First Bite

Thud

Santana froze in disbelief. There was no way that Shelby had escaped the Fellowship. And yet there she was, in the flesh, giving Brittany a polite, tired smile.

Santana tried to stay obscured in the shadows as long as she could. When Brittany looked over her shoulder, she wished she could be invisible. It wasn't that she was afraid of Shelby. Not really. Okay, a little. Anyone who could escape the Fellowship must have some power beyond any power she had seen. Power beyond Quinn's cruelty or Finn's idiocy or the Queen's ruthlessness. Power above vampires and humans alike. She was intrigued, but mostly terrified.

She closed her eyes and tried to send a thought into Brittany. Don't let her see me. If she sees me, she'll lock you out and we won't get any answers. Of course, Santana knew Brittany couldn't hear her thoughts, and of course she realized that if Shelby was indeed a vampire, she would be able to hear and smell Santana from hundreds of yards away. Santana hoped she was standing downwind so that she had a sliver of hope of staying concealed.

"Are you Miss Montgomery?" Brittany asked with a bright, innocent smile.

Shelby looked her up and down as she gave a stiff nod.

"Hi!" Brittany greeted. "I'm Brittany Lopez. I called you about the voice lesson?"

Santana's heart raced at the false surname Brittany had given herself.

Brittany Lopez. It sounded so nice.

Santana was comforted by the fact that Brittany knew better than to use her real name and risk hinting at her association, however involuntary, with the Fellowship.

But Brittany Lopez. That was unexpected.

"Come in," Shelby said in a cold voice. It wasn't threatening, but it indicated she had no time for games or mischief, which she already suspected, since Brittany had first inquired about a Miss Corcoran.

Brittany steeled herself and stepped forward into the trailer, putting one hand behind her back and curling her fingers a few times. Santana wasn't sure if she was beckoning Santana closer or saying goodbye for now, but Santana remained rooted to the spot. She didn't know how she felt about letting her delicious human girlfriend go alone into a trailer with a vampire. Of course she trusted Brittany implicitly, but this wasn't about fidelity. This was about the fact that Santana only trusted one person in the world, and it was not Shelby. Shelby could overpower Brittany and kill her before Santana could rip off the flimsy door to the trailer and stop her.

She crept forward, sniffing for any malice or malcontent, but found none. She smelled only weariness and something like grief. Loneliness? It must be. Santana supposed she should be intimately familiar with that smell, since she must have reeked of it for the past five decades. But since she had met Brittany, she had forgotten. For the hundredth time today, she was amazed at Brittany's power.

Brittany set to work situating herself in Shelby's trailer. Santana heard her settle on a fatigued old cushion as Shelby shifted around her, sitting across from her in the cramped space.

"I have a confession," Brittany said.

"You didn't come here for a voice lesson," Shelby said with a hint of annoyance.

Brittany must have given her a guilty-as-charged look, because she gave no verbal response. "It's probably not what you think though," she said. "I don't want to know anything about what happened with the Church. I just want some information."

Santana could sense Shelby stiffening. "What Church." It wasn't a question because the words were so forced.

"The hate group masquerading as a church," Brittany said, her voice low and serious to let Shelby know she wasn't going to tolerate any bluffing. "We both know what I'm talking about, but I don't want to talk about that."