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As soon as Danny was out of the sight-line of the building that Laura and company were occupying, she broke out into a run. It had taken longer than she had anticipated to sooth Laura's and then Kirsch's fears and then endless questions of the consequences of stopping the hunt. It was hard, to lie straight to their faces. Telling, reassuring, insisting even, that it was nothing to worry about. That the words that Mel had said were just words and not warning or a possibility of what was to come. The confidence that she did not feel but she had been so apt at faking it for years that no one could tell, had paid off. But it still simultaneously hurt and relieved her that Laura couldn't figure it out. However, she had lost track of time, and now she could only hurry back to her room or rather, her former room.
If she was lucky, the room would be as she left it and the whole "If they so wish, the Sisters are each allowed to remove one object from the room" from the Summer Society's handbook hadn't happened yet. It was mildly worrying because some things she would need would definitely be of interest to some of the underclassmen. Instead, what she was met with was Elsie waiting outside her door.
"Hey," Elsie greeted.
"Elsie." Danny acknowledged as she went into her room. Elsie followed not bothering to wait or ask to be invited in. Danny opened her mouth to remind Elsie like she usually did about appropriate behavior, not that it did much good anyway as Elsie always muttered something about Danny not having enough swag. This time was different, she should have scolded Elsie but, Danny remembered, it's not that she really had any say anymore, Elsie was a Sister and she was, well, she was not. Danny was now a guest in what she thought would be her home for at least another year.
Her room, rather the room, was more or less as she had left it this morning. There were two bags on her bed, a duffle and an impressive looking backpack. Next to them was her bow and a quiver of arrows. With the exception of the bow and arrows none of the other items were hers. The duffle belonged to a girl her year, Kristin. The pack to a freshman Jordan. But it was the quiver that caught Danny’s attention. Danny reached out to touch the leather of the quiver, scarcely believing it, this had belonged to her mentor who had graduated two years ago. It had been painstakingly handmade and no one had used it since. It was so well made that it had replaced the quiver one in the display case that showed the new recruits what the Summer Society stood for.
"Elsie, you didn't steal this did you?" Danny doubted Elsie took anything too seriously and wasn't above doing things without thinking about the consequences.
"Pfft, I'm wounded," Elsie responded good naturedly. "That's Aderyn's gig. Not that there was much stealing needed. The only person who really disagreed was Claire. Mel's trying to talk her down right now."
"She is?"
"Yeah. Despite how she acts towards you she does respect you. Problem is, Claire has such a stick up her ass."
Danny had to crack a smile at the truth of that particular statement, Claire was such a stickler for tradition and rules. Not to mention Danny had gotten into her bad books because of the fiasco last semester. It was unfortunate because right now, the President was the only one who put a stop to the hunt, the new one where she was the prey.
"We don't think Claire will change her mind, which sucks 'cause nobody really wants to go after you, but you know Society rules dictates and all that shit," Elsie paused tilting her head to the side. "Let's see the backpack is a tactical pack and has basic supplies. Food, water, rope, and whatever Thulile could think of. I think Liv took the liberty of packing your clothes after asking Unah to make some alterations but she left some room in case you needed anything else. Yeah, I think you're all caught up now. I'll give you time to make sure we didn’t forget anything but when you're done come swing by."
“Hey Elsie.”
“Yeah?”
“Tell everyone ‘thanks’.” Danny meant it, not just to Elsie but to everybody. It was touching to know how much they cared.
“Tell them yourself,” Elsie said as she grinned and strutted out the door.
As soon as the door closed, Danny gave a small but audible sigh of relief. It's not that she didn't like Elsie, she could just be, well, Elsie. Danny picked up the bow and with practiced ease strung it. She’d need it sooner rather than later, and set the bow down within reaching distance. As she looked through the clothes that were packed, she only had to add a couple more things; her varsity jacket, a couple of throwing knives, and a stake or two. She didn’t bother with the pack, Thulile was a master at survival and she trusted her friend’s, often lethal, judgment.
“I suppose that’s it then.” Danny picked up the packs, she still had four hours, a decent amount of time to stash some things around and find a good campsite. Danny exited the room and headed toward the kitchen door, which was closest to the woods. She got to the kitchen and was greeted by all the residents of the house, well almost all of them. Danny noted that Claire was unsurprisingly absent.
“Did you think we’re gonna let you waltz out the door without saying a proper goodbye?” Elsie asked striding forward and grasping Danny’s right forearm in a traditional Sister farewell. One by one each of the Sisters did the same. Some told her good luck or other things. While, others like Thulile nodded solemnly before exiting. Sofie, their cartographer, who kept track of the current layout of the forest, gave Danny a map.
“It’s three weeks old but it should still be good for the next 24 hours.”
Danny was hard pressed not to cry from all the support she was receiving. The crowd lessened bit by bit until there were only three people left. Danny, Elsie, and Mel.
“Take this,” Mel said marching forward and shoving a sheathed dagger into Danny’s hands.
“Mel, I can’t take this.” It had been in Mel’s family for generations.
“If you survive this, you can give it back. If not,” Mel shrugged as though apathetic, “I’ll just take it from your body.”
“Fair enough,” Danny acknowledged, hiding her smile by looking down and strapping the dagger to her hip.
“Gotta get ready for the hunt. Don’t die on me, Lawrence.”
“From you? As if.” Danny said back. Mel gave her a smirk before leaving. That just left Elsie.
“We’re going to hold Claire off from sounding the horn for as long as possible, that’ll give you a few extra hours. Don’t waste it.” Elsie said moving out of Danny’s way. Danny nodded her thanks and made her way out the door.
“Are you going to tell Laura?” Drawled a voice from behind her. Startled Danny swung the the bow around, notched an arrow and in one smooth motion pointed it at the voice.
"Carmilla," she said bringing the bow down to her side. She wasn't sure if she trusted the vampire, but after last semester there was some lingering respect there.
Carmilla just arched an eyebrow, "Well, someone is certainly high strung."
"I don’t have time for this,” Danny said resuming her walk away from the house “What do you want vampire?"
“Just trying to figure out what to tell Laura.”
“How about you tell her that I might have just sacrificed my own life for a Zeta?”
“As much as I’d like to undo all the effort you put into not making her worry, I don’t think she’d believe me.” Only Carmilla could sound that frustratingly accurate.
“Well, then tell her something so she doesn’t worry about seeing me for a few days. Make up something with the crazy Sisters’ needing to do camping or survival or some bonding retreat. I'm sure you could figure something out.”
“I could just kill them you know.”
“Wha- no.” Danny drew the bow and pointed it at the vampire again.
“It was a joke, Xena. A. Joke. God, only you wouldn’t be able to take a joke.”
“Just leave me alone.” Danny said resuming her trek.
“It’s your funeral.”
“Would you stop following me?”
“On one condition.”
“Anything to get you to leave me alone.”
“Don’t die,” was all Carmilla said before disappearing into black smoke.
“Really?” Danny muttered to herself as she continued the long hike away from the Society House. “Seriously, she is the most useless vampire on the planet with that advice.”