After she had walked far enough away, Lydia was able to breathe more easily. She had averted a potential crisis, and as much as she hated to admit it, had any officer other than Morgan appeared, Lydia wouldn't have had it so simple. It was the luckiest possible form of an unlucky situation. Elias, however, was looking to be a pain in the ass, and Lydia had a gut feeling that she would be seeing more of him in the future. She sighed; he wasn't the only issue, either. There was still the question of what happened with Paris and the runaway. As she remembered, the two of them took off in the direction away from the river and towards the thicker part of the city. It was unlikely that they traveled in only one direction, of course, so really, there was no way of knowing to where they had gone. She also had no clue how dedicated Paris would be to catching him, either; she had only told him about the pest moments before he showed up, after all, and like Lydia, the trader preferred not to get his hands dirty, either. For all she knew, Paris could have been waiting for her at the dock.<br/><br/>Before she could dwell on the unknowns for too long, Alex jolted awake, inhaling sharply as her eyes went wide. "Stop!" she shouted, flailing her arms and kicking in Lydia's grasp. The sudden motion startled Lydia for a moment, who struggled not to drop Alex while dodging her panicked movements. She was unsuccessful in that endeavor, as a stray hand with sharp nails made contact with her cheek, leaving behind thin trails of red on Lydia's porcelain skin. There was fury in her eyes, which had lost their green color in favor of vampiric red.<br/><br/>"Hey!" she hissed, furious for a moment at the thought of her face being marked, but as the scratches began to heal, disappearing almost as quickly as they had appeared, Lydia hesitated, realizing that Alex was only attacking out of fear and confusion, like a wild animal. Her voice softened. "Hey, hey - calm yourself. It's just me. You're safe now, dear."<br/><br/>Alex continued to thrash for a few moments before she really stopped to analyze her surroundings. She felt like she was waking from a nightmare, and reality was slowly coming back. Briefly, she made eye contact with Lydia, then looked to her own body, bare and covered in dirt in Lydia's embrace, and forced herself to steady her erratic breathing. Despite the fact that she felt so<i>unclean</i>, and despite the strangeness of the situation, the vampire's face was a comforting sight. She'd only met Lydia once, but she'd trusted her enough to share such an intimate moment with her that night. Originally, she didn't expect that a vampire could so...gentle. Perhaps the most comforting knowledge, however, was that there was no sign of her attacker. "Lydia? Where are we? Where did you come from? I...I remember walking, and then someone grabbed me, and...." Alex trailed off and winced. A terrible headache was starting to show, along with a thirst that matched its intensity. More than anything, Alex felt odd; she was naked, but not cold, even in the outside air, and despite her initial fright, she couldn't feel her heart pounding in her chest. In fact...Alex placed her hand on her chest, only to find that she could not feel her heartbeat at all.<br/><br/>"Here, stand," Lydia said, crouching again, so Alex could get on her feet. "Take this." In one motion, Lydia pulled her heavy cloak from around her shoulders and offered it to Alex, who met her halfway and slipped the over-sized garment over herself. Other than its cosmetic appeal, the cloak served to shield Lydia from the rain, but tonight, the sky was clear, so she didn't mind parting with it. "A vampire should walk with dignity."<br/><br/>The comment perplexed Alex, who looked up at Lydia. "Thanks...but I'm not sure I know what you're talking about." The second she said it, realization washed over her - the attack, the blackout, then waking up in Lydia's arms with such strange feelings - and she spoke again, before Lydia could say anything. "Wait.<i>What</i>did you do?" Alex didn't sound angry, just...shocked.<br/><br/>"I saved you." Lydia placed her hand on Alex's shoulder. "I have much to explain, but we should make it back to the club first." Those two Enforcers were still out there, and Lydia did<i>not</i>want to risk Alex pouncing at her first whiff of human scent. They would have to take the back streets if they wanted to avoid running in to anyone. "You need to rest, to feed, and later, to tell me what you remember."<br/><br/>Alex shook her head in disbelief and pulled the cloak around herself more snugly. She pressed her tongue against the back of her teeth, just to confirm that her canines indeed tapered off to a sharp point. "I don't know what to say. I mean...I'm grateful to be alive, but I'm not so sure I wanted to live forever, either." She chuckled, an attempt to regain some of her natural humor, but it came out sounding forced.<br/><br/>"Immortality has its perks, I assure you." Lydia met her chuckle with growing smirk. "And remember what you asked me, the night before last? You wanted me to explain what it felt like to be on the giving end of a vampire's bite." She took a step closer. "Well, soon you'll know for yourself."<br/><br/>"I suppose that<i>is</i>reassuring." Alex's thoughts wandered back to the moment she felt Lydia's bite. She had prepared herself for it to hurt, only to be surprise to feel a rush that was rather..euphoric. By comparison, the pain was minimal, and the feeling was more like, say, having a lover drag their nails across one's skin. By the same logic, it was entirely unpleasant when done in a violent context, like what had happened to her not long ago. Her attacker's bite was painful, inconsiderate, and terrifying. Alex shuddered. " Let's just...get going."<br/><br/>--<br/>When the pair arrived at the Coven, Lydia told the bouncers to expect Morgan's arrival and escort her to her office. She also kept close watch on Alex, fearing that she might be overwhelmed by hunger when they entered. To some extent, Lydia's fears were correct; Alex inhaled deeply, licking her lips as her pupils dilated, and Lydia had to drag her by the arm before she tried to linger. Without further delay, Lydia led Alex to one of the guest rooms on the second floor, the one closest to her private study. On special occasions, vampires would arrange to stay at the Coven, and the second floor had twenty rooms available to rent, along with two open lounge areas. Each suite had its own bedroom and bathroom, and for Alex's purposes, that was more than enough.<br/><br/>"Make yourself comfortable," Lydia said, opening the door. "I'll have someone come and run you a bath, and to help you sate that hunger of yours."<br/><br/>"Yeah, thanks again. I think I'm just going to sit and...try to process everything. I guess I have all the time in the world now, huh?"<br/><br/>Lydia gave a single hum in agreement. "If you need me, I'll be around the corner. Just knock." With that, she left Alex to her room, closing the door before she walked off to find another worker. It didn't take long, and she instructed the younger staff member to attend to the newly-turned vampire. She opted to bring her blood from the reserve supply they kept downstairs, rather than have her feed directly without knowing how to control herself. The young server nodded fervently and half-jogged away, and Lydia chuckled. It was amusing how eager they were to please her, sometimes.<br/><br/>Back in her study, there was a note waiting for Lydia on her desk. "Hm. How unusual." She approached her desk and read the note, which was scribbled on a piece of parchment with jagged edges, as though it had been hastily torn from a book. It read:<br/><br/><i>Your little pest isn't so little, after all. Chasing him was a foolish mistake; he's no average vampire. I've been severely wounded. Might be a while before I show up again. I'll have someone else take care of the shipment. I'll be in touch later.</i><br/><i>- Paris</i><br/>Lydia pursed her lips and read the note again. That wasn't Paris's handwriting, and judging by how quickly the note had arrived, Paris couldn't have been the one to deliver it. It was likely that the man had passed the message on to one of his couriers, as he had plenty of them scattered around the cities, the bouncers hadn't mentioned anything about someone dropping it off, either. The thought of someone sneaking it into the club only made her uncomfortable.<i>What the hell happened to you?</i><i>And what the hell is going on?</i><br/><br/>Lydia sat behind her desk and slipped the note into a drawer. When Paris wanted to disappear, there was no finding him, and she knew she'd be stuck waiting - for the umpteenth time over the past few days - for him to contact her first. It was all so<i>frustrating</i>, and to make matters worse, there was the possibility that the message had been fabricated entirely.<br/><br/>And like clockwork, the door to her study swung open before the mysterious note had a chance to settle in her mind. It was Charles, back with Morgan, as expected. Lydia shot the bouncer a sharp look as she shut the drawer. "For<i>Christ's</i>sake, knock first!"<br/><br/>"Uh, I, I'm sorry, Madame, she's here," he stammered, realizing his mistake with wide eyes.<br/><br/>Lydia exhaled deeply, rubbing her temples and regaining her composure. "Just...go." She gave him another dismissive wave. "Morgan, please, come in and sit," she offered, gesturing to the chair on the other side of the desk. "Let's talk." Lydia drummed her fingers lightly on the arm of her own chair, waiting for the Enforcer to settle in before she had the first question. "About that woman from the other night; did you ever find out if she had any connection to my business?"