Tricky Business (Duvessa)

[Connor Chase]

Getting money was hard, and having to earn it while working around the very thing he was trying to stay away from was harder. It was something Cerberus told him, at length and repeatedly, that it was something that was going to happen. He could not keep away, and had to face this fact. He sat under the dim light of a bar in a club, shoulder to shoulder with other bikers like him, whose body odor stretched out as far as their long memories. It was one of those bars with an open mic, and though some people decided to sing, Connor was one of the few, who would sing for the heck of it. The truth was, despite sitting there and downing a glass of rot gut, he couldn’t get drunk. Truth was, he liked the taste, and every now and then, a smoke. But the best therapy to him, came from singing. Taking his guitar from the case at his side, he finished his tall glass of whatever toxic swill he was drinking and made his way to the stage.



The first few strums came naturally as he played. Closing his eyes, he began to sing as the people in the club took notice and began to listen to the dirty, raggedy man began to sing. In his head, the faces of the people in the crowd flashed before his eyes. They didn’t know it, but he could hear all of their hearts beating, and knew that they were fixed on the rhythm of the song and the lull of his voice as he made the best of an acoustic version of a song. “And if I only could, make a deal with a god, get him to swap our places, be running up that road, be running up that hill, with no problem…” He sang solemnly at first before going into full vocals. As he finished off with a guitar solo, the crowd was in a state of awe as they began to applause the dirty biker on his way towards the bar, as the bartender handed him a complementary scotch as was delivered to any winner of open mic night, and $500. It was not much for most, but for Connor, it guaranteed him at least a place to sleep for a few nights, and a few meals before he had to fill up his bike and leave town.



Downtown L.A. was filled with plenty of clubs, and many were willing to pay good money for whoever won these open mics. Often, Connor would get stopped and offered a chance to sing professionally, but he always turned them down. Many of his kind often could not afford to be famous in the first place. The lack of aging was difficult, and many of the celebrities that actually are immortal had to often use makeup in public to ensure that they were aging. Some managed to get away with less due to advances in science. Others hide behind an actual cult fronting as a religion for their lack of aging. At the end of the day, Connor felt that it was too much work for him to even attempt to maintain. Not to mention: people. As much as Connor tolerated socializing, when he had to, and even if Cerberus urged him to immerse himself in culture, Connor would often find the fastest route to keep him out of being around people for long. So, whenever open mic night came along in a few clubs, Connor would try out for each until he won at least one of them, which oddly never failed, and leave, but tonight, as he was heading for the door, he heard a faintly different heartbeat, and picked up a familiar scent. It wasn’t too much longer until he heard a soft, familiar laugh escape from someone in the club. That same soft, mischievous laugh that often meant his night was either about to get interesting, or so much worse. The owner of this laugh, the moment she came to mind, caused Connor to simply sum up two words in soft reluctance:



“Aw, shit…”

[Duvessa]

Somewhere in the background she had been lurking the entire time. Moving from bar to bar with him as she watched the wolf try to win some money. This was not the first night she had done this, she enjoyed watching him. Wolves were always one of the things she found the most interesting ever since meeting Cerberus and his pack. Yet this particular wolf had a ton of inner turmoil and a dark past that called to her. For many years she tried to get this man to bed, with no real success, but she wanted to offer him something he would not find in his life; peace. Her deals had the power to bring him what he wanted but he would have to give up part of himself to her in order to get it, a price he seemed unwilling to pay.

Sliding up behind the wolf, she wrapped her arms around him and slid her hands up his chest lovingly. Perhaps she was a bit too friendly with such a dangerous dog but she did not fear them. A low and playful laugh escaped her lips as she did what she always did; became too familiar with people. "I have been watching you, you are quite good Connor." she said with a pleased sigh. If he pulled away she would not fight it, even if she could have, nor would she make any physical move to reattach herself. She could have fed off of his essence as well but it was not the same as a humans, not sustaining as they were only half way human. "Why don't you accept my offer? I can make you whole again." she teased once more.

In all honesty her deal was not too good to be true. While she could never take away the blood lust forever, she could suppress it but it would cost him. All Fae deals came at a terrible price usually, binding them to the one they made the deal with until they came to collect. What she wanted of him was to be owed a favor, one that she could collect at any time, and it would give her a unique insight into Cerberus operations. Despite his current status, the ancient trusted this wolf at one time and he had to know secrets that she could use. Even though she respected the ancient it did not stop her from lusting after his precious collection of magical texts and trinkets.

"Your life could be so easy.." she added.

[Connor Chase]

Your life could be so easy…

His life could have been easy, if he wanted it.Truth be told, he could have had an open buffet to himself of everyone in the club, gorge himself on a diet of their meat and finally feel some kind of self completion for the first time in centuries, but he would not. One of the worst parts of the withdrawal process, is the return of the conscience. That one part of you that was thought to have been long gone with the humanity, but only find out that the blood only dulled its cries. Withdrawals sharpen that pain beyond anything else, and this time, he knew that he couldn’t just go back. The conscience wouldn’t drown that out, and any magic that she could offer to quell the lust, would often come with some problems later. Even if Connor let her, she couldn’t stop the guilt. Not without unmaking Connor who he was. “My life was never meant to be easy, Duvessa.” He muttered softly in his gruff, Irish accent, breathing firmly to hide a quickened heart, “I’m not yet done with the animal in me just yet.”

Even as strong as his senses were to most enthralling pheromones, he could not resist Duvessa. She lead him on adventures that ensnared his senses, and lead him to new heights of ecstasy to dive from, but even in her good times, there was always a rouse. Other times, there were ways to stop demons from taking innocent souls back to their Infernal Realms, but then there were times when she would leave him tied naked in an abandoned house being raided by Hunters. At this point, Connor could only assume that a Fae of her power was merely “flirting” with him from her viewpoint. “Let’s take this somewhere my private, away from ‘mortal’ eyes.” Connor didn’t want her attracting any unwanted attention their way. If humans saw what she was, one of them might get scared and try to attack. It just takes one of them to start bleeding for Connor to start feeling the bloodlust, and he could not risk it here.

He took Duvessa’s hand, and lead her outside to the back. Connor often parked his bike around the corner, just for these types of events. A smile crossed his face as he gently nudged Duvessa against the wall, and looked in her eyes. “So, you think you can help me, but I’m guessing there is a price?” He asked leaning in closer to her face, her warmth hot against his own flesh, he looked in her eyes and asked, “You want me to give you what I know and can on Cerberus, right?” His hand ran up the side of her arm softly, leaning in closer until the warmth of his breath was hot in her ear, and his fingers were tracing along her arm, until his hand was flat against her right shoulder blade, while his other hand had made its way around her waist and pulling her even closer to his warm, toned body. Connor was not a betting man, but he was willing to guess that she could hear him lick his lips as he whispered into her ear. “You’re wasting your time.” Before slowly pulling back and grinning wolfishly at her before letting her go and walking towards his bike, knowing full well that he might have incurred her wrath for that.

[Duvessa]

You could almost feel him thinking about, considering her offer of making life easier. Deep down he knew that she could do it but he also most likely considered what that meant. She could not make him mortal again, she could not take away the blood lust. What she could do was make it easier to live with it, to be the monster inside and find a way to come to terms with it. She liked the idea of his wild side, the carnage they could cause and the pull of the chaos that followed drew her in. By passing into this realm she was corrupted by the primordial energies and her trickster desires were amplified by them. All she wanted to do was cause chaos in any form, it did not matter if people died or it was a simple prank.

"It could be if you just stopped fighting it. The animal is what you are, why do you all try so hard to fight against that? Why should the humans inherit this world while you suffer in the dark?" she asked. There was a brief moment where it almost sounded like she actually cared for his well being. Despite everything she had done to him up to this point she still considered him a friend in some messed up way. The fun times they had together were often worth remembering even if they ended in him often being naked in a strange place. Even someone like Duvessa could sense the gnawing at the cage. He was a time bomb and it was not a matter of if in her mind but when. When would he snap and destroy a room full of people that he was trying shield from his bad blood side?

Allowing him to lead her by the hand, she smiled when he pushed her against a wall. There was a playful laugh as she felt the animal in him rising, their bodies close and the feeling of his breath on her skin. Yet she also knew that he was not going to give up the real goods, even with her chest pressed against him which would have worked on lesser men. All of the dirt on Cerberus that he held must have had real value; something you could put an actual price on. Sucking her teeth at him when he pulled away, she wore a mock frown and her tone matched. "Here I thought you were about to accept me deal and seal with some steamy alley loving." she teased. He was too wise now to her to fall for anything she offered him, even something as simple as a drink of water.

"Actually I came with a great opportunity for you. A chance to make some money without having to drift from one hole in the wall to the other. Interested?" she asked with a wicked grin. Of course she was talking about a breaking into something as she found the idea quite fun. There were some artifacts that a few Fae collectors in the human realm wanted and she was going to deliver so that she could collect the reward. Even she preferred to have human currency as it was more fun at times than simply using her magic to get into and out of everything. "Take a girl for a ride and I'll tell you all about it cowboy?" she asked. That devilish expression just screamed no good.

[Connor Chase]

She was not the type of Fae to simply leave without getting what she wanted. If she wanted Connor, one way or another, she’d get his help, even if it was not necessarily what she wanted. Part of it was to ensure that while she was on Earth, she made as little damage as possible. Living in this world often brought out certain monsters in people, supernatural and non. Duvessa was like Loki of old, but though her power was great, she was still limited in her abilities. Like Connor’s kind, her kind had an unfortunate weakness to Iron, and she was bound to certain rules and honor codes of all Fae folk. “Something tells me that I’m going to end up naked again, but what did you have in mind?” Connor asked curiously as he motioned her towards him and his bike. His guitar case was held on the back by a makeshift holder that Connor made for it. It strapped conveniently in place, and never fell off.

“I want to know a few things about what we are doing.” He said plainly, not liking surprises. He expected some things the be withheld, but that was part of doing this. “What the plan is, who is getting hurt, and what magic is involved in this?” Connor thought back to the last time Duvessa had lead him into one of her situations. A warlock had told Connor of her abduction, and how he had wanted Connor’s motorcycle for her return.When Connor went to investigate, he had to fight his way through a warehouse enchanted with a fractured time loop, which meant time was jumbled up inside the warehouse. When Connor entered the warehouse, he was miraculously on the second stair case, with wounds from a fight, and fending off the warlock in question, before suddenly skipping to another point in time, where he was surveying the inside of the warehouse. Through a series of disruptive events, he finally made his way through the time-maze within the warehouse, with Duvessa in tow, only to realize that she had orchestrated the entire event, which would have killed Connor, had he been human, and resulted in his clothes being torched off. The time before that, she helped save an infant’s soul from a Vengeance Demon, which was one of the few times she ever risked the rules of her people to help another.


“Need to know the details of this one, every time you pop back on Earth from...wherever it is you go, something is normally goes amiss...where do you go to anyways?” He asked rhetorically before pulling two helmets from his bike to hand to himself and Duvessa. Not that they needed the helmets, but the human authorities were uptight about their helmet laws. Connor hopped onto the bike before waiting on the Trickster to follow. Somehow, he knew something was already amiss.