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Post by TC Beckwith on Jun 10, 2016 12:07:37 GMT -8
"You know how animals can tell when someone ain't right?" TC lifted his cup and took a cautious sip of his coffee before he took another, deeper drink and then set the cup down. He regarded her for a moment before he spoke again. "It's instinct. Never trust someone that isn't liked by a dog. That instinct carries over. I think the one that bit you, simply didn't trust the others. Or they got in his way. Or he just likes red heads with freckles." TC smirked and then took another sip of his coffee.
"As for Alec and Victoria, no, they're not like us. They're another animal entirely." He glanced around again and then looked back at her. "Not all the things that you read about, and see on TV that go bump in the night are fiction."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2016 12:57:27 GMT -8
"Well, unfortunately they have bouncers in New Orleans, not guard dogs." She said it with a bit of a grin.
"Though maybe you're onto something." Would certainly save women a lot of trouble and potentially keep them safe. Apparently he'd managed to lighten her mood a little -- even got her to blush some when he brought up the wolf that attacked her having a thing for redheads with freckles.
"Pssh," she said, the sound effect all Sheri could manage as she shook her head.
By then, their food was being brought out to them and she set her cup down and straightened in her seat, making room for the plates. It smelled delicious and she immediately dug into the steak, cutting off a piece with some egg on it and popping it into her mouth. She washed the small bite of food down with a swig of coffee, then said, "You mentioned instinct. How come I didn't sense anything with them, or with you for that matter?"
She turned her head to look at him then, focusing those baby blues on his profile as her fork remained poised over the hash browns she'd been ready to attack next. "Or do I and I just don't know it yet?" It was a reasonable question, as was the next one regarding Alec and Victoria.
"What do you mean?" she asked, arching a slender red brow. Another animal entirely? Taking that in the literal sense, she asked with a snicker, "What're they, werecats or something?" Yeah, she had a tendency to read Laurell K. Hamilton when she got bored, but she never once thought he was talking about vampires.
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Post by TC Beckwith on Jun 10, 2016 13:09:57 GMT -8
"It's a learning curve. You'll gain a sense of people. Be better able to tell when someone is lying by the scent..." TC paused as the waitress came over and put their food down before them, and once she was gone, he continued as he dug in, mashing his eggs in with his hash browns. "People sweat when they're nervous. They put out odors when they're afraid. It's like playing poker. You learn their tells, and you can get a pretty good read on a body."
Taking a bite of his mashed up breakfast, he followed it with a bite of bacon and a sip of coffee to wash it down after chewing. "No, though there are those out there. Think more along the lines of lawyers, only more literal." Yes, he was likening lawyers to blood suckers. Frankly he'd take a vampire over a lawyer, any day.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2016 15:12:39 GMT -8
"I used to be good at that." Reading people, she meant. "Since that night..." She shrugged, as if to say, 'not so much'.
On her own for so long, reading people had become a means of survival for the redhead. Pool, poker...she understood all of that, but... "I got sloppy," she added. "And I should be dead right now because of it, too, but that thing..." She was talking about the wolf. "I think it saved my life."
Yes, it killed the two men that had dragged her out there, but they'd already done a number on her before it arrived. If it hadn't bit her, Sheri probably would have died.
"I mean..." She paused, poking around at her hash browns. "I was a mess. I know I was a mess. I couldn't see, I was barely breathing and I hurt everywhere. I couldn't even drag myself away from the damn thing when I felt it near me, let alone walk, yet when I came to..." She was shaking her head again, remembering it all too vividly. "I was able to find my way back to the city on my own two feet."
Barely -- she still looked like she'd been hit by a Mack truck, but at least she could move. She fell silent then and cast him a quick glance before shoveling a forkful of food into her mouth. She hadn't shared that story with anyone before this, not completely, and now that she had, she felt awkward and exposed.
"Either that or I experienced something religious," she smirked, trying to hide her vulnerabilities with a joke. "In which case, I guess I should be giving up all my vices and going to church every Sunday." She snorted softly right before taking a drink of coffee -- her way of saying it was never going to happen.
"You know," she said while cutting into her steak again. She was putting a rather sizable dent in her rather large meal, eating like there was no tomorrow. "I never thought about it like that until now, so...thank you." Blue eyes slid his way as she took another bite and offered him a small smile. "I've spent so much time being pissed off, that I never considered the possibility that it could have done me a favor." Till now. "I mean, if it hadn't come along, I wouldn't have made it to see twenty-seven." Well, she wasn't there yet -- her birthday wasn't until Sunday, but she was making a point.
When TC said there were werecats as well, she stopped filling her face, but it wasn't until the conversation shifted to Alec and Victoria that she dropped her fork completely. It fell to the plate with a clatter and by the look she was giving him, he could rest assured that she made the correlation between lawyers, bloodsuckers, and vampires. "C'mon..." she said, dragging the words out, her tone full of disbelief. It was like she was begging him to be honest with her.
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Post by TC Beckwith on Jun 10, 2016 17:05:32 GMT -8
"Wait until after your first moon. You may well be cussing again." Face it, shifting wasn't pretty. It was harsh, painful, even for him. Breaking and reforming every bone in your body was not a warm, fuzzy experience, no matter how some glorified asshole writer wanted to depict it. It was bloody and grotesque. The only saving grace was that the older you got, the more experienced you got, the faster the shift came. It still hurt like hell, but at least it was over with, faster.
"There's a lot you still don't know, but will soon enough. For one, your metabolism is higher. You eat more, burn it off faster. Your core temp runs higher as well." TC paused to take another sip of his coffee and when the realization of what he'd said about Alec and Victoria sunk in with Sheri, he chuckled. "Hand to God." He even lifted his hand as if ready to swear on it. Taking up his fork again, he took another bite and chewed slowly.
The waitress came by, refilled their coffee cups and gave TC a smile which he returned, before he watched her walk away and then he looked back at Sheri once more. "There's a lot more than that out there too, Freckles. The world just got a whole hell of a lot bigger for you, and it may take a while to adjust."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2016 19:23:22 GMT -8
Sheri's smile slowly faded with that sobering thought. So focused on the before and after, she hadn't considered what happened in between.
"Does it hurt?" she asked quietly, referring to the change. "And don't sugarcoat it," she added quickly. If there was anything she hated more than being lied to, was someone trying to soften the blow by tiptoeing around a subject.
This, of course, opened the floodgates for more questioning, and she asked them in rapid fire succession any time she was sure they were alone: How long did it take to change? How often did it happen? How long did it last? Were they cognizant of themselves in that form or did they forget everything once they shifted and then transformed back? Did it hurt turning back? Were the books and movies right about silver?
If he ever thought she was finished, she'd find something else, including asking about the hierarchy she recalled Alec mentioning, "They made it clear who you were, but what else is there?"
Polishing off her meal completely, she washed it down with the rest of her coffee and when the waitress came by asking if she wanted a refill, she nodded, giving the woman a smile before returning her attention to TC. She'd been hanging on his every word, especially when he told her about Alec and Victoria. Sheri still couldn't believe they were vampires.
"They look so...normal," she said, shaking her head. "But, so do we, I guess." And they weren't.
They both sat there in silence as the waitress came by with the fresh pot of coffee and that's when Sheri just randomly decided to pick up her fork and use it to pluck a stray sausage from off his plate. She moved swiftly and wasted no time in sinking her teeth into the spiced meat, devouring half of the link with a single bite. Though she didn't know TC well -- hell, she didn't know him at all, he didn't seem like the type of man that would mind her stealing his food, but on the off chance she was wrong, she watched him closely as she chewed, wearing a smile that was anything but innocent. It wasn't until she swallowed that she tried to claim hunger drove her to do it.
"I was still a little hungry, " she said, chuckling softly despite the fact that she was telling the truth. Was it any wonder how she got herself in trouble?
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Post by TC Beckwith on Jun 10, 2016 20:48:41 GMT -8
"Hell yeah, it hurts. You'll break every bone in your body, some you didn't even know you had." He finished up his eggs and hash browns, and the biscuits and gravy and now he was using his toast to make sandwiches with his ham and sausage. "As for how long, it depends on the individual. The first few changes will be the worst, and fortunately only on the full moon. Some can change on an off moon, but it's dangerous. You can go crazy, and even lose your human form." As he was about to add the last sausage to his sandwich, Sheri snagged it with her fork and TC smirked. "Thief." Chuckling, he wrapped the sandwiches up in a napkin to take on the road with them.
"Silver's a myth. Aconite, on the other hand is like acid." He paused. "Yes, Virginia there really is a thing called wolfsbane. As for what else there is... Just about every type of were animal you can think of. I've met panthers and lions and tigers... They tend to be assholes, from my experience.. And then you have shifters who can mimic pretty much any animal they want to. Then there are your vampires, witches, demons..." he shrugged. "Even met me an angel once. No sense of humor that anyone's aware of."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2016 21:51:23 GMT -8
"Fun," she said, the word tinged with sarcasm. Something else to look forward to: pain. As if she hadn't suffered enough. The silver lining was that she could apparently eat what she wanted and not have it affect her, or so she hoped, because at the rate she was going, she'd be as big as a damn house before long.
When he called her a thief, she cracked up. "Among other things," she said, still laughing. "Though I think the last couple weeks has been the universe's way of telling me I'm getting too old for that shit." TC had mentioned her world just got a whole lot bigger, but it had also become more complicated. She'd asked so many questions, but she felt like she only scratched the surface and the twentieth was coming up on them fast. If she sat and thought about it at any great length, she found she was scared and Sheri didn't know if that was a good or bad thing to be.
While he busied himself with building his sandwiches, Sheri leaned to the side and slid a hand into the right front pocket of her jeans, pulling out some cash, enough to cover both their meals. The man just drove two hours to come and get her and was, in a way, mentoring her -- it was the least she could do.
"So, what now?" She'd handed the money to the waitress who'd come along with the check and she was now watching her walk off to make change. "You said we had work to do...this going to be like some sort of wax on, wax off situation?" Yes, she was quoting Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid. "Or do I just get to drive you crazy with more questions for the next ten days?" Ten days sounded like a long time in theory, but it was less than two weeks away, and according to him, things were going to get way worse before they got any better.
As for all the information he was sharing with her, she was storing it away as best she could, but it was often overwhelming. There was a lot to take in, and some things she was just going to have to learn over time and from her own experience. That didn't mean she was done trying, though.
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Post by TC Beckwith on Jun 11, 2016 6:15:00 GMT -8
"Now, we head for the hills." Hill, mountain... With the sandwiches wrapped, TC finished off his coffee and then rose from the stool. When Sheri paid for their meal, he chuckled. "You didn't have to do that, you know." Heading for the door, he held it for her and as she passed by him he added, "But thank you."
TC headed for the street once they were out, checking traffic and then crossing back over to the motel. "The day of the moon, you're going to get twitchy. Like your skin doesn't fit. Picture the scene in a move of a junkie in need of a fix and you pretty much have an idea of what it's like. You get twitchy. Then shit starts breaking, you more or less rip your own skin off and then you're four on the floor and furry." He cast a sideways glance at her to see her reaction.
"On the upside, you're faster, stronger, can hear, see and smell better, even in human form. Not as good as wolf, obviously, but a hell of a lot better than a norm."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2016 6:59:05 GMT -8
Her shoulders lifted with a little shrug when he said she didn't need to pay for his breakfast. He may not think so, but it seemed the right thing to do given the circumstances. "It's the least I can do for stealing your sausage," she teased. It was more than that, though.
When he said it was time for them to hit the road, she nodded, and with a newfound sense of nervousness, Sheri slid down from the stool and started for the door. She'd had an ex that was an addict, so she knew all about that twitchy feeling even if it wasn't from firsthand experience. The notion that she'd be that bad off didn't thrill her one iota and it showed in her expression and the way she carried herself, yet she tried to cover it with another joke.
"So I guess I should apologize now for the bitch I'm going to be in a few days, huh?" She looked over a shoulder at him as she said it, right before shoving the door open and holding it for him. "Quite literally," she wisecracked with a smirk when they were finally outside. For as funny as it sounded, Sheri was being honest and as they walked toward the street -- the same one they'd have to cross to get back to both their vehicles, all kidding was cast aside and she came clean about something.
"I'm scared, TC."
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Post by TC Beckwith on Jun 11, 2016 8:11:44 GMT -8
"You'd be crazy not to be. But it is what it is, and you learn to deal with it." He smiled to her. "The trick is to cover your ass, do everything you can to prep for the change, away from norms, and try not go into it hungry. Your nerves are going to be fried, but it's best to eat and keep your strength up. That and it'll help keep you from dining on a park ranger or some asshole, hippie back packer."
Reaching the motel lot, TC headed for the Willys, which was parked near her room. He climbed in and then looked over at her. "When we get into the mountains, the roads can be slick when wet and then there are logging trucks to look out for. Assholes tend to think they own the road. Be careful." He gave her that languid smile once more and then started the Jeep up.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2016 20:51:35 GMT -8
It is what it is...
That pretty much summed up Sheri's life as a whole. She'd been dealt a shitty hand since birth, but with a little luck and a whole lot of tenacity, she somehow managed to stay in the game and get ahead quite a few times courtesy of an ace or two pulled out of her sleeve. It was all she could do here, as well. She hadn't asked for any of it, but with TC's help, she'd not only get through it, but she'd somehow rise above it and come out better because of it.
But Sheri couldn't be any further from that point than she was right now. Confusion and fear were making it impossible for her to see a future like that and she was looking to TC for a little enlightenment. Thankfully, he didn't seem to think any less of her for showing signs of weakness.
"Yeah," she said, nodding, though his remark made her realize just how dangerous she could be and if it hadn't been for the sunglasses on her face, he may have seen her horror at the idea that she could actually eat someone. Sheri nearly hyperventilated on her way back to her truck and by the time she climbed behind the wheel, she was clinging to it with white-knuckled tension. Of course, she could have attributed it to the condition of the roads -- he was right, they were awful and those logging trucks did have a tendency to be driven by assholes, but he just might know better, especially when she came bounding out of the Chevy the way she did once they pulled up to his home.
"What if I kill someone?" she asked almost instantly, as if it had been the only thing on her mind the entire two hours. It had been, and it obviously disturbed her.
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Post by TC Beckwith on Jun 13, 2016 0:06:50 GMT -8
"What if won't do a damned thing other than keep you up at night." TC climbed out of the Willys and headed for the house. "That's why we steer clear of the population. Why we take the precautions we do. That's not to say that shit won't go wrong. It can and does."
Opening the door of the house, he stepped back and motioned her in. "When that time comes, if it comes, it's not something you forget, but you pull yourself up by the bootstraps and you move past it." Following her inside, he swung the door closed and then headed for the kitchen. "You want something to drink?"
TC didn't wait for an answer, he simply pulled a couple of beers out and cracked the caps off. Tossing them into the trash, he moved toward her, offering out one of the beers. "We tend to lead lonely lives. Companionship is hard. You meet some guy and you'll have to lie to him until you're sure you can trust him. Same with friends. Your hair stylist, your nail girl, your best friend. Telling people will either have them looking at you like you need a straight jacket, at best, or at worst, get you locked up in some government lab to see what makes you tick. We keep to ourselves, we don't let the public at large know what we are. That goes for all of us, not just wolves."
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2016 14:58:25 GMT -8
He wasn't kidding. The whole ride there it was all Sheri could think about so she was fairly certain it would easily consume her and keep her from getting a wink of sleep if she allowed it to, the same way it had the night before.
Hefting the strap of the duffel bag higher onto her shoulder, she followed in his wake as he made his way toward the house. The redhead took in the sights around her while listening to him talk and once they were inside, she dropped her belongings in an out of the way area near the door. It felt strange to be here and it showed in the way she carried herself, walking around carefully and quietly with her arms wrapped almost protectively around her torso. It was only when he offered her the beer that she seemed to relax, cracking a little smile as she reached out and accepted it with a word of thanks before sinking down into a seat at the kitchen table.
"Pssh." It was her response to what he'd said about relationships. A swig of beer came next before she added, "I don't see myself trusting anyone that much, ever." Trust never came easy for her and now she had a hell of a lot more at stake. As it was, she could barely bring herself to admit any of this to him and that was after being told he was in the same predicament. But now that they were on the subject, she shifted in her seat a little uncomfortably, pursing her lips as she picked at the label with the edge of her thumbnail, those baby blues flickering from the bottle to him from beneath the fall of her hair, obviously thinking about something.
"So...you can be with someone and not have to worry about...going all...wolf...on them?" Hey, it was a reasonable question, especially since her appetite for food wasn't the only thing to increase lately. She had other urges as well, but fuck if it wasn't awkward having to ask him about it! He'd mentioned they only shifted one time a month, so she could easily avoid people then, but how was she supposed to know the damage she could or couldn't do during the time leading up to the full moon? It wasn't like she could hide herself away and avoid people forever.
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Post by TC Beckwith on Jun 16, 2016 15:28:30 GMT -8
TC sat down at the table opposite her and leaned back, one leg kicked out before him, the heel of his boot riding the floor as the other foot rested flat. "You won't shift unless the moon is full, but you can infect them. You have to be damned careful about biting. The closer to the moon you are, the more careful you have to be. Even a scratch at the wrong time of the month could be enough to infect. Hell there have been tales of people who have been infected, by sheer will. Myths about drinking from a wolf's print while the moon is still high or some shit." Shrugging, TC took a drink of his beer and then lowered it to the table as he regarded her.
"So you never saw the wolf again? The one that turned you." Taking one more drink of his beer, he then set it back to the table as he rose, heading back to the kitchen as he started rummaging through the fridge to make them each a sandwich. Yes, they'd eaten at the diner, but TC was big on keeping the hunger at bay and face it, wolf metabolism was on the high end of things. They burned off fuel pretty damned fast.
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