A/N: Sorry about the absent posts these last weeks. There been a lot of stuff going on. By the way, the awesomeness of the Craft belongs to my bestest and most wonderful friend, she wrote it in to her story which failed, but still she's a good writter.
After her encounter with James—and her encounter with Logan—and the friendly little chat she'd managed to have with Kurt, Seleena felt like running, or beating her head against the wall, or walking out into the sun. Of all those options, therapy or talking was not one of them, and running seemed the least painful.
In the twinkling dew out in the yard Seleena ran faster than she had since she'd come to the mansion. She let herself go and cherished the wind tearing at her face and arms. She was fleeing her troubles so fast that the tight cloth of her tank top began to tear with resistance, slowing her down. After several miles she came to a hillside; her soft fabric slippers were long gone and the rock clawed at her feet. She ran up the hill and when it ended she did not stop. Streaking upward the thin straps of her shirt gave out and shucked off of her like snakeskin. The wind ripped at her cuts and she began to bleed.
Some 40 yards above the earth, a metro area below, maybe it was New York, Seleena couldn't say, but she slowed her pace. She stopped running and flying like hell itself was chasing her and relaxed. She lay on her stomach and watched the city below. Lights flickered on and off as people were turning in for the night or waking up for a midnight snack. There were a few people out and about, walking their dog or some other menial task that could have waited for the morning.
She smiled at auras, visible to her even from this height. Tiny holiday bulbs that danced below and between the squares of light. Then she saw a beacon that made her stop in her flight path. A deep throbbing maroon that was growing stronger at every moment. The light was spotted, light blue and velvet yellow. She sucked in a freezing breath. He was a fledgling, newborn, she couldn't see his sire around but she had to help. Her hair streaking almost endlessly behind her, she must have frightened the woman as she landed, none-too-lightly. Yes, almost as much as she frightened the newly risen vampire, who was not smart enough to hide his aura. Her breasts bare and flesh torn and wind burned, her hair a tangle behind her that she would probably have to cut out tomorrow, she landed behind the attacker and searched for a weapon. The woman in his arms was flailing and Seleena could hear her heartbeat begin to slow. She grabbed a branch from a tree nearby, a weedish thing that no one had bothered to pull, and broke it off with a crack. The young one turned, furthering the wound in the woman's neck. Seleena saw her clothes, or rather lack thereof, and could piece together what had led to her becoming a happy meal.
The man sneered at her. "You gonna wave that at me? Maybe get yourself a pitchfork?"
Seleena looked at him coldly and hid her power well so that he would not run. "You're not welcome here." She told him.
He laughed her off. "That's not what she was sayin'." He dropped the woman and approached.
Seleena's face was expressionless and without hesitation she thrust the jagged limb into the man's chest. He made a very strange noise while his face contorted. He began to reach up, to yank the wood from his immortal chest. The woman's blood gurgled from the wound. Within the minute Seleena could smell the blood boiling. An eerie light came into his eyes as his insides caught fire. Within five minutes there would be nothing left. But Seleena couldn't stay and watch. The lady needed a hospital, and more medical attention than Seleena could give her.
Luckily, Seleena noted as she flew as fast as she could with the woman to the hospital, the attack was so savage it did not in the least resemble a bite wound. She was also thinking how good it was that Logan had forced her to eat because in her starved condition of earlier the woman would not have made it to the ER.
The doors opened automatically as Seleena stepped on the weight pad. The hospital was brightly lit even for this time of night and the stink of sickness and antiseptic had led Seleena right to it.
"She's lost a lot of blood, I think." The vampiress called to the nearest nurse. She carried her burden to the nearest chair and propped her up as carefully as possible. The waiting room froze as Seleena's nakedness was revealed. It took 45 seconds for the stretcher to arrive, a full minute for someone to shove a set of scrubs in to her hands and another 30 seconds for the questions to begin.
"What happened here?"
"Neck injury, she was bleeding a lot, I think she and her boy friend had a fight," Seleena lied easily.
"Do you know her?"
"No. They walked into my alley so I pretended to be asleep," Seleena was amazed how well she could slide into the role of a tramp after so many years. The stretcher had been rushed off and a lone volunteer with a clipboard had been left behind to collect information.
"So you're not a relative." The girl had short spiked blonde hair and an earring in her cartilage.
"No, I just broke up the fight."
"Did you see any drugs, anything like that?"
"No—I had my eyes closed—I opened them when I heard her scream."
"Did you notice what kind of weapon was used?"
"Naw, he must've taken it with him. He bolted when I sat up."
"All right, thank you ma'am."
"Wait." Seleena called without knowing why. She could rationalize later, that always seemed to work. "Could you tell me when I could see her?"
"I'll leave a message at the desk." she answered noncommittally with a smile.
Seleena tucked herself in the furthest corner and for the first time in decades watched the sun come up without her sunglasses. After the first dozen rays she averted her eyes. No one paid any attention to her odd behavior; they had other things on their mind in the ER.
Seleena was starting to worry about how she was going to make her way back, naked, in the daylight, when a different volunteer approached her with a puzzled look. She had a note in her hand. She looked at Seleena and tried to determine if she was sleeping. Seleena made a drowsy motion so that she would not need to answer questions.
"Ma'am," she tried tentatively. Seleena lifted her head and surveyed the room to find the shadows. They were plentiful. "The woman you brought in can have visitors now."
Seleena stood. "Can you show me her room?"
The volunteer nodded, and led her out of the waiting room. She decided to strike up a conversation in the elevator despite the fact that her charge seemed to be everything she was taught to avoid in the street.
"Do you know her well?" she asked as the elevator dinged into place.
"No-not really…I just want to make sure she's all right." The volunteer nodded in a way that made Seleena think that she was just being polite but didn't quite grasp the concept.
"Well, here we are anyway." she held open a large door, just big enough to fit a stretcher. "She's in the second bed." She began to walk away in a hurry. "I have to get back to work. Bye-bye."
At the sound of voices the woman began to wake up.
"Hey," Seleena said softly.
"It's you," the woman said. "You..." She looked confused. "You made him go away." She tried to clear her throat. Her voice was scratchy and abused. Seleena guessed that the misbehaving pup might have injured her vocal cords. "How'd you do that? He just went away."
Seleena sat in the stiff visitors chair. "That's why I stayed." She fingered the hem of her borrowed scrubs nervously. "You have some options, which, once you choose, you can't go back."
The woman was confused and curious and worried all at once. "Did you do something wrong? Can I get in trouble?"
Seleena smiled reassuringly. "No—no trouble but you might not like the truth. But first I have to ask you something. What do you think happened last night?"
"I was at this club. The Craft it's called. It was really sleazy but…" the woman began. Seleena sighed. She'd heard of The Craft; mortals were permitted but mostly as meal, any smart human knew to stay away. The only vampire club on the east coast. "So this guy — the one you saw — he bought me a drink and we danced for a while. I'd only had the one but I was starting to feel drunk." Seleena didn't want to hazard a guess at what would be put in a young woman's drink. "He offered to walk me home 'cause I didn't really feel like I should drive. The next thing I knew, the guy pulled me in to a dark street that wasn't on the way home. He stared groping me and biting my neck like some kind of freak. That's all I really remember until you showed up and for some reason he left."
"Ok, you're injured so I'm going to resist the temptation to insult your intelligence," Seleena ground her teeth. "That's an adequate retelling of the events of the night—kind of, but that not what I asked you. So I'm going to try again. Why do you think he would have bitten you?" If she had her own theory it would make her more willing to accept the truth—or easier for Seleena to lie—whichever the woman chose.
"I don't know. I thought maybe he was going to rape me and he had some kind of vampire fetish." she began to sob weakly but she had already given Seleena enough information.
"Do you want to know what really happened tonight? Or do you want to forget all about it and just know that you were hurt on your way home? It's your choice."
"I want to know what really happened so I can get that bastard," she replied. The wound made her voice sound gravelly and evil. Seleena tried to remain calm, but the response had reminded her how long it had been since she'd staked one of the others. "The bastard's already been gotten. But you need to think about this for your safety now and for your future safety."
"Well when you say it like that, was he part of a club or something?" she tried her hand at weak humor. "My answer's the same. I have a kid to think about. I need to know."
Seleena leaned back in her chair. She was going to do this the long way and she might as well be comfortable.
"You sure you're ready?" At her small nod Seleena continued. "The man that attacked you was a vampire."
"Nope, not possible, no such thing." The woman tried to speak up defiantly.
"Yep—hate ta break it ta ya, but yes, there is. The club you went to tonight, The Craft, it's a vampire club. Humans beware and all that."
"So am I—like a target now, do they all know where I live?"
"No, nah, they can't track you until they bite you and the one that bit you is dust."
"Dust, you mean you…"
"Killed him yeah, don't worry about it, he was a soulless monster that smelled your daughter and wanted to eat her too. Fortunately he was also young and easy to kill."
"Oh, God…you mean Sarah could have died? Oh, oh …shit! That's—that's…how was I so stupid?" She broke off her feeble wailing. "How did you know I had a daughter?"
"Oh, shit. You didn't say 'daughter', did you?"
"No."
"I'm going to have to answer more questions now, aren't I?"
"Yeah. Explain yourself or I call security."
"Ok, see--I'm a vampire."
"You bitch! What, you take care of me just so you could have me for yourself!" She put her hand to her throat where her screaming had loosened the bandage.
"Ya done—I'm not going to attack you, quite frankly if I wanted to I would've by now. Second, I'm not even the same kind of vampire as that son of a Catholic." (A/N: No offense to any Catholics out there, I'm Catholic myself; Seleena just doesn't like them.) She cleared her throat. "Now, if you don't quiet down, they'll come in to see what's wrong. You ready to go on?"
"How do I know that you're not lying?" she asked, her brow furrowed.
"You don't. You're going to have to trust me on this." Seleena bowed her head and whispered. "Are you ready to get out of this hellhole? I hate the smell of people dying."
The woman laughed. "You might not have noticed, but I can't really leave."
"Do you trust me?" Seleena asked, sitting up.
"I--I guess. I think, yes. I do." She finally managed, unable to doubt her savior.
Seleena got up and stood over her. "Then let me help you and don't be scared." Selena lowered her mouth to the woman's throat and sunk her fangs into the newly stitched skin. A bluish fluid dripped from her teeth on contact with blood. The woman sat up and struggled, groping and clawing at Seleena.
It took only about thirty seconds for her to heal the woman, but she sustained more injuries than an hour in the woods with Logan.