Like a dark cloud of smoke suddenly dissipating, the blackness of Miles hallucination started to disappear. He was almost in a fetal position, his face and knees in the ground, his hands covering his ears as if to deny everything he was watching or hearing. His senses were connected to those of his dogs, trying to block the visions, trying to add an extra layer of protection against the mental invasion, but it was no use. It was his mind, not his senses, that was under attack and as soon as Lennox managed to reach the girl, reality started to seep back into his thoughts.

He heard Lennox order the dog to find him, but Miles knew what the dog's answer would be. Hell, he could still see Lennox's face through the dog's eyes as the animal remained unfazed and unmoving, staring back at the older teen.

Miles raised his head, sweat and dirt on his face but with an expression of relief that couldn't be denied. He got up from the ground and started heading towards Clyde and Lennox. He hadn't reached them yet but his voice could be heard by the two as he approached.

"They only obey my commands. Nothing personal, really" he said, trying to excuse his dog's uncommon behavior. "I'm here."

They seemed to have gotten to the source of the problem and it was a young girl. Clyde was tending to her, trying to wake her from unconsciousness. He didn't know how Lennox had dealt with the girl and all he could see was her lying flat on her ass while Lennox was still standing. Miles stood next to the older teen.

"You didn't... you know..." he said, almost too embarrassed to ask the question, but he did anyway. "...Punch her lights out or anything, did you?

“No…” Lennox replied shaking his head from side to side. His mind still attempting to recover from the nightmare he just witnessed. Eyes looked down at his bandaged cover palm, before balling his hand into a fist.
“We’re done here right? Cause I have things to do…” He spoke to Clyde and Miles as made his way down a path leading out to another section of the park.

*Oh but Lennox I thought these boys were your friends? Comrades in arms, why are you so quick to leave them now? Was it something the little girl showed you.*
Lennox continued down the path a bit more, glancing over his shoulder he made certain he was out of eyesight from Clyde and Miles before replying to the voice.

“I don’t really need this crap from you right now, as a matter of fact since we’re on the subject where the hell were you during that… that nightmare? I thought you said it didn’t affect us!”

*Don’t question the limits of my power child, I saw reality your weak mind was the one that became compromised! Forced into submission by a female child because you’re far too weak to utilize my abilities!*

The voice screaming in his mind was giving him a headache, he approached a nearby bench cupping his head in his hands. “Alright stop screaming please..."

The girl was definitely alive, but from the looks of it, she was out cold. He didn't see any signs of injury, so exhaustion was likely. Lennox confirmed that when he denied knocking her out himself. He then said something about needing to do something. Just like that, he walked away. For some reason, he seemed to be in a hurry to get out of there. “What was that all about?” Clyde asked the remaining teen in a hushed tone.

Lennox was injured and fairly severely (or so he guessed). The little girl was unconscious, and her parents didn't seem to be around (or maybe they couldn't find her). Other people had harmed themselves on accident. He needed to get home to change out of those clothes. Agh. So much to be concerned about, most of it regarding the injured. Maybe getting the paramedics over there to help handle the rest of the situation was a good idea.

The age shifter sat his backpack down. Seeing his torn shorts, he promptly took his jacket off and wrapped it around his waist. Then, he started digging through his bag. Phone, phone... the phone wasn't in his backpack. Neither were a lot of the things that should be in there. Oh, wait, those must have fallen out when Miles picked him up. Great, some people needed medical attention, and he couldn't call the paramedics.

“Crap,” he muttered under his breath. He looked back up at Miles. “You have a phone?” he asked him. “Someone might need to go to the hospital.”

"I don't know" Miles replied truthfully, being totally in the dark regarding what was up with Lennox. The guy pretty much shrugged them off and left, leaving Miles and Clyde with the clean up detail.

Except the cleaning up was going out without much help from them. Clyde rummaged through his backpack, looking like a little cave boy with his clothes all shredded up and failing to find a cell phone. He asked Miles for his and the teen produced one, even though he didn't find it necessary. Maybe the kid hadn't noticed, but they weren't the only ones who had gone through this ordeal nor the only ones with a phone.

"You'll likely get a busy signal" he said, as many of the people who had been running scared or flailing at imaginary demons had now broken out of their own spells and some of them were already on their phones. He wouldn't be surprised if they heard a siren in the distance soon.

Miles turned and saw Lennox near a bench, both hands on his ears and not exactly in the best of health. It was Miles fault they were in such bad shape anyway, for not managing to control his dogs and call them back in time from attacking his would-be allies. The kid had suffered cuts in his hand, but Lennox had suffered much more damage in his arm, from Astor no less.

"Though if there's any of us who needs an ambulance, it's surely that guy" he said, pointing at Lennox with a flick of his head. You stay and try to find out if she's all right, I'll go look if he needs some help, he doesn't seem all that peachy to me."

With that, he left the cell phone to Clyde to manage whatever calls he needed to do and approached the black guy. In a way, Miles resented a little what he had gone through, accident or not, so the girl's health seemed secondary to him and less important than the wellbeing of someone who had helped put her down.

"Are you okay, Lennox? he asked as he approached him. "An ambulance should be coming soon. They should be able to patch up your arm and hand. Surely, what you have to do is not more important than that?"

"Are you okay, Lennox?” Miles approached from down the path.
Lennox looked up to Miles as he approached, his eyes narrowing as he spoke.

"An ambulance should be coming soon. They should be able to patch up your arm and hand. Surely, what you have to do is not more important than that?" Miles questioned. Lennox just stared at him, his right hand unballing the clenched fist showing that gaping mouth.

“I don’t need an ambulance… I just need blood, drinking blood would heal my arm instantly….” Lennox continued expecting the terror of his words to freak Miles out. “I kill people and drink blood in order to live, and have a voice in my head that tells me to do it. So if I need anything it isn’t an ambulance."

Lennox just stared at him awaiting his response.

Miles was right. Only busy signals. Clyde certainly was no expert on how to provide first aid, or whatever was needed to help, and Miles had gone try to help Lennox, so all he could do was stay with her until help arrived. The good news was, he could hear sirens in the distance. Even better, it appeared she was stirring. That had to be a good sign.

“Move over! I'm a doctor!” he suddenly heard someone shout.

Clyde turned to see a middle-aged woman running over to them. Immediately, she got down on the ground to check on the girl. The age shifter hovered there for a second out of concern.

“Look kid, I know you want to help, but it's best you stay back,” she told him.

Obediently, Clyde backed off. The way she treated him bothered him, but he was a bit tired to even think of a comeback. Plus, she was probably better off in her charge. There were other things that needed to be done, anyways. He needed to find the stuff that feel and even more, get home and change out of those clothes. With a quick scan of the surrounding area, he spotted his backpack's contents littered on the ground somewhat near the bench where Miles and Lennox were.

Quickly, the age shifter jogged over there to pick up his books, papers, and other miscellaneous school supplies. Luckily, it seemed everything stayed in a small pile, so it didn't take him long to return them to his backpack.

With that done, he turned his attention to the other teens. He had no clue what they were talking about, though he suspected that it had something to do with Lennox's injured arm. From what he'd seen earlier, that guy seriously needed to go to the emergency room.

Since the ambulances were close by, there was no longer any need for a phone. He started to head for the bench, Miles' phone in hand, to return it. He wasn't close enough to see what exactly they were doing, but it seemed Lennox was letting Miles examine his arm.

There were times in his life where Miles thought his mutation was the creepiest thing around. Everyone saw weird dogs and him bossing them around and thinking that was all there was to it, but the crux of the matter was he raised them from the dead and that was very creepy for him.

Then Lennox showed Miles his mutation.

All of a sudden, raising the dead seemed as creepy as fluffy kittens.

For a second, Miles thought Lennox had been shot in the hand at some point, but no, that was not a wound. No wound in the world ever develops fangs. It was gross and disturbing, but then Lennox spoke and his words were even more disturbing.

His immediate reaction was to give a step back. You didn't hear people telling they killed others and drank their blood to survive everyday, much less that they heard voices. That was serious stuff right there, and yet... this had all been Miles fault. Had his dogs not attacked him, they wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Lennox had pretty much been the one who carried them through. He was the first to tell them the thrallls and spiders were hallucinations. Had he not approached the girl, they would probably still be squirming in the ground, fighting nightmares in a traumatizing mental battle that seemed impossible to win. He owed him.

But did Miles need to pay in blood?

He looked at Lennox straight in the eye. This was not an easy decision to make and he needed reassurances that if he 'repaid his debt' he wouldn't end up a blood dried husk of dead meat or worse, with a little bloodsucking fanged mouth on his hand. Raising the dead was burden enough, he didn't need to be a vampire to make it creepier.

Still hesitating, Miles heard footsteps nearby. He turned his head and noticed the youngest of the trio close to them. Lifting his hand and signaling with his finger to approach him, Miles called his name.

"Oh, Clyyyyde! Come here, have a look at this and tell me what you think..."

His reaction was clear, he too was horrified by what Lennox truly was, a point his “friend” didn’t waste time exploiting.

*Even he detest you child. Look at his face the horror, and fear the mere mention of our gifts has filled him with. And you thought these boys to be accepting of you?*

Lennox wanted nothing more than Miles not to step back. If this whole situation was worth anything him not stepping back would prove it. But the voice was right, the first thing he did was step back and stare at his palm like he was some type of freak on display.

The two made eye contact, before Miles turned to call over Clyde.
"Oh, Clyyyyde! Come here, have a look at this and tell me what you think..."

Clyde?! How long was he standing there?

As Clyde got closer to the other teens, he briefly glanced at his own had, which had pretty much stopped bleeding. The bite wasn't as bad as it looked, so he doubted he'd have to even get stitches. He'd gotten lucky there. Lennox, not so much.

“Heah's yo phone,” the age shifter said to Miles, holding it out for him to take back. It seemed he wanted his opinion on something there, but he wasn't sure why. He knew that Lennox's arm was mauled up fairly bad, thanks to those creepy dogs of Miles', but it wasn't as if he knew much about first aid. He turned to glance at Lennox's bitten arm. “Yeah, it looks bad, all right. I'm not a doctah. Really, we need to get an am-”

Clyde's jaw dropped when he saw Lennox's hand. On it was what appeared to be a dark, gaping wound. In it were some sharp, white objects. For a moment, he thought they were pieces of broken bones, but, taking a closer look, he could see that they more closely resembled fanged teeth.

“What the hell...?” Clyde blurted out before he could stop himself, his eyes huge with shock. Lennox had a mouth on his hand! That was... really... really... weird.

Yup. His sentiments exactly. Was this asking too much from him? Wasn't getting blood sucked straight out of you by a fanged mouth in someone's hand a wee bit too much to ask for having your dog maul your arm?

He raised his eyes from the mouth and looked at Lennox straight into his eyes and there he saw it. Was that a hint of desperation? Disappointment? Miles had trouble talking about his mutation with anyone, how difficult must it have been for Lennox to do the same and then have the two people... no, not just the two people, the two mutants who helped you, who fought with you side by side, to suddenly show terror at your mutation. Miles knew quite well from personal experience that mutation was not something people asked for, it just happened. Lennox was likely as repulsed at having to live with his and he could have just as easily tried to fetch his blood dose by force.

But he didn't. He actually came forth and asked. He was brutally honest in doing so and Miles had reacted poorly to it. If Lennox's physiology depended on this to survive and normal medicine couldn't help him, he could very well be in mortal danger. Miles couldn't help feel nervous about it, but if he had questions and Lennox had been honest, then hey, why not ask them?

"Suppose I do this..." he said, opening the gates of possibility to him agreeing to becoming a donor. "What happens to me? Do you need a pint or do you need to suck me dry? Will I have any repercussions I'll regret later, like... you know, growing a mouth in my hand as well?"

These might have seemed like stupid questions to Lennox, but there were real worries behind them. If he agreed and then something went wrong, like Lennox wanting to stay attached for far too long, then Miles could always count on his dogs and maybe even Clyde to pull them apart, but he'd regret having agreed to it in the first place.

He accepted his phone back from Clyde, still studying the possibilities. "I just want to make certain everyone will get to go back home alive. Myself included."