1x1 Story - A Debt To Be Paid

Parrish wrapped her arms around herself, looking away, "Just get it over with. I would like to go home. And I don't want anything from you but my shoes and an Uber."

She still had time to go home and get some rest, she could feel that it was still night instead of early morning. There was a chance to get some sleep before she opened her shop in the morning, and called Fionna. There was no doubt in her mind that she needed to tell the coven what was going on. Undoubtedly, they would do their best to protect her if they could. Parrish could even see some of them trying to help relieve some of the debt for her. She had done the same for the others before.

Closing her eyes, she gestured at him, "Well? I don't have all night."

Truthfully, she was bracing herself for a blow. She had been mouthy, and she knew the kind of people Gale worked for. If he had been Gale's boss, she was certain that she was about to get taught what it meant to be his employee. It would not stop her from being snappish about the whole thing. Parrish was being forced into indentured servitude, as she saw it. It was also not the first time she had taken a hit. She would heal herself later.
 
Despite all her sass and passive aggressive reluctant he didn't miss the tension she built up when she closed her eyes. She was expecting the worse. He couldn't entirely blame her, she didn't know what was coming and given that she'd been kidnapped and taken out to God knows where it seemed too easy to get away with being such a pain without much more than a few scrapes. William wasn't a damned Gangrel though. As much as he preferred to simply command and be obeyed he knew that when it came to leverage the the carrot was preferable to the stick. A beat dog doesn't get much done and has a tendency to bite. It a treat and you might just keep it loyal.

He couldn't help but mess with her a little even as she insisted that he get it over with. He brought a hand up to her cheek, cupping it as she was met with the same mixed sensations as before. His skin was still soft and his touch gentle but the unnatural cold would likely cause some shivers. Again he wanted to get two meanings across: she was dealing with something inhuman and that thing could be pleasant when it wanted to be.

When he came in a bit closer he took his time. He gave her a look over as he moved in, brushing her hair to the side as it got in the way of his prize. This was a motion he was quite familiar with even if he was use to a more pleasant atmosphere. Fangs slipped out from among the rest of his pearly whites and in a moment the Beast spurred him on. In an instant his fangs were in her, a momentary discomfort at worst, nothing more than a pinch that would be soon forgotten.

The Kiss was something one never truly got use to, neither predator or prey. It was a sensual experience, a pure experience of bliss that felt like a shot of dopamine surging through every inch of one's body. It wasn't one sided either. Some days William almost forgot how alive it made him feel, his numbed mind and body suddenly feeling again if only in the moment. Of course that wasn't all it was. He was eager to drink up her life blood, in a way receiving the harm she'd been fearing in a very different and perhaps more disturbing way though he expected it'd be difficult for her to think about it in the moment.
 
William's hand came to her cheek, and she expected the cruelty after the caress. Whatever he was, his skin was unnaturally cool, and it was disturbing. Rather like touching a corpse, if one was in the position to do such a thing. Parrish hated being struck, there was so much more to it than pain. There was shame, and the shock of it happening. There was also the guilt of wondering why she had not stopped it. Still, if he struck her, she would fight back and show him she was not to be trifled with, even if she was not the kind of witch that he thought she was. Bodily harm certainly wrote off her code.

When he moved closer, he pushed some of her thick, wavy hair out of the way, and she wondered if he was being strangely kind before he would be cold. He tucked his head between her own and her shoulder, and she suddenly had a sickening premonition of what was about to happen. Parrish gasped as his fangs dug into her flesh, and she reached up to shove him away, her fingers burying in the shoulders of his expensive suit before she was hit by the almost debilitating feelings that washed over her. She could do nothing as he did as he pleased with her.

"Stop..." she managed to breathe.

It was all she could manage though. Parrish could barely feel her limbs, for as heady and light headed the bite made her. She fell back against the water pipe, not much caring that she fell back against the rusty metal. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wanted to protest, yet somehow, she could not manage it.
 
He was more than pleased with how things were going now. He'd half feared that whatever powers let her shrug off his influence before might also defend her against the feeling that came with the Kiss. It was actually for the best. If any victim had the capacity to struggle doing so would only end with their throats getting ripped out by mistake. Their flesh would give long before any kindred's fangs would.

There was a second high to this feeding that went beyond the physical feeling. Control was entirely in his hands. He could drain her dry if he wanted to and she likely wouldn't be able to stop him. Drown a poor, unsuspecting human under all that pleasure and they're putty in your hands. Best of all he knew she was trying to hate it. Her hands on his shoulders were more of a gentle brush than a shove and her voice didn't match her words when she tried to speak. Her cherished it more than the blood or his own pleasure.

Of course he didn't plan on taking this too far. He'd prefer to keep her conscious lest she get the impression that she was just going to keep getting hauled around while unconscious. Besides he was nowhere near starving to begin with. This had verged on being simple gluttony. He relaxed his bite, his fangs slipping back out of sight before he gave her small wounds a gentle lick. In seconds they'd be closed, barely visible pin pricks on her skin. He pulled away with a look of satisfaction on his face, the feeling the feeding caused still coursing through their system like a high as he touched her cheek again.

"And you called me a liar," he crooned softly, staring into her slightly unfocused eyes as he gave her a moment to recover.
 
When he was finished, Parrish slowly came back to herself. Her breath picked up, and her hand darted out, into his jacket, stealing the knife that he had put away earlier. She flicked it open with her thumb and sliced through the last zip tie, so that she could get off the stool and back out of arm's reach of him. She also had the knife still in hand, putting it between the two of them, in case he decided he wanted to move in on her again.

"Do that again, and I'll burn you to ashes and not feel guilty about it," she said, her voice chilly and even.

It was true that she had experienced the same upbringing as Gale, but instead of turning to crime, she had broken the cycle. Still, Parrish often felt like a feral cat who had simply learned how to live in the real world. Thankfully, her gifts were not dictated by violence not caused by magic. She had survived in the worst parts of the city, and she certainly was not going to let him to treat her like that when she could do something about it.

"I might have to work for you, but you will not paw at me like some drunken frat boy during Greek week."

She threw his knife to the floor, "I'm going home."
 
He had half a mind to gloat right up until she suddenly got his knife off him. Quite a shock it was to see how fast she was and an extra surprise that she hadn't got for the kill. Not that it would have done much to him. Perhaps she already knew that. Even if she didn't know the facts from the myths it wasn't hard to figure out the gist of what he was. He didn't mind. Better to get it out up front.

"How exactly do you plan on doing that? You admitted yourself that you don't have that kind of trick up your sleeve and I'd be seriously impressed if you'd be able to get lighter fluid and a match that close to me."

Despite his smiling the Beast lurched in the back of his psyche. Fire was a serious problem if she did try something with it and the monster inside would not take it lightly. Even the hollow threat was enough to almost make his skin crawl. There weren't a lot of ways to meet one's final death but that was one of the less pleasant options.

She kept barking at him until she dropped the knife, announcing her exit as if she had any say in the matter. Of course she'd been through a lot already and so as he stepped towards her he said, "Of course. I'd only be too happy to take you back to your home."

He didn't much care if she'd prefer walking back in the dead of night to a short ride in his company. He wanted her in good shape after all and this wasn't a good part of town to be walking alone in.
 
William stepped toward her and she skittered backward a few steps to keep herself out of arm's reach. Parrish was not going to show him all her tricks in one night, it would keep him guessing, but she did not want him close enough to touch her again. Her eyes looked around, and she saw her shoes sitting to the side, discarded at some point and she went to step into them, more willing to walk home when she actually had shoes.

"I don't want a ride from you. I don't want anything from you but to be left alone. But since you won't do that, I'll walk home on my own."

She headed for the doors of the warehouse then and pushed open the door, ignoring the expensive black sedan sitting by the curb, an extremely handsome man standing next to it looking at his phone. She ignored him and walked right past, trying to figure out where the hell she was, aside from the warehouse district by the river. If they were down by the river, she could follow it and find a bridge eventually. Wrapping her arms around herself, she began walking, heading toward the inside of the city, knowing a bridge would be coming up soon.

Really, walking to Fionna's would be sooner than her own place. As such, she decided she would go to the other witch's place and be safe sooner than she thought she could be. Fionna could, at least, protect her better than she felt she was at the moment. As Parrish walked away, Emerson did not stop her. He had been told not to interfere, and it was bad enough that he had sent William a text. Then again, he did take small pleasure in irritating the other vampire.
 
She was understandably cautious of him after the stunt he'd just pulled, looking almost ready to run if only that hadn't looked like something she'd do out of fear. She found her own shoes and began to put them on, stubbornly refusing help with him having half a mind to let her go on that walk. That'd be giving her an inch though and he wasn't about to do that just yet.

"And since you know exactly where we are you'll have no trouble getting back home."

It was hard to miss the sarcasm or to deny his point. He doubted a girl like her was that familiar with the warehouse district but that didn't stop her from going out stubbornly on her own. He went after her as she marched out into the cold and spotted Poole still standing ready outside long past the ten minute mark. William only spared him a glance and didn't break pace as he gave orders.

"Get in the car and drive a block behind us. Miss Fairfax needs a walk to clear her head."

He didn't even wait for acknowledgement as she kept walking, keeping pace but only enough so that he was following without closing the distance. He wasn't leaving her alone but after that grave violation of her space it was best to not push his luck invading it again.

"I'm almost surprised you don't have any questions," he admitted slyly as they walked away from the warehouse and towards the road.

"I know that might give the impression that you give a damn but you clearly didn't know who you were dealing with before. Least I can do at this point is give you a few answers."
 
"I would rather be lost in the city than riding in an enclosed vehicle with someone who doesn't know how to respect personal boundaries," she snapped immediately.

Parrish continued to walk, her arms wrapped around herself considering it was chilly in the night air and she had been absconded with without the necessity of a coat. She certainly was not going to admit it though. All she had going for her currently was the stern pride and stubbornness that she was going to have to keep up. It was not going to be a one and done for her, and if William thought he was going to eventually wear her down, he was wrong. She would have insisted on walking home barefoot if that had been the case.

Emerson got into the car, and waited for them to walk a couple of blocks before he started following them. This game of cat and mouse was probably amusing on some level, but he had divorced himself from such games quite a long time ago. Now it was simply about helping William be happy. If this girl, and playing with her, made him happy, Emerson was not going to complain about the banal things he was asked to do. So he followed them, but he was listening to his favorite music while it happened. Nothing got in between the man and his big band swing.

When William spoke to her, she turned around, unleashing her thoughts on him, "I. Don't. Care. How much am I going to have to say it? I mean, it's not like you're going to magically surprise me and tell me that you make all your money helping orphans or rebuilding villages in war-torn countries. I know what kind of....thing you are, and that's enough. I don't want to know anything else that could suck me in deeper or get me killed. I don't care what you do, and I don't care what kind of person you are, because no matter what, you're blackmailing an innocent woman into working for you! That negates anything else you could possibly doing that isn't as black as your soul, if you even have one anymore!"

The witch turned around then and kept walking, refusing to shiver in front of him. It was more than pride now, it was the dangerously tottering dynamic between the two of them. She refused to take anything that would add to the burden he had placed upon her shoulders.
 
Her outburst, this time, wasn't unexpected. He let it get it out of her system, neither pulling away from it nor smiling as he just looked her dead in the eye and waited for her to finish. This was why he hated dealing with people with a will. The power to dominate had spoiled him. Literally any other human would simply have been told to shut up and play nice and don't so with a smile. Her skills might be useful to sick on his competition in the future but for now he was the only one stuck with her.

As silence fell again and they kept walking he put together that she must be freezing out here without a jacket on. A part of him -- the fervent control freak the Beast spurred him to be -- wanted her to freeze just to make sure she suffered a little for her transgressions tonight. He knew better than to listen to that little voice though. This was self imposed and she could suffer nobly if not fruitlessly without it truly bothering her a bit. Self destructive and futile. Like he'd stop from his wounded ego because she doesn't want his help.

"Be honest with yourself, Parrish. You're getting involved. Unless that alone alone is enough to make you want to end it all then you know it's foolish to be walking into this blind. I can tell you as someone who's dealt with people on the wrong end of people like me it doesn't end well without all the facts."

As he spoke he'd started unbuttoning his jacket. He knew that she likely wouldn't accept it just because it was him but the gesture might at least show that he cared some for her well being. It wasn't much of a sacrifice for him anyways. His skin didn't feel the cold the same way it use to.

"You're not entirely wrong either," he admits as he holds the jacket out to her.

"I've done worse than what's been done to you. And I've done better. The former more than the latter. You learn to live with that when you're shoved head long into the world I live in. I'm not asking you to go there or to live like that though. Don't take this the wrong way but you're lucky that your brother screwed over me rather than one of my associates. I'm not saying what I've done is nice. Just that the people I work with can be far worse. So."

He dared to reach out enough to nudge her shoulder with the coat in hand.

"Take what you can when you can. Hell, maybe I can show you a silver lining before long."
 
Parrish glared at him as he nudged her shoulder, coat in hand. She snatched it from him rudely and pulled it on, the jacket much too large for her, but at least it gave her another layer between the cold world and her bare arms. She rolled the sleeves up, hoping it would bother him to crease the jacket like that, and she wrapped her arms around herself again.

"That's not the world I live in. I rejected that world and I refuse to return to it. The world I live in is do no harm. Love where one can. Help when needed. Not take and take and take. Not hurt those who hurt you in some way of making things even where nobody is left unmarked. Unmarred."

She kept walking, ignoring the few people on the street at that time of night who took an interest in the slender woman who seemed to be unused to how angry she should look to be left alone in their world. Parrish just wanted to be somewhere safe, and nowhere that William Monroe was could be considered safe. Fionna would take her in, or she could go home, and avoid leading him to the woman who was in charge of their coven. She had not had to yet mention she belonged to one, and that was far more important to her, keeping it secret for now. He did not need a hold on them, too.

"You and I both know, the more I know, the less likely it is that you'll ever let me go, or live."
 
William frowned ever so slightly as she told him that she rejected everything he stood for. Not that he was offended, that was very much how he saw things. That was the problem. For someone who had at the very least peaked into the world of darkness that lay beneath the surface of the 'normal' world was she still that naive?

"I hate to tell you this but that's the world you've lived in your entire life. The world Gale knew about. The world he lived by. You can sugar coat it all you want but it won't make the truth any sweeter. Do you really think it's human nature to be nice and compassionate when that very society holds them up as so precious that they're practically anomalies? Admit it, if you're so charitable it's just because you like being appreciated."

He moved up to stand next to her, ignoring how she was messing up his coat as he kept his hands in his pockets.

"And how do you plan on stumbling out of this when you're blind as a bat? If you're going to work with me you're going to do your job and I can't hold your hand the entire time."
 
"Maybe I just hold myself to a higher standard than you. I can't imagine it's hard to raise the bar from where you're holding it," she said with a withering glare.

Parrish lifted her chin a little higher, not willing to tell him that she knew all about his world, and that she had chosen to leave it long ago. She had escaped that kind of world, and had done her best to pull Gale out of it, but he simply went back of his own choice. There was nothing she could do about that. The witch rolled her eyes a little as he talked about her stumbling out of his world.

"If you're so concerned for me, perhaps you should tell me what this job is, since you've refused to do so but then are practically begging me to ask you like a teenager who has a secret that he can't wait to tell someone. You're so interested in playing games that I'm not feeling particularly interested in participating in that you're shooting yourself in the foot. Something will happen and blow up in your face and it won't be my fault. So you feel free to trail after me like the creep you are, trying to get me to ask you questions so you can prance around me with half answers that don't do anything. But I'm done for the night. Good night."

She refused to let him play more games with her. It was bad enough that she was tired from what he had taken, and from not having slept. Parrish checked both ways and crossed the street, seeing the bridge in the distance. She would at least be able to cross the bridge and get somewhere a little more familiar.
 
"Oh and what a majestic high horse it is you ride around on! Yes, I'm sure that it'll please the invisible man in the sky when your ticket is punched."

Not all the dead were godless. The Lancea had their churches and bibles and the Crones had their rituals and pagan gods. The rest of the kindred population tended to be staunch atheists and those that weren't were made so with time. Their very existence is an affront to nature and just living through this damnation often meant seeking the rest of the filth pushed into the shadows with you. Either God was a joke or something so apathetic that it wasn't worth praising. William was firmly in the former. He hadn't been a religious man in life and undeath only made it less palatable.

When she brought up his lack of information and how he was playing around with her she was practically begging to be made wrong. Of course that would only benefit her. Say nothing and she's proven right, say something and she gets the information she obviously craves and as much as he wanted to yank her around a bit more it was more practical to keep her informed.

"For your information I planned on telling you what was needed but you took so many long to play nice and then stormed out. Can't blame me for not telling you everything ahead of time, especially when you don't have the right to demand."

He made sure they were relatively alone, glancing over his shoulder to make sure anyone out this late was either gone or not looking his way before he made his move. It was a more subtle power he was pulling on though one that would certainly cause a double take. One moment he was next to her, then he was blocking her way. If she was paying attention the only intermission between these two moments was a faint blur.

"But if you're going to be so moody then allow me to sweeten the pot a bit, hmm? Sit down with, let me talk over everything I expect and if you play nice I'll get you your contract in two days, a sign on bonus and I'll leave you be for an entire week. Now I don't know about you but considering the debt on the table I think that's a more than generous offer from me."
 
"I don't have the right," she said, her tone deadpan. "Oh no, I have no right to know what the hell you're forcing me into."

Before she could go much further, William was in front of her, and Parrish had to stop short so that she would not run into him. She instantly took a couple of steps back so that she was out of arm's reach, not wanting him to be able to grab her again. Once had been enough, and she was never going to trust him again. When he tried to bribe her into getting into the car with him, she lifted an eyebrow, not at all liking the sound of any of that.

"Okay, I'll get in the car and sit down with you and you can do all that other stuff. If you apologize. And mean it. Apologize for kidnapping me and for assaulting me, and I'll sit down with you and we'll talk about this all civil and calm, just the way you want it."

Parrish knew that was never going to happen. As such, she was prepared to continue walking to the bridge. The sleek black sedan came to a stop near them, as they had stopped too, and the window rolled down, Emerson glancing at the two of them.

"I could just put her in the trunk," he offered.
 
He was trying to play nice but she was really pushing him. Worse yet she was pushing the Beast. The prideful, violent hedonist that lived in the back of his mind since the first night he woke up without a pulse. The monster in the man. Normally it was easy to keep in check but letting her get away with this time and time again was testing his patience. If she looked him in the eye she might see past the fake smile and warmth and at something feral bearing it's teeth just behind those cool blue orbs.

That's when Emerson made the mistake of offering his opinion, making the situation worse and nearly throwing the Beast into a frenzy. He looked to him, the smile obviously forced for once as he spoke to him with forced calm.

"What an excellent idea but I can do you one better. How about we put you in the trunk, weld it shut and dump the whole thing in the river instead? It'd be messy but if we send a clean up crew later in the week it shouldn't be much trouble. Of course to get good men for the job we'd have to hire some day workers to pop the trunk but really that just means a cleaner job, right?"

It was hardly subtle threats William was throwing out. The potentially frightening part was Emerson knew that in the wrong situation that it might be more than talk. Personally this was just to vent but it could be hard to tell when the Invictus had a history of efficient punishments. Being tied down on a rooftop was usually a classic but some powerful sadists were known to do just what he was threatening if crossed on the wrong day. Their kind couldn't suffocate but a few days of isolation and starvation would mean certain insanity for most. At that point the execution would seem merciful.

And like flipping a switch he looked back at Parrish, his composure pieced back together as saddened look crossed his face.

"Look, Miss Fairfax... Parrish. I've never been happy with this arrangement, really. To have your brother leave and be left with his burdens and the danger that comes with it... I can't even begin to imagine how stressful this has been for you. I really, truly regret this entire situation and wish I could leave you out of it but my hands are tied. I beg that you can forgive me."

She'd be hard pressed to tell if he was bipolar or one of the world's best actors after that and he wasn't about to tell.
 
Emerson looked unmoved by Williams words, shrugging his shoulders, "It was merely a suggestion. She's human. And an irritating one at that."

He rolled up the window and went back to sitting there in the car, phone in hand once again. Fear would have been foolish, and he also knew that William was far more interested in the girl than he was in him. So he went back to his game of Cookie Jam while the two of them stood on the sidewalk, talking as if she had any choice in the matter.

Parrish frowned, realizing that he was apologizing, though not the way she had hoped. She had hoped it would either be angry and sarcastic, or actual begging and it might have made her feel a little better. Still, he had apologized and she had to go with him then. Sighing quietly, she walked to the car, yanking open the door and getting in, pulling the door shut behind her. He could sit in the front. She was not going to be in an enclosed space with him.

"Where to?" Emerson asked, obviously amused by the whole thing.
 
Emerson was going to need to have a good talking to when this was all over. And whatever god he might believe in pray that it was just a talking to. As much as he was not liking his assistant's sass tonight he felt his feelings flip the other way as Parrish decided to play nice and step into the car. Well, wasn't that polite yet naive of her. She was fortunate that he was a man of his word. He took his seat in the front, not even looking at Emerson as he answered him with, "Miss Fairfax's home. The scenic route."

As they began to pull onto the street he adjusted the rear view mirror enough to get a good look at her in the back seat, keeping his gaze on her expression as he began to speak.

"We can skip the morbid explanation of what we are and what we do. As you say yourself it's perhaps best you don't know too much. Now, as for what your job will be. Originally I had more basic labors in mind for you but as you've proven tonight clearly that's a waste. Hiring you for this is a bit unorthodox but let's say that you're my... assistant. Secretary?"

He swung his hand through the air dismissively as he got back on track.

"I need you to come with me while I work. Take notes, keep your eyes open. It's more important than you think and depending on how well you do it you might just make Gale's little mistake go away in no time. Oh and I'm going to warn you now - keep your sass to yourself when on the job. Undermining me in front of my fellows is what your brother did and now he's hidden off in such a dark corner even we can't find him. Mouthing off to any of the others will be even worse. I won't sugar coat it. They'd kill you and no one would blink an eye. And I do very much prefer you alive, Miss Fairfax."
 
"Yes sir," Emerson said, barely keeping his amusement in check.

He pulled away from the curb, and Parrish sat there with her arms crossed, at least glad that it was warm inside the car. What had she gotten herself into? She was looking out the window as William spoke to her, and she rolled her eyes a bit.

"I don't have any business casual attire, just so you're aware."

Some of her soft hair fell against her cheek and she pushed it back behind one ear, thinking about how she was going to juggle this and her shop. At least she could make her items while she was in the shop. That would save her a little time. Parrish all but ignored his warnings. Of course others would kill her, they did not want anything from her. The only reason she was still alive was because William wanted something from her. She had no intention of speaking to the others of his ilk unless she had to, and then it would be kept curt but civil.

The car drove along the river, making its way to the high level bridge, which was far away from her own home, but had, indeed, a scenic view of the river and the city. Parrish sighed softly and tried to not hate Gale as much as she was feeling. It was the kind of thing that she had always feared might happen. That he would get into so much trouble that it would make her life a living hell.
 
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