The Ripper

William Jack Holloway

William had been in this situation before. He had, on so many occasions, been ran into a corner by one of those awful Hunters, listening to them talk about all the things that he could learn from then, how they could help him. How they could change his goddamn life. What they didn't realize was that the only thing he needed from them was to just leave him alone. If they left him alone, he could stop running. He could settle down and have a life, and not feel so on edge all the time. They all promised him the same things. That they'd make his life better, that he would feel better about what he was if he could just use his power. He didn't want to use that power, didn't want to feel all that rage and hatred. More importantly, he didn't want to wake up the next morning not knowing how his night had ended. He didn't trust them. He didn't trust her.

Still, he couldn't deny the differences in her. She didn't seem like that nearly mindless robot that so often came after him. She was patient. She made no effort to subdue him. She didn't attack or try to arrest him. No, she just looked at him with this sort of almost patience that the Duke couldn't help but feel... no, it wasn't quite at ease. But it was close to that. As close as he could be around another of his species. He was surprised by the way that she seemed almost... annoyed by the assumption that she worked for the Council. But why else would she be the one sent after him? He pursed his lips together ever-so-slightly as he listened, the man looking for any reason to not trust her words. There seemed to be none. She seemed to be telling the truth. Besides, he couldn't deny the quirk of his lip at her not being a trained poodle. "No, I suppose you are different." He commented lightly. "But you still accepted this errand, did you not?" Still, he couldn't doubt the way his brows raised at the mention that she might not be fulfilling this delivery that she'd been asked to complete.

Whatever trust he might have been beginning to gather in the woman seemed to be shattered almost instantly by her accusation that he was, in fact, a murderer. There was something about her tone that sent the Duke into a state of almost despair. He was better than this. He was not a murderer, no matter how much his very being called to being one. But he was... He was, and she was right. All those people in Whitechapel. All the horrors that he had created. His shoulders slumped slightly, his body seeming entirely defeated by the realization of just how right she was. He looked up only slightly, then, when her voice called out to him in a way that was entirely gentle. His lips parted slightly in surprise, the words that she offered him. "You won't... tell the Council anything?" The man repeated the words back to her almost dumbly, her words baffling him so. It was enough to utterly confuse him, though he couldn't deny the way his heart almost... swelled... at the idea that he might get away from this without being handed over to the Council.

"I do... appreciate that. Though they will just come looking for me again if you fail," His voice was entirely soft with the woman. He no longer sounded like that of a terrified animal willing to chew off its own leg to escape the trap. He was somber - how could he not be? - but he was willing to at least... hear her out before he chose to bolt. He felt almost raw and exposed to the girl in the silence that followed, his mind churning with all the options that might be afforded to him at the moment, until finally, she spoke once more. "I'll never be able to stop running," He said automatically, though he supposed the chase would be a short one now that he had chosen to make a home within Sacrosanct. Still, he didn't immediately reject the idea of going with the woman, if only because he was willing to offer her the same amount of kindness that she'd shown him. And, if there was one thing the Duke did well, it was the charming variety of kindness that he'd used within those English courts.

"Perhaps, but ah, not yet," He replied after a moment, his lip quirking up into a smirk as he regarded the lovely redhead. He weighed the options within his mind before settling on the ever-charming Duke he'd once been. Perhaps he could charm her out of wherever she wanted to take him, if he could only distract her long enough. He reached out then, his movement so swift as he took ahold of her hand. He lifted the woman's pale, slender hand up, his lips brushing the back of her hand in that entirely chaste and sweet gesture that he'd used so often back in his human days. This was all for the sake of distraction, he told himself, it had nothing to do with the fact that she was the first Hunter to show him kindness, nor that she was beautiful. "First, may I at least be afforded the Lady's name? You seem to already know mine."

But darling -- it's only human nature.