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[sunbaked_baker]

The noise of the coffeehouse was almost reassuring when she stepped back into her bakery from Milliways. She let it be reassuring. Of course, she was still worried about the developing situation, whatever that turned out to be, and what Axel's Assassins might find, but there's only so much brain you have left when you're juggling four different recipes at once.

Rae did, however, contact Con that night, sitting on her balcony with the smoke of the smudge bowls surrounding her. He had noticed, too. Had had to take measures to evade one of the scouts and not be followed back to his earth place. The scout hadn't been local. Nowhere near local. Con told her he would let her know when he found out more. Rae didn't really feel that it'd be a good idea to tell him about the Assassins, so she didn't. When they came back to report, she'd let Con know what they'd found, unless he found out something first.

Days passed quickly, but Con didn't contact her, nor did the Assassins come back. The attacks weren't becoming more frequent, only occurring every week or so, but each one was surprisingly brutal. Four, five people would either disappear or be found dead, dry. And it wasn't just in No Town. The downtown district was hit in the third week after Sunshine returned home, and attacks had been almost unheard-of there, before.

She was worried.

And her SOFs were worried, which made her worry more. The six blocks between her car and the coffeehouse she walked nearly every morning at four-thirty and every evening at eleven felt even longer and darker than usual. When the city had tried to spruce up Old Town, they hadn't exactly finished installing the fakely historical-looking gas streetlamps that were to replace the modern (and brighter) streetlamps they had removed. Some shadowy stretches of street in Old Town were very shadowy. Even with her Dark Sight, there were dark corners of Old Town where the shadows never lay right.

It was worse the days she didn't have the morning shift, and she had to park in the nearby parking deck, seven blocks from the coffeehouse, which left her as often as not, parking underground. She hated it, feeling buried even in the relatively brightly-lit concrete parking deck.

The walks back to her car at night were always the worst. On nights when she'd had to park in the parking deck, Charlie often let her leave thirty minutes early, so she'd get there before the manager of the parking deck locked up for the night. It meant she either had to hurry, or cut through some alleys she'd really rather avoid.

It had been nearly a month, and neither the Assassins nor Con had contacted her. Rae was determined to contact him and make sure nothing had happened to him, once she got home that night. She had come in and baked for the lunch rush, the afternoon lull, the pre-dinner tea and scone crowd, and the major dinner rush, that day, and it had been a struggle to get everything cleaned and put away (tomorrow's cinnamon roll dough was in large bowls in the cooling ovens, rising gently in the residual warmth, until the next morning when it would be large and puffy and ready) so she could leave the half-hour early.

As it turned out, Sunshine was late getting away, so she had to hurry more than usual, jogging as quickly as she could along the dark sidewalks without being in danger of tripping over her flip-flops. Her keys jangled in the bag over her shoulder as she ran.


She felt her before she saw her. It. A vampire in her territory. Just one, as far as she could tell. A scout, then. She supposed the sight of a human already running was too much of a temptation and opportunity for her not to take advantage of it.

Everything in Rae wanted to run faster, to flee. She could feel the adrenaline, bile bitter in her throat. She had to get away. She was prey, and there was a predator closing in, not at all in a hurry. Drawing it out. Playing with its food. Her left hand went into her pocket, closing white-knuckled around the pocketknife that lived there, already warm in her hand. But Rae didn't pull it out. It would give her away.

Rae didn't hear the vampire, of course. She just knew it was there. Knew it when it was a mere six feet behind her, little more than arm's length. She didn't have to think about it; she just knew. She felt it there, its concentration on her: its prey. Felt her own breathing stop in the split second in which she made the decision and acted. She felt the vampire's surprise (mild, amused, intrigued) when she suddenly stopped and turned to face it, stepping forward to meet it with hand outstretched. She felt its surprise (alarm, pain) as she shoved the vampire forward, into, onto her outstretched hand. Felt the sunlight web flare with her own terrible fire as her hand enter the vampire's startled heart, and pulled.

Sunshine felt the... life, or whatever it was, leave, and felt severely ill. The vampire, no longer even vaguely human-looking, fell to the ground.

She had to tell herself to keep moving. That she mustn't be caught here. Pat, Theo, Jesse... they couldn't cover up for her if she kept getting so obviously involved. Rae had just turned to go when she felt another presence at the end of the block, between her and her car. Another vampire, not bothering to move like a human, coming up fast, faster than anything had a right to be.

Heart in her throat, Sunshine strove to clear her mind quickly. She threw up her shield just as the vampire met her, and it ricocheted off, falling to the side. It didn't buy her much time, however, as the vampire had the fluid, inhuman movement of all vampires, and quickly recovered. Too quick. Rae had barely a breath to call up the familiar blue-white-yellow ball of plasma between her sunlight-marked hands, before the vampire was within arm's length again. But, as it reached for her, snarling, three grey-white forms burst from the sidewalk, slashing relentlessly at the vampire's face and chest. Sunshine nearly cried out in surprise, almost losing the plasma bolt forming in her hands - it was all happening too quick. The vampire fought and clawed at the Assassins, and in horror, Rae watched as one, reeling back, seemingly unraveled into ghostly thorns and nothingness. The other two were thrown aside in the next instant, and the vampire lunged for Sunshine.

It was then that she reached forward to meet it, releasing the plasma bolt into its chest.


-----

Sunshine must've passed out. She came back to herself on her hands and knees, shaking like a leaf, in a massive mess of blood and disintegrated vampire bits. She retched, but supper had been hours ago, and there was nothing to come up. It was just as well. The charnel-house smell was bad enough by itself.

She was covered in blood and bits. Some had gotten into her eyes, and she couldn't blink the viscous liquid out; her eyes burnt where her tears mixed with the blood. It was hard to see clearly, but she could feel herself covered in blood. Feel where it had gotten down inside her clothes, or had soaked through, burning as though the blood itself were a caustic substance. Burning away her decency, her humanness.

Getting to her feet was a shaky, horrible business, but she knew she had to, and quick. This would have set off any SOF tickers in the area, and she had to leave, fast, no matter how much she wanted not to be in her own defiled body. The two remaining Assassins were by her side, waiting. Pinnacles of patience.

"Go back to Axel," she muttered, willing her teeth not to start chattering as she began running towards the parking deck. Though it was a balmy summer night, she felt cold. She called back at them. "Don't stay. SOF will be coming. Go back to Axel."

The Assassins melted into the ground, disappearing from view as Sunshine turned the corner.

She could hear the sirens in the distance. The local SOF headquarters wasn't more than half a mile away. She ran faster, as fast as she could, as she raced towards the parking deck, her car, and her way home. Where there would be a shower. Many showers. She wanted to scrub her own skin off, and didn't doubt that was what it'd take for her to feel clean again.

And that's how she was, running flat-out, breathing ragged, when the open door to the parking garage was no longer the door to the parking garage.