Defining Loyalties

[Saiketsu]

For the first time in minutes Damien\'s eyes landed upon Odessa\'s with a sudden seriousness. Despite the fact that he respected Odessa dearly as an elder and a friend and despite the fact that her age and demeanor demanded respect, he had no problem establishing his own opinion in his own affairs. No. He would not be baiting Storm just so he could end Laurent once and for all. The idea was ridiculous. Certainly he had every availability to do so, to just let her roam the city as she pleased, to shadow her every move just as Laurent did in the hopes that he would pop out of some buch and try to attack. But there was the point that he had waited and worked this hard to develop Storm\'s trust -- to throw all of that away and still keep his original intentions was ludicrous. She would never trust him again if he used her in such a manner. He would be no better than Laurent, and Damien knew that. Not to mention that that would be what he was expecting.

"No," Damien said politely but sternly to his friend, "I will not do that to her. It would be just what that prick would be expecting. Besides that I\'m not sure even how to control such an enviornment such as that. She is the only thing that he wants, so I am told. And by the way that he hounds her I believe it. No, he\'d be expecting me to just put her out into the city monitered like that.

"And his speed is not the issue. It\'s his abilities. He can turn himself into smoke and mist or even fire as he did to Pierre. He learned with Pierre what can take us down. He may be mortal, but he\'s dangerous and, unfortunately, he\'s smart.

"I can\'t do anything without Pierre anyway. I can\'t risk having my son killed or injured anymore. Pierre needs to get back on his feet before I can do anything, regardless of what it is." Frustration was beginning to leak into his voice and expression as he leaned back on the loveseat.

[The Cedar Witch]

Sonya blinked and watched him react, face unmoving and eyes deeply interested.  Every so often she nodded slightly in agreement as she put together a clearer picture of what this Laurent was capable of.  Still, it seemed odd that the creature--a mortal-- could take down Pierre.  But the ancient did not argue the point further.  She could tell when Damien had made up his mind.

"But the creature is unaware of your current location, yes?"  she added, as if for encouragement--as much encouragement as one such as herself could give.  "So long as she remains inside your home you should have nothing to immediately fear of the creature."  The situation reminded her of war, and how foolish it would be for a single man to attempt to take over a castle.  As far as the ancient was concerned, the situation was simple.  Keep the girl indoors and alive, without any exceptions.  Wait for the trouble to show his face.  Or give up.

Besides, as things stood at the moment in terms of the success of his regime, there wasn\'t a real need for her to be anywhere but within the castle.  She was just a vassal.

[Saiketsu]

Damien shook his head at her comment. "It doesn\'t exactly work that way. He was able to penetrate her mind so for all I know he\'s able to tap into her thoughts and feelings. Storm told me that she got rid of all his tracers but I have my doubts, of course." He sighed again. "So he might have an idea as to where we actually are, yes.

"But that\'s not my concern either. Even if he did figure out where I lived, there\'s no way for him to get onto the property without being detected. Even if he could, I don\'t believe he\'d try. He\'s waiting for something, bidding his time or licking his wounds. Either way I can\'t find him. Storm has no way of telling where he is. Stalemate.

"And now with Lazarus out of the picture, my job has just gotten harder. As young as Galvin may be, he has been more fair in his decisions than Lazarus had ever been. As long as there\'s a common respect for Galvin among the immortals of the city, there\'s no way to get either him or McCloud out yet. So I have nowhere to go at this point besides after Laurent or bidding my own time."

[The Cedar Witch]

The conversation had come to a full circle.  There was nothing the Queen had to say regarding the Oligarchy situation, and it wasn\'t as though there was a point in getting any more infuriated on the situation.  Checkmate.

"Perhaps time will reveal a more profitable path," she reflected in reference to the Oligarchy, though she made no effort to clarify.  "And we certainly have plenty of that."  The ancient smirked, making polite eye contact with the other.  For now, there was little else but time.  She abruptly changed the subject.

"How have you faired, then?  Setting the obvious aside."  She leaned back into the couch, as if settling upon her throne of normalcy once again.  Sonya\'s expression remained relatively blank.  She saw it unnecessary to continue the discussion further, unless Damien had additional concerns. Her personal anger toward Kerr could be dealt with in other ways.

[Saiketsu]

Too accustomed to her abrupt dodging and shifting of subjects after so many years of keeping in contact with the ancient, Damien smirked wearily. "Besides the obvious? Well, besides being unable to control anything within the past few months, I\'ve been alright. I finally have a house, you\'ll have to see it some time. It\'s large, though not as large as this," he added politely, signalling to her house. "It\'s out on Alcott Road, about seven miles outside of the city. Nice little private piece of land. Two floors, full basement, tempered windows. It sits on about ten acres of land.

"That\'s about the best thing that\'s happened since we last spoke. Everything else had been virtually downhill."

He as well sat back into the loveseat, realizing how comfortable it was for the first time during the evening as he looked at her. Her position had allowed the transluscent garment loosen and expose a large section of her chest and partially her breasts, along with her upper thighs which still remained crossed. Had she been anyone else, he would have insisted on continuing the conversation only after she had clothed herself. But Odessa was no ordinary woman and would most likely either dodge his suggestion or give him a very dry, stern response. Her exposed skin hardly made him concerned anymore; he was so accustomed to her bouts with insanity that seeing her nude was no longer any large shock to him -- not after he had seen beautiful gowns torn to shreds as she wandered around the dwelling at high noon like a ghost.

A few moments passed without either immortal speaking before Damien made an inquiry for her. "I realize that this may be a foolish question to ask, my dear lady, but how have you been fairing? Have you made any contact with Nadia yet?" He was hopeful that, as a friend, she would at least tell him that much. They had always been able to share part of themselves with each other, at least to some degree. He had always been hoping that as the years progresssed so would the amount of information shared from the ancient.

[The Cedar Witch]

It pleased the Queen to know that at the very least things were alright with Damien, as much as could be expected given the circumstances.  No matter how he said that things were going downhill, she knew enough to see that it wasn\'t anything that could not eventually be figured out and appropriately dealt with.  The both of them had suffered worse, surely.  

Mention of Nadia changed the feeling in the air.  Her expression froze for a moment, as though she were caught off guard about the subject, and the woman was silent.  Nadia, her first fledgling, she had left back in Europe at least a century ago.  The girl was beautiful, intelligent, and a dear friend.  The last time she had reached out to contact the girl was through a letter correspondence to inform her that she was leaving Europe and further instructions to look after a certain thing.  Running from memories.  For a change of scenery.  She of course wrote Damien a similar letter, and then many afterward.  As for Nadia, she had fallen out of contact with her.

"No," she said quietly, "I haven\'t heard anything from her." Not that she had made any large effort to seek her daughter out.  For all Sonya knew, she was still in Europe.  She most certainly was still very well alive, that much the ancient was sure of.

As for her own well being, the Queen was not so enthusiastic to reveal to him, close friend or not.  The passing of time had gradually pushed her into a darker and darker state of mind, and even though the transition was relatively smooth, it would be notable to Damien at the very least.  For now, she neglected to elaborate on her own personal matters and continued the discussion of Nadia.  

"I\'m sure she is occupied with something-or-other, searching as we all are,” her eyes at that moment were very old, reflecting without caring to realize that she had hinted at something larger.

[Saiketsu]

Damien nodded, knowing the feeling. "Separation is good, though. Centuries of living with the same person can really make you hate them." There was a bitter smirk on his lips as he spoke, knowing full well that Odessa knew of what he spoke. "Pierre and I were separated for more than fifty years not too long ago, you know. He came over from Spain and I met him by chance one night while feeding. Nadia will come around. A large city of immortals like this, if she\'s in America, she might even come here. Then it\'ll be like Paris all over again."

It was a humorous, wishful thought, one that he highly doubted would happen. He could tell that Odessa missed her fledgling, like any parent would miss a child. Nadia was one of Odessa\'s only children, one of her only blood connections to the world and Damien knew well enough what it felt like to rely on one other person for an anchor to the real world.

He was worried about Odessa. She claims never to have anyone living with her since she left Europe. How many years had she spent not knowing anyone in the city, he had no idea. And he knew her better than she would have ever given him credit for -- he knew that her solitude wasn\'t as peaceful as she tried to make him believe. He could still smell the sea salt and dirt in her hair and on her skin. And while he didn\'t know exactly what she had been doing out in the ocean or for how long she was out there, he had his ideas and opinions. And they were of no comfort to Damien.

[The Cedar Witch]

"Perhaps."  Her expression dulled, lips tightening into a half-headed smirk. Her years in Paris had been more enjoyable than settling in this city.  The ancient behaved as she pleased, feeding wherever and however she wanted.  As dangerous as it was to do so, the woman did not regret a single choice she made.  Nadia and she were quite the pair, both at parties and terrorizing the streets; and the idea of reuniting Nadia and Pierre was an amusing thought, but it lasted only briefly.  But she hadn\'t heard anything from the girl in some time.  A very long time.

"Though I cannot say that it could be exactly like Paris, given the change in power."  Sonya directed the subject back to talk of the Oligarchy.  In Paris, she was unrestricted.  Her feeding behavior was something she knew that Damien would neither approve of or agree with, but it wasn\'t any of his business to insist upon otherwise.  Within the boundaries of the city, she was forced to modify her own behavior to cater to the needs of others.  Something that she most certainly was not accustomed to doing.

"This Oligarchy has no right to interfere with my business..." she trailed off darkly, the anger churning--though subdued--blackly within her.

[Saiketsu]

Upon the subject, Damien said nothing. Most certainly, and he believed that they both knew it, he did not in any way care for her wreckless feeding and murdering. In fact he would not stand it even if he had control of the city -- she would most likely drain the human population of the city and help to drive off their only food source. Not to mention that the last thing that Damien wanted was the human population to fear his race more than they had to. It was an opinion that Damien had expressed to her implicitly on many occassions and it was one of the only points that he stood with the Oligarchy on. It was one of the points that Damien had understood that was completely impassable in conversation.

"Well there\'s nothing that anyone can do now with the Oligarchy," he treaded carefully, picking his way as professionally as possible through his words around her. "Especially not me. Yet I hope that when the time comes I don\'t find myself standing alone." He smirked slightly at her.

[The Cedar Witch]

In terms of the Oligarchy, Sonya preferred not to make herself any more known than she already had.  Between her feeding habits and behavior in general, she had given them enough trouble.  In order to avoid the embarrassment of being escorted by mimic demons to the Oligarch, Sonya was forced to take her \'behaviors\' outside of the city.  Though her feeding habits as of late did not come close to the brutality of her earlier undead years, the ancient knew that she would draw the Oligarchy\'s eye. One day, she was going to move to avoid all of the trouble of traveling outside of the city to feed.  But that wouldn\'t come any time soon.  For now, she would do no more to personally take an active part in interfering with the business of the government.

As far as Damien, however, the Queen was less neutral than she claimed.  If anything happened, it was obvious that she would not merely stand on the side-lines and say \'well that\'s too bad.\'  Even the Queen had her loyalties.

"You know that I consider myself to be neutral," she began slowly, flirting between French and Latin, "but I would never abandon a friend."  She looked at him with a knowing expression, though she would never out-right admit to being anything but neutral when it came to affairs pertaining to Damien.  

[Saiketsu]

Damien nodded. That was all he needed to hear from her because that, in Sonya\'s way was as good as any promise from anyone else. "Good to know."

The younger immortal sat back on the couch in thought. Having Odessa\'s support on his side was something that gave him the smallest bit of happiness in his torential world of modern immortalty. With all the problems that now looked him in the face -- Storm, Laurent, The Oligarchy -- it was nice to know that at least Odessa would help him in her own way when the time came.

If the time came.

"After years of planning this," he started slowly, "I\'m almost ashamed to say that I have little idea how I can maneuver now. I\'ve told Pierre to keep his ears and eyes open for news as to why anything happened and what will happen next." Damien leaned his head backwards onto the sofa and shut his eyes for a brief few moments. "All I can do now is just concentrate on keeping Storm safe from him. We haven\'t sensed any movement on Laurent\'s end and it\'s making us nervous."

[The Cedar Witch]

Sonya studied him as he spoke, resting her jaw on her hand as she listened.  Her expression was simultaneously blank and thoughtful.  

"What of the girl?"  the ancient wondered aloud, "Does she cooperate with your intentions?"  Her gaze was steady, if not curious.  Sonya wondered, if given the chance, the girl would flee from Damien as she had this previous captor.

[Saiketsu]

"Er... enough so, I suppose. She plays no active role at the moment. I have yet to find her actual purpose in my plans -- that much, as you know, has not been made clear to me."

Storm, he was happy to say, was becoming less and less of a dilemna as time went on. Sure she still had her secrets and her moments of privateness, but Damien had no intention of taking any of that away from her. She was beginning to open up, be friendly and talk to him regularly instead of avoiding eye contact and keeping her thoughts to herself. They could laugh and joke every now and then -- when the humor fit -- and they could discuss most of what needed to be discussed. She was no longer just some piece of a puzzle that he had found. She was almost a friend -- one by force, but a friend nonetheless.

"She\'s relatively cooperative. There are certain things which I have to pull out of her, but for the most part since we have both gotten used to how the other works, things run much smoother. We no longer fight nearly as much."

[The Cedar Witch]

A smirk flitted across her face briefly before vanishing.  "She trusts you then,"  the woman almost interjected, just as he finished speaking.

[Saiketsu]

Her smirk was too quick for his eyes to catch as his head lay on the top of the loveseat\'s back. Her question hadn\'t made him move in the least.

"Yes," he responded evenly, as if she had asked him a question about the weather. "I suppose so. I mean that was my intention. I need her to trust me more than she ever trusted Laurent if any of this is going to work. I mean if I don\'t have to force her hand into her part in this take over, than I won\'t and I\'ll simply remain as a guiding force for her into her place -- whatever that may be.

"But I want her to trust me and my fledglings. It will make her transition smoother."