Xaviers!

Sam grimaces, managing to pull herself back to a reasonable semblance of human. She looks at the people gathering around.

"Don't you all have something better to do?"

It's a suggestion that tugs at their minds.

While Sam is struggling to return to being human, Miriam's mental grip on Mel isn't letting up, pulling at her, trying to dislodge her, tear her free of her entrenchment inside Will's mind. But she's frenzied, emotions boiling over and she lacks the precision to really accomplish anything that complex. At least she's hurting Melpomene, but soon Tereza lifts the frozen Will up and she realizes that no matter what she does here she will lose. She called for help and it arrived. But not to help her. To take Will away from her. Something in her head tilts away in an all too familiar angle and she lets out a wailing scream that is soon echoed by all the on-lookers around them, crashing against Sam like waves of desolation. It starts out angry, but soon falls off into desperate sobbing and crying as the sun finally crests the horizon.

For a second, the crowd started to split up and head their separate ways, after Sam's mental suggestion took hold.

But Sam's mental suggestion was based on logic and good advice. While that's all well and good, it's quickly overwhelmed by the pure emotional strength and anguish of Miriam's mental shriek.

It's a...tad disconcerting to have a street full of onlookers screaming at the top of their lungs just after dawn. The emotional impact on the telepaths is probably even worse than just the sheer volume, as well.

As Miriam collapses, the effect fades, and most of the onlookers are left clutching their heads, or slumping to the ground, or just staggering around like they've just been hit by a proverbial train.

Tereza's ears flatten and she nearly drops the Will-sicle. She glances at Sam before trying to get away from the crowd with her cargo before they start pulling themselves back together, heading for the outskirts of Brighton if she has to.

Sam herself staggers, because her defenses are more than a little ragged at the moment. By the time she's able to right herself, she's staring past the crowd at something most of them can't see.

Or someone.

"...Miriam."

She starts bobbing and weaving through the stunned crowd, heading for her erstwhile friend.

Miriam is curled up in a fetal position on the stairs, just about hidden from the sun and Sam has to almost physically push through the waves coming off of the crying vampire. Miriam is completely incoherent, sobbing in tune with the distant crowd.

"...don't leave me...you're all I have...please..."

"Nobody's leaving you, Miriam." Sam says softly as she kneels on the stairs.

"I'm here. We're going to take you home."

"Nobody's getting taken away. We're all going back together."

She reaches out to put a hand on Miriam.

"We'll do everything we can, Miriam."

Miriam is clearly disconnected from the situation, but when Sam places a reassuring hand of her it seems to draw her attention back to reality and the desperation emanating from her takes on a sharper edge. Her hands grab Sam's wrist and pull it to her mouth, sharp teeth sinking into the skin until the sweet metallic tang of blood floods her mouth.

Sam's flesh about roils around Miriam's mouth as she bites in, the pain evident on the redhead's face.

"Miriam, Miriam don't..."

It's not just a taste that's crossing the vampire's lips. It's almost a thought in and of itself. It's the fading thrill of Sam chasing Will down. It's a hundred small cruelties in the streets around them. It's a thousand eyes and sharp beaks.

Miriam is too ravenous, too engulfed in her own turmoil to be gentle and she's quickly overwhelmed by the intensity of Sam's thoughts flooding her. It's the first time making contact with Sam without being in control and she begins to shake. She'd always told herself that she had it harder. That she saw deeper. Past peoples' masks and into the true darkness inside of them. That Sam was just ignorant of what really sat deep within peoples' hearts. How else could she be so much more... optimistic, so much better at making connections. It had taken so much for Miriam to even ask for help and here Sam is reaching out to her despite everything. And it's not because she's oblivious or naive but despite what she can see in people. What Miriam had always thought was a weakness is anything but and in that moment Miriam realizes the depths of her failing. And how, even now, she's incapable of expressing any of this, instead clinging to Sam's arm like a leech.

Tears run down her cheeks as she forces herself to let go of Sam's arm, mingling with the blood smearing her mouth as she looks up at Sam. "I... she chokes out. "Oh god... what have I done?"

"It wasn't... it wasn't you, Miriam." Sam says, looking a bit pale and still pained.

"Come home with me."

Even now Miriam's gut reaction is to object, but she thinks back to the now empty penthouse and shudders at the idea of wandering through the lonely rooms at night.

"O-okay..." she relents.

"We need... blankets or something. I'm sure Tereza's calling for a van."

She winces, the the flesh of her arm fitfully trying to knit back together. Ultimately all she manages to do is shift the bite further up her arm and away from major arteries and veins.

"...or Nailah if Tereza's phone got lost in all that," she frowns.

"Call a...?" Nailah starts a question, then seems to realize something. "Oh! Yeah. Right. You got a number for that?" she asks, sheepishly.

"...how long have you been there?" Sam asks, swaying a bit as she digs out her phone.

"Dunno. Couple minutes? How long since I crashed into... is that Will?"

"...yes and no."

"It's a long story."

She holds out her phone to Nailah. "It's the one with the X icon."

"See, knew you'd need a charged phone." she grins as she takes it and calls for a van to pick them up.

"She's kind of always like this," she says to Miriam while they wait.