An hour after I had returned I heard movement from Tom and Marissa's room. Josh's voice rose in a complaint of hunger. Marissa quieted him and I heard the three head for the roof. They left the door between the roof and the hallway open, "Oh, someone put the soup on. That was nice of them."

Shortly Hank and Ben stirred in their rooms. Ben was clumsy first thing in the morning. A bang sounded from his room followed by his sleepy irritated voice, "Darn chair. You weren't supposed to fall over like that."

Of course, blame the chair. He was the main reason I put the coffee out. Nicky was the second reason. I looked over at her as she sat up with a grumble. Liz stirred and blinked sleepily as she also sat up. I stretched and stood up, "There is coffee and soup on the roof."

Nicky stood up with a grumble as she wrapped her sleeping bag around her and trudged out the door without so much as a good morning. Liz stood up and I helped her put her coat on before we entered the hallway. Hank and Ben were already climbing the stairs.

I glanced back as a door behind us opened. From the corner of my eyes I saw Daniel enter the hallway first as he glanced around. He eyed me up with an expression that looked like curiosity with a hint of a challenge. Nina had obviously told him who the Nightstalker really was. I let Liz drag me toward the stairs and up them. I heard the two others following the flow of people.

Marissa handed Liz a bowl of warm soup. I declined the bowl she offered me. This didn't surprise her, they had gotten used to me only eating a small amount at supper. I couldn't eat much in the way of real food anymore and one small meal a day was my limit. I could easily go a day or two without real food. In theory, I was technically unable to starve to death, but I had no desire to attempt it. I liked my food too much.

The bowl was passed to Nina instead. To my surprise Daniel accepted a small bowl of soup. Ben was downing his cup of strong coffee like water. I couldn't even figure out how he managed to swallow it. It smelled strong enough to enter a kick boxing ring. Liz climbed into my lap again and leaned against me as she slowly ate her soup.

My sunglasses shielded my eyes so I was able to observe Nina and Daniel without them catching me openly watching them. Nina had a slightly scraped up elbow and one or two small scratches on her arms from last night. Nina kept glancing over at me with an intrigued look. Daniel was more open about his watching and his eyes often strayed to me.

He didn't seem openly hostile, although every time I shifted my weight I gained his immediate attention. In truth, he looked pretty laid back with the other humans on the surface, but I clearly recalled his growling as he went to check on Nina and I could easily pick out the signs of distrust in his body language. Appearances were so deceiving.

Ben yawned, "Hey Nicky, could you please wash my dishes?"

She retorted, "They are disposable styrofoam, wash your own bloody dishes."

He chuckled, "Pretty please?"

Nicky whipped her spoon at him and he moved his leg to avoid the off course missile. Daniel examined the fiery lady who had clearly not woken up enough for Ben's teasing. She was wearing her sunglasses again and I wondered if she was doing it on purpose to annoy Daniel. If it hadn't been for the event last night, it could have kept him uncertain for a while longer.

Ben was truly awake now and there was a new lady present. He promptly made a nuisance of himself. "I bet you would look cute with your hair done up in a ponytail or a bun."

Nina glanced at him, "In that case I will leave it hanging as it is." She had no intention of putting her loosely flowing hair up if it made him attracted to her. Score one for her subtle putdown.

As per usual, Ben ignored the subtle request for peace, "Such a cutie like you shouldn't be ashamed to dress up and live a little."

"You should try jumping off a bridge. You only live once after all. I hear it is the fun trend for cool people right now." I chuckled as I gave Nina another point for a snappy comeback.

Ben obviously had lots of practice in being blown off since he didn't even bat an eye, "I will happily jump if a beauty like you jumps with me."

Daniel exhaled gustily, "Leave her alone."

Hank raised his head, he seemed to realize that there was more to this man than met the eye. I suspected it was because his gusty exhale of mild annoyance was so similar to the one he had heard numerous times from me when I had enough of Ben's teasing. Ben wasn't so observant, "Relax dude, I am sure your questionable manliness can handle me flirting a bit with this cutie pie."

Daniel's muscles tensed a bit as his eyes shifted to a glowing red while he gave a sharp growl of warning. Ben froze with wide eyes, the others were also looking alarmed or surprised. Hank looked wary, but didn't seem too terribly surprised.

Nina wasn't bothered and Nicky looked bored as she downed another swallow of her coffee. I wasn't overly worried since the growl had been a warning growl, not a true threat. I still kept a wary eye on him as my instincts shifted uneasily.

Ben turned to me with wide eyes. I snorted, "Don't look at me for help. A Terror wouldn't have any more problems beating a Nightstalker than a Nightstalker would have beating a Runner. And I don't particularly feel like being pinned face down in the dirt this early in the morning. Especially over your ill-timed flirting."

His jaw dropped, "You mean you knew?!"

I gave him a look that plainly said how dense I found his observation, "His scent gave him away the second he came within range. There were a few other clues if you were looking."

How did I get myself into these situations? Last week I had been enjoying a quiet life at my cabin in the foothills on the edge of the mountains and now I was trying to escort a bunch of humans to safety. To make things worse, a Terror had appeared and some of the humans seemed determined to tick him off. This trip was going downhill so fast that it was practically in freefall.

Nicky yawned, "Ben, is your head up your ass for the warmth? If so, I am sure these two red eyed freaks can help set you straight."

I growled lightly and she sent a half-hearted punch at my shoulder to show that she didn't give a shit. I barely felt her teasing blow as I let her hit my shoulder. She smirked at me, "It is my job to be grouchy in the morning. You can take over later on."

I rolled my eyes. She was clearly starting to wake up. Sometimes I wasn't sure what was preferable, her scowling at her morning coffee in silence or her attitude as she started to wake up. Nina and Daniel watched our interaction. Nina's eyes practically burned with curiosity, "So you really are a Nightstalker?"

I looked across the firepit at Nina, "Yes. I assume Daniel is a Terror?"

They both nodded. Daniel tilted his head in curiosity, "I met a sane Nightstalker once. She was quite the cantankerous thing and easily lost her temper. I ended up pinning her a dozen times in three days. Very temperamental. You don't seem anything like her. I was under the impression that all Nightstalkers were a snarly bunch. I truly thought you were human last night."

Nicky snorted, "Once she is aware that you know her secret she doesn't hide her temper so carefully. I lost count of the number of times she growled at me yesterday."

Ben chuckled, "You deserved every one of those growls."

She shrugged, "Probably." She didn't seem to care that a zombie had growled at her a dozen times and that she now sat with a Nightstalker and a Terror. I wasn't sure that there was any medication out there that could help her at this point.

Daniel's gaze moved back to me and his eyes were back to their camouflaged brownish color, "Thank you for saving Nina last night."

The others had looks of confusion. I shrugged lightly, "No problem. I originally thought that you might have returned and that both of you were sneaking out. I didn't realize she was in trouble until I saw them through the window."

He blinked slowly while he examined me, as if he wasn't overly sure what to make of me now that I had blown his preconception of Nightstalkers out of the water. He still kept a careful eye on me, uncertain as to how unpredictable I really was.

Nina leaned forward, "I thought that Nightstalkers had severe problems with light and couldn't handle being outside during the day? From what I heard, even sunglasses let in far too much light and weren't sufficient."

I turned my head slightly to face her, "These are actually welding glasses and I altered them a bit so that they form around my face to prevent any light from coming in. They are the only reason I can handle this level of light."

The morning light was just starting to hit us and I took care to avoid looking toward the sun. She nodded with a look of fascination, "You don't seem to have any problem holding that child. Surely you feel the bloodlust?"

I stilled for a few moments before responding slowly, "Yes, the bloodlust is present and I am constantly aware of it at some level. Being around them so much has desensitized the severity of it somewhat, but it is still there. I am in control and my humanity is greater than my Nightstalker instincts."

She tilted her head intently, "And if you lost control?"

A growl rumbled lightly in my chest at that thought, "I take precautions, but if I thought my control was that close to breaking I would do my best to get away from any humans. Human blood is a short path to madness and I like having my mind at least mostly intact."

She nodded, neither of them took offense to my growl. "What sort of precautions?"

I exhaled gustily at the interrogation, "Mostly I hunt regularly. The smell of spilt human blood in the immediate vicinity is the worst and if it gets too bad I try to get away. If that option is out, I generally try to breathe through my mouth or somehow mask the smell."

Her eyes widened as she stiffened slightly. Daniel transferred his gaze to her reaction in confusion. Nina spoke lowly, "You said you could smell my blood and I was right beside you. You led me back and there was no way to mask the smell on our trip. You had to be worked up after what happened. How did you manage?"

Daniel's head swiveled to me as his eyes took on a red tint. I leaned back in the chair, slightly rearranging the child in my arms, "Your injuries barely bled and the scent was faint. I had hunted very well the night before. Yes, the bloodlust got worse when I smelled it, but my control was not in question. If it had been, I would have directed you back to the hotel and gone hunting." I paused and turned to Daniel, "How far away did you go that you didn't pick up the scent of her blood?"

He blinked at my question, "About ten kilometers or so. Once I was about halfway back I caught her scent."

It was my turn to be confused, a Terror should have picked up that scent way faster at that distance. "There was a light breeze, were you upwind? I didn't catch your scent while outside. If you were downwind, how could you not have noticed it?"

He seemed confused as well, "I was downwind, but that is a long distance to pick up even the scent of human blood."

Both of us looked at each other in confusion. Nina interjected, "Trinity, you said you picked up my scent from the hotel. Would you have picked up the smell of my blood from ten kilometers downwind?"

I nodded slowly and replied just as slowly, "Certainly. I picked up the smell of blood when I went to rescue Tom and Marissa and I was much further away, although much more blood had been spilled."

Her eyes lit up, "That is very interesting. I wonder what the differences really are between a Terror and a Nightstalker. I had thought all abilities were heightened for each increase in zombie rank, but now I'm having doubts after what I have seen and heard. Would you mind doing some experiments?"

My body stilled as I watched her like a hawk. Experiments? I was suspicious to say the least. Nina picked up my suspicion from my silence and clarified, "Just simple things, like having you race Daniel. To see if he is actually faster or stronger, and if so, by how much."

I relaxed slightly, that wasn't nearly as bad as what I had been envisioning. It would also be a harmless way of seeing Daniel's abilities. If he flipped, I wanted to know how many steps I would get before he caught up. I slowly nodded, "I don't see any problem with that."

Hopefully I wasn't getting into more than I could handle.