As Ruby poked around in Liam's closet, I stood at the doorstep, not even the tips of my toenails daring to enter, my eyes constantly darting to the room behind me. Sure, no one was there, but I could almost feel Liam's unsettling, shifty aura lurking there.

"Oh my god, will you relax? Your fucking heart rate is distracting me," Ruby yelled, knocking over pictures and yanking open drawers. I scowled,

"Well excuuuse me for not wanting to get murdered for your actions," I said haughtily. Ruby was so focused on her destruction that she didn't even bother to threaten my life. It was a little sad.

"Blythe, I swear to God, get in here and help me or you're dead. Dead!" Ah, much better. And as at the moment, Ruby posed more of a threat to me than Liam, I decided to take her advice.

"Didn't think Satan spawns were allowed to say God," I mumbled, taking my first thorough look around the tiny room. Ruby laughed, and I raised my eyebrows at her. The sound was so high pitched, so genuine that I almost didn't know how to react. Luckily, Ruby was too focused on darting through the small space like a caged hummingbird to care what I said.

"I can't fucking find anything," Ruby snarled, like she could bully the room into giving her results. As I took a closer look around, I realized that she was right.

The photo was gone. Actually, identifiable object beyond clothes and that horrible bleachy smell was gone. I spun in a circle just to make sure, but the place was stripped almost bare. "What the hell?" I muttered, my brows wrinkling as I did another spin around the room.

Ruby finally gave up searching, similar dismay on her face. "When did he even have time to do this?"

"I...have no idea," I said in wonder. Even in this world full of vampires and centaurs, somehow Liam was still too strange, too completely insane for me to comprehend.

Ruby kicked the wall, sending a pile of shirts tumbling to the floor around us. "Fucking whatever. I don't need this shit, I can still get my fucking dirt on him," she muttered under her breath, storming out of the closet, leaving me standing awkwardly in her wreckage.

"Blythe! Come!" She barked. I was tempted to yell back that I wasn't some dog, but I value life over dignity. I dutifully trotted after her, finding her on Liam's bed pulling on knee-high, skin-tight leather boots with heels so high they might have made her just an inch or two below Liam's height.

"What are you-"

"We're following Liam, get your shoes on." My mouth flapped open and shut like a fish until she glared at me. "Now!"

"B-b-but wait, do you even know where he went?" I stammered, scrambling to find some reason for Ruby to not go through with this idea too half-baked to even be called a plan.

"Not an issue, and I don't remember asking your opinion." Ruby snapped, stomping out of Liam's room. "And before you whine about the car, we're stealing Lucca's."

Stealing Lucca's? If I somehow ended up surviving Liam's wrath, surely Lucca would force my miserable existence to an end if we STOLE his CAR.

I felt cold sweat break out on my forehead, felt my heart pound fists against my ribcage. As if she could hear it (which, I guess, she could), Ruby stomped back into the room, grabbed the collar of my dress, and hauled me outside while I scrambled along and tried to not get strangled.

"You'll be fine you big baby. You entertain Liam, he wouldn't kill you." She frowned, tilting her head to the side. "Actually, scratch that. He might, but only if he's feeling particularly violent. Or mean. Or sad. Or hungry. Or-"

"Oh my god just kill me now," I moaned, burying my face in my hands and picturing all the creative ways vampire fangs could end my life.

Dragging me on the stairs behind her, Ruby smirked. "Nah."

I slipped my shoes back on (old ratty sneakers plus pretty new dress equals gross, but whatever) and reluctantly trailed Ruby out the front door, my sad, short life flashing before my eyes.

"Jesus Christ, quit feeling bad for yourself, you'll be fine. Y'know, probably." Ruby laughed, running over to the side of the house where a tiny light blue car was parked. It was cute, but its cuteness after an eternity of horrors tinged in red and black was so jarring that I wondered if the car was an illusion. But no, Ruby whipped out her (Lucca's?) keys and pressed a button, unlocking the doors. She slid into the driver's side and patted the passenger's side.

I sat, but it felt strange. Suddenly, I realized that both of the times I'd been in the car with Liam, I'd been shoved into the backseat like a criminal. I glanced at Ruby, who was grinning maniacally and giggling wickedly under her breath. Highly worrying behavior, but she didn't seem to be concerned with me at all. Huh.

As we pulled off, I sunk into the plush, tan leather of the passenger's seat and sighed. Like I had with Helena, I found myself finally beginning to relax a little.

That is, until an inhuman roar sounded from the house.

"My CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! RUBY YOU FIEND TURN MY DARLING BACK AROUND RIGHT THIS INSTANT OR I SWEAR TO GOD YOU ARE DEAD, DO YOU HEAR MEEEE?"

Ruby and I looked at each other. She giggled.

"And with that, we leave," she said, slamming the gas pedal to the floor so hard my head slammed back into the seat behind me.

Maybe the constant, fear-induced adrenaline high had finally driven me as crazy as the rest of them, because I found myself giggling right along with her.