No Dawn, No Day

[Katya]

Prompt List

• Valentine's Day
• Obsession
• Bite
• Family
• Apologize
• Siblings
• Kiss
• Hate
• Rain
• Horror

[Katya]

V A L E N T I N E ' S  D A Y

Ah, the Lovers' Holiday. Katya couldn't have cared less about it. Ever since Halloween, when the universe had seen fit to strip vampires of their abilities for a short time, she had found her attitude was less patient and kind as it had been before. She supposed it would take more than a mere handful of months to readjust to the rapid changes, but she had just assumed that things would have been situated by now. Oddly enough, Valentine's Day had once been a time of constant joy for her; she hadn't failed to, for at least twenty or so years, to spend it with her friends and family. Tanya and Sasha were both perpetually single, and Marius always had time for her, so the three of them would gather and go somewhere exotic for a nice dinner and exchange small trinkets that were expensive and meaningless.

But now? She took one look at the dozen or so roses that had been sent "anonymously" to her (with a card full of handwriting she recognized as Darren's) and let out a loud, irritated sigh. Now that her powers had returned, the cats had been more relentless than ever; it was as though the spot she had left in her absence was a tangible thing they were constantly trying to fill, and all the while Katya was just trying to find some peace of mind away from people.

Her cell phone began buzzing from the spot where she'd left it charging by her bed, and she swept through her spacious home overlooking Los Angeles to answer it. The number she did not immediately recognize - though she had perfect recall, she rarely checked the number calling her business phone because publishers and various others never called from the same number anyways. She was surprised to find that Raphael was calling her, and it was audible in her voice. She sat down on her bed, then moved into a reclined position, a few strand of her long, wavy brown hair in her hand. Her eyes perused them, searching for split ends that she would not find.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he said, and the dry, sarcastic tone in his voice was clear.

"What do you want?" she said, the question sounding very much not like a question at all. "And how did you even get this number?"

"Your publicist's secretary," he said, the grin on his voice as the memory of her compulsion came to mind. He'd never met someone who was afraid of Styrofoam before.

She noticed that he did not answer her first question, but let it go in favour of another. "I hear background noise. Seagulls. Where are you? Atlantic City?"

Raphael tossed his LCC cup into a trash can nearby and cleared his throat. "Laguna, actually, which as I understand, isn't terribly far from where you are. You're still off of Mulholland, right?" he ventured, avoiding a couple walking a dog as they came down the sidewalk. The dog growled at him and, in turn, was sent yipping out of the hands of the man holding the leash and tore out into the street.

"What was that, a wreck?" Katya asked, sitting up in mild shock. "Why are you here, anyways? Haven't you heard? I came out here to get away from the lot of you people," she snapped. Of course, by 'you people' she meant everyone she knew in general. Her siblings knew not to pester her when she was in California, because she was generally working.

"I came to see you," he said glibly. "I just figured I'd make sure that you were awake, first - and home, of course. Lunch by the pool in a few?"

Katya sneered, leaving her room to walk downstairs briskly. She didn't trust him not to just show up while she was on the phone with him. Her eyes took her gaze to the patio, where the nice set she had remained unoccupied and the pool still. "And if I leave before you get here?" she countered.

"Then you'll be doing yourself a great disservice. I've got a special treat for us. And besides, you sound like you want company."

"I want the opposite of that. You've gotten bad at reading people if that's the conclusion you draw," she said smoothly, sitting down on the top of her couch. "And honestly, I don't want to see you any time during the year, so today should be the least likely day that you'd think to come and keep me company."

Before she could finish her thought, Raphael was tapping on the glass of her patio doors, the phone in his hand. His other arm was occupied, wrapped around the neck of a lovely twenty-something girl - the other half of the couple who had been walking the dog. She was silent, having been told to 'stand there and look pretty' by Raphael when he'd scared both her dog and her man into traffic.

"This is lunch?" Katya asked, opening her door, but blocking the doorway so that he'd have to fight her to get in.

"It's been a productive day," he admitted. "Get dressed. I'll wait for you before I eat," he said, his expression dark. "How do you feel about a little alcohol with your lunch?" He moved to follow her in as she turned to go and find something other than her pajamas to wear, pausing only to turn his head and command the girl to 'stay', which she did, gazing off into nothingness with half-lidded eyes.

"There's wine in the pantry," she said, not opposed to the idea entirely. She found a white Akris Punto dress perfect for the 80-something degree weather and slid into it, running her fingers through her hair before descending the stairs to find him holding two bottles of wine, scrutinizing them to determine which would be the best choice.

"The left," she said, pulling two crystal wine balloons from a cabinet near the entrance of the kitchen. It seemed as though she'd somehow been talked into dining with him. She looked around him as he uncorked the wine to the girl standing outside. She was as vacant as ever, gaze fixed on nothing as her mind swam with grey thoughts of muddled confusion - Raphael had worked her over well for merely telling her to stay put. He broke her thoughts by taking the glasses from her, and set them on the counter.

"Won't be needing these," he informed her. "Come with me."

She followed him obediently, falling into old habits as he opened the door for her. She sat in the chair when he pulled it out for her, and then watched him curiously as he, with the uncorked wine in hand, went to the girl. She realized she hadn't put on any shoes, and laughed a little to herself at the fact she was wearing a near-thousand dollar dress with no shoes and a four-dollar bottle of nail polish pedicure.

"Drink it," Raphael said, handing the bottle to the girl, who was suddenly attentive. "Drink it all, and do not throw any of it up."

"What are you doing?" Katya asked him finally as he sat down across from her.

  He reclined in the chair and looked at her with a smile on his face. "You did say you wanted wine with lunch, right? Happy Valentine's Day, Katyusha." The sound of a wine bottle breaking on the pavement caught his attention as the girl dropped it. Her mouth was red from over-drinking and the front of her shirt damp with the drink. "Shall we eat? I'm starving."

[Katya]

H O R R O R

Katya had just begun to settle in for the evening when she felt Pandora's presence in her home. She walked through the house, curious as to what caused such a visit, and descended the stairs quickly. The closer she got to Pandora's voice calling for her, the more tense she felt. Something was wrong.

"Pandora? What is it?" she asked, unable to hide her concern. Pandora was an elegant, old creature, and as such, she rarely allowed her 'daughters' to see her as disheveled as she currently looked. It looked almost like she'd been in a fight, but on closer observation, Katya could see that she had been scratching herself and leaving marks. Pandora was a mother figure to her, and to see her in such a way was truly frightening.

Pandora wiped at her face, smudging her mascara that was drying on her cheeks from hysterical tears. "First Bacchus, and now Orpheus," she said, taking Katya's hand as it was offered. "Someone is targeting us, I fear. I need you and your sisters - I need you to protect me. Something is targeting me," she added, her voice small.

"Pandora, don't be ridiculous, nobody's coming after you," Katya said, though she didn't fully believe it herself. Mentally, she reached out, calling for her sisters. Perhaps it would be easier if they ganged up on her to calm her down.

Sasha appeared within seconds; Tanya took a little longer. The youngest had never been punctual.

"Hey, did you hear? Crimson got another ancient," Sasha said, literally strolling in with an orange in her hand like she had just dropped by for a chat. When she saw Pandora, she stopped tossing the orange, holding it at her side. "Pandora? What are you doing here?"

Katya rolled her eyes. "You're not helping," she growled. "Pandora thinks that someone is after her; Bacchus sired two fledglings directly - Orpheus and her. And if someone killed both of them, logically, the next step would be her - if someone was systematically taking them out. Which they aren't. Right?" she asked, glaring at Sasha.

"Right, of course not - they'd be stupid to try for a third time," Sasha said, waving the hand without the orange in it. She set the fruit down on the table and came more into the living room where Katya sat with Pandora, clutching her hands tightly - on closer observation, though, she could see that Pandora had her sister in a death grip. She could feel the fear coming off of her in waves, and it was off-putting as hell. "Pandora - I'm sure it's fine. Do you want to crash with me for a while?"

Pandora let go of Katya and stood up, practically pushing the eldest off of her. "You're not listening to me,"  she said, wringing her hands together. Her nails had been picked and bitten down to the quicks, and it was as though she hadn't even noticed. The girls could see red spots on her fingers where she'd chewed through the skin. She moved away from the couch, more into the center of the room - this was about when Tanya decided to show up, coming into the room just in time for her to start yelling.

"You're not LISTENING to me," she said again, stomping her foot. Her face was red from anger, while her eyes were so wide that the whites were exposed. She looked like a wild animal. "I need you, I need for you to protect me!"

"Pandora, we will protect you, but - " Sasha began.

"NO" she screamed suddenly. She tilted her head, like she was listening to something that none of the girls could hear, and the three sisters exchanged glances, unsure of what to do. She looked back to them, hands now at her temples. "They're coming for me," she insisted. "I can feel them." And she could, but it wasn't the hunters that she could feel. It was time, and it was destiny. All of those lives that she'd altered and all of that time that she'd bought herself by stealing it from other people; with the power of Bacchus suddenly truncated, and the bond of her blood-brother gone, Pandora was a creature alone, and it had left her very exposed to things that none of the sisters could see or hear. But then again, Furies usually didn't make time to become a problem to people they weren't concerned with.

All three sisters felt Pandora pulling on them then, hard, using every ounce of her control over them as a sire to force their power out, forming some sort of protective barrier - but since she was so frayed and parsed from reality, listening to whispers that only she could hear, she was commanding their power instead of letting them use it themselves, which was painful to say the least.

Katya was the first to break free, lashing out as hard as she could at the woman, hitting her squarely in the back. She only intended to break her hold over the other two sisters. It worked, but Pandora fell into the coffee table, her head connecting with the corner in a loud, sickening sound. Blood poured out from where her head fell to the floor, and Katya rushed away from her and to Sasha and Tanya, pulling them up off the ground.

"She'll get back up soon," she hissed, breathing heavy from both fear and pain at having just been yanked on.

"What the fuck," Sasha cried, blue eyes wet with tears. "I don't understand, what the fuck is wrong with her? Has she lost it? Did killing Bacchus make her go fucking crazy?"

"I think," Tanya said, wheezing a little, "I think so. She's old magic, really old, like Greek gods old," she reminded them. "What if - what if Bacchus was protecting her from something?" She would have been the only sister right on the money, but Tanya had often been curious of her origins, and so had been reading up on them lately. She'd had help from her neighbor, who had suddenly found himself able to access a wealth of knowledge with his new job.

"I don't care if she's going fucking crazy," Katya said. "We're getting the fuck out of here, right now."

"Katya, we can't leave her - she's - she's our mother," Tanya protested. "We have to help her!"

"Yeah? How are we gonna do that?" Sasha demanded. "Call the fucking guild?"

"I don't know, maybe! I don't know, Sasha, I just know we can't - I mean, she's not well," she said. "Oh, shit."

At that, the other two sisters glanced over to where Tanya was looking. The spot where Pandora had been was gone.

"No more of this," Katya said firmly. "We're going. I'll call Raphael."

"What the fuck can he do?" Sasha snapped. "Midnight is gone, remember? That's probably more likely what's after her, if anything is. Her own goddamn victims that she helped torture. It's what she dese-"

Sasha was cut short as Pandora hit her. She went down, hard, sprawling across the ground and laying there for a second before she crawled up to her feet again. Blood was across her face; her jaw was at an awkward angle. She worked to pull the bone back where it should be, but the point had been made.

"So, my own daughters would turn against me now?" she whispered. There was an eerie light in her eyes, and the way that her body trembled as she moved, every muscle tensed, made a pit form in Katya's stomach.

"No, no, we just - " Katya began.

"So the Furies have taken you, too," she said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. When Pandora looked at them, she didn't see Ekaterina, Aleksandra, and Tatyana - she saw Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. "They took you and they replaced you with FAKES!" She lashed out with her power, and Sasha, who was still recovering from the blow to the head, dropped to her knees first, screaming and clutching her hands to her temples. It felt like her fucking head was going to explode.

"Well, you may have taken my daughters, but you won't take me!" she yelled. She grabbed for Alecto/Katya, managing to catch a fistful of her brown hair, and wound her hand in it, knotting it thoroughly before she yanked the girl to her feet. Katya was screaming and fighting, clawing at her, but Pandora reached out with her other hand and swiftly crushed her throat, leaving her body hanging slack by her hair.

Still holding Katya, Pandora turned her head slowly, watching as Tisiphone/Tanya tried to sneak to Sasha's side.

"No helping," she hissed. She lashed out with her power again, causing both girls to flatten on the floor as she warped reality around them to some extra-dimensional shift, taking away their ability to reason out what was upright. She used that time to untangle Katya from her, dropping her body unceremoniously onto the floor. "I need to handle this, while I have time," she said to herself, reaching into her bag for something. She pulled out a knife that had a strange gleam to it, and held it tightly.

"You three, you think you've won. You killed my daughters, you helped kill my sire, but you won't get me. Oh no, you won't fucking get me. I am Pandora. I am the Oracle of Tyche. I serve the Goddess of Fortune, and I am not bound by your rules, Fates!" she roared. She pointed the knife at Sasha, hand the steadiest it had been since she'd appeared at Katya's home. "You first, Megaera," she hissed. And she went for the girl.

Katya came to as the struggle was already underway, pushing up off the ground and coughing, unable to speak at first as her vocal cords had been late to the repair party. She realized that Pandora was on top of Sasha, with a knife to her throat, only barely being held back, while Tanya struggled to pull her off of the other sister. She kept screaming about vengeance and curses, but it was still blurry to Katya. She made eye contact with Tanya over the fracas, and got up, stumbling towards them.

Tanya finally managed to pull her off of Sasha, only to get the knife to her throat for her trouble. "Are you here for all of the men and women I have killed?" she asked, each word spoken carefully, tensely, but loud enough that everyone in the room could hear. She backed up, dragging Tanya with her, and the girl looked helplessly at her sisters, eyes wide with that same craze that had been in Pandora's. She was begging them to get her out of this.

"Mama!" Katya screamed, hands to her face as she approached her. "Mama, no! Let her go, mama!" she screamed. She was crying; she couldn't help it. What had gone from unhealthy paranoia had become a full-blown psychotic break; Pandora had started calling them different names, accusing them of being imposters. "Mama, she's Tanya, let her go, please!"

"This isn't my Tatyana," she hissed. "This is a trick, a trick by the Furies, trying to come for me, trying to drive me mad," she said, her voice reaching a high pitch as she cried. "Well it won't work, I've got you, and I've got this knife just for you. It won't work!" She laughed, and then swung the knife down.

Katya could hear Sasha screaming as Tanya's body hit the floor, but it was like it was underwater. She felt herself collapse, catching a chair on the way down for her effort, but only succeeded in pulling it over with her. She couldn't feel it, though. Even the floor felt strange, fuzzy; not of this plane. She felt a part of herself dying as the life left Tanya's body, and all across the city, whether she knew it or not, wolves suddenly began to howl.

Sasha was still screaming, cradling Tanya's body, but Pandora wasn't worried about her - no, she was coming straight for Katya.

She snapped back into real-time and real-feelings reality as she was lifted by her throat, the bloody knife held up and catching the light from the lamp that had been knocked over. She looked into her mother's eyes, but she only saw vacancy, and madness. Maybe the Furies had come; maybe they were all caught up in the punishment. She struggled against her, kicking out and landing several blows, but to no avail. She felt herself being moved backwards; Pandora meant to fucking pin her to the wall like an insect.

Katya closed her eyes, and pushed out as hard as she could. She called harder than she had ever called in her entire existence. It was like a neutron bomb; any cat within the city could hear her, could feel her crying out, to come to her. She felt one presence in particular, a peculiar one - it was dark, aggressive, heavy. It was a thing she didn't recognize, but it was a cat, and so it was hers to control.

What do you want? it asked, because it was in control, not the man.

Come and see, she said. Come and see.

She saw the knife swing for her, and then Pandora just... disappeared. Something had exploded through the window in the living room, taking part of the wall with it. It had hit Pandora full force, and snapped her arm clean off as it had done so. Katya hit the ground, her mother's hand still attached to her throat. She couldn't even grab it off of her, she was so paralyzed.

This isn't real, this isn't real she told herself, eyes tightly closed.

It's very real, something responded to her.

She opened her eyes, and a massive tiger stood over her, its maw and much of its upper half coated in blood. It regarded her for a long, tense second, and then opened its mouth and pulled the arm off of her. She inhaled a sharp, short breath as the hand slid off of her throat, still unable to move, or do much of anything at all. The tiger deposited the arm somewhere else, and then lowered its head to her, giving her a solid, wet nudge. It wanted her to get up.

Katya stood, the animal supporting her, to survey the damage. The living room looked like a bomb had gone off in it. Sasha was in the corner, still holding Tanya's body, sitting over it with her upper half and trying to cover it from any damage that had come from the fight that had taken place - although it hadn't been much of a fight at all, really. The tiger had jumped through the window, and then Pandora had become a bad memory.

She let out a loud cry, dropping to her knees. She put her hands out for the cat, and wrapped her fingers in its thick, damp fur, feeling disgusted by the blood as it covered her hands. She began to sob uncontrollably, the sudden onslaught of emotions too much for her to hold in, and pulled into the animal for support. She hardly noticed somewhere in there that the tiger had changed its shape, and she was clinging to the body of a man - still very much covered in blood and viscera, but at least able to say something about it.

"I need to make a call," he told her softly, reaching for his phone. It wasn't so bloody that it didn't work, at least, though he did need to wipe his fingers on the innards of a pillow that had fallen victim to the whole moment in order to use it. "Stav," he said, still managing to keep an arm around the woman. "I need a cleanup crew." He hung the phone up after giving him an address, and then held the woman as she screamed into his chest. He didn't know why, but he felt like he couldn't let her go.

[Katya]

F A M I L Y

Katya sat at the bar, and by now this had become her routine. She would drink until she couldn't feel anything anymore, and then she'd - well, she didn't really know. On some level, she knew she was doing something horrible, but she wouldn't let herself acknowledge it. At home, she had quite the menagerie. Friends. Though, they weren't really her friends, were they? No, they were there because she'd called them to her, and they stayed around because she told them to. She wasn't actively harming any of them, she was just keeping herself company with them. After all, why shouldn't she?

She felt warmth next to her, and it broke her from her reflections. She looked over, cattish eyes narrowed at whoever decided to get so close to her. She didn't even take the time to get a pull off him, instead her mouth only doing something that could be described as angry.

"Hey, so - " he began.

"Kill yourself," she barked, cutting him off. She turned away from him and looked up at Cerberus, who was watching the interaction with surprise. He knew Katya had been in a bad way since - well, since everything had gone to shit, but he'd never seen her talk like that to someone before. Except Raphael, but that didn't really count.

"Noooo problem," he said, glancing up with sympathy - yes, sympathy, which he was capable of on occasion - at the guy she'd just snubbed. He had no idea what he'd wanted to say to her, but whatever it was, he'd taken the hint immediately. A point in his favor, at least, though to be fair, Hellcat's Hollow was known for a clientele that knew how to back off. It was not the norm that Cerberus was used to, but he appreciated the low level of force he needed to use, on the rare instance where it was needed.

"So, you know that guy, or..." he asked. He had the advantage of having known Katya for a while, and so he was more able to dodge some of her biting remarks.

"No," she said, taking the receipt from him and signing it. She held it back out to him. "And I don't want to. I don't want to know anyone."

"You know me," he said, his voice going up like he was offering her a suggestion.

"Whatever," she said, pushing away from the bar. "Just tip yourself. I don't care," she said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she made for the door. She didn't look back, or at anyone else, for that matter. It was pretty clear that whatever Katya was looking for, she wasn't finding it there.

Cerberus glanced back over at the table where the man who'd tried to shoot his shot had returned to, and couldn't help but laugh. He clocked that little shit Whitney first, mostly because he heard her before he saw her. Next to her, her sister, who was no better. The man sat across from them, and if colouring was any suggestion, they were related. Damn. Katya was in so deep that even a Fae's charm wouldn't work on her?

Cerberus was right, of course, but Katya wasn't there to tell him. She had phased most of the way home already, though she stopped about a quarter mile out, preferring to walk. The air was cold and wet, but she didn't really feel it, because she didn't really feel anything. That hadn't even been the alcohol, or the little boost that she'd had in it, and it hadn't been the random human she'd fed from, either, though it certainly hadn't hurt her any. She just never felt full. She was smart enough to know what it meant to be fed, and so she wasn't out there gorging herself on blood like some tick on the back of an animal, drinking until it burst, but still, there was something inside her that she couldn't fill, and she couldn't figure out what.

The door to her home opened before she was able to put the key in the lock, and she was greeted by Serena Liten. "Hey! You're back early! We made dinner. We waited, but - we figured you wouldn't be home for a while, so we already started." She wrung her hands nervously.

"It's fine, Serena," Katya said, stepping past her. Inside the large house, several cats roamed. Darren was in the kitchen, currently arguing with Derek over a wishbone and how exactly the best method of breaking it was, while Summer, Seth and Tristan all ate, ignoring the debate. "Wow, looks like quite a spread," she said, smiling.

"Yeah, sorry - are you sure you don't want any?" Serena asked, her hand lightly resting on Katya's shoulder.

"No, it's really fine," she said, nodding. "I already ate. Trust me, I'm fine," she added. She stepped out from her friend's caring touch, uncomfortable by the exchange. "Where's Erik?" she asked, feigning a brightness to her voice that she didn't feel.

"He said he got a call from work, but he'd be back soon," Darren said, glancing up.

"He left?" Katya said. "I told him to wait for me." Her posture straightened. "When did he leave?"

The room got quiet in a way that was tangibly awkward, and Katya crossed her arms. "When did he leave? Summer?" Her voice had changed, more authoritative than it had been a moment prior.

"A few hours ago," the girl said, still looking down at her plate. "He's a hunter, Katya. He can't - "

"I know what he is," she snapped, cutting Summer off. "Fuck," she hissed. Of course her hold on him would have waned first. She could only guess who might be next. She had established relationships with Darren and Serena prior to this, so telling them to come play house had been easy. The leopards, maybe? She didn't know.

"Katya, we have to go back to our lives, eventually," the snow leopard said quietly. He'd stopped fighting Darren for the wishbone, and walked towards her, his hands up. "We love being here with you, but we do have families to go back to."

"NO!" she yelled. "I am your family. You have to stay here, with me. You have to love me," she said, stomping her foot for emphasis, looking like a child throwing a tantrum. "I say when you leave. Not anyone else. Not Erik! Me!"

"Okay!" Derek said, dropping immediately into the closest chair. "Okay, Katya. We won't leave, okay? Just - calm down."

"I am calm," she shouted, her tear-streaked face suggesting exactly the opposite. "Where is Erik? I want Erik!" she cried out, covering her face and dropping to the floor in a seated position.

Serena was immediately at her side, taking her into a hug. She looked over at her twin, her eyes communicating very clearly that he needed to get Erik, because this was only going to get worse. "It's okay, Katya, it's okay," she soothed, jerking her head towards the door at her brother. "Darren is gonna find Erik for you, okay? I'm sure he was just checking in for work and he didn't mean to be gone so long, he would never leave you. We'd never leave you. We're your family, we'd never leave you," she assured her.

At the glance she threw the rest of the cats in the room, they all slowly got up and cleared out, realizing that it might still be a fight ahead of them if they meant to make it out of that house anytime soon. "God, I hope Darren gets help," Seth said softly. "I have no power with her, and I do not like it."

"Yeah, no shit," Derek said, guiding the duo and their dark-haired friend up the stairs and away from that time bomb. "I've been in a situation like this before. Physically, way worse. But this takes the cake for the mind-fuck of the century," he snapped.



At the Frost guildhouse, Erik sat in Christian's office, practically detoxing off of the hold that Katya had on him. It had only broken after she'd demanded he tell her he loved her, and for whatever reason, that had done the exact opposite of what she'd wanted it to, and he'd just - he still couldn't explain it, but he was grateful for whatever had happened. He supposed it had something to do with the way his second form had come about, because the others in that house showed no signs of breaking quite as easily. Some had it worse than others, but overall, the status was not good. They were all aware of what was happening, and when they showed signs of resisting, she just laid it on harder.

"What do you mean, Derek is being held at Katya's house?" Christian asked, sitting forward in his chair. Oh, he'd heard what Erik had said, but he wanted to make crystal clear that he understood what he'd said. This was a vampire that had been helpful to them all in the past, and though he wasn't above killing her, he wanted to make sure he knew why he was doing it. Especially so nobody could fight him on his logic.

"Man, she's really fucked up. I killed Pandora, Pandora killed one of her sisters, she's just grieving, and very poorly," he said.

"Am I hearing you incorrectly, or are you defending her?" Christian asked.

"I'm not - fuck, I'm not defending her actions, man. I'm just saying that this is super out of character for her, and - "

"She's holding cats hostage, Erik," Christian said sharply.

Erik was quiet for a second, and Christian could tell that he was doing the math in his head. "Yeah. She is," he agreed. "There's a way to do it without putting her down. I know there is," he insisted.

Christian nodded. "If there is, then that's the route we'll go. But, Erik, no promises. Derek is in there," he said, and that was all he needed to say, because Erik understood that no favors were on the table in terms of what little family the man had left.

"Yeah. Yeah, no, I understand. I want to go, with whoever you send - "

"Absolutely not," Christian said, cutting him off. "She already rolled you once. I get that you broke out of it, and I'm very thankful you did, but I'm past taking chances. You will be the first to know, as soon as it's over, however it ends." Christian watched as the man nodded, and he stood the same time Erik did, extending his hand out to him. "I know it's hard," he told him. "But this is the way it needs to be, now."

As Erik left the office, Christian picked up his phone. "Found Derek," he said, his voice betraying the fatigue behind it. "You'll never guess where."

Patryk held a hand up, silencing Roshan as he began to ask him for the second time what he wanted. He, Stefan, Roshan, and his two sisters, were all in the car, and Roshan wouldn't shut the fuck up until they got Taco Bell. "Hold on, Christian," he said. He lowered the phone, and then leaned across the seat and put his face two inches from the Fae's. "If you don't shut the fuck up, I'm going to rip your other arm off," he warned. He slowly leaned back into his seat and held the phone back up, never once taking his eyes off Roshan. "Alright, where is he?"

"Katya's. Along with, apparently, quite a few other cats. Seems she's been playing pretend with them."

"Pretend? Like, sex stuff?" Patryk asked, making a face. The car had been quiet before, but it was DEAD silent now. Even Stefan looked up from the back seat, sandwiched between the two Herald sisters who had been trying to read his palm, or whatever the fuck they'd said.

"No, thank god, because this would be going a vastly different way if it had. Remember how I told you that after Bacchus got wasted, two more ancients went down in short order right after? Well, her creator was one of them. Took one of the sisters with her, too."

"Right, the wolf girl," he said, idly scratching the stubble on his chin as he scrubbed his memory for those conversations.

"Well, guess she's not the only person unable to cope with the death of loved ones," Christian said, and there was a tone to his voice that Patryk didn't like. "Except she didn't have the good sense to just turn it off like I did."

"I'll handle it," Patryk said.

"Try the method where we don't lose someone who, up until a few weeks ago, apparently, was an ally," Christian told him.

"I'll try," Patryk said, and it was understood that he would, but he was probably not going to try that hard. He hung up the phone, then stared at Roshan. "Change of plans. No Taco Baco or whatever the fuck you called it. I need to go somewhere."

[Katya]

A P O L O G I Z E

Katya stared down at her hands, sitting quietly at the end of the bar. She was lucky that Darren had told Ash it was fine if she came back in. She had a lot of people to apologize to, but she'd saved him for last. Not because it was hard - it was hard, but more because she'd realized that he had genuinely been a friend to her this entire time. It wasn't her ability. It had taken a lot of therapy to realize that, but she realized it.

"Hey," he said, leaning against the counter across from her, his stance casual. He had a bar towel over his left shoulder, and she wrinkled her nose at the heavy scent of floral mixture. With Anthony gone, Cerberus had taken over barback duties from time to time, and that man loved him some Fabuloso. "Welcome back." He gave her his characteristic half-smile, and she saw it didn't quite meet his eyes.

"Yeah, about that," she said, dipping her head again for a second. She looked up, nodding, the unsure expression she'd worn shifting to one of resolve. "Listen. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. For the whole mind control thing and being a bad friend. And, just, everything. I've had a lot of time to think, and deal, and I had to get a lot of help - "

"Yeah, I feel like when Raphael is the one shipping you and your, arguably worse, sibling to grief counseling and extended therapy for immortal beings, maybe you missed a few buddy checks along the way," he said, squinting.

"Yes," she sighed. "I know. I should have been honest and just told you I wasn't coping, but I didn't - I don't know, I didn't want to look weak," she admitted.

Darren snorted, then shifted his balance, facing her more as he leaned onto the counter with his arms. "Katya, I have never, and will never, see you as weak. You are one of the strongest people I know. Asking for help isn't weak," he added. "Anyways, Ash gave me like a month off after everything was said and done, paid, so, you kind of hooked me up with a free vacation." A grin broke out on his face.

She sat back a little, mouth dropping open. "You're not mad?" she asked, unable to hide her surprise.

"Yeah, I mean, I was mad. I got over it, though. I think it probably helped that I was already your friend, so I had a little empathy there. The leopards were pretty pissed off," he said absently, shrugging.

"Yeah, strangely they accepted my apology pretty quickly. I guess they had their own grief thing going on," she muttered. "I'm glad you're my friend. My actual friend, with free will," she added, reaching out to put her hand over his.

"Me too," he replied. "Especially the bit about the free will." He paused. "You know you're really lucky you walked out of that," he said, lowering his voice a little. He didn't exactly want to advertise; the bar was crowded, and there was a steady din going on, but even still. Nobody really needed the details. "I talked to Persephone, and I guess... Justin politely requested that anyone problematic get handled."

She leaned in a little. "Raphael had mentioned, but he was with Sasha and I, putting as much distance as possible between him and... that," she said. Midnight, one of the many thats that was going around. "What do you mean, politely requested? Is it official guild hits? Or something else?"

"Something else. Look, I didn't get much, but what I did get, was that Stefan and Patryk are like, cleaning up." He reached up to scratch his eyebrow with his thumb, glancing around again as he spoke. "And I think Christian is on board with it. Weirdest crossover ever, right?"

"Yeah, it's like... kind of blowing my mind. But, then again," she said, shrugging, "Raphael let Narkisa go. Kept his word, cut her loose. Sasha has taken the mantle of responsibility and, honestly, somehow I ended up the bad one - however briefly. It's very twilight zone," she admitted. "Anyways, I'm better now, I think. And," she added, looking not so subtly over her shoulder where a certain redhead sat," I've got one last person to talk to."

Darren grinned. "Do you need a little liquid courage?" he asked, making a face at her.

She laughed. "You take that twinkle out of your eyes right now, mister," she warned, sliding off of the bar stool. "Gotta do this one free and clear. No booze, no power."

"Well, hopefully he's not an idiot, and I will hear the rest of the story at a later date. Go get 'em, tiger, " he said, turning. He stopped, mid-turn, and then winced. "Too soon?"

"Nah," she said, waving him off. She took a deep breath, something totally unnecessary, but habitual for Katya all the same. Okay, she thought. Here we go. And with that, she walked towards the booth where the Fae sat. Fortunately, both of his sisters were absent and occupied - Whitney was talking to a good-looking guy that had on glasses she didn't necessarily recognize, while Roxy was chalking a pool stick and watching as another Fae laid down money on the corner of the table.

"Hey," she said, realizing he'd clocked her as she was on the approach. She gave a half wave, and then immediately thrust her hands behind her back, because she didn't really know what to do with them at the moment.

"Oh, hey," he said, his voice friendly. He turned his body in the booth so he was fully facing her. "Katya, right? How are you doing? I checked on you after, but they said you weren't taking visitors, so..."

"Yeah, it's a rule the first few weeks. Supernatural detox is kind of intense," she said, forcing a laugh. "It was only my first stint, but I'm pretty sure it's the last. I am officially armed with the tools to help support my emotional needs," she said, reciting something that had been repeated over and over while she'd been there.

"That's good to hear," he said, and his laugh was genuine. "I know it seems like bullshit, but holding it in - well, you've seen how it goes. Sometimes when you're around for a really long time, you forgot how much power you actually have."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience," she said, finally moving one of her hands forward, hazarding to the guess.

He nodded. "Yeah, unfortunately. If you think vampires are volatile, you've never met Fae." He smiled, shaking his head. "I'm not talking shit on my own kind, of course, but it's no secret we can fly off the handle if you hit the right combos."

"Well, at least I wasn't the only basket case you've ever handled, then," she said.

He waved his hand. "God, no. Far from it. I'm sorry I basically had to pin your arms by your side and cool you down, by the way. I don't like doing that without, you know, consent."

"No, no no - god, I came over here to apologize to you, not the other way around," she said quickly, laughing. "Listen,  I - do you want to go out sometime? Like, just for coffee. Or, dinner?"

Roshan looked at her, and then looked at the floor and sighed before looking back up. "You know, Katya, that sounds like it would be a really good time, but...  no."

She couldn't hide the shock on her face, and frankly, she didn't even try. "What?" she asked, brows furrowing in confusion. "I mean - I'm sorry, I must have misread, I totally thought that night before, you had been hitting on me, and - oh god, this is - I did not anticipate rejection," she admitted, a wicked case of motormouth.

"Hey, hey," he said, standing quickly. He took her hands, which surprised her, but she didn't fight him on it. "Listen. You're - beautiful. And, honestly, I kind of hate that I'm telling you no right now, but you just went through a lot, and the first time we met, you got a heavy dose of what I can do, and it's not exactly something I like to build a foundation off of."

"Right, because then you never know if someone is around for you, or for the magic," she said. Her voice was flat, but she understood. God, did she understand.

"Yeah, that's exactly it," he said, his voice gentle. He gave her a sincere smile, slowly letting her hands go. "I would have loved to, though."

She nodded, and made to leave, but hesitated, and turned back around. "Do you think you'd ever reconsider?" she asked.

Roshan glanced up, aware very suddenly that Whitney and Roxy were both staring at him. Roxy had her pool stick behind her head and over her shoulders, and her blue eyes were practically on fire with what she was seeing. She also saw Blaise scratch on his last shot, and stuck her hand swiftly into the pocket before he could sneak the cue ball back out, saying something harsh to him while never breaking eye contact with her brother. Roxy, clearly, thought he was a fucking idiot. He looked from her to Whitney, whose face he couldn't quite read. He saw her eyes widen and her gaze jump from him to the vampire and back.

"I would need to think about it," he said. "Honestly."

"Okay, that's fair. Maybe I'll see you around," Katya said. She nodded, and turned, going back to the bar.

"So, how'd it go?" Darren asked, sliding back over to her. "Do you have a wedding date set?"

"He said no," she replied, looking up at him.

"What?" Darren squawked, unable to contain his shock.

"Yeah," she replied, motioning for that drink now. "Something about.. ability making it hard to tell what people were really after."

"Wow, that's something you, very specifically, can relate to," he said, back to her as he poured. He turned around and set the glass down in front of her, dropping a cherry in it.

"The irony is not lost on me, believe me," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I'll be back to check on you later," Darren said, and left her with her drink to sit in a frustrated silence.

She was at the point in the drink where it was less alcohol and more ice when a tap on her shoulder roused her from her pity party. She looked up, surprised to see Roshan standing there. "Hey," she said, and she was happy, but confused. "Did you come to tell me you reject my offer and you think we'd be better friends?" she asked.

Roshan grinned. "Why, is that what you want to hear? Because, what I was going to say was, I think maybe we could do dinner next week, but if you'd prefer the other route, I guess I can - "

"I'll be there," she said, cutting him off with a laugh. "Of course, I'll be there."

He nodded. "Wonderful. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have to go break up a fight before it starts," he explained, nodding to Roxy and Blaise, who were getting loud over a supposed glamour on a pool shot. "I told you, volatile."