Hunter was many things but one of the core traits that he had was pride. It was that which Sebastian was playing on. It was working. The old immortals words had managed to reach Hunter. He wasn’t in control, far from it, but he was at the very least aware. What he was aware of was his stomach was almost completely healed and he was now trying very hard to kill Sara.

She was a physical match for him. While faster than him Hunter was a little stronger and healed a little faster, except from wood. The clever girl was holding a makeshift wooden baton now. Both of them were moving flat out and he had a fraction of a second to try and intervene helpfully and bring this to an end as quickly as possible.

The cat was quick. Quicker than the Beast. But Beast was cunning. Would take wood. Not if Hunter could intervene. He paused the grab for a fraction of a second and the Beast just missed taking the wood. Beast missed. Cat very quick. Cat tap arm. Arm hurt. Not bad. Cat span from door. Beast dropped onto all fours as it reach door. Kicked out with legs. Kick cat away. Then eat the man. Feed!

Just stopping the beast for that fraction of a second had been mentally exhausting. The Beast’s will was so strong but Hunter couldn’t let up. He began to gather his mental strength and waited for another opportunity to intervene. Hopefully he could give Sara an opening to stop him.

Was it Sebastian's imagination, or did Hunter hesitate for just a moment? It was a fraction of a moment, just a long enough pause for him to miss grabbing Sara's wooden weapon out of her hand. Perhaps Sara had simply twisted it out from his grasping fingers just in the nick of time.

Sara's spinning blow to the back of Hunter's arm didn't phase him nearly as much as Sebastian had hoped it might. The vampire crouched on all fours in the doorway to the bathroom, and for a moment the man looked more like a starved animal than a rational human being. He was closer to a beast even than Sara or himself.

Sebastian felt sorry for him.

The monster that was Hunter sprang out of his crouched stance, again aiming for Sara and the threatening weapon she held in her hand. Just as he jumped, Sebastian did also, hooking his arms around Hunter's neck and his legs around his waist like a child going for a ride on someone's back. A very dangerous someone's back.

The unicorn man leaned forward and whispered in Hunter's ear.

“I pity you.”

Hunter's fangs couldn't reach him back here, but that didn't stop him from clawing at arms or legs or slamming himself backwards into a wall.

“You're no better than a starved bear in a cage. You do your fancy tricks all day long, but come time to eat, you're no better than an animal.”

Sebastian prepared to hang on for dear life.

Sara's eye brow raised as she spun around. Was that a hesitation she saw? The split second hesitation didn't match the rest of Hunter's movements at the moment. Either way her attack to his back seemed to be a swing and a miss. Hunter had dropped... and his legs were coming up. Sara took a step back and sucked in her Gutt. She'd took a glancing blew to the ribs, that forced her to catch her balance. It wasn't enough to make her retreat though.

Sara only suffered a bad bruise from the kick. While it ached for a moment, It wasn't going to ache long and there for, it was ignored. (Not to mention any short lived forming marks would be hidden by fur.)

Sebastian was the one to make the next move. Hopping on Hunter's back and whispering in his ear. If the real Hunter was in there, those words had to hurt. Sara's ears flattened. "At least animals will stop. Animals have more control."

As Sara had spoken, she'd followed around the back of Hunter's left shoulder. Purposefully still keeping the sharper piece of wood in her left hand out of Hunter's eye sight. The longer larger piece was against her forearm as defense. "Unless they're rabid. Hunter, you've lead me to believe that you're much more civilized than this." Sara's foot suddenly rose and she aimed to kick Hunter's knee sideways out from under him.

Hit cat. Not hard. Cat will live. Not for long. Man on back? Man want to be eaten? Bite. Cant reach man. Cat moved. Cat kicking. The Beast leapt. Straight up. Slam man into ceiling. That make man get off. Then feed on man. Feed!

Pity. That was one thing that Hunter had never accepted from anyone in four hundred years of living. He wasn’t about to start now. Gathering himself he fought for control. He was better than this. Better than the Beast. He was in control. Not the Beast. Him. Hunter Antonescu. He was master of his own destiny and would not thrash like a rabid dog!

With force of will powered by anger he suppressed the Beast as he came back down. He stood facing Sara arms by his side. His whole body shook as if under tension and he wasn’t aware of whether or not Sebastian was still on his back. It was taking everything he had just to remain still. He couldn’t speak yet and didn’t know how long he could hold on. But he had given them their chance. The chance to stop this.

Breath slammed out of his lungs as Hunter jumped up into the ceiling. The cold fire of his own healing buzzed in his chest and in his head. He'd hit that, too, it seemed. It made his brain feel a little fuzzy. Finally, after several moments of ineffective gasping, Sebastian regained his breath with a shudder.

Something was different. He was still clamped onto the vampire's back, but he was no longer moving. What new trick was this? Not a trick, but a battle turned inward rather than out. Hunter's muscles shook beneath his skin, evidence of his dual motivations each vying for control.

At least, that was what Sebastian hoped was happening, because he was going to let Hunter go.

Have faith in people.

He would try.

He let go.

Hunter was jumping up. Straight up and Sara winced. Gravity did it's job in bringing Hunter and Sebastian down and as it did so, Sara pivoted on her heal. The the sharper wooden piece that she'd taken a moment ago came out of hiding. Aiming to stab straight up, as Hunter came down, and enter just below the bottom of his rib cage.

Sara raised the board of wood, holding it against her fore arm, and expecting retaliation when she pulled the sharp piece of wood away. She wasn't exactly gentle with this move and let the wood catch and turn as her hand did naturally. Retaliation didn't come though. The stake was poised for a second attack and Sara did so. This time aiming for Hunter's left side of his chest. His heart.

Hunter wasn't the first person to loose control in front of Sara. Tarin had once, and she'd learned the hard way that when someone tells you to stop them, many times it is best to do so at all cost. Sara would expect someone to give her the same courtesy. Even with Hunter just standing there it was a little confusing. There were so many factors. How long Hunter could hold still, how long this bad side of his could keep fighting, and Sebastian's healing. Sebastian had still been touching Hunter during Sara's first attack. Somewhere along the line he'd slipped off of Hunter's back.

The pain actually helped Hunter focus. Sara had managed to impale him with a piece of wood. His entire right side burned with it and the wound felt as if it was on fire. Hunter took the burning feeling of pain and shoved it all at the Beast forcing it back and caging it in agony. He was barely aware of Sebastian getting off his back.

“Knock me out,” he said through gritted teeth. Holding back the Beast was only half the struggle. The pain was almost unbearable and while it helped cage the Beast it also was a tremendous burden on him. “When I come to I should be more myself.” In his head he went through the full explanation. Right now the reason he was struggling to keep control over his instincts was that his body was in a state of desperately needing blood. While it would produce its own given time it wanted a quick fix now which is why he was attacking them. If knocked out his body would temporarily shut down while it made more blood. Once he came too he wouldn’t need blood. He would still crave it but that he could work on. Want was much easier to resist than need.

The effort of vocalising the thought process would simply be too much. “Do it,” he urged Sara staring at the longer piece of wood for emphasis, “If I wake up not myself then you stop me at any cost. Promise me that.” He needed them to promise him. They had to stop him if he couldn’t stop himself. He would not kill anyone else.

Hunter retained his shaky control, even after Sebastian let go. He even managed to speak like a rational being despite the wood inflicted wound in his side. Cautiously, the unicorn man edged around him until he stood next to Sara's side. Her oaken weapons now protected them both.

The words that Hunter spoke bore such a gravity, that if he had doubt before it was gone now. A man doesn't lightly ask another to promise to kill him. A man doesn't lightly make such a promise. The man standing before him, bleeding and shaking from fighting his own inner demons, truly had changed.

“Wait,” Sebastian put out his hand to lower the leading point of Sara's stake.

“Hunter, it will never be harder for you than it is at this moment to deny yourself, to deny your body what it needs. If you are to live an eternity without allowing yourself to kill, you need to be able to stop yourself. Because next time, there may not be anyone else who can.”

The unicorn man stepped closer. He was dangerously close now. His heart beat quickly, not fearing his own death, but rather all the deaths that might occur if this failed.

Have faith in people.

He did have faith.

Sebastian turned to Sara briefly, “If this doesn't work, do as he requested.” Even with faith, it never hurt to have a plan β.

To Hunter he solemnly spoke, “This may be the stupidest thing I have done in my entire life, but I believe you need to pass this test on your own.”

He rolled up the sleeve on his left arm. He held out his bare arm, palm up, so Ghost's skin showed pale pink in a ring around his palm and on each of his fingertips. His lifeblood flowed, red and blue veins visible just under his pale skin.

“Say no.”

He stepped closer. The fingers of his right hand curled and he placed his fingernails against his own left wrist.

“Say you don't need it.”

Another step. He dug his fingernails into his skin. He could feel his own pulse

“Say no, and I, Sebastian Csendes, swear to you, Hunter Antonescu, that you will never kill another person as long as you live.”

He pulled his right hand quickly back, scratching himself as deeply. He knew he was bleeding, but he didn't look down. Ice blue eyes met silver, challenging them to do the impossible.

Wait!? Why were they waiting? Hunter didn’t know how long he could hold back the Beast. Even now he could feel it clawing away at the cage of pain he was using to keep it in some sort of check. Impatiently Hunter listened to the old man before him. The more Sebastian talked the more Hunter realised that he was right. He needed to fight his own battles.

As Sebastian stepped closer Hunter could hear the immortal’s heart racing and his eyes were riveted on the pulse at his neck. It took everything he had not to step forward and take what his body needed. As Sebastian rolled up his sleeve Hunter’s eyes snapped to his wrist with the pulsing veins clearly visible to his heightened senses. Sebastian’s words were faint in the background as all Hunter’s senses focused on his wrist. Then he drew blood. Every muscle in Hunter’s body tensed and slowly against his will his hands began to rise. He wasn’t strong enough. This time he was fighting himself, not some external threat. It would be so much easier to just give in. Just let the Beast win...

No. He was Hunter Antonescu. He was four hundred and thirty nine years old. He was one of the world’s most powerful mutants. For four centuries he’d struck fear in the hearts of all and had bested all comers. He would not lose now.

His arms froze and his eyes focused briefly on Sebastian’s with steely resolve before snapping shut. This was a battle of the mind. He had once had psychic abilities that could influence the minds of others. While in Tibet he’d had those powers turned inwards giving him mastery over his own mind and control of his powers. The Beast was an avatar of his primal instincts. Nothing more than a psychic construct in his mind. He was that master of his mind. Not the Beast.

The mindscape of Hunter’s mind was the old forest in Romania where he grew up. It was the middle of the night and a full moon was high in the sky. Somewhere lurking in this forest was the Beast. Only one of them was coming out of this forest tonight. Cautiously Hunter began to walk into the woods.

There. Prey moving. Walking in woods. Beast kill prey. Then Beast kill cat. Kill man. Feed. Beast want to feed. First kill prey.

Hunter heard movement and froze, straining to locate it. Suddenly iy burst forth from the undergrowth. It lunged and tackled Hunter to the ground. Rolling with it he kicked the Beast across the clearing and came up in a crouch. Opposite him across the clearing was the Beast. It was himself but with long wild hair and covered in blood. With a feral snarl the Beast lunged. Roaring Hunter charged to meet him head on. The locked up and strained against one another. At first they seemed evenly matched but soon Hunter realised that he was slowly being driven down. Try as best he could he was soon forced to his knees.

The Beast was stronger and there was no getting round that. But Hunter might be faster. Now on his knees Hunter adjusted his grip and quickly lifted the Beast up off the ground and flung him across the clearing. He charged in after it but the Beast was back on its feet before he caught up with it and lashed out knocking Hunter back. Landing hard he tried his best to roll with it and scrabble to his feet.

He’d barely gotten up when the Beast was on him again smashing him to the ground. Rolling aside he narrowly avoided having his face smashed it. Rising to his knees he struck out but the Beast blocked and hit back knocking him back again. Leaping on to him the Beast began to pound away at him. Hunter covered his face with his arms and desperately tried to think. The Beast was stronger and faster than he was and he simply couldn’t keep up. However this was Hunter’s mindscape and he was master here. Grabbing the Beast by the shoulders he threw it off and flipped up to his feet. Extending out his right hand a length of chain materialised in it.

The Beast scrabbled to his feet and rushed forwards on all fours. Whirling the chain above his head he whipped out with it. The Beast raised an arm defensively and the length of chain wrapped round its wrist. Flicking the chain to one side he threw the Beast off balance. Turning he extended the other length of chain and began to whirl it above his head. Flinging it at a nearby tree the chain wrapped itself securely around the trunk.

Hunter turned back to the Beast just in time to catch a blow across the jaw the knocked him to the ground. Rolling with it as best he could he got back to his feet and back away from the Beast as it began to lope forward again. Materialising another length of chain he quickly got this one secured to another tree on the opposite side of the clearing while avoiding the Beast. As the Beast got the end of the chain it was bound to it was yanked to an abrupt halt. Reaching out with its free hand it tried to claw at Hunter who stood just out of reach. Lashing out with the length of chain he coiled it around the Beast’s leg.

Anchored by two points Hunter could begin to end this. Creating two more lengths of chain he lashed them to trees before attaching them to the Beast’s unchained limbs. It thrashed against its bonds but was secured tight. Conjuring more chain Hunter bound the Beast securely so that it couldn’t move. Try as it might the Beast was restrained. Hunter had won.

Throughout the mental battle Hunter had remained frozen with his eyes closed and his hands half raised. His eyes snapped open and Hunter collapsed to the ground. He was mental and physically exhausted but he was once again himself. Through force of will he had mastered his instincts and while he still felt a powerful urge for blood he didn’t need it. He only wanted it. Most likely he would always want it. However for now it was better. He just wanted to kill Sara and Sebastian, he didn’t need to.

Sara hesitated. Hunter was himself when she'd stabbed him. He wasn't going to do anything to her. Was he really? Sara froze. Then he asked her to knock him out. To kill him should he wake up without being himself. It was something Sara had mentally prepared herself to do, but it didn't mean it was something that she was looking forward to completing.

Sara lowered the longer piece of wood as hunter had urged her to knock him out. It was moved the the side in preparation to knock it across Hunter's head. Sebastian's light touch on her arm surprised her. She flinched only slightly because of the light touch.

“Wait,”

“Hunter, it will never be harder for you than it is at this moment to deny yourself, to deny your body what it needs. If you are to live an eternity without allowing yourself to kill, you need to be able to stop yourself. Because next time, there may not be anyone else who can.”

"Teach a man to fish." And he'll never go hungery.. .. ..or at least not eat other people.

“If this doesn't work, do as he requested.”

"Yes Sir."

Sara backed up. The make shift wooden weapons were held calmly at her sides. If Hunter was to loose himself, She wasn't going to get caught between him and Sebastian but she was close enough to make herself useful.

Then all Sara could do was wait while Sebastian presented Hunter with his challenge. Mean while, Hunter was standing stock still. Eyes closed. It wasn't until Hunter opened his eyes again, that something happened. Hunter went down. "Hunter?"

The longer piece of wood dropped to the ground with a kathump. Though Sara kept the sharper piece of wood was kept in her hand and glancing at it, her nose wrinkled. Hunter's blood was smeared across it. Actually Hunter's blood was thick in the air when you added this tight location, plus the bathroom.

"Do you think it's over for now?" Sara asked as she settled closer to Sebastian. "Should we move him to a different room?" She glanced in the wreckage that was the bathroom. Sara's own eyes were dilating on the smell.

Hunter's gaze met Sebastian's for only a moment, but the information that was communicated in that single look would have filled volumes. There was pride there, and determination. The vampire was not going to let his thirst get the best of him. Not without a fight.

Hunter's eyes snapped closed and he left Sara and Sebastian standing there, wondering what to do. He simply stood, palms upwards as if he were casting a spell that required great concentration. It was the most peaceful Sebastian had seen him since he had arrived at the clinic earlier that evening. The unicorn shifter now held no doubt that Hunter would win.

Finally, Hunter's eyes opened again right before he fell to the ground in exhaustion. Sebastian thought he saw the traces of a smile on the younger immortal's lips. He had won, then. His thirst would no longer overcome him.

Sebastian knelt next to him. He checked his pulse and examined his eyes. His touch on Hunter's skin would make him feel like ice was burning away the wounds Sara had inflicted with the broken shards of the bathroom door.

“He'll be fine,” Sebastian informed Sara. “He's suffering from exhaustion. Sleep is the only thing that will take care of that. Luckily, we've got no shortage of empty beds tonight.” There were three downstairs, hospital style. Alternately he could sleep on Jude's empty bed, or Svetlana's couch. Actually, now that this empty apartment had to be fixed up anyway, it would perhaps be easier to simply finish the work Hunter had begun of tearing down the walls between the two apartments.

“Hunter, are you still awake? Would you prefer a hospital bed or a normal one? We're all out of coffins I'm afraid.” Sebastian shook his head at himself, the late hour must be getting to him, too; he was actually joking with a vampire. With Hunter Antonescu, one of the most evil men he had ever known. Time certainly had an amazing ability to change things.

With effort Hunter opened his eyes and looked up at Sebastian who was kneeling beside him. He offered the old man a weak smile and said, “A regular bed will be fine. Coffins were always murder on my back.” Taking a moment to gather himself he forced himself up onto his elbows. His head spun with the effort but he managed to stay conscious.

He gritted his teeth as Sebastian went to work healing. The old man’s healing was a damn sight less pleasant than his own. Something about his healing abilities meant that they dampened pain and he felt wounds inflicted by anything save wound sort of distantly. Sebastian’s healing was like having his wounds flash frozen away. It was deeply unpleasant. “Your healing sucks,” Hunter replied through his teeth, “I prefer my own brand. Although I prefer the price of yours.”

Much as he wanted to walk to the offered bed he didn’t feel up to it. He’d almost certainly need help getting to a bed. For now however he was enjoying not needing to kill the pair of them while Sebastian regenerated a chunk of his internal organs. He still wanted to, he really wanted to, but he didn’t need to. And he’d learned how to control his desires. They were safe. He hoped that everyone would now be safe. One thing he was certain of was that the need would return should he consume blood again. He would only do that in a time of great desperation. For everyone’s sake he hoped he would never have to.

Sara's tail twitched. This was the part of Helping Hunter that she was absolutely no help. Sara's mutation healed herself. She couldn't heal others. So while Sebastian healed missing organs (Ouch) Sara ducked into the bathroom. The door and shower were a mess but the sink still worked just fine.

Sara dropped the bloody wooden weapon in the basin and ran the water to wash her hands. Smirking at the coffin joke. She just staked ah..... Yeah. Not something that she ever expected to say that she had done.

The apartment that Sebastian had taken them into had been empty. That meant no towels. Sara wiped her hands on her pants then pulled a bandanna from her back pocket dampening one of the corners. Then returned to the two older healers sides. "Here" Sara knelt next to them and began cleaning the bits of dried blood from Hunter's face and neck with the cool damp part of the bandanna. Splotches that either collected themselves during the short struggle here, or during Hunter's adventure before arriving here.

Sebastian actually chuckled at the comment about coffins causing back problems. He'd slept on a Chinese bed before; he could imagine that if anything would be more murderous on the back than that, it would be a coffin..

“I'll give you my son's bed, then. It's right next door in our apartment.”

Hunter gritted his teeth against Sebastian's healing. The effect always seemed to be a different degree of cold for each person. Apparently for Hunter it was very, very cold indeed.

“You're one to talk about a mutation sucking,” Sebastian quipped lightly. He hoped he had used the American slang phrase correctly. He also hoped he could distract Hunter from his apparent discomfort for the few moments it took to heal him.

“There, all better.” He patted Hunter on the shoulder like he might have done a child Jude's age or younger. He was teasing again, almost to the point of calling Hunter a child, but not quite.

“Now, let's all rest. This has been a very long day for all of us. Sara, there is a bed or couch for you as well, if you so desire one.”

His son’s bed. Hunter had completely forgotten about Sebastian’s new family. Where they here he would have put them at terrible risk. Regret flashed momentarily across Hunter’s face before he let the freezing burn of Sebastian’s healing distract him. “Point take,” he replied as the old man finished healing what he could not.

Hunter nodded his thanks to Sara as he rose to his feet. He was suddenly aware of his full power flowing through him without the burning need to drain Sara and Sebastian’s blood. The want was still there, pressing against the inside of his head, but he didn’t need to kill them. Closing his eyes he put back up the mental restraints and reigned in his power. With his power diminished the pulses of his companions were not so painfully apparent. His healing factor would use the little extra blood in his system to stitch up his minor wounds and he’d be clean by morning.

“Rest sounds great,” Hunter said as he opened his eyes again, “Thank you. Both of you. Without you I don’t think I would have been strong enough to overcome my addiction. For that I can never repay you. If you ever need my assistance you have but to ask for it.” Locking eyes with Sebastian he added, “I’m sorry for risking your family by coming here. Had they not been out this could have been much worse. In a small effort to repay you your family will always have my protection from now on. When you cannot look out for them I shall.” Hunter meant it. No harm would come to the old man’s family while he could do something about it.