"Clean fighting solves everything. It ends all bad blood and any ill feelings people have."

-Conor McGregor

                                                                             ***

It's good vamps are so damn cocky, Galloway thought, grunting as she sent her machete through the first one's neck. They just run in without thinking.

Which worked greatly to Galloway's advantage. 

They must have been fairly young vampires. The older ones were generally better at fighting. She thought she heard Sirius laugh over a dull thump as another head tumbled to the floor.

After watching two of their numbers fall so easily, the other vampires approached with caution, lunging forward and skittering back out of the reach of the blades. A pack of hounds baying and baiting a formidable predator.

A male lunged forward, taunting Sirius, but he was too slow in retreating. Or Sirius was too fast. He grabbed him, claws sinking into the vamp's arm to anchor him and took off its head, the machete singing through muscle and bone. Blood sprayed up the side of Sirius' face and he laughed, the sound excited and cruel.

Then Galloway was diving sideways as one of the monsters—a huge female—charged at them. Galloway rolled over the top of a low table to avoid her, just to be picked up by her throat and thrown across the room by a male twice her size. She tumbled right into the huge female who had made the first move.

She saw from the corner of her eye as Sirius tore a skinny male's throat out, his claws ripping through flesh before he used the machete to finish the job. He swore viciously when another male vampire, even bigger than the female Galloway was currently dealing with, plowed into him. He was slammed against the wall, the impact making a sickening thud.

Sirius snarled and unleashed a fury of blows on the male, who was doing all he could to avoid the claws on one hand and the machete in the other.

Galloway scrambled away from the vampire she had been thrown into, just to run right into another who grabbed her by the shoulders. Pointed teeth snapped at her face.

She brought her knee up hard, ramming it into the vampire's stomach twice, then used the machete to run the monster through. He looked down at the blade in his chest, then up at her in a kind of startled way, like he couldn't believe she was that stupid. 

With a feral grin, Galloway yanked the blade back out and swung, cutting off his head. 

She looked over to find Sirius on the ground, a different vampire on top of him. He used his claws to shred its belly before rolling them over, pinning the vampire. With a hand on either end of the machete, he guillotined the creature's head off.

It was two on two, and Galloway looked up in exasperation when the female vampire loomed up in front of her. She threw a quick punch at the monster, laughing in absurd satisfaction when two fangs popped out, rattling to the floor.

The vampire snarled and picked her up bodily, her grip like bands of iron on Galloway's upper arms, before she slammed her into the wall hard.

The back of her head cracked against the wall and she saw stars, the machete trying to slide from her hand. She forced her numb fingers together, snagging the handle by her fingertips.

The vampire growled, her lips peeling back to show her fangs slithering out fully. They filled her mouth with what Galloway hazily thought must be an uncomfortable number of teeth.

The vampire hissed, letting Galloway slide down the wall to get a better angle on her neck. Her toes barely touched the ground and she tucked her chin, trying to protect her throat.

The monster snarled and let go of Galloway's arms to grab her hair, wrenching her head to the side.

Galloway let out a harsh scream of pain and desperation and brought her arms up. Hugging the vampire to her, she placed the blade of the machete almost delicately against the back of the female's neck.

The vampire's eyes widened, and she choked as the blade was slowly, surely dragged through her neck. It finally ripped through the soft tissue of her throat. Galloway turned her head, lips pressed tightly together as red blood geysered from the severed neck. It soaked her, sticking her partially loose hair to her face and neck.

The vampire fell in two separate pieces. Galloway collapsed to the ground, her vision fuzzy. She slumped against the wall, breathing hard, then turned her head to watch Sirius with the last vampire. 

The gigantic one.

He was a head taller even than Sirius, and his arms and chest were heavy with thick bands of muscle. But Sirius was leaner. Faster. He dodged back and forth, leaving little cuts and claw marks all over the vampire as he whirled a strange pattern around the infuriated monster.

Still, he was bleeding too, and getting tired, having sustained some damage fighting the other vampires. She could see it in the subtle drag of his right foot, the loose fist of his left hand.

She desperately tried to force herself to her feet when the vampire managed to clamp a hand down on Sirius's shoulder, dragging the Hellhound into him. Sirius snarled, his own canine teeth sharp and bared as he tried to get away.

Galloway hauled herself up using the wall, then collapsed again when she took a step forward. The room spun, but she could see clearly enough when the vampire bit Sirius. She wanted to cry out when the vampire sank its fangs into the side of Sirius' neck, but was sure the sound would split her head in two.

The yelp that came from Sirius did split her head, and her vision blurred. He fought, making the vampire's teeth tear into his flesh even more. Snarling and snapping, his claws scrambled at anything he could reach, leaving deep gouges in the other monster's flesh.

Galloway had the surreal, fuzzy thought that it was like watching a wolf fight a grizzly bear. Claws and teeth flashing and tearing, neither animal willing to give ground even as blood poured.

She could have laughed at the look on the vampire's face when he actually tasted Sirius' blood, though. He reared back in disgust, black dripping down his chin, and Sirius stabbed the machete through the side of the vampire's neck.

The vampire made a sick gurgling sound as Sirius sawed the blade back and forth until it tore open the vampire's throat. Blood gushed and poured down over Sirius, painting him in a thick coat of unnaturally rich crimson. He laughed, the sound derisive, then flipped the machete, repeating the process until the vampire's head was completely severed.

The monster fell to the floor, his head rolling toward the wall.

Panting hard, covered in gore, Sirius stumbled over to Galloway and dropped to the floor beside her. His hair was plastered to his face, blood creating a macabre mask he peered through, blue eyes bright.

She reached over and patted his leg, breathing shallowly as she tried to spare her throbbing head.

Sirius nodded wearily before dragging her to her feet, taking an arm over his shoulders. He had one hand pressed into the side of his neck, trying to stop the bite from bleeding and looped his other arm around her waist. He kept her upright as the room swung in wild circles around her.

Staggering, they'd just got to the room's doors when she gasped, "Wait, Sirius. The bodies."

His eyes were glassy when he looked at her and he used the arm around her, hand digging into her back pocket to pull out her lighter.

Minutely, the tiniest movement excruciating, Galloway shook her head. "No accelerant. It won't burn the bodies enough before someone notices the fire."

Battling the urge to be sick, she said haltingly, "If we...if we open the...w-windows." She swallowed hard, forcing down her nausea. Barely finishing her thought, she said, "The sun'll burn them up without burning down the building."

She tried to walk by herself, lurching away from Sirius to enact her plan and again fell to her knees, clutching her head as she retched and the room whipped around. She spit, trying to clear the taste of bile away and thought distantly that she might have a concussion. 

That wouldn't be enough to kill her, but it was unpleasant.

Her breath coming in harsh rasps, she watched as Sirius limped over to one of the boarded-up windows and tore the wood away, the nails screeching as they were ripped from their anchors. Tears of pain made their way to Galloway's eyes and fell when she blinked, cutting a track through the blood on the right side of her face. She held her ears, the sound making her sick again.

He did this with each window in the room until sunlight was flooding in and the bodies immediately began to smoke.

Weaving drunkenly, he hauled her up to her feet again, half carrying her, still trying to keep a hand clamped over the bite on his neck.

They stumbled outside and Sirius got Galloway into the car, sliding himself in behind the wheel as she slumped against the seat. She watched, hypnotized, as blood from his fingers dripped down the sides of the steering wheel. It left pretty red streaks on the dark grey leather.

Time stretched out weirdly for Galloway as they drove, the light streaking and warping around her. It might have been hours or days before they finally stopped.

Now they had to get out of the car.

Her head was clearing by increments, but she was still hurting and couldn't really walk a straight line. Or stay upright for that matter. Sirius was the only thing keeping her from hitting the ground in a crumpled heap.

He somehow managed to get them into the hotel and they wove through the lobby. Galloway squeezed her eyes shut to try and quell her dizziness. Her mouth tasted metallic.

Through grunting breaths, Sirius warned, "Trouble."

Galloway opened her eyes to see a man in a hotel uniform hurrying toward them. His face was an odd mix of concern and anger as they tracked blood and who knew what else across the floor of the lobby.

Stiffly, he asked, "Do you need help?"

Galloway locked eyes with him, having to hang onto Sirius as she put all of her energy into her mind control trick. Throwing everything she could at the man, she commanded, "It's fine. You've seen nothing strange. Go back to work."

The man must have been rather weak-willed because he just nodded and did an about face, walking away from them toward the front desk. But that was all Galloway had left. Her legs gave out, her knees like pudding, and Sirius huffed in surprise as she tried to fall to the floor.

He caught her and swung her up, blood now pouring freely from his wound. Galloway watched in detached fascination as the ink-like substance slicked the side of his neck, staining the collar of his shirt. Like her hand was disconnected, she watched it press against his neck, trying to stem the bleeding for him.

She closed her eyes, the rocking sensation of being carried making her nausea even worse.

Sirius got to the elevator and leaned hard against the waist-high railing that ran around the sides of the elevator's walls. With a dreamy sort of giggle, Galloway reached down to run her fingers along the dark wood and, still laughing, looked up at him. "Why's a railing going to help if this thing falls?"

Sirius blinked down at her, then laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, you took a nice little hit there, didn't you? I don't know why it would help, Galloway."

She frowned as she saw more blood ooze its way through her fingers, and pressed her hand harder into his neck. He flinched slightly. "Easy does it, sweetheart, that's a little tender."

"Sorry," Galloway murmured, looking up at him again. She bit her lip. "Stupid vampires. Why do they have to bite?"

"Do you not like people who bite?" Sirius grinned down at her, his words sounding just a little woozy as elevator music drifted around them.

She shrugged. She wanted to ask why he was so blurry, then realized it was just her eyes. "Depends."

He looked down again in interest. "Oh? What on, pray tell."

Galloway sighed, her vision sparkling. Some part of her was wondering what she was doing, but the rest of her was fuzzy and didn't really care about anything other than the fact that he had very blue eyes. She poked a finger at one of his canines—which were still showing—and muttered, "Depends on if I want them to or not."

Sirius laughed again, the sound bursting with amusement. Galloway buried her face against his shoulder, moaning as the sound ricocheted through her skull and he stopped. She thought she felt his lips press to her hair but wasn't sure when she looked back up, eyes watering, and he was watching the progress of the floors.

The doors dinged open and she must have blacked out for a second because the next thing she knew, Sirius was saying, "Galloway. Galloway, I can't open the door."

She blinked up at him and he looked down at her meaningfully. With a small smile he said, "My hands are kind of busy, sweetheart."

Digging into her pocket, she pulled out her key card. She unlocked the door, which he kicked all the way open.

Sirius made it to the bedroom, but barely, and her eyes watered in pain when they fell on the bed, tangled together. He propped himself up on his hands, looking down at her. Galloway blinked when his blood splashed against her cheek.

He stayed there like that for a moment before he rolled off the top of her with a groan and lay next to her, chest heaving. She could see the shadow of his hand come up in the dim light and through clenched teeth, he said, "It's still bleeding. It should have stopped by now."

Galloway rolled to her side before valiantly pushing up onto her hands and knees. Slumping over, leaning against him to stay upright, she probed lightly at the bite mark and said, "Vampire saliva has an anti-coagulant property. It should stop in a little while, but..."

She looked around before grabbing a nearby pillow, stripping it of its cover. She held it up. "Shred this."

Sirius did as asked, using his claws to turn the case into strips which Galloway wrapped around his neck. After she was finished, she said, "It'll stop in a bit."

She knew she should move away from him, but her aching head had other ideas.

She slumped down, her head resting on his chest, and fell into sleep. He didn't object and any suspicion she might have had about whether or not Sirius wanted her dead had been washed away in the blood and sweat of a fight.

                                                                             ~~~

When Galloway woke up again, her cellphone was ringing and Sirius was gone. She stumbled out of bed into the living room, her head still achy but not anywhere near what it had been before she slept.

One of the other few perks of being a Collector was that she healed relatively quickly.

She squinted at the lit up display, sleep-blurred eyes having a hard time deciphering the caller ID. When she saw who it was, she answered, "Logan?"

"Galloway! Are you okay?" came his frantic voice.

Galloway collapsed into a chair, yawning. "I've been better. Why?"

Logan's voice went from worried to irritated in about two point five seconds. "What were you hunting this time?"

"Vampires." She blushed a little, remembering what she had said to Sirius about vampires. Then what she'd said to him after that. She shrugged even though Logan couldn't see it and said, "They bite."

"Not the time for jokes," Logan snarled. "I got a terrifying phone call from a friend much better at reading the future than I am, telling me that someone I cared for was fading out."

"You have a lot of friends, Lo," she remarked casually. Making her voice apologetic, she said, "It was a little rough this go round. There were a lot of them but I'm all right. I'm sorry if I worried you."

"You always worry me, and you're never sorry," he snapped, but the venom had left his voice.

Galloway scratched absently at her arm where the now dry blood was making her itchy. She couldn't believe she'd been able to sleep for so long coated in gore. 

She sat bolt upright when she wondered just how long she had been asleep.

Interrupting what Logan was saying, she asked, "What time is it?"

"What? 'Cause you don't have clocks wherever you are?" he snarked.

"Logan!" Galloway exclaimed, heart racing.

"Fine! Fine! It's like one where I am," Logan said, his voice back to worried. "Why?"

"I gotta go!" She hung up, her stomach twisting with horror. She'd missed the deadline.

Galloway ran to the door, just to smack right into Sirius as he came in. He caught her, steadying her and she looked up at him, sure her eyes were wild. "Missed it! I missed it! We gotta—"

She pulled away from him, only to grab his hand and pull him toward the door. "We gotta go!"

Hissing to herself she said, "I'm dead. I'm dead, dead, dead. Theron's going to murder me. He's going to cut me up into little pieces, put me back together, then do it over again."

Sirius wasn't moving and she jerked hard on his arm, only managing to sling herself back into him when he didn't budge. Looking down at her, his eyes weary, he said, "I took care of it."

Galloway froze, then shook her head, sure she'd misheard him. "Huh?"

He sighed and went to the liquor cabinet. "I think you had a pretty great concussion. You were out like a light." He poured himself a glass of whiskey and held the bottle up, asking if she wanted any.

She nodded and he brought her a glass. Looking down at her, he said, "I had to wait a minute until I stopped bleeding, but I was able to get there in time. The Soul's in Hell where it ought to be, and all you have to do is call Theron to report in." 

Sirius drained his glass easily, then sighed once more. "He went easy. Didn't fight much. Not that I had the patience for something like that. Not after today. So"—he set the glass down with an authoritative chink—"I am exhausted. I'm going to bed."

Turning to go to his own room, he added, "You're welcome to join me after you shower. Your bed's pretty much trashed. The blood, you know?"

Galloway's lips parted in surprise, which she quickly hid with a drink. Looking down, she realized just how badly she needed a shower, then looked up when she heard the door click.

She was alone.

Shaking her head a little, she made her way to the bathroom and peeled her ruined clothes off, throwing them away. There was no saving them.

The shower went on forever, the water just continuing to run red as she scrubbed and soaped and rinsed, but finally she was clean. She got dressed again, then stared in a mix of awe and horror at the mess they had made of the bed as she dialed Theron's number.

"You were almost late," Theron said by way of hello.

"But I wasn't," Galloway chirped insolently.

"Is there a reason you collected at the very last minute?" Theron asked like he was trying to catch her in a lie, even though he couldn't possibly know what the lie was. "Do you know how much it slows down the paperwork to collect so late?"

Galloway rolled her eyes, her impatience real when she said, "It's not Quaintsville, Ohio, population: ten, Theron! Do you know how many freaking people are in Las Vegas? It's not exactly easy to pinpoint one person in the middle of so many. Needle in a haystack anyone?"

"The Hound didn't seem to have any trouble in the other cities," Theron said, his voice icy.

"Sirius," Galloway put a heavy emphasis on his name, "did everything by the book, to the best of his ability. I know he's good at his job but, damn, Theron, it's a big place and there is a crap ton going on. He had to sort through a bunch of other Debts that you have cooking up here."

Galloway was impressed with how easily the lies rolled off her tongue. This was good even by her standards, and she'd had more than a little practice.

She snorted. "What are you so pissed about anyway? We got the Debt. We weren't late, so you didn't lose the Soul. The contract didn't expire." Theron muttered something and she said, "Do you have another for me? Or can we go home now?"

"Home," Theron snapped before hanging up.

Galloway growled at the dial tone before hitting end and leaving the phone on the dresser. She went back out into the living room and wavered, eyes going from the couch to the door. Her tired, sore body whispered something along the lines of do it.

Her mind, on the other hand, said, bad idea, bad idea.

Galloway squeezed her eyes shut, turned to go to the couch, then just as abruptly turned and went through the door into Sirius' suite.

She cracked the bedroom door open, listening, but all she heard was the steady whisper of his breath. As stealthily as she could manage, she tiptoed into the room and slid under the covers, praying to whatever that she wouldn't wake him.

She was asleep more quickly than she would have thought possible.

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I don't usually do this, but I feel like this is Galloway's face with the big female vamp: