How had she done it? More so, how had she done it so perfectly? Had Risque truly mastered the art of shooting in a single moment? The disbelief upon Darcy's own features at Risques seemingly perfect shot was quickly concealed. The vampire was hardly willing to provide their enemies with even a shred of doubt as that crowd cheered for their new champions. Kasey's accusations, however, came nearly as quickly as the growl that rose in Darcy's throat. Did she rarely mean to accuse them of cheating with no proof? Kasey knew that wouldn't fly. Not here. Not in the South. A shot was a shot. That glass bottle had been struck and whether or not they had cheated hardly mattered. Roscoe, in the very least, seemed to be a man of his word. The hulking vampire rose to come to his mates side, tugging her agianst him. That action was as affectionate as it was silently commanding her to silence. Risque's own lyrics sung smoothly from her lips, baiting Kasey further as the younger vampire woman only seemed to simmer further within her outrage. Roscoe's insistence that he would accept that contract for the moonshine was met with a nod from Darcy in turn. If anything could be counted on when it came to these moronic Southerners it was their sense of...business. Especially when that business deal had been one in a shoot-out. A man didn't go back on his word. Not in front of a crowd. Roscoe's words, however, hardly seemed to progress any further. The sudden sound of another gunshot cracked across that open space.

It was instinct alone that saw Darcy reach automatically for Risque, tugging her agianst him and out of harm's way. Those desires to protect his mate and lover distinctly potent within him. That bullet however had found its intended mark. Roscoe seemed to waver upon his feet for barely a moment before the mountain of a man crashed, unconscious, onto the earth below. The dust around him had barely settled before Kasey's finger pointed at Risque with those ludicrous fucking accustations on her lips. Risque had shot Roscoe? Risque's arm had hardly been in the air! The gun was still cold, no smoke snaked from its barrell, let alone the notion that sound had come from far further away....toward the barn. There was a man on that barn roof. If anyone had bothered to look they would surely have seen that-. Darcy's attempt at logic fell on deaf ears. Had he truly expected any less? The people of the South were as they had always been. As quick to keep their word as they were to anger over some perceived break within it. It took barely a shout to rally them. That entire coven itchin' for a fight. Darcy could taste it in their air. They would rally to Kasey in place of her mate. Tey hardly needed a real reason to fight. Any damn reason would do. Darcy's lips pulled back from his fangs in a clear warning. His words cut short. This was going South- in every sense. Such a paltry coven as this would be easy to fight. Between Risque and himself they could decimate it and yet....not like this. That moonshine tugged at his senses. Risque, beside him, still seemed to struggle to stay upright let alone command herself with her usual grace. They were outnumbered, severely so. These were odds he disliked.

Risque handed him back that gun, hi smate having already drawn her own prefered weapon. That knife within her hand reflected briefly in that moonlight. Hmmm. How very skilful she was with that blade. He had seen her with knives before. Each slice and cut and strike so perfectly timed and promptly pointed. It was near...arousing to consider her skills and yet....Kasey's coven was large. His gun had barely any bullets left. His own teeth were weapon enough and yet vampires were a far more difficult enemy to take down then a mere human or sad little Were. Especially with their own senses already dulled from that 'shine. The first vampire lunged suddenly. Darcy near pivoted in place, his gun raised with fluid efficiency to fire off that first shot and bring that vampire man down in a single blow. That, however, so seemed to be the catalyst for all hell to break loose. Darcy, dodged around that second assailant, the world spinning a little more than he truly cared to admit as he found his footing once more before seeking to coax Risque into heading for that car. This was not a fight they would win. Not this time. Not tonight.

That vampiric speed saw Darcy tear across that open space and back toward the truck he had left within the makeshift parking lot. The southern vampire had no sooner reached that prized vehicle then the realization his mate had not followed seemed to strike him. Darcy's mismatched gaze shifted back across that field and amognest the screaming, shouting crowd only to spy his lover once more, her blueblack hair appearing even more so within that moonlight as she faced off agianst Kasey- an a veritable fucking horde of other vampires.

"Jesus Bloody Christ."

Those words were near muttered to himself as Darcy swung open the passenger side door to the truck in readiness before all but tearing back across that field once more. She would punish him for this, he was certain. Somehow. Yet this was a battle she could not win- no matter how much she desired. He had never laid his hands upon her before- at last, not like this- and yet he had no desire to watch a vampiric horde attempt to tear his mate apart. Even with all the skill his Beloved possessed- that moonshine would see her fall. How many men had Darcy seen be brought down by that very drink in a fight? Darcy's hands reached out to grasp her waist, Risque's slender, perfect figure hoisted easily upward as he all but tossed her over his shoulder with that insistence they were leaving. This, the first time in the entirety of their lives, that Darcy had ever been so bold as to command his lover and yet he so hardly had time to consider it. Risque's protests were hardly silent. The woman was content to shout her threats of impending doom upon her enemies that, on any other night, Darcy would surely have been inclined to believe entirely. If Risque promised death it always came. She did not miss and she did not forget. Someway, somehow, she would have her revenge on this town- but not at the cost of her own life- and not tonight. Darcy was near oblivious to the knife his lover hurled- its tip buried deeply into the flesh of Kasey's shooting arm before Risque shouted his name near indignantly once more. Her very tone prompted the cowboy to flinch. How readily he was programmed to...obey. Her every whim and desire his own to carry out. This was a distinct break in their roles yet tonight he so hardly paused. Darcy reached that truck in near record time before moving to lift his girlfriend into the passenger side of the truck, another burst of speed prompting him to appear at the drivers side, that car engine already rumbling to life.

Darcy's foot slammed upon the accelerator as that truck was thrown into reverse. A large, satisfying -thunk- so indicating they had run over at least one more vampire as Darcy whirled that truck around only to force his foot onto the accelerator with enough force to leave dust in their wake as the tyres squealed in their hurry to obey. For all the care Darcy had shown driving up to that barn he displayed none of it now. The Vampiric cowboy so barely managed to stay on the road, that truck rendered airbourne on several occasions as they nearly flew away from that place- the vampires who raced after them slowly but surely beginning to fall back before Darcy at last piloted that truck back to the road. It took barely a moment to allow his own affinity to embrace that metal and steel. That truck shifted around them. It became flatter, lower, longer until the truck existed no more. Their vehicle having shifted to a decidedly sleek black sports car, one that ate away at the ground like a frenzied animal. Darcy, this time, racing to stay ahead of the coming dawn. It was only once they had been on that road for several moments that his gaze dared to shift to the vampiric queen beside him. Her utterly silent demeanor was....dangerous in every fashion. His lips parted and yet those words upon his tongue were all but sliced off by her distinctly darkened command to keep quiet and drive.

Her displeasure was like a knife at his own throat. Darcy so hardly daring to disobey that command for now. The pair left to silence. This had been a night he would sooner forget. In every fucking way. Risques sudden insistence that they had finally lost them prompted Darcy's gaze to shift to the rear-view mirror. That coven, finally, having given up chasing after them altogether. How readily Darcy near braced himself for another lash of her displeasure and yet- she mused upon those names instead. Like why so many of them ended with that y-sound within the South. His own head tilted ever so slightly. Darcy, for the first time, seemed to consider that very thing. His fear of her displeasure in him was momentarily forgotten. Moonshine so always had that effect. No thought ever seemed to last too long.

"Day is jus not dat original. Some o'dem dun even know da whole alphabet, day can't be makin' up new names when day dun even know all da letters."

This, Darcy was certain, was the exact reason everyone's names sounded the same. That and the notion Fathers tended to name their sons after themselves or their own fathers or grandfathers until ever second man you met had the same damn fucking name. Risque's figure seemed to relax into the seat. The release of tension from her frame prompted Darcy's own figure to relax ever so slightly as he drove, that car hardly losing any speed as they raced back towards Atlanta. Risque was silent for a moment longer before suddenly insisting they would speak of this night to no one beyond the notion that it had been an exceptional evening of food, bloodshed and business deals. Darcy's own head nodded. How...willing he was to forget the South. To pretend as if none of it existed. To chase form even Risques mind the memory of the place and the stock he had come from. It was...shameful to compare his pedigree to her own. Peasants. He came from fucking peasents. Darcy was wholly determined to never allow another being to know that very truth.

"I ain't speak nuthin' o dis night again."

Whatever else the Southern cowboy had been determined to add however was abruptly cut off by the near sudden sound of....laughter from Risque. Darcy's gaze shifted away from that road to eye his mate in near bafflement. In all the years they had been together he could count on one hand the amount of times she had truy, genuinely laughed. That rich, exotic, sinfully sweet sound was so rare it was near mystifying. It filled the cabin of the car. Those glorious notes seemed to echo before she exclaimed that they never could just 'go to a party'. Darcy;s own lip quirked upward then, and in a moment of perhaps equal rarity, that near genuine smile found his own features as they softened notably, a warm chuckle inclined to hum within his own throat in a sound so very...alive and lacking any malice or darkness or disdain.

"Darlin', I reckon we makin' a scene everywhere we go cause we was born to stand out."

The mood within that car had settled into something decidedly unique. That feeling one Darcy was near assured he had never truly.....detected between them before. At least not quite like this. They, the both of them, for even just a moment seemed......happily content. For a single, fleeting, perfect moment- they smiled. How very...human. The silence that followed was nothing short of comfortable. Both vampires seemed oddly content before Risque suddenly queried after his powers. A look of confusion, this time, settled upon his features as his head shook.

"Powers? Nah, I ain't come in ta nothin' new since I made dat robot cat for ya dat night."

Darcy's mind so hardly considered that excellent shot Risque had, somehow, managed to make back at the barn. His normally cunning, critical mind, for once, content not to analyse that situation. The moonshine seemed to have soothed what might have otherwise been a burning and undeniable curiosity he would so normally have hunted with predatory determination. Later, perhaps, he would think back on that very thing. That newest affinity that hummed at his fingertips, for now, all but ignored. It was very near an hour later that the lights of Atlanta City finally seemed to pierce the darkness. They had made that trip home in near record time, Darcy having engaged a near significant supernatural speed from that car in order to beat the oncoming dawn. He felt....tired. That feeling near rare enough that he was content to feel it as the car pulled into the parking garage of the hotel. Darcy shut off that engine with ease before appearing at Risque's door to open it for her, his hand reaching upwards to take her own and assist her in sliding from that vehicle before leading the way toward the elevator that took them upward to that penthouse suite. His gaze, several times, content to linger on her figure within that outfit. How...unfortunate that they hardly had time for...anything beyond readying for bed before the rays of the sun broke that horizon.

Darcy moved to close the door to their suite behind him. The purchases Risque had made from the Boot Barn were placed on the nearest lounge for her to sort through the following evening, the vampiric cowboy, for now, focused his attention upon pulling across the blackout blinds and curtains at each window to keep the rising sun out. Darcy reached to kick off his own shoes, those jeans and belt unbuckled with the same smoothness before being tossed onto the nearest chair. His shirt followed a moment later. The cowboy left in little save a favoured pair of boxer shorts. Red silk and printed with several green cactuses. Risque had questioned them extensively the first night he had worn them. Her query on whether or not they were supposed to be some sort of....obscure joke having been all but lost upon Darcy himself. The cowboy so simply liked that design. Darcy lifted one hand to run through his hair, his tousled brunette locks fell haphazardly back into place before he moved to cross the room and towards his lover once more. The vampiric queen had made her way to the bathroom to begin to undress. Risque, even for one night, refusing not to attend to at least some of her skin care routine. Darcy's hands came to rest delicately upon either side of her waist, his lips pressed reverently to the left side of ehr neck. That kiss was as affectionate as it was a near homage to the woman herself.

"When people be askin' where i'm from, I reckon we jus say Geoergia from now on and we dun never mention Jakin again. I also reckon we should burn down Mary-Beth's 'ouse one o dese days. Imma jus sayin'. It would make a hella good bonfire. I can show yar how ta roast hearts- better den marshmallows."

A simper tugged at his lips once more. Darcy pressed them a final time to his mate's cheek before stepping out of the bathroom to leave her to finish her nightly routine. The vampiric cowboy moved toward that spacious king bed then, tugging those blankets down before settling himself on his side of the bed to wait.

"Ya comin' to bed soon, darlin?"

Did it really take that long to put cream on her face? Her face always looked good. She could miss one night surely. Darcy shifted down that bed, his head resting on the pillow. He could wait. He wasn't tired at all. It was, perhaps, some thirty seconds later that Darcy shifted onto his stomach, one arm and one foot hanging near comically out of the bed. The vampire was nothing short of entirely comfortable- and entirely asleep.

We are rough men and used to rough ways.