Familliar faces
Neferet was relieved by the fact that he didn't expect her to love him. She just appreciated that the man beside her would protect her for the time being.
Meanwhile, Dividos rolled his eyes at them and walked back to the bar, to see if he could talk Cyrce into causing some more trouble. He fed off chaos, and this night had just run out. For now, anyway.
Neferet muttered an excuse and, promptly left. She had never been claustrophobic, but at this point she felt like the walls were closing in around her, and the room felt too hot, too full of noise as the new song thrummed through the crowds. She ran out into the alley, wanting fresh air. The dark night, the cool breeze wrapped around her, like a cloak. Neferet wondered just how cracked Xynox had to be to even consider her that way. She didn't do love, she was the thing that love feared, unfortunately, the past tense was important in that sentence. She wondered if it was a reaction to him drinking slightly too much. That was logical. By tomorrow, he would remember that as a vessel, he was not to have feelings for his priestess.
Neferet wasn't prepared to go back in, so she sat atop a dumpster, like a queen atop a throne, enjoying the profound silence the dead of night provides.
Xynox had fucked up. He cursed his big mouth. Why did he have to ruin things and drop the word "love" so quickly? He knew little about her life, but the fact that she'd turned to Darkness, implied that she probably wasn't the type that could even love. He didn't know why he'd said it, he'd just been feeling good after that kiss and the words had tumbled, unbidden, from his mouth. He sighed, sitting down at the bar, watching the door for a reappearance of his goddess. While he sat, he tried to determine whether he'd meant what he said.
Neferet knew things were going to be ugly from the moment she picked up their fetid thoughts. But she was prepared for a bit of bloodshed. The fact that she'd been an immortal had left her with heightened senses and quicker reflexes, and even a bit of an inhuman strength advantage. As the first man strode into the alley, Neferet tried her best to appear scared, playing up the moment. There were only three of them, one of whom already had a black eye. Their ringleader, who reeked of alcohol, grabbed her arm. "You're going to be taking a little trip with us, pretty lady," he smirked, smooth hands gripping her pale arm. He was already a little nervous, she could tell from the slick sweaty palms he'd placed on her arm.
She got up, still in the shadows enough that it obscured her marks. "well, I suppose if you really want to take this road," she said calmly, knowing that would throw them off even more than if she were to resist. They wanted her to fight, to scream and cry and kick, trying blindly to evade their trap. Sh she walked out of the shadows, she flipped her hair out of her eyes, allowing the auburn strands to catch the moonlight and allowing them an unfettered view of her marks. The other two, the side kick and the one with the black eye, began to lose any confidence they had in their little plan, and began to talk of a mutiny. The leader cussed them out for considering it, and then, I acted. I twisted his arm, to force him to let go of me, and brought my knee up, hitting him somewhere my knee never should have had to go. He glared at me, doubling over from taking my knee to the groin.
"You're playing a dangerous game, bitch," he spat, still bent over.
"If it's so dangerous," I advanced on the other two, "why am I winning?" the other two booked it out of there, terrified of the vampyre. They sprinted out of the alley, never looking back to their defeated leader.
He got up, eyes burning with rage, but Neferet was used to burning looks. Hell, she could take a lot more than a look and keep going. She wasn't expecting, say a winged immortal to push her into a wall and usher the mortal out. She glared at Kalona, emerald eyes seething with her own version of a burning look. "Neferet," he began slowly, drawling her name out, "you're very far from home, aren't you?"
Neferet never broke eye contact "Home, Kalona is where the heart is. And I have no heart," she spoke levelly to the traitorous immortal, despite wanting to tear a strip off him. Her hands snaked around to his back, stroking down a scar he'd gained when she whipped him with Darkness. His skin still had that peculiar chill to it. "and I wouldn't suggest messing with me on this, I tend to win. You still have the scars from defying me," Neferet hoped he wouldn't call her on the lie.
Kalona stared into her eyes, not seeing the Darkness that flitted through them the last time he saw her. Instead, he just saw a pissed off vampyre. He decided that it was more treachery on the part of the Tsi Sgili. He would not be fooled by her again. He swatted her hands off him "in the end, light will triumph, Neferet. It always does," he insisted, wanting Neferet to understand
Neferet narrowed her eyes at her former lover, wondering why he had to be so dense. She pushed him away from her and strode back to the door. "It does not matter if Thanatos decides to come for me. Let her come, even. But it's not Thanatos who sent you, is it?" Neferet demanded, "you always did have a weakness for the impetuous little child, didn't you?"
"Zoey Redbird does not control me," Kalona snapped, voice low, muted even. Neferet thought he sounded inordinately subdued for the normally arrogant immortal. He also kept his eyes low, focused on those infernal shoes she'd donned. Neferet wondered what had him like this.
"Who is controlling you then?" she demanded, "is it the goddess? Or perhaps it is the meddling Thanatos, I wouldn't put it past her," Neferet spoke aloud as she tried to determine the answer by Kalona's facial expression. The immortal gave little information by his mannerisms, however, considering he'd had centuries to learn how to keep a poker face. Neferet had no intention of playing fair, however. "Or perhaps it was A-ya's idea. It's a shame you never did reclaim her, but for a chance with her, I'm certain you'd do anything, even deal with me," Neferet remarked "desperation makes for a monolithic weakness, she whispered into his ear.
Kalona turned to face her "my reason for coming here is unimportant," he started, wishing it were true. He was glad Neferet hadn't found that in his mind. "it is your reason that I'm curious about," he finished smoothly. Kalona tried not to reveal the person who'd sent him, despite the fact that he knew Neferet would ultimately figure it out.
Neferet smiled in a way that was more serpentine than anything else "I wanted a change of scenery," she lied, "and one that wouldn't have your precious A-ya cluttering it." She turned to leave, leaving a disgruntled Kalona in her wake. The doorman let her in without any form of password and she instructed him not to let Kalona in. He only nodded and didn't request any information, unlike Kalona. She felt satisfied from escaping after giving Kalona close to no information, but exhausted from the rest of the night, and mentally fatigued from trying to work out Xynox's motives. Again it seemed, men were the issue.
Xynox had been sitting here for half an hour, pondering his dilemma with Neferet. He wondered if she'd left, and he was about to check, when she whirled down the stairs. The start of an equally frenzied song played as she ran down the twisted staircase she saw Xynox and sat down, refusing to meet the obsidian gaze of the vessel. She waved down the bartender and demanded her usual.
"Double strength," she sighed, "I'm exhausted." Neferet sighed, knowing she couldn't avoid Kalona for that long, but wanting to have more energy next time they spoke. Xynox awkwardly turned to her, still not meeting her eyes.
"Are you okay?" he asked "you look a little shaken," he wondered what Neferet had been doing while she was out there. He hoped she was okay. She hadn't called for him, but the belligerent vampyre probably wouldn't unless her life was endangered. Maybe not even then. He hoped it wouldn't anger her that he'd seen she was upset. Caring about Neferet was like walking on eggshells.
The bartender picked up on that immediately "So you're Mopey's owner?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at Neferet "he's been here for half an hour, staring at the door. I was worried he'd gone insane, then you came in." the man placed the cup of dark red liquid before Neferet.
"One could call me Mopey's owner, but Mopey has the tendency to do as he pleases," Neferet replied taking a dainty sip of the liquid. It was a cocktail that Lex, the bartender had developed for vampyres. He refused to divulge the contents, but one part was definitely blood. That part alone gave Neferet a kick of energy. She smiled despite herself, and finally met Xynox in the eyes. His obsidian eyes were imploring almost. She refused to get lost in their depths, though. There was far too much at stake for her to allow herself that luxury.
Neferet's emerald eyes looked… different. Lighter, somehow to Xynox. It took him a moment to place it, it was because there was no Darkness flitting about in their depths. She looked more open, more human like that, and it threw Xynox off, despite being a welcome change. "and my answer, Nefer- uh, Saraneth, are you okay?" he wanted her to be honest with him for once. He understood that he'd surprised her and all, but this was going to have to end now.
Neferet lied as easily as she normally would, to someone who wasn't Xynox when she told him she was. What wasn't like typical Neferet was the pang she felt upon doing so. She wished she could cry on him, and for once let herself go and unload on someone. She refused to give in to her desire to for once just talk to someone about what troubled her, about everything that troubled her.
Xynox saw a guarded look cross through her eyes. She didn't want him to know, or maybe just didn't want to talk about it. Either way, he was fine with it. It wasn't his cross to bear, and he didn't want to piss her off any more. Neferet was going to take time to forgive him, if she ever did. There was no doubt in Xynox's mind that Neferet might never forgive him if he screwed things up too much. He knew she was still holding onto grudges from her past life, that of a High Priestess. The bitterness that he saw painted on her face whenever Tulsa was brought up was evidence enough. Xynox hoped eventually, she'd be able to let go, but he wasn't sure if that was reality.
Neferet took a deeper drink of Lex's drink, letting her mind ease as the invigorating mix sank into her. She would be sure to tip Lex for these. Generally, he didn't charge her, but for days like today, she liked to leave him a bit of money. She noticed Xynox seemed a little off as though he was trying to puzzle something out. She decided to be nice, she'd order something for him.
"Hey, do you think you could fix my friend up with a drink?" she asked, carefully keeping her tone friendly as the song raged on, alternating between insane moments and a light, slow, almost contemplative chorus. It ended in a surprising line "I cry when angels deserve to die." She wondered which song this was. Then this man too began to go on about his father, and she took a sip of the drink again, to quell the memories "Father! Why have you forsaken me? In your eyes forsaken me
In your thoughts forsaken me
In your heart forsaken, me oh" she listened, wondering if the DJ was deliberately playing a setlist of songs about families gone wrong.
Xynox absently noticed Neferet clench her glass as the singer yelled "father!" he wondered why. Neferet seemed to tense every time abuse was mentioned in the songs. He wondered if that meant something, or if she just didn't like the idea of any one entity having that kind of power over another. The way she'd been affected by Cyrce's song, he almost had to wonder if she was affected by that because of a past life experience. Past life meaning before she moved here.
Neferet looked over at Xynox, who she noticed had been staring at her. Great. That was all she needed, having him know her Achilles heel. She hated having Zoey and her friends knowing everything about her that that damned mirror had told them, and none of them were like Xynox, thinking they loved her. She wondered why Xynox would choose her. She was an emotionally messed up, jaded, uncaring Tsi Sgili, someone with a blackened heart that could never understand, much less accept him.
Xynox was feeling that urge to pull her in again, and kiss her, because she was making that contemplative expression. He looked at her glass, almost empty and decided to ask the bartender, after taking a sip of his own. The liquid burned on the way down, but felt warm, like a cloak once he'd swallowed. As Neferet sang along with this newest song, which Xynox interpreted to be about being good enough, Xynox leaned over to talk.
Lex, or so Neferet had introduced him as, anyways, approached "so, Mopey, what's troubling you?" he asked, sitting down near Xynox. "Or can I assume that it's Saraneth?" his eyes flicked over to Neferet, still singing. Xynox nodded, hoping she'd just keep singing, she looked so relaxed when she sang.
"I bet you don't expect me to tell you this, but Saraneth is your typical woman scorned. She's going to be dramatic about it, because she thinks she's entitled to bitch a bit. Maybe she is. But the best way to make her realize thaat she wants you, go dance with someone else. Make it clear that you're not exclusively hers… until of course, she admits that you mean something to her," he sat back, taking in Xynox's shocked expression. Xynox was confused. Neferet was by no means 'typical' she was an immortal, a goddess. And her pain was real, wasn't it? Not to mention, he'd already danced with Cyrce and Neferet had kind of gone off the deep end on Cyrce.
Holy shit! Xynox thought Neferet does care! I mean, she did try to kill Cyrce, didn't she?
While Xynox engaged in conversation with Lex, Neferet sang. "I had everything, opportunities for eternity and I could belong to the night," she sang, thinking about how this all might have been different. The song was very obviously about vampyres, but she didn't care, because the message for her was about a fledgling she'd met when she was in third form. Every time she thought of him she- no she would not think tonight. As she sang the pre-chorus a second time she eliminated the thoughts of him "Your eyes, your eyes, I can see in your eyes, your eyes, everything in your eyes, your eyes."
Xynox smiled and slid his arm around Neferet, not at all balking as she gave him a dirty look. Finally, she leaned back onto his arm and continued to sing, until her song was over. Once that happened, she looked over at Xynox.
Neferet was just at the bridge of the song, the only part which she didn't agree with, the part about being willing to do all those things for your 'love'. Neferet saw that as weak, to care for someone so much that you'd do anything for them, even die. That was when Xynox hesitantly slid his arm behind her head. She shot him a look. He was being impetuous tonight, and Neferet didn't like that. Then she finally decided to not show any sort of reaction, and laid back, trying to make him uncomfortable as she finished the song that she so loved. Xynox still did not move.
At the end of the song, Neferet got up, motioning to Xynox to follow her "We're going to leave now," she told him, leaving a twenty for Lex. She wondered why Xynox was acting so peculiar today. It was as if the vessel was possessed or something similar, he was acting out of character. Xynox had been nothing but a silent, obedient vessel before, now he was just acting ridiculous, pushing her to the point where she hated him. She hated him for making her question that her heart was a blackened, frozen thing. As they climbed the stairs, she wished she'd never been rejected by the White Bull, that's what caused all this. Dividos watched.
Xynox was tired of Dividos watching Neferet. He wasn't sure if there was something going on between them or something, but he was tired of it. He made a note to ask Neferet about it later. That is, if Neferet didn't kill him in his sleep. He knew that if she did, he'd earned it, but if he was going to go to Hell, he may as well do it thoroughly. Finally, they got up to the top of the stairs. Neferet waved to the doorman. Then she and Xynox slipped out into the night.
Kalona had been waiting. Once the familiar vampyre slipped through the door, he pushed her against the wall. "You evaded my question, Neferet," he reminded her. Kalona wasn't counting on Xynox being there to push him off. The immortal turned to Xynox in shock as Xynox began to shift, sensing that Neferet needed something, someone to protect her.
Kalona ignored the vessel, looking at Neferet "A new vessel?" he asked, "did you sacrifice Aurox to create this one?" he just needed to find out where she was and how to find her and then report back like a common spy.
Neferet didn't wish for Kalona to know that the bull had killed Aurox. She wanted to have Kalona thinking that she was completely in control of her life. "Of course, Aurox no longer served me, not to mention the pain his death caused Zoey Redbird. I wish I could've seen her scream when I killed him," Neferet spoke, sounding wistful even as she said the last sentence. Xynox winced, remembering the scene he'd awoken to. He remembered at penthouse catching fire and Neferet, how her face had been streaked with blood. Had that been the blood of his predecessor? He stopped cold if his shifting and re-became the humanoid that he usually appeared as.
Kalona was beginning to feel uneasy listening to Neferet talking about torture, when he noticed it. He felt a pulse pounding in her. Ever since she'd become the spiders, she had no pulse. Unless of course, things were changed now "you're mortal now?" he asked incredulously.
Xynox had seen, heard and taken part in a lot of surprising things tonight, but none so shocking as this. "You're not immortal?" he asked, feeling betrayed. Xynox wondered if he even knew the goddess-like woman he served.
Neferet paused, knowing if she tried to lie, Kalona would call her on it and make things even worse. She wasn't sure why the pain written on Xynox's face affected her, but she wanted to make that damned hurt look disappear. "Xynox, I will explain this to you later. Kalona, I owe you no such explanation, get out of my way" she pushed through, dragging a shell-shocked Xynox with her, and getting into her car. She didn't speak while in the car, and opted to take a roundabout route, trying to shake Kalona.
Xynox didn't know whether he wanted to kiss Neferet or slap her. She looked so tense at the wheel, trying to shake the immortal, and he wanted to see her relax. On the other hand, she'd lied to him about being immortal, she'd lied to him about a lot of things from the sound of t. Xynox still sat there inside the sleek black car, doing nothing but adding to the air of tension. He wished Neferet would trust him for once, because obviously, she never had before. Xynox wondered why he had to fall for the single most infuriating vampyre he'd ever encountered.
Neferet pulled in at their new place, a small, condominium like place, barely large enough and with none of the grandeur of her penthouse. She had painted her room in a fit of anger, so it was white with slashes of black and red. The furnishings were all average but she'd done her best with the space, hanging silky black curtains and using equally silky sheets. The small closet was ample for her even smaller collection of clothing she'd brought with her. Neferet supposed it would do until she found a higher paying job. The downside was that Xynox had no room, he'd been on the couch recently. Of Course, today, Neferet would bet anything that he would refuse today, just because he was being a pain.
Xynox charged into her room, the anger and betrayal sparking in his eyes like flames. Neferet smirked, thinking that in one way or another, fire entered her house. "What was this about you not being an immortal?!" he demanded "Why is it that everyone knows more about you than me?"
Neferet narrowed her eyes "it's because you, Xynox, are my vessel. I am not obligated to inform you. I don't owe you anything. But there is no point leaving you with partial information, now. I became mortal the day I fell out of the White Bull's favour; he took away my immortality as well as killed Aurox, your predecessor. That's why I named you similarly, it is through the sacrifice of my former vessel that you came to live," I told him everything except the hallucinations the White Bull had put me through, leaving that part for myself.
Xynox approached me, and I became incredibly aware of my surroundings. He was cracked, and I hoped he wasn't becoming dangerous. Xynox thought about the song title he'd caught and prayed that he found it. He picked up the music device Neferet's boss had given her and selected the song from earlier tonight. The lighter guitar intro filled the room, slightly tinny from the speaker. Neferet recognised the song, it was Kiss by Korn.
Xynox stared into her eyes, feeling like he was going to snap. "What do I have to do, Neferet?" he asked softly "why is nothing we have true?" he finished, advancing toward her again.
"What are you doing!?" Neferet demanded, feeling nervous. Xynox was a little too close, and his eyes burned, just like the burning look from her childhood had. She was fully prepared to break the window behind her and run for the car, when he pulled her into his arms and kissed her again. This time, he just wanted to vent his frustration and he took charge of it. Neferet didn't know what to make of Xynox. He was taking things far too—too far—for a vessel and their creator ever to. The way his lips danced with hers was pleasurable though. She enjoyed it, so long as Xynox didn't—
Xynox was determined not to let the moment slip away. He knew that Neferet would fight him, but she'd thank him later, and he wanted to finally see him as her equal. His hands went just below the hem of her dress. She tensed. Neferet was trying not to have a flashback, but Xynox thought she was playing hard to get. He deepened the kiss and started to lift her dress. Neferet jerked away. "No!" she swatted Xynox's ands away, heart thudding from the fear that almost remembering that had caused.
Xynox was disappointed "It's like the song, Neferet; I don't understand why you always push me away," he sang, sounding quite similar to the song itself. Xynox wondered why the hell Neferet was so insistent on pushing him away.
Neferet finally looked up from her hands to meet Xynox's, showing him the fear reflected in hers. "There's still a considerable amount you do not know, Xynox. And that, I have no intention of telling you about tonight. Now it's time you depart my room." Her voice was hard, but her eyes were imploring. Xynox saw it as a decent start. He left the room, praying that one day Neferet would finally make sense to him.
Neferet on the other hand, prayed that Xynox would just let her be.
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