Pain exploded around Julia's head. Pain, red clouding her vision a moment, confusion, and she was sitting before she was aware she was awake. The motion made the entire world shift and bile burnt the back of her head all of a sudden.
It was strange how panic was the last thing to come.
She tried to see now, heart thudding hard with the panic that was now coming in droves, muscles and bones and tendons rock hard as her body strove to force her into wolf form long before her concious could catch up.
Danger.
Julia could barely keep the change from taking place, her heart seemed twice as big already, but she flung herself out of the bed by pure instinct and onto the ground. She could taste blood. Was it her own? Nothing made sense- the entire bedroom was dark, her eyesight not working properly, her nose burning and her lungs screaming.
No. It wasn't dark.
It was smoke. The smoke was hot, it burnt her lungs, it blinded her, it made every instinct as a wolf scream. She crouched on the floor, nearly sobbing and gasping for oxygen, barely able to think with the human part of her mind. Still it was somehow managing to be there.
Breathe. Lower. Oxygen was lower down.
Julia slid closer to the floor, her fingers digging into the floorboards, nails clinging to them as she mentally wrestled with the wolf nature to change.
Levi.
She tried to rise, fighting every instinct to escape, fighting panic, and found that he was not on the bed. Julia's arms slid across the bed, still kneeling on the floor, tossing sheets to the ground and pillows to either side, the smell of smoldering fabric only a tiny fraction of all the explosions of smells and sounds and fury. No Levi. Where was he? He was just here.
A hand grabbed for her out of the smoke, clawed fingers digging into her ankle, dragging her backwards towards the window. Julia's panic dictacted her actions, she fought at first, still unconvinced Levi wasn't there. Of course she knew, deep down, it could only BE Levi's hand... still, panic was not helping the logic side of her brain.
Levi dragged her onto the balcony, the oxygen only a fraction better outside, the smoke pouring out of the window, burning ashes and flames grasping for her skin and hair. He was panting, his face wild with fear as well, eyes wide, his fingers tense and nails thickened. He was fighting the urge to change as well.
"Le..Levi." Julia panted, trying to calm herself, seeing that he was in a worse state of fear than her. There was one thing wolves couldn't stand. It was fire. Not small fires, bonfires, fires in fireplaces, those were good and the human instincts more or less canceled out any wild fears about flame. It was FIRE. Wild, uncontrolled, dangerous fire. No werewolf could ever be a firefighter. All animals panicked at the sight. Julia tried to grasp him as some control returned to her, purely for his sake, his chest contracting and expanding as he fought for both air and to stay human. "It's okay."
Levi didn't say anything. She doubted he could. Still, he seemed to calm, his hands grasping her arms as he dragged her further away from the window and against the edge of the balcony. The metal was hot. Julia couldn't bear to turn around, couldn't bear to see what fire was turning into her bedroom, because turning around would mean she'd have to see how big the fire was.
