No choices. (Private - Kadzait Alpha)

Xeph rode the elevator up, up, and up some more, doing his best to slouch and not look official, definitely trying not to put off the few people who rode with him. To that end he had his hands stuffed casually in his pockets, legs crossed as he leaned back against the wall, ignoring the shiny handrail digging into his ass.

The ride up was long enough to give him time to mull over the cryptic message. Hammer was back, great... Xeph had grown used to having the dry, surly Beta around and had long since admitted that Hammer wasn't such a bad guy. That he'd brought company was what Xeph found curious. Hammer was not entirely the world's most sociable critter, even on a good day. And the way he'd said company... well, it implied Xeph not only would want to meet this company but might not eb thrilled with said company.

He couldn't say he exactly had a rosy outlook, considering he was on his way to a private hospital room to meet them and he was certain it wasn't Hammer who required medical assistance.

Striding down the hallway he located the right room number and cautiously opened the door. He smiled at the grizzled Beta, seeing Hammer immediately upon entering, and then looked to the figure in the bed.

Company, indeed.

"Well hello, Mr. Steyn." The man was asleep, it appeared, not looking as chipper as one might hope or expect.

Xeph turned to Hammer, keeping his expression carefully neutral. "I'm guessing you're going to explain."

To Hammerthynn, Xeph's disposition was always jovial, even if he was trying not to be. He looked again at Steyn sleeping quietly and then back to Xeph. He chose his words carefully and relayed the past twenty four hours to his Alpha.

With a grim look, Hammerthynn finally added, 'This could be a good thing, but it was unforeseeable. He was dying, you of all people should appreciate the position the human put me in.' The human - Hammer inwardly winced at that term, he used it often but it betrayed his discomfort regarding caring for others. He would automatically try to separate himself from any type of situation that would imply showing emotion.

'And unfortunately that position led to this one.' He nodded towards the bed. 'It would be fairly safe to say that the Eternity I gave him was a last resort. He did not appear to be the type that indulged in that vampiric drug, but he had it on him and a man of his position could certainly afford it, that leads to me wonder who...or what...is his supplier.'

Xeph felt incredibly old as he listened to Hammer recount the events of the past day. Pulling up a chair he let himself flop into it with what might have been a sigh. This was quite the difficult can of worms.

He shook his head at Hammer. "I can't say I'd have done any differently," he admitted, "but what do we have here now? What do we do with him?"

That was the question on his mind at the moment. He stood back up almost immediately. "Did you have any thoughts past this point?"

Xeph allowed himself a moment or two of satisfactory pacing. "Has he even been awake at all since you returned?"

How much did the CEO know? What would he remember when and if he opened his eyes? How the hell had he gotten shot on Pack land, anyhow?

Lowering his voice so as not towake the man although that looked fairly far off, Xeph hissed at Hammer, "I swear, I'm going to revoke your frequent flyer miles and ground you in the Den for the next fifty years."

He ran his fingers through his hair, a deliberate sign of his agitation. The situation was rather serious, and certainly no joking matter. Xeph had a Pack to run, an entire city to grow into, a whole history to live up to...

Drug-addicted, GMV infected CEOs of major companies he did not need. Not right now. But Mr. Steyn sure was right here, in front of them, and needed to be dealt with.

"We need to know exactly what he remembers," Xeph said with another sigh. "Then we need to discuss the matter of his Gifting."

When, where... and of course, if.

'I remember Mr. Hammerthynn's face and I doubt I'll be forgetting it anytime soon.'

Marthinus opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He had stirred during Hammer's explanation of what had happened twenty four hours prior, but the arrival of Dr. Xephier and his subsequent speech left Marthinus just as curious as he was frightened.

His late afternoon appointment had gone terribly wrong. He had left Nachton to get away from such violence and terror and yet he seemed to walk right back into it. It. He wasn't even sure what 'it' was. They spoke of a gifting and as he slowly sat up in bed, he considered Mr. Hammerthynn's heroic rescue a gift, but apparently he left something else, but then you'd have to ignore the fact that Marthinus had never seen anything close to what Mr. Hammerthynn was turning into without buttery popcorn and chiclets.

'I would just like to know,' Marthinus looked directly at the man with the missing eye, 'just what in the hell are you?'

"Welcome to the land of the living, Mr. Steyn," Xeph said softly as Marthinus opened his eyes and spoke. Out of habit he moved to the bedside, checked the monitors, the level of the IV drip.

Looking at the clipboard and the list of medications there, Xeph quirked an eyebrow at the CEO and then glanced back at Hammer. "I agree. He's unforgettable. Sure not going to win any beauty pageants anytime soon."

That was all, though. This was Hammer's ballgame, Xeph figured, and he wasn't about to bail his Beta out so easily, so he simply stood at the bedside and gestured to Hammer when Marthinus asked what he was. Let Hammer explain. Sure, there was a small amount of fairly malicious glee involved, but it wasn't often Xeph got to catch Hammer in a pickle like this. He was also positive Hammer would have no trouble working it out.

Hammer's eyes flicked over to Marthinus as he began to speak. He had opened his mouth to answer when Xeph stepped up and played doctor. With a snort, he inwardly rolled his eyes at the Alpha's beauty contest comment and walked over to the foot of the old man's bed.

'I tried explaining it to you but you were too far gone, apparently.' Hammerthynn's tone could have easily been miscontrued as rude and aloof but in all actuality he had been worried about the man. Worried as much as he could be. Hammer honestly did not know what to say to him and just fell back on the norm.

In a monotone voice, Hammer explained, 'You've been exposed to a virus that is lying in wait, dormant in your system. It is called the Genetic Metamorphic Virus. You're in the beginning stages of becoming a werewolf.' He said that, matter of factly, which was the only way he could. Continuing Hammer added, 'It's changed you but not completely, not until you've been gifted.'

'Gifted?' Marthinus asked.

'Gifted. Bitten. The virus will activate and you'll become what you saw in me, in the elevator.' With one eye he looked at Xeph and shrugged slightly. 'Any questions?'

Marthinus listened carefully as Mr. Hammerthynn explained what had happened, what would happen. He didn't understand the gifting part mentioned, but his head had started to cloud over, making him sway a little in his bed. A dizzy, draining feeling was hitting him when he was feeling uncharacteristically energetic. Then it occurred to him.

Hammerthynn asked if he had any questions and he might have, had the dizzy feeling not turned into a raging rush of adrenaline, causing him to shake and break out into perspiration. Marthinus tried to get up, but found he couldn't move his legs which scared him further. His heart was now beginning to race and he had a moment to wonder if maybe he wasn't having another heart attack, coupled with the Eternity addiction he was most certainly experiencing - at the same time before he threw up over the side of the bed.

Questions? Oh he was full of them. Recently freed from his familiar bond with a notorious and murderous vampire, he teetered on the edge of addiction and another heart attack, not to mention this added life changing event that was doing god knows what to his body. So any questions Marthinus might have had for the large, one eyed man was lost in the violent convulsions he started having in the new, state of the art hospital that he was apparently destined to die in.

George Clooney he wasn't. There was no crash cart in the room; there probably was just outside but Xeph wasn't particularly prepared to draw that much attention to what was going on. In fact, maybe best not to draw any attention at all.

Rather than let the alarms continue to sounds, bells, whistles, and all, he moved to the various machines, ignoring the convulsing CEO in the bed and overriding them to show normal rhythms. He crouched beside the bed and waited till a particularly strong one passed, and peeled open one of Marthinus' eyelids.

"Here's how it is, Marty. D'you mind if I call you Marty? I didn't think so. I know you can hear me, regardless of the eyeball-rolling crap."

Letting another convulsion pass, Xeph resumed his position and continued talking. "You can live, or you can die. Right now. You've got about ten seconds, I'm guessing, to make a decision."

'Great,' Hammer muttered.

Xeph had moved quickly to Steyn's side but Hammer stood at the foot of the bed, watching Steyn as he convulsed, with a painfully unemotional expression. Hammer waited to see if Steyn would choose to live or die, not that he had much of a great choice. Be a werewolf or die an old, broken man addicted to a horrible drug. Xeph had verbalized that choice and his eye flicked over to his Alpha who was hopefully volunteering, but probably not.

'You're going to make me do it?' Hammer sniffed and then looked back at the man. What could Steyn offer the pack? How could he so carelessly bring an outsider, not at all prepared, into the fold? Why couldn't they just let him die? He thought of this as the time started to count down. Walking over to the opposite side of the bed, Hammer leaned in close and pulled Steyn's face out of Xeph's hands and spoke quietly.

'Choose wisely, Mr. Steyn.'

Marthinus relaxed from his latest convulsion, his eyes rolling back to their natural position. Focusing in on Hammer he said two words.

'C-Carol.'

Marthinus took a deep breath and then said again, only louder. 'Carol Hedley. Duibne.' He reached up and then grabbed Hammerthynn's hand on his face. He hoped he was clear in what he was saying, that the searching look he was giving Hammerthynn's lone eye would speak volumes. Marthinus needed her to bring Simon, so they would know, at least, where to find his body.

The thought made him whimper slightly. God damnit, he just wasn't ready. Not now. Not right now, not like this. A pathetic man who spent a pathetic existence who would die a pathetic death.

'Do it,' Marthinus whispered to Hammerthynn. 'Do it now.'

Xeph tilted his head at Hammer, an incredulous expression on his face. "Sure. It's all your show. You dragged him out of that stew; you want him alive, you get to do the biting."

He stood, placing one hand on Marthinus' shoulder, little more sympathetic than Hammer, but it was something. "You realize what you're taking on," he said solemnly to Hammer, the short short version of what he'd have said to any other Gifter. "You're bound to him, for the next year, as aipa. What he does is what you do, and his actions will reflect upon you."

He peered down, squeezed Marthinus' shoulder, stopping just this side of painful. "You got that, Marty?" Crouching once again, he pulled out his cell phone and hissed into Marthinus' ear, "My Beta is going out on a limb for you, mate. If I have to kill him because you fucked up, your entire family is going to hurt."

Okay, he was probably exaggerating there, but he really didn't want Marthinus thinking he was getting a free ride somehow. Raising the phone and wiggling it at Marthinus he said, "Be a lot faster if you give me a number."

As the response was choked out, Xeph dialed and stood away from the bed. Listening to the ring, he made a sweeping gesture at the sour-faced Beta.

"Your stage, my friend."

As the phone picked up, a female voice on the other end, Xeph asked for Carol and was notified that it was, indeed, Carol Hedley. Never before had Xeph received such a short answer punctuated with so much profanity. Looking at his phone in astonishment for a moment, he shrugged and said, "I've a pal of yours here at Nachton Hospital. Marty Steyn. It'd probably be a good idea if you swung by."

He helpfully supplied the room number, hoping she caught it in the flow of even more cursing that issued forth.

(ooc: permission to swear in a high pitched Carol-like voice))

Hammerthynn rolled his eye from Xeph back to Marthinus and felt that initial twinge of transformation. He was going to try to halt the progression from completing, but it would take a lot of patience, but as Marthinus slowly started to fade away, he rushed it on him that it hit him so violently that he let out a sizable grunt of pain.

Grabbing at the bed, he dug his nails and ripped the sheet as he felt his fangs come forth. He could feel his face structure changing, his nose elongating, his mandibles sliding forward. With a deep breath he pulled back Marthinus' hospital gown and lifted the man half out of bed as he pulled him forward and bit deeply into his shoulder.

Marthinus stiffened, gurgling with the pain. Hammer was far from gentle when feeding, much less with gifting. As he drank a bit of the old man's blood, his saliva immediately activated the GMV virus in his system, completing the change forever. As he pulled back, the bite mark left a horrible tearing that slowly stopped bleeding but was still raw and ugly just the same.

Hammer struggled with the change, forcing it to return to its dark place but tasting the blood was making it beyond difficult. He let Marthinus drop back onto his bed, bleeding and now completely unconscious while Hammer stumbled back and crumbled onto the floor, trying to regain his control. His gut was on fire, urging him on but his one hundred and three years was finally able to reel it back in. Kneeling on the floor, Hammer put a hand out to the bed and shook his head. The transformation receded back and after a few moments, Hammer stood again, mouth covered in blood.

He gave a slightly embarrassed look towards Xeph. Losing control went against every fiber in his being and having his Alpha see it shamed him. Still, Hammer leaned back over Marthinus checked the bite.

'Done,' he said again in his monotone voice.

Trust Hammer to state the obvious, Xeph thought as he now ignored his Beta instead of the not-corpse-to-be on the bed. Marty was now good and unconscious, bleeding rather heavily, but it slowed and stopped soon enough with a little help from the Good Doctor.

Xeph took care of the wound with a good deal more tenderness than he'd previously shown; Marthinus was now one of them. Paying close attention to it also gave his Beta time to compose himself; The transformation was tough on any wolf when blood was involved. Even Xeph, who maintained more control over his body in wolf form than a great many of his family, had difficulty fighting off the feral urge when fresh blood was involved.

Seeing his Beta losing control was equally uncomfortable for Xeph, whowas quite aware that he was something of a control freak himself. Studied avoidance as he patched Marty up was for the best. It wouldn't do to have Duibne's newest CEO werewolf oozing all over the sheets when company came calling, would it.

'WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S BEEN SHOT?!'

Carol pushed by the nurses station and completely ignored the newness of the hospital - its beautifully decorated interior, brand new furniture, Starbucks kiosk and the fun 'new hospital' smell. She was read the numbers on the suite doors as she half ran down the hallway, nurses running after her, telling her she couldn't be admitted to see Mr. Steyn.

Stopping she turned around and threatened them with half a dozen curse words and then turned on her delicately sandaled foot, making her way to his suite. Putting her hand on the door and turning the knob only infuriated her more when she discovered it had been locked. Literally putting one foot up on the door, she jiggled at the door so hard she nearly lost her balance.

'What the FUCK?! OPEN THIS GOD DAMN DOOR!'

Simon would be right behind her along with the rest of the Duibne medical team to transport him over to their facilities. Why had he been brought here? Who brought him here? Why was the fucking door LOCKED.

'RIGHT. NOW!!!!!!'

Hammer was in the bathroom, presumably cleaning up the blood on his face. Xeph heard the pitter patter of bitchy little footsteps even before the pounding on the door began. He'd really expected no less from the cursing over the phone before.

Standing and straightening the sheets over his new Packmate, Xeph looked down at the unconscious form.

"I think she wants in," he said conversationally to the nonsensical CEO. "Do you think she wants in? Maybe I should let her in."

Two large strides took him to the door and he swung it open. "That's quite enough screaming and pounding," he said in his sternest doctor's voice. "I'll have to call for the brute squad if you don't quit it. My patient is resting and I'd appreciate some peace and quiet."

He had to adjust his gaze somewhat loer... funny, he'd expected someone... taller.

Carol didn't know whether to scream more or just come out swinging. She went with the former, since she was too short for the latter.

'How DARE you? Who are you? What are you doing here?' She shoved past the tall...really tall...man and over to Marthinus' bed side. The first thing she saw was the blood. The second thing she saw was the middle of the stranger's chest. Pulling a chair over to the taller man she stepped onto it and pointed a finger in his face.

'What happened to Marthinus? What are you doing here? Who the hell are you? Why is he back in the states? Oh my GOD - are you going to answer me??!!'

Her mind hadn't quite wrapped around the amount of blood on Marthinus sheet, but she wanted to know, in great detail, just who the hell this tall fucker was calling Marthinus his patient.

'Wait a minute, YOUR patient? You're not his doctor. This isn't his hospital. I'm taking...' Just then the bathroom door slammed open, almost coming off its hinges. Turning at the sudden ruckus, she literally jumped onto Xeph at the sight of the huge monster coming through the door.

'What the FUCK?! Who...christ your fucking EYE is missing, who are you??'

Xeph allowed the small she-witch to shove past and go on some sort of subsequent irate rant. It took a shitload of restraint to not snap at her finger as she poked it into his face from -of all places- on top of a chair, and his jaw twitched with the urge anyway. The urge to employ his particular skills and settle Carol down was also a strong one, but rather than really figure out what she needed, what he wanted to give her was a swift kick in the ass.

He was about to grab her by the scruf of the neck like one of his feline patients when Hammer emerged from the bathroom and she literally flew at him. Amazing. Her mouth was still going.How did she do it?

Disentangling her from him... or trying to, Xeph finally resorted to grabbing her upper arms in his huge hands, literally pulling her off of him, and giving her a gentle shake that may or may not have rattled her teeth. He put his face very close to hers and gave her his most wolfish leer.

"Will... you... please... shut up."

The words were ground out as politely as possible (he had said please, hadn't he?) and emphasized with a good shake as they were spoken.

"If you want answers I suggest you keep your trap closed. If you have more questions I suggest you phrase them politely. If you have an opinion on the physical attributes, or lack thereof, of my esteemed second, I humbly request that you keep them to yourself, and if you have an objection as to the treatment of this man you will have to go through both him" he nodded to Hammer, "and me, because he belongs to me now."

The territorial wolf instinct was rising and Xeph caught himself in time and lowered his voice, which had begun as a perfectly polite soft tone and ended up fairly raised with agitation.

As quickly as his tirade had begun, it ended. He dropped Carol almost like a hot potato, being marginally careful not to be rough about it. Gesturing to the man in the bed he said, "Your Marthinus was dying. We offered him a choice of life or death. That choice wasn't yours to make. it was his, and in doing so, he belongs with us now, and no longer with you."

The words were spoken with all the authority and weight of a full Alpha, with a quiet conviction and determination that were, for the most part, unquestionable.

'What the fuck do you mean yours? Do you know who that is? Do you know what you're dealing with here, because I'm guessing you fucking A don't.' He had dropped her, not at all politely, onto the ground and she gave the other one eyed monster a side long glance.

'Sup Popeye, some bodyguard you are, in the bathroom.' The taller man narrowed his eye at her and clenched his jaw.

'Either one of y'all feel like explaining just what the hell you mean by offering him a choice and him being yours?' Then it occurred to her. 'Oh my god, you didn't give him anything, did you?' The Eternity, they must've given him the Eternity but that would make them...

Carol looked over at the opened window. The sun was rising, just barely and it came streaming in the 16th floor window. 'I don't understand...you're not...but what, are you from some organization? Christ, how many questions did I just ask, pick one and answer!'

Xeph growled softly, trying to ignore that odd fuzzy feeling that settled over him when his particular talents were trying to tell him how to give someone what they needed. He didn't always pay attention. He was half tempted to ignore it, to give Carol the opposite of what was necessary. Instead he shot hammer a dangerous look, irritated at having to answer questions for his Beta, and sat on the foot of Marthinus' bed.

Lowering his voice from the forceful Alpha tone, he began to speak softly, cajoling, coaxing, using his deep timbre to lull this demanding, irritating woman into some semblance of calm. It was one thing to know what someone needed, and another to supply it properly.

"I guarantee you, Carol, I gave him nothing. Marthinus Steyn was brought here from South Africa for treatment after a gang shooting injured him on my family's property. Hammerthynn, was the one who accompanied him back and notified me. When I arrived Marthinus was in poor shape. He suffered a heart attack, convulsions. There was very little to be done by that point. He seemed to be suffering from a variety of problems; the GSWs, some sort of strange drug withdrawal as far as I could tell, and his heart giving out. It was too much.

"He had a choice though. Marthinus didn't have to die just then. My second here was able to give him an opportunity to survive, one borne of a strain of virus called GMV. Genetic Metamorphic Virus," he clarified, restraining himself from going into his 'doctor's voice' again and keeping the tone deep and compelling.

"We're not entirely human. GMV makes us something beyond that. Normally the virus gives us strength; heightened senses, certain abilities and skills. But every months it changes us completely, during the three nights of the full moon it controls us entirely. At that time, very few of us have any control over our bodies, or over our minds."

He pinned Carol with a solemn stare, not sure whether his story would be met with laughter, seriousness, or something between.

"We're werewolves, Carol. And Marthinus is now part of my Pack."

Carol's eyes watched the taller man move to Marthinus' bed and sit down. Her mouth opened to object to him being near Marthinus when the man she had been directing her anger at, began to speak. She held her breath and her eyes moved from his to his lips. Carol's head dipped forward and everything around her just...faded away. Her expression fell from angry to concentrated as she listened to him explain what happened.

Hammerthynn. Her head nodded towards the one eyed man but did not break their stare with the other, in a feeble attempt to thank him. GSW. Carol's lips moved with the him. Genetic Metamorphic Virus. Nodding she repeated the words softly. Not human.

Something in her snapped back. His soothing voice kept trying to calm her but those two words struck a loud and long cord in her head. Then finally...werewolves. Carol swallowed hard, trying to understand what this man was saying. He had no idea what he was saying to her. Her concentrated expression fell again to sadness and she felt a tear run down her cheek.

Shaking her head slowly in her calmed, fuzzy world, she wept quietly for this dear sweet man talking to her. 'But you don't understand. You can't have Marthinus,' her blue eyes grew wide and she leaned forward to whisper her secret.

'He belongs to the vampires.'

Hammerthynn had always been in awe of Xeph's ability to soothe. As if with a twinkle of his eye, he had the she-cat called Carol calmed and hanging on his every word. He even got a ridiculous attempt at thanking him for saving Marthinus. He listened to Xeph and watched Carol's expression and noticed when something in her started to reject what he was saying. Xeph finished his explanation, pulling her into a world and into such danger that she couldn't possibly understand...but he apparently was wrong.

'What? How does he belong to them? How do you know about them?'

Carol broke her stare and looked up at Hammerthynn with a sad smile. 'Because he's a direct descendant of the third unrecognized vampire clan in the world. He is the leader's greatest grandson and once the familiar of Ellis Duban. We both were.'

All Hammerthynn could do was exhale loudly. He looked from Carol to Xeph. The repercussions alone of what Carol had just told them...Hammer looked over at the sleeping Marthinus T. Steyn and his second uncharacteristic show of emotion of the day, muttered under his breath.

'Nuts.'

There were times when Xeph bucked against the mantle of Alpha... few of them, and very far between. But this was one of those mornings where he would very much have liked to say to Hammer, "Here you go, the Pack's all yours and you can deal with this mess."

Brilliant. He listened to a now calm Carol with a passive expression. Rigid self-control took over and he kept his calm soothing mask upon his face while she spoke. Even as she did so, he was shaking his head.

"Carol," the words were still soft and soothing, but there was steel beneath the velvet. "Regardless of who or what Marthinus may have been before, there is no denying what he is now. Every month, every full moon, he will change whether or not he wills it so. He will never be the same as before, but something far more complex."

His expression was sternly sympathetic. "Both he, and you by association, are bound to our rules, our culture."

God, he didn't want warfare right off the bat here in Nachton. But his Pack's safety came first always. No exceptions. He didn't even want to consider the options is they decided to fight this. Marthinus was Kadzait now, and Xeph would not have him running loose, would not have either him or Carol compromising the safety of his family.

"For the next year Marthinus is bound to Hammerthynn. He must learn what it means to be one of us. He has to learn who and what we are, what he is now. There can be no tuning back. His disgrace is Hammerthynn's disgrace, his accomplishment's are Hammer's. After that year if he chooses to leave that's his decision to make. But know this..."

He leaned in once again, that slight edge creeping into his soothing tones. "My family stays safe. If I have to silence anyone who so much as utters a whisper against them, who casts suspicion on them, who puts them in harm's way, I'll do it."

There was no reason, he figured, Marthinus could not eventually return to his 'other' family if he chose, but Xeph would not be persuaded otherwise for the moment; Marthinus would learn to be Pack first.

Carol watched Xeph speak with a wide eyed innocent stare and when he finished, she gave him a humored grin.

'Well - Marthinus is a man of his word and he'll keep his without a doubt, but me? My life is governed by a different set of rules...but you won't have to worry about me either. We're the least of your problems.' Carol's eyes glazed and looked off to the side for a few moments and then returned to the cutie with the two colored eyes. 'Your problem just entered the building and he's not very happy.'

The moment Simon came in the sewer entrance of the hospital, her bond with him picked him up. She immediately told him what floor and room number.

'Marthinus is fine, but you're not going to like what he brought home with him,' she sent to Simon.

Given Carol's information regarding Marthinus' lineage, Xeph could only assume the object of Carol's speculation was a vampire. He looked out the window at he rising sun and briefly wondered how a vampire could get back and forth in the budding dawn, and then shook his head to himself. Vampires had their ways of making it in and around society, as did werewolves.

Offering the human a rueful smile, Xeph simply shrugged his shoulders and moved to the windows alongside Marthinus' bed. "Our kind has been met with opposition and problems for countless years," he said, a slightly melancholy note to his deep tones. "I've had plenty of problems in my time as Alpha. I'm not expecting smooth sailing."

Of course, life would have been easier had not Hammer decided to play Nice Guy and rescued this human for once. Letting it roll off his back, Xeph began to draw the shades over the windows in the room to ward off the early mornng sun. It would be rude to lack hospitality here, of all places.

Hammerthynn watched Xeph close the curtains. 'So polite,' he mumbled and then rolled his good eye back at the small blond beast. She was at ease now, even after what she just told them and what Xeph had implied, or basically threatened. To say that Xeph's ability to soothe even the savage of petite women didn't bother him would be a lie. Hammer did well to calm people down with a swift punch to the head - Xeph had to show off.

Suddenly Hammer's eyes were at the door just as Carol turned to unlock it, as if she knew someone was there. Immediately Hammer took two steps to stop her but she quickly had the door unlocked and whatever was out there was coming in unannounced. He pulled at Carol, pushing her behind him when a man with brown hair and blazing eyes came through the door, hand tucked suspiciously into his jacket reaching for undoubtedly a weapon. Obviously he felt a threat, so Hammer did the only thing he had ever been trained to do.

He pulled at the door with all his might and knocked the man off balance, but he was up quicker than Hammer could register. Next thing he knew, the man had one hand around his neck and the other arm pushing him back against the door. Standing 2 inches taller and about 50lbs heavier, Hammerthynn reached out, knocking the arm away and grabbing a hold of the man's shirt, pushing back.

Carol started to scream just then. Yelling at them both to stop at the top of her lungs. Hammer looked over at her and almost laughed at how hysterical she was being, then when he looked back, he understood why.

The man had to be Simon and he was baring his fangs, snapping at his throat. Immediately Hammerthynn felt the twinge of pain as the beast in him began to change. With concentration he pushed the change even quicker and bared his upper and lower fangs back, which registered on the vampire's face. There they were, werewolf and vampire, ready to tear some shit up.

'STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!!!!!!!'

Carol was jumping up and down, screaming at the top of her lungs as Simon shoved his way into the room and Hammerthynn pushed back. The scuffle took seconds to happen and suddenly they were at each other throats, fangs out, growling at each other...

Wait a minute. Carol stopped jumping and in horror, watched Iov start to change.

'What the...fuck me, what ARE you?'

His face was changing, almost...growing out and longer. He had two sets of fangs, the upper and lower canines like a wolf. Jesus, Carol thought and began screaming again.

'Stop! STOP!' She ran up to both men and grabbed Simon's arm. The door began to open again and Carol disengaged herself from the fight and pushed against the door, locking it again.

'Alright goddamnit, STOP! STOP IT STOP IT STOP!!'

Suddenly the top half of Hammerthynn's flight suit began to tear and Carol backed up again, watching as he turned slowly into...something. Whatever he was, his strength was apparent, not only to Carol, but to Simon who was struggling to maintain his ground without letting his fear and confusion take over. She braced the door as the staff outside tried to break it in.

Was it Monday? It felt like Monday. This was definitely Monday stuff. Things went from 'tenuously calm' to 'really bad' as there was suddenly a raging vampire vs. werewolf clash at Marthinus' door. Carol did her Jekyll and Hyde routine and went from almost tolerable to earpiercing again.

Xeph felt the hair on he back of his neck stand up. The urgency he felt from Hammer, the conflict, the emotion, all made the wolf in him howl, but he quelled it. Hammer was going into protective mode, seeing nothing but the threat to his Pack leader, the son of his closest friends. But Xeph was Alpha through and through, and there was a reason for that.

Barely raising his voice, knowing it would carry regardless, Xeph crossed the room to the door, made a gesture at Carol that implied that perhaps she might like to somehow get the newcomer under control, and simply spoke to his Beta.

"Hammerthynn. Enough."

The staff were at the door, and Xeph placed his trust equally in Carol and hammer; one, to follow directions, the other, to do her part in the peacemaking. His face calm even though his skin was tingling, Xeph politely opened the door and stepped outside.

Fortunately the two nurses there recognized him; he did do a rotation at the hospital once a week, and had handled the cases of high-profile clients before this. Offering a brief reassurance that everything was fine, Xeph poured on the charm until he thought he might need a life preserver to stay afloat. It worked, however, and within a few minutes he was slipping back into the room, optomistic of the fact that while he'd been outside, it had been fairly quiet within.

Closing the door behind him, Xeph leaned against it and crossed his arms over his chest. The man in the room now, he observed, was someone whose face he'd seen once or twice before. Some sort of affiliation with Duibne, although he'd never in a million years have guessed the depth of it, guessed at the man's lineage. He was hard-pressed to recall the name but it came to him after a few moments.

"Simon Huntington. Well, who knew? This gets better and better."

He flashed Carol a grin. "You do have some interesting friends."

"Hammerthynn. Enough."

Hammer had every intention on tearing this...vampire...to shreds, public hospital or not. This one was old though, not what they called an ancient, but old enough that he stood toe to toe with him half changed. Fully changed...that would've been quite a sight to see.

The moment Xeph uttered those two words, his snarling mouth shut and he gave the vampire a final shove back. Twice in one day, twice within an hour and his body was on fire wanting to fully change. They would need to return to the pack home very soon before he lost control and changed in public. He teetered towards the edge of being over half changed and he noticeably struggled to halt the process. With a primal grunt, Hammer took another step back and lowered his head in respect towards his Alpha. He flicked his good eye up at Simon, hoping he understood that this wasn't finished.

Slowly, ever so slowly did Hammer regain control. Xeph managed to calm the outside staff down as he left the three of them staring each other down. Carol was trying to calm the vampire. Her actions and touching were that of a lover. Again he snorted as his exaggerated canine bone structure receded. Once Xeph stepped back in, he had nearly returned to human, but he looked down at clothes and grimaced. It was hard to come by flight suits that actually fit.

It had been a long time since Simon had snapped his jaws at anything - much less a werewolf and that's exactly what this man was changing into. It took everything not to just stare in astonishment. A werewolf...here...in THIS town? They were a myth, a wives tale - a poor storyline coupled with every more ridiculous vampire theories. But here one was, a large one. Poor Carol was screaming now, very loudly, in her small person screech, but the only thing crossing his mind, other than being completely dumbfounded that he was fighting a werewolf, was that he wanted badly to tear his throat out.

Something was wrong. Why were they here with Marthinus? The one man that he tried in vain to spare from Ellis' wrath and a life without light - were they responsible for the attack on him? He'd kill this beast and figure it out later.

Carol began to pull at him but went to stop the staff from coming in. Suddenly the other man was there, standing close to Hammerthynn and he spoke softly to him. With a strength he had not felt equal to from anyone other than vampires his age, Simon was shoved back towards the door and held back by Carol. She was talking to him in his head. Soothing words, telling him that it was alright, they weren't there to hurt Marthinus, that they saved him.

Simon looked at her with angry eyes but did not reply. The other man left the room to calm down the eager staff and then returned a few minutes later. Simon watched as the one called Hammerthynn changed back. He could not help but look with open curiosity. How could they have existed and the leaders not know? Or did they? Did Ellis know...no, she would've figured out someway to exploit and hunt them instead of her own kind or maybe she was just twisted that way.

The other man spoke, addressing him by name. Simon didn't recognize his face - not from any of event that he had been to. He regained his composure and straightened his jacket, wiping errant dirt off the front of it. Simon ran his hand through his hair and turned towards the leaner man.

'Who are you and what do you want with Marthinus?

Xeph fought down the snarl that wanted to come to his lips. Sometimes the wolf inside was stronger than the man, and that was what he sought, over all things, to hold control over. Hard to believe this was a vampire... and, by all accounts, if Carol was to be believed, an Alpha in his own right. His distaste for this silu was strong, but Xeph tried to see past that, past the fact that he'd attacked Hammer without provocation, and deal with him without letting his own prejudice color his thoughts.

Still, his first reaction was to deny ever having actually -wanted- Marthinus at all. Xeph shook his head, mostly to himself, and started with the simple things, his voice as evenly measured as always.

"Aidan Xephier," he said. "Alpha. This gentleman you've already met is Iov Hammerthynn, my Beta."

That was, regrettably, pretty much the end of the simple things. Without moving so much as a muscle, Xeph continued. "Mr. Steyn belongs to us, by his own choice. He's Pack now, the three of us having decided through long and well-thought out conversation that that was generally preferable to his leaving in a body bag."

Xeph unconsciously fell into a more technical sort of speech; his 'doctor's voice,' as he spoke, and wouldn't have been at all surprised if the first response he heard was Hammer's snort at his calculated understatement.

'Is that right?' Simon glazed over Xephier's tale of woe and walked over to Marthinus who was still sleeping soundly. He immediately saw the blood and pulled back on his shirt. There was a rather raw looking bite mark on Marthinus neck. Simon tucked his left arm behind him and balled his hand so tightly that his knuckles went white. He looked up at Carol who gave him a sad look.

'And this,' he pointed at the bite mark. 'Hickey gone wild or is this your quaint way of turning my family members?' Simon checked down Marthinus pulled back on the other bandages, presumably from the gunshots he was told about and they were just as nasty.

Shaking his head he looked back at up Xephier and said, 'You realize what he's apart of? I can't believe he agreed to this - to be what you are. He is a Huntington and a part of my clan. He walks Nachton and quite literally the world unfettered as my human descendant. You...werewolves are treading on dangerous ground. You have no idea what you're up against, what you've put yourself in. Marthinus does not belong to you,' Simon looked at Hammerthynn with a spiteful glare, 'nor to you.'

Simon walked over to Xephier, giving Hammerthynn a vicious side long glance and spoke in a low, very calm voice. 'I'm taking him out of here and you can't stop me or so help me god, I'll bring down the wrath of an entire clan on you and your people.'

"That's right," Xeph said, unperturbed by the shorter, lighter man in his face. Fixing his mismatched gaze upon Simon he lifted a shoulder.

"Your threats are worthless."

Xeph didn't want to have to prove it. There was a truth here that Simon couldn't change, that no one in this room could alter. "Your precious offspring owes his existence to Hammerthynn now. Your limited capacity to breathe would be best spent thanking him for saving Steyn's life instead of flapping your gums at me. You're welcome, by the way," he said, but the cool humor didn't even remotely reach his eyes. "If not for my Beta, your man would have been dead once in Johannesburg and once again not half an hour ago."

Xeph was growing tired of the threats, the hostility, the bullshit. It was no fault of theirs that Marthinus had been attacked, no fault of theirs that Hammer had saved him either. His Beta had acted accordingly, had saved the human's life twice over. Once to bring him to Nachton, and again in Gifting him.

"That Gifting," Xeph stressed the word; Marthinus had been Gifted, not 'turned,' "was Steyn's choice. But don't let me keep you. By all means, get him the hell out of here."

Xeph moved away from the door and gestured. "Watch your Marthinus writhe in pain during the course of the next full moon. Watch him scream as his body and bones knit themselves into a new shape, as his DNA forces a change over him that he will never be able to overcome. Watch the insanity every month. Take him from us, his Pack, and deny him the answers to the questions he'll have, deny him the sanity and the understanding we can offer."

Xeph snorted at Simon. "You can't change what he is. Marthinus is Kadzait, and will know what he is every full moon, every time he smells you approach before you're in the same room, every time he feels the urge to ravage your vampires to bits."

His unmatched eyes narrowed. "Your arrogance is a match only for your ego. You would threaten my family? Rest assured yours will feel the same pain."

There was more, so much more, to be said. Years of oppression, centuries of repressed memories, red hatred flashed in front of Xeph's eyes. The wolf was rising, and he'd about had enough of this arrogant bastard's smugness. But there was no cause to change, no reason to turn, and once again Xeph reined in his anger and settled himself down.

"If you care for him," he nodded at Steyn, "you will want him with us for this next year. We are the only ones who can teach him. But the choice isn't yours."

This was bad. Very, very bad. Both Simon and Xephier were threatening each other with total destruction over one man. She looked over at Marthinus who began stirring in his sleep, but probably knocked out from all the trauma to his body. Hammerthynn stayed quiet behind them, arms crossed with a curiously blank look on his rigid face. Carol looked back at Xephier as he finished his equally global sized threat, causing her reach out and touch Simon.

'Simon.' She gently touched his arm, pulling it close to her. He refused to look at her so she tugged at his arm, resulting in a rather scathing look of hate in her direction.

In his mind she spoke softly, 'At ease.' His face softened but he still gave her a stern look. 'Marthinus fine - you can't do anything here that won't cause...well quite the ruckus. He's alive and it's probably what he wanted without you being here. We can't stop this, not right now. There are other things we have to look into now,' she nodded towards Xephier. 'Now is not the time to start wars.'

Carol glanced back at Hammerthynn who was watching her now as she spoke to Simon through their bond. It was a dark, suspicious look - one that her narrow her eyes back at him. Six foot nothing, she wasn't going to let him try the 'let's scare the little girl' trick. Despite being human, Carol had her lethal tricks as well.

'Ask if we can move him to Duibne.' Simon's jaw clenched. 'Sorry - suggest...suggest it. Sheesh.'

He listened to Carol as she pleaded with him to not make the situation any worse than it already was. He could not, in good faith, leave Marthinus with these strangers. Marthinus could not possibly know what he was getting himself into, the position that he put the clan in with this new intrusion into their city. He wasn't done bargaining for his kin yet.

'At the very least I...would like to have Marthinus at Duibne. His doctors are there and you would of course have open access to the facilities. You may think he belongs to you now, but he belongs with us by blood. He has a son who will be curious about him - to shut us out would not be advisable.'

Simon clenched his jaw and felt a reassuring squeeze from Carol. Negotiating for his kin...he snorted softly and waited for Xephier's reply.

Xeph felt his nostrils flare as he threw his head back slightly, pride causing his spine to stiffen. "Shutting you out? Who ever said anything about shutting you out? No one's trying to shut you out. What you don't seem to understand is he's not human anymore. Like it or not, understand it or not, your Marthinus is part of our family, every bit and more as he is yours."

Shaking his head he made a slicing gesture with his hand before continuing. "No. I will not allow my Pack member to be taken from his people. There are changes that will happen, things that will begin to occur that Marthinus will need help with, and you can't offer him that no matter how dearly you may care for him."

His features softened just for a moment before his eyes grew hard once more. "I can't explain it in any greater depth. The man you knew will never be the same again. He asked to be kept alive, and we did the only thing that was in our power. I wouldn't attempt to shut you out, but you can't help him now."

Sheer will kept him from pacing. Instead he kept his voice under control, everything in control, as always. "Marthinus will be safe with us. Safer, perhaps, than with you."

The truth hurt sometimes.

Simon slowly blinked at Xephier, not really expecting his wishes to even be taken into consideration, which they weren't. He took a final look at Marthinus laying quietly on the bed and was again reminded of just how far apart Simon was from his human family. 'When he's well, I would hope to see him again.' He looked back at Xephier, 'If permitted, of course.'

Simon then put his hand on the small of Carol's back and gently guided her towards the door and out. With a hand on the door, he looked directly at Hammerthynn and said as clear as a bell, 'See you around.'

((Simon and Carol out))

As Simon bid them farewell and Hammer a promise, he locked the door again and turned to look at Xeph. He lifted his broad shoulders slightly and scratched an ear.

'I think that could have gone better.'

Xeph was somewhat taken aback by Simon's sudden and apparent acceptance of his stance. Had the vampire given up so easily, then? The man's motives weren't clear to Xeph, who found the sudden turnabout suspicious. Were Marthinus as important to him as he was supposed to be to Simon, Xeph never would have given up so easily... but he was a wolf, and like any other wolf his tenacity and stubbornness would only grow in ferocity when he actually had his teeth sunk into the bone he wanted.

Conspiracy theories rebounded off the walls of his skull. He didn't consider himself paranoid, but when it came to Pack safety, nothing was too much. Was Simon secretly pleased, to have an operative inside Kadzait walls? Did vampire-kind fear retaliation from the weres they'd kept repressed throughout the centuries? These thoughts all brought a scowl to his face as he watched the door close behind Carol and Simon, then turned to respond to the gruff voice of his Beta.

"You think? You're developing my talent for understatement," he said with a grudging grin. "Quit it. Understatement is my job. It's in the description."

Rolling his shoulders to loosen them and try to rid himself of some of the tension, Xeph once again surveyed the man... the wolf... on the hospital bed. Marthinus Steyn, Kadzait. He shook his head. Xeph, in all fairness, couldn't and wouldn't expect Steyn to feed him information about vampires any more then he wanted the man to go squealing to Simon Huntington about the Pack.

"You'll teach him," he said to Hammer. "Teach him what he is and how to deal with it. Teach him the lore of the weres, teach him our history. Show him what it means to be Pack, what it means to be Kadzait. Hopefully in time, the Pack will benefit from having an older Amaroq, a wise man who's been around, who knows the world. He can't resist his memories. He can't help knowing us for what we are. I hope, for both your sakes, he's worthy of our trust."

The idea of his Beta being aipa to this man was unsettling. The rules were there for a reason though. If Marthinus betrayed the Pack to Simon, Xeph would hunt them both down.

He hadn't come to Nachton with any plans to keep the Kadzait secret from the vampires... no, they were here and they weren't going to be pushed down again. Xeph simply wanted his people to exist in peace, vampires or no. To start a war with this Simon and his people wasn't what Xeph wanted. To have his Beta caught in the thick of it... that was a nightmare worthy of losing sleep over.

Xeph watched Hammer for a moment as he stood over Steyn's bed. It was impossible to tell what was going through his Beta's mind, but Xeph knew that if anyone could teach the man about their Pack and inspire him to loyalty, it was Hammer.

He checked on the man one last time, his eyes running over him in a practiced manner, and then moved to the various machines he'd over-ridden before and set them all back properly.

"Call me if you need me."

He clapped Hammer on the shoulder and let his hand stay there for a moment.

"I'd like to speak with him when he's able."

((ooc: Xeph out.))