(I hope this post is ok. If not, i'll be more then happy to change it)

The bar was hazy with smoke and talk. The lights dim, setting the atmosphere for jazzy music that echoed lazily around the room. For such a small room, the club was packed tight wall to wall with people. The tables crammed to overflowing, people sat on the bar for all the stools were occupied and the tiny excuse for a dance floor was packed tight with a mess of tangled limbs moving to the rhythm. The bartenders moved at a smooth pace, filling the orders as they came. Liquor flowed freely from the glasses greasing the bar making it shine in the almost uneasy lighting. A group of men crowed with laughter as they brought their glasses together drunkenly, spilling the amber fluid everywhere.

Elijah stood in the doorway and sighed with annoyance. He was hoping that the smaller the club, the less crowded it would be. However he found his assumption to be quite wrong. He looked over his shoulder out the door, contemplating on whether he should just turn back and find somewhere else to go. He decided he might as well get a drink while he’s here, it couldn’t hurt. He told himself he wouldn’t stay long, he had a meeting with a client on a big construction project the next morning, he would not go in hung over.

Elijah pushed his way into the bar, people suddenly on all sides of him. He pressed through them easily shoving them to the side so he could get through, most of them were too drunk to even notice. As Elijah approached the bar, one man fell off his stool crashing to the floor. The others roared with laughter, some of them falling over with drunkenness. Elijah helped the man to his feet; he slurred thanks and ambled into the sea of people. Elijah sat at the bar waiting for the busy bartender to take his order.

“Hey there handsome” a smoky voice said from his right. At first Elijah didn’t realize that the voice was speaking to him until he felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Yeah I’m talking to you” she laughed. Her voice was rough and he could tell that she smoked heavily. He looked over and his eyes widened at the sudden bright color. The woman was wearing a tight red dress that hugged her in all the wrong places. And sure enough she lifted a thin cigarette to her mouth and blew the smoke out lazily towards him, trying to be seductive. She took his expression as a compliment and her smile widened, revealing yellowed teeth. Elijah cleared his throat and looked back towards the bar, wanting his drink more than ever.

“So” the woman continued “Can I buy you a drink?”
Elijah didn’t look at her, his expression annoyed but his voice was calm
“No thanks miss, but I appreciate the offer.”
She laughed again and placed a bony hand on his shoulder
“Call me Darla.”
Elijah sighed, wishing Darla would just leave him alone. She waited patiently for his name in return but when she saw he wouldn’t give it she leaned closer
“Aren’t you going to give me your name?”
“No, I’d rather not.”
Darla was slightly taken aback, for he felt her draw slightly away from him. But in a moment she laughed again, a raspy cough followed soon after.
“I see what you’re playing at.” She leaned over the bar “Suzanne! Get this man a drink.”
Darla winked at Elijah and then turned to the man next to her. He sighed in vain, hoping that she would leave him alone. However she only asked the man if she could have his seat and he obliged all too willingly.
“So, mystery man. What are you doing here? You live nearby?”
“No I don’t” he said, not unkindly.
She shifted uncomfortably and smiled at him again, not as warmly though.

Finally his drink was set down before him and Elijah gladly took a sip of it. Darla kept talking and he tried to tune her out by thinking of what he had to do tomorrow. He still needed to gather the rest of the blue prints for the meeting, it was a big project and he wanted to make sure he had everything he needed. Charles had trusted him with this one and he hasn’t even been working for Abbott and Co. for very long and he was already sending him on assignments. Bob would be sent over in a few weeks when they would actually start the build and they had to send word to Harry with the prints so he knew where to place the wiring when giving the place electricity. Then the underground pints to Bill who-

Elijah’s busy thoughts were cut off when he was tapped on the shoulder repeatedly but a sharp finger nail. He looked over and Darla was looking at him impatiently
“I’m sorry, did you say something?” he asked honestly. He really couldn’t remember what she had been saying at all, he had too much on his mind with the day tomorrow, he had no time for distractions.

“I said, what do you think of my dress?” she waved her hand around her trying to be sexy and graceful at the same time. It didn’t work.
Elijah hesitated and looked at her dress then back at her.
“Do you want the truth?”
Darla nodded, expecting a grand complement from him and titled her chin just so, waiting for the praise.
“Well…it isn’t very flattering. Sorry, but maybe something not so tight would be better next time.”
Darla’s mouth was a perfect O as she slowly took in the insult.
She stood up, almost falling over, and slapped him weakly across the face.
“How dare you!” she rasped “You are a pig!”
“You said you wanted the truth. I apologize if I hurt your feelings. But if you truly want honesty don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to. Again I’m sorry if what I said was hurtful, but it was, none the less, the truth.”

Darla’s mouth opened and closed several times, giving her the appearance of a fish. Her lips snapped shut and she glared at him. Her long fingers flicked her cigarette in his drink and stomped off. Elijah looked at the drink with annoyance
“What a waste” he muttered to himself.
Elijah didn’t understand women at all sometimes. They say no when they mean yes, and ask you to be honest with them when they only wish to hear what they want to hear. He pushed the drink away from him and reached into his pocket and left a 10 on the bar. He stood up and turned away from the bar, heading towards the door. He’d only had one sip of his drink and already he was tired of drinking that night. Elijah sighed in annoyance and made a mental note not to re-visit this bar. He didn’t want another run in with Darla.

The sound of shattering glass could be heard from across the room, and voices rose. Elijah was somewhat glad that he was leaving now. Some men on the other side of the room were getting rowdy as well, tipping over tables and knocking down chairs in their drunken state. Elijah didn’t understand why people let themselves get so carried away by drink; he had seen his eldest brother Damen drunk many times before. It was always a comical scene; Damen would get so drunk to the point where he would be flirting with bushes or lamps, thinking they were women. Elijah laughed at the memory.

“What are you laughing at, punk?” a gruff voice came from behind him. Elijah looked over to see a rather heavy set man sitting in the chair, glaring at Elijah.

“Nothing here that’s for sure” he said honestly
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” the man demanded, standing up
“I don’t want any trouble, alright. I was just leaving so don’t get worked up about it.”

The man took that as an insult and pulled back his fist to punch Elijah. Though his mind was heavy with drink, so his action was obvious and slow. Elijah caught the man’s fist with ease, and squeezed it with slightly more pressure for just a pinch of pain.
The man’s face turned beat red and his eyes watered up at the stinging sensation.
“I said I don’t want trouble. But if you want to start something…” he squeezed the man’s fist slightly tighter
“I don’t want to have to finish it. So please, go back to your drink.” Elijah let go of the man’s fist who instantly clutched it to his chest, whimpering from the slight pain. If there was one thing Elijah couldn’t stand, it was an alcoholic.

Today was a tiresome day.
Just like all the rest turned out to be.

Raven was so very sick of people always telling her what to do, and that seemed to be all that she heard today. After heading home and leaving her digital camera on her bed, she changed clothes quickly and head out for a drink. Tonight she desparatly needed at least one. And if she couldn't have her drink, she might at least find a few suckers itching for a fight as much as she was. Wearing the heels she was wearing now, she knew she would have to either take them off or make do with them on, both of which could put her at a potential disadvantage, but since when did she care? It was the rush that mattered. And besides, she usually won anyway. Her greatest fear was losing a fight, and Raven did everything in her power to keep such a thing from happened. There was little that Raven knew besides that she enjoyed fighting, and was damn good at it. She would never have to be protected again, of that she was sure of. Her own sister, Colette, was afraid of her somewhat. Of that fact she was convinced. Not that it mattered anymore since Colette was long gone. But Raven could never see herself leaving Forks. Even if Eliza left as well, Raven would more likely than not stay behind. She loved this place too much. The almost daily lightning storms were exhilerating, and they made her good money. Unlike her sisters, she didn't have a reason to leave. She was perfectly content here, and saw herself growing into an old and successful photographer here; making a living off of selling photographs of lightning as it strikes the earth. She kept a few of those herself, making copies of the best ones for her wall. Images of lightning reaching down from the sky sent little waves of electricity up and down her spine as a form of excitement. It thrilled her. Maybe she was just crazy, but she certainly wasn't the type to care.

She was no good at puzzles.

Her strength did lie in mental capacities. Only her physical strengths and the skill she wielded with a camera made her an important member of society. Or at the very least, a memorable one. She broke her thoughts upon entering the smallest bar in town, blinking in surprise at the mess that lay before her eyes. Holding the door open with her right hand, and her left hand in the pocket of her overcoat, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Or smelling for that matter. Wrinkling her nose in digust, she was suddenly reminded why she rarely ever came to bars, but tonight she really needed to loosen up. She refused to get drunk. Tomorrow there was supposed to be a rather large lightning storm and Raven wouldn't miss it for the world. Still, a shot or two couldn't hurt. The only problem rested in getting to the bar.... It was tucked away behind the dance floor, and as Raven stood in the doorway with a dumbfounded and disgusted expression on her face she found it a rather crowded walk.. Groaning and muttering curses, she released the door and all but stomped across the dance floor to get to the bar; nearly pushing over everyone that so much as came within three feet of her. She sniffed the air as a particularly fowl stench invaded her nostrils, and turned to see that a woman wearing an uncomfortably tight red dress was smoking and flirting with some guy two seats down. Raven groaned again, letting her head fall limp and impact the counter. "What'll it be?" Asked the bartender. Raven turned her head to look up at him with her left eyes, only getting more irritated when she saw the curious expression on his face. She narrowed her eyes and raised her neck again. "A shot of takila if you got any." She snapped. The bartender huffed a reply and turned away as she looked around.

The place was already a mess.

It wasn't even midnight yet and there were drunken people everywhere. Some idiot collasped in her lap and grinned up at her stupidly. Raven wrinkled her nose again in disgust and shoved him off without hesitation. She wanted nothing more than to pound his face in, but she had a headache now and didn't coup very well with headaches. She unbuttoned her overcoat and laid it across her lap, revealing the sparkling night dress that she wore under it. She almost removed her heels too, but then realized that she'd have to walk on this flithy floor if she did, so she thought better of it. When the bartender finally returned with her shot, the smoking hooker next to her had tossed her cigarette into the poor guy's drink. He seemed crestfallen and annoyed, which make Raven grin out of pity. Poor dope. She thought, lifting the shoot glass to her lips when some moron shoved another moron into her. This, of course, made her glass fly from her hands and crash onto the floor, broken. Balling her right hand, the hand that had been gripping the glass only a second earlier, into a tight fist, she turned and grabbed the drunk that bumped in her and cost her money. She grabbed the collar of his shirt with her left hand and sent a punch to his face with her right, sending him flying into the idiot that pushed him. Then, instead of picking a fight with her, the men starting picking fights with eachother. Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, Raven grabbed her jacket and slammed the money down on the counter.

But the fun wasn't over yet.

As she was walking out, she noticed the guy that had been tortured by the smoking hooker earlier give another drunken fool some hurtin'. She grinned at this, and paused to watch. Her grin faded when some of the drunk idiots from the bar started to crowd around her. "Hey, bitch! You're gonna pay for what you did back there!" One of them slurred. Raven rolled her eyes, this was such an unfair fight. It was defiantly not what she had had in mind. As she turned to face her challengers, she noticed that the guy who was threatening her was the guy she punched before. She knew this because he already had a black eye. Something about this caused a strange reaction in Raven.... She burst out laughing right on the spot, letting her overcoat fall to the floor in the process. The drunk that the guy from before had injuried ran out of the bar, either from fear of the guy that just hurt him or from the seeming raving lunatic that was Raven she did not know. The bar grew increasingly quiet the longer her laughing fit continued, but it was obvious she wasn't drunk. When she finally did stop laughing, the drunks were too confused to know what to do and the entire bar was just watching. She smirked, now this was a show. "Hey friend, nice shiner." She taunted, pointing at the drunk's eye to make her point. Mr. Shiner growed, but it sounded rather humorous in his drunken state. He threatened her before raising a fist to hit her as she had done him, but even he did have her pinned she would have easily dealt with him.

After all, the man was drunk beyond his means.

She grabbed his hand with ease, but instead of warning him as the other guy had done to his victim she bent Mr. Shiner's hand in one swift motion. Her eyes widened at the sound of bones cracking, a sickening sound to most people but it made her react much differently. Her eyes were not widened in fear, but instead reflected that she was enjoying what she was doing. And indeed her was. She liked putting people in their place, especially men; and of course there was that thrill she got from simply fighting. "Opps." She said, her voice low and grim. "Ma' hand must've slipped. My bad." She taunted. Mr. Shiner stumbled backward, clutching his now broken wrist in agony and he cursed her and shouted. She only rolled her eyes and smirked. Another then stepped forward, the one who had shoved Mr. Shiner into her to begin with and started this whole mess. He threatened her, and grabbed her by the straps of her dress. She only grinned and raised her right hand, shaking her pointer finger at him like a mother repremanding her child. "Uh, uh, uh, that's the wrong move." She hissed, flipping him off before jamming her left knee into his gut. When one of his friends tried lunging at her, she prepped her body before lifting and then dropping him on his partner in crime. Dusting her hands off and looking down at the mini-dogpile in disgust she looked out at the stunned crowd and raised an eyebrow. "What? Anyone else gotta problem?" She snapped. When the bar continued about its business, she bent down and picked up her jacket.

Walking past the other guy, she paused again.

She picked up a scent similar to her own and turned to face him. He was a shifter, just like she was. Scanning his face briefly, she shrugged. "Before you think poorly of me or just start to lecture me, know that they started it." She told him matter-of-factly. "And those dirtbags had it comin' to 'em one way or another anyway." She added before walking outside of the bar. She took in a deep breath of fresh, clean night air. It was a little chilly, but being a shifter she wasn't at all cold. She looked up at the night sky before looking around. She had a feeling the excitement from tonight wasn't over yet. Those lugs might be too afraid to attack me now, but I'm positive they have friends just as moronic and stupid. She concluded, figuring that was why she was uneasy. Instinct and experience told her that barfight were never really over. Every drunkard had a friend or two who were willing to pick a fight, even if they knew they would lose. Shaking her head at the pitifulness, she starting to walk away before thinking better of it. Its been a long time since she met another shifter, and so she decided to wait for the other guy to come out of the bar. She leaned up against the wall of the small bar, making sure that she was in a place where the moonlight would reflect off her dress and make her noticable. He couldn't possible miss seeing her, even if he wanted to. And as soon as she saw him, she was defiantly going to start asking her questions. That is, if he didn't start asking her questions first.

[OCC: You don't have to change your post. ^.^ It was very inspirational for my character! =D I only hope mine is satisfactory....]

Elijah watched as the man ran from the bar, his eyes set in an angry glare. He turned to leave himself when a distinctly feminine laughter rang through the bar. The drunks around him quieted down and looked for the source of the sound. It was a woman, in a beautiful sparkling dress and high heels. She was laughing hysterically at a man in front of her who had a swollen black eye that looked to be still puffing up. The man was clearly angry and the woman did nothing to help the situation by laughing at him. The man growled at her and Elijah started to shove his way through the growing crowd towards her, but the man raised a fist to hit her.

“Wait-” Elijah called out

But his words were cut short as the woman caught the drunken mans fist and bent it back, the sickening crunch of bones seemed to echo through the bar. The man clutched his wrist in agony as one of his companions came up and challenged the woman. He grabbed her by the straps of her dress and the woman began to mock chastise him. Elijah couldn’t believe what he was seeing, of course he had seen his sister fight and take down plenty enemies but she was always in her animal form. Never had he seen a woman with such ferocity.

The man received a sharp blow to the gut by her knee, the next man that dared challenge her was only lifted and flipped over to the pile of men at her feet. She dusted her hands then turned her beautiful face towards the shocked crowd, now practically sobered by the sight of her bar fight.
She raised an eyebrow in a challenging manner almost

“What? Anyone else gotta problem?” she demanded.

A few throats were cleared and few people shuffled nervously back to the bar, trying to keep away from. Some looked outrageous, and couldn’t believe that their fellow companions were beat down by a girl. They gave her murderous glares and Elijah wondered if they meant to do what their eyes said. The woman picked her jacket up off the floor and walked passed him. Immediately a familiar scent filled the air around her. She was shifter, as he was himself. He looked at her stunned, his bright blue eyes searching her face. It made sense now, her strength and ferocity, it was because she was a shifter. The woman turned towards him then

"Before you think poorly of me or just start to lecture me, know that they started it." She told him matter-of-factly. "And those dirt bags had it comin' to 'em one way or another anyway."

Elijah opened his mouth to say something to her but she already turned and headed out the door. He couldn’t help but agree with her, they did have it coming. Though of course the drunks had no idea who they were messing with, they still deserved to be put in place. He took one last look at the scene of the fight, the man with a now gargantuan black eye stumbled to his feet, cursing as he still clutched his wrist. Elijah gave him a warning glare, turned and headed out the door quickly, hoping that he could catch up to the mysterious woman.

Lucky for him, she seemed to be waiting there for him. She leaned against the moonlight so it fell on her just so, catching the sparkles of her dress making her almost glow. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, she certainly was something else. He casually leaned against the wall opposite her and studied her face carefully. She was quite beautiful in his opinion, and he was always honest.

“I’m not going to lecture you and I certainly don’t think poorly of you” he said, his voice slightly amused. “It was quite impressive.”

His smile grew and he almost laughed at the idea of the men waking the next morning with splitting headaches thanks to a woman, and she was wearing heels no less. Though he couldn’t help a pang of worry that passed through him, men like that rarely let this sort of thing fly by. He glanced at the door calmly, waiting to see if they would follow after them soon.

He looked back to the woman, genuinely curious about her.
“You’re a shifter” it wasn’t a question “I’m sure you already know I am one too.”
Elijah glanced away from her and looked down the street where people were ambling about, laughing not really taking any notice of them. The night was cool and crisp, though the stars were clouded over the moon shone brilliantly, refusing to be dimmed by the city lights.

He had never really met another shifter outside his own family. His mother said she had a few friends who were back home in Russia but it wasn’t like they came to visit. He wasn’t sure if this shifter was at all like him and his family of shifters. The tests that had to go through in order to be able to phase to an animal wasn’t exactly protocol. At least so his father said.

Elijah looked at her for signs of an animal she might shift into. Anything obvious that might give it away, she looked a little feline, perhaps a tiger? A lioness? Surely a woman with as much intensity as she had must be something fierce. Though Elijah couldn’t help but smile to himself. He supposed by first glance one might think he would shift into a bear or something along those lines. He once thought that way to when he was going through the tests of compatibility with each animal. An image of the Arctic Fox laying curled up, its eyes deep with truth, came to Elijah’s mind. Nothing was ever as it seemed.

He wasn’t one to be overly social with women, unless he felt very attracted to her or there was a strong connection between them. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the woman standing before him. He put his hands in his pocket, he didn’t even know her. There was a loud crash coming from the bar and Elijah wondered how much time they would have before the drunken threesome would stumble out that door looking for her.

He checked his watch, not to be rude, but just out of habit. He hated being late, though he had nowhere to be at the moment, he did have an early appointment. Elijah assumed she had something to say if she waited out here for him so he figured he would wait patiently until she said what she wanted. Though he couldn’t help but ask her one question

“What’s your name?”

“I’m not going to lecture you and I certainly don’t think poorly of you.” He said, his voice slightly amused. “It was quite impressive.”

She had heard him coming.
And could not restrain a grin.

Not just because she had predicted to some extent what had just happened, which was a rarity outside of battle, but she also grinned at his words and amused tone. Raven opened her dark brown eyes and scanned the face of this other shifter, wondering what animal he was. Her entire family consisted of birds, except for Eliza and her father, so she really hasn't seen that much of a vareity. Her mother was a sparrow, Colette was some kind of hawk, and Raven was...well, a raven. Sometimes, she couldn't help but wonder if her parents did that on purpose to some extent. If they predicted she would be a bird and so named her after a bird. The thought was amusing, but annoying at the same time. After all, she received many teases from her sisters and the only other person she met and considered a friend: a vampire named Jack Taylor. She hasn't seen Jack in a very long time, and so concluded that he moved on to the next city or whatever it is that vampires do when they tire of their current home. But even though he hadn't outwardly jeered her or teased her, she had seen the amusement easily on his face. He hadn't even tried to hide it. So when she looked at this shifters face, she expected to see something that would reveal something about himself. He was leaning on the wall opposite to her, and although they spoke in relatively low voices she could still hear him easily above the racket of the bar and the sounds of other people out at this late hour. She thought she noticed a bit of understanding. That he knew why she did what she had just done. This only made her grin widen and more noticable. "Well, that certainly makes life a little easier." She mused. "I don't have to sit through a lecture, and you can keep your face as it is." She chuckled softly at this, as it wasn't a threat. She in a much lighter mood now that she had gotten the chance to knock idiots down a few knotches. She kept her eyes on his face though, trying to use her brain for once.

There were a few things she had to admit.

One was that this man was brave. After all, he had just approached a woman who obviously kicked ass, yet he showed no fear or nervousness. He seemed, in fact, curious. He was also handsome, but Raven would never openly admit that. While she didn't lie, she wasn't exactly the most open of people in the world. She was a bit of a secretive person, or at least she thought she was. She never really had the chance to find out what kind of person she was socially. Most of the people she met typically ended up with a black eye or something within ten minutes, give or take. Either way, she never really had a conversation, so she really didn't know what kind of person she was. Except knowing that she hated puzzles, and loved the rush of fighting. Still, this man was different. Not only was he curious, he had done nothing to provoke her and didn't seem like he was going to. But he did seem a little angsty. She guessed it was probably because of the drunks whose butts she kicked back at the bar. She noticed his glance at the door, and chuckled. "I wouldn't fret about them. Even if they do have friends, they're probably just as drunk and just as stupid." She mused, obviously amused at his concern. "Its not a fair fight really. They don't stand much of a chance againt me." She added with a grin, partially smug and partially amused. She was starting to enjoy this guy's company. But she also didn't want to get in too deep. Men were one of the least trustable creatures in her experience, even if they seemed completely harmless to start with.

“You’re a shifter.” It wasn’t a question “I’m sure you already know I am one too.”

She raised an eyebrow curiously at his statement and nodded. "Yeah. I mean...its kinda a hard detail to miss...." She answered, smirking after she spoke. This guy seemed to be attempting to make a conversation, but she didn't know how well that would go. She had never met anyone after a fight, and fights always put her in a much better mood. Especially when she won. Which was...well, just about everytime actually. After winning a fight, it usually took awhile for her heart to calm down. So she tended to act very differently. She was more tolerate of stupidity, less annoyed by people in general, and just a much easier person to get along with. It was a rare sight to see, but one that Colette and Eliza knew all to well. Especially Colette. Raven and Colette used to be rather close in their earlier years, and made quite a fighting team. Not anymore though. Colette had abandoned her, and the two were constantly at odds now, constantly fighting each other. Which for those two, especially Raven, meant both physically and verbally. She shook her head, clearing her family from her mind. Thinking in that sense was never her strong point, and she didn't feel like bringing down her mood from where it was just yet. She liked this remaining hearbeats of the rush, and intended to keep it as long as possible. Luckily for her, the guy shifter accross from her hadn't said anything yet.

“What’s your name?”

She blinked, taken off guard a little. She hadn't noticed him check his watch, she was too busy lost in her own world for a little bit. And now she didn't know what to tell him. Still, she focused on clearing her mind and letting instinct take over as usual. For with the instinct, came her elated mood. Grinning, she pushed herself off the wall and gave an exagerated bow. "Raven. Raven Eva Thorsberg: Photographer Extrodanaire, at your service." She didn't usually intriduce herself like that. Actually, the usual intriduction consisted of her first name and the other person getting a punch in the face or something of the like. When she straightened her back, she had an amused grin on her face from the thought. "And you?" She asked, resting her right hand on her hip and leaning into it. Her left arm still craddled her overcoat, and even though it was a rather chilly night she refused to put it on. Not because she wanted to try and impress this guy with her body or anything like that, simply because she liked the feeling of the chill air against her warm skin. It made her feel...almost normal. Almost. And if you looked past the warmer body temperature, the shifting into an animal, and the almost psychopathic behavior, she was normal. Then again, normal is boring and overrated. She mused, smirking at what had become like a little motto of her's. Not that she's been able to share it with anyone.

Breaking glass and drunk yowls broke her thoughts.

One of the guys that was with the three she beat to a pulp stumbled out and looked at her, opening his mouth like he was going to say something. Raven narowed her eyes at the heavyset man and let out a sound that sounded somewhere between a hiss and a growl. The man went pale and ducked back into the bar instantly. Raven grinned and started laughing hysterically again. She couldn't help it. The man's expression and reaction was just too much. "Geez, what'd I tell ya? Bunch of drunken fools in there, cowards the lot of 'em! Give 'em a bit of a scare, and they run for the hills every time." She said with a triumphant grin. The way she carried herself screamed her confidence in her abilities, which in turn gave away that she had a lot of experience in fighting. Especially drunken fools. They were the dumbest opponents she ever fought, but they tended to be amusing. Still, her eyes hardened when she thought of the types of opponents that cheated. The kind with guns and knives that seemed to think they owned every damn street and alley in the city. She looked at the other shifter, her expression revealing her thoughts: that they were running out of time. "Care to take this elsewhere? Like, the main street or a cafe or somethin'? The last thing I need to attract the police to this place." She said, which was true. She didn't need that. "Bad rep for business, you know." She explained, not caring if some people could get the wrong idea about her business.

She ran a photography store of sorts.

Advertisements, company logos, business cards, and pphotography. She drew by hand anything that wasn't photography, then photoshopped it into her computer and played around with it until she was satisfied. They usually turned out pretty well, and sometimes she saw some of her creations on billboard signs. While she mainly worked with photography, as much as she loved it, it doesn't pay the bills by itself. Still, she had fun while on the clock. Sometimes, she flew right into a thunder storm and snapped pictures of the storm with her in it. Took a lot of practice being able to do things like that, but once she feels the rough wind in her feathers, hears the thunderous boom, and sees the magnificent lightning...well...there's just no turning back. She hadn't noticed that she had spaced out again, all to ready to feel the violent storm winds ruffling her feathers. She looked at the other shifter, a completely different look in her eyes now. She was still in an elated mood, that wasn't difficult to tell. But the expression in her eyes...it was a mixture of bliis, admiration, and adoration. But not for the other shifter, for storms. "There's supposed to be a lightning storm tomorrow. Do you like storms, Mr. Shifter?" She asked, nicknaming him since his name escaped her mind for the moment. She must have looked ridiculous, like a child thinking about a truck load of their favorite candy being deposited at their house. But she didn't care. She really hadn't the patience to give a damn what people thought about her at all. Her bevahior, her loves, her dislikes, the works. After all, she bothered to care what people thought about there would be a hell of a lot more people in the hospital than there were already.

Elijah chuckled at her comment.

“That’s good. I would like to keep my face if you don’t mind. Makes life easier for me as well.”

He couldn’t get over how fiery she was and how much personality she had just by standing there. Most women he encountered weren’t such a wonder. They mostly consisted of women like Darla, women who wore dresses that showed too much of their treasures or just the crazed girls that throw themselves at you and agree with everything you say trying to seem like they are your perfect match. Elijah rolled his eyes, he had one girl who literally attacked and tried to kiss him. He politely but his palm to her face and shoved her off and that was the last he saw of her. Though he had met a couple of women who stood out from the crowd, who caught his attention. They always seemed to be the more confident ones who always didn’t search him for compliments. Because unless the compliment they were searching for was his honest opinion, they wouldn’t get one.

Elijah couldn’t help but smile when she noticed his worry about the other drunken fools.

“I have to agree with you there” he replied “they defiantly don’t know what they are up against.” He wasn’t trying to flatter her, it was the truth. She was a firecracker that could probably take down anyone she wanted to. His smile grew; she could probably take him down just as easily. Though he didn’t have a problem with that, everyone should know how to defend themselves. He wasn’t so egotistical to get worked up over being taken down by a girl. After all he did have an older sister and they would constantly get into fights, of course they were always in their animal forms, but she had a clear advantage being twice his size.

Flash Back

The animals circled each other, their eyes set to icy glares, muzzles pulled back in ferocious snarls. Damen sat in human form on the side looking very entertained for this fight.
The Arctic fox prepped his body to lunge at the Alaskan malamute. Though the Malamute saw his move coming and lunged first. The Arctic fox was fast and sprang out of the way coming up behind the Malamute nipping at her thigh. The Malamute snapped its teeth in irritation and whipped its head around, clipping the fox on the shoulder. He whimpered and jumped back a few feet and they began to circle each other again. The malamute pulled back its lips and made a sound that could be considered laughter, though it was more a coughing bark. The fox only smiled back, its eyes gleaming with his new plan of attack. He lunged forward without waiting and slid under the malamute nipping it on the belly and front legs. The malamute tried to jump out of the way but only lost its footing and fell over. The fox slid back waiting for the malamute to make her move. She came to suddenly, just as he was getting his footing and took him down. Her teeth at his throat. The fox yelped in assent and the malamute stood and strutted off, tail wagging happily. The fox slowly sit up and shook the snow from his fur.
“Dude! You just got beat by a girl!” Damen howled. The fox rolled his eyes and ran to where the clothes were hidden behind a tree and shifted back. Elijah shook out his wet hair and came up to Damen punching him in the shoulder with a smile on his face
“Not like you haven’t”
Sascha came out from around the house, a proud smile on her lips.
“Looks like I beat you again little brother” she laughed
“yeah you did” Elijah said more to himself “you’ll have to teach me”

Present.

Elijah was snapped back to the present when she told him her name. He couldn’t help but laugh at what she said either, she was very amusing.
“Photographer huh? As well as my mother and sister. Nice to meet you Raven.” He always seemed to be running into photographers, and he wondered curiously and amused why that was. Though she was certainly more attractive than anyone he had met so far in Seattle photographer or not. He couldn’t help but wonder if Raven was the animal she turned into. That would be rather ironic, but the more he thought about it the more he could the possibility of the truth.

“Elijah” he said simply “Elijah Caine.” He only gave his last name for she gave hers, and it was only reasonably fair that he follow suit. He paid attention to her eagerly as she spoke, for he had never met another female shifter outside his family before. Raven was also very different from her mother and sister; she was also very different from any woman he had ever met. Elijah didn’t just mean that she was a shifter, her whole personality was different. Like she could care less, and he liked that about her, she had a lot of confidence and Elijah thought that might be why he was beginning to feel an attraction towards her.

“Sounds like that might be a good idea” he agreed “I only flew in yesterday so I’m not sure what’s around this area. Where do you recommend?” Elijah had cash on him, probably more then he should be carrying around on his person, but he wasn’t too worried about it. Raven spaced out a little bit and he wondered if she had even heard his question. An amused smile spread through his eyes, as he fought down the corners of his mouth. Raven was a very interesting woman, and he wondered what she was thinking about. It only made him more curious when he saw her eyes light up with elation and bliss, and his eyes gently scrutinized her face hoping to see her thoughts through her features. He opened his mouth to ask what her thoughts were but she spoke before he had time to get a word out.

A lightning storm? He looked up at the night sky, it seemed unusually clear but he could see clouds at the far reaches of the sky ever so slowly moving in. Perhaps there would be a storm tomorrow. He thought about her question for a minute. It’s not that he didn’t like them, but he wasn’t particularly fond of them. His oldest brother Damen was almost struck by lightning out of sheer stupidity, but then again he was only 11 at the time, just an unknowing child. Damen had a deep fear of lightning just as Elijah had a deep fear of water. That thought made him pause, almost a pattern of the elements and he briefly wondered if maybe his sister had fear of fire, perhaps? That would be interesting; maybe it was just another complication to his already annoyingly complex family of shifters.

He brought himself back to the present, realizing that she was probably waiting for an answer.
“Sorry I spaced out for a second.” He cleared his throat “Sure I like lightning storms. I don’t have anything against them as long as I don’t get hit. We had a family friend who was quite dependent on lightning for her job. When the lightning struck the sand, she would take the glass, re-shape it and then sell it. I went a long with her once when I was younger. It was very interesting. A lot of people don’t know what lighting does to sand when it strikes it.” He smiled a little sadly at the memory. For that same family friend who was so dependent on lightning storms was killed by one. She was the only human friend who knew about his whole family being shifters.

“So” Elijah said moving away from that subject “where do recommend we go?” He repeated his question from earlier, not sure if she heard him last time.
Elijah wanted to know what her business was, but he figured that it would be best if they moved to another location as well. There was a lot about Raven he wanted to know, and he found himself not caring that he had an early day tomorrow. He didn’t care that he a client to meet with; he just wanted to know more about her. That very idea perplexed him to no end.

“That’s good. I would like to keep my face if you don’t mind. Makes life easier for me as well.”

She grinned again.
She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

"Well I'm glad we could reach an agreement on that." She said, an amused grin still spread across her features. "I wouldn't want to be responsible for ruining your face. It would be too much of a shame." The words were blunt. They may have been taken as flirting, but with Raven she was just being honest. The man was handsome, and she showed no embarressment when she said what she did. She may not even have noticed how her words could have been taken, and she would not have cared if she did. She was the type of person who spoke her mind as the words came to her, without thinking first. By thinking first, you change the words and your meaning and it kinda defeats the purpose of being honest. And people had a problem with the way she opporated, it was usually one of those "there's the door, don't let it hit your ass on the way out" situations. Although, maybe not with those exact words. She chuckled softly at the thought, she's only ever had to tell that to one person.... "Please, Raven! Forgive me! It won't happen again!" "Like hell it won't! There's the damn door Jack. Don't let it hit cha' in the ass on the way out. Now get the bloody hell outta my sight!" She shook the memory away. That was the last time she saw Jackson alive, which was just fine for her. She wasn't the kind of person to feel regret. Her last words had been honest, blunt but honest, and she would not have had it any other way. The next time she saw him, and cold and white in the morge. Dead. Shot by a drive-by by some lowlife gangsters. She hadn't cared much then and she cared even less now. It was just a memory. And if she gave memories power over her she would cease being her own person. She would be a slave to her memories, and that was not going to happen as long as she still had a mind of her own.

“I have to agree with you there,” he replied “they defiantly don’t know what they are up against.”

She grinned at his compliment. It was honest, he wasn't trying to flatter her, that much she could tell. Which made her grin all the more smug. But again, it wasn't arrogant. She was just glad someone could recognize her strength, and proud of herself for having made that very clear. She wondered how long it would take for her to bring Elijah down himself. Not that she ever would try. Well, so long as he didn't provoke her in any way. Which, since he hadn't thus far, she was willing to bet that he wasn't planning on it. Especially after that comment. He seemed to recognize her power and didn't seem to want to mess with her. Which was good, since neither of them wanted his face ruined. She chuckled softly at the recently stated agreement, and racked her brain. Trying to remember the reason she had waited for the other shifter in the first place. She shrugged it off. Guess I just wanted to meet another shifter. A male no less. This would be her first male shifter outside of her family. Because of her parent's history with eachother, Raven was always a little ify about meeting another male shifter. After all, they had always been fighting because of the whole imprinting situation. She didn't want to meet a male shifter and imprint on him and then have him imprint on someone else. She didn't want to end up in the same situation as her parents. But apparently, once presented with the opportunity, she could not pass it up. So far, nothing seemed to be going wrong. Everything seemed relatively peaceful for the most part. She could only hope it stayed that way. Not that she wouldn't comply with a change if it happened. She was a "go with the flow" kinda gal after all.

“Photographer huh? As well as my mother and sister. Nice to meet you Raven.” ... “Elijah,” he said simply “Elijah Caine.”

Raven couldn't help but lift a brow questioningly and curiously. It seemed like everywhere she turned there were photographers. She would consider moving to another place, if only to help her business. But she was doing just fine, and she was much too attached to Forks to leave. Not because of the people, but more because of the storms. She almost started to daydream about the lightning again, but resisted the urge to. "I guess there are a lot of photographers here.... Not that I blame them. The storms here are beautiful." The last word she said almost seemed out of place for such a violent prone woman. But it was how she felt about them, so she didn't care how it sounded. As he said his name, she repeated it mentally. She wasn't usually very good with names, but she didn't want to forget his. "Elijah...Elijah...." She repeated to herself softly, logging it into memory, her eyes closed as if to focus her mind. Which was quite a step for Raven. She would feel a little bad if she forgot his name now, but she probably would never admit that. "That's a nice name. I've never heard it before." She said thoughtfully. "Then again, I've never met a male shifter outside of my family, so I guess in that sense the name fits." She said with a grin. People weren't usually able to follow her logic, on the rare occasions when she had one. So she wasn't expecting Elijah to follow her's with any sense of clarity. She was curious if he would be able to, and once again found herself wondering how long it would take her to win a fight with him.

“Sorry I spaced out for a second.” He cleared his throat “Sure I like lightning storms. I don’t have anything against them as long as I don’t get hit. We had a family friend who was quite dependent on lightning for her job. When the lightning struck the sand, she would take the glass, re-shape it and then sell it. I went a long with her once when I was younger. It was very interesting. A lot of people don’t know what lighting does to sand when it strikes it.”

His apology snapped her from her own thoughts. She shook her head, letting him known not to worry about it too much. Raven rarely ever apologized to anyone, so she always found herself some level of perplexed whenever someone apologized to her. "Don' worry 'bout it too much." She said, her cut words starting to come out now that her pulse was starting to calm down. She still didn't see herself getting snappy at Elijah, he was too interesting of a character to do that to. And he had not given her a reason yet to get angry at him. But her slang words were starting to show now that she was calming down from her excited state of being, something that she only took notice of as a warning sign of sorts. Not that she really cared. It wasn't so bad that people couldn't understand what she as saying. "I pretty much dozed off too, so it really doesn' matter." Her attitude was becoming rather nonchalant as well. But this was Raven's way of comforting someone. In a way. Almost. She listened closely to his story, excited by it. "Ah..... Once I found some glass that was hit by lightning." She said, seeing his gaze sadden but not knowing the reason to it. Lightning was a fantastic thing. It made the hair along her skin, especially her neck, stand up with excitement. Why would it ever be a bad thing? "My job pretty much depends on lightning too. Its the main thing I photograph." She explained, deciding to shrug off his expression and just focus on getting him away from whatever thought brought it on. It was pointless to dwell on anything, especially the past. You learn from it, and it helps to shape your opinions, and then you move on. Dwelling on anything only slowed you down.

“So,” Elijah said moving away from that subject “where do recommend we go?”

She was glad to see he was moving away from the subject. If he hadn't, she would have done it for him. Raven didn't want to see Elijah like that, not if she could help it. She grew thoughtful again. She really didn't go outside much, not to cafes anyway. Racking her brain and memories, she tried to think of something. The only place she could think of was IHOP, but she didn't know how expensive a visit there would turn out to be. But the cozy, warm scent of food filled her lungs at the very thought and almost made her mouth water. Its decided then I guess. When Raven looked back at Elijah, the hungry mouth-watering expression was still on her face. IHOP was still on her mind, and all the food they had to offer there. "Er...its not really a cafe but, what about IHOP? I still got - er, have - money left, so you won' have to worry 'bout me." She didn't know why she corrected her grammer, but what's done is done. At the mention of her having money, she patted her jacket pocket just to make sure and was relieved when she discovered she was right. She wasn't going to let Elijah pay for her, even if she didn't have money. She hated depending on others, and this wasn't exactly a date either. Although, even when she had been dating Jackson she never let him pay for her. Well, one time he had since she had left her wallet at home, but that was the first and only time she allowed it to happen. And she had paid him back anyway. She hoped Elijah would understand this and be okay with it. Raven didn't know what she would do if he insisted on paying for her. She would probably pay him back by slipping the money into his pocket or something. But it shouldn't come to that. After all, as long as this wasn't exactly a date she should be able to vouch for paying for herself.

(next post will be better I promise!)

He nodded in agreement, there did seem to be quite a few photographers in the area, all of whom seemed to like to photograph the storms. It made Elijah all the more curious to see a storm here then if they were so reportedly beautiful. Storms back home were pretty nice, snow usually followed after in great heaping chunks. Almost like snowballs falling from the sky, it proved rather irksome at times. Though as a child he and his brother always enjoyed smashing through snow banks.

Her brow had arched and he couldn’t help but notice again how beautiful she was.
“Don’t worry, my Mother lives in Alaska as well as my sister, so you don’t have to worry about too much competition.” Though he wasn’t sure about the dozens of other photographers that were probably around Seattle somewhere.
He was always a little bit surprised to hear of a successful photographer who didn’t take pictures of models or celebrates. It was a difficult job, and he respected the people who could make a living out of it. He had tried to make a living out of his artwork at one point in his life, it wasn’t meant to be. Art was a difficult thing to sell, and a completely different animal in trying to get people to appreciate it. Though if he was lucky maybe some of his art would be famous after he died, like Monet, though he highly doubted it.

Elijah blinked in surprise, she liked his name? That was new, he didn’t expect her to say something like that, he smiled slightly amused at her compliment. Wondering what brought that on. It was curious though as well, that he was the first male shifter for her to meet outside her family, so like him in that aspect.

“Likewise” he returned the compliment with a small smile. “You’re the first female shifter I’ve met outside my family as well. And very different from the ones in my family” he laughed. It was nice that she was different, it was refreshing. It made him wonder at the possibilities of what her animal was again, the curiosity was eating away at him slowly. Though he felt he should wait to ask, he wanted to see if he could figure it out for himself first. His family’s animals were so blaringly obvious, though he was sure that was only because he knew what they were. His mother is strong, fierce and beautiful with almost a feline grace about her, his father was a big burly man who was often called a bear by some of his friends in human form. His sister was loving and friendly but quite defensive and protective and as for his brother Damen...Elijah had to fight back a smile. He wasn’t sure what characteristics between his brother a wolf were, he didn’t think stupidity was one of them. Though Damen was strong and independent at times, Elijah let that count. As for his own animal, well he was a loner like the fox. He wasn’t dependent on anyone. That was all the similarities he could think of, which still puzzled him at this late stage.

Similarities between the human and the animal they shift into is an important detail. It’s about compatibility, you have to be able to thrive in that animal’s life style and body. You have to have similar qualities and behavior in the first place to make that first connection, but shouldn’t Elijah have more in common with the fox? Maybe it wasn’t all about what you have in common, though he wasn’t sure what else would matter then. He glanced to Raven and wondered if his animal was obvious to her, he wondered what she would guess him as. Again he tried to see similarities between her and an animal, but it always seemed to go back to the felines. Raven was strong, beautiful, confident, and independent. Sure many animals had those qualities but that was what he always went back to. Elijah kept in mind that he had only just met her, and maybe there would be more revealed about her in time.


Elijah chuckled.
“International House of Pancakes.” That only made him laugh more, the name amused him to no end and he wondered if they really only served pancakes.
“I’ve never been to an IHOP, though my brother is quite fond of them. Do they really only serve pancakes? I can’t see how it is so popular if they only offer pancakes. You think that people might get tired of eating them.”
Elijah couldn’t remember the last time he had pancakes, he couldn’t remember the last time he had breakfast. He was always so busy in the mornings that he didn’t have time to eat, though he never really at lunch either which he guessed wasn’t very healthy but there was nothing he could really do about that. His job didn’t allow him to eat often during the day, there was always too much planning and mapping out or clients to meet or schedule. If you stopped to eat, you would be behind schedule and neither Charles nor Janet liked it when people got behind schedule.

He remembered passing an IHOP on the way to the bar and automatically felt for his car keys in his pocket.
“I can drive us there, unless you came with someone else. Or if you have your own car you can drive if you want, whichever. “
He hopped that she didn’t come with someone else, or for that matter another guy because that would be disappointing. Though he didn’t see anyone in that bar that looked like Ravens type. He shrugged, what did he know about it. It only bothered him because he hopped that maybe he was just a little bit her type.

“Don’t worry, my Mother lives in Alaska as well as my sister, so you don’t have to worry about too much competition.”

She chuckled.
That was amusing.

In all honesty, Raven was more concerned about police ruining her business than she was competition. In fact, she had such a steady hold in her business, that she wasn't at all worried about being blown away by any competition. She was "well ahead of the game" so to speak. "Eh, I'm not too worried 'bout compeition." She said confidently, grinning and tilting her head to one side slightly. "I've gotta good hold on my business, so competition don't - um, doesn't - really bother me." She explained, once again correcting her improper grammer. She inwardly growled at herself for caring about something as unimportant as her grammer, knowing that if he knew what was best for him he would refrain himself from correcting her. Still, she shrugged it off. Geting upset about it was only pissing her off even more, so decided to just not think about it. As usual.

"Likewise.” He returned the compliment with a small smile. “You’re the first female shifter I’ve met outside my family as well. And very different from the ones in my family.”

She raised an eyebrow again, crossing her arms as well, when she saw Elijah blinked at her comment. Naturally, she took it insultingly. "What? Don't like compliments?" She questioned in a snappy tone, only slightly annoyed. For some reason, she wasn't as angry as she would have been if someone else had said that. Especially if Colette had reacted like that. While Raven was fully aware of her temperment making her seem like the type of person who didn't pay compliments and couldn't care less, she liked it that way. In fact, if Colette had been the one standing in Elijah's place, she would already have had a broken nose. Despite being Raven's sister. That was just the way she was. However, as Elijah continued to speak and revealed that she was first female shifter he's ever outside his family and then proceeded to laugh, her raised brow became one of less angered curiousity. "Well would ja look at that. Can anybody say 'irony'?" She said, a playful and teasingly sarcastic tone easily detected in her voice. "I'm sorry to say I'm exactly the best example of a female shifter...." She admitted thoughtfully, not really ashamed or anything of the sort. This was how she was, and people just had to deal with that. "They tend to be more, uh, less inclined to beat up mortals than I am." Now she blushed softly, scratching the back of her head with embarressment. Shifters were supposed to protect mortals, at least that was what Eliza and Colette tried to tell her. All Raven ever did was get them admitted into the nearest hospitals. She scoffed, dropping her arm and losing her blush. Most of the people she put in the hospitals were dirt and deserved it, so she instantly lost any feelings of embarressment. But a slight sense of being nervous remained for some reason...a reason that she didn't care to really contemplate at this very moment.

“International House of Pancakes.” That only made him laugh more, the name amused him to no end and he wondered if they really only served pancakes.
“I’ve never been to an IHOP, though my brother is quite fond of them. Do they really only serve pancakes? I can’t see how it is so popular if they only offer pancakes. You think that people might get tired of eating them.”

Raven's jaw dropped when Elijah said he has never been to IHOP before. Snapping her mouth closed, she started daydreaming about all their mouth-watering dishes. Shaking her head to clear it, she grabbed his hand and started to lead him out to the main street, her pace swift as now her stomach was thinking for her brain. "I can't believe this...." She muttered, cursing and grumbling under her breath. Too low for Elijah to hear. "Of course they serve more than just pancakes! Their food is so..gah! How could you never have been there before?!" She was obviously having a moment. A random spurt of energy that was, of course, channeled into her more fiesty emotions. Not necessarily anger, it just fired her up and made her overreact. Like right now for example.

“I can drive us there, unless you came with someone else. Or if you have your own car you can drive if you want, whichever.“

She then came to a screeching hault. She couldn't remember if she had driven her car there or not. Raven just stood there, completely frozen, trying to recall if she ever drove to the bar in the first place. Eventually, she shrugged. Raven turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow when he asked if she had come with anyone, perplexed by the comment. "Um, no. I haven't come with anyone. I'm not exactly the type of girl that guys like to take out on dates or anything.... Besides, do you honestly think I would ever let my boyfriend take me to a bar for a date?" Her tone went from matter-of-fact to questioning and surprised. But she wasn't mad. Nor was she embarressed to admit that she wasn't exactly most men's type. Never did it occur to her that maybe the unstated question had originated from Elijah's own secret hope that he was Raven's type. "We can take your car. I uh...can't exactly remember whether or not I drove my car here...." She admitted. She wasn't exbarressed this time, even though that wasn't exactly the most flatering situation to be in. "But I guess I'll find out when you drive me home." This was not a question, it was a statement. She was thinking out loud by saying it, and she gave a physical shrug while also shrugging off the concern of her vehicle with that simple statement. It wasn't like anyone was going to be able to take it from her, or that she wouldn't be able to retrieve it if they did. As long as her camera - which might as well have been her baby - wasn't in the car, she wasn't going to waste her time being concerned about it. "So uh, which way to your car then, Elijah?" She asked, turning to look at him curiously as she stepped aside to give him permission to lead her. It never really crossed her mind that she hadn't let go of his hand, she had just forgotten to drop her hand. And Raven never realized it either. She would only really be aware of that if Elijah said something to her about it, or when he started to lead her to his car with her hand still in his.

[OCC: That's okay. =] Mine isn't exactly top-notch either to be honest. XD]

"What? Don't like compliments?"

Elijah’s brow wrinkled, slightly confused. But he couldn’t help but smile at her, a little entertained by her.

“No, it isn’t that. No one has ever commented on my name before. It was surprising.”
He wondered why that upset her, and made a mental note not to do that again in the future. That is if they met up in the future. Elijah shoved down the disappoint that started to creep up inside him at the thought that he might not see her again. After all they had only just met and they barely knew each other.

He listened to what she said next with interest and chuckled. It was ironic that he was the first male shifter she met outside of her family, and she the first female shifter he met outside of his family. Elijah could only wonder if that was supposed to be or if it was only coincidence. He mentally shrugged, it must only be a coincidence. After all, how many shifters could there be? And around this area as well, at least he hadn’t run into any others until now. Elijah wondered how many shifters outside his own family he had come across but had been too busy to notice. He was always moving, always working, always building, planning. He doubted that he would have been able to catch their scent when he was that busy. Elijah never really paid particular attention to how the air smelled at all times.

Elijah laughed. So not all female shifters beat up mortals then it was just her. Though his sister Sascha didn’t mind defending herself when the need came. He started to wonder if maybe it was a little something they all had in common, perhaps just not as strongly as Raven.

“So you beat up mortals often?” he joked. Elijah didn’t really care too much if she did or not. That was what she chose to do, he would be more concerned if she got hurt. He looked down at her, his blue eyes scanning her face and immediately took it back. He doubted that any mortal could take her down, they would have to have a hell of amount of luck on their side in order to do so. Elijah was curious as to how Raven go to be so skilled in fighting and if she perhaps did it for sport. Or if she trained, or maybe it was just natural instinct to what her mysterious animal could do.

His laugh came louder than he had meant it to. Her reaction to him having never been to an IHOP was priceless. Her jaw had dropped comically but she snapped it shut quickly.

‘Of course they serve more than just pancakes!...’

Elijah stood there and smiled extremely amused at her little outburst. She was so full of energy he could hardly believe that she could hold it all in all the time. It was beautiful. Her whole face seemed to light up with it and Elijah couldn’t help but stare just a little. He listened to her energized outburst as she demanded how he could have never been to one before. Elijah asked himself that question as well, he had passed by plenty of them and Damen always went to one when he got the chance. Elijah figured that he just never really had the time to, or he just didn’t really remember to stop by. Raven made it seem like IHOP had the best food on the planet and he wondered if it really tasted that good.

“If they don’t serve just pancakes why is it called the “International House of Pancakes?” he asked teasingly. Though his question was cut off when she took his hand and started marching down the street in the general direction of IHOP. He didn’t mind that his hand was in hers, he didn’t mind it at all.

Raven came to a sudden halt when he asked if she came with anyone. Elijah didn’t try to hide the fact that he was glad that she didn’t. Though he did try to be more subtle about it, he wasn’t exactly trying to pick her up, they were just going to IHOP. Though he didn’t deny the fact the he felt attracted to Raven, how could he not. Her personality was magnetic to him. Elijah forced down a laugh as she said she didn’t remember if she drove here or not. He wondered how a person could forget something like that, and he couldn’t help that the corners of his mouth lifted slightly teasing.

"So uh, which way to your car then, Elijah?"

His hand was still in hers, he adjusted it so it was the other way around, it was just more comfortable for him that way. With her hand in his, he started leading her in the direction of his car. His car was not a BMW, Escalade, Mercedes or anything that fancy. It was a simple black Toyota pickup truck, though he kept it nice. The only reason he had a truck was that it made it more convenient if he needed to transport lumber, brick, metal whatever material he was using to build. It was easier to because it meant less trips to take for everyone and it got the job done sooner.

It was still there in the parking lot with all the other cars shoved in together and let go of Raven’s hand to unlock the passenger door and opened it for her. He looked to her then, wondering if she would be mad that he did. Elijah gave her an apologetic shrug, he couldn’t help that his parents raised him as ‘somewhat’ of a gentlemen.
He walked around the car and slid in. The engine came to life as he turned the key and he turned down the radio that was telling them the weather for tomorrow. Elijah looked over at Raven, no longer being able to hold back his curiosity.
“So Raven, what animal exactly do you shift into?” It was an honest question and he hopped he didn’t offend her. Though he was beginning to find out that with Raven it was a 50/50 shot. That only made him smile more.
“I can almost guarantee that you won’t guess mine. No one ever does” he mused aloud. He wouldn’t be surprised if she did guess it correctly though he wouldn’t be surprised either if she guessed wrong.

Elijah pulled out of the parking lot and started driving in the direction of IHOP.
“you’re going to have to tell me where it is exactly. I think I passed it on the way here but I can’t remember”

“No, it isn’t that. No one has ever commented on my name before. It was surprising.”

Huh.
Not what she had expected.

Raven raised a brow curiously but shrugged soon after, not all too concerned with why people haven't commented on his name. Eliza had been the one to teach Raven some social skills, even if she didn't really use most of them. One of those things had been to comment on someone's name when possible. "It has to be honest though, so don't say anything if you don't feel it first." Eliza's warning tone echoed in Raven's mind, making her inwardly scoff and outwardly grinned. Eliza was always such a mother. Raven remembered every detail of every argument they had. Each time it was Eliza trying to convince Raven not to do something foolish or reckless, which of course never quite worked out. Raven always felt like she had to be the strongest, second best was never good enough. Not in the strength department. She couldn't have cared less about her grades, but she had always kept them up. For Eliza's sake if no one else's. I always told myself that it was just to keep her from getting on my case, but it was really to make her happy. The realization, the suddeness of it, reflected on her expression. Luckily for her, Elijah seemed too distracted to notice her own trip down memory lane.

“So you beat up mortals often?”

His laugh and his smile cause her to hesitate. But only for a fraction of a second. Even though the tone was joking and light-hearted, her own response was not. She reached up to her recently scarred arm, gripping the bullet scar tightly. Recently, she had picked a fight with a gang led by a pudgy man she had nicknamed Cue Ball Drake. The gang leader had taken a shot at her, but she had managed to dodge critical damage by moving and taking the hit to her arm. She squeezed the scar, her eyes narrowing at the same time, before she was finally able to shake herself from the loathing that was now causing her injuried arm to tremble. "Uh, yeah actually. Ever since I can remember, fights were just part of everrday life." Despite his joking tone, she had answered him quite seriously. She was purposefully giving him a little peek into her life. Letting him know a little something about her other than the obvious. She didn't know if she was ever going to see him again, so she didn't know why she was even telling him about her. Raven wasn't exactly sure about anything. Even her ex-boyfriend knew nothing about the conditions that she grew up with. The most imtimate detail he had known about her, was the most obvious fact of her everyday schedule. After all, everyone knew that she fought daily. At least, in that time in her life they had.

“If they don’t serve just pancakes why is it called the “International House of Pancakes?”

Her right eye twitched slightly at his boisterous laughter. She knew he was laughing at her reaction, and even though that normally resulted in someone getting a black eye or something she made no move to hoist him up by the collar of his shirt. She felt no need to, and there was something holding her back. Besides, he hadn't meant to provoke her, so it was not necessary to waste energy punishing him. When he asked his question, she almost groaned out loud. She hated puzzles, and she had no way of knowing why the restaurant was named so. "Um...I dunno.... Maybe that's what they started out with?" It was an honest attempt, but just trying to figure such a puzzle out was already starting to give her a major migrain. She resisted pressing her fingers to her temples. It was a perplexing mystery, but she tried to shake it from her mind. Mental things like that never were her forte and she hated them. She knew that Elijah was just teasing her though, so she put on a grin and tried to relax her post by placing her hands on her hips again and leaning to one side. "I'll be sure to ask someone when we get there. Its a very interesting point." The words didn't seem to quite fit her style, but she knew she would end up asking someone that night. Just in case somebody knew something.

Then they had the little adventure.

She hadn't realized that her hand had still been holding his until he shifted them so that he was now holding her hand. Raven couldn't help but hide a slight blush at the realization. She couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, but she was willing to blame it on the shot she never got to drink. As soon as he started to lead her to his car, she winced. She hid it well, the last thing she needed was for him to start asking questions. But the arm he was now holding and gently pulling was her recently injuried arm, and it still hurt despite the scar. The bullet had been removed, she had yanked it out herself, but the arm was swore. The flesh probably hadn't made a full recovery yet, and being led like that was sending a burning, stabbing sensation shooting up her arm. As if she was being shot all over again, but her entire arm felt like swiss cheese. She swallowed her cries of pain, resisting the urge to wince and flinch. She forced her body to relax, but couldn't stop the muscles in her arm to tense which only resulted in further pain. She knew it wasn't his fault, so she didn't blame him. And, despite the fact that she would never admit it, Raven did enjoy the feeling of her hand in his. It felt comfortable, normal. But the pain was an undeniable distraction. Her arm was still throbbing when they reached his truck. Gratefully, he had opened the door for her, and she smiled slightly to express her gratitude at it. But the smile was a little akward and pained, since her arm still hurt terribly.

“So Raven, what animal exactly do you shift into?” ... “I can almost guarantee that you won’t guess mine. No one ever does”

By the time he asked his question, she had already buckled herself into the seat. She sat with her arm cradled delicatly in her lap, and was glaring at it with loathing and malice until she was snapped out of it by Elijah's voice. She gasped softly and turned to look at him, her eyes widened in shock. She had never been asked so directly before, usually people just figure it out when they see her animal form. Careful not to disturb her left arm from where it rested, she lifted her right arm to scratch the back of her head thoughtfully and nervously. "Um, well, here's the thing, if I tell ya, you'll laugh. So before I say anything at all, ya gotta promise me you won't laugh." She gave him a warning glare, scanning his face for the honesty behind his reaction. She was being her usual manner of the term "friendly", possibly teasing him. But her warning was quite serious all the same. "If you do laugh, I'll be force to rough up that handsome face of your's, despite any regrets. After all, I have a reputation to uphold." She added, now being completely playful and teasing him. She was enjoying it too, although she didn't really notice the compliment she kinda paid him in the same breath. She didn't mention trying to guess his. She made a mental note to attempt it after she told him her animal.

“You’re going to have to tell me where it is exactly. I think I passed it on the way here but I can’t remember."

She blinked, and couldn't help but stare at him like he was insane. The truck was already on the road though, she would have to do the best she could. I work best with landmarks and the scent of the air. She muse, rolling down the window and allowing herself to lean on it a bit. She let the wind buffet her face and send her hair flying in all directions, paying close attention to landmarks. And the wind patterns. "Make a turn here." She said, her voice calm and mature in a way. She was so focused on getting him there, she didn't have time to prepare her arm for a sudden stop Elijah would have to make because of a stupid driver cutting them off after he had made the turn. The stop, jerked her body a little, but the most serious thing that happened was that her wounded arm got joslted around a little bit. This time, she could not swallow a sharp cry of pain. Gripping her left arm close to her body, Raven's eyes burned again with utter malice and hate. She felt such loathing for Cue Ball Drake's blood at that moment that it was the only thing keepig her from crying. The sheer pain was enough to bring her close to spilling over, the injury was too recent. Cringing in the seat, she shot a glare at the driver that caused the jerk of Elijah's truck, biting back her hate to prepare herself to start trying to convince Elijah that she was alright. Raven lifted her hand to take a look at the entry wound and for a moment her eyes widened in fear. She thought she saw and smelled blood, but when she blinked it was gone. Still, in its place she noticed that beneath the scar there seemed to be a problem the healing process. Internal bleeding.... That's sure to leave a damn mark. She knew from her fighting experience that wounds like this were really bad, making her grin. This time, it was a grim grin. Mentally, she ran through all her plots to find Drake and Sparky and kill them. She didn't give a damn about cops anymore, she only knew the blood lust she felt at that moment. And she was hell-bent on satisfying that desire. Part of her was still perfectly aware of Elijah, and knew full well the speech about her needing medical attention that was yet to come. She only hoped he would back off about it when she told him no. Which was, of course, her plan.

(*melts over signature* It looks so amazing!!! I'm so sorry it took me so long to reply!! *offers cookies as apology*)


Elijah noticed that Raven reached her hand up and clutched her arm, he thought she looked a little world weary, her arm started to tremble a little. His brow wrinkled in concern and he wondered if he should ask if she was alright, he opened his mouth to speak though she answered his previous question before he could ask his new one. It momentarily distracted him, her tone was completely serious and he quickly hid his surprise. Elijah didn’t want to insult her when he realized that she was sharing a little detail about herself with him, a little piece to the mystery that was Raven. He wondered why she fought all the time, if it was something for sport or if she just had too. A new wave of worry washed over him that brought him back to her arm. Elijah could only guess what had happened and it didn’t feel right to ask her about it.


As they climbed in the car, Elijah noticed Raven glaring at her arm with malice. She held it a little too delicately in her lap. He wanted to distract her somehow and his question did a job of it. She looked up at him, surprise was evident on her face as she gasped a little from the shock. He waited patiently not wanting to annoy her and she scratched the back of her head almost seeming embarrassed.
Raven asked him not to laugh if she told him and just her saying that made him smile a little bit, but he forced it away.
“I promise I won’t laugh at you” he assured her as he pulled out of the parking lot, still fighting to keep a smile from his face, as he wondered what her animal could be.

As they drove, Raven rolled down the window and slightly leaned out, telling him where to go. An amused smiled crept to his lips, she reminded him of a puppy sticking her head out the wind catching some air. Elijah smoothly turned the wheel listening to what she said. His eyes were focused on the road as she told him to make the next turn, but what happened next had surprised him. A driver cut him off nearly smashing into the side of his truck as Elijah swerved slightly to avoid a head on collision. The brakes came to a quick stop, jolting the car a little as Elijah had pulled off the side of the road. He had heard Raven cry out in pain and his sharp blue eyes flew to her immediately.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” his voice was clam, but there was a slight edge to it. It took everything he had not to kick open his car door and go running after that damn car that almost crashed into them. He would find them somehow, though he wasn’t sure what he’d do when he found them. Elijah wasn’t used to being so angry, so protective. He looked at Raven, his brow wrinkled. She was holding her arm look at a spot that was turning slightly purple under the surface. Elijah was no doctor but he wasn’t sure if it was just a forming bruise, or internal bleeding.

Elijah heard the car that cut him off screech to a stop a few feet away. He saw the red lights in the rear view mirror as the car backed up and parked behind him. The door slammed as a man, who was slightly built storm out of the car and bang on Elijah’s door.

“Hang on a second” Elijah said to Raven as he climbed out of the car, the guy immediately shrank back at the height and build of Elijah.
“I suggest” his tone was icy “You watch where you drive next time.”
The man immediately puffed up at his tone
“I could say the same thing to you punk.”
Elijah couldn’t help but arch a brow incredulously. He looked at the man; he was slightly shorter, a bit of a belly with impressive biceps. Elijah wasn’t concerned though, by the smell of the air, this man wasn’t a shifter. Though he seemed to have a fondness of drugs, Elijah narrowed his eyes at the man. His anger was boiling over at the thought and sound of Raven’s pain.

“I highly recommend you get back in your car now sir” His tone was cold as he turned back to the car, the threat hung in the air and the man seemed to be able to tell a bad road when he saw one. He cursed at Elijah under his breath and shot a glance at Raven through the car. Elijah glanced over his shoulder, blue eyes an icy warning to the man. Eventually he stomped back to his car and screeched back onto the road speeding away. Elijah climbed back in the car with a sigh of annoyance and shut it a little loudly behind him.

“Excuse me” he said apologetically “Some people just…” he left it at that. He was trying to keep his temper down.
“May I?” he asked gently reaching his hands out gently and gingerly holding her wounded arm in them. He tried not to jostle it, by the look on her face and by the look of the wound it seemed quite painful. His eyes examined it carefully, there was a scar there, this was an old wound. Maybe not healed properly or it as somewhat fresh. A car beeped at them and pulled up alongside, rolling their window down.

“Are you ok?” they called. Elijah sighed in annoyance, it wasn’t their fault he was angry. He had to remind himself of that as he used his free hand to roll down his window.

“We’re fine thanks” He waved at them and they pulled away and Elijah turned his attention back to Raven. His eyes were heavy with concern and a slight bit of curiosity at how she obtained the scar. Of course he wouldn’t dream of asking her, especially if she was in pain. He imagined she wasn’t in the mood for story telling so Elijah let that go.

“I apologize Raven. I almost got you killed and now you are hurt. Though I…Is this something I should worry about?” He didn’t want to force her to a hospital, though he thought it might be in her best interest if she at least had it checked out. Though with Raven he wasn’t sure if he would keep his head if he suggested it. He knew he couldn’t make her do anything she didn’t want to and he wouldn’t think of it.

Elijah looked at Raven carefully trying to figure out if he should take her to a doctor anyway. He mentally cringed at the thought of the fight that he was almost sure would break out. He had a feeling he would lose, he would never hit a woman anyway so he was at a loss. He brought up a gently hand and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, it was soft. Elijah clenched his jaw and brought his hand back a little too quickly; he gently laid her arm back in her lap and placed both his hands on the steering wheel. He glared out the windshield at the other passing cars.

This was just too familiar, she was too similar. She reminded him so much of Her…of Evelyn.

Flash Back
“its fine really Elijah, It’s just a scratch” she said pulling her hand away. The soft skin on her palm was sliced open by a shard of glass. The previous night there had been a storm and she couldn’t get to all the windows in time, that one had slammed shut from the wind sending a shower of glass everywhere. Evelyn had tried cleaning it up but cut herself in the process.

Elijah looked at her hand gingerly, his brow wrinkled in concern.
“I still think you should get stitches for it, it seems too deep Eve.” His voice was calm as his blue eyes looked up to her face. Her cheeks were a little flush from the shock and he gently brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear.

“You’re just being overprotective” she said smiling a little “it will be fine. Just a little soap and water and it should be all set.”
Evelyn gently pulled her hand from his and clutched it to her chest as she headed to the bathroom, sending him a smile over her shoulder as she went.

Present

As Elijah blinked back from the memory, he realized his knuckles were white on the steering wheel. He concentrated on letting them loosen but not taking them off. He could see that Raven was not exactly like Evelyn, obviously. He wasn’t sure why he got so worked up about it, Raven is more of a spit fire then Evelyn was. Elijah supposed there were some qualities, but not so many now that he thought about it. Which was what he wanted, he didn’t want another Evelyn. No one could replace her and he didn’t want to keep comparing her with other people. It was best if she just stayed locked away deep down inside him forever.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Far off.
Distant.

Elijah's voice seemed so far aware from her conscious body that she feared she was close to blacking out, just from the sheer pain. She inwardly sneered at the thought of her passing out because of a little bit of pain, but she also knew that the words "a little bit" and "excrutiating" couldn't be more different. Her throat emitted a soft, low growl instinctively, without her permission. She was in fact glad that the other driver had stormed over to Elijah's vechicle to complain and curse and gripe and groan. Glad for the seconds of distraction she had to pull herself together. Graditude that quickly turned to fear and hate when the man's scent reached her lungs. When she looked up, their eyes had met for a moment. It only took that one heartbeat for her to recognize the man, and a childish, involuntary fear shot through her spine at bonechilling speed. It was one of Drake's lackies, an underling. She would recognize his scent anywhere, and there was no doubt in her mind that he had recognized her as well. "Shit...." She muttered, not even close to caring if Elijah heard her curse her luck. Shit, shit, shit! Now what?! She knew that Cueball Drake still had that damned gun. She knew that his little lacky was going to go chirping to him that Raven was in a vunerable state. Worse yet, she knew that Elijah's health was now in deep shit...because of her.... I just can't seem to do anything right in this damned world! Gimme a break already would ya! She didn't want a repeat of what happened before, of the reason Colette stopped fighting. It was the only other time Raven has ever heard a gun being fired.... She refused to allow for a repeat offense, especially one that concerned Elijah.

“May I?”

At first, Raven only blinked at him when he spoke. Too lost in her thoughts previously, she had almost completely forgotten about her throbbing arm. She remembered it quite quickly though, when Elijah gingerly held it and inspected it. Despite his great care, pain shot through her again and it was all she could do to keep from shifting and pecking the hell outta 'im. Still, she gritted her teeth and only allowed a wince and a flinch before clutching her free hand tightly into a fist. Ironically, pain distracted her from pain. But the slight pain of her own fingernails burrowing into the palm of her hand was nothing compared the fire blazing under the skin of her arm, and she was glad for the downgrade and distraction. The slight scent of blood wasn't sickening, so she was really coping a little better. Still, she knew what was coming and wasn't completely mentally prepared for it yet. She didn't want to tell him the truth, but no good excuses were coming to her mind. Still, she had to find a way to take his mind off her arm for a little while. Ironically, once more, she didn't have to. Some innocent people pulled up and Raven couldn't help but shy away from the driver side's window, as if they were gang members sent out to hunt her down until she died like a pitiful dog. She was ashamed of herself for even considering lying to Elijah. She hasn't lied to him yet, so why start now? Besides, if she ended up dying from Gang Green or whatever, she didn't want that kind of weight on her shoulders. It would probably end up keeping her from "walking towards the light" or whatever. Might as well be a train, she mused, it'd be a helluva lot faster.

“I apologize Raven. I almost got you killed and now you are hurt. Though I…Is this something I should worry about?”

Aha! There it was! Even though it wasn't exactly worded, Raven knew that Elijah's words translated to: Should I take you to a hospital? She opened her mouth to reply but was taken off guard by his next set of actions. She couldn't keep from blushing for a second time when he tucked some of her raven black hair behind her ear, mentally cursing at herself of course. She then watched in stunned silence as he replaced her arm in her lap and took hold of the steering wheel in a chokehold. This caused her to blink and tilt her head to the side slightly, but she took advantage of his trance. She took this time to think, and racked her brain for ways of getting out of a hospital visit. She wrinkled her nose at the thought of being forced to go to one, and she knew she would go kicking and screaming anyway. Even if she went willingly. She hated the stench of hand sanitizer and bleach cleaning products. She hated the blinding white of the lab coats and the floor and the walls and the ceiling and the glaring lights. She hated everything about them, for despite their attempt to remain clean and perfect they still reeked of death and sorrow and heartache. She never liked hospitals. Or doctors for that matter. Although as a child it was just because they were always giving her medicine and telling her what she could and could not do. Raven had always hated that, people telling her what to do. The only thing that was worse was being told what not to do by total and complete strangers who didn't know her on a personal level. A sin that all doctors comitted regularly. Man, she just never could stand them. It was when she first shifted that her hatred for hospitals escalated to include the scents and sensations.

She would not allow herself to be dragged to one.

Elijah would have to sedate her before he got there in a calm, resonable manner. Which she doubted he would because then he would have to explain why there was a sedated, injuried girl in his truck. And Raven doubted she have the mental capacity to not be furious with him when she woke up. Even if it meant frequent visits from Elijah, she wasn't willing to subject herself to mental torment just for that. Not even if he begged her. Well.... Luckily, her thoughts were broken by a shift in Elijah's breathing pattern. He was coming out of his trance. And just in time too...I almost admitted to a weakness! The mere thought almost made her gag, and was enough to take her mind off her arm for a moment. After all, it didn't hurt as much now that it had rested undisturbed for a while. She sighed, turning her languid eyes from Elijah's face to the street ahead. "Raven." She said simply, her voice almost too calm and too soft to be heard. But she knew he had heard her in the quiet that seemed to engulf them, the peace. "My animal is a raven." She knew it was ironic, and shot him a warning side glance. Her left arm may be injuried, but her right arm functioned perfectly fine. "And my arm will be fine. Besides, its not like I can go to a hospital now.... They'll be looking for me and I-" she paused, unsure about continuing but knowing that she had to be completely honest with him, "I don't want you or anybody else getting hurt on my account." She finished, her voice turning to a soft growl as her explanation came to an end.

I can never allow that to happen again. Never again.

The thought came to her with narrowed eyes, but she quickly shook herself. She couldn't afford to lose herself to thoughts again, she might miss something or some chance to interrupt him from arguing pro-hospital. "And don't even bother trying to sway my resolve." She told him warningly, though no threat hung in the air as she spoke. "After all, you want to keep that pretty little head, don'tcha?" She added in a much lighter tone, grinning and winking at him teasingly. It was odd, how freely she could just be herself around him. Sure, it took some brain power from her part. Trying to think of ways to keep him from forcing her to a hospital was only one example. But she knew that, even though her tone was light and playful, if he provoked her and tried to force her to a hospital anyway he better pray that she blacked out. Otherwise, he was in for an undelightful surprise. One that was likely to leave a mark or two. Or three. She almost laughed aloud at her mental joke, and then suddenly remembered that shifters healed faster than normal humans. She hoped that Elijah would come to realize that as well, and would agree that taking her to one of those dreaded hospitals, where Drake and his gang were sure to be waiting for her with open arms and loaded guns, was not worth the effort or the time or the money. Still, she wasn't about to sit there and hope like a useless child being threatened to be sent to her room for a month. Besides.... "I'm still hungry you know...." She said with a smile, expressing clearly that there would be no more discussion of hospitals.

At least, not for now.

For now she was trying to think of whether or not she should tell him what happened. She was a bit uneasy about it, and unable to shake the feeling that it would result in a car chase. She inwardly grinned in excitement, but reminded herself that the aromas of IHOP were calling her. A call much to tantilizing to ignore. She then realized she hadn't commented on Elijah's statement of endangering her. She bent her head to look at her arms in her lap, her hair falling over her shoulders and casting her face in shadows. "Don't...don't worry about apologizing, that wasn't your fault. In fact...I fear that I'm the one who has now put you in danger and for that I'm...I'm truely sorry...." The word "sorry" was alien to Raven. So alien in fact, that it almost tasted like a teaspoon of bitter salt on her tongue as she said it. She never apologized, for anything. She has only apologized once before in her lifetime, and that was when Colette was shot because of her rashness. She knew that she was likely making the situation all the more worse, and couldn't help but feel that IHOP was oh-so tantilizingly close and yet oh-so far away. She just hear the depressing music.... "You're so faaar away.... Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?" Yeah...that's the perfect song for this occasion. Oddly enough, that song faded and she closed her eyes. And image of Elijah's face suddenly and yet slowly faded into a black background in her mind as the song Kiss from a Rose by Seal played out in her mental ears. It was an odd couple, but she wasn't about to analyze it. Raven was now in a trance of her own, and yet remained completely aware of Elijah's scent and presence. Fully prepared for any question or objections he may throw at her now that she was silent.

[OCC: Thanks!=D Your's is really neat too! Oh, and I love the addition of Evelyn! XD It adds even more drama to the mix! What a great idea!]

Elijah stared out the windshield for another moment or two trying to gather his thoughts together. He silently tried to put the pieces together in his mind of everything that was happening. There was something about that man that bothered Raven, he didn’t pretend not to notice it. He clearly heard her mutter a little swear when the man looked over at her. Even when the other people asked if they were ok, he saw her shrink away at the corner of his eye. His brow creased in thought, Raven was such a mystery to him and he still had no idea how to go about approaching it. He was debating on if he should just take her to the hospital to have it at least checked out when she interrupted his thoughts.

“Raven… My animal is a raven”

Elijah just sort of stared at her, his blue eyes wide with surprise. He was not expecting her to say that, though he wasn’t sure what he was expecting her to say at all for that matter. He studied her face gently, trying to pin point her characteristics to a Raven. It wasn’t that she looked like a bird but it was more or less something he could feel rather than see. A Raven, the same as her name, it was so obvious yet he was so far off from ever guessing right if he tried. He smiled at her.
“It suits you, and that’s a compliment” he added quickly. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was insulting her and it seemed that it would always be a 50/50 shot with her.
“I was thinking something feline for your animal to be honest, but none of them seemed to fit you. Now it makes sense.”

He opened his mouth to say something more when he stopped cold. Who were ‘they’? and why would they be looking for her? His mind flashed to the man that cut them off and stared to long at Raven, she had muttered ‘Shit’ under her breath when she saw him. There was clearly something go on but Elijah wasn’t sure if he should dig deeper into the problem. It was after all preventing her from going to a hospital and treating a serious injury, something had to be done about it.
"And don't even bother trying to sway my resolve."
He sighed and clenched his fists a little tighter around the steering wheel, trying to think of how to convince her. Elijah smiled a little at her joke but he turned away from her and stared out the wind shield . He knew he had to get her to see ‘someone’, that wound would not go away on it’s on. Though she was a shifter and just because she healed faster than a normal human didn’t mean that it would heal the right way without some nasty consequences. He looked over at her and saw that her eyes had shut, his eyes narrowed a little in curiosity. Elijah considered if he should just take her to the hospital while she was asleep, but he shook his head. That felt like betrayal, he wouldn’t do that even if he thought it best for her it would be a dirty trick. He gently touched her on the shoulder, wondering if she was really asleep.

“Raven…I know you don’t want to go to the hospital. This isn’t a lecture but merely a…suggestion.” Elijah removed his hand from her shoulder and quickly continued, he didn’t want to give her the chance to interrupt before she even knew what he was going to say.
“I know that you can heal faster than any human, we both can, but that doesn’t mean that your wound” he gestured to it with his fingers “will heal the right way. It could leave some permanent damage and I don’t think an arm is something you want to lose. Your animal is a Raven, they use their wings to fly. What if something happened to your arm and you couldn’t fly anymore? I don’t think you want that to happen, and I don’t want to see you so injured.” He paused a moment to think, he just wanted her be sure of what she was doing, Elijah didn’t want her to think she didn’t need help. Everyone needs help at some point.
“You said that you can’t go to the hospital because they will be waiting for you, I don’t know who ‘they’ are but I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Trust me on that.”

He sighed and looked away from her, the car was still on so he turned the key and the humming of the car fell silent. Elijah could see the sign for IHOP just a little ways up, of course he would take her there if that was where she wanted to go, but he wanted to make sure she thought about it more and wasn’t just being stubborn. His mind wandered back to who ‘they’ were, and why she was so afraid of them, maybe they were the ones that hurt her? That only made him angry so he shoved that thought away, he wouldn’t think of that until he had. Though they obviously did something to her to make Raven fear them, a girl who could beat up a bar full of guys in a dress and heels, it seemed like it would take a lot.

“Listen, if you won’t let me take you to the hospital” which he had the feeling she wouldn’t let him “at least let me get you some medicine or something to help heal it a little better.”
Elijah wasn’t sure what else to say, so he turned the key and the engine started up again. He wasn’t sure what to expect her to say, though he assumed to her to reject his idea. The truck easily pulled back onto the road and he made sure no one was going to cut him off before he pulled into the drive way for IHOP. He let the engine run, waiting for Raven to decide what she wanted to do. Elijah turned to her a smiled at her a little encouragingly
“So what’ll it be? Pancakes or take care of your arm?” Though he wasn’t sure if that was the best comparison to make and he made a small face at that.

“It suits you, and that’s a compliment.”.... “I was thinking something feline for your animal to be honest, but none of them seemed to fit you. Now it makes sense.”

Shocked.
Nearly speechless.

It was good thing that Elijah recovered like he did, because Raven was just about to make a tart reply. Her mouth had popped open, but she froze when he added that it was a compliment. As he continued with his feline comment, she snapped her jaw shut and turned her face away to hide a blush. All this complimenting and sentimentalities were giving her a migraine. She didn't know what to think of herself anymore. Normally, she would have said something like "flattery won't get you no where" or something. But not now. Now she was having to take a breather to recover before she made that kind of remark. And even if she comment as she normally would, she didn't want to give Elijah the wrong idea or anything.... Psh! If he doesn't know that how I am by now, then that's a personal problem. Not mine. Satisfied with this conclusion, she turned back to Elijah, recovered now, with a sarcastic and pleased grin on her face. "Heh. Flattery won't get you anywhere, Elijah. You should know that by now." Of course, she was kidding. And that showed in her twinkling eyes and grin. Her muscles were starting to relax again, making the muscles on her injured arm quiver a little before she felt the muscles in that arm also relax. Which was allowed a tidal wave of relief to wash over her. The throbbing was completely gone by now, especially minus the tense muscles.

“Raven…I know you don’t want to go to the hospital. This isn’t a lecture but merely a…suggestion.” ... “I know that you can heal faster than any human, we both can, but that doesn’t mean that your wound, will heal the right way. It could leave some permanent damage and I don’t think an arm is something you want to lose. Your animal is a raven, they use their wings to fly. What if something happened to your arm and you couldn’t fly anymore? I don’t think you want that to happen, and I don’t want to see you so injured.”

She listened quietly to his words. At first, when his hand had ever-so-gently touched her shoulder, her eyes had flown open instinctively. She was so accustomed to fighting and having to be on guard, that she couldn't even force herself to relax now if she wanted to. Not after seeing that joker's face earlier. She clenched her teeth and good fist at the thought of the lackie reaching Drake at that very moment. She couldn't wait to see the lackie on the street again and wrap her fingers around his neck.... Nothing would give her more pleasure than to make him pay for what she knew he was doing. Well, nothing other than perhaps making Cueball Drake suffer a long, slow, painful death for taking a shot at her in the first place. But right now there was nothing she could do. Right now she had another, much more pressing problem: Elijah was actually making sense. Now instead of her arm pulsating, her head felt like a freight train was running over it at top speed over and over again. She was thinking way too much. And to lessen that load, she started thinking out loud. "If I lost my wings...I would lose my job. My livelihood...my purpose...." The words were muttered under her breath, and she wasn't sure if Elijah could hear her or not. But at the same time, she really couldn't care less. She had been honest with him so far, why break tradition? Still, she couldn't really bring herself to give him a straight answer.

“You said that you can’t go to the hospital because they will be waiting for you, I don’t know who ‘they’ are but I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Trust me on that.”

Ah, that was why. She pondered whether or not she should explain everything to him. But as she tried to piece together her thoughts, only succeeding in worsening her migraine, he turned the car off. She glad for that. Now she could talk to him and not waste his gas. Raven took a deep breath before making up her mind. She would tell him about Drake and his gang and her long, much too extended history with them. For all she knew, the information she knew about his gang could end up saving his life. In response to his promise, she shook her head vigorously. She felt...strangely happy and secure at the promise. But hate and fear and her own bullheadedness pushed that away swiftly. "Its not me I'm worried about." She said, her tone hard as stone as she looked at him with a very mixed expression. Her face was completely serious and her stare reflected that as well, but her eyes were also swimming with concern. Concern for him. For Elijah. "'They' are a gang. Me and them...we have a long history together. She knew it wasn't much, but she was starting to lose her nerve. Maybe this wasn't exactly the best of times.... Not to mention that she had only just met Elijah that night! Her hands tightly clenched her dress, making her wince slightly at the somewhat painful tension in her left arm. Of course, making her relax the arm. "They're leader is...well...he's the one who shot me. I managed to dodge it for the most part, but it still hit me. I haven't been able to go to a hospital because I know they'll be there, biding their time. They know that I'm injured after all, it makes strategical sense. And I don't want the doctors and nurses and other patients to have to suffer because I wasn't strong enough to recover on my own...." Memories flashed behind her eyes. Not memories of when she was shot, but of when Colette was shot all those years ago...protecting Raven.

“Listen, if you won’t let me take you to the hospital” which he had the feeling she wouldn’t let him “at least let me get you some medicine or something to help heal it a little better.”

She was startled slightly when the truck hummed to life again and they pulled into IHOP. She listened to his logic intently, weighing out the consequences of either action. She was about to completely reject the idea when she turned to see an encouraging smile on his face as he said, “So what’ll it be? Pancakes or take care of your arm?” She was frozen for a moment, but couldn't help a soft chuckle. His logic, especially when put like that, would make her seem like an idiot if she didn't accept his help. Help. She frowned at the thought. She hasn't accepted help from anyone in a long time...it was almost maddening that she was being forced to now. If it wasn't Elijah who had offered, she would have felt concerned and done what she has always done in such a situation: leave the person cornering her with a mark of some kind and make a break for it. Just as she did to Drake when he shot her. Which strangely brought another, more alarming thought to mind.... What if...what if he knows where I live?! The very thought in and of itself was too terrible to true. For Raven, a person and spirit as free and wild as her's, to not even be safe in the place she called home was unthinkable and unbearable. She would not stand for it. But such a thought as that could be dealt with later, and it would have to be. With a heavy sigh she turned to Elijah again and met his gaze steadily. She waited a moment with a very serious and intense expression on her face before smiling faintly and nodding. "Alright, alright. Arm. Just promise me: no hospitals." She said sternly, raising a warning finger at him and giving him a playful but warning glare as her smile faded. It was quickly replaced by a grin though. Suddenly, she hoped she wasn't causing him to waste too much gas.

(don't kill Elijah!!! XD )

Elijah clenched his jaw when she said it wasn’t herself that she was worried about. He appreciated her concern but he could take care of himself, she was the one that was injured not him. A low rumble sounded in his throat when she said the other gang leader had shot her but he was half impressed that she dodged it for the most part. The wound could have been a lot worse if she wasn’t so quick on her feet. Elijah fought back the question demanding who this gang leader was so he could hunt him down and take care of him. The thought surprised him for a moment, he didn’t usually get so worked up about it and wondered why he was so extremely protective over her. A quick thought rose in his mind as he tried to figure out why and one word came to him. Imprint. He looked over at Raven and thought about it they had just met that evening how could they be imprints? Wasn’t it supposed to be like seeing the sun for the first time? It was supposed to be instant like it was for his parents and for his sister…right? Elijah didn’t really understand the mechanics of it and he pushed the thought away so he could think about it later, now was not the time when he had an injured woman in the passenger seat of his car.

Elijah smiled at her before shifting into reverse and backing out of the I-Hop parking lot.
“I promise I won’t take you to a hospital.” There was a mischievous glint in his blue eyes as he pulled out onto the busy street of Seattle. Stealthily he slipped his blackberry out of his pocket and turned it on, keeping his thumb over the speaker muting the opening tune. Elijah was no doctor but he knew that a doctor had to treat that wound soon or it could lead to some serious outcomes even death was possible. Though Raven wasn’t exactly human he didn’t know what went or stayed when it came to shifters and wounds like this. He made a promise to her and he wasn’t going to break it, there would be no hospitals. But…she didn’t say anything about private clinics. He had a feeling he was going to have to fight tooth and nail and probably would get smacked in the face when she found out where he was taking her. Elijah planned on convincing her if she fought it that it would be the only way to keep her wings, he wasn’t going to be able to get her any antibiotics with a prescription from a doctor and he wasn’t about to rob a pharmacy. While keeping his phone down by his side he texted KGB and asked where the nearest private clinic in Seattle was located. A few moments passed and he saw the screen light up as they got back to him on the location, it was about 20-30 minutes away but that didn’t matter they would get there soon enough. Elijah followed the directions that were given to him and his eyes searched the road for signs, turning where he needed hoping he would get there before she noticed.

“Raven…Trust me, Ok?” He said looking over at her as he pulled into the parking lot of the private clinic. It still wasn’t too late; they would be open for another half hour they would just make it. He gave her a guilty grin and held up his hands before she could do anything.
“Before you decide to hit me just look at where you are, it’s not hospital it’s a clinic.” He pulled the keys out of the ignition and slid them in his pocket so she wouldn’t get any ideas driving off. Elijah jumped out of the truck and quickly went over to her side and opened the door. He was ready if she decided to hit him but he wasn’t going to give up without a fight.
“Just, listen to me for a second ok?” he said, his blue eyes searching her face “I didn’t break my promise to you and you and I both know that I can’t get you the antibiotic that you need without a prescription from a doctor.” He adjusted his footing so he wasn’t so close to her, he wanted to give her space and he wanted to have enough to block if she decided to attack him.
“Some Tylenol from a drug store won’t fix that Raven only a doctor can. Trust me on this believe that I won’t let anything happen to you. No blood tests, no surgery and no gang members. The worst the doctor can do is recommend you to a hospital. But” he quickly added “That doesn’t mean you have to go. And if a doctor here can’t help you then…I guess I’m robbing a pharmacy tonight.” He studied her features for a moment before leaning against the open door of his car
“What do you say?”

“I promise I won’t take you to a hospital.”

She felt uneasy.
There was something wrong.

There was something that she didn't trust, she just didn't know what. His low growl had been expected, but it still somehow shocked her. Most likely because it was coming from someone she hasn't known for more than a few hours. She narrowed her eyes at him. It wasn't just his growl that threw her off, it was everything. How he seemed to space out for a moment, how his eyes seemed mischievous.... He was up to something, even someone like Raven could see that clearly. But as he pulled out of IHOP and grew focused on the road, she rolled up the window to the passenger's side and proceeded to stare out of the window. Raven rested her head against the cold glass, staring out thoughtfully. After what seemed like forever passed with no one saying a word, she decided to speak up. "That gang leader - Cueball Drake I call 'im - has been nothin' but trouble for my family for a long time." She said, her breath fogging the glass. She blinked at it irritably before returning her gaze to staring out listlessly. Her voice was barely above a whisper, and sounded raspy and exhausted. She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt very tired.... "Me an' Colette would pay him and his pathetic gang and pound them into next month's Tuesday any chance we got. But something one day that ended that.... Since then its just been me, and Colette and Eliza moved away...." She continued, still unable to explain how her sister was shot by Drake to protect Raven. The memory was still a shameful burden for her. She started feeling herself backing down, curling into the corner of her seat somewhat as the memory flooded her mind's eye again. But she shoved it away, her story was past that anyway. "They've pulled knives before, and that's no problem. My own aim isn't so bad with those things. It wasn't until recently that he pulled a gun on me agai-.... Anyway, I put a knife in her gun arm so I doubt he's gonna be shootin' anyone anytime soon."

There.

She ended it there before she gave herself away. It wasn't long after she finished her story and returned to staring out listlessly that she realized where they were going. Just to make sure, she rolled the window down again and let her head hang out somewhat. She was right. The scents and wind patterns were consistent...Elijah was driving her to the clinic! She was just about to turn on him when he parked the car and started - what was to her at the time a bull shit speech - to explain why he taken her there in the first place. “Raven…Trust me, Ok?” Uh-huh. Yeah, whatever. If she hadn't already known where he was taking her, she would have suspected him right that. Just because he asked her to trust him, she wouldn't have. That was just her instinct. It was just simply the way she was. “Just, listen to me for a second ok? I didn’t break my promise to you and you and I both know that I can’t get you the antibiotic that you need without a prescription from a doctor.” She grinned as he adjusted his footing, but only for a moment, her eyes scanning his face with a hard and unreadable expression. It would have been all too easy for to her punch and run. Or better yet, fly. She knew she could. It wouldn't have been graceful because of her injury, but she trusted she would be able to. "Some Tylenol from a drug store won’t fix that Raven only a doctor can. Trust me on this believe that I won’t let anything happen to you. No blood tests, no surgery and no gang members. The worst the doctor can do is recommend you to a hospital. But, that doesn’t mean you have to go. And if a doctor here can’t help you then…I guess I’m robbing a pharmacy tonight.” She studied him just as closely as he studied her. She was uncertain about this move, which showed plainly on her face. “What do you say?”

She was angry.

Hell, she was pissed. She never thought it possible to feel such rage towards one person. Men...always thinkin' they know better.... Still, she only sighed in defeat and hoped out of the truck. She was about to snap at him, possibly yell, when her heart froze. Her whole body froze where it stood. They were surrounded. The scents of Drake's gang filled her lungs with the same burning sensation they always did. The drugs and alcohol was so strong, that it even seemed to burn her nasal passages as she breathed it. In a moment of panic, she reached out and latched onto Elijah's arm with her left hand. This was defiantly going to get extremely ugly. "Heheheh, well well. Lookie what we got 'ere boys!" Raven almost gagged when she heard the voice. She spun on her heels, letting go of Elijah's arm as she did so. Her eyes met the one person she just really didn't want to see right now.... A dark, malicious smirk spread across her face as she glowered at Drake, an animalistic growl rising in her throat. Untamed, and unchecked. "Well, well,if isn't Cueball Drake.... To what do I owe the honor?" She spat, obviously being heavily sarcastic. "Why else? Do you not remember the gift you left in the Boss when you left before? It wasn't that long ago, Raven. Perhaps you're memory is starting to fail you?" Raven turned her head to look at Sparky with another growl. "Who me? Nah, my memory works just fine. Which, if memory serves me right, I completely pummeled you that day, Sparky. So I highly suggest you hold your tongue!" She snapped.

Sometimes, she thought she was more of a wolf than a raven.

Sparky only glared at her, but he said nothing more. Instead, Raven's attention was snatched by Drake laughing. The look she gave him obviously questioned his sanity, but it was also mixed with hate and malice. "Now, now, Raven, you know I just have to return what is given...." She tightened her fists when he pulled the gun, this time in his other arm. "Tch." Yeah...he would be ambidextrous...that would be my luck. She loosened her muscles but focused her senses, watching his trigger hand closely. She also picked up on a lackie sneaking up on her, and she suddenly switched into fight mode. Elijah completely left her mind. She spun on her heels and grabbed the gang member by his jacket and completing the circle. By the time Drake fired the gun, it was too late. The gun lodged itself in the lackie's shoulder, but it seemed to have struck a vital point somewhere. Raven released her grip on him, her arm already starting to feel like it was on fire. Just as she suspected, he fell to the ground with a moan, dead. There was a moment of silence as the man bled onto the cement, the blood curling around her shoes. All of a sudden, they all let out some kind of battle cry and rushed at her.

She didn't have time to think.

She just acted. Spinning, punching faces, kneeing guts, tossing men into a dogpile.... But she was quickly exhausting her strength. It didn't take long for her to break out from the circle that had formed around her, but it was at a high cost. As soon as she had broken free, she was on one knee. Her face twisted with agony as her left hand gripped her wounded and pulsating arm. Unexpectedly, she found herself hoisted to her feet and slammed against a wall, Drake's grubby chubby fingers gripping her by the straps of her dress and her shoulders. The grin on his face was dirty, but in more ways than one.... The expression in his eyes, the hunger, made her feel violently sick. He lifted her from the wall before slamming her against it again. Being injured already, she felt as if all the bones in her body were broken. Shit...brick is really hard dammit... She hoped he would let her go so she could beat his ass, but when he did finally let her go she felt her body go limp. As she started to slid down the wall, she felt a fist being slammed into her stomach and once more crush her body against the wall. Raven gasped, spitting out blood in the same motion. Now she was really pissed, but more exhausted than she was angry. There wasn't much she could do as Drake now towered over her.... She felt a hint of fear tug at the back of her mind as alarm bells triggered. Here she was, defenseless and cornered by a crazy guy with a gun and a grudge. I am so totally screwed was the first thought that came to mind.... "Its too bad really. You really a hot babe, I wouldn't have minded showing you a different side o' me...." His voice trailed of, as if he expected her to beg for that option. She only grinned and spat at his shoes, which turned out to be more blood than spit. He frowned, and then his frown morphed into a scowl. Raising his arm, he held the gun up and pointed it at her forehead, right between the eyes. There was no way she could dodge a point-blank shot like this...as weak as she was. As it was, she was still gasping for breath. Raven could only sit there and glare up at Drake defiantly. If she was to die here, she was going to die with what was left of her spirit being expressed in all its fiery honesty....

Elijah’s eyes were wary as he studied Raven’s expression, there was no doubt that she was pissed off but he had known that would happen. It surprised him when she hopped out of the truck, he didn’t think it was going to be that easy. He expected that he would have to carry her in kicking and screaming, he allowed himself a small grin. Elijah started walking forward when the hair rose on the back of his neck, the smell in the air shifted drastically. The air was filled with the smell of thick alcohol and heavy drugs, it was suffocating. His eyes narrowed as he looked for the source but the sudden pressure on his arm made him look back at Raven. Her hand was gripped tightly around his forearm and he took a step towards her, her eyes were wide with fear.

“Raven are you-“ He was cut off when a voice sounded behind them. Raven whipped around dropping her grip on Elijah’s arm as she faced the speaker. Her expression changed into a malicious grin as a growl rose from her.

"Well, well,if isn't Cueball Drake…”

Eljiah recognized that name from what she told him earlier in the car, so this was the gang leader that shot her. The one that had been causing her all this trouble that she and someone named Colette would take down every once in a while. His icy eyes narrowed as he watched them interact, trying to figure out what to do if this turned ugly. Raven turned into the spit fire he saw at the bar as she snapped at Drake and his lackeys; however it didn’t seem to bother them much. One of them just glared at her but Drake started to laugh, Elijah didn’t know what he found so funny but he was really starting to piss him off. He looked to Raven hoping she wouldn’t do anything stupid and do something to injure herself even more. What he couldn’t figure out was how they hell did they guess she would be here? Raven had said they would be waiting for her at the hospital, Elijah had thought the clinic would be safer that they wouldn’t expect her to be there. What a stupid mistake that was now Raven was in danger and it was because he all but shoved her right in the middle of it. His eyes took in all the gang members but the locked on one in specific, he looked familiar. Where had he seen that man before?

Flash Back
“I suggest” his tone was icy “You watch where you drive next time.”
The man immediately puffed up at his tone
“I could say the same thing to you punk.”
“…shit”
Present

Elijah’s eyes narrowed as he recognized the man who nearly smashed into them. So that’s how they knew she would be here, they were followed.
‘Dammit!’
He was glad at least that he was there and she wasn’t by herself, she looked tired and weak and he had a pretty good feeling of where this was going to go.
His suspicions were confirmed when he saw Drake pull out a gun, but before he could do anything Raven grabbed a hold of one of the gang members and used him as a human shield. The bullet dug deep into the man’s shoulder, hitting a major artery and he feel the cement dead as blood started to pool around his body. There was a moment of shocked silence but it was quickly filled with cries of outrage as they rushed for Raven. She flew about punching, kicking, kneeing everyone she came in contact with. Elijah picked off some of the guys trying to get to her but they kept getting in the way. Raven had dropped to one knee, she was wearing herself out too quickly in her condition. Elijah made a move for her but Drake was closer, he picked her up by the straps of her dress and slammed her into the brick wall. A growl ripped through Elijah’s throat as he slugged her in the stomach making her slid to the ground. Drake aimed the gun for her head a malicious tint to his eyes and he readied to pull the trigger.

Elijah lunged for him grabbed him by the back of the jacket and threw him across the parking lot. He stepped in front of Raven protectively and shrugged off his jacket it throwing it to the ground.
He stole a glance back at her, she didn’t look so great. This had to end soon or it could end badly for her.
“Don’t do anything stupid” he said to her over his shoulder.
Elijah wasn’t a kung fu artist but he wasn’t an amateur in fighting, his parents made it a must because it would help them protect themselves in their human form as well as in animal form. Everyone should know how to defend themselves, especially when situations like this one occurred. The men stood there for a minute not exactly sure what to make of Elijah as he threw their boss across the parking lot as if he were a feather. Some of them helped Drake up but as soon as he was on his feet he shoved them off cursing for them to get their hands off him. He pointed to the one that Raven had mouthed off to earlier, the one she referred to as Sparky.
He, Elijah assumed, was the muscle sent in to take care of the dirty work that Drake couldn’t or didn’t want to handle. Sparky stepped forward and threw off his coat, rolling up his sleeves as he made his way towards Elijah and sunk into a fighting crouch.
“Let’s dance pretty boy” he laughed

Elijah smirked but didn’t say anything, he matched Sparky’s stance and waited for him to make the first move. He was expecting some sort of tactical plan but he raced right for Elijah fist anchoring back ready to punch him in the face. Elijah ducked out and around grabbing on to Sparky’s arm and flipping him over. Sparky leapt to his feet quickly and he waited, glowering at Elijah for getting the better of him, he saw his eyes shift to someone just behind him and Elijah adjusted his footing waiting for something to happen. Sparky ran at him again but smarter this time as he shifted to the side quickly snatching at Elijah’s torso thinking to throw him into the brick wall. Elijah was about to adjust to a different position when someone flew at him from behind throwing him off balance allowing Sparkly to lift and toss him into the wall as planned. Drake laughed as if this was the best show he’d ever seen and that made Elijah boil up with anger. His body shook as his animal instinct threatened to take over as he stood up rolling his shoulder. Elijah forced down the tempting idea to shift but he felt he would do much better in this fight as a human and not as a fluffy white fox. He ground his teeth that he would be cursed with rotten luck, why couldn’t he shift into a bear? A wolf or a tiger? Something terrifying! No, he got stuck with something people like to cuddle with and saw “aww how cute!”

He would have to make do with his own two hands the old fashion way. Elijah made his way back towards Sparky who grinned at him
“Had enough, can I smash that pretty face of yours now?”
“C’mon! Now you’re just flirting with me” Elijah said smirking at him. Sparky’s amused expression turned into anger as his eyes flashed again to someone behind Elijah.
‘gonna pull that again?’
He ground his feet waiting for Sparky to rush at him and he did but Elijah was quicker this time as he side stepped and grabbed hold of the guy who was about to attack him from behind. Elijah rammed him face first into the brick wall and he lay there unconscious or dead, he couldn’t bring himself to care at the moment. He whipped around waiting for the next attack but his eyes widened in shock, his heart froze. Drake was standing on the other side a wicked grin spread across his chubby face as he held Raven up by the hair at gun point. Drake laughed and Elijah’s bewildered expression as he tightened his grip on Raven watching for Elijah to make a move.
What could he do though? If he moved Drake would be sure to shoot her and that would be the end of it but if he didn’t? What exactly did Drake want?
Elijah didn’t want to find out as his mind raced through options of what he could do to distract him. There was only one thing he could think of, but it wasn’t exactly safe or smart idea but it was all he could think of.
He let the instinct take over as he felt the heat rise in his body as he prepared his body to shift. He jumped through the air his clothes ripping to shreds as he shifted into his fox form. Drake stared wide eyed to completely shocked to do anything but stand there with his jaw hanging open. Elijah hit the ground running and darted between Drakes legs and jumped at his back biting at his neck, face, shoulders anything he could get a hold of. Drake cursed and dropped the gun and Raven as he scrambled trying to get the arctic fox off his back.

“Don’t do anything stupid”

Shocked.
Pissed.

For all the rage Raven felt pent up within her, she still couldn't do a damn thing to fight back. She was so sure she was going to die, but then Elijah once more entered the scene. She watched in a mixture of horror and satisfaction as Drake was flung across the parking lot. Horror because she feared now the gang might get suspiscious or pull out knives or something; and satisfaction for the obvious reasons. At Elijah's comment however, her spitfire fiesty attitude came roaring back. She opened her mouth to snap at him, in a very mean-spirited way too since this whole thing was partially his fault. Instead, something else came out: "Give 'em hell." It was spoken in a hoarse voice at very low tone, but in the deathly silence she knew he heard her. A human could probably hear a pin drop on the concrete in the silence. A smirk formed on her face when Sparky and Elijah challenged each other, and Elijah was kicking some major ass to boot. Raven allowed her muscles to relax. For once, just once, she was going to have to allow someone else to do the fighting for her. She closed her eyes, merely listening to the sounds of the battle as her body continued to throb painfully.

Memories.

They flashed through her mind in short sequences. She remembered the moment that Colette was shot. She remembered the promise she had made to her family that day. And for some reason, she remembered a tender moment her mother and her had shared when Raven was just a child.... "Raven? Heh, you and Colette got into another fight today didn't you?" "It wasn't like me and Colette were fighting against each other.... Some butt-faces just said the wrong stuff today!" "Haha, I know I know. You really care about Colette don't you? Well then, you have to protect her with all your might. Never let anything get in your way or prevent you from protecting her. And Eliza." ".... Of course!" "Haha, c'mon. Let's bandage those up now...-" Raven let out a long sigh when the flashback ended. The was the last moment of affection her and her mother had shared before everything fell apart. And it was a very...very long time ago.... She forced herself to open her eyes and watch the fight between Elijah and Sparky, quite entertained by how badly Sparky was getting creamed.... But it didn't take long for panic to set in. She could smell her own fear scent on her, and wondered for a moment if Elijah could pick it up as well. She was suddenly alert because she no longer saw Drake....

But that didn't remain to be a problem.

Before long, Raven felt herself lifted off the ground by her hair. Her toes were just brushing the ground, and she wondered how such a fat man could lift her with such ease. "Heheh, you didn't think you had escaped me, didja?" Actually, she had hoped that she no longer needed to concern herself with him. Raven wrikled her nose at the stentch in his breath, her eyes remaining defiant as ever. But fear seized her heart. This man had already taken a shot at her. Twice in her lifetime. What would prevent him from trying something more emotionally and mentally damaging? Elijah. The answer came to her instaneously, as if someone was answering her. Elijah wouldn't allow him to do that. As Raven recalled Elijah's promise earlier, she felt her heart rate calm. Something that didn't last very long. Drake started to drag her out onto the parking lot, letting the rough ground beneath them to scratch her knees and legs to Kingdom Come. She squirmed and struggled to break free, she knew exactly where this was going. Drake was going to use her as bait to weaken and possibly kill Elijah. As soon as Drake had Elijah's attention, she could see his plan was working to the letter. Elijah had ceased fighting back, but none the lackies were there anymore so that was fine. The blasted gun was being pointed at her again, but she wasn't even focusing on it. Not its gleam, not even the clicking sound it made when Drake readied it to be fired. Her eyes were trained on Elijah, watching him closely to see what his reaction would be.

Then she saw it.

She knew what he was going to do as soon as she saw that look in his eyes, and her heart froze. As he charged, and began to attack Drake, she was released. Raven wasted no time except what was necessary to recover her senses. She allowed her own shifter instincts to take over, taking the form of a beautiful black raven. She dived and attacked Drake, trying to get him to release Elijah from his grip. Elijah was eventually able to pin Drake beneath him, and between the two of them the mere human could find his center of focus. Or so, Raven thought. A flash in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she felt her blood run cold.... Drake had pulled out a knife. And worse yet, Elijah didn't seem to notice it at all. He was too focused on ripping Drake's arm from its socket. Acting before she thought anything through, she phased back into her human form. Not caring if she was naked, she had more important things to worry about than something so menial. The next events played out in front of her like a slow motion movie. She picked up Elijah and shoved him away with no effort at all, adrenaline pulsing through her veins at a rapid rate. Instead of plunging through Elijah, the knife was plunged into her chest. Not directly into her heart, but closer to her shoulder. In fact, the knife came out of her shoulder blade. Raven cried out in agony as the burning sensation consumed her. Panicked, Drake looked at Elijah before turning and running as fast as his legs could carry him. She wanted to give chase, and she glared after him. But at the moment, she knew she wouldn't stand a chance.

She felt heavy.

The world swayed beneath her feet, and Raven allowed it to rock her body until she felt her legs collaspe from under her. She couldn't feel. She couldn't tell if she was bleeding out onto the pavement or what, but she knew that the only thing she could feel was the pain pulsating from where the knife was sticking out of her body. She grabbed the knife with her right hand and yanked it out of her body, only a mere grunt escaping her throat as she did this, but her hand and arm went limp immediately afterwards. Her vision was starting to edge with darkness, but she refused to allow it to happen. She refused to die, naked and bleeding, that very night. It could not, would not, happen. Her breathing was shallow, but she knew that she was lucky. They were, after all, in the parking lot of a clinic....

FINISHED!! =D

Elijah let his animal instinct take over, fight for survival as he ripped and tore at Drakes body. The man grabbed at him and tried to pull him off without much success. The smell in the air shifted drastically then, Elijah’s blue eyes snapped up to see Raven shape shift. He growled at her angrily, hadn’t he told her not to do anything stupid? Her body shifted into the gorgeous glossy form of a Raven and flew at Drake; the sight would have driven anyone insane. An arctic fox and a Raven attacking a single man in the parking lot of a clinic, it was a curious thing that no one from inside had heard all the commotion yet. Drake struggled against the two of them but it seemed to be of no use, but he had one more trick up his sleeve. Elijah was caught up in the moment and he didn’t notice that his opponent had pulled a knife. Usually he would have been more observant, on any other night he would have caught that in an instant but tonight was different. His heart pounded with fear and worry for Raven, with anger for not being something stronger to protect her. However Raven’s sharp eye caught it and within seconds she was back in her human form. Elijah looked up startled and growled
‘what the hell is she doing?’ he thought panicked and angry. She picked him up and shoved him away, he yelped in surprise and scrambled to his feet.

The world went silent then, the only thing he could hear was his rapid heartbeat. The world slowed down to an impossible, painfully slow rate as his icy blue eyes took in the scene. The knife in Drake’s hand sank into Ravens chest deeper and deeper. His heart stopped, his eyes widened in disbelief. The knife protruded out the back, the tip sticking out dripped thick ruby red liquid. Sound came back to the world as Raven cried out, the world sped up as Drake looked to Elijah panicked and took off down the street. Only half a second went by until Elijah shifted back into a human not even thinking of the fact that he was now completely naked. A growl so fierce, that it would have surprised even him, ripped through his throat as he ran over to Raven; catching her before she could hit the pavement. She pulled out the knife, slick with blood, and her arm fell limply to her side and Elijah’s blood boiled with rage. His eyes burned with fury as her blood slowly started to spill, the sound of it hitting the pavement was sickening. Carefully he lay her down before dashing to his truck and grabbing a pair of spare jeans and a blanket. He yanked on the pants and wrapped the blanket securely around Raven, his movements sharp and quick only caring about time. He scooped her up easily into his arms and he flung the door open to the clinic, his eyes wild with anger and fear. The nurse at the front desk stood up, her hand flying to her mouth as she took in the scene of Elijah carrying a naked woman in his arms, blood covering the both of them.
“She’s hurt badly! She needs a doctor now!” He practically growled as the nurse picked up the phone and started dialing. Elijah couldn’t care less what the woman thought of him she could call the police on him for all that mattered as long as Raven got the medical attention she needed. A doctor came rushing through the door, his expression just as shocked as the nurses.
“Back here!” he said urgently after recovering himself. Elijah didn’t hesitate as he followed the doctor and lay her on the examination bed. The doctor pulled the blanket off of Raven and examined the wound, he didn’t fail to notice the gunshot wound either.
“What happened?” he demanded as he started to check Raven’s vitals.
“Gang member with a knife, I wasn’t fast enough. The gunshot wound is older.” Elijah said quickly.
“Where are her clothes?”
“Gone! Can you ask these damn questions later?” he snarled. The doctor said nothing in response as he inspected the wound.
“She needs a hospital. We don’t have everything that she needs here.” He said walking quickly over to the phone his desk and dialing.

Elijah tuned out the doctors quick rambling on the phone as he looked at Raven, taking her hand in his.
“Why didn’t you listen to me?” he demanded quietly. He heard the phone hit the receiver and he looked over.
“They’ll be here shortly” he said. Though the 15 minutes it took for the ambulance to get there felt like a life time to Elijah, why didn’t they have an ambulance there? But he didn’t bother getting pissed about it, he watched them put Raven on a stretcher and put her into the ambulance. He made a move to get in with them but one of the EMT’s stopped him.
“We’ll send someone back for you” and they shut the door pulling out of the parking lot.
Elijah wasn’t going to sit there and wait for someone to come get him, he had his truck. He sprinted to it and jumped in, jamming the keys in the ignition as he peeled out of the parking lot speeding to catch up with the ambulance. It seemed to be moving so slow though; he couldn’t understand why they weren’t going faster. His knuckles were white against the steering wheel, almost afraid that he was going to snap it half.

After what seemed an eternity the hospital came into view and Elijah slid his car into the parking lot, not caring if his truck took up two parking spaces. He shoved a shirt on over his head as he ran, watching the EMT’s roll Raven through the sliding glass doors. Elijah followed in after them ignoring the annoying nurse who told him he couldn’t be back there. His blue eyes watched as the wheeled her into a room and started hooking up the machines, talking loud and quickly. He kept to a corner refusing to leave the room not like they could do anything about it; it would take more than one scrawny male nurse to move him. The doctor came in then, he was the only one wearing the white lab coat as he walked quickly over to Raven; a nurse started briefing him what had happened.
“You’re the one that brought her here?” The doctor asked, directing the question at Elijah as he inspected the wound.
“Yes”
“When did this occur?” He asked, looking up at him, there was something knowing in his eyes.
“Little over a half an hour ago. Is she going to be alright?” he demanded.
The doctor looked at Elijah for another split second and turned his attention to everyone else in the room.
“Everyone out, clear the room” he said.
The nurses looked at him confused and alarmed.
“You heard me” he said. “I’ll take it from here.”
They hesitated and gestured for Elijah to follow
“He can stay.” The doctor said firmly.
They reluctantly left and he closed the door behind them before turning back to Raven, glancing up at Elijah.
“She’ll be fine.” He said answering his question after a moment “Shifters always have been fast healers.”
Elijah’s eyes widened in shock, he was speechless for a moment.
“What did you say?” he breathed
“Shape shifters” he repeated casually “They heal quickly, always have.” The doctor gestured for Elijah to look. Uneasily he inched closer and saw the stab wound had already begun sealing shut, the skin taking on the healthy pink tone.
“I-I don’t…I guess the wound wasn’t as bad as I had thought” Elijah responded, taken completely for a spin. The doctor looked amused as his attempt to cover up the explanation for Raven’s quick healing body.
“It’s alright, my son is a shifter. Takes on the form of a black dog. He was playing hockey one season, was slammed right the wall, snapped his femur clean in two. He was up and running 3 days later.” The doctor explained keeping his eyes on him.
Elijah couldn’t believe it, the only thing he knew was that they were lucky. If any other doctor had seen Raven heal so quickly God only knows what they would have thought. He sat down in the chair against the wall, running his fingers through his dark hair. So much had happened in just one night: the fight at the bar, meeting her, the almost car accident, her injury, the gang members, and now this. It was all so much to process, to think and to sort through. Though as his mind flicked through what had happened, his head snapped up as a memory flooded his mind.
“Her arm, its hurt too. Internal bleeding I think.”
The doctor looked at her arm and inspected it
“Is this recent?”
“Fairly, I think.” He answered coming to stand beside the doctor.
“It’s not that bad, only mild internal bleeding. I’ll prescribe something to help the pain and fight infection, a cold compress will do the trick as well.” He said going over to the desk to write out a prescription.
“I told you not to do anything stupid” Elijah murmured to her softly, relief swelled through him.
“Is she special to you?” the doctor asked handing him a piece of paper, another knowing twinkle to his eye as he smiled at him.
Elijah hesitated and looked from Raven and back to the doctor
“She’s my imprint.” The minute the words left his mouth the truth of it filled his entire being, it was hard to imagine that he had had doubts about it before. It was so painfully obvious as he thought about it.
“I thought so” the doctor said looking back down at her “I’ll go get some scrubs for her to wear and then you can go out in to the front at talk to Marcy at the desk.”
The doctor left the room and Elijah could hear him trying to calm the others down, beginning to come up with a false Explanation. He could care less though, it didn’t matter to him what the nurses thought what happened, it was the doctors problem now not his.

A few moments later he returned with a pair of scrub for her and Elijah did his best to put them on her without looking. Once she was covered up he took a step back, a little uncomfortable standing there for a moment awkwardly. He remembered what the doctor had said though about going to the front desk, he ran to his truck quickly to grab his wallet with his insurance card. He fought with the woman for almost an hour trying to get her to take his insurance card.
“I’m sorry sir but she isn’t listed on your insurance.”
“But I’m the one paying for it, why can’t you use my insurance if I’m paying for it?” Elijah demanded
“I’m sorry sir it doesn’t work that way”
“She’s…she’s my fiancé for god’s sake!” He lied hoping that my sway her a little more.
The nurse narrowed her eyes at him skeptically and shook her head.
“I’m sorry sir but unless your “fiancé’s” name is listed on the insurance you can’t use it.”
Elijah growled and slammed his card down on the table sliding it over to her. He wasn’t exactly filthy rich but neither did he spend much of his money. It was enough to pay for the bill but he would definitely not be retiring anytime soon.

He walked back to the room and shut the door behind him, ignoring the stares of the doctors and nurses in the hallway. Elijah pulled out the paper with the prescription of his pocket and read it, making a mental note to pick it up when they left. He sighed leaning his head back against the wall shutting his eyes for a minute. Maybe this is what Superman felt like after a day of fighting. Tired, sore, angry, annoyed and worried half out of his mind.

((OOC: Congratulations on your summer award!! :D ))

Blackness.
Emptiness.

They were now Raven's comfort as she slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing she felt was Elijah's warm arms catching her. His comforting scent surrounded her. Then nothing. Only vaguely was she aware of the world around her. Only faintly did she feel Elijah carry her into the clinic and frantically, desparately call for help. She wanted to tell him she was fine, but she couldn't even manage to open her mouth. It would not have been a complete lie either. Not even her arm bothered her anymore. She was just very, very tired. Exhausted even, and found this sleep to be so enticing and welcoming.... Peaceful, and without disturbance. But the peace of it, the bliss, was short-lived to say the least.

The sound of sirens woke her.

Raven now struggled against the darkness, inviting though it may be. She was not unconscious, and yet completely aware of what was going on around her limp body. She felt the cold hands of strangers, probably doctors or EMTs, touch her to check for vitals. She felt violated. She felt like she should be fighting back but she wasn't. She wondered what Elijah was thinking, taking her to these people. Still, she also knew that her chances of survival were slim to none without the proper care and help. Still.... She didn't like hospitals and yet here she was, back where she started: well on her to one. When the ambulance finally stopped moving, she was aware of it. She was also painfully aware of Elijah's fear and concern. The scent of it was heavy in the air. Thick. She didn't like that, she didn't want him to be so nervous about her. Now that she was here, she would be fine. Besides, there was always her shifter healing. Right?

Correct.

It had already begun to kick in. Raven could feel the skin on the wound returning, the flesh that been sliced beginning to grow back. She was relieved. She didn't not want to lose yet another wing. That would be just unbearable. She was confident she had pretty much lost the use of one of her wings, to lose her other would have thrown her into a hissy fit. She probably would have given up on religion.... Without the ability to fly, Raven was out of a job. Low paying though it sometimes was, photography was her career. It paid the bills and got her clothing and nourishment. Without her pay, she couldn't afford these luxuries. She would be forced to live in a cardboard box and beg for rations and money....

“Shape shifters.”

Suddenly, she felt her blood run cold. Now that the wound was all but completely healed, she was perfectly awake. However, the conversations were just starting to get good, so she remained perfectly still. Pretending to be asleep. As she listened in on the conversation Elijah's voice was having with the doctor, she found herself enraptured. Especially when the doctor asked Elijah if Raven was special to him.... Her heart slowed down in sheer shock. That wasn't possible. She might have been dense, but she wasn't stupid. She knew exactly where the doctor's question was going. And the worst part was, Raven was sitting on the edge of her seat so to speak in order to find out what the doctor already seemed to know. There was a pause before Elijah's voice rang out again with an answer, and she could feel his steel blue eyes on her if only for a moment. As if looking for some unseen permission given to let him answer the question truthfully. She mentally implored him to.

“She’s my imprint.”

That was it. Raven heard nothing else of what was going on. Those words echoed through her mind repeatedly. She struggled to make sense of what that meant for her. What did she feel? Were her and Elijah going to end up like her parents? After all, she had not imprinted yet as far as she knew. Was she supposed to? So many questions rattled her brain that there was no chance she was going to be capable of deciphering it all in one night. She listened intently when Elijah left. Why? Because the room was engulfed in complete silence. She didn't know how much time that silence was going to last, but she needed to take advantage of it. After all, she just discovered that she was Elijah's imprint. Of course, it explained everything that had happened that night, but still. This wasn't exactly your typical events. She cleared her mind when Elijah returned, feeling a knot twist in her stomach at his bitter, angry scent. Apparently, someone said the wrong thing. She struggled to focus her mind on something else while he dressed her, trusting him not to look but feeling akward nonetheless. She heard him sit down and imagined him running his fingers through his flowing hair. She realized that she might never imprint, and that she shouldn't ignore Elijah or continue to lie by pretending any longer.

Still, she found it a difficult trial to shake the sense of fear.

She didn't want to become what her parents had, and yet she could not deny the pull she felt towards the shifter. She might not have imprinted on Elijah, but she that did not mean she was not attracted to him. Rising from the bed and planting her bare feet on the cold floor silently, she floated towards him in complete silence before sitting down on a chair next to him. Her dark brown eyes scanned his face for a moment before she rested her head on his shoulder and sighed contently. She decided to bite her tongue about what she heard. At least, for the time being. She saw no benefit in letting on to something like that, especially since it meant she had been lying to Elijah simply by pretending to be asleep. She waited patiently and yet nervously for his reaction, feeling like resting her head in his lap and sleeping. Her knife wound was completely healed now, and all that really remained her numb and surprised body was exhaustion. Sheer and pure. Still, she was competent, and she knew the weight of what Elijah had admitted to the doctor. Raven relished the silence, saying nothing for the moment. She didn't really feel like talking, and her jaw felt heavy with physical exhaustion from all the adventures that day....

FINISHED!! =D
[OCC: Thank you for the congrats! =D Congrats to you as well! And thank you for being patient and helping me out. =] ]

Elijah was exhausted and the realization of that hit the moment he closed his eyes. His body felt like lead, his limbs felt weighed down with weights as he sat in the chair trying to relax. He allowed his mind to drift slowly as he thought about the events from today to the events from the past. Evelyn’s face came into view several times and he nearly flinched seeing those beautiful green eyes once again. Her face was so clear he thought for a moment that she was real…smiling at him. Elijah pushed the thought of her away not sure why he couldn’t let her go and after he just came to terms with the fact that Raven was his imprint. A fact that still very much confused him but at the same time it was so clear and obvious that he didn’t know how he’d missed it.

After a moment he was slowly drifting away, on the cusp of sleep and the thoughtless oblivion that would follow. He took a deep breath sinking further in when a sound pulled him back from unconsciousness. Slowly his blue eyes opened and he lifted his head to see Raven standing up and walking over to him. Alert now he sat up straight ready to catch her if she should fall over, he wasn’t even sure what she was doing out of bed. He couldn’t help but let a swell of relief breeze through him as he saw her sit in the chair next to him, she was ok thank god. She just looked at him for a moment and he opened his mouth to ask if she was alright when she leaned her head on his shoulder.
Elijah wasn’t sure what to say it had taken him by surprise but it was a pleasant one but he hadn’t expected her to do something like that. Raven was a strong woman and self dependent which was one of the things he loved about her. She wasn’t like most girls and in truth parts of her reminded him of…Evelyn. Not so much as physical aspects for both women looked very different but personality wise. Evelyn was a fire cracker too though maybe not as extreme but they both had that fiery passion. Elijah wasn’t comparing the two he was just noticing similarities though it caused his heart to squeeze painfully.

Even after coming to the realization that Raven was his imprint he knew part of him would always love and miss Evelyn. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that it wasn’t that he wanted to forget her completely but…to be honest he didn’t know.
He sighed wrapping his arm around Raven leaning his head against hers and pushing the thoughts away just glad she was alright. His blue irises scanned the room with pale white tiled floors, cream walls and fluorescent lighting that gave him a headache right behind his eyes.
“You should really be in bed” he murmured his voice thick with exhaustion before looking down at her with a small smile
“Come on”
He swept her up easily into his arms and stood up being careful not to jostle her too much. He carried her over and set her down on the hospital bed draping a blanket over top of her before dragging a chair by the bedside. He ran his fingers through his hair as he sat down leaning over and folding his arms on the side of the bed, propping his chin in his right palm.
“I’m glad you feel good enough to walk around but try to take it easy, you’re still healing.”
He was fighting to keep his eyes open they felt heavy though, he rubbed at them as if trying to wipe away the drowsiness.
“I’ll have to find out…when we can…” his eyes slowly closed as he drifted into sleep trailing off his sentence.

All Elijah wanted to do was just sleep for a few minutes just enough to collect himself and gather enough energy to think and sort through everything. So much had happened in one night it would have been enough to drive anyone crazy. However it didn’t look like Elijah was going to be allowed a moments peace, for a few moments after his eyes shut the doctor came waltzing in.

“Ok” his voice was calm as he flipped through papers on the clip board.
Elijah jolted awake, blue eyes snapping open as he stood up looking from Raven back to the doctor.
“Oh good you’re awake” The doctor smiled looking up at Raven before turning his attention to Elijah
“Here, I thought you could use this”
Elijah caught the bundle of fabric in his hands and unfolded it revealing it to be a top to a pair of scrubs. He only had time to pull on a pair of pants before rushing Raven into the clinic; gratefully he slipped the shirt over his head.
“Thanks” He held out his hand “thanks for everything I mean”
The doctor shook his hand with a light laugh “of course it’s been an interesting night. Here’s my card” he handed over the small square piece of paper “If you two need anything at all, if you’re in trouble please don’t hesitate to call.”
Elijah smiled thankfully and pocketed the card the paper with Ravens subscription brushed against his fingers as he did so and he briefly wondered if she would even need it, then again it couldn’t hurt.
“I think you two are all set to leave” The doctor announced folding the clipboard under his arm putting the other in his pocket.
Elijah exhaled in relief glad that they wouldn’t have to end up staying overnight, then again there wasn’t really a point since Raven was all healed up or mostly at least.

“Take care of yourself kid” he patted Elijah’s shoulder “As for you” he turned his forest green eyes to Raven “take it easy, that prescription will help fight any infections in your arm but it should be healed up in no time.”
Elijah thanked the doctor again before he walked out the door, closing it behind him. He turned his eyes to Rave and wondered if she would be warm enough in just the hospital scrubs, he was pretty sure he had an extra jacket in the car.
“You ready to get the hell out of here?” he asked with a smile, he knew he was “I can pull the car around front and carry you” Elijah shrugged his shoulders though he prefer she didn’t walk too much yet she was probably just as exhausted as he was. A sudden thought struck him though, was he supposed to take her to her place or back to his? Though technically his place consisted of a hotel room since his actual residence was in Canada. Elijah wasn’t exactly comfortable leaving her by herself what if Drake came after her again did he even know where she lived? Though he was almost sure there wouldn’t be another attack since Raven and himself took down half his gang but maybe he had more. She wasn’t sure how she would react if he took her back with him it wasn’t like he would try anything, he wasn’t like that.

“You should really be in bed”

His scent.
His voice.

Even Elijah's arm around her felt right somehow. Such words, such actions, would normally make her furious. She hated being touched, especially by the opposite gender. And she especially despised having others help her. That made her weak, which was something she was not. But right now, Raven was in such a rare mood that she did not react. It was an even scarcer mood than her happiness. Calm. This was something so alien to Raven, it was almost apathetic. But she was completely aware of all her emotions, and very much in touch with them. She just didn't know what she was going to do with them...they were so conflicted.... She didn't know how she was supposed to react to Elijah, knowing what she knew. But she found herself pushing herself a little closer to him, seeking his comfort and warmth. At least, now she knew just how completely safe she was with him. When he looked down at her with his small smile, she looked up and saw just how exhausted he was. She realized how thick it coated his voice. And yet, he still found the strength to smile somehow.

“Come on”

Raven did nothing to protest him lifting her and setting her down on the bed. However, she couldn't push back a slightly rebellious glare when he basically tucked her in, as if she were a child. But Raven found the strength to keep herself calm. Part of her was waiting for him to say something. To openly, knowingly tell her what she already knew. She felt it tearing away instead her, and part of her was screaming to see him tell her what she was to him. She had heard him say it, she knew she had. But she wanted to see the expression on his face when he told her. She watched him carefully when he moved a chair over to her bedside and got himself comfortable there, hoping he wasn't going to pass out halfway. Her expression didn't change when he drifted off into sleep, but she tried to snap herself out of the spell she was under. She snorted, scoffing at him. "Idiot." She mumbled. But she frowned. She was still not feeling the usual fire within her. It had been weakened somehow.

She didn't know what was wrong with her.

Raven turned her head to look at Elijah, and felt her heart do something strange at his sleeping face. His sweet, almost babish expression.... Raven couldn't help but extend a hand to him, and almost touched his hand with her's. Nearly held it, felt its pulse. Her heart was pounding, feeling as though it would burst. But then the door burst open. Raven withdrew her hand in a flash, her face heating up with embarressment. She turned her face away while the doctor spoke to Elijah, unable to meet the man's eyes. She did not question the man's kindness, but was sure to shoot him a death glare when he addressed her about being careful. She didn't appreciate that coming from anybody, especially not a complete stranger. Even if he did probably know better than she did. She wasn't exactly the type to admit to that sorta thing. Raven waited until Elijah addressed her before she finally turned her chocolate brown eyes to meet his dazzling steel blue irises. Again wondering when he was going to admit to her what he had to the doctor.

“You ready to get the hell out of here?” he asked with a smile, he knew he was “I can pull the car around front and carry you”

The expression on his face told her that he was sure as hell ready to leave. She had to admit, she was ready to go home. Raven was exhausted, but as soon as Elijah offered to carry her, she glared at him and eased her way off the bed and on her feet. She had had enough of being protected and babied that day. Raven merely shook her head and strided across the floor to him, obviously well enough to at least walk. "I'll be fine." She snapped, her exhausted making her irritable. And all the imprinting thing was giving her a migrain.... Sleep...its long overdue.... It was so totally past her bedtime she didn't even want to think about it. Raven looked up at Elijah, her exhausted expression being replaced by a pensive one. But that only lasted a heartbeat. In truth, part of Raven was horrified about going home. Alone. Too embarressed to meet Elijah's eyes, she kept her eyes trained on the cold tile floor beneath her feet. "So...er...do you...have a place to...crash for the night?" She asked, her face flushing scarlet with embarressment. This was Raven's way of politely asking Elijah if he would mind staying at her place that night. Albeit, her "place" was an apartment, but there was a couch he could sleep on. And if not that, then she was certain she could find an air matress or something for him so he could sleep in her room. She might even allow him on the bed.... Well, so long as he was in animal form or something. Raven didn't bother translating or stumbling, that was the tamest she had been all night. And she knew Elijah would understand what she meant.

Elijah couldn’t help but chuckle softly when she snapped at him, this was more like the Raven he was beginning to know. They were both tired he could feel it practically radiating off of her, sleep was something they both needed after a day like today. His blue arctic eyes widened just a little in surprise a spark of amusement flashing across them but quickly dimmed. A smile tugged at his lips he wouldn’t expect her to ask something like that. Elijah knew what she meant though just the fact that she flushed as red as a strawberry didn’t make it difficult to guess. He was relieved in truth that she was asking him to stay with her, it had been something he was worried about.
“Well I am staying at a hotel but…I would feel safer staying with you if you don’t mind. Lord knows I can’t protect myself since I’m just a fluffy white fox.” he rolled his eyes a tiny smirk playing at the corner of his lip. He was only joking with her but even though they had just met that evening he knew her temper and put his arm around her shoulder gently leading her from the room. As they walked down the hallway Elijah’s mind ran with thoughts mainly about her for she seemed to shadow over everything else. She was his imprint it sent goose bumps up his arm just thinking about it, though it wasn’t an entirely unpleasant feeling just that of confusion. He wanted to tell her, he should tell her but right now didn’t seem to be the best time she looked exhausted and practically went through hell and back tonight. No, the conversation could and would wait until she was well rested there was no need to dump something like this on her shoulders.

As they walked by the front desk he checked his pocket for his keys pulling them out thinking through his head where he parked his pick-up. Elijah thought about carrying her to the car but thought better of it and trusted his reflexes enough should she fall. He unlocked the car opening the door for her before reaching into the back and pulling a blanket and placing it on the center console just in case she was cold.
“I have to pick up your prescription first” he told her as he climbed into the driver’s side and shutting the door. He could feel the paper crinkling in his back pocket and wondered if she would even need it but decided he might as well, just in case. It didn’t mean she would have to take it they would see how she felt but if it would help fight infection then why not? Just because they were shifters it didn’t mean everything always healed properly. Elijah remembered not too long after he first shifted he had fallen from a tree breaking his arm in three places. It healed quickly but it wasn’t set right so his father had to take him to a doctor he knew and had him re-break it and set it. Elijah remembered how painful it was and just thinking about it made his arm ache. Though it wasn’t the same thing as an infection he figured that if bones wouldn’t always heal properly then why would something like that?

He pulled into the pharmacy grabbing the piece of paper out of his back pocket with the doctor’s signature.
“I’ll be right back” he locked the doors just for a safe measure though he was sure she would be fine. He walked up to the counter and rang the bell and waited for the pharmacist. A woman with hair frizzier then a lions main and glasses bigger the size his fist walked up to the counter.
“Yes?” she asked her voice unusual high for someone of her age
“I need to get a prescription filled” he handed her the slip and she stared at the paper for a good 10 minutes before looking up at him
“A prescription?” she asked
“Yes”
“A…prescription?” She repeated
Elijah arched a brow and looked at her “…yes” he repeated a little slower.
“Ok” she nodded before turning around sharply.
He sighed stuffing his hands in his pockets wondering why he always got the crazy ones. Elijah glanced over his shoulder looking out the window to check on Raven. His blue eyes scanned the pharmacy then looking at all the labels, boxes wishing the lady would hurry up.

Charlene finished the prescription putting the label on with absolute care as if it were made of glass, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth in concentration. Her enhanced eyesight looked at the prescription careful, her eyes darting to the man and back again several times suspiciously. Finally she walked over to him keeping the small orange bottle in her hand as she glared at him.
“This prescription is a high dose and you seem perfectly fine Mr. Caine.” She re-read the slip enough times to have memorized his name.
Elijah cocked a brow at her and opened his mouth to speak but she cut him sharply
“Is it depression?” she asked leaning forward
His ice eyes widened in surprise he hadn’t handed her a slip for antidepressants
“Not its-“
“It’s ok to feel sad!” she insisted taking his hand “Drugs are not the answer to your problems, you can get help.”
“Ma’am I just need my prescription.” He asked holding his hand out for the bottle
“I don’t know if I feel safe giving this to you. I don’t trust what you’ll do with it.”
“Listen it’s just for an infection I’m not depressed or suicidal.” He insisted
The woman dotted at her teary eyes
“If you ever need any help I’ll be here. I’m here every day except for Sunday from 6:30 to 10:30 every day except for Sunday. Because I go to the park every Sunday with my parrot and sit there, I just sit there…with my Parrot every Sunday at the park… at the park” she put an emphasis on the word though he wasn’t sure why she kept telling him she was there every Sunday. He nodded his eyes slightly wary wondering if it was safe for someone like her to be working with other people’s medication. She handed him the bottle and he quickly pocketed it before handing her his card.

He mumbled his thanks and she smiled at him and as he turned away he could feel her eyes on his back the entire time. Elijah shivered as he stepped outside feeling just a little creeped out by that woman, he took the bottle out of his pocket checking the label on it not trusting her. As he climbed into his truck he was having some serious doubts about giving it to Raven.
“That woman was…really interesting.” He said sliding his key in the ignition and starting up the engine “I don’t really know yet if you should take the medicine, I’d rather have it checked out first.” Elijah easily backed out of the parking spot before turning to look at her
“Ok, tell me where I’m going” he said his hand ready to flick the blinker in either direction.

“Well I am staying at a hotel but…I would feel safer staying with you if you don’t mind. Lord knows I can’t protect myself since I’m just a fluffy white fox.”

Shock.
Amusement.

Raven had never met someone who understood her so thoroughly, and wasn't completely freaked out by what they knew. He saw her, and didn't flinch from her. Elijah was even willing to fight for her, to her horror. But...it was also admirable. To some extent. She always hated it when people protected her, especially when they got hurt in the process. It was her own way, her own instinct, of caring. Something that was mutually understood by her sisters but never mentioned. Her and Collete's tempers were too great. She looked up at Elijah when he answered with a stunned expression, but ducked her head in an attempt to hide her face from him. Especially when he draped his arms across her shoulders, because her face grew hot with a blush when he did that. But she was also hiding a very small, and very faint smile. It was only there for a moment, a split moment that they shared when Raven felt this...connection to Elijah. "Oaf.... I guess I'll have to protect you then, won't I?" She whispered teasingly and, by some miracle, playfully. Still keeping her face hidden from him to hide her smile and ever-darkening blush. But even the most rare and tender of moments eventually meet their end.

“I have to pick up your prescription first.”

Raven rolled her eyes at Elijah, pulling herself into the passenger seat. Carefully avoiding the use of her bad arm out of instinct. "Of course you do...." She muttered defiantly, though she made no other protest. While Elijah lost himself in thoughts for a moment, she lost herself in her own. Was she acting this way because of what she overheard? Or was her exhaustion not only making her irritable, but tamer as well? Raven couldn't remember the last time she could be related to the word "nice," but she was sure she was a kid at the time. After all, people aren't born violent. Its a trait they pick up as they grow. Raven shook her head, trying to force it away from herself and back towards Elijah and what was happening. Or rather, possibly happening. But...I'm so confused.... She didn't want to think about because it gave her a headache, but she did want to think about it because she already had a migraine and it was very important. For both her, and Elijah. But...I don't want our...'relationship,' to be affected by this.... At least, not from her end. She was startled when the truck stopped, her eyes flying to Elijah in a moment of panic. But it faded as he spoke.

“I’ll be right back”

Until he said that. Raven's eyes struggled to conceal the initial fear she felt at being left in a dark parking lot alone, for any amount of time. The expression in her eyes flickered between her usual stubbornness and panic, but the panic won out when Elijah closed the door and walked towards the store. For a moment, she watched his back closely. Anxiously waiting for him to return. She didn't know where the panic came from, just that she felt like all of the gangs in the world had guns aimed right at her, and if Elijah didn't get back in time then.... BANG! Raven yelped and jumped at the sound, her eyes stretched wide in a moment of a mental lapse, searching for the gun and its wielder. But of course, she found none. She breathed out deeply when she realized the sound had been in her head. Though it disturbed her that she had lost her cool so easily. Ignoring the throbbing in her arm when she bent it, she snatched the blanket Elijah had left there for her greedily, pulling it around her and burying her face in it. Surrounding herself with Elijah's increasingly comforting scent.

And there she stayed.

At least until she calmed the racing of her heart, and the tightness in her throat. Sighing deeply, she leaned back and turned her head. Staring out the window now with a blank expression. But this expression slowly morphed from blank and angry, since she was spiteful at herself for losing it and in the middle of a mental hate rant against Drake, to a calmer and more pensive expression. It was a rare sight to behold: Raven so thoroughly deep in thought that she actually seemed at peace. But the expression was sorrowful and longing. Almost heartbreaking. If it were raining, it would be picture perfect for a Hollywood "chick-flick." She let out a huff of a laugh at the thought, imagining herself in a chick-flick: awaiting her "knight in shining armor" to rescue her from her own mind and troubles. But Raven wasn't the type. When Elijah opened the door and got into the truck, she was caught in a strange moment. She flinched, her eyes shooting over to Elijah with a look of "who are you?" written on her face. Her brain was still a little numb with exhaustion, but when it registered it was Elijah she breathed a sigh of relief.

“That woman was…really interesting.” ... “I don’t really know yet if you should take the medicine, I’d rather have it checked out first.” ... “Ok, tell me where I’m going”

Raven was silent when he mentioned the woman and thoughts about the medicine, glancing nervously over at him every couple seconds until her heart beat slowed to normal. Which was followed by her leaning back again and staring out her window. She stayed in that silent place until Elijah asked her for directions, in which case she looked at him for a moment. At first confused by what he had asked. Man...I'm really out of it.... Raven grinned though, like an excited child being offered a thousand presents. She loved this part. She immediately turned and rolled down her window and stuck her head out, just as before. She closed her eyes against the wind blissfully for a moment, and restrained herself from pointing. She ducked back into the warm truck, a blissful and childish expression still clinging to her face. "Right." She instructed, leaning out of the window immediately after speaking. Hardly giving Elijah a chance to catch her glance, but she had been doing that a lot. Glancing at him occasionally. Aside from that little secret genius, she had her head out the window with her raven black hair flying wildly about to feel the winded rush across her face when he turned. She wanted to feel the shift the air currents, as if it held the answers she sought right now. What I need, are sleep and some flying time. She mused, but neither her expression nor her voice revealed that thought. In fact, she had been acting off her game and oddly silent ever since she overheard what Elijah had said.... But it wasn't going to be her who ended up bringing it up. It had to be Elijah, and she knew this instinctively. Somehow.... It has to be him.

His ice blue eyes looked over at her and his brow furrowed at the expression on her face, did she not recognize him? He worried for a minute, was this a symptom? He looked down at the prescription bottle wondering if he should give her the medicine. Elijah looked back to her in time to see a delighted, childlike expression over take her features and he couldn’t help but grin back. She rolled down the window and he looked at her curiously but he couldn’t help but laugh out loud, she reminded him of a puppy with her head out the window and long locks flying out behind her. It was sort of…beautiful. He shoved the thought away taking her direction and turning right.

The truck turned easily on the pavement and Elijah followed her directions a smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he glanced over at her for a moment. It was nice to see the smile on her face he was beginning to realize that it was a rare thing for her. He was pretty sure he had only seen the gesture come across her lips maybe three times that entire evening, once because of him. Elijah pulled his iced eyes back to the road when he finally realized he had no idea what time it was. He found the clock on his dashboard and he wasn’t surprised that it was nearly 3 in the morning. He nearly cursed out loud when he remembered he had that meeting with a client in the morning at 8. Elijah debated going or not only because for one thing, he was exhausted and under 5 hours of sleep was not going to be enough for him especially after the nights events. And two…he glanced over at Raven before looking back at the road; he didn’t want to leave her alone. Though he doubted Drake and his gang would come after her tonight because they were pretty beat up themselves, that wasn’t what he was really worried about. Elijah just wanted to make sure her injuries would be alright and that she was ok, besides she shouldn’t be by herself with what just happened to her. What if she went into shock? In fact he was surprised she hadn’t yet but then again she was a hell of a lot tougher then you might think at first glance.

Exhaustion was layering itself like a thick blanket on his shoulders as he pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex.
“Home sweet home” he murmured turning off the truck and pulling the keys from the ignition, stuffing them in his back pocket along with his phone. He walked over to her side, opened the door and easily scooped her up in his arms being mindful of her injuries.
A smirk tugged at his lips as he walked to her door and tried the knob. To his surprise it opened easily, she hadn’t even locked it. Elijah looked down at her glaring lightly.
“You knew there was a gang after you but you didn’t even bother to lock your door?” he asked incredulously before warily stepping inside. He had no idea if Drake had sent any of his lackeys to wait for her when she came home, who knows who could have come in with the door unlocked. Elijah hoped she didn’t too many valuables inside either someone could have easily robbed her.

Using his elbow he flipped on the light switch by the door and looked around before setting her down on the couch.
“Stay right there” he said quietly before looking around that room first to make sure no one was hiding before moving through the rest of her apartment. He wasn’t trying to snoop he was honestly checking to make sure she would be safe; they didn’t need any more drama. Elijah checked in her closet, under the bed and behind the door before making sure the window was locked tight. When he was satisfied that they were the only two beings inside he went back to her and scooped her up.
Carefully he walked to her room and set her down on her bed, pulling the covers around her gently.
“I’ll be right back” he told her before walking to the kitchen and grabbing a glass and filling it with water and grabbing some pretzels he found.
“Here” he said with water and pretzels in hand “You should eat something it might help you feel better.” It was always good to eat something when you went into shock, though she hadn’t yet she might. Besides she hadn’t had anything to drink all night except maybe some alcohol at the bar and that was bound to have burned out of her system by now.
His ice blue eyes looked around the room just to be safe before the rested on her and he sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’ll be out in the living room, if you need anything just yell for me.”
Without even thinking he leaned down and kissed her forehead gently. That simple gesture to her felt as natural as breathing, and it made his heart skip a beat. He pulled away though and cleared his throat not sure where that impulse came from but that was a lie, deep down he knew the answer to that question but he was choosing to avoid it for the time being.
He pulled his ice eyes away from her as he stood and turned out the light
“Goodnight” he murmured before walking out to the living room.

Elijah left the door open so he could hear if anything happened but if she wanted to close it for privacy that was understandable. He sank down onto the couch with a sigh and every muscle in his body felt like lead weighed down with bags of sand. His fingers ran through his dark hair and he rolled his shoulders wincing slightly as he was already feeling a little sore.
He pulled his blackberry from his back pocket and sent an email to his client saying he had a family emergency and wondering if he could push the meeting to possibly later that afternoon. Elijah knew that if he had to he would wake up and go though he wouldn’t be at his best and that wasn’t professional. Though work was work and it was hardly ever convenient for you but he never really had a problem like this before.

He set his phone down and leaned his head back, closing his eyes and trying to relax. Part of him still felt on edge and that was going to make it difficult to sleep. The other part was so exhausted that his brain felt like a snail moving its way through molasses. It was battle between sleep and left over adrenaline that kept his heart going too fast for it to allow sleep. After a moment he got up and poured himself a glass of water, he hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until the cool liquid hit his lips. Then realizing his mistake he locked the front door. Not that a piece of wood could really keep someone out for long but still it made him feel a little better. If someone tried to get in at least he would hear it first rather than them just waltzing in.

Elijah lay back on the couch resting one arm behind his head and letting his eyes drift shut waiting for sleep to come. He didn’t know if he was going to be able to sleep, his ears were trained on Raven’s breathing in her room, waiting for a change, waiting for the moment she might call.
there’s no way I’m sleeping tonight he thought to himself as he made the realization. At least maybe his body could rest, it was more important that she got sleep though and he hoped she would be able to catch a few hours.

Tension.
Silence.

Utter, binding silence. Though the tension was pushed back until it was hardly there anymore, it was still nagging at the back of Raven's mind. With her head out the window, she couldn't really hear her thoughts very well, which was a good thing in this case. The entire ride was completely silent other than her directions to her apartment, which would normally invite the dangerous pass-time of thinking to Raven. Something she tried not to do, especially in situations like these. Although, she had never been in a situation quite like this before. Still, in her mind, instinct was the highest form of wisdom. In most cases anyway. Mouthing off to a guy with a gun may not be the wisest thing...nor was pecking at his head. But the important thing, was that it worked out in the end. An "end justifies the means" type of thing. It felt nice to feel the cool air in her face, billowed her hair and buffeting it wildly in all different directions. The smile remained on her face until the truck began to slow as it entered her parking lot, and continued to slowly melt away as the truck came to an eventual stop.

“Home sweet home”

Raven quickly pulled her head back into the cabin of the truck, smoothing her hands along her hair to try and bring it back under control. She turned and blinked in Elijah's direction when he closed the door behind him, and flinched when she found her door swing open. Startled. Raven mentally slapped herself, trying to force herself out of her skittish mood. Elijah didn't need to know that she had experienced a miny panic attack while he had gotten her medication, and that she was still feeling the effects of it now. Actually, to get technical, she was just starting to feel it rush back to her. The night air had held it back considerably. She was used to Elijah scooping her into his arms by now, and rested her head against his shoulder comfortably as he carried her to her apartment. Guiding him in a drozy though edgily alert voice. When they reached her door, Raven blinked to find that the door opened easily when Elijah turned the nob.... I knew I had forgotten something....

“You knew there was a gang after you but you didn’t even bother to lock your door?”

Raven looked up at Elijah, though was much too lazy to physically lift her head. She returned his glare, though her's was slightly more fierey than his, it was also dimmed with exhaustion. "Didn't think about it." She snapped. "When a gang is after you long enough, you get used to seeing them in your home. Its kinda like a family reunion...." She continued, mumbling her last statement with a tinge of amusement. It was like a family reunion, at least for her. She knew by his light glare and smirk that he was at least partially amused by the fact that she had left her door open, but in reality there was nothing really to be concerned about for the time-being. After all, what those gangsters saw that night would probably deter them for at least a few months, so she didn't have to worry about any house-calls for quite some time. And she had nothing of value to steal except...my camera! Raven's eyes widened and she was suddenly very alert with panic at the thought of losing her camera. Her livelihood. She almost flew from Elijah's arms to make sure it was where she had left it, but she restrained herself painfully with tense muscles.

“Stay right there”

As soon as Elijah set her down and moved away, Raven flew from the couch to her camera's final resting place. It was still intact. Breathing a sigh of relief, Raven heard Elijah's footsteps coming back and flew for the couch. She landed in a bit of a tusseled position, but Elijah didn't seem to notice. Much to her relief, though she forced herself not to show it. Only gaze at Elijah drowzily. He picked her up again, amd carried her to her room. Probably satisfied that her apartment was safe. All along the walls of her room, and in the living room as well, were photographs of lighting as it hailed from the sky. In some, Raven had captured the exact moment it came in contact with something. In one, it was striking a tree, in another it was over a city striking buildings, and in another it struck the ground. A mountain. A hill. All different perspectives, all different kinds of photos, all equally beautiful to Raven. Some were sepia, some black-and-white, some HD and brilliantly alive with color. All of them framed fondly. The rest of her apartment was designed rather normal, and stylish. Raven was actually, and rather surprisingly, very gifted at designing rooms.

“I’ll be right back” ... “Here” ... “You should eat something it might help you feel better.” ... “I’ll be out in the living room, if you need anything just yell for me.” ... “Goodnight”

When he left, Raven sighed. She wondered if that was it, if he was going to crash on the couch or something now. But now, she was wide awake. Either the scare with her camera woke her up more than she thought or.... Raven allowed her eyes to drift across each photograph in her room, taking them in. She imagined the ones in her living room, and the nature calendar in her kitchen. The calendar wasn't all lightning storms, only the April photo. But there were all taken by her. She almost sprang up when Elijah returned, again caught off guard and startled. She gritted her teeth, knowing that if she didn't find a way to calm down that he would begin to ask questions. Ane she didn't want him to worry about her any more than he already was. Raven blinked at the food at first, not really knowing whether or not she wanted it. But once she had a greedy sip of water, her hungry came rocketing up. She had to restrain herself to chew and not scarf. When he said he was going to be in the living room, for a split second she looked up at him fearfully. The fact that he was sitting at her bedside was something she was comfortable with, safe with. And she wouldn't care if they shared a bed tonight...she knew he wouldn't try anything. She knew, that he knew, that trying something would mean mean the loss of an arm.

The kiss was unexpected.

Almost like something out of a fairytale, even if it was just a kiss on the forehead. The panicked, pleading expression flushed from her eyes just as quickly as a blush flooding her cheeks. She was dumbfounded, stunned, and she didn't know how she was supposed to react to that. She just looked at him with widened eyes, not knowing what to do. But it felt...good somehow. Clearing his throat made it evident, even to Raven, that he was nervous. He possibly hadn't expected that either. Not that she minded all that much. Raven swallowed the mouthfull of pretzel she had her mouth at that moment quickly, almost loudly though she knew it only seemed that way to her. "Goodnight...Elijah." She replied, something that felt kind of strange to her. Sure, she had told her sisters that a few times. But this was somewhat...different. She finished what Elijah had given her quickly, not bothering to restrain herself now that he was in a different room. But when she laid down, she could only stare emptily at the ceiling.... As if it could answer something for her.

She didn't last.

It didn't take long for her to be capable of tolerating it no longer. Silently, as ghostly quiet as Raven could manage, she slipped out from the covers and out of bed. Then, with even more cautious footsteps, she tip-toed to her door and opened it just enough for her to squeeze through. The door, gratefully, did not squeak and alert Elijah of Raven's presence. Almost as if the door too wanted to keep her cloaked from discovery. Raven slowly inched her way to the living room, an amazingly agonizing stretch of time for such a relatively short trip. Once she was there, she stood there, next to the kitchen and far behind the couch, watching him for a moment. Her eyes flitted arcoss her photographs of the lightning for a brief moment, gathering strength, before she began walking again. This time, when she stopped, she stood over Elijah. His eyes were closed, and she wondered if he sensed her by now or if he was too out of it already. She knealt down next to him and gently removed the glass from his hand, setting it down some distance away. Raven gazed at him a moment longer before crossing her arms on the edge of the couch and resting her head on her arms. She closed her eyes, content to be next to Elijah now. Even if she was on the floor, she couldn't be more comfortable. Well...she actually could but....

Elijah couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t allow his mind to just shut down and slip into the sweet oblivion. Too much was on his mind… all about her. He pinched the bridge of his nose taking a deep breath trying to figure all of this out. He sorted through everything again. She was his imprint there was no way he could avoid it. Elijah accepted that he would be an idiot to try and deny it any longer. But part of him didn’t feel…ready to come face to face with it in the light yet. His eyes opened and took in the pictures of lighting around him making his heart squeeze a little painfully at the memories it brought up. Her face. That phone call.

Flash Back
He paced the living room. It was late. She should have been home by now. Thunder cracked at the brilliant lighting lit up the sky. It had been hours since she had kissed him goodbye, promising she would be back soon. Elijah turned his stormy blue eyes towards the window, heavy with worry. He ran his fingers through his dark hair and he sighed before grabbing his keys to go look for her. The phone rang then and he sprang for it, his heart pausing in relief and anxiety.
“Hello?” he asked hoping to hear her voice.
“Is this Mr. Elijah Caine?” a deep male voice sounded on the other end.
“Yes, who is this?”
He sighed “This is Officer Jackson. I’m afraid I’ have some bad news for you.
He could barely listen anymore after the first few words, he couldn’t make sense of them.
in the water….Lighting…. killed instantly…..
The phone dropped from his hand and the world spun out of control.
present

He dropped his eyes from the pictures forcing the thoughts from his mind; he didn’t have the energy to think about that right now.

The photographs were beautiful though he had to admit. He wondered if Raven bought them or took them herself. The dark humor inside mocked him, and he marveled at the chances that he would get into another relationship with a woman who liked to photograph lightning. Elijah hadn’t known Raven was into photography then again…he hardly knew anything about her. This was only their first meeting, a meeting he was never going to forget. The more he thought about it the more he realized that they were near strangers with each other. He knew her name, a gang was after her, she shifted ironically into a Raven and most importantly…they were imprints. But besides all that he didn’t know what she did for a living, her favorite food, if she had any family or a boyfriend. The thought send a thrill of horror through him, what if she was in a relationship? And here he was her imprint! What the hell was he supposed to do about that?

He pushed that thought away too, he would deal with that if and when the situation arose. For now he just needed to make the first step and talk to her about it. Soon obviously before he left since he was only in Seattle for a business meeting which was supposed to be today. Though he didn’t know if that was going to happen…but…what would Raven say when she found out he would be leaving ? He closed his eyes again trying to bid sleep to come and relieve him of these whirring thoughts in his mind. Elijah thought he sensed her then, standing behind him, he could smell her warm scent but he was sure it was just his imagination. All he was thinking about was her and so he thought in his exhausted state he was imagining it.

The scent shifted then coming closer and suddenly the glass was gently pulled from his hand. His eyes opened slowly to see her kneeling down beside the couch, her head rested on her arms. Elijah didn’t know what to say at first, it had caught him off guard. Was she ok? Was she hurt? His brow creased in worry but he couldn’t make the words form to ask her. He suddenly wondered if she was afraid to be alone, it wouldn’t surprise him. Elijah was silent for a moment as he just studied her face wondering if he should carry her back to her room. Though now that he was lying down he didn’t know if he could make his muscles work to stand up and carry her back. And…if she had come out to him…maybe she didn’t want to go back. Maybe she didn’t want to be alone.
He sat up and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her onto the couch next to him holding her against him carefully. If she was uncomfortable with it all she had to do was say so and he would make himself help her back to her room. Elijah was raised to treat women with respect so there was no way he would take advantage of her and he wasn’t about to let her sleep on the floor. If anything he would sleep on the floor and let her have the couch instead.

He let her head rest on his chest as he took a deep breath, the scent of her hair filling the air around him. It felt…right…having her in his arms. It was natural and comfortable. Then he wondered, it might not be for her.
“Are you comfortable?” he asked quietly looking down at her and absentmindedly brushing the dark strands of hair away from her face. In the back of his mind he noted how soft her skin was beneath his finger tips.

((sorry the post is so short!!! I can add more if it does not give you enough to go off of!))

Raven was surprised when she felt Elijah's arms around her, gently pulling her onto the couch. Though, on the same note, she really wasn't all that surprised at all. Why should she be? They were both shifters, so it made sense that he would sense her presence. One way or another. Plus, there was little chance that he was sleeping so heavily on a couch, no matter how comfortable it was. And there was an even slimer chance that he had not detected her moving the glass. Which was, of course, now dwindled down to no chance. But as she leaned on him, resting her head on his chest, that couch was as comfortable as a cloud; wonderful upgrade from the floor, so she hardly minded. She could not have been in a more comfortable position at that given time, and gave a contented sigh without realizing it. Being there with Elijah, cozy and safe and curled up against him, felt right in its own respect. A respect that Raven didn't really understand, and didn't want to. One part of her had her own reason for that, but the other bit was that it would take far too long and require far more brain power than Raven was used to using. Possibly more than she - admittedly - had.

"Are you comfortable?"

Was she comfortable? It was a ridiculous question. Raven resisted from scoffing, it would hurt her lungs to do so at the moment. But she couldn't stop herself from chuckling. That was Elijah, ever the gentleman. Or at least, what she knew of him. She was distracted for a moment by that thought. What did she really know of Elijah? She didn't know his job, his favorites foods, favorite hang-outs, how many friends he had or even if he had any. She didn't even know if he had a wife or a girlfriend or some past that kept him from either or both. But Raven forced her mind to silence the storm of questions, it was all giving her a headache. And, for whatever reason, the thought of Elijah being romantically taken made her blood boil, and she had no desire to feel like that any time soon. She was far too exhausted. "If I wasn't, would I have allowed you to pull me up here?" She retorted, though the faint smile on her face revealed the good-nature of the teasing. Not to mention the heavy tone of 'Raven's teasing you' in her voice. It wasn't sarcasm, though it was definitely her own way of messing with him while stilling remaining true to her nature: snappy. The sensation of Elijah's fingers brushing her hair aside, and feeling his eyes on her, she moved her head so that she could look up at him too. There was something in Elijah's eyes Raven did not recognize, and she resisted the urge to lean closer and give it a closer inspection. But that was all she resisted.

Raven didn't bother holding back her eyes from searching his, trying to place what she saw to satisfy her curiosity. Their faces were already so close, she felt like she could see every detail of his eyes, and yet never be able to figure them out. She held his gaze for a long time, for the first time experiencing what it was like to be lost in someone's gaze. But eventually, her head became too heavy for her neck to bear. She was forced to rest her head on Elijah's chest again, curling her legs next to her on the couch and settling against him like he was the greatest comfort in the world. Raven's mind wasn't capable of realizing how they had really been to having a 'moment', and that it was not quite yet broken. Nor how well her body fit against his. She wouldn't have been able to see these things if she had been more awake and conscious, though she might have noted how close their faces had been earlier. For the moment, Raven was even more oblivious than the norm. She rested on hand on Elijah's chest, the other wrapped around him and resting gently on his shoulder. She wasn't using the couch to prop her up anymore, she was leaning completely on Elijah. "I should be asking you...if you're comfortable." She mumbled, her voice beginning to slur with the sleep that was so tantilizingly close. "You're my guest after all. And...important...." The pauses were more from being drowsy than they were from her nervousness. Raven wasn't really capable of feeling nervous at that very moment in time, though it definitely could be confused for nerves.

The word 'important' was the best she could think of in her state, but it left something missing. There was an element of what she was saying that seemed to not be there, something that needed to be said. But as Raven's eyelids grew heavier, she was increasingly unaware of the little signs of her dropping guard. She was expressing her innermost thoughts without even realizing it, even admitting that Elijah was important to her. The up side, was that she was unaware of it. So there would be no way for her to expand on what she saying, so she was excused from embarrassment. Not to mention there was little chance of her remembering every detail of what she was saying. She kept herself conscious though, just enough to hear if Elijah was comfortable or not. She forced her eyes to blink open her eyes and stay awake, shifting her body closer to Elijah's. "So...are you?" She asked. "Comfortable I mean." At least that much she could clarify, though her voice was still out of it somewhat and drowsy.

She answered and Elijah laughed tiredly, it rumbled in his chest and shook her lightly.
“I guess not” he replied back.
As tired as she must have been she still had the energy for sarcasm, that made him want to laugh again. Though the action seemed to exhausting for him to really think about so he settled for a lazy crooked smile. She lifted her head then and their eyes connected and he could have sworn he felt a bolt of electricity crack between them. Elijah was suddenly very aware of just how close she was, how close her face was…her lips. His eyes never left hers and her warm breath tickled his face sweetly. Without really thinking his hand came up and brushed the hair away from her face and behind her shoulder. She was so close, all he would have to do was lift his head up just the tiniest bit and…no. It was too soon. They had just met regardless of the fact that they were imprints he wouldn’t kiss her. Not without knowing it would be ok with her first. For all he knew she would punch him in the face afterwards. The thought sent a smile to his lips again as he looked up at her and regretfully she lowered her head to rest it back on his chest again.
His arms came around her and he was silent for a moment as he tried to focus on what had just happened.

” I should be asking you...if you're comfortable." She mumbled, her voice beginning to slur with the sleep that was so tantilizingly close. "You're my guest after all. And...important...."

Elijah looked down at her seeing how her long eyelashes nearly brushed her cheek when she blinked and the smooth line of her nose. He thought about her words for a moment though well more particularly one word she had used “important.” Was she admitting that he was important to her? Elijah thought for a moment that she knew then, that they were imprints, why else she would be saying he was important. How was that possible though? She had been asleep when he confessed to the doctor but he had felt it…so…why wouldn’t she? Unless she didn’t. The thought struck him so painfully in the heart that he had to bite his tongue to keep from making any sound.
Was that possible? Could that happen? Elijah wasn’t an expert but his sister had imprinted and she said it was a mutual thing like with his parents. What if he was different though? After all when it came to shifting he wasn’t like his family so what if that made imprinting different as well?

His blue eyes lifted and he stared at the wall but seeing very little of the pictures that hung on int. He was haunted now by these thoughts, the possibility that only he felt this way about her and she didn’t about him. What was he supposed to do then? It wasn’t like he could make her imprint with him. Would he have to just try to get over it or try to get her to fall in love with him in time? Elijah’s head was starting to spin with everything that was going. He couldn’t handle this right now, not without going insane from the stress. Why did life have to be so damn complicated all the time?

Not reluctantly he shoved the thoughts away and let his eyes shut, taking a deep breath and just trying to relax for the rest of the night. He started drifting again slowly and slowly sinking into unconsciousness when her voice came to him asking yet again if he was comfortable. Elijah tried to open his eyes but they were too heavy and he struggled to make his mouth work to form words.
“Yeah…I’m really comfortable here…with…you” he hadn’t meant to say that much not at all but he wasn’t fully aware of the words that left his lips. It was too late to try to come up with an explanation for it now because he was gone sinking into sweet slumber and gladly.

Elijah opened his eyes and he was back home in Canada. Part of him was vaguely confused about it…wasn’t he somewhere else?...with someone? He couldn’t remember for the life of him and it slipped from his mind entirely. He got up from the chair he had found himself sitting in and left the living room going into the kitchen. There was a sheep there…wearing a tuxedo and for some reason he didn’t find that strange.
“How did you get out of your cage?” he scolded the sheep who bleated lazily and went to chewing on the side of a cabinet.
“Fine, stay there” he mumbled walking down the hall towards his room. The hall was longer than he remembered and there were so many turns that he ended up getting lost. He tried one door and it led to a beach, that wasn’t what he wanted. He closed it and tried another one across the hall that revealed a snowy tundra it looked familiar and he thought he saw a white fox dart behind a tree. No, wrong door.
Another one, a chipmunk circus and they were all dressed up in frilly dresses.
“Ok…”
Elijah kept opening doors but couldn’t find what he was looking for. He became panicked, he had to find this door he just had to. He ran down the hall but there were no more doors and he came to a dead end. Elijah was filled with such rage that slammed his fist towards the wall but it went right through. The velocity of the throw sent him flying through the wall and he was outside on a beach. This one was different from the one behind the door though. There was a storm coming he could smell it in the air and black clouds were coming closer. The ocean puffed and swelled angrily and thunder clapped in the distance. His eyes scanned the stormy seas and to his horror someone was standing knee deep in the water. Her dark hair was billowing behind her. He knew her. He knew her! Evelyn.

Lighting split the sky and his heart pounded and he tried to yell to her to get out of the water but his voice wouldn’t work. He started running towards her but every step felt like it was weighed down with sand bags. Elijah waved his arms in an attempt to get her attention and slowly she turned around. It wasn’t Evelyn. He knew her face though, wild and beautiful as she smiled radiantly at him. Raven. Then suddenly there were men running towards her cue ball drake and the others with malicious grins on their faces. She didn’t stop smiling at him though she only lifted her camera lens to her eye as if to take a picture of him. The same time her finger pressed the button lightning came crashing towards her and the world went blank

“Raven! NO!” he shouted jolting awake a bead a seat trickled down the side of his head. He looked at his surroundings. Where was the beach? Evelyn? The gang? Slowly he came into awareness. It was just a dream. No a nightmare but it wasn’t real, it wasn’t real. His phone buzzed on the coffee table and his iced eyes flashed to it. Carefully he slid off the couch and onto his feet and picked up his phone and headed into the kitchen.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Caine?” it was a man “This is Mr. Martin with Clover Inc. I got your email that you had to cancel your meeting for this morning. I need to know when you have availability so we can discuss the plans for the new building”
Elijah struggled to wake up his brain
“Uh, yes, yes Mr. Martin Um…good-” he looked at the clock “good morning. I’m available tomorrow morning if that works for you.”
“This afternoon is better, I don’t have any time tomorrow” he said
Elijah’s eyes looked towards the living room “Yes that works fine. What time would you prefer?”
“One o’clock make sure you bring the plans with you”
“Yes sir, I’ll see you then. Goodbye.”
He hung up the phone and ran his fingers through his dark hair and looked out the window. Sunlight was streaming through gently lighting it warmly and he checked the clock again to make sure he had time.

He took a deep breath calming himself since he still felt uneasy about the dream. Elijah didn’t want to dwell on it so he did his best to shove it from his mind but it kept creeping back. He clenched his jaw in frustration and walked back into the living room slipping his phone into his back pocket.

“I guess not”

Was the only reply Elijah could muster, though it was coupled with and an earth shaking chuckle - at least to her, since her head still rested on his chest. Raven could also swear that she detected a smile in his voice, glancing up to see a crooked one there. Though why it was there, she could only assume it was because of her comment, making her grin. It was strangely nice to think that her, of all people, could make someone smile. Normally, she just acquired a hate club, and rather skillfully. Her own sisters rarely smiled around her, especially Collete. Most of the time, when they were together, Raven and Colette were always glaring at each other and challenging each other. Constantly fighting, hardly ever at peace. Though ironically, they made the best team when fighting together against the same foe. Which wasn't all that surprising to those who knew about Colette and Raven's history together, how they used to fight as allies when they were younger. Still, now they usually fought each other, though no one was ever really injured. And somehow...it always made Eliza smile. While Raven couldn't really completely grasp it, she knew that Eliza smiled because she understood how the family functioned. Despite it being frustrating sometimes - well...most of the time - Eliza still knew that Colette and Raven loved each other, that they were close as sisters. Different, but close. She was beginning to let herself believe that Elijah would be capable of understanding that too...but doubted she would be taking him to meet her family when they had their reunions - which was really just between the three sisters - in New York City. Why they went there was beyond Raven, since Eliza lived in Forks and Colette in Texas. They weren't born in New York, so it didn't make any sense really.... Though, in the back head, she got it. She understood that it was the very lack of connection to the place that kept them going there. Regardless, Elijah would not be coming. Raven had no intention of showing him just how much of a circus her life really was. Though why she was thinking like that, she had no idea.

“Yeah…I’m really comfortable here…with…you”

The words made Raven's heart pound hard and fast against her ribcage, though she forced her eyes shut. She had to at least pretend to be somewhat unaffected, to do anything else would be against her instinct. She had a past boyfriend, and though Elijah wasn't at that level with her yet, it did make her reluctant to trust others in that way again. Jackson had cheated on her in the past, and though she wasn't the one who killed him, she had wanted to be. After making him sterile of course. The thought made her grin slightly, though her mind quickly fled back to Elijah. She was his imprint. That could explain why she had been feeling that connection with him, if it was a mutual concept. And in Raven's experience, it wasn't. Or at least, not always. While her father had imprinted on her mother, she had imprinted on someone else. Which didn't really help her now with Elijah. In the end, her mother could bear it no longer, and had shot Raven's father before killing herself out of guilt and remorse. There was never any doubt that she loved him, but they just drove each other so completely insane with the complexity caused by the imprinting process, that it ended bloody. Raven remembered returning home that day.... No child should ever come home to a crime scene, even if Raven wasn't really technically a child. She had been roughly seventeen, just coming home from her high school graduation. Raven shut her eyelids tighter, trying to shut out the images that came to her by making spots appear in her vision, even if her eyes were closed. She needed to block out such thoughts, as she doubted her and Elijah would ever meet that end, or anything similar. Still, it freaked her out more than she would ever admit. But she could admit to the little things, and accept what she could not change. "Me too." She admitted, her voice low and a little raspy, as she was finally beginning to doze off. Once she had forced her parents from her mind, Elijah's proximity and scent once more became a comfort to her, and eased her tense muscles. "I'm comfortable here...with you too...." It was like one of those honesty drugs. Sleep deprivation made Raven an honest person, and it was odd. Normally, it would make her angry, but now she just didn't care. Her last thought before drifting into slumber at last, was that she hoped in her and Elijah's case that it was mutual.

“Raven! NO!”

Raven hadn't been having any dreams, but she was rudely jolted by the sound of someone screaming her name at such a volume. Her eyes remained closed, though her body had flinched, reluctant to move regardless of the urgency in the voice. Inher grogginess, it took some time for her to register that it was Elijah's voice. Still, for some reason she continued to pretend she was sleeping, though she really didn't mean to do so. She was just feeling lazy. She slid easily into a new position when Elijah moved off the couch, though she hardly moved at all. He had been so careful not to disturb her, that she nearly smiled and drifted back into a dreamless sleep. But instead, the sound of Elijah's voice stirred her once more, and this time it was not addressing her. Raven refused to open her eyes just yet, but she did listen closely to Elijah's end of the conversation, deducing without much dificulty that he was on his cell phone, though she had not heard it ring. Her eyes opened when Elijah hung up the phone. She listened to his breathing, finding it odd that he was having to breath so deeply. But then she remembered that he had just suffered a nightmare, and even that made sense to Raven. With a groan of reluctance and protest, Raven sat up on the couch, staring at the wall with a dazed and groggy expression. She rose to her feet rather lazily, stumbling a little at first but finding her balance before turning and walking around the couch to head over into the kitchen. She must have looked like a zombie, because she certainly felt like a zombie. She may be a bird shifter, but that by no means made her a morning person. In fact, Raven hated waking up early in the morning, and she was usually especially bitter about being woken up early in the morning. When she stood behind Elijah, she glanced at the digital clock on the stove, groaning loudly with the protest of a child before letting her forehead impact the wall. It was eight o'clock in the morning still. "Breakfast?" She asked, her voice lacking anything other than tiredness, though she still made the offer regardless. As she had said the night before, Elijah was not just a guest in her home. He was important to her as well, no matter how badly it freaked her out to think of that. With that, she headed into the kitchen, dragging her feet lightly as the carpeted floor of the living room gave way to tile as she entered into the small kitchen. She had to grip the counter to steady herself, sputtering out curses under her breath about how badly she hated mornings. One complaint in particular mentioning a strongly worded complaint letter to the guy who invented alarm clocks, and God.

[OCC: Sorry I could only get 3 paragraphs out. ><]

As Elijah walked out into the living room he saw Raven walking towards the kitchen. She looked terrible and he felt guilty for having woke her up. When she looked at the clock she groaned and let her head rest against the wall. It was early, very early for both of them considering what they went through last night. They had only gotten about four to five hours of sleep. Raven needed it more than he did though since he wasn’t the one who was in the hospital for a bullet and knife wound. She really should be sleeping still. Elijah had an annoying habit of not being able to go back to sleep once he woke up even if he was exhausted. She asked about Breakfast before shuffling into the kitchen, using the counters to stabilize herself. Was she really going to try to make something to eat like that? He wouldn’t be surprised if she couldn’t hold up a spoon. He watched her for a moment hearing as she cursed under her breath and he assumed that she either wasn’t a morning person or she was feeling terrible from last night. It could be both.

“Raven” Elijah began after a moment “what are you doing? You need to go back to sleep.” He walked over to her and easily scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to the living room.
“If you’re hungry” he set her down on the couch “I can make you breakfast.”
His blue eyes scanned her face “you don’t look good, you need to rest” he hadn’t meant it as an insult it was just the truth and he was worried about her. He brushed her hair back from her face, a gesture that now seemed suddenly natural for him to do, before he sat next to her. He ran his fingers through his dark hair and sighed and looked around for a moment.
“I have to go to a meeting today in a few hours but I need to go back to get everything together and ready for the client” he rubbed the back of his neck that felt tense and sore as he thought about what he needed to get done today.

Elijah didn’t want to leave Raven here alone when she still recovering and to be honest, which he always was, he just didn’t want to leave her in general. A thought struck him then as he thought about the suit that was folded neatly in his suit case back at the hotel. He was going to have to leave. Not just to go to the meeting either, he was going to have to leave to go back home in Canada. After this meeting was over he would have another day, two at the most, here in Seattle. With Raven. He didn’t know what to do about that, he couldn’t just leave her. Though he didn’t even know if she imprinted on him at all and if she didn’t…then that would make it easier. For her. For Elijah though…he didn’t know. It would be hard especially with how he was feeling about her now. He didn’t want to think about that yet though, not until he had to deal with it, or at least until he told her that…he imprinted on her. That had to, needed to come first. And soon.

He stood up from the couch and rubbed the back of his neck thinking about what he could make her to eat.
Elijah went to the kitchen and found the bread and popped two pieces in the toaster and let them go to a nice golden brown before he put them on the plate, turned off the toaster and lightly buttered the bread. He poured her a glass of water and walked back to the living room, setting the plate and the cup on the coffee table with a napkin for her. Elijah thought about something then and he looked around for a piece of paper he could write on, there wasn’t any he noticed.
He grabbed the keys to his truck “I’ll be right back” he said before heading out the door and walking over to his truck. He unlocked it and grabbed one of his business cards and headed back inside to her. Elijah grabbed a pen off the table and circled his cell number and put it down by her plate of toast.
“That’s my cell, you can call me if you-” he almost said ‘if you need me’ but he wasn’t sure if that would make her uncomfortable “-need anything” he said instead “I’ll be back in a few hours. There’s something I need to talk to you about. If that’s alright with you.”

He checked his back pocket to make sure he still had his phone and his car keys were in his hand. Elijah let his blue eyes rest on her and he was finding it very difficult to move his feet to leave. Instead of moving towards the door he crouched down in front of her and looked up at her.
“How are you feeling? Are you going to be ok here for a while?”
If she wanted she could always stay in his hotel room if she didn’t feel safe here while he was at his meeting and then he could take her back home. Elijah wondered if she would go for that, it would make him feel better but if she didn’t want to he wouldn’t make her. He didn’t think Drake would be planning to attack her any time soon…but he could be wrong. He knew so little about the situation that it made him even more reluctant to leave her here.

"If you want you could always come with me. You could sleep in my hotel room while I'm at the meeting then I could drive you back home, if you didn't want to be here alone."
It was an honest and innocent offer, he just wanted her to feel comfortable. He didn't want to make her feel like he thought she was helpless. That wasn’t the case at all he just wanted her to be safe.

((OOC: I can add more if you need it :) ))

“Raven” ... “What are you doing? You need to go back to sleep.”

The odd thing about that question wasn't just that she didn't know how to answer it, but the simple familiar ring it had. It made Raven blink, flashes of segments of her memory racing behind her eyes. She had been asked that very question, worded that exact way, countless times in her life time. Though they tended to be in very different situations from this one. What was she doing? She couldn't make a suitable breakfast! Normally, she wouldn't care what people thought about burnt toast for breakfast, she would just tell them that it was their own personal problem and move on. But burnt food wasn't fitting for Elijah, not after what he went through for her. Or, because of her rather. A small gasp escaped her when she found her feet suddenly not touching the floor, and she soon discovered she was in Elijah's arms again. It was starting to feel like something natural, and that freaked her out a little bit. But not enough to fight back, there was a pull towards the shifter that was much stronger than her impulse to push him away. Which was an odd thing for her, and didn't exactly help. But, once again, it was not strong enough. “If you’re hungry, I can make you breakfast.” What? Oh Lord, that wouldn't be right either. She opened her mouth to protest it all, but not only was she too late, the only sound to escape was some kind of hoarse croaking. She was puzzled, but sighed with reluctant defeat. It wasn't that she thought Elijah was bad chef, not that it would matter much because even the worst of chefs could manage a little breakfast. Raven only tended to burn things when she just simply didn't care to pay attention. “You don’t look good, you need to rest.” She shot a glare his way. Though he knew he hadn't meant it as an insult, her mind was suddenly thinking that burnt food might not be as undeserving of him as she had originally thought. Her eyes watched him as he brushed her bedraggled hair from her face. She could tell something was wrong when he combed his dark hair with his fingers, and her frown became a serious one. Whatever was bothering him apparently concerned her, and while it troubled her mind and you could even go so far as to say it worried her heart, though her selfish stomach only cared if it affected whether or not she ate.

“I have to go to a meeting today in a few hours but I need to go back to get everything together and ready for the client.”

She let those words sink in, and already felt a strange and somewhat alien darkness edge her being. She already felt like Elijah was far gone, even though he was still sitting right there. Her eyes remained on him as he rubbed his neck, and even as he stood to walk into the kitchen. Once he was out of sight -- without her having to turn her head and put him back in her line of vision -- her gaze drifted to floor by the leg of her coffee table. She was mulling over not only what Elijah had said, but the expression on his face as he said it. The most obvious thing Raven noticed was that he still seemed sore. Other than that, she just couldn't shake the feeling that Elijah wasn't telling her everything.... Still, she didn't get much time to dwell on it, since he placed toast and water infront of her. Completely shattering her present thoughts. She looked at his face again, studying him and not hiding that from her face. She wanted him to know that she felt he was biting something back, but it wasn't until he told her he would be right back and left her home that she suddenly remembered something. Elijah had told that doctor that she was his imprint. Maybe Elijah looked like he was holding something back because he wanted to tell her? After all, he didn't know that she knew. But now, she was wishing she didn't. That way, she would know with absolute certainly whether or not she had imprinted on him. After all, her parents had not mutually imprinted, how could she know if she had imprinted on him? Though the little voice in the back of her head said she had, she drowned it out with the sound of her devoring the toast. When Elijah walked back in, she lifted the glass to him and nodded, a silent thank you. She didn't know if she should try to use her voice again, since it seemed she had temporarily lost it. All she had been able to groan out that morning was the word 'breakfast', and just like that her voice was gone. For the moment anyway, she doubted it would last long. She drank the water like it was her life essence, though her eyes followed Elijah's hand as he set the card down on the table. “That’s my cell, you can call me if you -- need anything.” Raven set the empty glass down on the empty plate and looked up at him with a raised brow. Not bothering to hide her thoughts from her eyes. What, like you? Though it was meant to be a tease, Raven found that it was more true than she would likely ever admit at this point. She nodded at him, and looked at the card. It be pointless to pick it up now, she had no where to reall put it for safe keeping.

“I’ll be back in a few hours. There’s something I need to talk to you about. If that’s alright with you.”

And there it was. While Raven already had a pretty good idea what it was Elijah wanted to talk about, she only looked at him with curiosity. Though she met his gaze steadily, and kept the sense of knowing from her eyes. She didn't want Elijah to ever know that she eavesdropped, even if she only eavesdropped on him. Which was becoming a bad habit rather quickly, as she had done it again this morning. She nodded, letting him knowing that she understood and would wait for him. Still, while his words made it seem like he was leaving that instant, regardless of whether or not neither of them wanted him to go, Elijah didn't move. Raven watched him, just observing him with an unreadable expression. Though a smirk spread across her face when he sat down next to her on the couch again, she couldn't help it. “How are you feeling? Are you going to be ok here for a while?” Raven scoffed at what he said. She knew he was only worried, and that she shouldn't react like that, but she couldn't help it. Hadn't he learned anything about her yet? Why were men such slow learners? Not that she was really one to talk, but still. "Please," she croaked, her voice dripping in sarcasm though she paused to clear her throat, "haven't you learned anything about me yet?" Her words weren't exactly ill tempered or snappy. In fact, despite the lack of a grin or a smirk, they were almost playful. And the roll of her eyes, though it seemed like she was annoyed, was another sign that she was only teasing him. It always seemed to help Eliza for Raven to tease her when she was worried, and now Eliza only really was worried if something was very wrong. Like, potentially fatal wrong. So in her eyes, Elijah was just being silly. And Raven was certain her sisters would see it that way too if they were there at that moment, which she was grateful for the fact that they weren't. However, her words were falsly strong. She didn't want to be left alone really, but not only would she never admit that to Elijah, she wasn't selfish. She wouldn't keep him from his job. "If you want you could always come with me. You could sleep in my hotel room while I'm at the meeting then I could drive you back home, if you didn't want to be here alone." Raven's gaze grew thoughtful at Elijah's words. Sure, she saw the sense in that, but it also made her nervous. Her? Stay in Elijah's hotel room? She wasn't scared of Drake and his goons or anything, but she felt that she would feel much better if she were surrounded by Elijah's scent.... And it seemed like it would give Elijah peace of mind. It took only a moment of hesitation before she nodded her head in agreement to the plan. "Alright. She added, her voice much less hoarse than it was moments earlier. "But I'll need to bring some clothes." She added, though she didn't feel she needed to say why. It wasn't until Raven realized -- a mere split seconds later -- that her words could be misunderstood. "I need to take a shower." She explained, hoping Elijah hadn't gotten the wrong idea. At least she was talking better now, despite wishing she wasn't and especially not this early in the day. Ah, the wonders of a simple glass of water....