Day Eighteen: We Can't Do This On Our Own

Characters/Pairings: Jake/Rose; Haley; Susan

Rating: T

Content warnings: violence; blood; injuries

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

Jake struggled to stand and then collapsed back onto his head with a groan.

"That's it," Susan said sharply. "You are sentenced to bed rest."

"Mom, I'm fine," Jake said stubbornly, mostly because he knew that was what Gramps would want.

In reality, Jake was pretty sure that he had the worst case of the flu that anyone in the entire world had ever had. He was sweating so badly that his vision was starting to go fuzzy, his head was killing him, and Jake wanted water so badly he would kill for it, except every time he even thought about sipping at water, his stomach would seize and he'd be running for the bathroom. All of that made Jake grateful when Susan put a clean comforter over him and fluffed his pillow behind his head. Not even Gramps could argue when his mother put an order down.

"Sleep," Susan ordered. "I don't want to hear a peep out of you for a while."

"Yes, Mom," Jake agreed, asleep by the time that she turned out his bedroom light.

(-.-)

"Haley? What are you doing here?"

"Jake's sick so I'm taking over his dragon duties for the day," Haley said peppily.

Rose squinted at her, looking suspicious and Haley tried not to let her smile slip. Rose was dressed to hunt and she looked ferocious as she always did when she was armed. Rose would not hesitate to send Haley packing if she sensed that she was being lied to.

"Jake didn't text me," Rose said. "And where's Gramps and Fu? Aren't they supposed to be here? Are we still doing this?"

"Fu's at the shop but Gramps is around, scouting." Haley tried not to sweat. She hadn't thought of these answers but she was smart. Which was why she was here. Not only was she smart but she was acing all of her training and it was time to prove to Gramps and Fu and Jake that she wasn't a liability in the field. She was just as good and as capable as Jake was – maybe even better by now. "And, of course we're still doing this. Reports of a ghoul in New York don't ever happen. If it's real then we need to solve it ASAP."

Rose nodded but then she looked down at her phone. Haley tried not to look frustrated but she hated that Rose was doubting her. Haley was lying but Rose shouldn't think that!

"Let's go," Haley said. "We'll start checking the abandoned buildings and see if we can find it."

Rose held her ground. "We should wait for Gramps to get back from scouting. He might have good information and, honestly, Haley, I've been reading about ghouls like crazy. They're dangerous. We can't do this on our own."

"We're not doing anything," Haley said. She'd read about ghouls too. They were dangerous but she was a dragon and Rose was a trained hunter. So, what if ghouls were blood-thirsty and their bites were nearly always fatal? Jake went up against things like that all the time and Haley had Rose with her. "We're just doing some scouting too. We'll meet Gramps back here and compare info."

Rose pursed her lips but Haley knew that she had Rose convinced.

"We won't fight anything until we talk to Gramps," Haley reiterated.

Finally, Rose nodded.

They crept across the abandoned lawn and heading into the apartment building. Ghouls were often found in rural, mostly abandoned places, and generally outside of North America. Gramps had thought the reports of what was going on in this abandoned apartment complex sounded like a ghoul and had been – sensibly – alarmed by it. They were supposed to leave right away because of that but with Jake on flu lockdown, Gramps had gone to find reinforcements to take with him. Not once had he asked Haley, even though she was fifteen now and not a child and Jake had been doing things like this since he was even younger. She'd been in training for, like, ten years! She was ready.

Rose picked the heavy lock on the door.

"If it's locked, could a ghoul get in here?" Haley wondered.

"There's probably a ton of broken windows and holes to get in," Rose said, pushing the rusty door open with a grunt. "I just don't have the patience to find them."

Their footsteps seemed too loud, even with the dusty that billowed around the foyer. Haley looked around, picking out some signs that other people had been here. Or other creatures. There were disturbances in the grime, piles of food wrappers, and abandoned clothing strewn about. Rose handed Haley one of her flashlights before turning the other on, shining it around to the darkest parts of the room.

"Be careful. They'll probably be in the dark if they're in here and they'll probably be hungry. Don't startle them. If we see any signs of inhabitation, we are leaving immediately and waiting for Gramps, okay? The signs of inhabitation are –"

"I told you I did my research," Haley snapped. Rose was not supposed to be treating her like a child too. "I understand. We'll be fine. I've been trained too, not just Jake."

"Right, just … Be careful, okay? You're Jake's little sister and I love you too."

Haley tried not to make a face as Rose ruffled her hair as she walked by. As Rose inspected the staircase, Haley headed for the door labelled Laundry Room. It was slightly ajar. Haley slowly opened it, keeping herself braced in case she saw a sign of movement and had to flee. The door creaked as it swung, revealing a staircase. Haley looked over her shoulder but Rose was still walking the perimeter of the lobby. Haley didn't want to interrupt her and so she headed down the laundry room steps on her own, using her dragon vision and the flashlight Rose had given her. There were cobwebs everywhere and Haley couldn't keep the disgust from her face.

The actual laundry room was much bigger than Haley anticipated and she felt like every nerve she had was standing on end as she tried to see the whole room at once. They were storage lockers on the wall behind the stairs, some half open, with the other walls lined with white washers and dryers that had lost their shine. They weren't perfectly against the wall, leaving crooked gaps that anything could be sleeping behind. On the other hand, anything could have made those storage lockers a nest. The storage lockers were darkest, though, and if there was a ghoul here, that was probably where it would go first. Haley started methodically searching through them, trying to calm her heartbeat. This was what she wanted. There was nothing to be scared of. She was capable. She knew she was capable.

As she opened another storage locker, she heard a metallic thump and for a moment, Haley stopped breathing.

"Rose?" she called.

"Haley?"

Rose was definitely still upstairs.

Another thump and Haley slowly turned. There was a ghoul, in all its white, humanoid, fleshiness. It was creeping over one of the dryers and even though she couldn't see eyes actually on its face, Haley knew that it was looking directly at her. Its mouth gaped slightly, revealing thick teeth that could tear through her scales as if they were tissue paper.

It took another creeping step forward, as if testing her.

"Haley, where did you go?"

The stairs. Haley had to get around the other side of the stairs and get up the stairs and then she had Rose would run out the door and Haley would have to confess everything because standing here, looking at the ghoul with its long limbs and longer claws designed for ensnaring all types of struggling prey, Haley knew that she had made a mistake. She was not ready for this.

"Haley?"

Rose was going to come downstairs and then they would both be trapped. Haley could at least make sure that didn't happen. She could at least be that brave and she had to go right now.

Using her wings to give her a head start, Haley made a mad scramble for the stairs. As soon as she was in motion, so was the ghoul and it was much faster than Haley's readings had let on. She could feel the edge of its claw against her back leg and she let out a scream.

"HALEY!?"

Haley burst out of the laundry room door, colliding with Rose and sending Rose sprawling to the ground.

"RUN!" Haley shouted. "JUST RUN!"

Rose started clamouring backwards, trying to get on her feet and move away at the same time. Haley was ashamed to say that she made it to the front door by the time that she thought to look back. She paused with her hand on the door as Rose let out a loud grunt, sending her foot into the ghoul's face. It already had a firm grip on her other leg. Rose struggled to get her staff in a position where she could stab it in the head. She raised it but before she could try to deal a blow to it, Rose screamed.

Blood gushed seemingly everywhere. Haley had never seen anything like the fountain that was coming out of Rose's leg where the creature had sunk its teeth into her. Its white face was staining pink as it went for another bite. Rose grunted and tried to dig her spear in.

Haley knew Rose was going to lose that fight. Haley turned her back on the door and took another step back into the lobby. The floorboards creaked under her weight and the ghoul's head shot up.

"You will not," Rose hissed at it, kicking the ghoul in the face to bring its attention back to her. "Haley, go."

"I'm not leaving you!"

"I'm already dead! Get out of here!" Rose shouted, still struggling with the ghoul even as she proclaimed it. The ghoul took another chunk out of her arm and Rose wailed. "Tell Jake I love him, okay? Now go. This thing is not getting both of us."

"I'm so sorry, Rose," Haley whimpered but she didn't think that Rose could hear her anymore.

Then, Haley turned and fled, heavy with her consequences.