But the World Moves On

[Desten DuPont]

And so, the little hawk had left the safety of her apartment again, and walked steadily down the dimly lit streets. She disliked the idea of taking the shortcut now that she had actually done it, and was relieved to come to a crosswalk that lead to a more crowded area of the city. She skittered across it in her heels, and then made the treck further down the streets, until she was near Times Square.

Finally, she stopped walking. She wanted to fly, fly so badly her wings ached to break free of her form. Instead, she looked over her shoulder at the reflection she cast in a large department store window. Blonde hair, glass-bottle green eyes. She wore a light pink top that hung low in the back, which was nice because she'd held her demi form earlier if only for a moment. A pair of black satin pants and heels paired with a beautiful Tiffany's diamond bracelet and other fine and tasteful jewelry.

She was a DuPont woman, after all, and they never left home without looking like less than a million bucks. She looked back ahead, and sighed. What she saw in that reflection was Vanille, her twin; not Desten. She'd become someone else. But who? She had to find herself again.

[Stefan]

Boredom and restlessness were his only real excuses for being out and about in the city right then, though nobody was likely to ask him.  He'd grown tired of, and killed, his last toy, and perhaps he'd gone out looking for a new one.  He hadn't yet decided.

He saw plenty of blonds as he wandered, which were his personal preference, but none truly held his eye as being at all remarkable.  If he was going to bother, the woman (since he definitely wanted a woman this time) had better be perfect.

And then, there she was, examining her reflection in a window.  She wasn't human, that much was immediately certain, and he reached out with his mind to figure it out.  Ahh, a hawk.  How he loved being able to flit through someone's mind for those little snippits of information.  He wouldn't mind a hawk, and this woman was easily his height, blond and beautiful.  She'd be perfect.

"Such a long sigh.  What's so upsetting, if you don't mind the question?" he asked, offering her an open smile.  He only wanted to listen and be a good samaritan while she unloaded, afterall.  Right.

[Desten DuPont]

Desten's eyes flittered to the blonde man who spoke to her, and she canted her head to the side in such a bird-like movement it was a wonder even humans didn't pick her out of the crowd. She reached up and ran her fingers through her hair, the warm feather at her neck comforting her some to her dilemma. She'd been telling a lot of random people her problems now, and it hadn't helped any.

"I would be afraid to bore you," she said apologetically. She looked at him again, but there was something about him that she couldn't quite put her thumb on... Her eyes travelled back to her reflection. My, what a vain thing she truly was sometimes.

The vampire had to have been masking his aura, because Desten felt nothing from him, not even a drop. She had unease but it was a natural aversion to people in general. She was a business woman. This extended vacation time she'd put to use was extremely new to her.

Her wings itched beneath the surface of her human form, and she bit her lip as she returned to studying the man. She wanted to fly soon, somewhere nice for a while and rest her head.

[Stefan]

Of course he was masking his aura.  He'd found that was the best way to move amongst humans, just in case one was sensitive to the darker taint of the vampiric aura, or he ran into a shifter or a witch.  Shielding made things more interesting in the long run, as was being displayed here.  He would bet her life that the hawk had no idea he was a vampire or that she was in any danger from the attractive, charming blond who'd approached her.  She was a high-class woman, just his type, and she wouldn't think that anyone would dare touch her.  They all had a somewhat invincible way of projecting themselves.

He loved breaking that.

"You already have my undivided attention, without even speaking.  I doubt it would be possible for you to bore me," he told her casually, flashing her his most charming smile.

She wasn't the only one with an ego.

[Desten DuPont]

Desten flipped back her blonde hair and laughed a little. "Family trouble is all." She didn't want to just dump it all over the sidewalk. Besides, she'd already done that in that vampire club to Diana, and it wasn't often she let herself get that mouthy. Desten needed to learn not to talk, ever, and then her problems would eventually just sort themselves out.

"They're fixing themselves, though," she said with a smile. Yes. She and Vanille had spoken earlier. They'd made up. Sort of. Being a twin was hard. Desten and Vanille could not share the spotlight, not for all the damn money or power in the world. So Desten had agreed to remain in the US and Vanille in France. She wouldn't visit or call. She would give Vanille the life she deserved, and Vanille would grant her individuality.

Vanille would not have attention divided, though. She was pure, golden, beautiful, of royal blood. She wanted individuality, and she could not attain that with a twin running around. A clone. A half-assed impression of the magnificent reality: her. And so, she'd made a phonecall. And it wasn't to Desten. And now she was a single, an Individual again.

Looks like Desten was going to find herself just yet.

The hawk smiled at the man, admittedly a little wowed by his charms. Vampires could certainly turn it up when they wanted, and Desten had no real shields to block it out, so yes, she was slightly hazed.

"Desten DuPont," she said, holding out her hand finally. She decided if she was going to turn over a new leaf, she would start now. Why not?

[Stefan]

Yes, he knew that her family problems were being resolved.  As they spoke, in fact.  He hadn't exactly expected to find himself in Desten's company so soon, but the coincidence was rather pleasant.  He was in the mood to play with her, and he'd paid handsomely to do so.  He disliked the sister, but he hadn't complained to her.  Stefan would just have to see how this all worked itself out, and whether Vanille would get what she deserved for betraying the bonds of family.  

He hoped so.

That wasn't currently his concern, though.  He was more interested in the hawk in front of him, the one who was already falling into the trap that no wings could carry her out of.  "Yes, I imagine they are.  Family problems always seem to work themselves out, don't they, Desten?  My name is Stefan," he told her, shaking her hand with a smile.  His speech suggested that he was a bit more than the casual young man he appeared to be, as though he were of something richer, more respectable.

And he was.  There was nothing that deserved more respect than the Aryan race when it reached its full potential.

[Desten DuPont]

She smiled again. She'd always been partial to blondes, but that was her parents upbringing. Date other hawks -only-. Not even a regular avian shifter would cut it. When she'd told them about Collette, who was not only female but Mistari, well. Desten was written out of the will.

Collette was a thing of the past, though. She reached up and ran her fingers across the feathers that were hidden at the base of her neck nonchalantly, as she tended to do sometimes when she thought about her family. Were they, really? Desten wasn't a twin, now, she was a single, not a double. She could do what she wanted, right? Well, why not now?

"It's lovely to meet you. Would you like to walk with me to the Paper Moon? I came out for a reason, anyways." The Paper Moon was a sort of lounge area for the more wealthy business types, which Desten fell into the category of. She'd been on her way for a drink and a serenade - tonight there was going to be some big-shot pianist there and she didn't want to miss it.

She had no idea.

[Stefan]

Why wouldn't she be partial to blondes?  He could hardly imagine how someone would actually want to be with one of those darker featured mongrels.  At least Desten's thoughts were in the right place, though catching a glimpse of the female Mistari in the woman's thoughts made him give a mental cringe.  Vanille had mentioned that.

He could see for himself that the relationship was over, though.  Desten seemed to have moved on from that, or so she told herself, anyway.  He wouldn't know without an in-depth examination of her mind whether she was just telling herself that or if it was the truth, and he didn't have the patience for that.  It didn't matter.  She'd done it, and that was enough.

"Of course," he answered, looking pleasantly surprised to have been asked to join her.  "I've always liked the Paper Moon, to be honest."

And there, he'd dropped his own hint of falling into the same 'wealthy business type' that she liked.  He had been there on a few different occasions, usually with a pretty blonde woman.  Just like today.

[Desten DuPont]

Well, considering Desten had flat out gotten up and walked out on that relationship several years prior, it was safe to say she was truly over it. She had a little empty spot in her stomach when she tried to remember good things, because Collette had been such a part of her life for so long that there was now a blank piece in the middle. At least she was blonde, too, and beautiful. Desten preferred it that way.

She walked slowly with Stefan, noting that he had been to the Paper Moon before. It was nice. She knew he wouldn't be after her money, at least. It was odd, walking and talking with a human. She was so elavated from him, so different. She was trying to break away from this way of thinking, but she had little success, and it was only his vampire charm that he was laying on to keep her from finding a reason to escape.

"Have you been in New York long?" she inquired. She remembered the way to the Paper Moon fairly well, but if he'd been there a lot, she hoped he would, too. She knew the top of the building by heart. She'd usually just fly there and shift in an alley. She couldn't rightly do that with Stefan here.

[Stefan]

How funny that the little shifter thought she was above him!  She already had his sort of attitude, though her reasoning was somewhat faulted.  He could help her fix that, if she'd like it.  After he was finished.

He remembered the way to the Paper Moon rather well, but he didn't forget much.  He wasn't so sure he wanted to get that far, though.  Why waste so much time on small-talk?  He wasn't there to be her friend.  "It's been a few years," he commented, though his idea of a 'few years' was a bit different than hers.  He'd been in America for many years, which was why his accent wasn't usually detectable.  When he wanted it, it was there, but he didn't need to flash that at her.

"I personally like New York better than most of the other eastern cities," he continued, and that was the truth.  It was incredibly easy to disappear into New York City, unlike many of the others on the east coast.  He liked California as well, though.

[Desten DuPont]

Desten nodded. "It is nice. I was born in France, though, so despite being well-travelled things are still.. different, here," she admitted. She had very little trace of an accent, but she could, like him, make it there if she wanted it. She had worked very hard to erase any imprints her family had made on her.... Stefan would be sure to work her mind back into the right spot eventually.

She worried it sounded like she was bragging, but there was no point in lying. She did travel often, for her job. No need to reveal to the man that she could fly anywhere she damn well pleased. "I think I will be staying in New York for a while longer, though." Yes, promising Vanille never to set foot in Europe again was something that she'd done without thinking clearly.

"I want to go to upstate New York again before it gets cold, though. The city is so different from the countryside it actually has. It's like a parallel universe." Desten liked nature, sure.  

[Stefan]

"I know exactly what you mean," he told her happily, his tone nothing but friendly.  He really didn't have to keep this act up for so long, as he knew he could slip away with her whenever he felt like it, but he liked these brief moments of contact with the lesser creatures.  It was...amusing.

"I actually spent my earlier years in Germany, and you're absolutely right.  Everything is very different here."  Of course, he hadn't been back to Germany since he'd originally left.  He saw no reason to see those changes, and anything he might have wanted to see again had been deemed 'horrendous' and 'inhumane'.  There was no purpose in seeing those changes to his birth place.

She wouldn't exactly be staying in New York as long as she thought, though he wasn't about to tell her that yet.  Somehow, he got the impression that 'Midnight' wouldn't quite have a desirable result.  It wouldn't matter, soon.  "Are you sure you want to go to the Paper Moon?  If you'd prefer something a bit more stimulating, I have another idea," he told her, deliberately slipping his attention to her mind and attempting to make eye contact.  He needed to be persuasive, since as a younger vampire he couldn't yet transport them to Midnight with only a thought.  

[Desten DuPont]

She'd been listening politely, and had been about to comment on something he'd said, but suddenly she felt compelled to make eye contact with him. He was so... amazingly attractive. She only wished he'd soft golden feathers on the back of his neck, because if he had...

She forgot what she was thinking then, and had no idea what she was going to say, either. She opened her mouth for a second to speak, but just shut it again, stunned. His eyes were... amazingly blue. They were beautiful. Like the sky, like water, like... she didn't know. She couldn't think of a word.

Words.. what were words, anyways? She stopped all movements, and even forgot to breathe. She was just... staring. Caught. Captured. Trapped. Taken. Finally, she managed to speak, but it was stammered and soft, breathy, like she'd just been kissed.

"I don't... " Understand. She didn't understand. Something was... and suddenly her little heart began to pound. A car drove by, and out the window Billy Idol's White Wedding rang through her ears, mixed with the strange waterfall sound.

Hey little sister, what have you done?

Oh, God. It hit her like a ton of bricks. The facade melted, but she was still trapped, and she couldn't move, she couldn't do anything. She made a face, tried to.. tried to shake her head, to push him away, but she couldn't.

She couldn't.

[Stefan]

Ah, he simply loved this part.  The panic, the realization and the complete and utter lack of control.  She could do nothing to save herself, even though she could essentially feel the bars of her 'cage' pressing in upon her.  It was too late, though.  Even if she could have shielded to keep him out before, she'd been too lax in her defenses.  He was already in.

"Oh, nonsense, you don't want to miss this," he assured her with a less friendly little smile, taking her hand gently to ensure that there were no escape attempts as well as to show the surrounding people that nothing was amiss.  "Come with me."

That wasn't a request.

He led her to his car, which was actually quite close.  He hadn't expected to run into her so quickly, but he'd been planning on finding someone.  He opened the passenger side door and 'helped' her in like any proper gentleman should, even leaning in to buckle her into her seatbelt, though he lingered a little longer than was necessary.

"'I know why the caged bird sings'," he quoted in a soft, teasing tone.  He'd won, so why not be teasing?  "'The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still, and her tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.'  You'll sing for me, beauty, but it won't be freedom you'll get."

He was suddenly shutting her door and moving around to the driver's side.

[Desten DuPont]

Destin was powerless. He led her, turned her around, sat her down in a car. It was all happening so fast. She didn't even have time to scream, not that she could have, because when she tried to yell, it came to her throat and just stopped.

"No," she said softly. She was pleading, but it almost hurt to speak. He'd done something to her, to her head, and god, she was so dizzy. The car started to move, and she rolled her head back on the seat, closing her eyes as the world swam by her.

"No, Stefan," she said again, but when she tried to look at him, she saw two, and then four, and she closed her eyes again and wished very hard that this would stop. When she opened them, she was still in the car, and they were still moving, and he was still there.

Destin began to cry, but thankfully there was no annoying sobbing along with it. Tears slid down her cheeks, but that was all, and it did no good, because the vampire's charm dropped increasingly with every moment, until his aura of twisted visions and hate nearly suffocated her.

He rhymed with her, taunted her, teased her. It sang over and over again in her head, and she closed her eyes tightly, regaining control of her head for mere seconds before it slipped again.

"I'll never sing... not for you," she managed. "Not ever."

The last thing she saw was his arm; the blow across her face was so hard her head hit the window and cracked it. The world melted down before her eyes.

And then everything went black.