[M] She Ran

The woman shook her head with a little smile. "That's very true."

A lot of stories could be chalked down to hallucinogens.

"My favourite is a story from the tribe my father originated from. Have you heard of the Adze?" Fawzi shuffled so she could face the Lycan again, her hands raising in an excited gesture. It was very clear that she had been living in Italy for a while.

"I'm ashamed to say I haven't." He said, and he felt a strong wave of happiness flood over him.

It was odd. He was still upset over learning she was with an abusive creep.

But he was able to help her right now. She was lighting up, talking about her past, favorite stories her father used to tell her. And she looked passionate and happy.

And that was the very thing that caused Tom's heart to swell.

She shook her head and tutted teasingly at him.

"The Adze is a great story. How do you not know it?"

Fawzi gestured vaguely. "The legend goes that the Adze is a type of spirit. It hunts down children specifically. The Adze takes the form of fireflies and whispers into the ears of children that are alone."

Her fingers waved in the air, trying to imitate twinkling stars or flying fireflies.

"They convince the children to follow them away from the group they're in. When they're far enough away, the Adze takes it's true form and attacks, draining the child of it's life energy."

Tom listened with genuine interest.

His brow furrowed and he tilted his head.

"And this is your favorite?" He asked, still snuggled up against her. He let his hand rub her shoulder gently.

"Rather disturbing, don't you think?"

The woman gave a sheepish little smile.

"I'm fascinated by the disturbing," she admitted. "And I have a soft-spot for African mythology."

She'd never actually seen an Adze. They were a creature that she pondered over the true existence of often times.

"And I really like fireflies," she murmured with a smile. She adored the glowing bugs.

Tom laughed at a thought and then brushed it away. It would be far too embarrassing to tell Fawzi.

"They are nice... I suppose." He said instead. He looked like there was something on his mind that he wasn't sharing.

Fawzi tilted her head to the side curiously as he laughed.

"What is it?"

What was so funny about fireflies? She blinked her wide brown eyes up at him as she waited silently for him to explain.

"What? Oh nothing just... I was thinking... Ah, it's embarassing." He said, scratching his scruffle.

It grew in a lot faster now that he was a lycan.

It was hard for him to keep himself looking clean shaven these days, though he shaved his face almost every day, by the time he woke up the next morning he'd be practically sporting a beard.

The woman's lips pursed in an almost pout.

She laid her head on his shoulder, looking up at him almost pleadingly.

She was dead curious and that was an almost dangerous thing. Fawzi and curious wasn't a good mix.

"Well... when I was a little boy I.. I was terrified of fireflies." He admitted, laughing softly at himself.

"My cousin had convinced me that fireflies were the reason why houses and forests catch on fire."

"Well my mother always insisted that I sleep with the window open because we couldn't afford any air ventilation. I was always fearful that fireflies would sneak into my room and catch it on fire while I was asleep... I even had nightmares of it." He recalled.

Fawzi giggled softly at his little story.

"That's cute."

Fireflies actually setting things on fire? That was adorable. Fawzi thought it was the cutest thing she'd heard.

"Well apparently it was a good thing I was scared of them as a kid, since evil vampire spirits liked to impersonate them." He said, trying to keep an inch of pride.

He couldn't ditch his stupid grin though.

Fawzi always managed to make him smile like that.

"Mostly in Africa."

Her teeth showed in a wide grin.

"And usually only for kids two years old or less."

She found it adorable that he was scared of fireflies. She didn't think she would let him get over it for a long while.

Fawzi leaned against his shoulder, smiling up at him.

How?

How in the world could one woman be so beautiful.

From her eyes to her skin... to her pretty white teeth showing when she smiled.

She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

"Still... you never know." He said after a short silence, remembering to defend himself after getting lost in her beauty.

Fawzi chuckled softly as she nuzzled against Tomaso's shoulder.

"You're supposed to be a big, scary Werewolf."

She poked his side with a smile. "You can scare away little fireflies."

"Ah yes, me, a big scary werewolf." He said, sarcasm biting at his voice.

"Big and scary are two words I never thought I'd use to describe myself." He said truthfully.

He'd always been such a gentle person, soft spoken, and reserved inside of himself.

The stereotypical lycan personality didn't fit him well at all.

"In theory," she chuckled softly.

She was sure that if something got to him, he'd show exactly how big and scary the Werewolf part of him was.

But until then, he would be Tom.

Sweet, mild tempered Tom.

Fawzi smiled softly at him. "There are quite a few Wolves that aren't big and scary. The leader of the mansion's pack is quite a gentle, mild-tempered man. I think you'd get along with him."

Tom wouldn't have guessed that the leader of a pack of lycans would be more like himself.

It made him want to meet the others in his pack.

"What's his name?" He asked, curious.

"Aleksandr." Fawzi was sure that she'd pronounced that wrong. It had a slightly strange pronunciation.

"Or however you say it. It's Greek." She said as if that explained everything about the butchered pronunciation. Fawzi was fluent in four languages, but Greek wasn't one of them.

"He's one of the nicest guys you'll meet."

This came as a great comfort to Tom, to know that the leader of his pack was a good person.

It was... his pack right?

"How do I know which pack I belong to?" He asked Fawzi, wondering if that was a stupid question.

He supposed he just belonged with Raisa, but she wasn't around all that often.

He felt much more comfortable talking to Fawzi. Raisa was a little intimidating to Tom.

"That depends on whether you want to belong to a pack or not."

Fawzi gave a shrug. "In my experience. And after having spent a lot of time listening to Aodh bitch like an old woman." Here she rolled her eyes good naturedly.

"Wolves aren't always pack animals. There are a lot of Wolves that live alone. You don't have to belong to a pack if you don't want to."

The woman gave a little hum. "But, if you do want to belong to a pack, talking to Alek is the best bet. His pack is the biggest in this area. It's the one you want in on."

Tom, as always, listened to her by taking in every word she said. He was a great listener that way. Some people only hear every other word, but not Tom. He hung to everything someone had to tell him. Especially if that someone was Fawzi.

He liked the idea of being a lone wolf. But he was far from making a final decision.

"I'll have to do that sometime." He decided out-loud. No matter what, he wanted to meet this Alek fellow.

"When you want to meet him, give me or Rai or even Liq a heads up. We're all close friends with his son; the Beta of the pack. We can arrange a meeting in The Last Stand over a couple drinks."

That would probably ease some worry. Meeting Aleksandr in a bar with other people around would mean there was less worry for anything bad happening.

Though Fawzi doubted that anything bad would happen. The Grecian Lycan was one of the nicest people she had met. Occasionally he seemed a little unapproachable. He even looked a little scary with that huge scar on display. But when you got talking, you realised how nice he really was.

The Last Stand....

"Isn't that a uh... strip club?" He asked.

He was not the type of person to go to places like that.

In fact, he'd never been to a strip club in his entire life. He'd never had the desire.

The woman all but exploded into laughter at his question.

"A strip club?! No, it's just a bar!"

She buried her face in his neck as she attempted, pitifully, to stifle her loud laughter. She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks, colouring them as she laughed.

"Where'd you get the idea that it was a strip club?" A wicked grin curled the woman's lips. "What's been on your mind, huh?"