Through the Fire and the Flames (Liam) [complete]

Knew the moment Liam lost consciousness in her arms, any predator would know the feeling of dead weight. Still she spared a moment to check that he hadn't stupidly died on her before lifting him up over her shoulders in a fireman's carry. This would distribute his weight and make it easier for her to run. With no one to see her do it, she used her strength and her speed to carry them both to the doors of the church, getting them to safety far faster then she could have if she'd been a simple human. The sounds of the roof fully collapsing behind her told her she'd saved both Liam and herself without a moment to spare. Only outside the doors did she act like Liam's weight was too much for her, struggling to carry and drag him away from the heat and flames. She even acted relieved when the other clerics rushed to help her, she forced her breathing to become a struggle, though she felt none of the pain she should have.

As they carried him away, Neona stayed with him, refusing to leave his side...though she would have liked to see one of them try to make her. They climbed into the ambulance and Neona positioned herself so she wouldn't be out of the way, but still remain close to Liam. Her lithe elven fingers clutching his hand, tears running down her beautiful face. When the Cleric started to pray she lowered her forehead so it was touching Liam's fingers between her hands and prayed with him. Her inner wolf instantly compensating for the movement of the vehicle so she wasn't jostled around like the others were, though she sobbed, she did so almost silently. As the cleric began to list off his wounds, each new addition to the list was like a knife to her heart. She turned her golden eyes to Liam's face, studying it. If it weren't covered in ash and soot and blood he could almost have been sleeping.

Deep within the wolf howled it's agony, and what she wouldn't give to be able to let it free. To howl her pain to the heavens for everyone to hear. But she couldn't, no one could know her dark secret. Especially not Liam...gods he could never know, he'd turn on her just like Julian did. What was she even doing having feelings for another male after what Julian did to her? She couldn't believe how stupid she was, but she wasn't about to take it back. Liam was hers, and no one would take him from her without a fight.

She was roused from her thoughts by the feeling of the ambulance racing to a stop, bracing herself instinctively so she wouldn't get thrown around. While she held Liam's lifeless hand, she hastily wiped some of the tears off her face with the other. Neona would remain at Liam's side, no matter what anyone tried to tell her otherwise. He needed her, whether he wanted to admit it or not, and she was going to be there when he woke up. No matter how long it took.

Through all the chaos of trying to get Liam into the Temple's infirmary no one paid much attention to Neona. They were too focused on the dropping vitals of the Cleric and stemming the blood flow on his injuries. Once they reached the doors that lead into the operating room where their work was to be done, one of the church physicians looked at her and said "Miss... we have him now. You will have to leave." Before Neona could protest, there was a clearing of a throat that got the physician's attention. He looked to the side and saw middle aged mountain of a man who was standing and talking to one of the Clerics that had ridden in the ambulance with Liam. The man gave a shake of his head, and the physician said no more about her leaving, and entered the operating room. With that the elder gentleman would turn back to his conversation and quietly finish out the last details.

Once the conversation was finished, Cleric found himself a seat against the wall, and quietly began to pray. The elder gentleman finally turned in Neona's direction. He was broad chest and in very good shape for a man of his age. He even had the staight back posture of one who refused to be bowed by time. Being a diplomat of the Terran Guard Neona would be well versed in the many different symbols and insignias of Terra's numerous power structures. She would know this man by his symbols and ranks to be a Senior Acolyte Defender, but something about him would pull at the back of her mind. "You're that Terran Guard diplomat from the ball aren't you?" he asked her, but the certainty in his voice said he already knew the answer. It was the sound of his voice that finally gave the last piece of the puzzle. This was the same man who told Liam he needed to have words with him the night that they met.

He walked towards her slowly as he clasped his hands behind his back. "I apologize about the doctor's rudeness. He doesn't realize that it is you we have to thank for Liam being alive at all. Thank you. It was a very dangerous thing you did, farm more dangerous than you realize. I am Senior Defender Jackson. We have not yet met." He extended his hand in a formal gesture of greeting for her to shake. When she took his hand, she would feel his iron grip wrap around hers. Though he did not squeeze to try and hurt her, his large hand held her securely. Something was off about the way he held her hand, and then she noticed that there was something cold and hard being pressed into her hand. His stern brown eyes peered into her face searching for something, but then his hard face softened when he didn't find it. He let go of her hand, and then she saw something that she hadn't noticed being retraced up his sleeve, a small metal medallion that was fashioned into the shape of a holy symbol.

"Forgive me for that. I had to make sure that you weren't being influenced. The reason Liam was in there alone, was because of the nature of the evil he was fighting. It can possess the bodies of other people. He's dealt with this kind of threat before and knows anyone in the area could be a potential host, and thus used against him. We won't know exactly what happened inside the church until Liam recovers enough to tell us, and that could be quite some time. Perhaps you could tell us some of what happened. What did you see when you went in there?"

Defender Jackson's question was interrupted by the voice of the Cleric who had stopped his prayer to interject. "Senior Defender, Liam needs to be healed. His wounds are too many and too severe. I delved him, I know. If we healed him he could tell us what happened NOW, before the...."

The young man's voice was silenced by the hard gaze of his elder. "Patience Cleric Cyprus, you know Cleric Grey's wishes as well as I do. Healing him is forbidden. It is his life, and his death. The choice is his. "

There were few times Neona was ever grateful that she was no longer human, but this was one of them. Without the added strength and stamina the curse of the Werewolf gave her, she would have already been exhausted. Emotionally she was a tad drained, she hadn't felt like this in a long time..helpless. As they took Liam into the operating room, Neona would follow, though she had every intention of staying out of their way. When one of them tried to stop her, she barely had time to work up a good warning growl before his attempts were thwarted by a very familiar older gentlemen. The wolf within instantly recognized a male in command, and it was good he wasn't a wolf as well or there could have been issues.

Neona scurried past her would be opponent and moved off to the side of the room, as close to Liam as she could without getting in everyone's way...it was still too far for her liking and the wolf whined. She felt more then heard the approach of the Senior Defender and instantly turned to face him so she wouldn't be considered rude. Though honestly her appearance was easily lacking, and she looked almost nothing like the well to do diplomat he would remember from the ball with the gems in her hair. She pushed back her anger, not allowing the wolf any more freedom then it already taken. She remembered how he'd looked at her that night, like she was an interloper in Liam's life and it still made her hackles rise.

When he spoke to her with respect this time, the wolf calmed down and she reached out to take his hand in a firm grip of her own. "Neona Tiran, it's nice to finally meet you officially." She lowered her head and gave a gentle bow, more a sign of respect from her Elven heritage then her human one. She felt the press of metal against her palm, the cold shooting up her arm and instantly the wolf was awake once more, growling in warning. None of that reached the air between them however, Neona kept the wolf on a tight leash...too many innocents could get hurt if she wasn't careful. She realized what he'd been doing, as faithful as she was to the collective she knew about the Fiends, and as a member of the Terran Guard she knew what had to be done to make sure they're influence remained minimal.

Before she could answer, she would be interrupted by one of the others, and she felt another knife through her heart when she heard that they would not heal Liam because of his own orders. Stupid stubborn man, why did she always fall for the stubborn ones?

Goldie shook her head, more tendrils of her hair falling free to frame her face. "Forgive me sir, I did not arrive in time to see what happened. I heard about it on the news on my way here and forced my driver to change direction. He's going to be very cross with me I'm sure. I know Liam, I know his heart, he did what he felt he needed to protect his flock. There was too much smoke and too much fire to make out anything clearly, I wish I could have retrieved the body the evil had been using. Who ever he was, he must have had family who wondered what happened to him. If what you say is true and this evil can take another body...we should be careful. It is obvious it has a vendetta against Liam, and will not stop until it gets what it wants. If you don't mind...I'd like to remain with Liam. I want to be here when he wakes up."

The head of grey hair nodded gravely at the conclusion that Neona drew for him "I am afraid you're right, child. Whatever this thing was, it called Liam out by name. That is why he was sent, and not another Cleric. We wanted to draw this evil out so it could be dealt with. Unfortunately we underestimated it." He turned his head to the operating room, and there was genuine worry that creased the corner of his eyes. "Liam suffered the consequences of our mistake." Returning his eyes to Neona he nodded understandingly at her request. He saw the determination on her face, the same determination that sent her into a burning building after him. This was one fight he knew he would not win so he didn't fight it. "When they are done operating, they won't let you anywhere near him looking like that. Cyprus knows the facility. He will find you something clean to change into, and take you somewhere you can get cleaned up. "

From what he had seen of Neona thus far, he knew that getting her to leave Liam's side even if she was already on the other side of a wall would be a formidable task. He had dealt with stubborn people, and broke them so he could build them up again. He fixed her with a stern but fatherly gaze, "Don't trying arguing with me on this one young lady. You can do nothing for him while he is in there. You can at least, clean yourself up, and get some food in your stomach so you have the strength to keep watch over him." He held her eyes for just a moment longer then turned to leave the room. Cyprus had overheard him and knew what was expected of him. He simply held out a hand gesturing her to follow him and then lead the way.

Still brooding over being reprimanded for wanting to heal Liam against his wishes, Cyprus was silent for the entire trip. The Facility was built by a religious order who had fought actively in all out warfare and still fought a clandestine war in the shadows against the evil that preyed on mankind. It had all the amenities to keep a staff living on site, even though they didn't have the injured to justify the small infirmary being fully staffed all the time. He pushed open a door and allowed Neona to see a small but fully stocked kitchen for her to help herself too. Finally he took her to what looked like a locker room for the hospital staff. Inside a supply closet were stacks of black scrub uniforms in all sizes, and boxes of hospital regulation style shoes, in various sizes just in case the staff needed a new pair. On the far side of the room Neona saw tile stalls and frosted glass doors that were showers for staff use. Still without a word he left the Diplomat to her own devices.

No one would bother her in the locker room, kitchen, or lounge area because the small staff were all working on Liam. About two hours later the same doctor that had tried to ask her to leave now came for her in the lounge area. "We're done. He's alive. He's asleep in room three if you want to see him." The man looked drained and exhausted from the last two hours labor. He quietly trudged off, pulling the surgical cap from his head to reveal a bald head that had a number of tattoos crisscrossing its surface.

As promised, Neona would find recovery room number three furnished with a small desk, a small dresser, a chair, and the hospital bed. In the bed was a bandaged body that was hooked up to IVs and electronic screens that monitored and displayed vital signs. As she drew closer what she saw was certainly a surprise. She saw Liam's face. Instead of the lumped, bruised and broken lump of meat that she had seen two hours ago, it was the face she first say when she met him at the ball. Not a mark, a scar, or a wire setting for the broken jaw they said he had. The rest of his body, however, was a different story. His right arm was encased in a slim line cast from the hand down to the elbow to keep the forearm immobile. Another casting was around the palm of the left hand to keep that stationary while bones mended. Beneath his hospital gown she could see thick padding of bandages. It was obvious that all the other wounds remained on his body. In all her time with the Shepherd, he never struck her as vain. Liam didn't seem to be the type who was caught up on looks and appearances, so why was his face the only thing that was healed?

As the older gentlemen turned his head to look at the operating room, Neona glanced that way for a moment. At his statement of them not letting her in while she looked like she just crawled through a building burning she blushed slightly and looked down at herself. He was right, if she went in there like this she was going to make things worse rather then better. The inner fight she was having with the wolf was beginning to piss her off...which was definitely not a good emotion to feel.

She wouldn't have tried to argue with him, her brain finally catching up with her instincts and wrangling them in. "Thank you Sir, I'll wait till he's out of surgery." He didn't wait for her to make the proper gestures which honestly was perfectly fine with her. Her golden eyes turned to Cyprus then, her brow furrowing as she noticed he didn't speak to her. Still she followed after him, her mind catching up with everything had happened. She expected Cyprus to at least say some kind word to her...wasn't that what he was supposed to do? Instead all she got was more rudeness which just made her angrier. The wolf within was pacing furiously, and she was having trouble trying to sooth it, keep it calm. These people weren't careful they were gonna have a whole new array of issues on their hands....issues with fur and teeth.

She closed the door, glad that she was alone, letting herself lean back against it and just breathe for a bit. Then her pocket started vibrating and she rolled her eyes, knowing instantly who it was going to be. She fished it out of the secret pocket in her dress, flipping it open to see the name on the screen. After pressing the talk button she brought it to her ear.

"Hello Uncle Kale."

"So, you're a firefighter now? Went to some training course I missed?"

"No Uncle Kale, it's kind of hard to explain honestly..."

"... You're alright anyway? Smoke inhalation is no joke."

"I'm fine, I wasn't in there long enough to do any real damage, a bit singed maybe and in terrible need of a shower."

"Get checked out anyway. Guard medical wing will be staffed. I'll send a cleanup team."

"I'm at the Grand Temple in Bastion, Uncle."

"Huh. Thought you knew about the outpost. I'll send someone to show you the way, then."

"No, I meant I'm not leaving the Temple."

"... Neona, if you don't watch your ass, I'm coming in with a strike team. Be careful."

"I'm always careful Uncle Kale, And-ion was my driver today, that new Elf who recently joined the Guard. He's probably very cross with me I sort of...ran away."

" I'd be cross too. Still thinking of being cross. The point of a protector is for them to be around, Goldie."

"I know that Kale, I guess was just running on instinct. Not sure what came over me honestly."

"Mhm. And yet you claim to be careful..."

"yeah well you're lucky I am careful, we could have had a serious furry problem on our hands."

"Got it. If you need backup, call. I'll have people on standby."

"Send the clean up crew anyway, The Divine Collective is gonna need all the help they can get."

"Will do. Come home safe, Neona."

"Always do."

She hung up the phone, but didn't put it back in her pocket. Instead she carried it into the locker room and set it down. Peeling off her lace dress, she inspected the fabric to see if she could salvage it, happy to see most of the damage was superficial. She folded it and set it down over her phone. Her undergarments followed the dress, and she kicked off her shoes to leave them beneath the bench. Her shower perhaps took longer then it should have, but she used the time alone to sort through a lot of her thoughts. How could this man have gotten so far under her fur and she didn't even realize it. She almost jeopardized everything today, and she still could if she couldn't get a leash on her anger.

She wasn't sure how long it was before she stepped out of the shower to search for a towel. Thankfully the temple didn't store them too far away so she didn't drip all over the floor. A few moments later she was standing in the small kitchen, leaning up on her tip toes to look through cupboards as And-ion came walking through the door, her large blue bag in tow. His bright green eyes widened in shock upon seeing her in nothing but a towel and he instantly shut the door and turned his back. She smiled softly and went in search of a fresh clothes. After she'd donned a new pair of scrubs, Neona moved back to looking through cupboards. "You can look now And-ion. Sorry about that." The elf moved to the table and set her bag down. "I'm sorry I left like that And-ion, I know it's your job to protect me and you can't do that if I just run off. I'll make some tea, it looks like we're gonna be here awhile."

They talked for awhile, even started playing a game of Elven Runes while they drank their tea. When the doctor came in to let her know Liam was OK, Neona instantly rose to her feet. It didn't take her long to find room three, but she stopped in the doorway to look over the scene before her. It brought tears to her eyes again though she blinked them back. Moving into the room, she walked around his bed to the chair and lowered herself down in it. She took his nearly lifeless hand into her own, gripping it tightly, her other hand lifting up so she could trace his face with her fingertips. Her normally perfect polish was chipped and rough, oh the things she did for the people that meant something to her. She cradled his hand between both of hers, lowered her forehead to touch his flesh as she prayed silently.

Floating in the void there was little meaning to anything, especially time.  It seemed to race by, crawl, and stand still all at a whim.  All there was were thoughts and Liam didn't want to think.  Even in the darkness, those eyes were staring at him.  They were burned into his memory, his mind, and his soul.  He stopped the heart of a human with his own hands.  It didn't matter that he was trying to get at the demon that was within him.  It didn't matter that it was kill or be killed.  Not to  Liam.  He had taken a life, and no one else was in control of him.  He forced Daven's last words to the back of his mind, trying to ignore them, but it was no use.  He knew what they were.  Liam did his best to climb out of the hell that was this dark void, but he could find no escape.  


Finally there was a light in the darkness, however far away it was, he willed himself towards it.  He didn't know what it was, life, death, or oblivion, and he didn't care.  It was something other than this, so he would accept it.  The closer he came to the light the more feeling returned to his body.  Tingling numbness and distant pain where a an unwanted welcome.  He was taught that pain meant he was still alive, and being alive meant he couldn't meet final judgement for what it was he had done.  He wanted desperately to be judged, but taking his own life was forbidden.  He would have to wait still.


For Neona it has been another four hours.  After he was done cleaning up from surgery, the doctor that cared for Liam came to pay her a personal visit.  He thanked her for saving one of their order, and then insisted that she be checked out to make sure she was ok.  He even went as far as saying he saw the state of her when she came in, and argued using the dangers of smoke inhalation.  He gave her a clean bill of health and thanked her again before disappearing.    Nurses had come into the room quietly from time to time, to check his vitals and change his bandages.  While they did this Neona was given a clear view of Liam's body.  The fresh wounds from his fight to survive were scrubbed clean, and sewn closed where they could be.  The cross shaped burn on his chest showed signs of magical intervention to help being the healing process without a skin graft, but it would leave a horrible scar.  Those however weren't the only scars on his body.  


His skin was covered in them.  Scars of different shapes and sizes riddled his body.  For a human he was too young to have served in the war, but it looked as if someone recored its battles in his flesh.  Neat lines of cuts and slashes, jagged tears that came in groups that could only be made by claws, burns, and gashes were all in different stages of healing and fading.  They were the hallmark of constant fighting.  The worst of them was in the center of his chest.  It was a massive oval shaped scar that looked as if something had once tore his chest open, and now the old scar was bisected by the arm of the cross.  The old scar looked like a halo being given off by the new wound that had been melted into it.   


The chronicle that had been written into his skin did not end with scars and old war wounds.  His sun deprived flesh was tattooed by a reddish black ink that stood out in stark contrast.  Clusters of intricate symbols that were interlaced with one another to form designs peppered his body.  The few that Neona were able to get a good look at while the nurses tended to him, showed the work of the same artist.  Someone had scribed them in such painstaking detail that none the lines bled, no spaces were breeched, no lines were broken, and any symbol she saw repeated was perfectly identical to the others in every detail.  Each one was a work of art that apparently never saw the light of day or the eyes of others outside of the order until hers.  


Liam was afraid to open his eyes, for fear of being in Daven's care, but he fought to raise the lids anyway.  The world was a brilliant haze that burned his mind, but slowly light took shape and the haze cleared.  His eyes recognized painted boarders that ran along the upper portion of the walls.  He knew where he was, because he had spent enough time here over the years, but he wasn't sure how he got here.  The last thing he saw was  fire, blood, and...... those eyes.   The visage flashed through his mind, and he wanted scream out for the Divine to take him and be done with it, but another face killed that urge.   Her face drove away the memory, and drowned out the echoing voice with his own.  One question was all he wanted to ask and he fought to make his mouth form the words.  "Wh...Wha...Wharr you.... doing heerre", he asked the woman that his stormy blue eyes were fixed on.

Neona hadn't moved an inch from his side. And-ion came to check on her but she told him she was fine by herself just waiting until Liam awoke. She held his hand nearly the entire time, one hand gripping his while her other toyed with the golden crystal that hung around her neck. When the doctor came to visit her, she at first tried to tell him that she was OK but he didn't seem to want to believe her. She was careful with what she let him do to her, seeing as her body temperature was so far above even an elf. Her secret was hers to keep, and it wasn't anyone Else's business. Very few people knew that she was in fact a genetic miracle, a half elf werewolf. Thankfully the doctor didn't take long, since most of the smoke had already been cleared from her lungs due to her high regeneration rate.

She was careful to stay out of the nurse's way, though she let her golden eyes memorize every cut and scrape, every bruise, every tear that rent his flesh. Everyone had a dark side, Neona hid hers beneath her skin, Liam wore his on his flesh. Some might say he wore them as a badge of honor but she knew him enough to know that wasn't true. He wore them as a reminder of his failures, and she understood it, though there was no way the wolf would ever leave her skin so marked...not anymore.

His wounds were like a road map, and she knew she'd never hear the endless tales of how he got each and every one of them. Seeing as she worked so closely with the Elves for so long, she understood what the symbols meant. She'd looked into such things in the beginning after she'd been bitten, a way to keep the monster locked up so she wouldn't have to worry about harming innocent people. They were a binding spell, a type of lock, but these weren't meant to keep something in, these were meant to keep something out. Considering his chosen profession she wasn't much surprised.

As he opened his eyes, Neona brought her own head up from her prayers so she could look into his face, she wanted her brilliant smile to be the first thing he saw when he woke up. As he asked her what she was doing here, she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm here because I care about you Liam Grey," she stated, as if that was all the answer he'd need. Her face, her eyes ,even her smile gave away her sincerity...she truly did care about him.

It was difficult to breath. Each breathe caused his chest to expand and brought a dull pain with it. The wounds in his chest were still fresh, stitched, treated, or left alone to let nature take its course, and that expanding let him know each one was there. He was laying in a hospital bed and knew that if he was feeling pain through pain killers, that his injuries were bad. Liam kept his breathing shallow and slow to minimize the pain and keep himself from making them worse. Once again, pain turned out to be his friend as well as his enemy. He hurt like hell which was a reminder that he was still alive, but after what happened, he didn't want to be.

Each moment that passed brought clarity to his eyes, and the blurred edges of the world refined to hard edges. Thoughts of that poor man's faced beaten into a bloody pulp, with his eyes staring blankly up at Liam wouldn't leave the Shepherd's mind on their own. The feel of slender fingers inside his own hand were an anchor on reality, bringing him back from his thoughts. He couldn't let her see it. He couldn't let her see despair, she saved his life, and he refused to pay her back like that. The words in her soft voice echoed through his mind, 'I care about you', and he grabbed hold of them. Liam's hands tightened around Neona's as if they were the words he was holding to for dear life.

"You were there... I remember...You could have gotten yourself killed," he said to her as he turned. Liam pushed away the anguish and the guilt. He was good at that, pushing it all down into the depths of him, and hiding it behind the mask. He hid the pain from his congregation so he could do his job and keep them safe, he just had to hold to what mattered and push it all to the surface. Liam's blue eyes turned to Neona and she could see a bit of anger in the concern that was there. The anger told her his concern was genuine. "Thank you for saving me, Neona, but I'm not worth you getting hurt over. I'm just a Shepherd.... you're a peacemaker. The world needs you more."

Liam gave her hand a squeeze and winced at the pain he felt shoot through the injuries in his hand and wrist. His grip loosened slightly so he could take his hand back, and pressed his hand into the bed so he could sit up a bit more. He didn't like laying on his back, it reminded him of being helpless. Liam hated being helpless. He grit his teeth against the pain and tried to cover it up by asking her, "Are you ok? You didn't get hurt saving my helpless hide did you?" He shifted slowly and carefully so he could make himself more comfortable in the bed. Hopefully she would be distracted by answering the question.

He stifled his grunts and groans so he could listen to her, because he genuinely cared for her well being and didn't want anything to have happened to her on his account. No, never her. Sitting there and watching her, something inside him knew that he didn't want a world without her. It was then that Liam realized without a doubt that he cared for her as something more than a member of his flock, and the long talk that the Senior Defender had with him after the night he met her now made sense. The Senior Defender told him that he would have to make a choice one day, but he needed to be certain before he made it. The Church recognized that Shepherds were men and women, and it was in their nature to love. Unlike the faiths of the past, the Church did not force them to deny nature, but required them to be certain be committed when they were.

His hands moved over his body once he was settled, but he didn't take his eyes off of her. He needed to see her. He felt that as long as she was there he could keep the darkness at bay, keep from letting it devour him whole. He felt each and every wound so he knew where it was and be aware of it. The fight replayed in his mind, but with her in his sight they were just images and he didn't get lost in them. He simply remembered what gave him the injury, and how he got it. Finally his hands came to his face. "Is there a mirror somewhere?" he asked her. There would be one on the dresser behind her chair. She would be able to easily grab the hand mirror and hand it to him. Once it was in his hand, he raised it to look at his face. He inspected each and every aspect of his features looking for marks. "It's not vanity....that's not why I let them heal my face completely, but not my body." he said to her while he examined. "Healing comes at a cost. Every injury or sickness healed, takes the life force of the person healing. I don't want anyone else bearing my burden. This fight was mine, and these are the price I pay. I would refuse it all, but I still have my flock to protect." He put the mirror down and looked at her. "I can't fight if I'm dead or crippled. I let them fix me enough so that I can hunt again when I am done healing, and I let them fix my face so the congregation don't have to see what I do. I can hide my scars, but I can't hide my face." Thoughts of the congregation came to him and his eyes went wide for a moment he turned to her in confusion, "There were news cameras..... what happened? What does the public know?"

Neona felt his hand grip hers, as if she were the life line pulling him back from the brink...she understood that, probably better then most. If she hadn't had her family, and Uncle Kale, to get her through the worst of her curse. There were a lot of long nights and crappy full moons before she was able to control it enough to not have to worry about hurting anyone. Shifting into her Wereform was painful, and it had taken time before her body got used to it. She remembered coming out of it to find her mother holding her, keeping her grounded and soothing her as she cried.

At his words she smiled softly, a knowing smile, a secret smile. "It takes a lot to kill me, I promise." Though his next words had her frowning in dismay. "You are not just a Shepherd Liam Gray. The world needs you, how dare you write yourself off like that. The world needs you just as much as it does me. We are warriors in the same fight, we just chose different paths. You chose faith and weapons...I choose words and cunning. We are two sides to the same coin, and it's not just the world that needs you Liam Gray. I need you."

She wouldn't see him try to move because she got up from her chair and moved to the window, trying desperately to stamp out the anger that was rising up inside her. This man had her emotions and her control all over the place. Neona moved to the window, her arms crossed before her and stared out the window for a few moments. She made quite the image standing there, wearing borrowed scrubs, still slightly damp hair that was beginning to curl all on it's own. It took her a moment before she answered his next question. "The only thing that hurts because I had to save you is my heart. When I saw that burning church on the news, and heard that you had gone inside and hadn't come out...I thought a part of me was going to die." As he asked about a mirror, she finally turned back to him.

Her gold eyes would waver slightly as she fought back the tears. She hadn't cried in years, not since Julian had literally ripped her heart out and walked all over it. Turning her gaze to the mirror he spoke about, she reached out with her willowy arm and wrapped her fingers around the handle. Moving back to his side she sat down once more and held the mirror out to him. Allowing him to speak so she could take some time to calm herself down. In truth he didn't need to explain it to her, but the sound of his voice was soothing her, and better yet, soothing the wolf within. That was until he asked about the public, and her anger flared up once more.

"You nearly died, I had to drag your unconscious body out of a burning church before it collapsed. I found you punching the life out of someone and that is what you're worried about? What does the public know?" She didn't realize it but there was a definite undertone to her voice, the beginnings of animalistic growl that echoed in her chest as she said the last.

Liam held to her hand and felt her heat seeping through his skin, and spreading throughout his body. He listened to her words as he tried to prove to him that he was important to the world. He didn't find solace in any of them. There were other Shepherds to mind the flock, other men and women who were better people than he was. There were also better hunters who had more experience and far more skill than he. Liam was just a simple man that had a dark past that refused to let him go. It continued to haunt him, and the darkness ate away at him. He knew that now, Daven had show him today, that the darkness was a part of him. One thing Neona said pulled Liam from the edge of that darkness that started to creep up over him. 'I need you.'

Those three words carried more weight than any others she spoke. Those three words meant something to him because she was the one who said them. Even through their conversation the words echoed through his mind. Other words and other voices rattled around the space of his cavernous thoughts, but somehow they drowned them all out. Daven's voice disappeared, even his own internal monologue was muted, until there was nothing else but her, both inside and out. His head turned to her when she answered his question about her well being. He focused on her and looked over her as she told him she was fine. Again, more of her words took his mind. 'I thought part of me was going to die.' If anything happened to her he felt that he would surely die too. Her words echoed things he felt, but never voiced.

Absently, Liam reached out and took the mirror from her hand and held it up to his face. Blue eyes twitched this way and that so he could check his features. Everything was in place. There was no sign of the trauma, no scarring. He would be able to look upon his flock and not see the look of disgust on their lips, or see the light of fear in their eyes. They did not need to know the ugly truth, and he would not be the one who showed it to them. Gloves on his hands would hide the casts, and his cassock would cover the scars on his body. he would just need to be careful about people coming near him. He couldn't let them touch him, lest they make him wince in pain and wonder what he hid. No one could know what he hid. Especially not her.

The anger in her voice snapped him back to reality. Even her rage sounded sweet to him. How could such a thing be good? She stole his senses and turned his thoughts on their end. She ran into a building, and dragged his near lifeless body out of the flames. She had every right to be angry at him. She had every right to demand answers. When she demanded them, his blood ran cold. Don't ask he begged her silently, but his mouth moved to form words. "He was a demon...One of the worst. Too strong to take out of the host, to evil to allow it to live." his voice was just as cold as his blood. He couldn't let her ask anymore, he couldn't let her find out the truth.

He needed to leave, he needed to get out of there. Liam pulled the IV from his arm, and the tube of oxygen from his nose. The lengths of plastic fell to the side as he pushed himself along the bed and swung his legs out from beneath the blanket. Pain ripped through the haze of the painkillers and Liam grit his teeth against the pain as he tried to stand up from the bed. He was quick, but the wires that were still hooked up to the heart monitors hindered his movements allowing Neona to close the distance to him. He was half standing when her hands closed over his shoulders. He felt no pain, just heat. She was so close to him. Liam could feel the heat of her touch spreading throughout him, making his blood burn hot.

He looked up into her unearthly beautiful eyes and he knew the truth. Everything she said was true for him. He needed her. They had known each other only a couple of months, and seen each other a hand full of times, and she became a keystone in his word. He didn't want a world without her. Liam would have run into a burning building without thinking if their roles were reversed. He made his decision, it was her. He couldn't think straight anymore, she was talking and she needed to stop. His uncasted hand reached up to cup her cheek, hooking fingers behind her neck. He stood up against her hands driven on instinct by passion, and seized her lips. Liam didn't know what he was doing, all he knew was he needed her, he wanted her. The passion that he stamped down every time he saw her from that first night till now exploded up from the depths. Passion was all he had now. It meant more than the pain he felt as he pulled her body against his. There was no pain, no vices, no past, only her taste, her feel. Only Neona.

Liam Gray was exactly what her mother would have called a 'stubborn human male'...and then she'd have gone into the kitchen to clean something. That was her mom...end of the world had come a gone and she still cared about keeping the house clean. It always amazed her how different each member of their family was. Neona..the werewolf Diplomat, Blue the technopathic engineer, her father the soldier and her mother the nature loving elf. But this man somehow was filling all the holes that her life had ripped open, she hadn't even realized how long they had laid open and bleeding..years, decades even. And here she was, spilling her emotions out like word vomit to this man she'd only known for a handful of months. Damn her animal instincts and wolfish nature. Wolves mate for life...and apparently she'd just found hers.

As Liam suddenly started to get up, she knew exactly what he was doing, running away. She'd done it often enough in the beginning, it'd been so hard for her to talk about the night that should have killed her, but instead had turned her into a nightmare. She'd gotten over it though and so would Liam...he had to. She wasn't going to lose him to this, she couldn't. He had to face whatever was plaguing him or it would tear him apart and he would become no better then the thing he feared. She shot up from her chair and skirted around the bed, her warm hands pressing gently on his shoulders as she would try to keep him from getting up.

"Liam please, you aren't healed enough to.." Her words would be cut off as Liam reached up and pressed his hand to her face. It was an intimate act he'd never before made and the touch of his flesh struck her speechless but not nearly so much as what he did next. She was so shocked she offered no resistance as his fingers pulled her face forward. The feel of his lips against hers had her inner wolf howling in triumph...though she was the only one who could hear the sound raging in her ears. Instinct too over, driving out all sense and logic. As he pulled her into him, one of her arms would wrap around his neck, pulling him into her just as hard. She returned his kiss with just as much passion and hunger. It'd been so long since anyone had touched her like this, had wanted her this much that she could feel it resonating in her bones. Other might have used the cliche fireworks line but Neona was a wolf....fireworks were the last thing on her mind. It took every ounce of strength she had to pull away from him, though she didn't go far. She leaned her forehead against his, trying desperately to catch the breath he'd taken from her by surprise.

She didn't move, didn't release him, merely stood there with her eyes closed, their faces mere inches apart as she tried to contain herself. The last thing she wanted was to hurt him right now, but the wolf wanted more.

It was like thunder. His heart pounded in his chest again and again, pumping fire through his veins. Reason few out the window, giving full reign to passion. Liam was by no way experienced in ways of the flesh, but he was a good listener by nature. Neona's lips told him everything he needed to know, and he was good to learn. Passion clouded his mind, took his reason, and let his instincts run wild. Strong hands pulled her against his body, only encouraged by the fact that she wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled herself along with him.



Parts of his mind and soul that he didn't know existed went wild in ways that he thought weren't possible. It was an entirely new feeling for him, but everything about it felt right. Nothing else mattered more than this moment. Nothing else existed. He was the only man and she was the only woman, and they were standing together at the dawn of the creation of something good. Good was the only word that he could describe it, because nothing about it seemed wrong. Everything that he had been through in his life was in no way normal. Possessed by a demon, forced to watch as his body committed unspeakable acts, survived a fatal wound, found religion, trained to hunt demons, and still hunted by the beast that controlled him for years. This was the first moment in his life that seemed normal, that felt natural.


When Neona broke them apart by pulling away Liam gasped for air pulling in gulps as if he had just been reborn. His head was slightly damp with small heads of sweat, and he tried to talk between breaths as he looked into Neona's golden eyes. "I... I'm..... sorry...... I'm sorry." his voice failed him between words, but a moment of looking into her eyes, and he knew it was a lie. "No, I'm not." he said almost desperately and closed the distance to seize her lips for more. There was more passion in this kiss if such a thing was possible, because he was honest with himself and gave in. He kissed her so as deeply as he could, hoping to get so lost in her that the world would never find him. Fingers screamed in pain and triumph as they closed tightly in the fabric of her borrowed scrubs and began to tug at it.


The sound of a throat clearing insistently broke the spell that had come over him. Liam pulled away this time, releasing the hold he had on her clothes, leaving behind wrinkled hand holds. Eyes shot to the source of the intrusion, and they looked almost wild. "A little bit of restraint, Shepherd Grey. You won't accept healing, so I'm going to hand to ask you not to put too much strain on your heart. I came in here thinking you were having a heart attack." Neona would recognize her as the attending nurse that had changed his bandages a few hours ago. When her voice stopped the deafening silence was broken by a rapid electronic beep that set a staccato rhythm. Liam was still hooked up the heart monitor, and it registered what the moment shared between them.


Liam's face grew an even deeper shade of crimson as he realized he'd just made a spectacle of his first act of true passion. He nervously scrubbed his hand through his hair and winced in a bit of pain at the motion, before getting back in his bed. The nurse was about to leave but she noticed the IVs were pulled out of his arm. "Your IVs are out." she said as she walked over and began reattaching the tubes to the places that Liam had pulled him from. While she worked his heart beat slowed slightly, but it never quite returned back to normal. Once she was finished, she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

The blood roared in her ears so loudly that Neona never noticed the sounds of the machines going haywire around them, and it wasn't just her blood, it was his too. It was like they were dancing in unison together, though her much stronger werewolf heart beat louder in her ears. Nothing had ever felt like this, not even when she'd been with Julian. She'd never realized until this moment just how naive she'd been. It hadn't been love with Julian, it had only been need. Her need to feel accepted once more, after battling her own demons. Everyone had a dark side, but Neona's could be the death and destruction of everyone and everything she cared about. But nothing had ever felt this...right, this perfect. It was like she'd been searching for Liam her entire life without ever knowing it. Each step she took, each decision she made, just led her closer and closer to finding him.

They weren't strangers, their souls knew each other.

As Liam started to apologize she shook her head, trying to tell him to stop. It was so perfect, she didn't want to let anything ruin the moment. She wanted to hold onto it forever, and she would...long after he was dead and buried she would still go on living and this moment would be one of the happiest in her lifetime. And then he surprised her again and all thought fled her mind. Her control was slipping however, as her own passion boiled up inside her, the wolf was beginning to take hold. As she clutched at his hospital gown, pulling him into her just as hard as he was pulling her, pain lanced up her fingers from her nail beds as her nails started to grow, turning into flesh tearing claws. If something didn't stop them, the temple was going to end up with a whole new set of problems.

But thankfully the Divine knew what they were doing. As a voice broke through her thoughts, Neona felt the sudden absence of Liam like a knife through her heart. The pain cleared her head slightly and allowed her to recognize the familiar ache of her bones about to start the change. Glancing down at her hands, her golden eyes widened in shock at what she saw and she quickly curled her hands into fists in effort to hide the very obvious sign that she was far more then just a half breed elf. As the nurse busied herself with putting Liam back in his bed, Neona moved back to the window to stare out onto the city as she centered herself, just like she'd been taught. She clasped her hands around the golden crystal pendant she wore and had never been so relieved when the wolf within whined and snuck back to the dark corners of her mind with it's tail between it's legs.

She would wait until the nurse left before turning back to Liam. However, he wasn't going to escape her that easy. They both knew how they felt now, and Neona wasn't about to just let things hang between them. Moving to the hospital bed, careful not to hurt him, she crawled up onto it with him, laying down at his side. "Whatever shall I do with you Liam Gray?" She asked him, staring into his eyes. One thing she knew for sure though, Liam was hers and nothing was going to take him from her, not without a fight.