Bloodloss

who: Tensiel, Caleb, Eli, Dorian, and Fidelity
where: scene of the crime, then the Lockwood house
when: really late

Eli had been attempting to sleep for several hours now, but so far, all he'd managed had been the tossing, turning and five minute dozing variety. He didn't know if it was the shit still running through his head (which was a lot more prevalent now that he was alone) or... Other.

He just had a feeling... And you didn't spend most of your life dealing with sporadic clairvoyant visions without learning to trust those odd, occasional hunches. He'd already tried to calm himself down long enough to try to get a real, true vision; something tangible he could actually go on. Fuck his luck; it wasn't happening.

It wasn't until after eleven o'clock that he felt it. He was dozing again, but the sudden anger--from Tensiel, of all people!?--had him stirring. He sat up sleepily, rubbing at his eyes and groaning. Fuck, he'd been right. He just hadn't expected it to concern Tensiel. Now what did he d--

Rage, white hot, holy, righteous wrath like nothing he'd ever felt before ever and then it was gone in an instant. But it was enough to have him awake, and moving. And swearing violently. That? Could not be good. On any sort of level. An angel feeling like that was bad, bad news.

He swung his legs over the bed, still muttering curses, tearing into his bag for a needle. Fuck it, he'd need morphine to get through whatever was going on with Ten. Going into whatever she was going through with withdrawal pangs? Not an option. He'd be of no use to anyone like that. Without his usual skittish hesitation, he plunged the needle in, injecting the drug into his veins before tossing the used syringe carelessly towards the night stand.

Shoes next. Ignoring the sudden dizzy-giddy-euphoric-lethargic headrush, he grabbed his worn sneakers and pulled them on. "Teddy, I have no idea if you can hear me or if you're watching or not," he began, tying the laces tightly before standing unsteadily to his feet, "but I gotta go. Friend in trouble, and I think it's bad. Tell Syn I'm sorry," he said in a rush, speaking even as he was heading out the front door. "I'll call in the morning!" Unless I'm dead.

Teddy did happen to be listening. "Go on, kid. Call if you need anything, I'll hook you up. Be careful." he told Eli, then cut out so he could get done whatever it was he was going to be doing.

Eli took off in a full sprint the second his feet hit pavement, focusing on Tensiel and not on the woozy feeling in his head. She was calming down, but that was not necessarily a good thing. Calming down could mean she was bleeding out in an alley somewhere, or that someone had her in some sort of trance. Fuck that noise.

It was the first time in his life, really, that he wished he could teleport, or that he could project thoughts. Anything to get to her faster, or to tell her he was on his way, or even to demand to know what the fuck was going on so he could prepare better for what he was running into. The closer he got, the faster he ran, because whatever it was? It was either gone now, or he couldn't get a read on its' thoughts or emotions.

Both were equally horrifying. Either the fight was over (and hopefully Tensiel had won, because he couldn't imagine if she hadn't, what he would find--no, not thinking about that!), or he was running into the middle of something he had no idea what to do about. Being psychic was all he had. If whatever she was up against (was she even up against something? someone?) was still around... all he could do was hope to act as bait. Ugh. He should have planned this better.

He slowed to a stop as he neared her truck, the headlights grossly highlighting the corpse nearby. For one brief, horrifying instant, his heart stopped. Then a surge of cold, bitter rage swept all through him, crashing down. Tensiel. His wrath exploded out as it always did, shattering two nearby street lamps, sending a shower of glass and sparks into the street. He stepped closer, out of control telekinesis sending more glass to shatter and warping metal in lamp posts, mail boxes, anything his powers could destroy. The only thing it seemed he couldn't harm was Tensiel's truck, though if that was due to how fond she was of the damned thing and him instinctively not wanting to upset her (even if she was dead) or the blessings on it was anyone's guess.

Eli stopped at the body, eyes flat as he looked it over. Male. Some poor bastard in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not Tensiel, and that soothed him a little; at least enough for the random destruction around him to cease. Immediately he was reaching out with his mind again, searching for any sign of the little angel.

Pain.

He whirled around, bolting for the truck and opening the door perhaps a bit too roughly for the old thing to handle. "Tensiel!" Eli shouted, panicked, before balking at the blood. "Fuck," he whispered. I don't know shit about first aid. He reached out towards her neck, checking for a pulse first. That he knew how to do.

The little cab light had flickered on when Eli pulled open the door, illuminating the scene within. Tensiel had gotten into the truck and pulled the door to, but halfway to reaching for her first aid kit in the glove box everything had begun to give out and she'd slumped onto her side across the seats. One hand clutched over the cuts in her midrift that were still dripping blood in a steady 'tap tap tap' onto one of her books on the floor.

She was flickering in and out and in and out of consciousness, whether that was from hitting her head or losing blood the girl was in no state to query... though a part of her was insisting it had to be important. The rest was just insisting that it hurt whether she was awake or not, which didn't make much sense but still... life wasn't straightforward. She knew that, even though everything else was feeling very extremely hazy.

And suddenly she managed to make her eyes open, because somebody was making noise and going for her neck. So Tensiel did what she could and made a concerted effort to bite whoever it was in the hand. She missed, teeth clacking numbly on air, and if she'd been a little more cozgent she'd have been furious over it. As it was, she squeezed her eyes shut and then forced them open to focus on whoever was there. Eli. Eli not for biting. "Oh," she managed to say faintly, blinking at him to try and keep him in focus. "...hiya."

Relief flooded all through him as she moved to bite his hand. If she still had enough fight left in her to do that, then maybe things would be okay... whether he sucked at first aid or not. "Hey," Eli said, his voice softer and now soothing. "Told you I'd come running if you needed me. You're going to be okay." I hope.

He delved into her subconscious then, going over her memories for the past hour. He kept his emotions on a tight leash, keeping his face schooled into a calm, reassuring expression. He'd be angry and scared and panicked later. The second she was somewhere safe and taken care of, for instance. (For fucks sake, she'd fought a demon! What the hell was he gonna do!?)

Eli popped open the glove box and withdrew the first aid kit, opening it up and grimacing at the contents. What the fuck was all of this stuff used for? "Okay, Tensiel, you're going to need to stay conscious. I don't want to move you until you're patched up a little better, okay?" Fuckfuckfuck what do I do? He kept linked with her, going over and over her memories of the past hour, especially her fight with the demon, trying to memorize the way it had looked for himself. In the mean time, he pulled out all of the bandages she had, turning her onto her back and placing them clumsily on the bloody wounds, cursing under his breath as he did. He pressed down carefully with his hands (pressure was good, right?), an apologetic look in his eyes. "Sorry, I suck at this. I don't know shit when it comes to first aid. You're still with me, right?" he asked, keeping that soothing 'everything's okay' tone to his voice. Dying is not allowed, Tensiel!

Everything really was starting to hurt like hell now, mostly on account of having been moved onto her back. Where she'd had feathers torn out hurt and hurt and hurt like somebody had ripped out her fingernails but from her spine, but she couldn't touch it. It wasn't really there, it was just inside and it hurt she'd never had that happen before... A vicious ache was coming from where she'd been slashed too, which was weird because it hadn't been sore really, before. Eli was trying to do something to it, and he was saying something... right?

"Where're we?" she mumbled, trying to sit up and see and not getting far at all. Then she remembered, sort of, there had been somebody on the ground... She forced herself up again. "I tried... is he dead?" Her swimming eyes finally got a look at all the blood on her front, and she yelped weakly in alarm. "Is that me?"

He was listening to her erratic, sluggish internalizations as well as her speech. It wasn't really soothing the panic inside of him to hear it. It was actually bumping it up from just 'panic' to 'insane screaming crazy panic'. After this? He was so learning first aid.

"We're still in your truck," he answered her, still keeping his voice steady and soothing and his expression neutral. He could panic internally; he wasn't about to add to her upset. "I just got here," Eli explained. "That guy's dead, Tensiel. He was dead before you happened upon him and that demon, so no blaming yourself. It isn't allowed," he managed to say, though his eyes never strayed from her abdomen. Go him, he didn't even snap that last part at her.

"I'm pretty sure this is you," he answered, not quite able to keep the creep of sarcasm out of his voice. "Last I checked, I wasn't bleeding. Do you know first aid? 'cause I don't. Tell me what to do." Not that he bought for a second she was coherent enough to really explain anything to him, but it would keep her conscious. Conscious was very good for his sanity right now. If she slipped out of it, he didn't trust himself to remain calm.

All that blood was hers? That was a lot. Did she have that much to just leak on things? She wasn't very tall... and stuff.... and why was things spinning?

"I know first aid," she murmured, eyes blurring and slipping off to the side as she began to lose it again. The pain was starting to fog up things, or maybe that was the knock on her head. "Gimme needle. Gotta stitch them, cos they aren't so deep cos my organs are still inside and..." Very practical and then she caught sight of her hands, held out for whatever she was asking for, and how lascerated her palms were after cutting them on the metal. She blinked at them for a long, long moment. Couldn't hold a pencil right then. "....bugger."

She just looked at her hands, at the blood and the cuts, and then tried to look at Eli but her eyes felt all twisty. "Can we go home?"

Stitches? Wonderful. That he knew he wasn't prepared to do, and it seemed more than a little dangerous. The lighting was poor, her wounds weren't clean, and... "For fucks sake, Tensiel, I'm not giving you a needle!" he snapped quickly, reaching up and holding her hands with his own bloody ones. "I'm out of my depth here, you're way out of it... where's home? Do you think we can make it there with you in this condition?" Because that was most important. What would be the fucking point of carrying her somewhere (he couldn't drive, fuuuck!) only for her to bleed out right as they made it?

But it's my needle... Tensiel thought petulantly, looking back at Eli's pale face. But she couldn't really argue the point, not feeling like she did. Anyway, home was good. The Lockwoods. Caleb. Dorian. Not Mathias - he'd just think this was funny. Stupid Mathias.

"I can drive us... maybe," she offered, looking around without really seeing anything. Picturing the house in her mind, the route home, like she always did. "Dorian's home, I said I was bringing him soup. Just a block or two that way," she said, gesturing with her hands down the street - or at least trying to, since Eli had hers in his and it was kind of impossible. "Is my truck around?"

Dotdotdot. Eli gaped at her for a moment, amazed. And officially insanely worried. Oh shit, what if she bleeds out? She's not acting right...

"I don't think you're in any shape to drive," he managed to say, keeping his voice steady. He crawled backwards out of the truck and after a panicky 'shit, this is going to hurt her' moment, lifted her up into his arms as easily as he could, trying not to agitate the wounds too much. "Put pressure on those cuts, okay? Truck will stay here to guard the scene of the crime," he assured her quickly, since she had asked where it was. Ugh. That was probably a bad sign.

Eli took off down the street as fast as he could manage with an armful of bleeding teenage girl, following the route she'd pictured in his head. Internally, he was praising the wonders of adrenaline; he wouldn't be capable of carrying her without it.

Being picked up most certainly did hurt Tensiel, but she gritted her teeth and tried not to complain. A small whine of pain got through, but it wasn't much and she did like she was told and pushed her hands and wrists over her stomach. She wondered vaguely about Caleb, then... wondered a lot of things in an odd jumbled rush but most of all she wondered if he'd ever hurt this bad, and if he was even home. And then the sudden movement was too much for her dizzied head to take, and she had the strangest glimpse of a streetlamp and a handful of stars before she blacked out as the blood rushed away from her head.

"Shit!" he whispered, speeding up the second he felt her mind slip away. Thank God the house wasn't that far, and as quick as he was moving it didn't take long to get there. His strength was waning fast by the time he had climbed the porch steps to the door, and after an awkward moment of balancing Tensiel's much-heavier-when-unconscious body, he managed to pound on the door. Pounding on the door was much more satisfying for him in his current panicked state than doing the 'normal' thing and ringing the bell. Afterwards, he quickly shifted his arm down to catch her before she fell out of his arms completely. Adding to her bruises was not on his agenda for the night.

Caleb got up to go answer the door, which he was kind of confused about considering last he'd checked--they didn't get a whole lot of visitors here. Dorian didn't, he didn't, Ten didn't and she wasn't home yet anyways...he'd been sorta waiting for her. Math probably would just walk in...so the hell? So it was with a bit of waryness that he got to the door and opened it up. And when it was open? The world shifted violently beneath him. He took in the state of her. Mostly the blood thing. He was moving before he thought about it, immediately stepping out to try to take her from Eli. "Ten?" he asked, in a distracted, worried sort of tone. "Ten?" God, what the fuck happened to her?! He picked her up and brought her inside. "What happened?" he asked, this directed at Eli though he wasn't actually stopping for an answer. He was bringing Ten to his room. If asked why he wouldn't in a million years have been able to answer that.

Eli was grateful to give up Ten. She was heavy, and he'd never forgive himself if he dropped her now that they'd finally made it to... home? Well, she'd called it that, at least. He followed Caleb, not questioning where they were headed, trying to think of a good answer to the kid's question. Shit, how was he supposed to answer that? 'Oh, a demon attacked her. She chased it away with a piece of metal on fire with angel wrath.'

Yeah, you just didn't say that shit to possible-mundanes! Especially cranky (unstable) teenage boys. He wasn't stupid. "She wandered up on some guy getting murdered, fought off the attacker herself," he explained carefully. It wasn't a lie... just... an evasive sort of truth.

"On someone getting murdered?" Caleb asked, blinking, but he shook his head and didn't pay attention anymore as he flipped on the lights and got a better look at her. "There's a first aid kit in the bathroom, under the sink. Get it." he added to Eli, as he tried not to give into panic at the sight of her. He sat down on the bed next to her, and pushed her shirt up so he could see the slashes on her stomach. Relief flooded him when he saw that she wasn't losing things like internal organs out of them. That's what he'd been worried most about. But he reached out to start putting pressure on them, since they were still bleeding. "Tensiel? C'mon, wake up..." he tried, not figuring it would work, but it was worth a shot.

Way to give directions to the bathroom, kid. Good thing I'm a psychic, Eli thought to himself, unable to resist the eyeroll. He did as he was told, heading for the mentioned bathroom and finding the first aid kit exactly where Caleb had mentioned it. He was back as fast as he could manage, depositing the first aid kit on the bed without question. Not like he knew what the hell he was doing. Leave the kid (who seemed to have a clue) to it. "Anything else I can get?" he offered seriously.

Dorian had been out, enjoying his day off for as long as he could before finally deciding it was time to turn in. As he walked in, he glanced into the dining room, not seeing her there, then headed into the living room rather than his own room. "Caleb?" he called out, before he noticed something tracked across the carpet. Bending down, he ran his fingers through it, his mind quickly jumping into overdrive. "Caleb?!" he called out, heading immediately for his brother's room, always fearing the worst. He stopped abruptly in the doorway, looking down at them, at Caleb (not hurt), Eli (out of place), and Tensiel (oh fuck, she's bleeding!). "What happened?" he asked, hurrying in to join them. They had a first aid kit out, but this looked so much more severe than anything that could handle.

"I don't know yet, Eli's got the story." Caleb answered his brother, glad he was there. "I need water." he said. He was trying to figure out where else she was hurt while mopping up blood from her stomach. He took out disinfectant and put that over her wounds as well--if that didn't wake her up they were in trouble, because that was going to sting.

It did sting. The reduced flow of blood in Tensiel's veins had begun to travel more evenly through her body now she was lying down, and so she was a lot closer to consciousness than she might have been as Caleb applied the antiseptics and disinfectants to her cut stomach. Air hissed harshly through her suddenly clenched teeth and she kicked sharply with her leg to get away from the stinging, but it didn't do anything. Her eyes were finally forced open and she couldn't say why she was so relieved the room wasn't spinning. Blue-grey eyes stumbled from face to face, everybody at strange angles and looking very different, and then she recognized them all. Eli and Dorian and Caleb, who was closest.

She was in more physical pain than she had felt in a long time, and the only reason she didn't start to cry was because she knew she was safe if they were all there. Instead she just looked confused, and her face was an unnaturally pale colour under the bloody smudge her nose had leaked. Her throat felt okay though, so she tried to talk. "Hi..." she said, "I'm... sort of okay..." She realized belatedly that she didn't even sound sort of okay, but... they all looked so worried and... her eyes slipped to closing again before she forced them to try and stay open.

Eli grimaced. Yeah, she so wasn't okay. He could see and hear it (and feel at least part of it), and he was sure Caleb and Dorian picked up on it as well. There wasn't much he could do, being a complete failure at anything but finding her in the first place, so he shrugged his shoulders and headed for the door. "I'll get the water," he muttered, slipping past Dorian and heading for the kitchen, thanking unnamed deities for his telepathy tonight. If his entire shitty life had been lived up to this point to save Tensiel on this day with his "gift", he could deal with that. As long as she didn't die.

Dorian would liked to have heard more from Eli, but that could wait. He knelt down next to Tensiel, across from Caleb, and began to examine the wounds as quickly as he could. She'd lost a lot of blood, that much was obvious, but beyond that he wasn't sure what to tend to. The lacerations on her stomach looked fairly major but, just as Caleb had noted, her insides weren't trying to escape. Dorian didn't think he could have handled intestines. "What's the plan?" Dorian asked, glancing at Caleb as he put pressure on one of the disinfected cuts. They needed to be closed up, and they needed to be fast. "Ever given someone stitches before?" he asked. For some reason he was under the impression they weren't calling an ambulance or worrying about hospitals. The moment he arrived this had looked like an in-house sort of deal and he wasn't going to question it unless Ten blacked out. "Hey, Ten," he said, looking up at her. "Tell us what happened," he said. They needed to keep her talking.

"Yeah, me." Caleb said. "But I'm not stitching her up. I'd do a shitty job of it, and we don't have any anesthetic... We should probably get her to the hospital." he said. He hated hospitals with a passion for himself. He'd have to be forced in if he was bleeding to death. But Tensiel? Fuck that noise, he didn't want to take any chances. Just no. But now that Dorian had mentioned the stitches thing his mind was moving past the immediate damage assessment and 'stop the bleeding right now' reaction.

Tensiel was sure Dorian had just asked her something, and then people were sort of talking around her and that was okay. That was better, actually, because it meant she could hear their voices but not have to concentrate on the words. She liked their voices. And then she couldn't help hearing the word 'hospital' and that just wasn't okay. She managed to lift up one of her hands and wasn't sure what she wanted to do with it, really... so she dropped it again. Oh her back hurt, her wing ached but she couldn't even tell which one. "I can't go," she said faintly but firmly as she could manage. She looked at Dorian first, but then it was Caleb - and Caleb was where her eyes stayed. "I don't have papers and they'll--" she tried to remember what else was bad about going but it was hard to remember. "It's not that bad, and I had to do it... can't pass by on th' other side... not ever... ow." She winced and curled her hands into small fists against the stinging in the cuts across her palms - closing off the wounds.

He got lucky; the first cabinet door he opened had bowls. Grabbing the most sturdy looking one, Eli settled it in the sink to fill with warm water. While it did, he let the water rinse away the blood on his hands, then began to rummage around for towels, or wash rags, or just something clean and cloth like. They would need those, right? He'd worry about the oddness of looking through someone else's kitchen drawers later. Tensiel was more important, and having to make multiple trips would just waste precious time.

He grabbed the now full bowl, some of the water splashing out of the sides, balancing four towels on his arm as he headed back into Caleb's room. "Social services will give her hell," Eli clarified as he entered, his tone a bit absentminded. He was tuned into Tensiel's still jumbled thoughts. If she couldn't speak? He would do it for her.

"Do you have any morphine with you?" Dorian asked, his eyes raising to Eli. As much as he would have preferred that Eli not be on the stuff, this would have been an optimal time to have it. Dorian looked at all they had around them, trying to keep himself calm and under control. Panic would not help in this situation. "I can stitch her up," he offered, "But we need to keep her conscious, and we need to keep pressure on the wounds that aren't-- wait, they're too close together. Shit." They couldn't put pressure on a slash that was right next to the one he might stitch. Plus, they really needed to work on this fast, or call 911. Dorian didn't exactly like their options, considering the later would be hell afterwards. But then, they needed Tensiel to live in the first place. "We need to close the wound," he said, looking up at Caleb. "And you keep her here. Let us know what she's thinking, if she's fading, anything. Don't let her go," he told Eli. Fuck. Fuck. This was much more terrifying when he was seeing it from this end.

Caleb sighed, gritting his teeth. "I can do it." he said. "She's got shit for stitching anyways, she did my back...and I've probably done it more than you have." he added to Dorian. He looked up to meet his brother's eyes for a moment. "I can manage it." he promised. "I don't think this is her only injury though...want to check her for more? And...the stuff's probably in her room. I think. I hope, otherwise we're in trouble if it's not there." Wow did he hate this idea. Hopefully Eli would have morphine. Because as far as he knew, they didn't have anything that could help numb her for the stitches. He didn't care when it was him. Pain didn't bother him like it did other people. But the last thing in the world he wanted to do was hurt her. That part was making him feel sick to his stomach.

Breathing out in relief now that they weren't going to move her, now she could stay here where it was safe and they were there, Tensiel tried harder to keep up with what was going on. It was easier to look at Caleb than it was to crane her neck to look at Dorian, and she knew she didn't have to look at Eli for her to know he was there. And for him to know she knew.

They were looking for the catgut. Ha... Tensiel gave a small victorious sort of internal 'yay'. "I got chromic gut last week... s'fine for this. Springy. Easy." The description was for Caleb's benefit, so he wouldn't worry so much about using it. "In my..." she struggled to find the word for a moment, "Backpack." She tried to think of the technique that was best for this... a vertical matt stitch probably but she didn't know... did Caleb know what those were? It probably didn't matter just yet... she could re-do it later... once the bleeding stopped... and her head stopped pounding... "It's okay, Caleb," she murmurred, seeing the way he looked at her. "It's supposed to hurt, remember I said..."

Tensiel felt somebody checking where else she might be hurt, but she couldn't help with that. Her eyes began to close again, and maybe it wasn't a good thing but her head hurt more and her belly and hands hurt less... but it was supposed to hurt.

Dorian neither denied nor confirmed Caleb's assumption, still a little thrown off by the fact that Caleb had given himself stitches. But he shouldn't be. Dorian had done it. He was fairly certain Mathias had done it. Caleb was just as much one of them as ever. Of course, he'd have done it. Dorian just had to get used to the fact that he didn't know shit about his little brother. "I'll check the rest of her injuries then," Dorian agreed. If Caleb was having problems, then he'd step in, but if Caleb thought he could handle it, well... Dorian would let him. "Backpack," Dorian muttered, his hand sliding out to the side, as if to catch something that might be rolling across the floor. He'd seen it when he came in, just inside the dining room, near her air mattress. Rather than going to get it, he started checking the rest of her injuries and, a moment later, the backpack was there, in his hand. Seeing as how Tensiel wasn't really with it, and the other two already knew what he could do, he might as well use it. "Backpack," he said, handing it over to Caleb.

Caleb took the backpack, then started looking through til he got out what he needed, the needle and the gut. He looked down at Ten then brushed the hair from her eyes before he drew in a deep breath and turned his attention back down to her abdomen. Feeling about as centered as he was going to get, he shifted around so he was between the wall and Tensiel, so everyone else would have better access to her and he wouldn't have to move because he was in anyone's way, and they wouldn't be in his. Sitting indian style, he bent over her, and he eyed the wounds critically. He'd take a hell of a lot more care in stitching her up than he ever would himself, that was for sure. "Sorry." he said quietly to her, then he started.

Eli watched the backpack slide past him with interest. Yeah, no way in hell could he do that. He approached the bed once Caleb began and grasped Tensiel's too cold hand. At least she'd woken up more when the stitching had started. That was very good. He listened to her thoughts, a faint little smile quirking on his face as a quiet little 'I'm hungry' interspersed throughout the 'ow's. Hunger? Definitely a good sign. She was going to be okay.

She was just going to be really fucking tired. And after the stunt she had pulled, trying to take down a demon by herself? Yeah, he could completely understand why. Maybe Dorian and Caleb wouldn't, but, whatever. As far as they were concerned, she was a teenage girl who'd had a traumatizing night. It wouldn't be hard for him (and her) to cover up the wrathy angel thing. But they were so going to have a talk about that when this was over...

It took effort, like all things did, but Tensiel kept her eyes open and didn't do anything to try and push away the sharp and piercing feeling of carefully judged sutures going into her skin. The pain was probably good; it kept her from succumbing to the painfully drag in the back of her head and it kept her awake. Made her more alert. Her fingers twinged in Eli's warm hand, and her eyes didn't move away from Caleb's face as she watched him concentrate. Despite the urge to give a pained hiccup each time, she made herself just punctuate each stitch with a muted 'ow' inside her head... and felt her energy for how low it was. (Hungry... where was the soup?) She'd done a lot. She'd tried to do something good. Too late, but she was always too late. But she'd tried. So it wasn't too much to ask that she take a beating... right? It was how she... ow. Ow. 'Kay... just think about stitches now. Ow.

One by one, Dorian began to treat all the little injuries Tensiel had sustained. Both her palms were cut up, her elbows skinned, and she'd somehow managed a bloody nose on top of all that. It was nothing compared to the injury Caleb was treating, and his eyes kept going up to check on his brother's work. Caleb was doing a nice job, impressive even, and it made Dorian wonder just how often Caleb was having to stitch himself up. The cut on her leg was the last thing to treat, and with that done, he began to prepare the dressing that Caleb could put over Tensiel's stitches. "Still with us, Ten?" he asked, glancing up at her. He suspected Eli had been taking care of her, but when it was silent, he had no real way of telling. It made him feel better just to hear her speak aloud.

"Sure," Tensiel murmured. She couldn't see Dorian, but she knew he was somewhere. He was responsible like that. "I'm here." And she was, of course. Her friends were here, where else would she ever want to be?

Making the stitches as small as he could while still being effective, Caleb's concentration was blocking out just about everything else. No, he was focused, damnit. He wanted to get them right, and he didn't want them to scar. He had more than enough scars for the both of them, she didn't need any. The only thing that filtered through his worrying about Ten and the stitches and of course the constant din in the back of his mind that said she'd better be okay, was his brother's words to Tensiel. He glanced up for only a moment, to see her face eyes staying there for a moment before he went back to what he was doing. He didn't have time to be fretting over her, he had work to do, now didn't he? He was both relieved and upset more with her answering Dorian. He knew she should stay conscious...but he also knew that if she was the stitching had to hurt. It was a double edged sword.

Though he was still tuned in mostly to Tensiel, he couldn't help but pick up on Caleb's thoughts, too. "The pain's helping her to stay awake," Eli offered quietly, though he knew it was really crappy consolation. "It really sucks, but her being awake is a good thing." He gave Ten's hand a little squeeze and stroked some of the hair out of her face with his free hand. Really, all he was good for right now was just being there, and trying to offer her comfort. Thankfully, he'd learned a little bit about that from Synnove the past few weeks.

It was good to know that Tensiel was still awake, considering the fact that they still didn't know what had happened to her. Dorian's main concern, though he didn't voice it, was that there were injuries they weren't even seeing. All they could do was hope that it was all on the surface. With all her little injuries seen to, Dorian's attention turned back to the gashes on her stomach. Caleb was working slowly, but with such great care. It was too bad that they couldn't speed it along, but Dorian wouldn't risk it. Besides, he couldn't get in there and try to sew up another one at the same time. They were too close together, very much like... claw marks. "What did you say happened to her?" Dorian asked, looking up at Eli. He was pretty sure that had been avoided the first time around.

Being more awake and more aware meant Tensiel heard the question, and for the first time she tried to tell Eli something without saying it. It didn't really work in sentences, just a string of words and feelings that amounted to the central fact that they were normals, humans, and she didn't want them to get scared over bad things. Even in the state she was in, it was so important to her... maybe in part because she'd seen how hard it was for them just to be family and be human and it mattered that they be left alone to do that. Whatever the reason, she tried to squeeze her bandage-muffled hand in Eli's to tell him. Maybe she should have said something herself, but she just felt too tired to form the words.

Eli sifted his fingers through Ten's hair reassuringly. He knew she was at least partly wrong; Dorian was not a mundane. But he wasn't sure how far his knowledge of Other extended, not at all, and he wasn't going to dive deep to find that out. As far as he knew concerning Caleb? The kid was normal... though the stitches thing was cause enough for hesitation on that particular judgement. But until he was alone with Dorian, or until he knew for fact the kid wouldn't spaz at the big 'D' word, he was going to stick to his mundane half-truth. "She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She drove past a murder site, tried to save the poor bastard. This is what she got for her trouble," he explained, voice steady, but eyes locked on Tensiel's face. Hopefully she'd approve of his explanation.

"Did she get the fucker who did it? Can she give up the description to the police?" Caleb asked, voice quiet as he continued stitching. "Because there've been those other murders..." And if I know what the bastard looks like, I can hunt him the fuck down and make sure he chokes on his own blood before he dies. That was important to him. That whatever or whoever had done this to Ten paid for it. And not in the justice-system sort of way. Not if he got there first.

Tensiel didn't have to be psychic to know what was on Caleb's mind. Eli's too, probably, but...

She squeezed Eli's hand a little, because he'd done really well... and with her other one - the one swathed with more bandages over deeper cuts - she managed to brush Caleb's arm between stinging-aching stitches. "Shhh..." It took a lot of effort to make the little calming noise, but his temper might get him hurt and she didn't know... didn't know when she'd wake up after this was over. "I had to... it's nobody's fault." Her eyes did finally close then, and her hand went down, but she just didn't want him to get too upset.

"Except the bastard who did it," Eli said curtly. He eyed Caleb thoughtfully. Murderous rage wasn't exactly unexpected, but did this kid really think he could do it? That threat wasn't exactly something light hearted, after all. "She did get a good shot in on him." And he would give the description to the police (Fidelity, that is). Where her memory failed, he could delve in and get the perfect image. "Ten doesn't want you to go running off and getting yourself hurt. I'd suggest you be careful, or else she'll be very upset with you."

Caleb glanced over to look at Ten for a long moment after she touched his arm, jaw still set. Then he went back to looking at his work. "I won't get myself hurt." he said. "And she can be upset with me all she wants, something just tried to fucking gut her, and that makes me a little fucking cranky." he added, that anger rising to the surface more, though he tried to shove it back down again. He wasn't done patching her up. Someone hurt her. And I'll be damned if I don't hunt them down. Or at least try. Just...no. He couldn't do it. There was no way in hell he could leave well enough alone at this point. Not when he still had two slashes to go on her stomach and any deeper and she might have died. That was not going to go unpunished. Fuck that.

"We'll worry about who did it once we know she's okay," Dorian said, looking up at Caleb and Eli. Between the three of them, he was sure they could work out something, but he had no idea what his brother was thinking. What he did know was that he'd never heard that tone of voice from Caleb, not in all the heated discussions they'd had. There was a soft touch of madness there, or maybe he was imagining it. It was possible he was sensing his own bit of rage instead. And then there was Eli-- Dorian was positive he could identify the culprit. All he had to do was look inside Tensiel's head, but Dorian wasn't going to encourage that until later. "And you're not running off on this alone," he said, the comment originally directed towards Caleb, though it certainly applied to Eli as well. None of them were pleased with this situation, though Dorian kept his feelings muted, out of the conversation for now. Tensiel's welfare was all that was important at the moment. They could hunt later.

Eli snorted softly, giving Tensiel's hand another little squeeze. He'd already gone over her memories of the fight countless times in an attempt to memorize the bastard demon himself. He knew for a fact he wouldn't be able to do shit against a demon; maybe if he was better with his kinesis, but his strongest skill was definitely the telepathy. Telepathy didn't do shit in a fight, not when you didn't have muscle or weaponry to back it up.

"You got something to share with the rest of the class, dickhead? Because you've pretty much said fuckall since you got here, and you haven't done a hell of a lot to help fill us in on what really went down. The only thing so far you've told us is that she got jumped trying to help someone. But not shit beyond that, and now you're being derisive? Give us something more substancial than that or keep out of the way." Caleb was still concentrating on stitching Ten up, and his voice had been even. There was still that edge to it, though. He wanted whatever had done this to Tensiel dead. Very, very dead. And he didn't really give a damn how it got accomplished, just so long as it did. Because this was not allowed to happen to her. She was sweet, and reminded him that the whole world didn't fucking suck all the time, and that was a really difficult thing to accomplish for him. As far as he was concerned, she was one of the few things that had ever crossed his path that actually made the world a better place to be in. And therefore anything harming her was going to be paying for it.

If the kid hadn't been so damned worried, he probably would have gotten pissed off. As it was, Caleb's reasons made far too much sense in explaining his attitude, so the psychic didn't even bat an eye. Eli gave an exasperated little sigh, blowing his hair out of his eyes. "Look," brat, "don't assume to know what I'm thinking. I was amused at the thought of me actually killing the" thing "guy who did this to her. I can take a lot of shit, but I can't dish it out. Somebody else will have to gut the fucker. All I can do is point him out."

"Shh..." murmured Tensiel, finding herself amused (or maybe that was just giddiness from bloodloss) at the way they were all cursing away. Poetry of panic, like her dad used to say... she missed her dad. She missed her mom. They'd be cursing and angry too... but not for very long, they didn't have it in them. Her eyes were still closed, and she was still wincing with pain when each little stitch went in, but she kind of wanted to point out.. "I got him really good anyway. Instant geology." That was kind of funny, actually... since she and geology were friends what with the fault lines and the earthquakes and the tidal waves and... okay, that wasn't really funny. But it was. Just as well she was too out of it to laugh. Especially with stitches going in.

"It's annoying," Dorian said, looking up at Eli, "Don't tell us not to assume things if you're not going to share. We're not in your head, remember?" Dorian had no doubts that Eli was in theirs though, and it was starting to piss him off. He needed Eli to keep Tensiel with it, but he didn't appreciate the way Eli had responded to Caleb. If Dorian had been Caleb, with what he knew, Eli would have received a fist to the face. It seemed a poor time to tell his brother that Eli could be in his head, since they could do nothing about it. "Geology?" he asked, looking down at Tensiel with a slight frown. "What does she mean?" he asked. He'd never heard of anyone being attacked or attacking with geology.

Eli's expression became a little more somber, but he didn't say anything. What the hell could he do, apologize? It's not like he was in their heads (well, excepting Tensiel) on purpose here. He could put up a shitty block for all or none; he wasn't that good at it yet. It was second nature for him to reply to internal and external, especially in a situation like this. Let the kid punch him in the face. He still owed him a shot, anyways, for the shit he'd done when they'd first met.

He focused back on Tensiel, playing with her hair and resisting the urge to make soothing noises. Her internal dialogue was definitely amusing, but there was an underlying sadness to it all. Her mention of her parents just reminded him how young she was... "She threw a rock at the guy's head," he explained quietly. "It's how the whole fight got started."

Caleb went back to being mostly quiet, finishing up the second slash and starting on the third. "I want a description." he said quietly. "I want to know who to look for." Or what. He couldn't very well go hunting the thing down and gut it if he didn't know what he was looking for. And that was where his wheels kept spinning. When he spoke again, his voice was almost too quiet to hear. "He doesn't get to take another shot at her."

Too far gone to really catch what was going on with the guys, Tensiel tried to open her eyes and realized she couldn't. Too tired. She couldn't really move anything anymore, and while she would usually have been afraid or angry over that, there wasn't enough energy to spare and anyway... Caleb and Eli and Dorian were there. It would be alright... maybe she should just stop being awake. Her back gave another disembodied throb for her torn-out feathers, but that was all. Her head was hurting less... it would be alright. She was hungry. Maybe Mya wouldn't be too upset if she was late for work... With that little thought in her head, the small angel fell into unconsciousness without moving a muscle.

"She's out," Eli muttered, stroking her hair. "But she's going to be okay, I think." Anyone worrying about food or their job, in his opinion, wasn't in danger of dying. At least not right away. He took a moment to gather up a feeble block; it wasn't great; he still wasn't exactly steady. He hadn't slept for shit, the adrenaline had left him feeling shaky, and he was still pretty pissed off that someone had hurt Tensiel.

But it'd do for conversation. "It was a demon," he offered quietly. "I've never seen one like it before. Cowardly fucker, too. If he'd stuck around another minute, I don't think she would have made it." He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples, agitated. "She drove past him eating dinner. Tried to save the guy it was snacking on, but he was already dead."

Dorian went from frustrated and worried, to downright enraged, even if he couldn't put his finger on what had changed. Tensiel had still been attacked, and there was still someone to hunt down, but now it felt like it was one of his kind, even if only by half. He didn't even know what kind it had been, but he was eager to find out, just so he could rip the bastard in two. It was one thing for them to be out there somewhere, and quite another for them to attack someone living under his roof, someone he was set on protecting almost as much as Caleb. "I want to know everything," Dorian said darkly. "Every twitch, every tell, every tiny detail you can remember." He cast a glance at Caleb, then back to Eli. "We need to know what we're dealing with." For some reason, he was fairly certain he couldn't keep his little brother out of this one. It was possible that, if he could handle a vampire, just maybe he could handle a demon.

Caleb would have had to be shot, handcuffed to the radiator in his room, and possibly heavily drugged to be kept out of anything. He didn't actually say anything, he just narrowed his eyes, grew very still, and tried to ride out the wash of red behind his eyes. He shut them for a long moment, breathing, not leaving this second to go hunt down whatever had go to her. He still had stitches to put in. He reached out to put another in but noticed his hand was shaking. So he drew in another breath, trying to think past the urge to kill. Hunt and kill, that was pretty much the predominant theme wiping out everything else in those moments. He tried to tell himself to calm down, and he finally managed to get his hand to stop shaking enough to put in another stitch. It took pretty much all the effort he had, though.

His eyes remained closed as he called up the image again. He could do this; he was good at this. He'd done this for three fucking years. Never in this sort of situation, of course, but then again, it'd never quite been this personal. "Skeletal," Eli began flatly. "Hunched over for most of the encounter. Reddish skin, thick. Long hair, blonde, but it might have been the light that made it look that way. Claws, obviously. He had a tail, I think..." He grimaced, trying to recall. The bastard had been moving so fast... "And he definitely had a low pain tolerance. He reacted very strongly to every painful thing she did." Angelic influence may have played a part in his reaction, as well, but he wasn't about to tell them that. That was one promise he intended to keep until his dying day. "He was quick, too. Agile."

Fuck, did his head hurt! Eli clutched at his throbbing head, breath coming out in a pained hiss. Suck it up. For Tensiel. "I left the body. I know a cop in the PD, she knows about supernatural shit. She can help."

Damn. Dorian didn't know what sort of demon that was off the top of his head, but there were thousands, and any of them could be here in Marquette. Worse, they might not look like that all the time, and that would make the search considerably more difficult. "Will she give Tensiel shit about the body?" he asked, having forgotten about that angle. "Should we be looking to get rid of it?" If so, they could always bury it in the backyard. Maybe having a house with a yard would come in handy. Dorian's attention turned over to Caleb, watching as he stitched up Tensiel. Suddenly his brother seemed to be struggling, but Dorian didn't blame him. They'd likely broken his concentration with their discussion. "I can take over," he told Caleb, letting his brother choose. He was only calm because there was no target in front of him. There would be, though. Eventually. The demon wouldn't get away with this.

"I've got it." Caleb said quietly, concentrating. He was going to finish this up, and then he was hopefully going to go kill something. That was a sound plan, right? Right. He thought so. He was on the last inch or so of the slice in her skin, and he narrowed his concentration in farther. He was listening to the conversation going on between his brother and Eli, but wasn't contributing anymore. Nearly done, nearly done. When he was done he could afford to focus again on something that wasn't Tensiel.

"Stripes knows what I am. She'll believe me. We've worked together before," Eli explained, his voice subdued. "Besides, there really isn't going to be any hiding the crime scene," he muttered. "When I saw the body, it was too far away, and she was unconscious... I thought it might have been Tensiel. Kinesis went haywire. Destroyed everything in range except her truck."

"Shit," Dorian sighed, "That happens. Emotions fuck with it. Um, any idea if this is the only form the demon has? Or are we chasing something that could potentially be right in front of us and us not know it?" This might not be something that Eli knew, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. Maybe Tensiel would know, though if she only came upon it in one form, then she'd have no way of knowing there was another. "Anything you can give us would be good. And I'll look into what kind of demon it could be. If we know it's tell, then we've got a better chance of tracking it down."

Caleb finished up the last bit of stitching, and tied it off. Then he set everything aside, and just stared down at the marks on her stomach. He reached out, not quite paying attention to what he might be doing, and gently ran his fingers along the gashes, just to the side of them. Three. Three fingers, three claws. Probably a glancing sort of blow, which might be why there weren't four. Wasn't deep enough to claw through to slice her stomach open and spill her insides. Lightly, he placed his palm down on them, feeling the heat from the injuries. It was familiar to him. Just...on himself, not on someone else. Definitely not on her. This wasn't supposed to happen with her. He hated even thinking about it. Not Ten. Not sweet, naive little Ten who was one of the first people... He had to quit thinking about this. He needed to get back to focusing on what had hurt her and making it really, really dead.

Eli shrugged uncertainly, struggling to get past the pounding in his head. He needed to get home. Fast. "I don't know," he muttered shakily, standing as steadily as he could manage to his feet and heading for the door. "I gotta get home," he managed calmly, though his face was pale. Fucking migraines. He needed to hold it together long enough to get out of the house. He had enough people babying his ass lately, and he didn't feel much like imposing on Dorian. "I'll come by tomorrow to see her, call Stripes too and get that taken care of." He made it to the door and tightly gripped the frame for support. He was probably forgetting something, but he was having difficulty with coherent thought, what with the painful, steady throb behind his eyes.

"You might want to call Stripes tonight," Dorian mentioned, rising with Eli. "If there's a body out there, just sitting, that needs to be looked into before tomorrow morning." It was possible that someone else had already come upon it. From the looks of things, Eli just wanted to get out as soon as he could, which was fine by Dorian. It didn't look like Eli had anything else to contribute anyways. "We'll take care of her," Dorian said, glancing back towards Tensiel. He knew he would, and there was no doubt in his mind that Caleb would... though he was starting to wonder what was going on in Caleb's head. He'd been far too cold throughout this. Or, not cold exactly, but... distanced. Hopefully it was all in Dorian's head.

Caleb didn't contribute to the conversation yet again, considering whatever, they could discuss the technicals all they wanted. He was currently being torn on whether or not he stuck around here to keep watch over Tensiel, or he went out looking for the thing that fit the description Eli had given. It was a really rough choice. He finally moved his hand from Ten's stomach, sitting back again and noticing the tension in his neck and back, something he hadn't paid any attention to when he'd been hunched over her putting the stitches in. God, he wanted to get out and do something. Kill whatever'd done this.

"I will," Eli agreed, voice still subdued. It was his first priority at the moment... and if he couldn't manage to get home, he'd make a beeline for the nearest payphone and call her from that. His blue eyes slid from Dorian to Tensiel's prone form, and Eli grimaced. "Thanks. I'll see you around." And that hasty, shitty good-bye would have to do, because one second longer and he'd collapse on the floor clutching at his aching head. Fucking migraines. The second he was out of their sight, he clutched painfully at his temples, bolting out the front door. He had to call Stripes now before he lost it completely.

Dorian blinked and Eli was gone, surprised at how he'd practically run out the door. It shifted his attention back to Tensiel and Caleb, both of them uncomfortably quiet for the time being. Dorian sighed. This sucked. There was nothing he could do to make this better, other than make her as comfortable as possible. He stepped over to Caleb's bed and pulled the covers around Tensiel, then turned to his brother. "Do you mind sleeping on the floor?" Dorian asked Caleb, "I'd like someone to stay with her through the night."

"I'm not leaving her." Caleb said. That was firm. He wanted to go hunt down whatever had hurt her, but as he was watching her lay there...watching over her seemed more important. That should be answer enough. He slowly moved off of the bed, not jarring her as much as humanly possible. When he was standing at the foot of the bed, staring down at her again---hell his eyes hadn't left her for a heartbeat--he clenched a fist for a moment before he forced himself to let it loose again.

Dorian thought he would have to fight his brother, that Caleb would insist on going out to find the demon and kill it. The entire time he'd been sewing Tensiel up, it had appeared that way, but now that he was faced with leaving her, it seemed common sense and the need to protect had kicked in. Dorian couldn't be more thankful; there was no way in hell he would have let Caleb go out alone and he wasn't willing to leave Ten by herself. "I'll go get bedding for you," Dorian said, heading towards the door, but he stopped, turning back, his hand on the handle. "You did good work, Caleb. She'll be okay," he said, then paused, licking his lips. "We'll find who did it." He couldn't promise, but he'd do everything in his power to see it through. He knew Caleb would as well.

Eyes finally leaving Tensiel, he looked over at Dorian. He didn't say anything, but he nodded once. Yes, they'd find it. He didn't know when or how? But they would, and when they did, there would be death and dismemberment. And anything worse he could think of, because whatever had hurt her deserved it. Then he moved to sit down with his back against the wall next to the head of the bed, eyes back on the silent girl.

Dorian nodded back, their understanding silent, then went to go retrieve the things needed for Caleb to be comfortable on the floor. He'd even have let him stay in the bed with her, except for her stitches. The last thing they needed was for her to be jostled in any way. She looked so little, so broken and helpless, laying there on Caleb's bed. As soon as she was feeling better, they'd go hunting. Vengeance couldn't wait a second longer.