"Can't feel you!" (Aubrie/Mac)

[Darian Raniari]

Darian held tightly to Mac's hand as they made their way through the crowds of mallrats.

The vampire had let her have a double dose of her pills moments before entering the mall, knowing that the stress of being around so many people would undoubtedly be difficult for her. So far she was doing alright, though her grip on his hand was amazingly tight, and would have surely caused him pain if he hadn't been a vampire. Even with the pills, though, Darian knew that this was hard on the girl, and he prayed that the woman they'd come here to see would actually be able to do something to help Mac.

Finally the pair arrived outside of a small new-age shop hidden away in one of the mall's distant corners. It wasn't nearly as prosperous or flashy as other similar stores might be, but unlike the others, this was a place of true power, true magic. Darian knew he would have to be wary here, for there were those about who would know him for what he truly was.

But for Mac, any danger was worth it.

[morgancaine]

As soon as they began approaching the mall Mac got wary. She felt it all and started tugging back on Dari's hand, digging her feet into the asphalt. "No, no!" She whined. "Too much...too many!"

There were so many people with so many emotions and even before they entered the building Mac could feel them all, slamming into her head and into her heart, burning away at her mind when she couldn't control them.

Dari had sensed her obvious discomfort and given her some of her pills. Mac stole them from his hand before his fingers uncurled and gobbled them down greedily, her teeth crunching down on the them. She leaned against him as the entered the mall, eyes wide, fingers gripping Dari's hand like a lifeline.

She breathed heavily against him, shaking slightly as they entered the place they were going. She didn't want to be here. "Fly, fly up high!" She begged Dari. She couldn't feel him, but at the moment he was the only one Mac couldn't feel. Everyone else was slamming into her like knives, cutting and slashing, making her bleed on the inside.

Moving inside the shop, there were less people but she could still feel them out there, only slightly dulled by distance and medication. "Please, go. Go...fly fly up high." Turning she hugged Dari tightly taking the nothingness of feelings that he offered. Pressing her face into his shoulder she whimpered, squeezing her eyes tight trying to drown out everyone else. "Please....go?"

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie was pacing nervously around the shop.

For the entire day, a dread had been creeping up on her that she couldn't quite explain. It was true that she had the power of precognition, though it was weak and fairly unreliable, and she wondered if perhaps she was picking up on something bad that was going to happen. Throughout her life she had come to trust such feelings, and she'd made sure that her gun was loaded and close to hand at all times.

It had been a slow day so far, with barely a half-dozen customers having been through. The shop wasn't hers of course, it belonged to an old friend, but since she'd set up her fortune-telling booth in the back, she had also agreed to watch the place on those occasions when the owner had business elsewhere. Aubrie didn't mind, really, as if gave her something to do when she didn't have a client.

Her lips quirked into a smile as she sensed a pair of customers entering, and when she turned to face them, her attention was first drawn to a young blonde woman who was practically glowing to Aubrie's psychic senses. But it wasn't a healthy glow, and Aubrie was immediately worried by the feeling she got that something was terribly, horribly off about the newcomer.

When her attention moved to the other one, though, the man, Aubrie gasped in disbelief. Standing before her was someone that she'd never met before, but that she was very familiar with from some work she'd done in the past. It was Darian, the insane vampire who she'd seen in a vision during a touch-reading some weeks before. Terror nearly overwhelmed her as the memories of that reading, which had been done on a woman named Madison McClain, came flooding in. Darian was dangerous. Darian would kill her. Darian would stop at nothing to--

Snapping out of her daze, Aubrie ran to the counter under which she'd hidden her gun, but before she could reach it a strong hand clamped around her neck and she was lifted off the ground and slammed hard against the wall. Gasping for breath, she looked down into the eyes of the vampire, and the expression she saw there paralyzed her with fear.

"Well," Darian said coldly, tightening his grip just a bit, "that was quite rude, don't you think?"

[Darian Raniari]

Oh, it would be so easy to kill her...

But, in so doing, Darian knew that he may end any chance of Mac being able to live a normal life. The things that he'd heard about his woman, Aubrie, led him to believe that she may actually be able to help Mac, and he wouldn't jeopardize that chance by giving in to his lust for revenge.

Slowly, he loosened his grip upon her neck and lowered her until her feet were on the ground once more.

"I don't know what exactly you thought you were going to do," Darian told her, "but I imagine you have a weapon of some sort secreted about here, and that you meant to use it on me. Am I correct in assuming this?" Aubrie nodded. "I am going to let you go. Don't attempt to get to that weapon again, understood?" Again, the woman nodded. "Good."

Releasing his grip on her, Darian returned his attention to Mac, to see how she was holding up.

"Mac? Are you okay? This woman is going to try and help you."

[morgancaine]

Mac gasped when Dari grabbed the woman. Her brow furrowed and her lips pulled down in a frown as fear washed over her. Hers, the ladies. Mac didn't know. Too much. Gripping the edge of a bookshelf she squatted down, leaning her face against the cool shelf and squeezing her eyes shut, rocking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

Dari wouldn't hurt someone for no reason. Mac believed that. This didn't make her scared of him. Dari was nice. Took care of Mac. Fed, flew, stay safe, no hurt. She moaned as she rocked using one hand to squish her head tightly against the shelf as if she could sink into it.

The people were still screaming inside of her. So many. It was loud, despite the pills and Mac just wanted it to stop. "Mmm." She moaned as she squeezed her eyes tighter. It hurt, why didn't anyone understand that it hurt.

"Fly, fly, up high," She told Dari when he asked if she was all right. Eyes still closed, she rocked harder. "Too much, too many. Scared, love, hate, lust, jealousy, anger, excitement, disappointment." She kept spouting off emotions as if saying them would make them stop hurting her. It never worked though. She rubbed her face roughly and started smacking her head into the shelf, trying to make it all stop. "Too much, too many. Fly fly up high. No hurt. Hurt now. No hurt. Fly, fly up high!"

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie was actually down at Mac's side before Darian was.

Kneeling close to the girl, Aubrie reached out slowly and put a gloved hand on Mac's shoulder. This small amount of contact, even through her glove and Mac's clothing, was enough for Aubrie to get a read on the woman's mental and emotional state. The poor thing was losing it, and fast. It seemed she was a powerful Empath, among other things, and Aubrie knew how difficult it could be to live with an ability like that. And Aubrie's own power of empath wasn't anywhere near this powerful...

"Hello, Mac," Aubrie said, smiling at her and using her own powers to settle her own tumultuous emotions. Having Darian so close was terrifying her, but she put her fears aside for the sake of this poor girl. "My name is Aubrie, and I would like to help you in any way I can, okay? But I need to check out a few things first, so I'm going to put you to sleep now." Without waiting for a response, Aubrie laid her gloved hand over Mac's eyes, and almost instantly the blonde slumped down to the floor.

Before Darian could lose it, Aubrie said, "It's okay, she's just asleep. It's a type of quick hypnosis I learned how to do a while back. No harm will come to her, and it will be easier to do what i need to if she's sleeping." Without even looking at the vampire to see his reaction, Aubrie went to work.

Closing her eyes, she envisioned several small tendrils of her own glowing, psychic power drifting toward Mac, and sinking painlessly into her forehead. Once they were inside the woman's mind, Aubrie set about examining Mac's abilities, trying to gauge how strong she actually was, and what she could do. As she'd expected, there bright as day was Mac's empathic power. It was incredible how strong it was, and Aubrie immediately felt even worse for the girl, for having to live with something like this... Also there, though overshadowed by the empathy, was a touch of precognition, which also worried Aubrie.

The girl certainly needed help, that was for sure.

Opening her eyes and pulling away from Mac, Aubrie stood up and gestured toward the sleeping woman, saying to Darian, "Pick her up and bring her into the back room. I don't want to have to answer any difficult questions if a customer comes in." Not waiting to see if he obeyed her instructions or not, Aubrie walked to the back of the shop and disappeared through a curtain into the stock room.

[Darian Raniari]

Scooping Mac effortlessly up into his arms, Darian followed.

Passing through the curtain, the vampire saw a modest-sized room, with shelves of various bits of merchandise along three of its walls. Against the far wall was a small cot, and it was here that Darian set Mac down, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face gently.

"How long will she be out?" he asked, kneeling beside her and not taking his eyes from her.

Aubrie shrugged. "It's a normal sleep that she's in, so she'll be out until she wakes up, I guess. Now, I'd like an explanation before I just volunteer my services to help her. Like, who she is and how you came by her for starters."

Darian's initial reaction was to scoff at her. After all, who was she to demand anything of him? One look down at Mac, though, was all it took to change his mind.

"I found her on the street, and I took her in. I didn't know about her... her abilities until a little bit after that. It seems like she can't pick up on the emotions of creatures such as myself, things that aren't human I mean, so she feels safe with me." He took one of Mac's hands in his own, giving it a light squeeze. "I own a jet, and we spend most of our time airborne, so that she's away from the feelings of everyone down below."

Releasing Mac's hand, Darian stood and faced Aubrie, his eyes narrowing. He wasn't ashamed of his love for Mac, but he didn't like it that this woman had seen him in a moment of perceived weakness. Again, Darian had to fight down the urge to just slaughter her and be done with it, but instead, he asked:

"Can you help her, then?"

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie hoped that the shaking in her legs wasn't too noticeable.

She was still terrified of the vampire, and was doing her best to hide that fear. It seemed like a continual process, really: take the fear, use her own weak gift of empathy to twist it and shape it into something else, and the project those feelings of warmth and safety onto the sleeping Mac. In a way, the fear was giving her fuel, ammunition, something to use rather than having to fabricate emotions from nothingness, which could be exhausting.

Aubrie shrugged at Darian's question. "I think so, maybe. It just depends on the damage that's been done to her mind."

"Damage?" Darian asked, furrowing her brow.

"Mhmm," she answered. "Her mind is pretty damaged, probably from all the pills she's been taking, and whatever other medications she's been exposed to... She's had a rough go of it, that's for sure." Sighing, Aubrie leaned against a shelf of overstock merchandise, wrapping her arms around herself and shuddering. "All I can do is try, and I will. Not because you told me too, and not because I'm afraid of you either, but because she needs help..."

Darian nodded. "I don't care about your reasons for doing it, so long as you do it. And you will be handsomely compensated for your efforts, I assure you. So, how long do you think it will take?"

"I don't know, really. Weeks, months, more than that?" Aubrie shook her head and shivered again. "It's a delicate thing, the mind... If I rush things, I can make the damage worse, you know. I mean, you do realize that I can't just snap my fingers and fix her, right? It will take time, and she'll probably need to stay with me for a while. You'd be welcome to come and see her any time you want, of course..."

"Of course," Darian agreed, nodding.

"And she'll be in good hands. I'll take care of her for you."

"I don't doubt that," the vampire responded. "But I can't make this decision for her... I'll have to talk to her about it when she awakes. I'll stay here with her until then."

"Fair enough. I'll leave you two alone here, then. I need to get back out there in case any customers show up." That said, the woman practically scurried out of the storeroom, heaving a sigh of relief at finally being away from the vampire, even if only for a short time.

[morgancaine]

Mac felt groggy when she woke and fear washed over her when she looked around and didn't know where she was. The emotions were still crashing into her, but there was something else too. Something a bit calming in the center of it all.

"Dari!" She sat up quickly and suddenly found herself in his embrace. She was shaking, not having remembered falling asleep. Sure that happened sometimes, but she didn't like it here. "Fly, fly, up high!" Tears started streaming down her face and she tried to feel the nothingness coming from Dari, but the others were still about. Not as loud. Whispering more so now.

"Go, go. Too many...all inside me..." She whimpered against him, pulling out his jacket and tucking her head inside of it as if by doing so it would make it all stop. "Please, Dari. Go now?"

[Darian Raniari]

Darian held Mac close, surprised by the tightness he felt in his chest.

"Mac, listen," he started, his voice soft. "That lady that you saw earlier, her name is Aubrie, and she's going to become a new friend of ours, okay? She's going to try and help you... She's going to try and make it so you don't feel everyone so much."

Darian really couldn't believe how emotional he was feeling... In fact, he hadn't thought it was even possible to feel this way any more. Somehow, this street girl had managed to worm her way into his heart--or, what little heart he had left--and it disturbed him a bit that he was having such a hard time leaving her here with Aubrie.

"But, Mac, if she's going to help you, she'll need you to stay here with her for a while, okay?" He lightly kissed the top of her head, saying, "She's going to take care of you for a little bit, but I'll make sure I come to see you a lot, okay?" Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a simple cell phone, handing it to her. "See this? All you have to do is push this one button, and you can talk to me whenever you want to. I'll always answer, Mac, I promise. And if you tell me that you want me to come and visit you, I will."

He heard Aubrie approach, but he ignored her as she leaned in the door-frame watching them.

"Mac, I know this won't be easy, but I need you to be brave for me, okay? Can you be brave for me, Mac?"