AN: THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS AND TEH FOLLOWS. THANKS FOR READING. SORRY FOR GRAMMAR/SPELLING MISTAKES.

D: LAW & ORDER SVU AND ALL ITS CHARACTERS ARE NOT MINE.

Chapter 22: WHAT IF?

Olivia's eyes fly from the drained fresh blood to the woman's face. She can listen to her heart's terrified beating and her erratic breathing synchronized with an expression full of fear and doubt. Olivia struggles to find some coherent thought as the strong burning on her throat intensifies more and more. An inner voice screaming at her to please just take what her body craves for so strongly.

"Liv?" The girl barely speaks as the shock takes over her entire body.

Liv. It has been so long since she heard the short version of her name. Liv. She focuses on her soon-to-become-victim's eyes to meet with a big blue stare looking at her with surprise and evident fear. She knows those eyes, that familiar blue, that face, that voice. She knows the girl.

The young human female finds the strength to try and move her right hand up to her injured left arm in an attempt to cover her wound. The slight movement causes the vampire to take her attention back to the red vivid liquid that trickles down the human's pale skin and the burning becomes unbearable. Olivia's mind becomes all blurred and she can only focus on the need to take her unbearable thirst away. The inner demanding voice inside her head becomes stronger. 'Take it!' Soon her muscles are ready to jump straight at what she craves the most. Her mouth is full of the poisonous liquid that is begging to be released. Her senses are heightened and the burn slides down to her lungs. They beg her to inhale a little more of that scent.

"Olivia." The girl's soft voice calls her again, this time with more determination though the obvious fear is still there.

Olivia tries to cling to the little conscience that she still has; fighting hard not to inhale in. She turns her gaze back to the girl's face and tries to remember her name, but she isn't able to. She lets out a raspy sigh in frustration and instinctively the girl moves back.

Suddenly, smearing and ghosting images attack Olivia's mind and she is able to see lots of familiar faces but she can't find names for them to pair with. She prefers to use the sudden distraction to to try and command the muscles of her legs to turn around and run in the opposite direction. She brings her hands up to her neck in a weak attempt to soothe the burning in her throat and the urgency of her thirst.

She then takes her gift into motion trying to get inside the human's head tryin to find somewhere in her mind the name her own can't remember. At first there is no succces. The girl's mind is filled with panic and fear until one particular face finally pops in it. Olivia could recognize that face in any place at any time… Elliot. A huge wave of feelings attacks her and it is then that she finds the strength she required in order to get the hell out of there. Her body answers quickly and, in less than a second, she runs into the forest struggling to get away as much as possible of that nameless young human.

She runs as fast as she can dodging everything at her path. A strange fury attack her mind as that inner voice of her shouts at her to turn around and get rid of the unbearable burning sensation in her throat. to turn around and take what she needed. In less than half a minute she arrives to the lake, which she avoids with a huge jump. She continues her path fleeing away from what was just about to happen. Once inside the mountains her heightened senses act quickly and soon she finds herself leaping straight to the jugular of a mountain lion who evidently wasn't expecting to be attacked.

"You little sneaky!" Stephen complains to see how Megan moves with agility and grace dodging each and every one of his snowballs. Megan mockingly laughs jumping to the branch of one of the frozen pines and watches at her opponent carefully.

"Your speed is not match to my agile moves." She says proudly to then teasingly show her tongue to him. Stephen laughs, shaking his head at his friend's childish attitude.

"Bye Bye." Megan decides to run away from there jumping to another tree but before she can move forward something catches the attention of both vampires.

The footsteps are heard approaching fast and soon they watch Olivia pass them. Megan stands still hoping not to be noticed but Olivia doesn't even stop.

"She didn't saw… ah!" The snowball smashes her head hard causing the vampire to jump to the ground in a futile attempt to dodge it.

"There!" Stephen says proud to have managed to finally hit the blonde. "Your agile moves can't match my intelligence." It's his time to mock her. Megan ignores him closing her eyes and holds still in the strange position she had landed, waiting for the thirty seconds to pass so she can be able to move again.

Just when Stephen thinks on running towards the direction in which they saw Olivia pass a strong feline roar is heard from inside the forest.

Megan opens her eyes in surprise and turns to see Stephen with doubt. Stephen doesn't think twice before running towards the animal's sound. Megan decides to break her frozen position and runs after him.

"Olivia?" Stephen calls her as he sees her leaning over. He approaches her and immediately notices the motionless cat lying in front of her. "Is everything ok?" He asks rushing to her side to face her. "Olivia?"

The vampire's face is expressionless, but her dilated pupils and her showing fangs make Stephen realizes that she is on haunting mode.

"What happened?" Soon Megan appears with evident dismay in her voice. Olivia shakes her head and tries to get herself together.

"It's nothing." She decides to say noticing how her voice evidences her. "I smelled it and I…" Soon she begins to make a compelling story. An alibi. "Sorry, I think I'm not ready for this." Her eyes go ack to normal and her fangs disappear inside her gums as she manages to steady herself.

"Oh no. It is completely normal my dear." Megan is quick to say reaching her side looking for her gaze. "You haven't gone hunting since you were turned and your body just asked for it." She explains giving her a warm smile.

"Yeah, well, I better get back to the house." Olivia says trying to smile, successfully this time. "Continue without me." Stephen watches with caution and doubt wondering if the vampire is hiding something. Olivia immediately realizes this and decides she should give a more convincible performance for him. "I am sure I would have beaten you all." She says mockingly taking her gaze to him, knowing how competitive he is.

"Are you sure?" Stephen replies believing her performance.

"Yes. And when I have more control over myself I'll prove it to you." Olivia continues looking unconcerned.

"But now I better get back. I don't want to leave you guys without carnivores." She tries to joke about it. Then she starts walking toward the cabin.

"Want some company?" Megan offers with a smile. Olivia shakes her head and decides to run away from the place not wanting to make all that bigger. Megan turns to see Stephen with doubt and he just shrugs not knowing what to think. Megan seizes the moment and moves quickly to take two snowballs in her hands jumping into the air throwing one of them to Stephen who manages to dodge it, but soon the second one hits him half jump.

"Damn!" He complains flopping to stay frozen in place. His eyes fly looking for his shooter only to see the blonde running away while laughing proudly. "Little sneaky girl." He whispers letting out a small laugh.

Remaining still he puts his senses to work looking for one of his two male opponents. The tiny fast lights begin to arrive surrounding the dead animal; so Stephen decides to leave the place and expects that Raymond is nowhere near to get his hands or fangs on the creatures again.

"Hey!" A man shouts walking through the woods where the young lady is lying on the snow. "Hey!" Once he sees her he runs toward her. "What happened?" The man stoops to help her. "Oh Jesus! You are bleeding." He is soon pressing her arm trying to make the bleed stop.

"Babe!?" A young man approaches with a group of others. "Oh my god! What happened?"

"Calm down." The man who's helping her says. "Listen miss, I'm from the hotel's security…" He assures her so she knows she can trust him, but the girl seems to be in shock.

"There's someone else!" The young man shouts pointing to the almost motionless body that is beside some rocks.

"Who is it?" All the group approaches trying to identify the man. "I don't know."

"Are you okay?" The guard asks the victim who just nods doubtful keeping her gaze somewhere in the snow. "I need backup here. West side of the hotel about five minutes inside the forest." The man signaled by a radio. "I need you to hold here." He command the woman who just follows his order and press her injure.

"Guys please stand back!" He commands the curious boys rushing to meet the man in the ground.

Soon a rescue group arrives to the place within the hotel's authorities. They rush to call ambulances and the police as they recognize the injured man as an aggressor that has been sought by the local authorities for days now.

Not far from there, in the shadows of the forest Raymond silently observes everything with a grin on his face.

Once safely in her little tree house, Olivia puts her hands on the chess table and watches them warily. They are so pale, perfectly still; the black lines have almost disappeared from the place where her blood used to run. A blurry image comes to her mind, as a flashback: 'her trembling hands on a table, her breathing all accelerated and her heart beating fast.'

She strives to understand what her mind is trying to remember. She has came to understand that the blurred memories are those of before she had waken up in the forest, they are from when she was human. They are so blurry and feel so alien. Even the color in them are different. She has guessed that it is caused because she hadn't live all of that with the developed senses which she had waken up in the forest with.

She explores the memory until she is able to see the young man sitting across from her. 'Adrenaline.' She listens to the words that the young marine had said to her that day. That's the feeling she has, adrenaline, but this time her body is not responding to it.

Her hands are motionless, her unnecessary breathing is calm, and her heart remains still. It makes her wonders if now all her internal organs remain frozen and motionless as rocks? Or are they as strong but soft as it is her skin?

"Concentrate." She commands herself with a firm voice, frustrated of being unable to collect her thoughts. Now she regrets on not had accepted the mirror that Megan had offer for her house decoration. She used to use her own reflection to concentrate back whenever she had problems as a human. If she could see her eyes she could focus better and, maybe, she could remember the name of the young woman who she has saved back in the forest. She is sure she knows her but she can't remember from where. The only clue she has is Elliot.

"What's your name?" She asks aloud in a frustrated tone.

"Kathleen." She immediately turns to the place where the voice has come from. "Her name is Kathleen." Raymond repeats giving her a smile. She hasn't heard him arrive; or if some part of her mind had she ignored it completely.

"Kathleen?" She repeats the name and her mind clears. Kathleen appears in her blurry memories. "How do you…" She starts questioning the vampire but she immediately guesses the answer by herself. "You followed me."

"Yes." Raymond doesn't deny it. He moves to her side calmly sitting on the little table. "I heard the cries for help and noticed how immediate you were to run towards them." He confesses and the images of his memory are displayed in her mind as evidence that he is not lying. "I ran after you. You really are fast." He says letting out a playful laugh.

"Why didn't you stop me?" Olivia asks trying not to seem angry.

"I accept that I never intend to." Raymond admits taking the white queen off the chess board. "I thought it would be good to let you try for yourself what being a vampire is." Olivia looks at him without trying to disguised her anger this time.

"Would you've let me kill her?!" She asks with obvious annoyance in her voice.

"I'm not pro-humans remember?" Raymond answers without feeling guilty. "In fact when I arrived I thought you were done with the drunken man." Only remembering the filthy aggressor makes Olivia's mind get filled with anger recalling that her intention was to actually kill him. "But what you did with that girl… wow. There was no need for me to stop you huh? It was awesome."

"What?"

"You had flesh blood right in front of you. The odor was so intense." He explains while playing with the chess piece in his hands. "Even I had problems resisting it."

The scene viewed from Raymond's mind is projected into Olivia's as he continues speaking his monologue.

"I thought you were going for her arm." The image is terrifying. She can't recognize herself in the wild woman Raymond had witnessed back there. "But when she said your name. Hahaha!" He lets out one genuine surprise laughter and his voice begins to show his excitement. "It was somewhat ironic. You know? For a moment I thought you'd end up as fucked as Stephen! But No! Oliv… Liv stopped. Liv give it a thought and managed to think twice in mid-hunt. Liv ran away!" Him using her nickname only helps to make her feel even more frustrated. "You have an amazing self control woman! How do you do it?! You act like a fifty year old immortal. Fifty instead of one that has been turned just a few months ago. Do you know how much it takes to a newborn to control its thirst?"

"Of course I know!" She says ironically recalling perfectly well the unbearable burn at her throat.

"It's almost impossible for them! Well at least i know it used to be. It has been a long time since I meet one." Raymond continues ignoring Olivia's words.

He's too excited waving his hands in the air trying to express the magnitude of what he's talking about.

"If the newborn had a good mentor guiding him on how to control himself and teaching him how not to make a scene, then it was easier. And, even then lots of newborns couldn't control themselves. The ones that couldn't be controlled were destroyed by The Families because they kept killing lots of humans. So many that several serial killers had to be invented by men."

"Stop." Olivia tries to make his words come to an end.

"But then there is you, Liv, you are exposed for the first time, not only to a human but to her fresh blood and what do you do?" But Raymon is way too excited. His eyes all dilated and with a special brightness on them. "You run away!"

Olivia is speechless watching the excitement radiating from the vampire. She's never seen him so euphoric; he has always remained so calm.

"Don't you see it? You don't have to stay here. You have a great potential to go out into the world without fear of making an unnecessary fuss!"

'So that's it? He still wants me to go with him.' She thinks for herself attempting to decipher his attitude.

"Raymond, I already told you I'm not going anywhere." She decides to speak with confidence in her words. "I'll stay here. And I'll appreciate that what just happened stays between you and me. I don't want to alarm them." Raymond's expression immediately turns serious and all the emotions fades along with his smile. The light in his eyes slowly fades too.

"Okay, I shall not insist then. And you don't have to worry, my lips are sealed." He ensures giving her a cocky smile. "I am amazed but don't trust much on this super self-control of yours. Now that you know her scent you might find yourself with the hunting instinct. You'll want to go hunt her at any time." His voice back to the calm and hypnotism tone he normally uses. "It would be better for you to stay as far as possible from here. Apparently you are too close to the place that was once your home and to the humans who were once your loved ones."

"My life is none of your business." Olivia says gruffly.

"No, nor your old life nor your new life are of my business. Don't get me wrong, I don't want that responsibility." Raymond speaks approaching to her. "It actually is your creator's job. If it was me I would have taken you straight to the other side of the world. I did so with Megan. Even though she begged me to return for her brother I didn't let her, and that is something she will be thankful… forever." He kin of explains what his intention is in wanting her to go with him.

Olivi fights not to roll her eyes at him, part because he thinks he is making a point and half because she actually knows from Megan's mouth she will be eternally thankful for that.

"I'd hate you ending up like Stephen; full of regret and all miserable only because he refused to accept the truth. Liv, I know you are a woman of word but they will understand. Take it as a second chance at life, don't waste it."

"Ok. Enough." She needs him to stop. She can feel his own ideas trying to get inside her mind. just as when they were playing chess. She needs him to stop. "First of all, stop calling me Liv. And secondly, who gives you the right to worry about me or my life? You better get the hell out of here and continue with yours." She says hostility without fearing of making him mad. She need him to stop.

"Sorry, I didn't want to bother you." Raymond says grudging an apology. "You're right, at the end of the day it is your life that will be spoiled. Don't worry I'll leave with tomorrow's storm." He decides to turn his back at her and walk towards the door where he stops. "I would have liked to see you exposed to the sunlight. Maybe Megan's experiment worked some strange effect on you." And he is gone within seconds leaving behind a more than frustrated Olivia, alone again.

"Asshole." She whispers without fear that the vampire can hear her. She strives to shake the feeling of anger that attacks her so she can rather focus on the information the vampire has provided. "Kathleen." She says aloud remembering the name of the young girl.

Now she can remember, little fuzzy, but she can remember. Elliot's daughter. A mixed feeling between anger and fear invades her realizing the situation where she had found the girl. She doesn't really know how much damage the drunken man had caused, besides her injured arm.

"Agggh." She complains as her throat starts to burn with just the memory of the wound and the fresh blood. Her mind immediately recalls the mesmerizing smell, the taste of the poison in her mouth and the heat radiated from her victim's body. Kathleen. She makes an enormous effort to move away from those thoughts fearing that, indeed, Raymond's words were true and somehow she involuntarily will try to hunt her.

"Damn it." She complains deciding to leave the tree house to run in search of a mirror. In less than five seconds she is in the middle-rock room standing in front of the big ballet mirror wall.

Seeing her face no longer surprises her; apparently she is used to see herself constantly in the thoughts of the others. Apparently Stephen's mind is focused on her face more often than she had managed to notice.

"Concentrate." She commands herself in the reflection looking straight to her eyes, which she is glad to find tinted in a golden tone already.

She lets her mind to go back to the memory where she is in front of the young woman, but this time trying to ignore the blood and striving to find the things her mind has grasped unconsciously. In the memory it seems that Kathleen is not badly injured. She needs something to cover from the cold but the rest of her clothes are intact.

Olivia immediately feels relieved to know that the man didn't have the chance to undress her. But she can't help but feel frustrated for having to leave her there all alone. She knows it's the best she could have done. She doesn't know how is it that she managed to run in the opposite direction but, in truth, she is grateful she did.

But then… has she left Kathleen alone and helpless in the woods with a dangerous man near her? Well, based on the horrible sound the man's bones did when crashing down on the rocks, he surely is not any danger to anyone anymore. She hopes.

Yet, she can't help but wonder —even hope— if at the end the monster died. Will he not have another day to cause harm to anyone else? There is only one person she knows who can know the answer for sure. Megan.

'You can't tell her.' She thinks to herself repressing the idea of involving the blond vampire in this.

She then remembers the images she have involuntarily seen in Megan's mind. How many times she has seen so many humans die and she actually would like to see that horrendous man's death too. Even as a human she always thought the only way to stop those kind of monsters was to kill them. The same kind of monster that actually killed her.

Within those thoughts there is one that calls her attention. Mathew been launched off a cliff. Megan had managed to throw him but, still, she had assured them that he wasn't supposed to die yet.

'What had happened to him?' She wonders, once again leaving her mind strayed. Immediately the hazy memories of the night of her death come to her. All she can remember appears in her mind in a strange disorder. Until, she reaches a thought that involves a huge old NYPD t-shirt. She recognizes that shirt.

"This one, I have to admit this one wasn't easy at all."

Mathew's words repeated in her mind.

"It still smells of your perfume."

He had gotten that shirt from... Where?

'Oh no.' Something clicks in her mind remembering where he'd gotten it.

"He knows where he lives." She whispers seeing the terror in her own reflection's expression.

'So if he is still alive… What if he wants to hurt him? What if it was the same man who attacked Kathleen?'

"No, that wasn't Mathew." She ensures herself remembering perfectly well the dying old man.

'Kathleen.' She returns to the issue that got her there in the first place. 'Is she fine? She recognized me. She won't say a thing, right? What if she is not fine? What if she stayed there stationary on the cold? If she gets sick? If she dies?' The possibilities continue attacking her until she comes to a really important question. A thing that so far she thinks she shouldn't interfere with.

'What if she was supposed to die? What if death is now chasing her?'

TO BE CONTINUED…

AN: THANKS FOR READING. REVIEWS AND FOLLWS RE WELCOMED.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE OUT THERE! STAY SAFE.