For the first time in four years I found myself waking up next to a lifeless body. One listless hand was draped across me. My clothes were gone. There had also been nightmares of thieves invading my stash of goods downstairs. Any one of those would be enough to make me jump under normal circumstances. I was too tired though.

This location was dark but smelled like home. A scent of long settled dust and a pleasant stillness had mixed with peppermint. It felt right. Kahina was out like a light, with the barest hint of a pulse. Her spirit had fled her body for the day.

Vampire spirits left their physical bodies during the latter stages of the transformation. Scientist blamed it on an alternate state of awareness. Religion generally claimed their souls left to be one with God. Others said they went to repair the harm their kind had done to the world over the generations.

No one asked for my opinion. My unique tracking sight had made it pretty clear that their glow of life was absent during the day. It only returned during sundown. Kahina’s spirit had done just that when I first tracked her a few weeks ago.

Such thoughts kept me distracted as my legs were checked over. Fresh wrappings had been carefully bound around them. They soaked up blood from slowly healing wounds. Kahina must have managed to control herself or licked me clean. Which in another time and place might have been a very interesting experience. As it was, I needed to change quickly and get some air.

It took a bit of fumbling to get downstairs safely. A new set of clothing slipped carefully over the bandages. I picked up a giant, black curtain and brought it back up to my front room. The thick cloth was hung along ceiling runners to further block out the light. Kahina would sleep better this way. Not that it was required. She had never cared about comfort while visiting, but I had, and still did.

My legs itched like mad during the walk across a sunlit parking lot. Hopefully that equated to healing. There would probably be some scarring or infection if the wounds weren’t cleaned again soon. Julianne might have something to help with that.

I shouldered my way inside. One hand used the wall as a guide to stumble down the hallway towards Julianne’s bar counter.

"Julie." I tried to yell out, but half her name got stuck in my throat. My voice was still dry from waking up. There was also a growing sense of extreme hunger.

"Jay? Shit, hold on." There was a scramble in the back room. A moment later a flushed looking Julianne came out. I didn't want to know why her face was red and pulse was racing. The fact that my mental senses were picking up how she felt was a huge sign towards my lack of self-control.

"I need some food, drink, anything." My hunger became more intense the longer I was awake.

"Alright, hold on." Her face was still a bit red from whatever she had been doing. Her shirt was off kilter and there were red marks on her neck.

"Did I interrupt something?"

"No, it's alright. I'll just get you some food and drink, okay?" She said.

"Please." My head was pounding now. Exactly when was the last time I had eaten?

"Here." She got a glass of water. That was hardly the cure I was hoping for but probably better than my other choices. A beep echoed through another room. Ribs sat on a plate in front of me before I noticed time had passed.

I ate it without question then rested my head against the counter as the food settled.

"Jay, you okay?" Julianne asked. The noise I made in response could have come out of sheep with a cold. My eyes closed for what felt like a moment.

"Wake up before you become a permanent bar fixture." She said. I mumbled a response. It had only been a few minutes at most.

"What did you say, Jay?"

I tried to sit up and wipe away the drool. "Thought I already was." What was the question again?

"For the last few hours, but if I let you keep lying there you'll scare away customers." Julianne could be heard clicking around behind the counter. The sound was comforting.

"Sorry." I said.

"It's okay, but go back to sleep, tell Kahina I said thanks for taking care of you." My brain barely registered the tone of worry in Julianne's voice.

Staggering home was hard. The food and exhaustion were putting me right back to sleep. It didn't really register what she said until I hit my apartment door. How did she know that Kahina had been taking care of me? Never mind. After a nap those questions might be more important. I made the final trip downstairs and passed out again.

For the briefest moments I awoke. There were odd noises elsewhere in the house. First screaming, then banging, and finally a soft choking sob. Exhaustion kept me from moving from my downstairs bed. My mind listened, only half conscious, until finally silence spread itself through the building.

I slept.

Upon my return to awareness things were vastly improved. I didn’t hurt. The wounds on my legs were inspected first. They seemed to have completely vanished. Maybe I had over-analyzed the damage.

My phone painted a slightly different story. According to the date display I had lost another five days in hibernation. This time the news came from a digital piece of junk rather than a friend. The hard part was figuring out how much of that had been the latest nap, or how much had been after Kahina carried me home.

I took a long, steamy shower before daring to risk the journey upstairs. It helped survive the brunt of seeing my front room. It was a wreck, looking like a miniature hurricane had come through while I was asleep. My weight bench was thrown into the kitchen counter creating a work of art that would eat my entire deposit. The couch was broken in half and the windows facing the back were shattered.

Had Kahina done this? Had someone else broken in? I tried to remember the noises from my half-awareness. It seemed likely that Kahina had been mad at being unable to get downstairs. The passageway down was filled with things designed to drive people off and the floor had its own surprises.

I carefully passed all the mess and went outside while there was still daylight. Cleaning could be left for tonight when a readily available shelter was needed. I wasn't even going to contemplate what Julianne would do when she noticed. The fact that my windows being shattered hadn’t garnered complaints was beyond me.

Slow cognitive function and wanderings had me halfway down the street. Restless wasn't quite the word for it but after being nearly comatose I needed to get out. Everything nearby needed to be checked for possible changes. There wasn't any good reason for it, really I should be leaving a message for Kahina, talking to Julianne, or seeing how Daniel was doing. A few hours to myself would be nice. Just a few moments of peace to help me survive the return to reality’s nonsense.

In recent days the park and I had become fairly familiar with each other. It was a plot of land that had been adopted by an elven clan. They took pride in remaining true to the original plant life by keeping anything not native weeded out. Part of Western Sector's grants went to them as funding for their care taking efforts. As a result they were legally required to open their parks to the public.

It was a half win for both sides. Humans and other races got a beautiful place to get away to. Elves got to live in a city yet keep alive a lot of their older traditions. They replaced arrows through the eyeball with heavy fines upon littering visitors. Most elves felt that was even better than outright murder.

I hiked through with no particular goal aside from passing time. There were others here, people out with dogs, strollers, mothers jogging along. The elves had painstakingly made a path that normal people could follow. For extra, anyone could pay for an elven guide, there were normally a few near the entrances in the larger parks. They showed all the unseen paths and great views.

My body was still shaky but the outdoor air helped distract me. It was a welcome retreat. I half hoped to see Candy somewhere in here. This park was near her clan. She didn't seem like the manual labor type. Not outdoors anyway. That series of thoughts lasted far too long. Especially considering everything Kahina had just done for me.

The sun was still fairly high. There were more hours to burn before the cleaning started. Now was a good time to ask Julianne about how much a repair to the apartment kitchen might cost. Frame damage was cheaper than pipework, and my home hadn’t flooded. There was hope I might get off cheap. I walked back towards home only to find that Julianne wasn't at the bar. One of the waitresses saw me and passed me a message. The same one that I could never remember the name of. Her jet black hair had a feather woven into it.

"She said to come by her house when you woke up." The waitress was smirking, like I won some sort of favor. From Julianne? Yeah, that sort of favor was unlikely. She seemed dead set on me and Kahina as a couple.

"Did she give you an address?" I asked.

"You don't know it?"

"No, never asked." Another question I should have asked in a long string of them.

"Hold on, I'll write it down." The waitress said. Me and a slip of paper, with extremely messy handwriting, headed out on a short trip.

Julianne’s house wasn't what I expected. Her home was a two bedroom postage stamp property that didn’t stand out from its neighbors. At least she had a sizable yard. Being a corner property helped, and it looked like her fencing extended into a second lot. She must pay someone to mow the lawn.

I double checked the address in my hands a few times, then knocked on the door.

"Come on in, Jay." Julianne called out from the depths of the little house.

The inside of the house was more along the lines of what I expected. She had a row of little dolls strewn along the wall. No two were alike. I was willing to bet they hadn't come out of the box like that. Each one had extra piercings, dyed hair and what looked to be handmade clothes. She had managed to create her own line of punk dolls out of little girl’s comfort toys.

Morbidly funny.

The rest of the house followed the same pattern. Uneven color schemes mixed with lava lamps or electrostatic balls and felt posters. Clearly she did a lot more with her personal space than I did.

"Back here. We've got a present for you." Julianne seemed happy. She also wasn't alone. It was daylight so it wasn't Kahina and Julianne. Not that I'd object, there were certain fantasies that had crossed my mind over the years.

"Alright." I followed the line of dolls to the hallway. Their staring eyes were getting creepier. They had slowly shifted to head level and the designs got more intense the closer to her bedroom I walked.

"Where?" I asked.

"Second door on the left. If you go to the third one I'll have to kill you." Her bedroom must be the third one.

"No worries, I value my life."

Inside the room wasn't just one female, but two. Neither dressed in the manner a fantasy of mine might dictate. From the distance between Julianne and the mystery woman there was a chance they were together in more ways than one. I looked at the second female. A quick glance noted a long skirt, drab colors and dyed black hair. Any evaluations I made would kept quietly to myself. Her relationships weren’t my business.

"Where's my surprise?" I raised an eyebrow and tried not to seem creepy to this new girl.

"Right over there." Julianne pointed across the room to the side I hadn't paid attention to.

One blond elf was bound in a chair and looked absolutely miserable. His clothes were in tatters and probably unwashed. Clumps of dirty hair clung to his face looking like the veins on a leaf. Julianne demonstrated a lot of self-control by letting this mess into her house. I turned back to the two ladies.

"Is this?" I started.

"Evan? Yes. Took a week of solid hunting, but they found him. Guess how pissed my grandfather was." Julianne said.

"A little?" I ventured.

"A little in the same way that Mount Vesuvius only kind of buried Pompeii." She responded.

"What?" I completely missed her reference. It sounded bad though.

"Never mind." Julianne glanced at her friend and rolled her eyes, all but spelling out what she thought of my intelligence level.

"How'd they track him?"

"We were catching some scents before it vanished. Finally some of the boys just staked out the area and waited." The second girl said. The other girl struck me as too mousey for Julianne. The only thing not brown on her was the hair.

"There were some ruins out there. Sure enough a few days later Evan showed himself along with some second elf. Pack captured Evan and dragged him back, right out from under his friend's nose." Julianne finished the story.

"Have you told Daniel yet?" I asked.

"Not yet. We’ve been hoping you'd wake up before Daniel's mess of paperwork started getting on nerves." Julianne said.

"Why?"

"One of the last things he said was that he was avoiding his Lord that had been tracking him.” The short Indian woman crossed her arms. The other female seemed to shift with unease. “I only know of one tracker anywhere near this part of the Sector."

I frowned. The whole Lord thing seemed bad to spread around. Especially after Candy told me they killed all their Lords.

"Lord? I'm good, but not royalty." I tried to twist the conversation into self-ridicule instead of something worth consideration.

"No, you're not. That's why I figured you'd want him before we just hand 'em over to Daniel."

"Thanks. Mind stepping out while I sort this out? I wouldn't want ladies to see anything unwelcome." Not that I had much to work with. Evan had been silent this entire time.

"Big bad man going to torture the little elf?" The mousey girl spoke up again. It came out with more than a little anger.

"No. I’m going to ask polite questions, and get answers." I said. She glared at me and Julianne stepped closer. Between the two there was an obvious height difference. Not as intense as between Julianne and anyone else, but noticeable.

"Come on, Stacy, Jay gets paid for this sort of thing. We'll go wait outside." Julianne pushed at Stacy and mouthed at me rather intensely behind her back. The words were easy enough to make out so I nodded. No blood, I was in Julianne's house and getting anything on the carpet would be unwelcome.

I constantly wanted to ask how Julianne got into the loans and gambling business. Her attitude, friendliness, and dislike for violence seemed to all go against it. Either way, she understood how things might go with Evan and set limits.

Evan was firmly attached to the chair with a few loops of metal on him. The chains around his legs looked like they might be more rust than actual iron. I bent both knees and squatted down to get eye level.

"Evan, is it?" His ratty hair looked even worse than last time I had seen him. At least this time his pointed ears were obvious.

"I've got some questions for you, Evan. Easy stuff, and if you answer them then we can both go our separate ways." I took the gag out and gave him a moment to find his voice.

He didn't respond. I took my fingers and pried open his eyelids, checking for dilation. His orbs lacked any comprehension. One hand pressed to his face, and the other smacked the opposite cheek. He didn’t flinch or scream. Clearly the hope that this was all an act was unreasonable.

Maybe Julianne had used too much iron? Unlikely. Elves could be bound in iron for weeks. They would be miserable and willing to stab anyone. Not comatose. Their addictions not being met was another matter.

"What is it, Evan?" I shook him back and forth some more. There was no response.

"You, addicted to chocolate ice cream with marshmallows eaten using chopsticks? Watching the news at exactly three AM for only seven minutes and twelve seconds?” In disgust the elf was pushed back into his corner of the room. I stomped around the room trying not to get upset. This was close to answers, but at the same time it was so far away.

“A line of crack off a hooker's breasts, that you paid in two dollar bills?" More random ideas came out my mouth. Given the few addictions I had seen these actually seemed plausible.

"Come on, Evan, work with me." I came back over and patted both sides of his face. His head lolled to the side and sat there.

"Fucking hell." The gag was shoved back in his mouth harder than needed. A moment later and I was down the hall and in the front room. "He's completely out of it, when's the last time he had a fix?"

"Not sure. He never asked for anything, so we figured he was one of those once a year elves." Elves occasionally had really complex addictions. Highly complex ones seemed to stretch further between fixes. "He was eating."

"Guy's got no response. Completely gone." I said. Julianne and Stacy shared a worried glance with each other from their side of the couch. We all knew that elven addictions became more twisted the longer they went without satisfaction.

"Shit, he was okay yesterday, tired, but okay.” Julianne said. “We can't turn him over to Daniel if he's not working. That'll just make him mad." Stacy, the other girl, seemed to mimic the bartender’s worry.

They weren’t the only ones upset. Daniel was slow to anger. Once he finally did explode the results were titanic. One such event involved him demolishing a Vampire cartel in the space of two nights. Western Sector strike squads were called in like accurate lightning strikes. He managed to hit the places that no one should have known about. Then the reports and all associated loose lips were shoved into a dark hole.

"We need to find an elf who works with addictions." I said.

"I might know one." Julianne had a person in mind. I looked at her for a moment then sighed.

"Candy?" I threw the name out there.

"Who?"

"Blonde, tattooed eyes, dark sunglasses, shepherds Umbrella Beer?" I only listed the safe characteristics.

"Yeah.” Julianne nodded. “That elf was always hovering around the other guy the first few times."

"That's Candy, why do you think she might know something?" I said.

"If anyone has an answer it would be her. He deferred to her. Candy's either a leader, or some sort of guide." The bartender looked angry at me about the whole subject. Once again Stacy mimicked the motions with a tilt of hips and one fist on her side.

"I guess I could ask her." I ran my hand over shortened hair and tried to figure out what was next. There was no point in asking Julianne to do it, or Stacy. They had already tracked Evan down and given me the first crack.

"You need to solve this quick. You clearly know this, Candy, elf, and Evan was looking for you." Julianne had her hands on the back of her couch. They were curling and gripping the upholstery.

“I barely know her.” I corrected the shorter woman.

“Sounds like you know her too well.”

"I did what you suggested. I had a question, and she had an answer I needed." One hand raised with the palm facing upwards. Why is it that my choices always seemed to result in problems? Dammed if I did, damned if I didn’t.

"Yeah? What question was that?" Julianne asked. I stared at her and got two equally annoyed stares in return.

"A separate problem." Was my relenting comment. Not that they were separate problems at all. They were directly linked. This ‘Lord’ thing was my problem to sort through and not anyone else’s.

"Kahina doesn't know that you're stalking elven whores?" Julianne asked. She lifted a cushion on the couch in agitation and set it right back down.

"I haven't told her, no." My eyelids fluttered and neck bunched up. This was getting beyond annoying. I didn’t come here to be berated for trying to solve problems.

"Jay..." Her voice turned low and warning. My hands went into the air with a shout.

"What Julianne? You want me to patch up my relationship with Kahina like nothing happened, just a bump in the road, forgive and forget?" I shouted. There wasn’t enough room in this house to truly get angry.

She grew quiet.

"Good, because that whole night pretty much screwed over everything I had going for me." I said, satisfied that this argument was in my favor.

"Shut your trap." Stacy nearly snarled at me.

"Fuck you. You have no idea what happened..." I shouted. My mind was glazing over all the warning signs of impending doom. "and no right."

My ears started ringing and vision took a sudden turn to the left. Stacy had slapped me, hard. The kind of strength that didn't come from a human. Wolf. Julianne was hanging out with a female wolf. I yelled again, only this sounded off, different than normal, and shoved the wolf backwards into a wall.

Julianne let out a cry and ran to her friend's side, or whatever they were. I didn't care. This was too much. My breath was ragged from just that brief bout. Julianne's house was too confining for me. I made it out the door and stomped across her front yard. There was an itch on my arm and the sound of drumbeats in my ear. Worse still, I wanted Stacy to come out here and continue our fight.

Hell.

Why couldn't I ever leave someplace in a peaceful manner? Leaving Kahina the first time four years ago was bad. My first visit to Evan involved rudely carving off his hair and throwing a knife into the wall. Then there was the forest I was recently evicted from. All my life I had been burning bridges.

Hell. What was wrong with me?

After a few hours of walking I was still angry. Angry at everyone else for telling me what to think about Kahina. Angry at myself for not having a good answer. Angry at Daniel and his missing person case. Then Evan for jerking me around with the 'Lord' comment.

I went home. My modified knuckles went into a pocket and iron chain was threaded through belt loops. Next I stopped at the bar, more out of habit than need. No one here really knew me. No one besides Julianne and I had just screwed that up. At the far end of the bar was a pile of coins and a puddle of spilled liquid. The arrogant elf had been back in for another fix. I was back out the door before anyone felt the need to greet me. Hopefully I could get to Candy's before nightfall. After that avoiding Kahina would be a matter of timing.

Soon I stood across the street from Candy’s bedroom window. Two elves watched me from up high, perched on walls, strange bows strapped across their back. My head was pounding out its displeasure. Everything conspired to drive me bonkers.

Pointless people passed while I stalked up and down the sidewalk. Cars came and went. Humans bartered for organic crops. Kids on their way home from school used the elven sidewalk for added safety.

My eyes slid down and I tried to calm myself. The same senses I used to defend my home from Kahina’s two hired goons were still rusty. That mental switch was getting easier to flip. Brief moments of insight to the world about me flooded in. It felt like the ground beneath my feet was boiling with heat. A glance upward confirmed that both sentries above had their bows in hand, an arrow notched but not drawn.

Candy. I needed her to help things make sense. To make this anger worth something. Both eyes stayed closed while I tried to remember what she looked like. To feel a connection.

When I opened my eyes Candy was standing up top of the elven housing. She was talking with the two guards. They seemed startled but the bows vanished. Her gaze traveled to me and inaudible words mouthed in my direction. A finger pointing down. I shrugged.

Her responding face was full of disapproval. There was no hint of her playful selection of clothes, or the looks she gave me before. The next time I saw the elf she was down next to a car. She had bent over in order to speak with another elf inside the expensive looking vehicle. My brief glimpse of the male elf told me he was old, and important enough to have someone drive him.

Hopefully she wasn't talking to him about my job as a part-time stalker. They parted with a nod and Candy walked over. Her body clad in a wrap that almost looked like an emerald scale kimono, complete with a set of heels that must be dark polished wood.

"Jeff, it's a pleasure to see you again." Her words and smile held some playfulness, but the eyes told me it was forced.

"I have to ask for something."

"What, no foreplay?" Iciness shook away and her smile was more genuine.

"Two somethings actually."

"Oh?"

"I know you have a price, right?" I asked. My words were rushed and head still pounded a bit.

"That I do, though I'm not sure if you can pay it." She said. There was a lift to one lip that seemed almost coy but it didn’t reach the rest of her face.

"I'll pay.” Any price she asked couldn’t even begin to reach the worst parts of my history. From extortion to theft, kidnapping and roughing up low lives.

"You'd have to. What did you want from me?" She asked. One arm draped to the side while her other reached across to grab it.

"Help, and silence."

She pouted. "Not at all what I had hoped for, not at all. What could you possibly need from me, Jeff?"

"You're some sort guide to elves, right?" I said.

"That's a question, Jeff. Try again, unless you want to owe me three favors. I can think of three very good ways to repay me."

"Hell." My head shook and both hands went into pockets, grasping uselessly. I stared at my feet while trying to rephrase the words.

"You're someone important, you know about addictions, helping people solve them. I know that without you telling me." Her facial expressions didn't give me any confirmation and it was a bit of a reach. My only clue was her actions with the other elf at the bar. Her short hair framed eyes that were nearly stone.

"I've got an elf, and it's important to me that he come to, but he's so far under, and it looks like withdrawal. I need to help him, and I need for no one else to find out we have him until later."

Candy didn't respond right away. If anything she seemed to be looking through me at something else.

"Does this have anything else to do with your question last time, Jeff?" She asked. Her eyes narrowed slightly in my direction which brought her tattoos close together like a forest closing in.

I didn't want her to think about the other question. Anyone else putting the Lord, me, elves killed them, dots together was dangerous. The sudden realization that I was scratching my wrist prevented me from answering.

"No. No deal." She turned to walk away. I grabbed her arm gently. Candy turned and looked at me, half smiling and half serious.

"I'd get that hand off of me right now, unless you plan on using it somewhere much more fun." The way she said it shattered my brain for a moment and I let go.

"Why not, Candy? I'm willing to pay your price."

"I can't, there are certain obligations I must place above my own needs, and your request borders on one of them." She pouted again. It was distracting to see the downturned expression on her face. "Which is very disappointing."

"Not even to help one of your own?"

"Your little friend is unlikely to be one of my clan, else I would have heard. There are certain..." She pursed her lips in thought for a moment "situations which I am in charge of."

"A clue? Anything?"

She tapped her feet and walked closer to me, her face tilted up.

"If your elf has called someone their Lord, then their Lord can call them back.” There was a pause in her words as she got on her tippy toes and resumed speaking a few inches away. “But if there is a Lord, it would be best if I never find out." Then for the barest moment she nipped at my lower lip, pressing her entire body against mine. My mind clouded over with an entirely different emotion.

"That tidbit will cost you later." Candy strutted off and I almost limped after her.

There was no sane way to react to all this information. My thoughts stayed muddled the entire way back to Julianne’s house. Night had fallen and I hadn't even noticed. My giant, dumb self stood near the doorway trying to figure out how to make this all work. Calling an elf back made no sense to me.

Candy had clearly given an invitation that would make Julianne and Kahina both hate me. Facing either one of them worried me. Should I knock on Julianne’s door and tell her what little I knew? Or just call Daniel and wash my hands of the whole thing?

"Go inside, Jay." Crushed peppermint accompanied sad words. My breath caught. I had spent too long trying to figure out the next step and completely lost the initiative. Getting out of bed today had been a terrible idea.

I followed orders and opened the door.

Both Stacy and Julianne and were waiting in the front room. The dent where I pushed Stacy had been covered up by a hastily moved table. Kahina clicked the door shut behind me.

"Sit down, Jay." My sort of ex-girlfriend said.

"Rather stand." There was a whole list of actions that sounded better than being here. Dealing with the elf in the back, drinking liquor, or even going back to Candy.

"Sit down, Jay." Julianne’s glare was echoed by Stacy. Running this time would completely destroy whatever relationship we had left. Julianne was the only person who welcomed me back without expectations. Besides money.

I picked the recliner on the far end of the room, popped up the leg rest then leaned back.

"Can't you make him sit straight at least?" Stacy. I decided she would be called The Bitch. The Bitch would be easier to remember. Best of all, she was a wolf so it was technically accurate.

"Be happy he sat down." Julianne sounded upset at everything.

"Why's she here?" I asked.

"Kahina Rhodes being here was my idea. We needed her side of the story." The Bitch was louder now.

"And you want to do this, now?" Hopefully the inflection in my voice showed just how ridiculous this was. This was the wrong time for an intervention.

"You’ve earned no say in any of this, deal, or get out." Was Stacy’s response.

Kahina was silent. She stood behind the couch on the other side. Hopefully I didn't smell too much like an elf. Julianne cleared her throat and Kahina seemed to wake up. She went and sat down on the couch with the other two girls flanking her.

These teams sucked.

"Well?" I asked.

"Well what, Jay? What do you think we're going to do here?" Julianne snapped at me.

There were things I wanted to say. Like 'I'm sorry I threw Stacy, I'm sorry I left Kahina, I'm sorry I'm not a bundle of ass whooping vengeance like I used to be Julianne. Can I go now?' The series of phrases would probably induce a much deserved ass whooping upon my person. All of the words were quietly shoved aside. Instead I stood up.

"Where are you going?" Julianne asked.

"Bathroom." I didn't wait for much of a response, and Julianne thankfully held Stacy back with a light touch. While one of my stops was the bathroom, the other was the comatose elf.

I hefted chair and elf into the front room then plopped him down next to the recliner. He was the only other non-female in the house and someone had to be on my side. My other option had been crawling out one of the windows and running down the street. No one would find it odd to see a giant muscled man running from females in the dead of night. No one.

It took a carefully folded pillow to get his face propped up Evan was at least looking in their direction. I think being unconscious actually made him more intimidating. The sock ruined the effect.

"Sorry, teams were unfair," and still were "continue."

"You self-righteous prick." Stacy said.

"I'm not the one who staged an intervention." I responded.

"The way I hear it you're an abusive drunk who deserves a sound beating." The Bitch was probably right. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on my faults though. We could deal with this after getting Evan to Daniel and receiving my answers.

A word from Kahina slowed me down.

"Jay."

It was heartbreaking. My moment of anger deflated faster than it had stirred up. "What do you want, Kahina?"

"Things to go back to the way they were." Her voice was quiet. Sometimes it was hard to believe she was almost fully turned into a vampire.

"Time doesn't fucking march backwards." I bit each word as it came out.

"Jesus, Jay, have you two even sat down and talked since you got back? About that night? About anything? You two were so good together." Julianne jumped in.

"Were. What the hell would we talk about?"

"I don't know, maybe her side of what happened? Let's start there. If you had really cared you wouldn't have picked up and just ran." Julianne continued her plea.

Kahina's constant gaze through the entire thing was unnerving. I kept switching focus between one set of eyes and the wall behind them.

"Fine. Tell them what happened." I could accept that much. Let's see what story Kahina had told them. She started talking with barely a shudder of breath.

"That night was going to be something special." Then there was a moment that would have been a blush. Vampirism had robbed her of the ability to really pull one off. "Started out special. Jay was good to me, always was, but that night was better than most."

It was hard not to feel pride that at least I was good at something. The thought of nudging my comatose companion and making some smart remark occurred to me. That idea was wisely suppressed. My score for brilliant ideas was a record breaking two for two tonight.

"We'd talked about it off and on for a while, about starting the conversion. While it wouldn't take until I was full changed myself, it would prepare his body." Her hands made small motions to go with the speech.

I was nodding along at this point, so far so good.

"I'd...fed, before that, but it's not the same. The bonding requires you to draw first, and then give back before it's completely absorbed."

"That's when-" I started to talk.

"Shut up and let her finish." Stacy had no problems ordering me around. I sat back and let Kahina go on with her speech. It was taking forever for her to wind the story around to the crazy part. At least the elf was still on my team.

"We said words to each other that night, that I was his, and he was mine." She was glancing at me from heavily lidded eyes.

"I remember." That much was clear. We had said those words just before the attempt. It was our declaration of being more than some fickle love story.

"When I went to start," A polite way to say when she bit me and it wasn't a love bite. "I tasted just a little, then my head started swimming."

"Like you were drunk?" Julianne asked.

"Worse. Or better. It was..." There was a look on her face as her eyes glazed over in pleasure for a moment then refocused. "It was good." I also bolted despite the consequences. That was the same look that haunted my nightmares.

"Keep going." Julianne urged Kahina back to the story.

"I don't know how to put it exactly. It was like the vampirism was signing in pure joy.” Kahina’s hands kept grasping at the air and her face looked more animated. “Like he had something it needed more than anyone else in the world."

"What did Jay do?" Stacy asked.

I leaned in waiting to hear the part where she went crazy. I couldn't remember all of it. My memory involved flashes of imagery and the feeling of anger and fear. Kahina had attacked me that night I was sure.

"He got mad. He said that it was his, his blood, and it wasn't mine. Then pushed me away."

"Bullshit. BULL SHIT." I stood up and shouted at her. That wasn't how it went at all.

"Sit the fuck down." Stacy was in between us now. Wolf features rippled across her face. The mousy woman was growling at me and had her hand pressed against my chest. She didn't hit me though, thankfully.

"Like hell I will. She's saying I hit her? Do you know what she did to me?" I yanked the neck of my shirt to the side, ripping it. "Right here, here is where she tried to drain me like a God damned soda. She didn't stop at a sip, she kept, going."

"No I didn't, Jay, I stopped, but you were seeing red, screaming." How could Kahina be so calm?

"Bullshit!" I yelled over the women in front of me. I wanted to shake Kahina until her teeth rattled. The feeling was not comforting. But she was lying about me, betraying me. Making up stories about what had happened that night.

"Jay," Kahina started to say something before The Bitch interrupted.

"You are clearly off your damned rocker, you're violent,” hands waved in front of my face as the mousy woman vented. “I find her easier to believe than you, your stupid ass threw me into a wall."

"You slapped me first!"

"How the hell does that give you an excuse to throw someone?!" One of her hands was still pressed against me, or maybe I was pressing against it in an effort to get past her.

"You'll heal, a damned sight quicker than I would." I said.

"Are you even listening to yourself? If Kahina bit you, where's the scar? If she tore into you like you say, where's the damage?" It wasn’t just her hand. It was how she pressed all five fingers at me like I was some sort idiot.

"Or these other things I hear about you, wading through a pack of wolves, Jay? As a human? You'd have some damage somewhere.” Stacy ruled the room and kept on pushing over all my attempts to speak. “I bet you don't have a scar on you. I'll bet half of it’s bullshit. You just use our healing abilities as an excuse to be a brute."

"You about popped my head off with your slap. You're the one who needs a lesson in control." I shifted my angry gaze to Stacy.

"Just because someone can heal doesn't mean you should be violent." This little woman with her dyed black hair and drab clothes was seriously getting on my nerves.

"So, you slapped the hell out of me, Kahina bit me, but that doesn't mean I slammed her around." I wasn't that guy. My path had crossed many an abusive scum and none of them were likable.

"You did, Jay. You wouldn't let me out of the room, you kept demanding that I give it back but I couldn't. It was gone, I'd taken it all." She hung her head in shame. Either it was the greatest act I had ever seen or she was flat out lying.

One of us had problems.

"No, you chased me around." I said. My body felt shaky and wrist itched. The room was growing too hot for me.

"No I didn't, Jay."

"Like hell." I went to move past Stacy but her hand held firm. She wouldn’t let me to the other side of the room.

"If I was such a sensitive asshole about my blood, do you think I'd let myself get into fights, ever?" If Kahina and I had such a thing in our past, why did she even bother trying to get back into my life? Maybe that was a question I should have asked instead, but my mind wasn't focused enough to argue properly.

Instead I turned around and looked for something to prove my point but only found scissors. This would hurt. I opened the scissors and slid the blade across the inside of my palm. Julianne let out an ignored protest. Stacy stood her ground between myself and Kahina, like my sort of ex couldn't take care of herself. I clenched and clenched my fist a few times to get blood flowing freely, then cupped my other hand under the drops.

"Let's see how well you do, here it is, my blood, the stuff you tried to rip from me." I was barely thinking coherently now.

"No?" I asked once I noticed Kahina hadn't moved. Her eyes were wide as she gazed unblinkingly at the pooling drops. My palm hurt like hell from the blade’s sharpness. "Really? After all this time, after how good you know it is, you don't want some? Better hurry, it's fresh."

"Not on my fucking carpet! Jay!" Julianne went supersonic with outrage over her carpet of all things.

"Maybe I should give it to the comatose guy here, do elves drink blood? Maybe that's his twist." I put my hands over his mouth. He was the only one on my side and here I was about to abuse his good nature. My silent partner in a room stacked against me.

I used my elbow to lean Evan's head backwards. All my hard work propping him up was lost. My eyes stayed on Kahina and watched for any sign of her cracking. There was a lot of blood dripping, all of it fresh.

The trembles of rage I had managed to keep contained turned into full on shaking. Things went from one level of messed up to another. I turned the hand cupping small puddle of blood over into the elf's mouth.

"No!" Kahina leapt towards me.

She fumbled past Stacy. Her mind was too lost to use the insane speed her nearly complete transformation would allow. That made the situation all the worse for me. Kahina placed too much stock in my blood, and none in me. Stacy's reactions allowed her to turn around quickly and catch Kahina. Black hair quivered in the air as Stacy struggled against the darker woman.

Meanwhile blood dripped into Evan's mouth.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." I sneered and felt completely justified. Kahina was framing me. Worse, her only reason to try and get back into my life wasn't even for me. It was for blood. "See it going away? Not yours anymore. Not ever going to be, even if you came clean now."

Kahina whimpered, then grew frustrated.

I clenched my fist and closed the cut up. I'd need a moment to wash it out, and bind it as soon as possible. Maybe it'd heal as easily as Stacy seemed to think. The pain didn't matter though, victory was mine.

Kahina's face twisted for a moment then turned to a snarl. She swung herself to the side and for the second time today Stacy went flying. My now extremely ex-girlfriend dove for me. Her shoulder collided with my stomach and knocked us over. There was a crack of noise as my head slammed something behind me and the world went fuzzy.

The world spun and my mind tried to get a grip on the sudden change. The first thing I became aware of was a mewling sound and a tongue licking along my palm’s inside. It didn't hurt. There was just pressure. Things came into focus slowly. Kahina was curled up nearby with my hand at her mouth. She was licking the blood straight from the wound where it still slowly trickled. I jerked at my hand in momentary panic.

She didn't let go.

"Kahina, let go!" I was pulling at my hand. She locked her free arm around my elbow and kept me in position. My feet scrambled to get under me but the more I pulled away the more she tightened her grip.

There was a groan of noise to my left. It wasn't female though. I looked around. Julianne and Stacy were standing back a ways with an expression that bordered between confusion and fright. It wasn't directed towards Kahina.

They were looking at where the groaning noise had come from. Evan.

His lips were moving but no audible words came out. I panicked. Evan had answers. He had information. Kahina needed to return to her senses and let me go. At this point Evan was the only thing keeping me here. My vision started spinning. Maybe so much blood loss in such a short time was adding up.

"Kahina, let go, you damned crazy bitch." I gave my arm a jerk and pushed at her shoulder. She snarled and tried to get back to the blood.

"Let go!" I caved to her pull and slammed the thin black woman into the wall behind us. Her eyes crisscrossed for a moment as the house shuddered a third time. One moment of confusion was enough to yank my hand away.

I quickly stumbled to the elf. His chair ground against the carpet as he was drug across the room.

"Keep her the hell away from me unless you want this to get worse." I said. My hand stung again from moving Evan’s chair.

There was a budding anger in the back of my brain. Everything spun and the room felt dim. Something that was mine was being messed with. It felt like I was being robbed and was frozen, completely unable to prevent it.

I shook my head to try and tried to focus. My healthy hand shook the elf’s face. Any traces of my blood that had dripped onto him were gone. I must have gotten it all in his mouth. Julianne's carpet was safe.

Evan was mumbling in that weird language they had. It sounded like the wind pitching itself through a long tunnel with waterfalls on both sides. Some women loved it. I got annoyed when I couldn't understand them. Especially right now in the midst of all this other madness.

"What the hell are you saying, Evan?" I put my hand over his head and jostled. "Earth to Evan."

I could hear Julianne and Stacy muttering to each other behind me. They made soothing sounds to Kahina. She was sniffling. Evan kept on muttering.

"Speak english." I rolled his head around some more while getting angrier. It was hard to focus. I'd been violated. Been stolen from. What was mine was in danger.

Evan’s eyes opened and stared intensely at nothing.

"A Lord calls. He calls."

"What the hell do you mean by that, Evan, tell me what a Lord is to you." I said desperately. He slipped back into the other words again. "Answer me, you worthless spawn of a weed!"

"He calls." Evan’s eyes seemed to gain some sort of focus once I stopped shaking his head.

"What are you doing here?" His eyes found mine and a look of terror passed over him.

"You are one of their hunters, how did you find me? Who?" He started panicking, bucking weakly against his restraints.

"You're bound hard, Evan.” I leaned in close with my damaged hand cradled. My vision was doubling up. “Now answer the question."

He was looking behind him, trying to figure out an escape route. Evan’s eyes only got wider as the moments passed.

"Evan, why did you call me Lord?" I spat.

He turned back to me and locked eyes with an intense focus. There was more muttering coming forth that didn’t make sense. Pressure started to build in my mind. His form started to blur and shake. He seemed to vanish. Then seemed to be waving from outside a window. But it was my eyesight that told me these things. My feet were still firm on the floor. The girls were still behind me talking. My hand was still cradled. Vision lied. I reached out to where Evan should have been and found purchase. Then shook.

"Evan!" I was shouting. "Why did you call me Lord?" The vision before me snapped away and the elf looked more panicked than ever.

"No, not you, not you. It cannot be. You are just a thug, a minion, you are not one of them." He was babbling. My mind was functional enough to register the elf’s worry.

"I saw you, Evan, I saw you talking to me in the forest, through that other body." He was having a disconnection between me in front of him, and my tracking spirit in the forest.

He blinked, then blinked again and the babbling only got worse. From the corner of my eye I could see Kahina curled up. She looked distraught over what had just happened. Stacy was watching me and Evan as much as she was watching Kahina.

"You need to run, you need to hide. It is not me they want, it is you.” Evan said. “They want you. Run away, Lord, run away, flee." He kept going and I shook him again. His head flopped back and forth while his body remained bound by iron.

I could see little sparks of color appear. His eyes rapidly turned into a firework show as all sorts of hues flared up around us. Evan’s eyes crossed again and he seemed to be looking elsewhere.

"Run away, run far away, to the woods, we can hide you. We will take you away and shelter you. The old ways. We can flee and restore what was lost." He kept going on and on.

"No!" Kahina had regained enough of her senses to hear what he was babbling. "You will not leave me, Jay! Don't leave!"

I turned around. Both Stacy and Julianne were holding Kahina back. Her face was a wreck but there wasn't a spot of blood on her except for two small dabs by either eye. My head throbbed and hearing had started ringing. The doubled vision grew worse. Something important hovered on the edge of my memory but nothing made sense.

"Why, Kahina? You don't want your meal to get away?" My snide attitude felt like almost an afterthought as I tried to concentrate.

"No, Jay, I love you, you're mine, mine! Not his, no one else's!" Her babbling was getting similar to the elf’s. I wasn't sure I could take standing in the middle like this.

The drop of blood slid further down her face. Oh Hell. She was crying. It had been a while since we were officially together but part of me still wanted to go to her, to help her. She was strong so much of the time. To see her breaking down was disturbing.

Vampires can't fake crying blood.

Kahina made short surges across the floor as her strength and desperation mounted. She was just strong enough to overcome the other two holding her. Evan rattled his restraints while babbling the word 'run'.

My next words were lost in a new bombardment of noise. Stacy's head jerked up to look at me for a brief moment. I wasn't even sure what I had said to Kahina.

The front room window shattered as something was tossed through. A pop and hiss barely preempted smoke filling the room. Seconds later the door was rammed open. Shouting threatened to destroy what was left of my concentration. Multiple someones had invaded and they were moving quickly. Their guns were heavy. I saw a Western Sector logo through the smoke.

I didn't react well. The sense of violation had started to grow even higher driving a need to protect what was mine. My mind had failed to understand this maze my life had become. Being attacked made things so much simpler. This was now a fight, something I should excel at. Something I needed to vent the feelings that had piled up inside me.

Kahina and the others were quick to move to the ground. The smoke grenade that had been thrown inside probably had bits of silver mixed with other particles. Enough to shut down most non humans. My skin twitched and rolled as I went into action.

They'd opened fire and it felt like I was being punched with tiny lead tipped beanbags.

I dove for the couch and tipped it over. Hands knifed through the cheap fabric covering the bottom. Fingers curled around the wooden beams inside. Another few beanbag pellets connected. With a yell I propelled the three seat couch in front of me like a shield and slammed into as many as I could. It felt so good. There was a blow to the side of my head that should have put me down, but didn't.

I wouldn't let them take what was mine so easily.

Things got choppy after that. Real life flashed by in a series of still life snapshots. One such picture was me throwing someone through the window while smoke filled my vision. Angry snarls came from behind me. Another flash and I was stepping out the broken window of Julianne’s house.

The yard was full of far too many people for the five of us. Evan was back there uttering his stream of words. A moment later and I was charging across the lawn with a yell. One of the guns I had ripped away from our assailants was tossed at the vehicles outside. The makeshift projectile created a dent that seemed far too big.

There was a loud succession of shots which resulted in more painful little rubber bullets. A dog pile of bodies landed on me and word were shouted. After that my mind stopped registering things.