For the Hopeless

Chapter 16: One Ends, Another Begins

Hayden smiled innocently at Aven across the antique oak table in the center of the dining room, pretending not to notice as the elfin woman fidgeted nervously, deep in thought. A man groaned from the makeshift bed on the floor behind her, but she paid him no mind, figuring he likely wasn't conscious enough to make sense of any conversation that took place in his presence.

"So, you and Dameon, huh?" she began brightly, as if she had not an inkling of the emotional turmoil brought about by that very subject. "You guys make quite the cute couple. How are you getting along?"

The woman's cheeks reddened, her eyes flicking to Hayden's innocent face for the briefest moment, and she said, "Well, I guess. He's a really sweet guy, and he's shown me nothing but kindness since I came here."

I'll bet he showed you more than his kindness, Hayden thought, though her smile remained as sweet and innocent as ever. "But he left you here, all by yourself, while he ran off to save Bailey. That wasn't very nice of him, was it?"

Aven's blush darkened, and her hands began to fidget upon the tabletop once again. "Oh, I don't know. I've only been here for a short time, and Bailey's been around forever. He had every right to leave me in order to go after her." But Hayden noticed the hint of jealousy to her tone, and her smile grew a bit wider because of it. "Besides," the elf went on, her fingers slowing in their twisting and shifting about each other, "I'm not technically alone. He left you and Samara with me." She turned her face to the girl and forced a small smile. "Your company is enough for me."

"Still, though," Hayden began, resting her chin on an upturned palm and trying not to gag at the woman's saccharine words. "Wouldn't things be so much more pleasant for you if Bailey was just a bit less..." She paused, pretending to search for the blindingly obvious words. "In the way all the time?"

Aven looked shocked to even hear those words, beginning to shake her head immediately. "Oh, no. Without Bailey, I would probably be dead right now. Why would I ever want her out of the way?"

Hayden shrugged and sighed, rapidly losing interest in the subject. She knew a lost cause when she saw one, and she'd never seen a bigger lost cause than Aven. She was just too...perfect; the nice, sweet girl that wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone a woman who saved lives on a daily basis. "Of course," she said dryly as she stood, her chair nearly tipping over when the legs snagged on the arm of the unconscious man behind it. "Who would ever want Bailey dead?" She began to make her way out of the room, having to carefully wind her way through the maze of grimy bodies on their little makeshift beds on the floor as she went, and Aven watched her go with a look of hurt confusion on her gentle face.

"Oh, well...I'll talk to you later, then," she said softly, sadly, and Hayden merely grunted in response.

What the hell had made her think that Aven would be a good tool to use against Bailey? If being left alone by a bitchy teenager hurt her delicate little feelings, how would she feel about killing someone? She just wasn't capable of it.

On to Plan B, it seemed: magic.

-?-

"Thank you for taking care of these people while we were gone," Dameon said, dropping tiredly onto the old, creaky swing on the front porch. "I can only imagine how much trouble it was to arrange them all."

Samara shrugged, the barest hint of a smile on her lips as she looked at the man. She began to move her legs again, gently propelling the swing forward and backward, forward and backward. "It was no trouble, really. I just picked the dead ones from the pile and had them help me to move the rest of the bodies." Dameon's eyebrows raised in shock, and she laughed lightly. "Did you forget that I was a necromancer?"