Bat Country

"DON'T STOP ME!" Alexis growled as Brian paced quickly behind her.

"You're not fucking thinking about what you're doing. This is dangerous and you're risking too much by doing this now. Wait and we will get our vengeance. But it will take fucking time." Brian assured her.

"I'm done waiting for him to learn his fucking lesson! He never will until we teach him that we aren't afraid of what he will do!"

"Alexis, he's right. You know you risk all of our lives if you strike when we're not ready." Nikki crossed his arms and leaned against the wall while she seethed.

"You said," Alexis started, raising her finger. "You said that if we could strike when they were unprepared to handle us then we could defeat them. You told me that! They do not have full numbers and they will all be asleep because they are newborns. When will we get a better opportunity?"

"Brian, you need to make her understand." Andy sighed.

Brian huffed and turned around. "And the only way that she'd learn that is if I let her do what she wanted and she lost us all. My options are limited."

"Brian." Nikki spoke softly. When Brian looked over at Nikki, his eyes were black but with the yellow irises. Almost immediately Brian turned to Alexis, his eyes vacant. Nikki's mind had him now.

"Do this and you will kill me. They will take more than my fingers next time. They will rip me apart and burn the pieces and you will lose me forever. Could you live with that? Could you live with my blood on your hands? Will you ignore our bond for revenge?"

Alexis let Nikki finish his thought through Brian before she growled at him. "Nikki, you've made your point perfectly clear, you don't need to make him prove it for you. In any case, I'm still unconvinced now is not the time to attack. Someone needs to take the opportunity so if you won't, I most certainly will."

"ALEXIS, STOP IT!" Brian screamed at her. "YOU ARE A CHILD AND MUST ACCEPT THAT FOR NOW WE KNOW BETTER THAN YOU DO." He paused, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "I know it hurts...but you're going to have to bear it for now."

Alexis whipped around to look at Brian, her mouth open in astonishment. But instead of the look of final understanding, he saw wounds. He had wounded her. Her eyes flitted around to Nikki and then to Andy and finally the Rev who had sat silently watching from the hall before she pulled in her bottom lip and looked back at Brian and turned to leave quietly.

She walked slowly and they all watched her before Brian sighed. "Sweetheart...I'm sorry."

Alexis didn't respond and when Brian took a step to go after her she froze. "No." When she was sure Brian wouldn't follow her, she finally ran out of the nest and into the dense forest.

Eventually she stopped and sat on a large boulder before beginning to cry.

Brian was right, she was a child, and she hurt easily. Perhaps she acted to rashly and needed to let her rage subside before she took any action. But she wanted so desperately retribution for the wrongs done to her. It was like salt in her wounds to let it go, and part of her knew that now was the time to strike. They would get no better opportunity than an unprepared nest, given that the nest was so large.

When she thought of her parents, they felt like strangers. Matt felt like more of a parent than they did now, but she knew they were good people, and they were punished for something that was out of her control.

By the time Alexis was deep in the throes of sadness, her head snapped up and she wiped her eyes quickly before fingers ran up the back of her arm.

"Why are you crying out here all alone?" Matt asked.

"You know you're the last person I want to see right now, right?" Alexis said, her voice coming in deep rasps.

"I'm always the last person you want to see, so yes. I know." Matt wasn't cold, nor mean. "But no matter what, I will still care when I feel you hurting."

"You're the reason I hurt half the time, Matt."

"Well why don't you tell me why you're hurting this time. What could I have done?"

"I may not be crying over you right now but you have done something. You know what you did. You know very well what you did and what you're doing."

Matt's eyes widened before he smiled coyly. "I know they feel like strangers so I know it doesn't hurt that much."

"IT'S THE FUCKING PRINCIPLE!" Alexis shouted, slamming her fists on her thighs. "You're hurting me so I'll leave Brian for you. You're jealous of him."

Matt sighed. "I wish we could have talked."

"I tried, but you got so mean. You just hurt too much." Alexis looked over at him. "You think I don't need you? I need you more than ever, but you can't accept that what happened with Brian was out of my control, and if I could take your pain away too, I would. I want nothing more than for everyone to be happy, but it's impossible."

"So it seems." Matt said coolly. "But for right now we can forget all of that and just sit here and talk."

"Why would I sit and chat with you? You want to kill people I love. You won't...can't...share. You made a fucking army to steal me back like a throne you lost and not a fucking hu--...a fucking sentient being."

"How do you know about that?" Matt asked her, his large body turning to face hers.

Immediately Alexis stood up. "I fucking saw it, Matt. I saw them, and there can be no other purpose for that many vampires than to try to take me back."

"And there's no chance you'd come back peacefully to my care?" Matt asked delicately.

"No. Brian has waited a long time to get away from you. He won't go back, and I will not go without him." Alexis said adamantly.

Matt's eyes fell to the side in thought for awhile before they came back up to Alexis. He smiled. "He wouldn't live for me, but he'll live for you, and despite being made centuries apart, you guys are very much alike. Unfortunately, the stubbornness you both share will be what gets Brian killed. He knows who you belong to."

Alexis's face dropped immediately and her eyes shadowed over. "Yes, yes he does know who I belong to and it isn't you." She breathed heavily. "If I smell your scent in this forest ever again I will fucking slay you myself. Get the fuck out." Alexis gestured for him to leave by slightly snapping her head in the direction he came from while staring him down at the same time.

Matt laughed and stood up. "I don't really appreciate you threatening me, but I'll leave...for now." He said, staring right back at her.

Alexis didn't back down, and tried her best to keep up her resolve. When Matt finally blurred away she relaxed and sighed heavily before sitting back down on the rock to think.

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

It was another few hours before Alexis came back into the nest, and when she did, she was spattered in blood and carrying the corpse of a werewolf with her. They were all in a communal den. Nikki was reading, Andy and Jimmy were talking and Brian remained silent, only staring at Alexis.

"Alexis, that fucking smells. What the fuck?" Andy said, covering his nose.

"Jimmy would you fetch me a sharp knife?" Alexis asked, holding onto the legs of the wolf who dangled lifelessly.

"Sure thing." He said, hopping up goofily.

"Thank you." She said before turning to Nikki. "Nikki, I want tattoos. I want to be covered in them but I need you to tell me who I can go to to get them."

Everyone's heads snapped over at Alexis when she said that. Nikki most of all seemed surprised. "You want lots of tattoos? You want to go from none to being covered? Why?"

"I just do. The rest of you have them. I'm the only one who doesn't. Will you take me to the person who did yours or not?"

Nikki's eyebrows raised and he sighed before he finally nodded. "I'll take you whenever you want to go."

Jimmy finally came back and handed over the knife Alexis asked for.

"So what's the dog for?" Jimmy asked.

"I need a new jacket and I'm partial to fur collars." Alexis said flatly before looking at Brian and gesturing with her head for him to follow her.

He followed her silently to their room and once they were both in he closed the door.

"I'm sorry for what I said. It was out of line and I shouldn't have said it. I was frustrated and I took it out on you when I shouldn't have."

Alexis walked to the bathroom and tossed the wolf corpse into the bath tub before coming back out and staring at Brian. "It doesn't matter. You're right. You're always right, Brian. I should know by now to trust your judgment and sometimes I get these ideas..." She sighed. "Anyways..."

"Are you going to tell me what the hell you brought that stinking thing into our god damn room for?"

"The alpha wouldn't submit to me, so I had to kill it so the rest of the pack would."

"Alexis..." Brian asked cautiously. "Why would you need to have an entire wolf pack submit to you?"

"Matt found me tonight. He asked if I would come back to him, and when I said no he said our stubbornness will get you killed."

"You mean get us killed?" Brian's voice wanted to be hopeful.

Alexis looked up at Brian and bit her lip before shaking her head. "No."

Brian sighed. "Of course not."

"He won't, Brian. He won't. I won't let him."