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Author's Chapter Notes:
 The killer is confronted.


Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


Clara sat in the dank cellar while Thaddeaus paced across the other side of the it.

"Please, don’t do this...Tess is a good person."

"-See, that’s where you’re wrong." Thaddeaus said.

"She’s not a person and neither am I. We are abominations, we who feast on humans. It’s what we were made for, to be demons."

"You’re crazy." She said quietly.

He shook like junkie in the low light.

His eyes were so black now, they reflected nothing. He slowly walked towards her.

"...You child...I should not have taken. I had planned to take the boy, but you tempt me too much."

 

*****

 

I didn’t recognize it at first, that deep instinctual need. Later in the day however, with everyone weary in the kitchen trying to figure out some other course, I realized...He wanted her like I wanted Will.

She would not survive this, even when he got Tess. They both would be lost to us and we’d still be here twiddling our fingers.

Tess had only been gone five minutes. We could track her. She was still in range..

"He’s not going to let her go." I said, shaking my head and I told them.

"Even if we don’t follow he’ll kill them both. I think we might even be able to track her without him knowing."

"How?" Sylvia asked.

"I know what it is to push the need back. It’s distracting. I think we have no choice but to chance it."

Sylvia looked at me for a moment and then looked up at Holt. "No."

"NO?!" I was incredulous. "How can you not?"

"Because we can’t take the chance that he’ll kill them both, right away."

"So, what you’re just going to let him take Tess???"

"-That was her decision."

"Look...If you have some kind of rivalry over Lawrence? Guess what? He’s dead! And my mother’s in danger."

Strange how comfortable that word had gotten, now.

"My mind is firm...From what I know of Tess, she won’t just go as a lamb to the slaughter. I think this Thad may have gotten in over his head with this kill."

 

*****

 

Tess moved as quickly as she could, back to the spot where she found Lawrence. She remembered an odd smell there. Something she could not identify. She had picked up the source of it but didn’t connect the dots until just now.

Once there, she found it again. A small charred dagger. Lawrence must not have had time to even draw it.

He would not have brought it unless. "...The metal." She said, aloud.

 

*****

 

It took some stealth, but I managed to get Stephen’s attention with my eyes and lure him into the kitchen.

It was risky, but I thought I’d chance some nonverbal communication. He was the only other one of them for which I had some measure of control and he had been in my mind before. I hoped we were close enough for this to work.

I sat at the kitchen island and sipped synthetic next to him...but Will passed through the kitchen on the way to our bathroom, giving Stephen a suspicious look. His senses were keen.

"We have to go after Tess." I tried.

He continued to sip but flitted his eyes over at me briefly. Perhaps surprised that I could do this so soon after meeting him.

"Too dangerous."

"Please. I can’t just let her die. Please, Stephen."

He frowned into his drink and sighed.

"If we go...we have to do it right away." He said, without speaking.

"...I’m doing this for you...You know that. I’m allowing you to use me."

"Yes. I know."

Will appeared at the kitchen door and looked at us both, catching us in communicative gaze that did look rather intimate.

"They’ll follow soon afterwards and you’ll have your wish." He said without speaking, challenging Will with his eyes.

He looked at me like I’d betrayed him and started to head back into the main room.

"Will. Wait...-I. Just stop for a minute!"

He couldn’t speak back of course, but he could hear me.

"We’re going after Tess."

I turned to leave with Stephen but he caught my arm. So much passed in that look.

"She’s my sister." He said squeezing tighter. ...And I was important to him, too.

He was smart. He’d wanted to come along, but he knew he could be used against all of us, like Clara.

Stephen and I left through the backdoor at breakneck speed...At this range? Only Stephen could still track her.

 

*****

 

We moved swiftly through the brush until we were close. They were in Arizona. In the full bright light of day. We looked like two fast-moving flickers to any passing planes as we went.

Like UFOs.

When we finally reached the cellar where she was being held, we realized we had arrived at almost the same time as Tess.

He held her by the neck... And there was something else, the bright coppery smell of fresh blood.

"Three birds. One stone." He said, grinning.

"Come forward, slowly." He said his face turning serious.

"...It is a good thing you’ve arrived. I could no longer use the girl to draw you. I might have had to take the boy."

Clara lay writhing on the ground...in immense pain. Thad had bitten her.

"Had Tess arrived a moment later, I would have finished her. I still may. I’m owed that after these many years." He said adjusting his grip.

Tess moved too quickly to see.

One moment she there, the next she had cut Thad across his chest. The sparring began.

"You’ve found the metal!" He said, laughing. "No matter. God is on my side...And here I was thinking it was my own, I smelled." He said drawing a much larger and nastier looking dagger. The jagged blade was etched with crosses.

We attacked at the same time from different points thinking to confuse him...but he only went after me.

He sunk the dagger into my chest, all the way to the hilt, where my no longer beating heart would be, until it came out of my back.

Any other weapon, and I simply would have discarded it...But this metal.

I gasped and fell over.

"Ibis!" Stephen’s voice came as if from underwater. But I could hear the tussle.

"I’ve done my work!! God will find another to finish you al-!!" There was a sickening crack and I knew he was dead.

But I was...I was dying. I could feel myself slipping away.

"Stephen...You know what to do. QUICKLY!" Tess said.

He nodded and was gone. And Tess was gone too. She was still in the room. I could smell her but she had left my side.

 

*****

 

"Your sister will be fine...but you need to help Ibis."

"-I know." He cut her off.

"When we remove the dagger, you have to do it immediately..."

I felt his neck...his tempting artery next to my lips. " no..." I could barely speak.

"You have to, Ibis. You’ll die." He said softly.

I’d rather have died... but he was too close. And I was too weak. God, he smelled delicious. I parted my lips and fastened onto his neck, he gasped at the immediate pain. My venom worked quickly.

I felt his hand grip my back, urging me on. He needn’t have...Tess was right.

I would kill him. He tasted too good. My whole body hummed with it.

 

*****

 

I felt someone pull me away and Will fell over like a stone.

"That’s enough!" Tess had been saying it to me, but I’d ignored her.

"Will you be able to keep him from turning?" Sylvia asked, again from far away.

"I don’t know. She may have taken too much..."

"I don’t understand why you won’t just..."

"-Because it’s what my daughter wants." Tess said.

 

*****

 

When I was fully aware...I was on my sofa.

Tess sat next to me and Stephen too but...

"Where’s Will?" I sat up, alarmed.

"In your room, sleeping." Tess said.

"...Is he?"

She looked at Stephen. "We don’t know yet."

I was stricken. "You shouldn’t have brought him."

"We had no choice. Your body craved his for reason, Ibis. His blood is suited for you. In your state any other human’s blood might not have saved you."

"...And Clara?"

"She’s in my room. Her body seems to be free from Thad’s venom."

"What happened?"

They explained that the metal Thad had used on me should have killed me immediately, but for my gift...but I still needed human blood to heal.

The only one for whom it would not have had to be taken forcibly was Will’s. Will who had volunteered to exchange his life for my own.

Tess had saved Clara. I knew how. She was old enough to be able to control the flow of her venom. She simply removed what was already there.

She’d interrupted before Thad had done any real damage, but in my case...I had needed more blood in my condition.

"I need to see him."

"No, you’re not fully recovered yet..." I pushed through and entered my room.

He was pale, ashen...He looked like he was having the worst nightmare of his life. I sat next to him and held his hand. It was very cold.

"He’s..."

"-He may still be alright. At this point he should be much further along."

But I could see she didn’t really believe that. Would he forgive me?










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