hyde and seek

“Well, I’ll be honest, it might not be possible for a while. I have a suspicion that the timing of my summoning wasn’t exactly coincidental. But I’m sure I can, ah… talk to him in this meeting. As bosses go, he’s a fairly good one. Well, as bosses who can cause you to stop existing without warning.” Hyde pondered that for a moment, and then chuckled, shrugging.

“How about… tonight? I’d offer to cook but as I don’t actually need to eat I’m rather… utilitarian about my food.” He shifted, and placed a hand on her leg, fingers playing over her skin. “And I’m still in a suite, so if you have somewhere in mind, feel free to lead on this.” 

As annoying as a bird being the driving force behind ending this meeting, it wasn’t like she could fight the logic. Picking a fight with the devil was quite the undertaking and one she wasn’t all that sure she could handle. “We can spend some time in my rooms if you don’t mind being in my space.” The only thing he would notice about her space if he came by would be that it was spotless. Much like her fake name, she strived to make certain her space was orderly and neat. 

The raven hopped off his shoulder, and flew to the counter, the noise loud and sudden in the relative peace of the shop, a sound that didn’t belong inside. It spoke of cold, damp graveyards, and wild, instinctive fights for the scraps of food left on the ground. Hyde didn’t seem bothered, but the bird looked at Elliot, carefully, almost knowingly.

Hyde noticed the little spark of need in his aura, and it didn’t take much to figure out what that need was for. If Hyde was capable of feeling, he was sure he’d feel bad for the boy, barely speaking now when he’d given him such a chirpy welcome to the store. He padded just a little closer, eyes fixed on the incubus, and Sorrow gave a caw from the counter, where she was exploring. 

“How often do you need to feed? And do you have to ask daddy for permission?” Such a personal thing, really, he imagined, and one with plenty of threads for him to pull at. 

This raven, why did it seem that undead seemed to like black birds?  Elliot, only moving his eyes, watched the bird fly around, make noises, and he felt overall, very uneasy.  Despite having been around supernatural creatures for enough time to get used to them, even before his time on the island, he never quite actually got used to it, the different abilities and things he’s seen.  

When the other got closer was when Elliot stilled, halting before attempting to dive away again.  He could feel the raven’s eyes boring into the back of his head, unless he was just being paranoid.  How often Elliot needed to feed was pretty much just… whenever he wanted, at this point.  He lived with Noah, who made sure he was well fed by asking questions consistently, and if he felt he needed to give him a break, well, Mercy was always around to hold onto his hand until he was stuffed.  And, technically, he always had permission, they had a nice system going on.  

Elliot outwardly grimaced when the other referred to Noah as a ‘daddy’, which was probably true to some people, but in Elliot’s regard, was just odd.  That was not at all their relationship.  “I can do what I want,” he piped up, crossing his arms in front of his chest and squaring his shoulders, lightly swallowing and setting his jaw.  

“All of it?” Hyde grinned, returning the smirk easily, not moving though Wade was quite a bit taller than him. “Takes two to tango. I should think there’s a few things better with company.” He had an aura that was now familiar to Hyde, one on top of the other, one frozen, a snapshot of a mortal soul. Vampire. “You got a name?”

It wasn’t difficult to pull the angel’s attention away from … well, anything really.  With all of the attention span equivalent to dead goldfish she’d been praying over, the feel of the rock hitting her upper spine quickly had her turning around to see where it had come from.

Kiki realized the object hadn’t been physically thrown, at least not physically with his arm.  The brief moment of pain and surprise was overtaken by wide eyes and awe.  Despite multiple attempts to get her own telekinesis under control on the mortal plane, she’d come no further with the ability.  Not to mention he was a demon, that much was clear as soon as she got a read on the aura radiating from the blond before her.  “Ooo, demon!” was the immediate response, the angel without the prejudice of the rest of her kind.  “You’re very good at the throwing things with your mind thing.”

The moment she stopped, the headache started to fade, and Hyde sighed, looking at her. An angel. Well that was precious, wasn’t it? He tilted his head a little at the collar around her neck, but didn’t comment.

“Well, it’s not hard. You can do it too.” He nodded to the fish, which animated itself, appearing to swim in a circle around her head, before nose-diving back to the floor. “If you aren’t bound, that is.” He nodded to her collar, leaning against the tree Sorrow had landed in. “So, who’s got a pet angel, then?” 

He seemed to like seeing her so irritated. Which only irritated her more. Her nose scrunching up in the way that made her look like an irritated cat ready to hiss or swat at someone. She kept her arms folded tightly across her chest as she glared at the man and watched as he began to levitate her items over to him. Her expression turned to one of shock as she scoffed and stomped her heeled shoe. 

“UM! Excuse you Harry Potter!? Invasion of privacy much!” She hissed nearly ready to lunge at him. “Ohh what? You threatening me by bullying my mother? She is a vampire and could easily take the likes of you.” She looked him over, her cheeks getting red from hugging and puffing so much. “God what are you even? You do realize I’m a mistress? Who do I complain to about you.” She said looked around as she stomped over to her bag. “What is your name?” She stomped back over to him wagging her finger. “So I can go back home and draft a thorough and STRONGLY WORDED COMPLAINT!” 

Hyde could only hold back the laughter so long. Still, he managed to keep it to a quiet chuckle as he looked at her, so furious now. “A vampire? That means she’s already been booked in. I’ll ensure she gets special treatment.” 

He reached into the pocket of his waistcoat, under the jacket, taking out a pack of cigarettes, taking one out and lighting it, casually, before blowing smoke in her face. “You are a mistress, that much is true. And as such, you have certain privileges that give you powers over slaves, even those with supernatural abilities. What you don’t have any power over, however, are people like me.” His eyes flared red at this last word, and he froze her in place - every limb locking up. She could still speak, if she chose, but every other muscle was frozen, and the more she tried to move it, the more the muscle fibres would contract and cramp up, pushing against an unseen force in the air.

Elliot, despite hearing the tone of voice and reading the room somewhat, he smirked a little at the nickname he gave the reaper, never thinking of it that way.  Maybe it was laughter out of nervousness, too, which was very likely, because his next words made his spine tingle.  “I don’t know,” he said, dumbly, having to think about it.  It just felt like eating a really big meal, it was filling, cause of all those souls.  

He blinked at the bird just coming out of seemingly nowhere - he was so confused, so he just aimed to move back around the counter and try to just finish closing up, making everything clean and not dusty.  Before he could, the other was right near him again and he backed up into the counter, frowning at his words.  

What the other said was pretty true, though.  “I have,” he said, quietly.  A few, sure, during his time in Vegas.  The other was right though.  It felt kind of like a big, greasy burger, which was always enjoyable, but he never really felt satisfied, like he was eating something he knew he shouldn’t be.  It’s the kind of feeding and feeling one could get hooked on, and that scared him.  What sucked was now that the other mentioned it, a little pang in his gut told him he needed to feed soon.  “But um, yeah, it’s like that,” he said, looking away and shuffling to the side a little.  

The raven hopped off his shoulder, and flew to the counter, the noise loud and sudden in the relative peace of the shop, a sound that didn’t belong inside. It spoke of cold, damp graveyards, and wild, instinctive fights for the scraps of food left on the ground. Hyde didn’t seem bothered, but the bird looked at Elliot, carefully, almost knowingly.

Hyde noticed the little spark of need in his aura, and it didn’t take much to figure out what that need was for. If Hyde was capable of feeling, he was sure he’d feel bad for the boy, barely speaking now when he’d given him such a chirpy welcome to the store. He padded just a little closer, eyes fixed on the incubus, and Sorrow gave a caw from the counter, where she was exploring. 

“How often do you need to feed? And do you have to ask daddy for permission?” Such a personal thing, really, he imagined, and one with plenty of threads for him to pull at. 

Blanca had always had a fearlessness that teased with recklessness at times. But she didn’t like being told what to do, especially by strange men with bad attitudes. She kept her dark eyes on his, hands still on her hips. She was small but she was not one to back down. 

“Oh see here is the thing about that,” She taunted as she brought a finger up to tap against her chin. “Oh yeah. I don’t have to!” She snapped, a fieryness in her voice. Her ferocious side only very rarely came out but this guy seemed to be getting under her skin. “Yeah you know what else is fucking rude? Throwing rocks at girls you don’t know you ASS!” She countered clearly getting more and more worked up. Oooooh, then he brought up her mother. “Dile que se vaya a la mierda! That is what she would say!” She argued back clenching her jaw. 

Feeling the anger build was like feeling the warmth of a good whiskey, and Hyde grinned at her, relaxed and at ease, thoroughly enjoying himself. He’d never been capable of much emotion at all, himself - he’d thought it was a demon thing, but meeting some of his colleagues had put that to bed. 

Why are you like this?  You’re protected! he shouted in his head, giving a little breath and standing up straighter when the other was preoccupied.  Elliot was determined not to be the scared little incubus he’d been for so long.  He was trying so hard.  He watched the other with careful eyes.

“He’s a reaper,” he said, initially, feeling the need to get that out there.  Not that Elliot knew what kinds of relationships reapers and demons that weren’t him had.  “I feed off him.  I don’t feed off humans.  Or the bound, if I can help it.”  It made him too nervous to feed off humans or human imitating.  He heard the little squeak on the window and perked up.  “Um, please be careful.”  Not that he thought Noah was going to punish him for something getting damaged, it was just an extra headache, and he was always worried.

“Oh, a postboy! Wonderful.” Hyde actually considered reapers more or less colleagues - Satan knew he didn’t want to deal with ferrying recently-dead souls around. No, he’d take them once they were well and truly cooked. Still, he wanted to get under this incubus’ skin, and he clearly cared about his master. “What does he taste like?” 

He paused in his questioning, rolling his eyes for a moment. “Well, I’m clearly not the one at the window. But fine.” He snapped his fingers, and a slightly startled raven appeared on his shoulder. He produced a maggot from his pocket, and fed it to her. “Be good.” 

That dealt with, his focus returned to Elliot, and he prowled back towards him. “I dated an incubus once. He said demons taste like fast food. Lots of... energy, or whatever you want to call it, but it doesn’t... sustain you. You ever fed off a demon?” He stopped moving, once again just a little too close for comfort, studying him with a hungry curiosity. 

Blanca was surprise as he didn’t seem all that phases. Her shoulder rolled back as she straightened up, almost an attempt to take up more space. Her eyes narrowed even more, though he probably would have over powered her, considering she was just a human girl it never stopped Blanca from her clenched jaw attitude. If someone made her mad she satayed that way.

She watched as his eyes flared red and her breath caught for a moment. She watched as his appearance changed and as the rock that had been lingering between them floated in mid air. Perhaps she should be more cautious. but the raven haired woman stepped forward, so they were only breaths away from one another, but no contact still, she was one who withed that for as long as she could. 

His voice startled her, sending a trill up her spine at the low rumbling town. “So what then?” She questioned with a dark curiousness but also a safe distance.  the way his voice was though, it could very easily pull her in. She was good at masking though. A dark brow raised as she crossed her arm and waited for a response. 

Interesting, the lack of response. Most people flinched at the tiny glimpse of his true self, especially mortals. Perhaps this one had been here for some time. He kept eye contact for a moment more, and then caught the stone as it dropped itself neatly into his palm.

Blanca did not stand for this sort of treatment directed at her. She folded her arms across her chest as her round dark eyes narrowed carefully observing the man. She held the rock lazily in her had, when he spoke about not technically throwing it her deep brown eyes flared a fiery hue. “Oh really? We are gonna get into semantics right now? You where aim at me no?” She arched a brow. “Oh was I? Well you know that is gonna certainly put me on my best behavior now.” She scoffed, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 

She looked at the bird as it snapped it’s beak at her, her nose crinkled as she watched it fly away. “No, I can do whatever I want wherever I want.” She looked him over full of irritation. “And if it is bothering you so much…” she leaned in her eyes catching his as her mouth stayed inches from his. “Mind your own fucking business. And stop listening.” She moved back abruptly reaching out to put the rock back in his hand. 

Hyde didn’t move, letting her rant at him, keeping eye contact. Her anger was delicious, he could see it flaring in her aura, and the fact that he had caused it sent a shiver up his spine, the negativity released into the world. He didn’t respond, letting her get it all out, and then held his hand out for the rock. When she released it, though, it didn’t drop into his hand, but stayed in the air, rotating gently a few inches above his palm.

His eyes flared red, the pupils dissolving away, a deep, unholy light burning behind them, and he grinned. His appearance... almost shifted, impressing in her mind that he had somehow become something... other, something her mind couldn’t fit, a body that took up more space than it occupied, dark tentacles, or rattling spines, his eyes were somehow more than one, eight, hundreds, pupils slitted, though they stayed as they were. 

Blanca had been working quietly as she softly sang to herself, when she felt something sharp and hard make a strong impact against the back of her shoulder. It took her a moment, the stone clatter to the floor beside her pale pastel blue pump. She couldn’t believe that that just happened. The petite latina bent down picking up the rock before slowly turning around. Venom in her dark eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” she said canting her head to the side as she slowly sauntered over to the man holding up the rock. “Did you just throw, a fucking rock at me?” She asked wagging the item at him as she spoke painfully slowly, the way she did when she was livid. Making sure every single syllable was perfectly clear and emphasized. She looked over the stranger waiting for a response. 

He stood his ground as she walked up to him, glaring back at her. Her aura was beautiful, she had a strength which would make her a pleasure to build a personal hell for. Right now, though, he was only concerned with the now-fading headache. “Technically, I didn’t throw it.” He didn’t meet her level of intensity, but didn’t move either, keeping eye contact. “But sure. You were giving me a headache.” 

The raven shook itself, and dropped down to land on his shoulder, giving her a baleful look and snapping its beak. With a move, he shrugged it off, letting it fly off, and he nodded off behind her. “Go to church if you wanna pray. There’s gotta be one here somewhere.” Her anger gave him a soft thrill, and he watched her, still smirking a little.