Her name was spoken. In a way that was far from ordinary. The pair of vampire's eyes locked as if tangled into something altogether new. New ground neither knew how to approach. She had never heard her name spoken with so much.... Emotion. Not in the typical sense, she had heard plenty of emotions when her name was used... in so many varied ways. Pain, ecstasy, fear... not that strange layered meaning as her fearful Darcy did. It was a unique combination, that single word holding prisoner so many others within each cursive swirl of every letter that fell off his tongue.

For a moment, it was like they shared a moment that not a single being could truly comprehend, the two practically suspended in time, enough to remain in that uneasiness that settled between them. Darcy. She spoke his name right back, unsure why she did so. It most certainly lacked all the hidden depths of how he had uttered hers and yet she thought she could, like turning on a faucet. No, Darcy was so perfectly authentic in that very moment that the feline queen remained in stillness not uttering another word, waiting for Darcy to choose his words.

Tension flooded through his entire body to the point that she could see it from the well-distanced place that she stood. He tried so hard to contain it, contain himself. Yet he was unable to overcome the crippling fear that held him in its unrelenting vice grip. The she-devil could see that painful struggle play out across her lover's handsome face, sense the sheer desperation to truly give in to her flash behind his every movement. How easy it would have been to draw in like a shark circling prey. Yet she didn't dare move.

For once, she held no glory in his suffering. Didn't feel the need to push what was close to breaking. Didn't need to sink her claws into his skin. His lips parted and appeared whatever he meant to say caused severe strain like he choked every word. He was in pain. But not in the physical sense.. but in the self-inflicted kind. Far more painful than any physical wound. It was a mental pain that went against the very fiber in his being. He couldn't. If her name had held so many unspoken words... this was a glorified feast in which she could have fed from. Yet how plainly she could see that it could not be helped. It wasn't a matter of if he chose to defy her, he truly could not help himself.

Risque openly watched him, consuming every last detail of this new state of his and yet did not further add to his increasingly self-inflicted pressure that was already weighted down upon him. How she could have been there in a flash and simply do what needed to be done. To force him to her very will that he had always so willingly offered her. It would have taken far less time and they could just be done with it in a matter of moments.

However, that pale gaze studied every minute detail of him once more before she responded. She understood. Oh, she understood that he could not physically offer what she truly wanted in that moment. How that would normally spark her ire, to bring down the hand of a ruthless goddess with severe cruelty. A lesson that could have been surely had.. Rather than react, she simply removed the last of the tension with her attention on him. Without another word and with the same liquid grace as she always held within her movements, she pivoted upon the balls of her feet and strode toward couch. She descended into it, instantly finding a comfortable position to drape upon it in a fashion that was near artful. There was no hint of tension within her own body, no touch of malice that could be tasted in any capacity within the air between them. All that coiled tension of a ruthless predator was, in that moment, nowhere to be seen. She had never appeared more at ease within that office, not even those nights when she was believed to be in a good mood, wine glass perched within her slender hand.

Darcy didn't even move, didn't even dare. She almost wanted to call him.... Stupefied in that moment. But she could feel the heavy weight of his eyes that followed her every move as if desperately trying to read this new predicament they found themselves within. It was Risque that finally broke the silence first, with that mention that he could sit, if nothing else. Surely it was well within his ability to do so. It was far better than being slouched against the wall, barely able to keep his own weight up. At the very least it would offer him a modicum of composure when he quite clearly had none standing there.

Unconcerned, she merely offered him a suggestion than a true demand that she expected to be followed to the letter. The choice was his own and somehow, it was enough enough. He said nothing as he willingly closed that distance between them, standing before her and that couch, allowing himself to be within reach, taking residence upon that couch beside her. He was so desperate to put distance between them mere moments ago, she did not anticipate how quickly he had recovered. His very mood seemed so delicately in tune with her own. Still, she did not think he would sit so close to her, but rather at the furthest part of the couch. Her lover was not so lost as she'd thought.

The feline queen began to speak, her words seemed to further calm him like reading a child a bedtime story and yet that sharp edge of fear seemed still within reach. It was then that she finally asked him a question of fear. His response was concise without elaborating. It overrules. He claimed. While true in so many words, she perhaps was expecting something else. Not that she even knew what that was. Although, she supposed that there was more than truth within it. Even as he appeared to settle, he was still fighting against himself. The sound of his teeth grinding against one another, his jaw clenching in a severe way that made his jawbone more prominent and drew her gaze. Such force would shatter a mere mortal's mouth and yet it was like he bit off that thought so he could quite literally chew on it. Even though it sounded like he was chewing on rocks. "It does and it controls. Worse of all, it is an unworthy master." Her voice lowered just a little, those natural melodic notes within her French lilted words rang that now short distance between them. A caress to the senses.

"You are as strong as your greatest weakness, Darcy. Fear is nothing more than a crack in your foundation. It is a place where weakness festers and grows.. The first place the foundation will begin to crumble. Control the fear and... I think you can see where I am going with this...It mends the fissure that can allow anything or anyone to get inside." She paused, giving him something more to think on. Those pale hypnotizing eyes lowered to his lips and yet it was not out of desire but merely to consider his fangs. Those fangs that were safely concealed behind such tender flesh. She had always admired his fangs. So many pointed razor-sharp peaks that were designed to shred and ruin, to bring pain rather than pleasure. Although that was surely not the case in those moments when lost in the throes of passion where she had almost craved and welcomed that damaging bite. At least when she allowed him to.

Not even her feline's mouths were equipped like his. To imagine his teeth far from perfection did not settle at all. It sparked an anger that was not directed at Darcy himself but rather the fool that caused it. The hunter was lucky to be dead. Risque was clearly not beyond that possessive nature than her lover was far more prone to show.

It was at that moment that Darcy finally began to crumble. If only a little bit. Enough to speak freely. Something he rarely allowed himself without that appeasing tone. He couldn't understand why he was acting in this way. "You simply forgot yourself for a moment. You will remember." Those matter-of-fact words sounded, startling even to herself. How dangerously close to a comforting statement and yet how easy they were to be equally ominous too.

This was so very different from any other tactic she has used before and yet.. Change was needed to break through whatever mental barrier that barred her. Most of the wildness seemed to bleed away from his mismatched gaze as fear transformed into what she never thought she would see. Trust. Complete and honest trust. That was even more unexpected than anything else. In truth, she could not recall the last time she had seen it, with the exception of her felines. A byproduct to her power and perhaps that strange bond she had with some of her cats. Trust was such a fragile thing, so easily broken and yet it was placed right in the center of her palm. She was not a safe place to put such delicate emotions. All it would take was a single move and it would all crumble in an instant. Yet she does not crush it even though she was more than capable of doing so. Had done so to others in the past without even a second thought.

He uttered those next words seemed so unlike his usual self. His hand rose to run through his locks in stress at the mere thought of having that tooth tampered with. He used that same bloodied hand, that he had punched through the wall mere moments ago. Her gaze flashed to the movement, eyeing the sight of slight speckle of blood even though the wound was long since healed. The sight of blood was enough to trigger a thought, a plan forming in her complex mind. He wanted to leave the tooth alone. How he already knew the answer to that. "Non. You know that we cannot. Would you rely on a broken gun in battle, Darcy?" Surely he would see the correlation, have it become clearer in his mind. Surely, he would realize that was what it was like to live with a broken fang for a vampire. There was a certain unspoken pride with a vampire's fangs. They used them to claim ownership, to feed, to weaponize, to maim, to destroy.

It was impossible to say if his mind wrapped around his own demons, wanting to smother them. But in an instant, he seemed to renew a new form of panic. Of all things, he was worried by a needle near his mouth? So reactive. She needed to go about this... differently. How in all the years she had known him, she didn't know he would be capable of this. It was almost amusing to think that his fangs had been the ruin to so many and the thought of a needle anywhere near his mouth was too much for the man to bare.

"No needles. That dentist was worthless. You of all beings have no need for pain relief." She could not help that she smiled at the thought almost too fondly. As if it were a compliment. "The last time I checked.. I thought you enjoyed it." She knew just how much he enjoyed most of her punishments, her unique blend of both pleasure and pain.

"I know I do." The she-devil added almost sinfully, deliberately drawing her thumb to her lips even though it appeared an absent minded trail with a single swipe across her lower lip, much like a whisper. She eventually drew it beyond her lips to her teeth, the moment almost subconscious as it was suggestive. It was like she was taken by a thought of something so darkly delicious. Only there was purpose in her movements as the feline queen drew her thumb to her right fang and slowly bit, piercing that unmarred skin. It was no shallow graze, no, she pressed into it to make sure it was deep enough to feel every sensation of it. Deep enough that it wouldn't heal immediately. The familiar tang of her own blood ignited her tastebuds and yet that violent excitement hadn't bloomed. She feigned so painfully oblivious through the whole idea as if wholly focused on a thought that entered her mind as if unaware of how that blood usually affected him.

It was a moment late that she all but removed her thumb from her mouth to examine it with a frown as if she hadn't intended to make such a mess. Hm. Blood welled and gently threatened to spill from that puncture as if she willed it to do so, as though she could feel it. Such a pretty ruby colour it was against her porcelain skin. Her pale gaze shifted toward Darcy who was undoubtedly aware of that scent.

"Oh look what I have done." She cursed, acting like she hadn't intended it all along. "Do you want a taste? Quickly, before it heals, of course. I don't want it to stain my new dress.. It might help bring you back to your senses." She questioned, reaching her hand out and yet only half way, allowing him to be the one to bring her hand to the place he wanted it most and exactly to where she could get that much closer to that mouth his. How curious she was of him in that moment. Wondering how deep that fear truly was. Was it enough to override his bloodlust?

The she-devil tested him in this silent way, so very composed, at ease even though any being would abhor to be bloodied anywhere near this man and those terrifying fangs, especially near such a delicate appendage as a finger that could be so easily bitten. It was quite obviously a risk for them both in that moment and yet she hardly seemed concerned.