Season Notes: violence

Nastasia

Waking up, I felt better. Crying the night before, being held and supported by my sotii, talking with Benj, falling asleep with Karen holding me, and Marcus right next to me… had worked some kind of magic.

Don’t get me wrong, I was still in rough shape. Too much had happened too quickly for me not to be stressed and overwhelmed. But it was a manageable stress and overwhelm. Something I could think through.

If I’d been fully awake I probably wouldn’t have said anything. But I didn’t wake up immediately like I usually would. In that morning haze, it made sense to say, “I don’t want to meet the rest of the clan yet.”

The normal sounds of people existing in a small space just… stopped. The silence jerked me fully awake. I sat up, not sure what to expect.

“We talked a bit about that while you were sleeping,” Marcus said, still sitting next to the bed. “From a security perspective, waiting would be a good idea.”

“Oh.” When I looked around, the others all nodded or shrugged in agreement. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

Leyla flashed me a grin from the room’s small coffee pot. Sometime during the night, she’d cut her hair. It had never been long, but now it was what one of my classmates had called a TWA. It looked really good on her. I blushed and looked away.

“You’re not supposed to think of those things, ma’am,” Victor said quietly. He was back at the window, watching. “That’s what you needed us for.”

I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what. Victor making excuses for me, and I was being a coward. I didn’t have any well-thought-out reason to avoid the clan. I just… was avoiding it. All the people I had never met who I was supposed to be a long-lost leader for. Their connection to Lună and their strongest protector.

I couldn’t. I couldn’t be those things.

So I wanted to run away.

“You’d recommend waiting, though? For security?”

“Yeah,” Marcus rumbled next to me. “We have several concerns, but the big one from your perspective is that we might put the rest of the clan in danger. Until we figure out how they found us, we can’t be sure your — our — enemies won’t follow us back to the clan.”

“Oh. Yes. That makes sense. We’ll do — not do — we won’t go there then.”

Awake? Did I say I was awake? My head felt full of taffy.

“Can I have coffee, please?”

“Coming up,” Leyla said. “I hope you like it black.”

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Leyla

Nastasia hadn’t said why she wanted to delay meeting the clan. Something was going on there. Leyla wasn’t sure what, but she’d figure it out.

In the meantime, she tried to coax the motel’s cheap coffee and cheaper coffee pot into making a decent cup. She had drunk enough shit coffee in the Navy to last her a lifetime. Ship fuels varied, but the Navy ran on paperwork and coffee.

When the first pot was done, she brought her cup and Nastasia’s to the bed. Nudging a sleepy Karen, Leyla squeezed onto the bed to sit next to the vamp-lady.

“I don’t think we should make any decisions right now,” Leyla said. She took a sip of the coffee and grimaced. Not battery acid, but nowhere near good. “If nothing else, we all need food, a supply check, and a chance to stretch our legs.

“Something always goes missing in emergency bugouts.”

“A bit more room to spread out and better sightlines,” Victor added.

Marcus, still sitting in front of her and Nastasia, nodded. “I think what we need is a temporary safe house. Somewhere we can hunker down for a week or two while we take stock and make plans.”

While they talked, Nastasia was downing the coffee like her life depended on it.

“So… caffeine and vampires?” Benj asked.

“BFFs,” Nastasia said. “We process it a bit differently, so we can drink more safely. You know those urban legends of people who walk into Starbucks and order a venti with 20 shots of espresso?

“Vampires.”

Leyla made a note to pick up an espresso machine. They weren’t big — as long as they were able to keep the van, they could bring one with them.

Nastasia set the mug down and rubbed her eyes. “Safehouse. Would a rental work?”

“If we can get one, yeah. Can be in any of our names, though.”

“I’ve got a couple backup identities, and we kept a list of short-term rental places as part of our GOTH plans.” Nastasia stood up and stretched. “I, um…” she bit her lip and looked around the small room. “I don’t know where my go-bag ended up.”

“In the bathroom,” Karen mumbled. “Unless someone brought it out after I fell asleep.

“I’ll get it,” Marcus said, standing up smoothly.

Leyla watched him go with a smile. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a rough night and not been stiff and aching in the morning.

She and Marcus had never been close, but they had /relied/ on each other for years. For his sake alone, she’d have been glad they chose to stick with Nastasia.

The other benefits? Especially now that she could let herself enjoy them? Icing on the cake.

She scooched closer to Nastasia and tipped her head to the side. “Want something else to drink, vamp-lady?”

The moment she said it, she regretted it. If Karen had been anyone else, she’d have been pissed. For all they’d joked last night about ‘honeymoons,’ Karen hadn’t had any time with Nastasia since their rather public declarations the day before.

But Karen /was/ Karen.

So almost before Leyla finished speaking, there was a knife pressed against her skin, and Karen’s husky voice murmured, “I can cut her for you.”

Which. Since when was that so fucking hot?

Nastasia giggled and… right. That’s since when.

“You are too perfect,” Nastasia said.

Leyla wasn’t sure to who, and that was okay. Karen’s knives were always sharp enough you didn’t feel the bite, but then Nastasia’s mouth was on her, and oh. My. Fuck it was even better than Leyla remembered.

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