The New Girl In Town [Open]

[Sephora Forrest]

Dang and blast. Ok, not quite as deserted as she had hoped. Actually; the bright lights from the street lamps made her eyes burn, and had to resist hissing in response. That would have looked pretty weird. “We can take the long way through the main streets or a shortcut, if you don’t mind the dark,” suggested Silas as he stepped out after her. Luckily the bustle of activity had stopped her from looking rather weird crouching behind the door. Do doubt her stomach making her impatient again.

“Oh, I don’t mind the dark at all,” replied Sephora, trying to make her squinting quite so obvious. Those lamps were almost as bad as the sun itself. But at least they didn’t make her peel in a rather unattractive fashion. Actually her stomach had been making her over react all night. Dumping Silas on the Hogs’ doorstep was no longer an option; so why should she not just make it so much nicer…and cleaner? Carrying an unconscious guy over her shoulder might look just a little bit unusual…

Still, it was rather difficult to formulate a plan of action when you had no idea of what you were doing really. The two most obvious courses of action were to either jump him on his ‘shortcut’ or wait till she got to the hotel place and take him into her room… Both had pros and cons. The alleyway would probably be safer… but she would have to dead with an unconscious guy in a town that she didn’t know. And the room thing was a little suspicious… Actually; very suspicious. Since he clearly wasn’t drunk enough to believe that they had simply gone upstairs to have a good time… But then another thought occurred to her that could solve a couple of problems… so long as she knew of his plans after he dropped her off… She could follow him to his house and simply grab him while he got the key. If he had a key. She really had no clue about wizarding society; and they had an annoying habit of disappearing. Apparition, she believed it was called. If he did that, she would have an empty stomach and have no clue where to find him. And now she was back where she started.

“So…” she began hesitantly, needing to find a few things out, “Got anything else planned for tonight? Last minute Christmas shopping or the like?” Simple, to the point, and it would find out what she needed to know. She really didn’t feel like flirting in her current mood; and besides, he obviously thought her too young… Not that he would believe her if she said that she would look exactly the same in a hundred years. Then who would be young? Actually; she was growing quite tired of her disguise. If only people weren’t so damn prejudiced! Then again; some actually had a good reason to be…

[Silas Rosier]

Good God the air was freezing. Silas almost hissed in breath as he stepped out of the stifling warmth of the pub and into the night air. Any deep intake of breath hurt his lungs and the cold bit at his exposed skin. Fuck how he hated winter, and there was still two months of it to go. If there was a way to move England closer to the equator, he was going to have to find out how. Cassie would probably buy him flowers for it.

“I got everything done last week-” Read: Paid the receptionist to do it for him “- so when this is over I’ll just Apparate back to work,” Silas replied, his breath clouding heavily in front of his face. “You wouldn’t think it, but the club gets rather busy around this time. Mostly full of men trying to enjoy themselves before they’re forced to be with family.” Speaking of work, he absently wondered if anyone had noticed that he’d even left. Never mind, the management was more than capable of looking after everything for a few hours, and besides, it wasn’t like him suddenly ducking out all the time was a strange occurrence.

“Over this way,” Silas said with a nod to the left, and started making his way further into the business area, ensuring that Sephora stayed within his line of sight. His fingers felt like they were about to freeze off and he quickly unscrewed the bottle and took a mouthful of the pale, cloudy green liquor. “Second alley on the right, although on second thoughts, do you know how to Apparate? It's fucking freezing out here.”

[Sephora Forrest]

Bugger. He wasn’t going home and he wasn’t going to make it easy if she wanted to follow him either. Why did everyone have to be so bloody difficult? It seemed as if everyone was trying to make her life as hard as possible. Sephora turned her head slightly so that she could look at Silas out of the corner of her eye, noticing that he still wasn’t going to let her leave his sight. That would create a problem for her jumping-in-the-alleyway plan; since he would see her coming and possibly retaliate. And she had a niggling suspicion that he wasn’t only armed with a wand…

“Second alley on the right, although on second thoughts, do you know how to Apparate? It's fucking freezing out here.” said Silas, and internally Sephora froze. This was just what she needed. “No… I can’t Apparate. I was told that I was endangering my health for trying, I was that shockingly bad,” she replied as smoothly as possible, but in truth she had no idea of how it worked. Witches and wizards simply disappeared into thin air; that was the way she saw it. If he exposed her here; she would have no choice but to remove his memory one way or another…

[Silas Rosier]

Endangering her health for trying? Was Sephora really that useless at Apparition that the Ministry was scared that she’d splinch herself in half? He’d heard horror stories, of course. Everyone had. Tales of people losing eyes, limbs, half their faces, and that one man in Wales who, if the rumours were true, took a week to find out that he’d left his liver behind. None the less, this girl would be the first overage person he’d met that didn’t have a license yet.

Well, there was Dacian of course, but the vampire was another matter entirely. Silas wasn’t exactly sure why the creature had gotten into such a foul mood just by witnessing teleportation back during their first encounter, but since when had Dacian ever made a lick of sense?

Still, the fact she was unlicensed didn’t rule out all their options just yet. “What about side-along?” Silas asked hopefully. Side-along Apparition definitely upped the risk-factor a bit for accidents, but oh well. Hopefully it was just a matter of her not being able to Apparate on her own, instead of Apparition in general being ruled out due to some underlying medical condition or somesuch. Traversing Hogsmeade in sub-zero temperatures was not exactly high on Silas's to-do list tonight.

[Sephora Forrest]

“What about side-along?” asked Silas, and he was so persistent that Sephora guessed that she really would have to Apparate with him. Since she had no idea what it involved; she actually had no idea about what effect it would have on her, and so she was quite apprehensive. Was it really that cold? She didn’t really think so, but supposed it could be called a little chilly…

“Uh, sure,” she replied; trying to keep any worry out of her voice and sound confident. “It will be safe won’t it?” Hopefully this question would bring out a little more guidance as to what exactly she was supposed to do. She made a note to study in more detail wizard life in future, but there was no time for that now. She was just going to have to improvise and hope for the best.

[Silas Rosier]

“Absolutely,” Silas replied without skipping a beat. He’d performed side-along Apparation numerous times before and no one had lost a limb (while he was sober, anyway), so why would this time be any different? Then again, even if everyone he’d ever Apparated with had turned into a bloody pulp, Silas would still have replied with just as much self-assurance. Ego always did result in considerable overconfidence.

“What you need to do is easy. Just hold on tight,” he explained, pulling his hand out of his pocket to offer it to Sephora, “and don’t let go,” He had to resist flinching away at the shocking coldness of her fingers. He supposed that was to be expected though, considering the obscene temperature and her lack of gloves. Stupid British weather.

“And three. Two.” Without any further warning, Silas quickly disappeared on the spot, and Sephora was sucked along rapidly behind him, the world going black as they were pulled into the crushing darkness. For a second Silas was sure he heard a piercing scream before the invisible force compressed them from all sides, squeezing the air from both of their lungs. His hand was in pain. Organs were being crushed. Eyes pushed back into their sockets. It was impossible to see. To breathe.

And then it was over.

Light from the streetlamp outside The Three Broomsticks violently flooded both their vision, the cold striking Silas again like jumping into a lake of cold water. He quickly took a sharp intake of breath that caused the frozen air to stab into his lungs and he jerked his hand away from Sephora’s clutches. Holy flying fuck, ow. The girl had almost crushed his hand.

“In one piece?” he asked offhandedly, raising his hand to experimentally flex his fingers, looking at them while frowning. Something, was just a bit, well, off, with that kind of force. Christ, it felt like his metacarpals had almost gotten displaced.

[Sephora Forrest]

“What you need to do is easy. Just hold on tight,” said Silas; offering his hand to her, “and don’t let go.” Sephora almost balked, since she usually didn’t go around holding people’s hands, but now was not the time to chicken out. She had to make it at least appear as though terror wasn’t rapidly rising in her chest. She hoped that the temperature of her hand could be passed off as not wearing adequate clothing; even though not a goose bump could be seen on her body.

“And three, two,” counted Silas; and the horrible feeling that comes when you’re just about to be sick gripped Sephora’s stomach. She gripped his hand harder; probably harder than was completely necessary, but he had said to hold on tight. And then he disappeared. In that split second; Sephora changed her mind and tugged; trying to wrench her hand from his grip - anything to stop herself from disappearing into thin air. But it was too late, and she was sucked after him; screaming all the way.

She hadn’t felt true fear for such a long time; being the way she was brought a certain sense of invincibility. But fear was what slammed into her now; and it was potent and oppressive. Or was it the fear that was pressing in around her or something else entirely. She was blinded by complete darkness; an unusual sensation since she had now been able to see in almost no light for years. Perhaps she was dead. She couldn’t breathe either. Another factor suggesting she was dead. The only sane reason that she might not be was the fact that she could still feel herself holding Silas’s hand; and feel its warmth. That was all that was connecting her to life; so she held on even tighter, not stopping to think of what damage she might cause its owner.

And then there was light. And pain. It felt as if red hot pokers had been shoved into her eyes after such complete and utter darkness. Silas jerked his hand away; and Sephora realized exactly how hard she had actually been holding it. It would be a miracle if none of his bones were broken. She watched nervously, biting her lip, as he tested his fingers; and was relieved to see that his hand still looked like a hand. “In one piece?” he asked, and Sephora inwardly cringed. “I think so,” she replied in an apologetic tone, “You?”

She looked around, and up at what appeared to be some sort or hotel / motel called the Three Broomsticks. “Is this the place then?” asked Sephora; somewhat unsubtly changing the subject away from her killer grip; hoping that Silas wouldn’t question her further about it. She was sure he would; people didn’t usually go around having their bones crushed and forget about it two minutes later; but maybe if she was lucky he would have a very small attention span.

[Silas Rosier]

“Is this the place then?”

“It is,” Silas replied automatically, glancing at the name of the building then back to his hand.

As he started making an experimental fist to make it sure it was still functioning, a stabbing pain sliced into the side of his palm and Silas hissed in a breath. Holy fucking ow! It was like the time he’d broken his arm but on a smaller scale. Like hell regular twenty-ish year old girls had that kind of crushing power.

Looking less than impressed, Silas glanced at Sephora then nodded to the door of the hotel. “Step inside, it’s warmer” he requested, voice normal despite his suspicion then turned his attention back to the injury. “I’ll just be a second.”

After putting the bottle down in the snow, he fished for his wand with his right hand. Casting spells with the wrong hand wasn’t exactly advisable, but it’s not like he had a choice. After muttering a simple healing spell and tapping his left hand, Silas flexed his fingers again. Uncomfortable, but better. The metacarpal of his small finger must have cracked or something.

He looked up in time see Sephora’s back as she walked through the door and some theories began running in his head. Or, one specific theory: Vampire. What else did he know that was humanoid and had enhanced strength?

But vampire didn’t make sense. She ticked off the classic traits: pale, cold, attractive, however they all had plausible explanations associated with them. After all, how many people had a tan in a British winter? Plus, it was below zero and she was improperly dressed for that kind of temperature so of course she was freezing. Plus, being pretty didn’t necessarily mean supernatural. If she was a vampire she would be throwing up that meal into a toilet by now. Human food didn’t agree with their delicate systems.

So what did that leave?

Hags were strong, weren’t they? But the thought she was one of those was laughable.

Werewolf. But their strength didn’t carry over to human form.

Veela? Certainly not.

So what the fuck then?

Oh sure, all this had been a great idea back at the pub when everything was normal. You know, find a young, naïve moron, give them what they need, then tighten the screws. Even if she couldn’t pay him back it still meant she’d owe him something and as most people tended to honour debts it was worth its weight in cash. Once you threw in other supernatural factors the damn thing complicated itself tenfold, and he found himself recalling Sephora’s reaction to being called young. So just how fucking old was she then?

Did this mean he was going to back out?

Oh hell no.

Fuck, it’s not like he had anything better to do.

In one movement Silas seized the bottle back out of the snow, unscrewed the lid and had another short drink. If he was going to be screwing with the unknown he either wanted to be thinking clearly or not at all, and both those options required a little more booze. At least his headache was gone, so the wine/absinthe mix from earlier must have absorbed.

As he walked through the door into the welcoming warmth of the Three Broomsticks, Silas quickly spotted Sephora, who was wearing a look of neutrality that seemed rather forced. Hah, she certainly knew something then. He motioned for her to accompany him to the bar which doubled as the reception and signalled over one of the bartenders.

“When we have a second I'd like to ask you something.”

[Sephora Forrest]

Not good. The fact that he was still flexing his hand proved as much. Sephora watched him in the corner of her eye as his winced while making a fist. Damn; she actually had broken something. “Step inside, it’s warmer. I’ll just be a second,” he suggested, and she knew that if he hadn’t been suspicious before; he certainly was now. She was going to have to play it very carefully if she intended to get what she wanted. Thinking it was unwise to linger any longer voluntarily in the snow, Sephora stepped inside as Silas had requested.

The inside of the Three Broomsticks certainly was a lot warmer. Uncomfortably warm in fact. Maybe it was just because she was used to the temperature out side? She removed her scarf from around her neck and was tempted to take off her coat as well; except it would definitely not help the situation to be walking around in a short sleeved top in the middle of winter. Well, when she finally got to sleep much later she was going to have to open as many windows as possible.

Silas finally came inside; and Sephora could tell from the look on his face that whatever she had broken wasn’t fixed yet. He motioned for her to come over, and she tried to keep her expression from looking guilty as she strode over. He was standing at the bar; which she assumed also doubled as a reception desk. She looked up at him; and there was something about the way he held himself that made her sure that he was most definitely suspicious of her. As did his next sentence. “When we have a second I'd like to ask you something,” he said, and his tone made Sephora’s blood run cold… well, colder. He knew; or at least suspected what she was. Shit. Still; that just meant that she was going to have to lie; nothing new there. And if that didn’t work, well… she would just have to make him forget.

[Silas Rosier]

When neither of the two staff members on duty behind the bar made a move in their direction, Silas cleared his throat loudly. A rather harried looking blonde woman glanced up in response and made her way over, drying her hands quickly with a towel and surveying the two of them. “Rosier is it? How can I help you?” she asked, her voice a perfected tone of ‘customer-service friendly’ despite the fact she looked like she was clearly wishing she was anywhere but The Three Broomsticks.

Silas gave her a nod. “Room for one,” he requested, then briefly glanced in Sephora’s direction almost as though he was checking that she hadn’t run off. He trusted her about as much as he trusted Dacian right now, which was to say, about as much as you trust a drug addict not to partake of the 100 mgs of cocaine you just asked him to mind.

The woman quickly rattled off a memorised price and waited quietly for the money. Right as she reached out to open the cash register, the machine gave a low rumble that sounded like gears turning and attempted to bite a large chunk out of her arm, missing only narrowly. She gave a low hiss of annoyance then jabbed the machine with her wand to quieten it. For a moment Silas’s attention actually deviated away from Sephora.

“Sorry,” the woman grimaced, eyeing the cash register warily as she proceeded to store the money inside. “The anti-theft spells have been malfunctioning lately,” she offered by way of explanation then turned to the opposite wall to find a room key. Meanwhile, the rogue appliance, number screen narrowed like eyes glaring, watched her maliciously. “Upstairs, sixth door on the left,” she instructed, then left the key on the counter as another customer waved at her for attention.

“There,” Silas said dryly, dropping the key in Sephora’s hand. At least one good thing was coming out of this aside from a little extra cash (Oh yeah, he was still charging her despite this, and making sure personally she coughed up every last knut). As long as she used the room he’d be able to keep track of her whereabouts. Unknown magical creatures shouldn’t be running around unsupervised.