Night's Omen

  Elise had waited until two hours after Shane said he'd come by, and then she'd looked at her father with a particularly sad expression. "He didn't even call," she said, and it wasn't so much a whine as a statement of utter astonishment. She twisted an amber beaded bracelet around on her wrist as she sat on the ottoman shared by Iago's feet, posture slumped over in defeat.

  "Why don't you just go over there? You know that boy has no concept of time," he suggested. He glanced at her over the book he was reading, a brow arched. He'd never voluntarily suggested that she go visit any boys, but Shane he could see into and he knew that the boy didn't have the worst intentions. Maybe not the most pure, but there his daughter was a little more thoughtful.

  He had barely gotten the words out before she jumped up and flew out of the house, a blown kiss still lingering in the air as she phased out of sight. She re-emerged, swathed in darkness, just shy of the Craft household, off to the side of their driveway. She walked up slowly, the sound of Derek's car in the driveway still cooling. She frowned, but only because she didn't actually like Derek much. With purpose, she rapped on the door, straightening up and taking an unnecessary breath. She was surprised when Melody answered the door, eyes red and puffy.

  "Melody? What's wrong?" she asked, forgetting all about how mad she was at Shane for the moment. When the girl just shook her head and smiled, indicating she needed a minute, Elise took the initiative to step inside of the large foyer, closing the door behind her. Their parents weren't home - the cars were in the driveway, but Elise couldn't smell them, and she'd only assume that they were out of town given the lack of their odor.

  When Melody still hadn't recovered enough to answer her, Elise approached the girl with caution. "Melody... where's Shane? Is Derek here?" she tried, her brows perking. She could smell the cat all over her, Shane, too, but the house itself wasn't really giving her much of anything - just old scents.

  "You should really go, Elise," Melody finally said. "Shane - Shane won't be available for a while," she added.

  "Huh?" Elise spat, reeling back like she'd been slapped. "What does that mean? Why are you crying? Where is Shane?" she asked again, her eyes narrowing slightly. This was way, way too out of order for her. Melody crying, nobody to be found, Shane "unavailable"? Something was going on, and she'd get to the bottom of it.

  When Melody didn't answer her and opened the door, an odd gesture for a girl who was normally happy to see Elise, the vampire did the only thing she could think of. She looked Melody square in the eye, and bid her tell where in the flying fuck Shane was. When she'd gotten her answers, Elise was in a state of decay, and vanished no sooner than Melody numbly closing the door behind her. At least Elise had told her to go upstairs and go to bed before she'd gone, maybe Melody would be able to sleep instead of just crying for the rest of the evening. Hey, she was nice - sometimes.

  When Elise rephased into sight at the address Melody had rattled off, she was no more than fifty feet from the door. The smell of carnage was thick on the stagnant, foggy air. It clung to the ground in the mist, no more than three or four feet off the ground - it came from the field beyond, hung low in the forest and around the earth that lead against the stone walkway to the old farmhouse. Why these things were always at the same typical farmhouse, Elise would never know - she surmounted the seclusion would allow for maximum pleasure, but given how much gunpowder she could pick up, like a peppery texture against her nose, this obviously hadn't gone as planned.

  She didn't know what she was going to find, but she was going to press on. Most vampires who did bashes were young, and she was two-hundred plus. She had an advantage, however slight. "Shane?" she called. She was the only person standing there in a sea of abandoned cars from dead partygoers. The other hunters had gone, leaving only the scuffling sound of three pairs of feet for her ears to hear. With a final resolve, Elise headed up the walk, coming into view of the door hanging wide open and half-off the hinges.

The procession was actually rather quiet, other than the sounds of their feet, and Derek was pretty certain that if Shane hadn't been there, and so out of it, he and Christian could have been ridiculously quiet.  As it was, Shane kept trying to support himself, managing it for a moment or so, and then losing it again only to throw the two men helping him along off balance.  Derek probably could have carried the other boy alone, if not for the awkward size.  Shane wasn't a big guy, but he was around Derek's size, which would have made it more difficult, especially with the way he kept moving around.  It probably would have been easier if he'd been out cold, honestly.

Actually, it bothered Derek that Shane was behaving the way he was.  The kid's breathing was labored and sound like he was having some serious trouble, but he didn't have enough in the way of injuries to cause it.  It was understandable to assume that he'd lost blood because the vampire had definitely fed from him, so the paleness made sense, but Shane was shivering and cold to the touch on top of behaving like his normal thought processes were in and out.  Derek didn't like thinking it, but he had the feeling that Shane was fighting very hard against unconsciousness, delirium or both, and losing.  He just didn't want to think about what it might mean if he lost.  Whether he wanted to, or not, he and Christian were both likely thinking the same thing.

"This is really bad, isn't it?" he asked, glancing Christian's way as he tried to compensate for Shane trying to carry himself, failing and pitching himself in the hunter's direction.  He didn't want to know what Xander and his wolves would have suggested if they were here, but when he heard a girl calling Shane's name, any thoughts of wolves, Xander or even what was wrong with Shane left his mind.  That wasn't Melody, that much he knew, and he was still way too keyed up from the earlier fighting to even hope that it was someone harmless.  Their luck just wasn't that good.

  Christian had been doing this for too long to lie to Derek, but he didn't want to dump Shane's fate out right there. He just tried to compensate for the lack of an even weight distribution, steadying himself against the closest wall as they tried to get Shane up to a comfortable and acceptable mobile position. Shane didn't seem to be real keen on that, and finally, Christian lost some of his patience.

  "Listen, Shane, we don't have a lot of time. Stop fucking around and let us help you out of here. I'll let you beat up on Derek later, okay?" he spat. No sooner had he said that than all three of them froze in place at the sound of a girl calling Shane's voice. It wasn't one he recognized, either, and that meant that he tensed visibly.

  "Don't tell me one of those bitches from the bash is dumb enough to be out there hollerin' for him," he said, voice low. He'd never met Elise, never seen her - didn't know she existed if it wasn't for the minute mention Derek made of her, but even then it wouldn't really occur to him that it could be the "vampire bitch" that Shane insisted on being friends with.

  Elise, on the other hand, could hear talking, even if she couldn't hear what was being said. She ran the rest of the steps up to the door, feet thundering on the old wooden porch. She stuck her head in the doorway, the scent of blood clogging her nose. If she'd been a human, she would have gagged; as it was, it nearly made her lose control. There was so much of it. Iago had warned her about situations like these, but she was trying to concentrate on finding Shane, and that brought her back out of it after a moment of hesitation.

  "Shane?" she called again. "Shane, it's Elise! Where are you? Are you still in here? Are you hurt?" She paused, and she could hear Christian and Derek breathing, debating on answering her. She didn't know it was them; wouldn't know Christian's scent and couldn't smell the cat through all of the gore and deliciously sweet blood. God, it made her feel almost giddy - but she tightened down her grip against a chair she'd rested her hand on, puncturing the already-stained fabric with her fingers. She couldn't hear him, but she could sense him - that dark aura Shane had, the one that made people stay away, it stood out to her like a familiar article of clothing.

  "Shane, please answer me?" she called again, her voice taking a desperate tone. "I can feel you, where are you?" she pleaded. She left the chair, walking the opposite direction of the men. It was up to one of them to respond, and Christian was as silent as the grave. He didn't know Elise from Eve, and he couldn't trust this not to be a trap. He slowly reached for his gun, unsure of what the reaction from Shane would be.

Derek didn't bother mentioning to Christian that he didn't think Shane was fucking around, and part of that was just because he didn't want to make it sound worse.  Shane was leaning on him as much as on Christian, and that was more telling than Christian seemed to know.  Derek was still hoping that he was wrong, and Shane had just hit his head sometime in there.  A concussion would be so much better than the alternative.

He was afraid that he recognized the voice as soon as he heard it, but having feet come rushing towards them was way too ominous not to have him tense up in preparation for the worst.  Her calling out for Shane and saying her name was all he'd needed, though.  He made a short, low hiss for Christian's attention and flicked his eyes down to Shane, hoping Christian would remember the one or two times Derek had mentioned her being friends with Shane.  He sure as hell wasn't going to be calling out to her, so he hoped she left soon enough that they could get Shane out of there without a problem.  He wasn't sure where they stood with the kid already, and having his vampire girlfriend show up?  Not good. 

Of course, Shane wasn't on the same page as them, despite their attempts being aimed towards getting him out of there.  He heard his name being called, he recognized the voice and the feel that she put out, and he sure as hell recognized her name when she said it.  He was in and out, not really sure what was going on and suffering through them trying to get him out of the house, but he knew Elise.  How could he not? 

"He...HERE!" he called, faltering initially and nearly finding himself unable to draw enough breath to yell.  He ended up coughing against Derek's hand as soon as the word had left his mouth, since that was how fast the snow leopard moved to shut him up.  He didn't appreciate being shut up, but it wasn't like he had a choice, or really had the ability to care much anymore.  He missed Derek's glance to Christian, and he didn't know that Christian was reaching for a gun.  This was Elise.  Why would they need a gun, or worry about her being a threat?  She was his friend.

 It took Elise about point two seconds to locate Shane by his voice alone, and she'd barely finished disappearing when she'd reappeared, not more than seven or eight feet off from the trio. Her senses were on red alert, and she was suddenly hit in the face with a panicked cat, a decaying Shane, and an adrenalized hunter who had a gun aimed right.. at.. her.. face.

  It was pure luck that Derek trying to shut Shane up caused a balance shift, because Christian's round fired up and to the left. It would have been a dead ringer for her face, but it hit beside her, burying itself deep into a stud instead. She made a sort of choking noise, in part because she couldn't believe someone had almost blown her head off, and because she could smell death heavily in this hall and it was coming from her friend. And Derek was trying to - to suffocate him?

  "Get your fucking hands OFF OF HIM!" she screamed. That was all it had taken. Celerity wouldn't help Christian try to get another round off, not with Shane buckling into his side. The gun was all but useless as they toppled into the wall. Her target, though, was Derek, and she hit him with the force of a freight train. Some vampires liked to fight fair, but Elise? Elise came from a line of warrior dogs who'd ripped eachother to pieces, and when she fought, really fought, she was effective. Derek might have outweighed her in human and animal form, but he sure as shit wasn't trained well enough.

  Once she'd split them apart, she had intended to back off - she really had. However, she couldn't stop thinking about how this was actually happening. Why was Shane even AT a bash? He was supposed to have been at her house! What the fuck was going on? She hadn't really thought of what she was going to do after she'd knocked Derek over, but hitting him seemed like a really good way to let off some steam.

  "Why the FUCK were you here?" she finally screamed. "Why didn't you call me, or make them LEAVE?" Her voice was agony, but she was still mad, and she spat angrily as she roared, doing everything she possibly could not to let Derek get back into balance.

  Meanwhile, Christian was struggling with Shane for that gun. "Kid, I get that you think she's your friend, but she's the same as one of those fuckers that caused all of this, and right now she's about to splatter my brother-in-law, so I'm really going to need you to let go," he demanded. Somehow they'd both gotten a hand on it, and the little bastard had more strength than he'd been using for the entire time they'd been trying to walk.

Okay, so stopping Shane from yelling again to his potentially violent vampire friend?  Didn't help.  The potentially violent vampire friend proceeded to prove herself to be violent after Christan tried to fire a firestone round into her face.  He missed, and Derek realized as the vampire was smashing him into the floor, that he'd missed because Shane's weight had knocked him off-balance.  Naturally, it was even worse for Christian when Derek wasn't there to help maintain Shane's upright position, and he really just didn't have the presence of mind to pay attention to what was happening with his brother-in-law and the injured human.  He figured that if he could survive the next few minutes with the vampire, Christian could hold off a half-dead teenager.

Whether or not he could survive the vampire was a big IF, though. 

In all honesty, Derek didn't know her history.  He didn't know her line, vampire or gypsy, and he didn't know that she was a shapeshifting vampire.  All he knew was that she was a vampire and Shane's friend.  He sure as hell hadn't been planning on calling her, either.  Why, so she could prove that she wasn't just good for breaking into places with Melody's juvenile delinquent of a brother?  If she'd decided to be on the wrong team, Derek would have been dead earlier, and he knew it as soon as she hit him.  It was like getting hit by a truck, and he was positive that he'd have been hospitalized for an extremely long time if he'd been human.  As it was, he hit the floor with her on top of him and heard things snap.  Even worse was that she didn't stop there, wailing on him as she essentially blamed him for all of their troubles.

Yeah, because he'd known it was a bash before they even arrived.

It wasn't like he had the ability to argue with her, not with her losing her shit like she was, so the only thing he could really do was try to fend off her blows, keep her attention on him so that Christian might get a shot (at some point), and maybe even get the upper hand.  He wasn't vampire strong, but he was still a shifter, and that had to count for something.  He actually considered shifting, once again trusting his animal form to pick up the slack where human training just wasn't enough, but he knew better.  With her on top of him, a leopard would be just as out of its element, and maybe more so.  There was a reason they didn't offer their bellies to enemies.  At least in human form, he had opposable thumbs, which he put to use when he grabbed her forearms and shoved. 

It took a hell of an effort on his part, what with the way she was struggling and his body was screaming at him, but the only thing that really helped his case was that he'd been quick, and she hadn't expected it.  The instant she was off of him, he went right after her, shifting mid-movement so that he could utilize claws and teeth against her, since fists really weren't going to do any good.  Neither was arguing with her, so he was willing to sacrifice his voice.

Shane, for the second time that night, missed out on Derek shifting and maintained his relative ignorance of the entire situation.  He'd been attacked, he'd been hurt, and they'd been dragging him out of that place, but he didn't see the reason to be shooting his friend.  That was why he grabbed for the gun.  He'd missed plenty of details that night, but Christian trying to blow Elise's head off wasn't one of them.  Right then, what the other man was saying was utter gibberish to him, he didn't trust Derek as far as he could throw him, and the only person he DID trust with his back was the one they were trying to kill. 

He wasn't cool with that.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do about it.  Christian was a strong dude, stronger than Shane would have pegged him for any other time, and Shane was fading fast.  He'd put out his last bit of strength to keep that gun away from her, and though he was still working to be as inconvenient as possible, a lot of it was currently just using body weight that was quickly becoming dead weight to keep Christian pinned to the wall and that gun away from Elise.  He hoped she was smart enough to take off if he passed out, which seemed likely at this point.  He was trying to fight it off, but he really didn't know that he was dying.  Sucked to be him.

 Elise went backwards and literally bounced on the carpet as she landed. She'd hit her head pretty hard, but she was working on moving when suddenly Derek was on top of her. A snow leopard? Well, she hadn't seen one of those in a few hundred years. Normally she'd have wanted to ask, but the moment wasn't really right for it. He didn't waste any time, either, trying to dig right in. Elise did all she could to stop him from getting her face or throat, but that meant her arms were up in a defensive position, and completely exposed.

  The onslaught was new for Elise, but she wasn't a stranger to pain. The magic within her very blood was painful, though not in the same way that this was, but it wasn't a stretch. What was creating a real problem, though, was that the cat wasn't letting up, there was a lot of blood, hers, his, and her rage was just building. Most vampires could slip into a bloodlust of sorts if they didn't feed for long periods of time, but Elise's bloodline was singular between she and Iago, and it was only because the man had fallen victim to his own lineage. Elise was a product of that, and more, so what did that say about her?

  She began to see red, everything around her fading in and out as she tried to kick Derek off of her. She'd stopped screaming, now was doing some low, guttural growling of sorts, and finally, finally, managed to shoot an arm up through the flurry of claws to land a solid punch to his throat. Even a cat had a windpipe, and she'd just hit it with all of her might. She looked back for an instant, just in time to see Shane collapse against Christian. "NO!" she screamed, a sort of terrified, desperate shout that bounced off of the hall. She barely had any strength to stand up, wounds more than she could heal with mere thoughts despite her age. The cat had dug long and deep and had pulled muscle and bone out, exposing it. She was lucky, her face had only a few marks, but she was covered in blood.

  She rolled to her stomach and crawled to her knees, still on her elbows for support. She was a mess; the cat was a mess. Christian and Shane had blood on them by proxy alone, but Shane wasn't even moving anymore. "No, NO!" she said again, her eyes wide and black with terror. She didn't dare reach out because of how much gore had been exposed, but she crawled to where his body was and sort of dropped down next to him, if one could call it that.

  "Shane? Shane, can you hear me?" she whispered, her voice hoarse.

  "He's dead," Christian said flatly. Shane had managed to toss the gun a few feet ahead of him and sent it far enough down the hall that it had become inconvenient. Christian only now went to retrieve it, at which point Elise tried to cover what of Shane's upper body she could with her own drastically damaged one.

  "Please don't hurt him," she begged, trying to hide him from the gun. She knew what sort of rounds those were; she knew what they could do. She was trying to amp her power, and she was using Shane to do it. He might have been dead, but he wasn't dead, and she was using him to charge her battery as best she could in what little precious time she had.

  "Aw, Christ, kid!" he shouted, the gun pointed down. He glanced up at Derek, who he knew would be in serious pain but would also survive. It became clear that the girl was trying to protect Shane, and Derek had gotten in the way of that. Now Christian was in a bind. Kill her? Kill Shane? He couldn't kill Shane, even though he'd technically just died, because he'd never live it down. Shane could be rehabilitated. This girl, though? He wasn't so sure. Best not to take the chance.

  "Sorry, kid," he said. "You're a little too hot for me to handle." He pulled the trigger, and as he did so, Elise and Shane vanished, the round sent straight into the ground.

  "FUCK!" he screamed. What a worthless waste of a bullet! He should have known she was trying to buy time to phase out, but he hadn't counted on being able to pull Shane with her. He went over to Derek, though he was careful not to get too close - animals who were wounded were still animals, even if they were people underneath.

  "My wife is going to fucking kill me if you scar," he warned him, coming within a few feet. He knelt down. "Can you shift back? How good did she get you?" he tested. He knew Derek could heal, but Chai weren't as strong as Vie. Elise had hit him pretty hard, but she'd been more interested in taking out her anger than trying to murder the kid.

  Shane and Elise, however, ended up on Elise's bedroom floor, just as they had been. She started screaming the only thing she could think of: "DAD! DAD! DAD!" in hysterics, shouted over and over again until he eventually came exploding into her room to see the bloody mess she was with the very dead friend she had brought along for the ride.

He hurt, GOD, did he hurt.  That was in his mind even after he shifted, and it was the first time he'd ever made the change from one form to another with such pain along with it.  Broken bones didn't feel any better as a leopard than they did as a human, and he immediately put them to work attacking the vampire that didn't really feel like being attacked.  He put up a hell of a fight, tore her up and splashed both of their blood everywhere as they struggled, but he wasn't particularly surprised when she got through.  What she did when she DID get a shot in was a problem, though.

She'd already been kicking at him, each successful blow making the whole area around where she'd hit explode in pain, but it was that punch to the throat that did him in.  She was a vampire, not a particularly young one, and she was pissed, so when she put all of her might into a blow, it meant something.  He felt her crush his windpipe under her fist, agony mixing with gurgling blood and a sudden lack of air, and when he dropped away from her, he didn't get back up.  He couldn't breathe, that was the biggest issue, and even shapeshifter healing wasn't fixing it fast enough for him.  He knew that panicking wasn't going to do him any good (easier said than done), but really, he didn't see how anything was helping.  He pawed at his throat, gasping for air, and later on, he would understand that he did pass out for a little while there.  At the time, it didn't make sense that she was there, bleeding and calling Shane's name in a voice that was quickly beginning to sound like it was underwater to Derek, and then suddenly she wasn't.  All he knew was that he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

It took the precious minutes that Christian needed him (of course) before Elise vanished for his body to make any real headway in healing.  Fortunately, it naturally targeted wounds that were most dangerous first, so while he was without air long enough to hurt like hell, his throat was the first thing that started healing.  It was Christian yelling, then talking to him a moment later, that drew him back up, and that was really only due to a sense of urgency in the back of his mind.  There was the chance that he would really die if he didn't get up, so he finally stirred to Christian's voice, drawing sharp, painful gasps that only barely got him enough air to function.  The hunter was asking him if he could shift, and for a moment, he thought no way, that he was hurt too badly and too low on energy to shift shapes, but there was some type of rational thought going on in his brain.  As a cat, he was far too heavy for Christian to do anything other than stand by and hope nobody came to pick them off, or call someone.  As a human, the man could help him out of there.  He definitely didn't want to stay, so that was what had to fuel his fight to shed the leopard form.  He definitely passed out again for an instant there, but he only noticed because things looked different the next time he saw them.

In human form, it was easier to see the damage Elise had managed to deal, and he didn't look nearly as bad off as she had when he was through with her.  Maybe he'd be proud of her at some point, after he could breathe and move on his own.  In the meantime, he was still wheezing and gasping, and if he could have answered Christian, he'd have gladly told him that she'd gotten him good.  As it was, he really didn't think he had to.  Once again, thank GOD for shapeshifter healing, since there was no way in hell he'd have survived a punch like that as a human.  His throat slowly opened up enough that he could roll over, trying to force broken and abused bones to do what he told them to so that they could leave.  He didn't want to stay.

With good reason, too.  Iago had been settled in for a quiet evening, one that didn't have to do with noisy carnivals, whining daughters or bloody messes, and he wasn't going to appreciate it being interrupted.  If he'd had to go out to that house to help Elise, he would have beaten both the cat and the hunter senseless, then drank from them.  He wouldn't have killed them, since that would be too easy, but having their blood would have been good enough for him.  He hadn't gotten that opportunity, however, and instead glanced towards the ceiling as he heard a thud from Elise's room, caught a sudden impression of blood, and then the screaming started.  Naturally, it took him seconds to fling the book aside and explode through her bedroom door, and the scene that he found as a greeting would have taken a lesser man completely off-guard. 

With him, it merely spurred him to action.  She had a towel that she'd used on her hair and draped over her chair to dry, and that was what he snatched up immediately to wrap her arms in.  She would heal, that he knew without a doubt, but she needed to stop bleeding long enough for her healing to kick in.  The sight of her friend Shane, dead eyes staring towards the wall his head had rolled to face, hadn't escaped him, but he was dealing with one crisis at a time.  That Shane still had an aura to him was also noted, though if you were to ask Iago, he really just didn't care immediately.  Elise was priority, then came the boy.

She reeked of cat, which didn't surprise him when he took a good look at her arms, but it wasn't a cat that he'd smelled in a very long time.  Curious, but he'd puzzle over it later, when they could talk about it.  In the meantime, she was weak, and he made a split second decision to open his own vein for her this once.  He'd done it to bring her into this life, and he wasn't about to lose her because he refused this time.  With his blood, she only needed a taste, anyway.  She needed a boost for her healing after expending all of that energy, and the loss wouldn't hurt him. 

"Swallow," he instructed her briskly, putting his wrist to her mouth for a beat, and when he'd decided that she'd gotten enough, which was just a few mouthfuls, he pulled it away, taking a look at her arms again.  He was going to be grilling her about exactly what had happened as soon as she was able, because this was ridiculous.  Leave it to Shane to get her into this kind of trouble.  All these years, and it wasn't until that boy that Iago really found himself dealing with messes like this. 

 Oh man, Christian was going to be in deep shit for this one. He knelt down by Derek as the boy shifted/rolled/tried to function like a normal, shit-stomped human being. He didn't know what he really could do, so he pulled out his two-way to page someone to come back, and then realized he would never be able to explain what had just happened well enough to attempt it right then and there. Instead, he knelt down by Derek and waited for him to catch his breath.

  "I got morphine in my truck, but I think Eva says all it can do is slow you down," he offered. He wasn't positive as to whether or not Derek would want it. Some people really didn't do the drug thing - Christian? You'd bet your ass he'd accept a dose if he'd had his ass kicked that badly, but he had to ask. "I can go get it like, right now. Just nod, if you can. I got enough to knock Xander out in case he got too rowdy," he added, trying to lighten the mood.

  Meanwhile, Elise was busy experiencing her very own chaotic world. Iago said drink and she did, latching onto his wrist like a kitten at feeding time. He almost had to push her off, but no sooner had she sank back to her knees than did she already feel the burning as her blood suddenly became "amped". It was like some sort of high, and she nearly fell backwards onto the thick carpet of her room as she swayed in place. Her body literally began repairing itself that quickly - who knows, without that she might have been under for a few hours. Now? Maybe minutes.

  Shane, though, was a different story. "He's turning," she said, though she hadn't needed to, because Iago was already examining him, and he'd have known by the boy's scent alone. He smelled like a dead body, but she knew what was happening in there. "I was so careful, and they just let him walk right into one of those stupid parties. How could they be so fucking stupid?" she hissed, her hands to her round cheeks in disbelief. "I should have been there."

Christian wasn't the only one going to be in deep shit for this one, but Derek was hoping that everyone would think that the amount of ass-kicking he'd been on the receiving end of was punishment enough without being told off or grounded.  After these beatings, anything else would really just be superfluous.  He took note of Christian getting closer when he shifted back to human and rolled over onto his forearms, trying to force his body to push itself to a more upright position and failing initially.  Christian hadn't wanted to get any closer before, and that really just didn't compute in Derek's brain.  It would compute for anyone other than him, guaranteed, but he hadn't seen himself with the vampires, and he hadn't really had the opportunity to see his handiwork.  He saw Christian as being a total badass, and it seemed impossible that the man would worry about the damage that he could do. 

Especially now, when Christian was okay and Derek was barely breathing.  He felt stupid and helpless, and he didn't like it.  He appreciated Christian's attempt to lighten the mood, and the corner of his mouth quirked up for a brief instant to show it, but he currently sounded like an extremely severe asthmatic in the midst of an attack, so breathing was top priority.  That, and not letting his lack of air panic him, despite having remained in an unpleasant state of lightheadedness since he regained consciousness there.  His throat would heal, and the rest of his body would hurt for what felt like it'd be a long while, but if his throat healed, he didn't care of he had to crawl out of there. 

Morphine.  He'd never had morphine, so he hadn't even known if it would work.  He supposed a strong enough dose must, especially if Christian had brought enough to bring down that massive wolf, but if all it would do is slow him down, did they want to do that?  They'd already thought the fighting was over once, and now they were down to only two. 

Fuck it, he wanted it.  He was trying to push himself up again, which only made breathing harder with his agonized bones and muscles screaming at him and his airways unable to handle what his lungs were asking for, but if he could get to Christian's truck before he took it, he'd know they were alright.  If he took it first, Christian might really have to carry him.  He was already not going to be a picnic to get out of here.

He nodded, just as Christian had asked, but put up a shaky hand to point in the direction he thought the truck was.  It took a few tries to get the word out, and he'd mostly mouthed it, but he was hoping that Christian would hear the 'first' in there and figure out what he meant.  Truck first, then morphine.  Then, he was all for saying that he was staying at Melody and Shane's house for the night so that he could pass out somewhere and hopefully not hurt so bad the next day.  If Christian didn't want to tell Eva, and their parents, that he'd gotten crushed the way he had, then he didn't feel like telling them, either. 

At the same time, Iago was examining Shane, trying to decide what was to be done with the boy.  Obviously, they weren't going to harm him, but was he supposed to stay with them, or go home?  That would have to be determined whenever he woke up, since his temperament mattered.  If he was a raving lunatic for blood all the time, he couldn't be left with his family.  Better that he disappear or be thought dead than murder his entire family and draw so much attention.  If he was in control of himself, then letting him go home was a possibility, and that was the absolute best option.  Someone seeing him out and about after he was announced as being dead would be unfortunate.

Elise informed him that Shane was turning and he merely nodded, having already figured it out, and looked her over once more.  His blood had done exactly what he'd expected it to, and she was going to be fine.  First crisis averted.  "Parties?  This is all from a bash?" he asked, glancing once more from Shane's unmoving body to Elise.  The level of damage she'd sustained made no sense, nor did the stink of cat.  "What happened when you did get there?  You reek of feline."

 Christian very-nearly picked Derek up into a standing position, in part because he'd been damn-near carrying Shane there for a few minutes anyways, and because he had some serious adrenaline working at the moment. Fuck, he'd almost shot Melody's brother. He didn't know Shane well, didn't particularly like what he knew about the guy, but Melody's brother, omg. He'd decided that he was too much of a liability, right then, right there, and the only reason he hadn't blown his face off was because the female had been faster than he had, and that was only because he was already wearing down. He hadn't expected to have to deal with any of this shit tonight, and his own mortality was pissing him off something awful right at that moment, especially struggling with Derek when he knew if this was reversed, Derek could pick him up like a little girl and fucking bound and leap with him to the truck.

He wasn't an emotional kind of guy, though, so his internal thoughts were just that, and they were squashed as the duo made their shaky way down the stairs. Luckily for Derek, he was healing to the point of being able to move on his own, and Christian left him leaning on the hood of the truck like a drunk frat boy to get that "Xander's Fucking Lost Control" emergency kit he kept on hand. It hadn't even been his idea, really - it had been Thomas' suggestion. Xander was a very large wolf and he was vicious enough that sometimes it made Christian cringe, but as long as he kept something heavy enough to put down Shamoo close by, he felt a little bit more sane.

  He walked back around to the front of the truck and ushered Derek to the door, and inside of it, getting him into a somewhat-seated position. "This," he warned, tapping the needle, "is going to feel really, really good." And with that, he jabbed his brother-in-law in the crook of his elbow on the nice, ripe vein that was near-exposed from the vampire's clawing, and pushed the syringe down until there was nothing left.

  "Also, it might make you nauseous, but that usually happens later. I'll roll down your window so you can get some air. Just close your eyes; when you wake up, I promise you will feel fucking fantastic, and I can come up with some awesome lie to explain what the fuck happened here," he said, starting the truck. His two-way beeped with a position query and he tagged back to see who was still out there, but the speech may as well have been in a vacuum to Derek. The all-clear was given and he backed out of the driveway, navigating around the abandoned cars that the clean-up crew would take care of, as well as set the stage for a "tragic party gone wrong when [completely fabricated criminal] burst in and opened fire, killing almost everyone inside".

"Not the fucking night for us, dude," he said, glancing over at Derek as he watched his eyes roll back into his head. "Fuck," he muttered to himself. "I wish I could have the good shit." Christian had been under his share of drug drips, but morphine was so frighteningly addictive that he usually opted for something less strong, mostly to learn his stupid ass to make less mistakes.

 Elise was only out of her father's way because if she got in his way, he'd be less inclined to do what needed to be done if anything could be done at all. The fact that she'd gotten this fucked up in order to get Shane safely to their house spoke volumes about her conviction for the current course of action - and it also bode poorly for Shane, who was falling quickly out of favour (not that he'd ever had it, since Iago didn't really like - anyone, actually) when his "little girl" was coming home bleeding like a Candy Man victim.

"Er, well," Elise stammered, trying to think of the best way to explain what had happened. She sat down on the floor, close enough to be by Shane, but not so close that she was going to be tempted to get all grabby with him, tucking her knees beneath her (since she was still wearing a skirt). She hadn't even thought of that before, and only now realized how fucked up Derek had gotten her legs. He'd mauled one of her shoes, too, not that she'd noticed. Fucking four-hundred and twenty dollar pair of shoes, gone.

 "I went to Shane and Melody's, and Melody answered the door. She'd been crying," she explained, which wasn't entirely unlike Melody since she was "nice" which Elise equated to "a wuss". She'd only dealt with it because of Shane, but she didn't have to necessarily pick the girl first when it came to team sports. "So when she told me Shane was gone and wouldn't be coming home all ominously and shit, I decided I'd see for myself. Sooooo I made her tell me everything, and then I put her ass to sleep. Literally, I told her to go upstairs and go to bed, I didn't leave her in the doorway right there for God and the world to see," she clarified when Iago looked at her in that way he always did when she'd said something strange.

 "I bolted myself over to the house and I was too late. I went inside expecting to find a dead body, and instead I find Derek trying to suffocate dying!Shane while another guy that I've never seen before was waving a gun around. He shot at me, but I'm actually faster than humans are, which he knows now." That still didn't explain what else had happened, so she glanced at Shane, reaching out carefully to brush his hair aside while Iago did whatever he was doing.

 "Soooo I tackled Melody's boyfriend Derek and pounded his face and upper body for a few minutes until he might have needed re-constructive surgery if he'd been human, generally blaming him for the situation since - why the fuck would a shapeshifter go to a bash with two teenagers and like, not know he was at a bash? - when he went all feline on me and got the upper hand. I blocked most of the damage to my face with my arms, obviously, until I got an opening and punched the fucker in the throat. I hate cats," she snapped. She really, really did.

 "Anyways, after that I thought I had him handled and I went to try and get Shane, since he pretty much gave out after kicking Indiana Jones' gun far enough away to delay him. I covered him while the guy found his gun and waited until I had enough juice to zap us here, but I'm pretty sure that bullet might have singled some of my hair off I came so close to not making it in time," she admitted.

 "This isn't his fault, dad," she said finally after ONE LONG DISAPPROVING STARE. "It really isn't. He's human. I was careful. He doesn't even know I'm a wolf," she insisted. "I still can't believe that kid actually went into a bash with them and didn't know. He can't be stupid - he's NOT stupid. I refuse to believe it wasn't intentional somehow, and I'm going to have a fun time pouring acid on his face when I see him again," she snarled.

It hadn't actually occurred to Derek much that there were things that he could do that Christian couldn't, other than heal.  Right then, he was so ridiculously thrilled that it was him who'd been broken into a million pieces instead of Christian that it wasn't even right.  It was true that he didn't ever want to have to carry Christian away from a situation, or make decisions that might affect whether someone lived or died, but it wasn't either of those things that really did it.  He liked Christian, a lot.  The guy was family, whether his parents agreed, or not.  The problem was that they were right, though.  Christian was human, and he was not as durable as Derek, trained or not.  Derek was glad that he'd been the one taken apart because he was confident that he could repair the damage.  Christian couldn't, not completely, and that just wasn't acceptable.

Feeling the way he did happened to suck really hardcore, however, so he didn't really find that to be acceptable, either.  Just because he could be smashed by a crazy vampire bitch and survive didn't mean that he'd enjoy it, or that he ever wanted to repeat the experience.  The walk out of the house, even with Christian's help, wasn't something he ever wanted to repeat, but at least that ended with getting in the truck and getting stabbed in the arm with a needle that was supposed to make him feel 'really, really good'.  He was just going to take Christian's word for it, and settled back into the seat in what was probably the most comfortable position he was capable of at the moment.  He was just glad that he could help Christian walk him out, and that he was in the truck (which seemed like it was safe, even if it wouldn't be if someone really wanted them). 

Nope, it wasn't the fucking night for them, but Derek could understand what Christian was talking about when he said he'd feel better.  He felt slow, like he was underwater and everything else was moving at the same sluggish speed, including speech.  It was like being in a vacuum, the words vanishing into nothingness almost immediately, and he felt tired.  So, he did what he was told, and closed his eyes.  Christian hadn't steered him wrong yet, so he was confident he'd feel better soon, even if he slipped in and out.