Night's Omen

...She had a point.

Nothing she owned would fit him, unless it was a baseball cap or something similar, and she probably didn't own any.  Hell, even the last one he'd owned had disappeared, though that was because he'd been wearing it when Morfeus sent Jeshickah to capture him.  He hadn't seen it again after that, and he really needed to get another.  It was a shame he'd lost that one, though.  He'd had it a VERY long time.

She was right about the rest of it as well, though.  Not many people would even notice what was on his head if he cleaned it and let his hair cover it up as well as it could.  It wouldn't be fool-proof, but it could work so long as there wasn't anyone specifically watching for something strange.  He hadn't seen any of the vampires he was most worried about recently, so could that continue?  He hoped.

"You're right, we should just be quick," he told her, tossing the keys to her and heading for the bathroom.  He had to clean it up some, and he tried to make sure it was about as covered up as it could be before they left.  

At least Dani had found it amusing.

"And by the way, I do not have a big head," he informed her when he returned to her a few moments later.

"Yes you do," she said, and nothing more as they clattered down the stairs. Danielle hated the elevator; she tried not to take it as much as possible. When they got to the car, she ducked in and headed for the Lounge.

"Why is it that this man is behind absolutely every malfunction lately?" she asked him, brows knitted in frustration. Danielle didn't like being on the powerful side of things. Ash had enemies; she had more. Not that she couldn't defend herself, but even she had to admit he'd been cleaning up her messes for a loooong time.

It seemed immature of him to continue 'arguing' with her over whether or not he had a big head, since he knew he didn't and that was all that mattered, but he was still tempted to.  That was one of the problems with the two of them, actually.  Usually they came off as cold, powerful and rather serious about their situations and surroundings, but they both had a habit of dissolving into fits of immaturity when the mood struck.  Fortunately, it was usually just the two of them involved, so there weren't many witnesses.

Like now, for example.

They had way too much going on right then to really worry about it, otherwise he might have returned fire just to amuse them both, but the situation was just a little more serious than that.  They could play it off as light-hearted as much as they wanted, but just under that surface, they were both dealing with various levels of 'freaking out'.  He was just quieter about it.  He was also as quiet and subtle as was possible about slipping out to the car, and he was actually thinking that they might manage this.  As long as he didn't run into anyone who recognized him, he should be fine.  In theory, anyway.

"That man isn't far away from most malfunctions.  I think it's a hobby of his," he remarked, surprisingly casually, and he actually meant it.  Aristide seemed to enjoy meddling, unlike some people who had a little power to them.  The only lives that Ash really bothered to meddle in were those of his employees and Dani, all of whom were more than willing to have the help. 

Wow, he hadn't thought of that until right then.  There was no way in hell he could deal with keeping the peace at the Hollow, or helping the people who depended on him, if he was mortal.  Not just mortal, either.  Human.  Powerless. 

Shit.

Danielle muttered something under her breath and started the car, whipping it into traffic at a high rate of speed. She didn't even dare steal a glance to see if Ash was bothered by her driving, because she would just gladly pretend that everything was normal. If she was spotted not driving crazy, then someone might suspect something was up.

"I swear, if I find a way, some day I'm going to turn his world upside down just so he can see how it feels," she snapped, standing on the brakes as the light she was approaching turned red. She looked over at Ash, an unusually calm expression on her face. "I thought you'd be less uptight as a human," she said. She studied him for a second, and then the smile broke out, proving that she wasn't entirely serious after all.

It was probably better that she didn't steal a glance to see how Ash was dealing with her driving, even though he was pulling off a very good blank and slightly irritated face.  He managed to refrain from clutching at any part of the car, well aware that being mortal meant that Dani had a hell of a chance of surviving a bad car wreck, and he didn't.  That would just be LAME, for someone like him to die in a car wreck.  Imagine that.

There was no way he wasn't going to react to the way she stopped at that light, even if he normally wouldn't have.  He could have taken the hit before, but he was all too aware of the fact that even a little smack on the head was painful and not going away, so something more dangerous would mess him up just as badly as any human.  It was ridiculous, but not untrue.  Fortunately, he merely grabbed the car door to help against the violent stop of the car, and shot her an unhappy look regarding her assessment of how 'uptight' he was.  "I don't see why being easier to kill would make me less uptight, Danielle, especially with your driving," he pointed out, though a smile peeked through just because she'd smiled at him.  Besides, she'd gotten her dig in about him being uptight (which he didn't think he was), and he'd gotten his by bitching about her driving.  Even.

"I wish you luck with turning Aristide's world upside down, because you'll need it.  That man isn't exactly paranoid, but most practitioners of that type take incredible precautions against attacks from others," he offered, returning to the topic he'd pushed aside when she stopped like that.  "I would think he has plenty of enemies trying to get back at him by now, and he's still there."

That alone emphasized the point.