Semper Sumus

"Oh my God," Bates said. "I forgot to untie you."

He was sitting next to her now, having moved when she burst into tears. His hand was still on her knee. The human (or maybe not so human? She couldn't be sure) contact had calmed her down enough that she was functioning mostly normally.

"Oh," she said.

Bates put a steadying hand on her shoulder and used the other hand to find the string. Mallory's stomach turned, and it wasn't entirely unpleasant.

"I'm going to take it off now," he said.

Mallory nodded.

Bates took his hand off her shoulder, and with an impressive and almost arousing display of strength, snapped the shoelace in half. Mallory rubbed her chafed wrists while Bates pointedly did not look at how red her skin was.

Jude still sat on the opposite bench. He watched them silently, eyes slightly narrowed, thoughtful and almost predatory. Mallory met his eyes and could see his pupils dilate, although from the outside everything about him read calm and collected, almost bored. Unlike Bates, Jude didn't look away.

She wiped the last tears from her eyes and asked, "Can I go?"

Jude pursed his lips.

Bates sighed. "No," he said, rubbing a hand down his face. "We can't take that risk."

"Risk of what? I didn't see anything!"

"Don't lie to us," Jude said. "Please."

Mallory remembered, now, why she was here. They'd killed a girl. Or tried to kill one. Unless she had interpreted it wrong?

She knew that wasn't it. Semper Sumus had been halfway through murder and she'd caught them red-handed. She shot to her feet and rushed to the door. She couldn't stay here.

And then, before she had even taken two steps, they were both in front of her.

Fuck.

Tears began to rise again, and she stepped away from them toward the back of the bus.

"What's wrong with you?" She screamed.

"We're not going to hurt you," Bates said, raising his hands like I surrender. She didn't believe it.

"Philip wanted to kill me!" Mallory stepped faster.

Philip Romilly St. John, the famous musician, whose face was tattooed on her best friend's arm, wanted her dead.

"Philip doesn't speak for us," Bates said.

They were closing in on her. Mallory gave up. She let her arms go limp and closed her eyes. At this point she'd given up any hope of being rescued, or of waking up at the last minute. She was way past the last minute by now.

"Hey," Jude said. "Don't be afraid."

She took a breath. If they were going to kill her, let them. Someone would find her body. Semper Sumus would be officially canceled, and Mallory would go become an internet sensation. Death by boyband. It wouldn't be glamorous, but it would be memorable.

"Listen," Bates said. "You can't say anything."

Mallory didn't.

"I mean," Bates continued, sounding tired, "About tonight. About what you saw."

"We weren't going to kill her," Jude added.

She looked at them, now, two men, practically boys, faces drawn and maybe hopeful. Both looked much younger than their usual 23.

"What were you doing, then?" She asked. "Just making her bleed for fun?"

"Not for fun," Bates said.

"Again, what is wrong with you?"

"You should probably sit down," Jude said.

Mallory didn't move.

"Sit down." Bates said.

She thought about denying him, but the stony set of his face convinced her to listen.

"We're going to tell you," he said, still standing, "and we're going to let you live, and in exchange, you're going to listen to us when we tell you what needs to happen for us to all get out of this in one piece. Okay?"

"Whatever gets me out of here."

Bates looked at the ceiling. He paused, then said, "Have you ever heard of vampires?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Jude burst out. "Everyone's heard of vampires."

"Fine!" Bates snapped. "I was just asking."

Mallory's head was buzzing. "Vampires?"

"I knew she hadn't heard of them-"

"I've heard of vampires!" Mallory said. "But-"

"Well," Bates said. "There you go. That's what we are."

"No, wait. You're telling me you're vampires? And you think I believe it?"

Jude opened his mouth and showed her his fangs.

"Oh," Mallory said.

"That's why we're so fast," Bates said.

"And why you were killing that girl."

Somewhere, deep down, she knew she should be freaking out more. Hell, she shouldn't even believe them yet. But it was the only thing that really made sense, and they weren't going to kill her and she was too relieved to be all that suspicious.

"She wasn't going to die," Jude said. "We just needed to eat."

"What?"

"We don't kill people. Not anymore," Bates said. "We just put them in a trance and take some blood. It's like going under for surgery: they never know it happens."

"Don't they notice the marks?"

"Maybe, but they'll just think they're bug bites. And if they don't, well, who's going to care?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Oh, my God," Mallory groaned. She put her head in her hands, elbows resting on her knees. "This can't be happening."

"It's as bad for us as it is for you," Bates said. "But I have a plan."

Mallory and Jude both looked at him.

"Okay," he began. "Here's how I see it. We've got a classic case of mutually assured destruction."

Jude kicked him. "Stop making Cold War references."

"That was once," Bates said. "Unintentionally."

"And again just now-"

"So twice."

"More than twice-"

"Shut up and let me save us." Bates turned back to Mallory and continued. "If we kill you, we'll get caught, effectively ending our careers. If we let you go, you tell our secret and our career, again, is effectively over. The public might not believe we're vampires, but even an accusation of kidnapping is enough to do us in."

"You can just let me go now, and I promise I won't say anything," Mallory said.

Bates shook his head. "I can't risk it. So, here's what we're going to do. We're not going to kill you, but we're going to keep you here until the end of the Always: IV tour. When that's done, we'll let you go. If word gets out, we'll know it was you, and I swear to all that's holy you'll be dead before the day is up." He let that sink in, maintaining eye contact for dramatic effect.

"Yeah," Mallory said. "Yeah. Fine. You don't kill me, I don't tell. Okay."

She could do this.

"I'll set up a bed for you," Bates said.

He left, and Jude followed, leaving Mallory alone with her thoughts. It wasn't ideal, but if she had to be held hostage, going on tour with her favorite band wasn't the worst way to do it.