siege

            Remy sees bodies on the floor, and blood, people running.  The scene before her plays out quickly, slivers of images as she gets in a defensive position, watching for attacks.  The blood is everywhere. A splattering of it arches across her face as someone who is wounded careens by her.

“LENA!” she calls out without thought.  She spots a Strigoi just a few feet from her, his teeth are sunk in a young woman’s neck and she convulses as he feeds.  She searches the room again, her eyes light on the sickle and she dashes for it.  Shoving aside people as she does, spinning on her feet as the Strigoi reaches for her, his teeth bared.  She snarls at him.  His eyes widen.  She takes the opportunity granted to her and tears the sickle from the wall, in one hard movement she lobs his head off.  A gush of blood spurts as the body solidifies and falls to the side in a shattering thud.

            She catches sight of Lena across the room.  In her hand is a broadsword, her eyes ablaze with passion and fight.  Remy freezes.  In awe for just a moment as Lena runs from the oncoming Strigoi, takes two leaping steps against the wall, and flips over the Strigoi’s head.  Before her feet, now bare of the heels she’d been wearing, hit the ground she slices the Strigoi’s head off in mid-flip.  It collapses to the ground, the head rolling off to the side. 

            Lena looks around the room, brandishing the sword.  Their eyes meet and Remy smiles, Lena shrugs and gives Remy a smile so small and shy that Remy’s breathe ceases to come.  A body collides with hers and it’s Dom.  She hands him the sickle.  “What the hell is going on, Rem?”

            “No clue, kill them all,” says Remy.  She scans the room.  “Where is Dax?”

            “Getting everyone out to the water.  Papa and Mama are with him, I made sure of it,” says Dom.  His jacket is off and he has stripped off the white shirt, leaving him in a thin cotton tee shirt, which is covered in blood and gore already.  “I got two already.”

            “Lena!” calls out Remy.  As Remy passes a closed door, a hidden Strigoi explodes through it.  Remy rears her hand back, catches it in the throat, and tears half of it out, tendons and muscles dangle from the now open wound.  The monster roars gutturally.  Remy ducks and Dom finishes it off with the sickle.

            “Jesus, Remy, how did you do that?”

            “Practice,” says Remy, her voice deep and dark now.  She sniffs the air.  “There are two more, at least.  Both male.  Lena, kitchen with me.  Dom, go upstairs and get my groom to be, bring him a sword too.  Let’s go all medieval on these bastards, shall we?”

            Dom nods.  He dashes out of the room, most of the party goers are gone now, Remy hopes they are safe.  She finally picks her way through the arms and legs of the fallen to reach Lena’s side.  “With me?” asks Remy.

            “Always,” says Lena.

            Remy takes the lead.  No weapon, her senses leading her to the Strigoi that must have gone into the kitchen to go after the wait staff.  Lena places a hand on Remy’s shoulder, sticking close.  The trembling in her fingers alerts Remy that Lena may be acting like a warrior, but that she is still a girl.  Remy reaches back, covering her hand with her own.  “Lena, just follow me, don’t engage unless I falter.”

            “You never falter.”

            “And there you have it,” whispers Remy.  They advance slowly, and as Remy’s hand reaches out to the double swinging door of the kitchen she hears a slurping sound.  Then the sound of more tearing flesh and whimpers and pleading.  Remy closes her eyes.  A flash of something behind her darkened lids makes her gasp.

            Adrian.

            He’d been heading to the kitchen.

            Remy abandons stealth and shoves through the doors.  She zeros in on the Strigoi, there are two of them, one a hunk of a man, bared chest, muscles bulging; his skin covered in bits of flesh and blood. 

            The other Strigoi is lean, almost elegant and is holding Adrian by the neck.  “One more step and I snap his little neck.”

rock – hard place

            Remy shuffles her feet, pointing them in the direction she wants to head.  How fast can she move?  Can she cover the distance between her and Adrian before the Strigoi breaks his fragile neck?  Her body shivers with the anticipation of the moment, but she has to be quick, quicker than a blood sucking fiend.

            The hulk drops the white tuxedo clad waiter at his feet.  The mailbag thump of his body against the ground makes Lena flinch at Remy’s side. 

            “Your move,” says the hulking monstrosity. 

            Remy’s lips curl up into a sneer.  It is her move after all, but what is she going to do?

            The muscle bound Strigoi takes a step back, colliding with the long table, food spilling onto the floor in a clattering symphony.  Glints of light against the silverware catch Remy’s eye but she tries to ignore it, wondering if it’s silver.  Silver causes and allergic reaction with Strigoi, it won’t kill them but the purity of the metal certainly causes a severe reaction. 

            The lean Strigoi pulls on Adrian’s head and the boy whimpers.  But he’s silent otherwise. 

            “Shhhh, Adrian,” says Remy.  Her eyes flitter around the room, spotting the home security cameras in two corners of the room.  Great, there are eyes on them now.  She reaches back, her fingers on Lena’s wrist.  She begins to tap out her plan in Morse code.  Lena shudders under her touch. 

            “What do you want?” asks Remy.  “For the boy?”

            “For this,” asks the lean Strigoi?  His hair falls into his eyes as he leans forward.  He lifts Adrian off his feet and the boy howls and kicks out, his body bucking hard but the effort is futile. 

            “Stop it!” orders Remy.  How on earth had they gotten into the house, how had these blood sucking monsters gotten into Miami?  None of this made much sense to her, but it wasn’t the time to try and figure it out.  It was time for action not for playing Sherlock Holmes. 

            “I want more,” says the Strigoi. “We want more, more of this wonderful Rom blood.  So tasty!  Want to give me that?”

            “We can’t let him,” says Lena in a whisper. 

            “Do as I tell you,” whispers Remy.  “Now!”

            Remy leaps at the large beast that is to her left, colliding painfully with him, sending them both to the floor.  Her fists driving into his chest, once, twice, on the third strike her fists breaks through the skin and bone.  She hears the scuffle behind her.  Her fingers dig at the muscle while the monster writhes under her, his fists connecting but she feels nothing.  She finds the pulse of the heart just as she hears the death scream coming from Adrian.  The sound of the body hitting the ground and Lena dealing her own death blows to the other Strigoi. 

            Remy’s fingers wrap around the riveting pulse of the heart as his fists slams into her head, sending her reeling to the right.  She tears his heart from his chest, her arm covered in his dark blood to the elbow, a thick scarlet glove.  She spins away, throwing the heart at him as he screams. 

            “Remy, quick!”

            “Take the cameras out!” order Remy, her voice is deep and almost unrecognizable.  She scrambles to Adrian’s side, slipping in the blood that coats the floor in thick rivers of death and she crashes down next to the boy.  She pushes back his silken black hair, the same hair as Stefan, leaving trails of blood on his otherwise perfect skin.  She looks up to see Lena making short order of the cameras, leaping up the almost impossible height and smashing it with her bare hands.  She then rushes to close the doors of the kitchen, her green eyes darting left and right, making sure she’s covered everything. 

            “Be quick,” says Lena. 

            “I’m going to…”

            “I know, do it!” says Lena.  “He’s someone’s little brother just like I’m someone’s little sister, now quit your talking and do it!”

            Remy braces herself.  She places both hands on his chest and calls out to the pinprick of a soul that still hovers close, so very close as if it had known what she was going to do.  Bright, as bright as Lena’s ever was, but not tinted in the same colors as Lena, or Fritz, or even his own brother Stefan.  Remy heals his body, it’s swift and the drain is a drop of what she’s used before.  Come back, Adrian, come back to Stefan, don’t leave just….

            The thought is broken off as Adrian gasps for air under her fingertips.  His eyes flash open and lock with Remy’s.  “That was wicked,” he says.

            Remy falls back onto her ass, breaking contact, she fights the darkness that tries to pull her down.  The world turns into a pinprick of light in an otherwise dark world and she fights it, she’s never fought it before but this time – this time she rages against the cloak that threatens to wrap her in its arms.  “Lena,” whispers Remy before she passes out.

the unexplainable

            She wakes only a moment later, the room swirls as she wakes and her eyes refuse to focus so she tries to feel what is going on around her.  Lena is cradling her head and Adrian going on about how cool it all was.  Her body is like a wet blanket against Lena, lax and floppy.

            “You’re awake,” says Lena softly.  “I didn’t want to leave you or send Adrian out for help.”

            “I guess so,” says Remy.  The ache however is not gone, it pounds to her bones and she feels weary.  “We should go find Stefan….”

            “We’re right here,” says Stefan, his voice filled with emotion.  He is by her side.  She hadn’t felt him next to her she’d only felt Lena.  Adrian is holding Stefan’s hand.  Her world is still unfocused and her senses are in turmoil. 

            “Dom?”

            “Guarding the door, he called Dax, who is on his way.  They are all gone, we got two and there was one upstairs,” says Lena.  “Rem, are you okay?”

            Remy eases to her feet with Lena’s help, their arms intertwining with no effort.  Her dress in tatters, and her bones ache, but she feels fine.  How on earth has this happened?  She’s usually out for hours if not days.  “Yeah, I think so.”  She is covered in blood and its beginning to dry, making her feel sick to her stomach.  It reminds of her of the other times she’s been covered in blood, and once in the blood of her mother.  She feels the bile rising to her throat.  

            Victor rushes through the door and comes to an abrupt halt when he sees Remy standing.  “Is everyone all right?”

            “Yes,” says Stefan.  “Grandfather went into his safe room, and Dom and I cornered the last one upstairs.  He’s down.  How did they get in here?”

            “Good question,” says Remy wearily.  She catches Victor’s eye.  “But for another time.  We have some cleaning up to do.  Get C, we’ll need him to help with this.”

            Stefan nods.  He scoops Adrian up into his arms.  His brother wraps his arms around Stefan’s neck.  Much like Lena used to do with her.  Remy looks away. 

            “Thank you,” says Stefan.

            “What for?” asks Remy, perplexed.

            “Saving my brother, now both the Zeko sons are in your debt.”

            Remy shrugs.  “It’s what we do for family.”

leave

            C is swift in calling a brigade of other Rom to clean up the mess that had been made of his home.  It makes Remy wonder if this had been planned, her mind keeps flicking to those very dangerous thought.  He arranges for cars for those still alive, and whispers order left and right. 

            Remy sits on the stairs and watches with her family.  It’s too well orchestrated.  But her mind is so muddled she can hardly form a coherent thought, much less attempt to ferret out what had happened.

            C comes over to them, extending his hand to Stefan.  “Son, you were brave.”

            Remy looks over to him, Adrian asleep in his lap, her eyebrows quirk up, it was true, he had been pretty brave.  Stefan takes his hand.  “Thank you, Grandfather.”

            “I will arrange for a place…”

            “No,” says Stefan.  “I have a room where the Roma are staying.  I’m bringing Adrian with me.  It’s safe there, we are all hunters; I don’t want him here.”

            “The child stays here,” says C in a deep voice.

            “He comes with us,” hisses Lena.  Her gaze, still lit with Pricolici power meets C’s eyes.  “Stefan needs his family now, and he is as safe with us as he is here.  Obviously, Adrian needs Stefan.”

            A tall man comes over to C, whispering to him behind a cupped hand.  Remy cocks her head.  While C is distracted, she stands.  “To the hotel, I need to clean up, I’m about to die right here.”

            Lena’s head snaps up.  “Remy?”

            She waves her hand.  “A saying, I’m fine, I think.  Bring Adrian.  Papa, are you all right?”

            Victor nods.  In the opening moments of the skirmish he’d been wounded, but the long slice along his upper arm is bandaged and just a hue of pink bleeds through the white gauze. 

            Remy reaches out and touches Dax’s cheek, which is scraped.  “You?”

            “Right as rain, sister.”

            They make their way to the side of the house, Stefan in the lead.  He doesn’t bother with the cars that are parked in the front of the house.  Instead he heads for the large garage.  He presses several buttons on the keypad and the doors open.  They venture inside. He picks a large white van so that they can all be accommodated; the keys are in the ignition.  As Remy pulls up the rear, Lena just a step in front of her, she sees a large black car, with deep tinted windows.  She detours to the car, her fingers touching the hood, caressing it.  Cadillac.  Tinted windows.  Large trunk.  She sniffs the air. 

            “What?” asks Lena, fluttering to her side. 

            “Nothing.”

            Lena’s fingers find Remy’s hand and she eases her away from the car.  Remy and Lena sit in the 3rd row with Dominic as they pull out of the garage, Remy memorizes the license plate number of the car – it’s from Washington State. 

cleansing

            “I am fine,” says Remy to Stefan for what feels like the 100th time.

            “I can put him to bed and…”

            “No,” says Remy.  “I’m fine.  I’m going to wash and go to bed.  You’re not my husband yet, now take care of your little brother.”

            “Did you, did you heal him?” asks Stefan in a small voice.

            Remy nods curtly.  “He wasn’t dead,” lied Remy.

            She hears his breath hitch.  “Thank you.”

            “Go to bed, we’ll talk in the morning.”

            He nods; he kisses his fingers and places the fingers on her lips.  He disappears into his room and the door locks. 

            Remy walks a few more yards to her room. She slips the keycard into the slot and after the second try she gets it open.  She stumbles into the room, before she can close the door Dax is there.  “Remy, let me look you over.”

            “No,” says Remy.  “I need to wash then rest, get out of here, Daxton.”

            “Ohhh, full names, you mustn’t be hurt.  Did you heal him?  How did you heal him and not pass out?”

            Remy shoves him out the door, her eyelids already heavy.  “Get out, get out, I need to be alone.  I can’t think right now, but I’m on my feet, I’ll be fine, brother.”

            “But…”

            She closes the door on his words.  She leans back into the door and shudders.  Hardly able to stay on her feet, she edges towards the bathroom door of the large room.  She makes it to the door, fumbling with the zipper of the now tattered dress.  She wants warm water and she wants to be clean. 

            “Let me help.”

            Remy spins around into Lena’s arms.  She covers Remy’s lips with her fingers, understanding in her green eyes.  She gently turns Remy around and instead of trying to unzip the dress she simply tears the weakened fabric.  This causes a heated shudder to rush through Remy.  The remains of the dress pool at her feet in a stinking puddle.  Remy steps out of the dress, her eyes unable to focus on the blue and tan tiles of the floor.  Lena steps around her and turns on the water of the tub on. 

            “Come on,” says Lena.  She helps Remy into the tub, her fingers steady and true.  The water warm and soothing, and Remy moans at the sensation, the water laps at her feet and calves. 

            “I’m a mess.”

            “Yeah,” says Lena lightly, “but I’m used to you being a mess.”

            Remy laughs but the laughter sends rivets of pain through her.  Lena has her lean back, she stands and takes the shower head down and begins to wash the grime and ick from Remy’s hair.  The water turns a sickly pink.  Lena lets the water out of the tub and continues to wash Remy’s hair, putting aside the sprayer to lather her chestnut colored hair.  Remy finds herself drifting off unable to keep her eyes open, the roughness of a washcloth on her legs wakes her. 

            “I’m getting off the worst of it,” says Lena softly. 

            Remy eases into a sitting position.  Lena’s eyes widen. 

            “I’m okay, really.”

            “You’re not.  This is the first time you’ve ever healed someone and not been out like a light for hours, if not days.”

            “He wasn’t too far gone,” says Remy, her voice thick and tired.

            “Uhhuh, shut up and lean back.” 

            Remy smiles and does as she’s told.

            The thick lather of soap is sprayed away and Lena refills the tub with fresh, clean water.  Hotter than the first tub full and Remy relaxes for the first time in hours.  She creeps her eyes open and sees that Lena, while in fresh clothes is still as filthy as she was.  “You’re still dirty.”

            Lena nods. 

            Remy sits up, water sloshing over the side, full awake and she reaches for Lena.  Her fingers touch the dried blood on her cheek.  Her dark hair, that hangs at just her shoulder, was spared from most of the blood spray from the dying Strigoi.  She sees its one of the boy’s tee shirts, white, and much too large for Lena.  Hiding her curves and her womanhood.  Lena’s eyes follow the trail of her fingers.  Remy reaches down and tugs the shirt upward, Lena raises her arms, letting Remy remove the shirt.  Without speaking, Lena stands up and lets the shorts she’s wearing drop to the floor.  Remy edges back in the tub, making room in the large tub for Lena to sit in front of her.  More hot water sloshes over the side as Lena sits between Remy’s legs.