Take me to it! Last thing I want is to be one of them – again," she added, mocking him. Blade just growled, starting to regret his decision to take her in.
P.S.: Two pages total.