Jun 26, 2011 03:01
Edgar's charming company had raised Anise's spirits enough that not even the Head Doctor's voice could bring them back down. Besides, she was feeling pretty sure that Landel wasn't actually around. To begin with, it wouldn't make sense, and secondly, his announcements sounded suspiciously like ones she'd already heard before. While Anise wasn't
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sonia,
kirk,
carter,
japan,
bella,
scott pilgrim,
anise,
izaya,
claire littleton,
the doctor,
sora,
england,
prussia,
firo,
utena,
renamon,
claude,
guybrush,
ted logan,
elena gilbert,
edgeworth,
peter parker,
tolten,
kurogane,
dean winchester,
seishin,
grell,
byrne,
albedo,
guy,
stefan,
peter petrelli,
nigredo,
tear,
rose (tvd),
lightning,
damon,
rita,
ritsuka,
two-face,
rapunzel,
castiel,
erika,
edgar,
allelujah,
tifa,
the scarecrow,
mikado,
trickster,
chise,
ippo,
alaric,
okita,
meekins,
claire stanfield,
edward cullen,
battler,
zack,
mccoy,
wichita,
l,
harry lockhart
He shrugged, dropping all pretenses. "I need blood," he said, as causal as someone asking to borrow a pen. "Elena is out of the question. That leaves you...or the blonde I met the other night. She seemed sweet," he mused. "So, you know, it's okay if you'd rather not. I'd completely understand."
His smile was all innocence, but the spark in his eyes didn't come close. Look, he wasn't here to play nice and especially not with Alaric who knew perfectly well what he was. He needed blood. He didn't care where it came from, as long as he got it and easily, but he knew Rick did. Care, that was. That was a card he wasn't going to hesitate to play.
Besides, the fact that he was even going this route was something. Chances of that ever happening a week ago? None. The truth was, this was more than just bordering on asking for blood; it was that. Which was a little degrading. So sue him if he felt like getting more of a hunt out of it to feel better.
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The teacher shifted uncomfortably, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms across his chest tightly. He watched Damon's face the whole while he rolled the request through his mind. No, he hadn't expected it. At all, honestly. He wasn't sure what he had expected the Salvatores to do about their meal plan, but he'd done a damn good job of avoiding thinking about it. Besides, he wasn't their mother. They could figure out how to take care of themselves.
Or not.
The blonde. His eyes narrowed minimally, knowing it wasn't a vague, false threat. Damon didn't mess around with that sort of crap. The thought of being vampire bat disgusted him. The thought of someone else getting killed because he was forcing Damon to be desperate was worse. The fact that Damon had even asked? Yeah, he could recognize the goddamn gravity of the situation.
After a long, long moment of complete silence, Alaric sighed and unfolded his arms so he could rub unsteady fingers into his temples. "Okay. Okay. I don't have any other choice, I guess." He might to Damon, but it wasn't any viable choice to him. "Just give me some time to think about how to do it." God what was he doing? He should just let Damon starve.
Problem was? He wouldn't let himself starve. Bigger problem was? Alaric didn't want him to starve, either.
"How much are you going to need?" If he has to kill me for it, I'm screwed. And yet not surprised.
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(It used to be nothing to lose, but forget it. The day that was a topic up for discussion, that was the day Stefan got off his goddamn high horse.)
His smile widened. He dropped one hand back onto the table. Taking it surprisingly well, wasn't he? But Damon had already destroyed Rick's life about two years ago, so really, manipulating him into slicing a vein hardly topped the list of bad shit that had happened.
Time was not something he wanted to give, but he would have to. It wasn't as though Rick could just bleed into a cup in plain view. Might as well stick a neon sign flashing vampire while they were at it. So it was gonna have to be tonight.
He could wait.
Damon flicked his eyes towards Alaric's face. He could suck him dry right now and it wouldn't even matter. Not that he would. There were more practical ways to do this. (And maybe he didn't want to. At the moment.)
"You'll live," he said simply.
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He was still uncomfortable as hell, but there was a point in which Alaric had to put his foot down. Actually, he was pretty annoyed with Damon's oozing smugness up to this point. Eventually it was something he'd gotten used to, but the fact the vampire had just assumed he'd get his way was just. Grating.
The teacher's shoulders shifted minimally as he stared down the shorter man. His irritation was written into the lines on his face and the straightness of his mouth. Sure, they were pseudo-friends (insofar as Damon hadn't wantonly killed him again) in his present and... Damon's future (memories, at least), but providing charity work for the guy who'd fucked his entire life up was still a pretty hefty favor.
And favor was putting it lightly.
With their stare-down started, Alaric could easily imagine what the other was thinking. Talk about desperate freaking times. "I'm not dealing with your dodgy bullshit about this, Damon. How much do you need?"
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His eyebrow arched, but that was about as much of a reaction as Rick was going to get out of him. "Well, it's a dodgy question, Rick."
Need and want were one and the same to a vampire when it came to blood. He would always need more and he would always want more. There wasn't a straight answer here, especially not when he'd gone this long without. What was the teacher expecting, for him to whip out a measuring cup and mark a fill up to here line on it with a Sharpie?
"Your call," he replied. He meant it. "I can take care of the rest." What he needed to keep his thirst under control wasn't much; he'd spent enough time in the institute to understand that. So whatever Rick decided to offer would do, unless Rick decided to be stupid about it, which Damon doubted. Alaric was only stupid about his own life; less so about the lives of others. He could look for a full meal in Rick, but he wasn't interested. Because the moment he was, Rick was dead. No questions.
And while it was important to remember that he killed whoever he wanted, it was equally important to remember that he let live whoever he wanted, too.
He leaned forward further across the table, the air of someone granting a concession. "If it'll make you feel better, you can stay in your room. I can't get inside."
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Somehow, he was pretty sure this would have been a lot easier with any other vampire. Yeah, trapped in an a asylum full of monsters and bleeding people, et cetera, et cetera, vampires can't really help what they have to eat. And it wasn't like helping Damon was anything new to him - by this point in time, he was more than accustomed to the condescension and the assumption he'd help Damon whenever he asked. It's just what he did. Hell, half the time he didn't really even have a good excuse for why he did it. He just did.
Besides, he wasn't going to take his annoyance out on Damon. That - unbelievably - wasn't fair. Besides, he was being kind of... diplomatic. Alaric wasn't sure if it was a ruse or whatever, but he'd take what he could get. "Okay, thanks. I didn't really need your permission for that." Not that he was going to admit he planned on doing that exact thing. Look, hungry vampires, open wounds, he just wasn't comfortable mixing the two. Especially when the hungry vampire was Damon, who knew perfectly well he could kill Rick and still expect help the next day.
Disgruntled help, at least. Or - whatever.
Well, he knew he'd gotten those syringes for a reason. Now they would actually be helpful. He hadn't ever... drawn blood from himself, but he'd donated enough. (Irony. Gotta love it.) It couldn't be that hard. It was either the needle or he bled into a cup. He had some demands, after all. Damon's fangs coming nowhere near him was one of them.
"All right. I've got an idea, so just stick around outside my room tonight."
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