The Perfect Shot ~~ [[Drew]]

[Lilith Prescott]

Getting out of her car, Lilith looked up at the beautiful cathedral. She had been wanting to get some good shots of it for weeks now, but hadn't had the time, or the shoes, that she wanted. If you could manage to get up to the top, she heard it offered a stunning view of the city. Not very athletic, Lilith did not quite know how she was going to do it, only that it was gonna get done. A magazine was doing an article for it and they were willing to pay top dollar for the perfect pictures of the cathedral, and the city view from it. She looked around, there were no cars in the parking lot.

Apparently she had managed to come on the perfect day and smiled. Nothing like being able to do your work in silence. This was one of the few times Lilith was in particular serious. She had always admired the old cathedral and as she walked up to it she placed a hand on the worn stone. Yes perfect. She wasn't dressed up like normal today. Today she had on running shoes, capri running pants, and a fitted t-shirt. She had pulled her wild red hair into a pony tail and looked up at the top. That was what she was aiming for. She could climb up as far as the top room in the steeples but that wasn't the view she was going for. She was going for the top of the tallest steeple, maybe not the tippy top but there was an open room up there that was closed off to the general public.

Usually a doer of good, this was the only time Lilith ever did anything on the more gray side of the law. But she knew that there had to be the perfect shot up there. She shouldered her camera back and went inside the cathedral. She first took some very pretty photos she was happy with, especially the setting sunlight reflecting off the stained glass. She could not wait to start making her way closer to the top. As she started climbing the stairs in one of the smaller steeples (the tallest one was not open to any kind of press) she reflected back on her day. It had been a mostly ordinary day, she had gone shopping, and had purchased a new lens for the shot she was aiming for her. She had finished developing some film from the past week in the dark room in her apartment and was quite pleased with some of the pictures she had gotten from the cemetery.

She was a little confused why she hadn't gotten more though, and tilted her head trying to remember. Why had she only gotten a couple from the entrance and the beginning...ah well she must have tripped and broke her lens or something. She finally reached the middle of the steeple, opening one of the many windows that wound up it. She looked around and crept out the window carefully stepping down on the roof of the cathedral. It had flat parts that had iron work along side them that she could carefully creep along until she reached the spire that went up higher. Already the view was breathtaking as she stepped along, carefully crouching down. 

Lilith didn't think she had been more careful in her proceedings than she was right now. She reached the tower, hanging onto and letting out a breath of relief. "Almost there!" Lilith was determined. The window that she needed in was not very far up, and so she brushed some of her hair that had gotten loose away, working her fingers and feet into the worn stone and climbing up to the window. She reached up for a foothold and felt the stone give way on her right foot. "Ah!" Lilith let out a cry as she slipped a little, hanging on with both her hands while she worked on finding foot holds for her feet. She couldn't believe how well this was going!

Jimmying the window open, Lilith crawled through onto the old wood, wiping some sweat off her forehead. How happy she was to have her feet on solid ground. She looked up the steeple, towering up about 15 more feet. She was almost there. there was a window at the top that had the perfect view of the city. She readjusted her shoulder bag, slowly making her way up the creaking stairs. Once at the stop Lilith let out a breath. Getting down had to be easier right?

The perfect shot. She had gotten it. Lilith clicked her camera a couple more times, admiring the sun setting over the entire city. What a romantic spot. She could just dream away up here. She smiled, closing the window. Now all she had to do was climb down the steeple inside and sneak through some ropes. While up there she had looked at the parking lot and it was still empty, she should be good. Lilith started making her way down the stairs, treading harder than she should. More than once she had barely missed a hole or some weak wood. She had made it about half way down when she saw the reason the steeple was blocked off to the public. There was a whole part of the staircase missing, and she saw the caution tape. They were working on repairing it but hadn't quite gotten to it.

"Well...we...we can just...figure out a way down." Lilith looked around, spotting a rope. Well..it was risky. But...she really didn't have another way. Going across the roof was something she didn't want to do again so she carefully picked her way down to the edge of the staircase. She hesitated. Maybe she should wait. She blinked, no...she would be fine. As she was plucking up the courage to grab the rope that hung about 4 feet from her, she felt the wood underneath her buckle and suddenly there was nothing.

Lilith screamed as she fell, her hands instinctively grabbing the rope and she slid about 10 feet before stopping. Her hands were on fire and she could see that they were not in good shape. She held onto the rope. She was still about 20 feet from the bottom but at this moment right now, she was not moving. She felt a tear roll down her face. She really thought she was a goner, and she still could be if she let go of the rope. "What now Lilith, you idiot."


===


Drew Schultz

[Drew Schultz]

He was accustomed to the city at night. Risky as it was to walk alone when there was someone out looking for him, the wolf in him could not resign itself to staying indoors. There was a certain amount of restlessness he always had to wrestle with, so he contented his paranoia by restricting his walks to areas where there weren't a lot of people to spot him. Oddly enough, no one seemed to think twice about him if they only saw him at a distance. He supposed that his thick build made him not look quite as tall from afar. Whatever the reason, he found himself walking at sunset in the Memorial District again, where he seemed to encounter the strangest people. Perhaps the anti-social people of the world were the ones that lived in this area, and those were the same sorts of people who would mind their own business instead of calling the police just because they saw a stranger walking by.

The fading sunlight was giving way to the slight chill of a breeze, and he enjoyed the sun on his face while it lasted, knowing that the night would only get colder. Although the brightness of the light didn't bother him, his vision would only get better as night fell. He opened his eyes again as he stepped into the shade of the massive cathedral, and he glanced up at it. The parking lot was empty, but he walked around it anyway. He had no business in a church, profane as he could be. Still, it would be nice to feel the sort of confidence that religious people had, that someone was watching them from above. He'd never seen much evidence of it.

He was about to head across the street when he heard something. A woman's shriek broke the relative quiet of the evening, just faint enough that he wasn't sure whether any human would have heard it. He looked up toward the steeple, confused. It had come from there, no doubt, but why would anyone be up there in the first place? He saw a flash of ginger, but nothing that told him who was up there, aside from the fact that it was probably either a redhead or someone wearing orange. Battling within himself for a long moment, he turned and crossed into the parking lot, hesitating to ensure he wasn't about to be struck by lightning. It was unlikely, but you never know.

His steps increased in speed as he registered a familiar scent, and he almost sighed internally as he figured out who had to be up there. It was that Lilith woman that he'd helped to her car not a week ago.

Crossing the threshold, he had to take a moment to gaze in awe at the spectacular sight of the cathedral at sunset, with the stained glass casting colorful silhouettes at the wall, and the white walls bathed by rainbow light. Shaking off the surprise, he sniffed the air to locate the girl. She had definitely gone this way... Following the scent to where it got stronger, he finally managed to find the door that led up to the spire. Glancing up, he saw her dangling in the midst of the staircase.

Heights. Great. Just his favorite thing.

Climbing the stairs at top speed, he ascended as quickly as he could, until he could see her more clearly. A broken line of stairs behind her told him what had happened, and he glanced at the wood beneath his feet, wondering if it would support them both. He outweighed her significantly. He would have to find some way to get her down without getting them on the same step. He could feel his pulse pounding in every step, and he forced himself not to look down.

"Lilith?" he asked tentatively. "What are you doing here? Nevermind, just hold on tight."

He climbed past her and skipped the broken steps with a massive leap that made the stairs above creak in protest. It took him another few moments to get to the place where the rope was tied, and he found a rusted and broken winch. So that wasn't an option, really. Sighing, he grabbed the edge of the window with his fingertips and willed the claws to grow to give him a better grip. Leaning out with his much longer arms, he took hold of the rope and began to swing the rope back and forth, so that she could reach the stairs. The wood under his feet creaked again and cracked. It was going to collapse, he was pretty sure, but he would solve that problem when it came to him.

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith had her eyes closed. She couldn't believe the predicament she had gotten herself into, and her arms were starting to get tired. She was gonna fall, and with her luck probably land on her neck. She clenched her teeth. What was she going to do now? She usually wasn't so helpless. This was getting too much and just as she was about to face the consequences she heard a voice. A voice? A male voice. A deep male voice who knew her name. She frowned. She knew that voice.

Opening her eyes and looking down, she saw the stranger who had helped her a week ago. Oh no. Not again. Uh...hey ya...stranger...uh hi...I am...yeah I'll be here." He was at least doing something to happen to her but she never thought she would run into him again. The night at the cemetery came back to her and she groaned. Her hands were bleeding on the rope from where they had been sliced up from her slide down. Could this day get any worse? Lilith heard the stairs creaking as the man was bounding up them. He was much more athletic than her, and she sighed. Why couldn't she be that athletic. She felt the rope start swinging and felt her feet touch the stairs, on the next swing she hopped off, falling against the wall on the stairs and letting go of the rope.

Sitting here, Lilith looked at her hands, tears rolling down her face. She was lucky that the stranger happened to be there to rescue her once again. She secretly hoped it wouldn't become a habit. Her hands were torn up from the rope and bleeding and she rested them on her lap, looking up at the man. "I..I am so sorry..." She let the tears roll down freely, trying to not move her hands. She had never injured herself quite so bad because of a stupid decision and she was also lucky it had been the stranger to find her and not someone else who would have called the cops.

She shrugged the strap to her bag off her shoulder and let out a small muffled sob when she went to move the strap over her hand. It would be at least a week before she could set up her camera or her tripod even successfully to take a good photo. These shots better be enough for the magazine. She was lucky she got them before calamity stuck.

Lilith felt the grim and dirt all over her before she even looked at herself, and winced as she tried to get into a more comfortable position. She heard the wood creaking above her and looked up, worried about the man who had saved her life again. "Oh..please don't fall..."

[Drew Schultz]

At the increasing cracks of the steps breaking beneath his feet, he gritted his teeth and looked down to see that the girl had sat on the stairs, and the fresh scent of blood made him grip the windowsill tighter. What was the next step? His thoughts began to race, his eyes wide as the pupils narrowed to slits, the wolf taking over now that his life was in danger. He clung to control more tentatively than he clung to the windowsill, and he released the rope to bite himself on the forearm with sharpened canines. The pain pushed back the haze of his thoughts, and his eyes faded back to their dark brown as the pupils reformed into circles. The taste of his own blood was salty and copperish, and he released the flesh to shout down to the girl on the stairs.

"Get to the first floor!" he told her, his voice sharp with tension. "Get away from the stairs!"

These stairs were from an era in which men almost never grew past six feet of height, and a 300 pound man was all but inconceivable. Even if they had been brand new, they wouldn't have been built to support someone like him. Hell, the girl probably weighed barely more than a third of that, and it had broken under her feet. With that thought flashing through his head, he took in what he had to work with at a glance. The strongest points on the stairs were the edges, the joints where they went into the walls, but his feet were too big to support his weight entirely on those. He would have to aim for...

As he was thinking, the board beneath his feet shattered, and he began to fall. His shoulder jarred almost out of socket as his grip on the window kept him from toppling down to the ground. Bracing his feet against the wall, he pulled himself up a couple of inches and chose a spot a couple of stories down where the wood was still intact. Taking a small breath, he pushed off of the wall at the moment that he released, flinging himself toward the stairs as he began to fall. The railing collapsed as he smashed into it, but his momentum didn't stop there, and he hit the wall with a thud that shook the stairs and sent a layer of dust filtering down to the ground. Glancing down to ensure that Lilith wasn't in the way, he pushed off of the wall again and fell the last few stories, landing heavily in the middle of the growing pile of debris.

His heavy grunt was the only outward sign he gave of the pain of landing on a jagged pile of broken wood and nails, and he coughed the dust from his lungs as he pushed himself up off the ground. There was stabbing pain in his side, and he glanced down to see that a splinter the size of a pencil had penetrated his side just below the rib. Gritting his teeth, he pulled it out and clapped a hand to it to stem the steady stream of blood. Blood only coated the first inch and a half of the splinter, and he frowned as he looked at it. His arm was bleeding worse where he had bitten himself. It wasn't anything to panic over.

"Let's not make this a regular thing," he rumbled, turning his eyes onto the place where he could smell her presence. "I'm not sure I can survive much more of these sorts of accidents."

He grinned slightly to reassure her as he got to his feet, ignoring the complaint of his bruised ribs and arms. He covered the bleeding spot on his arm with his hand, so that she wouldn't see the shape of it.

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith was still stairing up at the man as he attempted to brace himself, and heard him shout at her to get away from the stairs. She did not have to be told twice as she bolted down the last of the stairs and out of the spire. A few moments later, the man and the stairs came crashing down. She coughed, holding her hands at her sides. When the dust cleared she saw the man come out, his hand on his side, a smile on his face.

"Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. Are you ok? Are you hurt?" Lilith ran over to him, attempting to fuss with her injured hands, tears welling up in her eyes again. "I am really sorry. I should have been more careful!" Lilith saw the bleeding on his arm and looked up at him with startled eyes. "Oh my, we really should get that looked at. I mean this is all my fault!" The tears fell down from her eyes. She hated crying but couldn't always stop it and she was so worried about the man next to her. She blinked.

She still had another bandage in her camera bag and she unzipped it with the very tips of her fingers. Her hands weren't really bleeding anymore but they were a mess. Lilith was more worried about the guy in front of her though as she grabbed the bandage, wincing from the pain that shot through her hand. "Alright. Here, let me wrap your arm. I can just..." Lilith hands were shaking a little bit and she dropped the bandage. I am so useless... Lilith frowned, bending down and picking it up. "We should...we should just go to my car. I have better bandages in their anyways."

With a resigned sigh, Lilith poked her head into the main chapel and looked around. She didn't see anyone and was so glad the coast was clear, so she led the way out to the car. By this time the sun had set completely. At her car, Lilith set her bag down and fumbled out her keys, popping the trunk to reveal a larger red bag that had wraps, bandages, bandaids, anti-biotic ointment, and more medical things. She could be her own hospital almost. Lilith looked up at the man, by now the tears had dried on her face and she took a breath. "I am sorry we keep running into each other like this. I just..I had to get the perfect shot." She motioned to her camera. "Even if it was dangerous, I got it. Here..let me wrap your arm for you." Lilith pulled out a larger wrap that would work for the mans arm and she looked at him and looked at the puncture wounds on his arm and looked at her car.

She had forgotten her flashlight and it being nighttime, light was not a commodity at the moment. She shifted from one foot to another. "Listen. I don't know you very well but you seem really nice and you have saved me twice, even if the first time wasn't very hero like..It was a life saving thing to me. I mean....just...please-don't-freak-out!" Lilith said the last sentance super fast as she let out a breath and flicked her hand in the air.

She had never been nervous about showing her powers, but usually people didn't know it was her. But they needed light and they were both bleeding and she very much doubted the man was gonna fit in her car and she wasn't walking home and she wasn't letting him leave without some kind of first aid.

When she had flicked her hand, a small ball of fire appeared above her hand, she turned her hand, and flicked her hand a couple more times, turning them until there were about 5 small balls of fire around them, providing more light. They were lower, and floating about shoulder height to Lilith. She looked up at the man, nervous about what he might think of her. Only two other times had she shown her powers, and one of them was to her friend Mara, and another was to an old boyfriend who had called her a freak. She had set him on fire after that, it was a harmless fire of course but he still freaked out and they had not spoken since. She bit her lower lip, waiting for the man to either say something or hand her his arm so she could start bandaging it, although she didn't know how good a job she would do considering her hands, which she was just now considering.

[Drew Schultz]

His attempts to calm her down didn't seem to even catch her attention, and he sighed inwardly as he saw how hard her hands were shaking. He hadn't meant to make her feel bad, he'd just hoped that a joke and a smile would keep her from getting frantic. Clearly, it hadn't done much good, as she led him into the parking lot and to the trunk of her car. He remembered it now, the same one that had been in the parking lot when they'd first met. He wasn't sure how he'd missed it initially, other than target fixation from the sound of her alarm. He looked around the empty parking lot, which was still completely abandoned, thank goodness. The last thing he needed was someone seeing them bloody and calling the cops on them.

"It's okay," he assured her again, as she opened the trunk. "Really, it's not a big..."

He trailed off in mid-thought as a few licks of flame materialized in the air around them. His face paled alarmingly as he saw the brilliant glow cast by the orbs of light, and he reacted instinctively, with a whispered word and a wide sweep with his hand. As his skin touched each of the tongues of flame, they extinguished into tiny puffs of smoke, until they were cast back into darkness, but for the glowing blue of his eyes. His bleeding arm, exposed to the air again, dripped onto the parking lot. The glow faded from his eyes as he lowered his arm, his pulse pounding in his ears as he looked around again, sniffing the air. Had anyone seen? Did anyone know that they had used inhuman powers? When no one turned up to his inspection, he leaned against the car and heaved a heavy sigh, staring up at the darkening sky before he closed his eyes.

This girl was going to get him killed, or worse, caught by the maniacs who had held him from childhood. The smart thing would have been to leave the area immediately, but he soon realized that she had no idea what he had just done, or how. He had probably taken her near panic and made it worse.

"I'm sorry, Lilith," he said, his voice quiet as he kept his eyes closed. "It's dangerous to do something like that out in the open in times like these. I'm sorry if I frightened you."

Moving slowly so as not to further startle her, he walked around to the trunk and pulled disinfectant from the pack. Holding his hands so that he could see them approach, he took her hand as gently as he could manage and began to clean out the rope burns, which had stopped bleeding but were filthy from the aged and dusty rope. He kept his dark brown eyes on the wounds, almost afraid to look up and see how badly he had frightened her. Once they were clean, he wrapped them in bandages and tied the bandages off. His arm still dripped with blood, but the trickle had slowed.

His vision wasn't much affected by the darkness, but once her hands had been treated, he pulled out the small flashlight from his pocket and handed it to her.

"Please..." he entreated her, looking into her eyes again. "For your own safety, don't do that in public anymore. There are people..."

He looked away and swore under his breath, knowing he had told her too much already. If he couldn't trust her, he had already given himself away, and even if he could, anyone who had seen them would know they weren't normal humans. He might as well put up a billboard on Main Street.

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith's eyes widened as he put out her flames, dousing them in darkness once again. She was holding in small sobs still, and looked down as he started talking about how dangerous it was. Dangerous? There was nothing dangerous! She was confused, what was so dangerous? Lilith stared at her hands, the ground. Anywhere but up at the man. She didn't mean to put him in trouble, or danger, or whatever it was. She was just trying to help. He came over, gently taking her hands. She looked up at him.

I am...really sorry. I just...I wanted to help. Lilith stared at him. "How did you...put out my fire?" Her eyes turned from sad to curious as the man finished wrapping her hands. He pulled out a flashlight, handing it to her. There were people? What people? Lilith was now more confused than ever. He wasn't giving her much to go on, just more questions. Lilith slowly wrapped his arm up, pinching the flashlight between her cheek and shoulder.

She would have moved it into the air to float but, if it made the person before her uncomfortable. She finished, running her finger tips over the wrap once before putting them to her side. How was she going to drive? She looked up at the man. She needed to stop feeling down. She smiled at the man, touching his un hurt arm with her finger tips. "Look, I'm sorry. Why don't you crash at my apartment tonight. If there are people...or whatever.." Lilith waved her hand in the air, gesturing vaguely. "Then my place would be best, and they wouldn't know, and besides...you got hurt because of me." Lilith touched his wrapped arm gently, looking up at him.

She just wanted to help him. "Or...you could..ya know...tell me your name?" Lilith mumbled this last sentance, moving to her trunk and closing it with the palm of her hand and letting out a groan, hopping up and down, grabbing her hand with her other hand. "Ugh! Lilith you idiot!" She looked at her throbbing hand. She needed to be more careful! She knelt down, waiting for the pain to pass and holding her hand to her hand to her chest. Driving was gonna be so much fun later.

[Drew Schultz]

He was quiet as she treated the bite on his arm, hating himself for the discomfort in her eyes. She probably thought that he had reacted that way because of her powers, not because of those who might see. He was making a mess of the whole situation, like he always seemed to. Not for the first time, he lamented that he was so socially awkward. He'd not had much chance to make friends in his life, and he always seemed to be doing something to make others nervous or uncomfortable. Perhaps it was partially his size, but he knew that she hadn't seemed bothered by it until he had acted as he had. There had to be something that he could do to make it up to her.

"I'm sorry, Lilith," he apologized again, his voice low. "You did nothing wrong. It's just that there are people out there who would hurt you if they knew that you are special. I don't want that to happen to you."

When she finished with his arm, he flexed it experimentally, articulating his wrist to make sure that the bandage wouldn't come up. The wound twinged mildly at the movement, but it was manageable. What answer could she give to her questions? Anything he told her would just put her in more danger, but then she had been kind enough to tend to his wound. Did he owe her the truth, or did he owe her a lie that would make her safer? But would it really make her safer to lie to her? She didn't seem to fathom the danger that she was in, if she was willing to use her powers in the middle of town. If he was honest with himself, it would be far more dangerous to leave her in the dark.

But how much of the truth should he tell her? He wasn't looking for a pity party, and if she knew what had been done to him, she would surely look at him differently. Little as he usually cared about that sort of thing, some part of him ached at the thought that she would think of him as a victim. His pride raged against it. But the line of thought was derailed when he saw how much her hands were still hurting her.

"First, let's worry about you getting home," he told her. "I'm not sure that you're good to drive. Do you live too far to walk, or take a cab?"

He wasn't about to offer to drive, since he'd never driven before and didn't have the first clue how to do it in the first place. If need be, he could always walk her home, to make sure that she got there safely. At her inquiry about his name, he blinked a couple of times, realizing that despite having saved her twice, he had never even given her his first name. It was habit, he supposed, to keep people in the dark.

"My name is Drew," he said finally. "At least let me walk you home, so I'll know you made it back okay."

[Lilith Prescott]

"People out to hurt me? What people? That just sounds silly, who would want to hurt me? Why would they want to hurt me? I guess the only people I ever ran into that wanted to hurt me were the little old ladies on the other side of the clearence rack. That nearly turned into a blood bath. Lilith let out a small laugh at the memory. She looked up at the man as he introduced himself.

"Drew." Lilith tested out his name. It matched him. She was glad he told her and she beamed up at him. "Thanks for telling me...It really suits you." Lilith looked down, a small blush touching her cheeks. He wanted to walk her home? She could take care of herself..sort of. Ok maybe she needed a hand sometimes and it was really nice of him to offer, even if it was just him being him. Lilith nodded. "Thanks Drew, I would really enjoy it if you walked me home. I can just come back for my car tomorrow. It..is really nice of you." Lilith grabbed her bad, shouldering it and locking her car.

"Uhm, I live right past the shopping districts, in my apartment. Its a little bit of a walk, but...if your up to it." Lilith started walking, noticing Drew falling in step behind her. She glanced up at him. She looked back ahead of her, fidgeted a bit. The silence started to stretch as the moon came up, bathing them in a silver light. Lilith brushed some hair out of her face.

"So..how did you get your scars?" She didn't like silences like that, they always creeped her out. She looked at her hands as they walked down the street. What a night it had been, and now she was walking home. She didn't think this would happen, but she was glad she had Drew for company, even if he wasn't very talkative. She chewed on her bottom lip, waiting for him to say something, and attempting to not trip or run into a pole, though there was a couple of close calls that she barely swirved out of the way.

[Drew Schultz]

They walked a short distance in silence, and he extended his senses to make sure that there wasn't anyone watching the pair of them. Her footsteps were almost regular, but not quite, mostly because she was being careful to be sure that she didn't wipe out. The thought was equal parts funny and exasperating, since he was trying to keep her safe. Although he was trying to observe beyond her, he continued to be drawn back to her peculiar ambling stride. Watching her as he now couldn't help, he admired the rolling wave of her long red hair. It seemed to have a mind of its own, like her very limbs. It fit her, in a way, and the color could only allow her to stand out. Like so much of her, it was contrary, whipping into her face every now and again. A small smile tugged at his lips.

At her question, his face went blank again, his eyes turning cold. He extended his senses again, remembering why he had asked to walk her home. If anyone should not be left alone, it was Lilith, who couldn't help but stand out and had special abilities that Axium would give anything to study. He breathed in through his nose to steady his nerves. He had decided he was going to tell her the truth, so her question was as good a place to begin as any.

"Lilith, I need you to promise never to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you," he said, glancing over at her. "If anyone knew that you know any of it..."

He shuddered, the hair on the back of his arms tingling a trail up to his shoulders. The thought of Axium getting a hold of her was one that he didn't want to consider, remembering how she had twirled at the top of the hill just for the joy of it. A steely determination built inside of him, that he would stop them from ever hurting her. The thought of her trapped in that place was disgusting, ungodly, wrong in every way. His eyes lightened a couple of shades in color at the very thought, but he focused on the dull ache of his arm to drive back the anger.

He had to think of a way to warn her. But where could one begin?

"I was born a fire wizard," he said, glancing over at her to ensure that she wasn't freaking out just yet. "When I was very young, a group of people took me from foster care and started experiments to see if they could splice the genetics of animals into my genome. Specifically, they were trying to artificially create a werewolf. I guess people with magic take to the process more readily than normal people."

Knowing how crazy that sounded, he stopped for a long moment, wondering how much detail he really needed to give her, and whether it would help or further convince her that he was just a lunatic. His voice was very low, but steady and methodical, while he kept an ear open for intruders. If he was bugged, they would have found him already, and so he doubted he had to worry about that sort of thing, but he still didn't want anyone overhearing.

"The experiments turned me into something else. Not quite a werewolf, but something between it and human. They... they wanted me to be one of their soldiers. They trained me to fight, to kill. These marks on my neck are souvenirs of my escape. I was lucky. A few inches to the left, and I'd have been paralyzed or dead. They are still looking for me, looking to take me back, or failing that, put me down."

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith was so happy when the silence ended. Or at least she was for a moment. Drew answered her question, although at first he seemed hesitant about it. What would happen if someone knew what he was going to tell her? She nodded. "I promise I won't tell anyone. You can trust me, Drew." Lilith gave him an encouraging smile, and he continued talking. She blinked. A fire wizard? She looked at him, her eyes widened as he continued talking

To say that she was shocked was a bit of an understatment. She had no idea. A place that experiments on supernaturals? She knew there was an abundance in the city, she just had never cared. And now this? He paused, and Lilith stopped walking, touching his arm. He explained the scars on his neck and she looked up at him. If he successfully got away from that, then that was that right?

"Drew...I..." For the first time Lilith was speechless. She looked down, chewing on the inside of her bottom lip. What could she say? The tall, huge, monster of a man was in front of her and he had been experimented on? She knew people could be deranged, but could they really be that...bad? Before they continued walking, Lilith took Drews hand.

"But it is all in the past right? Why should they still be looking for you? They could move on, and...stop, I mean...it isn't like you are doing anything to them." Lilith frowned, looking down at her hands, and taking one of his. "Drew, I want to help you. I mean...I don't know how I could...oh! You could stay at my place! It isn't like these wierd, deranged, crazy people know where I live, and you would be safe." Lilith smiled, letting go of his hand and continued walking.

She barely knew how to keep herself safe, let alone someone else, but for some reason the thought of Drew just disappearing from her life like that didn't settle well. And he was a fire wizard too. She looked over at him, turning around and walking backwards, which was a very dangerous thing for her to do to herself. "So can you still do fire magic?" Lilith asked, bumping into a telephone pole with her back, which startled her. She stepped around it, walking forward again. I really have to pay more attention...

[Drew Schultz]

Drew smiled a sad and tired smile as she spoke, wondering if he had ever been as optimistic as Lilith always was. She seemed to believe that there was no such thing as a bad person. It had worked to his advantage in that she didn't have the sense to be afraid of him like most people were, but he was afraid that she would be hurt one day because of it. Telling her all of this might put her in more danger, or it might put her on her guard. He could only hope that it was the latter, even if it meant that she didn't want him around any more.

"You don't understand, Lilith," he said, turning to her and brushing her hand with his fingertips. "I am not supposed to exist. No one escapes. No one. The fact that I am here, and that I know that they exist, means that I am a threat to them. No one is supposed to know that they're even out there."

When she started walking backward, Drew gave her a disapproving stare, but she seemed to pay it no mind until she nearly walked into a telephone pole. Thankfully, she started walking the right way forward after that. His fingers tingled where he had touched his hand, and he rubbed the digits together as if her touch was a tangible substance that he'd never felt before. Admittedly, he didn't usually like it when other people touched him, but for some reason, he didn't find it as unsettling when Lilith touched him. He found himself remembering that he didn't like being touched, rather than reacting like he normally did. The thought was confusing.

"I appreciate the offer," he said, rolling his head back and forth to get his neck to crack. "But I have my own apartment. If they knew where it was, they would have already come. It's safe enough."

At her question, he smiled again, more naturally this time. He didn't have the first clue how this woman's head worked, but she always seemed to be taking him off-guard in some way. From anyone else, it would have been unsettling. Equally unsettling was the fact that she kept making him smile, which was something that he didn't often do.

"After all that I've told you, that's what you want to know?" he teased, tilting his head quizzically. "Yes, fire magic comes pretty naturally to me. It's more second nature than fitting into this city, that's for sure."

[Lilith Prescott]

Looking up at Drew, Lilith smiled. He had this smile on his face, making her want to just melt. She continued walking, laughing at the answer he gave her. "More natural than the city? You don't like it here? And I wanted to know because fire magic is fun, and I have never met another fire magic user before..." Lilith smiled, facing forward. What was it about this guy? She had run into him twice, and she was melting? Lilith gave her head a small shake. She needed to get a hold of herself.

Stopping in front of her apartment building, Lilith turned and looked at Drew. Well, looked at his chest. She didn't think she was ever going to get used to how tall the man was. She looked up, staring at him in the eyes. "Are you sure, Drew? I mean...about your apartment." Lilith glanced back down, touching her fingertips together. Why was she so worried? He had taken care of himself for this long? Who was she to interfere?

Lilith looked back up at him, shaking with a shiver. It had gotten a bit chillier out and she crossed her arms, careful of her wrapped hands. She chewed her bottom lip, chewing a thought over in her mind. She looked down, at her apartment building they were standing in front of, and back up at Drew.

"Drew, why don't you come up for some coffee..or water....wine maybe?" Lilith looked back down, a blush touching her cheeks. "I mean...You don't have to if you don't want to. Its just really nice talking to you tonight, and I just was hoping maybe we could get a drink..together...oh I sound lame now." Lilith laughed. "I am sorry, I am just rambling." Lilith shrugged, gestering to the apartment building in front of her. "Well..this is me." Lilith smiled at Drew, starting to walk up the stairs to her door, getting out her keys and sticking them in the lock. She paused, glancing back at Drew, trying to be nonchalant but failing at it miserabley. 

[Drew Schultz]

He glanced up at the building, breathing in deeply through his nose to make sure that there weren't any dangerous people that he recognized nearby. For whatever reason, he was reluctant to leave her here alone. Was it really safe to leave her...? More to the point, was it really her safety that was making him so reluctant to go? The wolf in him wanted to whine, but he swallowed instead and went up the first step, uncertainty in his eyes. He hated feeling so lost in the social arena, which was just one of many areas of living in the real world that he found taxing and confusing. It wasn't as if he'd gone to high school to learn this stuff.

"Coffee sounds good," he admitted, his skin darkening in a blush. "If you don't mind my hanging around for a bit..."

He took another step and looked around in the darkness. With his night vision and enhanced hearing, he could detect just about anyone who might have been lurking around, but all he heard was the people shuffling around in their houses. There didn't seem to be any fresh scents on the doorstep, aside from their own. It was remarkably quiet in this neighborhood, considering that it had only just gotten dark. Perhaps he should consider moving somewhere nearby, if it was always this quiet. His own neighborhood had a lot of crime that began after the sun went down, and that was why he didn't get much sleep. Well, it was a contributing factor, anyway.

Taking the last couple of steps up, he kept away from her back so that he wouldn't make her nervous. He knew that he would have reacted badly if someone he didn't know well had tried to stand directly behind him, so why wouldn't anyone else? Noticing a camera above the doorway, he looked at his feet. He knew that a lot of apartment buildings in the upscale side of town had security cameras for letting people in, but that didn't make it any less unnerving to have a camera lens in his face again.

Maybe this was a bad idea... He was only getting more and more nervous.

[Lilith Prescott]

"Oh fantastic!!" Lilith beamed, unlocking her door and leading Drew up the stairs to the 3rd floor landing and stopped promptly in front of an apartment marked 3B. She unlocked the door, walking in and closing the door behind Drew, throwing the deadbolt. It was a force of habit and she didn't think anything of it. Lilith threw her purse on her couch, walking towards the kitchen.

The apartment was comfortable, with a soft blue couch and black and blue patterned chair in the living room. There was a glass coffee table in front of them that had some flowers and knicknacks in a bowl on top of it. Her living room opening up into the kitchen, only a half wall seperating them, creating a breakfast bar area that had some stools pushed up against the wall. She walked into the kitchen, and started fixing the coffee. "Please, make yourself comfortable Drew." Lilith turned back smiling at him and then caught her reflection on a mirror she had hanging up, making a face. "Oh man I am a mess!"

Lilith hit the button to start the coffee and turned towards Drew. "Uhm...just..hold on a minute, let me go get cleaned up.." Not that Lilith hated dirt, but she was feeling super self concious at the moment. She walked down the hallway, past her second bedroom and into her bedroom and the master bath. She wasn't going to take a shower, but she washed her face, reapplied a little make up and brushed out her hair, pulling it back up. She also changed into a comfy pair of blue sweats, with a black tank top.

Walking back out, Lilith smiled at Drew as the coffee maker beeped. "Sorry about that...let me just..get the coffee." She walked into the kitchen, pulling down two mugs from her cabinet and she poured one mug full of coffee, glanced at Drew, started pouring the other mug, glancing up at Drew while she was doing it. It's so weird, I don't think I've ever had a guy in my apartment...usually if I was seeing someone I would just go to their place...He is cute though. I hope he didn't think I was rude for going and washing up, maybe I should have offered him the chance? Hmm...I wonder what kind of food I have in the fridge. I should really develop that film tonight, but then again, I haven't finished developing film from yesterday and I should really finish that. Maybe there is enough room I can do both...

Lilith thoughts stopped as she felt hot coffee hit her hand. She looked down. "Oh fudge nuggets!!" Lilith put down the coffee pot and immediately started running her hand under cold water. She had lost track and accidently overpoured the mug, pouring steaming hot coffee on her hand. She looked at Drew apologetically. "Sorry..usually I'm at least a little more...focused..I think...something like that." Lilith put a rag over her hand, blushing a little.