[Open - Area Around Irish Coffee After Midnight]

[everywere]

I check all the locks and alarms again, even though I did that all on my last sweep. Routine is both an enemy and an ally. As long as I don't use the routine to become lazy and remain alert, it's my ally. Not that this place is a likely target but lack of vigilance is an enemy.

I can hear the training drilled into my head, even if I don't remember where and when it came from. Like everything else I know it's just there. No memory of how or why, just there.

I hear a sound, faint, but definitely there. No human could hear it, but then I'm not human. I don't know what I am, exactly, but I'm not human.

I sweep the flashlight back and forth, although I keep it on more to blind others than help me see. I can see perfectly in the dark, just like I can hear things a human shouldn't. I take a deep breath and I can smell that whatever it is, it's a human. Or at least smells similar to a human.

"Who's there?" I call out.

Comments

[irishcoffee]

Maggie frowned when the crackle against her skin didn't let up when she released the magic. The boys were gone, the water and wind were gone.

But the man was curled in on himself and shaking. She touched his shoulder and it was like a live wire. She didn't know what it was...but she was willing to bet it wasn't good. Even with her strength waning, Maggie stepped into the shop and wrapped him in a current of air, lifting him into the shop and closing the door behind them. With a flick, she locked the door and pocketed the key. Whatever happened would happen here, the residents would be safe.

"Talk to me," she said softly. "What's happening?"

[everywere]

Something is happening and I can feel myself moving. The animal side of me wants to thrash around and roar in defiance and it's all I can do to spot that. My teeth ache and I can feel my skin itching and burning as a pelt of fur tries to push through. I'm lucky this is so soon after the full moon or I might have lost it already.

"Don't- don't touch me," I huff, staying curled up in a ball. My fists are clenched tight, nails digging into my palms. I force myself to relax my hands. Pain is one of the things that can trigger the change. I close my eyes and focus on my breathing, making it steady.

"Don't do anything to me. Just leave me alone," I tell her. My heart is pounding in my ears and I work on that next, calming it down, slowing it. If I can get that under control I won't force a shift.

[irishcoffee]

"I won't touch you. I won't do anything. You're safe here."

Now that she could see him, and really pay attention, she thought she had a pretty good idea about what was happening. It wasn't the first time she'd seen a shifter in action, and she didn't think it would be the last. that didn't make it any less disconcerting, especially considering she wasn't sure what he would turn into.

"Whatever you need to do, you're safe here. You can't hurt me."

[everywere]

I close my eyes and shut her out. Shut everything out. The closer I am to shifting the more the silver in my tattoos burn. If I go much further I'll have to strip down or my clothes with catch on fire from it. Oddly enough, the smells in here help. Bread, coffee, fruits. Calming smells, non-threatening spells.

After what feels like a long moment my teeth stop to hurt and my skin doesn't feel like it's about to sprout a fur coat anymore. I'm sweating despite the cool temperature but I know I've got it under control now. One good thing about fighting back a shift is that it leaves the animal part of me too tired to try again anytime soon. I could force it if I needed to but I don't see that likely.

Slowly standing up I notice the burning smell and look at my clothes. Part of my security uniform is singed where my tattoos have burned through. If that's the worse that happened though, I'll take it. I turn to look at the woman and notice that she's still here. Seeing her sends a flush of heat through my, animal instincts telling me that sex is even better than violence.

"So. You got that ID?"

[irishcoffee]

Maggie couldn't help it. She started laughing. "Seriously? You're seriously still asking for my ID after what just..."

Shaking her head and muttering to herself, she went to the drawer under the register and rummaged through it until she found her ID from the college where she still guest taught a few of the pastry classes. She handed it over to him.

"There you go," she huffed, laughter and indignation warring for dominance. "That set your little heart to rest that I'm not some other witch roaming the street in front of my own shop?"

[everywere]

The ID isn't important but I don't know what else to do after that. I've never lost control like that in front of someone before. In the back of my mind my training tells me to kill her, to eliminate any witnesses. Fortunately that's an easy impulse to ignore.

I take the ID and look at it and then her face, examining the picture. I make sure.to keep my eyes on her face and only her face, as difficult as it is to do.

"Thank you, ma'am," I say, handing it back to her. "Everything appears to be in order."

[irishcoffee]

What the hell, she thought, she'd never been known for smart decisions.

Instead of taking the ID back, she reached further and took his wrist. "Not so fast. You've been here a while, but we've yet to actually talk face to face. You disappeared before I could say anything. What is your name? And mind telling me what just happened?"

[everywere]

I'm careful not to jerk my hand back, that's suspicious behavior. Her touch is calm though, she's calm. Not scared despite what happened. Normal people are freaked out by that sort of thing, which sets off more alarm bells in my head.

"I'm Jack," I say, pointing to the name on my security uniform. "Most people don't talk to their night security guard ever, so don't worry. And I had a panic attack is all."

[irishcoffee]

"You know," Maggie said, fingers still on his hand, "if you pull my other leg, it plays a tune. That was no panic attack, Jack. I'm not entirely sure what it was, and I'm sure there was some panic in there, but that wasn't all it was."

She tried to catch his eyes with hers. "I meant what I said during. You're safe here."

[everywere]

I can tell she's telling the truth from the way she smells and the sound of her heartbeat. I look at her hand on mine and back up to her. Not in the eyes, too many things have power over you if you look them in the eyes. Another piece of information I know without knowing how.

"What makes you think I need someplace safe?"

[irishcoffee]

"Doesn't everyone?" Maggie countered. "I can tell you're hiding something, but there's more than that. I've seen it in the shell shocked, and in wounded animals. Skittish and a little afraid but trying to present an outwardly fierce shell."

She gave his hand just a little pressure.

[everywere]

"I'm fine," I say, looking at her hand again and back at her. It's a lie, but I don't know what else to do. There isn't anyone here like me, I've looked, and no one who can help me that I can tell. I'm in this by myself and there's nothing to be gained by opening up, is there?

"I just... I lost control for a moment," I say, the image of the boy catching fire all too fresh in my mind. "I didn't mean to hurt that boy. I- If that was you that saved him, thank you. I was trying not to hurt them badly..."

[irishcoffee]

"That boy," Maggie snarled and a little thread of anger filled her voice, "will be finding himself in jail tomorrow as soon as I can get ahold of Levi. You did nothing but throw something that was thrown at you back at him. I believe the popular phrasing refers to living and dying by the sword. As for the rest of them, they could have all used a little more fear put in them and hopefully they've received just that."

Her point made as vehemently as she could while keeping herself calm, she put her attention back on Jack. "What happens when you lose control?"

[everywere]

"He didn't deserve to be lit on fire," I say. Some sense pounded into him? Definitely. But a stupid kid doesn't deserve to be lit on fire. It's extremely painful, somehow I know that from personal experience and I shudder at the memory. I also know I can survive it.

"And bad things happen when I lose control. Usually for other people."

[irishcoffee]

"Then he shouldn't have lit the fuse," Maggie affirmed. "There are enough problems in the world without taking responsibility for ones you had no control over."

Then she took a bigger risk and took his other hand with hers. "Bad things can cover a lot of ground. Tell me what happens."

[everywere]

"People die," I say.

It's what I was created for. I don't know how or when or why but the sets of skills that I have only have one purpose. I'm supposed to be some sort of killing machine, essentially unstoppable. I don't know how true the unstoppable part is but I know I'm pretty hard to kill.

[irishcoffee]

"Has that happened here?" Maggie didn't think it had, she hadn't heard of any mysterious deaths lately. At least, not of anyone that hadn't fully deserved a violent end.

[everywere]

"No," I say, shaking my head. I wouldn't admit to it even if there had been. I know how to clean up my messes if it comes to that. I'm not even sure if I would though. The training and instinct both tell me that I should if it happens, but another part of me says I should take whatever punishment comes. Even after several years I don't know what to call that part of me.

"I'm very careful. This is the closest I've come to losing control since I've been here. I don't know why."

[irishcoffee]

"That's what matters. You try, and achieve control. You care whether or not you hurt others."

A wild, and very strange idea came over her. "Have you ever let the side you control loose? Whatever it is you fight to keep down, have you ever just...let it go?"

[everywere]

I aappreciate what she says, but it wouldn't make any difference to that kid if he had died if I had "tried" to control my instincts. He'd be dead all the same.

"About once a month I let go," I tell her, which is as close as I'll come to admitting to what I am, or what part of me is. "Go out into the woods and just let it out. Doesn't make it any easier to control other times though."

[irishcoffee]

"But you did this alone, right? You've never done this with someone else? Another...person with you?"

Honestly, she didn't even know if the vampire would agree to this, but Maggie knew she had to at least try. First because she was worried about just what the town had brought in this time and two, because that much denial of self couldn't be good. Even a monthly eruption wasn't enough to hold that sort of tide at bay.

[everywere]

"I don't socialize."

It's not even that I don't socialize much, I just don't socialize at all. I don't know how to be normal around people. I know how to fake it to get what I want, but that's not the same.

"No one else knows I'm... different."

[irishcoffee]

"I have someone I'd like you to meet if you're comfortable with it. If you spend time in the forest, there's a chance she already knows about you even if you haven't seen her. She lives in a cabin deep into the East side forest, a little cabin well off any known trailhead."

Maggie's mouth twisted into a smile. "Well, she did. Now she apparently sort of lives with my best friend."

[everywere]

"Ma'am, I'm not even real crazy about you knowing what I am. Not that I even know what I am."

Several years here and I've never blown my cover until now and now this woman wants to tell someone else. I don't like this at all. I glance at the door and think about just bolting. I can be out of here fast.

[irishcoffee]

"It's Maggie, not ma'am," Maggie affirmed then squeezed the hands she held when confusion pushed past what she'd intended to say. "What do you mean you don't know what you are?"