At the Manor

Tina smiled between her tears, and nodded. "Thank-you." She said Sh gave Shellie a quick hig before closeing her door again.

Shellie walked to her room, where she was grabbed by Jason. He kissed her lightly "Hey" she mumbled after the tore apart. They laid down on the bed, her head resting on his chest. He played with her hair as she traced shapes on his shirt. She was trying to calm down before Amu returned.

Amu started running again, trying to clear her mind. It wasn't working. A few minutes later she stopped, looking around. She was too far away from the Manor now. She knew that. She sighed, and knew she wouldn't make it back before the sun rose unless she ran.

Fear began to set its way in until she saw a small abandoned house a ways away. She started to walk towards it as the night became less and less.

She slowed her stride until the first signs of light began to show themselves. She knew this wasn't good. She had no idea how far away from the Manor she was, nor what the others would think if she wasn't back before daybreak. She ran towards the house, running in and slamming the door behind her just as the first ray of light hit the ground.

Marcus bolted up right when he hread the sound of a door slam. He had mad it back last night, and had just fallen into a restless sleep. He stood up and quietly walked out of the small bedroom. He was looking at Amu's back. He smiled. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" He asked suddenly. "Did yo miss me so much you had to come and vist as soon as you heard I was back?" He was slightly teaseing, but he had a sharp edge in his voice.

Amu jumped when she heard a voice. She spun around, ready to attack if need be. When she saw it was Marcus her mouth dropped open.

"M--Marcus??" She managed to say. Suddenly she glared at him. "As if it wasn't bad enough being stuck in a house in the middle of the woods, /you/ show up," She spat, still glaring at him. Then she remembered what Tina had told her and her anger suddenly grew again. She had her hands clenched into tight fists at her sides, resisting the overwhelming urge she suddenly had to hit him, or worse.

"Was it bad of me to retrun?" Marcus asked. He laguhed. "You seem angry, Amu, why?" He asked stepping closer.

"I wonder why!!" Amu shouted. "Could it have something to do with the sword you tried to stab me with?!? The fact that you made Tina's /ears/ bleed!! All of the things you have done to me and my friends!!" She shouted at him. "Why /wouldn't/ I be angry??!" Her voice rose with each word.

"And then I find out you're Tina's mate!!" She cried, gesturing with her hands so as to show how angry she was. "How could you do those things to her if you truly /are/ her mate!!" She shouted at him.

"One. I didn't mean to make /her/ ears bleed. Two. You have no right to jugde me." Marcus said clamly he crssed his arms over his chest, and looked bored. "And Three it looks like you are stuck with me till Dusk." The last one amused him but he didn't show it,

Amu had so many things she wanted to say to him right now, none of which were exactly nice.

"Gah!!" She yelled instead, letting out a frustrated moan and turning to face the door. She couldn't leave. She spun back to him.

'Trapped in a house with Marcus....honestly, I think I'd rather be in the sun right now,' she thought bitterly. She was practically shaking with pent up anger, biitng her tongue to hold back the barrage of insults that she wanted to throw at him.

"Your holding back." Marcus said. "I won't." He paused. "I find you a distaste for girl who needs to mind her own bussiness. I think you are partly out of your mind." And the insults went on for a good two minutes.

He stopped talking and looked at her. "And what does it matter to you if Tina is my mate? Not like you can do anything." He smiled. "Or are you gonna play Mother and command her to stay away from me?"

Amu stood silent as he insulted her. Then she smirked.

"Oh goody, is it my turn?" SHe aked sarcastically.

'Well, /I/ think you're a bully, who picks on others just for fun. And you're cold, cruel, heartless, and you claim you care about someone then leave them!" She paused then continued. "You're a jerk, a creep, a---" She went on, counting off the insults on her fingers. Then she looked at him.

"And I'm not going to play 'Mother'," She spat. "But one thing you /should/ know, is that real mates don't leave each other." She glared at him. "They don't /hurt/ each other, and they certainly don't treat each other the way you treat her."

She felt a bit better, having told him all of that and yelled at him. But now she was still stuck with him until dusk.

"Frist of all, if you recall, I was froced to leave her." He said simply. He was frowning. "And prehaps I am all that you hae called me. Thats who I am, could I change, I don't believe I could. " Marcus said.

"Well, you kind of forgot to mention you were her /mate/!" Amu shouted at him. "That could have changed things a bit, you know."

She was worn out from yelling and she didn't want to see his face anymore, much less talk to him. She looked around, but there was nowhere she could go in this small house to get away from him.

"What ever you say." He said with a yawn. "If you must know, sometimes I do wish she would go away so I won't hurt her." He had nothing else to say at the moment.

Amu paused. From what he just said, it made him sound as if he might /actually/ have human emotions. She smirked at the thought and shook it off. Suddenly she remembered Eric, and how he had shown up, then been trapped with them with the Slayers. She wondered if Marcus knew that Tina had been trapped with them.

She watned to tell him, but why? He had left Tina. He hadn't even /tried/ to stay with her, or get her to come with him. To her, it seemed as if he had given up. She still hated him, but she forced herself to speak.

"You missed quite a few things," She said simply, looking over at him. "Your old pal Eric showed up."

His hands went in to fists. "Yeah?" Anger flashed in his eyes. "What did he do?"

Why did Eric show up? What did he want? Why couldn't he go away?

Marcus clamed down and stood sriaght. "Is he still around? He didn't hurt Tina did he?"

Why did he care?

Amu frowned. He was acting strangely. Why did he all of a sudden act like he cared about Tina? She didn't believe he did.

"He just showed up then left," Amu said. He had said something to Tina but she didn't think it important. She wondered if she should tell him about them being taken by Slayers. She visibly flinched at the memory. She could still hear her friends' screams, cries for help, crying........

"Good. Anything else?" He asked, then he saw her flinched. "I'll take that as a yes. Spill, girly." He said, he wondered why he was asking, all he wanted to do was sleep. Sleep sounded good to him, really good. And his memories called out to him. He needed to face it. He was stuck in the past, and couldn't escape. He wanted sleep and the past. He needed sleep and the now.

"Spill." He said again.

Memories danceing in the back of his head.

"I thought I told you not to call me that," Amu snapped quickly. She saw how tired he looked, then shook off the thought. What did she care???

When he told her to 'spill' again, she sighed.

"The Slayers took us," She said quietly. "All of us, including Eric."

Why was she telling him this? Her mind screamed at her to stop, but now that she had started, she couldn't bring herself to stop.

Her hands clenched into tight fists at her sides as she looked at the ground. "The things they did......It's amazing we escaped. I can still---I can still hear their screams." Suddenly she looked up at him.

"Do you know what it's like, being able to hear them perfectly as they scream in pain?" She asked him, seirous. "Do you know what it's like to have to hear them call out, and not be able to help them? To be complletely /useless/, sitting in a /cage/, unable to do a single /thing/ to help them??"

She looked at him, as if expecting a response.

"I know more then you think." He said simply, sitting down. He once was taken by slayers before too, a few 100 years back. But he didn't say anything, but the crossed brunt on his tounge seem to start hurtting again. He looked up at Amu. "I might have seen things wrost then you could ever imagne, and you would never know." He said clamy, sleeply.

Amu was silent, all of her sarcastic comments or remarks seemingly vanished. She stood by the door, as if hoping the sun would set now so she could leave. But of course it wouldn't. She didn't relax, still on guard because she knew he was dangerous. After all, he /had/ tried to kill her before, and hd ended up hurting Tina again. Tina. The thought of him near her made her tense up again, anger evident on her face as she stood in front of the door.

Shellie and Jason had fallen asleep. When the sun rose Shellie jumped up and looked out a window Why was I so mean? she asked herself, expecting to find out Amu was dead. She walked away from the window, leaving Jason asleep, and went downstairs, where she sat on the couch and attempted to extend the reach of her mind to see if she could find her but there was no avail.

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Skylar was sleeping, not yet knowing that Amu hadn't returned.

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The lycan's were still in wolf form. Brooke and Anna were laying on the floor, sleeping. Jake had been sleeping but when his sister had entered the room. He set his head on her knee and looked up at her and whimpered. She pet his head slowly.

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Lorelai heard talking outside her room. She stepped out and saw Amu and smiled slightly.

Marcus didn't say anything he just difted in and out of a light sleep. Out of the coner of his eye he wacthed her.

Whatever shred of self-control Amu had left, had just left her.

Without thinking, she launched herself at Lorelai. The smile on her face made her blood boil.

This was the person who had kidnapped Shellie, the person who had hurt all of them, either physically or emotionally. The person who she hated, almost as much as she hated Marcus. Almost.

Her face was twisted in anger as she ran at her, the only thoughts in her mind those of rage.

Lorelai quickly moved out of them way "What is wrong Amu? So much anger?" Lorelai teased. She watched her carefully "Doesn't Shellie have a rule? Why attack if you weren't threatened first?" her smiled turned smug.