Anna's breath caught as he caught her jaw, her eyes flashing defiance as she repeated her mantra in her head. [i]Not Gunner, not Gunner, not Gunner...[/i] She was about to bring up her stake when he grabbed her wrist. She stifled a sharp cry as she felt the bones break as it struck the wall and the stake fell the the ground uselessly. His lips against her temple made her freeze as her mind ticked away options on how to escape. His words, hissed as they were, drove home that Gunner might be in there but he was an after thought... a passenger to what the Strigoi now was doing.

As Gunner turned away to face Jace, thinking her beaten, she shoved her pain down and picked up the stake with her good hand. Gunner's mother was distracted, so was Gunner, she had a chance to take out one of them and she had to choose now. Her hand gripped more tightly to the stake and she lunged... The stake sank into Gunner's back but his mother had caught sight of what she was doing and caught Anna by her hair and flung her away before she could complete the blow. Anna's back and head hit the wall and spots danced in her vision... The Guardians were all dead... all except... She lifted her hand to her bluetooth, "Luke, David... Get out now! Abort the mission go for he-"

Gunner's mother caught her by the throat and lifted her off the ground, baring fangs. Anna clutched at her arm with her good hand and swung a kick into the female Strigoi's face forcing her to drop her and stumble back. Anna's knees almost gave as her feet hit the ground and her vision swam again but she grabbed an abandoned stake from a wounded Guardian only to have her damn hair caught again by the Strigoi woman who promptly yanked her head back and locked an arm solidly around Anna's waist, Anna prepared for the bite... Steeling her body as she heard Jace start screaming... Obviously, Gunner's damage was done...

~*~

"I love you too Serena..." He kissed her gently and guided her into the Gardens. The place was pretty, it had a cobblestone path and flowers that bloomed late in the evening and at night. Mostly there were trees and a small pond where treefrogs sang. He guided her through the quiet, his hand interlocked with hers and tried to forget about the feeling of unease that was starting to rise in him.

He felt like something was wrong... off... but he kept putting it off to what had happened with Serena earlier. Still, the feeling of anxiety kept getting worse and he began to worry that maybe his own darkness was acting up even though he hadn't used his abilities in so long... He wasn't even aware he was frowning as they walked. It had been so nice out, the tree frogs were a nice distraction, but now his senses seemed to be narrowing down on that one emotion and he couldn't hide it from his face.

Eventually, he had no choice but to speak up. "I'm worried about Anna... maybe we should check on her?"