penny duckton

To slow it down, not go so fast, to blend in with slower humans, was a challenge.  Every aspect of being a vampire was, really, even still. She trusted him and that was evident in the way she held onto him… but that didn’t mean that he wasn't ALWAYS tempted to drink her dry when he came across her. Her blood smelled divine as if it were purposely created just for him. He had found ways to pay less attention to that but rather her scorching heat pressed against him as he moved, dodging people and objects on their way. Hearing her heart beat? It sounded like music to his ears.

When his feet stood outside his door, her in his arms, he felt regret. Maybe he should've taken the scenic route but would it of mattered if she couldn't exactly see it? His braced himself for some sort of invisible impact as she began to stand freely now, hands only falling once she seemed balanced enough to do so herself.

Her statement didn't catch him off guard. In fact, he suspected such would come. "I am indeed, yes, a vampire. Just as you are a witch." Roman added, hoping to help her see that witches and vampires were indeed real. If she could believe such of him, could she believe the same of herself? "Would it surprise you to learn that despite my cold flesh, my heart still beats? Merely slower than yours but still the same." It was the reason he could still grow hair or sometimes appear flushed. The cold skin, however, is from perfectly timed feedings. He still had to be careful. 

Roman moved to unlock his door before glancing back to the woman, the very woman he had loved for so long, debating on how to answer her question but knew that he must. "I've met you so many times, Penny, so much so that it seems as if the universe has decided to laugh at my plight. Even so, I didn't know you'd be here this time but that's how it happens. I came when I heard about the mermaid that had been killed and then the human? It's a shame, truly." There was more of course, but he wasn't sure if she were ready to hear such tales. "You've lived many lives before this one. Always the same with subtle differences to you so I ask, do you ever feel the need to run away? That's usually how I met you. Sometimes before, sometimes after. You once fell in love with a man who swore he loved the seas more than he'd ever love another person but he loves you just the same." HE? LOVES? But he didn't draw attention to her fleeting remark. Not yet anyway.

"So - is this the part where you're gonna eat me?" It was a half-joke. She knew nothing about vampires, and next-to-nothing about Roman. Her heart dropped when he confirmed what she already knew. "I knew it. You're him..."

"All my life there's been this man in my dreams, almost like a shadow following me but good." Her throat grew tight, ears pricking with tears threatening to spill as she reached out for his shoulders, pulling him ever so slightly closer. "I've had dreams of these lives with you, Roman...I don't remember them, but I've seen glimpses over the years."

He could understand to a fault, in a way with memories of many lifetimes inside his head, but not to her point of view. It was a curse after all, to have so many lives come to her all at once and few in between. "I know. I can help you understand it but I think you prepared for this," There was a spell, wasn't there? Maybe not to remember completely but cushion the impact at least, tucked away in her grimoire somewhere. It was something he tried reading once but he couldn't bring himself to read the person entries or spells she had thought to cast. No, it was her private and personal thoughts; some she shared with him and some she potentially kept from him.

Something in his heart warmed upon hearing her conviction. She was so damn sure of that, wasn't she. "Alright, you can come with me." He was thankful for that at least, gaining some hint of what she may or may not of remembered. If she didn't remember him completely, she knew just enough that told her he wouldn't hurt her. "We're taking my way then. Trust me?" When she didn't back away from him or give some signal of distrust, Roman seemed to disappear from her line of sight only to reappear at her side and knock her feet out from underneath her -- but no need to worry, he caught her fall and held her in his arms almost... PROTECTIVELY. Standing up straighter to adjust, he looked down at her for a moment. "You may want to close your eyes." But in again, it was Elizabeth and Sarah, and Betty Jane, and Penny, right? She was always brave whether she realized it or not.

With his warning, he was off in a flash. Most people weren't paying attention anyway and those who were, weren't necessarily all that concerned. A ten minute walk to his apartment might've been nice but he suspected Penny needed answers now rather than later; this way, it was more of a two minute sprint for him, only stopping when he reached his door and his dark hues looked down at her to tell her they were here. "Can I set you down?" because the last thing he wanted to do was set her down on potentially shaky legs.

Her mind was racing almost as fast as they were, thoughts spinning out of control trying to make sense of what was going on right now. If anything this was proof --- it was all real. Whatever Roman was, he wasn't a human. In the two minutes it had taken them to get to what she assumed was his apartment, she'd managed to put all the pieces together. They came to a stop, and she nodded, blue eyes wide as she found her footing shakily on the ground again.

"You're a vampire." Speed like that, the way he spoke, the fact that he had a face pracitcally carved by the gods themselves...she reached out to hold his hand - yep, cold. "I can't believe it. I mean - I do believe it, obviously we just vamped across town, your skin is freezing, you lifted my like I was a blade of grass and you're insanely beautiful..." the last part was her stream of consciousness running out of her mouth without a second thought. She cut herself off quickly, running her hand through her windswept blonde tresses.

"We've met before, haven't we?"

It didn't always go like this. Sometimes, she was a human woman looking for a way out of the life she didn't want for herself and other times, she found him in ways that even he hadn't expected. Sometimes she remembered all too much, knocking figurative air out of his chest by telling him, "HEY, THIS IS HOW IT IS." Each time, no matter what, he found himself all too willing to follow her even if it meant her death. He just thought he'd have more time, thought the cycle was broken, thought... maybe she could live entirely the way she should. Roman hadn't had much of a choice to become a vampire and never wanted to take her choice away, even if she asked or begged him to turn her. Forever was entirely different when he didn't have to die. It made you older, made you tired, made you cynically insane in some aspects... "What can't be real?" he wondered, so desperately wishing to wipe her tears away. "Being a witch? Of all the people in this world, I think it would be silly to think tales of witches are simply myth." But perhaps she was talking about something else... all of those lives she had lived before, maybe? "I have something that belongs to you, I just need to go get it. Will you," he stammered for a moment as if deciding whether to ask her to come with him, or wait in the crowd of people filling the streets now, "just stay here okay? I'll only be a moment." Because he wouldn't ask her to startle herself, by asking her to trust that he wasn't leading her to her death... after all, he probably was, all because he loved her in every lifetime she had been forced to live.

"No." She got to her feet. "I'm not staying here, I'm coming with you. I'm safer with you." She didn't know how or why, but she knew it was a fact. It was as if the universe itself was telling her he would do absolutely anything to keep her safe, he wasn't going to hurt her.

You'd think he'd be annoyed with the butchering but he wasn't, in fact he laughed, always finding something absolutely amusing and yet utterly heartbreaking about seeing her again. In many ways it's as if he's seeing her for the very first time, each time. In the other notion, he couldn't blame her for having many lives trapped inside of her. "I believe it's a noun in the English language," Roman offered from where he stood, forcing himself not to inch closer because every fiber of his being wanted to be closer to her. To touch her, smell her, hold her and never ever let go. It was a shame that he thought it might go differently as the true definition of chaos is trying something differently and hoping for a different outcome each time.

"It isn't me but in again, I do doubt serial killers like to be truthful." Roman pointed out, still trying to brace himself for impact. He gnawed rather than nibbled at his bottom lip for a moment. What the hell could he do now? "You are a witch, yes. It happens sometimes," Not always, no, but sometimes she came into his life as more than just a human... but he'd suppose she had always been more than that. "You caused the explosion when we first met at the bar. I can't explain it right now but I have something of yours that might help you. I'll have to get it for you, I just need you to keep an open mind about it."

She sat there for a few seconds, waiting for him to crack a smile and admit that he was joking...but something about him told her he wasn't exactly a trickster. The explosion in the bar that night they'd met...that was exactly what she'd been thinking about right before he seemed to materialise in front of her. "I don't- I don't understand." She raised a hand to rub her eyes, only to find her cheeks wet with tears. When did she start crying? "I'm so confused...that's not real...none of that can be real."

Despite the fact that in this version of her life not knowing him, not in the same way anyway, Roman found himself sick with worry when he couldn't know if she had made it to the other shelters or not. As soon as the storm broke, he sprinted out into the wet world on a mission. He wanted to find her and make sure that she was okay. She had to be. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost her again, before she even knew the truth. A normal human's feet would've been tired by now but his kept marching on, taking in the faces before he stopped just a few feet behind her. Her blonde curls had haunted him, haunted his dead dreams... he'd know them anywhere. What could he say? He struggled with words only when it came to her. Otherwise, he was confident and sure. Everyone needed a weakness, didn't they? Her heart seemed to race in her chest and finally he asked, "Are you alright, skŭpi moĭ?" The translation meaning MY DEAR but he couldn't tell her that. Not yet.

"Skupi Moi?" She butchered the pronounciation with an arched eyebrow, shrugging before holding out the card to him. "Apparently a serial killer is after me - it's not you, is it?" Of course it wasn't him, she'd never felt safer than when she was by his side - strange that she barely even knew anything about him. She let out a laugh of disbelief, "Oh - and I'm a witch?"

Something about alcohol, the way that it smelt, it made her feel uneasy. She knew that was her problem though, and really she wasn't that surprised people were drinking here. Perhaps it masked fear, what with everything that was going on with the storm outside. It didn't seem so bad, but then there was something oddly comforting about the sound of rain on the windows.

She was shocked at how serious the girl seemed to be with her question. "Nah, I don't really believe in all that stuff - do you?"

The young blonde though, was very thoughtful on thinking over such details. Once she was close enough to see her face, the vampire had to stop at her tracks abruptly. Rose never has lived enough lifetimes to come across certain sketches, rough waves and a couple of melancholic broken hearts.

"Yeah...Well..." the young looking vampire began to talk upon noticing she perhaps was taking too long, heading to rest her shoulders over the counter, "You'd be surprise to see how cruel gods, and those who believe they are one could be. This..." she pointed at the roof and made circles in the air with her index finger, "...Looks more like a whim if you ask me."

"You seriously think they'd do something like this...for fun?" Her blue eyes widened, shining in the dim light of the candles that had been placed around in lack of electricity. "Fuck me." She said with a laugh.

❝a sunny day my ass!❞ the woman, only slightly inebriated, hissed into her phone. the caller none other than madam mayor herself. a day off is what she'd asked for and a day off is definitely not what she got, spending most of it giving penny money for good liquor. now she was slightly wet and had nothing to drink. ❝ya know what, i hope a house magically falls out of the sky and crushes you, you bruxa.❞ a little too on the nose maybe? she tossed her phone away before eyes found themselves meeting a set looking right at her. ❝a maldita bruxa pode me morder.❞

Their first meeting was quick, as if snapping of one's fingers. The day he met Elizabeth, he and his crew were preparing to set sail once more. Her port hadn't been all that special in the moment but now? He remembered it straight down to the smell of it when the weather changed from rainy to downright cold. He'd never find her there again but he liked to visit from time to time when he missed her. That one meeting changed everything, for the better and the worst. If he hadn't been so damn stubborn, he might not of been so awkward with each meeting.

At first he hadn't thought the witch was telling the truth. What could break his heart more than to never see the woman he loved ever again? No, it was worse to have this meeting over and over, trying to make each life last more than a mere thirty something years because he refused to end it. His own heartlessness was also the same guilt he carried, not wanting to remove the choice to live and die a human life the way one should rather than this constant meeting and death, usually in his arms if he weren't too late for that. She was cursed and it was his fault.

Standing there, watching her with careful eyes, his mouth felt dry. He felt... hungry, but it wasn't for blood. It was the warmth she held in her cheeks that he felt, loving that feeling more than anything in the world. How could he not want that to last? Why was that so selfish?

"Tea, yes. Thank you, Miss?" Roman spoke in a forced steadied voice, wondering what her name was this time. Whether he had a right to know that or not was a different story.

"Tea." She simply repeated, noting his accent was not from Bar Harbor - though she couldn't quite place it anywhere specific either. "I'm Penny," her cheeks were still blushing as she quickly tried to pull herself together. "You don't strike me as a Bar Harbarian, Mr...?"

A name had such power, and now he had hers it was only fair she learn his too. Perhaps the name of this man would give her some sort of assurance that she'd never met him before. Because even now as she stood opposite him, sure that they had never met, she couldn't help but love him. Intense, all-consuming, passionate love. It radiated through her body, setting every cell on fire as it did. It was like a power running through her body, reaching a point of explosion- A sharp CRASH and the shattering of crystal from behind her caused Penny to jump out of her thoughts. One of the more expensive bottles of whiskey had somehow exploded, sending shards of crystal ricocheting. "What...the..."

Well drinks and a show were not something he got very often anymore. Something that seemed to have died out, pity really. This was hardly Shakespeare, but at least it was entertaining whilst he waited for a drink. The man though... well he could consider dinner, but at the rate he was going, seemed his blood might be more alcohol than anything else, and that was no use to him.