The Next Morning {Jean/Invite}

[Ceri Priddy]

FEBRUARY 14TH, 2012
5PM
ROME, ITALY

A child sobbed and begged for her father to stop, the image cutting to a later date where she had long since stopped crying for what good did it do her?  Her mother walked by and just stared at her broken and bleeding body and frowned, muttering something before leaving her where she was.  She remembered Lilith reaching out a hand to her with that little smirk that she wore, and how she stared at her with such wonderment.  BANG  The gunfire was loud in her ears as she watched the boy fall to the ground, blood splurting everywhere in the world as his body swung towards the ground before slamming into the ground.  People were screaming, her hand grabbing Sarephs as they ran out of the school.  "Difference being love, I don't hate whats been done ta me. Can ya say the same?"

Her eyes slowly opened to find the setting sun spilling into the room, her head much clearer than late last night as she stared out the window.  Her blue eyes were clearer than before, the iris' much more normal except just as icy as before.  His words were echoing in her ears still even as she awoke from her nightmares, Lilith still silent as she had told her to be last night.  No.  She wasn't sure she could say the same at all.  And at the same time?  She was indifferent to it all.  As long as she survived.  That was all that mattered was survival.  And yet…. His face last night flashed before her eyes, sighing as she ran a hand through her now dry hair, her ridiculous outfit from the mission still clinging to her skin.  

As she looked around she didn't see him there at all, pushing herself upright as her leg lay there numbly.  There was a dull ache that stabbed through her senses, but that was all at the moment.  Maybe she was just that dead at the moment.  Whatever, the point was that it didn't hurt.  Resting her weight against her hands, she stared at what she could see of the sunset, the rays casting an orange glow over her golden hair.  She thought she saw a shimmer as Lilith sat down in one of the chairs and stared at her with this weird smirk on her lips.  So…. what now?  Ceri knew that she wasn't really there.  That it was all in her head.  Closing her eyes, she stared down at her injured leg, hair falling all about her head and partially obscuring her features.  I don't know.  I really don't.  And she didn't.  Because there was one simple fact that was remaining.  

Jean was worming his way into her life.  

Her brows furrowed as she glared at her leg and the patching up job that he had done upon her.  Her fingers traced along the splint very delicately, remembering how she had been drawn to him that particular night.  Except--"I am the next best thing to Frankenstein's monster, so it makes an odd sorta sense.  What exactly did he mean by that?  She remembered when he came barreling into save her, the giant wolf that had saved her life by ripping that man to shreds.  Her gaze raised back towards the window and that fading light, sighing heavily as she threw the destroyed collar at the wall.  Let him in.  It's obvious you want to.  She couldn't do that.  She just…. couldn't.

[Jean La Croix]

Being a monster was a wonderful thing so long as you didn't think to much in to it. After all what did a monster need with morals and ethics? What did a monster need with shame and guilt? A monster was not bound by the laws of man, for a monster(even those in human form) are not in the strictest sense a human being. After all one of the defining traits of a monster was that they could kill, maim, steal and plunder with out it weighing on their soul or causing them to lose sleep over it. Jean it seemed, was bad at being a monster. Guilt wracked his soul and while his partner tried to sooth him... It failed to do anything but cause his rising anger to flair. There was no excuse for what he had done. There was no excuse for murder, and while his first victim had deserved to die his second had not. Now, Jean knew that it was his duty to kill the man seeing as he had threatened and was in the process of killing someone that which he considered his (At least what his more bestial considered his), but in the end it was still a killing in cold blood. IT was that and more that had kept him up through the night and into the morning.

The events of that night kept replaying through his mind, and the more he thought on it the worse his mood became. At the time Jean had wanted to kill, he had wanted to taste blood and whats more he had enjoyed the act. He had enjoyed the taking of life and the tasting of blood. For that instant he had been no better then those who he had devoted his life to capturing. It was an irony that was not lost on him as he stood there in the deary cold light of an early morning sun.

With slow footsteps he made his meandering way back towards the hotel, stopping once to pick up coffee and bagels at a bistro. After words it was but a short hop, skip and jump back to his room but Jean took his time. But sooner then he would have wanted he approached his door. The night before he had said things he had not wanted or meant too, and in so doing he had showed a part of him he wanted no one to see. But what was worse was that he had been incredibly rude to her as well as some what spiteful and down right mean. There where no other words to describe what he had done and said. Still as the warm aroma of coffee and fresh baked bread wafted up to him, he had to wonder if this wasn't the best apology one could receive. He knew that he him self was more then starving.

"Good mornin' all ye lovely souls." He calls out as the door swings open gently. "I hope you are hungry, cuz i've got pure ambrosia in my hands and not a one to share it with." With out looking towards the bed, he started to set up breakfast oin the small chair they had in their room."Afta all, a woman like ya needs to keep her strength up ya know? Especially in ya condition."  His tone was jovial, playful even meaning that he was back in control of both him self and his faculties. "Oh gawd I make it sound'as'if ya pregnant. What the neighbors mus think of that! Hah!"

[Ceri Priddy]

Let him in…. COULD she even do that? While she outright said that it wasn't possible… wasn't he already proving her wrong? You always fight so hard against things like this. Just let go a little-- "Lilith I swear to fucking god I will shut you up myself if I have to." She snapped out loud to the empty chair, gritting her teeth as wanted to throw something else at the wall. Fuck. Her ears perked up at the sound of the keys jingling at the door, her head immediately shooting up as the smell of coffee and fresh bagels greeted her nostrils. Shit. "Good mornin' all ye lovely souls." Her mask, she had to pull-- "I hope you are hungry, cuz i've got pure ambrosia in my hands and not a one to share it with." Ceri just sort of sat there and stared half like a deer in the headlights, and half warily as if she had been some animal that was startled. Except…. he didn't turn to look at her at all.

She blinked a couple of times as the shock faded to leave her appearing more pensive as she just stared at him while he completely ignored her entirely. What…. what was this? First he's attentive if distant the night before, and now… what was this? This was wrong. This was off. She found she couldn't even call upon her usual masks as she took in the oddity in front of her. "Afta all, a woman like ya needs to keep her strength up ya know? Especially in ya condition."   Stop it. She couldn't say it aloud. The words wouldn't form. "Oh gawd I make it sound'as'if ya pregnant. What the neighbors mus think of that! Hah!" Her teeth dug into her lower lip as her gaze had lowered to the bed, her hands clutching the sheets so tight that they were white.

Lilith laughed inside her mind, And you claim you don't care. It's too late for you sweetie. Her eyes widened slightly as her body tensed up, those golden locks hanging in front of her pretty features. A small, if sad, smile rose to her lips as her features relaxed, a soft scoff escaping her as she shook her head. "Isn't that a thought." Her voice sounded weird in her head even if it did sound somewhat normal, sitting up a bit straighter as she looked back out the window to that setting sun. "I must say, I've never been spoiled like this before. Pretty man bringing me coffee and bagels after I wake up?" She giggled and smiled that easy smile he knew to come from her, "Careful sugar, or else I'll get used to it." But who was she warning? Him… or herself?

She wanted to roil around in bed, what were they even DOING?! Pretending as if the night before hadn't happened? AS if they hadn't seen past the masks that they wore? It made her stomach churn, one of her hands gripping the sheets tight again.

[Jean La Croix]

Jean was not what you would call a player in any sense of the word, no matter what others might say. In fact he hated "playing games" with another person, in the end it just lead to more pain then necessary plus it was not what one could call a gentlemanly thing to do. So why then was he playing with Ceri? Why was he ignoring what had been said and done the night before? It was a question that he could not, or at least would not let him self answer and in the end it caused him to be disgusted with him self. Still, he had to admit it did have some advantages... Namely he did not need to talk nor discus what had gone on before. And while he was not one for avoiding an issue, this one was more painful then even he could stand. The guilt of his needless killing ate at him from the inside out and if he faced it Jean was scared that it would consume him. It was for this reason that he had locked his partner from his mind, refusing to let it influence him, nor speak to him. In a lot of ways the Old Wolf was more level headed then Jean, and in others... Well not so much. The hunter did not see wrong in the act of killing, to him it was but the way the world worked, the strong lived the weak died and nothing could change that. this was not a view point that Jean cared to hear right then though.

A small laugh came from behind him as he finished unpacking their breakfast and he forced what he hoped was a smile to his lips before turning to eye the woman who was the source of his moral quandary. "Isn't that a thought." Jean could only nod smile and shrug at that. Children where one of the few things he doubted he would ever have, and thinking or dwelling on that was not likely to make his day any better." "I must say, I've never been spoiled like this before. Pretty man bringing me coffee and bagels after I wake up?"" " Pretty? The correct term Mademoiselle, is dashing and devilishly handsome." Witty banter was ever one of his defense mechanisms, and one that he had managed to prefect over the years. "Careful sugar, or else I'll get used to it."

Jean just smiled and tried to ignore the forced look in Ceri's eyes before pulling out a chair for her and sitting in the one across from it. "Well in that case you best come join me  ma chérie, unless of course you are scared of the finer things in life hmm?"

[Ceri Priddy]

She suddenly wished that she was sitting atop their apartment in London staring at the setting sun with Sareph, to rest her head against her shoulder. She saw his head nod at her words, but it didn't settle her any. She was jittery. She was calm. She was angry. She was afraid. She was happy? Her gaze didn't move to rest on him as she just stared at the window, her body entirely too still as she sat there with that easy little smile on her lips. Taking a deep breath, she listened to him speak, " Pretty? The correct term Mademoiselle, is dashing and devilishly handsome." Ceri chuckled at that, ignoring Lilith as she sat down in the far side of the room. When she blinked, she swore she saw her sitting on the window sill.

Her gaze shifted away, instead down towards the bed and her injured leg, the smile faltering. Thank god for her hair being free as it partially hid her face and how her mask was falling away. For once in her life, she couldn't pretend. She couldn't force herself to pretend right now around him and she was terrified of it. She heard him move the chair, her gaze flicking over to it before she felt her body trembling. Shit. Calm down. Calm. Down. "Well in that case you best come join me  ma chérie, unless of course you are scared of the finer things in life hmm?" The corner of her mouth twitched upward slightly, a weird sort of chuckle escaping her as she held her arm protectively across herself.

"Hey… Jean…" She forced herself to sit up a little more, a hand resting on her bandaged leg and its make-shift cast. "You can drop the facade. It's ok. Really it is." She could feel Lilith sitting forward in her mind, watching her. And… she could sense another being was watching as well. Wincing, she lifted up her injured leg and sort of scooted herself along the bed a bit towards the chair he had set up for her. There was a pained sadness in her expression as she took another deep breath to keep herself calm. "I'm not afraid of what I'm going to find." She raised her head then as her legs swung over the side of the bed, her blue gaze piercing into him as she offered a half-smile. She was obviously tired, but it wasn't a physical sort of tired, it didn't read as that across her features. Her body sort of fell over into the chair, hissing her breath inward as the glimmer in her eyes dulled slightly. "Whats bothering you? You've been off since yesterday night. After you.. you saved me. I um…" She bit her lower lip as her eyes lowered towards her lap, he saved her because he had wanted to. And yet…Her eyes raised as she stared at him with a sudden impassiveness, the fragility of her core glinting at the far reaches of those sapphire eyes. "If I'm holding you back, you don't have to stay here with me. I just…" She opened her mouth to say something as she stared at him, sighing heavily while shaking her head. What a fucking shit show she was today. Real charmer. "I'm… not making much sense. Am I."

[Jean La Croix]

An odd chuckle sounded from his damsels lips and he arched an eyebrow as he turned yet again to look at her, though he was careful not to look her in the eyes. "Hey… Jean…" He wondered what she was going to say, her tone of voice was odd... He just couldn't place the emotions held with in. It bothered him, never before had he been unable to tell what someone was thinking, feeling at any given point in time and this woman... This woman he had never been able to truly read. He couldn't tell what words where truths and what words where lies. He couldn't tell if she cared or if all this had been one grand manipulation. It was thrilling... And at the same time horrifying. Life it seemed had dealt him into a game where he did not know the rules. ""You can drop the facade. It's ok. Really it is." Well it seemed she had no problem reading him. Then again that was almost expected, he was not nearly so good at hiding his emotions and thoughts as he was at reading those of others, and if there was one thing he knew about Ceri, it was that to her people or at least men where something of an open book.

"I'm not afraid of what I'm going to find." He laughed a little at that, nothing more then a mirthless chuckle but still it was there. The woman thought she knew him, and what was inside of him. She thought that because she knew of demons and delt with them as he did she could understand the monster he held with in. What she didn't know of course was that not all demons where created equal. Some where way more fucking scary then others. And while he was sure she had dealt with some beasts in her day, could they even compare to the being that represented all that humanity feared about the night? Could they hold up to the creature that was terror incarnate? He doubted it. Yet she still wanted him to let his inner demons show.Very well then he would show her.

His eyes rose to meet hers, and he let his mask slip ever so slightly. He let the hunger that he and his partner felt come to the for front of his mind, he let loose the savagery he held in check with sheer force of will, and he let his partner show him self for the first time since he had met Ceri. "You should be ma chérie oh how you should be." His voice was still soft, still gentle but his words where all the more horrifying for it. For laced beneath them was that hunger, was that need to consume and it spoke to the primal parts of the human mind. The parts that told one to fear what you could not see, could not understand.""Whats bothering you? You've been off since yesterday night. After you.. you saved me. I um…" Saved her? Yes he had done that hadn't he? He had killed for her, and he would do so again if need be. Was it for love? Maybe. Maybe he felt something bordering on affection for this woman that confused him so, but that was the man in him trying to understand the primal urge that had driven him to kill. But deep with in his heart he knew the true reason why he had rushed to her aid, the true reason he had killed the thief that had tried to take her from him. And that reason was simple, she belonged to him whether she knew it or not. And nothing took what was his. A savage if thrilling smile came to his lips then, and his eyes gleamed like those of a wolves at night. " I did more then that you pretty little thing, I killed for you. I tasted blood for you. But whats more I enjoyed it." That hungry smile never wavered.

Oh yes he had enjoyed it, killing that man but not for the act its self. No, he had enjoyed it for he had been killing for her. He had enjoyed showing her his strength, he had enjoyed showing her that he was strong enough to protect her, to provide for her. He had enjoyed it because he had foiled the advances of another male and shown his dominance over those that would harm what was his. With each passing second he lost what little control he had over the beast that lived within him. "If I'm holding you back, you don't have to stay here with me. I just… I'm… not making much sense. Am I." A hand reached out and grasped her chin and forced her eyes to his. " Ya still don't seem ta understand love. If I thought you weak, if I thought you would hold me back I would'a left ya ta die. I've got no use for a weak woman." Jean licked his lips and leaned in close so that their noses where nearly touching. This close her scent flooded and threatened to cloud his senses. How he wanted to throw the food aside and take her right then and there. "Naw, In saved ya because you're willful. I saved ya because you can keep up with mah. But most of all..." His voice had dropped to a low almost whispered growl, the hunger in it growing. " I saved you because I want you. Body. Mind. And soul." Never before had he let his and Fenrir's essence merge to such a great degree, never before had they acted in such sync and never before had he let this side of him be shown to another living human being.

Gone was the mask in it's entirety, gone was the man of sweet words, gone where the jokes and defense that he used to hide from the world. In there place was a creature that was equal parts animal and man, savage and gentleman. "And Ceri, I always get what I want in the end." With those words he kissed her, his lips pressing against her with need, with passion and more heat then was natural. When he finally broke the kiss he whispered one last word. "Always."

[Ceri Priddy]

He laughed at her honesty. At her lack of fear. But it wasn't a real laugh. There was irony in it. He didn't believe her. Not fully. Why? It set her stomach to lurch to the side until-- his eyes met hers. She instantly could tell the difference in his demeanor, his body language, and the him that was reflected in those eyes. "You should be ma chérie oh how you should be." Those were the eyes and voice of a predator, and while it initially caught her off guard, she did not waver. There was that brief widening of her eyes that vanished as quick as it had come, but fear was not what replaced it. How could she be afraid of a hunger that consumed human beings? She had seen it in her father. A hunger for a sense of power. She saw it in men that lusted and hungered for the pretty little things. She had seen it in the children that ran through the streets hungering for a single scrap of food. She had seen the need fill her best friend….

And what had she ever done about any of it?

" I did more then that you pretty little thing, I killed for you. I tasted blood for you. But whats more I enjoyed it." She knew. In some pit of her stomach she knew that he had. She stared at him, at the smile that had filled his features, and still she did not waver. The only wavering in her being was of her own making. Of her own insecurities and fears. What was strange to her, was that she felt more and more of a sense of resolve the more that she saw of him. Of this hunger that consumed him, and how she had been a factor into it. She remembered the hunger that had been within him the night that they met. He had enjoyed killing for her? There was only one other person on the planet who enjoyed such an activity, who would go to such lengths for a pathetic doll like her. But she wasn't here, was she? And she…. She didn't set her off-kilter like this man did. This predator that prowled about her; his prey.

But she was not some gazelle. She was just as much a predator as he was, and she could feel that helplessness and weakness fading away. Her back sat a bit straighter, the trembling of her frame slowing to a stop as she felt his firm grip on her chin. Those blue eyes flicked up, but they were hard as sapphires. Not in anger. Not in retaliation. Only in self-affirmation. There was a set of eyes watching this encounter with greater interest as the pricks of her being receded. " Ya still don't seem ta understand love. If I thought you weak, if I thought you would hold me back I would'a left ya ta die. I've got no use for a weak woman." Her lips parted slightly as her brows furrowed for a moment, a wave of pride rolling through her. Yes, if there was anything she was not, it was weak. She didn't need to be able to throw punches like Sareph, or rip them apart with claws like he did. She just needed her charm.

As his face drew close, her eyes closed halfway, tilting her head up towards his. A smirk began to form on her lips as she could hear Lilith cackling in the back of her head. But she did not look away from him, "Naw, In saved ya because you're willful. I saved ya because you can keep up with mah. But most of all..." When his voice dropped, it literally sent a shiver down her spine, her tongue flicking out to run over her lips in that perfect seduction as her hands clutched at the arms of the chair. " I saved you because I want you. Body. Mind. And soul."

A rumble forced itself through her mind, a fresh sense of spikes that weren't her own worming right through her. If there was anything that solidified her in herself, it was those words…. and whoever this new being was. Lilith had even retreated for the moment as a voice whispered to her, "I accept." But was Ceri particularly focused on this? Whoever this new being was within her mind? Not at all. The entirety of her attention was on Jean as she exhaled a shuddering breath to hear him say that. He wanted her. All of her. Not a single drop less. "And Ceri, I always get what I want in the end." A low chuckle flowed out of her, the sound lost behind his lips as a hand pressed itself hard into his body, nails digging in despite the cloth that hid his chest away. She swallowed every bit of fire that he had just thrown at her, and there was some kind of sense that she had never really felt before. A sense of elation and… happiness. Maybe it was twisted for they were twisted people, but the bottom line was that whatever it was that he did to her… She had just as much as an effect on him. If that was some sort of mutual affection, then so be it.

Their lips parted as she exhaled slowly, her hand settling at the back of his neck just to the side of his shirts collar. "Always." Her sweet little smile returned and this time? It wasn't a part of some mask, or some ploy. It was real. Bracing herself with the other hand that had remained on the chair, she stood up with all of her weight on her good leg, remaining tall before him. Her nose still barely touched his as she remained so close to him, her other hand sloooowly sliding down from his chest, around his side to his back where it stopped. "That so?" She whispered, her body wrenching backwards onto the bed, her right hand tightening about his collar as she pulled him with her. If there was pain in her leg, she wasn't aware of it as she heard that deep, rumbling laugh in her mind again. Her head slipped about to his ear where she continued with hot breath, "Better be careful how you look at a girl, sugar. You'll get her all riled up." Her voice was low, but there was no hiding exactly what she meant, her left hand circling around to suddenly press on his crotch. "Or…. is it the other way around?"

[Jean La Croix]

((OOC Sorry its so short >_< Jean wouldn't let me write more then this e.e))

"That so?" Her smile had changed, in a way he could not understand... Was it brighter? No, it still shown with that same flirtatious manner... Warmer then? Maybe. but whats more he sensed... Jean had no idea what he sensed but he knew that his words had some impact on this woman before him, and it was not the impact his more rational mind had expected. Not that his rational mind had any place in his current state of being. That being one driven by needs, wants and thoughts of those most basic primal pleasures. And it seemed that Ceri's thoughts where running along those same primal lines.  With what could only be a growl he let himself be pulled from his chair, and any thoughts but those of basic animal need left his mind. Forgotten where his miss givings and fears, forgotten was his need for control, and with that Jean came to know a freedom that he had never known before. It was exhilarating, and if his blood had not already been singing in his veins, it surely would have started then. "Better be careful how you look at a girl, sugar. You'll get her all riled up." Her hands played music on his body, and his lips looked to play music on hers. Teeth found her neck, lips found her flesh and for the what might as well have been the first time he tasted her.

"Or…. is it the other way around?" The man was beyond words, beyond even the simplest of thoughts, for at last he would feed that hunger that ached deep with in him. The hunger that no amount of food nor drink could satisfy. His teeth moved her her neck, slowly working their painfully exquisite way up to her mouth, where with a guttural moan he Kissed her once again. Hands found her body, and what had once been a tender embrace was now a demanding, greedy one. All the while, the rational man that was Jean banged on the wall that was his prison to no avail, his animalistic side having taken what little control had remained when Ceri had pulled him to the bed. He struggled there in the darkness of his mind, alone against impossible odds and slowly his fighting ceased, slowly his need and want to fight vanished. In time he would regain a measure of control, but never again he understood would he be able to keep his baser nature in perfect cheek. He had unlocked the cage, and in so doing he had given another the key.

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