Night's Omen

Crystal rubbed at her neck roughly, over and over, trying to find what simply was no longer there. Griffon, again. And again. And again. Her phone lit up, and she looked at the screen, still rubbing her neck, rubbing the skin 'til it was bright red and raw. Jack was calling. She bit her lip, closed her eyes, and turned the phone off. He'd called seven times so far. She felt horrible, really - the sinking feeling in her stomach had begun to ache for what she was doing. He was wonderful, and she really liked him, but this? This could not happen. Griffon would --

He'd kill him. And then he wouldn't kill her. He'd just torture her. Like now, like this.

It was cruel to the victim of a vampire bite how easily they healed, the saliva holding natural coagulants in it. Crystal never had evidence of her marks, nothing to show police, parents, friends - friends? She didn't have any friends left. She'd even alienated herself from Alex, the one person who might've done some good. She couldn't face him now, though. But Jack, oh...  His touch was so different from Griffon's. Griffon grabbed her, suffocated her, clawed her, forced her. His touch was hungry and needy and indifferent, it was harsh and unfeeling. Jack's touch was warm, inviting, and comforting. He didn't deserve this - he didn't deserve her. She could get him into trouble, with Griffon, with his work... She wasn't worth that.

Crystal looked up as voices approached, and tossed her soda from Wendy's into the trash. It was still full. She couldn't even drink anymore. She'd lost so much weight, so much colour. She looked like she was on heroin, with those bright eyes suddenly so dark. She shrugged the feeling off as best she could, instinctively turning away from the group of girls as they passed. She'd gone to school with them. Winter break had meant gaggles of them at the mall, before and after. She just needed to get into a crowd, to be around people, around life.

Around anything.

It was so stupid, really, that Lore should even be at the mall like this.  She had training in the evening at Onyx, and homework to do, and she honestly didn't have time for shopping and shallow girls that called her 'friend'.  Half of this crowd, she didn't even know beyond their first names, their faces beside lockers.  Still, it was nice to play normal once in awhile.  It felt good to smile and laugh about average, meaningless teenager things with these... average, meaningless people.

And there was Crystal.  Lore almost didn't recognize her at first.  Where was that bubbly cheerleader she'd pretended to laugh with only a few months ago?  Something was very wrong, and it wasn't just the obvious stuff, like her posture and the way she kept rubbing at her neck, as if something itched or hurt there.  There was a dark, deadly scent around her.  It tainted everything about her presence, and Lore felt her hackles rising when she recognized that particular aroma.

Vampire.

Crystal wasn't one herself.  Lore could tell immediately.  However, she'd been close to one recently, and certainly bitten.  Suddenly, she could remember the rumors.  That girl, Crystal's best friend... Jessica, she recalled the name with sudden, cold clarity.  Jessica had gone missing.  Crystal had been the last to see her.  She hadn't really been the same since.

Lore had been too distracted to notice.  What with the werewolf thing, and helping with Thane, and Hunter training, it was all she could do to focus on her studies while she was at school.  Her social status suffered as she withdrew from the people she used to call 'friend', but perhaps that was for the best.  She was a monster now, too, and couldn't let anyone else get too close.  She was used to keeping people at arm's length, though.  Growing up with a Hunter for a big brother meant keeping a lot of secrets.  Friendships could only go skin deep.  So, she hovered at the fringe of popularity, too pretty to be shunned completely, but too antisocial now to really belong to her former group.  Honestly, it was a relief, shutting them out like that.  One less thing to distract her.

Some part of her must have been paying attention, however, because she remembered Jessica.  She remembered how Crystal had been before, and it did not connect with this nervous, tortured girl in front of her.  She drifted to the back of her group of friends, and they did not notice when she stopped following them.  Without a word, she sat on the bench next to Crystal.

A moment passed.  Finally, speech.  "Are you okay?"  The answer was obviously 'no', but Lore couldn't just jump right in with, "Hey, I'm a werewolf and noticed that you have some vampire funk lingering around you.  What's up with that?"

Crystal just stared at Loreanna for an awkward moment, while her brain tried to process the words. Mushmushmush? Crystal blinked. Oh! She seemed to snap back to attention. Sort of. At least it would be obvious the lights were on inside, even if whether or not anyone was at home remained to be seen. Crystal blinked a few more times, trying to understand why Lore was talking to her. Lore didn't like her. They had totally different sets of friends - well, when Crystal had friends, anyways. There was always some sort of bitchy clique-y thing going on, although it had never really been in between them, anyways. Girls were so catty.

"I'm peachy," she replied, trying to sound convincing. She looked down at her phone, which had stopped ringing since she'd turned it off, and felt guilty about Jack all over again. The whole thirty-year old boyfriend didn't really sound like something to share at the Christmas dinner, either, so Crystal left it all hangin' in the breeze as she struggled to find something of a more appropriate topic to be glum about.

"So.. how was this semester?" she asked, awkwardly. It was a pretty well-known fact Crystal had withdrawn from school early. She just didn't want to be there anymore. She'd gotten her GED through some online classes, and told Jack she had some internet college classes she was taking, which was she was around so much. It was only a half-lie, that time. She was taking some online college stuff, but she wasn't getting any credits for it, yet.

Crystal frowned a little, unable to meet Lore's gaze. She was usually pretty good about looking people in the eye when she talked to them, but she'd learned that if you looked into Griffon's eyes, he could do some pretty nasty tricks in return. She rubbed her neck and looked away, at some passing kids as they jeered at eachother and were generally obnoxious.

Lore was no psychic, and she couldn't smell lies, but it didn't take a genius to realize that Crystal was anything but peachy.  Sitting this close made the young werewolf want to crawl right out of her skin.  That vampiric taint was even worse, when it was right in her face.

"Same old," she replied to the question, though she didn't really want to talk about school.  "The new history teacher is way boring."  She felt a slight pang of guilt, knowing that she'd had a part in losing Mister O'Riley his job. 

"Anyway, how've you been doing?  Haven't seen you around much, since you left school."  Well, that was pretty obvious.  "Also... I know we never talked much, but I was sorry to hear about Jessica going missing.  I know you two were friends."  There we go, play the sympathy card, segue into a discussion about vampires... easy-peasy.

Crystal's expression visibly darkened when Lore brought up Jessica's disappearance. "Thanks," she said, her voice cracking a little. "It's still tough, but every day is one day further," she said. She thought of that Limp Bizkit song - she couldn't remember the name, but she knew it went like, Every day is better than the next day, at least that's what I think - it was sort of depressing, actually.

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but she swallowed whatever it was, and stood up. "Walk with me for a little?" she asked. "I've been sitting for an hour now, and my legs are falling asleep." Crystal didn't know what she wanted. She didn't want to tell Loreanna about all of the things that had happened, but she didn't want to be alone either.

Lore nodded and stood as well.  "Sure."  As they walked, she was struck once again how different Crystal was now.  A shining light, all burnt out, nothing but scorch marks left behind.  There was something haunted about her eyes.  Lore could understand that part; Vin's eyes had looked like that for years after he'd watched their parents being torn apart by vampires.  Lore had been fortunate enough not to witness it as well, but she knew exactly why Vin woke up screaming and sweating some nights, to this very day.

And with that thought came the answer.  She knew how to ease into this particular conversation.  "I know how hard it is to lose someone you're so close to," she remarked, keeping her voice low and sympathetic.  "I wasn't there when my parents died, but my brother was.  It was still hard on both of us.  It's a little different, losing a friend... but not really, you know?  This time in our lives, our friends become closer to us than family, sometimes."

"Yeah," she said, her voice wavering. "It's really... different without her around. My mom and dad, well, I can't really talk to them about it. I can't really talk to anyone, honestly. I left school because I got sick of people talking about me. I'm not going to cry about people running their mouths, but it pisses me off because they don't have shit like this happening to them. It must be nice to be so goddamn perfect," she spit vehemently.

It seemed Crystal still had one emotion left - anger. She took a deep breath and ran her hands through her blonde hair, closing her eyes to try and push those thoughts back down.

"Sorry," she said. She had some anti-depressants in her purse her parents had given her, but she didn't want to take them. They claimed she was 'moody'. Crystal didn't feel very moody, though. She just felt tired.

"Not having anyone to talk to about it must be almost as bad as losing her in the first place," Lore observed.  "At least I always have Vin, but you don't seem to have anyone."  She thought about this for a moment, then offered, tentatively:

"I know we weren't super close in school, but... if you need someone to talk to, about anything, no matter how crazy it might sound, I'm willing to listen.  Here's my cell number."  Pulling out a mini-notebook and pen from her purse, she scribbled the number down and handed the torn piece of paper to Crystal. 

"It might not be much," she admitted, "but I know what it's like to be in a situation where you can't trust anyone or talk to anyone about it, even your family." 

Crystal took the number, regarding Loreanna carefully. "Really?" she asked. She didn't seem skeptical, just.. unsure. She wanted to believe she had something in common with someone else, desperately. But lately Crystal had a problem invalidating everyone else around her because she was becoming more and more consumed by Griffon. It was starting to drive her mental.

"It's shitty. I can't even talk to my.. boyfriend, I guess you could call him that. I feel really bad. He's a really nice guy, but he's just... not equipped in the brain to deal with this. I mean, he isn't stupid. He's just.. he's nice. He's... innocent."

That was the word she was looking for. Jack was innocent. Jack was also 30 and thought Crystal was 21, wheras Crystal was definitely not even 18.

"Really," Lore said with all the sincerity she could cram into one word.  "And, oh man, can I ever relate to that!  I love my brother to bits, I can't even talk to him about everything.  He still treats me like I'm eight instead of eighteen."  She snorted eloquently. 

"He's so worried about the monsters in the world, that he forgets sometimes about the ones right under our noses."  It was vague enough that it could be taken innocently, but maybe the mention of monsters might shake something up in Crystal.  Lore was still handling this with kid gloves.  She had to ease into a conversation about vampires, not  just blurt out whatever was at the top of her mind.

Lore was more than correct to assume that at the mention of the word monsters Crystal would react - visibly. She shuddered and rubbed her neck, faking a yawn and looking away at some point off in the distance of the mall, a kiosk or something, anything to try and wash her thoughts away. The sensation of physically pushing ideas out of her head was still something new in itself. She'd never had something so awful she couldn't think about before, because every time she did, she could feel it. Crystal's goal for the remainder of her life was not to feel, if she could help it.

"I guess I just don't want to weigh anyone down," she said finally. "Everyone's got their own shit, you know? Man, a year ago, none of this even mattered. I could just do my hair, go to school, cheer for the big game, and go home. I got the shaft," she said with a scowl. It was hard not to laugh, but at the same time, it seemed inappropriate. She managed a hoarse chuckle, anyways. "Yep. Here today, gone tomorrow."

The last statement didn't seem to make sense in suit with what she was saying. That may have been some of her insanity leaking out of her mouth, though. Crystal realized it after a second, and brushed it off with another laugh, this one with more effort behind it, though obviously still very forced. She looked back at Lore. "I wrote about all of it in my journals," she finally said, her voice low. "If anyone ever found them, I'm pretty sure I'd be committed. The psychologist my parents sent me to told me in a session, which is evidently under no circumstances disclosed with anyone - including my parents, much to their dismay after the thousands of dollars they threw at Dr. Woodbine - told me that I was a 'paranoid delusional whose overactive imagination made up a story in my head to cover up what I really saw'. Now, come on. I'm not even smart enough to walk and chew gum. How could I do that? Seriously."

She blew a strand of hair out of her face. "She told me to keep them anyways. She said they helped me 'release anger'. Yeah, what a release. Every week I get to start a new journal. I look like a serial killer. I have them stacked all over my room. If my boyfriend saw them," she broke off, a low whistle escaping her lips. "He'd... I don't think he'd really get it."

Well. Crystal was certainly Chatty Kathy now. Whatever switch Lore had flipped, she'd found the right one.

Loreanna propped her chin in her hands, elbows resting on knees.  "I don't mind," she insisted.  "You'll weigh yourself down, if you can't talk about it at all."

Crystal's reaction to Lore's last remark was interesting.  She was definitely dealing with the monsters, then, and was well aware of what they were.  Lore could smell her fear. 

The journals piqued Lore's interest.  If she could get a hold of them, she could find out exactly what was going on.  Still, that'd be a lot of work, and she'd probably have to do something illegal to obtain them.  She wasn't a full-fledged Hunter just yet.  Anyway, it'd be easier to just get Crystal to talk about her problems.  Lore did file away a note about the journals in her mind for later reference, though.  Just in case.

Crystal was starting to open up.  This was a good sign.  Loreanna nudged a little further.  "So, what did you tell the shrink, anyway?  She must not be very good if she just automatically assumes you're making it up."  The teen werewolf snorted delicately.  "Anyway, you don't sound crazy to me.  Just stressed.  That's understandable, all considering."

She shrugged a little. "I told her that I got attacked by monsters." She looked up at Lore and smiled a strange sort of smile, one that was in between the sarcasm of her voice and something else. It was very wry, nonetheless, and quite the normal expression for her as of late.

She thrust her hands into her pockets, tossing some of her hair aside as she came to a rest by the stupidly ornate penny fountain in the middle of the mall. "I guess she didn't like that answer very much." She looked at the water for a while, wondering if she should have told Loreanna the truth like that or not.

Doesn't matter, really. Nobody's believed me so far, so it's sort of a relief being so honest and being taken for as a nutcase.

Lore didn't think she was a nut case at all.  Quite the opposite.  Now that Crystal had said it, admitted it out loud, Lore had an opening.  Still keeping her voice serious, low, and attentive, she asked with no trace of mockery in her words:  "What kind of monsters were they?"

Now, it would be time to see whether Crystal thought SHE was crazy, or if she could trust Lore to tell her the truth.  If it were the latter, Lore would do whatever she could to help. 

Crystal's wry, sarcastic expression melted away as her eyes got watery again. She looked directly at Loreanna, and in a voice so soft that she sounded like a little child, whispered, "Vampires." She quickly turned her head, something in the crowd catching her eye. Was it him? Had he found her again? She struggled to look through blurred vision, trying desperately to locate him. She had seen him, she had.

She left the safety of Loreanna's space instantly. "I knew I shouldn't have come here. I have to go," she said  quickly, hushed, darting away. She didn't want to leave Loreanna there, but she was a liability if Griffon had already spotted her. Hopefully the girl would be clever enough to say she had no idea who Crystal was. Crystal raced through the mall, trying to get to her car without being noticed by anyone. She had garnered some stealthy ability from the recent events, but when she was scared, she shook like a leaf, and any amount of time spent standing still would attract attention to wild, frightened features.

She busted out into the parking garage finally. It was empty, and oddly silent. She felt like she was in some sort of zombie movie, and darted between parking spots, trying to get to her car on the back row.

Well, no WAY Lore was letting Crystal take off like that by herself after THAT revelation!  Vampires, huh?  At least she knew how to deal with vampires.  Her brother killed them for a living, after all.

"Wait!" she called, but Crystal was fast.  Good thing Lore was fast, too.  She easily kept pace with the other girl, though she wouldn't even have needed to keep her in sight; her fear was so strong, Lore could smell it even in human form.  She wrinkled her nose.  Fear smelled like cold, bitter sweat, and she didn't like it.  It made HER scared, thinking that Crystal was tangling with a vampire (or vampires, plural) that was making her this terrified.  This had to stop.  Lore wasn't going to sit by and let someone from her own school deal with shit like this, when she had the power to help.

Putting on an extra burst of speed once she hit the parking lot, she made it to the passenger's side of Crystal's car almost as soon as the other girl did.  "Crystal," she said, barely even winded from her sprint through the mall, "please, wait.  I believe you.  I've seen vampires, too.  I can help."

"....you do?" she asked slowly. She stared at her, trying to determine whether or not Loreanna was lying. She had never gotten along with her, but she hadn't known the girl to be malicious. She turned slowly from her car door, and faced her fully.

"How can you help? I've heard that before, from someone who was some sort of... witch. And he didn't help at all. In fact, he made it worse. Some stupid vampire accosted me at school and tried to talk to me after that. I'm a magnet for them," she cried angrily.

Lore shook her head impatiently.  "I'm not a witch.  I know people who get rid of monsters for a living."  She was choosing her words carefully.  Even though they were pretty much alone, this was a public parking lot; words like 'kill' drew attention. 

Lowering her voice, she asked, "Is there a way you can meet me somewhere again?  Without the vampires knowing where you are, just for a little while?  I can't help you directly--- I'm no Buffy--- but I can introduce you to someone that deals with this sort of thing all the time.  Will you trust me?" 

The moment of decision.  Lore almost held her breath, afraid that even that motion would shatter the fragility of this rapport between them.  Then, slowly, she held out a hand.

Crystal swallowed hard. Did she trust Loreanna? She'd never known the girl to be cruel, or a liar - but in these times, was anyone really safe to trust? She thought briefly of Jack, and closed her eyes tightly, trying to will all of the apprehension and doubt away from her.

She took Loreanna's hand, very timidly at first, and then gave it a little squeeze. "I... I think I can. Soon. Tonight. I think I can get away. He doesn't always follow me home... Sometimes he's not there at all. I guess he has other toys," she spat, because she knew that's what she was, in the end. A toy.

"I trust you," she whispered. "But I'm afraid that I might just be a problem. I don't want to get anyone involved who they can hurt..."

Relief, like sun after a storm, warmed Lore all over.  She tried to convey some of that in her smile, and the way she gripped Crystal's hand back.  "Good.  Tonight, then.  Can I come over to your place, or would you rather meet somewhere else?  Somewhere... safer?" 

It was too risky letting Crystal come to her place; if vampires knew where she and Vin lived, there would be serious trouble for both of them.  The guildhouse might be a better bet-- no vampire in his right mind would dare go after Crystal there.  Well, there was that time with Kain, but... no, he hadn't been in his right mind, that time.  So it didn't count.

"Don't you worry about me.  The vampires won't hurt me.  Not if they're smart, and know the people I know.   And even if they don't... well, I can take care of myself."  She winked, looking more confident than she felt.  Basic hunter training and werewolf biology were a good start, but depending on the vampire, Lore could easily be toast.

She shifted uncomfortably. Her house was... a bad idea. For one, her parents would give anyone who came into the foyer the third degree, particularly because they wanted to know just what anyone wanted to do with Crystal these days. High school dropout, not going to try and even bother finishing - she'd been taking online classes, but that hadn't really satisfied them. She was out late, or didn't come home at all... No. Crystal didn't feel it necessary to subject Lore to that sort of punishment.

"I don't know anywhere else to go, nowhere safe, not really," she stammered. She didn't. Jack's apartment? That -- no. She wasn't talking to Jack right now, and her stomach twisted a little when she even thought of what damage she was doing. Irreparable, probably. She was good at that, though.

"If you can think of anywhere, I will meet you there. Well, so long as I can find it," she said, half-laughing. "My GPS is as blonde as I am." She made an attempt at a joke, and it was a decent one, at least. Light humour suited her much better.

Lore thought about it for a moment, but she'd already decided on a safe place.  However, she couldn't just have Crystal wander into the guildhouse alone.  They'd have to meet somewhere else first, somewhere neutral.  Like... the mall, for instance.

"Meet me back here later, if you can," she suggested.  "Over by the Apothecary-- you know, where they do those sodas and malts?  I'll borrow my brother's car.  He's not working tonight, so it shouldn't be a  problem.  We'll go somewhere safer from there, where there are people who can help.  Sound good?"

It wasn't going to be easy, convincing Crystal this was the best idea.  She probably didn't trust anyone anymore.  For all she knew, Lore could lead her straight into another vampire's lair.  But Lore wouldn't, of course, so it was just a matter of hoping Crystal trusted her enough to let Lore help her.

Crystal nodded - she knew where it was. She'd wandered in there wondering if there was something she could use as a ward. She'd gotten as far as the door before she realized she was being stupid, and had left. "Okay, I think I can do that," she said slowly. She thought about going home and just grabbing a Taxi back, but if something went wrong, she'd have to make a hasty exit, which she'd need her own car for... Decisions.

"Is seven o'clock okay?" she asked. She mentally rushed through her head to try and find a checklist of things that she had to do - a very precious few, she found. She never had much to do these days, except for laying low.

"Seven is fine," Lore agreed.  There was always someone around at the guildhouse, no matter what the hour.  She wondered if she should talk to her brother about this, but she knew what his solution would be:  track down the vampire(s) and kill them.  Case closed.  Except Lore had a feeling that Crystal's situation was a little more complicated than that, so she wanted to be sure of the exact details before anyone went running off to kill anything.  Obviously, Lore had inherited a more rational mind than her brother, at least on the subject of vampires.

"Well, you have my number," Lore concluded, figuring she should let Crystal go, now that they had this arranged.  "If anything comes up, let me know.  If something's really wrong, and you can't say what it is, just say 'I have a headache' and I'll know to bring help.  See you at seven."

She started back to the mall, where she'd parked her bike, but she paused and turned before she went far.  "And Crystal?  Be safe."

Crystal nodded once. She felt... a lot better, suddenly. She sat in her car as she watched Loreanna vanish from the parking garage and back into the doors of the mall, and hit the door locks. The sound made her jump a little, but it still couldn't shake that buzzing feeling she had in her stomach, the feeling that she might actually find help to sort her problem out.

She picked up her phone with a sigh, and turned it on. She dialed Jack's number, not surprised that she got sent right to voicemail - she actually laughed a little, because she knew she deserved it. "Hey, it's me. I'm sorry I didn't answer, I've been having phone shit all day. Dropped service for the last six hours. Anyways... going to get it fixed tomorrow, so I should be able to reach you then. Sorry I missed you." She paused. "I miss you," she added, voice weary. She hit the end button, and then turned it off again.

Once she'd gone home, showered, and changed into clothing more conducive to her current state of mind - jeans, sneakers, and a black v-neck sweater with a white shirt underneath, she threw her blonde hair into a messy ponytail and went back out the door. She ignored her parents' questions as to where she was going, though she did skip over the Mustang in favour of her mother's TSX. The car was quiet, and a lot less obvious.

At six fifty-seven, she pulled into the empty end of the mall parking lot, not quite to the garage yet, and peered over her steering wheel. She didn't know what kind of car to look for, so she just sat back and turned the radio up a little. Loreanna would find her, right?

It had taken a lot more haggling than Lore anticipated to pry the keys to the Nova from Vin's fingers, and the teen werewolf wound up pulling into the lot at five minutes past seven.  She hated being late, especially when it was important!  Vin seemed to have a sixth sense for when she was hiding something from him, and he didn't like it.  She'd had to promise to stay home all weekend just to get out the door. 

The things she did for her friends.  Well, sort-of friends.  Crystal needed her, anyway, and that was enough.

Recognizing the blond ponytail, Lore pulled into a spot just across the way from Crystal and killed the engine.  The Nova wasn't subtle in the least, but it was still running after thirty or so years.  Lord knew how; it was held together with duct tape and prayer.

"You can follow me in your car, if you want," she offered, stepping out of the ugly green car and crossing the short space between their vehicles.  "Unless you think you might be followed.  It's up to you."  She was handling this with kid gloves.  Best to give Crystal options, not force her into anything.  She was trying to help her, after all, and it wouldn't do to scare her off.

Crystal cocked her head a little as the green car pulled into the parking lot, but once she saw the blonde emerge from it, she brightened a little. She opened her door, swinging a foot out and listening to Loreanna while simultaneously turning down her radio. "Uh.. no, I doubt I was followed. This is designated mom vehicle. If he's taken an interest in my folks lately, I've missed it," she said dryly. "I think I can follow you." She eyed the Nova suspiciously, holding back the comment that if it suddenly died, Crystal definitely had AA covered. She looked back at Lore, and smiled.

"Thanks... you didn't have to do this. I'm... just really glad. Maybe all of this can finally end, or at the very least, maybe I can find a way to sleep at night." Without Jack, anyways. That was the only place she could sleep with any peace of mind, and it wasn't much, given the fact that she was LYING to him about a lot of things concerning herself.

Lore noted the look Crystal gave her (brother's) car, but wasn't bothered.  She knew it was a heap.  It started and ran, though, and that was all she needed just then.  It would get them to the guildhouse.

"Hey, no problem," Lore told her, smiling brightly.  "We're going to go see some friends of mine who deal with... friends like yours."  Vampires were sneaky bastards.  She didn't want to say the word out loud, in case any were lurking in the shadows, listening.  Was she getting as paranoid as her brother?  Nah...

"Let's roll.  It's not too far from here."  Back in the Nova, and the engine roared to life.  At least they didn't have to worry about Crystal's car being followed.  Now all Lore had to worry about was Vin's car being recognized by someone who could cause them trouble.  That would be so much failsauce.

"Good," Crystal said. She nodded to Lore, feeling confident at least that the girl would be able to help her. As she followed Loreanna, she drummed her fingers lightly on her steering wheel. She couldn't remember a time recently where she'd felt so sure that someone would be able to help sort her mess out with her. She smiled a little - something about the way Loreanna conducted herself had changed since school. She'd always been confident, but now... she couldn't explain it. The way she spoke made Crystal want to believe what she said, and since Crystal had very little at the moment to put faith into, Loreanna seemed as good as anything.

The drive wasn't terribly far, just unfamiliar. Some of the roads they took didn't even show up on her GPS, and Crystal simply assumed that wherever - whoever - had taken precautions to make sure that people didn't just stumble upon them. That was good - it meant Griffon wouldn't be finding her anytime soon, and that was always a plus.

Once they'd arrived, Crystal popped out of her car, locking the doors behind her. She walked to the Nova, waiting for Loreanna, all the while looking around. "You don't think they'll be angry that you brought me, do you?" she asked, worry edging on her voice.

"Nah, not a problem at all," Lore assured her.  "These guys deal with the monsters on a daily basis.  It's in their job descriptions.  Now we just need to see if anyone's here tonight..."

They entered the building, but it was unusually quiet.  Lore made a humming noise in the back of her throat.  "Must be a busy night.  Everyone's out.  Let me check the infirmary.  Someone's usually there, at least."

A detour to the right and down a short hall, and they found the room Lore wanted. 


"Loreanna," greeted Doc Mitchell, who was leaning back in his office chair and reading a paperback novel.  "I do hope they haven't sent you out on a dangerous mission already.  I was hoping I wouldn't have to patch you up for a few years yet."

"Nope," Lore replied, grinning at the doctor.  She'd always liked the Doc.  He'd stitched together her brother more times than she could count, and sent him home breathing.  "I have a friend here who needs some help with a vampire problem.  Crystal, this is Doctor Trey MItchell, better known around here as just 'Doc'.  Doc, this is Crystal.  Is anyone here tonight, or did I miss the party invitation?"

"Oh, I'm sure we can find someone," he said, checking a chart on his desk.  "There are a lot of missions tonight, so I'm expecting a larger volume of patients this evening.  I could use your assistance, if you're not busy, Lore."  He gave her a hopeful look. 

"Eh, I'm sort of on borrowed time right now," she sidestepped.  "And vehicle, if you know what I mean."  Doc nodded.  "Right.  Who would you suggest?"

Mitchell considered this, then looked to Crystal.  "It might help if you described exactly what sort of 'vampire problem' you're having, young lady," he told her, not unkindly.  "I might be able to make a few recommendations."

Crystal followed her, looking around curiously. The place was something like.. a compound. It seemed in some areas like a very large mansion, and in others, definitely some sort of facility. The fact that they'd just entered an infirmary sort of confirmed it for her, and she nodded a little as Mitchell addressed her, still somewhat wide-eyed.

"Well," she began slowly. She looked to Loreanna for support, and then back to the man to whom she'd just been introduced. "I seem to have picked up a, ah, stalker, for lack of a better term." She paused, wondering how in depth she was supposed to go with this. It was... some of the things that had happened were quite personal, and she didn't know how she felt about telling a man she'd only just met all the gory details.

She settled for a sort of Cliff's Notes version of what had happened at the bash, omitting some of the more torturous things Griffon had been doing to her since then, but certainly not leaving out the attacks at school, home, and the mall - anything that didn't involve some of the mental and physical things he'd done to her, anyways. She wasn't really ready to talk about those yet, to anyone.

"I don't know what to do anymore. My life is at some sort of impasse; I can't go forward, because he's there. I can't go back, because he's there. I have no idea how to... get away from him," she trailed off, looking a little vacant in expression as she stared off, focusing on a point somewhere beyond the doctor as she spoke. "Sometimes I think if I just kill myself, it will fix the problem, but it seems like... He gets inside my head, I don't know," she concluded, frustrated.

She looked at Loreanna again, eyes a little watery. "I don't know," she whispered.

Doc Mitchell listened to Crystal's story without interruption, maintaining that calm, detached expression the entire time.  His eyes were not without sympathy, however, when he finally spoke. 

"I know just the Hunter you need," he told her, standing and heading for the door.  "Wait here a moment."

Which left Lore with Crystal.  "I'm so sorry," she murmured, stunned by the revelations, but even more so by the things Crystal wasn't saying.  She was still holding so much back.  The stench of fear curled around her like a miasma, and it only grew stronger every time she glossed over some detail or another.  Whatever was so horrible that she still couldn't even speak of it, Lore wanted to know.  She wanted to know, so she could make sure whoever had done this to her was punished properly. 

No vampires fucked with her friends.  Not on her watch.

The vehemence of that protective mental declaration startled her a little, as though someone else had thought it.  She recognized it as part of being a wolf.  It was something she would have to accept. 

But she was human as well, with human compassion, and right now Crystal needed a friend more than a protector.  Without any hesitation, Lore pulled her into a hug.

Crystal nodded to the doctor, lower lip caught in her teeth as she crossed her arms tightly together, trying to stave off that dirty feeling she had that came with all of those emotions when she thought of Griffon. She looked at Lore when she spoke, the noise surprising her a little - Crystal was wired back up again, obviously. She was more surprised, however, at the sudden physical contact, and it took her a moment, but she did eventually wrap her arms around Loreanna in return.

At first, it was a light, sort of unsure touch - but the longer Crystal stayed wrapped in the warm barrier of protection Loreanna offered, the more she seemed to grip her, until she was full-out clinging to the young wolf. Her shoulders shook, arms trembling as she held on for dear life, and she pulled back, shaking her head as though she were trying to push the thoughts out.

"You don't understand. He... does things. And he makes me... " she just dissolved into tears. He made her what? She didn't understand how, but Griffon made her like what he did to her, he made her beg for it, want more. He was chipping away at her sanity one mind-roll at a time, and it was fairly obvious he was doing a good job of it, what with the strange bi-polar tendency she'd developed.

"How can I be the victim when I keep asking for it?" she asked her, a hand withdrawing to splay across her face, to hide herself for a moment. She shook her head again, and then backed away, feeling absolutely disgusting. She'd tried - she'd tried to burn herself to death. She thought back to the fire she'd started in the house where the bash had taken place, where she'd first met him... It had lead her to Jack, but really, was that a good thing? She should have died in that fire. She should have died, and ended it there.

Victor, despite being ridiculously obvious about his presence, was unusually quiet and unobtrusive right then and there, and that was frankly because he was 'hiding'.  He was sick of being at the hospital, sick of dealing with Bly and the mystery illness that was spreading, but he knew better than to go home.  He had a newspaper and a desk where he did a lot of his paperwork and the like, and he was just fine with settling in there with a cup of coffee while Mitchell dealt with Lore's newest problem. 

Problem child, actually.

He didn't lower his newspaper as the girl explained her situation, but he certainly stopped reading it.  Who would ignore such a story?  Scowling, he heard Mitchell excuse himself to go get a hunter, which made a lot of sense to him, but he frankly didn't understand why Lore was HERE.  She could have gone to any guild and had either himself or Mitchell called in, and Crimson had Connor.  As much as Victor didn't understand Lore's friendship with his oldest nephew, he knew it was there and it was certainly beneficial to Lore, if she would only take advantage of it.  She was friends with the highest-ranking bleeding heart of a hunter in the Guilds, and Connor would have done this job for free, just to help.  She made no sense to him.

That was besides the fact, though.  Mitchell had gone to get a hunter, and he was pretty sure he knew which one.  Ortega was doing the job that Bly had screwed up, Devlin was sick as hell, Felix and Verde were ridiculously bad ideas for this, and the other hunters that sprang to Victor's mind were all busy in some way or other.  Xander Ulrich was a good option to take, but Victor wanted a stab at this before the wolf arrived.

He crinkled his paper loudly as he closed it and set it down, giving them warning that he was actually there before he approached them and spoke up.  He took Crystal in carefully, and finally glanced at Lore.  "Please excuse us for a moment, Lore?  I'd like to have a few moments to speak with your friend," he told her before turning his eyes back on Crystal.  He waited until Lore was gone to continue.

"I can call a female in here if you'd prefer it, but I won't touch you without asking you first.  I think you should give me a chance to take a look at you, given what you said, but I won't force the subject," he explained to her, trying not to be too aggressive or demanding in his tone.  His bedside manner was pretty bad, but he wasn't going to blatantly mean to her.  "Can you come have a seat on the table here?"

Crystal jumped when Victor suddenly lowered the paper and spoke. She hadn't even seen him, which attested to just how much trusting someone did to her senses. She slapped herself in the face, hard, shaking her head as if she would dump out all of the shit she was thinking. It didn't work, and she looked stunned as Loreanna left the room without more than a gentle squeeze on her arm.

Left her alone.

What? WHAT? She couldn't breathe. She put a hand to her chest, and her heart was fluttering so hard that she thought maybe she was about to have a heart attack. Was this what it was like? All she could hear was a strange rushing noise, and she took in a few breaths to try and steady herself. By a few, of course, she meant to hyperventilate, and all of a sudden she felt very fuzzy and cold, and inverted - if that were possible.

When she came to, she was laying on the table, a very stern pair of eyes staring down at her. "I'm.. I'm sorry," she managed. "I wanted to answer you, but I guess you just scared me..." She trailed off, and looked away. She felt bad. Was she going to panic every time someone startled her? Was she really this far threadbare, to the bottom of the barrel where she couldn't even function when she was left by herself?

Her eyes slid to a pair of scissors, and she wondered just how easily she could grab them. How easy would it be to just end it? She was certain that if she hit herself in a vital organ, the doctors wouldn't get to her in time. She didn't know where she was fully or what sort of medical supplies they had, but there was only so much you could do if your victim had a fatal wound to, say, the throat or the heart even. The heart, she thought, a wry smile on her face briefly. How appropriate.

"I'm sorry you had to hear all that. I didn't think anyone else was in here," she said. She closed her mouth tightly. She'd never say those words again. Ever. EVER.

Well.  Having her faint wasn't exactly one of things that Victor would have preferred.  He'd assumed that, after her talking about such a traumatic situation, she would be feeling a little relieved?  Wasn't it supposed to be a relief to talk about such a thing?

Hmm.  It hadn't done him any good, but perhaps he could help her out after all.

He pushed the cart with the scissors and other sharp objects out of her reach after her glance, just in case.  He knew better than to trust a victim that was so badly abused with sharp objects, and he didn't even usually handle these types of people.  It definitely wasn't his forte.  "That was my fault, and I apologize.  I wouldn't have interfered, but I'm afraid I'd like to ask you some questions."

He wanted to say that they'd kill the vampire, but he also refrained from saying something so drastic until he was absolutely CERTAIN of her opinion on the matter.  Some victims could be funny.  "As I was saying, I won't touch you without asking first, with the exception of getting you settled here.  I'd like to take a look at you, particularly anywhere he's recently hurt you.  Will you let me?"

She watched the scissors as they departed her immediate vicinity, and let out a little sigh. Perhaps today she would live, at least a while longer, anyways. She glanced back to Victor, and shook her head a little. "It's fine. Nothing of note in the passed few days, anyways. Stabbed me with a nail file," she said, holding up her arm so he could roll back her sleeve. "I didn't feel it; didn't even know it until I woke up and rolled over on it. He bites me, too, but those seem to... heal."

She frowned. Did they really heal? It was her opinion that they just went into her mind, somehow. They were absorbed, and the scar tissue ended up fragmented in her brain, like a small and wildly swinging ninja, shredding anything it could get its hands on for sport. At least, that was how it felt. She looked away as Victor made a disapproving noise to the wound on her arm, and squinted when he cleaned it.

"I used to want to be special, to think that I was chosen for something," she said suddenly. She looked at Victor, catching his eye. "I don't want that anymore." She closed her eyes again, wincing as he swabbed her arm with something that stung like a motherfucker.

Having an injury to focus on, something to do with his hands, was something that Victor appreciated, and he set to work on her arm immediately.  From the sound of things, the vampire wasn't terribly old, which meant that once they found it, it wouldn't be hard to kill.  That was good news, though somewhat anti-climactic.

"Yes, the bites should heal," he confirmed, otherwise letting her continue to talk until she felt like stopping, which was when he flicked his eyes up to her.  Hearing her bit about wanting to be special was almost heart-breaking, even though Victor didn't get emotionally involved with most of his patients.  This one had just gone far too long without attention.

Or at least, without the right attention.  She'd had enough attention to last her a lifetime, obviously.  "There's nothing wrong with wanting to be special.  It's a common thing, something most people desire.  Very few people actually want to vanish into the crowd," he agreed with her, not blaming her for her change in opinion, but he also didn't blame her for wanting it to begin with. 

"You shouldn't look at this psycho attacking you as the same thing.  Believe me, you could still be special and chosen for something good, and there's still nothing wrong with wanting it."  God, he was bad at this, or at least, he thought he was.  Reassuring young girls wasn't something he did often, though he'd had to deal with two recently and hadn't really enjoyed either.  Strange timing.

"Pft," she said. She was silent for a while, and then spoke, though she refused to look at him, forcing her eyes to somewhere else, some spot on the wall that was carefully blank and void of anything that could stir her thoughts any worse. "There's a lot wrong with it," was all she said. There was everything wrong with it. If she'd have been a nobody instead of popular, she never would have been at the bash. Jessica would be alive. Her life would be fine. She wouldn't have Jack, but then did she really have him, even now?

Her thoughts were interrupted as there was a harsh rap at the door. Not that Xander had meant for it to be harsh, of course, he was just so goddamn big that it didn't matter how gently he tried to do something, it would be harsh. At Victor's order, he came into the room, folding his arms as he nodded to Crystal.

"Hey," he said casually to her. He'd been given a brief version of what was going on, and even in his human form, he could smell the fear coming off of her. He knew better than to move around or do anything to alarm her. It was like dealing with a feral animal, to be honest.

"....hey," she replied. She stared at him, stared, and Xander had never felt so sized up in his life before then. She let the gaze linger for a moment, and then looked back to the wall, waiting for Victor to finish what he was doing. She was thankful for the wolf, though. Without him, Victor might have wanted to pep talk her more.

She wasn't in the fucking mood.

Okay, seriously, what the hell?  Victor tries to reassure someone, to give them a 'pep talk' for once, and he gets arguments?  Attitude?  He cocked an eyebrow up at her appraisingly, deciding silently if she was going to get a little more of the Victor that everyone else saw, or if he was going to have to keep playing it incredibly safe with her.  He was leaning more towards the first, but that was because it was most comfortable for him.

Then, Xander arrived.  From Mitchell's absence, he was assuming the man had sent Xander in and gone to check on other problems, including Bly.  That pretty much settled it, since he wasn't going to be all sugary sweet in front of Xander (even if he was NEVER particularly 'sweet').  "Crystal, I'm willing to bet that there was no true 'choosing' or fault of your own in what happened to you the first time.  You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the wrong vampires showed up.  It happens to some of the best of us, I can assure you of that," he told her, finishing up with her arm and doing a quick check for breathing and the like to fill in a file on her. 

"Ulrich, did Mitchell fill you in on the situation?" he asked, turning his attention to the wolf as he worked.  Considering this was essentially a pro-bono case, he was going to need to be filled in and decide if he wanted it.

Crystal just stared at Victor as he spoke to her, the way teenagers do when everything you've just said went in one ear and out the other. All she could think was how much she'd heard it before, in different contexts, but all boiling down to one very fine point: wrong place, wrong fucking time. That was just ducky for her. Everything was destroyed and she was trying to find some grip on reality because some vampires had decided that she was just going to be their favourite girl for the hour - and then, of course, one got a little obsessed. She exhaled through her nostrils, sitting up and staring at Xander more.

Really, it was disturbing how she leveled her gaze on him; Victor wouldn't even be missing that one, for certain considering as astute as he was. She was still sizing him up. Suicidal would be a good word that came to mind when someone did something as dangerous as looking the large man dead in the eyes like she was, but for all of the things she was afraid of, it sure as fuck wouldn't be him. Griffon was terrifying because he could get inside her head. This man didn't look like he could do much besides mind-meld with a fern.

She smirked a little. Game on.

Xander wasn't unaccustomed to being stared down, or people attempting to at least, so Crystal's hard gaze seemed to meet the brick wall that was his impassive eyes. At first. The little huffing noise she'd made at Victor told him that she was going through some bipolar bullshit at the moment, and if he was going to be doing this clean-up job without getting paid for it, he was going to set her ass straight on a few things.

One of which, of course, was that you never stare a dog directly into the eyes unless you want a confrontation. As he moved forward, graceful somehow despite his truly massive form, something in his face changed. A partial shift, something he'd learned purely for intimidation - eyes became shaped somewhat differently, golden-amber and smoldering; teeth that were straight now seemed jagged and sharp, and his jaw shifted forward a little. A growl escaped his throat, but he stopped short - and was completely human again.

It seemed to have served its purpose, because she wasn't trying to spark a nonverbal sort of repertoire between them any further; alternatively, she was closer to Victor than she'd allowed him to get to her, almost hiding behind him. He could hear her heart beating very fast, and he smiled.

"So," he said, voice as smooth as milk chocolate. "It seems Little Red Riding Hood has picked herself up a stalker in the woodsman, and now the wolf is here to save the day." His tone was deep, harsh and yet somehow... not. He was laughing at her without actually doing it. Truly yes, she had been completely victimized and he hated it for her, but he needed to set a few boundaries up before she got comfortable with being the aggressor and trying to take out her anger on people who wanted to help her.

"Let's get a few things straight before that happens again. I don't like misplaced anger, or false bravado, little girl. I'm here to squash that little fucker who keeps gnawing at your brain, and anything you do or say to try and stop that is going to result in -- "

A sharp noise from Victor cut him short, and he didn't finish what he was saying, knowing that the man would simply talk louder than he would if he wanted to.

Meanwhile...

Loreanna felt a little guilty about leaving Crystal alone in the infirmary with a bunch of "strange" men.  They weren't strange to her, obviously, but Crystal wouldn't know them from Adam.  After everything Crystal had told her, too, she wasn't sure it had been the best idea.  She really did need to get home to Vin, though.  He was timing her.

"I'm home," she announced, sounding about as frustrated as she felt as she tossed the keys to the Nova at her brother.


"Hey, Pumpkin.  You're back early."  He sounded surprised, but not unpleasantly so.  "Have fun?"


"Mm," she grunted vaguely.  Then, she gave herself a mental facepalm.  Why she hadn't gone to Vin about this in the first place, she had no idea.  Maybe it was because she didn't think he'd take her seriously.  Maybe because he'd worry about her getting mixed up in any business involving vampires.  Or maybe just because she wanted to handle this herself.  But now what?  She'd just left Crystal in the hands of some other Hunters and expected them to sort it out.  What sort of friend was she?  A friend with a curfew, she told herself with a mental groan. 

But it didn't have to be that way.  "Vin, I have something important to tell you, and I need your help."

Vin sat at attention, instantly serious.  "What is it?" he asked, dreading the answer.  Oh, god, what's she gotten herself into this time? he had to wonder.

Minutes later, the Nova was roaring back to the guildhouse, this time with Vin behind the wheel.  Lore rode shotgun, managing to look serious and somehow quite pleased with herself all at the same time. 

As Lore dashed back into the infirmary, Vin waited outside.  "Hey, how are you doing?" she asked Crystal, who was currently speaking with Xander and Victor.  Well, "speaking" was putting it optimistically.  From the atmosphere in the room, it was more like a bizarre pissing contest.  "Um... did I miss anything?"

Crystal jumped off of where she'd been sitting by Victor and practically mowed Loreanna down, keeping careful to stay away from Xander and his ego. She wrapped her arms around her, and then slid to her side, like some sort of koala, looking around the room and then up at Vin with a very curious brow-raise. That was her brother? He was tall. Crystal felt like she was the smallest person in the room.

"Where did you go?" she hissed, trying not to sound so panicked that everyone heard her. Of course, the room was filled with trained hunters, so it wasn't like there was much she could do do hide from them. She wanted to drag her into the hall, but she somehow felt like that would be one step towards the door, which she didn't need. She wanted help, yes, but she didn't know if she could just throw all this out in the open. It made her feel stupid.

Lore made a startled squeaking sound when Crystal glommed onto her like a mad koala, then immediately turned a suspicious glare on the other hunters.  "You ok, Crystal?  What'd you guys do to her, anyway?!  She's already been through a lot with this vampire problem of hers.  I didn't bring her here to be badgered."

Granted, she had no idea what had actually happened, but from the way Crystal was acting like a panicked wild animal (and wasn't that ironic, Lore being the wolf here), she could only assume they weren't exactly being sensitive to her situation.  Effing Hunters.


Vin frowned.  "Someone mind filling me in, here?" he asked, glancing from Xander to Victor.  Though he didn't think either of them would cause harm to Lore's little friend, he was still essentially clueless on the whole situation, aside from the very brief summary Lore had given him in the car.  "Which vampire is it?"