Bat Country

Alexis sat with Brian on a quiet edge of a small waterfall in a creek a small bit away from their nest.

"Hundreds, Alexis. God damn." He was washing his hands and arms free of blood, crouched down at the edge of the stream. "I can't fucking believe this. Well...I can. But I really don't want to."

"All because you caught me after I turned the wrong way out of an antique store." Alexis thought out loud.

Brian stood up slowly and looked at her then looked down at his wet hands and examined them for any traces of blood. "Do you regret what happened yet? Or am I still the only one?"

"Brian, I would not ever regret you. I regret that my life had to involve him. You I could forgive. You I understand, and you know that. But him...ugh. I don't even know." Alexis sighed and looked down for a moment. Nikki and Andy liked to hunt farther away than Alexis and Brian did so they were not as close as Alexis would have liked.

"He's been a pain in my ass for a very long time and I don't think I've ever seen him like this."

Alexis nodded then snapped her head up. "Zacky?"

Brian furrowed his brow then looked in the direction Alexis was looking. "Zacky?" He asked, confused.

Zacky finally walked out from over the edge of a hill covered in bushes. "You assholes are next to impossible to find."

"What the fuck do you want?" Alexis asked, standing up quickly and closing the distance between herself and Brian.

"Relax." Brian put his hand out and felt for Alexis's before taking it tightly.

"I saw Amy. Her fucking ball gown or whatever sparkled a little and caught my eye. I figured since she came looking for you, she'd have found you and told you what she saw." Zacky said, shoving one hand in his pocket.

"I was there. I saw. The hundreds of fucking vampires you have in that nest. Whose idea was that?" Alexis asked, pulling Brian closer to her. The dread of him being snatched by Thor filled her stomach with anxiety and she didn't want him to be snatched again.

"It was shockingly kind of Johnny's idea." Zacky replied coldly.

"Short shit came up with the idea?!" Brian was shocked.

"Yeah, presented it to Matt as being the same as when Neos wiped out the Originals because we alone weren't enough to bring all 3 originals down. Or four, if Amy sided with you. Needless to say Matt decided we needed to take things a little overboard. Just to ensure a victory."

Brian hoped Alexis didn't speak of Amy and give it away because he wasn't sure if he could trust Zacky.

"Is he planning to make more?" Alexis asked cautiously.

"Oh yeah. Thor told him if he isn't careful he might even breed an even weaker type of vampire. Thor didn't even want him to do this. Thought a bunch of rogues and familiar nests might help more than hundreds of fledglings that can't fight and will die."

"Mm." Alexis pursed her lips. "Why did you come, Zack?"

Brian's eyes swiveled to Alexis before sliding back to Zacky.

"Jimmy said Alexis was going to fix Miranda's scar. She still has the gentleness of a child sometimes. No one else in there does and I will never know peace with Matt again unless you come back to him and I don't see that as having a high likelihood of happening. Fuck, even when you were there he wasn't in the best of moods. You changed him. And not into something I like. Not that it's your fault, but nevertheless."

Alexis and Brian were both silent for awhile and then turned to look at each other.

"Look," Zacky continued. "I'll find my own nest. If I have to make one myself I will. I'm not asking to join you. But I am here to help. I will tell you what I can of what Matt plans, when he plans to do it and where. All I can say for now is I am fully prepared to use every single one of the vampires I have made to fight the ones the others made. I am prepared to lose every single one of them. I would say more but I have to keep it short. If I stay too long everyone will be able to smell Brian on my clothes."

"You're risking a hell of a lot, Zack." Brian warned. "It might cut a little deep."

"I've lost everything already. My home is not my home, I lost my creation and lover. I'm losing my friends. I'd rather torch the whole thing to the ground and start over." Zacky finished and turned to leave as Alexis and Brian also did the same. "Oh. One more thing."

Alexis peered over her shoulder. "Yes?"

"He made 3 vampires that are going to be hard to deal with. I'll see if I can bring them to you and you can understand why." And as he finished, he was gone.

"What the fuck do you think he means?" Alexis asked Brian who just looked as hopeful as he could even though he knew that Zacky meant it was not that these 3 vampires were strong or particularly fast. But that they were personal and would hit Alexis where it hurt the most.

"We'll just have to see." Brian said, putting his arms around Alexis's shoulders and kissing the top of her forehead. Another new low for Matt. Desperately grasping for things Alexis might want more than Brian.

"Do you trust him?" Nikki blurted out, kind of startling Alexis and Brian.

"I don't know." Brian said. "It seemed legitimate, but I've been wrong about him before. I'll have to ask Jimmy next time I see him."

"Indeed. But he could prove helpful. I'd be willing to reward that." Nikki said, gesturing for Brian and Alexis to come.

"I get a bad vibe about all of it." Andy muttered. "Leaves a fucking bitter taste in my mouth."

"Well get over it. We make due with the resources we have and we can consider what he offers until we know the truth."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexis laid in bed, surprised Brian was not there to join her. After a long enough period of time to make her nervous she decided to get up and look for him.

As she tip toed around, she noticed that Jimmy's scent was back and when she finally heard voices when she turned the corner she breathed a sigh of relief knowing everyone was still alright.

Creeping closer she stopped and listened.

"I don't know how she's going to take that. If it's at all possible I'd like to keep that from her as long as possible." Brian said to Jimmy firmly.

"Nah, I gotcha man. I totally understand. It's a lot to take in." Jimmy responded.

"Late night eavesdropping?" Nikki whispered into Alexis's ear making her almost shriek. She turned back to him and nodded and he joined her in listening.

"I just can't believe he fucking did that. Made someone she knew while she was human...but her parents? He made her fucking parents vampires."

Alexis's eyes shot open and Nikki's face dropped as he grabbed Alexis tight and tried to calm her down before the inevitable freak out came.

"NO!" Alexis screamed.

Brian's gaze shot up to see Nikki hugging Alexis tight as she covered her mouth. "Fuck!" he slammed his hands down onto the arms of the chair and jumped up. It was going to be another long night.