Hunter rolled to his feet as he landed on the rooftop and carried on running. Time was short. Reaching the edge of the roof he leapt the gap and landed and rolled on the next. He had thirty minutes tops until he needed to feed again. It was likely that he would lose control before then but how much before then he didn’t know. Also he was ten minutes away from the clinic. He really hoped Sebastian was in.

They’d only met once since his return and it hadn’t exactly been friendly but honestly Hunter had no one else to turn to. While there were others who might be able to contain him there were none that could take anything that he dished out quite like Sebastian could. He’d already tried to kill the man once and Sebastian had walked away. His family on the other hand...

Who else could he turn to? If he’d stayed at the sanctuary he would most likely have killed someone. While the Order were tough none of them had faced him flat out aiming to kill. Had he been trying to both Meld and Aura would be dead in the church. It wasn’t bragging, it was simple fact. They’d have done him a great deal of damage but he’d heal. They wouldn’t. as far as they both knew Sebastian could heal from anything. He was the only person Hunter couldn’t kill in a blood frenzy.

And so it was that at half two in the morning Hunter was hammering on the door of the Iris clinic. He’d lost his shirt back at the church and still hadn’t cleaned all the blood of himself. Most of it was his but not all. If Sebastian turned him away he didn’t know what he would do. Most likely kill again. There was nowhere else nearby that he could go to. For the first time in a long time Hunter was scared. Not for himself but for everyone around him. Without help more people were going to die tonight. Had he made the right choice back at the church? He didn’t know, he really didn’t know.

2 o'clock in the morning, Thursday.

Sebastian wasn't even attempting to sleep.

He'd spent the better part of the evening cleaning up after a massacre, healing as many as he could and carrying those he couldn't to the vehicles that would transport them to wherever their funerals would be held. He'd comforted new widows and orphans. He'd helped mop the church steps. He'd missed his dinner, but had to turn down the leftover potluck food they had offered him at the chapel; his appetite had been thoroughly ruined, probably for the next week. He'd returned home to an empty clinic.

Ghost, Jude, and Sveta were at the mansion, helping with X-men tryouts or workouts or something. Garrett was away, so Sebastian had stayed back at the clinic in case of emergencies.

He didn't think he'd mind being alone for an evening. He hadn't anticipated any slaughters, though.

Before he even washed himself off, he called Ghost. He needed someone to tell about what had happened, someone who would listen to his suspicions and comfort him. He really needed a hug, too, but technology hadn't quite figured out how to transfer that over the phone lines.

He thought about what Ghost had said while he showered, while he dressed, and while he sat downstairs at his desk waiting to be so tired that he could fall asleep without dreaming.

It might not have been Hunter.

But there were fang marks in a girl's neck.

There were papers in front of him, but Sebastian wasn't looking at them. He stared at the blackness beyond his windows, but didn't really see that either. He kept seeing the victims, over and over in his head. Victims with wounds that matched wounds Hunter had been leaving behind for centuries. How could it not have been him?

Have faith in people.

But how?

The sound of someone trying to batter down the door startled the unicorn shifter all the way out of his seat. He responded with the first thing that came to his mind, calling out “It's open.”

At least, he didn't remember locking it. Now that someone was trying to knock the door off it's hinges, it occurred to him that he probably should have.

Sara had been out of the mansion for the past day. Going home hadn't felt right. Not yet anyways. Well at least by now she should be calling the mansion home. Still in her head, it wasn't home but 'The Mansion'. Really the fact that she had the right to call the place home still felt so alien. She'd been living there for over a year since her accident. (If you call getting shot in the head an accident.)

For most of Sara's life, she'd been nomadic. While there were many frustrations to not having ownership or claim to a place, there was freedom to it as well. Freedom in not having something that you could loose. It wasn't just the place, but the people in it. The relationships that Sara had built and even the ones that she had passed were treasures to Sara now, and at the same time, they scared the crap out of her.

That's the reason she gave herself for wandering so much lately. She chose to stay out longer than most, and there for just finding a nice perch to hang out on during the night, that was safe to people watch was something that she focused more on lately than her own mutation growths.

Sara sat on a fire escape that was outside the Iris Clinic. Because of Sebastian making himself known as a healing mutant, most people who hung around were mutant friendly. If people stopped by who weren't, then most of the time, they were vastly out numbered.

She was seated cross legged with a thermos of tea next to her, and a tea cup held loosely between her hands, almost forgotten as it was held above her lap. It was the movement above Sara that caught her attention. Unlike herself, most individuals weren't comfortable traveling by roof tops. Sara leaned out away from the wall to see the roof tops better. She slowly followed this strange mutant's movement by sound, stood, and leaned out on her fire escape perch, her steps taking her past a window, so that she could lean out and just barely make out the front door around the corner of the building. Sara's nostrils flared taking in the mutant's smell carried with the familiar sent of blood. "Hunter?"

Sara hadn't exactly been near a TV or a radio in the past few hours. She hadn't learned about what had happened at the church yet. The thermos and it's cup were momentarily forgotten on the fire escape when Sara swung her feet over the railing, landing with a light thump. She straightened into a standing position and stepped around the corner of the clinic and it's shadows. Inside she heard Sebastian's voice. Her brow was pinched with confusion as she had a more clear look at Hunter. She was part animal after all and animals relied on the ability to read body language. Hunter's body language was different from when she had meet him before at Spiritual Balance. "What's going on?"





(Tell me if I need to edit Sara's position Sebby.)

Sebastian was home. Thank whatever deity might be out there that the old unicorn was in. Hunter actually sank to his knees as tears of joy streamed down his face. Now he could... He could what? What could Sebastian possibly do? Hunter was injured or ill. He was simply who he was. What could be done about that? Hunter’s tears changed from those of joy to ones of sorrow and fear. Why had he thought that he could be helped? No one could help him. He would always be a monster. All he could do was to hide away from people and hope that no one ever found him.

He soft thump nearby brought Hunter out of his despair. The scent of the newcomer filled his nostrils. “Sara?” Hunter asked as he staggered to his feet and turned to face her, “Get away. You’re in danger. Everyone is in danger. I have to...”

What?

What could he do?

What could anyone do?

Hunter was going to lose control any minute now. Then he would be in a blood frenzy. None of them could stop him. Sebastian would live through it and so might Sara but not others. More would die tonight. And they would keep dying. Hunter collapsed to his knees as he openly wept for the deaths he was about to cause. “Run,” he begged through the tears, “Get away. Get everyone you can away from me.”

I’m a monster.

Whomever had knocked didn't come in, but Sebastian did hear voices outside the door. It was odd, that someone so desperate to come in just a moment before would now delay from entering after having been invited in. The pale immortal rose to his feet, went to the door, and opened it for whomever was on the other side.

Hunter. Shirtless and covered in blood not his own. On his knees. Tears wiped clean tracks across his sooty and blood spattered visage. Begging.

All they needed now was a thunderstorm to perfect this melancholy scene.

“Hunter,” the name came out as an accusation.

He noticed Sara then, lurking just a step out of the alley, a concerned look plastered across her face. Sebastian raised an eyebrow in her direction, wondering why she was here at two in the morning but choosing not to press. There were more important issues at hand.

“What happened?” He wasn't sure why he even bothered to ask, since he was already fairly certain that he already knew the answer.

Have faith in people. His wife's words echoed in his memory.

Better start talking, vampire.

“Sara?”

Sara nodded. The way that Hunter was acting, telling him to find a happy place didn't seem like it would do any good.

“Get away. You’re in danger. Everyone is in danger. I have to...

Hunter wasn't in the mood for answering her question about what was going on either. Instead he wanted her to leave but that stubborn streak was showing through. Sara refused to. Though she did start strolling carefully around to Hunter's back a good 10 feet away when Sebastian came to the door and peaked out.

“Hunter,”

“What happened?”

Sebastian was asking the same thing of Hunter as Sara, but his tone was much different. The natural response to this was for Sara's ears to flatten though not completely flat against her head, but to stick out in either side. Still obviously confused with her wide amber eyes glancing for a moment into Sebastian's Eyes. Then they flicked back on Hunter. The angle of the wind was just right for her to decently Annalise of the different smells coming from Hunter and the and her confused brow furrowed again. "Most of the blood on him is his own." Sara reported. Her slow careful steps had brought her to a stop on Hunters opposite side. She didn't fully turn to face him, nor did she fully turn to leave, but rather seemed stuck half way. Sara's right side facing him and the tip of her tail twitching.

What had happened? Sebastian was now at the door and Sara was circling him. Two powerful mutants were now either side of him wanting to know what had happened. Was Hunter so arrogant as to believe that between them they could not do something to stop him hurting others? He was good and he knew it but he wasn’t that good. At least he hoped for everyone#s sakes that he wasn’t

Taking a deep breath Hunter composed himself before answering. “Someone I was helping had gone missing,” he explained starting at the beginning, “I went looking for her when I came across two Order members attacking a congregation at a church. I wanted to stop them, to save people, but I couldn’t without my powers. Also there was too much blood in the air, I couldn’t think straight. There was a girl on the steps who was touching death. There was no hope for her. I took her life so that I might save others. But the effects of her blood are now wearing off and in minutes I’ll need to feed again. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to resist the urge and I don’t want to hurt anyone else.”

He looked the old man in the eye. “I didn’t know where else to go,” he admitted, “The police aren’t equipped to hold me and I’d never make it to the mansion. Can you keep me contained until I’ve got the urges under control?” If he couldn’t then people were going to die tonight. Best case it would just be him. Worst case it would be many others.

Sebastian's eyes flicked a fraction narrower than they already were. So it had been Hunter who had drained that girl, though according to this testimony the other deaths hadn't been his fault. He had been trying to help but now needed it himself.

Right.

If the older immortal was going to believe any of that little speech, it was that Hunter was dangerous enough that even he couldn't control himself.

“You'd better come inside then,” he conceded quietly. It was impossible to tell from that quiet statement what Sebastian felt about this situation, and in truth the unicorn shifter wasn't really sure himself. He stopped trying to analyze his emotions and simply reacted to what he thought would be the most logical thing to do. “You too, Sara. Lock the door behind you please.”

Unfortunately he hadn't had enough foresight to build any vampire proof rooms into the clinic. In his head Sebastian tried to quickly formulate a plan. Getting the blood washed off of Hunter was a priority, as was getting him into a room that wasn't easily destroyed. Or one that was easily fixed.

“Quickly, upstairs. There's one empty apartment. Let's get the blood off you before you lose control.” Only most of it was his own, Sara had said. Sebastian pointed the way and followed closely behind, in case they didn't make it all the way up before... no, they were going to make it.

This was sort of a creepy feeling. Sara couldn't remember the last time that she'd seen Sebastian with his eyes narrow. Granted she barely knew Sebastian. It was only through the dealings with the Kabal that Sara had interacted with him, however in both Scenarios that Sara could think of, she'd shoved him around. (Ok the second meeting was more of a throw. It was slate's fault.) Neither of those times, had she seen his eyes narrow.

Was there something that he knew that Sara didn't? Sara only knew the parts of Hunter's past that she had experienced, with the camps, and what Slate had told her. Then again, by it's self, Slate's story brought forth very few happy thoughts.

Sara followed Sebastian's directions. Once both men were inside, she locked the door. She then proceeded up the stairs. "Sebastian. Do you have anything that can be used as a restraint or are we going without?" The only problem about restraints was that they could easily be turned into a weapon should they fail.

Weather Hunter was telling the truth or not, Sara wasn't sure. Her one session with him at Spiritual Balance said yes. All other evidence said no. Either way he was going to have to be stopped.

Hunter didn’t know nor care how Sebastian felt about him right now, all that mattered was that they he agreed to let him inside. He followed the older man into the clinic and followed him upstairs. As they went Hunter was acutely aware of the pulse in Sebastian’s neck. It pulsed rhythmically at him as if tempting him to a taste. He could feel the need building inside him, a desire that could not be denied and would only be quenched with blood. His hand was slowly rising unbidden and he’d almost grabbed Sebastian’s shoulder before he knew what he was doing. He snapped it back to his side and his fists clenched involuntarily. Shaking his head Hunter rubbed his eyes as they reached a bathroom. He stepped inside and was about to remove his clothes when everything flashed red...

Hunger. The beast was hungry. Needed food. Food was near. The beast could smell it. There. It turned to face its prey. A man. Small, horned, white hair, blue eyes. Familiar. Had the beast met him? Matters not. The man has blood. The beast can feed. The beast will feed. Moving with primal force it grabbed the prey. It extended fangs. It went to bite. The beast will...

Suddenly Hunter was holding Sebastian by the shoulders, fangs extended and about to bite him. Recoiling from Sebastian’s neck he held the man at arm’s length. “What just...” he began. Suddenly his thoughts were moving too fast for his mouth to keep up. He’d lost control, blacked out, and almost attacked Sebastian. “Out,” he said almost throwing Sebastian out the door and glaring at Sara. Grabbing the handle he looked them both in the eye. “Prepare yourselves,” he warned them, “Whatever comes out this door won’t be me. It’ll be the monster inside me. You must stop it from killing anyone.” With that he slammed the door shut and locked it.

He was running out of time. They all where. Soon he’d be out of control. He needed to do something to help them but he couldn’t think what. Both their heartbeats were ringing loud and clear in his ears. Covering them with his hands he forced himself to think. Last time his body had overworked itself he passed out from blood loss. The sooner he burned through all the blood in his system the batter for everyone. His healing factor used a lot of blood. Hunters fist when through the glass door of the shower. “Sorry Seb,” he mumbled as he ripped out a section of the metal door frame. Spinning it idly he knew how much this next bit would hurt. In one swift motion his impaled himself on the metal rod that had been a side of the shower door. His hissed in pain and pulled the bar back out. That really hurt, Hunter hated being impaled. However his healing factor was kinking in and the wound was being knitted closed. Now all he had to do was...

Gone. Prey gone. The beast spun and scanned the room. It sniffed the air. It listened to the sounds. Prey was close. Could smell it. Could hear its heartbeat. Spinning hurt. Stomach in pain. Big wound. Was healing. Needed blood. Blood help healing. Prey not in room. There. Prey behind door. Door made of wood. Wood bad. Foot has shoe. The beast gave a wicked smile. It lunged for the door. Leaping at it the beast kicked it off its hinges. Prey was here. The beast lunged.

(OOC: Hope you don’t mind a little God Modding. Feel free to decide amongst yourselves who Hunter is lunging at.)

Sebastian huffed lightly at Sara's question as he reached the top step, “Unfortunately we are the most effective restraints we're going to get. Rope, leather, even iron wouldn't...”

Faster than Sebastian could even blink, Hunter spun and grabbed onto the unicorn man's shoulder. Instinctively Sebastian raised up his hands and shoved at Hunter's face. Something flashed in the vampire's eyes, from pure instinctual hunger to confusion for a moment, and then to fear as he realized what he had almost done.

>>“Out”

Sebastian didn't have to be told twice. He didn't have to be shoved, either, thank you very much, nor have his own door slammed in his face, though he supposed he could forgive the young immortal since the situation was so dire.

Before the door had even finished rattling, he rushed to convey a message to the puma woman and his fellow Kabal member.

“I'm terribly sorry to have dragged you into this. It's about to get very dangerous, very quickly,” or rather, it already had. The crash of broken glass sounded from behind heavy wooden door.

“He's very fast, but I don't think he's as fast as you,” he was remembering back to the golden blur she had been in the rain forests of Colombia.

The screech of tearing metal followed the crash. Sebastian winced, “Wood. His weakness. Under the stairs.” It was the surplus from the days of the clinic's reconstruction, but there was no time to explain that further, because the bathroom door came crashing down and a blood crazed vampire lunged out at them.

Sebastian tried to step in the way, to keep him from getting to Sara, but he had no way of controlling the exact trajectory of their flying bodies and flailing limbs. His back hit something that was probably either the floor or the wall; he was paying more attention to what was happening in front of him, what with the strings of saliva dripping from vampiric fangs inches from his face. Somehow his elbow had ended up at Hunter's throat, keeping the gnashing teeth away for the moment. His other hand had ended up somewhere lower and squelchier; it was currently burning cold with healing.

Healing? Why was there a hole through Hunter's stomach? They hadn't fallen that hard.

Sebastian tried to pull his hand back before it healed itself inside of the vampire's torso, but his arm was pinned against something, unable to move.

“Unfortunately we are the most effective restraints we're going to get. Rope, leather, even iron wouldn't...”

Sara was following a respectable distance away. Before Sebastian finished, She was nodding slightly. The full understanding of what she was letting herself get into but it was what actions cut Sebastian off that made her realize as quickly as the crack of a whip what trouble it was that Hunter was having. Sara wasn't proud to admit that she had hesitated. Frozen while the predatory side of Hunter had disappeared followed by confusion, realization, and then shoving.

“Prepare yourselves, Whatever comes out this door won’t be me. It’ll be the monster inside me. You must stop it from killing anyone.”

Hunter had looked between Sebastian and Sara, glaring and Sara and she just returned the stare doing her best to show no emotion, though inside she was frustrated. He told her to run and get people away, but if she was to do that, she was likely to attract more of a crowd because of her mutation. Few, even some mutants, would listen to what she had to say without someone who looked normal standing next to her calling most of the shots.

The door slammed in front of Sebastian and herself and Sara's ears flicked, flinching from the sound.

“I'm terribly sorry to have dragged you into this. It's about to get very dangerous, very quickly,”

"It's fine." Sara said before Sebastian continued. It seemed Sebastian had more information on Hunter than she did. More experience, and this made listening more important than reassuring the older mutant. Mean while the sound of broken glass and metal made it's way to her ears. Along with the smell of fresh blood.

“He's very fast, but I don't think he's as fast as you,”

Sara gave a slight nod, but reminded herself that her speed wasn't a reason to let her guard down at all. Hunter was far more experienced than her.

“Wood. His weakness. Under the stairs.”

Sebastian didn't have time to say much more than that. The other side of the door had grown quiet just as quickly as it had become loud. The silence was unnerving and Sara was just starting to side step away from the door when Hunter came through it. Splinters threatened to go in Sara's eyes and she turned her head so her hair shielded her face. Sebastian stepped between herself and Hunter. Sebastian and Hunter knocked into Sara's shoulder but she managed to roll with the blow only stumbling a few steps.

Wood. Hunter's weakness was wood. Sara silently wondered if the legends of vampires and stakes were from Hunter. The way several of the gods had originally been mutants as well. Sara moved to hop over the railing of the stairs, when a pail flesh in the middle of Hunter's wound, on hunter's back, caught her attention... no that was through his back. He'd apparently impaled himself while in the bath room. The process of Hunter's healing was going much faster than it should have compared to the time that that Hunter was in the small room alone, and the time he had broken through the door. It broke a pattern, and possibly meant that Sebastian's healing was fixing him with out Sebastian intending it to happen. Sara had seen Sebastian at work before in Columbia healing Lee.

Soon Hunter would be fully healed and Sara feared what would happen if she had to face the crazed hungry vampire alone. Wood. She needed wood. Weren't they surrounded by it? The splintered door. Sara spun on her heal away from the railing of the stairs, and headed back for the bathroom door. Or at least what was left of it. interior doors were normally made hollow. But they were fairly sturdy near the hinge for easy instilation and long time use. part of the door was still intact. A two by four size board. the hing still swung it back and forth against the frame and Sara moved to yank it the rest of the way from the wall.

The Hunter would have only one warning. The sounds of the wood cracking away from the door way the rest of the way as Sara liberated the board. When broken off it was a few inches shorter than three feet long. Short enough to easily negotiate the close space, long enough to give Sara an edge when she swung it down, Aiming for Hunter's ribs on his left side to knock him off of Sebastian.

Cold. Stomach cold. Why? Healing? Stomach was healing. Prey was healing stomach. Prey was healing the Beast. The Beast smiled. Fangs glistened in the light. Predatory visage loomed over prey. Prey barely held back the Beast. It leaned in. It went for the kill. It wanted the kill. It needed the kill. It would have the kill.

Crunch. Wood? Wood! Behind it. The cat had wood. The Beast feared wood. But prey was so close. An inch more. Wood! The Beast rolled away to one side. Rose in a crouch. Primal growl issued from its throat. Cat had wood. Cat needed to die. Cat would die. Cat would feed the Beast. Stomach was now just a small hole. Man had helped healing. The Beast was strong again. It lunged with a hiss. Diving for the cat. Eyes locked on the wood. Must avoid the wood. Must take wood from cat. Must kill cat. Will kill cat. Will feed.

Sebastian was not as strong as Hunter. His desire to not have his throat chewed out was slowly loosing out to the vampire's desire to feed. On him. Didn't the idiot remember that unicorn blood gave him a stomach ache?

Speaking of stomachs, Hunter's was almost fully healed with Sebastian's hand still inside. Awkward to say the least. Then, at the last moment before hand and stomach became fused, at the last moment before fangs grazed throat, Hunter leaped off of him and spun towards Sara instead.

Good girl! She had improvised a wooden weapon, and was keeping it between herself and the parasitic blood drinker.

Hunter lunged again, going for Sara this time. Maybe if they kept distracting him, they could keep him from doing too much damage to either one of them in particular.

“Hunter,” he called, “Stop this. You are stronger than this. You can stop yourself.” Sebastian wasn't at all sure if the vampire could indeed stop himself, but perhaps the Hunter that had spoken of stopping his evil ways was still in there somewhere.

“How will you ever live a thousand years without blood if you can't even last an hour? Are you so weak that you give into temptations so easily? Truly I overestimated you. I should have known better than to believe you could change.”

He couldn't tell if his words were getting through to the man or if the beast was simply too strong.

Swing and a miss, but hitting Hunter wasn't the point of Sara's attack. Her attack was to get him off of Sebastian and that's satisfyingly what happened. Hunter had rolled away from Sebastian to face her, and Sara tried to gauge his actual speed. Sebastian might be right.

Hunter was poised ready to try to tackle her now, and Sara kept the make shift wooden weapon between him and herself with her right hand. Mean while, her other hand slid across the wreckage of the door looking for a second weapon. She immediately found one. The wood was thinner, about a foot long, but it came to a point. Mean while Sara's eyes were locked on Hunter's eyes that were locked on.... The wood.... Sara's grip tightened on both pieces. She could feel splinters biting into her palms and she knew her hands would heal over them, but that problem would have to be addressed later.

When Hunter Lunged Sara was still holding the first, longer piece of wood in front of her. The smaller piece would only be broken away from the door frame when she moved away, and Sara intended on keeping that piece hidden behind her and subtly next to her leg, as a back up surprise. Hunter had completely focused on the wood and when he aimed to take it from her, Sara had moved the wood down and in a circle in front of her. She stepped forward and to the side as the wood came to the top of the circle aiming to collide with Hunter's arms and knock them away from her. Together, their movements were faster than a blink.

With a second circle of the wood, Sara brought it and herself around so she was facing Hunter as she passed him. She tried to ram the end of the bored that was closer to her hand in the back of Hunter's shoulder in an attempt to send him closer, if not into the broken door where she had been standing and give herself a chance to back up a few more paces. If her wooden weapon had been a sword, she would have just tried to hit Hunter with the Pommel.