Varian
He needed to feed; it was something that could no longer be denied. The pulse of his hunger throbbed at a precarious pace, demanding to be sedated, and with Lily now in his hands, she wasn't safe until he managed it.
Because of his particular silver predicament, he was incapable of shifting and was reduced to relying on Talon.
He sparred his friend a glance and scowled at the smug look on Talon's face, "Are you enjoying all this?" he asked a bit sharply.
Talon's fingers tightened around the wheel of their BMW and turned onto the next street. "Am I gloating?" he glanced away from the road to peer amusingly over at Varian, his mouth tilting in wry-laced humor. "You should really consider a sidekick, V."
Varian resisted a grin and shifted in his seat, the silver making his skin almost impossible to inhabit.
He turned his head to stare longingly at the woman in the back seat. She hadn't moved since they left the warehouse.
"I work alone." He said more to himself as he averted his eyes from Lily.
Talon chuckled under his breath and pulled up to the curve before a house.
Varian tensed against the spasms in his body as he struggled out of the car and stiffened as Talon reached in and lifted Lily from the back seat.
He felt his fangs lengthen on impulse, the intense urge to rip her from his arms almost intolerable to ignore.
"Easy, V." Talon teased, smirking lazily as he carried Lily inside.
The house was another safe-house, meant for purposes such as the present. They had a wolf sniffing their trail and that posed as a possible threat.
The woman that greeted them at the door produced a broadening smile that put the sun to shame, "Varian? Are my eyes deceiving me? I never imagined you coming to me."
Varian grinned as he surveyed the beautiful vampire.
Lovely-could describe her at best.
Tall and slender in all the right places, she moved with a timeless grace, her skin of that strange yet beautiful alabaster and hair a dark, chocolate brown that splayed her shoulders in a silken fashion. When their eyes met, he was caught in the deep abyss of dark blue.
"Good evening, Blanch." He said warmly, "I could use your help."
Blanch smiled gently and stepped aside, motioning them inward. "Come in, please."
Talon carried Lily to the nearest sofa and set her down.
Varian stepped forward to settle at her side.
"Who is the girl?" Blanch asked softly, her brows pulling together in concern.
"Lily." Varian said softly, his eyes resting firmly on her face.
"She's bleeding." Blanch said, a sudden unease in her voice.
Varian detected her shrillness and observed the wound at Lily's neck. He could have split Ward in half for it. The gash along her neck was enough to produce a pool of blood but it wasn't enough to cause severe damage.
"Do you have any gauze?" he asked, turning to Blanch.
She nodded and disappeared from the room.
"Have you heard from Marguerite?" Varian asked Talon as he reached over Lily to draw the comforter from the back of the couch.
Talon fell into a chair opposite of the sofa and stretched out his legs. "Sorry, V. I don't keep tabs on Margie."
That didn't settle well with him-he hadn't heard from Marguerite since he sent her on a prowl. "You should." He growled darkly, "She's unpredictable."
Blanch returned suddenly with a hand full of gauze and ointment. "Shall I tend to her?" when she caught the tension in Varian's frame she added quickly, "You look as though you need to feed and judging by the severe air of edge that surrounds you, I imagine your quite famished."
He glanced at Lily, hesitant to leave her side.
"You can trust that she will be safe, Varian."
He sighed-if he was ever to leave a human in a vampire's care, Blanch would be the most self-restrained among them all.
With a grudging nod, he seized Talon by the arm and pulled him from the room.
"Find Marguerite." He said once they were outside.
Talon nodded, "Will do, V."
Varian watched his friend dematerialize into the night.
His gut clenched with a fierce wave of hunger. Groaning inwardly he turned into the shadows and disappeared.
Lily
Lily awoke feeling listless. For a moment she'd forgotten her disheveled world, mindless to its happenings.
She came fully awake and with her awareness came the pain.
Her eyes widened warily around the empty room.
She didn't recognize anything about it and a panic erupted in her chest.
Where was she?
She started to piece together the mental fragments of what she could remember before passing out.
Ward-the pain, a strange man with wild eyes-it was all another blurry haze.
She sat up and a comforter fell away from her shoulders. Her eyes swept the room just as a woman entered, startling her.
The woman paused and offered a warm smile, "Good evening, Miss Lily."
Wary of the beautiful stranger, Lily pressed herself further into the plush sofa. "Where am I?"
The woman stepped forward and placed a tray Lily hadn't noticed onto a nearby table. "You are safe." The woman explained, "My name is Blanch."
"I want to leave."
Blanch winced as if stung by her slight callousness, "I have brought you something to eat." She offered, ignoring the eagerness to flee in Lily's eyes.
Tensing, Lily watched the woman carefully as she moved to the tray and lifted the lid and her stomach growled instantaneously on queue.
"I didn't know what you liked so I made an assortment of-" she paused, observing her rather lack of culinary skills, "-sandwiches."
She placed the tray on the end of the couch and stepped away.
Lily cast a curious glance at the tray-she couldn't remember when she'd eaten last and the ghastly growls coming from her stomach insisted she cater the tray.
Hesitating, she reached out and grabbed the first sandwich in reach and nibbled at a corner.
Tuna.
"I haven't been in the presence of a human for some time." Blanch said rather casually and noticing the stiffening in Lily's shoulders hastened to say, "Forgive my obtuseness, I only meant that it's nice to have some company other than my kind."
Surprised, Lily felt compelled to ask, "You don't mind me being human?"
Blanch smiled and Lily felt for the first time how genuinely kind the woman was. "Of course not, though I imagine it's hard to think of me none other then a monster."
"I didn't-I wasn't-" Lily fumbled with the sandwich in her hand, feeling somewhat shame-faced for those thoughts had crossed her mind.
Blanch chuckled, "I surely don't blame you, what with all the horror stories and folklore about us creatures-it's quite a stone imagery to rid yourself of."
"Did Varian bring me here?" Lily asked.
Blanch nodded, "Yes-"
"Where is he?" she was startled by her eagerness to find him-was it simply because she knew without a doubt that he would protect her, or was it something more complex, like the way he made her heart race in an exhilarating manner? She strayed from the latter.
She felt as though Blanch shied away from the question. "He went out."
Lily frowned, "Where did he go?"
The woman cleared her throat and then motioned to the sandwich in her lap. "You should eat to get your strength back-you're wounded."
She'd forgotten the gash in her neck. Gasping, she reached up and found it dressed with gauze.
"It looked quite nasty." Blanch explained, "I cleaned it and bathed it with soothing ointment. It should take little time to heal-no permanent damage, perhaps a small scar, but other then that, perfectly fine."
Lily felt a blossoming likeness for the woman, though she was a vampire, she truly couldn't detect any traces of malice.
Blanch motioned to the tray, "Eat, I'll return for it when it's emptied."
Lily smiled and waited until Blanch strolled gracefully from the room, the moment she was gone, she dropped her sandwich and sprang for the door.
With a gleeful tug, she jerked the door wide and froze.
"Going somewhere?"
Her heart leapt against her chest at the sight of him and she found herself retreating as he stepped over the threshold, slamming the door closed.
The air about him was oddly thickened, a peculiar glint darkened his eyes to granite and she noticed certain liveliness to his complexion and realization dawned-he'd just fed.
"Yeah-" she was suddenly breathless, "I was on my way out."
He shook his head, his mouth turning grim. "How much more peril are you willing to put yourself in?" his eyes dropped to the gauze around her neck, "With me I can guarantee your safety, but if you insist on running, I cannot keep you safe."
"Safe from what exactly?" she demanded, "If I'm to solely place my life in your hands, then I need to know all ends of this spectrum, not a single detail left out. What am I to you?"
Varian straightened, inhaling a deep breath through his nose. "What do you think you are to me?"
She shook her head, "I don't know. All I know is that I'm some sort of-mishap. I'm not like you yet not entirely human, how that is possible I cannot fathom." She raised her head and met his eyes, "What I do know is that I'm strongly connected to you, aside from mentally-" she paused, a redness staining her cheeks. "-physically."
He reached out a hand to her but she stepped away from it. "You are bound to me because your veins carry my blood-but there is another reason aside from that obvious one that binds you to me."
"Which is?"
"I've marked you."
Lily stiffened, "Marked? Marked as in?"
"I've claimed you as mine."
She shook her head, "No, you can't do that-"
He reached out and grasped her shoulders, tightening his hold to keep her from escaping, "Don't you understand, I will do everything in my power to ensure that no harm comes to you and if that means marking you as mine, then I shan't hesitate to do so."
"What does that entail exactly?" she demanded, growing more alarmed.
He sighed and dropped his hands, "It doesn't take much to bind one to another. I've tasted you, that's usually all it takes to mark, but in your case, because you're a hybrid, I have too-"
"Have to what?" she asked sharply.
If she were not mistaken, his eyes darkened all the more as they swept fleetingly over her, "I have to stake claim to you physically."
Lily blanched, "As in-"
He nodded.
"And if the participant is unwilling?"
The muscle at his jaw tightened, "Lily, I would never take you by force, but just know that the binding will never fully be complete until I have done so."
"And what happens if you don't?"
"The longer you are with me, the more you will feel the tug and pull of your hybrid. You are in transition. If you do not fully complete the transitioning, you could die."
Her heart dropped like a block in her chest, "How did this even happen? How am I in transitioning?"
"Because my blood already flowed in your veins, your vampire lay dormant. By taking your blood, I triggered your hybrid, in order for the transition to complete, I must take you as I explained and then you must in follow receive my blood."
She paled with that and swayed on her feet, shaking her head in earnest. "I can't-I won't."
Varian gripped her shoulders, steadying her. "You say that now, but when the time comes, I will not stand idly aside and watch you wither away unto nothing." His dark eyes warmed as they roamed her face. "You are mine now, Lily, whether you wish to be or not. I will see to making you mine forever."
Suddenly, the door behind them bolted wide and produced an uneasy Talon.
Varian turned with a grimace thinning his lips but that was forgotten the moment his eyes settled on the unconscious woman lying in his friend's arms.
Lily gave a frantic cry and swept forward, the moment she did, Varian stayed her with a hand.
"What are you-" she started and then froze at the expression etched tightly onto his face.
"We have a problem." Talon exclaimed.
Not understanding and strongly concerned for Ruby lying pale and lifeless in Talon's arms, she exchanged wary, confused glances between the two.
Varian spoke next, evoking a cold, dreadful chill up her spine.
"She's been turned."
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