Bitten Women's Shelter

***Editor's Note: Adult language and situation. Be advised.***

"I'm sorry, sir, but you can't come inside."

That was Dr. Baumgartner's voice that Precious heard. She spoke in the tone that Precious had come to associate with controlled exasperation.

"No earthly power can stay me from my lady love."

Precious knew that voice, too. Her heart leapt to her throat. Stefan.

"Actually," said Dr. Baumgartner, "I can, and I just did. No vampire can cross a threshold without invitation. You've been officially uninvited. We're on holy ground, besides. You aren't going to hurt her anymore."

Precious crawled to the edge of the shelter's bed and risked a peek over the windowsill. Only enough to look down at the entrance. Sure enough, Dr. Baumgartner stood with arms crossed at the doorway, while Stefan eyed her with disdain and radiated power. Two men flanked Dr. Baumgartner, with jackets that spelled SECURITY in yellow letters on the back. Andy and Jax. Volunteers who didn't like to see women hurt by vampires. Werewolves, at that.

It was strange. Even after all Stefan had done to her, when she looked at him, she couldn't help but love him. It was like his power called her to him, some compulsion she couldn't resist. It must be some brand of magic. What else could make her feel that way?

Stefan leaned forward, so the floodlights caught his pale skin. "You. Will. Allow. Me. Entrance."

Dr. Baumgartner met his hypnotic gaze with a raised eyebrow and a scoff. "That shit's not gonna work on me."

Precious had to be near him. She leapt from the bed and hurried down the stairs on lightest tiptoe, hurried but soft, anxious yet excited. Curfew demanded she stay in her room, but Precious had never been one to conform. She wasn't like everyone else.

She ran until she heard the voices, then pressed her back against the wall, out of sight. As she settled her pounding heart and her ragged breath, the voices coalesced from mere noise into meaning.

"She's here because you drained so much blood from her, she nearly died!" Dr. Baumgartner screamed. "What's to say you won't do it again if she goes back to you?"

Stefan, however, kept his cool. "It's true. I feel... urges. I long to drink from her flawless porcelain neck. And I regret it all deeply. But I can control it. I must control it. For her."

"You won't. And what's more, it would be an unhealthy and controlling relationship even if you didn't hurt her. The relationship she describes is completely manipulative, even if she doesn't realize it. Giving her orders, following her, pulling her into your arbitrary and violent rivalries, driving a wedge between her and her family and friends so she'll only have you...."

"And yet I must have her."

"Case in point. This isn't love. It's possessiveness."

"Of course it is love. For she is the only reason I want to better myself after all these centuries."

Something swelled in her chest. Precious raised a hand to her heart as if to contain it. Her family said she felt too strongly, but she knew they were only jealous that they burned far colder.

That was a true romance, wasn't it? Changing a man? Making him better? Serving a purpose and making a difference in the world? What kind of shallow love would it be if she only took a man who had already mastered himself, who had nothing she could fix?

She ran into the night before her mind could challenge her heart. Stefan's entire face contorted from rage to absolute pleasure. Precious loved that she could make someone feel that way about her. She leapt into his arms.

"Precious," Dr. Baumgartner scolded. "You can't leave with him."

Stefan set her by his side, so he could put his body between them. So he could protect her. "Oh? Is she a prisoner here?"

Dr. Baumgartner sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "No. She's here of her own free will. We can't keep anyone without their consent."

She put an emphasis on the word we and gave Stefan a pointed look.

"Then I'm taking her with me."

Stefan turned and guided Precious into the night in his close embrace. She could hear Andy and Jax shift behind them. But she also heard Dr. Baumgartner clear her throat.

"He'll kill you if you stay with him," she said.

Precious faltered a step, but she let Stefan pull her with him. She refused to believe that. She couldn't. He would change for her. She could change him. Would change him. Or die trying.