Faline

Shifting at the last moment as I leap for her, yellow eyes flash at me before recognition fills them. Warm arms enfold and hold me tight for a second before I get passed off. A blanket gets draped over my shoulders by a very tall stranger, almost wonder if he's any relation to Orion, who comes up from behind him. The blanket smells of home, so I wrap it tight around me and inhale deeply, all within seconds before I look back at what's happening.

One of my worst nightmares is starting to enfold; my lover and my sister fighting in a deadly battle. She screams at the people she came in with to get me out of here. I shake my head hard and try to go to them, calling for each of them to stop. I get ignored.

Blood starts to fly as they move across the room. My step forward gets me dragged back, thinking it's the tall stranger, I twist with a snarl, but get grabbed up anyway. Fighting back starts right away, and it's Orion that yells at me that it's him. Looking back, it indeed is, but still.

"I have to stop them Orion, this doesn't end well."

I practically scream at him, looking back just in time to see Nicolaus stand as human, my sister crouched in front of him, while both have blood coming from somewhere or another. Continued screaming at them to please stop falls on deaf ears all around. Everyone who'd already been in the room has fallen back to watch the fight, any submissives had bolted when the blood started flying.

A streak of brown has me shouting out a warning too late to be heeded. Anthony had come flying in from the right side of the room, shifting as soon as he'd seen who was fighting. He already looks bloody and in pain, but that doesn't stop him. Nicolaus may have beat him, but he still loves the man now fighting my sister. My own emotions war within me as I scream at my Vampire to back off.

He's stalking towards them before the tall stranger and a large black wolf go flying at him. My heart is still pounding hard from my run, and now from the fights that are unfolding before me. The lion at my back tries pulling me back some more.

"So help me Orion if you don't stop, as soon as I'm let down you're going to lose your family jewels!"

There's a grunt from behind me as my response. He doesn't put me down, but he does stop moving backwards. I still try to get out of his arms as I watch my sister becoming larger, bloodier.

Silver fur sprouting from her has everyone either gasping or cursing. I can feel the lion's breath hitch as he whispers that he doesn't believe it. Neither do I. Turns out she really is who everyone thinks, which just puts her in even more danger if I understand right.

Judging from some of the whispering going on around me, I think it's safe to assume.

The combination of her shouts and Nicolaus's grunts of pain have me looking back and forth between them. Fighting against two opponents, he's holding them off rather well, trying to get past them to his own wolf. The tall stranger's wrist, then his arm gets broken. He doesn't make a sound, but I can hear the wet snapping. A fist flying out and colliding with the black wolf's side has ribs shattering.

Seeing how Nicolaus is fighting now, I know I would never have bested him unless I caught him unaware and ended it immediately. Anthony's scream draws my attention back to my sister, who I feel guilty about not watching, but keep going back and forth. My breath catches as I see the front of Kierra's body covered in red.

Amazing part though, is she's smiling. Talking to Anthony and goading him. Is she insane? Would appear so, but then she's dancing around him easily. Blood flies as it's flung out from her body.

The sickening part is when it's seen to land on a piece of wall or table, a few of the Vampires start licking at it greedily. Still fighting with Orion as I try to push away from him, my eyes burn with tears as I see my Vampire's teeth sink into the stranger.

The black wolf who I've seen before with our shared sight leaps at him, his foreleg gets grabbed and used to swing him away. He yelps, but it draws Vampire teeth out of the other man, his twist showing the gaping wound in his shoulder.

Everyone goes quiet as a death rattle sounds. I stop fighting, so does Nicolaus as he looks to his wolf. My sister is pulling her muzzle from his throat and backing away as he falls at her feet.

Her face is completely red, making her look damn near demonic as she seeks out her next intended kill. She can't possibly keep fighting! It's obvious she's hurt, but she glares out with yellow eyes in defiance.

I look to Nicolaus as his face changes from despair to something else. I don't understand the expression, but then he turns to me. Tears fall as I see his look of pain.

Spinning around, he takes off. My eyes close and I almost go limp in the lion's arms. A red Werewolf is walking towards me when my gaze opens to find her, expression angry as she looks over me. I had heard her laughing not long ago but now she looks mad.

"I told you to get her out of here."

Her voice is strange and it takes me aback. Didn't know Werewolves could talk in that form. Then again, the only one I've really seen at all is now dead on the floor.

"I told him if he did, I'd geld him."

She smiles wide, love filling her eyes. I smile back, I've missed her so much. Her friends come up around her, wolf limping while the amber-eyed male holds his arm close to his body. All of their eyes are bright as my sister looks around the room. The look is clear, she's daring anyone to stop us now. The faces around us are a mix of expressions before I'm swung up into Orion's arms.

The blanket gets tucked close, and I wrap it closer. I know how the sun feels against my skin. It isn't great. We get through a door when Lady thrusts a coyote Maii into my arms.

"Take him with you."

Can't read her face, but her eyes hold inquietude before she twists away and leaves. The animal is shaking against my body as I wrap myself up, he covers as much of me as possible. Even with him though, and my face tucked into Orion's body, the run outside sears my skin.

I can't help but squirm, the pain excruciating. It stops escalating once I'm inside relative darkness, but the prickling is still hyperactive, and I'm set on something hard, which kinda hurts. Can feel Orion move away and Maii crouch over my body.

He's trembling but determined to guard me. I hear his growl before he hesitantly steps away. A large red covered hand comes at me, I grab hold of it, ignoring the long claws as I look out at my sister's alien face.

"I found you."

My heart swells within my chest, sending the Grinch through my head with his tiny heart outgrowing the frame surrounding it. Bright yellow eyes roam over my face, a little confusion in her gaze, but I see no rejection.

"I knew you would. No doubt."

Can feel Maii's weight behind me as I lay side by side with my sister, both of us just staring at the other. The scent of blood is very strong, both old and new. It raises my hunger and has flashes of the Vampires back at the bordello going through my head, the ones licking her blood off assorted surfaces.

The thought makes my stomach cramp. My last intake of blood had been when I was revived hours ago. So much has gone on since then though that it feels like I haven't fed at all today.

I push it all aside, ignoring all the sweet-smelling blood as best I can while we look at each other. Time fades as I rewind back to the last time I had seen her with my own eyes, the now dead Werewolf having been riding her down to the ground as I was pulled away. After hearing that she had gotten away and had been lost, then felt through some strange link between us that allowed me to go through her pain with her on multiple occasions. I felt her life, knew she had changed, but seeing it face to face like this just really drives it all home.

Home. I'm going home.

I barely feel the movement of the vehicle, barely hear it. Do know when we stop though when I hear doors opening. Kierra only moves to throw another blanket over me. I get the huge thing wrapped around me till I'm surrounded by Orion's B.O. Body odor, not bad odor. Granted it isn't great this close to my nose while this strong, but I'll take it over sunburns any day. In strong arms once more makes the collected materials rub against said burns and has me gritting my teeth.

I feel when we're inside immediately, the threatening pricks fading away and gone totally when I'm taken down some stairs. I'm set down and one of my dark blue sheets is thrust into my hands. I hold it to my nose and breathe in deeply.

The comforting scent of the soap we use is still strong on it. Apparently I take too long as it's tugged from my hands, then wrapped around me as if I'm some ancient Roman. Smiling up at the lion who has helped me get this far, elation fills me.

"I'm home, Orion. I'm home!"

He smiles at me while we hear heavy steps coming down the stairs, the heavy scent of blood gives away who it is. A shout sounds to Ava to bring the first-aid kit for the burn ointment. Just as she comes through the draped sheets, I throw myself back into her arms.

"Thank you, Orion, for your help. Wouldn't have been able to do it without your van. You have my gratitude."

I pull back as she thanks him, another sheet getting wrapped around her as she becomes totally human. It just gets around her when she falls to her knees. It's then that I see the new blood pooling through the cotton at her side, my outcry sounds like a wounded animal.

"I got you...home. That's what...what was im...important."

Orion gets her onto her side as blood starts coming from behind her lips. Tears instantly fill my eyes as I start yelling at her for not saying something sooner. Back at the bordello, I saw her cover her side, but she didn't act like it was serious.

I should have known. She never acts like it is, keeping that whole stiff upper lip bullshit. I scream for Ava while the big man at her back grabs and rips the sheet right over the blood flow. The wet sheet sounds like skin tearing as it reveals her wounds.

When she heals, I'm going to kill her.

The whole right side of her body is a mess, but the gaping hole over her ribcage is the worst, ribs actually protruding. Steps sound behind me before scent tells me her friends have come down.

"Faline, the tall...tall freak coming... Xavier."

A smile curves her mouth as her eyes flicker from them back to me. The feeling of warm comfort and love fills my head when she can't say anything more. I scream at her, it may not be very productive, just instinct.

"You stay with me dammit! You did not get me all the way here just to die on me now! Mom is not going to be happy! You have to stay with us."

Her soft voice fills my head, more a combination of words, images, and feelings. The males in her home; the wolf is Asher, the one we met in the woods weeks ago. The tall amber-eyed stranger is Xavier and he's a horrible flirt. Bastion, a small boy she saved and has no one else.

I get her hopes that these lost misfits be given shelter, taken under my wing, and shown that the world does have softness in it. All of that starts fading, having me cry out again. Both Orion and Ava are doing something to her, my own body jerks at the sound of a boys outcry of denial.

Kierra frowns, her eyes slowly closing then fluttering. I shout at her again, not sure what I can do to help, which just makes things worse. My mind whirls in chaos at the thought of losing her just as I get her back again.