Jasyn eyed the two Arcadians coldly in his hawk form, had he been human he would have presented his most lethal stare, one guaranteed to have them running home to their Mama's. Though his hawks stare was equally as unsettling, it was piercing and chilling and held the stony promise of death.

Where's Arion, asshole? Jasyn demanded, and watched the Arcadians gulp.

"Arion sent us," one of them said shakily, sweat beaded his upper lip, Jasyn let out a caw of indignation.

Arion wouldn't bring another in to fight his battles! Don't you dare lie to me!

"He did!" he cried out, visibly trembling, "he did send us!"

The other silent, perhaps braver, Arcadian said nothing but drew his sword, he moved forward and the sun caught the blade.

"You're going to die now," the Arcadian promised, "for what you did to us, you will die. Adrian, aim your crossbow!"

Then he had sent you to your death, Jasyn whispered dangerously before launching himself from the branches and towards his foe. The Arcadians took aim at him but he changed in mid-flight and they had no time to redirect their target, in his naked human form Jasyn caught the man with the sword around his neck and gave it a short, firm, final twist and let his dead weight drop to the ground. He turned on the coward holding the crossbow and sneered when the Arcadian dropped it.

"There is no pleasure in killing a coward," he growled softly, the Arcadian's wits left him completely and he turned to run setting light to Jasyn's predatory instinct, the Arcadian tripped over a rock and began to alternate between crawling on his knees and trying to get to his feet in an effort to get away.

"Oh my God!"

Jasyn turned his murderous eyes to his left and saw a woman with ruby red hair watching him agape, the Arcadian looked at her also and both he and Jasyn lowered their eyes to the camcorder she held.

"Run for your life!" the Arcadian screamed before flashing himself somewhere else, Jasyn hissed his anger and let out angry screech that made the woman wince. He spun on his heel and began to advance on her, the cold intent to kill blatant in his eyes.

"Please," the woman begged, "please, don't hurt me!"

Jasyn sneered at her. Pathetic human, pathetic woman and a worthless existence, she was breathing air reserved for braver, worthier predators. Shifting into his hawk form Jasyn attacked, the woman stumbled back to the jagged edge of the rocky terrain that sloped down like a mini mountain. Well, in fact they were on a mountain just luckily for her not the summit. Though by the way she fell back, her arms wind milling at her sides while Jasyn pecked and clawed her, she had a good chance of breaking her neck.

Camera still attached to her hand, the woman rolled and rolled and rolled, Jasyn distinctly heard her swear and curse as she was no doubt cut by the sharp rocks and stung by the various nettles that grew. Jasyn's only regret was that her body would crush the habitats of the animals that made their home on the ground, but as to the amount of pain she was in … well, life was pain. Like a wise man once told him: deal with it!

Once the woman had halted in her tumble she was laying flat on her back, the dust she'd kicked up still in the air around her, like she was an actor on some crappy stage show just appearing through the trap door under the cover of smoke. Jasyn wasted no time and dove down, his sharp claws erect and going for her jugular, the woman threw up her arms, batting at him, she managed to clip him in the wing and throw him off course which only angered him more. The woman tried to roll on to her front to crawl away but her leg was obviously broken, this gave Jasyn, who was undoubtedly a predator, the advantage to damage his prey more before the kill. Jasyn did not concern himself with the fact that she was a woman; all he knew was that she was human and Jasyn despised humans.

"I'm like you, I'm like you!" The woman shrieked trying to keep Jasyn from pulling at her hair and clothes. Jasyn knew he'd put marks on her face but the deep burgundy shade of her hair made it impossible for him to see the blood, how he needed to see it! Jasyn pulled back and flew higher; he circled over her and dove down. Wondering if the attack had ceased the woman parted her forearms to look about her. Their eyes connected and Jasyn felt himself wobble in flight, she was bloodied and bruised and the most stunningly beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Jasyn wasn't one to be suckered in by a pretty face yet this beauty's eyes were so wide and fearful, something in his gut twisted and Jasyn wanted to pull himself out of the dive and fly away so he couldn't hurt her. However he was pushing too fast and gravity was taking care of the rest, he would hit her and likely hurt her and there was nothing he could do about it. Jasyn collided with her palms, without meaning to he tore at her flesh and caught at her face; she cried out in pain and caught him around the neck, squeezing tightly.

"Don't make me hurt you!" she whispered angrily and Jasyn fell still, as if she had put him in a trance, she could have broken his neck and he'd have stayed there and let her do it. Her hands on him were mesmerising and for how much he'd hurt her, her grip still did not become painful.

"Thanks to you my ribs are broken and so is my leg!" she snarled, giving him a shake, Jasyn's mind was numbing out on him as he stared up into beautiful angel eyes of a startling hazel. "I know you understand every word I'm saying -"

Jasyn snapped out of his trance when the scent of Arcadian pricked his senses, his eyes narrowed on the woman and he began to struggle again, his claws and beak ripping into her hands and belly. He raked over an area of skin covering her broken rib and she screamed out in agony, tears streamed down her face and Jasyn began to panic. Suddenly a pain so hard it caused white stars to burst before his eyes shot through his head, Jasyn was thrown back from her body and he flew away as fast as his wings could carry him. Jasyn looked back to see several humans surrounding the woman, one was still looking mutinously at him while he continued to futilely throw rocks at him.

********************************************

Emily put her hand to her abused ribs that were thankfully bruised rather then broken, and worked her way into a more comfortable sitting position.

"This bed is killing my ass!" she complained to the nurse who was arranging the dozens of flower pots and vases in her private room, the nurse looked up and laughed.

"You shouldn't even be sitting up," Melinda tried to reprimand Emily as she bent her head to the sunflowers sent courtesy of one of the camera men.

"Melinda, when am I going to be discharged?" Emily pouted, putting on her most wounded, puppy dog eyes. Melinda turned with her hands on her hips and shook her head, she moved swiftly to Emily's bedside and tried to get her to lie back down, Emily fought it and won.

"I don't know what you're complaining about," Melinda huffed; unsuccessful with trying to get her patient to lay back, so she set about straightening the blankets. "You were brought in four hours ago. In all fairness with an attack like you suffered you should be in severe pain or at least out of your head on pain meds."

"Well, quick healing runs in the family," Emily said vaguely, she was just glad they hadn't tried to give her a blood test or anything equally as incriminating to her condition. "So when do I get to leave?"

"Not yet," Melinda said and turned to leave, Emily grabbed her arm with a whimper.

"Oh please stay, Melly; I get so bored in here on my own!"

Whether or not the woman had any aversion to being given a nickname by someone she'd met only four hours ago didn't occur to Emily, as she tried to get Melinda to stay and chat with her until her friends came.

"Go to sleep!" Melinda said sternly and gave Emily's cheek a painless pat, Emily pouted when she was left on her own. She lay back against her pillows sulking a little, if she was out of action too long they might throw her off the show.

"Damn health service," Emily said under her breath without any real heat, she turned her head and stared at the clock, it still hadn't moved. Just as she began to wonder if the darn thing was broken the door was flung open and in marched Paul with Aaron dragging Jay in after him. Emily raised an eyebrow at a flustered looking Aaron.

"Yeah, yeah! Wait until you meet my God damn lawyer!" Jay was shouting back at a livid looking Bulgarian nurse, Aaron gave a final tug and threw the door shut. "Shave your moustache!"

"What the hell was that about?" Emily asked, so shocked her face hadn't moved and made her look a little expressionless, though why she was surprised she had no idea. Jay was a total diva.

"Nurse Cratchett out there!" Jay stormed and plonked himself on the bed; Emily winced when he barely missed her leg. "I mean, I wouldn't mind but I couldn't understand what she was saying anyway!"

Emily rolled her eyes and shook her head, she looked up at Paul and Aaron, Paul was laughing and Aaron was looking harassed, their expressions soon changed when they caught her eye.

"What happened?" Paul asked, easing down into the chair next to her bed, Jay forgot his anger to turn and look at her, Emily knew that the question wasn't just about how she got her injuries, the boys suspected the truth.

"I found someone else like me," Emily spoke in a low, controlled voice, all three men cursed.

"I knew it was that damn bird!" Paul whispered fiercely, "I had to throw rocks at it to get it to fuck off!"

Emily didn't say anything, for Paul to swear so casually meant he was truly agitated and pissed off.

"It attacked you?" Jay said and Emily nodded.

"I was walking up near the mountains slope and I looked up and there was this guy standing there, I was going to shout up to him because he was staring at the tree where this huge hawk was. Even from how far away I was I could feel the menace coming off of the hawk; I knew it was going to attack. I started up towards him then I saw another guy was with him and they were both armed, I thought, you know, maybe they were -"

"Poachers?" Jay muttered before she could and Emily nodded.

"But then the bird flew at them before I could reach. I was going up there to stop them trying to kill the bird, and it just flashed into a man!"

"Like you?" Paul and Jay said together, Emily shook her head and shrugged.

"I haven't a clue. All I know is he was drop dead gorgeous, the most handsome man I'd ever seen." He had been, Emily thought, though her tone suggested to her friends that this was not meant positively. The man had had light blond hair with darker shades running through it and piercing green eyes that glowed from a distance. She'd not been in the position to ogle his body but even from where she stood his muscles and strength were evident, especially by the way he broke the other guys neck without so much as breaking a sweat. But that darkness that ran through him was terrifying, it was so thick and menacing that the very threat of it had Emily too scared to try and defend herself against his attack.

"He was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen," Emily said, all at once not looking like the sexy woman she was but a frightened little girl, desperately wanting the protector that she'd never had.

"He caught hold of one of the guys and broke his neck like a twig. Then the one on the ground warned me to 'run for my life'," Emily laughed in a self-deprecating way, wishing she'd heeded his warning, "then he vanished. The hawk guy just looked at me and ran at me, then turned into a bird and attacked. He was definitely in the mood to kill me."

"Shit," Paul whispered under his breath, he and Jay exchanged uneasy glances, they'd never seen Emily so shaken, Emily had never seen herself so shaken, even when she'd found out she wasn't human anymore. She'd always wondered whether there were more out there like her, apparently so, and they were psychotic by the looks of things. Emily couldn't stop a sniffle and Paul pulled her into his arms, while Jay wrapped his arms around her from the opposite side, she was caged in by her two best friends, their combined male scents soothing her the way nothing else could.

"You had your camera rolling though, right?" Aaron asked suddenly, Jay and Paul pulled back and Emily scrubbed at her wet face, she nodded.

"Well, did you get any footage of him?" Aaron asked eagerly, they all stared at her. Emily had a moment where the truth was on the tip of her tongue, but she did not say it. She knew it wasn't right to bring her friends any further into a world she knew nothing of, and which was a world that could potentially endanger their lives. As much as she wanted to share her every fear and woe with them she refused to put the ones she loved in jeopardy, she'd seen burning hatred in that guys eyes as he looked at her, Emily shivered, to involve them would be completely irresponsible.

"No, I've looked. I didn't capture anything."

All three looked disappointed, Emily gave them a wan smile; she just wanted to go home, back to her beautiful, safe New York. She almost laughed that after this she actually considered New York safe.

"He smelt different to," Emily said in a dazed way, remembering how he'd stopped struggling for a moment in her hands.

Because he knew you were going to break his neck!

Possibly, but it seemed as though there was more there. No, that was just silly; perhaps she was just inventing it to make herself feel better for being the victim of an unprovoked attack.

"How?" all three asked together, Emily shrugged and shook her head again.

"I don't know. Everyone has their own scent but his was so very different."

"Don't worry, Em. We're going home soon."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know, I was just thinking how horrible it will be to leave Bulgaria," Emily lied.

*****************************************************

Jasyn circled the hospital before swooping down and landing on a lamp post, he eyed the upper windows thoughtfully, he could see partially into some of the rooms but he could not make out without closer inspection where the Arcadian woman was. Jasyn knew that she would not die from any of the wounds he had inflicted, she was a were-hunter after all, which meant she would heal within hours where the average human would take days or perhaps weeks. Jasyn had considered that the woman could have been involved with the pitiful attempt to ambush him but he decided against it, her stupidity alone - which superseded the two Arcadians to the title of idiot of the year - made him think that her presence there was entirely coincidence. However coming from the world of the were-hunter, to rule something out as a coincidence was inviting trouble in Jasyn's mind, and was also a dramatic step towards being complacent, something no were-hunter, Arcadian or Katagaria, could afford to be. Still the clumsy attempt on his life was not the only reason he had to find her again. On reflection, Jasyn realised that the woman had held a camcorder in her hands while she watched him kill the Arcadians and then when he attacked her. Perhaps she had not been recording at the time, and perhaps the footage was blurry and utterly worthless, still he had to know. Any self-respecting were-hunter, no matter whence womb or lineage they originated from, would go to all lengths to destroy any and all evidence of their existence. Unless of course they wanted to find themselves in a cage, surrounded by people in white coats and having all manner of things poked up their sphincters. It was the duty of them all to make sure no evidence could be leaked to the human world. Surely she would get rid of it? Jasyn thought to himself. He had bigger fish to fry right now; he didn't need to be tramping around after some dozy, Arcadian female who was stupid enough to record his attack. Jasyn didn't think about what would happen when he was able to get to her again, either way it wouldn't be beneficial to her, especially if she chose to fight him. Yeah, right, Jasyn scoffed, that really seemed likely after she had practically rolled over and allowed him to almost kill her. The woman had been damn lucky that her human friends had come and rescued her, otherwise she would be in shreds, oh well, there was going to be another time, Jasyn promised himself that.