Gainful Employment, part 2 ((Attn: Ginnie / Invite Only))

At the touch of her shoulder against his, Alec felt a bit of a jolt that almost sent him directly into panic mode...but he choked it down. Taking a sip of his coke, he set it down, rather than continuing to hold it. Almost as if on autopilot, his body moved in closer to Ginnie's, moving his arm up behind her to facilitate an increased surface area of contact along the sides of their bodies and making sure his awkward elbows weren't in the way...clearly his body had remembered a situation like this, even if his mind did not. Keeping the panic boxed into his brain, trying his hardest not to let it show, Alec considered. "Okies...well, my body is apparently more experienced than I am, and smoother than some of those shows I watch...I wonder what it does when I'm sleeping. What the hell am I doing?! She's my boss!" Starting a bit at the sound of her voice as she breathed



Alec's body took control and relaxed him again. Though entirely non-verbal, his body was clearly saying to his mind, "Apparently exactly what she wants, dummy. Sit back and let me show you how this is done. Trust our instincts...they've gotten us through the woods so far." Resigning himself to the fact that his instinctual reactions were frequently more reliable than his conscious thoughts, especially when concerning Ginnie for some reason, Alec let himself be steered by fate rather than reason. Extending his thoughts, he felt her breath, light against his neck and ear, the tingle of two bodies communicating in a language no longer spoken, but understood.

Turning his head slowly, he fixed his own dark pools on her vivid green ones. Smiling softly and a bit crookedly, he blinked, slowly, so slowly. Preparing to say something, Alec discovered that, no, anything he could say at this point would likely be either incorrect, inappropriate, stupid or a nonsequitor. Trusting those little instincts, he kept his damn mouth shut, and maintained that eye contact, inches from her face.

'Well, hot damn.' Ginnie nearly squealed with delight when he did exactly what she'd wanted him to do.

When his eyes met hers a sweet little shiver ran down her spine. 'Well now, that was unexpected. There must be more to this...nah don't over analyze Gin.'



With the same deliberate care he'd used to blink, she closed the space between them, and pressed her lips to his. The contact, made that shiver run back down her spine, and that lovely warm tug began just below her belly button. Who knew Harrison Ford was an aphrodisiac?

Alec's mind watched, amazed, horrified and almost jealous of the events about to unfold directly in front of it. Amazed that its body could accomplish so much without its assistance, and jealous that it knew all the right steps and the mind did not...and horrified at that weakness. Following the trick of the full Alec unit, the mind automatically switched on the heightened perceptions to more fully integrate the coming activities of the body into the neural network...the mind would learn, and later adapt and expand on the instincts of the body, making the whole stronger than the one. Feeling the silent consent of the body on this decision, the mind set itself to work, making permanent notes on the pending interactions. Hell, a kiss was just putting lips on each other, wasn't it?

Meanwhile, the body shone in triumph at the chemical cocktail that the brain was pouring into its systems, knowing that the already blatantly obvious communication between the two bodies would likely approach a point of mental conjunction as well, ending in an even more pleasant recombination of neurotransmitters. Cool and confident, the body watched as the other body did exactly what it wanted it to do, and prepped all of the proper systems for use, should they become necessary. Thousands and thousands of years of evolution all backed the decisions being made here...this was an historic inevitability, as far as he was concerned.

Alec, sensing the war within himself coming to a close, watched as Ginnie's face slowly approached his. He noted the nearly imperceptible twitch that she made, but knew it was a good twitch, reminding him of their earlier contact somehow...that little shock. His heightened awareness smelled the light and subtle flavors of the popcorn, mingling with the very light, almost sweet scent of her saliva and the rest of the vapor trails that made up the scent of pure Ginnie. Feeling his senses expand a bit more, he slipped his eyes shut at the last moment despite knowing that their lips were about to collide. Then the world exploded.

Lips lining up perfectly, the seams meshing in perfect synchronicity, the initial shock of that first, light touch of lips sent a wave of lightning throughout his entire body. A surge of warmth coursed through his systems, and the electric tingle drew his arms up around her shoulders, grasping unconsciously to make sure the sensation wouldn't end, couldn't end. The unimaginable softness was shocking, as was the strength of the pull to continue the contact - breaking away simply was not an option at this point.

Lips parting, he felt her scent enter his mouth, and drank deeply of it. Greedy for more, his lips pushed back towards her, a bit more firmly, the tip of his tongue venturing a bit forward into unknown territory to taste the flavor of the lovely scent, a new taste to be sure. The world somehow exploded again.

Ginnie pressed her body into his, as his hands came to rest on her shoulders. When her legs followed, the popcorn found itself upturned on the floor. She heard the spill and yet, just didn't care. Normally she would have stopped what she was doing and taken care of it. But she just couldn't make herself break this contact. Something on an instinctual level, a level she'd forgotten she had, refused to give this up.

A small moan rumbled in her throat when his tongue touched her lips, she opened for him and gave herself over to the exploration of him. Her hand slid up his chest, to rest over his heart, half covered by the button down shirt.

Her body wanted to climb into his lap, but her brain held her back. It seemed that this needed to go slowly, and give this man a chance to learn. The back of her mind brought up his words from earlier in the evening, and it occurred to her that he might not have any idea of how this whole thing worked. So, she ignored her body for the moment and settled against him, exploring the exotic flavor of him.

Hearing the popcorn fall to the floor, Alec's consciousness attempted to reassert itself to begin directing cleanup. As her lips parted a bit more and her hand came to his chest, it failed miserably. Feeling the shock of contact expanding along the surface of his body, and the gentle pressure of her searching hands sent that mind reeling back into the recesses of time, losing itself in the forest of dark, instinctual, physical communication. A small moan at the back of her throat prompted Alec to lean back, pulling her in closer...an ancient, instinctual command heeded without any thought or hope of questioning it.

Her body screamed, Yes! Her mind squashed that, with a 'take it easy Gin.' She went with her mind and settled her body gently against his. One thigh sliding between his, and the other between him and the couch back, so that heat of her body pressed against the cool of his pants. The sensation calmed her mind, and sent a raging heat through her body, this little war between mind over matter was amusing in some dark corner of her sub-conscious.

She moved her hand down and tugged the t-shirt from the waist of his pants and slipped her hand just under the cloth, the action causing her hips to press into him. She had no idea how much longer she'd be able to control her body, but she was determined to take this slowly, damnit.

Feeling the soft pressure and light weight of her body molding itself along his, Alec flushed a bit, instantly embarrassed by his somewhat traitorous body's decisions on blood distribution. The pleasant, soft pressure of the long thigh between his legs and their meeting point was certain to send a fairly strong message on how he was feeling. Confused by his desire to hide this, and overwhelmed by the sensations, he noticed her long fingers snaking their way under the fabrics of his shirts, likely revealing the hundreds of scars to her sensitive flesh. Embarrassment increasing due to the strange spectacle his body would present, Alec tensed a bit, the mind nearly reasserting itself until his insidious body pointed out the radiating warmth where her own body was selling her secrets to his along his leg.

With a bit of added pressure from her hips, the mind was silenced again, and the body allowed the mind's retreat be known with a light gasp as the waves of pleasure overstimulating the spine and crushing like a hammer into the brain reconsumed the systems.

In a sudden coup, Alec's mind reasserted itself, cutting the heightened perceptions to the standard trickle that a human would feel. Surprised still at the intensity, the mind struggled to dull the sense of touch, altering the signal pathing subtlely...which succeeded. Back in control, the mind brought the arms along the edges of her body, holding her close, holding her tight. Taking control of the airflow, re-regulating the breathing, Alec retreated from the kisses, but held her there on top of him, her hand pinned between their bodies on top of the largest and most hideous of his scars.

Smiling sadly at her, he worried that what he would show her would catapult them back into purely business relations...something even his conscious mind did not want...but he also didn't want to run the risk of her seeing the state of his body and feel that passion drain from her. Smiling a bit more, thinking this was the proper course, Alec leaned her back a bit, saying

As much as I want this to continue naturally, I need to show you something that you've already noticed, something unnatural. We've talked a bit about the oddity of my change...this is the least pleasant part of it...I just didn't want to run the risk of it putting you off completely by the surprise of it. This isn't much better, I suppose...but it least it won't be a total shock.

Watching her eyes closely, Alec pulled up his shirt, revealing hundreds of tiny scars all over his chest and gut, radiating from one, single, large area where it looked like his stomach had been entirely ripped into. That area on his abdomen, the place where you would expect to find a belly button, was just an area of uneven, stretched scar tissue about the size of a fist.

Sudden, unexpected tears flooded her eyes. She just couldn't imagine who could do such a thing to another being. Then again, said that voice of reality, we are talking about vampires here. She ran her fingers gently over the destruction of his flesh.

"Oh, Alec."

She blinked and one stupid tear slid down her cheek and landed on his belly. She had no idea why she would feel such sorrow for a man she barely knew. What had he done to deserve such sympathy from her, or was there some flaw in her that he had awakened? She was not used to such blatant display of emotion on her part. Anger, sure, but that was an emotion that was not a weakness. What had he sparked in her that would cause tears? The last person she'd cried for was her husband, this man was little more than an employee to her. Why did he elicit such intense feeling from her?

As this circle went on in her head, her fingers continued to trace the scars, gently learning their paths. Slowly she lowered her head and kissed her tear away, the taste of the salty drop cause more to form in her eyes and she swallowed against them, not wanting to show anymore weakness than she already had.

Startled by her completely unexpected reaction, Alec thought he might have been better off leaving things uncontrolled...now he had this horrible, horrible wave of guilt at her reaction to navigate in addition to everything else spinning him around. At least he was laying down.

He was surprised by the tear, and a bit surprised also as she began to delicately trace the paths that had done the damage before his memory was distinct. As she leaned down, he was utterly confounded by her kissing her own tears away, and his wonder at her depth of feeling started to well up his own. "What the hell is that about? I've never cried...well, in the last four years. It is like an emotional echo...I just can't help it. Gah, get a grip, reign it in."

Putting his hand on her face, he gently directed her up to his lips. He kissed her lightly, tasting the salty tang of sorrow mingling with the tasty salt of popcorn and...hey, a bit of his own taste in there as well. How strange to notice your own taste...

Holding her close against him, he said

That somewhat completes the story of my turning, I'd imagine. My best guess is that I did something to piss off one of our kind, and they did that to me. The part that I am hazy on is how I became one of us, too. I don't remember what I imagine to be the early years of my vampiric state...but I figured out an approximate timeline and guess that I've been this way for four or five years. For some reason I was turned, but no one ever stepped forward to claim me...I just figured things on my own until I was approached and given a basic idea of what not to do and why by a heavy handed Relic. After that...I found Tacharan, and the rest is well documented.

I imagine the last person to see this wound was my maker...it has made me a bit shy about my body, but I do have to admit that the smaller scars can be quite handy. Anyway...I figure the reason my change scaled differently than others is because so much was expended on just keeping me alive.

So...now you know as much as I do. The only one that knows more is my creator, whomever that is.

"It seems so awful. I just can't imagine what you went through. My story is quite tame compared to that. I...I..."

She was at a loss for words, something that never happened to her, even as a human. She blinked back fresh tears for his pain and snuggled close to him, somehow gaining comfort in his touch. She was beyond confused by this whole thing. The last person that had ever caused her to seek comfort had been her husband and he was nearly three hundred years dead, she had no idea this part of her even existed anymore. 'What the fuck do I do now? Maybe I should tell him? Shyeah right, that will go over well. Hey I think I have a crush on your scars. Smack yourself now Ginnie.'

Still she wanted the comfort of his arms and let herself be held and tried to find a way to say what she wanted and not sound like an idiot.

"I..uh can tell you my story if you want."

Pondering a moment, Alec wondered what to do next. "I have no clue whatsoever where to go from here. At least she doesn't seem to be repulsed by the scars. Big hurdle to get by in the formative stages of a relationship, I'd imagine. Waitaminute. She doesn't care. She likes me...and it fills me with this giddy, childlike glee. Relationship...oh boy...what have you gone and done now? "

Filled with worry at the fact that he still had no map for these feelings and moves he was going through, he accepted her suggestion. "Swapping stories can't hurt, can it?" Smiling warmly, Alec said

If you're comfortable with it...I don't want to upset you any more if I can help it.

Ginnie took a deep breath, she'd never actually shared the story of her turning with...anyone. Not like this anyway, it had always been a business sharing, nothing personal just a background check. Well there's a first time for everything.

"I was born on March fifth of seventeen twenty four. Technically I am two hundred and eighty one years old. I have been a vampire for all but twenty of those years. I met my creator as an infant. My parents served in his house as the Gentleman's Gentleman and the head maid. I grew up with his children, educated and cared for with them. My natural ability for music showed itself early and I was taught to play a lap harp. When I was of age to be appealing to Master, I was put to work as his chamber maid.

It was my duty to wake Master every evening by playing my harp. After time, he took an interest me and I became his mistress. His current wife died of a fever, and he asked me to replace her. I told him I would if I would be the last wife he ever had. For I had figured out his secret and he told me his truth. Our bargain was that I bear two children for him and then he would do what I asked. I bore them of another man's seed with in two years. He then made me kin and told me his story. It is not mine to tell so I will not. "

Silent tears had begun to slide down her cheeks and she went on leaving them unchecked.

"Many happy years passed and I watch my children grow, and grew into a greater and deeper love of my husband. It came to pass that the people of our Lordship decided that he was an evil man and a spawn of satan. They formed a mob and attacked our home. It happened that I was out on a shopping trip, but my home, my children and my beloved perished in that fire.


"I ran taking the money from our bank and taking refuge in London. I then began to travel. In my travels I found out about clans, and that my husband belonged to Anantya. I approached them and found myself rebuffed by an elder member, and found a place here in Tacharan. The rest as you say is history."

She swiped at the tears, and sniffled, knowing she sounded like a pouting child and didn't care. She snuggled closer and allowed this man with his much more painful past comfort her.

Running his fingers through her hair, Alec listened to her tale. Fucking humans...they never seemed to manage to do the right thing. He was almost glad he couldn't remember that segment of his own life. It created more of a barrier between the lot of them and his kind, the barrier only coming down when the teeth came out. He really couldn't understand how the Evenhet could manage to stomach their stupidity most times.

Shaking his head, he cradled her, wiping her tears when she missed one.

The more I hear about them, the less I like the Anataya. I'm sorry things went down like that.

Unsure what to do next, he followed his gut, and laid there holding her, stroking her hair and cleaning her tears. "Wow...heavy. How do you respond to something like that?" Letting his senses widen a bit more, he savored the feel of her hair between his fingers and the pressure of her on top of him. "Well, a fine mess you've made of a first date, sir...but at least everything is on the table."

"Well now you know my deep dark secret, and I know your's so that makes us even."

She took a deep breath and swiped at her face a final time. She had had enough of this emotional soup and was ready to throw it on the fire. His fire. She pushed up from him, and reached up to pull the scrunchy from her hair. It fell in a cascade of dark curls around her face and brushed against his bare stomach. She felt like the very definition of woman when it did that, and that warm tug returned to her belly.

She leaned forward and her hair made a dark curtain around their faces, blocking out the light and the now forgotten movie. She nuzzled against his neck and nipped lightly at his ear lobe. Making her voice low and full once more she spoke.

"Blink, slick."

It worked once before, she hoped to hell it would again. She needed him, and the fire he would give her.

As Ginnie began to get up, Alec assumed it was time for him to get up as well and help with the cleanup. Propping up on his elbows, he was greeted by a wave of hair falling down onto him and his chest, each hair a separate caress against his sensitive scars. Gasping a bit at the surprise of it, he leaned back again as she leaned forward. Feeling her breath move across his neck, he was mesmerized by the trailings of her hair across his his flesh. Gasping again at the unexpected nibble, the mind retreated and the body began to take over once again. As her voice dropped to that quiet tone and she breathed those magic words onto him, he did as she bid...looking deeply, more deeply than he thought possible into her green eyes, he slid his shut and reached his arms up around her.

She sank into him, her lips and teeth tracing a line along his jaw. When her lips met his, her body shivered in anticipation and a small moan escaped her.

Helpless to do anything else she pressed her mouth to his, her tongue reaching out to savor and explore. Her body doing everything it could to get just a little bit closer. Her leg slid down between his and the feel of his reaction to her against her thigh made that moan come again.

Reluctantly she pulled her lips from his to push up from him. Her mind stoped fighting as her hands reached down and pulled the little camisole top up and over her head, revealing a bra in the exact same shade, made of nothing but lace.

She pressed her body back to his and her lips found the lovely skin of his jaw once more.

Alec's brain completely shut off at the images before him. The sounds and the green lace and all of the points of contact and the wonderful scent and the warmth, god, the warmth...simply did not correlate to any of the data stored by their geeky, blushy, socially awkward and slightly intense gatherer. Switching all data recall to off, and all recording systems to on, the brain surrendered to the pressures of the body.

Shifting his weight beneath her, he moved his arms up her back, trailing his fingernails lightly along her spine. At the presence of her mouth on his jaw, he sighed contentedly, arching his neck and squeezing her down a bit. Inhaling deeply the scent of her hair, he kissed his way along her neck, holding her close, feeling her warmth, feeling that connection, that language, reasserting itself over both of them, but with the consent and the understanding of their higher thoughts...

His nails made her shiver, and she worked her way back to his ear. She needed him and it somehow felt urgent. As if she would no longer know who and what she was until she knew of him. It was insane and her mind screamed against it. Her body and that deeper part of her, the part that had been pushed aside and forgotten, rejoiced. She took the time to argue with herself, and in the end that part of her, that had longed for this for nearly three centuries, won out. She swallowed against the words begging to be said, and finally, with a soft sigh she spoke.

"Help me remember, Alec"

Her eyes closed, as what sounded like angels began to sing in her head. She had taken that final step and there was nothing left but joy for her. She buried her face in his neck as the singing rang through her, washing her in warmth.

Something...something unquantifiable and elusive snapped. The dam was breached. The charge was still there, but now it was unrestrained...the boundaries had vanished. Overwhelmed by the sensation, Alec shuddered a bit under the intensity.



Mind spinning, the body knew what to do. Kissing her softly, he slid to the side, maintaining as much contact as possible. Sliding off the couch, she rotated to her side to keep the contact. Keeping one arm along her shoulders, he slid the other under her long legs and stood smoothly. Looking down at her, he smiled, baffled at how he managed to get here. Twin tears sliding down the outsides of his cheeks, Alec whispered softly

It is time to wake up, dear heart.

Almost wandering, his face a visage of someone in a state of epiphany, Alec carefully wound his way to her bed. Placing her gently down upon it, he smiled, and traced a finger down her cheek and lips before straightening for the barest of moments to shrug his shirt all the way off. Dropping it to the floor, he leaned down and kissed her forehead while using his toes to pull his feet free of his popcorn coated socks. Bringing one leg over her body, he straddled her, cupping her face in his hands.

Staring deeply into her orbs, he ran his fingers outward from her face, spreading her hair in a fan out from her head. Entwining his fingers through hers, he let his body rest a bit on hers, the contact, the radiant heat mingling between them and creating a new vibration. Rubbing his cheek against hers, he licked her earlobe lightly before kissing down her neck. Trailing his fangs along her shoulderblade, he looped the bra strap with one and lifted it slightly from her skin before neatly snipping through it with a quick bite down. Intermittently kissing and trailing fang across her collarbone, he reached the opposite strap, where he snipped again. Disengaging his right hand, he brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers as he kissed her lightly, nipping teasingly at her lips.

Realizing that he had a bit of a dilemma ahead of him regarding the remnants of the bra, he opted to avoid the whole issue. Sitting upright across her lap, Alec trailed his fingertips lightly down the sides of her neck and to a vee between her untouched breasts. Slipping two fingers and his thumbs from opposite directions under the fabric of the bra, he pushed lightly down and then sharply up and apart, utterly destroying the lovely fabric. His mouth dropping open at the site revealed, he released a sigh of utter contentment. Reaching down to touch them, he froze, indecision playing across his face for a brief moment.

Running his fingers back behind her head, he instead leaned down and let his weight fall upon her, lips connecting in their perfect embrace. Parting her lips, his tongue darted, playing along her fangs, keeping her mouth open his as they shared a single breath.

The choir's song grew as he lifted her in his arms. Her fingers played gently against his cheek to wipe away the sliver lines he had shed for her.

"It is time to wake up, dear heart."

She closed her eyes and savored his words, he wanted to give this marvellous thing to her, and asked for nothing in return. Her heart swelled, something it had not done in two hundred and fifty-six years.

He placed her on the bed as he might a frail child and put his body over her. She had never enjoyed this position with a partner, but she found herself comforted by his weight on her body, and when he looked so deeply into her eyes, she was lost. Completely lost in him.

A brief spurt of astonishment hit her when her first strap was severed, but the sensations of his teeth, lips and fangs washed that away and her brain refused to acknowledge that he destroyed her favorite bra, instead it long to have him touch her newly bared breasts. She reached for him, as he hesitated and he moved to her, putting his skin to hers and she revealed in the contact, let it wash over and take her into another place.

The choir rang out and filled the room as his lips touched her and they shared a breath. Her hands trailed up his back and took their time in exploring every inch of skin she could reach. She wanted, no needed to memorize him. Him as he was now, and again after he had fed, and again after she had, and again after they had fed together. She wanted to explore and be explore. A sensations she had not cared for or wanted in so very long, and the angels cried out in joy for her.

She moved a leg up so that her foot rested flat on the bed and it pushed his body just a little closer to hers, the sensation causing a soft moan to purr in her throat.