zcxllen:
He could beg to differ, though perhaps he’d be the only one. Any excerpt of their relationship, as most would call it, stemmed on almost entirely anything beyond the realms of uplifting, but he’d known the flicker of such warmth from her despite what one might consider a far more viable option. Nothing had been smooth riding for them, ever. Brows rose as if she’d already hit the nail on the head, the ire in his gaze unmistakable as he laughed almost bitter, “Yeah, I’d have thought that would have been an obvious fucking response.” He’d never, by any means, been quiet about his own refusal to be so involved with town affairs, here or elsewhere, always preferring to have the very well welcome option of disappearing without a trace; a little more difficult considering they couldn’t leave – but it was all the same to him. Lenore tying herself to this forsaken place in such a way was gravel beneath his fingernails. “You think stepping into their little circle of politics isn’t going to give them reason enough?” He doubted that, almost too surely. Difficult to live beneath any radar as she stepped into the supernatural lime light of Blackvale. His tongue rolled across his teeth as he sat up, “With my toys?” A flicker of amusement danced within dark hues, “You’ve seemed a little too busy to play clue with me..” A sharpened jab at the idea that anyone would think it as simple as this weeks problem. “Don’t act like this isn’t anything you’re not used to.” Too often, he’d delve into the confines of his own mind, picking apart brutal scenes left behind as he pieced together what he knew. “Just two seconds ago you were telling me how it felt wrong, and now you’ve giving me shit for trying to figure it out, because I’d rather work on my own?” The rough ire of his scoff reverberated against his indignation.
Despite no visible sign that might have pointed to any semblance of a reaction, Zeke knew it was there. He’d known for far too long that he’d been one of many to leave a mark against her skin that went far deeper than just scar tissue. Still, he didn’t falter as he let the chamber snap back into place, deep beryl pools shifting slowly from her tiny frame, hand in hand with a sigh rough enough to cling to his disdain. “Sounds like it must have been quite an offer,” he’d never trusted witches; most days, he barely trusted her. Zeke might be the last person to ever willingly admit the morbid thoughts he’d held towards the woman he loved; but love was never without it’s faults, or so he was sure he’d heard someone say before. He froze, or rather, he came close. Movements slower still as he went through the lengthy tirade in his head; he’d always knew something like this would happen, and it was purely their own shit fucking luck that it happened here, of all places. “You can’t run.” His first comment settled beneath his breath as if he could feel every nerve ending within her that vibrated with the first plausible reaction to anyone finding out who she was; flight. “So you tell me,” he’d pause, leaning forward just enough to tuck the weapon into the band of his pants, “What do you wanna’ do about her knowing?”
Continuously the last person to offer herself credit, she refused to acknowledge any semblance of her warmer aspects. The kindness, the devotion, the forgiveness which ran so deeply within her bones and allowed an empathetic heart to long for one far darker in nature. Where they lacked the perfection of ordinary couples, there had always been a certain understanding, and above all, commitment to the flame burning so brightly between them that not even they could snuff it out. Though Lord knows they’d tried. “I’d rather be in control than allowing other people to make decisions for me. Look what they tried before--- The restrictions. The rules. I’d rather choke than play by somebody else’s guidelines, you know that. ” Especially when the laws in question placed further divide between her species and his own, as if the world hadn’t already given them enough reason to conceal what they were. “What would you rather I call it? Your arsenal? You look like a one man militia. I mean, what even is that...” She pointed at a device at the far end of the table, clearly in jest despite her words. “I was sleeping, which is what I’d hoped you were doing as well. And I told you that because I figured we might try to work it out together, as a team.” The petite outline of her frame lifted and fell on the coattails of a deep sigh, knowing full well that most of what she said might fall on deaf ears. This was simply who he was as a man, she couldn’t change him and refused to try. “I know we’re both used to doing things solo and adjusting to anything else hasn’t been easy, but we can rely on each other sometimes, Zeke. Just... Don’t forget it, okay?”
"She wants me to join the coven.” Finally, despite how much she’d attempted to bite back the truth, it came pouring out for him in much the same way as it always had. Lenore never could deny him every semblance of honesty, not in the years since that hallway encounter when he near begged her for as much. “It’s a power move and a damn good one, but I’m not exactly keen on building up a group that I don’t trust.” In other words, “I said no.” You can’t run. Of course not, though that hardly slowed the aching desire as it welled up within her chest. Even now her gaze flickered to the window and beyond it, her car waiting vacant in the driveway... Once upon a time, all she required was her wallet and some keys. Now there were other factors to consider; someone else to bind her to this spot in the universe. “I want to,” she whispered, features ducking if only so she might become preoccupied with the tiles of her kitchen floor rather than face his reaction to such a confession. Leaving, however, had never been an option once she crossed the town’s border and forever became another casualty of a curse enacted long before her own conception. “How much easier would it be if we could just go and start over somewhere else?”
It took a few moments before she could formulate an answer to his question, head lifting finally as her jaw set with determination and the glint of something else entirely. “I’m going to run the bitch off of the fucking map.” It curves along her lips, almost ghostly in nature, the idle hint of a smirk. “How many enemies do you think a regent has made in her lifetime? A dozen? More? I wonder what would happen if they found just enough cause to descend upon her all at once.”
