Shielding her against the cold, Kione grinned at the lavender feline in his arms. It has been far too easy to find her, but that only meant Anya's plan worked better than she thought it would. The feline he held was damp and shivered, but made no other movement. He could feel his sleeves becoming wet with melted snow, and the warmth in the area where her head was told of tears being shed. “Poor thing,” he whispered. “But soon, you won't hurt anymore. Don't be afraid. There is a world on the other side that you can't imagine, but your soul has seen it. I was the one to take you then, and I shall be the one to bring you back again.”

Snowhawk was numb. Not so much from the cold, but from everything that had occurred over the past few months. She cried softly, burying her face into the arms of the man that held her. She knew who held her, though to say she cared was a long stretch of the imagination. Still, Adian's warning rang through her mind. “Adian... Janus,” she whimpered, “What have I done?” She clenched her tiny paws in anger, inadvertently sinking her own claws into her arm.

Kione had heard her cries, and her question, but it was the scent of blood that made him stop. He moved his cloak aside to see the feline's arm streaked with her own blood, as was the bottom of the opposing paw. “It is not your time yet, dear Delphin,” he sighed and carefully grasped her wounded leg. A moment later, he moved his hand, and the wound had been healed. She blinked and looked up at him in slight confusion, to which he returned a small smile, after which she looked down again. “You don't deserve pain, little one, just gentleness,” he said, stroking her fur.

Gentleness, she thought, he said nothing of kindness. But I guess I don't deserve that either. She clinched her eyes shut and cried again. This time the vampire reached up and gently stroked her head.

“Soon, dear Delphin, you won't hurt like this anymore. You'll be free from them,” he said as he turned down a darkened path. His hand moved to the longer, blue fur on the back of her neck and he gently scratched there.

Some time later, the vampire still soothingly scratching her fur, she thought, This place seems warmer, and it smells of salt. Are we really near Dia'ru? How is that possible? She grew a little nervous. Dia'ru, unlike her city of Ametition and the southern Delphin city of Juv, was a haven for open slavery.

“We're almost home, dear little cat, but don't fear, we're not going into that slum of a city,” Kione replied, almost as if he could read her mind.

“How did we get so far so quickly?” she asked, her voice just above a whisper.

“Vampires can travel fast, dear.”

It wasn't long after that they were stopped by a man who stepped from the shadows. The man was tall, well-muscled, and his expression did not make him an inviting figure. Kione stopped, half-grinning, half-glaring at the figure. He'd sensed him miles ago.

“Lovely Feln you've got there. Or Delphin. Can't tell which. Hand her over and neither of you will get hurt.”

“Are you serious? You don't even know what species she is, yet you want to sell her in that shit-hole of a city? I think not.”

The man was taken aback. He had not said anything about selling her, which was the intention, yet this man somehow knew. He growled and shook the thought away. “You don't scare me.”

“Then you do not know what I am, so I suggest you leave before I rend you limb from limb.” Kione may have been smaller than the man, but Snowhawk knew this was no empty threat.

The man was growing ever nervous. “Look, man, I just want that cat.”

The vampire grinned wider. “She's not for sale, nor will she ever be. I suggest you leave now if you like your head where it is.”

The other man chuckled nervously. “I was told to find a cat, now I've found one, and I just need to bring her back.”

“She is no cat, you fool!” Kione hissed, baring his fangs at the man.

“Oh shit!” he exclaimed, as the vampire set the feline-formed Snowhawk under a very nearby bush.

“Stay here, dear,” he told her, gently petting her head. “Now,” he said straightening and removing his cloak to hang over the bush to shield the small feline's view, “where were we?”

“Shit, man, what are you?!”

“Hungry,” the vampire simply replied, then lunged at the man.

A few moments later, Snowhawk heard the bushes near her crumple with the weight of a body being tossed on them. “Find me later if you don't die a slow, painful death first. You may be useful,” she heard the vampire say. She still flinched as he pulled his cloak from the bush, dropping a few dried leaves on her fur. “Good, you're still here,” he grinned, brushing the leaves from her, then loosely wrapping her in his cloak, and continued his journey to his sea-side home.

As she was carried the last few miles, Snowhawk silently thought of the scene a few moments earlier. That was certainly quiet and completely contrary to the old stories about vampires. But I guess somewhere in my soul I always knew.”

It was another half hour before, Kione's estate could be seen. Once she saw the stone work, Snowhawk felt a rush of comforting familiarity. They had reached the sea by this point, and were walking along the coast toward his home. Snowhawk had nearly drifted to sleep after that point, strangely comforted by seeing some place she felt was her home, even though she only ever remembered being there once. Kione gently scratching her shoulders didn't help relieve the sleepiness any.

Soon after they passed through the gates of the estate, and Kione carried the feline to what he'd called her room. He carefully placed her on the bed, still wrapped in his cloak. “Why don't you shift into your human form for me?” he grinned as he walked to a closet, and pulled open the wooden doors. “I'm afraid we don't have much in the room for you to wear, but there are plenty of clothes left from your past life in the castle. But for now,” he said as he pulled out a mid-thigh length, dark, silvery grey silken robe, and removed it from it's hanger, “this should suffice.” He placed the soft, thin robe next to her on the bed, and then turned around to step a few paces away.

Snowhawk hesitated for a moment, then crawled out of his cloak, quickly shifting into her human form and pulling the robe around her body, cinching the sash tight, closing the robe's front. She guessed her past self must have been smaller than her, as the robe wasn't well fitted to her current size. She paused as she thought to herself. She couldn't explain why she was following his directions, other than she knew the fate she had waiting for her was deserved. “O– Okay,” she quietly began, “I've changed.”

The vampire turned to look at her, smiling upon seeing her human form. “Excellent,” he grinned, stepping toward her and then reaching out to stroke her cheek with his thumb as his palm hand cradled her chin. Her eyes were clenched shut in fear, and she kept twitching as if she'd pull away any time, but still she couldn't bring herself to. “Don't be scared, dear one. Everything will be fine.” The hand on her face gently tilted her head to the side and he leaned toward her.

As she thought of everything over the past few hours, before she was carried so far, a single tear rolled down her cheek. How could I have done that? How could I have not trusted Janus?

The vampire stopped, and leaned back, not having bitten her yet, but having felt the tear on his own face. “Let's make this a little more gentle,” he said as he pulled her toward him. “Perhaps a little easier to forget,” he continued as he leaned her back on the bed, then took one of her hands in his. “Don't be afraid,” he repeated. He brought his free hand behind her head, lifting it and tilting it back, exposing her long neck. He paused for a moment to admire her smooth flesh, but as well note the long scar that still refused to fade. Then he gently bit down, sending both his vampiric toxin into her blood, and draining her at the same time. He remained at her neck, sucking her life away until he saw he'd fully passed out. He stopped then, licking the wounds on her neck to close them as he pulled away from her. “Sleep well, my dear. You shall awake to a new world.”

********

Roughly an hour later, a very angry Adian stormed through the gates of the sea-side castle. As he was well known here, no one stopped him or questioned him, even if he hadn't been seen in a while. He followed Snowhawk's faint scent into the upper levels of the castle, and to a well recognized room. He'd learned this once belonged to Kione's dead companion. Stopping only to check and see if the door was unlocked, and finding it not, he soon began kicking at the heavy oak door, knocking it in and nearly off its iron hinges. “Real funny, you bastard,” the wolf growled as he stalked into the room.

As the wolf entered, Kione sat up from the bed with Snowhawk resting in his arms. “You're too late, Adian. She doesn't have much time left,” he grinned, gently stroking her arm through the silken fabric of the robe.

“It's never too late as long as she's still mortal,” Adian growled again, narrowing his eyes at the vampire. “Now hand her over.”

Kione thought for a moment, then carefully stood and placed the still sleeping Snowhawk back on the bed. “Take her back, if you will. Try to 'save' her now, if you must. But,” he grinned, “just remember that one day you'll be doing this anyway if she doesn't come back to me first.”

“Only once she asks. Without being coerced into it, or simply preyed upon,” he said as he closed the gap to the bed to pick the sleeping Delphin up.

“You know, it may be sooner rather than later,” the vampire grinned.

Adian simply scowled at him as he picked the equine up, and then turned and ran from the estate. “I don't know how much time you have left,” he told her, placing her into his vehicle, “but I will not allow him to take you away yet.” He gently stroked her hair for a moment, then leaned over and bit into her neck.

*******

“What connection,” Janus openly mused as he waited in Snowhawk's room for his brother to return, “does this damned vampire have to my bird?” He sat down on the edge of the bed, looking out the window. “What indeed?”

He thoughts were interrupted seconds later as the door to the room opened. “Just in time,” Adian stated, carrying the still unconscious Snowhawk to the bed.

“What happened?!” Janus asked, noticeably concerned, as his brother placed his love on the bed.

“He bit her. I had to try and save her.”

“You had to what?” the older wolf asked, confused.

“I had to try and save her. I don't know if I accomplished anything, or if it was too much–”

“To much what?”

“Too much toxin. Two vampires can't sire a single vampire. So if one ever bites you, trying to turn you, another one can try and save you by biting you as well.”

“And what if you did?” Janus questioned, trying to get his brother to actually tell him something.

“Either way, unless I did it just right, she'll gain some vampiric powers. And one of us, who ever has the most toxin in her system, may be able to control her.” He looked at his now very concerned, somewhat angry brother, and continued. “Just hope it's me.”

“Wh– Why?” Janus started, his voice cracking as he sat down next to Snowhawk.

“Why what?”

“Why did you come back?!”

“For you, you idiot. You can't run this place on your own, especially with her and all her damn problems distracting you. Now you have a vampire after her, and you may as well have one on your side.”

“Did you know? That he was after her?”

“I thought I told you, no, not in the least. But he knew I was angry, and jealous, and somehow he found out about who she was in the past. I'm sure she's told you.”

“The grey Delphin...”

“Yes. That was his mate. He wants her back.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

The chocolate wolf paused and dropped his head. “Yes. Hold her, be there for her. Be here when she wakes up, and look very carefully at her eyes. If they're not hers, we have a problem.”

“What do you mean if they're not hers?”

“You'll know it if you see it. I have to go study somethings now that there's a little bit of a break.”

Janus was still confused. It was like his brother learned how to not say everything on his mind after he became a vampire, when before every perverted thought in that red-head of his would come out whenever he felt the need to say it. But he wouldn't argue with him for now. He still felt lost at what to do, wishing he could do more than just hold her.

********

Hours later, things did not seem to be going well at the Sininensusi estate. Janus felt a bulging in his love's back, a short warning that her wings were going to be exposed. When they did appear, tearing through the silk robe, they did not belong to Snowhawk. The feathers were pitch black. Janus leaned back as he realized she was changing her form as well. First she looked like her normal Delphin self, then seemed to shrink back down, past the size of her human form. Once the change had finished, he realized the extent of how much the Delphin next to him was not Snowhawk. Her fur was steel grey, and her arms, legs, and ear tips were black, her mane and tail sapphire blue, and a spiraled emerald horn was in place of the silver-spiraled, amethyst horn that should be on her head. He also realized her mane and tail had increased dramatically in length.

Her eyes fluttered half open, revealing cold blue, instead of the kind green of Snowhawk's.

The Delphin silently removed herself from Janus' arms and stood from the bed, and for the first time, through the hole torn in the robe, Janus saw the black dorsal stripe running along her back. Oh shit...

Both mane and tail, and her wings drug behind her as she walked from the bed to   a darkened corner of the room. Janus stood as she walked away from him, and saw a pair of hands reach out from the darkness, with a black leather halter between them. Glowing golden eyes opened as the halter was slipped over her head, as Kione's voice taunted from the shadow. “I told you I would have her, wolf.”

“You just don't know when to quit, do you?!” Janus growled. “You could have at least allowed her to recover.”

“I'm not as kind as you then, wolf,” he stated, finishing buckling the halter he'd placed on the grey Delphin. “Why don't you go see what Anya has to offer and forget about this one?”

“Never. Why do you want her so badly anyway?”

“Look at her, Janus, can't you tell who she is?”

'I remember my past life. Things I was never told. I never understood it until now,' rang Snowhawk's voice through Janus' head. “But that Delphin died!”

“Twice, if you want to get technical. But I saved her the first time. I couldn't the second. She was powerful, beautiful. I couldn't let that go to waste. But you know her heart, and how it can melt any ice around a heart.”

Janus did indeed know, and had learned about it many years ago.

“She was mine long before she was yours, wolf,” Kione glared as the other Delphin knelt before him, her head still held.

“So you'll manipulate her to bring back the dead?”

“No, I just reveal what's already there.”

Janus growled as he strode to the changed Snowhawk and knelt next to her. “Love, please, wake up,” he begged.

“This will be much easier once you realize she's almost back to who she was. She's no longer yours wolf.”

“No.”

“Suit yourself,” the vampire shrugged as he looked down at the Delphin in his hand. “Stand,” he commanded. Her sapphire eyes half-opened again, and she did as he told her. “Change,” he then directed, after unbuckling the front of her halter and slipping it around her neck. Again, she did as she was told, shifting to her human form. Her skin was paler than normal and she was much shorter, her hair still insanely long though now deep blue like the equine form. “So lovely.”

Janus stood and gritted his teeth. The mind control he was seeing was far, far to invasive for even his old self to care for. He hadn't known what his brother meant by control before, but he was well aware now. He had the lingering question if he brother could be so controlled as well. With another growl, he batted the vampire's hand away from the halter around her neck and pulled her to him. “She is no longer yours, Kione.”

The vampire just grinned. “Time will tell. She will come to me soon enough. And when she does, you won't be able to stop her.” He faded back into the shadows and vanished.

Once he was gone, Snowhawk's form began to shift back to normal. “Snowhawk, love, wake up. Please, look at me,” Janus pleaded.

Her green eyes slowly opened to meet his. “Wh– What happened?” She asked, reaching up and to the halter around her neck.

Janus squeezed her tightly. “Welcome back, love.”

“How did I get back?”

“Adian found you and brought you back.”

“How noble of him,” she trailed off.

“It was, and I am grateful to him for it.”

“But, what happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everything's so fuzzy. The past few hours especially.”

“Do you remember Kione biting you?”

She held her head, and whined softly. “Vaguely. It didn't hurt, and I don't remember much after that.”

He hugged her tightly again, deciding not to say anything about the moments prior until he better understood what had occurred. “You'll never leave me, will you?”

“Love, no, never,” she sighed, nuzzling him softly, then she flinched in pain. “Why do I hurt so much?”

Janus gave a somewhat relieved sigh then brought her to the bed and lay down with her. “Then we'll rest together.” Janus closed his eyes and held her tightly as she cuddled close to him. He knew she wouldn't leave, but what if that silver Delphin were to return? He knew if she did decide to leave, he couldn't stop her.