Toil & Trouble

III of Cups

David found the others on the outskirts of Santa Carla, hiding in an abandoned factory. Thankfully, they still had a few hours left before sunrise to figure out their next move. Whatever that was.

"What's the plan?" Was the first question out of Dwayne's mouth.

David spared him a tired glare. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

"What happened? How'd you get out?" Marko wondered, gnawing anxiously on his glove.

He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he took a moment to inspect their hideout; counting the windows, the doors. The place must have a basement or sublevel of some kind or even a storage room where the sun wouldn't touch them.

"We're not staying here... are we?" Paul piped up, interrupting David's inspection.

He glanced at the rocker and the tiny hellhound shaking in his arms out of the corner of his eye before he continued his sweep.

"Temporarily."

They were far enough from the heart of Santa Carla, Sloane probably wouldn't notice them.

"And then what?" Dwayne stepped into his field of vision, forcing him to look the other man in the eye.

He struggled to maintain eye contact. "I don't know, okay? We can't take her on our own. And there's no one who is going to help us."

Except. That wasn't totally true.

He thought of the new vampire who had shown up out of nowhere and somehow managed to take Sloane by surprise, something none of them had been able to accomplish.

Marko caught his errant thought and latched onto it. "Tell us how you got away. Really."

He exhaled deeply, internally groaning. Dreading having to explain the mysterious figure that was Shane, David made his way over to a concrete staircase and sat down on the steps. To buy himself time, he made himself somewhat comfortable, resting his elbows on his knees and interlocking his gloved fingers.

"There was someone else there. After you guys got away. He just showed up." The corner of his mouth quirked up into a smirk. "He actually kicked in the back of that bitch's head and we were able to escape together."

Without having to look up, he knew all three of them were staring at him with varying degrees of confusion.

"He said his name is Shane. He's from up north. Said Sloane wiped out his entire tribe and he was passing through to warn us about her."

"Damn. He couldn't have shown up a couple days ago?" Paul joked, albeit half-heartedly.

He closed his eyes so they couldn't see him roll them in annoyance.

Paul might be cracking jokes but David could sense deep down he was shaken to his core. David suspected the rocker desperately trying to forget the burning sensation of holy water and its deadly touch. He also reeked of some seriously pungent weed, which meant his high was the only keeping him glued together.

Dwayne appeared to be contemplating something.

"Where is this 'Shane' now?"

David thought the question, or at least the tone of it, odd. It wasn't like he was going to invite the guy over to hang out and join up. He had already learned his lesson on that front.

"Don't know. Don't care. We've got bigger problems to deal with."

That went without saying.

What else was there left to do, though? They lost. Sloane won.