Whatever It Takes {Two | Alaric Saltzman}

Kill 'Em All

Lizzie's little footsteps were easy to place as she ran into the playroom from the kitchen. She jumped on Abigail's sitting form, wrapping her arms around her neck to keep herself from falling to the floor. She giggled, the sound light, just before she delivered the message she was sent to give, "Daddy needs your help."

"Okay." Abigail pulled her into her lap. "You two stay here. Lizzie, let your sister help you with your puppet, okay?"

Lizzie crawled away to sit down crisscross applesauce next to Josie. "Okay."

At the table, Alaric was searching through a green box with a yellow lid. He was pulling things from it faster than he was looking at them, making his search more frantic than it needed to be. So, she knew exactly what he was looking for.

"The crossbow bolts are with the Halloween decorations," she said before he even looked up at her.

"Thanks." He returned the things to the box. "When did you move them?"

"About the same time that I relocated your shotgun from the kitchen." She walked to the mudroom. Her shoes were still there, the boots she'd discovered best for vampire hunting, soles caked with dirt and blood. She sat down on the bench, pushing the laundry hamper that didn't make it into the laundry room that morning out of the way. "Stake guns and vervain grenades are still in my car, I called Leah over to watch the girls since Caroline left before the sun was up, they're going to put on a puppet show, and I-"

He stepped toward her. "No, you can't go. It's too dangerous."

She scoffed. "Seriously?"

He sighed. It was a frustrated sound, one that escaped him when she knew what he was really getting at. "It would be irresponsible if we both went."

"Then you can stay here. Because I cannot read 'If You Give a Moose a Muffin' for the millionth time when I know I'm the only person not doing anything to help Bonnie." Her voice came out as slowly as she stood up. "The pills are out of her system. Which means the Armory's not far behind."

A long goodbye to the twins put Abigail and Alaric in the truck. He drove while she navigated and got information on each of their targets from Rayna. It had been hours, days, that put them in Kentucky with kills along the way, and, still, the way each one came to be was different.

Rayna's voice was not weak but it found strength as she said, "Now they're getting close, they're about to-"

"I got it. No need to elaborate. Okay. Thanks. Goodbye." Abigail dropped her phone into the opposite cup holder than she usually did since hers was full of farm animal toys. "That was five minutes I am never getting back."

"What did she say?" He asked.

"The girl's name is Ashlynn. The guy's name is Wyatt," she relayed. "The rest of her visions are just body parts."

He sent a confused glance in her direction. "Killing spree?"

"No, the body parts are Ashlynn and Wyatt's." She shifted in her place. "Uh, because they're having sex. Just lots and lots of hot sex. Intense, mind-blowing sex."

Another glance was sent in her direction, but it was no longer confused. "You okay over there?"

A blush crept from her cheeks to her chest, spreading a heat she could feel throughout her body. "It's just, the last time we actually, you know, had hot sex, Caroline walked into the laundry room right when you were about to-"

"I remember," he winced. "And so will Caroline. Forever."

"The time before that, when we actually managed to have a date night, we ended up with a couple of kids in our bed. Which was precious, by the way, but definitely not how I thought that night was going to go." She sighed wistfully. "And then the time before that-"