The next few days after Beth’s revelation has been a blur of activity and work. She kept her appearances correct. She was publicly grieving for Liam, but if she felt as if she didn’t care the day she learned he died, she cared even less now. Some part of her mind tried to tell her that, feeling like that wasn’t normal but she silenced it with ruthless efficiency. She was, after all, her mothers daughter. She may think of her mother as fake, but she was very good at doing her fake things. 

It wasn’t just appearances she kept up with, however, she stalked Mel’s online presence. She hadn’t been online in just about two weeks, but that didn’t matter. She didn’t need her to be online, she just needed to get access to a few of her friends' profiles. Hobbies, interests, frequented locations, anything and everything shared was a tool in the right hands. It didn’t take long before she found two very promising leads. Daniel, Melody’s brother and Thalia, a friend, one who has been musing about some very interesting topics. Wax poetic on the nature of life. 

Now why would that be, hmm?

Thalia, it seemed ,loved her literature, so now she just had to make a false account all about literature, and keep it up just long enough to wiggle in. Daniel was a bit harder, his accounts more professional and less to work with. However, a young wannabe journalist who was looking for professionals to ask a few questions could work. They only had to accept the friend request once. 

After her third long afternoon of work, she finally finished the little trojan horse accounts of hers. Shutting her laptop she smiled, a look of contentment of a job well done. It was time now to keep her mother off her back. The journalist spiel would work, it played into her recent loss of boyfriend and the account she had. It didn’t land far from her degree either. It was a perfect cloak. 

She timed her descent down the foyer stairs, to this exact moment. Her smile widened as the front door pressed inward and her Mother stepped across the threshold. 

“Bethany! You’re looking put together,” Her mother said, “Normally by now, you are out God knows where.” 

“I – I guess, I just needed to… I guess some people have to be burnt before they learn. I’m sorry mother.” She had practiced that line to perfection as she assembled her outfit. A breezy light blouse and a-line skirt and heeled boots. Youthful, summery, business casual. 

“I’ve been thinking; that is, I set up  dinner with someone from my old class. They got into the journalism business, thought I’d maybe pivot there. I… I can’t let this story, other stories like this go untold. Be forgotten.” Beth said, letting a little fear creep in her voice, fear of not ever finding Mel. 

Her mother’s eyes softened as she took in the lie. 

“I know that this cannot be easy. I’m proud of you Beth.”

Liar. You’re proud of my image. 

“Thank you mother. I – I have to go or I’ll be late. Wish me luck!” Beth said, posturing perfectly with a smile. Everything a young professional needs. 

Her tongue wagged with lies as graceful as a serpent, as she slid the front door shut behind her. She had a place to go. See Thalia may have had a lot hidden behind a friend request, but her profile picture told a story. A selfie at a dirty dive bar, something very much not her scene. Yet, she would make her kind of place for Melody. Melody was in the background smiling, raising her glass of whiskey, with wind tossed hair and a leather jacket. What better place to find a dragon than a place called the Foundry. All she had to do was to wait and watch. 

--

“Mel, you cannot be serious!” Thalia hissed, “They will kill you. Kill. You.” 

Melody chewed her lip ignoring the blood beading on her lip. She knew this was beyond stupid. She needed their information, and they needed hers. It was her best chance at getting at the bastards who did this. She knew once it was done, once she helped put a stop to it, she would disappear. She knew once it was over, whatever alliance she had with Rowan would end. 

“They need me if they want to stop their fucked up renegade, Thal. If they could have done it on their own, they would have. Besides,” Mel added darkly, “I want the one I let go. I want his blood.” 

Thalia leaned back against the kitchen counter, pursing her lips. Melody didn’t know what to make of her expression, and that unnerved her. She was getting used to reading people quite well. 

“Sometimes Mel, I don’t know if you terrify me, or fascinate me.” She said softly. 

Melody didn’t hide the twist to her mouth, her lips curling up into a toothy and sharp grin. Each day she was finding things easier. Guilt still gnawed at her when she took a life, but she was also better at spacing those out, feeds without needing to kill. She stopped questioning whether it was right or not, she stopped looking for an answer. She wasn’t sure if there was one. 

You’re a liar Melody. You still fight it, you still try and pretend you don’t…

She didn’t know how that thought ended, when those little doubts and intrusive thoughts peppered her mind. Still this wasn’t the time, so she shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind.

With a predatory confidence, she stepped forward. A challenge and tease for her friend. She knew it was a bad idea, but it didn’t feel like there were any good ideas left. 

“If I offered to take you with me, you wouldn’t turn it down, would you?” Mel teased.

She adored the way her cheeks flushed, the way she could burrow under her skin. She loved the subtle influence of her will on Thalia, and she loved that she really never had to. It was intoxicating to have someone ride along with her, in the dark and blood. Or at least not judge her for it. Those fleeting moments like flickering candles of humanity, of their friendship years ago. 

“I… wouldn’t.” She said with a frown, though the sparkle in her eyes gave her away.

“Good, then grab your gun and let’s go.”

Thalia hesitated for only a second, before darting into the bedroom to grab the snub revolver she had. Mel watched sending the confirmation on her phone to Rowan. The deal was on and they would meet, they would lay cards on the table. She fully expected Martinez to be there. There was no way there wouldn’t be insurance on either side. 

Mel vaulted the railing outside the apartment door, relishing in what she was. She enjoyed the freedom of movement, the freedom of physical limits, but tonight she was taking the bike. She mounted up and kicked it to life and waited for Thal to grab hold. Once she did, she got one warning. 

“Hold on tight!” 

Mel kicked her machine into gear and with a roar took off through the lot and out onto the street. Mel knew she couldn’t show up looking weak, neither could she show up looking stereo typically vampiric. Too weak and they would think they she couldn’t do what needed to be done, and she would have one more enemy. Too vampiric and they would be wary. 

It was something very surreal, to have Thal hanging off her back, feeling her heat and heartbeat. The way her heart raced in exhilaration, the way her breathing picked up, all of it made her hungry in many ways. For blood. For other things she had never thought of before. Things were way to fucked to truly consider it, but every day, there was something new. Most of the moments have been difficult or even downright awful. But the bright moments… those were brilliant. 

The meeting was somewhere public, to avoid complications, and unfortunately across town. The parking garage of North Spring Mall, well lit, public, open late. It was perfect for keeping everyone’s senses in check. Mel couldn’t help but think of the night she died, as she raced between lanes of traffic; How she had felt so bad-ass rolling up to meet with Martinez. It was deliciously Déjà vu.