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A Darker Shade of Night: Dragondancer+BlisteredBlood

"How do you figure that?" Heishiro answered with an arched eyebrow. "How do you think that a truce between the both of us is going to benefit the both of us in the short run when in the long run, the both of us know for a fact that once Vardon has been dispatched, we'll go right back to how things were supposed to be. And even then, I'll still be no closer to finding who killed my family and then torched my old home. Besides, you said it best last night that I've been so blinded by my own hatred of everything I see that... Well. You've seen it for yourself last night." He added as he looked up to her with a contemplative look.

"But, if you still think that a truce between us is going to work, then what do we need from each other in order to make it work?" Heishiro then asked her as he sat there.
 
Laela debated how much she could safely tell Heishiro at this time. Not much.
“There are....factions that you are unaware of. Vardon is the leader of one of the most violent, merciless, power-hungry factions. He has been my enemy - and the enemy of all those I care about and our allies - for decades. From my perspective, anyone that serves Vardon - even unknowingly - is my enemy until proven otherwise. One way to deal with your enemy is to slay him. Another follows the ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ way of thinking. I choose not to slay you at this time.”

Right on cue, the waitress and two helpers brought out their assortment of food. The slices of peach pie were placed on the table with the glasses of water, followed by a large juicy hamburger and french fries, tender pork chops with mashed potatoes, a golden-brown chicken pot pie, salmon on a bed of rice, a huge salad, and the grilled cheese sandwich. Laela looked up at Heishiro’s expression and grinned at him, her first true smile of the night, “Dig in!”
 
Heishiro had to wait until the waitress left for him to reply, and when she did leave the two alone, he hesitated to eat at first. Somehow, he felt as though he was being pulled into a conflict that he shouldn't have been involved in at all, and it seemed as though he had no other option to back out of it now even if he wanted to. As far as he knew at this point, he would've been better off if he simply just let them go at it and hope they tear each other limb from limb while he continued on in his search. At least then he wouldn't have to hear their woes. But even if he did decide to back out of the whole affair, would he still be sought after for his talents, or would be hunted after by those that either "wanted information" out of him? Possibly even kill him, the more that he thought about it.

Again, Heishiro was a little hesitant about eating as he looked at the spread in front of him once it was all laid out in front of him. To show this, he simply looked up to her with a questionable look on his face before looking away from her even as he plucked the burger and lifted it up to his face then took a bite out of it, munching slowly as he began to think it over. But then again, even as he continued to think it over, he knew for a fact that the same answer would come back to him, that he needed to back out of this while he still was able to do so and then vacate the area entirely. Doubly because of what happened to him so many nights ago and even earlier when he was chained up to the wall back in that room.

Eventually, Heishiro made this opinion on this matter very clear after swallowing that bit of burger. "Look," He began. "I know you've got some bullshit thing going on with Vardon, but I couldn't care any less about it. The one thing I know for certain is that you and your crew - along with Vardon for that matter - have basically dragged me into a war that I really have no business to be involved in. So if you're asking me to pick sides, I'm not on his team nor am I on yours. I'm only here for my own personal reasons and that's that. But even still, whoever this Laela is, I really don't think she had anything to do with my family's murder. I'm beginning to suspect there's more to it now. Besides, the one clue that I know I had to go on for years was that a man that was dressed completely in dark clothing was responsible. Unfortunately, that's not much. Sure, there had been little details that have turned up here and there, but it only feels as though I'm going nowhere fast." He explained before he took another bite of his burger.

"But you know, I'll tell you what." Heishiro added as he then leaned forward. "I'll play ball with you. But there's one thing I want to make very clear. If you try as so much as to stab me in the back, I'll personally see to it that you get it back times ten." He concluded as he locked eyes with her.
 
Laela listened to Heishiro as he spoke of not wanting to get involved in a conflict he felt he had nothing to do with. She tensed up, not liking the options his non-cooperation would leave her with. She held her breath briefly as he mentioned her name, but then let it out again in relief when he mentioned he had serious doubts that what Vardon told him about her being responsible for his family’s murder. When he continued, letting her know he decided to work together, she was able to relax, and smiled over the crowded table at Heishiro.

She picked at her pie and took tiny sips of her water, hoping that going through the motions of normal human eating behavior would put Heishiro more at ease with her. She could in fact eat solid food, but her digestive system was strictly designed to process blood, so she avoided ever eating so as not to experience the painful discomfort that would follow. She was glad to see Heishiro eating, it made her feel better knowing his body would be better fueled to heal and replenish the blood she had removed from his body.

Narrowing her eyes at his threat, she frowned. “Maybe you have been lured into this conflict, but you walked willingly enough to meet with Vardon and accept his information unquestioningly. Although I am VERY pleased to hear that you no longer believe his words, the fact remains that you involved yourself the moment you chose to meet with my enemy. Plus, there is the small issue of the tracking implant that keeps you in mortal danger until it is removed. And I am one of only a very few who know how and am able to do so.”
 
"And that's a mistake I plan on correcting when I see to it that he goes down for the count. Permanently." Heishiro answered without missing a beat as he eventually took another bite of the burger, chewing on it for a little while and then swallowed it down as he kept his eyes on her. "But after that, I want to know that I can believe you enough that I can walk away without a hand raised to me and I won't have to answer back." He added, narrowing his eyes at her intently.

"As for the implant in my head, that's something that I can believe when I see it with my own two eyes. Don't get me wrong, I have seen a lot of weird things in my lifetime, but this is something that I have to know for absolute sure-as-shit certain." Heishiro continued as his half lidded eyes returned to their normal state then looked down at the burger again, eventually finishing the rest of it before he looked over to the fries next and then plucked two of them up and bit at the tips of each one and munched on them slowly before swallowing them down.

"But back to my original question." Heishiro spoke as he held up a finger to her. "Can I trust you and your guys enough to ensure that we don't come to blows with each other?" He said one last time as he pointed that same finger at her. "That's the one thing that's on my mind right now."
 
Laela bit off a tiny piece of peach from the pie and chewed it slowly. It actually didn’t taste too bad; but making a conscious effort to eat the absolute minimum she could get away with without making Heishiro feel uncomfortable, she made the minuscule bite last as long as she could.

Heishiro’s bragging about his plan to eliminate Vardon made her sigh, If only it were that easy! She would love to have that evil wiped from the face of the earth. His “i’ll believe it when I see it” attitude about Vardon’s tracking signature had her wondering what it would take to convince him. He seemed intelligent, and not bull-headed stubborn, willing to adjust his opinion as situations and information changed. So she decided to give it a try. Gulping down the completely masticated bit of peach, she followed it with a tiny sip of water.

“Well....you know how your runes are etched into your sword? They have power, but the power they exert is not visible in itself, it is the aftermath of the power they represent that we see, with the glowing flames and inferno.” She looked down at her plate, moving various pie pieces around with her fork, and continued, “A compulsion is similar. Some are sensitive enough to feel that their mind has been touched, but most have no clue. The compulsion is not a physical object, but an electric impulse that has been transferred from one person to another. Inside that impulse there is....a string of code....that transmits information to the implantee’s brain, unbeknownst to the person. When activated, the person carries out the code’s directive, never realizing they are being directed from the outside.”

Laela watched Heishiro’s reaction carefully, continuing, “There is no way to know what your compulsion is coded to do. And the fact that a tracking signature was included within the code is obvious, as I told you previously - I don’t believe in coincidences, and to have our safehouse suddenly attacked after so many years of safety...the only x factor in the equation is you.”

She leaned forward across the table, staring directly into his eyes, “So you see, it is I that should be asking you if I can trust YOU enough.” She leaned back away, and said, “Unfortunately, since there is nothing for you to see physically, you’ll just have to trust me on this. Or wait for you to be tracked down again and hope we get lucky another time. By any chance did you notice any unusual sensations while you were speaking with Vardon?”
 
At first, her sigh made Heishiro arch a brow at her questioningly. It wasn't so much a brag as he was simply conveying his own opinion of the matter that when the time came, he would do them a favor by landing the critical blow on that rat bastard and ultimately put him out of his misery for good. But after that, he just wanted to go on back to his former home and pay his final respects there before he moved on. But where he would go to was perhaps another thing that had been on his mind. He knew that the Knighthood wouldn't take him back on his account of leaving them without expressed permission. But even then, he didn't know what he would do after that. Maybe he would consider taking up the role of a freelance mercenary somewhere. Besides, there was always someone that needed an "odd job" done and if the pay's just right with no strings attached, he would take it singlehandedly.

When he heard the vampire explain to him exactly what a compulsion was, Heishiro placed the remaining two bits of fries in his mouth and munched on them slowly as he sat there, leaning forward a bit and then listened to every word she spoke of, getting the impression that not only was it more along the lines of a data transfer on a Peer-2-Peer network, but the string of code attached to it seemed as though it was also a form of hypnosis. This made Heishiro look down for a moment and brought a hand up to his chin, itching it in thought as he came to a conclusion as he glanced up to her with a brow arched. He figured that as long as a certain string of words weren't uttered under any circumstance or one single word for that matter, then he should be fine.

When it came to him being told that she was wondering if she should trust him, Heishiro kept that same brow arched, but was looking at her in a questionable manner. Looks like we're already on a shaky start, from the looks of things. He thought as he sat there, watching her. "Well, I suppose we'll have to see how that turns out, then." Heishiro commented before being asked about his run-in with Vardon.

"Aside from the fact that guy gave me the creeps when he looked at me in a certain way?" Heishiro answered. "Well, there was one thing that he did." He added before pointing a finger up to his forehead and looked up to it. "When Vardon pointed at me here, it felt as though something was shoved into my head, nearly knocking me on my ass. Could be that compulsion you were talking about, but then again, he could've also poked me in the head hard enough to nearly punch a hole through my frontal lobe area." He commented as he then lowered his hand down.
 
Heishiro’s words confirmed what Laela already more than suspected...Vardon had indeed placed a compulsion into the man. Maybe that was why he was feeling ill for a little while, his body might be sensitive enough to send its army of attacking cells to try and annihilate the invading entity. I really would love to know what the compulsion’s directive is!

The waitress came over to see if they needed anything else, and left the check. Laela picked it up and pulled a credit card out of her back pocket to pay for the meal. “Take your time, I just figured I’d get it out of the way,” she said to Heishiro, not wanting him to cut short his eating. After the waitress came back with her card and Laela signed for the meal, tucking her card back into her pocket, she let Heishiro know, “We’ll need some privacy for the process of removing your compulsion, and it may leave you a little weak afterward. So we can do it a little before dawn so you can sleep through the day - as we do - while you recover.
 
"You know what was funny, though?" Heishiro asked after a moment as he looked at her with an odd look now as he sat there then picked up a couple of more fries and put them into his mouth then went silent as he saw the waitress come around and then handed the two the check to which he saw the vampire pay for the meal with a credit card. He figured he had to wait until the waitress departed long enough to leave them alone once more.

When he saw that they were finally alone once again, Heishiro had already put those fries into his stomach after a few munches and then swallowed them down before he looked back at her. "I think whoever this Laela was, from what Vardon told me?" He asked while keeping his voice down to a low volume. "The guy has a major league hate for the gal. Like I said to you back at that one place, he asked me to assemble a team of people to go after her. But as I said to you there, there's nobody that I know as of now."

"But yeah, whatever you think it is that you need to do to get this thing out of my head, then I guess I got no other option but to trust you for it. Who knows, maybe I'll be better off after it's all said and done." Heishiro concluded with a shrug of his shoulders as he looked back down to the spread once again, looking at it with a great deal of thought.
 
Laela’s blood went cold...or colder, as it were, when Heishiro said her name. She stared at him intently as he spoke, trying to determine the right course of action, to detect how he would respond once he knew her identity. He had to be told, obviously, but if she told him now, here, and he reacted badly, it would ruin the tentative truce they had just worked hard to develop. Although it didn’t sit well with her to continue to withhold the information from him, she thought it would be best to tell him when they were at the new safehouse, and if he freaked out or became violent, she had friends around to help her calm him down. So she kept silent about the matter for now.

“Yes, Vardon has many enemies.” she agreed in answer to his comments about Vardon hating ‘Laela’. “I’m glad you agree to let me remove Vardon’s foulness from your mind...it may not have effected your brain as yet - except for allowing Vardon to track your location - but sooner or later the compulsion will activate, and you would be as a slave to his directive. It is painless and quick to remove...if you are concerned on that count,” she looked up at him with a teasing smirk.
 
"Quick and painless?" Heishiro answered with the same brow raised at her in curiosity towards her teasing smirk. "Sheesh, if that was the case, you could've done that while I was eating. But hey, whatever it is you wanna do is fine by me. Besides, after... Well... That unfortunate business a few nights ago, it seems as though I'd be better off as being food for someone else rather than be target practice." He commented with a gesture of his head towards outside with plenty of dry wit.

"Come to think of it, if you wanna get outta here now and go take care of this thing, we can always box all this up for take out. Besides, I dunno if I'll be able to get all of this down." Heishiro then said with a shrug of his shoulders as he then looked off to the side.
 
“I didn’t say it would be...pleasant - and besides, privacy will make you more comfortable with the process,” Laela chuckled humorlessly, a knowing look in her eye. She had given up on her pie maneuverings, so was relieved to hear Heishiro state that he had eaten his full and was ready to go. She motioned the waitress over to box up the rest of the food so Heishiro would have something to eat at the house. Hmm...the safehouse...a bit of a conundrum there...

Laela looked at Heishiro contemplatively, a frown fleeting across her expression. “Listen, I think you are shrewd enough to understand my position on this...but if I take you to this other safehouse, I compromise it’s purpose, and therefore our security. You will know where it is, how to get to it, and the layout of the house. My other choice, of course, is to blindfold you and drive there in an indirect route, and then keep you locked up in only one room of the house. Thereby maintaining the house as a safehouse known to none outside my immediate group. She flicked her hand in a sharp gesture, “However, such a plan would probably not be conducive to developing the positive relationship I am striving for with you. What do you say on the matter? Will it upset you to allow me to take such security precautions with you, knowing it is not an action against you - but simply a protection for us?”
 
"Well, if you put it like that," Heishiro answered as he looked over to the vampire with a shrug of his shoulders. "Then the only other thing I can say is that we can go to someplace that doesn't compromise the safety of your buddies plus it'll still be private for you to do what you need to do. As a matter of fact, I happen to remember that there's a couple of places in town that I usually hole up in up until I decide to make tracks. Of course, they're all cheap hotels, but the fact of the matter remains is that they're all scattered throughout the Memphis metro."

"But then again, if my idea doesn't work, then I guess the second option you threw at me might as well have to work." Heishiro concluded with a shake of his head, sounding not so positive about his own idea.
 
Laela frowned momentarily at Heishiro throwing out his own preferred option, of heading to a location of his choosing. Was this a trap? She looked into his eyes, a long history of not being able to trust all but those closest to her - based unfortunately on experience. But she made a decision. “Fine. We’ll do it your way - where do you suggest? I’ll let Ander know our plan, so he won’t worry.” She grabbed the bag of boxed food and stood up. “Of course, this means we’ll be splitting up; you’ll need time to recover through sleep - and I cannot sleep where I’ll be at risk to be exposed to daylight...so after I remove the tracking signature, I will leave you in the - at least relative - safety of your hotel room, while I retire to the safety of our customized safehouse.” As she approached the exit to the diner, she looked back over her shoulder, “Deal? Or would you like to come with me to our safehouse?”
 
By now, Heishiro could understand the vampire's predicament. Sure, they could go to her safehouse that was out of the way, but what was the guarantee of their safety? They could also try Heishiro's idea, but again. What was the guarantee? Possibly under the 50% margin, he knew that much for certain. As he watched the vampire eventually get up from her seat and head for the door, Heishiro would soon follow and met her by the exit before he spoke.

"Might as well go with your idea. But make sure you blindfold me first." Heishiro answered with a sigh and a shake of his head as well as a shrug of his shoulders. Who knows, he figured. Maybe it might throw off the tracking signature that was supposedly embedded in along with the compulsion. At least that was what he was hoping for anyway.
 
Laela nodded her head as she pushed open the door and left the diner, pleased with Heishiro’s decision. It would allow her to make sure he was kept safe, which she felt was in her best interest - at least until the mystery and extent of Vardon’s interest interest in him was ascertained.

Walking over to where she had parked her car, she She moved to the back of the car, pressing the remote unlock for the trunk, and pulled out a black bag which was next to the two “grab and go” bags she had fled the safehouse with. Setting it on the hood of the car, she unzipped it and pulled out what looked like a long scarf, a set of headphones, and an ipod. Zipping up the bag, she tossed it back in the trunk and slammed it closed. Unlocking the car doors with the remote, she got in the driver’s side and waited for Heishiro to enter the passenger’s side.
 
Once he stepped out, Heishiro followed the vampire out of the diner and back out to the waiting Porsche and walked over to the passenger side of the vehicle as he saw her go over to the hood and lay out a few things for what he would apparently guess was meant for him. Deciding on getting into the car a little later, he then opened the passenger door before sliding himself into the seat before extending a hand out to her.

"Here. I'll do it. You concentrate on driving." Heishiro said as he then took the scarf and then began to put it over his eyes followed by slipping the headphones on over his ears.
 
Laela hesitated a moment before handing over the blindfold to Heishiro. She would have felt better about securing it over his eyes herself, to be certain he would be unable to see the route to their safehouse. But, she understood his need to maintain at least some control within his own hands. So she let him position the scarf over his own eyes, tying it in the back, and then he placed the headphones over his ears to mute any discernible audible clues he may be able to later use to figure out the safehouse’s location.

Since he had already put the blindfold and headphones on, Laela picked up the ipod, plugged the headphone cord into the ipod jack and positioned her left thumb over the controls of the device. Leaning in toward Heishiro, she lifted the left earphone away from his ear with her right hand, her elbow resting beside his head on the seat. “I’ve got a wide variety of playlists and albums loaded,” she spoke softly, close to his ear, “what would you like me select for you to listen to?”
 
"You got anything on that by Amon Amarth or Nightwish? Something about those two groups always puts me in a better mood for the day." Heishiro answered with a bit of a chuckle and a slight smirk on his face before shrugging his shoulders somewhat. "But really though, it doesn't matter to me what you have on there. As long as it's something I can listen to without wanting to gouge out my eardrums, then I think I'll be fine with whatever." He answered with a nod of his head as he reached back one more time to make sure that the scarf over his eyes was nicely secure.
 
Laela’s lips twitched into a smile at his choice of music, and selected the album Twilight of the Thunder God, kicking the first track of the same name on, making sure that the volume was enjoyable but not too loud to gouge his eardrums out for a reason other than the one Heishiro alluded to.

She turned forward and grasped the steering wheel, turning on the ignition and peeling away from the diner’s curb. She drove randomly around the metro area, making unnecessary turns and circuitous routes, to make sure there was no way Heishiro could retrace his way back to their safehouse. Glancing every so often over at the man in the passenger seat, she thought the night was turning out pretty well, all things considered that it had started out as a total cluster-fuck.
 
As soon as the first track of same name came on through the headset he wore, Heishiro gave a bit of a smile as he listened to the track, grinning from ear to ear as he listened to the group shred into his ears. To be honest, it was absolutely the best choice of music he had heard in quite some time. My my, he began to think. Why is it that I had skipped these guys for so long? I swear, I must be slacking these days. He thought again as he then glanced off to the side and then lifted both hands up and stuck his bottom lip out a bit as he nodded along to the track while at the same time pantomiming the guitar riffs he was listening to, not even caring about the directions the vampire was taking to reach their intended destination.
 
As Heishiro got into the driving melodic metal shredding in his ears, he unconsciously moved his body in reaction to the music. Ah, music is a true uniter, a language we all speak, no matter where we are from or what our form Laela mused to herself, getting a kick out of Heishiro’s musical pantomimes.

When she at last felt secure in driving to the safehouse, she turned onto 2nd Street and drove a few more blocks, then pulled into another wrought-iron gated driveway like the last house, pressed the security code and drove to the front steps of the porch.

She got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side, opening the door and reaching for Heishiro’s upper arm. She guided him out of the car, up the porch steps and through the front door that Beniamin had opened just as they reached it. He looked at her with a questioning expression, but moved to let them enter past him. She guided Heishiro through the main room and down the hall to this house’s back room.

Opening the door, she walked Heishiro in and closed the door behind them. This room was similar to the previous room he had been kept in - only in that there were no windows in this room or the attached bathroom. Otherwise, it was a completely different vibe. There was a comfortable looking bed, a nightstand, dresser, and chair. The bathroom had a door on it, and there was no sign of any restraining devices on the dark oak hardwood flooring or anywhere in the room. There were even beautiful landscape and wildlife paintings on the buff colored walls. Laela walked behind Heishiro and untied his blindfold.
 
Soon enough, Heishiro had gotten into the solo the song broke into when he began to feel that the Porsche was now arriving somewhere new. But where, he wondered. But then again, who was he to care? As long as he got to listen to some viking death metal like this, she could go anywhere within the state and it still wouldn't matter.

Soon enough, the song ended as he felt his upper arm being pulled at and with that, he slowly stood up from the car as it came to one more stop as he then stepped out of the vehicle then was escorted to the safehouse in question with the blindfold still wrapped around his eyes and a hand held out in front of him.

Soon enough though, Heishiro felt the scarf being removed from his eyes, blinking them a few times as his vision readjusted to the new surroundings, finding them to be nothing at all like the last place he had awakened in. He arched an eyebrow at this before nodding in approval for a moment before looking over to the vampire with a small smile on his face. "Alright. This is a little bit better than the last place I was inside of." Heishiro spoke as he shrugged his shoulders.
 
Laela smiled back at Heishiro. “Well, circumstances are a bit different now that we’ve gotten to know each other a bit better, and made something of an alliance. Although you are not truly my prisoner any longer, I'm afraid I will need to lock you in this room while we sleep through the daylight hours, for our safety, to ensure you will know only of this room and therefore our safehouse’s security remains intact.

As she finished speaking, the door burst open and Rosalie came flying into the room, hurtling her small blonde form into Laela, squeezing her arms around her. “I was so worried! I’m so glad you are safe!” Her eyes then fell on Heishiro, and she unabashedly ran over to him and hugged him too. “I’m happy you are safe too...and are no longer on the side of our enemy!” she added with feeling.
 
"Well, if nothing else, I can also serve as a bit of daytime backup in case if someone decides to sneak up on us during the day. Besides, someone's gotta keep on eye on the place while you two are asleep. And besides, where in the hell would I go when I don't even know - or even want to know, anyway - where I even am?" Heishiro answered with a shrug of his shoulders, his words sounding as if they had some strong credibility to them. "But I can understand your sentiment on that. Besides, gotta make sure everything's on the up and up around here." He added as he looked to one corner of the room, almost expecting to find a window or some sort or another around here but frowned a bit when he didn't.

Soon enough though, he was met with the sound of Rosalie bursting into the room and threw her arms around the female first before watching her come over to him and then hugged him in the same manner. "Yeah, but there's a few thing this lady and I here need to do in order to make sure that whatever ties I have with the other guy are severed." He answered in a gentle tone of voice before reaching down and patting her head.
 
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