Bat Country

The new nest started out as hole in the ground. A hole so deep, Alexis was terrified of it at first. But now, it actually looked like it would be something.

Making the nest was not easy, but Brian was not joking when he said he was a builder. Between the four of them, they had created this huge hole in less than a night. The evenings of last week Andy, Nikki and Alexis had spent the night robbing places of supplies while Brian drew up plans. Wood, sheetrock, marble, pipes, screws, nails, hammers, faucets, sinks, paint, doorknobs even...they had taken so much Alexis thought there was no way they could have gotten away with it, but Nikki and Andy could spot and remove any security cameras so fast, they'd never show up on them. They had lured semi drivers into hauling the stuff for them bit by bit and then erasing their memory of the events so they would never be discovered.

A few nights ago however, they had to pour down a concrete foundation for the nest to sit on and it was not easy. A truck would not fit back here, so they spent hours mixing and pouring foundation themselves out of large barrels. Even then, it did not take as much time as anybody had expected.

The framing of the nest was time consuming, but Alexis and Brian managed to do it in record time, with Nikki cutting the lumber, and Andy going through and nailing everything together in the proper places. For a large structure, with several rooms, and a deeper chamber where bedrooms were to be kept, and a deeper chamber to accommodate studies, and a second hatch then one more chamber for the library, they framed the whole thing in one night and had started the walls. But they all were quite tired of it and had decided to take an evening to rest instead. It would have been easier with the Rev, but he had gone out to collect things for the new nest. He would not live in the nest nor be part of it, but he wantedto help and see some of the world for himself which is what he had really wanted.

"The layout looks kind of familiar, Brian, but I can't place it." Alexis was studying the blueprint, excited that she was actually involved with making it.

"Well it should look familiar. It was your dream house." He told her, stretching out with his back against a stack of wood.

"It was her dream?" Nikki asked with a smile.

"Yeah, it came to me with her memories. She dreamed of a house when she was younger and I liked it. I had to make it work for our needs, and I had to add a few things, but essentially, it's what she had dreamed."

"That's where you got this idea, Brian?" Alexis asked. "From my dreams?"

He nodded thoughtfully. "More or less." He said with a grin. "I wanted a place you would be happy to be. I had to replace where you put the bedrooms with other things, I added another level, and your library will be more of a tower. 3 floors, be furnished, and one touch I did decide to keep, was the mirrored floor, which I am pretty sure you saw in a movie."

"Not as many rooms or hallways as Matthew's nest." Nikki commented.

"Thank God for that. He built that thing like a maze." Andy added. "Finding your rooms and getting your shit out was difficult. We had to follow your scents everywhere in that thing."

"I drew the plans for that nest a long time ago. I was told to do it as a maze so that'd be hard to find or get to anyone if someone got into the nest. It was deliberately confusing." Brian told them.

"Do you think he'll come after you?" Nikki asked Brian carefully and seriously.

Brian's mood shifted instantly and so did Alexis's and they both looked down. "I don't doubt it. He's furious with me and he will want Alexis back. When he will come is the question. He can be very patient and he will wait until he thinks conditions are right."

"If I hadn't needed to tell you something right at that moment Brian, I wouldn't have known they took you. I was in such shock I didn't even notice your emotions change. I was in his room and he silvered the handle to the door." Alexis said softly, instantly regretting that she brought it up.

"What did you need me for?" Brian asked.

Alexis looked down and sighed. "I really should have said something sooner, but I was so ashamed of myself and with Isabel gone, I just haven't...you didn't need anything else on your mind."

Andy and Nikki glanced at each other then back to Alexis and Brian.

"Please don't get too angry with me. I was really upset with myself for a long time, and I still am. Matt told me it was no big deal, and I didn't need your forgiveness, but I did and I do, and it IS a big deal." Alexis was scared to spit it out, but the look on Brian's face just said he was confused.

"Alexis, what happened?" He finally asked.

"Right before we all left that night, remember how I hooked someone?" Alexis asked gently.

"I do." Brian told her.

"It was Jess, Brian. It was Jess that I hooked."

Brian's face fell and Alexis slumped forward and covered her face with her hands, regretting the decision she had made that night.

"What did you do, Alexis?" Brian asked in a voice that had a touch of agitation.

"I killed her. I killed her because I was jealous." Alexis admitted, dropping her hands.

"Alexis..." Brian's tone softened.

"No, Brian. Let me tell you why I wanted to see you so bad. I didn't feed from her enough to even warrant the kill. I killed her and that was it. I ripped her apart just because I was mad that she had you before me and I didn't numb her, I just did awful things that I wish I didn't. I ripped her arm off and I beat her with it. It was the ugliest thing I've ever done and I regret it so much."

Brian closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he looked down.

Alexis glanced to Nikki and Andy who looked more like they understood.

"Alexis, you're only a few months old. It's going to be hard for you to understand that you have emotions that extreme until they make you do something you regret. You couldn't control it then, because you had no idea you could get that jealous and that angry. Now you do. Every vampire does something ugly the first time they lose their temper. You just can't control something you don't know is there." Brian told her softly.

"Matt said the same thing." Alexis whispered.

"Well he was right for once. You're young." Nikki said. "And the important thing is that you learned from it. I have done the same thing myself, and I have recently enough. It's hard to control it, but you will learn to not let that kind of thing happen every time you get upset."

"I'm not angry with you, Alexis." Brian said, after nodding in agreement with Nikki. "Disappointed, sure. But I understand how these things go and I should have made Jess leave your presence as soon as she showed up at our table. You're young, you did not know that could happen, and you are sorry for it and as Nikki just said, you learned from it, so at the very least her death served some purpose."

"Your emotions will also be stronger because you're young. You still have so much human left in you. That will fade with time. It will never disappear, but it will become incredibly rare, to the point you can usually stop yourself." Andy added.

"I think every single one of us has done something ugly." Nikki said.

"The important thing is we do not do ugly things when we can avoid it. Unfortunately, just being what we are keeps us more prone to doing bad things. I am at fault too. I should have gotten her away from the table as soon as possible. So, Alexis?..."

Alexis's eyes looked up, pitifully. "Yeah?"

"I forgive you."