Lectures Can Wait

Who: Dorian and Mathias
Where: Cell phones via car and train
When: Evening

It hadn't been all that difficult to hop on a train, but it had been a pain in the ass staying on one that was going the direction Dorian wanted to go. Seeing as how he hadn't actually bought a ticket, he rode in the carrier cars, along with whatever was being transported across the continent. Sometimes the trains would stop, at which point he'd jump on another, hoping to get to his destination faster.

Spotting his tracker was easy, as the demon had to jump from train to train to keep up. Dorian pretended not to notice, and the demon kept his distance. He assumed there would be more to follow, that the bulk of them were all two steps behind, probably traveling by much more conventional means. While he still had a long way to go, Dorian was finally at a point where he could relax, and he opened his phone, this time dialing up his older brother.

Mathias was driving, though he was looking for a place to stop - Caleb was asleep on the back seat and they needed gas. Somewhere had to have gas on this open expanse of highway, surely. He didn't even really know exactly where they were, just that they were going in the right direction and they were somewhat on schedule. The next car he bought, Math decided, was going to have GPS.

He'd laid his cell on the dashboard, and in the darkness the way the screen lit up as the call came through attracted his attention even before it actually started ringing and he picked it up straight away, though he didn't recognise the number. "Yeah?" he asked, giving nothing away.

"Math, it's Dorian," he said, not at all surprised his brother didn't recognize the number. "Where are you?" It was probably a question that he needed to answer himself, but all he knew at the moment was that he was heading north. He had the train number, but that didn't help him all that much. If Mathias was on the road, Dorian doubted he could do much with that either.

"Middle of fucking nowhere headed for you," Mathias replied, his voice lowered enough that he wouldn't wake his brother. "How's tricks? You okay? Shake 'em yet?"

Dorian smiled to himself, careful not to let it show in his voice. "There's one on the train with me," he said. "I could take 'em out, but I don't know ifthat'd stop 'em. I'd almost rather let him follow, then bring his friends along after. Then take 'em down all at once." After dealing with this for an entire week, Dorian knew that one was not enough. He needed to be rid of the entire gang, or they'd just keep coming, one by one.

"Better the devil you know, than the one you can't see," Mathias agreed. "If they think they've got you, they're less likely to be more cautious. Just make sure you keep moving and don't get yourself cornered. Does he know you know he's there?" Math asked, knowing that he'd been in Dorian's situation more times than his brother could imagine.

"Don't think so," Dorian said, slipping his baseball cap off as he sat back against the wall of the train, his feet on the floor, stretched out in front of him. "I've got two exits from where I am, and I already know I can handle one. He would know that as well, so I think his job is just to follow." If the demon had any brain at all, he'd have observed that Dorian could handle one demon just fine. If he wanted a chance at living a day longer, he'd keep his distance.

"Good," Mathias said, glad to hear that his brother had his head on his shoulders. Running wasn't the most pleasant of experiences, but you got used to it. Or you got dead - that was the choice, since in this world 'stand and fight' wasn't always the most sensible option you could take. "So, bro - what did you do to piss them off?" he asked, curious and finally getting the chance to ask.

"I think I killed someone important," Dorian said, rolling his eyes, annoyed with himself. It had been a stupid thing to do, and he'd managed to start a little gang war between himself and a full gang of demons. Lucky for him, they didn't have huge families back home to cry and later seek vengeance. He wouldn't have killed the first one if the bastard hadn't deserved it. "Once they started chasing me it was a little late to do my homework. Pretty much just a first class fuck up on my part."

Mathias saw the lights of an all night gas station appear in the distance and headed for it. "It's okay, bro - I'll save the lecture on preparation for another day," Math promised. "Right now, I need to know what you know - what we might be up against. How important? What kind of numbers? Are you just a thorn in their side that they might get bored of, or it this a blood feud? Do they have enemies we can deflect this on to? Calls we can make to make one little half-demon not worth it?" he asked, already thinking angles on this one.

"So far I've taken out one--three--eight total," Dorian said, counting through the events of the past few days. "Wait, make that ten. Shit. But that's over the past five days, and I've never had to face more than four at once." Dorian wasn't sure he'd have been able to survive that time, except it had been in a car chase that resulted in their vehicles mysterious crashing into each other at 110 miles per hour. The resulting ball of flame had been fun to watch, but probably didn't help in getting them to back off. "So there's one on the train, I'd predict at least another ten to follow. Considering the damage I've done, I'm not sure they're gonna let it go."

"Yeah, if you haven't thrown them into double figures - you've fucked up big time, man. Remind me to talk to you about disappearing before I let you go next time, okay?" Not that it would have done much good - a lot of Mathias' contacts wouldn't have given his brother the time of day without Math's presence - that was the kind of network you gained off your own back. They were possibly the least trusting types in the world. Good to know, but they didn't take you on word alone. "Okay, so problems - Caleb said fiends, right?" Math checked.

"About disappearing?" Dorian asked. "Once I realized I needed to disappear, it was a bit too late for that. That's when the running started." There was a series of events, of course, none of them showing much intelligence on his part, and he was sure there was a better time to tell Mathias than now. "Fiends, but I've had a hard time snapping their necks," Dorian explained. "Anything blessed should work, if you happen to have blessed weapons laying around."

"Bro - that's when you need to be able to disappear. Not the kind of thing you can really... Tell you what, that can wait, too late now," Mathias said as he pulled into the gas station and turned off the engine, climbing out of the car and walking a little to stretch his legs, his voice returning to normal volume as he left Caleb behind. "Not sure we can do much in the way of blessed weapons, but Caleb can do some almighty damage. We should be fine, if we think ahead. We're aiming to get to our location before you do, check the place out, put together a few contingency plans - we'll only be maybe five, sixhours in advance, but we'll do what we can. You gonna be needing anything when you get in?" Mathias asked him.

Dorian realized he might need a real lesson in how to disappear properly. It was a skill he was definitely lacking. "I'm not defenseless, but I'm tired. I've been trying to rest on the train. I'm out of bullets, haven't had a shower since last Wednesday, and I'm traveling light," Dorian said. "If you can get your hands on the basic necessities, I would appreciate it. What kind of damage can Caleb do?" he asked. "Oh, and if you can get your hands on some weaponry, get me some of those little stars, or knives, or something. Anything light and sharp in multiples."

"I have my belt knife and my hand gun - only got a couple of spare clips for it though," Mathias warned. It wasn't like he really ever used it. In actual fact, if the eldest Lockwood could avoid a fight at all, he generally would. He could hold his own, but it was a matter of preference and pride that he could generally talk his way out of things. And a matter of fact he could run faster than most to get away. "And Caleb? Can do serious damage. Just - word to the wise. Stay out of his way. Don't get in his line of fire and if he tells you to move, don't stop to ask 'why', okay?"

"Your belt knife will work," Dorian said. "These things don't die easy, but if I blind 'em, they'll be easier to take out." Not easy, he thought, but easier. His thoughts then went to Caleb, the destruction his little brother could do and the cost of his magic. Caleb might be good in a fight, but Dorian didn't want him losing so much blood that it became an issue. Then again, he really had no clue how Caleb operated in a fight. He'd been there to help patch him up, but never as a witness. "I'll do as he says," Dorian said. "Are we gonna have to worry about him?"

"No, he's good - he's a damn sight better than me in a fight, that's for sure," Mathias assured his brother with confidence.

"Not that I have much for comparison," Dorian said, smiling slightly. He'd seen Mathias start fights, but they'd never stayed to actually participate. "I was thinking more along the lines of blood loss. Would it kill him to deal with a fight this size? Not that it'll be all on him, but I have no real idea how this is gonna go down."

Mathias smiled into the phone as he wandered up to the kiosk. This time of night, the interior was closed, but he smiled sweetly at the girl inside and she let him in. He took the phone from his face a little to give her a few words of thanks, stopping only when she blushed and giggled slightly, at which point he wandered off, grabbing snack food from the isles. "S'all good - I bought him a present, solves that little problem, just - never use Caleb's knife. It'll fuck you up. Seriously, bro. It's his. Little bit of magic to counter his."

"You never bought me knives," Dorian said, joking with his whine. "You'll have to tell me about it afterwards, but good. I really wasn't thrilled about my little brother getting fucked up to save my ass." And did Mathias realize how badly that truth sucked? Dorian wasn't sure either of his brothers realized how shitty it felt to be bailed out of this mess, though maybe he deserved a bit of humiliation for his mistake.

"Dude - you have telekinesis and glamour skills. Caleb has fuck all and learnt magic that screws him up. Maybe if you want presents you should be a bit more shit," Mathias quipped easily, taking this as though it was something that happened every day, lading one arm up with food, thinking he should have got a bag or something. Hmm -strawberry laces, they were always good for a road trip...

"Yeah, yeah," Dorian said, "I have the impression Caleb can do a hella lot more damage than I can." Though, he wasn't sure that was true either. It was situational. If he wanted, Dorian could shove a body in a box half it's size, regardless of what it did to the body in the process. It wasn't a pretty picture, but telekinesis could get the job done in such creative ways. Demons, though, made things difficult. They didn't die quite like everything else. "It'll be fun to work with him if he doesn't completely show me up."

"Oh god - please don't turn this into some kind of competition," Mathias laughed, heading for the counter and laying what he'd picked up down before the girl -who seemed more than a little put out that he was still on the phone. He quirked her a smile as she started running everything through, before leaning up against the counter. "I'm sure he won't completely show you up - it'll all be good and we can all have our littleskill-sets ," Mathias promised him, glancing out toward the car. Really, he should pay for all of this, gas included. He glanced back at the girl again.

Dorian chuckled quietly, glad to have a laugh. It'd been too long since he'd really had anyone around to make him smile. He hadn't realized how much he missed his brothers till he had them on the phone. "Well, I'm gonna leave it to you to set this all up. You'll probably beat me there and they're on my tail. I don't know how far behind me the rest of them are, so just be ready. I'd prefer they think they're coming in after one, not three."

"Wil do, bro - they won't even know we're there," Mathias promised, before tilting the phone away from his mouth again. "I'm gonna need gas as well," he said, quietly, to the girl behind the counter before immediately turning back to his brother. "You just take care of yourself, okay,Dor?"

"Will do," Dorian responded. "You too, okay? And say hello to Caleb for me." While he wasn't worried about his brothers' safety now, he knew what they were walking into. He knew Mathias had dealt with more than Dorian ever had, and he knew Caleb was good in a fight. That didn't mean he'd wanted to call them down. It was a blow to his pride, needing them like this, but at least he knew he could rely on them. He'd tried to explain it to Caleb once and failed with words, but this was what family was all about. It didn't matter where he was, or what he'd done, they were there for him.

"Sure - he's sleeping right now, or I'd pass you over," Mathias told him. "I'll see you in a day or so, okay, bro. And we'll sort everything out," he added, choosing his words carefully, aware that he had the girl's full attention right now. Probably would have until he drove off into the night - but then again, he was planning on turning that to his advantage, so it all worked out in the end.