@anitafxckingblake​:

Anita smiled distantly, taking her left hand and pressing it against his cheek, leading his face to hers again. She wanted to look him in the eyes, needed to. If eyes were the windows to the soul Anita needed to see if he had one, if a vampire could ever have one. Fear did grip her, it clung to her gut like the harshest of winters, but not all of it was her fear of him. 

She wanted him to reassure her that her fear was misplaced, that she could find some solace, some place of comfort and security with him- that he was the better of two sins, if that was even possible. There was no doubt that Anita’s choices in men were never, safe. So how could she expect that for him? But on the surface, and even in the deeper things that he had revealed to her, he seemed so, human, so welcoming and warm as opposed to the sharper and lust-filled desires of he who shall not be named. 

But wasn’t he still the very thing that she had hunted for years, still hunted? 

“I thought I told you, Axel,” she sighed sweetly, “I’m a monster too.” Anita licked her lips again, her eyes darting over his face for a sign. 

He locked eyes with her as she placed her hand on his cheek. He wanted to tel her that he would protect her and he would never do anything to put her in harms way but he wasnt sure he could keep that promise. Not with everythign that had happened and that might happened seeing as him and the master of the city were not on the best of terms. 

“Anita you will never be a monster in my eyes, never. You have not done the things that make someone a real monster…” He whispered, he had been a monster and he had seen others that were worse than him and in no way was she a monster. 

He looked down for a moment before looking back at her. “Shall we go back to my house, or has my dark monster scared you?” Axel asked wanting to see if how he had acted had actually scared her. 

@anitafxckingblake​:

Anita didn’t say anything, she couldn’t with the lump that latched itself so sharply in her chest. Was it fear that gripped her? Could he taste it in the air, and even worse, did he like it? She turned away from him, her eyes looking distantly into the woods for a moment to think and at least attempt to understand everything that she was feeling right now. Tonight was one that was heavy, and it seemed now that he revealed more and more to her, even if he wasn’t planning to. 

“Axel,” she interjected where she could but he was deep in his own thoughts and his voice quickly ran over hers, even as he turned the car around and began to head back towards the city. “Axel,” she swallowed in her dry throat and spoke louder, turning now to him and placed a soft hand on his as it covered the stick shift. “Stop the car.” Anita wasn’t exactly sure where she was going in this, she wasn’t in a position to describe why her heart was racing. 

She waited until they were pulled over again before she turned her whole body towards him and unbuckled her seat-belt, picking up his pale hand in hers and held it, allowing it to rest on her thigh. Anita met his gaze, her eyes slowly flickering over his until she was looking at the clear green one that reminded her of the forest surrounding them. 

“I don’t want to be alone.”

He hated tasting the fear of other in the air, even more so when the fear was because of him. He stopped the car when she asked and just looked over at her a little confused as to why she had wanted him to stop. Axel knew that she was scared of him and he had thought that she wanted to flee the car as soon as it stopped but she didnt she just sat there and look at him as he watched her. 

As she turned and unbuckled her seat-belt he just watched as she picked up his hand and put it on her thigh. “From what I can tell you are not alone…You have friends who care for you.” He whispered before he quite grasped what she was meaning. 

“I wont leave you alone.” Axel told her as he leaned over and kissed her cheek, managing to ignore the smell of blood on her lips, he sighed and put his forehead on her shoulder and then looked at her. “Do you really want to be alone with a monster though?” 

@anitafxckingblake​

Anita flinched at the sight, he was pale- well, paler than usual, and he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that she was beginning to worry about the poor metal/plastic circle. Her eyes began to dart around them, as he moved the car to the road, her body almost jerking against the halted hold of her own seat-belt and fought the urge to leave the car herself. 

“What the fuck?” She shot at him, flinching at his hiss and jumping slightly as he leaped out and away from her. A wandering hand moved quickly to her bitten lip while fighting the urge to pull out her gun and leave, however something kept her, something stopped her from leaving and even pointing her holstered gun at the vampire, er, Axel. There was a part of her that shouted ‘I told you so’ somewhere deep in her subconscious and it was a battle to ignore, but there was even a battle of why did she want to ignore that little voice. That little voice that kept her alive for all this time. 

It had also kept her alone all this time.

“Fuck,” she muttered again and pinched the bridge of her nose. Why was she so confused about this whole thing? He was a vampire, she hated vampires, right? She killed vampires, she had almost been killed by vampires more than she hand fingers and the animator was guessing that she might as well add this time to the count. But why was she still there, and actually… worried? 

“But you are..” She whispered, looking at the pale man once he made it back into the car. Anita hated that her fear was held so strongly in her throat, hated that she was leaning away from him, but she couldn’t figure out why she just wouldn’t leave, and didn’t want to. That, she hated the most. 

He shook his head as she said he was. He sighed nad hung his head as he put his hand on the steering wheel and then looked at her. “I fed before coming and seeing you…I am not hungry. You knew that when you touched me in your office…” He told her with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“I….Was trying not to hurt you. I….I..should take you home..” He didnt want to take her home he want to take her to his house and show her it as she seemed interested, he was also open to showing her his animal to call. “I’m sorry I ruined tonight.” He whispered as he put the car into gear and turned it back towards the city not sure that she would want to spend time with him now that he had come so close to hurting her. 

“Please forgive me Anita. I never want to hurt you…Never.” He told her, his voice soft as he looked over at her. He wouldnt even feed from her even if she said he could it was just not something he could risk. 

@anitafxckingblake​:

“You bought a house,” Anita pointed out, her eyes still watching the road ahead of them, turning her gaze towards the fast moving trees in her passenger window as the street lights grew farther between. “You have a club… I’m just wondering if you’re planning on staying here and why.” She wanted to trust him, at least someone did, some child’s thoughts rummaging around in her locked up head needing someone to trust, wanting someone to be… stable. The issue was that he was a vampire, but then again, it wasn’t as if she had seen much sun.

Anita shook her head to clear those wandering thoughts. Mistaking kindness again wouldn’t be the best thing to do. She bit her lip again, licking the copper wetness off of them as much as she could, soothing the wound with her soft musings. “You don’t have to answer that.”

She took a deep breath and felt his cold presence, could almost taste it in the air as it was less, calm. Anita looked at him again and tensed, wondering if he had felt or saw something that she didn’t, but he was still and quiet. Almost the same quiet of the grave, which in most cases, made sense. However, Axel was rarely like that, as if she knew him- at least whenever she was with him he wasn’t. Except when he hadn’t eaten. “Are you hungry?”

He wanted to answer her questions, he wanted to act normal but right now the monster that he kept hidden deep down inside him wanted him to just let lose and drink her blood till she was an empty husk on seat next to him. He opened his mouth and shook his head. 

Axel pulled off onto the side of the road and quickly undid his belt and almost leaped out of the car, he need to be  away from the blood in the car. He couldnt hurt her, he didnt want to hurt her. But deep down inside of him he did. “Stay in the car.” He hissed as he sat down on the damp grass and put his head in his hands. 

He had been able to keep control all these years, making sure he wasnt around freshly spilt blood often or at all. He leaned back and looked up at the sky as he ran his hands over his pants. 

Axel stayed out of the car for a few minutes before getting up and walking back tot he car, sitting back into the driver seat and buckling his belt back up. “Sorry….and no im not hungry.” 

@anitafxckingblake​:

“Habit,” she muttered as she continued surveying their travels. It wasn’t because she was afraid or even nervous, but it was something that she not only learned from Edwards bruising teachings but from her own experiences. You should always know where your going and you should always know if someone is following you there. Trust never came to her easily, maybe once when she was a child but after her father got remarried it never resurfaced again. Something about not feeling at home even in her own home.

“Do you have an animal to call?” Anita took the time to look over at the vampire, her eyes dancing over his face briefly as the highways lights spread across his features. Looking away and back to her musings Anita found herself somewhat deep in thought, remembering their previous conversation back in her office lobby. He had revealed himself to her, something that Anita wasn’t expecting especially from a vampire as old as he was and the fact that he was taking great strides just to even be near her….

The animator smiled as she was lost in her thoughts, although now that realization caused her to worry on the corner of her lip, biting into it until she peeled skin and taste the bitter sweet of her own blood. She spoke quietly with the knowledge that he would hear her, “Are you settling roots here, Axel?”

HE just smiled as she said it was habit for her to look around and survey the area around her. Axel knew that in her line of work she had to make sure that she wasn’t followed and that she was safe and that she knew that she had an exit strategy if things went south. 

Axel actually went a little red as she asked if he has a animal to call. His was not like other Masters in the sense that they had more intimidating animals and his was more cute and not intimidating at all. “Uh…Yes, like all master vampires I do have a animal to call….I shall show you when we get to my house.” He told her still slightly embarrassed about his animal to call. 

As she bit into her lip causing it to bled he gripped the steering wheel tightly and focused on the road now, trying to to smell or react to the blood in the air. “…I am..not sure yet..” Axel told her as he kept his eyes ont eh road. 

@anitafxckingblake​:

“True.” Anita pulled her seat-belt over her body and easily clicked it into place. It didn’t matter if one of her guns felt awkward tucked away beneath the seat-belt, it didn’t matter whether or not she thought she was some bounty hunter bad-ass, safety first. Plus, she didn’t regenerate like he could. “Pizza it is,” she smiled and glanced over at the vampire, a darting look as she kept her eyes on the road, flicking across the way, in front and behind them in case they had happened to acquire any ‘buddies’ along the way. 

“Do you mean actual animals, or lycanthropes?” This did perk her interest as that information was nowhere to be found deep in the recesses of her research. Anita figured that something like that wasn’t what most vampires wanted the vanilla of species to know. Lycanthropes were still sort of in hiding and the public really only knew about them when it came to murders or a rogue wolf eating babies or something. 

“Why don’t you live under your club like…” She had almost broken her own rule, “Like most other vampires? Especially the club owners?”

“No one has followed us yet.” He smiled as he noticed her looking around to see if they had been, he turned the heat up just in case she was cold. He knew that being dead had the perks of not feeling the cold anymore though he did miss it. 

“Both. Those that can call wolves can call werewolves….Its the same if they can call cats, they can call werecats.” He smirked. “Perfect for vampires who were crazy cat ladies in their human life.” He joked. “Not many humans know this so be careful why you speak of this to.” Axel told her as his eyes flicked to her then back to the road. 

“I hate city life, its too noisy and there are too many people there, and I grew up in a small town being out in the woods almost feels like home again.” The vampire explained. “Also if someone comes for me there are less people who may get hurt, my nearest neighbor is five or six miles away.” 

@anitafxckingblake​:

“Wait,” Anita sighed as she pulled on her coat and shoved her wallet in her back pocket, “Vampires can have ‘animals to call’? What is that, like a pet or something?” 

Why was it that everyday she was learning something new about vampires and the supernatural and upon occasion wishing that she didn’t? The saying was definitely true, ignorance is bliss- but at a certain point all of these surprises were beginning to get less and less, well, surprising. “It starts now,” Anita rose her hand as they moved out into the cold autumn night, turning to lock up the building behind her so she wouldn’t forget and find herself in a shouting match with Bert about the whole thing. “No more.”

Anita couldn’t help but feel a little odd that he had opened the door for her. She knew that it was another one of his kind traits and maybe an old habit that never died, but chivalry always sort of… irked her. Nevertheless, Anita smiled gently at him and entered his car smoothly, thankful for the ample foot room as she was what one could call, fun-sized. 

“If only coffee was a food… Well, is it bad to say that I’m craving pizza?”

“Mhmm.” He said as she asked about the animals, he would wait till they were in the car before he would explain more. He laughed and nodded as she said that the no talking about JC started now. 

“If coffee was food that’s all you would eat.” He joked as he started the car and drove away from her office. “I can make pizza for you, I learnt how to make pizza from scratch when I lived in Italy.” Axel told her as he looked over at her. “I should have enough food to make pizza at home.” 

“Oh so yes we can call animals, but only master vampires can do it. Some call cats, wolves, birds, anything really they can call it.” Axel explained as they drove out of the city. 

@anitafxckingblake​:

“That would be all of them,” she chuckled and adjusted her body under his hold, making sure that her right hand was free in any case that an unsuspecting ‘friend’ happened to stop by and check on the animator. 

Anita shrugged at that with a playful smirk and blinked at his soft chaste kiss, her brows attempting to furrow in thought at the bit of information that he gifted her. It would send her down another mysterious path of wanting to decipher his words, on whether or not he had admitted his desire to- as what a certain vampire would say- court her. However, the animator didn’t want to tempt that sort of question and would rather allow it to stand as it was, especially when she wasn’t certain on what her feelings were for the ancient vampire. 

“I’ll try,” she pulled away from his almost warm hold, acknowledging his meal habit before he came to the animator. “But no promises.” It was a jest, even if she had begun to guess if the reasons he decided to stay longer than needed had been about her. Finding herself, once again, in a bittersweet dichotomy of emotions. 

Nevertheless, Anita shrugged it off and walked first back through her office to grab her coat and purse, turning off the lights in the process. “A home cooked meal sounds good to me,” she wrinkled her nose, “Plus, I don’t think there’s many open restaurants around here that don’t cater to him. But,” Anita interjected, “We must vow not to talk about him for the rest of the night. Agreed? Agreed. Done.”

He smiled as she pulled away from him and he took her hand gently. “Do more than try Anita. I do not expect promises just that you try.” He told her as he let go of her hand when she walked back towards her office to fetch her things. 

“Im not meaning seeing him. He has eyes and ears every where. Did you know his animal to call is wolves? If so then do not trust any werewolf you know.” Axel told her before nodding in agreement. “I agree, lets us not speak of him any more.” He grinned as he started to walk out of the office and down to his car. 

Axel opened the passenger door for her waiting for her to get in before closing it and moving around to his door, he put the heat on once the car was started. “What is your favorite meal? And it cant be coffee.” He teased. 

@anitafxckingblake​:

Anita only shook her head at him, his attempts to shift her thoughts away from the realization that sometimes she was a monster. How else could she fit in so well with them? She had killed mercilessly and with no remorse before she was ever grandfathered into the business, before vampires were ever considered as citizen, and even sometimes after. She had looked into the faces of the confused, the broken, and the savage and chose to end their life to prolong hers. Maybe it was self preservation, but at a certain point, she did have a propensity for placing herself in those dangerous situation, sometimes even hoping for a kill. 

Shuddering at his touch, Anita met his eyes again, this time- oddly without even the slightest thought of caution. How could he look so…. real? Is it even possible for such a thing? And according to the vampire that stood before her, hurt at her words, it seemed that it was, and perhaps then some. That thought almost ached in the back of her mind and made her wonder if there were more vampires like him. He had used those terrible things that moved him into the land of the short-life living to become a more considerate person whereas many of the older vampires that she had met only became worst that what they set out for. 

“Thanks,” Anita chuckled slightly as she fell into his embrace, smiling gently before looking up at him. “Right. I really did like your gifts, so they will definitely be put to good use.”

“Do not ever put me in the same category as those other vampires. Or I will start to put you in a category that you do not like.” He told her with a laugh to show that he was teasing her as he kept his arms around her. 

“Try not to over think it when I give you gifts. Yes I  like but I will not push you into anything.” Axel let her know as he kissed her cheek, happy that his gifts would be put to good use, something he hadnt doubted anyway. 

“Shall we go to dinner then. I can cook for you or we can go out to a restaurant.” The vampire suggested thought it might be better for them if they went to his dwelling rather than being out in public and having all the eyes on them. He knew that Jean-Claude would have his spies around the place, either vampires or wolves, and even some humans would be the masters eyes and ears. 

He tapped his chin and looked down at her. “I think we shouldnt be in public though. to many eyes and ears.” He pointed out as he headed towards the door.

@anitafxckingblake​:

The eyes that turned to catch her gaze filled the animator with a sorrow and guilty she hadn’t felt in such a long time. He didn’t need to tell her that he was hurt, that not only her words but her actions had hurt him and the worst part about it was that she didn’t know how to remedy it. It was true that he had been kind, friendly even and had taken great strides towards reeling in Jean-Claude, but Anita had never been one to accept everything at a face value. And maybe that should change, but those things take time. 

“Axel.” She bowed her head, attempting to hide her own shame and pain in this odd interaction between the two lost souls. “This is hard for me… I’m the Executioner, essentially a Necromancer, a monster to some and prey to other, and recently I’m the WatchDog and human servant to someone that I wish I had never met over circumstances that I haven’t even dealt with yet.” Shaking her head to clear the wanting tears that began to well up in her eyes, Anita met his gaze again. “I’m alive because I assume, Axel. I have to.”

She blinked and felt the wet and hot brushing of a tear against her cheek. “But I am sorry, truly sorry. You have been kind, but experiences lead me to mistake kindness for treachery,” Anita smiled gently, “It’s rare to meet a genuine guy for someone like me, I’m not even what you could consider….. enough.” The phrase she was omitting was ‘wife-material.’ Her ex’s mother’s voice still heavy in her ear for rejecting her for not being enough for her precious boy that had always led the animator to the child memory of not being normal enough for her own step-mother and father. 

“I am sorry, truly.”

He knew what it was like not to be able to trust anyone, he had lived through that over so many years, he knew what it was like to feel like a monster, he had been one for many years and had been treat as such but in his eyes she was not a monster. She was just someone trying to by in this world and keeps having terrible luck. 

“You are not a monster, prey for those who enjoy human blood and suffering, yes. But you could never be a monster.” He told her softly frowning at the fact that yes she was still a vampires servant. “You should not be the watchdog and human servant to a man who forced it upon you. Human servants are meant to be chosen and given the choice once they have been told everything that it entails.” Axel explained. 

He moved over to her and wiped her tears away as he saw them fall onto her cheeks. “I am kind because I know how it feels to be on the other end, to be scared for your life every day, to be watching your back and every move you make has to be careful so you do not get caught. I have seen and been on the receiving end of human hatred and fear. I have been used as a killing machine by the woman who turned me into a vampire.” He moved his hand away from her cheek and sighed as he looked at her. 

“My kindness is real. And you are more than enough.” Axel whispered to her as he pulled her in for a hug. “I forgive you.”