Bat Country

"WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?!" Alexis could hear Matt screaming before she even opened the hatch.

Exchanging a glance with Brian, they seemed to sigh in unison, looking down the hatch. Brian leaned down and lifted it up before jumping down, Alexis following suit, closing the hatch behind her.

"Not in the community space?" Alexis asked, puzzled.

Brian shrugged and began walking confidently to where he could hear things breaking. It sounded a lot like glass and he imagined Matt was destroying tables that had been collected over many decades and even some centuries, and had been meticulously cared for.

Alexis followed Brian reluctantly, knowing that she didn't hook Matt fully, and that he very well remembered she had put him to sleep.

"Matt?" She called cautiously, surprising Brian who looked back at her with confusion as if to ask why she would bring the problem to them versus them going to the problem.

Within a fraction of a second Matt had pinned Alexis to the ground and was growling in her face.

"Why did you fucking do it?" He hissed at her.

Her eyes shot to Brian for a second before coming back to Matt.

"Do what?" She croaked, her hands coming to his wrist in an attempt to keep him from crushing her throat.

"You know what." His large frame was anchored on all fours to the ground, Alexis squirming beneath him.

"Matt, she obviously doesn't know what you're talking about. Mind filling us the fuck in?" Brian asked, his eyebrows raised in muted irritation.

Matt's head whipped so fast in Brian's direction that even Alexis almost didn't make it out. Standing up, Matt leaned down and picked Alexis up with ease and sat her down on her feet, but kept an arm around her, as if to create a shield between her and Brian.

"Oh she knows what she did. She knows very well that she doesn't have enough power over me to be doing what she did." Matt said with half a smile.

Brian's eyes shifted to the side as a battered Zacky stepped out of a room and looked at everyone before disappearing. Everyone soon came out after him, but froze at seeing what looked like a stand off.

"When I put you to sleep last night?" Alexis asked softly, stroking Matt's arm in an attempt to calm him.

"Yes when you put me to sleep last night." He growled back down at her, his arm constricting tighter over her neck making her gasp.

"Stop this shit." Brian said, shugging a hand out to gesture to Alexis whose eyes were panicking a little, but Brian knew she was controlling herself.

"Matt, please." Alexis whispered. "I only did it because you seemed so sick, and you said you knew you'd have trouble resting. I wanted to give you that." She could feel Matt's eyes on the side of her face, burning a hole there, before suddenly his face was on Alexis's cheek and his teeth were bared against her skin. Brian's eyes widened in fear as he straightened his back, ready to strike if he needed to. Alexis gasped before squeaking out "You were so upset with me, with yourself. You were still not healed completely."

"Who made you?" Matt growled harshly.

"You did." Alexis said quietly, but firmly.

"That's right. I did. You don't get to fuck with me, Alexis."

Turning her face to him slightly she looked up at him. He really seemed like a monster. "I wouldn't do anything to fuck with you."

"Then tell me something, my dear." He smiled an empty smile. "You fucking Brian behind my back?"

A pit formed in Alexis's stomach, but she fought every urge to turn to Brian. Instead she looked into Matt's eyes as confidently as she could. "You know I can't."

After a moment, Matt laughed. "Where have you been, then?" He knew that a mated pair could not mate outside of their bond, and gave her that. "Where's he been taking you, my love?"

"He's been teaching me to lure." Alexis's eyes shifted to Brian, who was still as tense as ever.

"Don't fucking lie to me. Did he take you to Nikki or Andy?" Matt's grip tightened again with Alexis now pressed as tightly against him as she could get.

"Who the fuck is Nikki or Andy?" Alexis asked, standing up on her tip toes as Matt's strong forearm pressed into her throat.

"I tried to take her into the city but before we even got there, she killed a couple walking their dog in the park. She wasn't quite able to control her bloodlust so I had to spend a lot of time getting her to a point where she wouldn't eat everyone she saw before I could take her into the inner city to teach her." Brian told Matt without missing a beat. He was a very good liar.

"Did I fucking ask you to speak?" Matt growled at Brian.

"Enough!" Alexis burst out of Matt's arms, much to his surprise. Turning around, she stroked his cheek and leaned into his body. "I'm sorry I upset you. I didn't mean to. I needed the time without you to gather my thoughts. You remember, in your bedroom? What we talked about?"

Matt's eyes softened a degree and Brian watched with worry. Alexis knew at least Nikki was close. She could feel his presence inside of her body, and he seemed to be waiting for a moment of intense fear before he'd enter the nest.

"I remember." Matt's tone also became less harsh.

"I needed more time without you being upset or hurting or feeling ashamed so I could figure out what to do. Please don't be mad at me." Alexis pleaded with Matt using her eyes.

Matt pressed his forehead to Alexis's. "Promise me you'll never do it again."

"I promise." Alexis whispered, brushing her lips against Matt's which made her incredibly uncomfortable, especially with Brian watching. But Brian knew that she was merely saving their hides.

"Now swear to me that you're not doing anything with Brian." Matt was positive he knew what was happening before, but Alexis was making him doubt himself now.

"Matt...before you gave me a new life...I was an only child. Brian is the closest thing I could ever have to a sibling. He's my brother. And you know I can't mate with him. You're my mate."

That seemed to satiate Matt for the time being and he kissed Alexis, shot a look at Brian and turned to leave without saying another word. Alexis could hear him open the hatch and leave before she collapsed to the ground covering her mouth. Matt was checking for Nikki, but Nikki had no scent and Matt had no chance of finding him.

"What the fuck happened?" Brian asked the group who stood silently in the shadows, as he extended a hand to help Alexis up.

"He's losing his fucking mind." Miranda creeped out from behind the group, clinging to Johnny.

"Shhh." Johnny shushed her. "He's not losing his mind."

"The fuck he isn't." Rev stepped out and walked to Alexis and Brian, rearranging Alexis's hair and smoothing it down. "He's going fucking coo-coo. Real paranoid about you and her spending any time together which is ironic as fuck considering he made her solely to tease yo--" Rev stopped himself.

Brian's eyes were wide. He had told Alexis that Matt was teasing him with her, but he had never told her that he only made her for that purpose.

"Wait...what?" Alexis asked, confused, her eyes shifting between them. "Isabel told me that he made me because she asked him to because she didn't have anybody to be friends with here."

"I didn't lie! I did ask him to! He told me that was the reason." Isabel's eyes were full of worry that she would be taken for a liar.

"I know he did. Alexis...this is maybe a conversation for another time." Brian said gently.

"No, fucking tell her." Zacky's voice popped up. When Alexis snapped around she felt sorry for Zacky. Matt had literally beat the crap out of him. He had two black eyes, and busted lips. There were teeth marks everywhere, and she could see compound fractures healing.

"Careful, Zack." Johnny warned.

"Shut up, short shit. I say one thing he doesn't like and I get a new understanding of how Alexis has been feeling. Fuck that shit. Tell her."

Alexis looked up at Rev and pleaded again with her eyes.

"I can't, hun." Rev told her. "He'll be back any second."

"He went to hunt." Brian said. Even though Brian and Matt only bonded a little, Brian still knew Matt was not close to the nest.

"Someone please." Alexis demanded.

"I think the best person for this would be Brian. You tell her." Johnny said, his arm around Miranda's waist.

Brian looked at Johnny with a sharp expression. "How am I the best for this? He didn't tell me even half of what I'm sure he told you guys."

"I could tell her." Miranda said, her eyes following Isabel as she came to Alexis with her arms open. Alexis opened her arms for Isabel and they embraced, Alexis hugging Isabel tightly.

"Okay, somebody out with it." Alexis said, stroking Isabel's soft hair.

"When we brought you back here, after Brian had drained you." Zacky said before swallowing. "We were deciding what to do with you. We were trying to decide if you would be worth the amount of blood needed for the exchange or if we should just dispose of your body once you were actually dead."

"Zacky, don't be cruel." Miranda told him.

"Oh, it's not cruel. I'll fucking be honest with her, 'cause someone ought to be." He barked back. "Alexis, not going to lie to you. Matt wanted to let you die. He said 'the chance of you successfully changing was so slim it wasn't worth the amount of his blood it would take', which, in all honesty, was not too far from the truth. You were dead enough no human doctor would have been able to bring you back. We were all there, save for Brian who Matt had locked in one of the rooms. Isabel was pretty visibly upset seeing you like that and that's when she begged, pretty urgently, that Matt saved you. She said she had no one to be friends with here like Callie and Miranda were friends, nor did she even really have a maker to depend on. She said that maybe she could have someone now, since Brian would never give her a vampire sibling. Do you remember that?" Zacky's eyes focused on Isabel who blushed in Alexis's arms. Alexis's eyes came to Brian's face and it was filled with shame. He had wanted to change, but he had gotten distracted with Alexis and again neglected his own creation.

"Yes." Isabel whispered.

Zacky nodded. "Matt looked at her for awhile. He likes Isabel. He nodded at her and sent her out of the room to tend to Brian and he promised her that he'd give her a friend. Once Isabel was gone, Matt said that he had decided when Isabel mentioned Brian that his best bet for getting Brian to show some loyalty, for getting him to stay, and to punish him for all the shit he had done; the leaving, all that, was to make something he had wanted so badly, yet was so ashamed of. Matt mentioned that he would be mating frequently with Alexis since he knew, and Brian, bud...I'm sorry. I don't think you knew this. He said the only time he could ever feel your emotions happened on that night, and that it was a deep attraction to Alexis, despite your violence while unperfected and that he had every intention of punishing you by keeping her around so you could watch him have everything you wanted from her." Zacky's eyes had fallen and Alexis's had narrowed so much, they were more like slits. "Say Brian was like a starving dog in a cage. You were like a full bowl of food right outside the door."

"But now he's getting insecure because he knows he's failing." Rev added. "He has been over zealous in keeping you and Brian separated because he's been envious that Brian drank all of your human blood and that he didn't have that extra bit to hold over Brian's head."

"Why did he do this to you, Zacky?" Alexis asked slowly.

"Simple. He started throwing a bitch fit about how you 'ran away with Syn' and he was breaking shit. Once he broke the chair I managed to remove from my human family's house when I was recently turned, I told him if you did run away I couldn't really blame you."

"He didn't call me." Alexis said, confused as to why if Matt thought she was running away, he wouldn't call her.

"He knew you didn't run away. He didn't want to piss you off by calling you either." Rev said, matter-of-factly.

"If he doesn't lose the fucking attitude really fast, I'll fucking run away. That's for god damn sure." Zacky said. He brought his eyes up to Brian and smiled slightly. "Told you he'd be mad."