Mistletoe.

@anitafxckingblake​:

“Oh?”

There was no hidden agenda in her stare as she clenched and unclenched her sparking palms as the vampire walked nearer. Confusion had nestled its way into her brows, set up shop and halted her own movements. She stood there plainly, lips slightly parted and doe eyed to the prospect of understanding what exactly was going on and what exactly was swimming in his patient stare. 

Oddly enough, she felt like prey. Not in the sense of being hunted but rather like a lost squirrel being followed by a curious child, stepping lightly and gently just so it would not scare the small creature from escaping. She was both mesmerized and haunted in her petrified state. A few voices in her head begged her to make some action, move, run, escape, attack, lunge, accept, care, hold. And while they all screamed against her silent resolve she could only blink slowly at him and wonder in what world had she stepped into.

Anita wasn’t privy to the traditional holiday of Christmas, if she were to be honest she didn’t particularly experience any of them. There were two times that she could remember of a celebration and each of those seemed to bring up her fear of both rejection and abandonment. One, being as a child her last Christmas with her mom before she passed and the other where she was proposed to by her fiance and later rejected as a suitable companion. In this case, while she enjoyed stepping into this strangers world of celebration, joy, and warmth there too rested the haunted question of when the other shoe would drop.

No.

If they stepped into that phase things would not become clearer to her. It would get muddier. What would that make of the St. Louis community? Would there have to be a special battle to the end for both older vampires? How long would this last if Axel was still planning to leave? Why did he want her? But the worst question of them all still stung in her mind.

Did she she him to kiss her?

Yes. 

“Did you know that in Norse mythology Mistletoe killed a god? Odin and Frigg had a child named Baldr, he had a dream of his death and his mother was worried so she made everything in the world vow not to hurt Baldr except Mistletoe because she felt that it was too young to take upon such a vow, the god Loki heard of this and tricked Baldr’s Brother Höðr who was blind into killing his brother.” He told her with a smile as he noticed her and what seemed to be a battle brewing in her mind.

Axel stood next to her now and just smiled, he knew that her mind was probably full of thoughts and doubts, of what might happen should anything more come from them spending time together and what it would entail for her city. He reached out and lightly touched her cheek, his hand warm to the touch as he had feed this morning. “Mistletoe used to play more of part with druids than Christmas..And it was associated with fertility and vitality through the Middle Ages, in the 18th century was when people began to associate it with Christmas.” He rambled, these things were probably not fascinating to her but he had lived through the changes of the plant.

He leaned down and lightly kissed her cheek, it was still a kiss but it did not change their relationship, he didnt want her running for the hills over one kiss on Christmas morning.  "Hungry?“ Axel asked as he picked up the cup of tea he had on the small table.