Let Us Talk

"Everything in your city feels dead," she commented mindlessly. The nymph had already registered that he was watching her and, with how tiny his apartment was, she didn't doubt that he could hear her quiet grumbling. He was sitting at the island counter in his kitchen, stirring around his bowl of pasta. 

He was quiet for a second, still staring down at his dinner that night. Perhaps she was simply talking to herself? It had been so long since she was human that she didn't entirely know what the range for their senses were anymore. She simply assumed that since she could hear his rather loud heartbeat that he could hear her from where she was at. 

However, this idea flew out the window when she noticed the slight bob of his head in agreement. "Yeah, that's what we humans do," he agreed with an unhappy chuckle. "Makes it hard for the coven to practice any green witchcraft." 

He turned away from her to grab the salt and pepper from where it rested on top of the stove, adding that to its already well-salted mixture. She sighed out something along the lines of 'humans being parasites' before she continued on with her reading. At this point, she had already gone through three grimoires. All with less than exciting information about them finding their magic. That wasn't what she was looking for though. 

Setting the third book down, she zipped over to the seat in front of the one he was occupying. He turned around just in time to see her lean forward towards his person. It was laughable to see him jump in surprise, obviously not expecting her. "Speak, Wallie. Tell me of the Liscivia Council. What terrible deed have they done for your clan to go hunting a myth such as myself?"

His expression quickly morphed from surprise to an anxious one. He was silent for a moment as he mulled over what he could tell her and what he couldn't.

"Don't act so coy. I wasn't entirely dead to the world down there. I could hear you both as soon as you entered my cozy, little prison. You tricked that poor boy, God rest his soul, into thinking you were searching the caves without any purpose at all. You witches truly never cease to amaze me." Her expression was entirely neutral as she spoke except for the slight squint in her eyes. Everything was still so bright and, after staying in it for so long, she was quickly getting a headache. 

Witches were always prone to killing if it benefited the clan, however killing humans were one of the last species on their list. For them to carelessly toss a human offering down at her feet was extremely surprising. It wasn't that she disliked the meal after so long asleep, it just meant that this was obviously a last resort kind of thing. Unless the witches had abandoned their morals in her time underground. 

"What I told you before is the truth. My coven is sick of playing second fiddle to those parasites," he said with a slight jab back at her for the insult she was quick to throw his way. He opened a drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a stack of old newspaper clippings. "But if you want to know why I specifically ended up volunteering for this role, here you go."

She looked down at the newspapers and pulled the top one up to read what it said. Her head cocked to the side in confusion. None of this looked entirely too important to her. Things about businesses being sold to other powerful names or some articles about power plants being made. Briar wasn't too convinced that anything here was what she needed to know. Not only that, but most of the businesses being traded were ones that she never even heard of. Well, that was until she saw some familiar faces thrown into the mix. Obviously, these were moves made by the council, but not really strung together in a significant manner. Her mismatched eyes focused back up at Walter, one eyebrow raised in question.

"I think they're planning something. Something big. If you want to continue protecting Earth as a nymph, then you won't like any of this at all." He sipped his drink. It was a dark can with three large claw marks as the label. It had 'energy drink' all over it, so it seemed he was preparing for a long night. 

She let a glare slide his way at yet another attempt at him trying to get her to side with them. The woman didn't care for vague possibilities. She wanted facts. She wanted the full truth of their whereabouts and figures that lost or gained power in her time away. This was garbage he was throwing her way to convince her to choose their path. With a hard shove, she pushed the newspapers back his way, accidentally having some fall to the floor. 

The witch's hands went up in surrender, already knowing her train of thought. "Hey! I'm not trying to persuade you, I told you I was done with that. You asked me what they were up to and my reasoning for going along with it. That's all I have so far. My coven must know much more than me because they went to such extreme measures but I'm not high enough on the totem pole to demand answers." Her frown didn't dissipate, but her eyes were still narrowed and turned back to the newspapers she pushed aside. 

"Witches are powerful creatures," she acknowledged. He sighed at the change of topic, thinking he was getting somewhere with her, but nodded along all the same. "You are now able to form covens and practice magic without ever burning at the stake. I could say I am proud of your development as a species…" Her eyes turned back his way at her own pause. "I am. You call yourselves the creators of world balance. Now you are using this power to what?"

He sulked as he refused to meet her intense gaze. It was so pitiful that she almost laughed outright at his avoidance of the topic. 

"Now you have come to those your own coven had imprisoned ages ago to solve a problem you created for yourself. Begging for my help because you don't know how to fix this anymore." This time she did laugh, "I could have taken care of this a millenia ago! No problem to fix, no overwhelming numbers added to the vampire population. Now you simply let out a beast from its cage for it to conveniently tie up all the loose strings." 

He had known enough about what his people had done to look somewhat chagrined at her words. They both knew it was the truth. It was just about accepting it. This was still something she was going to deal with. She didn't think he was entirely lying to her about them ruining the planet but there was also the score she needed to settle. At this point, she was just trying to get him to understand that there would be no peace between her and his people. If she had to do it the mean way, she would. 

Walter shrunk on his stool, trying to escape her predatory gaze. Especially with the way she was calling out his people for causing the damage that they did. "I told you, I'm not trying to-," he had begun to say. Another laugh echoing through the room cut him off quickly. His cheeks blazed a pretty red as she cupped his jaw in her hands.

"You poor, poor boy," she cooed with that same disturbing look in her eyes. "Your coven gave you such a daunting task." Her expression went from the playful nature of toying with her prey to an angry and straight forward look. Her hands held tighter to his jaw to the point where it must have been painful. "I don't want to hear another word of you convincing me to aid your faction of witches. I will not play nice with any of them." 

The hybrid released her grip, appearing back at her seat on the couch. Happy as she watched him adjust his jaw to rid himself of the pain. She was just glad she didn't actually break it. It was an accident that happened every once in a while. 

"They will want to meet with you," Walter spit out, glaring over at her from his spot at the island. Her icy glare met his own easily. It seemed he didn't get the message she was just trying to convey to him. "It's either they gain an audience with you or they will do everything in their power to put you back in the hole and erase any mention of you. Again."

"I do not care to play house with them. Nor will I be civil if they force me to." She was only allowing this talk because she was sick of his brooding. If they got through all this nonsense talk about alliances then he'd finally leave her alone about it. To teach her what she originally accepted his hospitality for. 

He sighed in frustration, stabbing his fork back into the pasta. "But they have the information you want. You just need to play nice long enough to get yourself the information you need because I don't have it. And, trust me, I've begged and pleaded for them to tell me what was going on." 

They sat in silence, both waiting for the other to break. However, this seemed to be something he was genuine about. She could tell by his racing heartbeat that he was worked up over such a topic. It was either that or he was getting scared about what his coven would do to him if he failed. Or perhaps both. She didn't entirely care one way or another but the longer she stared him down the more she admired his spirit. 

"Fine." She turned away from the staring contest to pick out a new grimoire from the bookshelf beside the couch. The woman was ready to move on from all of this.

"Fine?" He echoed, "What does that mean?" 

"It means fine," she concluded. "When I have decided I'm ready to wreak havoc on your coven in this silly little meeting, I will. However, the time and date will be completely up to me. I forever hate holding negotiations when I know so little. It makes me feel dumb and belittled."

She watched his lips start to twitch upwards into a smirk but at her scowl he attempted to suppress it. Casually, he began eating his pasta again. At one point he offered her some, but in her starved state she would only be able to digest a more bloody food source. "It's not meant to be a negotiation," he mentioned. He seemed to calm down completely at her submission. Something she didn't entirely like. Especially not with this newfound confidence.

"It always becomes a sort of negotiation. You know better than that." She shook her head as if to reset her mind. "We've gotten off track immensely. I still want to know every tidbit of information you have on the council. It's going to be much harder to take them apart than it was two hundred years ago." She didn't have to mention it being his fault anymore. Just by his flinch, she knew he understood.

"I can do that for you. I'll get a book from the coven's files. I should, hopefully, have access to it all now." She hummed, flipping to the first page of the book she picked. If he didn't have any information now there was no need to listen to the witch any further. "Otherwise I can find my laptop upstairs and you can search through news sites. Everything under the council jurisdiction is marked for the supernatural world to have quick access to." 

Briar didn't know what a laptop was, but seemed excited nonetheless. Information was top priority now. "Wonderful, you should do," she was cut off just as Walter was a moment before. 

Keys jangled as they were entered into the lock and a whole new witch walked into the home. A confident swagger in each step.