hot and dangerous - COSTIN

[azkadellia]

Azkadellia absolutely detested walking home in the dark, especially when she had to cut through buildings if she wanted to make it home before midnight. The old warehouses with their dark and nasty alleyways were the quickest way through the city to the residence area. She could have flown like her mother (or father, in instances) but walking kept her in shape. Not that she was that caring about her figure. Not daring to actually go through the buildings, she stuck to the alleyways.

She'd spent the day after school shopping, although nothing had interested her and she'd come home empty handed except for the ice cream she'd already had, which still left her lips and mouth cold and numb. She was rather exhausted, and wasn't looking forward to tomorrow when she had archery practice and magic practice all day.

Sighing, Azkadellia looked around. It was always this particular part of her journey that she started hearing and seeing things. Perhaps she was paranoid, perhaps she just enjoyed having her eyes play tricks on her. Either way, the shadows and noises made her nervous and she increased her pace, heels clicking along the pavement rather loudly.

Azkadellia always had her magic to defend her, at least, if anything came down to it. She often forgot, really, when it came to certain situations. This was not one of them though, and she clenched her hand tightly in a fist, feeling it warm as she prepared to throw a rather intense fire at anyone who dared approach her in the middle of the alleyway.

[Costin Dracula]

Costin also despised walking home in the dark. He should have liked it. He should have felt the night around him like a comforting, concealing cloak. He would have, if things had gone the way he imagined they would. The night should be his domain, it should be the place he felt the safest, but instead, he was limited to squinting through the darkness, trying to see between the illuminated circles cast by the street lamps. It was humiliating, and it put him in a terrible mood. As usual.

He didn't really care that someone else was walking through the alley too - maybe if he'd had some kind of vampiric senses, he would have walked close enough to smell her or whatever it was his fathers did to find out potential prey. That part he'd never really perfected. Having grown up around vampires, he had the demeanor, he had almost managed the disaffected attitude and general lack of reaction to anything he didn't want to react to (almost), but he didn't have vampiric senses, and he certainly had no idea how to use them.

He pushed past her, brushing against her slightly in the dark, not really caring whether he ran into her a little on his way through. She was stupid, probably...she had ridiculous hair that looked like it was flammable, and Costin did not like fire.

"Pardon me," he said, not sounding like he meant it much at all.

[azkadellia]

She didn't see him or hear him, so when he brushed up against her she naturally freaked and sent a shot of bright light from her hand sailing into the wall of the other building in an attempt to stun whoever her attacker was. As it hit the wall it sizzled and disappeared. Light shot up from her palm to light up the entire alleyway as she turned to face whoever had brushed past her.

"You know," She snapped, irritated. She wasn't one to deal with being completely ignored, or someone continuing without saying something proper besides a rough 'pardon me'. "It's rude to brush against people in the dark."

She took a few stepps closer to him, balancing blue flames in her hand, a parlor trick her aunt had taught her - but it did come in quite handy when trying to light things up to be seen.

"And you shouldn't treat ladies like they're not even there!"

[Costin Dracula]

That was different. Was she some kind of bizarre fire being? If Costin had had any actual physical aversion to bright lights, he probably would have been angry, but as it was, he was intrigued.

"It's rude to throw flames at people too," he commented. "Would you prefer I mugged you? That's what worse men than I would do to a lady they found alone in an alley. Or worse." He added that, stepping towards her, his features illuminated in the blue light in her hand. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to go out walking alone after dark? It isn't safe. There could be robbers about...or vampires."

This was where she'd probably laugh at him and tell him that vampires were a myth, something invented by silly people who were afraid of the dark as a justification for their irrational phobias.

"Very well," he went on. "You've got my attention, I admit that you are there. What do you want?"

[azkadellia]

"I was defending myself." She stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, indigtation very clear in her tone. She folded her arms across her chest and kept the flames balanced in her hand, watching him carefully as he spoke.

"If you try to mug me, you'd be through that wall before you could blink, so I suggest you not even go there." Azkadellia muttered coldly. "And I'm hardly afraid of vampires, thank you very much. I live with one and he's the worst one of all. Trying to tell me you're a vampire that's come to drain me of my blood?"

Her eyebrow arched and she glanced from the flames in her hand back to his face. "Want? I don't want anything from you except an apology for running into me and scaring the daylights out of me."

[Costin Dracula]

Ugh, she was one of those really peppy sorts. Probably went to all those female empowerment seminars and wore "votes for women" sashes even though women had been allowed to vote for centuries.

"I don't want to mug you, stupid girl," he scoffed. "I have no need for whatever you're carrying, be it money or jewelry or one of those asinine little bottles of hand sanitizer that smell like sweet pea blossoms."

Wait, what was that about vampires? She lived with one??

"Really?" he said, before he could help himself, then cleared his throat and drew his shoulders back. "No. I'm not a vampire. I would very much like to meet one, though, do you think you could introduce me to your friend?"

[azkadellia]

Azkadellia arched an eyebrow, not taking lightly to being called a 'stupid girl'. Folding her arms across her chest, her normal light eyes grew darker. No one talked to her in that way, not that she let them. She didn't say anything for a moment though and let his highness continue.

"I don't carry any of that on me either way anyway." Azkadellia stated, combing hair from her face as she studied this boy. He was obviously one of the richer ones, judging by his clothes. Probably used to whatever he wanted being handed to him on a silver platter - then again she had lived the same. She'd just learned not to take it for granted.

Azkadellia striaghtened up herself and smoothed invisible wrinkles out of her dress. He wanted her to introduce him to her friend? Number one, it was her father. Number two, after the way he had treated her - not bloodly likely. She wasn't afraid to tell him such, either.

"Since I don't appreciate your attitude or the way you've so rudely treated me the past few moments, I think he'd be much better off without the company of someone such as you." Her prim and proper nature was coming out of course - it always did when dealing with strangers. Not that she wanted to appear high and mighty like this boy obviously did.

[Costin Dracula]

Maybe he shouldn't have called her stupid. But really, he didn't have any way of knowing that she'd suddenly announce that she lived with a vampire. He couldn't possibly have predicted that.

"I apologise," he said, and it was obvious to anyone who knew him (well, wait...that was a pretty short list) that it was almost painful for him to say it. "I was...surprised. I had thought I was alone in this alley, and I had no intention of running into you."

That was true - he hadn't intentionally run into her, but he hadn't exactly been sorry about it either. That was why he said "I apologise" and not "I'm sorry" - hopefully she wouldn't catch the difference. He was really going to have to step it up here a bit...it was a tall order, considering the fact that Costin didn't like socialising in general, much less over-the-top socialising to achieve an end.

"However, if you deem it an impossibility, I will defer to your judgment; he is your friend, after all, and not mine, so perhaps you know best."

Ugh. That was unpleasant.