"Lately I'm a desperate believer..."

[desperatebeliever]

Who: Luka Delaney and Molly Pierce
What: "There's no changing yesterday."
Where: Knightshead Liquor, New York City
When: Thursday evening

Luka had become a stalker... but it was truly just by accident and out of desperation than anything else. The one person he wanted to talk to in New York City, and she was apparently the most infuriatingly elusive woman to reside in the massive place. Or New York was easy to blend in to. He had a feeling it was the latter more than anything. He had her name, but nothing else and it had to be a relatively common name too. There were about five thousand M. Pierces in the New York phone directory. It didn't help that Luka was flying blind and had no idea about this huge city beyond the fact it was as full as fuck of weird people (who probably thought he was just as weird) and he was freezing his arse off. He came from a scorching Aussie summer to this, and he wasn't a fan. But he really was desperate, so he purchased and iPad and then hooked up to the Wi-Fi in his hotel room to start Googling her.

There wasn't a lot, but there was something. She was, in some way, connected to Benjamin and Eric Knight, founders of a company called Knightshead Liquor that had headquaters here in New York City. That was enough for him for now, and hence his transition into creepy as fuck stalker. He was embarrassed for himself really, but what other option did he have?

It was evening, the sun set a short while ago and send the City that Never Sleeps into darkness, and therefore more freezing as fuck weather. Luka was standing on the sidewalk out the front of the Knightshead Liquor skyscraper looming above him. He lit up a cigarette, leaning back against the wall with one foot resting on the marble façade behind him. He was a bit of a mixed bag in his appearance. Black leather pants that laced at the front, black Ugg Boots, a pink sequinned t-shirt under a purple velvet couture jacket. His curly hair had gotten long against, hanging in his eyes that were lined with guyliner and he was in a shade of lipstick that complimented his complexion. Even if, these days, his complexion was pasty at best.

He lost track of time waiting, but as soon as he spotted the woman finally exiting the building, he pushed away from the wall and intercepted her path. His cigarette was only about half-spent, so he held it out and away from her but wasn't willing to just put it out. "You killed my best friend," was his blunt greeting, his Aussie accent blatantly obvious.

Comments

[desperatebeliever]

Most people would probably be terrified, but after the things Luka lived through in Afghanistan, and the fact he was pretty distinctly fucked in the head because of it these days, all that intimidated him the most about this was being held against the wall and it was very rapidly dragging him back to the time he got raped in a back alley. "Let go of me, or I'll scream blue fucking murder," he warned her quietly, not fighting at her at all. "I know you're trying to scare me, but right now, all I'm feeling like is that you're about to rape me, so let me the fuck go."

The longer she held him there, though, he was reflexively trying to fight her off and he was starting to panic. A lot. "Let me the fuck go! Kill me if that's what you're trying to fucking threaten me with! I don't fucking care! Am I making myself clear? You know nothing of my life, or what it's like to live it, so don't fucking tell me what I do or don't want, bitch! Don't touch me! I don't want to be fucking touched! So, I'm not fucking good enough for you to save where Jett was! Fine! I get it! You're just like my fucking cunt of a father! Leave me the fuck alone then, you're not scaring me, you're just pissing me off!"

[kindredrevolutionary]

If there was anything in the world that could've shocked Molly, this was definitely it. She had expected fear, certainly, but not for the reason that Luka was clearly thinking of. He was having post-traumatic reactions, not due to what had happened to him during his time at war, but due to the fact that he'd apparently been raped at some point. He was terrified, and she could feel all of the extreme levels of emotion rolling off of him as they stood there. "I'm not going to rape you," she assured him quietly. "I've no intention of doing that to you or anyone else. But I need for you to understand fully what you're asking me for."

She quickly and carefully let go of Luka, but kept a firm grip on his wrist to keep him from running away. "Don't leave," she insisted, holding his gaze with her own and tapping into her Presence to calm him. He was terrified and angry and hurting, and there was nothing any human being would've been able to do to help him right now. But Molly was far from human, and her eyes met his calmly and held his gaze. "I do not want to kill you, or even to harm you," she assured him. "I only want to explain to you that the Embrace is no simple thing. Jett is difficult. A handful. He's extremely intelligent, as I can tell you are, too. You are far from being not good enough. Do not think that I am judging your capabilities as one of our Kind should you be Embraced. But I cannot take on being your Sire, because I'm already a Sire to a new childer. I need you to remain calm, darling, so that I can take you to a place where you can meet others like me, and see Jett. What is your name anyway?"

[desperatebeliever]

Once she let him go, Luka reflexively just took a couple more steps away from her to afford him a little more personal space. He pulled his jacket tightly around him and then crossed his arms over in front of him. He looked at her, gripped by another wave of confusion and basically not knowing what the fuck he was doing anymore. It was why he wanted to stop doing it entirely. He was messed up, mostly psychologically, but also physically. He was in constant pain from complications with his knee surgery and now he was hooked on way too many painkillers, and not just prescription either. Whatever he could get his hands on. "Luka," he told her hesitantly.

If he was honest, he was now terrified to see Jett. He wasn't necessarily terrified of her, because like he had said, if she wanted to kill him, he wouldn't care. That was how much he had lost hope and hated existing. Ever since he was born, he had felt like the mistake he had been. He should never even been conceived, and he wouldn't have been if his fucking father used a condom when he was fucking his secretary on his desk cheating on his wife with her. He just wasn't sure anymore how he would cope if Jett had changed dramatically. Jett had saved his life. He had been the only one there for Luka through all the shit with his father. He was his rock. "Jett's not difficult. He's a hundred times the guy I am. He looks at the world differently. He has done ever since he nursed his dying mother on his own when his father was deployed and she didn't want to tell him she had cancer. If he's a handful, maybe it's because now for the first time in his whole life, he's allowed to think about himself for once? That's what you need to get about him. I have never known him to put himself first. Ever."

[kindredrevolutionary]

"He's very special to you, isn't he?" she asked gently, trying to keep Luka calm. He'd obviously been more than a little upset by this whole exchange so far, and he at least deserved someone to speak to him calmly and at least try to help him make sense of things he'd seen that many mortals had never even imagined. "I know this is hard for you to understand, but he's special to me as well. I share a bond with him by being the one who Embraced him. He's like a younger brother to me. Just a very headstrong one that is hard to know what to do with on occasion. I'm learning, though. As is Jett." She peered at Luke, really sizing him up for the first time, and the pain coming from him was nearly crushing.

She didn't step closer to Luka, seeming to realize that he really did need his space to breathe and not feel like she was going to harm him, and she listened to him, giving him a chance to speak his mind. Somehow, she got the feeling he wasn't allowed to do that as often as he should've been. "As a Kindred Childer, he is difficult, I assure you. Not by any wrong doing, but because he's just learning what his freedom really allows him to do, and he wants to experience it all. That makes him a handful for me. Do not think that I see him as any less of a person because of it. It's just difficult. He is a good person, though. A selfless one in his life that I can see. You are lucky to have him as a friend, but it doesn't make being his Sire an easy task."

[desperatebeliever]

Luka's lips formed a thin, tight line of defensiveness and his arms were folded tightly over his chest. She wouldn't have to be an expert or a genius to piece together the fact he was clearly very messed up. He wasn't aware that this point either that she would probably feel all that from him too. He would learn that his feelings and emotions radiated off him to Kindred, but for now, he was still so naive and oblivious to most of it. He just wanted someone to help him. He wanted someone to stop the pain. Why was that so fucking much to ask of people when it came to him? Why did no one ever want to help him? No one but Jett anyway. Jett had always been there for him, unconditionally. "You might think he's special to you, but you don't know him. There is no way in fuck you know him in that amount of time, and you can be sure as shit he will let you know it too." He had no idea how much of a pain in the butt Jett had been for her, but he did know Jett wouldn't let anyone take him for granted and he would want a level of mutual respect before he let them know him too.

"He is not headstrong or difficult," he added defensively, giving her a blue-eyed glare like she was nuts to suggest it. "He is just smart and if he's giving you a shit time, then maybe you should be wondering why. Because he is fair, and he is brave, and he cares for everyone else around him before himself. He's the only person in my life who matters anymore. He will cooperate with you as much as you cooperate with him. It's how he was raised. He didn't take shit and he wasn't a pushover, but he was never just an arsehole for the fuck of it."

[kindredrevolutionary]

Her hands raised in an expression of trying to calm Luka a little, she shook her head. "I don't want you to think that I'm insulting Jett. I'm not. At all. It is those very things about him that made me want to bring him into our world, and especially into my Clan. You will learn, if you spend time with us, that every Clan has differences, and people are often chosen because of their traits that suit the Clan of choice. My Clan is known for passion in pursuing their goals or defending their causes... Which can also translate to protecting the people that they love. You know that first hand."

She could tell, though, that Luka still thought her words insulting to his friend, and he couldn't fully understand, because he wouldn't know how Kindred instincts could interact with pre-existing personalities to create something entirely beyond what anyone expected. Jett hadn't completely changed, but his Embrace had only emphasized those parts of him that were so intent on doing the things he most believed in. The problem was, now that he was no longer at war and instead was simply learning the ways of the Masquerade, he had one very large problem in that he had no cause to focus on right this minute. He would be restless, because his blood, his very being would scream for something like that. "I know he's not. He's not really an asshole at all. He's just learning his way as one of us, and I'm learning my way in teaching a new childer. It's a learning curve."

[desperatebeliever]

It was hard to take anyone's word or intention at face value right now. He didn't know any of these people, or this Clan she was talking of. All he knew was that his best friend had been in a body bag, and couple that with the fact Luka already had PTSD issues, not just from the Army, but from the rape which led him to be forced to enlist in the Army, he just didn't trust people very much. With Jett, the trust had always been unconditional and it was proven in the way Jett had so reflexively and so selflessly saved his life at the risk of his own. Luka's blue eyes were watching her closely whilst his mind tried to figure out how he was supposed to feel here. So, she wasn't going to do to him what she did to Jett. For some reason... whatever. He was used to rejection. But now he had no idea what his next move was supposed to be now he was stuck all alone in this massive as fuck city and Jett belonged to another world now.

He rested his tongue between his lips, wetting them before he went to say something again. He had always been quiet and introverted, mostly down to the fact his father was a wanker who thought he should be seen and not heard. He internalised a lot, and it was obvious there was a lot going through his mind right now. Was it fucked up that he wasn't an iota of scared when she showed him her fangs, but absolutely terrified she was going to rape him? Probably. Only now, he was apparently going to tear up. A mix of jetlag and feeling extremely overwhelmed and scared. "How do I know you're not going to hurt him?"