[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/WSq0AyH.gif[/img][/center] [center][color=black][sup]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/color][/center] [color=yellow][b]Location:[/b][/color] Underground Club [color=yellow][b]Time:[/b][/color] Night [color=yellow][b]Interactions:[/b][/color] Dom [@oso] [color=yellow][b]Mentions:[/b][/color] [center][color=black][sup]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/color][/center] [color=gray] The sound of the chaos erupted around her. Violently, suddenly, overwhelmingly. It hit her ears like a crashing wave, yet everything still felt muffled, as if her head had been plunged beneath cold, heavy water. Screams warped into distant echoes. Bodies moved like streaks of color instead of people. The lights shattered across her vision in long, stuttering trails, and the sharp red of blood splattered through the air like paint flicked onto a canvas. Her mind was gone. Floating somewhere far above her body. Not until Dom’s hand closed around her arm and yanked her toward him did the world snap into something resembling focus. Even then, clarity lasted only a heartbeat before another flurry of motion swallowed her. She reached toward him, fingers brushing his wrist, trying to latch onto something solid, something real, but the drugs roared through her veins. Her footing faltered, knees buckling as the entire room swayed violently to the left. Then Dom’s palm pressed against her stomach, shoving her away from the impending attack. Her back slammed into a bar table hard enough to rattle the empty glasses on it. She hissed through clenched teeth, one hand shooting out to catch herself before she could collapse completely. Bodies crashed and flailed inches from her. The floor shook with the impact of each brawl. Her chest tightened as she forced in a breath, desperately trying to claw her way back to reality. Her head tipped backward, neck slack, her eyes rolling back, almost disappearing into white. She could feel the drugs pulling her under again, urging her to let go. She barely noticed the first vampire lunging until she caught the metallic scent of blood. The hot, sharp smell was piercing her nostrils like a bottle of smelling salts. Her instincts snapped awake. Vex’s head jerked forward so fast the world blurred again. Her body moved without permission, without thought; it was pure reflex, pure survival. Even with her mind drowning, this was muscle memory. [i]Child’s play.[/i] A vampire lunged, and she ducked. Another swiped at her, causing her to spin. A third grabbed her arm while her elbow slammed back into its throat before she even remembered raising it. It wasn’t graceful. It wasn’t clean. She was stumbling, swaying, sometimes throwing her weight in the wrong direction, but she kept them off her. Barely. Each movement felt delayed, her body reacting seconds behind her mind, but somehow still landing enough force to matter. The last attacker hit harder, sending her crashing into another table. She scrambled, nails scraping wood, dragging herself up the surface to regain height. Her foot kicked out wildly, connecting with a vampire’s jaw with a messy, jarring crack. Then came the snapping of bones beside her. She turned her head and saw Dom shifting. Her eyes widened, pupils blown wide. She had seen him shift before, but it was rare. His spine stretched, bones snapping into place. Fur tore through skin. His jaw elongated and split open, dripping fresh blood down his chest. For a moment, her drugged mind forgot how to breathe. He was terrifying and beautiful all in the same breath. Vex pushed herself upright, wobbling like a newborn foal. The room swayed again, harder this time. She saw Dom’s new eyes, those sharp, feral alpha eyes as they lock onto her. And then he moved. Dom closed the distance in one thunderous stride. He placed himself between her and the violence, all massive muscle and fur, and with a gentleness so at odds with the carnage around him, he guided her behind him. His clawed hand swept her backward, and she let him, too disoriented to fight, too tired to question. Why was he protecting her? So fiercely? So deliberately? Her mind tried to form a reason, a connection, but the drugs tangled every thought before it could take shape. All she could do was cling to her fingers, curling into his thick fur, holding on as the world tilted sideways again. His growls vibrated through her palms, through her chest. The sound pulled at something deep inside her, something instinctive and dangerous. Too easily she could slip into her own form and give in to the frenzy clawing at her insides. But under this high? She wasn’t sure she’d come back from it. So she fought it. She held onto Dom, onto the anchor he was giving her. His body shielded her and kept her tethered to the moment instead of spiraling into the drug-fueled void. Behind him, the chaos raged on. [/color]