Locks of Love [Lorelai]

[Levi DAmico]

This thread is back-dated to 14th February 2015.

It had been a long week as far as the Italian was concerned. In fact, despite being just short of two weeks into February, it had been feeling like a long month. Since the end of January, things had been non-stop, meaning that not only was it busy, but stuff seemed to be ******* up a lot, forcing Levi and his team to work longer on accounts than they ordinarily would have. Some of these accounts should have been settled weeks ago, but human error was a constant cause of setbacks; either people wouldn’t deliver stock as promised or they wouldn’t accept a delivery. Logistics was a fairly easy business: you pick up **** from one place and take it to another. There wasn’t much that could go wrong so long as people played their parts. There weren’t any in-house problems Levi was certain, so the business’ reputation wasn’t suffering – one load off Levi’s mind – but it was suffering nevertheless. If people didn’t get their **** and people wouldn’t come get their ****, then nobody got paid. As far as Levi was concerned, he wasn’t running a storage centre or a ******* charity, and even though chasing money was a giant pain in the arse, it had to be done.

He was on the phone with one of his suppliers, wearing out the wooden floor of his office as he paced angrily. The man on the other end of the line was denying all responsibility – a big fat single-fingered salute in Levi’s direction as far as the Italian saw it. The man was blaming the authorities for holding things up and Levi’s eyes glazed over at the excuse. It wasn’t just because he was tired of the excuse itself, but more due to the fact that he didn’t have time to listen to why **** didn’t go down; he just needed to rectify the problems now. They could discuss the complications some other time and if there truly was an issue as far as the authorities were concerned, then they certainly needed to move their arses on getting the goods shipped. Levi was, perhaps, too curt with his directions to his supplier because even though they agreed to the new terms, the man on the other end of the line was short and sharp with his responses before ending the call. This likely meant that they weren’t going to be doing business again in the future, or at least in the near future, because it would take some time for Levi’s pride to allow him to apologise in earnest.

With one down and a mountain of other problems left to deal with, Levi took a seat at his desk and stared at the opposite wall. With just a couple more hours left to make business calls within a reasonable hour, i.e. without phoning people who were about to crash for the night or go out to do unscrupulous things to make money, Levi was looking down the barrel of a lot of work in a short space of time. It was off-putting, frankly. He wasn’t the type to shirk responsibilities, but he knew when he needed a break. Getting shirty with suppliers and customers wasn’t going to win him any favours so he might as well call it a night. Umber eyes moved off the white wall to the Newton’s cradle; a new addition to his otherwise uncluttered desk. It had been a strange gift from the Shark, left on his table with a simple note expressing his regards for yet another one of those instances where Shiro had been in his office, but Levi had not been. Levi couldn’t think of a reason why Shiro would give him any kind of gift, let alone this one, but he figured that there had to be some kind of hidden meaning behind it. Thinking about it though, it occurred to Levi that he hadn’t seen or heard from the man in a couple of days; a quick check of the calendar might have revealed why that was though.

La Festa Degli Innamorati, or Valentine’s Day to the average Joe, was the date on the calendar. A hand curled around Levi’s chin as he pondered the significance of this date and what he was going to do about it. Not being the romantic type or having anyone to devote attention to, it shouldn’t have been an issue at all, but Levi’s mind turned to Lorelai nevertheless. It wasn’t that he was in love with her. It really wasn’t that at all. He liked the girl, he appreciated her being there and helping him out when he needed someone to talk to about this Vampiri stuff. She was sweet, a little naïve and too trusting and easily lovable, but at least she wasn’t full of **** like 99% of the world’s living and undead populace. Although he couldn’t always understand what trauma she was going though, her flaws made her fascinating. He liked to listen to her speak because she could always teach him things, even if at the end of it the lessons would only further his understanding of how crazy she truly was. Still, it was an experience either way; crazy was interesting after all.

Lorelai had told Levi that she liked him and with her continuous need to kiss him, he could hazard a guess at what she meant by like. He’d turned her down, careful to consider her feelings and protect them because it wouldn’t do him any good to lose her, but that didn’t mean the physical contact had stopped. Lorelai was just as keen as ever before to wrap her arms around him, snuggle into him like he was a giant teddy bear whose claws and teeth were simple polyurethane. She continued to kiss him on the cheek, occasionally encroaching on his comforts and brushing her lips against his. Levi failed to respond to these intimate touches, just as he failed to put a stop to them. His neutral stance on the matter meant that he wasn’t encouraging her and he wasn’t turning her down, thus keeping things in limbo until he could make up his mind about how to deal with it. He didn’t think of it as stringing her along because he felt that he’d been clear with Lorelai about how he looked at things. Levi might have felt like he’d been clear to her, but deep down, he wasn’t sure he felt all that clear to himself.

Levi couldn’t see himself in a relationship with anyone – he was a lone ranger at the end of the day. Lovers held you in suspense, they made you strive for expectations you didn’t know were possible. There were supposed to be benefits to having a lover, but Levi couldn’t fathom them, or at least, he couldn’t find them. Lovers were supposed to challenge you, inspire you, bring out the best in you and cover your weaknesses, but it was a rare day when he met someone who challenged him intellectually and it was harder still to open up to someone and find common ground, share weaknesses and all that other horse **** with. Besides, as far as Levi was concerned, the only thing that differentiated a friendship with a romantic relationship was the inclusion of sex and that was when things got difficult anyway. Everything he could list about a lover he found in Shiro, but Levi neither wanted nor needed to sleep with him to continue their relationship – he just needed to keep up their business, which might as well have been the same thing. Still, they were slipping apart weren’t they, and there weren’t a bunch of roses or foil-covered chocolates that could solve that problem.

On the subject of gifts to repair voids, Levi’s mind finally made its way back to Lorelai. He hadn’t had much time to pop in and spend the last moments of his consciousness with her lately. In fact, they probably hadn’t spoken at all. Had he even visited? He couldn’t remember. This week had been a complete blur of raised voices and blood pressure. It could have been neglect that kept him away from her, but maybe it was instinct. Levi couldn’t really stand people at the best of time and with his over-exposure recently, it was probably better that he hadn’t ran into Lorelai and said something stupid. Nevertheless, she would have noticed him not being around and was probably pining. Yes, it was Valentine’s Day, but as far as Levi was concerned, it was ‘make up for the stupid **** you’ve done’ day instead. He got up from his chair, left his office and headed down the street to the nearest florist that looked like it had the best variety and quality. Maybe because it was Valentine’s Day or maybe because Harper Rock had learned to keep its retailers open late due to the whole supply and demand thing, so he didn’t have much trouble finding a flower shop which was open at 9pm. The troubling part came when it was time to pick the actual bouquet. It took him twenty minutes to decide on a dozen cream roses – red being too cliché and too damn romantic – and then he made his way back to the office. The florist said they’d deliver the bunch, so, Levi didn’t think anything of leaving her address with the woman behind the counter. He certainly wouldn’t have thought that the simple act of buying a girl a bunch of flowers would lead to such a calamity.

[Lorelai]

Valentine's day (which took place a few days ago) had confused Lorelai. She knew what the day was, kind of, but the residents of Hoshkosh didn't actually celebrate the day, as it held no real meaning for them. They spent the time with their loved ones, that much was true, but then they did that every night. They didn't make and give gifts or anything, as they didn't require anything seeing as how they weren't materialistic in nature. On that day, one year ago, Lorelai had found herself in the arms of her ex, Lyle, only to wind up pregnant. It was that one event that had changed her life and set her in the path she now found herself on. So when Levi sent her flowers, she was at a loss as to the reasoning behind them and had found herself wondering what she'd done to deserve them. Thankfully, or perhaps unfortunately, Pru was on hand to explain the significance of his "gesture" and name the day for Lorelai. The advice, or rather commands, she received led to her believing that she should kiss Levi; so when she saw him, this was exactly what she did. Kissing him hadn't been her first instinct though, as the first instruction she received was to buy Levi something; only Pru didn't like the book she chose and so she was overruled. The advice she'd received, or command, as Pru's words were to be taken literally, was that if she liked Levi, that she should kiss him and Lorelai did like Levi; she liked several people in fact. The blonde had a big heart and since she wasn't committed to anyone and since no-one seemed to return her affections, it didn't seem odd to her that she could hold affection for several people at once. The fact was that even if one of them did reciprocate, she would likely still hold a place in her heart for the others, especially if the one that returned her affections wasn't Pru. No matter who she was with or what she was doing Pru would always be a priority to her, such was her curse, but Lorelai was yet to realise this fact. Had Pru explained the significance of the day in person Lorelai might have tried to kiss her too but as it was, the red headed killer had dropped off a small token for her childe and disappeared out into the night. With Valentine's Day behind them all it might have been easy for the subject to be laid to rest and yet Lorelai and Levi still had something to discuss; the reasoning behind his gesture.

The pair exchanged emails and conversation between them flowed quite easily. Honesty was perhaps more easily achieved in the written word as neither had to face the other and watch the impact of the words as they fell. Levi was clear with Lorelai and while she could accept that he did not wish to enter into any sort of relationship with her, or anyone for that matter, she couldn't hep but hold onto the hope that he might one day change his mind. This was the second conversation of this manner that Lorelai had had in recent history, the first of which of course had been with Prudence. Lorelai did love her sire but her desire for the red head was quite different to that for her desire for Levi. The blonde had little to no choice in the feelings that she had for Pru, as the curse had her believing that Prudence was a goddess. No matter what Pru did and no matter how much Lorelai might wish to hate her, she could not and would not be able to look upon her sire with anything but love and admiration; a fact that disturbed her to her core as she wasn't even allowed to hold onto her negative feelings for the woman on a subconscious level. With Levi, things were different. She could feel the familial bond. She could even see a little of CC in him, much as she had been able to do when she looked upon Leo but it wasn't this that drew her to him. Levi was intelligent and articulate, he had been kind and patient with her, and even Prudence had admitted that he was handsome to look at; so how could she not be drawn to such a man?

She was still thinking about the emails a day later, which was perhaps a little easier for someone with her abilities as she didn't have to open a laptop or anything to check and re-read her email, she could just pluck the information from the air. The mere thought of them had her mind accessing the information once more and she read the conversation from start to finish, including her own replies to him. Lorelai was perhaps a little lost in thought in fact, because rather than simply skip through a portal in order to wander about the city, she found herself leaving via the front door. Truth be told, this was something she tried to do every couple of days or so, as she didn't want her neighbours to grow suspicious of her. She had no need to use that particular entrance as her tome brought her home and the portals let her out, but it was important to appear normal and normal people used doors and went outside every once in a while.

Having locked her front door, Lorelai headed towards the elevator. Not being the suspicious sort, she thought nothing of the unfamiliar man that stood by the elevator seemingly waiting to be conveyed to the ground floor. When the time came she had no trouble stepping into the elevator with him and even smiled at him as she pressed the button for the ground floor. The blonde brushed a wayward strand of long, wavy hair back behind her ear, as she almost always had her hair down, and then drew her thick, beige cardigan around her. While Lorelai's personal style wasn't exactly eye catching, it wasn't exactly the norm either. She had on one of her usual, floor length sundresses as while it was still winter, she really didn't like to wear anything too binding. The cold was not nearly as unpleasant as the sensation of constricted by ones clothing; at least this was Lorelai's reasoning. Even as a human, the only difference between her summer and winter looks were the number of layers she wore.

Stepping out of the elevator as it reached the ground floor, her feet pulled her towards the park. The park was one of the quieter areas of the city for Lorelai, as while there were still many signals there, they seemed to be weaker and more manageable. There also seemed to be less spirits in the more open areas of the city. Even dead, it seemed to her, that most people craved to be where the action was. The decision to walk through the park this evening however may have had more to do with her distracted mind and the fact that she had walked through the tranquil, man-made landscape the night she met Levi.

[Levi DAmico]

Thornside Park was quiet. Even as winter reached her peak, it remained encapsulated within its own time. The evergreen trees and hedges refused to drop their leaves, while grasses and flora slept under a blanket of frost. Birds migrated infrequently and many small mammals were in untold hibernation, leaving the larger life forms that trickled through to experience this slumbering world alone. There was a man sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper, a late-night jogger making her rounds and a businessman pushing his way through the sculpted brush to meet the train that would finally take him home. And then, of course, there was the woman in the sundress and the four men that were following her from staggered distances. They were inconspicuous for the most part in their everyday suits, but as Lorelai made her way deeper into solitude, their movements changed. Two of the men held back at the neck of a small path which led into the area she walked; their position divided but aligned as if ready to perform in a baton pass. The remaining men also took their positions with one man coming up on Lorelai’s left and the other approaching a bit further behind from the right.

“Excuse me, miss?”

The man to her left spoke to grab her attention, shielding the action of the man behind who approached rapidly and took her by the arm. Their flanking manoeuvre was poised in case she would somehow escape, but they had their bets placed on the effectiveness of their surprise grab. As soon as the man on her right would have her in his grip, the man on the left who’d spoken would take an arm as well. After that, they would rush her through a quiet exit and to an awaiting vehicle which had been patrolling the perimeter. Any struggle could be handled, they were sure, because Lorelai had been under surveillance for a while and these men assumed that such a fragile-looking girl wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight. Protests could be stifled easily – these were trained men after all – and even though they needed the girl in a fit state to get what they needed, they weren’t opposed to silencing her if the situation called for it. Their plan was to get the girl and get out of sight before anybody knew what was going on. From there, she would be taken to secure site and interrogated by whatever means necessary.

[Lorelai]

"Can I help you?" she asked turning to face the man that had addressed her.

Lorelai had, had no idea that she was under surveillance, or that she was being followed. Even if she had of noticed one of the men, she'd never have believed that they were there for her because she knew she wasn't even the slightest bit interesting. There was no reason for anyone to follow the blonde from Hoshkosh as she was a nobody. So when the men took a hold of her arms and began to escort her to the waiting vehicle, she had no idea what was going on. In typical Lorelai fashion, she didn't scream or shout, she just turned from one man to the other, her blonde locks shivering across her back as she did so.

"I... Who... Please..."

The confusion had her tongue tied. She wanted to know who the men were and what they wanted from her. She was almost certain that they had the wrong person. It was that or they were hunters, in which case they had the right vampire but her brief experience with them had her thinking that they would have shot her first and asked questions later. If they wanted answers about Prudence they would sorely disappointed, as Lorelai would rather die than give Pru up to people that may want to cause her harm. Even so, she wasn't one to fight back or struggle as she feared she might hurt the people that held her and so she went along with the men, getting into the car almost willingly.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" she asked once they had her secured in the car.

She wasn't really afraid of the men, as she could see that they were all human and that they were likely not hunters. Again, she only had her brief experience with them to go on but from what little she knew about them, most didn't go around in suits and ties. She'd of expected the men to be better armed too if that were the case.

[Levi DAmico]

The men weren’t heavily armed, but they weren’t all that vulnerable either. Each one had a piece and the skill-set to use it proficiently. Plus, the four who’d ushered her into the back of the vehicle had been joined by a driver and a passenger, so now they were a team of six. Lorelai might not have had too much of a problem with overwhelming her captors, but then again, she wouldn’t need to. If she put up too much of a struggle, pushed the balance on risk vs reward, then they would let her go under controlled circumstanced. After all, they knew where she lived and had given her no clues as to their identity; they could always come back after re-strategising. The men were trained to act as quietly and as discreetly as leaves float on a breeze, and it was for these reasons that Lorelai’s questions became part of the gloomy air within the car. They barely even glanced at her the whole journey, making a single gesture only when the car had come to a stop and she was escorted out.

They were on the outskirts of Newborough towards Stag Heath, an area sandwiched between woodlands, farms, factories and slums. The car had pulled up on the sidewalk to drive down an alleyway to the back of building, which had previously been used in the production of safes before the economy took a turn for the worse. They led Lorelai inside through a metal door at the back and in through the main warehouse where the machinery had been left to rust, leaving a marker of their presence in dust like leaving footprints in the snow. Lorelai was shepherded into a large room to the right, which had previously been used for quality control. The walls had been panelled with sheet-metal and there were areas divided off with blast-resistant glass. Four men had brought Lorelai into one of these glass rooms and the man that had spoken to her earlier, instructed her sit down on a chair that had been placed in the very centre of the room.

“Make yourself comfortable,” he said and he stepped back to align his back with the glass wall opposite Lorelai.

The man’s companions had drifted off to guard the perimeter and one stepped outside the door they’d came through so that he could make a phone call to his boss. As calculated and methodical as all this was, the men had neglected one vital part of the whole process: authorisation. When the head of the operation, Michelle Antonelli, made the phone call to his boss, Gino Valachi, he knew it was unlikely to score him brownie points in the man’s eyes, but he and his team had become tired with Gino’s slow approach. Their boss had technically given them authorisation to question those that appeared to have close connections with Levi, but this wasn’t what Gino had in mind. Kidnapping a young girl and scaring her into a confession was far too bold for what Gino was used to when it came to dealings with his own Family. Regardless of Michelle’s claims and justifications, Gino would not sanction the operation. As quickly as this had happened, it was put a stop to. Gino made his orders very clear and some minutes later, Michelle returned to the room in which they were holding Lorelai.

Michelle Antonelli was an average looking man in his late thirties. His thick black hair was swept over his head, opening up a broad forehead that gave his face length and seriousness. His black eyes viciously regarded Lorelai, not because he hated who she was, but because she stood as a testament to his broken plans. Gino Valachi, a man who had served as a friend to Michelle and not merely a superior, had suddenly treated him as a soldier, as a nobody, and it was all because of Levi. Michelle had been ordered to release Lorelai immediately, but releasing her wasn’t nearly close to what he had on his mind. He crossed the room in three long strides, grabbed a chunk of her blonde hair near the scalp to keep her restrained and then growled into her face.

“D’you wanna know why you’re here, bambina?” he asked – Italian grating harshly on his English. “It’s because you’re in with the wrong man!”

Michelle let her go then, with force, and stepped away from her. He looked around the room, at his men, his eyes alive with rage and adrenaline. They looked to him and then away again very quickly. Logically speaking, their combined force could have conquered Michelle quite easily, but in their world, a man’s power didn’t come from the size of his muscles. Since none of them were aware that Michelle was acting without the authority of his superior, they simply assumed that they were following the orders of their consiglieri, a man who was cosy with the don of Sicily. As uncomfortable as they might have been, they couldn’t bat an eyelash to what Michelle was doing. He put his hands on his hips, breathing out slowly as if to settle himself, but when the oxygen hit his lungs, it just seemed to stoke the fire. He turned back to Lorelai, laughing.

“I bet you don’t even know why you’re gonna die tonight…”

[Lorelai]

Her questions went unanswered and as she sat there in silence, her nerves building, she began to imagine that this was how the spirits felt when she ignored them. The feeling was rather more unpleasant than she would have imagined. There she was, alone, in need of answers and none came. To be alone with so many men too put her a little on edge, and she was a trusting soul.

As they arrived at their location, she looked about her. She wasn't entirely sure where she was but she took in what she could in case she had to call for Pru, which she would do if she was unable to talk her way out of whatever this situation was. So far, talking didn't seem to be something the men were interested in but she was ever the optimistic. If anyone in that car didn't want people getting hurt it was her and she knew that if she had to involve Pru that injuries, if not deaths, would be imminent.

Lorelai followed the men inside the building without incident, she was a strange young thing that didn't seem to have any idea as to the fate that awaited her. The blonde was obviously a little nervous of the men about her and it showed in her countenance and posture; she tried to hide herself behind her hair as best she could and her shoulders were slumped in defeat, even if she didn't understand what was going on about her.

As she was seated in the isolation booth, she folded her hands in her lap and waited to be told why she was there. As worried as she was, she listened as the man spoke. The walls may be thick and heavy but to a vampire, they weren't entirely soundproof; at least not to a vampire with her particular ability. She could see the signal as it bounced through the air and so she reached out and called it to her. The conversation was clearer in text than it would have been had she been using her other senses, mainly as the guys accent was different to that of anyone she knew. It was of course similar to Levi's, something she would only note after the phone call had been made, but it still wasn't the same.

As he gripped her hair and caused her to gasp with pain, she called out to Levi. She hadn't meant to, she didn't want to even, but her mind did have a tendency to do as it pleased when she was emotional.

Ow. That hurts. Who is he? What does he... Wrong man? What wrong man? He can't mean Levi? I don't know many... What? Die? I don't want to die. I can't die. Not anymore.

The man was laughing at her now and her watery blue eyes darted around the room and briefly connected with those of the other men. Were they really going to kill her just for knowing Levi?

You need to stick up for yourself.
I do.
No you don't. That guy just damn near ripped our hair out and you never said a word.
What should I have said?
Something like, you do that again and I'll tear your arm off.
Yes. Because I would really say and do something that hurtful.
He doesn't have to know you're a pacifist.
Oh. I guess not. But still. You know I don't have it inn me to say that.
Yes you do. I'm you and I just said it.
You didn't say it, you thought it.
Semantics.

"Why would you kill me?" she asked rather tentatively. "I haven't done anything to you and I have no idea who you are."

[Levi DAmico]

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

The metronomic sound carried through the office like the homogeneous white paint. Levi had sat for two minutes just listening to that sound, watching the steel balls of the Newton’s cradle transfer their energy from one end to the other. He was ignoring the paperwork held under his nose, and was sat back in his throne of a chair with his elbow up, his heavy head supported on his fist. Levi should have been reading the numbers, evaluating his business’ performance, but he couldn’t focus tonight. All those digits just blurred into a never-ending sequence of meaningless data making his eyes ache. He’d thought that having a physical copy in his hands might have eased the pain growing behind his eyes, but it hadn’t. In fact, it had done the opposite, and with no distractions from incoming emails and live data, which he regularly received when he was working from the laptop, he was free to become distracted and complacent.

As time lurched forward, a new sound accompanied that incessant clicking. Levi’s mobile phone whirred atop the desk, making it feel like his office had suddenly come under attack from a very hungry woodpecker. He reached for the phone, if for nothing else but to quell the buzzing, and gave the screen a glance in habit. The number was private – go figure – but Levi answered the call anyway. He wasn’t expecting the voice on the other end of the line and as calm as Gino’s voice always was, a phone call out of the blue like this was something to be alarmed about.

“D’Amico.”

There was a pause; Levi couldn’t control the tightening of his chest in that moment and being unable to breathe meant he was unable to talk. When the iron belt of his diaphragm did relax though, he answered just as sharply as he’d been spoken to.

“Yep.”

“Are you free to talk? It’s urgent.”

Well, if Gino Valachi said it was urgent, then it must have been; the man rarely called for pleasantries as it was.

“Shoot,” Levi said.

“There’s been a problem and I’m afraid it has spilled into your territory.”

Levi sighed heavily down the line. He understood the situation, that one had to be careful what they said over the phone – of course he understood it – but seeing as how Gino had said something was urgent, all this pussy-footing around the heart of the issue was just pissing him off. That one problem that was now, apparently, Levi’s problem, could have been any number of things. Were the authorities on their way? Was there some kind of rivalry issue? Had the Patriarca fucked up something royally so now the Sicilians were revoking rights? Just spit it out already!

“It has spilled into your personal territory,” Gino reiterated.

Levi sat up in his chair, eyes narrowing. He didn’t know what to think immediately, but he knew it was bad. He didn’t have a lot they could threaten, but what he did have was too precious to lose. “Where to?” he barked.

“I’ve sent the co-ordinates to your phone. Take company if you are going to deal with this yourself.”

“Anyone in particular that I need to watch out for?” Levi asked bluntly and the frankness of his words made Gino still. “Oi! Valachi.”

“We’ll discuss it later. I’ll arrive at your place of work in a matter of hours.”

“I—”

A sudden ringing in his ears made him stop. This wasn’t like the phone whirring away on his desk, but like a high-pitched scratch – like metal scraping against metal. He winced at the sound, the strange thudding feel of it drilling into his head like a familiar and equally strange sensation. And then, he heard her voice and the words attached to them and his heart immediately sank. Levi wanted to reply to Lorelai, but there was nothing he could do. His thoughts weren’t like hers; they couldn’t reach out across time and space and reflect their intensity into her mind. He couldn’t express how worried he was to her, but he couldn’t help but his express his anxiety to Gino. He didn’t know it immediately, but his voice was shaking as he spoke.

“That’s not ******* good enough. I’m leaving now.”

Levi was about to hang up, but Gino’s response came quickly, sounding somewhat desperate.

“Do not go alone, Levi.”

He considered the advice, understood the prominence of that advice, but Levi wouldn’t take it. He ended the call this time, quick to access his messages to discover those co-ordinates. If Lorelai was in danger and it was something to do with him, he had to check it out. It didn’t occur to him that this whole thing could have been a trap, and that a set of coincidental circumstances was making him run head-long and blindly into it. Levi would risk it to make sure she was ok and besides, he wasn’t as helpless as Gino and his Family seemed to think he was. Levi might not have been invincible, but he didn’t need to be. You don’t take something that doesn’t belong to you and you certainly don’t steal from a man who sees dying in a rain of bullets as a good way to go out. The Patriarca knew that about him, Gino Valachi knew that about him, and whoever it was that had taken Lorelai were about to find out the hard way.

The Beretta and BHP were stored as needed, but Levi wasn’t going to be bringing pistols alone to this firefight. He had two premium submachine guns, a rifle, a couple of sharpened blades and swords, which alone was one hell of an arsenal and his supernatural gifts hadn’t even been taken into account yet. He packed a duffle bag with what he needed, packing for a war. Head-strong instincts aside, it was better for everyone that Levi went in alone because if **** went south – as it most likely would – he didn’t want to have to clean up any eye-witnesses. He didn’t know who these people were, but Gino seemed to and without saying it, he’d said that these men weren’t your average Joe. Chances were that these were made men and the rules around that were clear: you don’t kill a made man without permission of the Mafioso higher up in the organization. Doing so is a cardinal sin normally met with severe retaliation – usually death. It didn’t matter if that man had pissed you off or he’d broken one of the other cardinal rules, if he was a part of Cosa Nostra, he was untouchable. Gino could have given Levi permission, but without the words themselves, Levi was walking into a blatant act of treachery. Still, he couldn’t wait for Gino to come to him and sanction the order; Lorelai was in danger and he had to fix that.

The co-ordinates that Levi had been given were put into a separate GPS device – you never use one device for everything when you’re looking to avoid leaving trails. It turned out that where he needed to be wasn’t that far from where he was now. Barzetti and Caro could have given him a ride, getting him there in minutes, but he didn’t want them knowing what was about to go down. They could be trusted to keep their mouths shut, maybe, and maybe wasn’t good enough; his worlds had mixed too much as it was, melding into muddy daze. Besides, it would have been more unusual for him to request their assistance seeing as how he was very strict about handling his business alone. Levi didn’t have Celerity to speed him across the city, but adrenaline worked just as well. He knew the area sufficiently enough to take the small side-streets, and to jog across rivers and streams to cut down on various deviations. Still, by the time he’d reached the run-down buildings designating Newborough from Stag Heath, he was running low on breath and patience.

Following the directions of the GPS, Levi approached the large rectangular building through a broken fence and followed the side of it up to a projection of small sheds. The ground was uneven and crunched beneath his feet, transforming from a spongy mattress of grass to a brittle scattering of rocks and metal. Levi came to a stop beside a section of boarded-up windows and put his ear to the wall, waiting. There was what sounded like the rattling of chains within, but it was perhaps too consistent and quiet to be caused by any person. He could make out a dull rumble that could have been a voice, and when a similar rumble layered itself over the other, Levi had it confirmed in his mind that there were at least two people inside. He made his way further around the building, slipping quietly against the contour of the wall, which was just as well because a quick peer around the corner revealed the car with two men outside. They were smoking and talking to one another in Italian. Levi didn’t recognize them, but that didn’t matter. He had three options: kill, disable or sneak around, either way he readied the Beretta, screwing on the silencer.

Sometimes you can just have too much choice, which makes it harder to decide what you want to do. In those instances, it is better to go with your gut and accept the fall-out. Ultimately, these two men were obstacles that needed to be bypassed so when Levi stepped out from his cover, calling Pronto to steal their attention, he immediately shot for their joints. Several bullets punctured their knees and arms and they fell to the ground like suspended marionettes. It had happened so quickly and so quietly that the pain rocketing to their brains overloaded their senses, creating a long pause between the muffled shots and agonizing screams. In that time, Levi had stepped over them and to the door toward his next targets. There wasn’t much time to waste; the people within the building could have heard the shots, and if not, they would have heard the screams. Levi had no way of knowing how many men, and of what caliber, were about to pour out so before that could happen, he had to make his way inside and find a point of ‘higher ground’ as it were.

From there he could squirrel away his back-up plan: the duffle bag with the swords, the rifle and one SMG. The more reliant SMG of the pair was thrown over his shoulder; he wasn’t going in with a pair of pistols and his good looks alone. He scouted the main warehouse area, spotting the footprints which led from one door to another with no deviation. You didn’t have to be a good tracker to figure out that if footprints went from A to B and since people generally lacked the ability to fly, the chances were pretty good that these people were currently at location B. He needed ground from which to watch this door, but somewhere out of immediate sight and firing lines. He found a good spot behind a piece of machinery; since the door to location B opened inward, he could easily have access to them before they knew he’d hit. From this position, Levi could also study his adversaries and decide whether putting these poor sods out of their misery quickly was a good idea or if he should drag things out, maybe taking the safer option. Decisions, decisions…

Meanwhile, Michelle and his remaining four men were on high alert inside the quality control room, which felt remarkably cramped all of a sudden. The man behind the door looked nervous, but he had every right to be. His gun was drawn, he was alert and ready to fire, but in the end, getting in a good shot came down to speed and a bit of luck. Michelle gave a look to the man who was at the opposite end of the room, a look which quickly encouraged him to get into the position of counter fire should the man at the door be taken out. Michelle, and his mouthy companion, were subsequently left inside the room of shatterproof glass with Lorelai, which might have served as some protection in the event of bullet fire seeing as how it had been designed to withstand small blasts. They didn’t regard her as a threat because she was just a woman; some pretty blonde thing that looked no more dangerous than a hamster. Even with the unknown circumstances circling around him, Michelle felt as confident as he had done before when interrogating Lorelai.

Michelle hadn’t hit her, hadn’t laid a hand on her in fact, but his words were like lashings as he’d defaced the man he’d felt she was trying to protect. This was no longer an operation of information retrieval, but a personal feud between dangerous men with a loved one caught in the middle. Levi wasn’t a popular man by any stretch of the imagination, but he was a good ally. His talents and smarts were recognised – regardless of how much he tried to suppress them – and it kept him safe. It was pretty simple really, if a guy makes you money, it doesn’t matter how much of an arse he is because he’s making you money. The Cosa Nostra spoke the language of money fluently and it didn’t show good business sense to shoot the people who spoke the language the best. As it happened, however, Michelle didn’t need business sense anymore; he knew the options that were left for him. It could have only been one man responsible for the shots fired against his men, meaning that he’d been hung out to dry by his own superior. Regardless of whether the authorisation had been given, Michelle was a dead man walking.

The inevitability of death did different things to different people. Most would deny the very possibility of their mortality, living an ordinary life with a deep fear eating away at them, a fear that would only come to the surface with extreme circumstances. Others might realise their mortality sooner and hope to leave a legacy behind. Some people might choose to wallow in misery with ubiquitous enquiring, asking ‘why now’ or ‘why me’ or ‘what’s the point of life’. This just left the remaining few who accepted the inevitability of their deaths and simply shrugged their shoulders. For them, they hadn’t just come upon the notion haphazardly, and had likely been born realising that within their world, they were going to die someday – any day. Malavita bred a culture which was ripe for individuals to look upon the realities of death and shrug their shoulders. That didn’t mean they were suicidal exactly, but there was no fear to hold you back from taking a risky strategy. When you gamble, you win or you lose. For Michelle, the dice were still in the air.

[Lorelai]

Lorelai was about to be interrogated for the first time in her life and while most people might have needed to be threatened to get answers, Lorelai wasn't one of them. She was a sweet girl that wanted to please people and while of course there were things she wouldn't want to talk about and would keep secret, she was also the type to be honest and open. Talking about herself wasn't something she was particularly comfortable with though and not because she was secretive, as we've already established that she isn't, but rather because she didn't think herself to be a very interesting or worthy subject of conversation.

Her name was something she'd of given the man freely, but the question confused her. Surely they knew who she was if they'd taken her? Why was she expected to answer their questions, when no-one would answer hers? But what had her mind spinning the most, was the manner in which the man spoke to her. Before now, she had no idea that someone could sound threatening while asking for something as simple as a name.

Someone needs to tell this guy you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
I know. He's rather rude.
That's putting it politely.

"Who are you?" he barked at her again. She wasn't ignoring the question, she was just lost within her own mind.
"Lorelai. Lorelai Lee."
"No, bambina. I don't mean your name. Who are you?"
"Me? I'm... I'm no-one."

He didn't seem impressed with that answer but it was all she could say, over and over until he moved on to the next question. Lorelai was self-debasing by nature and she truly believed that she was no-one, no-one special at least; she was just a young woman from a small, self-contained community.

"How do you know Levi?"

Whatever you do, don't say you're related.
I'm not stupid.
You could have fooled me.

"He saved me." The reply elicited a laugh from the gruff Italian, as he obviously didn't believe her. "He did. He found me in an alleyway. I was distraught. He walked me home."

Good girl. Nothing like the truth to hide a lie. Or rather a lie of omission in this case.

The guy scoffed; he obviously didn't believe that Levi was capable of a random act of kindness.

"********. Levi looks out for Levi and no-one else. You're a fool if you think he really cares about you."

"You're wrong. Levi does care about me. He visits me almost every day to make sure that I'm eating properly."

Her inner conscience groaned. She'd made herself like someone that needed to be taken care of. Someone weak. This wasn't what she was supposed to be doing. And while it was true, in a sort of twisted fashion, it wasn't something that should have been vocalised.

"Right. And I'm sure he's not getting anything out of these "visits". Come on... you can tell me, just how long 'a you two been *******?"

Lorelai's nose crinkled. It was none of his business if they were sleeping together or not, even if it was something she might have wanted. She wasn't a whore; though her conscience told her she acted like one at times. It was one of those things she'd scolded herself about on both ends of the spectrum. Sometimes she thought herself too forward and other times she thought herself not forward enough. Growing up the way she did and with the people she did, she'd never really had to master the fine art of seduction.

"It's not... We're not... He's not... He doesn't want me like that. He's been quite clear about that."

Lorelai watched as Michelle absorbed that piece of information. It didn't seem to matter what she said, he was determined to draw his own conclusions. She had assumed that he wanted the truth, but he seemed far happier with his own pre-conceived lies. It was a shame really that Lorelai was the way she was. A feistier woman might have tried to take the power from Michelle, try and scare him. She could have told him that she and Levi were lovers and that he would come for her. She could have emphasised his hidden strength and skills and spoken with such confidence and such certainty that Michelle might have doubted himself. But she wasn't that type and she didn't say those things. She looked like a sweet little farm girl that had just stepped off the bus and was experiencing the city for the first time because that, was exactly who and what she was.

"Yeah. He's a ******* saint… Un santo that puts bullets in peoples’ heads! He ain’t no ******* santo, bambina. He’s a monster."
"No." She shook her head lightly, her long hair shuddering on her shoulders. "He's not. He's a good man. He's never been anything but kind to me."
Michelle laughed. "I think you and I know two very different people, but now I'm curious... just what is it exactly that you think he does for a living?"
"I... Hmm... I don't know. I know he's a businessman and that he works long hours. He's always busy."
"Right... So I'm guessing you don't know who he works for."

Lorelai shook her head. She was getting the feeling that she should be asking more questions, and not for the first time in recent memory. When she'd met Levi he asked questions about Pru's other childer and besides Ana, Lorelai had no idea who they were. Mordechai had since filled in some of the blanks but the names didn't have faces to accompany them.

You're too trusting, that's your problem.
I am not.
Please.
Okay. Maybe I am but I’d rather be too trusting, than too suspicious.
And you wonder how we end up in situations like this.

"You're not giving me much to work with here, bambina."

Michelle snarled the words at her, obviously getting frustrated. They'd been working under the assumption that Lorelai meant something to Levi and yet she didn't seem to be able to answer the most basic of questions about him.

"Who are his friends? I need names, Signorina. Who does he talk to?"
"Me. I'm his friend."
Michelle rolled his eyes. "Besides you."
"I don't know. I've never met any of his friends."

Something changed in his eyes as he looked at her, but Lorelai couldn't tell what the look meant. It wasn't anything good, she understood that much. If he was hoping to break her that look wasn't going to do it, not that any of her answers would change if circumstances were any different.

"I'm going to do you a favour, Signorina. I'm going to open your eyes and tell you just what kind of man you are protecting..." These words signalled to Lorelai that he thought she was lying, which she was not. "Levi is a thief and a liar. Whatever he's told you, whatever he's made you believe, it's not true. Not a word of it. Someone like him doesn't know how to be honest. He's too busy hiding what he is. Levi is a low life criminal, a smuggler. When I said he was a monster..." He leaned in, his eyes never leaving hers. "I meant it. You name it and he's done it, and he's done it all with a smile. Drugs, people, weapons; you want it, he'll get it. He doesn't care who he hurts and I'm telling you now that he's only using you. What for, I dunno. But as soon as you're no longer of any use to him, he'll cast you aside like he does everyone else." He laughed and then looked at her with an intensity that made her uncomfortable.

Gunfire could be heard elsewhere in the building and it startled Lorelai. Violence wasn't something she was comfortable with and she'd more than her fair share of it in her short time in the city. She had no idea who, or what, was outside. No-one could be there for her, of that much she was certain as she hadn't reached out to anyone. There was the possibility that someone or something had been watching her. Perhaps Pru kept an eye on her somehow?

You wish it was her.
I do. What's wrong with that? She's confident and brave.
Unlike you.
Yes... Unlike me.

All eyes seemed to be on the door, something or someone was coming and they were preparing themselves to fight. Lorelai felt the overwhelming need to close her eyes and pretend she wasn't there, but something deep inside of her just wouldn't allow it. She plucked randomly at some of the information in the air looking for anything that might be familiar but found nothing of any use and she was particularly disappointed to discover that there were no live security feeds. When her power first developed it wouldn't have done her much good even if she had, but slowly, her power seemed to be growing and now, on occasion, she could actually visualise the information within her mind as if she were looking at a computer screen. Of course that took more concentration and most of the time it wasn't necessary. Abandoning that idea, she quickly realised that she needed to protect herself before this fight came to her. While she was happy to stay out of the way if she could, she knew that was almost impossible given the fact that she was in some sort of square fishbowl.

I can't do anything.
You can't?
No. I'm already protected.
But you can predict people's movements.
I can?
You can. You're just not very good at it.

Lorelai sighed, she didn't want to have to defend herself but then there was nothing to say that she had to yet. Without knowing the reason for the gun play, she couldn't know what to expect. She just knew she had to be ready. While she didn't like her one offensive power, she would use it if she had to. It was another latent skill she barely used and never practiced, but if she had to she knew she'd be able to overwhelm the minds of the men around her and give herself the chance to escape.

Just be ready Lorelai.

[Levi DAmico]

Levi waited; his eyes were trained on the door through the sight of the rifle. He figured he would have a good chance of picking off the first man to come bravely through the door and then he’d pick off the men that came next. His reflexes were sharp, his body tense and wired, ready to fire at a moment’s notice – albeit with restraint. Disabling these men was better than killing them and if they were ballsy enough to try and use Lorelai as a shield, he had to be prepared for that. The last thing Levi wanted to do was hurt her, even if it would have made logical sense to shoot through her to get her captors. Technically she’d survive, not be much worse off than before, but if he’d missed something, who knows. He didn’t want and couldn’t allow any risk of harm to come her way, and since all of this mess was really his fault, he had to do everything in his power to minimize her trauma and injury. If he didn’t, at the very least, his life would end. Prudence would murder him and when he came back, she would probably murder him again. Self-preservation was high on his list of priorities, but something more basic was fuelling his adrenaline tonight.

After a long, anxious minute of staring vainly through the sight of the rifle, Levi decided to opt for another plan. While he was waiting, they could have been working on their escape, rigging the place to blow with him and Lorelai still inside. It was something he would have done if he was in their position. Levi hated all this stillness and it wasn’t something he would ordinarily pursue; stealth was important in assault missions – there were times where you had to be patient and let the enemy wander into a trap – but this wasn’t a typical assault mission. Come to think about it, he’d never tried to achieve something like this before; he’d never had something that was too precious to lose. And he obviously didn’t believe that Lorelai was capable of handling this situation by herself, not to mention the fact that he regarded her much like high-value property rather than a person. Those thoughts weren’t immediately made clear to him, swimming deep in his subconscious, and they probably wouldn’t have come to the surface without some major prodding. Levi’s immediate thoughts were, after all, focused on preparing a plan B, tucking the rifle back into the duffle bag as he did so.

Again, logic told him that shooting through the door and through the walls would have been a simple tactic to subduing hidden targets, but he couldn’t listen to that. What if he hit Lorelai with a stray bullet?

So what if he did? Logic countered. Lorelai was Vampiri… she would survive.

Levi shook off the reasoning. He wasn’t having this deliberation again. That wasn’t going to happen.

Unsatisfied with his dogged rejection though, logic pursued the point. If Levi wasn’t willing to put Lorelai at risk, did that mean he was willing to risk himself? For the only way he was getting in that room, the only way he was getting to Lorelai, was to walk through that door and through a shower of bullets. And how was that going to help her?

Using logic’s reasoning against itself – regardless of how much he knew it would hurt – Levi pointed out that he was Vampiri… he would survive.

There was probably other ways around the problem, ways that wouldn’t cost him blood and pain, but Levi didn’t have the time to consider them. Readying the SMG from over his shoulder, he stepped out from behind the machinery and approached the door with gritted teeth. With one hand he shoved the door open, the force sending the door crashing off the wall to pull loose from its hinges. The man just inside the door jolted despite his preparedness and his hesitation cost him a string of bullets to his thigh and shoulder. With the first man down, Levi was left open to the immediate, convulsive bursts of counter fire.

There wasn’t any pain beyond the flashes of light – that surprised Levi. He’d been shot before and remembered what that felt like. He didn’t feel any pain, but he’d felt the bullets stagger through his chest and abdomen. He wasn’t sure if he’d been hit in the spine, if was he paralyzed, if he was even alive, but that didn’t seem to matter to the Italian. Umber eyes narrowed into points, looking to the man who’d shot him, but not really seeing him. Levi just reacted to the need to destroy and emptied half a magazine into the Mafioso. When the man went down in a red mist, a strange new serenity established itself and in the midst of that, Levi noticed Lorelai behind two men, locked inside a glass square.

“D’Amico,” Michelle said with a grin. “Fancy seeing you here.”

The man was laughing. Actually laughing. He must have thought he was pretty safe behind that barrier as if the beast was locked outside the cage rather than within it. With his eyes still hollow and his body still humming with the need to destroy, Levi kept his gaze and his gun fixed on Michelle, and strode closer to the glass.

“Come any closer and we slit her throat,” Michelle warned.

As he did, his underling hurried over to Lorelai, taking a knife out in the process. Only at that point did Levi’s focus shift. He stopped in his tracks, but he didn’t look defeated. His face was cruel, features harsh and animalistic amidst a shock of dark hair. His umber eyes burned with ambition, hate and rage, projecting onto the underling who began to threaten Lorelai with the pathetic blade in his quivering hand. Mafioso weren’t supposed to quiver like that. Then again, they weren’t really supposed to threaten each other’s loved ones either… or maybe that courtesy only extended to wives and family members. As far as these men were concerned, Lorelai was just some whore that Levi visited each day, so, technically they could do whatever they wanted to her. It was a bold, bullish move and definitely disrespectful, but they would get off with less than a slap if it was brought before The Commission. What Levi had done in retaliation, however, was obviously going to get a worse punishment, but there was no point crying over spilt milk; he’d clean that up later.

“That’s better,” Michelle murmured, capturing the full front of that angry gaze again. “So, did the boss send ya? Is that why you got here so quickly? Hmm?”

Levi didn’t need to answer him and whatever the reason behind this man’s posturing, Levi felt like it was merely an effort to waste time. His body still vibrated with rage, blinding him to the pain somewhat, but as time went on it seemed to strip him of this defense. Levi didn’t know how badly he was injured, but he could feel the electricity aching its way around the bullet holes in the left of his chest, toward the shoulder, and down his front toward his abdomen. He didn’t know if he was losing blood because his whole body felt like it was burning and besides, black clothing didn’t reveal black blood.

“You don’t wanna talk?” Michelle asked, raising a brow. “See, that’s the problem with you, D’Amico. It’s because you don’t talk is why we had to come here and talk to your puttana instead.” He paused for retort, but Levi didn’t give one. “And we told her a lot about you by the way. Seems you cannot even be honest even with your own fidanzata…”

“You need to cut the crap,” Levi said sharply.

“So he does speak! Miracolo!”

Levi let go of a heavy breath, the sound grating past gritted teeth.

“So tell me, D’Amico, why are we here? Why are you hiding things?” Michelle waved his hands around as he spoke, gesturing at the situation rather than the box they were in.

“We’re here because you’re a ******* idiot,” Levi growled. “And the only reason I haven’t killed you yet is because you’re hiding behind a woman.”

Michelle began to laugh again. “You think you can piss me off, giovanotto? Think you can bait me?” At that point he took out his piece – a colt pistol – nothing flashy. “I’m not hiding behind your woman. I’m using your weakness against you, minchia. Go on ahead and open that door and we’ll see who’s hiding behind what.”

Michelle began aiming the pistol at Levi’s head then, but his stance was lazy and cocky. One quick movement and Levi could have dodged the shot and in one more, he could have snapped Michelle’s neck. Given his injuries, however, it remained to be seen whether he was capable of those quick movements. And besides, there was still that chance that they would hurt Lorelai if he made a move. The proverbial rock and hard place squeezed against him – what now, wise guy?

[Lorelai]

Had she been human her heart would have caught in her throat as the door flew open and the hinges buckled with the force of the action. Even if she'd been unable to see who it was that was coming in, of one thing she could have been certain, they were no mere human. Levi was standing in the doorway and as he began to fire she could do nothing more than close her eyes.

What are you doing?
I can't watch.
Why not? It's not like they're going to kill him.
I know.
Then what's the... Oh...

The problem was obvious. Violence. Lorelai was not a fan of violence and believed that there was always an alternative. Aside from this, as she had witnessed more than few violent encounters in the city, she didn't want to witness someone she cared about hurting other people. To Lorelai life was precious, all life, and while she had come to accept that she had to respect that, very few other people felt as she did.

She hadn't seen the bullets that hit Levi, not with eyes closed tight, else she might have felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. He was here for her, he had to be, there was no other reason for his presence other than that. But how did he know where she was? How did he find her? She hadn't told him, she was certain of that, and yet here he was. Was this a trap? Was she the bait? Was the interrogation just some sick game these guys were playing while they waited for Levi to arrive?

Open your eyes.
No!
You have to!

She didn't know why she had to but she did. They fluttered open and her eyes quickly noted that Levi was still standing but the other man in the room, the one that had not be disabled the moment the door opened, was lying dead on the floor. She knew he was dead for two reasons; firstly, he had no aura and secondly, and probably more obvious, his spirit was now standing next to his corpse. Lorelai blinked. She'd never seen one freshly emerged like this before. He must have been ready to move on though, as he quickly disappeared. This was something for which she could be thankful though, as it meant she wouldn't need to help one of the men that had kidnapped her; not that she would have let that stop her.

Levi looked different, scary even and Lorelai didn't like it. She could understand that he might be upset or worried for her, especially since one of the men had moved to put a knife at her throat, and yet still she didn't want to see him that way. This was not the Levi she knew, which made her wonder if any of what Michelle had told, was correct. Was Levi a monster? Lorelai couldn't believe it, and so in the very moment that she thought it, she dismissed it. She still believed that Levi was a good man, even if he had just taken a life.

When the gunfire stopped, Levi and Michelle began to banter back and forth, though the mouthy Italian did the majority of the talking and the timid blonde began to wonder what was going on. She was clearly here because of her connection to Levi and they clearly wanted to hurt her to send a message to him and yet she couldn't figure out why they would target her of all people. She cared for Levi, quite deeply in fact, and yet Levi had shown no interest in her. Now, with him standing before them perhaps they'd realise this fact, as nothing in his words indicated that he had any claim on her at all. Michelle referred to her as "your woman" meaning that she belonged to Levi but Levi had said "a woman". For the life of her she couldn't figure out why they thought she meant anything to Levi, not when Levi himself was so sure that there was nothing more than friendship between them, and he hadn't even really admitted that.

Pushing her confusion aside, for now, she decided to reach out with her mind; Levi? Don't hurt them. Not for me. I can not die. Even if they kill me, I'll return. If you kill them... they are gone forever, and you can not take that back.

The thought of Levi storming through the door and emptying what was left of his magazine into Michelle entered her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut wishing it would go away, but it didn't. The image in her mind was so strong, and so clear, that it seemed to step out of her thoughts and play itself out. This wasn't a power that Lorelai was aware she had and if she knew she was capable of it, she might have tried to control her fear more readily, but she didn't, so she couldn't. The illusion, real as it was to him, caused Michelle to stagger back a little as he reacted to imaginary bullets as they struck his chest. It was his movement that had Lorelai opening her eyes again and she was just in time to see image of her favoured friend fade away. She blinked, unsure of what it was exactly that had just happened.

The man standing next to her had not seen the harmful illusion that Lorelai had conjured up, that was for her to imagine and for Michelle to see, and yet he did see Michelle reacting to the nothing. An educated man, one that was used to this kind of brutal combat, might have been able to guess at what could cause the body to move and convulse in such a way, but it was yet to be established if the man at her side was in fact an educated man, the trembling of his hand would suggest that was not. Michelle's sudden and unexplained movement had caused the unsteady hands, and therefore the knife in them, to jerk, which caused the blade to nick the flesh of her slender neck, which in turn caused her to gasp. The noise was soft, but audible, and then she was silent. The small wound stung but she paid no attention to it, not even when she felt her blood begin to trickle down her skin. Her attention was on Levi and whatever it was that he was going to do next.