Bound By Blood Chapter 2 – Nights at the Sheraton
The flight though the back alleys was a nightmare. Bare feet on broken asphalt, threading the gauntlet of nails, debris and glass. The gleam of rat's eyes in the darkness, every single one a potential spy for their hunters… or even a hunter itself, wearing a rat's shape. Every shadow moving as the clouds shifted was a Sabbat vampire slipping out of the darkness – or the darkness itself shifting to grab and shred them. Their Mistress was a Lasombra vampire, and they had seen her mastery of shadows and darkness - but even Tara claimed that her powers. in those areas, at least, paled before those who truly studied The Abyss… like her Clanmates who still ruled the Sabbat.
And it was all so empty. The rats were there, the occasional glimpse of food or other garbage recently left behind – and there was that one house. The one that almost looked kept. But the windows were covered in… signs. Sigils. And just looking at them made Cassie feel… unwell. Like when that Cardinal had visited town and all the vampires had freaked out and just seeing him on the television had made Cassie feel… judged. Unclean. Maybe Hailey felt it, too, because she didn't say a thing when Cassie circled around that house and never looked back at it.
Finally, the two stopped, not only tired and hurt, but soaked in an insidious light drizzle of rain – the kind that you smiled and walked in for five minutes happily and then came home sick and nursing a cold. Cassie was panting, still tasting blood and finding herself unthinkingly swallowing it. Somewhere, nothing near like far enough away, a car's engine was roaring. Only one, maybe they had lost the other. Maybe the wreck of a Lexus had finally given up the ghost. It wasn't that comforting, Cassie found, when her thoughts resurfaced from the sea of grey exhaustion. Not when they were on foot. At least you would hear a car.
Cassie leant against the wall, wanting to vomit. Each foot weighed half a ton, her legs a metric ton more each. And now that she'd stopped… Her feet felt wet. God, she hoped it was from the drizzle. If she was leaving bloody footprints, then it was all over.
"… upstairs." Hailey was saying something.
"What…?" Cassie didn't have the breath for it. She was spent, pure and simple. She had nothing left. None of the vitality her Mistress had gifted her. So weak. So… human.
"To the top. We have to go upstairs."
Upstairs? Cassie raised her head into the rain with an effort. The building towered above them – they had seen it through half their mad flight through the alleys. One side was missing, but the rest stood – all twelve or fifteen floors. A nightmare of grey cement, like something out of the coffee table books with pictures of old Warzsaw Pact buildings that their Mistress kept her Elysium.
The Gary Sheraton.
"You've got to be… kidding…"
God damn it, Hailey still looked like a mess; covered in blood and brains now thinned out by the drizzling rain, her little black dress torn along the back, her feet cut and bleeding… but she didn't look exhausted. And torn or not, her dress was still working. Cassie had run for the last… however long having to hold her torn top in place.
Hailey shook her head. "No joy. Since you dropped us off right in the middle of No-Coverage City…" Hailey lifted her very short skirt, but Cassie was simply too tired to even look. Besides, Tara's perfume had long since washed off. From a little thigh strap, she pulled… her phone. "If we go up top, I think I can get a bar or two."
Cassie just looked at her, trying to make her mind to work and say… well, anything.
"Live-tweeting …our escape…. huh?" Incredibly, she almost felt the side of her mouth curl into a smile. It should have been a sneer… but she supposed it beat sitting down to cry, anyway.
"Come on. It's fifteen stories. Maybe we don't have to go all the way up." Hailey turned to walk – not run, at least. Maybe she too was winded. In fact, Cassie thought she could see Hailey's legs wobble, her muscles spasming. Or maybe that was just her vision greying. Cassie stumbled after her, biting back a small curse or a sob or… something when she realized she couldn't even straighten up away from the wall.
"Cassie, come on!" Hailey turned from the corner, and Cassie had barely gotten halfway there. "I know you are carrying all those extra pounds… mostly with those two melons in your bra, but …" That was more like it. But Hailey didn't sound angry. Not even like she was poking fun. She sounded… worried? Desperate? Scared? All three?
"Shut… up… you training-bra bitch…" That was a decent comeback, but there was no heat behind it. She staggered another step.
"Cassie, please! They'll find us. Use the Blood, we have to…"
Cassie just shook her head. "I have nothing left, Hailey."
"W-what do you…"
"I spent it all… I think I spent it all on the… on the War Ghoul. Healing. Fighting… There's nothing."
Hailey took two steps back towards her. The rain almost made it look like she was still crying. "You mean… you ran all this way… and kept up with me – with nothing? Like a normal human? Goddamn it, Cassie, why didn't you say anything?"
"What… would it have helped? Were you gonna ask the Sabbat for… hey what are you…" Cassie stopped, letting her own sentence hang, as Hailey walked back to her and grabbed her arm – and then surprisingly gently put it over her shoulder, taking Cassie's weight off the wall and on herself.
"Don't ask stupid questions, Cassie."
They stopped almost at the top. Ten or twelve or fourteen stories, Cassie couldn't tell anymore. She was simply too tired, too exhausted. Her legs were cramping up, and even if Hailey carried most of her weight with ease that would have been surprising to anyone who did not hang around vampires and their servants, Cassie thought she could hear the little blonde hiss her suffering as they reached the… fifth floor? The one where a door had been forced open, in any case. Flung from its hinges, a makeshift barricade behind torn apart. She didn't look past that to see if anything remained from the last stand that must have happened there, but Hailey quickened her pace. Maybe she'd seen something… or maybe she just didn't want to know.
Some rooms showed signs of squatters. Some of animals. No furniture, not even doors or anything on the walls in the lower stories, but there was a makeshift fireplace one room, a bed of old newspapers in another. Someplace, she thought she heard a door close as they approached, but she was about three steps away from plain hallucinating, so she couldn't be sure.
On the tenth floor, she thought she saw a mirror leaned up against a wall. And for a moment, she thought she saw something moving in it, something that wasn't her or Hailey's reflection. But Hailey pushed them on, and Cassie went eagerly, glad to be past that silvery sheen.
They stopped where a door hung open, but swung. Across from them, a suite looked out over the steel mill – with no door and the entire face of the building gone. The wind blew harsh up here, harsh enough to bring the rain to them even here in the hallway.
"I… I can't. Cassie, I can't take another step." Hailey's voice was very small. Cassie wondered how long the younger Ghoul had been whimpering with every step. Or how long her legs had been shaking.
"Hailey…" Cassie barely breathed it.
"What…?"
"The door… it… it has a key. We can lock it. Rest!" Cassie pointed, or perhaps raised her arm vaguely. The open door a few steps back, the one leading away from the open, removed façade, had a key on the inside.
Hailey looked to the stairs in the end of the hallway. Even in the dark corridor – the electric light was long gone, and they towered above even the rare functioning streetlights – Cassie could read her like a book. She had meant to go all the way up… but she just didn't have any more left. Just like Cassie, both her human reserves and the powers of the Blood were failing her at last… but she was gonna tear herself apart before she admitted it.
Cassie stumbled towards the door, pulling at Hailey's arm towards it. She expected the smaller blonde to just shake her off and stagger on, and couldn't understand why that idea brought a pit of despair to her stomach rather than harsh schadenfreude. To her surprise, Hailey fell in with her. The two blondes almost fell in the door, and Cassie just let herself slide down the wall – still wallpapered, unlike the floors below which were bare concrete while Hailey closed the door and fumbled with the key.
Closing the door left the room in near-total darkness, blocking them off from the ambient light outside and in the deep shadows. Cassie heard the click of the lock turning, and then felt rather than saw Hailey sink down next to her. She was shivering… or, wait, Cassie was shivering. So bad her teeth almost chattered. Her clothes were soaked, and so were Hailey's – and there was a cold wind blowing through the open façade. Without even thinking, Cassie curled up tighter against the only source of warmth there was – her fellow Ghoul… and to her surprise, Hailey leant right back against her.
Somewhere, a car pulled up. A moment later, she could hear car doors slam. She couldn't see how, so far up, even through the missing windows, but she did. And she was too exhausted to even be afraid.
"H…Hailey?" Cassie almost felt surprised she'd said – well, whispered – anything. She fumbled for Hailey's hand and found her bare thigh instead, which would have been embarrassing in any situation where she wasn't too exhausted and too sure she was gonna die horribly to care. Hailey's hand closed over hers in near desperation. She didn't answer – barely tried to make her gasps for breath be as quiet as she could.
"I didn't mean it." Again, Cassie more felt than saw the movement of Hailey's head. The blonde turned to her, as if she was surprised… or just wondering what Cassie was talking about. Cassie closed her eyes, feeling tears well up and run along the rainwater tracks on her cheeks. "I've never wished she'd drained you."
Hailey had stopped breathing. For a brief moment, Cassie seemed to hear everything, like if she had their mistress' superhuman senses. This close… this close she could still smell Mistress Tara's perfume on Hailey. Someplace far, far below, someone was talking. Probably shouting. The Sabbat were gonna follow them inside. They'd left a blood trail, or the rats had seen them, or…
"But…" Hailey's words were a strangled sob. Cassie had no idea if Hailey was terrified or crying because they'd never see Tara again… or crying over her. "Then… why? I thought… I thought you hated me."
"I… thought you hated me." Cassie barely even moved her lips. There was more shouting down there.
Hailey was still holding her hand. Cassie might have thought she was listening for the Sabbat shouting down there – impossible to make out what, maybe it wasn't even English – or trying to sense the heavy steps coming up the stairs… but she felt Hailey's attention, even if she couldn't see her.
The car door slammed again, down there, making them both wince. And then… could that really be what she was hearing? Then the motor roared again, down the empty, rain-slick streets. Pulling away.
Hailey's phone screen suddenly lit up their faces, a ghostly light that made their blood-spattered, rain-and-tear-streaked visages look like a picture of scared children in a bomb shelter. The tiny blonde's eyes were huge, staring straight into Cassie's, flitting away with a mutual gasp of terror in the direction of every tiny creak in the house and then landing right back staring at Cassie.
It had to be a trick. They were just toying with them, just waiting. The two had left a blood trail, or… the rats that had to swarm this place told on them. Hell, they might simply have been seen. Any second now, and they'd strike. Someone would tear right through the door and pull one or both of them out screaming. Red eyes would gleam from the darkness as a Sabbat vampire climbed in through the empty windows. The rats would swarm and… and…
The phone light went out. Both Ghouls made a choked, aborted scream… and still nothing happened. Hailey turned the light back on, and the small twitch of her mouth was almost a recognizable smile… but her eyes were huge, shivering pools of fear.
"I… It timed out." Hailey's voice wouldn't have carried outside the small bubble of light, but Cassie was so close to her she almost felt the vibrations on her skin. "Could they… did they just… leave?"
Hailey looked like she believed that about as much as Cassie did. But long seconds turned to long minutes, and nothing. Not even steps on the stairs. They… might not even have entered the building. Cassie opened her mouth to say no, to hush her, or something, but instead what she heard fall from her lips was "I've never hated you, Hailey."
Hailey was too tired, too afraid and too surprised to look skeptical, but Cassie felt it, anyway. Maybe it just felt like a lie; it wasn't… not really. But it felt like a lie.
"Cassie… What we've said to each other. What we've done. You… We… "
"It hurts, Hailey." Cassie cut her off. Somehow. The whisper didn't seem like it could stop anything at all. Just thinking about this tore at Cassie like razorwire. Saying it hurt so bad it was almost like living it. But her mouth had apparently made the decision without her involvement, and Hailey's eyes had gotten even bigger. She couldn't stop. "It hurts so bad. Whenever she praises you, and not me. Whenever she kisses you, and not me. Whenever she…. Whenever she…"
"I know."
Honestly, Hailey looked like her own mouth had made a decision without any input from the rest of her, too. Cassie stopped, not sure if she was giving Hailey the time to answer, was surprised into silence, or just didn't dare say anymore for fear of losing it altogether.
Hailey's broken little voice whispered in the eldritch glow of her screen, her eyes flooding over again. "I… I know, Cassie. I love her, too. I'm just as trapped as you are."
Cassie closed her eyes, letting her head thump silently back against the wallpaper. There was a new pain, less searing to her heart than dwelling on being replaced by Mistress Tara, but no less real. Of course. Just another cruel joke for the Universe to play.
There was someone who knew exactly what Cassie felt, after all. And she was sitting here, right beside her. And almost for as long as they had known each other, they had been sniping at each other, cutting, fighting as viciously against each other as they had against the War Ghoul, if less bloody. Tears had run, instead. In Tara's court in Chicago, the simmering feud of her two Ghouls was a feature she happened to know at least two vampires had a running bet on.
"Cassie. I gave up my entire life for her." Cassie was too tired to point out that Hailey's life at that point was as the honeypot and occasional fuckbuddy of a conman with delusions of grandeur. She got what Hailey was saying. And… she didn't want to needle Hailey. Not now. Apparently, Hailey realized, too. "It wasn't much, but it was mine. And then…"
Cassie nodded, slowly opening her eyes. Yeah. And then. Cassie and Hailey had come to Mistress Tara's court in very different ways; as Tara had once seen fit to remind the entire court, Hailey had been a manipulator who well outshone the outmatched man trying to make her a pawn and caught Tara's eyes… and Cassie had simply been too good looking and too tasty a Vessel to throw away.
Yep, that still hurt. Even exhausted and fearing for her life. It would hurt her entire life. If a knockout body and the taste of her blood was what Cassie was to her Mistress… well Cassie loved Tara too bitterly and too deeply to do anything but take it. But to have it rubbed in her face like that…
But after catching Tara's eye, the same thing had happened to both Cassie and Hailey – the Blood. The taste, the power. Making them more than human. Making them unaging. Immortal, in a way.
And making them love her, so hard, so bad.
Cassie had lived for 25 years before she first saw Tara. She'd flamed through a three-month engagement that flared and burned out like magnesium set alight. She'd left her family for nights of sex and blood and drugs and alcohol. She knew desire. She was pretty sure she knew love. The first night she was given Tara's blood to drink, she was awestruck. The second night, she idolized her. And the third, she loved her. Wholly. Unquestioning – just like Tara had told her.
On the occasional night when her head was clear and she allowed herself to think about it, she recognized that it wasn't any healthy love. It was the kind that made you crawl; that made you beg… and not in any fun way. It was imprinted upon her, artificial and irresistible like a cocaine high - but it was real.
And that would have been no different for Hailey.
Hailey was still holding Cassie's hand. Cassie hadn't even noticed. The taller blonde turned her hand in Hailey's and squeezed – she didn't have words. Not that would help. Not that she had the energy to form. Hailey squeezed her back, and for a few moments, there was silence… and then –
"Cassie!" That wasn't whispered. That was almost shouted – and only 'almost' because Hailey didn't have much breath to shout. Cassie struggled to get her eyes open, to see what she was happening – and stared right into Hailey's excited face "I… I've got a bar! Look!"
She did. A single bar, right there in the upper corner of her screen. The two Ghouls looked at each other, almost identical smiles of unbelieving relief beginning to touch their faces. "Call her!" Cassie whispers with a breath, and Hailey nodded eagerly… and stopped. And Cassie's stomach dropped through the floor, because she recognized the look on Hailey's face. She felt it herself, after all. The doubt. The shame.
The fear.
And Cassie hated herself for that. She hated herself because she knew, despite a checkered life with no storybook romance or storybook anything, that you shouldn't fear who you love. And she was desperately afraid of Tara right now. Afraid of what Tara would say – what she would do – if she had to put resources into pulling her Ghouls' shapely asses out of this fire. What she would say – what she would do – about the car. What she would say – what she would do - about the two of them not being at her Court in time.
"Is… is there… can we fix this ourselves?" Hailey's voice was very small.
"You mean… call someone else?" Cassie swallowed, wanting to look away in shame and not quite giving in to it. "Yeah… maybe we should."
The problem was that it was so dangerous to trust. Because every bit of doubt spoken in the other's presence had always been a weapon they'd find trust into their kidney later. Even what was whispered to others or even just to their own bedsheets had a tendency to come back and bite them. Right out saying to Hailey that she was afraid Tara might punish them was suicidal.
But Hailey was still holding her hand. She'd made a living playing the innocent girl when the two met… but nobody was this good an actress.
"Cassie… I realize you have no reason to trust me. I wouldn't trust me after… after what I've done to you. But we have to do this together. If I call her… if she must interrupt her court for us…" Hailey looked pleadingly at Cassie, her hand tightening around the taller blonde's. She didn't dare come right out and say it, either. Cassie stared at her for long seconds and nodded.
"She's already gonna be pissed for the car." Cassie wished her voice didn't quiver so. She'd been driving. Hailey couldn't even drive. That would be on her… which wasn't fair at all. They'd only shaken the Sabbat off their tails over Cassie driving like a maniac.
"Cassie… It's just a car. She… she can say she sacrificed the car for a War Ghoul. We killed a War Ghoul, Cassie. If we make it home without… without her even having to interrupt her court…" Hailey bit her lip. Normally, that was devastatingly sexy. Right now, with her clothes torn, her eyes red and puffy from crying, her face drawn from exhaustion and fear, it just made her look like a lost kid. "She might… she might even…"
Cassie nodded, releasing a long breath and clinging to the hope that Hailey offered. Yeah. Tara might be happy. Might reward them. Might be proud. Even a little nod, a look… that might make this all worth it. Cassie would settle for avoiding her disapproval. She'd pray – once again to whatever God looked out for former Blood Dolls, since she was pretty sure she was on the outs with the generally accepted one – that Tara wouldn't be mad.
"But we only have one shot at this." Cassie whispered, a horrible thought letting its roots grow her. "We can't… If word suddenly goes around that Mistress Tara's Ghouls are asking for help… If we make people think she needs help protecting her own Ghouls, or God forbid, put her in debt to save us, she'll…"
Hailey was already terrified, possibly in shock, and shivering with cold. The tiny blonde still paled. "Fuck, she'd kill us." It obviously slipped out before she could stop it, and Cassie saw her cringe as if in expectation from a blow. Any other day, and that little slip would have made her Cassie's bitch in their little game… but right now, Cassie would settle for her miserable life.
The two stared at each other for long moments, a quiet despair beginning to fall over Hailey, when it suddenly dawned on Cassie. "Martin", she whispered. "Didn't you say you… you covered for him?"
Martin was the Ghoul of one of Tara's allies, a Ventrue based out in Naperville. His Master, Teuber, rarely went into Chicago – but Martin often acted on his behalf. He was not your typical Ventrue Ghoul, rather a largely unassuming man who preferred jeans and shirts to a suit, a man who looked and talked like he drove cars and worked with his hands. But he was sharp. Very sharp.
Hailey nodded, slowly. "Something he was supposed to bring when he and his Master visited Tara's Court never appeared. Not even any foul play, just… a late messenger. I rearranged the schedule for him, gave the messenger time to arrive. No-one knew there had been any problems." She was muttering, almost to herself. "He said he owed me, big time."
"I showed him where to find some Blood Dolls for his Master. Lots of them, actually. That was just my job, though…" Cassie shrugged. "But he seemed grateful. And he likes my tits." It wasn't even a joke. Martin had made his… appreciation for Cassie quite clear. Honestly, given the neckline of the dress she'd wore that night, a hair's breath from requiring double-sided tape to stay on, he should. "Call him. Hear if he's in Chicago, anywhere close to Gary."
Hailey looked at her phone, scrolling through her contacts. "Come on, come on… There you are." She bit her lip again, looking up. "I'll have to warn him the Sabbat are around. He… He might die." The little blonde drew on it, "I suppose I should say that… that he can't get us out of here if he's dead, but… I honestly can't just let him run into that. He… he was so nice to me."
Her voice grew very small, as if the little show of humanity was something to be ashamed of. Something very much like the girl Cassie had almost gotten to know before Tara claimed her. Cassie couldn't help but smile a little, no matter how tired and scared she was.
"Call him, Hailey. Tell him everything." Cassie closed her eyes again and leant back against the wall. She was so tired. So exhausted. "And if he hesitates, tell him he can have me. He can have me tonight, if he doesn't mind the blood. Not that I'll be much fun."
"Cassie… really?" It sounded like Hailey was trying to… well, not shame her; no-one who knew Cassie longer than a week or so entertained any idea that she could be shamed for anything involving sex. She could behave – especially after Tara's little lesson in restraint – and she could be sorry for consequences other people might suffer and whatever consequences were pushed upon herself, but Cassie had never been ashamed of anything or anyone she did in the bedroom. Or in the showers. Or in cars. Or wherever. Never ashamed of anything she did of her own free choosing. As for the rest… But it really sounded like Hailey was trying to put some of that old put-down into her voice.
But either Cassie was so tired she was misreading it, or that sounded like concern.
"What?" Cassie heard it in her own voice – the attempt to fall back into their old, well-known roles… and the hurt she'd never have shown Hailey until just these last few minutes or hours or days or however long this nightmare had been. "You think he'd be the first one I'd screwed to close a deal? I can't do it for me, when I do it for Mistress Tara? You said it yourself – when she wants something done, she has you. When she wants someone done, she has me."
Cassie hadn't opened her eyes, but she heard Hailey's little intake of breath and felt the light go out from the phone – and then, Hailey letting go of her hand. Oh well. She was too tired to grieve for a lost friendship again right now. And what would it help? They'd be back at each other's throats the moment there was competition for Tara's gaze… which meant every time she might see them. Having Hailey as a friend was just a stupid, impossible…
She felt Hailey's fingers brush her cheek, hesitating as if the smaller girl didn't quite dare touch her, or as if the tears Cassie suddenly realized were running down her cheeks scared her off. The phone was still dark, Hailey couldn't possibly see her crying – but she might have felt them. The hand landed awkwardly on her shoulder instead.
"Cassie… I'm so sorry." Hailey sounded like she was on the verge of tears, herself. "I… I don't mean that. I didn't… I wish I hadn't said that. It's just… I panicked. You were outshining me in every way that night, and I had to do something. She… Tara, she was… she looked so disappointed at me." It came falling out all over each other, and by the end, Hailey's voice sounded very, very small.
Cassie almost felt angry, but for once, the tiredness worked for her. She was just too exhausted to be angry. But… she got it. She really did. It was a perfect example of why Hailey had been sure they must hate each other – but it was also precisely what Cassie had said, wasn't it? Coming in second, less favored, with Tara hurt. Coming in unfavored was indescribably worse. Slowly, her hand came up to enfold Hailey's.
"Forget it, Hailey. I shouldn't have brought it up. I'm just so damned tired." Cassie rolled her head toward Hailey and opened her eyes. Darkness. But her jawline rested on their hands, now. "I'm not gonna pretend I wouldn't do the same to you. That I haven't done the same. Besides…" Somehow, Cassie found the strength to smile a little. Hailey couldn't see it… but she thought the Ghoul felt it. "Besides, I guess I can't help it if you want to just come right out and say I'm the better fuck of us, like that."
Silence. Just long enough for Cassie to begin wondering if she'd set them off again… and then she heard a little sound she hadn't heard and taken pleasure in since before Tara made Haiely her second Ghoul. Hailey was giggling. Not much, not loud or even long – just a few, sharp intakes of breath and choked, small bursts of laughter. Cassie couldn't help it. She choked back a little, sobbing laugh herself.
The light came on again. Cassie blinked and squinted against it, then opened her eyes once she could stand it, to meet Hailey's silent, teary gaze. "Never change, Cassie", Hailey said – but she still looked concerned. "But are you sure… you want to do it like that?"
Holding Hailey's hand in this angle was really awkward. Cassie let her hand come down from her shoulder, and Hailey's hand came along with it. "I don't mind, Hailey. I like Martin. I just didn't… I wish I was more awake so I could enjoy it." Cassie felt Hailey squeeze her hand. She felt low. "It wouldn't be the worst thing I've ever done."
Hailey looked at her, and Cassie's heart sank a little longer. "Cassie has… Has Tara ever made you…"
"Stop." The tears began flowing again. There were things Cassie had done for Tara she wasn't proud of. There were things she had done that made her throw up afterwards. Made her ashamed – and Cassie had never been ashamed of anything… before her life as a Ghoul. And she'd do it all again, if Tara asked. When Tara asked. "Please don't make me say it, Hailey. Don't make me…"
Hailey froze a moment, and then leant in, her arms going around Cassie's shoulders. Their foreheads touched. Hailey's grey-blue eyes glittered an inch from her own. "I'm sorry. I know how it is." A long, shuddering breath, echoed by Cassie, and she continued. "We do what we need to. What she asks us to. What she needs from us. We're here for her, because that's what we do. Who we are."
After what seemed like an eternity, Cassie nodded. Hailey pulled one arm back to get the phone within sight. "Now rest, Cassie. Sleep, if you can. I'll tell you when Martin gets here."
"But… what about you?"
Hailey smirked. It almost looked convincing. "I still have a little of the Blood to pull on. I'll be fine… but I'll need you back at Court, Cassie. Can't do that alone."
Cassie looked at Hailey for a long time, then nodded again. She didn't sleep, exactly, but the world just… zoned out. Hailey's voice faded in and out… but she was talking, so she'd gotten Martin, right? Hailey moved beside her, struggling – very painfully, apparently – to her feet. Cassie picked out something like. "Yeah, Gary. The old Sheraton. Sabbat pack's roaming…"
It faded out, but Cassie still picked out the couple of words that put a smile on her exhausted face.
"… Yeah, to the Loop. The Silver Lining."
