Sam and I lay cuddling in the big king-sized bed. It was about ten o'clock Wednesday morning, and neither of us was in a hurry to leave. Last night we were out wandering our old turf again, hunting rather than patrolling. We both had a good meal, then came back to the hotel to relax and enjoy each other's company as much as possible.

Tonight we'd be returning to the mansion for the first time in four years. We were fairly confident we'd be ok, but there was still some anxiety about how things would play out.

Neither of us said it but we both seemed to want to make last night and today as comfortable and relaxing as possible.

"Hey cutie," my girlfriend whispered as she cuddled a little closer against me. "I think check-out time's at noon. Wanna have some fun in the jacuzzi before we have to head out? Or just stay in bed a while more?"

I gave her a kiss as I thought it over. Both options had their benefits, but it didn't take long to pick the winner.

"Jacuzzi," I decided. "We can enjoy our big bed at home, but we don't have a jacuzzi so let's enjoy it while we're here."

Sam grinned, "Ok cutie."

It took us another ten or fifteen minutes before we actually decided to get up, then we managed to spend about an hour in the hot-tub together. We had a bit of fun, a good long soak, and a bit more fun.

Finally, with less than a half hour before check-out time, the two of us got up and got dressed. We packed up our few things, put on our sunglasses, and headed down to the lobby. The check-out routine didn't take long, and from there we went down to the underground parking and got in the SUV.

It was right around noon and we weren't expecting to meet Jessica till eight o'clock tonight, so we had quite a bit of time to kill.

"What do you feel like doing for the rest of the day?" I asked.

Sam shrugged, "I'm kind of all toured-out? I just want to get this over with then go home, you know?"

I agreed, "Me too. But we have to find somewhere to wait. We can't just sit here in the parking garage all day."

"Well," she replied with a smirk. "We could but it'd be boring as fuck."

"Too boring," I replied with an eye-roll. "If you want to just sit and do nothing, we could go down into the PATH and find a bench then just people-watch or something?"

The PATH network was almost entirely underground, it was like a bunch of pedestrian walkways and shopping concourses under the city. It was pretty extensive, and you could travel a fair bit around the downtown core without ever having to see the sun.

It was actually a pretty cool thing if you were a vampire, and it was kind of surprising we didn't take advantage of it at all when we actually lived here. Though we were mostly nocturnal back then, and at night we didn't have any reason to go underground.

Samantha thought it over then nodded "Yeah you know what? Let's do that. We'll gas up the car first, then find somewhere we can park it for the rest of the day. Then we can go chill out down there, maybe walk around. If we get bored we could catch a movie, I'm pretty sure there's at least one cinema we can get to from the underground."

With a plan set, she started the car and we pulled out from the hotel's parking garage.

We ended up wasting almost forty-five minutes in the car, between traffic, finding a gas station downtown, then finding suitable parking again. It was nearly one in the afternoon when we actually got down into the underground network, but on the plus side that meant we only had seven hours left to kill.

Once we were actually in it, Sam and I started walking. We didn't have any destination in mind, we just sort of wandered around aimlessly. We were quiet at first, the two of us taking in the sights and getting our bearings as we moved around.

It was easy at first to lose track of where we were, or even what direction we were going. Not that you could get completely lost down there, but we knew the area above-ground really well and it felt strange to be so easily turned around in the underground.

We also quickly realized it wasn't that great after all. A lot of it was just empty hallways and connecting corridors, in between subway stations and attractions and buildings on the surface. There were a few shopping concourses and a bunch of restaurants, but there was as much boring empty space as there was interesting stuff.

Sam and I finally sat down on a bench next to a little fountain so we could talk and people-watch.

"So thinking about tonight," Sam said as we watched a group of obvious tourists go past. "What do you figure the odds are that it's a trap?"

I didn't need to think hard about that, and replied almost immediately. "Fifty-fifty. At least."

She nodded, "I'd put the odds even higher. Seventy-five it's a trap, twenty-five it's not. Maybe even eighty-twenty?"

That left me thinking for a few minutes. Finally I asked, "So if you're almost positive it's a trap, why are we still going?"

Sam shrugged, "Like I told Penny on Monday, I'll feel a lot better knowing the last of the Slúag Marb are gone. And It would be nice to know the Family will leave us the fuck alone, once and for all."

"Ok," I nodded slowly, "I can't argue with either of those points. Still, even if we know it's a trap it feels kind of wrong to just walk into it?"

My girlfriend wrapped her arm around my shoulders and gave me a hug. As she held me she said quietly, "We've got our protective tats, and now they're enchanted right? Assuming that's a real thing and it actually works. And more to the point, we've got you. They're all going to be looking at me, they all think I'm the big threat right? Just like last time, you're our ringer. So just like last time, I'll be the distraction. I'll keep their eyes on me, draw their fire if I have to, and you catch them by surprise."

I slipped my arm around her waist and hugged her back, then whispered "Sam I don't want you to get hurt again. You're still healing from the last fight for fuck sake. I know you can still fight pretty good even without those two fingers, but we're going up against Jessica, two enforcers armed with silver, and two Slúag elders."

She grinned, "Yeah but I'm pretty kick-ass, right? Penny said I'm like two and a half centuries old, as far as my strength and power and stuff. And you're two hundred? That's what we've got going for us."

I sighed again. I wasn't as confident, but I wouldn't argue.

After a few moments, Sam asked "So let's talk tactics. Jess claims she's not armed and I believe her on that. What do you think of Kathryn and Daniel?"

"My gut tells me neither of them have much training with their weapons," I replied. "They're both still dangerous, I mean that's what guns are all about right? In the meeting room, Daniel's shotgun will be fatal from two meters out to the end of the room. Under two meters our speed and strength will let us disarm him before he can aim the thing. Kathryn's going to be dangerous from point blank outwards, but unless she's carrying the thing cocked she'll be slower to get the first shot off. Speed and reflexes come into play again, we have the advantage."

I continued, "I don't want us to get hit with either of those things. In the close range of the meeting room the shotgun is going to be lethal if it's really loaded with silver shot. Even if it's just lead it'll fuck us up pretty bad. I'm guessing the revolver will stun rather than kill? Unless she's modified the bullets they won't hold a lot of silver, and I think they'll go straight through without leaving much powder behind. Although I could be wrong. Either way you don't want even a speck of that shit inside you, so do not get shot. Ok?"

She grinned, "I'll do my best. You too ok? We're both going to come out of this one without a scratch."

"I sure hope you're right Sam," I replied with a grimace.

With that discussion more or less settled, we relaxed as best we could for a while and just watched the people come and go. When that got too boring we found the cinema Sam mentioned, and killed another couple hours watching some forgettable new action-comedy movie.

We talked more about lots of random stuff, including some of our plans for Megan and Phoebe. And Sam pointed out that our friend Vanessa would either be getting desperate for a 'fix', or she might have gotten over the cravings by now. Either way, we'd find out when we got home again.

And at long last, Sam got a text from Jessica around dusk. The plan was still on, and Jess told us to pick her up outside the Bloor-Yonge subway station at half past eight.

That still left us with about ninety minutes to kill, but it was rush hour so we parked ourselves on a bench near Union Station and watched all the commuters coming and going. That was at least as interesting as the movie.

When the time came we finally made our way back to the car and set out to pick up Jess.

Thanks to the downtown traffic we were almost ten minutes late and our former colleague was a little put out by that, as if we deliberately kept her waiting. She slipped into the seat behind me and stated, "We don't have much time so you'd better head straight for the mansion."

Sam rolled her eyes, "Sorry Jess. Traffic, you know? We'll get there on time, don't worry."

Fortunately the traffic was better as we got further away from the downtown core.

A few minutes after we picked her up, Jess's phone pinged with a text. She checked it and let us know, "That was Kathryn checking in. Everything's on schedule. If we can get in position before nine everything will be fine."

Sam and I were glad for that. Though if this was a trap like we suspected, I doubted it mattered if we were a few minutes late. It wasn't like they'd give up and leave if we didn't show up on time. But Jess had to keep up the act, if she wanted to convince us it was all on the level.

All three of us were quiet as we drove past the various mansions and estate homes. It reminded me of that night almost four years ago, when Reuben was with us and Eric was driving the four of us to our execution.

Sam and I were both pretty sure this was supposed to be another execution, the only real difference was this time we were coming here of our own free will.

The two of us were taking a big chance, and I wasn't entirely convinced it was the right thing to do. But Sam had a point about wanting to eliminate the threat once and for all. If we just went home they'd probably keep trying. And maybe they'd start coming after us in Winnipeg. Neither of us wanted to deal with that.

The biggest risk I could see right now was maybe they'd actually just execute us without bothering with the speeches and the gloating. Except if they just wanted us dead, they could have done that at Sam's mom's house. Or in the park. Or at the hotel. So they probably had something else planned. They wanted us at the mansion for a reason, and it was probably something other than straight-up killing us.

The three of us remained silent as we turned onto the long driveway, and I suppressed a little shudder as we pulled up in front of the main building. The place still made me feel uncomfortable.

"Perfect timing," Jessica commented. It was exactly three minutes to nine.

My girlfriend cut the ignition and slipped the keys into her pocket, and the three of us emerged from the SUV. Jess led the way as we haded towards the front doors.

Jess quietly reminded us, "They'll be there at nine sharp so we have a couple minutes to get in and get ready for them."

Sam and I both nodded, as Jess opened the door and stepped inside. The two of us followed her in, there was nobody else around in the main hall to see us. Jess gestured towards the meeting room to the right as she closed the door behind us.

All three of us quickly and quietly moved toward the meeting room. Jess opened the door and motioned me and Samantha through. The two of us stepped into the room then we both came to an abrupt halt.

The two elders were already in there waiting for us. To either side of them stood the remaining two enforcers.

Daniel's shotgun was pointed at my girlfriend's chest, Kathryn's magnum was aimed at mine.

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