"We're fucked," Reuben stated. "We're all fucked. If this stuff is true, the whole Family's fucked."

Jessica just sighed as she sat back and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"The Family might be fucked," Sam replied, "But we're not. Me and Tara aren't fucked. And you two might not be either."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Reuben half-demanded. "Someone from the Family is going around shooting enforcers with a silver-lined arrow then lopping off their heads. Meanwhile they're shipping us poisoned blood. And now you two are out there breaking the Covenant and hunting humans. How are we not completely fucked?!"

The four of us were back at Sam's apartment. After they read Isabelle's letter Jessica and Reuben agreed not to try and kill us until they had more information, so we brought them back here. That was an awkward ride on the subway, but I was glad the two of them were willing to hear us out.

When we got here, Sam let them both see the journal. She wasn't ready to share the ancient book with them yet though. Jess and Reuben took about an hour to look through Isabelle's journal while Samantha waited. And while they were doing that, I went into my bedroom to put away the gun cleaning kit.

I also quickly filled the two new clips with silver-loaded bullets, then tucked them into my jacket pocket. I figured if things went badly after all, I'd rather have extra bullets and not need them, than need them and not have enough.

Now it was about half past ten and it seemed like Jessica and Reuben were starting to believe us about the Family being threatened from within.

Sam and I just finished explaining the theory we came up with, about the Family being like livestock for something that feeds on vamps. And how they didn't need peacekeepers anymore, because we were the only threat left while the rest of the vamps in the city were completely tame and captive and harmless.

Sam and I were sitting together on the sofa, Jessica was in the chair across from us, and Reuben was pacing around the living-room.

Samantha stated, "The four of us aren't fucked because we're still alive, and because we know what's going on. That means we have options."

"What options?" Jessica asked. "Seriously Samantha, what are our options?"

Sam sighed, "Easiest thing is to just run away. Pack up all our stuff, steal a car, and leave. And never ever come back because who the fuck knows what's going to happen here next, after they kill off the last of the enforcers."

She added, "And before you ask, I don't know where we'd go. I have some ideas, and I know we'd face potential problems if we trespassed into some other Family's turf. Whatever problems we might face though, it's way better than sitting around here waiting to die."

Reuben continued pacing as he stated, "That means abandoning our friends and colleagues. I don't care what happens to Cynthia or her clique but we have friends here. What about Marcus, you like him don't you Sam?"

"Of course I like him," she retorted. "I like a lot of them, even the ones who hate me are still our brothers and sisters. And I thought about talking to Marcus, but he lives at the mansion. It's not safe to trust him."

Sam sighed again then continued, "Fleeing isn't our only option. We could try and save the Family. It might get us all killed, and we'd probably have to kill some of our friends and comrades. We'd definitely have to wipe out the elders. We might even have to burn the whole damn thing to the ground and start over. But it's an option."

"That letter mentioned some ancient blood," Jessica stated. "It said there were four doses of it. Did you take them?"

Sam shrugged, "Isabelle wanted me to have them."

The fact that she didn't mention sharing two of them with me couldn't have been an accident. She obviously wanted to keep it secret that I'd been enhanced too, so I knew to keep my mouth shut about that.

Reuben asked, "So saving the Family means we have one super-vamp, two regular vamps, and a relative baby on our side? Going up against the matriarch, all four elders, plus however many enforcers are still around. And however many other vamps in the Family might try and stop us. You think we have any chance at all?"

"I don't know," Samantha shrugged again. "I don't have all the answers ok? All I know is I don't want to die, I don't want Tara to die, and it would be great if I could save a couple more friends too."

Her voice started out quiet and sort of calm but she was getting more emotional as she continued talking. "I might be thirty-three years dead but I'm still just eighteen alright? I'm just a fucking teenager, I'm a high-school drop-out, and I'm not qualified to handle this sort of shit!"

Sam's voice started to break, and I put my arm around her to pull her into a hug. I wanted to calm her down but she kept going, she was almost ranting now.

"I didn't ask for any of this! Neither did Tara! The whole thing sucks and I don't know what to do about it! All I ever wanted was to be a normal girl with a normal life. I never fucking bargained on having to be a fucking undead vampire cop or soldier or whatever the fuck else you want to call us! Now I find out we're just fucking slaves or livestock or something, and the vamp who turned me's become some kind of fucking zombie body-snatcher replicant! And suddenly it's all on my shoulders to deal with this shit? I can't! I can't fucking do it! I'm just a fucking teenage dropout and I can't fucking deal with this!"

Jess and Reuben were both silent, Reuben even stopped his pacing. The two of them stared quietly while I pulled Samantha into a hug and held her against me as she started to break down. I'd never seen her so vulnerable before, and I was sure they hadn't either. She always put on a tough image, or acted like she didn't care or that nothing mattered.

I was only four years older than her in terms of living years, but it was enough for me to realize now most of her tough-girl image was probably all teenage bravado. Three decades after she died she was still just two weeks past her eighteenth birthday, still only a high-school kid.

So for now I held her close while Sam pressed her face into my shoulder and sobbed quietly.

After a few minutes of silence, Reuben finally spoke up.

"Jessica, you're the closest we've got to an elder right now. What's your sage advice? If you were in charge of the four of us, what would you have us do?"

The redhead frowned at him and replied in her best sarcastic tone, "Thanks Reuben, I don't hate being put on the spot like that at all."

He shrugged, "You and I are pretty close to the same age in terms of living years. I was only three or four years older than you when I was turned. But you've got eleven or twelve years on me in terms of years-dead. That makes you the eldest."

Jess sighed, then looked to me and Sam. "Samantha, I'm sorry you're under so much pressure. It was unfair of Isabelle to pile all of this on your shoulders. I understand her reasoning, and to be honest I agree with it. You've always been an outsider, and there's no way the elders would bother trying to recruit you."

She sighed again and added, "Having said that, Isabelle did mention in her letter that fleeing was a viable, understandable option. I'm grateful you consider me enough of a friend that you trusted me with this information, and that you wanted to try and save me too."

There was a slight pause, then Jess finally stated "It's not brave or honourable, but my advice would be to leave. The sooner the better, as in right now. Take whatever money Isabelle gave you, take the advantages and knowledge she provided you with. And take your girlfriend too of course. Go and find somewhere quiet and safe, where the two of you can have as close to a normal life as possible."

Sam was still curled up against me, she'd stopped sobbing for now but I kept my arms around her. I could feel the tension in her, she was trying to pull herself back together. I figured while she was still recovering I had to step up and speak for the both of us.

"What about you Jessica?" I asked softly. "What about Reuben?"

From the look on his face, Reuben was also curious to know 'what about Reuben'. Though he did sort of nominate Jessica to be the boss, if he didn't like her decisions that was on him.

Jessica glanced at the big muscular vampire and shrugged, "Sorry. Whatever money Isabelle was able to set aside for Samantha, she only expected Sam to be supporting herself. With Tara, those funds are already spread across two. Including both of us as well would mean stretching the money out even further. Not to mention we'd have to come up with blood to sustain four of us, rather than just Samantha and Tara. Wherever they go, whatever they do, I think it'll be easier for two young vampires to find a new home or a fresh start than it would be for all four of us."

Reuben got a sort of grim look on his face. He sighed, then nodded "I don't like it, but you're right Jess."

He looked to me and Sam and suggested, "Can you two get moving tonight? It's not that late, if you don't have much to pack you could be on the road before midnight."

Sam took a deep breath then raised her head up. Her eyes were red, but there weren't any tears. Nobody ever told me why, but vampires couldn't cry.

"No," she stated. "We're not abandoning you two. If we're going tonight, we're all going. And we're going to stick together, because we don't know where the threats will come from next."

She glanced at me and said "Me and Tara can pack up the most important stuff in under fifteen minutes. Then the four of us can go swipe a car or van or something. We'll swing by your place Reuben then to Jessica's, then we'll just keep going. Get on the highway and get the fuck out of town."

"What will we do for food?" Jess asked.

Reuben replied, "I've got four or five bags left out of last month's shipment. That'll last us a day or so. If you want to risk it, I've also got all the recent tainted stuff too."

I sighed, "There's about five million in the city. Over thirty million in the country. Sam and me know how to hunt now, so blood isn't going to be a problem."

Jessica shook her head, "I've been dead almost seven decades and I've never fed off a human. I'm not sure I'm ready to start."

"It's our nature Jess," Sam stated. "We're predators, humans are prey..."

Her voice trailed off as her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen, then sort of froze for a moment as she stared at it.

I heard another buzz, and both Reuben and Jess pulled out their phones too.

"Fuck," Samantha sighed.

She held her phone so I could see the text. I felt a chill go down my spine as soon as I saw the words.

It was from Isabelle. "The car is waiting downstairs. All four of you are required at the mansion immediately."

Reuben and Jess were both still staring at their phones, but Reuben sighed "We're fucked."

Samantha nodded, "I guess the decision's been made then."

Jessica tucked her phone away with a sigh.

Reuben put his away too and shook his head, "If they're going to kill us, I'm going down fighting."

Sam nodded, "Me too."

She looked at me and added, "Tara, stay close to me. I'll do what I can to protect you, but if you get a chance to run, take it."

"Ok Sam," I replied softly. I wasn't sure if she was serious about that, or if she was just saying it to keep up the act that I was still fairly helpless. Actually I decided I didn't care what she meant, I wasn't going to run off and leave her regardless.

She turned me, trained me, and shared everything she had with me. On top of that, she was my best and only friend. There was no way I'd leave her.

The four of us quietly exited the apartment. A couple minutes later we emerged from the elevator into the lobby.

The limo was already there waiting for us, and we all quietly climbed into the back. Sam and me sat in the front seats facing backwards, Jessica and Reuben took the back seats facing forwards.

As soon as the door was closed Eric pulled out and we were on our way back to the mansion.

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