Isolation (Larunda)

Considering he had spent almost every waking moment of the past few years working diligently, it had been rather easy to request in writing to be transferred to desk duties for the foreseeable future. This also meant that he was able to manage most of his work from his small apartment in London, without having to actually go in to the Auror office. He merely organised his inbox and outbox to transfer automatically between his home desk and work one, and it had been going just fine. That was until his assistant had called in sick and couldn’t fetch files that he desperately needed before the start of the weekend. So he had taken a chance that nobody would be around so late at night, and flooed into the Ministry.

They were indeed empty, because who would stay this late on a Friday night. A lot of the offices would have gone out together for drinks, even. He headed down the lifts to the archives, where he would be able to grab the files and make a hasty retreat back to his apartment without having to speak to anybody. Unfortunately, he was proven wrong as he rummaged through the Law Enforcement archive for the year in question, looking for what he needed. The door to the archive opened quietly, but he heard it easily. He froze, and didn’t turn around because he hoped the without seeing the person, he could keen a hold on his self control.

Larunda, aside from being the Head of the Department of Mysteries with Draco Malfoy, often did cases for the law enforcement department and stayed late at night to finish off her usual paperwork as well as the additional work. However, she had not expected someone else's scent to be in the air and she silently looked around for who was in the archive room with her. "Hello?" She called and hid herself within the shadows, having finally spotted Mitchell after a few more seconds and noted that the scent in the air had a familiar note of woods. "Mister Holland?" Larunda asked curiously, having remembered speaking to Mitchell's Head about staff and he was one of them that worried him, due to changing his usual way of working.

Mitchell took a deep breath, hoping that he had underestimated himself and that he could handle a conversation with someone. The woman’s voice was vaguely familiar, and as he turned slowly to face her, he instantly recognised her. “Miss Valdez,” he responded stiffly, purposely breathing softly through his mouth, “I’m sorry to have startled you. I best be getting going..” He didn’t want to be rude, but even the passing scent of a human had made him into a frenzy before, and he didn’t want any more lives on his hands. Not to mention the fact that if he lost it here, there was no way he would be able to cover it up. It took him a moment to realise that he wasn’t reacting to her like he had done with the others, and he took a tentative breath through his nose. Her scent was unique, something he had never experiences before, and his brow crinkled in confusion.

Larunda clasped her hands together, having deposited her files for the Archive Assistant and she watched his chest move up and down but she always knew when someone was falsely breathing. She had known the man before her was a werewolf but for him to breathe the way he is, she knew something had happened. "It's quite alright, Mister Holland." She said softly and simply waited for him to realise, knowing her scent was filling the small space and the way his nostrils flared slightly, taking her in, he grew confused and confirmed her suspicions. "Oh, sweet child...What happened to you?" She whispered. She only called him child because she considered hybrids her children.

The woman was watching him in return, and he felt like she could see right into his soul. There was something about her that was different, and he didn’t mean the markings on her face. Larunda was from another department, but Aurors often dealt with all areas of the Ministry, so he had come across her a few times in the past. He didn’t know anything about her personal life, though, and so he didn’t understand the words she said to him. Mitch tried to hold his tongue, there was no good to come of telling her anything, but something deep within him didn’t allow it. He took a shuddering breath before he spoke, and when he did his tone was low and obviously worried. “I’m a werewolf,” he said, “and I think.. I think I’m a vampire now, too. I can’t control myself. I just.. I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”

Larunda allowed him to take his time, having already come to the conclusion of his 'ailment' but it was clearly distressing him. She was surprised that this werewolf, now Hybrid, was even coping within the work place even if for just a few moments. However, it was clear just how much he was trying to hold it all together. "Oh, honey," Her voice was soft and calming as he finally said the words and she smiled at his own confusion. "I'm the Original Hybrid, my sweet. So let me help you." She muttered and stepped closer, as though going towards a wild animal but it was more his safety than her own. "I can take you somewhere, somewhere safe to help you stay in control." She offered her hand, a small slither of her black ink flowing down her face all the way to the tips of her fingers coaxing him.

Mitch didn’t know what to say, because he’d never experienced a draw like this to someone before. It wasn’t an attraction, it was more of a loyalty, but it didn’t make sense because he’d hardly known Larunda before. But he didn’t have to wonder about it for long, because she explained it to him. Then she approached, and he flinched, though it would have been hardly noticeable. Her voice, when she spoke to him in the tone she was using, calmed him slightly, but he was still nervous. “I..” he mumbled, “you can help me?” He wasn’t a weak man. In fact, he was one of the most self-assured people around, but this change made him feel like he didn’t know himself, and he had no control. It didn’t make for a self he could be very confident in. It was almost of his hand’s own will that he reached out and placed it into hers. Mitch then looked into her eyes, showing that he had put his trust in her, because he needed to get through this whatever it took.

Larunda noted his wariness and the way he was confused by the way he was feeling towards her but she knew that most newborns felt the need to find someone to be loyal to. It reminded her of the first time she created a newborn, their urge to be loyal so strong that they'd kill until she figured that she had to make sure they were emotionally stable before hand. Over the years, the change was always calmer. Mitchell seemed so uncertain about what to do and at his words, she slowly nodded. "Only if you come with me," She cooed, as though she were speaking to a child and when he finally took her hand and trust grew in his eyes, she knew he would do anything to get control back. Without a second thought, Larunda had apparated them away and were now in front of Avery Manor as her own home was in construction. "You will be staying with a friend for now but don't you worry. She's like us. She's my oldest friend and will do anything to help you when I can't." She told him, standing to his side with a hand on his back so she could feel his slow heartbeat but to also make sure she was close enough in case anything bad happened.

Mitch had known when he gave Larunda his hand that she would be apparating with him. She’d just told him that he would have to come with her to be able to get her help. And although his instincts trusted her, he tensed when he was pulled from his place and transported elsewhere. He didn’t know where they were, and he worried that there might be humans there. But Larunda really did know what she was doing, because she explained to him everything he needed to know in order to calm down and not lose himself in a panic. “You’ve been doing this a lot time, haven’t you?” he asked, finding his voice a little stronger now that he wasn’t at risk of running into a ministry employee. Mitch was worried still, as he had been constantly since the incident, but he was able to let someone else take a little of the worry and it made him feel a little lighter. “Okay,” he said quietly, nodding as though he was making a promise to himself, “okay..”

Larunda made it clear that they were in an open space aside from the large house in front of them and pressed onto his back, a sign for him to take a deep breath that she knew he needed to take to examine the scents around him. All he would smell is two Hybrids; Harlow and her adopted daughter Hope, animals that were in Harlow's stable and that's all. There is a faint scent of a demon but it's so faint, it's obvious that it's old and unimportant. At his question, she looked up towards the darkening sky, the stars shining brighter in each moment and nodded. "I've been doing it a little more than 52,000 years. The friend I'll be leaving you with is only about 20,000 but is incredibly modern unlike myself." She spoke, humour on her tone and raised her hand high, a bright light forming and shooting into the house to find the owner. "You'll be fine here. There's plenty of space if you wish to be alone but enough people to help you if you need it. I'm always a patronus away but I'll be here every night for dinner and for a couple hours to train you." Larunda promised, awaiting Harlow's arrival.

Mitch took a moment to take in their surroundings, realising that apart from the huge house before them, there was little else around. They were in the middle on nowhere, and although that might had frightened anyone else, it comforted him immensely. There was nobody around that he could hurt, like he had done to the others.. The pressure on his back gave him the reassurance to take a deep breath in, and the scents that entered his nostrils were both familiar and new, but none were human. So he relaxed a little, and allowed some of his old self to come out. “Fifty two thousand years?” he asked, shock obvious in his tone, “I can’t even fathom time measured in hundreds, let alone thousands of years..” Larunda’s explanation of the woman who he would be staying with, and of the times she would be around herself, gave him a sense of calm, at least for the time being. Once she left- the woman who his gut told him to trust- he wasn’t sure that calm would stick around. He could only hope..

Larunda chuckled at his shock, hardly ever truly saying how old she was but whenever she did, the reaction was always the same. "It's certainly felt like thousands of years." She simply said, causing her to actually feel like her age and around her eyes, she looked like she had seen so many troubles. She watched him calm visibly and knew he was still wary about how well this was going to work; seeing as his trust only truly resided in her and not her friend. "You'll be alright, Mitchell." Her voice continued to remain soft, to maintain the air of ease around the pair of them. From the way her light zoomed past a window, flickering out the moment candlelight appeared by it. "She'll be here soon, don't you worry. She's always hiding within her books."

Harlow had been with her books, her thick leather books tinged with age and she felt a sense of peace she could only feel within her library as the only sound that could be heard was the flipping of pages and the crackle of fire. Suddenly, a glowing light appeared before her that she could only recognise as Larunda's light and as she moved her hand, it followed before going towards the window. Picking up her candle, Harlow followed it whilst using magic to throw on a silken night gown, a match to the nightwear underneath. The light disappeared the moment she stood by the window, a sign that Larunda was waiting outside, most likely with a newborn, and she blew out the candle, rushing out of her home to the front door. Collecting herself, Harlow opened the door slowly allowing the light to bask her guests in a amber glow. "Larunda," The woman greeted, tightening her gown around her and pushed the door open wide, a sign they have full access into her home. "And who's your friend?"

You’ll be alright, Mitchell. He had been trying to tell himself that for the past two months. When everything he stood for had been destroyed and when his family grew angry when he didn’t owl and when he took a life for the first time. He tried to tell himself that he would be alright. It never comforted him, nor did he believe it. But spoken softly by this ancient woman with timeworn eyes filled with a knowing that could never be gathered in one lifetime, he almost believed it. Mitch nodded once when she explained that the woman would be there soon, and that she was always with her booked, and he took the opportunity to really take in their surroundings. It was a lovely place, really, and he could tell that a family lived there. Or at least a child along with the woman. But the child was like them, too, Larunda had assured him on their first arrival, so he tried to worry not.

Mitch didn’t know what he had expected to see when the door opened, but it certainly wasn’t what he did. He didn’t move, nor speak, but simply stared at the absolutely stunning individual before him. She wasn’t made up, or in beautiful clothes. In fact, it appeared she was in her night gown, but she was so beautiful and looked so pure that it was almost as though a glow surrounded her. And something deep inside him, not dissimilar from the instinct to trust Larunda, told him that this woman was far more important to him than she appeared. She had spoken to Larunda, but Mitch answered as though he had no control over it. “Mitch,” he said, his voice still quiet and strained, but a touch of hope could be heard as well, “Mitchell Holland, ma’am.”

Harlow's sharp eyes inspected the newcomer, watching the way his green eyes dilated at the sight of her and the way his eyes seemed to burn every inch of her body to see if she were worth trusting. Though she had spoken to Larunda, he spoke instead and the act of such pleased her greatly because it meant even though they were newborns, they still maintained their humanity from before the change. That was good news. "Well, Mister Holland, welcome to Avery Manor. I'm Harlow Avery. Come on in, the both of you. I can put some tea on and we can all sit by the fire and talk." She said, unable to keep her eyes off of Mitchell and even Larunda noticed, walking past them into the warm confines of her friends home.

Harlow. It was unique, but beautiful, much like the woman that it belonged to. A voice in his head, one that he hadn’t heard since before the attack, was saying her name. Perhaps if he was as in touch with his wolf as he had been for most of his life beforehand, he would have realised that that part of him was saying he could trust her. With Larunda it had been a new part- the mixed part. But as he had been forced into his current state, all he heard was a distant voice saying her name and he tried to ignore it. “Thank you, Ms Avery,” he said politely, his eyes on hers as he moved carefully into her home, before he passed her and looked around at the grand interior. He followed Larunda, hoping that the woman would shed some light on what was going on with him. Because although the two women had calmed his nerves, he knew that if a human had stepped into the room, any of the slight progress he had so far made would be gone.

Harlow's eyes flickered constantly over Mitchell, examining him and visibly took deep breaths to figure out just how long he'd been a newborn for. She could tell that his mind was going fast and she knew a nice cup of tea would settle that; despite her now strong urge for a glass of wine. Larunda had already made herself at home, the fire blazing within her cabin like interior. She always tried to bring more of the outside world inside and with this home, she did it successfully. "Harlow, please, just call me Harlow. Ms Avery was my mother and I most certainly don't want to be like her." Harlow said jokingly, gesturing to the plush sofas for them to sit in and waved her hands, a tray with a teapot and a couple of cups floated in with the smell of chamomile in the air. The teapot floated higher and poured the liquid, passing the cups onto each person with a plate of sugar floating in between them for any one to grab. "So, Mitchell, let's start off with learning how this happened. The scent of werewolf is stronger so I'm assuming you were a werewolf before hand? Does your family know?" Harlow began to ask, Larunda watching closely with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course, Harlow,” Mitchel replied pointedly as he walked through her home, before he sat down on one of the comfortable looking couches. It was a lovely place, and the fire warmed him even if he was fairly immune to the cold. Even more so now. Mitchell caught his tea cup, and took one teaspoon of sugar to stir into his tea. “Thank you,” he said politely, taking a sip and smiling at the perfectly brewed taste. When the conversation turned back to his condition, the man instantly felt himself tense as though it were an automatic reaction. But he took a breath and began to speak, though his voice was suddenly filled with worry once again. “I was, yes,” he said, “of the American pack. My whole family have been wolves.” He thought back to that night, when he had planned to work late, but his sister had begged for his help moving something in her apartment. He didn’t know how to explain it, because a lot of what happened was a blur. “It was a woman,” he said, barely above a whisper, “she asked for help.. the usual thing and I should have seen through it, but she was covered in blood and a swore an oath. Except the blood.. it wasn’t hers. I think she planned to drain me as well, but when she realised I wasn’t human she didn’t.. I don’t remember much after that.” He let out a breath, before he added, “I can’t tell my family. They’ll never accept this.”