Mendecant Surnaturel, Inc.

[Danae Walker]

It should have been that the resourcers did not get injured, due to sitting behind a desk or researching in the Hall of Records, but it seemed that more often, they were the ones that were injured the most. She had contemplated the mystery several times, wondering how it was that her recruitments seemed to scatter the medical wing when the rest of the investigators were out in the field with the resourcers that had yet to be injured.

Sighing, she ran a hand back through her hair as she exited another room, closing the door behind her. This time, the girl had walked straight into a trap and been injured beyond simple healing. Anna was her name and Danae had hand-picked her from the students at Nebula University that Dean Dawson had reccommended....And now, she was laying in a hospital bed, comatized by the demon that she had run into while assisting her assigned investigators in their hunt...

Sinking down into a chair in the abandoned hallway, she buried her face in her hands and took in a deep breath. It was the third student within two weeks that had ended up in the Medical Wing, receiving treatments for wounds that should not have been inflicted with proper training...

And she had fallen back on the training, blaming herself for having been so caught up in the other innerworkings of MSI...A secret had been hushed and whispered along the halls and it had involved her and...Shaking her head, she sighed heavily, wondering just when this all would fall on her head and come crashing down...

Footsteps down the hallway caused her to sit up straight, putting on the smile that she had come to feign so well just in case it was another colleague. They had come to expect it of her and she saw no reason to let others in on the things that troubled her mind...Wiping her hair back from her eyes, she stood to her feet, intending on walking down the hall...

[Marcus Trellan]

He had been searching for her high and low, the whispered rumors along the halls of MSI more than enough to disturb the thoughts that meandered at the back of his mind. Death and injury to those that did not deserve it, fallen soldiers in the line of duty that should have been, above all, the most protected. Researchers were of the greatest importance for without them then the rest would know nothing, would not that which to fight or how. His own Danae. . .He had not been able to find her until a helpful hand pointed him in the right direction, having just seen her pass by.

It had been too long. . .and now he wondered how she would receive him, if she would hate the fact that he sought her out now rather than having found her earlier. But no. . .he did not think that she would hate him for being busy as everyone else was. As she was. She had her work and he had his, working with Raelin, investigating cases and righting wrongs. But those fallen students, young lives all. . .It bothered him more than a little to see so many rooms occupied as he nearly floated down the halls, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of a black blazer. He had her scent. . .

And rounding a corner, there she was. He stopped short for a moment before continuing forward, his expression thoughtful where hers was nothing but a tight and forced smile of insincerity upon fair features. How she faked to the world. . .pretending and holding back what was truly in the depths of her heart. Marcus approached her slowly, keeping his hands in the pockets of his blazer, his steps slow and sure as he approached.

"Danae. . .you've become rather like a ghost in the greater machine. . .hard to find even on the brightest of days," he greeted with a slight smile to mirror her own falsity.

[Danae Walker]

Her steps faltered as her eyes met the figure approaching her. Marcus Trellan...The vampire investigator and partner to her sister, if not by blood, Raelin Lorcan. He had been within her sight as long as she could remember, as much a part of MSI as Antony was, but sometime, her vision had changed when he stepped into view.

Seeing him now, her smile did brighten, only to fall away again when she saw the false display of emotion on his own face. She stepped up to him, hands folded behind her back as she acknowledge him with a nod. Though she still forced back all she felt, she did not longer put on the brave and awkward display that she knew he could see straight through.

"It becomes necessary, I'm afraid," she answered, a shrug accompanying the words she spoke. "Everywhere I turn, it's one disaster laid over another. Hiding away in the office seems the only fitting solution...Except, of course, for the detachment from those around me, I suppose." Offering a smile for whatever reason she could not decide, Danae did so and nearly reached out to him, only to pull her hand back again, crossing her arms over her chest as if she had not made the move at all. "Besides, you've been quite sparse lately, too...And here I thought you could be in five places at once, Trellan."

[Marcus Trellan]

He had watched her grow into the woman that stood before him now, from the age when curiousity was still of the highest concern and every corner held a mystery that she had to unravel. Even now the stars had not gone completely from her eyes and she still held the need to discover, to know and understand that which might possibly never have an explanation. But damned if the woman didn't look. Marcus would not have been surprised to learn that she could throw boulders rather than overturn simple stones.

His eyes flitted down to her hand as it moved toward him then retracted quickly, as though an invisible wall had impeded the progress. He almost wished that it had come all the way through, that her hand would light upon his arm. . .almost. But those feelings were better left under cover of lie and glib, because he could not reconcile with them. Standing near to her made his decisions difficult, made them seem almost impractical, but then he saw her again as he had before, bright eyed and smiling, skipping down one hall or another without a care in the world. . .

"Actually I've now mastered six places at once. . .which is probably why you cannot find me," he said slowly, a wink falling toward her from his left eye. "Soon I'll be walking on water. . .Now, tell me, what is that makes you hide behind closed office doors and rather fake smiles? In all seriousness, with as much as you cast the forced smile in the direction of others. . .you should invest in clown makeup. It might save you time."

[Danae Walker]

"Clown makeup?" she echoed, chuckling softly as she raised a brow at her companion. "Next, you'll be saying I need over-sized shoes and a red rubber nose, Marcus..."

Shaking her head slightly, she pushed her hair back out of her eyes and looked up to him again, towering over her small frame. Each time she met his ethereal eyes, she was trapped and even now, it took more effort than she possessed to finally look away.

"So...You've sought me out all the way here to the Medical Wing...What can I do for you, darling?" she asked, the word tumbling from her lips before she could do a thing to stop it. Rather than blush or acknowledge it, she merely smiled. They had been close on occassion, far closer than his comfort level would allow, she supposed. So many times, they had broke apart and she had been pushed away, until now, despite the feelings that Raelin said he had, she had quite frankly given up. In her mind, she said she did not care, but with each quickened beat of her heart, she knew it was just another lie that she told the world.

[Marcus Trellan]

What was he doing there? He dropped his gaze to the floor for a moment, searching the tiles as though one might rise up of its own accord and smack him in the face with the answer. That was not to be, however, and he finally raised his gaze back to her face, rocking back on his heels gracefully before biting into the inside of his lip carefully, considering the question. He had been looking for her, of course, to state the obvious. But why. . .? It had started with the rumors, the whispers of wrongs done and wrong choices made. . .and then it had been simply because he had missed her more than his words would ever say.

"Heard you were having a hard time lately. You know how office gossip can go. . .And no to the rubber nose, Danae. You would look ridiculous."

He shrugged one shouldered and stepped past her for a moment, needing to escape those eyes that burned into him so. His eyes fell instead down the hall to the room that her scent washed from. . .he had heard of the young researched named Anna, fallen to a demon. He could only hope for her recovery but it seemed that they lost so many these days and could never regain the void that was left each time.

"How is she?" he asked, turning serious for a moment as he turned back to her with a half spin of his heels.

[Danae Walker]

It shouldn't have affected her so, to hear him say, in words so vague, that he had come for her, and yet still, her heart skipped a beat when his reasoning met her ears. As he stepped past, Danae did reach out, a hand coming to rest against his shoulder as she turned halfway to follow him.

It was a constant dance with them...For every step forward, he would leap and she would spin, putting them farther and farther away from where they had begun.

"She's hurt...In a coma, actually," Danae said with a sigh, her hand sliding down his arm before she turned away to hide the emotions that splayed across her face once again. "She should come out of it soon, but there is no guarantee that irreparable damage has not been done...I suppose it will be one more letter to her family."

[Marcus Trellan]

She took so much to heart. . .Marcus blew out a quiet breath as her hand graced his shoulder and managed, barely, to quell the uprising that lifted within his own emotions. It could not be. . .He had reminded himself of that so many times and yet he had never truly believed it down where it counted the most. To his own mind and heart and yet he could not move forward as he knew that he should, to close the metaphorical distance between them.

He turned around in time to see her turn from him, knowing full well that she was playing again at hiding, keeping him from seeing what truly lie in her heart. That was not a possibility in the slightest for he already knew and it pained him to see that she took this to heart so much, that she felt so responsible when blame was not hers to take. What could she have done that would have prevented what had happened? Nothing. . .

"Do not do that," he said, rather sharply. His hand went out, grasped her arm and turned her around to face his penetrating gaze. "The girl may yet live and even if she does not. . .Danae you must learn distance. You must learn that not everything can be prevented and certainly not everything is your fault. I spilled coffee on a brand new white shirt just this morning. . .tell me, do you take the blame for that too?"

[Danae Walker]

As he turned her around, words falling on what might as well have been deaf ears, her emerald eyes spark as her jaw set. She did not pull from his grasp, but merely stood there, wondering who he was to tell her not to hide, to take no blame.

"She is my charge, Marcus. My responsibility...If she does not learn, then it is my fault because I did not teach her well enough. If she dies tonight, the blood is on my hands because I swore an oath the day I took up this position that I would save all that I could...I take the blame, I take the fall because it is what I am meant to do...Do not mock or belittle what I must do..." Though she cared for him, she had never feared him and had never dared to back down from him, even when she had seen him at his most enraged.

As he held to her arm, she reached up as well, a small palm settling against his shoulder. Another moment that would haunt her, she knew, but as she stared into her eyes, she could only shake her head. "You tell me not to hide, to never take the blame that is not from my own faults...And yet you can tell me that I must learn distance...And therein lies our difference, Marcus. I cannot deny what I feel, what's in my heart, and I cannot become cold and numb just to save myself. It's not who I am..."

[Marcus Trellan]

His eyes slipped down to the tiny hand that laid against his shoulder as he held to her arm, holding her in place without even needing to. Or perhaps it was more because he did not wish to let her go, to allow her to distance herself. . .even though it was he who distanced himself from her and not the other way around. It was for the best. . .his morals made it hard for him to reconcile completely seeing her seperately from what memory allowed and even though the woman standing before him now was far from the child in the halls. . .He pushed back the tide of memory and turned his eyes back to her face, studying her.

At her answer he nodded shortly, not able to refute that logic. He released her arm and stepped back, his hands sliding back into the pockets of his blazer as he tilted his gaze toward the ceiling for a moment then dropped it back down to her. For a moment he was quiet, caught up in her gaze, before he blinked and managed to break the spell that she had put over him for those few seconds. Dammit. . .

"True," he acknowledged. "But you will only tear yourself up inside. I am not saying that you should not care for their well being, only that you should not torment yourself so much as you do. . .Chance plays a hand in all that we do and assuredly, Fate holds hands with Chance. I hear they even play poker together on Saturday nights. . ."

[Danae Walker]

She sighed as he stepped back, turning her back to him as she looked out the lone window that stretched from the ceiling to the floor. It should not have been this difficult, for her to admit what so clearly hung between them, but even as she considered it, it seemed as though an ocean separated them and she had not the strength to swim across.

As he spoke, she nodded slowly, her hair spilling down her back as she crossed her arms over her chest, staring out the window, but seeing nothing, only his shadow behind her as it lengthened across the floor.

"And what happens when you fight against Fate, Marcus? When you deny what's been laid before you?" Her words held double meanings as she turned toward him, tipping her head back to meet his dark gaze. "Do you fight Chance too? "

He said she not torment herself, but did he not see that he tormented her more than she could ever bring upon herself? Glancing away, she looked down the hall to where an attendant bustled from room to room and watched as she disappeared into a room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

[Marcus Trellan]

Marcus sighed as she spoke and tightened his jaw slightly, annoyance passing over his fair features as he considered the double meaning behind her words and slid his gaze away from her, turning his head to the side to watch a healer pass. Then he shook his head slightly, his lips pursing and a half snort of laughter leaving his lips until he finally turned back to look at her, frustrated, and halfway wishing that he had not sought her out if only because it just got harder each time. And he knew that it did not get any easier on her. . .

Should he just tell her, then, that it could not be? Would it make it easier if she knew beyond a doubt that he would not claim her in that way? If only he knew beyond a doubt. . .There was nothing that he could say or do that would make this right or better for her and although the choice was not his he wished, almost, that her vision of him had not shifted into the spectrum it lied in now. She had no idea, truly, what she was looking at. . .

"I fight nothing," he said with a shrug. "Nothing but Death, that is. Everything else merely falls into place when it will and when it should. Perhaps I should not endeavor to hand you advice for fear of losing my other hand to that sharp bite? I was only trying to help. . ."

[Danae Walker]

He fought nothing? She couldn't stop the sardonic smile that crossed her lips, watching him as he looked away. She had played it safe, she had been his confidant in the early hours before dawn...They had talked over coffee. Well, while she drank coffee. They had come to terms with what lay before them. But he fought everything...And he fought her.

Stepping up to him, Danae felt some remorse for her response, if only because he had been offering her aide, he had sought her out amid the labyrinth of MSI...only to shield himself behind the veil of his nature.

She touched his cheek, let her hand linger against his skin and tipped his head down so that he met only her eyes. Touches had been shared between them far more often than any could remember and so now, she thought next to nothing of laying her hand to him, save for the quickened pulse that erupted as her warm fingertips brushed against cooled skin. "Forgive me, then..." she replied quietly in the effort of an apology. The finality that hung between them told her easily that it could never be, but some part of her still clung to the hope that someday he would see past his nature, forget the memory of her as a child, and leap headlong into what they had danced around since she had come of age.

"You say you fight nothing but Death, Mark...but I see in your eyes it isn't true. You fight far more than that...You fight me." Damned...She nearly bit her tongue to stop the words, but it had been Raelin's advice to say something, to mae some move that would at least let her know where she stood. Danae could only wonder if Raelin had revealed those things about Marcus that she had confided, but each and everytime she looked at the vampire, she knew the answer...

[Marcus Trellan]

Marcus closed his eyes without thinking about it as soon as her touch lighted upon his face, his senses easily hearing the accelerated heartrate beneath her chest and the slightly faster rush of blood through her veins. He knew that she wished for the dance to end but. . .he was a vampire, not to die short of battle, and she was a mortal woman that deserved more than the darkness that he had to offer. Not only that but she had been a child in his eyes for so long, a valuable friend and carefree spirit. . .but he could not deny that standing before him now she was nothing but a full grown woman. And still his memory had no trouble superimposing the bright eyed child over the woman, reminding him sharply of why he kept his distance.

Her words had him snapping his eyes open to look at her, his shoulders shifting slightly as he moved from her touch and pressed his lips together. He did not know what to say to that. . .And yet she deserved the truth of his feelings, did she not? Would it be fair to allow her to fall any farther for him when he could not, in his heart, reciprocate the gesture despite the fact that he wanted to in another part of him? Damned. . .he was confusing himself with all the emotion and part of him wanted to run back to the offices he shared with Raelin, back to the simplicity of doing what he had been brought to this place to do.

"I do," he finally agreed, meeting her gaze squarely and putting his hands behind his back. "You were but a child when I first laid eyes on you, Danae. . .and even now I have difficulty seeing only what you are before me. And I do not fight you. . .I fight those emotions that might sneak upon me when I look at you."

[Danae Walker]

Looking up at him, she sighed as his words fell upon her ears, an excuse she had heard time and time again. She wanted to tell him that she knew it was so much more, that she knew what Raelin had told her and the woman had never given her cause to doubt, but...she said nothing and merely stepped back, a safe distance between them once more.

"I was a child, Marcus...I am still a child in comparison to you, but that does not mean that I choose blindly where I place my loyalties or my emotions..." Or my heart, she thought to herself but said no more. Bowing her head in acceptance, she looked at him once more and again, the forced smile, tight and impenetrable crept into her features. "You fight what you cannot see because that which stares at you so plainly terrifies you..."

Words hardly fitting for the lie that graced her face, she stepped back again, tilting her head as she watched him for a moment. She trusted him, cared for him, and would have given any and all to end this now, but...he would not allow it and he would never let it be.

"I'm afraid I've work to do, Sir," she said, falling back into the old habits of addressing him as an elder, as much as he hated it. If it was a child he saw her as, then it was as a younger partner that she would be. "If there's nothing else, then I'll be on my way." Danae did not wait for his reply, but turned on her heel to leave him standing there. The next step was harder, her feet cemented to the flawless tile, so it seemed, but finally, one foot after another, she began her slow departure, making the mistake of looking back at him over her shoulder.