Bloody and Wild

Fire Fighting Ice

Lauren was sat on the stairs, hunched over and huddled beside the bannister. She had been so joyful in the kitchen but now as night descended a wave of sadness had crept up on her. Her thoughts dwelt on home, not the room in London that she shared with Chloe but instead her childhood home back in the idyllic village of Ducks Bottom. She reminisced fondly the village gossips, the traditionally awful village show put on every year and the Foxglove Festival in spring. She had complained dramatically about it all as a kid but just at that moment she suddenly felt very old and tired, going back to that little village for her parent's party this weekend suddenly felt a lot more attractive now that she could no longer attend. Would her parents worry when she didn't turn up?  Would they search desperately for her?

She heard a careful tread steadily approach her and stop. The old floor boards creaked as Ryder lowered himself and took perch by her side. Lauren's expression soured when she realised who her new companion was.

"What do you want?" She asked grumpily, smearing away the tears that rested on her cheeks.

"As your kidnapper you could show a little more respect," Ryder commented lightly, a small smile playing on his lips. Lauren scoffed.

"You kill people. You've tortured all the men closest to you to bend and break them into obedience," her voice shook unsteadily still but the tears dried from her emerald eyes. "You've earned from me only fear, revulsion and pity." She spat angrily. Ryder's cold black eyes blazed.

"Pity? I don't want you pity, keep it for yourself and those miserable kin of yours down in the dungeons." When angry his face become a lot less handsome, his lips curled up in disgust, his nostrils flared and his dark eyebrows knitted.

"I do pity you and you know why?" she leapt to her feet and towered high above him, her shadow casting him in darkness, "because you're alone. You torture all those followers of yours, not to give them your powers, but because the bonds of victim and tormentor are all you're capable off." She was shaking all over with rage, her jaw clenched and chin jutted out defiantly.

"What about you, sobbing on an empty stairwell? The human girl who got dragged into a werewolf fight and then abandoned, and now they tell me that you're so well behaved, like a good little girl. It's no wonder you weep for yourself-" Ryder didn't get to finish his tirade. Lauren slapped Ryder so hard across the cheek that her palm stung from the impact. One glimpse of Ryder's face was enough to get her running, but she wasn't quick enough.

Ryder was on his feet in an instant and easily yanked her back to him. Holding one arm painfully tight behind her back, he pressed her up against the banister. Lauren cried out when he pushed her forward so that she was leant over the rail and staring at the drop to the hard, tiled floor below. Her feet had left the floor and the only thing stopping her from falling head first was Ryder's body pressed up close against her own.

"Please stop!" Lauren begged, the blood rushing to her head and tears spilling once more.

"Do you still pity me?" He growled venomously.

"NO!" Ryder lifted her into the air and Lauren screamed, her cry echoing around the entire pack house though nobody even looked up. Ryder set her down on the steps away from the rail. Lauren sank to the floor, breathing heavily with tears spilling freely down her cheeks. Ryder smiled cruelly.

"You've just had your first lesson. I hope that you've learnt from it." Lauren glared up at him through her tears.

"I will never pity you again." Ryder was surprised by her tone, she didn't sound beaten or docile. Instead it sounded like a threat. He frowned unhappily.

"They were wrong when they told me you were well behaved. Perhaps I should put you in manacles with your werewolf friends." Ryder was pleased to note the fear that crept into her eyes at his words. Ryder took a step toward her and this time she took no movement to retreat from him. "Don't do anything stupid, or you'll be wearing chains as a corpse." He promised silkily. Lauren shivered but didn't blink under his dark glare. In the end it was Ryder who looked away. There was something about her that unnerved him, she was afraid of him but there was a strange sense of strength behind that fear that he had never come across in anyone before.

"What do you want from me? You know I'm only human." She questioned, keenly observing his expression. Sadness pooled over his grey eyes and made them appear dull.

"Never say 'only human'. Being human makes you one of the lucky ones." He replied quietly, his tone melancholy. The creak on the stair as Lauren turned to leave snapped him out of his dark brooding. "A couple of minutes ago, when I came and sat down beside you. Why were you crying? Was it for you or because of me?" Lauren struggled to process Ryder mercurial mood swings but had concluded that the man was at least insane.

"For my old life I guess," she replied shrugging her shoulders.

"Or perhaps you were crying for the old Lauren Fox? Do you like the woman you are now?" He asked, reading her eyes to try and pry out a weakness.

"Yes," she replied firmly, a bit of the fire returning to her eyes.

"Don't, if you plan to survive me Lauren Fox then you should learn to not fight against me." He warned coldly. Lauren narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her.

"No," she replied softly. "You could have killed me like you did George but instead here I still am. That must mean that you need me for something which puts me at an advantage, because I don't need you." Lauren's smirked cockily. "You should be worrying about how to survive me."

Slowly Ryder's lips turned up in a grin.

"You've a good poker face Lauren but we both know how weak your hand is," he mocked smoothly.

"How about your hand, Ryder? You've got prisoner an Alpha wolf and his Luna. Soon one hell of angry pack is going to descend on you. I hope that it's one of George's siblings who rips your throat out."

Ryder chuckled.  Lewis' pack would be decimated soon enough so that wasn't a worry. Not that they were forming an attack to rescue there alpha anyway, if his sources were correct.

"Who is this George that you keep referring to?" Ryder sneered the guy's name and already disliked him.  Lauren's face purpled with rage.

"He was my friend! You or one of your men murdered him and YOU WILL NOT FORGET HIS NAME AGAIN!" She shrieked. Ryder flinched, impressed by her shrill volume though dearly hoping to never hear it used again. Ryder put up his hands in surrender. 

"Hey, steady there," he advised but Lauren had already stormed off thundering down the stairs.

Ryder frowned after her, the plan was to seduce her but that didn't seem to be going so well. A further thought made him frown deeper, she had the most beautifully, expressive eyes.        

Lauren was blinded by tears and soon broke out into a run. She made up her mind as she fled. She would visit George's grave and she would leave a marker above it with him name, so that he wouldn't just be forgotten and nameless. He had been a real living, breathing guy with hopes, dreams and fears and she would make his killer see that and regret what he had done.

She collided painfully into something solid and a set of ice cold hands helped to steady her. Lauren looked up, to apologise for not looking where she was going, and gasped, her words catching in her throat. A handsome blonde haired man with blood red eyes looked down at her.

"You alright, darling?" He grinned, flashing two gleaming fangs.

"Oh," was all Lauren managed in response.