Damien Night Ch. 03

"So there are worse things I could ask you?" He asked with a note of surprise in his voice.

"No...I..." Wait he was right. How much worse could it get than that? Still she'd been dumb to agree to it in the first place. Then an idea hit her. It was time to remind herself that he was indeed a monster. "What is the worst thing you've ever done?"

He laughed softly. "You'll have to be more specific. What's bad to one person is just good fun to another."

"You mentioned you tried necrophilia once." She continued quietly, shuddering at the thought.

"Actually it was a morgue attendant I fed on that did the necrophilia thing. The dead are of no use to me. You people have some interesting fantasies."

"Fed?" Another question. Geez, once she started she couldn't stop.

"Not in the sense your thinking."

"In what sense then?"

"Not answering."

He took a sip of coffee and she managed to refrain from asking why. If she was going to give him an arsenal to use on her the least she could do was get something useful out of it.

"Ever 'feed' on a child?" It was a tough question to ask. While she didn't generally care what happened to people, children were a different story and she didn't want to think of it. It was also a sure fire way to curtail any further interest in the creature before her.

"No. We are not allowed to interact with children in any way. Just think, everything that you might consider evil that has ever been perpetrated on an innocent being was completely and solely human."

They had rules. Who made these creatures rules? Maybe God? Did God exist? Holy shit! Damien cut her off before she could even start.

"I take it from the questions you're asking you're hoping to make me less appealing to you?"

Annabelle clamped her mouth shut, but it was a question she had to answer.

"Yes." She said reluctantly.

"Then I'll humor you." He set his cup on the little table and leaned toward her. "I once tied a woman's husband up and fucked her in front of him. Is that what you were hoping to hear?" He mentioned it like last night's weather report.

"That's horrible!" Annabelle said it loud enough for the few of the patrons to notice and look their way causing her to lower her voice. "How could you do something so awful?"

"It's what I do. Fantasies. I told you, you people have interesting fantasies. I indulge them." He smiled thoughtfully and retrieved his cup. "And yes, I enjoy it. So, did it help?"

Another question she had no choice but to answer. She wasn't really keeping track but apparently something was. Annabelle took another sip of her coffee while trying to figure out what exactly the answer was. She tried to see two people in love in that scenario, but some unruly part of her mind wanted to point out he was fulfilling a fantasy, a bizarre twisted fantasy. And then there was the fact that she never really cared much about people did she. The truth was that the information had about as much impact on her as last night's weather report. With a resigned sigh Annabelle shook her head 'no'.

"Now, ask me something you really want to know."

She fixed her dark eyes on him hoping to somehow will him to answer this time.

"What do you know about me, Damien?"

"Except that."

Frustration reared up inside her chest then broke over whatever invisible reef that kept her pinned up inside. For once she'd like to get pissed enough to beat the crap out of someone, or happy enough to laugh until she cried or wanton enough to...or anything enough. Her mind flicked to the only thing keeping Damien at bay. She could take it off. Let him have her. At least for once she'd really feel something.

"Is there a God?" Because damn she could use one right now.

Damien set his empty cup down and leaned back in the chair crossing his arms in the process.

"I actually can't answer that." He said after a moment of studying her.

"What? You're not allowed to?" That would basically be a 'yes'. Maybe she should go to church next Sunday.

"No. I don't know."

Annabelle frowned, unsure how to process his answer. Actually how could she have processed any answer? She wasn't sure she would have believed either answer anyway, but shouldn't he know? If anyone knew shouldn't he? A mess of questions vied for first out of her mouth until she reminded herself of the consequences of every question.

"I'll take that as a 'no'. I'm thinking in five thousand years you would have seen some sort of proof either way."

"Let's see, five thousand years... Your scientists have some of the dating thing down. I know this-" He stopped for a moment as if words had just eluded him, "universe- has been here a lot longer than I have so let's say the 13.75 billion years your scientists put it at is correct. Five thousand years isn't even a measurable percentage so it's safe to say there is more than one secret I've yet to discover."

"Well then God sucks." She snapped and then buried her nose in her coffee.

"That's kind of like a fruit fly saying you suck." He had that impish grin on his face and she glowered at her coffee suddenly not so interested in asking him any more questions.

Now she was being petulant. He always considered hunters emotionless, but this one displayed quite the array even if they were only momentary. It was a hunter's defence. They were 'tasteless' to his kind, or should be. It must be training she was lacking, though the natural tendencies were there. She was detached and even when her emotions flared she reined them in quickly enough. There was a chance she wasn't worth it just like she said, but once he fixated on something it was impossible to turn him aside.

"So where did you get that little thing around your neck?" Right now he should have two questions she should have no choice but to answer. Well one after this.

Annabelle smiled longingly as she touched the little pendent.

"My Gram gave it to me. She made me swear never to take it off before she died."

She obviously missed the old woman. Maybe that was the reason she did not have the same emotionless tendencies as those that came before her.

"Did she tell you why?"

"'Said it would protect me." She was shaking her head and smiling now. "I always thought she was nuts when she told me about demons. Now I'm wishing I would have paid more attention. She said there were good ones too."

"I take it you think I'm bad."

"What else am I supposed to think, Damien?"

"Take the necklace off and judge for yourself."

Annabelle snorted.

"Coffee's done. Where to next?" Her question was overly sweet as she completely ignored his suggestion, and added another to the tally.

"La Kings, shopping, maybe I'll find a wall to pin you against. I haven't done that in a while." He smiled as Annabelle glared at him while he walked towards the exit.

"I thought you were going to play nice if I did." The smack of her shoes against her heels quickened as she moved to catch up to him.

"And I am, but I'm still here for one thing."

"Something you are never going to get." It was more to reassure herself than it was to inform him as she passed through the door he held open for her and headed for the car. The thought of his body against hers wasn't helping anything. At least he couldn't make that happen.

She wanted to go home but that only meant more walls and less people. Still she was unfamiliar with this area so she wasn't sure where else to go agitated as she was for the moment. The mood swings were killing her.

"I don't think you're completely convinced of that." His voice came from directly behind her as she came to a stop beside the Ferrari. Crap she was pinned between him and the damn car now. He had more than a little experience on her, but she felt stupid anyway.

"You know you could just chloroform me and get someone else to take the necklace off. Eureka! You get what you want and I'm fucked either way." She let acid seep into the bitterly sarcastic comment.

"Chloroform? That's a bit archaic. A ruffie cappuccino might be more appropriate. Isn't that what they do these days?"

She felt his presence behind her diminish as he stepped back laughing, apparently amused with himself. Annabelle turned around cautiously until she could see he was far enough away that the little tricks she wasn't immune to couldn't affect her before facing him.

"Then I might take the damn thing off for you." She said with an empty smile. There was no worry it would happen. It didn't take a genius to know if he could he would. That alone should have been enough to end any fascination with him but she was just that insane. Maybe he thought humans had strange fantasies because he was only drawn to twisted fucked up women.

She stepped back, resting her body against the car, and tried to think of the things her Gram had told her; anything to give her an edge on this thing. A story shifted through the mess of thoughts about the Light and the Dark and how they lived together peacefully as they watched the world blossom beneath their ever present eyes. Eventually their Creator fashioned humans on the young planet and forgot about His first creations. While the Light was content to keep shining, the Dark became curious. It stole one of the creatures the Creator was so enamoured with and found a piece of the omnipotent being inside the human's core. She remembered Gram being baffled as to why the Dark was curious. Only souls allow questions, curiosity, and free will. The Dark should have been content to fill the spaces the Light retreated from as was its purpose, but it wasn't.

The Dark managed to hide what it had done, something only the Dark can do, but the piece of the Creator was a soul and the Dark now owned it. The Dark began to question its purpose and became jealous that the Creator should bestow such a gift on the fragile short lived creatures. There was a war between the infinite beings, but the Dark was quickly overwhelmed by the Light and the Creator. The Creator scattered the Dark across the universe, and the Light sacrificed pieces of itself to pin the Dark back away from the little planet. Annabelle smiled as she remember the old woman point at the stars and telling her in that sages voice that they were still there, still protecting us.

But the Creator was sad for his creations, and sometimes, when the pieces of the Light would fall, the Creator allowed the pieces of the Dark that would break free to return. But the creator would not relent completely. The Dark was forced to rely on the humans it was so jealous of to survive and it is forever shattered, the soul it stole belonging only to a very small corner of the once great being.

She asked her Gram why the Creator would allow the Dark to feed on humans if they were His favorite creation, and was sadly told that only half the story was known. The rest had been lost for ages. There wasn't much there, but the memory of her grandmother reciting the story helped to calm her nerves.

Damien watched her, only guessing at what her distant brown eyes were contemplating while she leaned against his little toy in silence. He had a chance to mess with her senses, weaken her resolve just that much more. Such opportunities were the reason he was wearing the stupid duster: less chance of skin to skin contact and activating that godforsaken trinket. He refrained however. Just the reminder of what close contact with him did to her seemed to be enough. Couple that with a kindness of not pouncing on her vulnerable form now and he might have her by sundown.

"I take it you want to go home." He commented, standing close enough to remind her of what he wanted, but far enough away that she could easily slip away. He was surprised when she didn't.

"Look at you, missing a chance to hump my leg. Did you suddenly grow a heart, Damien?" While the comment was condescending, she managed to play it off in a joking manner.

"No, but you just added a question." He grinned.

Annabelle rolled her eyes and inwardly cursed herself. The list of things she had to remember not to do around him kept growing. Maybe he was hoping she'd realize 'resistance is futile' and just give in. Yeah he'd of made a good Borg. Sort of, except for the killer looks and mind numbing seductive powers.

"I believe we were going to La Kings." She said quietly, pushing off the car and looking expectantly at him. She watched warily, but remained rooted in place, as he walked up to her. She barely twitched a muscle until his hand came to rest at the small of her back. Annabelle jumped, inhaling sharply, while he swept her forward. She was suddenly a school girl virgin giddy over a potential first kiss, things she hadn't felt in years, things she thought impossible to feel again, and all from a...touch. Her eyes widened with alarm.

"This way." He pronounced.

"You can touch me?" She asked in a panicked voice.

"No, just your clothes." He answered with that smile that made her knees week. "But tell me, if I could would you continue to resist me?"

'Yes' was on the tip of her tongue without thinking but hard as she tried she could not speak it causing her to come to a dead stop in the middle of the sidewalk. It wasn't the truth but what she wanted, no needed, to answer. That wasn't the parameters of the deal though. It was the truth or nothing. She would have to tell him 'no'. She was his as soon as he managed to separate her from that tiny pewter pendant. It wasn't like she hadn't known that all along, but standing here being forced to admit it she swore she could hear the hammer slamming against the final nail in her coffin.

His hand left her back as he faced her, leaning close to her ear. "Say it, Annabelle."

The pace of her heart kicked up beneath her breast as the desire to taste him settled in with the tempting scent that was so very Damien. Damn the evolutionary fluke that gave him that advantage. She continued to stall but there was no point. She couldn't even give him the venomous answer that suddenly seethed within her.

"Hmmm. I do love the way you fight." He whispered.

"No." she said finally, "but you might as well be drugging me. Everything about you is just that: a drug."

He stepped back shaking his head with a soft laugh, "Some people need drugs."

"And you are probably the most expensive drug ever made."

"And maybe you get what you pay for..."

She almost asked what it would cost her, but refrained choosing instead to focus on sizzling eggs. 'This is Annabelle. This is Annabelle on Damien.' Yeah, not exactly the picture she needed.

"Ice cream."

Damien stared at her confused for a second. He wasn't expecting anything. He was good with the fact that they'd established that this was not an 'if' situation but a 'when'. Still, 'ice cream' wasn't exactly where he thought she would go.

"Isn't that what La Kings does? Ice cream?"

"Yes...and truffles. Sinful really." He said with a bemused smile as his hand found the small of back again before he ushered her down the street.

'Sinful.' Her mind repeated it, but it wasn't ice cream or truffles that spurred it.