Alannah barely registered Wyn's apologies, her mind was going a thousand miles a minute, thinking out every possible scenario that could befall the two women on the way home, working out a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C through the rest of the Phoenician alphabet and then began working on the others. When she had dealt with this type of situation in the past it was of her own making and no one but herself was at risk. Now, with a shaken up Wyn... If anything happened to her... No, she wouldn't let that happen. She had a millennia's experience of surviving and only a few blocks until the two of them were safe in the flat. But it was better to prepare for any and every possible event.

After stumbling tensely home, trying her best to appear disheveled and insane while listening to each and every person that passed by her and Wyn, who was a few blocks ahead until Alannah heard her wife enter the flat and she nearly sighed with relief but kept on ahead until the elder vampiress was also safe and the door was deadbolted behind her and closed her eyes, thankful that she was the one that found Wyn and it wasn't anyone else.

The body could be dealt with later; Alannah just threw the reinforced bag into the massive bloodbag cooler and closed it behind her. An anxiety she hadn't felt in years was coursing through her veins, an inexplicable terror that griped her entire being. Grabbing the nearest bottle of booze on the table, she took a considerable swig, closing her eyes and leaning her head on the cabinets for a moment before looking for Wyn.

She stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, just looking at her wife. There was a thousand thoughts racing through her mind; what was she supposed to say? Alannah couldn't help but admire the beautiful woman before her but her emotions had become a torrent and she hardly knew how to approach the situation. Her face was kept stoic, her eyes focused but was otherwise silent.

Situations such as these are bound to happen when one is dealing with a species that lives off the blood of other beings, Alannah knew that. Stars above, how many times had she needed to clean up her own mess over the years? It was part of their nature, part of the survival instinct that drove their kind forward and yet was one of the most dangerous things about their lives. A vampire on a rampage caught by a human could expect a painful death; if caught by their own species punishment could be just as severe for endangering the entire community. What Kol did to her in this situation she would never even consider as an option, but Kol was always much more sadistic than she. One of the first times her resolve broke down, very early in her lifetime, her sire had informed the town of what she was and lead the hunt, curious to see what the girl would do.

Oh how he loved a hunt.

It made her stronger, that much was for sure. More cautious, more controlled, more explosive. But the adjustment was always difficult and they were still, down to the core, hunters. Vampires were truly the greatest hunters of humans: The appearance of a human with none of the hindrances. But if a city of humans were to descend on a vampire, all the tricks in the book could not even the odds of that battle.

And so she stood there, the stress apparent in her lover's back even from across the room. Oh, Wyn. Alannah always had to sometimes remind herself that, while her wife was the most remarkable woman she had ever come across, her wife was still very much a child. Even in the eyes of humans she was considered a youth, still in school with the future ahead of her. The past year had been so much more than any person should endure and Wynter had faced it all with dignity and maturity that astounded the elder vampire. It did not surprise her that her young wife possessed so much strength but there was only so much for one person to handle before the cracks start to show.

Alannah matched her step and the two were standing face to face. Her resolved softened as she met the girl's eyes and saw the thinly veiled sea of emotions churning underneath them. Lightly she tucked a loose strand of Wyn's hair behind her ear. "Mo chuisle." The words came out as a sigh, not of disappointment, but of unconditional empathy for the woman she loved. She could never be angry at her for this and to see her in this much pain, after everything, felt the way she had always imagined a stake through the heart would feel.

Of course Wyn was forgiven; staying mad at her was never an option. Alannah closed the distance between them then wrapped her arms around the girl, holding her close. What would she have done if anything had happened to her wife, if anyone else had come into the alley before she had gotten there? "There's no need for your apologies, little maid." She had unknowingly been tensing up her shoulders since stumbling upon the metallic smell on the streets and it finally unwound once her wife was in her arms. Both were safe, both were fine, and the two of them would figure this out.

Why had Alannah not noticed? The elder vampire had been feeling the itch of her more destructive side, why had she not made sure her fledgling wife was going through the same? Wynter had taken to her transition much more smoothly than she had all those years ago. It had been a millennia since then and she still sometimes struggled with their more base urges.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Did Wyn not trust her? With everything that had happened in the past year, that would be the last thing that Alannah would ever want. She wanted to be a supplicant to the fantastic woman she loved and make her life easier. It was hard, taking on this life and her final year of school and losing her dear friend. With the heightened emotions many vampires felt such a loss could have absolutely caused much more damage but Wyn was one of the strongest women she had ever met and Alannah loved that in her. Was it an act for her benefit?

"Ah, little love." Alannah kissed her wife lightly and affectionately on her lip, running her hands up Wyn's hips and encircled her flawless waist with her arms. "Understand this, if you understand nothing else: I could never be disappointed in you." In all honesty she was much more disappointed in herself for making Wyn feel as though she had to hide this from her. She never expected the fledgling to be infallible but thought she would be there to help her through all these missteps. The elder vampire wanted to help her through this, be the sire that she never had during those times and she had failed her wife in a way that made her feel terrible.

Made her feel. What strange words. The amazing woman before had transformed her life in remarkable ways, even on the most basic levels. She had revived very human emotions in the thousand-year-old vampiress. Years of survival had streamlined her, the way the edges of a piece of glass were worn down by the waves. Time had that effect on a soul, stripping it down to the instincts of endurance. Alannah had thought it to be the only way to make it through the years. Until she had met Wynter and changed the entire way she had predicted the years to unwind before her. Did her young wife even know the effect she had on everyone she ever came across, on her? Never did she think, in a millennia, that she would be the type to fall so deeply for another person but the woman before her was absolutely remarkable and beyond compare. A child even in the eyes of mortals and yet she had a depth that most other immortals lacked.

Alannah smiled slightly, aware of how ridiculous the two of them must appear at the moment. "It was my honor. But next time try to avoid feeding so close to the flat. Wouldn't want to ruin the neighborhood." Her hands began to massage the tension held in Wyn's lower back and nipped her lip playfully. "Or next time I'll chain you to the bed and never let you out of my sight."

Another soft sigh escaped her lips as she tried to form her next few thoughts and looked into Wyn's lovely eyes with a frank expression in her own. "I don't want you to hide anything from me, yes? I want to know if you well and If you aren't. Anything. Everything. I love you, you are..." She paused before finding the words with a smile. "Mo chuisle. My heart. More. I am here for you, no matter what will come."