Conversations and Explorations

[Epiphany]

It was early in the evening, but no so early that he hadn't taken care of certain nightly necessities. When Damon stepped into the inn on this night, it was not as it was on his first occasion where he was so deviously cloaked from being 'recognized'. There was no need for that any longer, as the petty annoyance of Noel had been months ago taken care of. The business that had kept him away from here for these weeks was business of another nature entirely. But he was here now, strolling with confident easy grace past the check-in desk into the depths of the first floor of this inn. He was planning on taking a more direct course to Epiphany's room to announce his arrival, but on the way he spotted what he felt was a far more fitting option - a piano. One that was, by his particular tastes, adequate enough. At least for this purpose. He would certainly not be one he would choose to put in his home. But nevermind that. For Damon sat upon its bench, lifted the cover, and proceeded immediately to play. No need for scales or any other sort of warm-up, the virtuoso's fingers were alway at the ready. More often than not he played a piece of his own devising which linked to his particular mood at the moment, but tonight he would play something composed by one of the old masters - Chopin's Waltz Op. 34 No.1. This particular piece had a constant back and forth between a moderate and devilishly fast pace, making the switches in tempo nearly as complex as the fingering when those quickened moments ravaged the keys. It was a piece that would make it clear that it was no simpleton on this instrument. One that could only be played by a show off. And Damon was one who rather enjoyed showing off when the mood struck him.

The Inn's piano was not as grand as one he might be use to playing, it was more for casual use and not a grand stage or black tie performances. But the person playing it had defiantly turned it into a grand piece. Epiphany happened to be in the kitchen, coming up from the cellar in the basement. She had just finished restocking the wines - mainly blood wine since they seemed to be running short on it here - and she heard the sounds of the piano. This was interesting to hear it being played so soon after Tasha had her go at it a few nights ago. Though this time, it wasn't Tasha playing. Smiling to herself she took a moment or two to wash and dry her hands before she gave a tug to her knee length pleated skirt and exited. Having good sight to the piano she smiled even more. He wouldn't have to look up to know she was there ands he hardly expected him to stop playing. No, she walked up to the side of the instrument, not saying anything. Simply watching him play and listening. When she arrived, Epiphany leaned against the piano's side and stretched her arm out over the hood. her hair was tied back in a French braid. "Welcome back...."

He did indeed plan on finishing the piece before allowing the instrument to regain its former stillness. The selection which he pulled from the instrument with flawless ease and incomparable skill was short as far as concern pieces went, and Damon wasn't the sort to leave things unfinished or unresolved. Besides, he could hear her easily over the music, and it wasn't since moral adolescence that he'd needed to look at the keys in order to hit the correct notes - he had attained the title of virtuoso during his human life. And so the bottomless black eyes of the vampire lifted from his task, to rest upon hers with a gaze of his usual intensity. It wasn't long before an echo of a wolfish smile touched upon his lip, and he gave her answer. She would ear his words as if they were directly murmured to her ear, a trick he often took advantage of. "Why thank you, angel. And such a glorious view of your neck, to celebrate. You spoil me." The full of his devilish smile was unleashed upon her then, sight of his two keen eyeteeth and all as he continued to draw the waltz from the piano.

Epiphany chuckled a bit as she scratched the back of her neck a bit before she leaned over the piano. 'Perhaps I knew you would be here tonight." Maybe, or maybe not, as she was dressed in the typical uniform for the churches school: The checkered pleated skirt and the buttoned white shirt, knee high white socks and polished black shoes. The chuckle turned into a grin as she turned and placed hands on the piano. A small jump and she was sitting on the piano's top, crossing her feet at the ankles. "I like to hear you play.." her words were a bit soft and she was looking down at the keys and his hand, making sure to keep her eyes away from his teeth. When he first smiled and she saw the flash of them it caused a shiver to run through her and the feel of them to rise to the surface of her mind. Thinking of that was not something she should do after being apart from him for these months. "It's a warm welcome indeed. If I could I'd hear you play every night. " She pulled her legs up underneath her and scooted more on to the hood of the instrument. "It's good to see you...” Keeping her hands to herself, though her fingers started to stay across the piano top to him.

"Perhaps I knew you know I'd be here tonight," he countered with a grand smile and a look that was far too charming for his own good. It was ironic that she looked away from his teeth, because as his own eyes strayed and he looked her over he could not help but comment, "Your dress resembles that in which my common form of dinner is clad. If I did not know better, of if I hadn't previously dined before coming here, I might mistake that as an invitation." That would be the full of his chiding, for now, as she lead the conversation to the topic of his piano playing. "It's good to see you as well, Epiphany, and as for hearing my playing on a nightly basis there are ways to arrange such things." He did not elaborate, however, he would let that notion hang between the trippingly spry pace of the music.

"An invitation?" She chuckled as she tipped her head to the side. And she scooted closer to him. With the move she heard the voice in her head, other wise known as the conscious, telling her to stay back and don't tempt temptation. She only countered the reason by telling it there was nothing wrong with getting closer. And there wasn't. She lifted her eyes from his fingers and let them pass over his own neck where they lingered for a second or two before she pulled them up to his eyes. "Perhaps, then, I should have worn this more in the beginning stages of knowing you. Who knows what would have happened then . . ." She had a few ideas, but it wasn't anything she was going to give voice too. "You know, Damon, unlike before I wasn't as worried or.. I didn't fret the fact that you were gone." She was able to say that with honesty and her smile grew more relaxed, though she still trained her eyes on his own less they slip down towards his mouth. "It was comforting. I knew you would return."

"Something far less interesting than what actually transpired, I'm certain of that." So he was. His tone implied absolute confidence that what he spoke was fact, not theory. For he knew full well what happened to those who were clad in similar attire when they were chosen to be his meal. And it was true - the fate of those girls was so simply because he needed to sustain himself, and what could be more commonplace and dull than that, especially to one who had been sustaining himself so for centuries? As she moved closer, the shifting of the air around her wafted a wave of her scent to his waiting nostrils. There was never a time that odor was not a temptation to him, it was just to what degree that it tempted which changed. It was merely a slight temptation at this time, making it quite safe to bathe in the sweet succor as finished the last minute of the waltz speaking no additional words to the air. It was only after the lingering sound of the music faded and the instrument became truly still that he spoke again. Shutting the lid over the keys, he rested his elbows upon them and leaned forward so that she and he were even closer now, mere inches' distance between their noses. "Did you?" He was such a beast, his smile the sort that it suggested he wanted to challenge her confidence in the absolute of his return. But he toned down the smile with a nod, adding with simple truth. "I'm glad. It's never my intention to make you fret when I'm gone."

The devil that he was. Of course he would get close to her and she had to close her eyes for a moment to keep herself together. "But I do worry, though I have not exactly been able to put you too far from my mind since the last time we were in each others presence...” her eyes opened then and her arm stretched forward so her fingers cold grace across the bottom of his jaw. He had feed recently and therefore he didn't feel as cold as usual. "Our session in the clouds came with consequences." There was a hint of laughter in the under tones of her words. "But...” She moved her fingers up from his jaw and around his cheek to the back of his ear. "But…there are some things that I refuse to repent for."

She was laughing; he was giving her a look. Probably one that she wouldn't like very much, it was the didactic look of the aristocracy. "Consequences . . ." he echoed that word with a lift of his brow, folding his hands together as he elbows remained resting on the lid that kept the keys safe and covered. The result was a triangular shape. His eyes set squarely on her, he added only this. "You've succeeded in getting my attention, do tell." Needless to say he was rather curious about these consequences. It was something she neglected to mention in the moment, that was certain. But then again, Damon knew full well what she was and what he was all this time, he had to have known that there would be some sort of reaction that was equal and opposite to their actions. .

Epiphany sighed, her hand coming down and resting on the piano, her chin lowering as well as she began to study her fingers, looking to see if there was any reflection to be seen on the polished surface. Now she was quiet as she weeded out words in her head. What should she say, and what she shouldn't say. Really, she shouldn't not say anything, doing so would only invite complications. Although, if she said anything would her ever bite her again. "In times past I would have said that this was nothing to be concerned with, laughed it off. You know how I do." He should know anyway. Epiphany was one to avoid topics that she didn't l like to talk about. "Because of what you are and what I am, now that I've made a choice having you bite me, willingly letting you bite me, is a hardened sin. " She turned her head to even look away from the piano and was now looking at the floor. "It puts up a barrier, like a wall, separating me form Him." Then she sat up a bit straighter, squaring back her shoulders. "And I'm not as strong. I get weaker. Loose the ability that I have. It’s like emptiness. " Then she looked back at him. She almost shrugged. Almost.

[Epiphany]

Oh he knew how she did. He knew rather well. Which is why he was giving her that particular look, one that said she should really not make the error of being anything less than completely candid with him. It was an issue they'd had in the past, one that had been a rather significant roadblock. Which is why he was rather glad to see her turn her head away from him like that. To Damon, it meant that she was actually speaking the issue, words that were too hard to hold his gaze and say. Even though she looked away, his gaze remained steady on her. Watching her every move as he listened carefully to her every word. After she was done speaking, he was silent. Watching her eyes watch him. Gazing at her with a depth that often made those he looked upon shudder deep within themselves. There was something pensive to the way he was looking at her, signifying a myriad of thoughts that he was keeping to himself as the gears of his tightly locked mind turned. She was candid with him, he would be candid in return. To the point where he dropped some of the smooth aristocratic grandeur from his voice and simply spoke without the beastly charm. It was a side of Damon none but she had seen, at least of those who resided here. "You'll probably be less than surprised that I'm having difficulty caring about a consequence of that nature." Truth with a capital T. It wasn't surprising that Damon had little care for religion and the parties it involved, was it?

The small chuckle from her lips was accompanied by a shake of her head, the braid swished from side to side. It wasn't a very long braid as her hair wasn't that long to begin with. "I figured that it wouldn't be of much consequence to you. I even ventured to think that you would be pleased?" It was a question, of a sort. One that came with a quick glance to him before she looked away. Though this time her eyes didn't move as far away as before. It would be good if she could look at him fully on while she spoke about things that were difficult for her and she was trying to get to that point. It just hadn't happened yet. "Because, if I were fully removed from that side of me it would be easier to be..." To be.. she couldn't remember where she was going with that. What she was going to say didn't make a lot of sense at the moment. Perhaps she would say it anyway. "To be one of your kind." Even the way she said it was unsure and she sought to veer the words away from that line and to what she spoke of before. "I had been warned of consequences. Willful defiance is not smiled upon and after a while of it the emptiness will be a more permanent thing . Unforgivable. But I didn't care then and I don't care too much now." She did care, make no mistake about that. But it was hard to care about something that required her to give up something she cherished.

He drew in a deep breath through his nostrils, one his lungs had no need for but which afforded him a rather nice sampling of her scent. It was more a thoughtful act on his part, however, than an olfactory need. He moved, arranging his position so that the tips of his long pale fingers were now cupping the lip of the piano bench he sat upon, propping him up as he leaned back to a modest degree. "Pleased? No. I am the very definition of apathy. Entirely indifferent. I can't say if my state comes from the blood, or from the sum of my mortal life when I was turned, but it's the reality either way." While he put no emphasis on those words, he did speak them with covert pointed ness. To make it known that if she chose his manner of life, to be as he meant there was a chance her faith would diminish or perhaps wither entirely. He knew her faith meant something to her, even in this moment of her shrugging it off. "So let me get this straight," a rare modern turn of phrase for the usually more archaic Damon. "This occasion that's gotten you punished happened between us months ago locked well in the past, but it's being viewed oh high," he couldn't say that phrase without a slight curl of his lip, "as a continual disobedience?"

"It's gotten better." She was quick to say that. "I believe I am at the stage I was a year ago, though some things take a bit more out of me." This was a bit hard to explain. Damon, not really caring about religion where as it was something she couldn't simply put on the shelf. "If you are sorry for something, you are suppose to not do it again, or want to do it again. If you are fully repentant. I am not sorry for what I did, what we shared. I'm not supposed to be in between. Either I'm sorry, or I'm not." Light or Dark, there was not room for any gray. Therefore Epiphany liked to make her own gray. " She hoped she was making sense, it was clear to her. "If I were fully repentant then I wouldn't have a long lasting consequence and I would never want to see you again. Or... I'd try to kill you. I don't and therefore.... the sin hangs over my head. "

That he was even attempting to see this from a viewpoint other than his own with a different logic than the sort he would be inclinded to use was a testament to the fact that he cared for her. If it were anyone else, he simply wouldn't bother. Because if it were anyone else, it wouldn't matter. She was one of two people who Damon thought worthwhile to try and be directed by motives other than unmitigated selfishness. After taking a pause to let the silent gears of his mental fortress turn, he finally replied, "I would think that there would be a difference between apology and taking up the mantle of wrath to try and strike me dead." A sly shadow of a smile then. "And last I checked, wrath was a sin as well."

[tbc]

[Epiphany]

"Funny how that works, isn't it?" a hint of a frown moved over her lips and stayed for a moment or two before it was brushed aside and replaced with a smile. It wasn't full bright, it may even be considered weighty and without thought she began to draw a circle on the top of the piano with the index finger of her right hand. “There are loopholes in nearly everything, or instances were fact can be brought into question. I like to try to ignore any that seek to keep me from the things that I want.” Her tracing slowed and she set her eyes into the darkness found in his own and watched. She had yet to let herself get lost in them, something she always liked to do. Her gaze was steady, her breathing was steady, yet there was a slight quick flutter to her heart beat after every few beats. Perhaps it was a sign that she was trying to keep it from speeding up. "There have always been consequences Damon, when it came to our relationship. I'm sure it's not one sided either.”

"Hysterical," he agreed. It was so very him, that manner of agreement when coupled with that charming yet wolfish smile of his. "It's certainly provided me with raucously good entertainment now and then over my centuries of living." But then that smile faded, and he returned her gaze with a measure of solemnity. I know you like to try and ignore things." How well he knew. "Just as you know that ignoring things is the exact opposite of my style." Did that mean anything, was he implying anything besides a mere statement of their different modes of behavior? There was a certain look about him that suggested he might. But it would depend largely on how events progressed. He'd be watching, calculating, there was no doubt. He had a habit of relishing in the teaching of lessons, even to forces it should be impossible to teach. He paused. He was listening to her heart. How erratic. It spoke to him in an entirely different language. "If I told you it was one sided, would you be angry?" Brow lifted as he posed the question to her, ceasing his leaning and sitting upright once more, clasping his hands in front of him.

Would she be angry...her initial response to that was 'yes' but she held her tongue, looking for something less blatant to say. Epiphany wiped over where she had drawn that circle - whipping as if it erase it ever being there - and she placed her hand in her lap. "I would say you were lying." Did that mean she was anger? Or would be? Yes. Therefore she tired to answer without quite answering it. She clenched her teeth together, nearly locking her jaw in order to prevent herself from saying anything else before she started speaking off the top of her head without any thought to her words. It wasn't one sided, but.. perhaps it was. If she made him hungry and filled with a desire to feed he could control himself and leave her presence. Even if it wasn't as easy as that. So perhaps... just perhaps her way of thinking of it was off. Thinking about it she started drumming her fingers on the top of her thighs and she was loosing control of her heartbeat, the pace becoming more of a fast rhythm. "If it is one-sided then I'd rather not hear you confirm it."

"Then let's go somewhere." An abrupt chance of course, he knew. But he had said it only moments ago - he was no one to ignore actualities. And if they continued to sit here at the piano discussing, he wasn't going to be able to stay his tongue and he knew she would be less than pleased. But it was only logical, the reality. On his end, Damon did not answer to any Higher Power. And if he did answer to the 'leader' on his end, the likelihood was that said leader would be quite pleased. For Damon was corrupting one of the flock, that was the sort of thing darkness would reward, not scold. It painted a rather unfair picture of reality which he knew Epiphany would not care to see, which is why Damon was standing up and beckoning for her to get off the piano. "I haven't the faintest idea where, but I have no desire to lounge here anyway when there are others of my kind in the building and I'd rather not have them take my presence here as an excuse to come down and shoot the shit." Oh yes, he sensed other vampires here. One in particular he had no desire to speak to, as she was a pitiful member of their kind.

And look at that, he got her to laugh. A real one even if it did not last long. It was all in that last statement. She had no desire to draw an audience to them either. "Then let's go." She didn't like to think about their differences - even if i stared her in the face - because it only made her stomach knot and her head start to weigh the balances and it all lead to deep thought and that internal debate and justifying her actions. It was all so very tiring. And so Epiphany smiled at him and slid down off the top of the piano, stretching her right arm out and encircling it around his left. She tipped her head up and rose on her toes. Moving her head to the side she graced the side of his neck with her lips. "You know, this city..." she said slowly as she leaned her head against his arm. "Can make anyone feel alive. We should explore it. I have a lot in the day, working on this or that, but I don't often go out at night." Her other arm crossed her waist and held on to her side. She may not walk in this position, but she was allowing herself to embrace him - if only a little for right now - and it was soothing. The beating of her heart had sped up and now it was slowing to its relaxed and normal state.

At least he wasn't pushing her. He was being merciful, letting the subject drop this time. He told himself that her answer regarding her consequences while less than favorable news was not dire, so there was no need to press. But he knew a dropped topic one day would become an urgent topic down the road. He'd been alive long enough to see how the cycle of information worked. At any rate, an amused smile curled faintly over his lip when she pressed her lips to his neck. Big Brother is watching you, he couldn't help but think as she displayed that affection for all blessed with omniscience to see. At least he kept the thought to himself. Though the idea of disapproving eyes watching as he returned her gesture of affection with one of his own - a kiss of his cool lips to hers - provided him with thrill of amusement. How things change, or evolve, rather. His mind thought then on their first meetings and the dynamic between them, compared to now. The stakes were higher presently. Enough of that, Damon. Enough. Idle pastimes, it was time to put his mind to those. After the kiss, he pressed his hand against her back and would steer them to the door. "And that, I see, is your diplomatic way of saying you don't know where to go either. 'Exploring'." Yes, he was teasing her. His noble attempt to lighten the mood.

He was teasing her, but that was okay for she could tease as well and probably would as the time extended. "I can take you somewhere. It's something that I found and was going to show the kids. Although, I was going to do so in my room. Taking them there in reality might be a bit risky. They are kids." There was the chuckle again and with the leading she walked forward, her chin tipped down slightly and a mischievous grin on her face. Damon wouldn't mind going wherever she went, what did he have to be worried over? Getting hurt? Fatigue from walking? None of that applied to him. It was a case where she'd assume that being immortal had it's benefits. Out the door and down the front porch. "I haven't quiet figured out what it is yet and the in-ter-net." she was still a bit unsure of that word and that was way she broke it into syllables, "Isn't much help in that area. It's hard to have a questioned answered when you have to tell that thing exactly what you are looking for to get information. But, what I do know is that whatever it is, it uses tracks, like a train and it's underground." This girl had a thing for things that were underground. Like one of her secret places she took him to before on the cliff side. That hide-out was twenty feet underground.

[Epiphany]

Damon could most certainly get injured, it was just that his body's ability to heal what damage was done was rather exemplary. Brow lifted a bit when she mentioned that she couldn't actually take the kids there because of risk. "Sounds like a darling place to spend the evening, I'm sure it'll prove to have stunning ambiance." A brief wolfish grin was given to her. He was assuming words that could apply to this place were dirty, dank, and so on. Once they hit the road he let her be the navigator, naturally, as she knew where they were going. His pace matched hers with graceful ease, as yes - he would feel no fatigue from walking no matter how far their travel. As she told him of her forays onto the internet, he swallowed a laugh. "On the in-ter-net, are you? Be careful of those unauthorized cookies." Damon knew his way around the internet. It was useful when one was searching for not things, but people. At least it was for his line of 'work'.

"Cookies?" she turned to look at him for a moment, curious as always before she turned back to the road. They were heading towards town and in the darkness bits of lights could be seen from doorways and windows of the taverns and businesses still open. Fortunately for them the door in the gate that surrounded the city was still open as well. It would be a lot easier then having to scale the wall, even if that was something they had to do Epiphany wouldn't blink at it. Skirt or no. "It gives out cookies? They must be really flat ones. Maybe that's what comes out of that spot in the side." Now... would she try to put a flat cookie into her machine? "'I've gotten some wicked notifications before of the most tantalizing things that put guilty pleasures in my head, but I don't let them linger on my screen because then I can't see what I was supposed to be looking at. " The Inn was on top of a hill so they were walking down and the gate and the door were in plain sight, some of the noise could be heard. "We won't be around people for long. The entrance is a few feet in from the door and isn't too evident because it's run down."

"It does give out cookies, yes." A sly smile. He was telling the truth! They just weren't the sort of cookies she was thinking about. And notice that he didn't confirm or deny where the cookies 'came out' from. There was something about the fact that she wasn't well-versed with the internet or the machine needed to surf said internet that he found rather attractive. He didn't see it as ignorance, far from it. He saw it as old-fashioned. And Damon was most certainly a bit archaic, was he not? As the times changed he adapted, it was inherent in the blood of his kind. New technologies and customs were picked up on immediately and integrated, it was just that more often than not he chose to follow his old world ways. As they traveled, for the most part Damon kept his eyes on the way ahead. That didn't mean he wasn't paying attention to what was around them, however. Far from it. Sounds and scents were all digested and painted a very vivid picture for the vampire without him having to look. "Are you suggesting I don't enjoy the refreshing company of others?" Asked with a feigned scoff of disbelief. "The next time I have no choice but to make a public appearance for my province, I'll be certain to bring you along." That would show her.

Just outside the gate door Epiphany paused and leaned forward, tipping to the left and then to the right, her hands clasped behind her back. It took a measure of balance to lean forward in such a way as this and not fall and she had it - if only for a little bit. It may even have looked slightly comical. She was trying to peer into the gate and see if the usual guards were standing at attention on the inside, unfortunately, she didn't see them. She saw a person or two milling pass the entrance on their way to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what, but that wasn't helpful at all. Having a few run ins with the law recently Epiphany wasn't about to simply stroll in the through the gate, for all she knew they could be guarding the entrances and looking for her. . She did escape that officer that had come to the Inn looking for her. What to do.. what to do. She thought about it as she rested back down on the flat of her feet. "I've never perceived you as a social butter..oh!" Her eyes grew wide as she realized that Damon could check for her. He had ways and, even if he didn't use them, he wasn't on any wanted list here - not that she knew of anyway. Taking a step back she turned her back to the door and gave Damon one of her sweet smiles as she lifted her arms to cross them behind her head. "Could you check the inside of the gate for me and see if there are any guards standing post?"

Damon watched her lean forward with interest. The way she'd painted this location he didn't think it was the sort that one had to use subversive tactics to enter and yet. . .he should have known better, this was Epiphany after all. While she went through the motions, he was keeping his senses peeled. "Willingly so? Honestly I've never given my social patterns deep analysis . . .and if there are guards posted?" He had to ask that question first, despite her angelic smile and the coy way she positioned herself as she asked him that pretty please sort of favor. He wasn't concerned about guards. Guards could be taken care of, by any number of means. The act of asking her before checking, however, meant that he might get a more illuminating answer as to why they'd be a concern in the first place.

"Would you believe me if I said that I was a fugitive from the law?" He should believe her, not like she wasn't known for getting in over her head or anything like that. Even as she said it, the smile on her face stayed. At least she was being truthful. There was nothing about her - or her heartbeat- to suggest that she was lying or making it up. She might be stretching the truth a little, fancying up the story to make it more 'exciting' but she had been in jail and got out - somehow…maybe probation for good behavior- and the guards were looking for her. "One of them came by the Inn about a week ago looking for me and I had to make a quick get away via one of the stables. And since I kinda look like me and the guards have a picture of me as me I can't simply stroll in waving at them. "

"Beyond the shadow of doubt," was his immediate, dry reply. He didn't have to listen to her heartbeat or take advantage of any of his other preternatural senses to know that she was telling the truth. She was who she was - which is why he care for her so, of course - and who she was included such escapades as getting in thick with the law. This was simply a day in the life. And truly, Damon valued any circumstance, which made the occasion more interesting than simply taking a stroll. A banal passage of an evening was not something he ever sought after. "There are three heartbeats in the area you're interested in passing through, but before I seek out more specific knowledge just confirm this for me so I can make sure I have this correct. You're on the lamb and yet we're spending the evening somewhere where the people seeking you frequent with regularity? Is this particular edifice in their ownership?" It was that last question he was honestly most interested in.

"Oh not you too with the lamb thing!" She almost whined but held it in, the way her arms fell down from behind her head behind enough illustration without the added soundtrack. Her posture was slouched and she was leaning to the right. Figures he would know a saying like that. "Can't you just say 'on the run'? That lamb thing makes me picture roping a sheep and shaving off his fur." Which it did, even if he didn't need to know that. Epiphany kicked the ground and worked the toe of her nice polished right shoe into the ground. "And, uh. I don't know if they own it or not. I never saw any name on it. I suppose they could get there, it's not completely sealed off and there are these tunnels that I haven’t explored but it looked pretty abandoned to me although I havent' been there since I escaped from jail so..." A deep intake of breath before she stretched her hands up in the air. "Should be safe, right?" Sure, safe. For Epiphany she would say they were safe even if they were going to walk into a lions den.. as long as the lions were sleeping and she had a plan of escape. If she didn't even have a sketch plan, it wasn't safe. Not to mention that some of her plans happened on the fly...

"Well back in my day they were rather creative with prisoners. . ." Was he seriously trying to imply that being shorn like a lamb was a historical form of punishment for criminals? He did manage to say it with a straight face, if that meant anything. "Fair enough," he added in reply to the rest of her answer. He was appeased that she told him what she knew, and that would suffice for now. The rest he would garner on his 'mission'. "I'll make my way down to see who the heartbeats belong to," and perhaps to have a quick snack if the timing was right, "You will hear me tell you the coast is clear if that's indeed the case. Sound acceptable, angel?" He turned to face her, cupping her chin briefly in his hand as she gazed into her eyes with one of those devious smiles. Devious because he didn't wait for an answer, maybe. Damon was off before she could give one, and soon out of sight. His response to her was not immediate. Minutes ticked by. Was he trying to make her impatient? Or was there trouble?

[tbc]

[Epiphany]

Or was he feeding...? If he had stuck around she would have given a reply. Not anything about the lamb - though that was very curious indeed and she tucked that away for further investigation - but it would have related to how she felt about him feeding. Truthfully a part of her was jealous. Of all the ways she could feel about the idea she was jealous. Before she might have felt guilty, or sympathetic towards those who were about to be a meal, but this time she was jealous. He had fed before he came to the Inn tonight and now it was possible that he was feeding again and she wasn't thought of as a snack. Well, maybe she was, but in her head she huffed and crossed her arms and stomped her foot and said that it was 'besides the point'. This external display of dissatisfaction made an outward showing by the way she exhaled and then rubbed her chin where his fingers had been. No matter what, she could still feel them there. With that jealous feeling still lingering she started towards the gates, being careful of her footsteps and of being seen. She honestly didn't think that there was trouble but, you never know. A few vampire hunters had wandered into town recently offering their services to those who could pay because there had been sightings of the things that go 'bump in the night' and paranoia was an easy thing to spread. Epiphany pressed herself on the left side of the gate door against the wall. Keeping herself still for a count to five she then leaned forward to steal a glance inside to see what was there.

"Freeze!" It was not the police. It was Damon. Who decided, in one of his more bastard frames of mind, to creep back up when the coast was clear and see how long it took her before she risked peaking. He was pressed up against the wall so that he could remain unseen until that moment when she peered around the corner - and would find herself nearly nose to chest with him. He grinned, at least being sporting enough not to laugh at her expense, though he couldn't resist tisking his tongue and shaking his head. "Shame on you, Epiphany. If there was trouble your impatience would have gotten you apprehended, and I would have been left with the task of saving you...." Obviously the coast was clear, and everything was fine. And even her jealousy would be put at ease, as nothing of Damon said that he'd stopped for a late night snack. Whoever was down by the entrance, clearly they weren't very appetizing.

He was holding back that laugh and speaking the second half of his words to an Epiphany that was slightly frazzled and a step or two away from him! When he had told her to 'Freeze' it came so quick and sudden -- especially since she was trying to be quiet and stealthy -- that it took her off guard to the point that she gave a quick, short, yelled and jumped backwards. Nearly stumbling over her feet and going to the ground if she hadn't caught herself. Epiphany was looking at him with wide dusky eyes and a hand over her chest. Yes, laugh it up Damon, she knew he wanted too. If it was reversed she would be rolling. Deep breathes, in and out, calm the body down. "A-ha-ha-ha." She replied after a few moments, her voice having that shaking tone of someone who had just jumped out of their skin. He should know what was coming next. A typical thing for Epiphany to do, stepping up to him and giving him a playful shove (she held back on the kick) which was quickly followed by "Punk." and "That's so not funny." Later she would look back on it and laugh and mutter about being caught off guard. She dusted off her own shirt and then gave a tug to her braid. "I see you made them disappear...” hopefully her lil yelp wouldn't draw them back...

"I beg to differ. It was highly amusing from my vantage point. Perhaps if you were as tall as I you better see the humor..." Height obviously had nothing to do with it, he was simply goading her. The shove was marvelous, however, enough to draw a short laugh from him. And it only fueled his proud wolfish grin. He wasn't lying that it was highly amusing from his vantage point, it wasn't often that the fun-loving adventuring Epiphany was so caught off-guard. He was quite pleased by how it all transpired, in fact, for the silly occasion had also given him a bit of new information about her. "But yes, I did. If it helps ease your clearly frazzled nerves, they were no one of consequence to begin with. But I saw no reason to allow them to linger." So they had made happy trails and now the only heartbeat Damon heard in the area was one - hers. He gestured towards the entrance. "Shall we then?"

Epiphany could act her age at times - especially when she was as she is currently - and at times it showed through. In time maybe it would wear away , or maybe it was just part of her persona. It definitely proved that she could be caught off guard. "Yes..." still slightly frazzled she was calming down and getting better after she did a quick shake and shiver. She tried to not make it so obvious as he didn't need anything else to laugh at. "I'm putting that on your list of things to get you back for." Did she have such a list? If she didn't then this was going to be the first act on the list. A semi-playful glare was directed towards him as she passed, purposefully brushing his shoulder as she did, and headed to the left. Towards the first row of businesses. The rest of the people in the town were probably engaged in the Inns and Taverns, happily drinking and bouncing people on their knees in hopes of having a fun night of things they won't remember come the next day. All the better for her as she didn't need people milling about and wondering where they were going. Of course, it could always go off as two lovers heading off to have fun in the alley.... She pushed that thought to the back of her mind as she had other things to focus on at the moment. Like… getting to this place. And, as she told him, it was semi hidden for the way she was going was darker than the front entrance, the streetlights not reaching very far. "Keep an eye out for anything suspicious. I haven't been down here at night before.." Where was here? Here was where she stopped. It looked like an archway but the words were worn away and covered with ivy that crawled up and around it. There was a broken wooden fence and what appeared to be a pile of wood covering a ten by fifteen area. For all purposes, it looked like a woodpile.

That threat of hers just made his debonair, devilish smile all the wider. "You truly are an angel. Giving me something to look forward to like that." As she glared at him, he bent in a slight bow as he extended his arm to indicate ladies first. It only made it easier for her to brush his shoulder. He suppressed the laugher which bubbled at the back of his throat, and simply followed after her. Though the people he'd cleared away from the gates were of little consequence, her confession that she was in trouble with the law would keep Damon's eyes, ears and all the rest pealed for any signs of potential trouble. So he was already on alert before she asked him to be, which is perhaps why he gave a simple nod in reply. As they came to a stop, however, he couldn't help but say, "Sundry people are just as tarnished in the
daytime as they are in the night, you know, the sun doesn't shed innocense over the land." A sly little smik. "I'm sure the common discomfort that comes with the night is simply because mortals can't see as well in the darkness." Wasn't that comforting. He looked up to the archway, to make the noble attempt to try to read the worn words through the leafy cover, before his gaze dropped to the fence and the wood. A glance at her, and he started towards it. Making an assumption that towards the fence was their destination.

For his attempt he would be able to make out a few letters: ##BWA# S##TI#N # That's what he was able to get out since he had superb nighttime vision, unlike herself. At least, until she reached into the inside of her button top and pulled out a pair of dark shades from the inside. She turned to look at him and tapped the glasses against her chin, pulling in her bottom lip a moment to bit on it. "You know, Damon, I can't see all to well in the pitch darkness either, that's why I have these." Her head bent to the side and she used her tongue to flick out one of the glasses arms. "But, after one of your deep long kisses, and me giving you one in exchange, I can see nearly as well as you can." Maybe this was the tease... Epiphany tipped her chin up and drew the arm of the shades slowly down her neck before giving a role of her shoulders. Bringing her head back up she opened the other arm and slipped the glasses on her face. " Hmm." With the glasses in place she turned back to the wood pile and bent down looking it over she took a cautious step forward and to the left of the pile before picking up one of the planks and moving to the side. Then she repeated it with another. She was clearing a path. Epiphany did this with her back towards him and that braid moved to one side to give him a good view of the back of her neck.

“I don't know, Epiphany. . ." It was spoken softly on the cool air, his words floating forth to tickle at the insides of each of her ears as he moved forward as she slipped on her glasses. It was a tone she drew out of him because of that drag against her neck, and that roll of her shoulders. A sign that despite what he was about to say next, her actions had given him thoughts. "That sounds like a problem in need of a more long-term solution than I can give. Perhaps you should get on your superiors about that. A savior isn't exactly that if they run into a wall first because they couldn't see it coming . . ." What a bastard. And he was only seeking to make matters worse. Instead of being an old-world gentlemen and insisting that he do the manual labor, he strode up lazily behind her so that he had a bird's eye view of the smooth of the back of her neck, and he made the following remark. "Unlike many of my time, I always found it rather fetching to watch a woman labor...." Between scaring her earlier and his comments, surely he was looking to get punched by the end of the night.

Damon was looking to get himself tossed down the hole.. that’s what he was looking for. Or perhaps letting her see what happens when a wooden steak is shoved through a vampire. It was only something she heard about and never witnessed first hand, it would be novel to see. Not to mention she was digging around a pile of wood. "You do posses a solution. Even if it may not be the right one to some." She didn't mind that he wasn't helping, this gave her hands more things to do and right now she needed her hands to be busy on something other than Damon. For surely if she had not bent down and started picking in the wood her hands would have been picking apart something else. Her working on the wood was revealing a tunnel of a sort and with her glasses on she was able to make out the worn staircase that lead down. Removing the wood also let some of the air escape and it was damp air, musky, as if the area wasn't used much at all. Epiphany didn't simply toss the wood aside, but she was arranging it so that it made a small fence of its own to block the hole from the glance of a casual passerby. What she had said and what she did was playing in her mind and was starting to rile her up. She even had to pause to scratch her neck. "Why... do you like to watch a female work... does it give you ideas." She wanted to make the hole big enough for her to get through easily.

"A woman who was willing to work signified to me a woman who had some wits and motivation about her, rather than the simpering lash-batting drawing room maidens who thought fanning their bosom constituted as work." A blunt, very honest answer. Case in point, though he didn't say it, the fact that the thought to not only toss the wood aside but she was putting it to a use that would help keep their exploration private? It showed strategy and ingenuity, two traits one had to possess to keep regular company with Damon else he simply got bored. When she cleared enough of the wood away that the earthy, damp smell was released Damon crossed around to the other side of her so he might be afforded a peak down the hole she was working to uncover. "It's why I have always admired the Romani women. Enterprising females, all of them. So to answer your question, it certainly gives me ideas. But not the ones I suspect you were thinking about." He thought better of remarking that if her mind was straying to lustful thoughts she was certainly racking up the sins tonight.

She was allowed to sin.. Human nature was to sin, she just had to resist temptation. The hard thing about it was that the more you engaged in a particular sin, the easier it was to do it again. Pretty soon committing the act would be as natural as breathing. Being bitten by Damon and feeling his cool touch was one of those things that was making itself a natural thing to Epiphany. Therefore, with him next to her again she had a brief pause before she continued. "We both know that I have no problem in doing work." Satisfied that she had cleared enough she scooted to the edge of the hole and dangled her feet down. Though she had the glasses, they tended to work at their best if there was a sliver of light from somewhere. Lucky for her this 'somewhere' just happened to be the stars in the sky and therefore there was a tiny ounce of light. It let her see the outline of the steps and about ten feet down in the hole to the rest of the pitch black darkness. "Or getting dirty..." She spoke that into the hole. "Your ideas and my ideas may conflict but.. I think they will wrap around each other in the end." Looking at him she seemed ready to go in. "Are you ready?"

[Epiphany]

In the end. What an interesting choice of words. An 'end' wasn't something that was really ever on Damon's mind, and he knew she didn't mean it as literally as that, and more as an indicator of a resolution or a union. Still. The word 'end' struck him a bit differently, and he had to dismiss the thought before he could focus on what they were actually out do to. He commented only about being ready, however, and not about what she'd said just prior to that. "I can't remember the last time I wasn't ready, angel. And I have to admit that fact is a slight disappointment." He prided himself on being ever prepared, ever calculating, but at the same time to face something that rocked his boat despite his strategic mind. . .he couldn't help but long for it. "Are you sure you want to go first?" He couldn't help asking. The old world manners finally showing themselves. Maybe he was a little skeptical of the glasses. . .no pun intended.

Was she sure, of course she was sure! Unlike Damon, it was already proven that Epiphany was never always fully prepared for what may happen, but that never stopped her from doing things. Maybe that was a flaw. All she said was "Yep!' Before she pushed off the ledge and fell into the hole. There were steps, so she didn't fall down into the depths of the hole, just a few steps down. Epiphany landed with a small *thunk* and a cough, a bit of dust rising up out of the hole and drifting into the air. Dusty was another quality trait that could be added to the list of adjectives to describe this place. She went down a few steps and paused, sniffling and rubbing her nose to clear it from the dust. The glasses helped, though she could feel her pupils widening to take in as much light as they could. The best she could do was make out an outlined shape of what was around her -which wasn't much. There was this staircase - composed of wood and metal - that went down to a platform. All around the walls were arched and made of stone, perhaps marble. In the daylight Epiphany knew the walls to have graffiti markings on them: names, sayings, crude drawings, but always any name of the place was rubbed out. Here, in the dark, Epiphany could see none of it with the vision she had. She went down a feet more steps before cupping her hands to her mouth. "You can - cough, cough - come down." last word a bit strained as she coughed again, slightly muffled by her arm covering her mouth. She had to breathe and right now the air wasn't the best for it.

Damon wouldn't be him if he didn't have a certain sense of style that marked his actions. While he would hardly shy away from dirt and grime if it was a necessity, when it wasn't a necessity there other, smoother means to maneuver. And as he watched the cloud of dust burst from the hole he turned his head away from it, murmuring, "Charming." One cloud of dust didn't deserve another, which is why his form smoothly slid from solid man to the fog. She knew him well as fog, the additional chill she'd feel would be familiar as he drifted down to her stair with ease and there reformed standing just next to her. In time to see her coughing. He gave her a look, one that quite obviously said, 'should we really be doing this or are you going to die on me,' before his bottomless black eyes turned to take in their surroundings. "What pithy 'poetry'," he said with one of those sly smirks as he read some of the graffiti on the wall. Which he could - unfortunately for him - easily see. Speaking of sight, Damon's cool hand reached out and clasped her upper arm. "How well can you see down here?" As far as he could see, there was no source of light, "Hindsight is twenty-twenty, as they say, and certainly can't produce a flashlight out of thin air."

"Probably about twenty more feet." She said honestly. If hindsight was twenty-twenty then she was blind in that regard for she didn't bring an extra light source with her. If she had really been thinking then she would have brought a match, or one of her light tubes, something to give a bit of extra light. She cleared her throat and gave him a smile to combat that look he was giving her. He had to come down here in all his vampire smooth and grace and turn into fog. It wouldn't have been like him to do otherwise. Epiphany stretched her arm out and pointed down into the darkness. "Once we go deeper down and the hint of light from outside can't reach in, I loose my sight. But I'm sure that there is something down here. In the day I saw tracks at the bottom and therefore they have to lead to somewhere. Meaning that there is something down here. If we can find something to burn..." Hey there were sticks up at the top.. but it might take some work to get those usable for a torch, and she didn't have anything to cut wood with hidden in her skirt anywhere. "I know it's not empty. I was playing with echo's last time...."

Damon narrowed his eyes slightly. Did she orchestrate this on purpose? Forcing him to make a choice between her being entirely unable to see and giving her his blood to provide the temporary remedy? His jaw set, Damon looked away from her smile and in the direction she was pointing. Even with his fantastic night vision there was still a limit to how far he could see in the darkness, just as all vision had limits. "Where I'm from, we have plenty of undergrounds like this, mostly in the major cities of the world. Do you know where all that track leads on those cases? To more track." Did he sound exasperated? Mildly. There was no chance in hell he was going to give her his blood tonight, not after the news of her consequences that she'd shared with him earlier. Something to burn however. His mind went to the same place hers did. "I could go split some wood," he offered. "But if I don't come back down, it's because I've suffered a fatal case of a splinter...." He had to make that joke, didn't he. Yet despite that offer, there he was with his hand on her arm urging her down the stairs. Perhaps he wasn't in the mood for manual labor.

The thought of Damon doing manual labor was a funny picture and she painted it with vibrant colors in her mind. It was probably that thought that had her grinning. She hadn't planned on taking his blood - she wouldn't refuse it offered - but it wasn't in her plan. He might not have liked the idea of tracks and more tracks, but to her that was fascinating. "More tracks? You mean it can be an endless tunnel of places to explore?" She sounded quite excited about that which was probably opposite on how he felt about it all. Walking down future into the darkness, just like he said, she grinned to herself. "The tracks have to go somewhere, and they had to have been used for something. And why is the name of this place scratched out like it is? There are so many things that are simply amazing about tracks that go off into the unknown."

He had to stop. He stopped suddenly, turning to her and taking her by the shoulders. Then he leaned in, speaking with smooth, pointed emphasis. "Epiphany. . .the tracks. . .will go to other tracks." Look at him, with his patience tousled. "If this is a similar underground system, it could be upwards of fifty miles long. An easy way to cut across a large city. . ." He sighed, briefly tilting his head so his cool forehead rested against hers. It was the thought of there being no light for miles and miles and Epiphany walking blind and not being able to see anything she wished to explore that frustrated him about this. He picked his head back up, hand moving back down to clutch at her arm, and continued down the rest of the stairs. But there was something more to this place, as she pointed out. "There are quite a few cultures that believe crossing out a word takes away its power." Certainly a belief of the Romani, and a phenomenon he'd been witness to first hand. "Considering this place was boarded up. . ." He'd let that thought trail off. No need to wonder what was down here that needed its power bound or stolen.

At least he was still going along with it and not dragging her up the stairs and out of the tunnels, he got points for that. If she had been anyone else he probably wouldn't even be in this situation. He had her arm and she placed her hand over his and looked around in the dark. There was something she could do which would light up the whole area but she was with Damon and if she went to that level - if she could right now - it would come with it's own set of consequences. This was not something she brought up though it was something she kept in the back of her mind. "We'll be okay. Think of it as an adventure." The best way to see it. As they walked she could hear the small echo of their footsteps on the steps, their words slightly echoing off the walls. She was getting use to the damp and musky feeling and therefore breathing came a bit easier. "I use to run around in the sewers in the city outside of the Alliance when I was younger. Though that had light, it can be thought of as the same thing." Almost, but not really. She wasn't alone then and the sewer system of that city worked as a transportation system for the young thieves and crooks of the city. How she had gotten tangled up in that? Well, maybe that was part of the reason the Law was after her. There was something very foreboding about this place, the type of feeling that would make the average person nervous and feel as if theywere being watched. The type that sent shivers up a persons spine. "Power in names.. power in names.. if that's the case then it's even more reason why someone should check this place out and make sure that whatever is here is locked away enough to not get out and chaos panic in the city."

"We'll be fine." He had no doubt. Damon wasn't the sort who doubted anything which was related to something as simple as survival. While there was a subject they weren't talked about at the moment, he was quite certain that if push came to shove she would be able to defend herself, even if it meant that it would have consequences for him. To Damon's preternatural sense of smell, this place absolutely stank. Such a thick, multi-layered scent. But he'd dealt with far worse, he was not thin-skinned. "Outside the Alliance?" He echoed that with a sideward glance. Epiphany had asked him to not feed on the membership back in those days, so rest assured Damon knew the territory outside of the Alliance rather well. Perhaps that included who and what dwelled in those sewers. The glance did not last long, as they reached the last stair and stood upon the platform. His eyes and ears were peeled, he felt rather on edge - perhaps out of a strong desire to protect her, perhaps as a result of that foreboding feeling that permeated the place. "They crossed out the name of the station. At least that's what I'm assuming, considering the letters that I managed to make out. To me that says they were taking the power away from the place itself, not anything within." A slight smile. Not a very comforting idea, that it was the walls ceiling floor and track around them which might prove the problem.

Wouldn't that be something? If the actual place was dangerous and held a type of power. Had to wonder what the place could do. "Yes, outside the Alliance.” Words came out softly, almost in a whisper as she had this overwhelming feeling that she should be silent less she disturb something. Her tongue came out and she wet her lips and took in a slow breath, he hand on his tightened and she simply closed her eyes. They were deep enough into the tunnel that even with her glasses Epiphany was blind. She may not act like it, but she was afraid of the dark - only her relationship with Damon made the darkness not seem as frightening. This is why she was holding on to him so at the moment, to help calm the fear that was threatening to rise up. Animals lived underground. Rats. insects, snakes, various creatures. There should have been some noise, some hint of other lift, but it was silent aside from the two of them. While they stood there Epiphany slide her foot on the floor. When she as down here before she knew the tracks to be somewhere near. In the dark, her depth perception was thrown for a loop. An object could be right in front of her and yet it would seem miles away. "The... tracks are here. Somewhere." It was an eerie type of silence. There was still the slight echo of her whispered words, though they didn't hang in the air as echos often did. The words merely bounced and were gone. "Forward.. I- I think and to the right."

Only one heartbeat down here - hers. Not even the smaller ones, some of which were nearly too faint for even his ears. While inwardly he was frowning, outwardly it didn't touch his expression. Not that she would be able to see it anyway, at least not well. He was moving them forward slowly, step by step. Not because he didn't know what lay ahead of them, but for her own peace of mind - he knew what the shifts in her body in relation to him meant. She couldn't see. He didn't, however, realize that she wasn't too wild about that fact until now. Not that her heart was beating quickly, not that she was bleeding, but there were subtle changes in the beat and her scent which tipped off predators like him that there was fear. "Epiphany. . ." his voice was gentle, soft enough that it didn't even echo in the cavernous space, "You don't have to tell me what direction the tracks are, angel. I can see them." He wanted to ease her into that reminder. Not exactly a good moment to point out she was sight deficient when that fact was making her ill at ease, he knew that. "You wanted to follow them? Hop down off the platform and walk the tracks?" Whatever she wanted, he would make happen.

[Epiphany]

Damon could see the tracks, but she couldn't see them and speaking the directions out loud somehow made her feel better. If only for half a minute. It was an assurance that she knew where she was and that this was the exact same place she had been to before, just that now it was dark. "Let's go walk along the track. Something has to be somewhere. " Like light. A break in the darkness. Noise. Something. She would be sure to keep her hold on his arm and stay close. It was an underground system. "Something's not right... I'm sure that when I was here, during the day, I heard life..."

"Funny thing about life, Epiphany, it doesn't care to dwell in places permeated by death." He sounded amused. Was he referring to himself as death? No, though one could make such a connection. He was referring to the survival instinct of life within creatures large and small. "I would wager that whatever is down here is clearly higher on the totem pole than whatever made this place their home when you visited this place during the daylight hours." Notice he didn't say larger. Just because a creature was larger than the one next to it didn't mean the larger creature wasn't the hunted. The smallest of spiders had the most deadly of venom. As they moved towards the tracks, Damon mulled the information over. "Something nocturnal then, perhaps?" She could not see it, most likely, but he grinned as he posed that theory. He was a nocturnal creature, after all, and the more advanced species of nocturnal creatures quite often didn't get along. Quite suddenly he pulled them to a stop. "I'm going to pick you up," he figured she would like a warning. "So that we can jump down to the tracks." If there was even a sliver of light, he would have considered allowing her to jump down on her own. But when the tracks provided too many means for her to break or twist her ankle, carrying her would be best.

"Okay." That was quite sudden, the offer to pick her up, but she recognized the safety in it. It was probably hard to direct her to jump, walking was enough of a challenge in itself/. "At any other time I would have different thoughts about this but I'm not sure how this whole thing sits with me." Both of her hands were on him and they felt around as she inched around to his side to help with the lifting. "If there were others like you down here, would you know it? I assume that everything has some sort of ...'" she was looking for a word... "scent?" There was no use in her looking around, but she did so anyway. "It would help if there was some other noise...." There was something there, in this subway system, and it was watching them. There was a small stirring of wind that came from the direction of the steps they climbed down. It came from that direction to seem less suspect. Just a trickle of a cool breeze, the type that always blew on summer nights.

Her agreement given, Damon wasted no time lifting her up in his arms. She'd feel the shift of his muscles readying for a jump, but the remainder of her words gave him pause. He straightened, muscles relaxing for the time being as he spoke to the one he held in his arms. There was no reason for him to set her down - her weight was easy for him to bear. "If whatever is down here is living - and by living I don't mean living as in breathing, I mean living as a corporeal, animated entity - I would be able to smell them, yes. If it's an ethereal entity such as Noel was, such creatures no longer have odor. I don't smell anything right now, but. . ." She'd feel him shrug. "That could change. Would you like to leave here, Epiphany, and return here during the daylight or with some means for you to see?" His head turned in the direction of the wind, simply because it was an addition. From the stairs, he noticed.

Being lifted when you were blind was an interesting feeling, kind of like the floor suddenly dropping from beneath you and then being spun. That's what she felt and it was a good thing she was not privy to motion sickness or anything like that because she most defiantly would have been sick. But now that she was being carried she settled her arms around him and he'd have to excuse the fact that she might have poked him in the neck a time or two to accomplish what she wanted. "No, no,” she was quick to say that and even shook her head. "We have to go forward. There's no point in turning back before anything is accomplished." She would hold fast to that. "And I've never been blind before." It was true, this was new experience for her. And that chill feeling lingered. It was something that didn't register for Pip because she was close to Damon. And chill she felt she assumed came from him.

"If you wanted to be blind, Epiphany, I could have provided you that thrill anytime you wanted...just ask, and you shall receive." A religious phrase. He'd chosen it on purpose, thinking it amusing to accent with scripture what were to him words suggestive of intimate activities. Yes, he was insinuating treating her to blindness during a certain shared occasion between them. He was male, after all, sometimes his mind treaded such waters. Tactfully lewd words spoken, he tightened his grip on her and jumped the few feet down to the tracks. The landing was clean, his legs bending to absorb the impact. Once they landed, he rather gracefully shifted Epiphany in his arms so that her feet could feel the benefit of solid ground beneath them once more. "Mind where you step," he advised, "The metal rails are ripe for twisting ankles. Which direction did you wish to walk?" There were two options, after all. Once the direction was picked, Damon would be paying rather careful attention to that chilling wind in the air, to see if it had a mind of its own that followed them once they were further away from the stairs.

When he made that joke it almost went over her head, almost. Oddly it was the jump that cause it to make sense in her mind and that might be due to how he was holding her. He may not have noticed but she bit down on her lip as they were settled upon the tracks. She released her hold around his neck as he sought to set her down on the ground, though she didn't fully release her hold until she managed to briefly brush her lips across his neck. Cruel, to tease her in a place like this where she couldn't see anything. Yet…the thought was rather thrilling. This wasn't something she needed to focus on now. Once they were on the tracks the place took on a feel that could only be described as 'heavy' like there was a lot of thick tension in the air, though it had no source. The feel was heavy and the air had a hint of sulfur. They hadn't gone too far from the landing and yet there was a different feel. How interesting. Not to mention that chill was still there. It was the heavy feeling that caused Epiphany to look around again and grow still.

Who said he was teasing? Perhaps the occasion needed to come about where she asked, to see if he held true to his word and she received. As it was, Damon's arm dipped lower than it needed to as he released her to brush against her backside. A thanks for the kiss upon his neck, no doubt. He would have done more, had the changes in the environment not come. His eyes strayed, looking over the ceiling above and the area above their heads carefully, before dropping down to do the same for the walls. "Sulfur....or rotting....or death. I told you, didn't I Angel? Life doesn't much care to linger around death...” his voice carried a faint bit of whimsy. Otherwise, gears were turning within Damon's mind. He was searching the area for something of value. Not human value, necessarily. There was some sort of sentient consciousness in this tunnel and he was of the mind that it was in hiding. No better way to lure a creature out of hiding than to draw near to something it values and force it to reveal itself to protect what it cherishes.

"We should go right." She whispered those words after he said his own. Her voice was slightly shaky, but nothing to draw attention too, it was just a consequence of nervousness, or small fear. "And I don't believe I'm dead yet." Back at him, about the living being near the dead. What Damon would see was a lot of things, though some may not be worth giving a second glance. The rails were grimy silver and the sulfur was coming from the ground. Very small, tiny shards - like fingernail clippings - were around the ground but they were not just tossed haphazardly around, they was a pattern to it, as if they had spilled as someone was walking deeper into the tunnel. Perhaps they were fingernail clippings? Still, there was no sign of life. "Death?" she paused. "The people, in the town, I've heard them at the church saying that there have been disappearances of people lately..."

"Should we?" Asked as Damon's raven black eyes continued to examine the area, dropping to look around their feet. When he crouched down to the ground, his nose wrinkled. The rotten scent was stronger. Casting a glance down both sides of the tunnel and then above, Damon reached his long thin fingers out to pick up some of the small shards. Rolling them between this fingers, he followed where the clippings lead. "A bread crumb trail. Disappearances? And naturally you heard that and thought it would be a marvellous idea to poke around in the pitch black of an abandoned underground..." He glanced back at her, a wolfish smirk upon his lips. Of course she thought as much, Epiphany wouldn't be herself otherwise. "There's a trail of fragments which lead to the left," he informed her as he stood, taking one of her hands and dropping the few fragments he'd picked up from the floor into her palm so that she could examine them through touch. "Still wish to go to the right?"

When he bent down it was instinct to bend down as well, though she didn't move quickly or bend down that far, it was just a slight bend of the knees. He was guiding her and she thought that for some reason she had to bend. "It's to the left? I..I've never been to the left. " It was true. When she came down here she always went right though the tracks were to either side. Perhaps it was the other side of her that made sure she always went right because going left would have led to disaster. He had put the pieces in her hand and she closed her fingers around them to get a feel. Curved, sharp at some point. "You said this leads left? Then we should go in that direction." a bit confident about that she left what he had placed in her hand to fall to the ground. "Seems like a safe decision since you are here." When she said left she felt a twist in her stomach and flinched a bit and the heavy feeling in the underground grew stronger.

"I'm no god, Epiphany. Remember that." It was all Damon would say regarding the exploration to the left now being safe because he was here. "In fact, you are higher up that ladder than I." One of his cool hands touched against her back in a stroke downward. "I'm of the opinion that things which are not safe are always so no matter who is caught in the fray. It's just that some are more adept at dealing with that condition than others and as such live to tell the tale. Why are you so interested in exploring this, Epiphany?" His question wasn't an accusation, and it didn't have any tone which would suggest that it was. Considering the circumstances, that this would potentially become unsafe, he needed to know. Her motivation would inform her choices, as would any stakes she had in the situation, so the more he knew the better off he'd be able to stave off any danger. And keep the situation under control. Especially considering the air was shifting once more, making it quite clear to Damon that whatever it was down here, it wasn't at all pleased with Epiphany's choice.

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