Solitude

[Saiketsu]

RESERVED FOR CK
Continued from Twenty-One Candles

Had Storm not been in the car, the vampire would have easily been pulling 120 mph down this abandoned stretch of wooded road. Instead he refrained, allowing Camille to creep at a mere 70. Pierre Jean-Luc knew well that Camille wasn\'t having much fun this night, but as long as the Akari remained in the car the vampire wasn\'t allowed to push any limits. Of course she\'d be perfectly safe, what with Pierre\'s reaction time easily five times better than the leading mortal but apparently, by the way she sat stock frozen to her side of the car, she wasn\'t comfortable with too much speed.

His cell phone gave a short jingle over the car stereo, something he was waiting for. Pierre took his eyes from the road and reached for the cell phone, fully aware of the road\'s situation, or lack there of. The phone flipped open and faster than any mortal could see, his thumb flicked across the key pad.

Nearing woods now. Cells on. Situation handled.

And before he could close the phone and focus back on the road, another jingle with a message on the screen.

Good. Keep it tht way. Im still w8ing.

of course my lord.

And nothing crazy, Pierre.

And he flipped it shut for the last time, relaxing his foot off the accelerator and onto another of Camille\'s pedals. The sports car began to slow and he pulled off the pavement to a dirt road. Camille only stopped when her momentum ran out, without too much of Pierre\'s help.

The vampire stepped out of the car with a simple smile to her. "We\'re here. Happy Birthday, kiddo." The couple was deep within the woods of Meadowcrest, miles from the city\'s heart and his sire. Damien himself had suggested the retreat. Apparently she liked the woods and wanted time here often. So, upon his agreement to take the young lady out for the night, Pierre had mulled over a complicated plan with his sire about Storm\'s visitation rights, finally convincing the elder to allow her some free time.

All on her own, the first time since encountering Damien and his militia some months ago.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm\'s comfort that had been with her as she entered the car had nearly dissolved at this point. It took everything she had not to show the majority of the fear she was feeling, not that she could hide it all. With her cell phone nearly crushed in her right hand, Storm instinctively shrunk back into the seat with her eyes wide, watching the stretch of road before her. She wasn\'t taking anything in and didn\'t notice the trees thickening around her. All that the girl saw was painted yellow and white shining in the headlights of Pierre\'s car. She didn\'t even notice the texting taking place.

With the decrease of speed, however, came the considerable decrease in her stress level. And when the sound of gravel crunching under tire filled the air, Storm allowed herself to relax and take in what she was actually looking at out the passenger side window. They had gone off of the main road, which was strange to her considering nothing exciting or flashy was out in the middle of nowhere. This just didn\'t seem like Pierre\'s style. It took the girl a minute to realize where he was taking her, and when it finally sunk in, the smile returned to her face.

It was Meadowcrest. She\'d been here only once before, a long time ago. It was one of the first places she had ventured to when she came to this city. The large expanse of old growth drew her in, the ancient trees beckoning with their familiar comforting limbs. There was no way Pierre could have possibly known how attached she was to the forest without a little hint from Damien. Storm never mentioned it aloud, anyway. I\'ll thank him later... she decided, figuring that she\'d texted him enough throughout the night to give him reason to call her a pest. Not that she really believed that he was doing anything important.

As soon as Pierre stopped the car, snow began to fall. It was slow, for now, graceful white spiraling toward the ground and speckling the windshield of the car. Storm\'s eyes were glowing in the darkness, and she could think of nothing really to say to express her gratitude, even if it wasn\'t really his idea to begin with. She moved across the seat and hugged him briefly and still saying nothing. But the Akari couldn\'t bare to stay in the car. Not after being away from the forest for so long. As silently as her eager self could move, she opened the door and nearly flew out of the car. Or at least it felt that way, because she never really ran so fast as she did then.

The snow wasn\'t quite sticking to the ground yet, but the tiny white ice crystals stuck in her hair as she streaked as fast as her legs would permit into the forest. With the blackness and trees all around her, the Akari could not keep her spirit form back, and the dark purple wings erupted from her back as violently as ever. She couldn\'t remember whether or not she even closed the car door.

[Saiketsu]

She was gone before he knew it and Camille was left sitting vulnerable as snow tinkled onto the leather seats. A quick concern overtook Pierre as he flashed around the car and closed the door gently, protecting the lady from ruin.

Far off into the woods nearby, Pierre heard loud swooshing noises, assumedly Storm in her "Spirit" form. In the months that had passed since his his official introduction to Storm, he had heard much from Damien about the girl\'s other side, a spirit form. The two vampires knew that it was something unique to the girl\'s species, and that Storm transformed into some incredible winged thing, but Pierre himself had never caught a glimpse. And he was curious to see it.

Before Storm he had never even heard of an Akari, let alone see one. Apparently they weren\'t as populous as vampires were, so to all the vampires, including the elders, Storm was a rarity that intrigued. Now he was alone with the girl as she... flew around in the forest, or whatever she did.

All ierre knew for certain was her scent. It resembled Lady Isabella\'s so nearly that it actually caused him physical pain to be near such a familiar and luxurious scent again after so long. He could understand Damien\'s confusion now.

[The Cedar Witch]

It didn\'t take long for her to run out of breath, and the winged demon-girl leaned against a tree and inhaled quicker then her lungs appreciated. Lung-fulls of icy air came in fast enough to turn her entire face red. But despite the discomfort her respiration was causing, Storm was delighted. Her exhales slowed to a normal pace, white clouds of air floating upward from her nostrils. Wings wrapping tenderly around her body, the Akari took a second to actually look around instead of running through the forest in a blind joy.

With trees this old, it didn\'t take her long to replenish her strength after four long months of \'fasting\', even though she was only partially transformed. Storm looked up into the dark sky, searching for beacons of light filtering through the cloud cover. There was nothing but darkness and snow falling into her eyelashes. Another girlish smile. The chill began to settle comfortably into her bones and Storm began to shiver.

It was almost too good to be true, and the girl couldn\'t help but wonder when she would be dragged back to the car. Or at least, when she would be interrupted. Speaking of which... Storms expression flickered and she hugged herself tightly. Four months without any hint of Laurent\'s presence was extremely unnerving. She hadn\'t the slightest idea where she was, and for all she knew, he was lurking behind the trees not fifty feet from her. And yet, he hasn\'t made a move for so long, she couldn\'t help but wonder if he had moved on. Given up.

No. He wouldn\'t ever give up. There would be no true peace.

[Saiketsu]

Pierre was focusing on keeping his senses as wide as he could, something Damien had taught him long ago. Out of all of the Royal Couple\'s fledglings, Pierre psychologically the weakest. He had no telepathy to speak of, no extraordinary mental abilities that everyone around him had. No levitation like Storm. No uncanny ability to read people like Nikolai. No mind-boggling invasions of the mind like Isabella or Damien. No, Pierre was always the odd one out in this aspect.

But lucky for him he could throw a punch harder than Damien or even the Lady could ever have dreamed of. His physical abilities far out-reached anyone\'s in this aspect, a source of some of Pierre\'s pride. But the vampire\'s inabilities were part of the reason why Damien was so reluctant to send Storm out into the real world unaccompanied; if she were to run into someone who wanted her dead, then Pierre would have a hard time keeping her as safe as Damien could.

So Jean-Luc sat with Camille, Coldplay playing softly from her innards as the snow fell down around him. To any passerby , he would have appeared a strange sight indeed, with no steam rising from his nose or mouth and his eyes focused loosely on a small spot on the ground. No movement consumed his body once. Ears, eyes, and nose open.

The flapping of wings had stopped. The wind blew. The snow fell. One mortal soul deep in the woods in a place he felt he had no right to disturb. The morrow wouldn\'t come for a while yet and she\'d return when she was ready. She always did.

[The Cedar Witch]

If the girl had been paying attention to anything at all, instead of catching snowflakes in her hair while gazing at the sky, she would have noticed a peculiar raven lurking in the trees with icy blue orbs. But she was staring in the opposite direction, her mind far away from such possibilities. Somehow she had convinced herself that it was her time to be enjoying herself, not to be worrying about someone who hadn\'t shown himself for two months shy a half a year, which was the longest period of time she had managed to stay away from him. Besides, the gathering snow was something that was far more pleasant then anyone. Well. That could be debatable.

Time was irrelevant. And as much as the girl could have, and would have stayed hidden in the forest, she was beginning to feel anxious. Not that she would ever admit it, she wanted to get home. No, back. Not home. She wanted to get back. And, even more so, she would never admit that she wanted to see a certain someone. Not that she was missing him. It couldn\'t possibly be that. Anyway, she was keeping Pierre waiting. And he was being the perfect gentlemen with so much more patience then she could ever ask for.

Slowly, the Akari began to make her way back to the car, her sense of direction unsurpassed by any of her kind. Well, at least she thought so. By now, she couldn\'t feel her hands, feet, or face; and her legs were beginning to feel the biting of winter as well. What little she was wearing was hardly enough covering for her, and she wasn\'t in the mood for playing with fire. After all, the best thing about January was the numb feeling that was such an exquisite cushion. Through the thinning trees, she could see him now, leaning against his brilliantly red sports car that screamed out against the white scenery.

There was a mischievous smile on her face and orange in her eyes as she gathered what little snow she could, forming it into a perfect sphere with her practiced skill. With her wings pressed and folded tightly against her back, the Akari sent the snowball flying toward Pierre, almost certain that he wasn\'t paying attention to it. And with that same silly grin on her face, she emerged from the wood, cheeks alight in red.

[Saiketsu]

"Jesus!" was the only word that went ringing through the trees as his pale hands missed the ball of frozen water. The ball thwacked into the side of his face, burrying his ear in cold moisture. He had seen the ball before it hit him but apparently he had lost his focus again, hadn\'t focused in on the zooming ball of snow. It was something that he couldn\'t tell Damien, being caught so unprepared.

His eyes turned upwards angrily and defensively as panic set in. When his blue eyes landed upon the Akari he settled down significantly, his eyes adjusting back to his normal vision. His face lit up and he murmured quickly as he bent low, scooping up a handful of snow that felt cold but didn\'t chill his dead nerves, "Petite chére..." He tossed the ball at her with a smile on his face, starting a short snow ball fight with the young lady.

[The Cedar Witch]

Pierre\'s reaction made her laugh harder then her lungs appreciated. But with her energy at it\'s highest, it wasn\'t difficult for her to see the next thing coming. Storm ducked quickly, darting a little closer to the car with the same grin still plastered on her face. "Don\'t go easy on me!" she laughed, zipping a few more snowballs out at him from multiple directions. "I can take it, I promise."

This whole situation reminded her of a pillow fight she had once-upon-a-time. One that ended awkwardly as many of their best moments had in the past. But whether it was her imagination or not, things weren\'t so bad with Damien lately. She seemed to manage herself well in terms of maintaining a respectable distance while at the same time being more warm then cold. In fact, she almost wished he was here with them before she caught herself.

As she tried to avoid the next snowy attack, Storm slipped unexpectedly and managed to fall into the wet snow in the most clumsy way possible. But she still had that same smile on her face, even as her leathery black wings retreated back into their hiding places. It was getting cold anyway, and she wasn\'t expecting to win this fight.

[Saiketsu]

He was at her side before her wings disappeared, something he had never seen her do before. It looked painful, her demonic wings tucked into her back. Pierre was almost hesitant to offer her his hand, the wings frighteningly abnormal to him. Still the immortal offered her a strong hand and pulled her up to her feet easily when she grasped it.

"So what else would you like to do for tonight? Steal some cars, go out drinking, buy new stuff, what? The sun doesn\'t rise for at least a few hours and there\'s so much I could do for you. Hell, I could even bring you back to the city and put you in a real dance club if you\'d like..." And at that point he smiled a big flashy grin with fangs and all.

[The Cedar Witch]

Taking his hand, she was quickly pulled to a standing position. Dusting off the snow from her clothing, she hugged herself tightly and rubbed her arms for warmth. Storm shook her head lightly at the offer, a gentle smile on her face. Really, she wasn\'t in the mood for much more excitement. It was the shower back home that was drawing her. The fact that snowball fights made her think of pillow fights had nothing to do with it. Honest.

"Really, I think I\'ve had enough excitement for tonight." she laughed, looking up at him with shining eyes. "It was a great birthday. Thanks a lot for taking me out, I had a great time." Suddenly she realized how close she was standing to Pierre, but the only thing that seemed to react was the beating of her heart.

[Saiketsu]

She looked happy, innocent and the image made Pierre proud. The vampire threw his arm around her shoulders and gave them a light squeeze of kinship. And for a split second, Pierre could have sworn that there was something laced within her expression that whispered his Sire\'s name. But it could have been his imagination run wild yet again.

Her reaction was quite unexpected to the Frenchman, even the delight she seemed to take from knowing that she\'d be going back to the same apartment where she remained couped up most nights. It perplexed him as he had just witnessed Storm\'s romp with the trees for an extended period of time. The girl he was so afraid of losing came back willingly to him, with a smile on her innocent face. It was enlightening.

"Aww, well alright," he played rubbing her arm in a needless attempt to warm her with his stony skin. He opened her car door before circling around at a completely human pace to his own. "Better get a move on before you catch sick. Don\'t want you sneezing all over Camille, do we? But are you sure you want to go home?" The heat was already on and Coldplay was still, ironically, playing the song now changing into Violet Hill and the writer\'s tales of December and snow, and letting go of love.

Before he pulled down he gear into Drive, Pierre\'s phone was flipped open. A simple word texted to an older friend.

Success.