A man in wolf's clothing

This had been such a bad idea from the very beginning. Did she suddenly think she was some kind of explorer, that she was in any way possible qualified to venture after someone into the dark woods? She was no hunter, far from it. She barely knew how to swing a baseball bat. She wasn’t even dressed probably for an evening work like this. Sure, she had had enough commonsense to grab a warm jacket and stick her feet into proper foot wear but her legs were only covered in the thin layer of a pair of nylon tights. She was dressed for work, her work. An office job where fashion was more important than weather practicality. And not to mention than her arm wasn’t completely healed. The plaster cast was off but she still wore a support one of hard plastic.
However, the worst part of it all was; she was completely lost.

In the middle of a unfamiliar forest. In the pitch darkness. The only light available was the moon looming over her in its fullness. It was very bright to look at but it still didn’t brighten up her surroundings very much. Only just enough that her human eyes could somewhat make out the shapes of trees around her, making it just about sufficient to navigate. Nevertheless, Maeve had absolutely no idea where she was. Or where her tall friend was, for that matter. All she saw was trees and darkness. She pulled her jacket closer to her body, crossing her arms and pressing her hands in under her armpits. She was starting to really feel the cold. The cold was a lot different out in nature than it was in the cities. It was more clamming. Stuck to you. She had just kept going even after realizing how lost she was, partly to keep her legs doing and hopefully bring some warmth to them. She shallowed. Looked around her as she went but everything looked the same to her. She looked down. She wasn’t even on a path anymore and fallen and moistened leaves hugged the sides of her old trainers.
She sucked in some air, deep into her lunges in a way to calm her nerves. Keeping her mind clear. It was a lot harder than one would think, because behind the forced calmness she could feel the panic. She was lost! In the woods! This had been a bad, bad ide-…

“Argh!” She suddenly heard herself burst out in a yelp of pain and as she stumbled for a few steps her hand reached around to the back of her neck. Something has sliced her. Something sharp. She quickly drew her hand back to look at it and although the wet feeling should have prepared her she was still surprised by the sight of blood. “Wha-?” she mumbled to herself, reaching back to the two thin wounds something had given her and she immediately started looking around more franticly. Her neck was bleeding but it wasn’t anything major. Her first thought was the it might have been some branches that had scraped her. But… “What the hell?! You’re supposed to be paralyzed right about now.” Maeve screamed, startled by the sound of a strangers voice and she whipped around to look in the direction, where her eyes caught sight of a silhouette.
She stumbled a few steps again, this time backward. Away. Or so she thought. Like out of nowhere he was right up in her face. She hadn’t even blinked! The witness of such speed had her stunned in a stare. She could see the person now. Dark skin, which was almost too perfect and piercing eyes. He wasn’t that tall but it did feel like he was towering over her the way he stood bend down to have his face closer to hers. “You smell so damn human that I really wouldn’t have guessed you’d be able to withstand my poison.” He scoffed, unimpressed. She was about to take yet another step back when she lost her footing completely - the man’s foot had swept hers away under her - and she hit the ground hard on her back with an umf! “I don’t need it anyway.” The next second he was over her and the hidden panic inside her soared out through her body.
“What are yo-!!!” was all she was able to yell out in fear before a hand covered her mouth, keeping her pushed down to the ground at the same time. She kept yelling behind the hand but the sound all got muffled. She trashed under him, tried to push him off her and he didn’t even so much as moved. With his other hand he grabbed her right wrist and forced her arm to lay down on the ground next to her. She cried out in pain - muffled by his hand - as she squeezed the still healing arm and it only made her legs kick even more. She almost didn’t notice him leaning forward until he moved her head a little bit more to the side.

The monthly meeting took place around the bonfire in the backwoods, and as most of the important matters had been discussed, they were now sharing stories amongst each other. The Crenshaws had traveled to their family in New York for Thanksgiving, and Wendy had other plans, leaving five attending members for tonight's full moon. Rafael stared into the flames of the fire as he zoned out of the conversation for a moment. His sense of hearing had caught onto something, and as he got a sense of direction from this, he moved his eyes to the dark trees. However, it wasn’t until he caught the scent of blood and that of a vampire, that he got up from his seat and pulled his shirt above his head. “Don’t follow me,” he ordered with a stern glance to the members who had gotten up the moment he had. They were met with his red-glowing eyes due to his beginning transformation. That being the reason his senses had heightened in the first place. It wasn’t only the predatory instinct that wanted to follow the scent of the blood as much as it was his innate hate for vampires that urged this. He walked further into the forest with the back to the others, inhaling a deep breath to better catch their scent. He then undressed completely as the final transformation occurred, making him reach more than two meters in height. His fur had a distinct dark brown color mixed into his overall black coat. Making it easy for him to blend into the darkness.
He set off into the night, running fast through the forest with the sole purpose to hunt the vampire. The moonlight only fueled his strength and energy the longer he ran. And within the first few seconds, he heard his pack howling in the distance, only making him more determined to eliminate the threat.

The moment he saw the vampire above his victim, he growled angrily as he leaped towards them. Forcing the man away from the human. They landed a short distance from her with Rafael above the vampire. He dug his claws into the vampire as he bit into his neck. And although he tried to fight back, it didn't take him long to be overtaken by the venom and the deathly bite. He raised his head to look at the vampire, not feeling the slightest sense of remorse for what he’d done. Blood was dripping from his fangs onto the body as he removed himself from the vampire and walked towards the human. His red eyes assessing her as he licked his lips to remove the blood. Contemplating what he should do with her. His predatory instincts told him one thing, but his consciousness another.

He stopped beside her, taking a closer look at the wound on her neck before he reached his arms around her. Lifting her up into his arms as he ventured back to the house. Her having fallen unconscious made it slightly easier. As he returned to the fire, the other members were gone. It took him a moment to open the door, having to balance the woman in his arms as he did this, but when it opened, he got a better grip on her again and closed it with a simple push. He brought her upstairs to one of the seven bedrooms of the mansion, not wanting to place her in the living room in case she'd wake up when the others had returned. He placed her on a queen-size bed in one of the smaller rooms. The earthly colors matching the rest of the rustic lodge-style mansion. The only thing standing out being the emerald green bedding.
He walked out of the room to enter the master suite down the hall, taking a few moments to force a transformation before he got dressed and took out a first aid kit as well as a cloth that he wetted, carrying it back to the room that he'd placed the unconscious woman in. He placed the kit on the bedside table before he leaned closer to her with the cloth, gently placing it against the wound on her neck to clean off the blood.

Get off! No, don’t! Stop! Someone help! Maeve tried many different cries out loud and many more ran through her head but none of them sounded any less like a panicky and mumbling mess and the only sound that make from her with somewhat of a proper volume was a high-pitched squeal when she felt the man’s cold breath against her neck. Cold. It was cold. Even with all the new knowledge about the real world she lived in, she automatically found this fact very odd and very unnerving. She kicked and stomped her legs even more, starting to fear for what was going to happen to her, when the figure above her suddenly… wasn’t. With her eyes closed shut, all she really had felt was a sensation of something whipping by. And a growl?

At that moment Maeve’s eyes sprung open and she more or less immediately got up. Be it in a rather hurried and therefor clumsy manner which had her not quite get properly up on her feet when she started backing away and then fell back onto her ass. It was then she saw it. The source of the growled, she’d been sure she’d heard just before she would have become a late night snack for a undead mystical creature with a human face and body. She froze! - but not completely. At least it wasn’t simply fear. Her eyes were as big as tea cups and she could not take them off the big furred beast, let alone the scene that played out in front of her. She thought she’s seen her fair share of things, compared to many other ordinary humans like her. She’d seen blood spill out of a person’s skull as if it was about to explode. However, this was much more grotesque. Even in the dark she could see the blood, for some reason. And the beast’s eyes. Nightmare inducing. Her eyes quickly darted passed the approaching creature to where the dark-skinned man’s lifeless body was discarded as trash.
Colour disappeared from her face and just as fast her expression relaxed and her eyes rolled back into her head. Her body just kind of flopped backward onto the ground and by the time she hit, she was gone. Out cold. Fainted.
Maybe it was for the best, considering how she’d have reacted when being carried in the arms of the furred man.
_____

First she noticed the warmth. Then she noticed the softness beneath her. And lastly she felt the wet cloth against the back of her neck, provoking the wounds. It had ultimately been the stinging that had woken her up. Something that could have gone more gracefully than it did, because like out of nowhere the human swung and arm round at the same time as she rolled over from having laid on the back - to get to the wounds - using the movement to give more power to her sad excuse of an attack. Or self-defence. She wasn’t even sure if she’d actually gotten a hit in on the stranger, she just jolted up and had been close to fall off the bed on the opposite side in her attempt to distance herself from the stranger. She had expected the beast but instead landed her eyes on a man. Rough, for sure. But he didn’t have bloodied fangs.
She still didn’t relax. Standing up on her knees, wobbling slightly on the mattress, she grabbed unto the nearest thing within her reach - a bedside lamp - and didn’t hesitate to yank it from the bedside table, not caring about the stuff the cord pushed off to the floor when she held the lamp up in front of her as a weapon. Bottom pointed at the stranger. And then she held her stand, staring at him with an obvious alertness. Her heart pounded in her chest like after a big surprise. “Who are you?” The words fell out of her mouth. And before he could really answer, her new surroundings caught her attention and she started to look around. This wasn’t the woods. This was a room. A nice room. “Where… am I?” she then followed up with, her voice being slightly more quiet. Didn’t make it less of a choice for him to answer.

In a sudden movement, the woman swung an arm at him as she rolled over, hitting the arm he had close to her. Not that it made him move it but a few inches back. And perhaps he should have seen that coming. If she hadn’t already been freaked out by what she’d witnessed in the woods, having a stranger leaned over her in her awakening moment wasn't exactly going to help ease that. But she would soon realize that he meant no harm. He straightened his back as he watched the scene unfold, tilting his head with narrowed eyes as she pointed the lamp at him. Clearly not intimidated by her weapon of choice, more so, he was questioning why that was her first intuition. The dark eyes then returned to her face as she asked who he was. “Rafael Silvera,” he replied in a calm tone and a rather distinctive Spanish accent. He had pondered upon whether she’d be able to recognize him in his human form. And how he’d explain her ending up here. If he could get away with a lie. That he’d simply walked by and found her unconscious and bleeding. Would she buy that? He then stopped his train of thought because why should he care to ease her worries? She had been the one foolish enough to enter the forest at night. On a full moon. And had he not saved her, she might have not made it out alive. But for now, he still deemed it best to hold off on the 'I was the beast that you saw right before you fainted' reveal. Even if she probably could string that conclusion together on her own. “Who are you?” he returned the question.

“You are in my house… in the Forest between Gaia and Moonlight Falls,” he replied, glancing around the room for a moment. If she didn’t ask anything else, perhaps they wouldn’t have to get to the topic about what it was that happened back there… maybe she’d even forgotten. After all, it seemed plausible that she had hit her head during the fall. He stopped his gaze at the lamp as she still had it pointed at him. As if it posed a real threat. “Please, put that down,” he said, gesturing his hand towards the lamp to give attention to it. The lamp really wasn't going to do much to prevent him from hurting her, or just, yank it out of her hand. But that's not why he'd brought her here. And it wasn't in his interest to frighten her more than he already had. He’d genuinely brought her home with him because it had felt like the right thing to do. That and… the fact that he didn’t want to be responsible for one of his pack members attacking or killing her. Getting rid of a vampire in self-defense was one thing, but an innocent human. That would assuredly get them in trouble with the law. Besides, he didn’t want any innocents to die just because they walked into the forest unaware of its dangers. He placed the cloth on the table next to the first aid kit before he walked over to the other side of the bed, picking up a book from the floor that she’d hit while getting to the lamp in the first place. “Why were you out there?” he asked with his gaze on the book, brushing it over once with the palm of his hand before he placed it back on the table and focused his attention back on the human, his gaze lowering to her outfit for a moment. She didn’t exactly look like the typical human hiker that he occasionally saw. And there weren’t really any other houses around.

She had honestly not expected him to answer her so willingly. He hadn’t even taken some time to think about it. It left her rather dumbfounded and her guard automatically lowered by a little. She still held the lamp up in front of her, but the chances of her actually being ready to swing it, if the man should try something, had already started to dissolve. She sat silently for a good amount of time after he had returned the questioning to her, where she just kind of kept… staring. Unlike him she wasn’t so keen to introduce herself just yet. And yet sad the seconds ticked on the clock she started to feel bad for not showing this stranger the same hospitality. “Maeve…” she started out, carefully and after a short break she added: “Poe.” That way they were on equal grounds. She gulped discreetly. Her heart rate had slowly started to calm down, although she was nowhere near as relaxed as the present man - Rafael Silvera.

By the following reply, Maeve’s eyes wandered off in search for a window of some kind in the room. She had expected to see the forest outside but thanks to the lightening inside all she could see was darkness together with a vague reflection of the room in the glass. So, she was still in the forest. That was at least something. “Ah.. Right,” was really all she had to say to that. She was usually a pretty talkative person, but then and there her mind was more blank than anything. She turned her eyes back in the direction of Rafael. She was in his house. Alright. She could work with that.
“Huh?” As if she had forgotten all about the weaponized lamp in her hands she looked down at it the moment he directed her attention to it. It was far from the best defense but could he really blame her? She had been in a hurry. And he didn’t know whether or not she could utilize something like this to become deadly. Except maybe from her overall stand. Shoulders raised up to her ears and no real stability anywhere. Even she could see little by little how stupid she must have looked. And still did. She could have pointed a butter knife at him at it would have almost been more threatening… She instinctively followed his movements the moment he put down the cloth and right as he did she also spotted the first aid kit laying on the table. She frowned slightly. Was that meant to her? Instantly as the big man started to move around the bed, her eyes darted back to him. She quickly put down the lamp beside her on the bed, before she turned herself around to the same speed as it took Rafael to make it around.

He was very tall, she noticed. She knew taller people but that was beside the point. She wasn’t particularly scared of him. She was just a little unsure of him. “I was trying to find my way out to the main road. I thought that if I could get there I’d be able to contact my group. I got separated from them at some point when we were walking through the forest.” It was only partly a lie. She had really tried to find back to the main road. And she had gotten separated and gotten lost. But there had not been any group. Only a single other person. And that person had probably no figured out there had followed along. “Then…” It all came back to her. Or it came forward. She hadn’t forgotten what she had witnessed. She reached around to the back of her neck. It was slightly moist from the cloth, he’d been using to wipe the blood off with, but most of all she could feel the sounds. The blood had already coagulated and reacted a delicate scab over the two slit, which she could run her fingertip over and break with very little pressure. She grimaced faintly in a short pain and when she pulled her hand back she saw the bit of blood on her finger. Her pulse rose a little. “There was a man. And a wolf. A big wolf. Oh god…” she breathed out.

Her hesitation to reveal her name was, in some way, warranted. Rafael was himself reluctant of this to certain people. But he didn't see any reason for either of them to avoid it. So, he just stared back at her as he awaited her to introduce herself. Only deeming it fair for her to return the gesture. Rafael followed her gaze towards the window, getting the image of the vampire's body laying on the ground in a pool of blood. Albeit it not being that close to his house. It was only a matter of time before another werewolf would come across the location, and they wouldn't as much as question why he'd done it. The thought of them being out there giving him the itching feeling to get back outside. After all, it was against his nature to be here, inside and in his human-form, during a full moon.

He narrowed his eyes slightly as she said she was trying to find her way back to the main road, talking about some group that she got separated from. It didn’t exactly explain what she was doing in the forest in the first place. But it was very likely for her to not have had service on her phone, and therefore not being able to contact whoever she’d gotten separated from. And since he didn’t see her as a threat, he didn’t care much to get an elaborate explanation either. He just had a tendency to be mildly suspicious of most things. Having a hard time trusting anyone. He then arched a brow as it seemed like she’d remembered something. And although he had a hunch about what this was, he was interested to hear the story from her perspective. He watched her carefully as she reached behind to the wound to her neck, only to bring her hand forward with a drop of blood on her finger. And then he heard her pulse rise. So, she did remember. By her oh god, he momentarily thought that she’d recognized him, anticipating her to move back or even reach for the lamp again. But when she didn’t, he relaxed his facial features. “I don’t know what you think you saw… but no ordinary man or wolf could have given you a bite wound like that,” he said as he lowered his gaze to her neck, and then the blood of her fingers before finally returning to her eyes. After all, it had the shape of two fangs. If she truly remembered, then she’d also know that what had happened couldn’t be explained away with natural laws. Although, he knew all too well how humans had a tendency to try and find logical explanations for everything.  

Rafael then walked forward to take the lamp into his hand, getting rather close to her again before he placed it back on the bedside table. Assessing it for a moment to make sure it hadn't taken damage. He then turned around and sat down on the edge of the bed, leveling out their height difference. “Is that all you remember?” he asked her. Rather than overwhelm her with the truth, he found it easier to question her about what it was she thought she saw. Wanting her to figure it out on her own. At least, he hoped it would make her less freaked when or if he finally proved to her that he had been the wolf she had seen.

Maeve was suddenly very quick to look back up at the large man. “Oh! No. There wasn’t anything that bit me,” she pointed out in quite a hurry, words would have surely stumbled over her tongue, has she not had much experience in presentations and professional talks. “I’m sure of it. It felt like something cut me. Like a knife. Or a very sharp fingernail.” Not only was it a very strange placement for a bitemark – with her hair hanging loose, the back side of her neck wasn’t exactly visible to the hungry eye – the wounds didn’t match up with a pair of teeth. They were both long and horizontal, so unless what she had felt was scaping teeth… she was still convinced of her own theory. She reached back there again, now feeling a distinct unevenness of the length of her hair back there. She cringed.

Him moving closer to her, made her instinctively lean just a tiny bit backwards – as if it would make any difference – and was fast to follow his arm, as he picked on the lamp and placed it neatly on the table, where she had grabbed it like an uncultured savage. Now that everything has calmed down a certain amount, she did feel some embarrassment for her reactions. This wasn’t the first time she had done so. And she doubted she would get any better in the future. What surprised her more was how he sat down on the bed beside her. It did help with his towering height, but she still felt pretty small compared to him. “Ehm no,” she then replied taking her eyes off him for a moment, while she repositioned herself; moving her legs from under her out over the edge of the bed. Her winter jacket swished noisily with every movement. She was still fully dressed, shoes and all. “But that’s the jest of it. The man appeared just after the thing that cut me… cut me. He was frightfully fast. And I remember his eyes being very intimidating. The next thing I knew, he was on top of me. And then…” She shot up her eye brows, creating an astonished expression. “He got thrown off me.” She turned to look at Rafael, a small part of her expected him to have somewhat the same amazed reaction to the story as she. Weirdly enough; she didn’t feel terrified as she told about it.
“I couldn’t see very well in the dark, but when I sat up and looked, this beast of a wolf… or a man…” Maeve silenced and her gazed lowered into a realization very much like her earlier ‘oh god’. “A werewolf. It was a werewolf. I saw my first ever werewolf.” She wasn’t really speaking to Rafael anymore. Instead she recited the information to herself. One thing was to heard about them existing. Another thing was to witness one. They actually exist.

In a swift second she saw up at Rafael once again, blinking a few times to catch herself probably. Her lips were slightly parted as her thoughts looked for what to say and then she smiled. “Sorry. Please forget what I just said. I’ve seen too many movies.” She must have sounded like a crazy person just then. Like she’d thought people crazy for talking about supernatural stuff like she just had, as if it was real. Which it apparently was. Very real.

She seemed convinced of it not being a bite mark, and it almost made him reach a hand towards her neck, to brush away her hair and see the wound again. Because perhaps it could easily have been seen as a cut to a human, but he’d also seen enough vampire bites to know the difference. He'd spent most of his life chasing them down, and victims were one way to do this. He furrowed his brows as she said it was more like a fingernail because that explanation seemed far more surrealistic in his mind - but then again, he supposed any explanation would seem more credible to her than that of a vampire bite. Rafael didn’t say anything else to it, letting her believe whatever she wanted for now.

Rafael listened attentively as she told him what she remembered, thinking of the possible consequence of this. Her knowing about them, and what he’d done. It was important to him that she didn’t tell anyone about it. A lot of crimes happened in the forest, and he didn't want any of them to be linked to him or his pack. His gaze got slightly more intense as she got to the part about him. The beast. He watched her as she strung the last pieces together. Rafael didn’t look the least surprised, as opposed to what a human might expect if someone told them this. But since her gaze was lowered, she wouldn’t notice. “A werewolf?” he repeated. Of course, he’d heard his pack howling in the distance this whole time, but she’d most likely not heard it. Especially considering how well the house was insulated. And she could just as well have explained it off as regular wolves. He raised his gaze as she looked up at him again, for a moment thinking she’d tell him that it was him. But instead, she smiled and apologized for what she’d said. Despite how unbelievable the story would seem to the ordinary human, Rafael found this more astonishing. How a part of her still believed that what she'd seen wasn’t really what she'd seen. Or maybe it was a rationale that humans automatically told each other after having said something crazy. A slow smile appeared on his lips as he looked at her. “Oh, I believe you.” Of course, he did. Besides, he felt like the chances of her not knowing that he was connected to it somehow were rather small. Sooner or later his pack would return to the house and reveal that they weren’t human. Either based on their conversations or how they’d show up naked or bloody - even if there was a chance that some of them would stay out in the forest all night and first return in the morning. He’d have to ensure that she wouldn’t see them when that time came. That he had a chance to talk to them first about the situation. “After all, it was me you saw,” he said, feeling like he might as well reveal this now that he knew she remembered everything. Sure, he would have looked like the big bad wolf to an outsider witnessing the scene. But to her, he wasn’t so sure. Maybe a part of her would be frightened. But he also had the feeling that a part of her would feel something else. That she would look at him differently compared to most humans. Because of the fact that he'd saved her.

“You do?” Maeve wasn’t sure whether him believing her was more astonishing than disbelieving. At the very least the way her eyes had widened made it clear she was quite baffled. However, that was only the beginning of the emotions her face was able to express like words written in a book. Spoken words had been just about ready to leave her tongue as a comment to his follow up explanation before she caught not only the words but also caught on to what it exactly had been, he had said. And she stayed silent.

Still with her eyes open, now more staring at him than looking, she could feel how her jaw had dropped. He was a werewolf. Not any werewolf, though. The werewolf. The one she’d seen. She was sitting beside a werewolf. In the flesh. She wouldn’t be able to tell why she had such a hard time getting it completely. It wasn’t as if she had dreamed of meeting one. It was more along the lines that she hadn’t expected to ever run into one. “…Oh.” Suddenly she couldn’t hold back a careful smile from forming on her lips and she squinted her eyes slightly at him as if part of her still wasn’t completely convinced even though she had come to agree to believe in the supernatural. “But…” In a swift movement, she turned her torso around to see if she could get a glimpse of the full moon in the sky outside through one of the windows. “I thought werewolf were known to be wolf when the full moon is out.” she said questioning as she turned her body - and eyes - back to Rafael, looking him more straight in the eye. “As well as becoming quite primal. However you’re very civil. Even… bringing me back here.” He saved her. And how had she thanked him? By threatening him with his own home décor. But…

The smile and the partly doubtfully expression fades slowly from her face. She carefully stood up from the bed and took a few steps forward, before she turned half way around, having her side to Rafael. At least she could still walk. No wobbling knees. Having fainted so fast had its perks; her body didn’t get much chance to spread an over-stocked amount of adrenalin through her veins and having her tremble. She did still hug her arms around her body, a bit of a task in the big jacket. “That man. He wasn’t human either, was he? He was too fast,” she said, doing her best at putting all the puzzle pieces in the right order. “This whole… thing is new to me, so I apologize for sounding naïve.” She shortly showed a little apologetic smile.
Maeve turned the last bit around to have her whole front body turned towards Rafael. She probably wouldn’t hide away her concern. Her worries. She was only human. She breathed in deeply, like filling the parts of her that might have been deflated there for a moment. “I believe a thanks is in order here. And… I’m sorry that I almost assaulted you with a lamp when all you did was help. It’s a reflex.”

Her reaction made him question whether he’d jumped into the revelation too soon, and he narrowed his eyes a little at the way she seemed baffled for a while. He parted his lips to say something and break the silence when it seemed like she finally accepted the fact that werewolves existed. And that he had been the werewolf she’d seen. He followed her gaze to the window where the moonlight barely shone through. It wasn't unusual for people to have her presumption about werewolves. After all, it was their curse. That they transformed at the time of the full moon. But the high-ranking werewolves could learn to control themselves in this state. However, just because he'd managed to do so tonight didn't mean that it wasn't strenuous. Or that he hadn't failed at this countless other times. “Believe me, every bone in my body wants me to transform,” he admitted as he lowered his gaze to his hands, lifting it slightly into the air as a sharp pair of claws grew from his fingernails. Easing a small part of the discomfort. “But alphas and betas can learn to control themselves after the transformation, even during a full moon... however, it will always be against our nature to do so,” he explained, watching his hand as he retracted his claws again. Besides, he was fairly sure it had helped to have been in his form earlier and murdered that vampire.

He raised a brow as she asked about the man being human, shaking his head lightly. “He was a vampire… that’s why I thought that mark on your neck had been from his bite. It was very ignorant of him to hunt tonight, so he must have either been young or very hungry. You see, our bite is instantaneously lethal to vampires when it's a full moon,” he explained as he looked at her. He felt no remorse for murdering him, as he very much thought he’d brought it upon himself. Instead, he felt a sense of pride from having kept their pack so under the radar, that there still were some vampires who didn’t know of their reputation. He looked into her eyes as she apologized, sending her a faint smile as he appreciated her gratitude. “It’s no trouble… I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He looked her up and down, confirming that she was indeed fine. She could still stand up and walk, and the wound didn’t seem to bother her. But if he hadn’t brought her back, she might not have made it out alive. He then looked towards the lamp that she claimed had been a reflex to grab. Clearly, she needed to reconsider her initial fighting instincts. Or at the very least, to carry a silver knife the next time she ventured into the forest.

He returned his eyes to her as he got up from the bed. “I do insist that you stay the night, however… My wolves are not anywhere near as in control as I am, and there are other packs out there as well. It won't be safe for you to go outside before dawn,” he said as he took a few steps closer to her.

Maeve felt herself confused by how he explained the deal with him sitting there, fully in human form and not out there running with the wolves like he admitted he had an instinctive urge to do.  It confused her why he didn’t. She wouldn’t question why he chose to help her out, out there in the woods because frankly she was way too thankful to even think of showing that kind of disrespect. Following his own gaze down to his hand, she then suddenly forgot all about that confusion.
The sight of the claws growing had her heart make a quick jump in her chest and she gasped silently. More like a shortened breath in as her body tensed ever so slightly up under her jacket. And her lips unconsciously curled inwards, making her mouth a straight line. She tried not to stare too much but it was harder than one would think and even though she averted her eyes from his hand to his face instead, they fell to his hand again shortly thereafter. Just in time to see the claw retract, leaving no signs of them ever being there. And once again; her eyes found his chiselled face together with her lips relaxing back.

Surprisingly enough, the reveal of the man in the wood having been a vampire didn’t baffle her even half as much as the fact that she was standing in the same room as a real, existing werewolf. In fact, it was the mentioning of the believed bite, that made her react by reaching back behind her neck to one more time, feel the wounds. Those made it all very real as well. “A vampire, huh? I guess I got two for one this time. A werewolf and a vampire,” she commented with an almost sarcastic humour to her voice and the comment – or maybe more the thought – managed to make her smile at the very least before she ran her fingers over the scratches and discreetly gulped, letting her hand down and back into the cross-armed self-embrace. “Maybe that’s what I get for being a snack. Or just stupid enough to take a moon lit walk in the forest. Alone.” The scenes from just before she had fainted suddenly flashed before her mind and although she wasn’t cowering in the corner, she was starting to sense an effect of it in her body. It did help that he took kindly and humbled to her apology and she nodded softly. She was okay. Physically. And she would be fine mentally in no time too.

“Wait, what? Stay here?” she was quick to repeat, questioning and while she had already noticed him getting up and closer to her, her eyes chose to scout the room she was in for a moment. She looked around in an arc that eventually ended by Rafael again, having to then look up to look at his face and not his partly exposed chest. “I mean, I appreciate that you care about my safety and you’re whiling to let me stay in your home but isn’t there any way to get safely out of the forest by tonight? Just how far from the outskirts are we?” She had to ask. She had left her house in a hurry, not even saying where she was going. Just out. She was a grown adult woman, of course, but she knew better than anyone else how easily worried people around her could get.
In a half subconscious action, she relaxed her arms, letting them fall down by her side, and then reached one hand down a pocket in her jacket to pull out her phone in hopes of there miraculously being a connections there in the house – maybe this tall handsome stranger was like an antenna and it helped standing near him – which she hadn’t had outside.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth at her comment. He knew that it was rare for humans to meet either one, many going their whole lives without the knowledge of them existing. But she seemed to take it well, all things considered. He couldn't recall a single human that he had told the truth to, so he wasn't sure how they'd normally react, but it had to be a good sign that she was able to joke about it so soon. It surprised him slightly to realize this. However, he'd not been in a situation where it seemed necessary not to lie before now. “Yes, you should be more careful,” he said as he looked at her, nothing teasing in his voice. He got that she’d gotten lost, but even then, he didn’t see why any humans would take a stroll through the forest. If she lived in Moonlight Falls or Gaia, she should have heard of the many people who went missing or were found murdered here. “It was lucky that I found you when I did,” he added because he knew that she’d been that vampire’s dinner if he hadn’t. And at least now she’d learned from the experience, so he doubted that she’d repeat the mistake of walking into the forest defenseless in the future. After all, there was no guarantee that anyone would be around to help her at that time.

He nodded calmly as he approached her, noticing how she seemed slightly uneasy by his request, looking around the room that she’d probably have to stay the night in. It was for her own good to stay, but he wasn't going to force her if she insisted on leaving. Her question made him tilt his head slightly as he looked towards the window. “It’s a thirty-minute drive to Atheria if that’s where you’re from… But I’m not leaving my pack behind to escort you, and you won’t make it out there on your own,” he plainly stated as he returned his gaze to her. Of course, there was a chance that she would survive, but he knew better than anyone what creatures roamed outside at the moment, and if she didn’t have any means of tracking her way to the main road, the odds of her surviving were low. He didn’t know what she thought, or why she was in a rush to get out, but perhaps she had people waiting for her. Or maybe she was worried about the group she’d been with. The thought of them did concern him because if they were out there his werewolves might get to them. And that wouldn't end pretty. He lowered his gaze to the phone as she pulled it out. There usually was a clear reception in his house, so she shouldn't have trouble giving anyone a text or call if she wished to contact anyone. However, one would have trouble getting any connection in some parts of the forest or inside his basement. “Of course, you are welcome to let any family or friends know that you are safe… or whoever that group was,” he said, narrowing his eyes as he looked at her face again. “As a matter of fact, I need you to ask them if they’re still in the woods… Otherwise, I will have to go out there again,” he said. If they were out there, they could very likely be in danger, and it was only in his interest to avoid an incident where any of his wolves attacked a human.

She tensed ever so slightly up in her cheeks, as her jokes didn’t seem to have much of an effect on Rafael. He was right, though. She had been lucky. Very lucky. Whatever the vampire had done to her neck, it hadn’t worked, yes, but he had still had no problems with overpowering her either way. He had moved faster than her human eyes allowed her to see and her struggled under him had not moved him one bit. She had been way too close to become dinner to a creature of horror stories. So she carefully looked at her savior with more of a understanding and appreciative expression. “It really was. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t make it a laughing matter like this,” she admitted, sounding a teeny bit defeated because too be honest, she did cope with troubling things like this by hiding behind denial of a sort. She was supposed to be an adult, so really, she shouldn’t…

Maeve’s face didn’t suppress how she felt about the answers he gave her. Thirty minutes by car. That would make it at least the double, if not triple by foot. Had she actually been walking around in the forest for so long before she had been found? No wonder her body felt exhausted, and the bed seemed very inviting. And warm. She’d have to go outside in the cold again which the thought of only made her pant to bundle up even more. “Oh no no, I understand. I wouldn’t want you to.” Although that option had passed her mind but she quickly realized that Rafael’s kindness toward helping her wasn’t a further going charity case. And who were she trying to fool. They were strangers! Of course! “I’m from Aston so getting to Atheria, I would probably be able to find transportation back home from there. And if that’s my only options I… I might not want to take my chances,” she added, taking one last look around the room and then as she returned to the man in front of her, she flashed him a sweet little smile.
With that said, she then stepped passed him and towards the bed, while the sound of a robust plastic zipper rang, as she unzipped her winter jacket. Arriving at the bed, she first placed her phone on the bedside table so she had her hands free to undress from her outerwear making it even more obvious just how little she had been prepared for a nightly hike, dressed in a dress and thin stockings. The properly threw her jacket onto the bed before she grabbed her phone back, ready to send a text off, when a new request came from Rafael and Maeve might have gotten stiff there for a second.

“Actually. There’s only one. And… he doesn’t exactly know that I’m out here too. I kind of followed him, when I saw him driving off earlier since I wanted to know what was going on.” She slowly turned halfway around, fumbling a little with the phone in her hand. She wasn’t much of a fan of the idea of potentially revealing that secret to the friend she had followed. She wouldn’t ever hear the end of it, for sure! So she sighed. “But he’s a hunter, I think they’re called. He surely knows of better ways to defend himself and staying safe than me.” Well, a lamp to the head could still do some damage…

He still thought it was a good sign that she’d been able to laugh about it rather than show fear, but it didn’t take away from the seriousness of the situation. He had a dead body in proximity to his house with his DNA on it, and sooner or later the vampire's family or clan would know that he'd gone missing. Of course, he'd try to make sure that Maeve wasn't going to tell anyone about it, but seeing that she'd witnessed it, and knew that he'd saved her, he considered this the least of his concern. “No, it’s okay. I just have a… difficult relation to vampires,” he admitted as he looked at her. It was partly why he couldn’t see her meeting a vampire as a good or funny thing. And it wasn’t just because of the natural hostility between their species. It had been a personal matter to him since he was seven years old. That he had a difficult relationship with them was a grave understatement. He despised them, to say the least. And he'd sought them out many times with bad intentions in mind. Something he'd continue to do until he got his vengeance.

He nodded once as she revealed that she was from Aston. Her outfit only confirmed that she was from the city. She wouldn't have to walk much longer into the forest before a branch would rip a hole in her tights. “I actually have an errand to run in Aston tomorrow morning, so I can drive you home then.” Regardless, he hoped she didn’t think it’d be all bad staying the night at the mansion with him. He understood if she'd reacted that way as a wish to not impose. But it really was no trouble. In fact, he preferred it when the house was full of people rather than its usual empty state. He turned around as she passed him to sit down on the bed. He remained standing, lowering his gaze to her body as she took off her jacket. He then moved his brown eyes to hers as she explained that she hadn’t been with a group but instead had followed someone. He was usually quick to catch on to lies, yet this had completely passed him by. He was of course interested to know why she'd been sneaking after this person, but he couldn't shake off the thought of him being out there as they spoke. “Who’s this friend of yours?” he asked, directing his interest to the guy, wondering what he was doing out in the forest this evening. Then she revealed that he was a hunter, changing his expression in an instant. “A hunter?” he repeated alarmingly, looking from her to the window, worried for his wolves that were now out there without him. But as far as his senses reached, there weren’t any humans nearby so wherever he’d gone, it wasn’t near his house. He then returned his gaze to her. “Did he say who he was after?” He couldn’t help but assume that he was a threat to him and his pack. And if he was out there hunting werewolves, he couldn’t just carelessly stay here. Perhaps Maeve didn't realize this the moment she'd said the word hunter, but she had to know that it hadn't been the best thing to reveal to him.

Maeve held her gaze on him for a moment longer just to make sure that it really was okay since she still felt a little bad before discreetly nodding, not actually entirely sure anyhow. She just had to trust him on it. But how he explained it further, made her look at him with slight wonder. And curiosity. “A difficult relation? How so?” she asked, repeating his own words back as if to emphasize her intrigue with his choice of words. “I get that werewolf and vampires aren’t known for hanging around each other, at least not in the fictional depictions, but… is it actually like that in reality too?” She had to ask. There had been more thing that she had gotten wrong from what she knew of the supernatural in the made-up media she had been used to than she had been right about so far so even if she had to sound some dumb questions from time to time she could comfort herself that she had a good enough excuse. And it had sounded heavier coming from Rafael, so she couldn’t help but think there was something more to it. Or was the man simply racist in that regard? She hoped not…

“Oh, really?” She had in all honesty not expected to get such an offer from him. First of; what was the chances! Apparently living out here, so far into the woods, in, compared to where she lived herself, the middle of basically nowhere, it surprised her that he would have business in Aston. But of course, no matter how much of a lumberjack one would be, she guessed there was some things that needed to be taken care of in the big city. Just… funny he did right as she did.
She stood back up from the bed and instantaneously her smile had brightened up. “That would be perfect if you would. Thank you, mr… Silvera, was it? I’d appreciate it very much.” She wasn’t going to lie and say this didn’t make her situation with having to stay there the night a lot better. She had unconsciously been dreading the walk the next day. Unless, of course, they still had to tread through the forest. She hadn’t come across any tire tracks when she had been wondering around by herself. Only walking trails which she had somehow gone off at some point. Just how deep had she ended up?
Now the name had been on its way over her tongue, when Maeve sensed the faint shift in the room after she had exclaimed maybe a bit too much information up front and once more her smile faded to a concerned expression. She softly closed her mouth again as if to shallow the tone and then split them again. She shook her head. “He didn’t. Rather, I didn’t ask. I’m not told much, and this time I just saw him drive past before I decided to follow. He’s name is Ethan. Ethan Davidson. You don’t think that he…” Suddenly worry flared up in her and she whipped her head around to look out the windows again. And then whipped back to Rafael, her hair fluttering with her movements. “That he’s out on some kind of werewolf hunt? He couldn’t be. I might not know much but I, at least, know him enough that he wouldn’t be hunting what’s not a threat.” And walking into the forest under the full moon - which she had come to realize - to hunt werewolf would be like genocide. As far as she understood it, a werewolf would probably only be a threat if they were loose in the tightly packed city. And most of all: The werewolf in front of her hadn’t been any threat at all. Except to the vampire. Not her.

She grab around her phoned tightened for a moment, where after she looked down at it. Then to Rafael. “I’ll text him. Hear if his still out there somewhere, like you said. I’ll see if I can get out of him what’s going on. Just… let me do that, okay?” Her big brown eyes had become begging as she watch his reaction. He wouldn’t want anything to happen. And neither did she.
So she slowly looked away from him again to return to her phone. The light from the screen lightening her face slightly up as she started drumming over the keyboard with the expertise of someone using modern technology on more than a daily basis.

[Hamster (to Bear) 20:21 - Hey. Saw you driving past a few hours ago. Where were you heading? You seemed in a hurry. Is something going on? I was wondering if you’ve gotten back home by now?]

Then as an extra measure she turned the screen towards the werewolf for him to see that she had actually done what she said she would.

He lowered his gaze when she asked him about his relation to vampires. It was something he thought about often. How that one night had changed his life forever. And all the pain it had inflicted. “A clan burned down my home and murdered my pack when I was a child,” he explained, looking up to meet her gaze again. A rage burning in the depths of his eyes, but also a melancholy. Those vampires had taken away everything from him, and they had shown no mercy, killing adults and children alike. Rafael saw his own father fall to their brutality and once he witnessed this, he ran as far as he could into the forest. A few days later he returned to the village, only to discover the bodies of everyone, and in his grief getting the help of a few neighboring citizens to bury them. “I was the only survivor,” he added. Often receiving the question of whether he had any family left. But he hoped that it'd at least make her more understanding of why he had a difficult relation to them. As well as who he was because of it. “The hostility between werewolves and vampires originated because of the venom in our bite… Vampires saw this is as a threat and wanted to eradicate it. It's much like the natural hostility between demons and angels,” he explained, getting the sense that the human knew about the supernatural, but far from everything.

Rafael nodded to confirm his statement, not sure why she found it surprising that he had business in Aston. But perhaps it was simply the hospitality of first allowing her to stay the night, and then offering to drive her home in the morning. As she finally smiled and accepted his offer, a faint smile formed in his own expression. “Por supuesto, no problem,” he said as he looked at her. It would be silly to drive alone if they both needed to head in that direction. Besides, he'd appreciate the company. “And call me Rafael,” he added, not wishing for them to stay on formal terms.

As their conversation had turned to the hunter she’d been following, he’d become much more alert of his surroundings, worrying about more of them being out there. The full moon was peak time to find werewolves if one wished to hunt them. And hunters rarely went alone, not standing a real chance against multiple wolves on their own. He looked at Maeve as she started to reply to his questions, surprised at her honesty when it came to the hunter’s name. But it had to mean that she trusted Rafael enough to not go after him. “They will be a threat to him if he doesn’t keep out of our territory… And although I am slightly relieved that you don’t believe him to be on a werewolf hunt, I need to be certain.” He couldn't just trust her word. It was something he never did, having made the mistake in the past to trust people who later deceived him. For that reason, he'd gotten good at telling when people lied. He furrowed a worried brow as he looked from her to the window, taking a few steps to look outside. “Okay,” he replied to her idea about texting him, deciding to give it a few more moments until she’d hopefully get a reply stating that he wasn’t in the forest. He then turned around to lean halfway against the windowsill, his vision enabling him to read the text from this distance. He nodded once in approval before he crossed his arms. He’d noticed the name, Bear, but it would be unlike a shapeshifter to become a hunter, so he assumed the nickname indicated a close relation instead. “Have you met any other supernatural beings that you know of?”

Maeve had absolutely no control over how her smile faded and her eyes almost ended up mimicking the sorrow that seemed to be hidden in his voice, his eyes. Behind the anger. She felt her heart sink ever to slightly in her chest, forcing her to shallow a gulp with as much discreetness as she could muster up to not draw attention towards it. In the end she had to lower her eyes from him, but for some reason it felt more wrong, so they didn’t take long to returned to look up at him. “I’m really sorry,” she said in a soft tone. She didn’t know what she had expected. This supernatural world, it just seemed to be so much more… violent then the world she was so used to living in. She faced the same fears but she had a normal family. No actual enemies. Murder didn’t pass their tongues as easily as she had experienced it did the mouths of the people of that world. “It can’t have been easy for you. Growing up, experiencing something like that. I thought I was going to lose someone not too long ago and that was enough to mess me up. I can’t imagine how it’d be not to have my family.” She attempted with a small smile after having said that, even if it didn’t quite reach her eyes the same way as the previous ones. And it helped that a small smile peaked through his tough façade as well.
“Rafael it is then,” she agreed upon, making her smile grow just a little bit more into her irises. She liked that, not call him with honorifics. Rafael. She almost couldn’t give the name justice with her accent like he did with his down. It sounded more exotic coming from his own mouth.

Her eyes followed the wolfman, as he strolled over to the window, which they both had been eyeing over the span of their worrying conversation topic. Maeve unconsciously fumbled with the phone in her hand, nervous about the whole thing, picking at the slightly raised volume buttons with her nail. She might even have said a silent prayer in her head, not thinking much about how befitting it actually was. She had done so even back when her religious believes hadn’t really been present.  

The moment he asked her another question she must have been zoning out, because the sound of his low voice immediately had her focus perk up and she was looking back at him again without the unfocused veil. “Yea. I think I may have met every creature that’s out there in a very short amount of time.” An overstatement, she was aware. “Fairies, angels… superhumans. The one I mentioned before who I thought I was going to lose, she’s my cousin and has gotten involved with the supernatural which led to me finding out as well. I didn’t even know that my friend, who’s out there right now, was this hunter-thing before just last month. I was convinced it was all just fairy tales and fantasy. Folk tales and myths.” She sighed.
Brrr! The phone suddenly vibrated in her hand and she was quick to hold et op and see what had caused it. As if every fibre in her body had somehow been tense without her knowing, they all relaxed again, when she read the few words displayed before she clicked into the entirety of the message.

[Bear 20:30 – I’m on my way home now, driving through Oakheart. Is there something you need??”]

Maeve looked up from her phone as if the sheer relief in her face would be enough for Rafael to understand. “He’s not out there,” she breathed out, close to a auditable whisper and she returned to the phone for a moment more.

[Hamster 20:31 – Laundry detergent. We’re out, so I’d just hear if you could pick some up on your way home.]

It was an innocent lie…

He gave her an appreciative nod as she said she was sorry. To be fair, he barely remembered what it had been like. He had faint memories of his childhood with the pack. But the incident and the years that followed, those were the things he remembered clearest. Reminding him exactly of what the outcome of the vampires’ murderous rampage had cost him. Loss was a tough aspect of life. But to lose everything you’d ever known. To navigate living on the street as a child. He’d lie if he said that hadn’t been incredibly difficult and hopeless at times. But tragic backstories were all around these parts. And murder was a word that easily rolled off the tongue. A consequence of all the dark creatures that lived here. “It wasn’t, but it led me here... and I am beyond grateful for that,” he said as he looked around the room. It was a rarity to hear words of optimism from him, but it was mostly said as to not further dwell on the topic. Of course, nothing had conveniently fallen into his lap. It was all something he’d worked hard to achieve. Some things in a more earnest way than others.

He’d not expected her to have met many other creatures, making him raise a brow, curious to hear more about these encounters. Angels? Superhumans? He was slightly baffled at this. Of course, he knew that angels existed. He’d even believed to have sensed one around a few times in his life, but he’d never actually spoken to one. Nor had he ever met a superhuman. Fairies he knew quite well. Like werewolves, they often settled in nature, and unless they turned dark, they lived peacefully among other creatures of the forest. “Hold on. So, you’re telling me you’ve met angels and humans with superpowers… that your cousin almost died at the hands of something supernatural and that the hunter friend has powers as well. And uh, none of them warned you of werewolves or bloodthirsty vampires?” he spurted out, trying to make sense of it all. How she'd just discovered all of this but remained calm when she’d previously thought it all to be myths and fairytales. But he supposed once you saw evidence of it being real, there was no going back. The phone vibrating made him lower his gaze to it, anticipating her to tell him what the text said, and hence if he needed to go outside and regroup with the pack. He was relieved once she said that he wasn’t out there, relaxing his arms down by his sides again as he leaned away from the windowsill. He looked over his shoulder to look out the window before he walked a few steps. “Well, in that case. Let's go downstairs,” he said, seeing no reason for them to stay in the bedroom if she was able to move about just fine.

Rafael left the room to walk down the long hallway with paintings of nature, depicting lakes, trees, and mountains. All placed with the same distance to each other with wall-lamps in between. Once he neared the staircase, there would be an open room, overlooking the entrance hall. In the middle of the ceiling hung a grand chandelier made out of antlers, and if one looked down they could see parts of a common room through the arched doorway. “Would you like something to drink? Or eat?” he asked at the bottom of the staircase, looking back at her for a moment. “Just hang your coat in there.” He pointed to a closet door hidden in the wall next to the wooden double doors to the mansion. He waited for her before he continued to walk through the doorway. Straight ahead of them were floor-to-ceiling windows and a door to the patio, overlooking the forest. In the distance, one could still see the orange embers from the fire. To the right the large wooden dining table, and further down the kitchen. And to the left the greater common room. It had a few couches, a fireplace, and a flatscreen television. And there were bookshelves on the walls opposite of the windows.

It was a little bit reluctantly that she ended up nodding, confirming that it was indeed true, that she had been exposed to the whole shebang,  that her cousin had almost lost her life, that her humans friends possessed supernatural powers. And of course, to his theory about how she hadn’t been warned. In a way, she had probably been warned. She had been told that werewolves existed - be it very brief and with other more pressing matters - so she could only think that she had been believed to pick the dangers of those creatures out from all the fiction she surely had consumed through her life. “Not… exactly, no. The only fact I had about werewolves in whole prior to this moment was that you’re quite dateable.” Immediately after the words had passed over her tongue, she wanted to pull them back and shallow them whole, and she froze slightly in place of the feathery embarrassment. It hadn’t come out as she had wanted it. Her mind had wondered. Although she had not said anything wrong. She quickly lifted her eyes fully from the phone at towards him with a stunned look in her face. “What I mean is, my cousin has dated one, so. Yea,” she franticly added on together with a few flighty hand gestures to further tell the story. Shortly thereafter she even broke into a smile and a huffing chuckle, suddenly finding herself silly. Gently she lowered her gaze from him while shaking her head at herself and then turned the chin up and looked back at him. “What I’m trying to say, I’ve met a bunch of you supernatural beings but I know close to nothing about any of you. You could say I haven’t gotten around to it yet. But I agree. Downstairs sounds like a good idea.”
Anything to distract away from her brain fart. She didn’t remember hitting her head on anything but the soft forest floor so she couldn’t even make that excuse. One last glance down at her phone, and she ultimately chose to lay I down on the bedside table. She was aware what consequences it would lead to in the nearest future if she wasn’t to get ahold on, but honestly, right now, she didn’t want the interruptions. Maybe she hadn’t actually forgiven her friends just yet and Rafael having pointed some of those flaws out had poked it back to surface. Just a little bit.

Maeve instinctively started following the wolf man out of the room and then instantaneously feeling pretty overwhelmed. She had visualized how the rest of the house would look like but she hadn’t expected it to be of that size. More than a house it was a mansion from what she could tell from the parts she was able to see. And it only solidified more as the house truly opened up from the slim hallways and into a grand entrance area. She was astonished to say the least and as she descended the stairs to the ground floor, she walked rather slowly to not stumble and fall since her eyes looked everywhere else than where she was walking. Automatically searching out more painting like the ones in the hall way and ending at the chandelier, having to lean her head further and further back for every step down, until she finally pulled herself away from it and looked to Rafael as she with a bit more spring in her step, stepped down the last two steps.

“I could go for a cup of tea, actually,” she politely replied before then finding her way over where he had pointed out a place for her coat. At first she had trouble figuring out which wooden panel was the closet but eventually she found it. It was both a relief to not have the coat hanging over her arms but also… now she felt without a shield. “And maybe a bag of ice or something? Maybe you have bag of frozen peas laying to no use in your freezer?” She was discreetly holding her right arm in the other as she turned around and sent Rafael an innocent pleading smile.
She would have followed him into the kitchen, if the rest of the house hadn’t caught her attention more. So still with careful steps, cautious since she was in a strangers home after all, and she couldn’t quite ‘feel at home’ just yet, she moved in the direction of the crackling sound of fire. Towards the large windows. Like the window in her assigned room she wouldn’t really see anything. Only darkness and a clear reflection of herself. “Your pack. Do you live here together?” she asked loud enough for him to hopefully hear her, if he still were in the kitchen. She guessed that they were alone, so rising her voice wouldn’t be rude to other residents. She then noticed some leaves in her hair in her reflection and hastily tried to brush them out.

It took him an incredulous moment to realize what she’d said. Out of all the facts that she could’ve possibly gained, it was that they were dateable? “Hm?” he murmured. It wasn’t difficult to sense the immediate embarrassment in her expression which confirmed that she had indeed said it. So, her cousin had dated one. It made him wonder if she thought that just because he was a werewolf, it made him any less dateable than a human would be. However, from the look on her face, he couldn't believe that she'd meant it in that way. She then shook her head at herself before elaborating, telling him that she altogether didn’t know much of any beings. “In that case, you're welcome to ask me anything regarding werewolves. But I've not had much success on the dating scene, so I can't speak well on behalf of those who are dateable,” he said, clearly just messing with her choice of words earlier. But there was some truth to it. He had not dated much, his longest relationship had lasted five months and as far as he knew, he had never been in love. Not in any way or form that he'd seen others be it.

Her astonished expression didn’t go unnoticed. The way she looked at the paintings and then up at the chandelier. As if not to miss anything. His lips pulled into a slight smile at this because he knew it must mean she found the place somewhat impressive. “Of course. Make yourself at home.” He gestured to the seating area in front of the fireplace. He then walked into the kitchen to turn on the kettle before he grabbed two mugs and placed them on the countertop. As he waited for the water to boil, he found a bag of ice that he wrapped in a blue kitchen towel before his gaze moved to the darkness outside. He most of all wanted to go out there with the other wolves as it took a great deal of him to restrain himself. And despite knowing that it would get better in a few hours, that longing made it seem like it wouldn't.

Her voice cut through the silence and his thoughts, making him turn his head in the direction of the living room. Seeing her stand by the window. But just as he was about to answer, the kettle started boiling, so he finished making the tea and returned to the living room. “No.” He placed the two mugs on the coffee table before he approached her by the window. “I live here alone. But I consider the house just as much of a home for my pack as it is for me,” he added. The pack meant the whole world to him. It was his only family and there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for them. He wouldn’t the least oppose any of them to move in with him either, but they all had their own lives outside of the pack, and so even if they visited often, he was mostly at the house alone. He moved his gaze to her hair, discovering a withering leaf at the back that she hadn’t brushed away earlier. He raised his hand to feel the thick, silky lock between his fingers as he gently brushed it out. Enhancing her scent by doing so. “There were four attending tonight’s meeting.” His hand slid out of her hair with the leaf in his hand as he turned his gaze to the fire outside and the seats surrounding it. “Most of the time we wake up in the forest after a full moon, so I’m not certain they’ll return before then,” he explained, thinking that she’d probably wondered about that. Of course, they could have become worried about Rafael’s strange retreat to the cabin and come looking for him there, but if that happened, she’d now be prepared. He then walked back into the kitchen and into another room to fetch a first-aid kit. He returned shortly thereafter with the box and on his way, he grabbed the ice pack before placing both things on the coffee table near the mugs.

He then sat down next to Maeve. “Move your hair back,” he instructed, and once she did, he’d look at her wound. After all, she’d not given him much time to tend to it earlier. It was still bleeding. And noticing it more now, it had a distinct smell of something. But he figured it was probably just whatever the vampire had cut her with that caused this. He then opened the first aid kit to grab a sanitizing towel. “This might sting,” he warned before he pressed it against the skin on her neck. “Have you always lived in Gaia?” he asked, hoping that if it stung, a distracting question might help. He then removed it to find a bandage that would fit the size of her wound, opening the package and placing it on top of the cut. He gently smoothed it over before he removed his hand and closed the box again. “I know it's not my business, but your cousin... Who or what almost killed her?” he asked, not helping his curiosity. Especially if it was the slightest related to a vampire.

No. This baffled her and she didn’t so much in the sense of trying to hide the surprise in her face, as she looked over her shoulder at him returning from the kitchen. She was quick to notice that he held not one, but two mugs. The thought of him planning to join her for some yea - or whatever steaming drink he had chosen - sort of calmed her nerves. It was already strange being in a strangers home. Although he followed his answer up with disclosing that his pack was as allowed to roam the house as they pleased as if they did in fact live there too, it didn’t actually change much on the front of her thoughts running off and focusing on the ‘alone’-part. So at least she wouldn’t be sitting and sipping on her own. Or she wouldn’t be sitting by herself at all. She… liked that. “Wow. But the place is so… big. Don’t you ever feel as if it’s perhaps a little too big for just one person?” she had to ask. She let her eyes wander around herself again, as if to confirm with herself that the place indeed was very spacious. Even the wooden ceiling was towering above her, when she leaned her head all the way back to look up. “And I can only image the time it takes you to keep it so clean. It’s quite amazing, actually.”
Having had her eyes turned to the ceiling, she hadn’t really seen him closing in behind her, so a very faint jolt of surprise shot through her body just as she felt his fingers grazing the back of her head. She didn’t feel the touch of his fingers but instead she felt her hair tickling her. Rather quickly, she had leaned her head back to proper positioning and as her eyes looked forward into the window, she was met by his tall reflection right behind her. As well as her own round-eyes expression. Turning around the same time as he walked away again, she just about saw the small leave in between his fingers and automatically she moved a hand to the back of her hair as if she would find even more silly placed flora. But not. Nothing. He had taken care of the last one. She didn’t understand why that had her feeling a little flushed. She didn’t get why it took her aback just how polite a man Rafael continued to showcase.

Then watching him walk away from the living room area she stepped away from the windows to instead sit down on his couch. She immediately felt herself sit just a tad bit too stiffly. She was used to doing so at work, having to uphold a professional and proper image. But this wasn’t work. She could relax. At least she tried by taking a deeper breathe. But she was still sitting on all the way on the edge with her legs neatly together, the tea in an good arm’s length for her to just reach out to grab and hold by the time he came back. Stopping her midway in putting it to her lips to lower it again.

He sat down with her on the couch and she instantly made a gesture to move to give more room to him even though there was more than enough space for them both. “My hair?” She looked confused at him for about a second or so before she understood. The wound. Yes. Her face light up in a soundless ‘ah!’ before she as the first thing positioned herself better. One leg bend and resting on the couch and her back now turned to Rafael. So, with one hand steadying the mug in her lap - the warmth seeping through the two layers of clothing and into her thigh - she reached around and lifted her hair out of the way.
There really had never been any way to prepare for the feeling of disinfecting solution upon an open would. She should know with a mother who’d reach for something like that before reaching for simple water to clean a scraped knee sometimes. At least, the questions helped as hoped. “Me? No.” She got the two words out just in time before she had to suck in some air in through her teeth and her body shortly tensed up by the stinging. “Careful, please,” she begged with a slight hint of automatic annoyance. “But no, I moved here when I was about 15 years old. Just before the first of my younger brother’s was born, in fact,” she answered, finding a spot on the couch’s upholstered armrest to focus her attention on until she could move her head again. “I have three by the way,” she added with a light laugh.
It was a relief, the moment she felt the stick-on bandage be put over the wound and him doing the finishing touch so she finally could let her arm and hair down. It had been a struggle, her not having the best arm muscles in town. “Thanks.” And it was a relief, too, to be able to move around so she could look back at him again, which she was efficient to have done. Although by that time the laugh from before hadn’t stuck around as a smile. Especially not since he had moved on to ask further into something she wasn’t happy about thinking of. “No no, it’s alright. It’s just.. I know it sounds really dumb, but I’m not entire sure. It was… magic of some kind. Something that linked her with another person. And something that happened to that other person happened to my cousin as well.” Maeve slowly pushed her shoulder further and further up towards her ears as she spoke and tried her hardest to think back and to understand it. All at the same time. Her human brain still had trouble with it. “The link had been placed by this fairy. But the whole thing turned out to have been planned out by a psychopathic maniac who had harassed by cousin a few times prior. He’s apparently notorious for doing that kind of stuff in your world so if you ever cross path with someone names Joseph Blackwood I’d say, walk the other way.” She had made sure to talk with a lightheartedness to her voice. It even helped her distance herself from it. And of course she really didn’t want to bring the mood down! So, as she finished up, she looked up at him with an apologetic smile. “But what about you? Have you always lived here? I couldn’t help but notice your accent. Spanish, is it?” she asked, not being very subtle in her attempt to change the subject away from that event.

Rafael had been alone for most of his life. He had learned to survive that way despite it contradicting his nature. Living alone now was nothing in comparison to that. But as she expressed her surprise, he did look wistfully into the air. Imagining what it would be like to have people around at all times. After all, he had never been one to enjoy solitude for longer periods, which was why he often attended or hosted parties. His lips pulled into a smile as she added the part about the mansion being impressively clean and neat. He lowered his gaze to the muddy footprints on the floor from when he’d entered the house with her. Well, apart from that. “I do,” he admitted as he raised his eyes to her. “It gets incredibly lonely at times. But I try to keep it lively. It's filled with people most weekends.” This was at least one of the ways he dealt with it. Besides that, he had the slight dream of one day meeting his Luna. The person he'd want to live the rest of his days with.

The corner of his mouth tilted up as she told him to be careful, even if there was nothing amusing in it, per se. He just couldn’t help but think that she was the one who should have to be careful. Had she been that, she would not have this wound, to begin with. The mention of siblings quickly straightened his expression as he’d had two younger siblings that hadn’t survived the fire. And just before he asked how many she had, she replied. “Three brothers? I can imagine that never gets boring.” He looked into her eyes with a friendly glint, guessing that her laugh meant he was right in his assumption. That she had a lot of fun memories of them. And he wished that he could say the same, but all the good memories he’d once had of his own siblings were turned gray after their deaths. He'd many times blamed himself for this, thinking that perhaps if he hadn't been such a coward, he could have saved them.

“You’re welcome.” He glanced at the ice pack that she’d requested before he grabbed the cup of tea on the table. And once she started to answer his question about her cousin, he raised the tea to his lips. If it wasn’t because of his own experiences with the supernatural, it sounded beyond surreal. Magic linking people together because of a psychopathic maniac. He quickly took note of the name. Joseph Blackwood. He’d run into enough people like that throughout his life. Selfish people who stopped at nothing to achieve their goals at the cost of others' suffering. The story did give sense to why she’d taken him being a werewolf so calmly. Or perhaps she just hadn't realized how close he'd been to attacking her. However, the last thing he wanted was to frighten her by disclosing this. He could only imagine how intimidating he was without that detail, and he was still a stranger, and she a fragile human inside that stranger's manor. “That sounds awful.” He leaned back in his seat and rested the cup in his lap as he looked at her. He thought for a long moment about the surname, wondering if his name was connected to Alicia Blackwood. The leader of a vampire clan that he’d spent the past months researching information about. However, he doubted that Maeve knew much about that, and he could just be a distant relative or one of many Blackwood's. Regardless, he'd have to remember to look into her family history for a man named Joseph. “I hope you’ll soon be free of him.” He didn’t really know what else to say. But he knew well of guys like that, and so he couldn’t anything but hope that he’d drop his plan regarding her cousin. Even if this was unlikely. Even if it meant he’d just move on to harass someone new.
He also sensed that she preferred to change the topic. Something he couldn’t blame her. She'd surely had enough horror-filled thoughts for one night. “No, I first moved to Gaia in 2017. I was born in a small village just outside of Madrid in Spain,” he replied. And before she could ask him why he'd moved here, he circled back, wanting to make one thing clear. “But despite your friends and family being aware of the supernatural, I cannot stress how important is it that you keep the incident tonight a secret. Especially that hunter friend of yours. Do you understand me?” He needed her to promise him this. That she wouldn't mention the murder to anyone. In fact, it probably was best if she didn't mention Rafael at all to that guy. But the murder was what she under no circumstance could reveal.

Her light huff of an additional laugh easily evolved into a much more defined chuckle. He’d be totally right. There was rarely any boring or dull moment in the Poe household. Not with three boys in their prime age for playing and exploring. “Even the oldest of the three, who’s less energetic than the other two, somehow tire me out in the end.” But she adored those boys from the bottom of her heart, there were truly no denying that. Everyone could see that. And she had long dropped the act of pretending not to if she had ever felt compelled to do so more than a few times in her teenage years. The way Rafael was looking at her did also help make her feel safe to be as open about it. But caused by the pride and joy she just naturally felt, she sort of forgot just how family memories could affect him. A loss of a family member, yet alone several was still a very distance thing to her, after all. And she was actually having a good time in this man’s company. Considering all the variables.

However, the joy and comfortable atmosphere always tilted as they moved into the subject of that evening. Maeve tried to keep her smile somewhat presence on her lips, although her face dropped. “Well, it’s not me who’s stuck with him. But directly. I’m just a by-passer. But…” She pushed the corners of her mouth deeper into her slightly chubby cheeks. “I hope so too.” They still hadn’t any clue about why, which was bothering the short brunette a whole lot more than she made people believe. It was such questions she constantly thought through whenever her mind wandered in that direction. And the worse part of it was, that she’d probably never get a proper answer. God, she was starting to really hate vague or dismissive answers. At some points she might just not make any effort to ask anymore…
Carefully, as he was telling her a little about his own origin, she tried taking her first sip of the tea, quickly finding it just a tad bit too hot for her sensitive tongue, and then after a small grimace, she leaned forward and placed the mug back onto the table. “Then you really haven’t been here for that long and yet your English is on par with most of the native born,” she commented. There was the accent, but so far, she hadn’t gotten the feeling, that he maybe had grown on in a Latino home while still being born and raised in Gaia or any other English-speaking countries nearby. “But then again, English isn’t a too hard language to learn and perfect.” She had noticed how prejudge what she had said could’ve sounded, in which she at least tried to save it afterwards. As if her blabbering about ‘dateable werewolves’ hadn’t been enough of a display of her big mouth. Lucky for her, he through a reverse card on the table – or sorts – and returned her favour of switching the subject yet again. Though not back to what it had been before she had changed it. Maeve looked towards him in a bit of a surprise, having stopped midway in grabbing around the wrist with the gridded plastic support cast. She furrowed her brows at his request. No. His demand. Because it wasn’t so much what he asked of her that nagged her, it was the commanding tone to it. “I wasn’t planning on ever telling him about this. I’d prefer not to deal with another lector about how idiotic it was of me to follow him out here. Yours, good sir, was plenty of that.”

She held her eyes upon him for just a second longer after being done, before she turned back to her wrist. The ice pack wasn’t just an empty request… Very gently, she took a hold around the cast and then very slowly started to pull it off, up over her fingers. It wasn’t easy and she had to bite her teeth while doing it. It was so sore after the vampire had tightened so much around it. The cast had bended and cracked by the force, leaving no real support in it either, so what was the point in keeping it on. She breathed out with a deep relief, when it finally slipped off and she could place it on the table, where a part of it just… cracked all the way off. “…now how am I going to explain that?” she asked herself with a whispering voice before reaching for the blue towel-wrap.
With that in her hand, Maeve moved back into the comfort of the couch and gently placed the ice upon her aching wrist. That felt so much better… “I’ll keep this a secret,” she then fully settled without the annoyance in her voice and looked back at him. “But why? You did save me after all. It’s not like you’ve kidnapped me either."

His hope wasn't only meant to regard her, but either way, it was clear to tell that she was affected by the whole situation and that she in that sense was somewhat involved. But of course, he didn't know much of it at all. He was sure she'd left many details out of her explanation. He nodded once as she said that she hoped they'd be free of him too. What else was there to do anyway? It wasn’t easy for a human to stand up against a supernatural villain. He looked away from her to the windows as a howl echoed through the night, and he tried to determine where it was coming from. Whether it was anywhere near the vampire’s body. He returned his eyes to her as she said his English was just as good as a native speaker. Choosing to take it as a compliment rather than an insult to his fellow Spaniards who were less proficient in the language. “Thank you.” He hadn’t received that comment often, and he still had a strong accent despite it, but it was nice to see that his practice and reading had paid off. “I started to learn it when I worked for a British family in Valencia. I got quite fascinated with all the books they had. And since they were all in English, it motivated me to take English lessons... I’ve never read much in my life, you see. And it had a way of making any strenuous day of work just a bit better,” he said, taking it as an opportunity to explain more about himself rather than be offended. It seemed to be a habit of hers - to say things without much thought or at least not much of a thought to how it could be perceived to some. It also seemed that she quickly caught herself whenever she did, and he wondered if it was caused by her being nervous. Either way, it only made him more certain that he needed her to promise him not to tell anyone about tonight.

Judging from the surprise on her expression when he’d told her his demand, it seemed that it might not have been necessary. But to him it was. Something like that could be detrimental to his pack. He gave her a nod as she assured him that she wouldn’t tell anyone. He then breathed out as he looked down at the tea in his hands, feeling somewhat relieved. However, had she refused; he’d have a whole other problem on his hand. And it was already enough of a problem to have to deal with the body. Of course, it wasn’t something he hadn’t done before, but there were always risks associated with it. He considered when he should go outside, knowing that it’d probably be best if he started the fire and dealt with it before morning. He then looked at her arm as she began to take off a cast and placed the ice pack on her wrist. He raised his gaze to her eyes as she once again assured him to keep it a secret.
Why? Even if her big mouth had played a part in it, there were a few greater reasons. “Kindness isn’t always repaid with kindness.” He raised the tea to his lips and took a sip. Just because he’d saved her wasn’t equal to her helping him in return. Not from his experience. He had an inherent distrust and belief of people being self-interested above all. “I just needed you to promise me.” He placed the cup back on the table and moved a few inches further away from her as he leaned back in the seat. And he needed her to know that there’d be consequences if she didn’t keep it a secret. It had been just as much of a warning from his side. “That’s all.” He looked at her face. “He is not the first person I’ve killed, and any unnecessary attention pointed my way is going to harm my pack.” He hoped she’d at least understand that part of it. He didn’t care much for himself, or that he might end in prison. He had done that before. But the difference between then and now was that he had a pack that depended on him and for that reason, whenever they or he did something like this, it had to be dealt with accordingly.

He glanced at her wrist with the ice pack. “Maeve. I noticed something earlier. When I touched you in your unconscious state.” He raised his gaze to her eyes. “Werewolves are usually able to transfer pain to themselves. But I couldn’t take away your pain. And so I was wondering. Has any of your supernatural friends told you about similar experiences?” he asked, being reminded of this as her needing the ice pack proved that she was indeed in pain. And he figured there might be a chance that she knew why this was.

The human was slowly starting to dislike herself and just how it amazed her to hear him talk about his origin. Did she really judge other people that much by appearance and over all feel that? More times than one had Rafael surprised her with information about himself. And this time was no exception really. And this time she noticed how that image of a guy like him not being into reading just didn’t fit at all! All it took from her was look slightly passed him and she’s see bookshelves. And not the empty ones. Also, for someone who had settled so far away from the big city - or any kind of civilization - it would only match a soul who enjoy the peace and quiet. But in the end she wasn’t quite fast enough to catch and stop herself from blinking in astonishment at this. Luckily, it was a very pleasant surprise after all. “That’s amazing. I only know a little French and some Italian. I was close to take some Spanish classes back in university but I never ended up getting around it. However, so.. Then what kinds of books do you like to read nowadays?” she had to ask. She might not have been the biggest reader herself but she, like him, like them to rewind with after a busy day. And besides, she wasn’t completely imposed to get to know this man a little better. Especially as he had a tendency with falling into the tougher conversations than she was used to when small talking.
Something which didn’t disappoint only moment later

The serious look in his almost black coloured eyes had the absolute power to transmit itself onto her in an instinct. So, the moment their eyes met, if only for a very short second, before he glanced away just before she would have, she immediately felt the cloud. But not over her. Over him. “Ah. I would never be able to forgive myself if I dismissed the amount of kindness you’ve showed me so far, though. I get that I come off as unaffected but…” At the same time as she brushed a bit of hair out of her face, she turned her head towards him and a bright smile had been plastered on her face. Even a faint laugh got carried out together with the rest of the words. “It was pretty scary. So, please don’t think of me as ungrateful.”
Not the first person… Maeve did her best to not let that sentence take effect on her, but she had to looked away from him at that moment. So far she had suppressed the whole thing about murder. She had done her best to think of the mauled vampire as an animal. And of Rafael as another animal. It was hard to take in that an evolved being had taken another one’s life. Right in front of her. And that very being was sitting right next to her. He didn’t make her uneasy, though. At least it wouldn’t fit with how he made her feel right at home at every other time. He wouldn’t harm her, would he? It didn’t make sense since he’d gone out of his way to not only get her out of the wood but also looked to her injury, small as it may be.

Maeve had barely notice how she had went quiet until he broke that silence himself and had her automatically lift her chin and spun her head to look at him. “Hm? What?” she asked before a confused expression spread across her slightly flushed face. The heat from the fireplace had been creeping into her cheeks, warming them. As he went on she instinctively looked at her arm, as she kept the ice securely on, and then back up at him, having to twist her body a bit more, now that he was sitting leaned back. The fold of confusion between her brows only got deeper the further he talked. “No? I can’t say that they have,” she replied honestly and decided to move herself a little more around. Still keeping her shoes off the couch but one of her legs did bend and laid up on it making it possible for her front to be turned more comfortably towards him.
“Don’t you think it’s just because the pain I felt wasn’t strong enough for your abilities to do anything about? The one on my neck is but a scratch. Yea, it stings but I wasn’t screaming in pain. And this.” She hinted down to her arm in ice. “This is just sore. I broke it all the way back in August so it has actually healed completely. The cast is just an extra precaution since the bone is still weak,” she explained, dismissive the entire idea of there being any possibility for her to have anything supernatural about her. Because of course she didn’t. Only supernatural friend. She was just a normal human being. Surely. “Or maybe it just didn’t work since I was unconscious. Unconscious people don’t feel pain. Listen!” Suddenly she got all the way up on her knees, still front turned towards Rafael. It was a bit of a struggle, when she wasn’t much for using her sore arm for anything as well as she had to hold the icepack at the same time. But eventually she got up and she crawled the last bit over to him until her knees touch his tough. “Let’s kill two bird with one stone. I, Maeve Poe, will pinkie-promise not to tell soul about tonight, however you must keep it a secret too.”
Balancing the icepack on her right arm, she held out her left hand with the pinkie-finger held up to him for him to wrap his own around. “And at the same time, you can try and take my current pain away.” She looked down at him with a lot of determination and matching smile, although she still doubted that she was in enough pain for an ability to bother with it. Besides, you didn’t get through life without a slight bit of pain..