Let's Play!

" alright."



she purred, taking his hand in hers, shaking ehr head at how dirty he was.

Ephriam caught the gesture and raised a brow.



"What?" He stepped into the long staircase and began the descent.

" Your as filthy as that room."



she informed him, smiling to herself as she was soon walking with his arm about her waist, resting her head against him. It was nice for things to feel a bit more like they were suppose to.

Ephriam grinned lightly, letting his arm wrap around her shoulders.



"Careful, it looks like I am contaminating you too." He stuck out his tongue at her. Yup, still in a fantastic mood. As they hit the bottom landing, Ephriam began to pace towards the double doors that opened to the dais overlooking her garden.

Looking to Ephriam, she watched him.



" So, ... how does all this work?"



she didn't knwo if there was a specific way these things worked, now that she'd decided to stay, or what.

Ephriam leaned forward with his elbows pressed to the stone railing. He had been gazing down at a mound of dirt. Now, granted that this was a garden so a mound of dirt wasn't really out of place, but this particular mound of dirt was a perfect rectangle and had one sole white lily poking out of it about a third of the way down. The man glanced at Marina, one brow lifting. She was very broad with her questions. This time he tried to guess what she was getting at.



"What have you read?" Too bad he guessed wrong.

" ... there's a process for vampire relationships with humans, and when and how to join and turn?"



she asked, lookign like she was going to head off to the library....if there was a play book....

Ephriam reached out to catch her wrist as though to keep her planted with him.



"Ah. You could imagine that we neglect to write down our every little secret, bear that in mind." He winked at her. Yes, Eph actually winked.



"Seriously, Marina, you have been living that life already. Mostly, at least." He shrugged slightly.

" that told me absolutely nothing."



She informed him, wanting to stomp on his food to go find this magical book.

The lightbulb came on.



"Oh! I apologize. I did not realize you were asking a question." Ephriam turned to face her fully.



"Well, living with me is congruent to what it was before. I am fairly old and therefore decent at... preserving the wildlife." He cleared his throat. Diplomatic way of saying: I'm gonna try not and kill you. He spoke quickly, hoping to pass the awkwardness of the moment.



"I promised you would be a daywalker, so you would have to be blooded during the daylight hours." He glanced at the mound of perfect dirt, which shifted slightly as though laughing. (Which it was, and he knew it. Ephriam sighed over Jethro's sense of humor as the lily tremored just slightly with the buried chuckle.)



"...Perhaps we could go inside?" He gestured to the mound.

Looking to the mound, she sighed, and contemplated it... then did what she'd been refraining from... or at least, trying to. But Failed. She jumped off the balcony and landed on jethro, stealing the lilly and looking up at Ephriam, triumphant grin on her face.

Ephriam's grin was as wide as the cheshire cat moon. His eyes lit up with delight as he called down to her.



"And here I thought my affection for you could not grow any more." Ephriam vaulted over the side and landed with a thump beside the two.



What happened to Jethro you might be asking? Well, being jumped on by a full grown adult from that drop is acutely uncomfortable. The man gave out a yipe and sat straight up, popping out of the ground like a daisy. He sat there, half-buried and gasping for air. The man did manage to respond to the situation, however.



"Told you that you could get him to jump off a building."

" Only if I jump first."



She giggled, smiling brightly at Ephriam now, reaching up for help up, kissing him as she stood.



" I think we should keep him around... he's fun to play with."



Yep, she'd found her house pet.

Ephriam laughed softly.



"I am not entirely sold. His upkeep is so taxing... Do you have any idea how much a Jethro eats?"



Jethro managed to pry himself out of the ground, and stopped gasping for air on account of that it was rather uncomfortable. He just lay there in the dirt, flat on his face. Then again, a couple crushed ribs could do that to you.

" enough. I've made teh meals too, remember."



she informed him softly.

Ephriam just smiled at her and then glanced at Jethro. The gentleman squatted down beside his friend to offer a little bit of encouragement.



"Well, on the bright side, at this rate you will have replaced your entire skeleton by next week." Jethro opted not to respond. Then again, he had stopped breathing because it hurt, so speaking would probably hurt too. Not a huge leap of faith there.

Marina reached to Ephriam now, hands out stretched, using him to help herself up.



" so, since I can't resist... Can't I keep him?"



She asked cutely, kissing at him to sweeten the begging.

Ephriam looked at her and wrinkled his brow as though vexed by thought.



"Well... I suppose since he is already housebroken we might be able to handle it." The man glanced at the lump on the ground. "Just remember to leave the door unlocked so he can get out when he needs to."

" Nawwww... he can walk through walls... so to speak."



she said gently, giggling softly, as she kissed ephriam again.



" Now... more lessons for the human."



she taunted gently, now pumping him for information.

Ephriam laughed lightly, thoroughly enjoying tonight.



"Hmm... How about... How to fix a fairly wounded vampire?" Ephriam stepped over to the Jethro lump, hearing a faint murmur against the ground.



"Don't make me gut you." Ephriam kneeled down.



"What was that? I missed it." He glanced up Marina. "Interested?"

Marina shook her head slowly.



" Noooo... I want something more us learn... we play doctor on the pet later.... when he's really broken."



she purred, now grinning.

At this comment, Ephriam's expression turned entirely to one of puzzlement.



"You think I am making this up? He really is broken. See?" The man reached down to Jethro and rolled him over. Said lump groaned with rejection and gritted his teeth as Ephriam grabbed part of his chest and shifted it. (Sure, it was closer to where it was supposed to be, but still...)



"Eph, I hate you." Ephriam looked down at him.



"You in condition to walk?" Really, there were a lot of things that could affect the answer to that one. Pain, spinal damage, etc...

" No, but ... "



Now the pout came out. She was made up with him, and she wanted to enjoy it... and he was stopping her. No fair.

Ephriam looked up at the pout and then back to a grimacing Jethro. The man glanced between the two.



"I did not mean..." Jethro took the opportunity to cut in.



"Just go. She'll do worse things to you than I will..." He silenced and stopped breathing again.

Marina smiled and took the opportunity to drag her man away, and off to a random room in the house, kissing him.



" you need to wash... and explain what I need to expect from all this."

Ephriam did take the opportunity to remember the grime all over him. He sighed slightly and stepped back, peeling off his shirt. It was kind of funny to see the blackened ash smears stop at what was a farmer's line to most people.



"I am probably going to bite you at some point or another. It should come with warning." He was speaking rather matter-of-factly as he worked on trying to get his belt off.



"But that will not affect your blood in the slightest. For you to be turned you have to..." He paused and then glanced up at Marina. This was a huge secret. "Well, you have to drink a vampire's blood."

Marina looked him over slowly, watching his clothes fall off, and pouted even moer all of a sudden.



" Don't you know your attractive?"



She asked as she looked like a crushed little girl, staring at his now naked form.

Ephriam just stopped and then looked down at himself, feeling a little, well, not modest... abashed perhaps?



"Well... that would probably be the pheromones talking..." The man blinked a few times. He really wasn't so nervous or modest about himself after so long. In fact, he hadn't really thought about it. He stepped into the little bathroom and turned on the water.

" I could careless what is compelling me to talk, I want some."



She complained, pouting once more.

Ephriam stepped into the shower, not really caring that it was rather cold.



"That is the idea behind it, Marina. It works like the pretty colors and sweet smells of carnivorous plants." He paused for a minute in his scrubbing to chastise himself. Ephriam had just compared himself to a venus flytrap.

Marina looked him over, and made one of those clear looks. He'd beyond screwed it all up on this one.



" Well I'm so sorry I'm sexually attracted to the man I plan to spend eternity with. Glad to find out now you have zero inclination to even mention it, let alone have it."



She purred, walking from the room. She hadn't even been asking, she was merely...admiring.

It was like the ice water had filtered through her skin and straight into Ephriam's stomach. He hadn't really realized that he had been doing anything wrong. She had asked for him to tell her how things worked... He hadn't been snotty or evasive or arrogant or any of those horrible attitudes. Ephriam had been in rather pleasant spirits.



However, for once, the man decided that he wasn't about to give it up so easily. He hopped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, wrapping it haphazardly around his waist.



"I did not mean it so." He traipsed after her, leaving a sludge trail behind him.

Marina hadn't gone far, she was setting on the floor outside the bathroom door, crying, not looking up at him. He'd hurt her feelings, to say the least.



As she heard him approaching, she looked up through tear streaked face, looking him over before inching back from him slightly.



" You push me away at even the minor mention of those kind of topics. I will not bring them up again. I can't help I'm how I am, but I'll leave you alone about it."



There went the chance of ever having children. Yes, he'd very much hurt her feelings.

The man stood there for a minute, looking down at her. Then he sighed and sat down a little away from her, swiping at wet hair plastered to his forehead, leaving a huge black streak.



"I was not trying to push you away." His washed-out eyes shifted downward and then back to her, searching to catch her eye.



"Your face is so much prettier than mine, but I cheat. I just do not want to cheat with you. I want you to have a choice."

" I've always had a choice, but your simply making the decision for me anymore."



She informed him simply, wiping her face clean as she looked to his wet, dirty form, moving to kiss him lightly.



" Go shower. "



she said gently. She was done pursuing. It was one thing to want what you can't have, another when what you want doesn't want you.

"I did not mean to." Ephriam looked at her long and hard as he sat there after what she had said. His answer came rather simply.



"No." The man stood up and adjusted the towel around his waist so that it wasn't so close to falling off. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he was going to do whatever it was.

Marina sighed inwardly.



" Your dirty... and so am I, I would normally offer to shower with you, but given the circumstances, that wouldn't be good."



Marina replied softly, standing to look at him levelly now, considering him.



" I don't know what you are after. I said I'd stop...."

Ephriam didn't really know what he was after either. But he didn't want to let things lie like this.



"I do not want you to stop." At least not simply for the reason that she thought it was what he wanted. The man reached out and took her by the wrist.



"You want to take a shower with me? Then let us take a shower."

"But I cna't help how I feel towards you, and if I say something, it upsets you."



She replied softly, letting him lead her, but still thinking this was a bad idea.



" .... You say you find me lovely, and attractive, and you refuse to tell me anything else... as if it isn't there. I can't believe you have similar feelings as I do, if you not only don't even act or voice on them, you turn me down, or away when I do."

Ephriam looked at her.



"I was not upset... not until you tried to whip me with your tongue, at least." He turned back to her from where he had turned on the water. This time he had turned on the warm water too.



"I am not trying to turn you away. I am a gentleman raised to shy from arrogance - it is politeness. I have not had anyone but Jethro to talk to in ages. Sometimes I forget things that I have to voice out loud. I thought you would just know that you are stunning and intoxicating, and I adore you with every fiber of my being." He stood there very still now, not entirely able to explain the butterfly-on-PCP feeling in his stomach.