Elsa was sat in the cafeteria, waiting for Sebastian and stirring a cup of watery hot chocolate that she had no intention of drinking. Even if she had actually needed a drink, she'd of probably chucked it away, the hot chocolate powder was congealed in a gloopy, powdery lump at the bottom of the cup and the only stirring implement available was a useless, tiny, paddle shaped plastic stick. But it gave her something to do that looked normal and human while she waited and she could complain with others in the hot drink queue about the low quality of the drinks on offer and the tools provided to stir them with in a normal, human way. Being surrounded by these normal humans as she was at college, often made her all the more aware of how she was neither of those things anymore. Sometimes it bothered her and she craved that old life back but mostly now-a-days she didn't mind anymore, she was glad that the boredom she was feeling right now was not something that permeated into every aspect of her life. The majority of her existence was anything but boring and this little bit of normal was just enough for her, it kept her humble and grounded.
She realised absently as she stirred, watching the small whirlpool of slightly chocolate flavoured, tepid water she created in the cup, that she was thirsty for a different kind of drink. She had no blood bags with her at college, that would take some explaining if she dropped her bag and it's contents spilled out on the floor in the middle of a crowded corridor. She would wait until Sebastian had to go to his next lesson and nip home for a drink, it would only make her a couple of minutes late for her next lesson and her biology tutor was always five to ten minutes late anyway. Elsa now knew this was probably down to her penchant for half a bottle of wine and a few cigarettes at lunchtime. The full pack of extra strong mints consumed a few minutes before heading to class did nothing to hide the smell of nicotine and alcohol from Elsa.
Someone sat down beside her. It wasn't Sebastian, it was Harry from her maths class and he too had a sub-standard cup of hot chocolate in his hand with one of the offending plastic, pixie paddles bobbing about in it.
"Hey Elsa," he said in what was probably supposed to be a relaxed manner. Elsa could see the beads of sweat on his upper lip and hear the quickening of his heart rate as he sat down. Worse still she saw his pupils dilate as he looked at her. This happened sometimes if she was a bit peckish. Part of what made vampires such effective predators was that they drew their prey to them. The more she needed to eat, the more attractive she suddenly became to the opposite sex, to the same sex too as it happened. Poor Harry had just passed a little too close to her as she was thinking she needed a drink and pow - suddenly he felt the need to sit and shoot the breeze with her wether he liked it or not.
"Hey Harry, how's things?" she replied in as off-hand a way as she could without being rude but she knew it would take more than that to put him off and Sebastian would be here any moment. He understood why this happened sometimes but the demon side of him didn't always look objectively at a situation where his girlfriend appeared to be being chatted up by someone else. It made him grumpy and Sebastian's version of grumpy had a touch more intensity to it than most peoples.
"... and your hair looks amazing," Harry had been talking while Elsa was thinking about Sebastian. She tried to get his eyes to fix with hers so she could focus on his thoughts an emotions and try to break the spell she had inadvertently put him under but his eyes were darting about, looking her up and down and drinking in every part of her they could see. He looked ever so slightly bewildered, as if his brain couldn't quite believe that his mouth was complimenting her on her hair.
Elsa decided to take a more direct approach, she knew Sebastian was almost there, she could feel him. She placed a hand on either side of Harry's face and brought her face close to his, looking him directly in the eye, it would look weird to anyone who happened to look but she didn't care and Harry wouldn't remember.
"Harry," she said in a low voice, "You really don't want to be talking to me, you generally find me boring and there are lots of girls with much better hair."
Harry looked a little lost, "There are?" he said meekly.
"Oh yeh, infact, you much prefer Sara's hair, its got way more volume than mine and just look at those curls, they're a delight," Elsa turned Harry's head to the right so he could see Sara Fellows sitting a couple of tables over, talking to her friends and completely oblivious that Elsa was playing cupid. Despite his sudden fascination with her, Elsa knew that Harry and Sara had a thing for each other and simply hadn't admitted it yet, she picked up on things like that before the people themselves even realised how they were really feeling. She turned Harry's face quickly back to hers, "You need to go and talk to Sara," she said in a definite tone, "But probably don't talk too much about her hair ok? She might find that bit weird."
Harry nodded slowly, his cheeks slightly squashed in Elsa's firm grip. She released him then, seeing that her work was done and was just about to wave him off to the beginning of a new and beautiful romance with Sara when Sebastian appeared behind him looking mad - really mad. Before Elsa had chance to open her mouth, Sebastian had hoisted Harry up out of his chair and spun him round to face him, snarling in Harry's poor bewildered face. Elsa saw things in slow motion, picking up on things that others in the room mercifully hadn't got anywhere near noticing yet. She realised with horror that Sebastian's eyes were glowing and his features were already beginning to distort, he was losing control and before she could even begin to worry about how and why that was happening, she had to get him out of the cafeteria and away from Harry and she had to try and do it without drawing attention to them. With limited options and moving as fast as she could in the hope that no-one would see, she placed herself between Harry and Sebastian, gripping Sebastian's shoulders and kissing him hard on the mouth. It was all she could think of and she knew it risked going one way or the other but fortunately she felt Sebastian's muscles relax ever so slightly as his body succumbed to the kiss despite his rage, and she knew that for the moment, the panic was over. She broke the kiss and ran a finger lightly down his cheek bone. He looked confused and still angry.
"We need to get out of here," she said, not taking her eyes from his, which thankfully had returned to their usual cool grey. He nodded and Elsa turned momentarily to Harry who had sat back down in his chair as Elsa had jumped between him and Sebastian, unaware how close he'd just come to being on the receiving end of Sebastian's temper. His expression was still glazed, "Sara," she said, "Now." Harry nodded again before getting up and beginning to walk, slightly unsteadily over to Sara's table. His steps got more and more assured the closer he got and Elsa watched as he sat down next to Sara smiling easily and talking confidently before she took Sebastian's hand and led him determinedly from the room and out into the cool air outside.
"What the hell was that?" she asked, continuing to march him as far from the cafeteria as she could.
Sebastian stopped walking, "I could ask you the same thing," he said darkly and Elsa stopped herself, turning to face him and feeling her own anger rising.
"Seriously?"she said, squaring up to him, "You're really asking me that? What exactly did you think you were seeing Sebastian?"
He frowned and a hint of uncertainty crept into his expression, it was as if there was an internal struggle between the rational and irrational parts of his brain going on and the rational part was finally getting a chance to have it's say, "I - " he couldn't seem to get his words out.
Elsa checked her anger, something was wrong, Sebastian had come across her having to put people off their attraction to her before, it might make him a bit moody but that was usually it and she found it quite endearing. This was something else, he had looked ready to tear chunks out of Harry and she could tell now that he didn't really understand why. She grabbed his hand and sat him down on the wall, sitting next to him, "What's wrong?" she asked more softly.
Sebastian drew his hands down his face, "I'm sorry," he said finally, "I don't know what came over me," he shook his head, "I walked in and saw you with Harry, from the angle I was at it looked like you were -"
"You know I wouldn't," Elsa said simply.
"I know," Sebastian looked down at his hands, his fists were clenched, "But I got so angry before my thinking process got that far, I don't know what happened."
Elsa placed a hand gently against his cheek and turned his face towards hers, she looked into his eyes, her own full of concern, "You nearly went there," she said quietly and they both knew exactly what she meant, "How could that happen? You had better control than that even before the serum."
Sebastian rested his forehead against hers, "I don't know what happened," he said again, "I don't think I should be here."
Elsa's heart cracked, it had been a long time since she'd heard that tone from him, heard that fear in his voice that he was a danger to those around him, that he might really hurt someone. She knew how long he'd struggled with that fear and with the guilt on those occasions when the rage of the demon inside him became to strong for him to control. She lifted her mouth to kiss him softly on the forehead, "Hey don't panic," she said, hoping to reassure him, "It's probably just a one off blip, you got caught off guard."
Her words did not have the effect she wanted them to. Sebastian stiffened, pulled back and stood up, "I can't afford to get caught off guard," he said, "I don't get caught off guard." He leant down and gave a her a quick kiss but his mind was clearly already far away, "I'm going to head home, I'll see you later."
Elsa stood too, "I'll come with you," she said.
"No!" Sebastian took in a breath, she could tell he was becoming agitated again and was forcing his emotions in check, "No, it's fine, just let me get my head together. Go to your next class and I'll see you later ok?" He placed what was probably supposed to be a reassuring hand on her arm.
"Ok," Elsa said but as she watched him stalk away she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was very wrong. She'd give him a bit off time to cool down and then suggest he go and see Hesper, maybe he needed his serum adjusting in the same way that vampires did. That most vampires did.
Her phone's message tone chirped in her pocket. She took it out and swiped the screen.
Grant's made great progress, he's going home this afternoon. He hasn't decided what, if anything to tell his family as yet but he said he will contact you soon, he just wants a bit of time to himself with things first so don't go rushing over there ok? Dad xx
She tapped out a reply.
Thanks for the update, I'll give him some space, don't worry xx
Another man who needed space, they were becoming more common by the minute. Why did men insist on retreating to their virtual man caves every time things went wrong? Of course, to be fair to the two men in question, fighting an inner demon that was an actual demon as opposed to a metaphorical one, and dealing with the idea that you were now a werewolf, did rate pretty high on the 'wrongness' scale. Fine gentlemen, I'm here when you need me, Elsa thought before reluctantly dragging herself to her maths class, still hungry. Ahead of her she saw Sara and Harry deep in conversation and smiled to herself. At least someone was having a good day now.
*****************************
Marcus placed his phone back in his pocket, having read Elsa's reply. He picked up his office phone, intending to call Hesper and arrange to meet up when, as if she'd read his intention before he even finished thinking it, she appeared in his doorway.
"We have a problem," she said in her usual 'get straight to the point' manner.
"I know," he said, "I was just going to call you."
"Not that Marcus, " There was something in Hesper's usually cool, serene expression that placed an icy grip on Marcus's heart and he felt his stomach fall.
"What's happened?" he said, standing, instinctively knowing they were about to be on the move.
"The Morville's are dead." Very rarely did Hesper show heightened levels of emotion, she was the calmest and most in control person that Marcus knew but with those four words he heard a crack in her voice and saw tears in her eyes, "They're dead." she repeated.
"All of them?"
"All."
"Who's next in line?"
"The Kingston's, we are searching now."
Without another word, Hesper turned and began to walk away. Marcus followed her, it was going to be another long night.