Homoween 2019: Hollywood Coven

Day 22: Hairy Heart throb

"Keep digging. That's it."

"This isn't sand! It's rock. You exasperating man."

"Hey, whose calling who a man vampire? It's your own fault for getting involved in things outside your coven. So dig!"

"Why am I even doing this? I am going to just dig myself out."

"We'll pour silver on your mound. You'll just become a fun little bonus statue for some future geocacher."

"Luke, stop arguing with the man. He has a gun!" Derek yipped as though Luke needed a reminder.

"That's right wolf. Good job. You're a much better digger than you are a detective."

"Thank you sir. Will you please make sure to tell my pack I love them and I'm sorry when I'm dead?"

"No sir I will not. You should've thought of that before you left LA."

Derek whined, though he tried to do it quietly and with a dignified manner. Luke would've gone to comfort him but he was less able to move out of his area of grave digging due to the silver chain links that had been placed as a perimeter. Pure silver too, Luke thought. What fucker gave this Literariat enough money for such things?

That was the kind of question that had its own answer he didn't want to think of.

"Do you have any blood on you Tom?"

"Only the blood in my system. And you don't want that. It's fortified, blood ghouly. Now keep digging. Stop stalling. I'm not looking to get a moon burn out here."

For awhile it was only the sound of scraping and pounding. Occasionally, Luke would catch Derek's gaze. Luke knew they wouldn't be fine and he regretted this whole operation. He knew things and that was his downfall. He wasn't strong enough to know what he'd known.

"I'll miss you Derek."

"I'll miss you too Blood Brother. Luke."

"I'm sorry I've done this to us."

"Me too. But we had some good times?"

"Yes. The drive in theater was lovely. Even if the rental car never quite recovered. Will your pack-"

"Okay, numbnuts. I said no more talking!" Tom aimed the rifle and it accidentally went off. Luke and Derek both braced for impact but- nothing. Luke was so startled he thought that perhaps he'd died and his brain was just trying to catch up to such a quick end.

But nothing. 

Derek howled in confusion.

Tom sighed. "Stupid trigger finger. Well, you may as well stop digging now. Here, I'll build a fire and then we can talk. I'll get your silver then too. I figure you won't be mad at me after that."

They waited, confused and trapped, as Tom set about building a fire up. Luke had a vision of being burned at the stake and as Tom picked up his links, he lunged. Only to be thrown back by a spell into the small hole he'd managed. 

"Ow."

"Ow is right! You see this blue field? It's an encampment spell. Don't do that."

"Are you helping us?" Luke asked, exasperated.

"Might as well," Tom sighed.  "Since you seem intent on being around."

"Luke!"

"It'll be okay Derek. I think-" Luke said, though he sounded unsure. Derek didn't leap for Tom but for Luke instead, clinging to him. Luke could feel the sweat and the hair of Derek pressing against him. Derek wasn't crying but he was certainly in the middle of a panic attack.

"I've got you. I've got you darling."

"You two are weird." Tom stared as he dragged over a large makeshift rock to sit on.

"Not in the mood, bookworm-" Luke hissed as he held Derek. Which was a feat considering Derek was the taller of the two.

"Yeah, yeah. Being dead twice really puts a cramp in things. Are you going to come sit?"

"Are you going to throw us on that fire?"

"No. The smell alone would be unpleasant. Seriously. It's not a trap." Tom patted on the rock.

Luke pulled Derek with him. They stood on the opposite side of the fire and eventually settled to sitting.

"So- are you two an item?" Tom asked and then shook his head when Luke gave him a look. "Fine, fine. But it's- you kind of seem. Fine. Okay, so you've probably gathered by now I don't work for Channing and Justin."

"Who do you work for?"

"I'm a Literariat. I work for the head office. You have a Lit group in LA. A mighty big one might I add. More guys out there than I've got with me."

"Who are you?"

"I'm kind of the Michael Scott of my office. Or what's left of it."

"What happened?"

"Channing recruited a lot of my guys. Bewitched them. He's a siren and not a particularly nice one at that."

"Yeah, we know."

"Oh, no. You don't-" Tom shook his head. "You've got no idea. If I were you, I'd start walking back to LA now while you still can."

"You think he can be contained?"

"I think if he were running the show, he could be."

"What do you mean? You mean the mage and the siren aren't running the show?"

Derek howled. "Someone's coming."

"Shit," Tom scrambled to his feet. "We've gotta go. We'll talk more in the van. Hairy heartthrob in the back. Vampire, up front with me. You might have to throw some shit."

Luke bolted up in a flash. 

"Who is it?"

"My former colleagues making sure the job's done. I'm gonna have to bomb the sites to make the graves deep enough. Get moving. We'll talk more in the van."

"Can we trust you?"

"Gods damn it-" Tom wrenched something off his neck and threw it. "We don't have time for this." He tossed a blue colored vial towards Luke. The back inscription had the initials SA in metallic script. It burned Luke slightly. He hissed. "- Now get in the van! You drop that you can kill me, if that's enough for you."