"Doc, you okay?" Henry asked, panicking. She didn't respond. "Dammit! Jordan, she's out! What do we do?" He looked up and saw the man looking at something in the next room. He seemed terrified. "What is it?"

Suddenly, something came shooting out of the room and tackled Jordan. Henry watched in horror as whatever it was leaped off of Jordan and whirled around to stare directly at him.

She was beautiful. Her raven hair fell to the small of her back, gleaming in the beam of Jordan's dropped flashlight. Her fangs were small and delicate, made for precision and speed. The body was small and slim, her tattered clothes hanging loosely. Her eyes were a bright, glowing yellow while her skin took on a gray color, seeming to be thicker than human flesh. Two small horns protruded from her skull.

She glared at him, crouched and ready to spring should he make any sudden moves. His heart constricted with fear. "H-hey, Jess. I'm, uh, likin' the new look you got. Very sexy." he stuttered. "I-I'm not gonna hurt you. I'll just put this down..." He slowly bent to the floor, placing the gun by his feet.

Jesse let out a low growl, studying his every move with her big, golden eyes.

"Ungh...Jesse..." Jordan groaned from the floor. Her head whipped around, and she pounced on him, slashing at his face with her claws.

"No! Stop!" Henry shouted. "Come pick on me!"

He instantly regretted the offer the minute she turned around and sprang. He looked up into her eyes when she had tackled him, and what he saw shocked him. He'd expected to see hatred, or even wild ferocity, but instead there was only fear. That's when he noticed the numerous cuts on her flesh. Jordan had been right. She'd never hurt anyone because she hadn't wanted to. There was some part of the Jesse he knew that was still fighting to keep control. She kept her uncontainable bloodlust in check by harming herself.

"Jesse, I know you're in there." he said shakily. "Listen to me. You can fight this. I know you don't want to hurt me." Her eyes softened, like she was actually listening to him. "You can hear me, Jess. Let go of your anger. It's your body, your mind. Get control of yourself." he commanded.

She started breathing heavily, and she rolled off of him. He couldn't see where she went, but he knew it was somewhere in a dark corner. "Jess?" he called, getting carefully to his feet. He stumbled in the direction he'd watched her disappear. Very faintly, he could hear sobbing. He followed the sound and his foot came in contact with something soft. "Jess?" he asked, crouching down.

"I'm sorry." she whispered in the darkness. "I'm so sorry."

. . .

"Why didn't you just tell me, Jordan?" Jesse asked.

"I promised Mom and Dad I wouldn't." he said sadly. "I intended to keep that promise."

"To what end?" she suddenly shouted. "I almost killed the closest thing I've had to a family in nearly twenty years! Are you kidding me?"

"Jess, please-"

"No." she interrupted harshly. "I don't know what family means to you, but it sure as hell doesn't entitle you to lie and deceive until someone gets killed. Get out of my room, Jordan. I'm getting out of here before anything else goes wrong."

Jordan looked as though he'd been slapped in the face. He said nothing; simply turned away and headed out the door. She knew he was leaving the room a broken man, but she also knew she didn't feel very remorseful.

Jesse angrily opened a drawer and pulled out a stack of shirts, then turned to put them in her suitcase. She stopped dead when she spotted Magnus in her doorway. "What do you want?" she asked flatly, walking over to her bag.

"I want you to stay." the doctor said calmly. "But I know you won't."

"So why are you here?" Jesse asked.

"To say goodbye, I suppose. And to tell you that no one blames you."

"Doctor, it wasn't a robot that threw a set of shelves at you. I did." she said. "How can you guys forgive me for what I did?"

"There was nothing to forgive." said Magnus, and the girl noticed the tears in her eyes. "But I suppose you're not going to listen, so I'll just take my leave. I hope you find a good place to live."

"Thank you. And goodbye." Jesse said, returning to her packing. As Magnus left, the girl went to her vanity to begin packing away the things there. She spotted something that was not hers. It was a thick, pewter ring, on which was engraved, "I, myself."

Her eyes filled with tears. It was obviously the gift from Delilah. And the meaning was obvious. She would always be Jesse to her sister-in-law, no matter what creature she turned into. She placed it on her finger and took a deep breath. So much had happened at the Sanctuary in such little time. She needed to let it go.

There was another knock at the door. "Yes?" she said.

"Heard you were leaving."

Jesse closed her eyes for a moment, then turned to face him. "Yes, Will, I am."

"Why?" he asked, looking around the room instead of at her.

"Because I can't risk hurting any of you again." she said. "And, while I'm saying this stuff, I need to tell you that we can't have this relationship."

His head snapped up. "What? Why?"

"Because you'll be my first target should I lose control again." she explained. "I mean, look at what I did to Jordan. I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, but still."

"Jess..." he whispered, approaching her. "You know we can help you with this."

"That's just it. You can't. Magnus even said I was the only one of my kind she'd ever seen. You have no idea what you're dealing with. Any of you."

"Jess, please, just listen-"

"Will, please!" Jesse begged, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm making this decision for your own good! If you have any respect for me or for yourself you'll let me go."

She knew he wanted to argue. She knew the thought of throwing a tantrum was even passing through his mind. But he would be an adult, as he always was. He left the room in silence, just as Jordan had.

Jesse shook her head, reminding herself of what she was throwing away with this decision of leaving. She spotted her guitar on the stand and decided that maybe a bit of music could heal her pain. She slid her fingers down the strings, the words of a song forming at her lips as she played.

No, you don't know what it's like

When nothing feels all right

You don't know what it's like

To be like me

To be hurt

To feel lost

To be left out in the dark

To be kicked

When you're down

To feel like you've been pushed around

To be on the edge of breaking down

And no one's there to save you

No you don't know what it's like

Welcome to my life...

"Havin' fun?"

Jesse quickly put down the guitar and stood. "What do you think?"

"Well, you seemed to be really into that song, I was just wonderin'..." Henry said, checking out the suitcase and clothes on the bed.

"Look," she said after a moment of quiet. "Will, Magnus, and Jordan have already been through here to talk me out of this and I refused all three of them. So if you're gonna do that, too, then just save it, because there's nothing you can say that I haven't already heard, okay?"

He nodded. "I get that."

There was a moment of quiet in which Jesse neither moved nor knew what to say. Henry seemed very casual and laid back, not sad or confused like the others.

"Heard you dumped Will."

She sighed. She was wrong. He knew exactly what to say that she hadn't heard yet. "I have my reasons."

"Really?" he asked, leaning against the bedpost. "Care to explain? 'Cause Will's a great guy. Better friend than you'll find anywhere else."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand-"

"Oh, really?" he asked, becoming irritated. "Little known fact, I'm just like you."

"NO!" Jesse yelled. "No, you're nothing like me! You're not a – a – a monster!"

"Yeah? You don't think so? Well, this'll come as a shock to you, then, because I am. I'm what most people call a werewolf. Of, course, that's not the scientific term, but it's the easiest way to describe myself." he said, tone casual but expression full of anger. "You don't think I'm a monster? Watch me after I lose control sometime. You turn into something beautiful. I'm just a big uber-wolf covered in fur."

Jesse snorted. "Beautiful? If beauty is the equivalent of looking like a murderer!"

"Jess, stop! Just stop!" he snapped. "You have no idea what you've done or what you can do. You don't even know if you've hurt anyone. Stop acting like it's the worst thing in the world."

"WHAT IF IT IS?" she yelled. "What if I'm damned to live the rest of my life not knowing when I'll go off on someone? What if I have to live every day wondering if who I am is a murderer? What if I have to watch the people closest to me die because I'm a freak? Tell me what's worse!"

Henry just glared at her, shaking his head as she tried to calm herself down. It wasn't working. "Tell me!" she repeated.

"No!" he barked, approaching her. She flinched as he grabbed her sleeve and yanked it up, exposing her scratched and scarred forearm. He looked her in the eye, tone becoming gentler. "You won't hurt anyone else."

Her eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them back. "I've already hurt people."

"People is plural." he stated. "As far as I know, you've only hurt one person, and he deserved it. You know as much as I do that there's still too much Jesse left when you change to let anyone get hurt. You know you won't hurt anyone unless you mean to." He held her shoulders, looking into her eyes. "You're not as dangerous as you think you are."

Jesse nodded, wondering how someone she barely knew could have such an effect on her. She nodded and stepped back out of his hold. "I suppose I'll stay, then." she said quietly. "If you can, I can."

Henry smiled and followed as she headed out of the room. "Still think you're a monster?"

She gave him a sad smile. "Je ne le pense pas, Henri. Je le connaise."

I do not think, Henry. I know.

. . .

A/N

I would like to thank melissaadams22 for being such an avid reader and keeping me motivated. Thank you for the snacks!

The song is "Welcome to My Life" by Simple Plan.