"You want me to be bait?"

She doesn't really know if it's better than getting her blood sucked out, and she doesn't really get how her life has come to this. At his expression, Sophia assumes that's what it is. "There's no mincing words to it, I guess."

"This is our best case scenario of getting this guy. If we don't stop him, more people will die. He probably doesn't know who to approach that will help him, and his increasing fear will only fuel his transformations and the subsequent carnage." She understands all that, but Sophia has no clue just how she will get him there.

"I know why you need my help - I'm a human, and like you said my smell will mask yours. What I don't know is how I will get this guy to where you want me to." Also, it's finals season and she has an exam and a deadline for her thesis to meet. "I have some obligations that I do need to meet." He looks at her for a moment.

"I understand. How long do you need?"

"A week." It's plenty of time for her to think over this too. A large part of her wants to commit to it right now, but at the same time she has to know the risks. "Will I die?"

"No."

"Could I die?"

"Yes," he replies without missing a beat. "You have the option to say no."

"Thank you for being honest." It would be a lie if she says she isn't scared of death, because she sure as shit is. More importantly, she's worried about how it would impact her family. I can't do that to them. On the other hand, she can put an end to this nightmare once and for all. She can do her friend justice. "I don't like this one bit."

"You don't have to do it, really." Demetri's voice is gentler than she's ever heard it, and he looks like he means it. "I completely understand."

"It's not really that," Sophia sighs, pulling up her knees to her chest. Wrapping her arms around them gives her some sense of security, a feeling of control over some part of her life. "It should not be this way. I don't want my choices to literally be the trolley dilemma; I don't want to play God like this. It makes me feel like however I choose, I will somehow choose wrong." She does not get a response from him, so she continues. "If I agree, I will be stopping more people from dying, but I might die in the process, and I cannot cause my parents that pain. And if I choose myself and my family, this might continue longer, and more innocent people could die."

Sophia looks up at him to see his bitter expression. "Guess this is your hero moment." There is a heavy silence that hangs around them, and everything feels off - her apartment is warm and comfy and there is a pleasant storm outside that, under normal circumstances, would make her feel even more cozy. She is in control of her academics and her finances, and everything should feel okay.

"I don't want to be a hero. I just want to be a normal twenty something with a quiet, content life." There's people chatting under her window, and she can hear the laughter and levity in their tone and words. It feels like a world away.

"I'm sorry I took that away from you." She rests her head against the couch, closing her eyes just to get some order in her mind.

"It really isn't your fault. I could have just thanked you and never gone by snooping in your life and business and we would both be okay." It brings a smile to her face. "I don't regret it, though. I don't regret becoming friends with you."

"No?"

She turns to look at him, still smiling. "You saved my life and you made my life better since you came in it so no, I don't regret it one bit. I'm your friend, whether it be hunting werewolves or the cupid shuffle."

"What's the Cupid Shuffle?" Wow, he's been kinda disconnected from the world, hasn't he?

"It's a line dance - I could teach you, if you want." She pulls up Spotify on her TV, pulling up the song. He stands up, watching her. "Okay, so you just follow my lead, cause the video is kinda all over the place and I remember this better by memory thanks to so many school dances and college parties." She starts moving to the music, remembering all the Halloween dances and the grad after party she had with her small group of friends, when they danced to all the line dances they could possibly think of. She hears a chuckle from her right, the tall man beside her laughing as he tries to keep up with her.

"I'm having quite the time keeping up with you."

"It's the sick dance moves, I know," she smirks at him. "It's okay, it takes awhile to get the hang of it but it's so much fun." They play the song a couple more times as he gets the hang of it, and by the sixth play they're moving in sync, laughing as they dance in the middle of her living room.

"What other dances do you know that I should be aware of?" Not many, really - she isn't much of a dancer and only knows the popular dances because of the few parties she's attended with her friends.

"I'm not much of a dancer, so no waltz or ballroom or stuff. I do know the Backstreet Boys dance and the Bye Bye Bye dance."

"Okay. You teach me one, and I teach you a waltz." They dance along to the song side by side as she sings along goofily. Now that she's exhausted her repertoire, Sophia feels weird. This is the third or so time he will be touching her, and for some reason it makes her nervous. Must be the cold and the fact that he's a vampire. The cold is definitely a factor, as a shiver goes down her back as he takes her hand in his. Demetri seems to pick up on that, as he darts over and returns with a pair of gloves in a blink, putting them on. "Won't be so icy now." The gloves make his hands feel cool in a soothing way, and she listens to the dreamy music that's playing. She can see that it's Tchaikovsky, and it's familiar, but she can't exactly place it. "Okay, all you have to do is follow my lead." Three steps later, she steps on his feet, bringing out a chuckle from the vampire. They start over again, and after the next few tries, she is getting the hang of it bit by bit.

Sophia begins to hum to the tune, and slowly it clicks. "I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam," she softly sings along, and he gives her a look. "I just realised that it's the one from Sleeping Beauty." They move across her living room in a slow glide, the whole moment dreamlike. "And I know it's true, that visions are seldom what they seem."

"But if I know you," he joins in, his voice a lovely croon that puts her singing to shame. "I'll know what you do." She stares at his face, just realising how beautiful he is. Not pretty or attractive or hot, but beautiful. Like a Greek god. A Greek god who can kill with utter ease, death shrouded in beauty. Like Hades. She doesn't know if it's just her, but it feels like they are frozen in time. "The way you did once, upon a dream."

"Well, this certainly took my mind off things," she laughs breathily. "You really know how to waltz like a pro." She goes to get a drink, settling back on the couch with her water bottle.

"Years of practice," Demetri smiles crookedly at her.

"How many dances have you attended?"

"Too many to keep count."

"Have you ever been to a Viennese waltz?"

"Quite a few in my day, actually."

"Okay, grandpa." He gives her a look. "You're not exactly helping your case by staying stuff like back in my day, you know."

"I'm way too old to be your grandpa."

"You're probably my great grandpa times a hundred. Maybe eighty, but definitely in that ballpark. You are old, and dermatologists definitely hate you."

"And why shouldn't they?" At his ridiculous smug expression, Sophia breaks into a laugh and collapses into giggles on the couch. She hears the buzz of a phone and reaches for her own, but it's not the one. A passing glance at Demetri shows him swiping across his phone screen at inhuman speeds, but she notices a word amongst the flurry.

"What's the 'broturi'?" At that Demetri turns to her, eyes narrowed, His phone has now been tucked away, and he seems on guard.

"What else did you see?"

"Nothing else - your fingers were moving so quickly and so were the messages that I couldn't make anything else out - I wasn't trying to snoop, truly."

"Okay. I just wanted to make sure."

"Dude, I promise I won't go around spilling your secrets. Mainly cause I don't want to die, but also because friends do not do that to each other."

"I wouldn't want you to get in trouble."

"With whom? The vampire mafia?" She gets no smart retort at her comment. "Wait, is there a vampire mafia?"

"We prefer to think of ourselves as a governing body." Well, that explains so much about him.

"You're part of the vampire mafia."

"Governing body. I'm part of the Guard, and no -" he says at her inquisitive look, "I cannot tell you more. Not without the approval of my bosses."

"Fair." She doesn't want to get him in trouble either. But god, she wants to know. "Hey."

"Yes?"

"I'm in. I still need a week though, because just in case I survive this whole thing, I need good grades for this semester." She still hasn't gotten her answer to the original question, Sophia remembers. "So what is the broturi?"

"It's a group chat for my cousins and I."

"Gotcha." Must be an inside joke, she thinks, letting out a tired yawn. "I should probably get to bed. You're welcome to stay here, if you wish. I don't have a guest room, sorry." Even if he does not sleep, everyone needs a private space.

"That's all right - I should be heading back anyways."

"Alright." He takes his leave, Sophia locks and bolts the door and heads to the shower, eager to wash the hospital scent off her. She's thinking about his words as the water runs down her back, injured hand wrapped in plastic to stop the cast from getting wet. There's a lot of dangers that are associated with luring anyone into an ambush, let alone a dangerous, unstable werewolf to a group of vampires. There's a very high chance that she gets hurt, and a pretty good chance that she might die. She had to go into this knowing the extent and the enormity of the danger associated with the choices she might be making.

While the aspect of death scares her a bit, her desire for delivering her friend justice is stronger than her fears. And honestly, a decent part of her really wants to be a part of this fantasy world that, until now, was just the stuff of myths. And as much as she wants to dwell on this right now, she also has to finish studying in the event that she does survive and has a life after this. The week goes by like any normal finals week, and she almost forgets what awaits her at the end of it until the day of her aircraft design exam.

Her hands go clammy at the thought in the middle of the paper, and she somehow makes it through it, but her shoulders are tense as she walks back to her apartment. The streets are busy with chattering students, some of them lounging on the quad while some play frisbee on the grounds. She would have joined them - well, maybe not directly - and she would have been carefree, planning for a night of fun and games and long Netflix marathons. "Well, I did agree to this, and ducking out is just counter-productive," she mutters under her breath as she climbs the stairs.

"Hey." It's the guy she had bumped into the day of the accident. The werewolf. She waves back with a small smile, trying not to let her fear show. "Just wanted to apologise for that day."

"You don't have to," she replies, fishing for her keys. He's quite lean and honestly very harmless looking, and she cannot mentally conflate the image of that large, threatening lupine with this person. He doesn't look like he would hurt someone. "It's okay, really."

"Lowell," he extends his hands towards her. "Just started my first semester of grad school here and was feeling kind of lonely."

"Sophia, I live here, as you can see," she points her casted hand at her door, turning the key. "I'm in a combined graduate-PhD program and in my second year here."

"Cool, see you around, I guess."

"See you." She shuts the door behind her, letting out a deep breath. Putting a name and a face to the wolf didn't help her case at all, and was only an obstacle in her decision making. Sophia makes a beeline for her bedroom, curling up in her bed, injured arm awkwardly placed above her head. She puts on a podcast, letting the chatter of the hosts distract her mind and fill it with something else other than her thoughts. The peace doesn't last long enough, broken by the loud knocking on her door. If it's that kid I swear to god - But it's not. "Hi?" It's Demetri's tall cousin; she doesn't remember the name quite well.

"Hello. Mind if I come in?"

"Yeah, no issues," she lets him in, a thought rising to her mind. "Do you have to be invited inside to enter, or is it just courtesy?" The vampire in question chuckles, standing by the door.

"Just an entertaining myth. I am here regarding something."

"I figured - you have no reason to pay me a social visit," she shrugs.

"We move tomorrow. Demetri is unavailable at the moment, so he sent me to brief you of the plan and make sure all details are clear on your end." It's really happening, I guess. She gives the tall man a nod, gesturing at her couch as she takes a seat on the armchair. He goes through the details slowly yet clearly, as if laying out a battle plan, which she supposes he is, after all. There is one thing he leaves unclear, however. "It is up to you to successfully lure the beast to the agreed rendezvous point. He does not seem to suspect you and moreover, you are human and will not set off any alarm bells. The full moon is still days away so he will not voluntarily transform, but the change can be triggered if he feels like he is in extreme danger. It is very important that you do nothing to set that off."

"What if he has an anxiety disorder or some paranoia disorder, and it's just being set off by his illnesses?"

"Children of the Moon are very predominantly wolf-like, so the likelihood of any medication being able to treat their mental health issues is very low. Besides, that is why Alec will be tailing you from a distance. Your smell will mask him and he can keep the beast under control just enough for you to be able to bring him to the spot."

"Understood. Thanks a lot for being patient with me."

"Given that a lot is at stake upon the proper execution of this plan, this is the bare minimum that I can do for you." He takes his leave, and she is alone in her home again.

Time to face the beast, I guess.