Life's Little Adventures (Esme)

[Judas]

The idea of parents wanting their kids to follow in their footsteps wasn't that uncommon though he had to admit that taking it to the extremes that Esme's parents had was a little bit strange for this century. It sounded like something that would have happened in the time he'd been human, or slightly after.

He did find it hard to believe that her and her brother had never rebelled until her brother had left home, Judas would have. Of course he wasn't exactly a typical example of human behavior either. "Your parents don't know about you being a witch then?" He asked, figuring if he crossed a line then she would let him know. She had said she liked answering his questions...

Money didn't seem like much of a substitute for all the stress and responsibility that must be on this girl's shoulders. He finally understood why she was so much more mature than most of the kids her age, she'd had to be. It made him think better of her, that her life hadn't been all sunshine and roses, however sick a thought that was. He didn't wish harm on people but those who had always had it easy tended to get on his nerves. It wasn't fair, but it was true.

[Esme M. Lolland]

After actually saying it out loud, Esme realized how controlling her parents truly were, how much she and her brother had to endure, how much she had gone through just because of them.

"Nope," Esme answered Judas's question, looking about for her beer. "They were told that there had been witches in the family, but of course they feel like magic doesn't exist. So they wouldn't accept me being a witch. If they knew that it was taking me away from my studies they would treat me as if I were a silly child doing an idiotic thing, not acceptable when you're a strong Lolland."

She shook out her hair as she sighed, "My parents are crazy and it's taken me 20 years to realize that. That and perhaps they don't love me as much as need me to carry on the family legacy. You know, they've been in London for almost a month now and every time they tell me that we're going to meet they have new plans. Their job is so much more important than their daughter."

[Judas]

He nodded. Of course he was glad to hear that people still thought magic to be a thing of legends, it was sort of his purpose with being on the council, but he realized it made actually having magic harder. He didn't feel bad, he knew what he and the council did was right but that didn't mean he didn't understand why some folks tended to get mad at them.

It wasn't that unusual for parents to focus more on their careers than their kids too. Only living for slightly under a century seemed to make it harder for people to see what really mattered. Judas would have...well, not killed...but done a lot for the chance to go back and pay more attention to certain people when he'd been human. Maybe if he had smartened up sooner, then things would have turned out differently for him.

Judas watched her shake out her hair, he would have had to have been blind not to notice that the girl was attractive. Or maybe he would have had to have been deaf to because she had a nice voice. What was the expression? Blind, deaf and dumb? Yeah that was about right.

He could tell that pushing the subject further would only upset the girl, which was not something he wanted. He took a long swig from his beer. The pain was getting harder to ignore, he wasn't used to spending this much time in public since he knew someone would notice if he started cringing. He could finish the beer but he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to stay after that.

"And you realize that befriending the council has some risks to it? Not everyone likes us." Obviously the council got into some pretty weird shit. He didn't like pulling a human into all that but it was her choice. Judas wasn't about to tell her to stay away from a war that would probably find her anyway.

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme nodded, when he asked his next question, it seemed like a question one would ask when they were tying up loose ends, when they were determining whether or not to leave a person. She understood that most likely, he hadn't spent much time in the company of someone for in a while, and it was only a matter of time before he left. But leaving meant that Esme wouldn't see him for a while, for some reason or another she couldn't think of not being with him. She felt normal, natural around him, like every little irregularity about her personality didn't matter a bit when he was in the room with her.

"I understand that I'm putting myself into great danger, but I also realize that if I don't take the risk and learn how to better protect myself. I'm a danger magnet here in London, I've realized. I can't go anywhere without finding myself in some new mess. At least if I befriend the Council I can attempt to learn how to keep myself from being such a wreckless space case. I'd end up dead quicker without the Council, left to my own means, than with you putting my life in danger for whatever worthy cause you'd like."

Esme took a sip of her drink and then realized that Judas is much more attractive than she had stopped to notice. She had always been oblivious to when she was with someone attractive, so it surprised her that she noticed with Judas. Maybe it was because he was so attractive, so smart, so brave, everything she was not, that she wanted to stay with him more. Maybe he would rub off on her, or find reason to stay with her for a few more drinks.

[Judas]

It surprised him how often she made perfect sense. Of course he didn't agree with everything she said but it wasn't often he found someone with such a sound look at the world. Naturally it would be better if she learned to defend herself, though he didn't know about the part that she'd die sooner without the council when they were likely to drag her into messes that she wouldn't otherwise find. Though Jonas wouldn't send her on any suicide missions. He and the warlock tended to deal with those sorts of things since he couldn't die and Jonas was as close to invincible as it got.

He did hope the girl wasn't getting visions in her head about being a grand hero though, it wasn't as glamorous as one might imagine. He didn't think that was the case but he'd been wrong before.

Judas ran a hand through his hair. A person could only sit still in a fire for so long. He laughed silently to himself at how well that metaphor worked since his pain came straight from hell. He tossed back the rest of his pint but, like always, the liquid did nothing for the burning. It was getting to be time to leave but he couldn't think of a decent way to excuse himself. Hey, I need to leave because I don't want the humans to freak out and send me to the hospital since modern medicine can't do anything for a damned soul. Was likely to bring on a whole new wave of questions he didn't want to answer.

"It's getting hot in here. I don't suppose you've got a house or something we could continue this little meeting at?" He didn't want to go back to the council mansion. One, it was a ways from here and he didn't want to walk that far unless he could make it impossible for the humans to see him. And two, bringing home a human girl who was friends with Vlad was likely to get him into some sort of trouble if the vampire had plans for her unless he spent the time to explain the situation, which he didn't want to do.

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme's heart nearly leaped out of it's cage when Judas asked to go to her house. There were so many reasons as to why he shouldn't be welcome in her home. One being that she had never invited a man to her home unless he was a close family friend or family, secondly her loft was a mess and in using that word it is used to describe how hard it is to find a sofa or a chair from underneath the multitudes of books and clothes.

"I have a house, of course," Esme laughed nervously, "But unfortunately it looks like a tornado hit. I swear, if Lord Voldemort were to pop up and 'Avada Kedavra' someone in there I wouldn't know for a year... or until the body began to decompose. Oh, sorry, you may not have read those books, never mind."

Esme drained her drink and then looked back at Judas again, "I suppose we could head there if you like, it's just no where near presentable. But it seems like it's a lovely night... the park clears out fairly early if you'd like to go there. Or the University's campus is really pretty at night. I'd love to talk with you more... it's just my loft is not befitting of a lady."

Esme knew that her loft was not going to be the way to keep Judas with her, but saying he couldn't go there wasn't the way either. Hopefully he'd choose one of her other options and happily spend time with her that way. Hopefully.

[Judas]

He looked at her confused for a moment when she mentioned something about a lord and what sounded like it might be some sort of ridiculous spell until she explained it was from a book. He had puzzled out that it had something to do with death and that was enough for him to get the joke.

Judas listened to her go on about a dirty house. It was a perfectly good excuse, the girl obviously hadn't been expecting company. Still, the part of him that was purely male wanted to insist on going to her place anyway. It was impossible not to think of stepping through that door, tossing her down on the couch...."The park sounds good."

It was likely to be empty at this time of night and walking gave his mind something else to focus on then the pain. Of course other things served the same purpose but it was obvious Esme's mind had gone to the same place his had at him asking to go to her house and the girl was trying to eliminate that temptation.

Judas stood up and put the money for the drinks on the table with a generous tip for the bartender. He pushed in the chair and waited for Esme to get ready to leave.

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme sat and watched Judas think and almost instantaneously she felt as if his mind was somewhere else. Somewhere deep in her loft, with no one else but her , himself and some music. She tried to hide a smirk, no matter how much she reminded herself that he wasn't human, he was still male.

He had said the park was acceptable and she smiled, he wasn't planning on leaving her just yet. That was a good thing. She watched as he pulled out some money to pay the bartender. She made a slight attempt to grab her own when she remembered he had offered to buy the last round.

She watched him move fluidly, and then was reminded that he was waiting for her. She stood, put on her coat and pushed in her chair as well. She nodded at Judas and asked, "You ready?"

[Judas]

(cont. in the parks)