Love Poison No Cure Needed

Falling into Leadership 1.6

Jasper watched as in response to Fable’s offer Sorrel seemed to freeze for a moment before asking “Wait aren’t you already a club? I assumed this warehouse was your club house and you were just deciding how to renovate it.” Sorrel looked around the wide and empty building but there didn’t seem to be any judgment in his gaze.

“We’re from a small and not very influential coven or clan of magic users where the only others who are members have mated in. So, all the other clubs say that we are too weak to join.” William responded, his shoulders slumping in response. Despite being the grandson of his coven’s current master, he did not have a leadership bone in his body. Jasper had heard in his own clan some rumours that the coven was expected to be swallowed by one of the larger mostly sidhe clans by the time William would be expected to lead simply because Williams father and the coven heir was no more an alpha leader than William was. Thus, it wasn’t surprising that William was looking to find someone to follow, probably hoping to gain allies that might shield his coven.

“Saying we’re weak is true enough. I mean we went all out to stop you and it didn’t even seem like you felt it when I hit you.” Vale muttered the vampire slumping down on the ground beside Noel who hadn’t bothered to get up yet while his sister Victoria ran a hand through her tousled dark brown hair. She was the only girl in the group and seemed to always have a tomboyish look so convincing that it was pretty common for people to mistake her for a boy. She also tended to use that to her advantage any time she encountered one of the other clubs' more chauvinistic members.

“Oh. Oh no, don’t think like that, the hit you landed was absolutely sufficient to knock out an enraged wolfskin.” Sorrel reassured them in response to Vale’s comment. Jasper then turned a speculative look on the pair. Sorrel’s measure of strength seemed incredibly precise given that he had had no trouble reducing his own strength down to a point of a measure at the mere mention of the need. Combined with the fact that Sorrel had just knocked out an enraged Wolfskin himself there was no reason to doubt the accuracy or his comment particularly when his general naivety belied any chance that he was simply offering platitudes.

“Really?” Victoria asked and Sorrel nodded towards her seeming to pay no mind to her higher and lighter voice as if there was nothing out of place.

“Sure, and really hitting me is not a good comparison blunt strikes are very ineffective against me.” Sorrel shrugged as he continued “Not to mention I can’t match your speed, I can react to a portion of it but not match. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let the redhead bite me. It was a bit of sport so no need for things to get lethal.” In response to Sorrel’s honest praise the three vampires all looked flattered, their spines straightened and their lips curved.

Jasper was however honestly curious as to the meaning behind the comment about getting lethal. He had said something about poison when he was treating Noel but surely, he wasn’t suggesting that his very blood was poisonous to even vampires whose body was designed to be immune to anything carried in the bloodstream. As he pondered, Jasper recalled that Sorrel had responded to Fable’s question about what he was by saying Oleander. That didn’t make any sense though Oleander was a plant and while dryads could talk to Others, Dryads where limited to the form of the plant in which they gained sentience that didn’t have human forms like the Beastskin and where not capable of dawning a seeming to move amongst humans the way Realmskin could. Sorrel must have meant that he was like Oleander in that his race was poisonous in every way. Though that still didn’t tell Jasper what Sorrel was as even though he racked his brain who could not think of a single race that was poisonous even to vampires.

“Well, I guess though just being fast isn’t all that helpful.” Vale muttered.

“The only time a strength is useless is when you fail to take proper advantage of it. With the right material you could rely on your speed to fully restrain an opponent completely taking their strengths out of the equation.” Sorrel shook his head as he patiently explained. There really was a strange disconnect between what Sorrel knew and what he didn’t. Jasper couldn’t work out how he could be so assured about matters of fighting and his own abilities and yet seem oblivious to the most general knowledge about Bellare. He seemed to easily identify the higher order other’s who are better at masking their inhumanity but was oblivious to the lower rank blends and to the distinction of vampires and magic users all together. Jasper determined that he would have to spend more time around Sorrel just to try and untangle all the little mysteries he seemed to be cloaked in.

“Yeah, the imp in our club will sometimes use portal magic to hop between places and sneak slashes in. surprise, fast sneak attacks are very good at throwing an opponent off in a fight.” Jasper followed on from Sorrel before adding “Simon’s fine. The spell looks really nice.” He gestured to Simon so that Sorrel knew who he was talking about. Before he complimented Simon on the spell structure he had been working on. As he looked around the room Jasper saw that the pixie twins, Peter and Paul, had both woken up and seemed none the worse for wear save for a serious fascination with Sorrel. It was said that Pixie sight was to see the truest form of a thing so Jasper wondered what exactly they saw when they looked at Sorrel to leave them so entranced.

“Well, I don’t mind if we make a club but I know nothing about running one. It will be nice having some people I know to talk to.” Sorrel abruptly returned to the original question with a laugh and Jasper could see the relief that visibly poured over William and his friends. “though renovations will definitely need to happen.” Sorrel continues while having another look around the warehouse. It was hard to tell because Jasper hadn’t known Sorrel more than an hour or so but it didn’t seem to be the general disrepair of the place that bugged Sorrel it was more like he seemed to find the place in want of something.

“We own this one,” “and the one text to it,” “that’s where we have our bikes,” “You can change them however,” “or you can just say how you want them changed,” “and we’ll make it happen” Peter and Paul spoke, as they raced over to stand in front of Sorrel, one after the other constant finishing what each other way saying in a very disconcerting synchronicity.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll ask Grandad Ash to arrange it. I’ll leave a flower here to let you know what’s happening.” Sorrel reached out and stroked the tops of their heads gently before he reached out and plucked a flower from his hair. He placed the flower on the only table in the centre of the warehouse and it stood up on the base of its stem by itself. “Be careful not to touch it, or if you do wash your hands afterwards, to much exposure is lethal.” Despite the severity of the warning Sorrel spoke very lightly he seemed unconcerned about the danger but Jasper figured it was more likely that he just took it as normal that the flowers he wore were deadly poisonous and shouldn’t be touched.

“Ah, can we have your phone number?” Peter asked, holding out his cell phone to Sorrel.

“Oh, right I’ll be getting one of those. I don’t have one at the moment but I’ll tell you my number through the flower when I do. Sorry.” Sorrel held up his hands to forestall further conversation as he turned to look at Jasper. “I should go help Jasper’s friend that I met on the way here. Then I need to report to the elders and go find my guardian.” At the end of his comment Sorrel shrugged.

“Right, Al! Oops I had almost forgotten.” Jasper flinched at the sudden reminder of the poor state his friend had been left in feeling guilty that he had surrendered to his curiosity and been chatting while Al was possibly going feral. Jasper led the way back outside through the door this time as he explained, “we should hurry. We’re in the first warehouse well and two of the smaller ones behind it are rooms for the general members but the executive members like me and Al all stay in the primary clubhouse in the first warehouse of the district. When we get there just ignore Daylen, he’s the Imp, his attitude is terrible but he’s not really a bad person. Oh, and the boss might come across as a bit angry and scary but it's not about you he’s just like that all the time.”