Work Text:
the Weather Outside is Frightful
by Lucinda
Darla glared at the building, her hands clenched into fists. The man inside was just so... Last week, at the party, she'd practically had to pry him and his invitations to come visit him ad get better acquainted, and tonight? He looks down his nose at her, call her a whore, and has the door shut and barred. She was really regretting being unable to go inside and
kill him now.
She turned her back and walked away, her mind contemplating all the horrible things that she could do to him later. She'd just have to find another meal for tonight. Either someone who'd be more welcoming, or someone to make suffer. A cold drizzle began, the droplets stinging as they landed.
"You look in need of a lift, the weather is dreadful." The voice had the accent of someone who's traveled so much that it was no longer possible to tell where he'd come from. Better still, it came from inside a carriage.
"Thank you." She smiled, accepting the warm hand into the carriage. Maybe finding someone wouldn't be so hard after all...
"Your hand feels frozen, perhaps you have need of a warm cloak?" He offered, his dark eyes searching for information. Not the look of someone already picturing her naked, but the look of someone who considered her a possible threat.
"Mmmm." Sliding next to him, she wrapped the edge of his cloak around her, gazing up through her lashes at him. He wasn't bad to look at either. "You certainly feel warm enough."
"A side effect of being a bit overly emotional, I must confess." His face suggested that it was a small but bearable burden, but his eyes spoke differently. His eyes were blandly closed, revealing nothing.
There was idle chatter through the ride, names asked and exchanged, though she knew that the one he was using wasn't the one he'd been given. Talk of the weather, and how much snow might be expected, about holiday carols, and the recent orchestra performance. All the while, what had been a cold breeze picked up force, becoming a smidgen short of a gale, and cold enough to numb in a heartbeat.
"Darla?" His voice was low, full of contemplation. "Perhaps this is a bit forward, but would you like to come inside for a while? The wind would be a far crueler fate than I have any reason to wish on you."
The carriage rocked from the wind, and Darla shivered. The cold might not kill her, but it would be terribly unpleasant. "I'd be delighted."
"And warmer." He quipped, and they dashed for the door. "Come in, come in, it's freezing outside."
She was grateful that he'd said it, hitting the barrier of the home would have been embarrassing and awkward. They left the cloaks hanging near the door, and walked into a large room, soon huddled near a fireplace, watching the flames crackle as their bodies warmed. Other than the fire, she didn't hear anything. "You live here alone?"
"Yes." He sighed, and a soft whisper emerged, to faint for mortal ears. "It's too hard to find someone both capable and trustworthy."
For a while, they sat in quiet, and then Darla realized that he seemed to be staring at her feet. Following his gaze, she realized that rather than her feet, he was looking at the puddle beside her feet. Reflections of the fire danced beside her. Oh drat...
"Somehow, I doubt the weather is any more enjoyable for vampires than those of us with heartbeats." His soft words held no rancor, and no fear.
"Not really." She agreed. "Now what?"
"Now, I don't embarrass us both by asking if you'd like mulled wine." He smiled, his eyes dancing with amusement.
"I could think of a few other ways that we could warm up..." Her smile was pure temptation, and she glanced at the soft couch. "But no, I'll pass on the wine."
"It's going to be a very long, very cold winter night, perhaps we could discuss some of those idea?" He replied.
There really wasn't much need for discussion, and they both felt quite warm by the time morning came, when they moved to his room, a place conveniently lacking in window that an attacker or sunshine could enter.
End the Weather Outside is Frightful