The Brightest Part of The Night

It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Everything is okay in this chapter.

She gripped the steering wheel tight, hard as she could. Viktor was going to pay for what he did. He was going to die, at her hand. Growling as she gripped tighter. 

Just barely making it to her house before she nearly ripped the door off its hinges, she stopped, and looked around. Mumbling to herself, walking around the house, into Elliot's room, then into her's, she grabs a couple things. 

A knife, that she puts in her jacket pocket, and heads back outside, trying to track him. Only, it's not working as well as she thinks it might. "Dammit!" She  yells, throwing the knife on the ground. 

Frustrated, she sits on the cement, her back up against a building. She stares at her hands, frustrated to no extent. 

Sitting peacefully in the hospital, spaced out, Tala asleep in the chair next to them. Tala didn't want to leave their side.

Little burning pains begin, slowly, starting on their legs, then moving to their arms, and abdomen. Of fucking course. They braced themselves for the pain, instead, a memory makes itself known. 

"Subject 23001." A smaller, less mutt-like, Elliot stared up to the lab scientist. 

They keep their eyes away from the lab scientist, afraid of what they might see if they look at them. 

The scientist rambled things over to another one, who was recording things on a chart. "C'mon, more tests need to be done." 

Great. A fuckening memory that means nothing to them. Not even the fact that they didn't call them their name. 

Tala wakes up all the sudden, staring around at the wall. 

Braced for another mark pain, Elliot closes their eyes and waits. Nothing. Only the burning that they've been used to. 

Tala looks at them, watching them try and sit up completely. "You okay?" Tala asks, moving to stand next to them. 

"Yeah. I'm fine," they lie. They groan a little, when their marks act up on their legs. "I'll be okay."

Tala shakes her head. She looks at Elliot's arms, the marks shown a little. It takes her a minute, but she sits back down, and browses her phone. 

Elliot takes a deep breath and relaxes. It takes Elliot a minute to register what is happening. Their marks are burning, lighting up. Screaming in pain, Tala by their side, immediately asking what is wrong.

"My mar-" they scream again. Their marks are glowing bright enough that Tala can see them undereath their gown.

"Do you need a doctor? Or what?" Tala asks, reaching for them.

"It'll" -a groan- "calm down here in a second."

"Is it because you don't have your ring?" Tala asks, now holding the vampire's hands.

They nod. "I need to get it back."

"You get released today. Think you can wait that long?"

"If the" -another groan, more of a growl this time- "pains persist, I won't be able to. But" -another growl- "I need it as soon as I can get it."

They stop growling completely, sweat dripping down their forehead, holding tight to Elliot's hand. "I get out today? I'm healthy enough to leave today?"

Tala nods. "Yeah."

When Elliot does get released, Tala takes them to their home, and finds Aidan on the ground. She's got her head in her hands, staring at the ground.