"Marguerite I've never seen him like this!" Veronica whispered to her, "I mean we all were changed, but we all felt ill effects even as I was placing the stone back, my throat was dry, and I had a head ache… but John? He embraced the change, never had an ill effect! Marguerite…" she started she didn't know how to explain to her best friend that the man she loved was a monster… "He ate a man…"

"WHAT!" Marguerite burst out, 'no… this can't be true!' she thought to herself, 'not John… oh god, not John! He can't be a monster… not like the others… please not like the others…'

"Granted he was under the effect of that stone, but he never held back… well except for with my arm, when I yelled at him."

"When you yelled at him?" now she was really confused.

"You know how I got hit by the arrow he noticed later cause he said he could smell the blood… so he was acting like he was going to eat me… or something, so I yelled at him to snap out of it, he snapped back for a second saying he was trying then he went back to crazy town, and said it felt good… then he was thankfully distracted by Eva, and her 'clan' long enough to leave me… and my arm I might add, alone…"

"Oh my god…"

"What?" Veronica started, a little worried… Roxton could not find out about this conversation, he would kill her.

"The whole, bloody time he acted like he was fine, hell he probably even said he was fine… am I right?"

"Well… yeah… but how'd you…" Veronica started at Marguerite, genuinely confused.

"Never mind that…" she waved her off as she quickly got up from the balconies warm bench, "it's exactly what happened with the bloody vampire…" she mumbled more to herself, than Veronica, "I have to go talk to him… where is he Veronica?" she spoke with a tone that conveyed how truly worried she was about John, and that in its self scared the hell out of her.

"He left a little bit ago… said he was going hunting, something about wanting to be alone for a while…"

"Damn that man…" she continued mumbling something about how he couldn't even follow his own rules, as she headed for the elevator.

..

"JOHN ROXTON!" Marguerite shouted at him out of frustration, when she found him a few miles away from the tree house sitting in front of a small pond with a very large waterfall. If she hadn't been about to kill that man she would have thought it was beautiful, she'd even go as far as to say it was romantic!

"WHAT!" he jumped surprised, to find it was only Marguerite he lowered his gun relieved it was only her… he even cracked a small smile, "what do you want? Worrying about me already? I've only been gone an hour." He stood up, placing his rifle gently on the rock he had been sitting on seconds ago, and walked… more a strut really. "What's a nice girl like you…" he slurred a little, and draped an arm around her shoulder.

She could smell the pungent alcohol on his breath, she was afraid of this… it was his defense mechanism; hers was sarcastic, calloused remarks. His? Drinking, it got even the best of men, including John Roxton… "John," she struggled under his weight, "You've been drinking…"

"Just a lil' …" he lied as he stumbled just standing in one spot, Marguerite doing her best to hold him up.

He then passed out… "Joy… this is gonna be a long night…" she sighed, hefting him up more, to drag him over to a rock to rest him on.

..

He was gonna be really pissy when he woke up, he always woke up after drinking pissy…

She had sent a message with the signal mirrors to Veronica not to worry, and they'd be home tomorrow, she'd found a cave that was hidden behind the waterfall no dinosaur would be able to get to it because of the steep ledge and ape men and slavers were too stupid to look there… completely safe, well as safe as you could be on the plateau.

..

At about 3 o'clock in the morning Marguerite felt a stirring beside her, she had fallen asleep on Roxton's chest. "Marguerite?" his voice came out scratchy, from the alcohol. "Where the hell…"

She cut him off, "Ssshhh… we're safe, hidden behind that beautiful waterfall I found you at…"

"You're angry at me aren't you?"

"No… I should be! I have every right to be! But … no… I'm just glad you're safe…" she kissed him softly on the lips with her eyes closed, his closed as well.

"You're too good for me…"

"No, John you deserve much more than me… I just lucked out that you're blind as a bat when it comes to me…" she smiled as she gently teased him.

"And I love it when you hold my hand to guide me when I'm lost in the dark…" he whispered in her ear, grasping her hand in his…

"Want to tell me about it now, or did you want some more alcohol?" an evil smile curved at the edges of her lips.

When Roxton tried to sit up, his head swam... "No, no… no more alcohol, I think I've had enough…" he grasped his head in his hand.

"You really need to stop binge drinking like that… it's not good for you… I want you for as long as I can have you… you should know by now; you can always talk to me, without me judging you… I might yell, but I would never judge you, just as you have never judged me…" she placed a silent kiss on his forehead.

"I love you too much to judge you…" he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tighter to him.

"All right, enough subject changing… that's my job…" she smiled at him, "now spill…"

"I didn't feel that bad, but I knew something was wrong…" he started.

"And you didn't want to worry anyone… right?"

"Who's tellin' the story here?" he smiled down at her. "Any way, I thought I'd feel better in after a minute or two… but instead I felt weirder… I could smell things, like Challenger's sweat from ten feet away…"

"Eww…" Marguerite interrupted.

"Yeah, I was the one smelling it… you don't even know the half of it…" he chuckled a little, he could feel so at peace with this woman, if only he could make her see that! "Then I felt the sudden urge to hunt, more so than usual, and then it was like a voice somewhere deep inside of me snarling to me, 'hunt and kill! Rip something apart with your bare hands, it will feel good…' so I eventually did give in to that voice… those stupid men were still following us, so I simply took one out… then later I took out another one… and… and…" he couldn't even bare to finish his statement, first of all in the fear Marguerite may be terrified of him if she knew… but to his surprise…

"You ate him? Didn't you…" she finished his statement for him…

He sighed in relief, "yeah… but how'd you…"

"Don't kill Veronica… please? We just started getting along…" she said only half joking…

"Cross my heart, hope too…" she covered his mouth with her small hand.

"Don't you dare say that! You know this damned plateau would take you up on the offer!" she said frustrated.

"All right… I promise…"he kissed her knuckles. "Now what do you say we get some sleep? Hmm?" he cuddled up to her warm body.

"sounds good…" as she did the same to him… she smiled, content to hold and be held in return… who needed money with a man like this… okay money wasn't so bad either but… damn! Decisions, decisions…