Living in the New world (DovaKittenxFrelance)

Jackson Aquil Markus stood glanced at the warlock that was standing a few feet away watching him. His lips curled up in a snarl even though no sounds came out. He knew the man was just doing his job but he was on edge since it had been over a week since he had last drank from a human and as much as he had been told what he had been able to buy human blood he could hardly stand the taste it. It tasted like human blood but it was like eating plain rice or any other bland food. It was much worse than eating those foods. His head snapped back forward faster than any normal human would be able to do as he heard his name being spoken by someone around the corner. Closing his eyes for a moment he tried to calm himself as he listened to the heard beats around him before opening his eyes and watching the corner that he was certain whoever had spoken his name would be coming around.

He tried to relax but some habits from his human years never left him as he stood feet shoulder width apart back straight and he almost crossed his arms behind his back but stopped himself at the last moment and stuffed them into the pockets of the leather trench coat he was wearing over a pair of grey jeans and a black t-shirt. He had been told that he would be introduced to his guardian who would help him get used to living in this city that used to be his home. Things were different now though when he had last been hear he had been signing up to go and fight the monsters that he had now joined.

"Helena, honey, why don't you come have a cup of tea with your mom before you head out. It's not like I'm around often." There it was, obligatory 'I travel for a work a lot so do what I want' guilt card. Helena sighed as she dropped her eyeliner pencil into her makeup bag that was sitting in the sink before shuffling towards the kitchen where her mother's plea came from. Her mother who was much older than she looked was warming her hands with her favorite tea cup before she motioned to the chair across from her, which screeched across the tile floor as if it'd been pulled out by an unseen hand. Begrudgingly, Helena trudged her platform boots over to the chair and sat down as she crossed her arms. Her black liner covered amethyst eyes looked down at the cup of tea her mother poured for her before looking up at the older woman, "Chamomile. No sugar or cream, just how you like it," her mother smiled, her watery blue eyes focused on her spawn. Helena just shrugged, "What is it, mom? I’ll be late." It was always something with her mother and there was no such thing as a friendly chat, her tone mirrored just how uninterested she was.

"Late for meeting with your friends," the older woman clicked her tongue, "I'll never understand why you don’t spend more time perfecting your craft. You have a home and a well-paying job, all provided by me. The least you could do is try to improve your skills." Helena’s mother had never accepted that the magic gene skipped her daughter who was simply a Wiccan. And that well-paying job she was referring to was nothing more than a shop keep of a magic shop that did dangerously accurate tarot readings. The shop, which they lived above, actually belongs to her mother but she was a part of a Special Task Force which meant she was home maybe once or twice a year. Though you’d have a hard time convincing her daughter that some of those business trips were all business. The young woman rolled her eyes as she continued to ignore the cup of tea, she wasn't going to argue with her mother as it was like talking to a brick wall, so she remained silent while she waited for her mother to get to the point. But her mother wasn't giving up, "Really, I think you should take up a semester at the Witches Institute. Take a few classes about being a Guardian, at the very least."

"Absolutely not," Helena said simply. She was a bit old for teenage rebellion, but she’d accepted that she didn’t have any real powers and she just wanted her mom to accept it too.

The older woman pushed a manila folder towards her pouting daughter, "You've been assigned, Helena," she revealed with an exasperated sigh.

The chair screeched across the floor again but this time it was because Helena stood suddenly as she slammed her hands on the table which shook causing droplets of tea to spill on the tabletop. Every year for three years since her eighteenth birthday she wasn't assigned and she was more than happy about it. It allowed her to do just what she wanted to do; hang out with friends, party, draw. But her mother never liked that as she was always bugging her about attending the Institute, even if she was in another country she would send her daughter e-mails about courses that were starting soon. She was certain the woman had something to do with the sudden assignment but she didn’t say any of the awful things she was thinking. Instead, Helena reached out to take the folder, open it and read it before looking back down at her mother, “A Vampire? How cliche.”

It was weeks before Helena was actually meant to meet her new charge as there was a lot of red tape and precautions to take before the government could be certain that the subject was ready for rehabilitation. And she’d spent those weeks partying as if another day wasn’t promised. The alarm clock buzzed loud in her ear and it had been buzzing for five minutes every ten minutes since two hours ago. Blinking awake she rubbed her eyes to read the red digital numbers, “Shit,” she hissed before jumping out of bed. She didn’t even bother to take a shower before she rushed out of the apartment, pulling on her clothes as she went. Speeding to the Final Hope Center, she jogged into the building before coming to a halt in the waiting room, every pair of eyes that could see stared at her. Admittedly, she wasn’t exactly professionally dressed like most Wiccans. She smoothed down her tight, black leather mini-skirt that didn’t need smoothing before nervously shifting in her lose fitting sheer red button down shirt, a black leather bikini top visible underneath it. “Okay,” she mumbled as she looked away from everyone and started to move towards an open seat, her platform Mary Janes clunking against the tile floor. Before she even got to the chair, “Helena Blake,” someone called her attention.

She stood up straight and smiled at the official looking woman, "That's me. I'm here to see,"

"Markus, Jackson," she completed Helena's sentence, "This way."

The purple-haired Wiccan followed obediently as the woman chastised her for being late; it seemed she was always prompting someone to give her lecture. She wished there were a polite way to express how much she didn’t care even though in this case she did feel bad for being so late thanks to her little bender. The secretary brought Helena into a small conference room where her charge had already been waiting before the secretary left the two alone.

Helena stood a moment as she looked the Vampire over. He was a younger Vampire so he didn't look as scary and decrepit as the older ones, but he was still very intimidating. Which she wanted very much not to reveal to him, "Jackson, I presume," she said as she offered her hand for a handshake

Jackson clenched his jaw as he realized that the girl who was lead into the room was supposed to be his guardian. As she stood there looking him over he did the same even as he tried to ignore the fact that she obviously had not showered. When she offered her hand to shake he waited a moment before reaching out and took her hand shaking it firmly. As they shook the sleeve of his coat pulled back giving her a glimpse of the edge of a tribal tattoo that circled his wrist and ran up his arm. When he let go of her hand and picked up the mug on the table and quitely draining it of its contents before setting it on the table and licking the rest of blood off his lips before asking. "And you are?" He wasn't going to confirm who he was since she should already know. He walked around he towards the door only to stop and lean against the door as he Warlock cleared his throat. He leaned against the door frame as he asked. "How old are you 19?" He was half expecting someone to come in and tell him there was a mistake and this girl was not his guardian. "I don't see why I would be paired with someone as young as you. It does say I am over a hundred years old or did someone guess my age by my looks." He knew he should try to be nicer but the last thing he wanted to do was stay in Final Hope Center any longer than he need to. Not after he had already been waiting longer than he really needed to.

Just by the way he looked at her she knew he didn't think much of her. Not that she blamed him, she was the daughter of one of the most powerful Witches the world had ever seen, a naturally gifted Witch. But Helena was nothing more than a Wiccan and she was holding a grudge against the whole world for that. So, as they shook hands, she decided this Vampire didn't get to judge her.

She caught a glimpse of a tribal tattoo that looked like it was the real deal, actually of a tribe and one that he'd earned but she couldn't see much of it and he was already pulling his hand away to return to his blood. Both of her eyebrows raised as she gave a nervous smile while watching him lick the blood from his lips, "Jesus Christ, manners," she mumbled under her breath. She was about to tell him her name but he continued on and she watched as he walked over to lean against the door frame.

When he was finally finished, "You done," she asked, just in case. "My name is Helena Blake. You were paired with me because the powers that be willed, not because of my or your age. But to answer your question, I'm twenty-one as of just a few weeks ago. I'm an Aquarius but I was born on a cusp so sometimes I can be a bit of a Capricorn. I had left over pizza and beer for breakfast and my favorite color is purple." Even the Warlock couldn't contain his amusement as he chuckled as quietly as he could, drawing Helena's attention, "You can go," she told the Warlock. He stared blankly at her and then to Jackson and back at her, "Goodbye," she chimed before he finally did leave.

She walked over to a chair and pulled it out before she took a seat, setting her bag on the tabletop as she searched through it for something, "So, do you wanna keep playing twenty questions or do you want to get out of here?" She asked before she pulled out a tablet and pressed a button to bring it to life before she looked up at him.

Jackson listened to her and as she answered his questions while giving him more information then he really needed. When the warlock chuckled Jackson shot him a cold glare that turned to a cruel smile as the warlock looked at him then back to Helena. He watched the man go before he sat down and glanced at the tablet before shrugging off his jacket revealing the spiralling tribal tattoos that snaked their way up his arms. Instead of hiding some of the old combat scars and some ritualistic scaring the tattoos worked to highlight them making it almost impossible to miss the raised while lines of scar tissue as the tattoos ran on either side. On one arm one of the scars had been incorporated into a tattoo of a grim reaper so that the scar was the blade of its syth with the tip red with blood. "Fine, lets get this over with so that we can leave and you might want to think about taking a shower when you can. You smell like you were pressed up against at least a dozen other people." He was not sure if it was just her sent coming off her clothing and her at different concentrations of if it was someone else's scent mixing with hers but it really didn't matter to him. Not at the moment anyway. "So what do you need from me before we can leave?" His voice was still sharp but he was obviously trying to relax and not snap at her as he shook out his arms and cracked his neck before sitting back in the chair.

The moment he revealed his tattoos, Helena did everything she could to keep from jumping out of her chair and running over to admire them up close. She'd been right, these real tribal tattoos that marked the journey of a warrior and his journey was impressive. So impressive that she was finding it a bit difficult to breathe, "Great job, Helena. Way to let the Vampire know that you're not intimidated by him," she thought to herself as she tried to get a grip. She placed the tablet on the table, off to the side before she reached in her bag again.

His comment about her hygiene was met with a smile and narrowing of her unnaturally red eyes as she rummaged through her bag again, "All at the same time," she pretended to brag about an orgy that never happened. Finally, she pulled out a lacquered, black box with a Celtic Knot carved into the center that was painted green. She set the box in front of her before she pulled out a deck of cards that were terribly worn around the edges as they had been passed down for generations in her family, "I have to read your cards," she said as she shuffled the deck, "And then I have to read your aura. Then I get to fill out a form saying whether or not I think you're fit for re-introduction to society." She smirked at him as if to say he should be on his best behavior, but Vampires were volatile creatures and she knew she shouldn't expect much.

Jackson arched an eyebrow as he heard her heart start to race and her breathing change when he took off his shirt but he stopped himself from saying anything and instead he just listened to her while she dug through her bag. After a second he cocked his head the the side and studied her as he tried to see any resembles with the famous Witch Blake. He thought there might be some resemblances but it was hard to tell with all the make up she had on. He stopped trying to figure out if she was related to who he thought she was when she insinuated that she had been in an orgy and just studied her looking for any sign that she was lying to him.

He focused on whats he was saying as she pulled out a well worn deck of tarot cards and explained that she needed to do a reading before she could give him a pass or say he should not be allowed to re-rehabilitate. "Give me a passing grade and Maybe I will let you take a close look at my service record." He gestured to the tattoos on his arms just to make sure she understood and returned her smirk.

The cards snapped against one another one last time before she straightened the cards by slamming the deck against the tab with a loud pang that reverberated through the room. She hoped it would do some damage to his highly sensitive ears and he'd stop staring at her the way he had been since she started shuffling, like she was a meal or something. She started to lay out the cards, pulling one from the top of the deck before laying it on the center of the table so both of them could see. She glanced up at his tattoos when he gestured towards them, it really was a good bargaining chip but she was a bit aggravated that she'd been read so well by him. It was to be expected from a Vampire though. Rather than show him how aggravated she was, she pretended she was much too busy with whatever she was doing to hear him.

Still, she hadn't bothered to tell him but it was highly unlikely that he wouldn't pass. He had a history of being a war hero, some of the older Warlocks and Witches spoke so highly of him that even if she had declined him, they would have likely overturned her judgement. She didn't say much of anything as the cards fell on the table, with each one her expression more serious, the wrinkle in her brow deepening. Without a word, she swept up the cards and started to shuffle again before laying the cards down. Then a third time, the magical number among witches, this time she was faster.

Helena blinked at the cards, mouth slightly agape as she sat back in her chair with a sigh before she finally looked at the Vampire across from her. Something in his cards had disturbed her, "You're here because you resent being turned. You want to be accepted into the folds of humanity again but," she paused as she touched one of the cards. The inverted Star, "You're uncertain. Torn about being accepted versus embracing what you are." That part, she didn't mind so much, she was starting with the positive.

"You will make a powerful connection with someone," she said, pointing to the Lovers in an upright position beneath the Widow, "Not powerful as in your love for each other but the two of you will make a strong team. You'll bring out the best traits in one another and make each other better, stronger, more powerful. The world will see you as a threat."

She pointed to the last four cards; the Reaver, the Traitor, the Warlord, and the Devil. They were all upside down, "You'll bring about change and... You're future doesn't exactly look bright because of it," she scoffed, "And whoever that partner of yours is, you'll bring them down with you." She had shuffled the deck and laid these cards out three times and every time they fell exactly the same and that alone was a bad sign. Her first ever charge assignment and he was a walking death omen.

Jackson tensed as he tried not to let it show just how much it hurt when she slammed the deck against the table. He narrowed his eyes slightly at her as he clenched his jaw. The sound the cards made were not the loudest sound he had heard but at least when he was getting shot at or shooting at someone he at least knew it was coming and was able to prepare for it. Crossing his arms he was tempted to do something to the little wiccan to repay her but he forced himself to stay calm so that hopefully they could get out as fast as possible.

As she dealt the cards he didn't give each card more than just a quick glance having never put much weight in Tarot card readings. When she dealt the cards again and they came up the exact same he sat up a bit straighter in the chair getting more interested with every card she dealt. As she dealt them a third time with the exact same results he looked up at Helena expectantly as she looked down at the cards mouth slightly open. As she sat back in her chair Jackson leaned forward and drumming his fingers on the table slowly until she started to explain what the cards meant.

He stayed silent the whole time she explained the cards to him. Slowly sitting back in his chair as she finished with his past and started talking about his future. Up until then he had just stared passively at her not wanting to let on just how close to the truth she had gotten with her reading. When she started to explain the rest of the cards he crossed his arms and just shook his head slowly. He hadn't come back just to fight another battle and become a threat in someone else eyes again. He had spent half his mortal life being a target and then after he was turned the men and women he had thought of as brothers had turned on him.

Chuckling at her comment about his future not looking to bright he just shook his head and looked at her. "Look believe what you want but I have been around long enough to know that my life is a dark one and I bet if you go pick up a newspaper and read the horoscope it will have something just as vague and onerous. So let's just finish this so we can leave and I can finally get my things back." He didn't know if there were horoscopes in the newspapers anymore but it didn't really matter. He had just said the first thing to come to mind as he tried to rationalize what she had said and tried not to think about the chances of her dealing the same cards in the same order each time.

Without warning, she leaned forward and slammed her hands on the table as she glared at him. She was about give him a lecture about how serious this was, about how Wiccans were connected with the Powers the Be and the messages they sent weren't to be taken lightly. She was going to implore him to listen and let her help him. But before the words could leave her mouth, she realized how much she would have sounded like her mother and the worst fate she could ask for was to become anything like that woman. Helena just smiled and shook her head as she swiped the cards off the table and placed them into the box. She stood as she continued to gather her things, "If you don't wanna take this seriously, that's fine. But the Coven will. When they hear about this reading and they will because I have to report it, they'll keep a very close eye on you and me, by association. Which just sounds like a total drag to me. So, you're on your own!"

She seemed cheery as she tossed her messenger bag across her shoulder, holding the tablet in her hand as she tapped the screen and crossed over to him. "It'll take about six weeks for them to match you with another Guardian. You'll probably have to stay in the Hold." The Hold was basically a concentration camp for Vampires, Werewolves, and Fey disguised as a short-term waiting area for those who hadn't been placed with a Guardian yet. There were some lifers there, too. There was a lot of crime and deaths as it wasn't terribly regulated. She placed the tablet in front of him, "You have to sign it. It just states that I gave the reading and you heard it."

Jackson flinched as she slammed her hands down on the table and was half way to his feet before he realized he was about to attack her. His mouth was open in a snarl his fangs extended as he stared her down for a few seconds before he slowly relaxed and sat back down in the chair. He shook his head as she spoke then as she started to pack up he was about to speak up when she mentioned how long it would take before he was matched with another guardian. He gripped the table digging his fingers into it and bending the metal as he tried to calm himself. "Don't try to threaten me. I know all about the hold. I was one of the original five hundred they placed in that place." He took a few breaths as put the tablet in front of him. Picking it up he looked up at her. "I never said I didn't take your reading seriously. I just choose not to put all my faith in it. One of your kind gave me a reading long ago and she told me that the battles I had ahead of me would be my rebirth. Which came true but it would have been nice to know that I would literally be reborn after bleeding out in the middle of the street as my unit was torn apart in front of my eyes." He held eye contact with her as he spoke wanting to make sure she heard what he had to say. "If you were in my place would you think highly of anything a tarot card reading told you?"

He sat back in the chair and started to tap and swipe at the screen seeing what else he could gain access to since he doubted she had thought to lock the tablet to just the signature screen. "Now sit down and we can talk about this but leave now and I will not sign. Oh and if you try to get out of this assignment without at least trying to do your duty I am sure I know at least a few people who can let you mother know just how undeserving of the Blake name you are." He had recognized her mother in her when Helena had slammed her hands down on the table. He had never met the women in person but he had seen some footage of her to recognize her family when he saw her in them. "Also the next time you slam something against the table I will throw you against the wall." As he spoke his threat there was not anger left. He had let her do it twice but he was tired of trying to just sit there and deal with this child and to him that was what she was.

While a great deal of motivation to remain calm came from the way he stared her down, fangs easily visible and eyes holding his murderous intent, it wasn't enough to make her chill with the attitude. Vampires didn't scare her. It was in her blood not to be afraid of them. Intrigued by them, excited, and occasionally intimidated-- Yes. But never scared. She watched, head cocked to one side as he bent the metal table and she smiled as she listened to his story about 'her kind' that had last read his fortune.

Her eyes didn't stray from his until he started fiddling with the tablet and he called her bluff. Her eyes rolled as she closed them slowly, he knew she couldn't leave without his signature and she was stuck here which was upsetting enough. But then, he brought her mother into it. No matter how hard she tried to escape it, the strong family resemblance that ran in the Blake line was impossible to hide, it was infuriating. She placed one hand, gently on the table as she leaned closer to him so they could see eye to eye. "We'll work together, Jackson. We'll figure this all out so you can get on with your life and I can get on with mine. But you should know, I don't give two shits if you let my mother know how 'undeserving' I am of the Blake name, because you're absolutely right," she shrugged as she straightened back up and turned away to walk back to her sit, "I don't deserve it."

It was embarrassing. Every single Blake woman was a Witch, a very powerful Witch and she was what her mother like to call a, late bloomer. She sat down in the chair across from him as she laid her bag back on the table. It didn't bother her that he was looking through her tablet, her life was an open book to just about anyone and she had little to hide. However, she had forgotten about a few questionable pictures taken of her the night before, dancing on a bar with only her bra and pair of leather pants on. "As for the wiccan that read your cards. She wasn't the spawn of Beatrice Blake. She couldn't read as accurately as I can and with time, your future will become more clear to me," she shrugged, "Maybe."

Helena suffered from the occasional vision about a person's past or future if she was very close to them. The last incident being when she was in the middle of making love to the last boyfriend she'd ever had. She saw his death and immediately started to cry at the vision of the gruesome death which caused him to stop, get dressed, and leave. She never heard from him again, though she liked to believe it was because he was hit by a bus as her vision suggested. A giggle escaped the girl before she covered her mouth and tried to contain herself once she realized how incredibly insensitive that was. Since then, she made an effort not to get close to anyone else.

"But if you throw me against a wall, I probably won't be able to help you. So, lay off the threats and I will too," she rolled her eyes, "so we can work together." As she waited for his response, she pulled the black box out once again before opening it and taking out two clear crystals strung onto a silver chain.

To say he was disappointed that Helena had not shown any fear but after just a second he guessed that he should have expected it. She was a Blake and that family made even the oldest of vampires pause and think before they did something involving a Blake. Once he had looked away from her he was amused to find that she had not locked the tablet to just the signature screen. He had just opened her gallery when she leaned down on the table getting his attention. Taking his eyes off the screen he met her gaze listening to what she had to say. It took him few seconds to accept that she had agreed that she didn't deserve her family name and what it implied. He had thought that he would strike a nerve but he was expecting anger not agreement. "Deal. The faster we do get this done the sooner we can try to figure this out." He decided not to push her when it came to her family.

"Maybe?" He shook his head and put his hands up palms facing her as soon as the question had left his mouth. "Never mind, I am not going to pretend to know anything about you or any other person with your gifts." He never wanted to admit it now but he had tried to see if he had access to any magic but if he did he was never able to find it. That had been before he joined the armed forces which had not been his first choice but at the time he had felt that it was the only way he could protect his country and as it turned out he was good at killing even before his maker had turned him.

He looked back down at her tablet and his eyebrows rose as he saw the picture that had loaded when he opened the gallery app. He just glanced up at her for a moment a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth as he looked back at the picture of Helena dancing on a bar with just a bra and a pair of leather pants on. "Alright no more threats but I want you to show me where this bar is." Smirking slightly he turned the tablet around to show her the picture of herself while he watched her take out the two crystals. After holding up the tablet for a few moments he slid the tablet across the table to her. "So what are you going to do with those?" He indicated the crystals that she was holding.

Helena placed the crystals on the table in front of her as he spoke, before pulling out a twig of sage. She opened her mouth to explain the 'maybe' part but shrugged when he decided he didn't want to know. It was probably for the best anyways. Her eyes lingered on him a moment when she saw his eyebrows raise, curious to what he was looking at that could be so surprising and she soon found out he turned the tablet towards her. She inhaled sharply through her nose and forced a smile as she pretended not to be embarrassed, but the pink glow on her pale cheeks gave her away.

"Sure. If you're a good boy and let me cleanse your aura, I'll be happy to take you to that bar," she said as she reached out to stop the tablet with her hand, and slide it off to the side. She flicked her finger tips at the screen until the pictures were gone, "I'll explain 'em in a sec."

Helena stood, pulled a lighter from her bra and lit the sage, she could have easily spoken a few words to light the sage magically but she wasn't in the habit of using magic that way. As the sage burned, she whispered in Latin so hushed and rapidly that it was difficult to discern exactly what she was saying. Her eyes took on an eerie blue-white glow that filtered through her red contacts to turn them fuchsia. At first what she saw was normal, there was lots of blue which she thought was accurate considering how very clam he was. There was a thin lining of red which wasn’t too alarming, if anything, it told he was passionate about some things but still able to keep a cool head. Then at his center, she noticed a darkness that was unlike anything she’d ever seen. It seemed to be pulsating and growing by the second.

“Holy shit,” Helena whimpered before she remembered there was an actual person standing in front of her. She blew out the sage so the earthy smelling smoke curled up into the room, the glow of her eyes slowly dissipating as she looked up at him. She cleared her throat, “Sorry, it’s just been a while since I read anyone’s aura,” she lied. Helena read auras almost every day at her shop, but she didn’t want to bring too much focus on that darkness growing inside of him. She started to methodically move the smoking sage around his body, creating a smoky halo over his head before moving to his chest and reaching across his arms. When she came to his core she lingered there a long moment before she squat down, keeping her knees pressed together while her free arm hugged herself, to continue the cleansing down his legs and feet.

Helena hopped up and cleansed herself since the sage wasn’t done burning, whirling it about her head just as it burned out. She placed the remainder of the sage back in the box before picking up the two silver chains with perfectly clear, jagged crystals hanging from each one. “These are the reason for the cleansing. If you’re aura is all blocked up these don’t work properly,” she put as simply as she could. “They read you, pretty accurately, but it depends on the Wiccan just how well it works. Anyways, both of us will wear one and it’ll give us a sort of bond. I’ll feel what you feel and vice versa. If you’re close, I’ll know. If you’re far, I’ll know. And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, but you shouldn’t stray too far from your Guardian.”

One corner of her lips twitched upwards, it wasn’t exactly a smile but she wasn’t frowning either. It was just awkward to think of herself as a twenty-something Guardian to a possibly hundreds of years old Vampire, it was a bit insane to think about. She raised one of the necklaces and placed it over his head before giving him an almost apologetic look and putting her own on. A pink cloud swirled about inside her crystal as it slowly turned the entire crystal into a blackened purple. Helena held the crystal up, blinking at the sinister darkness of her crystal, normally when she wore necklaces like this they were a very vibrant purple or light violet, but never this dark. She looked over at Jackson's which had started out red but was now completely black, almost as black as that of the aura reading. The Wiccan swallowed hard as she could see that his energy had almost completely taken over her own, which she knew was dangerous. ”Maybe I really should have taken some classes,” she thought to herself as she turned away from him.

Jaskson smirked as he watched her try to hide her embarrassment and fail. Even if she had been able to hide it from a normal human he still would have been able to tell. "A reward system hu? I might be able to deal with that." Chuckling he stood and moved away from the table letting his arms rest against his sides so she could do whatever she could cleanse his aura. He had never let anyone do this for him before so he watched her carefully as she muttered a few words in Latin and was more than a little surprised to see her eyes go from read to fuchsia. He had started to think that something might actually go smoothly when he heard her whimpered curse and he brought is arms up to cross over his chest. Jackson was staring at her expectantly when she cleared her throat and looked at him. He didn't really believe her but decided not to push the matter right now. He didn't want to say anything that might piss her off and make all of this take longer than this needed to.

When she blew out the sage and the earthy smell hit him he grimaced and fought the urge to rub his nose. He couldn't remember when he stopped liking the smell of sage smoke but whatever made his not like the smell had done a good job because even though he had forgotten the memory he still hated the smell. He was tempted to hold his breath when she started to cleanse his aura but forced himself to breath in deeply. When it was finally over though he stepped away from her and the smoke. "Wasn't there any other herb that you could have used." His dislike was obvious even though after he had breathed the smoke in it the smell was not nearly as bad not that he let Helena know.

As she explained how the necklace worked he looked at the crystal with a dark and cold expression. Taking the necklace from her he put it on grudgingly but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he saw just how dark the crystal became. "Looks like someone has a dark aura? Still a bit prissy with me are we?" He looked up at her again as he heard her swallow and then looked at her crystal only realizing then that his aura was the one that was making the crystals so dark. "Well this should be fun. Maybe this leash won't be so bad after all." He waited a few moments before asking. "Are we done now or is there anything else you need to do to me before we can leave and I can pick up my things?" He was careful to keep his impatience out of his voice as he asked the question. "You have done a Tarot reading and cleansed my aura so can't we do anything else outside I would like to get some fresh air." He was more interested in getting to the small red mints that were hidden inside his bag but she didn't need to know that.

Distracted with the condition of his aura and the tarot reading, she had only shook her head when he complained about the use of sage. And now with the necklaces she was even more worried that being tied to this particular Vampire would prove to be a challenge she was not prepared for. As he spoke, she picked up her tablet and began flicking at the screen to finish filling out official forms about whether or not Jackson was fit for re-rehabilitation. She omitted just about everything that had happened to avoid being watched by the Coven or having his request denied. She didn't know why she was helping him, she just felt like it was something she needed to do. She cocked an eyebrow when he commented on the necklaces and it being fun, it seemed he'd figured out that it was his aura, not hers that was running the show.

She turned the tablet towards him, "Just sign this and we can go." As she waited for him to read over the form, she started packing her things before she thought that they had been here a while. "Are you hungry," she asked, "I'm not really responsible for seeing to it that you're fed but there's a place not too far from here where you can get blood. We should probably stock up before we get home."

He saw her eyebrow crook up at his comment and just smirked deciding not to say anymore for the moment. Jackson took the tablet and quickly read what he as signing then quickly signed where she had indicated. Looking up at her question he nodded slowly as he reminded himself that the blood she was talking about was either the synthetic stuff that he would never touch or the tasteless blood that was harvested from clones. "What you are talking about is not blood but yes I am hungry so lets go pick some up." He handed the tablet back to her then waited until she was ready to go before he followed her out of the room.

As they came back to the lobby he waited until Helena had submitted the paperwork before went to mess cage set into one wall with a young man sitting behind it flanked by a witch and a warlock who regarded him with suspicion as he approached. Pulling a card from his pocket he slid it through the hole at set at desk level. "I want my belongings. My paper work should be going through now and as much as I have enjoyed my time with your, organization. I would rather move on." He gave all three a cold smile as the young man took his card and checked his computer to make sure Jackson was telling the truth before getting up and walking through a vault door. When he came back out he was rolling what once was a standard military issue pack. Much of the straps had been replaced by very thin and flexible metal. When the man tried to lift it so he could place it on the counter he was surprised by how much it weighed. It took all his strength just to lift it onto the counter and slide it through the hole. "I need you to sign here as proof that you got your things back." Jackson ignored the paper for a few minutes while he searched through his bag making sure everything was still there. Only after he pulled out a pair of dog tags there looked to be at least a century old and put their chain around his neck did he sign the paper work. Once that was finished he shouldered he bag as if it were empty and went back to Helena to wait for her to lead the way. As he waited he started to wonder what he might be able to do with the necklace since it was his aura that was over powering the connection. He didn't know much about the way the necklaces worked but he did know that it was supposed to be guardian's aura that was in control of the connection.

Helena rolled her eyes when he corrected her about the blood and resisted the urge to tell him to get over it. Instead, she smiled as he handed the tablet back to her and as she tapped at the screen to send it in, she made her way out of the interview room. The moment they were in the hallway, it felt like a weight had been lifted even though she was very much tethered to another person. Most of her life had been spent alone, her mother was gone so much that she practically raised herself and now she would have to live with this Vampire whose attitude was easily worse than her own.

In the lobby she was stopped by the woman at the front desk and told to sign another form stating that she was leaving with her charge. She quickly scribbled her name on the dotted line as she looked over her shoulder at Jackson rifling through a military pack before he put on a set of dog tags. He was in the military before he was turned, she realized and she wondered if that was when he was turned, but she didn't pry as she very much wanted to get herself a drink too. She walked over and stopped beside him, "Ready," she asked as she tossed her bag over her shoulder and led the way out.

Outside of the building there was chanting going on that could be heard faintly before they even opened the door, Helena sighed as she knew exactly what it was. She opened the door and there was a crowd of protesters with signs that read, 'Blood Suckers Aren't People' and other insensitive claims about the pact. "Life for them is death for us," they shouted in unison over and over again. She looked over at Jackson almost apologetically before she pressed on through the crowd when one of the protesters blocked her path, "Don't you have any shame? You Wiccans might as well be classified as non-human," one man shouted in her face as the others behind him closed in, "Dirty leech lover. I hope he turns you into a blood doll." Blood dolls were like mindless slaves that were bound to one vampire to be used for feeding, they showed no emotion and had no free will, it was illegal in most places for vampires to create blood dolls but laws were being made to make it legal if the human agreed to it. Still, it was terribly uncouth to wish such a fate on someone, especially a Wiccan. Helena seemed very calm on the outside but these protesters were quickly turning into a mob and her eyes started to dart around for some sort of official to break it up.

(( sorry it took so long to get a reply, been a little busy >.< ))

"As I will ever be. It will be good to see the faces of the those ungrateful shits that have been yelling all day." He had been listening to the protesters for the better part of the day as he sat in the lobby but since he had been brought in through the parking garage he had not seen them as of yet. When the doors opened and the full volume of the chanting hit him full force Jackson hesitated for just a split second his whole body tensing up and his lips turning to a very thin line as he pressed them together as he forced himself to hold his tongue as she led the way through the with every step his anger grew from a simmer to rage fueled by each repetition of the protestors chant. When the protestors started to close in on them and were hurling insults at her. When he was referred to as a leech Jackson gave the man just enough time to finish his words before he brushed past Helena and grasped the man's throat and lifted his off the ground as he held up his dog tags for the man to see. He spoke loud enough to let at least half the protestors to hear him as they all fell quite. "You see these? I got these when I volunteered to fight those monsters you hate so much. Do you want to know what I learned from that experience?" He paused and waited for the man to nod as best as he could before he continued. "I learned that we were fools to try and exterminate them. All we did was feed their ranks since they turned the wounded soldiers whether they wanted to live or not." He dropped the man as he started to turn blue and only their realized something didn't feel right. After a second he glanced down at the pendant and saw that the black inside it was pulsing and flowing inside as if it were filled with a liquid.

He glanced at Helena's crystal seeing something similar happening but his head snapped back to the man inhumanly fast as the man started to pick himself up. "Be more grateful you shit. If it were not for her kind you would be nothing more than cattle." He started walking away not wanting to be around with the humans realized they outnumbered him and if he did actually do damage to any other them he would be detained if not outright killed. As he walked he tried to understand what had been happening. He knew his aura had seemed to overpower Helena's but he had no idea what that meant. He had always tried to stay away from wiccans and any other magic users he had run into. When he realized how fast he had been walking he slowed down to let Helena catch up and focused on listening to her as she came up behind him.