Coming Undone

[Saiketsu]

He was able to watch her enjoy herself... until she shifted her hair to reveal exactly what he didn\'t want to see: virgin skin on her neck. Damien stiffened at the sight, always caught unprepared whenever a beautiful girl did that and revealed the same thing to him, whether they realized it or not. With a stiffled snarl settling in his chest, Damien turned away from the sea and the dark-garbed girl enjoying herself, preferring to take the brunt of the blinding light than be faced with her lovely little neck for one more instant.

Keeping his eyes wide as the light passed over him as a sort of punishment, Damien cringed as the incandescent light came and went, searing his sharp eyes. He groaned as he finally closed them, the Thirst in himdrained incredibly to a dull roar in the bottom of his chest. He felt slightly weakened, but as long as he could be near her and not consider her a meal, Damien was fine with it. The spots in his vision faded fast enough, being a vampire and all, and the vampire turned his back to the light as it passed over him again.

He felt the girl look to him for something and he looked up, inhaling slowly. The two women looked so different at that precise moment in time and as the light breeze tossed Storm\'s hair about playfully, Damien couldn\'t help but look at her with a smile on his face. He wasn\'t about to tell her that to him the ocean, like everything else beautiful, had lost it\'s luster. Too many times of repetition doesn\'t always make things better.

With a casual stride, the vampire approached her side, being affected ever so slightly by her faint scent as it wafted on the breeze. "Yeah, it\'s ok I guess. If you like that kinda thing." He smiled at her again.

[The Cedar Witch]

The girl returned the smile, turning to face the ocean again with a content look on her face. She would never get tired of the ocean. The sea spoke to her soul in a way that no other rhythm of nature did. She could already feel herself becoming lost to the swell of the ocean that roared against the shoreline. The wind died down and her dark hair shifted in front of her face as Storm looked down to the sea.

"I love the sea."

The Akari felt her heart pick up, thoughts swinging to how close she was to Damien. The wind cruelly pushed his scent to her, a subtle thing that made her half want to lean into him again to feel that level of protection. It was easy enough to ignore her desire with a simple reminder. Tool. But Storm couldn\'t help but question his motive for bringing her up here, something he surely knew that she would utterly enjoy. To calm me down. That\'s all. And she found herself sigh and look onto the sea with a gray tinge, the slightest breeze making her shudder as she hid her face from him.

[Saiketsu]

Personally he liked it up there, looking down on the water. Even though it was a scene he had seen millions of nights before, it was still relatively calming and cool. He stared down at the ocean some distance below, allowing her scent to filter into his senses, even if that wasn\'t what he really wanted. "I like it up here. I figured you might. You seem to spend all your time out and about in the woodlands and such, so I figured I\'d bring you here."

Besides Risk and his home, the Lighthouse, and specifically the top of the tower was rapidly developing into his favorite escape. He had lost track of how many years he had lived in the Nameless City and the thought hung over him as he watched the waves crash and cheer far below. The moon on the water, the stars overhead, and the faint glow of reflected sunlight off the moon\'s surface was nothing new to Damien who had spent not less than fifty years in the Nameless City.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm lifted her head with closed eyes, allowing the moonlight to touch her face. After a moment she looked at the vampire, studying the lighting on his pale skin as he looked to the sea. He had a nice face, gentle when he wasn\'t being a prick. She couldn\'t help but smile softly as she looked away.

"Well, I appreciate it. Definitely worth all the bullshit you put me through a few minutes ago." she laughed quietly, taking a firm hold on the railing and pulling herself onto it. The Akari stood shakily, her body swaying for a moment as she stuck out her arms for balance. When she was perfectly still, she began to walk away from Damien, arms out in a ridiculous fashion. Even though she leaned dangerously at times, she somehow managed to stay balanced, taking one step at a time.

"Do you come here a lot?" she turned back for a moment, almost loosing her balance but remaining atop of the rail nonetheless.

[Saiketsu]

His senses peaked as her balance faultered slightly, his body automatically becoming cautious and ready. "Can you come down from there? You\'re making me extremely nervous and I think I\'ve saved you from immenent death enough for tonight." Worry laced his voice followed by a slightly elevated level of irratation. Why she constantly put herself into dangerous situations, he would never be able to figure out, but he hoped it was just a phase and not something she was doing to purposely annoy him.

"Do you come here a lot?" She was toying with him. His eyes narrowed onto her and his irratation rose to a mild level. "Storm! Get down! Jesus Christ! I didn\'t come up here to save you from falling over the edge, now come on." The vampire walked after her, holding out his hand for her in a brotherly manner.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm grinned maliciously. "Oh please, tell me you\'re not under the impression that I can\'t look after myself without you hovering over me constantly." She turned gracefully on the balls of her feet, shadows slithering out of her aura and attaching to the air to aid her balance in the slightest bit.

"Contrary to popular belief," she faced him, "Before you, I was getting along quite fine." Her tone was matter-of-fact, and she turned away from him again, proceeding to circle the lighthouse in her ridiculous manner.

"What are you so worried about anyway?" the Akari laughed, almost falling in doing so, and she sputtered a few curses as she regained her balance, posture perfect like a queen.

"I can fly, remember?" she was almost tempted to fall of, just to scare him a bit. With that thought in mind, her balance fluctuated again, and she leaned a little too far over to the left, away from the dangerous fall.

[Saiketsu]

"Actually I am under that impression, believe it or not." He followed her regardless of her tone. "No matter how careful you ever are, I feel much better being around you in case your balance isn\'t what you say it is, or if you make a wrong move. Or stub your toe." He couldn\'t help but smile at his own comment.

"And from what I\'ve seen of your flying skills --" He stopped abruptly as she leaned too far in towards him, her arm clasped within his iron ahnd again. Without actually meaning to, Damien pulled her down from the rail by her arm and set her on the cold cement where he felt she was much safer. "I trust my own skills more, if it\'s not too bold to say."

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm glared at him, but without real anger. She didn\'t really appreciate being pulled so roughly, but the girl welcomed the physical contact nonetheless. It amused her that he was so concerned with her safety and for whatever reason she found herself wanting to put herself into danger, just to make him worry. It made her feel more important, like he actually cared.

"You\'re ruining my fun." her face held a playful pout that melted into a soft smile. The Akari laughed lightly.

"Besides," her voice was soft and gentle, "You\'ve never really seen me fly." Her eyes met his, shimmering blue in the dark as though glowing on their own accord. Thanks to lessons from someone long ago, she really wasn\'t all that bad in the air. But she didn\'t want to think about the dead right now, and so she put that thought away quickly.

[Saiketsu]

The vampire couldn\'t help but scoff at the ridiculousness of the young woman\'s comment, his hand releasing her as gently as he could in said situation; he was ever fearful of her tactless decisions to try to defy gravity and his own personal wishes. And surprisingly enough, he didn\'t like the image of the young woman plummeting through the atmosphere from any height. "I\'ve seen enough from you, trust me." There was more sarcasm in his voice than anything else and he honestly didn\'t know how he wanted it to sound.

Damien was debating whether or not it was safe to move far enough away from her. His eyes lingered on her only half-suspiciously before he sighed and forced himself to look away from her, keeping his conscience eyes on her and the forest around him.

He grabbed for the cell phone in his back pocket, searching for the time nonchalantly.

[The Cedar Witch]

"Eager to get rid of me?" she noticed that he kept checking his cell phone. Storm turned to the ocean again, scanning the sky for a shooting star and secretly wondering how mad Damien would be if she decided to take off all of a sudden.

"What\'s going to happen in the morning. I mean, where are you going to go, what do you want me to do?" she faced him for a moment, face serious. As much as she didn\'t want to be ordered around, the girl could recognize the fact that her wandering around, with Laurent nearby, wasn\'t ideal.

The Akari reached around her with her mind, briefly brushing against Damien\'s consciousness in a non-offensive way as she searched for any sign on the Zalmric. He seemed to have retreated far enough away for her to relax significantly. So if she wanted to, she could probably take off just for the fun of it. The thought made her face flinch with a half smile before returning to its former peaceful expression.

[Saiketsu]

He had every inch of his response to her question plotted out already: they both should go back to his place before the sun rose, she should be locked in and he should go down for the day while she sits around and rests, and does nothing else. Period. But there was only one problem: how do you say that to her without making it seem like she\'s going to be used for something?

The thought of Damien controlling Storm and using her for that sort of thing made the vampire nearly sick. He hadn\'t shared his bed with anyone since Isabella died, and the thought of breaking that tradition with someone not Isabella made him want to gut himself. Not that he expected her to understand that at all. Not even Pierre understood exactly. But of course he wasn\'t about to tell her that.

He exhaled, thinking about how to put his response into polite conversation. "What do I want you to do? I want you to be safe and nothing more, but safe up to my standards. I don\'t trust him in this city as far as you can through him and I don\'t want him anywhere near you or my bloody operation." He bit his tongue andlooked out at the ocean, the phone dangling between his fingers. "What do you think I should do?"

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm looked at him skeptically, brown eyes narrowing. Oh please, like she was going to believe he didn\'t have every intention to lock her up in a tower somewhere.

"What I want to do and what you want me to do are never going to be the same, or even remotely similar. Why would you even ask me that." she glared at him with impatience, not anger. The girl wasn\'t an idiot and could handle the truth without him going out of his way to be polite.

"Whatever you deem necessary, seeing as I have virtually no control over this situation at all." She straightened, folding her arms in front of her chest in an indifferent manner. She could find a way to escape from whatever cage he placed her in, either that or at least find some way to occupy herself for the next twelve hours or so.

"What\'ll it be, my Lord." she smirked, a small sweeping bow. God, his effort to be so goddamned polite was getting to her. But she wasn\'t about to tell him to cut the crap and act like a normal human. Because honestly he wasn\'t.

[Saiketsu]

The vampire stiffened at her remark, especially her last one. His jaw went rigid and he saw the wrong woman for a moment, bowing to him again in her sarcastic manner. Yet as soon as the image faded, Damien found himself extremely serious with no more amusement in his features whatsoever.

Deciding against casting her the angry glance building in his mind, Damien kept his eyes out at sea as the memories of his afterlife flooded him. And he was doing so well, too. "I don\'t appreciate your sarcasm at all, Storm. Are you suggesting that maybe you\'d be better off out in the open where anyone could approach you? Because if you are, be my guest and say it bluntly and stop giving me the fucking run-around.

"Now I\'m asking you honestly: What do you think I should do? I\'m not as stupid to think that you\'re going to come along quietly -- you wouldn\'t be her incarnation if you did." He was expecting to hit some sort of a nerve and half hoped he did. Normally he would have been more of a gentleman, but the "Lord" comment got to him, as did her impatience with the situation. For Damien, bitterness attracts bitterness. "Now I have to know if I can trust you enough to trust that you\'ll keep yourself safe when I might not be able to, and won\'t lie to me anymore if I ask \'Is there a problem\'. Get it?"

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm tensed considerably, knowing she had acted out too quickly. Retracting into herself quickly in order to prevent any more harm, she stared and listened behind cold, gray eyes. The girl wasn\'t sure where to start, but it was obvious that she was going to have to cooperate, for now anyway.

"I\'m sorry," and she meant it. The Akari could recognize when she was acting childish. But that was something that came with her becoming more comfortable with a person, and it certainly wasn\'t a mistake she was going to make again. The incarnation comment slipped by her, she had already assumed the \'tool\' mindset again, her place. She knew her place.

"I\'m just not too crazy at the idea of being chained down, if you get my meaning," she glared at the vampire, expecting that Damien would understand full well what she was referring to.

"I\'m not saying that I am going to run off and get myself into a fuck-load of trouble," the girl spat bitterly, "but I don\'t appreciate being carted around like the damsel in distress. I have common since and the means to defend myself when I feel it is necessary to use it," another glare, "He isn\'t going to take me yet. I know his game, you on the other hand do not. The Captain has a lot more playing around to do." She paused, exhaling slowly to relieve her irritation so it wouldn\'t come out in her speech any more then it already had.

"As for my cooperation, I\'ll have you know that the tighter my cage the more I will try to escape." Her eyes relaxed a bit and she hugged herself as though trying to make her body smaller and draw herself farther away from the vampire.

"I\'d kill for a hot shower," abrupt change of subject, "and something to wear while I fix my shirt," she turned slightly, indicating the tares where her wings sprouted. They weren\'t horrifically large tares, the wings only unfolded after they broke past her skin and the fabric of her shirt, but they were still noticeable. Storm didn\'t mean to sound like she was giving demands, and she hoped he didn\'t take it like that. But her muscles were tenser then normal and she honestly hated feeling the bare skin of her back exposed.

[Saiketsu]

The slightest of grins appeared tracing his lips as he still looked out at the ocean. "Is that your way of asking to come over to the brazilian quarter?" The idea amused him and sickened him at the same time, pulling at his memories and his stomach in a manner he would have preffered not. He refused to let this feeling surface or linger in his chest for very long.

"As for your cage, as you call it, I\'m not going to sit there and and literally chain you down to a chair or something. That\'s not my style at all, dear. But as for him, well, I need to know for a fact that you\'ll be safe when I\'m asleep. Normally I\'d ask Pierre to guard anything of importance, like yourself, but he has to sleep too. Probably more so than me. Even more so, I need you to be in a place he knows little to nothing about. He can\'t know anything about me or Pierre. That\'s my stand.

"So as you can imagine, I would prefer if you\'re as far away from him as possible, for both of our sakes." Without her knowing it, he was already making bitter plans in the back of his mind to kill this Laurent guy off. The vampire looked down at the clock in his hands. An hour had past since he had last actually checked and dawn would be approaching soon. The thought pulled at him.

"Are you sure you want to leave here? You want to go back to my apartment?" His throat was dry. Typically he only dropped that line to women who he had no intention of bringing back to his appartment. Typically it was only victims he said that to.