caveat uxor

[older_and_wiser]

Tamara is beginning to be concerned.

There's a pattern here. She knows there is. But it's subtle, it's so subtle she thinks she might be imagining it. A flyer appears on the wall of the coffee shop, announcing that his band has a show there that week. There's so few details that she thinks she must be mistaken, someone else here must have decided to use that same band name, it wasn't that creative- but she goes back to look again the next day, just to see, and it's gone.

She finds a jelly doughnut left on the hood of her car while she's out shopping. They're Kevin's favorite, and she has to talk him out of eating it- they don't know where it came from, it can't be safe, just throw it out, see how someone's already cut it open? It's oozing red jelly out over the roof of the car.

Little things, one at a time. Spaced apart enough that she's never quite sure they're related to each other. A week before something new happens? Two? Once there's two incidents in three days, then nothing for almost a month. She could be imagining it.

...maybe.

She finds a stuffed dog in their front yard. It's very generic, one of those silly plush dogs you can get at any store for a few bucks, and it's arguably, plausibly, a dog toy. But the tag on the dog's collar says 'Tammy'. And it's been torn almost to shreds, viciously. And none of her neighbors have dogs.

Tamara calls the Watcher's Council. And then she calls Bella.

Comments

[marrinikari]

Compass-sock feels quite strongly they should be investigating those stock rooms over there.

[cross_and_bow]

Bella stalks towards them, shell in one hand, stake in the other - indoors she's probably not going to get the freedom of range she needs for the crossbow to be her best option.

[keyed_up]

Soph, at her shoulder, holding the sock and some herbs, follows.

[older_and_wiser]

Tamara digs out her emergency stake from her purse and follows them, at her best guess for a non-interfering distance.

[marrinikari]

It doesn't take them long to find the stock room in question. The door was locked, but that means very little to Slayer strength. Inside is a man, facing away from them but strongly resembling Tamara's picture of her ex as far as can be seen, talking quickly and angrily to Kevin. Kevin is sitting in a chair, a flimsy office style one clearly "borrowed" from the warehouse, and his leg is chained to the wall. He looks to have enough room to move around the room, but the door is definitely out of his reach.

"I don't understand why you won't-" the man hisses, and then turns around. It's definitely Charles, though his quick switch to vampface obscures his features somewhat. "You- what!" He says in Tamara's direction, ignoring the girls. "How did you find me so quickly?" He sounds deeply put out, and rather whiny. "Time to go, then." And he bolts for the door on the far side of the room.

Once he moves, Kevin gets a better view of them. "Mummy! Mummy help, let me out!"

[cross_and_bow]

Bella chases Charles at a dead run.

[keyed_up]

Soph dithers. "Bella will be back with her shell knife in a second," she tells Kevin, "and then she can get the chain off you -" And then she goes after her sister.

[marrinikari]

Charles clearly had this planned out as an escape route. The way out back is full of old boxes, shipping containers, and all sorts of junk strewn about; he clearly knows his way through it, but it would be easy to lose sight of him in the chaos.

[older_and_wiser]

Tamara runs over to Kevin. "Kevin, sweetheart, you're here, I'm so sorry, I don't know how he got you, it'll be okay now-"

[marrinikari]

Kevin smiles at her sweetly. "It's okay, Mummy, you're here now."

[older_and_wiser]

Tamara breathes a sigh of relief. "Yes, sweetheart, I'm here." She kneels in front of him. "Hang on, let me see if I can get you loose-"

[marrinikari]

Kevin's grin widens. "Hi, Mummy!"









And his face changes.

[older_and_wiser]

Tamara screams.

[marrinikari]

With a laugh, Kevin lunges for her throat-

[older_and_wiser]

-but Tamara still has her stake out.




(just in case, in case charles attacked her, in case something happened)



Halfway through Kevin's lunge, his chest meets the stake Tamara's holding up practically by reflex.



(all watchers have to practice, watchers should know how to stake, what if a vampire finds them, what if the slayer's hurt, what if something happened)



With a cry, Kevin crumbles to dust.



(her baby boy, how could charles take him, he was all she had left, how could something happen)



And Tamara collapses, unable to stand, sobbing hysterically into the floor.

[cross_and_bow]

Meanwhile:

"Fan out," Bella calls to her sister, and they take different directions through the debris. Bella has no supernatural senses to guide her, but she was very close on his trail and she is very fast and nimble. If she's wrong about where she's going Soph still has a shot at setting the guy on fire once they get into more open ground and the line of sight is better.

[marrinikari]

Charles clearly knows his way through the chaos on the floor, and is sprinting through it at high speed. Anyone else may be having trouble.

After a short time it may be obvious to those keeping pace that he's headed towards an exit towards the back of the building. Since the back is on the west side of the building, there's some shelter from the sun still. And, more relevantly, an entrance to the Sunnydale steam tunnels.

[cross_and_bow]

Bella makes reasonable progress towards the exit, trying to copy his steps.

[keyed_up]

Soph, on the other hand, twists an ankle.

"I'm out," she calls to Bella, "go on -"

And then she hops back to where Tamara and Kevin are supposed to be -

[marrinikari]

Charles isn't paying close attention behind him. That would interfere with the flat out sprint he has going. But the one time he does glance back, he mutters something insulting about Slayers who were supposed to be more inconvenienced by the debris.

[older_and_wiser]

There's a Tamara here, at least. She's still on the ground sobbing, and trying to nudge a scattering of dust into a more coherent pile.

[keyed_up]

"Ta-" Soph stops, leaning on the wall. "-mara," she finishes, almost inaudibly.

[cross_and_bow]

Bella's not that inconvenienced by the debris.

And she finds a shortcut - there's a chain strung high across this path, high enough to be awkward to jump and heavy-draped enough to be hard to go under, but she has her shell knife; she cuts, she runs, she intercepts.

[marrinikari]

This was not in the plan.

Charles takes a couple of swings at her. As punches they're not horribly effective, but they'll keep him moving towards his exit.

[older_and_wiser]

Tamara doesn't respond to Soph when she arrives. She's having trouble drawing breath already; it's sneaking up on her, the feeling from crying too hard and too long, and running out of air. She gently smooths the last of the dust into a tiny pile- so tiny- and stares at it helplessly. She reaches for it, and then draws her hand back. She- she's not sure what to do, now. Except cry, and see if she can still inhale, in this world that doesn't have her son.