Chapter 16

    The mood in their new house was depressed. Of all the things that were going on, they were the ones who were safer. However, they were the ones who knew the least. Dee kept having the same conversation with Miki. They would start on a different subject, it would always lead back to how they could get back home. Not to the city, but back to their rez. Katrina always listened to those conversations and ran through the ideas in her mind. What would make them feel bad about doubting their decisions was the way Bev was handling it all. Her range of moods swung through the wide range of them. Always ending with depression about being stuck somewhere that wasn't home.
    “Come on, you got to find it on somewhere.”
    Katrina was sitting in the living room watching the news on TV. Dee and Miki were sitting in front of the monitor of the computer in the small dip where there was a pool table before. They were watching a hockey broadcast that got cut off in the middle, they were frantically searching the internet for another feed. Dee looking through all the websites she knew of, not all of them strictly legal. Miki was there cheering her on, they were missing a good game that wasn't on TV.
    Bev was in her room, hopefully not broadcasting where they were to the world. They had enough fights about the whole thing. Bev wanting to call Earl to come and get her, to bring her home. To just call home to talk to somebody who didn't hate her. Bev knew, she remembered, what was at stake. She was the one who saw a man die, watched a long time friend turned vampire feed on that man's blood. Still, somewhere in her mind, it didn't concern her if she didn't want it to.
    “I know, look, it's near the end of the second, we got time.” Dee's fingers clacked across the keyboard.
    “Why the hell would they sell us a package with all the hockey channels then block out the ones we want to watch?” Miki pointed at a link she saw. “Try that one.”
    “I don't know. It's a regional thing.” Dee tried the link, it was broken.
    “We could get it if we were-”
    “Oh for gosh sakes, don't start again. You're starting to sound like B-” Dee cut off Miki, she didn't need to hear another argument about home.
    “No I don't.” Miki started to hear herself, she did sound a little like Bev, but with less swearing and yelling.
    “I'm sorry.” Dee put her arm around Miki's shoulder and pushed they keyboard away. “You try.”
    Katrina felt bad for Miki. She always did her best to make them all like each other. She never really asked for anything, just was happy to know everybody else was happy. So it cut right through Katrina when she saw Dee holding her little sister close. Miki would never complain, but they could tell she missed home. Katrina almost laughed, she was probably making it out to be a lot worse than it really was. After all, the lives they left was a life long paid vacation, they had a satchel full of money. Nice house, what was there really to feel bad about.
    “...and the coach is yelling at the ref that it should count as a time-out. That the other bench is just stalling, giving their players time to rest after icing the puck. Four-forty left in the second, home team down by one, we'll be right back after these messages.”
    Miki found a feed that worked and they both cheered. Dee ran into the kitchen and then asked if anybody wanted anything. Katrina put on a music channel and pulled a chair up beside Miki. Dee sat back down and the game started. Katrina didn't really understand the game too much. Just the basic rules, but she couldn't help but get caught up in the excitement. Dee and Miki jumping up and down and screaming at the screen. Katrina just laughing at their exuberance.

    Derrik spent a whole day wandering the streets. Up and down each one, there was a empty bus that ran around and around. He hopped on that and took the tour around the town. Nothing. He was at the right place, just that there were a lot of place to hide. He got a make and model of Katrina's car, but that didn't help. There were so many houses hidden in the trees. The damn places dotted the hills all around the bulk of the city.
    What made the task go a lot slower than it had to was his need to try and blend in. He could easily sprint as fast as the cars speeding by up at the highway, but he had to walk everywhere. Maybe after night fall, he could start searching the driveways of the houses along the hills. At least he could do that a lot faster. He knew how to hide in the trees.
    Every once in a while, Derrik would take a look around. They said that there was going to be eyes on him every second he was inside the safe zone, but he never seen anybody that looked like they were watching him. The day gave out and it gave Derrik a lot to do, there was a lot of traffic. It took his mind off the clock and the supposed eyes that were always on him.
    The small city had a mini rush hour so he went somewhere to watch all the vehicles shuffle about the city. The car he was looking for would definitely stand out in the hustle and bustle. It would be hard to miss among the rides of the lower class. Their minivans, pickups, and reasonable sedans. A lot with carrying degrees of rust, but still getting the job done of getting their passengers here and there.
    Eventually, Derrik made his way to the busiest night time place there was at most small Canadian towns and cities. There was, of course, a hockey arena and the parking lot was so packed that people took to parking anywhere they could squeeze their vehicle. Derrik took a quick look around and decided to go look inside. It was a good place to get a lay of the land.
    The place was a complex with two ice rinks side by side. The area leading to both sides was pretty busy. Parents getting their kids ready for a game or a practice. Adults just mulling around waiting, looked like the local minor league team was getting set to play a hated rival. A small crowd waited around the small equipment store that was located in the arena. There was a small television bolted to the wall, a hockey game was playing. There was an argument of whether one coach really should lose a time-out for what he just did. Before heading back out, Derrik went and looked in the smaller rink. The Zamboni was just getting off the ice.
    Nothing. Derrik looked at the sea of changing faces all around the rink. Again, he went out and looked at the vehicles in the parking lot. Then began to walk the streets again. Taking shortcuts wherever he could. A biting question kept coming to him, why not ask the guys who brought him for help? The answer always came back that he was already on the edge with those guys.

    What Katrina liked was having was a garage, with a garage door. She decided that she would hide the car for a while. They had their regular phones on while they waited for a call or a message, anything. They didn't call out though. The calls they got were mostly the regular spam. Messages, even more spam. Katrina had a lot more patience than Bev, but even she wanted to get out pretty soon. Bev was starting to bounce off the walls.
    The thing about having a case full of cash was that it was mostly in hundreds. They were burning through the small denominations and the few times they tried to use a crisp hundred, they only got funny looks. All of the places around town wouldn't take hundreds. They didn't want to start using their credit cards, it was only pushing the problem back and risking their anonymity. Trying to hide the car, they ran into interesting problems.
    Like, how to get around. Taxi drivers wouldn't touch the bills. The bus didn't stop in their “neighbourhood”. It was a walk along the main highway for about five kilometers just to get to the mall. Let alone the theater, the arena, the bars, and LeAnn's office. So, in the interest of keeping the peace, and wanting to get the hell out of the house and away from Bev, Katrina offered to go and see LeAnn. Of course, soon as she offered it, they all said they wanted to go.
    What they found was that as adept at LeAnn was at everything she did, she wasn't as well versed in money laundering. Which did seem like a bit extensive considering. LeAnn, Dee, and Miki had to try and explain it to Katrina in that sense. For the first time, Katrina and Bev were in agreement. Yes, they had to try and stay hidden, at least for a while. LeAnn would exchange money with them, but she only made so much. Which was still a lot compared to the average salary in the area, but split four ways, it didn't go far. They needed to find somebody to talk to about their old life. They could only depend on LeAnn for so long before something had to give.

    Derrik was finding it hard to concentrate on his task. The need to finish it and the need to feed. It was only a losing battle that he knew was a count down to his own demise if he couldn't find the girls. His thoughts were turning to pools of red, the pulse of surging blood. He would always have to remind himself that he was being watched, but that was becoming less and less important. Deliver a message, also less and less important. He would find himself reverting to a pure hunting mode, looking for prey.
    It took a while for Derrik to realize he was stalking four women walking along a dirt road that ran around behind the arena. The dirt road went down and joined the street behind the 'grocery store', but the women decided to cut across a small park. The park was about an acre of grass and sparsely populated with large fir. The park stretched from an apartment complex all the way to the mall. Needless to say, in the summer days, it was a nice place to bring the kids. Anytime it started to get dark, it was a dangerous place to be. With the sun already over the horizon, it was dark enough for even Derrik to know it was a bad idea for anyone to cut across the park. You never know who might be following.
    They were getting to a spot where it would be hard for witnesses from the road, the highway, the apartment complex, the mall, and the 'grocery store' to see anything happen. It seemed a perfect place for predators to strike. For the women, it was lucky that it wasn't Derrik who did it. There was a small commotion then a lot of shouting. There were three guys who were wrestling two of the women, trying to pull away purses and shopping bags. Derrik looked around, there was nobody watching.
    The surge of excitement that hit him went from the back of his head all the way down to his tailbone. Derrik couldn't help but grin. He couldn't take any of them out in the open like they were, but he could pick one and follow. Follow then there would be a perfect time. A voice in the back of his mind told him that he had to check their faces. The way the realization that he found who he was looking for hit him in a few different ways. It meant he could deliver his message and leave, it meant he was losing his opportunity. Anger and gladness argued inside him.
    Still, he couldn't deliver his message if anything happened to them and the situation was getting out of control. One of the guys, looked to be smaller and younger, was trying to wrestle something out of his pocket. The other two had pushed one of the women away and were keying on the one Derrik had been looking for. She was throwing her feet at them. Trying to bite and punch and kick and scratch. The other three were yelling.
    The guy in the background yanked his hand out of his pocket and wrestled the blade out of the fold. A hunting knife after all. Derrik was glad, knives were quiet and a gun shot would draw attention. They were near the police station. The guy with the knife started to advance, the three women started moving towards him, they saw the knife, but didn't care.
    One second, they were looking at a guy with a knife. His eyes were wide and his mouth pulled down in the corners. Obviously, he was the most scared so he was starting to lose his cool. The next second, after seeing the guy with the knife take a few steps towards Katrina, they were looking at the back of some guy's jacket. One of the women let out a whoop, another let out a guffaw.
    Derrik yanked the knife out of the guys hand and crumbled it like paper. The sound of metal grinding with the wood of the handle was loud. He dropped it to the ground and turned to the other two guys. They had let go of Katrina, she moved over beside Dee, they stood there with smiles on their faces. The other two guys didn't see what happened to the knife so they were threatening the guy who appeared out of nowhere. They really had no idea. The guy with the knife turned to run and bumped into another guy who must have walked up behind them in the fray. Things seemed to go from bad to worse, there were even more people showing up.
    “Hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa there buddy.” One of the two new guys who snuck up stopped the guy from running. “Where we going?”
    Derrik knew these two new guys though, one was the driver, the other was his buddy who rode with them.
    “Nowhere, to the arena.” The little guy said. “We didn't f*****g do anything wrong, we were just walking and these b*****s tried to rob us!”
    “Hey, now, that's not nice, is it?” The driver said in a calm voice. “What's your name?”
    “Ed,” everybody wanted to laugh when the little guy stuck out his hand, “Eddie, everybody calls me Ed though.”
    “Hi Ed! I'm Benny. This here is my friend Carl.” The driver, Benny, took Ed's hand and shook it with vigour, then he nodded to the passenger, Carl.
    Carl reached out and shook Ed's hand.
    “And you two are?” Benny looked over at the other two big guys.
    “F**k you.” One of the spat in Benny's direction.
    “Well, F**k and You. You're in trouble. Our man, Derrik here, is guardian of these lovely ladies.” Benny had a big smile on his face.
    “Guarding for what? So they can rob us?” One of the big guys said and shrugged.
    “Ed, my friend, is that really what this was for?” Benny kicked a little ball of metal that was laying on the ground. “Kind of looks like those two were holding her for you. And, were you really going to stab her?” Benny held the little guy by the shoulders and looked into his eyes.
    “Yes!” Katrina yelled.
    “Oh, sounds like it might have been.” Benny said, then turned Ed around. “Do you want us to tell Derrik here to do to you what he did with your knife?”
    “What he do?” One of the big lunks mumbled.
    Benny bent and picked the crushed remains of the knife up and tossed them over to him.
    “He didn't-” The big lunk saw the thing disappear from his hand.
    Derrik was holding it up, then rubbed it into his palm with his thumb. Little sparkles from the flakes of metal shone as they fell to the ground.
    “See?” Benny raised his upturned hands. “And we are here to make sure Derrik here doesn't hurt anybody on his visit. Right?”
    Derrik only nodded.
    “Now you three shitheads look, and look careful because we're going to be watching you. Look at the faces here and you tell your friends that these people are under our protection.” Benny's smile was gone, he looked pissed as hell.
    “F**k you.” The big lunk drew back his fist and swung for Derrik's face.
    Derrik watched him do it, it took so long for his fist to get close that he could see that he was going to actually miss. So Derrik leaned over and headbutted the lunk's fist. He could hear bones snap in his hand. As gently as he could, he slapped the broken fist away. More bones snapped in the lunk's wrist when Derrik hit it. The other big guy had drawn a knife and Derrik watched that in slow motion, he let it hit. He wanted to let the guy's hand slide up the knife and slice his own fingers with the force of the blow, but he would lose his mind. Before that could happen, Derrik wrapped his hand around the guy's hand and squeezed. He didn't think it was hard enough to break bones, but it made his grin when he felt the small bones crackle in his fist.
    “Okay, okay, I think that's enough.” Benny stepped before something bad happened, he turned to Ed. “You remember what I said. We'll be watching.”
    Benny gathered up the two big guys and Ed and lead them off back towards the arena. Carl watched as they left. The chatter that Benny kept up was light, but threatening. Telling the guys where they lived and who their family and friends were so they might remember. That their hands wound heal. That it was sad that they didn't understand the situation and only listened to the message if there was violence involved. When they got out of sight, Carl turned to Derrik.
    “That was too damn close, you're pushing it. Do your f*****g business, we need to get moving soon. Your twenty-four hour pass has been cut, we're needed south and you'll be with us. This bullshit is more than we need to deal with now. You know where we'll be waiting.” Carl turned and left.

    Katrina suddenly understood why Ryn told them to go to Wilkins Lake. Carl just scolded a vampire like he was no threat at all. Worse, Bev knew that look in Derrik's eyes. She saw it on Ryn's before. There were a million questions running through her mind. All of which would probably go unanswered since those two other guys left.
    “We need to go somewhere private. Where are you staying?” Derrik turned and looked at them after watching Carl get out of sight.
    “We're about a forty-five minute walk from there. We can get a cab I think.” Katrina pulled out her temporary phone and dialed information.
    “Yes, if we can get there quicker.” Derrik twitched, he was fighting to keep from reverting to a state where he wouldn't remember what he was doing. “Faster is better. Please.”
    They picked up their scattered goods and made for the road behind the 'grocery store'. There was a cab waiting there, it took only a few minutes to get back to where they lived. To Derrik,it took so long, he could swear that he could smell their blood every time he inhaled. With his senses ratcheted up to near max, it was an avalanche on the senses. Everything was too bright. The stench of everything mixed together. The smell of a thousand people that rode in the taxi, all the products they used, the smells all hit him at once. The taxi pulled up and Derrik was out before anyone else. He wanted to sprint, he took a few shaky steps then evened out as he got used to it all.
    Katrina was the first to the door and fiddled her keys out.
    “Katrina?” A voice came from beside her, very low. She turned and looked.
    “Yes.” Katrina realized that she never said who she as.
    Derrik stood there, he looked worried, his smile looked forced. He seemed to jitter in his skin, like he needed to run, but was stopping himself from doing it. He smiled and it made her nervous, it was the smile of someone damned for his curse. It had the psychotic need inside it, like a dam about to burst.
    “Is this,” his head swiveled, it scared Katrina to see him do it the way he did, mechanical and maniacal, like a starving predator, “this your house? I have a message and I have to go.”
    “Yes, come in. Quick.” Katrina saw the guy was on the verge of losing it.
    “Ryn sent me.” Derrik stepped inside in front of Katrina.
    They were inside before Bev could complain that they just let a starving vampire into their house.
    “Damn it, Bev, shut the f**k up!” Katrina had to yell over Bev's warnings. “You have a message?”
    “Yes. Now you need to listen because I can't go through this too much, I need to leave, it's not safe for me here.” Derrik sat down the box.
    “Why?” Bev asked.
    “For f**k sakes, Bev, shut up!” Katrina shouted in Bev's face.
    “You were sent here because of that reason. There is a group of people that made this area a safe place against many things. Vampires being one of them. The leader gave me an example and nearly sliced my fingers off before I could do anything. You see how they treat us, we're despised and disposable. They warned me that I'm to deliver my message and leave, nothing else. So I can't feed, if I do, they're always watching and they'd kill me. That's what is keeping you safe, they are. Ryn sent you here because he knew that vampires weren't welcome and easily killed here. We don't know much about what's going on at home, just that we are being hunted. I heard stories that the strongest vampires were the first ones killed and the hunter, the grey man, is probably coming north to kill the rest of the clan. Kin included, that's you. Ryn said that if you lay low for a while, you should be okay. Just don't call attention to yourselves. You're not totally safe here because the grey man can get through the border of this place. But he has to find you first. Mimyr said that you might even be safe from him if you don't try to contact us. Just live your lives, he said. But Ryn seemed more worried about it, he wanted to tell you to just stay out of sight for a while to make sure. Got it?”
    “Can we go home?” Bev's one track mind would have to be the first to ignore everything Derrik just said.
    “No, this has to be your home now.” Derrik was already moving towards the door.
    “Okay.” Katrina nodded. “One question, is Ryn okay?”
    Derrik stopped beside her and took a long look into her eyes, “I don't really know. He went with Mimyr to the east somewhere. I'm done, I don't know where I'm going. I figure south west, I know a guy down there. I need a ride to those two guys, they can get me out of here safely, I think.”
    “I can give you a ride.” Katrina held up her keys.
    Derrik looked at Dee, she was hugging Miki close. After he told them that they would have to call the place home, Miki started sobbing.
    “There is one thing, Ryn wanted me to give you something, but I don't know if I can.” Derrik looked to Katrina.
    “What is it?”
    Derrik closed his eyes an took a deep breath, they could see he was gathering his will. He squared himself in front of Katrina. She wondered if she should have asked. Derrik leaned forward and stopped halfway, again, he took a deep breath and shook his head.
    Derrik could hear Katrina's heart thumping faster. His mind was racing thoughts of dripping red. A searing need that felt so strong he could give into it and everything would be done. Too late to go back. All four of them to feed on. They wouldn't even make it to the door. Here was one though, Kin, just standing there just for him. He didn't know where the thoughts were coming from, but he knew it. Kin belonged to those like him, he could use her. He leaned forward until he could feel the heat coming off of Katrina. Sensual would be the best way to put it, he wanted her. Not in any sexual way, but in the most intimate way. Feel her warmth washing down into his throat, into him. He shuddered when he felt her breath brush his neck. He took a deep breath again and mechanically turned his head to press his lips on her cheek. Katrina sighed, a hot tear rolled down her cheek when it touched Derrik, that's when he pulled away.
    “We need,” Derrik wiped away Katrina's tear and he shuddered, they could feel it shake the floor beneath their feet, “need to go now.”

    Even if Derrik hadn't told her, Katrina was waiting for the garage door to open so she could drive him. Bev locked the door behind them, it made Katrina laugh. Derrik directed her along the road, across the two bridges. One over the railway tracks, the other over the streak from the lake. Then to the same little motel that they stopped at when they arrived. Derrik didn't even stop to say anything, just stepped out of the car and walked straight to the motel office. He waved his hand at her, telling her to go.
    Katrina was gone before he was inside the office. His movements were jerky and hard to control. The office employee asked twice what he was looking for before looking at a yellow sticky note. He mulled over the few words before telling Derrik where his friends were. Derrik wanted to smash his hand through the guy's face, but turned and left.
    They were on the ground floor of the two floor complex, Derrik knocked and waited. To him, it seemed like he waited for five minutes, but in reality, it was only fifteen seconds. He knocked again and just pushed the door open, cracking the door jam and the door. The manager of the motel would probably want money for fixing it, but it wasn't Derrik's fault. He was being patient and the people inside were just taking their damn time.