[CCCDT] Wash it Away

[Derek Walsh]

Whether it pained him more to know what was going on and how badly he was going to have to shatter her conceptions of the world around him or to stand there on his sore leg was up in the air, but either way, he wasn't in a rush to take a seat in the truck with her.  It would have eased the pressure on his leg, but she might want space soon, and he wasn't going to suffocate her by being practically on top of her in the relatively small truck cab.  Christian had a nice truck, but any vehicle could feel small with the right conversation.  If she was cold, however, him sitting down with her would probably help, and that could always be why she was asking.  She'd mentioned a moment ago how warm he was. 

He climbed in, but only because she was cold.  He'd keep telling himself that was the only reason, and that's what he'd stick to.  She wasn't his girlfriend, like Christian had said.  She was a friend who'd just had a shock.  "I'd give you my coat, but I think I lost it somewhere inside," he told her, only just realizing right that second that it was gone.  Good thing it wasn't one he was fond of, since he didn't actually remember it being ripped off of him, but it had probably saved him being thrown around when it ripped. 

What was really baffling, what with everything that was going on and her concern for her brother, was that she really had the leftover thoughts to devote to whether or not he was alright.  He'd have expected her to be all about Shane and what was happening with him and how he'd looked when Derek walked in last, so it was surprising that she'd taken what he'd said about Christian taking care of it and settled with it for the moment.  Either she trusted his judgment that much or Christian had made a hell of an impression on her when he showed up, or both.  Christian had that effect on people.

"I'm fine," he offered up, managing a smile and brief eye contact with what had to still be shockingly blue eyes, and then he averted them again for that very reason.  He wasn't being very convincing.  "Ah, I'm sorry.  I mean, this is kind of my first rodeo, you know?  Christian's good at these bad situations, and I wasn't really expecting something crazy to happen tonight.  He told me about these kind of parties, but I didn't really think I'd ever end up at one, and by the time I realized, all I could do was make sure you didn't stay there."

It was a crack-job at beginning, but he was still pretty hyped-up on adrenaline, so it was impressive that he was even trying.  He also hadn't tried to avoid, which had to be a point in his favor.  He wanted to avoid it.  He also wanted to throw a 'please don't hate me for what I'm going to tell you' in there, but it wasn't like she could promise she wouldn't hate him before she heard it.  If that was reasonable, he'd make her promise first, but it wasn't.  It was kind of sad how he'd been friendly with her, knowing that she 'liked' him, and now he ran the risk of chasing her off for the very same reason he'd kept a distance.  He couldn't win.

If Eva ever found out, she'd probably tell him he was stupid.

[Melody Craft]

 Melody moved to accommodate Derek as he climbed into the truck, though she was suddenly aware of how much bigger he was than she - or perhaps it was the tension that had everything seeming so suffocated. Either way, she was glad he was there, and thankful for how warm he was, even if it was simply his adrenaline rushing through his veins. His eyes were still that heated blue colour, though, and she needed to know why. She didn't know why she needed to know, she just... did.

  She had the feeling she was in over her head.

  "What sort of party do you mean?" she asked. She ignored him saying that it was his first time in a fight, and placed her hand on his arm, where cuts were already healing. "Derek," she said, forcing him to look at her with a long pause.

  "Derek, I need you to begin at he beginning."

  She looked up at him, eyes squinting a little to study his face. He seemed scared, but somehow he was holding it together, even after whatever she'd just missed inside. She was trusting that Christian was taking care of Shane, if only because she had no choice not to - so meanwhile she'd apply her worry where it was easier to aim. When he tensed and looked away, she realized that she wasn't going to get something for nothing. With a deep breath, she began speaking again.

  "Derek Walsh, I've been in love with you since you were seven and I was five and you pushed me down in the sandbox and threw a worm at me. There's not much that you're going to say to damage that unless you tell me you're gay, okay? I even forgive you for kissing Melissa Arthur when you were in the ninth grade - and yes, I totally remember catching you, even if you don't. Derek, I trust you, even if you never knew I was alive. Just... tell me the truth - just this once, okay?" she concluded.

  Well, she'd put it all out on the table, hadn't she? Hopefully he wouldn't think she was stupid. Or a stalker. She managed not to frown, keeping her expression carefully neutral with a little bit of serious. She didn't want to look desperate, after all - but she'd also found a way to get two questions answered in one. Now he'd have to admit to pretending she didn't exist. Check mate. Melody was nothing if not Shane's sister - he was the only other person who could tell someone to trust them while walling them up with impossible questions.

[Derek Walsh]

He was scared, but not of anything that she was likely to pinpoint, or so he thought.  Sure, what had happened inside that house was ridiculous and frightening, but he was more wound up over it than scared.  He'd rather face down a vampire than risk losing a friend, and here he was doing both in one night.  Then, as if he wasn't worried enough already, trying to figure out how to begin at the beginning for her, she busted out telling him she was in love with him and had been all their lives.

Yeah, no pressure.

"The beginning, right," he said absently, letting out a long, slow breath, mind whirling.  The beginning, what was that?  Did he start by explaining vampires and all, and then mention the fact that, by the way, he wasn't human?  Or did he start with his personal revelation and build off of it?  Hell, how did you reveal that?  Anything he thought of sounded cliche and over-dramatic, or just plain ridiculous.

"Oookay, so, this is going to sound really crazy, but I guess it's the beginning.  I'm...not exactly human.  I mean, I guess that's the way everyone looks at it.  I'm kind of like a werewolf, only less crazy than all the stories, and not a wolf.  The moon doesn't have anything to do with it, either," he told her, watching her carefully for disbelief and laughter, or horror.  He figured it'd be one or the other.  Maybe even anger.  Would she think he was lying?  "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, so I didn't, but at this point, it's not like I can really hide it anymore.  After tonight, you have to know this stuff."

He wasn't going any further until he knew she was onboard.  There was way too much, and he didn't want to just dump it all in her lap in one breath.  He just hoped she didn't get upset or angry with him.

[Melody Craft]

  If it weren't for the situation they were in, Melody would have gotten angry that Derek decided he wanted to joke around. However, given the current turn of events, all Melody could do was just manage a small noise. She considered what he'd said, and reflected back on all the time that she'd known him. Could he be telling the truth, and not just be concussive? Shane had always accused him of being Mr. Perfect, was that perhaps why? She tilted her head at him, pursing her lips.

  "So what are you, then, that turns your eyes like that?" she asked. She reached up to his face again, turning it a little since he was so prone to trying to avoid eye contact, like he was aware of how they looked, how he looked.

  "And what else am I supposed to know that I've been kept in the dark about? Are you going to tell me that angels and demons exist now, too?" she asked, trying to force a laugh. She let go of his face, putting her hands in her lap. How mad was Shane going to be when he found all of this out, she wondered.

[Derek Walsh]

For an instant there, he really did think that she didn't believe him and she was going to be angry at him for making things up or joking about something so serious.  She didn't, however, and instead looked displeased, but asked another question.  Of course it was the eyes that had her attention, even though he had injuries and scratches that were healing right in front of her, if she'd only take the time to notice.  The eyes were just so obvious, something he couldn't help but be aware of and dislike, but there was no denying it.  Even if he was proud of his heritage and his second form, he still knew that it made him something other than human, and it certainly could be enough to label him a 'freak' to people he'd come to care about.  Like Melody.

"I'm Uncia, a snow leopard," he answered honestly, and that was something right there that he'd really been told not to tell anyone.  The vampires that night hadn't been quite the kind of threat that his family had always been concerned over, but Midnight?  With how rare his family's bloodline was, letting people know what he was could be extremely dangerous for them all. 

Now, when she let go of his face, he didn't avert his eyes again.  He'd put the truth out there, and he wasn't ashamed of it.  He just didn't want her to freak out or anything.  She was moving in the right direction with her questioning, so he had a good feeling about her abilities to handle all of it, but he was prepared for her to hit her limit.  It was why he was being so very, very calm about it all, and keeping his voice soft.  Volume wasn't necessary in the close quarters of the truck, and he wasn't doing anything that might be considered aggressive while he dropped these bombs. 

"I don't know about angels and demons, but there are vampires.  The guy we walked away from at the staircase was one, and there were a lot of others at that party.  It's why everything happened the way it did," he explained, not really wanting to throw details in there.  He didn't want to tell her that people they knew were dead, or that her brother had been bitten by one.  Being bitten naturally didn't mean much, just that he'd been injured and lost blood, but they also didn't know that Shane had been fed blood.  Fortunately, Xander also didn't know. 

[Melody Craft]

  Melody was doing okay so far. She nodded when he told her what he was; she almost asked to see his second form, but he seemed really reluctant to tell her anything about it at all. Melody wouldn't know a snow leopard was rare; she had no possible way of knowing it was one single family bloodline. It would have blown her away to know that, though - Derek was unique to her as it was, to place him in a category that could truly be described as 'rare' and not in an emotional sort of 'rare find nice guy' type of way, but a realistic 'there are less than 10 Uncia currently in existence' way.

  She offered him a smile, to show him that she wasn't afraid - and then he dropped the real bomb on her. Not only were vampires real, which she supposed wasn't far-fetched if he was telling her the truth thus far, but they'd... been in a nest of them. The idea that they'd been there, that Derek hadn't taken one look at the house and dragged them out... Her head filled with static for a second.

  "So you knew we were in the middle of them, and you didn't just try to leave as soon as we got there?" she asked, her voice dangerously soft. She was looking right at him now, into his eyes, through him. "And Shane? What happened to him? Why did your brother-in-law need a medical kit?" Her voice raised a little, but she visibly tried to choke her volume back down.

  "You knew and you didn't tell us?" she asked, her whisper shrill. The blame game looked like it might be about to swing into full effect.

[Derek Walsh]

She'd smiled, which was a good thing in his book, and he'd have actually preferred having her jump into more about the snow leopard bit of what he'd told her if he knew she was about to launch into the blame game.  If she could get him on the subject again some other time, after he'd settled into the idea that she knew and could be trusted with the information, he might tell her more and perhaps even show her what a snow leopard looked like up close.  If she still wanted, which didn't look promising when she started questioning the whole situation.

"What?  No!  No, Melody, I didn't know what any of us were getting into with that party.  God, Christian made it sound the same way," he hissed, frustrated and feeling stupid for having failed to put it together sooner in the evening.  He just hadn't been paying enough attention.  "I mean, I knew there was a vampire or two there, but vampires aren't all crazy and homicidal.  As soon as that vampire started getting all weird on you, I realized that the party might be one of those stupid bashes, and I did try to get you both out of there, but I didn't know when everyone was arriving."

He did try, and then Shane had to lose his temper and go stomping back in, and if Derek had left Melody alone to go after her brother?  He might be sitting there talking to Shane instead of Melody, and that wasn't really a trade-off he was willing to make. 

Of course, now she was busting out with the questions about her brother.  How was he going to explain that he did what he could, and Shane was still hurt?  "Shane...that was a vampire that pulled him back into the house through that window.  He was alive when I left him with Christian, which is really, really good, but one of them bit into him.  He looked pretty dazed, but when I busted in there and shifted, I got them all away from him."

He didn't mention that 'getting them all away' from Shane had involved him getting his ass kicked, or that there had essentially been no chance of him or Shane making it out of there if Christian and Xander hadn't shown up.  No need right then.  "We're gonna get him to a doctor once they're finished inside, I promise." 

Hopefully, Shane would be alright.

[Melody Craft]

  She opened her mouth and actually raised her fist like she was planning to pound on him while simultaneously yelling, but she stopped short, suddenly deflating when he quickly and very wisely spat out the rest of his defense. She lowered her hand about a half inch, and then thumped him anyways on the bicep, hard - not that it mattered. Melody didn't hit very hard at all, and since Derek was an Uncia, it would have felt like a tap. Saying so, though, would enrage her more.

  She breathed hard through her nose, trying to calm herself down. Her body was half-twisted so that she was facing him while her legs were more or less straight. "Damnit, Derek," was all she could really think to say. She flopped back against the seat and sighed, making a frustrated noise as she ran her hands through her hair. She was really trying not to cry, and fighting it made her cranky.

  "Damnit, damnit," she said to herself. "He got bit by one of those things?" she repeated, looking back at him with her hands still tangled in her hair. "When can I see him? Is it contagious? Are you contagious?" she added, looking warily at his cuts. Not that being something like a snow leopard wouldn't be cool, but... one step at a time.

[Derek Walsh]

He flinched when she punched him in the arm, though it was more because of the surprise that she'd actually done it than it was because it had hurt at all.  He could have even said 'ow' because of the expectation that it would hurt, if his mind could have actually expected it to hurt.  It didn't.  It wasn't like he was going to mention that to her, but the fact of the matter was that unless she was armed with something involving projectiles, she probably wasn't going to do much damage to him.  A knife could, if she could manage to use it on him before he got away or stopped her (which, given his speed and reflexes, wasn't likely), so she was basically left with firearms as her only real option.  A punch really wasn't going to do much of anything to him.

If he could have honestly said or done anything to make her feel better, he would have.  He really wished he knew what something like that would be, and briefly considered trying to give her a hug or something, but she went on about Shane being bitten, when she could see him, and whether Derek or her brother was contagious.  Yeah, if she's asking whether or not you're contagious maybe you shouldn't rush to hug her.

"Um, technically, yes.  It's less contagious than AIDS, but it's possible," he explained.  He hated to compare being a shifter to AIDS, but it was transferred in similar fashion.  "The shifter condition is only transferred through blood contact, and it's something like Russian Roulette from there.  Sometimes you get it, and sometimes you don't.  The more blood contact, the better your chances of getting it, but you would have to get my blood in one of your own open wounds for that."

Considering how concerned he and her brother both had been with her safety, he knew she wasn't hurt.  She was safe.  "Vampires are a similar situation, I guess.  They usually drink from someone to lower the body's strength, then they get the victim to drink their blood.  It kills the body, then revives it as a vampire.  That's why it was a good thing that Shane was awake, even if he was dazed.  I didn't see blood anywhere except at the bite, too," he explained.  It really did look good for Shane.  Yeah, he'd been munched, but he could get over that.  The only way Derek could see Shane having been turned would have been if the vampire actually took the time during that whole mess to clean up any traces of blood around the kid's mouth, and there had been so much going on that he doubted it.  That would take actual planning, and those vamps hadn't seemed like the planning sorts. 

[Melody Craft]

"Gross," was the sentiment that Melody returned. She was quiet for a moment, and then looked at Derek. "I didn't mean that you're gross. I just... blood. Yuck," she said, making a face. Melody had never been really big on gore, blood, any of that nonsense. She didn't faint when she saw it, but she cried her eyes out any time she went near a doctor wanting to draw blood. She just...

  "Gross," she hissed again, shivering. Subconsciously, she moved closer to Derek, as though some part of her expected him to 'keep the thoughts' from her. Not that he could, but they'd known eachother a long time. Derek was her Prince Charming, however botched this situation had been. If only Shane had been so lucky.

  "So... when can we see him? Do you think they're done? I mean, I haven't heard any more yelling. Or gunshots," she added.

[Derek Walsh]

He had to admit that she was taking this whole situation incredibly well.  If all she did was call the blood aspect of it all 'gross' and shiver a little, he was going to chalk that up to a win.  Either he was great at explaining, or she was just that awesome, and he wasn't betting on his ability to explain himself.  Actually, he'd already missed a few things, like the fact that nobody outside of his family was allowed to know that he was Uncia, and that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone.  He hadn't really been in a huge rush to dictate what she did, especially with how worried she was over her brother, but it made him just slightly antsy to think about both his parents' and Evangela's reactions if they found out he'd told a human girl.  At his age, everyone seemed to think that the girls he'd meet were all fickle and not going to last.  For the most part, he couldn't argue, and it was why he didn't really date.  He saw girls, but he didn't keep them or 'officially' date them, because it really didn't matter.  He wasn't about to make a life with any of them anytime soon, and not telling them who and what he was bothered him just a little.  It was both refreshing and slightly terrifying that Melody knew, and he hoped to God that she didn't suddenly decide to hate him.  It was possible.

"Um, well, I'm glad you don't think I'm gross," he started, putting an arm around her as she moved in closer to him.  He couldn't really keep the thoughts away, but if she could forget that he was 'gross' with the blood on his clothes, then he'd try.  "They'll all come out with they're done, I'm sure."

Honestly, he didn't know.  He'd never been present with Christian on a job of any sort, nevermind one that involved Xander and his wolves sweeping a building and exterminating vampires.  He could pretend he knew, and use common sense to assume what was going to happen, but he didn't know.  He just hoped he was right, and that she just needed a confident answer to stop worrying just a little.  "I really am glad that you don't think I'm gross, or a freak," he offered, his thoughts still on that fact.  It had been a big deal to him.

He glanced down at her, all serious, and watched in case she changed her mind with the bright blue eyes she was going to be making contact with.  "My family is very against letting humans know what we are, because even in a world with vampires and people who change shape, we're the only family of snow leopards," he explained.  He wasn't going to mention Midnight.  He refused to drop even more on her than he had to, and if he didn't need to know that she wouldn't out him in front of someone that shouldn't be allowed to know what he was, he wouldn't be telling her this.  "So, please don't tell anyone about it."

Honestly, he didn't know why he was so calm about that idea, except that he'd probably used up all his fear and nerves for the night.  That, or maybe he really did like and trust her.  Maybe he really 'liked' and trusted her.  Also possible.