Samantha blinked. Just for a moment, she'd seen something in front of her car; a big shadow with a strange shape. When she looked again, there was nothing. Samantha shook her head - she knew she was being silly. If she was tired enough to be seeing things, she shouldn't be driving a car, and it was probably good that she was going to be home soon. But the shadow had seemed so real and the thought of it wouldn’t let Samantha alone, so she turned around and looked through the back window of her car to double-check. Still, she noticed nothing peculiar and laughed at herself. She shouldn't have watched those scary movies as a kid.



But when she turned around to face the road again, Samantha got the scare of her life, and it was nothing like the scares she'd gotten from those movies. Even though the way had been clear just a moment before, there was now a man in the middle of the street, and she was going to hit him. As quickly as she could, Samantha put her foot down on the brakes and turned the wheel hard to swerve out of the way, but it was too late – her car was going too fast.



She could see the man on the street like in slow motion when he turned around to look at her. His face contorted in horror the moment he noticed her car. Samantha closed her eyes because she couldn't bear to see what happened next, then she felt her weight press into the seat belt so hard she'd have screamed if the sudden jerk hadn't pushed all the air out of her lungs. She realized that she must have hit the man, but the car was still moving uncontrollably to the side. Only a few moments later, it crashed into a wall, making the airbag go off just before Samantha blacked out.



################



Mark cursed loudly as the car hit him and threw him backwards, but through the noise of the brakes and the subsequent thunder of the car thrashing about, nobody would have been able to notice his swearing. How could he have been so stupid? He knew he had to be careful when hunting for the goddamn things, even if they were just hatchlings like this one. Getting caught up in the hunt was a bad habit of his, so he hadn't been looking out for traffic when crossing the street. He'd frozen up like a deer the moment he saw the lights of the car approaching. The only thing he had managed to do was to uphold his mental defenses when he had been hit, but even that brought him to the brink of exhaustion. He was tired now and his head ached something fierce. He would've loved to lie down right there and go to sleep to replenish some energy, but it was too dangerous with those monsters roaming the streets. That and there was the car accident, which had been his fault. He couldn't just leave without making sure the driver was okay.



Carefully, Mark got up from the ground. He noted dully that he was aching all over his body. Most people would've been thrilled to get away with only bruises after a head-on collision with a car, but Mark was used to this sort of thing. He just sighed and made his way to the wrecked vehicle up against the wall. He hoped the person inside of it was still alive. Mark had managed to avoid casualties when going on his monster hunts up to now, and he wanted it to stay that way.



He peered inside the broken window on the driver’s side. It was dark, but Mark's eyes were used to it, and so he managed to spot the figure lying there slumped up against the air bag. He could make out that it was a woman - and a well endowed one at that - but little else of her condition was discernible from this angle. He pulled at the front door and it easily came off, since it was little but a twisted sheet of metal after the crash. Mark threw it out onto the sidewalk somewhere and made his way inside the car to drag out the driver.



Hoping that she wasn't stuck, Mark undid her seatbelt, grabbed the woman's arms and pulled. She was light as a feather, and he easily managed to get her out, even while being careful not to have her touch the glass shards all around them. He carried her away from the car towards a close-by hotel and took off his coat, on which he then laid her unconscious body. He felt warmth coming from the woman, and her chest was moving up and down, so he knew that she was still alive, though he wasn't able to tell how well she was. He'd have to check, there was no other way.



With a gulp, he looked at her, knowing what he was about to do. If she found out, she'd probably come to the wrong conclusion, but that was alright. He looked at her for a moment longer and took in her bruised face, which looked very pretty even after such an accident. She had perfect lips and long eyelashes, which made Mark want to be winked at, among other things. Her full breasts were also slowly moving up and down as she breathed, and Mark could see bits of skin through her torn summer shirt and bra, which gave him ideas.



No, he shouldn't be thinking things like that, especially not in a moment such as this. Mark was being creepy and he knew it. He couldn’t have sex thoughts about unconscious women, especially if they'd just been in an accident that he had caused; having built-up urges from years of celibacy was no excuse. He shook his head, took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. What he was about to do required all the concentration and energy he had left, which wasn't much after the impact of the car.



He unbuttoned the woman's shirt and pulled her torn bra up over her breasts, so that they were exposed. Even while she was unconscious, her nipples were hard in the cold night air, and Mark felt them as he put his hands on her chest. He was surprised at the softness of her and the warmth of her body made him shiver, but he managed to stop those kinds of thoughts right there – he had to, otherwise what he was about to do wasn't going to work.

A white glow soon emanated from his hands, and he started feeling her whole body with his mind, which felt great. Melding into somebody else's body wasn't a sensation he allowed himself to have often, but here it was necessary.



He willed himself not to think of sex again as he was doing this and instead went for the parts of her that were damaged. Her liver and one of her kidneys had both been bruised in the car crash, and he did all he could to repair them. A few of her ribs were broken too, but these were an easy fix compared to the organs. Mark then used the last of his remaining energy to fix the superficial cuts and bruises on her skin, which made her look as if nothing had happened to her at all, had it not been for her ripped clothes. After he had healed her as best as he could, he put her clothes back on her just in time for her not to realize what he had done. Slowly, she opened her eyes.



"Hey there, take it slow," Mark said. "Are you feeling alright?"



"What happened?" she moaned with a drowsy look on her face that made Mark wish he'd had to do some mouth to mouth.



"You crashed your car," he said.



"Oh, right," she said. "I think I... I hit someone, is he..." Her voice trailed off. She obviously thought Mark had died in the car crash. And he would have, too, had it not been for his powers.



"Don't worry," he said. "I managed to dive out of the way before you hit me, I'm alright."



"Wait, so the person in front of my car was you?" She sat up and looked at him more closely, then recognition dawned on her. "Yes, I remember your face! You turned to look at me before... Oh god, I'm so sorry. I really thought I'd hit you. You'd probably be dead if I had."



"Then I guess it's a good thing you didn't hit me" Mark said with a smile. "Otherwise there'd have been nobody to pull you out of your car."



"Wait, you pulled me out of there after I almost hit you with it? Are you some sort of superhero?"



He smiled at that; it was a question he didn't know the answer to himself. "Just tell me how you're feeling and then we'll see if I have to call an ambulance or if I should just get you a room at the hotel we're sitting in front of."



"Oh, I'm okay. My apartment isn't far from here and you've done enough already." Samantha said.



"I don't think you should be walking home in your condition," he said as he saw her getting up from the ground. "I'll get the two of us a room. I think we both need some rest and it's really no trouble at all."



Samantha looked up at Mark and a smile made its way to her face. "I really do feel okay - I can't believe I just crashed my car," she said. "But the way you're looking at me, it doesn't seem as if you'll be taking no for an answer."



Mark blushed, but didn't give way. "That's right," he said with as much resolution as he could muster. He had to get her away from the streets. It was just a hunch, but he had a feeling that there was more to this woman than met the eye, though what met the eye was a sight to behold. He'd felt something familiar in her when he'd explored her with his mind, something that reminded him a lot of himself, and it seemed as if it had just awakened. He had to make sure she wasn't in any danger, and if his hunch was correct, a car crash would soon be the least thing she'd have to be worried about.



His resolved voice had the desired effect on her. She sighed and gave Mark a resigned smile.



"Alright, you can get us a room then, but first you gotta tell me your name. After all, you're the tall, handsome stranger who rescued me from the burning wreck of my car. I'm Samantha, by the way."



"My name's Mark, and the car wasn't burning. Nice to meet you, Samantha."



Nice to meet her indeed – what a hottie! If things had been different, Mark might have used this as an opportunity to get laid. Even though he couldn't do that, he decided to at least have some fun flirting with Samantha. She was his type, and with every word she said, she seemed to push more buttons than he'd thought he had. Even though he tried to tell himself differently, keeping her save from harm was not the only thing on his mind.