Better the Devil You Know

Madeline lay awake in bed with a smile that insisted on spreading from ear to ear. She didn't have to, but she pressed an ear against Belle's back, listening to the blood flowing through the woman's heart. Already having listened to the steady thump of her heart for the last hour, from her side of the bed. It and all the other sounds that filtered in to her new grown senses. Her body thrummed with the new sensations. But now she was snuggling in close, relishing the moment. Every sound, every smell. The feel of silk sheets against her skin was warm water rolling over her flesh. This was a new day. No. She corrected herself. This is a new day. No more playing the loyal servant, the dutiful lackey. She was moving up the food chain, and she would drain anyone dry that would stand in her way.

Her fangs appeared unbidden, her tongue toying with the sharpness of them. Emma was a fool. How could she not embrace this power and strength? Madeline splayed a left hand across Belle's stomach and pulled her closer in.

"If you cannot be still then get out of my bed." Belle hissed. "Some of us would like to sleep."

"Forgive me mistress." Madeline tamped down her glee, slipping into a comfortable and giddy sleep.

Madeline continued to brim with excitement as their taxi pulled up alongside the curb just past the entrance of the club. Madeline reached for the woman's hand as she exited the vehicle. Stepping out as the valet opened the door of the cab, she was doused in purple neon, reading the marquis for Eternity, smile permanently affixed to her face. She followed Belle past the onlookers, matching their glances and looks, stare for stare. It could have been that Belle looked stunning in a dark blue sleeveless chiffon number with a pleated skirt. It could have been that they had never seen Madeline before, she in a simple red pencil dress with capped sleeves. The young woman tossed blonde gossamer hair over her shoulder, pushing out a bit of charm with the motion. Belle squeezed her hand, catching the younger woman's attention. Giving her a look to let her know that her behavior was slightly uncool. Too much attention can be unwanted attention.

In typical Belle fashion she greeted her entourage with a smile. Along with a touch here, a palm across a cheek there, club goers enthralled by, and moving around her like the moons of Jupiter. Madeline felt a twinge of jealousy as Belle's attention was drawn away from her. She moved closer into the woman's orbit, only to be rebuffed with a casual glance, and a bit of fang.

Madeline dropped the woman's hand, looking after her with hooded eyes that filled with a complete and sudden darkness. Her eyes boring into the woman's back as she sashayed across the floor and into the shadows, to her favorite spot in the club. Madeline huffed, turning to join the crowd on the floor. She bobbed to the rhythm and soon was swept into the vortex of dancers, soon forgetting the snub by her maker.

Kristoff piled the last few cases of liquor along the back wall of the basement. Club music drifted downward, the music coursing through his veins. It was a good night to cut out early and go for a run. He reached up with his right hand, pulling his hair free of it ponytail shaking it out. Releasing a slow groan, he squeezed his shoulder blades close together, all the while swiveling his head back and forth. Kristoff closed his eyes for a moment and cocked his head to one side. Pushing the sound of club music to a back corner in his mind, sniffing something familiar and faint within the small bit of air that circulated around his head. His normally tranquil features transformed into something feral and menacing, calm pools of brown eyes swirled angrily into turbulent golden whorls.

No fucking way. No way has that blonde witch come into the club this evening. Kristoff's wolf pulled at its chains. He thought for a moment what his next move was going to be, as he was already in the proverbial doghouse because of that wench. Regina would definitely kick him to the curb if he so much as laid a hand on her girlfriend – not her girlfriend. Shit. Kristoff made his way up the stairs from the basement and followed the scent. The club was filled to capacity, yet he managed to block everything else out, years of wolf sense rising to the challenge. He let his eyes scan the first floor weaving around clubbers. He caught the eye of one of the other bouncers and waved him off to hold his position. Kristoff noticed Belle seated in her throne room as he liked to call it, her entourage intact. He wasn't surprised that the scent he followed seemed to come from her direction, as she and Emma lived under the same roof. But when he had to double back in the direction of the dance floor, he was momentarily confused. He shuffled his way over to a column, taking up a resting position as scanned the dance floor for Emma. It wasn't until he followed Belle's gaze that his eyes settled on a red dress worn by a young woman that was definitely a freshly made vampire. She smiled way too much and was using charm to encourage people to fawn over her. He sucked air between clenched teeth, realizing that he allowed his emotions to cloud his judgement. Angry and annoyed with Regina for protecting what she felt was hers. And more so himself, for assuming that the blonde couldn't possibly have any redeeming qualities. Because wasn't it a second chance that Regina had given him? Swirling gold eyes faded just enough to not raise any suspicion. He had discovered Regina's attacker, and he was going to make sure that she paid for it. He pulled his cell phone out of a back pocket.

Kristoff – Calling it an early night, going for a run. Would like to talk when I get back, or tomorrow. But soon.

Regina sat at her desk, office darkened, the glow of her laptop illuminating her face, worrying the pad of her left thumb against a drawn canine. Occasionally keystrokes bounced quietly off the walls. As her phone chirped she turned it face up and opened the message screen. She laid her phone back down and stretched her arms. She had been giving Kristoff a cold shoulder off and on, not fair to him, and not really knowing how to apologize to him. She knew he was only trying to protect her. But she was also trying to protect Emma. Though as she smiled to herself just now, Emma needed the least amount of protecting. She typed a quick response and went back to work.

Regina – I would like that.

Kristoff smiled. Before slipping his phone into his back pocket, he fired off another text to his security team, eyeing them individually as they read their texts and nodded their understanding. And just like that he was out the door.

Emma Swan was standing alone deep in the woods; the night air was soothing to her skin. She was staring at and through her surroundings, swaying slightly, a lone reed at the stream's edge bobbing in a soft current. She allowed her eyes to follow the bands of energy she could see flowing from the foliage around her. To her eyes they appeared as tendrils of varying shades of green and yellow caught in an ebb and flow around her. She moved her hands out away from her side, watching the colors swirl into eddies as she wiggled her fingers in the current of light.

Emma saw movement in the distance off to her left. Her fists clenched immediately, nails digging into her palms. She held off on her fangs drawing down moving intentionally to her right, as the slightest bit of air was at her back. And she watched. Kristoff was a long blur of red veins and muscle, with her vision. She waited as he edged closer, he visibly slowed, muzzle in the air as he inhaled. He dropped his head and slowed to a walk, scanning the woods for his quarry.

Emma slipped her shades into place and waited. The colors around her faded as he became her sole focus. Her brow drew together puzzled; four legs became two, walking upright and towards her.

Kristoff was enjoying the late evening air. These were the nights he enjoyed best, pushing himself so hard his lungs burned. It was cleansing and euphoric. It cleared his mind of any stray thought and lifted any fogginess he have been feeling. He had been running for some time, the claws of his feet digging into the soft earth, tossing bits and pieces of it up every time his paws struck the ground. But now he was getting hungry. It was while he had his muzzle down, just picking up the scent of a rabbit that he almost missed the new smell. He raised his head up, a snarl wrinkling his muzzle. Second chances. Damn. He knew his next move was a risk. But maybe, just maybe, she would be willing to hear him out, before ripping his throat out.

So there he stood, a naked man, bare and vulnerable as one could possibly be. Kristoff noted the blood dripping from Emma's closed fists. She looking very much in need of a meal and not in a position to afford blood loss. He pushed the scent of her blood from his thought and focused on what he wanted to say.

"Hey." He started. Emma acknowledged him with a nod. Non-threatening was not what she was expecting.

Kristoff shifted on his feet. Emma's face unreadable, doubly so with her shades in place. But maybe he didn't want to see her eyes.

"Look, we don't have to like each other, and I don't know how you feel. But I don't think I am wrong in saying that we both want what is best for Regina. She is hurting because of you, and she got hurt because of you. She never told me what happened between you two on the roof that night. But I blamed you. I saw how she was totally blind for you. I've never seen anyone affect her like that. And then I find her on the roof, half cooked, and you were the last person I knew she was with. So yeah, I thought you left her on the roof to die. But Regina is all about giving people another shot at proving the world wrong. And she said it wasn't you who shot her-." Kristoff never finished his sentence as Emma was on him in a flash, her left hand closing around his throat, steadily lifting him from the ground.

"What!?" Emma's voiced roared in his ears. His hands came up to grab for her wrist as he struggled for air. Kristoff fought the urge to transform, when every fiber of his being was currently thinking about survival. And survival was always tantamount to being a werewolf, and he needed for Emma to know that she could trust him, even just a little bit. Kristoff was rarely fearful, but it was the eyes that terrified him when Emma tossed her sunglasses aside. They darkened and spun black beyond black, lifeless and alive simultaneously. He shivered beyond what he already felt naked.

"Ple-ase. Bre-athe." Something in Emma registered and she released Kristoff, stepping away as he collapsed in a heap. Blonde anger stepped away further away from him and Kristoff worked himself onto his hands and knees. Drawing in as much air as his lungs would hold. Emma paced, this was information she did not have, and had never heard. Her senses told her that Kristoff spoke the truth. Even without her super senses, she could feel the truth.

"You didn't know?" Kristoff rubbed the soreness that was his throat.

Emma spoke through gritted teeth. "Tell me what happened." White and black spots appeared as she clenched her eyes closed, feeling her world spin.

Kristoff recounted the events as he remembered them. He sat quietly on the ground, never taking his eyes off the woman as began pacing back and forth. The ground beneath her feet had begun to smolder, blackening with every pass.

"It wasn't until tonight I figured out who it was. The smell of the sedative she used was still hanging on to what bits of human residue she had left." Emma turned to face him. Lowering herself to the ground she dug her nails into the soil to keep herself rooted in place. "Anyway, it's a new vampire hanging out with Belle."

Kristoff pushed off on his hands, rocking back on his heels into a crouch. His wolf ready to take off running. The hair on the back of his neck itched. There was little doubt in his mind that Emma was going to explode when he finished talking. He at least wanted a fighting chance to escape.

He felt it more than he heard it, something akin to a growl that did not emanate from him. He looked towards Emma, her head bowed, blonde hair dragging against the ground. The sound was low and distant at first. It vibrated beneath him, and into the air. It was everywhere he turned. And Kristoff wasted no more time, leaping skyward and back toward the trees, shifting into his wolf. The scream that followed was pained and he would be okay with never hearing it again, causing the hackles along his spine to rise. There was a challenging roar that followed the first and Kristoff slowed his escape as it died down. His ears pricked, followed by his head rotating to glance over his shoulder, to the distinct sound of a whimper. He felt the pull, cursing to himself. Unable to resist the command to return, he padded back to where he left Emma, finding the small surround of trees uprooted, bent, and twisted

Emma gripped fistfuls of dirt, peering through strands of hair at Kristoff.

"Can you understand me wolf?" Kristoff kept his distance. "I need to feed." With that statement Kristoff backed away to what he deemed a safer distance. Emma watched his eyes. "It is not my intention to feed on or from you. I would rather not. Dog isn't high on my favorite meals to eat." Emma chuckled as the wolf snarled and snapped at her. "So you do understand me." She released a sharp cough, letting her body settle into the torn earth. "There is a small herd of deer, that direction." Emma pointed her left hand behind her. "Now go." Emma had come to a decision. She could no longer continue to run away. She had hurt too many people. And the one person she cared for, the only one, who had shown her affection, had been hurt because of her. Fine. If she was going to be cursed, then she would take those responsible, with her. Because as far as she was concerned, she was a living abomination and not meant for this world, or any other. Yeah, when good men do nothing…Emma's lip turned up just a smidge. She would do one more good deed, maybe two.

Selene sat next to a gargoyle beneath the church steeple. Her eyes followed the path of a raven that wheeled overhead in a darkened sky, flying tighter spirals as it made its way closer to earth. The bird came to light upon the forehead of the gargoyle, cocking a curious eye at Selene. The raven croaked in her direction and leaped into the air, rematerializing in human form. The Morrigan folded her arms and rested them against the gargoyle, seduction cloaked in black.

"Death Dealer, you are looking well." Selene continued looking out across the city. "You realize that this meeting is of course, of the record."

"I have found the person behind the attacks on both our people." Evony scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Really. That my dear isn't news. Everyone knows it's Gold's pet parrot." Selene shook her head, turning to face the Morrigan. She was, thought Selene all that she had heard, and perhaps a bit more. The energy that radiated from her was heady, in a familiar kind of way.

"No, not that. But just as easily disturbing." Selene looked back out across the city. There was a moment when time felt as if it had come to a standstill. "But I could use your help. As I'm sure you would easily like mine." She could see the Morrigan from the corner of her eye. Choosing to ignore the woman's expression, that she, the Morrigan, would ever stoop so low as to ask for help. "Consider it a trade."

The Morrigan followed Selene's gaze and sighed. Her city, her people, were under attack from an unknown. Someone had been picking them off one by one. Certainly as temporary alliance was in all their best interest.

"A trade then." Selene felt her jaw clench. Not from the Morrigan's acquiescence, but that she would do anything for Regina, including kill to protect her. They did not always see eye to eye, and she herself was deadest on Regina being with Emma Swan, but that wasn't her call. Nor did it belong to some upstart who was hell bent on starting a war. Selene had had centuries of fighting, and she for one was sick of it.

"There is a recently turned vampire in Gold's household. A young woman whose maker is none other than Belle." The Morrigan chuckled.

"I'm sure that went over well." Selene nodded. "Gold allows no one to take the lead on such matters."

"For certain. But she is who you want."

"And you are just going to up and turn over a vampire to me? One of your own?" Selene flashed fangs at the Morrigan, eyes iridescent blue.

"Not, one of mine!"

"And what do you wish in exchange?" Selene closed her eyes. The Morrigan's lips brushed along her left ear, a brief shudder passing through her, but it allowed her anger to subside.

"Emma Swan."

The Morrigan stepped away from Selene and behind the gargoyle again, inhaling sharply through her teeth as she did so.

"I don't know if that will be possible. You do realize that she is Fae. Her parents were a charming couple. Just a tad bit idealistic and hopeful. They unfortunately got caught in one of Gold's traps and were forced to, let's say, abandon their only child. The girl has no idea what she is." The Morrigan watched as Selene took a deeper than normal breath, looking straight up into the first stars dotting an early night sky. "Vampire, but Fae nonetheless." She continued to study Selene as the woman remained quiet. "Why?"

"Family." Selene was done. She dropped down from the steeple and made her way to the street, the cries of the Morrigan falling on her ears like laughter, high from the night sky.

Emma crawled from beneath the earthen berm she had instructed Kristoff to bury her under the night before, shaking rotting leaf and soil from her mane of hair. The wolf brought down a large doe that she could feed upon. It was enough to carry her through the night. She had even torn off a hind quarter and tossed it to the wolf. He eyed her warily the whole time, even though she assured him that he was safe, for the time being.

"How about we declare a truce?" Kristoff continued feeding on his portion. Tearing off large chunks and tossing them back with delight. Engulfing them in two or three as he fed. The blood was warm, the meat delicious. "I need a favor from you, wolf."

Emma rose and stretched, earth continuing to fall haphazardly as she gazed up at the stars, all signs of a sunset obliterated from the night sky. She scratched at the scar on her neck. It was time to go home.