A sharp boot to the old cabin door was all that was needed to break the rusted lock and send the flimsy wooden door slamming unceremoniously against the wall where it promptly fell of it’s hinges and to the floor. The cloud of dust that was disturbed was quickly blown around by the chill wind that rushed in now that there was no door to block its inspection. It was near enough pitch black inside, the windows that would once have let moonlight boarded with wood that had long ago gone rotten. The roof was barely supporting itself, some of the large beams of wood installed to keep it up having already collapsed. The place had clearly not been used in some time, or at least was left to look that way.

The figure at the door took a cautious step inside, eyes scanning the details in the darkness as if the place was bathed in daylight. His long coat swished as he moved inside, before settling around his legs once more with only vague movements brought on by the light wind. His fingers wrapped tighter around the grip of the pistol he had in hand, going as far to brush the trigger when he spotted a crumpled form in one corner of the room. It was too small, it had to be one of the other vampires, didn’t look like there was much to save either judging by the sickeningly unnatural position the form had been pulled into.

Another step. There were eyes on him, he could feel the slight tugging at his senses that always seemed to accompany being watched. He searched the darkness once more, trying to pinpoint possible hiding locations. Between the shattered ceiling beams and the over turned furniture there were far too many possible places to hide in the building, though he didn’t have to wait long to find out where the hiding place had been.

A sharp crack drew his attention to the ceiling just long enough for him to see the large wooden spike aimed at him. He jumped to one side, twisting away from where he had been. Just as soon as he had moved the wooden spike crashed into the wall, splintering with the force of the throw. Once more he found himself thankful that he’d been blessed with increased agility from his turning, knowing full well that that spike would have been a death sentence even if he had been tougher than the average vampire. He’d barely made a full spin, levelled his gun where the spike had been thrown from and sworn when he saw the thrower gone before he sensed the presence next to him. It registered far too late though.

He’d no sooner lifted his foot from the floor in an attempt to jump away than he found propelled off his feet by a powerful blow to his side. The odd sensation of drifting through the air was cut short as he collided with a wall, sharp pain jarring through him and dimming his senses. The next thing he knew he was on the floor, his natural instincts pushing him back to his feet as quickly as he could. However he was again outpaced. A force at his chest pinned him back to the wall, several sharp points digging into him. He slowly came to his senses; his eyes focused on the large, furred paw that had his pinned to the wall, then travelling up the arm to the snarling face of the were-bear that looked about ready to tear his throat out in rage.

“Nadiya…it’s me…” He managed to get out with what little air was left in his lungs. Almost as soon as the words left his mouth the pressure was released from his chest and he fell to his knees, trying to blank out the pain in his chest. Arms slid around him, no longer muscular and furred but slender and human, they pulled him to his feet with surprising ease, then tightened their hold around him. Instead of pain he now registered the warmth of Nadiya’s body pressed against him, that intoxicating sensation he cherished so much, the one he’d broken all their laws to feel

“Revyn…I…I thought you…why?” The words were broken and disjointed when they left her mouth but he knew they had no time for this. Others were not going to be far behind.

“Why!? Why do you think?” His response came in a hiss of a whisper, replacing the raised voice that he couldn’t use for fear of being overheard. “You’ve run away, injured a vampire and,” his hand gestured to the body in the corner, “killed another. Why do you think I’m here, they sent me to capture you.” His hands gripped her shoulders tightly, barely resisting the urge to shake some sense into her only because she was shivering already. It might have been the cold, since skin alone didn’t keep one warm in the cold, but he was hoping it was the gravity of the situation sinking into her mind.

For a few moments nothing was said, then her hands held his sides and pushed him away as she turned from him. “And now that I’ve killed one of your kin you’ll have to kill me right?” Her tone was completely flat now, she knew the laws as well as he did, probably better wince they were harsher for weres.

Revyn’s hands fell to his sides. “You know I’m not going to kill you.”

“Why not!” Nadiya whirled back round to face him, her voice only barely contained below a yell. “That’s all your kind ever does, use us like pets and discard us when we’re no longer useful. We’re just useful blood bags to you so why the fuck wouldn’t you just put me down like a rabid animal? None of the others would think twice!”

“None of the others love you!” He snapped back, his eyes fixing on hers as his face contorted into a grimace at her words.

The words stunned her from continuing her assault, not because of surprise; she knew full well how he felt about her and how she felt in return. It wasn’t even hard for her to recall the time they had first uttered the fateful words to each other. It stunned her because she couldn’t think of any direct reply other than, “I know.”

Another silence spread across the room, as they were both lost in thought. The implications of the situation were grave. Nadiya had killed a vampire, which would lead to death or at least constant torture. Revyn was here with her and if he didn’t kill her he’d be severely punished as well. This was all assuming their secret relationship wasn’t discovered, if it was she would be executed and he would be starved of blood for at least three hundred years. Going through that and knowing that she wouldn’t be there when it was over was about the worst fate he could picture for himself.

“He was going to feed off me…” Nadiya broke the silence and wrapped and awkwardly crossed an arm, her voice barely above a whisper. “I was supposed to see you tonight, out by our tree remember. I…didn’t want him to ruin that.”

“Nadiya I…”

“I’m sick of it, sick of them being treated like dirt by them. I can’t live like this, not if I want to care for you.” Her eyes fell away from his and he thought for a moment he could see traces of tears in her eyes. “I know you are not like them but it’s hard at times…to separate you from them. I don’t want to think of you the same way I do them.”

“Nadiya…” Even if that was the case it wouldn’t have made a difference, vampires could do whatever they wanted to the slave weres and get away with it, using them as a snack was included in those privileges. He didn’t like watching her get treated like dirt but what choice did he have? He could hardly change the way the vampires thought about her or any other were. The only vampires who treated the weres any better were the cleansing loonies but neither of them could join them. Trying to resurrect Cain wasn’t something any sane vampire would agree with and any were with sense knew that it wouldn’t make their lives any better, or at least that was what they had agreed on.

“We can leave.” Nadiya fell back against him, laying her head on his shoulder and hugging against him. “Just go away and forget about all this, forget about these differences and the stupid war. None of that’s important as long as I’m with you.” Her hands gripped his back a little tighter.

“You know we can’t do that…we’ll spend the rest of our lives running from every other vampire in the world. Taundrek doesn’t tolerate members of his line turning away for the council, I’ve heard he even goes as far as to hunt them personally if he has to.” Taundrek was one of the nine oldest vampires, and few but the other eight could hope to come close to his power.  “We can’t just escape this…”

“We can try, there has to be a way we can…” A barely audible cracking noise halted Nadiya’s words. Someone else was coming. They were still a ways off but with the blood in the air they’d come here that was how Revyn had found the cabin in the first place.

“I can’t live my life like that…we’ll be hunted for the rest of our lives. That isn’t any way to live.” This was by no means a new conversation. Nadiya had proposed plans of escape before and he’d half heartedly helped knock together some kind of feasible plan. He couldn’t see it working though, there was a reason you rarely heard of rouge vampires. His hands slowly moved to hold her head, fingers brushing through her honey brown hair.

“I’m not going without you.” The idea he’d proposed before. Rouge weres were hunted, but not as relentlessly as rouge vampires. Even if he couldn’t escape he could help her, get away from this. His unlife here was by no means unbearable and even if it meant being apart form her he could be happy knowing she was away from the persecution she received. She of course didn’t see that being any better.

“You can’t stay here now…you won’t be able to get out of this…” Revyn’s words were cut short as he found his mouth covered by hers, her tongue slipping into his mouth as he gasped in surprise. He folded quickly into the kiss as he felt her press against him. The kiss was full of lust and want, the sheer force of it causing the impending threat to slip from Revyn’s mind, only when she suddenly pulled away did he remember the dire peril they were in.

He didn’t register her moving away, his mind too embroiled in attempting to find a way out of the situation. Something cold was pressed into his hand. His fingers curled round the familiar grip of his handgun.

“Nadiya, what are you…?”

“I’m not getting out of here…if they find me with you they’ll torture you. This was my silly mistake I’m not letting you pay for it.”

“But we can…”

“No we can’t…you know we can’t. If you do it they won’t suspect you, you’ll be safe.”

“But I…

”I can’t live knowing what they’d do to you. They’d kill me anyway so…best I don’t get you hurt.” Nadiya’s eyes dropped for only a moment before focusing solidly on Revyn’s. “So get on with it.”

He had no idea how to react to this. He couldn’t shoot her regardless of the consequences to himself. How could she ask him to do this? He loved her, regardless of the taboo in place against such relationships. Why would he ever shoot her? He’d rather be killed before…

Once more his conflicted thoughts left him oblivious to her actions until she had done something. A hard blow to the side knocked him off his feet and back to his senses. Managing to land on his feet this time,  he eyes darted up to see the snarling face of Nadiya’s bear form, her body shifted into a combat stance.

“Nad…” He barely started to speak before she moved in with a speed he simply couldn’t match, swinging at him with her claws. Thankfully he was able to move enough to dodge the worst of the blow but the claws caught his side all the same, tearing through the clothes and the skin underneath. He leapt up onto a ceiling beam, only to jump off it before it was splintered a moment later. He took another blow to the side. Claws raked through his arm. A hurled beam of wood clipped his leg. Somewhere in the blur that was their dance he ended up back on the floor.

“Nadiya…” She had always been a stubborn one, was this her way of forcing his hand? No, he still couldn’t. They were going to meet at their tree tonight, the place they had first expressed their love, both in words then in passionate intimacy. He loved her, loved her like no other he’d known regardless of the way he was supposed to feel about her. That tree had become the symbol of their forbidden love and their meetings there were greatly treasured memories for him.

Could he even go on without her? She was resigned to her fate but would he be any better off without her. “You have a life here, I never will.” Her words, as clear as when she had spoken them on their first time at their tree. The sound of her approaching his prone form forced him to act. His hand reached out for his handgun, grabbing it from where it had fallen next to him and relying on the sounds of the footsteps, unable to watch himself do the deed, he jumped to his feet, levelled the gun and pulled the trigger.

The crack of the shot caused his sense to fade, unable to come to terms with the action his body had carried out.

Familiar arms were laced around his neck, familiar lips pressed gently to his in a soft kiss. His eyes slowly opened to see her face, smiling that familiar beautiful smile that always captivated him so.

“I love you.” Her sweet voice whispered, her eyes starting into this own. A few moments passed, though it felt like an age to him, before her eyes lost focus and her arms slipped from his neck. She fell to the floor and he stepped back, the handgun slipping from his fingers.

The calls from outside barely registered in his mind as he looked down at her body. It felt as if his entire being drained from him and after that he was afforded the sweet embrace of his senses blacking out completely.