Last night at Maple Grove after the wedding reception...

Helena and Elias somehow managed to get Jon into the big house and get him into bed without rousing the suspicions of Humphrey or any of the other family members, just yet. To most of the guests, he seemed merely drunk, but that was only part of the problem. What had started out as a family celebration had once again turned into yet another family crisis.

Once away from the crowd, Jon's condition had only worsened and it had become apparent that it was not only caused by imbibing of too much alcohol. He had turned ghostly pale and was shaking like a leaf, but instead of feeling feverish, he felt cold and clammy, and if one was observant enough, they might notice a small mark upon his neck, partially healed.

Once Lena's brother was tucked under blankets, supplied with water (and a nearby wastebasket), Elias pasted himself to the doorway to watch the man for a bit. For the last hour and a half his thoughts had strictly been his own, and he kept on stewing. His arms folded tighter. He nibbled briefly on the end of an imagined cigarette.

Helena was the most elegantly-dressed sickroom nurse in the history of bad drinking binges. Lena made sure he was tucked in comfortably in the guest bed, and went so far as to get him some cold water and a cool, wet washcloth. "How much did you guys drink before the ceremony, Jon?"

He only groaned in reply to his sister's question, lost in delirium.

"Helena." Oh so rarely did Eli call her that.

She looked dreadfully worried, something she hadn't let Jon see in her face but which she gave freely to Eli. "Should we call an ambulance, do you think?"

Eli bit his lip, considering more what to say than whether or not he needed an ambulance. In a moment he shook his head. "It's withdrawal," he croaked quietly.

She froze, shocked in an instance of denial and acknowledgement that was terrible to see born in her eyes. Not again. Oh, Jonny.

Jon heard voices in his delirium, sounding like they were far away, though they were right there beside him. One he recognized as his sister, the other sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Though he tried to form words, he couldn't make his mouth work, teeth chattering as they were.

"Thankfully, the....action, in question, doesn't cause any lastingly harmful withdrawal side effects. That moving picture he's in..." Elias looked over at her. "It's about vampires, right?"

"Murder of Crowes" Yes. They just finished filming though, I think. Why?" It was a distracting question. She hadn't seen any marks on his arms, but she hadn't looked for them, really. His addiction wasn't something people told her about, not really. Their father had refused to discuss Jon then, and it had all been a terrible, terrible secret.

Eli thinned his lips. He took a step closer, then drew back the bedsheets and the man's collar, carefully touching the skin just below the angry red mark there, careful not to touch it directly. He imagined it was still rather sensitive. "I'm sure your brother's had....an awful lot of pressure, learning about something he doesn't understand." The words came out almost ploddingly. He could find sympathy for Helena, but expressing it wasn't easy.

She watched Eli, not comprehending what he was leading up to, yet. "He has been. He works really hard. But he's been clean for a long time."

The position of his fingers allowed him to check the pulse again, too. "He tell you what he's done to puzzle out vampires" Homework he's done for his role?"

"No," she shook her head, the light catching at her mother's jewels and making her shimmer.

"Steady, Lena. This" I've seen it before....afraid to admit it, I've gotten a couple close calls myself. I've seen them up close. This is a vampire bite."

Jon groaned a little when Eli got close, lacking the strength to pull away, the craving for vampire blood burning in his veins, not unlike any other craving for a foreign substance, the withdrawal more painful than the addiction to cocaine had been, more physically addicting.

"He's a vampire?" Her knuckles went white on the nearest thing at-hand: the door jamb.

"Oh, no," Eli replied, shaking his head. "Far from it....very far. Your brother is..." There was a very faint pang of heartache at the words that followed. Very faint. "He is perfectly mortal. But I imagine in researching vampires, he's met a few, and there's been one, or more, who's fed from him....and who've fed him in return. He's addicted to the blood. It's an extremely potent drug, and it was very deliberate....very cruel of them, to give it to him."

Eli extended his arm over poor Jonathan's head, snapping his fingers in several different locations, observing his reactions, then giving a slow nod. "He's not manifesting any ghoulish behavior. He isn't controlled by it....except so far as, like any other potent and enjoyable drug, he wants it, and believes he needs it. And he hasn't let himself have any in some time, hence, he's going through withdrawal."

There was no reaction to Eli's snapping other than a slight flinch, the noise irritating and making Jon's head ache more than it already was.

"They fed from him." She had to repeat it to make it real in her own head. "He drank their blood." The idea was horrific. See it in her eyes, in the way her milk and honey skin went pale as alabaster beneath the faint touch of blush and lipstick. "He let them do this?"

Maybe now she'd understand why Jon had been so adamant about not wanting her to go anywhere near vampires when she'd joked about bedding one.

"It is my understanding that there are a number who, when allowed to survive the experiences, enjoy them, or grow to do so. For all I know he may not have, because I am not sure how it happened....a vampire can be a very forceful being, physically, psychologically, occasionally both at once." Elias forced himself to pause, to offer comfort instead of academia. "Mine is a dangerous field, full of careful lines to tread, and I've seen many of my colleagues fall so, so much further. Men of strong character and moral fiber. Your brother has stopped it early, and is evidently fighting it....and that, takes considerable strength." Jonathan ached for the powerful blood; Elias ached (though considerably less) for nicotine. A cigarette would be perfect right now. He itched at his arm.

"So how do we help him' There's - we can't just watch him like this. What do we do, Eli?" She trusted him before, but this was more than that. She needed him to tell her what to do.

"It's the worst at night, and for tonight, we'll just have to watch him," Eli admitted. "In the daytime, even if he's laid up, make sure he's in a sun room; if it's a cloudy day, light a lamp. Try to get him to go to sleep as close to dusk as you can."

"Morphine seems to help," he added. "Small but regular doses, for the first two weeks. If any severe symptoms persist after that time, don't continue with the morphine. Small amounts of cannabis instead."

Jon was starting to shake uncontrollably, curling into a ball to withstand the pain, which felt like his whole body was on fire. Up until now, it had been somewhat manageable, but as the nights wore on and he had resisted his body's cravings, staying away from the vampire's call, even as he heard them in his head, calling to him, beckoning, it had become harder and more painful, substituting booze for blood, which only seemed to make things worse in the end. Replacing one addiction with another was never a good idea. The alcohol had helped numb the pain for a while, but once night had fallen, all bets were off.

She folded her arms across her midriff, arms pale against crimson silk, the festivities outside forgotten in her worry for Jon. "How long is he going to be like this?"

"Like this, exactly' Only tonight and tomorrow night, if we're aggressive in our treatment. Addicted, generally?" Elias shut his eyes for a moment. How long would it take for him to do what had to be done....God damn his foolish cousin, for making these actions necessary... "One month. Keep him the hell away from alcohol," he decided, as an afterthought.

"He's had a lot tonight. Is it dangerous?" He'd had ....how much outside" How much had Dom given him before"

"It could have been, and it certainly made things worse. Fortunately for us, the amount he had tonight is not life threatening, though it easily could have been." He breathed a sigh into his hand as he rubbed his face.

She closed her eyes a moment, letting it all settle into her bones. "I can't thank you enough for coming tonight, Eli. What would have happened, do you think" "

The question definitely knocked him off balance. He was unsure how to respond, and had to think for a moment. "...Your brother's very strong," he said, finally. Then he looked at her, reaching for her hands with his; his were cool, though certainly not so clammy as Jon's were at the moment. "Midget....could you do something for me, please?"

"Of course." She twined her fingers in his as she took the hands he offered her.

He squeezed her hands, pleading for what he considered his only friend's safety: "After dark, don't go out alone....just to be safe. Just until I've....checked things out. Made sure this mess is....sorted. Okay?"

"You think they're still after him." She was quick enough to pick that up out of his worried plea, blue eyes piercingly sharp on Eli's face. She was silent for a moment. "All right. I won't go out at night. Not until you say it's okay."

Eli nodded, glad she was not defiant about it, and breathed a relieved sigh. Let her hands slip away. "I'll be by the front door. Give a shout if you need me." He cast another long look at Jonathan, watching his shivering form....then collected his coat and left for the front of the house.

"Oh, Jonny," she breathed after Eli left them there. "What did you do?"

Jon couldn't answer, too lost in delirium and wandering through dreams and memories that weren't his own, the sound of a woman's voice calling to him through the din, beckoning him sweetly. He'd tried to resist that call for days, and it would take all his will power to resist it now. He could feel her somewhere close by, and he knew what she wanted. She wanted to finish what she'd started. She wanted to make him immortal.

((Huge thanks to the players of Helena and Elias for this scene and also many thanks to everyone for the role-play that led up to this scene. Thanks, everyone!))

It was going to take a mass of meat to keep Jon from getting out of bed, despite the fact that he was weak and ill. The call of the vampire was too strong for him now and the morphine was the only thing keeping him from fighting the big man off and going to her. He struggled against the large man, trying to escape his grasp.

In the meantime, the vampire, who looked deceivingly like a teenage girl, came out of hiding and approached the house, moving quickly and stealthily, but lacking the skill of a master vampire. She sensed a few others there, smelled their mortal blood. They didn't concern her, but there was something that did, that made her pause and hesitate a moment. Something she sensed that was different about one of them. Something she didn't like.

To her credit, Elias would not have heard or even seen her, but as a dhampir she reeked of death and bloodlust in his nostrils. In fact he waited until she was ascending the porch to speak: "You're the little leech they call Kit, aren't'cha, doll?" He turned his head.

The vampire's head snapped toward the voice that was speaking to her, to the one that wasn't like the others, the one that wasn't quite human. "Who are you to call me leech, half-blood?" She shifted her appearance, to look less human and more vampire, sharp, white teeth flashing in the light of the twin moons, looking more feline than human, fingernails becoming claws, her skin pale, looking as hard as marble.

"Feisty little bitch. Young, too," Elias observed, and rather boldly moved between the vampire and the front door. "I guess you haven't heard the old stories, huh." He smiled teasingly and tipped his head, clasping his hands behind his back, making himself all the more vulnerable to her. He wasn't afraid of her, and he was letting her know. He didn't even flinch at her little display. "You've got to be invited in first....and I'm awful sorry, doll, but we run a classier establishment here than you've got the pedigree for."

"Get out of my way. This has nothing to do with you. He wants me. He belongs to me. He's mine. I am the only one who can save him. Not you, half-breed. You are an abomination. You don't even deserve to live, if living is what you call what you do." She was obviously not afraid of him, finding as repulsive as he probably found her.

"Then kill me," Eli replied simply. He leaned forward, his lips curling ever further as he added, "Unless you're scared, Kit."

She narrowed eyes that flashed amber and inhuman in the moonlight. "This is your last warning, bastard child. Get out of my way or I will fulfill that wish."

"As the kids around here like to say....bring it, bitch."

In the meantime, Jon was thrashing in Ivan's strong grip, trying like hell to escape, almost against his own will, as she was summoning him with her mind. It took a strong dose of morphine to settle him down enough to keep him under control.

The vampire was only too happy to comply, as c*cky or maybe even c*ckier than he was. After all, she thought she was superior to him in every way and had vastly underestimated him, something the older vampire would never do. She flew at him, moving in a flash of movement, and was upon him in an instant. She didn't want to bite him and drink his blood. No, not him. She wanted him dead, and so it was claws that struck out at him, like tiny swords, sharp and unforgiving, striking for the places where she could do the most harm - face, neck, head.

Elias let out a sharp cry of distress because, let's face it, as much as he planned for this, she could have killed him then, and those claws hurt. Blood flowed freely from his neck, thankfully too shallow a wound for anything vital but enough to look awful — a much closer call than he'd hoped for. The blow tossed him into the wall loudly, and he scowled at Kit....and the syringe he left dangling from her upper arm, plunger depressed. "Wrong move," he hissed viciously, clamping his fingers down on his wounds and watching the horrible acid do its work on his attacker.

Unsure what he was talking about at first, she only hissed at him, still feeling superior, sneering smugly at the blood that flowed from his wounds, but then she realized something was wrong. There was pain, mild at first, like something burning her arm, and she glanced that way to find the syringe, eyes widening in horror. "What have you done?" She yanked the syringe from her arm and threw it aside, but it was already too late, the acid was doing its job and it would be a slow and gruesome death.

Elias decided he could waste this poor vampire's last moments with a science lesson. "You see, Kit, your body chemistry is markedly different from a mortal's. While theoretically your flesh can last forever, there are certain disadvantages to your....chemical rigidity, let's call it. The human body negotiates a wide number of acids on a daily basis, regularly combating a variety of potentially hostile chemicals and poisons. Unfortunately for you, while you still have a bloodstream....in certain circumstances, your chemistry is less capable than a mortal's for sorting out certain acids. As you can already see..." He shifted, grunted as he clamped his hand down harder on the wound, and managed another smile as he gestured to her body. "You're melting."

Unfortunately for Jon, the psychic connection was such that he was feeling some of her pain and it was far more agonizing than the simple craving for blood. He writhed in pain, tears on his face, screaming for help, only quieting once the vampire had finally melted away, nothing left of her but a big gooey mess.

It was an awful sight to behold, and only a year or two before Elias was far less used to it, and might have been sick at it. The flesh dissolved into large pools of liquid within her, collecting in reservoirs until the acid wore holes in her skin, which her insides dumped out through. When it was done, her bones remained, smoking and sizzling.

The vampire screamed through it all, a hideous thing to see and hear, something from one's deepest, darkest nightmares, her once beautiful face and body melting away like something from a horror movie. That was the end of the vampire who called herself Kit, nothing left but smoldering bones. Another vampire would feel her death and a tremor of fear shook her, keeping her away from Maple Grove, at least for now. Far older and wiser than the younger vampire, she would bide her time, for now.

As soon as Jonathan stilled, Ivan was ignoring both him and Helena, lumbering through the house to reach his master's side, rifling through the contents of the physician's bag out in the foyer. Eli weakly protested the attention, but in the end let Ivan do his work, finding himself unable to tear his eyes from Kit's remains.

"What' What happened?" Lena called after Ivan as he abruptly left them there. But Jon had stilled again, and she wouldn't leave him yet. She perched on the edge of his bed, one hand clasped between hers. "What happened?"

Minutes passed until Elias limped inside. He paused in the foyer to catch his breath, leaning against the banister, clenching his eyes shut. Finally, he called out to inform Helena and Jonathan, "It's dead." Ivan remained outside to clean up the mess.

The voices that had called to Jon in his head had quieted, and though he was still shaking with tremors and the craving for blood, there was a certain peace in that silence, his thoughts his own. His mind and body were his own once again, and he would only have to deal with overcoming the physical aspects of withdrawal, at least, for now, until the older vampire asserted her will on him again, if she ever did.

((Once again, another big thank you to Lena and Eli's players. You guys are awesome. :smile:))