[Daemon Muses] The patron saint of liars and fakes
daemonmuses : Shock and surprise are emotions we all feel. Write about one instance of complete out of the blue shock and awe that scared you and your daemon.
"I don't trust them."
Olya's fur had been bristled to the point that she looked more bottlebrush than ermine ever since the two of them left dear Lauren Reed to her shopping and had started back out to the car. She had very nearly bitten the dressing room attendant's daemon as they brushed past them to make their exit- the woman had stayed very near the door the whole time Sark and Lauren were conversing and if Sark suspected that the woman had actually heard anything, she probably would have suffered more than just having her daemon snapped at by his.
"You can't trust a woman like her," was Sark's response as he reached the car. Olya jumped from his shoulders onto the hood of the car and regarded him with a somber look in her black eyes.
"Can't you?" Sark arched a brow at her to indicate that she was going to have to explain what exactly she meant by that. "You're taking a rather big risk, Julian. They fooled us once already. You said it yourself, she's an impressive actress." Even her daemon had laid down and feigned fear when they cornered them in that parking garage months before. It left a bad taste in Olya's mouth- she didn't like losing and being fooled any more than Sark did.
He just shrugged casually, presenting a certain degree of nonchalance that made Olya bristle a little more- he thought he had Lauren under his thumb, but Olya wasn't so sure that was the case. She could read things off of the woman's daemon- things she couldn't explain, but didn't like all the same. "I have no doubt in my mind that Ms. Reed will be true to her word."
Olya slunk low to the hood dejectedly- a stripe of pure white on black chrome. "I hope you're right."
*
Olya was the one who audibly whimpered when Cole walked in with Unah trotting along at his heels, all grinning teeth and wheezing laughter. She pressed herself against Sark's leg, looking for all the world like she wanted to escape to the safety of his shoulders and out of the way of those gnashing hyena teeth, but she didn't, because it just wasn't prudent to give their enemies the satisfaction of knowing they're scared this early on.
The two humans conversed- Sark visibly tensed the whole way through, refusing to turn his back on Cole for a second, keeping his eyes on the other man's face as if anticipating a shift there or a subtle change that might indicate an attack, but he knew Cole far too well to expect much. If an attack was planned, there would be no indication in his body language before the strike. Cole was a mad dog, a wild animal as much as his daemon was. Unah, meanwhile, kept her eyes all over Olya, but didn't make a move to lunge or bat at her. Just the staring and heavy breathing was enough to keep the ermine daemon pressed to the floor, wishing as much as Sark did that she was elsewhere.
Sark clearly stated his desire to make a proposition, keeping the fear out of his voice and trying to sound like the dominant one in this conversation when it was clear he was everything but. Cole's expression darkened for a moment. "Wouldn't happen to have anything to do with those cell leaders you wiped out, would it?"
Sark glanced at Olya who nearly wailed and tried to run to her human in case the situation grew worse, but Unah put a heavy paw down on her back and Sark felt his heart constrict painfully in his chest for more reason than one.
*
Lauren strolled in like an actress making her grand entrance, a vision of deceitful elegance in black leather, the golden cat daemon trotting along at her heels with his head held high like a prince at court. Cole put an arm around her and Unah abandoned her tormenting of Olya to brush up against Dorian in a friendly, familiar gesture. Olya took advantage of being freed to dart up Sark's pant leg and take sanctuary on his shoulder, nuzzling against his cheek as if to reassure herself that they were still together and that Cole hadn't killed him.
It was only a small mercy that Cole found the murder of the six Covenant cell leaders to be a strategic advantage- it kept Sark alive, at any rate, which he was thankful for. What deeply affected him was the fact that he'd been wrong all this time- the chessmaster was played so extravagantly that he didn't know his king had been captured until Lauren waved it right in his face. Gently, he removed Olya from his shoulder and cradled her in his arms, expecting her to be looking at him with an 'I told you so' expression, but found she was far too occupied craning her slender neck to look at Dorian, looking for all the world just as betrayed as he did, despite her earlier suspicions regarding Lauren and her daemon's potential for treachery. Impressive, Ms. Reed, he thought as he met Lauren's eyes. Your daemon even successfully managed to fool Olya.
"A woman after my own heart," he quipped out loud, his expression shifting from betrayed to a slight smile, indicating an acknowledgement of respect not usually given freely. Lauren Reed could take that as she wanted.