Faline

Memories start flashing through my head of our past. Everything she and I have gone through even before we knew of this dark underworld. Good and bad, love and loss, hardship and prosperity.

They jump to everything we've gone through after we were taken by different monsters, my own trials and tests of strength... Wait. My heart pounds harder, but I don't think anymore on it before I rip open my wrist with my own teeth.

The pain is immediate but I push it aside as I pour the outflow into my sister's mouth, squeezing my arm when the flow wants to slow. Going from her mouth to her side where the others had put her ribs back where they're supposed to be.

I hear and feel her heartbeat slow and stutter, my determination having me pull more of the blood within me to save her life. Angry that I hadn't thought of this sooner, knowing that it would have worked for sure if given enough time. Or hoping so at least, it worked on me when I was still human, when Nicolaus had used his blood to heal a wound that would have killed me. The Vampire blood in me might not hold much power, but there's still Shifter and Were blood in me.

I keep dribbling till Orion yells at me to seal my wound, that my death is not what she wants. May not be what she wants, but it's damn well what she's getting. I swipe my tongue over my wrist quickly, the other hand working at her throat to get her to swallow.

Even if it goes into her lungs, it should start to heal and seal them, right? Her heart skips a beat. Then another. Three painfully slow beats pass before it picks up with thick thuds. I smile through my tears, but that soon fades as something clearly isn't right.

Yellow eyes snap open as Kie groans. The commotion around me gets ignored as I try holding her to me. The once slow heart has now tripled its beat, having me wonder if I'll end up killing her from a heart attack.

Her back arches hard, red skin not from the blood covering her. Heat emanates from her in waves. I look up as the black wolf comes up, his cerulean-jewel eyes hard and glittering.

"Vampire blood does not mix well with her, it doesn't with any Were who has high magic content in their blood. You may heal her, but you put everyone else here in danger as you do so. Last time she had undead blood mixed with hers she sank deep into her wolf, blacked out, and ran away in a panic. She will not be conscious of anything she does from here on out, so I suggest you get her tied down, as holding her down will just injure her and you."

Sure enough, before he even finishes she's convulsing. Clawed hands rip at the sheet covering her as bones pop and contort, growls sounding even while yellow eyes clench shut. The black wolf yells at everyone to get upstairs as a bloodied silver one starts to form in front of me.

Most go, except him, me, Orion, and Xavier. I stay at her side stubbornly, I know she won't hurt me, everyone else I can't speak for. Orion looks like he's about to grab me and run.

"Go. I know she won't hurt me, no matter how out of it she is. You may have seen her go through this before, Asher, but you haven't lived with her for years. She would kill herself before she'd allow harm to come to me."

Orion gives a curt nod, his eyes angry at me. Xavier looks torn, grief in his eyes along with his worry. Can tell he cares for her, same as Asher, it's obvious and all over their faces.

"Go. I know I'll be fine, I can't speak for any of you."

I hold a contorting body close to my lap, glaring at them as they still refuse to move. Snarling sounds as fur ripples over a bloody body thrashing against my legs.

"Go!"

Screaming at them as she howls, scrabbling to get to her feet, they finally leave, going as slow as possible it seems. As soon as the door closes, I release her. Staying down though as I move back, wary.

A four-legged Silver Wolf stands in front of me. Coat still bloodied but visible as she stands there panting, yellow eyes focused on my face intently. I'm slouched on my knees, and she's looking at me almost eye level, her head several inches above mine as she holds it up high.

Kierra's tongue is out with a parted jaw and panting, very long teeth really close. She told me once that making direct eye contact with a canine is a challenge of dominance and can lead to fighting. I keep my gold ones on her yellow, her lip curling back to reveal even more teeth. Tall ears perk forward, flick back, then forward again, while her long tail remains relaxed behind her, not stiff or tucked. I probably should have listened to her more about animal body language.

Her sides heave as she still has a hole in her side. If I don't do something soon, she'll bleed out more. I lift my hand slowly, not making a fist, but I don't have my fingers splayed out or up either. Recall her saying that that's a good way to lose them if the attempt made fails in conveying peace or friendship. Vampires may be able to regenerate over time, but I'd rather not test the idea.

Kie's lip curls back again, my hand stops, but doesn't move away. I see my sister within those eyes, as well as something else. Something more...wild. Territorial. Bestial.

My nose registers the scents down here, the air heavy with wolf and sweat. I keep my hand up and eyes on her. Ears perk forward as she takes a step, tongue retreating back into her mouth before coming out to lick her muzzle, then back to panting. Jaw does close a little though as she comes closer and closer. When a cold nose touches at my hand, my habitual breathing stops.

"It's me, big sister. Would really like you not to eat my face right now. Can we talk for a moment?"

I speak softly, but it still startles her into backing off. Keeping my hand in place, I keep talking softly so she gets used to my voice. I know it's changed so that might be part of the problem.

"Talk being a vague term, I know. Last time I tried talking mind to mind with a Shifter it didn't work. I know you can do it though, you did earlier when you told me of the people you have here."

Slow, soft steps are taken forward again. Her head weaves back and forth a few times before her nose comes closer. The warm breath tickles over my skin from her nostrils, the touch wet as it whispers over my knuckles.

When the nose pushes against my hand, fingers open and the nose sniffs at my palm. She takes a step closer still with her eyes locked on mine. Giving her a smile, I get a lick to my arm.

"See? All is good. Your wolf friend was quite upset with me for helping you the way I did, but I couldn't let you go. Not yet. We all still need you here with us."

Her head cocks before she moves away. Walking slowly through the sheets to the other side of the basement, I follow after. My dark sheet also covered in blood, but that's not important right now. Right now I need to get her to stop moving so I can do something about her side.

Getting past the sheets shows a whole new room than what I remember. Where she's heading is a mess of blankets and pillows, most being the flat ones that were kept randomly, so I guess she made use of them as nesting material. The strong wolf scent coming from that corner has me wondering if she spends a lot of time down here.

She doesn't lock herself up when she turns wolf, does she? I wouldn't think her to do so. Our tubs and boxes are more stacked than before and at the corner to my right. Hmm.

Padding after her, she flops onto her left side into a spot that looks like she's been in before, many times. Yellow eyes are still open and directed at the wall ahead as she pants heavily. When I come closer I pick up scents of others as well.

At first it makes me nervous, but there's no funkiness, just fur, sweat, and the soap used on the bedding. Nest. Of course. I start to put everything together in my head.

The boy she saved must be the sweat scent I'm getting, she sleeps in wolf form next to him. Asher too and faintly Xavier. Their odors aren't as strong though, so they must not be here often.

The thought of my sister willingly sleeping next to someone else is new to me. She likes her space, and likes a lot of it. Bringing up what she said about the child, I go over it again.

She saved him and he has no one else. Where did she save him from? How does she know there's no one else who he belongs to? Last thing we need is to be hit with kidnapping charges.

And Asher, the black wolf who had attacked her the day before we were attacked? How does he fit into all this exactly? He attacks her yesterday, fights with her today? What about tomorrow?

I sit next to her and eyes turn to me, but she doesn't move. Running a hand from over her cheek and making my way down, I give her a chance to feel my touch before I start causing more pain. Wild animals are unpredictable when in pain, but will she be?

Then there's that tall one, Xavier. He smells different than her and Asher, but the same. Canine and kin to wolf, without being wolf. She said he was a terrible flirt. Since when did she start hanging with that type? Kierra usually avoids those that get too friendly like that, more often than not she can't stand them. I'm so confused. She has a lot of explaining to do when she's human again.

Now time to make sure that happens.

"Okay, this is going to get a little weird and probably gross, and I'll be picking your hair out of my teeth for awhile, but bear with me. No, I'm not going to eat you, let's get that out there right now. Which means no eating me if you get pissy."

There's a small glimmer of humor in her eyes that's soon gone and replaced with that wary wildness. Have a feeling I'll probably end up bloodied at some point, but if it works, it'll be worth it.

"Just remember, mom said no fighting. You start anything, I'm so telling mom on you."

Can't put it off any longer. My hands work at getting the fur away from the seeping opening. Sticky and red, some of it moves easily while other tufts have to go and be a pain in my ass.

Small whimpers come from her parted jaws, making me feel guilty, so I start up a litany of 'I'm sorrys'. Once I can see the pale skin around the wound, I hold my breath, glance at her once more, then dip forward to run my tongue along the edges. At first I thought it'd be gross, but it's really not. Little awkward I'd agree to, though.

Kie rears her head up and looks at me. Don't want to stop now, so I just rub my hand through her neck scruff. Not like I'm using teeth.

The width is about the size of a very large man's fist, so I'm guessing Anthony had quite the strength behind his blow, hard enough to punch through her ribs and send shards of bone into her lung and liver. If she'd said something sooner... Well, we couldn't take her to a hospital but we could have been doing something aside from letting her lay there and bleed out on the drive here.

Thanks to Orion and Ava, her ribs are reset, or were before she shifted. Don't know if it screwed things up. Probably did, but if I call him back down, I'm not sure what she'll do. The muscle tissues and flesh are mangled so I lave over them as softly as I can. Can just imagine how much it hurts though.

I'd judge a bit worse than the slashes I had across my belly. Where I was close to being gutted, she could have had her lungs ripped out through her ribcage. Neither sounds like a good way to go in my book.

Doubt even a Vampire could heal something that extreme, but then again, it's not like we use our lungs for much. Unless you count talking. Or wanting to swallow period since with the lungs going, everything attached will also get screwed.

Morbid, but I'm trying to keep my mind off what I'm doing, since it's making my hunger claw at me, telling me to bite. The wolf had laid her head back down after I started rubbing through her neck, I vaguely recall there being an injury to her shoulder, but I doubt it's as serious as this.