When we walked in, the place was empty. There was one man who offered to take our bags, but we had none, and then he said he’d throw a few logs into the fire and start making us hot cocoa.
“Wow,” Priscilla marveled. “I haven’t stayed in a place this nice since I broke into my step-dad’s condo.”
“Your step-father couldn’t just let you stay there?” Daggett asked.
“He installed the extra lock to keep me out. He had weird trust issues.”
“Yeah, I wonder why,” Melanie commented with an eye roll.
We all sat down in the living room in front of the fireplace. Typical, of course, that there were deer heads mounted on the walls and a throw rug beneath the coffee table with a bear’s head attached to it. I never could understand why people thought cabins needed to be draped in as many murdered animals as they could find. When I think of cabins, I think of skiing and hot chocolate, not skinning creatures once I’m done hunting them.
We waited for our cocoa to arrive before jumping into a serious discussion.
Daggett leaned forward and dropped his voice. “So what are we doing here? It’s still the middle of the night. They’re gonna find us and—” He checked to see if the desk clerk was still around, and when he saw he was nowhere to be found, finished with, “They’re gonna mess us up.”
“We handled one cheerleader. Can’t we handle the other two?” Priscilla asked.
“You guys got lucky,” Max replied as he sat down on the coffee table opposite of us. “Look, we only swapped cars and are here because we’re trying to lose them and buy ourselves some time. They’ll be here before long, which is why I think some of you need to go home.”
I was surprised, but perhaps not as much as Daggett and Priscilla. “What?” they asked in unison.
“It’s for the best. Daggett, Priscilla, Dana—you guys should get out of town before one of you gets hurt. They’re not after you, but if you get in the way, they will be. That’s a lot of unnecessary bloodshed we could avoid.”
Daggett shook his head. “I get where you’re coming from, Max, but it’s not a good idea. Sure, Tiffany is gone, but you still got their leader somewhere out there. That puts you at three versus three, and all three of theirs are supernatural with strengths we don’t even fully understand yet. Your odds are not good.”
“Our odds are shit no matter how we look at it. At least this way, if things were to go south, some of us will be alive to talk about it.”
Priscilla scoffed. “That sounds promising.” For once, I agreed with her cynicism. What a grim place we were in.
Dana sat down on the floor between the coffee table and the couch. “Splitting us up before didn’t work,” she said. “Why would we do it again? We’re stronger together.”
“That might be true,” Max replied with a shrug. “But this isn’t your fight. There’s gonna be casualties, and I’m not expecting you guys to sign up for that. Melanie, Cora and I…we have no other choice.” He glanced in my direction, his eyes full of regret. “I hate it, but it is what it is. We can’t change the course we’re on, but we can try to limit the damage. You guys get out while you still can.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Dana proclaimed.
“Me neither,” Daggett echoed.
Max groaned. It wasn’t out of anger at them, but anger at the situation. He really, really did not want their deaths on his conscience. I didn’t want theirs on mine either. Max placed his hands over his mouth and through his fingers said, “No offense, guys, but I’m not asking here. I got you into this, and now I’m putting an end to it.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you have a hard-on for dying,” Priscilla said.
Daggett added, “Cora, talk some sense into him.”
They looked to me, waiting for me to cosign their argument, but I wouldn’t. “Max isn’t wrong,” I said. There was a small gasp amongst the group. It was almost comical.
“You’re serious?” Priscilla asked.
I nodded. “You guys shouldn’t be here. Especially you, Priscilla.”
“Why are you singling me out?”
“Because you’re human.”
“So are you.”
“Believe me, I know. But I’m not leaving Melanie ever again.”
Melanie’s head hung low, and she only raised it when I mentioned her by name. “You shouldn’t have to babysit me,” she said.
“I’m not. This is what family do for each other.”
Dana stood up. “Okay, Priscilla can go home, but I’m going to stay.”
“No,” Max replied.
Her eyebrows furrowed. “I can help, Max. I’m not useless.”
Max rose from the coffee table and met her eye-to-eye. “This has nothing to do with who is and isn’t useless. This is about saving lives.”
“By sacrificing yours?”
“Nobody’s getting sacrificed.”
Priscilla scoffed. “Not if the lord of darkness has anything to say about it.”
“Priscilla, can it,” Max barked while snapping his fingers at her. “He’s not getting his hands on Melanie, either.”
“So what will you do?” Daggett asked. “It’s not like you can take Melanie back into the general population, get an apartment, and start a new life. Everyone she’s ever known thinks she’s long gone. How will you explain her condition?”
“Rickey, stop,” Dana whispered under her breath.
I looked over at Melanie who was deep in thought. Her eyes fixated on the rug beneath her and her face was completely expressionless. She was listening to us, but
