Sairol, robbed of a dragon form by the Nexus the other day, lay curled in her room as a raven-haired woman, the life in her eyes all but gone.

Earlier that night, she had been in the glen after talking with Mason. She turned, wrapping the leather jacket tightly around herself and began walking toward the town and the Inn. At that moment, Cerbarius had appeared nnext to her.

"Good evening, Sai"

Surprised to see him there, she stopped and turned to him with a soft smile

"Hi, Cerbarius...I'm going to the Inn, it's too cold out here for me"

Cerbarius smiled at her. She noticed something about that smile that disturbed her..

"Couldnt you just stay here" With me?"

Then, without any other warning, he had struck. The next thing Sairol knew, she was on the ground with the vampire atop her, gazing at her neck hungrily. She realised what was about to happen and fought him desperately, but to no avail. All she managed to do was cut his arm with her fingernail. Cerbarius dove down on her neck and bit her, feeding off her. As he did so, some of the blood from his arm made its way into her mouth as she stopped fighting, her eyes glazing over and her body growing numb.

It had been over quickly, and she had fainted from fear. Somehow, she wasnt really sure how, she had found herself in a bed in the inn, where Mokksha, Cern, and Darkmere were trying to help her best they could. They healed her wounds, but they couldnt stop the vampirism.

Now, she lay curled in her room, wrapped in that slightly too big leather jacket, sobbing silently with fear.

She leaned into her mother's arms, still crying silently. Amid quiet sobs, she spoke to Naria.

"Cerbarius did this..."

She felt they had to know, before he did the same to Siannia or Shiloah, or came into the lair and attacked members of the Shimmerscale family.

She shivered, not used to the feeling of cold or the urge to feed.

The red drake noticed the man pacing outside the lair on his way home. Curious, he swooped down and landed nearby. Red eyes regarded the man a moment, recognizing him as a vampire, before he spoke.

"I am Aris Shadowclaw. Who are you, and why are you here?"

"My sisters in trouble?"

He looked worried, and immediately shifted back to his dragon form. He vaguely wondered which of his sisters it was, but it didnt matter. He loved them all the same.

"climb on. i'll take you to the lair. what happened?"

"Sai? Cerbarius was supposed to be watching her..."

the nexus had ways of....messing with the shadowclaw family. He took flight, heading toward the lair that wasnt accesible from the ground anyway. He flew through the entrance, then landed to let Mason off. He would be faster in his human/vampire form on the ground, and he wanted to get to his sister fast.

"human to kindred?"

Aris looked to Mason as he shifted to his vampiric form. Then, he recognized the man as a vampire.

"she....she's been turned"!"

with that, he rushed off down the lair toward his sister's room, forgetting about Mason alltogether.

"He will dealt with, don't you worry. Please just understand that your father and I will still love you no matter what." She was petting her child's hair while she weapt. Shaking her head and whispering to her daughter," Being a vampire is not an awful thing. Look at me after all." A weakened smile was given to her.

She shifted for a moment with a murmur," Did I ever tell you how your father and I met?"

There was a long period of time where Mason just sat outside of the door to Sai's room pacing. He didn't want to barge in uninvited but not being able to see her was starting to really get to him. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. This was the part where he thought back about the time they had spent on the island before the nexus had stolen him. He mapped it all out in his mind. There was Sai sitting next to a tree with Mokksha. And they were watching out over the water. He raked his brain a bit more and took a deep breath. The part that concerned him was that he knew that Cerb was waiting in the tree watching his adopted little sister and the woman he loved. He just stood there watching them when he should have been right in there with them. Making sure the bloodsucker knew that he wasn't going to let anything happen to them.

All the thinking was really starting to get to him and his head began to spin a bit. The pacing resumed and he was wandering back and forth in the hallway outside the door again. The argument was raging on in his head about whether or not to just go in. Shaking his head no a couple times he shoved both hands deep into his pockets and tried to think back to when he had made the change.

He first remembered the heat. He couldn't remember where he had been but he remembered the scorching heat. He also remembered Anne was there, that the choice of kindred was either himself or she. He had made the choice to leave her with her mortality. Offer himself instead. Maybe he loved her in some way, but it was too far back for him to remember anymore. His human memories were all nearly gone. Then there was a vivid recollection of pain. Searing from the inside out. His body went rigid and his breath came in small gasps. He couldn't see her going through this. He had to help her. So without thinking for another second he pushed the door open and rushed inside. He looked at her mother with a worrisome expression. Frantic to know if she was alright. Then he saw her. Laying there on the bed as beautiful as ever and his heart sunk. He walked in on the having a family discussion. He looked to Sai as if to apologize without words and quickly he turned to leave.

She listened quietly to her mother's story. She knew that anything her mother had to say was worth listening to, and also that her mother rarely told stories of her past like this. There were a few moments in that story that had her surprised.

Her father's heart had been controlled by a demon' But what really surprised her was that her mother wasnt born a dragon. And that a wish had changed it all.

She managed a smile then. The crying had stopped, and she sighed.

"A wish?"

She thought about that for a moment. A wish...If she could make a wish...what would it be? She thought a little more, and for some reason her thoughts went to Mason, almost wishing he was here. Before she could think any more, however, the door had opened and Mason was there.

She was surprised that he was suddenly there. She looked at him, and noticed the apologetic look as he turned away. She looked at her mother, then back at Mason

"Mason, you dont have to go.."

His ears twitched and he couldn't feel the pain she was feeling, his empathy towards her was strong. But without the pain in the air he could tell that she had been taken care of. He knelt next to the bed and looked at her. Her hair was still Raven, her eyes were still a piercing blue. His heart soared although it didn't beat. He brushed the remaining strands of her hair away from her face.

"You look beautiful."

Were the only words he could stammer out at this point. He sighed and laid his head on the bed next to her. His fingers slipping into her hand and tangled up with hers. He was pained by guilt but the pain was stifled by the fact that she was ok. He didn't know what else to say and didn't want to choke on any words or make a fool of himself if his eyes welled up. He just sat there silently looking at her.