The Way Out [Lilith]

[Drew Schultz]

The pants weren't even close to fitting Drew's legs, so he could only cover himself with a white lab coat. He found it a bit odd that the scientist's lab hadn't had anything for his size, considering that most labs like this one were outfitted for long-term use, and sometimes that meant driving the subjects from one place to another. Since they couldn't risk attention from the police, that meant having clothes available in case the transport was pulled over. Perhaps the late doctor hadn't considered that security measure. Either way, there was only one way for them to get out of the facility without running afoul of the many guards that stayed just outside the main lab. He wouldn't risk putting Lilith in the line of fire.

That meant that they would have to take the escape tunnels, the routes that ran between labs. Luckily, Drew had a pretty good guess of which lab was closest to this one. The tunnels could only lead to the one he'd burned down. It had been three years, but he'd done a good enough job gutting it that he was pretty sure it wouldn't be functioning. Even if it was, they wouldn't be expecting him to show back up again. He led her through the dark tunnels with only a small ball of flame held in his hand for illumination, while his other hand held hers. As he'd expected, the power grid wasn't connected here, and from the stale air, he was sure that no one had been in here for quite some time.

The trip took a few hours on foot, but there weren't any twists or turns in the route, or even alternate exit points. They would have been weaknesses in their security system, back doors that escapees could have exploited. Such a thing could not be tolerated.

When they finally reached the door, Drew gestured for Lilith to stand back. His whispered word tore at his sore throat, but the flame went out as he'd told it to, and he took a deep breath. Balling his hand in a fist, he gritted his teeth. This was going to be another painful one, but there was no power to this door. Fortunately, it was designed to withstand attack from the other side, meaning that it opened inward. Not exactly up to fire code, but when a place was an illegal laboratory, things like fire code weren't so important.

He said the next few words as loudly as he could, rasping squeaks that made him feel like he was gargling nails, but his fist ignited as he swung at the door's weakpoint, right beside its handle. The metal warped around the point of impact, and the flames expanded around his fist, exposing daylight around the edges of the door. Taking another step back, he sighed. It would take another hit to take the door down. Glancing around the parts of the door that were still hanging on, he wished to God that he was wearing boots. Kicking it down would have been so much easier... His second attack was a lot like the first, but once the door slammed open and crashed to the ground, he bent over, coughing. Was his throat bleeding? No... But it sure as hell felt like it.

Once he had recovered enough to stand to his full height again, he glanced around the once-familiar laboratory that stood around them. The underground lab hadn't been touched since he'd been there, except by nature. The hole he'd left in the ceiling had caved in entirely, blocked off only by some wooden boards that had been placed there in a hurry and never attended to. Nature had begun to reclaim it, but the scars of Virgil and his escape were still here. The walls were charred black, and bones lay in piles against the walls. He frowned at the sight of it. In his nightmares, it was still pristine, but ivy had begun to climb across the walls, and plants grew where there was once a clean tile floor.

There would probably be clothes his size here. He just needed to remember where they had kept the supplies for him. The dirt felt good beneath his bare feet as he crossed the expansive main lab area, which was considerably larger than the lab where Alice had kept the pair of them. For twenty years, this had been his prison. Seeing it again... it didn't bother him as much as he'd thought it would.

He stopped by a half-opened door and looked in. Virgil's room was just as they had left it, complete with the cot and strewn blankets, but it was the walls that made it remarkable. The werewolf's poetry lined the walls, sometimes carved into the concrete, and sometimes written in red, in various sizes and legibility, but it was the only remaining proof that his friend had once lived and breathed. Axium would have erased all traces of Virgil's existence. He couldn't stop himself from going inside and reading some of the words on the walls, all of it more beautiful than anything that should have existed in this hellish place.

Promise me that the sun is real, it read, and he touched the words with his fingertips. In my soul, the moon has stolen her from her throne, sitting in the kingdom of starlight. Sunshine has never touched these ice-kissed walls--

He lowered his eyes, finding one of many signatures of the same name. Virgil.

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith took one last look at the dead doctor before Drew had her hand and was pulling her away. It was time to go. Time to leave this place that had been their hell. When Drew showed Lilith the tunnels, she was stunned. Their had to be miles of them and they descended into the darkness. The only light was the flame Drew held up. Lilith would help if her concentration wasn't screwed up. The darkness felt thick to her, and as they traversed the tunnel for the next couple hours, she made sure to stay as close to Drew as she could without impeding their progress.

It didn't take much longer till they were in front of a door. Drew gestured for her to stay back and within a couple of hits, the door was broken down, but Drew was leaning over, coughing. She immediately ran up to him. "Are you ok?" The words she had heard leave his mouth were raspy and she felt so angry because of it. They were going to have to work through it though. Lilith followed Drew once he was recovered inside the old lab.

It was huge, and she stepped her bare feet around the nature that was growing in it. She blinked as she took in the destroyed ceiling and the charred walls. And the bones. Bones? She turned around, her eyes finding Drew. He was looking through a door, going inside. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but thought better of it, following him inside. There were words over all the walls and she blinked, touching his arm gently. "Where are we?" Lilith immediately regretted the question, knowing Drew couldn't actually answer her. 

Her heart ached to hear his regular voice, instead she looked at the wall Drew was in front of, reading the words. She read some of the poems that were written. They were all signed by the same guy. Studying him, she watched as he touched the words. "Virgil? The same one that..." It then dawned on Lilith exactly where they were. She looked at Drew, her eyes filled with pain. How could he stand to be here? She took his hand. "Can we go?" Lilith just wanted to be out of all of Axium and this place, and wanted to be somewhere, curled in Drew's arms.

[Drew Schultz]

He was lost in memory for a few long moments, wishing he had a camera so that he could preserve the words on the walls. Perhaps if he saved Virgil's poetry, some small part of him would be able to live on? It was a nice thought, anyway, and the idea that time would wear these walls away to nothing was one that bothered him. They were a few miles from the city, which meant that in a half a day's walk, he could come back to this place, but the wolf didn't particularly care for that idea. In fact, it was so nervous about being in this place that he could actually sense its fear. It was a strange reversal for him, for the man to be okay, and the wolf afraid, but the man had earned wisdom somewhere along the way. Memories couldn't hurt him. Nothing in this place had power over him anymore.

Drew glanced over at her when she spoke, a little confused as to what was bothering her. It wasn't as if she had the memories of this place that made him return over and over, but... seeing the look in her eyes, it dawned on him. She was bothered on his behalf. There was so much that he wanted to say to her, so much that he couldn't explain because more than a word or two and he would be on the floor coughing. He needed to come up with a system to talk to her, but for now, he would just have to wait. There was time for it now.

Brushing past her, he walked down the short hallway and stopped outside of the room that used to be his own. It was about the same size as Lilith's cell had been, but the only sign that he had ever lived there was that the number plate next to the keypad matched the number that was tattooed across the back of his neck. Feeling the wall for the crease, he pushed on the panel that opened to reveal a sliding rack. As he pulled it out, he could see that there were still some of his old clothes there. He wasn't super thrilled about the idea of donning that uniform again, but he couldn't very well go into the city half naked. It would draw too much attention.

Pulling down a pair of the neon orange cargo pants and the black tank top that went with it. He sighed softly as he held them up and looked at them. He'd hoped never to have to wear these again, but there were no doctors that came anywhere close to his size. No security, either.

Stepping into the pants, he buttoned and zipped the waist into place before slipping the black tank top over his head. Dressed as a prisoner and an experiment though he was, it felt nice to be wearing clothes again, at the very least. With that done, he took Lilith by the hand and led her up the stairs that he had taken on his escape, ignoring the piles of bones that littered the route as if they were some sort of macabre Halloween decorations. Not all of these kills had been his, but enough had been.

They reached the elevator shaft within a few minutes, and he pried the doors open before looking up. The light at the top told him that the door was open. They just needed to get there. Looking around, he found some yellow construction rope and looked at Lilith. This was the hard part, and he would have to do it without worrying about how he was going to get her to follow. Leaning over to whisper in her ear, he spoke as softly as he could, to avoid some of the pain.

"Hold on tight," he told her.

Kneeling in front of her, he made sure that she was holding onto him before he wrapped the yellow rope around her waist and tied her to his back, looping it between her legs to make sure that she didn't fall. With her secured, he stepped into the empty shaft and started the climb up. It was a challenge that someone with shorter legs and less strength couldn't manage, but he took it slowly. With his feet bare, gripping the sheet metal sides wasn't as difficult as it might have been otherwise. He slipped only a couple of times, but his claws dug in to puncture the metal with a ear-splitting shriek each time, preventing them from going down more than a couple of inches.

Nearly twenty minutes later, he climbed the last couple of feet to the top and crawled out into the dirt and gravel that surrounded the entrance, which was disguised as a condemned mine-shaft. The forest was alive around them, with the setting sun bringing the bugs and the nocturnal animals out of hiding. He cut the rope to free Lilith from her place on his back before trying to stand himself. It turned out to be a bad idea. He was ill-fed and bruised all over, and the exertion hadn't helped. He was exhausted. Sitting down on the soft grass, he just let himself breathe for a while.

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith watching Drew quietly as he got dressed. This whole place...it must be filled with so much pain for him. She looked at her hands, small and frail looking from the weight she had lost. She blinked as Drew took her hand, and pulled her along, behind him. She watched his muscles and let her mind drift to their future. What was going to happen? What did this mean for them...where were they going to go? She blinked as they stopped, bumping into Drew. She had really not been paying attention and watched as he forced the elevator doors open. There was light filtering down and she felt a tiny blush touch her face when Drew whispered in her ear.

It was silly to even blush at a time like this, but Drew that close to her hadn't happened in a long while. And she blinked, wrapping her arms around Drew as he tied the rope making sure she wouldn't fall. She leaned her head on his warm back. He was warm, and she listened to his heart beat, closing her eyes. 

Closing her eyes maybe wasn't the best idea as the only thing that filled her thoughts when she did was thoughts of the last month and half. She opened them, trying to concentrate on Drew's heartbeat, slowing her breathing. The few times he slipped, she tensed. Wouldn't it be ironic if they died while escaping a thing that was going to kill them regardless? She felt a smirk touch her face and it died as Drew reached the top. Blinking, she let Drew untie her and he sat down, she took a couple steps forward. 

The setting sun, birds chirping. She felt the warmth of the sun, and she blinked. The air was fresh, everything was green and organic. Lilith didn't mind the gravel under her feet as she walked to where there was some grass. She fell to her knees, marveling in the feel of it. How long had it been since the sun touched her skin? Looking at her hands, she became painfully aware of how pale she was. 

But breathing in the fresh air, feeling the sun. She put her hands on the ground, grabbing some grass and clenching her fists. How much had she missed? She blinked away tears, trying not to scream. 

[Drew Schultz]

Drew sat up in alarm as Lilith fell to her knees, and forced himself to stand and walk over to her. Seeing the tears in her eyes, he knelt and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She was shaking, and she felt so small in his arms. She had lost weight, possibly more than he had, which was surprising considering how much faster his metabolism was. But then again, his body knew how to ration calories, when he was in the starvation mode that he'd experienced more than once in his life. It would take time for her to recover from this, both physically and mentally, but at least he was there to help remind her that the nightmare was past. It was over. It was really over.

After a few minutes of crouching there beside her, he helped her to her feet. It was time for them to start heading home. Once they paid a visit to the healer, they would consider what the next step would be. He didn't want to stay in the city much longer, since his presence there would surely have been reported to whoever was still alive at Axium. He knew better than anyone that the escape didn't mean that Axium would stop looking.

---------------------------------

Dr. Kavanagh had been shocked to see the pair of them still alive, but more shocked at the state of them. In this form, a middle-aged Irish man, he was often underestimated in terms of his power, but then who would be able to guess that he had lived thousands of years, when he had perfected his act so well? As soon as his weathered fingertips touched Drew's body, he had known the reason for his silence, not to mention the weight he'd lost and the deep bruising that covered his body. More alarming, though, was what he could sense when he touched the young woman.

"I am so sorry," he murmured to her, looking up to the eyes that looked a hundred years older than the last time he'd seen them. "I can fix this, but it will take time, and I might have to open you up again. It won't hurt at all. I can promise you that."

Drew held Lilith's hand as the doctor spoke, and his eyes tightened at his words. He wasn't eager to see Lilith under the knife of anyone ever again, but if it was the only way to fix the damage that had been done, would Lilith allow it? If it wasn't for the fact that Drew trusted this man explicitly, he wouldn't have even considered it, but he hadn't wanted to take the risk that there was still something medically wrong. He knew what was wrong with himself, but his first priority was Lilith every time.

He tensed again when he heard the door creak open, and Drew saw his old boss's face light up in a satisfied smile. The wolf didn't trust that smile. There was something too predatory about it for his liking.

"It's good to see that you're not dead," Marconi commented, folding his arms.

Drew said nothing, and he could see the irritation blossom in his boss's face before Dr. Kavanagh spoke again, explaining the reason for Drew's silence more easily than Drew would have been able.

"Don't be offended, Salazar," the doctor said, leaning back on his desk. "Someone took a knife to him. Severed his vocal cords. I can fix it, but it'll take some time."

"Is that so?"

[Lilith Prescott]

When Lilith sat down next to Drew, she was wary. He couldn't exactly have told her where they were, or where they were going but going into the office she had seen that it was for a doctor. A doctor. She blinked, looking at Drew as they sat down in the office that they were shown to. Lilith chose to be quiet, instead clinging to Drew. The doctor walked in, introducing himself. Lilith didn't look at him at first and watched as he just touched Drew. Lilith was wary as he moved and touched her, flinching slightly.

Having Drew next to her though helped and she looked up as Dr. Kavanagh apologized to her. She felt tears prick her eyes as her hand that wasn't in Drew's hand went over her stomach. She had been trying to block out that particular memory and her thoughts turned to the unborn child that had been growing in her. That was when she heard he would have to open her up again. Lilith's eyes widened as she looked up into the older man's. She shook her head, shrinking closer to Drew. She didn't want to. 

But...he was promising to fix it. She pushed back her tears as she glanced back over to the doctor before looking at Drew. "What....what do you mean by...fix it? Like....children" Lilith's voice was small and at that moment, the door opened and she turned, expecting someone from Axium to storm in.

Instead it was a man. She blinked as the man smiled, addressing Drew. She frowned as she finally placed an identity with him. It was a mob boss...wanted. She remembered seeing something about it on the news and she turned back to the doctor as he explained Drew's silence. 

She looked down at her's and Drew's entertwined hands. What was that man doing here? Was that who Drew had worked for? She would ask him all these questions later when they were alone and he could write down his responses or something. She didn't like the look of the man, besides who he was, she didn't trust him, barely wanted to trust the doctor. It was only because Drew did....she leaned against his arm, wishing the mob boss would go away.

[Drew Schultz]

"If you like," Dr. Kavanagh said, smiling kindly at her. "Luckily, the human body is very adaptable. If I remove the scar tissue and help the healing process along, your body should make a full recovery."

He wasn't adding that he would have to use his powers to regrow the organ that had been removed, but then that was information that Dr. Kavanagh wasn't sure that he wanted Marconi to know that. Much as the doctor's position in the underground allowed him to reach a group of people who wouldn't otherwise have access to health care, Kavanagh knew the type of person that Salazar was. He would use that information to leverage the doctor's services. He liked his independence a little too much to put himself under the Mob's control entirely, whether or not they paid him. Still, Kavanagh wasn't at liberty to ignore Salazar's directions, considering that his offices were owned by the mob boss.

"Yes, Dr. Kavanagh here is a real miracle worker, darling," Marconi commented, his smile softening a little as he turned his cold gray eyes onto her. "We're lucky to have him."

Drew leaned forward a few degrees, not enough to be particularly noticeable, but enough to put himself in his boss's line of sight and partially obscure Lilith. Drew might be willing to deal with Marconi, but he didn't want Lilith dealing with them any more than they had to. His eyes were hard when Salazar's gaze turned to him. However much of a shark the mob boss was, Drew was hardly prey. He was every bit as much a predator as any human could ever hope to be, whether or not he liked that part of his personality.

"You, however," Marconi said, his smile vanishing, "owe us quite a lot of favors. How are you planning on paying us back? I doubt you've become independently wealthy in your absence. Perhaps it's time to renegotiate the terms of your employment with us."

Frowning, Drew glanced at the doctor, who seemed unhappy for some reason. It had been Drew's understanding that he would pay off what he owed in the same way he had in the first time, by acting as a bodyguard. Did the boss really mean that he would have to earn the right to have her healed by the doctor? Anger colored his features, and he covered Lilith's hand with his own much larger hand. The exchange didn't go unnoticed by Salazar.

"Awww, how very sweet," Marconi said, the smile returning to his face. "Tell you what. I will allow you to heal your darling girl today, as an act of good faith. But your own healing will come once your debt has been paid."

Drew could feel Lilith's attention, but he chose not to look at her before he nodded once.

[Lilith Prescott]

Watching the exchange between Drew and the mob boss. What was happening. She looked at Drew as he agreed to the bargain. "Drew..no not for me...I will be ok." Lilith shook her head. How did he manage to wrack up so many owed favors? Then it hit her. After the farmhouse he pretty much never left her side. She blinked. It was her fault. She touched his face. "You can't.." She blinked as she looked at the resolve in Drew's eyes, and knew she wouldn't change his mind

If Drew was going to do that for her...she looked down and then looked back to the doctor, swallowing back her fear. "Doctor Kavanagh..." She frowned, staring at the floor. She would have to wouldn't she. She simply nodded, clutching Drew. She wanted to say so many things to him, but with Salazar there, she had finally remembered his name, she didn't want to. She didn't want to let her feelings or anything exchanged really between her and Drew besides what had already been shown to be noticed by the slime ball. 

If it was the last thing she would do, she refused to let anyone use them against each other ever again, but Drew wanted her to be healed. She would discuss it further with him later, tonight, when they were alone. It wasn't like she would be going to the operation today...it would be nice to have a day to just...rest...what was rest? Lilith didn't really know what that meant anymore...

[Drew Schultz]

Drew gently touched her lips with one finger, his eyes soft as he looked at her. He didn't know what this repayment was going to entail, but to him it was a non-issue. After all, Salazar could hardly come up with something that was worse than the things that Drew had already done in his life. What mattered was that Lilith was going to be healed. Any cost was worth that, as long as he was the one who had to pay it. It was his responsibility, his burden to bear, because it was his fault that Axium had ever gotten their hands on her. He would be the one who fixed it.

With that decided, it wasn't long before they moved to the procedural room. Drew held Lilith's hand tightly while she was under and all throughout the surgery, although she was unconscious and wouldn't feel it. He refused to leave her side for this, although he knew he needed to go discuss the new arrangements with his boss. It took almost six hours for the doctor to put her insides to rights, and Drew watched in wonder as Kavanagh operated. It wasn't horrifying the way that he did it, with a green glow here and there closing the wounds before his eyes, and the organs materializing, as if they were growing on fast forward. This was like watching Michelangelo paint, with a serene look on his face.

It was seven hours before Drew was able to take her home, though she was still under the sedative. He carried her gently, lovingly, grateful beyond words that she was whole again.

---------------------------------------------

The new apartment was mostly bare, on the other end of town from their old one, but as Drew lay in the dark beside Lilith's sleeping form, he glared into the darkness. It would be some weeks before he would be able to sleep again, no matter how exhausted he felt. He couldn't fully relax, as if it was the first few months after he'd first escaped from Axium, years ago. More than that, he couldn't leave Lilith unconscious and helpless without someone keeping watch. He was tired of waking up to find that she wasn't there. Still, he couldn't fight it off forever, and he eventually found himself drifting off. What he didn't realize was that the wolf was still awake, staring into the darkness with his amber eyes, keeping watch over their mate.

In the darkest reaches of his mind, Drew slept while his body did not. Even he didn't know the extent of the damage that the scientists had done to his mind, splintering him further from the wolf in his own mind. Sometimes, he didn't even notice that there were two minds in his body these days...

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith looked panicked for a moment when she found out they would be doing the procedure that day. She thought she had more time, but Drew being there, with her hand. She knew he wouldn't leave her and she tried to get her panic under control. When she was finally sedated, the blackness was filled with nothing. 

---------

Screaming. There was so much screaming. She was laying on a cold floor. Alice was there, and Drew was screaming for her to move. His voice worked. She couldn't see the knife held to her throat. What? She blinked, feeling the pain of the blade against her flesh and the laughing of the mad doctor echoing into the nothingness that was filling her vision---



Screaming, Lilith rolled into Drew. Her eyes wide open, trying to adjust to the darkness. Where was she? Was Alice still here? They were in a room of some sort, she didn't know where but she knew Drew was next to her.. She blinked a couple times, feeling the warm body next to her. "Drew..." Her voice was raspy as she turned, seeing the golden eyes looking at her from Drew. She touched his face, usually his eyes weren't gold like this but maybe it was her screaming....she let out a couple of breaths. 

"It was just a nightmare..." She didn't think sleep would come to her easily again as she rolled over. Then she blinked. She wasn't in pain? She looked at her stomach, her hand lifting up her shirt and moving over the smooth expanse of it. She was in surgery wasn't she? It was a miracle. She sat up, feeling tears fall down her face. "He really healed it, Drew..." She turned, he hadn't said anything and she blinked. He couldn't talk still...."Can you not sleep?"

[Drew Schultz]

The wolf blinked at her, tilting its head slightly, but its head snapped to the window as a car drove by outside. It took a second for it to settle again, shifting to get comfortable before it continued watching. It didn't speak English, didn't understand what she was saying, but it was comfortable knowing that she was awake and not in pain. Drew himself was still asleep, having been awake for the greater part of 28 hours, and the level of exhaustion was all that prevented him from dreaming. Perhaps the dreams would have woken him.

At least the wolf was safe for her to be around, when it wasn't safe for anyone else. The wolf trusted no one but Lilith, and wouldn't let anyone touch her.

-----------------------------------------

(two weeks later)

His hand was shaking, thankfully, now after the fact. A shaking hand would have thrown off his aim earlier, but he could compartmentalize action. Always had been able to do that, to close himself off to the task at hand and worry about it afterward. But it had been his own hand that had pulled the trigger. Those women and that small child... they would remember this day for the rest of their lives, because it was the day that Drew had taken their father and grandfather away from them, even if it had been from a rooftop across the street. He was not new to the idea of killing, but it had never been like this before. These people were dying in front of their loved ones.

He unlocked the door quietly, not liking how his shaking fingers made it difficult to get the key in the door. The television was already on when he walked in the door, and he could smell that Lilith was inside as soon as the door swung open. Tossing his keys into the small bowl on the counter, he went to the refrigerator and got a bottle of water for himself. The water was icy as he drank, trying to shock himself into feeling something. It hurt. But he didn't care.

Screwing the cap back onto the bottle was proving difficult, and he dropped the small piece of plastic onto the floor on accident. He stood there in the kitchen, staring at his shaking hand before he looked down at the cap on the floor. Sighing and closing his eyes for a second, he closed his fingers into a fist before putting the water bottle on the counter and kneeling to get the cap. He placed it on the counter beside the water bottle instead of trying again, and headed into the bedroom, not able to face Lilith just yet. Instead, he sat on the end of the bed and put his head in his hands. He missed his guitar.

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith was sitting, her knees up to her chest, the television on. She wasn't really watching, she was waiting for Drew to get home. He wouldn't tell her the nature of his work that he had to do for Salazar and she always waited for him to come home. She was in a shirt that was baggy on her and black pajama pants with pink cats on them. She blinked as the door opened, Drew walked in and straight to the kitchen. She blinked, not moving.

Sometimes this was what it was like. She listened as he opened the fridge. Lilith stretched out her legs, standing up. She had gained a little weight the last couple weeks, but she wasn't close to her natural weight from before the traumatizing events that had happened. She crossed her arms as Drew went straight to the bedroom. He needed time, but she hated giving it to him sometimes, especially after days like today. She had a not so great day, but she knew it was nothing compared to Drew. Peaking into the kitchen she saw he had only drank part of his water and the cap was next to the bottle on the counter. She sighed. 

It had only been a couple of weeks, but it was proving harder than she thought to get into a routine, especially when Drew was being called out at all hours for jobs. She hated not knowing when he was going to be gone, the unpredictability was wearing on her but she had no choice. She frowned, waiting a few minutes. They had to get out of here. Out of New Orlando.

Her passion for photography hadn't come back...she hadn't tried. She loved being in fresh air but she hated being around people. Sometimes she would just sit next to the window with it open, breathing in the fresh air, with the sunshine on her face. It didn't help she didn't have a camera anymore, but she was thinking of seeing if she couldn't do an odd job to find one that she could afford to see if she would enjoy it again. That was hard when she didn't like being around people and in her state....She sighed, when were they going to heal Drew's voice?....She took a breath, banishing her dark thoughts and moving to the door to the bedroom, knocking lightly on the frame. 

"Drew...are you ok, love?" Lilith moved closer, standing in front of him and placing her hands on his hands, lowering them so she held his larger hands in her small ones. She wanted to be there for him, to take away whatever he was feeling. She waited, hoping he would talk to her the best he could, they had slowly been working out a system with sign language, but it was a learning process.

[Drew Schultz]

Drew let her pull his hands away from his scalp, and he slowly looked up at her as he felt her soft fingers on his much rougher ones. She looked tired, but that wasn't unusual. With no small amount of satisfaction, he realized that the sharpness of her features was softening, which meant that she was beginning to get back some of the weight she'd lost. It did his heart good to look at her, to see that she was getting better. If she was doing better, then all of this was worth it, wasn't it? He had no way of knowing how many "favors" it would take to even the scale, but he'd known that there would be a cost when he'd called on Marconi to help her.

When she asked if he was okay, he winced and lowered his deep brown eyes. He was far from fine, to be honest. He had killed a lot of people in his life, but never in front of their family. What kind of monster was he prepared to become in order to get his voice back? Was it even worth it anymore? Every time that he heard his own voice, he would remember all of the lives it had cost him to get it. Maybe it was better to leave, to run for it. Marconi would pursue them, no doubt, so they would just have to keep going.

Leaning forward and wrapping his arms around her hips, he pressed his face into the warmth of her soft belly, inhaling her scent. It was calming to his nerves on some deep level that he couldn't explain.

He could never tell her what Marconi wanted from him, knowing how much it would bother her. Perhaps it worked in his favor that his silence made it easier to keep secrets, but he didn't like keeping things from her. They'd been through too much together to lie to one another. Turning his head, he pressed his lips to her hip and kissed it gently. She helped him to remember that there was more to him than the killer that everyone seemed to want.

His eyes began to lighten to golden yellow, with the wolf feeling restless. It was more concerned about the fact that he was hungry, and the fact that he hadn't been out walking in a while. It didn't care about petty things like morals or labels.

[Lilith Prescott]

Lilith was happy that Drew had conceded to her light tugging of his hands, and had looked at her. She moved one hand and touched his face. He didn't look ok. And that really worried her. What would it take for him to be ok? She wished they could talk, that he could tell her what was bothering him so much. She smiled when his arms made their way around her hips, pulling her against him and his face on her belly. She thread her fingers through his hair, relishing in the feel of it.

In all honesty, Lilith did not think she would ever get enough of touching him. His rough hands or his short hair. His warm skin. She wished sometimes that they could just lay around and she could spend a whole day memorizing every inch of Drew. She had realized that she had taken so much for granted before, and never wanted to again. She stared down at Drew, her eyes filled with the love she had for him as he kissed her hip and a soft smile touched her face.

Moments like this made her feel like nothing bad could happen to them. Like it was all going to be ok, like nothing bad ever happened to them. She moved both her hands to his face, lifting it up. His eyes were that gold again and she leaned over, kissing him gently. "Drew, I love you." She manuevered so she was sitting on his lap, keeping his arms around her. "And...I don't know what happens when you go out...but I don't want you to suffer anymore. I just want us to live a happy life." She gave him a sad smile, running her fingers along his jaw softly.

Could they have a happy life?

[Drew Schultz]

He didn't want to look into her eyes at that moment. If she saw what was in his eyes, he knew that it would ruin the moment for her. A happy life? He'd never really thought about what that meant until that moment, but he did know that he didn't deserve something like that. For all that he'd been through, he'd dished out just as much evil as he'd ever experienced. Did that mean that he could never have something like peace for himself? If it meant dragging down Lilith with him, he would have to fight it. Life itself was nothing but battlefield after battlefield, but maybe he could earn something for her that went beyond that.

Hugging her a little tighter, he closed his eyes and allowed the feeling of her soft fingers to sooth his nerves. His resolve was hardening, that he would continue on this course because it would mean freedom for Lilith. He would regain his ability to speak for her sake, because he knew that it hurt her to see him silent. He would do whatever it took to earn that. Whatever nightmares he had to go through, however much it made him hate himself, he would do it.

----------------------------------------

Something had to be wrong with his sleep. He went to bed every night and fell asleep, and yet he felt no better in the morning, as if he'd spent all night awake. It was beginning to screw with his reflexes, and that had made his last contract a lot harder than it should have been. The shoot-out behind the casino should never have happened. He should have been able to silence that man before he'd even noticed that Drew was there, but he'd missed. The man had been given too many chances to fight back, and casino security had gotten onto what was happening. Although no one had seen him, that hadn't stopped them from grazing him before he'd finally managed to put the bullet between the mark's eyes. His small daughter had seen it all, and her voice, muffled by the closed car door, would add a new dimension to his nightmares.

With tired eyes, he unlocked the door again and closed the door behind himself. Blood trickled down his side from the thin cut along his ribs where the bullet had clipped him, but the pain was minor enough that he didn't really register that it was visible through his gray t-shirt. He dropped his keys in their usual bowl before he headed toward the fridge and pulled out a new water bottle. The cold burned against his fingers, and he twisted the cap off before chugging half of the frigid liquid. It seared its way down his throat, and he closed his eyes with his face toward the ceiling as he embraced the pain. Yes, he could still feel it.

He didn't even bother attempting to get the lid back onto the water bottle, knowing how hard his hands were shaking. Instead, he headed for the bathroom to clean up the cut. 

"Police are baffled as to the identity of the gunman in the shoot-out that left two men dead last night. This is the latest in a string of murders that the Police Chief says are tied back to the shady world of organized crime. Anyone with information in this or any of the other crimes are asked to contact the New Orlando Police Department on the non-emergency line listed on the screen."

He could hear the television in the background, but he didn't really register it as he pulled his shirt up and took a wet rag to the cut, cleaning away the blood. It wasn't bad. Probably wouldn't even scar.