Sorry about the late update!! As an apology I made it longer than usual!! And yes, Airye, I'll try to make it longer, but I'm still going to break it up in good places.
At the sound of her name he collapsed into another chair, his rage spent. "I'm sorry. It's been hell these last few months. I didn't mean to yell at you like that.
"You said you knew something about Alex?" An unbearable hope burned in his eyes when he said her name.
"She told me that she needed some kind of blood pills, and that she would starve without them. I…" He was suddenly out of his chair, standing over her, his face only inches away from hers.
"How much do you know, Terran?" His voice had gone dead cold. A promise of death.
†
Mat barely restrained himself from slashing the human to ribbons. She knew where Alex was, but she also knew about Methuselah, and maybe more. He wanted so badly to kill her, but he could not while Alex's fate was in the balance.
"How much do you know, Terran?" His voice was so cold; he could barely believe it was his.
The human had gone white, her eyes showing white all the way around the iris. She absolutely reeked of fear, had he been a little different the scent would have made his mouth water…and the scent of something else, something…familiar, very, very familiar. His eyes trailed down her face, across her jaw, to the double puncture marks on her neck.
†
Something caught his attention, and she watched his gaze travel to her neck. Suddenly he grabbed her hair and wrenched her head back to examine the bite mark. When he let her go she heard him mutter something. "I can't believe…feeding off humans."
Lisa's mind was frozen, but then it thawed in a blaze of anger. She was risking everything to even come here, and he had the audacity, the nerve, to try to bully her?!
"Back off!" She snapped.
He was so shocked by her tone that he did.
"I am here to save her life, and whatever I have to do I will, including facing down a jerk like you!" Some part of her realized that she was being reckless, but at the moment she didn't give a shit. "I gave her my blood, and because of that, she was able to heal. I am risking my goddamn career…hell, I'm risking my life, coming here, and you think you can bully me?!"
She drew herself up to look him square in the eye. "That just because you're older and stronger than me, that makes you superior? What is this? Kindergarten?"
†
When Mat looked at her neck, or more specifically, the bite scar on her neck, he felt the floor drop out from under him, leaving him floating in a sea of shock.
When he looked at the human again he noticed that she had gone deathly pale.
Suddenly, she stiffened and her eyes flickered. "Back off!" She snarled. She flushed red and sat up, eyes blazing. "I am here to save her life, and whatever I have to do I will, including facing down someone like you!"
With every word she seemed to grow taller. "I gave her my blood, and because of that, she was able to heal."
He opened his mouth to demand what she was talking about, but she rolled right over him. "I am risking my goddamn career…hell, I'm risking my life, coming here, and you think you can bully me?!" She started to walk toward him with flames in her eyes and he took an unconscious step back.
She loomed over him. "That just because you're older and stronger than me, that makes you superior? What is this? Kindergarten?" The kitchen counter dug into the backs of his legs; he couldn't back up anymore.
†
Lisa realized that she was standing and had backed him up against the wall. She was still seething but she could see that she had made her point. She drew back and sat back down.
After a little bit he moved away from the wall and sat down as well.
He closed his eyes for a second as though to gather his thoughts, and when he opened them again she could tell that he had calmed down.
"I am…sorry. I was so…"
Lisa waved him off. "It was nothing. I'm just glad that you weren't any angrier." The joke was so weak that she didn't even bother smiling. Then she paused, unsure of how to bring up the subject that had so enraged him in the first place.
The man beat her to the chase. "Name's Mat, by the way." He said, holding out his hand, which she took.
"Lisa."
She swallowed to wet her throat, then she said, "I came here to help Alexandra, and not for any other reason. And I don't know what else to do, except to ask for your help; you know what she needs, and how to help her the best, and I can help her, if I know what to do. You have to make me one promise though."
"Hm?"
"You have to promise that you will let me handle everything in regard to getting her out. I know all the protocols and what can be done and gotten away with and what will get you caught. If you try to do anything there is a seven in ten chance that you will muck it up."
"You have a deal," The Methuselah's eyes narrowed, "if you promise that you will do everything in your power to get her out."
The look in Mat's eyes tied Lisa's stomach into a three-way sheep's head knot. "I will." Her eyes looked into his, and she realized that she meant it; she had made up her mind then and there without even knowing it. She would get Alexandra out, no matter the cost.
A rattle brought her out of her thoughts. Mat braced a small box spanning his palm with his pinkie and thumb and gave it another shake. "I believe this is what you came for."
She took the small box, for it was no bigger than an eyeshadow case, reverently. "How often does she need them? And can they be crushed?"
Mat's mouth tightened. "You should give her two at first, after so long she will need a feast, and then one every two months; it doesn't have to be exact though. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to crush them, we usually dissolve them in water."
"I'll see that she gets them." With that she turned toward the door to the hallway.
As she was leaving, Mat caught her arm. "Where do you work?"
The bottom of Lisa's stomach hit the floor, and kept falling. "At a hospital of sorts. That's all I can tell you."
His hand tightened on her arm enough to make her hiss in pain, but then he let her go.
†
She quickly walked to the nearest tram stop and dialed for one. While she waited she thought about the promise she had made to Mat. And the repercussions that would follow. I know that if anyone finds out…best not go there dearie, or you might get unsettled. Just do what you have to do, and don't think about it. Lisa shook her head, trying to clear out the doubts. If I don't think about it, I can't plan ahead, as unpleasant as it is… I MUST make contingency plans. Lisa was sure that getting Alexandra the pills wouldn't be a problem; the timing was seldom enough that even if she were to give Alexandra the pills herself, no one would suspect anything out of the ordinary. The problem would be getting her out.
Curious, she opened the box to look inside. They were white? She shook one into her hand and rolled it around in her palm. Why was it white, shouldn't it be red? After all blood was red, wasn't it? The tablet was powdery, so it wasn't coated, which meant that the white was the color it was. Something niggled at her lie detector, but she couldn't pin it down.
The tram arrived, so she quickly dumped the pill back into its box and got on.
She sat in the tram, watching the neighborhood, then the city, whiz by. The quiet humming and the gliding speed as they raced along put her into something of a trance, and she jumped when she shifted forward from the speed decrease. "You have arrived at your destination." She slid her payment into the charge slot and walked back to work. She was glad that her lunch breaks were so long; otherwise she never would have made it back in time.
It feels strange, having a secret that could bring civilization to it's knees, and walking calmly back to your desk to finish the paperwork that you began that morning, when you had no knowledge of the things you are painfully aware of now.
***End Chapter 5***
A/N: I have learned the hard way not to promise to have anything done soon, as then the Universe will do everything it can to see how much you can put up with... so no promises for the next chapter folks, but I can feel another writing binge coming on, so keep your fingers crossed!!
~ Shadow
