Silent Restraint

The heavy metal door flew open and Perenna burst in, grinning and breathing heavily. "Sam," she gasped. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, but he stood when she said his name.

"What?" he asked.

"I have it!" she whisper-yelled, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Have what?" He patted her back awkwardly.

"Shhh," she hushed him, backing up. "The perfect plan." Her voice hovered just above a whisper.

"For what?"

"To get you and Amare out." She smiled. "And all we need is your brother."

Sam straightened. "No. We aren't risking him-"

"No risk to the third parties, I swear. Well, except me. But they won't hurt me. They need me." He didn't like it already, whatever it was. He said this.

"Well screw you cause I'm doing it anyways." She paused, grin never faltering. "Wanna know what it is?" She rocked back on her heels.

He shook his head and sat down, swallowing. "Sure."

Perenna grinned and sat down next to him. "Oh, I almost forgot." She produced a ham sandwich out of her cardigan pocket and gave it to him with a toothy smile. "Anywho, my plan. I honestly can't believe I didn't think of this sooner..."

<><><><><>

The plain beige wall looked the same every day, yet Emma continued to stare at it like it might change any second. She hadn't slept in days, eaten even less. Everyone was worried about her for one reason or another. Ty and Isa and the rest of them because of her behavior, Hayden because she was residing in enemy territory, and Emma herself for all of the above reasons.

It was horribly exhausting and it made her feel shitty. Especially when Ty came to check on her. She would pretend to be asleep and he would peer into her room, his big bald head casting a dense shadow against the wall. He would sigh and leave or, if Emma was too tired to pretend to be asleep, he would ask if she would care to join him for whatever meal. She would politely decline and wait for him to leave. Then she would groan and hate herself.

There was a conversation going on a few rooms down. She had to strain to hear the whispered voices of Isa, Ty and Breezy, an attractive dark haired woman with skin like porcelain and slender eyes as clear and penetrating as glass. Emma scooted across the carpet and laid down next to the wall, easily hearing the three people though lack of food and sleep had seriously dulled her senses.

"Look, Ty, don't get all defensive. I'm not suggesting we kick her out. I'm saying we should just bring her to Jason," Isadora was saying.

"Why do we have to bring her anywhere-" Ty's booming voice cut in at the same time Breezy's did.

"We aren't bringing her to Jason."

"And why not? He should hear what the hunters did to her," Isa replied. "They're figuring out what we're up to, the idiots. They're evolving faster than they have in the past."

"Jason already knows all this. You think he doesn't? Another nest gone last week, only a few hundred miles from here. And what if they followed her? We can't risk it." She pictured Breezy's beautiful face contorted into a sneer.

They went on like that for another ten minutes before Emma got fed up.

"I wasn't followed," she said, loud enough for them to hear. "Why the fuck do you think it took me so damn long to get here?"

The voices stopped and then there was a light knock on her door and Ty stepped in, his massive form taking up nearly half of the room. He closed the door behind him, but Emma knew Isa and Breezy were in the hallway. He let out a huge sigh when he saw her, pale and sick-looking curled up against the wall.

"Emma... we didn't mean to imply-"

"I'm not being followed. And there's nothing wrong with me. I witnessed a mass murder of my... of my family and then I was tortured for a whole damn week." She pulled up her shirt to reveal a series of long, straight scars. "He used knives that make vampires scar. Have you ever seen a vamp scar? I didn't think we could. So yea, I'm having some issues. But it's nothing for you to worry about. I think I'll be okay."

Her speech took it out of her and she flopped back onto the carpet, rolling to bury her face in the coarse warmth. A second later the door opened and closed and she was alone again. She rolled to her feet and stood for a second, one arm braced against the wall, and her head hung low. Her eyebrows bunched together in pain and she exhaled slowly, begging her dizzy spell to leave.

She stumbled out of her room and down the stairs and straight into Isadora and a vampire named Fred, Isa's mate. She mumbled something about needing to be alone, and then rushed out the door. They didn't question her verbally, but the looks on their faces said enough: this meeting would have to be brief. But if she didn't meet it then there would be hell to pay, and as of yet she was unsure who would have to come up with the currency.

Emma went in the general direction of town, her head swimming. But she didn't make it. She ended up falling into a patch of forest behind a spatter of houses and dialing a number her heart knew better than her fingers. He was there in five minutes, the SUV rumbling to a halt a few yards away. And then she was being lifted and pulled and shoved into the passenger seat with rough, gentle hands. The door slammed and the car was moving.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Always with the manners, you are," she murmured, leaning against the window, her eyes falling shut.

He looked at her briefly before speeding up. It was the last thing she remembered. When she woke up again, she was alone in the car in a parking lot. And then the car was moving, Hayden at the wheel again. He was white-knuckling the steering wheel, but he relaxed when he saw she was awake.

"Dammit, Emma, what the fuck," he said. "What happened. You're scaring the shit out of me. I can't fucking tell if you're sitting there dead cause you don't have a fucking pulse."

She cracked a smile and tried to straighten herself out with limp muscles. "I think we've fallen into a stereotype, Love, the human being afraid of the vampire and all."

"Em."

She shrugged. "It's your fault, you know." He glanced at her. "I haven't been eating."

"Why not."

She turned away. "Because every time I do I see your bitch ass face."

She didn't see his response. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It means that maybe I feel guilty now for being a fucking monster and all I have to blame for this fucking bullshit is emotions and you."

"You're dying."

"The general result of starving yourself, yeah." She closed her eyes, exhausted again already.

"You need to eat."

"If you're gonna go all bullshit romance novel on me and offer up you're throat I'm gonna rip your fucking face off."

"With what strength?"

Emma's eyes flew open and her head rolled across the headrest to look at him. "You bastard. You were gonna do it. Fucker, you were really gonna do it. Son of a bitch."

"I'm not a fucking idiot. I was gonna make you have some... some something else first so you don't accidentally drink me dry. You know, sometimes I enjoy being alive and such."

"You dumb mother fucker."

He ignored her. "We're going to find some cows."

"You piece of shit."

He still ignored her, so she just kept her shock to herself. And then she was crying. She sniffled quietly, trying to hide it from him, but he noticed anyways. He put a hand on her arm. She snorted.

"You're a big fucking softy," she muttered.