"But it has to be you," Snowhawk cried. "That scent, that voice," she paused. "And I would never forget those eyes. What did she do to you?!"

"Listen, you loon, I don't have the faintest clue who you're talking about," Kirrian growled, leaning towards her again, "but I'm not him."

She whimpered again, sniffling a bit, then looked him directly in his eyes and said, "Then I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"This," she said a half second before slicing his arm with an icy spike. Once his arm was away from her she lept from the small bed and tried to put herself as close to the door as possible. Her legs and hooves nearly refused to work, still exhausted from earlier. She stood, legs trembling, with the spike still in her hand. "I don't want to hurt you, Janus, but I won't let you go without trying to bring you back."

"So the mare does have some fight in her!" The wolf stood, looking at the cut on his arm, then to her. "You won't surprise me like that again." Kirrian grinned, slowly stepping closer to her.

"Your grandfather built this cottage," she began, reciting what Janus had told her in the past. "Your family used to spend their summers here. Your mother and father died on their way up one year. That's why you never came back. Am I getting through at all?!"

The Lupino had stopped in his tracks, holding his head. "No, no one can know that."

"I do, Janus, because you told me! Years ago!"

"You're lying," he growled, then lunged at her and pinned her down, his teeth around her throat.

"You were attacked by an Avizon named Anya. She struck you three times with bolts from her crossbow. I thought you died in my lap, then she took you away. After that..." she whined as she felt his jaws close a little tighter on her, then relax and finally release her throat as he sat up a few moments later.

"Anya," he repeated, remembering the name.

"She did this. I killed her for you. I was looking for a body, then found you."

A half moment later, the door to the cottage burst open, and both Onyx and Adian entered. Adian immediately bristled and growled, “Get off of her you--”

“Adian, wait!” Snowhawk called out. She quickly noticed the black wolf's confused expression. “Don't you even remember your own brother?”

Kirrian sat back further, allowing Snowhawk to sit up. “I did have a brother.” He paused for a moment, thinking, then his confused look giving way to a growl. “He stole my mate from me.”

“No! No, that's not what happened! Anya must have told you that. Adian has done nothing of the sort. Anya took you from me.”

“Snowhawk,” Adian softly began, “we should go.”

“I can't go. I won't go until he listens to me.”

“Snow, we have to go, your condition can't be good.”

“No, it's not. But this is more important.”

Kirrian growled again. “That can't be my brother.”

“Dammit, Janus, don't you remember anything?!” Snowhawk yelled as she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.

“Come back with us then, wolf, if you won't listen to her. I may be able to help you,” Onyx responded.

“Where? This is my home.”

“No, Janus, it's not,” she said, lightly touching his shoulder. “Please, come back with us.”

He batted her hand away from him. “No.”

“Then I will stay here. And I will make you remember. I gave up too much because I thought you were dead. I'm not losing you now.” She sighed, determination etched on her face. “Look, here,” she said, pulling the locket she wore away from her chest, and opening it. Inside was a tiny picture of Janus. “This is you. This was you. I don't care if that's what you will ever look like again, but I need you.”

The wolf in front of her carefully took the locket in his hand, looking thoughtfully at the tiny picture of what she said was him. “It can't be me,” he shrugged, dropping the locket.

“But it is!”

“I've been a black wolf for as long as I can remember.”

“Then how long is that?” Onyx said, before anyone else could.

Kirrian was silent. His memory was mostly blank for anything longer than three or four weeks ago. What was there didn't add up. He was infuriated, confused, and simply hurting all at once. “Get out.”

“No,” Snowhawk stated. “I'm not leaving until you come to your senses.”

“I don't advise it, Snowhawk,” Onyx commented.

“Since when did I listen to you?” she grinned, then her expression turned to concern as she looked back to Kirrian, and placed her hands on his forearms again. “I'm sorry for injuring you earlier,” she said as her horn began to glow more than just from the light around her. She moved both her hands to the cut on his left forearm, and they too began to glow. After a moment there, she moved her hands away, revealing a stripe of silvery fun where the cut had been. “I knew it... It is you.”

Adian was shocked, and concerned. Snowhawk had never shown any healing magic before, and this could mean she was no longer just partially a vampire.

“The color change must have been from the Avizon's venom,” Onyx commented. “As the venom leaves his system, his fur, and personality should return. Keyword being should, Avizon venom is hard to cleanse.”

“Snowhawk, how did you heal that?” Adian concernedly asked.

“I'll just say that we should hope Hunter's search is successful. I'm not making it back to town as a mortal,” she sighed, then turned back to the wolf before her. 

Kirrian was confused, “How could you heal me?”

“Because,” she began, reaching up now to stroke his cheek. “You are my mate, no matter your appearance. I know you would say the same about me, if you could just remember. Will you please come home?”

The black wolf sighed and finally conceded. “Fine.” He soon after found himself with the arms of a pale lavender Delphin wrapped around him.

“Before we go, Snowhawk, would you come outside and speak with me?” Adian requested.

“Of course,” she replied, finally trying to stand on her still shaky legs. Realizing she was mostly unable to carry her own weight, the chocolate Lupino picked her up and carried her outside. He brought her to the vehicle that he and Onyx had arrived in, some yards from the cottage, and sat her inside, on the far side from the cottage.

“What were you thinking?! Running here? Now you can't walk, and I don't know if I can pull you back.”

“It's all I've ever known to do, Adian,” she said as he grabbed her left arm and bit into it, to try and keep her from becoming a full vampire. She flinched at his bite. “I couldn't just wait.”

“You're too goddamn impulsive,” he half growled, pulling away from her arm. “First you say you can't ever face him again, then you run up here like some damned idiot... Can you heal that?”

“No. I've never been able to heal myself, and I doubt I ever will,” she replied, as he grabbed her arm. “But if I can heal him--”

“No, I won't allow that. We'll take him to the hospital, or let Onyx if he can. It's too risky for you. You need to worry more about yourself.”

“I can't,” she simply stated. “That's not how it was, and you know it.”

“Snowhawk, those days are long behind us.”

“No, Adian, they're not. Not for me.”

The wolf sighed. “I'm going to have to break you of that too, I see.” He looked up and waved the Delphin and the other Lupino over. “But we will continue this later. It's time to get you both home.”

*********

Five days after returning to Ametition with Kirrian, some of Janus' personality had returned, but over all, Snowhawk was further exhausting herself with trying to help him remember. She eventually reached several points where she had to excuse herself to go off and cry over the whole ordeal. She had found him, but he was not the same wolf she remembered. During one of these, Onyx approached her with some news. She composed herself as quickly as she could before opening the door to her room. “I'm sorry Onyx, come in.”

“I hope this news can at least ease your pain a bit. Hunter has returned with some doctors from Juv that may be able to help you.”

“That's wonderful news for myself, and Adian, if it works for me, but,” she paused, “I was hoping you'd found some help for Janus.”

“It's possible that they may be help him as well.”

“That's better news,” she weakly smiled.

“You need to take a break. I know you're trying the best you can, but you're exhausting yourself. I'm sure your hooves still aren't healed.”

“No, but I've been okay, really.”

“You say that, but how many times have you had to 'take a break' and come in here or go somewhere else to cry?”

“So you saw that?” Snowhawk asked, hanging her head.

“It's hard not to know. I think Janus even knows, but he's too confused with this Kirrian persona over the rest of him to do anything to help you.”

She nodded slowly. “I know. I'm not expecting him to help me right now.” She signed and paused. “Now, when will we be seeing these doctors?”

“We can leave right now, if you wish.”

*********

It was only a short time before the two Delphin and the two Lupino arrived back at Nytehawk's home. They were greeted by Hunter and several doctors from the medical school in Juv. “Who's the black wolf?” Hunter asked, confused.

“He's Janus,” Snowhawk began, “But not.”

“An encounter with an Avizon?” one of the younger Delphin doctors asked.

“Yes. About a month an a half ago, but I'm not sure how long she had him,” Adian answered.

“What's your name?” the doctor asked, stepping toward the black Lupino and then examining the fur on his arm.

“Kirrian. I think,” Kirrian replied somewhat wary of the Delphin.

“I see. What do you think Director?”

“Well,” the Director began, paying close attention to the silvery line of new fur on his arm, “With the fur growth, he should be back to normal on his own soon enough. If he hadn't started changing back to what I figure is his original coat, I'd be concerned. Who healed this?”

Snowhawk tentatively raised her hand, “I did.”

“Aah, you must be Snowhawk, the half-vampire.”

“Yes.”

“I didn't realize how far along you were. We'll start with you, please come with us.”

Snowhawk gave a small nod and followed the group of doctors into Nytehawk's home. “So, what all does this entail?” she somewhat worriedly asked after a few moments of following them through the hallways.

“Mostly injections and a lot of observation. This is completely experimental, but if it works for you, then it could give hope to those that have been turned and didn't want to be.”

“So not much different than what Adian's been doing?”

“In it's own way, not really. We'll just be doing more testing on your blood to see what everything looks like. And rather than just managing the vampirism, we should be able to reverse it.” He was quiet for a minute, then stopped and looked at her, “I can't guarantee that this is going to be pain free.”

“Considering what you're attempting, I wasn't expecting it to be.”

*********

Through researching the origins of vampirism, the research team had learned of it's creation from a modified venom sample from an Avizon a group of humans had been experimenting on thousands of years in the past. This was applied to a male Delphin, and then the result was the first “vampire” of the world. The Delphin was rumored to be alive, still, and would be the only truly immortal vampire. Otherwise, the effects of vampirism on a being's lifespan simply make them harder to kill, from time's effects or in a fight. Most vampires would easily double their natural lifespan, but would eventually die.

The research team was overjoyed their first test would be on a Delphin, as vampirism seemed to affect them most. Their joy faded once they realized how painful the reversal effects would be on the subject, who was, in this case, Snowhawk. “We can't use it like this,” one of the researchers, a Feln, commented to the Director.

“Is it working at all?” the Lupino replied.

“Yes, it working beautifully, but the pain that Snowhawk feels is just,” he paused, looking for the word, “immense. I'm afraid it will drive someone without as high of a pain tolerance, over the edge.”

“See if you can get the other vampire to assist you. And the brother as well, if he still has some of the Avizon venom in him.”

“Considering his fur color, I'd guess he still does.”

“Good. That could be the key to making this work. We've only been working with partial samples, and they could be missing what makes them painless.”

*********

Over the next weeks, the progress made in reversing Snowhawk's vampirism was notable, if slow. With the help of Adian and the residual venom from Anya in Kirrian, the amount of pain from the reversal was greatly reduced, though not eliminated. Also over those weeks, the persona of Kirrian was fading away to reveal Janus again.

After three months, Snowhawk was finally declared free of vampirism, and Janus had mostly returned to normal. There were still hints of the untrusting, somewhat vicious Kirrian, and Snowhawk had somehow retained the ability to heal others.

“It's good to be back, love,” Janus said, as he cradled Snowhawk in his arms as the two lay on a bench one afternoon back at his estate.

“It's good to have you back,” she responded, hugging him tightly. “Things finally seem quiet.”

“They do. The doctors have gone back to Juv to perfect their work and pass the news around to the other medical groups there. I have to wonder though, why Adian didn't take them up on their offer.”

“It wasn't comfortable in the least,” she stated. “He may be wanting to wait until it's been perfected.”

“I'd hope that's all.”

“I'm sure it is. I think Adian's a very different wolf now than who you grew up with.”

“Yes, and that's what makes this so confusing.”

“I wouldn't worry about him,” she smiled, nuzzling him gently.