Silver and Cold

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm exhaled loudly, perhaps too loudly, as she sat back down in the prison-of-a-car. While she felt much more comfortable in her own well-fitted, black pants and corset top (not to mention, black hooded sweatshirt that was never zipped up completely); she still was not comfortable with being so close to Damien so soon. Her walls were well fortified and the girl had no intentions of lowering them any time soon. Eyes still as dull and cold as her mask, she kept a steady gaze out the passenger side window, far away from Damien.

Tool. Just a tool, the girl repeated silently to herself. That was the last time she would let herself become so comfortable around him. And even if she had already made that vow before, she was all the more determined to keep it this time. Storm glared at her reflection in the window, as if daring it to cross the line she had just set in place for herself. If she had allowed any color change, her eyes would have burned a little blacker.

The vampire\'s voice caused her to jump slightly, without the confused flicker of eyes. She had fallen back into the motions of blocking her moods enough to prevent the change for the time being. As for the question, she turned to him, blinking slowly as if she didn\'t know what to say.

"I...don\'t really eat much." she began, a painfully awkward facial expression beginning to surface. God, I must sound like a fucking lunatic. The Akari exhaled softly through her nose, turning back to the window and avoiding anything in Damien\'s direction.

"I like apples," she offered, "and vanilla ice cream." Her face began to grow a faint pink, yet her eyes remained the cold gray.

[Saiketsu]

Gray eyes looked side-long at her in part disbelief, part scowl. This just keeps getting better and better, he found himself thinking as his tense foot pushed down the accelerator more than he wanted to. Damien smirked at the blood rushing to her cheeks, preventing his body from reacting upon the sight by saying, "You don\'t eat. You don\'t sleep. Is there anything that you do do?" The comment came out slightly more aggressive than he would have liked, but he didn\'t exactly have any intention of taking it back of appologizing. He had never liked being a mediator.

A moment passed before Damien realized that he was pulling fifty in a thirty-five stretch of the city, and removed his foot from the pedal (which sprang back into a regular position without much protest). Behind the wheel of the black Chevy, Damien sighed thinking quickly while keeping his jaws locked so as not to let slid any a sly comment; their relationship was bad enough as it was.

"So... what? Do I take you to a super market then?" The idea greatly amused him. "Out of all the girls I\'ve known, you\'re the only one who wouldn\'t rather go out to dinner..." The comment was made in the sense of general conversation-making, his voice in too much house-arrest to be of satire.

[The Cedar Witch]

The girl\'s eyes widened at the sudden acceleration, heart racing a little faster to mirror her nervousness. She really didn\'t like cars at all. But Storm forced herself to swallow whatever form of protest that would have normally sprang from her lips. It didn\'t matter. It wasn\'t like he would get them killed in a car accident. He was already dead and she had the potential of being useful. But his next comment felt like a slap in the face and it took everything she had not to get unreasonably angry--although her eyes did blacken considerably as she positioned herself so she practically had her back to him.

"Fucking prick" she muttered under her breath, not really caring if he heard every ounce of hatred in her whisper. The only reason she didn\'t care was because it didn\'t matter anymore. Nothing mattered. She was alive, out of Laurent\'s hands, not stepping on any boundaries. She could survive perfectly fine with emotional battering. The Akari barely relaxed as Damien slowed down. She was still angry.

"Whatever you want to do. It doesn\'t matter to me. I\'m not expensive to keep alive." her voice was cold and stiff. Her gaze remained glued to the window, not even the scenery beyond it.

[Saiketsu]

The frame of the little black steering wheel bent beneath his white-knuckled grasp, the hard plastic splintering through the leather cover. His feet became a little more reluctant to move off of the accelerator due to the pureness of his anger. Steely eyes remained glued to the road ahead as the tension peeked within the car, no more than a foot separating the vampire from the one who envoked his fury.

What the fuck is your problem!? He almost screamed at her, the pedal pressing slowly down towards the floor and the speedometer reaching into the sixties and seventies with a wild groan of the engine. If anything he should be the one mad at her -- asking him to drive her all over the place, calling his temporary dwelling her "home". Bullshit, he fumed. It took him only a moment to contain himself, having centuries of practice in doing so with all his children. He kept forgetting who exactly Storm was.

"Knock it off," he said forcefully between his teeth, trying to keep it all together as his claws lengthened and his senses sharpened instinctually. The rushing trees could be individually identified by Damien in this new sense, regardless of the fact that they were flying by at nearly top speed. "I meant it sarcastically, in case you couldn\'t tell. No need to get so uptight. Just trying to get some other kind of reaction out of you." You look like you could use it too, he thought quietly, not daring to vocalize the comment.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm\'s heart rate spiked as he punched the accelerator, her eyes responding with the appropriate array of colors as she let out an involuntary gasp. Her hands clutched her knees as if holding onto her own flesh would keep her from death in the event of a crash. The anger pulsating from him and ricocheting off the inner walls of the car inhibited her ability to breathe. As soon as she regained control of herself, her face hardened even further and her nails were beginning to dig into her legs.

Tool, tool, tool. She screamed at herself, forcing her body language to lie and make her appear more comfortable then she was. You\'re acting like a brat. He just bought you an entire wardrobe. What the fuck are you doing? The girl inhaled deeply, exhaling after thirty seconds or so. Inhale. Exhale. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Calm-the-fuck-down. She didn\'t dare venture a glance at the vampire in control of the excessively speeding vehicle. She hated cars. Hate.

Somewhere tonight, the two had a terrible silent miscommunication. And maybe that was the fault in the balance: lack of clear communication. Storm knew that all of this unnecessary anger could have been avoided, especially on her part. But she wasn\'t in the mood for swallowing that much pride, admitting she was wrong. Even if that meant permanently wrecking any friendly relations she had began to build with Damien. It was too late to really fix anything now, and Storm had half the mind to take off and leave him alone for a few weeks, if not forever.

Maybe this is for the better, she rationalized, trying in vain to focus on anything but the speed of the car. The Akari didn\'t want to be close to him, and she had no real need to be. As far as she was concerned, he was holding her captive. No different from what Laurent had done. And considering he was treating her much better then her previous owner, she should shut her trap and accept whatever comments he aimed at her. There was already a deep wedge between the two, no sense in trying to build any bridges now.

"Sorry," she muttered, trying to sound sincere through her obvious fear. At least he couldn\'t hear her thoughts. Just a tool, she reminded herself, staring now in front of her while resuming with her deep breathing as inconspicuously as possible. The girl wasn\'t about to explain that she took everything seriously, especially when she was under emotional stress. Why would he need to know that? And she especially wasn\'t going to tell him that his comment, however sarcastic, reminded her of someone who could have been a better father-figure in her life. Not that she would actually admit to herself that things like that still hurt, even a little.

Inhale. "To be honest, a grocery store is fine. I can survive on a bag of cheap apples. I\'ll try not to be too much more trouble when it comes to expense." her voice was hollow and too mechanical, void of emotion. She hoped that a change of subject would alleviate some of the tension and take the focus off of the current predicament. Exhale.

[Saiketsu]

It was only upon hearing her gasp did Damien release the accelerator and realize that she was genuinely scared beneath his wrath. He had forgotten that mortals feared such machines as cars, never thinking of the consequences of his immortal senses upon others. He flickered with a moment of guilt and began to apply the brake as liberally as he could with his tense muscles.

The vampire\'s jaws remained clenched together, his lips pressed into a straight line. He would have loved to know exactly what was going on in her brain at that very moment, but still found within himself the self-restraint necessary to keep from tapping into her brainwaves. His grip on the steering wheel released and the dented plastic, which he had tried so hard to keep intact for so many years, nearly sighed under the lack of pressure. As the first red light appeared, Damien was finally able to take his hands, still clawed and stiff with adrenaline, from the wheel to rub gingerly at his temples and other such calming points of his face. While his anger was nowhere near subsided, Damien swallowed it in order to try to build some foundation of a bridge -- or at least to try to put out the fire from the previous burned bridge. His body ached with tension and his jaw ached for the taste of blood which could always make anything better.

This wasn\'t about the money he spent. This wasn\'t about hospitality. This was about Storm and Damien getting some things straight which previously went undiscussed. And Damien, ever the planner of depressing moments, began to think of ways of communication -- ways that didn\'t include the one-way passing of her blood into his. They needed something hard and concrete with which to set any kind of basis down. He didn\'t need to know everything, but just enough to understand what this would be like, this mission of his and this battle against her ex-captor she would eventually have to face. After all it wasn\'t as if he had no sympathy, had no ability to aid her in anyway she wanted. Damien didn\'t want this regime between them to be a master and servant; he wanted a union of sorts, an alliance that would aid them both when the time came.

Damien sighed through his nose, unwilling to move his lips too much, but to say under his breath, "what a mess."

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm allowed herself to relax significantly as the car slowed, her eyes finally settling back to their initial gray shade. Her focus remained on the windshield, not really focusing on the outside world. She was lost within herself, within memories that had just begun to resurface. Things she didn\'t necessarily want to make a habit of remembering. How long had it been? Five years? Not that she really considered them much of a family. That lifetime seemed so faded, so separate, it was almost as if the memories she had from that period of time belonged to an entirely different person. And in a way, they did. The war had shaped her into who she was now. The time she spent fighting for the Zalmric side, specifically.

What became of her home? For all Storm knew, everyone had been wiped out in the war. It wasn\'t as if anyone had come looking for her after what she had done, the mess she had left her parents in. The flames. With that flicker of a thought, her eyes yellowed and she sank a bit further into the memory. Sometimes, in her dreams, she could still feel the flames at her fingertips, clumsy elemental manipulation. And like now, she could feel them, but only for a moment. As soon as the house before her blazed to life, the vision faded and grayed with her eyes. It had been such a long time since she had taken that particular bottle from the shelves. That was her home. Not Damien\'s apartment. Her home had gone up in flames.

A mumble coming from the vampire beside her pulled the girl from her thoughts, yet she showed no outward evidence that anything had occurred. She didn\'t catch what he had said, nor did she ask for him to repeat it. Storm\'s eyes moved to the glowing red light before her as she tried to place the vivid memory neatly back into a bottle. Tool, she reminded herself bitterly.

"Where are we going?" she inquired dully, voice still lacking any emotion that may have otherwise been present.

[Saiketsu]

"Back to the cliffs. I think it would seem appropriate." He hadn\'t decided if the comment was more for her or his own sake, but he hardly gave it much attention and neither did he elaborate at all. The vampire was too lost in his own thoughts, his own plans, to worry about her interpretations of his words.

He pushed the black car onward, towards the northwest end of town. It wasn\'t long before the thick smell of the ocean arrived, a fraction of the rippling water visable beneath the moon. Damien wondered if she could hear the waves crashing as well as he could, smell the fish and the salt as strongly with her abnormally immortal-like abilities. His eyes never left the road.

The little black car pulled into a parking lot of a small supermarket, one open for the whole twenty-four hours of the day. Without a word of exchange past the "c\'mon" and the "go get what you want", there was nothing said, even as the two paid the tiring clerk with the greasy hair. They climbed back into the car. Nothing was said.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm said nothing beyond one-worded answers whenever she deemed it appropriate. Although, the cliff comment had intrigued her, she did not ask about it. What would drive Damien to take her back there, so near to where they had encountered Laurent so recently? Did he have plans to give her back because she was such a handful? She paled at the thought, but her expression remained the same. She deserved whatever fate the vampire had in store for her.

As soon as the two were back in the car, Storm took one of the apples he had purchased. It had been awhile since she had one that wasn\'t wild or a few days too old. She bit into the white flesh of the fruit, a feeling of comfort momentarily melting her icy facade. But the expression did not last. As soon as she realized the mask had fallen, she moved it back into place, consuming the apple with an unreadable face. This was the first meal she had eaten in days. When she was finished, she incinerated the core in her hands, out of habit. Careless? Maybe to the onlooker. But she was in perfect control. Bringing any signs of her own life was something she was accustomed to. Food left behind would be a clue to her whereabouts.

Storm looked at the window, not really making any effort to make conversation with Damien. She wasn\'t thinking about anything really, while at the same time everything seemed to be looming over her, threatening to break down the walls she had worked so hard to construct. The ocean air made her face soften, and she turned further away from the vampire lest he see that she was allowing herself to enjoy the salty air and the crash of the ocean. Half of her hoped that he had every intention of leaving her here and going back to his own life.

continued here