*Following Sabrina
I watched Hawke leave out the door before heading to my room. I was rather excited to go out tonight. It was my first night I had to myself in the last three days. I felt my hunger flare at the thought of freedom... Freedom to Hunt and sake my thirst. I had not planned on feeding tonight but the thought made my mouth want to water and the blood bags could only do so much...
My thoughts wandered to Hawke. I shook my head to free him from them, but they would not be denied... I told myself I wouldn't ask Hawke if I could feed on him.
"You do not need to ask..." I heard a part of me say, my Shadow.
"He is yours. Just take him, he's only human, and he wants it, he just doesn't know it yet..." I heard the dark thoughts say.
"Every bite, every Embrace brings him closer... Just one more, and he won't be able to stop thinking about you..." With a force of will I shoved my Shadow back into the corners of my mind. I did not want that. I wanted him to have control of himself. I wanted him to be with me because he wanted to. Not because I had a spell on him.
Our curse... Our Damnation... It is almost like a sentient life force... Whom's existence is dedicated to surviving and spreading, like a virus. Any human bit, embraced as we call it, by the Damned even once is infected by the presence of that Damned's Shadow, making them more... Pliable, susceptible to that Damned's attention and vulnerable to their Gifts. The more often a mortal is embraced, the greater the effect with the first embrace doing next to nothing until eventually that Mortal becomes a Blood Doll as we call it, mortal whom is addicted to our embrace. They also are no longer considered a Breach in the Veil as these Mortals cannot do anything to threaten us as a whole, so infected with the Shadow as they are.
I was determined that this would not be Hawke's fate though. I would not sully him with my Shadow any further. I would not embrace him as I had four days ago. I knew it was a promise that would be difficult to keep... His very presence tore at my control but I would do what I must do keep him safe from my world.
"Such folly... Our existence is Blood. It is our sustenance... Our pleasure... Our business... What do you have if it does not concern Blood?" I heard in my mind and felt in my bones.
A knock at the front door brought me back to reality I had only just got to my room when the knock came and I went downstairs cautiously I wasn't expecting anyone aside from Hawke, and he just left. I looked out the peephole and frowned before opening the door. Allowing the figure outside indoors.
A slightly hunched figure in a long overcoat pushed past me into the living room but stopped about 5 steps into the house.
"Christ it's cold out there Rose. I've been waiting three hours for that Lick to leave," an Irish accented male voice say as the figure turned to me as I closed the door.
"I did not know Tommy," i told him. He was damned like me, and the closest to a friend I had in this city at least.
Tommy was a shorter fellow, about as tall as me, slim with hawkish features and a gaunt face, making him look suggesting malnutrition. His skin was a very light tan, colored. With his body flushed with life. Explaining how hr could feel the cold. He had a long brown coat to match the weather, cold bordering on freezing but a clear night. He also wore an off-white t-shirt under the coat and thick blue jeans. He had green eyes, short cropped copper hair and facial hair slightly longer than a 5 o'clock shadow giving him a mid to late 20s look, but he was closer to 50.
"What are you doing here Tommy?" I asked with a note of concern. It must have been important for Tommy to come to me directly, he typically text, call or sent a messenger if it was business as usual.
"Well... I'm going to take a wild guess that you know your family is in town, thanks for the heads up by the way," He said that last part dryly. I had history with Tommy and his consternation was understandable.
I knew Tommy back in London before I left Markus and my 'family'. In fact.l, Tommy had helped smuggle me out of the UK to the United States. Much to Tommy's detriment seeing how Markus had destroyed Tommy's business and nearly sent Tommy to his Final Death in his search to find where I had gone. Markus had let Tommy go though, and he moved to Emerald City a year before me.
He had also helped me get set up and even let me crash at his lair until I could get my own set up. Mostly out of the kindness of his unseating heart. He had a soft spot for abused loved ones and I never really got a bead on Tommy but I figured something like that had something to do with his behavior towards me.
"By your lack of surprise I'm gonna guess you knew already. You could've let me know... Anyway... Markus tracked me down under the assumption that I could get a message to you and was hoping that him not doing anything to me would be the show of goodwill that he wants you to believe his message. He told me he wanted to talk to you. To settle what is going on between you and them," Tommy explained to me. I was genuinely surprised that Markus had the kind of control to let Tommy go after his role in helping me escape. But i had a choice. I had let myself be distracted to avoid this decision but it was here right in front of me.
I could run, like I always had before, leaving everything I couldn't pack onto my Bike. It was definitely not the first time. But I never had... Whatever Hawke was to me... I wasn't even sure 'what' Hawke was to me...
Then again if I choose to stand my ground. I had favors owed to me, and I was stronger than I was and always growing. And this was my turf, sort of, I at least knew the City a bit. Their were four of them though with at least 2 of them far older than I. I took an unnecessary breath as my Shadow rose in violent defiance of these intruders in my territory and let the feeling wash over to me but steadied myself before speaking.
"Where does he want to meet?" I asked carefully. He lifted an eyebrow in surprise but gave me a dangerous smile with a hint of fang. He was kind of bad influence on me.
"Tonight, midnight, 142 Carver st. The warehouse," Tommy relayed to me. I gave him a surprised look.
"Markus said something about usual stomping grounds," Tommy offered and I shook my head. That was the Warehouse me and Hawke were going to tonight and those were my usual hunting grounds.
"Be on your guard, and good luck Sabrina," he said before leaving. He must have been serious since he rarely used my first name.
I looked out the window of the living room but Tommy was already gone. I turned and walked up the stairs to go change. I would not let Markus disrupt my life anymore and wouldn't cancel Hawke and I's date. It was a risk of Markus and the lot to see me at least appearing to go out with someone. I would play him off as a nobody though. It wasn't exactly unusual for me and how I hunted and Markus would recognize it./pre