When the Music's Over (Invite)

[Hannah Lynn (DELETED 8242)]

With an arm around her waist, it seemed settled between the two of them. The walk would do everyone good, just in case there were ears around and in case Freddie decided that maybe, being near music and a stage wasn't where he actually wanted to be. "I meant it in a way of you asking me twenty questions. Or less. Or more." Twenty questions was a game she knew of and had 'borrowed' the game for the phrasing, but she didn't expect him to curb off at just twenty questions. Especially if he asked some questions revolving around why she moved here on a deeper level.

She inched them away from the wall, indicating she was ready to start walking, but didn't go too far without Freddie still attached to her. "So, you know my name, my favorite color, and where I'm from and what I do for work...Oh! Before I forget...the lease to the apartment is up at the end of June and..well...I think a change of scenery is good. Maybe something closer to the city limits." It was something Hannah had been thinking about since her calendar was flipped to May and things with the Yakuza were at an end. And soon, hopefully things with Gino would be too.

After a few more steps of walking, Hannah glanced over to Freddie and smiled. "I imagine you-like everyone else wants to know how I came to get these..." She trailed off, parted her lips and pointed to them. "It's a long story, but it started back in Japan while I was in college." It was best to start there, because that was how Hannah had gotten here. And hopefully with understanding what happened back home, Freddie wouldn't go running for the hills or think she was a bad person. Deep down, Hannah knew she wasn't a bad person, even if she had done some 'bad' things from time to time, but everyone's point of view was different.

[Lancaster]

From what Freddie understood, the game of twenty questions was one of equality. Each person asked the other an equal amount of questions, bouncing off each other insofar was outrageousness was concerned. Or seriousness, as the case may be. As Hannah continued to talk, however, Freddie soon realised it was an opening. There were things he was curious about, things he wanted to know. And he was saved the trouble of trying to figure out where to start. Hannah had started without him, as if foreseeing the questions that he might ask.

Although Hannah mentioned a change in scenery, the topic was quickly changed – whatever questions Freddie had about the pending move were reserved for later. He focused on the latter sentences.

Japan, she said, and Freddie could almost hear the din, could see the bright lights, feel as he was bustled along with the voluminous crowd – the amusement as he was stared at, a stick insect in a city of ants. Then there was a twinge, a sharp pain at his temple and the images were gone. He could barely summon a frown. The miniature headaches were common but growing further apart, they barely required mentioning.

”Let’s not play twenty questions,” he said. Although it had been the deal that he could find out more about Hannah once he’d taken her on a date, he’d not known how much more he would be privy to. And the date hadn’t exactly gone to plan. Could it even be called a date? They hadn’t even finished their wine – he hadn’t even realised, until now, that he’d not thrown up the few mouthfuls he did drink. ”Unless you’d rather tell me the story in fits and starts. But wouldn’t it be easier just to start from the beginning? Pretend it’s a book and I’m your one man audience…” he said.

[Hannah Lynn (DELETED 8242)]

Freddie wanted to get straight to the point. Hannah couldn't blame him, she had promised to share more about herself than the superficial things. And when she spoke about things that were dangerous, Hannah was careful to say enough, but not more than she should. She didn't want Freddie wrapped up in her past and had hoped to never bring him there. But, here they were and the plan to kill Gino was taking longer than Hannah anticipated.

"I was in my last year of Uni, when a friend of mine introduced me to one of her friends." Her eyes moved to Freddie's face as they kept walking and she kept talking. "We started spending a lot of time together, dating...Anyways, he ruffled a few feathers." She sighed, then looked ahead, deciding not to turn down the block, but to keep going. "The wrong feathers. He was a computer guru, did a lot of homework at my apartment, and...other things too. It wasn't hard to trace the source of where most his 'crimes' took place.

She stopped, looked around and then faced Freddie again. "Here, there are gangs and back home there are gangs. Not like the ones here. Ruthless, powerful, corrupt, political. No one tells them no, and lives to speak about it again. They have no problems erasing an entire family, if they have to." Hannah strayed from that train of thought to interject with another. "I've done things that I'm not proud of, or particularly like-not just for my life, but for my sister's, my dad, step-mom and even my family back in the states."

Knowing how that sounded, Hannah put a hand up and pressed it to Freddie's left shoulder. "Only relay information, spy on people-enemies to them...nothing...deadly. I thought by now I would be out from under their clutches, but..." Hannah had come to realize that would never happen, which was why she traded one bad guy for another. They were too powerful and too far away where she was now, but with Gino here, it might be an easier possibility. To gain some freedom. "They sent me here to spy on someone. Get close to them, without alarming him. Which is why I'm here. I didn't have much of a choice on the matter." Hannah crossed her arms at her chest and looked away from Freddie. "I know what you're thinking. I'm a horrible person, but I couldn't risk my family, either one of them being an expense to a few bad choices in college."

[Lancaster]

Freddie laughed, though he had no reason to. I know what you’re thinking she’d said, but she’d had no idea. The thought that Hannah was a horrible person hadn’t even entered Freddie’s mind as he listened to the story – the very basic story – about how she’d ended up where she was now, and the kind of trouble she found herself in. She’d got involved with the wrong person and it had tied a rope around her ankles and dragged her under. Now all she needed was a knife to cut herself free.

”I think you’re being too hard on yourself,” he said. He’d noticed that they hadn’t turned, that they had kept walking. Hannah anticipated this conversation to be longer than a walk around the block, then. The reassurance felt flimsy on Freddie’s lips, but the story was unfinished. It was facts without the meat and he shook his head.

”You haven’t killed anyone,” he said. Had he? How could he judge her or call her a horrible person when he had no idea what he himself was capable of? What kind of bombs could his past be littered with? He could be clean as a whistle but he could be ten times worse than anything Hannah described, too.

”And so you came to Canada, and it was here that you… you know, got involved with vampires? Or, vampire blood?” he asked. That, she had not explained. How had she come by those baby fangs, and her insatiable thirst for the blood that ran through his veins? ”And what are your choices now? To keep working for these people until … until when? You die? Is there light at the end of the tunnel or are they going to hold this threat over your head for as long as you live?” he asked. He had no thought for himself, or what he might become involved in just by living with Hannah, by asking the questions that he asked.

It just seemed obscene to him that they shouldn’t try to figure out some way to untangle her from the mess.

[Hannah Lynn (DELETED 8242)]

What Freddie said and what Hannah expected him to say were very different things. Was she being too hard on herself? Maybe. Then again, maybe not. He followed up with the idea that she hadn't killed anyone, but she had thought about it. But, would anyone blame her for wanting to kill Gino?

"No, I haven't. Yet." Hannah replied a little too easily and openly in front of Freddie. She turned and started walking slowly, as she thought about the rest of the things Freddie wanted to know about her and her predicament. "A few months ago, things...changed." Hannah confessed, glancing around again.

"I no longer work for the people back home in Japan. A man approached me at work. Pretending to be a patient, but he wasn't. He, he knew why I was here. Who I was here for." Hannah turned and looked at Freddie again, wanting to make sure that he was the only one hearing what she said, as Hannah dropped her voice. "He offered me a deal, one that got me and my family our from under the Yakuza. I took it, not knowing just what that deal would entail." Hannah tapped at her tiny fangs, indicating what some of that price was for her. "Regardless, my family is safe...for now." She sighed, then shook her head.

"I don't know. I thought about killing him, thought I could do it. But he's never alone, and after all these months, I've no idea where he's living. And even then, I'm not sure I could actually go through with it, Freddie. But, I'm sure I haven't produced the results he's expected by now, and that means I'm running out of time with limited options. I don't know what he will, or won't do, Freddie." Hannah laughed wryly and then held out both her arms at each side and shrugged. "I bet when you said you wanted to learn more about me, this was not exactly the scenario you had in mind." Both her arms dropped at her sides, as Hannah stood there, looking at Freddie with a partial smile. "Which means, it's not too late to pack up and head for dodge. I wouldn't blame you. It would probably be the best idea, come to think about it." Hannah would figure out a way to survive, even if that meant fleeing Harper Rock. There was no need for Freddie to get tangled into something that didn't even involve him.

[Lancaster]

Freddie was curious to know exactly what it was that was expected of Hannah. She was made a blood thief in order to keep her family safe, but what did that mean for her? She was supposed to bring results to this man she wanted to kill. Results from what? About what? Did it even matter? She wanted out from under his thumb, and Freddie could not blame her. He could not imagine what it must be like to constantly live one’s life for someone else, without freedom of one’s own. A puppet for someone else’s means. Hannah was right. This was not what Freddie expected when he asked to get to know Hannah better. But it changed nothing.

”No,” he said, firmly. ”I’m not going to pack up and leave. And not just because I’ve got nowhere I’d go to,” he said. It wasn’t as if he’d be homeless. Given how much money he’d learned he had in the bank, he didn’t think it would take too long to find somewhere of his own. But then what? He would be on his own. And he had nothing else to do with his time. He’d just be sitting there twiddling his thumbs, soon to agonise over who he was and the things that he himself might have done.

”I’m not sure I’d judge you for wanting to kill the guy. From what you’ve told me, I wouldn’t mind seeing him dead, either,” he said. That’s how justice was served, wasn’t it? A person who used others perceived weaker than themselves were not people who deserved the freedom to live.

”I’m not going to leave you alone. You said you have limited options – that’s not nothing. What are your options?” he asked. Did she have a plan? ”If you’re going to find him and walk in and try to kill him, then I’ll be by your side. I’m much harder to kill, see. Like a cockroach,” he said with a small laugh. Not that he’d tested the theory, but from what he’d learned about vampires and his own condition over the past week or two, they were notoriously hard to reduce to ash.

[Hannah Lynn (DELETED 8242)]

Hannah laughed at Freddie saying he wasn't leaving and why he wasn't, or wouldn't be. She knew it wasn't true, he had about four million reasons why he could pack up and go and they both knew it. Still, he wasn't running for the hills. Yet.

She nodded her head, took a deep breath in and then reached for Freddie's hand. "I thought about killing him, but...I don't think I can. And I don't think I could have you kill him either. It's a nice offer, but it's not your 'mess.'" Hannah gave Freddie a small smile, before she nudged her head towards the north of them, indicating she wanted to keep walking and talking.

"Besides, it's a little more complicated than just killing him and never having to worry about the consequences. He has family here and someone as...influential as him, it might not take much for them to put two and two together." There was a sigh that passed through Hannah's lips, as if she were admitting defeat, finally, over her plan to rid the world of the guy. Gino might be Levi's uncle and not just an 'uncle' of the pretend sort. And if he found out she had anything to do with his uncle's murder...who knew what Hannah and Freddie would have to deal with, then.

"I thought about leaving town too. A long time ago-before we met, before you moved in. But I'm too uncertain of the outcome. If I don't keep my end of the deal, does he have to? What would that mane for my family?" Her shoulders rolled into a shrug, implying that Hannah wasn't wanting to find out what it would potentially mean. "I was kind of hoping that maybe, you could help me with this? Do you know anymore about what you can and can't do?” Hannah asked, glancing over at Freddie, before her steps slowed and then came to a complete stop. "Maybe with the right power...I don't know. But there are a lot of things vampires can do, so maybe, something?” Hannah's hand dropped from the hold, so that both her hands could find their way around Freddie's forearms. "It's asking a lot, I know, but maybe if you had a really wicked power that might scare him...maybe he would think it wasn't worth crossing me?” Her hands slowly rubbed up and down the length of Freddie's arm, stopping at inside his elbows, to his wrists, as Hannah tried to devise a plan, to some degree, to get Gino out of her life.

[Lancaster]

Freddie was happy to keep walking, and nodded when Hannah suggested that they should. It was a slow, meandering walk where they had no particular destination in mind, their only goal to talk. And that suited Freddie just fine. He was finally learning all about Hannah’s predicament and, she didn’t have to ask him for his help. He would have offered it regardless. There was no thought of leaving or running for the hills. The only thoughts wandering through his mind were ideas on how she might be able to release herself from the chains placed around her by others.

”So no killing him. No leaving town…” he repeated. She asked him about powers and he slowly shook his head. The things he’d already learned he was capable of weren’t the kind of things to … scare people.

”I’m not sure. I’m sure I can do more than what I’ve discovered but they’ve just kind of been coming to me one by one. By accident. On a whim,” he said, slowly. ”I have a lot of money? Would he be open to a bribe?” he asked. Everyone loved money, didn’t they? Even if he gave away a million dollars, he’d still have more left than he knew what to do with.

”It’s not asking a lot. I owe you. Even if I didn’t owe you, it’s not asking a lot,” he said. They’d come to a stop and he smiled, eyes bright. They were bereft of the guilt and the hurt and the grief that had so often plagued them in the past. They were free, gleaming with optimism. ”I’m just not sure – beyond bribing – what I can offer. I could just… give you all the blood I can spare and we’ll see what I’m capable of together,” he said with a grin.

[Hannah Lynn (DELETED 8242)]

Hannah looked down at Freddie's hand closest to her and reached for it, then squeezed it. Even if he didn't have the answer to her predicament, it was nice to finally be able to talk to someone about this part of her life. All the lies and subterfuge she had been part of for the last ten or so months-all the people she kept at arm's length at best. Hannah let out a slow sigh of appreciation.

She nodded when Freddie repeated what Hannah had said about not killing Gino or leaving town. Though if it came down to it, as much as Hannah would try and parade around being capable of killing him, she more than likely would go with the latter option. "Maybe. Possibly?" Hannah said with a lift of her shoulders. "But, it's your money. You'll need it. Your life span will be far longer than mine ever will be." Hannah pointed out. What if he offered a million dollars, and it wasn't good enough for Gino? What might be good enough for the guy? Five? Ten? Hannah didn't want to ask to try and find out. Frankly, Hannah never wanted to talk to Gino again if she could.

When Freddie offered all his blood, Hannah laughed and then stopped abruptly. "That's sweet, but I don't need all of it." Besides, what would happen if Hannah drank too much? Was it possible? Would Freddie die? She didn't know. Hannah stood on her tip toes, then pressed her lips to as close to Freddie's cheek as Hannah could. "We don't have to figure it out right now. We have some time." Freddie might not know who or what he was capable of, but that didn't make him stupid. "We'll figure it out." Hannah said with a confident nod of her head, before she pressed into Freddie's side.

"Thank you. For not running for the hills." Hannah bit down on her lower lip as she took a deep breath in, not taking too long of a break with her thoughts. "As crazy as this whole road has been...it's been a lonely path to travel on. I left Japan with my family confused and always asking questions that I can't answer. There's been some distance created between us due to it. My dad mostly." Hannah wrapped both arms around the one she had been pressed against a few seconds ago, then looked up at Freddie. "It's refreshing is all." They came to a corner and Hannah slowed her walking pace. "Ready to go back and give them round two, or..." She left the possibilities open because outside of karaoke, they had no real agenda.

[Lancaster]

It affected Freddie more than he could put his finger to when Hannah said his lifespan would be much longer than hers ever would be. How had it not crossed his mind, yet, that he would not die, ever, so long as he was careful? That to be involved with a human would mean that they would grow old while he continued on, the same as he was, the same as he would ever be? It caused the voice to tangle in his throat, his focus to blur. It wasn’t just the fact that he’d grown to care about Hannah, but it was as if he were very suddenly faced with his mortality – or lack thereof. An Allurist, the emotion hit him hard, and when Hannah leaned into his side he wrapped his arms around her, tight.

”Of course,” he said, voice heavy, gruff. There was a frown nestled between his brows, one that Hannah would not see given she was wrapped so tight in his arms. ”You don’t have to be lonely anymore,” he said. That word, lonely, it struck a chord and he didn’t know why. He shoved at it, pushed it aside. He wanted nothing to do with it.

”I think we should go back,” he said. The conversation had got real heavy real quick, and Freddie didn’t want to go home on that note. He wanted to have some fun – and now that he’d cleared his head, all he wanted to do was get back up on that stage. All he wanted to do was belt out a few more songs. It made him feel good. It made him feel right.

”Another couple of songs. And hey! That wine didn’t repeat on me. Maybe I can drink, after all,” he said with a wink. The idea of getting absolutely hammered appealed to him, too. But then, he was Australian. That was the stereotype, wasn’t it?