24} so i stayed in the darkness with you...

[theresalwayshope]

[When the feed clicks on, Allison is visibly upset. She's also not in her cabin, as evidenced by her surroundings. Her eyes and nose are red: she's been crying, and recently, but she's deadly calm as she speaks.

She has to be, or else she's going to hurt someone. The feed isn't totally steady, because her hand is shaking, and in a rare occurrence, Duchess is nowhere to be seen.]

Isaac's in a coma.

[And this is the part of her new condition she wasn't prepared for, this wild fury and soul-deep grief all mixed up and so intense her free hand is just out of sight, balled into a fist, claws digging into her own palm so the pain will keep her from shifting. She's been like this since she found him over an hour ago, since she picked him up off the floor of his room and put him into bed...

Since the tears and pleading for him to wake up turned to animal snarls she couldn't control, and she glimpsed her transformed face in the mirror for the first time.

She's human now as her eyes well up again, but there's something clearly animal in the way she bares her teeth as she speaks.]

Anyone that comes near his cabin without my permission is getting their throat torn out.

[She can feel the beast rising, she doesn't dare risk more...abruptly, the feed goes dead to all but those on her private filters.]

[Extended Pack Filter]

That goes for you guys, too...just knock first, okay? I'm in Isaac's cabin, and I just...

[She trails off, her eyes flashing gold. Her jaw tenses, and fangs are visible just past her lips, her features shifting as she fights the rising change.]

I need some time to...calm down.

Comments

Private

[walkthedarkpath]

[ He was not speaking as someone who had respect for her, as one hunter to another. But as a hunter looking at someone he saw as a threat. Vergil's not good with friends, for many reasons. Her answer did not change his expression or tone at all.]

First a vampire, now a werewolf. Tsk. I will have no ill dispute with you so long as you do not go the path of a rabid beast. This is all I have to say to you, She-wolf. [ There is pure ice running in his veins. As a half demon that kills demons he can not dispute her being a hunter, but he has his doubts.]

Private

[theresalwayshope]

[In that instant, Allison understands everything.

The sick horror churning in her gut, the wholly human sense of shock mixed with the animal instinct to lash out, to protect herself...it's an impulse that's hard to control, has her eyes still glowing bright gold and finds a place inside her where girl and beast are united in sudden bloodlust.

Her family did this. It's hard not to want to shoot his venom right back, hard not to be that rabid beast she could see in his eyes. For centuries, this is all her family's ever done: react to the animal, never realizing they could be doing worse than hurting innocent people.

They could be causing the very thing they were trying to prevent.

The flash of anger turns to pain in her features, then to quiet sorrow, still cold, still dangerous.

But her tone is quiet, and infinitely sad, as she speaks.]

Vergil, if you knew the first thing about werewolves, you'd know that we're predators by nature...not killers. That's a choice. And being a killer is something I've worked very, very hard to get away from.

I thought you, of all people, would understand that.

Private

[walkthedarkpath]

[ He is silent for a long moment. That judgeing does not leave, not at first anyway. It took him a minute at least before he shifted to sit more properly. shifting his hands together as if plotting, but his eyes seemed to calm a storm in them.]

You might be surprised. The fact remains, if you stray from your path you know what I will do. I am not an inmate for light reasons.

If it helps, I hope you do not stray. I find you to be a reasonable woman. That said, goodbye. [ He reached over to click the feed off.]