Ready Or Not

More To It

**Daniel**

Anna’s eyes went wide, then serious. “Elaborate, please. There’s more to it than that.”

“There is,” I confirmed, and went on to fill her in on the situation. “And that’s when dear Theo here gave Hannah a new scar.”

He jumped to the defensive. “She won’t scar if you sealed her up properly.”

Anna waved her hand. “And you can’t trust me?”

Theo defended himself again. “I just reacted, I didn’t think. And she’s fine. She really is. Daniel put her under, made her comfortable, told her she gave me permission.”

“And she’ll go on the rest of her life believing that. Because she was in thrall, Theo. You see where I’m going with this?” Anna asked him.

“I don’t like it, but yes,” Theo grumped.

Anna continued. “People will do, say, believe anything they are told when they’re in thrall. I’m not happy Daniel lied to her- I don’t like messing with the heads of people we care about like that- but I’m gonna let that go because he was saving your ass and making her more comfortable.”

My shoulders dropped. I hadn’t even noticed I’d tensed them up, but I relaxed at Anna’s words about letting my behavior go.

“Alright, princess,” Theo said, taking a moment to think. “You guys win. It wasn’t Hannah’s fault. But I’m gonna have a hard time acting like I’m not mad. I’m still pissed.”

I crossed the small space between us and kissed him.

“I’m serious,” he said, putting a hand on either side of my face and looking from me to my best friend. “I have a hard time letting shit go and she’s still partly responsible for getting my Lydia arrested, whether she wanted to or not. I’ll do my best, though.”

“And she’s okay staying here with me while you guys go back to yours? Or his? Or wherever?” Anna asked, looking doubtful.

“That part I’m not so sure about,” Theo said, and I could see Anna bristle. “What if the detective or whoever put her in thrall comes knocking? What if more than one vampire officer shows up? You gonna take them all out?”

“Christ,” I mumbled, backing away from my love.

“What?” Theo asked me.

“No,” Anna said. “I’m not going to take them out. I’m going to tell them to go away and come back with a warrant.”

“Clearly these guys play by the rules, Anna. We know that by the way they treated Hannah.” Theo protested sarcastically.

“We can’t just disappear a couple of Vice officers, Theo, not now,” I reminded him. It would be too suspicious. “We have to trust Sam to do his job.”

“And if Sam does his best, but Lyds still goes down, and these officers get away with it?” Theo was steaming again. “I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it though… The real question right now is what if they come looking for Hannah and it’s just you, little one?”

“If they have their warrant, I call my lawyer,” Anna answered simply. “He’s pretty good. I daresay he could even keep you in line, big brother.”

I wasn’t thrilled at the idea of going outside my area of expertise again, but for her, I would. Until we could get everyone set up with a proper attorney- proper for the situation, not one who was in estates and trusts.

“There we have it, Theo. See? All set. Now can we all hug it out and wait for Sam to call with an update?”

“Lost Boys is on in half an hour, Theo,” Anna said hopefully.

“Alright, fine. Let’s talk about how easy it would have really been to take over Santa Carla.”

**Theo**

A ginger man I'd never met before sat in the chair in Lydia and Anna's living room. He was wringing his hands and there was a slight twitch in his temple. He seemed nervous. I was unimpressed. This was Sam Forsythe? 

Anna came into the room and handed him a cup of coffee, smiling at him. It seemed to put him at ease. 

When he'd arrived, Daniel had wrapped him in a bear hug and the two seemed genuinely glad to see one another. But once the moment had been broken and I'd been introduced, the red headed lawyer had started to seem on edge. I had a feeling it was me. I wasn't exactly acting relaxed myself. I know my moods make people who aren't used to them a little nervous. 

"Good news and bad news, right Sam?" Daniel asked, prompting.

Forsythe sipped his coffee and placed it carefully on the glass coffee table. "They won't be withholding meals anymore. They can't, and I made that very clear. Might have mentioned my connections with the press."

Once he had started talking, all evidence of jitters went away. It was like with Daniel; he'd gone into lawyer mode.

"That's good," Anna said, sounding relieved.

"They will be dosing her heavily with yew from now on, to make sure she's no threat to the general population at County, but they won't be isolating her, which easily could have happened," Sam continued.

I growled a little at the mention of the poison. 

Daniel shot me a look, but I doubted I was going to scare his friend. He worked with vampires every day. Vampires who may or may not be guilty of any variety of crimes. Despite my initial assessment of the man, this realization gave me a new respect for him.

"What about the jumpsuit?" I asked, worrying about anything triggering my best friend while she was somewhere we couldn't comfort her.

"Still up in the air, I'm afraid. They don't want to bend the rules for her but it's very obviously causing her distress. She hasn't left her bed since they brought it up."

Daniel gripped my hand tight and Anna made a small noise I could only interpret as some kind of expression of concern for Lydia. Lydia, who was no doubt having flashbacks and anxiety attacks.

"What are the odds they make an exception for her?" Daniel asked, voice all business. 

"At this point I'd say about 50/50," his friend said.

I spoke up. "How do we increase those odds in her favor?"

Forsythe drank more coffee, the liquid noisily sliding down his throat before he answered. "Might help if she'd give somebody some more backstory. She told an officer she'd been buried in green, but didn't give up much more than that. If she could somehow appear more human in their eyes…" he trailed off before continuing. "I make it a point to treat my clients as they are- immortal, powerful, remarkable, and in most cases, decidedly not human. But every now and then the best course of action is to paint them as otherwise. To make them relatable and, yes, human."

Anna shifted on the chaise she occupied. "I don't think you'll get her to talk about it."

As far as I knew, she hadn't even told Daniel her story. She hadn't told Hannah. I told him as much.

"You know," I said slowly, a thought occurring to me. "There may be a way for Lydia to tell her story without having to go through talking about it."

Three sets of eyes stared at me, waiting for me to elaborate.

"About, oh, thirty five years ago? We wrote our stories down. In a journal. We did it one night thinking it would be therapeutic. I told Lydia I burned it, but it was a part of her and I just couldn't. I still have it. If we can get her permission, I'll let you read it."