Leonelli Enterprises

[.David Talbot.]

The building from which all Leonelli owned businesses are run, all company meetings are held, and the home of Claire Leonelli and his men.

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

The elevator took her to the top floor, the one used by the boss and his men as a home. It wasn't until she stepped out of the metal box, until the doors closed behind her, that she screamed out Claire's name.
No one thought much of it. The guards and servants scrambled into the room on full alert and then slipped out again, trying not to linger on Antha's manic eyes or the fact that she was half clothed. They had been in the city and around her enough to recognize her insanity as the only equal to their boss's.

 

[.David Talbot.]

"Screaming?" Claire was calm, recognizing Antha's voice, as he sauntered down the hall, running a hand through his disheveled hair.
His men were shifting around everywhere, stopping to regard him with a faint bow of the head and mumbled 'Vampire' or 'Mr. Leonelli'.
"I have better ways of bringing this building to the ground, Antha," he told her in his naturally soft tone. It always left the impression that there was something he wasn't saying aloud. "Should I bring out the fireworks?"

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

She did not waste time bandying pointless words around with him. Antha merely went to stand before him, clutching the folds of his shirt in her fingers and drawing him closer. "Brand me," she said simply, eyes gleaming dangerously, "Mark me before they draw away. Because if I stay mortal much longer, I'm liable to completely lose my mind."

 

[.David Talbot.]

"No need to ask twice," he assured her with the maniac glimmer springing so familiarly into his eyes, taking her hands and leading her down the hall to his room.
He kept the scalpel ready in a satin-lined box beside his bed, the material around it blotted with dried brown blood. "Miss Mayfair," he said invitingly, motioning for her to lay down across the wide bed while he rubbed the blade with a clean scrap of linen.

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Shamelessly she undid the top buttons of the shirt, slipping it down past her shoulders and laying down quietly in the center of the bed. "The scar has faded, see?" she pressed with a rather angry pout to her face, the skin on her bare shoulder blade marred faintly by a ghost of white. She doubted it could even be recognized as a pentagram with the words 'Perturbo Nec Inferi' carved underneath.
That was when her mind started to clear and she started to think.
Back to the meaningless kiss.
Back to the conversation afterwards.
Back to the part where she stormed from the house.
What would she be thinking of later? Would she wake at dusk thinking only of the dull throbbing pain of the brand on her shoulder? If she became too far gone into her dementia, she might be thinking of the sex with Claire. And worse yet was the possibility that her thoughts would not alter.

 

[.David Talbot.]

"You should have come sooner," he complained mildly, pulling the drapes shut and sitting down beside her, "It would have kept you calmer. Not that I don't prefer my maniac little princess." He leaned over to bite the slivers of scars, drawing the blood closer to the skin so that when he put the blade to her skin, the blood came gushing out.
It didn't take him quite 10 minutes but he was careful. He made it perfect. Afterwards he even wiped the blood away and pressed the cool cloth to the inflamed skin before he climbed over her, sitting down leisurely with his legs stretched out, and pressed his lips to the curve of her back.
Claire was not a witch. He was just a human boy. So he could not tell that Antha was preoccupied. Even so he wouldn't have changed his plans. After all, it was custom.
"You should have come a while ago," he continued, drawing a line of kisses up her back, nails digging into the flesh of her arm a little, "You've kept me waiting far, far too long."

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

For a moment, the familiarity made her calm. "Probably," she sighed softly, rising to sit with her legs folded beneath her, "But I've been busy, ducky." Busy with a vampire who won't even kiss me, she thought safely within her own head, Not really, anyways. And for a moment, it felt a little wrong to press her lips against Claire's. For the first time, it felt wrong to take his shirt from his shoulders.
For the first time, she wished it wasn't Claire.

 

[.David Talbot.]

Witch or not, he could still sense things. Humans still had senses, however dull, and they picked up on her preoccupation. "You're thinking about someone else," he accused her without any real trace of anger or disappointment, "I don't see why."
Violently, he pressed her down against the sheets, pinning her, giving her a quick kiss. "Want me to help you forget him, princess?" He caught a little of the flesh of her neck in his teeth and bit down just hard enough not to draw blood.

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

He was lifted like a puppet on so many strings that the spirits held, only half of her will, and she rose alongside him. "I'm not in the mood," she sighed mournfully, stopping to make faces at the floor for a minute. Saying no was a concept quite unfamiliar to Antha.
Instead she stood, mentally cut the strings of the umbra, and gave Claire a long, sweeping glance. "You have a meeting today, don't you?" She flashed him a smile, gave a little giggle, and buttoned up her shirt. "Do me a favor, light one of them on fire, will you?" To tempt him, she gave him a quick kiss.

 

[.David Talbot.]

"Consider it done." Persuasion like Antha's never went without results. Not with Claire. "And you....are you leaving?" He felt the hollowness of her parting, the bitterness even though he had just realized she meant to go. "Really? So soon?" And the hate for the creature that he didn't know whom Antha was going home to.

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"Afraid so, ducky," she replied solemnly, wondering why. Why was she going home? Vikteren would not care if she was there or not. After all, the chance of her being harmed in broad daylight was preposterous.
So quietly, her fingers tracing the cuts on her shoulder that had only just stopped bleeding, she left Claire's room and the building and climbed back into her car.