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Weiss had no idea what had possessed her to do this, but here she was, digging through dusty library records in hopes of finding a yearbook from over half a century ago.
She’d been doing well at her job at the local paper, but with Lisa Lavender on the same news team she needed something to give her an edge, a story that would get her noticed.
She didn’t think she’d necessarily surpass her, nor had Lisa been vindictive enough to try, and get in her way. The woman honestly seemed to just live, and breathe the news, but Weiss's own personal pride wanted to earn it for herself.
Of course that left her the difficult, and unenviable task of finding something that either wasn’t mainstream news yet, or uncovering something herself.
While she had a decent stipend to work with for doing research, and remote work, it wasn’t like she could afford to hire private detectives, or the like. Especially looking for something so esoteric, and ill fitting.
It was simple, really. A passing thought she’d had when she recalled one of her teachers she’d had at school, one Maria Calavera. The woman claimed to be in her late fifties at the time, but to Weiss she looked to be barely even half of that at best. She’d certainly been responsible, at least in part, for her sexual awakening, and realization that she might in fact enjoy the company of women, which had been mortifying at the time.
Sure she knew clean living could help, as that had been her teacher’s answer when posed the question, but she’d recently gotten a notice that the woman had retired…at nearly eighty years of age.
The fact that Weiss would often see her out on the tennis courts, or running around the track back when she attended school, told her Miss Calavera had a lifetime commitment to fitness, and likely excellent genes to back it up. Then again some people did just age more gracefully than others.
Fountains of youth, or tips, and tricks for aging more gracefully always performed well, and while it wasn’t the earth shattering story she was looking for, it would be a good one that would pay well enough to keep searching for something better.
That, and it might be nice to see the now old woman who’d told her she’d one day make an ‘excellent snoop’ when she’d caught the woman fiddling with a necklace that had a small ring on it.
Not that she’d ever gotten the story of just who she was seeing, or married to, but she’d taken it as a compliment anyway.
So here she was looking through old yearbooks trying to find one that would have her old teacher in it. She wanted to get the picture to do a sort of through the year's collage, and comparison for her article, but was getting frustrated…at least until she found an even older yearbook, one dated almost two hundred and fifty years ago?
Why was it stored here? Unlike the others there was a lack of dust on this one indicating it had been handled at least somewhat recently as curiosity drove her to examine the book.
The Beacon School for Excellence? She couldn’t recall ever hearing about such a school, but again she realized it was unlikely the school was still around, which might explain why the yearbook had been dumped here as there was no other place for it.
Most of it looked to be the same as a standard yearbook, although clearly with very delicate pages, and a bit less ‘refined’ compared to the current standard for yearbooks.
It was both more, and less formal than she expected.
Plenty of group photos of children in summer clothing having fun with marbles, jump ropes, and the like, and also plenty of them in uniforms during class.
Strange, but likely the style at the time.
A list of faculty, the head of the school, the assistant, the…
Weiss stared. There was no way. She’d have missed it if not for the clearly recent cleaning the page had undergone.
The other pages were a bit dirty, dust having accumulated on even the pages, but this one was cleaned, at least hastily which had caused her to stop.
There tucked away in the corner, a corner that had clearly had far more attention given to it was a photo of her old teacher.
Granted it merely had her last name on it, but it was her spitting image, down to the same stance, and smirk she was wearing, hand on her hip, very much not in the style of women at the time, and more of what she assumed was the one men wore.
A petticoat instead of a poofy dress, but the same silver eyes she could tell even from the black, and white photo looked outward toward her.
Somehow they seemed to be almost challenging her, or rather whoever took the picture, or might see it, although challenging in what way she didn’t know.
She’d heard of a few descendants that resembled their ancestors, but this was an absurdly near identical comparison.
Making up her mind, she decided to check out the yearbook, although the young woman at the desk with amber eyes had given her a strange look at that, even when she’d let slip it was for research, and swiped her library card anyway.
“Just don’t damage it, and have it returned in two weeks,” the woman, Blake according to her name tag, warned her.
“I will,” Weiss promised before she’d left.
Thankfully, she’d already found out where her old teacher lived, and figured she might find it amusing to see just how much she looked, or at least had resembled her many times great something, or other.
She buckled up as she started the engine, and got ready for her drive. It wasn’t terribly far out of town, but it was on the edge of the suburbs, the sort where you were less than thirty minutes from the city proper, but there were smaller mom, and pop stores, and sometimes the backyards ended in forests, or fields instead of a neighbor’s yard.
An ideal location for those who wanted to be around someone, but not deal with the likely higher crime rate, or noise of the city. Altogether perfect for her now retired teacher who had often complained about being annoyed by all the ‘hubbub’ she had to hear daily.
Weiss wished she could have gone faster, but the local police were out in force, making stops, and sitting at intersections today.
Why? She had no idea, perhaps they were short on department funds, and were looking to shore up their coffers offering tickets for things they’d normally ignore. Well she certainly wouldn’t give them a reason to pilfer her limited finance.
She’d been focused on her potential story, but it was just after dinner, or just during normal dinner hours when she arrived.
She delayed knocking on the door once she arrived, book tucked away in her purse, as she fidgeted on the porch.
Part of it was not warning to see the vibrant woman reduced to a barely mobile shambling form, as the passage of time inevitably did to all of them.
Even if she was still mobile, or aged better than most, she’d certainly be diminished, and at that age health could vanish overnight.
Still, she had come all this way, and she would no doubt enjoy spending time with her old teacher. She doubted she’d want to stay awake all that much longer at her age so she mustered her courage, squashed her nerves, and knocked promptly.
For a moment nothing happened before she heard whispering from inside. Was company over? Family perhaps? There had been a car in the driveway, but she’d assumed it was Miss Calavera’s. She chastised herself for not thinking ahead, and calling, but she’d been so excited, and confused, if she were being honest, about the yearbook that she’d neglected to do so.
She was debating if she should knock, call out, or just leave when she heard the deadbolt being slid open as the door was cracked just enough for a set of eyes to appear which they shortly did.
Strangely enough, it was another pair of silver eyes that peered out at her, assuredly not her teacher’s however. Rather than the dark skin she might have expected, this woman appeared to be closer to Weiss’s own age, and had fair skin. The silver eyes, and dark hair were the only thing they seemed to share.
Were they related perhaps? A granddaughter? A very attractive one at least from what she’d seen. She shook her head to clear it, and focus, she really needed to go on a date.
“Uh, hey?” the woman spoke through the small gap in the door. “Can I...help you?”
“I’m sorry for coming over unannounced,” Weiss apologized. “My name is Weiss, Weiss Schnee. I was a student of Miss Calavera, and read that she just retired. I just thought I’d stop by,” Weiss said as she put a hand on her chest at her introduction. “I didn’t mean to intrude, truly, Miss?”
“Uh, huh. It’s Ruby. Weiss, right?” the young woman confirmed, and she nodded. “Do you mind if I ask if she’s, you know, up for visitors?” she, somewhat awkwardly, although why, Weiss hadn’t the slightest idea, asked.
It was a reasonable request though, and so Weiss took a step away from the door as Ruby held up a singular finger to gesture that she’d return shortly as the door closed.
She amused herself by looking around her teacher’s home. It was nice…quaint, she supposed, but not what she’d expected.
She didn’t know exactly what she’d thought to find, but a normal looking home just seemed to…ill fitting for her old teacher.
She wasn’t saying she expected gargoyles, and a moat with a drawbridge, or even a secret room, or crawlspace, but she had expected something unusual instead of the utterly normal looking home.
A simple garage, boring used car, and brick home with a cheery doormat. It just seemed…so utterly plain. It likely could pass any inspection by even an overzealous HOA member it was so nondescript, and plain.
Not that Weiss’ apartment was a bastion of uniqueness, but landlords didn’t look kindly on renovations for the most part.
There was a small corgi watching her, that was laying by the garage with a collar. Now that was adorable. She couldn’t read the collar from here, but it was nibbling on a small chew toy, seemingly content to watch her, and not approach even as its tail slowly wagged back, and forth.
She made a mental note to see if she could pet it before she left. She’d always wanted a dog, but her father…well suffice to say he’d not allowed such a thing, and the building owner didn’t allow any pets that didn’t live in a tank leaving her without a pet, which was rather unfair in her opinion.
At least this fine gentleman had plenty of space to run, and seemed well cared for if his shiny coat was any indication.
The sound of locks being undone drew Weiss’s attention back to the door, and her eyebrow raised as she heard far more than practical continue to be unlocked.
Was crime more rampant in this area than she’d thought? Surely not.
“Hey, sorry about that. She wasn’t, ah, proper, I guess is how you’d say it, but she’ll see you. Just remember…well you know,” Ruby said solemnly as Weiss nodded.
Her old teacher was likely not in the best of health then, a shame really.
“Thank you,” Weiss said as she passed Ruby to go inside the home, only feeling mildly uncomfortable hearing a few of the door locks being redone behind her.
“We certainly didn’t expect any big bugs coming around today,” Ruby said with a smirk as Weiss looked at her strangely for a moment, taking in the other woman's clothing. She certainly seemed to be wearing a haphazardly throw together ensemble short, and shirts combo, although they didn't seem to quite fit. The cartoon skull was cute though.
“Sorry, I kinda like westerns,” Ruby apologized with a blush as she rubbed the back of her head, and looked away awkwardly.
“Ah,” Weiss said, not sure what else to say to that. As far as hobbies go it was almost kind of adorable really. “What does big bug mean?”
“Just means an important person, or visitor,” Ruby answered with a grin as she led them through the kitchen. “Better than when I got really into medieval stuff. People kept complaining I was talking like a poet, and I’d break out the ‘by my troth’ which…uh took forever to break that habit.”
“An eclectic set of interests,” Weiss commented lightly as she adjusted her carry on purse with the book inside. “Do you just like history in general?”
“Everyone needs a hobby, right?” Ruby asked, deflected really, as Weiss put the information into the back of her mind for later. If she got around to asking the woman on a date, and she was planning on it if she could, then it was important information to have.
“Just a sec. I told her, but she can be a bit lazy,” Ruby teased as she knocked on the door to what appeared to be a bedroom, and stuck her head in.
“I’m old, not deaf,” Maria’s voice came through the wood, surprisingly stronger than Weiss had assumed it would be.
Ruby only opened the door, and gestured for Weiss to enter.
The room was…much more in line with what she expected from the other woman. Strange portraits, weird books on the shelves, and even a few metal band posters for bands she’d heard of.
Or this could be Ruby’s room, and Maria was resting in it, which would be strange, but she was assuming Ruby was a relative, or carer at this point.
Maria herself was in the bed, one of those old fashion night caps that looked like they belonged in a hair salon wrapped around her head, while huge thick glasses were over her face making her eyes seem absurdly large, several thick blankets covered the rest of the woman, save for the edges of her fingers which held onto the covers, and her face appeared to be covered in some sort of cream.
“Mud mask. Says she needs it for her shows in the afternoon,” Ruby filled in their guest as Maria grumbled.
Weiss smirked at that spark of life. It was good to know that despite even the passage of time changing her she retained some of that zest Weiss remembered.
“I should get a better assistant,” Maria snarked as Ruby giggled in response, which informed her it was at least familiar banter, and not something to feel awkward about.
“Hello Miss Calavera,” Weiss said with a small bob of her head as an introduction.
“Ah hello, Weiss,” Maria said as her eyes blinked, once, slowly at her. “Ah, the snoop!”
“Snoop?” Ruby asked.
“Aye, didn’t I tell you? This one was in one of my classes at school when I taught. Always trying to snoop around, even saw my wedding band once. I told her she’d be a good sneak, and I meant it!”
“You didn’t tell me that,” Ruby said as she stood against the wall, one foot against it, looking fairly amused at the interaction. “Still, considering how much you hid that thing it’s amazing she saw it at all.”
“And that’s why I said she’d be great at it,” Maria proclaimed, and Weiss felt a bit of pride that she’d remembered her at all. “She also kept sneaking peaks at me when I would exercise,” Maria confided in a ‘sotto voce’ to Ruby.
“Is that true?” Ruby asked, her voice carrying great amusement.
Weiss felt her face erupt in a furious blush. “I was a confused teenager!”
“Doesn’t sound like you were confused,” Ruby teased as Weiss forget herself, and snarled at the other woman.
“Oh, ho! Chica, sounds like you have yourself an admirer,” Maria teased from her place in the bed.
Ruby feigned fainting as she waved a hand in front of her face to ‘cool herself down’.
“At least you haven’t changed all that much,” Weiss muttered as she glared at her old teacher.
“Less than you’d think,” Maria agreed as she ignored the woman’s raised eyebrow. “So what brings you over here?”
“I saw the article about your retirement, and wanted to thank you.”
“For teaching you?”
“For setting me on the path that started my career. I became a professional snoop,” Weiss told the woman with a grin as Maria brought her hands together in a quick clapping motion.
“Ha! I knew it!”
“Yes, yes. I figured I could do a report about you, and how you were doing. You always looked rather good for your age at school.”
“I look good at every age,” Maria cut in insistently and she glared when Ruby giggled at her.
“At any rate,” Weiss interjected, lest it turn into a back, and forth. “I went looking for an old school yearbook.”
“From your graduating class?” Maria asked pleasantly, and Weiss saw Ruby stiffen out of the corner of her eyes for some reason.
“No, yours,” Weiss corrected her.
“Good luck finding one,” Maria said with a snort. “Heard they all got lost in a fire. Unless you happen to know the class who might have their own book.”
“You’re right,” Weiss agreed as Ruby relaxed slightly. “But I did find something else I brought to show you.”
“Oh? What’s that?” Maria asked, her voice curious as she lightly adjusted her glasses.
“I was looking for the old yearbooks, and found one that was mixed in that was even older.”
Maria merely looked on placidly as Weiss grabbed the yearbook from her bag, and pulled it out.
“I found what I assume has to be an ancestor of yours. She could be your twin,” Weiss said as she opened the book to the page she’d marked, and handed it over.
Beacon, eh?” Maria said before she’d even grabbed the book. “Surprised any of these made it,” she said simply as her eyes flicked toward Ruby for a moment.
“Pardon?” Weiss asked.
“You’re not the only one who did research into their own family,” Maria chided lightly as she looked at the picture. “Damn fine woman. Shame petticoats never came back in style, but overall I think outfits are a bit nicer for us nowadays.”
The sound of a dog barking had both women look at one another for a moment.
“I’ll go bring Zwei in,” Ruby offered before she slipped out of the room.
“Likely as not, he saw a rabbit, or something he wants to chase,” Maria offered neutrally even as Weiss tried to not to feel worried, although for what reason she had no idea.
“Right,” Weiss agreed before she looked back to the older woman. “Petticoats?”
“Not bad, always a strange fitting though,” Maria said before she tacked on, “or so I’ve heard.”
“Ok. I…”
The sound of running feet caught both women’s attention as Ruby rushed into the room, Zwei in her arms. “He’s here.”
“Well damn,” Maria said as she spared a brief look at Weiss, and shrugged. “Nothing for it now I suppose, earlier than we’d thought though.”
“I thought you said you buried him in the mountain caves?” Ruby asked as she crated Zwei, and pushed the cage into the closet where he’d be out of the way.
“Chica, there is a reason we’ve had peace the last fifty years,” Maria countered as she threw off the covers, glasses, and leapt out of the bed with more grace than Weiss felt she’d ever personally possessed, let alone a woman of supposed eighty years.
“What’s going on?” Weiss asked, as she tried to understand. The old woman had removed the nightcap, and had taken the towel Ruby had given her to wipe off the mud mask on her face, both of which revealed she looked to have not aged a day in the several decades since she'd last seen her.
“Too long to explain right now,” Ruby cut in. “Maybe later. We’re going to have violent company. You should be fine,” Ruby added. “So just stay out of the way in here, yeah?”
Maria snorted as she opened the middle drawer, and removed some sort of weapon she tossed onto the bed. “How long?”
“Two, or three minutes at best, maybe five if he tries to avoid anyone seeing him.”
“Hijo de puta,” Maria swore. “We were expecting a few more months before we’d have to get out. Are the bug out bags ready?”
“Mhm. We can always use some of that gold we buried if we need to, but the deeds, and will are in place,” Ruby informed her as she reached into the drawer to grab something of her own, and what Weiss recognized as a taser.
“Think it’ll work?” Maria asked mildly, even though she was near frantically searching for something.
“Can’t hurt to try. Tech has changed a lot so I doubt he’s gonna be expecting it.”
“True, true,” Maria agreed as they all heard the sound of something outside scraping against the stone. “Times up then. Let’s kick his ass, and then celebrate!”
“Heck yeah!” Ruby cheered as she pulled in Maria for a searing kiss that had Weiss briefly forget the apparent danger they were in, at least until the sound of the back door being hit forced them apart.
“Such a dick,” Maria groused as she snagged both items from the bed, and looked at Weiss. “Stay, or don’t. If you leave, this’ll be the last time we speak, but if you go out the window he won’t bother you. If you stay…”
“I’ll get an answer?” Weiss asked hopefully, as her desire to snoop warred with her desire to flee to safety.
Ruby shrugged after looking at Maria. “Sure. It’s not like anyone would believe you anyway.”
The sound of the backdoor being hit again, and again was heard.
“Damn fine locks,” Maria praised. “We’ll need to remember to get those again next time.”
“Definitely,” Ruby agreed as she tossed a wink Weiss’s way, and they both left the room, weapons in hand.
For a moment Weiss sat, paralyzed, as she heard the backdoor finally give in, or at least splinter, and footsteps sounded like gunshots through the house.
Zwei’s whimpering had her looking at the book still in her hands, and the woman she’d just seen leap out of bed. It made no sense, but what her mind was telling her, almost begging her to see what seemed beyond impossible.
The sound of arguing, some sort of angry accusation was heard before she heard a sharp yelp, and so much electricity being discharged it was audible even to her.
“Damn,” Maria’s voice came through the door. “I think his jacket caught fire.”
“Kind of a let down,” Ruby responded in a muffled voice.
Weiss’s curiosity overcame her, and she left the room, and walked the short distance to the living room to see a man on the ground, his jacket was indeed smoldering from where she’d assumed the taser in Ruby’s hands connected.
“I just thought, you know, why not use the strongest setting first?” Ruby asked with a carefree shrug.
“Aye, always was annoying movies when they just send more progressively strong henchmen to the hero, training them. If the weakest fail send the strongest in right afterward,” Maria concurred before she noticed Weiss. “I see you decided to stay.”
Weiss wordlessly gestured to the man on the ground as he twitched, and Ruby hit him again producing a pitiful moan as Maria used her foot to move a truly massive sword out of his hands.
“Ah, this is ‘The Hound’,” Ruby introduced the man. “Not sure on his real name. Don’t think anyone is.”
“Should we call the police?” Weiss asked before she looked at her teacher…who now that she was looking at her, looked like she was in the prime of her life…and not wearing a lot of clothes.
Maria saw her look, and smirked as she gestured to the bra, and panties she had on. “We were in the process of ‘celebrating’ my retirement when you interrupted.”
Weiss gave a look toward Ruby who rolled her eyes. “We’re both older than even the yearbook picture you had. That was Maria, at some point. I still say you should have joined me in the west instead of taking that job.”
“I joined you eventually, and we had that great shootout!” Maria countered.
“I…”
“Right, he’ll be up before too long. Long, and short of it if you have silver eyes you don’t age past, like, your mid twenties, or something,” Ruby explained.
“I can tell you that sex when you have the experience, your partner has been with you for a while, and is always willing to try new things is fantastic,” Maria chimed in with a grin, clearly finding great amusement in flustering Weiss.
“So this hound?” Weiss asked, trying to focus on something beyond the images her mind supplied her with.
“As far as we can tell, he hunts other people with silver eyes to kill them. Not sure how exactly, but he’s certainly managed before, or seems to have. As he also has silver eyes you can imagine it’s hard to kill him too. We heard from another one of us years, and years ago that he’s convinced he’s cursed to live until the last of those with silver eyes is gone,” Maria explained.
“There’s not like a ton of us, but there’s enough that he changes targets at random to keep you guessing, maybe get you to lower your guard. Sometimes we see him every five years, and sometimes every other century.”
“Last time I left him partially sealed in concrete in some weird cave system. Knew he was trailing us, and laid a trap for him. Probably why he came after us again,” Maria remarked, taking the taser, and amusing herself by hitting his head, and making the body jump.
“You expect me to believe you’re both hundreds of years old?” Weiss decided on.
“Personally?” Maria asked. “No, and we don’t care if you do. Like I said, we’ll be gone before sunrise now thanks to this idiot, so it’s not like you’d see us again, and like she said,” Maria said nodding toward Ruby. “Who’d believe you?”
“So you’re married?” Weiss asked.
Ruby beamed. “Almost our four hundred, and fiftieth anniversary!”
“F-four hundred?”
“And fifty!” Ruby added on proudly.
“That explains…a lot more than I realized,” Weiss admitted, sitting down on the couch heavily.
“I’ll get Zwei, and start getting the stuff we can’t leave without, and our Bob’s,” Ruby offered as she gave a grin to Weiss.
“This was…not the story I expected to get,” Weiss admitted as Maria grinned, and readjusted her bra strap that had a skull on one breast, and a rose on the other.
“But what a one to get instead, right?” Maria asked.
“How has no one noticed this?”
Maria shrugged. “Most of us learn pretty early on that it’s best to stay with others of our kind, or live solitary lives. Before a hundred years ago, hell before fifty even, getting a new identity was as simple as just moving somewhere else a few hundred miles away,” she explained before she frowned at the battery in the taser, and looked at the body on the floor before shocking him twice for good measure.
“I suppose…”
“Nowadays we have a guy who is in the know, he and his family arrange all of it for us. Makes him a tidy fortune, and keeps him in work. He doesn’t have to work often, but he makes more than enough to live on,” Maria said with a shrug. “We already made sure the stuff stands up to scrutiny, and it passed so that’s why I ‘retired’. I’d have just had a nice time here for a few months, ‘sold’ the house, and then moved away to enjoy my retirement, and never talked to anyone again.”
“I…see. How did you, and Ruby meet?”
“She begged me to marry her,” Maria proudly declared.
“Really?”
“She’s skipping a lot,” Ruby said as she set down two large duffel bags, and a now sleeping Zwei in the living room.
“Barely anything.”
Ruby rolled her eyes. “Her tribe attacked my family's holdings, and my mother gave her the option of a political marriage for our families, or they’d wipe her out. She wanted to fight because she’s an idiot,” Ruby remarked.
“And you begged me to marry you,” Maria said proudly.
“You were on the ground with arrows sticking out of you like a pincushion, and your body was covered with wounds. It was marry me, or you, and your family died.”
“She was crying.”
“You were delirious from blood loss.”
“And she looked like an angel.”
“...that might be true. My mom had some weird outfit we had to wear which kinda looked like that,” Ruby admitted as Weiss’s head went back, and forth like at a tennis match.
“Why…were you fighting?”
“She cheated in draughts against my mom,” Ruby said simply. “Checkers is what they call it now.”
“You...went to war over checkers?”
Maria only smirked in reply, and left Weiss unsure if that was even remotely true, any of it really, before the dark skinned woman turned to Ruby, and tapped her fingers on her bare knee with a raised eyebrow.
Ruby clearly understanding the implied question, merely shrugged. “It’s up to you. We don’t have to, but it’s as good an excuse as anything else.”
“Aye, that’s true. Any pressing reasons to stay here?”
“We were interrupted,” Ruby said hungrily as her eyes devoured her wife sitting on the couch nonchalantly.
“So we were,” Maria agreed as she licked her lips. “It wouldn’t do to not give the bed a farewell.”
Weiss…was almost sure this was a fever dream…or a different kind of dream as they both seemed to realize she was still there at the same time.
“You know…we never did get ourselves a four hundredth anniversary present,” Ruby said leadingly.
“That’s true,” Maria agreed as Weiss felt a blush cover her face. “And she did come all this way.”
“Mhm,” Ruby agreed before her eyes went wide. “Wait!”
“Agh,” Maria said, spitting out a mouthful of blood as a sword pierced her chest from behind. “Such…a dick,” she groaned before she collapsed to the floor.
Weiss screamed, and Ruby leapt toward ‘The Hound’ who was now on his feet as he met her attack head on, his sword clashing against something metal in Ruby’s hands,
“Miss Calavera,” Weiss cried as she tried to staunch the bleeding.
“First, it’s Ms, I know you know that, I taught you. I’m married,” Maria remarked as she coughed up a mouthful of blood.
“Ms. Sorry.”
“Just Maria is fine under the...circumstances.”
A loud crash had Weiss wince as she pressed harder on the wound.
“A little higher please,” Maria requested as Weiss complied, her face turned watching Ruby beat the man with what appeared to be a metal pipe, or staff she supposed.
“She’s really letting him have it,” Maria remarked, almost casually despite her bleeding out. “More pressure please.”
Again, Weiss complied as Ruby got a cut across the arm but managed to slam her staff into his face hard enough to shatter his teeth. Even as he began to choke on them she forced the staff further into his mouth.
“SHE’S NOT GOING TO BE IN THE MOOD NOW YOU JERK!” Ruby screamed even as he forced his sword to swing, and it bit into her side.
With a superhuman roar, Ruby used her hands, and put enough strength into the staff to lift him into the air, and she assumed out the backdoor.
After a few moments she heard heavy footsteps come back as Ruby walked back inside, her side barely bleeding as she raised an eyebrow at the two of them. “Did you get started without me?”
“What?” Weiss asked as Maria cackled.
“She’s so bold,” Maria remarked as Weiss looked at where her hands were now directly on her bra as Weiss squealed, and removed her hands like they burned.
“She’s shameless,” Ruby said fondly. “Get up you faker. Weiss doesn’t really know you’re fine, stop worrying her.”
“But she-”
“Immortal, and regenerating very quickly,” Ruby interrupted as she gestured to her now fully healed side.
“So won’t he?”
“Nah, he’ll slink off. He never stays, local law enforcement, and what not. He can’t afford to be locked up for decades, and let us all go to ground even more, or let the secret get out. There’s way worse fates than death after all,” Maria remarked.
“Besides, like I said, we're really hard to kill. If he doesn’t really have an advantage over us I doubt he’d manage it. If he had a sure fire easy way of doing it then he’d just do that, but he doesn’t,” Ruby said simply. “That all being said, the neighbors are thankfully deaf, and they won’t take their dog out for another few hours so we have enough time to set the stage, and make some distance.”
“Set the stage?”
Maria nodded. “We’ll blame it on the Hound, or whatever they call him in the papers. Police are out in force. We’ll just let the blood rest here, and the police will assume he killed the poor old woman,” Maria teased as she slapped her hand onto her thigh with a wink.
“Nice to meet you though,” Ruby added cheerily. “That taser was fun. Think an electric fence would work next time?”
“Be funny, if nothing else,” Maria agreed as she bent over to remove a pair of sweatpants, and a hoodie she threw on. Remember to have this cleared out when I ‘will’ it to you. I want my damn books without having to go to an estate sale!”
“You left them,” Ruby reminded her as she looked around the living room, perhaps realizing she was about to leave her home once more, and wanting a final look.
“It was your fault!” Maria accused her as she pointed a finger in Ruby’s general direction as she rifled through the bags.
“For existing in the same space you were?”
“And wearing that damn bikini at our pool!”
“You bought it for me to wear,” Ruby countered easily as she pulled out a small box she opened, and stuffed something Weiss missed inside before replacing it in the bag.
“Not when I needed to be concentrating.”
“Ah, I should have anticipated your future whims,” Ruby finished with a grin. “How thoughtless of me.”
“Finally, you see the truth,” Maria agreed with a grin as she bumped their hips together, and wrapped an arm around her. “Gonna miss this place.”
“It was fun. I’m thinking bunker for the next one.”
“Has anyone maintained it while we were gone?” Maria asked.
“I mean I send yearly cleaning into it, but it’s isolated so it’ll work while we figure out where we want to settle next. He never goes there. Way too remote, and we’d know he was coming days before he showed up.”
“Sucks about the lack of groceries. Canned food for dinner all the time,” Maria lamented. “Surprisingly good satellite TV though.”
“It’ll just be for a bit til we can get things cleaned up here, and we can pick up some fresh stuff to throw into the freezer. A half a side of beef maybe? Anyone we want to see, or visit before we settle down again?”
“Can’t think of anything off hand. My dad is…somewhere in the middle of the jungle so I mean unless that sounds like fun…”
“Hard pass. Those mosquitos are awful,” Ruby complained, making a face that said she’d had prior experience to compare it to.
“I…” Wess tried to interject, her feet feeling a bit unsteady beneath her as she felt them both grab an arm and help her sit.
“Sorry we got carried away,” Maria apologized. “I imagine this is shocking for you so quick wrap up. Silver eyes live forever, or something. That guy shows up, and tries to kill us, and we move around a bit. Human as far as we can tell, but we just recover really fast. You were a great student, and a lovely woman as far as I can tell.”
“You can either stay here, and we’d prefer you go with our story. He got ‘Maria’ and dragged her away, and you managed to get him to leave with the taser, but couldn’t catch up to him, or something,” Ruby offered as she held the taser her way.
“Or?” Weiss asked.
“Or…” Maria trailed off with a hum. “You can leave now, but people will likely have seen you arrive, or you can…come with us.”
“Come with you?” Weiss repeated as she blinked owlishly.
“Sure,” Maria offered. “It might be fun, or if you want we can drop you off somewhere. We have more than enough money to help set you up if you hang with us, but eh, your call.”
“Yeppers, either you keep living your life like this, and we’ll give ya a good old fashioned goodbye, or-"
“I have another idea,” Weiss cut in as both silver eyed women gave each other a look before looking at her instead.
“Going freelance? Are you sure?” her editor spoke over the phone. “If you need time off after what happened we certainly understand. Anyone would be rattled by that.”
Weiss shook her head even though he couldn’t see it. “It made me realize that we never know how much time we have left. I might never get an anchor position, but I can still write good articles freelance for you if you’ll allow it, and get the most out of my life,” Weiss said as looked around her apartment, which was currently hosting a pair of silver eyed idiots who were playing, or rather both cheating at a board game trying to beat the other.
“Well, I’ll certainly send you over the amended contract if you’re sure.”
“I am,” Weiss said before turning serious. “I’ll be leaving town once the funeral is over most likely.”
“Understood. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.”
“I think it’s time I move on with the next stage of my life,” Weiss deflected. She had no idea where the road was going to take her, but this was a chance for her to embark on the potentially greatest story ever told, and as she’d been told ‘she was an excellent snoop’.