acontritemess | A temporary Home

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character: luther rieben

A temporary Home

Freya was thankful to the owner of the club. She had limited exposure to vampires in the past but he seemed like a solid guy. If he hadn't shown up she would have just run; she was very good at running.

As the night came to an end, bouncers began to push people towards the doors. She had cleared off the last table bringing the glasses over to Inka who seemed to be in a good mood. It was most likely due to the visitors that night. Freya found it hard to believe that the pair she'd seen was really the Creator and the Druid; not that she knew what she was expecting. Luther, the guy who owned the club, seemed to know them both really well and Freya can't help but wonder what the story was. She wasn't always an overly curious person when it came to the super natural community because people protected their secrets but Luther was nice enough that she figured she could at least ask.

With her shift pretty much over she plucked her back from behind the counter and climbed the steps to Luther's office. Her knuckles rapped at the door though she was sure that a vampire would already smell that she was there.

"Hey. I wanted to take up that staying offer but I don't know where to go." She wasn't opposed to sleeping on the floor but she didn't really want to be in the way either. Once the sun was up she'd be on her own in this strange club and she wasn't really looking forward to that. At least Inka would be there; he was cool.

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Tonight had proved to be very eventful. The last thing Luther had expected was a visit from Nathan and Airy, and they'd brought friends, it seemed. The werewolves that had come with them were unknown to him, but seeing as neither of them had attempted to speak with him, he decided they weren't important. Normally, he wouldn't immediately accept people who Airy trusted simply because she trusted them. Anyone who trusted Airy's instincts alone was an idiot, but Nathan trusted them too.

He and Nathan had never and never would see eye to eye, but he had a good head on his shoulders and was paranoid enough to keep Airy safe. He may not like the Druid, but he could respect that. It wasn't his place to keep Airy safe anymore, and he'd done a terrible job of it in the first place. Hopefully, Nathan would prove himself much better at it than Luther ever had been.

As the night wound to a close, Luther left the administration and cleanup to his managers and spent the evening in his office. He was thinking over a lot of things, and lost track of time. In everything, he'd forgotten he'd added a new addition to their roster, at least temporarily, and he looked toward the door as Freya knocked, looking back down at his computer before calling her in.

"It's open. Come on in, Freya."

Without hesitation Freya opened the door to his office. She slipped inside and the promptly closed it behind her. As she looked around she whistled as if impressed. "Nice office. It makes you look in charge." She knew he was but the comment was light and friendly as if teasing.

She walked forward stopping on the other side of his desk. She didn't sit since she didn't really feel like sitting. Her backpack was slung over one shoulder and her hand lightly held the strap to keep the heavy bag in place. All of her things were carried in that single backpack.

"I finished up downstairs." She looked at Luther curiously. "You okay?"

His almond brown eyes moved over the decor before a slight smirk twitched the corner of his mouth as he moved his gaze back to the young werewolf in his office.

"I'm glad you noticed. If you look like you're in charge, it turns out, you don't actually have to do anything."

He nodded at her response and closed his laptop, letting it slip into sleep mode to pick up on what he was working on later, before bed. He raises an eyebrow at the girl's question and his smile grows slightly. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Freya laughed brightly shaking her head as she pushed golden strands of blond from her cheeks. "I'll make sure to remember that." It was nice to see that he had a sense of humor. Those were the people that Freya liked best.

At his question she rose her shoulders with an exaggerated expression crossing her doll like features.

"I'm good at reading people and those two visitors threw you for a loop." She wasn't blind. "Didn't know if you were one of those brooding type vampires who kept everything to yourself or if you wanted an ear to listen." She found talking to strangers about things easier than those she knew so she'll extend the offer to Luther. Plus, he's giving her a bed which sounds GREAT.

That same, slightly amused smirk is on his face as he replies. "You should. It'll take you far, I promise."

But his smile withered under the realization that he might not have hidden that fact as well as he'd hoped. "Why don't you have a seat? Unless you're tired. I can show you to a free room." Not not have to have this conversation. Honestly, it wasn't necessary for him to have any sort of talk with her. She was most likely passing through, and Luther wasn't looking for new friends.

Giving her a little might help him understand where he slipped, though.

Freya was a little sad when his amused smirk vanished. It was cute and looked far better on him than the serious expression he wore now.

"Don't you know wolves howl at the moon?" She smiled with ease and friendliness as she took a seat. It was her own way of saying that she'd be fine if she denied herself sleep. Besides the fact that this was the first vampire she's really gotten to chat with and she's curious. They don't need to be friends to talk.

"I thought that was a misnomer." Luther breathed a sigh before reclining in his desk chair. "Can I get you anything?" It was a good distraction from trying to explain the complicated history between the three people who'd arrived last night. The tall wolf and his mate he didn't know, and it had made him curious about the goings on at HQ, but he hadn't gotten the chance to ask.

Freya laughed softly. "I was just kidding. I thought you had a sense of humor." She leaned back in the chair crossing her legs until she was seated comfortable. Her fingers rested on her lap drumming softly on her knee.

"I'm fine. You're stalling."

She can only assume that it was something more personal than she thought. She didn't know how much he'd actually tell her or if she might push too far and be kicked out. It's obvious that he didn't have to talk to her so she didn't mention that part.

He offered the young werewolf a shrug. The fact that he thought of her as young being ironic wasn't lost on him. There was a very good possibility she was actually older than him, but he'd been raised by a very influential mother and educated father. That and Luther had enough confidence in his own abilities, to spite his many shortcomings, to think himself just a little above a random wolf who'd rolled into town.

"It's a long story that occurred over a relatively short amount of time. The story revolving around the Creator and the Druid's a pretty complicated one. You sure you want to know?"

Freya knew she was young, she never really grew up and she had decided years ago that she didn't want to. She wasn't interested in finding a mate or doing anything like that. She was going to keep moving and keep doing whatever she wanted. It was safe and it was really the only distraction she had from the missing pieces of her heart.

"Yeah." She wouldn't have asked if she didn't want to know. "Plus I'm a little curious about the Shaper." She paused. "I mea Creator." Whatever they want to be called, she didn't mind either way.

She went to sleep at night hearing stories about the Shapers. Her older brother liked to describe them a people who played god but the girl she saw didn't really seem the type. She was also sure that they were dead and has yet to find any text or hints that had suggest otherwise. Of course, she's heard the strange things happening lately. She's heard about the war but only enough to stay away from being targeted. Her pack and identity aren't well known or she'd have already been killed like the rest of her family.

"Her name is Airy, and while you've never met her, I can assure you she'd prefer you call her that than 'Creator'." He looked over to her, making a motion with his hand. "No more than you'd rather be called 'werewolf' than 'Freya'."

He says it all in a way to suggest some distance, like he isn't defensive of who and what Airy is, but his feelings for her still run deep, and he's still a little flustered from the impromptu meeting and is a little off his game.

"Before she knew what she was, she a young woman running away from something." He looked to her. While it is a conclusion he's jumped to, considering how quickly she wanted to leave, he didn't feel it was a far leap. "I'm sure you can relate."

Freya made a mental note when it came to the girl's name. She honestly didn't mind being called werewolf but then in soma cases she really disliked giving her name. Her eyes watch him curiously, light gray in color as they skim over his face.

"I can." Though Freya knew very well what she was running from. The tall dark figure from her nightmares was never forgotten.

"Except Airy is probably one in... well, I don't think there is another one. Wouldn't she be proud or excited?" Freya has always been proud of who she was. She was a werewolf, she was female, unclaimed and self sufficient. She didn't want it to be any other way. She never thought she was running from something but to something instead.

He shakes his head at the suggestion, his expression suggesting she's missed a vital point. "To quote a very wise man, vampires and human civilizations have a few things in common. We tend to fight when we encounter one another, we live for several centuries and usually end up killing ourselves from the inside out, usually from boredom, and we don't like change."

He makes a motion as though indicating something or someone who isn't there. "There's been no recorded Creator for nearly a thousand years. That same thousand years has seen the rise and fall of several human civilizations, but they all followed a course without the intervention of a Creator. What do we do now there that is one again? A human nation would either A) want to use it, or B) want to destroy it so they could carry on. So, apparently, would vampires, save a select few. If you suddenly realized you have far many enemies than your previous assumption of zero, would you be excited?"

Freya didn't much care for mind games, though she was decent enough at solving puzzles. She listened carefully to Luther before releasing a breath of air that had been trapped in her lungs.

"I don't know what it's like not to have enemies." At least not anymore, she can understand running and when he phrases it like that... well? she can understand why Airy might not have been so excited. Not that Freya imagined what it was like to be a normal, oblivious, human but she can imagine the shock.

"So where do you fall in this?"

Luther watches her evenly for a moment, standing and moving around his desk to take a seat at the chairs in the sitting area, with her. "I suppose we have that in common." He was born into war, he'd never known anything aside from what they were fighting. He found himself curious about this wolf, and what her story was.

"Airy ran away from home, and just so happened to end up in our laps. My father had been looking for the Creators, or some link to them, for three hundred years. He built a...stronghold, under the streets of Queens, a lot like this place. It's home to a lot of people like us, but, unlike here, there, they stand on the forefront of the War. I'm sure you've heard of it."

Freya watched him curiously, her shoulders tensing only slightly as he sits across from her. Not that she knows many vampires, but she wasn't expecting it. He's far more personable than she thought vampires would be. It's interesting and she wonders what his father was like. It'd be interesting to meet him.

"I have and it's one of the reasons I've avoided it." He still hadn't told her his relation to the Creator. "So after Airy fell in your lap. What happened?"

She repeated his phrasing without meaning anything by it.

He nodded his understanding, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands in front of him. "It's one of the reasons I came here, and built this place. Wars take a lot more than they give, and it's usually the innocent bystanders who suffer the most. The homeless, the orphaned, and the displaced needed a place to call home, too, and without an army threatening to beat down their doors."

For the last, he didn't respond immediately, his mind flitting back across all the countless things that had happened. "She was distant for a while, but I found her fascinating. On Valentine's Day, I asked her to be my Valentine, and she was for a while. I was a lonely, angry little boy who's father died fighting a way it seemed we were doomed to lose. She was...hope in that darkness. I selfishly clung to her. I used her." He looks back over to Freya. "Does that suffice?"

For a moment Freya was at a loss for words. She watched Luther, seemingly unaffected by his story and then nodded her head. "Yeah. Unless you feel like telling me more." She didn't think he would but she found it interesting. A relationship between the Creator and a vampire? She wondered if that would work though she hadn't found any text on creators. She thought they were tied to their creations and in turn the planet before other.

Then again, that was just guess work on her part. Extrapolated from books she had read countless times for information on the subject.

She let out a slow breath, her gaze flicking to her backpack which rested at the side of her ankle. "Making this place..." She gestured around with a hand. "Is repentance then?" She assumed that it was a safe question to ask.

By all appearances, Luther is clearly finished with explaining his relationship with the Creator, at least with a stranger. He looks around at the place, glancing toward the window of his office that overlooks the now-closed club, then back to the wolf.

"In a way, I suppose it is, yes."

Freya placed her palms on her knees, her lips curling into an easy practiced smile.

"If it means anything at all." She began in a lighter tone. "I think you're pretty cool." He had come to her aid at least. "So you're doing something right."

She doubted it would make him feel better. She wasn't used to the whole 'dating' thing since she was a were. She flirted a lot and has made out with a few people but werewolves mate for life and it wasn't as easy to get over. Her mother said that females can, that nature made them that way so that werewolves wouldn't die out but not many are able to forget their mates.

Maybe Luther and Airy will make up though she didn't know how life spans worked into that equation either. At the very least, she's keeping her thoughts to herself; most of them anyway.

"It's interesting that a creator shows up now." Not that this war was new but it was certainly becoming more intense. "Maybe it's by some design. I can't help but wonder how." As much as she's studied, she's never really figured out a lot about the Shapers.

It wasn't a far subject change, but it was better than continuing to talk about Airy. As far as Luther was concerned, there would be a part of himself that always loved her, no matter how much time passed, and that same part of him dreaded watching her age and die before his eyes. Maybe this was why his mother always cautioned him about falling in love with a human.

"Well, I'm honored you think I'm cool." He smiled at her, though it was still a little sad. "And the problem is there's very little still known about the Creators. My father looked for information on them for 300 years and barely found anything."

Freya's eyebrow rose, her eyes noting the sad curl just at the edge of his cute smile. She didn't know what it was like to lose someone you loved to another, but she knew what it was like to lose her family, so on that much she can relate.

"You should be." She grinned easily while relaxing in the chair. "I don't think everyone is cool."

Freya hummed thoughtfully before reaching into her bag and pulling out a tattered book. It was written by Luther's father, not that she knows that. It's small and worn and to anyone normal looking at it, it looks like a children's book filled with fairy tales. "We know that they created the were's ...among other things."

"Then I suppose the honor's mine." The sadness in his smile disappeared for a moment, hidden behind a vale of amusement, then the smile disappeared completely as his keen gaze found the book she pulled from her bag.

He leaned forward, though he didn't rise from his chair, immediately much more interested. "Yes. That's common enough knowledge. Where did you get that book?"

Freya looked up at Luther with a measured gaze. "A library. I study a lot." She didn't intent to dive into that phrase since it was rather self explanatory. She attended classes and would have several degrees if she were to legally have gone to college.

"No one knew what it was so I just swiped it." It wasn't as if they were going to read it.

"It doesn't say all that much." She's read it from front to back.

"Why would that book be in a library?" He's not familiar with the tome, and more than anything he wants to read it only to hear his father's voice speak new words. He is a bit curious about the folklore it contains, though.

"That was written by Charles Rieben."

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