DON'S BDAY PARTY((NC-17))

[sillygoth]

He smiled back at her one last time, forcing his eyes open for another second, stroking her face. He didn't want to sleep, but simply couldn't stay awake any longer.

His dreams were strange and fitful, half-plagued by dark voices...then he ran. He ran impossibly fast, tearing through a darkened wood, chasing after something..

He sat up with a start, and for a moment wasn't sure where he was. He felt like he'd been run over by a truck. Every bit of him was sore and aching. He was acutely aware of the need to hit the bathroom, thankfully noticing Iris had one attached to her bedroom.

His head swam as he swung his feet to the floor, and his eyes wouldn't focus right. "What the hell time is it?"he wondered.
He stumbled to the bathroom, relieving himself, debating the merits of getting some clothes on, but then realized he didn't have the energy for it.

He collapsed back down on the bed, shivering slightly, his body pouring sweat.

[Iris Robina]

Iris fell into dreams of being with Don, of holding him and being his while seasons changed, while everyone else aged...she was startled awake by the feel of Don sitting up quickly. Her eyes cracked open to watch him leave the bed and go into the bathroom. She shut her eyes again, trying to get back to sleep since it was still dark outside. She suddenly felt him back in the bed, and he was drenched with sweat.

"Uh oh..." she murmured, wiping the hair from his face and kissing his shoulder. "It's starting..." She held onto him and gasped as she heard his thoughts, since now he was a werewolf and part animal, she could hear him now. He was shivering, weak, and completely stolen of energy.

"Don...are you okay?" she asked him. "Just go back to sleep...you'll feel better..."

[sillygoth]

He rolled onto his side, opening his eyes when he heard her voice. It was the only way he could really tell it was her. His eyes firmly refused to focus on anything. "I'm...I'm fine, babe," he said, flopping an arm out, trying to stroke her face.

He shuddered hard, shivering uncontrollably. He slid closer to her, feeling warmer, huddling up against her for both comfort and warmth, nestling his head to her chest. "Nice smell,"he thought, "mine."

He wrapped his arms tightly around her as another fit of shivers went through him. His mind cleared for just a moment, before sleep overtook him again. "If this is the worst of it, it's all totally worth it. Even if it's not, it's still totally worth it for her," he told himself before nodding back off.

His dreams were far more pleasant this time, surrounded by the smell of her, she dominated them. They were running around, holding each other, laughing, and kissing. No tears, no turmoil, just them. He even handed her a ring.

"Mmmmarrrryyy meee," he mumbled in his sleep.

[Iris Robina]

Iris lay there on the bed in his arms, breathing in his scent and trying to get back to sleep. She felt him tighten his arms around her and shiver uncontrollably, and sympathy tore through her for his pain. She sensed he was back asleep and curled into his embrace with a soft sigh. She didn't remember being that cold as her wolf tried to take over, except when she was sick.

She started to sing a lullaby softly under her breath, one hat her mother used to sing her when she was younger as she kissed Don's shoulder again. She heard him mumble in his sleep.

"Mmmmarrrryyy meee..."[/i} Her breath caught in her throat, and she kept a gasp from coming out. Even though it was in his sleep, it still shocked the hell out of her. She shook her head and giggled, moving closer to him and drifting off into sleep.

[sillygoth]

Donovan awoke much more calmly the second time around, surfacing to Iris' scent all around him, her skin still touching his. "Motherfucker!"he thought, "She wasn't kidding about me being hungry!"

His stomach was growling at him. He couldn't recall the last time he was THIS hungry. He didn't want to move away from Iris, but he had to eat something.

He slid away from her as gently as possible, not wanting to wake her up, heading back to the living room. He was still sore, but it wasn't as bad as it had been. (Now it just felt like a compact car hit him.) His eyes, however, firmly refused to stay in focus for more than a moment or two. He found his shirt and pants, putting them on to combat the remnants of the chill he still had.

There was plenty of left over chips and soda from the party that quickly turned private. For a moment, he'd briefly debated the merits of raiding her fridge, but didn't want to be too presumptuous, and simply began to chow down on what was left out.

[Iris Robina]

Iris was drifting, floating somehow inside her dreams. She looked around, wondering what she was thinking of to make her dream of this white void. Everything was white, pure white, like Heaven without anything or anyone there. She broke into a run, gasping for air, for breath as a sudden shortage hit her. She then started to fall, falling out of the sky, it seemed...but she never hit the ground. She fell into her wolf form, and then landed in snow, running fast and free. Her dream, although it was just running, it terrified her. She had no idea what was happening, what she was dreaming of.

She finally saw something ahead of her and was back human for some reason unknown to her. She was still running, although she couldn't breathe. It was a green shape, and she ran to it. Just like that, she was surrounded by trees and cold air. She took in a gasp of air and found herself exactly where she was. It wasn't a dream at all...it was a nightmare. A nightmare of the night her mother was murdered. She tried to turn away, but she found herself caught in her thoughts. She couldn't wake up, she could only relive the horrible night that changed her life forever.

"Please...don't do this to me..." she told her thoughts uselessly, her voice a helpless whisper as she watched the vampires attack her family. She fell to her knees with a tearless sob, watching her mother's life fade away as her seventeen year old self lay there unconscious with her father. She crawled over to them and picked her mother up in her arms, wiping the hair from her eyes and letting out a soft whimper like a lost puppy.

[sillygoth]

Donovan was suddenly hit by the gut instinct that something was wrong with Iris. He darted from the chair back to the bedroom, petrified, not noticing the ache at all once his adrenalin hit.

Iris was laying there still asleep. She whimpered in her sleep, a pathetic and pitiful sound.

She whimpered again, and he curled up around her, brushing her face lightly. "Iris..honey," he whispered, "Come on, wake up," he rubbed her arm gently, "Come on back to me, gorgeous."

He didn't want to shake her too hard; if on some bizarre chance she came out of nightmares violently, he imagined it would only make the situation worse.

She whimpered again, not waking up. He laid his head on hers, wishing he could get in there and help...out here, he was helpless..

The world suddenly wavered, and Donovan grew dizzy. Suddenly the walls melted away, the bed falling out from under him.

He landed in snow, on all fours. "What the hell?"he wondered to himself, before the realization came to him. "I'm in her dream..."

He ran toward where he felt her energy coming from, running faster than humanly possible. There was only one place she could be, in this snow-covered land of dreams; a small stand of forest in the distance.

"Iris,"he called out to her, "It's just a dream."

He willed himself to run faster, reaching the stand of trees, seeing her standing there, holding something...someone? He was suddenly back on two feet, standing in front of her.

"She's dreaming of that night, the one she told me about when we first met," he realized with sadness.

He approached her slowly, not wanting to frighten her worse...truthfully, he wasn't entirely sure how he was doing this.
He stared into her pain-filled eyes, then down at the woman, her womb swollen with child.

"She was beautiful," he softly said to her, staring at the face of a woman he'd never know, and whose death had so profoundly affected his love.

"You did all you could," he told her, staring back into her eyes.
Reflexively, he waved a hand over the blood-stained shade of her mother, and a breeze blew through them. Glancing back down, he saw that the stains were gone, and the woman's body wasn't ravaged by combat.

"Remember her like this," Donovan said to her, "Just sleeping."
He put a hand on Iris' chest. "A piece of her lives on in you, forever."
He put a finger to her jugular vein. "Her blood still flows through you."

"You were blameless in what happened," he told her, "And I guarantee your vengeance," he said, holding up a hand now engulfed in blue flame. "With this weapon, we shall purify the world."

Donovan said the last bit almost automatically; he certainly didn't mean to say it. He certainly didn't decide to make his hand get covered in fire. "It must be from the nature of dreams," he told himself, "I'm just getting more wrapped in her dream. I probably ought to get out of here."

"Beloved," he said, "This is all just a nightmare," he said to Iris, "Come home."

[Iris Robina]

Iris was so absorbed into herself that she did not hear footsteps approaching her. Then, she heard a soft male voice that surprised her; still, she didn't move from her spot, her eyes never leaving her mother. Donovan's voice was there nearby, but she couldn't look away. Not now...and not ever...it was her fault...she wasn't strong enough to save her mother...her brother...he could've had a life, a normal childhood where he was safe and loved...but just like that, he was gone...

"No..." she whispered hopelessly, clutching her mother. "No, Don...it was my fault...I could've stopped them...how dare they take her from me...they can't take her from me like this!" She screamed out the pain, her eyes emotionless and broken. "She has to come back...Mom..." Her eyes turned back to her mother. "Mom...please come back to me...don't you dare leave me! Please...I need you...Dad needs you...we love you so much..." Don was telling her to come home, but she shook her head vigorously.

"No...I can't just leave her here...I don't want to go..." His hand was near her heart, near her neck, and she closed her eyes, tears trailing down her cheeks as she reopened them to finally look up at Don.

[sillygoth]

Donovan felt so helpless as he listened to her vocalize her grief, her pain as apparent and undiminished in here as it was the day of the horrid event.

"Iris," he said again, wiping the tears as they fell from her eyes.
"There's nothing more you could've done."

"Please, beloved," Donovan pleaded, "Come back home with me. Leave this nightmare."

"I promise you, Iris, I won't rest until you've had your vengeance." Don's eyes flared, changing to amber from their more mundane blue.
"Please, my mate...come back home with me," he said again, holding his hand out to her, his eyes flipping back to blue.

[Iris Robina]

Iris met Don's eyes again and then glanced at her mother again. She reached out her hand tentatively, still crying, and took his hand gently, reluctantly. A nod was the only other movement in her body, and then that's when she woke up gasping as she shot up into a sitting position. She was dripping with sweat and her heart was pounding. She remembered the dream vividly, and then the tears came.

She pulled her legs into her chest and sobbed, finally letting out all her grief and pain from that night, not being able to hold it in anymore.

"Why...why her?" she asked the air. She needed the answer. She deserved that much from the bastards who did it before she killed every last one of them.

[sillygoth]

She took his hand, and the dream world melted away in a flash.

Suddenly they were back in the bedroom. Iris was sobbing her grief out next to him, her knees pulled in tight to her chest.

Her pain lanced into his mind, echoing in there what he was hearing out in the real world, doubling the experience. "What the hell?"he wondered.

"Why...why her?" she asked, and Donovan felt the rage mixed in with the grief now. He could hear it in her voice, and he could hear it in his mind.

He leaned his forehead to hers, closing his eyes. He knew that no words he could say would help her right now, and nothing would take her pain from her, no matter how much he wished for it.

It frustrated him beyond words to see her in such grief. His heart pumped harder, the anger growing inside of him. "We'll find the bastards," he whispered. "We'll find them, and we'll make them pay, even if I have to kill every last one of them."

His rage exploded inside him, he was furious at the ones who'd done this to her. "How could anything be so vile as to do this to my mate?" his mind screamed. Suddenly, just as in the dream world, his hand burst into flame.

He rolled off the bed, startled and confused, terrified he'd singed Iris. "Shit!"...The flames extinguished on their own, thankfully, and he stared at his hand, completely undamaged. "I must be losing my mind,"he thought, returning to try to comfort Iris again.

[Iris Robina]

Iris felt Donovan's head against hers and gave him a forced smile through her tears, her lip quivering as she shook her head and kept sobbing. She cuddled into Donovan's chest, leaning on him for support and crying into his chest. Her head was buried in his arms, and she whimpered again, thoughts of never seeing her mother again running through her mind. Donovan started talking to her, promising her he would find them with her if he had to kill them himself.

No!" she snapped. "Leave them to me, Donovan...they're mine...I want to be the one to kill them...please...it's the least I can do for my mom and brother..." Her eyes searched his pleadingly. He left the bed for a moment, and she looked up in confusion before she saw the flames in his hand. She stared in wonder before she smiled a little.

"Your power...looks like you got a good one!" she smiled gently. "You must be able to get into my head...and then the flames when you get mad..."

[sillygoth]

Her tears had slowed a bit, though the sorrow on her face was evident still. Donovan knew how important it was for it to be her
who killed the ones that did it.

"I...I wouldn't have it any other way," he said to Iris, leaning back into her. "You'll have your vengeance."

Donovan stared at her slightly confused. "I really didn't know that werewolves could get flaming hands," he told her. "That wasn't part of An American Werewolf in London."

"Getting into your mind, that...that just kind of happened. I was just so freaked out and worried for you. I'm sorry, I don't want you to think I was trying to intrude...it just happened," he said, feeling guilty now about having been inside her mind.

His heart began to hammer unexpectedly, and his head almost seemed to be humming. "Gods..." he muttered, "I can feel the wolf inside me...this feels...so...weird."

His hands were shaking slightly, and he couldn't help but be mildly afraid.

[Iris Robina]

Iris nodded with a soft smile as he told her she would get her vengeance and then talked about a ridiculous movie about werewolves.

"Don't rely on stupid Hollywood movies to represent our kind, Don..." she scolded. "None of them were werewolves, so they don't know how to correctly show us...so they show the mean, ugly kind..." She giggled and kissed his lips once. "I actually think I'm a little bit cuter than that..."

He was telling her he didn't mean to intrude. She nodded in understanding, her eyes locking with his.

"Well, Don...I guess whatever you are close to, whatever you feel the most powerful about, I guess the power latches onto those feelings and gives you powers based on that...I was close to the water and the animals, hence my elemental power and animal telepathy..." She smiled and nudged heads with him before kissing him again, feeling the werewolf inside of him and responding with her own wolf side.

[sillygoth]

"You're...you're waaay cuter than anything from a movie, Iris," Donovan told her.

Donovan listened to her theory as to why he had the flames and got into her mind. "Well," he nodded, "I did like to dip my hand in flaming gasoline and punch things when I was younger." He laughed, "Okay...maybe not so much...but getting into your mind...Snowflake, even before this you were the first thing on my mind when I woke up, and the last thing on my mind before I went to sleep."

She smiled and kissed him, nudging heads, responding with her wolf side. This only intensified the feeling Donovan was having. His heart sped up more, and he could feel the wolf inside himself stirring more strongly.

"Gods.." he said in a low whisper, nipping at her lip. "I remember you saying I'd be wanting to become the wolf inside me..at the time, I didn't get what you were saying..." he trailed off, suddenly able to hear her heartbeat, cocking his head slightly. "It's going to be a long week till that first change," he said, looking at her with eyes beginning to show flecks of amber in their normally blue.
He closed his eyes again, leaning his forehead back on hers, kissing her again.