MOTHERS

◙nineteen◙

Caught by Auryn, Lorelai let herself go for a few minutes. She let her eyes roll back, let her consciousness fade, let her thoughts and memories evaporate as she sought a silence space where she could be and do nothing.

Shapeshifting, lying, growling—yes, she recalled hearing something of a growl exiting not-Jacob's mouth as she started to pass out—were not on her agenda for the day. She'd woken up, had her coffee, planned out her usual activities; but this? Not this. Not some fake lab-worker showing up at her door with likely fake paperwork to draw her to the laboratory, along with the other women who'd shared her ominous pregnancy experience there. Definitely not some scheme, some scam to get her there to do... what?

"What?" she whispered as she came to, sensing Auryn's warmth bringing her back to life. "What do you want? Why... why are we here?" Her voice was so faint, only Auryn heard it, but she had no reply.

As she helped Lorelai stabilize on her feet, she only shrugged, leaving Lorelai to glower towards not-Jacob as he snickered at Tegan.

Tegan was wielding a knife—when did she get that?—that looked a lot like one of Lorelai's kitchen knives. Lorelai had no clue how she'd gotten a hold of it, but she was glad she had. She'd thought of weapons to bring, but much too late, once they were in the van already headed here. To their doom. A doom she hadn't anticipated and should have.

Nothing is ever right in this world, and those who work at this laboratory are no better.

Tegan's knife had little to no effect on not-Jacob. All he did was stare at her as if she'd lost her mind, as if the sharpened edge of the knife would do nothing to faze him. And recalling the reptilian tail he'd been slashing behind him, Lorelai figured he'd have skin too thick to be pierced by a cutesy kitchen knife.

Where's a machete when you need one?

"You think that'll hurt me?" His tail, still actively whipping about behind him, seemed to direct towards Tegan, as if it had eyes of its own and was also staring at her, daring her. "I'm not easily harmed by puny weapons equipped by puny humans."

"Puny?" Tegan thrust the knife at him, testing him, but he didn't budge. "What the fuck are you, and why did you bring us here?"

Esme snorted. "I knew that paperwork was fake, dammit." She bunched her lips and looked ready to spit. Flashes of purple light swept over her face, showing the deepened lines of her frown. "I've seen fake documents before; hell, I've even forged my own, and those... ugh, I should have known."

"Look," said not-Jacob, raising his arms in defense, though he still wouldn't back away from Tegan's small blade. "I'm sorry for the abruptness, but I had to show you, to prove to you who I am, what I am." He focused on Esme, but at the same time, his reptilian tail whooshed forward, its tip smacking the knife from Tegan's hand. She gasped, jumped backwards, then lowered into a fighting stance; that made not-Jacob cringe. "And I'm not trying to harm you, any of you, but I will knock you out if you don't cooperate."

"Cooperate?" Esme scoffed. She'd also dropped into a lower stance, her dress billowing out as she slid in front of Auryn and Lorelai. Tegan remained in front of Esme, arms outstretched to protect the group. "Now you're saying we have a choice, do we?"

"By cooperate, I mean stop trying to attack me when I've done nothing to attack you. Ugh." Not-Jacob swept a hand over his forehead, then bent to pick up the knife his tail had ripped from Tegan's grasp. Lorelai stepped backward, Auryn with her, anticipating that he'd wield the blade in their direction. But instead, he clenched his jaw as he grabbed both ends of the knife and broke it in half with the ease of breaking apart a fresh biscuit. "As I said, I'm not trying to harm any of you. I need you, all four of you, alive."