Bad Moon Rising

LOCATION outskirts of Aston towards the woods
DATE 19th of December 2021
TIME 22.00
ATTIRE doctor's uniform
TOPIC FOR @Lucas x
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You never knew quite what to expect when you were on call, Cecilia had always liked she was lived so close to home, so that she could stay home till if she got a call. Like tonight. She had been paged just a moment after her and Lucas had finished dinner. Luckily, it had been quite easy to handle, till someone called about a car crash just on the boarder of town. Cecilia had alongside one of the other doctors Kevin made their trip towards the scene and a horrifying sight had been meeting them. The car flipped to the side, with a young girl, late teens - early twenties were in the drivers seat, crying and screaming in heart shattering panic. The roads were covered with snow, and the very few lampposts that only just provided with a low orange glow on the road made it easy to theorize why the car had crashed. Kevin managed to get the girl out of the car, getting her to the ambulance, but had to closely monitor her due the damage. A scream from the forest made Cecilia spin around looking into the dark of the forest, with her flashlight she could track the blood - there had been someone else in the crash as well. "There is someone else outhere," she yelled back to the other doctor. They should have sent more cars out. Or at least more staff and not just the two of them. "I have to get back with her, I will come pick you up in five minutes or send Ash out," Kevin yelled after her. Cecilia didn't even get to disagree before he had closed the doors and got the people who drove the ambulance to go. "Fucking hell Kevin," she cursed a little , looking up towards the skin. Her eyes caught the full moon.

"This is just great," she mumbled a little bit. So much for getting new doctors out who thought they where so smart. "10 procent, I swear this cold is killing my phone, god dammit," Cecilia mumbled a little bit to herself before looking towards the woods again. At least she had her flashlight. She walked a few steps closer towards the forest, another scream for help matching with the former one she had heard made her had heard. She tried to call out, but with no response. It wasn't safe to go so deeply into the forest at this time, she should have asked Clay to go with her. Cecilia shook her head a little, no she had to get back to the road, everything was better than getting lost out here. But as she turned around someone stopped in her path.

Cecilia almost blinded him with the flashlight, "Jasper?" She gasped a little bit almost jumping a step back. What was he even doing out here? Then the light moved towards his arm, it was cut up, half of him covered in blood. She moved the flashlight up back towards his face, and the yellow eyes glowed brighter than the moon. "You should go," she tried to warn but her voice so low as the fear overtook it. He reached out for her, but she took a step back. He as a matter of fact did not take a step back he moved forward, with a speed that made her heart skip a beat and caused her to take a second jump back. she dropped the flashlight in the snow, not having more time to waste before having to move further back. She could see a little cause of the white snow where she moved, the moon shinning over her head. Cecilia didn't even dare to look back. The snow made it almost impossible to run, and she knew - running would be pointless, she was nothing but a prey and the wolf would love to hunt it down.

Finally, she got her phone out of her pocket, but with tonight's luck it was the same time as something grabbed her left leg and let her collide with the cold snow underneath her. Cecilia flipped herself around, trying to kick the transformed werewolf off her despite the fear that filled her up. A scream left her as she felt the jaw closed around her waist and the teeth pierced through the skin. For a moment he let go and she took a sharper breath in trying to crawl back, reaching out for her phone. At least it only took her two tabs on the screen to call Lucas, after all she had him set as her emergency contact. "Hey," she sounded way more pained than she wanted to, on the edge as if her voice could cut through the hardest surface. "I -- ehm - I need some help," she breathed out looking towards the eyes of the werewolf that slowly moved closer to her again, pretty sure the growl could be heard through the phone. "I'm go- gonna summo-" radio silence. She dropped the phone as it had died. Her body was aching, screaming for her not to move, but despite that she wanted to get away from Jasper who more or less just loved toying with her pain. Cecilia took a deeper breath in tried to focus, focus on summoering Lucas to the scene.

Luke didn’t like late night calls. She knew it; he knew it. Late night calls were trouble, and long ago he had made his peace with being the one, who would get to stay at home; pacing the parquet floor, trying not to look at the watch at every given second. He had at least tried to accept it. It was her job after all, and he knew that he should only give support. Not like he could complain about her working too much since they most definitely both did that. Just that sitting in an office room at the Academy posed a lot less danger than running around town on calls and a lot less mentally demanding than attending injured people. And so, when Cecilia gave him a kiss and closed the door behind her, he shuffled to the window to look at the car’s lights slowly disappearing into the winter snow.
A car crash, she’d said.
“Car crash can’t be that bad now can it,” he mumbled to himself. The snow had been heavy the last few days but tonight it had cleared beautifully, allowing the full moon to light up the white powder, that covered the streets.

Lucas had sat himself down with a few papers to sort through, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep before Cecilia came home, and recognizing that he at least could get a bit of work done then. The dull echo of slow, jazzy Christmas music in the background had had him lower his shoulders a little more relaxed than before, and the smell of mint tea filled the air, as he flicked through the small stack of papers. His phone vibrated on the table. Luke smiled lightly at the picture that lit up his screen. The beautiful brown eyes that smiled out to him. Then he picked up the phone.
Hey.
He immediately tensed at her sad, breathless voice. She sounded defeated. The blood disappeared from his face, and he pushed himself forward in the sofa, sitting straighter. “Celia?” He whispered, scared that if he spoke louder, his voice would shake. What the fuck? Perhaps he was overthinking it, he told himself. Maybe she was tired and that car crash had been terrible and traumatizing and she was shaken by the state of it. But her next slow, hesitant words, made it clear that his heart had been beating faster for a good reason.
“Where are you?” He snapped, suddenly gaining strength in his shaky voice. He stood up, heading straight for the window to look out on the pale snow, hoping somehow she would stand right there.
“I’m go-gonna summo-“
Then the line died.
“Ce?!”
One beep. Two beeps. Three beeps. Four.
“God damnit!”
He desperately threw the phone in his hand away from him. Fuck! His head was so loud; so many questions, and he needed to focus. Okay. As he quickly reached back for his phone to dial the number of Clay, intending to ask for Cecilia’s location so he could transform and run for her immediately.

Clay was already on his way, after he had cursed and yelled at the new doctor to never leave another behind no matter what doing a full moon. How could someone be so incredibly stupid?! Before he had could keep lecturing Kevin, Ash had sent Clay to go get Cecilia, after all, Clay being a hybrid had a bit more control over himself doing a full moon - and had a chance in case of any threat. His phone ran on the way, Lucas - well, this couldn't be good. He picked up rather quickly. "Okay, okay - L - slow down," he tried to calm the shapeshifter down, but even the worry and frustration was enough to set Clayton's concern on the long run. "I'm on my way there now - how about I pick you up?" Clayton suggested and made a right turn towards the road where he knew Cecilia and Lucas lived. "Get in, it's not safe running around out here in any shape," he rolled his window down yelling at Lucas to get inside the medical car. Clay knew Lucas could run in his leopard shape, and fast, but it would be stupid and no good if he got himself hurt on the way. And they needed to hurry - even if Clay didn't know what was going on completely. But he understood the seriousness of there might be something wrong. One good thing was as soon as they were in the car, Clay didn't think about the speed limit - he could careless as long as no one was in his way.


She couldn't focus. "Fuck," she cried out as she kept trying to crawl back. The adrenalin giving her the rush she needed to keep moving away from the wolf coming in closer. Her mind was racing, this was horrible, she needed to leave, she need to run as fast as she could. She felt utterly powerless. Cecilia was numb, turning around forcing her legs up to get her up on her feet. She tried to run, tried to lift her legs through the masses of snow. Move towards the low orange light in distance. Her body electrically charged with burst of energy, trying to keep going, almost hearing the laughter from the wolf behind her echo in the darkness. But the lights were right there, and she could swear the could hear a car coming in from distance. Cecilia could hear the sound of her heartbeat alarm the entire forest of her presence.

Finally, she made it out to the road again, forcing her arms up to wave at the car. Her eyes wide open, like a deer caught in the traffic lights. Reality kicked in as the car stopped right in front of her, hitting the breaks. Her arms falling down, as the entire body suddenly felt the wave of exhaustion wash over her. Despite the cold she was sweating, her entire body trying to fight off everything that was happening around her. The doors opened rather fast, and Clay stepped out of the front seat, looking from Cecilia to the side as he could sense the rouge werewolf in the darkness - he could see it. But the smell of Cecilia's blood made him realize it was nothing good. "Get her in the car and get her to the hospital. I will take care of this," Clay said not looking back at neither Cecilia or Lucas.

“Where is she, Clay, you need to tell me her location now.”
“Okay, okay - L - slow down.”
“Now, Clay! Please!.”
"I'm on my way there now - how about I pick you up?"

Uncharacteristically quiet, Luke sat beside the hybrid in absolute stillness, focusing his blue eyes on the road in front of them. His hands were clenched into fists as he desperately tried to breathe through his nose to not let the little sparkles of electricity that ran around his fingers accidentally hardwire anything in the car.
Clay; also usually a chatty person, was as quiet, clearly distressed at whatever had happened. Luke had asked for an explanation - anything to mentally prepare for what was going on, but there was nothing to be said. Not after shouting to the sky that whoever that new guy was who had been out of his mind to leave her on her own should never hold any sort of work permit ever in his life.
Clay hit the breaks just as Lucas saw movement out of the corner of his eyes and he grabbed hold on the panel in front of him to not take too much of the impact of the harsh, sudden break.
Brown hair.
He audibly gasped, reaching for the door-handle before the car had made it to its full halt.
"Ce!" The pure state of her broke his heart in an instant. She swayed slightly, and Luke shot forwards, reaching to grab her before she would tumble and fall over. She was cold to the touch but sticky from sweat and exhaustion and she smelt like blood. "Hey, it's okay," he whispered, as he finally got to wrap his arms around her. "I've got you. It's okay. You're okay."
Another smell hit him as a gush of wind brought hit towards them, and along with it a memory from nearly a year before.  

“You hurt someone I care very deeply for. So, either you turn around and leave or I paralyse you from the waist down. You could enjoy the rest of your life in a nice, comfortable wheelchair.” Lucas smiled but it most definitely never reached his eyes. The lone wolf didn’t deserve anything but a punch in his ugly face, but Lucas was trying to be good. “Of course, if I ever see you anywhere near Cecilia again it won’t just be your legs. I will kill you.”

His last promise to the werewolf echoed through his mind as the nauseating smell of him hit him. It had been the last and only time this bastard had ever been in his thoughts. “Jasper.” He spat the name out as if it was the most disgusting thing in the world. The red, hot, vibrant anger that flared through his entire body was nearly strong enough to have him let go of his girlfriend and chase headlessly after the man who had hurt her but Clay’s voice brought him back to reality, making Lucas lower his eyes from the dark forest to Cecilia’s face. He was right, of course, the hybrid. There was no way he could walk away from her now; not for anything. Not even a stupid promise he had made himself in anger. He knew that if he ran after the werewolf, he would kill him. And Clay was offering him a way out from falling back into the hole that such a thing would leave him in.
That seemed to settle it. Cecilia’s hurt face made him groan loudly, knowing that he had to make a choice. And that the choice would always and forever be her. He gently placed a hand on her cheek, letting his powers surge through her, searching for damages to her nervous systems, and gently trying to repair the smallest ones. It was all he could do this quickly.
"Alright, chicken," he mumbled, trying to project some sort of warmth along with the utter sadness and frustration he felt, and he gently lifted her up from the cold forest floor, to get her into the same seat where he had sat only seconds earlier. He carefully put her seatbelt on and placed his jacket on top of her to keep her a little warmer, humming soft words of appreciation and encouragement. Closing the door, he turned around to Clay, not able to hide the tears that seemed to push forwards.
"Promise me you will," he replied with a thick voice, before turning around to face the lone wolf; or whatever direction he had gone to. "Jasper!" His voice was hoarse and thunderous from anger. "You remember my promise; you remember what I said! I'm a man of my word and I won't sleep until you've stopped breathing, know that!"
He gave a gentle tap of gratitude on Clays shoulder, but growled in frustration before he got in the car, slammed the door shut and pushed the speeder down.
"Speak to me, Ce," he whispered, as he shot through the bright night. "Speak to me please. You'll be okay."

It was like the fighting state her body had been in finally washed away from her the second Lucas grabbed her. The instant beam of knowing she was safe now made her breath out, but also made her entire system alert on the damage done. The cold still not reaching her mind, the pain just luring below the surface waiting for the right time to strike again. The arm around her comforting and her shaking arms snaked around him while her heart tried to settle a little. Jasper, the mention of his name made Cecilia close her eyes, feeling how her head was spinning around almost making her forget to breath. Cecilia didn't even realize Clay was right them till he spoke, to get them out of here. She didn't even have the energy to argue with Clayton on him not staying back alone, nor the fact that Clayton was more than able to handle a rouge werewolf. The sharpest pain was the one in her left leg where the claws had ripped the leg up, but she was also standing on it - making it so easy to focus on and forget the darting pain from her waist. She was clinging onto Lucas as if he let go, she would tumble directly to the ground, there was no more strength in her body to push ahead from. Even if it seemed so for a moment, it became easier. Just a little easier, because she didn't have to fight to get away from the scene, and she wasn't alone. Time was frozen, frozen til the moment she could hear what seemed to her like an echo of his voice, enough to make her blink a little tuning into what happened around her the second he lifted her up.

The warmth from the car was settling over her, and she dragged a sharper pained breath in as she tried to make herself a little comfortable while Lucas put her seatbelt on. She hated this. Feeling not just powerless, but useless. The door got closed, making her turn her head a little to the side on the misted window, her brows pressed together, finding it utterly difficult to make herself comfortable.

"Oh, I promise," the hybrid breathed slowly out. Clayton looked towards Lucas, as he felt the tab on his shoulder, listening to the shapeshifter's words. Clay knew anger. No one wanted to see how blinded by rage the hybrid could get, and the only reason why Clay hadn't started hunting the rouge down right now - was because he didn't want to risk a case where the rouge would attack them right now. Clay didn't take his eyes of the yellow eyes glowing in the dark like fireflies and the hybrid set off towards the woods the second Lucas was in the car and started driving.

Cecilia closed her eyes tight, just trying to push the nausea away, licking her lips a little bit as she took a sharper breath in. Zoning in and out she hadn't even realized they were driving. "I - ehm - I don't feel so good," she mumbled a little, having her hand close to her left side. "It’s just a scratch, don’t worry." Cecilia whispered underneath her breath licking her lips a little, completely having forgotten what had happened for a moment, closing her eyes as she took a deeper breath in. "Don’t worry, I can handle this," Cecilia once again whispered, not knowing who she was trying to convince - him or herself, perhaps both of them. "I'm sorry you had to rush out like that," she mumbled still with her eyes closed just feeling how heavy her body felt, forcing herself to stay awake.

Luke couldn’t remember the last time he had driven like such a lunatic. Dashing past the trees so fast he couldn’t make any of them out, but they had turned to mere, foggy silhouettes. His face was darker than the night sky. Dark, worried and angry and he had to bite down hard on his tongue to not shout abuse into the void in front of them. He wasn’t even worried for Clay; only strangely jealous in some way, that it would be him taking care of the person who had hurt Cecilia and not him. Her voice had him re-center his focus, and he dared look to her for a second before looking back on the road.
An audible whimper made it past his lips at her words; a sound he had no recollection of ever making in his life and nearly let go of the wheel to put a hand in front of his mouth in surprise.I don't feel so good. “I know. You’ll be okay, chicken,” he whispered, knowing his words of comfort were meant to comfort himself as much as her. It didn’t work. He felt an overwhelming sense of dread, as if he was too late already, and pushed the speeder down a little more at the notion.

Lucas would have sighed at her, urging her to stop apologizing for everything all the time, but not tonight. His tongue licked his lips that had gone dry from all of the emotions, and nodded to himself, knowing well that she probably wasn’t looking at him. His own eyes were focused on the road, thankfully able to see clearly through the darkness as he drove well above what was anywhere near legal. “That’s okay,” he assured her. “That’s okay, love.” He knew he had to keep her talking, but for some reason his brain was still thinking of Jasper, and he desperately tried to push away the anger for the rogue wolf. “You have got to stay awake, Ce,” he urged, daring to release a hand from the wheel, to gently give her hand a nudge before grabbing hold of again. “Talk to me about – uh. Talk to me about your parents? Remind me, when are we supposed to have dinner with them?” His words seemed hollow and empty no matter how much he tried to portray enthusiasm and carefreeness. Most of all he felt like crying in disbelief and exhaustion from all of the feelings that spun around in his body. He didn’t even know if they had any dinner scheduled or if he was just talking nonsense at this point – his eyes focussed on the city opening up in front of them.
It was a bitter feeling, having to slow down as the road turned less straight, and he was forced to drive amongst other late-evening cars. Still heavily speeding, he took a sharp turn to the right, reaching over to forcefully hold Cecilia in place on the seat as he did so. “Almost there, Ce, stay with me now,” he muttered, feeling out of breath. Almost! And then – lights from the hospital.

Luke had never driven a medical car but to his luck it meant that nobody stopped him, as he was speeding past signs and cars and headed straight for A&E – there. He had opened the door even before the engine had stopped and pushed himself over the roof of the vehicle in an effort to save precious milliseconds to get to her.
“I need a doctor!” He shouted loudly; eyes fully focused on Cecilia as he quickly opened the door. “I’ve got you, Ce – Get me Ash!" He gently picked her up from her seat, placing a hand on her wound on her leg to put a bit of pressure on it. “– Someone get me Dr. Mitchell!”

"I'm trying," she sighed a bit, mostly frustrated with herself rather than anyone else. She had kept herself awake for days at work, if she could do that, then she had to be able to do this as well. However, it was like for the small second, even if it was just briefly the touch of his hand, woke her a little bit. His attempt to make her talk, made her chuckle a little bit throughout the pain. But if anyone had managed to chuckle throughout the pain she had been put in this year, it had been Cecilia. It was almost uncanny how calmly she could take some of this, but her mind was already calculating and listing everything that needed to be done regarding her wounds. At least the mundane part of it. "They always want us to visit them for Christmas, but I think it's going to be in Lancaster this year - which is okay - the feast will be good no matter what," she whispered a little bit. Well, with everything that had happened this year, of course the family didn't want to move around too much - even if they usually did spent their Holidays in Bulgaria, mostly because her mother liked being home around the season. "However, we were going to visit Tyler and Nia - I think they finally figured out they actually like each other," Cecilia laughed a little, a small laugh that turned to a bit of a cough. She was just happy that Tyler had found someone again after the stunt Jessica had put him through, and Nia as well. They deserved each other.

Her mouth felt dry, her entire body stiff and aching from the venom spreading in her system. Cecilia couldn't remember last time she had felt stick like this, this overwhelming sense of discomfort. Her eyes turned to the window, she knew this road, she drove it every single day. Then he took the sharp turn, which was perhaps just a little spark of adrenaline she needed for the moment not to crash, as he moved his arm over her. Cecilia blinked a little bit before exhaling slowly. Her heart was racing faster by the second, as her body out of desperation tried to fight whatever was infecting her. They reached the hospital, and she breathed out a bit more heavy, because it meant they made it this far. Cecilia loosened the seatbelt as they parked, wanting to at least make it easier for them to get inside.

The shot of pure panic rushed through her as he picked her up form her panic. Reality kicked in. It didn't take long before Ash came running out, "Someone get me a stretcher, Monroe prep a room," he shouted out rather quickly as he moved closer towards Cecilia and Lucas. "What the hell happened out there?" He moved his eyes towards the pressure that Lucas held on Cecilia's leg, and then turned his eye towards the nurses coming in with a stretcher, and then let Lucas place Cecilia on it, before they drove off. "Where is Dr. Reyes?" Ash wondered not seeing Clay in the car, but just shook his head a little. "Come on," he placed a hand shortly on Lucas' shoulder, "breath, she will be fine. We got her," Ash assured Lucas before they could follow the nurses that had taken Cecilia to one of the hospital rooms to take a look at the wounds, get her out of the uniform so they better could get a look at the wounds. Ash walked over to get Lucas a cup of water before they would go check on Cecilia.

"Once again - I'm so terribly sorry for -" Ash waved Kevin's comment a little away, clearly not having more time for the guy. But he also had to make sure that the stupid human didn't make a scene that would set Lucas off, his nerves already being everything but settled from all of this. "I already told you, go home Dr. Lector, we don't need you here more today," he added, "leave."Ash gave Kevin a glance enough to scare the new doctor from saying anything further and head towards the changing rooms. "Let's go check on her."

One of the nurses met Lucas and Ash on the way. "Dr. Mitchell, there is something you need to know," she informed looking a bit at Lucas, till Ash nodded, "It's okay, he can hear this," Ash assured the nurse. "She was bitten by a werewolf - its what is causing her so much stress, Dr. Reyes might know a bit more about how to go through this, but you can see her." Ash nodded feeling a bit lost for breath though you couldn't see. "Maybe you should call Irina, letting her know?" Ash suggested. He knew that well at least Irina was Cecilia's cousin and that she was a werewolf. Then he walked inside the room looking at Cecilia who had been cleaned up, put under a heated blanket to make her comfortable. She looked a bit pale, but at least now Ash knew it was because of the fact her entire body was changing - at least she had a month till the full transformation hit. But Cecilia gave both of them a small yet warm smile.

Things moved very quickly; so quickly that Lucas could barely keep up and felt like he was moving along with one large wave, stumbling to keep his feet placed on the ground. He gently placed Cecilia on the stretcher, happy to give off a little of the responsibility he felt so heavily on his shoulders to Ash, who had come running out almost at the same time as Lucas had called for him. It felt empty without Cecilia in his arms, and he had unconsciously reached out for her as she was being dragged away, desperately not wanting to leave her out of sight.
A friendly hand on his shoulder finally made Luke’s world crumble around him, and he turned to Ash teary eyed and out of breath, his shoulders vibrating slightly. “What’s happening?” He whispered half way between a groan and a whimper. We got her. And somehow he managed to listen to the Demi-God, breathing out before breathing in again, and continuing like that through the messy arrangements around him.

The waiting room was so quiet it almost felt loud. People were walking past him quietly, not paying him attention and fitting into the big, well-oiled machine that the hospital was. Like a perfectly harmonious clock where everyone and everything had a fitting place, knew what they were doing and did it confidently. In his mind he repeated Ash’s words over and over in an attempt to convince himself that everything would be alright.
He reached his hands to his head, burying his face in them and trying to focus on his breathing and his heartbeat; repetitive, rhythmical movements through his bo-
Luke’s head shot back up, as an apologetically weak voice reached them, and the calm he had started to induce through his body crumbled at his feet. “You,” he growled, his voice dripping from hatred. Yet he couldn’t let his anger out on the young man. Instead his clenched fists slowly loosened and the anger turned to a painful, frustrated grimace. Dr. Lector. He would remember that name; he would remember it and lose sleep over knowing that some incompetent doctor was to blame for this. Leaving another person on its own. He was all too human, the guy, and so deep inside, Luke couldn’t blame him. Not really. He might’ve not known about full moons or werewolves or anything at all in fact. The angry shapeshifter would have lied had he claimed he wasn’t for a short second more than tempted to run after the human and simply punch him between the eyes. Perhaps, if Ash hadn’t quickly waved the guy away, he would have. Instead his gloomy, dark eyes perked up a little nervously at the notion of checking up on her. Checking up meant good news, right?

A short, warmly-faced girl stopped them in their tracks, and Lucas felt oddly disconnected from the conversation; almost as if he was getting dragged along through a movie or some video game. Their voices seemed faded and he stared hollowly at them as their voices sully echoed in his mind. She was bitten by a werewolf. She was bitten by a werewolf. She was bitten by a-
“Maybe you should call Irina, letting her know?”
Lucas blinked. He moved his eyes from the girl to Ash and nodded slowly. He wanted to ask the obvious, but bit his tongue to not let the question escape him. Will she turn? Getting bitten by a werewolf under the full moon meant a very obvious answer. He had spent the majority of his year - and many years before that - wishing for Cecilia to have a normal life. Enjoy being a human in this crazy world of other species and their intrigues and drama. Yet some mundane night had changed it all in a few minutes and they would have to simply exist with that knowledge.
The warm smile that met them had Lucas’ eyes tear up immediately again. “Hey you,” he muttered, taking the last few steps to reach her and her beautiful brown eyes looking up at him. “How’re you holding up?”

Cecilia didn't understand what was going on, but she could feel it in her veins. How the venom spread, how everything seemed to chance around her. Slowly. She licked her dry lips a little bit, this wasn't the first time this year she had been here - well, hell last time had been because of the link to Ajax back in February that had just been broken in time for Eden to heal her so she was okay. But this was different. "Right now, nurse Sylva gave me some very good drugs - so I'm okay," Cecilia managed to chuckle just a little knowing it was rather serious manners, but it wouldn't be her if she wasn't at least trying to crack a little bit of light over a situation. "I'm just a little bit tired that is all," she wanted to assure him that she was going to be alright. But the nurse had also told her that she had been bitten. How ironic when she had just earlier the month sat down with Lucas and Irina where she had told her about their family legacy on their mothers side of this. Even crazier that Ethan was in a relationship with their grandmother who had thought to be dead ages ago - so much for hiding the supernatural world from them. "Don't call Ty," she licked her lips a little bit taking Lucas' hand. "He till just freak out, more than I'm sure he can handle right now," she mumbled a little her mind being spread over the entire room. Closing her eyes shut for a second, almost like her ears wasn't really able to adjust to the sounds from the people speaking so loud - yet there was no people in the room speaking loud, but there were people out in the hall passing by, talking. "What happens next?" She opened her eyes looking towards Lucas. Both of them knew what happened. Once you were bitten the body used the time to adjust and then next month - it would all become real. What a way to start the new year.

It was endlessly painfull seeing her like this; on the wrong side of the hospital bed, with the little exhausted pearls of sweat on her forehead and the slight fog in her eyes. Her lighthearted comments made his heart flutter from warmth towards the little ... human. Her scent was already changing slightly but somehow it felt comforting knowing, that all of this pain would lead to some higher connection with nature. That's what she smelt like at least. Nature. He nodded sternly, trying to soften up his worried face. "Yeah, you need rest," he agreed in a whisper, knowing that if he spoke any louder, his voice would sound hoarse and pained; yet the whisper was overwhelmingly soft and warm with love. She did need rest. Desperately. Her body was going through a change now to prepare her for the biggest change that would come next month. In the new year. A year Lucas had been so sure would be the best year to come. Less pain, more family, more home, more Cecilia.
She finally took his hand. "Oh, Ce," Luke muttered into her hair, his other hand gently finding its way behind her head as support, wrapping itself around the messy curls. "They deserve to know." It had been a strange year like that; many secrets to keep and a strange form of diplomacy between the people around him, and he was tired and sad that people wouldn't just talk to each other in honesty. It would save a lot of hurt in the end. He knew it was not his secret to tell - if a secret at all - but would still encourage her to speak to her brother sooner rather than later.  

He hesitated. What could he possibly say to make it any easier? She had already had to deal with so much from this supernatural world of magic and curses and had spent a whole year trying to keep her own powers from running off with her, and now she would have to deal with this. And Luke knew he couldn't make it easier in any way; so he told himself the only thing he could do was to not make it any harder. Ever. With a smile that never really reached the blue eyes he really tried to look less sad than what he felt. "A lot of changes," he replied slowly, letting his forehead touch hers as he regarded the familiar brown eyes looking up at him. "A lot of changes, love." The sadness he had felt before was still there, but her bright eyes were all the same, and he knew that she would be okay. Irina was here and she could help. So could some of her family history - some new discovery that made all of this seem strangely like some higher fate. She could do it. If anyone could, she could do it. "Ash mentioned I should call Irina," Luke muttered, letting her head go in favour of grabbing hold of her two hands and placing himself on the edge of the bed. He squeezed lightly. "Do you want me to do that? Or we can wait until the morning."

Cecilia licked her lips a little and nodded, "yeah -" she breathed out a little taking a deeper breath in, "but just - make sure Nia goes with him," still in this pain, this discomfort the only thing she wanted was to not spook or freak anyone out. She had always found easier to do for others than herself. If Nia couldn't calm Tyler, then Irina could handle Tyler, and if she couldn't - then Nigel could. Cecilia breathed a little more out frustrated by how people would react rather than her having to experience it - shock, she knew it had to be the shock of it all. She saw people in shock on a daily basis. A lot of changes. If this year hadn't been filled with changes already - the last two years really. "Is that all huh," she chuckled lowly closing her eyes for a brief second. The mention of Irina made Cecilia open her eyes again, as Lucas took her hands in his and sat down. She had been so shocked back in March to discover that her cousin had been a werewolf the past seven years, but not as shocked as discovering her entire birthright, and how she came down to the first pureblood werewolves. "If Clay was out there - it will be a matter of time before others know either way, and I would rather her having the news from you," she replied, her voice a little weak. "Besides, she can decide if she wants to show up in the morning or now. Who I know will be running with the speed of light is Eve," she chuckled a little bit. Not that she wanted Evelina to rush, not when being in the last months of her pregnancy. A little cough escaped her lips as she tried to laugh.

She could handle this. She could do this. "It's okay - I will be okay,," she whispered a little licking her lips moving her eyes from his for a second just looking up, as she took a deeper breath in. Cecilia didn't know which of the two of them she was trying to convince the most. "God, I can't believe this is happening," she mumbled a little. One thing was being bitten, the other thing having it being Jasper - out of all people. Jasper. Kevin who had left her behind on the road. Now, if Clay was out in the woods, she knew - a part of her knew, that Jasper had taken his last breath. Which was comforting in a way, not that she ever would wish death upon someone else - never, but Jasper, who caused so much pain - if he was no more, then you never had to fear seeing him again.

What could he possibly do but nod in agreement at this point? She could have asked him for the world, and he would have done everything in his power to give it to her, to at least attempt to ease some of the pain and confusion she must feel. “I will.” Tyler had been through hell lately; things nobody should really ever have to deal with and to top it all off had been exposed to the truth about the world, turning everything upside down really fast. He wished he wouldn’t have to make his year more hectic than it already was, but also knew that there was no way he would ever keep the young man out of the loop. This was far too serious and far too important to pretend like it wasn’t happening.
Luke blinked to refocus and turned his eyes back to Cecilia. She was always putting others first and for once she would need to look inwards a lot. It wouldn’t be like seeing him change to his leopard shape at all. It would be about controlling emotions and looking inwards and learning how to deal with the anger it was said that werewolves had inside of them. Anger seemed like such a foreign feeling for the brown eyed beauty, he thought. Frustration perhaps, but not so much anger.
Is that all, huh?
Lucas meekly managed a smile. Even in all of this he felt so much love for her it reflected in his eyes. "Yeah. That's all, chicken," he replied.
She was right, of course, he knew. They would all know. People here knew each other, and news travelled a lot faster than light these days. It was possible they already knew. He nodded at her. "Rest, okay, love?" He whispered, gently letting his lips touch her forehead. "I'll go call Irina. You rest a little now. You're safe here."

Somehow Cecilia's insisted calmness had left him feeling a little bit less panicky, but as soon as he left the room, the reality kicked him right in the stomach. He felt breathless as he picked up the phone and dialled Irina’s mobile number.
…
“Hey, Rina? You got a second?”

At this point, again once again she was still thankful for her line of work for making her able to push through stressful situations. Cecilia was used to pressure and pushing herself above all of her limits - and right now that was what she was doing, pushing through the limits and hoped that she could work this out. She didn't even want to think about how the outcome would be, she could tomorrow, or the day before, right now she just wanted to be. "Okay," she exhaled as he whispered for her to rest, and she closed her eyes the moment his lips touched her forehead. Cecilia took a longer and sharper breath in, licking her dry lips a little bit. She nodded a bit as he mentioned he would call Irina, Irina was the best to call right now - Cecilia was sure of that. If anyone knew how to handle out of news like this, it was Irina and Nigel. "Okay," for some reason she slowly lost her words as the exhaustion for the night took over her. And it didn't take much longer for her till she actually dozed a little bit off.
…

Irina looked towards her phone on the coffee table as it lighted up, Nigel was upstairs trying to get Mila to fall asleep again after she had been having a few nightmares. So, Irina just looked shortly to Mariella who was sipping her tea. Irina reached towards her phone and picked it up, why was Lucas calling her at this hour? There was something about his voice, "Hey Luc, yeah - what's up?" Mariella looked towards Irina, seeing the concern on her face, wondering just as much as the werewolf what was going on.

It had of course been nothing more than a small hope that Irina would even pick up the phone on the night of a full moon, so as she did, Luke found himself mixed with emotions of dread and relief. Dread because it was not any good news, he would deliver to her and relief that perhaps somehow a little bit of all that responsibility could be taken off his shoulders and distributed between himself and someone who knew a great deal more about all of this than he did. For essentially, he knew nothing but what he had been told and what he had read about; and Cecilia deserved every bit of correct knowledge. She deserved so much more in fact.
Lucas had placed himself in front of a large window overlooking the parking space underneath the hospital. This place was so familiar to him it could almost feel like a second home; much like the Academy. Irina’s voice reached him as he watched how the sky slowly opened back up and fluffy snowflakes started falling to the ground.

Hey Luc, yeah – what’s up?
He drew a shaky breath. “Hey,” he repeated hesitantly his first word to her, knowing that he had to rip the band-aid before she would get too worried. “Right. Uh. Cecilia had an accident tonight on a call near the forest.” He really tried to project warmth and confidence, but he sounded more deflated by the second. “We’re at the hospital and I just wanted you to know that she’s, uh – she’s okay. She’s okay for now, uh, but in the forest she …” Luke felt his eyes sting as if the realisation was only really hitting him now that he had to say it out loud. “She got bitten by a werewolf.” He couldn’t help the sharp sniffle, nor the shakiness that found its way to his voice as his eyes tried focusing on the lazy snow falling outside. He swallowed.
"And uh - I don't know enough... I'm not sure I - I know enough about this and uh I don't know how to help her, Ri." His voice slowly faded to a whisper. "I couldn’t help her." The realisation hurt him more than he thought it would. All the pain and awful things she was going to go through all on her own and he couldn't help her. It felt so alone knowing that she would feel so alone. " “I’m so sorry.”  

About now, you never knew, you didn't know if news were good nor bad. But there was something about the sound of his voice that made her uneasy. Cecilia had an accident, Irina sat up, perhaps a little too fast for her linking but  blinked, "what - wh-" Irina took a sharper breath in blinking a little, but kept herself from asking further questions as Lucas said that Cecilia was okay. Okay for now. What was okay for now even supposed to mean? "What Lucas, but what?" Irina closed her eyes for a moment, placing her free hand on the bridge of her nose for a second. She got bitten by a werewolf. Irina opened her eyes, and blinked a little as the shock washed over her. "She what?" Irina got up from the sofa unable to stay seated. Of course she had heard him, Irina didn't even need him to confirm it. The whats, hows and whys started to fill up in her head, making her place a hand on her forehead, looking towards Mariella shortly who could obviously feel the intensity of the conversation. Irina could even hear his heart racing over the phone, a point of helplessness she didn't wish upon anyone, but at least she was at the hospital. "Lucas listen to me," she took a sharper breath in herself. "She is in good hands, and she trusts you. Right now, all she needs is to know she can do this. That she isn't alone - you can help her with that, alright?" Irina moved closer to the window looking outside at the moon. She had always herself had more control over her emotions and shifts, but Irina was gifted it came natural to her. How Cecilia would change with this curse, "It's not your fault Lucas, it's simply not," she closed her eyes for a moment, at this point happy the pregnancy kept her from changing. Because a part of her wished to run out and find the wolf who had attacked Cecilia and make that person pay.

Irina exhaled a little again, "do you need me to come by?" She asked and let her front teeth drag her lower lip back. It was late as it was, and the last thing she actually wanted was to rush out the door, but she would if they needed her to be there.

Lucas listen to me. But how could he? It was not a usual thing for Luke, feeling heavy and hot on his chest, wondering if his heart was about to beat so fast it would fall out or that he was going to not be able to breathe because his head was too loud, but it was so all consuming that he nearly missed her gentle, soothing words. They echoed in his mind as though it was an empty shell for that moment. Was he having a panic attack? The panic had light anger flare through his body.
God damnit, man, he told himself angrily; You don’t have time for this shit. She needs you in there. Get your shit together. He forced air through his clenched teeth; deep and controlled breath to fill up his lungs and slow his heartbeat. Like he was running, he reminded himself. Slow and controlled and easy. The air was slowly let out and he nodded to his reflection in the window. Right. Right, right, right. Slow and controlled. And Irina’s voice returned to his mind along with his vision sharpening slightly and blood returning to his face. “Thanks,” he replied, unable to entirely shake off the shock from his voice. “But you stay where you are and take care of yourself, Ri. I just wanted you to hear it from me and not tomorrow morning from somebody else and I -“ He hesitated before recognising the fact that he couldn’t face it on his own. “And I needed that,” he finished.
It’s not your fault. He repeated her words like a little mantra. “Thank you. Sincerely.”

The snow kept falling. The world kept spinning. The hospital kept being busy; people shuffling past him and voices chatting around him. It was no time to have a self pitiful moment like this, he knew. He had to be there for Cecilia.
Fully establishing to himself that indeed his heart rate had fallen and his breath was a little less ragged, he felt he could return to the brightly lit room she had been placed in. He clenched the hand in his phone as he entered the room, curiously watching his girlfriend surrounded by white. White walls, white sheets, white windows, white light. Like an Angel. Eyes closed and looking peaceful, he couldn’t help but wonder how on earth such a beautiful person could ever turn into anything as raw and wild as a wolf.
He swallowed to himself before finally relaxing his tensed hands and walking the last few steps to the bed. He gently kicked off his sneakers, trying not to make too loud noises, before lifting the duvet and crawling under it to her.
“Hey,” he whispered softly. She was so warm. But her hair smelt the same. And that comfort had him lower his shoulders and nudge her to lift her head onto the place between his shoulder and neck where she would usually snuggle up to him in bed.

Irina hated not being there, truly, she knew she couldn't do anything right now. She licked her lips a little bit and took a deeper breath in, "okay, I will be there in the morning," she said, there was no question there - she would be. And perhaps by the break of dawn the roads would actually be safe enough to drive. "Take care," she sighed a little before hanging up, so she could inform the rest of the household of the events that had happened.

Now it was weird, so many things were the same and so many things weren't. Like she felt like she was sleeping, yet there was no dream just endless thoughts, trying to get comfortable with the uncomfortable sensations that spread in her system. She opened her eyes a little again, giving him a soft smile as he crawled under the duvet next to her, "hey," she mumbled a little bit, snuggling closer to him as invited and took a deeper breath in. "You smell funny," she mumbled in a low whisper followed by a chuckle, "but not like bad funny, I like it, like home." It was weird how she could hear things she usually couldn't, like the sound of his heart beating, she could hear it so clearly that it could have freaked her out if she hadn't been so good at actually controlling her emotions beforehand.

Luke couldn't help a warm little chuckle at her words. He reminded himself to try to be positive and consider all of the wonders that would now open up to her, but found himself blocked by sadness, that she also opened up for a very large amount of troublesome, harsh realities. "So do you," he replied warmly, gently placing a soft kiss on her hair. "You smell like autumn. A bit like humid forest," he confided with a low titter. "It's comforting but also a little alarming," he admitted, mumbling into her hair. He could feel his own heartbeat where her head was and hesitantly took a slow, deep breath to calm it down to a normal state after all of the adrenaline he had felt all night.

"I spoke to Irina," he told her, making sure to keep his voice low and in a soothing tone when he spoke. At least it was something he could focus on instead of her rapidly changing smell and aura. How peculiar, he thought, that in his many years, he'd never ever felt someone change. Even when being around Rafa every so often, and his pack of werewolves, he'd never actually been there to feel the changes. Changes he knew, that she must be feeling so much stronger than him. As their skin touched, he shamelessly allowed himself to check up on her nervous system - following every single little nerve and vein meticulously to locate how far the poison from the bite had made it through her body as well as to make sure everything else in her body seemed to be working fine. Not all people managed to transform and somehow he never doubted that she would survive this. That was what she was after all. A surviver. "She'll be here in the morning. There might be quite a few people coming, come to think of it, love, so if at any time you need a break will you promise me you'll tell me?" He asked her firmly, gently placing a finger under her chin to lift it up, so he could look into her eyes. "Please?" He would hate for her to feel the selfless need to make other people feel good in all of this mess. And he knew she would.

He had spoken to Irina, Cecilia already knew that Irina would be telling everyone as they were speaking. At least it kept her and Lucas for having to call and tell everyone. Cecilia took a deeper breath in, it was weird, her entire body felt weird, but there was a comfort in the discomfort as well. All her energy had faded away and wanted to take the little bit of humor she had held on to, not that she would ever let anyone ever take that away. Her humor was her best coping mechanism. Then he informed her that Irina would be there tomorrow, and as he added himself there would be quite a few people coming. Cecilia took a deeper breath in and let out a soft sigh. However, before she said much he lifted her chin a little bit up making her look into his eyes, folding her lips shortly. "I promise - " she sighed a little bit. She knew Evelina would be there as fast as she could, not that anyone wanted to see a pregnant Evelina storm off to reach her. She knew Irina and Nigel would be there. Nia would hear about this soon enough too.

But it was like as she just stayed here, she could slowly piece the things that had happened tonight together. Jasper's eyes, how he had haunted her through the snow, making her heart beat speed a little bit up, as she was biting down on her lower lip a bit harder with her front teeth, then snapping out of it again an cleared her throat a little bit. She couldn't really believe that Jasper had actually attacked her. Had bitten her. "But don't tell me we have to stay here for like a long time?" Not that she minded the hospital, but she knew so many people here and she far from liked the extra eyes on her. "Well doctors recommend you stay at least till I have given you a clear," a voice sounded from the door and a female werewolf with a rather strong aura stepped inside, making Cecilia look towards her. Melanie, yeah - she had heard about her crazy family bloodline. "Sorry to just walk in, Clay called me and told me what had happened, so I just wanted to check that everything was alright," she told taking a step further in giving the couple a small yet warm smile.

Luke nodded in appreciation of her promise; that was really all he could ask for. For her to be a little bit selfish in all of this. His brain was already processing what had to be done this next month and who he could call for help when Cecilia needed it. Rafael and Irina was top of the list of course, but they both knew a fair share of more-than-capable werewolves, that would and could make the transition a tiny bit easier. At least he deeply hoped so.
Deep inside he'd always gloated at the fact that his own transformations never hurt and had absolutely teased the likes of Rafa about just that, but now he felt the complete opposite. The pain would affect her, and he would have no realistic idea of what she was about to go through - and in that realisation lay his insecurity in his ability to help her at all. Despite what Irina had just told him. That he could make her feel less alone. But did he really believe that?

She shuffled lightly besides him and Luke turned his head to observe her face, paying attention to how her heartbeat suddenly jumped when a very strong aura hit him, and he turned his head back to the door; eyebrows firmly knitted in his forehead and his arm protectively wrapped a little tighter around Cecilia. He barely heard his girlfriends question out of confusion before the person finally entered the room. A wolf. A female wolf with a really very particular aura and smell.
Regardless of the woman's warm smile and kind face, Luke's own face didn't soften and he was paying attention to every single movement of this new, powerful werewolf. Could it be one of the originals that he had heard of? What were the odds of that?!
Lucas nodded as a greeting, still precautional in his manners, and found his eyebrows softening slightly at the notion that Clay had called her. "He's alright then?" He asked. Clay had after all run off on his own to take care of Jasper. Luke craved to know if it was all taken care of, but found this comment to relax his muscles a little and he lowered his shoulders.
"I'm sorry. I don't think we've met before," he stated bluntly, heavily hinting that he was expecting her to introduce herself.  

Melanie licked her lips just a little bit, chuckling rather lowly by how protective the shapeshifter was, well of course she didn't blame him. Not after what had happened, and it wasn't like they ever had looked into each others eyes before. Well, Irina had briefly once or twice mentioned to Zoe that Cecilia was living with her boyfriend, Lucas. So, that was about that much of information she had ever gotten. Also, Zoe was Cecilia and Irina's grandmother - not Melanie. But Melanie's ability to track down her bloodline always made her capable fo finding her family rather fast. "Last time I spoke to him yes," Melanie replied as she slowly exhaled. Now, it was no funny games letting the wolves out on a full moon. Even if they had much control or in Clay's case also was heavily influenced by the vampire parts of him. Melanie could only hope that he was careful. "Yeah, haven't had the pleasure, and sadly it's under these circumstances. I'm Melanie," she licked her lips a little bit looking at Cecilia before looking back at the shapeshifter again, "Melanie Radclyffee."

Cecilia blinked a little bit. Radclyffee, so here Cecilia was finally getting a piece of the cake Irina had told her about. Cecilia had only just talked to Zoe, or her grandmother that was, it was so weird finding out your grandmother had to fake her own death and move out of the country to make sure her family could live a normal life without the supernatural - then for only it to tumble all over them anyways. "Yeah Irina mentioned you," Cecilia confirmed, well Cecilia was too tired to really think about Melanie was standing here, but didn't dismiss she knew just how powerful that aura was.

Luke exhaled in relief. Clay was okay. Of course he was, but you never really knew did you, and he had felt a nagging guilt of leaving the guy alone in the woods after an attack. Even knowing that the attack had been personal. “Good,” he muttered, nodding to himself. “Good.”
Melanie Radclyffee.
His heart nearly skipped a beat. Why of course. He drew in a breath and once again nodded to himself, his jaw tightening slightly and his eyes expanding in surprise.
Luke’s eyes darted back to his girlfriend; his eyebrows knitting in worry at her weak voice. All he wanted for her was rest, but something inside of him was also scared she wouldn’t open her eyes after closing them. However irrational that might seem in a grand hospital with such capable doctors. He lifted his gaze, swallowing to make sure his voice wouldn’t break once he spoke. What came out was in the end nothing sharper than a low whisper. “She’ll be okay, right?” He just needed a nod. Any sort of confirmation from someone powerful like Melanie, who without a doubt would be the most qualified to answer the question neutrally. Ash and Clay and everyone else knew him too well and would care for his heart, but this girl had never met him before and could hopefully be more impartial upon her comments.

Luke didn’t know that much about werewolf history but had obviously read up on the family upon Irina’s shocking revelation. The Radclyffee’s. It had been some strange flashback upon the discovery that Cecilia had met the archangel Michael last year, where he had meticulously studied each and every one of them and learnt a grand deal about who they were. It was the same now, except the revelation of her bloodline at first had had next to zero impact of danger on her, and so his own research had not been as intense.
It felt a little awkward lying cuddling in the hospital bed with this great grand-person standing in the doorway, and Lucas decided to slowly shuffle his arm back, gently turning to Cecilia to make sure, head head would stay on the pillow and that she’d be largely uninterrupted by him getting up, swinging his legs over the bedside and sitting in front of her, hands placed on each side of his leg, grabbing onto the mattress.

Cecilia wanted to assure him more than anything that she would be fine, but how did she know? She was still picking up the rest of the pieces to the puzzle of what had happened tonight, why her entire body felt like it was on fire. And hadn't it been for her rather effective way of dealing with pain after this year, she would most likely have looked like a tortured animal, now at least she just looked tired. Melanie licked her lips a little bit and let her eyes stay on the newly turned werewolf. "In the right hands she will be okay," Melanie assured the shapeshifter with a small nod, then walking closer, to reach out for Cecilia's hand and wanted to see if or how much pain she was in, not that she commented it on it rather than just taking it away. "We will make sure that her first transformations runs smoothly. Take this as an open invite to the pack, we are more than happy to help," Melanie assured Cecilia with a small smile. Even Irina who had been a lone wolf since she had turned, had more or less joined them. It was hard for werewolves who were turned and didn't have the same knowledge as purebloods in this matter. But the pack was a family matter first and formost. So, especially with the Russian werewolves running around killing female werewolves, Melanie found it important to hold an eye on Cecilia.

"But you should rest, and then you should take her home, adjusting is much easier once you are in your home environments - she is fully healed up by now after all, it's just the aftershocks," Melanie once again spoke and looked towards Lucas from Cecilia. Even if she wasn't a turned wolf herself, she had helped and guided turned werewolves for thousands of years. "I or my nephew Leon will pick you up on the next full moon day, making sure everything is fine. Now, there is plenty of time to prepare and no rush, if there is anything I know its making this go smoothly." Cecilia sighed a little bit happy for the fact that she could get help, just wanting to sleep in her own bed though. "Easy peasy lemon squeezy," she mumbled a bit exhausted. "Something like that. But I'm confident Clay will take come visit you as well once he returns, otherwise, Irina knows how to reach me."