such an awkward hello {tag Gwen}

[Sierra Corvin]

Rooftops were bland and boring, each one virtually the same as the other except one difference, each were in a different state of being dirty, really, it looked like people didn't clean the rooftops, then again, I was on top of a hotel building raising at least seven stories high. Coming here to get some peace and quiet from the neighbors at home, they were loud and that was being nice about it. Leaning forwards, a bottle of rich brewed beer at my feet, another bottle in my hand as I took a deep drink, feeling the familiar taste linger on my tongue before it made its way down my throat. This is what is what my life had become. Mostly doing an array of different drugs(being a hybrid, it had little effect), drinking, starting fights. It was mainly so I didn't have to think, losing two people I cared for and being blamed for the blood that had been spilled. I hated it, not to mention the werewolf(who I cared for) his pack wanted me and badly.

There was so much more than that, but not wanting to think I drowned my sorrows, seeing the hatred and coldness upon their faces, I don't know how my family reacted, first being in love with a vamp, than a werewolf, now they were both dead. I had left home before I could find out, so all this time, I'd been away from my mother, father and older sister. "Well, well well." A voice interrupted my thoughts and I turned, hating myself for not paying attention to my senses. First thing both my parents taught me. That was key to staying alive. "What do you? Oh fuck me." The girl who had spoken was someone from my school, high school, well ex high school to be more precise. She called me a freak among others and all the teasing and hurt they put me through, I barely survived jumping of a very, very tall building. I don't know if my family knew that either, I tended to be extremely careful with my feelings and never let anyone in. I'd been hurt allot in life.

I sniffed the air. Double shit. She was a werewolf, and the boys behind her, werewolves too. Maybe I should have layed off the drink and drugs, knowing I wouldn't be able to fight to the best of my ability. My senses were a tad dull. Those above hadn't affected me too badly, but putting in a really bad mood of not wanting to fight. "I remember you." My voice was edged with a growl, remembering all the hurt she had subjected me too. That put me in a fighting mood as I hurled the bottle her way, as her ducked to avoid the glass missile, I pushed off the ground and ran right towards her, launching a high kick which landed on her chest, cracking ribs. Her howl of pain was met with a grin on my face. The fight was all on then. Snarling, I ripped my shirt open more so that my muscles bulging wouldn't be constricted, my skin turned an extremely pale blue while my eyes dyed inky black, no irises, just a deep, dark pool of black. Fangs jutted, stabbing into my lip when I gnashed my teeth, growling as she began to shift herself.

Her boys were on me, trying to grab me as we spun about, holding the girl to protect myself. Hits landed on her frame while she yelled, human words mixing with guttural wolf growls as her vocal chords changed. Snapping bone here, kicking there, it was just a mess of werewolves facing a hybrid. I did land a few that snapped necks and broken bones enough to pierce the hearts of some, but it was just a blur. All I wanted was Jasmine who had been a bully, who had hurt me and tormented me, I couldn't retaliate then but I could now. She punched me, splitting skin as I neared my head to her neck, biting and grabbing hard before pulling back, chunk of werewolf neck and fur in my mouth with a huge arterial spray of blood that splashed the ground, the few dead wolves and myself. But I was weakening, it had been a while since I fought. And more wolves were running, pushing through and ready to fight. They were here to avenge their fallen leader. "Next time."

They swarmed on me like a swarm of bees, scratching my skin and my body erupted in pain that I howled myself. From physical and mental anguish, I kicked, bit and pummeled until I was free, but not without wounds on my body. Each move was an ache but freedom would not deny me! Crawling to where I had been, I grinned as the wolves snarled, running to try and stop me but it was too late. Pulling myself over the side, I let myself fall, blood trailed behind me, on the rooftops and following as I fell, landing hard on the dumpster below. I smiled, knowing they didn't get me, hearing them scrap among themselves about who let whom get away, letting myself slide off the dumpster, I began to hobble, a small apartment was nearby that I had gotten, a safe haven to regroup and let my wounds heal. Shifting back to mostly human, the darkening sky covered my body, but the blood began to shine black, opening the door I nearly collapsed, but making it to the couch. "Safe." I swallowed, leaning my head back.

[Gwen Corvin]

It'd been a long damn day. I'd cleared a nest of uber vamps, something called Turok-Han that had spilled over from California into Washington. Their chests were like iron, try shoving a stake through that! Luckily, they responded pretty well to a bullet. Aimed just right and the UV bullets took 'em out like a little ball of sunshine. I had my Punisher's riding in my thigh holsters, and throwing stars lining my belt. That was mom's thing, the stars, but she was an ace with them. I wasn't half bad myself.

I was hungry, my guts tying themselves in knots. I nearly ripped the door off the hinges as I opened the fridge, grabbing a packet of synthetic blood and sinking fangs in. I sucked it dry in 2 seconds flat, then grabbed a second. I took my time, sipping that one, letting it gather and settle the cramps in my stomach. I was in the control room of one of our safehouses, and punching up the correct codes, I could monitor any of the other safehouses, including the main rooms of our living quarters. I hadn't heard from my little sis for a while, so I typed in the quardants and pulled up her place on the screen. And just so this is clear, bedrooms and bathrooms are off limits. We didn't record that shit, it was none of our business. But the main living areas were watched, security reasons. Are you telling me you wouldn't want to take a peek into your place before you got there, just to make sure a surprise wasn't waiting for you? Well, in my line of work, you kinda had to. Death Dealers aren't known for making friends.

The screen cleared up in no time at all. She wasn't home. I tossed the empty bag of plasma behind me, listening for the thunk as it hit the wastebasket. I was about to get up and hit a shower, when movement on the screen caught my eye. There was my sister, entering her apartment. She looked like hell as she stumbled to her couch and laid down. "Fuck!" It looked like lycans had got to her, had to be more than one to mess her up. Hybrids are stronger than a lycan or a vampire, being a mix of both. I would know. I pulled free both guns, popped the clips and shoved in two fresh ones full of silver nitrate rounds, in exchange for the UV rounds. UV wouldn't do anything to lycan but piss 'em off.

Slamming both fresh clips home, I flipped off the monitor and bolted out the door, running head long for my Hummer. As I started to fish for my keys, I realized I could run there faster than driving. No red lights, no stop signs. I ran straight out of the garage, and barrelled down the road. I had on a pair of shorts that fit nicely, and hugged every curve when I shifted into my hybrid form. The hybrid forms always were a little larger, muscles bulging under blue, eel like skin and all that. My legs pumped beneath me, and I knew I wasn't even a blip on the radad screen. I'd love to run past a cop with a radar gun, just to see what I clocked, but I didn't have the time. The closer I got to Sierra's the stronger the scent of lycan.

I made a sharp right, sinking my talons into the side of a building and scaling up the wall. I wasn't fully shifted, but I was getting there. My eyes were black, I felt fangs jutting forth in my mouth, and well, the talons were also a good clue. Once I hit the rooftop I could see them, 10 miles off. Sierra like high places, any way she could get high, really, even if it was just by climbing on top of something. First I had to take them out, then get to my sister. I sped across rooftop after rooftop, leaping from one to the next with incredible agility.

I landed on their roof, smack in front of them, a bottle of spilled beer between the knee that met concrete and my other foot. Sierra had been here, it was the brand she'd been drinking lately. Both guns were out before I stood, and I was firing shots off with killer accuracy. This is what I lived for. Each time my fingers pulled a trigger, one went down, and he wasn't getting back up. Hit them in the heart or the head, and it usually did the trick. I'd been doing this so long, and it came so naturally, you'd think these dogs had bullseyes painted on that only hybrids could see.

After dispatching the remaining dogs, a few ran, and I let them, I headed for Sierra's. Normally, I'd have given chase, just to wipe them all off the damn map. But my sister's welfare was more important. She had to quit with the drugs, the booze, and get her shit together. Time for the sisterly talk I suppose. It was that, or threaten to tell Michael and Selene. I didn't think she wanted our parent's on her ass about her habits.

I didn't bother to knock, I just waltzed right in when I reached her apartment. She was still sprawled on the couch. I went to her fridge, grabbed a bag of plasma and stood in the entry way, between the kitchen and the living room, facing her. I tossed the bag at her, and she caught it cleanly, injured or not. "So, how long are you going to keep this shit up? They could have killed you Sierra. As it is, you're pretty fucked up. No dog should ever get the drop on you like that, let alone a fucking pack of them. What were you thinking?" I sighed, coming in to sit in front of the couch, on the floor. I may have sounded harsh, but I loved Sierra, and that much was plain in my eyes. "I can't watch you keep doing this shit to yourself. It doesn't solve a fucking thing."

[Sierra Corvin]

My body ached. Not the small pangs here and there but full blown pain that started at my toes and webbed and weaved upwards, branching out into my fingers and even my head was hurting. Cuts lined my body from claws tearing, ripping at my flesh, blood drops oozed from the wounds. "Fuck," I growled, digging my head deeper into the warm pillow that lined the couch, ready to just sleep, at least the pain would stop. Yawning, I felt hungry, werewolf blood was on my body that didn't smell too nice, even though I was part wolf. Raising hands, pressing them against my temples, I pressed hard, curling myself into a ball which didn't exactly help. No, the pain seemed to spread, knowing I was in a pretty bad shape. "This, may take a while." Swallowing, I continued to breathe slowly, inhaling air, exhaling air, repeating until I was nice and relaxed, calm and hopefully less pain. Not thinking seemed to help, when I moved it tended to remind me it was still there.

"Oh fuck." The scent grew stronger, I knew that scent all too well, sure enough, Gwen was walking through the door as if she owned the place, I was in no shape to snap or retort at the moment so I just lay there, not moving as Gwen moved into the kitchen, sounds of the fridge door opened, the sound of her rummaging, I snickered, unable to help myself. Knowing what was about to happen, I sat up warily, limbs aching in protest as my right hand lifted, catching the bag of plasma, feeling the familiar sensation of fangs growing larger in my mouth. Sinking fangs into the bag, I began to drink, sucking back the plasma without a second thought, as if this was natural to me. Shortly the bag was drained dry, my stomach feeling slightly more full, and slightly more better as my energy levels regained, and my wounds healed faster than before. Lets hear it for the hybrid healing ability folks! It was a perk in this package mix of two different DNA. Not that I was complaining.

Her words made me growl, all weariness forgotten as my legs swung around, feet touched the ground as I pulled myself up, standing fully. "Yea, we all know how fucked up I am." I snarled, anger lashed my insides like a burning, white hot iron. "I was fine, fucking fine, until she showed up. I always go there. Atop the hotel." Gwen would know the place I was talking about, and I never really was good with names unless it was important. "And hey, I fucking survived didn't I?" Sure I crawled over the ledge and fell down to the earthy, surviving a pretty high drop, but that mattered little. Point was, I lived, they didn't kill me. Striding over to the cabinet where the television was stashed behind double doors, my fingers pried it open, still holding the bag before I threw that at the table. Because it was plastic, and not the very slippery kind, it landed where it was and didn't move, a clear little plastic case on the mahogany table. I wasn't going in here for anything illegal, they were hidden in case of people turning up. Like Gwen.

No, behind the doors was a knife taped to it, ripping it off and placing it back inside my boot, meaning I had to bend down to actually do that. "I don't care, and yea, it does." My voice was harsh and bitter, although most of my emotions were carefully hidden. I had way to much practice at it. "See, I don't have to think. I can escape where nothing hurts, theres no pain or confusion. Bliss." Sometimes, I wished I had been strong enough to end the pain back when I was younger, after everything. I nearly did, but backed out at the last minute. At least if I hadn't, then I wouldn't be such a disappointment now, later in life. "So what? You came here just to tell me that?" I asked, arching an eye as I turned my head to get a better look at my sister. If I was gone, the aspiring Death Dealer would be here today, the werewolves wouldn't have called a blood feud, and other vampires wouldn't look at me with hatred, nor would they call me a traitor.

"What are you here for anyway?" I asked, standing back up, passing the table where I nabbed the bag again to take it into the kitchen, my shoulder bumping against the wall. My wounds, were still a little sore but healing much faster than before, dumping the bag in the bin and pulling the fridge door open again to get another one. Since my fangs were still out, all I had to do was bite down, sucking back the next lot of plasma that I could enjoy without feeling like a starving animal. "If all your doing is this, you are wasting your breathe. I can't deal with much anymore." My last words were soft, almost a whisper, though Gwen could hear. Hybrid hearing misses little anyway. I shook my head, my blond locks trailing along my shoulder blades. I wasn't sorry for myself, I got myself into these sorts of situations, nor was I going to cry about it. I had made my life the way it was, crying seemed pointless, rather moot. Besides, none of it mattered. None of it mattered at all.

[Gwen Corvin]

I cracked a grin, and a snort-like laugh followed. "Yeah, well, they're all dead now. And sure, you're alive, but you still look like hell. They fucked you up, sis. Not usually how it rolls with us." She growled and stood, which made me raise an eyebrow at her. What the hell was she trying to prove? That she was tough shit? Well, no fucking kidding. I already knew that. "Oh knock it off. Quit feeling sorry for yourself Sierra! You're a bad ass fucking hyrbid, that's fucked up enough. I'm right there with ya." Along with our cousin, Alyssa. I sighed, letting it out in a long, slow breath. "Yeah. I mean, no. I came because you're my sister dammit. I love you. And I was worried." My eyes stayed on the floor as I said the last. I raised my eyes to meet hers when she asked what I was doing here. Good enough question.

"Gee, I dunno, saving your ass? Dammit Sierra, stop and listen to me!" I'd had enough, my voice edging into a growl. "Quit trying to make me the bad guy here. The bad guys are either hairy or fanged....or both. But I'm not it. And you're not the only one in the world like you. Hello, same blood here!" I pounded a fist against my chest. "I hate fighting with you. It's not worth it." I walked up to her, grabbing her by the arms, gently because she wasn't 100% yet, and forced her to look me in the eyes.

"Yeah, we're freaks. We're different from anything else in the world. But you have to deal, sis. You have to. Not for me, not for your past loves, not for Selene or Michael. But for you. You're fucking killing yourself. I'm loosing you and I hate it! That's why I get angry, that's why I yell and scream at you. Can't you see it Sierra? I don't know how else to reach you anymore. You're pulling away and it kills me." Tears started to fill my eyes and that pissed me off even more. I let go of her and turned, giving her my back as I wiped fiercely at my eyes, cursing myself for getting so worked up emotionally. "I don't know how to help you Sierra. Gods help me, if I knew what to do, I'd do it. I'd move heaven and earth for you. Don't you get that?"

[Sierra Corvin]

Fighting my sister, it made my heart ache. I hated it, we were normally a team and yet here I was snapping and snarling at her when she did nothing wrong. "Yea, they ARE dead. And I'm alive. I'm not complaining." I growled. "I don't mean that." No, I wasn't talking about being a hybrid, and since she wasn't a mind reader that was kinda hard. "Huh, so you were worried?" I wanted to sneer but in all honesty, the energy had left as soon as it hit. I was tired and aching, and extremely ticked off and at the same time calm. All my emotions were fucked up and this wasn't helping matters. Through the haze I felt my arms being tugged on, gentle as what Gwen could do, and began speaking. I didn't know what to do anymore, or what to say, "how would you like it if you lost your soul mate?" I whispered, staring at her, no longer willing to fight. She was right, she wasn't the bad guy here, not how I was making her out to be.

Though I was so close to the edge that I was about to break, I shook, eyes bleeding to black as if the blood and just exploded in my eyes. "How can you say that?" My voice was nearly rising to a shrill sound. "You claim to hate werewolves, but I loved a werewolf. Just like what mom did before he became all hybrid like." My eyes teared up. "How can I see it when I'm so lost I can't even find myself?" She had let go but I moved quickly, despite my aches to grab her wrist, keeping her near me for right now, I was losing the battle, falling deep and far with no support. It scared me. It truly scared me. Right now I was so deep, the sun felt cold and the fire all around didn't burn, but froze. Painful, and without much sense, little feeling. Worse than anything I'd ever faced, and then, the heartbreaking pain. It was hard to breathe when I allowed myself to think, to dwell on it, knowing he was dead and not coming back. Feeling like my insides were about to collapse, I choked out a gasp.

"I loved him Gwen. He was more than a lover, a boyfriend." At times I had thought we were soul mates, planning our life, our future. Sobbing, I let her wrist go to lower myself into one of the plush leather chairs, drawing my knees to my chest as my heart seemed to want to die. "I loved him and hes gone, GONE! Dead and not coming back and I want him back. I want him here, with me, its not fair and it hurts. Oh god it hurts." I was crying now, the tears streaming from my eyes in rivers, while my voice was laced and edged with pain and hurt. I didn't care if Gwen hated me from then on, I was too busy wrapped in my own world to care, mourning for the loss, at long last. He had been on my team, he was getting his pack to become our allies. "Gone, I want him back. I just want him back." I repeated, hugging my knees and rocking back and forth, the only movement I could do without feeling like my whole world was going to explode. I couldn't take it, I just couldn't take it anymore.