People and Places Unknown

It wasn't hard to tell that Daniel was uncomfortable around all of them at once, not at all helped by how worked up everyone was just then. Harper guided him to the sofa and sat down next to him.

"Well?" Arlyn asked, the curtness of his tone making Daniel flinch.

When Daniel just stared like a deer in headlights, Harper answered for him. "He's on a plane headed southwest. Uninjured and most likely with other wizards."

Arlyn tilted his head back and groaned. "Sanctum. That's where they're taking him. Great."

"It's high security," Spooks explained to Daniel. "Unsurprising, but it will make retrieving him more difficult."

Daniel nodded his understanding but kept his eyes downcast, didn't speak.

"So," Arlyn said as he began pacing across the living room, "we now have a decision to make. Do we focus on saving Orion and only on saving Orion, or do we join the resistance and work through them?"

"Resistance," Kate said, her tone almost bored. Like that was the only and obvious answer.

Arlyn stopped his pacing and studied her. "That would be a reasonable choice for those of us who will most likely end up in much the same situation as Orion if we don't fight back, but this isn't something you and Harper ever have to be involved in. If you do this, you'll be choosing to take a great risk."

"That's pretty much our job already," Harper pointed out. "Risking our asses for the greater good."

"Against supernatural beings," Arlyn said. "This would be against humans."

"Fuck humans," Kate commented.

"We are humans," Harper reminded her.

"Yes, but don't you ever just hate yourself?"

"Not really."

"Oh," Kate said. "Because I do. Frequently. Hate you, I mean."

"Can we please get back on track?" Arlyn said. An order, not a request.

"I vote for joining the resistance," Harper said. "I don't do this job just to have the opportunity to fight against supernatural forces. I do it to fight against things that are wrong."

"Resistance," was all Kate said.

Spooks smoothed a hand through his hair. "Well, we've discussed this enough times that you know where I stand. This war is inevitable, and I for one don't plan to simply try to hide myself away to escape it. Wherever you lead, Arlyn, I will follow."

Arlyn nodded. "Good. Daniel?"

Daniel's head jerked up from examining his fingernails at the sound of his name. "Hm?"

"Have you been listening?" Arlyn asked impatiently. "We're taking a vote. Should we join the resistance or focus solely on getting your father back?"

"I was listening, I just... I... Why am I getting a vote?"

"Because you are a heavily involved party," Arlyn explained as though talking to a small child.

"Well, I think..." Daniel rubbed a hand over his face. "If speaking solely in the best interests of my dad and I, of wizards in general, I would say strengthening the resistance is the best course of action. I don't think I can say much about what the rest of you should do, though."

Kate stretched out across the arm of the couch. "You're all so wordy. Next time let's vote by secret ballot."

Arlyn ignored her. "That’s decided, then. I want everyone packed and ready to go in an hour. Everything you want to keep, take with you, because we won't be coming back."

"Woo. Road trip," Kate said as she slid off the sofa and onto the floor.

Harper didn't have many things, and even fewer he cared about enough to take with him. Guns and clothes. Toiletries. He'd never really been materialistic. Even less so since he parents had died. Maybe that was just because when he finally stopped being angry he found he had grown up.

With the rest of the time, Harper helped Daniel look through the things Orion had left at the house and pick out what might be worth keeping. Many of the perishables had expired and some of the things, like a boggart trap, were only useful in very specific situations that were unlikely to come up, but they kept the rest. There was plenty of room in the trunk of the car, especially after Kate decided she was riding with Spooks and Arlyn.

"You sure you'd rather ride with them?" Harper asked as he tossed a duffel bag full of clothes into the trunk.

"Hell yes." Kate shoved a box of Spooks' books to the back of the trunk of Arlyn's car to make space. "I'm going to have a kitty curled up in my lap the whole trip. What can you offer me?"

"Mikaela is staying in her carrier," Spooks said as he handed her another box of books.

"I meant you."

Spooks' eyebrows drew together. "That would just be a safety hazard. I will have to say no thank you, I do not want to die because Arlyn braked too suddenly and I was unrestrained."

Arlyn shoved a bag of clothing against Kate's chest. "And I don't want a cat shaped hole in my windscreen when he becomes a projectile."

Kate huffed. "I don't know how you guys walk into danger fucking every day when you're so safety conscious."

"I don't," Spooks pointed out.

"We increase the net safety balance in the world," Arlyn said as he went to get another box of their belongings to pack into the car.

Daniel, meanwhile, seemed too distracted to take part in conversation, so Harper didn't try. Daniel was in charge of arranging things in the trunk of the car after Harper brought them out to him. He took his job seriously, his brow wrinkling and his teeth digging into his lip as he considered optimal bag arrangement.

Harper thumped a hand against Daniel's back and put the next bag, the heaviest, in himself. "Don't stress."

Daniel hmmed in a way Harper chose to interpret as easy for you to say, though it was probably meant far less passive aggressively in truth. Harper wished he could say something more comforting, but the only reassuring words he could think of were lies.

Harper slammed the trunk shut with a little more force than necessary, and then gave Daniel an apologetic smile when he flinched. "Ready to go?”

Daniel squared his shoulders and took in a deep breath. "Yes."

#

Being alone in the car with Harper made Daniel nervous from the moment the doors were shut. If Kate had gone with them, at least there would have been a buffer, a distraction. With just the two of them, Daniel felt obligated to be an interesting travel companion.

Daniel liked Kate. Sure she said things that made him uncomfortable sometimes, but her inappropriateness and tendency to speak her mind was what made Daniel feel like she was less likely to judge him. Arlyn was, well, Arlyn, and Spooks was so proper. He felt like he needed to impress them. And Harper... Harper was more similar to Kate than he was the others, but something about him made Daniel feel self conscious.

"You want music?" Harper asked as he started up the car. "Radio, or I have some CDs. What kind of music do you like?"

Daniel chewed his lip for a moment. He knew the honest answer was hardly cool. "Classical. Some other instrumental things that aren't too energetic. I'm usually doing other things at the same time, so I need music that won't be a distraction."

"Ah. I pretty much just have rock and punk. Energetic and wordy."

"That's fine," Daniel said as he retrieved his tablet from his travel bag.

"Fine," Harper murmured before turning on the radio instead. He scanned through stations until he found one playing slightly crackly instrumental music. A bit heavier on the violins than Daniel usually preferred, but he didn't really care.

Daniel took his pendant off and then spent the next half hour locating his dad over and over again.

"Still moving in the expected direction?" Harper asked eventually.

Daniel hmmed distractedly before realising an actual response was necessary. “Oh, um, yes. I wish he wasn’t, but… yes.”

“We’ll sort it out.”

“Yeah,” Daniel said. He wished he could be as confident as Harper sounded.

#

By the time they stopped it was dark and Daniel was thoroughly sick of cars.

Harper groaned as he stretched in the dimly lit car park of the motel they would be spending the night in. "A few more days of this shit to go yet. Fuck."

Daniel kicked at a shiny metal bottle cap illuminated by a distant streetlight. "Sorry I can't help with driving."

"That's definitely not your fault. Come on, we'd better go get a room."

When they reached the door leading to the motel lobby, Harper stopped. "Uhh, maybe you'd better wait here. This place is just cheap enough that people are going to get some ideas about why two guys might be booking a room. I don't want the cops getting called because you look underage."

Daniel just shrugged and leant against the wall next to the door while Harper went inside.

The night air was cool and a gently breeze brushed over Daniel's skin. He'd seen weather through their apartment windows, but he'd forgotten what it felt like. Right now it mostly just felt slightly too cold.

Daniel heard footsteps and his head jerked around to seek their source. The man approaching slowed down a little and gave Daniel a smile that didn't quite reassure him. There was something... off about the man.

There was nothing blatantly threatening about him. He had a handsome face and long, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail behind his head. With the jacket and scarf he was wearing, he should have looked harmless.

But he didn't. He didn't, because in a T-shirt and jeans Daniel was only slightly too cold. If he'd been dressed as this man was, he would have been sweltering.

"No need to fear me, little wizard," the man said as he drew nearer.

"How—"

The man's smile broadened to reveal sharp canines. "I can smell it on you."

Daniel reached a hand up to grasp the string of beads around his neck. He felt each one in turn, seeking a spell that might help him.

"What did I say?" the vampire said. "I mean you no harm. I would simply like to make you an offer. Just a little blood, that's all, and I will pay you generously."

"No thank you," Daniel said as he continued searching through the beads. He hadn't realised just how useless he would be in a fight until now. He really needed to memorise the order of the beads.

"Oh, do stop looking so scared," the vampire said as he took a step closer. "I'm a gentleman. I would never take without asking. I do think you should listen to my proposal before turning me down, however."

Daniel was sick of this. He thought he might have passed the bead he sought, wasn't even entirely sure which one he'd been after anymore. There were some things he didn't need the beads for, though. A flick of fingers held out in front of him sparked a bright flash. The vampire stepped back, one hand coming up to shield his face. It hadn't hurt him, just served as a warning.

"I see," the vampire said, still blinking his eyes rapidly after the light had faded. He inclined his head to Daniel and then turned and walked away.

A moment later, the door swung open and Harper stepped out.

"I saw—" Harper started to say as his eyes scanned Daniel's form, but then his eyes flicked in the direction of the casually retreating vampire and he came to an abrupt stop. After a few seconds of careful study Harper reached one hand down behind his back as he hissed, "Vampire."

Daniel grabbed Harper's wrist the second he saw the metallic glint of a gun he hadn't known Harper was carrying. "Harper, don't."

Harper tensed and his lips tightened, but he neither pushed Daniel away nor released his grip on the gun.

"He didn't threaten me, he was just... being persistent. I made my feelings clear and he went away."

Harper shook Daniel's hand off before letting his fall to clench at his side. "Fine, let's look at things from his perspective, shall we? You're alone. Clearly under eighteen. Were you scared? Because he can smell that, hear your heart rate rise. You don't have to take anything by force to be a predator."

Daniel took a shaky breath in and folded his arms over his chest, though he wasn't cold anymore. The adrenaline had taken care of that. "I wasn't trying to defend him. You're right. He scared me and he didn't care that he scared me. I just didn't want this to lead to a fight."

Harper made a sound of acknowledgement before pulling out his mobile phone. He pressed a couple of buttons and then held it to his ear and waited. "Hey Spooks... Yeah, sorry, we just had a bit of an incident... Vampire was sniffing around Daniel... Because if I called Arlyn he'd yell at me for leaving Daniel alone, that's why... No, don't give him the— Hi Arlyn."

Harper paced across the footpath in front of Daniel as he continued to talk. "It was only for a few minutes while I— Yes, I know, it won't happen again... It won't... Look, I think we should go on to the next motel. Better safe, you know? Yeah, okay. Bye."

Daniel felt like dragging his heels as they headed back to the car, but that would have been childish. He was just hungry and tired and thoroughly sick of the feeling and sound of a moving vehicle.

They went through a drive-thru and got takeaway for dinner, something Daniel usually had only rarely. He tried to make himself enjoy it as he usually would have, but he hardly tasted it.

"We'll just take our overnight bags into the lobby with us," Harper said when they stopped at the next motel. "That way they'll be more inclined to think we're just travelling through than up to anything creepy."

Daniel rubbed at his eyes as he shouldered his bag. "I'm sixteen. Legal here."

"Well yeah technically, but you're..." Harper turned to study Daniel for a moment as they walked towards the entrance to the motel. He shrugged and turned his attention away.

"I'm what?"

"My friend's kid."

"I can set you on fire if you like," Daniel said as he fiddled with his beads. "Or, hmm... how do you feel about electrocution?"

Harper laughed and smacked Daniel's hand away from the beads. "Fine, fine. Kate made me feel creepy and now I'm overcompensating and that put you in danger. I'm sorry."

"She was just teasing," Daniel said. He had expected Harper to have thicker skin than that.

Harper held the door to the motel office open for Daniel. "I was just being stupid about it. I've always been the youngest, so this whole taking care of someone thing is new to me."

"I'll try to need less taking care of."

Harper leant against the counter and tapped the bell with the palm of his hand. "You're fine."

Daniel wasn't fine. He was anything but fine. His dad had been taken and who knew what they might do with him. All of their futures were so uncertain, so full of danger. It seemed impossible for things to ever be okay again. Not with the direction the country was headed in.

As soon as they were in the room they'd rented for the night, Daniel flopped down face first on one of the two small beds. The one he had at home was far bigger and softer, didn't smell as musty, but Daniel didn't have enough energy left in him to care. He managed to kick his shoes off without sitting up and pushed them off the edge of the bed.

"You look tired," Harper said as he sat down on his own bed.

"I am," Daniel said. "Ridiculously so, really. It's not even my usual bedtime and I haven't used that much magic today."

"Nah, that's normal," Harper told him. "I can personally vouch for the fact that emotional exhaustion is a very real thing."

Daniel rolled his head to face Harper. "I guess you've had worse."

Harper gave a hmm and a shrug.

Daniel had to admit it'd been a stupid thing to say. Of course he had. Harper had been only fourteen when he’d lost both of his parents and killed his first vampire, his first anything, all in one night. Daniel couldn't imagine even coming close as long as his dad was still alive. He didn't know if he could survive losing his dad permanently. He didn't want to find out.

Before bed Daniel sought his dad's location one more time and found he had reached his destination. Sanctum. Harper quickly texted Arlyn the confirmation before they both headed to bed.

Despite his exhaustion, Daniel didn't sleep well that night.