Of Blood and Lust

[Anonymous]

((so sorry this took so long, I am such a baddie, kept getting busy and forgetting to reply))

Jyotika just stared at her hands for a moment. It felt weird to hear someone say they didn't care what she did, then just walk off. People were normally obsessed with her, to the point of worship even. She had become accustomed to it, and she was struck speechless. There had only been a few who acted like that. One of them she didn't want to think about, thought of him were far too prevalent nowadays. She blocked the memories. No point in thinking about that now, it wouldn't help her mental case much.

She swallowed as he shut the door. How interesting. She let out a sigh. She should leave and hunt. When she was out she could decide whether to stay with him and longer or not. It would be a weird decision. Not many people caused her to deal with her past, but somehow it seemed to be connected to Tarquin.

She stood up and ran her hands over her pants like she was smoothing them but they already were. She stepped over the young hunter's corpse like it was something she did every day. She walked towards the door and looked back for one second holding onto the frame. Everything felt so strange and distant all of a sudden. She felt like that sometimes, when her mind was remembering that she wasn't really supposed to be on this world she was supposed to be below it. Her body always fought with her "soul" if it could be called that.

She made her way out of the house then the maze from memory. She had thought this would just be more routine time with some being, some vampire. Should she run away? It might be better for her, or worse. She wanted to just slap herself. She shouldn't be so conflicted over something like this, she wasn't a human falling apart at anything.

She walked out into the forest, still in her hunting clothes she climbed up one of the trees. She let one leg hang off the side of a branch as she sat there. She wasn't even really that hungry. She just needed to get out of that house. She knew that violence would help settle that human, angel side of her that creeped out when she least wanted it to show up. It would bring out the demon vampire, what she really was, and always would be. Violence felt easy always did, it was automatic somethign that didn't take thought. It made her mind settle.

It didn't leave a pit in her stomach like introspection did.

[Lion]

The great bookshelves, themselves harbingers of magnificent knowledge that Tarquin had collected over the years, loomed like pillars of darkness as he walked between one aisle to another, stroking the many dusty bindings that had been the books he procrastinated in reading.  There was little light in this room, the glowing candelabras were dispersed inadequately and few.  Yet it wasn't sight that impaired him, this he knew without an unholy doubt in his experienced mind.  Tarquin had left Jyotika by herself, had told her to leave if she please and stated very plainly—at least to him it was plain—that he didn't really give a damn what happened to her.

Thought took over, "self examination" as he often liked to call it.  He continued to skim each passing title of works long lost and forgotten to the educated mind.  And his introspection began:

"What do you intend to accomplish?" the voice in his head asked, the 'other' Tarquin that always seemed to bring him back to reality and bring him to notice upon inconspicuous things.

"To what?" he answered aloud to no one in particular but the voice.

"You know damn well what I mean.  Why did you let her go?  It's actually quite obvious..."

"Shut up!  You know nothing."  He sighed as he came across a nearly falling apart version of a famous romance by Joslynn James entitled The Dreamer.  Here was a work that he must have flipped through more than a hundred times as could be told by the shredded binding and yellow paper and faded ink.  "But perhaps the real question is 'What's keeping her here?'"

"You know very well the answer to that.  You're no idiot.  And yet you continue to ignore these--feelings--that are growing inside you.  You cannot possibly be that blind."

"What the hell are you talking about?!  I never—"

"Face it.  You have feelings for this woman and yet you refuse to acknowledge it!  You are fool.  You're no better than mortal men for you are more in her thrall than you dare to believe and it's because of this that she will be you're undoing.  Admit it!"

Tarquin froze when he reached the end of the aisle, eyes wide in shock and feeling an awful burn in his chest.  Was the voice correct?  Was he feeling something for Jyotika?  Surely, it was obvious that he was in her debt and trusted her with his life... but could be be?  No!  I'm not!  I can't be!  I won't be changed...  Five-hundred years of solitude and suddenly falling for this single woman?  Bah!  No, it's not true!  I'm not—  "In love," Tarquin finished aloud, his eyes appearing as abyssal blue moons with their gold tinge bubbling as if molten metal.  "No, I-I.  I'm not in love with her.  I-I... Can I?  How? Over such a short period of time?  Impossible!"

"And alas it comes out.   Now do you see, Tarquin?  Now do you see the folly in which you've allowed yourself to succumb to?  Forever you were the seducer of women and now you are completely in her thrall."

"I won't be.  I won't allow it!"

"Really?  And just what do you intend to do about it?'

"I'll kill her!  I'll rip her goddamn head off for doing this to me!  If I fall in love with her, all these centuries of work, my plans, will be ruined!  She'll see just who I really am!"  There was little time wasted for him as he stomped out the door without missing a beat.  Before he knew it, he broke out into a run and, smelling Jyotika's vampiric trail, darted to and fro from each ledge of the labyrinth.  Venturing through was like second nature to him now and soon found himself deep in the forest.  His blood was hot in his veins, burning through his every being as he walked swiftly to find her.  He sniffed the air and found traces of her presence and reached out with his mind to try to find her.

As he came around a bend, a low hilltop and a stream flowing beside it, he rested his hand on the trunk of the three beside him before whispering harshly, "Jyotika!"  He knew better than to call out her name when there may be hunters in the vicinity or creatures not to be names.  By now his fury was beginning to die down, leaving only a cold, bereft ice in its wake.  The ache in his chest widened as he slowly looked up to the branches above.  Studying the tree carefully, he finally noticed Jyotika's form encased in the branches.  "Jyotika," he said again only more audible.  "There you are."

[*stabs self* Gah, I'm so sorry for taking centuries to put this up.]

[Anonymous]

Jyotika's eyes were scanning, her senses screaming, reaching out for something to drown away her thoughts. She was hoping maybe someone would cause her field of vision and scent. Some human taking a slow walk late at night. Completely comfortable in themselves just enjoying the night. She assumed she would be out of luck with the stir Tarquin and she had caused the last couple nights. Her fingers dug into the tree sliding in slightly. It was hopeless to wait. Sometimes even humans are smarter than they look, however she didn't trust herself not to end up back at his home if she started walking.

Why did she even care? She wanted to reach inside of her body and search for the clues. Was she finally going soft? Actually starting to feel emotions. She had certainly not given herself permission to become spineless. Her nails and tips of her fingers sunk further into the wood of the the tree and gritted her teeth. She wanted to tear the forest apart. The rising tension in her bones, completely imagined in her mind, it made her want to move, to destroy, to drown out emotions in violence. It was the only thing that made sense most day anyway. Why ever come out of it? Violence was easy. The breaking of bones, the feel and smell of that rushing blood, the pump-pump of adrenaline.

He had brought up memories she fought to keep buried deep down. Normally, that would cause her to run for the hills. She was deeply contemplating it. Leaving this place, finding somewhere else to go that was much less interesting. She figured she could be bored for awhile after this one.

Men, so matter what species they are, just...are horrid.

She was startled out of her contemplation by a couple sounds. She raised slightly out of her sitting position into more of a crouching position without a noise. Everything started to become clear again. Her eyes narrowed searching the forest. Had someone blessed her with a victim tonight? Oh she prayed they had. Then they whispered her voice. She gritted her teeth again a slight tiny frustrated growl issued from her throat. She sat back down as his scent hit her nostrils.

Pointless. Tarquin.

Then there he was looking up at her from the base of the tree. She turned her face away from him, her nose slightly upturned. She really contemplated giving him the silent treatment. However she couldn't not look at him. The expression on his face gave her an instant sort of guilt for some reason. She spoke his name without thinking about it.

"Tarquin." She recovered pushing the caring out of her face and voice the crinkle between her eyebrows smoothing out. She rushed to change the subject, from the intense tension.

"No one seems to be walking through the forest tonight..."She trailed off making a show of looking away from him, "...perhaps we've scared them off."

[Lion]

It would've been difficult to make eye contact with her had he not felt the hole in his chest widen to a point where breathing was almost painful.  In truth, now Tarquin didn't want to look at her but he found his eyes now had minds of their own and wandered where they pleased, without his choice to stare at what suited them.  The anger that was on his mind before gave little way and if he didn't know any better he would've set the entire forest ablaze.  He wanted to exact his anger, to take it out something....on anything even if it was undeserving.  For years, he'd been harnessing the power of life inside of him with one goal in mind: Revenge.  To waste it on someone so insignificant made him want to vomit at the thought of waste.  But he knew that she wasn't insignificant, there was something about her that he was drawn to though he cringed at the thought of why.

And still the ice of his anger chilled for a time as he watched her nonchalantly regard him as if he didn't exist or nothing between them ever happened.  Tarquin sighed for a moment even as he wanted to say something far different than what she proposed to talk about.  How dare she talk idly about prey when he just kicked her out of his abode?  He wanted to smack her for her negligence or strangle her though he doubted that would do much damage.  Apart of him desired to gouge her deeply as punishment for her crimes against him.  But even this desire was cut short by a plea of common sense.  He didn't hurt women, he never raped in his existence, nor struck one that didn't already have it coming.  Honestly, what was he going to do about a problem she didn't even know about?  And by now, it had all pretty much died down completely.

For all he knew, she may have been experiencing some turmoil of her own, not that he would care in the least.  Tarquin was accustomed to his own lifestyle, he had only himself to care for and showed only petty concern towards the few lovers that lived as a good lover should.  She seemed different and he saw her face for a brief second before she immediately looked away.  Hm.  Wondering for a moment before deciding it best to ignore it for now and regard the issue at a later, less awkward moment.  "Jyo..." he said softly, keeping his eyes to the forest line and maintaining his place beside the tree.

"Maybe," he tried again, going along with her words.  "But I don't think people are that[/t] dumb.  But...if you want...I know a village nearby where we may hunt."  And still he refused to look at her.

[Gah! Hopelessly short.  And sorry I took so long.]