Definitely Wasn't Born Yesterday

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Scout dropped her gaze to her hands that were propped up by her elbows on the chair backing she leaned on. He was probably right, if it all went the way she was lying that it would, there was logic in knowing that her smuggling days were behind her; at least for a considerable amount of time. Getting back into Stronghold's good graces would be easy if she brought them something to study in Mal; but they would be leery of her for awhile. While she didn't like that thought, she knew eventually she would be back at it again. Her life would be more of a semblance of normalcy than it was currently. Stronghold was less worse than outside of the walls, the lesser of two evils.

Still yet, she didn't want to hear counter-proposals.

Her gaze lifted as he stood, watching him carefully as he slipped his hands into his pockets. The mannerism struck her as odd; but she couldn't put a finger on why... other than that slight paranoia of needing to know where hands were at all times. She sat a little straight in the chair, but didn't let herself get too on edge about it, not yet.

She shook her head.

"No, even if it takes me awhile to get back to where I was, to be trusted, I've still got connections on the inside that can act in my favor. I just need to know what you need. You'll get it. Hell, if you don't want to go into Stronghold, I can probably still figure this out on the outside. I just need to need to set up a meeting, you vouch for me, and it'll all be cleared up. All I'm asking you is for maybe a half-hour of your time Mal."

She hated how desperate she sounded, but desperate times...

Posted 07-15-2023, 09:45 AM

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He watched the way her attention dropped to her hands. It wasn’t hard to tell that his words had hit home for her. Things weren’t just going to go back to normal. That ship had sailed more than a month ago for both of them. Still, he supposed that he couldn’t blame her too much…he hadn’t changed his activities all that much, either. He should have…the failure to do so had led to her finding him the first time and almost putting a bullet into him. It had happened again now because she could get a message to him, and, like an idiot, he’d accepted it.

This time, she could have had backup. For all he knew, she still did, but he didn’t quite think so. Her poker face was terrible, and while she had an agenda, he didn’t think that she was trying to run out the clock for the arrival of backup.

His tone softened as he moved closer to her, dropping to one knee before her so that he could look into her big, green eyes. ”Scout…don’t you think I’d love to return to my life before all this? Before things going bump in the night turned out to be real? The world doesn’t work that way. It never did…even before monsters became more than bedtime stories. All you and I will be doing with that is putting an even bigger set of crosshairs on the both of us.”

His hand reached out to try and close about her own so he could squeeze them. ” I know what you are asking for…but I don’t think you get how things are really going to go down. Best case scenario…they ignore your request, and we are told to piss off. The worst-case scenario is we become lab rats or dissection partners.”

Posted 07-15-2023, 10:41 AM

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Scout couldn't help herself from reeling back an inch or two when he came to kneel beside her. What was he doing? She had prepared herself for two responses to this conversation. Either he fell for it all, hook, line, and sinker; or he told her to piss off and went on his merry way. She didn't expect him to come up with something else, to care that much about her, it felt strange. Maybe he was just trying to quell his guilt, but Scout was of the mind he was a monster, he shouldn't have had one of those pesky consciences. At least, not to this extent that he was showing her. So what did that mean? Was he trying to set her up as much as she was attempting to do the same to him?

Now look who was paranoid.

As he reached out to cover her hands with his, she let him, only briefly though. As soon as he finished speaking, she pulled them back and pretended it was because she wanted to tuck a piece of stray hair back behind her ear. "You're not listening." she stated, "I told you, nobody knows that you bit me, nobody living. We can come up with whatever story we want. I just need a good reason to give them, for why I shot Clay."

She bit again at the inside of her lip in thought, "What if he was the one that got bit, not by you of course, but by some other infected. You were there, you witnessed it, you saved me from getting bitten. The marks long gone." she brought up her other hand and tugged down at the collar of her shirt to the area he had sunk his fangs into. "We'll just flip the story. It'll work."

How could he say no to that?

Posted 07-15-2023, 11:06 AM

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She was persistent. He’d give her that much. He was surprised that she let him touch her. He didn’t even really feel her recoil, though the least surprising thing was that she let the touch stay only briefly. As for what she said…Malachi hadn’t forgotten that little tidbit she’d told him. Not at all.

He didn’t believe her.

She’d killed her partner to save her own life, even when the information she’d been going off of made it seem like she was dead either way. The selfless sort would have let it happen…for the greater good.

Not Scout. No, she’d put a bullet into the brainpan of her partner there. If she was willing to do that to someone trying to keep her from being a threat to anyone else…what else was she willing to save her own skin? He certainly didn’t put lying through her teeth to the man she felt was the source of all her woes off the list of the possible.

*What if she DID have someone that was willing to make a deal with her in exchange for turning him in?* She didn’t owe him anything. Hell, he didn’t put it past her to think that she needed to settle a debt and get her pound of flesh for upending her existence. However, his journey down that train of thought was highjacked when she pulled down the collar of her shirt. With her recent weight loss, that robust and pulsing vessel was even more prominent than before.

An idea came to mind for him…to push her and see how willing she was to make this idea work. She wanted to sell this plan…but he doubted she was ready to pay the price that he wanted, even if she’d been eager to claim that she’d get him anything he wanted. He had two ideas for what her response was going to be…either of them would be telling indeed.

”Say I go along with this…you really open to giving me anything I want? What if I want a regular meal that isn’t some animal…someone that knows that they aren’t going to be turned and donate frequently?”

Posted 07-15-2023, 11:30 AM

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The conversation between them was ebbing and flowing like the tides of the ocean, proposals, counter proposals, and haggling like true business partners might. The moment he suggested he might go along with what she had last suggested, made her sit a little straighter. Was she finally getting through to him? Was this actually going to work? That hidden excitement came crashing down like a bullet shot to the sky. It had never occurred to her that he would ever want that in return for the favor.

For a long moment she couldn't say anything; just stare at him and feel the blood rushing to her face. It was anger based; but she had to beat down her instincts to lash out right now. Caving to her emotions would only destroy what had already been built, she had to keep reminding herself of that as she stared at him.

"How would that work... you said it yourself, I'll be on a short leash, how am I going to be able to meet you regularly for awhile, I couldn't? …. I could find someone for you though, they might not be willing, but does that matter?"

She was entirely hesitant to agree to this, even if she knew it wouldn't matter in the long run. Once he was in military custody, it didn't matter two shits what she had promised him. Still, she had to play it smart. Let him think she was considering every angle, if she didn't, it could put him on alert.

That went without saying how angry it made her to think he would even suggest such a thing. Considering the last bite he had given her had ruined everything, the idea that more biting could fix it was ridiculous. Not to mention, to be a feed bag for a vampire? Did it get any more degrading? Her teeth gritted together beneath her cheeks, the flexion appearing along her jawline.

Posted 07-15-2023, 12:18 PM

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If she’d been a dog, he might have thought he’d said the word “treat” with how she sat up a little bit at his tone of voice and suggestion. It didn’t last, of course, as he watched her deflate visibly when he offered up what he wanted for payment in return. It was almost fun, haggling as they had previously…like their partnership hadn’t just gone to complete shit and was irreparable. It was enjoyable to get a taste of what was. He couldn’t afford to linger there.

He watched her big, wide eyes as she stared at him. Given how much it had to take to leave her speechless, he could only imagine what was going on in that pretty little head of hers. At her words, he nodded, conceding her point. ”You’re right. There wouldn’t be able to be subsequent payments for a while…just like with anything else you could give me from Stronghold.” His gaze grew hard and flat when she asked him if their being willing mattered.

”Of course it fucking *matters*, Scout. I didn’t just bite you because I felt like it. I bit you because the other half had control…the beast was desperate for survival. I don’t make a habit out of taking from unwilling partners.” The fact that she’d even ask that made it damn clear just how far she’d go to save her own ass. It cemented his belief that she couldn’t be trusted. She’d throw anyone under the proverbial bus. Him…Clay...some random person. Even if she had been on the up and up and was going to send someone else to pay the bill, the fact that she was so callously willing to offer that up angered him deeply.

Outwardly, however, he didn’t let that stewing anger boil over. He just gave her a Cheshire grin, mainly when his attention drifted to her throat once more and he saw the tension on her jaw and along the tendon of her throat. She was trying to play it cool, but he’d struck a nerve.

”You’d have to pay upfront as a down payment.” He pushed to his feet so he was lingering over her slightly as he moved closer, playing it off as though they were reaching the natural conclusion to their deal. ”We have to keep this between ourselves. Bringing anyone else into this is asking us both to get fucked over and exposed. So, it’s just you and me. Give me a show of good faith now…and a suitable time before we have your little meeting… and I’ll do it.”

Posted 07-15-2023, 12:41 PM This post was last modified: 07-15-2023, 12:43 PM by Malachi Blake

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"Sorry," she put her hands a little, rolling her eyes, "Didn't seem to matter when you bit me..." She couldn't help digging it in one last time. Even if he hadn't had control, she didn't know the full gambit of what feeding was for him. Apparently he actually had some control at times. Who knew.

That was a nerve for him, she could tell. Probably just as much of one as it was for her in him suggesting she could be his daily snack. Scout was after all, the least of the willing too. Did he not get that? That she would never have just offered to be a meal? Instead she was in-between a rock and a hard place, and apparently this was the only way to get what she wanted.

"What." she mumbled, staring daggers at him as he stood and hovered over her, suddenly she felt like prey. The teeny tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, as if trying to prepare her for fight or flight.

"Wait, how …" She drew herself to her feet, standing and putting a safer few feet between them. "If I've got bite marks again they'll see them Malachi..." she took a breath, pleasantly surprised by her ability to find yet another loop hole "Then the story we're going to tell them won't add up, they'll figure out the truth, then we're fucked over. Honestly I would, I'd pay upfront right now... but I can't..." she lifted her shoulders a little, like her hands were metaphorically tied...

Thank god.

Posted 07-15-2023, 02:39 PM This post was last modified: 07-15-2023, 02:39 PM by Scout Gadsby

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He gave her a bland expression in return for her faux apology and the dig she threw his way. ”Feel blessed that you don’t have to deal with something that requires you to keep control, lest someone else take that control from you and leaves you just a passenger in your own body. You have no idea the effort it took to make sure that you wouldn’t be infected, Scout.”

His eyes had darkened a pit, becoming deeper pools. The predator in him recognized the prey response in her, and it caused the salivatory glands in his mouth to kick into overdrive at the idea of another meal. He remembered how she had tasted…how good her blood had been on his tongue. His muscles bunched slightly, knees bending just a bit as he reflexively prepared to go after her if she fled. The wolf was staring down the hare, waiting for it to try to bolt.

Instead, he kept himself still and moved slowly toward her as she tried to talk her way out of it. His lips were thinned in a false approximation of a smile as she played the helpless act, and he shook his head. ”Not true. I can ensure that the marks are not there to be seen. It’s a protective mechanism. Think about it…you had two holes in your neck. There should have been some sort of scar, right? But there’s nothing. Just smooth, unblemished skin. That’s without any effort on my part. I was going to do more that day, but you made it clear you didn’t want me anywhere near you.”

Slow, measured steps kept pace with her if she kept backing up…moving with her until she wound up back against the wall. ”I wouldn’t have asked for it if there was no way for you to stay under the radar.”

Posted 07-15-2023, 02:55 PM This post was last modified: 07-15-2023, 05:47 PM by Malachi Blake

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Scout couldn't say that she believed him without a doubt that he had no control over what had happened. All she had was his word. There was no way of being in his shoes and knowing for certain if there were times when he was just a slave to the beast driving him to drink another's blood. He certainly seemed to be possessed by something when his eyes turned an unnatural bright yellow, but that could just be a side effect. He definitely seemed to be in complete control now, which was worrisome.

Her steps back weren't respectfully kept. Instead he continued making up the distance, though subtle, it didn't go unnoticed. Her heart seemed to pound just a little harder with each shift towards her. Scout reactively moved a hand to her hip. Not to her holster, but near it. When her back hit the wall, she realized how bad this could be.

"But you could kill me. I haven't exactly been thriving out here." This was her last ditch effort, even though it wasn't just an excuse, it had some plausibility. If he took too much blood, she could pass out. "You've got to give me time... "

It was time to abort the mission. Scout was realizing just how much this wasn't going to work. Even if she did agree to his stipulation, there were a lot of what ifs. What if she didn't get her contacts to set up outside the gate. What if he got away and she was completely ex-communicated at that point, stuck on the outside of Stronghold with an Infected that knew she had tried to turn him in? All of these worries that she had shoved under the rug before were re-rising in the wake of the fear she now felt as she was stalked up against the wall of the dilapidated building.

Posted 07-15-2023, 06:26 PM

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”I didn’t kill you last time when I almost lost control. I won’t kill you this time when I am in control, Scout. You’re the safest you can be out here. I will keep track of your vital signs far better than any doctor, and I’ve got access to the supplies to ensure you stay healthy…the kind you can only get in places like Stronghold. I’ve been out here a long time, Scout. You know there’s no one better than me for getting things out here.”

He kept his tone gentle and cajoling, the words matter-of-fact and confident as they slipped from his pale lips. His ear caught the quickening of her heartbeat each time he moved toward her, and his attention caught sight of her hand dipping down. She hadn’t gone for her gun yet. That would have been a mistake if he wanted to kill her. This close…his speed was much too fast for her. Mal had doubts about her even being able to clear the holster.

A part of him, the kinder side of his humanity, considered just stopping here. She was backpedaling, and he was pretty sure she was realizing how bad of an idea this all was. However, the more monstrous part of his humanity remembered how willing she was to offer up someone else to the fate he asked of her. There was nothing stopping her from going to someone else and telling her tale. They probably wouldn’t believe her…but he wasn’t about to take the chance that someone would.

She was a threat to him and his way of life. Either he got rid of her, permanently, or he figured out a different way of mitigating the risk.

He chose to move. His left hand shot out as he blurred toward her to close around her wrist and keep it pinned down against the grip of her pistol so that she couldn’t pull it out from its holster. His hip slipped between hers as his larger frame pinned her to the wall and his right hand found her other wrist and pinned it by her head.

His voice was almost soft, a velvet razor against her ear. ”C’mon, Scout. It’s just a little ‘quid pro quo’…”

Posted 07-15-2023, 06:51 PM

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"I don't know that." Scout realized she really didn't like how the tables had turned here. Suddenly he was the one trying to convince her of something, instead of the other way around. He was talking to her as if they had known each other for decades. That wasn't true. She didn't trust him, far from it actually.

Scout was already in the process of looking for the exit and finding a way out of her when he reached out and wrapped his hand around her wrist. She would of kicked herself for not acting sooner, but now she knew for certain. He wasn't going to take no for an answer. All the regret immediately crept up on her for not taking the opportune shot back at the high school.

"LET GO!" she half shouted in return, unable to stop him from yanking her other wrist up by her head. She struggled, trying to throw her body weight at him and push him off of her. The hand he kept pinned to the grip of her pistol tried to pull free. He was near her ear, muttering sweetly into it, and that meant she too was near his ear by proxy. Reaching forward she bit down on the sensitive skin of his lobe, intent on making him bleed.

"Just a little quid pro quo, you fucking monster." she uttered, pleased with herself before she made for her next attempt at headbutting him in the face. If she was going to bleed, so was he.

Posted 07-15-2023, 08:39 PM

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This roused the Beast. This close, it didn’t care that she was unkempt…that her scent wasn’t quite as sweet and clean as it had been last time he’d supped upon her blood. She smelled brilliant and filled with life. His stomach growled at the thought of tasting her again, significantly when her fear ratcheted up and all but bled from her pores when he pinned her to the wall.

She struggled…he’d expect no less from Scout Gadsby. After all, she hadn’t even been willing to die when she’d thought her death sentence was assured. She wasn’t going to roll over now. Going on the offensive with her teeth, however? Well, that was undoubtedly a new tactic. He didn’t quite get his ear out of the way and she snagged it, her own incisor catching it and letting the muddy, heady taste of his own blood color her taste buds before he managed to get his head more fully away, hissing through his fangs.

The pain brought a dark grin to his lips, however. It pulled them back and bared those teeth. More correctly, it bared those fangs that he had allowed to slip out, revealing them to her as he leaned his head back. ”That’s rich, coming from the girl willing to throw anyone else under the bus to save her own skin, willing or not.”

Finally, he used that hold on her wrists to peel her grip away from the gun, and he twisted her around, thrusting her forward, face first against the wall so her front pressed against it and her cheek dug into the dust. He pulled her wrists down to pin them both to the small of her back with one hand while his leg kept hers split and off-balance.

That free hand reached down to take hold of her pistol, pulling it free and tossing it away before it curled into her dark locks, dragging her head to the side and baring that slender throat to his view. His ear was already healing, so he let his lips whisper against her own, his fang dragging against her earlobe. ”Did you really think I was born yesterday? That I survived this long in the old world and this one by being gullible?”

There was a white-hot flare of pain as he sunk his fangs into that junction, reveling in the rich, copper font that poured into his mouth before he let the venom begin to feel her with that warm, lazy, wickedly needy desire as his tongue coaxed more blood into his mouth by laving the soft flesh.

Posted 07-15-2023, 09:12 PM This post was last modified: 07-15-2023, 09:15 PM by Malachi Blake

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"It's called survival of the fucking fittest." Scout didn't care what he thought of her, but he also didn't know that she hadn't intended on giving him anyone; willing or not, it was never going to go that far. She wasn't going to let it. He was going to walk into her trap and that would of been the end of it all. It was rich coming from him that he thought he was so righteous in who he fed from aligned with his so-called morality, and then take from her without consent, in clear and obvious control of himself.

Scout hit the wall and heard the devasting sound of her pistol hitting and sliding across the floor out of reach. His grip on her hair made her wince as she was forced to crane her neck in a non-agreeing offering of her throat. What he said next surprised her, that she thought him gullible? How had he figured out that there was a plan? She felt as if she had been nothing but convincing, in fact, polite, in trying to ascertain his help. It was becoming clear that all of this had been for naught and now she was up shit creek.

She let out a scream, not caring if it attracted attention, even if it were the bad kind. The sound that came from her lips was not from a helpless damsel, but an angry pit viper; promising revenge. Almost as suddenly, a warmth spread through her. Starting at the point in which he bit her, she felt the heat travel down her neck and shoulder, spreading like a cancer. "Stop. Fucking. Poisoning. Me." she uttered with as much malice and intent as she could, though the effects were already metaphorically nipping at her heels.

Posted 07-22-2023, 12:38 PM This post was last modified: 07-27-2023, 06:37 PM by Scout Gadsby

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Malachi snorted at her rejoinder, though it came out more like a snarl as the more bestial side of him came to the fore. Paranoia fed him and he felt that there could have been anyone nearby. The likelihood of her having a backup if people knew she’d been bitten, was low. Could he rule it out altogether, however? Stronghold and its leadership had things he didn’t know about, but people on the outside talked. You never could understand what was a truth and what was a fable, but the stories had to come from something…some kernel of truth. That was enough to keep him from ever wanting to find out just how much of it was fact and how much was fiction.

His mouth was watering as he got close to her throat. Her scream hurt his ears this close, but his snarl only grew louder in response before he sunk those teeth in. He began to gulp, feeling that crimson font filling his senses and making the colors of the ramshackle meeting place more vibrant and alive to him. The corners of his mouth could be felt lifting when she demanded he stop poisoning her. It even caused him to laugh softly. He couldn’t respond because his mouth was otherwise occupied.

Trust me, Scout; you would prefer the poison over the alternative. He thought to himself. The pain and the infection would be a far worse result for her; she didn’t know it yet. So, he ignored her, pumping more of that sweet chemical cocktail into her blood with every drink he took. Now that he was well in control, the hand in her hair slid along her neck and under her jaw, cupping the bottom of her face and sliding along her skin while the venom worked to spin her nerve endings up into overdrive.

He hummed then, the sound low as it vibrated at her flesh, like the purr of a deadly and dangerous cat that now enjoyed its favorite meal.

Posted 07-22-2023, 01:19 PM

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Green eyes rolled into the back of her head as she closed them. Inside she was fighting not to succumb to the will of whatever poison Mal had at his disposal. She had to wonder why he was choosing it. Twice now. Or was he? Was it just a natural exchange or a choice? Did all the fauna that he fed on also get a dose of it? How absolutely disturbing if they did. Scout couldn't attest to what they might have felt, but she knew it made her warm between her thighs. It tugged at a strange need that she otherwise found easy to choke down without any thought at all.

She tried to shake her shoulders, tried to shake loose, instead of gaining any traction she panted against the wall against her cheek. "Fuck you." she muttered, certain he would feel those words through the hand that had crept beneath her jaw.

Between her legs she began to grow uncomfortable, a prepared wetness began to seep through her underwear without any warning. She knew it was him this time. Unconsciously she attempted to squeeze her thighs together, instead finding his knee between them didn't permit her to do so. She groaned, on accident, then grunted to cover it up.

She had an idea.

Suddenly she let herself buckle completely. He was holding her by the wrists, jaw, and clearly latched onto her neck; but without warning she became dead weight. It was strange, letting herself drag against the wall, but knowing his leg was there kept her from falling completely. She knew this would aggravate him; it was easy to keep someone pinned down, it was an entirely different thing to keep them standing in the position you needed them to be in.

Posted 07-22-2023, 01:59 PM

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