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phantismaFandom: Leverage (Vamp!Nate verse)
Title: The Sky Rains Red, Part Three (Part One & Part Two)
Pairings/Characters: Nate/Eliot, Parker, Sophie, Hardison, Ryna (OFC)
Rating: NC-17 (for violence)
Word Count: 2606
Summary: Follows Close the Door, Pull the Shades and I'll Find A Way. Eliot may have found a way to save Nate, but the cure itself might still kill the vampire. Hardison and Sophie discover that getting Nate through this may not be the only challenge they have to face.
A/Ns & Summary: Third chapter of at least four. Bondage of a sort. Upset little girl.
Eliot is there. Nate can feel him, smell him. He's aware enough to recognize the scent, but that's about the end of his conscious thought.
He wants to feed, needs it. His stomach roils with the need, his body thrashes with the animal desire, wild, shaking, craving.
Eliot shifts in the shadows, circling just out of reach. Nate can hear himself growling...low, in the back of his throat, can taste the leather that keeps him from even biting his own lips for some taste of what he needs.
He's starving. Eliot is killing him. Starving him slow.
Hunger burns inside him and the only thing keeping him from tearing Eliot into bloody ribbons he can lick clean is the way his arms are bound, the way he's held off the floor.
Eliot is there. Nate can feel him, smell him. And then, Eliot is gone.
"I'm not arguing with you." Sophie says without preamble, handing him a thermos. She pulls the vault door shut and locks it, locking Nate inside. "It's tea not coffee, just to warm you up. Hardison is out front. He's taking you home where there is a meal waiting for you and you will eat it. You will sleep for more than four hours and you will spend some time with your daughter. You're not coming back here until you've done all of those things."
There's some small part of him that wants to argue, but he's too tired, too wrung out. "Don't go in." His voice cracks, his throat dry and he has to wonder how long it's been since he's spoken in more than a broken whisper in Nate's ear after he's gotten more of the drugs and is calm for a while.
It's the only time Eliot can see Nate inside the monster he's become.
Her hand catches him, pulls his hair aside so she can see the bruising on his face. "He do that?"
Eliot nods, turning his head to crack his neck. "Last time I sedated him, he got a foot up before I got clear." He hugs the thermos to him, the warmth comforting somehow.
"Go on. I'll be here."
He leaves her there, leaves Nate there, lost inside himself, inside the drug induced madness that they may never get him back from. Hardison raises a hand in greeting, but knows better than to say anything. Eliot slips into the car beside him, opening the thermos to sip at the tea. The vault was icy cold and the heat just leeched out of him whenever he saw Nate anyway.
Ryna is waiting for him when he walks in the door, little fists on her hips, an eyebrow raised as she looks at him, then pointedly at the door to the dining room. He doesn't argue, just shuffles in, suddenly exhausted. Parker is just finishing up putting a plate on the table for him.
"Sit." Ryna says, taking the glass of milk from Parker and putting it by his plate.
"Yes, ma'am." Eliot says seriously, sliding into the chair. It's simple enough food, a burger and fries, and some fruit. His stomach rumbles as if the sight of food is all he needed to realize he was hungry.
"I got him, Parker, you can go." Ryna says, though her eyes never leave Eliot's face.
"I'll be in the guest room. Call me if he gives you any trouble." Parker's eyes sparkle and Ryna reaches out with her hand, grabbing Eliot's chin and turning his face.
Her eyes narrow. "Oh, he won't give me any trouble. Right?"
Eliot inhales. "You have my word."
Parker nods and leaves the room and Eliot lifts his burger. "Ain't you eatin'?" His southern twang is always worse when he was tired, and good god, but he is.
"Ate before, so I could keep an eye on you." Ryna responds. And she does. She sits and watches him. It makes him twitch a little.
"Trying to eat, Ryna." Eliot murmurs after a while and she sighs.
"Yeah, weird isn't it? Having someone watch you do stuff?"
He feels her eyes drop and swallows his burger. He decides to change the subject. "So, how are things at school?"
She sits back then, crossing her arms in a huff. "Fine."
"Ryna." He shakes two fries at her before stuffing them in his mouth. "Truth."
"It sucks. I hate wearing skirts and the boys are stupid and they want me to play some stupid game where you can't touch the ball with your hands."
"Soccer?"
She rolls her eyes and Eliot can't help but chuckle a little. His daughter and team sports were never going to be a smooth, happy fit. "It's stupid. I don't like it."
"Well, just do the best you can and don't hit anyone, it'll be over soon enough, then you'll learn a different sport."
"Hockey?" She perks up, her eyes sparkling. "Can I learn hockey?"
Okay, so maybe team sports would be okay, as long as they were violent enough. "Well, I don't know if the school has hockey, honey, but if that's what you want, I'm sure we could find you something."
"Old Man Caffee's son played hockey. He used to take us to this big rink in the city sometimes and we got to watch."
"Okay, so we'll see about hockey when things quiet down a little, okay?" Eliot lifts his glass and drains about half the milk. "How about the cat? How's he?"
She smiles then. "He's good, getting big already. He likes sleeping in my shoes."
They are quiet as Eliot finishes his food and when he's done, she jumps off the chair to take his hand. "Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"I'm putting you to bed." She pulls until he's shuffling along behind her, down the hall to her room where her bed is neatly made up with blue sheets and folded down. Merlin's asleep in the middle of the bed, and Ryna move's him, cuddling him to her before she does the thing where she looks at him and then the bed, like he's supposed to know that it's an order. "Come on, you're exhausted and you need to sleep."
"Ryna, I have my own bed."
She stomps her foot, then seems to get a hold of herself. "I want to keep an eye on you. Please." The last word is just a little plaintive and Eliot gives in, sitting on the bed and letting her pull his boots off. She stumbles back and waves a hand in front of her face. "Seriously? When was the last time you showered?"
Eliot snorts and lets her push him back on the bed. "When you wake up, you're showering and making me breakfast."
"Okay." Now that he's laying down, he can feel the fatigue pulling at him. He yawns into his fist as Ryna pulls the blankets up over him. She kisses his forehead, then crawls up on the bed next to him, laying down with her face just inches from his. He's drifting toward sleep when he hears here clear her throat.
"Eliot?"
He manages to get his eyes open. "What?"
"Is Nate gonna be okay?"
Eliot's eyes are heavy and he blinks, trying to stay awake enough to answer her. "I don't know, Ryna."
"Are you?"
Eliot tries to reassure her, but four days with next to no sleep was too much, even for him.
He wakes before the sun is up, a little disoriented and uncertain of where he is until he realizes that Ryna is curled up in his arms and Merlin is curled up in hers. Eliot takes his time extricating himself, savoring the warm feeling of his daughter's body in his arms.
He can smell himself, days of grime and sweat and worry staining his skin. He stumbles through the dark house to his own bedroom and into the bathroom. The hot water of the shower is maybe the best thing he's felt in days. He stands under the stream until the water has started to run cold, then briskly washes his hair and rinses clean.
Hardison is at the kitchen table with his laptop when Eliot is dressed and ready to make coffee. "Sophie's sleeping, Parker's at the building keeping an eye on our boy. Coffee's hot."
Eliot grunts as he heads for the pot. "How long you been here?"
"Couple hours." His fingers flew on the keyboard and he made a frustrated noise. "Damn."
"What?" Eliot tugs a chair closer with his foot, straddling the chair and cradling his coffee cup.
"I been tracing this drug. It doesn't make sense, the way it's popping up." Hardison sits back and sips off his cup of coffee. "Look." He turns the computer to face Eliot. "The red is confirmed cases, the white suspected."
"Pretty concentrated." Eliot points to one cluster of red. "Where's this?"
"The neighborhood where you found Nate. This here?" Hardison's finger circles a cluster of mixed red and white. "Is upscale, first sightings of the drug were here. It's pretty expensive to make."
"So, what's it doing in a neighborhood where no one has any money?"
"Good question."
"Better question. How'd it get into the blood Nate got from the blood bank over here?" Eliot points to the area on the map where the blood bank was, miles away from any reported clusters of the drug.
"Answer that, and maybe we figure out who did it."
"So we're thinking someone did this deliberately?"
Both Hardison and Eliot look up to find Sophie in the doorway, wrapped in a silk robe, her hair askew, her arms wrapped around herself.
"It's starting to look that way." She shuffles in toward the coffee. "You sleep?"
"Yeah, you?" Eliot asks, because she doesn't really look like she has.
"Not really." Her hands hold the mug of coffee close to her face as she moves to the table. "I can't imagine who would do this, or why."
"It has to be someone who knows what Nate is, and where he gets his supply." Hardison says thoughtfully, stroking his chin.
"But what does anyone gain from turning Nate into…" Eliot gestures lamely. "…what he is?"
"Maybe Nate is nothing more than the weapon." Sophie says, her eyes narrowing.
"What?" Eliot turns to her.
"Well, you have to admit, he makes a pretty good killing machine. A vampire, hyped up on this drug, no moral compass, hungry…the more he feeds the stronger the drug gets, the hungrier he is." Her voice trails off, her face unreadable.
"Still, what's the point?" Eliot drains his coffee and stands, going back for more. "Why concentrate the drug there? Why dope Nate? It just doesn't make any sense."
"Yet." Hardison counters, pulling his computer back to him. "I got an idea. Give me a few hours."
"Okay, so no hitting, kicking or name calling." Eliot says with a smirk as they sit outside the school in his truck.
Ryna rolls her eyes. "Whatever. You will be home for dinner, right?"
Eliot leans in to kiss her cheek. "Promise."
Her hand is on the door for a second before she pulls it back and looks up at him. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Anything."
She nods and doesn't ask right away, looking like she's sorting through information in her head, trying to think of the best way to ask. "Is Nate a vampire?"
Eliot blinks and sits back, staring at her with his mouth slightly open. He'd been prepared for nearly anything, but not that. "I…uh…what?"
Ryna folds her hands in her lap and gives him a patronizing look. "I'm eight, not a moron, Eliot. I have ears, and eyes. I see the blood in the fridge, I see the marks on your neck, I hear you guys talking."
Of course she's not a moron. Eliot just never expected her to put the pieces together. He wants to tell her no, wants to tell her that vampires aren't real, that she's safe, that everything is going to be fine. But he doesn't want to lie either. Slowly he nods. "Yeah, Ryna. He is."
"Did he kill those people?"
He can feel her eyes on him as he scrubs a hand over his face. "Yeah, he did. He's sick though, someone put drugs in his food, and it made him forget who he is."
"But he's going to remember, right?"
"I hope so, honey."
"Do you love him?"
Eliot exhaled loudly. "What? You're going to be late."
Ryna snickered as she opened the door, then leaned across the seat to kiss his cheek. "Nana Miller always said that love could fix anything. That's all. If you love him and he loves you, he'll get better and he'll come home and we can be a family."
Eliot waited until she was inside before he pulled away from the curb. If only it was as easy as she made it sound. Even if they got Nate through this, even if they were doing the right thing and he lived…there was no telling whether or not he'd ever be okay, if he could live with himself, trust himself to be around them again.
And that didn't even begin to touch the real problem. Somewhere out there was someone who knew Nate's secret. Someone who knew how to exploit it for reasons that so far remained a mystery.
"Can you hear me?"
Eliot.
"Nate...I mean..."
Eliot's hand is on his chest. It's the first time anyone has touched him since they caught him. Even when they drug him, it's without touching. His hand is hot and it wakens the hunger.
"We're almost there, Nate...just a little longer, okay?"
Nate knows his fangs are biting into his lip, knows his body is starving for blood...blood that's right there. He only has to take it...but he's weak...so very weak and Eliot...Eliot's scared. He can hear it in his voice.
"Eliot?" His voice sounds broken.
Eliot's hand presses against him, heat. Connection. "Just a little longer, I promise."
His thoughts are sluggish, but he slowly recognizes that they're his thoughts. Eliot. Ryna. The team. There's still hunger. Need. Desire. But the rage is gone, or tucked away.
Pain registers. His arms and shoulders heavy, pulling. His back sore. The cold seeps into him and Eliot's hand, the heat of his body is too far away. "Eliot. Hurts."
His eyes open and the room is dark, but Eliot is near, he can feel him.
"I can sedate you." Eliot says softly.
"No." He's been under so long. "Cold." Behind him. Eliot's arms wrap around Nate from behind, pulling their bodies together.
"Better?"
He shivers, but nods. It's better. He can feel Eliot's heart beating. He closes his eyes against the spike of need inside him. "Hungry."
"I know." Eliot's voice whispers over his skin. "Soon, I promise."
His teeth chatter, the hunger inside him cold and insistent. He knows it's been days, longer since he last felt warm blood flow down his throat. He remembers a girl…young, blond hair and blue eyes. He groans and shakes, knocking Eliot away.
"Nate?"
"Ryna?" In his mind, she's dead, broken, bloody, scattered on the ground somewhere.
"She's okay, she's at school."
Eliot's in front of him now, still keeping his hands away from Nate's mouth, but touching him.
"I killed them." He can see them, can feel their blood on his hands, on his face, smeared over his bare chest. "I killed them." He's yanking on his hands, can feel the skin tearing, but he can't stop. Then a sharp prick in his side sends him hurtling into the dark.
Title: The Sky Rains Red, Part Three (Part One & Part Two)
Pairings/Characters: Nate/Eliot, Parker, Sophie, Hardison, Ryna (OFC)
Rating: NC-17 (for violence)
Word Count: 2606
Summary: Follows Close the Door, Pull the Shades and I'll Find A Way. Eliot may have found a way to save Nate, but the cure itself might still kill the vampire. Hardison and Sophie discover that getting Nate through this may not be the only challenge they have to face.
A/Ns & Summary: Third chapter of at least four. Bondage of a sort. Upset little girl.
Eliot is there. Nate can feel him, smell him. He's aware enough to recognize the scent, but that's about the end of his conscious thought.
He wants to feed, needs it. His stomach roils with the need, his body thrashes with the animal desire, wild, shaking, craving.
Eliot shifts in the shadows, circling just out of reach. Nate can hear himself growling...low, in the back of his throat, can taste the leather that keeps him from even biting his own lips for some taste of what he needs.
He's starving. Eliot is killing him. Starving him slow.
Hunger burns inside him and the only thing keeping him from tearing Eliot into bloody ribbons he can lick clean is the way his arms are bound, the way he's held off the floor.
Eliot is there. Nate can feel him, smell him. And then, Eliot is gone.
"I'm not arguing with you." Sophie says without preamble, handing him a thermos. She pulls the vault door shut and locks it, locking Nate inside. "It's tea not coffee, just to warm you up. Hardison is out front. He's taking you home where there is a meal waiting for you and you will eat it. You will sleep for more than four hours and you will spend some time with your daughter. You're not coming back here until you've done all of those things."
There's some small part of him that wants to argue, but he's too tired, too wrung out. "Don't go in." His voice cracks, his throat dry and he has to wonder how long it's been since he's spoken in more than a broken whisper in Nate's ear after he's gotten more of the drugs and is calm for a while.
It's the only time Eliot can see Nate inside the monster he's become.
Her hand catches him, pulls his hair aside so she can see the bruising on his face. "He do that?"
Eliot nods, turning his head to crack his neck. "Last time I sedated him, he got a foot up before I got clear." He hugs the thermos to him, the warmth comforting somehow.
"Go on. I'll be here."
He leaves her there, leaves Nate there, lost inside himself, inside the drug induced madness that they may never get him back from. Hardison raises a hand in greeting, but knows better than to say anything. Eliot slips into the car beside him, opening the thermos to sip at the tea. The vault was icy cold and the heat just leeched out of him whenever he saw Nate anyway.
Ryna is waiting for him when he walks in the door, little fists on her hips, an eyebrow raised as she looks at him, then pointedly at the door to the dining room. He doesn't argue, just shuffles in, suddenly exhausted. Parker is just finishing up putting a plate on the table for him.
"Sit." Ryna says, taking the glass of milk from Parker and putting it by his plate.
"Yes, ma'am." Eliot says seriously, sliding into the chair. It's simple enough food, a burger and fries, and some fruit. His stomach rumbles as if the sight of food is all he needed to realize he was hungry.
"I got him, Parker, you can go." Ryna says, though her eyes never leave Eliot's face.
"I'll be in the guest room. Call me if he gives you any trouble." Parker's eyes sparkle and Ryna reaches out with her hand, grabbing Eliot's chin and turning his face.
Her eyes narrow. "Oh, he won't give me any trouble. Right?"
Eliot inhales. "You have my word."
Parker nods and leaves the room and Eliot lifts his burger. "Ain't you eatin'?" His southern twang is always worse when he was tired, and good god, but he is.
"Ate before, so I could keep an eye on you." Ryna responds. And she does. She sits and watches him. It makes him twitch a little.
"Trying to eat, Ryna." Eliot murmurs after a while and she sighs.
"Yeah, weird isn't it? Having someone watch you do stuff?"
He feels her eyes drop and swallows his burger. He decides to change the subject. "So, how are things at school?"
She sits back then, crossing her arms in a huff. "Fine."
"Ryna." He shakes two fries at her before stuffing them in his mouth. "Truth."
"It sucks. I hate wearing skirts and the boys are stupid and they want me to play some stupid game where you can't touch the ball with your hands."
"Soccer?"
She rolls her eyes and Eliot can't help but chuckle a little. His daughter and team sports were never going to be a smooth, happy fit. "It's stupid. I don't like it."
"Well, just do the best you can and don't hit anyone, it'll be over soon enough, then you'll learn a different sport."
"Hockey?" She perks up, her eyes sparkling. "Can I learn hockey?"
Okay, so maybe team sports would be okay, as long as they were violent enough. "Well, I don't know if the school has hockey, honey, but if that's what you want, I'm sure we could find you something."
"Old Man Caffee's son played hockey. He used to take us to this big rink in the city sometimes and we got to watch."
"Okay, so we'll see about hockey when things quiet down a little, okay?" Eliot lifts his glass and drains about half the milk. "How about the cat? How's he?"
She smiles then. "He's good, getting big already. He likes sleeping in my shoes."
They are quiet as Eliot finishes his food and when he's done, she jumps off the chair to take his hand. "Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"I'm putting you to bed." She pulls until he's shuffling along behind her, down the hall to her room where her bed is neatly made up with blue sheets and folded down. Merlin's asleep in the middle of the bed, and Ryna move's him, cuddling him to her before she does the thing where she looks at him and then the bed, like he's supposed to know that it's an order. "Come on, you're exhausted and you need to sleep."
"Ryna, I have my own bed."
She stomps her foot, then seems to get a hold of herself. "I want to keep an eye on you. Please." The last word is just a little plaintive and Eliot gives in, sitting on the bed and letting her pull his boots off. She stumbles back and waves a hand in front of her face. "Seriously? When was the last time you showered?"
Eliot snorts and lets her push him back on the bed. "When you wake up, you're showering and making me breakfast."
"Okay." Now that he's laying down, he can feel the fatigue pulling at him. He yawns into his fist as Ryna pulls the blankets up over him. She kisses his forehead, then crawls up on the bed next to him, laying down with her face just inches from his. He's drifting toward sleep when he hears here clear her throat.
"Eliot?"
He manages to get his eyes open. "What?"
"Is Nate gonna be okay?"
Eliot's eyes are heavy and he blinks, trying to stay awake enough to answer her. "I don't know, Ryna."
"Are you?"
Eliot tries to reassure her, but four days with next to no sleep was too much, even for him.
He wakes before the sun is up, a little disoriented and uncertain of where he is until he realizes that Ryna is curled up in his arms and Merlin is curled up in hers. Eliot takes his time extricating himself, savoring the warm feeling of his daughter's body in his arms.
He can smell himself, days of grime and sweat and worry staining his skin. He stumbles through the dark house to his own bedroom and into the bathroom. The hot water of the shower is maybe the best thing he's felt in days. He stands under the stream until the water has started to run cold, then briskly washes his hair and rinses clean.
Hardison is at the kitchen table with his laptop when Eliot is dressed and ready to make coffee. "Sophie's sleeping, Parker's at the building keeping an eye on our boy. Coffee's hot."
Eliot grunts as he heads for the pot. "How long you been here?"
"Couple hours." His fingers flew on the keyboard and he made a frustrated noise. "Damn."
"What?" Eliot tugs a chair closer with his foot, straddling the chair and cradling his coffee cup.
"I been tracing this drug. It doesn't make sense, the way it's popping up." Hardison sits back and sips off his cup of coffee. "Look." He turns the computer to face Eliot. "The red is confirmed cases, the white suspected."
"Pretty concentrated." Eliot points to one cluster of red. "Where's this?"
"The neighborhood where you found Nate. This here?" Hardison's finger circles a cluster of mixed red and white. "Is upscale, first sightings of the drug were here. It's pretty expensive to make."
"So, what's it doing in a neighborhood where no one has any money?"
"Good question."
"Better question. How'd it get into the blood Nate got from the blood bank over here?" Eliot points to the area on the map where the blood bank was, miles away from any reported clusters of the drug.
"Answer that, and maybe we figure out who did it."
"So we're thinking someone did this deliberately?"
Both Hardison and Eliot look up to find Sophie in the doorway, wrapped in a silk robe, her hair askew, her arms wrapped around herself.
"It's starting to look that way." She shuffles in toward the coffee. "You sleep?"
"Yeah, you?" Eliot asks, because she doesn't really look like she has.
"Not really." Her hands hold the mug of coffee close to her face as she moves to the table. "I can't imagine who would do this, or why."
"It has to be someone who knows what Nate is, and where he gets his supply." Hardison says thoughtfully, stroking his chin.
"But what does anyone gain from turning Nate into…" Eliot gestures lamely. "…what he is?"
"Maybe Nate is nothing more than the weapon." Sophie says, her eyes narrowing.
"What?" Eliot turns to her.
"Well, you have to admit, he makes a pretty good killing machine. A vampire, hyped up on this drug, no moral compass, hungry…the more he feeds the stronger the drug gets, the hungrier he is." Her voice trails off, her face unreadable.
"Still, what's the point?" Eliot drains his coffee and stands, going back for more. "Why concentrate the drug there? Why dope Nate? It just doesn't make any sense."
"Yet." Hardison counters, pulling his computer back to him. "I got an idea. Give me a few hours."
"Okay, so no hitting, kicking or name calling." Eliot says with a smirk as they sit outside the school in his truck.
Ryna rolls her eyes. "Whatever. You will be home for dinner, right?"
Eliot leans in to kiss her cheek. "Promise."
Her hand is on the door for a second before she pulls it back and looks up at him. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Anything."
She nods and doesn't ask right away, looking like she's sorting through information in her head, trying to think of the best way to ask. "Is Nate a vampire?"
Eliot blinks and sits back, staring at her with his mouth slightly open. He'd been prepared for nearly anything, but not that. "I…uh…what?"
Ryna folds her hands in her lap and gives him a patronizing look. "I'm eight, not a moron, Eliot. I have ears, and eyes. I see the blood in the fridge, I see the marks on your neck, I hear you guys talking."
Of course she's not a moron. Eliot just never expected her to put the pieces together. He wants to tell her no, wants to tell her that vampires aren't real, that she's safe, that everything is going to be fine. But he doesn't want to lie either. Slowly he nods. "Yeah, Ryna. He is."
"Did he kill those people?"
He can feel her eyes on him as he scrubs a hand over his face. "Yeah, he did. He's sick though, someone put drugs in his food, and it made him forget who he is."
"But he's going to remember, right?"
"I hope so, honey."
"Do you love him?"
Eliot exhaled loudly. "What? You're going to be late."
Ryna snickered as she opened the door, then leaned across the seat to kiss his cheek. "Nana Miller always said that love could fix anything. That's all. If you love him and he loves you, he'll get better and he'll come home and we can be a family."
Eliot waited until she was inside before he pulled away from the curb. If only it was as easy as she made it sound. Even if they got Nate through this, even if they were doing the right thing and he lived…there was no telling whether or not he'd ever be okay, if he could live with himself, trust himself to be around them again.
And that didn't even begin to touch the real problem. Somewhere out there was someone who knew Nate's secret. Someone who knew how to exploit it for reasons that so far remained a mystery.
"Can you hear me?"
Eliot.
"Nate...I mean..."
Eliot's hand is on his chest. It's the first time anyone has touched him since they caught him. Even when they drug him, it's without touching. His hand is hot and it wakens the hunger.
"We're almost there, Nate...just a little longer, okay?"
Nate knows his fangs are biting into his lip, knows his body is starving for blood...blood that's right there. He only has to take it...but he's weak...so very weak and Eliot...Eliot's scared. He can hear it in his voice.
"Eliot?" His voice sounds broken.
Eliot's hand presses against him, heat. Connection. "Just a little longer, I promise."
His thoughts are sluggish, but he slowly recognizes that they're his thoughts. Eliot. Ryna. The team. There's still hunger. Need. Desire. But the rage is gone, or tucked away.
Pain registers. His arms and shoulders heavy, pulling. His back sore. The cold seeps into him and Eliot's hand, the heat of his body is too far away. "Eliot. Hurts."
His eyes open and the room is dark, but Eliot is near, he can feel him.
"I can sedate you." Eliot says softly.
"No." He's been under so long. "Cold." Behind him. Eliot's arms wrap around Nate from behind, pulling their bodies together.
"Better?"
He shivers, but nods. It's better. He can feel Eliot's heart beating. He closes his eyes against the spike of need inside him. "Hungry."
"I know." Eliot's voice whispers over his skin. "Soon, I promise."
His teeth chatter, the hunger inside him cold and insistent. He knows it's been days, longer since he last felt warm blood flow down his throat. He remembers a girl…young, blond hair and blue eyes. He groans and shakes, knocking Eliot away.
"Nate?"
"Ryna?" In his mind, she's dead, broken, bloody, scattered on the ground somewhere.
"She's okay, she's at school."
Eliot's in front of him now, still keeping his hands away from Nate's mouth, but touching him.
"I killed them." He can see them, can feel their blood on his hands, on his face, smeared over his bare chest. "I killed them." He's yanking on his hands, can feel the skin tearing, but he can't stop. Then a sharp prick in his side sends him hurtling into the dark.
