Vegas Lights

[Cree]

She hadn't stepped foot in Harper Rock in years, and she kind of missed the old place. That hadn't been the reason for her return though, not at all. When she'd left, she'd left people behind, and though her line hadn't been comprised of talkative, outgoing people, she still cared about them. They were stuck together, for better or worse, disenthrallment or not, and though she refused to admit it out loud, she was genuinely worried about them. Parker had been the one to sit her down and explain the state of things; he'd been the one to tell her she needed to wake up, clean up, and go back to her own kind, because Vegas wasn't for her. She'd relied too much on alcohol and cocaine, because that was what her circle lived off of, what she lived off of, and her vices didn't remind her of the broken connection between sire and child. She was an adult, and yet she craved something, something she'd never found in Vegas, in people or places throughout the states. Her highlights included doing lines off her boyfriend's -- she stopped because it wasn't doing her any good. She'd been running her whole life, chasing the excitement, the thrill, and the only time she felt whole was when she fed. Parker held her as she cried, blubbering about Sangue and hunger pains that human food couldn't cure.

Cree sat in the passenger seat of Parker's grey Toyota Camry, hands clutching the seatbelt across her chest, eyes on the treeline. It was night, and even though Parker hated driving at night, he did it for her. After years together, them against the world, Parker had finally accepted that he would likely be with her for the rest of his life. Cree didn't know about the city; she didn't want to know the things that she knew, the things he'd seen on the news. Everything was a bad dream. If she closed her eyes, she could deny and deny, until everything felt right again. Parker called her name, his voice soft, the time of night probably leaving him tired. She'd offered to drive, but he'd made it clear he didn't trust her to go back. And he was right. She turned to look at him and he touched her arm.

"You good?"

"Define 'good' again. I'm drawing a blank."

"Real funny, hot stuff. If I stop for gas, are you going to run away again? Am I going to have to tackle you?"

Cree sighed and shook her head. No, she wouldn't try running away again. At the last gas station, Parker had caught her when she'd run into a couple of truckers, and he'd wrestled her back into the car. She hadn't wanted to hurt him, never wanted to hurt him, so she surrendered. That had been hours ago, maybe forty after midnight, and he'd called her a stupid brat, so she'd called him a pussy. He'd messed up her hair and she'd growled at him, baring her teeth. She'd never had fangs, so the threat meant nothing. When they pulled into the gas station, Cree unbuckled her seatbelt and got out to stretch her legs. She didn't have much on her, maybe a few crumpled bills; she'd left her money in Harper Rock and taken a job waiting tables, playing human, pretending to be someone she wasn't. Parker paid for the gas and most of the snacks. He needed human food, unlike her, so she got a twenty from him and headed into the gas station to raid the shelves for anything filling.

The place was nice, a big gas station that was more like a mini mart, so she took her time browsing. There were a few cashiers, some people working behind the scenes to fill food orders, so she gravitated to the order stations and looked through some of the options. They had chili-cheese fries and wraps, so she ordered two wraps and two orders of chili-cheese fries. Several minutes later, Parker joined her inside and grabbed a few energy drinks to get him through the night. They paid and took their food to sit at a table outside of the station. Parker wasted no time digging in, while Cree poked at her food. In the end, she pushed her order of fries at him. They sat there for thirty minutes, Parker eating while Cree watched night owls come and go.

"Are you hungry?" He wiped his hands on a napkin and then tossed it into the empty fry container. She nodded, frowning at him. "Do you want to hunt or do you need my help?" He didn't hesitate to ask, not after everything they'd been through. At her lowest point, she'd starved herself so much that she'd nearly killed him trying to stop the hunger. "Look, I know you don't like it, after what happened."

"After almost killing you."

"Yeah. That."

"I think I can make it to Harper Rock. It's another day and a half. If I'm desperate, I'll let you know. Sometimes I think you like me sucking on your arm, you kinky ****."

"Rude, and no. I've always been into choking," he said, winking at her. She responded by showing her disgust and threw his used napkin at his face. "Let's go. I'm full." He patted his stomach, then got up to throw their trash away, knowing Cree would simply leave it. She linked arms with him and they walked back to the car.

Cree slept through the daytime hours, content to allow the rising sun to carry her into slumber. Parker had been talking to her, but his words fell into the background. By the next night, she woke up to her playlist on repeat, the volume so low that she had to strain to hear the lyrics. She looked at the driver's seat and saw that Parker had parked at a small grocery store. The seat was cool, so he'd been there for a little while. She rested her right temple against the cool window and looked at the raindrops running down the windshield. When he returned, he returned with two bags. He had a candy bar stuffed in his mouth, and he handed the bags off to her to put on the passenger side floor. They had several hours to go, the end of their journey likely sometime in the afternoon. Parker had promised to carry her inside, and she trusted him completely. He'd never let her down. They never talked about the fact that she'd bewitched him, that he was a glorified human thrall, because she vowed she would never let him fight her battles, never put him in harm's way.

In the light of day, Harper Rock looked like any other city, at least at a distance. Parker slowed the car, leaning forward to see the roadblock in front of them. He grabbed his glasses from the cup holder and slipped them on. Military personnel had gathered at the entrance to the city, and they stopped and searched the car in front of them. Parker swore and reached over to rouse Cree. She groaned and swatted at him, pulling her legs up in some attempt to curl up on her side.

"Hey, beautiful, we got a big problem. Wake up," Parker said, flicking her nose. She snorted and opened her eyes to glare at him, then her attention shifted to the road. "Soldiers."

"What are so many soldiers doing here?"

"You don't listen when I talk to you. Vampires are basically second-class citizens now. I don't know what they're doing, but it can't be good."

"Look, I'm as close to human as a vampire can get. I'll just sit up and we'll get right through. Relax. I'll be fine. If there's a problem, I'll just gather a swarm of insects and we'll drive right by."

"Uh, then why are they turning around?" Parker pulled to the side of the road and they watched the soldiers pat the hood of a minivan and motion for it to turn around. Leaning forward, Cree watched the van turn around and leave. "It's a travel ban."

"**** my life. This is all the sign I need. Let's go," Cree huffed, lightly slapping Parker's shoulder. He winced and she smirked at him. Cree turned to look for another route into the city, but the only thing she could think of was an entrance near the trailer park. "Alright. I can get past them, but what about you? I'm not leaving you. ****, fine. We need to ditch this car. It's stolen anyway." Cree unbuckled her seatbelt, then leaned around the seat to start organizing their duffel bags.

"Don't kill them."

"I never said I'd kill them, did I, dumbass?"

"Your cute nicknames aren't needed right now."

Cree grabbed two of the bags, leaving the last bag for Parker. She had her sword and gun in one of the bags she carried, but she didn't think she'd need them. Parker had his gun hidden, but she didn't want him shooting soldiers on her behalf. They walked from the car to the checkpoint, then she nudged Parker's shoulder and stepped in front of him. Her most charming smile on her face, she looked at the soldier walking over to them, suspicion written all over his face. Parker mumbled at her to succeed because he wasn't running for his life. Cree stomped on his foot with her yellow heel and he groaned in pain. The soldier had his gun in his hand, and his finger inched toward the trigger.

"ID?" The soldier held out a hand and Parker began digging through one of the bags. He presented their Nevada licenses and the man squinted at them both. "You're a long way from home. What brings you to Harper Rock?"

"We are, but our cousin lives here. We haven't seen her in awhile and we were worried about her. She hasn't phoned or written in about a week," Cree frowned, drawing the man's attention to her red lips. "I'm sure you understand how important family is during these times."

"There's a travel ban," the soldier said, handing their licenses back. Parker nodded, as if he'd known, so Cree shot him a dirty look. Cree batted her lashes at the soldier though. The man reached up to touch his right temple, rubbing it over and over again. "I don't," he tried, weapon lowering.

"Cree," Parker hissed, eyes cutting to the three soldiers approaching them. The soldier before them dropped his gun and began to slap his head over and over again. "Do something," Parker insisted, reaching for his gun.

"Would you give me five goddamn seconds?" Cree slapped his hand away from his gun and reached out her senses.

A mosquito got in her face, so she scrunched up her nose. She stopped herself from swatting the insect and instead turned it on the soldiers, hundreds of them soon appearing from the trees to fly around the soldiers. The soldiers swatted at the mosquitoes, but more replaced the downed insects. Two of them dropped their guns, while the third ran back to the shelter. That final soldier tripped over his own combat boots and fell flat on his face. Cree jerked her chin toward the entrance to Harper Rock, then she and Parker ran by, Cree stepping on the downed soldier's hand, stopping its creep toward the fallen gun. Parker looked over his shoulder at the chaos, overhearing a soldier call for backup and bug spray. Cree cackled and reached back to grab Parker's hand, tugging him into a faster run. Parker eventually joined her in laughing, both of them the only people on the street leading to downtown.

"Not bad, insect queen."

"I'll only accept that nickname once."

"Where the hell are we going to go now?"

"Eden. I still have the keys to my place. We'll worry about everything else later. Hopefully there are still people around," Cree said, the last words mumbled. Parker frowned and squeezed her hand, so Cree squeezed his back. "That took a lot out of me, and this sun is really bothering me, so everything else will have to wait. I might not make it back to Eden."

"Cree, I can't carry you and these bags. I'm good, but I'm not that good," Parker said, rubbing the side of his neck. She nudged his thigh with one of her bags and offered him a small smile. "Can you make it to the station?" She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. "How bad is it?"

"I'm hungry."

"Alright," Parker said, quickly looking in either direction. He knew enough to skip over the idea of stopping. Cree hated the woods, and he couldn't blame her. He'd heard wild things while he'd been hunting. "We can stash the bags and worry about them later."

Cree opened her mouth to argue, but he gave her shoulder a shove to keep her focused and moving. At the fairgrounds, they stashed their bags, Cree taking her gun and sword, while Parker took a knife. He put her sword on his back, then lifted her off her feet. She flailed for a moment and he almost dropped her, so he pretended to drop her again and she decided it was wise to cling to him. He got them to the station in River Rock, then they sat together on the train. She leaned her head back and looked up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the urge to feed that circled around and around in her head. She didn't need to feed until she was full, but she liked to. It made her feel stronger. And after years barely getting by, she chased that feeling again.

"Come on. We'll go to the old apartment building." Parker took her hand and they left the train, getting off in Westwall. She didn't want him carrying her again, but he still took her into his arms, making her feel like a damsel in distress. "I wish I kept that bag of Doritos. I'm kind of hungry too."

"You're going to get fat, and then you'll be useless to me."

"You're right. Peak physical condition right now."

"I think so," Cree grinned, patting his cheek. He rolled his eyes at her, then let her down. They'd reached the abandoned apartment building. When they walked inside, a couple peered around the corner at them, then went back to shooting up. "This place is disgusting."

"We don't have to stay here, moron. Let's find an empty room," Parker said, taking her hand again, leading her along. Cree looked at him in the dim lighting, taking in the sweat beading on his brow. He always worked so hard for her, too hard. "Alright," he said, nudging a door open with his foot, "this one is empty."

She didn't have fangs, had never had fangs, so every feeding involved cutting someone and drawing the blood out. Her lack of fangs made her seem more human, but she would have preferred having them on command. She used to think she was broken, but she'd adapted well. It hurt Parker though. He still had a healing wound on his hand where he'd sliced it open for her. He was a proverbial battlefield, in terms of injuries. Cree drew him into a hug and tucked her face against his neck, then she breathed in the smell of his body spray. He was the foundation she needed, her rock, and they were back in the shitshow again, back in the place where vampires were less than human rather than greater than human. She missed Vegas, how the strip looked in the middle of the night, how the city never really slept. But it was bad for her, and she knew that.

"We'll try finding your apartment later. I know you forget where it is. You're such a loser."

"Oh shut the **** up, you pleb."