Friday. 4:33 PM

I hurried up the stairs, taking the receiver from Ben and pressing it to my ear. “Kennedy?”

“Levi,” Kennedy said. “You need to turn yourself in.”

“What’s going on?” In anticipation of danger, I put my hand over the receiver and whispered to Ben. “Start the truck.”

“You’re screwed if you don’t turn yourself in before sundown. I can put you on the phone with a High Counsellor. Tell them where you are, wait for them outside with your hands up and no weapons, they’ll take you peacefully.”

“Slow down,” I said, walking quickly to the kitchen so I could put my bag together. “Why am I in danger? I got away from the counsellors once already. Are they sending in more?”

“They’re not sending more counsellors. After that shit you pulled with the troll, you’re considered too dangerous to send regular personnel after.”

Shutting my laptop with one hand, I asked, “So what are they sending in?”

“A vampire.”

I almost dropped my computer, and barely managed to juggle it back into my bag. “What? Like, a real—”

“Yes, shut up. You can’t tangle with this thing. It can make the troll look like an angry puppy. You don’t have a choice.”

“You said sunset,” I pointed out. “The vampire can’t come here until then?”

“Vampires lack their strength during the daytime, but once the sun goes down, it’ll track your scent like a damned bloodhound.”

I checked the clock on the microwave. “It’s only four. I’ve got time.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Kennedy, that’s almost four hours. The sun doesn’t set until super late here, and—”

“Levi. I faxed in your location. Just surrender peacefully, for God’s sake. They’re going to get you either way.”

I hung up, spinning to run back towards the basement. “Garret!”

He was at the top of the stairs, frowning. He must have known something was up. “What’s wrong?”

“Is there another way off your property, besides the main entrance?”

He put together the implications of that question, fast. “Shit. Counsellors are coming? Here?”

“Yeah. Kennedy ratted me out. They thought it was for my own good.” I looked around. “If you don’t have something, then I need to get out of here fast. It doesn’t sound like they’re interested in going easy on me, and I’m out of cleansing crystals.”

Running both hands through his hair, Garret spun in place. “You don’t know what you’ve—you can’t leave.”

I faced him, blinking. “Why not?”

“Because if you go, and the counsellors decide I was helping you, then I’m screwed. You know what kind of crap you’ve dragged me into?” He looked from side to side, working himself into a panic. “Lydia!”

Light footsteps echoed from the second floor as she came down. “What’s going on?”

“Counsellors found out I was here, and they’re on their way,” I spoke quickly, before Garret could give a biased version of events. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—shit. Shit.”

“If you didn’t do it, they’ll figure it out,” Garret said. “They’ll let you go before too long. You’ll be okay.”

“No,” I shook my head, drumming a finger on my temple. It was too much. “I can’t afford to go away for a month. I’m… I’m going to lose everything.”

“It’s my civic duty to turn you over,” Garret said. “I didn’t realize that there was a warrant out for your arrest. I’ve got no choice but to hold you here until the counsellors show up, and then turn you over, so they can arrest you.”

I swallowed. “In that case, you leave me no choice. If you don’t show me the way out, I’m going to take the gun out of my bag and shoot you.”

Garret blinked in surprise. “You have a gun?”

“I do.”

That was enough to make him comply. “Alright, fine, since I’m under duress. There’s a back way. It’ll drop you off behind the church. I’ll show you, as long as you promise not to hurt us.”

…

Saturday. 1:30 PM

I stared at Murray, watching her expression for any signs of recognition.

She looked at the notes, the corner of her mouth turning down in an expression that I read to be ‘disgust’. “Is that a quote?”

“It’s to the best of my memory,” I said. “Garret made it clear he was only helping me because he was being threatened.”

“But you didn’t have a gun,” Murray pointed out. “There wasn’t one in your bag, and you didn’t have one on the bridge.”

I nodded. “I was lying to him.”

Davis rolled his eyes, sitting forward. “This is crap.”

I gave him my best innocent expression. “Why do you say that? Did Garret tell you something different?”

“You’re really going to try and feed us this bullshit?” Davis threw up his hands. “Do you think we’re stupid?”

I didn’t reply to that question, facing Murray instead. “It’s the truth.”

Murray was skeptical, but didn’t press the issue. “We can come back to that. For now, just keep going.”

I nodded. “Sure, but it’s what really happened. I promise.”

…

Friday. 4:35 PM

The truth this time.

“If you didn’t do it, they’ll figure it out,” Garret said. “They’ll let you go before too long.”

“No,” I shook my head, drumming a finger on my temple. It was too much. “I can’t afford to go away for a month. I’m… I’m going to lose everything.”

While I tried to think of some way out, some way to save myself without imposing on him, Lydia walked up behind me, her tone soft. “Garret…”

“And you think I wouldn’t have any trouble at all?” he demanded, pacing in little circles. “We’re not going to throw out our lives because of someone else’s issues.”

“Garret, wait,” Lydia said, raising her tone. “Think about this.”

I didn’t have anything to say. The world was crashing down around me and there wasn’t anything I could think to fix it.

Garret turned to face her, rambling. “We can’t risk everything for some guy we barely know. He’s turning himself in. It’s the only option.”

“Garret!” Lydia snapped.

That, finally, got him to stop talking. “What?”

“We’re not hanging him out to dry. He didn’t mean to cause harm, and we both know how the counsellors will treat him.” She was referring to me, but I wasn’t entirely certain that she was talking about me.

“Lydia,” Garret implored, through clenched teeth. “If they decide to give you trouble—”

“No!” Lydia cut him off, her voice raising. “Don’t you dare make this about me.”

An uncomfortable silence passed as they stared off. I tried to cut through the tension, as best I could. “You don’t have to put yourself in danger for me. I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

Garret looked like he was going to argue more, but a glare from Lydia shut that down in his throat. Shaking his head, he muttered, “Goddammit, no. There’s… there’s a back way, it’s hidden and off the record. It’ll drop you off behind the church, they won’t be able to follow. I’ll show you.”

I looked between him and Lydia. “What will you do?”

He opened his mouth, but Lydia spoke first. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Maybe tell them I threatened you?” I suggested.

She paused for a moment, probably thinking it over. “That works.”

…

Friday. 4:40 PM

Lydia stayed in the house while Garret showed me to the hidden exit on his property. I didn’t notice until it was explicitly pointed out, thanks to a combination of some practical camouflage and an attention-diverting spell, but the dirt path was wide enough for Ben’s truck to fit comfortably.

“Why do you have this?” Ben asked Garret, as I got into the cab.

“That’s none of your business,” Garret replied, still upset over the confrontation. “Just get out of here, before the counsellors arrive.”

He didn’t have to tell us twice. Ben rolled up his windows, stepped on the gas, and we rolled through the back woods.

“Fill me in?” he asked, as we rolled through. “I take it from how you reacted that your friend sold you out, but why’d he do it?”

“They, not he,” I corrected, automatically. “Kennedy’s non-binary.”

Ben nodded. “Okay, so they sold you out.”

“Kennedy thought I was in too much danger if I didn’t get arrested, so they told the counsellors where I am,” I explained. “I don’t know how close we cut it, but I can’t imagine they were far behind us.”

“So, we keep running?”

“We?” I asked.

“This is the most exciting thing to happen to me since the Slayer farewell tour came through town. We.”

“Running works for now,” I said, quietly. “But Kennedy’s right, it’s going to get too hot if we don’t get this problem solved by sunset.”

“That’s a tight deadline,” Ben said, which felt a bit obvious. I bit down a sarcastic comment, letting him finish the thought. “What’s going to happen at sunset that’s so bad?”

“They send a vampire after me,” I explained, deadpan.

I wasn’t sure if Ben believed me, until he looked at my expression. “You’re shitting me. Holy water, stakes, garlic, that kind of vampire?”

“I don’t know. They’re at least weakened in the daytime, so there’s probably some truth to the sunlight bit,” I said. “Everything else… it’s a crapshoot. A lot of the legend is probably based in some sort of truth, but I couldn’t tell you what. Crosses might work, or maybe just holy symbols, or maybe that part’s all made up. Either way, I’m not really interested in finding out.”

“So, you surrender at sunset, one way or the other,” Ben finished. “I’m sure we can find enough answers to save your hide by then.”

“If we’re lucky, this Mariah woman did it, and we’ll have it wrapped up in half an hour,” I pointed out. I gave him a quick summary of what Garret had told me, focusing mostly on the brewery owner’s apparent grudge.

“What are you going to do if it is her and she doesn’t take the confrontation well?” Ben asked.

“Eh…” I hadn’t thought about that. “We’ll be in a public place. She probably won’t want to attack us while we’re in full view of everyone.”

Ben raised an eyebrow at me. “And if she does?”

“Then I run away and scream for help.” I shrugged. “I’ll have to play it smart. I’m not just going to say, ‘Hey, Mariah, did you kill Andrea because you were blinded by rage and lusting for revenge?’”

Ben smiled, a little. “That’s probably smart.” The dirt road came out into a church parking lot, just like Garret had promised. Looking around, Ben pulled onto the street, driving in the direction of the city. “Where’s it at?”

“West Bottoms,” I said, pulling up an address on my phone to get directions. “You can just drop me off.”

“You don’t want me down there?”

I shrugged. “You’ve done more than I asked, and I can call a rideshare or something once I get there.”

He shook his head. “I can keep driving you around, it’s fine. It seems like you need someone watching your back.”

Looking at him for a long moment, I shook my head. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t have to ask. I’m volunteering.” He checked the rear view, then turned towards the highway. “We’re in this together, at this point. Besides, I still haven’t gotten to see any real magic. That stuff on the bridge was just my eyes playing tricks on me. I’ll be damned if I’m going to come away from this without some solid proof.”

“What about the fear compulsion you felt?” I asked, surprised that he’d still be skeptical.

“Infrasound, maybe,” he said. “I’m talking real spells, like in the movies.”

Thinking back to my flight from the counsellors earlier, it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. “I’m not sure you’ll enjoy it as much as you think you will.”

Ben shrugged a shoulder, settling in for the drive. “Maybe not, but it’ll make for a good story. Either way, I’m not leaving ‘till this is all through and done, so you can stop asking about it.”

“Sure.” I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but I was happy to have the help.