I put a spell on you

Ace followed her and could almost sense the potential damage in her palms and around her joints as she clenched them together. Even though he would certainly had let her go alone, he knew that the chance of any vampire approaching her when she was alone was way too grand. He wouldn’t risk having to save her from every vampire attending. As she told him to wait, he did. He turned his back to the rest room and waited.

He noticed how Aria was on her way to the rest room and he was just about to put a hand in front of her to physically stop her when both of them heard the mirror shatter it only took a moment before Aria gained her vampiric traits. Oscar had let go of her a long time ago by now, but Arias intention was never to drink from Hope, though it was tempting.
Ace on the other hand, didn’t trust that and therefore he quickly just let his hand in front of her slide up to her neck and with both of his hands, he made a swift movement making her fall to the ground like a doll.
While she was falling he ran with his supernatural speed inside the restroom. He quickly noticed where the blood was coming from. “What are you thinking?” he said as he grabbed her hand and started to search it for pieces of the mirror. As soon as he had notified that there wasn’t any big chunks in it, he started to speed up the healing process and with a free hand he opened the faucet, so the water started running. “Are you trying to kill yourself now?” he hissed while he forced her hand under the faucet to get the residue blood of her. As soon as it seemed like she was somewhat clean he left her to pick up papertowels to wipe away as many blood droplets as possible. He put the paper towels in the sink and picked up a lighter to let it burn the blood away.
He then turned towards Hope, and he didn’t look that happy, of course, there was no acting in here when no one else but them was around. “How much are you missing?” he demanded to know. He wanted to go home before he had to break the neck of another vampire. As of right now, he simply kept Aria from waking up keeping the injury from healing.

She didn’t say a thing while he tended to her wounds, but it seemed like she at least understood one thing. Where they about to be done here? A soft ping sounded as she picked up her phone and she shortly after informed that the limousine would be waiting. As she walked towards the door, he followed her and caught up to her as she was waiting. He suggested his arm but if she didn’t take it, he would simply leave it be and walk by her side and out towards the exit.
And she was right, the car was ready to take them home and as soon as the chauffer caught up to them, they could all walk under an umbrella letting her get in first, followed by him. He sat down next to her. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he said, hinting to Oscar’s inspection. He was no mind reader. The chauffer got in and started to drive. Even though he couldn’t do much against Oscar he still felt sorry that she had to experience it.

She didn’t understand why he wanted to know, so he turned his body more towards her. He could see that she didn’t have any feelings involved, just like him. They were just using each other to get what they wanted. Ace noticed how she almost like a child put her phone away and looked out the window. She almost resembled a five-year-old. “Hey, look at me,” he said with a frown and quite bitter, if she didn’t look at him, he would tell her anyway, “You used me to make sure you could get the information you wanted and stay alive. Because you didn’t want to get bitten and turn out like the other girls,” he said quite bitterly before he went to grab the knee furthest away from him and turn her so she would face him more. If she was stubborn and didn’t look at him, he would determined grab her jaw and make her look at him, only to release her jaw right after. He didn’t want to force her, but on the other hand... “You made my part so much more difficult,” he said. “Why did you do it?” he questioned her. He was quite sure it was something in her that had been triggered, something mental or traumatic. “Did you want to know if I actually wished to break a neck to make sure you got out alive? Did you actually have a death wish?” he pushed her, and he didn’t care about it.

She didn’t want to talk about what had happened at the toilet, but even though she meant nothing to him, it still felt like someone had to open her eyes to the fact that what she had just done was harmful to her and could’ve killed her if he hadn’t been fast enough, or if she had just done it half a minute later. He narrowed his eyes as she said he should get off his high horse. He didn’t believe that he put himself in a better light. “Stop that-” was the only thing he got to say before she suddenly sat herself on his lab with a knife close to his throat. He disagreed with her; it wasn’t because he was afraid that he didn’t get his part of the deal. He couldn’t help but pull a surprised smile, with a slight chuckle and a small shaking of his head. He raised his brows as she said it was some of her history which had been provoking her. Trauma, maybe? He had his hands up as if he was giving up, “Well, the way you’re threatening me with a knife, you just made it my business,” he said and stared into her eyes. He placed his hands on each side of her hip with a firm grip. “So, I’m going to ask you nicely,” he said softly, “Please put the knife away, and let’s talk,” he said never taking his eyes of her. He was very aware of everything around her. Her heart, warmth, sweat and what else there could be to give him a signal of her mindset.

He noticed how she was surprised by how calm he was. She smelled differently and her heartbeat was indeed different. But the most important thing was that she actually removed her knife from his throat, but kept looking at him. He could feel her breath as she split her lips, but no sound left her, and she removed herself from his lap. He wasn’t going to force her to sit there. This could be uncomfortable enough for her. Past trauma was never anything good.
“Thank you,” he said quite calmly as she sat down completely. He took a few deeper breaths in, not because he had to calm himself, but because he knew that what was coming might not be that pleasurable. He also gave her space to prepare herself to whatever she had to share. He looked at her and leaned against the backrest. “What triggered it?” he questioned and let one hand run through his hair.

She shut the driver out. Was she opening up? His gaze didn’t move from her. He frowned a little as she mentioned the adjective. How could that be- He stopped his own train of thoughts. He knew that everything could be a trigger. He breathed out through the nose, quite calmly. He wasn’t really the one to comfort others, so if she needed anything from him, she had to take it herself. Their eyes met as she asked why he was so persistent. He pulled a slightly crooked smile. “I work with sick people and some of them get themselves in danger because they got triggered by something,” he exhaled. “Have you sought help?” he wondered. He didn’t know if she even felt like she had time for it, but he knew that it wasn’t within his specialty to talk about feelings, boundaries, and traumas. He only knew how to notice when things were off and how to cut and sow.

Ace licked his teeth. He could hear that she wasn’t satisfied with his explanation, and he wasn’t really satisfied with how she said it was being triggered, and he was tempted to ask her if he could say it again; that she was beautiful. Something about all of it just made it seem so bad. How could being told that she was beautiful trigger her? Had someone connected something bad with that? Had she been hurt or something alike? Been told that she looked beautiful when she screamed for help? Some  people were definitely not in their right mind, that he was sure of.

She returned a question, and an amused smile appeared on his lips. “Was it that bad?” he teased and let it hang for a moment. He hadn’t really kissed anyone in a long time, so there was a chance that it hadn’t been that great. Most often, it was other people who kissed him. Kissed him, as a thanks for saving someone they cared about. “I had to sell the product, right?” he then said and looked out the window for a moment watching a few lights pass before he looked back at her, “We can smell the hormones associated with arousal, so I had to, to get attenders off your back,” he didn’t want to tell her why he had chosen the lips from anywhere else, but truly it was just because she had placed her lips so close to his and it would almost feel weird to move to another place. By kissing her lips, people were less likely to see if he did something wrong, compared to if he kissed her neck and her face would be visible. There was actually a lot of calculations in the quite impulsive move.

She settled with it. His reply had been good enough. And then she mentioned having to do other things. He looked towards her with a raised brow. “You know, the way you present it, and even thought about it, almost makes me think that you wished we had ended up in a private room,” he said teasingly. He could see and hear how she wanted to say something more but somehow decided not to. His smile grew wider. “Ask away,” he said widening his smile. He was so curious of what she had  on heart. “You don’t have to be nervous. I won’t judge you,” he said awaiting some kind of reaction.

She looked at him and he could almost taste the seduction. Was she trying to lure him, test him and see if he wanted her? “Too bad,” he said and straightened his gaze. He still had the teasing smile on his lips because that was what he was doing. He was trying to figure out if she had the desire to be closer to him.

Ace mimicked her position, turning his front towards her and placing his elbow on top of the backrest and rested his head against the palm of his hand. “Isn’t it horrible? Never knowing what people did or didn’t do?” he returned the question. After all, he didn’t know how it was not knowing things like that. But he could imagine how much suspicion and unneeded jealousy could be build by not knowing anything. By knowing it, he always got the pure truth. It was more difficult to lie to him and he had a better sense of where he had people.

Was everything a game to her? He chuckled lightly, and just like her he turned away. He believed the conversation was one. She thought it was cheating that he knew everything, though he would disagree, that he didn’t necessarily know everything. He listened carefully as she explained how the mystery was interesting. As she mentioned all of the things one could notice, he picked up memories. He remembered a witch he had been with. How he had been able to read so many things about her, and how she still had been so unpredictable. Ace wasn’t all-knowing, and he liked the things that were unpredictable. She let down her hair and he closed his eyes for a moment feeling how the hair spread her scent in the cabin. So, so sweet. As she mentioned her ability, he looked over at her again. “So, you can cheat too?” he wondered and pulled a soft smile. “What can you do?” he wondered.

She was an interesting person the more he got to know her and he looked forward to get some of his payment. Of course, she could be doing so many things while he tapped her, but maybe they would be exchanging knowledge about one another. Who knew.

She told him he didn’t want to experience that, and he frowned a little. “What makes you think that? Come on, show me what you can do,” he said, and she budged. He had to tell her when it was enough, “Alright,” he said calmly, waiting for whatever that was going to happen. He noticed how her eyes changed color. On another seat suddenly sat Michelle. He could feel how his heart dropped and a longing warmth spread from the middle of his stomach. “Okay, that’s just mean,” he mumbled, but didn’t tell her to stop. The witch had her eyes on him, big and alluring, or maybe it was just the fact that he knew her blood had been great. He never really understood anymore. Ace longed to be with Michelle, but it just wasn’t the same anymore. It was a deep dark spot in him that had rested for so many years, almost four thousand years. Michelle, who of course wasn’t wearing a seatbelt got up and approached him. He frowned a little feeling how the warmth in his body turned to sorrow, because he knew that this wasn’t real. He couldn’t have her. He could even remember her laugh and how her lips had felt on his. It was almost a cue for her to lean in. “Okay that’s enough,” he said with his voice slightly hoarse. And Michelle disappeared. He felt like his whole body was simmering. He felt beside from himself. The tensed his jaw as he heard Hope talk about what one desired brought the most pain. He sad mostly in his own thoughts and waited for something to release all the energy that had been formed in his body from the small appearance of Michelle. She turned him towards her and he certainly didn’t look happy. Not that he specifically had been looking happy this night, but this had hurt him like no other thing. She moved closer and caressed his cheek. The touch muted her speech and he simply just saw her. It had made him only want comfort, because he knew that no matter what, when he got home, he would just be home alone and nothing would be able to get his mind of the memory of the woman he had once been with. He only wished to be alone so he could be aggressive and let whatever emotion he had carried flood out. But most of all, he craved and wished for comfort. Physical comfort, because any other kind of comfort was too romantic and simply felt like something else. It would feel out of place and unreal. If she didn't say or do anything else, he would pull his head away an look out through the window.

He heard the seat belt click, but he didn't look towards her. He knew what she was about to do. She was going to get closer. But he hadn't expected the hug. He let himself be pulled into the hug. It was comforting but it didn't change that there was an aching feeling in his chest. Her hand glided into his thick hair, soothing. He let her calm him even though he certainly knew he wouldn't feel okay just like that. Four thousand years.

Destination, Ace home. The motor was killed but the electricity was still running. He just kept looking out the window, for a while thinking about whether or not she would let go of him. "Thank you-" he took a deeper breath in, "I think I have to go," he said and made sure the chauffør was ready, so he wouldn't get pouring wet just like that. The door was opened and he stepped out. He was sheltered by an umbrella and was escorted to his door, where he could stand underneath the roof. He thanked the chauffeur who left shortly after and he turned toward his door and found his key. With a well known motion he opened the door and got inside. He closed the door behind him with a sigh and closed his eyes. What a night. He took off his jacket, hung it only to let his hands fiddle a little with the bowtie to open it. He turned towards the door with a slight frown. Was she...?