the cage (Merry)

[Merry Grace Lovelace]

"Because its not like you have a choice in being what you are. Whoever turned you took that away from you. All you can do now is determine the type of person you wish to be and how you wish to treat others." she said as she took deep calming breaths and tried to focus on keeping the shock at bay. "You just need to learn how to be what you are. That takes training and discipline. You've got the discipline, mostly you just need the training so you can learn how to control your hunger so it doesn't rule you."

She felt her hand throb. "I'll need a healer. I know one but you've got to clean up first. If he sees you wearing my blood like that he'll go all big brother on you and you don't want that." she said as she looked at him and her color slowly started to come back, "I'll call him to come get me but you have to get cleaned up so he doesn't know it was you." she exhales quietly, "I've got him in my cell phone his name is Everette Evans. Just tell him you found me and I told you to call him for me and ask him to come to the library."

[connordouglas]

Connor let his head fall back as he laughed, listening to her talk. "Wow, is that how I've begun to sound like? Oh man.." he said, sighing aloud as he realized how much his brooding sounded like a whining child. At least he was not.. well no that didn't apply here either as he was dead. Could it be worse? He was unsure, what could be worse than knowing that you could potentially hurt anyone you came to know? He didn't care much to seek out those of his own kind, what could he possibly have to say to any of them? He prefered the humans, he just had control issues.

"If only there was a way to show you how it felt, you'd understand that this might never be possible. At least not until I am older I hear." with a sort of forlorn gaze. Shaking himself out of it, he sighed again laughing at himself. At least he was still able to do that much, "I guess maybe I should just get the heck over it, this isn't helping." he said. Watching her sit here with him still, he was confused as to how anyone could be so good, even if she lacked a choice. She was not screaming, her voice was not raised, instead she seemed concerned.

"Alright, give me a moment." he replied, getting up and vanishing for a few moments. Connor made his way into one of the bathrooms to clean up the blood from his face. At Merry's suggestion of course, yet she wondered what sort of man this healer must have been. Even if he knew that Connor did it, was he a slayer or something? Did those even exist? Until a few moments ago he had been unaware that Witches even existed so it was entirely possible he supposed.

He actually walked normal speed back to the elevator, not really wanting to see the pain he had inflicted upon her. Though he wondered if she would be there at all when he returned, he couldn't blame her. It was clumsy of him not to check and make sure this place was entirely empty. Next time he would have to make a more thorough search of the building. Leaning around the corner, he cleared his throat to announce his presence, being whisper quiet when he moved and all. "Are they coming? If you need I can just carry you to a hospital.."

[Merry Grace Lovelace]

"I don't know how you sound. I just know you sound like yourself." she says softly as she looks at him, "Why is it you wish my help?" she asks him softly, she seemed to sense what he was feeling if only by virtue of being bitten by him and it confused her. Her mind wandered slightly as she stood and braced herself.

"You have everything in your heart if you have the courage to look for it. All you need is practice and to learn moderation." she said as she moved her non bitten hand through her curls as she looked at him. "I don't know what to think Connor. This is all going so fast..." She looked at him a bit wide eyed and leaned against a wall.

She leaned against the door and dialed Everette praying he would pick up and answer. She felt the world spin and held on as she waited for someone to pick up the phone.

She looked at him as he came back, "I just need to get to Charms and Things. It shouldn't take long." she admitted as she stretched and felt her back pop. "I'll need your arm I'm feeling a bit light headed from shock."

[connordouglas]

"You asked me why I wish for your help? Even I don't know. I thought I had this, that I could figure it all out on my own, then you came along. I didn't even know that there were Witches, that there might actually be a recorded answer for my troubles.. one that isn't entirely fiction." he said. His black eyes had vanished long ago, his sparkling green eyes returning to finish his charming, boyish appearance. Connor knew that he couldn't realisticly expect her to spend her time helping him however, he did bite her afterall. Knowing that he was very well capable of killing her, he assumed that he would never see her again after tonight.

That final thought seemed to hit him, causing him to pause to think for a moment. Was that outcome really for the best? She knew alot of things it seemed, things that could help him get back some sort of normal life. All things considered she was also sort of cute, had a nice voice, and reminded him of someone he used to know. Unknown to his concious thought, he was actually starting to become rather infatuated with Merry, simply because of her kindness and bravery. Frowning at her he stepped closer to her, offering her his arm so that she could stand.

"I apologize. This is all my fault, I shouldn't have come here tonight. I might have killed you, but I guess once more I didn't think about every possible outcome." he said, helping her to her feet. He could get her to where she needed to go faster than her car would, but it would probably be for the best if he drove her there. "If there is anything I can do to make it up to you, anything at all, just let me know. A favor from a vampire can be pretty useful I guess, though I don't for what exactly just yet." he said, laughing quietly. There was no way he would be able to lighten this mood, she was almost a late night meal.

Hitting the button to go down to the main floor, Connor tried to help her in keeping her head clear. "What do you drive? I'll drive you to charms n' things so that you don't have to come back for your car. I can find my way from there." Connor said, holding out his hand as if expecting her to simply fork over the keys to a stranger. "Plus I imagine if I just show up with you in my arms, they might get suspicious of me, more than they will already be." he said, wondering again why she would bother to give him heads up and prepare him. Maybe he was walking himself into a trap like an idiot, it was nothing more than he deserved however.

"If you want to stake me after all this I totally get it." he said, half joking.

[Merry Grace Lovelace]

Merry nodded and winced as she felt a twinge in her hand. It was really starting to hurt now and she bit her lip to keep from whimpering like a baby, "I understand." she says softly as she looked over at him. He seemed less menacing than before but once bitten twice shy was appropriate in this case.

She took his arm with her good one and they went into the elevator. She felt the doors close and she felt slightly claustrophobic in that small little box. She shivered slightly, her hair looking tostled from running as fast as she did.

Looking at him she had the stupid urge to offer comfort, "Hey look on the bright side, you did stop. You do have it in you to beat this hunger and deal with it." she said as she looked at him in the elevator, "If you want to make this up to me then learn from the books at the library what you are and try and figure out how your powers work." She said to him sincerely as she waited there. She pulled her keys out of her purse and gave them to him. After all if he wanted to he could just spirit her away and she would have little choice but to follow.

"I drive a 2011 Camero that looks like bumblebee from the transformers. The radio tends to play odd quirky things but its a good car and I like it." she said as she passed him the keys, "Showing up with me in your arms is a bit over the top, yes. Makes me seem like a heroine in a gothic movie." she muttered as she tried to focus a bit more on his words.

"Why would I want to steak you? You said you didn't mean to do it and I believe you. Heck most vampires would have turned me so you've got that going for you. Its not your fault you became a vampire. I'm not going to hold it against you." She felt herself go woozie again as the elevator dropped and she leaned against him.

Part of her actually thought he was nice. Well had been nice when he was human anyway....

[connordouglas]

(OOC Okay so I'm a total dork and accidently modified Connor's post instead of mine. Total noob Moderator moment.)

[Merry Grace Lovelace]

Merry saw that eyebrow raise and exhaled softly, "One of my family members is an addict. Its really hard on her and it eats at her. I've tried to offer help but its a long road and she may decide not to take it but she's still family so its hard. Its hard to see someone you love suffer like that. You just...want to make the pain go away if they let you."

"Oh." she said softly as she tried to straighten her hair a bit and flushed, her hand there, looking like a tostled runway model as she bit her lip and looked at him. She just didn't know what to say to "I don't know why I didn't eat you."

"Well just so you know the radio seems to have a sick sense of humor. Its always had this random short so it occassionally will just change channels on its own. But its got satellite radio and should at least not suck too bad." she was starting to zone out a bit and feel light headed again.

"I don't carry grudges. I might have my temper flare hot from time to time but it cools quickly." she murmured and put her good hand in his. Something in her mind clicked and she locked eyes with him. Her world seemed to disassemble and reassemble as she felt the world grow just a little brighter. She shook her head and looked at him, a warm glow washed over her and something about him made her feel odd. She didn't want to say "safe" that was the wrong word. She wasn't safe...

Protected...that might be the right word. Something made her feel like she could trust him even if she didn't understand it. She held his hand like he was leading her out on a dance floor and felt her world spin. It was probably endorphines talking. Wasn't there something about vampires making their victims feel safe in order to keep them docile? She'd have to read more in depth about it and sighed softly. She would have Everett do a ritual cleansing of her. Her chakra's were all out of balance now.

[connordouglas]

Connor laughed aloud, perhaps more forcefully than he meant to. That was a funny comparison to him, he was now akin to a junky now in her eyes. Shaking his head, he had no idea what to say as she went on to explain the rest. He could see where she was coming from though, having to watch a situation from the outside and not being able to help at all. Maybe by helping him it would make her feel some what better about being unable to help her family. Connor felt bad for having that thought just now, but it seemed pretty accurate from his experiance, he was still unable to grasp that she just might be genuinely kind.

"Sounds like you should have that looked at. I know a thing or two about cars, but nothing about radios." he said, laughing as he thought about that. Perhaps she had some sort of ghost living in her car.. wait that wasn't funny at all. If Witches and Vampires were real, what was to say that ghosts also did not exist? The thought of possibly being able to meet up with someone he had drained sounded like a freightening prospect. If there was a hell, he knew that many would have ended up there confused and angry.

"You might be a model human being then. Most of your kind tend to think everything different should be destroyed, especially when it has harmed them in some way." he said, leading her out of the front door. She seemed a bit shakey on her feet so instead of making her cross the lot to the car right away, he motioned for her to sit down on the stairs. Connor gave her a look that basically read as 'I won't hurt you again' before sitting down himself. Somehow the small bit he drank from her seemed to be holding him at bay for now, though he could feel his body subconciously wanting to taste her again.

Raising a brow, he examined her for a moment, trying to figure out how badly she was doing. She seemed to be strong enough, he hadn't taken enough to kill her at the very least. Sitting down somehow felt wrong however, even if it might put her at ease. Standing back up, he put his hands on his pockets and looked out at the street. "Camaro, work for the fun of it, I guess you're one of those people with a vault as full as Uncle Scrooges?" he asked, laughing softly and looking up at the sky now.

[Merry Grace Lovelace]

Merry shrugged gently, "I'll mention it to my father he'll get it looked at but I'm not sure if he didn't bespell the car to have a guardian in it." she chuckled softly and shook her head at him. Her brown eyes looking at his green ones.

Merry shrugged, "I just like helping people. You don't become a librarian if you don't like people. You have to be social and get out. Plus it beats staying at home." she admitted as she sat down gently and felt her head slowly calm itself. She found herself leaning against him without realizing it. Her eyes sleepy and her mind less worried.

Watching him rise she just shrugged her shoulders, "My daddy has the vault not me. He controls all the money." she looked down and looked back at him, "He's gonna totally freak when he sees this. He's protective, really protective. He's scared off any guy that even looks at me funny. Ever since my mom was murdered he's just super paranoid. I don't know how I'm gonna explain this to him. He doesn't even let guys on the threshold of my house if he doesn't like them. You'd think he expects every guy to be a vampire with how he acts." she rubbed her shoulders and they sagged slightly, "It didn't help that my aunt and his brother died. My cousins and I are the only ones left next to him so he feels it falls to him to look after everyone."

[connordouglas]

Connor didn't know whether to laugh or to bed concerned. If magic was real and her father was the sort to use it for 'guardians' he wondered just what he else he could do with it. He was a vampire after all, no one would ever recieve that information very well, or so he thought. Merry turned out to be a bit different, but the odds of that happening again were slim to none. "Bit over protective isn't he?" Connor asked, not wanting to seem offensive by asking that question. Some fathers were unreasonable when it came to their children, he imagined the father with that sort of money would be no different.

"Once more, a claim that not many people can make. Alot of people think about themselves or hate other people, especially me." he said, shrugging his shoulders slightly. It was nothing but the truth, he was always weary of others intentions, steering clear of people most nights for more than just one reason. Over the past six years he had seen the true nature of humans, the way they acted when they thought no one was watching them, he was somtimes glad he was able to say that he was not one of them. "You might be right about that part though, anything is better than sitting at home. I remember the first year after I turned, trying to stay home usually ended up in me becoming so frustrated I'd destroy everything in my home." he said, laughing as if there was something funny about that.

"You'll probably just have to tell him the truth, I doubt there is any way you can explain this that won't send him off a cliff." Connor said, trying to sound as understanding as possible. It had been quite some time since he had dealt with family, he almost forgot what it was like to have others to talk to. "Evetually he'll have to come through it, but I can understand at the very least why he would be suspicious of men in your life. In this city we could all be vampires, or even some other sort of monster." he said, his lips had trouble forming the words. Just the other night he had thought that vampires were the only oddities to exist in the world.

"If your cousins are anything like you, I would be amazed. I didn't think it was possible for so much goodness to end up in one body."

[Merry Grace Lovelace]

Merry laughed a bit ironically, "A bit over protective? I've seen him just stare someone down and...." she flushes, "Well I don't know maybe it was my imagination..." she looked up at him and felt the world spin. "Well I've been told I could use a little selfishness in my life." she admitted as she looked at him and shrugged, "Today has been weird. Had a guy hit on me earlier today and..." she felt her mind click back, "Well crap...He was hoping to go for coffee and I completely spaced him. I swear my mind is just completely shot to hell. Ahhh well. Maybe he got caught up in something." she murmured as she looked at him.

"So what happens after I get my hand healed? Are you just gonna evaporate into mist?" she really didn't know what to think any more and it was hard. His venom was making her feel flushed slightly, "Is it hot in here to you?" she blinked and focused as he mentioned her cousins, "Sienna's a doctor. Leila is I dunno. She can't hold a job with her drug habit." she sighed and felt her temples pulse.

[connordouglas]

Connor offered her a shrug of his shoulders in response, he was unsure what to say to that. Sure he had dealt with his share of fathers in his school years, but this one seemed to have even his own daughter baffled as to how he made them back down. "Well you're a Witch, isn't that a heritage thing? Maybe he has some sort of magic spell." he said, taking a moment to consider the words that just left his mouth. "Wow, that sounds even more awkward than "Hey I'm a vampire" haha." Connor said, playing with the keys in his pocket to keep him from thinking about anything else. The noise was like a gnat that wouldn't go away, thump, thump, thump, and it was starting to get to him.

"Maybe he forgot? Or perhaps it's early yet. Either way, I think you would have left him standing here if it wasn't for me." he said, offering a conspiratorial wink. He joked for now as it was funny to him, having just met Merry. Little did he know that down the line jokes like this might actually infuriate him, to the point of showing his vampiric nature. "Let me guess, he's probably tall, built like an athelete? Am I close? A woman like you has got to attract college guys like that." he said, as if he wasn't going to be surprised if he was right.

Considering her question carefully, he was unsure what his next move would be. Presumably she would want him out of her life, or so he assumed. If someone had bitten him, stealing his blood he would have seen to it that the predator was put to the death. "Something like that, yeah. I can't imagine anyone would want to pal around with the vampire that almost took their life you know?" he said, laughing as if it were funny. The smile on his face did nothing to hide his pained expression, they had to get out of here, and it needed to be very soon. "I think you're just getting over the shock is all. Keep talking, a doctor, and a junky huh? What went wrong there, if you don't mind me askin'?" his head tilted to the side a bit.

[Merry Grace Lovelace]

"I don't know. After Mom died dad changed. He went out a lot more and while he is keeping on top of things we never go out any more unless its after work. I don't...." she shakes her head and sighs softly.

"He is an athlete . But like I said it was probably a college prank. Guys just don't hit on me and those that do are driven off by my dad." she says as she looks at him and shrugs her shoulders as she continues to rub her arms to get more circulation into them. Rodney was sweet but she wasn't sure when or if he'd show up.

"Oh, well I won't hunt you. I just don't know even how I would do that. I'm not well I'm just a librarian I'm not a power house like some folks. My aunt and uncle died and Leila left and never came back. Sienna always likes helping people so she became a nurse. I worry about Leila but I've not seen her." she shrugged and admitted as she looked at him.

[connordouglas]

"I can understand what you mean. Same situation, pretty much. Mother died, father become weird." he said, his voice lacking any sort of emotion. He didn't care much about the topic, that part of his life was long forgotten as he tried to forge his own future now. All he could really offer her was a shrug of his shoulders, there wasn't much to say about the "strange" antics of her father, they seemed almost normal to him. "I'd say give it time but it won't help." he said, following with a laugh that sounded bitter somehow.

Connor could only shrug once more, offering her a hand so that he could pull her to her feet. "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to get out of here before I try and eat you again." he said, though his expression was serious. He looked like he was in pain just by being near here, it was so much worse when their skinned touched and he could feel the warmth. Heading towards her car, he jingled the keys in his hand, part of him was excited. He'd been behind the wheel of a car once since he had turned, it was the most amazing experiance of his life.

"Eh, it's not like you could find me after tonight anyway. At least, I don't imagine you coud, I never stay still." he said, laughing as he opened her door for her. Once she got inside, he jumped, turning over in a somersault in the air, and landed on the drivers side. He was being show off-y in his excitement to get behind the wheel of this car. Putting the keys in the ignition, he glanced at Merry with a plaful smirk. "You may want to put on your seat belt, this could get a bit rough." he said, throwing it in reverse and dropping the pedal to the floor.

The engine roared to life as they shot backwards, his expression unchanged from one of pure joy. Whipping the wheel about, the car spun until they were facing the exit, where he shifted into drive. Connor was laughing at the top of his lungs the entire time. "You'll have to give me an address, I'm pretty sure I can figure out the rest." he said, smirking at her.

[Merry Grace Lovelace]

Merry sighed, "I've got two cousins that had it as bad if not worse than me. They lost their parents the same day I lost mine. I see them occasionally but they are performers and so its hard to know when they will be home." she murmured and looked up at him with brown eyes that showed concern.

Taking the hand with her good one she chuckled, "Let me guess you'd date me for my car." she winked at him and moved into the passenger seat after she closed the door and locked it. She pulled the seat-belt with her good hand and clicked it in place.

Merry giggled like a giddy school girl, letting out a whoop of excitement. The stereo began playing "Born to Be Wild" in the background and she laughed happily. "I didn't know you raced." she said as he peeled out and left rubber on the asphalt. "You won't scare me. My cousin rides his bike like a rock-star and my dad drives like a race-driver. This is epic!" she squealed and rocked back as he spun the car around and out.

THREAD CLOSED

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