49 | At All Costs

Denver, Colarado April 24, 2013

Laura

I can't remember the last time I slept. For almost two days now Mila and I had been traveling, following the arrow on her compass to hopefully find Cynthia and Elle. We dumped the Tahoe Mila convinced us to steal somewhere in Arkansas.

Now we were all piled up in a rented suburban. Scott was driving this time since it was apparent I could no longer drive.

The coven had blocked off every exit getting out of Manhattan, they were scouting each car that passed. But Seana and Elle did manage to escape. They drove that old Buick right into the Hudson River, they must've swum to New Jersey then. I didn't know how Cynthia could track them now.

I reported the SUV as stolen, hoping it would deter Cynthia momentarily. But there had been no reports of it being recovered. And now we were in Denver.

I was getting hopeless now, they could have been on the other side of the world by now, but things changed when Zach got a call from Celesta.

He put it on speaker so we could all hear her.

"Guys! I just had another vision, but it was really bad this time! I just about passed out!" Celesta exclaimed.

"What did you see?" Zach asked, his eyes widening with worry.

"Remember that vision I had of that lighthouse?" Celesta recalled. "Well, this time it was more clear. Seana and Elle were in it. And that lighthouse? It is down the coast, almost to Monterey!"

"Holy shit," Scott breathed. "That means they are headed back to California."

"Yup, I don't know when they will be here but I think you guys should come back home," Celesta suggested. "Also Scott, your girlfriend is about to die from separation anxiety."

"No, I'm not!" I heard my daughter screech in the background.

I couldn't help but start to chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Celesta remarked to her. "Anyways hope you all stay safe! We will see you all soon!"

"You girls stay safe until we get there!" I added quickly as Zach told them goodbye and ended the call.

Scott pulled over at some gas station and cut the engine.

"So what's the plan, should we just catch the next fight out to California?" Scott questioned.

"I think we could get a flight to San Jose, but they probably don't have any at this time of day, it's almost 7 PM," I sighed.

"We can still follow the compass," Mila murmured and showed me it. "It just changed directions."

It was pointed directly north now.

I glanced at Scott, an idea forming in my mind. I wanted to make sure everyone back at home would be safe. I wanted the boys to go back to Seaside.

"How about this," I began to Scott. "You and Zach try and get a flight out in the morning. Mila and I will continue to follow the compass."

"We aren't leaving you two alone!" Zach proclaimed.

"Oh we will be fine," Mila grinned. "Fighting vampires is what I do."

"Besides, it will give me a sense of relief knowing you are both with the girls," I added. "I know Celesta would be fine, but Lily doesn't have anything to protect herself."

"She has Margaret and Amberly with her," Scott commented.

"Yes, but like I said, it will be good to have you there with her," I reiterated. "You are the only reason she is still alive. So I want you to go back and keep her safe."

Scott just sighed but nodded in agreement.

Zach looked at both of us glumly.

"It probably would be a good idea to go back, I would just be a sitting duck if we found them," Zach grumbled.

"I think you'd still be able to kick someone's ass," Mila chuckled. "But Laura and I can take it from here."

Then we all swapped seats. I got into the passenger while Mila took over the driver seat. Zach and Scott were now squished in the backseat.

We took off to the airport, Scott had run in to see the list of flights. They had one leaving at 6 AM the next morning for San Jose.

After we got them settled in a hotel close by for the night, we were going 90 now north up into Wyoming. Interstate 80 was only a few miles away now. The compass was pointing west now, so they must've been going back to California now.

Now that it was just me and her, it was time to catch up.

"So how are the kids?" I asked.

It was dark outside now.

"Oh JJ and Raven are doing great!" Mila exclaimed. "JJ is in college now. Hopefully next year he will be graduating. And Raven, oh don't get me started about that girl. She is always getting into trouble."

"Hmm, that reminds me of someone," I murmured. "Weren't you just as crazy in your youth?"

"No, I may set shit on fire but my daughter has a habit of going into dangerous situations," Mila mumbled. "I can't recall how many times I've had to drop everything and go find her from whatever she gets herself into."

We both laughed.

"So I have a question," I put in. "How did Miranda convince you to get involved in this?"

Mila's expression changed suddenly. She looked at me, almost like she was ashamed.

"She originally wanted me to find Seana and kill her, but if I found you, she wanted me to—"

She stopped, her voice caught in her throat.

My face darkened. "What did she want you to do?"

"She knew you and Cynthia would do something, so she asked me to stop you," Mila admitted.

"Some sister she is," I snarled under my breath.

Mila's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, you know?"

I glared at her. "I've always known the truth for years, we may look like our fathers, but the Hathaway's nose is a family curse."

"I meant that I was her sister-in-law," Mila started to chuckle. "Lord, does your mother know that you know?"

"No, neither do our daughters," I uttered. "Miranda didn't want anyone to know, so we kept it to ourselves. She did tell me about you and James though."

I glanced out the window staring out into the dark. I haven't brought up that in years. Ever since Miranda sided with her husband at the meeting, I haven't spoken to her since.

I was only 14 when I found out my mother had another daughter long before I was born. And to make matters worse, she had her with a hunter. Miranda was just about to turn 20. We were at a family gathering and she pulled me upstairs.

I don't know why she told me. When our mother was young, she met a hunter named William Archer. According to her, it was a forbidden love affair, so our mother gave her up to her first cousin Mason. And then years later, she introduced me to her half-brother James.

Mila was his wife before he passed years ago.

"It's such a shame Miranda never told Celesta anything," Mila lamented. "I wish I could meet her, she would have gotten along great with JJ and Raven."

"It is a shame," I agreed. "Just like it's a shame Miranda had someone else try to stop me instead of herself."

"I don't think she wanted to stop you out of animosity," Mila implored. "She probably just didn't want the coven to implicate you in this if something went wrong. You are the future elder aren't you?"

I just gave her a sad smile. "I was until her husband almost killed Samuel and suggested that my daughter either join the coven or die."

"What the fuck?" Mila gawked, looking at me in disbelief.

"Me and a few others left the coven and formed our own," I beamed. "I'm an elder now, and now I don't have to put up with those backward-thinking bastards."

"Well, a lot has happened then," Mila observed. "But she didn't only want me to stop you, she wanted to relay a message."

"Which is?" I grumbled.

"We have a plan to save your Eleanor," Mila beamed.

Six hours went by in a blink of an eye, we caught up on where we were in our lives, and my impending divorce. Mila was shocked at that. She told me she had been dating a man named Matthew for the last 10 years, though she insisted she was never getting married again.

Just as we settled into silence the compass dial started spinning like crazy. Mila grabbed it from me and smiled.

"They stopped somewhere," Mila announced and handed it back to me. "It's almost 3 in the morning, I think we should stop somewhere and rest for a few hours."

"I couldn't agree more," I mumbled and yawned loudly.

We were right on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. I didn't even remember walking into the hotel room. The moment my head hit that pillow I was asleep.

Reno, Nevada April 25, 2013

WAKING up to the sound of Mila's phone shouting something profane made me almost jump through the ceiling. I just snapped my attention to her as she lazily pressed her finger on the screen and made it stop screaming.

"What the hell kind of alarm is that?" I gawked.

"Something that will wake anyone up," Mila mumbled and sat up.

After she finished rubbing her eyes, she went over to the small coffee maker and started putting it together.

"Want some?" she muttered and pressed the button to make it start brewing.

"Yes, but we need to get going," I insisted.

I got up, I was already dressed still from last night. I didn't even have anything else with me. The nice French braid from yesterday was a disaster. I just pulled it out and started using the cheap hotel comb to tame it.

Mila downed three cups of coffee in under five minutes, she handed me the last bit from it, smiling impishly.

I took it from her.

"Drinking all this coffee isn't good for you," I commented.

"Neither is getting only two hours of sleep at night," she remarked. "Yet here I am still trucking along."

I walked over to where we had the compass, the dial was pointed west.

"I've been checking it every 30 minutes, I finally passed out at 6 this morning," Mila sighed. "It just stopped spinning around just as the sun came up."

"Why didn't you wake me up?!" I yelped.

"I passed out," Mila repeated. "Till the death scream alarm woke us up."

"I'm driving this time," I put forth and threw the coffee away.

It tasted like literal dirt. Was that even coffee grounds in that pot?

We jumped back on Interstate 80 after we grabbed some cheap biscuits from a scary-looking convenience store. Mila went in with all of her weapons on display.

We didn't stand out at all.

Scott had called Mila when we were halfway to Reno. He and Zach made it back to Seaside. Now we were all waiting for Seana to go back to California. And she was. The compass was pointed slightly southwest.

We were tailing them a few hours behind. I just hoped Cynthia was alright. I tried calling her with Mila's phone, but it went straight to voicemail. We couldn't do a locator spell on her, she either cloaked herself or Seana did something to her.

My sanity was just about on the brink of collapse. I couldn't think of that. I just had to believe we would get through this.

A few more agonizing hours went by when we finally made it to Reno. The sun had already set behind the mountains.

Our tank was just about empty. If we were going to make it back late tonight we had to stop.

"It's spinning like crazy again," Mila murmured and showed it to me.

"Good, that means they are close by," I grinned and went inside the gas station.

As I was in line, I heard two men mumbling something over at the drink counter. It was an older man and a police officer.

"Yeah, these two girls just came in here not that long ago and robbed the place!" the older man cried. "All I did was start to ring them out, and the next second I looked down all the money was gone! I don't understand what happened!"

"Sir, if you just give me access to the cameras we can get a better description of them," the officer sighed.

I finally got up to the counter and pulled out Mila's card. Good thing she had this, all I had was a hundred dollar bill on me.

"Rough day?" I asked the cashier.

The cashier just let out a big sigh of frustration. "Two women came in here earlier, and Earl just gave them everything we had."

I raised a brow.

"There is no point talking to the police, none of our cameras actually work," the cashier continued.

"Sounds like him having a breakdown over there then is futile," I guessed.

I paid for the gas and left.

At least there was no evidence Seana or Elle were here. I would have destroyed all the cameras in a blink of an eye. I didn't need my goddaughter being on the news as a robber. That would just be a sign telling the Hathaway coven their location.

"You want to ride around town and see if we spot anything?" Mila asked as I uncapped the tank and put the nozzle in.

"Obviously," I replied. "They apparently robbed this place about 30 minutes ago."

Mila just smirked. "Excellent then, we should be able to catch up to them soon."

How soon though? I was already feeling hopeless.

We drove around the city, just as that compass was still spinning in different directions. It was pointed North for about 20 minutes.

As we were coming through downtown, there was a hotel to our right. It was a small one, probably one of the cheapest rates in town. A glint of black caught my attention in its parking lot.

A black SUV with a striking similarity to mine. I just jerked the wheel to the right, going into the next lane as people started blowing their horns at me.

"Laura what the fuck?!" Mila gasped as I pulled in behind the SUV.

It had California plates on it.

"That's my fucking car," I hissed at myself and jumped out to inspect it.

There were no sounds coming from the engine, so it has been here for a while. I peeked in through the dark tint, nothing looked amiss. I grabbed the handle and tried to open it, of course, it was locked.

I waved my hand forward, causing all the locks to shoot upward. I climbed in and started going through everything, nothing had been touched. My purse was still in the backseat untouched. My phone was still resting in one of the cup holders.

I grabbed it and mashed the button to turn it on, only to realize my entire screen was shattered. I just dropped it and angrily slammed the door shut.

Mila was leaning against the rental car, her arms crossed. "Any luck finding out something?"

"Yes, my darling cousin is here somewhere," I snapped. "When I see her I'm going to fucking kill her!"

"How about we just find her first?" Mila interjected as I started stomping my way to the front office.

Normally I never let my temper get the best of me. But between my impending divorce, Elle getting taken and my cousin abandoning me on the street in New York, I was done with the bullshit.

I pushed the door open, startling the woman behind the desk.

"Uh may I help you?" the woman asked, her voice quavering.

"Yes, is there a Cynthia Harris here?" I quipped. "I haven't been able to reach her. Our family is very concerned about her."

"Concerned?" the woman gawked with widening eyes. She started looking through the papers on her desk and pulled one out. "She's in room 213, should I call the police?"

"Not necessary, we just need to talk with her," Mila assured.

As we walked out, Mila grabbed one of her daggers under her cloak and started leading the way to the room. Who knows what we were about to walk into?

We got up to the room, the curtains were drawn shut. Mila quietly went to the door and tried turning it.

"I got this," I whispered and rested my hand on the lock. I closed my eyes and felt the lock breaking apart on the inside.

Mila took that as a sign to kick the door in, which was totally unnecessary.

Part of the door was hanging off the hinges.

"Cynthia?" I shouted as we went in.

The room was empty. Even the beds were still made.

"Did she just dip out or something?" Mila fumed.

Then I felt something in my soul starting to break. I knew that feeling.

I only felt it once when I found my father collapsed on the floor. Only minutes before I came in, he had passed from a brain aneurysm. He was living with me and Samuel at the time.

I slowly walked to the other side of the room, fear building up in me. I looked on the other side of the bed, there was nothing there. The door to the bathroom was closed, just as I touched that knob, a piercing cry went through me.

Another ability I wish I didn't have; feeling the death of others.

I felt a pain going through my spine, feeling like it was shattering into a million places.

"Laura!" Mila cried as she darted out to catch me from falling.

My hand turned the knob as I went down, I caught just a brief glimpse of Cynthia before my head hit the ground. Mila was on the ground wrapping her arms under mine to lift me upward, but I had no strength to stand. I shook her arms off me and sank back down to the floor.

She said nothing as I pushed the door open and crawled over to Cynthia.

I could hardly see as the tears blurred my vision. I pulled Cynthia closer and just held her in my arms as I cried.

Mila suddenly jerked herself upward, facing the door. I glanced behind me, confused as to what made her move so quickly.

"Did you do this?" Mila snarled at someone.

I looked up, to see Elle trembling before us, her eyes locked on her mother.

"I heard what you said across the street," Elle breathed, ignoring Mila.

Her eyes snapped to me, and her face turned from horrified to furious. "You killed her!"

"What?" I rasped.

I let Cynthia go and stood up and tried reaching for Elle, only for her to slap my arm away.

"Listen here little girl," Mila began, her voice now laced with contempt. "We found her in here with her neck broken, who do you think fucking killed her?"

"Shut up," Elle hissed, her eyes blackening. "Seana warned me you all would try and kill anyone who wanted to help me!"

"Elle she has you completely brainwashed!" I shouted. "I came with your mother to try and save you from her! How could you ever think that I would kill your mother?!"

"You said you wanted to kill her minutes ago!" Elle screeched and lunged at me.

Mila intercepted her and threw her against the wall in front of the bathroom. Elle tried prying Mila off of her she couldn't overpower her.

"Elle, please stop this," I begged. "Just let us help you."

Elle just screamed in response and butted her head against Mila, knocking her back.

I reached my arm out and gripped Elle tightly. "I mean it Eleanor, don't make me do it forcefully."

She just laughed and grabbed a fist full of my hair. Then she yanked my head down, knocking it against the bathroom counter, my right leg hitting the side of it as well. Pain exploded throughout my body going right from my head to all over. I fell, clutching my head as Elle resumed fighting Mila.

The room around me spun, but I reached for anything to pull me up to my feet. I found the doorknob and lifted myself up. My other hand gently touched where it had hit the sink, I felt blood coming from it.

A sob escaped me as limped out of the bathroom, just to see Elle grab Mila's neck and snap it. I started hobbling towards Elle as she turned around to finish me off. Her black eyes held nothing in them anymore, she was completely gone.

What happened to that innocent girl Elle used to be? All I saw in front of me now was a monster that killed Elle. She was gone; just like her mother.

And now she had taken a mother away from her two children.

This went beyond personal feelings now. I had to put an end to this for good.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't help you in time Eleanor," I lamented.

"You are on time," Elle grinned sadistically. "The only thing that will help me now is your death."

"Ooh, what do we have here?" I heard Seana ask excitedly.

She was standing in the broken doorway. I pushed my hand out to her, forcing her to fly backward away from us. Elle tried attacking again, but I flung her into the wall, breaking the drywall on impact.

I lifted the dagger Mila had in her hand, her eyes were wide open.

I felt completely sick, never in my life have I been in something this horrifying.

Elle looked at the dagger in my hand and started backing away like a scared child. I knew it was all an act.

She just smiled darkly now and stopped cowering. "Do you even have the nerve to kill me?" she scoffed.

Then Seana appeared behind her and broke her neck.

"Well, that was a fun show," Seana chuckled. "But now I think it's time we had a little chat."

I tightened the grip on the dagger, waiting for her to move.

"You killed Cynthia," I spat.

"Yes, I did," she admitted. "Just as I paralyzed her, I said to her she failed in saving her precious daughter."

I just flung the dagger right at her, striking her right in the abdomen. She looked surprised and pulled it out.

The image of Seana started to blur, my head never stopped bleeding.

"That was a good effort," mused Seana. "Now about our chat."

She shoved me against the wall, her hand around my throat as she started to squeeze it.

"Stop talking and get this over with," I was able to rasp out.

I couldn't even feel my magic, I was too weakened now.

"I was just going to kill just Cynthia to send you and your family a message," Seana sighed as she traced my stomach with the tip of the dagger. "But I think killing you would send a bigger message."

I just spat right into her face in response.

Then something tore into my side, I glanced down to see the dagger being twisted till she yanked it out. Seana just dropped me and took a step back. She licked the dagger and discarded it.

I just wanted to die now. We all failed in trying to save Eleanor. There was nothing left to save.

I couldn't see anymore, I just slowly went to the ground, clutching my side.

"I'll be visiting Seaside soon, I'll be sure to let your daughter know how easy it was to kill you," I heard Seana chuckle.

Then everything went white, a buzzing sound filled my ears as I felt myself floating. If this was death it was peaceful. But the peace didn't last long.

I could start to feel things again, the pain from my side and my head pounding horribly. I could hear the beeping of machines surrounding me and muted voices.

It sounded like angry voices.

Was I still alive?

The last thing I felt before I slipped away was a small pair of hands wrapping mine tightly.