"For every path you choose, there is another you must abandon, usually forever."

- Joan D. Vinge

                                                                                      ***

Galloway all but crawled over Sirius to get out of the truck before Caleb had even pulled to a complete stop. She was tired of playing interference between their nasty looks and sideways comments and wondered why they couldn't both just learn to keep their mouths shut. 

She inhaled the sweet, cool air, catching just a hint of gasoline and motor oil. Looking around at the several garages and workshops on the secluded property, she headed toward the farthest one when she heard a telltale clanging issue from it.

Briefly she wondered if it was convenience or Logan that had Milo working in the shop above where her cars were stored today. 

Sirius came to stand next to her and muttered, "Why are you with this guy, again?"

She rolled her eyes at the sideways look he gave Caleb. "I'm not with him, Sirius. He just happened to show up at a very convenient time and has yet to leave."

"Because you have yet to tell me that you have a sure-fire way to keep the demons locked up," Caleb said, coming around the truck with a scowl on his face.

She saw from the corner of her eye as Sirius opened his mouth, no doubt to throw some barbed comment, and decided to cut this short. Spinning around to face them, she said, "Milo's a dragon. He could eat either or both of you. He's not overly fond of other Hunters and he doesn't like dogs, either. Please don't make me have to bury one of your crispy corpses today."

Before they could answer, she strode toward the normal door next to the big bay doors of Milo's workshop. She heard as they scrambled to catch up to her as she pounded the side of her fist against the heavy metal.

The ruckus she could hear inside ceased and, after a moment, the door creaked open to reveal a suspicious golden eye. The pupil was vertical and slit like a cat's, but dilated, the harsh yellow mellowing as he caught sight of Galloway.

The door swung open and Galloway suddenly found her feet were no longer on the ground. Milo looked up at her, his thickly muscled arms wrapping tightly around her waist. She quickly kissed his cheek, then said, "I don't suppose you've had a delivery in these past couple of days?"

He dropped her just as quickly as he had picked her up, giving her a dirty look. His arms crossed over his massive chest, and Galloway looked up at him nervously. His golden blond hair was tied back from his face, his beard neatly trimmed. Grease was smeared under his left eye and his light Germanic accent got heavier and deeper as he said, "If I wasn't just the guardian I would have had to kill you for what you did to it."

She held up a finger. "Ah! Technically, I did nothing. Demons wrecked the car, not me."

He shook his head, pupils slitting again. Shaking her head, she said, "I'm already hurting over it, Milo. Can you fix her?"

His gaze softened again, then he straightened to his full six-foot-nine height and snorted, a puff of smoke escaping from his nose. "Of course. Who do you think I am?"

Biting her lip, she said, "Can we come in? I need something to drive and I want an assessment of the damage."

Milo nodded, then frowned at the two men behind her. Galloway turned to find both Sirius and Caleb looking at the dragon with mingled expressions of shock and nervousness. "Who are they?"

She chewed on the inside of her lip, then said, "The surly one is Sirius and the suspicious one is Caleb."

Milo rolled his eyes, daylight shimmering off them like coins. "Okay, I guess I should have asked what are they?"

She pursed her lips then pointed. "Hellhound. Hunter."

Milo turned and waved for them to follow. Over his shoulder, he teased, "Do you collect men like you collect cars?"

She heard Sirius laugh softly under his breath. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she said, "No. I just happen to meet men who can't or won't leave me alone."

Milo led them around a gutted 1968 Buick Skylark and asked, "Do you have one of those?"

Galloway frowned. "You'd know better than me, and since it's here and you're asking, my guess is it's new?"

The dragon nodded, looking pleased with himself. "The guy who came to me with it didn't want to pay as much as the restoration would cost. I convinced him to let me take it off his hands. I was thinking gloss black or maybe a low-key green?"

"What do you have in the way of dark blue?" Galloway suggested as she circled the car. "White interior?"

"Engine?" he asked.

"Something with kick." She winked. "Think sexy. But really, whatever you think. I know you know best." She smiled at him, then said, "The Chevelle?"

Milo scratched at the back of his neck. "It isn't pretty, Gals. I don't think you've ever come back with something this wrecked."

She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "Do I even really want to know?"

"Maybe it would be better to just let me fix it," Milo said gently.

With a sigh, she nodded before she looked at Caleb and Sirius, who were watching the both of them with identical frowns. Sirius opened his mouth, then closed it, his eyebrows furrowing. 

Wrinkling her nose, she wove between a new Ferrari and a partially restored 1955 Ford Thunderbird and plucked the key to her storage space off of a hook screwed into the cork-board near a messy desk. Raising an eyebrow at Milo, she said, "Any suggestions?"

Milo was already lost under the Ferrari's hood and said, "Whatever. Just let me know so I don't think someone stole it."

She grimaced at the fallout of that potentiality and went around to give him a sideways hug. The last thing they needed was an angry dragon swooping all over the place trying to find the missing piece of the treasure he had been entrusted with. Milo made a noncommittal sound and she curled her finger at Sirius and Caleb, who moved precariously through the cars and parts scattered over the oil-stained concrete floor to meet her next to a door cubbyholed into the farther corner of the garage.

Unlocking the door, she revealed a staircase and said, "Try not to break or smudge anything."

Silently, they made their way down the stairs which ended in darkness. Galloway felt along the wall, jumping when callused fingers wrapped over hers to guide her to the light switch. She flipped the switch, the overhead lights turning on one by one with a loud crackling sound.

Grinning at the glittering display before her, she turned to find both Caleb and Sirius with open mouths and wide eyes. Waving her hand, she said, "You can look. Don't start anything without my say so."

Without waiting to see what they'd do, she started down the aisle, peering into each stall to try and make a decision. Part of her knew she should probably just grab something low profile like her Audi, or maybe one of the newer Jaguars. But surrounded by the thousands of slumbering horses, she couldn't bring herself to give up this excuse to pick something more extravagant.

She looked up to find Caleb fawning over the blacked out 1970 Mercury Cougar, then turned to find Sirius standing right behind her. Sucking in a startled breath, she asked, "Why aren't you looking around? I thought you had a weakness for pretty things?"

He gave her a sideways smile. "Uh-huh." Then he slipped behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. Turning her, he spoke directly in her ear, "That one matches your eyes."

She scoffed when she looked at the silver mist paint, so pale it was about one shade away from white. The '67 GTO gleamed in the lights overhead and Sirius whispered, "Nice curves like you, too."

Shuddering as his fingers traced over her hip, she said, "That one screams look at me."

"Can hardly peel your eyes away," he agreed, slowly pushing her toward the car. Her fingers trailed along the hood, peering in at the pristine, dark interior.

"If we have to go into a city, I'll never find a place to park it," she protested weakly.

Sirius opened the door, waiting, and she sighed. She sank into the driver's seat and he closed the door before getting in on the other side. Shaking her head, she flipped down the visor, the keys falling into her lap.

With little hesitation, she started the car, the roar of the engine deafening in the enclosed space. Caleb's head jerked up, then nodded approvingly. She pulled out and stopped, getting out so he could slip into the backseat. Looking a little starstruck, he said, "I don't suppose there's an open invitation to your friends to come use one of these when they feel like it?"

She laughed, rolling slowly toward the end of the bunker. Imagining that the other cars were pouting at her, she silently promised to take them all out soon, then put the car in park.

Getting out, she took one last look at her hoard before turning the lights out and opening the garage door. It opened with a loud clatter and she drove out, whipping around to the front of the building once she'd made sure the door in the side of the hill had closed.

Leaving it idling, she ran back inside to let Milo know which one she'd taken, earning herself a head shake and a warning about not wrecking any more cars. Grinning like an idiot, she all but skipped back outside to find Caleb leaning against his truck and Sirius sitting in the GTO.

"Follow you home?" Caleb asked, making Galloway walk over to him.

Her gaze flicked over to Sirius, who was watching them, eyes narrowed. Biting at her lip, she said, "I'm not sure that's the best idea."

"Why?" Caleb demanded. "Because he's here?"

"Because neither of you can behave yourself and I'm sick of it!" she hissed. Raking her hand through her loose hair, she said, "And besides, we obviously don't have very much to go on anymore. You know, Sirius is right. The fact of the matter is that only Theron knows what qualifies me for this. What misstep I have to make before he can use me, if he is."

"I think it's pretty obvious that you're the most likely candidate. When Rhys, myself and the Hound agree on something, I think it's probably safe to assume that it's got a more than strong likelihood." Caleb scratched at his temple. "The question now is what do we do?"

She let a laugh gust out and said, "Caleb, I still have work. I still have to go out there and collect those poor bastards. I can't just hang out here trying to figure this out, you get that, right?"

"Yeah, I'm not stupid, Galloway. I got it the first time you told me," he snapped, crossing his arms.

This pulled her up short and she frowned, crossing her arms as well. "You're not going to try to stop me?"

He heaved a sigh, closing his eyes. Then, looking toward the clear sky, he said, "Trying to stop you would get you in trouble. I don't want you in trouble." When she hesitated, he leaned forward and said, "I mean that. Crazy as it is to say, I want you to be all right."

Her arms fell to her sides. Taking in her disbelief, he looked away from her, eyebrows pulling together. "Look, like I said, you've been on my mind for a long time. And, certain attributes notwithstanding..." Here Caleb paused and glanced at Sirius. "I might care about you a little bit, Galloway."

Shifting uncertainly, she nodded, the movement short and jerky. He'd known her for a week, give or take a couple days. Then again...when she really thought about it, she'd grown to care about him a little, too. At least, she wanted him to stay alive. She nodded once more, with more conviction. "What about the people I kill?"

Caleb gave her a smile that seemed more bitter than was warranted and said, "You sell your soul, you sell your soul. It's not like getting eaten by something you didn't know existed. They knew what they were doing and they have to face the music."

Galloway blinked at him, not having expected that answer, and he shook his head, not inviting any further questions. "I just don't have an awful lot of sympathy. Certain circumstances might elicit some, but for the most part, no. You make a deal with the devil, eventually you dance to his tune."

She startled when he placed a hand on her shoulder. Looking down at her seriously, his dark eyes grave and inscrutable, he said, "We'll keep working on it. I don't have anywhere to be and Logan and Rhys both are pretty damn smart. You just look after yourself. Watch your back, yeah?"

Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "You do the same. If anything else comes up, you'll be one of the first to know."

Caleb nodded, squinting in the light that peeked between the trees around them. He clicked his tongue, then went to get into his truck. She had turned to walk back to her car when he said, "Don't do anything you can't afford to, Galloway. You've already spent your soul. Don't spend your heart, too."

Her lips pressed together and she raised a hand, waving over her shoulder as she beat a hasty retreat to the GTO. Sliding in behind the wheel, she looked at Sirius. He just blinked at her before turning to the window. Swallowing against her suddenly dry throat, she pulled onto the road, then said, "So what happens now?"

"You wanted to talk," he reminded her.

That's right, she had. But now she didn't know about what. Silently, she shifted the car into a higher gear, wondered what it was she had needed to say to him.

"It's got to be something that marks you in some way," Sirius said, making her jump. She looked at him curiously, and he continued, "If it's not the actual act of losing your Soul that does it, it's probably got to be something that leaves some kind of brand. Magic is tricky that way."

Now she nodded, finally catching up to what he was saying. Shifting a little in her seat, she asked, "What kind of brand?"

Sirius shrugged. "Could be a number of things. There are a lot of acts that mark the Soul, for good or bad. My guess is they'll go with one of the bad ones."

"Being?" she prompted, watching in amusement as a young man driving toward them did a double take that probably gave him whiplash as they passed each other.

He shook his head, slumping down in his seat. "Patricide is a popular one, though, really murdering any family member is pretty frowned upon. That would leave a stain you can't OxiClean away. Then there's breaking an oath or betraying someone who you know trusted you implicitly. Killing someone who's innocent." He stopped and frowned, then said, "Huh. Not as many as I thought. Those are the only ones I can think of."

She snorted. "Just 'cause you can't remember it, doesn't mean there aren't more. Remind me to ask Logan about it the next time I talk to him." Sirius gave her a blank look and she sighed. "Never mind."

Another silence settled between them. 

"That's not what you wanted to talk about," he finally said.

Galloway cursed silently, wondering why he chose this moment out of all moments to be so astute. Stiffly, she said, "Look, this morning... I just..." She trailed off, biting her lip.

Sirius sighed. "Don't sweat it."

"No," she said forcefully. "I can't just go back to pretending, okay? You barely touch me and I can't think straight! I damn near lost my mind when they took you."

Distantly, some part of her was screaming at her to shut the hell up, but once she'd started, she found she couldn't stop. Shaking her head, she continued, "I'm just stuck in this web in the dark and I don't know where the spider is and I don't know if you're part of the web or just stuck like me and I... I can't drag Logan and Caleb and Rhys into something they might not walk away from. I can't! But I don't have enough pieces to see the whole picture. I can't see far enough up the road."

"What are you asking me?" he responded wearily. "I've told you everything I know. I've told you that I don't want them out, what do I have to do to prove that?"

She opened her mouth, but he kept talking. Sitting up straight, he said, "Look, this morning..." He stared out the window, frowning, thinking. Shaking his head, he met her gaze and said, "It didn't...mean...anything. I needed you to remind me or prove to me that I wasn't still down there and you were kind enough to oblige. But tomorrow, we'll both wake up remembering that we have a job to do and Theron breathing down our necks."

He finished by turning toward the window and saying, "I never said thank you. So thank you. But I don't care to have another reminder about why we just shut up and do our jobs. I'll help you keep your Soul or keep you from getting marked or whatever. But that's all I got, that's all I can offer."

Her eyelashes fluttered as she blinked, making the road in front of her wobble. Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel, grounding her and her stomach boiled with a mixture of emotions she didn't even want to start labeling. Brushing her hair behind an ear, she said, "It didn't seem to not mean anything this morning."

Sirius made a small sound of disgust in the back of his throat. Shaking his head, he said, "Oh, Galloway. You're smarter than that. I—" He brought his hand up to his mouth, scrubbing it down his jaw before he continued, "I'm not... There is nothing good about the things I feel. Nothing good in my actions. I don't even care how they affect me, most of the time, so how can I care about what they do to you?"

Her jaw was clenched, uncertain about what had changed here. 

He gave her a humorless smile and said, "I don't want Hell to use you. I don't want you to get hurt. I want to keep working with you. I want to kiss you, touch you. I want to do a whole hell of a lot more than that. But you seem to misunderstand. There's nothing good or nice or—or pure about anything that comes from me."

Quietly, she asked, "And if I want something from you anyway?"

"It'll just hurt you in the end," he replied. "I mean, look at what knowing me has done to you already. We know that Hell wants to use you, and all I can think about is the fact that, this morning, you tasted like the way sun baked grass smells and cinnamon. You need to avoid everything about Hell that you can, and I am determined that you don't."

Galloway squeezed her eyes shut for half a second before pressing harder on the gas. Shaking, she said, "Okay. But fair warning?" She waited until he looked at her, then growled, "The next time you touch me, you're going to find something silver between your ribs."

Sirius looked at her for a long moment, but she held his gaze. Finally, he cracked a half smile that looked more like a regretful grimace. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

She shook her head, turning back to the road, ignoring how her eyes burned. Shaking her head once more, she hissed, "I should have listened to Caleb. God, you are such an asshole."

"Yeah." His voice was empty. "I know."

The ride back home was painful as she mulled over everything he'd said, trying to find a reason for his words. They certainly didn't match his actions this morning. Every little touch, every kiss had felt like more than just the pure lust he was trying to convince her it was.

She didn't say anything to him when they got to her place, using the key she'd confiscated from Caleb to get inside. When she got into her apartment, she made a beeline for her room, not deigning to look at him.

Shivering, she changed into sweats and an old ratty t-shirt with the Millennium Falcon on it before falling onto her bed. She lay there, staring up at the dim ceiling for a moment and wondered if Theron had done something to make Sirius say those things.

Then she rolled onto her stomach, closing her eyes. Who was she kidding? No one made Sirius do anything. And she hated herself for letting things go this far. But she couldn't exactly just turn around and go back.

She'd chosen her path and now she had to live with the fallout and battle the obstacles she'd elected to undertake.

With a deep breath, she considered calling Logan, then discarded that idea, a sneaking suspicion that Rhys would be the one to answer the phone quelling her desire. She pillowed her head on her folded arms and tried to objectively consider the other things Sirius had said.

Something that marked her Soul.

Part of her wondered why selling it didn't count, then was grateful that this particular spell had been so difficult to construct and undertake. Chewing contemplatively on her lip, she rolled onto her back again, then sat bolt upright when her door swung open.

She looked at Sirius, her lips parting, but before she could say anything he held up an assignment folder. With a gust of breath, she fell back, then rolled off the bed and went to her dresser. She raised an eyebrow at him when he didn't leave, narrowing her eyes when he leaned against the door frame.

Shaking her head, she changed back into her jeans and red plaid button down, pulling on her boots. Tying her hair into a sloppy braid, she walked past him, her shoulder brushing his as she took the folder. Sirius shuddered and she said, "Guess you weren't lying about the frostbite."

Opening the folder, she found they were heading to Arkansas and was relieved by the thought that this should only take about two or three days. Looking at the paper a little more carefully, she was actually happy to find that the collection date fell within that estimation and grabbed her jacket and keys.

For once, she hoped the silence between them stuck around. She didn't think she could survive anything more from him.

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The car (minus the stupid vanity plates. Galloway doesn't do vanity plates):