The Loners

Rachel sighed again, her eyes scanning the area. She was thankful that it was still dark out and everyone was sleeping soundly in their cars. It would have been very difficult to resolve this particular issue from the way it looks if an outsider was looking in.

"So, uh, what are the odds of this?" Alan asked awkwardly.

"About the same as getting struck by lightning, hitting the lottery, getting eaten by a shark, take your pick." Rachel answered, a mix of sarcasm and annoyance.

The girl that was tied and gagged in the trunk of the car continued to stare at them, wide eyed and frozen in place.

Alan turned to Rachel. "What do you want to do?" Alan asked.

Rachel stared at the girl, then shook her head and sighed. "I don't know, let's just get the restraints off first."

Rachel leaned forward to the girl, who was backing up in fear.

"Listen, if I take off your restraints and gag, can you promise to behave and not do anything like scream?" Rachel asked seriously.

"H-hey! Go easy on her, she's probably scared out of her mind right now." Alan said to Rachel, who noticed that Rachel had little to no sympathy.

"And what about our situation!? I'm sorry, but we don't have time to try and baby sit this poor girl. Look, I feel bad about her situation, I really do. But, at the same time, if we don't resolve this quickly, then they'll find us. And frankly, they'll kill her for just knowing us." Rachel shot back.

The girl let out a small scream through her gag. 'They'll kill her just for knowing us.' What is that supposed to mean?

Rachel turned to the girl. "Will you behave?" Rachel asked again.

The girl was still for a few moments, then slowly nodded.

"Okay, Alan, help me."

Alan and Rachel removed the girl's restraints, and they helped her out of the trunk.

She then stood before them, and the two parties were able to appraise the other.

She looked young enough to either be an early college student or even a high school student with dirty blonde hair that reached a little past her shoulders, and sparkling blue eyes. She was also small, the top of her head barely reaching Alan's chin. The rest of her frame for the most part was also small, though she didn't appear to be starving. The part of her that wasn't small, however, was her chest. At first glance, Alan thought that her chest might actually be bigger than Rachel's, and, even more interesting, they seemed perfectly natural on the girl.

The girl also possessed a very cute face, though it was stricken with fear at the moment. She was also wearing extremely short shorts, along with a shirt that didn't stretch over her body completely and was riding up a little, showing a bit of her abdomen, and was giving Alan a very generous view of her cleavage.

Alan's mouth hung a little open at the sight, for indeed she was very attractive, like a high school prom queen at the height of her beauty and popularity.

Rachel caught Alan staring a little too hard out of the corner of her eye, as did the girl, who seemed to shrink uncomfortably at his staring.

Rachel punched Alan in the arm.

"Ow!" Alan almost cried, wincing in pain and grabbing his arm. She had punched hard!

"Earth to Alan! Stop ogling the girl and let's get going." Rachel admonished him, and turned to get back in the car.

'What was wrong with her!?' Alan's mind demanded. It then occurred to him at the same moment. 'Was she jealous?' He never imagined that Rachel, a vampire, would have a jealous streak, or become jealous so easily.

"W-wait!" The girl spoke hesitantly. "Y-you, you aren't just going to leave me here, are you?" She asked, fear and concern in her voice.

Rachel stopped and turned to her. "Trust me, this is the best option for all of us. You don't want to be seen with us, and we can't drop you off to any of the authorities."

"B-but, you can't just leave me here! Please! Don't leave me!" The girl begged.

Alan stopped and turned to Rachel. "Rachel, can't we at least do something? I mean, what if someone else comes along and kidnaps her?"

Rachel turned to Alan. "Oh please, you just want to bring her along so you have cleavage to stare at!" She snapped.

"Hey! I'm not like that at all and you know it!" Alan snapped back.

Rachel's eyes lowered apologetically. "You're right, I'm sorry. I just...not only did we manage to pick up a kidnapped victim, which is a very big problem for us. To add to that, you were instantly attracted to her. I just wasn't ready for it, and I got a little jealous."

The girl's eyes shifted back and forth, and she wisely remained silent.

Rachel sighed and turned to the girl, appraising her again. "Well, at least you have good taste, she is quite the looker." She commented.

The girl felt slightly offended at the moment at how the two of them were talking and looking at her like she was a picture on display for them, but still said nothing.

"Well, we can at least get going while we decide what to do." Rachel said, getting in the car.

Alan turned to the girl. "Well uh, there you have it. You can either wait here or, uh, ride with us. Just so you know though, uh, we're...not normal. In fact, we're kind of on the run ourselves." Alan stammered, trying to keep his eyes on hers, along with trying not to say or do anything that would make things worse.

The girl weighed her options. She had no money, no phone, no car, and no way of knowing who she would run into in the future. Despite the oddities of these two, they didn't seem dangerous. Well, aside from the fact that they said they were being chased and would be killed if caught.

The girl cautiously approached the car, deciding to take the seat behind the guy, or rather, the seat furthest away from the girl, since she seemed really agitated.

Silence fell between the three of them as Rachel started the car up and began driving, until Rachel broke the silence.

"How come you didn't turn into a babbling idiot when we first met?" Rachel asked Alan, going into thought. "Actually, I take that back, you did, never mind."

"You know, I would have never pinned you for the jealous type. You're confident in just about everything." Alan said.

"Well, what did you expect? You're the first man I've ever loved! Sue me!"

"Alright, alright." Alan responded.

"Besides, you got fired up when I flirted with Greg, and you were warned of that beforehand!"

"Okay, I get the picture! You have the right to get jealous, sorry!"

Silence fell in the car again, the girl eyeing the two individuals seated in front of her, still unsure of what she should say or do. The girl noticed that the woman driving kept glancing up at her through the rearview mirror, unsure if it was jealousy or something else.

"So, you have a name back there?" Rachel asked, breaking the silence, and reminding Alan of the very attractive girl sitting a mere few feet behind him.

"K-Katie." Katie responded, as Alan turned to her.

"Keep your eyes up front Alan, there's no telling how long you'll stare at her while trying to talk to her."

"What, are you going to bug out about everything?"

"No, I'm saying that in case some cop or something watches us and notices you ogling her for a few miles and decides to pay more attention to us. Now turn around and act natural."

Alan, with reluctance and annoyance, did as instructed.

"So, uh..." Katie was about to begin, but stopped herself.

"Yes?" Rachel asked.

"W...what's the deal with you two? Are you guys...I don't know..."

"Murderers? Rapists? Thieves? Something of that nature?" Rachel finished.

"Jeez, give the girl a break, she's probably scared enough as it is." Alan said, himself wincing at Rachel's suggestions as Katie gave the smallest nod.

"No, we're not any of that, well, except for one, but I won't say which." Rachel responded.

"S-so..."

"Why are we on the run?" Rachel finished.

Katie nodded, finding it creepy that this woman kept on predicting her questions, although she didn't get the entire question Katie wanted to ask.

"And why would they kill you?" Katie asked.

"Sounds fishy, doesn't it?" Rachel asked. Katie nodded.

"Listen, Katie, I know I'm going out on a limb in asking you this. But, it's best if you don't know the truth, for your own sake. And, as odd and unbelievable as it may be, we have no intention of harming you at the moment." Rachel responded.

"At the moment? Quit trying to scare the poor girl!"

"Okay Alan, let me break it to you. If you had to choose between me and Katie back there on who gets to live, who would you choose?"

The question froze both Alan and Katie, and Rachel got her point across.

"Alan, you and I are in a life or death situation, and now we just dragged Katie into it. Hopefully, we can dump her somewhere before we get her too involved. Although, that's less and less of a possibility now."

"How so?" Alan asked before Katie could ask the same thing. "I mean, couldn't you just jump her somewhere quiet and have her find her way from there, or jump her to her house?"

Jump? Katie didn't ask out loud.

Rachel shot Alan a harsh glance, and Alan realized he had said too much.

"Jumps don't work like that." Rachel said as she returned her eyes to the road, then glanced into the rearview mirror at Katie.

"Where are you from? Or rather, where are you currently staying?"

"Cleveland." Katie answered.

"Fuck...of course it would be in the opposite direction that we're going, and a several hour journey at that." Rachel muttered, her eyes back on the road, then continued.

"I can only jump to places I've been. Locations I can clearly picture with my mind. I've never really traveled beyond the New England area, unless you count the rest stops that we've been to, so I can only jump her at those locations."

"On top of that, that's a really long distance jump for me, and I've never tried jumping that far. I would need a long break before covering that distance on the jump back. Possibly as long as a day or even longer."

"Now, let's completely forget about that problem for a moment. How is Katie going to explain how she got kidnapped, how she got rescued, and how she got to where ever it is that I jumped her to? Did she escape the kidnapper with her amazing survival skills? Did the kidnapper just magically drop her off somewhere, deciding to let her go for no reason?"

"Those lies would quickly be uncovered. Now let's say she tells the truth, and that she was mysteriously rescued by us. Not only would the police be able to follow our trail more easily, but you know who else would want to question her, and believe me, they are very capable of extracting information. And they will kill her without question."

Rachel turned her eyes back to Katie. "No offense, but you would probably squeal the minute that they got their hands on you."

"Wha-what do you mean?" Katie asked, concerned of who 'they' were.

"Ever had a toothpick shoved under your fingernail, or a tooth forcibly ripped out of you without any medication of any kind?" Rachel asked. Katie gasped at this.

"Just who is after you? The mob or something?"

Rachel smiled, though it was a grim smile. "We wish. I'll tell you this, there's no way you'd believe the truth at this point without some form of proof."

"So...are you saying that she's stuck with us now?" Alan cut in.

Rachel sighed. "Pretty much. Let's say no one believes her story, and it ends up on some tabloid. That she was saved by ghosts or something, guess who reads those?"

Realization dawned on Alan. "Like Men in Black." He muttered. She had made that comparison before.

"Exactly. Never imagined all of those crazy stories having a real reason to exist huh? Yes, most of them are garbage, but, if you know where and when to look, you can find some legitimate stories from time to time."

Katie tilted her head slightly. "Are you guys like, aliens or something?" She asked, having seen Men in Black in the past. Her voice, though, indicated her disbelief of that theory.

"No, not quite." Rachel answered. "He's actually just a normal person." She said, gesturing to Alan. "It's me that's the abnormal one."

"So...what are you?" Katie asked.

Rachel pondered that for a moment. The best way to prove that she was a vampire was to show Katie her changed eyes. To do that, she needed to be ready to feed, or, be horny. She thought about having Alan get her going, but, she realized that would actually be a mistake, and it was a good thing that they hadn't actually carried the terms of their former agreement.

If Alan didn't satisfy her as Rachel had originally intended, her eyes would have remained changed for several hours, and that would have been easily noticed. She mentally kicked herself for nearly making such a mistake.

"Let's put it this way, when I can prove to you what's going on, we'll tell you the full truth. Until then, sorry, but you're just going to have to be in the dark." Rachel said.

Silence once again fell between the three of them. Alan could clearly see from his quick glances that Katie was clearly uncomfortable, and decided to try to help her relax a little.

"So, Katie...are you still in high school? Or are you going to college? Or is something else going on?" Alan asked.

"Oh, uh, I'm in my third year of Cleveland State University." She answered.

"Have a major yet?" Alan asked next.

Katie nodded. "Sort of. I'm taking law classes at Cleveland-Marshall, which is part of CSU, but I'm not sure of what field just yet. I'm thinking criminal justice, but, again I'm just not sure yet. I need to do more research to find out what I really want to do."

Katie's eyes then fell, realizing that those plans are possibly long gone, as were her college days.

Alan decided to switch topics. "So, how old are you? To be honest, you don't really look old enough to be a college student, no offense."

Katie showed a half smile. "I turned 21 a few months ago, and none taken. Actually, I've been told I've always had a kind of baby face, which I guess is good down the road."

Rachel shot Alan a quick glance. "Didn't I tell you before that it's rude to ask a woman her age?"

Katie let out a small laugh as Alan rolled his eyes.

"So...can I ask who you two are?" Katie asked.

"I'm Alan. Currently not in school, but fresh out of the Marine Corps. And I've got you beat at 24." Alan said.

"Rachel. Can't tell you the rest until you know the truth."

Katie turned to Alan, since Rachel wasn't going to say anything else. "You were in the service?"

Alan nodded. "Yeah. Five years."

"Well, uh, thanks...for your service." Katie said, somewhat awkwardly. She was not only thanking one of the two people who could possibly get her killed, if what they say is true. But, she also didn't see him as being in the service.

"So uh, what did you do, exactly? Ever been over there?" She asked.

"Yeah, I went to Iraq towards the end, so I didn't see much, and I worked with planes." Alan responded, trying to keep it as simple as possible.

Silence fell again, but Alan noticed that Katie seemed more relaxed, now that she had a little idea of who she was traveling with.

This time, Rachel broke the silence. "You two try to get some sleep. We've got a long ride ahead of us, and I need you to be ready to drive, Alan."

"Where are we going anyways?" Katie asked.

"For now, we're going to try and lay low in Montana. Honestly, we're kind of making it up as we go." Alan answered.

Silence fell for the last time, as both Katie and Alan decided to try and sleep as Rachel drove on in silence.

*****

The patrol man thought that the car looked suspicious. He had been up and down this part of the highway for a few hours now, and still, that same car hadn't moved. It was usually when daybreak came that cars that were staying in rest areas overnight began to move again.

But not this one. An hour or so after sunrise, it was still in the same spot. His instincts told him that something was different, or wrong. Being a cop caused him to listen to his instincts more often, so finally, he decided to go take a closer look.

It was a simple, old Toyota Camry. There were no outstanding features, aside from the New York license plate. Before walking up to check the car, he ran the license plate to see if there would be any hits. To his surprise, it was registered to a currently missing individual, one Alan Brooks.

The officer cautiously approached the car, his hand nearby his weapon in case something happened. Upon reaching the car, he saw that it was completely empty, though it was locked.

He called in his report, and was told to wait at the car until more officers arrived.

*****

Lord Christian had decided to wait. Yes, he had the information on Alan Brook's family, but that too, could be valuable when he decided to approach Lord Caleb.

Besides, if all went well, he wouldn't even need that information, and he could just simply hand both Rachel and Alan over to Caleb, alive and primed for whatever Caleb would have in store for them. And Lord Christian could increase his territory in the United States.

The morning proceeded as normal, and he was sitting in a meeting with his Greaters going over various topics until Troy's phone began to ring, and Troy answered it.

Lord Christian knew Troy wouldn't dare answer his phone unless it was important, and all went silent as Troy listened.

"I understand." Was all Troy responded to the phone before hanging it up.

"My Lord." Troy began. "Wisconsin authorities just found Alan Brook's car, which appears to have been abandoned."

Lord Christian snorted, irritated. Once again, they were being clever, and were most likely switching vehicles while on the road.

"Wisconsin..." Lord Christian mused aloud. Judging from that, he could say that they were going west. Or, if they were really smart, they changed directions to throw off pursuits. However, most prey weren't like that. When prey ran, they usually have a set destination in mind, or ran in one direction.

Lord Christian stood, and walked to his map of the United States that he kept mounted on his wall. He attempted to put himself in his prey's shoes. The girl was aware that they would not be accepted anywhere in the supernatural world due to her relationship with the human, which she more or less admitted to when she had escaped Victor.

That most likely means that they would attempt to run to a location where the supernatural wouldn't have that strong of an influence. Canada was unlikely, since Rachel at the very least would not have a passport, unless they tried to cross the border illegally. That was a risky proposition at best, and one that they probably wouldn't try, though Lord Christian would have to keep an eye out anyway.

It wouldn't make sense for them to turn around and go back east where they came from, since that would allow either himself or Lord Caleb to narrow their search corridor, making the renegades easier to find, so he ruled that out. They could turn southwest, and hide somewhere in the Central United States, or even continue in that direction to the Southwestern United States.

However, the most logical choice at the moment is that they were going to the north, either the Dakotas, Idaho, Montana, or even go as far as Oregon or Washington. That made sense, since the population in those areas were small, and the supernatural population was even smaller. At the very least, it was a good choice to lay low unnoticed until they found a more long term location to hide.

Now, there were two problems. One, time wasn't necessarily on Lord Christian's side, for Lord Caleb was no fool. Since he was also searching for the girl, he would be looking for clues as to her whereabouts, and the incident in the store may reach his ears. And once it got out that she was with a human, the other Lords may act as well. Not only that, but Lord Christian couldn't dedicate a large amount of his resources to look for the girl, for that would cause suspicion.