Emily pulled into the driveway behind Mary’s car, her earlier anger only slightly ebbed by the short drive home.  Jacob was out the door and well on his way to his own house before she could even think about undoing her seatbelt.  She took a deep breath and hurried to catch up.

Emily: “God damn it, Jacob.  Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
Jacob: “I’m going home.”
Emily: “Nuh uh.  No way.  You’re not getting out of it that easily, mister.”

Jacob: “What are you talking about?”
Emily: “You’re coming in there with me and you’re going to explain to Markus what you did and why.”

A look of apprehension spread across Jacob’s face, a look so foreign on him that Emily wasn’t quite sure she was seeing it at first.

Jacob: “I’d rather not.”
Emily: “If this is because you don’t want to get in trouble—“

Jacob: “I don’t have a problem accepting responsibility for my actions.”

Emily: “Then what is the problem?  And don’t make me yell at you again.”

Jacob: “Do you think it’s easy to tell a practical stranger that you don’t have a firm grip on reality?”

Emily was momentarily stunned, her anger replaced by guilt.  She faltered for a moment before being able to go on.

Emily: “I’m sorry, Jacob.  I guess I didn’t really think about it that way.  You’ve always seemed pretty open with me about it, so I just assumed you didn’t care.”

Jacob: “It’s different with you.  You’ve seen how it is first-hand, and almost from the start.  To be honest, I wonder why you continue to ignore what I told you about your instincts.”

Emily: “Maybe I’m not; maybe my instincts tell me that you would never want to hurt me.”

Jacob: “What I want and what I’m capable of are often times very different things; you’ve seen this yourself on more than one occasion even before tonight.  Despite this, you continue to interact with me when you should be doing everything you can to stay away.”

Emily: “You’ve done your own fair amount of interacting.  Friendship is a two-way street, you know.”

Jacob looked startled, then genuinely curious.

Jacob: “Is that what you call this?”

Emily: “Why?  You don’t consider us friends?”

Jacob: “I’m accustomed to your presence; I’m used to you.  But I don’t have nor need friends.  I’ve gone nineteen years without any.”

Emily: “Well guess what, you’ve got at least one now.  So what do you say we go inside now instead of standing out in the rain like a couple of idiots?  Don’t worry, I won’t make you tell Markus why you did what you did; we can say it was self defense if you want.”

Jacob: “I fail to see how my presence is required in this situation.”

Emily: “I don’t want to have to tell him on my own, OK?  I’ll throw in a bag of cookies that Mary and I hardly touched earlier as a show of my appreciation.”

Jacob: “The ones you were going to give me anyway?”

Emily: “I was hoping you’d have forgotten about them.”

Jacob: “I’m crazy, not senile.”

Emily smiled, then began walking back up the pathway to the front door.  Before she began to go through the locks, she paused and turned back to Jacob, whom she was relieved to see had actually followed her.

Emily: “Thanks for helping me.”

Jacob: “I just like unlocking doors.”

Emily: “Mmhmm, sure.”

Just as she was positioning her key in the first lock, the door swung open violently.

Mary: “Oh thank god you’re all right!  Are you hurt?  Shit, you are hurt; you’re bleeding!  Why are you standing around in the rain?  Get in here!”

Emily: “I’m fine, Mary.  We both are.  And we’d love to get out of the rain, but you’re in our way.”

Mary blinked, then moved to one side.  Emily stepped into the warmth and brightness of the living room where Markus sat anxiously.

Emily: “You look much better.”

Markus: “Physically, yes.  How’d it go?”

Emily: “Well, as you can see, I didn’t quite manage to make it without a scratch.”

Mary: “Did you convince him to get out of town?”

Emily: “Not exactly.  Things were getting a bit rough, and… I’m sorry, Markus.”

Markus: “You killed him.”

Emily: “I know it’s not what you wanted.”

Markus: “No, it’s fine.  I’d rather it were him than you.”

Mary: “I guess I owe Jacob a beer for protecting you, then.”

Emily felt the momentary sting of shame, but quickly brushed it aside.

Emily: “So what’s the plan now?  Are you staying here for now or what?”

Mary: “Yeah, about that.  You may want to go clean up before the guys—“

As if on cue, the front door swung open.  Mary jumped and whirled around comically as Tristan and James stumbled through together.

Mary: “Christ on a pogo stick!  Don’t you guys believe in knocking?”

James: “Markus told us to get here as quickly as possible.”

Mary: “So you couldn’t take two seconds to knock?”

Tristan: “Is everyone OK?  Emily, what happened?”

Emily: “I’m fine; it’s just a little scratch.  I’m not the one who needs you guys right now.”

James and Tristan exchanged confused looks, then turned those confused looks around the rest of the room.

James: “Mary?”
Mary: “Try again.”

Tristan: “Markus, what is it?  What’s going on here that you need… us.  Oh no.”

Markus nodded solemnly before looking away in humiliation.  Tristan and James were quickly at his side.

James: “When did it happen?”

Markus: “Earlier tonight.”

Tristan: “Have you had any blood since?”

Markus: “Yeah, the kid gave me some.  And before you ask, no.  I haven’t told Serge yet.”

James nodded as if this were a perfectly reasonable reaction.  As Markus began to recount his experience, Emily excused herself to the kitchen, motioning for Jacob to follow.

The cookies sat discarded on the counter, a mockery of her attempt at a halfway normal life.  As she began to transfer them to a large plastic bag, she felt tears of frustration welling up behind her eyes.  On top of everything else, she was starting to really feel every bump and bruise she’d gotten.

Emily: “You can just go out the back door; I’m sure you’d like to avoid going out through the living room.  This way you don’t have to worry about them starting to ask questions about what happened.”

She put the last cookie in the bag and handed it to Jacob before leading the way to the back door and undoing all the locks.

Emily: “Take care.”

Jacob nodded once before heading outside into the rain.  Emily watched him duck behind the house before closing the door and redoing the locks.  She then turned around and ran straight into Tristan, who was hurrying into the room.

Tristan: “Just what the hell did you think you were doing tonight?  Do you have any idea of how reckless that was?”

Emily: “Defending a friend, and yes.  It doesn’t matter, though, I’m fine.”

Tristan: “You’re not invincible, Emily.  You bested me tonight, but that was the first time, and it was close.  It does not mean that you’re ready to take on any random vampire out on the street.”

Emily: “The guy was weakened, it’s not like he was some full-power uber-vamp.  I’m not stupid, you know.  I couldn’t just let him get away with doing that!  I couldn’t stand the thought of Markus having to live with the fact that this asshole had gotten away with hurting him.”

Tristan: “Why didn’t you wait for James and me to take care of it?”

Emily: “I’m not some sort of weakling girl; you don’t have to treat me like I’m going to break at the slightest bump!  I have a few cuts and bruises, that’s it.”

Tristan: “What if that wasn’t it?  What the hell am I supposed to do if something happens to you?”

The tears that had been threatening all night finally broke free.  The anger instantly melted from Tristan’s face as he stepped forward and took Emily in his arms.

Emily: “I know what I did was stupid, OK?  I don’t need to be reminded!”

Tristan: “Oh god, Emily, I’m sorry.  I just hate the thought of you getting hurt because I wasn’t around to protect you.”

Emily: “I didn’t know what else to do, Tristan!  I had a chance to try to put something right, so I took it.”

Tristan: “I know, I know.  I’m so sorry I yelled; you just scared the shit out of me.”

Emily: “I sort of scared the shit out of me, too.  Maybe I’m not as over things as I think I am.”

Tristan: “It’s perfectly fine not to be, you know.  Just, next time, let us help you.”

Emily: “I will.  I promise.”

Emily tried not to wince as Tristan tightened his embrace before stepping back; she wasn’t looking forward to seeing what sort of bruises were going to develop on her back.

With a weak smile, she followed Tristan back out into the living room.

James: “We decided Markus is going to spend the day with me.”

Tristan: “Did you want me to stay as well?”

Markus: “I’d appreciate that very much.”

James: “The first thing we’re going to do when we get there is call Serge.  After that, things are up in the air.”

Markus nodded, then turned to the others.

Markus: “I really cannot thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me tonight.  I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”

Mary: “You probably would have just gone straight home.  You’re welcome, though.”

Emily: “You’re in better hands now, anyway.  Call us if you need anything.”

Markus: “I will.  And pass my thanks on to Jacob as well.”

Emily watched as her three friends left, letting out a trembling sigh when the taillights disappeared beyond the crest of a hill.