Welcome to the lake of tears. Many say the lake was form form the tears of the child and widows who cried over the husbands and fathers the lost long ago. Many do not care for the story of the lake any more. to them it a nice place during the day but at night a chill goes through the air and down ones spin.
spaceThe drive to Lake Lacrima was largely uneventful. They made a few stops to relieve themselves or eat, but they arrived without incident. It was night by the time they got there though, and the tales of the lake seemed true. Dirk could not help but feel that they were being watched as they slowly drove around the lake's edge.
spaceDirk was loathe to admit that he was a little lost. It had been fifty years since he had been there, and his memory was hazy at best. However, about a mile north of the lake, they could see lights. It was as good a place as any to start. He drove them towards the lights, and slowly, he recognized the place. It was the Holts' homestead. It was a modest set up, with a ranch house and barn, a seasonal crop growing north of the barn. Surrounding the property was a five foot fence wrapped with electrified barbed wire, enough to keep any roaming zombies or more cowardly monsters. They stopped outside the gate, and immediately a shot rang out and a man yelled out.
space"Y'all stop right there! Get off the bike and drop them weapons!"
spaceFully confident that Blade and he could handle themselves without weapons, he complied, dropping his sword and machine pistol, his hands raised. He raised an eyebrow, glancing at Blade. Hopefully, she wouldn't act rashly.
Red Gypsy
The life I love is making music with all my friends
Blade thought about it hard but dropped most of her daggers into the side car after Dirk's look. She couldn't have gotten rid of all of them without stripping down to bare skin so she simply left it at that, "We're as unarmed as we're going to get. If you want me to get rid of everything, I'll have to hope you don't blush easily," she called out simply as she held up her hands, grinding her teeth together in annoyance.
Really, they couldn't expect her to get rid of everything. It was just rude. Adding to her annoyance was the fact that she hated guns. Alright, her cat hated guns. But the point still held. The guy was lucky she was being this nice about it, "We're not here to harm or rob anyone. So can we come forward or are you going to be a pain in the a**?" she couldn't help it, the words just fell out before she could stop them.
But she was still being polite. As Dirk could testify to...
thus always to tyrants
And all my rowdy friends are comin' over tonight...
spaceThere was a brief silence, followed by the opening of a door, five shadows bearing rifles walking out. They walked quickly towards the pair growing more visible as they approached. They were all fairly rustic looking, all wearing dusty farmhand outfits. Their rifles were all military-grade pre-nuke, however. They stopped about fifty feet away from them, their rifles ready but not aimed at them.
space"If you ain't bandits, then what's your business here?"
space"Is this still the Holts' farm? I am Dirk Luther, I was once a guest of the Holts."
spaceOne of the older men, a man in his early forties cocked an eyebrow, lowering his rifle. That wasn't a name he had heard in a long time. He whispered to the others. Finally, he motioned for them to follow, while two of the men gathered their weapons and followed behind. Dirk glanced at Blade.
Blade padded a look at Dirk over his comment that spoke clearly of how well she thought things were going. Dirk, they left alone, almost as if they held a healthy respect an a good dose of fear for him. Blade? Well, she let the first push go. It was to be expected.
The second push? That one she wasn't so nice about and a low growl escaped her as she passed a glare on the one who kept pushing her. Great. A guy who liked to bully smaller people simply because they were smaller than him. A slow smile spread over her face as she imagined killing him. Her smile grew into a beautiful thing that actually scared the man with each detail of his death that she imagined.
When the idiot actually took a step back from her, she let her smile fade and continued to move up onto the porch of the house to stand next to Dirk, no sign on her face of what she'd just done. Nope. She looked perfectly well-behaved for the moment.
"Can I put my hands down now? I feel like I'm in some old western novel where I'm about to get shot in the back. You should know that I really hate guns. I hate getting shot even more," she said, actually sounding reasonable over it.
The older man motioned for them both to put their hands down as one of the others passed over their weapons to the older man who looked them over slowly and separated them into two piles, easily noting what weapons went to Dirk. It was the seer number of Blade's weapons that had the older human raising an eyebrow and looking her over slowly before looking back at Dirk, "Are all of these hers? Really?" he asked Dirk instead of Blade, making her glare at him.
Great, they were all going to just dismiss her as the stupid female while they did the whole 'guy-talk' thing until they managed to piss her off enough that she wouldn't mind getting shot...
spaceDirk could handle them keeping them at gunpoint, but the idiot that was mistreating her was too much. He glared at him, putting his hands down and stepping close to him, an angry growl in his throat as he said through clenched teeth,
space"You touch her one more time and I'll break both your arms,"
spaceOf course, Dirk knew that Blade didn't actually need him to fight for her, they both knew that she could handle herself in a fight. Hopefully, she at least appreciated the gesture. The tension rose, Dirk turning slowly to the older man.
space"They're all hers. If you're going to bring us in here, you better treat the both of us with respect."
spaceNone of the men seemed to keen on either of them now, however from the stairs, the sound of an angry old man yelling could be heard.
space"Goddammit! What the hell is all the noise?"
spaceSlowly, with the aid of a cane and a young girl of about fifteen years, he came down the stairs. He was in his late sixties, but a lifetime of hard labor had hobbled his body. He still had a full head of white hair that fell behind his shoulders and ended between his shoulder blades, and he wore a long braided beard that hung past his gut. He slowly fumbled with a pair of glasses and put them on, eyeing the two strangers. Staring at Blade, he said to his family,
space"What the hell is going on down here? Why is everyone pointin' guns at this pretty lady? Put them damn things away. What's your name, sweetheart?"
Red Gypsy
Well, I do know that Willie Nelson song about cowboys and not letting your babies grow up to be one.
Blade gave Dirk a smile as he defended her, taking it in the spirit he'd meant it. Truthfully, it felt good to have someone standing up for her, defending her, like he just had. She'd never experienced it before and found that she liked him doing it.
Then the really old man came out and she grinned over the other guys around them actually looking embarrassed over the situation and winked at Dirk deliberately before speaking to the old man.
"I'm Blade. This is Dirk Luther. He came here looking for the Holts. They helped him out when he needed it and he wanted to check on them. Unfortunately, when we showed up, I guess we upset the apple cart. Well, mainly me, I guess. The boys here seem to take a dislike to females... Especially females that prefer to go around well-armed," she explained the situation politely and sweetly, actually managing to look harmless in the process as she stepped closer to Dirk.
spaceThe old man was quiet for a moment, lost in thought, his mouth hanging open as his eyes glazed over. That was not a name he had heard in a long time. He looked to Dirk.
space"Dirk Luther? Dirk? Is that you? Goddamn is that really you?"
spaceDirk nodded, feeling his heart sink down to his stomach and float back to his throat. This man was a Holts. From his age, he had to have been the youngest of the brood. He smiled, happy to see an old friend.
space"Yes, it's me Jon... Although the last time I was here, you were a snot nosed brat called Jonny."
spaceJon dropped his cane and pulled Dirk into an embrace. They were both laughing soon, and Jon bid them to come into the dining room, telling one of the men to start some coffee.
space"The good stuff, not that frozen s**t."
spaceSoon, they were all sitting down, and Jon had introduced those of his family that were awake. The oldest man, Jon's son, was Jeremy, and the other men were his sons, Greg, Brian, and Dwight, and the girl was Sarah, Jeremy's oldest daughter. Dwight had been the a*****e pushing Blade, and she could not help but smile as he was made to serve her coffee. But they apologized earnestly, albeit at Jon's insistence. Smiling a crooked and semi-toothless smile.
space"Where'd you find this girl, Dirk? She another hunter, like you?"
space"It's an interesting story. She's actually my ma- my wife."
spaceDirk had very nearly called Blade his mate, but that word was weird in his mouth. He wasn't even sure himself what the correct word for their bond was, so he improvised. Jon laughed.
space"Really now? How did an ugly, cranky, son of a b***h land a gal like you, Blade?"
And Blade is teasing the hell out of him and everyone else...
Blade enjoyed the entire situation, and the coffee. She even laughed at the question posed to her and gave Dirk another wink as she answered, "He shot my brother in the leg," she said simply, deliberately teasing Dirk by this point as she sat next to him, "But my brother forgave him and helped him with a small problem then gave his blessing to us. But I think it might have had something to do with the fact that I can kick his a**," she finished with a teasing purr to her voice, unable to resist it.
All of Jon's boys had been very uncomfortable when she'd finished putting her daggers in their sheaths then informed them that that hadn't been all she'd carried. Sarah had just laughed at them being uncomfortable over the whole thing then helped make the coffee before sitting beside her father.
Of course, she didn't mention that she was a shifter just yet, not sure how uncomfortable that would make everyone. She wanted this to go as easy on Dirk as she could and knew that there were problems with rogue shifters in the area...
spaceDirk couldn't help but smile as Blade teased him. Jon, however, was in stitches, slapping his knee as he laughed so hard he began coughing. Sarah stood to fetch him a glass of water.
space"Thank... you... girl,"
spaceHe panted, and took a sip. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, tugging at his beard, his eyes lost in thought.
space"I never thought I'd see your mug around here again, Dirk. We always held out hope you'd bring Sarah back... But we never blamed you for it, believe me friend."
spaceDirk got quiet, and he stared into his coffee mug. Finally, he asked that Sarah excuse them, and after she left. Dirk looked up to Jon, a pained expression on his face.
space"I did find her though, Jon... I had finally tracked down the slavers, but they had turned her and left her to starve in a cage. She was feral by the time I found her. I had no choice... I made it quick."
spaceEveryone fell silent. Jon stared off, his face tightening. Dirk couldn't look him in the eye. He had probably undone years of healing, but he wanted them to know what had happened to her. Finally, Jon stood, his eyes misty. He patted Jeremy's shoulder.
space"Well, you've both come a long way. Jeremy will show you to the guest room. You're welcome to rest for the night. I need... I need to get off to bed."
spaceHe hobbled off, his grandsons following him. Jeremy, obviously uncomfortable about the situation, led them to the guest room, leaving them there. Dirk simply sat at the edge of the bed and held his head in his hands, silent.
Blade followed Dirk into the bedroom and moved to stand in front of him, pulling his hands from his face so that she could step in closer to him, raising his face to hers with a gentle touch as she simply held him for a silent moment.
Now she knew why he hated the rogues so much, why he hunted them down so viciously. He had good cause to hate them.
She knew there wasn't much she could say to him right now that would ease the pain he was feeling and struggled to find something to say to him that would help. But she only found one thing she could say in honesty,
"I'm here, Dirk... I'm here and I'm not going anywhere..." she whispered softly, running her fingers through his hair and over his shoulders soothingly.
spaceDirk screwed his eyes shut, actually on the verge of tears. One the one hand, he finally felt relief, now that Jon knew what had happened to his sister. But now, Jon was heartbroken and probably hated him. He let his head fall into Blade's stomach, thankful that she was there. He was glad that she was with him.
space"Thank you."
spaceHe wrapped his arms around her, pulling her onto the bed. He did not think he could have done this without her. He lay on his back, one arm wrapped around her, his free hand resting over his eyes. His lips were drawn into a bitter frown. Finally, he kissed her forehead.
space"I love you Blade. Thank you for being here. We should get some rest"
Blade simply held him for a silent moment, giving him the time he needed. She shifted against him until she was comfortably beside him, her head on his chest and one arm over his waist.
"It may have hurt a bit, but he needed to know the truth. You could have left him with the lie, I know. But that wouldn't have been right. You did the right thing, Dirk. You gave him the knowledge that she didn't suffer what she'd been through, that she didn't have to live with what they'd done to her. He needed the truth..." she told him softly, hoping he'd understand what she was saying.
She wasn't making light of what he'd had to tell Jon, not at all. She knew the old man would be able to acknowledge what he'd been told and finally let that shadow in his heart go.
"I know that knowing the truth of how my mother died would be infinitely better than carrying a lie in my heart. I know my brother still blames himself for it, but he knows I don't. Just as I know that the girl you went after that day fought to be who she was, fought against what was done to her. And I know that what you did was an act of mercy that no one can deny was necessary. You've done your part in telling him the truth. From here, it's his part to deal with the truth and allow his heart to heal over the loss," she added, her heart aching for him in this moment.
She could feel how hard he was fighting his tears and found herself shedding them for him, sharing the pain instead of taking it from him completely and hoping that it was enough...
spaceDirk squeezed her, thanking her for being there. They managed to get to sleep, fully prepared to leave in the morning. However, they only slept for a few hours before gunshots woke them. Dirk immediately grabbed his machine pistol and stepped into the hallway. One of Jon's grandsons ran past, carrying a rifle.
space"Bandits! They're inside the gate"
spaceDirk turned to Blade. He did not need to say anything else as he followed after the young man, gun in hand. This was familiar, taking up arms to help the Holts.
Blade ran out right behind Dirk and took one look at the situation before she gave a sigh and started stripping down, grateful she'd left most of her daggers behind in the room. She got a few funny looks from the guys as she simply started taking her clothes off but she passed a wry look at Dirk, "Just make sure they don't shoot me by mistake, Lover," she told him with a playful laugh then shifted to her leopard form, leaping from the porch with a roar guaranteed to tell the bandits that it wasn't a good idea to be inside the gates.
She proved that as she began to attack them, killing with lethal efficiency before moving to stalk her next target. She had to deal with the gunshots going past her from time to time, but she did manage take down a few of the bandits that tried to sneak into the house from behind it. After that, she listened for Dirk to identify targets for her through their bond while he watched her back with the Holts, somehow managing to keep them from shooting her.
