it's an eye for an eye [caitlin]

[NIKOLAI ALEXANDER BELANOV]

It had been awhile since Nikolai had visited Seattle, but not so long that his quaint little home was not still there--a small apartment in one of the older complexes, the stone darkened with age. And inside it was just the same as he had left it, with the old victorian furniture and the hand-carved tables placed deliberately around the main area, cobwebs hanging from the antique family vases perched on the table, guarding flowers that had long ceased living.

The whole apartment had smelled of dust, but that was to be expected. After all, Nikolai hadn't visited there in at least ten years, and there was bound to be some ill-effect from that. But the cleaning itself hadn't taken long, and it wasn't the source of his current vexation. No, the reason for that was because he had discovered the need to replace some of the fabrics that he had lain around his house--things like white bedsheets and the like. Despite the fact that he did not sleep, he liked everything to look presentable.

Perhaps it was the traces of the nobleman he had once been shining through.

Glancing up at the moon in the dark sky, Nikolai hid a smile as he made his way through the crowds of Seattle's nightlight, a pair of dark shades perched on the end of his nose to hide the red of his eyes from the sights of those passing. The odds of them noticing were slim, but Nikolai was fond of his life, and he was fond of not having the Volturi adding a crime to his leger.

He did, after all, prefer to avoid trouble when at all possible.

Procuring the new sheets wouldn't be any trouble for him, and logically he should have just grabbed them and gone back inside, but he wanted to take the short amount of time he had left until daylight to study the layout of Seattle; to refresh his memory, relearning every alleyway and every populated downtown suburb. It never paid to be assured of one's escape routes, after all, and Nikolai's faint paranoia was enough to ensure that he stayed on his guard at least in that respect. He stayed in some places longer than most, hating the thought of having to be on the move all the time, but the Volturi laws stated that a vampire could not remain overly long in one place.

So he wandered the dark streets, rapidly draining of people, imprinting everything into his mind for future use. It wasn't like he had anything else to do, after all.

ooc; wow, sorry that took so long. my muse has been rather dead today.

[caitlintokala]

Caitlin had been going stir crazy in La Push after staying within the small area that her new pack wandered. She had been sticking to just runs in the forest and surrounding mountains to do little get a ways but even they had gotten where they just weren’t enough anymore. After all, she has spent the last four years on her own wandering from place to place keeping everyone she ever met at a distance and not settling in one place for more than a week or two at the most. This meant that she had seen most of the entire United States and she had even paid a few visits up into Canada and one little jaunt down into Mexico. She hadn’t pictured herself getting pulled back into a pack ever, let alone so soon. It had happened quickly and it was showing to be harder to adjust to thank she had initially thought that it would be. She knew she would have some adjusting to do but she was finding it harder than she thought and it really was starting to get to her.

She had been so thankful when she had asked Sam about leaving the area to go to Seattle to get some time to herself and he had been very understanding. He was an alpha she was glad to answer too seeing he understood her struggle with the adjustment to the pack. She had noticed the whole pack welcomed her in like family when she joined them but even so, she still had her own issues that she had been very careful to conceal from them and every now and then she just needed to be able to let those things go without worrying that one of the pack might find out too soon. Frankly, she felt it was her issues to deal with and that until she had those issues under control completely, that her new pack really just didn’t even need to know about them.

She had ridden her motorcycle into the city and left it in a parking lot in downtown, so no matter which direction she went at any time, if she needed to get to her bike and get back to La Push on short notice, without it being an emergency, she could retrieve her bike easily. She honestly wasn’t sure about just wandering around Seattle but she figured it had to be better than just sitting around La Push yet again. Instead of thinking of where she wanted to head to she just decided to spin twice and just go in the direction she was facing. It wasn’t really the most logical of things to do, but really she didn’t care where she ended up as long as it wasn’t La Push or Forks.

Once she reached a part of town where there were some small shops and apartment buildings she decided to cut through an alley to reach the next block over and check it out. As she approached the other end of the alley she caught the scent that chilled her to the bone. She froze instantly glancing behind her once before turning to face the opening of the alley once again. She knew that sickeningly sweet scent and she instantly put up her guard on full alert. She was completely alone here and even if she shifted it would take her new pack far too long to get here in order to do her any good. Instead she chose to remain in her human form and hopefully talk her way out of a confrontation she was sure at some point would come back to haunt her. Honestly, she just wished she could run from the problem but she was pretty sure that if she had caught the scent of a nearby vampire that they had in turn caught the scent of her. So she stayed put standing silent and still waiting for an inevitable encounter that she truly didn’t know if she could handle or not.



OOC: No worries. I know exactly how that is.

[NIKOLAI ALEXANDER BELANOV]

The use of his gift was instinctive. Within less than a second, Nikolai had cloaked himself from the public, the repugnant scent of werewolf sending the rest of his senses reeling into overdrive as his body instinctively tensed, readying itself for combat without him even having to will himself. And perhaps that alone, the sudden craving for blood between his teeth, for bones snapping between his fingers, was what eventually allowed him to detach his mind from what his primal instincts urged.

He was vaguely terrified by such a strong slip, there was no doubt, but there was no time for thinking on that. It had happened, and he would just have to make sure it didn't in the future, was all. Perhaps those last couple years of moving, with no contact with any hostile forces, had merely dulled his instincts a little, allowing complacency to grow in his mind where it shouldn't.

And yet his own reaction still disgusted him to the point of stopping, his gift still working to cloak him from the people around him, their eyes seeing but unseeing as they moved about their daily lives, unaware that a creature as dangerous as him even lurked among their ranks.

If Joseph were here, he would have been disappointed. Not that he would have said anything, of course, but he would have looked at Nikolai with that disapproving expression of his: pinched face, pursued lips, and shadowed eyes.

"Nik, ve cannot afford zese slip-ups so far into your transformation. You are not a newborn any longer."

Nikolai closed his eyes, fighting a bitter smile, before he stepped to the side of the road and relaxed his ability, becoming visible to the crowd again. That was when the scent of the werewolf hit him even harder, and, slapping the blank mask of an aristocrat onto his face, the vampire turned to the alleyway he had stepped towards, his eyes landing immediately on the form of a young woman, slightly tanned skin shrouded in bright purple, a stark contrast to his own dark clothes: a nice black overcoat and matching black dress pants, and a white and red scarf.

Fighting the urge to frown at her presence, Nikolai glanced back over his shoulder before turning his gaze to the young woman and taking a firm step into the alleyway, his eyes unblinking as he looked at her. For this wolf was alone. There was no other scent Nikolai could detect; no trace of the repulsive stench that followed the packs wherever they went, and that alone was enough to pique and hold his interest. It went without saying that she knew how dangerous that was--one, singular wolf could hardly hope to hold out long in a fight against an experienced vampire--and yet still she came, looking slightly resigned.

Nikolai's mouth then curved into a brief, amused smile.

She had known he was there.

"You are long way from beach, wolf," he said, Russian accent thick even after over two-hundred years. "Dark alleyways are not safest place to lurk in Seattle, either. But I suspect you... ah, you are already aware. Then, pray tell, why do you stand there when I could snap your neck in less than two seconds?" He snapped his fingers together, raising an eyebrow, burying the curling rage he felt at the idea that he hadn't scented her sooner. "You are either wery brave, or wery... foolish. Is that expression? You English-speakers think up new ones every few decades; I can hardly keep up."

[caitlintokala]

Caitlin couldn’t believe she had gotten herself into this kind of a situation. Alone in an alleyway with a vampire nearby was the last place any wolf wanted to be, especially with their pack so far away. She thought about running for it, but she didn’t know this vampire’s personality, and frankly, she had a couple of times in the past when she was trying to avoid a fight and ran but the vamps came after her anyway. She didn’t want to repeat that kind of a chase in the middle of Seattle not knowing where she was heading, when she would reach woods where she could transform without attracting far too much attention, or what kind of vampire she might be facing. With all of this in mind she decided to stay put but as she slowly started approaching the end of the alley, her heart beat continued to increase with each passing second and she began to shake, not because she was going to shift but because she still had a deep subconscious fear of vampires.

As Caitlin approached the end of the alleyway thinking that maybe the vampire had left, she suddenly froze as he stepped into the alleyway. She noted his black attire which made him really blend in to the darkness and as the breeze shifted for a moment again she caught his scent once more making her sure he was indeed the vampire she was concerned he would be. She was careful to make sure her face didn’t portray any emotions but it was her eyes that actually gave her away. Her eyes were contaminated with fear which was something she couldn’t hide no matter how hard she might try.

“U-yo-i…” The Cherokee word rolled off her tongue as though she had just been speaking her native language with her tribe back home just yesterday, not over four years ago. Simply put it meant ‘not good’ which definitely fit this situation. She cautiously continued to close the distance between herself and the vampire noting that he looked as though he had been turned sometime during his mid-twenties. She noted the smile that curved the vampire’s lips and gritted her teeth. His amused smiled reminded her of many arrogant guys she had met over the years and the fact that this guy was a vampire just made that little smile that much more annoying but she listened closely as he spoke keeping her guard up. As the vampire spoke of decades she noted that this guy had to be very old, which she was sure wouldn’t help her any.

“You are correct, I’m very aware that I’m a long way from the beach, Tsv-s-gi-no.” Once again the Cherokee word rolled off her tongue without even thinking about it. She had no problem calling a vampire, Devil. After all, devils was exactly what her people had called them ever since the first vampires showed up on this continent. She had learned a lot from her tribe about these evil creatures and as times progressed, so did all of the information of these devils along with their strengths and weaknesses. She also had learned all about how good of a chance shifters held against a single vampire one to one and the results had never favored a lone wolf.

“However, my presence in Seattle has nothing to do with you or any others of your kind, so therefore, with all due respect, it is none of your business.” As she spoke she tried to maintain a strong even tone but at times, even she could hear the waver in her voice, and she had chosen not even to acknowledge the brave or foolish remark out of a desire to avoid arguing. Her heart was racing and she could feel it pounding in her head as she tried to control her breathing and remain calm. She finally stopped approaching the vampire to stand about seven feet in front of him and hooked her thumbs in the pockets of her jeans. She just hoped she could keep up the calm act because without her pack anywhere nearby, she was completely vulnerable and she had no idea how in the world she was going to get herself out of this situation.

[NIKOLAI ALEXANDER BELANOV]

He could smell the fear rolling off of her. It came in waves, starting out small and increasing in frequency until Nikolai could have signed in bliss, the scent bringing out the natural predatory edge in him. Almost instantly his actions became more smooth, his posture more assured, and his eyes narrowed further, angling towards the shifter in a way he knew would look more intimidating. It was a natural response, and Nikolai had always enjoyed the sensation of others fearing him, but he wasn't here to kill the werewolf.

He would lose much of his credibility in his line of work if he just went out and started killing werewolves for no reason, after all. He did, occasionally, perform tasks for the shifters as well, though it was rare--something about the proud, canine-like nature refusing to accept help from their natural enemies; the creatures they existed to destroy. It was why, when they finally crawled to him, tails between their legs, they were so resentful.

Of course, Nikolai was a professional, so he didn't let his disdain for them shine through, listening to their requests with a straight face, the mask of a practiced aristocrat, but the faint resentment was there all the same.

It was there for this girl, too.

But...

"What language do you speak?" the vampire inquired quizzically, raising one eyebrow as he ran the distinct sounding words through his mind, trying to place them. Nikolai himself spoke many languages--it was the boon of an aristocrat, and he was pleased to count languages such as English, Russian, German and French among his repertoire--but this one was alien to him, the odd-sounding syllables humming pleasantly in his mind, drawing some of the predatory aura away from him, resulting in a relaxing of his shoulders and a softness to his motion which always came with Nikolai was curious about something.

Even so, the fear he could hear in her next words was enough to make him chuckle, and though he knew the amusement shining in his eyes must annoy her, he could not hide it. He was not without fear himself, of course--this was his enemy, and the strong jaws of this creature was more than capable of tearing his head from his body should he let his guard down too much--but he hid it well, only inclining his head. He did not move forward, concluding that any movement on his part would be perceived as a threat, and he wasn't in the mood for a fight. Instead, he merely stood still, watching the shifter closely as she approached him, and his aggression only bled out further at the surprise action.

She was afraid of him, and still she came closer. Fascinating.

"You would not be first wolf to approach me for something, little one," Nikolai spoke then, making his voice more soft and coaxing. "I have dealt with your kind before. More than once, too. I am not here to rip arms out and snap necks this day." He smiled, a brief thing that flickered across his face before vanishing completely, and a tinge of warmth entered his eyes. The aggression was completely gone from him now, leaving only a languid posture behind. "Neechevo srashnava, little one. No harm. You will not be prey this day, at least not from me."

He shifted slightly, careful to keep his movements slow, so that she would not think he was planning to attack. She had no reason to trust his words, after all, and he would have been a fool had he thought so.

"If I may, then, what is your name? Why do you walk streets alone?" It was small talk, idleness meant to put the girl at ease, to further downplay the threat he presented. That wasn't to say Nikolai wasn't a threat--he was, and the act of snapping her neck would be as simple as a few steps forward and a well-placed blow to the neck--but he didn't intend on making any sudden moves. He was here in Seattle to get business done, and maybe to relax a little. Senseless murder had no place in his plans.

"I am not most dangerous thing out there." That may or may not have been a lie, but he didn't voice that. "But surely you know this."

[caitlintokala]

Caitlin still didn’t know what this vampire’s intentions where and that just made her all the more that uneasy. As if this wasn’t bad enough for her, when she approached he soon altered his stance and began to appear more intimidating. All of this was bringing up a lot of memories from her past and it was evident in her eyes she was struggling with it. However, she tried her best to cover her emotions with as much of a calm appearance as she could manage. She noted that he didn’t know her native tongue and this seemed somewhat amusing to her, knowing that no matter how old this guy actually was, she knew something that he did not. In her mind this thought gave her a slight break from her stress but she didn’t really feel it, so instead she just kept her eyes on him, not trusting what he may or may not do and answered his question simply and with as smooth of a voice as possible.

“It’s Cherokee… tsv-s-gi-no is devil…” She paused before second guessing letting him know what the word meant. She knew better than that and whatever had possessed her to tell him, she wasn’t sure. Dang It! What was I thinking! She slightly sighed glancing down at the ground in front of her before raising her eyes back to the vampire before her.

“No offense of course… It’s just what my people call your kind… I guess you could say the name is burned into my brain…” She hoped that the indirect apology would keep this bloodsucker at bay. She wasn’t about to tell him that she was sorry if she hurt his feelings but she would definitely say something to try to keep from getting into a fight and then probably getting herself killed. She noted that as she approached him that he tensed back up and she couldn’t help wondering how much of a threat he actually thought she was. Granted, as a wolf she was pretty dang good at holding her own but in human form, she was just an average fighter. It was for this exact reason that she was wary about staying in her human form and why she was trying so desperately to avoid conflict with this killer.

As she heard him refer to others coming to him, she wondered what in the world they could possibly want to go to him for. Then there was the sound of his voice which was almost beckoning but why, she wasn’t sure and though his Russian accent was heavy on her ears, she found it a nice sound to hear. However, it was when he referred to her as Little One that caught her attention and she slightly raised one eyebrow in question. Is this guys serious… I may be younger than him, but really, I’m not that young… net thing you know he’ll be calling me Kid… Her thoughts were annoyed and she couldn’t help it as the annoyed look somewhat visited her eyes now. She couldn’t believe he would call her Little One and she slightly shifted her weight slowly from one side to the other.

Once again she listened as the vampire spoke of her safety and that he would leave her be, so she need not worry. However, her feelings on the matter were, since when could she ever trust a vampire? Never… She noted his smile as she cataloged his words in her mind and if someone had asked her than she would have admitted that if this vampire was human, she could have found him an attractive person but then again, all vampires had looks going for them, it was what made them the most dangerous predator in the world. When he asked her name and why she was there she quickly ran through thoughts of how she actually answer these questions. Honestly, none of it was any of his business but then again, she figured if she just popped off with such a response, that she wouldn’t be getting out of here any time soon, if at all, so she chose to go the honest route instead.

“My name is Caitlin Tokala Houston and sorry if I’m mistaken but I believe you are one of the most dangerous things out there. You and those like you…” She paused for a second before deciding what she was going to say about being there. She could have made up anything really and probably gotten away with it. She could have claimed the same status she would have a few months ago and just said she was a nomad passing through. However, once again she found that honesty was winning out in her thoughts and even though she chose not to declare all of the specifics about her pack, she would go ahead and share about her and see if he returned the step of favor and answered her own questions.

“As far as why I’m here alone… I just joined up with a new pack & even though I enjoy them, the nomad in me needed some space for a while. So I let my alpha know and just started driving. I finally settled on Seattle figuring I could keep myself busy for a while in order to allow some time for my thoughts to just be my own again.” The explanation held detail, but not too much and shared her information with him without compromising her pack in anyway. After all, she knew of three packs just in the Forks/La Push area alone. She slightly tilted her head to the side keeping her eyes on him, which still showed a bit of her fear, annoyance, and something new… curiosity.

“So now you know about me… What about you? Your name… Why you’re here… I knew vampires liked more humanly populated areas but considering the empty streets I’m guessing that you’re not out hunting. Which only makes me question what it is that you are up to…” The words passed her lips quickly and she quickly began to wonder if she should have so blatantly forward to him or not. She didn’t know this guy and at this point she didn’t know if he would go ahead and keep her around or just kill her and get it over with. However, she knew that if she didn’t make it back to La Push, the pack would come looking for her & if something had happened to her, they would make sure to get the one responsible. She stayed silent and still as she waited for his response, though she was mentally prepared to at least try to bolt from the ally if it became apparent that she needed to.

[NIKOLAI ALEXANDER BELANOV]

It had been a long, long time since Nikolai had run into someone with eyes as expressive as the wolf-girl's. In his world, surrounding mostly by impassive expressions and falsely benign smiles, it was rare to come across someone who couldn't seem to control their emotions--not completely, anyway. To him, there was something fascinating about it. Yes, there were those who would seek him out, tears in their eyes as they begged one case or another, their voices cracking as they shifted around nervously in the parlours of one of Nikolai's many, more grandeur homes; yes, there are those who would storm in, wearing their emotions so cleanly on their face, but rarely had they ever been afraid of him like he could tell this wolf was.

If other creatures feared him, it was always for the power he controlled through his network of various contacts; the network he had spent the last better two-hundred and fifty years constructing, not sparing a single thought for anything other than the need to regain control in his life. At the beginning, there were many of those who had refused to take him seriously, turning to older vampires with more experience, or so many of them had cited when Nikolai had first begun to negotiate ideas and mergers. They had hardly expected him, then a new vampire, to get far at all under such competition.

But he had, and the smile that had flickered across his face when those same men and women had approached him, their faces as blank as their eyes as they sought favours from him, had been one of triumph. It had made him feel, if only briefly, like he were back home in his native Russia, somewhere he hadn't visited after travelling through shortly after Joseph's shocking death. It had made him feel like a nobleman again, back when he was high in Empress Catherine's favour, a darling of the upper circles and the heir to a shocking amount of fortune in land and deeds. Technically, he still owned that land, and appeared to his insurance agents when they demanded his presence (or, rather, the presence of his "descendants"), but he left it largely to the care of the government, and slowly but surely it was beginning to crumble.

He would let it. The old family castle served no further purpose to him same for grim reminders of times long since past, and he was already starting to become dangerously melancholic in the newfound free time he had been having.

His thoughts had wandered once more, however, and he shifted mental attention back to the werewolf, listening attentively to the pleasant hum of the words. They sounded blocky and alien to him, so used to the smoothness of his native language and of the Latin words of the old prayers, and it rung differently than even German and English. It sounded almost... primitive, in a way, though without the negative connotation of appearing subsequently savage.

So fascinated was he by the sound of it that he didn't even realise she had translated until her fear scent spiked, accompanied by an exhalation of air from her body that spoke of nervousness. He merely blinked slowly at her, once, the action human in a way Nikolai liked to maintain.

After all, he had been called far worse than devil, and he had no reason to expect anything less from a creature that was born and bred to combat his kind at every turn.

"Neechevo, neechevo, pazhaloosta," he told her calmly, that same calmness reflected in his own eyes, as he allowed. It wasn't a sadistic kind of calm, either, like the kind he had seen used by many members of the Volturi, in particular its leader Aro and the young-looking weapon he wielded, Alec. "Neechevo srashnava." He made sure the words sounded relatively warm, with just the right balance of politeness, so that she would not be unnerved as he told her, in his own native language, that there was no harm done.

"In our culture, we have many names for werewolves," Nikolai said then, switching back to English. "Dog. Cur. Mutt. Few others that are far less flattering." He could not help the smoothness of his actions as he leaned back a little bit, a kind of smoothness and grace that only a true predator of the vampiric calibre could properly master, though he knew the wolf wouldn't appreciate it. As she refused to apologise for her nature, so he would refuse to downplay the fact that he was a vampire. He was a predator, after all, and she could easily be his prey. He played at friendliness now, but should she make a particularly poor choice, that could change.

It was remarkably like human politics, really.

The edges of his mouth tugged upwards into a small smile as she raised her eyebrow at the nickname, but he wouldn't explain it to her. It wasn't an uncommon one, and it was a name he tended to pull out when he had no others to address someone by, unless it was grossly inappropriate in a situation. And besides, he could not deny the small buzz of pleasure, amusement derived, he got from her irritation. Even so, the shift of her body caught his attention, and his eyes snapped briefly from her face, running once over her body to insure, instinctively, that the movement was not threatening.

Perhaps a better vampire would have known instantly, but Nikolai had never pretended to be one of those.

It surprised him, then, when she responded to his inquiry with honestly, and it caught him off-guard enough that he allowed his own eyebrows to rise, one hand going up to gently play with the scarf around his neck, the creamy white and red one of the only past reminders he carried with him physically. Whatever creature he was now, he was still a Belanov, and the family colours were something he tended to hold onto out of a misguided sense of sentimentality--a harmless weakness, and one he saw no real problem with.

The werewolf--Caitlin, his mind supplied gently, before giving him an equally gentle reminder, as it always did, that titles such as Lady Houston were no longer appropriate--continued to speak after that, surprise the vampire further, and, oh, it wasn't often he was this surprised. Honesty--and he could tell she wasn't lying to him--was something he had grown used to living without, after all, and he had never expected such forthrightness from someone that was supposed to be an enemy. He knew, of course, that a large part of this honesty was motivated by fear of the threat he presented, but there was another small pleasure to be had in being able to gauge that. Still, it took Nikolai a few moments to compose himself again, the traces of surprise finally vanishing from his face before he considered her words.

He felt, rather than saw, the next shift in her attitude--something in his intuition sensing the lessening of hostility in the situation, and when he met her eyes again he was surprised--again, no less--to observe the new note of curiosity in her eyes.

So it was mutual, then.

It was the nobleman in him that eventually prompted him to respond to her, after a brief pause while he deliberated. Well, that and the hurried patterns of her speech, telling him that, despite her curiosity, she was still frightened of him. It as good to note that she wasn't a fool. Ironically, she had even managed to throw him off his own guard, enough so that, when he did speak, his words were slower than they might have normally been, careful thought being placed into each and every one of them.

"Nikolai," he told her, surveying her subtly. "Nikolai Belanov. You are first in long time to find me without knowing." It wasn't hubris talking, it was fact. Many knew him, even those of her kind. "I have... property here. Small property. Is nice to see sometimes when I am alone. But I have not been here in long time, and things fall into ruin when I am not careful to maintain them." A wry expression appeared on his face then. "And you are right: I am not hunting." He knew she must have guessed by the redness of his eyes that, when he did hunt, he hunted humans. "I stepped out of home to... ah, refurnish. My own negligence lead to deterioration of possessions, all my fault, and so I replace them. It has been some time since I have been to Seattle. Too many people for me. I prefer the countryside. It is not so suspicious, is it? Even devils have to take break from terrorising innocents at some point." The last part of his answer was said with amusement as he dragged her earlier comment back into the conversation. "And so this is mine."

He did not mention that he mostly travelled under the guise of his chameleon-like ability, one that enabled him to mentally shield himself from others, but that did not matter. She had no need to know, and it was something he kept mostly to himself. He did not want other vampires, like the Volturi, finding out about it.

ooc; ... well that one got away from me. umm... oops? and so our roleplay gets into the thousand word count xD 1.5k, in my case.

[caitlintokala]

Caitlin didn’t realize it when her mind drifted away from the ally and the vampire, her enemy that she was supposed to be keeping close track of so he couldn’t get the slip on her. She didn’t realize it when her mind rested on her time living on the Qualla Boundary Indian land trust. In her mind she was suddenly back home running through the forests of the Smokey Mountains and she was not alone. She had her pack running with her and they were the closest that they had ever been but she still couldn’t escape their feelings of pity for her. Everyone in the pack knew everything about each other because their minds were no longer their own once they were in the pack. Most everyone could handle each other’s thoughts but it was her thoughts that brought out the most emotion in her pack members. They couldn’t imagine going through what she had been through with her father’s death and each time something triggered that memory in her while they were out running, suddenly the entire pack would pity her all at the same time. It finally reached a point that she would run alone or send out the pack to run while she stayed behind, because she just couldn’t handle that pity anymore.

She had been running from pity for the past four years and she had finally found a place she felt comfortable staying. She had settled in the area and found a new pack quickly but she hoped that when they found out her secrets, which was bound to happen sooner or later, that they would still accept her and not pity her. She had been running from the pity and having to avoid vampires each time she crossed one of their scents… This thought is was suddenly pulled her back into the present. What was she doing let herself drift off into her past like that? She knew that if this vampire wanted to, he could take her out the picture very quickly and very easily and she needed to keep a close watch on him. However, her curiosity peaked when he spoke once again in what she believe was his own native tongue. Though she had no idea what he was telling her, it was the sound of his voice that was soft and reassuring. It was like his voice had a calming effect and she felt herself calm ever so slightly listening to him speak and paying close attention to his accent to try to place it but she found that she couldn’t. Well, that’s annoying… but go figure… He’s probably talking like that on purpose too… Her thoughts were quick and a little disconnected but over all she tried to keep her annoyance with his change of tongue to a minimum.

As she heard the vampire once again return to English and list off some of the many different nicknames for her kind out there she nodded in understanding. After all, vampires had ‘nicknames’ for the werewolves and shape-shifters just like the werewolves and shape-shifters had ‘nicknames’ for the vampires. This was one thing that definitely went both ways between their kinds. She noted the one ‘Cur’, because it wasn’t one that you heard very often. Dog was more common and yet when hostility was on the rise that even more commonly used was Mutt. Though within her own tribe she had been referred to as ‘Pup’ for a long time, which was probably do to the fact that she had become the alpha at such a young age and actually ended up being the youngest member in the pack, but still in charge. She had noted that he was keeping a close eye on her even slightest movements, as if he actually thought she might attack him. Even though she would have loved the idea of doing such a thing, she wasn’t stupid or suicidal and so she would never attack a vampire on her own.

As she waited for the vampire’s answers to her own questions, not knowing if he would try to feed her false information or not, she noted his gaze into her eyes. Dang…. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised if he’s already figured out how to read me… The thought was fleeting but she knew that if she wasn’t careful, this vamp could probably use whatever he was reading from her eyes, against her if she let him and didn’t try to keep him from reading her emotions so easily.

The names were what caught her attention as he told them to her. She was sure that they sounded like they were from eastern Europe or possibly Russia, but she wasn’t sure exactly. For all she knew he could have been from Germany and she wouldn’t really know the difference. When he mentioned that he owned a home in the area suddenly she couldn’t help but wonder if the others wolves in the area had known about this and not warned her ahead of time. However, she figured this would be a question to ask the boys later. She was glad to hear that he wasn’t hunting because that meant that she wasn’t interrupting him from that, which from her small bit of experience tended to make a vampire quite annoyed and angry. When he mentioned ‘devils’ she made her mistake once again and closed her eyes, she still couldn’t believe she had just popped off with that name at Nikolai without even realizing what she was doing. She was starting to get this funny feeling that if she lived through the night, it would have to be a miracle.

“You’re right… Vampires can take breaks, though it’s not something that I’m used to seeing. I guess because I usually don’t stay in one place long enough to see it.” She wasn’t sure why but as she agreed with him she wondered why she wasn’t making some attempt at getting out of here as quickly as possible. Maybe it was because she was afraid he would come after her and possibly catch her before she reached her motorcycle or could shift and call for her pack. No matter what the reason it was odd to her and her mind was somewhat distracted by it even though she continued on.

“Although, I have to admit that I do find it interesting that you prefer the country. Most vampires I’ve had run-ins with in the past have all preferred to live in the city so that they have an abundant food source at all times…” As she spoke she kept her voice even and calm. She still had a hint of fear in her eyes but she did still also have that hint of curiosity running through them as well. However, it was what she did subconsciously that could possibly lead to a problem. Without even realizing that she was doing it she started to slowly approach Nikolai as she spoke. If she had kept her mind from wandering while she was speaking and had stayed focused than she would have stopped in her tracks and probably progressed backward a bit more than before just to be sure to maintain the peaceful space between them. However, instead she did slowly advance toward him as her mind wandered to her other encounters and she began to, subconsciously, close the ten foot gap between her and Nikolai.

As she progressed her eyes weren’t even on Nikolai really, even though her gaze seemed to rest on his eyes. It was her own eyes that gave her away as being wrapped up yet again in some other world. This time she didn’t notice her distracted mind and she didn’t pull herself out of the alternate thoughts that had pulled her away from the here and now once again. She was off in some other world with her train of though, and for once it might actually end up putting her into a very dangerous situation. How the situation turned out with Caitlin’s actions was truly all up to Nikolai.



OOC: lol... no worries... I know how that goes. 1,349 words for me this time. I don't mind the thousands word count. Back in the day I belonged to a rpg that you had to atleast have 1,000 words or more. That was tricky some times but it was a lot of fun too.
And sorry this took so long. That dang cut on my thumb slowed me down more than expected...