Karena D'Nile
Featuring: Zoé Flores
Location: D’Nile Family Home.
Interacting With: Each Other During Flashback.
It had been a long night for Karena, one filled with very little sleep and a lot of worry of what had happened and to what was to come. She had spent a lot of the night and early morning with Cleo, her niece had come home after sneaking out to be with her friends last night for the camping, Karena wouldn't of stopped her from going as all she had to do was ask as she felt there was no reason to worry and trusted the group that went, but all that had changed now.
Last night her girl had come home and was covered abit in blood, was visibly upset as her fangs had extended, she was scared and so Karena had spend time calming her down getting her cleaned up, sorted out the clothes before getting the young teen to sleep, that was a mission in itself. She had since been leaning against the kitchen counter with a fresh cup of coffee to help wake the senses up, A thud from upstairs meant that Cleo was up or at least fell out of her bed was also a possibility, Could a dhampir fall out of bed? Either way the whole thing felt similar and gave the hunter a major case of deja vu from an incident similar roughly one year ago when another blood stained woman came to her door late one night.
𝒪𝓃𝑒 𝒴𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒜𝑔𝑜…
The cold night air sent a shiver through her otherwise warm body as she stood on the other side of the street, her soft lips parting ever so slightly from one another as she stared up at the house, her dark eyes seeming to linger for the longest of times upon the front door. This wasn’t what she wanted to do… where she wanted to be… She didn’t want to have to go to her, but it was clear now more than ever that she just didn’t have any choice.
This was the only place she could go…
Shooting a quick and slightly terrified glance around the street, Zoé slowly began to cross over the road, her bare feet carrying her through the gate and up the driveway before eventually, she made her way up to the front door, reaching her blood covered hand out she hesitated, her gaze flicking down to look at it shaking in front of her before she shook her head, her eyes shutting tightly as she closed her fist, using it to slowly pound on the door once… twice… three times… her body shaking lightly as she waited in the darkness. This was a risk… a big risk… She was willingly going to see a hunter; it was either going to go well, or end badly...
It was a quiet relaxing night for Karena, Darien was out on a night shift while the girls were out for the cold evening, it was nice to be able to finally take the time to sit on the sofa in the front room. The room was dimly lit by candles while she was reading a book that her daughter Emilia had recommended a while ago, it was not her thing but it was certainly interesting, she had her feet up with a glass of wine just simply enjoying the peace and quiet, she wore her hair down… letting it freely drape over her shoulders as she continued to read away getting lost in the book.
The knock on the door made her jump a little, it was unexpected and rather late into the night… Who could possibly be knocking at the door at this hour? Maybe the girls had come back early and forgotten their keys again? No matter, gently resting the book down on the side table with the glass of wine before letting out a soft sigh as she stood up upon her bare feet and brushing a few stray locks of hair behind her ear. Casually walking her way from the front room and down the hall towards the door, she was wearing a simple buttoned shirt that was a little too big for her as she was not expecting any visitors.
Her lips parted slightly as she called out.
“Just a minute.” Moments later the hall light was switched on as she could make out a silhouette that was waiting for her to answer the door, a few more moments had passed before the sound of her unlocking the door could be heard, unaware of what she was about to come face to face with… Upon opening the door her eyes widened to a very surprising and disturbing sight all rolled into one, left completely speechless the hunter had found herself just standing there just staring at the sight before her as the cold night air was being let into the home, She did the one thing that she hated most… hesitated.
“Z...Zoé?”The moment the door opened, Zoé lifted her head up, her body still shaking both from the cold and her fear as she met her gaze with the woman standing in front of her. Karena looked just as terrified as she did… she couldn’t blame her, not when she was standing on the woman’s front porch, covered in blood that wasn’t even her own. A familiar sting hitting her eyes, she couldn’t stop herself, instead just allowing the tears to start rolling down her face as she stared up at the woman, almost pleading with her as she spoke, her voice soft… almost inaudible as she did so.
“..h-help me…”Karena had found herself meeting the gaze of the alpha standing before, her mind processing just what exactly the situation she just found herself in. Zoé looked terrified before her, but not just that but the woman was absolutely covered in blood and without clothing. Again Karena stood there hesitant… speechless, something that she shouldn’t be doing but it was not everyday a supernatural knocked on a hunters door and… asking for help, did she just hear that right? Tears were rolling down the woman’s eyes before her, her voice soft and quiet to the point that Karena could barely hear the alpha pleading to her, But what was she thinking? Zoé was at her door asking for help and she just stood there and needed to react and assess.
“Jesus Zoé…” She replied softly quickly glancing around to make sure no one could or had seen anything before reaching out to the woman.
“Quick… come in before someone sees you out here like this… You must be freezing.” It was the first thing to come to mind, help the woman… this could be one of the biggest and costly mistakes of her life.
Moving forward and into the house as the woman ushered her inside, Zoé tore her gaze away, allowing her dark eyes to glance about the room she could see as she tried to keep herself under check, restraining herself from leaning into the warm touch the woman had held against her almost frozen to the touch skin. Shivering once more, she took another moment to look around the room before her attention was drawn back to Karena, the tears never once stopping as they continued to roll down her cheeks.
“..I-I did something t-terrible… I-... I need your h-help…”Carefully watching as the woman came into her home, something Karena herself thought she would never do, She couldn’t help but notice just how cold Zoé was, her skin was freezing to the touch compared to her own and she immediately closed the door behind them, locking it up, Hopefully there wouldn’t be anymore unexpected guests. Once that was sorted, Karena began to think of the best thing she could grab nearby to wrap around her new guest in order to help her warm up, and to at least cover her up. Even if it was something small for the moment, as no doubt cleaning her up would also be a priority. Taking Zoé’s hand carefully, she lead her gently to the candle lit front room that she had been resting in prior.
“Okay… Okay, Zoé… I’m just going to get some things quickly, and you can tell me what’s happened okay? We need to get you warmed up, and calm your nerves…” She could not afford the alpha to shift suddenly in her living room.
Karena wasted no time in getting to work, she immediately went and got a wooden chair from the dining table, bringing it over for Zoé to sit on; it might not be perfect, but at least she had something to sit on that wouldn’t get permanently stained by the blood she was covered in. Motioning for the woman to sit, she then set off into the kitchen to put the kettle on, and to find a blanket or towel that she could at least put over the woman’s shoulders. After a good few minutes of finding a spare towel and folding it over her arm, Karena eventually made a fresh cup of coffee and brought it into the front room, handing it over to Zoé, this would then free her up to wrap the towel around her before kneeling in front of the alpha…
“Now… what have you done that requires my help?” her voice was soft and gentle, there was no point in suddenly going all hunter mode on her, not in her home, it was still so surreal that here she was, kneeling in front of Zoé, of all people… An alpha werewolf… Momentarily Karena moved her hand to the side of Zoé’s face, stroking away some of the hair that had gotten stuck to the woman's face by the blood.
“I-I didn’t m-mean to…”Closing her eyes as she felt the woman’s gentle touch upon her cheek, Zoé leant into the palm of her hand, the tears refusing to stop as she leant forward, her shoulders hunching lightly as she pulled the towel tighter around her body, doing everything she could to bring warmth back to herself. She was so cold… so, so cold…
Her lower lip quivering slightly as she spoke, she shook her head lightly from side to side, the sting once more hitting her eyes as she began to explain what happened to the woman taking care of her at this moment… or at least, to explain as best as she could in the moment,
“..I-I didn’t want to hurt him, but… he-... he was attacking me… and I just-... I-I didn’t mean to…”When Zoé leant into her hand still crying, it was easy to forget what she was an actual werewolf, and not just any werewolf… she was an alpha. She kept on stroking the side of the woman’s blood stained face, even with the blood on her hand she had assumed that it was Zoé’s own and that before her arrival here, her wounds had healed. That was until she mentioned hurting someone, a male… she didn’t mean to… Just what did Zoé do?
Her smile had faded in just those few moments from the alpha’s words, Karena was a hunter and was within inches of a supernatural she thought she knew… Her tone serious, she needed to find out more, but this could turn ugly fast if she was not careful.
“What did you do Zoé? Who attacked you?... I can’t help you if you won’t tell me..”“..a-a hunter…” Pausing a moment, Zoé shut her eyes tighter than before, not sure just how to go about telling her what she had done before she decided to get it over with, her gaze once more lifting to meet with hers as she spoke softly once more, answering the woman’s question,
“..I-... I think I killed him,,,”A hunter… Of all the things that it could’ve been, it had to be a dam hunter that fought Zoé, hell he must of been pretty damn persistent or something to get to the point of Zoé thinking she had possibly killed him, and if she did… this could be very bad. It did beg the question of why come her about it? Processing what she had been told, Karena had removed her now blood covered hand from the woman’s face and removing herself away from the alpha and creating a little distance between them before pacing round thinking.
With the hunter inside her ringing alarm bells of needing to deal with this threat, Karena kinda knew that Zoé was normally not that sort of person, from the little she knew the alpha that is, the pair shared a common interest in keeping klamath safe… right now she had to control her emotions before she did something she’d regret like putting the woman before her down. Looking like she was about to lose her anger she took several deep breaths, but she still needed to think.
Looking over towards Zoé for a few moments, the hunter was really torn on what to do as she then looked at the blood on her hand.
“This isn’t your blood is it…?” she asked not looking back at Zoé.
Hesitating a moment, Zoé shook her head lightly from side to side, her soft lips parting ever so slightly from one another before she spoke,
“..n-no… not all of it…”Closing her eyes a moment after hearing confirmation that not all the blood was her own, Karena took a deep breath thinking on what she could say next, This woman had admitted to killing a fellow hunter… Granted the hunter was attacking the alpha but… what really baffled her the most was Zoé choosing to come to her and ask for help, Maybe the alpha trusted her to come forward with this? Karena could not ever think of a time that happened but anything can happen these days she guessed.
After what felt like the longest of silence, Karena eventually turned to face Zoé, taking in the sight before her once more, damn she was a mess. Literally her training was telling her… No screaming at her to take the alpha out, but instead she knelt down to Zoé’s level, still keeping distance as her lips parted slightly, letting out a little sigh..
“Okay… Okay, I’ll be honest with you… Right now my mind is screaming at me to take you out but…” She paused, her gaze now locked onto Zoé.
“ You came to me… Maybe you trust me or something, I don’t know… But what I am about to ask of you is really, really important…” Slowly Karena clasped her hands together in front of her, still leaning on her legs from where she was knelt down.
“Zoé… I need to see your eyes… Your real eyes.”Her eyes… she wanted to see her eyes; and not just the ones she was born with, but the ones she had gotten after she had first been given the bite. Holding the woman’s gaze for a few moments longer, Zoé eventually nodded her head lightly, the normal dark color disappearing as the bright sickly blood red took over, leaving the eyes of an alpha holding that of the hunter in front of her.
Her gaze never wavered when the woman nodded to her, watching carefully as Zoé shifted her eye colour to that of the blood red of an alpha, it was quite the sight to behold, it sent chills down her spine. Karena however, sighed in a huge relief. Zoé’s eyes were not blue as she feared. If there were, then the hunter was innocent… But in this case the man as not, and that meant he was a rogue hunter, something Karena disliked as much as a rogue supernatural, so it left new questions to be answered but for now, her first concern was helping Zoé.
After a few more moments of watching those eyes which seemed to have the hunter mesmerized, Karena snapped out of it and managed a slight smile. Slowly she stood up and made her way back over towards the alpha until she was within arms
reach once more and knelt down in front of her, Hesitating a moment before gently placing her hand on the side of Zoé’s face once more like before gently stroking it.
“Good news is, your eyes are the right colour… they’re not blue and you know what that means.” she spoke in a soft tone.
“..he wasn’t an innocent…”The words slipped from her lips before she could stop them, her voice soft as she spoke. Her eyes… her eyes were still the red she had become used to- a weight seemed to be lifted from her heavy heart as she let the news settle in her mind. The hunter that had gone after her… he wasn’t an innocent. Allowing her eyes to return back to normal, Zoé let them close once more as she felt the woman’s hands resting upon her cheeks,
“..he-... he wasn’t an innocent…”“That’s right… What he did or done, we can figure that out later. But he was definitely not innocent.”She to let the words and thoughts with it sink in, Karena felt bad that she doubted Zoé, but it was not easy when the fact is, Zoé was an alpha werewolf, how times have changed over the generations. She couldn’t help but notice how Zoé had been all this time, she was still covered in blood, cold with nothing but a towel around her shoulders.. It was time to fix that problem and help the woman that was in need.
“But right now, My main concern is getting you all cleaned up and warm, then see if i have something that could at least fit you, even if it is not a perfect fit.” of course she was referring to clothing, there was no way in hell, Karena was letting Zoé leave like this if she chose to. After she moved her hands into Zoé’s.
“How about we go and get you cleaned up?”𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒟𝒶𝓎...
Her phone going off suddenly bought Karena back to the present, the woman was not sure just how long she had just been standing there probably staring into space, snapping out of the thoughts of her niece covered in blood for a moment, Karena picked up the phone to see who had just messaged her. It was Emilia, her actual daughter, letting her know that she would soon be back into Klamath after dealing with some
‘family’ business out of town, although officially she was just spending some off away from work, By god she was not looking forward to having to explain and bring Emilia up to speed on what was just going on.
Texting back hoping everything went well and that there was an attack… and that there was much to discuss, Karena would no doubt speak to Emilia soon enough, For now there was several things that the hunter would need to do, it was going to be a long busy day, One of many problems to solve was just how many of the teens had been successfully turned, she only hoped that Zoé was able to get to them though as rogue pups would be extremely dangerous for Klamath, even if it was those teens, they were just kids and yet some evil sick alpha had the audacity to come to her town and attack them.
According to Cleo, there were others their defending the camp, one of which she had never seen before, and that it was the appearance of Zoé that made the dhampir leave. She even mentioned the sound of a high pitched scream that really hurt her ears, a deadly ringing… Considering her species, it meant sirens or a siren was also there, Karena was not sure on who or just how many teens had gone on the camping trip, maybe she didn’t want to know but had no choice when dealing with the supernatural.
She would have to go and check out the scene before it is all cleaned up for clues… Zoé will no doubt have her hands full on day one after the attack, but she will need to get some answers soon. Maybe…. Maybe she should go and speak to Seraphina. Hearing footsteps coming down the stairs, Karena had poured another cup of coffee for Cleo, it was probably not the best thing to give her as it can get her hyper, but the poor girl needed a little pick me up, or as her niece likes to say.
‘It’s not coffee, it’s a hug.’
