To say that Lee had been worried recently would be an understatement. And so it had taken a bit of discussion for Lee to agree to actually go out on a date. Not that she didn't want to, she had enjoyed each and every date she had gone on with Tarin -- well, with one notable and very understandable exception -- but she hadn't been sure about actually going out what with the stalkers and people looking for mutants.

But after that somewhat long discussion, Lee had finally given in to Tarin (not that she really had much of a choice about the matter once Tarin had brought out the puppy dog eyes), and agreed to go out that night.

And so after closing up the shop for the night, Lee and Tarin had gotten ready for their date night, which found Lee wearing a white and black checked skirt and her boots since it was ever so slowly starting to warm up, and a short sleeved black blouse, her hair curling ever so slightly since she didn't straighten it after her shower.

Soon, the night started, and they found themselves at 'their' Chinese restaurant for dinner. Followed by a movie, which had Tarin pretending to be bored out of his mind a as he pretend not to watch, even though he had been the one to choose the movie that night.

"Ok, maybe this was a good idea," Lee said softly, somewhat reluctantly, as they left the theatre and stopped out into the night air. "I give you permission to make me go out again next week."

Lee could be talked to! Tarin had nearly done a dance when she'd agreed to go out with him. It had been ages since they'd been outside the apartment. Lee was so worried about the stalkers, the hunters, EVERYTHING, that they'd pretty much stayed inside for the last god knew how long. There were at least three chick flicks that Tarin had been dying to see and there was no way he could do that without Lee. Besides, Tarin simply had to get Lee to relax a little, all the stress was really wearing on her.

They were out now though and it had been a relatively normal night. Extremely normal by Tarin and Lee standards, in fact. The Chinese had been amazing...then again it always was amazing in their little restaurant.

The movie was wonderful, as was holding Lee's hand and draping his arm around her like a teenager on his first date. These were the kinds of things that engaged people were supposed to do. They were walking home now, the air was crisp but Tarin was comfortable again in his Social Distortion jacket and as they walked he turned his head to smile at her. "You're right. This was a great idea. He echoed, "And I will be insisting that we go out on a much more regular basis if I have to carry you out fireman style over my shoulder."

What they didn't see as they were walking down the street, was the spirit lounging against the wall of the theater. A poor soul from the camps, someone tossed in there simply because of who they were and powers they couldn't help. This wasn't a particularly violent spirit, just one who didn't want to be dead. It felt it keenly, especially as the couple walked by. The spirit had been in love once, but they'd never feel that again. There was something strange about the couple though, a pull from the man. The spirit started to follow.

They didn't get very far down the street before the spirit realized that this man had to be some kind of mutant. The pull from him was so strong, the spirit could almost feel his essence. Coming up beside the couple, the spirit decided that there was no reason that this man should have live, love, and seeming happiness. It was something to be shared and the spirit would have his share.

Tarin was so happy and wound up in himself and Lee that he didn't feel the spirit approaching. The appearance of it next to him was so sudden, strong, and unexpected that he jumped and took a few steps back from Lee before gathering himself and falling into step beside her. Public was not a good place to be leaping around at shadows. Spirits were a usual enough occurrence, they usually just didn't do such a good job of sneaking up on him.

The spirit didn't go away though, not even when Tarin tried to push with his mind. In fact, as the link opened, a familiar sensation coursed through Tarin's veins and he audibly gasped at the strength. "Lee..." he said, stopping dead in his tracks and going completely rigid. "We've got a serious problem..."

The spirit had the upper hand, and Tarin didn't know how. Was it possible that it was just that strong, the only other time a spirit had managed to merge with him they'd had to take him down first. He could feel it happening though.

The spirit rejoiced, in life he'd had certain mental powers of his own and they seemed to be playing to his advantage in this situation. His instincts had been correct, there was something special about this man, something that could allow him a slice of the life he'd had to leave behind when he was carted off to the camps...just a few moments later and yes....the spirit could feel the cool air on his new skin, see through the man's eyes...hear the voice of his loved one...this was living, the overwhelming sensations were too much, however and the spirit stumbled, dropping to one knee momentarily.

To the outsider's eye, Tarin's rigid body jerked slightly then slumped to the ground. Internally he was a flurry of action, using every ounce of his strength to try and rid himself of the intruder. There was no malice this time though, no disgusting images of what he wanted to do to Lee...just an overwhelming joy at feeling at all. To be honest, that was even more than violence...because it had been the violence that had given things away the last time. How would Lee know for sure...Tarin could only struggle to lock away his thoughts and hope that somehow that would work.

Lee just rolled her eyes at Tarin as he made a suggestion about how he'd make sure to get her out more often. "Do you really think that'd work?" she asked, though there was a slight hint of amusement in her voice. "You do realize there's a difference between me permitting you to drag me out on another date, and actually letting you throw me over your shoulder like that, right?"

Next thing Lee knew, Tarin was stumbling away from her, his hand pulling out of hers, though a couple moments later he was back beside her. He wasn't touching her again, though, and the fear and worry were back in her eyes as she looked at him. "Tarin, what's wrong?" She whispered, eyeing him carefully as they continued walking.

When Tarin stopped, his whole body rigid, Lee stopped too, her eyes wide as she continued to stare at him. What had he seen, what was going on, Lee wondered. Were there stalkers up ahead? But as Tarin spoke, his eyes were fixed on her. "What is it, Tarin?" Lee whispered, her voice barely audible as she started reaching her hand out toward Tarin.

It was then, with her hand extended, that Lee had a moment of realization. Tarin had stumbled away, sure, but he hadn't touched her again even after coming closer again. He hadn't told her not to touch him, but Tarin always touched her if he was able to.

Lee's hand was still hanging in the air, partially extended toward Tarin, when he slumped down to one knee. "Come on Tarin," she whispered, letting her arm drop back to her side. "Let's just get back to the shop. We can figure it out there."

Usually, Tarin would have bantered with Lee, but he couldn't even control the movements of his arms and legs as he crouched on the ground. Panic was starting to build, however and the spirit that had taken him over seemed to sense it because it pushed itself to his feet and shook off. "Yes...the shop...." he heard himself say and wanted to scream...did scream inside of his head. It was like watching a movie through his own eyes.

The spirit was taking things over far too easily and Lee was worried enough about someone noticing what was going on to really look at him and see what had happened. There was also the fact that this spirit wasn't interested in killing her. It wasn't interested in that at all, it wanted to walk by her, take her hand as Tarin had before all of this had happened. The realization made Tarin sick, but he didn't feel it physically, the spirit had completely taken over.

I won't hurt her The voice in his head actually seemed to speak to him.

Then why are you doing this? Tarin replied, it was his experience that the spirits only wanted to use him.

Why should you live and I not. We weren't so different in life, and I find that I'm not content in death to sit back and watch someone have what I should have.

Oh great...a life stealer...Tarin had heard about these before in his early days with his powers. This guy didn't want to do anything nasty...no, he just wanted to take over Tarin's life, his love...this definitely wasn't going to be okay.

They were walking to the shop now and the spirit was doing it's best to get into Tarin's thoughts. It was going to be difficult to pull this off if he couldn't access at least some of Tarin's personal information. The battle was raging inside his head, Tarin trying to reclaim himself and the spirit working almost ceaselessly to break down his mental barriers. This was highly conducive to the stone silence emminating form his body as he walked next to Lee up to the shop and stopped by the door, not reaching for keys, not moving to open it.

It didn't take long for Tarin to regain his feet and agree that they should go to the shop. And as he stood, Lee couldn't help but think that he looked fine, alright....But if they had as serious a problem as Tarin's tone had made her think, how was he looking so good now? Unless she had been wrong about what the problem, she thought.

But they were making their way to the shop now, and Lee couldn't stop herself from not only taking quick glances over at Tarin as they walked, but also as inconspicuously as possible, looking all around them for anyone who might possibly be following or watching them. But Lee didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Part way there, Lee felt Tarin's hand gently clasp hers, and she couldn't stop a bit of surprise from overshadowing the worry on her face as she glanced at Tarin again. Had she been that wrong about what the problem was? Tarin had told her that if he was ever in danger of merging, he'd tell her not to touch him after all, and no such words had crossed his lips. Nothing even close to them, in fact.

It really didn't take long for them to reach the shop; it was closer to where they had been than the apartment was, which was why Lee had suggested it in the first place. But as they came to a stop outside the door, Tarin simply stood there, not moving, not reaching for his keys, nothing. "Are you alright, Tarin?" Lee asked, her voice slow and hesitant, her head cocked to the side slightly as she withdrew her hand from Tarin's to dig her own set of keys out of her purse. Lee could count on a single hand the number of times Tarin hadn't opened a door for her, and there had been very good reasons each of those times.

Despite the fact that she was worrying more again, Lee knew that they needed to get into the shop; they couldn't exactly discuss things out there on the street, especially not with how things had been lately, not with the danger that had been constantly hanging over their heads since the Mutant Registration Act had been passed. So Lee turned, keeping a worried eye on Tarin, as she unlocked the door to the shop.

Tarin was virtually willing Lee to sense something out of the ordinary as they approached the shop, but it didn't seem to be working and he couldn't help but feel a little beaten down by the fact that the spirit had caught him so off guard. If Lee couldn't figure out what was up, then nobody would be able to. The spirit sensed the momentary weakness in Tarin's resolve and launched a fresh wave of attacks against his mental barriers which were starting to crack. Lee's voice broke the void of silence which had descended between the two as they walked though and the spirit, surprised by the action halted, giving Tarin a chance to recover himself.

"Of course I'm all right." The spirit said in Tarin's voice, an arm snaking out to wrap around Lee's waist, "I just wanted to make sure that you had your keys." The spirit berated itself for being so careless as far as nuances were concerned and followed Lee into the shop.

Now inside, the spirit used Tarin's eyes to glance about, taking in all the knick knacks that he'd gathered to make the shop seem like the kind of place where one could communicate with their dead loved ones. He was amused and Tarin railed again, trapped inside his own body. The spirit's eyes moved again though, landed on Lee and stayed there.

Tarin was getting tired from his exertions and the spirit could hear his silent pleas to Lee to realize what was going on. The spirit mocked him, letting him know who really was in control now. Taking bits and pieces of information that were now slipping through the cracks of the mental barrier Tarin had built up against this exact thing.

He was still staring, standing more than an arm's length away from Lee as they stood inside the shop. Tarin was glad they hadn't gone to the apartment, that was the last place he wanted them to be. At least here there were huge windows that any passerby could see into. Lee was safe.

"So..." Tarin heard his voice say unbidden by him, "Now that we're here...what did you want to do? I'm sorry I stumbled and I hope I didn't scare you."

Lee simply eyed Tarin for a moment as he said that he just wanted to make sure she had her keys with her. "Of course I have them," Lee answered, her voice still a little hesitant, as she felt Tarin's arm wrap around her waist. "I always bring them with me when I go out..."

But even after that, she was still the one who had to unlock the door to the shop, and open it for herself in order to enter. Though at times Lee had found it almost a tad annoying how Tarin always opened doors for her, the fact was he always did do it. He had even held the theatre door open for her as they left just minutes earlier, but now he was following her into the shop after she opened the door herself.

Waiting only long enough to make sure that the door out to the street was closed, Lee spun to look at Tarin, only to see him staring at her.

But then Tarin was speaking, and Lee's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "What do I want to do?" She asked, interrupting him. "I want to know what the hell is going on, Tarin." He continued, though, and Lee took a worried step backward unconsciously as she eyed Tarin. "You stumbled?" Lee asked, saying each word slowly and carefully. "That's all it was?"

Hope was a marvelous thing, Tarin realized as Lee spun on him in the shop. The time they'd been together had taught her to be suspicious of the little things that seemed out of character. Apparently this spirit had not been raised in Texas and his lack of common courtesy had alerted Lee that something was up. Tarin rejoiced in his head and the spirit tried even harder to drown him out, pulling out bits and pieces of knowledge to use on Lee, to help him convince her that everything really was okay.

She was backing away now, and Tarin knew that the spirit's last sentence had been a major mistake. He knew he had an especial advantage because the spirit didn't know exactly how his powers worked or what they were. Tarin tried thinking about a Care Bears movie he'd seen when he was a kid to keep other, more useful things out of the spirit's reach and was rewarded with a scream of rage and frustration that nearly caused him to stagger again.

Lee wanted to know what the hell was going on. Tarin was eagerly awaiting the spirit's response to that. NO he wanted to yell, "THAT WASN'T A STUMBLE...." but no words came out no matter how much effort he put into making his lips move.

"It was...I thought I saw something...one of those stalkers maybe. I wasn't paying attention and stumbled. Silly klutzy me. " Merged!Tarin took a step forward, closing the distance between himself and Lee, standing now only a matter of centimeters from her. "We shouldn't argue...the night was lovely..." The spirit was improvising now, of course the night was lovely, they'd been in the best mood when they'd left the movie. "Let's further celebrate instead...." he added, reaching out to wrap his arm around her waist again.

Meanwhile, trapped in his head, Tarin was practically going bonkers, what kind of ideas did this guy have? Was he just going to go for the gold right then and there...Tarin knew Lee wouldn't stand for this, not with all the suspicion, he just hoped that this would be enough to confirm what she already must be thinking and act. Act in which way, Tarin didn't have a clue, this spirit seemed to have an exceptionally strong hold on him...but she had to think of something.

"You tell me we have a serious problem then fall to the ground, but don't think it's important enough to bother telling me that you were wrong?" Lee asked, a note of anger entering her voice now. 'Serious problems' did not mean they hurry to the shop to get off the street, and then act like nothing was wrong, like nothing was going on.

But then Tarin was stepping closer to her again, very close. But since they hadn't exactly gotten around to turning the lights on yet, the shop was simply lit by the street lamps outside the windows, so despite the close proximity, Lee wasn't able to see his eyes all that well. His words were impossible to miss, though, and Lee's eyebrows shot upwards in shock.

"Argue?" She repeated, ignoring the rest of what Tarin had said. "Who's arguing? But if you want to..." With that, Lee stepped away, away from Tarin's extended arm, a still slightly angry and shocked look on her face.

Glancing past Tarin, Lee looked out the large windows. At that moment, the street outside the shop was empty, but that didn't mean it would remain so. And with how things appeared, Lee didn't think they should stay out in the front of the shop where anyone walking or driving by could see everything that happened.

But that was the problem, Lee didn't know for sure what was going on. It was the little things, like how Tarin hadn't opened the door for her, and how he said he had simply stumbled back on the street, but they were what was making Lee think something was wrong. That spirit who had merged with Tarin had called almost destroying the whole front of the shop a 'little accident' just like tonight on the street was 'just a stumble'. She needed to know for sure, though.

Turning her eyes back to Tarin, Lee hoped at least most of the anger was gone from her eyes. "Let's go into the back so we can talk, ok?" Lee asked, only waiting long enough to get his agreement before she turned. "And you need to fix your hair," Lee added, as if as an afterthought, looking over her shoulder at Tarin.

As she walked, Lee took a couple deep breaths. If this was a merge, Lee knew she'd have to act as quickly as possible once she was sure. Hopefully the combination of what Tarin did with his hair and what else she saw once they got into the back room, would tell her what she needed to know quickly. All Lee could hope was that draining energy from Tarin would work this time, would at least help end the merge.

Reaching the back room, Lee turned on the lights, not simply the dim ones over the table they had put in for sessions, but all of the lights that fully illuminated the room. "So you thought you saw a Stalker," Lee said calmly, turning so she could look at Tarin, could see his eyes. "So you told me we had a serious problem. But you were wrong and didn't think you needed to tell me that?"

"Something felt wrong still...but it wasn't a stalker. I just wanted to get off the street." Tarin's voice said, this guy wasn't stupid. Tarin was sure he would have felt cold, probably would have even shuddered at the calm way this guy was handling things.

They were so close to her and Tarin was angry, Lee seemed angry too. Tarin hated it, he hated her being angry, and going through these kinds of things. This was exactly why he'd tried to leave, exactly what the problem had been. How was Lee supposed to be expected to deal with these kinds of things?

The spirit was getting frustrated with Lee's lack of trust in what was going on. You think she doesn't know what's going on?" Tarin mocked, shaking his head slowly, "She just hasn't figured out what she's going to do about it. Lee wheeled away, offering to argue if that's what he wanted.

Tarin was sure that Lee knew what was going on, but she was suggesting that they go to the back of the shop. Why would she be doing that, there would be nobody to help her. Not that Lee really needed help, this spirit didn't seem to have any extreme or dangerous thoughts, but that could always change...and in the back nobody could see what was going on. Realization dawned on Tarin and he wanted to groan out loud but couldn't....Lee was worried about being seen....seriously....SERIOUSLY The worst had happened, Lee was going to have to deal with it...and the thing she was most worried about was staying out of view of the public eye. They were really going to have to talk about that.

He needed to fix his hair, Tarin put even more effort into not giving anything away as the spirit reacted with his body. As they made their way back to the shop he ran his hands through the hair, not standing it on end as Tarin would have done, but rather smoothing it into a more regular look. Tarin nearly rejoiced, if something was going to tip Lee off it would be that. She knew for a fact that under normal circumstances nothing would make Tarin fix his hair like that.

Lee wanted full lighting, Tarin was glad of that, she'd be able to see the mess this guy had probably made of his hair much better than in the dim light they usually used for readings. Her words were good ones too, Tarin just wished that she'd ask how they met or something similar that nobody else would possibly know.

Lee was looking at him searchingly, staring him in the eyes and Tarin wished that he knew there was something different. In reality this was probably the least stressful merge he'd ever gone through, at least physically. "I figured if I said things about stalkers out in public you'd freak..." Tarin heard himself say and had to grumble at how well the spirit was handling him. "So I figured we'd just get back here, talk about it, then get on with the night." Tarin felt himself grin winningly, charmingly, loaded with meaning.

She's going to see right through you.... Tarin taunted, he could only hope he was telling the truth.

Walking into the back room of the shop, the lights now all on, Lee turned to look at Tarin. And simply stood there staring at him for a moment. Here she had been worried she was going to have to depend on trying to find something in his eyes, or not seeing it there, to know for sure that he had merged with a spirit, but thankfully her barely thought out comment that he needed to fix his hair had done that for her. Even when she had tricked him about meeting her parents, Tarin hadn't tried to smooth his hair down, though that might have also been because with all the stuff she had put in his hair to make it stand up, he wouldn't have been able to smooth it down. In fact, even on Halloween when Tarin had gone all out and worn a tux for his vampire costume, he had stood his hair on end. To be honest, Lee didn't really like how Tarin looked with his hair purposely tamed like this.

As 'Tarin' started answering her question, Lee had to admit that it was a remarkably accurate response. Even if she were able to hide it, she most likely would have freaked if Tarin had said something about seeing a stalker.

"You wanted to get back here, to the shop, as soon as possible to continue the night?" Lee asked. She really was glad they had ended up coming to the shop rather than continuing on to the apartment. At least they wouldn't have to taint their home with a merge; the shop already had a much greater taint on it in that regard, so it wasn't as big of an issue.

Eyeing Tarin for another moment, Lee took a breath and nodded. "I'm not going to be getting any sleep at all tonight, am I Tarin?" Lee asked, a small, almost sad smile turning up one side of her mouth as she stepped forward, raising her hand to Tarin's cheek to start siphoning. From the very few things Tarin had actually told her about that last merge, Lee knew he saw what was going on, knew he'd be seeing what she was doing right now. Let him yell at me, Lee hoped as she felt his energy flowing into her.

She knew...thank god...she knew. As long as he'd known her Lee had never questioned his actions as thoroughly as she was now. Tarin knew that it was all a test, and he'd been effective enough at keeping the spirit out of his thoughts that it didn't know what was happening.

The spirit was backpedaling, it didn't know how to answer Lee's question about choosing the shop over the apartment, it quickly regained its footing though.

"You were so quiet and worried, I just wanted to alleviate your fears before we went home. The shop was closer, so I said here. We can go now if you're ready."

Tarin wanted to kiss Lee, squeeze her tight, tell her how amazing she was for figuring out what was going on with as little go on as she'd had. They had to completely get out of the situation they were in first though.

Lee stepped forward and Tarin didn't bother to contain his glee as she reached out to lay her hand on his cheek. Tarin bristled though as the spirit grinned back in a way that Tarin could only describe as lecherous. Let the siphoning work fast, Tarin prayed as he said, "None whatsoever."

Tarin wondered honestly if it was possible to kill a spirit that was already dead. The thoughts going through his...their...its mind weren't of a violent nature, not at all. Tarin could understand on some separated level where the spirit was coming from, maybe even sympathize, but not to the point where he was going to let him run off with Lee into the night.

He could feel the energy leaving his body now and Tarin wondered just how long it would take for the spirit to realize that he wasn't the reason Lee was going to be up all night. Tarin was staring to feel it, whether the spirit did or not....but it did.

Tarin could feel the energy leaving his body and his head starting to swim from the energy he was losing. The spirit didn't know what was happening though, didn't realize it was Lee who was doing it. All the spirit knew was that it wasn't going to give up its new hold on life nearly that easy.

The last spirit hadn't held on this hard, and Tarin was really starting to get woozy. Stumbling slightly, he looked up at Lee and was surprised when his eyes moved on his command. "Lee...." he said, eyes rolling slightly.
The spirit was still there though, Tarin could feel him and the momentary control he'd held slipped and a frustrated growl tore from his throat, "What's....happening..." he said, "I'm. Not. Giving. Him. Up." The spirit said, staggering again as Tarin found it harder and harder to concentrate. Lee really was getting good at controlling the rate of her siphoning.

Lee really didn't know how she was supposed to respond to the reasoning for coming to the shop rather than going straight to the apartment. For one, she was pretty sure it had been her idea to come to the shop and Tarin, or at least she had thought it was Tarin, had agreed. Secondly, if the reason had simply been to alleviate her fears before going home, Lee was pretty sure Tarin would have told her, if in vague terms, that he was wrong and there was nothing to worry about as they walked, and then would have explained further once they were safely in the apartment.

So Lee simply kept quiet, a task that was even more difficult when she saw the grin directed at her when she commented that she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. If it were anyone else grinning at her like that, if it didn't actually look like Tarin, Lee would have hit the guy. But she already had her hand on him, was siphoning from him, and it didn't seem to be clicking in that he needed to stop the contact. That would have to do for Lee.

It really didn't take all that long before the man in front of her started swaying slightly on his feet. Yet, even with that, he wasn't trying to get away, to get her hand off of him.

Then Lee heard Tarin say her name, and the voice sounded sad, almost pleading. But from that one word, Lee couldn't tell whether it was actually Tarin who had spoken or not. Regardless, she knew it was not Tarin who growled at her a moment later.

"You will," Lee replied as Tarin stumbled again, appearing to be loosing the ability to remain on his feet. But Lee kept her focus, willing as much energy to flow into her as she could get. "You just haven't accepted that yet." As Tarin wavered some more, Lee thought it'd be best to do something about it rather than have him end up falling and loosing her contact with him. Bringing her other hand up, Lee eased Tarin to the floor, keeping her hand touching his skin.

"Come on, Tarin," Lee whispered as she knelt there beside him. "Fight. I know you can do it."

The spirit was starting to catch on now and as Lee placed her second hand on him, Tarin murkily saw his arms moving to try and resist. The real Tarin knew that it was an impossible feat, by this point Lee would be far too strong to fight off, and his energy was draining more and more by the moment.

Even as he sunk to the ground though, with Lee's help, Tarin couldn't help but worry slightly at the effort this spirit was putting into not being pulled from him. All that seemed to be happening at the moment was that they were both getting weaker and weaker. Lee wasn't relenting though and despite the fact that he was quickly becoming incapacitated, Tarin rejoiced. He'd rather have anything happen then someone try to live his life.

Lee was convinced that she was going to win, no matter what the spirit said. The spirit, on the other hand, had different ideas, "What do I care if I take him with me..." it said, glaring up at Lee through Tarin's eyes as he fought for control, "You'll have to stop at some point."

Tarin was angry, plain and simple by this point and he virtually roared with rage as Lee encouraged him to fight the spirit. Tarin was fighting, he wanted to tell Lee that he was fighting so hard, but he was struggling for the upper hand still.

Slowly, bit by bit, Tarin could feel himself losing his grip on consciousness, the spirits hold was fading slightly though and Tarin used his dwindling strength to push against he hold it had. He felt it, taut and tense and pushed even harder, there it was....the separation he'd been hoping for.

Using the last of his energy, Tarin grasped at that separation, clinging to it desperately as he felt the feeling seemingly rushing back to his limbs, they felt like they all weighed 100,000 lbs...but they were his again. The spirit raged inside of him, struggling to regain what it had lost and Tarin knew he had to act fast.

Reaching out surprisingly fast for his level of exhaustion, Tarin grabbed the sides of Lee's face with his hands gently, locking eyes with her, "Don't let go..." He said, even as he felt his eyes start to roll in his head and his grip slacken as he keeled to one side. Consciousness gone, but the spirit still clinging to it's fingertip grasp on him.

It was only as she was lowering Tarin to the floor of the shop that she felt him starting to fight her, starting to try and get away from her touch. At this point, though, she knew that wouldn't be happening. Even if Tarin's body hadn't been at the point of barely being able to stand from lack of energy (and this somewhat surprised Lee, she hadn't thought it would have been quite that fast, but figured it probably also had something to do with the internal battle Tarin was fighting), Lee knew that she'd be able to stop Tarin from getting away. She had more than enough energy for her to easily be able to outdo him in both strength and speed.

The next words that Lee heard come out of Tarin's mouth surprised her, though. It was true, she would have to stop. Once Tarin passed out, if they hadn't managed to end the merge and get rid of the spirit before that, Lee would have to let go. Regardless of the situation, she was not about to risk doing more, taking more after she had already caused him to pass out.

Suddenly, Lee felt Tarin's hands on her face, not trying to push her away, not trying to get her to stop touching him, but simply holding her face as he looked up at her with slightly unfocused eyes. "I won't, hon," Lee whispered to Tarin, to the real Tarin. The fact that he was telling her that sent a thrill through Lee. He was winning. Maybe not quite completely yet, but he had managed to gain enough control to be able to tell her not to let go, to not stop siphoning.

But this time, there was no spirit appearing in the room, trashing the shop, angry at having been ejected from Tarin's body. Instead, not many moments after Tarin had told her not to let go, she felt his hands falling from her face as his eyes slid closed.

Lee only kept her hands on Tarin for another couple seconds after she was sure he had passed out. There was absolutely no way she was going to continue siphoning at this point, not when he had passed out because of it, not when Lee had absolutely no idea what would happen if she ended up taking too much energy.

Taking a shaky breath, Lee pushed herself away from Tarin, sliding across the floor until her back reached the wall and she sat there, staring at his still form. Lee could feel the energy coursing through her body, buzzing within her. She had been right, there was absolutely no way she would be able to sleep with this much energy. She almost felt like she was going to explode because of all the energy, but Lee forced herself to sit there. She was not about to leave Tarin like this.

Man, this is going to be a long night, Lee thought.