Heiro, having felt the tug of Janu's energy in the shadows a few minutes ago, was not surprised by her entrance and without looking up he carefully eased the blade in his hands off the whetstone wheel then took his foot off the pedal. He took a quick look at the edge, running a finger along it ever so slightly, then set it on the table. It needed more work, but Janu was more important at the moment. Picking up a rag, he started wiping the oil and grit off his hands as he looked over to the pale feline.

"I'm surprised to see you up. How are you feeling?" He asked, concern clear in his accented voice. He started to walk towards her, tossing the rag back on the table as he passed it. He casually tucked back the hair that had slipped from the low ponytail he had it in as he looked her over. She seemed to be doing better, but he knew she had a habit of downplaying her needs much more often than he liked.

A large grandfather style clock rung out and the lights seemed to dim as Julia became obviously annoyed. It was one hour past the time he was supposed to be there, she was clearly being stood up. She clenched her fists and a red hue came over the room. Her eyebrow began to twitch and she closed her eyes. The temperature of the room was rising noticeably so now as the fire in the fireplace seemed like it was going to spill out into the floor and engulf the very room it was in.

With her eyes closed and her emotions crazy, she wouldn't realize what was happening in the room around her. She tried to reassure herself that her handsome date hadn't stood her up, he'd simply gotten busy. He was after all the younger brother to the prince. In reality he would never be coming, for he too had perished long ago. Julia's anger didn't seem to be subsiding and those who stayed for long periods of time would begin to notice that every Wednesday she waited, and every Wednesday these strange happenings would occur on the hour.

The orange haired woman stamped her feet impatiently in the cold air. Her companion was really annoying her with all his moping around and bemoaning his loneliness. "Come on Regan, we do have to find someplace to stay for the night. This storm is really beginning to get on my nerves." With that said Karlin turned her back on the vampire to saunter away with a sway to her hips as usual.

She didn't even need to peek at the map to know where the Inn was. It's light glowed amidst the bad weather, truly a guiding light for weary traveler. Shivering with a put out expression, Karlin wrapped her arms around herself to try and keep warm. She knew her companion would follow soon enough.

The redhead lifted blue eyes to peer at the woman with a frown. A spark of anger flitted trough him as he righted himself from his crouching position by the side of the road. Shaking some of the water from his coat, Regan caught up to the woman with ease. Karlin had slowed to wait for him, but now they both hurried forward and slipped into the Inn with relief.

Glancing once at his surroundings, the vampire shrugged and moved forward to sign his name and Karlin's as well. They were an unlikely pair of traveling companions, but it worked out well for the both of them. She got her adventures, and he was able to continue his search. Neither of them were too surprised by the little congregation surrounding the hurt dove. They'd seen stranger things often enough.

Though the red light and heat were certainly new! Regan glanced at Karlin before moving away from the fireplace. For her part the young woman shrugged and tried to find the source of it all with a frown. Now what had caused all this?

((Okay I'm changing Jani/Janika to Ani/Anika XD because Jani /and Janu are just too close!))

Anika shrugged and quietly indicated that either would work before she gathered up her bag. She let the other girl lead her once she was backed, not particularly concerned. She was not a trusting sort... but as bruised up as Jo was she doubted she'd try to do anything stupid. For attacking a chimere as old and experienced as she was usually a very foolish thing... besides she needed Ani's help

Before they could reach the stairs and find out how cooperative a patient Jo would, or would not, be things began to change in the room. She glanced towards the two new occupants and briefly wondered if they had caused it. No... they were living and this felt the work of the dead. As a chimere, a creature able to move between the world of the dead and the world of the living at will in their full animal forms, she was uniquely sensitive to such things.

She tracked the feeling to Julia and briefly blinked in surprise. She'd actually confused her for the living... if she hadn't used her ghostly powers Ani would have continued doing so. She sighed and walked over to put a hand gently on Julia's shoulder to get her attention.

"That's enough girly, there are injured people here..." She said quietly. As a Chemere, distant cousin of the Emere, she did have some powers of seduction and could use them to try and soothe or distract the other woman. She did not use them, however, since it was unpredictable how people would act when stressed already. No... that would be a last resort.

***

"b...better. I didn't mean to interrupt you... I just...I... you can go back to what you were doing if you want" Janu responded bashfully only to trail off. She couldn't bring herself to say what she meant, that she just wanted to make sure he wasn't a fever dream. That night they'd confessed only for her to have to run away seemed so far away that if he hadn't still held that piece of herself she'd given him she might have thought it could have been a dream too.

Her eyes shifted to his hair as he adjusted it and for a moment she felt the desire to reach up and undo his pony tail. Supposedly to fix it but she knew she just wanted to play with it. She flushed at the thought, still as shy as ever around him. For all the time the years between that night and when they'd met at another inn long a go, all the hardening of her heart she'd managed seemed to melt away when she looked at him. She felt shy, vulnerable.

When Julia felt the hand on her shoulder, her hazel eyes snapped open. The room was back to normal. The fire and lights acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and the temperature in the room was normal once more. "Huh?" Julia blinked owlishly at the woman. What did she mean? Her eyes looked around the room. Everything seemed so normal to her, aside from the injured. In fact, there were already two new guests.

Julia shrugged it off. That woman must be loopy or something, she thought. In any case, her carriage wouldn't be arriving, so she headed into a separate lounging area for a cup of tea. Once she was settled into a nice cushiony chair by a fireplace and a window with a nice view, she sighed. She tried to recall her very own prince of sorts but for some reason she could no longer picture his face. What was happening to her? She frowned and took a sip of her tea, wondering how the others were faring in the other room.

Anika was probably right, he would probably be more comfortable in his room. Stretched out on the bed or floor, but Lysene was already too comfortable to move from where he lay. He was used to sleeping in trees and high places, laying on a soft couch was a new experience for him, and it was a wonderful one. Soft and plush. Surely the bed up in his room would be even more comfortable than this couch. Lys didn't really care at the moment, he was asleep before Anika had even left his side.

He slept easily through the drastic changes in the room, though as a bird he should have been a light sleeper, normally he was. The poor dove was just too exhausted to be a light sleeper and he did feel safe in this place. He couldn't explain it, it made him feel safe here and the cat eyed woman had helped him, surely she didn't help him just let him get eaten by someone else in this place. So the dove slept, unaware of the two new people that entered while he floated in a dreamless sleep.

Karlin moved towards the chimere after the ghost had left. She had the impression that maybe she wouldn't mind another person talking with her. Besides, flirtatious as she usually was the young woman didn't think the dove would want anyone to wake him up. Though that thought was a pretty useless one.

Regan stepped towards the exhausted bird to shake his shoulder gently. Kneeling down the vampire peered at him trough bright blue eyes with a rather serious expression. It all made Karlin want to walk over to pull him away by the ear. Instead she turned to the woman with a bright smile. "So how are you doing on this stormy night?"

The vampire had settled down comfortably by now to start asking the questions he demanded of everyone. "Excuse me, but I have to ask. Have you seen a man with wolf ears pass you by durin your travels?" There was an almost heart breaking tone to the voice as he asked, though Regan got rid of it soon enough when he noticed.

Jo made it to the bottom of the stairs before feeling a prickle at the back of her neck, and the temperature shifted. She turned and blinked, watching Ani speak to a woman that had somehow escaped her notice earlier. She tilted her head to the side, soft waves falling around that shoulder as the woman snapped out of her seeming trance, and the room returned to normal.

She waited for the woman to return, shifting her weight over to her right leg. They should probably go to her room, so she could rest. Her eyes flickered back to the dove and the vampire now kneeling by him, then went to Ani and the oman who walked up to her. Hopefully she wouldn't spend too long chatting, but Jo lifted her pack up to rummage through it again, making sure she had forgotten the jar of bruise cream, and it hadn't fallen to the bottom of her pack.

----------

((Staria! I'm not on the character list yet!))

Lysene had been sleeping so well and it hadn't really been that long at all when he felt himself being pulled from the dreamless sleep. Cool grey eyes blinked a bit as he groaned softly, the salve Anika had used worked wonders to numb away the pain. It kept most of the pain away, only a dull throb was felt now and it was easy to ignore. Except when both wings twitched as he came to wakefulness, the left sending a jolt of pain along his nerves and he moaned softly, then it was back to the dull, easy to ignore throbbing.

Lys sat up slowly, watching the man in front of him carefully. He seemed human, though Lysene had never met a vampire before. Did this man want to cage him? It was what people did to birds, after all. He tilted his head to the side slightly and reached up to run his right hand through his golden hair for a moment. "...Not here...The snows been falling so thick it's hard to see anything from the sky. I doubt he'd be in the forest either, there are monsters in the forest. Big fat, two headed monsters." His eyes had widened just slightly and his right hand moved to rest on his left shoulder, only because he could not reach his bandaged wing to rest it there. "I've seen a lot of wolves though, in other forests. Days flight from this place, but no man with wolf ears."

Lysene wasn't sure, but the man had almost sounded sad. He studied the vampire's eyes for a moment, as if trying to read the emotions in them, and then he pulled his knees to his chest as he sat on the couch. Wrapping his arms around his legs and resting his chin on his knees.

((sorry >.< kept forgetting to ask for your characters last name xD and asking you if you were going to give me a picture XD))

((I'm working on the pic, you could use the one from the ball for now. I got it sketched out earlier today. And her last name is Shaheen. And don't forget Kage's, too!))

Anika let the other woman, or rather ghost, walk away in silence a moment. She raised an eyebrow a moment and put her hands on her hips as she tilted her head to the side. So she didn't know she was a ghost? That was the only explanation she could see. She would have to decide what to do about it later... the dead could wait, she had a living patient to deal with.

"Beautifully, but there a few who are not doing so well, including this girl. I'll patch her up first and then we can talk" She responded with a shrug, looking over the woman thoughtfully. She gave her a simple, warm, rather smirking smile. She then turned and went back to following Jo. She appeared to be going through her pack, not paying attention to her own wounded ribs. Ani was going to have her hands full with her and bird boy she had a feeling... She nearly skipped up the steps to catch up.

Kicking her bumper angrily, Amaryllis swore under her breath. She then swore much louder as she clutched her half frozen-and now throbbing-foot. There's no way she could have missed her cabin!! Absolutely no way! She huffed and hugged her jacket tighter around her small frame and made her way to up the stairs to the beautiful inn. "I can't believe it's snowing this hard," she murmured to herself, already in a bad mood. All she wanted to do was get to her cabin, have a large cup of hot cocoa, and study. Was that so much to ask? Clearly it was.

As she stepped into the main room, she also realized normalcy was too much to ask. Being a psychic, it didn't take her more than half a second to see that the desk keeper wasn't alive. Stepping up to the ghost, she asked if there were any available rooms, may as well right? She smiled when it responded that there were, at least something right was happening, and it didn't seem as though she was alone, here. After signing her name, "Amaryllis Stone," into the book, she headed towards the source of all the energy. "Oh...there's an angel on the couch?" she questioned, mistaking the dove for something much greater.

((Hi! There's gonna be an image shortly!!))

Jo sighed, giving up on finding the jar. She hadn't packed it, she had to admit it now. She lowered her pack again, making a face, and turned to watch Ani come over. "I think my room would be a better choice," she said as the cat-eyed woman neared her. She started walking towards the rooms, making sure the woman was keeping up.

Her thoughts kept going back to hot baths and food, and tea with just a little bit of honey. She really would have to ask one of the spirits if they could draw a bath, or if she would have to do it herself.

Lysene watched the vampire for a few moments longer, before turning slightly to look over his shoulder at the woman that had entered. She had just called him angel and such a compliment caused him to blush ever so slightly. "You misunderstand. I'm nothing so spectacular as that. I'm just a dove. A useless bird lost in a snow storm." He frowned slightly. He was useless. He couldn't even give this man any useful information.

Lys looked back at the vampire, still frowning slightly. His wings twitched, the left one causing him to wince slightly when the bandaged appendage moved. How long would it take to heal? How long before he could fly again? Lysene bit his bottom lip gently. Still, things didn't seem so scary now, now that he had calmed down considerably from his fright in the forest and that cat eyed woman had bandaged him up. He still chewed his bottom lip, his chin resting on his knees as he shifted a bit on the couch. Tugging lightly at the toga like robe he wore, making sure it covered everything that needed to be covered.

Walking swiftly towards the couch, Amaryllis tried to think of something clever to say to the small group, including the angel-er-dove. She settled on the arm of the couch and sat there dumbly for a moment, just watching them all before opening her mouth at the vampire, "Boy, you sure are sitting on the floor pretty well, huh?"

Wow. Just. Wow. Did that just come out of her mouth? Oh lord, it had to be the combination of hours upon hours in the car and the fact that she couldn't feel half of her body. She was freezing! Amaryllis tightened her jacket around her again and tried not to shiver too obviously. She wanted nothing more at this moment than to curl up by the fire with a steaming mug of hot chocolate after erasing the memory of every person who had heard that stupid question.

Anika shrugged and muttered a soft sure before continuing to follow the other woman. She used enchanted bandages that were made to be waterproof so the other womans desire for a bath would be no problem. She had no thoughts of Jo's cleanliness, however, and simply was doing a mental stock of what she had. She might need to make and enchant more bandages... the snow storm meant she couldn't gather any more of the herbs she needed for concoctions but luckily she had just stocked up on those... even if she usually made them for herself and didn't expect to use them on others. It was a sad day when she was the only doctor.

Once they entered the room she'd command Jo to sit on the end of the bed. When Jo sat down Ani would sat down her bag and bandaged up her ribs as planned. She didn't really speak to Jo all that much, never interested in talking with strangers much. She'd just never really been very good at it. Things she could touch simply made more sense then things she could feel, now anyway. There had been a time her heart had been soft...but to save it she had made it as hard as the steel of her weapons.

Julia finished her tea and sighed. She needed some fresh air, but the snow fall wasn't something she was too thrilled about. Still, she couldn't stay cooped up in here any longer. She stood and left the lounge area she occupied to pass by the room where everyone else seemed to be getting to know each other. She sighed again as she stopped at the door, a look of sadness on her petite features. Was her prince never to come for her? She was so lonely.

She pulled the deep red hood of the cloak over her hair and pulled open the door, stepping outside and gently closing it behind her. She pulled the cloak closed and began to walk carefully down the steps. Julia was the most clumsy girl most people would probably ever meet, and she'd already fallen down once today. The snow began to fall in bigger flakes and somewhat heavier.

Up ahead was the forest. She could take a short walk through the woods. It would keep her from getting too wet from the snow and she'd be protected more from the winds. She made her way to the edge of the woods and stopped, seeming to be in a sort of daze. Was she to wait at this place forever? Why couldn't she remember life before this place? She stepped into the forest to begin her walk. Despite the wet snow, Julia loved the cold and as she remained in her daze she continued forward, not realizing how far she was traveling or in which direction, she didn't care.

Karlin sighed and moved away to go and stand with the little group surrounding the dove. She admitted silently to herself that she wanted to listen in on how Regan was going to react all of this. He was always so sad, maybe having more company would change his mood. Though from what the vampire had told her, she doubted that very much indeed.

Her thoughts were contradicted when Regan lifted his head to peer at the dove with a small glimmer of hope. The mentions of wolves sent his heart beating fast. Before any words could leave his lips, a young woman had come up and spoken with him as well. Gathering up his thoughts once more, a small smile tugged up his lips though he felt no happiness at all. "It's comfortable enough." The words left his lips quickly as he turned to eye the dove once more.

"You said something about wolves, did you see any abnormally large ones wandering about?" The hope in Regan's voice had Karlin filling with dread. The man was going to be miserable for weeks. To try and avoid it, she left the room and ended up in the one the ghost had just vacated. Seating herself on one of the plush chair with her knees curled up tight against her chest, the orange haired woman basked in the heat of the Inn.

Lysene shook his head slightly at the woman. It was a really odd thing to say, especially when first meeting someone. He glanced from the girl to the vampire and then to the girl that had come in with the vampire and back to the vampire. As far as Lys was concerned everything was abnormally large when he was in his bird form, still he knew what the other meant by that. At least he thought he did. Lysene's frown deepened. He was so useless, he was being so useless, he knew his answer wouldn't please the man, or be the answer he was looking for. Lys shook his head slightly. "No...They all seemed the normal size of wolves. Just regular grey wolves." He hugged his legs tighter to his chest, wondering if this man would get angry at him for being so useless and unhelpful.

Licking his lips to stop them from drying out, the redhead turned away for a few moments to compose himself. Even so a tear quivered at the corner of his blue eyes as his gaze returned to the dove. Regan offered up a rather composed smiled as he moved from the floor to snatch the seat beside the dove. "Thank you for answering my questions." The scent of blood seemed to linger around the other. Now that his mind was freer, the vampire was finally able to recognize that fact. "How did you get hurt?" It was obvious the pale man was trying to change the conversation and distract himself from his worries.

Clearing her throat, Amaryllis eased herself onto the other side of the dove, sitting quietly and observing. How could she have missed his injury? Perhaps it was the fact that she was so enamored with his wings...she looked to the girl and to the vampire.

"I wonder what it is, I just can't place it..." she mumbled to herself, trying to place what the vampire was. She'd never seen one before.

Lys shifted a bit, scooting over ever so slightly to give the man more room on the couch. Sitting dead center of the couch, so that the girl also had room to sit. It would be rude to hog the whole thing and Lysene did not want to seem rude, though he was still a little worried that this man might hurt him or cage him. So far the man, nor the others in this place, seemed interested in harming or caging him. Still, sitting between the two strangers made him nervous. He watched the girl for a moment, and then watched the vampire and hugged himself tighter when asked about his injury, the man seemed a little sad or maybe disappointed to Lys, and clearly he wanted to change the subject. Lysene licked his own lips slightly.

"The snow storm forced me to land and take this form, easier to travel that way...But there are monsters in the forest near this building. Scary, fat two headed monsters.." Those grey eyes had widened again, rimmed with fear. As if talking about it would bring the monster down upon him again. He even glanced nervously towards the door. "..I was just walking along when it came after me. It grabbed me and threw me against a tree, twice, maybe three times.." His wings twitched and Lys winced slightly. "...My poor wing.." He whispered those words softly. What was a bird that couldn't fly? Usually dead, eaten by something. He shook his head slightly. "I think it wanted to eat me. But I ran and ran and found this building of people."

Amaryllis' eyes softened as she listened to Lysene. "You poor thing..." she whispered, not wanting to hog his attention from the strange man. She settled her fingers lightly on his arm, hoping not to startle him with her chilled, trembling digits. "Is it hurting any...? I can't heal the wound, but I can change your perception to make it stop hurting..."

She glanced towards the vampire, hoping she didn't step on his toes by speaking before he had the chance.

Ren Carlisle

The door to the Inn flung open and Ren stepped inside. He'd been in his werewolf form until he reached the door, not knowing what kind of people resided here. As he traveled from place to place meeting new people, partying and breaking hearts, he rarely stumbled across places such as this. He shook, just like a dog would and flashed everyone a bright smile. "Did you guys know it's snowing?" he said sarcastically.

He moved to the desk knowing the routine as he signed his name and raised his eyebrows at the ghost behind the counter. He threw his coat onto the coat rack with expert aim and spun around on his heel, flashing his pearly whites at the group once more. "So," he said as he moved towards them, "Where's the party at!? Or shall I get it started?" he added, winking at Karlin. He certainly could tell that this wasn't a party. They all looked rather, down. He could smell that the one with wings was injured and it caused him a mischievous smile as he towered over the dove.