Dag was sleeping soundly on the plane as Mellina searched through the files that Ericson had delivered early on. As she had guessed, there were multiple cases of early-aged heart failure. After the past night, her view on a great and wonderful world had been shattered by an act of brutality, a man acting in rage had almost taken two lives in ignorance. Dag stirred in his sleep as she put the files away again. But as the ocean faded to land beneath them, she felt a deadening in her heart. She was going to see Darren again for the first time since they both had been changed.
"Stop thinking about him Mell...He isn't anything anymore."
She turned to him, his sunglasses hiding his still bloodied eyes.
"I can't. It's like asking you to stop thinking about Daniel."
"Still, you shouldn't think of him as he was, because this man isn't who he used to be. Nothing will ever be the same for you again. If you wait long enough, they will come for you."
She folded her arms around her chest and turned away from him.
"Why should I care anymore? As far as I know, some vampire could come out of nowhere and kill me..."
Suddenly he was crouched beside her, his fangs bared and his eyes burning through the glasses.
"I almost died for you last night, and this is how you repay me?! You think this is some huge joke, don't you? Well, let me tell you, until you have one at your throat, I'm not helping you. Do you understand?!"
A tear slid down her cheek, as clear as any water Dag had ever seen. But still, he held firm, his outward emotion never changing.
"You'd let them get that close to me?"
He stepped back, removing his glasses.
"To teach you the lesson of life. It sounds to me that you don't care for it much at the moment...But kill you? They'd never have the time. Get a new view and stop doubting me..."
**
Dusk etched gold into the fading light, shadows growing against the streets of Paris. Armand swiftly helped Malloy fill out the papers for their flight to Miami. As they waited to be called out, Armand felt a dark but familiar force enter near by.
"Good evening Armand..."
Armand leapt from his chair and spun, pulling a blade from his belt. Dagmantis stood in all his former glory, his knee length coat swaying gently and his hat shadowing the glasses over his eyes.
"Get away from me Wolfbainian...We are no worry of yours..."
Dag could see as his hand shook from the nerves.
"Poor egocentric Armand. I should have known that you would try to only save yourself. I'm sure you saw last night what happens when someone tries to help him."
Armand put the knife away again.
"Was it Lestat's covener?"
"Yes, and he grows braver every night. He is the true threat to life now, not me..."
Malloy approached Dag's side, placing a light touch on his shoulder.
"You seek understanding in death, but so do others...Beware the Council of Affirmations, they seek you for the same reasons. Nothing good can come of this..."
Malloy backed away again as Armand shrugged his shoulders.
"He lives almost in complete silence, but he hears ideas and thoughts which we pay no heed. I know of no Council of Affirmations, but I would never ignore his words."
And as they left for their plane, Dag stood with mind pondering this man who was Daniel Malloy, the last true mystery of selective evolution.
**
Darren slammed the door, thundering down the hallways towards Daniel's room. He had lain quiet all day, never coming out or speaking. How he survived such an ordeal without himself passing on was plaguing his mind. He was still in bed, mesmerized by the tiles on the ceiling.
"Darren, have you realized how minute we are in this world, how fragile we truly are?"
He gazed at Darren, his eyes slightly misted in wonderment. He looked like a child who had just learned what his parents were doing in the bedroom late at night.
"Dagmantis is in town...He brought Mellina with him."
Daniel glanced back to the ceiling, letting a breath go softly as he smiled.
"Oh Darren, is it all that futile now? Is this what we are worth now?"
"Get up and snap out of it...You sound like Malloy."
"Good, I hope so...He seems to know more than all of us combined. An introvert who no one understands understands everything he comes across. I wish there were more as human as he is."
Darren growled and pulled Daniel from the mattress, landing him hard on the floor.
"Shut up, damn you...You think that this is going to change what is going on because you wake up one day with the knowledge? Forget it...He works on the id...Animalistic urges control his mind, just like you that night in Brisbane! You are no better than that damned Wolfbainian. Take the hint!"
"...We are all monsters my fledgling, not just them. Though I go out to fight him, we are no different. There is life there...if you look for it..."
Magnus had been screaming at Daniel the night after Dag had saved him. Darren glared at him.
"You hypocrite...You say he's a monster, and we're not, then we are...Then suddenly he's not, and we're all in one big mess. You confuse me more now that I know what's going on than ever."
He stormed back out the door, blasting out a shockwave that shook the paintings from the walls and tipped over the small tables. Daniel was watching with amazement as Darren stopped, seeing for the first time his true powers.
"Oh god, now I'm a walking machine of death. Thanks to bloody hell, Waggin..."
**
Ben sat facing Lee and Karl in a small room with no windows. Lee's glasses lay on the table in front of him, his eyes changing from their normal crystal green to a brilliant maroon, showing his shadowed anger. The only one who could do this, rarely did he go anywhere without someway of hiding it. But at this moment, he felt the need to let his eyes show his threatening side. Karl wasn't much different, the scowl on his face and the way his fangs peeked out, he looked like an animal. Ben had no choice but to sit there and take it, his anger had gotten the better of him again.
"Damn you Ben...We're trying to save Daniel, not kill him..."
"Do you think I'm an idiot Lee? He is taking everything we have, and now what Darren had. If you had seen them together, wrapped and sleeping the way they were...you...you would have done the same..."
A flash of orange went through Lee's eyes.
"But the negligence catches you every time. How many times? You never learn, ever...And you put everyone in danger."
"Blame Lestat for it, he changed me after all, that wasn't my choice..."
"I will not blame another for your decision. You seek to begin the Apocalypse..."
"Shall I leave then? Leave you to your methods?"
Karl cleared his throat and folded his arms about his chest.
"Well Ben, your three friends from Melbourne are heading for Los Angeles...Why don't you go with them till you get settled again?"
Aaron, Russ, and J weren't all that bad really, non-fierce vampires who had gotten together and started a band with Ben in mind, Supanatural.
"And what will you two do while I'm there?"
"Set the trap for him when he comes back here...We all know he's coming back..."
**
Dag flopped on his bed, resting his head on the pillow, opening the top of his shirt and rubbing where he had been stabbed. He hurt with every breath and every heartbeat, defenses down and it had almost cost him everything. Mell came in, her eyes darting over the moldings and fixtures in the room, finally settling on the heavy-set Wolfbainian. Dag was laying a hand on his heart, a whispful expression on his face. She sat on the edge of the bed, kicking off her shoes before lying beside him, pressing her hand against his.
"Will they kill Ben?"
"No, they don't work like that. He'll be exiled for a while, but nothing serious. Maybe he'll go to the US...You just never know."
She stroked his chest, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Do you think Darren will talk with me?"
He sighed deeply, groaning as the pain got him again.
"I will say this, Darren has a new view on life, just as you do, and he will still identify with you. You were made in the same right, out of passion and hunger. He most likely will, but get away if he tries to do anything. I don't know how far Daniel has gotten to him."
"I'll try to find him in the morning."
