harley westward

No black magic can control me and no curse can let you own me

It was like a whole other man slumped before her in that alley, looking more like a racoon scavenging his meal. For an apex predator to appear like that, the image would forever be stained in her mind, unable to keep the look of amusement upon her feminine features. He looked the same, besides that. Only his features were smoothed out, free of tensions hold that had wrung tightly within his body that had sudden gave way into a state of relaxation and tranquility. Two words she would never call the vampire. Well they sure as hell weren't at the damn spa, but it was like Darcy had spent the better of the day there, lounging upon the filthy concrete of that alleyway. She hadn't realized it before but the man had a smell that tickled her nostrils at her approach.. It was actually pretty good.. What was its source? She didn't dare move any closer to find out that it was his shampoo, he hardly seemed like the kind of man to wear cologne. It was easier to get a better look at the cowboy too, his strong features, the exact shade of hue of his hair.. The fact that he always seemed to wear that thick chain around his neck, that clearly meant something.

At least at this point in her life, she could make sense Darcy, being the beast he was. Could even understand it. She'd known his kind before. Perhaps not quite the same... but similar enough. But this version of him, who sat comfortably against the wall, this man was so vastly different from the man she knew. Curiosity killed the cat. There was a reason it was a saying. Yet she stayed.. Lingered in that abandoned alleyway filled with unconscious 'corpses' that decorated the dingy space. A wreckage left behind that either people were too fearful to check on, or no one was aware what was happening.

Darcy claimed he possessed some form southern charm when he was younger, the thought of the cowboy prior to this one seemed like an impossible to imagine. Yet perhaps with him the way he was currently... she could almost see beyond the monster but certainly wasn't foolish enough to forget what he was. Harley saw little purpose to focus on that specific line of questioning further. What would it prove?

The following question seemed safe, a perfect chance to dip that figurative toe into the dangerous waters that was Darcy. Yet there was a nagging thought in the back of her mind... What if he was tricking her? No.. that seemed like far too effort when Darcy could simply prove his point with far more violent means. He would have been eager to blame her for sabotaging his... mission. Had he even realized she had? He must not have or she wouldn't be standing.

Yet, Darcy's rare good nature hardly faltered as he dug around that takeout container, salvaging each favoured piece. They were going to run out of chicken fast.. After all, that seemed to be the only thing he was after, occupying him while she prodded him with a line of questions. Knowing she might be on borrowed time when that chicken ran out. Harley seemed content to push back any concern after she was certain his mood didn't abruptly switch to dangerous territory. Not a single threat left his lips. His accent, however even though his voice was devoid of his usual malice, it didn't lose the twang. Nor the specific way of speaking without h's.

He casually and conversationally spoke of his age, his birthday... and truly he was older than she thought., she watched him try to process just that... as if struggling to keep tally. Immortality... wasted on monsters of the night.. She thought. What she would do with that chance to live, truly live forever. A frown formed on her face as she studied Darcy with intense scrutiny who, no matter how he dressed seemed out of place in this city landscape. "Could have had me fooled... Thats shits not right." She grumbled about being close to two hundred years.. To be so old, to carry all that knowledge.... And have everyone else blissfully unaware until it was too late. She pondered his words for a moment, a near dramatic sigh escaped her parted lips... before she admitted it was time to get to know him.

Those words she soon regretted the moment he thought she was coming on to him.. Men were all the same. While nearly 200 years old... she was quite certain, in that moment, his brain remained 24. Hell he even looked it as his expression shifted to something that was nothing short of boyish. She wrinkled her nose as he tried to explain "getting to know you" was code for..

Oh, hell no.

She fucked up.

He was right. Fuck. She was about five seconds away from getting flustered and she did not do flustered. She did varying degrees of sarcasm. The frown grew and her hands rose as if she could ward the vampire who clearly wasn't even moving or doing much of anything... It was almost comical really only Harley didn't find it so.

"Damnit, Darcy. Thats not what this is.. Don't get it all twisty. I am.. Just a little bit curious.." She was just about the nail that point home.. when a question suddenly fell from him... which immediately severed that train of thought in its place.

Darcy didn't ask questions. He didn't give a flying fuck about who she was... or why she did things.But why she called him Jaws hung in the air. Was it not self explanatory? Did he not see his own teeth when he looked into the mirror at his reflection? Harley folded her arms over her chest, loosely as if it acted like some kind fo shield. As she shot the overly relaxed vampire a look that said how was this not obvious? Did he really not imagine that iconic music playing in the back of his mind before he got all, pouncy and murderously bitey? She waited a moment as if she expected the vampire to say he was merely fucking with her.. Although, she was quite certain Darcy's version of humour was near non-existent. Or too perversely warped. "I call you jaws, because you remind me of a shark. Especially that gigantic fucker in that movie. that everyone is all terrified of.. All teeth.. And has that bad vibe where you know its coming for you.. You just don't know when.. Kind of in a cheesy way, with blood and guts and everyone screaming... and dying..." She replied offhandedly with a shrug, leaning against that graffitied wall in a stance that was far too comfortable. Well.. that was until she got into it.. Her face getting a little more animated as she talked mildly with her hands.. Making strange gestures that were more like claws to suggest they were teeth.. What the fuck was she doing? She paused... no longer looking at him by the time she finished her little...tangent... before her spine went all rigid. Maybe this was a bad topic... She cleared her throat as near sheepish fell upon her lips... She was without words.. She forgot herself... She was really fucking bad at this surviving thing sometimes... and yet.. She was still alive. "Basically.. You are the shark in life... but for chicken.." She amended. Deciding it was a terrible idea to mention blood and guts to a men who practically revelled in it.

It was something that Darcy said that caused Harley to approach that taboo topic. Darcy remained entirely relaxed, not a flash of agitation at all. How certain any topic about Risque or emotions were certain to push back his veneer, if it was all an act. Yet, Darcy did not so much as flinch at her words. It should have worried her that he was out of the food that distracted him, yet the way he sat, casual, at ease, as though he had all the time in the world... His hands rested on his knees. Harley pushed herself off that wall, as if looking for a place to sit, nowhere in that very alley looked wonderful as a full dumpster. She was going to need a shower, a scalding one when she got home... as she so often felt the need to do when she was within any kind of close radius with the vampires of Syn.

How that frown might have been a permanent fixture upon her face if she wasn't terribly curious about what the southern cowboy had to say. He was really chatty like this. Being a vampire sounded like some.... Survival of the fittest... on some twisted level. "While that sounds all great and powerful and all. That sounds awful.. Sounds to me like vampires are no better than wild vicious animals.. Then again.. The same can be said about all species. One big stupid pissing contest.. Really? Don't you ever get sick of it? Why bother with a coven? Just solo it and not deal with the bullshit." She said with no filter, her iconic sarcasm seemed to return to her. The raven haired woman was really putting a lot of faith in good ol' boy Arlo here and his magical venom.

She was all but blissfully unaware of Darcy brushing his tongue over his fang... as she found... a thick clean enough piece of wood that was by where Darcy had grabbed one to go all bat happy with Arlo's skull. She forced out the thought. Picking up several pieces to make a spot to sit by his feet, almost a foot off the ground. She plunked herself down on the teetering, makeshift seat... knees bent, leaning forward so her elbows rested on her thighs as she looked to the vampire with no fear... but rather, something she wanted to study.. And send the results for further analysis.

He truly looked like he considered his own words as he continued on, somehow able to turn from talking to unforgiving coven life and that constant need for fighting to survive... to the most taboo topic of them all. Mates. He spoke with a candidness that caused her head to tilt just so, the expression almost far too animal. But hh he had her complete attention. How curious she was to hear of that inner world... it wasn't like that with Nathaniel.. Not at all.. Well the emotions part.. She could see that... both for the good and bad.. And yet mostly bad now that she recalled it with far more clarity and... wisdom. Darcy described two vampire mates being like two a hurricanes.. Merging to make a superstorm.. Thats exactly what she imagined Risque and Darcy as.. Although she hadn't really seen them together... but she certainly could imagine it. How did they not rip each other apart? How did they survive each other? It was mind boggling. Hmm. So many questions.. So many thoughts. Darcy even seemed quite smug with himself and that explanation of his. "Sounds like the rules for mates changes everything... it goes against the whole survival of the fittest.. Because your taking into account someone else." She frowned, it went against everything actually. Yet it seemed to make them all the more dangerous. "Was it like when you met?" She tipped her head... oh god... that was a doozy of a question that was meant more to be prompt of sorts. wasn't that the story all couples loved to share? How they met.

That question was soon followed up.. With the topic of love.. Never in a million years did she think she would be having this conversation.. With him, of all people. Yet she had to satisfy her own curiosity. To wonder if Nathieniel even knew what love was or he was equally as delusional. She was sure he didn't.

Yet she was baffled by his statement. She did agree with him about one thing.. What people claimed to be love.. Wasn't love.. It was sugarcoated bullshit. At first taste, it was so sweet... but deep at its core.. It was enough to make you spit it out. Most did.. That wasn't love. Love was all of it.. And everything in between.. Love... was simply rare. Or merely a construct invented for and by society... to fabricate some silly dream? A dream so many wanted to buy into that they missed the whole thing entirely.

Yet she focused far more on Darcy's admittance. Love was knowing how to destroy the person your with and not doing it? Well that was fucked. "Really? I mean that true.. Partially. But thats the easiest part out of everything. Its way deeper than just that, Darcy. I think you don't even know completely yourself." Harley challenged, her vivacious violet eyes landed wholly upon him, sitting a little straighter.

Darcy's attention span seemed to be waning.. His eyes looking around for something.. More chicken? Fuck... how was she going to get more chicken? Maybe now was the time to flee.... But thats when he eyed the takeout container like it had suddenly just appeared. Harley could hardly help that amused quirk of her lips.. Oh that was kind of funny. He asked where it came from and she couldn't stifle her own amused laugh. "That was my lunch tomorrow.. But I let you have it because you were feeling a little peckish." She lied... smoothly. Yes.... she gave him food... how great she must be to have done that...Not that he didn't just take it for himself.. Stole it. "You didn't even thank me for it.. In fact, you were supposed to pay for this as a work expense. But you.. Kind of like being a bit of dick, don't you?" Now she was really testing her limits. She sat up a bit, stretching out her legs a bit, like she hadn't just waved a figurative bleeding arm in the water.... He seemed to dig right in.. paying no mind to the raven haired woman. "Not now though..." She added.

It was fascinating to see him utterly transfixed with the carbs.... Never did she think she would see that day as he shoved a whole glob of pasta into his mouth with the same vigor as... that chicken.
That was when he said the most unusual thing. Declaring he was going to probably marry Risque.. It was like her eyebrows were going to skyrocket up right off her face.. Well that was not a bombshell she was prepared for. Yet she easily recovered. "Really? Why haven't you asked then? Scared?" She asked... almost like she would he friend.. Her voice conversational, sarcastic and without... the usual goading. Almost. She was willing to follow this... pinball that was Darcy.. Although she was certain to lose track of him.. Until he abruptly changed topic.. To saloon doors. What in the actual fuck? Then... about math... randomly... He was going to make her dizzy. She laughed..."Wow talk about a turn... First off.. I don't think anyone really uses saloon doors anymore.. Thats only in movies and all for show... They probably used them back then.. Because if your tried to take shit form them.. They would just shoot you in the head.. Or they feared the sheriff.." Harley shrugged, tucking a stray strand of hair that fell into her face when she laughed.

"As for the math... like how... good are we talking? Like beautiful mind? Or human calculator? " She paused.. Waiting for the man to speak again... If this is where he was going to take the conversation, it meant his mind would be closed for questioning... Which could be to her advantage. He shoved that pasta into his mouth like he was ravenous. It would seem that she lost him again.. The man focused on who knows what traversed his mind then.

"Darcy? You in there?" She waved her hand as if to garner his attention.. A glint of the metal chain around his throat caused her eyes to flit there. "Why do you always wear that chain?" Harley inquired as if she avoided the one question that was really on her mind.