====
Title: Beautiful Nightmare!
Number: 928
Date: Feb 28, 2010 at 10:29 PM
====
Divinatas – Feb 28, 2010 at 10:29 PM
“I’m sorry, I don’t do this much. Uh, blind dates that is.” Faith apologized, reaching for her glass of wine and taking a huge swallow. Much was an understatement. Try never. Except when ambushed by busy-body friends with too much time on their hands.
The man chuckled. A soft sound, not unfriendly. He [i]was[/i] handsome at least. With dark blond hair long enough to curl behind his ears. Bright blue eyes, baby smooth skin and an angled jaw. His whole frame looked like those thin wiry magazine models. Men that looked eighteen years old for their entire lives. Even the way he tapped his perfectly manicured fingers on the table was fluid and smooth.
“Nothing to be embarrassed over. I have learned to take life’s surprises with grace.” he grinned, flashing a pearly white smile. “Tell me, Faith, were your friends truthful? Are you a virtuoso of vampires?”
Faith choked on her water, setting down the glass quickly to pick up a napkin. “Vampires…?” Those jerks. They didn’t.
“Yes. Vampires. Your charming friends mentioned that you write books. Stories about vampire love affairs? They explained they chose my profile specifically because I asked for a woman interested in vampires.” His eyebrow raised in a curious gesture.
They did. God damnit! She hated her friends! “Uh, yeah. I have a series that’s gotten pretty popular lately.” Her momentary embarrassment shifted as she cast him a dubious expression. “Did you seriously add that to your dating profile?”
He shrugged his shoulders, casting a wry grin. “What can I say? I like a woman who shares my interests. Do you like vampires, Faith?” He leaned forward on the table, resting his elbows as he clasped his hands together. The look he gave her reminded her of a few exboyfriends. Where they’d try to give that deep, mysterious stare that usually came off creepy and disturbing. He kind of looked like he wanted to eat her.
Here it comes. That moment when a date turns totally awkward. Lucky for her, she knew when to bail! “Wow, look at the time. I can’t believe it’s almost midnight. I better call myself a cab.”
Her date chuckled, dropping his gaze to lift a hand and summon for the check. “Let me drive you home, it’s the least I can do for taking advantage of this ambush.”
“Really? Thanks.” Faith grinned appreciatively. Grateful it wasn’t going to turn in to one of those ‘Why don’t you like me?!’ scenes.
A few minutes later they were outside, walking down the ramps in the parking garage, looking for his car. They got down to the bottom level and turned a corner. The entire place seemed to be empty.
“Do you even remember where you parked?” Faith asked, turning to face her date. With a glance at his face she jumped, stumbling back a few feet as she raised a hand to point a finger at him. His eyes were… they had changed color! Instead of the bright blue, now they were dark red, almost black.
“I’m afraid I fibbed a little. I don’t have a car.” He smile was unnerving. Now he had glinting white fangs. Vampire fangs.
That was just the last straw. Faith’s moment of being startled was gone, replaced by the still slightly disturbed, but much more manageable annoyance. Her date was clearly a wacko and slipped himself some contacts and teeth in while she wasn’t looking. “Okay, I gt it. You’re one of those roleplaying freaks. That’s cool, but if you try to bite me, I’m going to kill the hell out of you, okay?” Faith’s hand slipped in to her coat pocket and curled around a handy spray bottle of mace she kept on her keychain.
He laughed out loud! Apparently her words were hilarious. In a blink of an eye he jumped in the air, practically flying before he landed right in front of her. His fangs grew longer as he grabbed on to her shoulders. Instincts prevailing, Faith whipped out the mace and sprayed him in the eyes! While snarling in pain, she shoved him back and took off running. Vampire. [i]Real[/i] vampire! One that was recovering quick as she could hear him growling her name and darting closer!
A stumble over something on the ground had nearly took her off her feet, but she snatched up the object – some discarded piece of metal – last minute. Just she turned, the vampire was there and she thrust it forward in to his chest! He looked surprised as blood slowly oozed from the wound. His head tilted slightly to the side as his lips turned up in to a smirk.
“You missed.” His fingers curled around the metal piece, jerking it out of his chest in a swift motion.
“…oh shit.” His arm swung, striking her with enough force to send her flying backwards. Crashing in to a wall and crumbling on the ground in an unceremonious heap of pain. As he approached, Faith scooted backwards until her back caught the wall. Looked like she was going to be a vampire’s dinner. A fangirl’s dream come true!
====
Masquerade – Feb 28, 2010 at 10:44 PM
A car screeched to a halt just between Faith and the maniac stalker-date-turned-killer. The passenger-side door flew open, and a voice inside bellowed “Get IN!”
And before anything else could be done, Faith was safely inside the car and they were off, out of the garage and into the night. Just ignore that loud BA-BUMP as the man backed the car out hastily.
Although it was already dark out, and correspondingly in the car, it was easy to see that he was at least moderately good-looking, tall, and wearing a striking black turtleneck and khaki pants, although his fine features suggested more of a leather-clad personality.
“You should probably buckle up,” he suggested after a few minutes.
====
Divinatas – Feb 28, 2010 at 11:06 PM
Under normal circumstances, no one sane would jump in to a strangers car. But, normally one’s date didn’t end with you being dessert.
Faith was turning in her seat to look behind them as she fumbled to put on a seat belt. Nothing was following them, though she doubt he would being flattened like a pancake and all! When she turned back around, she was staring wide-eyed at the driver.
“You ran him over!” Stating the obvious. Smooth. With an ‘urg’ under her breath she was looking out the front windshield again, trying to still her racing heart and rationalize. …it wasn’t working to well.
“I don’t know if I should call the police or get a drug test.”
====
Masquerade – Feb 28, 2010 at 11:10 PM
“Correction. I ran [I]it[/I] over. And it was in self-defense. And it wasn’t very hard.”
He hit the highway and sped up again, putting even more distance between the building and his car. “You’re welcome, by the way. And you smell like wine, so I don’t know if the police would really believe you. You’re better off getting some sleep and staying away from strangers in the future,” he advised.
====
Divinatas – Feb 28, 2010 at 11:18 PM
“It was a blind date. One I didn’t set up myself, mind you. …Wait, I don’t need to explain myself to some guy that just ran an [i]it[/i] over!” After a second of huffing, a look of surprise came over her face. He knew what [i]it[/i] was. Obviously not just some random stranger running over villains in parking garages.
Faith changed her tone. No need to spit fire at the guy that just spared her from being a human-cocktail.
“I’m sorry. Dates don’t usually end with murder and speedy get-aways. So, who are you, exactly? Was he really a vampire?”
====
Masquerade – Feb 28, 2010 at 11:25 PM
“It. I told you. Humanizing it will make you feel guilty. Look, you’re doing it now, I can tell.” Her rescuer waited a few more seconds, giving her a sidelong glance to see if she was going to berate him anymore for saving her ass. Apparently she’d run out of complaints about her rescue.
“I’m obviously a knight in shining armor. One with a really sturdy car that goes fast enough to outrun things that try to eat ladies who don’t know when to ditch creepy loser blind dates. And you?” He blatantly ignored the other question. Maybe she would still forget about it?
====
Divinatas – Feb 28, 2010 at 11:34 PM
“For the record, I [i]was[/i] ditching the date. Next time I won’t let the guy drive me home.” Nonchalantly talking about the entire thing made it seem so surreal. Faith suddenly cracked a half-grin and tilted her head to the side.
“Speaking of which… can I get a ride home, stranger?” The irony amused her. Him dodging her question on the other, wasn’t so amusing. This was where Female Lead battered the Hero with a barrage of annoying questions, to which the result would be utter chaos, danger and hot sex.
Man, she really needed to check herself back in to reality!
“My name is Faith. Nice to meet you, Sir Knight…?”
====
Masquerade – Feb 28, 2010 at 11:43 PM
“Faith, huh? Well, my lady, I would be pleased to offer you a ride home. Just say the magic words, starting with city and street name.”
Not bad-looking at all, although certainly not the type he usually went for. A little contrary for his tastes. Well, who was he kidding, his taste usually only extended to one-night stands. It made for surprisingly little conversation and not a lot of name-giving. Even then, his last little escapade had been quite a while ago. He didn’t get the same rush he used to, the same few moments when he could stop thinking about [I]that[/I]…
He shook away the haunting thoughts of aqua blue eyes and a brilliant smile, and tightened his grip on the wheel. Forget it. That was a long time ago.
====
Divinatas – Feb 28, 2010 at 11:55 PM
“In Hampton, on South Tesla.” He didn’t give her name. Faith supposed he was trying to distract her with pretty words, but for a moment he had an odd expression. Bad thoughts of his own?
“Going to tell me about being a vampire slayer, or is that topic still taboo?” Faith sprang the question now, to draw him out of that look he had. Plus, if she didn’t ask now, she’d have to ask him to stay a few minutes at her place to drink coffee and tell her his life story. That would just be too weird.
====
Masquerade – Mar 1, 2010 at 12:06 AM
He suppressed a sigh. Add too tenacious to that list.
“I didn’t slay anything.” Yet. “Yes, it is a vampire. No, it is not alive, and probably hasn’t been for a long time. No, that does not stop it from moving around. Yes, you look like a juicy sirloin to it. No, no one will believe you. No, you should not try to find it or have further conversation with it. No, I do not usually have anything to do with them.”
He pulled smoothly onto Orwell and navigated the streets carefully. It had been a while since he’d been in Hampton last, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t miss South Tesla.
“Any more questions, my lady of nosiness?”
====
Divinatas – Mar 1, 2010 at 1:29 AM
“Wow, just got that all out of the way, didn’t you.” Faith was still grinning, despite it. By now she had calmed down and the entire thing felt more like some weird dream, rather than an attack coupled with hit-and-run. Almost like it didn’t happen at all. In a few minutes she’d be at home, alive and safe. Forgetting all about this crap.
…Except she had an exceptionally large curiosity streak. She wrote [i]books[/i] about this stuff. If it was all real, then what was it really like?
“So you’re NOT a slayer?” Faith had twisted in her seat so she’d be facing him. This was she could watch his reactions to her questions. “You’ve obviously got the damsel-rescuing down, though. Are you a vampire expert, then?”
====
Masquerade – Mar 1, 2010 at 3:41 PM
Slayer? Expert? The way she said them, the words might as well have had capital letters. Oh, no. Oh, [I]God [/I]no. He’d heard of this phenomenon. This… weird fetish.
“You’re one of those vampire groupies, aren’t you? Like those forty-year-old cougars who like whats-it-called. Dusk? No. [I]Twilight[/I]. That’s it. Like the teens who wear fake fangs and think that vampires glitter or something?”
He tried to suppress his grimace of… Well, disgust and horror were definitely in there. Mostly disgust, as though at a criminal perversion. Some scorn, and just a hint of irony. “If you like them so much, why run when one tried to give you a love bite?”
He growled, his white teeth showing a little under his curling lip, like a dog with its hackles up. “Listen, let me tell you something right now. Vampires aren’t [I]nice[/I]. They don’t sparkle in the sun and worry about their souls. If any do, they let themselves starve to death and good riddance.
“Do you know what one will do if it gets you? Blood only sustains for so long, like living off of Cheetos. To keep existing, to not crumble away slowly into oblivion, [I]real[/I] vampires will eat your soul. It will rip your soul out of its fragile shell and force it to die slowly inside of it. Imagine starving to death while someone laughs at you and slowly gnaws away at your arms and limbs. Until you’re nothing. Until you’re worse than nothing. And the only way out is if someone is stupid enough to try and kill it and actually succeed. And even then, all you get is the oblivion of release. And if your soul is used up first, then it’ll have to find another soul to keep, so its body won’t give in to death. And the best part? If you’re willing, it can just take your soul slowly, until you’re an empty shell, instead of all at once. That way you get to still be alive while you die from the inside out.”
He pinned her with a fierce look, one that suggested that he wasn’t exaggerating.
“And the trade-off? Demonic speed. They can practically vanish in the night. You’re not even safe during the day. Heat sensors won’t see them, because there is nothing to see. They can track you like a snake, and see even the slightest glimmer of light. They live indefinitely, and can take even small explosions and semis running over them. Your only hope is nailing one through the heart with pure silver, and I don’t know if you’ve ever held pure silver before, but it’s soft. So soft that in most cases it won’t even pierce the skin of an older one. So your other choice is to tear its head off and destroy it. If you don’t destroy the head and it touches the body, it may still put itself back together, but of course all this will make it hungry again. What sane person would want to hunt that?”
====
Divinatas – Mar 1, 2010 at 4:18 PM
Faith was going to defend herself with righteous indignation! A [i]groupie[/i] was one of those nutballs that took make believe stories to extremes. Just because a woman enjoyed vampire pop culture and wrote books about sexy bloodsuckers, didn’t make her some sort of freak.
But he was on a rant. As he talked, the urge to yell back at him faded, quickly replaced with a silent consideration of his words. He had such a venom to his tone. You didn’t get that without personal experience. If she dared to try and explain that she wrote romantic fantasy about the very thing he hated with such a passion it’d be like… Like telling your Christian Mother that you enjoy listening to Satanic music cause you think it’s funny!
“Okay. I get it. Real vampires are nightmares. I’m seriously not going to go looking for them. …Regardless, I’m glad you were coincidentally driving by.” Faith was itching to debate. Not because she didn’t believe him about vampires, but simply out of pure selfish desire to justify what she did for a living. If he knew, would he throw her out of the car?
“My street is right there. It’s the house with the dogwood tree out front.”
====
Masquerade – Mar 1, 2010 at 11:53 PM
Still radiating anger, he coasted into her driveway. He was so distracted by the thought of someone actually wanting to find vampires that he would wonder later how he managed to pull in without hitting anything, much less perfectly straight. Probably his awesome driving skills.
“Real vampires are more than nightmares. They’re terrors who wake you screaming in the night and haunt you even in the full light of day,” he told her seriously. He opened his door, slammed it shut, and cut around the front to open Faith’s door for her. Whether he was trying to be a gentleman or just getting rid of her was hard to tell.
“Stop reading those romance fantasy novels. Getting bitten is never nice, no matter who or what does it.” He had her hand in his and was just starting to get her to her feet when he shoved her hard, sending her sprawling back into the car. He slammed the door after her, narrowly missing her ankle, and leapt aside just as an inhumanly fast blur slammed into the door, making the whole car shudder and heave. There was a fleeting impression of blond hair and a feral snarl, and the attacker launched himself back into the yard.
Faith’s knight collided with her would-be date in midair, the two bodies twisting at impossible angles with the impact of it and disengaging almost as quickly. The knight came away the worse for it, with one side of his shirt ripped open at the waist, the black cloth sagging and showing raw, jagged tears in his flesh. His blond opponent licked his fingers with greed.
Suddenly, something landed on the roof of the car with a thump and launched itself back off, dark hair flying behind it. Faith could catch a quick glimpse of a t-shirt (“I <3 boys who sparkle") and designer jeans before the new assailant tackled her knight from behind. He twisted, trying to catch his new opponent, but the blond man darted forward and forced Cael to block on two fronts. He sent the female flying and grabbed the hair on the male's head, wrenching it back with bone-snapping force, only to whirl and grapple with the female, who came at him with a snarl. Cael growled his fury as the female came at him in a tangled mess of claws and teeth, digging for a purchase in his flesh with no method but plenty of spirit. He felt something sink into his neck and twisted, using the torque to throw her to the ground, where he stomped brutally on her chest. Her teeth and claws ripped free from his flesh, and he could feel her poisonous bite already coursing through his system, streaking even the blood that ran in generous amounts down his front. The fire started. She'd managed to bite his shoulder, and the agony began in the muscle there, only to find an outlet in his bloodstream. He wasn't sure if Faith would be able to see it from the car, but he knew what it would look like. Her black poison would color his blood as it spread, outlining each vein and vessel slowly, crippling his nerves as it went. Already the torture of it was making his arm spasm. A vampire's bite would not transform him, as common literature would have it, but vampires with poison, while uncommon, were not nearly rare enough. The two kinds were injected like a snakebite and spread through the blood: One with psychotropic (and sometimes addictive) euphoric effects, and the other that caused the nerves and brain to register a pain so intense that the victim would become crippled with it. This was the latter. Cael threw his head back and howled, doubling over in pain as each nerve in his body felt as though it were twisting under his skin and trying to rip from his body. He spasmed and buckled to the ground, trying through sheer force of will to force himself back up. There would be no helping it now. He'd lost too much blood and from the feel of it, the female had emptied a week's worth of poison into him in one go. By the car, the male stood from the ground, his head turned nearly a hundred and eighty degrees around and tilted at a gruesome angle. A pure white bone stuck out from his neck to brush his chin, and his eyes remained fixed in the car, mouth drawn in a lustful grin of anticipation. His hands reached up and righted his head, body turning as it settled the head back on with an audible click, as though setting straight a hat. He leaned forward and held one pale finger to his glistening red lips. "Shhh." He grinned at Faith through the window. The female was already righting herself, the gaping hole in her chest apparently not an issue. It all happened at once: The female rose, hands positioned to strike. The male started running, practically flying for Cael's prone form, just as Cael began to surge up from the ground. He came up at the female, his body rippling and finally phasing in mid-strike, just as the male reached him. His form exploded gracefully into that of a large wolf, something roughly the size of a mastiff, sleek and predatory, but with claws that gleamed oddly in the scant moonlight. The female went down, the wolf atop her, muzzle-deep in her flesh for only a moment before the male grabbed the wolf by the neck and used his momentum to slam it to the ground. The wolf rose again, large jaws snapping and snarling, coiled its powerful back legs and sprang. The vampire knocked the wolf's head away but couldn't escape the full momentum of the strike; the wolf managed to dig claws firmly into its stomach as it passed, and it was down only long enough to leap again from the ground, higher than before. The vampire turned and knelt to avoid the blow, but this was a fatal mistake. The wolf twisted in midair, form rippling for a moment into a twisting figure of bare skin and corded muscle somersaulting above the other man. Human arms reached down to grab the vampire's head, and then the wolf was back, snatching the vampire's head in its slavering jaws. It twisted, neck snapping again, and the vampire's hands beat almost too quickly to see against the wolf's head and face. The wolf snarled and shook its prey roughly. There was a moment, a small breath, while the wolf attempted to renew its grip on the thing in its mouth, and the vampire began to dart away, but not to be outdone, the wolf surged forward and, with a snap of its powerful jaws, crushed the vampire's head. It shook the body again, until the head was completely severed, and snapped it several times, destroying it utterly before spitting it out in apparent disgust. By now, the wolf was bleeding profusely. One eye was covered in blood, and heavy claw marks had ripped out hunks of fur and skin underneath. Several scratching crisscrossed its face, and as it turned toward the car it seemed to be limping on a front paw. Its tongue rolled out of its mouth and its head hung, ears down as though exhausted, and it limped closer to the car, whining faintly whenever its left paw touched the ground. After only five steps, it collapsed on its side with a noise like a person moaning. ==== Divinatas - Mar 2, 2010 at 12:59 AM [i]Horror[/i]. Pure horror is what she felt. What she should have done was scoot in to the driver's seat and speed off. But, much like watching a terrible car wreck, it was impossible for her to turn away. Faith had fumbled to lock the doors, sliding down in her seat to the floorboard of the car. She didn't want to [i]see[/i] but that guy was out there kicking, rolling, going to get eaten alive..! What she didn't expect was for that vampire, broken bones and all to grin at her and then a human turn to a [i]wolf[/i] fighting them off. Faith had sank down further to the floor, throwing her hands over her head and trying desperately to drown out the sounds with humming! There was a long moment of silence, where she finally pulled her arms down. There didn't seem to be a sound, until she heard groaning near the car. Slowly she leaned up to peek out the window and there on the ground was her driver. Faith reached for the lock, popping it up as she warily opened the door. Afraid something else might jump out, she glanced around carefully as she crawled out of the passenger's side on to the ground next to him. "Hey... Hey?" There was blood all over the place! He barely even looked alive, but she could see the pained moving of his chest as he breathed. Grimacing, she touched his face gently trying to see if he would wake. "Heeey...! You have to get up. I don't know if I should call the hospital!" A WOLF. Could he even go to the hospital?! ==== Masquerade - Mar 2, 2010 at 1:13 AM Eyes unfocused, the wolf gave a gentle whine, a half-hearted tail wag, and sighed, settling for licking Faith's hand. Its breath was hot but oddly sweet and crisp, like a warm autumn day. His teeth and claws had a pale silver luster. It struggled for a while, legs kicking uselessly for purchase in the grass, until it managed to right itself with another groan of effort. Shuddering, it shed the wolf form, proving to be, indeed, her driver, now kneeling on all fours on her lawn with nary a stitch of clothing on his well-muscled body. He lowered himself to the ground again more slowly, eyes fluttering with fatigue and pain. "No hospitals," he growled. "I just need... rest... few days." He gave her a pleading look with his uneven brown-and-blue eyes as his skin rippled, replacing him again with the large wolf. ==== Divinatas - Mar 2, 2010 at 1:19 AM "Okay! We can do that. No worries, no worries." MANY worries! She had a wolfman on her lawn. His shifting back and forth between forms was doing a number on her brain. Focus, woman! You were a Girl Scout! How was she going to get this wolf inside her house? He was as big as she was. Faith did move, trying to carefully get her arms around him, but she was so worried that he might have broken ribs or other bones she couldn't bring herself to try and lift him. "Um... Can you walk at all?" ==== Masquerade - Mar 2, 2010 at 1:30 AM Cael wanted to sleep so badly. His body was still screaming from the poison and the wounds, and it knew itself best. In order for his natural healing to kick in, he needed to sleep. It was practically forcing itself upon him. But he knew he was much heavier than he looked, and this slight woman would never be able to tow him indoors alone. If he stayed in the yard, chances were that a neighbor would call animal control in the morning, and he'd woken up in enough cages to know that he didn't like the experience. He dragged himself to his feet and plodded across the grass. His vision narrowed dangerously, and he nearly missed the steps up to her door, banging his snout painfully on the topmost stair. He made it as far as the hallway before his strength gave out again. He forced himself into a human shape with the last of his consciousness; he doubted she would know how to take care of a wolf, but a human physiology would be closer to her own. ==== Divinatas - Mar 2, 2010 at 1:43 AM With him in the house and now unconscious on her floor, Faith was rushing around trying to make sure all of the doors and the windows were shut and locked up tight. She wasn't sure if that was going to keep a vampire out, but surely she'd hear it if someone tried to break in. Now... what did she do with a bloody wolf- No, now he was a man again! That was a small bit of relief. First aid on humans was a lot less complicated than a furry wolf. In no time Faith had some hot water, a few wash rags and the kit out of her bathroom. Once she had him cleaned up (something that look longer than expected... all of that blood had her seeing double!) and bandaged so he wouldn't bleed to death, she fetched a pillow out of the bedroom to tuck under his head and a couple blankets to drape over his body. Afterwords, she fished a golf club out of her closet and settled herself down on the floor beside him. Leaning her back against the wall, Faith intended to keep watch all night. There was no way she would be able to sleep! ==== Masquerade - Mar 2, 2010 at 2:04 AM He dreamed of her. It had been years since that happened, but he supposed it was encountering another one of those creatures-- and worse yet, being bitten-- that triggered the memories. He'd thought they were happy, that he was making her happy. How could he have known that she found him repulsive, even inhuman? That she would give herself over willingly to a few seductive words and the promise of immortality? Because that was the one thing that he could not give her, although if he could have he would have done so simply because she asked it. He couldn't have known that she would come back only to use him. No, not him. Only the power he commanded. Her laughter and scorn haunted his dreams. When he woke, three days later and in broad daylight, he was still on the floor where he vaguely remembered collapsing. It was made marginally more comfortable by the presence of a slightly pink pillow and a flower-patterned comforter, things he definitely would not have chosen for himself. He'd been somewhat cleaned and bandaged, although from the feel of it his hair was still matted with blood. Grimacing with distaste, he pulled himself up from the floor and looked around. He could see Faith tapping away on a keyboard. Probably working or something, although it was wonder she hadn't come to her senses and called the police already. He didn't know how long he'd been out, but judging from his appetite it had been quite a while. Apparently unabashed of his own nakedness-- he had never felt as though he had something to hide-- he found the kitchen and ran cold water from the tap, bending over so he could drink directly from it until he was satisfied. He considered finding food, but although he might sometimes turn into an animal, he didn't enjoy going around smelling like one. He went through the rooms systematically until he found one with a shower and proceeded to run through not only Faith's hot water, but a good deal of her soap and shampoo. Even smelling like flowers was better than the stink of blood and death that was clinging to him now. Finally clean and now ravenously hungry, he dried himself off and wrapped the fluffy white towel he found on the bar around his lean waist, padding back out into the living room. Clean, he looked much better, and it was obvious that what were once grievous wounds had healed quite well. The bruises and mild scrapes had disappeared completely, and even the deeper cuts shone healthy and pink with new skin. The rest of him was an even tan that radiated good health. His body was lean and fit, limbs almost artistically long and graceful for such a tall man. He hadn't been able to find a razor, so the dark beginnings of a beard disrupted the otherwise boyish charm of his face. His eyes were bright, arctic blue disrupted with odd splotches of dark brown, spread unevenly so that one eye was almost entirely blue and the other nearly half brown. His sable hair was drying slowly, tousled from its recent treatment but now clean and smelling gently of honeysuckle. "I'm starving." ==== Divinatas - Mar 2, 2010 at 2:27 AM Faith was tired, but so engrossed in to her current task she never realized her house guest had removed himself from the floor and invaded her shower. Sitting on the living room floor with her hands quickly typing over a laptop sitting on the coffee table, she was busy digging up as much werewolf culture the internet had to offer. Wearing only a red cami top that was a size too small and a pair of pajama shorts, Faith was barely dressed. She paused while reading something on the screen, reaching up to twist messy brown hair off her shoulders and in to a pony tail. Whatever she was reading, she stuck her tongue out at and switched pages. "I'm starving." The response she gave was a startled scream followed by her snatching up her golf club to hold over her head like she was about to throw it! There on the ground there were a few other curious items. One of her kitchen knives, a can of bug spray, and one of handy candle lighters. She was ready for a fight. "You're awake!" Once she realized they weren't under attack, she was sheepishly lowering the golf club back to the floor. He looked... good! Healthy! Alive! Over the past few days she had been fixing his bandages and checking his wounds. Marveling over how fast they seemed to be healing. Now here he was right as rain and... wearing a towel. Faith realized she was eying him like some sort of hawk, and quickly turned green eyes away. Mumbling something under her breath about not being 'prepared', she scrambled off the floor back to her feet. "I'll make something to eat." She couldn't seem to help it. Now she was watching with one eyed closed and chewing on the inside of her cheek while she rest a hand on her hips. "You barely have a scratch on you now." ==== Masquerade - Mar 3, 2010 at 7:47 AM "One of the perks," he replied gruffly. He was having a hard time not staring her her frankly indecent getup. He didn't need his particularly keen eyesight to tell she wasn't wearing a bra. He wondered if she wore panties either, but wrenched his thoughts away from that track before he inadvertently gave himself away. He wasn't embarrassed about himself, but she was his hostess and it would be a poor way to repay her if he suddenly turned into the big bad wolf. Ice cold showers, he reminded himself sternly. Glaciers. Polar bears. He stiffened his expression until she was in front of him again, and had to keep his mind firmly on penguins when he realized that her thin shorts highlighted her hips and ass to their best advantage. Those weren't normally things that he noticed first, but she had particularly fine assets, he had to admit. As she rummaged for food, he peered over her shoulder. He hadn't been kidding when he said he was starving, and he had to stop himself from telling her that she didn't have to cook-- he'd eat things raw at this rate. But then he'd really be an animal, so while she pulled ingredients he snuck in behind her and grabbed what seemed to be half a bowl of leftover spaghetti and half a loaf of bread. As an afterthought, he took an entire container of orange juice. He seated himself at the table, which made the towel hitch dangerously high, and fell on the cold meal. If he was lucky, this would tide him over until she could cook something more substantial. Using slices of bread as scoops, he wasted no motion or even a drop of sauce. He only paused to take long droughts of the orange juice, and didn't even notice the faint growls of contentment he uttered as he eased the worst of his hunger pangs. While he ate, he kept one eye on his hostess. No reason he couldn't admire a little, right? ==== Divinatas - Mar 3, 2010 at 5:13 PM Faith was doing a pretty good job at not watching her guest like... some sort of creepy staring person. A like a vampire. Ha ha. She laughed in her head at her own joke, while she cut up a few vegetables along with pork to toss in to a hot pan. Breakfast food was way down on the bottom of her list on 'good eats'. Hopefully werewolves didn't have a problem with impromptu stir fry. That, along with a million other questions were dancing around in her head while stir the contents in the pan with one hand and tapped her fingers against her hip with the other. It wasn't like bringing home a date and having that awkward morning after. Nor could she treat it like a typical saved-by-a-stranger rescue. There was a vampire/werewolf battle in her front yard. On the brightside, she didn't think any of the neighbors saw it or she would of had cops at her door days ago. Now the real kicker was her own reactions! At first, she thought it he was going to die, but obviously Mister Sexy was setting at her table nearly swallowing cold spaghetti whole and occasionally casting her glances that she pretending not to see. Besides being terrified at the idea of walking out the front door, she was otherwise... not so freaked out. Was it because all writers were a little kooky to begin with? After she fed him and found him something decent to wear, he could go on home and- Nevermind, maybe she was still freaked out after all. The thought of him going home and her being alone when the world was crawling with gonna-eat-you vampires wasn't cool. How was she supposed to live without always wondering if the people she were talking to were gonna try and have her for a snack later? "Uh... So, not to sound obsessive or anything, just how common are vampires?" Might as well ask! ==== Masquerade - Mar 25, 2010 at 8:58 PM "Happily, uncommon enough for the most part. It's when they get weird upstart notions that they try to multiply. This teen vampire fad has them crawling out of the woodwork like worms, though. Tons of fresh meat begging to be consumed." He emphasized his point by, well, wolfing down the last of the bread. Not even near sated yet, he went to where Faith was still cooking and grabbed a knife from the block. How was he supposed to know that he was practically oozing manly sex from every pore? Acting quickly, he speared a bit of meat on the end of the knife and popped it in his mouth before Faith could protest. Although it should have been burning hot, he seemed unfazed. "Needs more salt." He hovered over her shoulder with interest, trying hard not to notice her distinct lack of clothing. It was probably something of a minor miracle that the only monsters who had tried to take her so far were the non-human ones. As far as he was concerned, she was positively delectable. "Any more questions, Miss Nose?" ====