Night's Omen

She wouldn't have blamed him if he'd said he felt like he'd been hit by a truck, especially having been just in the bathroom when it had happened.  She'd heard it, and it hadn't sounded good.  Poor Josh was only human.

For now.

She managed a smile at his declaration that he was alive, holding the cloth to his face after he'd felt it (and her hand) there and decided to sit up.  Really, she thought he was lucky that Wes hadn't broken his jaw or knocked any teeth out.  "He claims you deserved it for the prank," she informed him, shaking her head.  Those pranks of theirs were utterly ridiculous.  "And I have to agree."

Had it been her who suffered that, Josh would be a mouse shifter, compliments of Nero.  Or perhaps a bunny.  Something cute and useless.  There was that Turkish Van, too.  Aimee DID love Nero's cat, and she'd seen the boy Nero had infected with it.  It was utterly adorable.  Josh had better watch who he pranked. 

She laughed a little, amazed that he could pull off that lazy smile of his after getting smashed in the face like that, but he was a sweet guy.  "I think I'm the only one who would take care of you.  Melisande is busy fawning over Drew, and I hope you didn't think I'd let Wes near you again for awhile?"  Hell no.  Josh would end up a lion for sure if that was the case, and she'd already decided that he wasn't going to get that.  Now, to just get to that point.  She wanted to explain. 

Easier said than done.

Drew lifted his head and just stared at Melisande for a moment when she said she'd tell him when he was better.  He believed her, that wasn't the issue.  The thing that gave him pause was that she'd just admitted that there was something going on that he wasn't getting.  So, he wasn't being paranoid.  It was true.

Okay, he could wait.

"Aight.  Sounds like a plan," he agreed, and it was that easy.  The fact that he knew it wouldn't take him long to recover was useful, though.  He'd been fed and watered, and he was going to need sleep.  Other than that, he'd be fine.  It was just rest from here, since anything else wrong with him consisted of muscle aches and confusion.  The confusion wasn't going to just lift, he was pretty sure of that, so he wasn't going to wait on that.  Melisande really didn't have long to mull things over.

He let out a dry laugh at the notion of Drew being fawned over. That idea still boggled him - how did someone as goofy as Drew get the girl, and Josh was... on his ass in the hallway with a damn-near broken jaw? He shook his head a little, which made his brain feel like it rattled against the inner-lining of his skull, and gritted his teeth. "Ouch," he hissed, trying to sit up more to take some weight off of his arm, which had been propping him mostly up in his slumped sort of position. He smiled a little again as Aimee dabbed at some of the blood on his face, and rolled his eyes.

"Maybe. Wes seemed to really be pissing you off outside, from what I could hear. Drew was sort of out of it, but... Is there something that I need to know? About what's going on, I mean." He frowned. "I'm not stupid, you know. I've known Wesley for a long time, and I've known you long enough to know that I don't think you yell at people unless you have a reason."

Josh stared evenly at her, but his blank face broke into a little smile again. "Whatever it is, it can't be as bad as Drew being kidnapped and abused by some crazy woman. She evidently chained him in her basement, yelled at him about drawing him or something, knocked him out a few times, and then just... dumped him off in the alley. How weird is that?" he asked.

Aimee really didn't find the situation with Melisande and Drew as strange as Josh seemed to, since she could somewhat see why Melisande liked him.  He was goofy and Aimee really couldn't take that hick southern accent seriously, but there was something about him that seemed...just geniune.  Aimee didn't get the impression that he was playing games, and that was what she personally liked about him.  Melisande could certainly do worse, and Aimee personally thought the two of them were cute together.  She just didn't like that trouble was showing up.

She ended up hesitating when he asked about Wes pissing her off, and couldn't deny that he was right.  She didn't yell at people without a reason, and actually didn't yell much anyway.  Wes just made her feel crazy!  He was so impulsive, doing stupid things without a single thought, that it made her crazy.  She really didn't know what to tell Josh on that subject, though.  She hadn't wanted to just jump right into the conversation, but she wasn't going to lie to him.  He didn't have much time to think about things before Wes was going to start freaking out again.  Wes seemed to think that if they left the apartment or something as humans, they'd be dead or in Midnight.  She understood the concern, but she really didn't think that rushing it now was going to matter.  Waiting too long would be stupid, but she didn't like rushing important decisions, and Wes ruining his friendship with these two because he couldn't be even a little patient wasn't conducive to the situation.

"It's very weird," she agreed, and she forced a smile, but this was it.  "Actually, that's what we were arguing about.  What happened to Drew...it's not that out of the ordinary.  Not the crazy woman who wanted to draw him, that I've never heard about before, but I think he was really, really lucky that it was her.  If it was someone else, we may never have gotten him back, and even if we had, he wouldn't have been himself anymore."

She hesitated once more, not really sure how to drop a bomb like this to someone who was never going to believe it.  "Josh, this is all going to sound extremely crazy, so before I tell you anything, you have to promise me that you're going to stay right here with me, sitting calmly in this hallway and talking.  No rushing out into the living room to say anything to Wes, or anything like that.  There's something big going on, and I'm trying to keep Wes from doing anything rash."

Like, punching Josh and making him a lion if the guy jumped up and freaked out in the living room. 

Josh remained in his upright sitting position, looking at Aimee with open, attentive eyes. His brows raised just a little, expectantly, as though he were waiting for her to continue. He realized that she was waiting for him to acknowledge her request not to stand up and run off. He wondered what could be so shocking that he was about to hear that would cause him to do that -- really, Josh was still in no condition to run, anyways, and the thought of having a mildly shocking story told to him by a beautiful woman was one he deigned to entertain. He smiled a little, that same casual, lazy feline grin as he always had, and lifted his chin just a little.

"I want to quote Pulp Fiction and say that I can't promise you my reaction without knowing what you're going to tell me, but I think I'm still seeing spots from when Wesley broke my face, so I'll humour you by just saying," and he sighed a little, "Okay Aimee. I won't run away, whatever you tell me." His tone went from the exasperated, tired sound back to his normal jovial and slightly pained voice, despite his most valiant effort not to look hurt. "Now, what is it that's so bad it's got everyone going crazy?"

He waited, and wondered - what could she possibly tell him that was going to make him want to bolt? Maybe it was the boy in him, but Aimee was too pretty to deliver news that shocking. Right?

He had a point in bringing up Pulp Fiction, and the general idea behind that was totally true.  He didn't know what she was going to say, so promising not to react badly was out.  "Thank you.  I don't want you to promise not to freak out, anyway.  I just want you to stay here with me until I finish, and try to be calm about it," she assured him.  Try.  That's what she wanted.  She wanted him consciously thinking about the fact that she wanted him to try to be calm and to stay where he was, because maybe that'd make him more likely to do it.

Okay.  Time to tell him.  "Drew was kidnapped by a vampire." 

HA!  There.  She said it, and she waited a heartbeat, staring at him with a totally serious expression so that he'd know she wasn't kidding, and then she shot off with the rest before he had a chance to say a damn thing.  She was going to get this out before he could talk over her.  "Yes, they exist, and there is a group of them who operate a slave trade that we're pretty sure Drew came dangerously close to disappearing in, what with his mention of chains and being knocked out the way he was, not to mention the memory issues.  Wes is freaking out because he's a shapeshifter and he knows about the vampires just like Melisande and I do, and he knows that Drew got lucky.  The problem is that now the vampires know what Drew looks like, where he lives, all of his information, and anyone could come after him again at any time, and just as easily find you.  We don't want to lose you two, so we've been yelling and arguing about what to do to fix the problem."

That was the long and short of it, basically.  Now, to get him through his disbelief, which was probably going to involve laughter, mentions of her being crazy, and then questions.  She wasn't looking forward to it, and actually made a face.  "And please don't call me crazy.  I know it sounds crazy, but I'm not and I'm really worried about you two."

Aimee was too pretty to deliver news that shocking. Right?

WRONG.

His first reaction was to laugh, but he didn't even get that much out before she went forward with her words, and the laugh died somewhere in his chest, a dull hissing sound escaping through his tightly clenched teeth as he realized that Aimee wasn't trying to kid around with him. He sat back quick enough that he banged his head against the wall, which startled him and hurt, but seemed to... ground him. Why was it that the men in this apartment thought better when they were in pain? It was a trait that they all seemed to share, or at least Joshua and Wesley did - Drew probably would say that he "c'n thank jes' fine, thanks" without any extra added help from the sudden nerve explosion right before beta endorphins kicked in.

Speaking of which - the swell of warmth around the back of his head let him know that his had begun to do their job, and he felt his chest sink with a little relief as he realized that that was as good as this night was going to get. From here, it was all downhill. He tried to take a... logical approach to what Aimee had said, because personally, he thought she was crazy, but he wanted to try and get back to the living room without alarming her.

"Aimee, are you sure Wesley didn't bump you on the noggin too before he went back out there?" he asked cautiously. "I don't think I'll call you crazy, but don't you'd think I'd have known about this sooner if that was really the case? Wes, Drew and I are inseparable. We'd have known if he was a.. what did you call him? A shapeshifter? What does he shift into, anyways, a refrigerator?"

The look on Joshua's face plainly said that he thought she was crazy. "I think I can stand up now," he said. He pushed himself up off the ground. He was keeping his promise by not freaking out, but there was no way he was going to sit there and listen to this batshit story when there were real problems to work out.

Well, he didn't freak out.  That was good.  She didn't want him to get his proof by getting punched in the face and infected.

Josh was right about Drew being able to think without the beta endorphins, and he'd say so just like Josh thought, too.  Whatever worked for different people, though.  Aimee personally didn't need to hit her head to think straight, though Josh was probably in disagreement with her on that one currently.  That was fine, she expected it.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me.  Wes is a lion, who I'm willing to bet is about as big as a refrigerator, but I haven't actually seen him shift, so I don't know for sure.  I'm a leopard.  Would you like to see?" she asked, slowly and carefully, watching him.

He was standing up, and she was still seated on the floor.  Really, with what was coming, she thought that was for the best.  She'd look less threatening from the floor, and fortunately, she had a LOT of leopard blood in her, so she didn't have to shift completely to show him, but he still might freak out.  "Just remember, don't run into the living room.  Wes would NOT react well to that, and I still need to explain why that's a problem for you," she warned him, and then she took a deep breath and braced herself for him freaking out before looking back up at him and letting her eyes....brighten.  She knew that her normally warm brown eyes were nice, but they were normal.  Leopards didn't have brown eyes, but gold, and she could let that slip.  It was subtle, but with eye contact, people didn't often miss it.  She proceeded by raising her hand, holding it out to him almost like she wanted a hand up, and letting spotted fur slide over the top of her arm, with a paler, more white color sweeping the underside of her wrist and arm.  She did this on stage fairly often, exercising control over where she showed off fur, and it seemed like a nice trick to people who didn't realize what it was.  Here, there were no fancy lights or special effects.  It was just her and Josh.

"I'm not lying to you, Josh," she told him, and she smiled to show off canines that weren't quite feline yet, but weren't human.  She was ready to reverse it all in a second if necessary.  "Please don't freak out." 

He laughed, something like a high-pitched giggle. It was his 'nervous' laugh, and it made him sound like a hyena. In the living room, Mel smiled to Drew. "Must be playing nice," she said, then rested her head against him as the three of them stared at her television watching a re-run of Family Guy. Oh, Josh would have paid a lot of money to be able to watch Family Guy with them, on the floor by the TV instead of at the end of the hallway with Aimee right about now.

When she held her hand out, he reached down instinctively, to take it, to help her up, because that's the sort of thing he did. He was surprised to find that she didn't actually place her hand in his, and closed his eyes tightly, reopening them very wide to make sure he was seeing correctly. Fur? Fur! All over her arm! It was gone before he had a chance to touch it, to make sure it hadn't been some sort of optical fail on behalf of his eyes.

Speaking of eyes, hers were gold. Hadn't they been brown a second ago? "Aimee, what..." he said. He trailed off as she smiled, those large canines exposing themselves, presenting her as something a little more unique than just a pretty stripper who happened to be smart on the side. Josh slid back down the wall, unable to really say anything on behalf of himself besides, "Oh shit."

After a few long moments of silence, all he could say was, "So are you all cats? I mean, if Wes is a lion, which..." he trailed off. He always seemed to put himself in charge of things, and he did hit quite hard.. was it so hard to believe? He looked back at Aimee after shaking his head, trying to clear the madness away. "Is Melisande a cat, too?"

Wut.

Drew blinked from his place on the couch, where he'd been starting to slip off into sleep and kept fighting the feeling just to watch the show and be conscious around Melisande and Wes, and actually pushed himself into something more closely resembling an upright position, trying to see the hallway.  He'd heard that laugh, and that was totally Drew's best friend over there.  He knew that meant Josh was feeling nervous, because that just wasn't how he laughed otherwise.  That was an 'oh my god, am I going to die here?' or a 'holy fucking shit, this is fucked up' sort of laugh.  It was what Josh threw out there when a situation was just so ridiculous that he couldn't do anything but laugh.

But...he was in the hall with Aimee.....

Drew blinked again, looking at Wes, then Melisande.  What....?

Aimee didn't know that the laugh was one he made only when he was extremely nervous, but it was unexpected and kind of cute coming out of a guy who was supposed to be all macho and SWAT.  She laughed in return, mostly in relief, though it faded into just a smile very quickly as she watched him slide down the wall, asking questions that made it clear that he believed her now.

Excellent.  They were moving along rather well.

She winced when he asked about Melisande, but she wasn't going to lie.  "Melisande was human until the yelling started outside.  I freaked out because Wes is upset and made a decision regarding Melisande, Drew and you.  The vampires who run the slave trade can take any human they want off the street with no consequences, but there are rules regarding shapeshifters.  They can't just take them, which means that Wes and I are safe.  The three of you weren't, and Wes has decided to fix that.  He infected Melisande when he cut her hand, so she's going to be a lion.  He wants to infect you and Drew," she informed him, back to full serious mode.  No smiles. 

"If you've seen animal planet and know what male lions get like together, imagine the three of you in a room together if you're all lions.  Personally, I don't see that as being a good thing, and I'm afraid Wes really isn't offering this as much of a choice.  I think he'd rather you be mad at him than end up as a vampire's plaything, and I can't say I disagree as much as I'd like to.  Josh, they do horrible things.  You have no idea how lucky we are that Drew was dropped back in that alley in the condition he was in," she told him, and there was something in her voice that was pleading with him to understand how bad this was.  "He could have been hurt very badly, but they can do things to your mind that are irreversible.  Wes is afraid that this is going to lead to worse things, and I'm not going to disagree with him because I've heard about it happening, especially lately."

It didn't take much anymore.

"I -- what?" he asked. He'd started to say something, but Aimee went truckin' right along again, and he waved his hands out in front of him to signal her to slow down. "Wesley infected her?" he asked, his voice a hiss. "That sounds so... unsanitary. How? And, Drew is gonna be pi-i-ssed," he added, eyes wide, his own expressive tone coming in, even in the quiet voice he was using.

"And what do you mean, he wants to change us? I don't want to be a cat. Drew probably doesn't, either, even if Melisande is, though I can't say I speak for him one-hundred percent, because I bet if she asked him to, he might reconsider. Me, I'm kind of happy being a human," he said. He scooted a little away from Aimee, like he didn't quite... like the idea of where this was going.

The vampire slave thing, that hadn't even set in yet. He wasn't ready to try and pull that one apart in his brain, so he focused on the animal thing. Aimee had her hands full if she thought she was going to infect him, or anyone else for that matter. Josh glanced down the hallway, where he could see Wes' profile as the man laughed at the television. He narrowed his eyes, and put together a game plan of how he could take him if he needed to. He could get out that door. He could.

He looked back at Aimee. Did she know he was going to run? He sat still for a few more minutes, and then jumped up. He was OUT!

She would have given him more time with the information, instead of truckin' right along, but she had the feeling she had a limited amount of time before he freaked, and she was going to get as much in as she could.  He also confirmed what she'd already guessed about Drew, and that he was going to be PISSED when he found out what Melisande had done.

She pretty much guessed that Drew wasn't going to be cool with being a cat, either.  There wasn't a whole lot of choice to be had, though.

Yep, there he went.

He told her he was happy being a human, and she sighed, not surprised.  She preferred to have humans be humans, personally.  She'd never infected anyone, and had never intended to, but this?  "Josh, I know, believe me, I kno--"

AND, HE'S OFF!

Well, he thought he was.  He'd forgotten one important thing, though.  Aimee = cat.  Cats = fast.  She had a hand around his ankle so fast that there was no way he was stopping before he bit carpet, and she was on him immediately after.  She didn't weigh enough to really pose a threat, but sitting on his back was the best option she had.  If he tried to fight her, she was going to be MAD.

"Stop!  Are you crazy?!  If you run out there, Wes is going to punch you again, and he's bleeding!  All he has to do is draw blood on you, and you're going to be stuck as a lion!" she explained quickly, panicking just a little.  She was trying to stop this, but he wasn't exactly cooperating.  "Listen, if you get infected by Wes, things are going to get bad, that's what I'm trying to tell you!  He's not going to let you stay human because he doesn't want some vampire to turn you into a whimpering pet, and the only other choice you really have is leopard.  I'm not going to force you, because I don't think that's fair, but Wes will, and you're not going to be able to stop him."

Drew had been settling back down, assuming that the lack of further noises meant that Josh was alright.  That was weird, but maybe he was so tired that he was imagining things.  He settled down again, back into the show, and ended up back to what he'd been doing before: starting to slip off into sleep, and trying to keep himself awake.

Then, he heard a noise that he definitely thought sounded like a body impacting the floor, and he was sitting up again, staring at the hallway, then back to looking between Melisande and Wes.  This one, he wasn't so sure about ignoring.

"Tell me y'all heard that.  I'm not hearin' thangs, that was definitely there!" he told them, eyes wide but definitely a little dazed.  He needed sleep, but he'd heard that.  Something was going on.  "Ain't one of y'all gonna go see what the hell's goin' on?"

WHAM.

"Oooh," he moaned. "If I'd have known eating carpet would be so painful I'd have never tried it," he managed, the horribly off-colour remark breaking the silence of his fall. He openly hoped it offended Aimee, with what she'd just done. "I think I bit my lip when I fell -- yep, I'm bleeding. A-gain," he huffed. He laid his head down while Aimee balanced on top of him, not even bothering to swat at her.

"I'm not as crazy as the catwoman who just pulled my feet out from underneath me," he hissed angrily. "Wes isn't going to force me anything, because I'll rearrange his face if he comes near me," Josh snapped.

"G'damn, Drew. I'll check. Happy?" Wesley said. He stood up and thump-thumped across the apartment floor and stuck his head down the darkened hallway. He didn't see anything for a second, so instead of turning on the light, he just allowed himself to slip a little. Ah. "You kids play nice," he said. To Josh it would mean one thing, to Aimee, another.

"It's nothin'. Aimee and Josh were back there messin' around on Mel's computer, Josh stood up to fast, tripped, busted his ass. You know he's about as graceful as a three-legged dog," he said, sitting back down on the sofa so harshly it made the whole thing jump.

"Holy shit, did you see his eyes?" Josh exclaimed. "They were shiny! Shiny! Like a cat!"

The boy can be taught.

She blinked at his joke about eating carpet, actually amazed at the switch, and just stared at him as he continued about bleeding, again.  "Josh, I'm sorry!  I didn't mean to hurt you!" she told him quickly, and then he was threatening Wes and a moment later the lion was peeking into the hallway, and Aimee saw his eyes shine, as well.

Play nice. 

Her own eyes flashed at that, some temper showing through because this mess was HIS FAULT, but she didn't comment.  She had to bite back any growling she might have wanted, mostly because she wasn't going to flip Josh out worse, and Wes didn't hang around, anyway. 

Josh had noticed his eyes.

She actually facepalmed, and simply because there was NO WAY of responding to that without it.  "Yes, I saw his eyes.  I told you!  You rearranging his face is a real joke, by the way.  Do you know the kind of damage a lion can take?  He could tear you apart if he wanted, and realistically, I probably could, too," she pointed out, just a little irritably.  "Humans are weak, especially unarmed, and you're no match for most of what's out there.  The only thing keeping you safe this long was your ignorance, and Drew still managed to get nabbed."

She gave a shove towards the middle of his back, not hard, but aggressive enough to demonstrate her growing impatience.  "You need to decide if you want to go out there and get completely laid out again by Wes, who is going to make you a lion if he does that and is probably going to have to do the same thing to poor Drew, who still doesn't know what's happening, or if you're going to stop acting like a baby and let me make you a leopard.  I promise I won't be mean about it, and I won't punch you," she assured him, and she knew it wasn't going to make things much better, but she was trying.  That was pretty much what his choice was, though.

Drew stayed sitting up while Wes went to see what was going on, mostly because he was worried he'd conk out if he didn't, and he wasn't so sure he believed it when Wes explained what had happened.  That didn't make sense, and he knew Josh.

Damn it.  He was being paranoid again.  He needed sleep.

He fixed Wes with his best paranoid look, one that clearly said he wasn't buying that line of bullshit, but really, it didn't matter.  He settled back down, because he wasn't going to do anything about it.  Even if he tried, he wouldn't have even made it off the couch before Wes had him down and out, and he'd have been useless even if he got as far as Josh.  He knew he was lost on this one.

Sleep.  Win.

"And what if I don't want to be either?" he challenged. He made an 'umph' noise at the shove, but it really didn't hurt. Still, she was pretty strong for her size, Josh had to admit it. He guessed being a leopard made you stronger - and then she was explaining about how Wesley could really do damage, blah blah blah.

"Aimee, I've been friends with the guy for a few years now. Why would he want to hurt me?" he demanded. "We're tryin' to protect eachother here, not ruin eachother's lives. Come on." He still didn't really think about what Wesley had done to Melisande, but mostly because she didn't fit into the equation - it was Wes, Josh, and Drew. Drew, Josh, and Wes. Mel was a nice addition for Drew, but she didn't really mean a shit to Josh when it came down to it. He had more important things to worry about.

"Get off me," he demanded. "I don't wanna be a leopard, and I don't wanna be a lion. I wanna go home and get some fucking sleep," he snapped. He was growing irritable.

WHY did she promise not to punch him?!  WHY?!

Stupid, stupid, stupid!  She should have never said that, because punching him would really be the easiest, quickest way of dealing with this, and he was frustrating her enough that it might even be satisfying.  Why wouldn't he just listen and accept that she was trying to help him?

"You're asking me to explain the inner workings of the brain of a man I've only known a few hours and have already physically struck, which is NOT something I make it a habit of doing," she informed him irritably, getting impatient with the understanding that he wasn't going to agree, and she had to make a rash decision of her own.  Damn Wes!  If Josh was still human when he walked out there, would Wes leave him alone long enough for it all to sink in, or would he take care of it himself?  The last thing she wanted was to go through all this, let him go, and then have Wes go all HULK SMASH on him when he left the hallway.

That would be useless and frustrating.

"As far as I can tell, he thinks he's protecting you guys by making you into shifters.  It's what he did to Melisande, and I could kill him for it, but he did it to protect her and he hardly knows her.  He'd do it to the two of you in a second," she said, AGAIN, but it wasn't getting through as far as she could tell.  "You don't get that choice.  It's leopard or lion, so grow up and choose."

She wasn't getting off of him until he chose.