I'll stand by you - J.C

She was on the run. Ish. Not really, or weren't you always on the run in this time. She had lost her phone on the way, brilliant. Mariella was in Southside lucky her she knew where she was going. She was still after the last few people who had been beating Dean up. Theo had handled most of it, but there was still some money issue that she needed to handle. Because they wanted money. Money wasn't a problem. The problem was Mariella was way to proud to give these fuckers anything. But if it cost her friends their lives was it really worth it? Jamie was right she had changed, but it wasn't in the way he was thinking. Yes she had one big mess up.That thing didn't define her, and she knew that. That was the perks of Mariellas self-awareness, Jamies words had hurt the first day. But after that, she also knew his words wasn't there to shape her. Because she knew what she had done, and she had to live with that. It wasn't his burden to take on, or anyone else. Mariella walked towards the parking lot, but stopped when she spotted Jamie walking towards his bike. If she stayed here she wouldn't be noticed. Which in her case was a mistake, and someone pulled her back and hamred her back against the three behind them. The demons arm was pressing against her throat blocking her airways.
"Not so tough now are we," said the demon with a little smile. She lifted her knee up and hereby made the demon let go. She needed to take some time to get her breath back.
"Jamie," she yelled after him. Only to seconds after she blinked and a fist in her face had sent her to the ground.

Outfit

Jamie had ended his friendship with Mariella. He regretted it now. It had been in done in the moment without much forethought. He wanted to make up with her, but he didn’t know how. He was taking a walk on the southside to clear his mind. He had taken on his serpent jacket, but lately he had worn it less and less. If he wanted to be with Serenity, he couldn’t wear it. Not when he went to her. But right now, he just wanted to be left alone, and that jacket made it possible for him to be that. He walked into a parking lot. He took forward his phone and scrolled through his contact, trying to decide if he should call Mariella. He looked up when he heard something talk further away. He put away the phone to go check it out. When Mariella called out for him, he was quickly by her side. He got into a fight with the demon. Jamie punched him the stomach with near all the strength he could. The demon bent over forward. He grabbed Jamie’s hand and looked at the ring protecting him from sunlight. The demon took the ring and ran away. He was already beginning to feel sick from the sunlight, but he couldn’t worry about that right now. He had to get Mariella away from here. He picked her up in his arms. ”You always were a trouble maker,” he said with a soft voice, before he moved them away from the parking lot and into a store that had been shut down and was not used anymore. He put her down on a couch in the back. He felt a wave of nausea roll over him. He sat down next to the couch and leaned his back against it.

She breathed out as he was by her side, and fought the demon off with. Mariella closed her eyes shortly before she opened them again to take a deep breath in. Mariella was all about taking care of herself, but she didn't fight back when Jamie picked her up.
"Some of us has to be right?" She teased a little as she was looking at him. Here was the thing about friendships, people had their reasons to fight. Be angry. People often got angry or fought when they were missing or didn't understand some of the information given. They got to the store, it really could use a pair of good hands. Mariella returned her eyes to Jamie as he looked like something was bothering him - and not in the way of their fight few days ago. Mariella narrowed her eyes, and as a spark of sunlight came through the window and touched his skin - she could see the slow burn.
"Thank you.. for having my back," she then said shortly after returning her eyes from the window. She lifted her hand, to manipulate the wind so it would close the blinds.
"Where is your ring?" She asked more seriously and grabbed his hand.  After that she looked up at him. All she wanted to do was to give him a hug. And even through he had said he didn't want her friendship - that wasn't the person she was looking at right now. So she just wrapped her arms tightly around him, it had been so cold right out him the last weeks. The last few days even worse. She had been so terrified of loosing her best friend, even Lion seemed to be a bit shaken by her strong feelings towards it.

Jamie tried not to show how much the sun bothered him. First came the feeling of being sick, then came the burning. He had luckily never tried being in the sun without his ring. Until now, at least. The sun traveled through a window and hit his arm, he watched it as it started to burn a little. He removed his arm from the direct sunlight. He looked at the blinds as they closed, undoubtedly something she did to protect him from the sun. ”I always will,” he said. She grabbed her hand and commented on the missing ring. ”The demon took it. I bet he want to pawn it or something.” He put his hand on her arm when she embraced him. ”I’ll be okay. I’ll just wait for the sun to go down and find a witch that can make me a new one,” he said, trying to make her not worry. He moved out of her embrace and turned to face her. ”I didn’t mean it. I was angry, scared and hurt. I know it was never your intention to make me feel like that, but you did.” He sighed, knowing he would betray Serenity’s trust by telling Mariella the truth, but he couldn’t risk losing her. ”When I first got here, I met someone. We decided to keep our relationship secret because she is a Coyote.” He felt relieved he had finally told somebody the truth. He wasn’t good at keeping secrets from his friends. ”She was there when Lion nearly died. The banshee,” he explained and took in a sharp breath.

She breathed out as she embraced him. He moved out of the hug and looked her in the eye. Mariella held her breath shortly as he said he didn't mean what he had said. First she just listened to what he had to say. She breathed slowly out, knowing there always was a bit of truth in anger. But as he kept on talking she realized where that truth came from. First she gave him a are you serious look. Mostly because he had been the only one knowing about her relationship with Karmena back then. Her face went blank when he said it was the girl she had attacked that day. The flashes past her memories of her regrets for that day. It hadn't been her reacting it had been the darkness.
"I wish you had told me earlier.. I.. I'm sorry," she blinked at few times. It was clear that it wasn't actions she were proud of. It wasn't even her intentions to hurt the banshee back then. "I don't care about who you are with Jem.. all I care about is your happiness. Your happiness is my happiness." She smiled at him.  
"When I killed that other coyote.. it triggered something.. I can usually contain my darkness, but this.. this new thirst.. hunger. Every drop of blood seems to make my insides burn up.. and I'm so scared of what it might make me do," she admitted as she looked down. She wasn't proud of it.
".. a friend of mine was hurt the other day.. bleeding out on a rock in the ocean. But for a second all I wanted was to rip him into pieces.. so maybe you didn't mean what you said.. but what If you are right?," she turned her eyes to Jamie as she bit her lower lip. "What If all I am is darkness in the end?" She shook her head.
"Look at me going all insane. And like in hell we are going to stay in here for five hours. I can cover you," she gave him a smile. "I've been learning a few new tricks. Keeps the shadows around me in check," she added. Trying to move on from her previous words. She didn't want to worry him about her thoughts, because like always - Mariella liked to believe she had things under controle.

Jamie looked at her when she apologized. ”I know you are,” he told her. He know she was not violent without reason. Like himself, which was why it scared him so much. ”It wasn’t about that. I know you just want me to be happy, but if I told you or anyone, it was real. That’s scary,” he admitted. He hadn’t told her how his last relationship ended. ”After you left, the others seemed to drift towards each other. Theo and Jasmine got together and Melania and Reggie. I found someone too, someone else. But he…” He sighed, as thinking back on it was not a pleasant thing to do. ”He died right in front of me,” he finally managed to muster. ”I’m just so fucking scared it will happen again,” he said and took her hand in his. ”I’m not trying to make you feel bad, I just want to tell you everything,” he explained.
He listened as she explained the darkness. ”I’m a vampire. I know a little something about bloodlust. But you are not darkness because of it. Not all at least. It all comes down to control. You got a taste for blood, now you just need to stop it from taking over. I have no doubt in my mind that you will excel at that. You just need to practice. I can help,” he offered and smiled at her. She then offered to cover him. ”Thank god,” he added with a smile. He didn’t want to stay here for that long.

"Well, how do you feel about her?" Mariella asked and narrowed her eyes, "I know a few things about running away from emotions," she said with a little half smirk because he knew that. Mariella narrowed her eyes as she could see something deeper bothered him. They had all been so busy, that taking time to catch up seemed like impossible. When he told her that he have had a boyfriend who died, her heart skipped a beat. She couldn't imagine death upon a loved one. Or she could, the fear of losing Lion still haunted in nightmares. She was lucky Reginald was by her side to haunt them away.
"I'm happy you told me," she said putting her hand on his. "You shouldn't walk around with stuff like that on your shoulders alone, that is why you have me - remember?" She gave him a little smile. Mariella listened to him talk about the bloodlust. He said it came down to controle.
"I begin to understand you and the other vamps better everyday," she chuckled a little, she was happy Lion hadn't killed anyone in siren style yet. This hunger for human flesh was awful. "I've been wrestling with Theo since.. to just get some sort of control over my body again. I don't want to hurt someone like that again," she sighed and took a deep breath in. "But I wouldn't say no to your help if you have any ideas," she pointed out with a smile. It was good to have her best friend back. It had been a total mess in her head ever since.
"No, not God, just me," she teased with a big smile.

”I like her. She is so strong, has the best sense of humor. She’s a good dresser,” he said with a weak chuckle. He turned his gaze away as the topic of his ex-boyfriend came up. He sniffled. He had cried a lot over him, and it wasn’t because he wasn’t sad anymore, he was just happy again. And in a way, that made him sad. Was it okay for him to be happy? ”I know. I just didn’t want to burden you. You had a lot going on,” he explained.
”Welcome to the club,” he said with a slight smile. He listened to her explain. ”It is possible to control it. Theo is the best to teach you how to do that. His level of control is incredible,” he said. Jamie had sometimes forgotten Theo needed blood just as much as he did. He seemed in so much control it was possible to forget. ”Distractions would be my best bet. Whenever I feel the need for blood, I turn my focus to something else, another sound, another smell, whatever you can pick up on. And then I find the source. But I rarely get the bloodlust because of my amazing dishes,” he said with a confident smile. ”Is there a difference?” He asked and pushed her playfully.

"She can't possible dress better than me. I know you secretly love and adore my choices of outfits," she teased a little. The talk about the dead boyfriend, and him not wanting to burden her made her shook her head.
"Your burdens are my burdens, I would never let you carry that alone. I'll always have stuff on my plate, but I'll always have a space free for you," she gave him a comforting smile.
Being welcomed to the predator group was weird, but she had to accept that to move past it. And to controle it she had to accept it. Jamie saying it was possible to controle, gave her a little hope - she had never been the optimistic type - but she had to believe in something. Mariella knew why Theo was in such good controle, and she had promised him a long time ago not to tell anyone what had happened that day.
"Oh yeah your famous dishes, I'm surprised you haven't made your own book yet," she smiled a little. "Maybe I should start fishing.. people say its calming.. " she chuckled a little by her comment, "it would be cheaper than buying sushi." Mariella giggled by his last comment.
"Fair point.. fair point," she gave him a cute half smirk.