Adventures with the Marauders W/Lynx

Hana grinned as Kai grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the office. It was finally the last time and she had a good hour to spend with him before he packed his stuff and would go home with her the next weekend. She didn't have a security officer hovering over her shoulder, David pretty much said that he trusted her and left it at that. "Where are we headed off to?" She asked teasingly.

"Ice cream." Kai said simply. "Then park."

"Ice cream." Hana laughed. "Wouldn't that spoil dinner?" She didn't mind it even if it did. It wouldn't hurt anything. She just would keep care not to do overdo it.

"Nah." Kai shook his head. "Minty chip."

"That sounds pretty good." Hana nodded, thinking of Ryo. "I think I'll be a plain jane and just get chocolate."

Kai stopped in his tracks and looked up at Hana, his eyes squinting as the sun was hitting him in the face. "You're not plain. I like chocolate too. I'll get chocolate."

"No you don't...." Hana sighed, knowing to well that Kai was just going to be stubborn. For all she knew, he'd change his mind once they got to the ice cream palor. They walked for a while when she noticed that next to the ice cream place was a small florist shop. It looked as if it was new, she certainly never took notice of it before. The flowers that were on the front were yellow and oranges. She didn't see anything dark red or purple, considering that those flowers probably didn't bloom in the fall. Kai was also distracted, bending down to a pot and staring at one of the orange marigolds.

"You like that one, little fella?" a voice asked. It was gentle, yet it had a slight husk and lazy drawl to it. "Reminds me of yer hair."

Kai looked up and blinked before he ran over to where Hana was and hid behind her as she stood up. "Sorry." Hana apologized as she placed a hand on Kai's head. "He's shy around strangers." She looked down at Kai. "Go ahead, answer him." She encouraged. He nodded timidly, but didn't say a word, watching the man with wide eyes and curiosity.

The stranger in question had jet black hair, but his eyes were that shade of blue-grey that kept you wondering, and he was fairly average height for a man. He leaned against the doorway to the flower shop and smiled charmingly while he wiped off his hands which were caked brown from the dirt, "My name's Slate Tucker," he squatted down and took the marigold, handing it out to him invitingly, "It won' bit ya if ya touch it and neither will I, I promise."

Hana felt her heart stutter, and she felt herself beaming with pride as Kai hesitantly left Hana's side to go towards him and took the marigold. He stared at it for a moment, his tiny fingers touched the petals delicately. He turned over to Hana and grinned, presenting it proudly to her.

"I'm Hana Minami." She introduced, "and that's Kai." She smiled at Kai. "That's a lovely flower that you got there, but you missed a magic word to make that flower look brighter."

Kai's smile didn't waver as he looked over at Slate. "Thank you."

"Yer welcome. You take good care of that lil' flower, okay?" he reached out and patted Kai's head, and then he stood up, turning his attention to Hana. He eyed her curiously up and down and then smiled, "Pleasure tah meet ya, ma'am. Yer new son's a cutie. Don't worry 'bout teh plant being free. I was only selling it for around two euros, anyhow."

Hana beamed, happy that someone called Kai her son that was a complete stranger. "Thanks." She said, clasping her hands in front of her and bowing. Kai trying to do the same, but worried about the plant so didn't go down too low. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Slate." She rubbed her lips together. Cassie would tell her to be spontaneous, otherwise she'd never get a date, but...she didn't want Slate to think that she was offering this and besides, what if he was married? She shook her head, she was no good at dating. Ryo was probably ten times better at it than she was. "Now that I know you're around here, I'll be sure to come by when it's more promising to plant."

"That's fine," Slate chuckled and held his finger up while he went inside. It took a moment but he returned with a white orchid in hand, "I have a small green house at home so I always have a few plants especially this time of year, but here you are, since he got one it wouldn't be fair if you got left in the dust."

Hana blinked and Kai looked excited as she took the potted plant into her hands. Orchids were babies. They needed constant attention and a routine. Something, she thought fondly, that matched her just perfectly. "Why don't you come with us?" She offered, hoping her bluntness wouldn't scare him off. "We're going to get ice cream, it's practically next door to you."

"I'm getting minty chip like Auntie Ryo." Kai said turning to Slate. Ah, so he did change his mind about getting chocolate. "Mama's getting chocolate."

"That sounds like fun, if you really don't mind me intruding on your time with your boy," Slate smiled shyly, "I enjoy the berry flavored one they got, it's vanilla with mixed flavors and it's great," he took off his apron, closed his sign, and went back inside to put it away. He came back out with his wallet in hand and was putting it in his back pocket. He'd also taken a second to wash his hands. He cleaned up really well, and without the apron his muscles were easily seen through his dark blue sweatshirt. HE wasn't a large man, more lean muscle like a swimmer or a runner, but he did keep himself toned.

Hana smiled warmly and was about to say something, anything, but Kai beat her too it. "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Texas in the United States," Slate smiled sheepishly, "I get that a lot, don' worry. What about you, though? Ya don' look native tah this area, either."

"I'm from Japan." Hana said, and gently ruffled Kai's hair. "He's Japanese and English." She explained. "He was born and raised here."

Kai nodded eagerly. "Texas is a weird name. Is that a city?"

"It's a state sweetie." Hana replied. "Remember? Aunt Shaye is from Georgia."

Kai wrinkled his nose. "U.S is weird."

Slate laughed at that statement, "I couldn't agree more." The three of them walked over to the ice cream shop, and he grinned as he jumped in front of them, "A mint chip, chocolate, and one mixed berry, if ya please," he said as he handed the person there the money needed.

Hana's eyes widened, "I could pay for this, Slate. It's no trouble." First the plants, and now the ice cream, this man was a saint and she felt awful that she was just letting him do this on his own. Kai on the other hand, didn't seem to care, as he was getting ice cream and was watching the girl intently as she scooped it up.

"If this lil' fella is getting adopted then his mother-to-be should be just as spoiled as he is," Slate stated in a matter-of-fact way, eyes gleaming, "I do set up shop near teh orphanage. I've seen them in teh playground an' recognize Kai. That was his name, right?"

Hana nodded, "That's right." She couldn't help but to let a smile stretch across her face. "You're a sweetheart, thank you for this."

"It's no problem, sweet cheeks," Slate gave her another charming smile and turned back to get the ice creams, handing Kai his before Hana's. He was looking away to grab his, so wasn't paying attention and nearly jumped and dropped both treats when he felt a jolt go through his arm, "Oh, daaaammmnnabbit," he caught himself before he could say anything serious around the little tyke, "That was one heck of a static shock, Hana. You been rubbing cat's fur or carpet in this dry air?"

Hana laughed. She had tried to fight down the smile and the laugh that had bubbled up in her chest, but she couldn't help herself. She felt it too, but she was less dramatic than Slate was. It did hurt though, that much was true. "No, not a cat." Oh dear lord, she really hoped he wasn't married now. "What about you? It couldn't just be me." She teased, taking the treat away from him. "Let's go sit down before something else decides to shock you."

"For sure," Slate gave a breathless chuckle and rubbed his arm, flexing his hand. As both hands were visible, it was quite obvious he never wore a wedding band. A class ring was on his left index that he must've put on after he washed his hands because it wasn't dirty. There was a chain that shined on his neck, but what sort of necklace he had wasn't readily visible.

Hana lead them towards the booth, Kai was sitting by the window and Hana took the seat next to him, Slate sitting across. "What made you come to England?" She asked curiously. "You're the second foreigner I've met within these few weeks."

"Is that a bad thing?" Slate arched a brow but then shrugged, "The reason why I moved is tied to a darker backstory that I don't think is appropriate for a first meeting, hope you don't mind. I've been here in England for a few years, though, enough to understand the slang and get used to converting dollars to euros in my head. Ugh, teh metric system is teh worst! Stupid feet tah centimeters and all that..."

"Well, I think that's only an American thing." Hana grinned sheepishly. "I don't have that problem, but the euros are what gets me every time. I thought yen was hard." She looked down at Kai who was happily munching on his ice cream, not saying a word, but listening. "It's not a bad thing, it just makes me wonder is all."

"Well, I think that's only an American thing." Hana grinned sheepishly. "I don't have that problem, but the euros are what gets me every time. I thought yen was hard." She looked down at Kai who was happily munching on his ice cream, not saying a word, but listening. "It's not a bad thing, it just makes me wonder is all."

"Would ya like my number?" Slate asked as he whipped is cell from his pocket and fiddled with it, "That is, if ya don't mind me texting or chatting yer phone tah death. I get bored at night when it gets too cold tah do much else but curl up on my couch watching the tellie wrapped in a blanket."

Hana blinked once, twice, and then a sincere smile slipped. Her heart was beating steadily, but she was pretty sure her hands were shaking from nerves. "I'd like that." She said and took out her phone, messing around with it. Once they traded numbers, she looked to see that Kai was done with the ice cream. "I guess it's park time." She said with a soft sigh. "I can't promise that I'm awake twenty-four seven, but if you text I'll respond as much as I can."

"Not a problem...would I be intruding too much if I followed you to the park? We can continue talking while Kai plays," Slate offered. He didn't really want to stop talking to her so soon, "I did close my shop down, anyway."

"If you're certain about it." Hana didn't want him to think that she was pressing for his time or anything. "I don't mind." She turned towards Kai. "What do you think?"

"He can come." Kai shrugged, "He can watch the marigold while I play."

Hana snickered, "I'm not good enough to watch a flower?" She teased. Kai just grinned and she rolled her eyes. "I see how you are. Okay. Come on then."

They found a nice place to park it and sit down where they could see the playground with ease, and Slate was glad to be with Hana by himself. There was a moment of silence while they watched Kai play, but he finally broke it, "This is going really fast. I meet Kai, give him a flower pot and that was a done deal. I don't mean ta be a pest. If you've got Kai then he's either yours truly or this is yer first time not having that O'Conner security dude hanging around ya like a hawk."

"He's going to be mine truly this weekend." Hana smiled, puffing up in pride. "I got his room all fixed up so he has a little place to call his own and he'll get to meet his family. An entire group that'll love him so much he wouldn't know what do with so much family."

"That sounds absolutely wonderful," Slate grinned at her, "I hope it'll all be worth it. Who do ya have fer family? Brothers and sisters? Mom and Pop?"

"For blood family, I have a twin brother and Ryoko is my adoptive big sister." Hana nodded. "My father's back in Japan, he couldn't bear to leave the country. I can't blame him...mom's buried there and I know he misses her."

"A twin? Really? That must be fun, getting tah terrorize people," Slate laughed, but then is eyes softened, "I'm sorry about yer ma..." it wasn't pity in his eyes or voice, but a sort of...understanding sadness, "Ya must have a lot of friends in teh area if yer saying Kai's got a big family waiting fer him, then."

Hana nodded, bowing her head and looking down at the marigold that was in her lap. "Me too, I miss her. Their mostly Ryoko's friends, but we seem to mesh pretty well." The offer for him to meet them was at the tip of her tongue, but...patience was a virtue. She'd rather go out on a date first before she said anything about it. "That being said though, one of these days you and I should get together." She looked over at him, wondering if that offer would ease his heart some.

"We did exchange numbers, so that won't be too hard," Slate agreed with a smile and a nod, "We'll figure something out, I'm sure." He paused for a second and then rubbed the back of his neck, "Is it because I'm a gent who owns a flower shop that I got so lucky? This is all....too good tah be true or am I the only one who feels that way?"

Hana laughed, "I think that it was fate." She said simply. "At least, there's a certain someone that I know that'd use that phrase. I think that Kai's the lucky one though, after all...if he hadn't stopped by to look at the flowers, we'd probably would've just walked on by."

"Yes...Kai's the one that brought us together," Slate winked at her playfully, "I'm glad he did."

~*~

"Someone looks happy," Ryo cooed when her sister came home. She was sitting on the couch with her phone in her hand, texting David, "Cute flower, esu, where'd you get it?" she grinned with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Hana's cheeks reddened and she was suddenly thankful that Masanori was out and about with Mike, watching a movie. "Slate, a florist nearby an ice cream shop that Kai wanted to go to, gave it to me. He gave Kai a marigold too."

"Awwwwwwww!!!!!!!!! That's so sweet!!!!" Ryo jumped up, tossing her phone on the couch and jumping up, "You met a guy! That's fantastic! Did you get his number? Is he cute? Tell me!" she said, jumping up and down.

Hana laughed and she took a seat on the couch, placing the orchid delicately on the coffee table. She watched her sister dance in place eagerly before she spoke, "He's really cute. He has a body of a swimmer and his eyes are so gorgeous. He's a sweetheart and he has a southern tang since he's from Texas, so Shaye and Mike aren't the only Americans in the group anymore. I do have his number and we're planning a day out sometime after the welcome home party."

"Oh, wow! He sounds like a great guy!" she cheered, "Oh, i can't believe we're all finding someone! This is so fun. Cass is going to blow up, though, when she finds out. I won't tell her if you don't want me to, though," Ryo promised. "So, do you plan on seeing him again?"

"Yeah, we'll have a date after Kai comes home." Hana nodded her head. "I want him to settle down at least before I go out places, and I can pawn him off to whoever isn't busy. Most likely Shaye or you or Masanori depending on dates."

"Fantastic!" Ryo giggled and hugged Hana, finally sitting on the couch again, "I'm so happy for you! I cant wait to meet him. Did he seem magical at all? Or even mention anything like that"

"I think he was magical...I couldn't tell." Hana shook her head as she hugged Ryoko back. "He didn't mention it to me at all and I didn't dare say anything either."

"Well..." Ryo hummed, thoughtful, "You could always try and hint at it as you talk to him on the phone or in person, whatever. If anything, let's hope he doesn't freak out and doesn't care," she beamed. Grabbing her phone, her thumbs flew across the smart phone keyboard, "Masa's going to tell you're walking on air, you realized that right? I hope /he/ doesn't get too overprotective."

"Considering that I probably landed a muggle, he'd be more suspicious than anything." Hana sighed, shaking her head. "Though if he does get over protective, I can drag him down...maybe..I could use Mike against him."

"Now that'd be mean," Ryo laughed, turning her attention back to her phone. She felt so happy for hr sister, and maybe this one would turn out right, too. Wouldn't that be nice?

()

It was a few days after they went to see the movies, and Mike knew Masa was going crazy because Hana was about ready to explode from excitement at finally being able to get her baby. So he planned a date at his place to learn how to mix drinks. It was around eight, and Hana had gone to bed, exhausted from preparing. That left the two men alone to their devices. Mike was shaking up a really easy drink with Masa's careful eye, and the blond had to give a shaky laugh, "I feel like the cups are going to slide apart even though they're locked together."

"It has happened once." Masa offered with a grin.His hips were leaning against the counter as his eyes trailed away from the shaker to Mike's face. "Though that was purely Matt's fault for not locking the cups properly and had spilled it all over Sam's front."

"Ha, I wonder if she did it on purpose just so she could clean it off," Mike snickered and got the cup to pour it into ready, spinning the cups apart and letting the shaken drink slide into the container. He picked it up and took a sip, "It tastes alright...what do you think?" Masa had done it as an example so he had an idea of what it was supposed to taste like, but still wanted the confirmation.

Masanori took the drink and sipped at it. "It works. Should've added a little more rum, but that's just how I like it personally. I think you got that one down. Let's try making a layered drink. It's more challenging and requires focus." He grinned at him. "Unless you want to continue to shake it like it's sexy." His cheeks burned as he said it, it just slipped out of his mouth really and goddamn why did he have to watch /youtube/ videos over mixing drinks to get ideas of what Mike could do /before/ hand. "So-sorry. That was..." He shook his head.

"You're such a cutie," Mike grinned at him and reached over to give him a one-armed hug, kissing his jaw, "We /are/ by ourselves so talkin' dirty is fine," he stepped away to wash the cups so he could make a new drink, "I don't mind learning how to do a layered drink, next."

"We'll do shots first, so you get the hang of it." He said as he moved around the table to get a shot glass. He thought about the different kind of layered drinks that he could make with a shot, and nodded. "We'll make the buttery nipple first since it's a popular shot and it's only two layers." He smiled at him as he gathered Irish Creme and Butterstoch schnapps. "Normally you use a back of the bar spoon for this, but if you're really careful..." he poured the schnapps first before he carefully put the rim's edge of the Irish creme as close to the rim of the glass as he could and carefully poured it so that it would be a thin layer. "You can do it without."

"Eyeballin' it, that's what that is," Mike chuckled after watching him do his magic. He took it so he could taste it and it was an easy knockback, "You know, I've never actually had that one. It's not bad," he gave Masa a mischievous smirk, "Though I hope I don't burst any bubbles when I say I'm not into food play."

"I'm vanilla." Masanori shook his head. "Food belongs in the kitchen and I'm really not into body shots either."

"I don't like ice on the skin, either, even in summer. If cold anything's going on me it's water balloons or I'm jumpin' in the pool," Mike grinned and turned to actually pour the drink now, "I discovered that I like candle wax, though."

"You're just filled with sexual innuendos. You'd make Cassie a happy woman." Masanori replied as he watched Mike pour the drink. "You'd be pretty welcomed at Fireside."

"I'd like to hope so. I guess we'll find out this weekend?" Mike smiled and topped the layer off. He frowned at it, "I think I put too much Irish Creme."

"Looks like." Masanori winced. It looked like poured an ounce and a half rather than just a half. "Try it, but don't actually drink it. Just spit it out in the sink so you don't get drunk doing all of these mixes."

Nodding, Mike did so, feeling bad for wasting the mix, but at least it was just a shot glass. He cleaned it out and drank a bit of water to cleanse his palate before trying again. It took a few tries, getting enough Schnapps but the Irish Creme was usually too much or too little. He was getting close when Masa asked him the very thing he didn't want to hear.

"Matt said...that you were an Angel." Masanori said as he watched Mike work. "Is that true?"

Mike's heart dropped to his stomach and he visibly paled. The bottle slipped from his hand and clanked on the counter before rolling towards the edge. His mouth was dry and all he could do was watch it.

Masanori was quick to grab the bottle before it would crash onto the floor and wake up Hana. The last thing he wanted was his twin sister to get upset that there was glass all over the floor and he could practically /hear/ Sam scowl about waiting alcohol."It's not that shocking really." He said casually. "I mean, I'm used to the aura that Angels give off."

"No...no...that's not..." Mike swallowed hard, his Adam's Apple bobbing. He couldn't really look at him directly, "It's the 'how' that comes next..." he said, voice a hushed whisper so it wouldn't crack. "Though it does explain how I can be here and gone at a whim for our dates, hmm?" his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"You don't have to tell me how." Masanori shook his head. "You're not ready for me to know yet. I know you're not because I brought this upon you suddenly, without notice. It's not fair of me to know a story you wouldn't have told me otherwise."

There was a long pause while Mike stood there, almost like a statue. He didn't respond, or make a motion like he even heard Masanori. It was almost a solid minute before his shoulders moved up and he let out a slow breath, "Okay. I'm...going to go to the bathroom real quick, and then we'll get back to where we left off." He nodded and walked passed him.

Masanori sighed as he made his way towards the living room. He probably should've kept his mouth shut. Mike wasn't upset, but he probably wasn't pleased either. Not everyone who was an angel was happy about it. Matt and Candy were angels who turned their backs on the pearly gate. The reasons they did it kept changing depending on who asked the question, but it was clear that they weren't going to go back. Was Mike one of the few? Or was he a Guardian looking for a charge? Or was he just simply lost?

"I told you I had PTSD, right?" was Mike's announcement that he had returned. He looked at the kitchen then at the couch Masa was sitting on, and decided making new shots could wait. He sat across from him, however, instead of next to. Legs braced apart, he clasped his hands between his knees while his arms rested on them, "It's a bit more...serious, than I first made it out to be. I try really hard...but when you die on the battlefield things are a bit different."

Masanori swallowed, but didn't say anything. He knew that this was going to be a hard story for Mike to tell, and he knew that he had to stay away...in order to show that he could stay close when Mike allowed it.

"Don't get me wrong. I enjoy being an Angel, honestly, but I do...wonder. Every day. Why? Why me when there are many more brave soldiers out there who deserve the miracle more?" Mike shook his head, "In all technicality, I'm a disgrace. I'm a gay man and I'm an Angel. I know Candice and Matt feel the same way. It's one of those things that's easy to tell, before you ask."

A pause. A few heartbeats. Then, "That's a bit of depression talking there, I'm sorry. Anyway...It happened only...three years ago, when I was twenty. It's...shocking, how much older I feel even though I'm not."

Mike closed his eyes. Flashes. Shouting... "Orders were given and I didn't follow. We were in a tiny village with few people in it, but it was attacked while we were trying to have some down-time between destinations. Eat, have some water, that sort of thing. A mother was running in the streets, screaming for her child, and they ended up meeting in the middle. We were told to fall back, we had a mission of our own to take care of. I...ran forward when I saw a grenade get thrown right towards the little family. I jumped in front of them, back towards the grenade and I covered the two with my own body." Standing up, Mike took off his shirt and turned around. At first, there was nothing. Then a shimmer and a gruesome collection of scars appeared.

All color left his cheeks as he stared at Mike's scars, but he pointedly kept looking. He knew that if he looked away, Mike would see it as disgust. It was disgusting, but...they were scars of protection. He felt a shimmer of pride for that. Pride that Mike had died a protector. "You died doing something that you were bound to do." He said softly. "An awful way to go, but...I'm sure you gave that family some peace."

Mike put his shirt back on and sat back down heavily, but the glamour wasn't replaced. There were some scars on his cheeks as well, one on his chin and another on his forehead, but nothing disfiguring or terrible, "I woke up in the hospital some time later. My commanding officer doesn't know how I am even alive. That's the part...that makes me hesitate. Because I heard a voice."

Masanori tilted his head curiously, but didn't ask. Didn't want to press and let Mike tell him on his own.

Mike chewed on his bottom lip, but knew since he said something he should elaborate. Rubbing his neck, he recalled it easily, "There wasn't a tunnel, per se, but there was definitely light. Lots of light, blinding...surrounding...it's even rather warm, and makes you want to sleep and never wake up. It's in this light that...he spoke to me. The very Being I'm named after. He said that I did well, and that I'm the perfect person to become an Angel, a Guardian."

He knew the person that Mike was speaking of. Michael the archangel of war and protection. Masanori didn't say anything in regards to it, but he felt his heart beat just a little faster and he felt pride swell even more. That he was chosen, that he was able to hear a voice. Maybe it was bad. Maybe that wasn't the feeling he should be feeling, and should be concerned instead, but Masanori didn't care. "I think..." he said carefully. "That he chose right."

"Do you?" Mike shifted. He watched how Masa's eyes shined, the adoration hidden under the concern. It wasn't concern for the voice he heard and thinking he was crazy, but it was that type of concern when someone you cared for was hurt. "This conversation was bound to happen, I just wasn't expecting it to be like this." He stood up and made his way closer to the man with purple hair, but was still hesitating. "Have the twins ever shown you what Angels can do?"

"Not the twins...but my sister." Masanaori bit his lip. "She knows that she's an angel, knows a lot more than I do. It's kind of the reason why Ryoko's with us really. No one would fuck around with a half-vampire when their underneath an angel's wing. No pun intended."

"Speaking of angel wings, I do enjoy flying," Mike's smile was more genuine this time, and the scars slowly faded away, "I am glad Ryo's protected. I didn't know Hana was one...odd. Angels can usually feel each other. She probably keeps a block on it for that reason, though, to keep Ryo under radar."

"Well that and for other reasons." Masanori reached out, an offer for Mike to come to him if he wanted. "But that's another story and we're focusing on you now."

Mike stepped closer, but more stood between Masa's legs than anything else and toyed with his bangs, "I don't have much more to tell you. When I text you late at night is usually my nightmares of the incident. It's not so bad during the day...and I do very badly around Halloween and people are doing jump-scares left and right. I tend to stay inside and Haunted Houses suck."

"I understand. I like Haunted Houses and I usually go with Hana. Since we have Kai coming around for Halloween this year, we're doing it family-style so you don't have to do anything." Masanori assured. "And I don't like scary movies either. I don't like the gore, or the screams. The jump-scares are awful, to have PSTD and be frightened of a jump-scare is ten times worse, maybe more." He smiled gently at him. "But all in all, that's okay. I'll have my phone on, you're always welcomed to call or text me. Just...don't expect me to talk for more than an hour if I have work in the morning or...don't get mad if I suddenly don't respond, I might've accidentally fallen asleep. You can always call if that happens."

"Now that you know I'm an Angel," Mike looked sheepish, cheeks red with embarrassment, "Teleportation is one of our powers...would you be upset if I just popped in your room instead of calling you if it's really bad?"

"Give me a heads up before you do it." Masanori shrugged. "other than that, I'm fine with that."

Mike was a little surprised he agreed so easily, but he smiled a bit more and nodded, "Obviously, no fair to scare you shitless if I don't like it myself." He bent down and tried to place a gentle kiss on Masa's lips, "I haven't told anybody...the whole story before. Thank you."

"Anytime koibito." Masanori smiled warmly. "Anytime."

()

Under, over, under, over pull. Under, over, under, over pull. It was a methodical pattern that Shaye could easily lose herself in. The blanket that she was creating had at least three colors and she was working diligently to finish it before the weekend. She didn’t know Kai’s favorite colors besides orange, so the other two colors were made of Masanori’s and Hana’s colors, a little symbol of protection and love from the family.

She was so engrossed with the design, taking care not to lose a row that she almost didn’t notice the phone ringing. She paused her work and pinned it so she knew where her row was and got up. Her legs protested at the stretch, and she glanced at the clock. She hadn’t moved for over two hours. Groaning, she limped a little to the phone and picked it up. “Hello?”

"So...what would you say if I told you something was out of my hands, considering I've told you before that I'm good at pretty much everything, including nursing?" Remus' voice was a bit exhausted.

"Um..." Shaye blinked, not expecting that question. "Well...I would ask you if it's because you never seen the sickness before, or you have and it's fatal...or if you're dealing with a very uncooperative patient."

"On your last note I would ask you in turn, what you would say if your boyfriend firmly believes he's dying?" Remus groaned, "And I would also ask if you or anybody you know is much better at healing magic."

Shaye blinked slowly and then panicked. "Wait, he thinks he's dying?! Why isn't he in Saint Mungos?! What's his fever like?" She probably should've calmed down, but...humans were fragile as well as that they were strong. "I know some healing magic, but...I think Lese's a much better choice since she has most of the supplies needed to take care of people."

"Sirius and James both went somewhere super cold and they're drama queens," Remus assured, "They're not /actually/ dying, but they're the type of people that are never sick and when they are they get it bad."

Shaye placed a hand over her heart. "Over-dramatics I can handle. Him actually dying..." She shook her head. "Do you need me over there? I can get there in a flash." She could run. She would have to be discrete about it, but she could. "I can get you to Fireside since I know the way...but...oh do you think Sirius should move or...is he unable to?"

"Why don't you come over and find determine that for yourself? I can take care of him for a while longer, it's fine, I just can't do this by myself and I'm shocked Lily hasn't called me about her husband yet," Remus laughed a bit, "I just know he was really looking forward to the party and he's pretty bummed and worried he can't make it."

"I'll be there." Shaye promised and hung up the phone. She looked at her crochet work and she took a breath. She'd bring it with her just in case she needed to keep herself busy and awake to attend to Sirius while Remus gets a nap in. He sounded like he could use it. She decided to also bring some clothes with her, so she didn't have to wear the same thing twice. Once she packed everything that she needed into a little cute butterfly overnight bag, she swung it over her shoulder, locked her apartment door, and went out to the alleyway where she wouldn't be seen. She took a breath in, and started jogging, turning it into a full run, towards their apartment building since she knew where it was.

Remus answered the door almost immediately when Shaye knocked, and he had circles under his eyes but his features screamed relief at seeing her, "Thank you /so/ very much," he breathed and opened the door wider for her, "He's in the guest bedroom. I didn't want him getting snot all over my favorite blanket."

Shaye gave him a smile as she entered the household. She set her bag on the couch. "You sit and I'll talk to Sirius and see what we need to do." She told him. "I think that once we get to Fireside, I'll take over the watch so you can get some sleep."

"If I don't pass out on the couch," Remus nodded and did as she said, making a thump on the cushions.

Shaye walked away and knocked gently on the guest bedroom's door before poking her head in. "I heard you were on death's door." She said, keeping her voice low and soothing. "So I thought maybe you'd want to see a pretty face before you pass away."

"Shaye, my love, how sweet of you to wish me farewell," Sirius joked even as his voice cracked and broke at every vowel. He turned towards her and winced at the light but smiled at her. His eyes were puffy and red and he looked like he ad too much sleep and too little sleep at the same time. He covered his mouth as he let out a chest-jarring cough that sounded like a seal's bark.

Shaye knew it was inapproperiate, but her heart swelled with joy and she closed the door behind her and walked over to him. She gently placed a hand against his forehead, frowning. "You're too warm." She murmured. "Remus asked me if I could take you somewhere to get you better help...but I don't know if I want to move you. Especially if you're on your deathbed."

"Moony's been trying so hard..." Sirius drooped, "I feel bad. I try to be obnoxious to make myself feel better but it is probably just annoying him..." he sighed, "I can move, I'm not that bedridden...it's just my whole body's sore from that blasted cough..."

"I know sweetheart." Shaye said gently. "I'd take it that if you're not being overdramatic about being sick, then it's not as bad as we'd fear." She gently ran her fingers through his sweat-slicked hair. "I know someone that can probably take one look at you and be able to whip up a potion that'll get rid of that cough and soothe your pain. You'll get to stay in Fireside for a while, so I can pack some clothes so that you don't have to miss the party either."

"Really? No one would think twice about it?" Sirius asked, nuzzling his head into her hand, "Remus as tried a bunch of stuff but it's just sticking around, so whatever your Fireside friends can do that'd be wonderful." He shifted and groaned before e slowly sat up, "All my clothes are in the other room, I haven't changed clothes for two days. That's why I haven't been messaging you...the first day was awful and I mostly slept the second..."

"Aw, sweetie." Shaye cooed softly. "Next time have Remus message me so we can take turns. He looks just as exhausted as you are...and he's probably caught whatever you got probably. I'll go get your things. You relax and I'll let Remus know that we're traveling hm?" She stood up, stroking his cheek.

All he could do was nod, watching her leave. Remus sat back up and poked is head over the couch when he heard the door, "Hey, so what's your verdict?"

"We're going to go to Fireside. Lese can make better potions and he'll be there for the party, so he doesn't have to come home in a rush." Shaye replied. "I thought maybe you'd want to go ahead and pack a bag for yourself if you're coming along with us, I can get Sirius' things as well. I might toss him in a bath when we're there, since he told me he's sore all over."

Remus perked up a little bit, "That sounds like a fine idea," he agreed and heaved himself off the couch. There was a pause, and he leand down to place a gentle kiss on her forehead, "Thank you again." He opened the bedroom door and motioned to the second dresser, "That's Sirius', I'm sure you'll notice a quick pattern in his choice of clothing," he chuckled, "Pack another pair of PJs for him, so you can wash the ones he's wearing if you do make him take a bath. His plaid blue ones are his favorite and should make him feel better."

Shaye nodded and opened the drawer that was designated as Sirius' and pulled out a couple of shirts. A grin was creeping along her lips as she noticed that there was indeed a pattern. AC/DC, some sort of shirt that clearly was supposed to look gothic/punkish. His jeans were all dark. Black and navy blue and some had a few holes in them, but obviously those were for casual wear. She noticed that the only colors that he had were purple, mostly a dusty shade that reminded her of plum, blue, a orange and then dark shades of red. "Well..." She said slowly as she folded up the shirts and pants. "I know what I'm making him for Christmas."

Remus zipped up his own backpack, "Sirius does enjoy homemade gifts. He think's they're better than anything from a store. He may never tell you this, but he really doesn't care much for money. Time and effort and thought are all put into gifts made and it's more appreciated. Less chance of you finding it and returning it, too."

Shaye thoughtfully placed his clothes carefully under her arm and looked for his blue plaid pajamas. When she found them and felt the fabric, she instantly understood why he'd want them. The fabric felt comfortable and soft to the touch. She'd have to be mindful of the type of yarn she'd buy if she was to make him anything. "I'll put his clothes in my bag, that way we're not carrying three different types of luggage. Can you grab the toiletries you guys might need while I put this away and check on Sirius to see if he fell asleep or something?"

"Sure thing," Remus said as he grabbed his backpack and went to the bathroom to do as she asked.

~*~

"Ian!" a middle-aged looking woman called from holding open the door, "Our guests are here!" She patted Sirius' cheeks and him-hawed a bit before nodding, "Don't worry, dear, we'll get you fixed up. Of course, you'll feel worse before you feel better, but no longer than two or three days. I heard a friend of yours is also sick? I'll have Shaye deliver the same tonic to him."

Sirius blinked slowly at her, "You remind me of Madam Pomphry at Hogwarts."

"I'll take that as a compliment, dear," Lese smiled and patted his cheek again before motioning Shaye towards the stairs, "I've already drawn a bath for him...and he sure needs it. He smells like sickness."

Shaye nodded and gently pushed Sirius towards the stairs. "C'mon. The faster we get you into the bath, the faster you can get tea and that tonic." She told him casually. "You're lucky that no one's around to bother us. The kids would be storming up and down those stairs..well...Daniel and Hota would. Harley can't yet."

"Crawling can be just as dangerous," Sirius chuckled and they stumbled their way up, "I'd offer you to take the bath with me, but....I don't think I have the strength for that sort of fun," he smiled weakly at her.

"I am still here, /Padfoot/," Remus piped up from behind them.

"You could always have fun with her in my stead, /Moony/," Sirius quipped back.

"Bugger all," he muttered in turn, cheeks instantly red, "That's not...ugh, never mind."

"Oooh." A voice said as they were halfway up the stairs. Shaye's head whipped up as she looked up at another redhead and a bubble-gum pink haired woman. The redhead was wearing a short black jacket and a dark red V-neck top that showed off her midriff. She wore white-washed jeans with holes in them and boots that went up to her calves. "Was that an invite for a threesome? I'd totally want in." She winked over at Remus.

"Wotcher, Sirius." The pink-haired woman greeted. "Aren't you in a pickle? What would you call it Cassie?"

"A hot mess if anything." Cassie flipped her hair and smiled fliratiously.

"Tonks!" Sirius perked up immediately and he had a spike of energy, pulling away from Shaye and stumbling up the rest of the stairs to hug his cousin tightly, "I haven't seen you since you were thirteen!" He glanced at Cassie over Tonks' shoulder, "I may not always be a mess, but I am always hot."

"Not my fault that you didn't visit." Tonks said as she hugged Sirius' back. "I missed you so much." Her eyes wandered to the redhead who was next to a scarred man who looked more exhausted than Sirius was. She had half of the mind to ask who was really the sick one, but pressed it back.

"It's probably because of those Black genes you got. Tonks is good looking. You're good looking. I bet your little brother has girls lining up." She grinned.

Remus was staring at Tonks like the world stopped. His mouth was dry, but he still managed to spit something out, "You look beautiful, Dora." Bugger, shite, bullocks, bloody hell that wasn't what he wanted to say! "Do you remember me at all? I visited you with Sirius..." Blimey he should just shut up. She was three, for crying out loud!

"If he was interested in girls...let alone boys. He's kind of asexual right now...more from stress and not having time nor interest right now. He'd like to look for someone, but he hasn't broken away from my cunt nutter mother yet," Sirius shrugged, then pulled away from Tonks finally to look down at Remus, "Are you hitting on my cousin, mate?"

"I...no!" Remus blanched, "Of course n-"

"Because you can," Sirius smirked and looked at Shaye, "Shall we move on to the bath, cherrypie?" he eyed Cassandra, "I don't even know your name but I'm going to call you Cinna because you remind me of cinnamon and you look positively sinful."

"Aw, shame." Cassandra pouted. "I do like that name. Cinna. If you wanted me to show sinful I could show you in the-"

"Let's go Starlight." Shaye cut Cassandra off as fast as she could. "The water's probably getting cold by now." She pulled on Sirius' wrist and started dragging him away from the group.

Tonk's cheeks had stained red when Sirius gave Remus' permission to hit, and it slowly faded when she watched Shaye basically stub Cassandra. "Blimey..." Tonks looked at Cassandra. "I thought she was gonna slap you."

Remus cleared his throat, "I should probably follow them...I do have the bath supplies from my flat with Sirius." He was slow to ascend the stairs, however. He hesitated before he brushed passed Tonks and Cass.

"It was nice seeing you again, Rem." Tonks called after him, touching where he had brushed against her hand. She felt warm where he had brushed against her and she glanced at Cassie as she walked down the stairs. "Where are you going?"

"Getting the tonic for Sirius and you and I are going to badger them. I saw that look. You /like/ Lupin. This will give you more of a chance to see if you can get him seduced and get into that threesome, since I'm /clearly/ not invited."

~*~

"I'm sorry if I upset you," Sirius pouted at Shaye while he stripped and she added the bath salts Remus had packed in his bag. They were lavender and eucalyptus which should help his breathing. The werewolf in question had dropped off the supplies before leaving again, probably to go find a guest room or even try and talk to Tonks.

"Not mad at you." Shaye said softly as she gently circulated the water so the salts would disperse more evenly and the water would keep warm. "I'm sorry that I got...upset." She said carefully. How would she explain to him about this? She glanced at him and smiled. "You are right when you said you're always hot."

"What /is/ her name, anyway?" Sirius finally got naked and went to feel the water. He sighed happily and glanced at her, "Mind if I get in now or are you still messing with the water?" he smirked and leaned over, moving her hair and kissing her neck sensually, "You're always hot, too, by the way, but you're not like cinnamon. You're my sweet cherrypie."

Shaye relaxed into his bubble, "You can get in." She murmured and watched him step in and sink down into it. The water hid nothing from her, but she knew that he was took sick to play. She scooted over a little though so that she could reach him better if he wanted to wash his hair or whatever. "That was Cassie. Cassandra Hass. Resident flirt, seer, and whore."

"Ouch, you must not like her that much?" Sirius arched a brow, "Seer, though? That sounds interesting. Is it subjective and does it come to her randomly?" he dipped his head back to get his hair wet and gave himself a good scratch at the back of his neck where most of the sweat had been.

"I like her." Shaye sighed, knowing to well that she was being harsh. "I'm sorry..." She ran her hand thought her hair. "She's a nice person, just a little eccentric. I shouldn't have been so rude. Her Seeing abilties are a bit of both really. Randomly if she touches a person or if an event that is deemed important by whatever god she worships needs to be seen. Otherwise, it's pretty subjective."

Sirius nodded his understanding. He took a deep breath and immediately started coughing. He hacked up some flem and grimaced, grabbing the toilet paper Shaye handed him, "Well, the bath salts are working."

Shaye nodded, a little relieved that his chest was trying to clear up. "You'll be better in no time."

~*~

Remus felt like a creep as he stood in the shadow of the doorway that led to the living area. Several people were there, and he'd learned their names by watching them converse. Nicky, Abby, and Daniel, a small but adorable family were enjoying themselves with Tonks as she morphed her face to make Daniel laugh, and Cassandra was talking to Ian and Lese. She was holding four bottles of tonic, two for James and two for Sirius. They looked like grape juice, and wondered how long Lese had been at this if she could make potions and they didn't look like death.

Ian caught that Remus was standing in the shadows and excused himself from the conversation to walk over to where he was. Cassandra only merely glanced over her shoulder, before talking to Lese again. Tonks nor any of the small family members seemed to notice, all four of them happy to see Daniel laugh and be happy. "A shapeshifter and a werewolf." Was Ian's greeting. "I have to admit, I never thought I'd see a shapeshifter again in my years. Werewolves on the other hand...well...never thought I'd see one in the company of a Ghoul."

"What do you mean by that?" Remus furrowed his brows in confusion, "Ian, was it? I'm Remus Lupin." He felt a bit awkward, not entirely sure what to do or say besides.

Ian smiled. "It's nice to meet you." He paused thoughtfully. "You know that metaphormaguses are rare, yes? Last time I met one, it was...oh....a long time ago." He shook his head. "People who are talented with that kind of gift were always so kind. As for werewolves, well...how much do you know about your kind's history?"

"What I was taught in school, mostly, though I have read outside of that. You're a vampire? You must have been around a long time if you're mentioning these things," Remus crossed his arms over his stomach, and glanced at Tonks, "She is kind, I can agree to that."

Ian nodded and watched as Daniel clapped his hands and Abby allowed him to climb onto Tonks' lap. The girls were engrossed with a conversation and he watched as Cassandra left Lese's side, probably to give the tonics to Sirius and Shaye. "I've been around for a good few hundred years give or take." He sighed. "I'm actually surprised that your instincts aren't telling you to attack me or anything of the sort. Long story short, werewolves and vampires don't get along...and shapeshifters used to be numerous, just like werewolves. Shapeshifters suddenly became rare, werewolves became a sickness...ghouls started dying off too and vampires started to remain hidden from view as much as we can."

"I imagine, that was back in a time when we weren't feared the way we are, before we were hunted," Remus nodded, "I don't let my instincts control me. It only a few days before or after the full moon that I can be testy. Which is soon, but this is your home. I'm not going to attack anyone unless given reason."

Ian just smiled and he watched as Tonks gave Daniel back, the boy looking a little tired since he had been overstimulated by the entertainment. "Just for that, you're always welcomed here. You and your friends." He clapped a hand on Remus's shoulder before leaving.

Tonks got up and noticed Ian leaving. She looked towards the direction and smiled when she saw that Remus was still standing at the doorway. She walked over to him, "Mysterious guy isn't he?" She asked conversationally.

"Indeed. He did his job, though, left me wanting to know more," Remus snorted a bit with a smile and shook his head, "I'll have to find the time to talk with him privately. Have you had a chance to? He seemed rather mystified by you."

"Not yet." Tonks shook her head. "He'll probably catch me around. Cassie and I are staying here since we're not getting a hotel or anything. Apparently there's a party happening for Hanako, Ryoko's younger sister. Something about an adoption going through. At least, that's all I can gather when Cassandra's gushing about it nonstop." She looked at Remus and smiled a little. "How have you been though? Even though we're apart of the same school, we've never bumped into each other during classes. Whatcha been up to?"

"You made a wonderful Hufflepuff, though," Remus smiled shyly, "I'm doing alright, and I haven't been up to much. I just...take care of things for Sirius while he's away on Auror missions with Lily and James, and babysit for the latter two."

"Umbridge still hasn't given up that law?" Tonks rolled her eyes and grimaced. "That's awful. How is James and Lily doing? I didn't know they had a kid. How old is he?"

"Harry James Potter is only two months old. he was born on July 31st. He's a hellion like his father but just as much of a sweetheart like his mother," Remus shook his head fondly, "He enjoys sleeping on me because I'm warm, but he loves everybody he comes in contact with. Shaye hasn't met him yet, she's nervous, but I'm sure they'll hit it off just fine."

"Sirius mentioned that uh..." Tonks wasn't sure if she should comment on that or not. "You were supposed to be taking care of her or something. You two a thing or...is that Shaye and Sirius or is it all three of you?"

Remus winced, "Neither of us realized someone else was there...it's mainly Sirius and Shaye, but Sirius and I love each other, too, and Shaye didn't want to get between us. So...we made a deal that all three of us can be in a relationship, as long as they're the focus and they are legitimately a couple." He didn't mean to spill it all out...but he found himself unable to keep his mouth shut. She asked and he would tell. This could be very bad.

"She sounds like a good person." Tonks smiled a little, her shoulders relaxed as the tension eased out. Maybe it was wrong of her to worry about whether or not Remus was taken. Maybe he was. Maybe Sirius was it for him and Shaye was just happy to be in the middle. She didn't think now was a good time to ask those kind of questions. "He could use a little more sunshine in his life, even if she's the jealous type. Bet he's never had to deal with that before."

"You'd be surprised," Remus shook his head, "He was the flirt in Hogwarts, I'm sure you heard the rumors. He dated on and off but no one ever did it for him. Shaye...all three of us met last month on the full moon, and we've kinda been together ever since. First as friends but then Sirius started to really date her. He's fallen head over heels and I'm happy for him. I don't think either of them realize they're mates, though."

Tonks' eyebrows went up. "You're kidding. Sirius' been around werewolves. He'd know a mating mark...Shaye though...was she turned or something and that's why she doesn't know?"

"You can mate without a mating mark," Remus assured, "Shaye's not a werewolf...do you know what Ghouls are?"

"I know that they're cannibals. They're really dark creatures. Just as rare as a metaphormagus, though I think that's because they're better at hiding. Not much else is known about them. No one's brave enough to do a research topic on them." Tonks frowned as as she tapped her finger against her thigh in thought and then stopped. "Sirius knows, right?"

"How...do you think we met her?" Remus gave her a sheepish smile, "I was transformed...I smelled human flesh and blood and he and I found her eating a corpse. Suicide, she didn't - never - kills anyone. Ryoko, Hanako's sister, was with her and was also feeding. It was an interesting first impression, if anything."

"At least she didn't try to attack you." Tonks' let out a breath in a soft whoosh. "Well...it's kind of ironic now that I think about it. Sirius was kicked out for not being pureblooded enough, and yet look who he has on his arms? Two dark creatures who could probably make the world tremble, if I say so."

Remus found himself just...admiring her. She was a Hufflepuff with a Gryffindor mouth...very opinionated. He gave her a very appreciative grin, "Is it because you're different, too, that you don't mind us or do you really have your heart on your sleeve, Dora?"

"I don't know." Tonks smiled. "I think that's up to you to figure out really." She shook her head. "I think I'm different, but that's just my thought."

"You are a wonderful person...I've known that for a long time. That was a rhetorical question, really..." Remus reached up and moved a lock of hair that was in front of her beautiful brown eyes, "Blood and chocolate would be quite the mix of flavors..." he froze, his fingers flaring in his shock, and he could feel that wasn't really him that spoke, but his darker, primal werewolf side. Horrified, he turned tail and booked it back towards the stairs, a hand over his mouth. He felt sick. How could he have said that? He'd never acted like this before the Moon.

It threw Tonks for a loop, hearing that blood and chocolate would be a mix of flavors. She really wasn't sure what brought that on. She didn't think that it was close to the full moon...maybe it was just a slip of the tongue. Regardless of what it was, she didn't chase after him. Her mind was reeling with what he said.

~*~

Shaye opened the door to the guest room that Sirius and Remus were staying in. She had just gotten back from getting the tonic to James and Lily. She didn't dare go inside their home, and had come back immediately. Her legs were sore and she was tired. She wasn't used to using her energy to run. She was so used to making sure to stay as incognito as she could that she knew she was wasting away. She tossed herself on the couch and blinked when she noticed that she nearly crashed into Remus. "Oh my god!" She jumped high out of her skin. "I didn't know you were there!"

"Shaye..." Remus choked out her name, "How is James?" he totally dismissed their near-miss and shrugged, "Sirius is hogging the bed, sorry."

"I didn't go inside...but according to Lily he's being overly dramatic and I quote this, "being a big baby" so he's probably doing just as well as Sirius is. Even better now that he has proper medicine." Shaye paused, watching Remus. His expression looked torn between panic, dread, and horror. She reached out and gently stroked his cheek. "What happened?"

Remus took a breath and let it out slowly, "I was talking to Tonks...and..." he shook his head and explained to her what he said and what happened, "I've never...acted this way before a Full Moon. It sounded like I wanted to eat her..."

"Well..." Shaye said slowly. "We have something in common. We both scared our intended loved ones half to death. You with a blood and chocolate line, which wasn't all that original, that's a title from a book, and me telling Sirius that he looked delicious." She paused. "I'm shocked we're not tossed into Azkaban."

"Oh Merlin, I've heard about that book, too," Remus groaned, rubbing his face, "I knew it sounded familiar on top of it. Didn't it also become a movie?" he shook his head, "I know I shouldn't hide and should go apologize to her, but it made me feel like I was going to throw up."

Shaye blinked, a little in shock. This was where being human and being something else entirely had a line drawn in the sand. How did she even begin to try to comfort him? "I would explain. I would explain why you said the thing that you said. Tell her that you have instincts...remind her that just because you're a werewolf doesn't mean you're entirely human." She winced, knowing how harsh that sounded.

"I just met the woman after nine years, she's Sirius' cousin, I already called her beautiful, and I don't want to make it sound like I already want to throw her against the wall and ravage her," Remus bit his lip, "Even though I basically did. Bugger all, Shaye...this is all so overwhelming."

Shaye reached over and flicked him in the forehead. "I think that there's more to it than that. You told me that you don't usually do that unless it's the full moon and we're near the full moon, so I don't see why you're bothered about it...unless it's more than just you scared Tonks." She paused. "Do..you treat the werewolf and yourself separately?"

There was a long pause...and Remus looked away as if ashamed, "Yes I do."

"Why?" Shaye asked scooting closer to him and putting an arm around his shoulders.

"It's affected my life since I was five..." Remus grimaced, "My father always looked at me with pity, regret, and shame. My mother always cried about it, and until I went to Hogwarts - which I was lucky to get into - I always had to stay in this shack that only got smaller as I got older. Friends...the only ones I've had were several teachers, James, Sirius and Lily, who knew me fully and completely and never cared. So yes...I treat it differently than myself. I even told Ian not five, ten minutes before that I don't let my instincts control me and look what happened."

"And yet, you came up here before you let your instincts go." Shaye sighed softly as she curled her legs up onto the couch and moved a little closer. "I know that it was to protect the other students...and I'm glad that you weren't denied magical education because that'd really suck, especially since it'd be your birthright and all. Believe me, I know how that'd feel. I'm guessing you were turned against your will...and as a child no less." She shook her head. "Werewolves didn't used to be a sickness. I remember stories...." She trailed off and she shook her head. "A wolf is a guardian, a protector, a teacher. But you don't put a wolf where there's fresh meat. It's like putting a ghoul in a morgue. Do you /really/ expect to have any control what so ever? A wolf is a pack animal...they thrive with other animals...with each other. If you want to get a grasp on your instincts, then you should listen to what the wolf wants, what they say. You might have said something scary, and it was awful that you scared Tonks...but look at it from another point of view and you'd see that the wolf, in it's own way, was trying to do its best to say "i like you. I want to mate with you I see another shape shifter, my kind and we'd make a good match"."

There was another pause and she said, "Besides, if that was scary, can you imagine the look on her face if you actually started up a courting ritual by bringing her a carcass of a dead animal just prove that you could hunt? Now /that/ might've been bad."

He looked like he was going to crack up, "Wow, Shaye. Really?" He snorted and rubbed at his eyes which were misty, "Do you think she'd be asleep yet? It is pretty late...or should I just wait until tomorrow?"

"Just wait till tomorrow." Shaye nodded her head. "And tell your wolf-self to calm down and let you handle the human mating rituals since you know more than he does about them."

A soft sound did leave him this time, and he hugged her since he'd been ignoring her attempts to cuddle and comfort, "Thank you, you've been such a big help today, and I appreciate it greatly."

"You're welcome." Shaye nearly melted at the affection that he gave her and she let him go. She was a touch-starved person, it was probably noticeable.  "You get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."

()

The next day came around and Remus felt better now that he'd had a good night's sleep for once since Sirius got sick. He was bound and determined to find Tonks and apologize to her. He just hoped she would talk to him. He found her in the dining area, eating the food Lese had made for anyone to grab and go. Simple breakfast buritos with eggs, cheese, and there were two choices - one with ham and one with sausage, to fit different preferences. He took a sausage one and sat down across from Tonks, "Top of the mornin' to ya," he greeted.

"You're cheerful." Tonks was a little taken aback by the jolly manner that Remus greeted her in. She had two burritos on her plate, and the one she was eating was ham. "I'm guessing you slept in another room from Sirius so you didn't have to hear him complain about a sore throat?"

"The tonic actually knocked him out pretty good so I just had to listen to his snoring, but I also fell asleep quickly and I'm used to the snoring," Remus shrugged and took a large bite out of his, "The point is I had a good night's sleep and don't feel as dead as I probably looked yesterday."

"That's good." Tonks smiled. "I'm glad." She took another bite of her burrito. "Look Remus, about yesterday-"

"I really am sorry," Remus told her firmly, "I didn't mean to scare you at all, and I didn't mean to make it sound like I was going to eat you or something. That was...I /am/ a werewolf and that means...I'm not always human." He used the exact phrase Shaye had last night, "The full moon is in two days, and I'm rather unpredictable."

"I was going to say that I understood." Tonks laughed, "I mean, it took me by surprise. I don't hang around werewolves all that much and I know they get treated horribly. I had a feeling it was because the moon was coming out, you don't have to apologize for that. You have a real good hold on yourself, and I don't think that's easy. So..." She shook her head. "You don't have anything to worry about."

"You weren't...upset or disgusted by it?" he gave her a strange look. She really was more than he could've hoped for, "Do you know much about wolves in general?" he decided to ask.

"I know that I should be thankful that you tried to do a wolf-like pick up line than me waking up to a dead deer." Tonks replied dryly. "Because Cassandra would never let me live it down and I live with her."

"What would I not let you live down?" Cassandra asked as she came into the kitchen. She wore another set of holey pants, but this time she wore a tanktop that was fitting and a couple of threaded bracelets on her left hand. Her wand was on her belt loop in a hand-made sheathe. "Hey wolfy, nice to see you up."

Remus closed his eyes. Well, so much for a private conversation, but he should expect that over the next two days. He heard Fireside was rather crowded and full of people and there was going to be a celebration tomorrow on top of it. "Hello, Cassandra. I see you're having a nice morning as well."

"I am." Cassandra said cheerfully. "I'm going to go bother one of my brothers and steal one or both their kids for the day if I'm able to get away with it. Take them to Diagon Ally."

She cocked her head towards him and Tonks. "What about you two? Any plans?"

"Um, no...have I met either of your brothers yet?" Remus arched a brow at her.

"You've met one." Cassandra nodded, "And you met my sister-in-law too. You met her brother and his husband...so...you met one side of my family."

"You could say that he knows Sam and Matt." Tonks sighed. "No need to get all mysterious on us."

"Fun sucker." Cassandra pouted.

Tonks just grinned. "You're just bad at playing the mysterious seer that's supposed to help people on their journey is all."

Cassandra flipped her hair, "You're worse than Sam and Trevor put together, Tonks. How do I live with you?"

"You can't cook and you stop me from setting things on fire." Tonks replied.

"I can too cook...when it's simple." But it was acknowledged. "I get it, I get it, I'm not wanted here. I'll go bother Sirius and Shaye. He probably needs to eat."

"I forgot that Sam was her brother," Remus shook his head when she was finally gone, "I saw it when it was pointed out to me, they do look alike." he shrugged and ate some more of his burrito, "Back to our conversation..."

"I was saying that I know a little about wolf-mating rituals, and that I was thankful that you chose a pickup line instead." Tonks' had the decency to blush. "I was a little dryer before though."

"Yes...I'm glad that you preferred the pick-up line. I'd like to say I'm better at the human courting than the wolf-mating but...I've never taken part in either, so I guess I'm just doing whatever feels right," he watched her eyes, and adored the way she blushed, "Sirius gave me his express permission, but I'll be damned if I listen to him right now while he's sick and delirious. Would you mind terribly if I did hit on you a bit? I am not a forward person, but I guess I've been hanging around with James and Sirius for far too long."

"Better you than me. I would've tripped trying to say or do something impressive." Tonks laughed. "I don't mind a harmless bit of fun."

"Good...because I've been wanting to do nothing but touch you and it's driving me crazy," he murmured as he reached over and stroked his hand over her arm.

"WHEEEEEE" Tonks' head whipped towards the sound and grinned when she saw the little boy run into the room. His black hair was practically a bird's nest and he was still wearing his pajyamas. "H'lo Tonks." He greeted happily and waved towards Remus since he didn't know his name.

"Hey lil'man." Tonks greeted. "Remus, this is Daniel. He's part vampire part wizard. Daniel, this is Remus." She pointedly didn't tell the boy what Remus was since that was on him to decide if he wanted a little kid to know or not.

"H'lo." Daniel repeated, ducking his head as if he were shy.

Remus smiled warmly at the little boy, "Hello, Daniel. I saw you playing with Tonks yesterday. You really like her morphs don't you?" he cooed.

Daniel grinned and nodded his head. "Mag-ick." He tried to pronounce but he was way to young to get the right words in the right thing. "She's fun. I wike her lots. Be anything she wanna be. I be a bird."

"You be bird? You like birds?" Remus reached out and ruffled Daniel's hair, "I like doggies. Do you like doggies?"

"Pups!" Daniel cheered as Abby walked in. His mother was average, brown hair that was tied in a loose braid and brown eyes that were soft like melted chocolate. Daniel looked over and beamed at his mother.

"Good morning." Abby greeted as she walked into the kitchen to gather a plate of food. Sasuage was too spicy for Daniel, so she got two ham burritos and sat down, cutting one into small pieces so that Daniel would be better to pick them up. "I'm sorry if he bothered you any."

"No, not at all. He's cute," Remus assured. He didn't feel as touchy as the first time with Cass, since he managed to actually touch Dora this time, "I also babysit for my friends so this is what I have to look forward to."

"As long as he wasn't a bother..." Abby smiled warmly. "I'm afraid that I didn't get to meet you properly since you had a sick man to deal with. I'm Abigail Kelly, but you can call me Abby." She held out a hand for Remus to shake.

Remus took the offer and gave her one firm shake before going back to his food, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Abby, I'm Remus Lupin. That sick man was Sirius Black, Dora's cousin. I'm hoping Shaye will keep him in bed for me today."

"Oh I heard that name around Hogwarts." Abby laughed. "Not a girl in sight that didn't know who Sirius Black was. Especially when he ran away from home. Only made the girls want him more, unless they were Slythern." She gestured towards Tonks. "We were in the same house together, though I was a little older."

"Were you? Wow, I really was wrapped up with the other boys, I didn't even realize," Remus shook his head, "I feel bad now. Did you like it there? I'm glad you know Tonks."

"I enjoyed it, and don't worry. I didn't take much notice of anyone." Abby laughed. "I was too busy trying not to fall behind in my studies. Though Tonks here was the whole reason I managed to get out every once in a while."

"You needed fun." Tonks laughed. "And you weren't getting it from driving yourself crazy."

"True." Abby said solemnly.

"Is that how you met Nicky? From Tonks draggin you places?" Remus laughed and grabbed a second burrito, glad there was plenty available. This time he took ham, "You two are certainly mates, it's adorable watching you two interact, how sweet you are to one another."

"Nicky was a Hufflepuff, and I normally sat at their table when Tonks had me by the arm." Abby agreed. "Nicky was a part of the Quidditch team too, Chaser. He was just as crazy as James so it was always a sight to see when they went up against each other."

"Ooooh, I thought I recognized him!" Remus' face alighted with recognition, "He's filled out since then, got some nice muscle without being overbearing. He was so scrawny...hyperactive and high metabolism, he could eat like a horse but never gain the weight."

"Yeah..." Abby took a bite of her own burrito and swallowed. "He was stretched to the limits back at Hogwarts, but...he's much, much better in this kind of environment. Though, if you wanted to see hyperactive...you should've seen it when the children were born. Though, is James still always on high? I remember that he always got in trouble. Him and Sirius."

"They've both mellowed out, but not by much," the werewolf let out a hearty laugh, "They still get into trouble, though only this time it's at work. They try and behave with Lily there but even then sometimes they can't help themselves. If they weren't amazing at what they do they'd be fired from pranking their co-workers with weather charms in offices and such."

"You must kiss the floor Lily walks on if she's able to handle /both/ James and Sirius." Abby nodded. "Though I'm sure she thinks the same as you." She gave Remus a lovely smile. "Though, I got to ask a pressing question that's been...well...driving me up the wall, but I thought you had a pack that you went home to every month...and since there's a day left for a full moon, are you going to be leaving or...are you staying?"

"Ah, I do have a pack, but they live here," he gave her a mysterious flash of a smile, since it was supposed to be a secret, "We have a place we go that's away from civilization. Shaye and Ryoko know where it is."

Abby just smiled warmly. "Good to know. Really good to know." She paused and then asked curiously. "Is Tonks coming with you this full moon? Considering she's a shapeshifter..."

"I don't think he'd want me there." Tonks said quickly, turning her attention from Daniel to Abby and Remus. "I mean, it's a pack thing yeah? I'm not part of the pack."

"You could be if what I saw was any indication. Don't tell me that Remus Lupin picked up tricks on how to lead women on by Sirius." Abby raised an eyebrow at Tonks. "Because I really doubt he would."

Remus' cheeks blotched with color, and he stood from the dining table, "I'm going to go see who else is up." He said before leaving. It wasn't a matter of whether or not he wanted Tonks there, but whether or not his werewolf side would recognize she /wasn't/ food.

Tonks smacked Abby's arm. "Really?" She hissed.

Abby could only shrug. "Better me than Cassie."

Goddamn it she was right about that.

~*~

Remus ended up mainly wandering the coven complex for a while, learning the nooks, crannies, twists and turns. He eventually found himself in the upper floors, and a door was ajar. Curiosity peaked his interest, and he mentally cursed being a part of the same group of mischief makers who made the Marauder's Map. He pushed the door open further and gasped a bit when he walked right into a library/office area. It was antique styled mixed with modern comforts and it was /gorgeous/.

Ian's ears were sharp like a wolves and his sense of smell was superior too. He didn't ask a hello, but allowed the stranger to come in more fully into the area. "My collection's been gathering dust." He said in lieu of a greeting when Remus came into his view. He book-marked his book and set it to the side. "I can tell that you're a well-read person, if you find a book you like or need information on anything, let me know. I think I might have it."

"Shame no one is interested in reading it all, I think I could get lost in here for months like I would at school," Remus wandered closer to a bookshelf and skimmed the titles, "You're a history person," he noted immediately, "And a classical nut. Old, proper versions of stories.../The Grimm Brother's/ original tales, Merlin..." he breathed, "Wow."

"Plenty of fae-tales from times of old." He agreed as he watched Remus look at his bookshelf, his chest swelling with pride that there was another book reader in the area. "I always had a thing for Oscar Wilde and Shakesphere. The good ol' stories of Jackal and Hyde. Sherlock Holmes." He smirked. "But those are muggle fae-tales. The magical ones..." he nodded his head towards the other bookshelf. "Is behind them."

Remus wandered around the other side to get to the bookcase he spoke of and his eyes widened in surprise, "These..." he reached out and stroked the binding of one that had gold lettering stamped into it, titled Werewolves, Truth and Lies. He picked it up and blew on it, and read the same gold-stamped letters that had Ian Kelly in the corner. "You really have been around a long time..." he whispered. There were similar ones, some small, some large, all with a name of a creature at the front. He flipped to the front page of the one in his hand and saw beautiful scrawl. The next page was a saying where modern day authors would put a quote or acknowledgements...

/To Maiara "May" Owlfeather, my dearest friend who welcomed me into her tribe, showed me her culture, and weaved stories of her life./ It was gorgeous, old-script that looked dated, a tell-tale sign that Ian was as old as he claimed to be.

Remus felt his eyes prickle, "Maiara...we learned about her in Defense Against The Dark Arts class. They made her out to be such a horrible being, and I hated it. It made my stomach twist in knots and I wanted to defend her but couldn't. May I borrow this for the day? I'm a very fast reader...though Sirius might want to read it after me...Do you have one on Ghouls? I don't see it."

"Books are happiest when read and the longer you take to savor them, the more happier they are." Ian smiled warmly. "In other words, don't rush yourself." He stood up and walked away from the bookshelves and towards the back of the library. At first, there was nothing there, but then he took out his own wand and gently tapped the area where a beautiful polished red wood chest stood proud with a black latch. He gently tapped the chest again and it sprang open. He took out a book that looked as if it had been written decades ago and he gently shut the the chest closed and it disappeared again without so much of a wand wave. He turned back to see that Remus had followed him. "A book on ghouls. I believe you know the writer intimately."

Breath catching, Remus stared at it in disbelief and was speechless. Shaye...she hadn't been telling them everything. Though, of course, who could blame her? He had his fair share, as did everyone, "Thank you, Ian. Maybe this will answer the questions you left me with last night," he shook his head with a wistful smile and held the books like the treasures they were, "Have a good rest of your day," he nodded his thanks again before leaving.

~*~

"Sirius, is Shaye in?" Remus asked as he peaked around the corner of the door.

"What is it, Moony? No, she isn't," Sirius rubbed his eyes and yawned, sitting up.

Remus looked apologetic, "Did I wake you?"

"No, not at all, now what's up?" Sirius eyed him pointedly. He was disheveled, but did look better than yesterday.

Smirking, the werewolf entered completely and brought Sirius the book on Ghouls, "I spoke with Ian...and he gave me this. Though you'd be interested."

Sirius blinked stupidly at it a moment, eyeing the writing and name carefully, as well as the old leather binding. Ten it clicked, and he noticed the book in Remus' arms that had Werewolves on the title and Ian's name. "What the bloody hell is this witchcraft?"

"Irony in that statement is strong," Remus retorted and laughed, "Enjoy, I have some reading of my own to do," he winked and promptly left.

"You wanker, get back here!" Sirius shouted, but the door had already clicked shut. Glancing back down at the book, he traced Shaye's name...and opened the pages.

~*~

Shaye walked back into the guestroom a few hours later. The blanket was done and now it was blocking in Lese's bathtub, waiting to be dried. Her arms ached, but she was happy that she manged to get it done before the party. She gently knocked on the bedroom door before poking her head in and blinked at the sight that was before her. Sirius was reading a book, but not just any book, but a worn, old one. "Hey." She greeted. "You look better."

Sirius didn't acknowledge her immediately, but he did look up after a few seconds and he heard the door click, "Hmm? Shaye!" he blinked wide eyes at her, "You know you have beautiful scrawl."

Shaye's cheeks reddened as she walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. "I'm surprised to find you reading it." She said honestly. "It's not an easy read and while my handwriting is beautiful, I doubt my way of words are."

"Are you kidding? This is fantastic!" Sirius didn't shake the precious book at her like he wanted to, he just held it up with a jerk and then brought it back to him, "You're way too modest....and you're much older than you let on, woman." He narrowed his eyes at her, "You have a bit of explaining to do."

"You might as well ask questions." Shaye nodded her head. "It's the best place to start. Although, I do reserve the right to ask you questions in my own time, not now, but later."

"Sure," Sirius shrugged, but then tilted his head, "You're hiding your powers and abilities significantly, aren't you?"

"Yes." Shaye sighed as she looked away so that she could scoot further onto the bed and turned, crossing her legs and not caring if her skirt went up. "If I didn't, everyone would be suspicious."

Sirius reached out and stroked her cheek, "Are you as old as Ian and Lese?"

"Not quite that old." Shaye shook her head from side to side. " I'm actually eighty-one so..." She smiled timidly. "I'm very young."

Sirius had to remind himself mentally several times that different creatures had different life-spans, "How old could you live to be?" Aw man he just shot himself in the foot with that one. She'd definitely live longer than he would.

"Well...that's the million dollar question." Shaye reached out and took his hand and started tracing the lines on his palm, a distraction for herself and a little comfort for him. "Ghouls don't live as long as their counterparts used to...and we're...dying." It was a hard thing to say. "For all I know, I'm living the last leg of my lifespan right now, or I have a few more decades to go. I'll never reach two hundred. Once a upon a time, we could've lived for much longer than that. Centuries would just be a blink of an eye."

"Centuries..." But she'd never get to two hundred? "It's similar for a lot of creatures, isn't it?" Sirius frowned, and he used the hand she was touching to grab her and pull her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her and setting the book aside, "I know...I said similar words yesterday in my fever stupor, but I have come to love you, and none of this is changing anything. I'm simply starting to understand and see the bigger picture. Before it was just Remus...but now...it's all of you, Fireside, and many others. Dragons in Romania are few and far between as well."

Shaye inhaled sharply, his scent was a cool forest and a hint of smoke from a fire. She buried her head into his chest, breathing and wrapping her arms just as firmly around him. "I love you." She murmured against him. "With everything I have." She pulled away and looked at him. "I'm so happy to have you as mine." She smiled big and bright and her eyes were watering. Not because she was frightened that he'd leave, but that he was staying. He was in /love/ with her and if that didn't make her fly to cloud nine, nothing would. "But is that all you have questions about? How long I'm with you?"

"For right now, I might think of more later, but at the same time this book is answering most of them," Sirius assured, "Don't mind me. I'm just a sap," he chuckled and he stroked his fingers through her hair, kissing her forehead sweetly.

"I like that." Shaye closed her eyes, her body warm and she couldn't help but to feel so overwhelmingly loved. "I like that you're a sap, even if it does ruin what little punk-rock creed you have." She opened her eyes and leaned against his hand. "Who gave you the book? Ian?"

"Remus. He came in all smug, gave me the book at left telling me to enjoy. He had his own book, though, that was from Ian. Literally. It was about Werewolves and had nice gold-stamped lettering," Sirius shrugged.

"Ian used to travel a lot." Shaye nodded. If anyone had any knowledge about dark creatures, Ian was probably more of an expert than the magical wizards and witches claimed to be. "There were a few werewolf packs he was allowed to talk to. The Native American ones, are a huge example. Many tribes welcomed him as a friend and brother."

"Blimey, that sounds really cool. I'm kind of jealous," Sirius glanced at the book, "I'm sure he's written a lot of things, then. Have you written anything besides that book on Ghouls? Like anything on Demons? It mentioned Ghouls used to /be/ Demons, anyway..."

"I have actually." Shaye nodded her head. "I did my own research with it and it took me a long time. First book I ever written. Why? Would you like to read it?"

"I would, when I'm done with this one. I'm still only halfway through it. Don't have anything else to do," Sirius grinned at her, "You're a very good writer with beautiful handwriting."

"For you, I'd write another story and dedicate it to you." Shaye smiled brightly. "Only I think I'd write something less boring than a history novel and more thrilling." She leaned towards him and kissed him on the lips, tasting sickness and salt-water. She pulled away, eyes twinkling. "A story about you."

~*~

It was almost the end of the afternoon and Tonks couldn't find Remus anywhere. She had searched for him up at the guestroom but neither Shaye nor Sirius knew where he was. Cassandra had suggested the library, but when she ran into Abby, Abby casually mentioned that Remus was outside in the gardens. Tonks struggled with the back door for a bit before realizing that it was a slide-door and nearly stumbled onto the patio floor. She managed to catch herself midtrip and look over to see that Remus was looking at her, half-way getting up from his seat in order to catch her or to see if she was alright. She noticed that he had been reading and it was almost finished. "Wotcher. Sorry about that."

"You're fine, Dora," Remus settled back down, "Do you think there's any chance of us getting interrupted this time?" he asked, half teasing half serious,"You're welcome to sit next to me, either way, of course."

"I don't think so. Danny's napping and Nicky and Abby are talking over party plans. I don't think Cassie will show up." Tonks replied as she made her way over to the wicker couch. The cushions were plush and comfortable, not at all lumpy. "Whatcha reading?"

"Something I found in Ian's private library..." Remus placed the red ribbon book marker that was attached to the book in his place and handed it to her, "Take a look. There was one about Shapeshifters, too, which is what you are."

She flipped open to the first page where the dedication was, and stared at it. "Maiara?" She said wonderingly. "Ian knew her personally? That was centuries ago." She flipped the page. "I remember learning her name in DADA when we were studying werewolves. The professor that taught us told a...very sad tale about her. How she went insane."

"There's the true story about that in there...look at the table of contents," Remus directed, putting his arm around her shoulders and leaning closer to look down at the pages, "It did make me cry, if I'm honest with you."

Tonks flipped towards the table of contents and realized that it was near the back where Remus was marked, a few chapters before the end. Pages quickly hit one another as she hurriedly got to the chapter that was marked "Mairara's farewell."

*~*~*

I sat with Maiara for one last time in the healer’s room. Her eyes were glazed over and she looked at me without seeing me there. Maiara once told me that wolves could see things that no other person could see. Magical energies, being able to feel a shift in emotion or weather without any help, being able to sense of a person was lying or not, and being able to see spirits much like all other witches and wizards could.

I believed, for the very first time, Maiara wasn’t seeing anything at all. She was half human, half-wolf, and there was no way for her to shift back or forth. She was stuck in a terrible middle of humanity and monster.

It has been a long time since I heard the words. Monster.
I was told by the Shaman of the tribe that it would be inhumane for her to continue on like this, and I had to agree. It would be awful for her to stay like this, without a human thought or a wolf’s sense. Putting her down, what an animalistic thing to say, but…oh it was more humane than anything we could’ve done. I carcass her cheek, I kissed her forehead, and I murmured in her language, “May your gods, my gods, and the gods be with you. May you find your way over the bridge, across the ocean, and meet us at the shore of paradise.”

I liked to believe that she understood in her own way, but I could hear a deep rumble come from her chest and I pulled away. She tried to lunge at me, but failed. I could feel the spit from her mouth hit me against my cheek, but I didn’t dare wipe it off. She couldn’t remember me, and my smell only aggravated her further. She struggled against the warded chains, but they were too strong for her and were unbreakable. Even for a werewolf.

I couldn’t be there to watch, I couldn’t bear to see her death, we both witnessed the horrible death of her bond mate, of her lover, and her child who was barely five years of age. I wanted to remember her as the gorgeous, beautiful warrior woman I’ve come to admire. I wanted to remember her as the mother who loved her child and as a wife who loved her husband with such fierceness I would never be able to compare. 10:18 PM
So I left, the tent’s flaps closing behind me in a whisper.

Later that day, I could’ve sworn I saw her in the forest, miles out from where her tribe was. She was dressed in her best leather dress, beads adorning her skin, her outfit, and a headdress with two owl feathers dangling from it. Her hair tightly woven in a seven strand braid and her eyes holding more happiness and wisdom I had ever seen. When I blinked, the apparition of her disappeared, and I could feel a breeze that carried a faint smell of home and sage burning, and I could hear a faded wolf’s howl in the middle of the day.

All I could do was wave and hope that her spirit was appeased.

*~*~*

Remus had sat quietly the entire time Tonks was reading the full story, knowing not everyone read as fast as he did. When they both reached the end, e had to quickly wipe his eyes before the tear droplets hit the pages. Hearing Dora sniff and feeling her move to do the same, he looked at her and wiped at the streams flowing down her cheeks. "That was the second time I read it but it hurt just as bad as the first time."

"It's so awful." Tonks agreed, her voice wavering and breaking in places. Her nose was red and running and tears fell freely from her face as she tried to help Remus wipe them away. "She tried so hard to save them both from the Varcolac and was too late to do anything. I'd go insane too if that happened to someone I loved."

"I think any of us would...but none of us are normal. Any bond we make, friendship or otherwise, is always so...intense," e could only think about his own friends, "Any one of you would die for each other, as would I for my friends."

"That's where you Gryfinndors and us Hufflepuffs are very different." Tonks laughed. "Hufflepuffs will die and fight with you. Never for."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Remus nodded with a smile, "Your tears are fading, that's good. How about we put the book down for a while? Merlin knows I could use a break at least."

"Sure." Tonks agreed as she shut the book and handed it to Remus so that he could set it aside. "What made you read it?"

"I found Ian's private library study, and when I saw this and discovered he wrote it, I wondered if it would have the answers to what he mentioned yesterday. Yes, it did," he added before she could ask, "There was also one on Ghouls i gave to Sirius earlier this morning, and I figure on doing a trade with him."

"It's hard to find decent books about any dark creature. They're hard to research, let alone get close unless you're one." Tonks agreed. "It's bloody lucky Ian has those books. If you don't mind, I'd like to borrow the books myself when you two are done reading. I'll go to Ian later and see if I can find one about Shapeshifters, if you really want to do a proper trade."

"I like the sound of that, the more we know about each other the better we can interact and understand ourselves," Remus said in a very philosophical manner, "It makes me happy you are willing to read up on it. I mean, there's going to still be lots of winging-it, but it won't be as bad."

Tonks smiled and she leaned back into the couch. "I want to get to know you better. I always did have a small crush on you back when I was a third year." She rolled her eyes fondly. "All the bruises from hitting the benches with my shins when I stopped short and the classic drop the books, even though I did trip naturally."

"I did, and still do, think it's cute when you are clumsy, though of course at the same time I get concerned for you, and want to be next to you to catch you," the werewolf stroked her hair from her face, "To kiss those bruises better, perhaps..." he resisted the urge to bit his lip nervously. Their mutual attraction and affection was obvious, and he should stop worrying...but he couldn't help but wonder if it was too fast? He wasn't like Sirius and plunge right into it headfirst.

"You could kiss something else that's not bruises." Tonks replied with amusement glittering in her eyes. "Like my cheek for an example."

"Would those pretty pink lips of yours be just as acceptable?" Yet again, the words were out before he could properly filter them. He began to wonder if she just brought that out in him, like the snarky quips he'd make with his friends. Was he simply blaming the wolf for something it wasn't doing? Sure, it probably played a part in it, but it was mostly him and he was scared. Scared to make her hate him somehow, some way.

"Maaaybe." Tonks grinned playfully. "I recall that you still need my cousin's permission to actually hit on me since he was feverish last time. Unless you're a Marauder through and through and don't care for the rules."

Remus smirked, deciding to show her the answer instead of tell. Leaning forward, his lips were just about to brush against hers when his sensative hearing caught the sound of the door opening.

"Remus...? Oh...I'm so sorry," Lese's sweet voice came from behind them.

Remus tried very hard not to growl and he pulled away taking a deep breath. "What is it you need, Lese?" he asked, his voice holding a slight rumble but it wasn't anything too awful.

"Shaye requested someone find you, she's tired and wants to switch out watching over Sirius. I hear he's being dramatic again," Lese looked sheepish, "I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"No...it's fine," the werewolf shook his head and stood up, giving Tonks an apologetic look in response to her frustrated pout, "I'll go take care of my prat friend."

Tonks' pout disappeared and she smiled warmly. "Make sure you give him hell for this."

"Of course," Remus agreed before heading off.

"I would suggest not trying to do much in terms of courting while you're here. You know how it is, somebody at every turn. Ask him if he would be interested in a date at a later time," Lese suggested, "That way you won't be interrupted and you can relax."

Tonks smiled, "Will do." She stood up. "It's best if we wait a bit. We got a party and a moon to deal with. Not a good idea to ask someone to court you in a middle of a party."

"Exactly," Lese smiled, "I'll see you at dinner."

()

There was a flash of light and Mike was quick to catch Masa as he stumbled forward. They were at the front of the estate Fireside was located, and the Angel could tell his boyfriend was a bit lightheaded and maybe a little ill, "I'm sorry, I'm sure like Aparating the Angel Express takes a bit to get used to. Just take it easy and breathe."

Masanori waved him off, breathing shallowly through his nose as he kept himself bent so that his stomach could have a chance to settle and his head would stop spinning. He didn't dare speak for a long moment and could only glance up when he heard someone open the door and he prayed to whatever god there was that it wasn't Matt nor Cassie. His head wouldn't be able to take the shrill voices.

"I thought I felt a flutter of energy..." Lese said as she opened the door all the way, "Masanori, hello..." she trailed off as she saw the man beside him. Gasping, her hand flew to her mouth, "Michael?"

Mike stared at her. she was a vampire, and a full one at that. Her fangs didn't retract all the way like Ryoko's did, and her skin had that pale, almost grey hue to it. "Um...it's Mik/hail/, Mikhail Arch, but that's a pretty darn good guess, miss...?"

"Lese..." was all she could saw in response. She stared a moment longer before it clicked into place, and at the same time recognision passed in her eyes, they also became misty. Turning around, she went back inside.

"What in the world was that all about?" Mike frowned and caught the door before it shut, looking back at Masa, "Are you okay to move? We should at least get inside so you can sit down."

Masanori nodded and allowed Mike to half carry, half-drag him into the living room where he sat down heavily on the couch. His stomach was slowly deceasing it's need for spin, and his head still felt stuffed with cotton. "Oh she does that sometimes. Mix us up with people she's met before in her long life. She called me Zadkiel once. She called Nix Raguel and she's called Sam Uriel. All angel names, but she's lived long enough to have been through latin years I'm sure."

"Huh. well I was named after the Archangel Michael so whatever," he shrugged and settle next to him slowly and carefully, rubbing his back, "I can't wait to meet everybody else, though. This is going to be a fun party."

"Hana and Ryo aren't here yet?" Ian asked as he came into their view, looking disappointed as he strode in"I thought that they'd be here before you two. Ah, Hana is probably getting Kai yes?"
"Hello to you too Ian." Masanori waved.

"Yeah, David and Ryo are taking the muggle way of driving, and Hana will Aparate when she has Kai set and ready," Mike explained, "Ryo was about ready to jump out of her skin she was so excited."

"Hana is probably just as excited." Ian smiled, his eyes twinkled. "Shaye has worked hard on preparing gifts. Cassandra is probably going to give Kai a little nudge in his future. But all we can gift him is family and the knowledge that he's no longer alone in the world. A big gift for someone who has nothing." His eyes changed from twinkling to sad, but his lips still stayed curved. "But you look dead, Masanori. I'll fetch you some water and then after that, you lay down for a moment. You'll feel better with cold water and an ice pack."

"You're a life-saver Ian." Masanori sighed as Ian left. "A saint in vampire's clothing."

~*~

In the second living room which was upstairs near the top, Shaye and Sirius had just joined Cassandra and Remus and they were all just chilling out. Sirius looked a lot better today, and was sprawled out across one couch, "That tonic tasted like ass but it was worth it," he commented randomly to get the ball rolling on some sort of conversation.11:21 PM

"I've never been one for ass to mouth." Cassandra hummed. "So I'm just going to take your word on it." She glanced at Sirius and smiled warmly at him. "You're hot enough to get yourself around."

"Aw hell naw, I'm gay only for one though I've kissed and contemplated it with another, both of which are my best mates," Sirius told her firmly, "I'm totally straight besides."

Remus wrinkled his nose, "Can you not?"

"Remus has done the same thing, though I doubt he's contemplated the fun times part. The kissing he only did when drunk, too," Sirius conceded.

Shaye snickered, she could see that. "I would've thought James was the kissing one."

"James wouldn't do it with either of us but we can all say we've kissed each other. He's board straight...I mean, he's married to his school crush with a kid," Sirius pointed out.

Cassandra nodded as she turned herself to face Sirius more fully. "It sounds like you're the one that's free with their kisses." Shaye wasn't liking where this was going at all, but held her tongue.

"Mm, if I was single, possibly, but I do enjoy kissing. It can be rather addicting if you find the right partner you'd love to just...sit and spend hours tradin' spit," Sirius winked and glanced towards Shaye and Remus. Since when were they cuddling and he was over here?

Cassandra only beamed brighter. "I bet you did. Especially if you find the right person. The sex is just as good." She rubbed her lips and looked at him up and down. "It's a shame you're taken. I'd bet that you're a good fuck."

Shaye leaned against Remus' shoulder as she watched them talk. She wasn't about to go around talking about something so private as that. Cassie on the other hand, seemed to understand that notion for now and dropped it. "Shame I can't be included on that panel." She laughed. "That's alright though, I can settle for fun."

"I should totally shoot my brother an owl and get him to contact you, I swear," Sirius changed is position so he was leaning forward on the couch instead of on his side, his arms draped over his knees, "You seem to have a sense of dark humor, and you're the third wheel on everything which I feel bad for, Cinna, because you are important. Everyone here is important to somebody and for some reason. You all lean on each other and that's great."

Shaye snuggled deep into Remus's side, but she didn't say anything. She knew that Sirius was trying to be helpful, and honestly she knew that her reaction wasn't the right one. She felt Remus adjust his hold on her, but she watched even though a part of her told her that she shouldn't be doing this.

"I feel like I should say something, but I don't know her enough to understand why you're upset and I know my friend can't be stopped either," Remus whispered close to her ear.

"Dark humor is how I keep myself alive, Blackie." Cassandra smiled. "It's alright about the third wheel. I get to talk to attractive men. It is a bit lonely, I'll admit that, but I would like to think that I don't let my loneliness swallow me whole."

"Regulus is definitely an attractive man compared to the skinny little prat he used to be and I did mention he's asexual but only because he has no time. You could always make him make time. Start off as pen-pals and then ask him to meet you," Sirius reached over and placed his hand on Cassandra's head in a friendly, fun manner, then winked, "You're a pure-blood. Not a well-known one but my mother shouldn't object too strongly. If she knew what you were, though, she'd strike you up in a heartbeat so don't let her find out. I know you keep it a secret, anyway, but..."

Cassandra reached up and gently took Sirius' hand off of her head. "I'll think about that." She said as she pressed a delicate kiss against his wrist. "You're too kind, offering me up for a traditional courtship."

The reaction was explosive, but not in a sexual fun way. Sirius' head snapped up when he felt Shaye's energy spike and she jumped off the couch from sitting next to Remus, "Cherry?"

"I'm going to go see if Hana's here." She said crisply as she walked out of the living room. There was a sudden chill in the air as she closed the door behind her with a sharp click. The silence that followed it echoed that of a slammed door.

~*~

The wind from outside whooshed into the living room as the little half-vampire came bouncing through it, laughing all the while. She was holding David's hand and had a cute pale blue knit sweater jacket on over a light pink long-sleeved shirt. Printed on the shirt was a white cat, and she wore pale blue jean leggings with white knee-high boots, "So this is Fireside! Isn't it huge?! you could get lost here and find something you never knew was there the first time, even if you are given the tour!"

"I bet this place has a lot of secret passageways." David agreed as he closed the door behind them and started taking off his jacket. "The air's warmer here." He looked over towards the couch and saw Masanori and Mike. "Our wonderful dancing duo!" He grinned as he walked over to them. "It's nice to see you again."

"Dancing duo makes it sound as if we stripped at Fireside." Masanori chuckled. He was doing much better with water in him. His color was still a little pale, but nothing harmful. "How was traffic?"

"Decent." David nodded. "Hana and Kai not here yet?"

"Not quite," Mike shook his head, "I'm sure they'll be here soon. They're the only ones we've missed. Sam and Matt as well as Nix and Candice just got here, too. They went to talk to Ian and Lese, and the Twins were hounding Tonks."

"Who's Tonks?" David blinked.

"Sirius' cousin," Mike grinned, "She's really somethin', her hair changes color with her mood if she wants it to. She can also change her appearance like a bird beak or something. Daniel really likes that."

"Shapeshifting." David's grinned. "Wow. That's a rare and unique ability. Whose Daniel though? You know what? Never mind, I'll probably be introduced to everyone when they all arrive."

"Fucking freezing outside." Sam shivered violently as he headed towards the couch. He had noticed Ryoko along with some other guy that was talking to Masanori. Poor kid looked as if a train had ran him over and left him flattened like a pancake. "If it snows in November, I'm leaving for a warmer country."

"Or you could huddle in my bed." Matt laughed as she trailed her fingers down his neck. "I'm going to take Hota to see Danny." She kissed his cheek and left him, Hota holding on to her hand and walking with her, every so often turning his head back to see what was happening.

"Your wife has a point." Masanori nodded. "You could just huddle with her."

"I probably cou-YOU!"

David had turned around to face who the newcomer was after hearing his voice and blinked when he saw the familiar face stare back at him. It was a mind-boggling sense of Deja Vu. Both of them stared at each other, unable to believe that they were seeing the complete person. Surely there was a mistake.

"Hey Sam." David said after a long moment of trying to get his tongue unglued from the roof of his mouth.

"Do not "hey" me." Sam snapped. "What are you doing here? Why are you here?"

"I'm with Ryo." David gestured towards the hybrid vampire. "I haven't seen Cassie or Trev-"

"And you won't. Get out." Sam gestured strongly towards the door. "No one wants you here, Davey boy."

"What for?"

"For being a Hunter."

Ryoko gasped in shock and her hand flew to her mouth while her heart dropped. He was...a Hunter? Wasn't that just as bad if not worst than Sirius being an Auror for supernatural beings? She felt frozen in place, and could only stare between the two men. One being a best friend and the other the man she was dating.

David felt ice in his veins as his secret was announced. Masanori immediately lept off of the couch and gently pulled Ryoko away from the line of fire. Though whether he was doing that to get her away from him, or was actually genuinely concerned that Sam was going to hit him, he wasn't sure and had no time to ask.

"You make it sound like a person can't change Sam." He said sourly. "What about you? You changed. You dropped off the face of the planet."

"I married. I got tired of seeing people die. You can't tell me you got tired of seeing people tortured considering what you do." Sam hissed. "Get out! Get out!"

"I'm not leaving! I changed, Sam. I don't work as a Hunter." David snapped. "I was a security guard at the orphanage. I watch over the children and their new-found parents. Hell, I'm the one that hung around Hana-"

"And thank god that Hana's a witch and Kai might have some magic blood in him." Sam snapped. "Because if they were anything but that, you would've turned them in, in a second. No, not even turn them in. You'd kill and torture them. Like your job requires."

"Fuck off." David growled. "You don't even know why I dropped."

"Oh enlighten me." He drawled, his eyes flashing like fireworks. He could feel his blood boiling and he was certain that he was pushing his nails into the palm of his hand, he was making it bleed most likely.

"I have nieces and nephews now. A bunch of them." David shook his head. "I wouldn't hurt a kid...and...the people that we killed and tortured, you can't tell me you didn't do the same Sam, were hurting. They weren't animals."

"Why don't I believe anything you say?" Sam demanded. "Because you're a poor-excuse for a liar."

"Oh like your excuse was any different." David snapped. "Stopping torture and killing because you got married."

For some reason, that only pissed Sam off further and before he even had a decisive thought run through his head, he pulled out his wand and pointed at David. He was pretty sure someone screamed, probably Ryoko. He could feel someone tugging on him, but his anger was tunnel-visioned onto one person.

"KNOCK IT OFF!"

Sam didn't have any time to recover as his arm suddenly snapped up wards and his hand was free of the wand he was holding. Red-hair whipped around and she turned towards David, holding her hand out. "I want your wand." Her eyes were pure black besides the iris which was a crimson shade of red. It reminded him of blood in the moonlight.

"He started it!"

"WAND!" She snapped and David flinched. He reached into his boot and pulled out a wand. Sam didn't even realize that David had carried it there. The David he remembered would always have it up his sleeve. It was easy access and he wouldn't ever lose it.

Shaye took the wands and looked at both of them. The door opened and shut and he could hear two more people come in, but no one was paying any attention to them. "Do you want your wands back?" Her voice was like ice just started to freeze. Silent and deadly. "Then you have to be civil to each other. The entire day. No arguing. Clean slate. You get to know him as David the Security Guard and you-" she whipped towards David, turning her black-red eyes towards him. "Get to know him as Samuel the Fiery Wave Manager and Bartender." She gripped the wands tightly. "IF you don't do this, then I will hold your wands until you do. I don't care if it endangers your life or not, you endangered us." She looked between the two and her eyes slowly changed back to a chocolate-brown color. "If you need me, I'm going to go outside." And with that, she left.

"Jesus fuck." Trevor came towards the couch cautiously, Harlequin babbled from her place on his waist. He bounced her a little as he watched Shaye leave. "What the hell was all that about?" He turned towards David. "Oh hey David. Long time no see."

"Trevor." David greeted, albeit wearily. His eyes wandered towards where Trevor also kept his wand in his boot. "Sorry about the dramatics."

"No need, but...what's the fight about? Oh no you don't." Trevor grabbed Sam's collar as he turned around to stomp off. "We're going to talk about this like normal adults. Shaye took your wands so all you have now is your fists and believe me, neither one of you know muggle brawling like Miranda does and she has a taser. Do you really want to go up against that?"

"S-Sam...David told me he's known Trevor for a while since they're both security," Ryoko's voice was shaky, "Wouldn't he be upset if David couldn't be trusted?" She wanted...to go to her boyfriend, hug him tightly, but that was a very big secret in a house full of Dark Creatures...including herself.

"You and I both know that we just lead someone dangerous into-" Sam was immediately cut off by Trevor.

"You're dangerous too, brother." Trevor shrugged. "Don't forget, I'm the one that arrested you back when I was in Auror training before I quit to become a muggle constable."

David remembered that. It was a slap on the wrist arrest. Sam and himself had gotten a bit too carried away. No Azabkan imprisonment, but it did make Sam think twice.

"Oh, can Sam be burned if he's a Fire Element Wizard?" Mike commented, trying to make light in a dark conversation.
Both Trevor and Sam both were taken aback by the random question. "Cassie burned you once." Trevor had a bit of a smile on his face. "Remember? She burst out crying because she thought she burned you so bad."

Ryo felt herself getting over her shock, and while she was still shaky she stood more firmly, "/Sam/," she said, "Ask David how long it's been since he got away from that life. Shaye did just say to get to know him." Not to mention she was also curious, but it could be a start for the two. She could always ask her own questions later. She looked at the black haired man, meeting his eyes, "You too, ask Sam how long he's been married to Matt, and about Hota."

"Somebody's getting the ball rolling," Mike nodded is approval and looked at Masanori, "You haven't said much."

Masanori shook his head. "Shaye only interfered because of the Wand rule. Now that's over and done with, neither of us have a say in how they solve their fight or their grudge." He looked between Sam and David. "You don't have to ask the personal questions like that if you don't want to. But I do suggest that one of you talks about what Fireside stands for, what your morals are, and see if you can go from there."

David nodded, "Then that story goes hand in hand with what Ryoko asked. I got out about...five...four years ago? I'm bad with time and years. They all blend together." Sam nodded. David always had a watch with him and a calander that he checked frequently. He never missed a birthday or a big holiday after that. "My sister, Clara, had a kid. A baby girl. Cute as a button." He smiled warmly. "And I was off doin' my job when I heard that she had the kid. I felt bad. I wanted to be there for the birth and everything. The job I got was to kill off a family of three...which happened to be four. I might've not been there for my sister's kid, but I was there for a vampire's child." He paused. "It made me sick. To know that we were killing people who had families. Sure, we seen them. We were taught that vampires could have live children and not be turned, but really...did we believe that at all?" He looked at Sam. "So I quit and started working at an orphanage because I wondered how many children we left orphaned and how many kids you and I killed prematurely thinking we were saving lives."

Ryo's breath hitched again as she stared at him. A vampire baby and they're family. He felt remorse for it all and wanted to pay his dues, make up for what he'd done. She did move closer to him now, reaching for him and touching his hand, but didn't take it. She just made the offer, considering the air was still tense and she knew some people hated being touched when they were stressed or upset.

Sam pursed his lips together, watching David for a moment. "Fireside stands for protection and family. /We/ stand for protection and family. Every single person who walks through those doors are family. This is basically a dark creature hideaway and paradise." He snapped his mouth shut for a moment, staring at David. "I was dating Matt when I dropped from Hunting. I married her a year after that. I discovered Fireside a year and half after our wedding. I met Candy and Nix. Nix knew I was a Hunter and didn't trust me, didn't want me anywhere near Fireside. So, he did what anyone would do. He Judged me using his blue fire. I was hurting, but he could see that I was trying to repent. So he allowed me to stay. I met Lily and Francis, both of them original members of Fireside before my family and everyone else came in. I adored them both. When they were murdered, I took in their kid because I was named his Godfather. Francis and I had a love for bartending and we started to make plans to own a bar, and Lily was damn smart and a medic for us. Everything she learned, she learned from Lese." He paused again. "Hota doesn't talk and if he does he whispers. I barely can hear him, but I can't blame him. He was three years old when his parents died and he was told they weren't coming back."

"The murder...also affected some neighbors of ours that are Sirius' friends, because the murderer was Raiden Arashi's brother, Suzaku," Ryoko explained, "I didn't learn that part until recently, but they're good people."

Mike tilted his head at the mention of blue fire that could judge someone. "That ability you just mentioned, Sam...it sounds familiar but I don't know why. Must be the angel part of me," he shrugged, "Would it make you feel better if Nix did that to David? It's a suggestion, anyway. Everyone's here, including Phoenix."

"I'd do it." David shrugged.

Sam paused, thinking about it and then shook his head, all the fight going out of his sails. "No." He said after a moment. "At least not when there's children running around."

"Isn't there a bar on the upper floor?" Ryo asked, "The children wouldn't be allowed in there, anyway."


"There is," Sam said softly. "But I'm still saying no. Not until the party's over and done with at the very least if I'm not comfortable by then."

"Always does things the hard way. Offer him the easy way and he's gonna bolt." David smirked a little. "Probably helps I have Mike on my side too. And Masanori."

"Believe me." Sam glanced at David. "If Masanori threw half of the fit that he threw when he found out about Sirius, I /would/ demand you burned regardless if kids were around or not."

"I would've if I hadn't had drinks with the guy." Masanori sighed. "But I did and I got to know him, so there's really no need for me to be overprotective big brother. Especially since he feels remorse about what he did and why he did it. I'm all in for repentance. But even I'd feel better if he was burned. Like you said before, this is supposed to be a party for my sister and her new kid. So...we wait for the party to be over if that's what you want."

"We should at least let Nix know, that way he's prepared for it later so we don't spring it on him at the end," Ryo reminded.

"Yeah, don't want the guy to be all 'wait what'?" Mike laughed and jumped up to his feet, "Masanori! You sir need to do some introductions so lead on!" he pointed at the purple haired man.

"Yes, yes." Masanori laughed as he got up as well. "We'll talk to you guys in a bit." He waved as he walked away.

"I'm going to go ahead and leave. Trevor's has HQ and my wife's probably hogging the poor kid, now that he stepped aside." Sam nodded his head and waved as he walked off.

David nodded as he watched them leave and he turned towards Ryoko. "So I just ran into a ghoul who demanded my wand." He said nonchalantly. "I also got to meet an angel, maybe three if Nix counts. So...what are you exactly? I know you're magical."

"Nix isn't," Ryo shook her head, "Candy and Matt are, so Mike's technically the third you've met," she shrugged, "I'm...something, but not magical. I don't know where you get the magical part," she placed her hands on his sides and rested her head on his chest, "I'm sorry...for not telling. I just...want to live in the glow of having a boyfriend a bit longer. I know...I'm selfish..."

"That's fine." David hugged her back gently, "But you are magic. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to sense it. I don't know. Maybe that's just me."

~*~

Sirius was biting his lip and Remus didn't look too happy, either. They both looked at Cassandra but Sirius was the one to ask her straight up, "I've been with her for a month but you're the only one who's brought out her jealousy so far. Did you two have a spiff before or something? She was so mad the first time she called you a whore outright when we got alone."

Cassandra laughed softly, but looked a little pained. "No, not a spiff." She shook her head. "I'm thinking it's a Ghoul thing."
"It /is/ a ghoul-thing." Abigail had entered the living room. She wasn't cross, but she wasn't exactly happy either. "Shaye just gave Sam and David hell and took their wands. Which was fantastic since Sam pulled his out first, but boy I thought she was going to rip them to shreds. Her power was so strong, no one /sensed/ her until she was right in front of Sam, knocking the wand outta his hand."

"Wait what? Really?" Sirius stood up, eyes wide, "David? Isn't that the guy Ryoko's dating? What the bloody hell?"

Abigail's expression softened. "Sam and David are a little worse than you Sirius. They're ex-hunters." She gently gestured for him to sit back down. "There's nothing you can do right now, besides to let the storm pass."

Sirius looked at Remus, and took a seat next to the werewolf when he saw the slack jaw and pale skin. "I didn't know Sam was a Hunter...it's good he's not one anymore, living in Fireside, but David..."

"That's a heck of a taboo in the Hunter World," Remus muttered, "Dating a Vampire, one of the things he's hunted. Does he even know?"

"Ryoko hasn't told him that she's a vampire." Abigail sighed as she took a seat next to Cassie. "So he can claim ignorance for a while longer. Ryoko has no idea that David knows though." She shrugged a little. "But at the same time that makes him a perfect fit for Fireside. After all, what the two of you are doing is illegal too. All of us are illegal basically."

"Not that any of us care..." Sirius snorted, "I love Shaye, and I'm an Auror. Masa threw a fit but yet here I am, in your guys' lair of sorts. Coven in Vampire terms? Whatever, your home," he shrugged, "So what's Shaye's issue with Cinna?"

Abigail looked at Cassie, "Well first of all, what made her leave the room?"

"I kissed his wrist." Cassandra pursed her lips. "He patted my head and I kissed his wrist."

"Wow." Abigail raised an eyebrow. "I bet you were flirting with him the whole time too." She sighed loudly. "Long story short, Ghouls are possessive. It's natural instinct to want to protect and keep people away from their mates."

"Isn't that...all mates, though?" Remus furrowed his brows, "I mean, that's the whole reason for jealousy."

"Well, yes and no." Abigail sighed softly. "Let me put it this way to you. Remus, how many definitions does a "kiss" have to you?"

"There are kisses for family and kisses for lovers, but kisses given by acquaintances are always awkward to me, unless there's a mutual attraction and you're going to pull a one-night stand," Remus furrowed his brows, "Not sure if I answered that correctly, I hope I did."

"That's the same thing for me." Abigail turned to Sirius. "Same thing for the both of you right?"

"Sounds about right." Cassandra replied, looking a bit lost.

"Yes," Sirius nodded.

"Well, Ghouls don't see kisses like that." Abigail sighed. "I mean, they're all part of the same clan, then yeah, sure, there might be a kiss here and there. It might just be for the the children and for the immediate family. But basically what you two did was have sex on the couch with two voyeurs on the other side. Now comes the problem. Either both of you," she looked at Sirius. "Know that you're mates and haven't discussed, or neither of you knew that you were mates. If niether of you knew, then this makes more sense. If both of you knew, then why didn't you draw up a list of whose okay to kiss and how to kiss?!"

"I just read Shaye's own personal book on Ghouls and there was nothing about this in there?!" Sirius threw his hands up, "Oh my Merlin! Seirously? Wait...mates?" He looked at Abby a bit confused, "Don't we need to mark each other?"

"Ugh, no, you wanker," Remus groaned and rubbed his face, "Not everyone has the ability or mouth strength to break the skin to mark without damaging their mate, so for them it's the intertwining of magic. When you two did it last week your energies meshed. Yes, you're mates."

"WHAT THE BLOODY FUCKING HELL REMUS? COULDN'T YOU HAVE SAID SOMETHING?!" Sirius stood up, "I need to go find my girlfriend now and worship the ground she walks on, thanks guys."

Abigail moved quickly so that Sirius could leave and she looked at Remus and Cassie. "Well." She said with a smile on her face. "I have to admit, I didn't know about the magic either. Nicky probably doesn't himself. So...this is going to be a very interesting thing to hear on how they clear up this mess. I'm so glad Fireside only has /rare/ gatherings. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure we'd live up to our name actually burn to the ground."

"We'd either burn it with drama or with sexual innuendos that no child should hear." Cassie agreed solemnly. "I think Hana should be arriving by now. Want to meet a little kid that Tonks can morph for?" She asked looking at Remus.

~*~

Nicky found Shaye outside on the patio. She was curled up on the lounge couch, her knees slightly bent and her eyes far away. He sat down on the edge of the couch, gently touching her calf of her leg and rubbing gentle circles into his skin. “I saw you flip out at Sam and David.” He said gently, softly. “You know you did the right thing, yea?”

She nodded, just slightly. He could see that her eyes were starting to tear up. He gently scooted closer, leaving her legs to sit near her waist. His hand was covered with an arm-warmer that she made for him last year in pride colors. He rubbed gentle circles against her shoulder, the clothes catching every once in a while against the yarn.

“I got mad at Cassie and Sirius.” She said softly against her arm, not looking towards Nicky.

Nicky stopped his motions and tilted his head. “Why?”

“She kissed his wrist. He was trying to help her get together with his brother and she kissed his wrist.” Shaye bit her lip, quivering. “I know that it was platonic…”

“But instinct tells you it’s not.” Nicky nodded as Shaye closed her eyes, a tear slipped down her cheeks. He reached out and gently wiped it away. “Hey, don’t cry.” He cooed softly. “They’re gonna understand. You’re a Ghoul, Shaye. You have thoughts and feelings and you have instincts that tell you to protect what’s yours.”

“No human wants a jealous girlfriend.” Shaye looked at him. “He’s probably really confused, Nick. He’s probably thinking that I don’t trust him to make his own decisions, or that I really am going to keep him away from his friends. Or maybe he’s thinking “oh god here goes my last day of freedom.”

“And because you’d never do that, he knows better than to think that.” Nicky admonished. “Humans protect what’s precious to them just like Ghouls and Vampires do and we all do it in different ways. My god, if a man came up to you and kissed you on the cheek, I’d bet my last dollar that Sirius would get possessive of you.”

“Would he?” Shaye looked up at him curiously. “But what kind of possessive?”

“The same kind you are. He’d welcome your friends, he’d treat them like family. But good lord if someone tried to hit on you, that man will not be alive the next day.” Nicky smiled faintly. “An expression though, I doubt Sirius would kill.”

Shaye’s eyes watered again. “But it was platonic…and Cassie is my friend.”

“But she kissed his wrist.” Nicky pointed out. “And what are you supposed to think? Ghouls are protective of each other and each other’s families. Not to mention mates.”

“I didn’t bite him.”

“No, but I know demons didn’t always bite in order to claim their lover.” Nicky raised an eyebrow. “The instinct, the possessiveness, the courtship, all of that is a ritual for a mate. He sends a signal to you that tells you that he’s trying to be yours and in order to keep that he’s yours, you got to keep the competition down. You saw Cassie as competition because she decided to be intimate with a goddamn kiss. Yeah, it was plantoic in a human’s eyes, but a ghoul’s…that’s pretty fucking intimate. That’s like her having sex with him in front of your eyes. It’s awful. And what’s even worse is that he’s human. He doesn’t have the same instincts as you. While yes, he would be angry if someone kissed you, if it was someone from this group, he wouldn’t even bat an eye. He wouldn’t get upset. He’d know that they were friends and it was platonic. But that’s a big difference between you and him. Kisses are always serious with you, and kisses aren’t always serious with humans.” He paused. “Not to mention he probably only has a faint idea of what a courtship involves for a ghoul. Did you even write that down?”

“It’s in my demon book. We have the same court styles like they do.”

“He shagged you too right?” Shaye nodded. “But he hasn’t claimed you.”

“HIckey.”

“He bit you?”

Shaye nodded.

“You didn’t bite back.” Shaye nodded again and Nicky sighed. “Even more of a complicated problem. He claimed you, but you didn’t claim him. So of /course/ you’re going to see Cassandra as an opponent. You left him open for the taking.”

“I didn’t want to be so brutal. I know humans don’t mate like that.” Shaye frowned deeply. “They marry first.”

“Humans are so complicated. It’s not like you can ask him to put a ring on your finger and have him agree to a scar on his neck for all eternity.” Nicky groaned. “Did he know?”

“No…I haven’t told him. I…” Shaye shook her head. “I didn’t even think that I would register that as a mating mark.”

“Well. Good news is, is that you found your love of your life. Bad news is, is that you gotta tell him that.” Nicky sighed. “And it’s about a month into a relationship.”

“Humans move too slow.” Shaye groaned.

“But we live pretty fast for our slow aging.” Nicky agreed. “Come on, let’s get you up and some water. Where’s the wands?” Shaye held them out. “Cool. Hold on to those. Coffee, fireplace, and I’ll grab some yarn so you can work some frustrations out.”

The area was getting more and more crowded in one spot, but Sirius somehow managed to find his lover. She'd joined the frey but was looking rather glum, and he felt like such an asshole. In the room full of people, he walked right up to her, knowing Nicky was also there among several others, and he pulled her forward into his body, leaning down to claim her lips with his fiercely. If a kiss to the wrist was sex, then was a full kiss basically an orgasm? Hmm, dirty thoughts in a place like this with kids around, but at the current moment of time there was no care.

Shaye made a soft noise of surprise, but she accepted the kiss full-heartedly and wrapped her arms around his neck as she responded. She didn't know what was going on with him, but the blood in her veins buzzed and her head felt light. His smell was back to cinnamon and a smokey fire. When they pulled away, she leaned her forehead against his, breathing when he exhaled. "That's some kiss." She said softly, the kiss taking more than just her breath away.

"EEEEWWW! NO KISS!!" Two of the children who were there shouted, but Shaye didn't pay them any mind.

"Abby explained what happened, and I'm so very sorry. No kisses from those I don't know their exclusive relation to you. Matt and Candy kinda seem like their own thing so I think we're both at their mercy, though," he smiled softly at her, "Do you accept my apology? I can always make it up to you better later."

Shaye wanted to start crying again. "You didn't know, Sirius. I'm so sorry. I didn't think that I was mated to you or anything. I didn't think I'd get so weirdly jealous. I thought I fu-screwed up."

"It's okay, Remus just informed me of it, too, so we're both like, well okay then," Sirius stroked her cheek, then a slow sensual smirk crossed his face, "We could always find a dark corner in another room and just suck on each other's necks a bit, give each other a good red hickey," he rumbled, voice husky, "IT'd be half-assed but it'd serve it's purpose in this group of people, everyone would see and know."

Shaye's cheeks reddened, but she shook her head from side to side. "And miss the party? I still have something to give to Hana. However, after the party...I think I could take you up on that offer of a good apology and a dark hicky."

"Hmm, why do something half-way when we can do it proper?" Sirius asked with a grin and nodded, kissing her forehead sweetly, "Alright, then let's go say hi to everyone."

"At least that got solved." Hana beamed as Shaye guided Sirius more into the party. Everyone was split off into their own little groups. Sam and David were trying to talk to each other since Matt and Ryoko were both hoping to solve everything /without/ Nix's help and to get the wands back quicker for both their sakes. "Now we just got the boys and we're hoping no one decides to start pouring shots. Otherwise Fireside /will/ burn down."

"That was only once and that was for a twenty-first birthday." Shaye laughed. "I do have something for you, by the way Hana." She let go of Sirius. "I'll be right back to get it. I had just wrapped it and left it in the kitchen." She kissed Sirius' cheek and left him to Hana's mercy.

"Always moving." Hana rolled her eyes fondly. "So, Sirius, have you met the guest of honor yet?"

"No! I don't believe I have," Sirius grinned at her. He did spot Kai hiding behind Hana's leg but feigned ignorance and put his hand over his eyebrows in a explorer's looking around stance, "Hmm....I wonder where the little rascal could be? There are so many people around, and plenty of adorable kids. Is that him?" he winked at Hana and pointed at Hota who Candy was playing with.

Hana looked over at Hota and shook her head, pretending to be serious, Kai placed a hand over his mouth and also started giggling. "No, I don't think that's him." Hana said, her eyes twinkling. "That's Hota, and he's Sam's and Matt's child."

"Then where could he be? I'm certain Kai's not a /girl/," Sirius said firmly, his hand on his chin, his eyes on Harlequin. He hadn't really met Trevor's family yet but he could guess who was who at least.

"I'm here!" Kai laughed. "I'm right here. I'm not that small!" He beamed brightly as Hana pretended to look shocked, placing a hand over her heart as she looked down.

"So /that's/ where you been." Hana teased.

"Well I'll be!" Sirius bent down, hands on his knees, "Naw! It can't be! Though you must be, you're the cutest one here," he reached out and poked Kai's nose, "So you must be the guest of honor! It's hard to tell since you were hiding away!"

Kai let out a squeak of surprise and he placed a hand over his nose, but he gave a smile anyway. "Hello." He grinned as he placed his hand down. "I'm Kai and I'm five years old."

"And I'm Sirius Black, but you can have the privilege of calling me Padfoot or Pads if you'd like," he took Kai's hand and gave him a nice and-shake, "Shaye should be back soon with a gift for you. I'm sorry I don't have anything but my best wishes to you and your new mommy."

Kai shook his hand a few times before leaping into his arms to give him a hug. "Are you going to be around?" He asked softly, making sure that only Sirius could hear. "Auntie Shaye is real happy with you, and you're real nice. I wouldn't want you to go."

Sirius smiled and patted Kai's back tenderly, "Of course I'm going to stay around, I wouldn't want to make anyone sad. I'm really happy with your Auntie Shaye too."

"Awww." Shaye cooed as she came back, Kai immediately dislodged himself from Sirius' arms and she bent down to look at him. "Sorry that it took me long to grab it, but you don't have to worry. They aren't going to leave if they don't want to."

Kai nodded his head, "What's that?"


"This?" Shaye held up the gift. "Well, you and your mum are going to have to open it up and see what it is, wouldn't you?"

"It's for me?!" Kai's eyes widened.

"Every bit of it." Shaye promised as she handed the gift. Hana also bent down to see what it was.

Kai didn't waste any time in unwrapping it, tearing it as fast as he could as if the present would disappear suddenly if he didn't. His eyes grew wide again when he saw what it was. "It's a blanket! It has my favorite color on it!" It was also a lavender purple and a gorgeous pink so that it looked like something from a sunrise or sunset. "It's pretty!"

"I hoped you liked it." Shaye looked relieved. "I thought that you didn't have much in your room, so this would be able to bring some color into it."

"Thank you!!!" Hana quickly grabbed the blanket before Kai could drop it as he flung himself into Shaye's arms, "No one's ever given me a gift before besides Slate! Thank you so much!"

Sirius grinned and took the blanket from Hana, looking at it carefully, "Wow, you did a fantastic job, Shaye. This really is gorgeous."

"All of Nicky's things are crochet by her. He always gets new ones for Christmas. Which is why he's always so colorful." Hana grinned as she gently touched the work. "She always finds the best yarns too, so it's guaranteed soft. She never uses anything that'd be considered itchy."

"Flatterers." Shaye's cheeks reddened as she let Kai go and gently pressed a kiss on his blonde locks. "But, considering you like that, I promise you for Christmas, you'll get a much more fun present from me."

"I'll find something for you." Kai nodded solemnly. "Thank you so much Auntie Shaye." And with that he ran off to find either Hota or Daniel, it was unclear which one.

"Sweet kid." Shaye cooed. "You got the lucky pick of the straw there, Hana."

"Did I ever." Hana beamed.

"I wonder who picked who, he's rather attached to you," Sirius nodded, "I'm very happy for you. Too bad since it's September you gotta take him to muggle school or you'd be spending all day everyday with him," he chuckled.

Hana nodded seriously. "I thought about that actually. I'm still uncertain if I want to do it so soon. I don't want him to feel like I'm abandoning him, but I know education was important." She sighed softly. "I'll figure something out, I always do."

()

"It's getting colder and colder...we are going to have to start putting heat charms on our robes," Sirius muttered as he pulled his closer together, slipping his hands into his armpits, "It hasn't even been a month since we got sick, I would rather not do that again. Lily and Remus almost killed us themselves." It had been three weeks since the party, and Halloween was two weeks away.

"Your lovely bird managed to save us from that terrible fate." James pointed out with a cheeky grin. "But I think Lily would kill me dead faster if I got Harry sick. Which would be a nightmare for all four of us."

"Oh, most assuredly," Sirius nodded, "I swear, though, mate, when was the last time /Lily/ got sick? Or Remus? I know Moony is, but Lily has to be something unnatural. I mean, she married you." He laughed when James punched his shoulder.

"I'll have you know that her morning sickness was the worst." James reminded Sirius. He paused. "You know that brings up a good question. Can ghouls get sick?"

"I do not even want to know what that would be like. I cannot give her chicken noodle soup or anything of that sort and she can only have so much tea," Sirius shuddered, "Remus would more than likely be better suited at taking care of her in that situation."

James snorted and covered his mouth with his hand. He tried desperately to hold back his laughter, but....the imagery was kind of funny. "The look on your face." He giggled wildly. "I'm sure she'd appreciate the cuddles. You're the best cuddler there is. You had a lot of practice doing it using Rem and I as body pillows."

"Nice to have your word on that," Sirius snickered and shook his head. The laughter died, however, as he started to feel like something was horribly wrong. The atmosphere turned darker...and he lifted his nose into the air, letting the heightened senses granted to him by his animagus to smell the wind that wafted by. "Blood?"

James' attention snapped to the the direction. He could smell blood, just faintly. He noticed that there was something dreadfully wrong with this area. He darted forward, but was careful to stay light on his feet so he didn't make too much noise. Both him and Sirius had to stop short when they noticed blood on the ground, making a river on the asphalt. They turned a corner...and what they saw was horrifying least to say.

A body sprawled out on the ground, limbs twisted in ways they shouldn't be. Sirius felt sick to his stomach but he moved closer anyway, realizing it was a male. Steeling himself, he reached out and turned his head, spotting eyes...that were just like Shaye's when she was using her powers. Horror and nausea turned to anger, "No! Why would someone do this?!" He stood up and turned to James, grey eyes dark, "I think there's a Rogue Hunter around."

"If there is, let's be prepared." James said, slipping his hand into his robe, feeling where he hid his wand in his pocket. "We might find more of them. Fuck..." He felt his heart clench. He was certain the ghoul managed to defend himself as much as he could, but the Hunter was just too good. "Split up or stick together?"

"We should split up, but stay close enough we hear each other and can ambush the /cuck/ if thing get out of control," Sirius whispered fiercely, setting off in one direction through the intersecting alleyways.

The hunter had thought himself a good distance away from the body. He had kept weaving through the alleyways, just like he had scoped out, knowing all to well where each and every curve went into. He was pleased with himself. He had heard the Ghouls were hard to kill, but...oh the method that the guy told them about was fantastic. It ended their lives with torture, without the need to use a "crucio" curse. No way the Ministry could call it illegal, or forbidden.

"I hear you, you bastard," Sirius called into the darkness, "Running away like a manky slag! Own up to what you did, Rogue. Come out."

It sounded like something from a cheesy fantasy novel. The hunter stopped short, wondering who it could be. A ghoul who was a witness? Would this be two under his belt? He kept a grip on his wand, looking at the alleyway, trying to detect who was coming towards. "Come on then." He jeered. "Make my night. I killed one of you, I don't mind killing another."

"Flattered you think I'm a Ghoul," Sirius hissed, "I will catch you, blighter," he did not pick up his speed, liking his menacing strode and kept his wand up. With a flick of his wrist he sent a bolt towards the shadow around the corner, "You will pay for what you did!"

The Hunter dodged the bolt, but his sleeve was scorched from the attack. "A Ghoul sympathizer?" The Hunter jeered. "A monster lover? Is that what you are? I could almost feel sorry for you." The Hunter waved his wand to cast his own spell where the bolt had come from. Whether it managed to hit or not, was beyond him.

"You going to kill me for being such? Maybe I'm a monster sympathizer because I'm a monster, too," Sirius gnashed his teeth, rolling forward and dodged another spell only to cast his with his other hand, catching his opponent off-guard when he went wand-less, "I will rip you apart. What did that Ghoul do to deserve to die?! What crime did he commit to deserve being hunted down like an animal?! Maybe he had a family and you robbed him from it!"

One spell made hims stumble, but while he was caught unawares, the other spell hit him in the leg. He shrieked with pain as his leg bent at an unusual angle and the bones were grinding against each other, causing him to yell louder as he sunk down into the ground. He's eyes were flashing with panic. He tried to shoot a spell, but his aim was absolutely atrocious. "Ghouls don't have family, sympathizer. Someone told you a lie." He tried to sneer, but his harsh breathing gave his fear away. "Ghouls kill us first. They're corpse eaters, they're cannibals in the worst possible way. They feel no sympathy for us. They don't give a fuck about us. We're just a food source."

"THEN WHY DO THEY GO TO GRAVEYARDS TO FEED, YOU BLOODY SOD?!" Sirius screamed, Shaye flashing in his mind and the Hunter's words made his blood boil. He came around the corner and easily dodged the blast aimed at him before he strode closer, his black hair framing his face as he glowered. The Hunter tried to fire again but he blasted him the chest to knock him flat, his boot stepping hard on his wrist and he heard a /snap/, grinning evilly as he screamed and the wand rolled away.

"What kind of monster /are/ you?" The Hunter demanded, his mind was growing fuzzy from the pain. He could hear, or he could swear that he could hear more footsteps that were coming their way. He wasn't sure, maybe it was his imagination.

"Oh, believe me, Rogue, I /am/ Human...but one of two worst possible kinds," Sirius reached down and picked him up by the collar, forcing him to stand on his good leg as he pressed him against the alley wall, wand to his throat, "I am the kind with a soul, that feels pain and anger and has a conscience. The kind who is ruthless when angry, quite possibly blinded by it, but like right now at this current time? I don't care. You are the other worst type of human. Soulless. Heartless. No care about the monster's life before you took it. I know two Hunters...one changed after seeing one monster family with a child in the mother's arms. Demon spawn to you. The other married and didn't want that darkness in his life. You are just despicable."

The hunter started laughing, and when he laughed he couldn't stop. This man really thought that he was despicable? The two Hunters that had went rouge were the ones who were despicable. "Hahaha! Hahaha! HAHAHAH!" His eyes were practically dancing in their sockets. "You think I'm a Monster? You think I'm the worst type of human? Kid, you don't know anything. Let me tell you something." He grinned brightly. "You're being manipulated. I don't know who is doing it to you, but they have you wrapped around their finger like a spider wraps a fly. You asked about graveyards...you get sick and tired eating rotten meat after a while, don't you think so? Fresher meat means stronger bodies." He shook his head from side to side. "Which also means they're harder to kill. Much harder. I take my kills with a sense of pride. It's not like they're lying down defenseless now, are they?"

Sirius was aware the Hunter had snapped now, and paid his words no mind, "I am going to kill you for what you did." Shaye would probably know that Ghoul, and he was going to pay his respects once he knew the truth. This scum needed to be taken care of, however.

"You can't kill me." The man's laugh died in his throat and fear started to show on his face. He struggled a little against Sirius' hold. "You can't, you won't kill me!"

"Not with magic, perhaps," Sirius purred, his voice dark and almost sultry as he slipped his wand inside his sleeve and gripped the Hunter's throat in his hands, "I can always make it look like a double homicide," he promised, "You tried to kill him but he crushed your windpipe. I saw the marks...your last stab to the Ghoul's stomach did him in."

"Sirius!" James yelled grabbing the back of Sirius' robe and yanked him off of the Hunter. Without missing a beat, the Hunter tried to run, but James was faster and used a body-bind curse on the man. "What the bloody hell?!" He demanded. "I know that what he did ticked you off, it pissed me off too, but you don't just go around murdering people to prove you're better than them!"

Sirius stumbled back against the wall, away from James and away from the object of his hatred. He didn't answer right away, his hand in his hair and he took deep breaths, "No...it wasn't to prove I'm better, James..." Sirius clarified first, "It was...it was more raw than that. Personal. It...it felt like he had killed family. Like he had killed Remus or even you. Might as well have killed Shaye for how strongly I felt."

"Careful," James immediately waved his wand and cast a muffling charm on the Hunter so that his ears would be clogged and wouldn't hear them talk after this part. "Look, listen." He said soothingly. "It was personal. You and Shaye are together intimately, remember?" He was being vague on purpose. Just because the Hunter had his ears clogged didn't mean that he couldn't understand them. "Let's get him into the Ministry and....we'll go from there. My place, Shaye's...Rem's...whoever you need for comfort."

"Shaye...she's going to be so heartbroken. I should break this to her first before she hears about it on the Daily Prophet...I'm...I'm not going with you to the Ministry. I can't be near that Rogue, obviously. I'll call Cleaners about the Ghoul and stay here to make sure he's not simply discarded. I want him to be taken care of properly," Sirius said softly, "I will see you later, yeah?"

"Sure." James gently clapped Sirius' shoulder and turned to the Hunter. Another wave of his wand and the muffling stopped. He approached closer and used the counter curse for the body bind. Before the Hunter had even a moment to scramble up and escape, James bent down and forced him to stand and without any further ado, both of them Apparated away with a loud crack.

~*~

Shaye winced as the kettle let out a high pitched sound as the water was done boiling. She took it off of the stove, glancing at the clock. It was nearing midnight, and she wasn't in the least tired. She sighed as she turned off the stove and opened one of her cupboards to take down an iron cast cup and pot. The pot was large, grey, and flat, shaping two koi that swam around the lid. Inside the lid and the pot had some discoloring to show it's years of use and how much flavor was inside the pot. She placed a big ball of pumpkin spice tea inside and poured the kettle in, trusting the iron cast to keep the water warm and hot. She turned on a timer to let her know when the tea was done brewing and walked back into the living room. She was just about to sit down when she heard a loud knock on the door.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she slowly got back up. She hestiated at first, but walked to the door and peered through the peek hole. The moment she saw Sirius' face, she quickly unlocked and unbolted the door and opened it wide. "Sirius! Why are..." She trialed off. He looked...defeated if that was even the right word to describe him. His eyes looked tired and dead, a long frown was on his face and his posture was tensed up and slumped. "Come in..." She gestured him inside. "I was just brewing tea." She watched as he walked in, even his gait didn't have the same jump to his step. She closed the door and relocked it, before going back to his side. "Come on, sit." She murmured sitting down on the couch and pushing herself into the corner so that she could hold him better when he curled up, if he curled up.

He got as far as the couch, but caught her arm before she could sit and pulled her into his chest with a fierce jerk, a needy one, as if he was pulling her from the ledge of a cliff before she fell. Only...it might as well been switched. His face buried into her shoulder and just...held her. There was no shaking, no sniffing, just...his arms tightly around her body. The strike of the midnight tones on her grandfather clock made him jerk and it was like that was the last sledgehammer strike to the dam holding everything together. His breath turned ragged, the first tears beaded and fell, and he felt his teeth bit into the flesh of his lip. His grip tightened impossibly so, his hands clutching the back of her shirt.

"Shh." Shaye murmured softly, hugging him close and kissing his neck and cheek. She rubbed her hand soothingly against his back. "I'm here." She shifted in her hold so that she could hold him closer, tighter. He needed her to be firm, so she was. She held him back, grounding him and trying to give all the love and comfort she could through the hold. "I'm here, love." She murmured softly against his ear. He didn't need her questions, not now, so she held them back even though curiosity was gnawing at her. Something happened at work, he must have saw something dreadful or overly stressed. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's sit down." She coaxed softly. "I love you, it's okay." She didn't dare let go of him as she manuvered them to sit, she didn't dare try to look and see if she was landing right. Just trusted that she was. She held him close against her, kissing his cheek and neck and nuzzling him again. She ran her fingers through his hair, gently scratching at the scalp since he liked that so much. "I'm here."

Sirius reached up and gripped her hands, pulling them away and he moved his face from her shoulder to press his forehead against hers, "Don't," he choked, "I'm...I nearly killed a man. Merlin, I almost killed him...still want to. I can feel his throat under my fingers..." his hands tensed, resisting the urge to grip her dainty ones, "He deserves it...but not by me. Need to thank James later....I almost murdered him in /cold blood/...and I wouldn't have been any better than him..." he was rambling repeating himself, or saying variants of the same thing.

She pressed her forehead against his. She could see how he was fighting back tears, how he was trying to hard to keep from crushing her. She could feel his hands tremble as he held hers. She curled her fingers and held his hands gently in her own. "I'm still here." She reminded him softly. "Can you talk to me? Tell me what happened?"

"No...no, not yet...I can't...but I will..." Sirius assured the last part absently, letting her hands go and turned to sit properly instead of sideways and planted his elbows on his knees, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes to wipe the tears away and try to stop the flowing.

"I'm going to get some tea." She told him gently, scooting close and wrapping her arms around his body even if it was an awkward hold. "I'll come back." She promised as she unwrapped her arms around him, stood up, and walked back to the kitchen where the timer was about to go off. She quickly turned it off and took down another cast iron cup. Once she poured them, she walked back, placing a cup in front of him and setting her's down next. She found a kleenex box and brought it over to the coffee table, sitting down next to him and helped him wipe away his tears. "Tell me what you need, Starlove." She murmured. Her heart was breaking for him, she hated seeing him look so torn, so broken. So dead. His eyes needed to be bright, not dark. The silver needed to come back, his eyes were practically black.

He took the tea and after using a mediocre cooling charm he took a sip, "This is good...would be lovely with some honey and milk," he murmured even as he sipped it again. He was avoiding it, but he was sure she wouldn't push. He had already promised he would.

"Hold on." Shaye stood up and walked back to the kitchen. "I do have a stock of human things. I started keeping milk since Rem started coming over every once in a while, and honey is pretty useful to have around, even if you're not eating it." She took down a bear jar from the cupboard, and filled a small cup of milk. She walked back over to the couch, placing the two things down. "Hana mentioned I should learn how to cook." She said offhandedly, a small blush on her face. "Never thought I'd say that."

"Cooking is hard when you cannot really taste or eat the food you make. How will you know if it's good? Measurements can only go so far," Sirius took a deep breath and let it out shakily, adding the ingredients and re-heated the tea with a counter-charm to the cooling one and sipped it, "Better. Thank you, cherry..." he murmured, the smile that had cracked a very lopsided, strained one, "I mean, baking? Go for it, baking is easy if you're just going by instructions, but cooking on the range is harder, more freehand."

"Fair enough." Shaye looked thoughtful. "Hana can't bake to save her life though. I wonder if Abby will let me use her as a guinea pig and teacher. She's learned everything about baking from Lese." She smiled at Sirius. Even if his smile was strained, it made her happy to see that he was lightening up again. His eyes were still black, but they were starting to turn just a little less intense. "If I learn just a little, I'll be able to pass more as a human. It'll be easy for me to slip through the cracks...and I wouldn't look to suspicious. At the same time, I'll get to make something for you, so that's a bonus."

"Whatever makes you happy, love..." Sirius murmured and he set his cup down reluctantly, "This is addicting, I should be careful or I'll make you drain the pot on me," his attempt at a joke was weak, but he looked at her with regret, "I'm so sorry...Shaye..." he said first.

It took Shaye a little by surprise. She couldn't think of a reason for him to be sorry and she tilted her head to show her confusion. "For?" She pressed gently.

"It...was a Ghoul, Shaye," Sirius' breath hitched, but he didn't break eye-contact, "A Rogue Hunter killed a Ghoul."

Shaye felt...numb. Her mind went blank and she felt like she was light years away, at the same time she was present. A Hunter killed a Ghoul. She looked away, trying to wrap her mind around that. A Hunter managed to kill a Ghoul. She sunk down farther into the couch, leaning back. She knew that it meant that the poor thing was tortured....and...."No wonder you almost killed that man..."

It came out before he could stop it. The whole story. The jokes with James to finding the body and stalking the Hunter to James smacking him away, their talk, and taking care of the body with the Cleaners afterwards. "I managed...to get them to take care of the body like he was a person, instead of a monster. The thing was...he was registered...Thomas Redwood. Clean as a whistle, no crimes under his belt at all," he held his stomach, "I feel awful. I just...knew it somehow. I thought of you and I became even more enraged, certain he had a family he was ripped from."

Shaye broke down. She bowed her head and placed her head into her hands and broke into a sob. It just made things worst knowing who it was. "I just had tea with him." She told Sirius through her sobs. "He was /right/ there telling me about how his third kid was due soon. Third! That's amazing for Ghouls, you know? We're lucky if we get one let alone two!" Her voice swung up a pitch. "That bastard doesn't even deserve Azkaban. Thomas didn't deserve that kind of death. He just wanted a good life, that's why he registered! He was....He was..." She shook her head from life to right, unable to speak anymore.

"His mate...he found the one for him and now he's gone," Sirius reached out and shook off his own anger and sadness to be the support for Shaye now. He drug her into his lap and curled her up on purpose so he could more or less encase her in his embrace, rocking her too and fro. Thomas had just been going home when the Rogue jumped him. His blood boiled but he squashed it, "I'll do what I can to make sure his love is taken care of, cherrypie...I swear. We should go see her and his kids, personally tell them the news if they don't see it in the paper."

She nodded and clung on to him for his support. However, her mind was clearly a thousand miles away. Why would humans hurt them? Why did the Rouges go after someone clearly registered? What kind of statement was that? That they were no longer safe? Sirius was vowing to help out Thomas' mate, but...oh god, he was going to put himself into danger. She both loved him and wanted to smack him for it, but he had a point. It wasn't right to let Darleen guess. "Okay..." She whimpered softly. "I know where they live..." She choked on a sob. "I wish I had been there with you Starlight. I would've killed him. I wouldn't have cared."

"I did not care at the time, either. Even told the Rogue that," Sirius kissed her hair, "Let us wait a little bit...calm down, finish our tea. Then I can Apparate home briefly and throw on some civilian clothes."

She nodded, but stayed curled up in his lap. She took in a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. A sob escaped every once in a while, but Sirius was there to wipe away her tears and whisper something soothing. It wasn't long till the tea was gone and they Apparated away soon afterwards.

~*~

The rumble of the motorcycle echoed loudly through the streets as it was about one AM at this point and no one else was around. Suddenly it stopped as Sirius and Shaye reached their destination and he killed the engine, waiting for her to slide off before he easily swung his own long legs off of the machine.

He was dressed slightly faded black jeans that were ripped not for fashion but from use, tucked into black boots that reached his knees and had three buckles along the outside. His belt was littered with metal studs and the buckle was a custom one; an intricate circle with a rope trim on the outside, and in the center cutout was a perky-eared wolf's head. His white shirt was ripped as well but mainly on the chest showing off his chest-hair, with stains that bleach and magic wasn't even able to remove. Hanging from his neck was a Gothic Celtic cross that had a garnet in the center. Over his shoulders was a black leather vest jacket that had metal studs embedded in the flap lining.

Out of nerves, Sirius tugged at his bangs instead of running his hand through his hair because of his straight black baseball cap. His bangs were hanging forward, covering his face as the rest of it was in a ponytail at the back of his neck, "Shaye...will you knock? You know them..." he murmured.

Shaye nodded, but her voice was lost. How as she supposed to tell Darleen that she lost a mate? A husband and life partner? That she was going to be raising three kids by herself? Her mother once told her that other Ghouls would look up to her lineage...that she had to shoulder a great responsibility, but she never thought she'd be invoking this type of responsibility on a death call. She took a breath, in and out, and approached the door. Each step up felt like she was letting time slow down bit by bit. She knocked, a rapid three times, and the pause felt like it stretched out for minutes until a woman came to the door, heavy with child. Her dress was flattering on the round bump, and her eyes were the most gorgeous hazel. Her round face made her look so much younger than the decades she really was. "Lady Shaye?" Darleen questioned, placing a hand against her stomach. "What are you doing here so late at night? And in the cold?"

Sirius came forward beside her, fiddling with his gloves that had studded short spikes in the knuckles. He placed a hand on her shoulder for support, "May we come in, first? This is...quite important and it would be better if we all sat down."

Darleen sent a confused look at Shaye, "I..."

"He's safe." This time, there was a fierce promise behind the words. A pause, and then..."Please...Darleen?"

"Of course," She said after a moment, stepping aside to let Shaye and Sirius walk into the parlor. The home was...well...surprisingly homey. A fireplace crackled merely from the living room just outside the parlor. There was a homey smell of cinnamon candles that were on top of the fire place.  There was a soft sound of children talking to each other in the living room. One of them were about ten years old, give or take, while the other one was smaller and clearly younger than the other. Little kids grew up so quickly, that Shaye never could keep track of their ages unlike Darleen. There were photographs of the family that were also scattered about, mostly located on the tops of the fireplace, or on a small table that was next to the recliner. "What can I get you two to drink? Water? Coffee? Tea?"

"We just had tea, thank you," Sirius held his hand up, "Would you sit on the couch? I know we are guests and it is common courtesy, but we do not need to be served right now. This is important." He squeezed his hand on Shaye's shoulder and leaned in, kissing her cheek, "I'll be right here with the little ones," he murmured to her ear and pulled away from her, going to the children, "Hello there, how are you?" he said to them, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Pads, what's your name?" he did not want to give them his actual name. He was sure if their mother knew it she would know what was going on. It was not like he was not known.

"I'm Martin! That's Ricky!" the ten year old proudly announced, "Nice to meet you, Pads! That's a weird name. Is it real?" he asked skeptically.

"Haha, no, it's a nickname, but let's roll with it for now, eh?" he chuckled and patted Martin's cheek, "You look like you've been taking good care of your little brother. How old is he?"

"He's five! I'm ten!" Martin stated proudly.

"Well, aren't you a strapping young lad. You'll be going to secondary school then soon, won't ya now?" Sirius grinned and leaned closer, "Let me tell you something."

"What? What?!" Martin's eyes lit up. Sirius wasn't sure what Thomas' eyes were when he was not powered up, but he was sure he had his dad's eyes. He got super close and gave him his ear.

Sirius was amused by how easily it was to get kids interested in secrets, "Listen, kiddo..." he murmured, "You're going to have to be a strong lad for yer mum soon, and you're going to have to take care of her and help out the best you can 'round the house, even more so now than before. Can you do that?"

"Why? What's going on?" Martin pulled away with a frown.

"Something...about your dad," he admitted softly and looked towards Shaye to see how she was fairing with things.

Shaye and Darleen had decided to move away from the living room and towards the kitchen. It was medium sized, just enough for a good dining room and a well rounded kitchen that would never be used save the stove top and possibly the freezer portion of the refrigerator. Shaye wrung her hands together as she sat down on the chair, the kitchen and the living room didn't have walls to divide the rooms. Open...small...but private. "Lady Shaye..." Darleen said after a moment, her hazel eyes dimming to a sad glow, "Why are you here? Thomas...Thomas has already been to see you."

"That's why I am here, Darleen." Shaye said after a moment. "Thomas...he did see me." She smiled a sad, worn smile. "But...something happened, Darleen." She took a deep breath. "My mate is an Auror, and he goes out on patrols sometimes....and tonight. Darleen I am so sorry. He came across Thomas...he was killed by a Hunter."

Darleen suddenly slammed her hand against the table, knocking it loudly and causing Shaye to jump. "Don't you lie to me!" She yelled. "We are registered! The Ministry can't touch us so long as we follow the rules."

"The Ministry has been having problems containing that kind of thought process to the Hunters." Shaye said softly. "Many of them are turning their backs on the Ministry and the rules."

Darleen's eyes flashed, turning from a hazel to a dark black with blood like irises. Her power snapped like a whip, and the air froze around them, "The Ministry swore protection."

"Thomas is still dead." Shaye said after a moment, taking a sharp breath in and braced herself for an out-lash. "Regardless of what you believe, his blood was on the asphalt and my mate made sure he was treated like a human when the Cleaners came to get him." She took a deep breath. "The Rouge hunter's been dealt with too."

Darleen's eyes suddenly turned back from the black and red to white and hazel. Her body slumped, her hand rubbing frantic, soothing circles against her large stomach, and she burst into tears. Her sobs were gut-wrenching. "Thomas..." Her voice broke. "Not now..."

"I am...so sorry Darleen." Shaye murmured, bowing her head. "But you will not go through this alone. We...I will not let you go through this alone."

"It doesn't matter if I'm doing this alone or not!" Darleen's head snapped up, bloody tears trailed her cheeks as she looked at Shaye fiercely. "I have three children to take care of and one of them won't even know her father! You can sit there all high and mighty, it's not like /you/ have anything to worry about!"

She didn't have any comeback for it, and knew better than to try to defend herself. She could only take a breath, and watch as Darleen crumpled again. Sobs wracking her large frame. Shaye's heart only broke for her and Thomas further.

Riley had been frightened when their mother's power snapped, and Martin gathered his brother in his arms, looking at Pads with confusion, "This is why? Pa's not comin' back?" Martin asked.

Sirius hated how grown up he already sounded compared to the hyper, snappy boy he had been talking with before, "Yes...yes it is. I can say I am sorry until I am blue in the face but it won't bring your father back. Take care of your mum, lad," Sirius patted him on the head and stood, going to Shaye and wrapping his arms around her from behind, "All non-human or wizard creature is in danger, registered or not. My best friend is a werewolf, and once I return home I am going to have to tell him to be very careful. My gut tells me the ones who are registered are the ones most in danger right now, because the registry has your location. Thomas...died not far from here, on his way home. He was supposed to be home hours ago...but I found him a little after he met with Shaye I learned." He rested his chin on the top of Shaye's head and closed his eyes, "I offer my condolences...and will do what I can to support you and your family."

Darleen's lips quivered as she looked up at Sirius and Shaye. Shaye's eyes were closed, soaking in the comfort that Sirius was giving her, in turn supporting him in his own grief. All Darleen could do, was nod her head. "....Thank you." It wasn't heart-felt, but...it was enough. It had to be enough.

Shaye gently stood up, Sirius backing away to give her that kind of room. "We'll show ourselves out, and...I'll make sure to hunt extra for you and the kids." When she didn't get a response, she gestured to Sirius for them to leave. They...were only causing hurt now.

Sirius decided to just drive back to Shaye's place, but as they walked up to her room number since he did not Aparate, he texted Remus one word. /Come./ It did not take very long once they got inside for Remus to pop out of nowhere. He pulled him inside and closed the door behind him, hugging him tightly.

"Sirius?" Remus' eyes were wide and shocked and he glanced over to see Shaye on the verge of the same tears he felt on his neck. He was also in his civilian under-cover wear. "What's...going on?" he asked softly but his companion only shook his head. Sighing, he coaxed him to move to the side and held his other arm out to Shaye.

Shaye got into the three-way hug, gripping both Sirius and Remus with all the might she could without hurting them. She took in a shaky breath, knowing that Remus had to know. "Rem..." Her voice cracked, unable to come up with what she wanted to say. She opened her mouth tell him what happened, but instead she cried. "I don't want to lose you too." She knew it probably made no sense in hell, but at the moment...it made complete sense to her.

"Shh...just hush and cry," Remus shook his head, "I don't need to know right now. I won't leave if you both need me."

Shaye let out a broken laugh. She never thought she'd ever hear someone tell her to be quiet and cry.

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