The monster's clearly playing her heart-strings as well as he can, and even for a girl as cynical, it's hard. She wants to believe it, she really does. And the thought of leaving her sister here is just horrifying. That sister she never really knew.... But the image in her head, that shining angel of a girl who she always looked up to, an illusion that probably never was, she imagines it would want her to be strong, to be smart. And something is off about this. There's a lack of emotional resonance there. Her manner of speech is odd, not the type of language she'd expect from a girl her sister's age... Then there's the oddness of the location, the thought that this girl is capable of breaking into her room and distributing her a letter but only capable of meeting her here, out in this dreary, distant cave, lurking at the entrance instead of jumping forth, embracing her, holding her, crying with her.... and spilling tantalizing secrets of this place like it's bait.

No. Something's off. And her eyes are just faintly damp as she tips her chin upward. "Goodbye..." she murmurs, and turns, walking back towards the campus.

Aegir had found her torn, temptation, reunion and the feeling that something was not right with the situation. She ran and while Aegir could have done any number of things but he did not allowing her to flee. He had been quite slow but he could have done many things ... mind control or illusions to slow her down, telekinesis where he could have held her immobile or even levitate her off of the ground.

But he had let her go back to her dorm. Oh yes, he had sent her a few messages about the caves and the wealth of information that they acquired in the way of old books and such but she never showed. He hadn't expected her too really.

So he let her eluded him. Not just that but he let her forget about most of the encounter that night letting an entire season go by. He was patient after all and on this particular night he had scaled up the wall only to peer inside and see her sleeping form inside.

He had no doubts that the window was locked, she seemed the cautious type, though such a precaution was easy for him to get around.

Right now though he exerted mental control over her, changing her dreams as they melded and brought her back to the night long ago ...

Time passed and in the avalanche of encounters that followed, the encounter with her sister was largely forgotten, buried deep in her subconscious. It was not an experience she wished to remember, but it still haunted her in her dreams, vague and unsettling memories simmering just below conscious thought.

Like most nights, tonight she slept alone. Sure she had lovers, friends, confidants, but the secrets she kept made true intimacy a brief and rare experience. She could not be seen in public with her lovers, had instead to keep them at arm's length, to prevent her little schemes from being discovered. So it was tonight, as she slipped to simple black bra and panties, climbing under her covers.

Her sleep was restless and fitful, tossing and turning. The unbearable heat of the night left her in a fever haze, kicking and squirming in her sheets, faint sheen of sweat as she tried to push away her fears and her insecurities, to find rest. But as she finally drifted on to dreams, she found she wasn't safe even in sleep. And as her tight little body writhes in Aegir's line of sight, beneath the damp, clinging sheets, her mind was elsewhere, the deep black passage of the cave stretching out before her in mind's eye, the memories flooding back.

His telekinesis reached out as it touched upon the window's lock while white eyes gazed through the glass at the quivering form of Elise beneath the sheets as he altered her dreams. His suctioned cupped tentacles stuck fast to the wall of the window, his flesh now a reddish hue to better blend in such anyone cast their gaze in his direction.

He had sensed nothing though. No one nearby save for the sleeping Elise. His mind unlocking the window as he opened it with his mind just enough to flow beneath it's frame given his boneless nature.

He pooled onto the floor, a tentacle reaching back to slid the window closed so that there hadn't been a chance for a wayward draft in waking her. He then slithered towards the edge of the bed as he looked upon her helpless body.

A hand trickled down her cheek as his mouth tendrils quivered this way and that. He closed his eyes as if he were concentrated on something this time causing her dream to shift.

There she had been, sitting at a large wooden table on a bench. Numerous books had been stacked up her while a candle flickered in a slight breeze shedding a soft glow on the yellowish pages of a book. She had been in a cave that seemed to have books lined up in so many shelves that the room seemed to be a subterranean library of sorts.

Outside a wolf howled. This of course had been followed by a scream, a feminine scream that disturbed her from her reading ...

She writhes restlessly, sheets clung to near-nude form, tangled tight around bare legs, slender shoulders. Her cheek flinches away from his caress instinctively, but she doesn't wake, lost too deep in the dream.

It's a place she knows she's been before, frighteningly vivid in her unfamiliarity. She leans over the bench, elbows on surface, back arched forward as she pores intently over the tome before her. The words are important and the stack of book, she knows she picked them herself. And as she reads, she can continue to feel her pace quicken, but whether from terror or excitement, she doesn't know. She reads, her body comprehends, but her brain does not register what the words say even as her body does.

Eyes go wide, nearly jumping out of her skin, her head turning back to the black portal of the cave as a howl then a scream carry on the wind. In her bed, she gasps, eyes fluttering.

Then nothing. No sound for a moment then the growl of something probably a lupine given the howl. While Elise's initial shock wears off as the sound isn't as piercing though it growls at something. So vivid is the sound that Elise could picture a wolf, it's muzzle quivering as muddy paws trudge through the earth, a light rain similar to mist falls down upon a large wolf the size off a pony.

Green eyes locking on their prey as it neared.

Next came a shrill voice, feminine of course.

"GO AWAY1

Well, Christ, is this what she's going to be pulled into? Her mind is telling her no, half aware it's a dream, but her body is still moving. And the next moment, she's standing at that cave entrance. A cold metal letter opener, apparently pulled from the table, is clenched in white fist. Eyes search through the unceasing blackness, ominous shadows of trees, leaves dancing on the wind.

"Who's out there?" she growls. But she can see it out there, that hulking black shape of a wolf, the smaller, trembling frame of a woman, and she pushes out into the heavy rain.

The night had been dark but the aroma, that pungent aroma of wet dog reached her nostrils. There some 20 yards ahead and slightly to the left had been a wolf, a rather large one. It had failed to notice her though as it growled, it's muzzle displaying it's sharp teeth.

It had cornered a girl with sandy brown hair that extended down to her ears. Arms, legs and face had been covered in scratches and if it had not been so dark a pair of startling green eyes could be see.

She had been looking down from her perch in the branches of a small maple tree just out of reach of the wolf as it leapt up at her and snapped at her with it's jaws. The girl, early 20's maybe, whimpered as the animal did so as it with a lucky jump would bring the wolf close enough to clamp it's jaws upon her and tare her from the tree to the earth beneath.

In her dreams, she's a far braver person. There aren't quite so many elements to calculate, not nearly so many spinning plates at risk. It's just her, the woman, and the snarling beast between the two. The latter being, surely, some expression of her subconscious. She's taken psychology classes. She knows the Freudian implications of the pretty young girl in red and the hulking virile monster and if she looked up, she'd likely find herself wrapped in a crimson hood. But no. She's reaching down into the dirt, digging through the fallen leaves, fingers wrapping around a steady, heavy round rock.

And as her eyes lift back up to the enormous monster, as it scrabbles desperately up the length of the tree, boughs shaking alarmingly, leaves lazily raining down from the limbs, she's already winding up her arm, pitching the heavy smooth stone at the forehead of the great wolf.

Like a major league pitcher there's a wind up, then a throw. A fast "ball" as the stone flows towards it's unsuspecting target. The attention of the wolf being diverted means that it is struck upon the side of the head, hard. It let's out a surprised yelp of pain, a few droplets of blood splatter on the earth from a laceration at the side of it's head.

Instinctively it turns in Elise's direction as if needing to know what just happened or who had been responsible for it's recent bout of misfortune though as it's neck twists to the side it takes a leap back, again on instinct as it springs away from the area that brought it pain.

It sees her standing there and an easy meal doesn't cross it's pain laced mind as it simple turns tail and runs figuring that it can snare easier prey. Taking off as it had the woman is reluctant from getting down from the perch that had saved her life.

Brown eyes go to her though full of relief at the end of her torment. "Thank you," the girl says at last as she gazes at her savior.

Damn, that was a hell of a shot. Only in a dream could Elise beam a monster square like that. But that's what dreams are for, right? She can't help but grin like a fool. Still, a niggling thought in the back of her mind tells her something is wrong here. She's fought far more fierce than that before and she's never, ever seen a monster give up on its prey. IF anything, the bastards seem to like a little fight. Is she even on the island now? No. It's some other space. Some place near but not quite... She just can't remember... But something's... Something's... And the thought flutters away as quickly as it came, as thoughts are apt to do in dream space, and the pretty damsel is smiling down at her and she smirks back up, eyes still watching the dark shadows the wolf vaulted off through in her periphery.

Her head cants to the side. There's something about Dante and the gates of hell she's supposed to be remembering right now. Oh well... All in good time. She's a hero. And she smiles slyly, like heroes are supposed to. "Don't tell me I'm going to have to call the fire department. Something tells me it's a hell of a drive. And I doubt I get reception out here."

Cautiously she climbs down from the tree after snickering at the joke but finally she makes it down to the ground, eyes glancing in the direction that the wolf headed in then back to Elise as she grew confident that the wolf had gone.

"Thank you," she began again, I didn't think that there had been anyone out here. Not that I am not thankful but what are you doing out here?"

She asked though she could see the cave mouth in the near distance. Her savior did not look to be a hermit and her thoughts flicked through her eyes as she considered options in her head before her eyes went wide as if dawning hit her.

"Your one of them!" She instinctively stepped back away from Elise.

"I was...." Her brow sinks, darkened and puzzled as the question sinks in. In her bed, eyelids flutter, sheets tangled around her waist, the supple leaness of her body exposed from hips upward, hard sensitive nipples brushing against harsh cotton. A heartbeat. What is she doing here? She doesn't know. "I was reading, and then I dozed off and I was dreaming.... And your scream woke me up."

A brow goes up, expression indignant, the sudden shift in emotion forcing the questioning thoughts of why she's here from her mind. "Please, bitch. I just saved you from the evening breed and feed with Cerberus back there."

n the real, in her dorm room Aegir gazed at those signs of sexual arousal or was that simply a cold draft. He longed to take advantage regardless of the case as he loomed over her now, shadow sweeping against her as he had gazed down at her ... but not yet, not yet ...

Meanwhile the dream played out, the other girl shaking her head slightly then gazed at her. "I guess not ..." she said softly as if dispelling her own words.

"I mean ... no motive for you if you were ... you could have just waited and ..." she shivered, grabbed her arms and rubbed them as if she had experienced a great deal of cold coursing over her. "Sorry. Thank you ..."