The Everlasting Andersons

Chapter 5 Rayla's Lament

Rayla stares into a blue mirror on the ceiling as she lies down. The mirror shows Ricardo and company on their way to the safe house. A bit sooner than projected but still according to plan. She sighs and plops down onto her bed. She'd hated that it had to be Ricardo but what's done is done. The fate of one boy was insignificant in the face of her entire race. A phrase repeated multiple times in the mirror. She sighed and threw her pillow at the door before someone opens it. With a quick flick of her finger the pillow stops on a dime before flying and hitting the wall on the other side of the room.

"So is not knocking an Anderson thing or...." She says slightly annoyed. All previous conflict erased itself from her face as she looked at him.

"Sorry. It's been a long day." Rico stepped into the room.

"I suppose it has." She sits up. Rico sits next to her on the bed a fair distance away.

"Did you need something?"

"It's fucking killing me I'm not out there helping." His hand grips the sheets tightly as he stares at the ground.

Rayla lies back on the pillow nonchalantly. "Don't worry, your brother is more than capable I assure you."

"I believe you. If he says he can save them I know he can. But, a ghost almost killed us. If shits going down I wanna be there."

Rayla smiles. "Maybe it is an Anderson thing."

He looks at her confused.

"When I first met your brother I was in deep shit. He helped me, didn't ask questions. Unprepared and undeterred. If it ain't broke don't fix it I guess."

"How did you meet Tank?"

"I...um..." She stares at the ceiling. "I think you should probably ask him."

"Sounds kinky."

"I....WHAT?" A blush creeps to her face. She shoots up, her calm demeanor giving way to a rambling panic. "It...no.... not at all. Nothing like that!"

Rico stands up. "So ya'll are together?"

Rayla rolls her eyes. "No." She says quickly.

Rico sees her expression and decides not to press it.

"Can I ask you a question?" She says turning to look him in his eyes.

He raises his eyebrows. There is a dark expression across her face that seems so out of place. Her mouth hangs open like she wants to say something but a sharp pain to ignites on her lower thigh. Her nails dig into the sheets to stop herself from showing him her pain. This pain was familiar, though that did nothing to numb it. An unmissable command to hurry up.

So the question was left unasked as a gust of wind surged through the room and Rayla appeared behind Rico. She tilts her head and opens her mouth to reveal a set of sharp fangs. She bites into his neck with a gentle ferocity of a playful dog but that's enough. Blood drains into her mouth, the room seeming to grow darker with every second. There was no struggle. The second her fangs touched he was in a trance. His eyes slowly close as he unknowingly but all too willingly embraces the cardinal sweetness of death.

But she didn't want him dead. Her fangs release from his neck and he passes out in her arms. She lifts him over her shoulder. Her human senses give way to the supernatural as she felt him approaching. She raises her hand and the shadows harmonize themselves to a sharp point in her hand. She holds it to his neck and stares at the door as an angry Ricardo appears in the doorway flanked by Keia and Nette.

One look at Rico's unconscious body and a blade cuts through the darkness as he points its dancing flames at her. The anger in his brown eyes blends with a tinge of hurt.