Elenna Fee's Memories

---

… my motel, the cheapest one in town and maybe in the state…
“Do we work as a team to help your brother or …? I just wanna help… After I freed your brother … you never have to see me again… Andre is pissed off; he wanted to kill you out there…”

“Here take the crystal. And … the map. Okay now you have to think really hard how Rome felt about you and I read out the spell. Don’t move your arm.”

I got always so excited when I got one of my weird plans. Always following books but pushing the boundaries. I was so energized that I was blushing.

“Ready?”

… Then there was Nick… the coolest guy ever. Sexy, fun, trustworthy, caring, etc… a good car… He still wasn't quite sure what to think of me. I alternated between acting like a child, a semi-normal human, and a 'hunter'…

… It is a while ago I enjoyed … that someone else was in the car.

“…I am not used to company and it is just a little irritating. You seem different then the guys I meet, well most of them are hunters and think they are the best … I talk with my car … He reminds me of ... … someone.”...

"What about you? Family? Is there a job apart from Hunting? And do you know how to fight without heavy weaponry?”… in a small voice. “No family, they all died a long time ago...” A little more confident I said. “What do you mean do I know how fight without heavy weaponry? Just because I haven’t got out of the car to safe your ass that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to handle heavy weaponry. I mean, you haven’t seen what I have in my trunk. A lot of knifes and, other stuff. I know how to fight; I am good in my job.”…


… saving people and being a light in the dark. Raws could totally see Rome getting into this hunter crap.


I lifted my right hand to show Rawson my silver bracelet with a pentagram with rays of the sun surrounding it as one of the pendants...

I didn’t know why I knew this, they aren’t my memories but then Andre had all kinds of weird ways putting thoughts into people’s minds wrote: Andre less heard and more he felt when the two proto-hunters--well, the hunter and the loose cannon--entered the house. The ridiculous muscle car's engine was very loud and highly recognizable, so even if he hadn't guessed who was foolish enough to encroach on his territory, he would have known from the sound of the revving engine alone. But the actual entry was silent, and he had to prick up his various sixth, seventh, and eighth senses to locate them. Rome might have called what he felt a disturbance in the force, but, then, Rome wasn't here anymore...

Kill this she-pup before she did any real damage, certainly, and watch the worm whose meat-suit he was borrowing wriggle and squirm as he squelched his twin's blood between his fingers. That would be a level of anguish you didn't get to see every day. And he had been out of Hell a while. He was almost beginning to miss it.

"Well, if it isn't the too-little-too-late crew," Andre said, schooling Rome's features into a shark-like visage, all black eyes and toothy white grin. A gasp of alarm was all I could muster before he threw me against the far wall without touching me and then letting me drop to the ground.

I quickly drew a symbol on the inside of my hand, lifted it and shouted, while I spit more blood on the floor. “Luft um uns herum wehe!”


“Oh, now isn't that cute?” ... “The ‘kid’ could do magic. Bet that gets you loads of friends in the Hunter circles, but then I shouldn’t be surprised should I, a magic book and encouragement, she has come such a long way our little witch…”

"You've become more trouble than your worth, Summer Rogers," he snarled with a knowing grin…




Regna terrae, cantate Deo,
psallite Domino
qui fertis super caelum
caeli ad Orientem
Ecce dabit voci Suae
vocem virtutis,
tribuite virtutem Deo.
Deus caeli, Deus terrae,
humiliter majestati gloriae Tuae supplicamus
ut ab omni infernalium spirituum potestate,
laqueo, deceptione et nequitia,
omnis fallaciae, libera nos, Domine.
Vade, Satana, inventor et magister
omnis fallaciae, hostis humanae salutis.
Humiliare sub potenti manu Dei

"Once again, our heroes find themselves wholly unprepared for the stroke of good fortune that falls into their laps, I thought since last time you practiced," Andre narrated haughtily...
He turned to me. "Your pronunciation of Latin is still quite good. Though I've never really heard that exorcism properly, you know, over the screaming. But what are you going to do now that you're little bag of tricks is empty, hmm? By the way, what name are you going by these days? As a witch, they'll want to know who to be expecting whenever you get Downstairs." He grinned widely and knowingly.


“Pull yourself together, you know what to do!” The voice of Nick was ringing in my ears…
You’re a moron. Of course they are real... Call me … Otherwise I will send the cavalierly. Bobby

Andre was still blocking him out, dragging him down, wrestling him, hog-tying him, but Romulus kicked and punched and wriggled and bit inside his own meat-suit so hard… Fight. Kill. Get the bracelet off...


"Raws, don't leave her. Don't let her go..."[url=#_ftn2][1][/url]

...I had a look at the business card Rawson had given me.
“Why the hell should I meet you? You fucking idiot would have killed your brother and would be dead by now and you know what Andre would still possess your Romulus. Normally people say something like ‘Leave, never come back, but thank you for your help.’ … but not the great Rawson, no he knows everything and can handle everything alone.”

… I pushed the Mustang to his speed limit, under my tears a grin appeared.
“… you know what I will come to the Hotel, but not because I miss you. I will give you a piece of my mind. I am broken anyway so some more injuries from you won’t change anything.”
I drove angry to the Hotel…

..."There was a girl, there, right? Sh-she okay? Where'd she go?"

"Witch." …

"Anyway, I say forget the brat. She isn't dead… they certainly weren't your fault."

"… She's the one who got the demon-y...thing...out. Right?" … “She was cute, too."...

“Hi Rome, I am Elenna Fee, nice to actually meet you. I hope you are okay?” I smiled friendly at him. “So you wanna shoot me? That is nice, really. Oh and you are very welcome. The next time someone of your family is possessed and wants to kick your ass and I am really stupid enough to stumble across the information … Remind me not to do it. I mean I would safe anyone anytime again, well except of you. How hard it is to say one simple word. Thanks. Thanks Rawson for taking care that not only I got away. I mean no one bothers if your prints are in your house, but the blood… a lot of trouble. So here I am the stupid little hunter girl, standing in front of you the one who is pointing a gun at anyone and say thank you. Unbelievable.”

Rawson looked angry.

“Seriously do you think I name my car just for fun? I saved your brother, not everyone can say that this is possible.”

I lifted my hand and said quickly before anyone could make a move. “Wasser das uns umgibt erscheine und folge meinem Willen!”

Rawson was surrounded by water; he was so surprised that he dropped the gun. He was never in danger but he was trapped in a ball of water, he couldn’t escape out of it. No matter how hard he tried…

When he was suddenly on the ground next to me, clutching at my arm a little desperately… He was even on his knees... The fear was evident on his face, and he was scared as hell of touching me, but he was even more terrified of what would happen if he let me go.

"Please!" he began, "Please, Elenna. Don't do this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." That's not what I want. "Thank you. Look, Raws--Raws, he's a moron. An overly-protective, defensive, macho, emotionally crippled moron. He's not gonna say thank you, and sure as hell ain't gonna say it like this, but he means it, he does, he's grateful. I know he is. Please, let him go. Please. D-don't hurt him. Please. Please, let him go. You got issues, you take them up with me. I'm his PR guy," he managed a grin. "No need to get all crazy and...make me think I'm seeing things. You--you just let him go, and Raws will leave his gun alone, and I'm gonna pass out now and you guys can kiss and make up but if you're gonna have angry sex then make sure I'm unconscious first and...and..."

“…You alternate between the personalities of a demented child and a crazed banshee...”

“… I don’t serve a demon or sold my soul. This is old magic. I just connect through the symbols to the elements and I can call them with the right words. All the knowledge is from a book. Nothing demonic, I swear. I just can use what is around… most hunters won't understand how it works…”

 

You know Rome if you just had accepted those visions earlier they are pretty cool wrote:

Sand. Beach. Sunny.

Elenna. Red bikini. Nice rack. Extra pain. Okay, he probably deserved that.

The mer-man's form shifted, melded, shimmered, molted, transformed, disgusting, and suddenly it was just this ordinary kid. Dark brown hair, light eyes, average height, average build, a young moustache, a Yankees baseball cap.  "Nick?" I said, and dropped the weapon I was holding. The mer-thing smiled and then made it's move, and that move was at me. I went with it, smiling, to the water, and it was holding me under in what looked from here like a platonic embrace, that was until I began thrashing around and screaming.

Rome couldn't breathe. He was underwater! He was there with me, salty sea-waves splashing over his nose and mouth, stinging his eyes…  a gargled mass of bubbles. Wait. Water bubble…  A final flash of lightning:

I wasn't moving. The creature was gone. I was just floating, lifeless, face up, eyes open, bright blue, terrified, lips blue, swaying only to the gentle rhythm of the waves.

I couldn’t look away ... Rome was mumbling, when he suddenly said pretty clear. “Nick.”
I gasped and felt sick.
What the hell is going on here? That can’t be. He doesn’t know anything. I never told them about him. He is not talking about my Nick. No it can’t be, it just can’t be.
I was shaking and went really pale.

Rome opened his eyes and sat up…

Flopping back on the pillow. "Saw. Dream. Weird." He lifted his arm and pointed vaguely in my direction without looking. "You were in it. Um. A beach? Elenna--you--in a red bikini."
"Actually I do own a red bikini," I said quietly, then squeezed his hand--miraculously, the only part that wasn't hurt, which was funny because that was the hand with the broken fingers. "What else, Romulus?"

"Uh...there was this...guy...mer...thing. He had, like, a fish...tail...gills. Like. Ariel. Disney."

"A mermaid?"

"Yeah. No. Man. Dude. Um. Changed. Looked like...kid, brown hair, green eyes. I think. Yankees ball cap. And...you called him Nick." Rome managed to pry his eyes open to fix me with a solemn stare. "And then he killed you."

I looked shocked at Rome.
“How can you, I never... Anything of this, I mean yeah I know that in California is a siren, but I didn’t tell anyone about it. And how could you know? How could you know, you don’t know Nick so stop telling stories about him.”
I was sitting on the edge of the bed rocking slightly back and forth...
He doesn’t know that. That can’t be true. I don’t die; I know how dangerous sirens are. How does he know how Nick looked like, how does he know his name and the Yankees ball cap, it was a present from me?


“…I am just sorry, I guess I should leave.” I whispered, but I weren’t moving my body didn’t do what I wanted it to do. I sat lost and tiny on the edge of the bed.

"Don't go," Rome said, trying and failing to sit up… he forced himself to sit up and pulled me into his arms. Instead of pulling away, however, I leaned into him and sobbed quietly. "I'm sorry, Elenna," he whispered…

… I wrapped my arms around myself and closed my eyes. Before I could think anything else I was asleep. In my dreams the world looked different, brighter… Suddenly my dream vanished and nothing was there…

… "You can't possibly expect us to let you go on this... 'hunt' alone."

"Why not? I do this all the time. It's my job."

Rome was sitting up in bed now, in significantly less pain, the headache down to a distant throb, and was, pretty readily, he thought, on the road to re-adjusting to life as master of his own meat-suit…  by dinnertime he was clean, he had pizza, he had pain killers, he had Raws, I hadn't yet absconded, and his brain didn't seem clogged with cotton anymore...

"Okay. Okay," Rome tried again. "First you tell me that this--whatever I saw, that it was definitely something...supernatural-ish. Right? I'm seeing people I've never met before, seeing monsters you have already lined up to kill and about which I know nothing except what I saw in the dream. Right?"

I was glowering at him, such a small step away from pouting it was almost (replace "almost" with "actually totally") funny. "Yeah," I snapped petulantly.

"And then you try to tell me that just because the vision had you in it--you dying, by the way--that I should pay it no mind, that it was probably just a dream, there's no way you'd be that stupid. Is that what you're trying to tell me?" Before I could speak, he turned to his brother. "C'mon, Raws. Help me out. She can't go after this thing alone, right?"

"She can do whatever the frack she wants."

Rome flopped back against the pillows, exasperated. "You people. What does a guy have to do to foster some camaraderie and teamwork around here, huh? Get his ass possessed by a demon?"

I looked uncomfortably away at that, and Rawson's eyes flashed. He'd struck a nerve. Two of them, it looked like…

“I have no other choice as to agree to this, right?”

I looked at Rome’s grinning face…

… “You know people are dying in California… this siren is killing innocent people, right now. And I really would like to stab something after the whole Andre story...”

"… Won't be much help in a fight, but I can, I don't know, use my psychic powers on it," he joked. No one laughed. "Okay, yeah, not funny. I'll just sit this one out, but no reason I should hold you back. Sitting in a hotel room not much different than sitting in a car."
Finally he look his brother in the eye. "Innocent people are dying, Raws, you catch that? We gotta go help her…"

"I caught it, and I don't particularly see how it's my business unless there's a nice fee in it. And judging by the state of her, I get the feeling there won't be. Or she hasn't found out how to get it, at the least." He shook his head…

“…if we're gonna start doing some saving people thing- and you really do have an annoying hero-complex-…”

“…kill this sumbitch so Rome'll stop freaking out over female deaths."

---

[url=#_ftnref2][1][/url] Rome “gave” her those memories when they were in captivity because he remembered their first meeting and projected them into her head without realizing.

---

… Rome was still badly hurt and I felt bad leaving him but I was also to busy reading to take care of him… “L--er--Elenna?” he wondered quietly.
I didn’t look up from my books and notepad but said friendly. “Rawson is not here if you are looking for him.” This was so weird I wanted to help him, he was a nice guy …

… “I know. He told me. Back tomorrow.” Rome tried to get comfortable, but he was in pain everywhere… “… Will you be okay if I go out for a little bit, I got to do some …”

… “Uh--maybe you shouldn't go?” Rome said… “I mean, my dream--the siren is after you. Can't you--isn't there wifi--wherever we are?”
I looked at him for a while. “Not sure what you need wifi for, do you even have laptop… People are dying Romulus.”

… “Well, you could die,” Rome countered, actually sitting up. … “… Google ‘How to kill a siren’?”
“Have you never seen a laptop before?” Rome said, looking at me bemusedly. “C'mere, sit with me. We can start with Google.”

… I stared at him for a while. “… fine you can show me the wonders of you magic box…” … and got my notes on sirens.

… “Okay, um, so open a tab. You do know how to get that far, right?”
I hesitated for a moment before I sat down … “Yeah I click on the internet and that is that…”

… “… try the links … Look for .edu links.”
I tried to follow him… but I got lost. “What links, .edu? … weird phone even real? …”

… “Pay attention to the computer, chica… .edu is university stuff: usually more trustworthy.” Rome settled back with a groan.

… “I’m trying to pay attention but this is not easy for me…” …  “…those old fashioned things made of paper?”
“Yeah, whatever, if it's not online it's probably not important,” Rome said, looking over her shoulder…

“… if Rawson comes back early he will shoot my hand off through the closed door for touching his laptop.” …

“You make it sound like my brother is some kind of psycho… It's weird that you don't know how to work computers…”

… I didn’t want to but I started to enjoy the company of Romulus Remington which would just make it harder when we split up.

… “A bisexual siren!” He decided.

…“You are not serious right? …”… “I think it will help if I go to the bar and check it out…”
“The bar?!” Rome sat up… “You can't go by yourself!” he protested, and looked down at himself. “And I can't go with you!”
“So what am I supposed to do? Let innocent people die?” … I was getting irritated by Rome’s overly protectiveness…

… "Yes! Er, no?" Rome pouted. "Lenna--don't leave me?" He tried the pity card.

… “Seriously? What are you five? …”

… "Lenna, if it gets you, I can't come after you… If you're going, I am, too."
“Fine … I mean you could stay in the car?”

… Rome got up, wobbling dangerously…

…”Will you make it all the way to the car? … see your bandages … We don’t want them to think I’m your girlfriend and I beat you.”
"What if I said please?" Rome teased with a wink and an immature laugh…

… “This is never going to work. Let me help you?” …

… Rome grinned at me gratefully … "… gotta look out for you," he said, a bit sheepish.

… “Yeah you gonna be a real good protector.” … I was not used to having someone looking out for me, it felt strange.

… "I'll stay in here. But you have one hour before I come in after you."

"… How do you want to protect me anyway with your fists?" …
"Oh, I need a gun," Rome said…

… "Here." My hands were shaking as I handed him the weapon.

"Oh, sorry, you don't--" … he quickly hid it from sight. "Sorry." …

"… Try not to die while I'm in the bar." … "…think of what to say to Rawson…”
"Dude, my brother is way more protective in your head than he actually is," …

"… if you die or bleed on the seats I'll kill you!" …

"Go, go. Scream loud if you need help, I'm taking a nap," Rome said as he set his alarm for one hour. "And if you take more than an hour I'm bleeding on your seats and then come after you."

… "You wouldn't dare." My eyes sparkled dangerously at him but a small smile was playing around my lips…

… He ignored the bartender, making a beeline for me and spinning me around on my barstool. "You're late!" he said…

… “Whoa! Dude you scared the shit out of me!” I snapped and looked angry at Rome…

… “Hey Missy this drink is for you, from your lover over… huh there was a guy sitting here just a second ago.” …


TO BE CONTINUED

---

THEN

Yellowstone National Park

… Rome and I agreed never to go camping ever again… Rome marked the dog with his paintball gun when the dog was biting into Lenna’s jacket …the beast’s last act was to push me over the cliff in the river.
“Lenna!” …

… down the stream I climbed out of the river, coughing …

“… Gosh that was fucking cold…”

It was a long walk back… Rome had given me his jacket… I was freezing…

NOW

… after hours my sleep became restless… Rome recognized the signs… and shook me gently:
“Hey chica, wake up. You’re having a nightmare, Lennie…”

I whimpered but didn’t wake up…

… I was sweaty and pale, and my breathing uneven, fast and shallow. I was mumbling in my sleep, but I didn’t wake up. I felt his hand on my forehead…

“Whoa, chica, you’re on fire. And I don’t mean that in a good way.”

… our luck seemed to have been used up in the forest, because they didn’t even have a single Tylenol…

“Lennie,” I wasn’t sure where I was but I felt Rome sitting next to me… “Lennie, baby, I’m not sure if you can hear me, but this will be cold…”

He wet my face and neck with the cold water… he got no reaction… He pulled the thick blanket all the way down to my feet… sudden change in temperature. I didn’t even flinch.

… “Okay, seriously, chica,” he said, raising his voice, which was no longer gentle, “you need to wake up for me. I need to know how bad this is, and I’m totally done screwing around. Wakey, wakey, baby girl.”

… he hadn’t known me for that long. The wounds of their first meeting had only just healed… and here he was touching me with a wet cloth while I was practically naked. Not to say he didn’t think I was a pretty hot piece of ass, … for once in his life, Rome thought that that was just wrong … I was like a sister to …

Raws often … went off …, so he and I had quickly grown close, he … was naturally warm and trusting …, and I because he was … he didn’t laugh that I don’t do guns he accepted the mission to look after me… they weren’t usually this close, so the situation was somewhat awkward… when you trusted someone to look after you when you were vulnerable.

“… girlfriend … You need to tell me what’s up … What hurts, what’s wrong? … seconds of lucidity, here, baby…” … “Shit, why couldn’t you have come down with a computer virus or something easy to fix?” Rome … sounded frustrated.

My small voice spoke: “What are you talking about? And what are you doing?” A confused, sleepy me looked at Rome’s hand which was awfully close to my boobs right now.
Rome rolled his eyes and grinned at me.

“You do understand in that geek brain of yours that you’re sick as a dog and I’m just trying to help?”

I blushed and pushed his hand away. “I’m fine…” I slurred, … I succumbed to the fever again… myattempt at getting up … ended with me tumbling into Rome’s arms. He caught me and gently but firmly guided me back to the bed. “Easy, tiger. I gotcha. Let me look after you this time, and I promise… our secret.”

I tried to push him away, but either he was too strong (which was probably true) or I was too weak … I gave up without much of a struggle and leaned against Rome.

“Kay,” I said sleepily. “This time you lead and I follow.”

Rome maneuvered me back to bed. “Stupid question, but work with me here: how do you feel?”

“Everything hurts,” I rasped, “… head hurts, … right ear, … joints …, …can’t swallow… knives in my throat… dizzy … nose is blocked… can’t breathe.” As if to emphasize the last part, I gasped for air.

“Okay, geek-girl, don’t talk so much.” Rome pushed my hair out of my face … “Listen chica, you just go back to sleep and I’ll go and get some drugs for you…”

I nodded weakly… “Take the Stang…”…

“… Any food? Juice?”

“No … just sleep.”

… I was deep asleep…

Rome wasn’t gone for more than twenty minutes…

“Okay, Lenna, wake up. You need to take some of these.” I slowly opened my eyes and looked with glassy eyes at Rome.

“I’m fine,” I insisted. It wasn’t more than a whisper…

“Damn right you are, but to be even more fine you need to pop some of these …” … I was so small that he had even bought some medications for kids, kind of as a joke, but these were syrups …much easier to swallow if I wasn’t really awake … Rome pulled me into a sitting position and got me to take a mix of a couple of the syrups and also some cold drugs with apple juice.

“That’s my girl,” …

Rome let me lay back down … He was trying to cool me down… with the ice water… I was sleeping restlessly because of the fever and blocked nose … Rome became accustomed to dealing with me waking up confused and crying… turnaround was fair play… I saw lots of things that would give most sane people nightmares, but the little girl the fever had reduced me to right now couldn’t deal with them.

“…We have to leave… it’s a Wendigo. RUN!” I half climbed, half fell out of the bed. Rome picked me up, but I was fighting him. “… don’t eat me. I don’t taste good… Please.” I was crying. Rome was holding me tightly …

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, it’s okay, chica, okay. There’s no Wendigo here…”

“… he’s invisible!”

“… I locked it in the closet now…” …I clung to Rome’s shirt.

“I’m sowwy Rome. I dunno what’s wrong with me…”

“It’s alright, kiddo, you’re just retarded, but it’s okay. I’ve got you… Go back to sleep for me…” Rome held me tight, trying to sound more cheerful than my crazed delusions warranted. “Hey you, ah, wanna have another Popsicle … apple juice?”

I nodded weak into his chest and blew my stuffy nose on his shirt. “Awesome,” Rome said, lifting me up and putting me back into bed… “Here, slow sips, I don’t want you to choke on it again.” Rome helped me … made sure she didn’t fall asleep while eating the popsicle.
… three days. As her fever finally went down. Lenna slept much more peacefully. Rome began to relax …

“Rome?”

Rome was ready when he heard me wake up. I still sounded weak but I seemed to be more coherent than I had been recently.

“Hey! You’re back.”

“How long was I out? I’m starving…”
Rome grinned. “Sounds great…”

I got up… and drove into the rising sun.

… Me and Raws usually were too busy arguing so Rome got to do whatever he wanted...
Rawson peppered the area with something he and I had invented: hollow-point rounds filled with dead man’s blood…
… The slap in the face from me was also hardly surprising. “You could have gotten yourself killed! Aren’t you always the one who wants us to have a plan before we go in?”…
Raws and I quickly loaded up into the Mustang. It was the better incognito vehicle, and, unlike the green Camaro wasn’t visible from space…
… In the past year there were moments when I hated to have to two gun-crazy team members that I wasn’t allowed to listen to all the music I liked, that they stank from time to time, and that I was the only girl in the team while they checked out every girl they met (really every girl that looked legal). I was just annoyed when Romulus did this... I would have died if I had tried to hunt that siren, and many other times. I never expected after the way they met that we would actually become a team, but we did. The longer I thought about them the more I had to admit that I enjoyed being with them. With Raws I could invent something crazy… And Rome, it was weirdly cute how much he liked being a hunter. He was a great guy; if Nick would have had time to get older he would have been maybe a little like Rome, but he hadn’t, and maybe there was a reason why I had to go this way. The weirdest thing was that I changed. When Rome convinced me to stick together to hunt the siren, I was scared that the boys would remind me of Nick and everything I never had. But surprisingly, it started to hurt less to be with them, or rather him since Raws ditched us a few days after Andre disappeared, and some things I hadn’t had with Nick I had now. I got more and more confident being a hunter and defending myself, so that I barely used magic in front of others. That was the best way not to become the hunted…
 
…"Is that a police report?" I gaped, possibly more shocked at his mad skills than that he was hacking police records, because, come on.
"No, of course not, not so loud."
 
… Suddenly, his eyes glimmered dangerously.
"I know!" he whispered excitedly, grinning far too widely. "We could pretend to be FBI!"
 
…"Come on, Lennie, baby, it's only illegal if you get caught," Rome said with a wink and a grin.
 
… I stuck my tongue out in dislike. “Lennie? That sounds like a five year old girl with pig tails.”
 
… "Okay, time to go," Rome laughed, slapping his twin in the chest as he aimed for the back seat of the Camaro.
"Dude. I'm not sharing a car with you until you shower," Raws said, in his not-joking joking way, turning to me. "You take him."
"Okay, no, I just vacuumed..." I protested, interrupted by the trailer door slamming open and a hulking trailer-trash flat-topped redneck emerged.
 
… Raws and I joined him, me in my red bikini and Raws in his jog shorts and t-shirt...
"Yo!" Rome grinned as they walked up, and stared appreciatively as I dropped the towel from around my waist and tossed it down on a lawn chair. "Breakfast opens at 6:30," he continued, "I checked."
 
…Call me when you are done whatever you do, I hope you are not doing what I think you are doing while I work my ass off. Just for the record I am okay, haven't met the shifter but I am still bleeding don't ask why. XXX Lenna
 
…"Yo, Lennie, it's Rome. Me and Raws just got back. Uh. Hehe, yeah. Good times. Tell you about it later. Hope you're okay. We're gonna get cleaned up and then head back out. Gimme a call, let us know where you are. Or head back when you're done, whatever. Catch ya on the flipside, babe, laters. Look after yourself. Don't talk to strangers. Out."
 
…These damn books aren't really helping, … I saw a pink Barbie that reads actual books how disturbing. She would be so Rome's type, but which girl is not his type except of me, not that I want him to sleep with me but it makes me wonder what is wrong about me.
…"Don't talk to strangers."
Immediately Rome's warning popped up in my head
 
…Suddenly the blonde girl must have felt like something was watching her. She looked up suspiciously, her lips slightly pursed. Her eyes met with my eyes l was standing behind a bookshelf, holding an ancient looking book in my hands.
 
…He spotted me on her phone, even though he was standing in quite a distance I saw that he was looking too intensely at me as if he thought ... there was something different ... I wasn't like the people around me... "You wouldn't be here about the Skin Walker, would you?" Nathaniel muttered to me...
 
…Rome’s eyes widened seeing my hand. My hand that had blood on it. What the hell? he mouthed to me when I showed him after hanging up on the phone.
He was distracted all the sudden seeing her, the Barbie an ice queen in the desert sun, fully accessorized in pink and name brands… Rome did not try to hide his wandering eye, as evidenced by the look of disgust on my face when he resurfaced. He grinned sheepishly, then let his eye wander back to the bar she had just entered...
 
…Back at the hotel, Rome cornered me the first chance he got, wondering what on earth was so frakking dangerous about a hospital and a library that she managed to get cut. After hearing my story--that it was just a stupid mistake--Rome spent a few minutes laughing at me before making me sit down so he could take a look at the cut.
"You better not let Raws see this," he warned, forcing me, despite me protests, to sit down on the toilet seat as he broke out the first aid kit, "he'll have a frakking cow. I've got half a mind to never let you handle anything that might be remotely considered a weapon ever again, and that includes a knife and fork if you don't wake up and get a clue about weapon safety. They do have things called holsters, you know, and me and Raws both have some you can borrow. Now let's take a look before I send you back to school." He said everything in that quick-slick half-joking-jock patter he was famous for, but he was deadly serious. "You gonna be the death of me, chica. Now hold still."
The wound didn't appear too deep, he realized as he forced me to twist and lean over awkwardly until he could see the cut clearly. He cleaned it out, trying to make it seem as if he was being intentionally rough but I knew he was actually trying very hard not to hurt me more than was necessary.
 
…“…Worried about you. And it doesn't help if we're trying to track down something that rips people's skin off and eats college students for breakfast and you can't even manage--I mean, if you're getting yourself hurt. The bad guys don't need any help, okay, Lennie?”
 
…That was weird one moment I am sad and miss... but after a stupid smile from Rome I am happy again. It was the same with... He could always make me smile, no matter what.
 
…"We were attacked by the Skin Walker!" Rome said gleefully, like he was a child who had rode on an especially exciting, dangerous roller-coaster. "Twice!" he beamed. Rome heard all movement stop in the bathroom, and the suddenly the door was cracked and I stood there wearing nothing but a towel, looking incredulous.
 
…“… Weird that I see the Barbie again, I first saw her in the library…”
 
…“…and once we're sure we're all 100% bona-fide human…”
 
… As expected no supernatural reaction. Which meant I was a human through and through.
 
…"That would be me!" Georgina said, grabbed one of the glasses that contained the holy water mixture and drank it without even pulling a face. "Refreshing." She smiled, put the glass back on the table and turned her head towards me who was staring at her suspiciously.
"Where did you get them?" I was both distrustful and annoyed at the same time.
With a confident smile Georgina grabbed a chair and pulled it right next to Rome…
“Who the hell are you?" I asked coldly.
"Well, I guess I'm not a demon after all…", Georgina responded, still with a mysterious smile on her face. I didn't show any emotion.
"I'm a hunter, just like you, and I'm looking for the same thing", Georgina replied while scrutinizing her finger nails.
"You kidding me!" That was Rome's voice, and for the first time she looked at him again, smiling quickly, then turned her head back to me.
 
…"You really think I trust you just because you had one of our drinks? You didn't even answer my question. Who the hell are you?"
Let the catfight begin. I was always the girl in the team, more or less girlie, but still the girl and now came this Barbie and just took my place. I wouldn't hand it over with a smile. And when I had to shoot this other girl, something I seriously considered, I would do it. The boys were my friends ...
 
…I so hope you know that I hate you right now Rome. Inviting this, this plastic, pink Barbie to join us? Gosh.
 
…I pursed my lips. "Granger", I replied coldly. "Hermione."
"Okay, thank you, Elenna…" Georgina responded with as sugar-sweet voice. "… that's actually using my little Mossberg's and Winchester's..."
Georgina exchanged a quick glance with Rome, then turned her face towards me. "I'm happy to help, Miss Hermione Granger."
… He took the rosary from the table and placed it safely back in his pocket without making it appear how valuable the thing really was to him, and while his hand was below the table he took my hand in his and squeezed it warningly, as much to tell me don't-worry as please-don't-make-a-scene.
… Georgina folded her arms and exchanged a quick glance with the Russian, than focused on me.
"Yeah, I would like to know that too. Is there any specific connection between the victims? I mean, the skin walker must have his reason for killing this particular group of students, or was it just random choosing?"
"We're not sure yet", I mumbled.
"So, are we just going to sit here and wait until that damn thing attacks other people?"
"No, we're just going to wait for a magical Fairy to turn up and sprinkle each one of us with magical pixie dust, so that we can all magically fly around and find that shape shifter", I replied drily. "Maybe we're lucky and the good Fairy is giving each one of us pretty, glittery magical wands all inclusive."
"You're hilarious." There was not one emotion on Georgina's face.
 
…"It's Georgie. Not Barbie."
I couldn't help but smile, even if it was just for a second. "Oh really? I had no idea..." I replied sarcastically.
 
…"Since when are you working with Rome and Raws?"
"For a while now."
"Are you always so short on answers?"
"Yepp."
"I see." Georgina quickly fixed her eyes on the articles. "And you're the one who's doing all the research?"
"Mostly, yes."
"Okay, so we have at least seven murders and...Jesus Christ!" Georgina flinched when a flying Twix landed right at the keyboard of her laptop. She looked at me unwrapping my own Twix without showing the slightest emotion on my face.
"Did you just throw a chocolate bar at me?" Georgina raised one eyebrow in expectation.
"Yepp."
"Why?!"
"Because you need some serious food for the nerves if you want to spend the entire night with me."
"That sounds so wrong."
I shrugged my shoulders. "I know." I sat next to her at the table, and although we didn't look at each other, we knew that we were both grinning.
 
…I was giving Rawson a Look. "Not one word." It was said half-jokingly, and he tossed a bar of Godiva chocolate at me and opening a bottle of spring water for himself.
 
… He still wasn't over her complaining about his car color. There was nothing wrong with his car… So she could just wait to talk and wouldn't be getting any chocolate or special snackage from him.
 
…"The skin walker's at the police station." He paused, and turned to me. "And they have Rome."...

The Animal Part 2

---

…I asked all those question while I drew a tiny symbol on my left hand.
Just in case.
When I suddenly stopped and looked curious at Raws.
"How do you know that they skinwalker is in the police station and that Rome is there anyway? I thought that is not your kind of MO?"
"Don't know. I guess it's become some sort of a twin thing." He made a wide gesture, flashing his bracelet at me. "You know." A pointed look.
 
…Georgina smiled. "Sure I have. I never leave the house without two things: my gun and my hair brush."
"That's awesome. Now you can ask the shape shifter if he wants a special treatment for his hair, just in case it looks messy."
 
… Raws turned to me and gave me a handgun. "Lenna, you stay with them. She tries anything stupid, shoot her. And if you see the Skin Walker, shoot it." I knew that Rome was pretty sure this was a bluff: no one actually expected me to use the gun, but we all expected the FBI Agent not to know that…
"Corpse Powder," Rome gasped to me, "I think the bastard got me sick. Get...make sure she's okay," he waved vaguely in the direction of Allison, though he wasn't sure he was seeing correctly, "and give me the gun."
 
…"Rome you are not going back in!? I mean you look pretty messed up and when you are infected by corpse powder you should stay away from the skin walker. Maybe his present makes it worse."
I raised my left hand as if I would hold water in it and mumbled. "Feuer das du nicht ihm gehört, verlasse ihn!"
I waited until the heat in my hand was so hot I couldn't stand it anymore and blew it away.
 
…Rome looked surprised. He actually sat down when I told him to! Since when did he ever let anyone boss him around? Especially me--it was like his little sister bosses him around! How weird!
And yet there he was, letting me work my magic on him that—I saw it helped a little--reducing the heat though presumably not the fever itself--sitting when I told him to and staying like I told him to like a damn dog. When I returned with the water I tried to get him to drink some, but that was where he was putting his foot down.
He shoved me away and hobbled over to the chick, who was still standing--shakily--and made her sit down. I took his arm, and he wheeled on me. I looked worried, frowning deeply at him, my face pale.
"Look, Lennie, I'm okay, kid. Well, fine, maybe not okay, but I'm not gonna bleed out any second. I need you to help me here with her," he motioned at the chick. "Can you do that?"
… I took his hand and drew the same symbol on it as I had on my left hand and an arrow that pointed to the right.
"This will keep the fever down, so that you can think clear. And as long as you come out in five minutes the fever won't do any harm to me. If not I can use it and do that. Feuer erscheine."
I was holding a little fireball in my left hand... I said loud enough that Rome could hear me.
"Rome when you dare not to survive this. I will get you back from the land of death and shoot you! Just that you know that. As soon you leave us, Raws and I will kill each other; so I wait at the front door for all four of you."
Don't look back, when you look back it will be a last moment I saw him as in the movies, before the hero goes and rescues the world. They all will be fine!
 
… "Look--I'm going in there. I can tell you're not used to guns, so stick with me and I will protect you to the best of my ability. Do you have an extra silver magazine for a 9 millimeter?"
 
… Rome ushered me and everyone else into the car, using his gun as a necessary encouragement.
 
… "I'm taking the Camaro..." was the last he said before Rome fall unconscious toward the pavement.
Aaaaaa not good.
I lifted my right hand and said as firm as I could. "Hauch des Lebens, Luft ich befehle dir komm zusammen!"
For the first time I really felt my powers. I needed the same strength as if I would hold Rome's body directly. The air around me seemed to get thinner, but Rome was safely floating in mid air. I was out of breath and my right arm did hurt, but Rome didn't get further hurt from falling out of the car.
"Yeah right you are taking the Camaro? How do you gonna drive? By calling him Bumblebee and hoping he starts to drive by itself?...”
Let's see. What do we need? We have to rest, get more ammo -I think in the mustang is a crossbow that could be useful-, patch up all the injuries of my warriors and we need to find the Walker's hiding place. We could try to find it the way Raws and I found Andre last year, but for that I need Rome awake.
 
… Rome was awake, sitting bolt-upright in bed. In bed? In the hotel?  He seemed panicky somehow. He saw I was there, sitting on the floor with a book. It was such an iconic picture of me he almost wondered if he was dreaming again.
"Elenna!!" he shouted... "Elenna!"
"Rome!" I said, surprised, suddenly sitting on the bed next to him. He grabbed me by the shoulders and fixed me with a desperate, wild stare:
"I know where Raws is!"
 
… Lenna looked worried at Rome, he wasn’t sweating anymore.
Dehydration. Damn it. I want this skin walker dead. Mausetot.
 
… I sat cross-legged on the floor in front of a map, holding some kind of crystal on the end of a chain. He was about to offer a deriding 'What's that for?', but he knew better than to ask that of me. I wouldn't tell him. I'd show him.
… “…don’t talk just concentrate on the feeling for Raws.”
 
… He immediately bent down to check the name on the map, just as Elenna also crouched close to see, so that they clunked heads sharply together. "Ow! Frack!" Rome cried, recoiling.
Elenna was also rubbing her head furiously. "Oops, sorry…"
 
… Awesome it did work a second time and it was so much easier this time. I am getting better in it.
 
…"Hey, Lennie, lemme borrow your phone," he said, reaching back and grabbing it off of the seat before I even said he could. He flicked through my ancient easy to use piece of technology until he found the Russian's number.
 
… He took my hand as they walked -I jumped as Rome took my hand, but felt immediately a little safer- both for himself and for me: I must looked even worse than he felt.
 
… I was staring at some carvings on the wall--very old ones--some symbolic crap, like hieroglyphics or something that he didn't understand. He took me by the hand, "Come on, Lennie," and pulled me along. "You're such a nerd," he chided quietly as he squeezed my hand.
 
… He and I came last, still holding hands like friggen Hansel and Gretel, but Rome seemed to have made up his mind that because I was scared he was holding my hand.
 
… I was freaking out--we all were--but I knew I also had the far away glance that students involved in deep research get. "There are very few invincible things in the spirit realm--and even those have their weaknesses." It sounded like I was beginning a lecture on medieval superstitions.
"Skip the history lesson--how can it die?!"
 
…"You take point. I'm right behind you. Elenna, start thinking. We need some ideas fast."
"I can't just pull lore out of thin air, Rome!" I snapped. It was ridiculous how much it bugged me. I know I was preoccupied, which was weird, because now that Raws was alive and with them, everyone could only think of one thing that… was the inhuman monster on the other side of the room. Rome looked at me knowingly but I barely saw him I was lost in my mind, running, running through my mental library to find the piece of long-forgotten information. Rome seemed impatient.
 
…“Stop shouting at me, that doesn’t help, I am trying to remember...”
I didn’t pay attention to the fight; I was too busy thinking to react in my normal way to the entire room filled with shooting guns -which would be crying like a little girl, covering my ears and hiding in a corner-. Now that my team was complete again, I was sure they would make certain that their geek wouldn’t get shot.
The other the one that looked like a thing that comes out when you put a bear, mountain lion, deer and some other animals in a pot mix them all together must be the...
“The skin walker, but what does this mean? Kill it....”
That is killing me to know I know the answer but I can’t find it in my head. There is an arrow and this symbol... what does this all mean?
Suddenly I dropped to my knees, holding my head. My concentration was finding the book in my mental library and not standing up straight.
 
…I stood up; it wasn’t safe to kneel on the floor…
… damnit why can’t I remember what this drawing means? … They are all waiting for me. All they need to know where and how to hit it. Gosh is that possible I am a walking encyclopedia of weirdness but I can’t remember this one lore? What the fuck is wrong with me? I always remember!
I walked slowly, not to attract any attention, backwards. I was pale and scared…
Oh my God I am Hermione Granger.
 
…I didn’t realize that just me and my boys were still standing. It was noticing that the boys were protecting me always a step away from me. I noticed details I never realized I knew about my memory. I was the one it had encountered today at the library. Honest, highly intelligent, but with a naivety and timidity that was a shockingly dangerous combination. Clearly, I had been sheltered by these two for far too long. I would prove an excellent persuasion, then, to get the others to stand down.
After all, it wanted these twins alive. Preferably.
So the Skin Walker swept them aside with brute strength instead of killing strength, and took the shrieking me up by the front of my clothes. I wriggled and twisted in his grasp, but helplessly… It sniffed me like a hungry dog.
"Lay down your weapons," it growled, low, but easily understood by any who were left conscious. "Or the girl dies."
 
…"You frakking son of a bitch! Let go of her!" Rome cried, raising his gun.
He lowered the weapon quickly, as if trying to hide it. The Skinjob turned an evil glare on him, and smiled. The I've won smile that Rome hated… especially from an evil frakker that was going to kill Elenna!
Rawson had raised his rifle up, taking aim, ignoring the warning, but Rome put his hand on it. "No, don't! It's gonna kill her!"
 
… Rawson raised an eyebrow, keeping his eyes on the monster and me.
"And your point is? Though I suppose if we can't kill it there's no reason for her to die. Can anyone tell me where to shoot yet? And don't look at me like that. I get the shot, I'm taking it, before any more of us end up like she will."
 
…“Let me go! They won’t listen to your threats. They know as well as I know what it means to be a hunter, I rather die than let you get away. Rome, Raws when you dare to listen to it I swear you will have a major pissed off spirit haunting you FOREVER!” I coughed. For the first time I really looked at the skin walker. His eyes where shiny and in a weird way pretty.
 
…"Romulus!" Raws was nearly growling. "Basic training- you do not negotiate with terrorists, though I think they meant more Middle East problems, not creatures from folklore with no value for human or other creature life."…
"Rome. Lenna." Raws drew out the words as a warning.
 
…The book. Hahahahaha that is too easy. I saw it in the book in the car. Hold on I turned the page when Rome had his vision thingy and the book slipped from my lap but I saw the picture of the drawing. But what does it say, the symbol, the arrow...
I was smiling at the skin walker; I looked a little bit as if I had the best day in my live or just lost my mind actually more the later.
... The eye in the drawing was read, the right eye. That’s it. Its weak spot is the right eye and it is silver that kills is. How stupid can I be?
…I knew the bracelet would help me one day.
My bracelet left a brand mark on the skin walker, but he had dropped me. I was still madly grinning...
“Aim for the right eye, just do what I say, don’t ask why!”
 
…"You couldn't have given us a larger target?" Rawson yelled over the sounds of gunshots. "I mean, really? One friggin' eye? Why not the foot, or the hand or a foot? At least the hairline or the mouth- this one's got a huge mouth, let me tell you!"
 
…"Okay, Lennie, listen to me," Rome said. They were parked at some distance from the hospital, standing outside the Camaro. The FBI vehicle was there, too, with the wounded stowed safely inside. "I need you to do me a favor, huh?"
"Yeah?" I looked fearful, because I knew what he was going to ask.
"I need you to stay with these guys in the hospital." A pout formed immediately but I let him continue. "Tell them whatever you need to, you'll know what to say. You're a good liar, I know you are, you're the best," he smiled fondly at me, like it was the highest compliment. It was, really. "We're getting out of town soon, but we won't leave you, I promise. Make sure these people are okay for us, yeah?"
"Why can't you?" I asked petulantly, again, knowing the answer.
"'Cause I gotta look after my retarded brother, that's why. You got this? I know you got this, chica."
I nodded sadly. I wasn't sure whether this was because he had relegated me to babysitting, or separated me from him and Raws, or because I didn't like hospitals, I think all of the above were true. He pulled me into an embrace right then and there.
"You did good today, you know. You looked after everyone. Looked after me. Saved all our asses more times than I can count. I owe you big time for that, okay, sister? I'm proud of you." This wasn't his quick, salesman patter. This was genuine. Quiet, tender, for my ears only.
When I looked up at him, I was smiling again, just a little bit. "That's my girl," he said, grinning widely.
I saw him out the corner of my eye watching from the Camaro some distance away as my shouts collected the hospital staff to rush out of the emergency room into the car where the wounded were, put them onto gurnies and rush them inside, with me going along, I couldn’t hear what I actually said all I thought of the terrifying feeling that Rome and Raws would leave me here, alone!
 
…Lenna wrote a text to Rome.
Rome are you guys okay? I haven’t killed Georgie yet, might don’t have to. Aly and Dan are not looking good. Did all I could for them. XXX Lennie PS Don’t get used to the name I still don’t like it! PPS Please don’t forget me here.
 
…Ok, just woke up. Thanks, LENNIE, we'll call you in an hour or so… Thx
 
…"Hello?"
"Elenna. Hey. Rome.” Something was odd about this.
"Um...Rome, are we're heading out soon?” Elenna was whispering.
"Aly and Dan aren't ready to leave the hospital yet. Aly's still unconscious. You should stay with them."
I was quite for a while waiting for him to tell me that it was just a joke and he was already waiting outside in her Mustang.
"Rome I think she'll be fine, let's get outta dodge. Probably be easier on her career if the wanted felons were out of the way. We don't even really know what her motives are, anyway. Walking wounded welcome to follow us.” I tried to argue.
“ You gave me Tex's number, right? I was thinking she'd know where we could lay low for a few days....Raws and I drive ahead and you follow us in a few days."
A pause.
"You listening to me, chica? You gotta stay."
"I won’t stay."
"What? She saved your life, Lennie, you owe it to her to be here when she wakes up!"
I was shocked. Rome had never ordered her like this before. I stammered for a moment, struggling with an anger I by all rights shouldn't be feeling, "Well--what--do you even--who will--" before finally: "Rome. I'm not staying behind."
"You won't be leaving with us. I get Rawson somewhere safe. You'll follow with the rest when I tell you it is safe."
And then he hung up…[1]

---

[1] https://reanimated.rpg-board.net/t37p300-the-animal#1682

---

… I was scared and missed my boys as I texted Rome. Hey Romie .I am having an awesome time. Hope you two are okay. We are fine can't wait that the whole team is back together. XXX Lennie
 
… "Ready, Wendy?" Georgie's voice was echoing through my head. "You bet, Peter!" I said with a grin on my face…
 
… A friend of Tex's here. The cavalry's on the way…
 
… I couldn’t block out a voice in my head. A year ago I was sure that it was Nick’s voice, now I wasn’t so sure anymore.  “Lennie baby, come on he just want to help. You know better then turn into the little bitch you were in the hotel. Don’t trap a person in water bubble that is not nice. You know better than that.”…
 
“… a Glock 17. Nine-millimetre… a Glock 34… Glock 22 and the Glock 35. Standard pistol… Desert Eagle XIX… .44 Magnum… big, and heavy… Firearm rules… Any questions?" Caleb offered… Lenna looked at Caleb and back to the guns. She was now not only scared of the guns but also of Caleb.
 
… It wasn’t easy to sit with those strangers in one room, sure I sort of am used to them but… I felt my heart racing when it sounded like someone was trying to kick in the door. Caleb was at the door first, gun pointed!
"Whoa, who the frack are you?" And that was the moment my heart decided to do a triple summersault!
"Rome?" I couldn’t contain the high-pitched squeal, and then ignore all cautions flung myself out the door plastering myself to his chest like a starfish on a clam.
"Holy Jesus, Lennie! What the hell!" It wasn't a question. It was a statement. I looked up at him, slightly embarrassed, but he tousled my hair to let me know it was all right. "Good to see you again, too chica."
"Where have you been?" I let go of him just long enough to check on Rawson and give him a slightly less enthusiastic hug which he didn't exactly return but didn't exactly push away, either.
"Ah...haha. Yeah. Remind me to tell you about that sometime. For now, though,"
 
… Rome bristled protectively and pulled me closer into his chest upon hearing how I had been treated. Exactly what I wanted. He flashed a glare briefly at the two older men, but for once in his life, decided not to start none. Instead, with effort, he managed a grin down at me.
"Don't worry, Lennie, now the Remingtons are back in town we've got plenty of guns. You can drive the getaway car, how's that sound?" But he didn't let go of where he was pressing me under his arm. Without realizing it, he'd gone and developed an overly-protective-big-brother-complex on me, and it was odd but I loved it.
 
…“What if they catch you? Or even worse?” I whispered, not sure if the others really should here my worries.
 
…"Um, so, you guys are okay, right? We should never have left. I'm sorry…”
 
...— .. ... .. ——— —. ..——..
 
…“… We can break into the security office and spy on them from the security cameras - we won't be able to hear them, but we'll be able to see them. Or I can hit you over the head, bundle you into the trunk and drive back to the motel safely like we're supposed to… So, spy from the security office, I suppose."
 
… a bloody nose and lip and I will have a black eye, and my left arm did hurt…
 
…"Elenna! The hell happened to you?" I started to hate when he called me by my full name. "I'm okay, Rome, really..." Rome flashed a fiery look of blame straight at Caleb before turning back to me, but at least it distracted him from dealing with Rawson, whom he ushered out of the room so he could sit me on the toilet seat and blot my bloody face with a wet cloth. The irony was just a few days we were in the same situation just that he had patched up a cut on my side.
"What the hell were you thinking, kid?" he asked me gently. "Don't think you'll need stitches, but, look, you're ugly enough," he teased, "doesn't mean you gotta go picking fights and getting your face all busted up."
… but it just looked bad, and that upset him more than I thought was possible…
Now he wheeled on Caleb. "What the hell happened, and what the hell are we doing next?"
“…She's a big girl, she can clearly handle herself…”
 
… a brief but serious warning glare at Elenna--"Try to come back in one piece this time.”…
 
Elle
 
… Aim, breathe and shoot.
 
…Allison grabbed the medic's bags and handed one to Lenna. "Probably some useful stuff in there. Why not add armed robbery to my rap sheet?"
She managed a short smile and then held her hand out for the gun grasped ungainly in my hand. The sigh of relief must have been heard in Texas.
 
…And then, out of nowhere...
Slap!
"OW!" Rome cried, holding his offended cheek. My face was livid, and I was holding my hand from slapping him so hard.
"I can't believe you left me--again! With people who make me use guns! You are such a...a..." I swung back to hit him again but Rome grabbed my wrist and tried a tentative grin:
"A slob? A creep? A misogynistic bastard who cares only about himself?"
I stopped, at that, at least. And blinked. So he kept going:
"I have bad breath? I drink nothing but Mountain Dew and complain to you when my piss turns green? I steal all the hot water in the motels? I'm out all night and sleep all day?"
I laughed. Rome let himself relax a bit: Dodged that one, he sighed, relieved.
"You're mean," I laughed, snatching my hand back and shoving him. I was doing the grinning-but-pretending-still-to-be-mad thing. Which always kind of got him.
"And I'm mean, that's right," he said, pulling me into a hug. “… I pulled away from him, poking at the cuts and scrapes that covered his body.
"Rome, you're all..." I began.
"Yeah," Rome replied. "Gravity sucks, remind me to tell you about it sometime…"…

---

 
… After Aly and Rome switched cars on the way to the Safehouse, I felt a little bit lonely. I didn’t like the fact that it was my fault that they switched the cars. So I bit my lip not to smile when Rome asked if he can drive with me. I would act a little more normal on the drive…
 
…“…This right here is Elenna," he squeezed my shoulder affectionately. "She's the brains...”
 
…Sometimes I wondered if it was safe to think around Rome, what if he could read minds and just never told us about it?...
 
…It was nice to ride with Rome and Allison in the Mustang -though Rome believed I generally had a terrible taste in music-without Rome being worried sick or corpse-powder-sick or tripping-balls-sick, this once. I had stopped the whole talking-to-my-car thing I think Rome was getting annoyed. He seemed to think it was comforting to know that eventually the pain did go away. He saw me shoving pictures and things into old boxes with weird markings on them: best way to forget is to, well, forget. Rome only had his mom's rosary, part of him kept it for utilitarian reasons like this-thing-helped-him-take-down-a-skinwalker. I was all fun and games and played Justin Timberlake until both Rome and Allison threatened to scalp me if I didn't turn it off. It wasn’t like I didn’t like other music but it was fun to annoy him.
 
…I looked up and my view crossed with Georgie’s. Georgie looked sceptical at me, and I knew it was possible that Georgie as one of the few long time hunters that could be the one that gave me a hard time. Even though the séance was really a ritual everyone could perform. And until I knew what Georgie thought about my powers I would be careful to use them around her… Those three were the hunters that could put me into the witch category.
 
… and even I was there, wearing a white dress and my hair done up in Cinnamon Buns on the sides of my head, just like Princess Leia.
 
… “…I mean, it is weird that you can do that...magic stuff, but it's a positive, rather impressive weirdness."…
 
…My hand was slightly twitching and my mind already formed a new spell to let my fire free. But something was holding me back, something let me be scared of using my powers right now. I never had used them when I was that angry.
 
…“There is a way out. But it requires you die by your own hand." A smile stretched across the djinn’s  face as she waited for our answer.
 
…“Elenna Abigail Fee your action of running from your trail made clear you a guilty in witchcraft and blasphemous speech. Your punishment is death on the stake.”…
… “Please I am innocent. I am not a witch. I never sold my soul to a demon. I am not what you think I am. Please, let me go. Please.”…
 
… he noticed on his left ring finger a gold wedding band...
“…Elenna's studying Folklore and Mythology at Harvard--just like cousin Vor--so I expect her to say weird things, but Caleb?...”
 
… I stumbled along the hallway, when I was overrun by a memory of mine...
 
… Rome managed to look up at hearing a familiar voice. A voice that was familiar, and strangely comforting, though he couldn't remember exactly why… He locked eyes with me, pleading, somehow, for me to fix this... Or, you know, little sister… I was an acquaintance at best… A nice enough girl, but totally not his type. Into books and things… So why did he want so badly to trust me?...
 
… “Raws called me once a witch, because of all the weird books I read. Sorry I guess you don’t wanna talk about him. Hey Rome do you know someone called Andre? I have the weird feeling that we know him, but I can’t remember that I ever met a guy called Andre.”
Silver bullet to the heart.
I feel too safe since my powers work exactly the way I want them to work.
“…We can’t die in here, as soon we die we die in the real world…”
 
…"Whoa, wait, huh?" Rome paused, took me by the shoulders--this seemed familiar--and shook me gently, staring deeply into my chocolate-brown eyes, searching for lying or insanity: "Okay, wait, run that by me again, Lennie, baby?"…
He turned back to me, pleading in his eyes. "Lennie, chica--tell me--" No. He thought I was talking weird shit. He didn't want that again, he couldn't handle it. He licked his lips: "Tell me what we've got to do."
I smiled I just couldn’t stop it.
Lennie. Chica.
“You think I am just a friend of a girl you once dated, don’t you? We never talked a lot, but then tell me why you want me to explain this situation, why do you call me Lennie. I hate this name, well I hate it when other people call me this but I start to get used to be called Lennie by you. We are not just some people that have a common friend. We are the friends. Of all people here, we know each other since a bit over a year now. I saved you, remember you were possessed. Rome I promise you nothing bad will happen. You trust me remember? You know me, I am this chick that is crazy about books, I forget to eat and sleep when I am in a library like Tex has. And hell I know how insane this sounds, but do you know how you wake up from a dream?”
 
…I had tears in her eyes, I was scared that Rome wouldn’t believe me and would die in here. I was serious that I wouldn't leave without him. I would rather die than lose another brother…
 
…Rome couldn't help but be a little surprised at that, and he bridled, trying to be confused, but actually perfectly comfortable with me getting all sappy and emotional on him. He smiled affectionately as he watched my Bambi-eyes fill up with tears. He could hear me adding, as he read my mind, I would rather die than lose another brother.
And it was his duty as my surrogate brother to cheapen the moment. "Just a little suicide, huh? No biggie?" he confirmed.
I laugh-sobbed adorably, and nodded. Rome pulled me into a crushing hug.
 
… I pressed the gun against my temple and pulled the trigger…
 
…Right teach her how your world goes and you are free.
 
…He held out his hand to me for the keys. "I'm driving. You research." I went pale and pouted, clutching it in my pocket. "Or we're staying here, finishing our breakfast like civilized people, and planning it out here. You want to go now, fine: you're researching--" he jerked a finger at Aly, "she's planning, and I'm driving…”
"Goddammit, this car is trying to kill me, I swear," Rome said, tugging at the seatbelt which had a habit of attempting to strangle him every time he applied the brakes. He glanced in the rearview mirror at the girls in the back of the car. "She asleep yet?" he asked Aly.
"Yeah," Aly replied, taking the book gently from my slack fingers.
"Thank God. I've never seen her this obsessed--and let me tell you, that girl can get obsessed."
 
…“I wouldn’t be alone anymore.”
“You are never alone Elle, I am here Peewee… I’m here… They want to separate us… They are destroying you, they don’t love you, and they don’t understand you…”
…“That’s my girl. Make them go away! Make them that they show that they don’t care for you. All they want is your knowledge about myth, make them leave you! I know you can do it. You just need to fight for us. I love you Peewee.”
“Okay, I can do that.”
I smiled in my sleep. I moved closer to him, to keep warm. All I needed to do was to make them go away. I wanted them to go away, right?

---

His live had changed a lot; mainly his beloved sister had changed. I ignored him, no matter how much noises he made in the car. And the weird thing was he never could leave the car. And since some time there are other people in his sister’s life. One guy, the one with the goofy grin got awfully close to me, actually he remembered him from a long time ago. I was tiny (not that I remembered it properly) when the boy saved me from drowning that was his job! Even when I ignore him, he will never stop protecting me. He needed to do something…
 
… “There you are. What the hell did you do so long? I have coffee and bagels for breakfast so we can eat on the road...”
What? I don’t wanna drive with Rome? Why not? I like driving with them, they are fun…
“Move it. Um Rome, Aly do you have to drive with me again? You two together make me uncomfortable. After all you two smell like sex.”
I bit my lip when I mumbled. “Sorry I didn’t mean it that way…”
“No need to say sorry. You wanted her to go, you did a good job. I am proud of you, Elle.”
“Don’t use that name.” I turned around to see who actually said it, but no one was there…
 
…I was already driving, a smooth ride considering the speed I was driving at, white-knuckling the wheel, gritting my teeth, and staring straight ahead.
"What the hell was that all about, huh, Elenna? Do you even want me in your freaky car with you? Can I eat in here without you bitching me out?" Rome stopped... I saw that he was considering if I was upset about something? Was I…jealous? Rome tried again, more tentative this time. 
"Okay, look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown up like that. You're freaking out …, and I get that. But, I mean...you gotta think about other people, okay?..." He laughed, "I mean, you're not Rawson, right? You have people skills. You know better than to go off like that. Is it, like, your girl time, or whatever, because just lemme know and we can adjust. Is there something else you wanna talk about?"

…Why did I say that? “I’m sorry, Rome. I don’t know what happened… I was a freak at High School and well I run away from my foster parents guess they won’t invite us for tea either. I never wanted to go back, and here I am forcing you to go with me. Can you tell Aly I’m sorry, please?” I started laughing. “And you really wanna know when my girl time is? I’m not sure if I want you to know…”… “My sweet little Elle… He uses you Elle!” “Don’t use that name.” I spoke slowly and calculated, something wasn’t right but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Rome can’t do the whole mind reading thing can he?
 
… “My little girl, not long… I know it. You need me…”
 
…You are not welcome...doesn't like...not her brother...
I watched Rome wheel around in the seat to observe the back, but nothing was there… He frowned. I should tell him, he would be the last one laughing about me that I was hearing voices or rather one voice. He was about to say something but didn’t... 



…"Okay. Jesus Christ, I think I'm gonna puke. When's the next rest stop, Lennie? You're driving like a maniac, chica."
 
…“See he wants to leave you like everyone does, Elle!” I turned around and checked the backseat. I was pale and seemed as if I needed to hold on to the steering wheel not only because I was driving.
 
“… we all had a rough time in the djinn’s world…”
 
… “The sooner you stop the sooner you get rid of him, Elle.”
But I don’t want him to leave. He is my best friend. He is the closest thing to family I have.
 
…“I’m sorry Rome, I dunno I guess the dream world didn’t leave me completely yet.”
 
… "And you're not alone, Lennie. I'm with you. I always got your back, kiddo, you know that." He waited. "Right?" He wanted to hear me confirm, but I felt as if his voice came from great distant through water. I had trouble focusing on him or actually anything around me. It was probably not safe to drive but I didn’t know if I could keep it together if I asked him to drive.
"… Anything you...you know...wanna get off your chest? So. I'm here. Just so ya know."
 
 “… when you threw her through a wall… you are not here, and you don’t listen… you let her down…”
 
…I looked at Rome. “… you see me mostly.” I looked again confused in the rear-view mirror to check if someone or something was on the backseat, but it was still empty. What was wrong with me, I felt like yelling at Rome and then apologizing again for yelling. I felt weird, vulnerable. “… Maybe I go back to hunting alone. I was good at it.”
 
…Rome looked confused. And a little hurt. "Whoa, okay, what? You're not hunting alone, chica. We decided that a long time ago, when we realized that I need a brain and you need someone to look after you. We're in this together, end of discussion." Something was wrong. With me, sort of, but around me. I got this vibe from Rome, he seemed defensive, determined not to let me out of his sight. He looked me for a second and I knew he would watch me like a hawk. I knew this look, the look a big brother had when his little sister was… when she really needed him and trusted that he would let me run myself crazy and then pick me up when I was ready to accept defeat.
 
… I had to wait for the right moment… but for now something wasn’t right…
 
…I walked through the backyard of my family’s house. I looked happy, I felt happy. Nick was standing at the backdoor. 
“Hey Elle, where have you been? I was waiting for you. Come on in, dinner is ready. Hey what’s wrong you looked as if you have seen a ghost.”
“Nick? How can you be here?”
“Did you have your nightmare again? I am not dead, Elle. There are no such things as monsters. I’m trying to tell you this for years now. I would never leave you! I love you, Elle.”
I looked at my brother, I missed him so much. All I could do was go and hug him, and never let go of him.


… he could see me in the driver's seat, looking as comfortable as one can be sleeping in a car. But safe, anyway… 
 
…red and blue flashing lights that signaled Panic Time…
 
…there was this constant voice in my head. Maybe I should ask Rome …
 
…I shook my head again. It started to be a habit of me, whenever I heard the voice; I tried to shake it off. .
 
… “You know what? Whatever, you hunt your stray dog, and I’ll hunt the real monster. I don’t care what you think, I hunted alone before and I stayed with the Remingtons for them and since you are so great Rome and find your own hunts. I’m in your way anyway, right? I’m the stupid thing that doesn’t touch a gun if all your life would depend on it. To hell with all of you, I’m out of here.”
“Way to go girl!”
Shut up!
 
…Georgie knew that I would never act the way I just did. My eyes had been so cold that Georgie felt goosebumps on her back. She looked at Rome who seemed equally shocked. I knew that Georgie saw that I was so close to him… Something is not quite right here...

…Rome suddenly changed, he turned from playboy to… hunter and I knew I was the only one able to initiate this change… This was getting out of hand.
…"Okay, I'll go with Elenna… Rome turned to me, I was glowering at him. He glared right back, ready to throw down if I so much as twitched in the direction of wanting to go this alone, daring me… , but whatever I was freaking out about was bugging me big time, and I needed him to make sure I didn't do anything stupid...Okay, like disappearing on him.

… there was no point in me driving alone, Rome would find me and cuff me to a pipe in my hotel room. So I waited for him.
“… They don’t need me anymore… they won’t miss me…”

“… I mean look at me; I hunt monsters with a team of weirdo’s, who does that? Us! Right! And that is exactly why our lives suck! I mean c'mon, we hunt monsters! What the hell?! I mean normal people when they see a monster they run, but not us. No, no, no! We... We search out things that want to kill us. Yeah. Or eat us! You know who does that? Crazy people! We are insane!”

… “You are never alone, I am here…”

…“No. No, that is not possible. You can’t be here. You just can’t.”

…Rome found me exactly where he expected he would… I hadn't actually left him yet, and that was something. "Okay, Chica, what's the plan?" It was all fake and I knew it, I knew he saw that I’d been crying and more I saw him move a nanometer towards me as if he would hug me and gosh I wished he did! This is all wrong I need him!

… “Fine this EMF doesn’t work. Whatever. You are psychic you should sense the supernatural. So concentrate inside.”
I picked up a small Glock, check the magazine I didn't bother to use the holster...

…"What? You think I can turn that crap on and off like a lightswitch?"
"… what the f*ck are you doing with that?!" Because I, Elenna Fee was holding a gun.
"… Rome, let's go," I said, putting the weapon in the waistband of my jeans as if nothing was out of the ordinary--
"Except that you're gonna shoot your ass off. Lennie."… As I approached him, gingerly, tentatively, he then proceeded to remove his own shoulder holster and re-fasten it onto me…
… He stared at me fondly, like he was watching me grow up before his very eyes. "You lead, I'll follow."

…There was this voice again… I shook I head. I heard him clearly as a bell.

…“You gonna be fine Elle, and if anything is mean to you tell me. I’ll handle it for you.” Nick looked fondly at me.
“I can’t just come running to you when people are mean to me. I can handle them myself. Stop worrying about me. And don’t look at me as I’m an adorable 5 year old.”
“I can’t help it you are adorable.”
I turned around and went into the opposite direction as Nick did.
“I’ll pick you up at 3.”Shouted Nick. I just waved without looking at him.
He waited in the Mustang at 3PM, when I finally arrived I didn’t looked to good. I had a cut in my lip and a bruise on my jaw. I handed him a letter from my teacher. “It wasn’t my fault.”
“What happened?”
“I was reading a book about supernatural being in Scotland and a boy told me that there are no such things as monsters. And I asked him how he can be so sure. And he said because his dad said this. I asked if his dad ever was in Scotland. He said no. I said then your dad is ignorant. He came over and punched me, I punched him back and then my teacher came in. It wasn’t my fault!”
Nick chuckled. “You are unbelievable Elle, I can never let you alone. You always get into trouble like this.”
I moved … closer to Rome, as if I was scared of something or someone?
“I’m not sure if you should let me lead in here…”

Fuel - Part 2

---

…"… I'll get us in," he said, sweeping an arm over my shoulder affectionately as he steered me towards the front office.
"What're you doing?!" I hissed, trying to pull out from under his arm, but he held on tightly and spoke to me through the clenched teeth of a fake smile:
"Just follow my lead. You want in? I'll get us in. You can sneak away when you like."… Rome walked into the main office with a flourish, focusing all the room's attention on him, so that even if anyone could recognize me, they didn't want to… It wasn't until they had come to the library that either of them noticed that I had gone.
"Oh! We seem to have lost Mrs. Remington!"
Rome shook his head and grinned covertly, he made a gesture indicating a pregnant belly until the old man brightened in acknowledgement.
"She doesn't like to be fussed over...."

…“Elenna Fee?”
“No... I’m Lennie Remington…”

…I collapsed and hugged my knees. “What is happening to mean?”

… he asked me cornily, ignoring the other man’s leering at me which frankly pissed him off. Takes a pig to spot a pig, apparently, and this guy totally shouldn't be supervising 14 to 18 year olds. "Are we done…?"…

… that was where Rome lost his temper: "Shit, Elenna… ! What the hell are you on, anyway?" He tried to control himself, but it just wasn't working. I was freaking him (and myself) the hell out and it had to stop now. "Look, I get it that you're upset being back here, but that doesn't mean you have to go completely psycho! I don't scare all that easy, but you are scaring the crap out of me!...You are completely off: you're on edge, you're erratic, you're--you're tail-spinning, girl, and you refuse to talk about it, except to yourself, and you're imaginary car friend, and you won't let me help you!"

… Apparently the only people who had the power to truly get him riled up were the people he cared most about?

…"I don't need your help!" I screamed, stamping my foot.
"Yes, you do! You're the only one who thinks you should have to do this on your own! Please, Lennie, it’s killing you!" Okay, that was totally not unaccusing and gentle as I hoped he would say it. He… tried again: "Please. We've both lost people, lost our parents--hell, if Rawson doesn't show up again, we've both lost our brothers. And now am I gonna lose you, too?"
He had possibly succeeded at achieving tenderness in his voice, but just in case, Rome braced himself for fists to start flying… it hurt me to see that he anticipated me to fight him, to punch him, or even use the gun.

…I stared at him, for a moment he got me. For a moment I heard him and this time really heard him, but there was still the voice in my head…
“You can’t lose me Rome. I was never yours. I never belonged to you… and then I’m gone…” I was at the breaking point, and in this moment I knew nothing else than to give up.

… “Before we leave I wanna have a look around the gym outside, maybe I find something there.” I was calm, maybe too calm after the harsh words. “... I have no home I could come back, and I will never have one.”

…Rome was pissed off. And he was hearing things. Voices, like they were spoken too softly to hear but his brain picked up on them:
“He can’t lose what he never had.”
"Elenna Abigail Fee!" he snarled, grabbing me by the wrist and yanking me around to face him. "Don't walk away from me."
"Let me go, Rome!" I said, sounding angry and scared. He almost back down, not wanting to frighten me.
"Not until you listen to me!" he growled, gripping me by the shoulders and pushing me back against the side of the Mustang--hard. "Elenna, you told me to be your EMF reader, and that's what I'm doing: I'm telling you there's nothing here that's worth hunting, and nothing that's good for you. Now you get back in that car right now and this won't get ugly."
"What're you gonna do to me?" I tried to sound tough, daring him to touch me, but deep down I was scared... Rome huffed out a sigh. And saw his breath… I screamed when it slammed Rome against the tree…

… my head was exploding I felt suddenly so angry, and then scared. Really scared. First I thought of the anger but then I realized it was not the anger, it was Rome… And then I saw his breath, I felt the cold spot just before Rome flew against the tree. At this point I was terrified…

…Invisible, cold spot, what is acting like this? Gee a ghost, salt, shotgun.

…Nick punched Rome with all his strength in the side, and it was impressive. Rome flew several feet. He did nearly hit me, but he didn’t care.

…I run around the Mustang and took the shotgun out of it and I shot at the point behind Rome…

… When suddenly another shot hit him. I was holding a shotgun in my hand. I was shivering and pale as a sheet…

Something changed around us, and this changed me… I dropped the shotgun… “I’m sorry are you okay? Did I... are you...? Rome I’m sorry.”

… "Holy crap, Lennie, you just totally saved my..."
I had dropped the gun. And I was shaking and looking like I was about to cry, terrified that I had just fired a gun. It was the most beautiful thing he'd seen in days: I was his.
"Aww, c'mere, girl," he said, pulling me into a hug, surprised and pleased when I clung to him a little desperately…
"I guess you were right about there being a hunt here. God, I'm sorry for not believing you, Lennie, baby. What was that, a ghost?"
… "… I'm sorry for losing my temper. Sorry for not believing you. But I think we should get out of here…"
… "You think it'll attack any kids?" … "Is it safe to leave?"
… I looked tired, drained, lost…

… “I don’t like werewolves.” I looked embarrassed away, not that it was any new information.

…"I know this is a tough one for you, chica, but you gotta hang with it. How's this sound? We let the others handle the shapeshifter, you and me deal with the ghost. Fair?"
He smiled at me, put his hand comfortingly over mine where it rested on the gearshift.
“Even though it is technically right, it’s a werewolf jerk.”
I shivered by hearing this. Why didn’t the voice stop?...

… “Wait just the two of us hunt the ghost? Really? I thought you don’t like hunting just with me. I’m a liability, remember? I can’t shoot; I can’t even give you a gun without being scared. Maybe I’m just not as much a hunter as I thought…”

… "Of course I'll hunt with you, Lennie. You're not a liability. You're a little crazy, sure," he forced a grin and a chuckle, "but I don't ever feel obligated to look after you. I feel..." Okay, was he just about to start talking about his feelings? Frack this noise. "I just don't mind looking after you, that's all." …

…I started a couple of times to answer him, but I didn’t know what to say. I had a bad headache. I wasn’t stupid I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t dare to mention this to anyone, especially not Rome... I tried to ignore the voice and the need to see my dead brother again…

… Hunt? Gone from his mind. Me? I could take care of myself.

…I’m not doing this for you Nick. I’m doing it for me. I’m done hunting; I’m done fighting stupid monster…

… “I was just, ah...just on my way to check on Elenna, actually. See if she found anything on that ghost at the school." He chuckled. "To get my mind off it, you know? …"

… mainly I had ordered Champagne. I never had it before and thought it would be time to try it.
The TV was on; I was dancing not really listening to the music, in nothing more than my underwear.

…“Elle, what the hell are you doing? Get dressed and leave them, this is your moment.”
Not right now. I’m busy.
“What do you mean you’re busy?”
You wanted me to grow up and that’s what I’m doing.

…I emptied another glass of Champagne and threw it against the wall like I did with the first six, I had20 to smash…

… “…, look what you did. She is going crazy and I can’t control her. What stupid ideas did you put in her head? She is drinking and having a party in her room…”

… "Hey, what's going on?" Georgie asked, but the music was so loud that she couldn't hear her own voice so she turned it off. I turned around and looked at her both angrily and confused at the same time.
"Why did you turn it off? I liked that song."
"What on earth is going on? Are you drunk?" Georgina scrutinized me worryingly.
I shrugged my shoulders and tumbled towards the table to fill another glass. "I was thirsty."
"Then you should have ordered a water or soda. You're 19, you're not allowed..."
"Dammit, Barbie, who cares? You're not my mother okay? And I'm so tired of people telling me what I'm supposed to do and what I'm not allowed to do."
… “I wanna go out tonight, I'm tired of spending all my time on books!"
Georgina wrinkled her brow. Okay, something is definitely wrong here!...

…This time Rome heard every word not just bits, he groaned… As the pain faded, Rome actually focused on what the voice was saying. It was talking about Elle--Elenna? Drinking and partying? Yeah, freaking right, she's in her room nerding out...
… Plus Nick was cremated, so he couldn't even be our ghost. Btw don't mention this to Lennie she'll freak....more.
Boy, wasn't that the truth. The music could be heard from the hallway… dancing in my underwear… He opened his mouth a few times, trying to speak, his face going red at seeing me in my underwear as he tried not to think about how actually hot I was, funny enough this time I heard him think.
"Elenna?!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. "What the hell are you doing?!" He was worried again. And that meant he was angry again. He stalked towards me, ripping off his jacket and shoving it on me. "Get some freaking clothes on, what kind of hussy are you trying to be? And you better as hell clean all this up!" He pointed to the broken champagne glasses and then reconsidered. "No, you know what? I'll do it. Because you're gonna cut yourself like a moron, Goddammit!" he shouted. He collected the remaining Champagne under his arm. "And I'm cutting you off of room service if you're going to act like this."
Georgie was trying to grab his arm but he shook her off.
"You better get back on track, Elenna, and I mean yesterday, or I am totally benching your ass for the remainder of this hunt, am I understood?"

…“I don’t need your jacket or you cleaning up my mess or you looking out for me, I am fine…”
… I was for a moment calm, until I saw in Georgie’s face a silent agreement with Rome.
“You know what? I am on track, I am fine and I know what I am doing! Just because I am not the little angel anymore, doesn’t mean I can’t hunt. Stop acting like my father Rome, he died nearly ten years ago. You can’t tell me what I can do and what I can’t do. I am not a moron. I can look out for myself. Just leave me alone, all of you go away. Gee everyone is leaving me so just go with the flock. I don’t need anyone of you. I hate you Rome!”
I turned around and went into the bathroom and slammed the door as loudly as possible. I did hope the door would break. I was furious, but as soon the door was closed behind me she fell on the floor and started crying.
I don’t want you all to leave. Not one of you. I need you. Please don’t go away. I don’t wanna be such a brat, but I dunno somehow I am as soon you are around. Please I need help.

Fuel - Part 3

---

… "I hate you, Rome!"
Rome … was totally hurt by that remark.
"Elenna!" He pounded on the door, hard enough that it rattled on its hinges. "Elenna you come out of there right now! I'm not even kidding, Lenna! You can't keep acting like this! What the hell is wrong with you? Lenna! Lennie! I'm just trying to help you! Can't you get that through your freaking weirdo skull?"…
…"Rome stop yelling that is not helping her."
…"No, wait, you don't understand, something's WRONG with her!" Rome yelled at Georgie.
"Fine I go and ask her. But you stay out of it. Let me handle it."
… "Lenna. Are you all right?" Georgie didn't expect an answer. She could hear mesobbing from behind the door. "Lenna, please..."

… “I AM FINE!”…

…Georgina had scrutinized at my eyes as if they were different. No demon eyes, for sure, but there was something...different about them. Something unusually cold.

…I curled up crying on the bed. Why did Georgie looked so weird at me? Actually why is everyone acting to weird around me? …

…I heard a knock at the door, it was a careful knock. There was some muffled talking outside, or did someone just call my name?...

… “Look Rome is just worried about you, we all are worried about you. Something is not right, and if you would think clear you would know that…”

…Nick grinned at me. “Alright.”

… “Lenna are you coming? We are all ready to head out? Come on you never took longer to get ready then I do.”

…I opened the door. “Yes I’m ready. Let’s go. I’m driving with you…”


…For the first time ever Rome stared at me like he did at all the other slutty girls. I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to look at me like that. I wanted him to hate me not want to shag me… He stammered for a moment, finally calling out, "Elenna!"
I ignored him, completely, as if I hadn't heard …that alone hadn't crushed him into submission…

…I felt odd, I felt as something was shifting. Why did I feel I was losing something while I felt at the same time closer to Nick every second that passed? … Rome would throw me over his shoulder and lock him and me in his room and have a long heart to heart chat. He seemed to be upset, nearly heartbroken but he seemed well stable enough to go out with them…

…"Okay, you've definitely got that look on your face", Georgie took a sip of her cocktail while smiling at me.
"What look?" I didn't really seem interested in a conversation with her or the others.
…"I'm not as geeky as everybody thinks…"
"I thought you like books."

…"Make-up shots?" he grinned hopefully.
I didn't even look at him. I did, however, pick up both of the shots he had laid on the table and knocked them back in quick succession.
"Ugh! It tastes like watered-down Jack! Gross!" I said, but didn't start fizzling or screaming.
Okay, so not a demon. And obviously refusing even to look at him… A dark-haired, blue-eyed pretty-boy was definitely checking me out… I didn't want his shots, his help, or even his friendship. I certainly didn't want him ruining a good night out by starting a fight like an overly-jealous boyfriend. I was a grown girl after all…

… “Elle.”
…when I spotted a friendly, hot face. I smiled at the guy and he smiled back.
…I went to a tall, not friendly looking guy.
“Hey, do you see the group with the blond Barbie over there? I heard the goofy grinning guy say that he would bang your girlfriend even when she looks like a sea slug. And the grumpy looking hot guy at the table next to them said that he can knock you out in less than 5 seconds. All what I am trying to say is that they are really mean, and you should know what they say about you.”

…I bend over and kissed him.

… black skull that was sticking out its red tongue saying Bite me!  on my hip.

this are definitely not my memories but hey I’m not complaining I guess I am kind of glad to know the truth wrote: … Despite having five other people keeping him company, Rome felt suddenly lonely.
… "I'd like to go after Elenna, if that's okay."

…"She was, like, 14 or something. Poor kid, I mean, no wonder she's freaking out being back. Now you see why we have to find her? Why I have to help her?"

…"Rome, we're not suggesting--" Caleb began.
"The hell you're not! She's not a werewolf! Are you guys crazy? Sure as hell not from five years ago! I would've picked up on this!"

…"Rome, just calm down and think rationally! When did these murders stop--when she left--and when did they start again? The night we arrived. Was Lenna with anyone that night? No, she slept in the car in the same parking lot as the murder. She has completely lost it, Rome. She sold out the team and left with a man who is now dead."

…"Let me try to help her, please. I-I'll do better, I'll watch her, I'll stay the night with her and make sure she's not a wolf just please...”

…There is no way that girl is...
… My weird behavior, outburst of temper, the coldness in my eyes...it all made sense now.

…"No, no, there's nothing, there's no way to change someone back. And if there was, the only person who could figure it out would be Lenna," … "She can't be a werewolf, I mean, it's impossible! She has a silver bracelet that she always wears. Remember the skinwalker? She burned it with it when it grabbed her!" … "And as much as I'd like to forget this, I saw her practically naked, and I would have noticed any scars. You saw her, too, come on, G, help me out, chica. No scars, right? I mean, like, bite scars."

… "I mean, we could try fire," he said, with dark sarcasm, "but she is a witch, so that might actually work." …

…"Rome ... seeing her practically naked is not the same as stripping her down and searching for scars. If ... if she can't be sedated quickly enough, someone has to stop her before she can kill or turn anyone else," Caleb spoke softly, "I think she'd want it to be you. But if you're not up to it, I understand that."

… he'd managed actual tears this time. "Let me do it." He drew his sleeve across his nose, looking vulnerable, small, but very determined. "I'll do it."

"… I do know Elenna as a human being and every human life is precious. She is human for 28 days out of the month that makes her worth saving in my book. …"

…"The same counts for me", Georgina said determined. "I'll protect that crazy little girl with my life."

…Nick felt that his plan didn’t work. They weren’t about to leave her behind, or tell her to leave. This new werewolf idea moved them closer together.

…"You lost and I won!" Nick shrieked, his blue light pulsing with power.
Rome chuckled. "Not this round," he said, and he fired the shotgun point-blank into Nick's face.

…"Maybe he's haunting her? And that's why she's acting weird?" Anything to get them off this werewolf kick...

… the connection door to Rome’s room was open. I walked to it and didn’t look like the friendly girl I normally was.
“Romulus Remington, what the fuck is going on? Where is all my stuff? I told you not to touch my things.”
I looked around Rome’s room and was surprised to find the whole team in it, they were all there except Rome.
“What are you all doing here? Where is Rome?”

…Rome seemed invisible… The important thing right now was that no one shot her.
He stood up, slipping his Desert Eagle into the back of his waistband, covertly enough that I wouldn't see, but leaving it sticking out of his shirt so that Caleb could see.
"Um, hey, Lennie, baby, can I talk to you for a second, chica?"
I looked right through him: "What the hell did you guys do with my stuff?"
Something (Rome?) grabbed me by the shoulders. "Elenna, listen to me, stop screwing around! There's a werewolf running around in this town and you could have gotten--"
But as soon as something (Rome) touched me, I did something very strange. I shrieked like he had put an ice cube down my underwear and jumped about five feet in the air and nine feet backwards. And I just kept screaming.
Rome stood paralyzed, confused, and, though he wouldn't admit it, hurt.
And then his phone started playing the Twilight Zone

…  Caleb raised his head from his task and caught Rome and my attention with a sharp whistle.
"Easy there you two. Let her sleep it off Rome. We can see if she changes her tune after a little lie-down," Caleb interjected, putting emphasis on the finish - it'd be confusing to bystanders and maybe me too, but Rome and the others should get the message.

… “What’s going on here? Why two? Something is in this room it touched me. Guys why are you all looking at me so weird? Where is Rome?”

…“Stop looking at me. What is happening here? I don’t understand.”
Georgie walked towards me, and spoke as if I was holding a gun. “Lenna listen calm down everything is alright. It is late we should all go to bed, okay?”
“I am not crazy, stop acting like I’m insane. Something is going on. And when it is that late, why are you all still up, why are you all in Rome’s room and where the hell is Rome?”
I walked away from Georgie.
“Run!”
“I don’t understand what is happening to me? I... I can’t stay here. I have to go. Now. I’m sorry.”
“Lenna you can’t go.” Said Georgie loud.
I turned around when something grabbed my hand, for a moment I recognized the touch but then my fear won. I shrieked and stumbled to the door. “Let me go, I can’t stay here. I don’t wanna stay here.”

…Rome?
“He is gone, and you need to go as well. The guy you had tonight is dead and they think you killed him. GO!”
I pushed whatever was holding me, just in time to see this thing appear. It had shaggy light brown hair; animal eyes, long claws and it attack everyone in the room. First it knocked the table Caleb was sitting at over and then it ran into Georgie so she fell...
I used this moment to take a sprint out of the room, back on the parking lot and into the Mustang. The car turned on without me doing and drove off in the night.

…Elenna had just appeared and disappeared! Rome thought.
… He lunged for Georgie's arm and dragged her outside…
"Give me your keys," he ordered.
"What? Rome, I'm not letting you--"
"Georgie." He didn't have time for this…  "You want to find her too, don't you?"
She nodded.
"Okay," he said, moved his hand down his arm to hold her hand, and continued down the stairs.
"I'd burn those curse boxes if I were you!" he shouted up at them. "Anyone who wants to come along can join us or follow."
Outside in the parking lot, Rome was surveying the ground…
"There. She went this way," Rome said, pointing to the black marks on the pavement…
".. but there's no way I'm letting you drive..."
"Georgie, I have to drive."
She put her hand on her hip and popped her bubble gum in annoyance. "Give me one good reason."
Rome grinned as he opened the passenger side door. He flipped out both his weapons and, with cowboy-like finesse, spun them and held them out for her, handle-first. "You're a better shot."

Fuel - Part 4

---

…Georgina was not the kind of person who fell for puppy-eyes and sugar-sweet compliments, but Rome most certainly won her over for handing her the weapons.
… "But I have to drive fast if we want to find Elenna."
She nodded. "Go ahead." She was used to fast driving, and since they needed to find Elenna as quickly as possible she didn't mind him driving like maniac as long as her car stayed undamaged. But it was not the car she worried about now, it was her friend. She knew Elenna was in danger, and just the thought of her driving while Lenna was drunk gave her chills. And what was that thing that followed Lenna?

…“Nick are you here?”
“Of course sis’, I’m here…”
… I wasn’t driving, but someone was, someone I missed so much for years.
“Nick you are here. I thought I was going insane.”
Nick grinned. “You are not more insane than you already were… get rid of these dangerous people. They are telling you one lie after another…”
Lenna looked hurt…
“They are lying? … Wait you were dead?”
“If I’m dead why could you always talk to me?”
Lenna smiled. “All these monsters, the ghost, werewolf and so on they are just fairy tales?”
“Yup. I told you, they are dangerous lunatics.”
“And they don’t care at all for me. Rome just left. He didn’t even say goodbye, he left like Raws always does. You better hurry… They're gonna look for me.”…

…“Elle? Seatbelt, now!”
I didn’t question his order, she just followed it.
“Do you remember your lullaby, Elle?”…

…“I want you to sing it and don’t pay any attention to anything around you. I have everything under control!”
I… started singing.
Something changed about me, I felt as if the world around me disappeared as if I was between sleep and waking, as much as the seatbelt allowed me to I curled up like I used to when I was a kid but whatever was happening I kept singing.
Nick …had the advantage of knowing the town. With a spectacular turn he disappeared in a small side street… I kept singing even when I hit my head on the dashboard because of the impact… my forehead was steadily bleeding.
“It will be soon over, Elle…”

… Everyone I loved left me. Nick came back... I had to share Rome… a big brother I could love and who would love me the same way. I thought of Rome … but he left and Nick came back.
That makes Nick the better big brother, right?

…But the Mustang was wild, the driving choppy, and worry killed even that adrenaline high.

…He pushed me back into a sitting position. I looked around, but I didn’t realize what’s happening around me. I was pale and so cold; I had given up living.
“That is my girl, I’m glad you stopped fighting… understand that I’m the one who’s taking your live.”
I wasn’t responding in any way, I just kept singing over and over the same song as if I was trapped somehow…

…"Elle, it is time to say goodbye to the hunters." Ordered Nick.
…The message got sent to Rome's cell...
…Tears were running down my cheeks, maybe there still this little bit of hope left in her…
"I'm sick of your whining ... Be happy with the things you have. Stop wishing for the past… Just a bit longer and they can't safe you. You are mine. You are a monster and the only way to safe you … is to kill you. Do you hear me you need to die! …"

…"I need to die..."

…Rome felt his phone buzz…"Georgie, can you grab my phone?" …"Crap," she said.

…"She...she's saying goodbye."…

Rome huffed… "What does it say?"
… "Romey let me go and move on like Raws did last year, it is time to say goodbye. XXX Lennie."
…"Wait, read it again?"

…"Like Raws did last year," Rome repeated… A grim smile played on his face. "Good," he said. "That's good."
… "Raws never let me go!"... Rome felt like he had actually spoken to me for the first time in days, and that gave him hope. "That's her in there, under all the brainwashing and the teenage angst and crap. She's there, and she's begging us to save her."

…I felt the impact, I didn’t understand what the impact was but I felt it. When the Mustang flipped over and over I tumbled through the car up and down. The cut on my forehead was suddenly the unimportant injury. The Mustang finally stopped flipping. It was like a miracle standing on it wheels. Bruises started to develop all over my body, my lip was bleeding and who knew what internal injuries I had. I was sitting on the driver’s seat, hugging my knees.

…"Lenna! It's gonna be alright, sweetie. Just listen to my voice. I'm not going to leave you. Just try not to move, okay? It's going to be alright.”

… She wasn’t fighting him anymore; she just waited to be together with him. The Mustang flashed once in a blue light which pushed the hunters away from it…

…He got out of the car, walked around the hunters and growled in a way just a werewolf could, but he played unfair he didn’t become visible … he wanted them to hear him.
“What will you do, if the monster you are hunting is killing your friend? Do you kill the monster or do you safe your friend out of the car you can’t get in? You should know that the exhaust emissions are replacing the air in it. It will be over soon and then no one will separate us ever again. You gonna watch your friend die and there is nothing you can to against it. But hey maybe this means there is one werewolf less on the world, right?”

…Nick looked at the burning boxes when he felt that I inside of the Mustang got angry. Angry with my friends burning all my memories. But he had me under control my anger was nothing more than a hidden feeling inside me…

…“Do you really thing I care if you burn some pictures? They are Elle’s memories not mine.” Laughed Nick.

…"Sh*t. Lenna!" … Rome reloaded his shotgun, sighed, looked at the car:
"It's the car."
"What?"
"His remains are the car. It must be. That's why she was talking to him--it--so much the past few days. Crap."
It wasn't one of Rome's fortes, but he stopped and thought about this…
"Okay, Nick's keeping her in the car. We can't kill Nick unless we burn the car. How could this get any worse?"


…"We have to get her out of the car, now!"
… "Lenna, can you hear me?"


…“No one can save you it is too late and you know that.”

…"It's too late..." Georgina heard Rome say in such a Rome-unlike-voice. "She's made her decision. She's coming with me!"

…Nick-Rome walked over to me and pushed the girls aside.
“My little girl, you got so big. You were so innocent, and then everything changed. Sweetie you have to let me go, I don’t wanna go but I have to and you know that. You need to stay here…”

…Then there was an explosion from the car, and the feeling that he was burning, but when he stopped screaming and opened his eyes, Rome could move again.
I was in Rome's arms already, and he pulled me tight against himself, glaring daggers at anyone who would dare to try to separate them.
“Lennie?” he asked.
I was crying and murmuring. “I will be alone forever…everyone left me, first my parents, then Nick, then Rome—”
“Hey, whoa, hold the phone, there, chica, Romey’s not leaving you.” I didn’t hear him.
“No one loves me…I wish I was dead…” My voice was hoarse, and tears literally poured down my face. I trembled, faintly.
But Rome held me against this, gripping me tight, tight enough to hurt the both of them, but he didn’t care. “Okay, okay, shh,” he soothed, running his hands through my hair. “You’re okay, you’re okay, Lennie, baby, I’m here. I gotcha. Shh.”
I was crying harder now. “Don’t leave me!” I sobbed, then, in a bipolar fit, “If you’re going to leave just go! I don’t want to see you again!”
“Whoa!” Rome cried, pinning my flailing arms with his own. “Easy there, tiger,” he said, gentle but firm. “No one’s going nowhere. I don’t care if you want me to leave. I didn’t leave before, did I? I got my ass kicked like nineteen times and I didn’t leave—“
“Oh!” I wailed, burying my face in his chest. “I’m sorry, Rome, I’m sorry! I was so stupid, forgive me, I’m sorry, please don’t leave, I’ll never do it again!”
Okay, wrong tactic. “No, no, it’s all right,” he tried again. “I’m okay, you’re okay, that’s all that matters. We’re all okay here. Got it? And we’re all here. I’m staying right here with you, and I’ll be damned if I’m giving you the chance to run off again. You’re okay, you’re okay, shh,” he went back to brushing my hair with his fingers.
“Rome?” I sniffled. It was adorable. “Why did you disappear?”
“What? Chica, baby, Lennie, I’ve been here the whole time. You’re the one who ran out on me, remember?”
“I think…maybe you started to become Nick.”
“Oh, and that’s comforting, because I like getting possessed by psychotic werewolf-ghost douchewads.” I pouted but he continued. “Lennie, he was trying to hurt you, trying to kill you. That’s not love, okay? We’re here, we’re looking after you. That is. Time you started trusting the right people.”
I nodded… clinging tightly to his jacket.
“Okay, and, up,” he said, lifting me with a small degree of effort… He had just got me situated in the back seat of the Audi when more black stuff came up and out his throat and nose, and he leaned over and puked and coughed and hacked until there was nothing left…
“Okay, squirt, shove over, I’m coming back there.”
I looked sad and frightened. “You don’t have to babysit me. I’m um… fine or more okay. I think.”
“Oh, like hell I do. I’ve heard that one before,” he grinned, climbing back to sit with me. Immediately I folded against him, and he wrapped his arms and legs around me until there was no way they were coming untangled.
I was already half asleep when I mumbled just for Rome. “The last days were weird, like a dream and I couldn’t wake up from it. I didn’t know what I was doing. It was as if someone else played me and all I could do was watching it.” I snuggled closer to Rome, if that was even possible. “Sorry it took so long to safe me. You are the best big brother I could wish for. Nick is long gone and he can’t be replaced by anyone but you are the best second choice.”
"What?! Second choice?" Rome looked hurt, but he was laughing.
“When you were first choice you got attacked by my dead lunatic brother. What about, you are my first choice for the second choice, but you are still in the first place.” And there I was, the smart annoying me. Georgie produced a blanket; it was of course matching the color of her car, which she tucked around them…

At peace for the first time in days, Rome was asleep before they reached the interstate.
Georgie checked on us in the rearview mirror. “Wow I thought I never see that happening, Rome is really sleeping, and on top of that with a girl in his arm. I bet he won’t ditch her the next morning.”

..."Where's Rome? Where did he go?" I looked around.
"Don't worry, he'll be right back," Georgie responded quickly as she saw my insecure facial expression. "There's one thing you can definitely count on, Lenna: he's not going to leave without you."

…He tossed a special bag full about twelve kinds of ice cream at me…
He slipped an arm around me where I sat on the hood of the car, wrapped in a blanket…

Fuel - Part 5

---

… he focused back on me, who had begun chewing down on ice cream. "How ya doin', kid?" He grinned at me: "You look strong enough to pull the ears off a gundark."
I didn't, though, really. Morrigan had bandaged my head, it looked like, but he wasn't sure if there were any other injuries. "Mind if I check you out, chica? Not like that," he added pointedly, as Georgie snorted, but I knew what he meant.
"M'okay," I mumbled in protest.
"Yeah, and I could win a beauty contest now," Rome said, and gently lowered the blanket off of my shoulders.
He only knew rudimentary basic-combat-triage, but Morrigan didn't look like she was comfortable doing it, so he stepped in. He felt better being the one looking after me anyway. Rome glanced around the parking lot to confirm it was empty--they were flanked by the other two cars, anyway--before lifting my shirt up and over my head to make sure that wasn't my blood.
It wasn't, mostly. I was a little cut up, and badly bruised, but no ribs gave under his hands, and the rest of my limbs appeared whole. Still, that bruising...
"Now tell me the truth here, girlie," he said to me, as he produced a t-shirt and shoved it over my head, guiding my arms through. He looked at me sternly, and as he pulled the blanket back around me, he held me firmly by the shoulders. "How bad? Hospital?"

…I blushed a bit when Rome took my shirt of in front of everyone in the middle of a parking lot; well just until I saw all the bruises myself…
I hated this question. Did Rome really think I would say willingly that I needed a hospital? I tried to feel how bad it was but as soon I thought about feeling I realized that all of this was my fault... Rome put the blanket back around me. I wished he would never stop seeing me as a fragile little girl, but I knew at some point I would have to be back on track. But not right now. Right now I needed Rome too much.
“I’m fine Rome. No hospital, please… The ice cream makes me already better.”

…“Will you eat all the ice cream?”
“Yes that’s my plan. Eat all the ice cream, so I that I feel sick and nothing else.” I was slightly shivering.

…“Rome? You are not going away, right? You are not leaving me somewhere to calm down right? I didn’t care if everyone heard me; I needed to hear him say that he wouldn’t leave me…
Family doesn’t end with blood. I have to keep this in mind. I have to!

…Rome flashed me a warm smile. "Sure. Like I said: if you've got a thing for self-harm." With that and a wink, Rome ducked back into the Audi next to me.
He hissed as I curled up against him. Before he had been perhaps too tired to care, but there was a definite shift in one of those ribs. Joy. He simply grunted, though, and shifted where my body leaned against him.
I closed my eyes wearily as I burrowed into his side, but Rome didn't plan to sleep as he sipped his energy drink…

… Georgie quickly looked at me … eyes were closed and my head was resting on Rome's shoulder. Georgie couldn't avoid a smile before she focused on the road again.

… “I’m so sorry Rome.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“But I feel like I did this to you.”
“Stop doing this, it wasn’t your fault.”

…I smiled that Rome had remembered that ice cream calmed me down. I didn’t feel like sleeping, each time I closed my eyes I saw Nick and I didn’t want to see him or think of him. I remembered the last couple of days just through a veil, but what I remember I wasn’t proud of and somehow I felt cold when I tried when suddenly I did remember one thing more clear.
“Oh no.”
Rome was fully alert. “What?”
“I slept with a guy and I already forgot his name. I’m like you.”
I kept eating my ice cream, and was looking really troubled at Rome. Georgie in the driver seat started laughing. “Oh Lenna, did you really forgot this guy? He was gorgeous.”
“He is a hunter. I think. I can’t believe from all guys in the bar, I slept with a hunter.”

…A beat.
Then Rome burst out laughing. I and Georgie both looked at him, shocked, but he kept laughing, holding his aching ribs which... I looked so....concerned, like it mattered! He seemed in fact more or less proud of me for forgetting the bum's name!
"Rome, stop, what's so funny?"
Rome tried to speak a few times, but gave up, shaking his head and waving me off, concentrating on breathing and wiping tears away from his eyes. Now his ribs really started hurting again, so he kept his breaths small and shallow, but now I was looking at him funny:
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good. It's just I'm--" a giggle escaped "that was hilarious. You make me laugh, baby-girl, thanks. You sounded so...appalled." He pulled me into a tight hug, careful of my head and his chest, and kissed the top of my head. "You make me proud, chica. Just be smart, use a condom, and if they start to get creepy you stab 'em in the heart."

… I wasn't leaving his side, so, as beat to hell as we were, we made ourselves as presentable as possible and went out on the town.
"Now you better not look like my girlfriend or something, Lennie. I get an opportunity and you cock-block me, I'm never forgiving you."
"I'll just be your little sister," I remarked snidely, "and if you leave me on my own to get lost Mom and Dad are gonna kill you."

…I wish he could read my mind right now, so he would know that I want him to come back.

…I was actually waiting for him out in front, wedged in a small space between two columns, guarded by a pile of shopping bags…



…"Lennie," he called. I looked up, and scrabbled to my feet, looking relieved to see him… "Come on, time to go," he said, jerking his head as much as didn't hurt, grabbing a few of her bags. "I got a surprise for you."
Around the corner, in sight of the gorgeous vehicle, which chirped excitedly as Rome remotely unlocked it, I screamed like I was at a Justin Timberlake concert. "Ohmygod, Rome, is that really for me?"
"What? No, are you kidding me?" Rome laughed. "Get in, and text Georgie we'll see her in Kansas. If I have to listen to 'Sk8er Boi' one more time I think I'm gonna eat my .44."

…“... Really. I never run away, ever. ”

…"Like James Dean?" I asked, picking up on what he hadn't said… there was some biting sarcasm in my voice... "Live fast, die young?"

… it was the true me- sunshine-smile. “I bet you can make them to take over the world.”
I tried whatever button I found around, and got to know the Ferrari …

…"I'm, ah, putting Lennie to bed here, though, first. If you don't mind. Excuse us. The hunt was...well. Are we the first back? I'll tell you about it later, Texie. Actually, no, wait. You may wanna take a look at her, first. Kid got pretty roughed up, poor thing, I mean look at her. We all did. Got--"

…“They had to burn that Mustang, I think it worked as the ghost’s remains.” I mumbled…

…Rome licked his lips. "I...can't sleep," .. "Look, where's Lenna? I need to make sure she's okay."…

… I did the softest knock and pocked my tired head through the door crack.
"Father?"
"Come on in Elenna." Theo said with a quiet smile.
... I padded in softly. "You got him to sleep?"
"A long winded confession is often a good way to put someone to sleep...even yourself." I laughed quietly before glancing at the old man with a slightly anxious look.
"Would it be okay...I mean, would you be upset if..." I stumbled over my words tiredly.
"If you crawled into bed and slept next to him?" Theo finished for me. I nodded and the priest smiled kindly. "Of course not child. In this line of work, people you can feel safe around are few and far between."
He moved around to the other side of the bed and tugged down the covers, pulling them back up after I'd climbed in.
"Father?" I asked, my voice fading.
"Yes Elenna?"
"Would you stay? For a little while anyway?"
"Of course. Close your eyes now." He settled back into the chair and continued his silent prayers…

…I woke up abruptly. I was heavily breathing. It was a long time ago I dreamed of the moment she killed Nick..

Fuel - Part 6

---

… The bed was empty. But someone had been sleeping here next to Rome. It smelled like Elenna, he thought.

…The door wasn't chained shut, and that gave him hope, but he discovered me in the classics section, just like in his dream, and he could hear me crying. He rushed across the room and tore the book from my hands, eliciting a shriek from me.
But they were normal tears.
Half-relieved, half-dismayed, Rome dropped to his knees and pulled me into a hug. "Chica, what the hell? Who cries in a library?"

…Oh maybe he had a vision, but about me?
I leaned against him, he was nice warm and I felt more than safe in his arm. Maybe it wasn’t so bad that he found me. He wouldn’t laugh he never did.

… “Rome he is really gone right? Nick left this time really, I don’t feel him around anymore. I know you are here and everyone else but still I lost my whole family. What if I need a kidney, or I dunno. I never wanted him to go, I never wanted him to turn into a monster and he did, because I shot him. Rome I shot my brothers and he turned into a monster anyway. I did nothing right. Everything is wrong, what am I doing here?” I gasped for breath.

…Okay, I may not be crying blood but now I’m hyperventilating. Not good. Rome pulled me as tight against him as his straining muscles and bruised body would allow. "Hey, hey, now. Take it easy, there, chica, I can't understand you when you're crying so hard."
Rome wrapped his hand around the back of my skull and started running his hand through my hair (I would never tell him how much I liked it when he did that) as the sobbing tapered off but the tears still flowed, sending a wet river down his chest… but I didn't seem to notice or mind, so he said nothing…

…"Nothing is wrong, Elenna, you understand me? Nothing. You're here because we need you. All of us. The whole world, Lennie, you hear me? You save the world, one supernatural S-O-B at a time. You save--" Rome choked on the word, wondering how saptastic he wanted to be, before deciding he should be honest with me: "you save me. You know, like, all the time. There isn't a day goes by that I don't thank God that since he's fresh out of angels upstairs that he sent me you instead. You're..." Rome stopped… "And that's why I'm here, too, okay? That's why Nick didn't actually kill me, even though he wanted to. You know he talked to me before he went, right?"
I sniffled and sat up a little. "What?"
Rome took a deep breath. "Nick and me...argued, when I was...possessed, if you want to call it that. We hated each other's guts--his memory be damned, I still hate the bastard--but we both wanted the same thing: we both wanted you safe and looked after and happy. He was just going about it the completely bass-ackwards way, and that's what I told him. But that's why he let you go, because he loved you. Even in his psycho twisted ghost-brain he loved you, you were the most important thing to him. And even though he hated me, I think that's why he let me go. So I could look after you. Or, you know, he just died before he got the chance, I don't know, but that's what I'm taking it as. Not that I wasn't going to look after you, anyways."
"But, Rome, I--"
"No, buts, chica, you're the only one in this whole mess who wasn't a complete douchenozzle, so don't you dare try to apologize for something. You did the right thing. You always have."
Rome chuckled into my hair.
"Well, except maybe for getting mixed up with me in the first place."
I laughed a little at that, and Rome continued to hold me as the silence lengthened. He wrapped the blanket around both of them and shifted me to a more comfortable position that wasn't against the broken bone.

…"Rome," I said forlornly. "I'm an orphan now."
"The hell you are, kiddo. You're an honorary Remington, now. And, seriously, if you're worried about kidneys, you know I'd sell my soul in a heartbeat to get you one if you needed it, right?" Rome winked.
I hit him, only pulling the punch at the last second, remembering his injuries, but it still hurt. "You shouldn't joke about that, Rome!"
"Why not?" He laughed. "Anyway, it's not like I was using it."

…I leaned against Rome’s shoulder.

…“… I’m a Remington now? …” I grinned. “Are you sure you are ready for a little sister? They sometimes take all the attention from the big brother and I know how much you enjoy the spotlight. And no matter how much little sisters try they always make you worry about them. At least that’s what... Nick said once to me, when he wanted me to stop learning how to ride a bike. Just because I looked after the first couple of times worse then I look now…”

…“But thanks for telling me he wasn’t insane and just wanted me dead. It looked like it a lot. Hey Rome how awkward does it sound when I say I’m really glad to have you.”

…"Considering the massive chick-flick moment we just had, not awkward at all," Rome laughed, diffusing the sweetness of the sentiment with humor before he could think about it. "Plus, you're currently in the arms of a gorgeous half-naked specimen of the male species, and I think I know about twelve pornos that start off like this, but don't get any ideas, because if you're my sister now, that's just gross."

…Rome took a breath. "And I'm really glad to have you, too," he said, pulling me in against his chest again ... "I don't care if little sisters are annoying and stress me out. There's no possible way you could be more annoying than a twin brother."
I chuckled a little at that.
"Okay, help me up. I'm starving, and I think I smell pancakes. I don't know why, since I think it's dinnertime, but..."
"Rome," I giggled. "That's breakfast time for hunters."…

…"Lenna how are you? I still think you shouldn't drive."
I looked at the blond girl at the door.
"I'm fine and I can drive. Hey do you know where the two curse boxes are in which I kept personal things?"
Now it was Georgie's turn to look uncomfortable.
"Lenna listen we thought that they might worked as your brothers remains so we burned them, I'm so sorry."

…I guess it's better not have all the stuff so I can forget the pain.

…Georgie watched me turn my back on her, throwing the bag over my shoulder and going outside. I knew what she was thinking: "Lenna is definitely not fine..."

…I knew that he tried not to be aroused at how slutty I looked in the black dress

…"I still don't need you wearing that dress when we're out together, Lennie. People might think we're a couple or something, and then how am I gonna pick up chicks?" he winked at me…

…I was at his side. "Rome, Rome, what is it? Rome, what happened? Another vision?"

…“Rome, why do I have the feeling that was not the first vision about this? … I know you have a lot in your sleep, that’s why you are avoiding it. But I let the fact you stopped sleeping slip for the moment, what do you know about Jackson?” …I looked worried at Rome… “The growling how did it sound? Did it sound like an animal, like a dog or lion or something?”
Rome had stiffened when I hugged him. You could call him adorable; at least when he is thinking about something he was familiar with. “Maybe.”
I let Rome go. “Hey remember not long after we met? … We were hunting black dogs…”
He forced a chuckle. “I'm trying to forget about it, Lennie. But yeah, I guess so, sure.”…

…Rome laughed sophomorically before cutting himself off suddenly, so that it startled me I had been so sure I was cheering him up.
"Like hell we're going to Jackson," he ground out. "Like hell I'm going to Jackson, that's for frakking sure." He shook his head more times than was necessary…
"Rome--" I began.
"No," he insisted. …

…”… we are a team and you are the team leader? How can the team function normally when the leader is missing? We need your charm in case we meet girls… And … I ended up in a locked car and was supposed to die. I need my hero to keep me safe.” I smiled at Rome.
Yeah sometimes I’m not bad in the talking part. I thought.
“And I make sure no demon gets too close to you, and in case I fail don’t worry I know at least half a dozen exorcisms, a good friend asked me to know them to keep him safe. And nothing will stop me from doing that… ” …

…"… I didn't ever say that, really, did I?" Rome sighed, letting the huff turn into a half-laugh.
…"Rome--" I began, but he shook me off.
"Okay, okay!" Rome scrambled to his feet. "Enough with the puppy-dog eyes… I'm coming, I'm coming....." …
Rome stepped up behind me where I stood about to get in the car.
"Let me drive," he said, softly.
"Rome..." I looked uncomfortable. "What if you have a--"
"Vision?" Rome shrugged. "You can ride with someone else if you want. But I'm driving."
I frowned, but moved around to the other side of the car.
Rome sat down, started the car, and pulled on his seatbelt. Then he paused, watching the caravan depart… But he needed to say something first, something he wasn't prepared to admit in front of everyone else… They already thought he was weak. I knew he was weak… he didn't mind telling me:
"Please, Lennie, we shouldn't do this. I shouldn't do this. I'm the weakest frakking link, here, I mean--I got possessed by a ghost! What's the deal with that? It's like I'm wearing a neon sign that says meatsuit for rent, no money down, I mean, come on!" Tears pricked his eyes. He really was that scared: … "So if I'm going with you, you gotta keep your promise."
I looked away. This was not fair. Rome was supposed to look after me not the other way around. When I finally found the strength to speak again I didn’t look at Rome I spoke to my knees.
“I know you are scared, it is okay to be scared, and you should be scared. But that does not mean to be a reason to stop. Do you wanna let innocent people that don’t know what is out there in the dark die? Being scared is part of the job, Rome. And I think passing by any all… werewolf hunts,” it took me a lot of effort, “wasn’t a good example. We are going to Jackson, and this we includes you. You can stay low if you want. Or maybe see me having some fun riding a demon’s ass with a few words.” I looked up, my eyes were shiny. “And yes I do keep my promise. If necessary and there is really no other chance I will take the shot. I won’t let it happen that your body is used to hurt anyone.”
Rome looked relieved, well a bit.
“Oh wait I have an idea. Bobby gave me this when I went hunting on my own. It is not really your style but it will help you.”…

…“Here you go.” I was handing Rome an amulet while I climbed back in the front seat, with the Key of Salomon in my arms.
“While you are driving I practice…, just in case.”
Rome chuckled. I was trying.
"Yeah, whatever, kiddo, just don't hurt yourself," he winked at me, though, just to make sure I wouldn't hit him. But then, more serious, he added a vulnerable-sounding "Thanks," that he meant from the bottom of whatever he had in the way of a soul. Before it got awkward, though, he put the car into gear…

…"Isn't it weird how sentimental hunters get when it comes to their cars?" I mumbled with a smile…

…Rome stared at Georgie's retreating form--okay, her retreating legs--as she went back outside to get her stuff from the car, until I hit him in the sternum.

…” I never thanked you, properly, for looking after Elenna." He snorted, serious moment gone. "And, you know, not killing me for bleeding on your backseat."…

…“Guys you are not alone anymore, keep your pants on and your hands to yourself. I’m not old enough to see something like that dirty. Hey Casanova a little help here please.” I had to stop to prevent my things from falling down again…

…Georgie and Rome, who were standing very close to each other by now… they both shouted simultaneously: "Get outta here, Lenna!"

…"Excuse me...?! If you haven't noticed, I am outside."
Rome flashed me a grin. "Don't you have to read something, chica?" He winked at me playfully. I rolled her eyes and shook my head. "Typical..." I dropped all my things right where I was standing before I left…

…I went back inside and slammed the door…
I didn’t feel like talking… It wasn’t that I was jealous of Georgie … I felt betrayed, I asked for help and what did I get? I got send away. Maybe I was jealous… It felt good to have Rome’s undivided attention… I felt close to Georgie … It was nice to know Georgie had my back and if I needed to talk she was there. What happens after the two did it…
I am jealous. And scared, scared that them having sex makes her go away. For a really weird unbelievable reason I really like Barbie.

… No I wasn’t jealous I was mad at Rome and Georgie for being sent away like I didn’t matter…

… Elenna. …He found me sitting on the couch in the front room, pouring over a book and, judging by the fact that I intentionally didn't look up when he entered, he assumed he was in trouble.
For what? … I sure was weird.
He found a book he could only assume was mine on the floor, and picked it up, along with a lot of other papers and things. As he walked into the room…
"Hey, chica," he said, announcing his presence.
I didn't look up. He set the book down next to me as a peace offering. My eyes flicked to the book but otherwise continued to ignore him.
He definitely would not going to apologize for sending me away when I had blatantly been trying to cock-block him.
"Sorry, Lennie," he blurted out, before he could stop himself, "for sending you away. Do you still need any help?" He tried to sound nonchallant, like he was just waiting for me to snap "No" at him so he could leave me to my pouting fest, but it really did bug him when I was mad at him…

…“My stuff is outside it needs to be put in the car.”

…“Is Georgie gone?” I sounded as if I was trying not to sound sad.
Rome looked at me confused before he burst out laughing. “Why should Georgie be gone?”
I looked up. “I dunno, because that is what all your girls do. Sorry I interrupted you, I just don’t want Georgie leave us. I finally got used to her… But I am glad you um had fun.”…

…"Yeah, anyway, stop being paranoid, chica." … He blew on his nails and buffed them against his shirt. "Hell, we know I'm the only reason she'd be inclined to stay..."
He expected the backhand to his gut, though he didn't expect it needed to be that hard. He forgot not to trifle with girls who had older brothers, no matter how long ago.
"Ow!" He laughed, then, "Okay, okay, sorry, I deserved that. So are we getting out of here or what?"…

…“So tell me Barbie does Ken has any tattoos I don’t know of? Or any interesting scars? Anything I should to know about him? I mean there must be a secret that every girl wants him, expect of me.”…

…Awkward moment of silence.…"Well, since you're not legally an adult yet, I should not tell anything that is inappropriate for someone your age", Georgie replied with a smile, turned around and winked at Rome…

…"Come on I'm over 18, have sex too, I'm not that innocent. Actually I lost this innocent some time ago. I need to know something, pleeeeaaaaseee. I promise as soon we have a couple of days off I go shopping with you."…

… "You, of all people, want to go shopping with me?"
"I don't want to, but I'm willing to", I said…
"Ahem", Rome cleared his throat. "I don't know if you two ladies have noticed, but I'm actually sitting right next to you."
Georgie and I stared at him. "So?"
"You're talking about me like I'm not here." He quickly turned around to look at me. "And you, chica, better focus on your books …"
I stuck my tongue out at him.
"… Rome, I'm quite tempted to reveal certain details to Lenna, now that she has offered to go shopping with me." Georgina flashed him a grin. "I'm dying to do a little experiment with her, like a makeover or something..."
"Wohoo, stop right there, Barbie!", I interrupted… "I know exactly what we're going to buy you. Some skirts to emphasize your feminine side, and definitely some makeup." She turned her head to me, I looked at her dumbfounded. "And we have to do something with that hair..."
"Rome, do something!" I kicked against his seat. "You can't let her do this to me!"
"Hey, you started this thing, don't come crying to me,” he said sarcastically and smiled at Georgie.
"I can't believe this!" I shook her head. "If I didn't know better I would think you two are shapeshifter…”



((OOC Maeglin: This is possibly the funniest post I have ever read. Thanks, Miss A! Hmm...we should make a medal for that or something! Anyway, it deserves a better reply post than I could muster now, so carry on without me! Maybe that's a good commercial-break-scene-ender, anyway! Carry on without me! I'll just be over here giggling inanely...))

The Man Who Sold The World - Part 2

---

…A few blocks down loomed another imposing building…
There were also cop cars. Lots of them. And an ambulance or two. Rome instinctively ducked down in the car… "Holy crap!" he shouted to us in the car. "We definitely hit the jackpot here! What the hell d'you think's going on?"…

…“I hope they are not here for our case, it will make it difficult.”…

…"Looks like we're going to share a room together", Georgie said to me …

… "Dude you know he is not the boyfriend type right?"
"Yeah I know, Lenna." Georgie grinned…

…“Rome open up, … some awesome news … some are not so good… Oh and Barbie needs your help to get undressed.” I burst out laughing when the door was suddenly opened. Rome’s face was just too funny.
“Oh Rome, really we have work to do. Here read this article.”
"You evil little minx," Rome laughed at me, "you had me at 'taking off clothes'," he joked…

…"So, me and Mor check things out here, Lennie and G try and see the body?" … "I'll just--"
Rome stopped. His mouth went dry.
"Rome, what's wrong?" I asked. He was just staring at an empty hallway. That was the problem.
Rome backed off, stepped back inside his room, and shook his head to clear it… Time to stop ignoring the obvious…
"Um...you know that, ah, that nightmare I had?" he asked me quietly, tentatively, embarrassed by it. I nodded. "Well, uh. It happened in this hotel. I recognize the--ha, the endtable, of all things, against the window there, at the end of the hall. And I have a feeling..." … "Uh. Yeah. And I saw our rocker get ripped to shreds. I don't know what it is, and I don't know if this is good or bad, but if what I saw is true, we're not dealing with a werewolf or a Black Dog or...anything I know of."…

…“Okay, that is a good thing. You say it is in this hotel, makes it easier for us to find it and we can’t be surprised by it, since we know it is here. We have to check the history of the hotel if anything happened here.”

… “When you say it we’re not dealing with a Black Dog or a werewolf does this mean you saw it?”
“No.”…

“… Everything will be alright.” The last sentence was meant to be for Rome and I did hope he knew that. I had already started the search in my mind to find out what they were dealing with.

… "I would be a lousy friend if I wouldn't help you with the 'getting-dressed-up' part."

… To underline my new seriousness I put on my glasses. This made Georgie start laughing.
“Has Rome ever seen you like this? You look like a librarian, and not an ugly one more from the hot type.”
“Shut up…”…

… I noticed Georgie's glance and turned my head towards her.
"What?", I asked but before Georgie could answer, the assistant turned around.
"Something wrong?"
We shook their heads simultaneously … I didn't even flinched, and hell I nearly enjoyed digging around in the dead man’s organs. I pushed the gut and some undefined flesh. I took the scalpel to cut the diaphragm this was the moment when the assistant raised his voice. "Excuse me Miss what do you think you are doing?"
I looked at the guy, and it was clear what I said with my eyes. "Dude I'm having a sharp object in my hand and you really don't wanna mess with me. Not now when I'm having fun." Georgie covered her huge smile by the mask she put on.
…"Pssst..." I waved at her. "Come here and have a look at this."
…"Sulfur", I whispered.
Georgie raised her eyebrows. "You're right..." She looked the yellow stuff on my fingertips.
"Guess it wasn't a bad-tempered puppy after all." …

…Hey guys, it was not a werewolf or Black Dog or anything I know. G and I are going to the library…

…“But you are so pretty in your outfit.”
I looked over my glasses at Georgie.
“Don’t push your luck here woman.”…

… Where are you? text from me…

…“Lenna stop lecturing us, we got it.” Georgie interrupted me before I lost this universe and was lost in the world of books and words…

…"If you want to go to Hogwarts and impress your teachers, just go ahead, Hermione", Georgie said with a teasing smile. …

…"Alright, now you got me proposing ghost stories… is there such thing as a Crossroads Demon? You know, Robert …"

…“I love you, Aly! …”

…“I got this for as some light background reading from Tex…” …“You are calling this light?” Georgie looked at the book that was nearly the size of half the table.

…"Did I mention I like hunting demons?"
He did a double-take at that one, and I immediately looked repentant, so instead of launching into a tirade, Rome just rolled his eyes.
"Did I mention what the hell are you smoking, chica?" he tried not to snap. He knew I didn't mean it like that, of course… "Look, demons are bad news…" He frowned at me briefly before glancing at the book… "Okay, so, what, Crossroad Demons just hang out at any old crossroad, or what?"

"No," I replied tentatively… "it has to be an old crossroad, and there's usually yarrow weed growing around it--"
…"That's the guy who's been following us," he said, and immediately us four ladies whipped our heads around, simultaneously, loose hair flying--it was exactly like Charlie's Angels, it was amazing!--…

…I was glad to walk between them… I did feel rather silly to be pretty much unarmed, if you don’t count holy water, salt and the symbol on my wrist …
I walked closer and looked at the box. I kneeled down which let Georgie squeal in disgust. I ignored her, opened the box and found a photograph of The Rev, graveyard dirt, a black cat bone and some other ritual bibs and bobs.
“That is incredible. I read about those, but I never believed they work but apparently they do.”
“Lenna, could you maybe form a real sentence and not just think about your discovery?” Georgie sounded disgusted by the whole situation.
“…it’s a summon box, to summon a crossroad demon to make a deal… this is our victim.”
"Congratulations, Miss Fee, you are in fact not wrong," he drawled, the Deep South breezing through his host's captive mouth. …
“Guys you can’t shoot, demons are not corporal this is a human…”

… The gun went back into his shoulder-holster under his jacket, the magazine in his pocket.
"Stand down, ladies. He's using a civvie as a meatsuit," he ground out… half a chance to exorcise him properly and save him, well, it was worth it.

… just lower your gun but take out the magazine. ARE YOU INSANE?
“What the hell do you want from us? Finding us will just kill you. I can exorcise you before you can make a move.”
… I was fumbling with the lighter in my pocket. This time I didn’t count on luck. I needed at least a spark to control fire and I had this spark.

…He turned back to me, and smiled hungrily at me. "You might want to tell your friends to watch themselves, when in fact I led you here to help you."
I barked out a nervous laugh. "Ha! You? Help us? Help us what?"…

…Suddenly, Rome was pinned to the wall by an unseen force of a definite origin, and then the demon was threatening me, and then it was screaming and burning and--

… first, dragged me behind him, and second, re-loaded his Desert Eagle in preparation for the demon to show what he acted like when he got really upset…

…"You know, Lennie," Rome smirked, as the Holy Water dripped onto Danila without the slightest interaction, "it's gonna take a lot more than that to get the sewer stench off of him...and me, for that matter…"…

…Rome nodded at me, grateful, and pulled me close in a one-armed hug. He looked weirdly at my head as if he could kiss my brain. "Yes," he said, and "yes," he said again, for emphasis. "… Lennie, you and Mor handle the intel, okay? Figure out what stops these things… I'm taking G and we're going to go talk to our rockstars..."

…Oh no my books.
“They aren’t look for Morrigan. She could get all our things… We can’t just let them die … just a matter of time that the Feds show up… We can’t just give up.”
… Rome grabbed my arm stopping me to move into the view of the Feds. I smiled at him. “I think I might have an idea. It is not a great one but it might work … Come on let’s go we can’t stay in here forever or Georgie might get a heart attack.”…

… “Just do what the others do. I take care of the exorcism and you make sure the demon stay away from me…”
I hadn’t told them yet that I had turned the water that was used for a couple of special effect on stage into holy water…
… “They are demonic so yes salt does work on hellhounds, but they are more powerful than any other demon I met before.” Looking at Rome and hoping he got the message which was just for him. Even stronger than Andre, much stronger…

…"Hey!" a voice squeaked behind him. "Rome, you're gonna crush me!"
"Elenna?" Rome was relieved to see me hiding out of sight. I even shrank back a little further at the sight of his shotgun. "Lennie, this isn't working! We need some way to see these guys. We need to rain paint from the roof or something!"
Suddenly, my eyes sparkled the way they did when I knew something he didn't. Which was, okay, most of the time.
"Tell me you got a trick up your sleeve for getting us out of this one, chica!"
I grinned. “Did I ever send you on a hunt without a few tricks up my sleeves? I’m nearly disappointed that you think I have no backup plan.”
… “Guys, watch out it will be rain.”
I grinned and hit the big red button behind me … the fire sprinkler went off… The holy water rained down on us, we were quickly soaking wet, but it worked the holy water sizzled on the hellhounds.
“See I told you I have a plan. I’m not as unarmed as you think.” I grinned at him.
Rome shook his head, grinning as he admired me and my handiwork.
"I love you," he said, channeling Han Solo from Return of the Jedi.
"I know," I replied.
Ruffling my hair affectionately, Rome turned and plowed back into the fray. …
“Wasser auf mir, ich befehle dir beruehre mich nicht.” …I was the only one not soaked in holy water and I wouldn’t be… within a blink it all went black, … I was trapped … The library I knew just existed in my head…
What the hell?
“Very close Miss Fee.” Snarled a voice.
My body started moving without me doing it… I just gave the demon a meatsuit that increased his powers. But I wasn’t stupid. I always had a theory …
Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus omnis satanica potestas…
“This won’t help you. You try this again witch and I do this.”
My own blade sliced over my left arm leaving a small cut.
“I don’t need you alive to use you. So do us both a favor and shut up!”
You are so dead, they all know the exorcism, they…
“I’m in your head, witch. They don’t.”
I had no idea what to do, my safety place in my mind turned into the worst place on earth…

…When Rome regained consciousness, things had gone from a pleasantly exciting look-at-us-we're-almost-winning! to a shockingly dangerous …

..."Holy shit!" he cried. "Lenna's possessed!"

The Man Who Sold The World - Part 3

---

… I was a tough girl, anything he could handle I could--
… this stupid anti-possession amulet, he'd be the one being mind-raped right now instead of me, … he made it his responsibility to protect me. And he'd screwed it up! At least that’s what he would think, I knew that.
This was awful. This was a nightmare, something far more hellish than a djini could scheme up. This was...
"Elenna!" he shouted, dumbstruck, helpless, and just stood there, like an idiot, for what felt like an eternity, as his brain struggled to get over the shock before it could think of what to do next…

… CRACK! echoed the sound of a high-caliber rifle being fired. The projectile whizzed towards it's mark, embedding itself in my chest… Apparently, magical drying spells didn't work on tranquilizer darts full of holy water. … a scream … a possessed me reeling in pain from the holy water being injected straight into my bloodstream…

…Rome saw the shots hitting me … he stood frozen, unable to stop them: his mouth only opened further in horror… everyone was shooting me! … Rome didn’t move… they were going to kill me!
… Rome put his head down and sprinted toward me, heedless of the danger… guns pointed at me, … he wouldn’t let the same thing happen to me…
…tackled me, just after the tranq dart hit me… They fell, … by luck … into the center of the devil's trap.
Rome's eyes widened as I--my body, black-eyed--shrieked and thrashed around, as the holy water burned like it was acid…
"Get out of the circle, now!" Rome told the rockstar and Aly.
"But you just said--"
"Now he's trapped! Get out! Quick!"
Rome was painfully aware… that the only one who knew any exorcisms was trapped inside her own meatsuit. This was stupid.
… Rome ran hell-bent across the stage for my bag, where he knew I kept loads of books and things...surely one of them would have the exorcism in it?
Okay the dart did hurt and the water is probably not sterile but this is funny, you are such a baby. It is just water.
“You wanna play games witch?”
But before the demon could do anything we were trapped in the devil’s trap.
You won’t get out of this one, I check it myself it is perfect.
“Yes I can’t get out of this, but what about doing this?”
In a so dark unlike-me voice. “Heiliges Wasser in mir verlasse den Ort an den du nicht gehörst!”
The demon held up my hand to collect the holy water that run out of the little hole that left the dart. With a flick of my hand it splashed just outside on the floor.
“You were saying kids? I have to say the abilities of Miss Fee are very helpful. Not that she actually knows the entire potential of them.”
What the hell. Stop using my powers you have your own.
“Yes but they don’t work while we are in here darling.”
Hey you are a crossroad demon what about a deal? You let them live and I …
“There is nothing in your mind I don’t have access. So you were saying? Maybe that if I burn the stage with your lovely abilities that I get out?”
Damn it. In moments like this I do wish Rome could read my mind.
“This holy water is really annoying, let’s turn it off. Wasser das fällt bliebe stehen!”
I grinned evil in a way I would never grin. “And if you don’t mind I think I have to go. And you see Miss Fee's lovely abilities will help me to get out of this.”…

…Georgina felt chills running down her spine when she saw the way I grinned. There was something ineffably evil about it … She quickly shot a glance at Rome who had emptied my bag and flicked through the books, looking for exorcism spells. He almost ripped out the pages. Georgie looked at me who only seemed to transform more with every second. She knew that I was still in there… She looked at Rome again, … She didn't know how long I would be able to fight against that demon inside of me...or if I could fight it at all.

…The wind that picked up wasn't helping Rome flick through my journal, but eventually he found the magic words. My handwriting was annoyingly neat and clearly legible, written on waterproof paper in pencil, and this page was marked "very useful," dog-eared and looked well-worn and, was that his own name scribbled in the margins?…
Rome knew his pronunciation was atrocious…but he figured the hellspawned douchebag would know who he was talking to:
"Exorcizamus …--"
… watching my body twitch and thrash some more, …, even as he grimaced to watch me contort so. If he remembered right, this part shouldn't hurt me...much. He continued,
"omnis …"
A bloodcurdling screech from me made him stop. I looked and sounded terrified, which, because it looked like me but wasn't me, distracted him. He lost his nerve--again. …Rome shook himself, as a faint, almost manic-looking smile crossed his lips. He strode across the stage… He grabbed a microphone… He read again aloud,
"Cessa …"
… Correction, that the demon was lying. They never said anything that wasn't a lie.
But Rome paused, feeling like the villain pausing to gloat. "You get out of the girl, and we'll talk."
My face twisted into an evil smile. "We both know I would have been more comfortable inside you, but whose fault is that?"
"Ab …"… "I'll help you!" it screamed. "Don't do this!"
"Like hell you will!" Rome barked. "Demons lie!" …:
"Terribilis …"
The black smoke that came roaring out of my mouth and nose … It swirled above my head in a mini-hurricane before being sucked down through …

Rome didn't wait … to catch me before I fell. He scooped me into his arms… just wrapped both arms around me as tightly as he possibly could and held me. After only a few seconds, I woke, gasping, and burst into hysteric tears.
"Whoa, Lennie, easy, easy, it's me, it's okay, it's Romey, the demon's gone." He held me tighter with one arm while the other hand stroked my hair, drying my tears like this would hold back the flood.
"R-rome," I sobbed, "it was awful, h-he--"
Rome buried my face into his chest as … rubbed his hand up and down my spine in comforting strokes. "Don't think about it," he ordered. "Try to forget it, baby, don't think about it. Just breathe for me. It's all over now, okay? He's gone, we got him. Don't think about it..." …

…I tried not to think of everything that happened, but it wouldn’t have been myself if I forgot that easily. But I did try to follow Rome’s orders to breathe. I smiled weakly while the tears were still running down my cheeks.
“You found my journal; I knew you would safe me. I... he didn’t use me to do anything awful things, did he?”
I didn’t realize that I was holding on to Rome’s shirt and I wouldn’t let go of him. I saw my journal next to us.
“See the charm worked, you didn’t get possessed.” "You bet it did, chica," he whispered. "And if you think I'm letting you take a bullet for me like that ever again, you got another thing coming," he declared, and threw the offending piece of jewelry across the room…
Don't think. Just breathe…
I tried to sit up, and "HEY!" I began, but he held me to him and cut me off.
"Easy, chica. You didn't hurt anybody, so it's okay. We're just gonna forget about all this and pretend it never happened, you got me?"
"Rome." Aly's voice behind him.
"Gimme a minute," he snapped.
"No, Rome, you don't understand. We have to go now..."

… Rome would have no part in accepting help, scooping me up into his arms and carrying me himself. …

…I was tightly holding on to Rome…
“Did you see what he could do with my powers? That was amazing. I had no idea that this is possible.” I sounded surprised and interested at the same time. I felt calmer now. I looked at Rome, who was still holding me, hoping he wouldn’t let go off me.
…”… rezently possessed weetch veeling?"
I didn’t exactly feel better, but…
“… I am not a witch. Do you hear me?”
“ELENNA!?” Georgie grabbed me from behind…

…Rome grabbed my arm… He lowered his voice, for my ears only: "You were possessed, remember? And last time I checked, it sucks 100% less to be dead than it does to be possessed, right?... and sit down, okay?" he added this last bit sternly, before his voice and manner softened instantly to butter. "Can I get you a drink?" Rome looked up at his table and grinned:
"In fact, first, second, and third rounds on me, guys. We just ganked the bad guy, that's another notch on the fuselage, and we gotta toast to that!" He grinned and looked around. …

…"Okay, ladies and germs, here's the rules: I don't care how many drinks it takes, but as long as you keep singing, I'm buying, so every last one of you is getting up there and singing at least one song. …"

…I was still agitated--and with good reason, admittedly--but I needed to be distracted. So …
"Hi, uh, everyone--is this thing on? Hi, my name is, ah, Steve, and I'm going to be singing--what? Why am I all wet? Well, actually, me and my friends over there--" he pointed directly "--we just came from baptism."
…"And I would like to sing to you folks a song in honor--even in tribute--to the beautiful ladies I happen to have had the privilege to spend the evening with." … "You don't know how much you're appreciated. So this song's dedicated to you--hm? ..."…

… I smiled weakly at Rome on the stage. He was sometimes really hideous and embarrassing, but hey it made me forget, well he and the three 7 & 7 I downed within the time Rome was singing. He wanted me sing on a stage and have a good time and I would have it. I even laughed about Rome’s bad jokes … I felt rather tipsy at the end of Rome’s song and I was one of the loudest cheering for him. “You are awesome Rome and enjoy way too much the spotlight.”
I giggled and looked younger then I was with the blushed cheeks from the drinks.
Don't think about it , him, whatever.
Rome looked at the glasses sitting in front of me and pointedly pinched my rosy cheeks. "Hey, no fair, you got ahead of me!"
…"Okay, chica, my turn to catch up. Your turn to get up there and embarrass me." He winked and pushed me in the direction of the stage and turned to the bar…

…I half fell half walked on the stage.
Why does Rome get me always in situations like this.
“Hi all. I’m not as funny as Steve was, I’m pretty unfunny but I’m cute. And I just had a outer body experience, anyone who wants to help me to feel I’m back in my body I’m sitting at that table with all my lovely freak friends. I love you guys.” I waved the way only a drunk person could wave to my friends, my grin looked as if I finally lost my mind.
“Anyway, I’m singing well for me.” I smiled and stuck cheeky my tongue out. “A pretty new song, and my friends always make fun of me. But I had the choice between Barbie girl and this song and Barbie girl should sing our Barbie girl.” I stumbled over, well my own feet. “Oopsy daisy I never fell down.” Said the drunk me giggling. “Oh and the song is called I Always Get What I Want from Avril Lavigne.” The music started but my voice was clearly. Normally I wouldn’t sound too bad…

The Man Who Sold The World - Part 4

---

…“You surprise me sometimes Romeo. I can’t remember when we had the last so much fun.” Said I while I gave Rome a hug and a wet kiss on his cheek…

…“I hate you.”
“I know you do just like me. And you are forgetting the shopping trip I promised you.” I pushed Georgie up the stage … The music just started playing and she needed a moment to realize that the song was Christina Aguilera's Dirty. …

…“I could also offer a bath in a virgin’s blood at full moon. But I guess it is difficult to have you around and a virgin.” I grinned at him.
Rome barked out a laugh. "Ha-ha," he said. He gripped the steering wheel, thought about it. "Okay, yeah, never mind, guilty as charged."
Because if you couldn't joke around when you were about to fight a god, when could you joke?
He patted my knee, making me jump. My reflexes were still slow, though, shit. He wished he hadn't encouraged me to drink so much, never mind regretting how much he himself had imbibed. Taking a deep breath, Rome flicked his eyes from me back to the road. "Okay, so. From that list, what do we realistically have access to?"
I closed my eyes for a moment, if I would have known the hunt isn’t over yet I wouldn’t had drunk that much…
I opened my eyes suddenly and looked back on the laptop screen. Trying to concentrate.
“I think the most logical option we also have access to are the option of fire and the Evergreen stick. But the decapitating sounds as if it would work, too. I would vote for fire, maybe add some salt you know just in case?”
"Okay, fire. Fire is good. I'm good with fire. Salt and burn, awesome. But somehow I don't think we'll be that lucky. So, what was it, evergreen? Like a Christmas tree? Where the hell are we gonna get a Christmas tree in September?"
"It's October, Rome."
"What? Oh, okay, well, it's only, like, the first."
I giggled. "Rome, it's like the fifth!"
Rome waved his hand. "Well, whatever. Complaint still stands. Let's just get whatever kind of wood we can find and start making stakes." Rome chuckled. "Hey, you think Sarah Michelle Geller will show up?"
I rolled my eyes. “Let her show up when we are done with the job. I don’t wanna have any other surprises.”
I closed the laptop. “And evergreen are conifers, live oak, holly and "ancient" gymnosperms such as cycads or Ginkgo. But I would say holly is the one we are after. In several cultures it has special powers. So no, we are not looking for a Christmas tree.”
I looked at Rome, expecting he would do his magic in finding a place to get holly, since I could write messages and call people but that pretty much it. “Rome you have to find a place from where we get holly, I have no idea how to find something normal as a tree.”
"Ha, you're such a noob," Rome teased absently, as the gears in Rome's devious little mind were already turning…
Rome drew his phone out of his pocket. Sure, surfing the internet on his phone while driving while slightly drunk wasn't a good way to extend his life expectancy, but, hey, he was a hunter by trade, and it wasn't like he had any kids to teach right and wrong to or anything, unless you counted me, which, gross...
"Got it," Rome said.
"Got what?" I asked as he set his phone down, letting the GPS guide him to the nearest plant nursery. …"Um. Rome? They look closed."
"I sure as hell hope they're closed, chica, it's three in the morning. Now put a hat and sunglasses on in case they have cameras. I'll get the bolt-cutters out of the trunk. Trees won't be inside the nursery, they'll be in a greenhouse or maybe even a tent area outside." He eyed me skeptically. "Or, second thought, maybe you should stay here?"
I looked at Rome, for a moment I thought it might be smarter for me to stay here but… “No way will I wait here in the dark alone. So either we are going together or not at all.”… “You need me, you have no idea how a holly looks like. And I am not a noob, dick.” I said tying my hair together …
“Ready to have some fun and hunt a tree?”
Rome guffawed, loudly, before he remembered they were meant to be sneaking. "You are such a noob, chica." …
"Here," he said, handing me a pair of gloves. "No need to attach breaking, entering, and armed robbery to our track record, impressive as it is already."
He flashed me a grin before ducking down in the urban shadows and running across the street, my tiny feet padding behind him. They were flush against the building in no time, paused only a moment… Rome ran to the edge before he stopped, and, almost before I knew what was happening, gave me a leg up and over. He followed.
"Okay, chica, we're in," he whispered, and motioned to the field of potted trees around them. They seemed to stretch on for a depressingly long way. "We need this tree, like, yesterday, so what am I looking for?"
I took a moment to calm down, as usual he was overprotective and annoyingly helping. I looked over the potted trees. “We are looking for a tree, it has red berries or white flowers, the leaves are spiny. And obviously it’s green. It looks a as if it is made of rubber.”
I walked slowly passing the tress. “Wearing sunglasses at night is stupid.”
I stopped suddenly and pushed my sunglass down. “Those five trees are Holly. But I think just those two would work for our purposes.”
I wasn’t going to cut the trees, he wanted to be the protector then he could do the cutting and carrying of the spiny trees.

"I see how it is," Rome grunted as he realized what he should have brought was a hack-saw, forced instead to carry the trees, pots and all, to the car. "The division of labor is okay when it means I have to do stuff, but once it comes to, like, who's allowed to boss who around, it's suddenly okay to make my life difficult."

Getting the trees to the fence wasn't the problem… getting them over the fence was going to be tricky.

Rome sighed. "Okay, just climb over. I'll have to make two trips here, so stay back and stay on lookout." …
I climbed over the fence, it took some time.
Okay it was nice of him to help me earlier.
I turned around and smiled at him through the fence. I took out a pen and drew two symbols on my wrist.
“So that’s how it would be if they would catch you. Let’s make sure we stay on the same side of the bars…”
I looked unsure at Rome.
Rome had struggled half-way up his side of the stupid fence with one of the stupid trees in tow before I said, "You know I can help with the trees, if you let me do my magic?"
Rome stopped mid-climb. He wanted to take the stupid Ray Bans off so he could scrutinize me, but he couldn't without dropping the tree.
So he dropped the tree.
He took off his sunglasses and frowned at me. "You can do that?"
I nodded unsteadily. I looked unsure, but I always looked unsure. Which only meant that he could be absolutely sure.
"Are you kidding me?" he smirked, the tension in the air melting immediately. "Would I say 'no' to getting these things on the other side of this fence with as little physical exertion as possible? Who did you think you were talking to? Hell, if you can do it, you should lift me over while you're at it!"
"Now you're teasing me," I pouted.
Rome grinned. "You're right, I'm totally teasing." He shrugged widely. "Sure. Go for it. Use your magic mumbo jumbo mojo and get 'er done. Sounds awesome," Rome said, but an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, despite his claims to the contrary, as he stepped back to let me work.
I looked once more at the symbol and lifted her hand. I planned to use the air in the pot to lift it. Just like a balloon.
“Luft die hier ist werde leicht und schwebe! “
The pots were heavy but the power I felt running through me was amazing. The two trees slowly got lifted up in the air. A rush adrenaline run through me, it made me smile. To lift the trees was easier than expected. They flew over the fence and were right above me which I didn’t like. I tried to push them away, but the trees didn’t do what she wanted.
“Erde die dort fliegt höre auf mein Befehl!”...

The Man Who Sold The World - Part 5

---

… But nothing happened and then I felt it the connection snapped. The trees were still flying, but the magic was gone and I was unable to move I just stared at the two trees above my head falling any moment down.
"Elenna!" Rome shouted, heedless of anyone hearing or discovering them, as he rushed forward, only to be met by cold chain link fence. He glanced up at the hovering potted plants, the pair of them over my head, wavering, and then falling. "Shit!" he shouted, like it would help.
… His eyes flashed with something more than concern.
And the pots froze in mid-air.
We both stared up at them. I yelped and backed away from beneath them.
"Thank God," Rome said, "now let 'em down slowly, chica. Jesus Christ, you're gonna make me--"
"I'm not doing anything!" I shrieked.
"What?" Rome broke eye contact with the plants to look at me, startled.
The holly trees crashed to the ground, breaking both of the pots, leaving the trees exposed.
Silence. Then,
"Rome, you--you're eyes were doing that thing--"
"That was not me!" Rome barked, loud and stern and mean enough that my mouth shut with a decided click. He regretted it almost immediately, but no way in hell was he laying claim to-- … and pulled me into a please-forgive-me-so-I-don't-have-to-say-it-out-loud-hug. "Let's just try to forget this ever happened right?" he said, suddenly playful again. "Our alibi is we had to pull over to the side of the road for you to puke up all that Tequila you drank."
“Hey why do I have to be the one puking, we could also say you met a girl at the street.” …
I shivered when I was standing at the car. Rome visions were one thing but now he can move things? That was... unbelievable.
“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe it.” I rummaged through my bag when I found what I was looking for. I turned grinning around to Rome and said. “Bend this!” While holding up a spoon.
Rome forced a laugh, even though it made him--stupidly--sick to his stomach just thinking about it.
"Blow me!" he said, and gripped the steering wheel a little harder.
…"What took you so long?" someone snapped…
"We had to pull over so Lennie here could puke," he replied jovially… even as I said, "That's a lie! He puked!"
"And anyway," Rome continued, running interference, "We got these," he brandished seven sharpened branches which I had constructed on the drive over.
… Morrigan and Georgie were nodding, testing out the weapons in their hands (it was almost better than Sarah Michelle Gellar).
And then they heard the screams from upstairs…

…“I got the fire covered, let’s go…”
I can't believe there is a real god involved.
A smile appeared for a second on my face…

…Rome bridled at my grin--was I psycho?...

…The scene that met him was straight out of a Hackmaster game cover, so gornographic that he stopped me and Georgie …

…I raised my right hand a bit higher and whispered. “Feuer hier, erscheine bei mir! ”
I expected a ball of fire, but nothing happened. I looked at my hand in shock. A little louder I said, again. “Feuer hier, erscheine bei mir!” But still nothing. I started to feel panicked and that this whole gig was over our heads, way over our heads. I stepped closer to Rome and Georgie, hoping one of them had an idea…

…She turned towards me who looked like I was about to get a panic attack.
"Are you okay?" Georgie whispered.
"Do I look okay?" I snapped. "We're screwed!"
"We have to come up with a plan or-"
"We should have come up with a plan ages ago!" I interrupted her. "And no plan has worked so far anyway. Maybe you can jump around in your cheerleader outfit and distract Saturn a bit!"…

On the other hand, that little molotov the tiny one was preparing...
"Are you somehow under the impression that I don't see that, young lady?" With a wave, the molotov turned into a plastic flower. "Not to mention you look a little young to be drinking."…

… pretty certain that we would die just like John White and his wife. So it didn’t matter if I annoyed Saturn a little bit more
“For what do you need souls? You can’t have ours we didn’t make a deal with you. And no of us would. You have the souls you wanted so just piss off!” I nearly looked brave again, while I was holding my rips after crashing into a wall…

…Rome staggered over to me, letting nothing in the world stop him: not a titan, not that sickening pop in his shoulder, nothing. He clamped a hand over my mouth as I started to sling abuses at Saturn. Somehow, it was okay when he did it--he was retarded--I should know better.
Just as he was helping me up and keeping me behind him, Saturn waved a hand again, and all of us--Rome, me, Georgie…--all slammed against the walls again--hard--but this time, we were held there…

… For a moment I wandered if I could get free with my magic, but all I could come up with was to burn the wall behind me and my magic hadn’t work earlier anyway so where was the point in trying. But… a wicked smiled appeared on my face, when I mumbled loudly.
“Feuer in uns, Erde unter uns, Wasser um uns, Luft für uns. Kommt zu mir vereinigt euch und rettet uns.“
I didn’t expect anything to happen from this spell except that my friends thought it would and would work as placebo and let them find the strength within them to free themselves. Since I knew it was a bluff it didn’t helped me, but at least my friends might get free. So when a little wind played around me for a moment I was surprised but managed to cover the shock with the still wicked smile on my face…

…The wicked grin on my face gave me away, I had definitely tried some magic. Georgie knew me well enough to know when I tried out some magic. Was it my magical power that prevented Georgie from losing her consciousness? Georgie could finally see straight again…
"Hey", Georgie whispered in my direction, hoping not to attract Saturn's attention who seemed majorly pleased at his work of twisting off a mortal's head. "What did you just do?"
"Use your brain", I snapped back in a whisper, but we immediately held our breath when we saw Saturn moving closer…

…My eyes sparkled dangerous. I always knew I wouldn’t go down without a fight and this time Rome couldn’t stop me.
“So smartass, who’s head is next? I hope you know that just a coward pins his victims against a wall while he is killing them. I bet in a fair fight against us you would have no chance. A fight with no magic tricks, just pure muscle power.”
Yeah okay I used magic too, but I’m still pretty sure I didn’t do anything with it.
“That’s what I really hate about you supernatural SOBs, you are all huge wimps hiding behind their power. You are not man enough to win against someone like me. Let us down and fight like a man, like a real God not like one of those weirdo freak kids that are too afraid of the real world and play online roleplays.”
Okay and that was the last speech I ever give, nice last words. One day they will write books about those words… or not.
If I ever looked like a witch then it was in this moment still grinning with evil sparkling eyes at Saturn…

…"Elenna! Shut! Up!"
If he could reach me, he would throttle me. But as it was, it looked as if Saturn was going to rob him of the pleasure.
"No! Dammit, you sonofab!tch! You keep away from her!" Rome bellowed as the Titan advanced somewhere between Georgie and me, as if deciding whom to kill first.
…And so, of course, what was the big guy aiming for?
He caressed my throat, gently, so carefully, so creepily. "Such a pretty little thing, isn't she? Such a pretty neck, on such a pretty girl."
"Eww, get away from me, you sicko!" I squirmed, but Saturn only grinned wider… Rome struggled with a new vengeance. He had never before willed his powers to kick on, but now he wanted it more than anything. Throw a piece of furniture at the guy, get a vision of how to kill this SOB, anything!
Please, God, not Lenna, please, God, not Lenna, please, God... Was it possible that I heard Rome pleading?
Rome did something.
But I wasn't sure it was him…

…He ran to me first. I looked pretty beat-up, but resisted his attempt to carry me, and Georgie looked shaken but mostly unharmed…

---

…“There is no way out for me is there?” … I picked a new jeans, went on to pick a new shirt (it was pink to make Georgie happy) and a new pair of simple sneakers… “Done. I got a new outfit, can we go now?”
Georgie raised both eyebrows. “Ahem…I don’t think you understand the real definition of ‘going shopping’, my dear friend…”
…“What’s wrong with that?” I didn’t understand all the fuss that my friend made… Georgie shook her head again and looked around. “And what kind of stores is that anyway? Shirts for under 5 dollars? Jeans for ten? You can do better, sister! We have to get out of here.” She grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the store.
“Where are we going?” I sounded like a grumpy child.
“To the good stores- my stores! That’s where I get to use my lovely credit cards.” Georgie smiled at me…
 
…“Georgie? You do know that I’m not a Barbie, right?”
“Yes I know you aren’t. You are Skipper, my little brunette sister.”
I looked shocked and Georgie.
“This is not happening; I must be having a nightmare.”…
 
…"Trip of hell", I interrupted her…
 
…“Okay I play for a little while girl and dress up. But Georgie can I later have a cheeseburger, please?”…

…"Rome is not a good example." …  "I'm going to take many nice pictures and send them all to Rome", she said, teasing…
 
…“You are not really sending pictures of me to Rome, right? He would laugh about me, because I look like a um, well a girl. I’m not sure if I can handle this girlieness.” I smiled shy at Georgie who took another picture …
 
…“Barbie did I ever told you that Rome lost me once in a mall?”
"He lost you in a mall? That sounds like him!" Georgie smiled at Elenna. "Must have been fun, going shopping with Rome..."
"Yes, awesome. Greatest day of my life. We were fighting over an imaginary hunt." Elenna said sarcastically…
 
…I took my phone and texted Rome.
This was the worst idea I ever had. Please Rome help me she turns crazy, none of the stuff she bought me is in any way practical and further in half of the stuff you won’t let me leave the room. She doesn’t let me eatL, Rome call her or better come here and help me. Please…
 
… I pushed the blond girl out of the changing room and closed the door, this time I locked it. I got out of the dress and slid down the wall, when my phone vibrated. It was a text from Rome.
I’m not saying I told you so, but chica I told you that you got yourself into this. It can’t be that bad. You enjoyed shopping with me. Give her a chance. Stay away from strangers you know what they can do. Be safe, chica.
… "Well, we're not going to a store where they sell shirts for a dollar", Georgie said when they left the Gucci store.
"Can we go to Walmart then?"
"What do you want there?"
"Getting a shirt for two dollars", I replied sarcastically…

… “Can I have this? Please?” I looked sweet at Georgie.
Dammit, how on earth does she manage to look as cute as a puppy?...


… I don't want my 19-year old friend looking like some biker chick."
"Biker chick?"
"You know, the kind of girl who sits on the back of a Harley."
"I would never sit on the back of a Harley", I said. "I would drive it!"
"Elenna Fee, that is not funny", Georgie said with a typical 'mother voice'.
"I bet you'd like the Harley if it was pink."
"There is definitely no way I..." Georgie stopped for a second to picture a pink Harley . Well, actually...

"You like it, don't you?" I grinned.
"But don't you dare starting to dress like a biker, and especially not behave like one! Bikers are so...primitive."…

… “How does it look?”
“Except hideous?”
That was Georgie’s call to open the door a bit and peek at me, when she saw it on my right hip, this thing!
"What the hell is that?!" Georgie was more than shocked when she discovered the tattoo of a skull on my right hip.
"What does it look like?" I didn't show any expression.
Georgie needed a moment to find words. "Are you totally insane?"
"Why?"
"This is...this is..."
"A tattoo, I know." I shrugged my shoulders. "You act like you've never seen one before."
"It's...hideous! Why, of all possible choices you had, did you choose a skull that says 'Bite me'?! And why did you even get one at all? You're such a pretty girl, this thing is only defacing you!"
I still didn't show much emotion, I only raised one eyebrow.
"Why didn't you at least choose something nice, like a flower or a star or God knows what... Now you really look like a biker chick!" Georgie shook her head, still digesting the terrifying sight of the skull tattoo on my hip…

…"Makeup? What the hell? …"

…"Yes, your hair." Georgie flashed a smile…


… and managed to get unseen out of the store.
Lenna smiled and went to the food court. She started with ice cream, after getting a taste of all flavours she decided to go with all 5 chocolate flavours. She looked in her wallet and saw the credit card Rome had given her for emergencies.
“This is a major case of an emergency.”
She got also some apple juice and a vanilla milkshake, and while she was already up two cheeseburger and fries…
 
…"You must be kidding me!" … Elenna was missing...
This is fun, much more than I thought it will be.
 
…“Hey chica, how’s the shopping? Having fun?”
“Rome you are kidding right? Do you really thing shopping with the pink monster is fun?”
“You got yourself into this.”
“I know. I had a weak moment. Anyway, promise me you won’t tell G but I run away. I couldn’t’ stand it anymore. She was making to try on underwear. You know those friggin satin and lace and sh*t.”
“What she doesn’t know where you are?”
“Nope, oh hold on.”
I checked her phone a second caller was shown on the display. Barbie
“She is calling me again, it’s the 13 times. Hey I’m passing the apple store, you want me to have look for you?”
“Dude you can’t run away from her, when I lost you I freaked out.”
“Yeah that was different; anyway I gotta run talk to you later. Take safe.”…
 
… drew a devil’s trap on it and wrote: “Sorry gotta go. XXX L.” I was hiding the post-it under the only pink laptop in the store … Merry said in the second Lord of the Rings movie. “The safest way to escape from Saruman is to slip through right under his nose.” …
 
…“No. I want nothing not even a tea, or wait some coffee would be great for my cover and one of those cape thingies.”…
 
…She waited until she heard Rome's voice.
"What's up?"
"I tell you what's up. I'm desperate, that's up… asked if he's seen Lenna…"

…"Get here, now!"
"Okay, okay, Your Highness, whatever you command."…

… He wasn't sure whose "side" he was on, because while on the one hand Georgie could be scary in shopping mode, Elenna should know that running off while in this line of work just wasn't funny… …"So where did you last see her?" he asked …
"She left me a message at the Apple Store, under a pink laptop."
Rome snorted at that, and she whacked him again. And despite the prom-queen-exterior, that girl really could pack a punch. "This is serious, Rome!"
…"Okay, so she left you a note. That means she's toying with you."
"Obviously," Georgie grumbled, but without much force.
"So, she wouldn't leave the mall, because that's not sporting, and she wants to be found, just probably not until the mall closes, preferably."
"I checked the food court, Applebees, TGI Friday's, and every place that sells books and ugly clothes, Rome. She's not here."
"Tsk, tsk," Rome said … "She knows you'll know to look for her there, so there's no way she'll still be there… No, where she'll be is the last place you'd expect her to be."
"What?" she said…
"Shoe stores, make-up stores, that's where she'll be hiding. She's probably got a book holing up somewhere getting a manicure, or pretending to, anyway."…

… I grinned when I thought Rome just had passed outside the beauty salon, he didn’t even look inside.
“Score!”
 
…“Holly Kennedy and Jake Jensen please come to the customer information on the first floor. Holly Kennedy and Jake Jensen please come to the customer information on the first floor.”
I laughed out loud. Of course I knew why they were called out. I had a note for them.
“I hope you like to play hide and seek, guys. Holy, I know you called for help but I think this time I will win the game. See you later when the mall closes. Xxx Summer”
Rome frowned deeply as she began to grind on his nerves. He'd never had a little sister, but he imagined this was about how annoying they were meant to be.

He sighed and read the note. “I hope you like to play hide and seek, guys. Holy, I know you called for help but I think this time I will win the game. See you later when the mall closes. Xxx Summer.”

He couldn't help laughing. "She is such a nerd, I swear." … At least she let them know she was safe...so far…

…"She's a smart one...", Georgie mumbled.
"Hm?"
"Lenna! Coming up with some sort of Scotland yard game... I mean, how did she come up with that anyway?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "That's Lenna." …
…Come and get me, I am where everything started …




…Sure enough, and apparently luckily for me, I was wearing what appeared to be new clothes… a dress…
 
…"You have some major explaining to do, Summer Roberts. Like, why you pick the lamest fake name in existence, for one thing. It sounds like a porn star. Plus, that dress looks like it's from Gucci, and there's chocolate stains on it already, and the second I let G here go, she's probably going to crucify you. This whole running away thing is not only not cute, it's friggen annoying, so anytime you want to act like you're maybe older than seven, you let me know."…

… I pushed my hair with new light brown highlights out of my face, my fingernails neatly manicured. I sounded calm. “Summer Roberts is not a porn star. It is the best fake name I can think of. But never mind.”
I pulled the 22 white roses from behind my back and held them towards Georgie.
“I didn’t mean to worry you, it was a game nothing more. Like hide and seek for grownups.”
I smiled shy at Georgie. I wasn’t really worried about Rome being mad at me, he never had been for long.
“I saw the roses and thought you like them.  Because I think red roses are, well not suitable and pink roses are not a pure as white and not as amazing as red ones.”
I looked down at the dress seeing the little spot of chocolate on it. “This can be fixed, right? The chocolate gets out when we wash it?” Slowly I slipped down from the hood on my feet in my newly high heels…
 
...and there she was, undeniably pretty with her new clothes, the new hair style, the nice makeup, even her nails were beautifully manicured. She wore a dress, for God's sake, a real dress!...


… Georgie's favorite… white roses… I had that 'Please-forgive-me'-look on my face and the 22 white roses in my hand? …


… I took off my shoes and hugged a surprised Rome. “Thanks for coming to my rescue. It was really just a silly game.”…
…The girls had made up, Georgie was in a good mood again, I seemed genuinely repentant, which was a shock--although he wouldn't put it past me the little con artist to be faking it--…
 
…Rome put his arm around us girls and squeezed us tight, feeling like the luckiest gigolo of all time. "All right, girls, whaddya say we go for a night on the town? Which," he admitted sheepishly, "in southern Kansas means going down the road for ice cream."
I smiled glad that it all turned out well. “I can’t believe you didn’t found me. I was sitting all afternoon in the beauty salon.  I mean yes it was a small crappy one but Willow was a doll.”
“You were where?” Georgie looked surprised around Rome at me.
“Yeah I was sitting there and reading Twilight, and just for the record if I ever get my hands on the vamps in there I swear they will be all proper killed and the chick with them She wants’ to be a vampire. I mean what the hell is wrong with her.”
Rome chuckled and Georgie agreed.
We three friends walked down to get ice cream and have a real fun evening friends that cared for each other…

---

I was hugging my knees, no matter how much I pretended to be okay I couldn’t lie to Rome. …“When do you think you are done? …”

I tried not to sound annoyed …

… I don’t want any of them get hurt because of me…
Rome was pissed off… realize and care that I was getting cranky because we were lost…
"Okay, Lennie, baby, sorry. I'll fix this crap later …"…

"… Lennie, my bad…"…

Rome beamed at the attractive waitress. She was curvy and had dark, curly hair, and was rather short and had a fantastic ass…

… Rome winked at her and ordered a beer, "But a coke for my little sister, here… Junior here's gonna try the 72-ounce steak challenge..."

… I, appalled, shouted "Rome!"

…So much to having some Rome-alone-time. Yeah your sister. Right. Make sure I don’t cock-block you…

…"Now you take care of our baby, Lenna, while I'm gone tonight," Rome joked…

I began to laugh at his bad joke … I realized all of what he said:
"Wait, what?"
"I'm taking Jennie out for a drink. It's what, 11:30, anyway, you usually go to bed around now..."

… in his mind: … he was tired of dealing with me getting myself into trouble…that staying put … adorable little trouble-magnet… “… you'll throw me off my game if I have to worry about you, okay? … just stay here."
I stared at Rome in disbelieve.
“You are grounding me?” My eyes sparkled evil.  “You can’t do that. You can’t lock me up …”

…“Go! I don’t need you as a babysitter!”

…"Dammit, Elenna!" he said, unable to decide…

…“I made you some tea so that you can sleep…” …

… Rome was taken aback by this. "You're not mad, then?" …"Rome," I insisted.

"Elenna," he replied in the same annoying tone. …“Rome it is dark outside, you can’t fix the car now.  … No hunts and just the two of us.”…

…“I mean it’s the old team again, the two freaks against the world… I sleep better when I know you are close by.”
…I looked pleading at Rome… He trusted me, right?

"Yeah, okay. I'll try it."…
I looked at the sleeping Rome.

…Dear Rome
I know you will be furious, and there are enough reason for you to be mad, but I really have to go.
I can’t lie to you, I don’t know if I gonna be fine. I don’t even know where I will go now.
When I said to stay with you and well Rawson I planned to show you guys the ropes of hunting and then go my own way. Well my plans got a bit more complicated now that the Mustang is burned. I love you and you can’t imagine how much I want to be with you, oops that sounds different than I meant . I love looking at you and knowing you have my back, no matter how silly I act. You are my big brother and that is why I have to go. I cannot see you get hurt, as everyone else did. I’m no use for the others. All I am is an the girl that has read the answer somewhere in a book, but I am so much more or I wanna be so much more. I guess I have to grow up and find out who I am, without anyone pushing me in the direction I should go. Don’t waste your time and come looking for me, be a hunter safe people, kill things, bring light into the dark world.
Thank you for looking out for me I will never forget how much I love and will miss my big brother Rome always.
XXX Lennie

…"Elenna?"…

I had no place to go…

“Summer Roberts…”

…She is pretty Rome would like her.

… he was in my head telling me what to do and…
Whoa he can’t in my mind like that, can he?

…how I can get to Happy?”
“There is a bus.”

…Rome couldn’t predict my way the next few days are opposite days.

…So the only thing he was certain of was that I wouldn't head north toward Kansas, towards the Safehouse.
So that was, therefore, exactly where I was headed.

…Another mysterious murder in Happy…

…“Summer Roberts that is a nice name.”…

…I had one stupid tell … It was as standard as...well, lying:

Summer Roberts…

…I stopped at the little bookstore …This whole plan was stupid. Why did I run away in the first place?
“You left them. You abandoned them. How could you do that? How?”
I shivered …

…“They left their families?”…

…A bookstore immediately came into view…
“Damn it this is driving me crazy. I know it is a ghost, and… Man in white? “

…I smiled innocently at the biker.

…“If I’m not wrong I just won the game. Thanks for playing, it was a pleasure. Oh I like pool.” …

… I used the darkness as my cover to get back to the house of the ghost.
“How could you do that?”…

…“Feuer! Erleuchte!”¹ … “Oh gutes Holz gibe es frei!”²… “Zeig mir den Rest!”³… “… Erde und Stein breche ein!“⁴… “Feuer!”⁵ …
I tried not to look or sound scared…
“You can’t kill me. I’m not unfaithful.”
…“Luft!”⁶ … “Salz der Erde flieg.”⁷… “Edels Holz das hier ist verletzt mich nicht!”⁸… “Wasser das hier fliest komm zu mir und erstarre!”⁹ ... “Noooo. Feuer rette mich!”¹⁰ … “Luft verbanne ihn.”¹¹…
…“I’m not unfaithful.”… “That is the worst plan I ever had. But it’s the only plan I can come up with. I hope ghosts don't sleep at 2 in the afternoon.”…

…"Ow!" Rome cried, turning away from the sandblast and shielding his eyes, as he drew his shotgun.

He had only just realized that he was actually getting pelted with salt, not sand, when a voice shrieked, in a voice that was music to his ears,
"Rome!"
"Lenna?" Rome blinked… I looked way too pissed off. Nightmare, then?…

Suddenly, Rome was angry.

…"… what the hell do you think you're doing? And where the frakk have you been?"

… "Okay, look, whatever I did, I'm sorry… and go home."

"You weren't supposed to be here," I insisted. … “...because I came looking for you?"

…Rome scoffed. "Since when do I ever listen to you?"…

…“That's what I'm talking about! You think you can take care of yourself, and you're just a little neurotic confused, tweaky witch-girl! Who can't take care of herself, much less anyone else! So, yes, excuse me if I do give you orders!”…

Lenna stomped her foot on the floor…"I can take care of myself! …not neurotic or confused and I am not at all a witch…"

…“… I'm able to interface with humanity a little better than you..." … "And look after you!”

…"You can't even fire a gun! And you cut yourself playing with knives…"

… “… every other hunt you're going off the wall."

"… learn to fire a gun because I knew you wouldn't let me anyway. Because you think I'll shoot myself."

"That is such a lie, and you know it. I'd love to teach you how to hold a gun." …"You're just too scared."…

… “…If you had it your own way… You'd never go outside! Never talk to another human being …”
…"Okay, the first guy that gave me a ride was a bit creepy but hey, I ditched him. Because--"
Rome interrupted me, the fight forgotten in heart-stopping worry: "Oh my god, are you serious? Did he touch you? I'll tear his friggen lungs out!"
"You told me to stab them when they get creepy."

"You're damn right, I did! But, hey, better idea: don't get in the frakking car in the first place!"

"He didn't touch me, Rome," I ground out.

…"Okay, look, Lennie, I'm sorry. Can we just go now? I promise I'll stop...whatever, if you promise to stay put. I've had enough with people walking out on me, okay?" …The voice and eyes that melted every girl's heart to mush. …"I'm not coming."

…"Well maybe you should think about why Raws left you." …

“… disappearing forever just so he wouldn't have to hear your whining--"

Bam!

…“No! Dammit, Lenna--
…”… Just leave me alone! I don't need another brother who hurts me.”
“Elenna, chica, don't say that...”
„Fuck you!“
Rome looked shocked at me.
“Do whatever you want but I'm not going with you anywhere. We are done, forever!”
“Elenna, you gotta believe I'm sorry. Right. I--I'll do anything, please. You're right, I've been an ass--”
“Really anything?”
“Yes. I swear.”
“Let me go my own way.”
“.... You're serious? You...actually...for reals... We're not...”
I looked at Rome with tears in my eyes …

…He would never hurt me…

…I was shivering and could see my breath, which was a bit weird.

…A white flash of light made her stop running.
I'm sorry!...

…"Rome!" …

…“I’m back! Do you hear me sucker?” …I listen from where the voice came and suddenly recognized it…

"Rome!"

…"Rome! Rome!" he heard, and he almost didn't believe it.

"El...enna?" he asked, slowly, afraid, and then,

"Rome!" I cried again, rushing to the edge of the hole, splashing water down on him. "Oh my God, Rome!"

"Lennie!" … "Lennie, thank God, I knew you'd come!" He was grinning, in spite of everything. "Listen, Lennie, you gotta gank this ghost, he's not going to let you leave town alive, you have to burn the bones or--"

I interrupted him. "Rome! Shut up about the ghost already, you're drowning!"

…I did care! I was here to rescue him!

"Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" Rome asked, grinning manically…
“… make you Princess Leia and I don’t wanna be Luke…

…“What kind of question is that? Do you want that answer in PSI, cubic inches, or minutes?!”
…"Hurry, Lennie," he managed after a moment…

…"You have to shoot the lock off, Lennie."
I didn't move. Why wasn't I moving? …

… “Rome I can’t—“
“Lennie you have to!”…
“Rome? I think I forgot how to shoot.” …
Rome's mouth fell open, … I was using a gun … Rome's voice was suddenly calm, … comforting…

"Lennie, baby, it's okay, I promise… Look at me, chica… I … trust you. Okay?"

"Ok-kay." My voice was trembling… "Okay, Lennie, I need you to point the gun at the lock. Hold it with both hands." …"Lennie, baby, chiquita, stay with me… I love you, Lennie." …
I love you... I love you...

…“Wait, Rome. I don’t know what--" …Lenna saw his fingers poking through the holes…
“I bet you would have at least 5 kinky comments about this situation, but...” I couldn’t stop myself I was hugging Rome very tight…
Da dum da dum...
“A heartbeat.“… “I swear if you are just holding your breath to kiss me I so gonna kill you.”…

…“Romeo!”…
…Me. His fingers found me… One hand had reached up behind him and grabbed part of my shirt, unwilling to let go…"You let her go," the ghost said slowly, as if it was...confused. "And you came back. I have never witnessed such...devotion."

"Maybe you never gave anyone else the chance to show it," I snapped back… "How'd I get here?" he slurred. "And where'd you comeffrom?" … I was soaking wet, and shivering. "You'kay?" … "Liked it better when you left..."

---

Spell translations:
1 Fire! Illuminate!
2 Oh good wood release it!
3 Show me the rest of it!
4 Earth and stone collapse!
5 Fire!
6 Air!
7 Salt of the earth fly!
8 Noble wood that here is, don’t hurt me!
9 Water that flows here come to me and freeze!
10 Fire safe me!
11 Air banish him!

What Goes Around Comes Around - Part 2

---

…I'm okay. You can leave if you want to."
Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, I told him to shut up.

…"Where'd you come from?" Rome wondered, as I materialized, as if by magic, in front of him.
…"Rome? You all right? I'm coming in, Romeo."

… "What's with the nickname? Who are you, and what did you do with Elenna?" It was a joke, kinda.

I frowned back at him …guided him to the bed closest to the bathroom, furthest from the door. The bed I normally took…“Yeah, right. Like I’m gonna fall for that one again.”

I looked chagrined. “It’s just warm tea, Rome, mint flavored, actually… no magic in it. I promise. ”

“… Just get out. You saved me, great, thanks…” …“Rome, I’m not leaving,” I said, patiently, solemnly.
…“Hey, I love this movie,” Rome said.

“What is it?” I asked …
“The Princess Bride.”

“Rome,” I grinned, “I didn’t know you liked chick-flick movies.”

… “Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles.”

… “That sounds like our life …”

… “And…after?” … “When are you leaving?”

Now my eyes were shiny with almost-tears… “Rome. I’m not leaving you. I swear.”

…“I’m just saying you don’t need to be so scared of guns. I didn’t die.”
“But I thought you did.”
“… I’ll teach you, if you want.”
…“Okay.” I couldn’t say more … I crawled under the covers with him, my skin warm against his … his body relaxed immediately… “You know there’s about twelve porn’s that start off like this.”

I laughed. “Sorry to disappoint you, but porn number thirteen won’t be your favorite one …” …“Lennie?” Rome licked his lips. His eyelids were drooping quickly. “If—um.” … “If you happen to stay, you know, and if I fall asleep, you—you’ll wake me up, right? If I, um, have a—nightmare?” He swallowed hard. “Please?”

I wanted his trust. So there was his heart, naked on a plate…“Yeah, Rome, I’ll be here… I’ll wake you if you need me to.”

…“You'll stay awake?”

…“All night?”

“All night! Just trust me Rome. Sleep. You are safe and I am safe. There is no need to worry about me, I’m with you so nothing bad can happen…”

… Romeo. Because I got watch, okay? …"
…"Don't let him get you," …"Promise." …Rome, I promise. …"

… It took me so long to wake him up from his last nightmare.

… Rome’s grip got more violent.

“You can’t take her. Take your hands off her.”

“Rome stop, ouch, the only one who has me is you. Rome wake up you are just dreaming.”

… hand on his forehead. He woke up slowly …

…“Rome please look at me! Don’t you see it’s me your Lennie? I don’t wanna hurt you, I wanna help you. …”

…I fell with him to the floor, still holding the gun, and for a terrifying moment Rome thought I was going to turn the gun on myself. He saw reflected in my tearing eyes his own eyes, dark and lifeless…

… remembered the fight back at the house… And he hit me! How could he?

"Lenna, I'm sorry, s-sorry… don't leave me, I'm sorry."

"Rome, I told you, I'm not leaving. I'll be right here, okay? It's okay, come on now, Rome, you're scaring me..."

… "I'm sorry..." …“I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here with you forever.”…

Rome woke slowly… He opened his eyes. The only light came from the TV, which shone on my pale face. I didn't look well… My hand was resting on his head…

… I was watching whatever was on TV--re-runs of The A-Team… and kept almost falling asleep, my head nodding before I would jerk it up again.

"You know you shouldn't try to stay awake for long periods at a time. I hear it's bad for you," … his limbs around me like I was a giant teddy bear, his head in my lap…

I nearly fell off the bed in shock… "You're awake? How are you?"

"Umm...is 'ashamed of myself' enough of an answer?" he tried…

"… I can stay up a little while longer and make sure you don't have any nightmares." I rubbed my eyes, trying to hide tears. I didn't know why I was close to tears but I was. He was telling me to leave him all those days, did he mean that for real?

…feeling cool where his sweat-wet skin lost contact with mine… "Man, I'm sorry, chica. What did--" For the first time, Rome looked at me. Really looked at me. He sat up, "You look like hell, baby." …
"It was my fault you nearly drowned and I shot you and normally you always take care of me so it was just fair that I did for once the job. And I'm looking fine, as fine as I can fighting you back to bed, because even with a fever of 104 you are stronger than me." I stopped talking and not to yawn, which gave me a funny face. "I'm fine."

"I...uh." Rome rubbed a hand over his face. He curled his legs under him, feeling stiff. He realized he was only wearing his boxers, and I was wearing only a tiny shirt and booty shorts… "… should totally go take a shower, chiquita. And then you can sleep. I-I'm good now."

I looked skeptically at him.. Ishook her head. … I blurted out, "Rome, do you really want me to leave? I know I ran away, but that was a mistake. But if you want me to go I will go." It might have been the lack of sleep but I knew I wouldn't fight him anymore… I shivered a little under the warm covers.

… "Um. What? Lennie, baby, chica, you--" …"Whoa!" he cried as he slid off the bed…

"Rome!" I cried, lunging after him, and then he caught the look in my eyes--the deep concern, the all-consuming worry, …

… maybe, she didn't need his help, and he even needed hers… "Lennie, how could you think I wanted you to leave? How could you possibly think that?" … "You said it over and over again. It was stupid what I said, I shouldn't have said that." I slipped down from the bed to sit next to Rome and leaned my head against his good shoulder. "Rome, I don't wanna go, ever. And even in weak moments, if I run away I know you will find me no matter where I hide. I know you will always come looking for me, always. And I'm glad you do. … About...what you...teach me?" I was suddenly breathing fast.

… “… I'll teach you how to shoot." He shifted and wrapped his arm around me. "When you're ready, okay?"

… "But I don't know when I'm ready."

"I'll know," he said, reassuringly…

…a glass of apple juice but instead I knocked it over and it crashed…

Rome's arm shot forward, trying to catch the glass before it hit the ground, but my reaction made him stop cold: with a small yelp I dove backwards out of his way… to pick up the broken glass, but Rome stopped me.

“Lennie, what the hell? Don’t! You'll just cut yourself, I got it.”…

…"Elenna," he began, quietly… "Lennie, sweetcheeks, I--"…Rome moved slowly forward… I watched the limb intently, but not exactly fearfully, and took it. He squeezed my hand "You thought I was going to hit you again?" He tried to say it jokingly… it came out...wounded.

I stiffened, pulled my hand away, and he let me… and nodded…

"Elenna. Look at me, please. I would never--"…

"Lennie, I'm sorry. I was pissed off, and stupid. I shouldn't have done that… I never want to hurt you again. In any way. I… Dammit, Lenna, I'd rather cut my own dick off than hurt you!"

I flinched at this sudden outburst, so he softened again.

"C'mere, please," he said, opening his arms. I looked at them suspiciously… "Lennie, I just want you to trust me again. You--you're right, on all counts. I haven't been fair. I've been an ass. You're perfectly capable of looking after yourself and, hell, looking after me, which is a job I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I just want you to--I want us to look after each other, yeah? We don't got many other options, I guess, but I'd much rather be looking after you and knowing you got my back than facing this world alone, right? I mean, I, uh...I just, I dunno. I know I screwed it up, and I know it won't be easy, but, I… I want you to trust me again. I want you to know how much I want you to let me look after you."


Now I was crying… But I fell into his arms, surprisingly, and he wrapped them around me, crushing me, trying to make me a part of him so they were somehow stuck together and could never be separated…

"C'mere, chica, let's get you to bed. You need to rest."

Slowly, awkwardly, not coming untangled, … He settled me in next to him, covered me in a blanket, and grabbed the TV remote… Irolled over and cuddled up next to him. And it was so damn cute …
It was warm and safe and the most important part Rome was here, right next to me …I poked Rome just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming and he was still here…
"You better not tell anyone I'm a softy, you little witch," Rome teased, squeezing the sleeping me tighter to him… They were such a perfect...complement to each other, it was kind of disgusting, in the way cute things were disgusting. Like yin and yang…

…Rome sighed. Turned to look apologetically at me, who had been sat on the couch next to him. Took my hand and squeezed it.

"Rome?"

He turned back to Tex, and pursed his lips, doing his best to look contrite. He glanced sidelong at me before dropping his head and, "We totally had sex," he said.

There was a beat, then a chorus of laughter. That was funny no matter who you were…

…"Shh! I'm hiding!"

…He was half-dressed, clad only in his X-Men lounge pants, no shoes, no shirt. His hair stuck out in stupid directions, he was pale and a little unsteady… Rome grabbed me by the wrist and tugged me down to hide beside him. "You won't tell on me, will you?"

I frowned. "… I guess. Rome, you were shot remember! And it wasn't more than three weeks ago that Nick beat the crap out of you!"

"Yeah, I seem to remember a certain car crash … and a stupid little girl getting up and walking away like she was totally fine."

"… Maybe I will tell Tex where you are!"

"No! No, Lennie, baby, please, wait, I have a plan! I need your help!"

He looked so desperate and pleading I of course couldn't do anything but smile and give in. "Okay, Rome…"

"… It's kind of...kind of a game."

I brightened, again… I was as bored as he was. "Okay!"

"… Need to get stuff from the car."

"I know where we can hide!" I told him excitedly as they crept outside to the Ferrari. It was cold … "The library! No one would think to look for you in there!"

"Oh, gee, thanks," Rome laughed, as I led the way, carrying the duffles and pulling on his hand. "That's like, your favorite room, isn't it? That's perfect."

They made it to the library undiscovered… looking for the section he knew I had cataloged and organized and marked Weapons Manuals. He selected a few promising volumes, as much as he could carry one-armed, and returned to where I was waiting, eagerly, cross-legged on the floor.