#q .

❛ jax ? ❜ his name was mumbled from her lips when the floorboards creaked with a step . abel had been colicky for almost a week , and between jobs and the club neither abilene nor jackson had slept well for days . they'd both nearly collapsed into bed earlier in the night , but jax must have been in a deep sleep as he hadn't stirred when the crying started . it didn't much matter to abilene as she had tomorrow off .

she would have had an easier time lifting a car than she did opening her eyes to confirm it was jax who slipped into the room . on the changing table to abilene's left a pair of jade green eyes followed jackson . abilene reached a hand to turn on a table lamp and the cat nuzzled once into her hand before curling back up and falling asleep . abel stirred against her chest but thankfully didn't wake .

when she forced her eyes to open they dragged over his face . his blonde hair was tangled from sleep and his skin seemed damp . his pale blue eyes were wide and frantic as they flickered to abel before returning to abilene . her brows furrowed and she slowly straightened up .

The  world  begins  to  shift  ,  eyes  clouded  with  a  fog  of  unreality  battling  with  the  truth  that  exists  before  him  .  He  stumbles  ,  catching  himself  at  his  knees  ,  unable  to  care  who  sees  him  as  he  braces  for  impact  with  the  ground  ,  but  he  never  meets  it  .  He  blinks  ,  clenching  the  temples  of  his  head  ,  hair  dissheveled  in  his  gripping  fingers  ,  and  stops  his  forward  approach  .  '  It  hurts  ,  '  is  all  he  can  think  .  It  hurts  .  It  hurts  .  Stop  it  .

❝  wow.  really?  that's  the  game  we're  playing  …  right.❞  he  shifts  awkwardly,  glasses  slipping  down  his  face as  he  rubs  at  the  bridge  of  his  nose. 

❝  holly's  great.  she's  brilliant.  but,  er  —  I’m  not—  I’m  not  doing  the  smash‑or‑pass  thing.  that’s  middle‑school  nonsense.  I’m  just  saying  she’s…  great.  ❝

he  likes  her,  definitely  …  but  it's  far  to  early  to  tell.

SEND "SMASH OR PASS" FOR MY MUSE TO ANSWER HONESTLY ABOUT YOURS. NO LYING ALLOWED.

          ❛             a hilarious deduction coming from you.            ❜          although his words were barbed , his grin was not. while toothy & dangerous , it was genuine as it spread across the vampire's lips as he leaned back , heaving a soft chuckle as he polished off the rest of his wine.new orleans had yet to be unkind to him , considering how many trips aro had taken to the states over the years. once crawling with vampires at the peak of its conception , it had wound down to a rare scattered few. imagine his surprise , however , after learning there was a vampire owned business in the french quarter , & one of the faces amidst the crowd was familiar. he hadn't seen lestat in years , mind you , but what were a few decades to an immortal.

          ❛             what is it with new - age vampires & their incessant need to pretend to be human ?            ❜          aro's voice dripped with disdain , not necessarily at lestat , turning in his seat to peer through the sea of patrons to hunt for a vein to open. the wine had gone stale on his tongue , he needed something stronger.          ❛             owning a public business , living in public housing .. it's like you're all attempting to put down roots that can never actually grow.            ❜           ah , he was talking about carlisle again. although lestat & louis's situation did have it's parallels. dark eyes flickered with amusement as they returned to the other vampire , twisting the stem of his glass as a frown touched the corners of his mouth.          ❛             how do you deal with the inevitable boredom ?            ❜          

❛ that's not the point . ❜ jesúsa insisted , brows furrowed and lips pursed . ❛ i can take care of myself . . . ❜ she had always taken care of herself . there was no one else who was willing to take on the rotten work of doing so , at least not in her memory . she rolled her eyes and huffed out a breath at jax's assurance that the man wasn't dead . violence was the only language men like him understood in her experience .