Midnight Hours

Anthony growled under his breath, looking in to the darkness, the shadow was still too far away. "Lay low," he said, crawling over to the edge of the roof to get a better look. It was something in the forrest, something he couldn't pin-point. "Fresh blood," he mumbled. It was quite a way down from up here, but he was sure that he could climb down easily. "Heading east," he mumbled before he started climbing down the tower. When he was at a height that he knew he could manage, he jumped down, making sure to land correctly. He looked up at Norella, knowing she could easily just fly down from there. Anthony's body shook a little, mostly because the smell was so apparent down here, but he still couldn't tell what the scent was from, however he followed it. In through the woods, following the scent, and the closer he got, the more the scent of fear filled his nostrils. Who ever was hurt, was scared as well. He heard a twig break, turning to his right to see a dog, golden haired and clearly hurt, blood running from a wound in it's abdomen. "Hey! Hey!" Anthony tried to yell, but the dog was clearly struck by pure instinct, trying to keep running despite how hurt it was.

As soon as he mentioned blood, her body became aware. It was the predator in her, a beast she still had her own combats with time to time. The fight was based on karma, and her own fault. It was hundred years ago since she had returned from isolation in her bird shape, but years as an animal had a lasting effect - even after many years past. He jumped down, which made Norella take a deep breath in. so much for a quite night. She made a field of ice, she could slide down on, and landed on the ground. Norella looked around, it would have been a good idea to call for back up. Maybe just make Hope aware of something not being right, but then, if she did. Hope would just throw her ass in bed, and what would the fun be in that? Anthony was already heading towards the woods, there was no time to waste. If someone was running it meant the person was running from someone or something. Norella started running, but in her human shape she wasn't much faster than a human. It would take to much time and grant her to much pain to switch between shapes anyways. Finally she caught up with Anthony in the woods. She looked around and a worried expression reached her eyes. "She is running from something or someone.. and that might still be outhere with us," she let the cold reach her eyes, and the hazel color was replaced with ice colored. Norella generated the told, she had to be aware if anything was to come. "I should have called for Hope," she mumbled to herself and held her breath for a little. Norella knew they were being hunted, by what was the greater question. She wasn't thinking much about the stranger running, she was more afraid of her own safety in this matter and Anthony's. "Can you see anyone, in the trees.. anything. Your night vision is better than mine," she asked in a low whisper, leaning her head closer to his. It was clear she was worried about what ever was out there, but not enough to run away from it either. The ice cold almost white eyes looked into his, before she looked away again. It wasn't often she let people look into her eyes when they were like that.

Anthony let the dog run, frowning at Norella's words. She was right. Whatever had hurt that dog was still out here, and he was not planning on getting hurt right now, nor letting her befall to any danger. He was way ahead of her, trying to look in to the forrest. A roar was heard, but it didn't sound like an animal that Anthony had ever heard of before. He looked in to Norella's eyes, seeing the ice cold blue instead of her warm hazel colored. He didn't really have time to ask her about it as a large bear like creature stepped out from the cold. Standing on it's hind legs it roared, making Anthony snare in return, instinctively getting in front of Norella.
However if Norella looked closely, she would see the bear having green eyes, once that looked like someone that used to be close with her older sister. The bear roared before collapsing, and as it hit the ground, a naked red haired girl appeared in it's stead. The werewolf was mildly put, in complete shock. He had never seen anything like this, and not really expected the large beast to turn in to a fragile woman.

The roar made Norella's heart skip a beat, and she already had formed a dagger of ice in her right hand. Her head turned towards the sound as the bear showed up from the darkness. Norella frowned a bit looking into the green eyes, after all she spent plenty of time with people who transformed into animals. Anthony stepped in front of her, which surprised her, not that it showed. Norella looked at him shortly before returning her eyes to the bear collapsing on the ground. Norella let the iced shaped dagger fall to the ground. A girl appeared on the cold ground, and the cyrobird rushed over to her. "Keeva?" She whispered softly, pulling the girl's hair a bit back to see her face. "She is alright, mostly just exhausted from the transformation," Norella returned her eyes over at the shocked werewolf. "I know what that is like," she whispered underneath her breath. Norella was mostly forced to be in her bird shape, it was draining to be human. Most species felt it the other way around or at least in a type of balance. "She is a friend of my sister," she then confirmed. Maybe now it was time to call a little security for help. Norella knew most of her sister's friend, not that she was close with them, but she knew which to trust and not to. "Jeez, Nor. You know it's my night off," a voice appeared from the darkness as the blonde demon merged from the shadows. "Oh, hey handsome," she greeted Anthony before looking back at Norella and the other girl.

Hope walked over and picked the stranger up, like Norella she knew the people Katerina was close with. "I'm gonna shadow drop all your asses back to the castle," and before they could argue with her, they where in an empty room in the castle. Hope placed Keeva on the bed, and covered her skin with a blanket. "What are you guys even doing out in the forest at this hour. It's not safe," she looked more strictly at Norella but then looked over at Antony. It was Eudora's cousin, which meant she couldn't really let anything happen to him either. "We were just talking,"-"In the woods?" Hope raised an eyebrow before she shook her head. "Your sister would kill me if anything happens to you, and you know it," she pointed at Norella a little before returning her blue eyes back at Keeva. "Yup, I know that."

Keeva laid on the ground, her body twitching a bit fro exhaustion, but everything else seemed quite alright with her. Anthony felt like he had to look away, taking his shirt off and handing it to Norella to place it on the redheaded woman. He didn't think that she would like being naked like that. Nodding at the cryobird's words about the woman being her sister's friend, he only looked back once Keeva was somewhat modest. That was when he heard a voice that made him frown a little. He felt like it was recognizable, and as he turned to look it was none other than Hope Marshall - The woman that his cousin had been dating. Talk about awkward. He didn't really get to have a say in anything before he felt the cold shadows surround him and they were back inside the castle. He took a step away from the bed, not wanting to interfere in any privacy, and stood for a bit as Norella and Hope started discussing.
"Hope, I thought you worked for the royal family ..?" he suddenly spurted out, looking at the demon with a lot of confusion on his face. That was when everything hit him like a tonne of bricks. Norella, she had a bigger sister and so did the princess of Illien. Swallowing he closed his eyes, looking down. "I am so sorry ... It was my mistake," he said. He was shaking a little, mostly because he felt like he had been indecent towards a princess. Was he going to be punished for that? Excusing himself he moved out in to the hallway, going over to one of the large windows that he opened, breathing in the fresh air to calm him down. However it didn't seem to work. He had spent the night with a princess, granted he hadn't touched her inappropriately, only holding her hand when they snuck past the guard, but his thoughts had been far from decent. Of course she was out of his league, he should've known that from the beginning, however he had just wanted to turn a blind eye to it.

"I do-" Hope looked at the confused werewolf then at Norella, "I see. You got some catching up to do," she exhaled before giving Keeva her attention once again. Norella took a sharp breath in, and watched him step out. "Perfect," she mumbled slightly irritated by the fact he now knew. The fear off him not seeing her like herself again after this hit her right in the stomach. Norella had to make a choice, to follow the path and see where it would lead her, or simply just allow it to vanish. "You can go out for him if you want. He is a good guy," she spoke and looked back at Norella, "I will look after the princess. Don't worry. Just stay in the castle," she pointed at Norella with a little strict eye before giving her a little smile. Norella looked at Hope and took a sharper breath in. She felt her heart skip a beat as she stepped out to the hallway. "You know, you don't have to say sorry for anything," she then broke the silence as she walked up to him. "I didn't mean to freak you out, you know." Norella felt nervous, why was she nervous? Her heart began to beat a little faster, not knowing what to expect from him after learning the truth. "Please don't feel lesser of me for not saying it," it wasn't because she had lied about it, she would never, but she had still held back parts of the truth. But she didn't want him to look different at her, just because she was a princess.

Anthony closed his eyes, breathing in the night air blowing in from the window. He felt stupid. He should've known who she was from the moment she said her name, and yet he had wanted to not believe it was so. He heard footsteps behind him, and the scent of her filled his nostrils. Her words stung, mostly because he wanted to apologize even more now. Turning around as she almost pleaded him not to think badly of him, he sighed, looking in to her hazel eyes. "How could I ever think lesser of you?" he asked, however he was rather hurt. He knew that royal people had it hard, but had he not seemed trustworthy enough? Had she wanted to not ever tell him if she had it her way? "I don't have any right to judge you for what you did ... But I guess I was just trying to fool myself," he said, looking down as he didn't quite know how to describe the feeling he had right now. He wasn't mad or sad, rather he was disappointed in himself.

"I don't know," she breathed out and took a sharper breath in. It had been nice while it lasted, to be a little bit normal. "I was the one fooling myself Anthony, not you," she pointed out and returned her gaze towards him. "Usually, people only see me for what I am. Not who I am," she grabbed her lower lip with her teeth shortly, "It was nice having someone looking at just me," Norella admitted and twirled a little bit of hair around two fingers. Norella didn't know what she wanted from this, it wasn't like her to keep the search like this. There had been something, there was something about the way he looked at her. She couldn't describe it, but it added something in her soul she didn't know she needed. Norella knew it could be something his mind just had to accept first, and she hoped that he did. She was tired of the perfect act a Princess seemed to need, especially when she wasn't home. Home she could relax a bit more, and just play it cool. It was like in the castle she had to play a part. If she misbehaved, it could cause her sister some strong connections with the other kingdoms. The act was the hardest part, because they still had to meet a people like Rebekah Sinclair - and that witch was scary. Thunderbirds usually didn't talk to her, since she was the cause of their curse.

Breathing out he looked down as she said she had just wanted to be normal. He could understand that, that people probably judged her left and right for the title she bore, but had he shown any signs of dismissal of the royals? "I'm not really good at making friends ... Always been a bit of a lone wolf, but you ... The way you look at me, I just don't feel alone," he said, frowning as he didn't know if his words made sense. He had never really declared himself as a lone wolf, and was still in his family's pack, but he had always felt out of steps with them. He was much more reliant on instinct rather than what was expected of him. "I sound stupid again," he mumbled, shaking his head as he frowned. Scratching his neck a little he looked back at Norella.
"Listen, I really liked the time we spent tonight, even though it ended a little weird," he said, truth shining from his green eyes. "But despite all of this, I am still a rather young man; I've been alone with you despite what is the norm for royals like you," he said, feeling a little embarrassed. He hadn't kept his mind clean, because what man could do that when she looked at him the way she did.

"Well, I'm not good at making friends either, I guess we can start from there then?" She suggested and tilted her head a little to the side with a warmer smile. "Then none of us is alone," she added with a little smirk. Norella had a bunch of family members, she was the oldest of a handful siblings on her mothers side, then she had three older half siblings. The one she was closest with was Katerina. However, she was still different from them. It had always made her feel excluded in some ways. "You don't sound stupid to me at all," she confessed and took a deeper breath in. It was true their night had ended quite weird and far from where she had thought it would. "That is true, but I am still just a girl; who wants to be able to talk with someone. Besides, I hate the norms of royalty," she added tilting her head a little to the other night. Norella had never been the fan of order and rules, but she was still quite loyal to her sister. "What I've told you tonight isn't less true because of some titel. I want you to know that," she kept her eyes at his and took a deeper breath in.

"I would like that," Anthony admitted with a warm smile spreading on his lips. He liked Norella, there was no doubt about it, and for some reason he could feel a pull towards her. Like he just needed her in her life. As she went on to explain that she still was just a woman that had feelings and thoughts like everyone else, he felt a bit of shame creep up on him. Had he been too fast to judge her? The time they had spent on that rooftop, she had been so beautiful to look at. It was as if he could see her soul shining through, and the look of relaxation in her eyes had told him much more than words could. "I'm sorry," he said. He would probably keep apologizing forever, but he wanted her to know that whatever intention he had, was not bad at all. He liked her. Probably more than he should for her being nothing more than a stranger, but if this had time to grow, a beautiful friendship was sure to sprout from the seed they planted now.
"I'll be quite busy in the days leading up to the coronation," he said, looking down. She was maybe only in town because of that, and now he felt like he was wasting his time. "But ... I still want to make an effort to see you - If you'd like to of course," he said, a shy smile spreading on his lips. "Oh, and if you are free to do so ... I wouldn't want to keep you from your duties," he added, feeling a little flustered. Anthony frankly didn't know what things royal had to attend to, well besides the dinners he would make in the kitchen.

She breathed out, feeling like some of the heavy stones were lifted from her chest. Norella nodded as she understood he had to be busy, she, herself had plenty of planning to do on her behalf. Norella still wasn't sure how Alexander would react to her being here, it had been so long since last time they saw each other. "I would like that," she confessed with and folded her lips in a little smile. "I will make it work," other than having Abigal finding her a dress and rehears the coronation - there was not much for her to do. "My sister has the most duties, I'm just the cool sidekick," she then confessed and ran a hand over her hair. People often saw Caterina more than they saw her, not that she had a problem with that. It meant more freedom to Norella. It was a weird world they lived in, and she'd had centuries to figure out what her place was. "But I'm staying for a while. My sister is trying to get more alliances and the coronation is perfect for that. Besides, she likes that not everyone in Gaia knows who she is at first sight," Norella looked outside and up at the star painted night sky with a little smirk.