Don't Go Out in the Woods Tonight...

As Lyris takes my hand, I know this going to end badly.

We walk out of the room and into the hall. I catch my breath because I didn't expect this. I thought we were in an old abandoned apartment building but nooooo.

He leads me into the hallway of a house.

The floorboards creak a little and a dusty window at the end faintly illuminates my path. My knees and legs shake from effort of walking. Lyris looks back at me and rolls his eyes, before scooping me up in his arms.

I look around as he walks down the hall. We pass one door and then come to the stairs. As if I weight nothing, Lyris gently walks down the stairs.

My lungs expand in a small gasp. At the baser of the one flight of stairs is a courtyard that opens to the house with great bay windows. I see opposite wall of courtyard, but I still think is beautiful.

Lyris keeps walking, turning past the bay windows and going to the end of the hall. He kicks open a door and I cringe when I see the room.

A bathroom.

Up until now, I had been using the half bathroom that was connected to the room I had stayed in. It didn't have a shower, but this one did.

Lyris kicks down the cover to the toilet and sets me down on the make sift seat. He leaves the room and returns. In his hands are towels and a change of clothes. He puts them on the sink.

"Here. I'll help you get started." He whispers, kissing the top of my head.

From there I watch him turn on the water, testing it to see if it is too hot, too cold. As the tub fills He leaves again, keeping the door open as he goes to the kitchen across the hall.

When he comes back he hands me the glass of water. I drink it and set the glass on the sink. The air steams from the hot water and becomes heavy with silence, only broken by the sound of the water streaming from the faucet.

"Are you going to sit there, or are you going to cooperate?" He asks, smirking.

My eyes turn to him and glass over. You think I'm going to take off my clothes for you? If I had the strength, I'd laugh right in your face and then spit on you.

He sighs and inches towards me. My eyes narrow as he kneels down to look at me. I feel his fingers brush my shoulders and my hair.

"Please, don't make me force you. I know your weak, but you can go this." He pulls close and breaths along the curves of my face.

I focus on him and blink a few times. Then I nod and look down my clothes. They are dirty and wrinkled. There are bloodstains still on them from Lyris' wounds; wounds that are no longer visible except for small thin scars.

My fingers find their way to the hem of my shirt and I stop to look at Lyris. His eyes are filled with an emotion some people would call concern. To me... Whoa, you are concerned.

"Katherine, you haven't eaten in eight days." He says, softly putting his hands over mine at the edge of my shirt. "I don't want you to past out and drown."

"Maybe... you should have fed me." I growl at him, my voice raking over my throat.

Well, that broke his good mood. His hands twitch over mine and I feel the muscles tense in his arms. His eyes harden and narrow.

The air gets heavy again and the silence thickens around us. I pull up the hem of the shirt, dragging it over my head. The effort in raising my arms over my head makes them shake.

Cold fingers brush against my arms and pull the shirt free from over my head. Even though the air is warm, I shiver as it hits the bare skin of my stomach, back, shoulders and ribcage.

Lyris looks at me, tossing the shirt on the floor. He stands up and offers his hand out to me. I take it and work on the button of my jeans, then the zipper. The fabric stiffly falls around my ankles. I lean against Lyris as I step out of them.

"You can keep those on, if you wish." He says, pointing to my underwear and bra, "There are replacements."

I look over my shoulder, and sure enough, on the pile of clothes are replacements. I nod and, with his help, step into the steaming water.

The warmth shots goose bumps up and down my spine. My arms shiver a little as I sink lower in to the water.

Lyris sits on the edge of the tub, making sure I don't drown. He holds still and doesn't stare at my exposed body. Instead, he watches my face and eyes, looking away every now and then.

I almost feel safe. Almost.

~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~

He couldn't stand it anymore. He had looked everywhere. The pack had even looked outside of the state, searching for even the slightest trace of her.

Where could that stranger have taken her?

Was it possible that she wasn't even... NO! He wouldn't think like that. She was alive, and he would find her.

His form was filled with rage, as he walks in the forest, scattering the snow. This awful snow. The new layers had fallen and as the flakes settled to the ground they had dragged the air clean, leaving no signs of life. The ground too, smelled of nothing as he slowly worked his way across it.

Since he had been able to move he had worked his way across the snow. The state line had meant nothing to him. There was only more ground to cover.

If his mind wasn't so cluttered with animal rage, he would have known he was in Canada. But he had let that beast take over. Using its vast powers to search.

The pack would come to check on him, letting him know what they had found. Or, alas, what they had not.

Great rumbling grew in his chest and white-hot anger overtook him. Not at that stranger, not at her, but how could he have been so stupid.

Now, with ever moment that passed, she was in greater danger. He knew what was her planned fate that stranger had blabbed about as they had fought.

He would find her. He would save her from the Fallen's grasp.

That devil wasn't doing to take her with him ...