Illstar

[Saren]

Aerin didn't want to live like this. The constant pain and fear and the threat of death hanging over the both of them. Dying seemed like the best thing to do, but to leave Nova when she had nothing else... He couldn't do that. She would die shortly after him anyway, but she would suffer, for he would be gone first. And he couldn't do that to his Nova. She was still his, even as he had thoughts of killing her.

He felt his shirt grow damp, and he clamped down on her hand, keeping it in a vice grip. He was sad and hurt, but he was doing it to her. He didn't want to. "I... can I see you? Please?" There was a soft tone of desperation in his whisper. "I can't... It doesn't hurt as bad when I look at you. Hold my hands if you want. That way... that way I won't try to hurt you." There was still the threat of his teeth gnashing on her skin, but his hands were more likely to try and grab and strangle her.

Aerin was trying so hard to keep it in, and at some point, he realized the pain was dulling, though there were still throbs of cramping pain that hit his arms and chest. If he suffered with it through the night, maybe it would be gone by the next day and he wouldn't have such awful notions of trying to kill his love.

 

[Kaisaan]

His request made her still, thinking about it and hating that she had to do so. It wasn't wise. It really, really wasn't but sometimes what was needed wasn't wise. Sometimes what was needed didn't even make sense and Aerin...he needed her to do this for him. And she needed to do it for herself. They couldn't get through this fearing each other, without any kind of good contact, without anything enjoyable or tender. They couldn't. They might as well die and get it over with. They couldn't live like shells. There had to be something to fight for if nothing else and Nova felt that thought seep into her, filling her with some purpose.

She moved slowly, letting go of Aerin and pulling her hand out of his as she moved back around before him. Her brown eyes met his darkened green and Nova reached forward, taking on of his hands in her own, holding it between them, but the other she brought up to her face, spreading his palm over her cheek and her own hand over his, keeping it there. There would come a time when she would not be able to trust him to have the willpower to not claw and snap at her if she did something like this, but that was not this day. That wasn't now and she wasn't going to treat this situation as if it was that one.

It had been the wrong thing to do.

Nova gave a sigh, squeezing the hand she held gently. "We'll get help. Find something to help. We will." She had to believe that.

 

[Saren]

The majority of him wanted to smile at seeing her face again, but he couldn't muster the expression. He willed his fingers to loosen against her face and hand, but there was still the occasional twitching of muscle that promised danger. Though, his earlier admission had been true. It was easier to look upon her and understand that she didn't want to harm him. It made his killing urge lessen. Still, it was there, burrowed in the back of his mind, waiting to spring forth and strike, just as he would strike her. But her saddened features were sobering. She was suffering just as much as he was, and he knew that. He just wished he could make his body respond the way he wanted.

"Your power... do you think it... it killed her?" he asked. If Nefenarasa was dead, he would feel better, but he had a feeling she wasn't. There was no way the evil Reszna would give up on them so easily. She wanted Nova's power and to leave her dead, and Aerin wanted her for her and to keep her alive. Even if the Illstar in his brain thought differently.

 

[Kaisaan]

Nova sighed at his question and resisted the urge to shake her head, not wanting to dislodge his hand on her cheek. He was already tense and working to maintain control. The last thing they needed was to give him a reason to feel like he had to latch on. Those nails could turn to clawing weapons at the drop of a hat and if instinct reacted before Aerin's conscious mind could, it wouldn't matter how much he didn't want to hurt her or how appalled he'd be. The damage would be done.

"No. I don't." she admitted softly before looking toward Rifle. The hellish wolf was looking back at them, gold eyes glowing as he watched their interactions and Nova frowned slightly. What had Nefenarasa done? How could someone change a creature so much? Her brown eyes came back to dark green and Nova searched Aerin's face for a moment before she spoke again, voice still raspy, words hard to form when what she really wanted to do was growl and snarl and whimper and whine to express her needs. That wasn't going to work, though, and sinking into her animal nature was not going to help Aerin at all.

"Can you walk? We go. Find help...or food."

They couldn't stay here.

 

[Saren]

Aerin nodded his head once at her words. He wanted that horrible alien dead, but he knew they couldn't have that much hope in Nova's power. They still don't know what it did. All he knew was that she was even more dangerous than before. Strangely, the Illstar was attracted to that, even as it wanted her dead. They were two warring feelings inside of him, and they fought for control. Aerin tried to lean to the attracted side, but he knew it was only the power the virus was making him enjoy about her.

Her question jarred him from his thoughts and he watched her for a moment before registering what she said. Food or help. They would have to come across one eventually. He gave another short nod before he moved away. He had to instigate the movement, unless he wanted to swipe at Nova for moving first. The Illstar was just waiting for her to mess up so he had a reason to lash out.

Aerin gathered the remaining five tubes, slipping them into his pockets. He had to remember to take them when he started feeling sicker than normal. He didn't know how he could sense when the virus was picking up speed in his system, but it scared him all the same. He kept his hands to himself, afraid to go near her when his hands were at the ready.

 

[Kaisaan]

The distance was something she already knew she would not enjoy and Nova couldn't compartmentalize that. She couldn't push the unhappiness away this time, not when it came to Aerin and she couldn't retreat into her instincts to avoid it either. That was worse as the only thing her Reszna side wanted was to come against him, to curl into his arms and feel his lips on her own, to know she was loved and cherished, to touch him and speak with him, to be as they had been. That was the most intense desire of her heart right now and she knew she couldn't have it.

No, there was no escaping that grief.

But Nova would do her best to function anyway and right now she went ahead of Aerin out of the house. Rifle followed her, growling a bit to the blond as if in warning before he leaped from the doorway. The land outside was just as deserted and barren as before, but the wind had died down. The hellwolf sniffed the air and Nova looked to the now giant creature with some interest, wondering just what about the former wolf was different. Her tail flicked about as his fire-ended one did, both of them agitated, but perhaps for different reasons as the canine's large ears perked forward, his gold eyes focused on something his nose had picked up. He looked to the hybrid, snarled softly and started to lope in the direction he felt they should go.

Nova didn't have any reason to dispute that and with a glance at Aerin, she started to follow, keeping close to the hellish creature, knowing that if Aerin went off the handle for any reason, Rifle would sense it before she would.

This sucked already.

 

[Saren]

~

The days didn't get better. They dragged on, and it seemed like each hour was an eternity, each second a lifetime of traveling. Aerin grew nauseated as the days passed, but with less pain, and once he started to feel the killing urges arise, he would stick himself with the drug. He lasted one week on the first one, then it dwindled to six days after injecting the second one, and it kept going down. His body was building a tolerance, a resistance to what was saving his life. The Illstar was acting in place of his immune system, and it would kill him.

But nothing had pained him more than the two times he'd attacked Nova. His muscles had moved faster than his fleeting thoughts, and he'd swiped at her. His mind screamed to stop, but his body refused to listen. His fingers had caught her shirt and that was when her power had flared. It was startling and beautiful all at once, but the fear that she was going to kill him overrode even the virus in his brain.

He hadn't slept close to her that night. Or the next night that followed, for his outburst repeated.

And the second night, his eyes had found tears, because he finally realized he was trying to kill the one person in the infected world that loved him. Ending her life was something he'd never dreamed of, but now it was something he - no, the Illstar - desired. It showed on his skin. The blackened veins had spread down his arm and across his chest, and they were creeping up the side of his neck. The day he lost it would be the day the darkness inside his blood reached his brain.

He hoped that day would never come.

They managed to survive, but barely. It had been about a month since their escape, and he'd only been able to judge that from counting the days in between shooting himself up. There had been sparse food and even sparser water, but they were alive. Aerin felt ready to collapse when he saw something in the distance. It was large and it was white. It looked like a fully functional building, not the desecrated remains of towns or cities he and Nova had come across. It blurred like a mirage to his darkening vision, and he wasn't sure when he hit the sandy earth. His mind went black and then there was nothing.

-

The building wasn't just for looks. It really was one of the last functional places left. What Aerin and Nova were seeing was real. It was a hospital searching for a cure. Crafting a temporary one had taken most of their resources, and they were stretching, but it was there. Infected had seemed to steer clear of the place, even though it was bright in the sun and out in the open. Maybe it was the adverse smell of medicine or the guns mounted on top of the building.

Either way, they hadn't had anyone to test their cure on. So when a transportation van skidded on the sand to halt in front of Nova and Aerin, the first thing they deduced was the pattern of black on his skin. A man and a woman jumped out from the back, the woman with an AK-47 clutched tightly in her hands. "He's infected, isn't he?" the man asked, one hand on the gun's barrel. "We can help him. Are you infected too?" he said to Nova. He couldn't see any immediate sign of the Illstar on her, but there was always a chance.

 

[Kaisaan]

When she'd shifted back to human form, Nova didn't know. The days and nights had passed in a blur in the last week and they'd been getting weaker and weaker. She hadn't had the energy or the concentration to stay in her hybrid state and now that was probably a good thing as these humans probably would have shot her on sight if she'd appeared anything less than normal. As it was, this all seemed like a dream to Nova and instead of answering, she looked around, searching for a moment.

Rifle. Where was Rifle? He'd know if they were real or not.

But right. Rifle had gone off. He did that. Came back and led them different ways. He wasn't here.

Brown eyes blinked back at the man and woman. Were they here?

"She's in shock, James. We need to get them back." The woman, Anna was her name, slung her gun over her back by its strap and came toward Nova first, leaving Aerin to James. "It's all right, honey. We're going to help you." She took hold of Nova's arms gently and some clarity flickered in brown eyes. Touch. Real. Nova's body collapsed them, recognizing help when it saw it and the need to stop fighting so hard and Anna cursed a bit to herself, but caught the malnourished female with a grunt and carried her to the van where James was already putting Aerin. They got back in, directed the driver to go and they sped back to the hospital where both the male and female they'd found would be put in contamination rooms for their own safety as well as everyone else's.

----

Nova woke in a bed, a clean bed, with clean skin and hair and clothes. In a white room with a plastic shield all around. She'd seen things like this...when...when the Illstar started. People who were infected went into these places in hospitals. They'd tried to help them, cure them. It hadn't lasted long. Her mind was trying to make sense of it and Nova looked down at her arm, noting the needle there. Hydrating. Well, that was good.

She moved her hand to try getting it out and that's when Nova realized she was strapped down. It was for the protection of the people here until they knew what kind of state she was in, they hadn't done it to be cruel, but Nova didn't know that and immediately she started to struggle. Monitors placed on her body started to make the machines in the room beep and alarm and people came rushing in.

Nova snarled at them first and foremost, making them draw back, now believing she WAS infected even though her blood results hadn't come back yet. Still, they would be kind to her and Anna tried to talk calmly as they didn't know how far along the virus was in her system. "Miss, you need to calm. We're going to help you. Can you tell me your name?"

Fangs bared at them, something they'd not seen any infected have and Nova growled again, but she'd stilled, trying to make her mind work. This wasn't Nefenarasa. But where was she? Her name? "Nova." she bit out, looking around again, eyes narrowed into slits. "Aerin? Where?" Where was her life-mate? What had they done to him?

"Is that the man you were with? He's fine. In the next room over. We're keeping him alive. Can you tell us when you were first infected, Nova? How far along are you?"

"Not infected. Aerin is. Not me. Let me go." Nova jerked on her restraints again, her patience fraying. She wanted Aerin and she wanted him NOW.

 

[Saren]

Aerin awoke in the same fashion, taking much longer to come to his senses than Nova had. However, with the gain of awareness, so did the urge to kill. He fought it back as his eyes wandered the room. It was white and bright and empty. The lights made him squint, but it was... blurred? Something was guarding his vision, and he realized it was plastic. A quarantine. He hadn't been in one, because he hadn't needed to be. But now he did.

He was alone, as far as he could see. Nova wasn't with him, and it bothered him. He tugged on the restraints, finding he couldn't break them. Not yet, at least. The Illstar would make him push past the pain and tear open his bonds whether he wanted to or not. It had been exactly the same when he'd attacked Nova both times.

...Where was she? He wanted her. Being trapped was making him recoil, retreat into the darker parts of the virus. His heart rate increased and he was growling, but then he heard voices.

"--inject him?"

"It... temporary. Not completed."

"He... --irst one. We have... try."

His growling started up again, causing the two people to come into the room. One, James, held a needle with a bright and clear liquid, and he snapped at the air at the sight of it. The two men exchanged looks, and James braved coming inside the plastic to inject whatever it was into the IV attached to Aerin's shaking arm. He tried to bite the man until he felt a cool sensation traveling up his arm. It washed over his whole body, and it was soft, like Nova was curling her arms around him. His eyes brightened and his head cleared, though he found himself being bogged down in sleep.

"I think it's working," James said, watching Aerin slip into unconsciousness. He bent close enough to Aerin's head to hear him breathe one thing.

"Nova."

-

Once Aerin had been knocked out with the cure, James left the plastic. "He'll sleep. I don't know for how long, but it looked like it was working. Maybe it needs time."

"Or maybe it needed more work," the other man snapped.

"Ben, we needed to test it. Go get Nova."

"Who?"

"I think that's the girl he came with. Strange name, but... he said it. I don't think she's infected. She was trying to help him. I... I don't know." Ben sighed, but he nodded, trotting off to the next room where Nova was growling at Anna and the others and asking to be released. Ben came up beside Anna, whispering into her ear and relaying the information about Aerin to her. Aerin was safely detained, but Nova seemed to be... less so. How could James trust that this young woman wasn't going to kill them?

 

[Kaisaan]

Anna nodded shortly to Ben before she looked back to the woman on the bed, debating. James said to release the woman, but he wasn't the one in here looking at her. He wasn't seeing the fangs and cat-slitted eyes, he wasn't seeing something that didn't look natural at all. Those brown eyes spoke rage and unrestrained violence, just like an infected, but they also showed intelligence and Anna was not quite inclined to accept that Nova wasn't infected, maybe in early stage, but still infected. She looked back to Ben.

"I don't think that's a good-"

The sound of metal creaking loudly snapped everyone's attention back to the bed in time to see Nova snapping the metal links on her cuffs, giving a low, dangerous growl to the first people who approached her. She snapped the other one just as easily now that she was angry, uncaring of the way her wrists bled. She'd had far, far worse. "I said I wasn't infected and I tried asking you nicely to let me go. I'm not inclined to ask twice. Now where is Aerin?"

Anna held up her hands a little as Nova climbed off the bed. "Nova...Nova, there's no need to harm anyone. We can help you."

The hybrid snorted, still moving forward as everyone else backed away. "If I wanted to kill you I would have already done so. And I don't need your help, but apparently you're deaf." And with those words, Nova leaped forward and up, claws latching into the ceiling, launching herself over and past the group blocking the door. She rent a tear in the plastic quickly before moving out into the hall where she immediately noted the other quarantined room.

She didn't rip the plastic this time,ignoring the panicked voices talking to each other as she moved into the room and directly to Aerin. She knew that the others wouldn't be coming in just yet. They needed masks and suits if any of them were prone to getting infected and she didn't fear such things. The hybrid approached the bed, feeling relief sweep over her as she took a seat on the edge of the bed and reached forward to touch the blond's cheek.

He was alive. He was all right.

She didn't care about anything else.

 

[Saren]

Aerin remained prone for two days. The strange part was that he could hear everything that was going on around him. His unconscious brain didn't register what those voices were saying, but he knew he was around people. Nova's voice was clear to him, and it was evident when people were around, since sometimes he heard growls. What they meant, he didn't know.

Late into the second day, his eyes opened for the first time. The irises were clear, free of the darkness that had once plagued him. Someone had removed his restraints and... cut his hair? There were no fringing bangs or blond strands hanging over his eyes. The bright lights made him blink a few times, adjusting to the artificial lighting structures. He was sore, but there was no real pain. Still, he groaned as his head and body stirred, lifting his arm to find the black veins missing. They'd receded back, though there were still small lines of darkness creeping around his bite wound.

Aerin became next aware of a brown head near his own, one that looked and smelled familiar. "Nova?" he whispered, voice cracking with disuse. He reached with one hand to touch her, like he still believed he was hallucinating. It had, after all, happened one too many times within Nefenarasa's clutches. "Nova, I missed you...."

His first thought was that she was waiting to talk to him about the attacks, and his hand retreated slightly. "I... I'm sorry...," was all he could think to say as his thoughts revolved around hurting her. Except... it wasn't the urge to do so. It was the guilt and sorrow that he hadn't felt before. The repressed emotions from before suddenly came out, and he tried to hold back the tears.

 

[Kaisaan]

Nova hadn't let them near him. It had frustrated them, they'd tried to reason with her over and over and all she gave them was growls and the same answer over and over: no. They weren't to touch him. They weren't going to test him further, weren't going to poke and prod and inject him with more things. Her time with Nefenarasa had been more than damaging; it had changed her entire outlook on the world. She didn't trust anymore. Not anyone and certainly not those who worked with drugs and experiments and research. No. The only person she trusted had been lying prone in that bed from something THESE people had given him. She didn't care if they said it was a cure.

They'd still taken it upon themselves to use him a guinea pig and they didn't even know if it would work.

And she wasn't making that easier for them by not letting them examine him, but if she had to suffer while he slept then so did they with not getting their information.

She stayed by Aerin, having moved to the bed with him, but she wasn't immediately aware of when he woke, exhaustion having set in and sending her into sleep. Her name stirred her slightly, brought her mind into semi-consciousness and she thought she heard someone say they missed her. Aerin? Her eyes blinked open fully to catch his hand retreating and for a moment she wondered if she'd growled or showed her fangs. Had her power activated?

No..no he was apologizing and his eyes...those were the eyes she knew even if they were welling with tears. The hybrid moved then, without hesitation, every instinct within her telling her that this was HER Aerin and that she needed to help him as her arms came around him and her forehead pressed to his, tears running down her own face in an instant, her words whispered and containing a happiness that had been absent for so long. "Aerin...Aerin, my Aerin...."

 

[Saren]

Aerin's arms immediately swept around her in a crushing hug. He ignored the soreness in his limbs as he watched her cry. His infection had caused them both so much pain, and he didn't know how to make it up to her. His hands managed to find her face and his thumbs swiped tears from her cheeks. "I'm so sorry," he choked out, realizing that there were streaks down his own face. "I never... never wanted to hurt you." His lips brushed hers before capturing them in a full kiss. Every emotion he'd overcome and felt during the weeks where the Illstar plagued his mind came rushing forward.

He spent a long moment cherishing that motion, seeming so foreign but welcome to him and it made him pull her up on top of him. He didn't care that it made his chest hurt or that his arms were protesting holding her. He wanted to stay there with her forever and make up to her the wrongdoings of everything he'd done.

However, he needed to breathe after some time. "How long was I... out? What did they do to me? I... I don't remember. The last thing I do remember is... us walking." His brow furrowed at the lack of memories in his mind. There was just a black chunk, gaps in between his thoughts.

 

[Kaisaan]

The daft fool. She didn't care about that! She didn't care about what had happened, what he'd not been able to control. She would have said such things, too, but his lips connected with her own and Nova lost the desire to do anything else but kiss him right back, pouring her love into him, taking back just as much. He made the world stop spinning, stabilized her rapid descent into darkness and Nova didn't resist his movement over as he pulled her onto to him.

Air was completely overrated by this point, but needed anyway and Nova drew it in raggedly when Aerin pulled back from her. She looked down at him then with glowing neon-green eyes and carefully she moved her body from his, back to his side, noting that his breathing wasn't as strong as she would have liked to see and hear. She wanted nothing more than to kiss him senseless, to have hours upon hours to themselves to simply be together, but she knew they didn't. He was in some pain and she didn't like that in the least, so she curled into him gently, resting her head on his shoulder, glad she was on the side with the shoulder not bitten.

She answered his questions quietly. "Two days. Gave a cure. Said you were first one. They found us. Think I'm infected." Her words were fragmented again, disjointed. Nova was still teetering between feral and intelligent, sometimes leaning more toward one than the other and she probably would for a long time yet if not the rest of her life. Time would tell. Her eyes came back up to find Aerin's worried, questioning.

"You all right?"

 

[Saren]

"...No," he said, but it wasn't what she would want to hear. "Not... not yet, at least. I need... time, I think." His hand curled around her head and stroked absently. His thoughts were scattered, and he was doing what he could to recollect them. Still, she was curled in his bed, just like she'd been before. Despite the fact that they were surrounded by plastic and considered quarantined, it still felt... normal. His head leaned down and kissed her hair, realizing she was the only thing that smelled familiar in the entire place.

"I will be," he said against her head. "Did they say anything else about this cure?" He noticed the broken way she was speaking, but he didn't say anything about it. Like him, she was also recovering in her own way, and as much as he wanted to help, he had himself to worry about too.

"I'm glad you're okay. That... that I never got a hold of you." She couldn't hurt him, but he had no such restriction when it came to fighting her. "What are these people like?"

"We're fine." Aerin glanced up with a flat gaze at James and Anna, who had entered the room at an undetermined time. While Aerin had never cared about showing off his affection for Nova, it seemed strange around these people. "We injected you with what we hope is a permanent cure."

"...You hope?"

"It may relapse, depending on your rate of infection and when you got it." James made a step toward Aerin, but seeing Nova, someone who had repeatedly growled at him for even thinking of getting close to Aerin, stopped him. Aerin didn't know about their interactions, but he glanced down at Nova all the same. He wanted to see how she would react now that he was awake and curling his hand around her head, just as he'd always done.

 

[Kaisaan]

"Wouldn't tell me." she answered back quietly with a slight growl, not pleased by the memory, but the sound in her chest didn't stay long as she looked back up at Aerin, smiling at him slightly, once more prepared to tell him it was all right, but they were disturbed and not for the first time Nova debated strongly the urge to shift into her Reszna form. She could hear better in that form, hear those who approached and it might scare these people enough to make them leave them alone...which maybe wasn't the best thing to want since they WERE trying to help, but Nova wasn't inclined to be compliant with anyone but Aerin.

She was barely tolerant of their presence as it was.

So when James stepped forward, Nova didn't hesitate for one moment to growl, the sound rippling with a savage note in the silent room. If they thought she was going to be more lenient now that Aerin was awake, they were sorely mistaken. No, the only thing that was going to make her let them near him was Aerin himself and when his hand curled around her skull in that gentle, soothing manner, her growl died down to a rumbling croon in her throat, her sharp neon-green eyes steady on the two humans.

And Anna shook her head a bit, swallowing, eyes narrowing at the other female. "All right, what the hell is she?" The question was for James, for Aerin, even for Nova if she'd answer - and it was very clear the hybrid wouldn't - and Anna looked to the blond. "She says she's not infected. Is that true?"

"Anna. A word." Another man had entered the room and Anna turned her head to look at him, frowning. "Eric-"

"Now, Anna. You'll want to see this." His eyes flickered to Nova and Aerin before he disappeared and with a last glance to the two on the bed, Anna left as well, questions unanswered.

 

[Saren]

James followed the retreating humans, and Aerin shifted himself so he was sitting up higher against the wall where the bed was. "I appreciate you protecting me," he began, stroking the top of her head again, "but... I don't think they're bad. I don't know if they would have put a cure into me just to... take it away. It might only be temporary, but if they can figure out how it works inside me, they can make it better." Despite his words, he smiled and moved to lift her chin with a finger. "I'm glad that you're here with me." The real truth was that he might have gone insane had she not been there, but he didn't say that. The implications were enough.

Aerin scratched under her chin before he kissed her. He hadn't done anything remotely affectionate over the month, on top of being trapped with Nefenarasa for who knew how long. The Illstar might have craved her flesh, but Aerin had desired simply her. And now he finally had the chance to show part of it.

-

"She's what?" Ben exclaimed, trying to snatch the clipboard away from James's hands. James held the test results away from Ben, trying to read and hold them away so he could repeat himself.

"She's... not human, as far as I can tell."

"Then what does that make her?" Ben's fingers grazed the tip of the clipboard only to be swatted away by James's hand. Ben grumbled, but he crossed his arms and waited, impatiently tapping a foot as James scanned the paper again.

"She's partially human, but there's something else." Ben huffed at the unanswered question, watching as Anna shot him a look that said 'shut up or else.' "Eric, this list looks incomplete. What else did you find out?" James asked, turning toward the man who had originally tested Nova's blood.

 

[Kaisaan]

Nova felt a sinking sensation the minute they all left. They'd taken her blood, had told her as much in assurance that they were making sure she was indeed as immune as she claimed. But Nova knew what they'd find. Even if her blood wasn't coming out blue like it did in Reszna form, it was still alien and they'd find that out soon enough. Perhaps they already had. She didn't want to focus on such things, though, and Aerin provided a perfect reason for her not to and Nova's neon-green eyes faded back to brown as her head was lifted to meet his gaze.

She wasn't sure she agreed with him entirely on the fact that they might give a cure and not take it away. She'd seen too much corruption, felt too many betrayals, too much pain to trust so easily. No, she would keep her guard up, but she would also do as he wished and if Aerin wanted them to examine him and try to cure him, she'd let them. But only if he wanted it. Otherwise she'd defend him tooth and claw. Literally.

Still, the hybrid could not help but smile at the scratch under her chin, treating her like she was a cat and she didn't mind in the least. Even less so as his lips met her own and Nova sighed softly into the blond, her body pressing further against his own, seeking further contact, longing for it. She'd missed him terribly.

---

"It would appear that she is infected."

"I knew it." Anna chimed in immediately, casting a look back at the room, but Eric shook his head, causing Ben to elbow Anna in reprimand of his own, probably payback for telling him to shut up in her silent way.

"No, you were right. She is infected, but that's the strange thing." He ignored Ben's mumbling about how 'THAT was the strange thing?' and continued. "It's not spreading. It's not even effecting her. It's dormant in her blood. I think it's the...'other' part of her keeping it at bay, but I'm not sure. There seems to be a strange anomaly besides the virus, similar but different and from what I can tell its eating away at the infection. Like...a cure."

 

[Saren]

Aerin could have wished the world would stand still, just so he could have more time to kiss his Nova. She'd spent just as long without him, and that was evident in the way she returned his kisses. While he still was having a hard time breathing, he suddenly found that he didn't care. Breaking them apart for a few seconds, he replaced her on top of him again. He was sitting up, so there wasn't as much pressure on his chest like before. His hands gripped the backs of her thighs to hold her there while he picked up kissing her again.

He wished that there was nothing separating them, but there had to be. For now. Whatever cure was inside of him was going to wear off, but he didn't know how soon. All he knew was that he wanted to spend his sleeping and waking moments with her, and that their waking moments were spent making up for the lost time when he'd tried to kill her twice.

Above all, he wished that they were alone. Truly alone. And not inside the plastic prison that was their quarantine.

-

"So... What's this other part?" Ben asked, trying to keep his outbursts to a minimum. It was best that their patients didn't know what they were talking about until they were sure. "If it's... curing the dormant virus inside of her, does that mean she herself is the cure?"

"I think we'll have to ask her. She must know herself."

"Ask her?" The question came out incredulous, and it was from Ben, who had decided to forgo talking quietly. "Have you tried to talk to her? She won't let anyone near her except that blond kid. I dunno how he does it." He shook his head at Aerin's strange ability to keep a hold on Nova. "He's infected, isn't he? If she knows about the cure in her blood, why hasn't she done anything to save him? He was pretty close to dying when you two brought him in."

 

[Kaisaan]

Nova growled, the sound almost a purr as he moved her again and her legs settled on either side of Aerin's waist and hips. His hands sent fire streaking through her skin and she couldn't control any longer the midnight blue that rippled over her body like an ocean's wave. And from there on the transformation wouldn't stop as her lips locked with his, as shivers ran up her spine and seemed to spread into the most wonderful tingles to the rest of her body.

Her tail swished against Aerin's legs before moving toward one of his hands, twining loosely around his wrist as if in greeting after so long. Her ears pressed back lightly against her head, green hair rising with the excitement igniting in her blood.

She couldn't get enough of him and Nova wished for nothing more in that moment than to simply be able to disappear with the blond, to escape this room and find a far more secluded place where they could be alone, could talk and be intimate and anything more they wanted without prying eyes. Eyes that were sure to return at any time. And that brought another growl deep in her chest, a less than happy one, but her actions toward Aerin never changed from anything but gentle, her clawed fingers in his hair and her lips and tongue dancing with his own.

--

"The only logical answer is that she doesn't know." Eric supplied, thoughtful and Anna snorted. "She at least knows she's...alien!" There really wasn't a better word for it and she looked between all three males, hands on hips. "It might not matter if she's a cure or not. What if she's only a cure because she's not fully human? How does that help people who are fully human? I can't even believe we're are having this conversation. Aliens!"

She threw up her hands, turning away, starting to pace and Eric rubbed the bridge of his nose, eyes closed. "James' is right. We should at least....try talking to her. Or maybe to Aerin if she won't answer. He doesn't seem startled by her behavior or surprised by it so he must know something."

"Right, and like he's just going to tell us?"

Eric looked back toward the room. "We won't know until we try. We've dealt with some pretty crazy things this year, guys. I think we can handle one...alien...human...creature."