Red in Tooth and Claw

[LostInWonderland]

Alex scoffed. He resented the fact that she just called him a baby. He was 23 years old, for crying out loud. Then again, he had to remind himself that this was a vampire he was dealing with. To her, he probably was a baby. And... as much as he hated to admit it, he supposed he was on the young side for a werewolf as well. He just didn't like to think about that. Even though he hated being a wolf, there was a part of him that loved the fact that he was as strong and as skilled as he was so soon. It just meant that he stood a better chance of defeating Vincent. Alpha male vs. rouge.


"You think I'm reckless, don't you?" Alex observed. Perhaps he was a little trigger happy sometimes, that was true. Most wolves had a problem with impulse control, and he had struggled with that even before he'd changed. He didn't really think he was being reckless though. He had one goal in mind, and when his mind was set on it, he was going to accomplish it. He had to send a message in the meantime, and if that meant causing a little bit of scene, so be it. Vincent didn't take him seriously enough.


He hesitated at her next question, though. Telling her how long he had been a wolf was one thing. Letting her know the dirty details of how it all came to be was another. It was half of his motive, after all. "I knew enough to realize after that I didn't really know anything," he answered carefully. Not exactly a lie. It wasn't like he believed in them before, but he knew what all the stories were like. Half man, half beast. Full moons. Silver bullets. That sort of thing. Some of it was true, most of it wasn't.


________________


Naomi smiled at first, but it faded slightly when he managed to guess her reasons behind why she wanted to camp. She didn't know why, but when Aaron put it the way he did, it did sound a little... silly. Maybe she was starting to get a little overzealous. "Well... yeah," she said. "No... kind of."


She turned back to the sink and shrugged. "I don't know. It's not that I thought we'd find Alex there or anything, I just don't want to waste any more time. I've already spent so much time looking, you know? I guess I just thought it might make things move faster. I don't know why. But I guess also I was kind of thinking that werewolves came out at night. Unless that's a myth. You're the expert, not me."


She moved to the door and turned back to look at him. Maybe it was kind of silly to suggest it, but there was also another reason she'd done it. "But it could also be fun," she smiled. "Just saying. I could be wrong, but you don't look like you get to have much fun. I'm going to go get my bag." She left.

 

[NightNurse]

Vivian smirked slightly at Alex's reaction to her calling him a baby, amused that she struck a nerve. When Alex asked if she thought he was reckless, Vivian chuckled. That question had a fairly obvious answer, in her opinion.


"Yes." She said, looking at him with a smirk. "I think that you're reckless, impulsive and a bit naive. Although I haven't yet figured out if those lovely traits are because of you age, your species, or if that's just your dazzling personality." She said, her only intention being to irritate the werewolf.


She raised an eyebrow at his answer to her question. It was clear that Alex didn't want to tell her any details about how he got turned. It wasn't like Vivian could blame him though. She wouldn't want to tell her turning story either, if it had happened only a year ago. It had taken her a while to process everything, to figure out life as a vampire. She almost felt sorry for Alex. She would have, had he not been such an obstacle in her revenge scheme against Vincent.


"Ooh, I see." Vivian said. "You didn't know shit. That must have sucked. I knew enough about vampires to know what had happened when I woke up from being turned." She chattered, shoving her hands in her pockets. It was then that it started to rain. Vivian scowled. As if she wasn't in a bit of a bad mood already.


---


Aaron nodded slowly at Naomi. He understood how she felt, not wanting to waste any more time. He shrugged his shoulders at her mention of werewolves coming out at night.


"It tends to be vampires that come out a night. Werewolves can be out regardless of what time it is." He informed her. He watched her as she headed towards the door. He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when she mentioned that camping could be fun. No, he didn't get to have much fun. When one's job was, literally, life or death situations most days there wasn't a lot of time for just hanging out. He watched Naomi as she left. It was after she had left that that Aaron chuckled softly. He was a little concerned about how Naomi was reacting to the news of Jane's death, but he didn't follow after her to make sure she was okay or anything. She was probably still in shock. Or denial... or both.


He stood up, taking a few minutes to gather up his papers and things from the table. He kept the papers about Jane on the top of the pile as he shoved the large stack into one of his bags. After he got the table cleaned up, it only took him a minute to gather up his clothes and things. Once he was packed, he double checked the room in case he forget anything before heading outside to find Naomi.

 

[LostInWonderland]

"Impulsive? Definitely," Alex couldn't argue with that. Some of his best decisions had been decided impulsively. "Reckless and naive? I think not." He may be young, but he'd seen more in his twenty-three years than a lot of other people wouldn't get to see in a lifetime. He also knew more about Vincent than Vivian appeared to. Naive was not something he would call himself. And as far as recklessness, all he knew was that he hadn't gotten into too much trouble so far. This whole vampire thing was a pain, though.


When she said she knew about vampires before she turned, he gave her a sideways glance. "Why?" he asked. "Did you choose to be a bloodsucker?" If yes, he wondered what kind of insane you had to be to make that decision. If no, he was certainly curious about how it all went down. Not that she'd tell him. He wasn't telling her anything, after all.


That's when he felt the first drop of rain. It didn't come on slowly either. It just started to pour. Not only did he nearly get killed by a vampire, nose his way into working with said vampire just to make it out alive for the night, have to start walking because the stupid car broke down, but now he was walking in the rain. With the vampire. This couldn't possibly get any worse.


"I'm going to need multiple drinks just to get over this day," he mumbled.


--------------


Naomi didn't take long to gather her things. It was mostly clothes she'd brought, her laptop, cellphone, and a diary. She'd never kept a diary before Alex disappeared, but when she figured out what was going on she figured she ought to document it, at the very least, to reassure herself it wasn't all some kind of big crazy dream. Now it was more therapeutic to her than anything else.


She left her room and headed back towards Aaron's surprised to see he was already outside waiting. It looked like he didn't have a whole lot to pack either. Hunters probably didn't have a whole lot of personal possessions if they had to travel all the time. It suddenly occurred to her that Aaron had probably been all over the country, meanwhile, this would be her first time ever even leaving the state. Funny how things worked that way.


"Ready to check out?" she asked. It had only been one day at this motel and she was ready to get out of here. Even just standing here she could see one of dirty, creepy looking guys that usually hung around these places when they decided to get drunk or high. He was smoking a cigarette, occasionally casting a glance towards the two of them. She tried to keep the look of disgust off her face.

 

[NightNurse]

"You're reckless because of how quickly you killed the werewolf in the alley. I would have tortured him for more information. Or fun." Vivian said bluntly. Would she really have tortured the werewolf for fun? Probably not. Not in such a public place. And it really had seemed like the werewolf had told them everything that he knew. Vivian didn't often torture just for the hell of it. Still, there was no harm in casually mentioning a willingness to torture to Alex. She would like it a lot if he was afraid of her, even a little bit.


She frowned a little at his question. She didn't really know how to answer him. Partly because there wasn't a neat 'Yes or No' answer to the question. She had been turned during an emergency. She would have died if Elijah hadn't turned her. Vivian hadn't wanted to be turned when she was. But she had wanted to become a vampire. Just not then. So Alex's question was a lot more complicated than it sounded. She was silent for a moment, before realizing that she didn't have to explain anything to the werewolf.


"It was complicated." She said finally, glancing at him for a second. "I'll explain everything to you, if you explain everything about you to me first." She said, knowing Alex wouldn't take her up on her offer.


Vivian glanced at him again at his mention of needing multiple drinks to get over this day. It was then that the vampire had an idea. She wasn't sure when she would act, but she was starting to form a place and that was making her feel better about the situation.


"You and me both." She commented, scowling at the rain. After everything today had sprung upon her, now she was stuck walking in the rain with the werewolf. She sighed, irritated.


---


Aaron looked up at Naomi as she approached him, nodding at her. "Yeah." He said, slinging his bag over his shoulder and walking out to meet her. He noticed the glances coming from the man who was smoking kept giving them. Aaron strongly disliked some, if not most, of the people he encountered staying in the motels. Staying in the motels was one of the downsides to the job. Obviously, killing and fighting and family members of victims were considerably worse, but still. Aaron didn't like the motels, although he was used to them.


"If we take turns driving, we might be able to get to Missouri before tomorrow." He mused. "It's quite a ways away, but I know how to get there. Kind of." He shrugged a little. Aaron 'kind of' knew how to get most places.


He had an excellent memory when it came to geography, and had been to Missouri before. He also had a horde of maps that would impress any geography teacher in his car, so getting lost wasn't an issue. He had been to most of the states. The ones in this continent anyway. Traveling a lot was a major part of being a hunter. It was rare for hunters to actually live on one place, like his parents were currently.

 

[LostInWonderland]

Alex glanced at Vivian from the corner of his eyes. Would she really have tortured the guy? That seemed cruel. At least pulling the trigger had been quick and merciful, as opposed to what Vincent might have done to him if he found out he was giving up information. "It wasn't reckless," he argued. "It was me sending a message. Besides, knowing he's in Chicago is enough for me. I don't care about the rest. I already know the rest." The basics of it all, anyway. Besides, werewolf and vampire war wasn't really his biggest concern.


"It's always complicated," he reasoned when she answered his question. Sort of. She didn't elaborate at all. That was all fine. Alex had expected that, and even though he was genuinely curious, he was also stubborn in not giving up his story. Vincent was one thing, Jane was another. He could tell her that he had been recruited for Vincent's werewolf army. He could even tell her that the only way he could get his life back to normal was by killing the wolf that turned him. But then he might have to talk about Jane, and that was his secret alone.


He shook his head. "Not a chance."


----------------------


Naomi nodded. "Sounds good." She would much rather drive straight through anyways. One night in a sketchy motel was one night too many, and she didn't want to waste any more time. They could rest when they were dead, as the saying goes.


"We'll need to stop for supplies someway down the road," she said. It wouldn't be hard to find a tent and a couple sleeping bags, though. Maybe some food they could take with them. She thought about s'mores, her absolute favorite camping tradition, and how nice that would be after these rough couple of days. "But we can do that once we get to Missouri."


It didn't take them too long to get checked out. Naomi payed for her room in cash, waited for Aaron, and soon she was throwing her things in the backseat of his car. It was a good thing she'd taken the bus here. She wouldn't have felt comfortable leaving her own car in this parking lot.

 

[NightNurse]

Vivian huffed softly at Alex's comment about him already knowing the rest. "Well, I don't know the rest." She pointed out. "So either tell me things that I want to know or I will be torturing any other werewolves that we happen to come across." She said bluntly, before chuckling softly. "Also, dear, in my experience torture sends a more dramatic message."


Alex's response to her lack of an answer didn't surprise her. She also wasn't surprised when he said there wasn't a chance of him telling her anything. She had expected a comment like that from the werewolf.


"Fine." She said, shrugging her shoulders. She had to admit that she wasn't disappointed in Alex's response. After all, if he gave her information about himself willingly, she would have to share too. And talking about herself, and Elijah, wasn't exactly something the vampire was keen on doing. Getting information out of an unwilling Alex would be better, she decided.


She shivered a little in the rain, glaring up at the sky with a look of true contempt. Of all times, of course it was raining now. "We're stealing the first car we possibly can." She said, looking over at the werewolf. "I don't care if it's occupied or not." She grumbled.


---


Aaron agreed with Naomi about waiting until Missouri to get supplies. It would be better to take the time to find what they were going to need once they were closer to the scene of the crime.


Once Naomi had checked out, Aaron followed her outside a few short minutes later. He paid in cash, as per usual. After all, nobody could trace cash payments. Unlike credit and debit cards, which were a hunter's perfect example of a bad idea.


Reaching the car, he set his bags in the backseat before getting into the driver's seat and starting the vehicle. He couldn't say he was disappointed in leaving the motel. Pulling out of the parking lot, he glanced out the rearview mirror to see the man from earlier watching them leave. Aaron would have been uncomfortable had he not been so used to the kinds of people who hung out in cheap motels.


"If we happen to come across a supernatural creature, if at all possible, let me handle it." He said, a few minutes after they had left the motel. Aaron wanted to establish that right away. He didn't want Naomi to get any ideas about getting revenge for Jane herself, if a situation were she could arose. Oftentimes family members were too eager to jump into the fight. Of course, Aaron couldn't blame them, seeing as that was how a lot of hunters got their start.

 

[LostInWonderland]

Alex almost laughed. It wasn't like he was all about torture, for anybody, but the way she said she'd torture other wolves if he didn't give up any information was hilarious. He was unsympathetic to the wolves. He was surprised she couldn't see that by now. He just rolled his eyes, finding her threats ineffective, yet somewhat amusing.


"He wouldn't have told us anything else," he said. "Vincent's wolves would die for their 'cause' before letting anybody compromise it. Besides, we'll be lucky if we actually catch him in Chicago. It's better to do this one step at a time, believe me..." Also, it was better to give her the least amount of information he could get away with. The last thing he needed was for her to run off and get to Vincent before he could. The longer he could keep her stringing along by his side, as annoying as she was, the better his chances at being the first.


By this time, Alex's shirt was pretty much soaked through. So were his jeans, his hair, and nearly his shoes. This storm was something else. He wasn't sure how they'd do it, but she was right. He'd love to take the next car they could.


"If one even passes us by..." he commented. It had been a while since they'd seen the last.


--------------------------


Naomi leaned her head against the back of the passengers seat and closed her eyes for the first few minutes of the drive. She was mentally exhausted already, and it had only been a couple days on the hunt with Aaron. A few months if she counted the time she first started looking for Alex. Of course, back then she hadn't known about Jane. She couldn't stop herself from imagining what her friend's last few moments might have been like.


She opened her eyes again and reached for the car radio, hoping Aaron wouldn't mind. She needed something to listen to to keep her mind from wandering to that dark place, even if that something was bad 80's hits.


She turned towards Aaron when he spoke. It wasn't hard to agree to what he was asking. If at all possible, she would try to be useful, but she wasn't stupid enough to get herself killed. At least, not yet. If and when they found her brother, it might be a different story. But for now.. she was more than willing to let the actual hunter do the scary stuff. "I won't argue with that," she said, grinning slightly.


She watched him drive for a few more moments, trying to distract herself from her thoughts. When the music proved not to help with much she decided to ask him some questions about his life. After all, it wasn't every day somebody met a hunter. "So," she said. "I know werewolves exist, obviously. What else is out there?"

 

[NightNurse]

Vivian glanced at Alex out of the corner of her eye as he talked about the werewolves, scowling a little when he said it was better to do this one step at a time. In her experience, taking things one step at a time never worked out that well. Without a large and complicated plan, things rarely went well. Although Vivian supposed she was thinking a little hypocritically at the moment. After all, she was throwing herself into this vendetta against Vincent almost completely clueless and with no idea of what exactly she was going to do once Vincent had been found. "Kill the bastard" wasn't a super solid plan, even if it was her only goal.


"I hope you don't actually think things are done better one step at a time." The vampire said, folding her arms across her chest as she walked. Her clothes were soaked and her hair was stringy and kept getting plastered against her face. Wonderful. She glanced up and down the road as the werewolf spoke of one car even passing them by, already forming a plan for if that were to occur.


"If we see a car, you need to drop to the ground." Vivian began thoughtfully, adjusting her bag on her shoulders. "Act unconscious. I'll start yelling and try to stop the car. People are more likely to stop for hitchhikers of one of them seems to be dying." She stated. That was a ruse that she and Elijah had used countless times. It worked pretty well.


"Once the car is stopped, get up and help me. I'll take care of the driver, you get anyone else out. Use the gun if you have to." Vivian instructed, looking back at Alex then. Killing whoever was in the hypothetical car wasn't an ideal move to make, but they needed a car if they wanted to have even a little chance of getting to Chicago before Vincent took off to somewhere else. "Got it?"


---


Aaron was, admittedly, relieved that Naomi was so quick to agree with him about letting him handle anything they encountered. Had she not wanted to agree, it wouldn't have been the first time that a family member he had been interacting with tried to run off and become a hunter. Aaron did, truly, understand the need for revenge and the urge to help clean up the world of supernatural creatures, but he was a trained professional. He didn't mind when Naomi turned on the music. That's what Aaron typically did himself. Driving for hours on end in complete silence could get extremely boring. The radio helped.


He glanced back at Naomi when she asked her question, frowning a little as he pondered over how to answer her. He didn't want to start elaborating on everything and made her more disturbed than she undoubtedly already was.


"Vampires exist, for one thing." He said finally, deciding to start with the simplest things. "I deal pretty only with werewolves and vampires. Vampires are even less humans than werewolves are, which kinds of says a lot. They're immortal, for one thing, and they're harder to kill." He said. It wasn't often that he explained things about the supernatural to 'normal' people and he wasn't quite sure just how much he should tell Naomi. So he stopped there, glancing over at her to see if she had questions.

 

[LostInWonderland]

Alex shook his head at Vivian. "Planning very far in advance is pointless when you're dealing with a psychopath," he pointed out. "Plans change anyway. I'd rather find the guy first. Then I can worry about how I-... sorry, we are going to take him down." Although one plan he really ought to work out was how he was going to get the we back down to an I.


It seemed like Vivian was very much a planning kind of girl, though, because she was already telling him just how they were going to get a hold of the car. "Woah, woah, wait," he said. "Why do I have to be the unconscious one? I am not lying down in the road. I'll get all muddy..." Alex actually did prefer to lead a very cleanly life, after all. The dirt and muck was actually one of the most annoying parts about turning into a wolf every once in a while. That, and the wet dog smell. At least that never happened in his human form.


"Wouldn't people be more likely to stop if it were you knocked unconscious?" Women were sympathetic to other women. Men would jump at the chance to save a damsel. Vivian was actually really easy on the eyes, but he'd never admit it for obvious reasons. Plus the whole vampire thing and her general personality just kind of killed it. Then again, Alex rarely got along with anything supernatural.


"Plus I really don't think it's necessary to use a gun on a human," he said.


--------------------------------------------


"Vampires," Naomi repeated, the thought sending a chill up her spine. "Are we talking 'Edward, your skin is sparkling' vampires or 'I sleep in a coffin and turn into a bat' vampires?" Both had their own reason to be terrifying, but she was hoping it leaned more towards the cute, sparkly, and most importantly "vegetarian" kind. Somehow she very much doubted it though. Otherwise there wouldn't be much of a reason for guys like Aaron to hunt them.


She subconsciously rubbed at her neck, her thoughts eventually returning back to her brother for a moment. Obviously she was glad that somebody was keeping these dangerous supernatural entities in line like Aaron was, but there also a part of her that worried what would happen if and when they found Alex. She didn't doubt that Aaron was a good guy, but if Alex was a wolf like she suspected he might be... could she trust in Aaron to just let it be?


"Do you ever feel guilty about it?" she asked him. "Killing them? I mean, I know they're dangerous, and they hurt people... but vampires at least look like us. Same with werewolves, at least half the time. Does that bother you?"

 

[NightNurse]

Vivian just huffed at Alex when he mentioned how planning ahead was useless when dealing with a psychopath. Okay, fine, people could get unpredictable but in the vampire's experience, trying to figure everything out worked out a hell of a lot better than blindly running into something. She arched an eyebrow when he corrected himself to "we" instead of "I." She was still trying to figure out how to neatly get rid of the werewolf. She didn't want to work with him for any longer than she had to, because having anyone around was just going to slow her down. Especially a werewolf.


Vivian titled her head at Alex when he protested her plan. She found his reason for not wanting to be the one on the road hilarious, not because she didn't care about getting covered in mud but because getting dirty was such a trivial concern, in the vampire's opinion. Her expression made her thoughts obvious, her mouth forming a smirk.


"I'm so sorry, I should have been more considerate with my plans." She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I figured you'd like being on the ground, being a werewolf and all. You'll have to forgive me. 'Werewolf' and 'neat freak' aren't typically traits that go together." She said, rolling her eyes at him. She chuckled softly at his comment about people being more likely to stop if it was her on the ground. In her experience, it could go either way. She supposed it depended on the person in the car; if they pitied a panicked and desperate woman more than an unconscious one.


"But fine, I'll drop to the ground since it would be such a damn inconvenience for you." She grumbled, after a second. She had to get to Chicago as soon as possible. If that meant compromising with the werewolf, then fine. Although thinking that didn't stop the slight scowl from gracing the vampire's features. The scowl was replaced by another amused look, however, when Alex said that he didn't think it was necessary to use a gun on a human.


"Are you serious?" She asked, glancing over at him again. "It's convenient, for one thing. And you are aware that hunters exists, right? Because, sweetheart, hunters are the best reason I can possible think of to use a gun on a human." She said. Vivian didn't tend to like humans as anything more than a meal, although hunters were different. Hunters, Vivian hated, for both obvious and personal reasons. Presently, however, she wasn't really thinking about hunters a whole lot, but instead was a bit amused at the seemingly naive statement that Alex had made. "And even if it's not a hunter, guns are quick and easy." She said as a bit of an afterthought.


---


Aaron glanced over at Naomi as she questioned him about vampires. He shrugged a little, figuring out the best way to explain vampires to her without freaking her out. "I mix of the two, I guess." He said finally. "They don't sparkle, but they don't turn into bats either. They're not as... intense as some of the vampires in horror movies because they blend in very well with us humans. In fact, I've only ever come across one who sleeps in a coffin. She was just dramatic." He said, trying to sound a bit humorous in an effort to make the subject seem less daunting to Naomi.


He frowned a little at Naomi's next question. He wasn't surprised by it; a lot of people wondered about a life where one killed so many people. It took him a moment to answer, because he wasn't sure what the best answer to Naomi's question was. Guilt was something that Aaron used to struggle with a lot, when he was hunting with his parents as a teenager and even after he went out on his own after growing up a bit. Because, yeah, vampires and werewolves looked like humans. After a moment, he glanced at Naomi again for a second before answering her.


"I can't feel guilty about killing them." He said finally, returning his eyes to the road. "Yeah, they look like us. Hell, most of them act like us too, at least sometimes if they're a werewolf. But they're not like us. They're monsters, and killing them stops them from killing someone down the road. Because they all kill innocent people." He paused then, letting out a short sigh. "So, no, killing them doesn't bother me. It can't." He knew he probably sounded like a psychopath, but most hunters did. Aaron was never one to sugarcoat things like this and Naomi had asked, so he saw no reason not to answer her truthfully.

 

[LostInWonderland]

Alex couldn't really care less if the vampire wanted to label him a neat freak or not. He woke up covered in dirt and mud at least once a month, so he just really preferred to stay clean when he could. But there were other reasons for him not wanting to be the one on the ground, too, and the whole gun thing she suggested was one of them. It was just another way for him to be sure she wasn't going to harm an innocent human in any other way than just leaving them stranded on the middle of the road. He also may have had the thought that if he was fast enough, he could make a get away while she was down.


"Well, it's not often I can say this, but it looks like out of the two of us, I'm the one with an actual heart," Alex said. "I don't harm innocent people. It's more tracks to cover, anyway."


He moved a piece of wet hair out of his face. At least the wet dog smell only happened in his wolf form. "And I'd say the chances of us running into a hunter is pretty small." Actually, he'd never encountered one before. Whether he was just good at hiding his tracks, lucky, had good timing, or what, he wasn't really sure, but he figured there probably weren't a whole lot of those out there either.


--------------------


It was actually sort of interesting to hear Aaron talk about vampires, if only because she was so unfamiliar with that part of the world. It was crazy to know now that creatures like that walked among them and she didn't even know about it until recently. She probably wouldn't have still, if Alex hadn't gotten swept up into it all. It made her wonder just how many times she'd actually had encounters with the supernatural without even realizing.


Naomi picked at a stray thread in her shirt for a moment, digesting Aaron's explanation of guilt and how he couldn't let himself feel it when it came to his job. What he said was probably true. Anything that drank human blood for a living was a threat, obviously. Anything that turned into an animal at night was obviously just as dangerous. It still hurt to hear him say that they all killed innocent people, though. She couldn't help but picture Jane's dead body and a wolf with her brother's eyes standing over her. She just desperately hoped that Aaron was wrong, or that her brother wasn't a wolf after all. Of course, the alternative might mean he was dead.


She shook her head. "It's a shame Jane didn't have somebody like you around to protect her from whoever or whatever killed her. I can imagine being a hunter isn't exactly a very sought after career choice, nor one that gets a whole lot of recognition..."