Hollow

[The Cedar Witch]

The girl\'s eyes probed him, searching for something she knew she wouldn\'t find. Something in the words he said triggered something inside of her. She could feel tightness in her throat and she forced herself to look away.

"I will be fine," Storm said quietly. It wasn\'t as if the sun burned her as it would him, so she wasn\'t that concerned about herself. She merely hated feeling as though she was in the way. Uncontrollably, she found herself swallowing hard, choking down a memory that she\'d rather forget.

"Do what you have to." She added, after she had recovered. The Akari fixed her gaze ahead of her, working slowly to gather more healing energy from the environment.  

"You know that neither one of us can leave this easily anymore."

Storm looked up at him again, feeling the words in the air as they left his mouth. Who ever said she was going to try and go anywhere? God, it was hard enough breathing after just jumping off of a cliff, let alone going through recovery quicker then she had ever let her body heal before. She was trying! If she was strong enough to go with him, out of the sun, she would.

Shadow play danced across her mind once again, the thrill of that power and control. She dwelled on the thought for a moment before violently shoving the idea out of her head. Connected with too many painful memories. Besides, the girl doubted her own abilities.

I\'m sure he could find shade or something... She mused silently to herself. Or dig himself a grave... A smirk crept onto her face.

[Saiketsu]

Damien scoffed. "\'Do what I have to.\' I\'ve been doing what I\'ve had to for nearly a millennium! I want a fucking straight answer!" His anger and frustration and altogether discomfort was getting to him. He had no patience, he was Thirsty, and he was tired of indecision and loopholes --that\'s all it had been for years!

Damien took a minute to calm down, to detach himself from her, feeling drained and agitated. The blood coursed and ached painfully, crying out for live sacrifices. His head throbbed. His body ached and his spirit was altogether a mess.

"Look. I\'ve found you and you know as well as I do that we\'re both in over our heads. I am not going to let this go. No, this is going all the way, to the very end." Though what end that was he couldn\'t exactly be positive or assured. "I need to know how and where to find you. A good place, a solid and recognizable place. I won\'t bother you immediately but this needs to be settled eventually." He paused, his voice low and his eyes fully on her now. "I need a solid answer from you: Where will you be in four days?" For I will find you again, make no mistake.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm cringed at the harshness in his tone, involentarily shrinking away. Four days? How the hell was she supposed to know? She was a wanderer, staying in one place for a long time made her restless. The location of her travels was never predicted, always spontanious. She sighed, racking her brain for some place that she knew of, somewhere she would be forced to go.

She sighed, "The lighthouse. I\'ll be in the lighthouse." A lone gull\'s cry echoed across the ocean.

"Are you going to leave now? It\'s getting early." she couldn\'t mask the dissapointment in her voice.

[Saiketsu]

Her withdrawal was clearly felt though partly expected, but he just couldn\'t care anymore. This one night was tiring, even though he knew that half, if not most of the drama was caused by he, himself. Enough was enough for one night.

Damien didn\'t respond for a moment, the breeze off the waves to send a chill to his cold, dead body. Yes, he\'d leave, but where to go? Into the inner slums of the city, or deep into the forests, or down into the earth\'s bosom... Wherever he decided to go, he\'d have to decide quickly.

"Fine, the lighthouse," said the vampire. He stood up, more easily now, still putting much support on the rock near him and biting back the pain. As Damien stood there, preparing to depart, he felt so utterly... vulnerable. He grinned to himself.

[The Cedar Witch]

The Akari felt her body begin to prepare itself for rigorous meditation. The small space around her began to bend, like a powerful gravitational vortex as she prepared to withdraw into herself. Hair beginning to rise of its own accord, her eyes resonated a fierce purple color as hardly noticeable sparks of the same hue danced along her skin.

Storm looked slowly to Damien, memorizing his aura signature for easy reference. His words hardly registered as the surroundings faded into a different view; as though she saw through a pair of night vision goggles. She saw in energies, moods, auras, everything typically invisible to the naked human eye. The girl began to loose feeling in her fingertips as she smiled at him one last time before he left.

"I\'ll see you then." she thought effortlessly to him, drawing enough energy to herself to create some sort of a protective barrier against most physical harm. Storm returned her gaze to the ocean before she could move no longer. Thank the gods this sort of intensity was needed only for a short while, an hour after sunrise at most. But she doubted it would take that long to gather enough stability to retreat into some secluded area.

[Saiketsu]

Damien cast one more long, cold look at her. What the fuck have I gotten myself into? He wondered impatiently, watching her fall into whatever kind of coma she was in. Silently he cursed Isabella again, half-heartedly.

Pain was flooding his body from his head to his legs. He was wet, irritable and Thirsty. The sun was inching closer to destroying him. He sighed and began his journey back to the city. If he were lucky, maybe he\'d find some drunken bum on the boardwalk, someone that no one would miss.