|
Post by Ray on Dec 6, 2017 22:14:23 GMT -7
"No, no," Drake says, sliding his hands into the pockets of his perfectly creased black slacks, his dark eyes glancing her over as the smile ticks a little further at the corners of his lips, "I'm glad you're here." He gives a small, curt nod of his head. His gaze shifts away as she indicates the paintings upon the walls -- originals, the oil still as vibrant as it was the day they were painted centuries ago. They face the Fall of Lucifer, Michael's spear poised to strike down into the back of the devil's spine. Lucifer's bat-like wings have been shredded and torn by the war that waged off canvas, his eyes wild with known suffering, but a smile still stretching his lips.
"As a child, I liked to think that I would one day be like these great heroes," Drake admits, letting his eyes skim over the painting, soaking it in. "Michael, St. George, I have another of David with the head of Goliath. These beautiful beings granted power by the divine, sent to deliver justice to a world that sometimes does not deserve it." He continues, inclining his head to the side. "But as I grew older, I began to wonder why we hate the villains. The dragon was simply trying to eat, Goliath only worshiped other gods, and Lucifer..." His eyes halt upon the figure lying prone upon the rock, Michael's foot pressed upon his back. "Lucifer knew the folly of man. His greatest crime was proving it. His greatest sin was knowing his worth." The words linger upon his lips for a moment before he slides his eyes back towards Katherine. "Sympathy for the devil, and all that." He adds, a faint smile finding its way to his mouth once more.
But Katherine changes the subject, requesting to talk in a moment of desperation. Drake straightens his head and presses his brows close, looking to her with a curious eye. Her next words have his lips parting slightly, eyes turning to look over his shoulder, wary of listening ears. "Come," he says, keeping his voice low, and setting a hand upon the back of her arm. "Let's...continue this conversation somewhere with privacy." He guides her with him to a door at the far end of the hall, sitting upon the right side of the staircase. Opening the door, he ushers her into the private office, and closes the door behind them.
A great map of the world fills the entirety of one wall, aged, paper yellowed from the years, the names of countries long changed marked in handwritten cursive. There are embellishments around the edges -- symbols for the four winds, mythological figures, beasts and monsters. A long lounge chair sits against a wall under a baroque landscape, made of red velvet and the same dark cherry wood.
Drake moves from the door to tug upon the curtains, letting in a little light, before turning to look at Katherine once more. "You say... you don't remember doing it?" He asks, watching her with a careful eye as he moves a little into the center of the room. "You awoke and found blood?"
|
|
|
Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 7, 2017 0:59:31 GMT -7
Katherine and Drake move into another room and she's actually grateful because of the fact that she didn't want anyone else to know this but she had willingly come all this way to Drake so that maybe he could help her understand what was going on. There seemed to be something about him that would know what was happening to her. Maybe it had been the Parlour the night before, maybe something had happened there and it caused her to go off the rails or something but she needed to know so that she could deal with it.
She looks at the map on the wall but can't read it as it's in a language that she couldn't understand but from what she could guess it was definitely a map of the world that no longer had the names upon it. Drake moved to the curtains and tugged them open and letting a little light into the room. It still looked pretty and she was sure that if she toured the rest of the house then she would find that was too amazingly beautiful but she guessed that was because of a beautiful man. Her eyes looked upon Drake when he asked her the questions.
Katherine gave a nod. "It was all over my gown that I had worn, I took Jon home and he went straight to bed as the Parlour had gone to his head so I helped him in and I was sure I got into bed but the thing is that I don't remember doing it only waking up the next morning next to Jon and while he was making himself breakfast I was going to get dressed" she sighed and had started pacing for a moment before stopping and looking at Drake once more "I found the blood on the front of the gown and specks on my skin and I know I know that I had had a glass of it in the Parlour and would've had another if Edric hadn't stopped me but I didn't drink the one in the private room and I definitely didn't bite Jon so I don't know where the blood came from or how it even got on my gown" she said finally and swallowed hard.
"I am always so careful you see, I don't lose control I stay clean but it feels like I'm not anymore, it feels like I have drank blood and yet I don't know how or from who" she finally stopped and watched him. "What is happening to me Drake? I can't tell Jon or anyone else but I thought maybe I could tell you and if I've done the wrong thing then I will go and not bother you again but please.. I have to know did I kill someone and not know it? Or is there another reason why I have the blood all over me?"
|
|
|
Post by Ray on Dec 7, 2017 13:16:22 GMT -7
She paces the room as she retells her tale, her words becoming more frantic, her sentences running headlong into one another, the panic shining in her glossy eyes. Drake moves forward when the questions spill free, desperate and confused, and he places his palms upon the sides of her face, cupping her cheeks gently, "Shh, it's okay, it's okay," he tells her, his words soft and calming as he brushes locks of her hair out of the way. "I'm glad you came to me." He nods a little, gaze turning sympathetic as he looks over her face. "We can fix this." Drake reassures, a faint smile appearing on his lips, warm and kind, "I promise."
His thumb strokes softly across her cheekbone for a quiet moment before he draws back, turning for a drink tray sitting by the window. "But first we need to settle your nerves." Lifting a crystal glass, he drops two ice cubes into the bottom, "We won't be able to discern the truth otherwise." Drake reaches down to pull open the cabinet beneath the tray, revealing a chilled compartment hidden within. With long, pale fingers he pulls free an expensive looking bottle, ice crystallized across the surface in spidery webs, a dark red solution within. He pours, and the blood fills the glass halfway.
"Here," Drake murmurs, turning back to Katherine, holding the glass towards her as he closes the distance between them, "I know you pride yourself on being careful, but...it'll help you think clearly. You can't starve yourself. Otherwise...these things happen." He tells her, sighing slowly. He takes her hand with his, lifting it so it rests palm upwards, and sets the glass in her hand.
|
|
|
Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 7, 2017 13:41:41 GMT -7
Drake moves over to her while she's in the middle of her panic attack and then the next thing she knows is his hands on her face and he's cupping her cheeks before speaking to her. His voice is soft and kind and it makes her want to relax so badly but there is always the fear in the back of her mind that she's going to lose control but if he said that they could fix it and he promised so she was able to calm just a little bit. He strokes her cheekbone and she closes her eyes slightly because it does feel really good.
Katherine knows that she needs to calm herself but she's not sure she can so when he says about the fact they needed to get to the truth of all of this she finally opened her eyes and watched as he dropped ice cubes into a glass and then pours some blood into it. That made her feel even more nervous because it was the blood that had got her here in the first place and now he was making her an iced blood drink.
She hesitates for a moment when he holds the glass towards her and in the end he takes her hand and lifts it with his before putting the glass in her hand. It shakes as she looks up at him and then moves the drink back towards herself. Katherine knows she should drink it and she so wants too but what if she did kill people? What if the blood that had got on her front had been the blood from someone she drank from? She swallowed hard and then looked down at the glass before lifting it to her mouth and taking a drink of it. She couldn't deny that she didn't get a clear head when she has drank.
The blood slides down her throat and she closes her eyes as she starts to relax a little bit and her head starts to clear. There is even a less stressed look to her shoulders.
|
|
|
Post by Ray on Dec 7, 2017 14:07:09 GMT -7
Drake watches her drink, his eyes following the tip of the glass, watching the pulse of her throat as she swallows, seeing the slow relaxation of her shoulders. And a faint, barely there smile appears around the edges of his mouth. "Come," he says softly, his hand lifting to stroke down the length of her upper arm until it rests just above her elbow, "Sit." He guides her towards the lounge chair before taking a seat himself, unbuttoning his suit jacket so it sits open comfortably, turned just enough to face her. Leaning a little forward, he rests his elbows upon his knees and laces his fingers together, eyes remaining upon her.
"Now..." he begins, pulling in a slow breath into lungs that do not need it. "We can't know anything for sure. There could be...a dozen different reasons for the blood on your gown. It's not fair to yourself to assume the worst. But I have connections. Influence." He nods a little. "I could ask them to...discreetly look into this. However..." he pauses for a moment, rolling his tongue against his lower lip before biting his teeth down upon it. As he releases it, he reaches out to grab the folded newspaper upon the intricately carved coffee table, pulling it closer. He unfolds it as he speaks, "I do have to warn you. There were murders last night. The Ripper..." he says, his mouth wrapping around the word like it sounds ridiculous upon his tongue, "Is being blamed for them. But there were two. One in the early evening, the other late at night."
Drake turns the paper to show her the headline, holding it carefully towards her, letting her read the entirety of it should she choose. Like the other articles, the murders are described in detail. Brutalized women painted in gore, bellies slashed, throats ripped, organs laid bare upon the cold sidewalk.
|
|
|
Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 7, 2017 14:32:30 GMT -7
Katherine feels his hand moving down her upper arm and then moves over to the lounge chair. She puts the glass on the table and Drake starts talking. He is right but she couldn't help in worrying because there was Jon to worry about and Adrian and while she didn't like him she had Edric to worry about. He speaks about a friend that could look into what happened but then he says about the Ripper. She pushes her eyebrows together when Drake said that there were two murders and they happened at different times.
She took the paper from him and then started to read it and the more and more she read the more she felt sick. The more Katherine was sure that she would throw the blood back up and she didn't want that to happen but it felt like it would.
When Katherine was finished she looked at the paper still but said "The other murder was me" she admitted and then slowly looked over at Drake. "I know that I done that second murder, it must've been after Jon had gone to bed" she muttered and bit on her lip before putting the paper down on the table. She ran her hands over her face before closing her eyes. If she had done the second murder then who was to say that she didn't do the first or even the other ones? Things were a little hard over the six years that Jon had been away but she had Adrian and now she felt all of that slipping from her fingers because there was no way that she would be able to hold on anything with the guilt that she felt.
She closed her eyes and then slowly started to remember something. "I can feel her blood in my mouth, it was hot and I wanted it. I wanted to give in and I did" she swallowed hard and then opened her eyes to look at Drake. "I don't know what to do" she whispers softly to him, her dark eyes on his face.
|
|
|
Post by Ray on Dec 7, 2017 14:58:31 GMT -7
Katherine begins to recall, her eyes slipping closed as she remembers the taste of the girl's blood, her own desire for it. Drake watches her, lets her speak her truth. And he can't say he's disappointed. The words flow easily from her, uninhibited, uninfluenced, trusting. The very words he wants to hear.
But he lets none of it show on his face. He swallows visibly for good measure, looking to his hands with a somber sort of resignation, rubbing his palms slowly together. After a moment, he takes the newspaper from her hands and sets it back upon the table, hiding the headlines, and then he rises to his feet. Crossing back to the drink tray, he picks up a second glass, filling one with blood for himself, dropping in the ice, stirring it with a finger. "For starters, you could stay here." He tells her, before placing his finger to his lips and sucking off the blood. It's cold. Not how he prefers. But sometimes one has to keep airs.
"I have...amenities. Experience." He continues, turning to look at her, swirling the blood round in the glass with the ice and placing his other hand flat upon the tray. "What we are is a delicate thing that needs balance if you are to maintain a certain lifestyle. And I know your...friends mean well, but they cannot possibly understand. But I can help you through this. It's easier finding control when you're in an environment that allows you to make mistakes. To try again. And I have been where you are. Lost, afraid, hungry. I assume you've been keeping yourself on a diet? Animals you find in the countryside, rats?" He asks, inclining his head to the side to watch her. "Last night must have triggered something. Thrown your system through a loop. Reminded you of what you have been desperately missing. And instinct took over. There's no shame in it. But we do need to find that balance again. A better balance, a healthier one."
|
|
|
Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 7, 2017 15:15:06 GMT -7
Katherine watches as he rises to his feet and getting himself a drink. The words out of his mouth wasn't something that she had expected, she never came here to end up living with him, she came because at the moment she needed someone who wasn't Adrian, Jon or even Edric to talk too. She listened to what he was saying and then looked down at her hands. "I can't stay here, I have a business... I have Jon" she said and then looked over at him once more. She couldn't imagine what he would think or even say if she went home and said that she was leaving to move in with another vampire who could help her especially when she had promised him that there was nothing wrong the night before.
She rubs her hands together and bites on her lip. "I stay on animal blood because it makes things easier, I'm not craving human blood and no one else get hurt until last night" she nodded. Katherine wasn't sure what could've been triggered but whatever it was was making her feel really bad. She knew she had definitely killed someone last night and so badly wanted their blood but she's not craved human blood in a very long time. She was always careful because of Adrian and now all of those centuries have just gone down the drain because she had let herself kill someone.
There was a part of her that didn't want to go home out of fear that they would know what she had done, Katherine might've left with the key to her wardrobe but in the end it would be discovered. "Thank you for the offer but I can't" she gave a slight smile before reaching out and grabbing the glass of blood and knocking it back. It was probably the last thing Katherine needed right now but in the end she had drank it, moving a strand of dark hair from her face she stood up and moved to the wall with the map on. "I wonder if Westeros is on here" she said after a moment and then glanced over at him. "It's where I'm from" her eyes moved back to look at the map once more and knew that being in Westeros had been simpler times when she wasn't a vampire.
Katherine ran her gloved hand down her arm before licking her lip once more. "Are you alone?" she asked and finally looked over at him. "No love or anything?"
|
|
|
Post by Ray on Dec 7, 2017 15:52:40 GMT -7
Katherine says no, and Drake watches her for a moment, fingers tapping lightly upon the tray until he lifts the glass to his mouth and swallows down the blood in one long drink. It's fresh, though cold. He can still taste the breath of life in, the youth, the femininity. It goes down like fine wine, smooth and thick and bitter. He sets the empty glass down upon the tray, licking his lips to rid them of any excess, and turns his eyes towards Katherine as she stands. She crosses the room towards the map, looking over it with interested eyes, mentioning the word Westeros.
Drake narrows his eyes a little, tilting his head once more as he regards her.
"Westeros." He repeats, curiosity piqued. "That is not a name I have heard in years." He lingers for a breath at the tray until moving forward to join her at the map. With a finger he points to a spot that's just above his head, an area with the same landmass as the England they currently stand upon, though the Arctic comes down far enough to join at its northern most crown. "Țările occidentale." He says, his tongue rolling smoothly around the words. "Western lands, we called it. I am from here," he shifts his hand lower and to the east, right at the cusp of where the Black Sea is, "I grew up in a village called Târgovişte. Little more than a farm." He murmurs, dropping his hand away entirely as he stares at the small little point, barely a smudge.
She asks her questions, and Drake slides his eyes to find her face, one brow curving upwards. A slow smile pulls at his lips, amused, showing his teeth. "Many loves over many years. But now? No. None."
|
|
|
Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 7, 2017 16:14:47 GMT -7
"I'm from Westeros" she admitted and looked over at him. Katherine wasn't sure why she was telling him all of this but it felt like she could tell him stuff, maybe even a bit more easier than with Jon. He had been back over a day and already it felt like she was keeping secrets from him and she was, a big one. She listened to him and raised an eyebrow at him. "My father used to be the King of the Seven Kingdoms" she admitted once more and then scoffed.
"Like I said last night I was born into a castle" a small smile pulled at her lips and she pulled her lip in between her teeth before she turned away from the map. "Then I married a King and became his Queen and I stayed the Queen until I had to leave" Katherine looked over at Drake and then shook her head, he didn't need to hear all of this from her. She had come here for one reason and one reason only to find out if she had killed someone and she had but the second murder was being blamed on this Jack the Ripper guy when in fact it was her who had done it.
Katherine looked back at him when he said that there had been many loves over many years. "I had two" she nodded. "One my husband, Robb and now Jon" a smile pulled at her lip and she looked down. "We have been together over six centuries and I have to admit that the six years that we were apart was the longest ones in all of those six hundred years" It felt hard because she wasn't sure if she would see him again but he had come back and now he was off in search for this Jack guy and she was here trying to find out if she had been a bad person.
She ran a thumb over her lip as she looked at him. "Thank you for seeing me today, I know I probably wasn't in the best mind when I came here but I'm sure that in the end I will work everything out" she gives him a soft smile.
|
|
|
Post by Ray on Dec 7, 2017 16:36:14 GMT -7
He listens to her tale, this princess and Queen of the infamous Seven Kingdoms. He remembers that place. Remembers the bloodshed, which was perhaps it's only significant quality. It stood isolated from the rest of the world, believing in its own self-importance, believing in its own glory, while it dragged the dark ages on and on for the sake of a single throne. A piteous little thing, considering the other thrones he's seen. But he has to admit. Westeros had style.
He smiles nonetheless, tipping his chin upwards, looking back to the map. "Well it's nice to be in royal company," Drake comments with a hint of amusement, "I was also a King once." He admits, looking sideways back at her once more, the smile remaining. "Don't mistake me, I was born in a village to a poor exiled father with dreams of grandeur. But unlike him, I made good on those dreams."
He can almost smell it now. The blood. Whole fields soaked in it. The crows picked the flesh from bones for months, fat and wet with gore. Swarms would descend in the evening hours after the fresh corpses had hit the ground, their hungry cries echoing and deafening. How many villages did he burn? How many families did he wipe from the history books? How many graves did they dig?
Not enough.
Drake blinks, pulling in a sharp breath, forcing himself back to the present when Katherine speaks once more, talking of her love Jon. But his brows press close when she mentions six centuries spent with the man. He turns to face her, surprised and confused. "Jon? The one who was with you last night?" He asks, trying to understand. "He's somehow lived for six hundred years?" A fact that does not seem possible. He had smelled so...human. Not ordinary, certainly not. But his heart still beat and his veins still pulsed like anyone else one might find on the streets. "Interesting," he murmurs, looking away for a moment, thoughts swirling through his mind. Possibilities.
But he smiles back to Katherine as she thanks him, "You are more than welcome to stop by any time. I mean that." He tells her, taking a small step towards her. "I wish...you would take me offer," he admits, sighing out a slow breath. "But I understand."
|
|
|
Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 7, 2017 16:58:42 GMT -7
Katherine listened to what he was saying to her and she couldn't help but smile at him. There was just something about the way he was telling her things that made her think she had made a new friend, a friend that she could come too when she couldn't go to the others. Someone who wouldn't judge her when she done something bad. Yet she knew she would have to keep him a secret from Jon because he probably wouldn't understand just how quickly these two had become friends.
Drake spoke about Jon and how he said it was interesting that he was still alive after six centuries. It wasn't something that she would have said but it just came out and now there was no way she could take it back. But then they moved onto something else and how she couldn't take up his offer. "I have a life and people who would miss me and I wouldn't know how to explain all of this to them" she admitted with a soft smile. "But who knows maybe I will drop by again soon" she nodded and then licked her lip. Her dark eyes on him with the soft smile most more pulling at her lips.
Katherine was sure that it was getting dark out and knew that time had actually slipped by while she was having a panic attack in his office. She moved over to where he was standing and put her lips to his cheek before pulling back and smiling once more. "Thank you for understanding what I'm going through I'm not sure I could've turned to anyone else because I'm not sure I could look them in the eyes as I told them" she admitted with a nod. Katherine loved Jon and he loved her but she wasn't sure she could see the look of anger or even disgust on his face because of what happened.
|
|
|
Post by Ray on Dec 7, 2017 17:13:06 GMT -7
"The invitation still stands for the get-together night after next," Drake tells her, "And should you wish to stop by any other time before or after then, the door is open to you." He smiles softly at her. "We vampires," he says the word as if it amuses him, his hands slipping back into his pockets, his smile ticking a little further, "Have to stick together in trying times like these."
She closes the gap between them to lay a kiss lightly upon his cheek, her breath smelling of blood, her lips cold. He turns his face slightly towards her, his black eyes drifting over her face, the smile softening. "You're welcome," he murmurs, his velvet voice only for her. Before she can pull away too far, before she decides to pack herself together and leave out of his reach, he lifts his hand, stroking the back of a finger gently along the length of her jawline. Upon reaching the curve of her throat, his palm presses up onto her cheek. "I mean it, Katherine," he says, drawing her near. "I can help you through this."
He presses his mouth to hers, kissing her without any sense of shyness, his lips brushing against hers as if there were no other use for them. Drake tilts her face up towards him, letting him slant his mouth against hers, letting her feel the very faint touch of his tongue against hers, the taste of blood still lingering there, still fresh.
|
|
|
Post by Snowglobe18 on Dec 7, 2017 17:32:43 GMT -7
Katherine would definitely think about the invitation. If Jon got information on this Jack the Ripper guy then he would probably be busy leaving her to do whatever it was she had done before. Which had been mostly entertaining guests that came to the brothel but she didn't dare say that when he said about the vampires having to stick together, she was sure that other vampires where the only beings that could understand just how easy it was to fall from grace, how easy it was for them to fall from the wagon and try to pick themselves back up after it.
When she kissed his cheek in a friendly way he turned his face towards her and she looked over his. Looked over and tried to make out anything that would make him stand out but unlike Jon's whose face wasn't perfect but definitely very human Drake's wasn't. It was definitely something different about him and yet she didn't care. He moved his finger along her jawline and she swallowed hard when he put his palm to her cheek. He drew her closer to him and saying that he could help her through it but she wasn't sure if she should give into that or if she could just cut and run.
But before she could even decide what she was going to do his lips was against his and was kissing him, his lips brushing against hers and then before long he was tilting her head up towards him and slanting his mouth against hers before letting her feel his tongue. Katherine could taste the blood there and it made a soft noise come from the back of her throat. She knew that if she continued this then she would give into his offer to stay there and she couldn't. She couldn't stay here even if it was probably safer than out in the streets of London.
Then something came to her, his lips felt so familiar against hers as if she had done this before. As if she had stood here with him not long ago and kissed him with the taste of blood on her lips. Katherine slowly pulled back and looked over his face. "I've kissed you before..." she said and watched him. "I kissed you with blood on my lips" she then took a step back. "I kissed you last night"
|
|
|
Post by Ray on Dec 7, 2017 23:18:32 GMT -7
Katherine bends to the kiss, like fruit ready to be picked. He draws her closer, upper lip curling as he kisses with harder purpose, remembering how she had tasted with blood and ruin streaked across her mouth. It had still been warm. Dripping from her chin onto her dress, smearing all over him. But the memory comes back to her too, slowly in increments, making her pull away from him and stare with those big doe-eyes as horror creeps in. She takes a step back, leaving Drake's hand to fall from her cheek back to his side. He lifts his chin, looking to the ceiling as a slow sigh falls from his lips.
And then the facade disappears. The kind eyes, the warm smiles. All of it.
He rolls his head back down and to the side as his eyes find her once more, black eyes staring straight into hers without a single flicker of remorse or affection. "I have to admit," he begins, narrowing his stare just a twitch, "It's at least nice knowing that I'm memorable through all that self-doubt." He admits, an almost predatory smile finding its way to the edges of his mouth. Drake takes a step towards her on sure feet, straightening his neck. He wipes the taste of her lips from his mouth with the pad of his thumb, looking to his hand before back to her in a slow blink.
"But we can't let the games end just yet, now can we?" He asks, lowering his hand away, "Not when I'm only starting to have fun."
Reaching out suddenly, he catches Katherine by the back of her neck, pulling her towards him with a biting strength until she crashes up against his chest. A strand of his dark hair falls from its place, curving around his cheek as he looks down at her, teeth like a shark's as he smiles. He forces her to look into his eyes, grabbing her by the chin and jerking her face up. His irises slowly swirl darker, like deep, deep abysses that go on and on beyond him, lulling, black, endless. "Forget about last night. Forget that I was there. You were alone..." he says, his voice suddenly turning sad though no emotion crosses his eyes, "Alone and hungry and that girl smelled so sweet. You just couldn't help yourself, could you? No... not with veins so ripe, so red, so close to the surface." He turns her chin once more, moving his mouth close to her ear, teeth grazing her earlobe, "That kind of hunger just doesn't go away." He whispers.
But as the last word falls from his mouth, the spell finished, his hold on her softens and loosens, his palm drifting from the back of her neck down her spine, his fingers releasing her chin to stroke across her cheek and curl into her hair, his lips finding where her pulse might have been centuries ago and leaving a soft kiss.
|
|