Blood was trickling from Meredith's nose and ear as she shuddered in Fiadh's and Ellie's arms when Lash spotted her as his feet hit the cargo hold deck.
"No, it's okay," she husked, blood in her mouth from biting her tongue. "I just need a moment to control it, that's all. Just don't get Lash. He has enough concerns to deal with."
"Too late for that," he rumbled, stepping close. Meredith immediately looked up, her eyes wide with fear. And bloodshot with pain.
"Don't leave me behind, Lash, please," she said, her voice shaking. "I just need a minute to control it, then I'll be fine."
Lash took a quick, evaluating look then shook his head.
"You're not controlling it, Meredith," he tautly replied before looking over at Fiadh, who grimaced.
"Sorry, Lash. She's been in season for over a week and didn't tell anybody," the Irish lilith said with a shake of her head. "NightFire gave her a round of biochems to control it, but she ran out a couple of days ago."
"Did anybody else know?" he asked and both Ellie and Fiadh shook their heads. A gesture Dru copied when he glanced over his shoulder at her.
"Day Witch burn me!" he growled, his mind whirling as he cast about for solutions other than the obvious. And he had to make it quick; they were going to be on the ground in less than ten minutes.
Then a radical idea occurred to him. What they needed to do was balance her female hormones with a boost of male hormones. It would be a temporary fix, but that was all they needed.
"Fiadh, you've done some sampling of my blood. How would you rate my testosterone levels?"
"Testosterone?" the red-haired lilith repeated with a frown. "I don't see ... ah, I do see what you're driving at. Well, I don't have much to compare it against, but, all things considered, I'd say it's extremely high!"
"It's risky, trying to use your testosterone to rebalance her hormone levels," Dru said, having also guessed what his plan was. There was no hiding the naked concern in her voice.
"She'll have to drink you almost dry just to stand straight!"
"I won't do it," Meredith gasped, blood now flowing freely from her nostrils. "I won't drink you dry, Lash. Not like Anka did."
"You're not Anka," Lash firmly replied. "You're Meredith, strong and powerful, a queen of the People of the Night, and my friend. And I will not let you suffer needlessly, if I can help it." He yanked off his kevlar vest then opened his shirt to lay bare his trapezius.
"You once told me to bite you, and I did. I knew it wasn't a simple request, that something was going on. I should've listened to my instincts and taken care of you as soon as we were in the castle. Now, after you've reached the point of no return, I'm going to fix that. Meredith, I am telling you to bite me!"
"No!" she sobbed. "I can't drink you dry, Lash. You're my friend. You saved me in London. I can't hurt you like that."
Lash reached out and pulled the blonde lilith's knife out of its belt sheath and without hesitation, used it to slice deeply into his left trapezius.
"You fought Anka to the death for me," he said. "Now let me repay that blood debt. Bite. Me!" And he leaned in, blood flowing freely out of the deep wound and down his chest.
Meredith shuddered as the coppery scent of Lash's blood filled her nostrils, laced with his hormones that she could actually smell. Then instinct became too much for her to stop and, with a throaty growl, she lunged forward to bite deep into his neck, putting the wound in the exact center of her mouth.
Lash grunted as the force of the bite sent a ripple of pain through his body, immediately followed by the hard pull of blood being sucked out through the tear in his flesh. Meredith's hand found its way into his hair, knotting itself in to pull his head to the side and increase her access while she fed, her other hand on his shoulder holding tight.
As another surge was pulled out of his body, he looked over at a stunned Ballan, and a concerned Truk.
"Get this Light-damned plane on the fucking ground!" he snarled. "Now!"
A heavy duffel hit the ground close to the pile already there.
"That's the last of them," Morel reported. Watching the first plane pull out of the bay and begin its run down the landing strip and back into the air, Absinthe nodded in acknowledgement.
"I just hope our new ride is better than that transport plane," the other Ventru continued, dusting off her gloved hands. "Damn thing was drafty as hell!"
Absinthe, however, was already done listening by that point. Standing on the edge of where the light was blocked by the upper edge of the hanger's curving roof, she reached out until her hand was in the sunlight. And let a slow sigh go when she only felt warmth instead of pain. Thanks to the giant vampire god, Ingamon Lash and his psionic tech.
"What in the Dark Father's name ...?" Morel began in a tone that lifted Absinthe's eyes from her gloved hand in the sunlight to look over her shoulder.
"What ...?" she began to ask. Only to see Morel wordlessly pointing out of the hangar.
Twisting her head around with a frown to follow the pointing finger, Absinthe felt a chill travel through at what she saw.
"Both are coming down at the same time??"
Sure enough, the second plane was on final approach, making its descent towards the landing strip. And shockingly right behind it, instead of swinging around for another orbit to allow the second plane an unimpeded landing, came the third plane, In fact, from her point of view, it looked like only a handful of meters separated the second plane's tail and the third plane's nose, it followed so close.
Then the second plane was on the deck, its engines immediately going into reverse as it applied its brakes. Its pilots must've known the third plane was on its tail, however, because they didn't hammer on the rocket assist for the brakes. Instead they ran down the airstrip at a good clip until they were close to the hangar. Close enough to see the pilots sitting in the cockpit before they lit up the rocket assist for the brakes, Absinthe twitched in reaction when they finally roared to life. With the rockets burning, the plane skidded a little on the snow-dusted airstrip before it finally slowed enough to begin taxiing towards the hangar bay.
By this point, the third plane was already on the deck. As soon as its tires were down, the rocket assist snarled into action. At the same time the pilots stood on the brakes and flipped the props into full reverse, dumping velocity with a jerk.
Inside the plane everybody found themselves scrambling for handholds as the hard landing sent anything, or anybody not secured, flying. Already braced to keep both himself and Meredith upright against a hard landing, Lash weathered the velocity dump with no ill effects. And, as the props roared in reverse, he felt Meredith unlatch.
Wobbly enough on his feet to know he had lost nearly half his blood volume, Lash frowned at feeling her fangs pull free. He had expected her to draw more, much more. But when he looked over at her, he found the blonde lilith returning his gaze with a steady one of her own, the pain in her eyes gone.
"Are you okay?" he quietly asked and she nodded, tears appearing in her eyes as she lifted a hand to gently caress the side of his face.
"Thank you," she said in a voice just as quiet. "Again you've saved me."
"Of course, Meredith. As soon as we're secure, I'll take care of things properly for you."
That freed the tears to run unimpeded down her face and she reached up to tenderly kiss him.
"Yes, please. I would really, really like that!" she said when the embrace finally broke. Then she was holding on to him, crying softly in relief. As he held her close, Lash looked out the nearest window and saw they were about halfway down the airstrip. Another ten minutes or so and they'd be close enough to the hangar for the Ventru equipped with EM generators to begin offloading their gear.
It was certainly better than what he had anticipated when Meredith had first bitten him, when he thought she wouldn't be able to take in enough of his testosterone-rich blood to get absorbed fast enough to counter the chaos her own rampant hormones were making in her body. She would drain him dry before stabilizing and they would have to carry them both off the plane on stretchers.
That had been the thinking behind telling Truk and Ballan to get the plane down ASAP in an attempt to save her, him, or both of them with transfusions inside the hub. Before they found out his testosterone levels were high enough that she was able to stabilize after taking only half of his blood instead of all of it. And ironically he had Dru to thank for that with her desire to reconnect with him at any pause in the action, keeping his testosterone levels high just to keep up to her levels of desire.
"Okay, Merri, we're getting close," he said against her hair. "Make sure you have all your gear and your EM generator active. Our ride should be arriving shortly."
She nodded, leaning back enough to again kiss him tenderly but soundly.
"Thank the Dark Father I don't have much," she said, with an apologetic smile. "I don't think I can carry anything heavy for a while yet."
"Just be careful," Lash admonished, catching Fiadh moving in quickly to help. "Fiadh will stick tight to you and make sure you get where you need to go." His eyes shifted to the red haired lilith.
"Won't you, Fiadh."
"I will, my wolf," the Irish queen said with a brilliant smile, stepping in to give him a quick kiss as well before turning to Meredith.
"Let's grab your kit, Meredith!"
Feeling another lilith presence close behind him, he looked over his shoulder.
"Best get your kit ready too, Mistress," he said. "I'll carry you over to our new transpo so you can take advantage of my EM generator." Then he was grunting as Dru threw her arms around him from behind and squeezed him tightly. "Careful now. I'm at half capacity. You might actually hurt me if you squeeze too hard!"
"What made you change your mind?" Dru asked, kissing his neck to whisper into his ear.
"Perspective," Lash said. "Besides, while you know, your medical staff don't know, do they?"
He could feel her abruptly smile.
"No, my dear Lash, they do not," she said, kissing him again. "You found a way around the law."
"Temporarily. Anybody, including me, if they are questioned by the Conclave will have to confess they had a very strong suspicion that you are with child. After all, you were a lilith in season and I am ..."
"An alpha prime," Dru filled in, her smile growing. "I know you don't like that label but that's how the Conclave looks at you."
Lash shrugged.
"A label is just a label, as long as it doesn't stop me from doing what I must to save Ventru from the pogrom." He looked over his shoulder at her once more. "Without that official certificate from your medical staff, it's just hearsay as everybody else aren't actual doctors."
"But then the Conclave will march their doctors in and confirm," Dru finished for him.
"Right. Until that moment, we have some freedom to operate and give you the opportunity to see this to the end."
Dru kissed his cheek.
"Is it wrong of me to say I wish this would never end?" she said in a hoarse whisper, squeezing him once more.
"Don't fall for me, Night Mistress," Lash admonished. "That's a lilith rule you cannot break."
She nuzzled his neck for a moment before gently biting him enough to draw blood, which she promptly licked away.
"Too late," she confessed, still in a whisper. Then she was letting him go to look over the uneasily stirring breeders.
"Prepare yourself, little sisters," she said in a broad, firm voice. "Once we are in the bay, you will need to move quickly to get out of harm's way inside the hub's main building! Heed our instructions and follow your senior sister Ellie's directions as she gives them and you will arrive safe and sound at journey's end!"