Pins and Needles [Kiyoshi]

[Laura Vida]

God, could Trevor have been more far from the truth? Laura's inability to keep a relationship was the base of a lot of her issues, though the fact that she had Lance covered most of that up. The two seemed unusually close, but it was only because both of them knew that they were all they had, essentially. The reason that Lance and Andrew didn't get along had a little to do with the fact that Andrew didn't like how heavily they relied on eachother. In the world of a Vida witch, you were all you had. That was not what had prompted Danielle's laughter, though - she could simply pick up on the fact that Tyler thought Laura was a pretty girl, and she knew his line of questioning wasn't as innocent as it seemed.

When Trevor sputtered out an answer before Laura had time to think, she made good on hiding any facial expression that would have mirrored her own actual opinion over the matter. No, she didn't think she was his girlfriend. They hadn't ever even been intimate - not even a kiss. But Laura felt something, and she didn't know how to sort it out. She supposed her idea of a date was what they'd been doing that night: beating up on vampires. She realized right then she had a very, very skewed sense of propriety and romance.

"Oh, but that's how boys know I'm serious," she said, her voice making the statement Trevor had said more emphatically a joke. She looked back at Tyler and smiled. Usually she'd have chirped something to make him uncomfortable, but Laura didn't feel like pushing his buttons when he'd already been through enough - and so had she, come to think of it.

"So, where are you staying, Tyler?" she asked, tilting her head.

[Trevor Browning]

This was SO UNFAIR.  Trevor would have liked to know that Laura felt 'something', because he'd have been more than okay with their hunting trips being dates if she wanted to call them that.  He didn't ever make a move on her because he had nobody now that Colton had gone to school, and he wasn't about to risk the only two friendships he really had because he was a horny bastard.  Trevor needed a little more communication than this to know that she might actually like it if he showed more interest in her, and this doubt she was instilling in him?  Not cool.

It sounded like the perfect, joking response to what he'd already said, but her comment had him wondering if there might actually be some truth to it.  He'd never seen Laura actually pursue any kind of interactions with a guy, and didn't honestly think he'd ever seen her flirt.  Maybe it WAS her way of showing interest in a guy, going hunting with him.  She wasn't exactly a typical girl.

Fuck.  Now he didn't know what to think.  Was she kidding, or trying to drop a hint?  He preferred just acting on impulse with this kind of shit, but he actually cared how this turned out, so he was ridiculously off-balance about it.  Fortunately, she gave him an out in asking Tyler where he was staying.  Frankly, Trevor didn't know what to do with this.  If Tyler needed a place to stay, Trevor could take him in, but this was still ridiculously surreal to him.

"Good question," he agreed, glancing at his brother.  Christ, this was going to take some time.

[Tyler Brandt]

Tyler's eyes widened a little at Laura's proclamation, and he brushed it off with a forced laugh. Man, that girl seemed wild. He'd have to ask Trevor about her when they were alone. Of course, he had a lot of stuff to ask Trevor about, but she was definitely going to be a nice deviation from the usual 'o hi i'm new' conversation that was inevitably coming along. Tyler also didn't know about anything that had happened that night, or what was in store from Midnight in the future. None of them did, but at least they were half-way in the loop. Tyler was plain ignorant to the events.

"Well.." he hesitated. He hadn't really been staying anywhere solid. "I was staying at a hotel on this side of town. I've kind of exhausted all my resources with locating you. I mean, if I hadn't have found you here, I guess I would have gone back to the drawing board, but I hadn't really considered what would happen if I did find you. Truth be told, wasn't expecting to find anything except another forwarding address."

He thrust his hands into the pockets of his baggy-but-not-too-big jeans, feeling somewhat guilty for admitting the fact that he never thought he'd actually find Trevor. There was some merit to it, though - on Trevor's end, it just made him sound that much more untouchable.

[Laura Vida]

Laura picked up a disturbance in the Force - or, a disturbance in Trevor's aura, anyways. She didn't know what, or why, and could only assume it was connected to Tyler somehow, but it still did make her wonder if it had been in regards to her quick scoffing laughter and responses. She made a thoughtful "Hm," sound to his reaction, though it could have been directed at Tyler also. It was hard to tell with Laura what she was thinking sometimes, especially since right now she was still a little too beat up to be fully expressive.

She retracted from the conversation to sit down next to Lance again, and looked over at him as Tyler spoke to Trevor. Her look plainly said, "Now what?", but Lance just shook his head. He hadn't seen any of that coming, at all. He was just happy to not be talking to Andrew, which irritated Laura but was low on her list of priorities at the moment. They'd talk about it later.

It seemed there would be a lot of conversations 'later'.

"Why don't you two sit down?" she prompted, tapping the table with her right hand. She offered up a smile to Trevor, but it wasn't convincingly warm. It was more of a courtesy, because now she was confused, and she didn't like it.

[Trevor Browning]

Tyler shouldn't have felt guilty for thinking that he wouldn't find Trevor, because Trevor wasn't an easy person to be found.  In fact, the only reason Tyler probably found him was because Tyler was pretty smart for a kid with no training and Trevor hadn't been trying too hard to stay hidden.  He'd been reckless and completely apathetic about his own safety all this time, and he was lucky that it was just Tyler who'd tracked him down.  He'd been a bit more careful about covering his tracks since he'd been hanging with Laura and Lance, but that didn't stop someone from picking up on the trail he'd left around the city until then.  The problem was, Tyler had probably left an even more obvious trail, right here to Trevor.  Hopefully, nobody picked it up.

"Well, my place isn't a five star hotel, but you can take Colt's bed.  He's not using it," Trev offered with a nonchalant shrug that suggested he was okay with whatever Tyler chose, but it was a lie.  He might take offense if Tyler wasn't interested in crashing at his place.  Of course, Trevor was also fine with thinking that this whole situation that they'd gotten into helping Heather was an isolated event, and over.  The vampire was gone, all four of them had walked away with an ass-beating, and Trevor figured it was even.  That was until Laura leaned over to fill him in on the situation as they knew it, information that had probably been offered to them while Trevor was in his own little world dealing with Tyler.  Now, he was changing his mind from playing casual about his offer of a place for Tyler to stay, and doing it quickly.  Just, how to hit that subject?  "Actually, it sounds like this whole city is about to implode, so you might be better off getting out of dodge."

It pained him to think about sending Tyler away so soon, but that didn't mean it had to be permanent.  They could meet up again when everything calmed down, and when Tyler's life wasn't in danger just from being related to Trevor.  Trevor, who liked to hang out with the Wonder Twins and piss Midnight vampires off.  They were all geniuses, but it was so damn fun most of the time.

[Tyler Brandt]

 Tyler looked confused as he sat. "But - I just got here," he sputtered, in obvious shock to Trevor's response about telling him to leave again. He looked at the girl for support, but she had closed her eyes momentarily and was absently wiping blood from her nose. Gross. He looked back at Trevor, unsure of how to react. Part of him wanted to cry - and he wasn't a sissy, but damn, what the hell! But the other part of him wanted to talk back and tell his big brother that he could take care of himself. Another glance at the duo across from him told him that the 'taking care' part he knew was not precisely as good as he thought it was, and so he just said nothing.

That was when Laura cut in.

"Smoke," she blurted suddenly.

Tyler looked at her, and then around wildly, trying to see where the smoke was coming from. "Where?" he asked, frantically standing up and whipping his jacket off as though he were going to prove he were tough at least once by taking out a fire.

[Laura Vida]

Laura watched Tyler jump up and laughed aloud. "No," she said sharply. "Sit down, spaz."

Tyler sat, looking properly admonished, but he still glanced up and over for this 'smoke' she was talking about.

Laura turned to Lance, who was remaining quiet at this point still, and then back to Trevor. "Listen, until this blows over, I know where we can stick him - where he won't get into any trouble," she added pointedly, looking at the boy. "Then, once it blows over, he can just move in with you. Voila. Problem solved."

She leaned back, looking rather pleased with herself.

"You're going to smoke me?" Tyler said. He didn't follow.

"No, there are other wwwwpeople who I know that are practically immune to trouble," she said. She'd almost said 'witch', but she didn't really feel keen on that discussion right now. She also knew that the Vida and the Smoke lines didn't necessarily get along; fortunately, she didn't care. She'd roll up and drop Tyler off and they'd take him in and like it.

[Danielle Vida]

While the set argued over what to do about the new-found brother, Danielle had problems of her own to deal with. Heather was asleep, finally, which meant that Ash could work on her without utterly destroying her, but they had come to an impasse on how to deal with a specific detail of the problem.

Danielle had managed to keep her voice lowered, but she was starting to lose her temper. Ash kept doing that tired eye-rolling logical speak with her in his 'calm voice' and all it did was make her want to get louder, like that would get her fucking point that he was obviously missing across.

"I don't really see how you're planning on keeping this little tidbit to yourself. That is not fair," she said, and she jabbed him with her index finger in an incredibly irritating manner. They'd taken to the kitchen now, where her loud hissing wouldn't be observed by the people up front who could hear them. Everyone assumed they were discussing Midnight, anyways.

The fact of the matter was that Heather was pregnant, and by now the child was probably dead. She wasn't very far along - barely along, actually, but it was something Ash had stupidly mentioned to Danielle, probably thinking she'd agree that not telling was the best answer. But Danielle had suddenly taken up a flag and began to crusade for the other side, which he had not anticipated.

[Ash Leone]

Danielle's poking was about to drive him nuts, especially because she had this knack for hitting the same exact spot every single time, and it was starting to sting. He wasn't immune to injury, just usually so capable of healing himself even as a reflex that it didn't matter. His body was essentially trained to dump energy into healing for as long as he could afford it if he was badly injured, so it wasn't as though it was a problem, but he was low on energy currently. Fixing Heather had been difficult, and he wasn't even finished. The issue of the child she was carrying was a big one, one that he'd made the MASSIVE mistake of mentioning to Danielle, thinking that she would confirm what he'd already decided and that would be it. Yeah, he was wrong, and now he had another headache forming in his general vicinity. Heather's husband would be there shortly, and though Ash wasn't opposed to having another hunter in the building while the shit was hitting the fan, he didn't need a dangerous, emotional man there. Telling him that not only had his wife been attacked, but his unborn child had been killed was NOT conducive to helping everyone survive.

Arguing with Danielle when all he really wanted to do was get a meal that consisted of energy instead of food was another thing that would be conducive, but he wasn't getting that right then, either. It was making him irritable, and combining with the poking he was receiving in a bad way. Finally, he turned and grabbed Dani's wrist, his grip not tight at all, but enough to make his point clear that he wanted her to STOP. CHRIST.

"What do you propose, Dani? That I tell him now, while his wife is still a wreck, so that he can be even more unbalanced when we need the help the most? The child is either dead or nearly there, so I see no reason to tell them and have both of them be more upset at such a crucial time. It's a trauma that they don't need, and if the child is alive, I could try to save it, but I make no guarantees that it would work or what condition I would be in afterward."

He didn't want to say it out loud, but he was afraid that the night had much more trouble in store for them, and he didn't want to be so badly weakened for it. He couldn't protect the people who mattered if he was weak, and he was already uncomfortable with his current state. Trying to save that child was possible, if it wasn't dead already, but at what cost? He didn't want to die that night, and even more than that, he didn't want his people to die that night. It was selfish, but he'd never claimed to be entirely lacking in such traits. In fact, quite the opposite, whether everyone realized it, or not. Surprisingly, it was Dani who tended to encourage him to do things out of the goodness of his heart, whether she knew it or not. Something would come up and she would react like this, in a way that utterly shocked him and made him feel guilty, and then he'd go and do the right thing even if it cost him. He was about 30 seconds away from throwing up his hands and going out there to work on Heather again, hoping that the food he'd eaten would be enough to help.

Damn it.

"Sometimes, I hate spending time with you," he told her, unable to stand looking at her and wondering if she thought less of him for refusing. Damn it. "I will try, and if I fail, we will tell the husband, but we will do it AFTER this blows over, and if I die, I'm going to haunt you."

The last bit was obviously more of a snapped joke than anything else, however much he wished he could mean it. He wasn't even sure that he HAD a soul to haunt her with. It was the point of it.

[Danielle Vida]

"Danielle," she snapped, "and I don't know." She snatched her hand back and turned to lean against the counter with a loud thump, crossing her arms. She blew her blonde hair from her face and then looked back at Ash, a quick movement by her head that caused her hair to brush against him.

"As long as you tell them. I was left under the impression that you weren't going to say anything at all." She paused. "I know if it were me, I'd want to know. And you don't hate spending time with me, so you can shut the fuck up about that right now. Who else would put up with you for this long?" she asked, arching her brow at him, her expression serious.

She did reach out and put a hand on his shoulder though, which was about as comforting as she was going to get at the moment. She was still mad, though the steam was quickly being blown off as she found satisfaction from his answers. She fell into silence for a few seconds, and then unexpectedly said,

"I hope that baby is okay."

Danielle didn't like kids. It was no secret. But for some reason, she liked Heather, and she liked Harvey. She had taken to Heather when the girl had come in for an application - nobody really knew why, but she had - and now she was a tiny bit bent out of shape.

"As soon as I can find out who did this, I'm going to take Andrew out for round two," she added, which was also uncharacteristic. She and Andrew hated eachother, but she could bet money that if he spent ten seconds with Heather he'd be right where Danielle was about the whole ordeal.

"So, Trevor's brother..." she prompted after another pause. She turned her body towards Ash, letting her hand slide from his shoulder. "That kid has some balls just rolling up here in the middle of this shit. You think he's going to be okay, or should I tell Trevor that they need to stay at one of my places?" Danielle bought property like nobody's business, and none of them were in her name, so it wouldn't be likely the spots would attract trouble.

[Ash Leone]

"Immune to trouble, huh?" Trevor asked, cocking an eyebrow up in very obvious disbelief, but that was really only his own inability to stay out of trouble that made it hard to believe.  Of course, he also attracted it like a magnet of the opposite pole, so he had reason to feel that way.  If Tyler had half of Trevor's troublemaking and finding abilities, they were well and truly boned.  "I hope they are."

He wouldn't argue, wouldn't give his panic a chance to manifest even in his own mind, let alone out loud, and he most certainly wasn't going to go into a game of 20 questions over Laura's strange verbal typo.  At least, none of that was going to happen right then and there, but he reserved the right to go there in the future whenever he felt the need.  For now, having a safe place to send Tyler (even if he preferred the unrealistic idea of keeping him close) was much more important.  "What's the plan for getting him there in one piece?"

That was when the 'smoked' comment hit him, and he shot Tyler a confused look for half a second before it turned into an 'omgwtf are you talking about' kind of look.  "Wait, smoke you?  What?  No!"

Well, Ash and Danielle were obviously both pissed off, and Ash was adding being tired and energy starved to that list, but at least they seemed to have made some progress.  She wasn't making angry faces at him, and he'd accepted the fact that he had to go try to save Heather's baby despite how difficult it was going to be as quickly as it had taken her to say that she hoped the baby was okay.  If it mattered that much to her and it was something he could affect, he was going to do it. 

"He does, and that's exactly why I would suggest seeing how they handle it for themselves, first.  They're all welcome to make use of any of my resources, but they might have ideas of their own," he pointed out, rubbing his hand over his head and effectively destroying any semblance of normalcy his hair had fallen into since the last time he'd done it.  While he agreed with her sentiments regarding making whoever had hurt Heather regret being born, he would advise waiting a little while if it came up seriously.  "I'm going to see what can be done for the child, can you and Andrew work together to figure out where we stand with our defenses and threat level?"

Her hand had slipped from his shoulder, but he reached out to brush his thumb over her cheek, just a light, brief touch with a smile that was just as quick before he disappeared out the kitchen door, headed for Heather with his 'srs bsns' face back on and his thoughts on exactly how he was going to pull this off. 

Carefully.

He shot Danielle one more glance, almost like a deep breath before a dive, and then he rested both of his hands over Heather's abdomen and the power center there.  He could feel the presence of the child, which meant it was alive, but it didn't seem like it would be for long without his interference.  If he held back, it would die.  So, he didn't.  His eyes fell shut as he first opened the power centers between them and then had to force himself to start the flow of energy in her favor rather than pulling in the opposite direction to feed his own needs (which was what instinct said to do).  It started as a slow stream, easing himself into it, and then the flow increased like the opening of a dam until power, energy, life was pouring into the damaged womb and the dying little life that was going to be Heather and Harvey's child.  He put as much of himself as he could into it, knowing even without consciously thinking about it that if Dani cared that much about whether this baby lived or died, it mattered.  He didn't know why, but it did, and it would live.  He would make sure of it.

Finally ending the contact with Heather's body, he stared down at her like he was in a daze for a few seconds, just trying to pull himself back in and draw something back up for himself, but there wasn't much left.  If he thought he'd been starving before, he hadn't known the meaning of it.  He'd never used himself up so completely as this, essentially for fear of doing something he'd regret, but he didn't even have it in him to do anything as extreme as all that.  His face rose slowly to Danielle, eyes barely focusing, but he still smiled.  There was that pride of his.  "It's done."

Then, he dropped.

[Lance Vida]

"Oh, they are," she assured him. "We can leave any time you want. I can ride along and show you the way, then catch a ride with Lance back, or I can just stay, or ride back with you. Whatever," she said, waving her hand. She smiled at Tyler again, and then looked at Lance. She wondered if she shouldn't go back with Trevor and tend to him. Now probably wasn't the time, but she could always blame her sudden outburst of wild passionate kissing on the night and the complications therein. When the sun came up, all would be forgiven. That was how it worked on nights like these. Everyone got a bye.

"Ready when you are," she said, brows raised.

Lance all but slammed his glass down on the counter, and began gathering his jacket and helmet. "Sonia's?" he asked, though he already felt what Laura's aim was. The duo was strange like that. They could hear eachother's thoughts, feel eachother's feelings. Lance certainly didn't miss how Laura felt about Trevor, and he didn't like it. Trevor was human. Hit him hard enough and he'd crumble. He wasn't good enough for Laura. Lance nearly cracked his teeth he clenched his jaw so hard, the thoughts coming and going in waves of rage. Trevor and Tyler, he could tell, only sensed his anger on a level that was basic to their predicament. But when he turned to look at Laura as he stood so that they could leave, the look on her face...

"Later," he said, his command abrupt. He couldn't do this now, not on top of everything else.

"Lance..." she began, her voice barely audible. He cut her off, and turned, directing his stormy mood to the door as he went to start his bike. She watched her brother, helpless. It wasn't a feeling she liked, but as she glanced back to Trevor and Tyler, she realized they were looking to her - to her for direction, control. She strengthened her resolve and pushed those feelings of confusion back down. At least she knew she was going to go home after this, and not to Trevor's after all.

"Let's go."

At the door, Andrew tried to stop her, and she side-stepped to let Trevor and Tyler go. She held her hand up to him, side-stepping his grip. "I can handle it," she told him. He didn't say anything to her, just stared at her with his cold expression. Family secrets were plentiful among this bunch, whether they could be proven or not. Even Andrew was not immune to his share, but Laura was still his baby sister, still his responsibility.

He was already on his bike by the time they came outside. Lance narrowed his eyes through his helmet as his older brother's figure appeared in the doorway. It was coming from all directions, it seemed, but frankly, he didn't give a flying fuck at that exact moment. He rolled into the street, blocking traffic while they pulled the car out, then followed them to the Smoke-Castille household. He generally liked Trevor most of the time, but right now, he couldn't wait to unload him and his brother and get home. He needed to talk to Laura before she could talk to anyone else.

[Chloe Springfield]

Danielle allowed a small smile as Ash grazed her cheek, and then nodded. "I will deal with Andrew, but after this," she told him. She followed him to where Heather was, ignoring Chloe as she lingered behind them. She paused at the top of the stairs, and then motioned for her to come up finally. May as well let the girl see what was going on. Chloe would just go up anyways, so Danielle didn't want her to hang around on the stairs, waiting for a miracle.

It was a mistake, though. As soon as Ash began to fall, Chloe lunged for him.

"Chloe, NO!" she yelled.

Chloe left Anthony's side shortly after his mothering became too much for her. She hadn't witnessed much of Danielle and Ash's conversation in the kitchen, but she'd heard enough to think she could help. If there was a baby involved, she figured maybe she could try to work on some of the internal injuries. She didn't know Ash was going to just go right for the gold, so she was surprised when the room suddenly became filled with the heavy thrum of his power. Tristes were a strange thing to behold, and Chloe was appropriately awed because of it.

When Ash fell, she reached for him, to steady him. She heard Danielle yell, but by then, it was too late. She could feel him - not him, his primal him, the Triste, hungry and needing and depleted and hungry. Chloe opened her mouth for a scream, but it came in reverse, like a shrill gasp. She was a healer by nature, and she volunteered her energy to try and soothe his wounds, but he needed too much, more than she could give.

Her face twisted in a painful, scary visage (the Ring was not a bad description), a silent scream of terror as she felt the life being sucked from her. Her veins began to run black and her complexion paled significantly - first white, than a strange, powdery gray colour. By the time she began to look not unlike someone five days drowned, Danielle finally managed to crush Ash's hand with her boot, breaking his grasp on Chloe. She fell to the floor with a thud, and everything went black.

When she awoke, it was several minutes later. Blood oozed from beneath her fingernails and out of her ears, and from her eyes and nose. Even from her mouth, which was the most disgusting thing of all. Chloe made sputtering sounds and sat up on her own, spitting blood and fiber from her slick lips in disdain. She rapidly wiped at her tongue, like she'd just gotten something nasty like green apple candy in her mouth, making all sorts of noises. She was hardly aware of her situation until she saw her hands, and then she felt the warm, gushing sensation of her nose.

"Oh, fuck," was all she said. She didn't dare stand up, rather preferring to remain seated on the carpet to avoid passing out. Her skin had returned to its normal hue, if not still pale by comparison of how she usually looked. Danielle was handing her a damp towel, which Chloe accepted weakly and pressed to her face in its entirety. Gross. Blood.

"Let's avoid doing that again," Danielle was advising Ash softly, who was also on the ground, but sitting up and looking very confused. "I think you almost broke her."

"Nah," Chloe said through the towel on her face. She ignored the severity of what had just happened, in part because she couldn't see what she looked like. If she had seen what Danielle had seen, she might've sang a different tune. "But I don't want to do anymore healing tonight, if it's all the same. Thank god Anthony didn't see that."

A familiar voice at the door asking too many questions made her groan. He may not have seen it, but he could smell something was wrong.

[Ash Leone]

Trevor really had NO FUCKING CLUE where Lance's sudden anger had come from, but he had no choice but to assume it was over the situation at hand.  What else could it have been?  He certainly hadn't done anything all night that could have pissed Lance off, unless the guy wanted to blame him for the two of them getting their asses kicked, and even that wasn't something he'd really done wrong.  He didn't really understand what had happened and how he'd survived the beating he'd taken, but he was pretty sure that he'd have needed an extended hospital stay if he even survived had that girl not been leaning over him when he woke up.  He also knew that if Laura had died like he'd thought she had initially, he'd have blamed himself for the entire ordeal, but she hadn't, so he'd dodged that guilt bullet for the time being.  Yeah, he was just going to have to assume that Lance was pissed over the situation at large until the dude said anything else about it.

Of course, there was that weirdness between Lance and Laura, but really?  Trevor had enough going on with the Tyler situation, he just wasn't asking.  Speaking of which, he suddenly grinned and pulled Tyler up beside him so that he could put his arm around the kid as they went outside. 

"Since you're going to be around from now on, we'll have to find time to properly introduce you two, but this is my baby," he told his younger brother, the grin obviously ridiculously proud of the car they walked up to.  Laura took the front passenger seat without it even being a question, but Trevor grabbed the backseat door with a slow stroke over the top of the door.  He appreciated this machine. 

Still, the instant Tyler was in the backseat and the door shut, Trevor was behind the wheel and whipping out into the street behind Lance like the driver's seat was where he belonged.  He knew everything about that car and how it handled, every little quirk and all of her abilities in handling and speed, so in a way, he DID belong there.  Someone else, probably Andrew, had driven her to the Hollow, but he didn't think about someone else behind the wheel. 

Ash was no more aware of what was happening once he dropped than Anthony was of the situation, so his confusion as he forced himself to sit up (his fucking hand was throbbing) was just as pronounced as Anthony's as he entered the room.  He didn't like it anymore than the young wolf did, but whereas Anthony dropped down beside Chloe, his questions unanswered at the moment, Ash just stayed put.  Yes, sitting on the fucking floor rubbing his head and trying to get a grip on exactly what had gone on and why Chloe was bleeding from everywhere.  He ached in a way he was unfamiliar with, like he'd run miles on no food, water or sleep, and there was that awful nagging, gnawing hunger inside of him, but it wasn't as bad as he'd have thought it would be after...what?

He grabbed onto the table beside him to pull himself shakily to his feet, and it was only when he was standing that he saw Heather and it all came rushing back.  The baby.  "Did it work?  The baby?" 

If it had worked, he wasn't hungry enough, not by a long shot.  He should be unable to stand, desperate, after that kind of a drain, shouldn't he?  He glanced at Chloe where Anthony was moving her to a chair, and his eyes shot wide in understanding.  He didn't say anything, but he turned a questioning glance on Dani.  'You almost broke her.' 

FUCK.

"Chloe, I am so sorry," he said softly, turning back to her very suddenly.  He knew what he must have done, even if he wasn't really aware of it.  Danielle was there and must have stopped him, or he had no doubt that he'd have taken everything that Chloe had.  It was a good case for him feeding as often as possible in the future, honestly.  This whole night was.

[Danielle Vida]

 Danielle sighed and glanced over at Heather. She closed her stormy eyes for a moment, reaching out with her energy. Danielle realized that she hadn't spent very much of herself, which was good - she and Andrew were going to be operating at full tilt if it was necessary, and despite the fact that they disliked one another, it did nothing to save anyone who deigned to step aside when they made their path.

"It's alive. And, a boy," she said, brow furrowed. She opened her eyes. "Hm." The Hyena Matriarch and Capricia had both had girls, so a boy on the way was a little of a surprise. She supposed it was about time. "Where is the husband, anyways?" she asked, spinning around to look at Anthony. Yes, she knew he was somewhat endeared to Chloe, but it didn't change the fact that they would have an angry, chemistry-able Crimson 5 on their hands in a matter of minutes.

Chloe just sat there, allowing the room to move around her. She didn't want to touch anything, having no desire to leave bloody prints everywhere. She chose not to acknowledge Anthony's obviously agitated state, knowing that he was already reeling and she couldn't do much to convince him she was okay now that she was secreting blood everywhere like some sort of mutant.

"No big deal, Ash," she said, her voice laden with obvious exhaustion. She sighed heavily, wiping her brow with the back of her wrist to avoid smudging blood all over her face. "Danielle told me earlier not to touch any of the Witches. I should have known better. I feel like I was turned into a piece of beef jerky and then re-hydrated, though. Pretty intense."

She finally looked at Anthony. "I think I need a napkin," she said, laughing. "Your dad is gonna shit his pants."