Louder Than Words

Bayleigh woke up, curled against Evagoras's chest. He was breathing softly, staring at the ceiling. She wordlessly got up and undressed for a shower. When she got out, he was at the table, watching the abandoned Snickers bar from the night before.

"Watch it harder. Maybe it will do a trick," she said. Evagoras smiled.

"Truly?" His lips parted again as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

"What's on your mind?" she asked, grabbing a Rocky Road bar. She began picking off and eating the chocolate coating.

"I hate this, Amare, but I cannot stay with you without feeling as if I am endangering your safety."

"Evvie. You really aren't." She bit into the soft marshmallow.

"Yes but it is not what I feel."

Bayleigh sighed. "We've barely been together-... Just... just at least come with me for a while. I need you around. I've missed you. Just a few more days. Til we hit Texas."

Evagoras sighed. "Well, I suppose. But afterwards, I must take leave of you, be it just for a few weeks."

"Or a few days," Bayleigh pressed. Evagoras didn't reply, just gripped her shoulder and smiled warmly at her.

<><><><><>

Hayden pulled open the metal door to the storage unit. He walked over to the chained up vampire and handed her a water bottle of blood.

"Thank you, brave hunter," she said through a smirk.

"Do you have anything you want to tell me?"

She frowned now, the bottle leaving a red ring on her lips. "Is that all you want to talk about, Dear? These last few visits have been purely business. I feel like this relationship is becoming very one-sided." Hayden said nothing. "I don't know what you expect me to say--"

"What's your name?" he asked.

She raised her eyebrows and sipped her blood. "Now we're getting somewhere. I'm Emma." She held out her hand but Hayden ignored it. He approached her and knelt down.

"Emma. There's a man coming. Gerard Sinclaire. Luckily he's about a week out, but he's a sadistic bastard who would roll in the blood of the vamps he kills if it wouldn't make him look bad."

"Is this supposed to scare me?"

He shrugged. "I just thought you would maybe like to offer up some info before he got here."

"You forget I have a death wish, Dear. Speaking of, I gave you my name, what's yours?"

"Hayden Vasco."

Emma smiled. "A Vasco? Wow. I feel special." She grinned, revealing pink
stained fangs.

Hayden grunted and took a seat in the folding chair. "Nothing to add?
Nothing helpful?"

"Hmm. You know, I like you, Hayden Vasco. So I'm going to tell you the one thing I do know." He leaned forward in his seat and nodded for her to continue. "It's actually why I wanted to get into this whole thing. I thought they were smart. So in the late 80's this vampire made a Serum. The Serum. Don't quote me on all this cause this is all just... racial legend, as they say. So anywho, this vampire was like a super genius, right? So he made this stuff and gave it to a 'control group' of humans all different ages. Except all of them ended up dieing except for the two youngest ones. They called them the Valens."

"So if all of this is just legend, then why are you telling me this?"

"I think I'm walking proof to the truth of some legends. Back to what I was saying, once they figured out that in these last two girls, the Serum actually worked, they started to recreate it to make a whole bunch of 'em, but then the vampire who was making it got killed so there was no way to finish it."

"What does the Serum do?"

Emma grinned. "That's the best part. It boosts their immune system into, like, hyper drive. So much so that, among other things like intense healing power, these two girls can reproduce blood as fast as you can drink it."

"So they couldn't reproduce the Serum, so that explains why they still need the trafficking ring. But then why can't they reproduce it?"

She shrugged. "Beats me. I guess cause that one vamp never shared his notes."

"Where are these girls now?"

"You ask a lot of questions, Love. One, I know, was kidnapped. Or escaped, or something. All I know is she isn't there anymore. The other one stuck around."

"What-"

"Sorry, Sweets, that's all I'm up for today. I prefer to follow up with some light conversation. So how about it? I like this new talkative you."

Hayden looked at her and shook his head. Then he got up to leave.

"Okay, wait, wait. Wait. Look, that's pretty much all I know and it gets lonely in here. Will you just hang out? Or at least bring me a good book? If I'm gonna die in here, I don't wanna die miserable."

He looked at her for a second and then left. She looked at her hands and fought angry tears.

Twenty minutes later, Hayden returned carrying two books. He handed one to her and sat down on the floor in the corner and began reading. She didn't even open the book for the first few minutes, she just looked at the hunter, long, feline body folded against the wall. She was torn, wondering if this was the nicest hunter to vampire gesture in the history of ever or if it truly meant she was going to die, or even both. But when she finally looked at the book, she couldn't help but giggle: it was a copy of Interview With a Vampire.

<><><><><>

Perenna was a bucket of giggles compared to Bayleigh and Sam couldn't tell if he loved it or was sick of it. She was so different from her sister, yet most of the time he would get lost and wonder why he had never seen this side of Bayleigh before. And then reality would catch up and left to wonder why he had never seen this side of himself before.

Meanwhile, Perenna seemed to be leading him on a goose chase. They would head one way for a few miles, and then she would start leading them in a new direction, following her 'sisterly instinct'. Sam would have been doubting her abilities if, with every turn, he didn't feel something... something growing. Getting bigger and closer and he could feel it blossoming into something like the bubbles in his chest when he was around Bayleigh.

They were on their way north, just out of Tallahassee. Perenna was laying on the hard motel bed when Sam returned with Chinese takeout. Besides some words of thanks and giggles on Bayl- Perenna's part, the meal was quiet. Perenna had turned on her iPhone and some soft country music was playing. As he looked at her in her soft floral dress, he was again hit with a wave of how different they were from each other.

"So where to next?" Sam asked.

"West. Up to Oklahoma. The little bar of land right on top of Texas." He nodded and she cocked her head to the side. "Why have you stopped questioning me?"

Sam shrugged. "I guess... I don't know. I just want to know she's okay. I don't think I even want her to know I'm there. I just need to see- I'm going to stay with you until we find her. And then I'll leave."

Perenna's eyes got big. "No, you have to stay with me. Please, Sam?"

"Until we find her."

"But-"

"I have to get back to my brother."

Perenna frowned. "Don't you wanna see if she really loved you?"

"More than anything. But I don't want to scare her into running again. I want her to come back to me on her own."

Perenna smiled and put a hand on his forearm (his fab, muscular forearm). "That's so sweet," she smiled. They looked at each other for a second and then Sam cleared his throat and drew his arm away.

He got up a few seconds later and walked outside, his stomach doing a gymnastic routine in his abdomen. He leaned against the back of the Impala. As he sat there, he had to double-take when a huge grey Dodge rumbled down the road.

Twenty minutes later, Sam got a phone call.

Sam sat down in the driver's seat of his brother's car. His phone rang a few times before he answered it. It was silent on the other end for a few seconds and then there was a sigh.

"I told you not to follow me," Bayleigh whispered.

"I didn't mean to."

"Then why are you here?"

"I came with your sister."

Bayleigh was silent for a minute before she said, "Perenna?"

"Yea-"

"Sam, you need to get away from her."

"Why?"

"As soon as she finds me... I don't want to see what they'll do to you."

"What do you mean?"

"You probably have a vampire tail right now. Look around, Sam. He's probably listening to us right now. Where's Dean?"

Sam scanned the empty parking lot. "He's West, dealing with other things."

"Get away from her. Find Dean. And forget about me."

"You know I can't."

"You have to. Fighting this bullshit war against the vampires... it's going to get you killed, and chasing me will only bring it on faster."

"I don't care."

"That's your problem. You need to. Get out of there."

"Bay, I-"

"I mean it, Sam."

The line went dead.