Remi tried not to feel so upset by what he'd heard the women say about him, damn he was used to hearing all sorts about himself, in worse language too. Why this stung so much, he didn't care to think to heavily on it. Remi looked down at Lucille who was walking beside him in the sunshine, hugging herself as if she were cold, she looked down to her feet, studying the concrete beneath her. They both came to an uncertain stop at the same time in front of a nondescript café, with tiny tables on a pretty patio. Still uncertain and awkward they made there way inside and sat on a secluded table concealed by overhanging greenery.
"Are you okay here?" He was poised before his seat, half standing half sitting. Lucille raised her eyes to meet his; they looked huge to him, large and mysterious.
"This is fine. Lovely in fact."
Remi gave her a smile and sat, letting out a little sigh of relief that they had finally got to a café without much incident. Without much of anything, Remi thought sourly, as the waiter handed him a menu. He studied her face furtively while her eyes were down cast to the menu, her skin had a naturally sun kissed glow to it; perhaps a watered down version of Cajun heritage flowed in her blood. That wasn't uncommon for a native of these parts; her hair was the colour of … what? mud? Remi inwardly winced at the comparison, no, too harsh, too rough and distasteful. Besides it was darker then that, more like the colour of coffee beans, exotic and wonderfully scented and natural. She wore it up in a clip that allowed strands to fall about her face, it was by mistake he was sure yet it looked artistic and slightly regal to Remi.
Looking objectively, Remi might have seen what most men saw when looking at Lucille, an average to passably pretty girl. Worth a second look, like the ordinary best friend of the beauty queen. Like most girls, like every second girl down the street. But she wasn't a girl, she was a woman, full in breast and body, maybe plump, but he thought she merely looked healthy.
She fidgeted and her legs brushed his beneath the table, she looked up in surprise and saw him watching her. She tried to smile but only looked flustered; Remi adored the blush that crept from the neck of her t-shirt up to her cheeks and then her hair line. The waiter came over and they placed their orders, when he left them Remi turned his gaze on Lucille and she met it, briefly.
"What did you do before you came to Sanctuary?" Remi said, opting for the casual chit chat, to ease her tense shoulders. It had the complete opposite effect; Remi cursed himself inwardly, her blush deepened.
"I err," she cleared her throat and refused to meet his eyes, her hands immediately began to nervously straighten the cutlery. "I was a lawyer."
Lucille wanted to check the back of a spoon just to confirm that her face was now a tomato. What would any normal minded being think of her when she told him she got fired for setting, a more then likely rabid, bear on the city. To her the act had been just and completely out of duty to a fellow creature of the earth. Remi would probably think she was a tree hugging nut case.
"Impressive," he drawled in his lazy voice that conveyed his admiration. "Though I never had much time for lawyers myself, they always let the bad guy go free."
Lucille's stomach plummeted and she cleared her throat again, trying her hardest not to glance at Remi's face. She gave an airy, effected laugh before answering.
"Well, I was in corporate law …"
She heard him make a sound of disgust and almost gulped, why did everyone hate lawyers? Perhaps it was the fact that they were merely highly educated scumbags and con men most of the time?
"Even worse," Remi almost growled and Lucille felt extremely offended on behalf of the good lawyers she'd known, albeit those good lawyers were herself, Bill Laurens and about three others. Lucille raised her eyes preparing to defend herself in some mediocre way, she was a lawyer for goodness sake - or had been …
Lucille saw the playful light in Remi's eyes the moment she looked at him and the tension drained out of her and she gave a loud crack of laughter that had people turning their heads, smiling fondly at the young woman looking as if she were enjoying herself tremendously by the way she cackled. Even despite her rather scary dinner partner.
"Your teasing me?" she chuckled and Remi nodded, silently laughing at her. "Everyone is so anti lawyer these days, I really thought you were going to rip my head off or something. I mean, I completely understand why, but of course we're not all like that. Well, a lot are complete assholes but there are some, myself included I suppose that are actually trying to make the world a much better place. I mean without lawyers there wouldn't be the constitutional rights we have today when you think about it, I mean, we do kind of enforce them! And before you start I know the whole spiel about constitutional rights - but we would be screwed without them. And I'm rambling, aren't I?"
"Mildly," Remi teased and gave her a wink that made her hot in a whole different way. Lucille laughed again, more out of relief then anything else and leant her elbow on the table, even though she knew it was bad manners and rested her forehead in her palm, smiling to herself.
Remi was absolutely enchanted by her, so much for letting his fixation with her run its course. Then she sealed the deal by playful picking up her napkin and throwing it at him! Actually throwing it at him in retaliation for his teasing! It hit him in the face and Remi took it good naturedly and placed it on the side of the table.
"So why did you quit being a lawyer if your so very needed?"
Lucille knew Remi was mocking her again but it was all in the name of fun, and because she liked to laugh at herself - on occasion, she was brave enough to tell him the truth.
"I got fired," she grimaced good-naturedly.
"How come?"
"Well, I had a crisis of conscience and err, well, lets just say I did the un-lawyerly thing and chose good morals instead of a good fee."
"Now I am intrigued, what did you do?" Remi leant forward, his pounding heart belying his easy going smile, which was still somewhat predatory even though he had tried to soften it. Lucille did not seem to mind, though her eyes did fix on his mouth quite a bit. Remi laughed inwardly, he'd use that to his advantage after she told him what he knew was the truth of her being at Sanctuary.
Lucille pulled her eyes away from Remi's lips with difficulty and felt another wave of heat engulf her face; she just bet he saw her staring.
"I set a bear free." Lucille stopped herself from cringing but it was a close one. She waited for the shock, the disbelief, the condemnation, none came. "You don't seem shocked."
Remi shook his head.
"You're smiling," Lucille observed feeling her own lips curve. Remi nodded. "Aren't you the least bit concerned for my mental state?"
Remi laughed and reached over to take her hand, Lucille almost shivered. He turned the small, soft hand in both of his; he rubbed his thumb over her life line. Even that small pad of skin was rough and calloused, yet he was exquisitely gentle, almost as if he were making love to her with his hand alone. A part of Lucille was echoing Jadine's earlier warnings, but the bigger part didn't care, she had to at least try and find some good in this man that made her shudder and burn all at once.
"Hands like this," he said huskily, "can't do harm. They can only provide love and care. They can only do good."
If that wasn't a bucket of cold water for her, Lucille didn't know what was. A memory hit her so hard that her hand actually jerked in his.
She was on the bed next to someone she used to know, she was crying.
"I can't do this anymore. Everything I touch turns to shit!"
Remi let her go when she carefully extracted her hand with a small smile, but he saw the tension there again, the wariness that hadn't been there a moment ago.
"Did I do something wrong?" Remi asked, he'd never asked a woman that before in his life. In fact he'd never asked anyone that before.
"Oh, no, no, of course not," she looked away, "that was a beautiful thing to say."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, their plates were delivered, Lucille picked at hers without interest. Remi flatly refused to eat; he simply stared at her until she met his eyes and then frowned in confusion.
"Something wrong?" she asked politely.
"I don't know," he couldn't sound anything but belligerent. "Is there?"
"I don't under -"
"Let's be frank with each other, shall we?" he said briskly, not liking the way he was feeling towards her. "I said something that bothered you, I don't know what it was and don't worry -" he added quickly when she looked fleetingly panicked. "I won't ask you about it. But we were cool five minutes ago and now we're not. I'd like to get straight with you again."
Lucille was quiet for a moment, then she delicately laid down her fork and dabbed her mouth with a napkin before also laying that aside.
"May I say something to you?" she asked in a gentle voice, Remi gave her an 'I'm an open book' look and she nodded. "I've heard many things about you, Remi Peltier, many things. And to be honest, to say that just the majority of them weren't good would be an understatement. Because in all honesty none of them were good. I have seen you be mean, aggressive, not to mention violent, but that was in the job description, I think I knew that you were all those things when I first saw you."
At this point Lucille paused to take a sip of water, then she continued as if she were lecturing in a court room, Remi could not help but be aroused.
"In the same instance, I witnessed first hand your kindness towards me. Something that seemed very out of place and shocking, to most people who know you. And I have been cautioned to question your kindness, now tell me honestly. Have you done all this simply because you want to bang me?"
Remi's mouth slid open at her crudity, and Lucille gave him a wry grin, she knew she sounded like the street kid she's once been.
"What think I don't know how to cuss? To fight? To drink? I choose not to do them, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm a big girl. In more ways then one." she sardonically gestured her body.
"Nothing wrong with your body from where I'm standing," Remi murmured, rather lustily as he leaned back in his chair, seemingly flabbergasted. Luckily, Lucille did not let that look of hot promise distract her.
"Now, what is your interest in me all about?" Lucille leant forward and locked her fingers together upon the table in front of her, looking very business like. As if she were sitting at her desk in her old office, rather then at a tucked away café. Remi allowed his smile to come slowly, sexily, he noticed her watching him and he even went as far as to bite his bottom lip and slowly release it for her benefit. Then he leant forward also.
"I know for a fact that my motive towards you was not what was on your mind, nor did it make you shut down. But we'll put that aside, I won't mention it again. Coming back to said motives, I have never cared enough to take a girl out to lunch, never wanted to, never needed to. I don't know whether that does me more harm then good in your books, but truth is truth and I won't apologise for it."
Lucille raised an eyebrow and Remi carried on, wondering what kind of damage he was inflicting on his chances with her.
"I've asked you to lunch because I want to get to know you, spend time with you. Because I think you're a nice person, and perhaps its even because you were brave enough and crazy enough to release a bear from captivity, because it was the right thing to do. I want to know more about a woman I can't seem to stop thinking about. Now … how does that strike you?"
Lucille tried to look nonchalant but ended up laughing instead; she shook her head and eyed him shrewdly.
"You are entirely too perceptive and honest for a man."
"I'm not the average man," Remi shrugged as if it were mere fact and not a joke.
"All men like to think their special," Lucille shot back and Remi's lips curved sexily, before he leaned even closer so he could whisper in her ear.
"Not all men are me."
Lucille laughed again, "true."
"As to the rumours …" Remi trailed off and became serious. "Not all are rumours and not all are true. I know how much I'm asking, but would you be so kind as to go on a little faith with me?"
Lucille stilled, he didn't know what he was asking, not by a long shot. But perhaps it was time to forget the past and trust in the present, thereby making a better future. Lucille took a deep breath and nodded. Remi grinned widely.
********************************************
Lucille allowed Remi to lay his hand on the small of her back as he walked her back to Sanctuary, they passed through the doors together and made there way over to the bar. Lucille turned to him with a ready smile.
"Well, I'll see you then," she said, thinking it somehow sounded stupid but she couldn't think of anything else. Remi just smiled, but it wasn't the same free, warm smile he'd given her at the café. He was tense and alert, his smile strained, Lucille wondered what had caused the change in him. And she felt a kind of empathy for him, if this was the feeling he got when she had frozen up on him.
"Yeah, I'll call you."
"You have my number?" Lucille said, unable to conceal a trace of shock in her voice, when Remi smiled this time it was more natural.
"I'll get it out of the employee files. If that's okay with you, of course?"
"Fine," Lucille nodded and moved round to step behind the bar, she threw a few looks over her shoulder and got a thrill when she saw that Remi's eyes were still on her every time, tracing her body as she walked. Lucille almost felt sexy until she misjudged the entrance to the back room and slammed into the wall and Dev.
"Ouf! Oh, sorry!" she muttered quickly, her face flashing to boiling temperatures, before scarpering out the back. Dev's smile was good naturedly mocking and he shook his head as he watched her walk away. Then he turned back to face Remi and froze. His brother was watching him as if he were about to pounce, his lips pulled back in a silent yet ferocious snarl, Dev flicked a look over his shoulder. Nope, the boy was definitely looking at him.
"What?" Dev asked, completely nonplussed.
Remi mentally shook himself and ordered his temper to back up, he didn't want to fight his brother, for Artemis sake! What was wrong with him? Of all the people whom Remi loved, Dev was top of that short list. Dev was in sweetly and madly in love with his mate, he didn't even look at other women as far as Remi knew, since Sera had flounced into his life. To diffuse the crackling intensity between them Remi shrugged and moved around Dev and out the back where he took up his station at the door connecting the Peltier house and the club. Dev stared at him and Remi felt sweat break out under his clothes, his twin raised a inquisitive eyebrow which Remi imitated. They bugged each other out for a minute before Dev gave in with an exasperated shake of the head and a laugh, he strolled off in the general direction of the door. He'd probably be going home to his mate and the dozen kids that their house held. Remi had never thought about having kids, he always supposed if he ever found his mate they would have some. There was no such thing as a Were-hunter contraceptive. But things had changed for him, since his incarceration and subsequent escape, things that had had no bearing on his life before were suddenly on his mind. He thought about things that he had taken for granted before, that he simply assumed would come to him. What if he was to find his mate now? What would happen then? What if she were Arcadian? Remi shuddered at the thought. He liked Sera but he wasn't Dev, he couldn't play happy families with a woman that came from a race of people that had destroyed so many of his. And what about Lucille?
No! Remi slammed the shutters down on all thought in that direction, he didn't want to think of today or tomorrow. What he felt or didn't feel towards her. For now it was just her and there was nothing else. He would bury his head firmly in the sand until he was dragged out and forced to face reality, because reality said that Lucille was human and he was an animal and that they could never be. And even by some freakish twist of chaotic fate they could be, Lucille could not deal with it. And neither, he suspected, could he.
******************************************
Remi scented the air as he stood outside of Sanctuary smoking a cigarette, the weather was turning and a storm was coming in from the north. Blocking out all the noise surrounding him, Remi stared up at the night sky that was now relatively clear, but would soon swirl with black clouds. He could feel the stale humidity in the atmosphere slowly turning to a chilled moistness that kissed at his skin, and before long he spied the silent throb of lightening from the tumbling, dark tide pulling itself in. He felt the rain before he heard it, starting in a light drizzle that soon began to pound, and even though he was standing partially concealed beneath the Sanctuary roof, his hair became slick. Despite the weather, Sanctuary was pumping with vibrancy and life, they'd pulled in a good crowd this Friday and some waitresses had been called in for emergency shifts. His favourite waitress was one of them.
Waiting for a woman was an entirely new experience for Remi, it just wasn't something he'd ever had to do, he'd never been the type to anticipate the arrival of someone else. But waiting for Lucille was like the holding back of the inevitable yet earth shattering climax. The waiting for completion. He'd not seen her all day and the only thing that had not sent him hunting her up was that he knew she would be with him tonight. She'd been at Sanctuary three full weeks, she never missed a day and was never late, he would time it so he could be in the general vicinity as she walked through the door. Some women may have found this frightening in a stalker kind of way, others may have grown distance because of the intensity of it. But Lucille didn't, and that gave way to notions that maybe, just maybe, her great attendance and punctuality was about him. Just as his early rising habits and tolerance of the kitchen staff was all about her. Remi took a long drag on the cigarette and let it loose from his lungs, pouring the smoke out into the night along with his intrinsic, self-denied yearning for his mate.
That was how Lucille saw him. A dark, well-defined silhouette, leaning languidly against the brick wall, one leg propped up against it while the other was out straight in front of him. He blew a stream of smoke into the damp air, the grey swirls were as artistic and graceful as their maker, yet rebelliously curled off into the night, instead of evaporating in a straight flow. It was as sexy as hell to her.
After days in his company, becoming more comfortable in his presence, Lucille did not blush at every stuttered phrase or wrongly pronounced word. She did not feel the need to die on the spot because she had let something a little non conservative slip from her lips. Remi did not care, so why should she? She felt comfortable now to walk up to him and engage him in conversation, a feat not well managed in her world. Lucille wondered if she was merely seeing what she wished to, but instinct told her Remi was more then what he seemed or what, in fact, other people saw him as. There was a pain and depth to him that remained unexplored. A dark, moody presence that was a universal aphrodisiac to women. Yet when morning came all other women would find that repellent, Lucille knew that she would stay through morning evening and night with him if given the chance. She could not get enough of this darkness that Remi gave. An aura complex enough and deep enough to mingle and feed her own. She watched as he leant his head back against the rough brick and inhaled a long breath.
"Mmm, I know that scent," there was a smile in his voice though Lucille could not see his face. "Your right on time as usual."
He lifted his head and Lucille knew his eyes were pinned on her, she tried to walk naturally towards him. Lucille stopped in front of him and her breath caught.
He wore a tight black t-shirt fitted snugly over his abs and pecs, his jeans were baggier then usual but no less attractive. They were boyfriend jeans, the type girls would snuggle into on the morning after a spontaneous night of wild sex, they carried the warmth of a man's skin and the scent that was entirely unique to them. Lucille wanted to feel them against her thighs. More breath-taking then that even, was his hair, turned dark blond by the rain water, the curls had tightened and hung limply in a messy side parting and trailed over his shoulder and down his back.
On impulse Lucille reached her hand up and touched a silken, soaked lock, Remi did not waste the opportunity and turned his lips to her inner wrist. It was in that moment that worlds and lives shifted. Throughout the past few weeks Lucille had only ever felt his lips on one part of her body and that was her hand. She'd known he wanted her and she was pretty sure that he realised she didn't object to it, but they had strove like bashful teenagers not to touch each other and when it had happened, it was ignored with a few guilty smiles and furtive looks. The brief touches had been thrilling and electrifying but never had they met this kind of intimacy. For Lucille she was at the point of no return.
Remi wanted desperately to linger outside. It felt like they were the only two people to ever occupy that space and as long as they stood there it would only ever be the two of them. And the feeling he felt, the connection would never break as long as they stayed there. But he realised that that had to, not just because she had to work but because he could not trust himself. His hands itched to pull her against him, even if it was to simply feel the way she fit against him and nothing more. She had pulled her hair up in a bun atop her head, pined those coffee coloured strands into a knot with a band that had a large black flower on it. Never before inclined to judge women's fashion sense, Remi felt, however, that that small accessory alone, coupled with her pretty face transformed her beauty into something not of this world. All he could do is stare and lick his lips at the sight of strands escaping her bun. Turning into loose curls in the wetness of the evening and grazing her collar bone and the nape of her neck. It was deliciously torturous. Remi stepped back and held open the door for her with one large, paw-like hand.
"Your night of servitude awaits," he teased, deliberately playful. Lucille blinked and looked beyond him into the bar and realised she had not said a word since arriving, she smiled.
"Look at the crowd! What, did you say that the drinks would go down a penny for every person there was in there?"
"Worse … The Howlers are playing!"
Lucille groaned and trudged inside, she heard the door swing shut, Remi was right behind her.
*********************************************
The night was so busy that there were times Remi actually lost sight of Lucille, who had been pulled out of the kitchen to wait the tables. Every time he did see her, she had that slightly shell shocked look most waitresses got after a bitch of a night, when she caught his eye, however, she still managed a smile and sometimes a wave. Eventually around three the crowd began to thin and Mama was sending signals out for them to start herding the lingering bodies out the door. Enough people had left, or had started leaving, so that when Remi looked up he could see Lucille directly in the crowd. She was walking towards a table of young human men, probably about to try and usher them to the door. Remi had already snapped to attention, not wanting her in the same breathing space as a bunch of drunken louts that were not good enough to wipe her shoes. So as not to cause a scene, Remi walked instead of marched the long journey from where he stood to where Lucille was, but he could hear everything that was said.
"Hey, don't I know you?" One of the drunks squinted at Lucille through blurry eyes, Remi watched as Lucille stiffened and she looked down at the man.
"No," she said shortly and made to turn around and walk away, Remi sped up when he caught sight of her face, pale with a look of terror that past over her face and was quickly replaced by a bland, stoic expression.
"Hey! Wait! I do know you!" The guy's smile was malicious even in his intoxicated state, he stood up unsteadily and swayed on the spot. "Yeah, I know you. Don't I know you?" The guy picked his glass up and let it fall to the floor, the smash caused the remaining crowd to stop, to stare, to become silenced. When he spoke again, his voice was loaded with meaning and innuendo that had Remi planning on gutting him "Yeah, I know you real, real well, Lucille."
"Go home, Kasey!" Lucille snapped back, surprising Remi by how easily her well-polished middle class voice slipped, and she almost turned into a bawdy New Orleans hoodlum before their eyes. "Your drunk and acting a damn fool!"
Lucille did a half run half walk to the bar but not before Kasey had dropped another glass and it froze her on the spot. She did not turn and she did not move, she just breathed fast and shallow. Remi was on the guy, cursing himself for waiting that long, he laid a hand on the guy's shoulder and spun him fast so he was facing Remi's enormous stature. The guy was not yet so drunk that he didn't recognise imminent danger, but it was far too late for that. Remi brought his head forward, snapping and fast, landing his forehead on the guy's nose. The crunch was loud and sickening in the quiet of the bar and nearly everyone winced. Blood spurted and the guy's legs turned to jelly yet he remained standing only because of Remi's one hand holding him up as he repeated his head butt several times.
"Aw, shit!" Dev cursed under his breath as he rushed past Lucille to pull Remi from the guy, Lucille felt herself shaking. The pump of her heart did not seem to belong solely to her chest but was throbbing in her throat, her wrists, her stomach. The air she wrenched into her lungs was too thin and a slight dizziness overcame her. When Dev and the other Peltier brother, Lucille remembered him as Serre, pulled Remi from his prey, Kasey was unconscious and bloody. Remi roared ferociously and Lucille jumped back out of pure fear, she had never heard a sound like that come from a human, never thought such a noise could be produced by human vocal cords and throat. Dev and Serre were sweating and panting with the effort to hold him in check, the strain began to show in their red faces and pulled muscles. Remi was overwhelmed by her fear and it was making him angrier, he did not know how to calm himself, the key he needed to centre himself was ever out of reach, so elusive.
Colt came up behind Lucille and grabbed her arm, she let out an involuntary squeak of fear, he gave her a firm shake.
"Go to him, make him stop!" he said in a deadly whisper.
"Are you crazy?" she said before she could stop herself, she stared at him wide eyed, Colt narrowed his eyes at her and Lucille for some reason felt terribly ashamed of herself. Fine! She thought defiantly but didn't say it. She yanked her arm from his grasp and walked towards Remi, she made sure, however, to keep an eye on all available exits.
Dev now had one of his huge, meaty arms wrapped around Remi's throat, perhaps trying to render him unconscious but Remi would not allow it. Serre was holding his wrists. Remi tugged his arm away from his brother with his enormous strength and socked him in the face, Serre went down and had the good sense not to get up again. From the murderous look on Remi's face, Lucille envied Serre's position.
It is in the most uncertain and chaotic of times, it seems, that true epiphanies, whether they be small or big enter someone's head. The world slowed down for Lucille as she saw Remi in such a rage, and underneath that rage a horrid pain and it was then, she realised something rather phenomenal. This wasn't just meaningless violence, this wasn't a mean, fight- loving man, doing what he did best, this was for her. Perhaps she had not had someone fight on her behalf for so long that she had forgotten that it can happen. That a human being can like another person enough to actually feel pain and offence on their behalf. Lucille felt her feet quicken and she ran to Remi, dodging agilely under his flaying arm, she placed both palms flat on his chest and stared up into his frenzied eyes.
"Enough now, okay?" she said gently and though her hands were still rising and falling rapidly with his chest and blood was pumping hot and fast in his heart, Remi found the centre and it held. Without breaking eye contact, Lucille reached out a wrapped her small hand, miniscule to his, around his thick wrist. "Thank you."
Everything inside Remi softened and the feral, blind red that covered his eyes lifted, he froze, still looking down at the face of an angel. The animalistic instinct to protect what was his gently simmered down, but did not burn out, he felt it within his soul. Both the man and bear still ready at a moments notice to attack. No doubt his brothers saw it in him to, he could practically read their minds without even looking at them. But what did Lucille think? Large and guileless though they were, Remi could not read her eyes. Lucille turned her head towards Dev, who was mostly hidden behind Remi's hair and body.
"Let him go," she said in a low voice, "he's fine now."
Dev did as he was told, though rather cautiously, Remi shrugged out of the hold and moved closer to Lucille without actually putting his arms around her, her palms were still plastered to his chest.
Remi turned his head and gave Kasey a cold look, the man was finally conscious and lucid. Remi realised just how long his brothers had tried to keep him under control and restrain him.
"Look, why don't you take her home, okay," Colt said, the first of his brothers to speak, a voice of reason and order, it was not judgemental but a little tired and that to Remi felt just as bad. Lucille stepped back and was about to say something about not finishing her shift when Colt gave her a look that cut her off. She nodded and daringly, slipped her hand in Remi's, he enclosed himself around her as if it were natural and walked her to the door. Leaving the madness behind him, like a seeping residue on the walls, Remi walked into the clean, clear night. Both he an Lucille were holding on to the others hand like an anchor, trying desperately not to drown.
