Alejandro King (fallenxking) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2009-08-28 06:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-06-14 |
The Secret Out
Who: Jovie and Alex
When: Early morning - 3amish
Where: Alex's house
Jovie had a fairly decent night out with Becky. The girl was a bit too 'woe is me' for Jovie's tastes, but she was hoping she could get the woman out of her 'dead fiance' funk and make her somewhat useful. They'd ingested quite a few cocktails, and by the time Jovie dropped Becky off at home, she was feeling mischievous and frisky. Which meant Jovie was - gasp - in a good mood, so to speak. It was late, but rather than driving home, Jovie drove to Alex's house.
The house was dark, and it didn't look like he was home, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to make sure. She got out of her SUV and walked up to the door to knock. She waited and knocked again, but there was no answer. "Bastard," she muttered. It could have been that he was still at work, and with a quick glance at her cell phone, she realized the bars would be closing soon enough. So... she decided to wait. She sat down under his covered porch and smoothed her dress over her knees, breathing in the damp, summer night air. She was horny, dammit, and she wasn't about to retreat. She supposed she could call Niko, but at that moment she didn't want Niko. She wanted Alex.
Time ticked by, and by the time Jovie glanced at her cell again, it was nearly three in the morning. She was irritated by now, knowing that he should have been home if he'd been working. Not that she was keeping tabs on him, but she knew better than to tell herself he was off visiting his mother. Her alcohol induced mind simply told her he was probably off banging some other woman, which pissed her off more than it should have. She was probably being irrational, but she'd been drinking, and she was hormonal, and didn't he know that he was supposed to be around whenever she wanted him to be?
Jovie stood up from where she was standing and pulled off her red heels. Her feet hurt, and she was very close to just chucking her shoes through his window before she left. The bastard.
Alejandro was just getting into town again, about then. Well, he was just driving into town from the spot in the woods where he'd parked his car, so he could fly out of town. He just wasn't stupid enough to fly out of town from his own damn house, not even in the rain.
The wings were still out, one folded against the door and the other across the seat next to him. Putting them away damp was never comfortable-- or, well, it was more uncomfortable, anyway-- and e wasn't expecting anyone to be at his house, anyway. He wasn't expecting anyone to be awake, so he hadn't even bothered to clean up, since there was no one to see him. He was tired, and irritable, and sated in that disgusting way that made him feel guilty and angry with himself... all in all, a usual weekend night. It'd certainly taken care of his frustration with Vivienne, who had canceled on him because she "kind of" had a boyfriend.
Well, whatever. Less fire elemental blood wasted. He only had one dose left.
He pulled the car onto his street, headlights beaming down the road and reflecting off the wet streets, though at least it wasn't raining at the moment, and was looking forward to a long, hot shower.
Since Jovie refused to walk away without some kind of satisfaction, she started toward her car, muttering under her breath as the magic swelled inside of her. She heard one of the front window crack and then shatter, and she glanced over her shoulder at the window and the glass glittering under the moonlight on the ground. She supposed that was something. Maybe if she'd been a bit more sober, she would have just shrugged and gone home, but there was still that simmering annoyance at Alex for being so damn hard to read, and for not being as easy to manipulate as most men were.
With her shoes hanging off her fingers, she started for her SUV, slowing in her steps when she saw the headlights. Jovie couldn't help but hope it was him, just so she could tell him what an ass he was.
It was him, of course, and though the SUV didn't tip him off to her presence, as he started to turn into the driveway, his headlights fell on her. He braked immediately, with a squeal of metal, and had a small panic attack. He had wings out. He had blood on his skin and jeans. And Jovie was right fucking there.
The wings went first, pulled in as quickly as he could manage while his car idled there, half in the driveway and half in the street. The effort left him gasping even as he reached for his shirt to try in vain to wipe himself off.
Jovie stood there in the headlights, one hand on her hip, the other holding her shoes down by her side. She couldn't see very well, since the light was in her eyes, but he wasn't getting out of the car, now was he? Busted. Jovie started walking to the driver's side door, immediately checking to make sure no one was in the car with him. There didn't seem to be, which helped his case a tiny bit. She was still extremely annoyed at having been waiting for him for so long.
Even when she started walking over, Alejandro didn't open the door or the window or anything. He was too busy hastily wiping his face, hoping he got everything, hoping the darkness would conceal anything he missed. There wasn't much he could do about his jeans, so he was just going to have to home she didn't look down.
Only once she was standing by his door did he move, and that was only to rev the engine and roll his beat-up Honda up the rest of the was into the driveway. Then, killing the engine and the lights, he got out. He left his ruined shirt behind in the passenger side seat, though from the sticky feeling on his back he knew he hadn't gotten everything, at least not the blood from pulling his wings in. He'd probably stained his seats. Fuck.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" he demanded, anger trying to cover up how shaky and disgusting and goddamn afraid he felt, afraid that she'd find out. That she'd call the cops. That he'd have to flee.
When he got out of the car, she let her eyes drift over him curiously. She ignored his question for one of her own. "What have you been doing?" He was a mess. There were dark stains on his jeans, and he didn't have a shirt. She couldn't see very well in the dark, but he didn't look as if he had just been lounging around a bar. "You look fucking terrible."
"None of your fucking business," he answered defensively. "I just been busy." Even he knew that sounded like a shit answer, that obviously he was hiding something, but what the hell could he do about that now? She had been waiting at his house at three in the fucking morning! How was he supposed to have anticipated that? "And you didn't answer my question," he reminded her, slamming the car door behind him with a foot.
"Yes, apparently so," Jovie said, wrinkling her nose at his physical condition. He was hiding something. More secrets, of course. Secrets she couldn't figure out. "I don't have to answer your question. You weren't home, I waited, and now I'm leaving." she snapped, answering his question despite saying she didn't have to. "Clearly whatever it was that kept you busy was something you probably shouldn't have been doing, since you're so twitchy and angry at my being here."
"You're so very fucking observant, aren't you?" he growled, his hand fisting tight around his keys, trying to suppress his shaking. She knew. She guessed. What if she called the cops? "What the hell were you waiting for me for this time of night? Do you think you know something?"
"I'm more than observant," Jovie retorted. She was a fucking telepath! Despite the fact that she couldn't pick up his thoughts, she was damn good at reading people. She walked up to him, her eyes narrowing as they drifted over his body again. "I think I know a lot of things, Alex. I was here because I wanted to see you... but whoops, you weren't home. Three am? You must have had an eventual evening. Especially with how angry you are that I'm here. I knew you were hiding something when we met, but now I have to say, I'm really intrigued as to what that might be."
Okay, maybe she didn't know. But she would. Alejandro didn't have to breathe, but he hadn't been dead long enough to lose the habit, and he was all but panting now, mind racing futilely to try and find something, some way, to get out of this.
The only thing that came to mind was to kill her and then leave town. Which would be such a fucking shame. He backed up when she reached him, one step, then two, trying to think and just running in mental circles around the only option he had left. "And if you think you know something," he breathed, "you'll tell. Won't you. Anything to get you more leverage, right? More control?" And having a vicious, monster of a vampire know who she was, was not control.
Jovie arched an eyebrow and stopped when he stepped away from her. Skittish thing. It was interesting, that he seemed to not want her closer. "Who on earth would I tell? I already have leverage here, Alex. You're the one backing away from me, not the other way around. What do you think I would do? Find out your deep, dark secrets and run to the authorities? Please, give me some credit." Clearly he was doing something that he didn't want her to know about. Or anyone for that matter.
"It's what any normal person would do," Alejandro said, still breathing fast, still trying to talk himself out of killing her and into killing her, at the same time. It wasn't working very well, and he still felt torn. "Go to the police."
Whatever he did, though, he couldn't do it in his driveway. They needed to go inside, or she needed to leave-- at which point he would leave, too. And probably not come back. "Inside," he said, jerking his head towards the door.
"Who said I'm normal?" Jovie asked. Going to the police, no matter what it was he was doing, wasn't an option for her. How boring would that be? Besides, she wanted to know everything about him, and the idea of him doing something wrong excited her. She knew he wouldn't be boring, and this just proved that she had read him right. When he mentioned going inside, she eyed him before pushing her hair behind her shoulder. "Fine... inside." This wasn't the kind of discussion to be having outside. "But if you try anything, Alex, I'm going to make you very, very sorry."
"What, are you going to hurt me if I do try something?" he sneered, and stalked up to his front door to unlock it-- displaying his bloody back, but what could he do? She'd see it eventually. Maybe if she saw it outside, she wouldn't see it clearly, and he could slip into the bathroom to wash up a little before they got the lights turned on.
"Yes." It was a simple and confident answer. He didn't know she knew black magic, obviously. She knew how to use it, if she was feeling threatened. Alex didn't scare her, and that was the important thing. Her eyes drifted over his back when he turned to unlock his door. There was blood all over his back. Which meant he was definitely doing things he shouldn't be doing. "Jesus Christ," she muttered. "You're a fucking mess."
"You can say that again," Alejandro muttered, going inside and letting Jovie follow. He didn't bother turning on the lights, he just made his way by feel to the bathroom, across the living room. Apparently she saw and realized. Fuck. Maybe he could write this all off just as normal vampire-ness, just feeding... not mention the torture and killing... maybe. But that would be bad enough, wouldn't it? Admitting what he was. She'd win.
She'd win if she went to the cops, too. The only way she wouldn't win would be if he killed her. Fuck.
Jovie walked inside and glanced at the broken window. Maybe he wouldn't notice. Not that she cared if he did. She was angry that he kept her waiting for so long, even if he hadn't realized it. She slipped her shoes back on her feet and watched him disappear to the bathroom, presumably to wash up. Did he enjoy killing people? Had someone attacked him? She had a dozen questions, but none she was going to ask. She'd let him explain. She wasn't about to give him any ideas or chances to lie. "You have blood all over yourself," she called after him, folding her arms and waiting for him in the middle of the living room.
"How very observant!" Alejandro called back, and after a pause, turned on the shower instead of the sink. He was just too disgusting for a simple splashing to do much good. "Gimme a few to rinse off, wouldja?"
"Whatever you need, honey." Her voice dripped with sarcasm and she went over to sit on the couch when she heard the shower running. "This should be interesting," Jovie muttered.
All while he scrubbed off, Alejandro tried to think of what he could say. Anything to get her off the scent of a murderer. Thinking and coming up with decent plans, however, was not one of his strong points, and he was still a complete blank by the time he got out a few minutes later. He dried himself off briefly, wrapped a towel around his waist, and came back out with his hair still dripping. The light from the bathroom fell into the living room, illuminating Jove on the couch. He scowled at her.
Jovie smiled, although the gesture didn't quite reach her eyes. "You clean up nicely," she said. "Feel better?" She didn't mind the scowl at all. In fact, it made her feel more in control.
He rolled his eyes at her. "Oh, shut up," he grumbled, and came in to drop onto the other end of the couch. "So you want to know what I was up to. The big secret. Yeah?" He was almost stalling, still hoping something brilliant would come to him in the next few minutes.
She smirked and watched him, her arms folded over her chest. Jovie arched an eyebrow when he sat. He didn't look half as interesting without all of the blood. "Either you're going to tell me, or you're going to lie to me. Why don't you hurry up and decide which one you prefer." He was procrastinating, which told her he was going to lie. She wouldn't blame him. She lied all the time to cover up her misdeeds. "You were out at three am, shirtless, bloody and pissed off that I came over here. You're hiding something, and you don't want to tell me because you think I'll go to the police. If you're going to lie, it better be a good one."
He eyed her, finally coming up with a potentially workable idea. Maybe. Though it might be a relief to not have to worry about a smile or fire elemental blood or... any of it... it was dangerous to tell the truth. Even just part of the truth. And he still didn't want to let her win, by just telling her....
... and then when she found out, for real, after he'd lied, what then?
Shaking his head, Alejandro got up again. "Wanna know why I was bloody, then? Here." He braced himself, and pushed out the wings again, in a mild explosion of skin and muscle out of his back and out of his bones. It made him stagger and grit his teeth-- fangs included, but it was dark, maybe she'd miss them.
Okay, that? Wasn't what she had been expecting. She knew there was something different about Alex. The fact that she couldn't read his mind told her that enough. But wings? It explained the blood. Mostly. She stared at him, her lips parting in surprise. Her arms fell away from her chest and she dropped them to her sides, resting her palms on the cushions. "What the hell is that?" She knew they were wings, but what? the fuck.
"Generally the feathers give them away," Alejandro said snidely, taking only small pleasure in the fact that he'd clearly taken her by surprise. He gave the wings a beat, flicking a tiny bit of blood at her from the tips. The wounds were already healing, but they had still made a mess. The towel was going to be ruined, he was sure.
"Shut up," Jovie said irritably before standing up from the couch. She hadn't a clue what the hell he was, but she was positive he was no angel. "So that was all your blood?" It was hard to believe, especially with how freaked out he had been when he saw her. "What the hell... so you've just been, what, flying around all night?" Again, doubtful. Not with his reaction when he had gotten out of his truck.
So much for the wings "explaining" everything, or at least stunning her into not asking further. He stretched them out, filling the whole living room, and unwrapped the towel to dab at his lower back, mopping up some of the blood. "Now I'm gonna hafta take another shower," he grumbled. "And no, I wasn't flying around all night. Though I was flying around some."
It was kind of disgusting, the blood. She couldn't imagine dealing with the mess every time he wanted to use the damn things. "So what exactly are you?" Jovie asked, torn between repulsion and intense, morbid curiosity. "And what is it that you do when you're out flying around some." What, did he think she'd be okay with just seeing the wings? Did he honestly think she wouldn't ask more questions just by seeing them? Jovie was a woman who liked to know. Had to know.
He might not have realized she would or wouldn't be satisfied, but he could at least hope. Since he doubted she'd believe he was much of an angel, not the way that stupid vampire had, he glowered at her and, after a long silence, finally answered in another miniature explosion, this one of words and breath: "I'm a vampire, okay? I'm a vicious, bloodsucking dead person. Happy?"
Jovie stared at him for a moment, her expression unreadable as she studied his eyes. It took her a few moments to realize he wasn't lying. And then she grinned, her gaze dropping to his lips, wondering if that was why he didn't smile much. Fangs. "Is that all?" Was that something to be ashamed of? Probably, if he was out slaughtering people every night.
"Isn't it enough?" Alejandro threw back, irritated with her for fucking smiling at him. God, didn't she realize what that meant? That he was evil, now? Even if he hadn't been before-- though he still wasn't so sure about that one.
"Sure." Jovie shrugged and reached out to touch his chest, mainly to see if he was cold. She couldn't recall him being chilly when they had been intimate. "So you're a vampire. So what? They're all over the place, Alex. There's a goddamn bar in town specifically for your kind." She looked up at him, amused and exasperated at the same time. "That's what you've been trying to hide from me?"
"Just because there's a bar doesn't mean we're good, Jovie," Alejandro said, exasperated, himself. He twitched back from her touch, though not before she brushed his skin and found he was, indeed, cold. Or at least cool. The shower had helped warm him up a little. "We feed off people. Hunters want to kill us more than pretty much anything else. I don't tell people this. I didn't want to die the first time, and I sure as hell don't want to do it again."
"So you're telling me you're evil?" Jovie asked, trying to resist rolling her eyes. "If you're so evil, why haven't you bitten me yet? Why haven't you tried to kill me?" She folded her arms again, lifting her chin in a stubborn gesture. "I don't really care what you do. Vampires are survive off of feeding. As long as they're not feeding off of me, I could care less. And I certainly have no plans on getting a hunter on your ass."
"I haven't done anything to you because I'm not fucking stupid and I don't kill or feed where I live. I go out of state for that." He eyed her, not sure he trusted her protestations that she had no intentions of getting him wiped out-- maybe she didn't now, but next time he pissed her off.... "Though I've been tempted to take a bite once or twice," he added. "I was pretty damn hungry last night." Well, okay, he was only really a little hungry last night. But a little was enough to tempt.
"Oh well, thanks, that's reassuring," Jovie said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm alive because of geography, wonderful." Her temper might snap when she was really angry, but never had she gotten mad enough at someone to want to hire a hunter. She generally just gave them cursed jewelry. Jovie sighed and shook her head. "Well, the fact is, you haven't bitten me. And you're not going to. You know what I think? I think you like me. Even if you could bite me, I don't think you would. Vampires don't scare me, honey. You don't scare me. You can choose to trust me or not, that's up to you."
All that did was piss him off-- that she dared to say she knew him better than he knew himself, that she told him how he should be acting and feeling, that she wasn't afraid and didn't understand. So, though he didn't have any real desire or intent to harm her, he lunged for her at his fastest speed, anyway, probably sending both of them careening over the coffee table and onto the couch.
Having been drinking, Jovie didn't really have the best of reflexes. Not that she would have been able to stop him if she had been sober, but she might have been able to use magic a bit faster to cushion the blow. Her head snapped back against the couch when they landed, pain shooting through her body. Her dress was bunched up around her thighs, her hair all around her face. On pure instinct, she lifted a hand to punch him hard in the jaw, though she was breathless enough that she wasn't sure there was any real strength behind it. "Asshole," she breathed, not really scared, but... annoyed. Angry. Amused.
That was barely a pat, it felt like, and Alejandro pretty much ignored it. "Now you're getting the picture. Asshole. Monster. Fucking undead. Not a nice person." Though, rather than biting her-- it wasn't like he was hungry anymore, after all-- he kissed her, hard and thoroughly. She just kind of looked like she should be kissed, all rumpled up and pinned down like that.
She already knew he was an asshole, but she didn't have time to say so because he was kissing her. Jovie would have resisted, just in pure principle of being knocked down, but in all honesty, she liked it. And she liked that he wasn't afraid to push. Jovie lifted a hand to his hair, gripping the strands hard before she leaned up into him and kissed him back with intense desperation. He was naked, and bloody, and she didn't care. Maybe she was supposed to be repulsed that he was the undead, but she didn't give a rat's ass. It made him more interesting to her. A bigger challenge. And not one she was going to walk away from.
It was a little bit later that Alejandro, after diving into Jovie's desperation with a somewhat blood-induced will, discovered that snuggling when half-on and half-off the couch was really not very comfortable. Or, well, recovering half-on and half-off the couch, anyway, since he and Jovie didn't exactly snuggle. So he pushed himself back and over fully onto the couch, wings curled a little around him, even sooner than usual.
It had been interesting with the wings out, that was for sure.
Jovie was... well, she was sated, if nothing else. Her dress was bunched up around her waist and her panties were flung somewhere on the floor. She scooted herself up a bit when Alex pulled away from her, resting against the arm of the couch and lifting a hand to push her hair away from her face as she recovered and worked on catching her breath. The bloody wings had added a sort of morbid excitement to the whole thing, she had to admit. Alex was a vampire. A vampire with wings. It was amazing to her that he managed to keep it a secret. Jovie licked her lips and tugged her dress down to cover herself up. She would be sore later, and she loved it. "That was different," she conceded, closing her eyes to relax.
The blood left on the wings had dried into an awful brown cake in the feathers. Ugh. The remaining vivid red was natural to the feathers. Alejandro watched her as she caught her breath and put herself at least a little back in order. "Yeah," he agreed. "It was. I never done that with the wings out before." He wasn't sure whether he liked it or not. It was more awkward, but also felt dirtier-- like he was sullying the wings. Not like they needed more sullying, but still.
"I can't imagine any sexual situation where you would want to have them out," Jovie replied. Not many women would be into having the creepy wings as a visual while they were trying to get busy. Jovie licked her lips again before lifting her arms over her head and stretching. She had gotten what she had come over originally for, even if it took a lot of fighting and revelations to get to it. Alex was a vampire. Damn. It was probably better that way. No possible future, and he was aware of it. Sometimes the men never were when she got her claws into them. Jovie slipped off the couch and stood, smoothing her hair back. "Your secret is safe with me," she told him simply, ready to go home and crawl into bed now.
"Good to know." Because otherwise there'd be trouble. He moved around the coffee table to grab the now blood-stained towel and wrapped it around his waist again, just long enough to walk her to the door. "Though if you do ever want the wings again...." He gave her a wolfish-- and now fully fanged-- smile. He really did have some great smiles in his arsenal... and now he had someone to use them on.
Jovie smiled and reached out to brush her fingers along his jaw. Even with the fangs, he had quite a lovely smile. "You don't have to hide those from me anymore." Leaning in, she kissed his cheek before opening the door to leave. She blew him a kiss and stepped outside, heading to her SUV. "Until next time. Oh, and sorry about your window," she called over her shoulder.
No, no he didn't. And that actually felt... good. Not having to hide from someone. Who knew it would be someone like Jovie? He watched her go, one elbow leaning on the door frame, but her last words made him blink and look around. "What wind-- what the hell!" he exclaimed, finally catching sight of the giant gaping hole-- covered with dark curtains, but still!-- that had once been his window.
"It was an accident," Jovie called, pulling open her door to get inside her car quickly. She grinned at him and started up the engine. She had no doubt he could fix it on his own. A broken window was a small price to pay to be forgiven, after all.
Alejandro looked from his broken window to Jovie in her car, expression thunderous. Accident, his ass.
And to make matters worse, right about then, it started raining again.
Fucking perfect.