fandomtownies | At the Echolls Residence, after sunset

[ooc: Locked to the players already in this. It's been preplayed. OOC commentary welcome, though.

[ooc2: Read here and here first!]

The house was much warmer than outside and Krycek was grateful for it. Jake closed the door behind him, talking about something still - Krycek wasn't sure what really. Not that Krycek didn't like to listen to Jake, but he was distracted a bit, and he nodded absently as Jake looked at him, seeking agreement (he hoped).

"Sure, yeah." Even to his own ears he sounded like he was mentally elsewhere. Krycek glanced across the courtyard at the kitchen, wondering idly if they were the only ones there at the moment.

Jake gave him a strange look, then shrugged. "Okay, then. Wasn't really intending to go, but if you want to, that's cool." Renessance faires was really not Jake's thing, and he wouldn't have figured it for Krycek's either. He did suspect that Krycek had no idea what he was replying to though, and that was getting very, very annoying.

"Great," he said distractedly, turning from looking across the courtyard to head down the hallway. Krycek belatedly realized what he'd agreed to and glanced back at Jake, frowning. "Did you want to dress up?"

"Seriously, what's with you, man?" Jake asked, exasperated. Then he paused and frowned. "Did you just hear something?"

Logan's fingers hovered over the phone pad when he heard voices nearby. His head shot up and he held his breath, listening. He couldn't make out the words, but the voices were familiar. Young, male, argumentative.

Jake. And Krycek.

Logan pulled up Jake's phone number and pressed "send".

Jake pulled his phone out of his pocket, giving the display a raised eyebrow, before shrugging and putting the phone to his ear. "Yeah? What?"

"Need help," Logan said weakly. "Rory's hurt. My room. Now."

Jake froze entirely for a moment. Rory... hurt? He shook himself out of it. "Coming." He turned the phone off, grabbed Krycek's hand, and ran to Logan's room.

Dragged down the hall at a run, Krycek barely had time to ask why and who had called. As they passed Jake's door, he frowned and picked up the pace, moving alongside Jake as they continued. "What's wrong?" Jake looked somewhat freaked and that dragged him suddenly out of his distracted mood, wondering what exactly was going on.

"That was Logan. Rory's hurt," Jake explained, voice shaky. His grip on Krycek's hand tightened as they came to a halt outside Logan's open door. "Logan?" he said, uncertainly, unwilling to break their unvoiced agreement to stay out of each other's rooms.

Krycek glanced at Jake and squeezed his hand as Jake hovered in front of the door. Scowling at the shaky tone, disliking it, he reached out and pushed the door farther opening - his eyes immediately narrowed as cold air burst into the hallway, the source of it apparent as he glimpsed shattered glass glittered beyond the frame of the former terrace door.

"Logan? Rory?" Krycek pulled Jake fully into the room, his distraction completely gone as wariness sharpened his senses. He squeezed Jake's hand tightly, spotting the both of them - Rory lying on the bed with Logan leaning against it, sitting on the floor

Eyes widening in shock, Jake wriggled his hand out of Krycek's and was over by the bed in a second. "Logan, you okay?" He held his hand out towards Rory, who was just... lying there, looking bruised, and, and Jake hated the sight. "What happened? Why is she like this?"

"Angelus," Logan said grimly. He grasped the edge of the bed and hauled himself to his feet. "Take... care of her, Freak," he said, with effort. "Please?"

Krycek was barely a step behind Jake, moving around him to see Rory. Putting one knee on the bed, he leaned over her, reaching to take her pulse. "Angelus? What did he--" His fingers found something strange - what felt like holes, and a trickle of something warm, thick (blood?) - and his breath caught. "Shit." He could see she was pale and drawn, and, up close as he was, he could tell her breathing was shallow and quick. "She was bitten?"

Catching Logan's look, Jake nodded, once, then turned back to Rory, leaning over her as well. He touched her face gently. "Rory? Say something, liebchen." He slid his hand behind her back, paying no attention to the bruises. "C'mon, talk. You're freaking me out. I've got a nice, big mocha waiting for you..."

Rory's eyelids fluttered imperceptibly. "Where's..."

She took a shallow, shuddering breath and blinked as though it was a monumental effort. "Jake? What...where's...he?"

Krycek glanced from Rory to Jake, still standing over Rory but further down the bed. He nudged Jake carefully, giving him a firm look as Jake turned his attention back briefly. "Let me look at her." When Jake gave way reluctantly, Krycek helped her up a little more, sitting down beside Rory to take most of her weight as she leaned back. He gave her a once over, rechecking her pulse and shaking his head at how cold she felt, mind racing as he fell into familiar patterns of action. "Rory, can you tell me what happened?"

"Bit me," she murmured, struggling to focus her eyes on his face. "Tried...too strong. He...hurt Logan, too." Her breathing became even more shallow as her eyes darted from Krycek to Jake. "Logan?"

"I'm here, baby," Logan said, taking her hand. "We're gonna go to the clinic. Can you sit up?"

Rory tried to grip Logan's hand, and only succeeded in applying the lightest pressure with her fingers. She tried to sit on her own, and swayed before falling back again, coughing and wheezing a little. "No. Can't. Where is he?"

"Gone," Logan said softly. "You're safe now." He looked at Krycek. "Can you carry her?" he asked. "I'd do it, but...," he gestures at his broken arm.

Krycek took in Logan's broken arm with a slight nod and slid an arm beneath Rory's knees before he picked her up. Carefully, he shifted his grip to one a little more sure, giving Logan an assessing look. "Are you able to walk on your own? We need to get moving - she needs to be seen to as soon as possible."

"I'm fine," Logan said. "Well, mobile," he amended.

He staggered over to the closet, wrenched the door open and yanked a box off the shelves. He grabbed a backpack and stuffed the contents of the box into it, dropping a couple of water bottles and a cross in his haste.

"Logan, we need to go," Krycek said insistently, stepping back from the bed, Rory still barely conscious. He had many questions about what had happened, but Rory's health was too precarious to waste time asking about it. Watching Logan, he readjusted his hold on Rory slightly. "Especially if we have to make it up the hill, carrying her."

"We can take the cart," Logan said. He stuffed the remaining bottles and cross in the backpack. He pulled another box off the shelf. Surfboard wax and sunscreen lotion tumbled out as it hit the ground sideways. Logan grabbed a couple of water guns from the box, put them in the backpack and zipped it up. "Ok, ready to go," he said.

"Cart." Krycek echoed Logan, not quite questioning, and watched him pack supplies with a critical eye. When Logan lifted the bag, Krycek nodded. "Lead the way. Explain on the way why Angelus attacked Rory. And you as well, I assume."

Logan shrugged. "He's psycho. The cart's in the garage." He walked out of the room, backpack slung over his shoulder.

Krycek followed, Jake right behind them. "You don't sound as if you plan on coming." He narrowed his eyes at the back of Logan's head as they walked, then glanced down at Rory, whose eyes were barely open at all. "Hey, Rory--" He wanted her attention, hoping to keep her conscious for as long as possible.

Rory blinked woozily at him. "Hi, Alex," she whispered. "How...are you?"

"I'll go with you as far as the school," Logan said.

Krycek smiled a little at Rory, peering into her eyes. At the lackluster gleam of them, his brow furrowed, but the smile stayed. "I'm fine, Rory. How do you feel? Can you stay awake for me, for a while longer?"

When Logan spoke, he looked up sharply, stepping into the garage after him. "And after that?"

"After that, I've got some people to check on." Logan dropped down in the driver's seat of the golf cart, hissing as his broken bones ground together. He tried to put the key in the ignition, but his hands shook so badly he dropped the keychain.

Krycek looked from Logan to Jake and his lips compressed to a line as he went to the passenger side, placing Rory in the seat carefully. "Get in the back, Logan. You're in no condition to drive." At the look he was given, he glared back sharply. "You'd need both arms, especially on the roads here, and be able to reach for her if she's jolted out of her seat. Jake-- get in the seat behind her, act like a safety belt."

Logan had an argument at the tip of his tongue, but one glance at Rory and he bit back what he was about to say. He lifted his uninjured arm in a gesture of surrender and dragged himself to the back seat.

Nodding, Jake joins Logan in the back. He doesn't have much to say, he just wants Rory to be okay again and Logan to be the argumentative little psycho he knows and... well, knows. He gives Logan a quick look. "You don't look too great. You should come with," he mutters.

"I feel better than I look," Logan lied.

Before he took the driver's seat, Krycek opened the garage door and then immediately looked around the room. Finding blankets on a storage shelf, he tossed a couple over the backseat for Jake and Logan and shook out two to tuck around Rory as snugly as he could. "You two use that, even if you don't want to. It's cold enough, it'll take energy you'll need just to keep warm without it."

He glanced at Logan over his shoulder as he took his seat, grabbing the keys off the floor. "If you feel better than you look, then begin explaining. Angelus went psychotic and attacked you two, but if we're driving through dark streets, it'd be nice to have a little more detail. Jake, talk to Rory, keep her awake."

Logan wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, settled into the seat and opened up the backpack. "Crosses and holy water burn him. Beheading or a stake through the heart will kill him." He braced a water gun between his knees, spun the cap off a bottle and filled the gun. "What more do you need to know?"

"Why." He turned on the ignition and waited for the engine to start, giving it a moment since it was cold. "What the hell happened, Logan? Why is Angelus after you, ostensively a fairly good friend of his, and Rory?" Krycek pulled out of the garage, the sound of the engine loud in the cold night air.

Logan plugged the gun and tossed the empty bottle off the side of the cart. "Weirdest thing. Turns out he's evil! Who woulda thunk it?"

"Yeah, I'm overwhelmingly surprised," Jake shot back, leaning forwards to hold Rory in place. "Why the hell did you have to get her hurt as well?"

Logan bit his lip. He shoved the full water gun into his backpack and pulled out a second gun and bottle.

Krycek wouldn't glance over his shoulder, but he noted the silence and shook his head slightly, taking the road carefully for Rory's sake. "I hope she understands why you're running away. And since you are," Krycek said, tone quite indicative of how badly he thought of that idea. "Then at least let us know what we can tell her when you end up dead in an alley?"

"Dead?" Rory mumbled drowsily.

Logan glanced at Rory. "Tell her I killed the bastard who did this to her." He considered this. "Or if I don't get him, you kill him, and tell her I did it."

"Neither of us is making excuses for you," Krycek said, unamused. He drove the golf cart up the road to school, glancing over every once in a while to make sure Rory was still in place.

"What, not even over my dead body?" Logan asked with a thin smile. As soon as the cart slowed to a stop, he jumped off the cart. When his feet touched the ground, he wavered and grabbed the cart to steady himself.

Once he regained his equilibrium, he took a water gun from the backpack, dropped it on the seat, threw the backpack over his good shoulder and picked up the gun in his good hand.

He staggered over to where Rory was sitting and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Take care of her," he ordered.

"I will," Jake replied. He gave Logan a dark look. "Seeing as you're being an idiot and all."

"Thanks, Freak," Logan said softly. "Knew I could count on you." He looked down at Rory and his smile faded.

He bit his lip and forced a grin back on his face. "Ta!" he said, shooting off a salute before stumbling off to the dorms.

The idea that Logan was leaving - possibly already had left, even - penetrated Rory's haze, and she began to shake in terror as well as cold.

"No," she called out weakly. "Logan. No. Don't...don't..."

Jake frowned, worried. Then deliberately moved out of Rory's sight. He closed his eyes and called up Logan's face, the way he'd looked just now, and slowly his face started changing, his hair became shorter and small wounds began appearing on him.

"What, Rory?" Jake said gently, walking back into her line of sight. "I'm right here. Just sent Jake off to tell someone what happened."

"Oh," Rory murmured. She reached a trembling hand out towards him. "Thought...you left. Scared."

"Wouldn't do that," Jake said, grasping her hand, making sure it was with Logan's hand. He walked by her side, holding her hand tightly. "Going to be right here until you're all fine again."

Krycek was glad to see Jake was holding together well - probably because he wasn't being Jake and was focusing on Rory instead of anything else. Watching Jake be Logan was faintly disturbing as well as fascinating though.

He carried Rory down the hallway silently, now mostly wrapped in the blankets they'd taken from the garage. Krycek wasn't quite happy with Logan having left, but at least Rory would be seen to.

Rory's eyes rolled back in her head momentarily, and her fingers loosened on what she believed was Logan's hand. She gasped and coughed slightly, and focused her gaze on his face.

"I know..." she whispered faintly. "You'll...take care...of me."

"Of course I will. You're my girl," Jake assured her, voice going a little shaky.

Rory's mouth twitched at the corner, as though she was trying to smile. She settled for gently running her thumb across his knuckle, and closed her eyes as she drew another shaky breath.

Jake gave her a worried look. "Rory, babe?" When he didn't get a response, he looked wide eyed and worried over at Krycek. "Alexeij, what's wrong with her?"

Krycek met Jake's eyes for a moment, lowering his voice to a tone that was nearly gentle. "She's very weak and had too much blood drawn from her, as well as any internal injuries I don't know well enough to find." He glanced down at Rory and grimaced at her unresponsiveness. "Shit, J-- Logan, take her hand, make sure she still has a pulse."

Jake took her hand again, pressing his thumb against her wrist nervously. "She does," he said, relieved. "It's kind of weak though. Should we... Um, we got to hurry? We're there soon, right?"

"We're nearly there, just down the hall--" He rounded the corner, nodding at the door to the clinic. "There. Open it, would you?"

Jake let go of Rory's hand and went to do as told, holding the door open so Krycek could pass.

Continued here for Rory, Jake, and Krycek...

And here for Logan...

At the Echolls Residence, after sunset

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