The silence of the car enveloped her in the wake of those words, her distant gaze noting each streetlight they passed and timing it with her breathing. It helped steady her, along with her affinity it calmed the unease that roiled in her stomach at the very mention of the dark time before she had returned to the city. Her delicate hands gripped the warm cup of tea, centering herself around the warmth as she raised it to her lips and ignoring the slight tremor that gave away her apprehension. The soft sound from Sebastian registered as she lowered the drink back down and settled it in her lap once more though she did not look back at him just yet. The gentle offer he made gave her pause, one slender finger pausing mid stroke on that cups textured exterior. Her body tensed imperceptivity as she weighed the idea of unburdening her darkest secrets onto the vampire, so different from how they typically spent their time together. Would this change how he saw her, make her some broken thing in his eyes? She didn't think she could stomach seeing the pity in his eyes.

Yet even she could admit that she needed to release the history she had been denying and repressing for months now before it consumed her. Exhaling slowly she forced the tension from her shoulders, anchoring herself to the lack of inhibitions she was able to wrap around herself before running one hand through the gentle waves of her golden hair and turning to gaze upon the familiar features of his face. There was a gentleness in his crystalline eyes, one that beckoned to her in a different manner than normal though it was no less intense. Her fingers trailed from her hair to rest at the base of her neck where they grazed the raised skin of the scar that begun there and offered him a sad smile. "I don't know if I would like to... but I think I need to."

Sighing softly she settled back against the car door so she could face him easily before searching for where to start. So many choices had led her down the road to perdition. "I went east when I left Sacrosanct and bounced around from one city to the next, anywhere I could find a mark, make some money, and move on before anyone was the wiser." She wasn't actually sure if Sebastian was aware of her previous... occupation before she had fled the city before but undoubtedly he was smart enough to put together the pieces of the puzzle. "I ended up in Chicago when I first met him in a bar, of course. He was charming, handsome..." a melancholy smile played at the edges of her sweetheart lips as she eyed him and laughed breathily. "I guess I have a type. He didn't seem like anything special then, flashy with money like most rich men which made him the perfect target." Clenching her teeth she struggled against the memory that flashed in her mind with frightening clarity. "Alaric." She forced his name from her lips though the very sound of it tasted like poison in her mouth.

Suppressing a shudder she wrapped her arms around herself, her fingers picking up that familiar pattern in rapid succession but she had come too far to stop now. "It all went according to the usual plan, I got him back to a hotel room but it was then that things went sideways. What I put in his drink never seemed to kick in and either he gave me something or did something but it all just goes dark. I woke up in a cage with no idea where I was, but he quickly showed me he was far from normal." She bit off the last word as the story came rushing out of her with such intensity, as if stopping now was nearly impossible. "He was a Fae of some sort who liked to collect things... supernatural or otherwise, things that were rare or unique. There was a whole Menagerie he called it and he liked to play with his toys. He... he could control others, he could force me to change, he.." She broke off, the bitterness in her voice mixing with terror and abject anguish. Tears stung at the corners of her hazel eyes and she swiped at them with the back of her hand, looking away from the suave, composed figure that sat opposite her with a shaky breath. She couldn't meet his eyes right now, focusing on the lid of that cup nestled in her lap as she continued to draw those slow circles on the smooth skin of her arm even as the scars that crisscrossed her back seemed to throb at the memory. They said working through pain and trauma was good for you all she knew right now is that it was a real buzz kill.