Springside, Washington

Jenson shook the water off of her, rubbing her eyes which somehow didn't smear her makeup. She took her hair out of her face and with the other hand, holding onto the side of the pool.

She smiled at him, her midnight blue orbs staring intently into his own topaz eyes. They seemed to shimmer, and Jenson felt the spark between the two of them at this moment. She wasn't sure what exactly had triggered it, but there was something.

Too focused on her own mind, she hadn't seen him holding onto her waist. She barely noticed when his lips pressed against hers until it had been a couple of seconds. Her eyes were wide, but she blinked a few times and then slowly she pulled away.

What was there to say? She was confused and breathtaken.

"Uh...wow." Her eyebrows raised then lowered again as she said wow. But she had liked it. But she wanted to get to know him better. But it was just a kiss.

Jenson gripped his jaw and pulled him back to kiss him again, this time her complexion was relaxed, but she was more into the connection.

A young mean with untidy blond hair, wearing a flannel shirt and some jeans, made his way outside. Peregrine Neverwinter was usually hard at work, though his work didn't often involved leaving the place, thanks to his remote viewing ability. He kept an eye on the territories through it, and he'd caught something that he was a bit concerned to see. He thought he should probably alert the leader to this, though as he approached the pool and spotted what was goig on between the leader and one of the male pack members, he started to wish that he hadn't.

He hesitated, not quite sure where to look, his cheeks reddening.
"Uhm...this is probably not really a good time but...I just picked up on activity in the woods. At least three vampires. One of them's your cousin, one is one of Ian's clan members, and I think the one in the coat is Ian's old lieutenant. I didn't want to interrupt but...well I just thought you should know...and-"

"Think fast Peregrine!"

The young man's speech was interrupted as a gloved her reached out and showed him in the arm, sending him crashing into the pool.

The hand, it seemed, belonged to red haired werewolf who emitted a load waved of laughter as a soaking wet Peregrine surfaced moments later, glaring at her.

"I told you to think fast." she remarked with a grin, folding her arms.
"Come on bro, you're supposed to be a werewolf, your reflexes can't suck that much."

Kora Neverwinter, Peregrine's marginally younger sister, who spent much of her typing heaping the scorn on her older brother.

Screaming was heard and she jumped up sitting up in bed, sighing she looked out the window,"Maybe a good walk around the pool would calm my nerves." She changed in to her swim suit and put on a t-shirt, not bothering by walking through the door to the backyard, she nearly jumped out the window and landed on her two feet, walking over to the pool seeing a few of her clan members,"How's it going everyone?" She said with a smile, as Kora shoved her brother in the pool. She continued to walk until she was inside the pool, looking at Peregine, shaking her head. Looking away, she tied her hair up before diving her head in the water lifting her head back up and sighing in relaxation as the cold water felt good on her heated skin.

"Uhm...this is probably not really a good time but...I just picked up on activity in the woods. At least three vampires. One of them's your cousin, one is one of Ian's clan members, and I think the one in the coat is Ian's old lieutenant. I didn't want to interrupt but...well I just thought you should know...and-", A man above and behind Alex began to say, but was cut off as a female voice yelled out,"Think fast Peregrine!", followed by a loud splash out to Alex's side.
"How's it going everyone?", called out another voice, followed by a quiet splash at the other side of the pool.
By now, they had both reluctantly pulled there lips from each other, and Alex had his eyes closed , slightly frustrated at the interruption, even though it had to do with the vampires.
"I told you to think fast." Said the female voice again, and when Alex turned his head, she was grinning down at the blonde haired man she had evidently shoved into the pool.
"Come on bro, you're supposed to be a werewolf, your reflexes can't suck that much.", she continued.
Alex turned back to Jenson, who was probably just as frustrated as he was. He gave her a weary smile, then placed his hands on the edge of the pool and lifted himself out of the water.
He turned around after he was out of the pool and helped Jenson out.
"Ready to make the bloodsuckers pay for slipping past us?", he asked her, a growl slipping out of his throat.

Grasping the hand, Jadis repeated Parker back to him, muttering something along the lines of "cute" somewhere under her breath. She generally ignored Oren's snide comment about the battle, choosing not to get into some kind of historical argument. She quickly scaled over both of them. Oren's slender form and annoying amount of knowledge got Jadis to the point she's probably a bit faster then the other vampires, and a good deal more knowledgeable. It's probably her gift or something.... Jadis sneered to herself, her expression becoming blank.

Ace Parker, as she already figured, seemed of medium build and good a well-rounded person on all fronts. She knew from informants, that he was a bit of a whore. Not as much as his cousin, Ian, but still much of one. At least he had an honest face, right?

"Ah~," Jadis breather, her eyes becoming a bit more excited. "I smell the dogs are out. Wanna have some fun?"

Perry clambered out of the water, coughing an shaking out his clothing before shoving his laughing sister in the opposite direction. He straightened up and shook some of the water out of his hair before looking over at Alex. Hardly in the best mood after Kora giving him and impromptu diving lesson, he was not in the best mood, and the male werewolf's reaction to his news about the vampires in the woods wasn't helping.
"I'm sorry I was under the impression that that was what we're here for." he growled.
"I guess in the future I'll just have to let the vampires waltz on through for fear of interrupting you having a grope session in the pool."
He seriously hoped that Jenson wasn't starting to consider that guy for Alpha if that was his attitude to pack business.

----

Oren leaned back against one of the trees, examining the back of one of her hands, though noting the interaction between Jadis and Ace. She rolled her eyes, before beginning to speak regarding the question about the wolves.

"I don't make a habit of picking fights with the Springside wolves. It pisses them off more, doesn't entertain me, and reduces the chance of me being able to have a proper talking with their Alpha. We did have an alliance once. I have enough respect for Jenson not to fall back on revenge attacks for the famine. That's not to say that I wouldn't send any of the fuzzballs back to their leader in three or more pieces if they came after me, but I finish fights, I don't start them." Oren replied disdainfully.

Several decades up to your elbows in the blood of various humans, werewolves and other vampires at one of Cray's hired hands rather dampened one's interest in hurting others, and Oren had come to see it as a necessity for getting things done, rather than a means of entertainment.

Stacy paid no attention to anyone just enjoying her relaxation, while she can at least. Sighing as she heard no hello or how are you, she continued to swim through out the pool. Wincing as her damaged hand hit the surface beside the pool. Jumping out of the pool she held on to her hand, watching as the blood came out slowly. Getting up she stretched her arms and legs and walked out of the backyard and jumped back into her room.

Drying her self off and changing back into her clothes she loved so much. Sighing as she walked down stairs she jumped back on the couch feeling alive and awake, wondering what to do now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magdalene was walking through the house, listening to her music and dusting of every picture and vase in a quick speed, and turned to another hallway and started to clean every dusty object in it. Then she put a towel in every bathroom in the vampires residence. She was done cleaning all of the hallways, she walked down to her room and grabbed her flute.
Then she walked out side looking over at the vampire land, she hated the fact that the wolves, had a better life sources and had a lot of chance of surviving without starving to death, like her comrades were. She sat down and positioned the flute to her mouth, playing a lovely tune only to her self and by her self only.

Ace raised a brow when he heard Jadis mutter something about cuteness. He looked at her quizzically before pulling his hand away.

When she mentioned going to see the wolves Ace shook his head.

"No, no. I'd rather not. Besides it would be pretty pointless unless you want to get someone hurt..." When Oren mentioned her opinion on the topic. He agreed that there was no point to begin a fight, rather then ending them.

He slightly wished that Jadis hadn't joined them, they were having a conversation. He felt slightly greedy for wanting alone time, but there was something about Jadis that made him want to not be in her presense. He glanced back to Oren then to Jadis and sighed, leaning against a tree.

"You wanna go back inside, or...?" He looked at the ground and kicked another rock which flew even farther then the first one did.

. . . . .

Jenson was interupted, so she tugged back, looking up at Pergerine. He had said that her cousin was spotted. That couldn't be right, he would have called her about it.

She was helped out of the pool after watching Peregrine being shoved into the water. She looked a bit annoyed, but not that someone had come and interupted them, but because a pack member was giving her important information and he was cut off from doing so. Alex's mind did not help.

She wanted to get dressed and fast so she flitted inside in a near blur of speed, rushing to her room and slipping into a black lace tank top and dark denim shorts. Something she could get out of quickly.

She ran past the couch and called to Stacy, "Get everyone rounded up for a meeting." Before going into the meeting room.

Sarina stared at her finger tips, sitting on the floor in her room. They had small scars on them from the cuts, but it would be gone in a few days. She smiled slightly, despite her boredom, she was in a good mood. She kept daydreaming about some lake she'd never seen before. Where coral grew of bright green and blue and covered everything in the lake. The water was so clear you could see everything in it. Sh sighed happily. Sometimes she imaginaned there being a waterfall behind it, and that when the sun was out the waterfall sparkled like millions of dropping diamonds, coming to a splash in the water below.

Sarina blinked twice, coming back to reality. No lake, no sun. She sighed and layed down on her bed of rags. Closing her eyes, she started singing to herself.She was half asleep making up words with what she was thinking.
"Icey fields will burn themselves, everyone will know. Finding out what we hold, in our time of need. Everyone, desperate. Soon we will start to bleed. The monsters came, took our fame. Everyone still knows. The vampires with an icey touch, need to stop to feed."

"I'm sorry I was under the impression that that was what we're here for." Peregrine growled.
"I guess in the future I'll just have to let the vampires waltz on through for fear of interrupting you having a grope session in the pool."
"Your mistaken, it's not the interruption that annoys me, its the vampires impeccable timing, friend", Alex responded, giving Perry an amused smile. " You were right to warn us, otherwise the interruption could've been bloodsuckers coming down on us". He continued as he began running towards his room.

Once inside, Alex tore off his swim shorts and pulled on another pair of longer shorts and a plain white T-shirt, but choosing to go barefoot, then hurried to the meeting room.

"I best be heading back to get to work." Oren stated, pushing away from the tree and glancing over toward the castle.
"If the clan are going to be eating from bleeders I'll need to set up a bite-free way of extracting blood. Don't want to turn them, for obvious reasons. Last thing we need round here is more vampires..." she remarked, beginning to make her way in the direction of the place.
"I'm also going to work on making another batch of power patches in case we're in need of them...then I think I'm going to have to go into storage and dust off some of my old surgical kit. Since it seems Jackson has left, presumably because he saw something shiny, we're going to need to be prepared, so I guess I'll have to reprise my role as doctor too. I'm not really qualified for it, but well, I've picked up enough when I was Beckett's dogsbody thanks to her talent for almost killing her test subjects. It'll be better than nothing anyway."

----

Peregrine still didn't seem too pleased about the whole thing, regardless, and headed back into the house to get changed, rather irritated. He reappeared not long later in the meeting room with a dry set of clothes on, and took a seat at the table.

Kora, for her part, finished laughing at her brother, and stepped inside a little after him. She enjoyed a joke at Peregrine's expense, though tried to avoid pushing it too much. She didn't really want to piss off the Alpha..well not without a decent reason to at any rate.

Stacy nodded out, telling everyone the exact words that Jenson told her,"Everyone must report to the meeting room quickly." She went to each room to make sure that everyone was actually coming and at a quick pace. After her task was finished, she walked to the meeting room and sat at the table. Not knowing what the meeting is actually about, probably about the vampires, like it always was.

--------------------

Magdalene she continued to play her little song, her deity, she was a little hungry but not to much that she would not last by tomorrow. But she pushed that thought away and continued to play her flute, a famous and beautiful instrument she had there. Maybe it could be heard across the whole territory, maybe even across the humans. She then stop playing her flute and started to walk back inside, not wanting to see outside anymore. But, then she looked out on more time,"Je vais fou,
Mon monde est bien trop froid. Le temps peut aller lentement, Mais, j'ai encore vieillir.." Then walked back inside closing the door and continued to clean up, she was thinking about putting towels in the cave once more, after she was done in there.

Amelia was in the Vampire territory, she was a vampire why wouldn't she be there? But instead of being at the vampires clan house Amelia kept very far away from it. She wanted almost nothing to do with that place, she had betrayed them and they had betrayed her it was a lose lose situation and she didn't mind it one bit.

Instead of being near the clan though she stayed close to the line between clans and had made a little home for herself in an old tattered tree. It had made a hole and she had then made it into a home. It now had 2 bedrooms a kitchen and a little living room. It was her home so she had to have had made it some what homey for herself.

Rather then being in it though Amelia was on top of the tree looking out at the sky. Whether it was night or day she could come out onto this tree since she made an umbrella out of some of the branches and cloth. Anyone who would have seen it would have thought the tree was doing pilates with a garbage bag attached to it. Amelia didn't care though she just enjoyed going out and looking at the sky.

This was her entertainment during the day.

James woke up from his sleep slightly confused that his vampire senses weren't detecting any activity in the estate. Usually he would be hearing footsteps, voices or even smell perfume or cologne when one of them passed near his room, but not today, today it was void of any activity. He left his room wearing only a pair of MMA shorts and headed for the living room, becoming slightly worried that he still hadn't heard anything, until a haunting melody reached his ears.
Ah, now there's Magdalene , he thought to himself Sarina and Ian are probably here too, he thought again, but this time he furrowed his brow. James despised Ian, and in his eyes Ian was a psychopathic monster unfit to lead. James killed for pleasure, did drugs, and didn't seem to care about the clan, such actions wouldn't have passed where James was from. Jame's vampire sire was of English nobility, a lord who owned land in Ireland and had turned James when he was 24, in 1901, and though his sire may have been cold and ruthless, he cared for his own, including James, and would never partake in abominable pleasures like Ian did. No matter, James was alive and compared to most times, well fed, and for now that's all that mattered, but now his mind wandered to the absence of his clan.

No matter, if they needed me they would've woken me, and with that last thought, he lounged out on the couch and waited for the others to return.

Lux took a deep breath, she missed Springside and her pack tracking down runaway pack members always made her homesick, "how can they leave like that"- she thought to herself. Her blonde hair was tangled with leaves and branches. all i need is a shower. She felt Jenson order to meet her green and copper eyes lit up and she bolted towards the compound.

Lux walked in pulling another leaf out of her hair walking in and putting her boots on the "war room" table her torn blue jeans and tight black tank top were covered in a layer of grim and dirt. She looked around her dual color eyes sparkling with tension. "Oh Momma She wolf?Your favorite is home." She smirked at herself before resting her head on the back of the chair. The run from Alaska to check on the Urikis drained her she was beat, but more then ready to slap a blood sucker around.

Sarina yawned, just waking up from a nap. She had already down chores such as clean, and make sure everything was in order. Stretching, Sarina slowly got up and left her room. But before leaving, she grabbed her dagger and cloak like usual. She wasn't she where she was going. She just felt like walking.

Sarina had walked almost in every room in the house, but it seemed no one was around. She was sort of glad. She liked being alone. As she walked around, she sensed someone else around, but she ignored it and walked boredly in the kitchen. It's not like she was hungry, she just hoped she'd find a cure of boredom.

Jenson clasped her hands together, rising from her chair and going to hug Lux.

"Good to see you again my dear. How are Gabrielle and Riley? Did you tell them that I miss them?" She asked, a bit excited that she was back home. Yet as more people began flooding into the room, the tension and curiosity made her focus on the matter at hand.

She returned back to her chair at the end of the table and cleared her throat.

"Right, now that most everyone is here and accounted for, we may begin. It seems that the Vampires are growing in number right under our nose. They are getting past us and still feeding. I know they would become terrible creatures, if they do not, but there is a different way to take blood then by finding innocent humans on the street." She was scowling at this point. Always talking about the leeches made her unhappy.

"Even my own cousin seems to be helping them out and Oren is back..." She stopped for a bit to let that sink in.

"Now, I am sure that most of you know of the Vamp that stays mostly hidden on the outskirts of their territory...Maybe we could...use her to our advantage. Gain her alliance. I have heard numerous times that Amelia despises Ian and his little followers. It could be useful for the both of us...Even though I am still wary to trusting blood suckers." She sighed and drummed her fingers on the large Oak table. She was hoping that some of the others would have decent ideas.

. . . . .

Hayley was bored in her room. She had been busily flipping channels and viewing the things that flashed onto the screen of her television vaguely. She had already listened to every song on her ipod and had managed to draw a picture of a vampire that resembled Oren who was towering over a werewolf whom was bloody and appeared to be dying. It was colored in bold reds blues but mainly was grey or black since her favorite media was graphite.

She set her sketch pad on her bed and decided to go and find something else to do instead of being cooped up in her room day after day. She needed some sort of interaction otherwise she would go insane.

She was in the living room shortly after and saw her fellow clan member, then sitting down in one of the recliners.

"Hello there, James." She said to him, smiling.

Kora leaned back in her seat as she listening in, examining the back of her gloves absent-mindedly while doing so. She didn't seem especially concerned, then again danger never really bothered Kora, so that was one reason for it.
"Not to disagree with you Jen, I trust your judgement and everything, but I can't help but ask why the hell we need..or indeed want one of the bloodsuckers on our side? I don't particularly like the idea of one of them skulking around, stinking up the place? I mean, take allies where you find them but a vampire is a vampire, it still survives by drinking blood." she remarked, lowering her hands to regard the pack leader.

"They're hardly known for being trustworthy and reliable. If they were, the truce would've lasted." she added.
"We could be just making things so much harder for ourselves if we have Ian's menagerie and one that not even the other vampires want to hang out with."

Jenson's midnight blue orbs fell on Kora. She already knew what she would say, but she expected this when she had thrown out her idea of being friendly with a Vampire. She wasn't even sure of it herself.

"Well, I was thinking that if we would give her a reason to trust us, like offer her something that she wants, then we could send her in as a spy to the Vampires. Get news of what is going on or if they plan on coming back...I know it is a stretch, however I would know if she planned to trick us or to plan something to help the Vampires. I don't know...I'm just trying to figure out a way that we could be informed of when they are on the move besides when they are on our land...Anyone got anything?" She asked, beginning to get a headache from all of the screaming thoughts in her head. It was hard to focus on a single one and she just wanted to sleep now.

. . . . .

Ace watched Oren return inside. He didn't really know the white haired one and he felt slightly uncomfortable since she was just looking at him.

He coughed once and tried to avoid eye contact since he felt awkward.

"Well, I think I shall go inside as well...I don't really like...outside." Ace left, fleeing inside after her and after browsing who was up and around he felt like he may as well keep Oren for company. Maybe he could help her out or something.

He was down the stairs and in her lab in a few seconds and smiled, leaning against the wall.

"Need a hand?"

Oren stepped over to her workbench, snapping on her bunsen burner and setting a beaker over it, beginning to tip some of the various chemical compounds from her cabinet into it. She glanced round and gave a nod as Ace made his way in, rather pleased that he'd decided to follow.
"Sure. I could use an extra pair of hands. There are some sheets of cellulose in the box on my desk, and a craft knife in the draw under it. If you could start cutting it into patches while I mix up the formula that'd be pretty useful. Going to leave the latest batch of patches drying while I clean up old medical things...assuming no one's taken them for anything. " she replied as she began to mix the liquid in the beaker.

"Sorry for rushing off, but I'm hoping to go as long as possible without punching any of the clan members...so I should probably limit my contact. Especially since I might be in a position where I have to stitch them back together soon. On the bright side, I think she likes you." she added with a wry smile.

"How does it feel, being popular?"

Ace nodded to her and went to the desk she had directed him towards. He found the box and sat down at the desk, pulling out the knife from the drawer that she had pointed to.

He began slicing the cellulose into thin patches for her. He stopped for a moment and gazed at her to see what she was busy with.

"No, I completely understand," He said, continuing with his chore. "You have things you should be doing and you would rather have busy work then deal with the continous drama that goes on around here."

He stopped and looked at her again when she said the other girl liked him. His expression read, Seriously, dude?

He sighed and shook his head. "You know I would rather just have one person focused on me then a crowd. I don't like a lot of people....Besides....I like you." He didn't look at her after he said that and continued to do what she had instructed him to do.

Amelia starred across at the werewolf territory she knew better then to cross it without getting her head ripped off but she knew she would have to probably feed soon. It wasn't like she wanted too, she almost hated thinking of the people that gave up their blood in order for other humans to survive, yet vampires took this blood in order to survive. At the same time though she didn't understand why vampires had to ruthlessly kill humans when there were perfectly fine blood places in which to get blood.

She shook her head and tried to think about what to do. If it was sunny out she couldn't go get the blood, but if it were night she would have to cross werewolf country and try to explain that she needed some blood and that she wasn't planning on killing anyone. She never had gone against the werewolves before, heck she loved one once! Again she shook her head so that way she would forget the traitor. "Ok, so talk to werewolves. Explain what doing. Hopefully get food. Or get chased away and not get blood for a long time." She hoped they would at least help a non-clan memeber. She wasn't like any of the other vamps at least.

She hoped off her tree and looked outside.

"Yes. I don't miss the drama. The endless screechy drama with loads of she-vamps battling it out for Ian's attention. God that was irritating. It gets even worse when they start acting as if I'm some sort of competition. Hah. Like I'd want Ian to get his paws on me. Now, I do like Ian, but more like a brother...an immature little brother that I want to lock in a closet sometimes. That's kinda conditional though." she replied, slipping on some thick gloves and lifting the beaker off the heat, adding a few drops of something with a pipette. The mixture turned an acid green sort of hue and began to to hiss.

"You're not like him though." she added, setting the beaker down and walking over to him.
"I like you too Ace...and well..you know that that's not an empty compliment coming from me, seeing as I hate nearly everyone I come into contact with. You're a good guy, something that seems increasingly rare these days. "


----

In recent months, E had come to take over a couple of the castle's attic rooms. Both the divided personas of the vampiric creature tended to live up there in the comparative quiet to get on with their respective hobbies.

Caddie's room lay a little way away, stuffed full of accumulated junk, nonsense drawings, and badly maintained stuffed animals. It was a little odd by the standards of the castle, but had no real reason to be hidden away other that Caddie's preference for high places, and her inability to sleep with noise around, as there often was with the vampires.

E's room on the other hand had a good reason to be up there, due to the foul stench of death that emanated from it. It was a room with a high vaulted ceiling, apparently no bed or other furniture. What it did have was a multitude of dead birds spread across the floor, wings spread out around them. Mixed in were a few bats, rabbits, squirrels and even a couple of foxes, arranged into concentric circles to create a grisly tableau.

The being responsible for all this carnage sat on a thick roof beam in the centre of the room, surveying her creation with a sense of bizarre satisfaction.

E had yet to be asked why she had done it...not that she really felt the question required an answer. E was an entity that seemed to do as she wanted, even if it defied taste, logic or decency.

The darker aspect of the being's nature found herself in control quite a lot of the time, possibly an implication that its more innocent side was unhappy, though in all honesty E rather liked the freedom.

She pitched herself off the beam and out of the room in two smooth bounds, deciding to make her way downstairs to see what was going on. She doubted that there was much to get excited over, but, having been afforded an official post in the clan she felt that she should keep up to date on the comings and goings.

E reached the staircase and leapt down the centre, falling straight to the ground floor. Like clockwork her psychokinesis activated as she approached the floor, and her enhanced muscle structure handed the rest, allowing her slight form to land with a soft thud at the bottom. From there she wandered into the living room, soon realizing she wasn't alone there.

"Hello James." she greeted with a distinctly unpleasant grin.

Ace watched her continue with the materials and the liquids in the beaker turn an interesting green shade and it started reacting to whatever she had added to it. He wished he knew what she was doing, it seemed to be rather entertaining to say the least.

When she came towards him, his golden globes never wavered from her, watching her intently. He smiled when she agreed that she had the same feelings for him. He had the urge to kiss her, which wasn't uncommon since his first meeting with her. But what if she doesn't like it? He thought to himself, but his empathy changed his motives. She was obviously interested if she was going to admit her true feelings, so he decided to warn her before trying anything, that way she would have time to back up if she didn't want it...

"I....I am going to kiss you now..." He whispered to her before touching her face lightly, his thumb stroking the side of her cheek. He looked into her gray eyes and couldn't help but to feel nervous which never happened when Ace Parker liked a girl. Before he could back down he gently pressed his lips to hers in a lingering kiss.

Oren's lips were cold, as if she's just walked out of a blizzard. She maintained a naturally low body temperature, which made for a rather odd kiss. She concentrated, losing her hands tightly and closing her eyes, trying to avoid reacting badly. Naturally, she did not associate kisses with positive things, and it was a tough habit to break...but at the same time she didn't want to drive Ace away. It had been so many years since she'd actually felt close to someone and she wanted to make it clear she wasn't just stringing him along...so she did her best to react well to the kiss, and leaned into it, loosening up her shoulders and trying not to seem so rigid and awkward.

Suddenly, there was a body snap as Oren's fangs shot out to full length, forcing her to jerk backwards to avoid impaling Ace's face. She clasped her hands over her mouth and concentrated, managing to draw the killer teeth back into a less openly dangerous length before she spoke.

"Shit...I'm sorry Ace.." she muttered, lacking her usual detachment.
"That was not exactly romantic was it? It's a reflex....defense mechanism...not intentional or anything. Hopefully I didn't damage anything..."