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[Jane Whitfield (DELETED 5975)]

"Welcome to Harper Rock," Jane read the sign aloud as the headlights of the truck washed over it. The windshield wipers were working overtime in the downpour, running streaks over the side windows and pounding the roof of the cab. The man driving made some kind of noise, probably words, but Jane didn't bother trying to listen. She was dazzled by the drops falling from the sky, glistening in the illumination, splattering as they reached the end of their journey from above. It seemed a violent end to something so pure, such a vital component of life.

"Kid? You hear me?"

"You can let me out here," Jane mumbled. "Thanks for the lift." She moves to unbuckle her seat belt, one hand reaching for the handle of the door. She didn't want to stay in with the man any longer. She'd gotten far enough away from where she'd been, and she'd been patient enough. She was ready for a new start.

"I don't wanna let you off in the rain like this, kid. Let me take you all the way into town, at least. You'll freeze if I let you go now." The man reached for her hand, his other still on the steering wheel. Jane had forgotten the truck was still in motion, lost in her own mind. The world came back into sharp clarity as a warm, calloused hand gently grasped hers, moving it off the clip of the seat belt.

Jane jerked her hand back, cradling it to her chest with a shriek. That warm, light touch lingered in her skin, heating up steadily into a burn that reached up her arm and spread across her spine. It was going to swallow her whole if she didn't escape. The man, startled by her outburst, withdrew his hand quickly, jerking the steering wheel to the side. As the truck swerved, the man cursed, white-knuckling the wheel to try and right the course of the vehicle. The slick road denied the tires their grip, hydroplaning the truck into steel trap territory as it rushed along the road.

Headlights from the opposite direction approached fast, and the man yelled as he tried to regain control. Jane's hands fumbled with the seat belt, attempting to free herself. She'd rather jump from a moving car than wind up in a crash. With a jerk of her hand, she had the cab's door open, dimly aware of a car horn blaring. Between one breath and the next, things blurred.

It was there, just inside the limits of Harper Rock, that Jane lay outside the wreck. It was there she listened to the rain, blinking rapidly as she tried to watch it fall from the black sky. Off the shoulder of the road, the kind man who had picked up a young hitchhiker lay bleeding out, pinned beneath his truck, while a woman on her way out of town furiously dialed an ambulance, dragging herself on a broken leg to try and help free him.

Jane had made it. She'd finally escaped, and she could feel the fire in her skin burning out under the rainfall. She hurt, oh, how she hurt. But she was finally going to be free. Jane closed her eyes, the fire draining from her as numbing cold settled in. "Free," she croaked.

[Sepsis]

What in the Seven Hells she was doing out here, she didn't know.

Sepsis muttered under her breath, watching the sheets of rain pound against the hood of her most recently acquired vehicle. The wipers flashed across the windshield, fighting a losing battle, but with the heightened senses her Kind shared, she saw just fine. Fine enough to see that something was not right on the road in front of her. Trying not to slam on the brakes so as to avoid careening into the accident as best as she could, she stopped a few feet away from the scene, hopping out as she put her car into park.

Surveying what lay before her, she sucked a breath in sharply. The pungent scent of thick blood filled the air even as the storm sought to wash it away, and her head whipped to the side, seeking it's source. The man lay trapped beneath the over turned truck, thick blood pouring out onto the ground around his quickly dying body. As if drawn by a puppet masters strings she walked towards him...drawn by the irresistible scent. The rain had already drenched her as she knelt beside his broken body, pushing the truck off with one hand in an almost absent minded way. His eyes were glazed, but he still clung desperately to life.

"Help me.." He whispered.

Sepsis knew there was no hope for him, the blood was too dark, the wounds too deep. The only help she could offer was a swift and painless death. Finding the vein in his neck that she wanted, she found her fangs had already extended, and sunk them deep, drawing in the sweet nectar. Far too soon for her liking, she heard the man's heart quiet, and she pulled back, snatching the last drops of blood from her lips with the tip of her tongue, before the rains had a chance to wash them away.

"What in God's name are you?" A woman's hysterical voice demanded from behind her. Whipping her head around the pyress moved quicker than a viper, knocking the phone from the woman's hand. Lifting her arm to strike against the woman's cheek, she ran to where the phone had landed, breaking it to pieces with her heel. Spinning, Sepsis turned to face the hysterical woman, just as she was struggling to regain her footing from where she had collapsed from the blow. "Get away from me, you..you bi-" She never gave the woman a chance to finish the sentence. Instead, she struck again, grabbing one side of the woman's head with each hand, twisting quickly. A sharp snap permeated through the air, and the screeching ones body collapsed in a heap on the wet pavement.

She hadn't wanted to do that, but the pyress had learned all too well about leaving witnesses to her feeding. She could not bring herself to consume the plastic filled bags sold out the back doors of some of the 'less reputable' establishments of Harper Rock as many of her Kind did, and neither did she have the mysterious ability to regenerate her vitae. Instead, she hunted live prey. As it should be in her opinion anyway. Pulling her eyes away from the now second lifeless body laying on the pavement before her, Sepsis whipped her head around again, searching for any other signs of life.

And there, lying just off to the side of where the truck had landed, was a heap of what she assumed to be a third body. Whether the accident victim was alive or not, was yet to be seen. Approaching cautiously, Sepsis saw what appeared to be a young woman with dark hair, laying on the cold pavement, one leg seemingly broken and twisted in an odd way. Unconscious, Sepsis assumed that she had seen nothing of which had transcribed mere moments before. Kneeling beside the woman, she reached out feeling for a pulse. Surprisingly, she found one.

Turning the woman gently over on to her back, Sepsis was struck by innocence of the young one's face. Laying quietly as she was with her eyes closed, she appeared pixie-like to Sepsis. Something tugged at her as she searched the pixie-woman's face. She would not leave her here, that was certain. Standing quickly, the pyress ran back to the car, flinging open the passenger side door, and leaning the seat back as far as she could. Running back to the woman, she lifted her carefully, and deposited her as gently as possible before closing the door, and sliding behind the drivers seat.

The woman needed medical attention desperately, and Sepsis could think but of one place that would have absolutely everything that she needed. Gimble's. The legal side of her small business empire. Speeding along, she pulled out her cell, and dialed.

"Ming?" Sepsis asked, confirming it was indeed her minion on the other end. Satisfied it was, she left clear and explicit instructions with the woman. She new her thrall would not fail her. Failure was not an option with the bond she shared with this human. A short time later found the pyress laying her charge upon the prepared hospital bed, her tools laid out to save this humans life.

"Odd"Sepsis thought idly to herself. The same tools she used to take what she needed from so many humans was now going to save one of their kind. If she was right though, which she always was in her mind, there was something special about the pixie-like woman before her.

Humming to herself, Sepsis set to work.

[Jane Whitfield (DELETED 5975)]

Fading in and out of consciousness, Jane was dimly aware of screams, and then a woman over her. Somewhere after that the purr of an engine, and even further from that, a scent she knew well: Hospital.

She knew she didn't have long before the blackness came back. She had to take stock. Pain in her ribs? Check. Head? Double check, and goddamn, did it hurt. Matter of fact, she could definitely feel blood seeping out. Arms and legs? Check, and check. Especially her right side. Mother. *******. Ow.

"I was...no. Let me..." Words. Jane had to find the words. She had to find her voice. She had just reclaimed her freedom, and she was not about to be captured again. She wasn't crazy. Of course she wasn't crazy. It was her mother, always haunting her. She must have found her, sent her away. "NO!"

Through the pain, Jane began to find control of her limbs. Lifting them was a chore, but she had to fight. She had to get free.

[Sepsis]

"NO!"

Sepsis whipped around to face her charge, the bandages she had been preparing forgotten on the work bench behind her. Sprinting across the room, she stopped at the pixie-woman's bedside. The observed as the young one struggled against her injuries, trying to sit up by looks of it. Shaking her head slightly, she reached out with one hand, gently pushing the small woman back down on the hospital bed.

"Shhh." She cooed. "I am here to help you. No one will harm you while I am here. No one." Flipping the girls wrist over, she quickly found her pulse. It was strong, vibrant even. Moving her hand up, Sepsis gently moved the girls head from the left to the right, noting what appeared to be an old burn, just touching the back of the girl's right ear. Sepsis's eyes flicked to study the young ones face, wondering what horror she has seen during the making of this wound. The pyress had noted the various scars while tending the broken leg now safely set inside the plaster cast, and had felt her anger build in a strangely protective manner. Whom ever had played with this girl, had not been nice to her dollies.

"Odd"Sepsis mused idly to herself. "I seem to have a knack for finding the broken ones.."

Dropping her hand, Sepsis crossed the room, returning to the girls bedside with a stool. Sitting, she focused on the young woman's face once more. She would know this dark haired ones story, she had decided. Sepsis mis-liked seeing the ill treatment of the innocent, and what ever this one had been running from, had nearly taken her life. The pyress chuckled to herself at that thought. Life..how fragile it was. Hers to give and take on a whim.

Sepsis studied the girls face, feeling the desire rising. "Yes..."She thought to herself. The girls fate had been decided already. Else why was I brought to to the girl at that exact moment when needed most? The pyress had 'seen' things unexplained long before she had ever been pyre. Things hidden by the churches and nefarious groups just out of public sight. Things that would change the world if ever brought to light. But, that was neither here nor now.

Concentrating, Sepsis did the one thing she could do for the woman, and gently placed thoughts of safety and comfort into her mind. A mother's love. A sister's comfort. Whatever this one was running from, it would not touch her here.

[Jane Whitfield (DELETED 5975)]

The feeling settled over Jane, a fresh rain to wash away the fear and desperation. As it melted from her, Jane struggled to focus her vision, making out only shapes, backlit and wavering. She was aware of a warm tickling on her face, moving from her forehead down. There was a harsh, burning sting at the origin. She felt everything, but she was calm.

The fear burrowed deep into her, hiding away. A voice spoke to her.

"Shhh." She cooed. "I am here to help you. No one will harm you while I am here. No one."

The words were distant, and she couldn't understand them. She only knew the voice belonged to a woman. Jane wanted to cling to the sound, though she felt it slipping further away, the shadows in her vision closing in. From the narrow strip of light she could still make out, a new figure appeared. She could see no features, and the shape was unsteady. It appeared a man, billows of ink black enveloping his form and retreating again.

Let go. The command was absolute.

Jane let the blackness take her.

[Sepsis]

"Did you kill her?"

Sepsis whipped around, moving faster than a human eye could see. She crossed the room, and thrust her hand through the cage, grabbing the man's neck who had dared to speak.

"I told you once already to be quiet." She hissed, allowing her fangs to be seen. The man sputtered, gasping for air as he desperately tried in vain to peel her hand from his throat. "You are going to listen to me now, aren't you?" she spat, watching as the man nodded his head violently, turning purple as he did. Disgusted, Sepsis opened her hand, allowing him to crumple to the floor of his cage. "Anyone else have something to say?" She asked, casting her gaze slowly about the room. The only reply was the shuffling of a half a dozen bodies as they retreated further into their cells. Nodding to no one in particular, she returned to the woman's bedside, walking softly so as to not disturb her rest.

Reaching out with one pale hand, Sepsis brushed a lock of dark hair from the woman's face, smiling as she did. Even laying here broken, like a cast aside toy, she was beautiful. And with that thought, Sepsis knew she could not wait. Would not wait.

Lifting one of the woman's fragile arms, she smiled before sinking her fangs as gently as she could into the pixie-woman's wrist, drinking greedily. The woman's hot blood trickled down her throat, nourishing her, reinforcing her strength...and far too soon for her liking she had to stop. Using a fang to pierce the tip of her finger, she dabbed a drop of blood across the puncture wounds, sealing them closed. Smiling to herself, the pyress then bit into her own wrist, holding it to the sleeping woman's mouth. Finally, after almost an hour, and having to open her wrist several times, enough of her blood had trickled into her to substantiate a true exchange.

"I don't know your name yet,"Sepsis thought to herself as she sat on the stool next to the pixie-woman's bed,"but you are going to be mine...forever."