Valerie had never really been to Hellcat's Hollow before. For one, it was too often frequented by Hunters. That right there was incentive enough for a vampire like himself who preferred the shadows, killed on occasion, and had little to no power to stay far, far away.
He nearly broke the speed limit getting there. He would have floored it, no longer concerned with keeping the Ferarri intact, but getting pulled over by a cop would not be a good thing right now. Not only was there blood and a dent the size of Texas on his bumper, but there was a bloody, occasionally groaning body in his back seat. Valerie himself was covered in drying crimson. No, better not to attract the authorities. Especially not with Heather here. She was innocent, this was Valerie's mess. He had to keep her out of this as much as possible.
Arriving at the Hollow, he pulled into the employee parking lot out back, got Darren out of the backseat and approached the rear door. Heather followed closely since he couldn't leave her in the car; this wasn't the safest part of town, and Val was damned if he would trust his girlfriend's safety to a carlock. Hands full of bloody shifter, he kicked the door until it opened.
((Continued from here (http://angdar.com/nightsomen/index.php?topic=715.0).))
Really, Valerie shouldn't have been afraid of the Hollow, considering its vow of neutrality, as he should have been safe in there. Any fights between customers had to be handled outside of the establishment, which usually calmed down anything serious. That should have been Darren's job from the moment he entered the place to relieve Dave of his shift, but he wasn't quite able to. In fact, it was Dave who showed up to the door about ready to bitch Darren out for forgetting his key, and found Val standing there with a barely conscious bartender in his arms. Darren had regained consciousness somewhat when Val moved him, though that was only because his pain level had shot up when he was shifted into the man's grasp.
"Shit! Get him inside, quick," Dave snarled, glancing out the door in case someone had followed. He had no idea what had happened to the boy, and his thoughts went immediately to Jeshickah, Morfeus or Celeste. Those were the three big ones they were having trouble with, because of Ash, and he wouldn't have put it past them to do something to Ash's friends. Seeing the dent in the front of that Ferrari made him suspicious, though.
"Get him in that room," he directed Val, pointing to a back room that had a couch and sort of lounge area inside. The couch was black leather, for slightly easier clean-up of messes, such as blood. "What happened to him?"
The man at the door had seen Val's car. Well, there went making something up about finding him in the road. "I hit him with my car," Valerie said truthfully, taking Darren to the directed area and setting him down carefully. Heather found a wall and stood by it. "He was walking strangely, as though drunk, but I can't smell any alcohol in his blood. He was thinking about a vampire. I believe he was under her control and she sent him into the street." The coat was falling off of Darren, so Val pulled it over him more completely and arranged the boy's body into a manner that would put less strain on his injuries.
Finished, he turned to the man who had let him in. "I take it you know him. He was thinking of this place, so I brought him here. Who is he?"
The sharp look from the werewolf shouldn't have been at all surprised when Val said that he'd hit the boy, but the explanation had Dave wondering again. He needed to know who this vampire was, and what exactly had happened to Darren. "He's not drunk," Dave said firmly, knowing immediately. First, the boy had been on his way to work, and he'd never show up drunk, and second, they'd both be able to smell it on him.
"His name's Darren, and he works here. I was starting to wonder why he was running late," he answered, pulling the coat up somewhat to get a look at the injuries before cursing. The kid was messed up. "How fucking fast were you driving, dipshit? Do you know how difficult it is to cause this kind of damage to a shifter?"
He pointed across the room to a case with first aid supplies in it, but he wasn't really betting on being able to do much. The cat had some serious roadrash where he must have gone skidding a few feet after impact, and there were broken bones and plenty of bleeding gashes. Dave didn't know if there were any internal injuries, but he was willing to bet on it. "I can't do much for him with a dinky little first aid kit. He needs more than that. The number for Crimson is on the wall next to that phone over there. Dial it and ask for Batten. He'll get a doctor over here fast. Just tell him it's Darren."
Valerie would have been offended at being called dipshit were he not distracted with worry for Darren. "I was driving no faster than normal," he replied. "He stepped in front of me suddenly, and I didn't have time to- Heather, don't."
The human girl looked up from where she had been about to brush some bloody hair from Darren's face. She glared at him. "Why?"
"Just don't." He felt her anger as he ignored her in favor of listening to Dave, and hearing the last thing he wanted to hear. Big, heavy sigh. Connor. If the Guild Leader only had to hear the boy's name to make him come running, Darren had to be either a really good friend, or family. Terrific. Valerie was feeling horrible enough from both his own guilt and Connor's worry through association. He didn't need the real Connor right here in front of him to tell him further how bad a situation this was.
Valerie went to the phone and dialed the number, although sadly he could have used his cell. "Connor Batten, please. Thank you." Some waiting. He needed to talk to Connor about Crimson's choice of hold music. "Hello, Connor. It's Val. I-" He ground his teeth, and sighed. "I'm at Hellcat's Hollow with someone named Darren. He has been badly injured, and needs a doctor." Once he said that, the conversation didn't last very long. He called Adrian next, mainly because he was feeling wretched and wanted both of them here. He wouldn't go as far as to hug them, but it might come close.
After hanging up, Valerie found a chair and sat in it, leaning his arms on his knees and watching Darren. Heather had gone back to the wall and was glaring at him still. God, she had heard far too much just now. What was he going to tell her? Why did he even care? This would be so much easier if he just didn't care. His master never had. Valerie could hardly tell which of this hurt was Connor's and which of it was his. He wished Adrian were here. The wolf's mental vibes were soothing. Valerie could use the calm.
Elke had finally gotten ahold of Ash, and she told him she'd be in the area that day and would swing by. She said she'd give him a ring when she got to the Hollow and she had just pulled out her phone to do so when she heard Dave's angry voice. It wasn't that the wolf was yelling, or that he was right by the door - it was that Elke noticed things like his raised voice, because when he raised his voice, it meant trouble.
She hurried inside, raising her shields quickly as she did so. She was 'arming' herself, so to speak, for potential danger. She worried silently that the cougar she'd gotten would be okay at the apartment by himself, but she figured if he hadn't chewed through her tables by now, he wouldn't.
She arrived to a relatively empty room, and reached out, trying to source out where Dave was. What she felt was Dave and Co, not just a singular beast. There was a cat, too, from what she could tell. She ran to the noise, popping around the doorway like a jack-in-the-box.
What she saw made her gasp. "Oh my god, isn't that Darren?" she exclaimed, pushing her way in. She was the Cat Whisperer, remember? She placed her hands on his lightly, and sighed. "I hope this doesn't count as a gross display of power, " she said into a furrowed brow and a nervous expression.
With that, she let her energy flow over the wounded cat, trying to... sedate him, she supposed. He wasn't calm, he was in shock. When he came out of it, things were going to get very dangerous, especially if someone wasn't there to temper him.
Connor cursed violently when he got that particular call, grabbing his keys and flying out the door in search of Doctor Mitchell. This was interesting, considering he hadn't been moving around all that quickly outside of training since he'd been blinded. He didn't have time to play around if Darren was injured badly enough that he needed a doctor, though it did occur to him that it didn't make any sense that Valerie had called. He'd have to figure out what the hell was going on with that when he got there. He had to get Mitchell first, though there was something else on his list of things to do. As he took off down the halls of Crimson, he called Mars and told her to meet him at Hellcat's Hollow.
Dave didn't react much at all when Elke showed up, except to make room for her. If there was a single vampire he trusted implicitly, it was her. Especially with Ash or Darren, considering her ability with cats. "If it keeps him from hurting himself, there ain't nothing gross about it," Dave pointed out gruffly, pushing the coat out of the way to see as much of the damage as they could. With Connor on his way with a doctor, Dave only needed to keep the bloodflow down to a minimum until either Ash or Connor arrived. He was no doctor, so he couldn't do much else.
It probably was for the best that Elke showed up, since Darren wasn't guaranteed to stay this calm for long. As badly injured as he was, he was extremely likely to lose full control of exactly who was in control, cat or man, and that wouldn't have been safe for anyone in the room, particularly Heather and himself. His eyes had already started getting a little too wide and feline with Dave and his wolfy scent so close, though his eyes slid back to a more normal state with Elke devoting attention to keeping him from freaking out. What parts of the human brain that were in control were pretty much in shock as well, though slightly better off for the calming she was doing. He could think a little more clearly, though not much.
He was awfully low on blood.
"She...fed," he forced out, his voice sounding a little strained. It hurt just to breathe, nevermind talk. He must have broken a few ribs. He needed to let them know that she'd taken all that blood, though. "A lot."
Connor was on his way, Mitchell in tow, in less than five minutes.
"Sshhh-shhh, kitten," she said softly. She glanced up, and then back down. She? Oh god, why does this look like Sigried's handywork? Elke felt herself panic for a moment, and her power ebbed off of Darren. When he made a pained noise, she yelped a little, and swung her foot around a chair, scooting it underneath herself and sitting down all in one motion.
"Just lay still," she instructed, her voice laden with that good kittyfeeling stuff that she did. She closed her eyes, and went to see for herself just what Sigried had done. She was surprised to learn it hadn't been Sigried, but that was about all she could pull. His mind was far too feline right now, and some of that was to be thanked by her power. Still, she'd rather be doing this than prying his claws out of Dave while they were sooner unattached to his paws.
"Where's his girlfriend?" she asked.
Right on cue....
She snapped her cellphone shut with a loud SNAP!, all agitation and anxiety in her subsequent cursing as she scrambled downstairs into the garage of her Grenwich apartment and into the black leather seat of her Mercedes-Benz SLR500 series, a recent gift from her parents for landing the internship at SmithBarney. All that, however, was far from her mind as Connor's words haunted her brain, and she managed to shove it from her thoughts enough to brave the fifteen-minute commute to the Hollows.
As soon as the jingle of keys went back into the pocket of her slim dark jeans, all bets were off. The girl practically ran into the Hollow, past the counter and through the threshold of where she knew they'd all be gathered, uncertain of her own reaction when she saw Darren. Frankly, she wasn't sure she wanted to face the possibility of his mangled form any more than she wanted to face all of Midnight's Trainers, but with gritted teeth, she strode in, the slender, lithe form clothed in little more than what she had worn back in their apartment. She had only the time to throw a khaki blazer over her lacy camisole before sliding into her vehicle.
Her mind glanced over the figures assembled - three familiar, three unfamiliar. Without bothering with introductions, and with a somewhat suspicious glance tossed at the woman who was nearest to Darren, her almond eyes glanced over Darren's torn and bloody form, fury and despair seeping into her psyche. She clenched her fist and forced her tone into calmness.
"What. Happened?" she asked very clearly, eyes searching the faces of each of the figures assembled.
He did calm down when she told him to, just the sound of her voice with all of that power thrumming through it making him want to stay where he was and just...listen. He didn't realize that they were waiting on a doctor, so as far as he knew, he only had to relax and just ride this out. The theory was that his body would eventually catch up enough to start healing itself, but it was definitely taking its sweet time.
When her power slipped away a bit, it was as though a haze had left his consciousness, and that was BAD. The first thing that hit him was immense pain, like everything that was happening had been dulled down to a more manageable level by the vampire's soothing energy. He had a bloodied hand and claws attached to that leather sofa in an instant, but at least it wasn't someone's skin he'd caught. Elke had quickly turned her power up again, and that arm relaxed back into place where it had been, without claws. At least she knew what she was doing, even if the likelihood of Mars being alright with this vampire calling him 'kitten' wasn't all that high. Hopefully, she hadn't heard.
Dave took notice of Darren's little 'twitch' and glanced at Elke, wondering what the hell that had been about. She'd had it under control again quickly though, so he didn't bother asking. His concern right then was where Connor was, and trying to figure out what to tell Mars when he called her later. He was hoping they'd have good news.
He was NOT, however, expecting to see her come busting in on them, though. He was on his feet and approaching her immediately, leaving Elke to keep pressure on the worst of the kid's wounds. "Car accident, Mars, he got hit. Connor's supposed to be on his way with a doctor 'cause Ash isn't in yet, and when he's better, we can find out the details," he explained swiftly, leaving out the bits about Val being the one who hit him, and the mention of some female vampire. Until they had the full details, he didn't want to point fingers where Mars was concerned. Elke wouldn't kill someone, but he wasn't so sure of the same regarding Mars.
Connor chose about a minute later as his time of arrival, dragging Mitchell bodily through the Hollow to the only open door he noticed. That was his first place to check, and his last, as it turned out. He stepped into the room and was greeted by a load of people and a body on the sofa. He stopped dead, just standing there and staring at his little cousin. Darren wasn't moving much, so it was fairly obvious to Connor's messed up eyes that he wasn't well.
"Oh, shit."
"Darren," she whispered softly. "Darren, Mars is here to see you," she said. She hadn't needed to pull her name from his head; she'd heard it mentioned several times around the room, and could only guess that when the Witch came through the door, she had been the aforementioned. The way the vampire spoke, and the way Dave reguarded her, it was pretty obvious that her intentions weren't ill; and if it wasn't, well... Darren couldn't afford for her to drop her power off of him again.
She applied pressure to some of the worst areas, wishing there was a way to just tell him to stop bleeding. Iloquil could, but Elke, she just didn't know how to do that. His mind, she could handle. She frowned, deeply.
"Where is Ash?" she asked, puzzled. She glanced to the man they called Connor, but he didn't seem familiar. Of course, as luck would have it, HE would probably recognize her name thanks to her bizarro sister.
This evening was shaping up to be fabulous.
~~~
Derrrrp.
She listened to Dave almost impassively, giving the shifter an appreciative sort of grin when he had explained the situation, though she learned more from what he left out than what he actually had said. The other two figures - one human, the other vampire, from what her gifts told her - hadn't explained their roles yet; Mars doubted that they were there merely for spectator sport. When she picked up on Connor's presence, she awaited his entrance through the portal and was exceedingly glad to see Dr. Mitchell following closely behind.
Mars had retreated back to Darren's side, resisting the urge to run gentle fingers across his wounds and allowing instead for the female vampire to channel her energy and keep him passive and out of shock. For the moment, anyway - she only wanted the best for Darren, so any other motivations would have to take a backseat.
She didn't need to open her mouth to utter words for Connor to sense the urgency in the way her features were arranged, and placed her palm gently on his matted hair, thickly interwoven with dried blood and sweat.
Adrian didn't arrive long after Connor. He'd had a bad feeling about stuff even before Valerie called, and when he did get that phone call, he knew from where it'd come.
He wasn't surprised to see Connor at the Hollow, but he didn't quite expect the scene he walked in on. Sure, he'd smelled the blood, and he'd somehow known that someone was injured -- but he'd known that even before he came over anyway, don't ask him how.
He didn't know Liten as well as the others, even if he did know him enough to recognize him -- despite his state -- as Connor's cousin, so while the rest flocked around the cat, he went to Valerie's side.
(What happened?) he thought at the vampire, more or less expecting him to hear it. He was a vampire for crying out loud. If he couldn't hear someone thinking loudly next to him...
Valerie had kept himself quiet and hopefully therefore forgotten in his chair. It was Valerie's coat on Darren and Darren's blood on Valerie's shirt, and it wouldn't take a genius to realize the vampire was involved. He knew he was in a bad situation, even if it was completely coincidental. The girlfriend, Mars, looked mad enough to take a limb off the first person to raise their hand and claim direct involvement. Amid the slow clogging of the room with people and various voices moving around him, he was grateful for two things: one, that Dave hadn't pointed to him when explaining things to Mars, and two, that it was Adrian who finally decided to take an interest in him. The wolf was Connor's friend and therefore on everyone else's side, but he was also one of the only people in the room who knew Valerie presonally and might actually vouch for him when accusations started flying.
(What happened?)
Thank God for small favors. Ade was even keeping the conversation silent. Valerie breathed a mental sigh. From what I understand, a female vampire drank him nearly dry and forced him into the street. I... hit him with my car. I'm trying to stay out of sight until everyone calms down. There was a pause, during which Adrian would certainly sense his confliction. Could you... put your hand on my shoulder? Or somewhere? For about five seconds. He glanced at Heather. She looked so small standing by herself. Small, lost, human... fragile. He really needed to get her out of here.
Darren tilted his head some, painfully, when Elke told him that Mars was there and he felt his girlfriend's hand on his head. Having both Mars and Elke there was just about all he wanted right then, but he also ended up getting a muttering doctor. He didn't even realize Connor was there, mostly because the man had only said two words and there were too many people for him to pay attention to them all. He'd already forgotten Dave by this point, as well as Valerie and Heather. He hadn't ever even noticed Adrian. His world consisted only of the people directly affecting him right then, and that was fine with him. Mars, Elke and the doctor were enough to keep him busy.
"...sorry," he told Mars suddenly, remembering his promise to be careful. Apparently, he hadn't been at all careful.
Well, things were getting pretty crowded back there, and the bar wasn't currently being tended, so Dave really needed to get back to it. He washed his hands at a sink on the other side of the room, left Darren to the doctor's care, and was sure to squeeze Mars' shoulder in reassurance. He was confident that the kid would be fine. It was hard to kill a shifter, and if he wasn't dead yet, or in any danger of being further damaged, he'd most likely be fine if they could stop him from bleeding out. That was what the doctor was for.
Dave and Darren may have been calm, but there was nothing mellow about Connor right then. He just stood there as Dave passed him, but his thoughts were running a mile a minute. Why was Val here? Covered in a dark substance that he could only guess was Darren's blood? How had this happened?
drank him...forced...street. I...hit him...car...
Connor's mind hadn't picked up the full statement through that bond of theirs, but that was probably because he was both inexperienced with it and not trying. He just caught flashes, possibly due to Val's emotions as well, and that was enough for him to misunderstand beautifully.
He moved suddenly, like a rubberband being released, and grabbed Val by the shirt to drag him out of the room and slam him against the wall outside. It was almost similar to what Val had done to him the first time they'd interacted, except Connor's mouth was nowhere near the vampire's throat, and instead just inches away from his face.
"You WHAT?"
No need for an audience here, but he knew Adrian was coming even before the man left the room. "Shut the door, Adrian."
Elke exhaled, and then glanced up to Dave. She could sense the discomfort growing in the room.
"Okay, sweetheart," she said calmly to Heather. "Dave can take you out into the main area if you need a drink or something?" she asked. She didn't wager the human would comply, but then again, she could always try. She looked over to Mars.
"Can you hold this down?" she asked, nodding to some clothes she'd been applying pressure to in order to hold off the bleeding. She knew Mars would want to help, and she didn't think the Witch would say no to something as important as that. "And don't be sorry," she said to Darren, standing as Mars took the bandages (assuming she would).
She managed to maintain a level of concentration on the cat as she lept up and snaked a hand out to grab Connor as he grabbed Val. He DID look familiar based on a description she'd gotten from elsewhere, but she'd just address it later.
"It was an ACCIDENT," she said. Elke never raised her voice, but now? Val had screwed up, yes, but they weren't placing the blame where it was really due - she could see the female vampire's face, but she didn't recognize her, not one bit.
(Edited for clarity.)
OOC: umm... Angie? Connor never came near Liten, you know. ^^;
BIC:
Adrian froze as Valerie's voice whispered a reply directly in his mind. How he knew it was Valerie when he couldn't actually hear it didn't matter.
(You... hit him. With your car.)
That was as far as he got before Connor moved. The female vampire tried to stop him*, but he tore himself free and stalked up to Valerie, grabbing him and pulling him outside. Of course Adrian followed them, and he knew that Connor had known that, since he was told to close the door.
Apparently Adrian hadn't been the only one to hear Valerie say that. Which was bad, because Connor's judgment was a bit clouded here, seeing as it was his cousin.
"Connor, hold on," he asked the human, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. It wasn't planned that way, it just happened. Of course, Valerie had actually asked Adrian to touch him, but that mattered less. He just knew he had to calm the two down before it came to blows. Heather didn't need to get caught in a preternatural fight.
"Please," he added.
~~*~~
*) open for edit in case Angie changes Elke's post ^^
Heather shook her head at Elke's offer, as Valerie had known she would. He wished she hadn't. She would be better off out of this room, where blood and confusion and hostility flowed so thick.
"Heather," he said, and she jerked her head to him as though remembering he was there. "You should go with Dave. He can get you a cab, get you home-"
"I'm staying."
Valerie's expression became stern. "Heather, it's for your own safety-"
"I'm staying, Val."
(You... hit him. With your car.)
And that was when Connor decided to haul Valerie out of his seat and drag him outside. From the outrage permeating the Hunter's frame, Val knew that the bond must have betrayed him and sent his message to Adrian to Connor, as well. What he didn't know was that Connor hadn't gotten all of it, and had misunderstood completely.
"I'm sorry, Connor," he said with unusual sincerity to the snarling face inches from his. "It was an accident." He was grateful for Adrian's hands on them, completing the bond with all three of them touching and opening the connection further. He hoped Adrian's insistance on calm would turn down Connor's temper. Although, if Connor tried to get in a few hits before they got him under control, Val wouldn't try to stop it. He could feel the other man's pain loud and clear, even stronger now that its owner was right here. Valerie felt... immeasurably responsible and guilty.
And then Heather's voice came through the door, with her following soon after. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
Connor didn't CARE if this woman told him it was an accident. What he heard couldn't have been an accident, not drinking from him, and Val had still hit him with the car. With a CAR. That was his cousin laying there broken and bleeding, and Val was saying he was sorry? He'd jerked away from Elke's grip without even thinking about it to drag Val out of the room, and surprisingly the contact between the two of them didn't do anything to relax or calm him as it had been lately. Perhaps it was because they were both upset.
It was Adrian that caused that little problem for him. He didn't want to be calm, not right then. He wanted to deal with this. Adrian's hand on his shoulder seemed to be calming him though, and he let his head fall forward some, not in defeat but in frustration. He hadn't thrown any punches, at least.
"Adrian," he warned, though he didn't really know what he wanted the man to do. Stop calming him down? Stop making him want to collapse against them both? Stop the girl from seeing him embarrass himself? He didn't have an answer for her question. He wanted to snap at her and tell her to get lost, but he didn't want to...hurt her feelings. Damn vampire.
"I'll back off when you calm down, Connor. We don't want a scene."
As if on cue, he heard Heather's voice and footsteps as she came out through the door. Wincing slightly, he realized how strange it must look, the three of them standing so close.
"Don't worry, Heather. I'll make sure your boyfriend returns to you intact."
He wanted her to go back inside -- actually, he wanted her to be home safely -- because he really didn't want her to know about vampires and shifters and bonds and whatnot. Part of him blamed Valerie for those feelings, but part of him knew it wasn't really wrong of him to be protective of his packmates' girlfriends (or boyfriends). He'd felt almost the same with any of his friends, regardless of bonds. Of course, the protective feelings wouldn't be quite as specific, but they'd be there.
"Connor just needs to talk to him about what happened, and I went along to make sure things didn't get out of hand."
He didn't want to let go of Connor and Valerie.
"Do you think you could go back inside and help take care of Connor's cousin, Heather? Please?"
This night had gone from bad to worse. Heather wasn't a person who stayed out of others' personal business, but for Val she had always made and exception. The man was kind, classy, drove a sweet car, and at least didn't LOOK old. His actual age he hinted to be somewhere between twenty five and thirty. Heather's parents would have a fit, which was why Heather lied and always said Val was just really mature for a twenty-year-old college student. She'd never had any problems with him, never had to wonder if she should open her mouth and speak up about something; Valerie addressed issues before Heather even considered bringing them up, as if he could read her mind. He never asked anything of her, and she in return let him keep whatever secrets he was harboring. For a year, that had been fine.
But lately... lately Val had been acting strange. Distracted. Annoyed. Slightly schizophrenic. She'd ignored it for his sake, let him tell her it was nothing and pretend to believe him, but... For God's sake, she'd been worried! And when she finally, finally decided to hell with it, she was going to demand he tell her what was going on, they turned some poor guy into roadkill. And now she was up to her eyeshadowed eyeballs in strange people. People who kept throwing words around like "shifter" and "vampire". People who seemed to know Val, people who seemed extremely close to him and she'd never even HEARD of...
She hugged her shoulders and stared at Adrian. She'd run out here for some instinctual need to not lose sight of the only familar face in the room, even if it was a face that was quickly losing clarity. Her blue eyes slid to Val, who was watching her with a carefully blank expression. He was trying not to scare her, she knew, even though he had to know it was too late.
"... Okay." She swallowed, took a breath, straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. The look she gave Val was still afraid, but determined. "I have to be home in an hour, or dad's gonna have a fit and call the cops."
Valerie was very proud of her right then. He nodded, and watched her give him and the Hunters one last look before going inside. He kept his mind on her so if anything happened to her he would sense it. Only then did he give his attention back to Connor and Ade. Connor was cooling off, but still pissed. For once, Valerie was going to keep his mouth shut and let Adrian handle this.
Inside, Heather approached the mass of people surrounding the boy Darren. Back at the scene, Val had said Darren was a werecat. What did that even mean? Adrian had asked her to help him, so she would. And later she would wring some answers out of Val. "Excuse me," she said hesitantly to the woman who seemed to be in charge. "Can I do anything help?"
"Yes," Elke said, standing. She nodded for Heather to change spots with her. "Help Mars keep him calm." The 600 year old Kendra had finally run out of patience. Their little squabble in the hall was stressing out Heather, who was an innocent bystander, and it was over something stupid, because she KNEW that Connor had to have misunderstood Val when he explained.
She pushed the door open with strength she had not used previously, and her power ebbed back and forth. If someone was standing in front of it, too goddamn bad. She heard a distressed noise come from in the room and the girls' back inside using calm, soothing voices as the Doctor tried to do whatever it was he was doing.
"Listen," she snarled. "I am the only thing keeping that boy from going into shock right now due to lack of anisthetics, and you three are screwing up my concentration." There was a rich tone in her voice that was known only as anger, and it was at this point that the only person in there who knew her longer than twenty minutes, Dave, should have tried to step in.
She jerked her head at Val. You'd better start telling him what really happened, kid, because my power is not limitless.[/color] Elke was on borrowed time, and she was feeling weak. She'd have to feed, soon, and it was not wise to mistake kindness and compassion from her when she needed to sustain health.
Darren didn't really know what was going on outside, but he definitely noticed when Elke's concentration began to waver. It was impossible not to, considering the fog she seemed to create over everything in his mind. It kept the pain in his body from becoming overwhelming in his mind, until she wasn't there anymore focusing energy on keeping him sedated.
He hissed at the sudden pain as her power level changed, once more gripping the leather couch as though his life depended on it. It wasn't his life, but someone else's, actually. There wasn't really a way to keep Heather from noticing a suddenly feline pupil in his eyes or that he was digging claws into the couch from human hands, but at least he wasn't tearing into Mars, Heather or the doctor. At that point, with agonized gasps for breath being the only really human sounds he was making, he would have done just about anything to just make it all stop. He needed blood to heal properly on his own.
Connor wanted to make a scene. Everyone else may not have, but he did. Standing in the hall outside one of the Hollow's back rooms may not have been his first choice in location, but Val had gone too far with this one. It was one thing for him to bite Connor, considering this messed up bond they had, but not Darren. The boy had nothing to do with any of their mess.
Unfortunately, he didn't know anything about the female vampire or her power, so he didn't necessarily care that she was pissed off. He didn't realize that her power was directed at felines in particular or that vampires could do that with shifters, but he wasn't exactly a fan of vampires, especially the female kind. "That would be why the door was shut," he snapped, but he was already calming against his will, thanks to Adrian's hand on his shoulder. That was just about all that was keeping him from really freaking out.
Heather didn't understand that Elke's disappearance was the reason for Darren's freaking out, but she guessed that it had to be because he was in pain. So she did what any kind girl would do: she bit her lip and stroked his hair, trying to keep him calm while the doctor and Mars continued to work. Darren had begun thrashing on the couch. His eyes were wide, reflecting the dim overhead lights- and slit, like cat eyes. There was a harsh sound against the leathere where his hands clutched desperately, his human hands sporting feline claws. Heather's eyes widened and she drew a breath. Dear god, he really was a werecat. It was one thing to hear Val say it, hear words thrown around, but to see it...
Val felt her shock, listening in as he was. There was no way to get anything from Darren, as clouded as the air was with so many energies, but for the cat to start shifting he had to be losing it. Elke's outburst and angry statement solidified the facts for Val. She was right. They had to resolve this now before bad accidents happened.
Connor probably wouldn't be expecting Val to put his hands on his shoulders, so that was what Val did. The vampire tightened his grip just enough to catch Connor's attention. "I don't know what you think happened, but aside from hitting him with a car - by ACCIDENT - I have not hurt your cousin in any way. I might, in fact, have saved him, as it was a vampire who drained and bewitched him into walking into the street into the first place. If I hadn't been the one to hit him, if I hadn't read his mind and brought him HERE, he would have died. Or woken up in a hospital and killed someone. Speaking of which-" His face was suddenly an invasive inch from Connor's- "Your COUSIN is in their scaring my girlfriend, and if the woman here cannot get back to tending him, he may do worse. If that happens, I will not forgive you, and bond or no, I will make you suffer."
It was probably more than Val had ever said at one time. To anyone. Ever.
Despite Mars's distracted state of mind, she couldn't miss the commotion that had suddenly flared right outside the door, and though her hands continued toiling away at applying pressure to his injuries, though the blood was rapidly coagulating. The slender female had managed a grin at Dave's reassuring hand on her shoulder, and had shot an alarmed glance towards Connor, especially as the man exited rather abruptly with the heretofore silent man sitting in the chair - a vampire, more than likely.
Returning her attention to her boyfriend, she shushed him as the tall female vampire's power seemed to ebb and his form began rejecting the healing process. Placing a free hand tenderly on his cheek, she ran her slender fingers very gently in a stroking motion. It was times like these (though she hoped she'd see no more) that she wished her powers were more healing-oriented than merely combat-related.
Glancing kindly at the timid-looking female who had just entered, she handed her a roll of gauze.
"Minor scrapes on his arm," she murmured softly, dropping eye contact for the moment. Speaking about Darren's injuries only seemed to add to her own, and as she tended to her boyfriend, a cold sort of fury seemed to replace the explosive one she originally entered with, and she took a deep breath in order to steady her hands' shaking.
Someone had some serious explaining to do later on.
Adrian sighed when the other vampire followed them out. Hadn't she been the one tending to Connor's cousin? Shouldn't she keep doing that? But when she explained -- rather testily -- he had to admit she had a point. Adrian didn't know what constituted as distraction, but if this was a distraction then it had to stop.
Luckily, Valerie didn't hold off on an explanation, the way Adrian wouldn't have put him past doing, and he hoped Connor would be satisfied with it. Because as much as he wanted to go in there and help Heather, he couldn't leave his two 'pack mates' out here.
"Please, Connor," he instead said. "Go take care of Darren. You can take this up with Valerie again once Darren's out of critical condition."
They were all feeling like crap, and Adrian had no idea which one of them was the origin of those emotions.
That hadn't been what he'd caught from Valerie earlier, though! They had a point, though. This wasn't the time to argue it out until he was satisfied that Val was telling the truth, and he couldn't deny that having both of Val's hands on his shoulders, as well as Adrian's contact, was helping ease his fury. Elke needed to get back in there.
"I'm alright, I'm not going to hurt him," he told the female vampire firmly. He even released the hold keeping Val pinned against the wall, as a show that he was serious. He wasn't about to mess up his cousin's chances of being saved. He didn't have any way to help, though. Really, all he could do was keep quiet, apparently. He could do that.
Elke had done all she possibly could do with the doctor there. Darren was healing on his own, slowly as ever, though with some stability control from Elke she had allowed his nerves to stop their panic dance for a moment as his natural magics tried to knit his organs back together. That vampire had hit him hard; the Ferrari was no doubt totalled.
She started to feel woozy, and for a vampire of her age and stature, that was a Bad Thing. She rose, patting Heather on the shoulder, and headed for the door.
"I have to leave, now, or things are going to get ugly. I will visit soon to make sure his recovery is expedited." She paused. "If you need me, here is my number," she added, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen and scribbling it down. She handed it to Connor, and turned a corner. In the flutter of her lashes, she had vanished, presumably to feed.
Valerie hadn't much been paying attention to Connor anymore. The awareness of an agitated shifter near human Heather had demanded more of his concentration than an enraged Connor. The usual twinge of disappointment at the loss of his bondmate's touch hit him when Connor finally allowed Valerie to fall away from the wall. He debated whether or not he should tell Adrian exactly how much he was appreciating the wolf right now; not just for the relief of physical contact at such a stressful time, but how grateful he was for Adrian's mere presence and the support it represented. Adrian had been Connor's friend first, he didn't have to see it Valerie's way in anything. But he did, because Adrian was decent, and for all Valerie ignored it, it was nice to have one side of the bond he didn't feel instinctively inclined to fight.
Were he a man of more words, he might have expressed some of that. Instead he sighed, nodded to Elke as she brushed past them, and reluctantly left the sanctuary of Adrian (and Connor's) presences with a polite "excuse me" to return inside and see how Heather was fairing after her many scares.
Heather was still at Darren's side, surprisingly. The shifter seemed to have calmed down. Heather had moved aside to make room for the other girl, who was tending to Darren with the sort of fierce determination and soft tenderness Valerie knew would equate to serious trouble for him if she was told who was responsible for Darren's injuries. Connor's concern still lingered loud and clear in Valerie's mind, adding to his own guilt. If he didn't feel like he deserved it this much, to know how hard this was hurting Connor, he would have resented it.
"How is he?" he asked.