Take 2 (Esme)

[Judas]

They’d left the bar and started walking towards the park. Judas realized this was the second time tonight that he had no idea where they were going. He knew where there were several parks in London but he didn’t know which one she was talking about, so he’d let her lead the way. He would rather it wasn’t Finsbury Circus, that park was popular at night with lovers on a midnight stroll and the point had been to get out of the public eye as much as possible.

The walking was helping to distract him enough to keep his features calm, thankfully the night was cool enough that a brisk pace wasn’t unusual. He knew the pain was in his eyes, he couldn’t do anything about that so he would pretend that that problem didn’t exist. As they walked, Judas couldn’t help but notice that at least a few of the people they passed on the street weren’t entirely human. The supernatural numbers were rising, there was no denying that.

It was about the time they reached the park that he realized that his flask was also empty and he’d forgotten to fill it before they had left the bar. He hoped the girl didn’t mind smoking because without the flask, his only vice was his cigarettes and he’d feel the need for one eventually even if they didn’t ease the pain.

“How many of those people did you notice something strange about?” Judas murmured, his voice low and cautious so that he knew only Esme would hear. If the girl was going to be around the council, she had better learn to start watching the crowds for folks who might have something nasty in mind.

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme followed Judas and soon enough took the lead when he started to slow down, not knowing where he was headed, probable. He certainly didn't seem to venture through this part of London, he probably should start, most of the supernatural community congregated around here.

They walked in relative silence, Esme noticed the constant motions that Judas made, searching his person for something, his flask most likely. Esme mentally slapped herself, of all the things, they had forgotten to get it refilled. She studied his eyes, he seemed to have a pained look in them, the rest of his face certainly concealed it, but his eyes told it all. She felt sorry for him, she wanted to know what pained him so and if there was anyway she could help him, but of course she couldn't think of any way to help. Instead she paid attention to where they were headed rather who she was headed there with.

Her mind quickly began to wander. How had she ended up leaving with this man, and actually spending more time with him than she had Vlad? How was it that Judas had ended up monopolizing her time in a way even Vlad knew not how to do? She smiled, perhaps Judas was a professional pick-up artist here to anger Vlad. She was quickly drawn from her thoughts as they neared the park and Judas asked her a question.

"Um, if I remember correctly, there were two vampires with fairly tame auras to them. Three humans with magical capabilities, about 4 humans who had some type of capability, not magical but certainly human. And 3 things that I didn't know what they are. There were probably a few more, but they were the ones I caught on to. Why?"

[Judas]

He raised his eyebrow at the list she gave of all the supernatural creatures she'd noticed in the crowd they'd just passed through. It was impressive, she hadn't missed more than one or two. Good for someone who hadn't appeared to have been paying attention. The fact that she hadn't seemed to be paying attention was probably even better for the girl, if she could watch a crowd without the crowd catching on.

Judas shrugged. "I was making sure you watch your surroundings. If you're serious about getting drug into all of this then I'm not going to have your death on my shoulders." It was blunt, probably a little bit more blunt than he'd needed to be but the girl would need to realize sooner or later that death was a real possibility when all of this was said and done. Living in a dream world never helped anyone. He hadn't been lying when he'd said that he couldn't teach her magic but he could teach her about people and why they did the things they did. Maybe the knowledge would come in handy for her someday. In any case, he would be doing his part to give the girl a better chance of survival which would satisfy, at least a little, that nagging guilty voice in the back of his head if she didn't make it out of this war alive.

The path was lined with flowers, though of course non of them were wild. It was a shame, he missed wildflowers. Everything was so perfect and organized nowadays and it made him long for the hills of untamed grasslands that he'd known in his human years. But he'd learned a long time ago that just because you wanted something, didn't mean you were going to get anywhere close to it.

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme turned around and started skipping backward, a ways ahead of Judas, she loved going to the park and something about being there with someone else made it that much better. "What makes you think I'm going to be the one dying?" she laughed.

She didn't want Judas to know how much that small statement had hit her and hit her hard. She loved life, she loved helping, and just the simple idea that her life would end because she was trying to help hurt her. It hit her like a ton of bricks everytime she thought of death, for the mere reason that she had no idea what would come from it, and Judas had said that so bluntly, so matter of factly. Esme couldn't deal with it, so she acted as if it never happened.

The flowers were so beautiful that day, so much so that Esme gathered a few in her hand and stopped waiting for Judas to catch up with her. "'There's rosemary, that's for rememberance'" Esme began to recite, yet another time Esme found herself quoting Shakespeare, handing flowers to Judas one by one, "'pray, love, remember: and there is pansies. That's for thoughts'."

[Judas]

One corner of his mouth turned up into a bitter half smile. How did he know that she would be the one who died in this war? Truth was, he didn't know for sure but she was more fragile than any member of the council. She had power, but Esme was still human. He'd seen to many humans die over the years for him not to worry about this one. Jonas was nearly impossible to kill and Vlad and Morgan would be almost as hard to get rid of. Maybe that's what really held the council together, the fact that while everyone else died...they probably wouldn't.

"You've got a lot to learn, kid." Was what he said out loud. What he wanted to say was that because he couldn't die, he expected everyone else around him to. That he expected to be alone one day, surrounded by nothing but strangers and how that thought scared the living shit out of him. He couldn't remember how long it had been since he'd wanted to confide in someone but this girl brought it out in him. Still, he couldn't bring himself to actually say the words.

The half smile staid in place while she handed him the different types of flowers, explaining what each one stood for. He stared down at the brightly colored blossoms in his hand and slowly shook his head. "Sorry..." He handed back the rosemary. "But I haven't really got anything I care to remember." Next was the flower that stood for pray, or prayer. "Religion and I don't really mix." Next was love. "And well this one....here." He handed it back to her. Love got people hurt. Last was the pansy. "And I've got all the thoughts I can deal with."

He shrugged. "Besides, they look better with you holding them anyway."

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme was bothered by his short answer to how he knew that she would be the one to die, what bothered her the most was that he called her 'kid'. Yeah, she was young compared to the Council, she was young compared to most of the people she knew in this world, but she had no need to be reminded of her youthfulness. Esme laughed bitterly and replied, "Yeah, I have to learn that I am the vulnerable one, the human. While everyone else has enough power to protect themselves, in the end you'll all be living and I'll be the one bleeding on the ground. I think I've already figured it out, old man," Esme replied, emphasizing the 'old man' part. It stung to be called 'kid' might as well hit him below the belt as well. "Meh, might as well let bygones let bygones and move on." Esme sped ahead.

Esme felt a bit more dejected every time Judas handed back one more flower. How could he dismiss each one of them so easily? The only thing that did stand out was when he handed back 'love' not even giving an explanation. Was that meant to mean something or was it her young mind making it into something much more than it was.

She smiled brightly when Judas said that the flowers looked better with her holding them, that was so sweet of him. She thoughtfully tucked a few into her hair and then carried the rest in her hand. She didn't know what to do with the rest of them, but she felt that eventually she'd figure out what to do with them. "You know, I'd think they'd look just as nice with you holding them. Just give them a chance some time... at least the pansy if nothing else. I think that one's prettiest of all."

[Judas]

He agreed with her to a point. It might do the girl some good to realize how vulnerable she was, maybe it would stop her from taking any stupid risks, and yes technically she would be the one most likely to get hurt in the upcoming war but he didn't know about the bleeding on the ground part. She wouldn't be if he, and he suspected the rest of the council, had anything to say about it. "Not necessarily." He half mumbled. Judas laughed when she called him an old man. That was him, a cranky old man.

He could tell that him giving the flowers back bothered her. He supposed he'd broken another rule of polite society, no surprise there. There was some rule against giving back a gift, wasn't there? Oh well. It hadn't been the flowers he'd been giving back anyway but the ideas behind them. He didn't want to remember the past, he didn't want to think about prayer and he knew for sure that he'd never find love. How could he in a world where his name was used as an insult? It didn't bother him as much as it had, he'd accepted it. Thought wasn't as bad but he had plenty of those these days, to many.

Judas smiled at the sight of Esme with flowers tucked behind her ears and in her hand and that bright smile. It made her look like a sprite, or a nymph from greek mythology. It was beautiful and it threatened to raise his spirits. He'd have to remember to be on his guard around her, she made him want to hope again and that had never brought him anything but pain, he had enough of that.

He sighed when she insisted that the flowers would look just as good in his hands if he'd only give them a chance. She was so innocent, so happy. It seemed like it should be a sin to ruin this girl's mood, she was so full of life.

He took the pansy gently from her hand, careful not to let his skin touch hers. He was a demon, damned. He had no business touching a woman like her. He tucked the flower behind his own ear, hoping the sight would make her smile again. "There, see? It doesn't look nearly as good. I tried to tell you."

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme bit her bottom lip, attempting to hold back a laugh, as the corners of her mouth curled up in a smile. He looked so funny. A grown man, flower tucked in his hair, grimmacing at how humiliatingly she made him look. "You look just like a hippie," Esme said as she gave him the peace sign, "Groovy, dude."

Esme skipped back to Judas's side and wrapped her arms around one of his, she didn't know why she did that though. She never truly felt comfortable enough around anyone, male or female, to latch herself onto them like she had to Judas in such a long time, but he made her feel like she could be normal giddy Esme.

"You need to let yourself go, Judas, smile more. You act like the world is out to get you. I highly doubt anyone would care if you smiled every now and again, I certainly wouldn't. Smile, just once?"

Esme so wanted to reach up and pull on his cheeks, forcing Judas to smile, but she didn't want to force her will on him. Not just yet, maybe after a few weeks of living under the same roof as him she'd get enough confidence to act like with him as she had with her friends back in Leeds. If that happened, it would be the first time in a while, the first time she actually stopped trying to hide things and let go of it all, no cares, no worries, just being Esme.

[Judas]

He raised an eyebrow at the peace sign. The hippies had never been his favorite group of people. All peace and love and save the whales, it was enough to make a person sick. Although that free love idea hadn't been so bad. Still, he would never have thought anyone would compare him with a hippie. Of course he never thought he'd have a flower behind his ear either. Tonight was just full of surprises, some of them were even good. "You know what they say about the sixties.." He said, his face still straight. "If you remember them, then you weren't there, kid." His voice held a little bit of a joking tone when he called her a kid again.

Judas' face fell in surprise when she grabbed his arm. He wasn't used to people touching him like that, so naturally. Of course he'd had one night things with women in the past but they didn't know what he was. He kept his distance and they kept theirs, that was the way it had always been. And now Esme wrapped her arm around his like they were old pals. He took the hand that she didn't hold and gently patted Esme's hand where it gripped his arm.

He snickered softly when she said he acted like the world was out to get him. He acted that way because the world was out to get him, or at least the religious, human part. Not physically, since they all thought he was dead, but sometimes emotional pain cut deeper than the physical stuff. He wanted to tell her that she couldn't save him, if that's what she was trying to do, but something about the way she pleaded with him to smile stopped him. He didn't want to hurt the kid's feelings again, he didn't want to ruin her mood.

Judas smirked. "It'd look like a grimace anyway. I'm almost positive I don't remember how. I'm out of practice, I think the muscles have whithered away by now."

[Esme M. Lolland]

Esme stopped herself from smiling too much when Judas put his hand on her's. She felt so much safer with him just putting his hand on her's, why: she didn't know. Perhaps it was because he was big burly man of the Council who had been talking about her dying only moments before and this touch was enough to say 'I'll try and protect you.'

Esme laughed wholeheartedly when Judas said that his smile would be more like a grimace. She had wondered if his smile would look like some contorted forced thing by some chance. She guessed he was right in agree with her subconsciencly determined theory.

"Just so you know, in the last few centuries they discovered, scientfically might I add, that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile. So try and think about giving some of your muscles a break for a while," Esme said as she reached towards his face. She stopped herself, but not quickly enough, her fingers brushed across his cheek before she attempted to draw them back. She was just frozen from the shock that she had even done that in the first plcae. That was so uncharacteristically 'Esme', why had she done something like that?