Tattletale

Someplace, somewhere, a slender figure reclines in gentle repose, a few moments taken for himself at the very beginning of the night. A slender cellphone sits in one hand, and he places a call.

Ring ring, Chloe. Ring ring.

Chloe, only recently returned home, looks at the phone. Noting the name, she answers it quickly.

"Hey, Will. Just got in."

The response is quickfire, level and not entirely without concern. "Are you alright, Chloe?" he asks. "I felt you."

"I waited last night, but I suppose I was asleep when you finally got in." Chloe is certain he's seen the mark on her face, or heard her cry for help earlier last evening. "Your new Whip injured me." Tattle-tale that she is.

"I passed through," he admits, quietly. "I did not wish to awaken you. Business calls." There is a fraction of a pause, a whisper at the edge of thought. "You are too far away. What occured?"

"I told the two young women he had his eye on at Mary's to run." Beat. "Well telepathically, and I know he doesn't know what I can do… but he saw the look I gave them. My cheek is black, and I've a split lip… which without his help in exiting the bar would have been worse."

"You interfered in his feeding?" Will queries, allowing a small measure of surprise to enter his tone. "You are fortunate I bear claim, else you would be dead. I assume he saw you out once there was the scent of blood on the air. Was it Marius that struck you?"

"It was. I said that it was the Whip," Chloe states, stubbornly. "And I didn't really interfere with anything. He wasn't feeding. He was allowing them to scope him out and he was drinking the synthetic. But I figured you wouldn't want two dead bodies in Mary's, since it's still murder and therefore against human law even if it is a vamp establishment…"

"You would be astounded at the amount of people who go missing through stupidity, and not just from the immortal," Will tells her, with faint reproval to his tone. "However, you are correct in that corpses in the bar could eventually prove troubling. You interrupted him in the course of what could have been investigation-" He cuts off, and in that elsewhere place a faint narrow of eyes takes place, a rare sign of exasperation. "This is a situation where I fear you are both in the right and the wrong, in relatively equal measure. I fear the pair of you are unlikely to become friends."

"Trust me, I don't want to be friends with that sadistic bastard." In Chloe's world, Marius is an enemy, and one that is turning her to Ivan's point of view. Bad, bad, bad for Will. "If he hits me again, I'm going to kill him, just so you know."

An inhuman effort keeps Will's tone level now. "His nature is a barely controlled rampage of destruction, as I warned you of before. He will not break the laws of the land, else he shall face the measure of his Sheriff's displeasure as well as my own." There is a pause, a slightly more pregnant one. "I suppose forbidding you from the attempt would be futile? He will only attack you if you encroach on his domain. In this case, by your own admission, you interrupted him before he had even fed from two female humans. What exactly has he done to cause this ire?"

"It would be, and it would put us at odds, Will." Chloe is stubborn, not shrill, but absolutely stubborn in this. "Telling two idiots to leave a bar is hardly encroaching on his domain. If he really wanted to feed from them, he could have followed them out rather than waste time striking me." Harumph. "He hit me. He drew my blood in a bar filled with vampires — potentially filled with your enemies."

"Then saw you to safety," Will replies, levelly. "You will talk yourself into knots this way. Very well, if you are set on making an enemy of Marius, that is your choice, and I will do my utmost to keep the pair of you from further harming each other." Said like a man who sees every point of view; which he thoroughly, thoroughly does. Then a shift, a total change of subject. "Otherwise, how are you?"

"Beyond the large black mark marring my face, and the explanations I've had to make for it? I'm fine." Chloe pauses briefly. "Though I'm thinking of leaving my job at the library and entering into politics. Ivan's offered me a position at the mayor's office, and provided it causes no issues for you, I may take it."

"I will provide some blood if you wish it," Will offers, easily. He allows a further pause; a final cut to end the previous line and the bad road it takes. "If you wish to take it, I will not stop you. My only concern is that young Ivan's motives are likely less than altruistic. He may attempt to use you against me, though I trust you to not allow it. He may also attempt to poison you against me, which is a much greater fear." Was that an admission of caring? May well have been.

"No, Will. If I take any more of your blood now, the chances of me accidentally turning are extremely high. We've shared too much too often lately." Chloe may not know everything there is to know about being a vampire, but there is that. "You forget that I can hear what Fontane is thinking. He doesn't want to use me against you, he wants to use me against McNaab's political enemies." She snorts a little. "There is a greater chance of Marius' actions poisoning me against you than there is of Ivan's. He's going to leech your humanity from you, and then where will I be?"

"Fontane is a much greater danger to us than Marius will ever be," Will replies, seriously. "Marius is a known factor, a creature who will do exactly as I tell him when I see him, and simply taking care around his temper will end the threat. Ivan is a warlock, he may be able to befuddle your abilities. He is also a talented manipulator and presents opinion as fact in an extremely compelling fashion, casting blame around like a fishing net." A compliment, it seem. "Please, be careful with him."

"He is no danger to me," Chloe says, again stubbornly. Because she knows Ivan won't try to manipulate her abilities, or she won't be able to help Faith any longer. "I may be insubordinate with Marius, but I am not some trollop from the fourteenth century that needs to be treated roughly, or as a maidservant. He needs to learn that women from this age are not going to bow to him just because he commands it, and because he's a vampire. Just keep him away from me, Will… and if he destroys your humanity? Know that you've got a very shrill, very stubborn enemy on your hands."

In that other place, a head shakes. "You have always said I would grow bored of you. Look within yourself, and ask what your current tone and words are suggesting, the lines between lines." There is a faint, old sadness to his tone. An inevitable doom. "I am deeply saddened by your lack of trust in me or my opinion, and by your anger directed towards me that I deserve not. I will be out of town for a few more days."

Chloe draws the phone away from her ear, gives it a really nasty look, sticks her tongue out at it, and then sets it back before she says a word. "My current tone is that I am concerned for the small piece of humanity you cling to, and that I'm not enough to keep it attached to you. My current tone is one of irritation, yes, but also of care and concern for you. I haven't risked my life multiple times, just to lose the part about you that I love the most. Not now." She takes a deep breath, forcing her ire down. Forcing herself to remain calm. "Then I will see you after the weekend. By then my cheek will be a cheerful shade of purple and green, and you can tell me how wonderfully disgusting it looks, and plead with me to let you heal me up."

"Do not fear for me," he tells her, despite the fears he keeps inside. "I have weathered wars and unsettled nations without losing myself. I have seen things to make the hardiest of men crumple with terror. I will be fine." He forces a smile that carries to his tone, the smile that is, rather than the forcing. "You would look enchanting were you tarred and feathered, Chloe. You also know that."

"Flatterer," Chloe says into the phone, the remnants of her anger subsiding. "I love you, you foolish man. Be careful while tending to your business. If I need to go to the estate, I will keep away from your man, and if I find myself in his presence, I will be on my best behavior…" Unless he strikes her again, in which case, she may not be.

"Please, for your sake, for my sake and for the sake of Marius' own safety, be polite and maintain calm. Should he threaten you, calmly remind him that you are the property of the King." Thus, in theory, sacrosanct. "I will see you soon, my shrill darling."

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