Road Trip with Vampires: one star, would not recommend.

Chasing shadows

Zhenya tracked him over the Swedish border. Late autumn would mean longer nights. He was grateful for that.

He had told Ilya, again and again, that he didn't mind that lifeline gone. After all, he would always find a way to deal with that. Just like he dealt with it when he lost his hearing.

Ilya had turned to him, eyes flashing. 'The loss of free will isn't comparable to this,' he had said. 'What if it makes you into someone I don't know? A mindless zombie completely devoid of anything like you?'

Zhenya had no answer to that. He was hanging on to the hope that the Weaver was using it only to regain its status, nothing more. But Ilya was one of the sharpest people he knew, and if he was scared of it...

He pushed that thought away. Now was not the time.

A whirring noise in his ears, and he couldn't hear anything for a second or two. Just his luck. It was probably the temperature. He would have to ask Ilya for that.

Would Ilya have enough time to finish learning all those things he hadn't had access to in his time? He wondered if he would ever learn to hack into someone's WiFi signal.

He hated it, but Esther's endless ramblings about wanting to settle down seemed a sound argument now. Ilya would never know peace if they kept running.

But where would they go? Every single safe place was known to the OVW now, and they had lost their welcome mats. Zhenya stared off into the distance, his gaze settling on a village in a valley. Several lights were still on at this unholy hour, and he could swear that was a trail of smoke curling from a chimney. There? If they could escape human detection...

He had never wanted a home more.

By the time he found him, swore Zhenya, he would have a home ready, or at least, the methods to make one. Ilya needed rest, and so did he.

His eyelids were beginning to droop. Zhenya rubbed his eyes and marched on.

It was dark. Konstantin was in control of the situation, but it did nothing for the darkness. All Ilya knew was that Konstantin was clawing at the Weaver's eyes, shouting something he couldn't hear.

Ilya felt another claw gash his thigh open and moved to heal it, with his limited control over his body. Quickly, hissed Charlie from the recesses of his mind, before scuttling off into a corner and looking at him resentfully. The Silent, well-named.

Everything hurt. Ilya continued patching up his wounds, Konstantin fighting back with new strength after each was healed. He would not give up this time. He would not surrender.

Tethis broke down on the third day. Nix thanked everything good that she was there to catch her when she fell, sobbing, onto the ground.

She didn't know what to say, though she understood exactly why. When Tethis unscrewed the cap of her water bottle, now half full, Nix felt a sick swoop in her stomach, like a large horde of her problems had finally caught up to her. Snatching up her own bottle, she left wordlessly to find a stream.

The sound was easy enough to detect. Filling it up, Nix turned to leave.

'Watch where you're placing your feet, miss,' said a voice.

Nix jumped, landing in the soft mud right before her feet. The nymph of the stream watched with amusement as she tried to pull her boots free.

'I say, it's nice to have some company,' she began. 'But weighing that against my personal rule of never letting anyone drink from the stream, I'm going to have to say the latter wins.'

'It's not for me,' Nix said wearily. 'I need this to keep someone alive. See you.'

The nymph raised her semi-transparent eyebrows. 'Hm. Lead me to them.'

Tethis hurriedly wiped her eyes on her sleeve when Nix returned with Metys in tow. The second nymph bubbled - quite literally - with joy when she saw one of her own.

'One of us! Sorry, dear, but I haven't seen a nymph in... oh, no. Oh my gods. You poor thing.'

Tethis looked up at her, her face completely devoid of emotion. 'Yes, I'm dying. So?'

Metys placed her sopping wet hand on Tethis's forehead. 'Except... this isn't right. Your timer started about two months ago?'

Tethis did not deny nor confirm. Nix cleared her throat and said, 'Yes.'

'Then why is it that you're only five months away from the end?'

Tethis's eyes widened and she tried to pull away. Nix turned to Metys. 'What do you mean, she has five months left?'

Metys looked flustered. 'Do forgive me, my dear, but it seems like someone - or something - has drastically shortened your friend's  lifespan.'

That feeling in Nix's stomach started again. 'How are you so sure?'

'Darling, a living nymph is never wrong about these things. But since you're dying anyway, why don't you stay over? I'm lonely, and I'm collecting glass bottles. You know, to make the largest glass bottle pyramid in the world.' She looked hopefully at the two of them.

Tethis shook her head. 'Sorry, but we really need to get moving. We need to catch a friend.'

Metys's face fell. 'Well, that's sad. Thanks for the tip, by the way.'

She left. Tethis got to her feet and continued moving. Nix had to jog to keep up.

'What really happened back at the OVW Headquarters?'

'None of your business,' snapped Tethis.

'Excuse me, but it's my business if you're dying much earlier than predicted!'

Tethis flinched at the word. 'Can you not say that? Please?'

'Are you scared?'

The bluntness of the question threw the nymph off balance. Nix wondered if she had taken it too far this time.

Tethis looked like she was going to slap her. Then her face melted back into its impassive mask. 'Honestly, I wasn't at first.'

She sat down against a tree, motioning for Nix to join her. Tethis took off her scarf, fiddling with several loose threads at the end.

'Death—it used to be a completely foreign concept to me. I mean, I had a year. A year was a long time away. But after seeing Esther just—leave, like that—'

Nix was trying hard to avoid that subject, but it seemed like Tethis had arrived at it of her own accord. The vampire took the pair of glasses from her coat pocket, turning them over and over with her fingers.

'It's—much closer than I initially thought. It seemed real, for once. And I think that's what scares me.'

Silence fell, with Tethis fiddling with her scarf, Nix with Esther's glasses.

'And now that it's much shorter, I don't know what to do. I think I just want it to become what it was at first. Just a normal day trying to defeat you with an army of frogs. We could have had that, but our luck is rotten. I guess we're here now.'

Nix felt something warm rise in her chest. Gods, she was part of Tethis's normal life. She was part of the default.

'But if it's not too much,' continued Tethis, wrapping her scarf back around her neck, 'Can we do it again? The fights, I mean.'

Nix smiled slightly. 'No frogs or water this time.'

Tethis reached for a stick on the forest ground. 'A fair fight, I guess. First time in my life.'

'Not exactly. Let me teach you some sword tricks first. Get you on equal footing before I annihilate you.'

Tethis reached for the water bottle. 'Seems fair.'