The spilled blood was fresh on the front of the Minion's shirt, and hunger flared in that deadly part of Lucan that was still starving and trying to heal. His mouth throbbed in response to the feeding impulse, but rage burned hotter at the idea of Gabrielle being harmed by this scum. His stare locked in deadly heat on the Minion, Lucan offered Gabrielle his hand to help her up from the ground.
"Did he hurt you?"
She shook her head no, but a small sound caught in her throat, half sob, half hysterical moan. "He's the one, Lucan - the one I saw watching me in the park the other day!"
"He's a Minion," Lucan said, growling the word through gritted teeth. He didn't care who the human was. In a few minutes it would be history, anyway.
"Gabrielle, you need to get out of here, sweetheart."
"W-what? You mean leave you with him? Lucan, he has a gun."
"Go now, baby. Just run back out the way you came and get yourself home. I'll make sure you're safe there."
The Minion was doubled over on the ground, still clutching the handgun, coughing in an effort to catch the breath Lucan had kicked out of him. He spat a mouthful of blood, and Lucan's stare tightened on the crimson spray soaking into the dirt. His gums ached with the stretching of his fangs.
"Lucan - "
"Goddamn it, Gabrielle! Leave!"
The command rushed out of him in a furious snarl, but there was little he could do to contain the beast within him. He was going to kill again - his anger was so out of control, he needed to - and he refused to let her see it.
"Run, Gabrielle. Go now!"
She ran.
Head reeling, heart practically exploding, Gabrielle took off at Lucan's bellowed command.
But she wasn't about to go home like he said and leave him all alone. She fled the playground area, praying that the street and the station house full of armed cops, wouldn't be far. Part of her hated leaving Lucan at all, but another part of her - a part that was desperate to do what she could to help him - sent her legs flying out beneath her.
As mad as she was at his deception, as frightened as she was of everything she didn't understand about him, she needed him to be all right.
If anything were to happen to him -
The thought was cut short as a round of gunfire cracked behind her in the dark.
She froze, all the breath sucked out of her lungs.
She heard a strange, animal roar.
Another two shots rang out, rapid sequence, then... nothing.
Only a heavy, wrenching silence.
Oh, God.
"Lucan?" she screamed. Panic lodged in her throat. "Lucan!"
She was running once more, back where she'd come from. Back to where she feared her heart was going to shatter into a million pieces if Lucan wasn't standing there unharmed when she reached him.
She felt a vague sense of worry that the kid from the police precinct - Minion, that was the odd word Lucan had called him - might be waiting for her, or already coming after her to finish her off as well. But concern for her own personal safety was shoved aside as she neared the little corner of the moonlit playground.
She just needed to know that Lucan was okay.
Above everything else in that moment, she needed to be with him.
She saw the silhouette of a dark figure on the grassy yard - Lucan, standing with legs braced apart, arms held down at his sides in a menacing angle. He stood over his assailant who was evidently ass-planted on the ground in front of him and attempting to scrabble out of Lucan's reach.
"Thank God," Gabrielle whispered under her breath, instantly relieved.