Making Herself at Home

When Rowena awoke from the dream she was left feeling both startled and extremely satisfied. Memories of what had transpired replayed over and over again in her head. Although it had been a dream she had been able to feel him...every bit of him. She had been completely and utterly exposed to him. He now knew more about her than she probably did about herself. She had spent so much time being alone and shielding herself from everyone and everything that she hadn't realized what a weight it had become until Seth had lifted it from her.

That evening Rowena dressed in a pair of leather leggings, over the knee black suede boots and a comfortable oversized sweater. She made her way over to Seth's place, wondering how he would react upon seeing her. Along the way she had a quick meal (a murder who had gotten off because of his sleazy lawyer) and then made her way up to his apartment. He wasn't there but she used her powers to let herself in. He was probably at a gig and she would be waiting when he arrived.

He had smoked a little bit too much Marijuana and drank far too much alcohol. He was given a pill by a girl that he fucked in the men's bathroom. He knew she had black hair but he couldn’t even remember what color her eyes were. Probably because he took her from behind and the thought made him laugh. The cab driver looked back concernedly in his mirror but only shook his head. He came to a stop and Sebastian tossed a few bills at him then exited the car.

The fresh air felt good on his face but it took him three tries to get his key into the elevator door. He yawned as the elevator began to move. He had had sang a good set tonight he thought. He really had the crowd going but it just didn’t feel the same without Rowena. And he wasn’t sure he would ever see her again. The thought made him finger the scars on his neck unconsciously. And maybe that was a good thing? The...the woman had completely upheaved his entire life. Earlier today he reproduced the painting he saw of her at her family's estate in what, 1646? He bother missed her and was still more than a little terrified of her at the same time.

Not expecting anyone there he got of the elevator, tossed his keys in the little bowl by the doorway and tossed his coat and guitar case onto the couch in the living room. If she was in plain site he would not have noticed her until he turned around.

Rowena sensed Seth long before she heard him. She knew his scent now...but it was mixed with something else...perfume. Somehow the thought of him possibly being with another woman made her upset and a little angry after him invading her dreams like he had the night before. She had exposed herself to him in ways she never had before and less than 24 hours later he had been with another woman. However, should she really be this upset? She was a vampire after all and he was mortal. Not exactly the best couple qualities.

She hid in the darkness while he opened the door. She watched as he tossed his keys in the bowl and then his coat and guitar case onto the couch. With his back still turned to her she was up behind him in the blink of an eye. She leaned her head down to his neck and he if he glanced up into the mirror that was there in the living room he would see her directly behind him, lips to his neck and eyes locked onto his.

Sebastian lurched forward and called out. “Shit!” He fell and he scrambled back until he was almost to the wall. It was all a very comical reaction. He was on his back up onto his elbows when he was done freaking out. “God damnit!” He said not happy at all at being scared half to death. And this time he really had a reason to. His heart raced and that same familiar sense of his blood might find its way to her. With his adrenaline pumping like it is she could almost taste how sweet it was. His blood was the sweetest she had tasted in a very long time. There was an unusual quality to it. One that drew her to want it, now very badly. He panted and laid his head back down. She picked up on his surface thoughts immediately.

He was regretting having sex with...whomever it was now. He would much have rathered to be with her but like always he fucks everything up. Seth...are you crazy? She is a blood sucking murderer? You SHOULD care about that...but, why don’t I? Because you’re a fuckin moron, that's it! He sighed and picked himself up. Still a little...afraid of her, it was difficult to not be but he also liked it to. It...excited him to be afraid of her.

“So, did you dine in tonight or did you go out for a bite?” He joked and he wished he had not.

Rowena was quite pleased with his reaction. In a small way it was her way of getting back at him for the woman he had been with that night. She just watched casually as he fell and scrambled back against the wall...a slight smile actually tugging at the corner of her flushed lips. She allowed him to collect himself and she could still see a bit of fear in his eyes. It made her feel a little better after him invading her dreams.

"You don't have to wet yourself...I've already eaten."

Well, it was his own fault, he had opened his home up to her after all. He mocked laughed at her comment. “Well...You move so fast...how do you do that by the way? More...vampire kinda stuff?” he asked. Now that he thought about it he really wanted to know more about her. “Unless..you don’t really want to talk,” he added not wanting her to be put off by his questions if she didn’t want to talk. Nonchalantly he moved over toward where he had been painting that painting and covered it up with the drying cloth that was only half on it.

Rowena moved over and sat down in his large, oversized leather chair. She crossed her legs and glanced over at him slightly.

"Yes, that is one of my abilities. I can tell you have a lot more questions you want to ask me so just ask."

She wanted to talk to him about his ability, but that would come later.

He got a beer from the fridge then came to sit down cross-legged in front of her. He sipped at it then decided on what to ask. “Garlic, crosses, stakes in the heart...silver? Fire? Sunlight? You know...the old superstitions...is there any..uh. Truth to them?” He asked though he felt embarrassed to.

Rowena had expected such questions. It actually made her smile a little.

"No, I cannot be repelled by garlic or crosses, or killed by a stake in the heart. Those are all completely made up and quite silly if I may be so bold...although I suppose at one point when I was mortal I may have believed them myself. I can sensitive to sunlight, but as I grow older and stronger I am able to stand it for longer periods of time. However, it does weaken me. I normally just sleep during the day and come out at night."

She paused for a moment before speaking again. "Fire...fire can kill me yes. That's actually how I killed my brother Graeme. He was the one that turned me..."

Seth would be able to see the pain that suddenly filled her eyes as she thought about her brother and everything he had done to her. She closed her eyes and could still feel him on top of her, sucking her blood while he raped her.

He tilted his head at what she had told him. He assumed as much about fire and sunlight the others had not really surprised him. When she spoke about her brother though...Rowena looked very...unhappy. Sebastian felt something from her when she mentioned him. Could it be possible that she never had anyone to talk to about him? She was what...370? Surely she had been able to unload that at least? But he decided to ask anyway.

“You...seem...upset when you speak of your brother. If you want to spill...I’m..well I’m here to listen,” he offered. Somehow her holding whatever terrible thing that had happened in for so long...he couldn’t imagine that at all.

Rowena sighed a little. The truth was that she had never been able to talk to anyone about what had happened to her (although in all honesty she probably didn't want to either). However with Seth she somehow felt safe...safe enough to finally say outloud what Graeme had done to her. For the next hour she told Seth every horrible thing he had done to her. She told him about her pregnancy and how Graeme had forced her to drink a diluted poison to kill the baby, which also almost killed her. She told him about the mysterious stranger named Armand and how he was drawn to Graeme. Finally, she detailed what had happened the night of her transformation...describing how her brother had been turned by Armand and how he drank her blood as he raped her and then turned her into what she was today. She confessed to killing him with fire, and almost dying herself in the blaze, but was rescued by Armand before the flames could take her.

"It was believed I died in the fire as well, though my body was never recovered. There is a headstone bearing my name in the Huntly Castle graveyard...right next to Graeme's"

Sebastian listened, her tale had captivated him though it affected him more than anything else he had ever heard. In many ways he commiserated with her, though he had a much shorter amount of time to have to deal with the realization that someone you loved once, family, kin, had violated you and stole every ounce of your innocence away. It was impossible for him to feel sorry for her. Pity didn’t really belong in her story, especially how much death she had likely brought to the world over the years but it did sadden him greatly. So much so that there were unshed tears in his eyes and he had no sunglasses on to hide them.

He rose from his seat, he had hardly touched his beer, he couldn’t even seem to move while she spoke. With his back to her as he stepped into the kitchen area he managed to wipe his eyes and tried to do it so she would not see. He knew she wasn’t after pity and he didn’t want her to think that that’s what he felt for her. He ofcourse had a similar story. Alot of people did but hers felt so much worse somehow to him. Could it be that he was developing feelings for her? He only met her days ago. He set the nearly full beer down and opened up the fridge. He had been hungry when he first came home. Now though, he had lost every bit of his appetite. And unfortunately he was completely sober now to. Her story had somehow opened up the wound he still held deep inside himself. He could feel his eyes watering and his nose begin to run. Damn her...in one swoop she had begun to make him start feeling again. For her, for himself and he wasn’t really certain either of them deserved it.

Seth was right to think that Rowena wasn't after pity. What had happened had happened and there was nothing she could do about it now. Graeme was long dead and if there was a Hell she was certain that was where he was. She could sense Seth's sadness however and she could see tears come to his eyes. She said nothing and let him walk into the kitchen to 'discretely' wipe them away. She was quiet a long time before finally speaking again.

"Graeme is the reason I hunt only men. I only kill those that I feel truly deserve to die for their deeds. That's one of the reasons I didn't kill you."

Her explanation however only troubled him more. She must have seen him as someone worthy of death, at least at first. He didn’t know why but it bothered him a great deal knowing that. Was he really that terrible of a man? Selfish yes, evil? He didn’t think he was evil. Not like his own father was and her brother. It made his unshed tears actually fall onto his cheeks. He didn’t want her to see him as weak. He already knew he was compared to her. He doubted she could cry, not after 370 years of...of living. He doubted much of anything could really touch her emotionally. He had barely seen anything thus far to disprove that and he certainly didn’t want pity either. He turned to look at her though his brow was furled as if he were hurt though the tears made it all look worse he was sure. He still regarded her though and refused to hide from her.

“Yes..I am afraid of dying,” he said in a soft voice. “But...sometimes,” he began but didn’t want to finish. She would hear it though in her head. “But...sometimes, I think about it, an end to it all.”

Rowena could sense she had upset Seth somehow and guessed that he thought she found him evil in someway when she had first met him. She watched him, seeing the tears start to fall from his eyes. Seth was one of the most complex men she had ever met. 370 years of living alone had caused her to forget how to feel, but watching Seth now she felt...something. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she felt it deep inside her somewhere.

Slowly she stood and walked over towards him. She stayed back a ways though, still sensing some fear from him. “You don’t want to die Seth. I’ve seen that within you. You’re a good man, I just think you don’t want to believe that. I never said I was drawn to you because I felt you were evil. I was just...drawn to you. Something about you called to me.”

He looked away as she continued but then looked back at her when she moved. How was she drawn to me? I’m nobody? She heard from his thoughts and knew he honestly believed that. He loved his music but he played and sang for himself, not the audience. With his art it was the same. He had actually had offers from galleries to show off his paintings and drawings but he refused and destroy some of his best ones right in front of them so they’d leave him alone.

Without saying more he unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt. He gulped down his fear of her and exposed the area she had attacked before. Until now his fear had been stronger than his curiosity but it was clear she wanted to know more and he certainly did. He stepped toward her and turned his head. He didn’t have to try and raise his heart rate. Her proximity to him did that on its own. Just like before his vein pulsed and her vampiric eyes picked up the iridescent vein in his neck that seemed to ‘pulse’ to her. The smell of him, the memory of how sweet and wonderful it tasted hung in the air. He swallowed again but didn’t move.

OOC-is he wanting her to turn him into a vampire?

ooc-absolutely not. He is tempting fate to dig into what it is about him that drew her. he wasn't certain if she could remake the same event on her own. he's just giving her a helping hand. That and, as a Vampires kiss is, he also desires her in that way though he doesn't understand that at all. She would know how it all worked though by now. To her perhaps, him doing this is like him making a very seductive gesture toward her. In Anne Rice novels, some humans who fell for vampires allowed them to bite them from time to time, especially during intercourse.

OOC-Right, that's what I was thinking, but I just wanted to be sure.

IC-Rowena watched with glowing eyes as Seth began to unbutton his shirt. She could see the marks where she had bitten him the other night and the thought of tasting his blood again made her feel flush with desire. She licked her lips as she watched him. She could hear his heart beating...smell his blood. It was calling to her...commanding her to partake again. As he stepped towards her she felt her fangs extend. She looked into his eyes for a long moment before lowering her head down towards his neck. She began with gentle kisses, which slowly increased in their intensity. She then paused a few seconds before gently biting down onto his neck...

‘Ah...ah,” was all he managed to get out as he felt her teeth break the skin. Just a pin prick and then a mass of ecstasy flooded into him. He didn’t know how but he thought they were floating. He could no longer feel the floor under his feet and right after a short rush of air he felt his back settle into something. He vaguely felt the bed under him as she continued to suck then lick then bite into him again. To him the world was spinning. So much so he held out his arms and clutched the sheets with his fists. He gasped as she shifted to straddle him and heard the small little noises of pleasure that doing this seemed to bring her as well.

To her it was like drinking in a savory light. It filled her and even as she took it into her it made her feel altogether giddy down to her toes. He convulsed beneath her but she felt his hardness against her and his gasps of pure pleasure filled her ears.

Rowena felt his blood enter her mouth and it was the same pure sweetness she had tasted before. It was unlike any blood she had ever tasted. She could sense every bit of him through it. Every sense in her body was overwhelmed by it. She needed him...wanted him...every bit of him. As his strength and powers flowered through her body they soon began to levitate. His desire pulsed through his blood and into her and filled her completely. As they lay back on his bed she knew she needed to be careful. She couldn't take too much of his blood. She shifted so she was on top of him...his gasps of pleasure filling her ears. His heart was pounding...his blood rushing...Finally, she slowly pulled back, knowing she could take no more without putting him in danger. She looked down at him, her face and lips flush from his blood. Her eyes met his...and he would see the desire pulsing in them.

He had asked for this...He had to know and now he thought he might. The feeling of her drawing into him had been completely surreal. Ecstasy had nothing on this he decided. While she drew his lifeblood from him he felt her as if she were inside him and it was wonderful. The most wonderful feeling he had ever felt. He was hot and cold at the same time. Life and death hung in the balance and it excited him as if there would be no ending. In that moment he knew her and she knew him as much as anyone could know one another. All his hate, fear, envy and love fed into her and she regurgitated it back into him.

“Make love to me Rowena...please!” He said almost desperately. He NEVER begged for anything. But he would have got down on his knees and licked her feet if she had required it. What had she done to him, he both hated her and loved her at the same time. He craved for her end, her death. God help him he craved for her touch.

And so she did. Neither of them would have felt pleasure like they did when they were together. It was intense, pure, and overwhelming. They writhed and moaned and fought for control. Rowena had had several lovers since her transformation, but none of them made her feel the way Seth did. She felt like her body was on fire...every sensation was heightened to the extreme. They took their time in pleasuring each other until they both finally collapsed into each other's arms on his bed.

Sebastian slept heavily after their intense love-making session. She had taken less blood than she had before but he had been...strenuous with her, what she had done to him or with him had seemingly awakened something in him. The activity exhausted him and as a result he fell asleep drained and extremely tired.

His flat had two white ceiling fans high up on the white ceiling. Track lights were also up there which could turn color and even move by the controller next to his bed. He wasn’t into crazy patterns or bright colors that clashed so hard it could make your head ache. His apartment actually had a warm, less modern feel to it save for the kitchen that was new yet a dark wood made up most of the caninetry. His painting area was in somewhat disarray but there must be over two dozen paintings of differing sizes, most turned backward and leaned up upon one another against the wall. 

The oldest ones, the ones against the wall were of himself. Hollowed out eyes and a bloody face and body made up many of these. A sign of his inner torment and painting it an outlet for him. Some of the newer ones were of landscapes, people and storefronts. Always though there was almost a kind of aura painted into the drawings. Her eyes could pick out the colors that made up its shape and it was definitely a man though his features were difficult to pick out though barely visible in normal lighting. His newest work, the one he had covered up was an exact copy of the one that once hung at her family's castle in Scotland. It was of her, her face, young and beautiful as she was then in perfect detail. How he could have remembered it so completely and then reproduced it was even beyond her, especially how quickly he had done it. Though she appeared as a pale, foreboding figure in some of the paintings and drawings. She was not so here in this one. The only difference that was obvious though was that as he drew her as a vampire, she had a smile or a dark grin in most of them. In this picture she looked...terribly sad and unhappy though she knew she what been smiling on the original legend it had been commissioned. 

She might guess it was his way of mourning what had been done to her. Not in the way people pitied others m but in a way that spelled out the injustice of it all. He stirred in the bed but only rolled over  and did not wake.

Rowena watched Seth for sometime while he slept. She gently brushed back the hair from his eyes and kissed his chest before slipping out of the bed. It was nearly impossible for Rowena to sleep at night, but she didn’t want to disturb him. She found a robe in the bathroom and put that on before taking the time to explore his flat a little more. Rowena was curious by nature and explored what areas she could. She even pulled open some of the drawers in the kitchen to look through them. She quite liked his flat. It was contemporary in some ways, but still had a cozy feel to it.

However, what intrigued her the most were the paintings which were leaning against one wall. She began to pick them up and turn them over to look at them. She knew from his drawings of her that he was quite talented, but his paintings were something else all together. She lightly touched them, especially the ones he had done of himself. The emotions that ran through those paintings pierced her very soul. Suddenly, she picked up the piece he had done of her. It was so fresh she could still smell the paint. It was a re-creation of the painting of her that hung in Huntly Castle. However, the obvious difference was that he had painted her as a vampire. Her expression in the picture was one of sadness that was so overwhelming for her that it brought a few tears to her eyes. She heard him stir, but he did not awaken. She gently picked up the painting and put it on the easel. She then just sat back on the floor and stared at it.