give into the night; closed

As the microwave beeped and Finn tore into the blood bag, he could suddenly smell fresh blood, a much sweeter smell than what he was accustomed too before he dropped the bag into the sink, ignoring Vivian's look of confusion across her face as he headed upstairs at a brisk pace and burst into the bathroom, his eyes landing on the scissors in the sink, the ends coated in a thin layer of blood, drops all over the side of the sink and floor.

Finn immediately grabbed her hand, taking a look at the damage of the scissors before turning the tap on and running her hand under the cool water, grabbed a towel and applied pressure to her wound with one hand while he opened the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and found the box of bandages which he would guess Vivian had stocked because there would have been no other reason to have them, especially up here."Your hair looks nice." He finally saw the haircut she had given herself and it was definitely cute.

When Ink suddenly showed up and grabbed her hand, Zen's initial reaction was to jerk out of his grasp. She wasn't strong enough by half to do so though, and he didn't give any indication that he even noticed. She said nothing, but hissed quietly at the feeling of the water beating down on the wound, really having no choice except to stand there. If she even thought he was going to try and bite her though, she reassured herself with the fact that the scissors were still in easy reach.

And then he commented on her hair... not a single word beforehand, but the one thing he has to comment on is that. And at that point, she started laughing. It wasn't the "haha" kind of laugh though. It was the sort of laughter that a person couldn't help, that could sometimes come on without warning in stressful or emotional situations, the kind of laughter you expected out of a crazy person. Unfortunately, it was also the sort of laughing that soon led to tears, and when it died down, a few tears had already started making wet trails down her face. "I don't like my hair short. Never have. This is the shortest I can remember it ever being," she finally said, as he started to bandage up the wound she'd made when she stabbed herself.

Finn smiled at her laughter, he wasn't even sure why she was laughing, much less crying but he would guess hysteria had set in, whatever from but he preferred her with a laugh and a smile than her usual demeanor. He finished wrapping her hand, turned her to face him. Finn reached out and pushed her now much shorter hair behind her shoulder and then he saw it. He let his finger tip graze the tell-tale scar of a bite from a vampire, identical to his own marking. The mark on her though was more than surprising, he let out a low whistle as he inspected it."You've been bit before." He met her eyes, wondering if she would shed light on that.

Finn also wondered was it from the vampire that she no longer cared to see, Gregor? And just what kinda relationship did they in fact have, by Zen's telling, they were close but to be bit by a vampire and not turned nor killed, had to mean something more, especially given Zen at the time were a hunter.

When he touched the scar, Zen flinched as if he'd hurt her although it was a feather-light touch and tried to back up so that there was space between them. Except somehow she had a sink behind her, and that didn't quite work out well. She gained maybe a couple of inches of space, but he was no longer touching her, and that's what mattered.

"I have," she said. More than once. She rubbed the inside of one of her wrists without thinking about it. "It hurt." That one didn't. It felt like bliss. But you don't need to know that. It had then. If Gregor bit her now... well, it would be agonizing for one thing, she was sure. She winced at the thought. And the other thing she was sure of... if Gregor bit her now, he'd kill her.

Zen thought about the sink behind her, and the scissors that were still there. Was this how she'd been when she'd first been locked up? Damn near close, she was sure. She'd had hope then maybe, or at least some sort of goal. She'd lost that along the way though. She didn't even want to kill Ink, she knew. She would've tried already, if only to test him. She still hated vampires, but the only one she had it in her to feel the urge to kill was Gregor, really. Other than that, she just wanted to disappear. Maybe she was insane- she was starting to feel like it at least. Maybe that explained why she had stabbed herself without realizing it... or why she was now sitting in the floor curled up in a ball with her arms wrapped around her knees.

Finn dropped his hand to his side as Zen backed away from him and of course she had been bitten but that answered nothing to the questions that plagued his thoughts. He looked down at her, her hands wrapped around herself and she looked smaller than ever and maybe it was now that her bravado had broken and Finn wasn't sure he liked that look on her.

He settled against the small portion of the wall next to the shower, threw his head against the wall before lowering himself with a heave of a sigh, sitting across from her."Do I even need to ask or is what I'm already thinking the reason for that?" He asked, gesturing toward his neck."No vampire would keep a hunter alive. You and Gregor? Were you and him a thing or were you just that lucky?" He asked, he could feel the unevenness in his tone and he wasn't even sure why.

And there were the dreaded questions... She couldn't exactly put it off any longer either. Not after all the mood swings and how she'd actually stabbed herself. He probably wouldn't get the right story from any other source anyway, considering the official report was that she'd tried to kill Gregor.

"I was going to kill him," she said after a long time, finally lifting her head up and meeting his gaze. Though she did take the time to try and calm down first for sure. "That's why I got close. No one suspects it when you do that, and it's easier than trying to map their moves at a distance. He started dragging me to these parties, and... I don't know. At some point, I just started to like him I guess. I put off killing him, and eventually just... I decided not to be a huger anymore. And then he asked me to marry him, and I said yes. I still don't know how, but a few months after that, he somehow found out about the three vampires that I had already killed. So one night, he made it look as if I attacked him. After he had tied me up. And then he called the police, fabricated this whole story. No one believed me because of what I had already done previously." She took a breath. "You know the rest."

Finn could have guessed that she was close with this vampire but getting engaged was a bit surprising, maybe she was drunk on the power of a vampire, more extravagant than humans but then again, maybe Gregor was just that special for her to give up hunting, but it all made sense now of why Zen was hesitant to go out with him in public even.

He didn't really even know what to say to her but he pulled himself up, reached down and pulled Zen up with him."Whatever you feel about the situation, whether you hate him or yourself or that you're scared or even if you miss him, just even a tiny bit; it's all normal but you don't have to walk around here with your hunter face on, you know that, don't you?" Finn wasn't even sure if he was saying the right things but it was all true nonetheless.

After being pulled to her feet, Zen stepped back. There was a part of her that craved contact, having been isolated for so long. But there was a stronger part that didn't want to get close to anyone, especially not a vampire. Besides, it wasn't as if her admitting to all of this out loud was actually going to change anything. The only thing that had changed was that Ink knew what had happened now.

"Scared is the last thing I am, and I'd rather shove a stake through his filthy heart than anything." As she was pulling herself back together, her usual demeanor was coming back. She sighed suddenly. "You'll at least be happy to know that I've decided I don't want to kill you. At this point, there are only two people that I could stand to kill." She turned to the sink, turning on the water, and started to wash her blood from the scissors with her good hand. The other hung at her side, a large red stain showing through the bandage.

Finn smiled at her in the mirror of her admission of not wanting to kill him anymore."I suppose that's a plus for me, I'll take it."

He crossed the room, his hand gripping the door frame and looked at Zen, bit at his bottom lip, wondering if what was about to say was overstepping some invisible boundary."Maybe we could start training together or something; get you back into tip-top hunter shape." He wasn't even sure if that was something Zen wanted."Just in case you ever see Gregor around. I wouldn't stop you, you know." Finn probably didn't have the heart too, knew what it was like to be hurt to the point of wanting to die, if he could have. But that was just the price of immortality.

Finn cleared his throat."Vivian's probably got some food waiting, come and eat." Which sounded more like a demand than it mean too and he stepped out of the bathroom before quickly turning back around and leaning against he door."By the way, your blood smells like lilacs, almost mouthwatering." And he threw a wink towards her before leaving her alone.

Zen finished cleaning the scissors and set them down as she re-bandaged her hand since it wasn't look great. Meanwhile, she processed Ink's words, though he had left. Her mind mentally shoved the comment about her blood away, since that definitely wasn't anything she wanted to consider, but what he'd said before that? It wasn't like he had said he was going to find Gregor and hand the guy over on a silver platter, but apparently he wouldn't stop her if she ever had the chance and decided to take it. If she could trust him, which she didn't. Trusting anyone, especially another vampire, was going to be extremely difficult if possible at all.

Then there was the question of training. It wasn't as if she was going to go back to hunting. That had ended for good a while ago. But training would be good. Maybe it'd exhaust her enough that she wouldn't think as much, and it would be good for her weakened body as well. So, after putting the scissors up, she made her way downstairs, ignoring Vivian's disapproving eyes.

"Training sounds good. No more comments about how my blood smells though," Zen said, having approached Ink immediately. She shook her head, as if trying to shake the thought away.

Finn could hear Zen's feet pitter-pattering down the stairs, he turned around from his bent over position at the island once she spoke, he took in her words with a smile."Is that a stipulation?" He asked as he pushed a plate toward her, a sandwich was cut into finger sized squares. Vivian had already decided for him that helping a hunter get back into killer shape was a terrible idea which he would agree but he did believe that Zen no longer wanted to harm him."Eat up and we'll discuss it."

Zen found herself a stool and sat across from Ink as he pushed the plate towards her. "Do I need to make it one?" she raised an eyebrow at him, and picked up one of the sandwich squares, popping it into her mouth. She hadn't exactly realized that she'd gotten hungry again, being used to just two meals a day, and it was only about midday. But she was hungry as she soon found out. "Okay, what do you want to discuss about it?" she asked after she had eaten the first piece, already reaching for another.

Finn shook his head with a smile."I think I can behave." He watched as she ate, surprised that she did as he told her or that she was hungry even."You know they would probably kill us both if anyone found out that I was helping a former hunter, better yet, my own slave." He would be seen as a traitor to his own kind for going against everything they had ever been told about hunters."No one can know about this. No one can even seen you training of any kind." They would probably have to stick to the basement, in the beginning anyway.

Zen gave Ink a flat look. "It seems like the longer I'm around you, the more insulted I feel. I'm not stupid, I promise." She shook her head. "In any case, I know anyone finding out would be my death. I think you're overestimating what would happen to you but..." She shrugged.

Zen seemed to have gotten over the immediate hostility towards Finn, though it was obvious she wasn't ready to be friendly quite yet. Then again, friendliness had never particularly been her defining trait. What he called her "hunter face" was really just her personality.

Finn laughed, tapped his finger against the counter top."I never said you were, gotta be pretty smart to stake a few vampires." He shook his head, looking at Zen."I'm almost positive helping a former hunter get back into shape enough to kill my kind is treason." And maybe it was a stupid thing to do, given her last technique was to get close with the vampire, but he had to start trusting her somewhere and having her confess it all, made him do so.

"I think Vivian could make a high protein dinner tonight, get a good breakfast in you tomorrow and then we can start off slow. Maybe get in extra cardio by helping out Vivian." Finn teased as he knew how much Zen would hate that as he reached over and stole a square of sandwich for himself.

Zen shrugged. "You vampires are a paranoid bunch," she said simply, almost as if she couldn't understand why they were so paranoid although she knew better than most why being that she was a hunter. Even if Ink insisted on continuously referring to her as a former hunter, she couldn't quite wrap her brain about that. She'd been a hunter for years; it was almost like it was part of who she was.

Then he mentioned helping out Vivian, and she scowled. "No!" she said at the same time as Vivian did, which surprised her. She glanced back at the other woman, whose eyes narrowed on her. "I don't want help from a girl who will only ignore what I say and not do the job right," Vivian said firmly. "If she can cook, she can take over doing that, but she won't touch anything in this house to clean it unless she will do as I say."

Finn snorted, shaking his head at her."It's more like not wanting to lose my head because I'm sure they would want it on a silver platter." Though, ruthless as vampires could be, there were laws in place and they were much harsher than any human law had ever been and plus, there were hunters running around trying to take them out one by one.

He looked to Vivian, could feel the tension between the two women, he shrugged as he looked to Zen."I sure hope you can cook. I like my fine dining." He threw a wink to her with a smile, wondered if Vivian could teach her how to cook some of his favorite dishes.

Zen shook her head. "That's not why I said you guys were paranoid. I said your paranoid because of how hard it is to kill one of you. Not even how hard it is, but more like how long it takes." She reached up with a hand, pushing hair back that had fallen in her face. "It isn't paranoia to not want a hunter who got caught and put in prison to get back in hunting shape. I mean, why help them kill again?" She shrugged. "Really, the law about executioning and slaves doesn't make sense. If they were so worried about hunters, then they would just kill them without hope for a second chance."

The look Vivian threw Zen was as if the girl had suddenly grown two heads, though Zen kindly pretended as if she wasn't being stared at. "I don't know about 'fine', Ink," Zen snorted, "but if I make food, I try to make sure it'll taste good. Grilled cheese and macaroni especially." To that, Vivian started to mutter under her breath, but soon left the room. To do what, Zen wasn't sure, but she grinned all the same.

"I don't think any vampire assumes one would help a hunter get back into shape enough to kill." Finn shrugged, hoping it never came to bite him in the ass and it wasn't Zen he was worried about."Most slaves are given for things to do around the house, taking out and showing off something they own or blood slaving." And Finn knew how harsh environment slaves lived in."Can't kill them all or it wouldn't look good on us, as monsters and all."

Finn scrunched up his face, shaking his head."I'm sure Vivian can give you some recipes or maybe I can print some off for you."

Zen didn't bother saying anything further about slaves. She was fairly certain her view on the whole thing had been made abundantly clear, and anything she said at this point would just be repeating what she had already said. Instead, she focused on his reaction to grilled cheese and macaroni, both eyebrows raising. "Has being a vampire screwed up your taste buds that much?" she asked, shaking her head.

She could make more than what she'd said, of course. There was no way a person lived on their own without knowing how to cook for themselves, or constantly getting fast food. She just happened to be one of those who had learned to cook. "Because grilled cheese is the best thing that has ever been made. As long as you know how to make it right, that is. And if I'm cooking, you'll be eating grilled cheese at least once a week until I get sick of it. And since I haven't had it in over a year," she grinned a decidedly unpleasant grin, "It may be a few weeks before I get sick of it."