Thunder

Ty's eyelids drooped. He wondered when the last time he had a good nights sleep had been. He had been pretty good at pretending most days that he wasn't exhusted more often then not, but when he was home, with a moment to just sit...

It usually hit him.

He shuffled slightly, then looked down at the girl who had fallen asleep on him, hoping that he hadn't woken Karma up.

Yawning slightly, he glanced at his window as the water began to patter down on it. The sky had been darkening all day - a summer storm.

Karma nuzzled into Ty, shifting as he did, still blissfully asleep. Her hold on him tightened, and she smiled.

Thunder crashed.

A jolt of shock went through her and she was sitting ramrod straight, across the room, her back against the wall and her eyes on the window. A flash of lightning illuminated the window, and she whined, the light throwing the room into a brief negative.

She whimpered, and if she could have, she would have sank back into the wall.

Her eyes never left the window.

Ty hadn't been completely unprepared for the reaction the storm had on the girl. He jumped as she moved across the room faster than was humanly possibly, but as they both already covered, neither of them were human anymore.

Pulling himself off of the couch he took one step closer, not wanting to startle her, "Karmzy?"

Karma's breathing had accelerated, and she was sure her heartbeat was as loud as the thunder itself. Her eyes never strayed from the window, but she whimpered, shaking her head. "Tyty...." she whispered. She closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself. She looked over at him, barely noticing that she was shaking uncontrollably.

Thunder crashed again, and she closed her eyes again. It couldn't get her. It couldn't... Arsen said...

She stiffened as another bolt of lightning blinded her through her eyelids. Her breathing had sped up again, and she was finding it hard to focus. Where would she hide? Not upstairs, that was closer to the lightning. She needed to...

Another crash of thunder and she was gone, her vampire speed aiding her in her journey. In under a minute she was huddled under the kitchen table, her knees to her chest and her eyes squeezed shut. The last thunderstorm had had her feeling invincible, but with her stomach as it was, and her weakening every day... she'd seen her own mortality.

And that terrified her almost as much as the lightning.

He was about to walk closer to her, try to do something when... suddenly she was just gone....

"Karmzy? Marco?" he sighed and spun around. Where the hell did she...

He wandered into the kitchen as another flash of lightneing light up the room, and found her under the table.

"Is it the storm Karmzy? Yeah know, it ain't gunna..." he started before he remember that reason wasn't going to work. He could see her eyes - he knew that look. "Yeah know, I think I know somewhere nice and safe."

He held out his hand, "Do yeah trust me?"

Karma blinked up at him, a strong sense of deja vu hitting her. It was like she was somewhere else, a darker place, smelling of old books and kerosene, and he'd done it too. Reached out his hand...

Almost in a daze, Karma reached for the head, the library melting back into the familiar surroundings of Tyler's kitchen. "I..." thunder crashed once more, and she shuddered, launching herself at him and throwing herself into his arms. "Yes..." she whimpered, burying her face in his chest. Her arms wrapped around his waist, and his stillness made her realize she was trembling.

Ty blinked, and wrapped his arms around the trembling girl as she flew at him.

"There, there, Karmzy, we ain't got anythang to worry about it," he whispered. "Trust me on that, 'kay?"

Continuing to mumble random words of comfort as he picked her up -he wasn't going to bother with trying to get her to walk - and wandered down the stairs that lead to the small cellar like basement.

"See," he whispered, swallowing past the lump that was slowly growing in his voice, "yeah can't even hear that storm down here. There ain't anything to worry about."

Except maybe the walls closing in, or... he shook those thoughts away.

Karma closed her eyes and tried to focus on the beating of Ty's heart rather than the flashes of lightning and the thunders maniacal laughter. It was looking for her. It was always...

Her fingers curled themselves into Ty's shirt as he carried her, and she was relieved to be underground. Nodding silently at his words and curling up more so than she was, she tried her best to talk, to thank him... to... to...

Instead, she just nuzzled closer to him, hoping that he, at least, would keep her safe from the lightning.

"J-just d-don't..." she took a deep breath, forcing the words out. "...leave..." her voice broke and she closed her eyes again, trying once more to focus on his heart beat.

Ty gave the room a nervous glance before taking a deep breath, and pulling Karma closer, rocking them both gently.

"Listen, I ain't leaving? Why would I leave. We can stay down here as long as we need."

Sighing once more he began hum.

Karma nodded mutely, still shivering as the lightning crashed once more.

"We only have to..." her voice failed her as the thunder followed the lightning, and she closed her eyes again. "...w-wait out the s-storm."

"Well than, I'm sure we ain't gunna be down here too long at all," he breathed. Lord knew he hoped so. He could already feel his chest tightening as he glanced at the walls. He was considering it a miricale he hadn't began to freak out completely yet.

"Why don't we do sumptin' to get our minds of it," he hummed. "We can play a game."

"What game?" She asked, eager for distraction. As long as she didn't focus on it, it was almost as if the lightning wasn't really coming to get her.

"Umm," Ty hummed as he thought about something - and forced himself to not think about the walls. Lord help him, when this storm ends he was going to be the first one out of here. "Well, how about... twenty questions... or I suppose yeah could try I spy, but there ain't a lot down here now is there?"

He gave a little laugh.

"Twenty Questions..." She repeated slowly, frowning. It seemed like an awful lot of questions, if you asked her, but hey, she would leave the muggles and their games alone. "How do you play that?" She smiled at the thought of playing I spy. What would they spy, exactly, except for the walls? The lightning?

The lightning.

Her hold on him tightened, and she closed her eyes briefly, shivering once more. The mere thought and she was reduced to this. It was pathetic, and she hated it... but she couldn't help it, and that made it all the worse.

Ty responded to her tightening graps by mubling some words that he hoped were comforting. He was slowly getting to a point where he would be just as a wreck as her, and that would help no one.

"Well now, I'd think of somethang and yeah have to guess what it is. Yeah can ask questions like "Is it red" and I can say "Yes" or "No" - if you yeah get it before yeah run out of twenty questions, yeah win."

Karma whimpered, the sound coming out against her will, but she still nodded. "That... that sounds like a great idea. Umm..." She searched her mind for anything, anything that wasn't the lightning or the storm, and she landed on....

Oooh. Ty would never guess that... and that was the point of the game right? "Okay. I have something. Ask away."

Ty hummed as he put all his brain power into focusing on the game, not the room.

"Well, huh..... Is it... alive?"

"Yes." She said easily. He'd never get it. Not in this life. Well... maybe he'd get lucky....

Doubtful.

He nodded thinking about it.

"Okay, alive, roger that," he repeated slowly. Plotting out his next question. "Is it an animal? In a different from human sense?"

Karma smirked, the expression almost.... dirty. "No." She said simply. An animal? The notion amused her to no end. She relaxed and leaned her head on his shoulder, humming.

Ty sighed and continued to think. Well then. If it wasn't an animal then....

"Is it Magical?"

Knowing Karma she would think of something magical.

"Yes." She said, smiling fondly. "Extremely."

"Extremely magical," Ty repeated wiht a raised eyebrow. "Well know, I think I'm at a disadvantage, here, but..."

"What would yeah think of Hmm.... Think like Karmzy."

"Is it a magical... being?"

"Being?" She asked, smiling wider. "Yes. Yes it is."

Ty rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Right than," he let out a shakey laugh, "I ain't think I know enough magical bein's to get this one right here."

"What do we got - well there yeah, and me... but I ain't thinkin' yeah'd be thinkin' of those two. Too easy, Karmzy ain't gunna give me something easy to guess."

He bit his lip as he thought.