AN: Really, this is Chapter 6 ½ … as I said before, chapter six was so short because it was a transitional chapter, and because I didn't have as much time to work on it. But this one is hopefully a lot better, and/or more interesting. So enjoy. Also, the characters and setting are entirely Annette Curtis Klause's, and only one or two are my own creations. Please review.

Chapter 6 ½:

"Uhn…" Vivian moaned, and rolled over onto the other side of the bed, pulling the covers up over her face. "I'm sick." She tried to inhale, but her nostrils were not going to allow it. She tried going back to sleep under the covers, but pretty soon they were once again stifling, and she had to peek her head out. The normally cool air in the room was freezing today, and it gave her pressure on her sinuses.

"Hey…" Gabriel looked at his mate, and noticed something different about her. Her normally precious bedraggled appearance was not so precious today, and he noticed a severe pinkness around her nose and cheeks. He walked over to Vivian and placed a hand on her head, she felt fine, but her breathing was a small wheeze. "I think you have a cold."

"No, really?" she mumbled, pulling the covers up to only her nose this time.

"No need to get bitchy. Let me go get you something." He walked down the stairs, past the lobby, and into the kitchen. It was six in the morning on a Saturday, so very few people would actually be awake at this time. He made her some plain buttered toast, grabbed a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge, and took two Dayquil capsules from the medicine cabinet. It was rare that loup-garou got sick, but he couldn't jump to conclusions. Not just yet.

"Ah! My hero," she muttered, swallowing the Dayquil capsules with a big swish of Gatorade. It made her throat itchy, and she grimaced. Gabriel smiled at this unusual turn of events. It felt nice to actually have to look after, and care for, his very competent mate. "What? I'm not allowed to get sick?"

"Not really. Our immune systems are stronger than an average human's."

"Yes, well… I don't know. I just did." She tried chugging some more of the neon orange liquid, but it made her throat scratchy, so she just sat upright, clutching the cold plastic bottle. "So, what's on the agenda today?"

"I have to go and get the orders for groceries, and the new furniture for the room down the stairs finished, and you have to sleep." She raised one eyebrow.

"Umm, yeah… I don't think so." Her voice sounded low and nasally, and Gabriel did all he could not to laugh.

"Viv, its strange enough you've caught a cold all of a sudden, I just need to make sure you stay healthy enough, and that this is just a cold. You're going to sleep. Now." He leaned over and kissed her forehead, and she nipped at his neck once before lying back down.

Gabriel got up off the bed, and was about to walk out of the room, when Vivian mumbled something about, "burning off the tan" from under the covers. If it were up to him, he'd have stayed with Vivian all day, but the inn had managed to come before his personal needs yet again. He turned off the fan, closed the door to his room quietly, and went downstairs to greet the now emerging breakfast crowd.

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He sat down watching the hired help pass trays of food back and forth from the kitchen to the tables, and breathed in the vapors from his cup of coffee. He had slept on it, and had tried to work it off, but the nagging feeling in the back of his head refused to leave. There was definitely something with them that night in the reserve. It could have been a loup-garou, but it sure didn't smell like one. The hairs on the back of his neck stood, but a long draught from the cup made them go away. One of the visitors asked to greet the managers, so he stood up and walked to say hello, his mind currently returning to wondering how Vivian was. As he shook the little girl's hand, he thought about sending for Aunt Persia to have a look at Vivian.

Meanwhile, Vivian was presently wrapped up in a big cocoon of sheets on the bed, trying to breathe through her nose in vain. Then she sneezed a huge and painful sneeze onto her shirt-handkerchief and rolled over onto her other side, trying her best to get back to sleep.

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Gabriel called Aunt Persia, and told her about Vivian's symptoms. Aunt Persia agreed that it was very strange for Vivian to get sick, but reminded him that neither of them should jump to any kind of conclusions. Gabriel sent Ulf out to go pick up Aunt Persia, with the excuse that they hadn't seen her around the inn in a while. He exhaled, and tried to clear those thoughts from his head. When it happens it happens. There's plenty of time, he thought. After all, he was only 28. They still had time for kids later. He picked up his brown leather jacket and walked out to town. He needed to clear his head. And also order groceries and pick some things up for Vivian from the store.

After a few hours, he returned to find a huge U-Haul mover's truck in front of the inn, and several sweaty men carrying furniture into the area. He dropped the lists off at the receptionist's desk, for Willem to take care of it. "Where's Vivie?" asked the receptionist, filing the lists into the computer.

"She's upstairs, she's… sleeping in late today. I'm letting her take the day off." So long as he didn't know what exactly was wrong with her, he wouldn't place any worry on the rest of the pack. He walked into the room downstairs, and ordered the movers around, telling them where to put the bed and the dresser. It took them a while to get it right though. He would tell them to move the dresser to the left, and maybe it was because of his intimidating nature, but the movers somehow managed to move it anywhere but the left.

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Vivian woke up drenched in a cold sweat. She inhaled heavily, but couldn't get any air from her nose, so she took big gulps of it into her mouth. She dreamt about being lost in the woods again, and Gabriel had found her. He was in his human form, but then some dark shadow had walked up behind her, and wrapped its arm across her, like Gabriel did, but the other hand cupped itself over her mouth and she couldn't scream. Gabriel didn't see her, and turned away from her, walking away. Then Vivian woke up. Whatever it was, it didn't have hands. Those were something like paws. Either way, it didn't want her to escape.

Gabriel had to unlock the door to walk into his room. He found his mate curled up into a little ball on the bed. For some reason she felt better to change into a loup-garou. He walked over to her, and buried his face in her golden fur, stroking behind her beautiful ears. She purred and licked his cheek. They sat like that for a long time, until Gabriel remembered why he had entered in the first place.

He reached over and felt her muzzle; the wet nose was colder than usual. She looked up at him and her eyes were sad. She was definitely sick. "How are you feeling?" She closed her eyes and stretched out as far as she could, changing back into her human form. He instinctively pulled the sheets over her, feeling those protective instincts kick in again.

"I'm feeling better." Her eyes were a dull gold, and her cheeks were flushed. She was lying. "Alright, so I'm not feeling so great. Actually, I'm glad you're here again. I had a weird dream just now." She rested her head on his shoulder and played with her moon pendant while she told him about the dream. He was silent, even after she finished. "What do you think about it? It's nothing to be worried about, right? I mean, it's just a dream."

"Yeah, it's probably nothing. You're just sick and having bad dreams, that's all. I called Aunt Persia; she should be here soon to check up on you."

She looked up into his blue eyes, and they weren't sparkling today. He was lying. He knew something was up, but didn't want to tell her. She would have interrogated him, but, at the time, she just sneezed into the shirt-handkerchief. "Which reminds me," he said, going back out of the room, and bringing with him a tray of food. Vivian sat upright, pulling the covers around her like a robe, curious to know what was being placed before her. Gabriel set the tray on the bed, and sat next to her, hoping he had pleased her.

Gabriel had brought some soup, and a glass of water, and crackers. This was a feast in her eyes, considering. She took big gulps of the salty broth, savoring the little bits of chicken and vegetables swimming around in her mouth. She hadn't felt this good about eating in a while. Being sick had really messed up her eating habits.

Then Vivian looked up at Gabriel, who was sitting on the bed right next to her, skimming through an American Rider magazine. She scooted over slightly and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks babe. I didn't know you had it in you. Motorcyclist and nurse? Who would've guessed? I guess this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime things." His velvet laugh shook the glass of water a little bit.

Someone knocked on the door, and Gabriel shot up out of the bed. "Hold on a minute." He ran over to the dresser, and pulled out one of his white undershirts. He handed it to Vivian, and waited until she slipped it on, before opening the door. Willem was waiting patiently outside, still wearing his name tag.

"I would've just called you, but both of you have your walky-talkies off. Hey Vivie, are you okay? You look tired." Vivian nodded weakly and took sips from the glass of water. It was tepid, so it didn't make her throat scratchy.

"She's fine. We just stayed out too late last night. What's going on?"

"There's some new guy downstairs. Says he wants to see you."

"And that's why you had to come up here and tell me yourself?" Gabriel fought to keep the annoyed edge out of his voice.

"Yeah, I did. See, I think… well, you'll see when you get downstairs. Dude, he's not human. I mean, he looks very much like… you, and me."

"Shit!" Vivian pressed her hand to her mouth. She had bitten her tongue instead of the crackers. Damn crackers, she thought.

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Gabriel practically ran downstairs after that, but the receptionist's desk was empty. "Where is he?"

"I dunno. I left him here. Maybe he's in the kitchen…" They strode over to the kitchen, and pushed the swinging doors open. The cooks and waiters were all sitting around, eating their own lunches, and preparing for the large crowd that was soon coming. The guest was just sitting there, talking to the cook and drinking a bottle of beer as if it were an everyday thing. He was as tall as Gabriel, but not nearly as built. In fact, he was really lanky and sort of scrawny looking. But there was something about the way he was seated, his cool grace, which made him stand out. The young blonde man put the bottle down, and looked up at Gabriel, sizing him up with his green eyes.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm Gabriel. I'm in charge of this inn." Gabriel held his hand out, and shook the stranger's hand vigorously. A regular human would have winced or cried out in pain from the handshake, but this stranger was still as cool as before.

"The name's Nathan. So… what's a guy got to do to get a room around here?" Gabriel wasn't going to be intimidated. In fact, he was getting annoyed. He didn't even know this guy, and already he was a pain in the ass.

"Willem, get this guy a room will you? You have the money for it, right?" The guest flashed a look of contempt at Gabriel, but was happy enough to be led by Will to one of the few empty rooms left downstairs.

It was difficult trying to decide what was to be done in these cases. Obviously Nathan was not human, but you can't exactly call him out for being a loup-garou or some other supernatural creature either.

In the meantime, Ulf walked in with a suitcase, while an older woman trailed not too far behind. It was Aunt Persia. Gabriel led her up to Vivian's room, where his beloved had fallen asleep again. Aunt Persia entered to rouse the teenager, and closed the door after herself leaving Gabriel to wait in the hallway. After about twenty minutes of questioning, the old woman emerged from the room to an expecting Gabriel.

"So?"

"It's hard to say. There is something going on with Vivian, but until she decides what that is, we can't be sure."

"What do you mean until she decides?"

"It's different for loup-garou, naturally. Vivian's body is telling her something is happening, but it's up to her to decide what. And don't you go in there and put any ideas into her head either."

"I wouldn't. When it happens, it happens…no problem."

"Good boy." Aunt Persia touched Gabriel's forearm and walked down to the kitchen to look for something appetizing.

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"How are you feeling?" This was about the millionth time Gabriel had asked Vivian the question, but no matter how many times she answered it wouldn't satisfy him.

"Sick. And you shouldn't be getting so close. You could get sick too."

"I don't think that's possible. Our bodies work differently than a normal person's. Anyways, what did Aunt Persia tell you?"

"She said I should just rest. And think about what I want. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Think about what I want? Right now, all I really want is to not feel like crap. I thought she would come in here, give me some herbs, and I'd be fine. She's making this whole cold thing into some kind of quest."

"Babe, she knows more about this than we do. It's best we just listen to what she says, okay?"

"Listen to what? Her premonitions about a cold? Ugh, never mind. What about the guest? He's a loup-garou, isn't he?" Vivian coughed, and tied her hair back, trying to sit up straight.

"I'm not sure yet. He's not human. But you can't exactly go up to someone with those kinds of questions."

"I would."

"I know you would. This is why it's good you're on bed-arrest for a while. It will keep you out of trouble, for a little while, anyway."

"Bed arrest? What have you done with my Gabriel, you corny man, you?" Gabriel laughed and was about to go over and tickle Vivian in the ribs, when a knock on the door interrupted them, as usual. Gabriel glanced at Vivian, watching her zip up her hoody; glad she changed into her work out clothes for Aunt Persia's visit.

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Gabriel walked over and opened the door, and instantly wished he hadn't. Nathan was standing outside, in the hall, with a cocky smirk on his face. He was about to shut the door, when the man walked himself right in.

"You know, people don't usually come in without asking," growled Gabriel.

"I know. And you are?" Nathan said, directing the question to the only other one occupying the room. Gabriel fought against the urge to knock some sense into this smartass, but judging from Vivian's expression, she was about ready to do the same.

"She's my wife," Gabriel answered defensively. Nathan very bluntly looked Vivian up and down, pleased by what he was seeing. Despite her sickness, Vivian was still more beautiful than what was humanly allowed. Nathan apparently liked what he saw, and wasn't afraid to show it.

"I'm Nathan,'" he said extending his arm. "It's nice to meet a fine specimen every once in a while."

"Why are you here?" Vivian's voice was icy, and sharp as a razor. She had managed to hide the nasally sounds of her cold, in case that would make her weak in the stranger's eyes.

"We need to talk. About the forest your inn is built right next to."

"What about it?"

"You're sitting on prized land. And the price has just gotten higher." Nathan was still looking at Vivian, apparently naming her as the increase in price.

"I don't think so." Vivian shot up out of bed with her fists clenched. No one had the right to talk to her that way, and she was not afraid to let him know it.

"Take it easy Viv. The pack still needs to talk about this." Gabriel put his hand on her shoulder, and it was trembling. She was in no state to be getting agitated.

"No. This is between me, and the both of you."

"Who are you? Some kind of representative for some other pack around here?" Vivian's patience was wearing thinner now, and her body temperature was rising.

"No. I work alone. And you've just made my job a whole lot harder."

"Why? Stop talking in phrases. Tell me what the hell is in that forest. Right now." Whoa, Vivian thought, my head is killing me.

"Trust me. It's better if you don't know. What you need to be worried about is what you are willing to pay me to keep the rest of your pack safe."

"What, you want money?" said Gabriel, trying to direct the argument away from Vivian.

"No Gabe, we're not paying this asshole. We can take care of this pack ourselves. Whatever's going on we can handle it." It took her a lot more effort to make that last sentence sound sharp. For some reason, the room was starting to spin and Vivian couldn't quit trembling. She clenched her fists, hoping it would help her concentrate.

"I don't think so. You barely managed to get out of that forest with your lives last time. But it saw you, and its going to hunt for you now." Nathan turned and left Vivian and Gabriel in the room, still with their guards up.

Gabriel turned to ask Vivian what she thought, but the minute he faced her he realized something was up. She started to say something, but her body had other plans. It slowly started to shut down, leaving her to fall apart. He reacted faster than a human and managed to catch her in his arms three seconds before her face hit the floor. Not good, he thought.