“I’m not unarmed,” she said, “merely unweaponed. I don’t study martial arts for my health. I just — it’s a party, and this is your space, and your livelihood, and I didn’t want to start something you couldn’t countenance. Far less have the police down on you — there’s just too much I don’t know.” Slanting a sideways look at him, Summer added, “Is that flattery? I didn’t think you went in for that. Or is there something you want?” She ran her fingers over the faint mark on her neck, eyes sliding shut. “After all, if it had been /you/ biting me there, I think the outcome would have been rather different.”
The Mesmer couldn’t argue with her there. Martial arts were something he’d looked into during high-school, and had done him quite well despite not using them in his adult-life. As she explained her reasoning, he gave a nod, “That’s very … considerate of you, Summer.” He paused before adding, “The police ‘ave no reign ‘ere. I mean, they do, but it’s all show for the ‘umans… But you ‘ave to remember, Summer, this is Fae feeding grounds; people are bound to react towards somebody who seems ‘uman.”
“Flattery ‘as been very kind to me in the past,” Vex joked when she asked him that, shrugging his shoulders with a quirked smile in her direction. The mark on her neck, the sight of it, upset the Mesmer, but he kept it in his head; it just bothered him to see somebody he’d started to think of as his in the Fae Community marked up by another. “Hmm.. I may just ‘ave to find out,” he mused at her words, slipping closer to her on the couch. Glancing at the others in the lounge, he clapped his hands together, claiming their attention, “Get on out, kiddies. Free drinks downstairs.” Once the room was empty of anyone else, Vex slipped his arm around the girl with a chuckle, “But any’ow…”
Half-leaned over, elbows on knees, she shook her hair back, the red waves falling to the floor, still sliding her fingers over that mark. She could feel it, barely, a strangeness in the skin there, and the way it troubled Vex. Her gaze flicked up to him at his teasing reply, holding on his face when he sent the others away.
“I’m not shy,” Summer said, sitting up to lean into his side. “What are you thinking, you gorgeous madman?”