AN: Well, I'm awful at deadlines.

Calamity ensues in the vacuumed sealed library.

Sides are taken immediately.

Was this an attack on Verena, or was this a different spell cast on her that went wrong?

Did this happen by magic?

If so, who's?

Witch or fae?

Light or dark magic?

.......The last question put out is probably the most important one yet.....

What should we do with the Verena of now?

"I say we load her down with chains and wait this out." The male undead's voice is the clearest out of the crowd, immediately silencing everyone.

"Wait this out? We aren't even sure what THIS is! We need to actually figure something out because those chains will be coming off by the end of today." Eric's anger practically radiates through his skin.

His words are too abrasive, mine won't be. I force myself to step up because he's fighting this through the wrong angle.

"What he means to say is that this isn't going to just end here, therefore we need to trace its origins in order to fight back next time." My words catch the collective attention and now I wish I can take them back.

'Damn you, Verena.' I snap mentally in frustration.

So far I've been flying under the radar since my aggressive outburst when I first arrived. Now I've gone and made myself center stage, again. All for a leech that probably won't remember what my face looks like as the millennia pass her by.

"Are you theorizing that this was an attack?" Beth asks as she leans into Robert.

The rest of the room notices her movements but no one seems to really be bothered by this. Maybe I'm the only one who's concerned about the ending of this affair because Beth has a big heart and Robert doesn't have one at all.

While looking at them, I arrange my thoughts before they travel down a different tangent.

"I find no use in theorizing when I analyze the facts as they've been given to me." The confidence I feel stems from a gut feeling so I have no problems continuing.

"If what Robert told us is true, Verena has been building that mental block of hers for decades. There is no way a spell can misfire like that and take it down. I'm no witch but even if they were looking to end Verena, wouldn't the miscalculation just knock her out or immobilize her or something?"

Beth takes a second, presumably to go through a list of spells and their possible outcomes if they were done wrong. After a minute or two she nods to confirm my suspicions.

Her assurance gives me a clear path to forge ahead. No one moves much less speaks and I appreciate that they're taking me seriously.

"Exactly, whatever spell cast was aiming to take away Verena's already thin sanity. In it, they broke down a mental block I know for sure couldn't have been easy. The spell also had to be strong as all hell because it needed to creep past the conscious to the subconscious, that takes a specialized skill set too. Wouldn't you agree? By the time Verena realized and aimed to fight-it was too late. I saw the red consume her with my own eyes." With my little speech over I cross my arms across my chest and stare at the unconscious Verena, willing everyone to stop gaping at me.

'Good job Detective Puppy Eyes.' Will sure knows how to piss me off and reassure me all in one sentence.

In response, I look the fae in the eyes and curl one side of my mouth up in a fake snarl.

'Stay out of my head Will. Final warning.' I've been too lenient on the fae and I'm sick of this weird connection.

Instead of saying anything back, Will walks to my self imposed time out corner. He gets so close that I have to look up to challenge his eyes pupil-less, solid black eyes.

We lock eyes and I don't notice the growling is coming from me until he speaks aloud.

"And what exactly will you do puppy eyes? Bite me?" Will's voice is low, but I know the silence of the library allows his words to reach everyone.

Our tension pops as I make the first move. Predictably so, wolves are often dragged for our tempers and I'm just proving them all right which angers me more.

I slide my hands up his stomach, the already ice hard abs tighten more at my touch. The traitors I call hands linger before following my command to keep moving upward, when I feel the indent of his pecs I stop and rest my hands firmly over them.

Eyes locked. Will's face doesn't budge an inch to give me a glimpse of what he's thinking. The only thing I can tell is that he's breathing harder and I know that only because my hands are on his chest.

'This here is the problem,' I think to myself, 'he keeps getting too close.'

Which is why I tense my legs, quickly remove my hands off his chest only to shove them forward.

Hard.

His back meeting the ground makes me smile.

Will doesn't go back as far as I hope but now I have a good two yards or so distance from him. My hands clench and loosen as my mind goes to warring with what I should do next.

The decision is taken from me as my body ignores my mind and launches at the fae with intent to do damage, and again the decision is taken from me when I'm quite literally plucked from the air.

"Stop antagonizing her!" Robert sounds angry for the first time I've met him. He has an arm wrapped around my neck and another across my chest.

Neither arm is forgiving and my wiggling soon causes black spots to dot my vision from suffocation. I will my body to stop fighting and soon I have control again.

Their words float in and out as I slowly regain the oxygen I lost.

".....she isn't ready. Forcing.... will only cause more problems. What part of that don't you get?" Eric sounds pissed as well but he sounds more annoyed than anything. At some point he moved away from Verena and is now standing in between Will and I.

Will's pops up to his feet with an annoying buoyancy to get right in Eric's face.

"You think I'm scared of a few scratches? Everyone bonds differently, she wants my throat and I intend to make her work for it." His teeth catch the light as he smiles wide.

I look away from him and at everyone else.

Surprisingly I don't see judgement or condemnation coming from their eyes. More than anything, everyone looks disappointed that their entertainment was stopped short.

Feeling her "eyes", I look at Beth and only feel her sympathy.

Which is the last thing I need.

"I'm done." I force out through grinding teeth.

My words make both Eric and Will tense but I don't pay them any mind.

"Let me go Robert. I'm done."

Shame presses itself firmly on my throat and the sensation doesn't lesson as I'm slowly released.

With my feet firmly on the ground, I straighten my dress out and wipe off the specs of blood onto my thigh. Not looking around, I pass the males and take a seat next to Rose on the brown leather couch.

"I can't rebuild the block, but there might be a spell to push the subconscious back." Beth states. She walks closer to Verena as she thinks.

With the attention off me, I sag slightly in the couch. My eyes burn as I berate my behavior, why did I think pushing him was a good idea?

I don't notice that I'm staring at my lap until a bright pink hand extends to grab one of my hands that are resting there. They were clenched together until the pick hand coaxes one loose. Pink fingers intertwine with my own.

My head cocks to the side in confusion so my gaze travels up the arm to its owner.

Rose keeps facing forward to look at Beth as she explains the spell she wants to perform, but a strong squeeze of her hand makes me want to hug her. I didn't know I needed this but somehow she did.

I feel Will's gaze burning the side of my face but I'm not stupid enough to give in a second time in the same day. Eventually we'll have our fight, but not today.

For the first time, I feel my mental walls are strong enough to block him.

AN: Short, I know. My problem is that I just couldn't think of anything more to add.