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Post by Beriadan on Oct 13, 2024 18:19:49 GMT
For all his best efforts... and as much as he hates mortal-kind... Dragon feels a pang of sadness for this Muse. She was, in a sense, like him. Alone in the world, without anyone else who she could relate to or properly understand. Was this what all humans were like? He doubted it. Dragon had maybe spared a handful, but there had been reasons. Desiree... she was something else. Mutants weren't a known thing for him, though he had eaten his fair share, and there were other superheroes who had chased him off. Wizards, too, damn the lot of them.
Nobody who had actually made him reconsider killing them because he liked them.
Dragon smiled his wicked smile as she asked him the question.
"To pretend that I belong, I suppose. I eat fancy folk in their fancy homes and pretend like I was an invited guest. I love their items, their clothes, the food they eat, although I can't eat it... but I can eat them. Second hand fine dining."
Dragon idly picked at his teeth with a pointed nail. He was frowning, thinking, and then he clicked his fingers together, looking at Desiree with bright eyes.
"I know! I have the perfect solution which would benefit us both. You allow me to come and talk to you when I feel like I need to, to have a real conversation as if I'm not a vampire. In return, I'll be the thing lurking in the dark. The only thing. The rest... I'll take care of for you. I'll be like your guardian!"
Dragon laughed, rocking back in the sofa.
"Your dark knight! You won't know I'm there, but you'll feel less eyes on the back of your neck. Nothing going bump in the night. I'll make sure you feel safe, and in return, you can take me out for dinner. Your kind of dinner. Not the Vampire kind. I'll keep that to myself!"
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Post by Countess on Oct 13, 2024 18:43:29 GMT
Desiree cannot help how her heart beats faster as he speaks, as he laughs, as he makes his offer. Mutually beneficial, indeed. He can see the gears turning in her head, carefully turning this confounding puzzle over and over to understand it. She looks away when he brandishes his teeth once more, something between being polite and trying to keep her heart rate low. He can hear it, likely even smell the fear on her. No- don't make assumptions. They can get you killed.
"I can understand that," she says, head tilting to the side. He hadn't answered her questions about the Darkwood. Perhaps those answers will come in time. "Sometimes, it's nice to think you belong somewhere. Even for a moment," she says carefully, taking quiet, but deep, breaths. Anything to calm down, anything to get her house in order.
Des thinks on this, wondering just how long it will take for him to tire of her. Everyone always does. Or... they can't leave her. She isn't sure which eventuality worries her more. That... is firmly in the future, however, and she needs out of this now.
"Dinner? Darling, I could take you anywhere. No doors are locked for me," Des says. "The finest restaurants, the most exclusive clubs, the grandest of parties," she says, trying to upsell this just a tad. "But... it will take time to get used to each other, I think. You, to my power, and me, to yours. I feel like it is fair to allow some patience as we get to know one another, yes?" she says. She doesn't want him angry.
Des cannot deny the attraction to this kind of deal with the devil. What better way to keep the monsters away than having one watch your back? Of course, it means she needs to be very, very careful with him. He seems reasonable now, but... does that change? What is the line?
"Is there anything I should know about you, to make this easier for the both of us?" Des asks. "For instance, if you touch me, you will feel my power exponentially, and it is rather draining for me. If I am not careful, it can make me rather ill."
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Post by Beriadan on Oct 13, 2024 19:19:26 GMT
Dragon's smile was wide and terrifying. This woman. This mortal. Dragon hadn't met one like her. He leaned forward, fingers laced together, his eyes staring across the distance into hers.
"A mutually beneficial agreement, then. You walk away from here tonight and gain your own guardian angel. I get a conversation when my social meter is running low. How marvelous! And of course it will take time, but don't worry, Desiree. I have had centuries to practice patience."
Dragon smirked at her question. She was a shrewd one. He casually waved a hand, pointing at a neat row of items that suddenly materialised on the table.
"Stakes, garlic, fire. You can kill me with any of these. I can't step out in daylight, and I can't enter uninvited. These are how to stop me. So... if you wanted..."
Dragon leaned back. The stake sat heavy and solid next to several cloves of garlic and a torch, though the flames didn't seem to scorch the table. He was still grinning, watching Desiree. A test. A challenge.
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Post by Countess on Oct 13, 2024 19:34:42 GMT
Des isn't stupid. She cannot hope to best him in a fight, she doesn't know where she is, and she doesn't know how to leave. The items on the table before her are possibly not real, and they don't earn good will. Something about attracting more flies with honey... So, she regards the various things with a hint of dismissal. "Understandable. Here I thought such things were just stories," she says, knowing he could very well be lying to her right now. It would be a rather clever way for him to truly see if this agreement will stand. "No Italian, understood," she says, under her breath and trying desperately to make light of a terrifying situation.
"Thankfully for us both, I do not want that, and why should I?" Des says, all reasoning and smiles of her own. She isn't going to tell him she doesn't have centuries. In all actuality, he may end up viewing her like she would a cat or a dog. Beloved, trainable, but ultimately short lived. She can live with that. Better than food.
"Well, I do believe that concludes our business," Des says, a hint of desperation in her. She is running out of juice, so to speak. She isn't operating on fumes just yet, but if she continues to push herself like this... she may just pass out. How will their agreement stand, then, when he isn't feeling her little bit of persuasion? "I do think I will take you up on that offer before, the one I so casually dismissed. Walk me home?"
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Post by Beriadan on Oct 13, 2024 19:42:50 GMT
The Vampire grinned wider. The items vanished, one by one. The table disappeared as a fog rolled in, ankle deep as it spread. Dragon was watching her with a glint in his eye.
"You are an interesting mortal, Desiree. I don't need to walk you home. I daresay you'll find it yourself. See you soon... and don't worry about watching your back. I will do that for you..."
The sofa beneath her disappeared, the trees vanishing as if blown away by a puff of wind. Desiree was on her front step, and there was no hint of the Darkwood around her. No Dragon. Nothing that could hint that she had just been at the mercy of a creature of the night.
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Post by Countess on Oct 13, 2024 19:49:58 GMT
Quickly as the items start to vanish, Des stands. Fog bathes her feet, much like before. His grin almost cuts his face in half, wide and consuming. She cannot look away, even as it fades into the night... and she is at her doorstep. He knows. Oh, god, he knows. With a shaking hand, she puts the key code in so she can get into her home... He needs an invitation, right? She didn't give that... right?
Des knows she is going to dream of him for years to come. She once heard vampires could do that, enter dreams. She wonders if he will give her nightmares, or something pleasant like he had in his Darkwood. All she has for now are her memories... even her feet do not bear the mud from the running before.
All she knows for certain is that she is alive... for now.
END THREAD
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